Pickwick Papers Read-Along Check-In #5: July 2016

 Though I dutifully (and enjoyably, as always) read chapters 12-14 last week,

I am just now getting to my posting for them! 

Don't forget that this Read-Along is hosted by Behold the Stars!

I adore the fact that we are rereading this work in the exact way it was published 

(2-3 chapters per month) 180 years ago! Cool!

You can read all previous posts and further information about this event here.

You can also check out O's review here.
Her review provides me with much more understanding of Dickens' referents, etc.

And with no further ado...we proceed!

The Pickwickians (sans Mr. Tupman who remained back at Manor Farm) rescued

Miss Rachael from the hands of 'Jingle' and all returned to Manor Farm, 

only to find that Mr. Tupman had left, though he was thoughtful enough 

to leave a quite melodramatic note, listing his new location. :)

(These guys are all too funny!)

The four adventurers are soon reunited!

We find Mr. Pickwick pacing "to and fro with hurried steps" in "his rooms" as he obviously awaits someone's arrival, "popp[ing] his head out of the window at intervals of about three minutes each" and "constantly referr[ing] to his watch." We learn he has sent "the boy" on an errand and anxiously awaits his return. As he speaks with his landlady, Mrs. Bardell, she vastly misinterprets his determination, impatient attitude, and intent as he asks,

'Do you think it a much greater expense to keep two people than to keep one?' 

'That depends...upon the person, you know, Mr. Pickwick; 

and whether it's a saving and careful person, sir.'

'That's very true...but the person I have in my eye (here he looked very hard at Mrs. Bardell) I think possesses these qualities; and has, moreover, a considerable knowledge of the world, and a great deal of sharpness, Mrs. Bardell; which may be of material use to me.' (151)

As Pickwick continues to talk about her own son now having a companion and she herself having some company, she believes that this man whom she has 

"long worshipped...at a distance" is finally 

proposing marriage! In the aftermath of her excitement and Mr. Pickwick's confusion and befuddlement, she 

faints right into the man's arms! This, just as 

'Master Bardell' (the son/boy) enters the room, 

ushering in Mr. Tupman, Mr. Winkle, and 

Mr. Snodgrass. Immediately perceiving his mother as 

victim of an attack, 'Master Bardell' commences to 

kick Mr. Pickwick with all his might!

They finally manage to control the boy and lead Mrs. Bardell down the stairs, as Pickwick muses...

'I cannot conceive what has been the matter with that woman. I merely announced to her my intention of keeping a man-servant, when she fell into the extraordinary paroxysm in which you found her. Very extraordinary thing.'

'Very,' said his three friends.

'Placed me in such an extremely awkward situation,' continued Mr. Pickwick.

'Very,' was the reply of his followers, as they coughed slightly, and looked dubiously at each other.

Their behaviour was not lost upon Mr. Pickwick. He remarked their incredulity.

They evidently suspected him. (153-154)

It is then that a man has appears "in the passage," and it is none other than Mr. Samuel Weller, whom they had met at the White Hart Inn where Jingle had taken Miss Rachael. And this man accepts the position as Mr. Pickwick's man-servant immediately. I am thinking to myself that he may have bitten off a bit more than he can chew, since it's rather obvious he will be serving all four of these men when they travel, not just Pickwick. But he seems happy with the arrangement! For now, anyway! :) The next morning, he comments,

'I wonder whether I'm meant to be a footman, or a groom, 

or a gamekeeper, or a seedsman.

I looks like a sort of compo of every one of 'em. 

Never mind; there's change of air, plenty to see, 

                                                                      and little to do; and all this suits my complaint uncommon; 

                                                                so long life to the Pickwicks, says I!' (156)

Their next adventure takes these four Pickwickians to the Borough of Eatanswill for the local Parliamentary elections. (Now, immediately upon seeing this name, I am thinking "Eat and Swill," since that it how it sounds when you say it aloud. And we are given this long-winded explanation that those who were writing this using the original Pickwickian papers, were unable to ever locate any evidence of this Borough's existence! lol) So, this sounds much like the U.S. political scene today: there were two parties, the 'Blues' and the 'Buffs,' and virtually "everything in Eatanswill was made a party question." In other words, there were always divisions about any and all issues, strictly along party lines. (Yep! Definitely sounds familiar, doesn't it?) Upon their arrival, these four are rather confused as to which party they should show loyalty. At one point the crowd sets up a roar "like that of a whole menagerie when the elephant has rung the bell for cold meat." :)

