 express order of his father,
to thank him for the obligation under which he was laid, and ask pardon for the
offence he had given.
    This condescension was very glorious for our hero, who graciously received
his submission, and accompanied him to dinner, where he was caressed by the old
earl with marks of particular affection and esteem. Nor was his gratitude
confined to exterior civility; he offered him the use of his interest at court,
which was very powerful, and repeated his desire of serving him so pressingly,
that Peregrine thought he could not dispense with the opportunity of assisting
his absent friend Godfrey, in whose behalf he begg'd the influence of his
lordship.
    The earl, pleased with this request, which was another proof of the young
gentleman's benevolence, said, he would not fail to pay the utmost regard to his
recommendation; and in six weeks a captain's commission was actually signed for
the brother of Emilia, who was very agreeably surprized at the intimation he
received from the war-office, though he was utterly ignorant of the canal
through which he obtained that promotion.
 

                                 Chapter XCIII

Peregrine is celebrated as a Wit and Patron, and proceeds to entertain himself
at the Expence of whom it did concern
 
In the mean time, Peregrine flourished in the gay scenes of life, and (as I have
already observed) had divers opportunities of profiting in the way of marriage,
had not his ambition been a little too inordinate, and his heart still biassed
by a passion, which all the levity of youth could not balance, nor all the pride
of vanity overcome. Nor was our hero unmarked in the world of letters and taste:
he had signalized himself in several poetical productions, by which he had
acquired a good share of reputation; not that the pieces were such as ought to
have done much honour to his genius; but any tolerable performance from a person
of his figure and supposed fortune, will always be considered, by the bulk of
readers, as an instance of astonishing capacity; though the very same
production, ushered into the world with the name of an author in less affluent
circumstances, would be justly disregarded and despised; so much is the opinion
of most people influenced and over-awed by ridiculous considerations.
    Be this as it will, our young gentleman was no sooner distinguished as an
author, than he was marked out as a patron, by all the starving retainers to
poetry: he was solemnized in odes, celebrated in epigrams, and fed with the milk
of soft dedication. His vanity even relished this incense; and though his reason
could
