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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	authority_n	fire_n	great_a	16	3	2.1033	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34743	The country gentleman's vade mecum, or his companion for the town in eighteen letters from a gentleman in London to his friend in the country wherein he passionately disswades him against coming to London, and represents to him the advantages of a country life, in opposition to the follies and vices of the town : he discovers to him most of the humours, tricks and cheats of the town, which as a gentlemen and a stranger he is most exposed to, and gives him some general advice and instructions how he may best in his absence dispose of his affairs in the country, and manage himself with the most security and satisfaction when he comes to London.	Gentleman in London.; Sc̲̲̲̲y, Ed.	1699 (1699)	Wing C6533; ESTC R2672	63,002	180

of these in his respective Station is a Cheat I suppose you 'll take for granted you may as well be cheated at Cards as at Dice and at Back Gammon and Trick Track as at Hazard the false Dice and Slights of Hand will serve for One as well as the other there 's no difference as I know of but only the former is a little longer about the Business But besides all this if a Man could be secure to guard Himself against their false Dice and Slights of Hand and was equal with 'em too in point of Judgment and Experience what business has a Country Gentleman or indeed any Body else to venture Himself among such a rude Herd of wild Creatures Well I 'm ashamed to think that any Gentleman should sink himself so much below a Rational Creature to be guilty of such Unaccountable Folly I must own I utterly lose my Pitty when I see one of these Wretches shirking about in Rags as there 's enough of 'em about Town that are Living Monuments of their own Vicious Indiscretion let 'em ev'n keep their Rags their Poverty and Contempt for me And truly I could almost wish every one in their Condition that does not take warning from 'em but will violently plunge himself into the same Misfortune LETTER XII In which the Humours and Tricks of the Royal-Oak Lottery are exposed together with a short Account of the Practices of Lotteries in General I must own Sir I broke off from my Relation of the Ordinaries something abruptly Indeed the Prospect it self was so dismal and odious and the Accounts of the Men and Things that belong to 'em so troublesome and ungrateful that I was forc'd to leave 'em in an Affright and in Haste A Sober Man cannot look into 'em without Astonishment I lose both my Reason and my Charity when I think of 'em but then how shall I do to contain my self whilst I give you a Description of the Lotteries which in all Respects are as bad and in some Measure a great deal worse than they And First for the Royal-Oak Lottery 't is a Game indeed that is stamp'd with a Noble Name and Superscription but how well it answers that Honourable Title I leave you and all the World to judge 'T is pity methinks that such a glorious Character a Royal-Oak which deriv'd its Name from being a Shelter and a Safeguard to Distress'd Majesty should be basely subverted and changed to serve the Ends and propagate the Interest of a Scurvy Game a Game that if the Common Proverb be true which the Town passes upon it and indeed I 'm inclin'd to believe it is has Ruin'd more than the Fire of London How it was brought out of France and how it came to be Establish'd by a Royal Authority in England is nothing to my Purpose 't is here it seems and here it has been a great many Years the Managers have got Estates and the Fools that have us'd it have lost theirs but all this is still foreign to my Matter my Design is only by Way of Caution to give you a short Account of the Practices and the Ways and Means that they commonly use to raise Money from the Publick And this I shall do with the utmost Brevity and Candour I am able It would be too long to trouble you with the whole Contrivance of the Game and the several Odds and secret Advantages which the Managers have above what they pretend to or perhaps what they know and indeed I much question whether the original Projector himself had a perfect Knowledge of all the consequent Profits of it In short 't is a cunning intricate Contexture and has so fair and so enticing an Aspect that many an honest Gentleman and Citizen has been seduc'd by it to the Loss of their whole Estates and Ruin of their Families The Odds which they say they have is only two and thirty Chances against seven and twenty which they pretend were allow'd 'em to discharge the Annual Rents they are obliged by their Patent to pay to the King and to discharge the Ordinary Expences of their Houses Servants and Officers Well for once we 'll suppose that their Advantage is no more than this who I wonder but a Madman would go to play away his Money upon such a manifest Inequality Your Old Gamesters all allow it as a General Rule at Back-Gammon that however a Younker by Extremity of Luck and Dint of Throwing may now and then get a Set or two of 'em yet if they continue the Match they 'll in the End be sure to have all the Cargo 't is the very same in the other Respect and several Persons do very often win Money of 'em and carry it off and so 't is necessary they should for