Pickwick declares allegiance to the 'Blues,' same as his friend Mr. Perker, and they are given lodgings, though in two different locations, due to limited availability of beds at the inn. They learn that one party has sequestered (perhaps held captive would be a more accurate description) 33 voters in the coach-house and one party has bribed the women 45 women with new green parasols, and each of them has supposedly "secured all [the votes of] their husbands, and half their brothers" for the respective party as a consequence of gifting such "finery." Some of them have a plot afoot to actually drug some of the men by adding laudanum to their drinks, leaving them unconscious and thereby unable to vote until 12 hours after the election! Sheesh! You would think the person elected would serve as the King of England, wouldn't you? They will stop at nothing to win! It is at this point that Sam Weller tells Pickwick of his father's experience driving a coach down here. He was hired by one of the parties to bring down a coachload of voters from London, then bribed by the other party to make sure his coach tipped over at just the right time as to deposit all these voters in the canal. And that's exactly what happened! (Sam tells this story as if it is unbelievable that such an accident should have been foreseen by the man in advance... I'm thinking to myself, "Yeah, right!" That old guy, Sam's father had accepted their money and followed through by tipping the coach's occupants into the canal! lol)  These men believe their own election "contest excites great interest in the metropolis" of London! Pickwick confirms this. Of Mr. Pott, we learn,

All men whom mighty genius has raised to a proud eminence in the world, 

have usually some little weakness which appears the more conspicuous from the contrast 

it presents to their general character. If Mr. Pott had a weakness, it was, perhaps, 

that he was rather too submissive to the somewhat contemptuous control and sway of his wife. 

We do not feel justified in laying any particular stress upon the fact, because on the present  occasion all Mrs. Pott's winning ways were brought into requisition 

to receive the two gentleman. (163)

I laughed as I read this, because, of course, by mentioning this they are "laying...particular stress upon the fact"! :) Mr. Pickwick and Winkle are introduced as the house guests. (I was rather wondering at this juncture what had become of Weller, the new "man-servant.") I love the interplay of Mr. and Mrs. Pott. She will say to him, "P. my dear" and he will respond "My life." Too funny! 

Mr. Pott insists on sharing various "leaders" he had written for the Gazette for 1828, and Pickwick agrees that he "should like to hear them very much, indeed." Though they find no direct comments from Pickwick in his notebook later regarding these "leaders," Mr. Winkle had 

recorded the fact that his eyes were closed, as if with excess of pleasure, 

during the whole time of their perusal. (165)

Again, I am laughing! Definitely sounds as if Pickwick slept through the "perusal" of these "leaders" by Pott, doesn't it? :) Mrs. Pott confides to Mr. Winkle 

Mr. Pickwick was 'a delightful old dear.' These terms convey a familiarity of expression, 

in which few of those who were intimately acquainted with that colossal-minded man, 

would have presumed to indulge. We have preserved them, nevertheless, as affording at once a touching and a convincing proof of the estimation in which he was held by every class of society,

and the ease with which he made his way to their hearts and feelings. (165)

Okay, I admit, I am laughing and shaking my head, what an ego! ;) 

Mr. Snodgrass and Tupman are esconced at the Peacock and in the common room they are treated to "The Bagman's Story" as told them by a fellow traveler. "Tom Smart, of the great house of Bilson and Slum, Cateaton Street, City" was out on a "little neck-or-nothing sort of gig, with a clay-coloured body and red wheels," pulled by a "vixenish, ill-tempered, fast-going bay mare, that looked like a cross between a butcher's horse and a two-penny post-office pony" late one windy and very rainy night when he comes to a house for the night. Inside, of course (*wink wink*) is the widow who owns the house. The only thing wrong with this picture? This widow happens to have a suitor who has established himself in the house and is expected to marry the widow and thereby have the house for his own. Now, Tom, decides he wants this house, and the widow for his very own. It is during that night as he tries to sleep that the chair in his room comes to life, as an old man, and speaks to him, telling him the location of an unknown letter describing the suitor as a married man who had abandoned his family. Needless to say, the widow disowned the suitor, Tom tossed him out of the house a half hour later, and married the widow a month later. 

