To disappoint this infamous ambition, more than from any fear of the
threatened consequences, we have left the sable colonel and his dark
satellites to grope on through the murky ways of waywardness and
intrigue, without staining our pages with a full relation of their
heartless conduct, since to have revived the now forgotten tales might
have given additional pain to some beauteous victims whose fair names
have dropped into Lethe's waters, like early spring flowers nipped by
the lingering hand of slow-paced winter; or, in other instances, have
disturbed the repose of an unsuspecting husband, or have stung the
aged heart of a doting parent--evils we could not have avoided, had
we determined upon rehearsing the love scenes and intrigues of certain
well-known Cheltenham amateurs.
Adieu, merry Chelts! we're for quitting our quarters;
Adieu to the chase, to thy walks and thy waters,
To thy hunt, ball, and theatre, and card tables too,
And to all thy gay fair ones, a long, long adieu!
Blackmantle and Transit, the Spy and his friend,
Through Gloucester and Bristol, to Bath onward bend.
To show how amused they have been in your streets,
They give you, at parting, this man of sweetmeats;
A character, famous as Mackey, the dandy,
The London importer of horehound and candy;
The cheapest of doctors, whose nostrums dispense
A cure for all ills that affect taste or sense,
I doubt not quite as good as one half your M.
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