The Adventures of Roderick Random

Securing Military Discharge

Strap, reminded of the narrator’s military status, declares they must procure his discharge, mentioning that he has some interest with a nobleman able to do that favour.

Journey to Paris and London

The chapter’s outline indicates that the friends take a trip to Paris and, by way of Flanders, set out for London, where they safely arrive.

CAPÍTULO XLIV.

Chapter XLIV of The Adventures of Roderick Random traces Random’s transformation from discharged soldier to gentleman. D’Estrapes secures his release from the regiment of Picardy, proposes a scheme for Random to woo a wealthy lady by passing as a gentleman, and the two travel to Paris to acquire the necessary apparel and accoutrements. After a month of fashionable life in the French capital, they continue by way of Flanders to London.

Schemes for the Legacy

Random and d’Estrapes spend an evening over a bottle of Burgundy trying to determine how to make themselves easy for life on the proceeds of the deceased gentleman’s legacy. Their canvassing produces no concrete resolution, and they part having only recommended the matter to each other’s serious future attention.

D’Estrapes Plans the Discharge

The two men agree on a course of action: d’Estrapes will wait on the Marquis in the morning and claim to have accidentally found the nobleman’s long-lost brother serving as a private soldier in the regiment of Picardy. He will then implore the Marquis to use his interest to obtain a discharge for Random.

Nighttime Reflections on a Career

Before he can devise any feasible project, Random reflects on possible careers and dismisses each in turn. The smallness of their stock deters him from trade; the profession is already overstocked in his own country, and in England he would lack friends and face powerful opposition. He likewise refuses to rise in the state through flattery, pimping for courtiers, or prostituting his pen in defence of a contemptible administration.

A Dream of Narcissa

Exhausted by his fruitless scheming, Random falls asleep and is visited by a dream in which Narcissa smiles upon his passion and offers her hand as the reward of all his toils.

Strap’s Fortune-Hunting Proposal

Early the next morning Random finds d’Estrapes exulting in a “lucky thought” he considers superior to any of Random’s learned notions. His bold plan: Random should appear as the gentleman he truly is and make addresses to a lady of fortune who can render him independent at once. D’Estrapes offers his ducal-quality clothes, suggests a short trip to Paris to procure all other necessaries, and proposes to attend Random in England in the quality of a valet, thereby saving the expense of a servant, shaving, and dressing.

The Plan to Woo a Lady of Fortune

D’Estrapes insists the scheme is both prudent and honourable: he would not have Random throw himself away on a sickly old dame, nor cheat some poor lady by imitating a wealthy squire, as common fortune-hunters do. Knowing Random’s genuine merits of mind and body, he believes they entitle him to a match that will set him above the world. Random listens with pleasure because the proposal flatters his vanity and indulges the ridiculous hope he has begun to entertain of inspiring Narcissa with a mutual flame.

Obtaining the Discharge

After breakfast d’Estrapes pays his respects to the Marquis and pleads Random’s case so successfully that within a few days Random receives his discharge from the army.

Arrival in Paris

With his discharge in hand, Random and d’Estrapes set out for Paris, where Random has leisure to reflect on the sudden transition of his fate. Rising in an instant from the most abject misery and contempt to the quiet possession of considerable means, he recognises that bearing such good fortune with moderation requires some degree of philosophy and self-denial.

Inventory of a Gentleman’s Wardrobe

Random details the gentleman’s wardrobe he now commands: five fashionable coats (two plain, one of cut velvet, one trimmed with gold, another with silver lace), two frocks (white drab with plate buttons, and blue with gold binding), waistcoats of gold brocade, blue satin embroidered with silver, green silk with figured broad gold lace, black silk with fringes, white satin, black cloth, and scarlet, six pairs of cloth breeches, one each of crimson and black velvet, twelve pairs each of white and black silk stockings, the same number of white cotton, four hats (gold point d’Espagne, silver lace scolloped, gold binding, and plain), three dozen ruffled shirts, as many neckcloths, and a dozen each of cambric and silk handkerchiefs.