at His Lodgings in the Borough
Chapter XXXIII. Mr. Weller the Elder Delivers some Critical Sentiments Respecting Literary Composition and, Assisted by His Son Samuel, Pays a Small Instalment of Retaliation to the Account of the Reverend Gentleman with the Red Nose
Chapter XXXIV. Is Wholly Devoted to a Full and Faithful Report of the Memorable Trial of Bardell Against Pickwick
Chapter XXXV. In which Mr. Pickwick Thinks He Had Better Go to Bath; And Goes Accordingly
Chapter XXXVI. The Chief Features of which will be Found to be an Authentic Version of the Legend of Prince Bladud, and a Most Extraordinary Calamity that Befell Mr. Winkle
Chapter XXXVII. Honourably Accounts for Mr. Weller’s Absence, by Describing a Soiree to which He was Invited and Went; Also Relates how He was Entrusted by Mr. Pickwick with a Private Mission of Delicacy and Importance
Chapter XXXVIII. How Mr. Winkle, When He Stepped Out of the Frying-pan, Walked Gently and Comfortably into the Fire
Chapter XXXIX. Mr. Samuel Weller, Being Intrusted with a Mission of Love, Proceeds to Execute It; With What Success Will Hereinafter Appear
Chapter XL. Introduces Mr. Pickwick to a New and Not Uninteresting Scene in the Great Drama of Life
Chapter XLI. What Befell Mr. Pickwick when He Got into the Fleet; What Prisoners He Saw There, and how He Passed the Night
Chapter XLII. Illustrative, Like the Preceding One, of the Old Proverb, that Adversity Brings a Man Acquainted with Strange Bedfellows — Likewise Containing Mr. Pickwick’s Extraordinary and Startling Announcement to Mr. Samuel Weller
Chapter XLIII. Showing How Mr. Samuel Weller Got Into Difficulties
Chapter XLIV. Treats of Divers Little Matters which Occurred in the Fleet and of Mr. Winkle’s Mysterious Behaviour; And Shows How the Poor Chancery Prisoner Obtained His Release at Last
Chapter XLV. Descriptive of an Affecting Interview Between Mr. Samuel Weller and a Family Party. Mr. Pickwick Makes a Tour of the Diminutive World He Inhabits, and Resolves to Mix with it, in Future, as Little as Possible
Chapter XLVI. Records a Touching Act of Delicate Feeling, Not Unmixed with Pleasantry, Achieved and Performed by Messrs. Dodson and Fogg
Chapter XLVII. Is Chiefly Devoted to Matters of Business, and the Temporal Advantage of Dodson and Fogg. Mr. Winkle Reappears Under Extraordinary Circumstances — Mr. Pickwick’s Benevolence Proves Stronger than His Obstinacy
Chapter XLVIII. Relates How Mr. Pickwick, with the Assistance of Samuel Weller, Essayed to Soften the Heart of Mr. Benjamin Allen, and to Mollify the Wrath of Mr. Robert Sawyer
Chapter XLIX. Containing the Story of the Bagman’s Uncle
Chapter L. How Mr. Pickwick Sped Upon His Mission, and how He Was Reinforced in the Outset by a Most Unexpected Auxiliary
Chapter LI. In which Mr. Pickwick Encounters an Old Acquaintance, to which Fortunate Circumstance the Reader is Mainly Indebted for Matter of Thrilling Interest Herein Set Down, Concerning Two Great Public Men of Might and Power
Chapter LII. Involving a Serious Change in the Weller Family, and the Untimely Downfall of Mr. Stiggins
Chapter LIII. Comprising the Final Exit of Mr. Jingle and Job Trotter, with a Great Morning of Business in Gray’s Inn Square — Concluding with a Double Knock at Mr. Perker’s Door
Chapter LIV. Containing Some Particulars Relative to the Double Knock, and other Matters: Among which Certain Interesting Disclosures Relative to Mr. Snodgrass and a Young Lady are by No Means Irrelevant to This History
Chapter LV. Mr. Solomon Pell, Assisted by a Select Committee of Coachmen, Arranges the Affairs of the Elder Mr. Weller
Chapter LVI. An Important Conference Takes Place between Mr. Pickwick and Samuel Weller, at which His Parent Assists an Old Gentleman in a Snuff-coloured Suit Arrives Unexpectedly
Chapter LVII. In Which the Pickwick Club is Finally Dissolved, and Everything Concluded to the Satisfaction of Everybody
Chapter I.
The Pickwickians
Table of Contents
The first ray of light which illumines the gloom, and converts into a dazzling brilliancy that obscurity in which the earlier history of the public career of the immortal Pickwick would appear to be involved, is derived from the perusal of the following entry in the Transactions of the Pickwick Club, which the editor of these papers feels the highest pleasure in laying before his readers, as a proof of the careful attention, indefatigable assiduity, and nice discrimination, with which his search among the multifarious documents confided to him has been conducted.
‘May 12, 1827. Joseph Smiggers, Esq., P.V.P.M.P.C. [Perpetual Vice-President — Member Pickwick Club], presiding. The following resolutions unanimously agreed to: —
‘That this Association has heard read, with feelings of unmingled satisfaction, and unqualified approval, the paper communicated by Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C. [General Chairman — Member Pickwick Club], entitled “Speculations on the Source of the Hampstead Ponds, with some Observations on the Theory of Tittlebats;” and that this Association does hereby return its warmest thanks to the said Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., for the same.
‘That while this Association is deeply sensible of the advantages which must accrue to the cause of science, from the production to which they have just adverted — no less than from the unwearied researches of Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., in Hornsey, Highgate, Brixton, and Camberwell — they cannot but entertain a lively sense of the inestimable benefits which must inevitably result from carrying the speculations of that learned man into a wider field, from extending his travels, and, consequently, enlarging his sphere
