It appears from an examination of the registers, etc., that Thos. Sice and Thos. Horn were really churchwardens in the year 1725, when the repairs were made. This print came out only ten years afterwards; and the present state of the building seems to intimate that Messieurs Sice and Horn had cheated the parish, when they officially superintended the affairs of their church. The coat, shoes, and stockings of the charity-boy convey a similar satire, though that is directed to another quarter. [86] The Reverend Mr. Gilpin. [87] The thought is taken from a similar character to be found among the figures of the principal personages in the court of Louis XIV., folio. This work has no engraver's name, but was probably published about the year 1700. [88] This is said to be old Manners (brother to John Duke of Rutland), to whom the old Duke of Devonshire lost the great estate of Leicester Abbey. Manners was the only person of his time who had amassed a considerable fortune by the profession of a gamester. [89] It has been thought intended for a portrait of William Duke of Cumberland; but this cannot be, for the Duke was not more than fifteen years of age when these prints were published. [90] Such an accident as is here represented really happened at White's Chocolate House, St. James's Street, on the 3d of May 1733. [91] A masquerade is not often considered as the school of morality: it frequently leads to vice, but seldom reclaims from error. That it once had a salutary effect, the following story will evince. Lord C----e, with many amiable virtues, and many brilliant accomplishments, had a most unfortunate propensity to gaming; in one night he lost upwards of thirty thousand pounds to the late General Scott. Mortified at his ill-fortune, he paid the money, and wished to keep the circumstance secret: it was, however, whispered in the polite circles, and his lordship, to divert his chagrin, a few nights after slipped on a domino, and went to a masquerade at Carlisle House. He found all the company running after three Irish ladies of the name of G----e, in the characters of _the three weird sisters_. These ladies were so well acquainted with everything that was going on in the great world, that they kept the room in a continued roar by the brilliancy of their _bon-mots_, and the terseness of their applications to some ladies of rank who were present. They knew Lord C----e, and they knew of his loss, though he did not know them. He walked up to them, and in a solemn tone of voice addressed them as follows:-- "Ye black and midnight hags,--what do ye do? Live ye, or are ye aught that man may question? Quickly unclasp to me the book of fate, And tell if good or ill my steps await!" _First Witch._ "All hail, C----e! all hail to thee! All hail! though poor thou soon shalt be!"