es that have been found," added the
counsel, with due gravity, "_they seem to import much more than mere
words convey_." After this can there be a doubt?

This case was tried in June, 1836, and, it must be borne in mind, caused
a prodigious sensation all over the Kingdom. The Pickwick part,
containing the description, appeared about December, six months
afterwards. Only old people may recall Norton _v._ Melbourne, the fair
Caroline's wrongs have long been forgotten; but it is curious that the
memory of it should have been kept alive in some sort by this farcical
parody. Equally curious is it that the public should always have
insisted that she was the heroine of yet another story, George Meredith's
_Diana_, though the author has disclaimed it over and over again.

The Serjeant's dealing with the warming pan topic is a truly admirable
satiric touch, and not one bit far-fetched or exaggerated. Any one
familiar with suspicious actions has again and again heard comments as
plausible and as forced. "Don't trouble yourself about the warming pan!
The warming pan! Why, gentlemen, who _does_ trouble himself about a
warming pen?" A delicious _non sequitur_, sheer nonsense, and yet with
an air of conviction that is irresistable. "When was the peace of mind
of man or woman broken or disturbed by a warming pan which is in itself a
harmless, a useful _and I will add_, _gentlemen_, a comforting article of
domestic furniture?" He then goes on ingeniously to suggest that it may
be "a cover for hidden fire, a mere substitute for some endearing word or
promise, _agreeably to a preconcerted system_ of correspondence, artfully
contrived by Pickwick _with a view_ to his contemplated desertion and
which I am not in a position to explain?" Admirable indeed! One could
imagine a city jury in their wisdom thinking that there must be
_something_ in this warming pan!

Not less amusing and plausible is his dealing with the famous topic of
the "chops and tomato sauce," not "tomata" as Boz has it. I suppose
there is no popular allusion better understood than this. The very man
in the street knows all about it and what it means. Absurd as it may
seem, it is hardly an exaggeration. Counsel every day give weight to
points just as trivial and expound them elaborately to the jury. The
Serjeant's burst of horror is admirable, "Gentlemen, _what does this
mean_? 'Chops and tomata sauce! Yours Pickwick!' Chops! Gracious
Heavens! What do