fortune to
win, and left the cock-pit undiscovered by any one. Thus great is the
power of dress, which transforms and metamorphoses the beggar into a
gentleman, and the cinder wench into a fine lady; therefore let not the
little great (I mean those who have nothing to recommend them but their
equipage) pride themselves as though they had something superior in them
to the poor wretch they spurn with so much contempt; for, let me tell
them, if we are apt to pay them respect, they are solely indebted for it
to the mercer and tailor; strip them of their gaudy plumes, and we shall
not be able to distinguish them from the lowest order of mumpers. This
puts us in mind of a remarkable adventure of our hero's life, which he
always told with a great deal of pleasure.

One day, as he was begging in the town of Maiden Bradley, from door to
door, as a poor shipwrecked seaman, he saw on the other side of the
street a mendicant brother-sailor, in a habit as forlorn as his own,
begging for God's sake, just like himself. Seeing Mr. Carew, he crossed
the way, came up to him, and in the cant language, asked where he lay
last night, what road he was going, and several other questions; then,
whether he would brush into a boozing-ken and be his thrums; to this he
consented, and away they went; where, in the course of their
conversation, they asked each other various questions concerning the
country, the charitable and uncharitable families, the moderate and
severe justices, the good and queer corporations. This new acquaintance
of Mr. Carew's asked him if he had been at Sir Edward Seymour's? He
answered, yes, and had received his alms: the stranger, therefore, not
having been there, left him at the alehouse, and went thither himself,
where, having received the same alms that his new companion had, he
returned to him again.

The next day they begged through the town, one on one side of the street,
and the other on the other, each on his own separate story and account:
they then proceeded to the houses of several gentlemen in the
neighbourhood, both in one story, which was that of the stranger. Among
many others, they came to Lord Weymouth's, where it was agreed that Mr.
Carew should be spokesman: upon their coming up to the house, the
servants bid them begone, unless they could give a good account of
themselves and the countries in which they pretended to have been, for,
should Lord Weymouth come and detect them in any falsehood, he w