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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31879-8.txt b/31879-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f17b107 --- /dev/null +++ b/31879-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13976 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Coelebs In Search of a Wife, by Hannah More + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Coelebs In Search of a Wife + +Author: Hannah More + +Release Date: April 4, 2010 [EBook #31879] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COELEBS IN SEARCH OF A WIFE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + C[OE]LEBS + + IN SEARCH OF A WIFE. + + BY MRS. HANNAH MORE. + + + NEW YORK: + DERBY & JACKSON, 119 NASSAU STREET. + 1858. + + * * * * * + + "Among unequals what society + Can sort, what harmony or true delight? + Of fellowship, I speak, fit to participate + All rational enjoyment." + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE. + + +When I quitted home, on a little excursion in the spring of this present +year 1808, a thought struck me, which I began to put into immediate +execution. I determined to commit to paper any little circumstances that +might arise, and any conversations in which I might be engaged, when the +subject was at all important, though there might be nothing particularly +new or interesting in the discussion itself. + +I fulfilled my intention as occasions arose to furnish me with +materials; and on my return to the North, in the autumn of this same +year, it was my amusement on my journey to look over and arrange these +papers. + +As soon as I arrived at my native place, I lent my manuscript to a +confidential friend, as the shortest way of imparting to him whatever +had occurred to me during our separation, together with my reflections +on those occurrences. I took care to keep his expectations low, by +apprizing him, that in a tour from my house in Westmoreland to the house +of a friend in Hampshire, he must not look for adventures, but content +himself with the every-day details of common life, diversified only by +the different habits and tempers of the persons with whom I had +conversed. + +He brought back my manuscript in a few days, with an earnest wish that I +would consent to its publication, assuring me that he was of opinion +that it might not be altogether useless, not only to young men engaged +in the same pursuit with myself, but to the general reader. He obviated +all my objections arising from my want of leisure, during my present +interesting engagements, by offering to undertake the whole business +himself, and to release me from any further trouble, as he was just +setting out for London, where he proposed passing more time than the +printing would require. + +Thus I am driven to the stale apology for publishing what perhaps it +would have been more prudent to have withheld--_the importunity of +friends_; an apology so commonly unfounded, and so repeatedly alleged, +from the days of John Faustus to the publication of C[oe]lebs. + +But whether my friend, or my vanity, had the largest share of influence, +I am willing to indulge the hope that a better motive than either +friendship or vanity was an operating ingredient in my consent. Be that +as it may--I sent him my copy "_with all its imperfections on its +head_." It was accompanied by a letter of which the following extract +shall conclude these short prefatory remarks: + +"I here send you my manuscript, with permission to make what use of it +you please. By publishing it I fear you will draw on me the particular +censure of two classes of critics. The novel reader will reject it as +dull. The religious may throw it aside as frivolous. The one will accuse +it of excessive strictness; the other of censurable levity. Readers of +the former description must be satisfied with the following brief and +general answer: + +"Had it been my leading object to have indulged in details that have +amusement only for their end, it might not have been difficult to have +produced a work more acceptable to the tastes accustomed to be gratified +with such compositions. But to entertain that description of readers +makes no part of my design. + +"The persons with whom I have associated in my excursion were +principally, though not exclusively, the family of a country gentleman, +and a few of his friends--a narrow field, and unproductive of much +variety! The generality of these characters move in the quiet and +regular course of domestic life. I found them placed in no difficult +situations. It was a scene rather favorable to reflection than +description. Social intercourse, and not striking events, marked the +daily progress of my visit. I had little of pathetic scenes or trying +circumstances to work on my own feelings, or, by the relation of them, +to work on the feelings of others. My friend's house resembled the +reign of some pacific sovereigns. It was the pleasantest to live in, but +its annals were not the most splendid to record. The periods which make +life happy do not always render history brilliant. + +"Great passions, therefore, and great trials growing out of them as I +did not witness, I have not attempted to delineate. Love itself appears +in these pages, not as an ungovernable impulse, but as a sentiment +arising out of qualities calculated to inspire attachment in persons +under the dominion of reason and religion, brought together by the +ordinary course of occurrences, in a private family party. + +"The familiar conversations of this little society comprehend a +considerable portion of this slender work. The texture of the narrative +is so slight, that it barely serves for a ground into which to weave the +sentiments and observations which it was designed to introduce. + +"It may not be unnecessary to anticipate an objection to which these +conversations may sometimes be thought liable. In a few instances, the +speeches may be charged with a degree of stiffness, and with a length +not altogether consistent with familiar dialogue. I must apologize for +this by observing, that when the subjects were serious, the dialogue +would not, in every instance, bend to such facilities, nor break into +such small parcels, as may easily be effected in the discussion of +topics of gayer intercourse. + +"But it is time to meet the objections of the more pious reader, if any +such should condescend to peruse this little performance. If it be +objected, that religious characters have been too industriously brought +forward, and their faults somewhat too severely treated, let it be +remembered, that while it is one of the principal objects of the work to +animadvert on those very faults, it has never been done with the +insidious design of depreciating the religion, but with the view, by +exposing the fault, to correct the practice. Grossly vicious characters +have seldom come in my way; but I had frequent occasion to observe the +different shapes and shades of error in various descriptions of society, +not only in those worldly persons who do not quite leave religion out of +their scheme, but on the mistakes and inconsistencies of better +characters, and even on the errors of some who would be astonished not +to find themselves reckoned altogether religious. I have not so much +animadverted on the unavoidable faults and frailties inseparable from +humanity, even in the best characters, and which the best characters +most sensibly feel, and most feelingly deplore, as on those errors which +are often tolerated, justified, and in some instances systematized. + +"If I have been altogether deceived in the ambitious hope that these +pages may not be entirely useless; if I have failed in my endeavors to +show how religion may be brought to mix with the concerns of ordinary +life, without impairing its activity, lessening its cheerfulness, or +diminishing its usefulness; if I have erred in fancying that material +defects exist in fashionable education; if I have been wrong in +supposing that females of the higher class may combine more domestic +knowledge with more intellectual acquirement, that they may be at the +same time more knowing and more useful, than has always been thought +necessary or compatible; in short, if I shall be found to have totally +disappointed you, my friend, in your too sanguine opinion that some +little benefit might arise from the publication, I shall rest satisfied +with a low and negative merit. I must be content with the humble hope +that no part of these volumes will be found injurious to the important +interests which it was rather in my wish than in my ability to advance; +that where I failed in effecting good, little evil has been done; that +if my book has answered no valuable purpose, it has, at least, not added +to the number of those publications which, by impairing the virtue, have +diminished the happiness of mankind; that if I possessed not talents to +promote the cause of Christian morals, I possessed an abhorrence of +those principles which lead to their contamination. + +"C[OE]LEBS." + + + + +C[OE]LEBS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +I have been sometimes surprised when in conversation I have been +expressing my admiration of the character of Eve in her state of +innocence, as drawn by our immortal poet, to hear objections started by +those, from whom of all critics I should have least expected it--the +ladies. I confess that as the Sophia of Rousseau had her young +imagination captivated by the character of Fenelon's Telemachus, so I +early became enamored of that of Milton's Eve. I never formed an idea of +conjugal happiness, but my mind involuntarily adverted to the graces of +that finished picture. + +The ladies, in order to justify their censure, assert that Milton, a +harsh domestic tyrant, must needs be a very inadequate judge, and of +course a very unfair delineator, of female accomplishments. These fair +cavilers draw their