ble country-dances and cotillions among lordlings, squires, counsellors, and clergy. These delightful creatures from Bedfordbury, Butcherrow, Crutchedfriars, and Botolph-lane, cannot breathe in the gross air of the lower town, or conform to the vulgar rules of a common lodging-house; the husband, therefore, must provide an entire house, or elegant apartments in the new buildings. Such is the composition of what is called the fashionable company at Bath; where a very inconsiderable proportion of genteel people are lost in a mob of impudent plebeians, who have neither understanding nor judgment, nor the least idea of propriety and decorum; and seem to enjoy nothing so much as an opportunity of insulting their betters.

Thus the number of people and the number of houses continue to increase; and this will ever be the case, till the streams that swell this irresistible torrent of folly and extravagance, shall either be exhausted, or turned into other channels, by incidents and events which I do not pretend to foresee. This, I own, is a subject on which I cannot write with any degree of patience; for the mob is a monster I never could abide, either in its head, tail, midriff, or members: I detest the whole of it, as a mass of ignorance, presumption, malice, and brutality; and, in this term of reprobation, I include, without respect of rank, station, or quality, all those of both sexes, who affect its manners, and court its society.

But I have written till my fingers are crampt; and my nausea begins to return. By your advice, I sent to London a few days ago for half a pound of gengzeng; though I doubt much whether that which comes from America is equally efficacious with what is brought from the East Indies. Some years ago, a friend of mine paid sixteen guineas for two ounces of it; and, in six months after, it was sold in the same shop for five shillings the pound. In short, we live in a vile world of fraud and sophistication; so that I know nothing of equal value with the genuine friendship of a sensible man; a rare jewel! which I cannot help thinking myself in possession of, while I repeat the old declaration, that I am, as usual,

Dear Lewis,

Your affectionate

M. BRAMBLE.

After having been agitated in a short hurricane, on my first arrival, I have taken a small house in Milsham-street, where I am tolerably well lodged, for five guineas a-week. I was yesterday at the pump-room, and drank about a pint of the water, which seems to agree with my stomach; and to-morrow morning I shall bathe for the first time; so that, in a few posts, you may expect farther trouble. Meanwhile, I am glad to find that the inoculation has succeeded so well with poor Joyce, and

that her face will be but little marked-If my friend Sir Thomas was a single man, I would not trust such a handsome wench in his family; but as I have recommended her, in a particular manner, to the protection of Lady G-, who is one of the best women in the world, she may go thither without hesitation, as soon as she is quite recovered, and fit for service-Let her mother have money to provide her with necessaries, and she may ride behind her brother on Bucks; but you must lay strong injunctions on Jack, to take particular care of the trusty old veteran, who has faithfully earned his present ease by his past services.

To Miss Willis, at Gloucester.

Bath, April 26.

MY DEAREST COMPANION, THE pleasure I received from yours, which came to hand yesterday, is not to be expressed. Love and friendship are, without doubt, charming passions; which absence serves only to heighten and improve.-Your kind present of the garnet bracelets I shall keep as carefully as I preserve my own life; and I beg you will accept, in return, of my heart-housewife, with the tortoiseshell memorandum-book, as a trifling pledge of my unalterable affection.

Bath is to me a new world-All is gaiety, good-humour, and diversion. The eye is continually entertained with the splendour of dress and equipage, and the ear with the sound of coaches, chaises, chairs, and other carriages. The merry bells ring round, from morn till night. Then we are welcomed by the city-waits into our own lodgings: We have music in the pump-room every morning, cotillions every forenoon in the rooms, balls twice a week, and concerts every other night, besides private assemblies, and parties without number. As soon as we were settled in lodgings, we were visited by the Master of the Ceremonies; a pretty little gentleman, so sweet, so fine, so civil, and polite, that in our country he might pass for the Prince of Wales; then he talks so charmingly, both in verse and prose, that you would be delighted to hear him discourse; for you must know he is a great writer, and has got five tragedies ready for the stage. He did us the favour to dine with us, by my uncle's invitation; and next day squired my aunt and me to every part of Bath, which, to be sure, is an earthly paradise. The Square, the Circus, and the Parades, put you in mind of the sumptuous palaces represented in prints and pictures; and the new buildings, such as Prince's Row, Harlequin's Row, Bladud's Row, and twenty other rows, look like so many enchanted castles, raised on hanging terraces.

