The expedition of Humphry Clinker / by T. Smollett, M.D. With a memoir of the author by Thomas Roscoe ... and illustrations by George Cruikshank.

  • Tobias Smollett
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The expedition of Humphry Clinker / by T. Smollett, M.D. With a memoir of the author by Thomas Roscoe ... and illustrations by George Cruikshank. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    55/462 page 11
    is neither watch nor ward of any signification, nor any order or police, affords them lurking- places as well as prey. There are many causes that contribute to the daily increase of this enormous mass ; but they may be all resolved into the grand source of luxury and corruption. About five and tweuty years ago, very few, even of the most opulent citizens of London, kept any equipage, or even any servants in livery. Their tables produced nothing but plain boiled and'roasted, with a bottle of port and a tankard of beer. At present, every trader in any degree of credit, every broker and attorney, main¬ tains a couple of footmen, a coachman, and postillion. He has his town house and his country house, his coach and his post-chaise. His wife and daughters appear in the richest stuffs, bespangled with diamonds. They fre¬ quent the court, the opera, the theatre, and the masque¬ rade. They hold assemblies at their own houses: they make sumptuous entertainments, and treat with the rich¬ est wines of Bourdeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne. The substantial tradesman, who was wont to pass his evenings at the alehouse for fourpence-halfpenny, now spends three shillings at the tavern, while his wife keeps card-tables at home : she must also have fine clothes, her chaise, or pad, with country lodgings, and go three times a-week to public diversions. Every clerk, apprentice, and even waiter of a tavern or coffee-house, maintains a gelding by himself, or in partnership, and assumes the air and’ap- parel of a petit mattre. The gayest places of public entertainment are filled with fashionable figures, which, on inquiry, will be found to be journeyinen-tailors, ser¬ ving-men, and abigails, disguised like their betters. ^ In short, there is no distinction or subordination left. The different departments of life are jumbled toge¬ ther. The hod-carrier, the low mechanic, the tapster, the publican, the shopkeeper, the pettifogger, the citizen] and courtier, all tread on the kibes of one another: actu¬ ated by the demons of profligacy and licentiousness, they are seen every where, rambling, riding, rolling, rushing, justling, mixing, bouncing, cracking, and crashing in one
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3