Jax Reads: The Scarlet Pimpernel - Chapter 2 Dover: “The Fisherman’s Rest”
2At the tavern “The Fisherman’s Rest” in the English coastal town of Dover, Mr. Jellyband, the proprietor, discusses events of the day, at home and abroad, with his guests (over many tankards of beer, kept flowing by his “buxom daughter” Sally). Jellyband announces that he is expecting nobility fleeing from the Terror in France to arrive at his inn that night, aided by Sir Andrew Ffoulkes and other young English noblemen. One of Jellyband’s patrons, Mr. Hempseed, objects to the English nobles’ activity as “interferin’ in other folks’ ways.” Jellyband accuses Hempseed of sympathizing with the French Revolution, consorting with French spies and calling for a similar upheaval in England, as Jellyband believes his friend and fellow tavern-owner Peppercorn has done. When the conversation takes this turn, an unknown gentleman (one of two who sit silently in the tavern, playing dominoes, keeping to themselves) asks how Jellyband thinks Peppercorn was so led astray. Jellyband replies that the French spies probably “talked ‘im over,” but that he, for his part, will always remain a loyal Englishman, who could never be fooled by “any God-forsaken furriner!”