The Adventures of Roderick Random

Master Maltreatment

The schoolmaster, fearing his patron’s displeasure, pledged to prevent the narrator’s future improvement. He fashioned a board with five holes through which he thrust the narrator’s right-hand fingers and thumb, fastening it with whipcord to disable his ability to write letters to his grandfather.

Adversity and Academic Progress

Severe and unjust punishments became routine—the narrator was blamed for mischief whose authors remained unknown, convicted of crimes he never committed, and whipped for misfortunes such as nearly drowning or being bitten by a dog. Yet his uncommon genius, combined with guidance from the school usher (who had served his father), enabled surprising progress in classics, writing, and arithmetic.

Cabal Against the Pedant

By age twelve, recognized as the school’s best scholar, the narrator leveraged his influence to form a faction of thirty boys and began organizing cabals against his persecutor. They attacked rival apprentices who had claimed their play area, engaged in stone-throwing skirmishes, and became the terror of the village—parties even sought their assistance to sway local conflicts.

Hounding by the Heir

The narrator exploited every play-day to approach his grandfather, though access remained difficult due to his numerous female cousins who united against him as their common enemy. The heir, about eighteen and devoted to fox-hunting, inherited his grandfather’s antipathy and frequently set his beagles upon the narrator, encouraged by the tutor who sought favor with the rising sun.