by T. Smollett
Peregrine, almost distracted with his Disappointment, conjures thefair Fleming to permit his Visits at Brussels--She withdraws from hisPursuit.
Things being thus adjusted, and all the company dressed, they went tobreakfast about five in the morning; and in less than an hour after wereseated in the diligence, where a profound silence prevailed. Peregrine,who used to be the life of the society, was extremely pensive andmelancholy on account of his mishap, the Israelite and his dulcineadejected in consequence of their disgrace, the poet absorbed in loftymeditation, the painter in schemes of revenge; while Jolter, rocked bythe motion of the carriage, made himself amends for the want of rest hehad sustained; and the mendicant, with his fair charge, were infectedby the cloudy aspect of our youth, in whose disappointment each ofthem, for different reasons, bore no inconsiderable share. This generallanguor and recess from all bodily exercise disposed them all to receivethe gentle yoke of slumber; and in half-an-hour after they had embarked,there was not one of them awake, except our hero and his mistress,unless the Capuchin was pleased to counterfeit sleep, in order toindulge our young gentleman with an opportunity of enjoying some privateconversation with his beauteous ward.
Peregrine did not neglect the occasion; but, on the contrary, seizedthe first minute, and, in gentle murmurs, lamented his hard hap inbeing thus the sport of fortune. He assured her, and that with greatsincerity, that all the cross accidents of his life had not cost him onehalf of the vexation and keenness of chagrin which he had suffered lastnight; and that now he was on the brink of parting from her, he shouldbe overwhelmed with the blackest despair, if she would not extend hercompassion so far as to give him an opportunity of sighing at her feetin Brussels, during the few days his affairs would permit him to spendin that city. This young lady, with an air of mortification, expressedher sorrow for being the innocent cause of his anxiety; said she hopedlast night's adventure would be a salutary warning to both their souls;for she was persuaded, that her virtue was protected by the interventionof Heaven; that whatever impression it might have made upon him, she wasenabled by it to adhere to that duty from which her passion had begun toswerve; and, beseeching him to forget her for his own peace, gave him tounderstand, that neither the plan she had laid down for her own conduct,nor the dictates of her honour, would allow her to receive his visits,or carry on any other correspondence with him, while she was restrictedby the articles of her marriage-vow.
This explanation produced such a violent effect upon her admirer, thathe was for some minutes deprived of the faculty of speech; which he nosooner recovered, than he gave vent to the most unbridled transports ofpassion. He taxed her with barbarity and indifference; told her, thatshe had robbed him of his reason and internal peace; that he wouldfollow her to the ends of the earth, and cease to live sooner than ceaseto love her; that he would sacrifice the innocent fool who had been theoccasion of all this disquiet, and murder every man whom he consideredas an obstruction to his views. In a word, his passions, which hadcontinued so long in a state of the highest fermentation, together withthe want of that repose which calms and quiets the perturbation of thespirits, had wrought him up to a pitch of real distraction. While heuttered these delirious expressions, the tears ran down his cheeks; andhe underwent such agitation that the tender heart of the fair Flemingwas affected with his condition: and, while her own face was bedewedwith the streams of sympathy, she begged him, for Heaven's sake, to becomposed; and promised, for his satisfaction, to abate somewhat of therigour of her purpose. Consoled by this kind declaration, he recollectedhimself; and, taking out his pencil, gave her his address, when she hadassured him, that he should hear from her in four-and-twenty hours, atfarthest, after their separation.
Thus soothed, he regained the empire of himself, and, by degrees,recovered his serenity. But this was not the case with his Amanda, who,from this sample of his disposition, dreaded the impetuosity of hisyouth, and was effectually deterred from entering into any engagementsthat might subject her peace and reputation to the rash effects ofsuch a violent spirit. Though she was captivated by his person andaccomplishments, she had reflection enough to foresee, that the longershe countenanced his passion, her own heart would be more and moreirretrievably engaged, and the quiet of her life the more exposed tocontinual interruption. She therefore profited by these considerations,and a sense of religious honour, which helped her to withstand thesuggestions of inclination; and resolved to amuse her lover withfalse hopes, until she should have it in her power to relinquish hisconversation, without running any risk of suffering by the inconsideratesallies of his love. It was with this view that she desired he would notinsist upon attending her to her mother's house, when they arrived atBrussels; and he, cajoled by her artifice, took a formal leave of her,together with the other strangers, fixing his habitation at the inn towhich he and his fellow-travellers had been directed, in the impatientexpectation of receiving a kind summons from her within the limitedtime.