otherways the Worthy Constitution must dissolve in Course and indeed this is the main thing that draws in People to pursue it but this is but a perfect Bait the next time they come 't is odds but they not only lose their Interest but their Principal too I think there was an honest Gentleman one that got some Money of 'em and kept it too but then he was forc'd to have a Mathematical Ball made on purpose and truly if he had made no worse use of his Mathematical Dice than he did of his Mathematical Ball I should not be very much out of Conceit with his Mathematicks This Game has got a wonderful repute lately among the Ladies especially among the Citizens Ladies who they say that they might not lose time do commonly two Businesses there at once i. e. first make their Husbands Cuckolds and then Beggars whether they do the first or not I will not be positive tho by the way considering what company they meet there there 's shrewd Grounds for Suspicion but for the latter they do it effectually I have seen my self an ordinary Citizen's Wife lose her Seven or Eight Pieces in a Morning and at the same time swear solemnly she has had the same bad Fortune for a Month together successively How such Citizens Ladies and indeed all other Ladies that frequent such sort of Diversions ought to be managed I think lies pretty ready we have Mad-houses about Town and thither I 'd have 'em all sent and kept under a strict Diet and Discipline till they had either absolutely forgot or solemnly forsworn the Folly and after that if they should relapse let 'em be commited to the Tuition of a Gentleman in a Blew Coat and let him try if he can Whip it out of ' em What it is that bewitches both Men Women and even Children to follow this unhappy Game I cannot guess 't is true 't is recommended to 'em under the false pretence and Coverture of a great deal of Equality and Advantage but then if they would but turn themseves about and look backwards a little they must needs see their Mistake with a Witness I can produce hundreds that have lost their Estates

Parents and Apprentice his Master upon the Account of 'em I must confess I think they are so much below a Gentleman that he needs not be caution'd against 'em they are not only exaltedly Foolish and Ridiculous but Scandalous too and certainly under those two Qualifications a Man must be either a perfect Madman or an Idiot that will concern himself with 'em a Man may indeed by such inconsiderate Actions as these expose himself to the Laughter and Scorn of the Town but let him take this along with him when he has once done it he 'll find it a little difficult to recover the Loss of his Reputation A Good Name may be lost in the Quest of Bables and Trifles as well as in the pursuit of deep and deliberate Follies A Gentleman may as well squander away his Estate and Reputation at a Nine-pin Yard and a Shovel-board Table among Journey-men Shoomakers and Porters as at the Groom Porter's amongst Gentlemen and Sharpers there 's no difference that I know of but only the One does his Business at once and the other 's a little longer about it They are equally dangerous and disgraceful and both infinitely beside the Practice and Character of a Gentleman LETTER XIII In which the Tricks of the Cock Pits and the Cheats of Horse Races and Foot Matches are exposed PERHAPS Sir having discovered so many of the Cheats and Tricks of the Town to you already you may now think it high time to wind up my Account I can assure you I have no Vanity in reporting these Matters they are as odious and unpleasant for me to write as they can be for you to read But still Sir I remember my Promise I told you I 'd shew you a little of most of the Follies and Villanies of the Town which as a Gentleman and a Stranger you 're most in danger to be trapann'd and impos'd upon by when you come at it To proceed then to the rest for once I 'll carry you to a Cock Match and if you love that Diversion shew you a Battle or two that you may see how much our Sparks in London manage their matters beyond yours in the Country Cock-fighting is an Ancient Barbarous sort of Diversion that for many Years has been of high repute even amongst the Nobility and chief Gentry of England 'T is now indeed in state of Declension the Gentlemen perceiving the constant Charge Folly and Inconvenience that depended upon it have in a great measure wisely laid it down And the Sharpers Rooks and Scoundrels together with few some Fools have taken it up or else the Cruel Sport for that 's the best Title I can give it and I think the best it deserves had been happily worn out and lost and there had been an end on 't For my part I cannot conceive where the great Diversion in Cock-fighting lies the Bear Garden and Cock Fit are both alike to me and truly in my Judgment they are both Inhuman and Unnatural and there 's very little Satisfaction in either But this is nothing to the purpose It passes under the Notion of a Harmless Recreation among the rest the Rooks and Sharpers get Mony by it and therefore we 'll go and see a little how they manage their point Their first Business is to bribe themselves into Acquaintance with the Feeders and to learn every particular Cock's Marks Breed Way of Fighting c. When they are thorowly equipt with these and every thing else that can possibly give 'em any Advantage in point