 Chapter 98, Part 2 of the Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Volume 2 by Tobias Smollett. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 98, Part 2. This, his intention being made known to the Governor and his friends, their countenances immediately cleared up, their courtesy and complacence returned, and they even furnished him with letters for Geneva, Loh, Sahn, Bern, and Soler, in consequence of which he met with unusual civilities at these places, having made this tour with his Scotch friend who came up to him before he left Lyon and visited the most considerable towns on both sides of the Rhine and the courts of the Elector's Palatine, Mentz and Cologne, he arrived in Holland, and from thence through the Netherlands, repaired to London, where he found my Lord just returned from Paris. His Lordship received him with expressions of uncommon joy, would not suffer him to stir from him for several days, and introduced him to his relations. Him accompanied his Lordship from London to his country seat, where he was indeed treated with great friendship and confidence and consulted in everything, but the noble peer never once made mention of the annuity which he had promised to settle upon him, nor did him remind him of it, because he conceived it was his affair to fulfill his engagements of his own accord. Him being tired of the manner of living at this place made an excursion to Bath, where he stayed about a fortnight, to partake of the diversions, and upon his return found his Lordship making dispositions for another journey to Paris. Surprised at this sudden resolution, he endeavored to dissuade him from it, but his remonstrances were rendered ineffectual by the insinuations of a foreigner who had come over with him and filled his imagination with extravagant notions of pleasure, infinitely superior to any which he could enjoy while he was in the trammels and under the restraints of a governor. He therefore turned a deaf ear to all of him's arguments and entreated him to accompany him in the journey, but this gentleman foreseeing that a young man like my Lord, of strong passions and easy to be misled, would in all probability squander away great sums of money in a way that would neither do credit to himself or to those who were concerned with him, resisted all his solicitations on pretense of having business of consequence at London, and afterwards had reason to be extremely well pleased with his own conduct in this particular. Before he set out on this expedition, him, in justice to himself, reminded him of the proposal which he had made to him at Marseilles, desiring to know if he had altered his design in that particular in which case he would turn his thoughts some other way as he would not in the least be thought to intrude or pin himself upon any man. My Lord protested in the most solemn manner that he still continued in his former resolution and again beseeching him to bear him company into France, promised that everything should be settled to his satisfaction upon his return to England. In however, still persisted in his refusal for the above mentioned reasons, and though he never heard more of the annuity, he nevertheless continued to serve his Lordship with his advice and good offices ever after, particularly in directing his choice to an alliance with a lady of eminent virtue, the daughter of a noble Lord, more conspicuous for his shining parts than the splendor of his titles, a circumstance upon which he always reflected with particular satisfaction as well on account of the extraordinary merit of the lady as because it bested in her children a considerable part of that great estate which of right belonged to her grandmother and afterwards put him in a way to retrieve his estate from a heavy load of debt he had contracted. When my Lord set out on his Paris expedition, the money em had received from his generous friend at Paris was almost reduced to the last skinning. He not yet reaped the least benefit from his engagements with his Lordship and disdaining to ask for a supply from him he knew not how to subsist with any degree of credit till his return. This uncomfortable prospect was the more disagreeable to him as at that time of life he was much inclined to appear in the gay world had contracted a taste for place, operas and other public diversions and acquired an acquaintance with many people of good fashion which could not be maintained without a considerable expense. In this emergency he thought he could not employ his idle time more profitably than in translating from foreign languages such books as were then chiefly in vogue and upon application to a friend who was a man of letters he was furnished with as much business of that kind as he could possibly manage and wrote some pamphlets on the reigning controversies of that time that had the good fortune to please. He was also concerned in a monthly journal of literature and the work was carried on by the two friends jointly though him did not at all appear in the partnership. By these means he not only spent his mornings in useful exercise but supplied himself with money for what the French call the menu plazir during the whole summer. He frequented all the assemblies in and about London and considerably enlarged his acquaintance among the fair sex. He had upon his first arrival in England become acquainted with a lady at an assembly not far from London and though at that time he had no thoughts of extending his views farther than the usual gallantry of the place he met with such distinguishing marks of her regard in the sequel and was so particularly encouraged by the advice of another lady with whom he had been intimate in France and it was now of their parties that he could not help entertaining hopes of making an impression upon the heart of his agreeable partner who was a young lady of an ample fortune and great expectations. He therefore cultivated her good graces with all the assiduity and address of which he was master and succeeded so well in his endeavors that after due course of attendance and the death of an aunt by which she received an accession of fortune to the amount of three and twenty thousand pounds he ventured to declare his passion and she not only heard him with patience and approbation but also replied in terms adequate to his warmest wish. Binding himself so favorably received he pressed her to secure his happiness by marriage but to this proposal she objected the recency of her kin's woman's death which would have rendered such a step highly indecent and the displeasure of her other relations from whom she had still greater expectations and who at that time importuned her to marry a cousin of her own whom she could not like. However, that him might have no cause to repine at her delay she freely entered with him into an intimacy of correspondence during which nothing could have added to their mutual felicity which was the more poignant and refined from the mysterious and romantic manner of their enjoying it for though he publicly visited her as an acquaintance his behavior on these occasions was always so distant respectful and reserved that the rest of the company could not possibly suspect the nature of their reciprocal attachment in consequence of which they used to have private interviews unknown to every soul upon earth except her maid who was necessarily entrusted with the secret. In this manner they enjoyed the conversation of each other for above twelve months without the least interruption and though the stability of Mr. M's fortune depended entirely upon their marriage yet as he perceived his mistress so averse to it he never urged it with the immense nor was it all anxious on that score being easily induced to defer a ceremony which as he then thought could in no shape have added to their satisfaction though he have since altered his sentiments be that as it will his indulgent mistress in order to set his mind at ease in that particular and in full confidence of his honor insisted on his accepting a deed of gift of her whole fortune in consideration of her intended marriage and after some difficulty he was prevailed upon to receive this proof of her esteem while knowing that it would still be in his power to return the obligation though she often entreated him to take upon himself the entire administration of her finances and upon divers occasions pressed him to accept of large sums he never once abused her generous disposition or solicited her for money except for some humane purpose which she was always more ready to fulfill than he to propose in the course of this correspondence he became acquainted with some of her female relations and among the rest with a young lady so eminently adorned with all the qualifications of mind and person that notwithstanding all his philosophy and caution he could not behold and converse with her without being deeply smitten with her charms he did all in his power to discourage this dangerous invasion in the beginning and to conceal the least symptom of it from her relation he summoned all his reflection to his aid and thinking it would be base and dishonest to cherish any sentiment repugnant to the affection which he owed to a mistress where placed such unlimited confidence in him he attempted to stifle the infant flame by avoiding the amiable inspirer of it but the passion had taken to deeper root in his heart to be so easily extirpated his absence from the dear object increased the impatience of his love he entests down conflict between that and gratitude deprived him of his rest and appetite he was in our short time emaciated by continual watching anxiety and want of nourishment and so much altered from his usual cheerfulness that his mistress being surprised and alarmed at the change which from the symptoms she judged was owing to some uneasiness of mind took all imaginable pains to discover the cause in all probability it did not escape her penetration for she more than once asked if he was in love with her cousin protesting that far from being an obstacle to his happiness she would in that case be an advocate for his passion however this declaration was never made without manifest signs of anxiety and uneasiness which made such an impression upon the heart of him that he resolved to sacrifice his happiness and even his life rather than take any step which might be construed into an injury or insult to a person who had treated him with such generosity and goodness in consequence of this resolution he formed another which was to go abroad under pretense of recovering his health but in reality to avoid the temptation as well as the suspicion of being inconstant and in this design he was confirmed by his position who actually thought him in the first stage of a consumption and therefore advised him to repair to the south of france he communicated his design with the doctor's opinion to the lady who agreed to it with much less difficulty than he found in conquering his own reluctance at parting with the dear object of his love the consent of his generous dimestress being obtained he waited upon her with the instrument whereby she had made the conveyance of her fortune to him and all his remonstrances being insufficient to persuade her to take it back he canceled it in her presence and placed it in that state upon her toilet which he was dressing whereupon she shed a torrent of tears saying she now plainly perceived that he wanted to tear himself from her and that his affections were settled upon another he was sensibly affected by this proof of her concern and endeavor to calm the perturbation of her mind by vowing eternal fidelity and pressing her to accept of his hand in due form before his departure by these means her transports were quieted for the present and the marriage deferred for the same prudential reasons which had hitherto prevented it matters being thus compromised and the day fixed for his departure she together with her faithful maid one morning visited him for the first time at his own lodgings and after breakfast desiring to speak with him in private he conducted her into another room where assuming an unusual gravity of aspect my dear him said she you are now going to leave me and God alone knows if ever we shall meet again therefore if you really love me with that tenderness which you profess you will accept of this mark of my friendship and unalterable affection it will at least be a provision for your journey and if an accident should befall me before I have the happiness of receiving you again into my arms I shall have the satisfaction of knowing that you are not altogether without resource so saying she put an embroidered pocketbook into his hand he expressed the highest sense he had of her generosity and affection in the most pathetic terms and beg leave to suspend his acceptance until he should know the contents of her present which was so extraordinary that he absolutely refused to receive it he was however by her repeated entreaties in a manner compelled to receive about one half and she afterwards insisted upon his taking a reinforcement of a considerable sum for the expense of his journey having stayed with her 10 days beyond the time he had fixed for his departure and settled the method of their correspondence he took his leave with a heart full of star anxiety and distraction produced from the different suggestions of his duty and love he then set out for France and after a short stay at Paris proceeded to aches and Provence and from thence to Marseille at which two places he continued for some months but nothing he met with being able to dissipate those melancholy ideas which still prayed upon his imagination and affected his spirits he endeavored to elude them with a succession of new objects and with that view persuaded a counselor of the parliament of aches a man of great worth learning and good humor to accompany him in making a tour of those parts of France which he had not yet seen on