The Expedition of Humphry ClinkerSmollett, T. (Tobias)
General
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
Smollett, T. (Tobias)
Epistolary fiction; Great Britain -- Fiction; Travelers -- Fiction
I can assure you, my uncle, who saw and heard every thing that passed,
was as much moved as any one of the parties concerned in this pathetic
recognition--He sobbed, and wept, and clapped his hands, and hollowed,
and finally ran down into the street. By this time, the captain had
retired with his parents, and all the inhabitants of the place were
assembled at the door.--Mr Bramble, nevertheless, pressed thro’ the
crowd, and entering the house, ‘Captain (said he), I beg the favour of
your acquaintance. I would have travelled a hundred miles to see this
affecting scene; and I shall think myself happy if you and your parents
will dine with me at the public house.’ The captain thanked him for his
kind invitation, which, he said, he would accept with pleasure; but in
the mean time, he could not think of eating or drinking, while his poor
brother was in trouble. He forthwith deposited a sum equal to the debt
in the hands of the magistrate, who ventured to set his brother at
liberty without farther process; and then the whole family repaired to
the inn with my uncle, attended by the crowd, the individuals of which
shook their townsman by the hand, while he returned their caresses
without the least sign of pride or affectation.
This honest favourite of fortune, whose name was Brown, told my uncle,
that he had been bred a weaver, and, about eighteen years ago, had,
from a spirit of idleness and dissipation, enlisted as a soldier in the
service of the East-India company; that, in the course of duty, he had
the good fortune to attract the notice and approbation of Lord Clive,
who preferred him from one step to another, till he attained the rank
of captain and pay-master to the regiment, in which capacities he
had honestly amassed above twelve thousand pounds, and, at the peace,
resigned his commission.--He had sent several remittances to his father,
who received the first only, consisting of one hundred pounds; the
second had fallen into the hands of a bankrupt; and the third had been
consigned to a gentleman of Scotland, who died before it arrived; so
that it still remained to be accounted for by his executors. He now
presented the old man with fifty pounds for his present occasions, over
and above bank notes for one hundred, which he had deposited for his
brother’s release.--He brought along with him a deed ready executed, by
which he settled a perpetuity of four-score pounds upon his parents, to
be inherited by their other two sons after their decease.--He promised
to purchase a commission for his youngest brother; to take the other as
his own partner in a manufacture which he intended to set up, to give
employment and bread to the industrious; and to give five hundred
pounds, by way of dower, to his sister, who had married a farmer in low
circumstances. Finally, he gave fifty pounds to the poor of the town
where he was born, and feasted all the inhabitants without exception.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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