Lines to a Brass Pot

"Oh, Pott! if you'd have known

How false she'd have grown,

When you heard the marriage-bells tinkle;

You'd have done then, I vow,

What you cannot help now,

And handed her over to W*****!"

* * *


"But I trust, sir," said Pott, "that I have never abused the enormous power I wield. I trust, sir, that I have never pointed the noble instrument which is placed in my hands, against the sacred bosom of private life, or the tender breast of individual reputation - I trust, sir, that I have devoted my energies to - to endeavors - humble they may be, humble I know they are - to instill those principles of - which -are--"

- The Pickwick Papers