 too self-sufficient to think he should
find any difficulty in obtaining forgiveness for these sins of omission; and
began to imagine, that his passion would be prejudicial to the dignity of his
situation, if it could not be gratified upon terms which formerly his
imagination durst not conceive.
    Sorry am I, that the task I have undertaken, lays me under the necessity of
divulging this degeneracy in the sentiments of our imperious youth, who was now
in the heyday of his blood, flushed with the consciousness of his own
qualifications, vain of his fortune, and elated on the wings of imaginary
expectation. Tho' he was deeply enamoured of miss Gauntlet, he was far from
proposing her heart as the ultimate aim of his gallantry, which (he did not
doubt) would triumph o'er the most illustrious females of the land, and at once
regale his appetite and ambition.
    Mean while, being willing to make his appearance at the garison equally
surprising and agreeable, he cautioned Mr. Jolter against writing to the
commodore, who had not heard of them since their departure from Paris, and hired
a post-chaise and horses for London. The governor going out to give orders about
the carriage, inadvertently left a paper book open upon the table; and his pupil
casting his eyes upon the page, chanced to read these words: »Sept. 15. Arrived
in safety, by the blessing of God, in this unhappy kingdom of England. And thus
concludes the journal of my last peregrination.« Peregrine's curiosity being
inflamed by this extraordinary conclusion, he turned to the beginning, and
perused several sheets of a diary, such as is commonly kept by that class of
people known by the denomination of travelling governors, for the satisfaction
of themselves and the parents or guardians of their pupils, and for the
edification and entertainment of their friends.
    That the reader may have a clear idea of Mr. Jolter's performance, we shall
transcribe the transactions of one day, as he had recorded them; and that
abstract will be a sufficient specimen of the whole plan and execution of the
work.
    »May 3. At eight o'clock set out from Boulogne in a post-chaise: the morning
hazy and cold. Fortified my stomach with a cordial. Recommended ditto to Mr. P.
as an antidote against the fog. Mem. He refused it. The hither horse greased in
the off-pastern of the hind-leg. Arrive at Samers. Mem. This last was a post and
a half; i.e. three leagues, or nine English miles.
