The Adventures of Roderick Random

Discharged from Custody

After much wrangling and swearing, the matter is referred to the turnkey’s decision. He calls for another bottle and mulcts the bailiff in all the liquor consumed, coach hire, and a couple of guineas for the plaintiff’s use. The money is immediately deposited, and Miss Williams gratifies the two evidences with one half of the guineas while keeping the other for herself. She and the narrator depart in a coach, leaving the bailiff grumbling over his loss but relieved to have so cheaply escaped a business that might have cost him ten times the sum and his position. The guinea proves a seasonable relief, as the narrator has been reduced to great necessity, having pawned or sold six of his shirts and almost all his clothes for their maintenance.

Change of Lodging

Resenting their landlady’s behavior, the narrator and Miss Williams make it their first priority to find another lodging. They remove to their new accommodations the next day, intending to keep themselves as retired as possible until their cure is completed. Once settled in their new habitation, the narrator entreats Miss Williams to finish the story of her life.

Her Story and Reflections

Miss Williams recounts that success in deceiving a judge encouraged her and her directress to practice the same deceit on others, but this proved short-lived as her character became known and her directress abandoned her for some new scheme. She then took lodgings near Charing-Cross at two guineas a week and began entertaining company publicly. When her income proved insufficient for her expenses, she entered into articles with tavern porters who found employment for her in exchange for sharing her profits. She was exposed nightly to mortification, danger, and abuse from drunken and brutal patrons. Her aversion to her profession manifested in her gloomy countenance, disgusting her clients and leading to frequent ill-treatment. She was eventually neglected by the porters and reduced to selling her watch, rings, trinkets, and most of her clothes for support. One evening she was summoned to a tavern where she supped sumptuously with a gentleman dressed like an officer. In the morning, she discovered he had escaped through a window, leaving her to be detained as a thief’s accomplice and committed to Bridewell, where she was mistreated horrifically. She became so overwhelmed with calamity that she attempted suicide by hanging but was prevented by fellow prisoners. Her subsequent fit of madness lasted three days, after which she resolved to starve herself. On the second day of her fast, a former acquaintance named Mrs. Coupler arrived at Bridewell, having also been committed after her coffee-house venture failed. Mrs. Coupler informed Miss Williams that her accuser had been caught and had confessed the theft, clearing her of any involvement. Miss Williams was immediately discharged and subsequently took lodgings with Mrs. Coupler, whose jealousy of Miss Williams’ success eventually ruined her reputation once more. She was again arrested for debt, but a sea-lieutenant generously paid her debt and gave her additional money. When he perished at sea, she found herself in danger of relapsing into necessity and took lodgings elsewhere, assuming the identity of a wealthy heiress in an attempt to entrap a husband.

Progress of a Common Woman of the Town

Miss Williams explains to the narrator how, after being detected and abandoned by the narrator, she was forced to move to lodgings several floors higher. Her companion left her, disappointed in her expectations, leaving her with no resource but to venture forth at night seeking a precarious subsistence. She often wandered between Ludgate Hill and Charing-Cross entire winter nights, exposed to harsh weather and hunger, without meeting a single dupe. She would return to her garret in a deplorable condition, going to bed and attempting to bury her hunger and sorrows in sleep. When she encountered drunk men, she frequently suffered brutal treatment while being obliged to affect gaiety and good humor, though her soul was stung with resentment and her heart loaded with grief. During these nocturnal adventures, she contracted a disease that rendered her the object of her own abhorrence and drove her to the retreat where the narrator’s benevolence rescued her from death. Miss Williams allows that despite her misfortunes, she has not been as unlucky as many other prostitutes, having often seen former favorites of the town reduced to rags and filth in dark alleys, though she fears the same fate awaits her.