said he, 'there is no coming at her, she is so
surrounded by the toupets.'--And I left him upon the fret--But he was
called to soon after; and in he flew, and his face shone again, and looked
smooth."

* * * * *

"Another extraordinary old man we have had here, but of a very different
turn; the noted _Mr. Whiston_, showing eclipses, and explaining other
phaenomena of the stars, and preaching the millennium, and anabaptism (for
he is now, it seems, of that persuasion) to gay people, who, if they have
white teeth, hear him with open mouths, though perhaps shut hearts; and
after his lecture is over, not a bit the wiser, run from him, the more
eagerly to C----r and W----sh, and to flutter among the loud-laughing
young fellows upon the walks, like boys and girls at a breaking-up."

* * * * *

"Your affectionate and paternal friend and servant, S. RICHARDSON."

Richardson has mentioned only a few of the characters introduced in the
Engraving. Johnson was at that time but in his fortieth year, and much
less portly than afterwards. Cibber is the very picture of an old beau,
with laced hat and flowing wig; half-a-dozen of his pleasantries were
worth all that is heard from all the playwrights and actors of our
day--on or off the stage: Garrick too, probably did not keep all his fine
conceits within the theatre. Nos. 7, 8, and 9, in the Engraving, are a
pretty group: Miss Chudleigh (afterwards Duchess of Kingston,) between
Beau Nash and Mr. Pitt (Earl of Chatham,) both of whom are striving for a
side-long glance at the sweet tempered, and as Richardson calls her,
"generally-admired" lady. No. 17, Richardson himself is moping along like
an invalid beneath the trees, and avoiding the triflers. Mrs. Johnson is
widely separated from the Doctor, but is as well dressed as he could wish
her; and No. 21, Mr. Whiston is as unexpected among this gay crowd as snow
in harvest. What a _coterie_ of wits must Tunbridge have possessed at this
time: what assemblies and whistparties among scores of spinsters, and
ogling, dangling old bachelors; with high-heeled shoes, silken hose, court
hoops, embroidery, and point ruffles--only compare the Tunbridge parade of
1748 with that of 1829.

We have room but for a brief sketch of Tunbridge Wells. The Springs, or
the place itself, is a short distance from the town of Tunbridge. The
discovery of the waters was in the reign of James I. Henrie