



Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger









THE ADVENTURES OF FERDINAND COUNT FATHOM

by Tobias Smollett


COMPLETE IN TWO PARTS

PART I.

With the Author's Preface, and an Introduction by G. H. Maynadier, Ph.D.
Department of English, Harvard University.



CONTENTS

   INTRODUCTION

   PREFATORY ADDRESS

   CHAPTER
       I   Some sage Observations that naturally introduce our important
             History
      II   A superficial View of our Hero's Infancy
     III   He is initiated in a Military Life, and has the good Fortune
             to acquire a generous Patron
      IV   His Mother's Prowess and Death; together with some Instances
             of his own Sagacity
       V   A brief Detail of his Education
      VI   He meditates Schemes of Importance
     VII   Engages in Partnership with a female Associate, in order to
             put his Talents in Action
    VIII   Their first Attempt; with a Digression which some Readers
             may think impertinent
      IX   The Confederates change their Battery, and achieve a remarkable
             Adventure
       X   They proceed to levy Contributions with great Success, until
             our Hero sets out with the young Count for Vienna, where he
             enters into League with another Adventurer
      XI   Fathom makes various Efforts in the World of Gallantry
     XII   He effects a Lodgment in the House of a rich Jeweller
    XIII   He is exposed to a most perilous Incident in the Course of his
             Intrigue with the Daughter
     XIV   He is reduced to a dreadful Dilemma, in consequence of an
             Assignation with the Wife
      XV   But at length succeeds in his Attempt upon both
     XVI   His Success begets a blind Security, by which he is once again
             well-nigh entrapped in his Dulcinea's Apartment
    XVII   The Step-dame's Suspicions being awakened, she lays a Snare
             for our Adventurer, from which he is delivered by the
             Interposition of his Good Genius
   XVIII   Our Hero departs from Vienna, and quits the Domain of Venus
             for the rough Field of Mars
     XIX   He puts himself under the Guidance of his Associate, and
             stumbles upon the French Camp, where he finishes his
             Military Career
      XX   He prepares a Stratagem, but finds himself countermined--
             Proceeds on his Journey, and is overtaken by a terrible
             Tempest
     XXI   He falls upon Scylla, seeking to avoid Charybdis.
    XXII   He arrives at Paris, and is pleased with his Reception
   XXIII   Acquits himself with Address in a Nocturnal Riot
    XXIV   He overlooks the Advances of his Friends, and smarts severely
             for his Neglect
     XXV   He bears his Fate like a Philosopher; and contracts
             acquaintance with a very remarkable Personage
    XXVI   The History of the Noble Castilian
   XXVII   A flagrant Instance of Fathom's Virtue, in the Manner of his
             Retreat to England
  XXVIII   Some Account of his Fellow-Travellers
    XXIX   Another providential Deliverance from the Effects of the
             Smuggler's ingenious Conjecture
     XXX   The singular Manner of Fathom's Attack and Triumph over the
             Virtue of the fair Elenor
    XXXI   He by accident encounters his old Friend, with whom he holds
             a Conference, and renews a Treaty
   XXXII   He appears in the great World with universal Applause and
             Admiration
  XXXIII   He attracts the Envy and Ill Offices of the minor Knights of
             his own Order, over whom he obtains a complete Victory
   XXXIV   He performs another Exploit, that conveys a true Idea of his
             Gratitude and Honour
    XXXV   He repairs to Bristol Spring, where he reigns paramount during
             the whole Season
   XXXVI   He is smitten with the Charms of a Female Adventurer, whose
             Allurements subject him to a new Vicissitude of Fortune
  XXXVII   Fresh Cause for exerting his Equanimity and Fortitude
 XXXVIII   The Biter is Bit




INTRODUCTION


The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom, Smollett's third novel, was
given to the world in 1753.  Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, writing to her
daughter, the Countess of Bute, over a year later [January 1st, 1755],
remarked that "my friend Smollett. . .  has certainly a talent for
invention, though I think it flags a little in his last work."  Lady Mary
was both right and wrong.  The inventive power which we commonly think of
as Smollett's was the ability to work over his own experience into
realistic fiction.  Of this, Ferdinand Count Fathom shows comparatively
little.  It shows relatively little, too, of Smollett's vigorous
personality, which in his earlier works was present to give life and
interest to almost every chapter, were it to describe a street brawl, a
ludicrous situation, a whimsical character, or with venomous prejudice to
gibbet some enemy.  This individuality--the peculiar spirit of the author
which can be felt rather than described--is present in the dedication of
Fathom to Doctor ------, who is no other than Smollett himself, and a
candid revelation of his character, by the way, this dedication contains.
It is present, too, in the opening chapters, which show, likewise, in the
picture of Fathom's mother, something of the author's peculiar "talent
for invention."  Subsequently, however, there is no denying that the
Smollett invention and the Smollett spirit both flag.  And yet, in a way,
Fathom displays more invention than any of the author's novels; it is
based far less than any other on personal experience.  Unfortunately
such thorough-going invention was not suited to Smollett's genius.  The
result is, that while uninteresting as a novel of contemporary manners,
Fathom has an interest of its own in that it reveals a new side of its
author.  We think of Smollett, generally, as a rambling storyteller, a
rational, unromantic man of the world, who fills his pages with his own
oddly-metamorphosed acquaintances and experiences.  The Smollett of Count
Fathom, on the contrary, is rather a forerunner of the romantic school,
who has created a tolerably organic tale of adventure out of his own
brain.  Though this is notably less readable than the author's earlier
works, still the wonder is that when the man is so far "off his beat," he
should yet know so well how to meet the strange conditions which confront
him.  To one whose idea of Smollett's genius is formed entirely by Random
and Pickle and Humphry Clinker, Ferdinand Count Fathom will offer many
surprises.

The first of these is the comparative lifelessness of the book.  True,
here again are action and incident galore, but generally unaccompanied by
that rough Georgian hurly-burly, common in Smollett, which is so
interesting to contemplate from a comfortable distance, and which goes so
far towards making his fiction seem real.  Nor are the characters, for
the most part, life-like enough to be interesting.  There is an apparent
exception, to be sure, in the hero's mother, already mentioned, the
hardened camp-follower, whom we confidently expect to become vitalised
after the savage fashion of Smollett's characters.  But, alas! we have no
chance to learn the lady's style of conversation, for the few words that
come from her lips are but partially characteristic; we have only too
little chance to learn her manners and customs.  In the fourth chapter,
while she is making sure with her dagger that all those on the field of
battle whom she wishes to rifle are really dead, an officer of the
hussars, who has been watching her lucrative progress, unfeelingly puts a
brace of bullets into the lady's brain, just as she raises her hand to
smite him to the heart.  Perhaps it is as well that she is thus removed
before our disappointment at the non-fulfilment of her promise becomes
poignant.  So far as we may judge from the other personages of Count
Fathom