[18] “Those who regard Health will not frequent crowded rooms and assemblies. When I was at Bath, about to publish an Essay on the effects of Noxious Air, one of my brethren waggishly said, ‘Let them alone, Doctor; for how else will 26 Physicians be able to exist here?’”—Dr. Adair on Diet, &c. 8vo. p. 93. 1812.
[19] “To what an unfortunate change the present fashions are conforming Mankind! The Country-houses of our Nobility and Gentry are empty in July. Thus the Spring months, the season of Joy throughout creation, pass unobserved by the affluent and gay. The souls of human beings, in this Age of Art, would seem to wish the Sun to be darkened; they find no pleasure but in the light of a Lamp.—I feel for the rising generation, when I consider the effects of these overgrown follies upon Inexperienced minds.”—Dr. Trotter on the Nervous Temperament, 8vo. p. 245. 1807.
[20] “There is an ordinary trick at common Inns of Stealing the Horse’s Oats, where, although the Masters be in good condition and honest, yet their Servants rob one another of the Oats committed to their charge, and then make a piece of Gallantry and Jest of it.”—Sollysell’s Compleat Horseman, fol. p. 108. 1717.
[21] It should have been within Five Miles!
[22] The best Map we have seen of this Ground, as it was in 1805, i. e. just before the Improvements, as it is the fashion to call the Piles of Bricks and Mortar which now stand where we used to walk and enjoy the Fresh Air, was published by Bowles and Carver, in St. Paul’s Churchyard, where it may still be had, and is entitled “A Map of London and its Environs, Three Miles round St. Paul’s, in 1805.”
[23] Bolts and Nuts are the machinery by which the Timber and Iron work is fixed together.
[24] To tell the Reader exactly what class of persons was meant to be designated by the word Gentleman, in the year 1757, would be as difficult a task as to define it now. The last time we heard it, was on visiting a Stable to look at a Horse, when, on inquiring for the Coachman, his Stable Keeper replied, “He is just stepped to the Public House along with another Gentleman.”
The following is the Negro’s definition of a Gentleman:—“Massa make de black Man workee—make de Horse workee—make de Ox workee—make every ting workee, only de Hog: he, de Hog, no workee; he eat, he drink, he walk about, he go to sleep when he please, he liff like a Gentleman.”—European Mag. January, 1811, p. 17.
I have never forgotten Sir Richard Steele’s Observation, which struck my mind with happy force in my boyish days:—“A Christian and a Gentleman are become inconsistent Appellations of the same person. You cannot expect Eternal Life, if you do not forgive Injuries: the Weak and the Wicked will do their utmost to make your Mortal Life uncomfortable, if you are not ready to commit a Murder in Resentment for an Affront.”—From No. 20 of the Guardian.
Sir Richard has very properly applied to the Duellist what Dr. South has said of the Liar: “He is a Coward to Man, and a Bravo to God!”