The Miscellaneous Works of Tobias Smollett, M.D. (Volume 3); The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, PT. 2. Plays and Poems (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: cheating unperceived; by fortunehuntcrs, who wanted to mate prize of widows and heiresses; by debauchees, who were disposed to lie with other men's wives; by coxcombs, who longed for the death of their father's; by wenches with child, who wished themselves rid of their burdens; by merchants, who had insured above value, and thirsted after the news of a wreck; by underwriters, who prayed for the gift of prescience, that they might venture money upon such ships only as should perform the voyage in safety; by Jews, who wanted to foresee the fluctuations of stock; by usurers, who advanced money upon undecided causes; by clients, who were dubious of the honesty of their counsel: in short, all matters of uncertain issue were appealed to this tribunal; and, in point of caleulation, De Moivre was utterly neglected. CHAPTER LXXXIV. T/te conjurer and his associate execute a plan of vengeance against certain infidels wlio pretend to despise theirart; and Peregrine achieves an adventure with a young nobleman. Ijy these means, the whole variety of characters, undisguised, passed, as it were, in review before the confederates, who, by divers ingenious contrivances, punished the most flagrant offenders with as mucfi severity as the nature of their plan would allow. At length they projected a scheme for chastising a number of their own acquaintance, who had all along professed the utmost contempt for the talent of this conjurer, which they endeavoured to ridicule in all companies, where his surprising art was the subject of discourse; not that they had sense and discernment enough to perceive the absurdity of his pretensions, but affected a singularity of opinion, with a view of insulting the inferior understandings of those who were deceived by such an idle impostor. Peregrine, ind...