er in the hope of meeting her at Mrs. Leo Hunter's
_dejeuner_. Everything, therefore, fits well together.

I thought of consulting the report of the House of Commons Committee on
the Election Petition, and this confirmed my view. There great stress is
laid on the Blue and Buff colours: in both the report and the novel it is
mentioned that the constables' staves were painted Blue. Boz makes Bob
Sawyer say, in answer to Potts' horrified enquiry "Not Buff, sir?" "Well
I'm a kind of plaid at present--mixed colours"--something very like this
he must have noticed in the Report. A constable, asked was his comrade,
one Seagrave, Buff, answered, "_well_, _half and half_, _I believe_." In
the Report, voters were captured and put to bed at the White Horse; and
Sam tells how he "pumped over" a number of voters at the same house. The
very waiter, who received Mr. Pickwick so contemptuously, was examined by
the Committee--his name was Henry Cowey--and he answered exactly like the
waiter with the "fortnight's napkin and the coeval stockings." When
asked "was not so-and-so's appearance that of an intoxicated person?" the
language seemed too much for him, rather, he took it to himself: "If I
_had_ been intoxicated, I could not have done my business." This is
quite in character.

Boz calls the inn at Eatanswill, "The Town Arms." There was no such sign
in all England at the time, as the Road Book shows. Why then would he
call the White Horse by that name? The Town Arms of Ipswich have two
white _Sea Horses_ as supporters. This had certainly something to do
with the matter.

Mr. Pott was surely a real personage: for "Boz," who presently did not
scruple to "takeoff" a living Yorkshire schoolmaster in a fashion that
all his neighbours and friends recognised the original, would not draw
back in the case of an editor. Indeed, it is plain that in all points
Pott is truly an admirable figure, perfect in every point of view, and
finished. In fact, Pott and Pell, in their way, are the two best pieces
of work in the book. How admirable is the description; "a tall, thin man
with a sandy-coloured head, inclined to baldness, and a face in which
solemn importance was blended with a look of unfathomable profundity. He
was dressed in a long, brown surtout, with a black cloth waistcoat and
drab trousers. A double eye-glass dangled at his waistcoat, and on his
head he wore a very low-crowned hat with a broad rim." Every touch is
deligh