Street, the Buffs rose as one man and stood aghast at the enormity.

There were Blue shops and Buff shops, Blue inns and Buff inns -

there was a Blue aisle and a Buff aisle in the very church itself.

Of course it was essentially and indispensably necessary that each of

these powerful parties should have its chosen organ and

representative: and, accordingly, there were two newspapers in the

town - the Eatanswill GAZETTE and the Eatanswill INDEPENDENT;

the former advocating Blue principles, and the latter conducted on

grounds decidedly Buff. Fine newspapers they were. Such leading

articles, and such spirited attacks! - 'Our worthless contemporary, the

GAZETTE'

INDEPENDENT' - 'That false and scurrilous print, the INDEPENDENT'

'That vile and slanderous calumniator, the GAZETTE;' these, and

'That disgraceful and dastardly journal, the

other spirit-stirring denunciations, were strewn plentifully over the

columns of each, in every number, and excited feelings of the most

intense delight and indignation in the bosoms of the townspeople.

Mr Pickwick, with his usual foresight and sagacity, had chosen a

peculiarly desirable moment for his visit to the borough. Never was

such a contest known. The Honourable Samuel Slumkey, of Slumkey

Hall, was the Blue candidate; and Horatio Fizkin, Esq., of Fizkin

Lodge, near Eatanswill, had been prevailed upon by his friends to

stand forward on the Buff interest. The GAZETTE warned the electors

of Eatanswill that the eyes not only of England, but of the whole

civilised world, were upon them; and the INDEPENDENT imperatively

demanded to know, whether the constituency of Eatanswill were the

grand fellows they had always taken them for, or base and servile

tools, undeserving alike of the name of Englishmen and the blessings

of freedom. Never had such a commotion agitated the town before.

It was late in the evening when Mr Pickwick and his companions,

assisted by Sam, dismounted from the roof of the Eatanswill coach.

Large blue silk flags were flying from the windows of the Town Arms

Inn, and bills were posted in every sash, intimating, in gigantic letters,

that the Honourable Samuel Slumkey's committee sat there daily. A

crowd of idlers were assembled in the road, looking at a hoarse man in

the balcony, who was apparently talking himself very red in the face in

Mr Slumkey's behalf; but the force and point of whose arguments

were somewhat impaired by the perpetual beating of four large drums

which Mr Fizkin's committee had stationed at the street corner. There

was a busy little man beside him, though, who took off his hat at

intervals and motioned to the people to cheer, which they regularly

did, most enthusiastically; and as the red- faced gentleman went on

talking till he was redder in the face than ever, it seemed to answer

his purpose quite as well as if anybody had heard him.

The Pickwick Papers