'Will you allow me to ask you," said the inquisitive old gentleman, 'what became of the chair.?'

'Why,' replied the one-eyed bagman, 'it was observed to creak very much on the day of the wedding; 

but Tom Smart couldn't say for certain whether it was with pleasure or bodily infirmity. 

He rather thought it was the latter, though, for it never spoke afterwards.' 

'Everybody believe the story, didn't they?' said the dirty-faced man, re-filling his pipe.

'Except Tom's enemies,' replied the bagman. 'Some of 'em said Tom invented it altogether; 

and others said he was drunk, and fancied it, and got hold of the wrong trousers 

by mistake before he went to bed. But nobody ever minded what they said.' 

'Tom said it was all true?' 

'Every word.'

'And your uncle?'

'Every letter.'

'They must have been very nice men, both of 'em,' said the dirty-faced man.

'Yes, they were,' replied the bagman; 'very nice men indeed!' (192)

So this installment ends with a parable.

I felt like Dickens was very sarcastic about how gullible people can be...

several times over during these three chapters!

More absurdity and enjoyment!!

I'm not sure I would enjoy this book as much if 

I was reading it straight through,

but it most certainly works for me reading 

the installments one month apart

just as it was released 180 years ago!

And I never tire of reading from my great bargain 

copy of The Oxford Illustrated Dickens edition

acquired for less then $5 from Half-Price Books! 

It is brand new, never been read before!

This one will definitely be a keeper for me, 

to remind me of this enjoyable read-along!

Happy Reading, Y'all!  

Pickwick Papers Read-Along Check-in #4: June 2016

In case you haven't discovered it yet, Behold the Stars is hosting a

180th Anniversary Read-Along of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens.

This book was published in a serial format, 2-3 chapters per month.

And that is exactly how we are reading it, just as it was published 180 years ago!

Cool, huh? I am really enjoying this. It is a fun ride!

And though I do understand it is not typical Dickens fare, I am still thrilled

that I will have actually read a Charles Dickens book!

Here is the reading schedule, as well as prior posts, 

and a bit of background regarding my own reticence to read Dickens.

For June we read Chapters 9-11. 

I always laugh or at least chuckle aloud at least several times during each chapter I read. 

I love a book that can entertain me with humor! 

I can use such books to offset all the more intense, dramatic reads!

So...this is the fourth installment of this Read-Along, 

which means my library book had to be returned, 

since I had used the two renewals. 

I really wanted to just purchase a copy since I knew 

I would be reading it for more than a year! 

I took a chance and called Half Price Books and they had 

a copy of the Oxford Illustrated edition for only $4.99 

AND there was a 20% off discount in effect, 

so I paid just a bit more than $4.00 for a copy 

that has never even been read--brand-new and unused! 

Whoo! Whoo! 

My book bargain of the month, I'd say! :)

If you'll recall we left our Pickwickian buddies at Manor Farm.

Mr. Jingle had just swindled Mr. Tupman out of ten pounds...and something else... :)

Just as Mr. Wardle and all the guests are seating themselves for supper, the servants announce that Mr. Jingle and Miss Rachael have run off together. Wardle is livid and must be restrained from attacking poor Joe, whom he feels has betrayed him, and immediately sets out to give chase to the couple. 

'Don't let him go alone!' screamed the females. 'He'll kill somebody!' 

'I'll go with him,' said Mr. Pickwick. (111)

I had to chuckle to myself, thinking this really was a sacrifice for Pickwick--he does love to eat, but he willingly sacrificed his supper to accompany Wardle. That is devotion! 

They ride through the night, chasing after the elusive couple and finally catch site of the "chaise and four" and Wardle keeps yelling at the coachmen to ride hard and fast, promising to pay the boys "two guineas apiece" if they catch up to that chaise...but as they draw near...their own chaise crashes. 

