He adjusts the Method of his Correspondence with Gauntlet; meets by
accident with an Italian Charlatan, and a certain Apothecary, who proves
to be a noted Character.
There the two friends adjusted the articles of a future correspondence;
and Peregrine, having written a letter to his mistress, wherein he
renewed his former vows of eternal fidelity, it was intrusted to the
care of her brother, while Mr. Jolter, at the desire of his pupil,
provided an elegant supper, and some excellent Burgundy, that they might
spend this eve of his departure with the greater enjoyment.
Things being thus disposed, and a servant employed in laying the cloth,
their ears were of a sudden invaded by a strange tumultuous noise in the
next room, occasioned by the overthrow of tables, chairs, and glasses,
with odd unintelligible exclamations in broken French, and a jargon of
threats in the Welsh dialect. Our young gentlemen ran immediately into
the apartment from whence this clamour seemed to proceed, and found a
thin, meagre, swarthy figure, gasping, in all the agony of fear, under
the hands of a squat, thick, hard-featured man, who collared him with
great demonstrations of wrath, saying, “If you was as mighty a magician
as Owen Glendower or the witch of Entor, look you, ay, ay, or as Paul
Beor himself, I will meke pold, by the assistance of Got, and in his
majesty's name, to seize and secure, and confine and confront you, until
such time as you suffer and endure and undergo the pains and penalties
of the law, for your diabolical practices. Shentlements,” added he,
turning to our adventurers, “I take you to witness, that I protest, and
assert, and avow, that this person is as pig a necromancer as you would
desire to behold; and I supplicate, and beseech, and entreat of you,
that he may be prought pefore his petters, and compelled to give an
account of his compact and commerce with the imps of darkness, look you;
for, as I am a Christian soul, and hope for joyful resurrection, I have
this plessed evening seen him perform such things as could not be done
without the aid and instruction and connivance of the tevil.”
Gauntlet seemed to enter into the sentiments of this Welsh reformer,
and actually laid hold on the delinquent's shoulder, crying, “D--n the
rascal! I'll lay any wager that he's a Jesuit; for none of his order
travel without a familiar.” But Peregrine, who looked upon the affair
in another point of view, interposed in behalf of the stranger, whom he
freed from his aggressors, observing, that there was no occasion to use
violence; and asked, in French, what he had done to incur the censure of
the informer. The poor foreigner, more dead than alive, answered that
he was an Italian charlatan, who had practised with some reputation
in Padua, until he had the misfortune to attract the notice of the
Inquisition, by exhibiting certain wonderful performances by his skill
in natural knowledge, which that tribunal considered as the effects of
sorcery, and persecuted him accordingly; so that he had been fain to
make a precipitate retreat into France, where not finding his account
in his talents, he was now arrived in England, with a view of practising
his art in London; and that, in consequence of a specimen which he
had given to a company below, the choleric gentleman had followed him
up-stairs to his own apartment, and assaulted him in that inhospitable
manner: he therefore earnestly begged that our hero would take him
under his protection; and, if he entertained the least suspicion of his
employing preternatural means in the operations of his art, he would
freely communicate all the secrets in his possession.
The youth dispelled his apprehension by assuring him that he was in no
danger of suffering for his art in England, where, if ever he should be
questioned by the zeal of superstitious individuals, he had nothing to
do but appeal to the justice of the peace, who would immediately acquit
him of the charge, and punish his accusers for their impertinence and
indiscretion.
He then told Gauntlet and the Welshman that the stranger had a good
action against them for an assault, by virtue of an Act of Parliament,
which makes it criminal for any person to accuse another of sorcery and
witchcraft, these idle notions being now justly exploded by all sensible
men. Mr. Jolter, who had by this time joined the company, could not
help signifying his dissent from this opinion of his pupil, which he
endeavoured to invalidate by the authority of Scripture, quotations from
the Fathers, and the confession of many wretches who suffered death for
having carried on correspondence with evil spirits together with
the evidence of “Satan's Invisible World,” and Moreton's “History of
Witchcraft.”
