 Peregrine never slackened in his attendance upon the great; he
never omitted to appear upon every levee-day, employed his industry and
penetration in getting intelligence of posts that were unfilled, and every day
recommended himself to the good offices of his patron, who seemed to espouse his
interest with great cordiality: nevertheless, he was always too late in his
application, or the place he demanded chanced to be out of the minister's gift.
    These intimations, tho' communicated in the most warm professions of
friendship and regard, gave great umbrage to the young gentleman, who considered
them as the evasions of an insincere courtier, and loudly complained of them as
such to his lordship, signifying, at the same time, an intention to sell his
mortgage for ready money, which he would expend to the last farthing in
thwarting his honour, in the very first election he should patronize. His
lordship never wanted a proper exhortation upon these occasions: he did not now
endeavour to pacify him with assurances of the minister's favour, because he
perceived that these medicines had, by repeated use, lost their effect upon our
adventurer, whose menaces he now combated, by representing that the minister's
purse was heavier than that of Mr. Pickle; that therefore, should he make a
point of opposing his interest, the youth must infallibly fail in the contest:
in which case he would find himself utterly destitute of the means of
subsistence, and consequently precluded from all hope of provision.
    This was an observation, the truth of which our young gentleman could not
pretend to doubt, tho' it did not at all tend to the vindication of his honour's
conduct. Indeed Pickle began to suspect the sincerity of his own patron, who, in
his opinion, had trifled with his impatience, and even eluded, by sorry excuses,
his desire of having another private audience of the first mover. His lordship
also began to be less accessible than usual; and Peregrine had been obliged to
dun the steward with repeated demands, before he could finger the last quarter
of his interest.
    Alarmed by these considerations, he went and consulted the nobleman whom he
had obliged in the affair of his son; and had the mortification to hear but a
very indifferent character of the person in whom he had so long confided. This
new adviser, who (though a courtier) was a rival of the other, gave our
adventurer to understand, that he had been leaning upon a broken reed; that his
professed patron was a man of a shattered fortune and decayed interest, which
extended no farther than a smile