of Judgment they make their Bets but still their Eyes are constantly fixt upon the Cock that they may observe every Wound and Turn of a Battle and truly most of your Old Cockers are so very sharp and quick-sighted in such Cases that they generally discover the nicest Advantage and accordingly either take or lay the Odds to bring themselves off and so far 't is fair enough and every Man is to be commended for making the most of his Business and indeed 't is impossible they should use their Talents any further in a fair Match than this comes to unless it be to swear you out of your Bets when you have won 'em and bring some of their Gang to give Judgment against you as 't is very common amongst ' em But all this is little to their Business and if there was nothing else in it but the Advantage they have in point of Judgment they must be quickly forc'd to find out some new Adventure or prepare to fight Battles of another Nature Their Business generally comes on when the Grand Match is over unless the whole be one of their own making then perhaps they have a By-match or two to divert the Company at Parting which may bring in something Here they set down One of the Sharpest narrow-heel'd●st Cocks they have to One that they know is a perfect Slug and 't is ten to one too to make all things sure but they crack his Beak or thrust a Pin into the Roof of his Mouth or blunt the Points of his Gafles or cramp him with a Hair about his thigh for in such cases they 'll be sure to make all things safe but then the force of their Designs depends chiefly upon the managing point against their Cock comes to be set down in order to which one of the more Reputable sort of Sharpers offers large Bets upon the Cock that is to lose and withal several Sham-wagers are laid among themselves This says he is a Brother to the Pile that kill'd Squire G 's Dun he came from Mr. R 's Hen and my Lord C 's Duckwing that won the Famous Battle at New Market And perhaps may be a Sightly Cock and a good Cock in Nature By these and such like Stratagems 't is odds but there is several snapt and to colour the matter when the Business is over they pretend that he receiv'd a Wound in the Body in the Sparring-blows and if he had not been accidentally disabled he would have certainly won the Battle and they 'll fight one of the same Brood with any Cock of his Match in England for a hundred Pound Sir I would not trouble you too much with this kind of Stuff you may judge from this short Draught what these Gentlemen would be at their sole Business is flat Sharping and Rooking and if you 'll venture in amongst 'em and hazard your Mony you may depend upon 't if they find you a Stranger they 'll have some Device either by fair means or foul to cheat you before they part with you But after all what I wonder can it be that should induce a Gentleman to hazard himself and his Reputation among such a Gang of Varlets as these are I can't imagine where the Diversion or Felicity can be to see a Kennel of Deep-mouth'd Ruffians standing round a Pair of Foolish Creatures Hollowing Cursing and Blaspheming whilst they mangle one another to death This is a very unaccountable way

and Singing good Scenes and the like the Sickly half-got Brat can be kept alive so long is commonly the grand Day then you may observe the general Humours of the House In one part of it you 'll see the Judges and the Wits with abundance of Hangers-on and Interlopers censuring and mistaking the Scene if there be any for the Non-sence 't is ten to one if there be any Part above the rest but some of these pretending Goxcombs unluckily pitch upon that for their Subject to laugh at the Reason of this is very plain perhaps they may know a little of the Merry Andrew Parts the dull Jokes and Drolls which at best are but the Rubbidge and Lumber of the Play but for the Flights and Extasies and the shining Parts of it those are utterly out of their Element and so consequently they are forc'd to damn and censure 'em in course because they don't understand 'em the poor Poet must be confounded and maul'd and what 's worse if there be e're a Phanatick that sets up for a Judge if there 's but a few accidental Expressions that don't exactly square with his Opinion and Inclination the whole Play upon the score of one single Character or Paragraph must be esteem'd a Satyr against the Government and have an Embargo laid upon it and the poor Author be doom'd as an Enemy to the Publick to be taken into Custody and whipt c. This within the compass of my own Knowledge has been the Fate of some of 'em and indeed I have known One of the best Tragedies that ever was writ stopt upon such a Peque In another part of the House sit the Poet's Friends which are resolv'd to carry him off right or wrong 't is no matter to them whether the Play be well or ill done they 're engag'd either for Friendship Interest or else by a Natural Spirit of Contradiction to oppose the other Faction and those you 'll observe stradling upon the Seats hollowing clapping and flouncing and making such an impertinent Clatter and Noise and using so many insolent and indecent Actions that I advise you as a Friend to keep as far from 'em as you can But what 's worse still perhaps in the very nick of all comes in a drunken Lord with a Party of Low Country Warriours or what 's more common a Country