drunkard, an abandoned whoremaster, and a profligate swearer and curser. As it may be of use to you, I am not unwilling, though at the same time ashamed, to own that the vices of my youth proceeded much more from my silly resolution of being what I heard called a man of pleasure, than from my own inclinations. I always naturally hated drinking; and yet I have often drunk, with disgust at the time, attended by great sickness the next day, only because I then considered drinking as a necessary qualification for a fine gentleman and a man of pleasure. [March 27, 1747.]
Gambling.—The same as to gaming. I did not
want money, and consequently had no occasion to
play for it; but I thought play another necessary
ingredient in the composition of a man of pleasure,
and accordingly I plunged into it, without desire at
first; sacrificed a thousand real pleasures to it; and
made myself solidly uneasy by it for thirty the best
years of my life.
I was even absurd enough, for a little while, to swear, by way of adorning and completing the shining character which I affected; but this folly I soon laid aside upon finding both the guilt and the indecency of it.
Thus seduced by fashion, and blindly adopting
