Swansea in
the 1790s
This description of the town is taken from the journal of the Rev.
Richard Warner who visited in 1799...
"Swansea being a fashionable bathing
place, we judged it necessary to make as smart an appearance there as
the situation of our wardrobes would allow; having therefore brushed up
at a small village, about a mile from the town and hired a lad to carry
our knapsacks, we boldly proceeded to the Mackworth Arms, the best inn
in the place. Pride, however, generally punishes itself; and fortune,
who had always hitherto rewarded our ebbullitions of vanity with shame
and confusion of face, determined not to lose this opportunity of
exerting her malignity. |
Above: Wind Street in the 1790s. |
| While we were hastening to the inn,
affecting that stare of conscious importance which a seat in a phaeton
and four will hardly authorise, a cry from behind attracted our
attention. Looking around we beheld our poor page prostrate in the
gutter, the packs rolling away from him in different directions and
mine, which was stuffed beyond its capacity of extension, burst from top
to bottom, discharging its heterogeneous contents over the pavement and
converting the streets into a second ragfair. I verily believe the
smiles of some smart girls, who were taking their afternoon promenade,
and the unrestricted mirth of half a dozen sailors would have put our
party to flight had not John, whose practical philosophy is equal to his
invincible good humour persuaded us to collect together the different
articles by observing that it is much better to suffer the transient
ordeal of a little ridicule and endure the evaporation of a little self
importance, than run the risque of losing the contents of the knapsack.
Common sense seconded his remark, and in a few minutes we had secured
our property, and were safely lodged in the Mackworth Arms. |