Parson's Pleasure Summary

Mr. Boggis, a London antiques dealer, drives around the countryside looking for rare commodities and pieces of furniture he can sell in his showroom. However, he recently discovered by accident that he can get very good deals when he pretends to be a parson, in charge of the Society for the Preservation of Rare Furniture, simply looking for the furniture, rather than wanting to purchase it. On one outing, he is delighted to find a long-lost commode by Chippendale, and is delighted that the farmers in whose home he finds it appear to have no concept of its value. Boggis offers to buy the commode, supposedly to use its legs for a piece of his own furniture, at a low price. He "demonstrates," using a variety of dirty tricks and false information, how their commode is an "imitation." Satisfied, the farmers...