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which we impofe so much on our
own understanding as in this matter
of good and bad luck, It may
appear ftrange, but it is true, that I
never in my life faw the man who
had a real and fincere faith in luck;
though I have met with a hundred
advocates for the doctrine.” The
moft fanguine among them will not
lay three to two on the caft of a die,
though it fhould be thrown by a
man who had already won a hun-
dred thousand pounds,--had mac-,
ried the most beautiful and beft of
women, and whofe children were
the delight of the world; nay, fhould
this very fortunate man play at cards
with an adverfary of fuperior kill,
the bets would all run against hìm,
amongst people who would fill talk
of luck.

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from the consciousness of doing little or no injury by the falfehood.However, every looker-on at the gaming-table will witnefs for me that the lofers generally declare that they have loft more than the winners can or will account for; fo that, upon a clofer examination, it will appear that the inftances of a continued feries of good or bad luck are not so numerous as is believed,nay, indeed, are exceedingly rare. Still you urge that, admitting the cafes are not frequent, there are yet a few; and how fhould it happen that a man fhall win, almost every night, two or three months fuccef. fively, when the chance may poffibly be ten thousand to one against this event? The answer is obvious, that, where the chance is ten thous fand to one, the event ought to It fhould follow, then, from this happen only once in ten thou-reprefentation, that no man believes fand times: but, fay you, does not implicitly in luck, or he would risk the event prove him a lucky man; his money on the fide of the reputed and is it not enough to demonftrate lucky player, against the fkilful one, there is fuch a thing as luck? What! which never happens; fo that, 'after that an event has happened once in all, the matter in debate is brought ten thousand times, which, in the to this point, that Mr. A**** has ordinary courfe of things, muft and been favoured by the cards to this will happen fo often? I will grant, hour: now fomebody and Mr. if you please, that he was a lucky A**** as well as another) mirft be man when the event happened: but favoured for a length of time by the here lies the fallacy; for, according ordinary courfe of the cards and, to the prevalent idea of luck, he though no living creature at in the ought to have had a better title to chairs, let the cards be dealt a hunthe event, before the thing happen-dred or a thousand times, and fuch ed, than any other man of the party which I deny could be the cafe, without the intervention of fome invifible being; fince the cards muft have been diftributed according to the natural courfe of the chances, or they must not; if they are, one man has the fame right as another to fuccefs; if they are not, fome fuperior power muft give them a preternatural direction; and yet, I prefume, you will bluth at the fuppofition that the deity interferes in fo fordid a bufinefs as gaming.

But, I believe, there is hardly any other occurrence in life, relative to

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or fuch a chair will be juft as licky or unlucky as if Mr. A**** or Mr. B**** fat in them, and firely (whatever virtue the fuperftitious may attribute to a particular chair) you will not afcribe the quality of good or bad luck to inanimate things.

I am aware you will fuppofe that Mr. A****, being fo lucky a man, would have fet in the chair to which the good cards were diftributed; but I fay that, without the intervention of an invifible agent, it was three to one, admitting the number of chairs was four, that he fhould have fet in the winning chair; and it is certain you

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yourself believe fo in your heart, or you would bet on his fide an even fum, when the chance is three to one against him, which you never will do, when urged to the trial.

For an illuftration of what I have here advanced, put into a bag ten thousand white beans, and ten thoufand black beans; mingle them well together, and take out one at a time as they offer. Now, though in twenty thousand times you will have taken out ten thousand of each, yet in the courfe of this operation, they will not arife alternately a black and a white one; but fometimes you will lay hold of a black one or a white one fix or seven times (and much oftener) fucceffively. Thus it is at cards; there will arife, good or bad cards for a certain length of time; and yet, in the long run, as in the experiment of the black and white beans, there will be nearly an equality....

