“and be able to naturalize their 
1799] 
french revolution has been the caufe of 
diffufing the French language all over 
Europe, and fome part at leat of Ata? 
Thanks to thole worthy men, Oricans, 
Robefpierre, and Marat, cum multis altis 
quz nunc prefcribere longum eft. 
Norwich, from its vaft influx ot ftrangers 
in the fixteénth century, muft have had, 
one would think, a fort of pelyglott 
dialect for a long time ; and it is probable 
that the French and Dutch languages 
would become familiar to many of the 
citizens. But if the Norman conqueror 
was unable to uproot the language of 
this country and tranfplant into it his 
own, there would be no danger that a 
~ humbled fet of refugees fhould difcourage 
the cultivation of an indigenous tongue, 
own 
exgtics. 
Norwich has been fcandalized as a 
difloyal city. I am fure, Mr. Editor, 
you will agree with me, that fuch {lander 
is very abominable. Norwich a dif- 
loyal city! Sir, every other man you 
meet is decked in regimentals : 

jam litul ftrepunt ; 
Jam fulgor armorum fugaces 
Terret equos, equitumque vultus. 
Videre magnos jam videor duces 
Non indecoro pulvere fordidos, 
Et cunéta terrarum fubacta. 
Formerly the young men and maidens 
would rife betimes to ufher in the firft of 
May: Shakefpeare tells us ‘* it was im- 
poflible to make the people fleep on May- 
morning,” but now-a-days we trouble 
- not ourfelves about fuch childihh feftivals; 
and if our ’prentice-lads rife an hour be- 
fore their ufual time—it is on a field-day ! 
Itis dificult to conceive a inore com- 
plete imetamorphofis than takes place 
among fomeof thefe gentlemen: it would 
be fcarcely poffible to identify them; 
the fhop-apron is indignantly thrown 
behind the counter, when lo!—the thigh 
difplays a cream-white buck-fkin, and 
the leg a jet-black boot ; the fword dan- 
ces valiantly by the fide, and the richly- 
cluftered feathers—if the wind pioves 
hich—wave tempeftuoufly on the afpiring 
head, like the awful plumage of A\l- 
fonfo’s fatal helmet in the gallery of 
Otranto, 
But the moft unequivocal proof ot that 
noble military ardour which has feized the 
citizens of Norwich, is the circumftance 
of their having of late years fuffered the 
gates of their city to be ¢eftroyed, and the 
walls to remain in ruins: gates that 
would have refiited many a fierce affault, 
Sketch of the State of Society in Norwich. 
28% 
and walls that would have food the fhock 
of many a deadly ball! This teftimonial, 
I fay, is unexcepticnable: the people of 
Norwich are fomething like the ancient 
Germans—-who by the bye had no cities 
at all—of whom we are told, that they 
regarded it asa badge of flavery to be 
furrounded with walls ; to live in igno- 
minious and timid fecurity. This god- 
like notion they nourifhed with fo much 
folicitude, that when one of their tribes 
had emancipated itfelf from Roman fervi- 
tude, their countrymen required as a 
teftimony of their liberty that they fhould 
demolifh the walls which the Romans 
had erected. It appeared, however, in 
the tenth century, that the empire was 
invaded by Hungarians and other bar- 
barous nations, and the prejudices of the 
Germans were overcome by their fears, 
for they fecured their habitations with 
walls and ramparts! Now, Sir, it is 
very true that the citizens of Norwich, in 
common with their countrymen, were 
only threatened with an invafion from the 
French: but when that threat was ap- 
parently on the point of being executed, 
when the danger of incurfion was moft 
imminent, {0 cool and fteady was the 
courage of our Norwich heroes—I do 
not mean the volunteers merely, and the 
fencibles, the cavalry, the militia, &c. 
&c. &c.—but of the citizens at large, that 
to the beft of my knowledge there was not 
fo much as a motion made in either of 
thofe illuftrious and fapient affemblies, the 
court of aldermen or the court of com- 
mon-councilmen, for rebuilding the gates 
or repairing the walls! Indeed, from the 
known valour and high-fed {pirit of thofe 
two bodies, I queftion whether the confe- 
quence would not have been fatal to the 
mover of {uch an iznominious propofal : 
as it happens, we have not a Tarpeian 
rock in the town, but Iam {ure that the 
vile mifcreant would have been inftantly 
precipitated from the caftle or cathedral 
fummit, as a well-merited punifhment for 
his cowardice. 
I have thought itno more than hand- 
fome, Mr. Editor, to attempt this vindi- 
cation of the calumniated charaéter of my 
fellow-citizens ; this repulfion of an im- 
puted crime—which has certainly no 
parallel in the decalogue—the crime of 
difloyalty. Ifthe corporation have any 
fenfe of gratitude, they will, I think, 
prefent me with the freedom of the city 
ina gold box: but many of them, I 
underftand, have imbibed the Godwinean 
philofophy, fo that it would be imprudent 
: , to 
