Having paid our compliments to these noble persons, we returned
to the 'squire's, where we expected an invitation to pass the
night, which was wet and raw; but it seems, 'squire Burdock's
hospitality reached not so far for the honour of Yorkshire; we
therefore departed in the evening, and lay at an inn, where I
caught cold.
In hope of riding it down before it could take fast hold on my
constitution, I resolved to visit another relation, one Mr
Pimpernel, who lived about a dozen miles from the place where we
lodged. Pimpernel being the youngest of four sons, was bred an
attorney at Furnival's inn; but all his elder brothers dying, he
got himself called to the bar for the honour of his family, and
soon after this preferment, succeeded to his father's estate
which was very considerable. He carried home with him all the
knavish chicanery of the lowest pettifogger, together with a wife
whom he had purchased of a drayman for twenty pounds; and he soon
found means to obtain a dedimus as an acting justice of peace. He
is not only a sordid miser in his disposition, but his avarice is
mingled with a spirit of despotism, which is truly diabolical.
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