In Which The Two Hundredth And First Anniversary of The Inimitable Mr Dickens Is Inaugurated

Gathered again at The Saracen’s Head to bid a final farewell to the departing year, it was not unnatural that the conversation between Mr Headstone and his friends should take a nostalgic turn. Mr Guppy took the opportunity engendered by the mood of general reflection to ask Mr Headstone as to whether he had fulfilled his obligation to read the complete works of Mr Charles Dickens within the compass of a single year as a means of marking the occasion of the author’s bicentenary; to which enquiry Mr Headstone was obliged to reply in the negative. Mr Guppy then asked if there were in Mr Headstone’s favour any extenuating circumstances that had prevented him from executing his commission. The answer again was a negative. Warming to his subject, Mr Guppy rose to his feet, inserted his thumbs into the pockets of his waistcoat and asked in the rhetorical manner that is the natural mode of expression of those in the legal profession, whether the continuation of the enterprise was nothing short of wanton folly now that the aforementioned anniversary had expired. At this suggestion Mr Richard Swiveller rose from his seat and declared to the company that he for one would support Mr Headstone in his continued endeavour, the completion of which would be a fitting tribute to the Inimitable Author in this his two hundredth and first year. To this effect, Mr Swiveller immediately proposed a motion that a subscription be raised and a society be formed to inaugurate such proceedings. Mr Tappertit seconded the motion and it was carried with an almost unanimous vote – the one abstainer being Mr Guppy, who retired to sulk in a corner over a glass of shrub.