that very juncture a person comes to his warehouse.
Suppose the tradesman to be a warehouse-keeper, who trades by
commission, and this person, being a clothier in the country, comes to
offer him his business, the commission of which might have been worth to
him thirty to forty or fifty pounds per annum; but finding him abroad,
or rather, not finding him at home and in his business, goes to another,
and fixes with him at once. I once knew a dealer lose such an occasion
as this, for an afternoon's pleasure, he being gone a-fishing into
Hackney-marsh. This loss can never be restored, this expense of time was
a fatal expense of money; and no tradesman will deny but they find many
such things as this happen in the course of trade, either to themselves
or others.

2. Another tradesman is invited to dinner by his great friend; for I am
now speaking chiefly upon the subject of keeping high company, and what
the tradesman sometimes suffers by it; it is true, that there he finds a
most noble entertainment, the person of quality, and that professes a
friendship for him, treats him with infinite respect, is fond of him,
makes him welcome as a prince--for I am speaking of the acquaintance as
really valuable and good in itself--but then, see it in its
consequences. The tradesman on this occasion misses his 'Change, that
is, omits going to the Exchange for that one day only, and not being
found there, a merchant with whom he was in treaty for a large parcel of
foreign goods, which would have been to his advantage to have bought,
sells them to another more diligent man in the same way; and when he
comes home, he finds, to his great mortification, that he has lost a
bargain that would have been worth a hundred pounds buying; and now
being in want of the goods, he is forced to entreat his neighbour who
bought them to part with some of them at a considerable advance of
price, and esteem it a favour too. Who now paid dearest for the visit to
a person of figure?--the gentleman, who perhaps spent twenty shillings
extraordinary to give him a handsome dinner, or the tradesman who lost a
bargain worth a hundred pounds buying to go to eat it?

3. Another tradesman goes to 'Change in the ordinary course of his
business, intending to speak with some of the merchants, his customers,
as is usual, and get orders for goods, or perhaps an appointment to come
to his warehouse to buy; but a snare of the like kind falls in his way,
and a couple of friend