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never content with that which hapShould it be objected that the pa-pens to be prefent, or in which they rallel of the black and white beans is fallacious, becaufe the numbers muft neceffarily come out equal at laft, and was the quantity infinite (in the course of several thousands) many more of one colour would be taken out than of the other, I anfwer, that experience fhows the contrary for it was never known that in a game of chance, a man with a fufficient bank, and only one per cent in his favour, was at the long run a Jofers which is a demonftration that the dealing of the cards, the caft of a die, &c. are fubject to certain laws, as invariable as the proportions of the births of males and females, or any other of the ordinary events of this fyllein of the world.

I hope I have inade myself intelligible on the conception I have of the proper use of the terms lucky and unlucky. I admit that a man may have been fo favoured by fortune (to adopt the common expreffion) as to have acquired the chaFacter of a lucky man; but I flatter

are feemingly engaged. In reality, nothing is farther from my thoughts than the fubject which you would fuppofe occupied my attention. The reality around me appears dull, cold, and uninterefting. I look upon the occurrences of life that happen to me, in the fame light that a man confiders the incidents of past times; -as things in which I have no perfonal concern. My imagination is ever foaring far above the narrow fcience of certainty. Need I tell you I am one of thofe fons of æther, whofe aerial schemes and confuminate ambition have drawn down upon them the fevere ftigma of building caf tles in the air, from the more fober part of mankind? Were I permit. ted to account for this propenfity, I doubtlefs fhould endeavour to prove, that it proceeded from a lively and brilliant imagination, which contemns the every-day circumftances of life, or a laudable nbition. In fort, were the portrait of myfelfand my fraternity to be touched by

my pencil, I fhould not fail to afto- | be allowed the ufual advantage of a nith the regular and confined think-reply; for, be it known to you, I

have imagined you to fay all that has been alleged against it. Now whether you like the reafoning or the manner in which I have afcribed it to you, I cannot tell; but I will fuppofe you to be content with them, that I may be the better able to reply. Now, fir, I believe there is an old crufty maxim, which is, that

this, with your leave, I will fuppofe to be just the reverfe; viz. that the majority of the world are good; therefore much argument and trouble will be fpared; for it will natu rally follow from the premiffes, that as this foible, or call it what you will, enables people to fulfil their

ers, who are content to grovel in what actually paffes, with the won derful exertions of thefe immaterial architects. But as this cannot be the cafe, I must be content to find refuge in my own ideas, which, I affure you, will amply confole me for the ill opinion mankind entertain for my fect, and even enable me to furmount their malice, and raife my-the majority of the world are wicked felf far beyond the reach of their power: nay, I even glory, in my ideal pre-eminence, and confider my felf as a fuperior being to the phlegmatic fons of earth. Whatever the wife may be pleafed to fay, with refpect to thefe empty fpeculations, I am certain they are the only refource against the vapours and me-defires, as the majority of the world lancholy; they are a fure remedy to confole disappointed merit; they enable the good to do acts of benevolence, the hero to acquire fuch renown, that even Cæfar would have envied him, the legiflator to enact the most wholesome laws, the patriot to have the inexpreffible pleature of faving his country, the merchant to extend commerce in the moft beneficial manner to himself and the ftate. On the other hand, I confefs, they are equally dangerous in the hands of the wicked. A man of a cruel difpofition may torture the unhappy objects of his averfion in fuch a manner as to make an inqui fitor confefs he has been outdone in cruelty. The revengeful may wreak the dreadful effects of his wrath upon any person who has offended him, in a way that would do credit to the conception of a dæmon. You fee, Mr. Dangle, I have not hesitated to fhow you the bad as well as the good points of my foible: but as I am not determined, with the obftinacy of a Swift, to behold every thing in the worst light, I fhall take the liberty of again recurring to the good; for furely, as I am pleading the cause of myfelf and my brethren, I may

