self with a pot of purl. Here, you old lady! whither are you going at this time o' th' morning? Do you know any public-house, where we can get entrance? Woman. No, indeed, Sir, I'm going a washing, but then it's at a private house. Squire. A comical thought strikes me. Let's make a burning shame of this old woman. The news-papers will ring with the waggery, and the old woman shan't lose by the joke. All. Aye! aye! Woman. Lord, gemmen, don't burn me tho' you shame me.-I've not as much money as will buy a glass of gin-pray don't ill use me! Squire. You shall come to no harm. (They tie her petticoats round her neck, and the lanthorn round her waist.) There, now go about your business, and don't forget to look in the lanthorn; we've put five guineas in it for [Exeunt Squire's Party, laughing. Woman. Lord help us! What shameless rogues, to expose a poor old woman in this manner! expose! no; as luck will have it, 'tis not yet day-break, or the Rising Sun would you. blush at this burning shame, as the rogues called it. Well, I will get my hands freed, and, if I find the five guineas in the lanthorn, I'll say they are princely rogues, and might make a burning shame of me every morning of my life-that is, before day-break. [Exit. CHAPTER XV. FOOLS OF FORTUNE ARE TO BE PITIED;-HELIOGABALUS'S LUST AND PRODIGALITY NEITHER TO BE ENVIED NOR PRAISED! - THE CONSEQUENCES OF DEBAUCHERY ARE IMPOTENCE AND REMORSE. -THE AUTHOR INVEIGHS AGAINST STUPID IDO LATRY. -THE SQUIRE'S PROGRESS; HIS DEBTS ARE PAID BY THE TENANTRY, WHO BEHAVE WITH GREAT DELICACY ON THE OCCASION. We shall now quit the hop, skip, and jump, of the drama, and return to plain, jog trot, narrative. A great fortune in the hands of a fool is a great misfortune, as, the more money he has, the greater fool he makes himself: Heliogabalus the Roman Emperor, was as boundless in his prodigality as his lust; during his short reign, he reduced all the subjects of his empire to beggary, and, at his death, he left an empty Exchequer. Was his sensuality to be envied, or his prodigality praised? No; we envy no man but for his happiness, and the voluptuary can never be happy, as he palls enjoyment by excess. Prodigality is only praised by those from whom praise is infamy; -by syrens, which seek to shipwreck; by locusts, which live only to devour. Pliny expresses the highest sense of the applause bestowed upon him by Martial, but he prefaces with an account of the upright character of the panegyrist, which is a proof that he allowed no praise to be of value but from those who were themselves worthy of it. But every man, whose talents or virtue can make his opinion of any weight, must look with scorn and pity on him, whom the panders of his lust or luxury have drawn into the vortex of their dissipation, and rendered the prey of actresses, black-legs, coggers of dice, packers of cards, and usurious Jews, who ridicule the victim of their avarice. They lead him to the altar of his destruction amidst the vociferation of carousal, which is far different from the cheerful tranquillity of enjoyment; they stu pify his reason with wine, riot, and ribaldry, misnamed wit; and, even if he escapes a premature death, occasioned by the undermining diseases of intemperance, he is left to pass the remainder of his life in impotent desire, and re morse: "Remorse, the raven of a guilty mind, Is ever croaking horrid in my ear; But the tormentor still returns again, are For what end is this sacrifice made—are these pains endured? To be apparently the admiration, but in reality the butt of ridicule of those sons of infamy, who, as Shakespeare says, hackneyed in the ways of men;" those hoary, battered miscreants, who are grown callous to all sentiments of honour and honesty; who ridicule virtue as romantic, and stigmatize, as visionaries, those men who dare to stand up against corruption. It has been justly observed that the talents, influence, or experience of men so hackneyed, make them very often useful in parties; but whatever wealth and dignities they may arrive at, they ought to consider th |