CHAPTER EIGHTEEN IN WHICH THE RAYS OF CHIVALRY SHINE WITH RENOVATED LUSTRE.
Our hero little dreamed that he had a formidable rival in the person of the knight, who arrived about eleven, at the sign of the St. George, and, by the noise he made, gave intimation of his importance. This was no other than Squire Sycamore, who, having received advice that Miss Aurelia Darnel had eloped from the place of her retreat, immediately took the field in quest of that lovely fugitive; hoping that, should he have the good fortune to find her in present distress, his good offices would not be rejected. He had followed the chase so close, that, immediately after our adventurer's departure, he alighted at the inn, from whence Aurelia had been conveyed; and there he learned the particulars which we have related above.
Mr. Sycamore had a great deal of the childish romantic in his disposition, and, in the course of his amours, is said to have always taken more pleasure in the pursuit than in the final possession. He had heard of Sir Launcelot's extravagance, by which he was in some measure infected, and he dropped an insinuation, that he could eclipse his rival, even in his own lunatic sphere. This hint was not lost upon his companion, counsellor, and buffoon, the facetious Davy Dawdle, who had some humour, and a great deal of mischief, in his composition. He looked upon his patron as a fool, and his patron knew him to be both knave and fool; yet, the two characters suited each other so well, that they could hardly exist asunder. Davy was an artful sycophant, but he did not flatter in the usual way; on the contrary, he behaved en cavalier, and treated Sycamore, on whose bounty he subsisted, with the most sarcastic familiarity. Nevertheless, he seasoned his freedom with certain qualifying ingredients, that subdued the bitterness of it, and was now become so necessary to the squire, that he had no idea of enjoyment with which Dawdle was not somehow or other connected.
There had been a warm dispute betwixt them about the scheme of contesting the prize with Sir Launcelot in the lists of chivalry. Sycamore had insinuated, that if he had a mind to play the fool, he could wear armour, wield a lance, and manage a charger, as well as Sir Launcelot Greaves. Dawdle, snatching the hint, "I had, some time ago," said he, "contrived a scheme for you, which I was afraid you had not address enough to execute. It would be no difficult matter, in imitation of the bachelor, Sampson Carrasco, to go in quest of Greaves, as a knight-errant, defy him as a rival, and establish a compact, by which the vanquished should obey the injunctions of the victor."--"That is my very idea," cried Sycamore. "--Your idea!" replied the other; "had you ever an idea of your own conception?" Thus the dispute began, and was maintained with great vehemence, until other arguments failing, the squire offered to lay a wager of twenty guineas. To this proposal, Dawdle answered by the interjection pish! which inflamed Sycamore to a repetition of the defiance. "You are in the right," said Dawdle, "to use such an argument as you know is by me unanswerable. A wager of twenty guineas will at any time overthrow and confute all the logic of the most able syllogist, who has not got a shilling in his pocket."
Sycamore looked very grave at this declaration, and, after a short pause, said, "I wonder, Dawdle, what you do with all your money?"--"I am surprised you should give yourself that trouble--I never ask what you do with yours."--"You have no occasion to ask; you know pretty well how it goes."--"What, do you upbraid me with your favours?--'t is mighty well, Sycamore."--"Nay, Dawdle, I did not intend to affront."--"Z----s! affront! what d'ye mean?" "I'll assure you, Davy, you don't know me, if you think I could be so ungenerous as to--a--to----"--"I always thought, whatever faults or foibles you might have, Sycamore, that you was not deficient in generosity,--though to be sure it is often very absurdly displayed."--"Ay, that's one of my greatest foibles; I can't refuse even a scoundrel, when I think he is in want.--Here, Dawdle, take that note." --"Not I, sir,--what d'ye mean?--what right have I to your notes?" --"Nay, but Dawdle,--come."--"By no means; it looks like the abuse of good-nature;--all the world knows you're good-natured to a fault." --"Come, dear Davy, you shall--you must oblige me."--Thus urged, Dawdle accepted the bank-note with great reluctance, and restored the idea to the right owner.