At eight in the morning we go in dishabille

to the pump-room, which is crowded like a Welsh fair; and there you see the highest quality and the lowest trades-folks, jostling each other, without ceremony, hail fellow, well met. The noise of the music playing in the gallery, the heat and flavour of such a crowd, and the hum and buzz of their conversation, gave me the headache and vertigo the first day; but afterwards, all these things became familiar, and even agreeable. Right under the pump-room windows, is the King's bath; a huge cistern, where you see the patients up to their necks in hot water. The ladies wear jackets and petticoats of brown linen, with chip hats, in which they fix their handkerchiefs to wipe the sweat from their faces; but, truly, whether it is owing to the steam that surrounds them, or the heat of the water, or the nature of the dress, or to all these causes together, they look so flushed and so frightful, that I always turn my eyes another way. My aunt, who says every person of fashion should make her appearance in the bath, as well as in the abbey-church, contrived a cap with cherry-coloured ribbons to suit her complexion, and obliged Win to attend her yesterday morning in the water. But, really, her eyes were so red, that they made mine water as I viewed her from the pump-room; and as for poor Win, who wore a hat trimmed with blue, what betwixt her wan complexion and her fear, she looked like the ghost of some pale maiden, who had drowned herself for love. When she came out of the bath, she took assafoetida drops, and was fluttered all day, so that we could hardly keep her from going into hysterics: But her mistress says it will do her good, and poor Win curtsies, with the tears in her eyes. For my part, I content myself with drinking about half a pint of the water every morning.

The pumper, with his wife and servant, attend within a bar; and the glasses, of different sizes, stand ranged in order before them, so you have nothing to do but point at that which you chuse, and it is filled immediately, hot and sparkling from the pump. It is the only hot water I could ever drink without being sick. Far from having that effect, it is rather agreeable to the taste, grateful to the stomach, and reviving to the spirits. You cannot imagine what wonderful cures it performs. My uncle began with it the other day; but he made wry faces in drinking, and I am afraid he will leave it off. The first day we came to Bath he fell into a violent passion, beat two black-a-moors, and I was afraid he would have fought with their master; but the stranger proved a peaceable man. To be sure the gout had got into his head, as my aunt observed; but, I believe, his passion drove it away, for he has been remarkably well ever since. It is a thousand pities he should ever be troubled with that ugly distemper; for, when he is free from pain, he is the best tempered man upon carth; so gentle, so generous, so charitable,

that every body loves him; and so good to me, in particular, that I shall never be able to shew the deep sense I have of his tenderness and affection.

Hard by the pump-room is a coffee-house for the ladies; but my aunt says, young girls are not admitted, inasmuch as the conversation turns upon politics, scandal, philosophy, and other subjects above our capacity; but we are allowed to accompany them to the booksellers' shops, which are charming places of resort, where we read novels, plays, pamphlets, and newspapers, for so small a subscription as a crown a quarter; and in these offices of intelligence, (as my brother calls them,) all the reports of the day, and all the private transactions of the bath, are first entered and discussed. From the bookseller's shop we make a tour through the milliners and toymen, and commonly stop at Mr Gill's, the pastry-cook, to take a jelly, a tart, or small basin of vermicelli. There is, moreover, another place of entertainment on the other side of the water, opposite to the Grove, to which the company cross over in a boat. It is called SpringGardens; a sweet retreat, laid out in walks, and ponds, and parterres of flowers; and there is a long-room for breakfasting and dancing. As the situation is low and damp, and the season has been remarkably wet, my uncle won't suffer me to go thither, lest I should catch cold: But my aunt says it is all a vulgar prejudice; and, to be sure, a great many gentlemen and ladies of Ire land frequent the place, without seeming to be the worse for it. They say, dancing at SpringGardens, when the air is moist, is recommended to them as an excellent cure for the rheuma tism. I have been twice at the play; where, notwithstanding the excellence of the performers, the gaiety of the company, and the decora tions of the theatre, which are very fine, I could not help reflecting, with a sigh, upon our poor homely representations at Gloucester. But this is in confidence to my dear Willis. You know my heart, and will excuse its weakness.