their return from this excursion they found at aches an Italian abbey a person of character and great knowledge of men and books who having traveled all over Germany and France was so far on his return to his own country in having by means of his friend the counselor contracted an acquaintance with this gentleman and being desirous of seeing some parts of Italy particularly the carnival at Venice they set out together from Marseille and a tartan for Genoa coasting it all the way and lying on shore every night having shown him what was most remarkable in this city his friend the abbey was so obliging as to conduct him through Tuscany and the most remarkable cities in Lombardi to Venice wherein insisted upon deferring the expense of the whole tour in consideration of the abbey's complacence which had been of infinite service to him in the course of this expedition having remained five weeks of Venice he was preparing to set out for Rome with some English gentleman whom he had met by accident when he was all of a sudden obliged to change his resolution by some disagreeable letters which he received from London he had from his first departure corresponded with his generous though in constant mistress with a religious exactness and punctuality nor was she for some time less observant of the agreement they had made nevertheless she by degrees became so negligent and cold in her expression and so slack in her correspondence that he could not help observing and upgrading her with such indifference and her endeavors to palliated were supported by pretext so frivolous as to be easily seen through by a lover of very little discernment while he tortured himself with conjectures about the cause of this unexpected change he received such intelligence from England as when joined with what he himself had perceived by her manner of writing left him little or no room to doubt of her fickleness and inconstancy nevertheless as he knew by experience that informations of that kind are not to be entirely relied upon he resolved to be more certainly apprised and for that in departed immediately for London by the way of Tyra Bavaria Alsace and Paris on his arrival in England he learned with infinite concern that his intelligence had not been at all exaggerated and his sorrow was inexpressible to find a person endowed with so many other noble and amiable qualities seduced into an indiscretion that of necessity ruined the whole plan which had been concerted between them for their mutual happiness she made several attempts by letters and interviews to palliate her conduct and soften him into a reconciliation but his honor being concerned he remained deaf to all her entreaties and proposals nevertheless I have often heard him say that he could not help loving her and revering the memory of a person to whose generosity and goodness he owed his fortune and one whose foibles were overbalanced by a thousand good qualities he often insisted on making it restitution but far from complying with that proposal she afterwards often endeavored to lay him under yet greater obligations of the same kind and then portuned him with the warmest solicitations to renew their former correspondence which he as often declined him took this instance of the inconstancy of this sex so much to heart that he had almost resolved for the future to keep clear of all engagements for life and returned to Paris in order to dissipate his anxiety where he hired an apartment in one of the academies in the exercises where he took singular delight during his residence at this place he had the good fortune to ingratiate himself with the great general a descendant of one of the most ancient and illustrious families in France having attracted his notice by some remarks he had written on volards polybius which were accidentally shown to that great man by one of his aides to camp who was a particular friend of him the favor he had thus acquired was strengthened by his aciduities and attention upon his return to london he sent some of Handel's newest compositions to the prince who was particularly fond of that gentleman's productions together with clark's edition of caesar and in the spring of the same year before the french army took the field he was honored with the most obliging letter from the prince inviting him to come over if he wanted to see the operations of the campaign and desiring he would give himself no trouble about his equipage in having still some remains of a military disposition and this to be a more favorable opportunity than any he should ever meet with again readily embraced the offer and sacrificed the soft delights of love which at that time he enjoyed without control to an eager laborious and dangerous curiosity in that and the following campaign during which he was present at the siege of philipsburg and several other actions he enlarged his acquaintance among the french officers especially those of the graver sort who had a taste for books and literature and the friendship and interest of those gentlemen were afterwards of singular service to him though in an affair altogether foreign from their profession he had all along made diligent inquiry into the trade and manufacturers of the countries through which he had occasion to travel more particularly those of holland england and france and as he was well acquainted with the revenue and farms of this last kingdom he saw with concern the great disadvantages under which our tobacco trade the most considerable branch of our commerce without people was carried on but inconsiderable returns were made to the planters out of the low price given by the french company and how much it was in the power of that company to reduce it still lower him had formed a scheme to remedy this evil so far as it related to the national loss or gain by not permitting the duty of one penny in the pound old subsidy to be drawn back on tobacco re-exported he demonstrated to the ministry that time that so inconsiderable a duty could not in the least diminish the demand from abroad which was the only circumstance to be apprehended and that the yearly produce of that revenue would amount to 120 000 pounds without one shilling additional expense to the public but the ministry having the excise scheme then in contemplation could think of no other till that should be tried and that project having miscarried he renewed his application when they approved of the scheme in every particular but discovered a surprising backwardness to carry it into execution his expectations in this quarter being disappointed e by the interposition of his friends presented a plan to the french company in which he set forth the advantages that would accrue to themselves from fixing the price and securing that sort of tobacco which best suited the taste of the public and their manufacture and finally proposed to furnish them with any quantity at the price which they paid in the port of london after some dispute they agreed to this proposal and contracted with him for 15 000 hogs has a year for which they obliged themselves to pay ready money on its arrival in any one or more convenient ports in the south or western coasts of great britain that he should please to fix upon for that purpose him no sooner obtained this contract than he immediately set out for america in order to put it in execution and by way of companion carried with him a little french abbey a man of humor wit and learning with whom he had been long acquainted and for whom he had done many good offices on his arrival in virginia which opportunity he happened at a time when all the gentlemen were assembled in the capital of that province he published a memorial representing the disadvantages under which their trade was carried on the true method of redressing their own grievances in that respect and proposing to contract with them for the yearly quantity of 15 000 hogs heads of such tobacco as was fit for the french market at the price which he demonstrated to be considerably greater than that which they had formally received this remonstrance met with all the success and encouragement he could expect the principal planters seeing their own interests concerned readily assented to the proposal which through their influence was also relished by the rest and the only difficulty that remained related to the security for payment of the bills on the arrival of the tobacco in england and to the time stipulated for the continuance of the contract in order to remove these objections mr him returned to europe and found the french company of farmers disposed to agree to everything he desired for facilitating the execution of the contract and perfectly well pleased with the sample which he had already sent but his good friend the abbey whom he had left behind him in america by an unparalleled piece of treachery on means to overturn the whole project he secretly wrote a memorial to the company importing that he found by experience him could afford to furnish them at a much lower price than that which they had agreed to give and that by being in possession of the contract for five years as was intended according to the proposal he would have the company so much in his power that they must afterwards submit to any price he should pleased to impose and that if they thought him worth such a trust he would undertake to furnish them at an easier rate in conjunction with some of the leading men in virginia maryland with whom he said he'd already concerted measures for that purpose the company was so much alarmed at these insinuations that they declined complying with mr him's demands until the abbey's return and though they afterwards used all their endeavors to persuade him to be concerned with that little trader in his undertaking by which he might still have been a very considerable gainer he resisted all their solicitations and plainly told them in the abbey's presence that he would never prostitute his own principle so far as to enter into engagements of any kind with a person of his character much less in a scheme that had a manifest tendency to lower the market price of tobacco in de england thus ended a project the most extensive simple and easy and as appeared by the trial made the best calculated to raise an immense fortune of any that was ever undertaken or planned by a private person a project in the execution of which him had the good of the public and the glory of putting in a flourishing condition the valuable branch of our trade which gives employment to two great provinces and above 200 saleships much more at heart than his own private interests it was reasonable to expect that a man whose debts him had paid more than once whom he had obliged in many other respects had whom he had carried with him at a very considerable expense on this expedition merely without view of bettering his fortune would have acted with common honesty if not with gratitude as such was the depravity of this little monster's heart that on his deathbed he left a considerable fortune to mere strangers with whom he had little or no connection without the least thought of refunding the money advance for him by him in order to prevent his rotting in a jail when him had once obtained a command of money he by his knowledge in several branches of trade as well as by the assistance of some intelligent friends of Paris and London found means to employ it to very good purpose and had he been a man of that selfish disposition which too much prevails in the world he might have been at this day master of a very ample fortune but his ear was never deaf to the voice of distress nor his beneficent heart shot against the calamities of his fellow creatures he was even ingenious in contriving the most delicate methods of relieving modest indigents and by his industrious benevolence often anticipated the requests of misery I could relate a number of examples to illustrate my assertions and some of which you would perceive the most disinterested generosity but such a detail would trespass too much upon your time and I do not pretend to dwell upon every minute circumstance of his conduct that is suffice to say that upon the declaration of war in Spain he gave up all his commercial schemes and called in his money from all quarters with a view of sitting down for the rest of his life contented with what he had got and restraining his liberalities to what he could spare from his yearly income this was a very prudential resolution could he have kept it but upon the breaking out of the war he could not without concern see many gentlemen of merit who had been recommended to him disappointed of commissions merely for want of money to satisfy the expectations of the commission brokers of that time and therefore launched out considerable sums for them on their bare notes great part whereof was lost by the death of some in the unfortunate expedition to the West Indies he had linked after many other actions of like nature promoters of pure humanity love of justice and importance of oppression embarked in a cause every way the most important that ever came under the discussion of the courts of law in these kingdoms whether it be considered in relation to the extraordinary nature of the case or the immense property of no less than 50 000 pounds a year and three periges that depended upon it end of chapter 98 part 2 chapter 98 part 3 of the adventures of peregrine pickle volume 2 by Tobias Smollett this Lieberbach's recording is in the public domain in the year 1740 the brave admiral who at that time commanded his majesty's fleet in the West Indies among the other transactions of his squadron transmitted to the Duke of Newcastle mentioned a young man who though in the capacity of a common sailor on board one of the ships under his command laid claim to the estate and titles of the Earl of A these pretensions were no sooner communicated in the public papers than they became the subject of conversation in all companies and the person whom they chiefly