Peregrine is sent to a boarding-school--Becomes remarkable for his
Genius and Ambition.
The commodore, understanding her determination, to which her husband did
not venture to make the least objection, interested himself so much
in behalf of his favourite, as to fit him out at his own charge, and
accompany him in person to the place of his destination; where he
defrayed the expense of his entrance, and left him to the particular
care and inspection of the usher, who having been recommended to him
as a person of parts and integrity, received per advance a handsome
consideration for the task he undertook.
Nothing could be better judged than this piece of liberality; the
assistant was actually a man of learning, probity, and good sense; and
though obliged by the scandalous administration of fortune to act in
the character of an inferior teacher, had, by his sole capacity and
application, brought the school to that degree of reputation, which
it never could have obtained from the talents of its superior. He had
established an economy, which, though regular, was not at all severe,
by enacting a body of laws suited to the age and comprehension of every
individual; and each transgressor was fairly tried by his peers, and
punished according to the verdict of the jury. No boy was scourged for
want of apprehension, but a spirit of emulation was raised by well-timed
praise and artful comparison, and maintained by a distribution of small
prizes, which were adjudged to those who signalized themselves either by
their industry, sobriety, or genius.
This tutor, whose name was Jennings, began with Perry, according to his
constant maxim, by examining the soil; that is, studying his temper,
in order to consult the bias of his disposition, which was strangely
perverted by the absurd discipline he had undergone. He found him in a
state of sullen insensibility, which the child had gradually contracted
in a long course of stupefying correction; and at first he was not in
the least actuated by that commendation which animated the rest of
his school-fellows; nor was it in the power of reproach to excite his
ambition, which had been buried, as it were, in the grave of disgrace;
the usher, therefore, had recourse to contemptuous neglect, with
which he affected to treat this stubborn spirit; foreseeing that if he
retained any seeds of sentiment, this weather would infallibly raise
them into vegetation; his judgment was justified by the event; the boy
in a little time began to make observations; he perceived the marks
of distinction with which virtue was rewarded, grew ashamed of the
despicable figure he himself made among his companions, who, far from
courting, rather shunned his conversation, and actually pined at his own
want of importance.
Mr. Jennings saw and rejoiced at his mortification, which he suffered
to proceed as far as possible, without endangering his health. The child
lost all relish for diversion, loathed his food, grew pensive, solitary,
and was frequently found weeping by himself. These symptoms plainly
evinced the recovery of his feelings, to which his governor thought it
now high time to make application; and therefore by little and little
altered his behaviour from the indifference he had put on, to the
appearance of more regard and attention. This produced a favourable
change in the boy, whose eyes sparkled with satisfaction one day, when
his master expressed himself, with a show of surprise, in these words:
“So, Perry! I find you don't want genius, when you think proper to
use it.” Such encomiums kindled the spirit of emulation in his little
breast; he exerted himself with surprising alacrity, by which he soon
acquitted himself of the imputation of dullness, and obtained sundry
honorary silver pennies, as acknowledgments of his application; his
school-fellows now solicited his friendship as eagerly as they had
avoided it before; and in less than a twelvemonth after his arrival,
this supposed dunce was remarkable for the brightness of his parts;
having in that short period learnt to read English perfectly well, made
great progress in writing, enabled himself to speak the French language
without hesitation, and acquired some knowledge in the rudiments of
the Latin tongue. The usher did not fail to transmit an account of
his proficiency to the commodore, who received it with transport, and
forthwith communicated the happy tidings to the parents.
