That gentleman was in treaty for a borough, which a member was expected every day to vacate in his favour. Besides, he had requested Sir Sidney to cheapen an estate for him in Warwickshire, and he was cursedly afraid that a certain woman of condition, that he said should be nameless—and so she well might, for she was not in existence—would insist upon a kind of a half promise he had made, and noose him; which matter, he said, were it really serious, he verily believed would drive him abroad; for he did

not think the possession of the finest and richest woman in the kingdom a compensation for the loss of any man's liberty of his figure and consequence.


THE spring put an end to those town enjoyments which had employed the leisure hours of our hero and his connections, and now Charles and his friend Figgins began to prepare for an excursion to those parts of the world where true politeness is thought to be native, so heartily do Englishmen reprobate the manners of their own country, though they so dearly love its principles.
It was settled that our hero should go on to Italy, by the borders of Flanders, and not see Paris till on his return to England, through the heart of France; as it was thought, by that means, he would the better taste the pleasures of that capital.
Charles's heart was fully set on this tour, and, for several days, it was the general topic of all the friends. He received the good wishes and advice of all with great thankfulness. Sir Sidney, with

the heartiest friendship, entreated him not to engraft French manners upon an English cion. He begged of him to hear, see, and consider; to approve and adopt whatever mended the heart, but to reject with contempt all that merely went to decorate the person. He said a flattering exterior was a dangerous thing, and there were sometimes more art and design under a feather, than any graver decoration of the head. He said the whole character of the French was comprehended in minutiae; that this rendered them at first sight agreeable, afterwards necessary, and at length, to credulous men, endearing, but to the penetrating trifling and tiresome.
Sir Sidney said he would not wish for a better authority for pronouncing a man weak and ignorant than his having a strong attachment, upon repeated trials, to the French in general. They were, he said, polite without good manners; acquainted with every thing, though perfect in nothing; praying one moment and cheating the next; holding you in their arms, and laughing