liked, which it seems was very little, and that only in his Childhood;
for from the Age of fifteen he addicted himself entirely to Hunting and other
rural Amusements, for which his Mother took care to equip him with Horses,
Hounds, and all other Necessaries: and his Tutor endeavouring to ingratiate
himself with his young Pupil, who would, he knew, be able handsomely to provide
for him, became his Companion, not only at these Exercises, but likewise over a
Bottle, which the young Squire had a very early Relish for. At the Age of
twenty, his Mother began to think she had not fulfilled the Duty of a Parent;
she therefore resolved to persuade her Son, if possible, to that which she
imagined would well supply all that he might have learned at a publick School or
University. This is what they commonly call Travelling; which, with the help of
the Tutor who was fixed on to attend him, she easily succeeded in. He made in
three Years the Tour of Europe, as they term it, and returned home, well
furnish'd with French Clothes, Phrases and Servants, with a hearty Contempt for
his own Country; especially what had any Savour of the plain Spirit and Honesty
of our Ancestors. His Mother greatly applauded herself at his Return; and now
being Master of his own Fortune, he soon procured himself a Seat in Parliament,
and was in the common Opinion one of the finest Gentlemen of his Age: But what
distinguished him chiefly, was a strange Delight which he took in every thing
which is ridiculous, odious, and absurd in his own Species; so that he never
chose a Companion without one or more of these Ingredients, and those who were
marked by Nature in the most eminent Degree with them, were most his Favourites:
if he ever found a Man who either had not or endeavoured to conceal these
Imperfections, he took great pleasure in inventing Methods of forcing him into
Absurdities, which were not natural to him, or in drawing forth and exposing
those that were; for which purpose he was always provided with a Set of Fellows
whom we have before called Curs; and who did indeed no great Honour to the
Canine Kind: Their Business was to hunt out and display every thing that had any
Savour of the above mentioned Qualities, and especially in the gravest and best
Characters: But if they failed in their Search, they were to turn even Virtue
and Wisdom themselves into Ridicule for the Diversion of their Master and
Feeder. The Gentlemen of Curlike Disposition, who were now at his House, and
whom he had