The Adventures of Roderick Random

第十四章

Strap’s Scottish friend, a language schoolmaster in London, subjects the narrator to a withering critique of his shabby appearance and carroty hair, urging him to purchase a wig before calling on Mr. Cringer. When they attempt to visit Cringer the following morning, Strap’s overzealous knocking on the door results in an unsavoury deluge from a window above, and his subsequent act of smashing the door with a stone forces them both into a hasty retreat through unfamiliar streets. A stranger then encounters them, demonstrates unexpected honesty by returning a dropped half-crown, and treats them to drinks at a public house, where he flatters the Scots before proposing a game of whist that eventually escalates into high-stakes piquet. The narrator’s initial good fortune at the cards table swiftly reverses, leaving him bereft of all his remaining money after the two strangers depart, and Strap categorically refuses to provide even a sixpence to console him.

Visiting Strap’s Friend

In the afternoon, the narrator and Strap visit Strap’s Scottish friend who operates a school in London, teaching Latin, French, and Italian, with a particular focus on English pronunciation through an unconventional method. Despite being under forty, the schoolmaster stoops considerably, his face deeply pockmarked, and he speaks in a dialect the narrator finds nearly unintelligible. Dressed in a plaid night-gown with a sergeant’s old sash and a periwig fashionable in Charles II’s reign, he receives Strap courteously and, upon learning the narrator’s identity, reveals he attended school with the narrator’s father. He examines the narrator closely, exclaiming at his disheveled appearance and warning that no Christian would admit such a figure into their house.