RE: “London Vs Bath”

Your comments about age are interesting because I sometimes felt like Mr. Bramble uses his age as an excuse. For example, early on, he tells his doctor that the alterations to Bath have an “exaggerated impression on the irritable nerves of an invalid surprised by premature old age, and shattered with long-suffering” (32). That is, and like you said, his supposed old age brings the town’s faults to light. However, Jery Melford’s letters sometimes contradict this presumption, like when his uncle nimbly hops out of the overturned carriage or when his health seems to be temporarily rejuvenated when he reaffirms the patriarch within his family (74, 81, 95).

Additionally, your example of someone returning to Las Vegas after a couple decades reminds me of a scene later on when Mr. Bramble is again reflecting to his doctor. He comments that if mankind’s morals haven’t decreased “within these thirty years, then must I be infected with the common vice of old men, difficilis, querulous, laudatory temporis acti,” meaning he must be an old man thinking about the good old times, so to speak (100). He continues: “or, which is more probable, the impetuous pursuits and avocations of youth have formerly hindered me from observing those rotten parts of human nature, which now appear so offensively to my observation,” that is, his age is bringing to light true human nature that his naivety during youth shielded him from (100). Either way, I think both of his reactions could be similar to someone who is startled by a different Las Vegas.