verance in so bad a caufe they call the point of honour."

When men are thus intoxicated with fo frantic a fpirit, laws will be of little avail; because the fame falfe fenfe of honour that prompts a man to facrifice himself, will deter him from appealing to the Magiftrate. Yet it is proper that laws fhould be, and be known publicly, that gentlemen may learn what penalties they wilfully incur, and what confidence they repofe in fharpers; who, if fuccefsful in play, are certain to be paid with honour; or if unsuccessful, have it in their power to be ftill greater gainers by informing. For by ftat. 16, Car. II. c. 7, if any person, by playing or betting, fhall lofe more than 1ool. at one time, he fhall not be compellable to pay the fame; and the winner fhall forfeit treble the value, one moiety to the King, the other to the informer. The 9th Anne, c. 14, enacts, that all bonds, and other fecurities, given for money won at play, or money lent at the time to play withal, fhall be utterly void that all mortgages and incumbrances of lands made upon the fame confideration, shall be and endure to the ufe of the heir of the mortgager: that if any person, at one time, lofes 10l. at play, he may fue the winner, and recover it back by action of debt at law; and, in cafe the lofer does

not, any other perfon may fue the winner for treble the fum fo loft; and the plaintiff in either cafe may examine the defendant himself upon oath; and no privilege of Parliament fhall be allowed. And if any one cheats at play, and at one time wins more than 10l. or any valuable thing, he may be indicted thereupon, and fhall forfeit five times the value; fhall be deemed infamous, and fhall fuffer fuch corporal punishment as in case of wilful perjury.

By ft. 18 Geo. II. c. 24, the ft. 9 Anne is farther enforced. The forfeitures of that act may now be recovered in a Court of Equity and if any be convicted, upon information or indictment, of winning or lofing at any fitting 10 or 20l. within twenty-four hours, he fhall forfeit five times the fum.

Thus careful has the legislature been to prevent this deftructive vice; which may fhew that our laws are not fo deficient as ourselves, and our magiftrates, in putting those laws in execution.

As gamefters are men who boast of very exalted fpirits, both as to the delicacy of their honour, and quick fenfibility of parts, I would beg leave to fhew them in what fovereign contempt the

judiciously

judicioufly candid Addifon held both: "It is wonderful (fays he) to fee perfons of the beft fenfe paffing away a dozen hours together in fhuffling and dividing a pack of cards, with no other converfation but what is made up of a few game phrases, and no other ideas but those of black or red spots ranged together in different figures.Would not a man laugh to hear any one of his fpecies complaining that life is fhort?" And in another place he fays, "You often fee a common sharper in competition with a gentleman of the first rank; though all mankind is convinced that a fighting gamefter is only a pick-pocket, with the courage of a highwayman."

OF FRIENDSHIP.

'HE greateft fweetner of human life is Friend

THE

fhip. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a fecret which but few difcover.Friendships, in general, are fuddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dif folved. A man who has amufed us for an evening with fprightly merriment, fhall be admitted into the number of our friends, and received with that ardour which is always the attendant upon the first impreffion of regards. But, though wit be

an agreeable, it is by no means the only qualifi cation neceffary in a friend; and is, of all others, the most precarious foundation of efteem. A wit, in this refpect, resembles a beauty; all admire her, though few would venture to chufe her as a wife.

Qualifications that make a man the object of general applause, are not, in themselves, fufficient to conciliate our friendly regards. Amidft this univerfal admiration, there is no opportunity for the partiality of friendship to exercise itself; and a man under the fame obligations to every perfon, cannot, in ftrict juftice, limit his regards to any one in particular. It is much more reasonable to suppose that he will facrifice the opinion and esteem of an individual, to the opinion and esteem of the reft; and will, at the expence of one admirer, attempt to raife his reputation with others.

But the wit is not the only man difqualified for Friendship. Look round the world, and you will fee men employed in fuch purfuits, and difturbed with fuch paffions, as make Friendship appear almost an empty name, and an imaginary existence. Moft breafts are fo contracted by selfish and mercenary principles, that they are incapable of feeling any of the finer movements and reciprocations of benevolence; and even where nature has foftened

foftened the heart to this delicate fenfibility, fhe has, perhaps, confiderably abated its operation, by principles and habits of a contrary kind.Some are fufceptible of the warmest affection, quick to the call of neceffity, and ready to relieve and fuccour diftrefs; but then they lie open to the attack of every fofter paffion, and have not fortitude fufficient to reafon down these rifing propenfities of nature into the genuine principles of difinterested Friendship. Others, from selfishnefs and pride, fhall lend an easy ear to the whifper of malignity and envy. Others destroy Friendship by fufpicion and referve. Others have hearts foft to every impreffion; and, in these, one feal of Friendship is obliterated by another: while fome, by a mutable difpofition of mind, relinquish their friends, not because they ceafe to be, but continue what they once were. But when we come to reflect, on the one hand, that Friendfhip, in order to be true and lafling, muft know no rival or referve, have fimilar virtues for its foundation, and mutual esteem for its fupport, and the happiness of another preferred to our own; and when we confider, on the other, the fufpicions of pride, the love of fuperiority, and the natural diftruft of the human heart, we fhall foon find that Socrates made a right eftimate of Friendship,

and