'I believe you are in the service of Mr Pickwick, the defendant in this

case? Speak up, if you please, Mr Weller.'

I mean to speak up, Sir,' replied Sam; 'I am in the service o' that 'ere

gen'l'man, and a wery good service it is.'

Little to do, and plenty to get, I suppose?' said Serjeant Buzfuz, with

jocularity. 'Oh, quite enough to get, Sir, as the soldier said ven they

ordered him three hundred and fifty lashes,' replied Sam.

'You must not tell us what the soldier, or any other man, said, Sir,'

interposed the judge; 'it's not evidence.'

'Wery good, my Lord,' replied Sam.

'Do you recollect anything particular happening on the morning when

you were first engaged by the defendant; eh, Mr Weller?' said Serjeant

Buzfuz.

Yes, I do, sir,' replied Sam.

Have the goodness to tell the jury what it was.'

I had a reg'lar new fit out o' clothes that mornin', gen'l'men of the

jury,' said Sam, 'and that was a wery partickler and uncommon

circumstance vith me in those days.'

Hereupon there was a general laugh; and the little judge, looking with

an angry countenance over his desk, said, 'You had better be careful,

Sir.'

'So Mr Pickwick said at the time, my Lord,' replied Sam; 'and I was

wery careful o' that 'ere suit o' clothes; wery careful indeed, my Lord.'

The judge looked sternly at Sam for full two minutes, but Sam's

features were so perfectly calm and serene that the judge said

nothing, and motioned Serjeant Buzfuz to proceed.

Do you mean to tell me, Mr Weller,' said Serjeant Buzfuz, folding his

arms emphatically, and turning half-round to the jury, as if in mute

assurance that he would bother the witness yet - 'do you mean to tell

me, Mr Weller, that you saw nothing of this fainting on the part of the

plaintiff in the arms of the defendant, which you have heard described

by the witnesses?' 'Certainly not,' replied Sam; 'I was in the passage

till they called me up, and then the old lady was not there.'

'Now, attend, Mr Weller,' said Serjeant Buzfuz, dipping a large pen

into the inkstand before him, for the purpose of frightening Sam with

The Pickwick Papers