dames, with one voice, it would not have conveyed the sentiment of a deference for the fex with half the effect.

Juft Heaven! for what wife reasons haft thou ordered it, that beggary and urbanity, which are at fuch variance in other countries, fhould find a way to be at unity in this?

-I infifted upon presenting him with a fingle fous, merely for his politesse.❤

A

poor little dwarfish brifk fellow, who ftood over-against me in the circle, putting something firft under his arm, which had once been a hat, took his fnuff-box out of his pocket, and generously offered a pinch on both fides of him it was a gift of consequence, and modeftly declined-The poor little fellow press'd it upon

them with a nod of welcomenefs-Prenez en—prenez, said he, looking another way; fo they each took a pinch-Pity thy box should ever want one! faid I to myself; fo I put a couple of fous into it-taking a small pinch out of his box, to enhance their value, as I did it.—He felt the weight of the second obligation more than that of the firft-'twas doing him an honour-the

H

other was only doing him a charity-and he made me a bow down to the ground for it.

-Here! faid I to an old foldier with one hand, who had been campaign'd and worn out to death in the fervice-here's a couple of fous for thee. Vive le Roi! faid the old foldier.

I had then but three fous left: fo I gave one, fimply pour l'amour de Dieu, which was the footing on which it was begg'd-The poor woman had a dislocated hip; fo it could not be well upon any other motive.

Mon cher et très-charitable MonfieurThere's no oppofing this, faid I.

My Lord Anglois-the very found was worth the money-so I gave my last sous for it. But in the eagerness of giving, I had overlook'd a pauvre honteux, who had no one to ask a fous for him, and who, I believed, would have perish'd ere he could have afk'd one for himself: he tood by the chaife a little without the circle, and wiped a tear from a face which I thought had seen better days→ Good God! faid I-and I have not one

no

fingle fous left to give him-But you have a thousand! cried all the powers of nature, ftirring within me-fo I gave him matter what I am afhamed to say how much, now and was afhamed to think how little, then: so if the reader can form any conjecture of my difpofition, as these two fixed points are given him, he may judge within a livre or two what was the precife fum.

I could afford nothing for the reft, but Dieu vous béniffe-Et le bon Dieu vous béniffe encore-faid the old foldier, the dwarf, etc. The pauvre honteux could fay nothing-he pull'd out a little handkerchief, and wiped his face as he turned away-and I thought he thanked me more than them all.

THE BIDET.

HAVING fettled all these little matters, I got into my poft-chaise with more ease than ever I got into a poft-chaise in my life; and La Fleur having got one large jack-boot on the far fide of a little

bidet *), and another on this (for I count nothing of his legs) -he canter'd away before me as happy and as perpendicular as a prince

-But what is happinefs! what is grandeur in this painted scene of life! A dead afs, before we had got a league, put a fudden ftop to La Fleur's career - his bidet would not pass by itarose betwixt them, and the poor fellow was kick'd out of his jack-boots the very firft kick.

a contention

La Fleur bore his fall like a French Chriftian, saying neither more or less upon it, than, Diable! so presently got up, and came to the charge again aftride his bidet, beating him up to it as he would have beat his drum.

The bidet flew from one fide of the road to the other, then back again—then this way-then that way, and, in short, every way but by the dead afs.- La Fleur infifted upon the thing-and the bidet threw him.

What's the matter, La Fleur, faid I,

*) Poft-horfe.

with this bidet of thine?-Monfieur, said he, c'eft un cheval le plus opiniâtre du monde-Nay, if he is a conceited beaft, he muft go his own way, replied I-fo La Fleur got off him, and giving him a good found lash, the bidet took me at my word, and away he fcamper'd back to Montriul-Pefte! said La Fleur.

It is not mal à propos to take notice here, that though La Fleur availed him. felf but of two different terms of exclamation in this encounter-namely, Diable! and Pefte! that there are nevertheless three in the French language; like the positive, comparative and superlative, one or the other of which ferve for every unexpect ed throw of the dice in life.

Le Diable! which is the firft and pofitive degree, is generally used upon ordinary emotions of the mind, where fmall things only fall out contrary to your expectations fuch as — the throwing one's doublets-La Fleur's being kick'd off his horse, and fo forth-cuckoldom, for the fame reason, is always-Le Diable!

But in cases where the caft has fomething provoking in it, as in that of the