piration merely. But let me turn to the
confessions of my friend, my Mentor, I may call him, a man who is a
Member of the Burlington itself, one who has had losses, go to! Hear
him speak:--

"I have always sympathised," he says, "with _Mr. Pickwick_, in regard
to his experiences at Whist; that is to say, his experience on the
second occasion narrated in his history. The first time, it will be
remembered, all went well, when, owing to unfortunate lapses on the
part of 'the criminal Miller,' who omitted to 'trump the diamond'
and subsequently revoked, he and the fat gentleman were worsted in an
encounter with _Mr. Wardle's_ mother and the immortal hero.

"But at Bath there was a different tale to tell, the _Dowager Lady
Snuphanuph_ and _Mrs. Colonel Wugsby_, proved too able for him and
_Miss Bolo_, who when he played a wrong card, which, like me, he
probably did every other time, looked a small armoury of daggers,
and subsequently in a beautiful instance of the figure known to the
grammarian as Hendiadys, went home in tears and a Sedan chair."

Bearing in mind the advice attributed to TALLEYRAND, I have
conscientiously endeavoured to become a Whist-player; but it is
becoming increasingly obvious to me, that owing to the malison
pronounced at my birth, my room is generally preferred to my company.
And yet I have studied the subject according to my lights. Every
instance of Whist in fiction which comes under my notice receives my
undivided attention, and when I read Miss BROUGHTON, such a sentence
as, "I suppose," she said, "that it's the right thing to play out all
one's aces first? Her partner conscientiously endeavoured to veil the
expression of extreme dissent which this proposition called forth,
and with such success that the ace of hearts instantly and confidently
followed his brother."

When I read hints like these, I garner them up for my own future use.
I have pored over every known text-book on the subject, from MATTHEWS
and HOYLE to CAVENDISH. I once went so far as to learn the proper
leads by rote, forgetting them all within a week; and owing to my
inveterate habit of endeavouring to justify the most flagitious acts
by a supposed reference to authority, have earned for myself the name
of "Pole."

There are some with whom I play, who contrive to make me feel more at
my ease than do others, and even look upon me in virtue of my playing
with "those men at the Club" as one having authority; for among
the blin