Page:History of the Haverel wives, or, The folly of witless women displayed (1).pdf/21

Rh taverns roar like Ætna’s mouth; children follow their gaming, and old ſinners there ſtroling about, nothing ſtopt but coal-carts and common carriers, the Sabbath laſts no longer than the ſermon, and the ſermon is meaſured by a little ſand in a glaſs; many, too many frequent the church, ſeemingly only to ſhow their antic dreſs, with heads of a monſtruous form, more ſurprizing than thoſe deſcribed by Ariſtotle, as for length exceeding that of an aſſes’s head, ears and all; and ah! How humbling would it be, to ſee their heads ſtruck into ſuch a hideous form, &c.

They diſdain now to ride on pads as of old, or to be hobled on a horſe’s hurdies, but muſt be hurled behind the tail, ſafely ſeated in a leathern conveniency, and there they fly ſwiftly as in the chariot of Aminadab.

They will not ſpeak the mother language of their native country, but must have ſouthern oaths, refined like raw ſugar thro’ the mills of curſing, finely poliſhed, and fairly ſtruck in the profane mint of London, into a perfect form of flunky language; even the very wild Arabs from the mountain-tops, who have not yet got Engliſh to profane his Maker’s name, will cry, Cot, Cot; hateful it is to hear them ſwear, who cannot ſpeak. O! ſtrange alteration ſince the days of old! the downfal of Popery, and the Prelates’ decay, when reformation was alive, and religion in taſte and fashion; the people during the ſabbath, were all packed up in cloſets, and their