The Adventures of Roderick Random

Morgan’s Adventure

When Morgan notices no surgeon among Whiffle’s attendants, he decides to solicit the new captain’s interest for the vacancy before another surgeon can be appointed. He approaches the cabin in his ordinary, tobacco-scented clothing. Finding Whiffle reposing in fine chintz and muslin, Morgan begins his petition, claiming to be a gentleman born and bred with misfortunes. Whiffle, shocked by the apparition and the tobacco smell, cries out that he is suffocated and orders Morgan away, calling him a monster and a stinkard. Whiffle’s servants revive their swooning captain while pushing Morgan out. Morgan returns to where the narrator waits and, according to his custom when enduring indignity he cannot avenge, begins singing a Welsh ditty. When asked about the cause of his agitation, Morgan protests that he is neither monster nor stinkard, affirming his Christian smells except for tobacco, which he declares is a cephalic, aromatic herb. He vows to proclaim before the world that Captain Whiffle is disguised and transfigured with affectation, and more like a monkey than a human being.

第三十五章

CHAPTER XXXV

This chapter chronicles the narrator’s transition from his current ship to the Lizard sloop-of-war following Captain Whiffle’s peculiar behavior, his voluntary detention in the West Indies, and subsequent assignment to prize duty at Port Morant where he tends wounded prisoners.

Captain Whiffle Summons the Narrator; Crew Disapproves of His Favoritism of Mr. Simper

Captain Whiffle Summons the Narrator; Crew Disapproves of His Favoritism of Mr. Simper

Captain Whiffle sends for the narrator, who finds the captain languishing on a couch with his valet-de-chambre supporting him. Whiffle examines the narrator from a distance with a spy-glass and approaches cautiously to satisfy his sense of smell before declaring him “tolerable.” When the narrator attempts to take the captain’s pulse, Whiffle cries out in distress at the rough handling. The captain expresses reluctance to submit to treatment without his own surgeon, Mr. Simper, revealing the crew’s unfavorable opinion of their commander’s favoritism toward his personal physician.