affected being alarmed at the appearance of a competitor though at such a distance began to put himself in motion and take all the precautions which he thought necessary to defeat the endeavor of the young upstart indeed the early intelligence he received of Mr. A is making himself known in the West Indies furnished him with numberless advantages over that unhappy young gentleman for being in possession of a splendid fortune and lord of many manners in the neighborhood of the very place where the claimant was born he knew all the witnesses who could give the most material evidence of his legitimacy and if his probity did not restrain him had by his power and influence sufficient opportunity and means of applying to the passions and interests of the witnesses to silence many and gain over others to his side while his competitor by an absence of 15 or 16 years from his native country the want of education and friends together with his present helpless situation was rendered absolutely incapable of taking any step for his own advantage and although his worthy uncles conspicuous virtue and religious regard for justice and truth might possibly be an unconquerable restraint to his taking any undue advantages yet the consciences of that huge army of emissaries he kept in pay were not altogether so very tender and scrupulous this much however may be said without derogation from or impeachment of the noble Earl's nice virtue and honor that he took care to compromise all differences with the other branches of the family whose interests were in this affair connected with his own by sharing the estate with them and also retain most of the eminent council within the bar of both kingdoms against this formidable bastard before any suit was instituted by him while he was thus entrenching himself against the attack of a poor forlorn youth at the distance of 1500 leagues continually exposed to the dangers of the sea the war and an unhealthy climate mr. m in the common course of conversation chance to ask some questions relating to this romantic pretender of one age who was at that time the present lord a's chief agent this man when pressed could not help owning that the late lord a actually left his son who had been spirited away into america soon after his father's death but said he did not know whether this was the same person this information could not feel to make an impression on the humanity of mr. m who being acquainted with the genius of the wicked party who had possessed themselves of this unhappy young man's estate and honors expressed no small anxiety and apprehension lest they should take him off by some means or other and even then seemed disposed to contribute towards the support of the friendless orphan and to inquire more circumstantially into the nature of his claim in the meantime his occasions called them to france and during his absence mr. a arrived in london in the month of october 1741 here the clergyman was interrupted by a peregrine we said there was something so extraordinary not to call it improbable in the account he had heard of the young gentleman's being sent into exile that he would look upon himself as infinitely obliged to the doctor if he would favor him with a true representation of that transaction as well as of the manner in which he arrived and was known at the island of jamaica the person in compliance with our hero's request taking up the story from the beginning mr. a said he is the son of arthur late lord baron of a by his wife mary s natural daughter of john duke of b and in whom he publicly married on the 21st day of july 1706 contrary to the inclination of his mother and all his other relations particularly of arthur late url of a who bore an implacable enmity to the duke her father and for that reason did all that lay in his power to traverse the marriage but finding his endeavors ineffectual he was so much offended that he would never be perfectly reconciled to lord a though he was his presumptive heir after their nuptials they co-habited together in england for the space of two or three years during which she miscarried more than once and he being a man of levity and an extravagant disposition not only squandered away all that he had received of his wife's fortune but also contracted many considerable debts which obliged him to make a precipitate retreat into ireland leaving his lady behind him in the house with his mother and sister who having also been averse to the match had always looked upon her with eyes of disgust it was not likely that harmony should long subsist in this family especially as lady a was a woman of a lofty spirit who could not tamely bear insults and ill usage from persons who she had reason to believe were her enemies at heart accordingly a misunderstanding soon happened among them which was fermented by the malice of one of her sisters-in-law diverse scandalous reports of her misconduct to which the empty pretensions of a vain wretched cox comb who was made use of as an infamous tool for that purpose gave a colorable pretext were trumped up and transmitted with many false and aggravating circumstances to her husband in ireland who being a giddy unthinking man was so much incensed at these insinuations that in the first transports of his passion he sent to his mother a power of attorney that she might sue for a divorce in his behalf a libel was there upon exhibited containing many scandalous allegations void of any real foundation in truth but being unsupported by any manner of proof it was at length dismissed with costs after it had depended upwards of two years lord a finding himself abused by the misrepresentations of his mother and sister discovered an inclination to be reconcile to his lady in consequence of which she was sent over to Dublin by her father to the care of a gentleman in that city in whose house she was received by her husband with all the demonstrations of love and esteem from thence he conducted her to his lodgings and thence to his country house where she had the misfortune to suffer a miscarriage through fear and resentment of my lord's behavior which was often brutal and indecent from the country they removed to Dublin about the letter end of July or beginning of august 1714 where they had not long continued when her ladyship was known to be again was child Lord a and his issue being next and remained to the honors and the state of Arthur Earl of a was extremely solicitous to have a son and worn by the frequent miscarriages of his lady resolved to curb the natural impatience and rusticity of his disposition that she might not as formally suffer by his outrageous conduct he accordingly cherished her with common tenderness and care and her pregnancy being pretty far advanced conducted her to his country seat where she was delivered of Mr a about the letter end of April or beginning of May for none of the witnesses have been able at this distance with absolute certainty to fix the precise time of his birth and there was no register kept in the parish as an additional misfortune no gentleman of fashion lived in that parish nor did those who lived at any considerable distance care to cultivate an acquaintance with a man of Lord a's strange conduct be that as it will the occasion was celebrated by his lordship's tenants and dependence upon the spot and in the neighboring town of new are by bonfires eliminations and other rejoicings which have made such an impression upon the minds of the people that in the place where they happened and the contiguous parishes several hundred persons have already declared their knowledge and remembrance of this event in spite of the great power of the claimants adversary in that quarter and the great pains and indirect methods taken by his numberless agents and emissaries as well as by those who are interested with him in the event of the suit to corrupt and suppress the evidence third a after the birth of his son who was sent to nurse in the neighborhood according to the custom of the country where people of the highest distinction put their children out to nurse into farmhouses and cabins lived in harmony with his lady for the space of two years but having by his folly and extravagance reduced himself to great difficulties he demanded the remainder of her fortune from her father the Duke of B who absolutely refused to part with us shelling until a proper settlement should be made on his daughter which by that time he had put out of his own power to make by his folly and extravagance as a lady ship by her endeavors to reform the economy of her house that incurred the displeasure of some idol profligate fellows who had fastened themselves upon her husband and helped to consume his substance they seized this opportunity of the Duke's refusal and in order to be revenged upon the innocent lady persuaded lord a that the only means of extracting money from his grace would be to turn her away on pretence of infidelity to his bed for which they hinted there was but too much foundation at their suggestions the most infamous plan was projected in the execution of which one pea a poor unbred simple country booby whom they had decoyed into a snare lost one of his ears and the injured lady retired the same day she knew are where she continued several years she did not however leave the house without struggling hard to carry her child along with her but far from enjoying such indulgence strict orders were given that the boy should not for the future be brought within her sight this based in human treatment instead of answering the end proposed produced such a contrary effect that the duke would be by a cortisol to his will in which he reflects upon lord a's evil temper directed his executors to pay to his daughter an annuity of 100 pounds while her lord and she should continue to live separate and this allows was to cease on lord a's death while she remained while she remained in this solitary situation the child was universally known and received as a legitimate son and heir of her lord whose affection for the boy was so conspicuous that in the midst of his own necessities he never failed to maintain him in the dress and equip each other young nobleman in the course of his infancy his father having often changed his place of residence the child was put under the instructions of a great many different school masters so that he was perfectly well known in a great many different parts of the kingdom and his mother seized all opportunities which were but rare on account of his father's orders to the contrary of seeing and giving him proofs of her maternal tenderness until she set out for england after having been long in a declining state of health by a paralytical disorder upon the consequence of which such dependence was placed by her inconsiderate husband who was by this time reduced to extreme poverty that he actually married a woman whom he had long kept as a mistress this creature no sooner understood that lady a was departed from Ireland and she openly about her marriage and went about publicly with lord a visiting his acquaintances in the character of his wife from this era maybe dated the beginning of mr a's misfortune this artful woman who had formally treated the child with an appearance of fondness in order to ingratiate herself with the father now looking upon herself as sufficiently established in the family thought it was high time to alter her behavior with regard to the unfortunate boy and accordingly for obvious reasons employed a thousand artifices to alienate the heart of the weak father from his unhappy offspring yet notwithstanding all her insinuations nature still maintained her influence in his heart and though she often found means to irritate him by artful and malicious accusations his resentment never extended further than fatherly correction she would have found it impossible to accomplish his ruin had not her efforts been reinforced by a new auxiliary who was no other than his uncle the present usurper of his title and estate yet even this confederacy was overawed in some measure by the fear of alarming the unfortunate mother until her distemper increased to a most deplorable degree of the dead palsy and the death of her father had reduced her to a most forlorn and abject state of distress then they ventured upon the execution of their projects and though their aims were widely different concurred in their endeavors to remove the hapless boy as the common obstacle to both lord a who as i have already observed was a man of weak intellects and utterly void of any fixed principle of action being by this time reduced to such a pitch of misery that he was often obliged to pawn his wearing apparel in order to procure the common necessaries of life and having no other fund remaining with which he could relieve his present necessities except the sale of the reversion of the estate to which the knowledge of his son was an effectual bar he was advised by his virtuous brother and the rest of his counselors to surmount this difficulty by secreting his son and spreading a report of his death this honest project he the more readily embraced because he knew that no act of his could frustrate the child's succession accordingly the boy was removed from the school at which he was then boarded to the house of one k an agent in a compass of the present world a where he was kept for several months closely confined and in the meantime it was industriously reported that he was dead this previous measure being taken lord a published advertisements in the gazettes offering reversions of the estate to sale and emissaries of various kinds were employed to inveigles such as were ignorant of the nature of the settlement of these estates or strangers to the affairs of his family some people imposed upon by the report of the child's death were drawn in to purchase thinking themselves safe in the concurrence of his lordship's brother upon presumption that he was next in remainder to the succession others