it
at his friend.

Anyone interested in Bath must of necessity be interested in Bristol, to
which, as all know, Mr. Winkle fled after the unhappy business in the
Circus. He found a coach at the Royal Hotel--which no longer exists--a
vehicle which, we are told, went the whole distance "twice a day and
more" with a single pair of horses. There he put up at the Bush, where
Mr. Pickwick was to follow him presently. The Bush--a genuine Pickwick
inn--where Mr. Pickwick first heard the news of the action that was to be
brought against him, stood in Corn Street, near to the Guildhall, the
most busy street in Bristol; but it was taken down in 1864, and the
present Wiltshire Bank erected on the site. Mr. Pickwick broke off his
stay at Bath somewhat too abruptly; he left it and all its festivities on
this sudden chase after Winkle. But he may have had a reason. Nothing
is more wonderful than Boz's propriety in dealing with his incidents, a
propriety that is really instinctive. Everything falls out in the
correct, natural way. For instance, Mr. Pickwick having received such a
shock at the Bush--the announcement of the Bardell action--was scarcely
in heart to resume his jollity and gaieties at Bath. We might naturally
expect a resumption of the frolics there. He accordingly returned there;
but we are told curtly, "The remainder of the period which Mr. Pickwick
had assigned as the duration of his stay at Bath passed over without an
occurrence of anything material. Trinity term commenced on the
expiration of the first week. Mr. Pickwick and his friends returned to
London; and the former gentleman, attended of course by Sam, straightway
repaired to his old quarters at the George and Vulture."

And now in these simple sentences have we not the secret of the great
attraction of the book? Who would not suppose that this was a passage
from a biography of some one that had lived? How carefully _minute_ and
yet how naturally the time is accounted for--"passed over without the
occurrence of anything material." It is impossible to resist this air of
_vraisemblance_.

CHAPTER III. OLD ROCHESTER

I.--Jingle and the Theatre

The little Theatre here must be interesting to us from the fact of
Jingle's having been engaged to play there with the officers of the 52nd
Regiment on the night of May 15th, 1827. Jingle was described as "a
strolling actor," and belonged to the "Kent circuit," that is, to the
towns of Canterb