t worse than swine; or, in other words, who are not as
debased as our contemporary himself? But such is the wretched trickery
of hole-and-corner Buffery! These are not its only artifices. Treason is
abroad. We boldly state, now that we are goaded to the disclosure, and
we throw ourselves on the country and its constables for protection--we
boldly state that secret preparations are at this moment in progress for
a Buff ball; which is to be held in a Buff town, in the very heart and
centre of a Buff population; which is to be conducted by a Buff master
of the ceremonies; which is to be attended by four ultra Buff members of
Parliament, and the admission to which, is to be by Buff tickets! Does
our fiendish contemporary wince? Let him writhe, in impotent malice, as
we pen the words, WE WILL BE THERE.'

'There, Sir,' said Pott, folding up the paper quite exhausted, 'that is
the state of the case!'

The landlord and waiter entering at the moment with dinner, caused Mr.
Pott to lay his finger on his lips, in token that he considered his life
in Mr. Pickwick's hands, and depended on his secrecy. Messrs. Bob
Sawyer and Benjamin Allen, who had irreverently fallen asleep during the
reading of the quotation from the Eatanswill GAZETTE, and the discussion
which followed it, were roused by the mere whispering of the talismanic
word 'Dinner' in their ears; and to dinner they went with good digestion
waiting on appetite, and health on both, and a waiter on all three.

In the course of the dinner and the sitting which succeeded it, Mr. Pott
descending, for a few moments, to domestic topics, informed Mr. Pickwick
that the air of Eatanswill not agreeing with his lady, she was then
engaged in making a tour of different fashionable watering-places with
a view to the recovery of her wonted health and spirits; this was
a delicate veiling of the fact that Mrs. Pott, acting upon her
often-repeated threat of separation, had, in virtue of an arrangement
negotiated by her brother, the lieutenant, and concluded by Mr. Pott,
permanently retired with the faithful bodyguard upon one moiety or half
part of the annual income and profits arising from the editorship and
sale of the Eatanswill GAZETTE.

While the great Mr. Pott was dwelling upon this and other matters,
enlivening the conversation from time to time with various extracts from
his own lucubrations, a stern stranger, calling from the window of a
stage-coach, outward bound, which halted a