could induce him to depart from a resolution, which he adopted early in
life, of never playing, in any company whatever, for more than a nominal
stake. Upon one occasion only, he had been persuaded, contrary to his
rule, to play with the late Bishop Watson for a shilling, which he won.
Pushing it carefully to the bottom of his pocket, and placing his hand
upon it, with a kind of mock solemnity, "There, my Lord Bishop," said
he, "this is a trick of the devil; but I'll match him: so now, if you
please, we will play for a penny;" and this was ever after the amount of
his stake. He was not, on that account, at all the less ardent in the
prosecution, or the less joyous in the success, of the rubber. He had a
high opinion of his own skill in this game, and could not very patiently
tolerate the want of it in his partner. Being engaged with a party, in
which he was unequally matched, he was asked by a lady how the fortune
of the game turned? when he replied, "Pretty well, Madam, considering
that I have three adversaries!"

Even ladies were not spared, who incurred his displeasure, either by
pertinacious adherence to the wrong in opinion, or by deficiency of
attention to the right and the amiable in conduct. To one, who had
violated, as he thought, some of the little rules of propriety, he said,
"Madam, your father was a gentlemen, and I thought that his daughter
might have been a lady." To another, who had held out in argument
against him, not very powerfully, and rather too perseveringly, and who
had closed the debate by saying, "Well, Dr. Parr, I still maintain my
opinion." He replied, "Madam, you may, if you please, _retain_ your
opinion, but you cannot _maintain_ it."

* * * * *