| Citation |
NYJ-N.767.021
19 Feb 1767:23 (1259)
Rare news for Old England! If the information be true, our
great folks are going immediately to reform themselves for
the benefit of the poor, and the thousands who are at this
very time almost perishing, for want in the different parts
of the Kingdom. The nobility and gentry, wisely and
humanely considering in what luxury they live; how foolishly
they idle away their time; . . . [10 lines of their "idle"
pastimes] They have agreed among themselves to be fully
satisfied with the diversions of the play-house, and do not
intend going to any operas, assemblies, concerts, or other
expensive entertainments during this whole winter. They are
greatly concerned that an Italian singer should be paid
fifty pounds a night, when one hundred pounds a week would
comfortably support two hundred honest, industrious
Englishmen. . . [6 more lines of activity to sacrifice] It
is also resolved to discard all foreigners from the service
of our truly English nobility and gentry: French valets,
fiddlers. . . [11 more lines, signed] Erasmus
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