The Adventures of Roderick Random

Ranter Flees After Forced Leap Over Sword

Instead of leaping, Ranter snatches his hat and hanger, assumes the swagger of Pistol, and delivers a bombastic declamation drawn from Shakespeare’s Henry IV. The performance fails to amuse the company, who urge him to demonstrate his leaping ability. When Bragwell applies the point of his sword to the player’s posteriors, Ranter springs over in an instant and vanishes through the unguarded door, evidently relieved to have settled his share of the reckoning so easily.

Group Departs Venue, Bragwell Left Asleep

With the hour now near two in the morning, the company discharges the bill and sallies into the street. The painter slips away without taking leave, the inebriated Billy Chatter is dispatched to a bagnio, and Banter accompanies the narrator in escorting Bragwell to Moll King’s coffee-house. After Bragwell kicks half a dozen hungry whores, he is left asleep on a bench while the narrator and Banter make their way toward Charing-cross, where both lodge nearby.

Narrator Reconciles With Banter Over Earlier Comment

Buoyed by liquor, Banter offers the narrator compliments and professions of friendship as they walk. The narrator responds that he is pleased to have removed the unfavourable impression Banter initially formed of him, and mentions having overheard Banter’s remarks about him to Wagtail in the coffee-house. Banter laughs, apologizes for his freedom, and explains that the narrator’s appearance had actually prepossessed him in his favour, his earlier words being intended only as a joke on the doctor’s solemnity. The narrator is pleased to be undeceived, and the two part with a handshake and a promise to meet the next day at the ordinary.

KAPITEL XLVI.

This is Chapter XLVI (chapter index 46, chapter number 47) of the work, with no associated text fragments. The chapter chronicles Random’s evening out with Dr. Wagtail and Wagtail’s circle of acquaintances at a tavern, covering their initial introductions, cruel pranks targeted at Wagtail, a staged paternity accusation against the doctor, a forced acrobatic stunt for a disruptive companion, and the chaotic conclusion to the night’s revelry.

Wagtail Introduces Random to Tavern Companions

Wagtail brings Random to meet his group of acquaintances at a tavern, where Random immediately recognizes the group as the men whose laughter the night prior had raised his suspicion of the woman he had previously protected. Wagtail formally introduces each member of the circle to Random: Bragwell, Banter, Chatter, Slyboot, and Ranter. Random notices Slyboot sticks his tongue out at him during their handshake, and Ranter mimics his mannerisms, voice, and features, but Random chooses to ignore the slights initially, planning to address the insolence at a more convenient time.

Initial Introduction to Wagtail’s Acquaintances

Following the formal introductions, Slyboot, guessing Random is a stranger, asks if he has recently traveled to France and visited the Luxembourg Gallery. When Random confirms he has studied the gallery in detail, the two discuss the artwork, and Random learns Slyboot works as a painter. Shortly after, Banter questions Wagtail about Random’s background; Wagtail boasts Random is a wealthy gentleman from an ancient northern family and a distant relation of his own, while Banter jokes Random is a French valet-de-chambre. Random is offended by the jab but chooses to tolerate the slight to preserve his access to the group’s social connections.

Tavern Conversation Reveals Character Flaws

The group moves to a private tavern room, orders French wine and supper, and as drinking progresses, the cruel, mocking nature of Wagtail’s companions becomes clear. The group treats Wagtail as a butt for their jokes to entertain the company: Ranter feigns a set of overlapping ailments to trick Wagtail into delivering an overly long, overly technical medical lecture, then mocks the doctor’s pedantry. The group’s willingness to humiliate Wagtail for their own amusement establishes their selfish, cruel character traits.

Tinder Water Hoax Against Doctor Wagtail

As a follow-up to his feigned illness prank, Ranter invents a fictional “tinder water” as a universal cure for all human ailments, claiming it was created by a German monk and shared with Paracelsus. The rest of the group elaborate on the absurd hoax, attributing the cure’s origins to Solomon and a fake Greek manuscript found in Palestine, and describing an absurd process to distill the water that requires a church-sized retort and heat from feverish patients in an infirmary. The gullible Wagtail takes the hoax entirely seriously, praising the “expedient” and expressing interest in putting the fake cure into practice, much to the amusement of the entire company.