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Smollett, Tobias George, 1721-1771

"The Expedition of Humphry Clinker"

The inhabitants, indeed, seem to have proposed that city
as their model; not only in beautifying their town and regulating
its police, but, also in prosecuting their schemes of commerce
and manufacture, by which they are grown rich and opulent.
We re-entered England, by the way of Carlisle, where we
accidentally met with our friend Lismahago, whom we had in vain
inquired after at Dumfries and other places -- It would seem that
the captain, like the prophets of old, is but little honoured in
his own country, which he has now renounced for ever -- He gave me
the following particulars of his visit to his native soil -- In his
way to the place of his nativity, he learned that his nephew had
married the daughter of a burgeois, who directed a weaving
manufacture, and had gone into partnership with his father-in-law:
chagrined with this information, he had arrived at the gate
in the twilight, where he heard the sound of treddles in the
great hall, which had exasperated him to such a degree, that he
had like to have lost his senses: while he was thus transported
with indignation, his nephew chanced to come forth, when, being
no longer master of his passion, he cried, 'Degenerate rascal!
you have made my father's house a den of thieves;' and at the
same time chastised him with his horse-whip; then, riding round
the adjoining village, he had visited the burying-ground of his
ancestors by moon-light; and, having paid his respects to their
manes, travelled all night to another part of the country --
Finding the head of the family in such a disgraceful situation,
all his own friends dead or removed from the places of their
former residence, and the expence of living increased to double
of what it had been, when he first left his native country, he
had bid it an eternal adieu, and was determined to seek for
repose among the forests of America.


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