set, with his other hand upon the wheel, he stood firm as a rock. He beached1 the ship: every man, woman, and child was saved, as John Maynard dropped, and his spirit took its flight to its God.

J. B. GOUGH.

76.- Address of Sergeant' Buzfuz.

This humorous sketch, by Charles Dickens, is from the report of the trial of Bardell versus Pickwick, in the novel called "Pickwick Papers." In it the author satirizes the manner in which a pompous lawyer tries to make a great deal out of nothing.

You have heard from my learned friend that this is an action for a breach of promise of marriage, in which the damages are laid at £1,500.

The plaintiff is a widow; yes, gentlemen, a widow. The late Mr. Bardell, after enjoying for many years the esteem and confidence of his sovereign, as one of the guardians of his royal revenues, glided almost imperceptibly from the world, to seek elsewhere for that repose and peace which a customhouse can never afford.

Some time before his death, he had stamped his likeness upon a little boy. With this little boy, the only pledge of her departed exciseman, Mrs. Bardell shrank from the world, and courted the retirement and tranquillity of Gos

1 beached; i.e., ran the steamer on the beach, or shore.

2 Sergeant (särʼjent), in England, means a lawyer of the highest rank.

3 plaintiff, the person who sues to obtain remedy, -opposed to defendant.

4 exciseman, an officer in the British revenue service.

well Street; and here she placed in her front parlor window a written placard, bearing this inscription: 'Apartments furnished for single gentlemen. Inquire within."

66

I entreat the attention of the jury to the wording of this document,-"Apartments furnished for single gentlemen!" Mrs. Bardell's opinions of the opposite sex, gentlemen, were derived from a long contemplation of the inestimable qualities of her lost husband. She had no fear; she had no distrust; she had no suspicion: all was confidence and reliance. "Mr. Bardell," said the widow, "Mr. Bardell was a man of honor; Mr. Bardell was no deceiver; Mr. Bardell was once a single gentleman himself; to single gentlemen I look for protection, for assistance, for comfort, for consolation; in single gentlemen I shall perpetually see something to remind me of what Mr. Bardell was, when he first won my young and untried affections: to a single gentleman, then, shall my lodgings be let."

Actuated by this beautiful and touching impulse (among the best impulses of our imperfect nature, gentlemen2), the lovely and desolate widow dried her tears, furnished her first floor, caught her innocent boy to her maternal bosom, and put the bill up in her parlor window. Did it remain there long? No. The serpent was on the watch, the train was laid, the mine was preparing, the sapper and the miner was at work. Before the bill had

8

1 placard (pron., pla-kärd').

...

2 among gentlemen. A parenthesis, and hence to be read in a lower key and at a faster rate

than the general text. Note other examples.

3 train, a metaphor founded on terms used in military engineering.

been in the parlor window three days, three days, gentlemen, a being, erect upon two legs, and bearing all the outward semblance of a man and not of a monster, knocked at the door of Mrs. Bardell's house. He inquired within; he took the lodgings; and on the very next day he entered into possession of them. This man was Pickwick, Pickwick the defendant.

2

And now, gentlemen, but one word more. Two letters have passed between these parties, — letters which are admitted to be in the handwriting of the defendant, and which speak volumes indeed. These letters, too, bespeak' the character of the man. They are not open, fervent eloquent epistles, breathing nothing but the language of affectionate attachment. They are covert, sly, underhanded communications, but, fortunately, far more con clusive than if couched in the most glowing language and the most poetic imagery, letters that must be viewed with a cautious and suspicious eye; letters that were evidently intended at the time, by Pickwick, to mislead and delude any third parties into whose hands they might fall. Let me read the first: "Garraway's," twelve o'clock. Dear Mrs. B.-Chops and tomato sauce. Gentlemen, what does this mean? sauce. Yours, Pickwick! Chops! and tomato sauce! Gentlemen, is the happiness of a sensitive and confiding female to be trifled away by such shallow artifices as these? The next has no date what

1 bespeak, indicate.

Yours, Pickwick." Chops and tomato Gracious heavens !

4 imagery (ĭm'age-ry, not im'ağ

2 covert (literally, "covered "), | er-y), figures of speech. secret, disguised.

8 couched, expressed, phrased.

5 Garraway's, a noted club in London.

ever, which is in itself suspicious. "Dear Mrs. B.-I shall not be at home till to-morrow. Slow coach." And then follows this very remarkable expression: "Don't trouble yourself about the warming pan."

The warming pan! Why, gentlemen, who does trouble himself about a warming pan? Why is Mrs. Bardell so earnestly entreated not to agitate herself about the warming pan, unless (as is no doubt the case) it is a mere 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 condition to explain? And what does this allusion to the slow coach mean? For aught I know, it may be a reference to Pickwick himself, who has most unquestionably been a criminally slow coach during the whole of this transaction, but whose speed will now be very unexpectedly accelerated, and whose wheels, gentlemen, as he will find to his cost, will very soon be greased by you!

But enough of this, gentlemen: it is difficult to smile with an aching heart; it is ill jesting when our deepest sympathies are awakened. My client's hopes and prospects are ruined, and it is no figure of speech to say that her occupation is gone indeed. The bill is down; but there is no tenant. Eligible' single gentlemen pass and repass; but there is no invitation for them to inquire within or without. All is gloom and silence in the house: even

1 But enough, etc. To be read in a mock-heroic tone.

2 Eligible, worthy to be chosen, desirable.

the voice of the child is hushed; his infant sports are disregarded when his mother weeps.

But Pickwick, gentlemen, - Pickwick, the ruthless destroyer of this domestic oasis in the desert of Goswell Street; Pickwick, who has choked up the well, and thrown ashes on the sward; Pickwick, who comes before you to-day with his heartless tomato sauce and warming pan, - Pickwick still rears his head with unblushing effrontery, and gazes without a sigh on the ruin he has made. Damages, gentlemen, heavy damages is the only punishment with which you can visit him; the only recompense you can award to my client. And for those damages she now appeals to an enlightened, a high-minded, a right-feeling, a conscientious, a dispassionate, a sympathizing 2 jury of her civilized countrymen.

DICKENS.

77.-The Crossing of the Rubicon.

This piece is the speech of one of the speakers in an imaginary debate on the character of Cæsar by James Sheridan Knowles. Hence the form of address, "Mr. President." By "A gentleman" is meant a previous speaker.

A gentleman, Mr. President, speaking of Cæsar's benevolent disposition and of the reluctance with which he had entered into the civil war, observes, "How long did.

1 But Pickwick, etc. The voice should here imitate the simulated indignation of the lawyer,

2 enlightened

sympathiz

ing. What is the figure of speech? (See Def. 6.)