cit," of the country squire, of the
clergy (especially of the country parsons), and of those of lower
social status. But at the same time it must be borne in mind that
then, as since, the dictates of fashion and the conventions of
society were little regarded by many artists and men of letters.

In the preceding chapter I quoted from Addison's diary of a retired
tradesman in the _Spectator_ of 1712. The periodical publications of a
generation or so later paid the great essayist the flattery of
imitation in this respect as in others. In the _Connoisseur_ of George
Colman and Bonnell Thornton, for instance, there is, in 1754, the
description of a citizen's Sunday. The good man, having sent his
family to church in the morning, goes off himself to Mother Redcap's,
a favourite tavern--suburban in those days--or house of call for City
tradesmen. There he smokes half a pipe and drinks a pint of ale. In
the evening at another tavern he smokes a pipe and drinks two pints of
cider, winding up the inane day at his club, where he smokes three
pipes before coming home at twelve to go to bed and sleep soundly.

The week-end habit was strong among London tradesmen in those days.
Another _Connoisseur_ paper of 1754 refers to the citizens'
country-boxes as dusty retreats, because they were always built in
close contiguity to the highway so that the inhabitants could watch
the traffic, in the absence of anything more sensible to do, where
"the want of London smoke is supplied by the smoke of Virginia
tobacco," and where "our chief citizens are accustomed to pass the end
and the beginning of every week." In the following year there is a
description of a visit to Vauxhall by a worthy citizen with his wife
and two daughters. After supper the poor man sadly laments that he
cannot have his pipe, because his wife, with social ambitions, deems
that it is "ungenteel to smoke, where any ladies are in company."

Again, in the _Connoisseur's_ rival, the _World_, founded and
conducted by Edward Moore, there is a letter, in the number dated
February 19, 1756, from a citizen who says: "I have the honour to be a
member of a certain club in this city, where it is a standing order,
That the paper called the _World_ be constantly brought upon the
table, with clean glasses, pipes and tobacco, every Thursday after
dinner."

The country gentlemen of the time followed the hounds and enjoyed
rural sports of all kinds, drank ale, and smoked tobacco. They ha