Page:True humanity usefully exerted.pdf/21

(21) trading world; induſtry will bring riches, idleneſs beggary, nor is there any ſettled medium between theſe.

Claudian ſeemed indeed to have all the falſe notions of the generality of our young traders; and too many in this city are ruined daily by the ſame, yet that they are ſtill propagated among numbers as the ſecrets of trading, is a truth as certain as the goſpel.

Claudian’s affairs began now to run greatly behind-hand, without his knowing it; out that which others plan out as a laſt relief when they find themſelves juſt going, was now likely to prove ſo to our young gentleman trader, without his knowing it. A young lady who accidentally came into his ſhop one day, when he was preſent, took away both what ſhe bought, and her tradeſman’s heart alſo.

In ſhort, Claudian watched her home. He was prudent enough, before he went any farther, to inform himſelf whom ſhe was, and found her to be a perſon of a good family, with ten thouſand pounds fortune.

As Claudian was a man of a polite and engaging behaviour, he ſoon found means of introducing himſelf into the family; and as he imagined himſelf more than an equal match for her, he made it his firſt ſtep to ſettle matters with her father. This man had indeed no liking to this ſort of gentleman-trading that Claudian carried on; but