The diversions of the place
they are not in a condition to enjoy. How then do they make shift
to pass their time? In the forenoon they crawl out to the Rooms
or the coffeehouse, where they take a hand at whist, or descant
upon the General Advertiser; and their evenings they murder in
private parties, among peevish invalids, and insipid old women --
This is the case with a good number of individuals, whom nature
seems to have intended for better purposes.
About a dozen years ago, many decent families, restricted to
small fortunes, besides those that came hither on the score of
health, were tempted to settle at Bath, where they could then
live comfortably, and even make a genteel appearance, at a small
expence: but the madness of the times has made the place too hot
for them, and they are now obliged to think of other migrations --
Some have already fled to the mountains of Wales, and others have
retired to Exeter. Thither, no doubt, they will be followed by
the flood of luxury and extravagance, which will drive them from
place to place to the very Land's End; and there, I suppose, they
will be obliged to ship themselves to some other country.
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