It will be understood, that a _compadore_ must, of necessity, be a good accountant; like the _sircar_, he is well versed in fractions, and carries his computations down to a single _gundah_ of _cowries_, (_i.e._ four _Blackamoors’ teeth_). This minuteness passes with many for honesty; but by far the greater part of house-keepers either put those very small parts out of the question, (regardless of the old saying, that, ‘if the pence are well taken care of, they will nourish the shillings; while the pounds acquire strength to take care of themselves,’) or they content themselves with the reflection, that the accounts are correctly taken, without even examining their contents. Every charge thus becomes sanctioned when committed to paper; therefore each knave is anxious to have his items noted, under the full conviction, that, thenceforth, they are beyond the probability, if not the possibility, of refutation. But such will never be effected, unless a few of the filberts are, according to the old fable, dropped into the _compadore’s_ bag; so as to diminish the bulk of the hand, and to allow its retiring with the remainder of the booty. Not a _cowrie_ can stir without the _compadore’s_ knowledge! Under the plea of fidelity to his employer, he insists upon being privy to every disbursement; never failing to preach up his own vigilance; and (which is the best of the joke,) making a point of attending every morning with his hands full of papers, and his ink-pot, &c., in readiness to give a detail of the expences of the preceding day; though he perfectly knows that detail is never attended to. Let us not suppose that such deception is local: in other, or in various, forms, we may find it throughout the world. Some, who boast of the excellence of English menials, &c. may, perhaps, affect to believe them to be less infected with such knavery as is above displayed; but an appeal to that too correct history of the times, yclep’d ‘The Newgate Kalendar,’ must remove every doubt of the instability of such an exemption; and should assure us, that, whenever temptation solicits, and opportunity favors, few, of any sect, color, or rank, have the virtue to resist, provided the object be proportioned to the risk!