| Share page |
|
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Most of the company, however, were again to be found on the Pantiles, listening, from twelve to two o'clock, to the band of flutes, hautboys, and violins. " Here," wrote Samuel Derrick, " is a beautiful row of large flourishing trees, that yield a delightful shade; and in a small wooden gallery upon the Walks there are four or five fiddlers scraping away, during the hours of water-drinking; but I cannot say they yield very delightful strains." " This I do," said a friend of Derrick, when giving a subscription for the band, " because I love music, out of which harmony ought to arise : yours produces nothing but discord." The music, however, was not the attraction which brought people to the Pantiles, and if the orchestra was indifferent or worse, probably few noticed it. Before the Ladies reappeared on the Walks at noon, they had changed their neglige costume for full dress morning attire. " After the Appearing is over at the Wells (where the Ladies are in an Undress), and at the Chapel, the Company go home," Defoe noted in 1724; " and, as if it was another Species of People, or a Collection from another Place, you are surpriz'd to see the Walks covered with Ladies completely dress'd and 248 |
||