Jones, who was as much pleased with Partridge, as Partridge could be with him, and who had not consulted his own inclination, but the good of the other, in desiring him to stay behind, when he found his friend so resolute, at last gave his consent; but then recollecting himself, he said, 'Perhaps, Mr. Partridge, you think I shall be able to support you, but I really am not;' and then taking out his purse, he told out nine guineas, which he declared were his whole fortune. Partridge answered, That his depend begin by telling you, sir, that you yourself have been the greatest enemy I ever had.' Jones was a little startled at this sudden declaration. 'I your enemy, sir!' says he, with much amazement, and some sternness in his look. Nay, be not angry,' said Benjamin, for I promise you I am not. You are perfectly innocent of having intended me any wrong; for you was then an infant: but I shall, I believe, unriddle all this the moment I mention my name. Did you never hear, sir, of one Partridge, who had the honour of being reputed your father, and the misfortune of being ruined by that honour?'-'Ience was only on his future favour; for have, indeed, heard of that Partridge,' says he was thoroughly convinced he would Jones, and have always believed myself to shortly have enough in his power. At be his son.''Well, sir,' answered Benja- present, sir,' said he, 'I believe I am rather min, 'I am that Partridge; but I here ab- the richer man of the two; but all I have solve you from all filial duty, for I do assure is at your service, and at your disposal. I you, you are no son of mine.'- How!' re-insist upon your taking the whole, and I plied Jones, and is it possible that a false beg only to attend you in the quality of suspicion should have drawn all the ill con- your servant; Nil desperandum est Teusequences upon you, with which I am too cro duce et auspice Teucro:' but to this well acquainted?'-'It is possible,' cries Ben- generous proposal concerning the money, jamin, for it is so: but though it is natural Jones would by no means submit. enough for men to hate even the innocent causes of their sufferings, yet I am of a different temper. I have loved you ever since I heard of your behaviour to Black George, as I told you; and I am convinced, from this extraordinary meeting, that you are born to make me amends for all I have suffered on that account. Besides, I dreamed, the night before I saw you, that I stumbled over a stool without hurting myself; which plainly showed me something good was towards me; and last night I dreamed again, that I rode behind youon a milk-white mare, which is a very excellent dream, and betokens much good fortune, which I am resolved to pursue, unless you have the cruelty to deny me.' 'I should be very glad, Mr. Partridge,' answered Jones, 'to have it in my power to make you amends for your sufferings on my account, though at present I see no likelihood of it; however, I assure you I will deny you nothing which is in my power to grant.' 'It is in your power, sure enough,' replied Benjamin; for I desire nothing more than leave to attend you in this expedition. Nay, I have so entirely set my heart upon it, that if you should refuse me, you will kill both a barber and a surgeon in one breath.' Jones answered, smiling, that he should be very sorry to be the occasion of so much mischief to the public. He then advanced many prudential reasons, in order to dissuade Benjamin, (whom we shall hereafter call Partridge,) from his purpose; but all were in vain. Partridge relied strongly on his dream of the milk-white mare. Besides, sir,' says he, 'I promise you I have as good an inclination to the cause as any man can possibly have; and go I will, whether you admit me to go in your company or not. It was resolved to set out the next morning; when a difficulty arose concerning the baggage; for the portmanteau of Mr. Jones was too large to be carried without a horse. 'If I may presume to give my advice,' says Partridge, this portmanteau, with every thing in it, except a few shirts, should be left behind. Those I shall be easily able to carry for you, and the rest of your clothes will remain very safe locked up in my house.' This method was no sooner proposed than agreed to; and then the barber departed, in order to prepare every thing for his intended expedition. CHAPTER VII. Containing better reasons than any which have yet appeared for the conduct of Partridge; an apology for the weakness of Jones; and some further anecdotes concerning my landlady. THOUGH Partridge was one of the most superstitious of men, he would hardly perhaps have desired to accompany Jones on his expedition merely from the omens of the joint-stool and white mare, if his prospect had been no better than to have shared the plunder gained in the field of battle. In fact, when Partridge came to ruminate on the relation he had heard from Jones, he could not reconcile to himself that Mr. Allworthy should turn his