tempted by the smallness of the price which rarely exceeded half the year's purchase as appears by many deeds though they doubted the truth of the boys being dead ran small risks on the contingency of his dying before he should be of age were in hopes of his being prevailed upon to confirm the grants of his father and many more were treating with him on the same notions when their transactions were suddenly interrupted and the scheme of raising more money for the present defeated by the unexpected appearance of the boy who being naturally sprightly and impatient of restraint it found means to break from his confinement and wandered up and down the streets of Dublin avoiding his father's house and choosing to encounter all sorts of distress rather than subject himself again to the cruelty and malice of a woman who supplied his mother's place thus debarred his father's protection and destitute of any fixed habitation he heard it with all the loose idol and disorderly youths in Dublin gulking chiefly about the college several members and students of which taking pity on his misfortunes supplied him at different times with clothes and money in this unsettled and uncomfortable way of life did he remain from the year 1725 to the latter end of November 1727 at which time his father died so miserably poor that he was actually buried at the public expense this unfortunate nobleman was no sooner dead than his brother Richard now Earl of A taking advantage of the nonage and helpless situation of his nephew seized upon all the papers of the defunct and afterwards usurped the title of Lord A to the surprise of the servants and others who were acquainted with the affairs of the family this usurpation bold as it was produced no other effect than that of his being insulted by the populace as he went through the streets and the refusal of the king at arms to enroll the certificate of his brothers having died without issue the first of these inconveniences he bore without any sense of shame though not without repining conscious that it would gradually vanish with the novelty of his invasion and as to the last he conquered it by means well known and obvious nor will it seem strange that he should thus invade the rights of an orphan with impunity if people will consider that the late Lord A had not only swandered away his fortune with the most ridiculous extravagance but also associated himself with low company so that he was little known and less regarded by persons of any rank and figure in life and his child of consequence debauched of the advantages which might have accrued from valuable connections and though it was universally known that Lady A had a son in Ireland such was the obscurity in which the father had lived during the last years of his life that view of the nobility could be supposed to be acquainted with the particular circumstances of a transaction in which they had no concern and which had happened at the distance of 12 years before the date of this usurpation. Moreover as their first information was no other than common fame the public clamor occasioned by the separation might inspire such as were strangers to the family affairs with a mistaken notion of the child's having been born about or after the time of that event the hurry and bustle occasioned by the arrival of the Lord Lieutenant about this period the reports industriously propagated of the claimant's death the obscurity and concealment in which the boy was obliged to live in order to elude the wicked attempts of his uncle might also contribute to his peaceable enjoyment of an empty title and lastly Lord Chancellor W whose immediate province it was to issue rites for parliament was an utter stranger in Ireland unacquainted with the dissents of families and consequently did not examine farther than their certificate enrolled in the books of the king at arms over and above these circumstances which naturally account for the success of the imposter it may be observed that the hapless youth had not one relation alive on the side of his father whose interest it was not to forward or connive at his destruction that his grandfather the Duke of B was dead and that his mother was then in England in a forlorn destitute dying condition secreted from the world and even from her own relations by her woman Mary H who had a particular interest to secrete her and all together dependent upon a miserable and precarious allowance from the Duchess of B to whose caprice she was more over a most wretched slave notwithstanding these concurring circumstances in favor of the usurper he did not think himself secure while they often had any chance of finding a friend who would undertake his cause and therefore later planned for his being kidnapped and sent to America as a slave his coadjutor in this inhuman scheme was a person who carried on the trade of transporting servants to our plantations and was deeply interested on this occasion for having for a mere trifle purchase of a late lord a the reversion of a considerable part of the a estate which shameful bargain was confirmed by the brother but could never take place unless the board could be effectually removed everything being settled with his auxiliary several ruffians were employed in search of the unhappy victim and the first attempt that was made upon him in which his uncle personally assisted happening near one of the great markets of the city Dublin an honest butcher with the assistance of his neighbors rescued him by force from their cruel hands this however was but a short respite for the warned by this adventure the boy seldom crept out of his working places without the most cautious circumspection he was in march 1727 discovered by the diligence of his persecutors and forcibly dragged on board of a ship bound for Newcastle on Delaware River in America where he was sold as a slave and kept to hard labor much above his age or strength for the space of 13 years during which he was transferred from one person to another while he remained in this servile situation he often mentioned to those in whom he thought such competence might be placed the circumstances of his birth and title together with the manner of his being exiled from his native country although in this particular he neglected a caution which he had received in his passage importing that such a discovery would cost him his life meanwhile the usurper quietly enjoyed his right and to those who questioned him about his brother's son constantly replied that the boy had been dead for several years and Arthur Earl of A dying in April 1737 he upon pretense of being next air succeeded to the honors in the state of that nobleman the term of the nephew's bondage which had been lengthened out beyond the usual time on account of his repeated attempts to escape being expired in the year 1739 he hired himself as a common sailor in a trading vessel bound to Jamaica and there being entered on board of one of his majesty's ships under the command of Admiral Byrne openly declared his parentage and pretensions this extraordinary claim which made a great noise in the fleet reaching the ears of one lieutenant s nearly related to the usurper's Irish wife he believed the young gentleman to be an imposter and thinking it was incumbent on him to discover the cheat he went on board the ship to which the claimant belonged and having heard the account which he gave of himself was notwithstanding his prepossessions convinced of the truth of what he alleged on his return to his own ship he chanced to mention this extraordinary affair upon the quarter-deck in hearing of Mr. B one of the midshipmen who had formerly been at school with Mr. A this young gentleman not only told the lieutenant that he had been school fellow with Lord A's son but also declared that he should know him again if not greatly altered as he still retained a perfect idea of his countenance upon this intimation the lieutenant proposed that the experiment should be tried and went with the midshipman on board the ship that the claimant was on for that purpose after all the sailors have been assembled upon deck Mr. B casting his eyes around immediately distinguished Mr. A in the crowd and laying his hand on his shoulder this is the man said he affirming at the same time but while he continued at school with him the claimant was reputed and respected as Lord A's son and heir and maintained in all respects suitable to the dignity of his rank near he was in like manner recognized by several other persons in the fleet who had known him in his infancy these things being reported to the admiral he generously ordered him to be supplied with necessaries and treated like a gentleman and in his next dispatches transmitted an account of the affair to the Duke of Newcastle among the other transactions of the fleet in September or October 1741 Mr. A arrived in London the first person to whom he applied for advice and assistance was a man of the law nearly related to the families of A and A and well acquainted with the particular affairs of each who far from treating him as a bastard and imposter received him with civility and seeming kindness asked him to he presented him with a piece of money and excusing himself for meddling in the affair advised him to go to Ireland as the most proper place for commencing a suit for the recovery of his right before the young gentleman had an opportunity or indeed any inclination to comply with his advice he was accidentally met in the street by that same age who as I mentioned gave Mr. M the first insight into the affair this man immediately knew the claimant having been formally an agent for his father and afterwards a creature of his uncles with whom he was not without reasons suspected to be concerned in kidnapping and transporting his nephew be that as it will his connections with the usurper were now broken off by a quarrel in consequence of which he had thrown up his agency and he invited the hapless stranger to his house with a view of making all possible advantage of such a guest there he had not long remained when his treacherous landlord tampering with his inexperience affected a marriage between him and the daughter of one of his own friends who lodged in his house at the same time but afterwards seeing no person of consequence willing to espouse his cause he looked upon him as an encumbrance and wanted to rid his hands of him accordingly he remembered that Mr. M had expressed himself with all the humanity of apprehension in favour of the unfortunate young nobleman before his arrival in England and being well acquainted with the generosity of his disposition he no sooner understood that he was returned from France than he waited upon him with an account of Mr. A's being safely arrived Mr. M was sincerely rejoiced to find that a person who had been so cruelly injured and undergone so long and continued a scene of distress was restored to a country where he was sure of obtaining justice and where every good man as he imagined would make the cause his own and being informed that the youth was in want of necessaries he gave 20 guineas to H for his youth and promised to do him all the service and his power but had no intention to take upon himself the whole weight of such an important affair or indeed to appear in the cause until he should be fully and thoroughly satisfied that the claimants pretensions were well founded in the meantime H insinuating that the young gentleman was not safe in his present lodging from the machinations of his enemies him accommodated him with an apartment in his own house where he was at great pains to remedy the defect in his education by rendering him fit to appear as a gentleman in the world having received from him all the intelligence he could give relating to his own affair he laid the case before counsel and dispatched a person to Ireland to make further inquiries upon the same subject who in his first arrival in that kingdom found the claimant's birth was as publicly known as any circumstance of that kind could possibly be at so great a distance of time the usurper and his friends gave all the interruption in their power to any researchers concerning that affair and every course to every art and expedient that could be invented to prevent its being brought to a legal discussion privileged bills and chance re-orders of courts repetitiously and illegally obtained and every other invention was made use of to bar and prevent a fair and honest trial by a jury the usurper himself and his agents at the same time that they formed diverse conspiracies against his life in vain endeavored to detach Mr. M from the orphans caused by innumerable artifices insinuating cajoling and misrepresenting with surprising dexterity and perseverance his protector far from being satisfied with their reasons was not only deft to their remonstrances of believing him in danger from their repeated efforts had him privately conveyed into the country where an unhappy accident which he had ever since since really regretted furnished his adversary with a colorful pretext to cut him off in the beginning of his career end of chapter 98 part 3 chapter 98 part 4 of the adventures of peregrine pickle volume 2 by Tobias Smollett this Librivox recording is in the public domain chapter 98 part 4 a man happening to lose his life by the accidental discharge of a piece that chance to be in a young gentleman's hands the account of this misfortune no sooner reached the ears of his uncle than he expressed the most immoderate joy in having found so good a handle for destroying him under color of law he immediately constituted himself prosecutor set his emissaries at work to secure a coroner's inquest suited to his cruel purposes set out for the place in person to take care that the prisoner should not escape insulted him in jail in the most inhuman manner implored a whole army of attorneys and agents to spirit up and carry on a most violent prosecution practice all the unfair