The soldier corroborated these testimonies by facts that had happened
within the sphere of his own knowledge, and in particular mentioned the
case of an old woman of the parish in which he was born, who used to
transform herself into the shapes of sundry animals, and was at last
killed by small shot in the character of a hare. The Welshman, thus
supported, expressed his surprise at hearing that the legislature had
shown such tenderness for criminals of so dark a hue, and offered to
prove, by undeniable instances, that there was not a mountain in
Wales which had not been, in his memory, the scene of necromancy and
witchcraft. “Wherefore,” said he, “I am assuredly more than above
astonished and confounded and concerned that the Parliament of Great
Britain should, in their great wisdoms, and their prudence, and their
penetration, give countenance and encouragement, look you, to the works
of darkness and the empire of Pelzepup--ofer and apove the evidence of
holy writ, and those writers who have been quoted by that aggurate and
learned shentleman, we are informed, by profane history, of the pribbles
and pranks of the old serpent, in the bortents and oragles of antiquity,
as you will find in that most excellent historian Bolypius, and Titus
Lifius; ay, and moreofer, in the Commentaries of Julius Caesar himself,
who, as the ole world knows, was a most famous, and a most faliant, and
a most wise, and a most prudent, and a most fortunate chieftain, and a
most renowned orator; ay, and a most elegant writer to boot.”
Peregrine did not think proper to enter the lists of dispute with three
such obstinate antagonists, but contented himself with saying that he
believed it would be no difficult matter to impugn the arguments
they had advanced; though he did not find himself at all disposed to
undertake the task, which must of course break in upon the evening's
entertainment. He therefore invited the Italian to supper, and asked
the same favour of his accuser, who seemed to have something curious and
characteristic in his manner and disposition, resolving to make himself
an eye-witness of those surprising feats which had given offence to
the choleric Briton. This scrupulous gentleman thanked our hero for
his courtesy, but declined communicating with the stranger until his
character should be further explained; upon which his inviter, after
some conversation with the charlatan, assured him that he would himself
undertake for the innocence of his art; and then he was prevailed upon
to favour them with his company.
In the course of the conversation, Peregrine learned that the Welshman
was a surgeon of Canterbury, who had been called in to a consultation at
Dover; and, understanding that his name was Morgan, took the liberty
of asking if he was not the person so respectfully mentioned in the
“Adventures of Roderick Random.” Mr. Morgan assumed a look of gravity
and importance at this interrogation, and, screwing up his mouth,
answered, “Mr. Rantum, my good sir, I believe, upon my conscience and
salfation, is my very goot frient and well-wisher; and he and I have
been companions and messmates and fellow-sufferers, look you; but
nevertheless, for all that, peradventure he hath not pehaved with so
much complaisance and affability and respect as I might have expected
from him; pecause he hath revealed and tivulged and buplished our
private affairs, without my knowledge and privity and consent; but as
Got is my Safiour, I think he had no evil intention in his pelly; and
though there be certain persons, look you, who, as I am told, take
upon them to laugh at his descriptions of my person, deportment, and
conversation, I do affirm and maintain, and insist with my heart, and
my plood, and my soul, that those persons are no petter than ignorant
asses, and that they know not how to discern and distinguish and define
true ridicule, or, as Aristotle calls it, the to Geloion, no more, look
you, than a herd of mountain goats; for I will make pold to observe--and
I hope this goot company will be of the same opinion--that there is
nothing said of me in that performance which is unworthy of a Christian
and a shentleman.”
Our young gentleman and his friends acquiesced in the justness of his
observation. Peregrine particularly assured him that, from reading
the book, he had conceived the utmost regard and veneration for his
character, and that he thought himself extremely fortunate in having
this opportunity of enjoying his conversation. Morgan, not a little
proud of such advances from a person of Peregrine's appearance, returned
the compliment with a profusion of civility, and, in the warmth of
acknowledgment, expressed a desire of seeing him and his company at his
house in Canterbury. “I will not pretend, or presume, kind sir,” said
he, “to entertain you according to your merits and deserts; but you
shall be as welcome to my poor cottage, and my wife and family, as the
prince of Wales himself; and it shall go hard if, one way or other, I
do not find ways and means of making you confess that there is some goot
fellowship in an ancient Priton; for though I am no petter than a simple
apothecary, I have as goot plood circulating in my veins as any he in
the county; and I can describe and delineate and demonstrate my pedigree
to the satisfaction of the 'ole 'orld; and, moreofer, by Got's goot
providence and assistance, I can afford to treat my friend with joint of
good mutton and a pottle of excellent wine, and no tradesman can peard
me with a bill.”