...Mr. Jingle was contemplating the wreck from [his] 

coach window, with evident satisfaction...

'Hallo!' shouted the shamelss Jingle, 'anybody damaged?--elderly gentlemen--no light weights--dangerous work--very.'

'You're a rascal!' roared Wardle.

'Ha! ha!' replied Jingle; and then he added, 

with a knowing wink, and a jerk of the thumb 

towards the interior of the chaise--'I say--she's very well--desires her compliments--begs you won't trouble yourself--love to Tuppy--won't you get up behind?--drive on, boys.' (116)

Ah...he is a scoundrel, is he not? :)

Nothing in the whole adventure, not even the upset, had disturbed the calm and equable current

of Mr. Pickwick's temper. The villainy, however, which could first borrow money of his faithful follower, and then abbreviate his name to 'Tuppy', was more than he could patiently bear. 

He drew his breath hard, and coloured up to the very tips of his spectacles, as he said, 

slowly and emphatically--

"If I ever meet that man again, I'll--' (117) 

But Wardle is determined to stop them before they can get to London and obtain a marriage license, so he steps off to walk the 6 miles to the next stage. Did I mention it was pouring rain? Yep! Quite a nice stroll, that! But at least the sun has risen and they can walk in the daylight! And, yes, they haven't eaten last night's supper, nor have they slept! :)

I love the title of Chapter X, "Clearing up all Doubts (if any existed) of the Disinterestedness of Mr. Jingle's Character!" Huh. :) In the first five paragraphs Dickens demonstrates his marvelously 'visual' descriptive skills. For example, while giving a bit of history of inns, 

It was in the yard of one of these inns--of no less celebrated 
a one than the White Hart--that a man was busily employed 
in brushing the dirt off a pair of boots...He was habited in a coarse-striped waistcoat, with balck calico sleeves 
and blue glass buttons; drab breeches and leggings. 
A bright red handkerchief was wound in a very loose and unstudied style round his neck, and an old white hat 
was carelessly thrown on one side of his head. 
There were two rows of boots before him, one cleaned and 
the other, and at every addition he made to the clean row, 
he paused from his work, and contemplated its results 
with evident satisfaction.  (118)

This is the person of Mr. Samuel Weller. It would appear that Mr. Weller has learned many skills in his tenure as shoe-shiner at the White Hart Inn! Mr. Wardle and Mr. Pickwick have brought "legal counsel" with them, and he must assert himself constantly by interrupting the other two gentlemen's attempts to get information from Sam, who is, remarkably, able to list all those "in the house" by their footware! It is by the brown Muggleton lady's shoes that Wardle confirms his sister, Miss Rachael, is here. Mr. Jingle is identified by "Wellingtons a good deal worn," who, Sam informs them, has has gone off to the "Doctors' Commons" for a "licence." At this revelation, they follow Sam to the appropriate room and rush in, just as Mr. Jingle is entering through another door, with marriage licence in hand... 

I prefer this color illustration,
though, of course, all are
black and white in the book. 

Wardle yells threats at Mr. Jingle, as well as ringing the service bell. He immediately orders for a hackney-coach to be brought 'round so he can 'rescue' his sister, Miss Rachael. 

'Cert'nly sir,' replied Sam, who had answered Wardle's 

violent ringing of the bell with a degree of celerity which 

must have appeared marvellous to anybody who didn't know 

that his eye had been applied to the outside 

of the keyhole during the whole interview. (127)

Ah, yes, he definitely has additional skills to shoe-shining! Of course, Miss Rachael keeps shrieking and 'nearly fainting' during this whole event, but particularly following this exchange:

'Leave the room, sir--no business here--lady's free to act 

as she pleases--more than one-and-twenty.'

'More than one-and-twenty!' ejaculated Wardle, contemptuously. 'More than one-and-forty!'

'I an't,' said the spinster aunt, her indignation getting the better of her determination to faint.

'You are,' said Wardle, 'you're fifty if you're an hour.'

Here the spinster aunt uttered a loud shriek, and became senseless.

'A glass of water,' said the humane Pickwick, summoning the landlady.

