Lavengro · Chapter
XLVI explained
Lavengro witnesses a pickpocket stealing a merchant's pocketbook in a London alley.
What happens
Lavengro witnesses a pickpocket stealing a merchant's pocketbook in a London alley. He intervenes, captures the thief, and returns the pocketbook. The merchant, recognizing Lavengro from a previous encounter on London Bridge, thanks him and later visits Lavengro at the old apple-woman's booth, where they discuss philological connections between words for bread in various languages, culminating in the merchant's astonishment when Lavengro mentions the Armenian word.
Themes in this chapter
Philology and Learning
Lavengro and the stranger discuss the etymology of words for bread across languages, including Romani, Latin, Hebrew, and Armenian.
Honor and Morality
Lavengro acts to stop a theft and return the pocketbook, demonstrating a sense of justice and moral duty.
Characters to notice
- Lavengro
Intervenes to stop a pickpocket and returns a stolen pocketbook; later discusses philology with the stranger.
- The Stranger
The merchant whose pocketbook is stolen; recognizes Lavengro from London Bridge and later engages in a philological conversation.
- The Old Man
The pickpocket who attempts to steal the merchant's pocketbook; previously tried to cheat Lavengro in a coach-yard.
Key passages
“A few days after the occurrence of what is recorded in the last chapter, as I was wandering in the City, chance directed my footsteps to an alley leading from one narrow street to another in the neighbourhood of Cheapside.”
A few days after the events of the previous chapter, I happened to wander into an alley near Cheapside in the City of London.
Sets the scene for the pickpocket incident.
“I have really done you a great service, and I should be ungrateful not to acknowledge it. I am a merchant; and a merchant's pocketbook, as you perhaps know, contains many things of importance.”
You have done me a great favor, and I would be ungrateful not to thank you. As a merchant, my pocketbook holds many valuable items.
The stranger expresses gratitude for the return of his pocketbook.
“What do you call bread in your language? ... Zhats! By the Patriarch and the Three Holy Churches, this is wonderful! How came you to know aught of Armenian?”
Lavengro asks about the word for bread in the stranger's language, and when he mentions the Armenian word 'zhats,' the stranger is astonished and asks how he knows Armenian.
Highlights the philological connection and the stranger's surprise.