Mr. Gamaliel Pickle, who was never subject to violent emotions, heard
them with a sort of phlegmatic satisfaction, that scarce manifested
itself either in his countenance or expressions; nor did the child's
mother break forth into that rapture and admiration which might
have been expected, when she understood how much the talents of her
first-born had exceeded the hope of her warmest imagination. Not but
that she professed herself well pleased with Perry's reputation;
though she observed that in these commendations the truth was always
exaggerated by schoolmasters, for their own interest; and pretended to
wonder that the usher had not mingled more probability with his
praise. Trunnion was offended at her indifference and want of faith
and believing that she refined too much in her discernment, swore that
Jennings had declared the truth, and nothing but the truth; for he
himself had prophesied, from the beginning, that the boy would turn out
a credit to his family. But by this time Mrs. Pickle was blessed with
a daughter, whom she had brought into the world about six months before
the intelligence arrived; so that her care and affection being otherwise
engrossed, the praise of Perry was the less greedily devoured. The
abatement of her fondness was an advantage to his education, which would
have been retarded, and perhaps ruined, by pernicious indulgence, and
preposterous interposition, had her love considered him as an only
child; whereas her concern being now diverted to another object,
that shared, at least, one-half of her affection, he was left to the
management of his preceptor, who tutored him according to his own
plan, without any let or interruption. Indeed all his sagacity and
circumspection were but barely sufficient to keep the young gentleman
in order; for now that he had won the palm of victory from his rivals in
point of scholarship, his ambition dilated, and he was seized with the
desire of subjecting the whole school by the valour of his arm. Before
he could bring his project to bear, innumerable battles were fought with
various success; every day a bloody nose and complaint were presented
against him, and his own visage commonly bore some livid marks of
obstinate contention. At length, however, he accomplished his aim; his
adversaries were subdued, his prowess acknowledged, and he obtained the
laurel in war as well as in wit. Thus triumphant, he was intoxicated
with success: his pride rose in proportion to his power and, in spite
of all the endeavours of Jennings, who practised every method he could
invent for curbing his licentious conduct, without depressing his
spirit, he contracted a large proportion of insolence, which series of
misfortunes that happened to him in the sequel could scarce effectually
tame. Nevertheless there was a fund of good nature and generosity in his
composition; and though he established a tyranny among his comrades, the
tranquility of his reign was maintained by the love rather than by the
fear of his subjects.
In the midst of all this enjoyment of empire he never once violated that
respectful awe with which the usher had found means to inspire him; but
he by no means preserved the same regard for the principal master, an
old illiterate German quack, who had formerly practised corn-cutting
among the quality, and sold cosmetic washes to the ladies, together with
teeth-powders, hair-dyeing liquors, prolific elixirs, and tinctures to
sweeten the breath. These nostrums, recommended by the art of cringing,
in which he was consummate, ingratiated him so much with people of
fashion, that he was enabled to set up school with five-and-twenty boys
of the best families, whom he boarded on his own terms and undertook to
instruct in the French and Latin languages, so as to qualify them
for the colleges of Westminster and Eton. While this plan was in its
infancy, he was so fortunate as to meet with Jennings, who, for the
paltry consideration of thirty pounds a year, which his necessities
compelled him to accept, took the whole trouble of educating the
children upon himself, contrived an excellent system for that purpose,
and, by his assiduity and knowledge, executed all the particulars to the
entire satisfaction of those concerned, who, by the bye, never inquired
into his qualifications, but suffered the other to enjoy the fruits of
his labour and ingenuity.
Over and above a large stock of avarice, ignorance, and vanity, this
superior had certain ridiculous peculiarities in his person, such as
a hunch upon his back, and distorted limbs, that seemed to attract the
satirical notice of Peregrine, who, young as he was, took offence at
his want of reverence for his usher, over whom he sometimes chose
opportunities of displaying his authority, that the boys might not
misplace their veneration. Mr. Keypstick, therefore, such as I
have described him, incurred the contempt and displeasure of this
enterprising pupil, who now being in the tenth year of his age, had
capacity enough to give him abundance of vexation. He underwent many
mortifying jokes front the invention of Pickle and his confederates; so
that he began to entertain suspicion of Mr. Jennings, who he could
not help thinking had been at the bottom of them all, and spirited up
principles of rebellion in the school, with a view of making himself
independent. Possessed with this chimera, which was void of all
foundation, the German descended so low as to tamper in private with the
boys, from whom he hoped to draw some very important discovery; but he
was disappointed in his expectations; and this mean practice reaching
the ears of his usher, he voluntarily resigned his employment. Finding
interest to obtain holy orders in a little time after, he left
the kingdom, hoping to find a settlement in some of our American
plantations.
