Roundabout Papers - Penn State University

Roundabout Paperswho have not paid their school debts yet, and who havenot taken up their long-protested promises to pay. Tom,Dick, Harry, my boys, I owe you no grudge, and ratherrelish that wince with which you will read these meeklines and say, “He means me.” Poor Jack in Hades! Doyou remember a certain pecuniary transaction, and alittle sum of money you borrowed “until the meeting ofParliament?” Parliament met often in your lifetime: Parliamenthas met since: but I think I should scarce bemore surprised if your ghost glided into the room now,and laid down the amount of our little account, than Ishould have been if you had paid me in your lifetimewith the actual acceptances of the Bank of England.You asked to borrow, but you never intended to pay. Iwould as soon have believed that a promissory note ofSir John Falstaff (accepted by Messrs. Bardolph and Nym,and payable in Aldgate,) would be as sure to find payment,as that note of the departed—nay, lamented—Jack Thriftless.He who borrows, meaning to pay, is quite a differentperson from the individual here described. Many—most,I hope—took Jack’s promise for what it was worth—and quite well knew that when he said, “Lend me,” hemeant “Give me” twenty pounds. “Give me change forthis half-crown,” said Jack; “I know it’s a pewter piece;”and you gave him the change in honest silver, and pocketedthe counterfeit gravely.What a queer consciousness that must be which accompaniessuch a man in his sleeping, in his waking, inhis walk through life, by his fireside with his childrenround him! “For what we are going to receive,” &c.—hesays grace before his dinner. “My dears! Shall I help youto some mutton? I robbed the butcher of the meat. Idon’t intend to pay him. Johnson my boy, a glass ofchampagne? Very good, isn’t it? Not too sweet. Fortysix.I get it from So-and-so, whom I intend to cheat.”As eagles go forth and bring home to their eaglets thelamb or the pavid kid, I say there are men who live andvictual their nests by plunder. We all know highwayrobbers in white neck-cloths, domestic bandits, marauders,passers of bad coin. What was yonder cheque whichMajor Delamere proposed I should cash but a piece of302