, whose advice and assistance, he was told, would be a furtherance to
his scheme; and as he had occasion to discourse with this gentleman, upon the
circumstances of his expectation, he learned that the nobleman, upon whom he
depended, was a person of no consequence in the state, and altogether incapable
of assisting him in his advancement. At the same time, his counsellor expressed
his surprize that captain Gauntlet did not rather interest in his cause the
noble peer, to whose good offices he owed his last commission.
    This remark introduced an explanation, by which Godfrey discovered, to his
infinite astonishment, the mistake in which he had continued so long, with
regard to his patron; tho' he could not divine the motive which induced a
nobleman, with whom he had no acquaintance or connection, to interpose his
influence in his behalf. Whatsoever that might be, he thought it was his duty to
make his acknowledgment; and for that purpose, went next morning to his house,
where he was politely received, and given to understand, that Mr. Pickle was the
person to whose friendship he was indebted for his last promotion.
    Inexpressible were the transports of gratitude, affection, and remorse, that
took possession of the soul of Gauntlet, when this mystery was unfolded. »Good
heaven! (cried he, lifting up his hands) have I lived so long in a state of
animosity with my benefactor? I intended to have reconciled myself to him, at
any rate, before I was sensible of this obligation; but now I shall not enjoy a
moment's quiet, until I have an opportunity of expressing to him my sense of his
heroic friendship. I presume, from the nature of the favour conferred upon him,
in my behalf, that Mr. Pickle is well known to your lordship; and I should think
myself extremely happy, if you could inform me in what part of the country he is
to be found: for the person with whom he lodged, some time ago, could give me no
intelligence of his motions.«
    The nobleman, touched with this instance of generous self-denial in
Peregrine, as well as with the sensibility of his friend, lamented the
unhappiness of our hero, while he gave Gauntlet to understand that he had been
long disordered in his intellects, in consequence of having squandered away his
fortune; and that his creditors had thrown him into the Fleet-prison: but
whether he still continued in that confinement, or was released from his
misfortunes by death, his lordship did not know, because he had never enquired.
    Godfrey no
