The Adventures of Roderick Random

Friend’s Condemnation of Marmozet’s Hypocrisy and Avarice

The hot-headed friend visits, denounces Marmozet as the sole cause of the disappointment acting throughout with perfidious dissimulation, condemns his hypocrisy and avarice, and accuses him of betraying the narrator’s inexperience and undermining another established author whose tragedy might compete with Marmozet’s own recently purchased comedy.

Narrator’s Defense of Marmozet’s Innocence

The narrator, shocked by such a portrait, argues against his friend’s asseverations by demonstrating the bad policy of Marmozet’s supposed behavior and the unlikelihood that a man of his standing would stoop to such practices; he credits Marmozet’s continued favor with the earl as proof of his vindicated innocence and refuses to believe the degrading assertions.

Despair After Play Rejection and Consideration of Menial Work

Baffled in all attempts to have his play staged, the narrator despairs of ever seeing it acted and begins to consider choosing some mean employment that might afford a sure subsistence.

Landlord’s Successful Intercession for Play Production

The narrator’s landlord, considerably in debt and having counted on payment from the profits of the third night, makes another effort in the narrator’s behalf and, through his interest, procures a message from a lady of fashion to Mr. Brayer requesting that the play be set up forthwith, an intercession so effective that the play is once again received and hopes revive.

Brayer’s Conditional Promise to Stage the Revised Play

Brayer, engrossed by matters of apparent importance, delays reading the play until the season advances; having finally read it and proposed alterations, he sends his duty to the patroness and promises on his honor to bring it on next winter provided the alterations are made and the copy delivered before the end of April—conditions the narrator accepts and fulfills with an aching heart.

Marmozet’s Appointment as Joint Patentee Blocking Production

During the summer, Marmozet becomes joint patentee with Brayer, so when the narrator claims performance of the articles, he is told that nothing can be done without the partner’s consent, who is already pre-engaged to another author, delivering yet another unforeseen mortification.

Narrator’s Eviction, Arrest, and Imprisonment

The narrator’s ruin is completed by the death of his good friend and landlord, whose executors obtain a judgment against his effects, seize them, and turn him out naked, friendless, and forlorn into the streets; he is there arrested at the suit of his tailor, thrown into prison, and subsists for five weeks on the charity of fellow prisoners until Mr. Random’s benevolence provides him with comfort.

CHAPITRE LXIII.

Mr. Melopoyn continues his lengthy and dispiriting account of the theatrical world’s corruption and caprice. Despite receiving praise from Lord Rattle, who calls his tragedy the best “coup d’essai” he has ever seen, Melopoyn finds his work subjected to endless alterations demanded by various patrons, managers, and actors, each of whom promises to champion his cause while ultimately delaying or abandoning his manuscript. His play passes through the hands of several managers—Brayer, Bellower, and Vandal—each of whom makes elaborate promises that come to nothing, and Melopoyn is particularly undone by the perfidious conduct of Mr. Marmozet, a celebrated actor who appears supportive but secretly undermines his interests, even contradicting Earl Sheerwit’s favorable opinion of the tragedy to serve his own mercenary purposes. After repeated disappointments, Melopoyn is finally reduced to complete destitution when his landlord dies and his creditors seize his possessions, leaving him arrested for debt and imprisoned, where he has languished for five weeks sustained only by the charity of fellow prisoners.

Lord Rattle’s Patronage

Mr. Supple introduces Melopoyn to Lord Rattle, a young nobleman of fine taste in dramatic writings who possesses great influence. Lord Rattle assures him that patronage will support his play against envy and ignorance, acknowledging that merit alone will not bring success. Mr. Supple provides a letter of introduction, and Melopoyn’s landlord procures new clothes to make him more presentable to the patron. Melopoyn presents his tragedy at Lord Rattle’s lodgings and is instructed to return in a week.