 my rescue, and alarmed all the company above: but the bailiff
affirming with undaunted effrontery, that I was taken up upon an affair of
state, and so many people appearing in his behalf, the countess would not suffer
the supposed messenger to be insulted; and he carried me to the county-jail,
without further lett or molestation.«
 

                                  Chapter CVI

Pickle seems tolerably well reconciled to his Cage; and is by the Clergyman
entertained with the Memoirs of a noted Personage, whom he sees by Accident in
the Fleet
 
The knight had scarce finished this narrative, when our hero was told, that a
gentleman in the coffee-room wanted to see him; and when he went thither, he
found his friend Crabtree, who had transacted all his affairs, according to the
determination of the preceding day; and now gave him an account of the remarks
he had overheard on the subject of his misfortune: for the manner of the arrest
was so public and extraordinary, that those who were present, immediately
propagated it among their acquaintance; and it was that same evening discoursed
upon at several tea and card-tables, with this variation from the truth, that
the debt amounted to twelve thousand, instead of twelve hundred pounds: from
which circumstance it was conjectured, that Peregrine was a bite from the
beginning, who had found credit on account of his effrontery and appearance, and
imposed himself upon the town as a young gentleman of fortune. They rejoiced,
therefore, at his calamity, which they considered as a just punishment for his
fraud and presumption, and began to review certain particulars of his conduct,
that plainly demonstrated him to be a rank adventurer, long before he had
arrived at this end of his career.
    Pickle, who now believed his glory was set for ever, received this
intelligence with that disdain which enables a man to detach himself effectually
from the world, and, with great tranquillity, gave the Misanthrope an
entertaining detail of what he had seen and heard since their last parting.
While they amused themselves in this manner over a dish of coffee, they were
joined by the parson, who congratulated our hero upon his bearing mischance with
such philosophic quiet, and began to regale the two friends with some curious
circumstances relating to the private history of the several prisoners, as they
happened to come in.
    At length a gentleman entered, at sight of whom the clergyman rose up, and
saluted him with a most reverential bow, which was graciously returned by the
stranger, who, with a young man that attended him, retired to the other end of
the room. They were no
