Certainly, never had man less cause to complain of Fortune than Maclaine, and it would seem throughout his life, that she had determined to make his ruin entirely the work of his own hand, and leave him at last utterly without excuse or palliation; for meeting on ’Change with a gentleman, a countryman of his own, to whom he had formerly related his hopes of making a fortune in the manner we have related, he told him his situation at the present moment, adding that he was now undone, that he had spent his all in that unhappy project, and had not wherewithal to subsist on here, or to carry him from a place in which he felt he was cutting a very ridiculous figure. Hereupon the gentleman spoke in his behalf to some others of his countrymen; and as his conduct heretofore, according the notions of the age, had been rather imprudent than vicious, they actually raised sixty guineas to fit him out for Jamaica, which they gave him, promising him letters of recommendation from some merchants of respectability to their own correspondents. Here, then, was a prospect at once opened to him of future happiness and prosperity. Let us see how it terminated. He had agreed for the passage, paid part of the money in advance, and bespoken some necessaries fitted for the climate, when, unhappily for the infatuated man, he was prompted to go to a masquerade, to take leave, as he said, for the last time, of the bewitching pleasures of London, and to bid a final farewell to this species of enjoyment, which he should have no hope of partaking in the West Indies. He went with the whole of his money in his pocket. The strange appearance of the place and of the company amused him for a while, but the noise of the gamesters drew his attention to the gaming-table, where the quick transition of large sums from one hand to another awakened his avarice, and lulled his prudence asleep. In short, he ventured, and in half an hour had possessed himself of a hundred guineas, with which he resolved, according to their phrase, “to tie up;” but avarice had now attacked him; and after taking a turn or two round the room, he again returned, and in a few minutes was stripped to the last guinea. It is needless to describe his agony on this occasion. His money gone, his expedition utterly disconcerted, and his friends lost past redemption! What was now to be done? In this extremity, his evil genius, now in the ascendant, prompted him to send to Plunket to advise with and from that moment his ruin commenced. This was the favorable moment for Plunket. Himself a man of no honor, an utter stranger to all ties or principles of religion or honesty, an old sharper, and a daring fellow into the bargain, this was an opportunity, when his friend was agitated almost to madness, to propose, at first by distant hints, and at last in plain English, going on the highway.