The Mudfog Papers, a collection of sketches by Charles Dickens, describes the local politics of the fi ctional town of Mudfog – such as thedelusions of grandeur of its mayor Nicholas Tulrumble and his disastrous attempts at putting on a public show – and the meetings of its Society for the Advancement of Everything, during which the town is overrun by illustrious scientists and professors conducting ostensibly pointless research.