son, (for so he most firmly believed him to be,) out of doors, for any reason which he had heard assigned. He concluded, therefore, that the whole was a fiction, and that Jones, of whom he had often, from his correspondents, heard the wildest charac ter, had in reality run away from his father. It came into his head, therefore, that if he could prevail with the young gentleman to return back to his father, he should by that means render a service to Allworthy which would obliterate all his former anger; nay, indeed, he conceived that very anger was counterfeited, and that Allworthy had sacrificed him to his own reputation. And this suspicion, indeed, he well accounted for, from the tender behaviour of that excellent man to the foundling child; from his great severity to Partridge, who, knowing himself to be innocent, could not conceive that any other should think him guilty; lastly, from the allowance which he had privately received long after the annuity had been publicly taken from him, and which he looked upon as a kind of smart-money, or rather by way of atonement for injustice; for it is very uncommon, I believe, for men to ascribe the benefactions they receive, to poor charity, when they can possibly impute them to any other motive. If he could by any means, therefore, persuade the young gentleman to return home, he doubted not but that he should again be received into the favour of Allworthy, and well rewarded for his pains; nay, and should be again restored to his native country; a restoration which Ulysses himself never wished more heartily than poor Partridge. As for Jones, he was well satisfied with the truth of what the other had asserted, and believed that Partridge had no other inducements but love to him, and zeal for the cause ;-a blameable want of caution and diffidence in the veracity of others, in which he was highly worthy of censure. To say the truth, there are but two ways by which men become possessed of this excellent quality. The one is from long experience, and the other is from nature; which last, I presume, is often meant by genius, or great natural parts; and it is infinitely the better of the two, not only as we are masters of it much earlier in life, but as it is much more infallible and conclusive; for a man who hath been imposed on by ever so many, may still hope to find others more honest; whereas he who receives certain necessary admonitions from within, that this is impossible, must have very little understanding indeed, if he ever renders himself liable to be once deceived. As Jones had not this gift from nature, he was too young to have gained it by experience; for at the diffident wisdom which is to be acquired this way, we seldom arrive till very late in life; which is perhaps the reason why some old men are apt to despise the understandings of all those who are a little younger than themselves. Jones spent most part of the day in the company of a new acquaintance. This was no other than the landlord of the house, or rather the husband of the landlady. He had but lately made his descent down stairs, after a long fit of the gout, in which distemper he was generally confined to his room during one half of the year; and during the rest, he walked about the house, smoked his pipe, and drank his bottle with his friends, without concerning himself in the least with any kind of business. He had been bred, as they call it, a gentleman; that is, bred up to do nothing; and had spent a very small fortune, which he inherited from an industrious farmer his uncle, in hunting, horseracing, and cock-fighting; and had been married by my landlady for certain purposes, which he had long since desisted from answering; for which she hated him heartily. But as he was a surly kind of fellow, so she contented herself with frequently upbraiding him by disadvantageous comparisons with her first husband, whose praise she had eternally in her mouth; and as she was for the most part mistress of the profit, so she was satisfied to take upon herself the care and government of the family, and, after a long and successful struggle, to suffer her husband to be master of himself. In the evening, when Jones retired to his room, a small dispute arose between this fond couple concerning him:-'What,' says the wife, you have been tippling with the gentleman, I see!'-'Yes," answered the husband, we have cracked a bottle together, and a very gentlemanlike man he is, and hath a very pretty notion of horse-flesh. Indeed, he is young, and hath not seen much of the world; for I believe he hath been at very few horseraces.'-'O ho! he is one of your order, is he?' replies the landlady: he must be a gentleman, to be sure, if he is a horseracer. The devil fetch such gentry: I am sure I wish I had never seen any of them. I have reason to love horse-racers, truly! That you have,' says the husband; for I was one, you know.'