I think JA may've found it quite an amusing letter !

]'cheeks white as curd and eyes as dead as the beads in the face of a baby...and hair arranged so high'

I find some humour in the ideas of how to control this plague- by government regulation, 'as much as distemper among the great horned cattle.'

Actually, I'm reminded of Goldsmith's 'The Vicar of Wakefield', a book JA almost certainly read. On theme was disapproval by the father of his daughters' vanities.

At home, Catherine didn't talk of Henry. I guess Mrs Morland can only assume Catherine fretted over the loss of visiting the grand abbey.

Rich Person Distemper. LOL !

Thanks very much for sharing parts of Mr Homespun's essay with us, Heather. :)

* I suspect Mr Homespun may've been Henry McKenzie who edited
'The Mirror' 1779-1780, the time this letter from John Homespun appeared.