ll's, Newmarket, or the
Fives-court; whose industry in getting into debt is only exceeded by
his indifference about getting out; whose acquired property (during his
minority) and personals have long since been knocked down by the hammer
of the auctioneer, under direction of the sheriff, to pay off some
gambling bond in preference to his honest creditor; yet who still
flourishes a fashionable gem of the first water, and condescends to lend
the lustre of
~33~~
his name, when he has nothing else to lend, that he may secure the
advantage of a real loan in return. His patrimonial acres and heirlooms
remain indeed untouched, because the court of chancery have deemed it
necessary to appoint a receiver to secure their faithful transmission to
the next heir.

The son has imbibed a smattering of all the bad qualities of his sire,
without possessing one ray of the brilliant qualifications for which he
is distinguished. Proud without property, and sarcastic without being
witty, ill temper he mistakes for superior carriage, and haughtiness
for dignity: his study is his toilet, and his mind, like his face, is
a vacuity neither sensible, intelligent, nor agreeable. He has few
associates, for few will accept him for a companion. With his superiors
in rank, his precedent honorary distinction yields him no consideration;
with his equals, it places him upon too familiar a footing; while with
his inferiors, it renders him tyrannical and unbearable. His mornings,
between school hours, are spent in frequent change of dress, and his
afternoons in a lounge a la Bond-street, annoying the modest females and
tradesmen's daughters of Eton; his evenings (after absence{1} is called)
at home, in solitary dissipation over his box of liqueurs, or in making
others uncomfortable by his rudeness and overbearing dictation. He
is disliked by the dame, detested by the servants, and shunned by his
schoolfellows, and yet he is our captain, a _Sextile, a Roue_, and above
all, an honourable.

Tom Echo. A little to the left of the Exquisite, you may perceive Tom's
merry countenance shedding good-humour around him. He is the only one who
can

1 _Absence_ is called several times in the course of the
day, to prevent the boys straying away to any great distance
from the college, and at night to secure them in quarters at
the dames' houses: if a boy neglects to answer to his name,
or is too late for the call, inquiry is immediately made a