 this day the stone remains, an illegible monument of
Mr. Pickwick's greatness, and a lasting trophy to the littleness of his enemies.
 

                                  Chapter XII

Descriptive of a Very Important Proceeding on the Part of Mr. Pickwick; No Less
                  an Epoch in His Life, Than in This History.

Mr. Pickwick's apartments in Goswell Street, although on a limited scale, were
not only of a very neat and comfortable description, but peculiarly adapted for
the residence of a man of his genius and observation. His sitting-room was the
first floor front, his bed-room the second floor front; and thus, whether he
were sitting at his desk in his parlour, or standing before the dressing-glass
in his dormitory, he had an equal opportunity of contemplating human nature in
all the numerous phases it exhibits, in that not more populous than popular
thoroughfare. His landlady, Mrs. Bardell - the relict and sole executrix of a
deceased custom-house officer - was a comely woman of bustling manners and
agreeable appearance, with a natural genius for cooking, improved by study and
long practice, into an exquisite talent. There were no children, no servants, no
fowls. The only other inmates of the house were a large man and a small boy; the
first a lodger, the second a production of Mrs. Bardell's. The large man was
always home precisely at ten o'clock at night, at which hour he regularly
condensed himself into the limits of a dwarfish French bedstead in the back
parlour; and the infantine sports and gymnastic exercises of Master Bardell were
exclusively confined to the neighbouring pavements and gutters. Cleanliness and
quiet reigned throughout the house; and in it Mr. Pickwick's will was law.
    To any one acquainted with these points of the domestic economy of the
establishment, and conversant with the admirable regulation of Mr. Pickwick's
mind, his appearance and behaviour on the morning previous to that which had
been fixed upon for the journey to Eatanswill, would have been most mysterious
and unaccountable. He paced the room to and fro with hurried steps, popped his
head out of the window at intervals of about three minutes each, constantly
referred to his watch, and exhibited many other manifestations of impatience
very unusual with him. It was evident that something of great importance was in
contemplation, but what that something was, not even Mrs. Bardell herself had
been enabled to discover.
    »Mrs. Bardell,« said Mr. Pickwick, at last, as that amiable female
approached the termination of a prolonged dusting of the apartment.
    »Sir
