what these people are; they say there are two partners of them, but
there had as good be none, for they are never at home, nor in their
shop: one wears a long wig and a sword, I hear, and you see him often
in the Mall and at court, but very seldom in his shop, or waiting on his
customers; and the other, they say, lies a-bed till eleven o'clock every
day, just comes into the shop and shows himself, then stalks about to
the tavern to take a whet, then to Child's coffee-house to hear the
news, comes home to dinner at one, takes a long sleep in his chair after
it, and about four o'clock comes into the shop for half an hour, or
thereabouts, then to the tavern, where he stays till two in the morning,
gets drunk, and is led home by the watch, and so lies till eleven again;
and thus he walks round like the hand of a dial. And what will it all
come to?--they'll certainly break, that you may be sure of; they can't
hold it long.'

'This is the town's way of talking, where they see an example of it in
the manner as is described; nor are the inferences unjust, any more than
the description is unlike, for such certainly is the end of such
management, and no shop thus neglected ever made a tradesman rich.

On the contrary, customers love to see the master's face in the shop,
and to go to a shop where they are sure to find him at home. When he
does not sell, or cannot take the price offered, yet the customers are
not disobliged, and if they do not deal now, they may another time: if
they do deal, the master generally gets a better price for his goods
than a servant can, besides that he gives better content; and yet the
customers always think they buy cheaper of the master too.

I seem to be talking now of the mercer or draper, as if my discourse
were wholly bent and directed to them; but it is quite contrary, for it