methods that could be invented in order that the unhappy gentleman should be transported to nougat from the healthy prison to which he was at first committed endeavor to invagle him into destructive confessions and not to mention other more infamous arts employed in the affair of evidence attempted to surprise him upon his trial in the absence of his witnesses and counsel contrary to a previous agreement with the prosecutor's own attorney nay he even appeared in person upon the bench at the trial in order to intimidate the evidence and brought beat the unfortunate prisoner at the bar and expended above a thousand pounds in that prosecution in spite of all his wicked efforts however which were defeated by the spirit and the indefatigable industry of mr. him the young gentleman was honorably acquitted to the evident satisfaction of all the impartial the misfortune that gave a handle for that unnatural prosecution appearing to a demonstration to have been a mere accident in a few months his protector who had now openly espoused his cause taking with him to gentlemen to witness his transactions conducted him to his native country with a view to be better informed of the strength of his pretensions than he could be by the intelligence he had hitherto received or by the claimants own dark and almost obliterated remembrance of the facts which were essential to be known upon their arrival in dublin application was made to those persons who mr. a had named as his school masters and companions together with the servants and neighbors of his father these though examined separately without having the least previous intimation of what the claimant had reported agreed in their accounts with him as well as with one another and mentioned many other people as acquainted with the same facts to whom mr. m had recourse and still met with the same unburied information by these means he made such progress in his inquiries that in less than two months no fewer than 100 persons from different quarters of the kingdom either personally or by letters communicated their knowledge of the claimant and declarations consonant with one another as well as with the accounts he gave of himself several servants who had lived with his father and been deceived with the story of his death so industriously propagated by his uncle no sooner heard of his being in dublin than they came from different parts of the country to see him and though great pains were taken to deceive them they nevertheless knew him at first sight some of them fell upon their knees to thank for his preservation embraced his legs and shed tears of joy for his return although the conduct of his adversary particularly in the above mentioned prosecution together with the evidence that already appeared were sufficient to convince all mankind of the truth of the claimant's pretensions mr. m in order to be further satisfied resolved to see how he would be received upon the spot where he was born justly concluding that if he was really an imposter the bastard of a kitchen wench produced in that country entirely possessed by its enemy and his allies he must be looked upon in that place with the utmost detestation and contempt this his intention was no sooner known to the adverse party than their agents and friends from all quarters prepared to that place with all possible dispatch and used all their influence with the people in remonstrances threats and all the other arts they could devise not only to discount an ounce the claimant upon his arrival but even to spirit up a mob to insult him notwithstanding these precautions and the servile awe and subjection in which tenants are kept by their landlords in that part of the country as soon as it was known that mr. a approached the town the inhabitants crowded out in great multitudes to receive and welcome him and accompanied him into town with acclamations and other expressions of joy in so much that the agents of his adversary durst not show their faces the sovereign of the corporation who was a particular creature in favor of the usurper and who's all depended upon the issue of the cause was so conscious of the stranger's right and so much odd by the behavior of the people who knew that consciousness but he did not think it safe even to preserve the appearance of neutrality upon this occasion but actually held the stirrup while mr. a dismounted from his horse this sense of conviction in the people manifested itself still more powerfully when he returned to the same place in the year 1744 about which time lord a being informed of his resolution determined again to be beforehand with him and set out in person with his agents and friends some of whom were detached before him to prepare for his reception and induce the people to meet him in a body and accompany him to town with such expressions of welcome as they had before bestowed on his nephew but in spite of all their ardent interest he was suffered to pass through the street in a mournful silence and though several barrels of beer were produced to court the favor of the populace they had no other effect than that of drawing their ridicule upon the donor whereas when mr. a two days afterwards appeared all the inhabitants with garlands streamers music and other incense of joy crowded out to meet him and ushered him into town with such demonstrations of pleasure and goodwill that the noble peer found it convenient to hide himself from the resentment of his own tenants the effects of which he must have severely felt had not he been screened by the timely remonstrances of mr. m and the other gentlemen who accompanied his competitor nor did his apprehension vanish with the transaction of this day the town was again in uproar on the sunday following when it was known that mr. a intended to come visit from don main to church they went out to meet him as before and conducted him to the church door with acclamations which terrified his uncle to such a degree that he fled with precipitation in a boat and soon after entirely quitted the place it would be almost an endless task to enumerate the particular steps that were taken by one side to promote and by the other to delay the trial young gentlemen's adversaries finding that they could not by all the subterfuges and arts they had used evaded repeated the attempts were made to assassinate him and his protector and every obstruction thrown in the way of his cause which craft could invent bill in the execute and undo influence confirm but all these difficulties were surmounted by the vigilance constancy courage and sagacity of him and at last the affair was brought to a very solemn trial at bar which being continued by several adjournments from the 11th to the 25th day of november a verdict was found for the claimant by a jury of gentlemen which in point of reputation and property cannot be easily paralleled in the annals of that or any other country a jury that could by no means be suspected of prepossessions in favor of mr. a to whose person they were absolute strangers especially if we consider that a gentleman in their neighborhood who was nephew to the foreman and nearly related to some of the rest of their number forfeited a considerable estate by their decision this verdict said the person gave the highest satisfaction to all impartial persons that were within reach of being duly informed of their proceedings and of the different genius and conduct of the parties engaged in the contest but more especially to such as were in court as i was at the trial and had an opportunity of observing the characters and behavior of the persons who appeared there to give evidence to such it was very apparent that all the witnesses produced there on the part of the uncle were either his tenants dependents pot companions or persons some way or other interested in the issue of the suit and remarkable for a low kind of cunning that many of them were persons of profligate lives who deserve no credit that independent of the levity of their characters those of them who went under the nomination of kernels kernel l alone accepted who had nothing to say and was only brought there in order to give credit to that party made so ridiculous a figure and gave so absurd contradictory and inconsistent and evidence as no court or jury could give the least degree of credit to on the other hand it was observed that the nephew and mr. m his chief manager being absolute strangers in that country and unacquainted with the characters of the persons they had to deal with were obliged to lay before the court and jury such evidence as came to their hand some of whom plainly appeared to have been put upon them by their adversaries with a design to hurt it was also manifest that the witnesses produced for mr. a where such as could have no manner of connection with him nor any dependents were so ever upon him to influence their evidence for the far greatest part of them had never seen him from his infancy till the trial began and many of them though poor and undignified with the title of kernels where people of umblemish character of great simplicity and such as no man in his senses were pitched upon to support a bad cause it is plain that the jury who's well known honor impartiality and penetration must be revered by all who are acquainted with them were not under the least difficulty about their verdict for they were not enclosed above half an hour when they returned with it these gentlemen could not help observing the great inequality of the parties engaged the great advantages that the uncle had in every other respect except the truth and justice of his case over the nephew by means of his vast possessions and of his power and influence all around the place of his birth nor could the contrast between the different geniuses of the two parties escaped their observation they could not but see and conclude that a person who had confessedly transported and sold his orphan nephew into slavery who on his return had carried on so unwarrantable and cruel a prosecution to take away his life under color of law and who had also given such glaring proofs of his skill and dexterity in the management of witnesses for that cruel purpose was in like manner capable of exerting the same happy talent on this occasion when his all was at stake more especially as he had so many others who were equally interested with himself and whose abilities in that respect felt nothing short of his own to second him in it the gentleman of the jury had also a near view of the manner in which the witnesses delivered their testimonies and had from thence an opportunity of observing many circumstances and distinguishing characteristics of truth and falsehood from which a great deal could be gathered they could not be adequately conveyed by any printed account how exact so ever consequently they must have been much better judges of the evidence on which they founded their verdict than any person who had not the same opportunity can possibly be these mr pickle were my reflections on what I had occasion to observe concerning that famous trial and on my return to England two years after I could not help pitting the self-sufficiency of some people who at this distance pretended to pass their judgment on that verdict with as great positiveness as if they had been in the secrets of the cause or upon the jury who tried it and that from no better authority than the declarations of lord a's ms series and some falsified printed accounts artfully cooked up on purpose to mislead and deceive but to return from this digression lord a the defendant in that cause was so conscious of the strength and merits of his injured nephew's case and that a verdict would go against him that he ordered a rip of error to be made out before the trial was ended and the verdict was no sooner given than he immediately lodged it though he well knew he had no manner of error to assign this expedient was practiced merely for vexation and delay in order to keep mr a from the possession of a small estate he had recovered by the verdict that his lender funds being exhausted he might be deprived of other means to prosecute his right by the most oppressive contrivance since then scandalous chicanery it has been kept up to this day without his being able to assign the least shadow of any error lord a was not the only antagonist that mr a had to deal with all the different branches of the a family we've been worrying one another at law ever since the death of the late Earl of a about the partition of his great estate were now firmly united in an association against this unfortunate gentleman mutual deeds were executed among them by which many great lordships and estates were given up by the uncle to persons who had no right to possess them in order to engage them to side with him against his nephew in withholding the unjust possession of the remainder these confederates having held several consultations against their common enemy and finding that his cause gathered daily strength since the trial by the accession of many witnesses of figure and reputation who had not been heard of before and that the only chance they had to prevent the speedy establishment of his right and their own destruction was by stripping mr m of the little money that yet remained and by stopping all further resources whereby he might be enabled to proceed they therefore came to a determined resolution to carry that hopeful scheme into execution and in pursuance thereof they have left no expedient or stratagem how extraordinary or scandalous so ever unpracticed to distress mr a and that gentleman for that end all the oppressive arts and delitory expensive contrivances that the fertile invention of the lowest pedophogers of the law could possibly devise have with dexterity been played off against them in fruitless quibbling and malicious suits entirely foreign to the merits of the cause not to mention numberless other acts of oppression the most extraordinary and unprecedented