Japhet in Search of a Father

Japhet Newland begins life as a foundling, anonymously left at the Foundling Hospital with a note hinting at legitimate birth and possible reclamation. Raised amid hardship, he is apprenticed at fourteen to the bustling apothecary Mr. Phineas Cophagus, where comic discipline, market chaos, and the hard labor of pounding drugs become his education in both medicine and society. With the help of the amiable Mr. Brookes and the mischievous Timothy Oldmixon, Japhet learns the shop's ways, then boldly improvises as a "doctor" himself, revealing the wit, vanity, and moral slipperiness that will shape his adventures. As he matures, Japhet grows into a capable dispenser while never losing sight of the deeper mystery of his origins. A series of travel episodes and mistaken identities carries him from London to Ireland, where he encounters Cophagus again, evades recognition, and turns social deception into an art. In Dublin and beyond, he pursues clues to the De Benyon family, Sir Henry de Clare, and the elusive Melchior, while comic misunderstandings, inherited fortunes, and a sealed packet of papers steadily draw him toward a dangerous truth. Suspense, satire, and picaresque energy drive his restless search for identity, inheritance, and the father he has never known. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.