nevolently show their little all.'"

But I must not particularize here, as I intend sketching the more
prominent personages during a morning lounge in Milsom-street; when,
appearing in their ordinary costume, they will be the more easily
recognised in print, and remain a more lasting memorial of Bath
eccentrics,

SKETCHES IN BATH--CHAPTER II.

~312~~

Well-known Characters in the Pump-room taking a Sip with
King Bladud--Free Sketches of Fair Game--The awkward
Rencontre, or Mr. B------and Miss L.--Public Bathing or
stewing alive--Sober Thoughts--Milsom-street Swells--A
Visit to the Pig and Whistle, Avon-street--of the Buff
Club.

To the pump-room we went, where the grave, and the gay,
And the aged, and the sickly, lounge time away;
Where all the choice spirits are seen making free
With the sov'reign cordial, the true _eau de vie_.

[Illustration: page312]

The _dejeune_ over, the first place to which the stranger in Bath
is most desirous of an introduction is the Pump-room; not that he
anticipates restoration to health from drinking the waters, or imagines
the virtues of immortality are to be found by immersion in the baths;
but if he be a person of any condition, he is naturally anxious to _show
off_ make his bow to the gay throng, and, at the same time, elucidate
the exact condition of Bath Society. If, however, he is a mere plebeian
in search of novelty, coupling pleasure with business, or an invalid
sent here by his doctors to end his days, he is still anxious, while
life remains, to see and be seen; to observe whom he can recognise
among the great folks he has known in the metropolis, or perchance, meet
consolation from some suffering fellow citizen, who, like himself, has
been conveyed to Bath to save his family the misery of seeing him expire
beneath his own roof. "What an admirable variety of character does this
scene present," said Transit, who, on our first ~313~~entrance, was much
struck with the magnificence of the rooms, and still more delighted with
the immense display of eccentricities which presented themselves.
"I must introduce you, old fellow," said Eglantine, "to a few of
the oddities who figure here. The strange-looking personage in the
right-hand corner is usually called Dick Solus, from his almost
invariably appearing abroad by himself, or dangling after the steps
of some fair Thespian, to the single of whom he is