-' Yes,' answered she, 'you are a pure one, indeed. As my first husband used to say, I may put all the good I have ever got by you in my eyes, and see never the worse.''D-n your first husband,' cries he.Don't d-n a better man than yourself,' answered the wife: if he had been alive, you durst not have done it.'-'Then you think,' says he, I have not so much courage as yourself; for you have d-n'd him often in my hearing.If I did,' said she, I have repented of it many's the good time and oft: and if he was so good to forgive me a word spoken in haste or so, it doth not become such a one as you to twitter me. He was a husband to me, he was; and if ever I did make use of an ill word or so in a passion, I never called him rascal; I should have told a lie, if I had called him rascal.' Much more she said, but not in his hearing; for having lighted his pipe, he staggered off as fast as he could. We shall therefore transcribe no more of her speech, as it approached still nearer and nearer to a subject too indelicate to find any place in this history. reality near six feet high,) having left Early in the morning Partridge appeared at the bedside of Jones, ready equipped for the journey, with his knapsack at his back. This was his own workmanship; for, besides his other trades, he was no indifferent tailor. He had already put up his whole stock of linen in it, consisting of four shirts, to which he now added eight for Mr. Jones; and then packing up the portmanteau, he was departing with it towards his own house, but was stopped in his way by the landlady, who refused to suffer any removals till after the pay-life to which she is called; and this resigment of the reckoning. nation is entirely owing to the prudence and wisdom of her temper; for she is at present as free from any methodistical notions as her husband: I say at present; for she The landlady was, as we have said, absolute governess in these regions; it was therefore necessary to comply with her rules; so the bill was presently writ out, which amount-freely confesses that her brother's docued to a much larger sum than might have been expected, from the entertainment which Jones had met with. But here we are obliged to disclose some maxims, which publicans hold to be the grand mysteries of their trade. The first is, if they have any thing good in their house, (which indeed very seldom happens,) to produce it only to persons who travel with great equipages. Secondly, to charge the same for the very worst provisions, as if they were the best. And, lastly, if any of their guests call but for little, to make them pay a double price for every thing they have; so that the amount by the head may be much the same. ments made at first some impression upon her, and that she had put herself to the expense of a long hood, in order to attend the extraordinary emotions of the Spirit; but having found, during an experiment of three weeks, no emotion, she says, worth a farthing, she very wisely laid by her hood, and abandoned the sect. To be concise, she is a very friendly good-natured woman; and so industrious to oblige, that the guests must be of a very morose disposition who are not extremely well satisfied in her house. Mrs. Whitefield happened to be in the yard when Jones and his attendant marched in. Her sagacity soon discovered in the air of our hero something which disThe bill being made and discharged, tinguished him from the vulgar. She orJones set forward with Partridge, carry-dered her servants, therefore, immediately ing his knapsack; nor did the landlady to show him into a room, and presently afcondescend to wish him a good journey; for this was, it seems, an inn frequented by people of fashion; and I know not whence it is, but all those who get their livelihood by people of fashion, contract as much insolence to the rest of mankind, as if they really belonged to that rank themselves. terwards invited him to dinner with herself; which invitation he very thankfully accepted; for indeed much less agreeable company than that of Mrs. Whitefield, and a much worse entertainment than she had provided, would have been welcome, after so long fasting, and so long a walk. Besides Mr. Jones and the good governess of the mansion, there sat down at table an attorney of Salisbury, indeed the very same who had brought the news of Mrs. Blifil's death to Mr. Allworthy, and whose name, which I think we did not before mention, was Dowling: there was likewise present MR. Jones and Partridge, or Little Ben- another person, who styled himself a lawjamin, (which epithet of Little was per-yer, and who lived somewhere near Linhaps given him ironically, he being in linch, in Somersetshire. This fellow, I CHAPTER VIII. Jones arrives at Gloucester, and goes to the Bell: the character of that house, and of a pettifogger which he there meets with. say, styled himself a lawyer, but was indeed the arm of one Mr. Thwackum, a clergya most vile pettifogger, without sense or man, only because he reprimanded him for knowledge of any kind; one of those