 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; mean while, 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
