izens, who met of an evening for a
little harmless recreation after business; their object was, not to
reform parliament, but their own shops; not to correct the abuses of
government, but of parish officers; not to cure the excesses of
administration, but of their own porters and apprentices; to talk
over the news of the day without aspiring to direct the events of
it. They read the papers with that anxiety which every honest man
feels in the daily history of his country. But as trade, which they
_did_ understand, flourished, they were careful not to reprobate
those public measures by which it was protected, and which they did
_not_ understand. In such turbulent times it was a comfort to each
to feel he was a tradesman, and not a statesman; that he was not
called to responsibility for a trust for which he found he had no
talents, while he was at full liberty to employ the talents he
really possessed, in fairly amassing a fortune, of which the laws
would be the best guardian, and government the best security. Thus a
legitimate self-love, regulated by prudence, and restrained by
principle, produced peaceable subjects and good citizens; while in
Fantom, a boundless selfishness and inordinate vanity converted a
discontented trader into a turbulent politician.

There was, however, one member of the Cat and Bagpipes whose
society he could not resolve to give up, though they seldom agreed,
as indeed no two men in the same class and habits of life could
less resemble each other. Mr. Trueman was an honest, plain,
simple-hearted tradesman of the good old cut, who feared God and
followed his business; he went to church twice on Sundays, and
minded his shop all the week, spent frugally, gave liberally, and
saved moderately. He lost, however, some ground in Mr. Fantom's
esteem, because he paid his taxes without disputing, and read his
Bible without doubting.

Mr. Fantom now began to be tired of every thing in trade except the
profits of it; for the more the word benevolence was in his mouth,
the more did selfishness gain dominion in his heart. He, however,
resolved to retire for a while into the country, and devote his time
to his new plans, schemes, theories, and projects for the public
good. A life of talking, and reading, and writing, and disputing,
and teaching, and proselyting, now struck him as the only life; so
he soon set out for the country with his family; for unhappily Mr.
Fantom had been the husband of a very worthy w