Squire that has lately taken up the Noble Profession of Scowring and Revelling and to shew their Parts and their Courage raise a Quarrel and put the whole House into a Hurly-burly then you 'll see fine Work indeed the Whores tumbling over the Seats and the poor Squires and Beaus tumbling after 'em in a horrible fright and disorder the whole Pit's in Arms in a Minute and every Man's Sword drawn to defend himself so that if the Uproar be not instantly supprest 't is great odds but there 's some body murder'd These Insurrections I confess don't often happen and 't is well they do not for if they shou'd they might ev'n play by themselves for who but a mad Man would run the risque of being stab'd or trode to Death to gratify himself with an empty insignificant Curiosity And indeed most of our Novel Farces have little else but barely that to recommend ' em But Sir if after all you will still go to the Play-house which I hope will be very seldom never when you have any Business of moment to divert you or call you off other ways why then if you 'll take a few short Instructions along with you I 'm confident if they do you no good they can do you no harm at worst you will esteem 'em I presume a well intended Impertinence and that 's the most pardonable Errour of any thing of that kind Well then upon the former Proviso that you have two or three loose hours that are intirely upon your Hands and you 're resolv'd to make use of the Play to fill up the idle Intervals your best way is to fix your self in some advantageous part of the Pit where with the least Disturbance and Interruption you may not only observe the Actions and Behaviour of the Actors but likewise hear every Individual Part distinctly by which means you may be able to understand the Plot and Design of the Play and to judge of the several Characters and what they drive at for unless you do this the best Play that ever was writ can seem nothing else but an empty Dim of Words and a jumble of things stuck together without any manner of Order 'T is true the greatest part of those that frequent the Play-house come thither upon a quite different Errand perhaps to see the Passionate Love or Hate of some great Queen or Lady represented the Destruction of some Prince or a Hero or the Rape of a Virgin or what 's more usual to hear the Singing and see the Dancing to observe some of the little Drolling Humours and Scenes and fine Cloaths of the Players But Sir I hope you wou'd not herd your self among such a Mob as these If this be all you propose to your Self from the Stage you may ev'n save your Mony and march to Lincolns-Inn Fields where a Mo●ntebank and his Andrew will divert you as well No no Sir the true Design of the Stage is utterly forreign to this i. e. to expose and detect Rebellion and Faction and Vice in general and to exalt and commend Loyalty Honour and Vertue and truly there 's hardly any Play if you take it right that 's acted at either of the Houses in London but makes some kind of advances towards one of these Ends. 'T is true Players like the Mony of a Fool as well as they do of a Man of Sence and in some measure are as willing to please him with their Trifles and Bables as Divert and Instruct the other with their Encomiums and Satyrs tho' by the way I must tell 'em they had best take care that by their Farces and Drols and their Jack Pudding tricks they don't at last pull their Houses upon their Heads but it seems they 're above Advice and so I won't go out of my Road to trouble my Head with 'em 't is well there 's more Fools than Men of Sence that are their Customers if there were not for all their Huffing their Shares might be soon drawn into a narrow compass Well Sir to have done with them and the Subject too if you please to observe what I have told you with this One thing more i. e. never to Imbark your self upon any Pretence or Account whatsoever in any of the Quarrels Humours Intrigues or Factions of the Stage you may then pass away an hour or two at the Play-house once in a Month but no oftner without any great matter of Hazard and with some kind of Advantage LETTER IX In which the Humours and Tricks of the Tennis Courts are exposed TENNIS is one of the most Manly and Active Diversions we have in England and

heretofore was hardly used by any but the Young Nobility and Gentlemen of the Chief Rank King Charles the Second was a great Master and Judge of it and would very often divert himself with a Set or two in the Royal Court at the Cock-pit with a great deal of Satisfaction This is a Game that depends purely upon Skill and Activity and not to be acquired without considerable Expence and Practice upon which Account indeed it has had the Advantage of most of the rest and abundance of Sharpers and Cheats have been kept out of it for want of Mony to pay the Charge of the Court and other Expences that are consequent to it But this however harmless and inoffensive it was in its Original and Design has of late incurred the same fate with most of the Diversions of that Nature and is strangely degenerated from a Noble and Genteel Exercise into a perfect Trade for Rooks and Sharpers who perceiving it would necessarily be a good Foundation for 'em to get a base Livelyhood by have cunningly twisted themselves into the Knowledge and Perfection of it As to the Game it self a Person that has