miss he may not be without a reserve; for he esteems Cupid very improvident if he has not more than two strings to his bow.  When he wants a better introduction he begins his addresses to the chambermaid, like one that sues the tenant to eject the landlord, and according as he thrives there makes his approaches to the mistress.  He can tell readily what the difference is between jointure with tuition of infant, land, and money of any value, and what the odds is to a penny between them all, either to take or leave.  He does not so much go a-wooing as put in his claim, as if all men of fortune had a fair title to all women of the same quality, and therefore are said to demand them in marriage.  But if he be a wooer of fortune, that designs to raise himself by it, he makes wooing his vocation, deals with all matchmakers, that are his setters, is very painful in his calling, and if his business succeed, steals her away and commits matrimony with a felonious intent.  He has a great desire to beget money on the body of a woman, and as for other issue is very indifferent, and cares not how old she be so she be not past money-bearing.

AN IMPUDENT MAN

Is one whose want of money and want of wit have engaged him beyond his abilities.  The little knowledge he has of himself, being suitable to the little he has in his profession, has made him believe himself fit for it.  This double ignorance has made him set a value upon himself, as he that wants a great deal appears in a better condition than he that wants a little.  This renders him confident and fit for any undertaking, and sometimes (such is the concurrent ignorance of the world) he prospers in it, but oftener miscarries and becomes ridiculous; yet this advantage he has, that as nothing can make him see his error, so nothing can discourage him that way, for he is fortified with his ignorance, as barren and rocky places are by their situation, and he will rather believe that all men want judgment than himself.  For, as no man is pleased that has an ill opinion of himself, Nature, that finds out remedies herself, and his own ease, render him insensible of his defects.  From hence he grows impudent; for, as men judge by comparison, he knows as little what it is to be defective as what it is to be excellent.  Nothing renders men modest but a just knowledge how to compare themselves with others; and where that is wanting impudence supplies the place of it, for there is no vacuum in the minds of men, and commonly, like other things in Nature, they swell more with rarefaction than condensation.  The more men know of the world, the worse opinion they have of it; and the more they understand of truth, they are better acquainted with the difficulties of it, and consequently are the less confident in their assertions, especially in matters of probability, which commonly is squint-eyed and looks nine ways at once.  It is the office of a just judge to hear