After all, the great scenes of entertainment at Bath are the two public rooms, where the company meet alternately every evening. They are spacious, lofty, and, when lighted up, appear very striking. They are generally crowded with well-dressed people, who drink tea in separate parties, play at cards, walk, or sit and chat together, just as they are disposed. Twice aweek there is a ball, the expence of which is defrayed by a voluntary subscription among the gentlemen; and every subscriber has three tickets. I was there Friday last with my aunt, under the care of my brother, who is a subscriber; and Sir Ulic Mackilligut recommended his nephew, Captain O'Donaghan, to me as a partner; but Jery excused himself, by saying I had got the headache; and indeed it was really so, though I can't imagine how he knew it. The place was so hot, and the smell so different from what we are used to in the country, that I was quite fe

verish when we came away. Aunt says it is the effect of a vulgar constitution, reared among woods and mountains; and that, as I become accustomed to genteel company, it will wear off. -Sir Ulic was very complaisant, made her a great many high-flown compliments, and, when we retired, handed her with great ceremony to her chair. The captain, I believe, would have done me the same favour; but my brother, secing him advance, took me under his arm, and wished him good night. The captain is a pretty man, to be sure; tall and straight, and well inade, with light grey eyes, and a Roman nose; but there is a certain boldness in his look and manner that puts one out of countenance. But I am afraid I have put you out of all patience with this long unconnected scrawl; which I shall therefore conclude, with assuring you, that neither Bath, nor London, nor all the diversions of life, shall ever be able to efface the idea of my dear Letty from the heart of her ever affection

ate

LYDIA MELFORD.

To Mrs Mary Jones, at Brambletonhall.

DEAR MOLLY JONES, HEAVING got a frank, I now return your fever, which I received by Mr Higgins at the Hot Well, together with the stockings which his wife footed for me; but now they are of no survice. No body wears such things in this place. O Molly! you that live in the country have no deception of our doings at Bath. Here is such dressing, and fiddling, and dancing, and gadding, and courting, and plotting-Ö gracious! if God had not given me a good stock of discretion, what a power of things might not I reveal, consarning old mistress and young mistress; Jews with beards that were no Jews, but handsome Christians, without a hair upon their sin, strolling with spectacles, to get speech of Miss Liddy. But she's a dear sweet soul, as innocent as the child unborn. She has tould me all her inward thoughts, and disclosed her passion for Mr Wilson; and that's not his name neither; and thof he acted among the playermen, he is meat for their masters; and she has gi'en me her yallow trolopea, which Mrs Drab, the mantymaker, says will look very well when it is scowred and smoaked with silfur-You knows as how yallow fitts my fizzogmony. God he knows what havock I shall make among the mail sex, when I make my first appearance in this killing collar, with a full suit of gaze, as good as new, that I bought last Friday of Madam Friponeau, the French mullaner.-Dear girl, I have seen all the fine shews of Bath; the Prades, the Squires, and the Circlis, the Crashit, the Hottogon, and Bloody Buildings, and Harry King's Row ; and I have been twice in the bath with mistress, and na'r a smoak up

on our backs, hussy.-The first time I was mortally affraid and flustered all day, and afterwards made believe that I had got the heddick: But mistress said, if I didn't go, I should take a dose of bum-taffy; and so remembering how it worked Mrs Gwyllim a pennorth, I chose rather to go again with her into the bath, and then I met with an axident. I dropt my petticoat, and could not get it up from the bottom-But what did that signify?—they mought laff, but they could see nothing; for I was up to the sin in water. To be sure, it threw me into such a gumbustion, that I know not what I said, nor what I did, nor how they got me out, and rapt me in a blanket-Mrs Tabitha scoulded a little when we got home; but she knows as I know what's what-Ah, Laud help you!-There is Sir Yuri Micligut, of Balnaclinch, in the cunty of Kalloway-I took down the name from his gentleman, Mr O Frizzle, and he has got an estate of fifteen hundred a-year-I am sure he is both rich and generous. But you nose, Molly, I was always famous for keeping secrets; and so he was very safe in trusting me with his flegm for mistress; which, to be sure, is very honourable; for Mr O Frizzle assures me, he values not her portion a brass varthing-And, indeed, what's poor ten thousand pounds to a Baron Knight of his fortune? and, truly, I told Mr O Frizzle that was all she had to trust to.-As for John Thomas, he's a morass fellor.-I vow I thought he would a fit with Mr O Frizzle, because he axed me to dance with him at Spring Garden-But God he knows I have no thoughts eyther of wan or t'other.

