Page:Fitzgerald - Pickwickian manners and customs (1897).djvu/89

 immersed in his arduous labours, the first fruits of which will appear on the 31st March.

"Seymour has devoted himself, heart and graver, to the task of illustrating the beauties of Pickwick. It was reserved to Gibbon to paint, in colours that will never fade, the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire—to Hume to chronicle the strife and turmoil of the two proud houses that divided England against herself—to Napier to pen, in burning words, the History of the War in the Peninsula—the deeds and actions of the gifted Pickwick yet remain for 'Boz' and Seymour to hand down to posterity.

"From the present appearance of these important documents and the probable extent of the selections from them, it is presumed that the series will be completed in about twenty numbers."

From this it will be seen that it was intended to exhibit all the humours of the social amusements with which the public regaled itself. Mr. Pickwick and friends were to be shown on board a steamer; at races, fairs, regattas, market days, meetings—"at all the scenes that can possibly occur to enliven a