Except play, her father had scarcely any resource for a livelihood.

He affected, indeed, to give lessons in Italian and French to young Englishmen; but he was so fastidious as to the rank and condition of his pupils, so unaccommodating as to his hours and so unpunctual, that it was evident that the whole was a mere pretence of industry, to avoid the reproach of being utterly dependent on the play-table; besides this, in his capacity as a teacher he obtained access to houses and acceptance with families where he would have found entrance impossible under other circumstances.
He was polished and good-looking.

All his habits bespoke familiarity with society; and he knew to the nicest fraction the amount of intimacy he might venture on with any one.

Some did not like him--the man of a questionable position, the reduced gentleman, has terrible prejudices to combat.

He must always be suspected--Heaven knows of what, but of some covert design against the religion or the pocket, or the influence of those who admit him.