As for house news, the worst is, Chowder has fallen off greatly from his stomick-He eats nothing but white meats, and not much of that; and wheezes, and seems to be much bloated. The doctors think he is threatened with a dropsy

Parson Marrowfat, who has got the same disorder, finds great benefit from the waters; but Chowder seems to like them no better than the squire; and mistress says, if his case don't take a favourable turn, she will sartainly carry him to Aberga'nny, to drink goats whey-To be sure, the poor dear honymil is lost for want of axercise; for which reason she intends to give him an airing once a day upon the Downs, in a postchaise. I have already made very creditable correxions in this here place, where, to be sure, we have the very squintasence of satiety-Mrs Patcher, my Lady Kilmacullock's woman, and I, are sworn sisters. She has shewn me all her secrets, and learned me to wash gaze, and refrash rusty silks and bumbescens, by boiling them with winegar, chamberlye, and stale beer. My short sack and apron luck as good as new from the shop, and my pumpydoor as fresh as a rose, by the help of turtle-water-But this is all Greek and Latten to you, Molly.—If we should come to Aberga'nny, you'll be within a day's ride of us; and then we shall see wan an

I AM astonished that Dr Lewis should take upon him to give away Alderney, without my privity and concurrants. What signifies my brother's orders?-My brother is little better than noncompush. He would give away the shirt off his back, and the teeth out of his head: nay, for that matter, he would have ruinated the family with his ridiculous charities, if it had not been for my four quarters. What between his wilfulnes and his waste, his trumps, and his frenzy, I lead the life of an indented slave. Alderney gave four gallons a-day ever since the calf was sent to market. There is so much milk out of my dairy, and the press must stand still:-But I won't loose a cheese-paring; and the milk shall be made good, if the sarvants should go without butter. If they must needs have butter, let them make it of sheep's milk; but then my wool will suffer for want of grace; so that I must be a loser on all sides.-Well, patience is like a stout Welsh poney; it bears a great deal, and trots a great way, but it will tire at the long run. Before its long, perhaps I may shew Matt, that I was not born to be the household drudge to my dying day.-Gwyn rites from Crickhowel, that the price of flannel is fallen three farthings an ell; and that's another good penny out of my pocket. When I go to market to sell, my commodity stinks; but when I want to buy the commonest thing, the owner pricks it up under my nose, and it can't be had for love nor money-I think every thing runs cross at Brambletonhall.-You say the gander has broke the eggs, which is a phinumenon I don't understand; for, when the fox carried off the old goose last year, he took her place, and hatched the eggs, and protected the goslings like a tender parent.-Then you tell me the thunder has soured two barrels of bear in the seller. But how the thunder should get there, when the seller was double locked, I can't comprehend. Howsomever, I won't have the bear thrown out, till I see it with mine own eyes. Perhaps it will recover-at least it will serve for vinegar to the sarvants. You may leave off the fires in my brother's chamber and mine, as it is unsartain when we return. I hope, Gwyllim, you'll take care there is no waste; and have an eye to the maids, and keep them to their spinning. I think they may go very well without bear in hot weather-it serves only to inflame the blood, and set them agog after the men

water will make them fair, and keep them cool and tamperit. Don't forget to put up in the portmantle, that cums with Williams, along with my riding habit, hat, and feather, the vial of purl-water, and the tincktur for my stomach; being as how I am much troubled with flutterencies. This is all at present, from

Bath, April, 26.

DEAR DICK,

Yours,

TABITHA BRAMBLE.

To Dr Lewis.

in

I HAVE done with the waters; therefore your advice comes a day too late. I grant that physic is no mystery of your making. I know it is a mystery in its own nature, and like other mysteries, requires a strong gulp of faith to make it go down.-Two days ago, I went into the King's Bath, by the advice of our friend Chorder to clear the strainers of the skin, for the benefit of a free perspiration; and the first object that saluted my eye was a child, full of scrophulous ulcers, carried in the arms of one of the guides, under the very noses of the bathers. I was so shocked at the sight, that I retired immediately with indignation and disgust-Suppose the matter of those ulcers, floating on the water, comes in contact with my skin, when the pores are all open, I would ask you what must be the consequence?--Good Heavens, the very thought makes my blood run cold! We know not what sores may be running into the water while we are bathing, and what sort of matter we may thus imbibe; the king's evil, the scurvy, the cancer, and the pox; and, no doubt, the heat will render the virus the more volatile and penetrating. To purify myself from all such contamination, I went to the Duke of Kingston's private bath, and there I was almost suffocated for want of free air, the place was so small, and the steam so stifling.