proceeding by means where of this sham writ of error have been kept on foot ever since november 1743 is to me said the doctor a most flagrant instance not only of the provolency of power money when employed as in the present case against an unfortunate helpless man disabled as he is of the means of ascertaining his right but of the badness of a cause that hath recourse to so many iniquitous expedience to support it in a word the whole conduct of lord a and his party from the beginning to this time have been such as sufficiently manifest that he could proceed from no other motives than a consciousness of mr a's right and of their only illegal use of patience and from a terror of trusting the merits of their case to a fair discussion by the laws of their country and that the intention and main drift of all their proceedings plainly tends to stifle and smother the merits of the case from the knowledge of the world by oppressive arts and ingenious delays rather than trusted to the candid determination of an honest jury what else could be the motors of kidnapping the claimant and transporting him when an infant of the various attempts made upon his life since his return of the attempts to divest him of all assistance to ascertain his right by endeavoring so solicitously to prevail on mr m to abandon him in the beginning of retaining an army of counsel before any suit have been commenced of the many sinister attempts to prevent the trial at bar of the various arts made use of to terrify anyone from appearing as witness for the claimant and to seduce those who had appeared of the shameless unprecedented low tricks now practiced to keep him out of the possession of that estate for which he had obtained the verdict thereby to disable him from bringing his cause to a further hearing and of the attempts made to buy up mr m's debts and to spear it up suits against him is it not obvious from all these circumstances as well as from the obstruction they have given to the attorney general's proceeding to make a report to his majesty on the claimant's petition to the king for the period which was referred by his majesty to that gentleman so right back in 1743 that all their efforts are bent to that one point of stifling rather than suffering the merits of this cause to come to a fair and candid hearing and that the sole consideration of present between them and this unfortunate man is not whether he is right or wrong but whether he shall or shall not find money to bring this cause to a final determination lord a and his confederates not thinking themselves safe with all these expedience while there was a possibility of their antagonists obtaining any assistance from such as humanity compassion generosity or a love of justice might induce to lay open their purses to his assistance in ascertaining his right have by themselves and their numerous emissaries employed all the arts of calamity slander and detraction against him by reducing his cause vilifying his person and most basely and cruelly tearing his character to pieces by a thousand misrepresentations purposely invented and industriously propagated in all places of resort which is a kind of cowardly assassination that there is no guarding against yet in spite of all these machinations and the shameful indifference of mankind who stand aloof unconcerned and see this unhappy gentleman most inhumanly oppressed by the weight of lawless power and faction in far from suffering himself to be dejected by the multiplying difficulties that crowd upon him still exerts himself with amazing fortitude and his acidity and will I doubt not bring the affair he began and carried on with so much spirit while his finances lasted to a happy conclusion it would exceed the balance of my intention and perhaps trespass too much upon your time were I to enumerate the low artifices and shameful quibbles by which the usurper has found means to procrastinate the decision of the contest between him and his hapless nephew or to give a detail of the damage and perplexity which Mr. M has sustained and been involved in by the treachery and in gratitude of some who listed themselves under him in the prosecution of this affair and by the villainy of others who under various pretenses of material discoveries they had to make etc had fastened themselves upon him and continued to do all the mischief in their power until the cloven foot was detected one instance however is so flagrantly flegitious that I cannot resist the inclination I feel to relate it as an example of the most infernal perfidy that perhaps ever entered the human heart I've already mentioned the part which H.N. acted in the beginning of M's connection with the unfortunate stranger and hinted that the said H. lay under many obligations to that gentleman before Mr. A's arrival in England he had been chief agent to Lord A and as it afterwards appeared received several payments of a secret pension which that Lord enjoyed for which he either could not or would not account his lordship therefore in order to compel him to it took out rits against him and his house was continually surrounded with catch poles for the space of two whole years Mr. N. believing from H's own account of the matter that the poor man was greatly injured and prosecuted on account of his attachment to the unhappy young gentleman did him all the good offices and his power and became security for him on several occasions nay such was his opinion of his integrity that after Mr. A was cleared of the prosecution carried on against him by his uncle his person was entrusted to the care of this hypocrite we desire that the young gentleman might lodge at his house for the convenience of air M's own occasions calling him often into the country having thus by his consummate dissimulation acquired such a valuable charge he wrote a letter to one of Lord A's attorneys offering to betray Mr. A provided his lordship would settle his account and give him a discharge for 800 pounds of the pension which he had received and not accounted for Mr. M informed of this treacherous proposal immediately removed his lodger from his house into his own without assigning his reasons for so doing until he was obliged to declare it in order to free himself from the importunities of H who earnestly solicited his return this miscreant finding himself detected and disappointed in his villainous design was so much enraged at his miscarriage that forgetting all the benefits he had received from him for a series of years he practiced all the mischief that his malice could contrive against him and at length entered into a confederacy with one G and several other abandoned wretches who as before said under various pretenses of being able to make material discoveries and otherwise to serve the cause had found means to be employed in some extra business relating to it though their real intention was to betray the claimant these confederates in conjunction with some other auxiliaries of infamous character being informed that Mr. M was on the point of securing a considerable sum to enable him to prosecute Mr. A's right and to bring it to a happy conclusion contrived a deep laid scheme to disappoint him in it and it wants to ruin the cause end of chapter 98 part 4 chapter 98 part 5 of the adventures of peregrine pickle volume 2 by Tobias Smollett this Lieberbach's recording is in the public domain chapter 98 part 5 and previous measures being taken for that wicked purpose they imposed upon the young gentleman's inexperience and credulity by insinuations equally false plausible and malicious to which they had length gained his belief by the mention of some circumstances that gave what they alleged an air of probability and even of truth they swore that Mr. M had taken out an action against him for a very large sum of money that they had actually seen the writ that the intention of it was to throw him into prison for life and ruin his cause in consequence of an agreement made by him with lord a and his other enemies to retrieve the money that he had laid out in the cause this plausible tale was enforced with such an air of truth candor and earnest concern for his safety and was strengthened by so many implications and corroborating circumstances of their invention as would have staggered one of much greater experience and knowledge of mankind than Mr. A could be supposed at that time to possess the notion of perpetual imprisonment and the certain ruin they made him believe his cause was threatened with worked upon his imagination to such a degree that he suffered himself to be led like a lamb to the slaughter by this artful band of villains who secreted him at the lodgings of one P an intimate of G's for several days under color of his being hunted by bailiffs employed by Mr. M where he was not only obliged by them to change his name but even his wife was not suffered to have access to him their design was to have sold him or drawn him into a ruinous compromise with his adversaries for a valuable consideration to themselves but as no ties are binding among such a nod of villains the rest of the conspirators were jockey by G who in order to monopolize the advantage to himself hurried his prize into the country and secreted him even from his Confederates in a place of concealment 100 miles from London under the same ridiculous pretense of M's having taken out a rift against him and of bailiffs being in pursuit of him everywhere around London he was no sooner there than G as a previous step to the other villainy he intended tricked him out of a bond for 6 000 pounds under color of his having a person ready to advance the like some opponent as an immediate fund for carrying on his cause assuring him at the same time that he had a set of gentlemen ready who were willing to advance 25 000 pounds more for the same purpose and to allow him 500 pounds a year for his maintenance till his cause should be made an end of provided that Mr M should have no further concern with him and his cause Mr A having by this time received some intimations of the deceit that had been put upon him made answer that he should look upon himself as a very ungrateful monster indeed if he deserted a person who had saved his life and so generously ventured his own together with his fortune in his cause until he should first be certain of the truth of what was alleged of him and absolutely rejected the proposal G who had no other view in making it than to cover the secret villainy he meditated against him and to facilitate the execution thereof easily receded from it when he found Mr A so averse to it and undertook nevertheless to raise the money adding that he might if he pleased return to Mr M whenever it was secured the whole drift of this pretended undertaking to raise the 25 000 pounds was only to lay a foundation for a dexterous contrivance to draw Mr A unwarily into the execution of a deed relinquishing all his right and title under a notion of its being a deed to secure the repayment of that sum G having as he imagined so far paved the way for the execution of such a deed enters into an agreement with an agent employed for that purpose by Mr A's adversaries purporting that in consideration of the payment of a bond for 6 000 pounds which he G had as he pretended laid out in Mr A's cause and of an annuity of 700 pounds a year he was to procure for them from Mr A a deed ready executed relinquishing all right and title to the A estate and honors everything being prepared for the execution of this infernal scheme known to Mr A G then thought proper to send for him to town from his retirement in order as he pretended to execute a security of 25 000 pounds this intended victim to that villain's avarice no sooner arrived in town full of hopes of money to carry on his cause and of agreeably surprising his friend and protector Mr M was so seasonable and unexpected a reinforcement that an unforeseen difficulty arose concerning the payment of G's 6 000 pound bond that money was to have been raised out of the estate of a lunatic which could not be done without the leave of the court of chancery to whom an account must have been given of the intended application of it while preparations were making to rectify this omission G immediately carried Mr A again into the country lest he should happen to be undeceived by some means or other in the meantime this wicked machination was providentially discovered by Mr M before it could be carried into execution by means of the jealousies that arose among the conspirators themselves and was at the same time confirmed to him by a person whom the very agent for the A party had entrusted with the secret M no sooner detected it than he communicated his discovery to one of Mr A's counsel a man of great worth and immediately there upon took proper measures to defeat it he then found means to lay open to Mr A himself the treacherous scheme that was laid for his destruction he was highly sensible of it and could never afterwards reflect on the snare that he had so unwarily been drawn into and had so narrowly escaped without a mixture of horror shame and gratitude to his deliverer the consummate assurance of the monsters who were engaged in this plot after they had been detected and uprated with their treachery is scarce to be paralleled for they not only owned the fact of spitting Mr A the way in the manner above mentioned but justified they're doing it as tending to his service they also maintained that they had actually secured the 25,000 pounds for him though they never could name any one person who was to have advanced the money no man was more active in this scheme than H nor any man more solicitous to keep Mr A up in the false impressions he had received or in projecting methods to ruin his protector then he among many other expedients for that purpose a most malicious attempt was made to lodge and information against him for reasonable practices with the secretary of state notwithstanding the repeated proofs he