Pickwickian Studies | Page 6

Mr. Jinks pulled him by the sleeve and whispered something. He was
evidently remonstrating. At length the magistrate, gulping down with a
very bad grace his disinclination to hear anything more, said sharply,
"What do you want to say?"
When Mr. Fang was about to commit Oliver, the Bookstall-keeper
rushed in, and insisted on being heard, and, like Mr. Nupkins, Mr. Fang
had to listen:
"I demand to be sworn," said the man, "I will not be put down."
"Swear the man," growled Mr. Fang, with a very ill grace. "Now, what
have you got to say?"
Again, Mr. Nupkins said of Sam:
"He is evidently a desperate ruffian."
"He is my servant, sir," said Mr. Pickwick, angrily.
"Oh, he is your servant, is he. A conspiracy to defeat the ends of
justice."

Compare Fang and the Bookseller:
"That book, is it paid for? No, it is not."
"Dear me, I forgot all about it," exclaimed the old gentleman.
"A nice person to prepare a charge against a poor boy," said Fang; "the
law will overtake you yet, &c."
and so on.
In short, Nupkins is a softened edition of Fang. It was curious that he
turned out at the end not altogether so badly, and there is certainly a
little inconsistency in the character. After Mr. Pickwick's disclosures,
he becomes very rational and amiable. We may wonder, too, how the
latter could have accepted hospitality from, or have sat down at the
board of, the man who treated him in so gross a fashion, and, further,
that after accepting this entertainment, Mr. Pickwick should take an
heroic and injured tone, recalling his injuries as he withdrew, but after
his dinner.
This magistrate was despotic enough, but we might have expected that
he would have had Mr. Peter Magnus brought before him also, and
have issued a warrant. The lady, however, was silent as to her admirer,
and this difficulty appears to have occurred to the author for he makes
Mr. Nupkins remark: "The other principal you say has absconded," she
having said nothing whatever. Being at the "White Horse," too, he was
accessible. He may, however, have gone off to secure "a friend."
In Ipswich there is controversy as to the exact whereabouts of his
mansion. But there can be little doubt as to the matter, as the directions
given are minute. The guide books take care to point it out. "Bending
his steps towards St. Clement's Church"--that is leaving the "White
Horse" and following the street on the right, "he found himself in a
retired spot, a kind of courtyard of venerable appearance, which he
discovered had no other outlet than the turning by which he had
entered." I believe it is the house at the far end of the lane--now Mr.
Bennett's. The street has been cut through the lawn. There are here, as

there were then, "old red brick houses" and "the green gate of a garden
at the bottom of the yard." Nothing could be more precise, allowing of
course for the changes, demolitions, re-buildings, &c., of sixty years.
What became of Mr. Peter Magnus and his lady? Did they "make it up"?
or was Mr. Pickwick enabled to make such explanations as would clear
away all suspicions. Did the two angry gentlemen meet again after Mr.
Pickwick's return to the "White Horse?" These are interesting questions,
and one at least can be answered. Owing to an indiscretion of the
foolish Winkle's, during the famous action of Bardell v. Pickwick, we
learn that Mr. Pickwick "being found in a lady's apartment at midnight
had led to the breaking off of the projected marriage of the lady in
question." Now this seems a serious result of Mr. Pickwick's
indiscretion, and very unfortunate for the poor lady, and ought to have
caused him some remorse. No doubt he explained the incident, which
he had better have done at first, for now it had the air of attempting to
shield the lady. It was odd that Mr. Pickwick should thus have
interfered with the marriage of two elderly spinster ladies.
There is, by the way, a droll inconsistency on the part of the author in
his description of a scene between Mr. Magnus and Mr. Pickwick.
When the former was about to propose to the middle-aged lady, he told
Mr. Pickwick that he arranged to see her at eleven. "It only wants a
quarter now." Breakfast was waiting, and the pair sat down to it. Mr.
Magnus was looking at the clock every other second. Presently he
announced, "It only wants two minutes." Notwithstanding this feverish
impatience, he asks Mr. Pickwick for his advice in proposing, which
the latter gave at great length. Mr. Magnus listened, now without any
impatience. The clock hand was "verging on the five minutes past;"