The Adventures of Roderick Random

Rescuing Narcissa from Sir Timothy’s brutal assault

Narcissa visits Miss Thicket and agrees to walk home in the cool evening accompanied by Sir Timothy, who, emboldened by the solitude of the field they pass through, uses unbecoming familiarity with her that escalates to an attempted violent assault when she rebukes him harshly for his rudeness.

Defeating Sir Timothy and aiding the fainted Narcissa

Hearing Narcissa’s cries for help, Roderick rushes to her aid; he strikes Sir Timothy’s weapon from his hand and beats him unconscious with his cudgel. Finding Narcissa has fainted, he supports her head on his chest and holds her until she revives, and she thanks him as they walk back to the house together. He spots Sir Timothy recovering and walking home, filling him with dread of the rival’s revenge, as he knows Sir Timothy is close to their squire and could justify the assault as a romantic advance.

Declaring unrequited love to Narcissa

At the house, Narcissa offers to protect Roderick from Sir Timothy and her aunt’s anger, and offers him money as thanks for his service, which he refuses to avoid appearing mercenary. He kneels, kisses her hand, and confesses he is a gentleman by birth who loves her desperately, explaining he would not have made the confession while in servitude, and declares his intention to flee her presence and bury his passion forever before leaving before she can respond.

Fleeing rival’s revenge, capture by smugglers, and transport to Boulogne

Roderick consults Mrs. Sagely, who warns him Sir Timothy will have him arrested and possibly transported for assaulting a magistrate, gives him two guineas, and urges him to flee. He escapes in the dark to the seaside, where he is surrounded by armed smugglers, bound, and taken aboard their cutter, where they accuse him of being a spy. After a council votes to maroon him in France rather than kill him, he hides six guineas in his sock to avoid being robbed, but is still stripped of his pocket money and hat by a smuggler before being set ashore in Boulogne.

Reuniting with destitute Uncle Lieutenant Bowling

Seeking refreshment at a public house in Boulogne, Roderick spots a disheveled Dutch sailor who, despite his shabby clothes and long beard, he recognizes as his long-lost uncle and benefactor Lieutenant Bowling. He reveals his identity as Roderick Random, and Bowling is overjoyed to see him but deeply distressed by his own destitute condition and inability to offer the younger man any help.

Relieving Uncle Bowling’s financial distress

Moved by his uncle’s poverty, Roderick gives Bowling five guineas to cover his passage back to London to petition the Admiralty; Bowling initially tries to refuse more than two guineas, but relents after Roderick insists. Roderick immediately orders food and drink for his uncle, who has not eaten in two days after being shipwrecked and abandoned by his former Dutch shipmates.

Conversation recounting Uncle Bowling’s past misadventures

After eating, Bowling recounts his misadventures since the accident at Cape Tiberoon: he spent his last money at Port Louis, was forced to enlist as a common foremast man on a French king’s ship for two years to avoid starving, was promoted to quartermaster on a West Indies voyage under Monsieur D’Antin, left the French service out of guilt for fighting his countrymen, reached Curaçao, tried to work passage to Holland to contact his English friends, but was shipwrecked on the French coast and left destitute until Roderick found him. He also outlines his plan to petition the Admiralty to clear his name and get reinstated, and promises to use his connections to help Roderick become a surgeon’s mate.

CHAPTER XLII

The narrator and his uncle Bowling arrange passage on a cutter bound for Deal, but before departing they are approached by a Scottish priest who discovers they share the same regional origins and becomes emotional with recognition. The uncle quarrels with the priest over religion, but the narrator cultivates the priest’s friendship and accepts his invitation to visit the convent, where he declines an offer to join as a noviciate despite eloquent praise of monastic life. The priest instead procures letters of recommendation and introduces him to a Capuchin friar named Frere Balthazar, with whom he sets out for Paris. During the journey, the narrator discovers his lewd companion to be a carnally-minded hypocrite who makes free with the favors of peasant girls along the road. At a night’s lodging near Abbeville, Balthazar facilitates the narrator’s assignation with a pretty girl named Nanette, then reveals to the horrified traveler that he has also been intimate with her sister for the sake of family harmony. The narrator is disgusted by the monk’s want of principle and his complete departure from his vows of chastity and mortification.