'A glass of water!' said the passionate Wardle. 'Bring a bucket, and throw it all on her; 

it'll do her good, and she richly deserves it.' (127)

Awww...now really! Who can blame the poor old dear. I imagine no male probably ever pays attention to her, so of course she was 'swept off her feet'! It's understandable! 

Once Jingle has been paid off, as he is leaving,

...the unabashed Jingle [says] 'Bye bye, Pickwick.'

If any dispassionate spectator could have beheld the countenance of the illustrious man, 

whose name forms the leading  feature of the title of this work, during the latter part of this conversation, he would have been almost induced to wonder that the indignant fire 

which flashed from his eyes, did not melt the glasses of his spectacles--so majestic was his wrath. His nostrils dilated, and his fists clenched involuntarily, as he heard himself addressed 

by the villain. But he restrained himself again--he did not pulverise him. (130)

Majestic wrath? Ha! Ha! But seriously, I am uncertain poor Pickwick could "pulverise" anyone! Though he did end up hurling the inkstand at Jingle as he was leaving the room, leaving an inkstain on the wall. Sam restrained Pickwick as he attempted to give chase to the villain. This paragraph made me laugh! Another brilliant illustration of Dickens' descriptive skills...and humor! 

Oh, the drama with which Chapter XI begins! Pickwick and Wardle return to Manor Farm with Miss Rachael in tow, but it seems Tracy Tupman (or "Tuppy," per Mr. Jingle) has left Manor Farm, but not without leaving a note behind. 

'Any letter, addressed to me at the Leather Bottle, Cobham, Kent, will be forwarded--

supposing I still exist. I hasten from the sight of that world, which has become odious to me. Should I hasten from it altogether, pity--forgive me. Life, my dear Pickwick, 

has become insupportable to me. The spirit which burns within us, is a porter's knot, 

on which to rest the heavy load of worldly cares and troubles; and when that spirit fails us, 

the burden is too heavy to be borne. We sink beneath it. 

You may tell Rachael--Ah, that name!-- (133)

I chuckled all the way through this letter! They immediately depart to rejoin Mr. Tupman and continue on their adventures. 

It is while in another village that Pickwick discovers 

a strange and curious inscription of unquestionable antiquity, which had wholly escaped 

the observation of the many learned men who had preceded him. 

He could hardly trust the evidence of his senses. (138)

Again we have Dickens inserted a 'story,' this given to him by a clergyman, entitled A Madman's Manuscript, involving a girl sacrificed into marriage to a rich 'madman', simply to relieve the poverty of her "white-headed" father and her "haughty brothers." The man does try to kill his wife, with a razor, and manages to very nearly choke his brother-in-law to death, running away in that last minute and awakens in a cell. Can we say "unreliable narrator"? Anyone?!? And now...back to the momentous Pickwickian discovery! It is a carved stone Pickwick spied mostly buried by one cottage's front door in the last village of their journey before returning to London. Pickwick, not being the least bit modest, the opposite in fact endeavors to publish his finding in any way possible, though the 'carver' himself admits he was basically just goofing off and playing around when he carved this stone. There is no secret code, etc., as Pickwick had expected... However, the truth doesn't forego any argumentative conversations, no ongoing and strong and, Pickwick wins out in the end even if he is fraudulently proclaiming this to be a great discovery!

And to this day the stone remains, an illegible monument of Mr. Pickwick's greatness,

and a lasting trophy to the littleness of his enemies. (149)

This last chapter ended with an appropriate proclamation of Pickwick's "greatness" as he continues to discuss and publicize information regarding his "antiquarian discover"!

Again, this book is so absurd as to be entertaining and funny!

I am enjoying this read-along so very much!

Have you ever read this one, or any other Dickens?

I would love to know a favorite 

I might pick up to read

following The Pickwick Club!

Happy reading, y'all!

Lynn

Pickwick Papers Read-Along Check-in #3: May 2016

 This event is the brainchild of Behold the Stars. 

We are reading The Pickwick Papers exactly as others did 180 years ago!

This was published in a serial format, so every month another 2-3 chapters

were published and readers had to wait until next month for the next installment.

