Japhet, in Search of a Father

Japhet, in Search of a Father

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Title: Japhet, In Search Of A Father
Author: Frederick Marryat
Release Date: June 5, 2005 [EBook #15991]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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JAPHET, IN SEARCH OF A FATHER
BY CAPTAIN MARRYAT
LONDON J.M. DENT AND CO. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN AND CO.
MDCCCXCVI

Contents

CHAPTER I
1

CHAPTER II
7

CHAPTER III
14

CHAPTER IV
18

CHAPTER V
24

CHAPTER VI
29

CHAPTER VII
37

CHAPTER VIII
41

CHAPTER IX
47

CHAPTER X
53

CHAPTER XI
60

CHAPTER XII
67

CHAPTER XIII
73

CHAPTER XIV
79

CHAPTER XV
84

CHAPTER XVI
91

CHAPTER XVII
98

CHAPTER XVIII
104

CHAPTER XIX
110

CHAPTER XX
113

CHAPTER XXI
118

CHAPTER XXII
123

CHAPTER XXIII
130

CHAPTER XXIV
134

CHAPTER XXV
139

CHAPTER XXVI
144

CHAPTER XXVII
147

CHAPTER XXVIII
152

CHAPTER XXIX
156

CHAPTER XXX
160

CHAPTER XXXI
165

CHAPTER XXXII
169

CHAPTER XXXIII
173

CHAPTER XXXIV
176

CHAPTER XXXV
182

CHAPTER XXXVI
187

CHAPTER XXXVII
192

CHAPTER XXXVIII
196

CHAPTER XXXIX
201

CHAPTER XL
206

CHAPTER XLI
211

CHAPTER XLII
216

CHAPTER XLIII
220

CHAPTER XLIV
224

CHAPTER XLV
229

CHAPTER XLVI
234

CHAPTER XLVII
237

CHAPTER XLVIII
241

CHAPTER XLIX
247

CHAPTER L
251

CHAPTER LI
254

CHAPTER LII
259

CHAPTER LIII
265

CHAPTER LIV
268

CHAPTER LV
273

CHAPTER LVI
279

CHAPTER LVII
285

CHAPTER LVIII
290

CHAPTER LIX
294

CHAPTER LX
299

CHAPTER LXI
305

CHAPTER LXII
310

CHAPTER LXIII
314

CHAPTER LXIV
319

CHAPTER LXV
322

CHAPTER LXVI
327

CHAPTER LXVII
333

CHAPTER LXVIII
338

CHAPTER LXIX
344

CHAPTER LXX
349

CHAPTER LXXI
355

CHAPTER LXXII
362

CHAPTER LXXIII
259

CHAPTER LXXIV
378

CHAPTER LXXV
387

CHAPTER LXXVI
394

CHAPTER LXXVII
400

CHAPTER LXXVIII
408

CHAPTER LXXIX
414

Prefatory Note
In the Metropolitan Magazine, where this novel originally appeared (Sep. 1834-Jan. 1836), Marryat prepared his readers for its reception in the following words:--
"And having now completed 'Jacob Faithful,' we trust to the satisfaction of our readers, we will make a few remarks. We commenced writing on our own profession, and having completed four tales, novels, or whatever you may please to call them" (viz., Frank Mildmay, The King's Own, Newton Forster, Peter Simple), "in 'Jacob Faithful' we quitted the salt water for the fresh. From the wherry we shall now step on shore, and in our next number we shall introduce to our readers 'The Adventures of Japhet, in search of his Father.'"
The promise was faithfully kept, and Japhet, with all his varied experience, never went to sea. There were indeed few companies on land to which he did not penetrate. Reared in a foundling hospital, and apprenticed to a Smithfield apothecary, his good looks, impulsive self-confidence, and unbounded talent for lying, carried him with ��clat through the professions of quack doctor, juggler, and mountebank, gentleman about town, tramp, and quaker: to emerge triumphantly at last as the only son of a wealthy Anglo-Indian general, or "Bengal tiger," as his friends preferred to call him.
Japhet's "adventures," of course, are shared by a faithful friend and ally, Timothy Oldmixon, the Sancho to his Quixote, originally an orphan pauper like himself, composed of two qualities--fun and affection. He encounters villains, lawyers, kind-hearted peers, "rooks" and "pigeons," gipsies, leaders of fashion, fair maidens--enough and to spare. In a word, Marryat here makes use of well-worn material, and uses it well. He has constructed a tale of private adventure on the old familiar lines, in which the local colour--acquired from other books--is admirably laid on, and the interest sustained to the end. The story is well told, enlivened by humour, and very respectably constructed.
The reader will find Japhet thoroughly exciting, and will have no difficulty in believing that, while it was running in the pages of the Metropolitan, "an American vessel meeting an English one in the broad Atlantic, instead of a demand for water or supplies, ran up the question to her mast-head, 'Has Japhet found his father yet?'"
_Japhet, in search of a Father_, is here re-printed, with a few corrections, from the first edition in 3 vols. Saunders & Otley, 1836. On page 360 a few words, enclosed in square brackets, have been inserted from the magazine version, as the abbreviated sentence, always hitherto reproduced from the first edition, is unintelligible.
R.B.J.
* * * * *

Japhet, in Search of a Father

Chapter I
Like most other children, who should be my godfather is decided by Mammon--So precocious as to make some noise in the world and be hung a few days after I was born--Cut down in time and produce a scene of bloodshed--My early propensities fully developed by the choice of my profession
Those who may be pleased to honour these pages with a perusal, will not be detained with a long introductory history of my birth, parentage, and education. The very title implies that, at this period of my memoirs, I was ignorant of the two first; and it will be necessary for the due development of my narrative, that I allow them to remain in the same state of bliss; for in the perusal of a tale, as well as in the pilgrimage of life, ignorance of the future may truly be considered as the greatest source of happiness. The little that was known of me at this time I will however narrate as concisely, and as correctly, as I am able.