' He had in his pocket
Pomponius Mela de situ Orbis, in which he read occasionally, and seemed
very intent upon ancient geography. Though by no means niggardly,
his attention to what was generally right was so minute, that having
observed at one of the stages that I ostentatiously gave a shilling
to the coachman, when the custom was for each passenger to give only
six-pence, he took me aside and scolded me, saying that what I had
done would make the coachman dissatisfied with all the rest of
the passengers, who gave him no more than his due. This was a just
reprimand; for in whatever way a man may indulge his generosity or his
vanity in spending his money, for the sake of others he ought not to
raise the price of any article for which there is a constant demand.
At supper this night* he talked of good eating with uncommon
satisfaction. 'Some people (said he,) have a foolish way of not minding,
or pretending not to mind, what they eat. For my part, I mind my belly
very studiously, and very carefully; for I look upon it, that he who
does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else.
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