Anon – The Art of Thriving – 1674

5. Gaming, Is the High-Way to Beggars-Bush; a bewitching vanity, that will not suffer a man to keep his money in his pocket, without putting it to the hazard of a Throw, whether it shall continue his own or be anothers,

Such is the advice given by the anonymous author of the single sheet pamphlet ‘The Art of Thriving or, the way to Get and Keep Money: Being, a Seasonable Caution to Slothful Drones and Prodigal Spend-thrifts: Containing sundry Excellent Rules and Observations for Promoting Good-husbandry, and Banishing Idleness and Profuseness, the certain Parents of Poverty: Principally intended for an Admonition to Youth, but necessary to be practiced by all persons in these hard Times; and to be set up in every Family.’ London: Printed for J. Coniers, and are to be sold at the entrance into Popes-head Alley, next Lombard-street, 1674.

Other causes were to be gaudy in apparel, a Liqourish Touch or Extravagant Diet, Drinking (or as they name it) Good Fellowship, Courting of women and after Gaming, Suretyship and trusting to servants. The pamphlet also includes a useful table of weekly, monthly and annual expenses or wages, encouraging long terms saving and anticipating Charles Dickens’s famous dichotomy of happiness and misery.

Wing (2nd ed., 1994) / A3795

EEBO

Posted: October 20th, 2025 | Filed under: Writers, Uncategorized | | No Comments »