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In the Eighteenth Century
some drink, some do not, and few drink physically : But Company and Diversion is, in short, the main business of the Place; and those People who have nothing to do anywhere else, seem to be the only People who have anything to do at Tunbridge"
That in the dawn of the eighteenth century the company was not all that it might have been there can be no doubt. In his play Tun-bridge Walks, or, The Yeoman of Kent, played at Drury Lane Theatre in January 1703, Thomas Baker puts the following description into the mouth of one of his characters, Reynard, a gentleman who lives by his wits, in answer to the question, " What company does the place afford ? "
" Like most publick Assemblies, a Medley of all sorts, Fops Majestic and Diminutive, from the long flaxen Wig with a splendid Equipage, to the Merchant's spruce 'Prentice that's always mighty neat about the Legs; 'Squires come to court some fine Town-Lady, and Town-Sparks to pick up a Russet-Gown; for the Women here are wild Country-Ladies, with ruddy Cheeks like a Sevil-Orange, or gape, stare, scamper, and are brought hither to be disciplin'd; Fat City-Ladies with tawdry
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