“Serpent, sir! Serpent, Mr. Pott! What can you mean, sir?—this is pleasantry.”
“Pleasantry, sir!” exclaimed Pott, with a motion of the hand, indicative of a strong desire to hurl the Britannia metal teapot at the head of his visitor. “Pleasantry, sir!—but no, I will be calm, I will be calm, sir;” in proof of his calmness, Mr. Pott flung himself into a chair, and foamed at the mouth.
“My dear sir,” interposed Mr. Winkle.
“Dear sir!” replied Pott. “How dare you address me as dear sir, sir? How dare you look me in the face and do it, sir?”
“Well, sir, if you come to that,” responded Mr. Winkle, “how dare you look me in the face, and call me a serpent, sir?”
“Because you are one,” replied Mr. Pott.
“Prove it, sir,” said Mr. Winkle, warmly. “Prove it.”
A malignant scowl passed over the profound face of the editor, as he drew from his pocket the Independent of that morning; and laying his finger on a particular paragraph, threw the journal across the table to Mr. Winkle.
That gentleman took it up, and read as follows:—
“Our obscure and filthy contemporary, in some disgusting observations on the recent election for this borough, has presumed to violate the hallowed sanctity of private life, and to refer, in a manner not to be misunderstood, to the personal affairs of our late candidate—ay, and notwithstanding his base defeat, we will add, our future member, Mr. Fizkin. What does our dastardly contemporary mean? What would the ruffian say, if we, setting at naught, like him, the decencies of social intercourse, were to raise the curtain which happily conceals HIS private life from general ridicule, not to say from general execration? What, if we were even to point out, and comment on, facts and circumstances, which are publicly notorious, and beheld by every one but our mole-eyed contemporary—what if we were to print the following effusion, which we received while we were writing the commencement of this article, from a talented fellow-townsman and correspondent!