Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/262

 Chap.VII. OF MANCHESTER, a 3 i have been very commonly, vvorne by the populace of the pro* vinces, as may plainly be colle&ed from the mode fubfifting among the lower natives of Valentia and even occafionally fol- lowed by the peafants of Manchefter at prefent. And with thi$ mifcellaneous drefe, partly Roman and partly Britifh, the pro* vincials certainly retained the diftinguifhing cuftom of their anceftors, and ftill flreaked all the naked parts of their bodies with paint. The whole united corps of hiftorians and antiquar vians have indeed fuppofed and aflerted the direft contrary : but they have fuppofed it without authority, and they have aflerted it againft proof. We (hall hereafter find the Saxons retain- ing this extraordinary cuftom in the higheft advances of their civil refinements and to the final period of their empire. They could aot have imported the- cuftom with their colonies from the banks of the Elbe, this Indian falhion being abfolutely and: utterly unn known to all but the Arians in Germany, And they muft therefore have certainly received it,, they are exprefsly declared 5 to have a&ually received it* with many other modes of perfonat. decoration, from thofe provincial Britons- over whom they tri- umphed and among whom, they fettled in the ifland 3l ;. A body of men juft emerging from a ftate of real or fuppofed* barbarifm, and copying the real or« fuppofed refinements of their neighbours, will never proceed with a fober difcretion and. a fen- •fible difcrimination.. The affociation of vicious, with refined manners is eafily avoidable in fpeculation,. and yet it was never avoided in pra&ice. The city-chiefs, copying the refinements of the Roman politenefs, copied alfo thofe wretched accompani- ments of all refinements, indulgences which relaxed the body and foftnefles which unbraced the mind* The robuft and hardy Briton, whofe nerves had' been ftrung by the healthful energy of toil, how either repaired to the fulphur-tin&ured fprings of Buxton, or bathed in bafons of artificial warmth, and wantonod in gentle indolence amid the relaxing waters. The robuft: .and*
 * hardy Briton-,' whofe blood had been purified by a healthful fim-

plicity of diet, now mimicked the elegance of the Roman tables.. And the plain hcn.cit Briton now raifed the pillared portico ovt: high*