Page:The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.djvu/206

152 162 POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF

was a piece of biting sarcasm against the Independent, who in conse- quence of not having been invited at all, had been through four numbers affecting to sneer at the whole affair, in his very largest type, with all the adjectives in capital letters.

The morning came ; it was a pleasant sight to behold Mr. Tupman in full Brigand's costume, with a very tight jacket, sitting like a pincushion over his back and shoulders : the upper portion of his legs encased in the velvet shorts, and the lower part thereof swathed in the complicated bandages to which all Brigands are peculiarly attached. It was pleasing to see his open and ingenuous countenance, well mustachioed and corked, looking out from an open shirt collar ; and to contemplate the sugar-loaf hat, decorated with ribbons of all colours, which he was compelled to carry on his knee, inasmuch as no known conveyance with a top to it, would admit of any man's carrying it between his head and the roof. Equally humourous and agreeable, was the appearance of Mr. Snodgrass in blue satin trunks and cloak, white silk tights and shoes, and Grecian helmet, which everybody knows (and if they do not, Mr. Solomon Lucas did) to have been the regular, authentic, every-day costume of a Troubadour, from the earliest ages down to the time of their final disap- pearance from the face of the earth. All this was pleasant, but this was as nothing compared with the shouting of the populace when the carriage drew up, behind Mr. Pott's chariot, which chariot itself drew up at Mr. Pott's door, which door itself opened, and displayed the great Pott accoutred as a Russian officer of justice, with a tremendous knout in his hand — tastefully typical of the stern and mighty power of the Eatanswill Gazette, and the fearful lashings it bestowed on public offenders.

"■ Bravo ! " shouted Mr. Tupman and Mr. Snodgrass from the passage, when they beheld the walking allegory.

" Bravo I " Mr. Pickwick was heard to exclaim, from the passage.

" Hoo — ^roar Pott," shouted the populace. Amid these salutations, Mr. Pott, smihng with that kind of bland dignity which sufficiently testified that he felt his power, and knew how to exert it, got into the chariot.

Then there emerged from the house, Mrs. Pott, who would have looked very like Apollo if she hadn't had a gown on : conducted by Mr. Winkle, who in his light red-coat, could not possibly have been mis- taken for any thing but a sportsman, if he had not borne an equal resemblance to a general postman. Last of all, came Mr. Pickwick, whom the boys applauded as loudly as anybody, probably under the impression that his tights and gaiters were some remnants of the dark ages ; and then the two vehicles proceeded towards Mrs. Leo Hunter's, Mr. Weller (who was to assist in waiting) being stationed on the box of that in which his master was seated.

Every one of the men, women, boys, girls, and babies, who were assembled to see the visiters in their fancy dresses, screamed with delight and extasy, when Mr. Pickwick, with the Brigand on one arm, and the Troubadour on the other, walked solemnly up the entrance. Never were such shouts heard, as thor^e which giceted Mr. Tupman's efforts

i