After all, if the intention is no more than to wash the skin, I am convinced that simple element is more effectual than any water impreg nated with salt and iron; which, being astringent, will certainly contract the pores, and leave a kind of crust upon the surface of the body. But I am now as much afraid of drinking as of bathing; for, after a long conversation with the doctor, about the construction of the pump and the cistern, it is very far from being clear with me, that the patients in the pump-room don't swallow the scourings of the bathers. I can't help suspecting, that there is, or may be, some regurgitation from the bath into the cistern of the pump. In that case, what a delicate beverage is every day quaffed by the drinkers, medicated with the sweat, and dirt, and dandriff, and the abominable discharges of various kinds, from twenty different diseased bodies, parboiling in the kettle below! In order to avoid this

filthy composition, I had recourse to the spring that supplies the private baths on the Abbeygreen; but I at once perceived something extraordinary in the taste and smell; and, upon inquiry, I find, that the Roman baths in this quarter were found covered by an old burying ground belonging to the Abbey, through which, in all probability, the water drains in its passage; so that, as we drink the decoction of living bodies at the pump-room, we swallow the strainings of rotten bones and carcases at the private bath-I vow to God the very idea turns my stomach!-Determined, as I am, against any farther use of the Bath waters, this consideration would give me little disturbance, if I could find any thing more pure, or less pernicious, to quench my thirst; but, although the natural springs of excellent water are seen gushing spontaneous on every side from the hills that surround us, the inhabitants in general make use of well-water, so impregnated with nitre, or alum, or some other villainous mineral, that it is equally ungrateful to the taste, and mischievous to the constitution. It must be owned, indeed, that here, in Milsham-street, we have a precarious and scanty supply from the hill, which is collected in an open basin in the Circus, liable to be defiled with deed dogs, cats, rats, and every species of nastiness, which the rascally populace may throw into it from mere wantonness and brutality.

Well, there is no nation that drinks so hoggishly as the English.-What passes for wine among us is not the juice of the grape. It is an adulterous mixture, brewed up of nauseous ingredients, by dunces, who are bunglers in the art of poison-making; yet we, and our forefathers, are, and have been, poisoned by this cursed drench, without taste or flavour.-The only genuine and wholesome beverage in England is London porter, and Dorchester tablebeer; but as for your ale and your gin, your cyder and your perry, and all the trashy family of made wines, I detest them as infernal compositions, contrived for the destruction of the human species.-But what have I to do with the human species? except a very few friends, I care not if the whole was

in Italy, the bed and bedding are destroyed; the other furniture is exposed to the weather, and the apartment white-washed, before it is occupied by any other living soul. You'll allow that nothing receives infection sooner, or retains it longer, than blankets, feather-beds, and mattresses-Sdeath! how do I know what miserable objects have been stewing in the bed where I now lie!-I wonder, Dick, you did not put me in mind of sending for my own mattresses-But if I had not been an ass I should not have needed a remembrancer. There is always some plaguy reflection that rises up in judgment against me and ruffles my spiritstherefore, let us change the subject.

I have other reasons for abridging my stay at Bath.-You know sister Tabby's complexionIf Mrs Tabitha Bramble had been of any other race, I should certainly have looked upon her as the most-But, the truth is, she has found means to interest my affection; or rather, she is beholden to the force of prejudice, commonly called the ties of blood. Well, this amiable maiden has actually commenced a flirting correspondence with an Irish baronet of sixty-five. His name is Sir Ulic Mackilligut. He is said to be much out at elbows; and, I believe, has received false intelligence with respect to her fortune. Be that as it may, the connection is exceedingly ridiculous, and begins already to excite whispers.-For my part, I have no intention to dispute her free agency; though I shall fall upon some expedient to undeceive her paramour as to the point which he has principally in view. But I don't think her conduct is a proper example for Liddy, who has also attracted the notice of some coxcombs in the rooms; and Jery tells me he suspects a strapping fellow, the knight's nephew, of some design upon the girl's heart. I shall, therefore, keep a strict eye over her aunt and her, and even shift the scene, if I find the matter grow more serious.-You perceive what an agreeable task it must be to a man of my kidney, to have the cure of such souls as these.-But, hold, you shall not have another peevish word (till the next occasion) from

Bath, April 28.

DEAR KNIGHT,

Yours,

Oxon.

MATT. BRAMBLE.

I THINK those people are unreasonable, who complain that Bath is a contracted circle, in which the same dull scenes perpetually revolve, without variation.-I am, on the contrary, amazed to find so small a place so crowded with entertainment and variety. London itself can hardly exhibit one species of diversion to which we have not something analogous at Bath, over