The Expedition of Humphry ClinkerSmollett, T. (Tobias)
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The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
Smollett, T. (Tobias)
Epistolary fiction; Great Britain -- Fiction; Travelers -- Fiction
After having endured all but real suffocation for above a quarter of an
hour in the tub, I was moved to the bed and wrapped in blankets.--There
I lay a full hour panting with intolerable heat; but not the least
moisture appearing on my skin, I was carried to my own chamber, and
passed the night without closing an eye, in such a flutter of spirits as
rendered me the most miserable wretch in being. I should certainly
have run distracted, if the rarefaction of my blood, occasioned by
that Stygian bath, had not burst the vessels, and produced a violent
haemorrhage, which, though dreadful and alarming, removed the horrible
disquiet--I lost two pounds of blood, and more, on this occasion; and
find myself still weak and languid; but, I believe, a little exercise
will forward my recovery, and therefore I am resolved to set out
to-morrow for York, in my way to Scarborough, where I propose to brace
up my fibres by sea-bathing, which, I know, is one of your favourite
specificks. There is, however, one disease, for which you have found as
yet no specific, and that is old age, of which this tedious unconnected
epistle is an infallible symptom: what, therefore, cannot be cured, must
be endured, by you, as well as by
Yours, MATT. BRAMBLE HARRIGATE, June 26.
To Sir WATKIN PHILLIPS, Bart. of Jesus college, Oxon.
DEAR KNIGHT,
The manner of living at Harrigate was so agreeable to my disposition,
that I left the place with some regret--Our aunt Tabby would have
probably made some objection to our departing so soon, had not an
accident embroiled her with Mr Micklewhimmen, the Scotch advocate,
on whose heart she had been practising, from the second day after our
arrival--That original, though seemingly precluded from the use of
his limbs, had turned his genius to good account--In short, by dint of
groaning, and whining, he had excited the compassion of the company so
effectually, that an old lady, who occupied the very best apartment in
the house, gave it up for his ease and convenience. When his man led him
into the Long Room, all the females were immediately in commotion--One
set an elbow-chair; another shook up the cushion; a third brought a
stool; and a fourth a pillow, for the accommodation of his feet--
Two ladies (of whom Tabby was always one) supported him into the
dining-room, and placed him properly at the table; and his taste was
indulged with a succession of delicacies, culled by their fair hands.
All this attention he repaid with a profusion of compliments and
benedictions, which were not the less agreeable for being delivered in
the Scottish dialect. As for Mrs Tabitha, his respects were particularly
addressed to her, and he did not fail to mingle them with religious
reflections, touching free grace, knowing her bias to methodism, which
he also professed upon a calvinistical model.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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