The departure of Mr. Jennings produced a great revolution in the affairs
of Keypstick, which declined from that moment, because he had neither
authority to enforce obedience, nor prudence to maintain order among his
scholars: so that the school degenerated into anarchy and confusion, and
he himself dwindled in the opinion of his employers, who looked upon him
as superannuated, and withdrew their children front his tuition.
Peregrine seeing this dissolution of their society, and finding himself
every day deprived of some companion, began to repine at his situation,
and resolved, if possible, to procure his release from the jurisdiction
of the person whom he both detested and despised. With this view he went
to work, and composed the following billet, addressed to the commodore,
which was the first specimen of his composition in the epistolary way:--
“Honoured and Loving Uncle,--Hoping you are in good health,
this serves to inform you, that Mr. Jennings is gone, and
Mr. Keypstick will never meet with his fellow. The school
is already almost broke up, and the rest daily going away;
and I beg of you of all love to have me fetched away also,
for I cannot bear to be any longer under one who is a perfect
ignoramus, who scarce knows the declination of musa, and is
more fit to be a scarecrow than a schoolmaster; hoping you
will send for me soon, with my love to my aunt, and my duty
to my honoured parents, craving their blessing and yours. And
this is all at present from, honoured uncle, your well-beloved
and dutiful nephew and godson, and humble servant to command
till death,
“Peregrine Pickle.”
Trunnion was overjoyed at the receipt of this letter, which he looked
upon as one of the greatest efforts of human genius, and as such
communicated the contents to his lady, whom he had disturbed for the
purpose in the middle of her devotion, by sending a message to her
closet, whither it was her custom very frequently to retire. She was
out of humour at being interrupted, and therefore did not peruse this
specimen of her nephew's understanding with all the relish that the
commodore himself had enjoyed; on the contrary, after sundry paralytical
endeavours to speak (for her tongue sometimes refused its office), she
observed that the boy was a pert jackanapes, and deserved to be severely
chastised for treating his betters with such disrespect. Her husband
undertook his godson's defence, representing with great warmth that he
knew Keypstick to be a good-for-nothing pimping old rascal, and that
Perry showed a great deal of spirit and good sense in desiring to be
taken from under his command; he therefore declared that the boy
should not live a week longer with such a shambling son of a b--, and
sanctioned this declaration with abundance of oaths.
Mrs. Trunnion, composing her countenance into a look of religious
demureness, rebuked him for his profane way of talking; and asked, in
a magisterial tone, if he intended never to lay aside that brutal
behaviour. Irritated at this reproach, he answered, in terms of
indignation, that he knew how to behave himself as well as e'er a woman
that wore a head, bade her mind her affairs, and with another repetition
of oaths gave her to understand that he would be master in his own
house.
The insinuation operated upon her spirits like friction upon a glass
globe: her face gleamed with resentment, and every pore seemed to emit
particles of flame. She replied with incredible fluency of the bitterest
expressions: he retorted equal rage in broken hints and incoherent
imprecations: she rejoined with redoubled fury; and in conclusion he was
fain to betake himself to flight, ejaculating curses against her; and
muttering something concerning the brandy-bottle, which, however, he
took care should never reach her ears.
From his own house he went directly to visit Mrs. Pickle, to whom
he imparted Peregrine's epistle, with many encomiums upon the boy's
promising parts: and, finding his commendations but coolly received,
desired she would permit him to take his godson under his own care.
This lady, whose family was now increased by another son, who seemed to
engross her care for the present, had not seen Perry during a course
of four years, and, with regard to him, was perfectly weaned of
that infirmity known by the name of maternal fondness: she therefore
consented to the commodore's request with great condescension, and a
polite compliment to him on the concern he had all along manifested for
the welfare of the child.