with more Respect, for he valued it above all he was worth beside, it being
made out of a Piece of the _Royal Oak_. His Visitant, who was a Man of
Fortune, immediately had a Desire to be in Possession of such a Treasure:
Over a Bottle he let him know his Inclination, and the good-natur'd old
Gentleman, who could refuse nothing to so dear a Friend, was prevailed upon
to accept of a _Gold Watch_ in Exchange for his _Stool_. It was immediately
sent down to the Mansion-house in the Country, where it is to be seen
finely incased, and is shewn to all Strangers as the most valuable Rarity
of the Family. _Tom Varnish_, who is a Pupil of our old Humourists, is a
good Proficient in his Way of Conversation: Whenever you see him, he's just
come from visiting some great Person of Quality. If a Game at _Hombre_ be
proposed, and you are settling your Way of Play, he says, _We never play it
so at the Dutchess's_. If you ask him to take a Glass of Wine at a Tavern
with you, he is always engaged in a _Parti quarre_; and then he speaks all
the _French_ he is Master of. If he has an Amour, it is with a Woman of
Quality. He sits in the Side Box the first Act of the Play, and stays no
longer, for some Reasons best known to himself. It happened once, that a
Person sat next to him, who, by his Star and Garter, he knew to be of the
first Rank: _Tom_, seeing some of his Acquaintance in the middle Gallery,
thought it would be for his Reputation to be seen to talk with this
Gentleman; therefore, observing when the Eyes of his Acquaintance were upon
him, he drew his Lips near my Lord's Ear, and asked him _what a Clock it
was_; my Lord answered him; then _Tom_ look'd up again, and smiled; and
when he talked with his Friends next, told them, that his Lordship had
informed him of some Changes designed at Court, not yet made publick; and
therefore they must pardon him if he did not communicate. He did not come
off so well upon another Occasion; for having boasted of a great Intimacy
with a certain Foreign Minister, _Tom_ was asked by some Gentlemen to go
one Evening to his Assembly: He willingly accepted the Party, thinking by
their Means to get Admittance: They, on the contrary, expected to be