I saw here, for the first time, oat ale; and oat cakes not hard as in
Scotland, but soft like a Yorkshire cake, were served at breakfast. It
was pleasant to me to find, that Oats, the food of horses, were so much
used as the food of the people in Dr. Johnson's own town. He expatiated
in praise of Lichfield and its inhabitants, who, he said, were 'the most
sober, decent people in England, the genteelest in proportion to their
wealth, and spoke the purest English.' I doubted as to the last article
of this eulogy: for they had several provincial sounds; as THERE,
pronounced like FEAR, instead of like FAIR; ONCE pronounced WOONSE,
instead of WUNSE, or WONSE. Johnson himself never got entirely free
of those provincial accents. Garrick sometimes used to take him off,
squeezing a lemon into a punch-bowl, with uncouth gesticulations,
looking round the company, and calling out, 'Who's for POONSH?'
Very little business appeared to be going forward in Lichfield. I found
however two strange manufactures for so inland a place, sail-cloth and
streamers for ships; and I observed them making some saddle-cloths,
and dressing sheepskins: but upon the whole, the busy hand of industry
seemed to be quite slackened.
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