, I believe I may assert it as an axiom of indubitable
truth, that whoever shews you he is either in himself or his equipage as gaudy
as he can, convinces you he is more so than he can afford. Now, whenever a man's
expence exceeds his income, he is indifferent in the degree; we had therefore
nothing more to do with such than to flatter them with their wealth and
splendour, and were always certain of success.«
    »There is, indeed, one kind of rich man who is commonly more liberal,
namely, where riches surprize him, as it were, in the midst of poverty and
distress, the consequence of which is, I own, sometimes excessive avarice, but
oftener extreme prodigality. I remember one of these who, having received a
pretty large sum of money, gave me, when I begged an obolus, a whole talent; on
which his friend having reproved him, he answered, with an oath, Why not? Have I
not fifty left?«
    »The life of a beggar, if men estimated things by their real essence, and
not by their outward false appearance, would be, perhaps, a more desirable
situation than any of those which ambition persuades us, with such difficulty,
danger, and often villany, to aspire to. The wants of a beggar are commonly as
chimerical as the abundance of a nobleman; for besides vanity, which a judicious
beggar will always apply to with wonderful efficacy, there are in reality very
few natures so hardened as not to compassionate poverty and distress, when the
predominancy of some other passion doth not prevent them.«
    »There is one happiness which attends money got with ease, namely, that it
is never hoarded; otherwise, as we have frequent opportunities of growing rich,
that canker care might prey upon our quiet, as it doth on others; but our money
stock we spend as fast as we acquire it; usually at least, for I speak not
without exception; thus it gives us mirth only, and no trouble. Indeed, the
luxury of our lives might introduce diseases, did not our daily exercise prevent
them. This gives us an appetite and relish for our dainties, and at the same
time an antidote against the evil effects which sloth, united with luxury,
induces on the habit of a human body. Our women we enjoy with ecstasies at least
equal to what the greatest men feel in their embraces. I can, I am assured, say
of myself, that no mortal could reap more perfect happiness from the tender
passion than my fortune had decreed