are good, it will occafion more good than harm, becaufe people will, of courfe, act according to their inclinations. Thus, fir, you observe, I have gained a clear advantage over you; and notwithstanding the bright arguments you have advanced, in the opinion of all impartial judges, I must be victorious. But before they give judgment, I only beg leave to fay a few words more, which are... Muft not that be the most charming fcience in the world, which teaches the wretched how to become profperous, the lazy man to obtain his ends without trouble or application, the failor to enjoy himself on fhore in the midft of the Atlantic, a fine gentleman to pay his debts without its even cofting him a fingle filling, and his conftant duns to receive their demands, and enjoy themselves with the cafh at their fnug country boxes? But if we purfue the fyftem of cer-tainty, like the fpear of Ithuriel, when he furprised Satan at Eve's ear, it diffipates all our brilliant fchemes and thoughts in an instant, and deftroys our happiness with the fabric.

"Thus, my good fir, you perceive, I have some reason to rejoice in my happy error; and I fhall proceed to

give you fome account of myfelf. | You must understand, that I have as great a defire to acquire notoriety as you have; but unfortunately, as it may be a long time before I can obtain it, I endeavour to enjoy the idea of it by anticipation.

ral excellence of my whippifm; nor are the fire and beauty of my horses, the elegance of my carriage, or the quiet deportment of my grooms, lefs confpicuous. At laft, having compaffed more fpace in two hours than was done by our grandfathers in fix, and whirled my carriage, with the quickness of thought, to my house in Grofvenor fquare, I return really home to my apartments to meditate new fchemes of advancement and honour.

fifty people of the firft fashion, who all complain of my cruelty, and fwear I am the faddeft fellow in nature, for not coming more frequently to enliven the fubfcription houfes. To thefe I make my apology in the beft manner I am able, "I frequently dream over a book promife to behave better in future, at breakfast, to either of which I never and after having been attended to, attend and while I have written a when I fpoke, with the greatest plea fmall jeu d'efprit, which has charm-fure, and entertained them with a ed the whole town, and established thousand bright conceits, I step into my reputation as a wit, I am fur-my curricle, and am out of fight in prifed to find my tea grown cold. I an inftant. I acquit myself with no then hurry through my breakfast in lefs fkill in it than in every thing order to have plenty of time for elfe. The pedestrians are amazed thought, during that part of the day at the neatness of my turns, the vewhich I devote to adonifing my per-locity of my motion, and the genefon. While I am thus employed, I fcarce ever fail of being reckoned a well-dreft man by the beau monde; and drawing the envy of all the pretty fellows in town upon me, on account of my agreeable manner and fuccefs in gallantry. I kill a dozen fair damfels with excefs of love for me, all of whom make me affers both of their perfons and fortunes. I pity their paffion, return a refufal, couched in the moft polite and delicate terms; and even fometimes venture upon an interview, in which I never fail to infpire the unfortu nate nymph with ten times more Jove than ever, by my candour: and at laft, I perhaps carry off a peerefs in her own right, with a large fortune, and retire with her, for fome months, into the country, where we are equally admired,-fhe on account of the accomplishments of her hufband, and myfelf, because I am poffeffed of a wife, who has rank, elegance, and beauty. Before I take my morning's walk, I often write a comedy, which is received with fuch applaufe, that it fubjects me to the dilagreeable circumflance of being -pointed at in the streets, while my name is whispered in every coffee-purfue my intentions with that easy honfe that I happen to enter. In addrefs which flows from a confcimy walk I am fure to meet with oufnefs of fuperior abilities, and the

"After dinner begin the scenes of ambition. My reputation being, as has already been feen, fully eftablifhed, I receive different propofals from various parties, who are all equally defirous of enlifting fo promifing a recruit as myself. All of them with me to make my debut in parliament, not without infinuating, that my feat will be no expenfe to me. I yield to their preffing invitations, and am returned a member. The town are anxious to know what fort of maiden fpeech a man, who has already written fo well, will make: I rife-a filence pervades the houfe-a pin might be heard to drop. Not in the leaft alarmed, I

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