[195] [The use of "persuasion" as a synonime for "religion," is, perhaps, of American descent. Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address as President of U.S.A., speaks "of whatever state or persuasion, political or religious." At the beginning of the nineteenth century theological niceties were not regarded, and the great gulph between a religion and a sect or party was imperfectly discerned. Hence the solecism.]
[ [196] [Compare the lines which Byron enclosed in a letter to Moore, dated December 24, 1816 (Letters, 1900, iv. 30)—
"But the Carnival's coming,
Oh Thomas Moore,
[197] {160}[Monmouth Street, now absorbed in Shaftesbury Avenue (west side), was noted throughout the eighteenth century for the sale of second-hand clothes. Compare—
"Thames Street gives cheeses, Covent Garden fruits,
Moorfields old books, and Monmouth Street old suits."
Gay's Trivia, ii. 547, 548.
Rag Fair or Rosemary Lane, now Royal Mint Street, was the Monmouth Street of the City. Compare—
"Where wave the tattered ensigns of Rag Fair."
Pope's Dunciad, i. 29, var.