never seen it before can make but little on 't except it be any Curiosity or Diversion to him to see three or four Persons furiously running after a few little Balls and laboriously bandying and tossing them about from one to another if this were all 'twere well enough but then when he hears the Marker calling Forty Love and a Chace and sees them changing their Sides and hears the Players wrangling and swearing about the taking of Bisks and Faults and talking of Cuts and Twists and Forces c. he presently concludes there must be some wonderful Secret in all this and so is resolved to satisfie himself a little further If he gets into the Dan among the Gentry that come there to bet and has the misfortune to ask any Questions or declare his Ignorance they presently give out the Word That here 's a Squire come and then two or three of the sharpest of the Gang come up with him presently in order to give him some little Insight and Directions into the Game that they may prepare him against an Opportunity to take him in here they tell him 't is all even and odd a perfect Lottery and that he may venture his Mony on either side for 't is all equal and so indeed in some Sets it is For the Noblemen and Gentlemen that are acquainted with the Game and play it upon the square and more for the Reputation of good Gamesters than for Interest commonly make their Matches so very nicely that the best Sharper and Judge among 'em can hardly before the Set's begun tell which way to bet his Money here perhaps he wins half a Piece or a Guinea which inclines him to believe that this must needs be a very Fair Game that a Stranger can get Mony at it at first Sight and truly as long as this Match lasts he 's in no great danger but then against this is over there 's another Set ready to step into the Court that will be sure to do his Business The Managers tell him 't is all equal now too that Squire A. is a good Striker-out but Squire B. is a better Back-hand that Mr. O. judges a Ball finely but then Mr. D. plays for a Chace much better than he so that upon the whole they conclude it a very good Match and that he 'll see these Gentlemen will make better Play than the former here they offer him his Choice or to throw Cross and Pile which side he 'll take if he complys and they have taken him in as far as the thing will conveniently bear at once then the Sign is made to the Players that they may manage their parts when this Set is over which is commonly play'd with as much seeming Eagerness and Fury and withal with the greatest Equality that can be why then with some little Sham-quarrels and wranglings about adjusting the Odds c. they agree upon another Here they Attack the Stranger again Come Sir you had the misfortune to be on the wrong side last time tho' 't was a very hard Match and no body could tell who had the best of it till the very Advantage-game take your choice we don't covet to carry off your Money And so they draw him on from one set to another and from little Bets to great Ones till they have stuck him as they call it and then to keep up to their own Dialect they seldom part with him till they have sent him away sweet and clean I was a tolerable Master of this Game my self I studied it at Oxford together with my Logicks and Ethicks and at last was arrived to that Perfection that but few Scholars in the Town durst encounter with me upon equal terms I wish I could have said the same with respect to the other but for all my mighty parts in the University when I came to London I soon found my Insufficiency and that I must be new Documentized before I must pretend to set up for my self they would now and then take me in with them to keep a Back-hand which was my Master-piece but truly I had soon enough of my Back-hand business In short I perceived they only made a Property of me as they do of all Strangers and so I knockt off in time besides I quickly grew acquainted with their Humours and Tricks and saw that there was but few Matches made but there was either a Bribed Marker or some Gentl'eman that had first lost his Estate and then his Honour and so was forc'd to comply with the Sharpings and Tricks of the Town to get his Bread or some Scoundrel that never had an Estate or Honour either but had acquired the Game by a diligent Attendance upon the Courts crowded in among them and that there was hardly a Set play'd but there was some sort of Falshood and Deceit practic'd I wisely disposed of my Raquets and Inclination together and left them to manage their Matters by themselves But supposing for once that the Game was as they 'd have the World believe square and equal yet one of these Sparks that make it their Trade to hunt about from Court to Court have such a vast Advantage of a Stranger that knows nothing of the Business that 't is morally impossible but they must get his Money and impose upon him at last There are several in Town that live purely upon the Tennis-Courts and live well too if such a way of Living may be call'd living well but then they have such a perfect Idea and Notion of a Set and so many Mysterious Methods to turn and wind their Bets and to bring themselves off when they have the worst that a Person must have a natural Sharpness of Temper and Genius back'd with a long Practice and Experience before he can be a tolerable Master of the Faculty But after