Japhet, In Search Of A Father — Frederick Marryat

Reared as a foundling, and apprenticed to an apothecary, Japhet's good looks and matchless talent for lying carry him through the guises of tramp, mountebank, quack doctor, gentleman-about-town, and finally the only son of a wealthy general. Published in 1836, Captain Marryat's picaresque seventh book was his first “landlocked” story.