September 30. 1850.
_Macaulay's Country Squire._--I suppose I may take it for granted that all
the world has long since been made merry by Mr. Macaulay's description of
"the country squire on a visit to London in 1685." (_History of England_,
vol. i. p. 369.)
I am not aware that Steele's description of a country gentleman under
similar circumstances has ever been referred to; it is certainly far from
being as graphic as Mr. Macaulay's; but the one may at all events serve to
illustrate the other, and to prove that Urbs had not made any very great
progress in _urbanity_ between 1685 and 1712.
"If a country gentleman appears a little curious in observing the
edifices, signs, clocks, coaches, and dials, {358} it is not to be
imagined how the polite rabble of this town, who are acquainted with
these objects, ridicule his rusticity. I have known a fellow with a
burden on his head steal a hand down from his load, and slily twirl the
cock of a squire's hat behind him; and while the offended person is
swearing or out of countenance, all the wag-wits in the highway are
grinning in applause of the ingenious rogue that gave him the tip, and
the folly of him who had not eyes all round his head to prevent
receiving it."--_Spectator_, No. 354.