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The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom

By T. Smollett

Cover of The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom

Cover: The Shrimp Girl (c. 1740-1745), oil on canvas by William Hogarth (1697-1764) · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain (artist died 1764)

The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom is a novel by Tobias Smollett first published in 1753. It was Smollett's third novel and met with less success than his two previous more picaresque tales. The central character is a villainous dandy who cheats, swindles and philanders his way across England and the rest of Europe with little concern for the law or the welfare of others. He is the son of an equally disreputable mother, and Smollett himself comments that "Fathom justifies the proverb, 'What's bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh'." Sir Walter Scott commented that the novel paints a "complete picture of human depravity."

Summary source: Wikipedia: The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Table of contents

  1. 1: Some Sage Observations That Naturally Introduce Our Important History
  2. 2: A Superficial View of Our Hero’s Infancy
  3. 3: He Is Initiated in a Military Life, and Has the Good Fortune to Acquire a Generous Patron
  4. 4: His Mother’s Prowess and Death; Together with Some Instances of His Own Sagacity
  5. 5: A Brief Detail of His Education
  6. 6: He Meditates Schemes of Importance
  7. 7: Engages in Partnership with a Female Associate, in Order to Put His Talents in Action
  8. 8: Their First Attempt; with a Digression Which Some Readers May Think Impertinent
  9. 9: The Confederates Change Their Battery, and Achieve a Remarkable Adventure
  10. 10: They Proceed to Levy Contributions with Great Success, Until Our Hero Sets Out with the Young Count for Vienna, Where He Enters into League with Another Adventurer
  11. 11: Fathom Makes Various Efforts in the World of Gallantry
  12. 12: He Effects a Lodgment in the House of a Rich Jeweller
  13. 13: He Is Exposed to a Most Perilous Incident in the Course of His Intrigue with the Daughter
  14. 14: He Is Reduced to a Dreadful Dilemma, in Consequence of an Assignation with the Wife
  15. 15: But at Length Succeeds in His Attempt upon Both
  16. 16: His Success Begets a Blind Security, by Which He Is Once Again Well-Nigh Entrapped in His Dulcinea’s Apartment
  17. 17: The Step-Dame’s Suspicions Being Awakened, She Lays a Snare for Our Adventurer, from Which He Is Delivered by the Interposition of His Good Genius
  18. 18: Our Hero Departs from Vienna, and Quits the Domain of Venus for the Rough Field of Mars
  19. 19: He Puts Himself Under the Guidance of His Associate, and Stumbles upon the French Camp, Where He Finishes His Military Career
  20. 20: He Prepares a Stratagem but Finds Himself Countermined—Proceeds on His Journey, and Is Overtaken by a Terrible Tempest
  21. 21: He Falls upon Scylla, Seeking to Avoid Charybdis
  22. 22: He Arrives at Paris, and Is Pleased with His Reception
  23. 23: Acquits Himself with Address in a Nocturnal Riot
  24. 24: He Overlooks the Advances of His Friends, and Smarts Severely for His Neglect
  25. 25: He Bears His Fate Like a Philosopher; and Contracts Acquaintance with a Very Remarkable Personage
  26. 26: The History of the Noble Castilian
  27. 27: A Flagrant Instance of Fathom’s Virtue, in the Manner of His Retreat to England
  28. 28: Some Account of His Fellow-Travellers
  29. 29: Another Providential Deliverance from the Effects of the Smuggler’s Ingenious Conjecture
  30. 30: The Singular Manner of Fathom’s Attack and Triumph Over the Virtue of the Fair Elenor
  31. 31: He by Accident Encounters His Old Friend, with Whom He Holds a Conference, and Renews a Treaty
  32. 32: He Appears in the Great World with Universal Applause and Admiration
  33. 33: He Attracts the Envy and Ill Offices of the Minor Knights of His Own Order, Over Whom He Obtains a Complete Victory
  34. 34: He Performs Another Exploit, That Conveys a True Idea of His Gratitude and Honour
  35. 35: He Repairs to Bristol Spring, Where He Reigns Paramount During the Whole Season
  36. 36: He Is Smitten with the Charms of a Female Adventurer, Whose Allurements Subject Him to a New Vicissitude of Fortune
  37. 37: Fresh Cause for Exerting His Equanimity and Fortitude
  38. 38: The Biter Is Bit
  39. 39: Our Adventurer Is Made Acquainted with a New Scene of Life
  40. 40: He Contemplates Majesty and Its Satellites in Eclipse
  41. 41: One Quarrel Is Compromised, and Another Decided by Unusual Arms
  42. 42: An Unexpected Rencontre, and a Happy Revolution in the Affairs of Our Adventurer
  43. 43: Fathom Justifies the Proverb, “What’s Bred in the Bone Will Never Come Out of the Flesh.”
  44. 44: Anecdotes of Poverty, and Experiments for the Benefit of Those Whom It May Concern
  45. 45: Renaldo’s Distress Deepens, and Fathom’s Plot Thickens
  46. 46: Our Adventurer Becomes Absolute in His Power Over the Passions of His Friend, and Effects One Half of His Aim
  47. 47: The Art of Borrowing Further Explained, and an Account of a Strange Phenomenon
  48. 48: Count Fathom Unmasks His Battery; Is Repulsed; and Varies His Operations Without Effect
  49. 49: Monimia’s Honour Is Protected by the Interposition of Heaven
  50. 50: Fathom Shifts the Scene, and Appears in a New Character
  51. 51: Triumphs Over a Medical Rival
  52. 52: Repairs to the Metropolis, and Enrols Himself Among the Sons of Paean
  53. 53: Acquires Employment in Consequence of a Lucky Miscarriage
  54. 54: His Eclipse, and Gradual Declination
  55. 55: After Divers Unsuccessful Efforts, He Has Recourse to the Matrimonial Noose
  56. 56: In Which His Fortune Is Effectually Strangled
  57. 57: Fathom Being Safely Housed, the Reader Is Entertained with a Retrospect
  58. 58: Renaldo Abridges the Proceedings at Law, and Approves Himself the Son of His Father
  59. 59: He Is the Messenger of Happiness to His Sister, Who Removes the Film Which Had Long Obstructed His Penetration, with Regard to Count Fathom
  60. 60: Renaldo Meets with a Living Monument of Justice, and Encounters a Personage of Some Note in These Memoirs
  61. 61: His Return to England, and Midnight Pilgrimage to Monimia’s Tomb
  62. 62: He Renews the Rites of Sorrow, and Is Entranced
  63. 63: The Mystery Unfolded—Another Recognition, Which, It Is to Be Hoped, the Reader Could Not Foresee
  64. 64: A Retrospective Link, Necessary for the Concatenation of These Memoirs
  65. 65: The History Draws Near a Period
  66. 66: The Longest and the Last