March, 1809. In the mean time, wishing thee much pleasure and edification in the perusal of the first canto,

sance.

CONTENTS OF CANTO I.

Subject proposed. Invocation. Sun and moon. The fifth of November. Gunpowder-plot. Compliment to James the First. Evening at Bath. Introduction of Ramrod. Upper-rooms. Description of company there. Ramrod inflated. His soliloquy. Moral reflections. Quotation from a brother-poet. Prediction. Orchestra. The goddess Destiny. Description of lady Wilhelmina Puff. Apostrophe to title. Ramrod's complaiLady Wilhelmina's pride. Simile. Ramrod's attention gives umbrage. Female vanity offended. Description of Destiny, or Fate. Eris, or Contention. She receives the orders of Fate. Descends amongst the company. Personates Mrs. Chatter. Addresses lady Lofty. Simile. Lady Lofty's speech to signora Rattana. Her answer. Rage of these ladies. Simile. General uproar. Simile. Ramrod and lady Wilhelmina gallanting. Rattana attacks and scolds Ramrod. Assisted by lady Lofty. Ramrod knock'd down. Quotation from another brother-poet. Ramrod's perilous situation. Apostrophe to the loyal Muse. Lady Puff interferes in his behalf. Bestrides him. Her speech. Her wig pulled off by lady Lofty. She slaps lady Lofty's face. A general confusion. Eris again introduced. Invocation to the Muse. Mrs. Pannikin. Her speech. Pompo Gorgon. Mrs. Vehicle. Dr. Faddle. Dr. Sourcrout. Dick Sable. Captain Petulant. Sir Clerical Orange. Bow-wow. Billy Sonnet. Apostrophe to parsons in liquor. Heroic verse too lofty for vulgar subjects. Lady Puff bestriding Ramrod. Rattana's base attack. Lady Puff's astonishment. Knocks down Rattana. A simile. Resin. His speech. Simile. Resin's affliction. Mrs. Vehicle's address to him. fresh levies to the card-room. Pompo Gorgon's speech to · She throws him down. Bow-wow addresses her. She knocks him down with her fan. Billy Sonnet's grief and soliloquy. The levies from the card-room enter. Drawcansir. The Gemini. Gaffar Smut. Dr. Vegetable. Dr. Skipper. Morose. Billy Sonnet asks aid of Morose. savage reply. Simile. Dick Sable knocks down Morose. A simile. Impressions made on the combatants by Morose's fall. The confusion increases. Heard by Stroud in the wine-vaults. His speech to his man Jack. Enters the room. His speech to the company.. A simile. Universal uproar. Climax of horrors.

He goes for Mrs. Vehicle.

His

THIS DAY IS PUBLISHED,

Price 6s. Octavo, in Boards, with a Frontispiece,

THE THIRD EDITION

OF THE

Bath Characters:

OR,

SKETCHES FROM REAL LIFE.

WITH SOME OMISSIONS, AND MANY ADDITIONS;

Amongst which are,

The CODICIL to the Will of the late Peter Paul Pallet, alias Zachary Goosequill,

A PREFACE to the Third Edition,

A POETICAL INVOCATION to the two Masters of the Ceremonies of Bath,

VARIOUS ADDITIONAL ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS,

AND

A POETICAL ADDRESS (or rather Dressing)

Inscribed to the Rev. A—chd—n N▬▬ and Co. the Reviewers of the British Critic.

WILKIE AND ROBINSON, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

REBELLION IN BATH.

CANTO I.

ARMS, and the feuds I sing', of ladies fair:
Of females' wigs dethron'd; dishevell❜d hair;
Rent muslins; laces torn; eyes flashing fire;
Roug'd cheeks, more red with rage, and such "chima-
ras dire."

Descend, then, "Sisters of the sacred well?”
Who, things past, present, and to come can tell 3;

2

Milton. This quotation from a brother-poet, is applied to the tutelary genii of the hot springs; which may worthily be denominated sacred, from their oft-experienced beneficial influence on the gouty limbs of those numerous venerable sons of the church, who have had successful recourse to their appetite-restoring and vigour-giving waters.

The language and imagery of the ancients seem to have been familiar to

B

My pen aculeate, and dilute mine ink,
Refresh my memory, and bid me think,
Whilst, in heroic numbers, I rehearse
Themes “unattempted yet in prose or verse*.”

Now, had that “wand'ring knight" of heav'n, the Sun, His glittering, annual ramble nearly run;

And eke the Moon, bedeck'd with borrow'd light,
Brought back November's celebrated night;
That night by Britons ne'er to be forgot,
Big with Guy Fawkes's diabolic plot,

Which, but for royal wisdom', quick had hurl'd
King, lords, and commons into t' other world;

my uncle's mind.

All his associations were connected with classical lore; to which circumstance may be attributed the numerous imitations in the following poem, of passages in the best writers of antiquity.

• Milton. Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante

Trita solo.

LUCRETIUS.

› Contemporary authors are unanimous in attributing the complete developement of this dark-lanthern business to the sharp-sighted sagacity of James, who excelled his court in penetration, as much as he did the convocation in theology:

Micat inter omnes

Julium sidus, velut inter ignes
Luna minores.