What a change from grave to gay--from the moral antitheses of Herbert's
_Country Parson_ to the fun and folly of Anstey's New Bath Guide, with
etchings by George Cruikshank, and cuts admirably designed and engraved by
S. Williams--as Mr. Simkin dressing for the ball:
But what with my Nivernois hat can compare,
Bag-wig and laced ruffles, and black solitaire,
And what can a man of true fashion denote,
Like an ell of good riband tyed under the throat.
and "We three blunder-heads," two frizzled physicians of the last century,
and the invariably accompanying cane, or Esculapian wand. This edition is
by Mr. Britton, who has prefixed a dedication and an essay on the genius
of Anstey, both of which sparkle with humour and lively anecdote; and an
amusing sketch of Bath as it is. Among the anecdotical notes to the Poem
it is stated that Dodsley acknowledged about ten years after he had
purchased the "Bath Guide," that the profits from its sale were greater
than on any other book he had published. He generously gave up the
copyright to the author in 1777, who had 200_l_. for the copyright after
the second edition. Yet Dodsley, with all his liberality lived to be rich,
though he originally was footman to the Hon. Mrs. Lowther; so true is it
that genius and perseverance will find their way upwards from any station.
There is a pleasant anecdote of the late John Palmer, who, it will be
remembered, was somewhat stiltish. "Palmer, whose father was a
bill-sticker, and who had occasionally practised in the same humble
occupation himself, strutting one evening in the green-room at Drury-Lane
Theatre, in a pair of glittering buckles, a gentleman present remarked
that they greatly resembled diamonds. 'Sir,' said Palmer, with warmth, 'I
would have you to know, that I never wear anything but diamonds.' 'Jack,
your pardon,' replied the gentleman, 'I remember the time when you wore
nothing but _paste!_' This produced a loud laugh, which was heightened by
Parsons jogging him on the elbow, and drily saying, 'Jack, why don't you
_stick him against the wall?_'"
Another. Mr. Quin, upon his first going to Bath, found he was charged most
exorbitantly for every thing; and, at the end of a week, complained to
Nash, who had invited him thither, as the cheapest place in England for a
man of taste and a _bon vivant_. The master of the ceremonies, who knew
that Quin relished a pun, replied, "They have acted by you on truly
Christian principles." "How so?" says Quin. "Why," answered Nash, "you
were a _stranger_, and they _took you in_." "Ay" rejoined Quin; "but they
have fleeced me, instead of clothed me."
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