Pickwick Abroad: or, The Tour in France — page 53: what you’re looking at

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24 Pickwick Abroad. venture, the particulars of which we shall lay before the reader in the space of a few minutes. ‘“‘T say, Pickwick,” hiccupped Mr. Winkle, “ what did that fellow want with you—eh ?”’ ‘‘ Just to know if we desired any music,” returned that benevolent gentleman, his countenance beaming with smiles of philanthropy and indness: ‘the violin, I think he said—that is, I am not sure, mind —TI merely think so.” “‘ Exactly !”” cried Mr. Adolphus Crashem. ‘“ Never be too posi- tive—nothing I hate more than lies—nothing !’’—and having delivered himself of this very just though somewhat extraordinary sentiment, inasmuch as he was expressing his dislike of the very friends through whose agency he lived, Mr. Crashem swallowed a large tumbler-full of Claret to the health of Mr. Pickwick; and that gentleman, deter- | mined not to be out-done in politics, swallowed another to return the compliment; and then Mr. Crashem did the same with Mr, Tupman and Mr. Winkle; and Mr. Tupman and Mr. Winkle looked the very pictures of sobriety and temperance. A little brandy-and-water and a few cigars were then introduced, and Mr. Crashem proved himself to be one of the most entertaining young men his audience had ever had the good fortune to encounter. e was moreover, according to his own account—and no person of taste ever doubts the word of a gentleman in these times of superior refinement, although the honour of the most respectable tradesmen be daily called in question—one of the most upright, straight-forward in- dividuals in existence: he abhorred an unteath. as he before observed —he never suffered a bill to remain unpaid—and, in his dealings with his equals, probity and rectitude were his characteristics, It 1s not, therefore, to be wondered at, if Mr. Pickwick, Mr. Tupman, and Mr. Winkle were exceedingly delighted to find themselves in the society of so highly respectable an individual. The party did not break up till alate hour; but Mr. Pickwick had shortly after dinner, and before the wine had produced any very visi- ble effect upon his own countenance or the faces of his companions, taken the precaution of ordering the waiter to secure their places b the diligence for the following morning at nine o’clock, and to c them at half-past seven—a measure which not a little excited the admiration of the young man of the world who had so kindly volun- teered his services to the heroes of these memoirs, and who had so liberally expressed his determination of seeing that they were not imposed upon. _In the mean time, while his illustrious masters were employed in cigesting their dinners and the extraordinary anecdotes related by Adolphus Crashem, Esq., Mr. Samuel Weller had taken especial care of himeelf in the gastronomic way, and had hinted to the waiter, with whom he had previously conversed, the propriety of seeing the ‘‘ lions” of Calais, as his masters intended to start for Paris early on the following morning. ‘* Ain’t there no kinds of amusements in this ’ere town in vich von might indulge vithout bodily or mental harm to his-self?’”’ enquired Mr. Weller, as he tossed off a glass of bottled porter. ‘‘There’s the theatre—and the café—and—in fact, every kind 0’ time,’’ was the reply. ‘‘ Hooray for the theayter, then !” cried Sam; ‘and as the hemperor COL q) NOOO KS (c@