foolish Tupman, still inclined to be
jocose, said, "Oh, of course, there is no reason why you shouldn't wear
them"--a most awkward speech--as who should say, "This is a free
country--a man can wear a night cap in public if he chooses." "I imagine
not, sir--I imagine not," said Mr. Pickwick, in a _very peremptory_ tone.
Mr. Tupman had contemplated a laugh, but he found it was a serious
matter, so he looked grave, and said _they were a pretty pattern_. How
natural is all this! And still more so his leader's reply. "I hope they
are," he said, fixing his eyes upon his friend, "You see nothing
extraordinary in the stockings, _as_ stockings, I trust, sir." The
frightened Tupman said, "Certainly not, Oh, certainly not," and walked
away. Mr. Pickwick's face resumed its customary benign expression. This
little picture of weakness in an eminent man is characteristic. For
observe, when Tupman showed the folly of wearing a "two inch tail" to the
brigand's coat, Mr. Pickwick was furious, told him he was too old and too
fat; but when someone remarks on _his_ silk stockings he gets deeply
offended. His vanity is touched, there should have been no remark, or,
at least, only of admiration. He was, in fact, one of those flattered
and spoiled personages who cannot see any harm in their doing what they
reprove in others. Many a really great character is weak in this
direction. Observe the disingenuousness of the great man; he knew,
perfectly, that Tupman noticed nothing odd in the stockings, "_as_
stockings," he meant the oddity of his wearing them at all, and he had
said so, plainly. But, ignoring this, the great man chose to assume that
he was insolently reflecting on their pattern as outlandish. With his
despotic pressure, he forced him to say they were of a "pretty pattern,"
and thus vindicated his authority.

V.--Violent Assaults, Shooting, &c

Duelling, imprisonment for debt, intoxication, elopements, are, perhaps,
the most striking social incidents in "Pickwick" that have disappeared
and become all but antiquarian in their character. Yet another, almost
as curious, was the ready recourse to physical force or violence--fistic
correction as it might be termed. A gentleman of quiet, restrained
habit, like Mr. Pickwick, was prepared, in case of call, either to
threaten or execute summary chastisement on anyone who offended him. The
police or magistrates seemed not to have been thought of, for the victim
would not