The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle

Chapter XLV

198 The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle their being strangers, cautioning them at the same time to beware of such exploits for the future. When Peregrine returned to his own lodgings, Pipes seeing the blood trickling down upon his master’s neckcloth and solitaire,17 gave evident tokens of surprize and concern, not for the consequences of the wound, which he did not suppose dangerous , but for the glory of Old England, which he was afraid had suffered in the engagement ; for, he could not help saying, with an air of chagrin, as he followed the youth into his chamber, “I do suppose as how you gave that lubberly Frenchman as good as he brought.”18 chapter xlv. Mr. Jolter threatens to leave him on account of his misconduct, which he promises to rectify; but his resolution is defeated by the impetuosity of his passions. He meets accidentally with Mrs. Hornbeck, who elopes with him from her husband, but is restored by the interposition of the British embassador. Though Mr. Jolter was extremely well pleased at the safety of his pupil, he could not forgive him for the terror and anxiety he had undergone on his account; and roundly told him, that notwithstanding the inclination and attachment he had to his person, he would immediately depart for England, if ever he should hear of his being involved in such another adventure; for it could not be expected that he would sacrifice his own quiet, to an unrequited regard for one who seemed determined to keep him in continual uneasiness and apprehension. To this declaration Pickle made answer, that Mr. Jolter, by this time, ought to be convinced of the attention he had always paid to his ease and satisfaction; since he well knew, that he had ever looked upon him in the light of a friend rather than as a counsellor or tutor, and desired his company in France with a view of promoting his interest , and not for any emolument he could expect from his instruction. This being the case, he was at liberty to consult his own inclinations with regard to going or staying; though he could not help owning himself obliged by the concern he expressed for his safety, and would endeavour, for his own sake, to avoid giving him any cause of disturbance in time to come. No man was more capable of moralizing upon Peregrine’s misconduct than himself; his reflections were extremely just and sagacious, and attended with no other disadvantage , but that of occurring too late. He projected a thousand salutary schemes of Volume Two, Chapter XLV 199 deportment, but, like other projectors, he never had interest enough with the ministry of his passions to bring any one of them to bear. He had, in the heyday of his gallantry, received a letter from his friend Gauntlet, with a kind postscript from his charming Emilia; but it arrived at a very unseasonable juncture, when his imagination was engrossed by conquests that more agreeably flattered his ambition; so that he could not find leisure and inclination, from that day, to honour the correspondence which he himself had sollicited; and his vanity had, by this time, disapproved of the engagement he had contracted in the rawness and inexperience of youth; suggesting, that he was born to make such an important figure in life, as ought to raise his ideas above the consideration of any such middling connections, and fix his attention upon objects of the most sublime attraction. These dictates of ridiculous pride had almost effaced the remembrance of his amiable mistress, or at least so far warped his morals and integrity , that he actually began to conceive hopes of her altogether unworthy of his own character and her deserts. Mean while, being destitute of a toy for the dalliance of his idle hours, he employed several spies, and almost every day made a tour of the public places in person, with a view of procuring intelligence of Mr. Hornbeck, with whose wife he longed to have another interview; and in this course of expectation had he exercised himself a whole fortnight, when chancing to be at the hospital of the invalids with a gentleman lately arrived from England,1 he no sooner entered the church than he perceived this lady, attended by her spouse, who at sight of our hero changed colour, and looked another way, in order to discourage any communication between them. But the young man, who was not so easily...