than a periwig.”  St. Evremond was a kind of Epicurean philosopher, and drew his own character in the following terms, in a letter to Count de Grammont.  He was a philosopher equally removed from superstition and impiety; a voluptuary who had no less aversion from debauchery than inclination for pleasure:  a man who had never felt the pressure of indigence, and who had never been in possession of affluence:  he lived in a condition despised by those who have everything, envied by those who have nothing, and relished by those who make their reason the foundation of their happiness.  When he was young he hated profusion, being persuaded that some degree of wealth was necessary for the conveniencies of a long life:  when he was old, he could hardly endure economy, being of opinion that want is little to be dreaded when a man has but little time left to be miserable.  He was well pleased with nature, and did not complain of fortune.  He hated vice, was indulgent to frailties, and lamented misfortunes.  He sought not after the failings of men with a design to expose them; he only found what was ridiculous in them for his own amusement:  he had a secret pleasure in discovering this himself, and would, indeed, have had a still greater in discovering this to others, had not he been checked by discretion.  Life, in his opinion, was too short to read all sorts of books, and to burden one’s memory with a multitude of things, at the expense of one’s judgment.  He did not apply himself to the most learned writings, in order to acquire knowledge, but to the most rational, to fortify his reason:  he sometimes chose the most delicate, to give delicacy to his own taste, and sometimes the most agreeable, to give the same to his own genius.  It remains that he should be described, such as he was, in friendship and in religion.  In friendship he was more constant than a philosopher, and more sincere than a young man of good nature without experience.  With regard to religion, his piety consisted more in justice and charity than in penance or mortification.  He placed his confidence in God, trusting in His goodness, and hoping that in the bosom of His providence he should find his repose and his felicity.”—­He was buried in Westminster Abbey.]

The Chevalier was from that time his hero:  they had each of them attained to all the advantages which a knowledge of the world, and the society of people of fashion, could add to the improvement of good natural talents.  Saint Evremond, less engaged in frivolous pursuits, frequently gave little lectures to the Chevalier, and by making observations upon the past, endeavoured to set him right for the present, or to instruct him for the future.  “You are now,” said he, “in the most agreeable way of life a man of your temper could wish for:  you are the delight of a youthful, sprightly, and gallant court:  the king has never a party of pleasure to which you are not admitted.  You play from morning to night, or, to speak more properly, from night to morning,