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.
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