who following whores; and afterwards he snapt may be termed trainbearers to the law; a a pistol at Mr. Blifil behind his back; and sort of supernumeraries in the profession, once, when Squire Allworthy was sick, he who are the hackneys of attorneys, and got a drum, and beat it all over the house, will ride more miles for half a crown than to prevent him from sleeping; and twenty a postboy. other pranks he hath played, for all which, During the time of dinner, the Somer-about four or five days ago, just before Í setshire lawyer recollected the face of left the country, the squire stripped him Jones, which he had seen at Mr. Allwor- stark naked, and turned him out of doors.' thy's; for he had often visited in that gen- 'And very justly, too, I protest,' cries tleman's kitchen. He therefore took oc- Dowling; I would turn my own son out casion to inquire after the good family of doors, if he was guilty of half as much. there with that familiarity which would And pray what is the name of this pretty have become an intimate friend or acquaint- gentleman?' ance of Mr. Allworthy; and indeed he did all in his power to insinuate himself to be such, though he had never had the honour of speaking to any person in that family higher than the butler. Jones answered all his questions with much civility, though he never remembered to have seen the pettifogger before; and though he concluded, from the outward appearance and behaviour of the man, that he usurped a freedom with his betters, to which he was by no means entitled. As the conversation of fellows of this kind is of all others the most detestable to men of any sense, the cloth was no sooner removed than Mr. Jones withdrew, and a little barbarously left poor Mrs. Whitefield to do a penance, which I have often heard Mr. Timothy Harris, and other publicans of good taste, lament, as the severest lot annexed to their calling, namely, that of being obliged to keep company with their guests. "The name o' un? answered Pettifogger; why, he is called Thomas Jones." 'Jones' answered Dowling, a little eagerly; what, Mr. Jones that lived at Mr. Allworthy's! was that the gentleman that dined with us? The very same,' said the other. I have heard of the gentleman,' cries Dowling, 'often; but I never heard any ill character of him.'—' And I am sure,' says Mrs. Whitefield, ‘if half what this gentleman hath said be true, Mr. Jones hath the most deceitful countenance I ever saw; for sure his looks promise something very different; and I must say, for the little I have seen of him, he is as civil a well-bred man as you would wish to converse with.' me? I promise you every syllable of what I have said is a fact, and the whole country knows it.' Pettifogger calling to mind that he had not been sworn, as he usually was, before he gave his evidence, now bound what he had declared with so many oaths and imprecations, that the landlady's ears were shocked, and she put a stop to his swearJones had no sooner quitted the room, ing, by assuring him of her belief. Upon than the pettifogger, in a whispering tone, which he said, I hope, madam, you imaasked Mrs. Whitefield, 'If she knew who gine I would scorn to tell such things of that fine spark was? She answered, 'She any man, unless I knew them to be true. had never seen the gentleman before.'- What interest have I in taking away the "The gentleman, indeed!' replied the pet-reputation of a man who never injured tifogger; 'a pretty gentleman,truly! Why, he's the bastard of a fellow who was hanged for horse-stealing. He was dropped at Squire Allworthy's door, where one of the servants found him in a box so full of rainwater that he would certainly have been drowned, had he not been reserved for another fate.-Ay, ay, you need not mention it, I protest; we understand what that fate is very well,' cries Dowling, with a most facetious grin.-'Well,' continued the other, the squire ordered him to be taken in; for he is a timbersome man every body knows, and was afraid of drawing himself into a scrape; and there the bastard was bred up, and fed, and clothified to all the world like any gentleman; and there he got one of the servant-maids with child, and persuaded her to swear it to the squire himself; and afterwards he broke · As Mrs. Whitefield had no reason to suspect that the pettifogger had any motive or temptation to abuse Jones, the reader cannot blame her for believing what he so confidently affirmed with many oaths. She accordingly gave up her skill in physiognomy, and henceforward conceived so ill an opinion of her guest, that she heartily wished him out of her house. ་ This dislike was now farther increased by a report which Mr. Whitefield made from the kitchen, where Partridge had informed the company, That though he carried the knapsack, and contented himself with staying among servants, while Tom Jones, (as he called him,) was regaling in the parlour, he was not his ser vant, but only a friend and companion, I therefore