[Literature] Charles Dickens: The Pickwick Papers - The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick #3/426

Chapter 2

The First Day’s Journey, and the First Evening’s Adventures; With their Consequences

That punctual servant of all work, the sun, had just risen, and begun to strike a light on the morning of the thirteenth of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, when Mr Samuel Pickwick burst like another sun from his slumbers; threw open his chamber window, and looked out upon the world beneath. Goswell-street¹was at his feet, Goswell-street was on his right hand – as far as the eye could reach, Goswell-street extended on his left; and the opposite side of Goswell-street was over the way. ‘Such,’ thought Mr Pickwick, ‘are the narrow views of those philosophers who, content with examining the things that lie before them, look not to the truths which are hidden beyond. As well might I be content to gaze on Goswell-street for ever, without one effort to penetrate to the hidden countries which on every side surround it.’ And having given vent to this beautiful reflection, Mr Pickwick proceeded to put himself into his clothes; and his clothes into his portmanteau. Great men are seldom over scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire; the operation of shaving, dressing, and coffee-imbibing was soon performed; and, in another hour, Mr Pickwick, with his portmanteau in his hand, his telescope in his great-coat pocket, and his note-book in his waistcoat, ready for the reception of any discoveries worthy of being noted down, had arrived at the coach stand in Saint Martin’s-le-Grand.

‘Cab!’ said Mr Pickwick.

‘Here you are, Sir,’ shouted a strange specimen of the human race, in a sackcloth coat, and apron of the same, who with a brass label and number round his neck, looked as if he were catalogued in some collection of rarities. This was the waterman.²‘Here you are, Sir. Now, then, fust cab!’ And the first cab having been fetched from the public house, where he had been smoking his first pipe, Mr Pickwick and his portmanteau were thrown into the vehicle.

‘Golden Cross,’³said Mr Pickwick.

‘Only a bob’s vorth, Tommy,’ – cried the driver, sulkily, for the information of his friend the waterman, as the cab drove off.

‘How old is that horse, my friend?’ enquired Mr Pickwick, rubbing his nose with the shilling he had reserved for the fare.

‘Forty-two,’ replied the driver, eyeing him askant.

‘What!’ ejaculated Mr Pickwick, laying his hand upon his note-book. The driver reiterated his former statement. Mr Pickwick looked very hard at the man’s face, but his features were immoveable, so he noted down the fact forthwith.

‘And how long do you keep him out at a time?’ inquired Mr Pickwick, searching for further information.

‘Two or three veeks,’ replied the man.

‘Weeks!’ said Mr Pickwick in astonishment – and out came the note-book again.

‘He lives at Pentonwil⁴when he’s at home,’ observed the driver, coolly, ‘but we seldom takes him home, on account of his veakness.’

‘On account of his weakness;’ reiterated the perplexed Mr Pickwick.

‘He always falls down, when he’s took out o’ the cab,’ continued the driver, ‘but when he’s in it, we bears him up werry tight, and takes him in werry short, so as he can’t werry well fall down, and we’ve got a pair o’ precious large wheels on; so ven he doesmove, they run after him, and he must go on – he can’t help it.’

Mr Pickwick entered every word of this statement in his note-book, with the view of communicating it to the club, as a singular instance of the tenacity of life in horses, under trying circumstances. The entry was scarcely completed when they reached the Golden Cross. Down jumped the driver, and out got Mr Pickwick. Mr Tupman, Mr Snodgrass, and Mr Winkle, who had been anxiously waiting the arrival of their illustrious leader, crowded to welcome him.

‘Here’s your fare,’ said Mr Pickwick, holding out the shilling to the driver.

What was the learned man’s astonishment, when that unaccountable person flung the money on the pavement, and requested in figurative terms to be allowed the pleasure of fighting him (Mr Pickwick) for the amount!

‘You are mad,’ said Mr Snodgrass.

‘Or drunk,’ said Mr Winkle.

‘Or both,’ said Mr Tupman.

‘Come on,’ said the cab-driver, sparring away like clock-work. ‘Come on – all four on you.’

‘Here’s a lark!’ shouted half a dozen hackney coachmen. ‘Go to vork, Sam,’ – and they crowded with great glee round the party.

‘What’s the row, Sam?’ inquired one gentleman in black calico sleeves.