The Adventures of Roderick Random

Counsel Against Naval Service Return

The narrator, having recovered strength, seeks the widow’s advice regarding future conduct. The narrator initially contemplated traveling to London to recover clothes and pay by returning to the ship, which has safely arrived in the Thames. The widow firmly dissuades this course, cautioning that the narrator risks being treated as a deserter for abandoning the sloop and as a mutineer for assaulting the commanding officer—additionally exposing the narrator to that officer’s malicious revenge. The widow instead proposes an alternative arrangement.

Valet Position Recommendation

The widow promises to recommend the narrator as a servant to a single lady of her acquaintance living in the neighborhood with a wealthy nephew, a young foxhunter. The narrator could be quite comfortable provided tolerance for the mistress’s disposition and manners. The widow counsels strongly against revealing the narrator’s true story, as knowledge thereof would poison the narrator’s reception; the established maxim among people of condition excludes gentlemen from domestic positions, as they may become lazy and insolent. Faced with desperate circumstances, the narrator accepts this humble proposal. Within days, the narrator is hired as a footman, having been represented as a young man pressed into sea service by relatives against his will and possessing such disgust for seafaring following shipwreck that he prefers land service. Before assuming duties, the widow provides a character sketch of the mistress.