an Outhouse, we went up Stairs to see what was the matter, where we found a poor Fidler, scraping over the tune of _Now Ponder Well you Parents Dear_;[110] and a parcel of Country People Dancing and crying to 't. The Remembrance of the Uncles Cruelty to the poor Innocent Babes, and the Robin Red Breasts Kindness, had fix'd in their very Looks such Signs of Sorrow and Compassion, that their Dancing seem'd rather a Religious Worship, than a Merry Recreation. Having thus given ourselves a Prospect of all that the place afforded, we return'd to Stratford, where we got a Coach, and from thence to London.' [Footnote 107: See Appendix.] [Footnote 108: See Appendix.] [Footnote 109: Fiddles.] [Footnote 110: See Appendix.] [Illustration: The Merry Fidler.] This stay-at-home lot naturally disliked all who differed from them; and their especial hatred, on whom all their vials of wrath was poured out, and who provoked their most pungent satire, was the travelled fop who had brought back with him Continental ideas and fashions. In this matter John Bull, until he began to move about a bit, has always been most conservative. Anything 'un-English' was certain of condemnation, and of course, during the war the French, and all belonging to them, were especially hated. Our Native Speech we must forget, ere long, To learn the _French_, that much more Modish Tongue. Their Language smoother is, hath pretty Aires; But ours is _Gothick_, if compar'd with theirs. The French by Arts of smoother Insinuation, Are now become the Darlings of the Nation; His Lordship's Valet must be bred in _France_, Or else he is a Clown without Pretence: The _English_ Blockheads are in Dress so coarse, They're fit for nothing, but to rub a Horse, Her Ladyship's ill-manner'd or ill-bred, Whose Woman, Confident, or Chamber Maid, Did not in _France_ suck in her first breath'd Air, Or did not gain hir Education there; Our Cooks in dressing have no Skill at all. They're only fit to serve an Hospital, Or to prepare a Dinner for a Camp; _French_ Cooks are only of the Modish Stamp.[111] [Footnote 111: _The Baboon A-la-mode, A Satyr against the French_, ed. 1704.] These affectations offended our insularity, and, probably, the following sketch was not at all ungenerous or uncalled for:--