As Sir Exquisite Irritable says, “Nothing can be less Nice than the Re-respiration of Respired Air, every whif of which has just popped out of the Mouth of another! To Drink out of the same Cup, is comparatively an act of delectable Refinement!!!”
What is to be said FOR the Absurdity of not going out to an Evening Party, until You ought to be going into Your Bed? Every Body has enough to say AGAINST it! But, nevertheless, the very persons who exclaim loudest against this foolish Fashion, are frequently found among the foremost of those who follow it.—How comes this? why, this is quite inconceivable!—No, indeed,—No!—pray pardon me—with the utmost submission, it is among the strange things which are very easily accounted for—it is Fashionable! it is extremely Genteel!!
However, these Midnight Meetings, under the inviting appellation of Genteel Evening Parties, are, in fact, a Barbarous Invention of the Idle and Imbecile, to undermine the Constitution, and annihilate the Independence of the Industrious and the Healthful.
“Though bold these Truths, my Book with Truths like these
Will none offend, whom ’tis a praise to please.”
Dr. Young.
The noisy announcement of the arrival of the Visitors at these Nocturnal Assemblies, by the absurd custom of a Thundering Rapping at the Door, which is already open, is one of the most ridiculous customs of modern times, and should be entirely abolished.—If a parcel of silly people are permitted to meet together at Midnight, they ought not to be permitted to murder the Sleep of their surrounding neighbours, from Ten at Night till Three in the Morning! It is as disorderly an offence against the public peace as can be mentioned; and if it happened at the house of a poor person, it would be immediately indicted as Disorderly.
Good Nature may find some Excuse for the Poor and Dependent, who (perhaps very unwillingly) are obliged to follow a Foolish Fashion; but what apology can Good Sense invent for the Opulent and the Independent, who are the Makers of Manners, and who set a Foolish Example[19].
Tom Thrifty’s maxim for Evening Parties, was
“Come before Seven,