The Pickwick Papers | Page 5

which
must accrue to the cause of science, from the production to which they
have just adverted--no less than from the unwearied researches of
Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., in Hornsey, Highgate, Brixton,
and Camberwell--they cannot but entertain a lively sense of the
inestimable benefits which must inevitably result from carrying the
speculations of that learned man into a wider field, from extending his
travels, and, consequently, enlarging his sphere of observation, to the
advancement of knowledge, and the diffusion of learning.

'That, with the view just mentioned, this Association has taken into its
serious consideration a proposal, emanating from the aforesaid, Samuel
Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., and three other Pickwickians hereinafter
named, for forming a new branch of United Pickwickians, under the
title of The Corresponding Society of the Pickwick Club.
'That the said proposal has received the sanction and approval of this
Association. 'That the Corresponding Society of the Pickwick Club is
therefore hereby constituted; and that Samuel Pickwick, Esq.,
G.C.M.P.C., Tracy Tupman, Esq., M.P.C., Augustus Snodgrass, Esq.,
M.P.C., and Nathaniel Winkle, Esq., M.P.C., are hereby nominated and
appointed members of the same; and that they be requested to forward,
from time to time, authenticated accounts of their journeys and
investigations, of their observations of character and manners, and of
the whole of their adventures, together with all tales and papers to
which local scenery or associations may give rise, to the Pickwick Club,
stationed in London.
'That this Association cordially recognises the principle of every
member of the Corresponding Society defraying his own travelling
expenses; and that it sees no objection whatever to the members of the
said society pursuing their inquiries for any length of time they please,
upon the same terms.
'That the members of the aforesaid Corresponding Society be, and are
hereby informed, that their proposal to pay the postage of their letters,
and the carriage of their parcels, has been deliberated upon by this
Association: that this Association considers such proposal worthy of
the great minds from which it emanated, and that it hereby signifies its
perfect acquiescence therein.'
A casual observer, adds the secretary, to whose notes we are indebted
for the following account--a casual observer might possibly have
remarked nothing extraordinary in the bald head, and circular
spectacles, which were intently turned towards his (the secretary's) face,
during the reading of the above resolutions: to those who knew that the
gigantic brain of Pickwick was working beneath that forehead, and that
the beaming eyes of Pickwick were twinkling behind those glasses, the

sight was indeed an interesting one. There sat the man who had traced
to their source the mighty ponds of Hampstead, and agitated the
scientific world with his Theory of Tittlebats, as calm and unmoved as
the deep waters of the one on a frosty day, or as a solitary specimen of
the other in the inmost recesses of an earthen jar. And how much more
interesting did the spectacle become, when, starting into full life and
animation, as a simultaneous call for 'Pickwick' burst from his
followers, that illustrious man slowly mounted into the Windsor chair,
on which he had been previously seated, and addressed the club himself
had founded. What a study for an artist did that exciting scene present!
The eloquent Pickwick, with one hand gracefully concealed behind his
coat tails, and the other waving in air to assist his glowing declamation;
his elevated position revealing those tights and gaiters, which, had they
clothed an ordinary man, might have passed without observation, but
which, when Pickwick clothed them--if we may use the
expression--inspired involuntary awe and respect; surrounded by the
men who had volunteered to share the perils of his travels, and who
were destined to participate in the glories of his discoveries. On his
right sat Mr. Tracy Tupman--the too susceptible Tupman, who to the
wisdom and experience of maturer years superadded the enthusiasm
and ardour of a boy in the most interesting and pardonable of human
weaknesses--love. Time and feeding had expanded that once romantic
form; the black silk waistcoat had become more and more developed;
inch by inch had the gold watch-chain beneath it disappeared from
within the range of Tupman's vision; and gradually had the capacious
chin encroached upon the borders of the white cravat: but the soul of
Tupman had known no change --admiration of the fair sex was still its
ruling passion. On the left of his great leader sat the poetic Snodgrass,
and near him again the sporting Winkle; the former poetically
enveloped in a mysterious blue cloak with a canine-skin collar, and the
latter communicating additional lustre to a new green shooting-coat,
plaid neckerchief, and closely-fitted drabs.
Mr. Pickwick's oration upon this occasion, together with the debate
thereon, is entered on the Transactions of the Club. Both bear a strong
affinity to