moral supremacy, he ventured to resume the discourse by
asking:
    »Is it fair to inquire what great object has brought you so far from home?«
    »That object which actuates and animates me in all my gigantic labours,
sir,« replied Pott, with a calm smile; »my country's good.«
    »I supposed it was some public mission,« observed Mr. Pickwick.
    »Yes, sir,« resumed Pott, »it is.« Here, bending towards Mr. Pickwick, he
whispered in a deep hollow voice, »A buff ball, sir, will take place in
Birmingham to-morrow evening.«
    »God bless me!« exclaimed Mr. Pickwick.
    »Yes, sir, and supper,« added Pott.
    »You don't say so!« ejaculated Mr. Pickwick.
    Pott nodded portentously.
    Now, although Mr. Pickwick feigned to stand aghast at this disclosure, he
was so little versed in local politics that he was unable to form an adequate
comprehension of the importance of the dire conspiracy it referred to; observing
which, Mr. Pott, drawing forth the last number of the Eatanswill Gazette, and
referring to the same, delivered himself of the following paragraph:
 
                           »HOLE-AND-CORNER BUFFERY.
 
A reptile contemporary has recently sweltered forth his black venom in the vain
and hopeless attempt of sullying the fair name of our distinguished and
excellent representative, the Honourable Mr. Slumkey - that Slumkey whom we,
long before he gained his present noble and exalted position, predicted would
one day be, as he now is, at once his country's brightest honour, and her
proudest boast: alike her bold defender and her honest pride - our reptile
contemporary, we say, has made himself merry, at the expense of a superbly
embossed plated coal-scuttle, which has been presented to that glorious man by
his enraptured constituents, and towards the purchase of which, the nameless
wretch insinuates, the Honourable Mr. Slumkey himself contributed, through a
confidential friend of his butler's, more than three-fourths of the whole sum
subscribed. Why, does not the crawling creature see, that even if this be the
fact, the Honourable Mr. Slumkey only appears in a still more amiable and
radiant light than before, if that be possible? Does not even his obtuseness
perceive that this amiable and touching desire to carry out the wishes of the
constituent body, must for ever endear him to the hearts and souls of such of
his fellow townsmen as are not worse than swine; or, in other words,