282 
to indulge very ardent hopes of fuch a 
compliment for my trouble. 
It is time, Sir, that we fhould {peak 
about the amufements of Norwich; but 
they are lo fimilar, no doubt, to thoie. 
which prevail in -all other parts of the 
kingdom, that the fubject admits but of 
fittle enlargement. I hall fay nothing 
about the playing at foldiers, becaule 
that very fafhionable game has already 
been noticed: I mention it pro forma. 
We have a theatre which is fo much fre- 
quented, that, according to the new leafe 
for fourteen years which has jaft been 
plane of it, and whichis not to com- 
_ mence for more than a twelve-month from 
a time, the manager is to pay double 
Bs old rent and fink a confiderable fum of 
roney (1000].) on the building : we look 
pele with no little expectation to’ a 
eee of comedians, whofe exertions 
d talents will fecureto the new manager 
a fe ha fucceffion of full houfes. 
A tafte for mufic is very prevalent 
here : : this may be readily accounted for. 
Among our profeflional performers are to 
be diftinguifhed fome few, to whofe fine 
execution and rich tones, he muft be dull 
indeed who is infenfible. During the 
winter feafon, therefore, in addition to 
the periodical public concerts, we have 
frequently poetic mufic-parties, which 
are much indebted to the vocal and in- 
ftrumental affiftance of feveral private la- 
dies amd gentlemen. ‘Yo cheer the long 
evenings too, ‘¢ when Hae hang by the 
wall a we often join in the dance as well 
as the fong, and, upon the whole, I fup- 
pofe, live-as merrily as our neighbours. 
Cur medes of viliting are various: we 
have dinner parties, fapper parties, fand- 
wich parties, converfation parties, routs 
and routet tes—hurricanes, tempeits and 
tornadoes ! 
What fort of a Bee we would be 
drawn cf us by a eee I cannot fay: 
J think he would remark of the commen 
cae that LEY, are ‘peaceable and fober 5 
e light of a of them funning them- 
felves in the market-place and lounging 
_ about the ftreets, would not, indeed, atrord 
him avery favourable opinion of ea 
duftry ; but if he were a fenfible man he 
wauld not form a hafty judgment: he 
would enguire before he condemned thete 
oor fellows for idlenefs—whether they 
conld get any employment? he would 
enquire into the fiate of our manufactory 
in parti icular, and into the ftate of our 
bufinefs in general: refult of his 
enquiries would probably lead him, ra- 
the 
Sketch of the State of Society in Norwich, 
[May 
ther to commiferate than reproach thefe 
emaciated and inactive wanderers ; empty 
looms, uninhabited houfes; and unwant- 
ed work-rooms would have given him fuf- 
ficient information®. 
A. ftranger would experience from the 
upper clafies of our fociety much kind- 
nels and hofpitality: if he cultivated 2 
female acquaintance, after having tired 
himfelf with litening to the vacant prat- 
tle of fome of the fair« daughters of tafhion, 
he might turn for relief to a circle of la- 
dies in whofe converfation are united fenfe, 
Vivacity, and acutenefs. The manners 
of our females are, in general, eafy and 
familiar. I do not, however, know that 
they have formed among themfelves any 
fociety correfponding to one which Mr. 
Gibbon, in his pofthumous works, relates 
to have exifted in Switzerland. <‘* La 
focieté du printems,”’ fo denominated from 
the vernal ages of its members, was a fo- 
ciety which Mr. G. frequented, confifting 
of about twenty unmarried ladies, of ealy 
but not {plendid fortunes; they met at 
each other’s houfes, almoft every day, 
without the control or even the prefence 
of any elder matron: they received vifits 
from a number of young men of every na- 
tion ef Europe, and their own prudence 
was their only reftraint. “They laughed, 
they danced, they a&ted, and they fung 5 
«¢ but in hie midft of this carelefs gaiety,” 
‘fays Mr. Gibbon, “ they refpected them- 
felves and were refpecied by the men: the 
invifible line between liberty and licenti- 
oufnefs was never tranfgrefled by a gefture, 
a word, or a look, and their virgin chaftity 
was never fullied by the breath of fcandal 
or fulpicion. | fingular inftitution, ex- 
preffive of the innocent fimplicity of Swifs 
manners.” 
A ftranger would remark that the ladies 
of Norwich, as well as the gentlemen, 
fpeak their provincial dialect ; many of 
them, no doubt, are inleaaile that the 
purity of their colloquial language is thus 
tainted: and fuch are the force of early 
habit and the influence of imitation, that 
others, aware of the vulgarity of pro- 
vincialifm, and, of courfe, eager to avoid 
it, are not at all times able to fucceed: 
the ftream of converfation will occafion- 
ally be impregnated with the foil through 
which it Hows. There may be fome few 
* For a very able fketch of ¢¢the hiftory 
of Norwich manufactures” I refer my reader. 
to a communication in your Monthly Maga- 
zine Vol. vi. page 413. 

perfons; 
