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Piozzi Letters, i. 334. See post, Aug 19, 1784. There is no mention in the Journey to Brundusium of a brook. Johnson referred, no doubt, to Epistle I. 16. 12. 'Ne ought save Tyber hastning to his fall Remaines of all. O world's inconstancie! That which is firme doth flit and fall away, And that is flitting doth abide and stay. Spenser, The Ruines of Rome.
For instance, he is outraged by the effusiveness of the "violent, busy-headed and impatient Frenchman," who "showeth his lightness and inconstancie ... in nothing more than in his familiaritie, with whom a stranger cannot so soone be off his horse, but he will be acquainted: nor so soone in his Chamber, but the other like an Ape will bee on his shoulder: and as suddenly and without cause ye shall love him also.
"And, as these fashions are diverse, so likewise it is a world to see the costlinesse and the curiositie: the excesse and the vanitie: the pomp and the braverie; the change and the varietie: and finallie the ficklenesse and the follie that is in all degrees: insomuch that nothing is more constant in England than inconstancie of attire." Each one aimed at making the best appearance.
He is satirical at the expense of his countrymen's dress, 'there is nothing in England more constant than the inconstancie of attire, but praises their silence and gravity at their meals. They have wise ministers in the court, and devout guardians of the true religion and of the church. 'O thrice happy England, where such councilors are, where such people live, where such virtue springeth.
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