Meanwhile, in order to divert his imagination, he went to seethe stadthouse, park, and arsenal, took a superficial view of thebooksellers' cabinet of curiosities, and spent the evening at theItalian opera, which was at that time exhibited for the entertainmentof Prince Charles of Lorraine, then governor of the Low Countries. Inshort, the stated period was almost lapsed when Peregrine received aletter to this purport:--
"Sir,--If you knew what violence I do my own heart, in declaring, that I have withdrawn myself for ever from your addresses, you would surely applaud the sacrifice I make to virtue, and strive to imitate this example of self-denial. Yes, sir, Heaven hath lent me grace to struggle with my guilty passion, and henceforth to avoid the dangerous sight of him, who inspired it. I therefore conjure you, by the regard you ought to have to the eternal welfare of us both, as well as by the esteem and affection you profess, to war with your unruly inclination, and desist from all attempts of frustrating the laudable resolution I have made. Seek not to invade the peace of one who loves you, to disturb the quiet of a family that never did you wrong, and to alienate the thoughts of a weak woman from a deserving man, who, by the most sacred claim, ought to have the full possession of her heart."
This billet, without either date or subscription, banished all remainsof discretion from the mind of our hero, who ran instantly to thelandlord in all the ecstasy of madness, and demanded to see themessenger who brought the letter on pain of putting his whole family tothe sword. The innkeeper, terrified by his looks and menaces, fell uponhis knees, protesting in the face of Heaven that he was utterly ignorantand innocent of anything that could give him offence, and that thebillet was brought by a person whom he did not know, and who retiredimmediately, saying it required no answer. He then gave utterance to hisfury in a thousand imprecations and invectives against the writer,whom he dishonoured with the appellations of a coquette, a jilt, anadventurer, who, by means of a pimping priest, had defrauded him of hismoney. He denounced vengeance against the mendicant, whom he swore hewould destroy if ever he should set eyes on him again.
The painter unluckily appearing during this paroxysm of rage, he seizedhim by the throat, saying he was ruined by his accursed folly; and inall likelihood poor Pallet would have been strangled had not Jolterinterposed in his behalf, beseeching his pupil to have mercy upon thesufferer, and, with infinite anxiety, desiring to know the cause ofthis violent assault. He received no answer but a string of incoherentcurses. When the painter, with unspeakable astonishment, took God towitness that he had done nothing to disoblige him, the governor began tothink, in sad earnest, that Peregrine's vivacity had at length risen tothe transports of actual madness, and was himself almost distracted withthis supposition. That he might the better judge what remedy ought tobe applied, he used his whole influence, and practised all his eloquenceupon the youth, in order to learn the immediate cause of his delirium.He employed the most pathetic entreaties, and even shed tears in thecourse of his supplication; so that Pickle, the first violence of
thehurricane being blown over, was ashamed of his own imprudence, andretired to his chamber in order to recollect his dissipated thoughts;there he shut himself up, and for the second time perusing the fatalepistle, began to waver in his opinion of the author's character andintention. He sometimes considered her as one of those nymphs, who,under the mask of innocence and simplicity, practise upon the hearts andpurses of unwary and inexperienced youths: this was the suggestion ofhis wrath inflamed by disappointment; but when he reflected upon thecircumstances of her behaviour, and recalled her particular charms tohis imagination, the severity of his censure gave way and his heartdeclared in favour of her sincerity.
Yet even this consideration aggravated the sense of his loss, and he wasin danger of relapsing into his former distraction, when his passion wasa little becalmed by the hope of seeing her again, either by accidentor in the course of a diligent and minute inquiry, which he forthwithresolved to set on foot. He had reason to believe that her own heartwould espouse his cause in spite of her virtue's determination; and didnot despair of meeting with the Capuchin, whose good offices he knew hecould at any time command. Comforted with these reflections, the tempestof his soul subsided. In less than two hours he joined his company withan air of composure, and asked the painter's forgiveness for the freedomhe had taken, the cause of which he promised hereafter to explain.Pallet was glad of being reconciled on any terms to one whosecountenance supported him in equilibrio with his antagonist the doctor;and Mr. Jolter was rejoiced beyond measure at his pupil's recovery.
CHAPTER LIX.