Debt, Imprisonment for -- Fiction; London (England) -- History -- 18th century -- Fiction
"You do well, ladies," the man with us went on, talking with his head
thrust into the coach, "you do well to come to Doctor Shovel, whose
humble servant, or clerk, I am. The Doctor is no ordinary Fleet parson.
He does not belong to the beggarly gentry--not regular clergymen at
all who live in a tavern, and do odd jobs as they come, for a guinea a
week and the run of the landlord's rum. Not he, madam. The Doctor is a
gentleman and a scholar: Master of Arts of the University of Cambridge
he was, where, by reason of their great respect for his learning and
piety, they have made him Doctor of Divinity. There is the Rev. Mr.
Arkwell, who will read the service for you for half-a-crown; he was
fined five shillings last week for drunkenness and profane swearing.
Would it be agreeable to your ladyship to be turned off by such an
impious rogue? There is the Rev. Mr. Wigmore will do it for less, if
you promise to lay out your wedding money afterwards on what he calls
his Nantz: he hath twice been fined for selling spirituous drinks
without a license. Who would trust herself to a man so regardless of
his profession? Or the Rev. John Mottram--but there, your ladyship
would not like to have it read in a prison. Now, at the Doctor's is a
snug room with hassocks. There is, forsooth, the Rev. Walter Wyatt,
brother of him who keeps the first Pen and Hand after you turn the
corner; but sure, such a sweet young lady would scorn to look for
drink after the service; or the Rev. John Grierson, or Mr. Walker, or
Mr. Alexander Keith, will do it for what they can get, ay! even--it is
reported--down to eighteenpence or a shilling, with a sixpennyworth of
Geneva. But your ladyship must think of your lines; and where is your
security against treachery? No, ladies. The Doctor is the only man; a
gentleman enjoying the liberties of the Fleet, for which he hath given
security; a Cambridge scholar; who receives at his lodging none but the
quality; no less a fee than a guinea, with half-a-crown for the clerk,
ever enters his house. The guinea, ladies, includes the five-shilling
stamp, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which binds
the happy pair like an act of parliament or a piece of cobbler's wax.
This cheapness is certainly due to the benevolence and piety of the
Doctor, who would be loth indeed to place obstacles in the way of so
Christian and religious a ceremony."
"We have certainly," cried Mrs. Gambit, in dismay at such a flow of
words, "got into Tom Fool's Land. This man is worse than the parsons at
the Coffee-house."
"Now, ladies," the fellow went on, throwing the door wide open with
a fling, and letting down the steps, "this is the house. Look at it,
ladies!"
We got down and stood looking at it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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