The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom

The Rise and Fall of a Scoundrel

Tobias Smollett

• Publisher: Aeneas Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9785486982156
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

A confidence man crosses eighteenth-century Europe fleecing the gullible, and the book follows him without ever pretending he is likeable. Smollett was a ship's surgeon before he was a novelist and wrote with the same absence of squeamishness; the preface here contains one of the earliest definitions of the novel in English. Scott and Dickens both learned from it. Fifty-five plates of ruins, landscapes and portraits from 1725 to 1805, among them Gainsborough and Guardi, extend the novel's own taste for a Europe of crumbling grandeur and plausible faces.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Introduction
• To Doctor ———
• Chapter One. Some Sage Observations That Naturally Introduce Our Important History
• Chapter Two. A Superficial View of Our Hero’s Infancy
• Chapter Three. He Is Initiated in a Military Life, and Has the Good Fortune to Acquire a Generous Patron
• Chapter Four. His Mother’s Prowess and Death; Together with Some Instances of His Own Sagacity
• Chapter Five. A Brief Detail of His Education
• Chapter Six. He Meditates Schemes of Importance
• Chapter Seven. Engages in Partnership with a Female Associate, in Order to Put His Talents in Action
• Chapter Eight. Their First Attempt; with a Digression Which Some Readers May Think Impertinent
• Chapter Nine. The Confederates Change Their Battery, and Achieve a Remarkable Adventure
• Chapter Ten. They Proceed to Levy Contributions with Great Success, Until Our Hero Sets Out with the Young Count for…
• Chapter Eleven. Fathom Makes Various Efforts in the World of Gallantry
• Chapter Twelve. He Effects a Lodgment in the House of a Rich Jeweller
• Chapter Thirteen. He Is Exposed to a Most Perilous Incident in the Course of His Intrigue with the Daughter
• Chapter Fourteen. He Is Reduced to a Dreadful Dilemma, in Consequence of an Assignation with the Wife
• Chapter Fifteen. But at Length Succeeds in His Attempt Upon Both
• Chapter Sixteen. His Success Begets a Blind Security, by Which He Is Once Again Well-Nigh Entrapped in His Dulcinea’s…
• Chapter Seventeen. The Step-Dame’s Suspicions Being Awakened, She Lays a Snare for Our Adventurer, from Which He Is…
• Chapter Eighteen. Our Hero Departs from Vienna, and Quits the Domain of Venus for the Rough Field of Mars
• Chapter Nineteen. He puts himself under the guidance of his associate, and stumbles upon the French camp, where he…
• Chapter Twenty. He prepares a stratagem but finds himself countermined—Proceeds on his journey, and is overtaken by a…
• Chapter Twenty-One. He Falls Upon Scylla, Seeking to Avoid Charybdis
• Chapter Twenty-Two. He Arrives at Paris, and Is Pleased with His Reception
• Chapter Twenty-Three. Acquits Himself with Address in a Nocturnal Riot
• Chapter Twenty-Four. He Overlooks the Advances of His Friends, and Smarts Severely for His Neglect
• Chapter Twenty-Five. He Bears His Fate Like a Philosopher; and Contracts Acquaintance with a Very Remarkable Personage
• Chapter Twenty-Six. The History of the Noble Castilian
• Chapter Twenty-Seven. A Flagrant Instance of Fathom’s Virtue, in the Manner of His Retreat to England
• Chapter Twenty-Eight. Some Account of His Fellow-Travellers
• Chapter Twenty-Nine. Another Providential Deliverance from the Effects of the Smuggler’s Ingenious Conjecture
• Chapter Thirty. The Singular Manner of Fathom’s Attack and Triumph Over the Virtue of the Fair Elenor
• Chapter Thirty-One. He by Accident Encounters His Old Friend, with Whom He Holds a Conference, and Renews a Treaty
• Chapter Thirty-Two. He Appears in the Great World with Universal Applause and Admiration
• Chapter Thirty-Three. He attracts the envy and ill offices of the minor knights of his own order, over whom he obtains…
• Chapter Thirty-Four. He Performs Another Exploit, That Conveys a True Idea of His Gratitude and Honour
• Chapter Thirty-Five. He Repairs to Bristol Spring, Where He Reigns Paramount During the Whole Season
• Chapter Thirty-Six. He is smitten with the charms of a female adventurer, whose allurements subject him to a new…
• Chapter Thirty-Seven. Fresh Cause for Exerting His Equanimity and Fortitude
• Chapter Thirty-Eight. The Biter Is Bit
• Chapter Thirty-Nine. Our Adventurer Is Made Acquainted with a New Scene of Life
• Chapter Forty. He Contemplates Majesty and Its Satellites in Eclipse
• Chapter Forty-One. One Quarrel Is Compromised, and Another Decided by Unusual Arms
• Chapter Forty-Two. An Unexpected Rencontre, and a Happy Revolution in the Affairs of Our Adventurer
• Chapter Forty-Three. Fathom justifies the proverb, “What
• Chapter Forty-Four. Anecdotes of Poverty, and Experiments for the Benefit of Those Whom It May Concern
• Chapter Forty-Five. Renaldo’s Distress Deepens, and Fathom’s Plot Thickens
• Chapter Forty-Six. Our Adventurer Becomes Absolute in His Power over the Passions of His Friend, and Effects One Half…
• Chapter Forty-Seven. The Art of Borrowing Further Explained, and an Account of a Strange Phenomenon
• Chapter Forty-Eight. Count Fathom Unmasks His Battery; Is Repulsed; and Varies His Operations Without Effect
• Chapter Forty-Nine. Monimia’s Honour Is Protected by the Interposition of Heaven
• Chapter Fifty. Fathom Shifts the Scene, and Appears in a New Character
• Chapter Fifty-One. Triumphs Over a Medical Rival
• Chapter Fifty-Two. Repairs to the Metropolis, and Enrols Himself Among the Sons of Paean
• Chapter Fifty-Three. Acquires Employment in Consequence of a Lucky Miscarriage
• Chapter Fifty-Four. His Eclipse, and Gradual Declination
• Chapter Fifty-Five. After Divers Unsuccessful Efforts, He Has Recourse to the Matrimonial Noose
• Chapter Fifty-Six. In Which His Fortune Is Effectually Strangled
• Chapter Fifty-Seven. Fathom Being Safely Housed, the Reader Is Entertained with a Retrospect
• Chapter Fifty-Eight. Renaldo Abridges the Proceedings at Law, and Approves Himself the Son of His Father
• Chapter Fifty-Nine. He is the messenger of happiness to his sister, who removes the film which had long obstructed his…
• Chapter Sixty. He recompenses the attachment of his friend; and receives a letter that reduces him to the verge of…
• Chapter Sixty-One. Renaldo Meets with a Living Monument of Justice, and Encounters a Personage of Some Note in These…
• Chapter Sixty-Two. His Return to England, and Midnight Pilgrimage to Monimia’s Tomb
• Chapter Sixty-Three. He Renews the Rites of Sorrow, and Is Entranced
• Chapter Sixty-Four. The Mystery Unfolded—Another Recognition, Which, It Is to Be Hoped, the Reader Could Not Foresee
• Chapter Sixty-Five. A Retrospective Link, Necessary for the Concatenation of These Memoirs
• Chapter Sixty-Six. The History Draws Near a Period
• Chapter Sixty-Seven. The Longest and the Last
• About the Author