 | Tales of a traveller |  |
STRANGE STORIES.
BY A NERVOUS GENTLEMAN.
A monstrous fish, with a sword by's side, a long sword,
A pike in's neck, and a gun in's nose, a huge gun.
And letters of mart in's mouth, from the Duke of Florence.
This is a monstrous lie.
Tony.
I do confess it.
Do you think I'd tell you truths?
Fletcher's Wife for a Month.
[The following adventures were related to me by
the same nervous gentleman who told me the romantic
tale of The Stout Gentleman, published in Bracebridge
Hall.
It is very singular, that although I expressly stated
that story to have been told to me, and described the
very person who told it, still it has been received as an
adventure that happened to myself. Now, I protest I
never met with any adventure of the kind. I should
not have grieved at this, had it not been intimated by
the author of Waverly, in an introduction to his romance
of Peveril of the Peak, that he was himself the
Stout Gentleman alluded to. I have ever since been
importuned by questions and letters from gentlemen,
and particularly from ladies without number, touching
what I had seen of the great unknown.
Now, all this is extremely tantalizing. It is like being
congratulated on the high prize when one has drawn
a blank; for I have just as great a desire as any one of
the public to penetrate the mystery of that very singular
personage, whose voice fills every corner of the
world, without any one being able to tell from whence
it comes. He who keeps up such a wonderful and
whom every body thinks he can swear to.
My friend, the nervous gentleman, also, who is a man
of very shy retired habits, complains that he has been
excessively annoyed in consequence of its getting about
in his neighbourhood that he is the fortunate personage.
Insomuch, that he has become a character of considerable
notoriety in two or three country towns; and has
been repeatedly teased to exhibit himself at blue stocking
parties, for no other reason than that of being “the
gentleman who has had a glimpse of the author of
Waverly.”
Indeed, the poor man has grown ten times as nervous
as ever, since he has discovered, on such good authority,
who the stout gentleman was; and will never forgive
himself for not having made a more resolute effort
to get a full sight of him. He has anxiously endeavoured
to call up a recollection of what he saw of that
portly personage; and has ever since kept a curious
eye on all gentlemen of more than ordinary dimensions,
whom he has seen getting into stage coaches.
All in vain! The features he had caught a glimpse of
seem common to the whole race of stout gentlemen;
and the great unknown remains as great an unknown
as ever.]
| Tales of a traveller | |