In the course of this cultivation, he
happened one evening, at a certain chocolate-house, to overlook a
match of piquet, in which he perceived a couple of sharpers making
a prey of a young nobleman, who had neither temper nor skill
sufficient to cope with such antagonists.
Our hero, being a professed enemy to all knights of industry, could
not bear to see them cheat in public with such insolent audacity.
Under pretence of communicating some business of importance, he
begged the favour of speaking to the young gentleman in another
corner of the room, and in a friendly manner cautioned him against
his opponents. This hot-headed representative, far from thinking
or owning himself obliged to Pickle for his good counsel, looked
upon his advice as an insult upon his understanding; and replied,
with an air of ferocious displeasure, that he knew how to take
care of his own concerns, and would not suffer either him or them
to bubble him out of a shilling.
Peregrine. offended at the association, as well as at the ingratitude
and folly of this conceited coxcomb, expressed his resentment, by
telling him, that he expected at least an acknowledgment for his
candid intention; but he found his intellects too much warped by
his vanity to perceive his own want of capacity and experience.
Pages:
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120