Pickwick Papers

Content Warning: This section features discussions of sexual assault, suicide, sexism, racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia.

Pickwick repeats to Perker his plan to pay no fees until he’s legally forced to do so, and he and his friends head off on another trip to Bath. At an inn on the way, they meet an angry man named Mr. Dowler. He and his wife are also heading to Bath. The Dowlers and Pickwickians both stay at the White Hart in Bath, and Dowler introduces Pickwick to his friend Angelo Cyrus Bantam, the Master of Ceremonies, who mentions a ball that night for residents of Bath and suggests that they write their names in the book that indicates the current residents of Bath. Thus, they attend the ball, where Pickwick is introduced to many of the most important people in Bath and loses at cards.

The Pickwickians and Dowlers rent a home together and enjoy taking the waters in Bath. Pickwick reads a story called “The True Legend of Prince Bladud,” in which a prince is promised to a princess, but he’s in love with someone else, so his father shuts him up in a tower. Prince Bladud escapes and tries to go to the woman he loves.