It is fun to think that we are replicating history in this regard and 

that I will have finally read a Dickens book! 

Here is my Read-Along page where you can view the reading schedule 

as well as read a bit about my reticence with regard to Dickens. 

I do realize that this book is not especially typical for this author. 

In fact, I believe it safe to say it is considered 

to be rather an outlier among his published works.

Which is sad, since I am immensely enjoying his humor!

I believe I have mentioned before that 

I truly appreciate this Oxford Illustrated edition 

I checked out from the library. 

I highly recommend it! 

This month we are reading Chapters VI-VIII.

We find our four gentlemen, Messrs. Pickwick, 

Snodgrass, Tupman, and Winkle, being introduced and introduced to all those already esconced at Manor Farm. 

It seems to be quite a diverse crew, headed by the matriarch 

and owner of Manor Farm, Mr. Wardle's mother. 

Although she is unable to hear much of anything, 

talk of card playing gets her full attention! 

As they play, I was reminded of playing euchre with my ex-husband. I despised playing with him as my partner, and learned early on not to do so. I would always try to have someone else as my partner, 'cause he just didn't care. He. Would. Play. Anything! Seriously, anything! While I didn't care about winning/losing, I did want to play the best game I could play, given my cards and the order of play. So I could rather relate to the fat gentleman's frustrations with Mr. Miller. Though these Pickwickians evidently take their card-playing quite seriously!

The rubber was conducted with all the gravity of deportment and sedateness of demeanour 

which befit the pursuit entitled 'whist'--a solemn observance, to which, as it appears to us, 

the title of 'game' has been very irreverently and ignonimously applied...Mr. Miller...

not being quite so much absorbed as he ought to have been, contrived to commit 

various high crimes and misdemeanors, which excited 

the wrath of the fat gentleman to a very great extent... (69)

I was literally laughing out loud as I read this passage! Dickens' use of such pretentious language is so funny! 

At one point, the clergyman, by popular request, tells of "the convict's return." There was a man who was mean and nasty with absolutely no friends.

...I do firmly and in my soul believe, that the man systematically tried for many years to break her [his wife's] heart; but she bore it all for her child's sake, and, however strange it may seem to many, for his father's too; for brute as he was and cruelly as he had treated her, she had loved him once; and the recollection of what he had been to her, awakened feelings of forebearance and meekness under suffering in her bosom, to which all God's creatures, but women, are strangers. (74)

Mrs. Edmunds and her son regularly attended church, though they were "both poorly dressed--much more so that many of their neighbours who were in a lower station--they were always neat and clean." The boy is convicted of crimes and imprisoned and the mother dies not long after this event. Some 17 years later the "convict" returns to a different village, with no one he can recognize. As he walks through the churchyard...

The man's heart swelled as he crossed the stile. The tall old elms, through whose branches the declining sun cast her and there a rich ray of light upon the shady path, awakened the associations of his earliest days. He pictured himself as he was then, clinging to his mother's hand, and walking peacefully to church. He remembered how he used to look up into her pale face; and how her eyes would sometimes fill with tears as she gazed upon his features--tears which fell hot upon his forehead as she stooped to kiss him, and made him weep, too, although he little knew then what bitter tears hers were. (78)

Dickens could certainly write! 

The last soft light of the setting sun had fallen on the earth, casting a rich glow on the yellow corn sheaves, and lengthening the shadows of the orchard trees, as he stood before the old house--

the home of his infancy--to which his heart had yearned with an intensity of affection 

not to be described, through long and weary years of captivity and sorrow.  (81)

Though he did see his father and initially grabbed him by the throat, "his arm fell powerless by his side." For he was, after all, his father. The old man did end up dying then and there from a "ruptured blood vessel," however. He worked for the clergyman for three years before dying and being buried in the corner of the churchyard, with no one other than the clergyman being aware of his identity. This is the second rather morbid story Dickens has inserted into this rather nonsensical absurdity of a book. I kinda wonder why, except perhaps to insert some bit of 'reality,' morbid as it may be? 

