CHAPTER IV.

Mr. Kneebone and his Friends.


Mrs. Wood was scarcely seated before Mr. Kneebone made his appearance.
To her great surprise and mortification he was not alone; but brought
with him a couple of friends, whom he begged to introduce as Mr.
Jeremiah Jackson, and Mr. Solomon Smith, chapmen, (or what in modern
vulgar parlance would be termed bagmen) travelling to procure orders for
the house of an eminent cloth manufacturer in Manchester. Neither the
manners, the looks, nor the attire of these gentlemen prepossessed Mrs.
Wood in their favour. Accordingly, on their presentation, Mr. Jeremiah
Jackson and Mr. Solomon Smith received something very like a rebuff.
Luckily, they were not easily discomposed. Two persons possessing a more
comfortable stock of assurance could not be readily found. Imitating the
example of Mr. Kneebone, who did not appear in the slightest degree
disconcerted by his cool reception, each sank carelessly into a chair,
and made himself at home in a moment. Both had very singular faces; very
odd wigs, very much pulled over their brows; and very large cravats,
very much raised above their chins. Besides this, each had a large black
patch over his right eye, and a very queer twist at the left side of his
mouth, so that if their object had been disguise, they could not have
adopted better precautions. Mrs. Wood thought them both remarkably
plain, but Mr. Smith decidedly the plainest of the two. His complexion
was as blue as a sailor's jacket, and though Mr. Jackson had one of the
ugliest countenances imaginable, he had a very fine set of teeth. That