 from the
suddenness of their death he might conclude some infection was communicated to
his poultry, and dispose of them accordingly for the half of their value. But no
instance of young Pickle's mischievous talents affected him with such immediate
perplexity and confusion as this that I am going to recount.
    Being apprized by one of his friends that a lady of fashion intended to
visit his school on a certain day, without giving any previous notice of her
coming, that she might be an eye-witness of the accommodation in his house
before she would commit her son to his care, he ordered his boarders and
apartments to be dished out for the occasion, spared no pains in adorning his
own person, and in particular employed a whole hour in adjusting a voluminous
tye, in which he proposed to make his appearance. Thus prepared, he waited with
great confidence and tranquillity, and no sooner saw the coach appear at a
distance, than he went to his closet in order to put on the periwig, which he
had deposited in a box, that no accident might ruffle or discompose it before it
was presented to her ladyship; but neither the box nor its contents were to be
found. At first he thought it might be misplaced by some of the servants, to
whom he called with great eagerness and vociferation, while he himself ran from
room to room in quest of what he wanted: the domesticks could give him no
intelligence of his tye; he heard the gates opened to admit the equipage, his
impatience increased, he swore in high Dutch, the noise of the wheels on his
pavement saluted his ears, his vexation redoubled, and tossing his night-cap on
the floor, he waddled down stairs to the hall for his ordinary periwig, which he
now found himself compelled to wear. How shall I describe his distraction when
he understood that too was missing! he became quite delirious, foamed at the
mouth, danced to and fro in the passage like one bereft of his senses,
blasphemed alternately in English and French, and must have been found by the
lady in that frantic condition, had not his servants conveyed him to his own
chamber by force.
    The noble visitant was received by Jennings, who told her that Mr. Keypstick
was confined to his bed, and explained the whole oeconomy of the school so much
to her satisfaction, that she resolved to honour them with the charge of her own
offspring. Keypstick fell sick in good earnest, and his intellects seemed to
have received a rude shock from the violence of the passion into which he had
been precipitated by the roguery of Peregrine,
