when he had finished the perusal of it, he hemmed and hawed, and began
to make all sorts of excuses, saying that the City of Bath had never
been troubled with a public meeting, and he could not see why there
should be any meeting there now. I told him that there would certainly
be a meeting, whether he called it or not; that we the requisitionists
merely wished to pay him the compliment of giving him, as the chief
magistrate of the city, an opportunity of convening it; but that, if he
felt the least difficulty upon the subject, we would quite as soon
call it ourselves. He replied by some foolish observation, which I now
forget, but the purport of which was, to leave it doubtful whether he
would or would not comply with our wishes. This, however, did not suit
me, and I pressed him for a definite answer. At length be gave such a
one as, before I waited on him, I was thoroughly convinced that he would
give, namely, that he could not think of complying with the request of
his fellow-citizens. So thoroughly convinced indeed had I been that he
would not call the meeting, that, previous to my waiting on him, I had
sent the copy of the placard, calling the meeting ourselves, to the
printer's to be set up, only leaving room for the answer of the Mayor;
so that, within one hour after he had refused, large broadsides were
placarded all over the city, calling the meeting on the following
Monday, in the name of myself and the other persons who signed the
requisition. The meeting was appointed to be held at 12 o'clock, on my
premises, a large yard in Walcot-street, formerly belonging to a brewer,
so that we were totally free from any interruption that might have been
intended to have been given us.

The circumstances attending the calling of this meeting were rather
curious, and deserve notice, to shew how necessary it is upon these
occasions to act with promptness and decision. The calling of this
meeting had been in contemplation for some time. I had drawn up a