had given of his loyalty and as a preparatory step to his accusation a letter which this trader dictated was copied by another person and actually sent to the Earl of sea importing that the person who copied the letter had an affair of consequence to communicate to his lordship if he would appoint a time of receiving the information but that person upon full conviction of the villainy of the scheme absolutely refused to proceed further in it so that his malice once more proved abortive and before he had time to execute any other contrivance of the same nature he was imprisoned in this very jail for debt here finding his creditors inexorable and himself destitute of all other resource he made application to the very man whom he had injured in such an outrageous manner set forth his deplorable case in the most pathetic terms and then treated him with the most abject humility to use his influence in his behalf the distress of this valid immediately disarmed him of his resentment and even excited his compassion without sending any answer to his remonstrance as he interceded for him with his creditors and the person to whom he was chiefly indebted refusing to release him without security this unwirried benefactor joined with the prisoner in a bond for above 240 pounds for which he obtained his release he was no sooner discharged however than he entered into fresh combinations with g and others in order to thwart his deliverer in his schemes of raising money and otherwise to distress and deprive him of liberty for which purpose no art or industry perjury not accepted have been spared and what is still more extraordinary this perfidious monster having found money to take up the bond in consequence of which he regained his freedom have procured a writ against him upon that very obligation and taken assignments to some other debts of that gentleman with the same christian intention but hitherto he hath by surprising sagacity and unshaken resolution baffled all their infernal contrivances and retorted some of their machinations on their own heads at this time when he is supposed by some and represented by others as under the circumstances of oblivion and despondence he proceeds in his design with the utmost calmness and intrepidity meditating schemes and ripening measures that will one day confound his enemies and attract the notice and admiration of mankind peregrine having thanked the priest for his obliging information expressed his surprise at the scandalous inattention of the world to an affair of such importance observing that by such inhuman neglect this unfortunate young gentleman mr. a was absolutely deprived of all the benefit of society the sole end of which is to protect the rights redress the grievances and promote the happiness of individuals as for the character of him he said it was so romantically singular in all its circumstances that though other motives were wanting curiosity alone would induce him to seek his acquaintance but he did not at all wonder at the ungrateful returns which have been made to his generosity by age and many others whom he had served in a manner that few besides himself would have done for he had been long convinced of the truth conveyed in these lines of a celebrated italian author li benet fiji che per la loro grandezza non parno essa guida da nati con la scala rata monetta da la gratidine sono pagati the story which you have related of that young gentleman is said he bears a very strong resemblance to the fate of a spanish nobleman as it was communicated to me by one of his intimate friends at paris the countess dalvarez died immediately after the birth of a son and the husband surviving her but three years the child was left so heir to the honors and a state under the guardianship of his uncle who had a small fortune and a great many children this inhuman relation coveting the wealth of his infant ward formed a design against the life of the helpless orphan and trusted the execution of it to his valet de chambre who was tempted to undertake the murder by the promise of a considerable reward he accordingly stabbed the boy with a knife in three different places on the right side of his neck but as he was not used to such barbarous attempts his hand failed in the performance and he was seized with such remorse that perceiving the wounds were not mortal he carried the hapless victim to the house of a surgeon by whose care they were healed and in the meantime that he might not forfeit his recompense found means to persuade his employer that his orders were performed a bundle being made up for the purpose was publicly interred as the body of the child who was said to have been suddenly carried off by convulsion and the uncle without opposition succeeded to his honors and estate the boy being cured of his hurts was about the age of six delivered with a small sum of money to a merchant just embarking for a turkey who was given to understand that he was the bastard of a man of quality and that for family reasons it was necessary to conceal his birth while the unfortunate orphan remained in this deplorable state of bondage all the children of the usurper died one after another and he himself being taken dangerously ill attributed all his afflictions to the just judgment of god and communicated his anxiety on that subject to the valet de chambre who had been employed in the murder of his nephew that domestic in order to quiet his master's conscience and calm the perturbation of his spirits confessed what he had done and gave him hopes of still finding the boy by dint of industry and expense the unhappy child being the only hope of the family of alvarez the uncle immediately ordered a minute inquiry to be set on foot in consequence of which he was informed that the orphan had been sold to a turk who had afterwards transferred him to an english merchant by whom he was conveyed to london and express was immediately dispatched to this capital where he understood that the unhappy exile had in consideration of his faithful services been bound to prentice to a french barber surgeon and after he had sufficiently qualified himself in that profession then received into the family of a count de gallus at that time the emperor's ambassador at the court of london from the house of this nobleman he was traced into the service of count dober storf where he had married his lady's chambermaid and then gone to settle as a surgeon in bohemia in the course of these inquiries several years elapsed his uncle who was very much attached to the house of austria lived at barcelona when the father of this emperor's queen resided in that city and lent him a very considerable sum of money in the most pressing emergency of his affairs and when that prince was on the point of returning to germany the old count finding his end approaching sent his father confessor to his majesty with a circumstantial account of the barbarity he had practiced against his nephew for which he implored forgiveness and begged he would give orders that the orphan when found should inherit the dignity's infortune which he had unjustly usurped his majesty assured the old man that he might make himself easy on that score in order the confessor to follow him to vienna immediately after the count's death in order to assist his endeavors and finding out the injured heir the priest did not fail to yield obedience to this command he informed himself of certain natural marks on the young count's body which were known to the nurse and women who attended him in his infancy and with a gentleman whom the emperor ordered to accompany him set out for rahemia where he soon found the object of his inquiry in the capacity of major domo to a nobleman of that country he having quitted his profession of surgery for that office he was not a little surprised when he found himself circumstantially catechized about the particulars of his life by persons commissioned for that purpose by the emperor he told them that he was absolutely ignorant of his own birth though he had been informed during his residence in turkey that he was the bastard of a spanish grandee and gave them a minute detail of the pilgrimage he had undergone this information agreeing with the intelligence which the priest had already received and being corroborated by the marks upon his body and the very scars of the wounds which have been inflicted upon him in his infancy the confessor without further hesitation saluted him by the name of count dalvarez grandee of spain and explained the whole mystery of his fortune if he was agreeably amazed at this explanation the case was otherwise with his wife who thought herself in great danger of being abandoned by a husband of such high rank but he immediately dispelled her apprehension by assuring her that as she had shared in his adversity she should also partake of his good fortune he set out immediately for vienna to make his acknowledgements to the emperor who favored him with a very gracious reception promised to use his influence so that he might enjoy the honors and estate of his family and in the meantime acknowledged himself his debtor for 400 000 florins which he had borrowed from his uncle he threw himself at the feet of his august protector expressed the most grateful sense of his goodness and begged he might be permitted to settle in some of his imperial majesty's dominions this request was immediately granted he was allowed to purchase land in any part of the hereditary dominions of the house of austria through the amount of the sum i've mentioned and made choice of the country of rhodobor and selizia where in all probability he still resides peregrine had scarce finished the narrative when he perceived mr. m slipped something into the hand of the young man with whom he had been conversing at the other end of the room and rise up from the table in order to take his leave he once understood the meaning of this conveyance and longed for an opportunity to be acquainted with such a rare instance of primitive benevolence but the consciousness of his present situation hindered him from making any advance that might be construed into forwardness or presumption end of chapter 98 part five chapter 99 of the adventures of peregrine pickle volume two by tobya smollett this leber vox recording is in the public domain chapter 99 he is surprised with the appearance of hatchway and pipes who take up their habitation in his neighborhood contrary to his inclination and express desire being now regularly initiated in the mysteries of the fleet and reconciled in some measure to the customs of the place he began to bear the edge of reflection without wincing and thinking it would be highly imprudent in him to defer any longer the purposes by which only he could enjoy any ease and satisfaction in his confinement he resolved to resume his task of translating and every week compose an occasional paper by way of revenge upon the minister against whom he had denounced eternal war with his view he locked himself up in his chamber and went to work with great eagerness and application when he was interrupted by a ticket porter who putting a letter in his hand vanished in a moment before he had time to peruse the contents our hero opening the billet was not a little surprised to find a bank note for 50 pounds enclosed in a blank sheet of paper and having exercised his memory and penetration on the subject of this unexpected windfall had just concluded that it could come from no other hand than the lady who had so kindly visited him a few days before when his ears were suddenly invaded by the well known sound of that whistle which always hung about the neck of pipes as a memorial of his former occupation this tune being performed he heard the noise of a wooden leg ascending the stair upon which he opened his door and beheld his friend Hatchway with his old shipmate at his back after a cordial shake of the hand with the usual salutation of what cheer cousin Pickle honest jack seated himself without ceremony and casting his eyes around the apartment split my top stay sail he said he with an arch sneer you've got into a snug berth cousin here you may sit all weathers without being turned out to take your watch and no fear of the ships dragging her anchor you hadn't much room to spare tis true and i had known as how you stowed so close tom should have slung my own hammock for you and then you might have knocked down this great lovely hurricane house but may have you turn in double and so you don't choose to trust yourself in your doxy to a clue and canvas Pickle bore his jokes with great good humor rallied him and his turn about the dairy maid at the garrison inquiring about his friends in the country asked if he had been to visit his niece and finally expressed a desire of knowing the cause of his journey to london the lieutenant satisfied his curiosity in all these particulars and in answer to the last question observed that from the information of pipes understanding he was landlocked he come from the country in order to tow him into the offering i know not how the wind sets said he but if so be as three thousand pounds will bring you clear of the cape say the word and you shan't lie wind bound another glass for want of the money this was an offer which few people in our hero's situation would have altogether refused especially as he had all the reason in the world to believe that far from being a vain unmeaning compliment it was the genuine tribute of friendship which the lieutenant would have willingly i and with pleasure paid nevertheless peregrine peremptorily refused his assistance though not without expressing himself in terms of acknowledgement suitable to the occasion he told him it would be time enough to make use of his generosity when he should find himself destitute of all other resource jack employed all his rhetoric with a view of persuading him to take this opportunity to procure his own enlargement and finding his arguments ineffectual