The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle
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Peregrine distinguishes himself among his School-fellows, exposes hisTutor, and attracts the particular Notice of the Master.
Thus left to the prosecution of his studies, Peregrine was in alittle time a distinguished character, not only for his acuteness ofapprehension, but also for that mischievous fertility of fancy, of whichwe have already given such pregnant examples. But as there was a greatnumber of such luminaries in this new sphere to which he belonged, histalents were not so conspicuous while they shone in his single capacity,as they afterwards appeared, when they concentrated and reflected therays of the whole constellation.
At first he confined himself to piddling game, exercising his geniusupon his own tutor, who attracted his attention, by endeavouring toseason his mind with certain political maxims, the fallacy of which hehad discernment enough to perceive. Scarce a day passed in which he didnot find means to render Mr. Jolter the object of ridicule: his violentprejudices, ludicrous vanity, awkward solemnity, and ignorance ofmankind, afforded continual food for the raillery, petulance, and satireof his pupil, who never neglected an opportunity of laughing, and makingothers laugh, at his expense.
Sometimes in their parties, by mixing brandy in his wine, he decoyedthis pedagogue into a debauch, during which his caution forsook him, andhe exposed himself to the censure of the company. Sometimes, when theconversation turned upon intricate subjects, he practised upon him theSocratic method of confutation, and, under pretence of being informed,by an artful train of puzzling questions insensibly betrayed him intoself-contradiction.
All the remains of authority which he had hitherto preserved overPeregrine soon vanished; so that, for the future, no sort of ceremonysubsisted between them, and all Mr. Jolter's precepts were conveyed inhints of friendly advice, which the other might either follow or neglectat his own pleasure. No wonder then that Peregrine gave a loose to hisinclinations, and, by dint of genius and an enterprising temper, made afigure among the younger class of heroes in the school.
Before he had been a full year at Winchester, he had signallized himselfin so many achievements, in defiance to the laws and regulations of theplace, that he was looked upon with admiration, and actually chosen dux,or leader, by a large body of his contemporaries. It was not longbefore his fame reached the ears of the master, who sent for Mr. Jolter,communicated to him the informations he had received, and desired him tocheck the vivacity of his charge, and redouble his vigilance in time tocome, else he should be obliged to make a public example of his pupilfor the benefit of the school.
The governor, conscious of his own unimportance, was not a littledisconcerted at this injunction, which it was not in his power to fulfilby any compulsive means. He therefore went home in a very pensive mood,and after mature deliberation, resolved to expostulate with Peregrinein the most familiar terms, and endeavour to dissuade him from practiceswhich might affect his character as well as interest. He accordinglyfrankly told him the subject of the master's discourse; represented thedisgrace he might incur by neglecting this warning; and, putting him inmind of his own situation, hinted the consequences of the commodore'sdispleasure, in case he should be brought to disapprove of his conduct.These insinuations made the greater impression as they were deliveredwith many expressions of friendship and concern. The young gentlemanwas not so raw, but that he could perceive the solidity of Mr.Jolter's advice, to which he promised to conform, because his pride wasinterested in the affair, and he considered his own reformation as theonly means of avoiding that infamy which even in idea he could not bear.
His governor, finding him so reasonable, profited by these moments ofreflection; and, in order to prevent a relapse, proposed that heshould engage in some delightful study that would agreeably amuse hisimagination, and gradually detach him from those connections which hadinvolved him in so many troublesome adventures. For this purpose, he,with many rapturous encomiums, recommended the mathematics, as yieldingmore rational and sensible pleasures to a youthful fancy than any othersubject of contemplation; and actually began to read Euclid with himthat same afternoon.
Peregrine entered upon this branch of learning with all that warmth ofapplication which boys commonly yield on the first change of study; buthe had scarce advanced beyond the Pons Asinorum, when his ardourabated; the test of truth by demonstration did not elevate him to thosetransports of joy with which his preceptor had regaled his expectation;and before he arrived at the forty-seventh proposition, he began toyawn drearily, make abundance of wry faces, and thought himself butindifferently paid for his attention, when he shared the vast discoveryof Pythagoras, and understood that the square of the hypotenuse wasequal to the squares of the other two sides of a right-angled triangle.He was ashamed, however, to fail in his undertaking, and persevered withgreat industry, until he had finished the first four books, acquiredplane trigonometry, with the method of algebraical calculation, andmade himself well acquainted with the principles of surveying. But noconsideration could prevail upon him to extend his inquiries fartherin this science; and he returned with double relish to his formeravocations, like a stream, which, being dammed, accumulates more force,and, bursting over its mounds, rushes down with double impetuosity.
Mr. Jolter saw with astonishment and chagrin, but could not resist thetorrent. His behaviour was now no other than a series of license andeffrontery; prank succeeded prank, and outrage followed outrage withsurprising velocity. Complaints were every day preferred against him; invain were admonitions bestowed by the governor in private, and menacesdischarged by the masters in public; he disregarded the first, despisedthe latter, divested himself of all manner of restraint, and proceededin his career to such a pitch of audacity, that a consultation was heldupon the subject, in which it was determined that this untoward spiritshould be humbled by a severe and ignominious flogging for the very nextoffence he should commit. In the mean time, Mr. Jolter was desired towrite in the masters name to the commodore, requesting him to remove TomPipes from the person of his nephew, the said Pipes being a principalactor and abettor in all his malversations; and to put a stop to themonthly visitations of the mutilated lieutenant, who had never oncefailed to use his permission, but came punctual to a day, always fraughtwith some new invention. Indeed, by this time Mr. Hatchway was as wellknown, and much better beloved, by every boy in the school than themaster who instructed him, and always received by a number of scholars,who used to attend Peregrine when he went forth to meet his friend, andconduct him to his lodging with public testimonies of joy and applause.
As for Tom Pipes, he was not so properly the attendant of Peregrine,as master of the revels of the whole school. He mingled in all theirparties, and superintended the diversions, deciding between boy and boy,as if he acted by commission under the great seal. He regulated theirmotions by his whistle, instructed the young boys in the games ofhustle-cap, leap-frog, and chuck-farthing; imparted to those of a moreadvanced age the sciences of cribbage and all-fours, together with themethod of storming the castle, acting the comedy of Prince Arthur, andother pantomimes, as they commonly exhibited at sea; and instructedthe seniors, who were distinguished by the appellation of bloods, incudgel-playing, dancing the St. Giles's hornpipe, drinking flip, andsmoking tobacco. These qualifications had rendered him so necessary andacceptable to the scholars, that exclusive of Perry's concern in theaffair, his dismission, in all probability, would have produced somedangerous convulsion in the community. Jolter, therefore, knowing hisimportance, informed his pupil of the directions he had received, andvery candidly asked how he should demean himself in the execution;for he durst not write to the commodore without this previous notice,fearing that the young gentleman, as soon as he should get an inkling ofthe affair, would follow the example, and make his uncle acquaintedwith certain anecdotes, which it was the governor's interest to keepconcealed. Peregrine was of opinion that he should spare himself thetrouble of conveying any complaints to the commodore; and if questionedby the master, assure him he had complied with his desire: at the sametime he prom
ised faithfully to conduct himself with such circumspectionfor the future, that the masters should have no temptation to revivethe inquiry. But the resolution attending this extorted promise was toofrail to last, and in less than a fortnight our young hero found himselfentangled in an adventure from which he was not extricated with hisusual good fortune.
CHAPTER XVII.