Towns > Dundee > 1822 - Dundee delineated; or, A history and description of that town, its institutions, manufactures and commerce

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jflutes, and billiards and cards, made dreadful havocfc a«
knongst youth. Fornicators received the benefit of ghostly
counsel. The case is now commuted ; the session funds
receive the benefit of their cash. Men smacked each other
in the forum on the new year's day, and danced chapeau bas
in the minuet at Christmas. Ladies tripped it in monstrous
hoops, bound themselves up in bone stays and busks, like
Egyptian mummies ; and footed it to church in gold, silver,
lace, scarlet, and short mantles. Cowards blustered, and
brave men fought. Official men loom'd large, and taylors
and shavers looked little. Ingratitude was healthy, and re-
quired no nursing : like fern it flourished in the barrennest
soil. Cockfighting was publicly taught and encouraged at
school, and (would you believe it Mr Printer)? the unfor-
tunate combatants were, in imitation of the American
savages, slain, boiled, and devoured. To sum up all, the
sun rose in the east, and set in the west. Lightnings
flashed, thunders rolled, and rains poured. Scandal, hypo-
crisy, and backbiting brought up the rear of this hetero-
geneal mass j and the world continued to roll like clock
Work. I am, yours, &c. PaiLETASa
Dundee, April, 1799.
TO THE EDITOR, &C.
To mark the auspicious years when Tusculum
"Wax'd great, was wealthy, and a goodly place ;
Its glittering spears the ploughshares quickly t'orm'd,
And industry sate at the silken loom :
Its manners, habits, persons, fashions, chang'd,
The seat of nobles and of classic lore ;
Surrounded by green fields and pleasant villas j
Its sons were wise, and all its daughters fair :
And tho' with all, 'twas thus a rising city,
It lacked much, as travellers wou'd tell.
Sir, — He that will take the trouble to investigate the
true source of barbarism and beggary in a nation, may
trace it in the lone cottage of indolence, in the dregs of
feudal infection and vanity, and in the cabins of sloth and
idleness. It is the hand of diligence and perseverance that
maketh rich ; and it is industry that lifts the man from the
dunghill, and places him in a comfortable and respectable
situation. q 2