Pickwick Abroad: A Companion to the Pickwick Papers — page 126: what you’re looking at

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*N 114 PICKWICK ABROAD. character of Pegasus, the winged horse of the Muses; and, in order to do the more honor to the quadruped beloved by the poets, (and not as malicious tongues have asserted, the better to suit his own conveni- ence,) he retained his upright position, thus making the Parnassian animal walk upon his hind legs. A dress had been contrived for that purpose; and a good deal of wadd- ing, added to a considerable quantity of skilfulness, rendered the attire as perfect as could have been expected. The wings, the mane, and the tail were all complete; a large mask, in the shape of a horse’s head, disguised the animated countenance of the poet; and all he had to do was to keep his arms stretched out in the manner in which a horse would be supposed to hold up his fore legs were it in a sitting posture. And lastly comes Mr. Winkle, to whom had .been assigned the part of Nimrod, the mighty hunter of ancient days. There was nothing very peculiar in this gentleman’s garb, save that 1t was composed entirely of skins. His cap, to which a sort of vizor, that entirely concealed his face, was attached, was cut from the hide of a leop- ard: his tunic was a lion’s skin, the tail serving as a girdle; his breeches had once adorned a panther; and as he was uncertain what kind of boots his great prototype might have worn, he had prudently re- tained his own, having, with admirable forethought and ingenuity, had a pair of leathern tops affixed to them. His arms consisted of javelins, a hatchet, a sword, and a bow and arrows; and over his shoul- der hung a large bag filled with straw, to represent the one in which Nimrod doubt- less carried his game. Such were the several characters, and such the dresses, fancifully chosen by the immortal heroes of these Memoirs: and when we contemplate the magnitude of those minds which could thus harmonize and associate so many grand difficulties and discrepancies into one uniform whole, we are lost in astonishment at the extent of that assemblage of genius, which has shed immortal honor on the pages of its country’s history ! At nine o’clock a coach was called, and the four masks introduced themselves into the vehicle; not, however, without immi- nent peril to the wings of Messieurs Tup- man and Snodgrass, and to the general arrangements of the whole of the latter gentleman’s toilet. Mr. Winkle’s spears ' EEE a ad and javelins pointed out of the window, and when Mr, Pickwick stepped into the coach, he switched his lion’s tail backwards and forwards in a manner which threw a crowd of curious spectators into convulsions of delight. In a very short time the vehicle arrived at the Hotel de Ville—a building remarka- ble for its being one of the first attempts to depart from the Saracenic or Gothic style which distinguished the public edifices of the Middle Ages. The Salle St. Jean, o1 Hall of St. John, is an extensive parallelo. gram, decorated with twelve magnificent Corinthian pillars; and it was into this splendid reom that Mr. Pickwick and his friends—or rather, the Universal Traveller, Cupid, Pegasus,and Nimrod were introduced by the proper ushers orattendants upon the ceremony. , The hall (which, by the bye, had once been achurch) was splendidly fitted up for the occasion; and although it was in the very depth of winter, the most lovely flow- ers were arranged in profusion around. The hall was crowded with. people when the Pickwickians arrived ; and all the efforts of imagination had been used to create va- riety of character. But, to do the justice they deserve even to great men, no charac- ters were so truly original or so exceed- ingly remarkable as those which were enacted by Mr. Pickwick and his com- panions. Mr. Snodgrass in particular at- tracted universal attention; and his pres- ence in the room was immediately wel- comed by a burst of admiration expressed through the unequivocal meaning of an universal shout of laughter on the part of the gentlemen, and an irrepressible titter on that of the Jadies. Mr. Tupman was then the object of general scrutiny ; and as he was an exceedingly fat, not to say over- grown, Cupid, it was some time before his character was understood. It was imagined by many, but with what degree of justice we leave the reader to de- termine, that Mr. Pickwick cut a very com- ical figure in his oriental trowsers and Eu- ropean coat. Mr. Pickwick, however, did not think so; and though we would rather take the opinion of a learned man like him to ‘be the correct one, in preference to the united sentiments of two or three hundred common observers, we must ourselves con- fess that his appearance was 1n some way calculated to excite the merriment of the foolish and laughter-loving portion of the — COU (2) LNOOKS LEO