insisted upon his accepting an immediate supply for his necessary occasions swearing with great vehemence that he would never return to the garrison unless he would put him upon the footing of any other tenant and receive his rent accordingly our young gentleman has positively swore that he never would consider him in that light remonstrating that he had long ago settled the house upon him for life as a pledge of his own esteem as well as in conformity with the commodore's desire and beseeching him to return to his usual applications protested that if ever his situation should subject him to the necessity of borrowing from his friends mr hatchway should be the first man to whom he would apply himself for sucker to convince him that this was not the case at present he produced the bank note which he received in the letter together with his own ready money and mentioned some other funds which he invented extemporary in order to amuse the lieutenant's concern in the close of this expostulation he desired pipes to conduct mr hatchway to the coffee house where he might amuse himself with the newspaper for half an hour during which he would put on his clothes and bespeak something for dinner that they might enjoy each other's company as long as his occasions would permit him to stay in that place the two sailors were no sooner gone then he took up the pen and wrote the following letter in which he enclosed the bank note to his generous benefactress madam your humanity is not more ingenious than my suspicion in vain you attempt to impose upon me by an act of generosity which no person on earth but your ladyship is capable of committing though your name was not subscribed in the paper your sentiments were fully displayed in the contents which i must beg leave to restore with the same sense of gratitude and for the same reasons i expressed when last i had the honor to converse with you upon this subject though i am deprived of my liberty by the villainy and in gratitude of mankind i'm not yet destitute of the other conveniences of life and therefore beg to be excused for incurring an unnecessary addition to that load of obligation you've already laid upon madam your ladyship's most devoted humble servant peregrine pickle having dressed himself and repaired to the place of appointment he dispatched this epistle by the hands of pipes who was ordered to leave it at her ladyship's house without staying for an answer and in the meantime gave directions for dinner which he and his friend hatchway ate very cheerfully in his own apartment after he had entertained him with a sight of all the curiosities in the place during their repass jack repeated his kind offers to our adventurer who declined them with his former obstinacy and begged he might be no more importuned on that subject but if he insisted upon giving some fresh proofs of his friendship he might have an opportunity of exhibiting it in taking pipes under his care and protection for nothing affected him so much as his inability to provide for such a faithful adherent the lieutenant desired he would give himself no trouble upon that score he being of his own accord perfectly well disposed to befriend his old shipmate who should never want while he had a shilling to spare but he began to drop some hints of an intention to fix his quarters in the fleet observing that the air seemed to be very good in that place and that he was tired of living in the country what he said did not amount to a plain declaration and therefore a peregrine did not answer it as such though he perceived his drift and took an opportunity of describing the inconveniences of the place in such a manner as he hoped would deter him from putting such an extravagant plan in execution this expedient however far from answering the end proposed had a quite contrary effect and furnished hatchway with an argument against his own unwillingness to quit such a disagreeable place in all probability jack would have been more explicit with regard to the scheme he had proposed if the conversation had not been interrupted by the arrival of cad wallader who never failed in the performance of his diurnal visit hatchway conjecturing that this stranger might have some private business with his friend quitted the apartment on pretence of taking a turn and meeting pipes at the door desired his company to the bear by which name the open space is distinguished where during a course of perambulation these two companions held a council upon pickle in consequence of which it was determined since the obstinately persisted to refuse their assistance that they should take lodgings in his neighborhood with a view of being at hand to minister unto his occasions in spite of his false delicacy according to the emergency of his affairs this resolution being taken they consulted the barkeeper of the coffee house about lodging and she directed them to the warden to whom the lieutenant in his great wisdom represented himself as a kinsman to peregrine who rather than leave that young gentleman by himself to the unavoidable discomforts of a prison was inclined to keep him company till such time as his affairs could be put in order this measure either more anxiously desired to take because the prisoner was sometimes subject to a disordered imagination upon which occasion he stood in need of extraordinary attendance and therefore he the lieutenant and treated the warden to accommodate him with the lodging for himself and his servant for which he was ready to make any reasonable acknowledgement the warden who was a sensible and humane man could not help applauding his resolution and several rooms being at that time unoccupied he put him immediately in possession of a couple which were forthwith prepared for his reception this affair being settled to his satisfaction he dispatched pipes for his portmanteau and returning to the coffee house found peregrine with whom he spent the remaining part of the evening our hero taking it for granted that he proposed to set out for the garrison next day wrote a memorandum of some books which he had left in that habitation in which he now desired Jack to send up to town by the wagon directed for Mr. Crabtree he cautioned him against giving the least hint of his misfortune in the neighborhood that it might remain as long as possible concealed from the knowledge of his sister who he knew would afflict herself immoderately at the news nor reach the ears of the rest of his family who would exalt and triumph over his distress Hatchway listened to his injunctions with great attention and promised to demean himself accordingly then the discourse shifted to an agreeable recapitulation of the merry scenes they had formally acted together and the evening being pretty far advanced peregrine with seeming reluctance told him that the gates of the fleet would in a few minutes be shut for the night and that there was an absolute necessity for his withdrawing to his lodging Jack replied that he could not think of parting with him so soon after such a long separation and that he was determined to stay with him an hour or two longer if he should be obliged to take up his lodging in the streets pickle rather than dis-oblige his guest indulged him in his desire and resolved to give him a share of his own bed a pair of chickens and asparagus were bespoke for supper of which pipes attended with an air of internal satisfaction and the bottle was bandied about in a jovial manner till midnight when the lieutenant rose up to take his leave observing that being fatigued with writing he was inclined to turn in pipes upon this intimation produced a lantern ready lighted and jack shaking his entertainer by the hand wished him good night and promised to visit him again betimes in the morning peregrine imagining that his behavior proceeded from the wine which he had plentifully drunk told him that if he was disposed to sleep his bed was ready prepared in the room in order to his attendant to undress his master upon which Mr. Hatchway gave him to understand that he had no occasion to in commode his friend having already provided a lodging for himself and the young gentleman demanding an explanation he frankly owned what he had done saying you gave me such a dismal account of the place that i could not think of leaving you in it without company our young gentleman who was naturally impatient of benefits and force saw that this uncommon instance of Hatchway's friendship would encroach upon the plan which he had formed for his own subsistence by engrossing his time and attention so as that he should not be able to prosecute his labors crosseted the lieutenant next day and demonstrated to him the following and the consequences of the step he had taken he observed that the world in general would look upon it as the effect of mere madness and if his relations were so disposed they might make it the foundation for a statute of lunacy against him that his absence from the garrison must be a very great detriment to his private affairs and lastly that his presence in the fleet would be a very great hindrance to pickle himself whose hope of regaining his liberty altogether depended upon his being detached from all company and interruption to these remonstrances jack replied that as to the opinion of the world it was no more to him than a rotten netline and if his relations had a mind to have his upper works condemned he did not doubt but he should be able to stand the survey without being declared unfit for service that he had no affairs at the garrison but such as would keep cold and with regard to pickles being interrupted by his presence he gave him his word that he would never come alongside of him except when he should give him the signal for holding discourse in conclusion he signified his resolution to stay where he was at all events without making himself accountable to any person whatsoever peregrine seeing him determined desisted from any further importunity resolving however to tire him out of his plan by reserve and supercilious neglect for he could not bear the thought of being so notoriously obliged by any person upon earth with his view he quitted the lieutenant upon some slight pretense after having told him that he could not have the pleasure of his company at dinner because he was engaged with a particular club of his fellow prisoners jack was a stranger to the punctilios of behavior and therefore did not take this declaration amiss but had immediate recourse to the advice of his counselor mr pipes who proposed that he should go to the coffee house and kitchen and give the people to understand that he would pay for all such liquor and provisions as mr pickle should order to be sent to his lodging this expedient was immediately practiced and as there was no credit in the place hatchway deposited a sum of money by way of security to the cook and the vintner intimating that there was a necessity for taking that method of befriending his cousin peregrine who was subject to strange whims that rendered it impossible to serve him any other way in consequence of these insinuations it was that same day rumored about the fleet that mr pickle was an unhappy gentleman disordered in his understanding and that the lieutenant was his near relation who had subjected himself to the inconvenience of living in a jail with a soul view of keeping a strict eye over his conduct this report however did not reach the ears of our hero till the next day when he sent one of the runners of the fleet who attended him to bespeak and pay for a couple of bullets and something else for dinner to which he had already invited his friend hatchway in hope of being able to persuade him to retire into the country after he had undergone a whole day's mortification in the place the messenger returned with an assurance that the dinner should be made ready according to his directions and restored the money observing that his kinsmen had paid for what was bespoke peregrine was equally surprised and disgusted at this information and resolved to chide the lieutenant severely for his unseasonable treat which he considered as a thing repugnant to his reputation meanwhile he dispatched his attendant for wine to the coffee house and finding his credit boasted up in that place by the same means was enraged at the presumption of jack's friendship he questioned the ballet about it with such manifestation of displeasure that the fellow afraid of disablaging such a good master frankly communicated the story which was circulated at his expense the young gentleman was so much incensed at this piece of intelligence that he wrote a bitter expostulation to the lieutenant where he not only retracted his invitation but declared that he would never converse with him while he should remain within the place having thus obeyed the dictates of his anger he gave notice to the cook that he should not have occasion for what was ordered preparing to the coffee house he told the landlord that whereas he understood the stranger with the wooden leg had pre-possessed him and others with ridiculous notions tending to bring the sanity of his intellects in question and to confirm this imputation had under the pretense of consanguinity undertaken to defray his expenses he could not help injustice to himself declaring that the same person was in reality the madman who had given his keepers the slip that therefore he the landlord would not find his account in complying with his orders and encouraging him to frequent his house and that for his own part he would never enter the door or favor him with the least tribal of his custom if ever he should for the future find himself anticipated in his payments by that unhappy lunatic the ventner was confounded at this retorted charge and after much perplexity and deliberation concluded that both parties were distracted the stranger in paying a man's debts against his will and pickle and being offended at such coveredness of friendship end of chapter 99