vil with English guineas.
A subscription for individuals may be considered a society for the
ostentatious encouragement of idleness, impudence, beggary, imposture,
and other public virtues!

XI.

Whenever you read the life of a great man, I mean a man eminently
successful, you will perceive all the qualities given to him are the
qualities necessary even to a mediocre rogue. "He possessed," saith the
biographer, "the greatest address [namely, the faculty of wheedling];
the most admirable courage [namely, the faculty of bullying]; the most
noble fortitude [namely, the faculty of bearing to be bullied]; the most
singular versatility [namely, the faculty of saying one thing to one
man, and its reverse to another]; and the most wonderful command over
the mind of his contemporaries [namely, the faculty of victimizing
their purses or seducing their actions]." Wherefore, if luck cast you in
humble life, assiduously study the biographies of the great, in order to
accomplish you as a rogue; if in the more elevated range of society, be
thoroughly versed in the lives of the roguish: so shall you fit yourself
to be eminent!

XII.

The hypocrisy of virtue, my beloved pupils, is a little out of fashion
nowadays; it is sometimes better to affect the hypocrisy of vice. Appear
generously profligate, and swear with a hearty face that you do not
pretend to be better than the generality of your neighbours. Sincerity
is not less a covering than lying; a frieze great-coat wraps you as well
as a Spanish cloak.

XIII.

When you are about to execute some great plan, and to defraud a number
of persons, let the first one or two of the allotted number be the
cleverest, shrewdest fellows you can find. You have then a reference
that will alone dupe the rest of the world. "That Mr. Lynx is
satisfied," will amply suffice to satisfy Mr. Mole of the honesty of
your intentions! Nor are shrewd men the hardest to take in; they rely on
their strength: invulnerable heroes are necessarily the bravest. Talk to
them in a business-like manner, and refer your design at once to their
lawyer. My friend John Shamberry was a model in this grand stroke of
art. He swindled twelve people to the tune of some thousands, with no
other trouble than it first cost him to swindle--whom do you think?--the
Secretary to the Society for the Suppression of Swind