Knowing no other criterion of greatness, but the ostentation of
wealth, they discharge their affluence without taste or conduct,
through every channel of the most absurd extravagance; and all of
them hurry to Bath, because here, without any further
qualification, they can mingle with the princes and nobles of the
land. Even the wives and daughters of low tradesmen, who, like
shovel-nosed sharks, prey upon the blubber of those uncouth
whales of fortune, are infected with the same rage of displaying
their importance; and the slightest indisposition serves them for
a pretext to insist upon being conveyed to Bath, where they may
hobble country-dances and cotillons among lordlings, squires,
counsellors, and clergy. These delicate creatures from
Bedfordbury, Butcher-row, Crutched-friers, 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.
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