The setting, amidst the high-society spa towns, inns, and seaside resorts of the 18th century, provides his characters with many opportunities for satirical observations on English and Scottish life, manners, and politics.

The splenetic patriarch, Matthew Bramble, visits various natural spas to alleviate his health problems, and he corresponds primarily with his physician, Dr. Lewis.

Despite his frequent complaints, he is generally reasonable and extremely charitable to the people he meets on his travels as well as to his servants and wards back at home.

His growing disillusionment at the changing moral and social landscape of Great Britain, particularly London, embodies his traditionalist perspective and reveals the absurdities of contemporary British culture.

As a comic foil to Tabitha Bramble, Win Jenkins shares many of her misspellings and malapropisms but demonstrates considerably more common sense and intuition in her observation of the family.

Corresponding primarily with Sir Watkin Phillips of Jesus College, Oxford, Jery also reflects upon issues of city life, class, and the growing public sphere, but often with a more progressive perspective than that of his rather traditional uncle.

Despite his generously democratic views and his astute perceptions of the hypocrisy and absurdity of others, he is—as revealed through Bramble's letters—"hot-headed" and prone to rash anger and impulsive defenses of perceived slights to his family honor, especially when it relates to his sister's interest in a stage actor below her status.

Lydia has spent most of her life at a boarding school for young women, so the expedition serves her as a debut into society (an important cultural phenomenon with a long literary tradition).

He is largely described through the letters of Matthew Bramble and Jeremy Melford and, despite his frequent misunderstandings, is presented as a talented worker and gifted orator, attracting a devoted following of parishioners during a brief oratorical stint in London.

After various romantic interludes, Humphry suffers false imprisonment due to accusations of being a highway robber, though he retains the confident support of Matthew Bramble and his family.