Upon rising the next morning at Manor Farm, 

The rich, sweet smell of the hayricks rose to his chamber window; the hundred perfumes of the little flower-garden beneath scented the air around; the deep-green meadows shone in the morning dew that glistened on every leaf as it trembled in the gentle air: and the birds sang as if every sparkling drop were a fountain of inspiration to them. Mr. Pickwick fell into an enchanting and delicious reverie. (82)

At this point I grew quite nostalgic for my own version of country life from the past! On this same morning, we find all four gentlemen called out to accompany their host...as he prepares to go "rook-shooting" with none other than Mr. Winkle! Winkle again! When Mr. Pickwick is asked to confirm Winkle as "a very good shot," he replies

I've heard him say he's a capital one, but I never saw him aim at anything." (83)

I'm thinking to myself, "Uh-oh..." Later, at his host's urging, 

Mr. Winkle...took up the spare gun with an expression of countenance which a metaphysical rook, impressed with a foreboding of his approaching death by violence, may be supposed to assume. It might have been keenness, but it looked remarkably like misery. (83-84)

Ha! I sense disaster in the offing... Winkle finally shoots, and

There was a scream as of an individual--not a rook--in corporeal anguish. Mr. Tupman had saved the lives of innumerable unoffending birds by receiving a portion of the charge in his left arm. 

To describe the confusion that ensued would be impossible. (85)

But then of course Dickens does just that! We get all the details in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, including how Mr. Tupman "opened first one eye, and then the other, and then fell back and shut them both..." Ha! The drama!! 

The boys all head into town for a grand cricket match, sans Mr. Tupman, of course, who was unable to accompany them due to his shooting wound, and the ministrations of the spinster aunt which he wouldn't miss for the world... And whom do they run into but "Jingle--Alfred Jingle, Esq., of No hall, Nowhere!" Again! I'm convinced this Jingle will be wherever the Pickwickians are forever into the future--he is a moocher extraordinaire who has found his 'marks'! :) These men proved to be some real party animals, toasting each other seemingly for hours, etc. It is during this time that Mr. Tupman sets his sights on one female of the group:

The young ladies were pretty, their manners winning, 

their dispositions unexceptionable; 

but there was a dignity in the air, 

a touch-me-not-ishness in the walk, 

a majesty in the eye of the spinster aunt, to which, 

at their time of life, they could lay no claim, 

which distinguished her from any female 

on whom Mr. Tupman had ever gazed. 

That there was something kindred in their nature, 

something congenial in their souls, 

something mysteriously sympathetic in their bosoms, 

was evident. (96)

However, Mr. Tupman decided he must know,  

...had her agitation arisen from an amiable and 

feminine sensibility which would have been 

equally irrepressible in any case;

or had it been called forth by a more ardent 

and passionate feeling, which he, 

of all men living, could alone awaken? (96)

Oh, yeah...I'm laughing out loud again! 

That was SOME "salmon'!

Finally, at about 1AM the males return to 'the fold'/Forest Manor--"under the influence of the 'salmon,'" so they say! This, following the Fat Boy's discovery of Mr. Tupman and the spinster aunt in a rather compromising position on the arbour seat in the garden! Mr. Jingle impresses all the females by being charming and ingratiating, particularly in contrast to the drunken obnoxious behaviors of his 'friends,' who had not had nearly as much to drink as had he. (This Jingle could obviously hold his liquor, huh?) :) And he is the first down to breakfast the next morning, entertaining all the 'girls,' much to Mr. Tupman's chagrin! Once the old lady is made aware of Miss Rachael's (her own daughter's) misbehavior with Mr. Tupman, she is appalled and angry! As Mr. Jingle overhears this conversation, he resolves to use it to his advantage to win over the spinster aunt, Miss Rachael, just as he had decided to do upon meeting her the prior evening, especially as he "had more than a strong suspicion that she possess that most desirable of all requisites, a small independence." Ah, yes, this guy's a real swindler, just as I had suspected! He is a sly rascal who lies to them both in order to extract his own 'rewards,' not the least of which is the ten pounds he 'borrows' from Mr. Tupman, promising to repay him in three days' time. Uh-huh...sure...

Ah, to what hilarity and drama will we be treated in the 

next three chapters IX-XII next month? 

I'm assured to laugh, at least once in reading three more chapters!