The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle

Chapter XLVIII

210 The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle usual exclamation of “For God’s sake, gentlemen!” when the governor rose from the table in great dudgeon, and left the room, muttering some ejaculation, of which the word coxcomb only could be distinctly heard. The physician being thus left master of the field of battle, was complimented on his victory by Peregrine, and so elevated by his success, that he declaimed a full hour on the absurdity of Jolter’s proposition, and the beauty of the democratic administration; canvassed the whole scheme of Plato’s republic, with many quotations from that ideal author; touching the το καλον:12 from thence he made a transition to the moral sense of Shaftsbury, and concluded his harangue with the greatest part of that frothy writer’s rhapsody,13 which he repeated with all the violence of enthusiastic agitation; to the unspeakable satisfaction of his entertainer , and the unutterable admiration of Pallet, who looked upon him as something supernatural and divine. So intoxicated was this vain young man with the ironical praises of Pickle, that he forthwith shook off all reserve, and having professed a friendship for our hero, whose taste and learning he did not fail to extol, intimated in plain terms, that he was the only person in these latter ages, who professed that sublime genius , that portion of the divinity or τι θειον, which immortalized the Grecian poets;14 that as Pythagoras affirmed the spirit of Euphorbus had transmigrated into his body,15 he, the doctor, was strangely possessed with the opinion that he himself was inspired by the soul of Pindar;16 because, making allowance for the difference of languages, in which they wrote, there was a surprising affinity between his own works and those of that celebrated Theban; and as a confirmation of this truth, he immediately produced a sample of each, which though in spirit and versification, as different as the Odes of Horace17 and our present laureat,18 Peregrine did not scruple to pronounce altogether congenial; notwithstanding the violence he by this sentence offered to his own conscience , and a certain alarm of his pride, that was weak enough to be disturbed by the physician’s ridiculous vanity and presumption, which not contented with displaying his importance in the world of taste and polite literature, manifested itself in arrogating certain material discoveries in the province of physick, which could not fail to advance him to the highest pinnacle of that profession, considering the recommendation of his other talents, together with a liberal fortune which he inherited from his father. chapter xlviii. The doctor prepares an entertainment in the manner of the ancients, which is attended with divers ridiculous circumstances. In a word, our young gentleman, by his insinuating behaviour, obtained the full con- fidence of the doctor, who invited him to an entertainment, which he intended to prepare in the manner of the ancients.1 Pickle, struck with this idea, eagerly embraced the proposal, which he honoured with many encomiums, as a plan in all respects wor- Volume Two, Chapter XLVIII 211 thy of his genius and apprehension; and the day was appointed at some distance of time, that the treater might have leisure to compose certain pickles and confections which were not to be found among the culinary preparations of these degenerate days. With a view of rendering the physician’s taste more conspicuous, and extracting from it the more diversion, Peregrine proposed that some foreigners should partake of the banquet; and the task being left to his care and discretion, he actually bespoke the company of a French marquis, an Italian count and a German baron, whom he knew to be egregious coxcombs, and therefore more likely to enhance the joy of the entertainment. Accordingly, the hour being arrived, he conducted them to the hotel where the physician lodged, after having regaled their expectations with an elegant meal in the genuine old Roman taste; and they were received by Mr. Pallet, who did the honours of the house, while his friend superintended the rotisseur below. By this communicative painter, the guests understood that the doctor had met with numerous difficulties in the execution of his design; that no fewer than five cooks had been dismissed, because they could not prevail upon their own consciences to obey his directions in things that were contrary to the present practice of their art; and that although he had at last engaged a person, by an extraordinary premium, to comply with...