John Leech, His Life and Work. Vol. 1 [of 2]Frith, William Powell
General
John Leech, His Life and Work. Vol. 1 [of 2]
Frith, William Powell
Leech, John, 1817-1864
As Mr. Puffington quite expected to be immortalized in some work of
general circulation, his indignation knew no bounds when he found
himself relegated to a corner of the county paper, and all his hopes of
his doings being read by "the Lords Loosefish, the Sir Toms and Sir
Harrys of former days" grievously disappointed. Never, surely, were
disgust, disappointment, and rage more perfectly expressed than in the
second portrait of Mr. Puffington: not only the face, but the whole
figure--one can fancy how the hand in the pocket of the dressing-gown is
clenched--denotes the surprise and exasperation of the miserable man.
Mr. Sponge's literary effort has "done for him" with Mr. Puffington. He
must go. Easier said than done.
"Couldn't you manage to get him to go?" asked Mr. Puffington of his
valet.
"Don't know, sir. I could try, sir--believe he's bad to move, sir," said
the valet.
Driven to despair, the host "scrawled a miserable-looking note,
explaining how very ill he was, how he regretted being deprived of Mr.
Sponge's agreeable society--hoped he would come another time," and so
on. Even the "sponger" felt the difficulty of parrying such a palpable
notice to quit. "He went to bed sorely perplexed," and in his waking
moments trying to remember "what sportsmen had held out the hand of good
fellowship and hinted at hoping to have the pleasure of seeing him"; he
could think of no one to whom he could volunteer a visit. But Fortune
favours the brave sponger, as she often does unworthy people, and in Mr.
Jogglebury Crowdey, an eccentric individual whose acquaintance Sponge
had made in the hunting-field, he found another host. At the suggestion
of Mrs. Jogglebury, who, without the slightest reason, had taken it into
her head that Mr. Sponge was a wealthy man, and would make a
satisfactory godfather to one of her children, Mr. Jogglebury called on
Mr. Sponge at the Puffington mansion, and invited him to "pay us a
visit."
No sooner does our hero grasp the situation than he says:
"Well, you're a devilish good fellow, and I'll tell you what, as I am
sure you mean what you say, I'll take you at your word and go at once."
And in this determination he persists, though Mr. J. pleads for some
delay, as Mrs. Jogglebury Crowdey requires some little time for
preparation in receiving so distinguished a guest.
The visit to Puddingpote Bower, as the Jogglebury dwelling was called,
proved as unfortunate as the previous visits; the more people saw of Mr.
Sponge the less they liked him, and this time the dislike was mutual.
"Jog and Sponge," says the author, "were soon most heartily sick of each
other." Mr. Sponge soon began to think that it was not worth while
staying at Puddingpote Bower for the mere sake of his keep, "seeing
there was no hunting to be had from it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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