unpleasing object of contemplation.

The purse should be used at the card-table; but never produced unless you
are called upon as a loser to _pay_. It may then be resorted to with an
air of _nonchalance;_ and when the demand upon it has been honoured, it
should be thrown carelessly upon the table, as though to indicate your
_almost_ anxiety to make a further sacrifice of its contents. Should you,
however, be a winner, any exhibition of the purse might be construed into
an unseemly desire of "welling," or securing your gains, which of course
must always be a matter of perfect indifference to you; and whatever
advantages you obtain from chance or skill should be made obvious to every
one are only destined to enrich your valet, or be beneficially expended in
the refreshment of cabmen and ladies of faded virtue. In order to convey
these intentions more conspicuously, should the result of an evening be in
your favour, your winnings should be consigned to your waistcoat pocket;
and if you have any particular desire to heighten the effect, a piece of
moderate value may be left on the table.

[Illustration: A GENTLEMAN TAKING A FIRST FLOOR]

cannot do better than find an excuse for a recurrence to his purse; and
then the partial exhibition of the coin alluded to above will be found to
be productive of a feeling most decidedly confirmatory in the mind of the
landlady that you are a true gentleman.

The same cause will produce the same effect with a tradesman whose
album--we beg pardon, whose ledger--you intend honouring with your name.

You should never display your purse to a poor friend or dependant, or the
sight of it might not only stimulate their cupidity, or raise their