The Adventures of Roderick Random

Narrator Corrects Doctor’s Classical Knowledge Errors

Smiling at the doctor’s learned investigation, the narrator seeks to captivate him by observing that the distinctions do not appear in the ancient writers, citing Horace, who uses poto and bibo interchangeably, as in the twentieth Ode of the first Book. He further points out that he has never encountered the verb poteein, and that potamos, potema, and potos are derived from pino, poso, pepoka, which is the word the Greek poets consistently use for festal drinking. To illustrate, he quotes Homer describing Nestor at his cups (“Nestora d’ouk elathen iache pinonta perempes”) and gives several examples from Anacreon. The doctor, who had intended to impress with his erudition, is utterly astonished to be corrected by a man of the narrator’s apparent station; after a long pause he concedes, “Upon my word, you are in the right, sir—I find I have not considered this affair with my usual accuracy.”

Doctor Proposes Introduction to Young Gentlemen

The doctor then accosts the narrator in Latin, which he speaks excellently, and the two maintain a conversation in that language for a full two hours on a variety of subjects. Despite the doctor’s whimsical appearance and attention to trifles, the narrator is convinced he is a man of extensive knowledge, particularly in books. As the narrator later learns from Medlar, the doctor regards him as a prodigy of learning and proposes that very night, if the narrator is unengaged, to introduce him to several young gentlemen of fortune and fashion with whom the doctor has an appointment at the Bedford coffee house.

CHAPITRE XLVI.

CHAPTER XLVI

Wagtail introduces me to a set of fine Gentlemen with whom I spend the Evening at a Tavern—our Conversation—the Characters of my new Companions—the Doctor is roasted—our Issue of our Debauch

Wagtail Introduces Random to His Tavern Companions

Wagtail Introduces Random to His Tavern Companions

Random accepts Wagtail’s invitation and they travel to a tavern by hackney coach, where Wagtail introduces him to a group of acquaintances gathered around the fire. The introductions are made in formal style: Wagtail presents Bragwell, Banter, Chatter, Slyboot, and Ranter. Random is insulted by Slyboot, who thrusts his tongue in his cheek, and by Ranter, a player, who mimics Random’s air, features, and voice. Random chooses to ignore the affronts for now, resolving to chastise Ranter at a more convenient time. Random also learns from Slyboot that the latter is a painter.

Banter Casts Doubt on Random’s Gentility

Banter Casts Doubt on Random’s Gentility

Banter privately asks Wagtail where he picked up his new friend, then openly conjectures that Random is “neither more nor less than a French valet-de-chambre.” Wagtail indignantly defends Random as a man of fortune from the ancient northern house of the Randoms and a distant relation of his own. Random is nettled at the slur but determines to bear such mortifications in the hope of gaining a wider acquaintance.

Group Repairs to a Tavern for an Evening of Revelry

Group Repairs to a Tavern for an Evening of Revelry

After a desultory conversation touching on weather, plays, politics, and other coffee-house topics, the company proposes to spend the evening together at a noted tavern in the neighbourhood, and they repair thither in a body.

Companions Roast Doctor Wagtail with Absurd Pranks

Companions Roast Doctor Wagtail with Absurd Pranks

Settled in their room with French wine and supper ordered, the group turns Wagtail into a butt for the wit of the painter and the player. Ranter pretends to be afflicted with hoarseness, low spirits, and indigestion, drawing Wagtail into a pompous learned harangue upon prognostics, diagnostics, symptomatics, therapeutics, inanition, and repletion. Ranter then invents “tinder water” as a universal specific, attributing it to a German monk and Paracelsus; Slyboot counters that it was first used by Solomon, citing a Greek manuscript supposedly discovered at the foot of Mount Lebanon. Wagtail swallows every absurdity and grows enthusiastic about putting the scheme into practice, earnestly inquiring where he might obtain a glass retort large enough and a source of animal heat sufficient for the operation.