He was so
fond of dear London that he began to fret, only inwardly; but being
unable to laugh and be laughed at, I took a place in the Northern
coach for him and his family; and hope he has got to-night safe
from all sneerers in his own parlour.
"To know what a Toast is in the country gives as much perplexity as
she herself does in town; and indeed the learned differ very much
upon the original of this word, and the acceptation of it among the
moderns; however, it is agreed to have a cheerful and joyous
import. A toast in a cold morning, heightened by nutmeg, and
sweetened with sugar, has for many ages been given to our rural
dispensers of justice before they entered upon causes, and has been
of great politic use to take off the severity of their sentences;
but has indeed been remarkable for one ill effect, that it inclines
those who use it immoderately to speak Latin; to the admiration
rather than information of an audience. This application of a toast
makes it very obvious that the word may, without a metaphor, be
understood as an apt name for a thing which raises us in the most
sovereign degree; but many of the Wits of the last age will assert
that the word in its present sense was known among them in their
youth, and had its rise from an accident in the town of Bath in the
reign of King Charles the Second.
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