| Citation |
VGW(PA.737.064
19-26 Aug 1737:31 (56)
Extract of a letter from Paris. . . [2 paragraphs describe
the difference between English and French treatment of their
indigent. The second paragraph includes the following two
sentences:]
The generality of peers and nobility too, are conspicuous
for the number of families to which they give pensions to
subsist them; it is impossible for them to keep their
charities long a secret, for the gratitude of the receivers
still proclaim them some time or other; and it was
judiciously remark'd by a subject of Great-Britain, that the
French quality give twice as much every year to the poor as
they throw away on operas, masquerades and assemblies; but
whether the British quality imitate them in so laudable an
atonement for their vices, is what we are no judges of on
this side the water. . . [25 lines] As for the fine ladies
of London and Westminster, I don't write you this as a
lesson for them: The dear creatures have no time to spend
in such acts of piety, or money to spare from the opera and
quadrille. . .
|