He was congratulated on his happy situation, and assured that our youth
would visit him on his return from France, provided he should take
Canterbury in his route. As Peregrine manifested an inclination of
being acquainted with the state of his affairs, he very complaisantly
satisfied his curiosity by giving him to know that his spouse had left
off breeding, after having blessed him with two boys and a girl,
who were still alive and well; that he lived in good esteem with
his neighbors; and by his practice, which was considerably extended
immediately after the publication of Roderick Random, had saved some
thousand pounds. He had begun to think of retiring among his own
relations in Glamorganshire, though his wife had made objection to this
proposal, and opposed the execution of it with such obstinacy, that
he had been at infinite pains in asserting his own prerogative by
convincing her, both from reason and example, that he was king, and
priest in his own family, and that she owed the most implicit submission
to his will. He likewise informed the company that he had lately seen
his friend Roderick, who had come from London on purpose to visit him,
after having gained his lawsuit with Mr. Topeball, who was obliged to
pay Narcissa's fortune; that Mr. Random, in all appearance, led a very
happy life in the conversation of his father and bed-fellow, by whom he
enjoyed a son and daughter; and that Morgan had received, in a present
from him, a piece of very fine linen of his wife's own making, several
kits of salmon, and two casks of pickled pork--the most delicate he
had ever tasted; together with a barrel of excellent herrings for
salmagundy, which he knew to be his favourite dish.
This topic of conversation being discussed, the Italian was desired to
exhibit a specimen of his art, and in a few minutes he conducted the
company into the next room, where, to their great astonishment and
affright, they beheld a thousand serpents winding along the ceiling.
Morgan, struck with this phenomenon, which he had not seen before, began
to utter exorcisms with great devotion, Mr. Jolter ran of the room,
Gauntlet drew his hanger, and Peregrine himself was disconcerted. The
operator, perceiving their confusion, desired them to retire, and,
calling them back in an instant, there was not a viper to be seen. He
raised their admiration by sundry other performances and the Welshman's
former opinion and abhorrence of his character began to recur, when,
in consideration of the civility with which he had been treated, this
Italian imparted to them all the methods by which he had acted such
wonders, that were no other than the effects of natural causes curiously
combined; so that Morgan became a convert to his skill, asked pardon for
the suspicion he had entertained, and invited the stranger to pass a
few days with him at Canterbury. The scruples of Godfrey and Jolter were
removed at the same time, and Peregrine testified his satisfaction by a
handsome gratuity which he bestowed upon their entertainer.
The evening being spent in this sociable manner, every man retired to
his respective chamber, and next morning they breakfasted together,
when Morgan declared he would stay till he should see our hero fairly
embarked, that he might have the pleasure of Mr. Gauntlet's company to
his own habitation: meanwhile, by the skipper's advice, the servants
were ordered to carry a store of wine and provision on board, in case of
accident; and, as the packet-boat could not sail before one o'clock, the
company walked up hill to visit the castle, where they saw the sword
of Julius Caesar, and Queen Elizabeth's pocket pistol; repeated
Shakespeare's description, while they surveyed the chalky cliffs on each
side, and cast their eyes towards the city of Calais, that was obscured
by a thick cloud which did not much regale their eye-sight, because it
seemed to portend foul weather.
Having viewed everything remarkable in this place, they returned to
the pier, where, after the compliments of parting, and an affectionate
embrace between the two young gentlemen, Peregrine and his governor
stepped aboard, the sails were hoisted, and they went to sea with a fair
wind, while Godfrey, Morgan, and the conjurer walked back to the inn,
from whence they set out for Canterbury before dinner.