paid his reckoning and departed, and as good a gentleman as Mr. Jones highly against the will of Mr. Partridge, himself.' who having remonstrated much against it to no purpose, at last condescended to take up his knapsack, and to attend his friend. Dowling sat all this while silent, biting his fingers, making faces, grinning, and looking wonderfully arch; at last he opened his lips, and protested that the gentleman looked like another sort of man. He then called for his bill with the utmost haste, declared he must be at Hereford that evening, lamented his great hurry of business, and wished he could divide himself into twenty pieces, in order to be at once in twenty places. CHAPTER IX. Containing several dialogues between Jones and Partridge, concerning love, cold, hunger, and other matters; with the lucky and narrow escape of Partridge, as he was on the very brink of making a fatal discovery to his friend. The pettifogger now likewise departed, THE shadows began now to descend and then Jones desired the favour of Mrs. larger from the high mountains; the Whitefield's company to drink tea with feathered creation had betaken themselves him; but she refused, and with a manner to their rest. Now the highest order of so different from that with which she had mortals were sitting down to their dinners, received him at dinner, that it a little sur- and the lowest order to their suppers. In prised him. And now he soon perceived a word, the clock struck five just as Mr. her behaviour totally changed; for instead Jones took his leave of Gloucester; an of that natural affability which we have hour at which, (as it was now mid-winter,) before celebrated, she wore a constrained the dirty fingers of night would have severity on her countenance, which was drawn her sable curtain over the universe, so disagreeable to Mr. Jones, that he re- had not the moon forbid her, who now, solved, however late, to quit the house with a face as broad and as red as those that evening. of some jolly mortals, who, like her, turn He did indeed account somewhat un-night into day, began to rise from her bed, fairly for this sudden change; for, besides where she had slumbered away the day, some hard and unjust surmises concerning in order to sit up all night. Jones had not female fickleness and mutability, he began travelled far before he paid his complito suspect that he owed this want of ments to that beautiful planet, and, turncivility to his want of horses; a sort of ing to his companion, asked him if he had animals which, as they dirty no sheets, ever beheld so delicious an evening? Parare thought in inns to pay better for their tridge making no ready answer to his beds than their riders, and are therefore question, he proceeded to comment on the considered as the more desirable company; beauty of the moon, and repeated some but Mrs. Whitefield, to do her justice, had passages from Milton, who hath certainly a much more liberal way of thinking. She excelled all other poets in his description was perfectly well-bred, and could be very of the heavenly luminaries. He then told civil to a gentleman, though he walked on Partridge the story from the Spectator, foot. In reality, she looked on our hero as of two lovers who had agreed to entertain a sorry scoundrel, and therefore treated themselves when they were at a great dishim as such; for which not even Jones tance from each other, by repairing, at a himself, had he known as much as the certain fixed hour, to look at the moon; reader, could have blamed her; nay, on thus pleasing themselves with the thought the contrary, he must have approved her that they were both employed in contemconduct, and have esteemed her the more plating the same object at the same time. for the disrespect shown towards himself. Those lovers,' added he, 'must have had This is indeed a most aggravating circum-souls truly capable of feeling all the tenstance which attends depriving men un-derness of the sublimest of all human pasjustly of their reputation; for a man who sions.' is conscious of having an ill character, 'Very probably,' cries Partridge; 'but cannot justly be angry with those who I envy them more, if they had bodies incaneglect and slight him; but ought rather pable of feeling cold: for I am almost to despise such as affect his conversation, frozen to death, and I am very much unless where a perfect intimacy must have afraid I shall lose a piece of my nose beconvinced them that their friend's charac-fore we get to another house of entertainter hath been falsely and injuriously as-ment. Nay, truly, we may well expect persed. some judgment should happen to us for This was not, however, the case of our folly in running away so by night from Jones; for as he was a perfect stranger to the truth, so he was with good reason offended at the treatment he received. He one of the most excellent inns I ever set my foot into. I am sure I never saw more good things in my life, and the greatest |