inference from premises, from which I have always +been accustomed to deduce a directly contrary conclusion. They insist +that it is highly derogatory from the dignity of the sex, that the poet +should affirm that it is the perfection of the character of a wife, + + To study household good, + And good works in her husband to promote. + +Now according to my notion of "household good," which does not include +one idea of drudgery or servility, but which involves a large and +comprehensive scheme of excellence, I will venture to affirm, that let a +woman know what she may, yet if she knows not this, she is ignorant of +the most indispensable, the most appropriate branch of female knowledge. +Without it, however she may inspire admiration abroad, she will never +excite esteem, nor of coarse, durable affection, at home, and will bring +neither credit nor comfort to her ill-starred partner. + +The domestic arrangements of such a woman as filled the capacious mind +of the poet resemble, if I may say it without profaneness, those of +Providence, whose under-agent she is. Her wisdom is seen in its effects. +Indeed it is rather felt than seen. It is sensibly acknowledged in the +peace, the happiness, the virtue of the component parts; in the order, +regularity and beauty of the whole system, of which she is the moving +spring. The perfection of her character, as the divine poet intimates, +does not arise from a prominent quality, or a showy talent, or a +brilliant accomplishment, but it is the beautiful combination and result +of them all. Her excellencies consist not so much in acts as in habits, +in + + Those thousand decencies which daily flow + From all her words and actions. + +A description more calculated than any I ever met with to convey an idea +of the purest conduct resulting from the best principles. It gives an +image of that tranquillity, smoothness, and quiet beauty, which is the +very essence of perfection in a wife; while the happily chosen verb +_flow_ takes away any impression of dullness, or stagnant torpor, which +the _still_ idea might otherwise suggest. + +But the offense taken by the ladies against the uncourtly bard is +chiefly occasioned by his having presumed to intimate that conjugal +obedience + + Is woman's highest honor and her praise. + +This is so nice a point that I, as a bachelor, dare only just hint, that +on this delicate question the poet has not gone an inch further than the +apostle. Nay, Paul is still more uncivilly explicit than Milton. If, +however, I could hope to bring over to my side critics, who, being of +the party, are too apt to prejudge the cause, I would point out to them +that the supposed harshness of the observation is quite done away by the +recollection that this scrupled "obedience" is so far from implying +degradation, that it is connected with the injunction to the woman "to +promote good works" in her husband; an injunction surely inferring a +degree of influence that raises her condition, and restores her to all +the dignity of equality; it makes her not only the associate but the +inspirer of his virtues. + +But to return to the economical part of the character of Eve. And here +she exhibits a consummate specimen and beautiful model of domestic skill +and elegance. How exquisitely conceived is her reception and +entertainment of Raphael! How modest and yet how dignified! I am afraid +I know some husbands who would have had to encounter very ungracious +looks, not to say words, if they had brought home even an angel, +_unexpectedly_ to dinner. Not so our general mother: + + Her dispatchful looks, + Her hospitable thoughts, * * * intent + What choice to choose for delicacy best, + +all indicate not only the "prompt" but the cheerful "obedience." Though +her repast consisted only of the fruits of Paradise, + + Whatever earth, all bearing mother, yields; + +yet of these, with a liberal hospitality, + + She gathers tribute large, and on the board + Heaps with unsparing hand. + +The finest modern lady need not disdain the arrangement of her table, +which was + + So contrived as not to mix + Tastes not well join'd, inelegant, but bring + Taste after taste, upheld by kindliest change. + +It must, however, I fear, be conceded, by the way, that this "taste +_after_ taste" rather holds out an encouragement to second courses. + +When this unmatched trio had finished their repast, which, let it be +observed, before they tasted, Adam acknowledged that + + These bounties from our _Nourisher_ are given, + From whom all perfect good descends, + +Milton, with great liberality to that sex against which he is accused of +so much severity, obligingly permitted Eve to sit much longer after +dinner, than most modern husbands would allow. She had attentively +listened to all the historical and moral subjects so divinely discussed +between the first Angel and the first Man; and perhaps there can +scarcely be found a more beautiful trait of a delicately attentive wife, +than she exhibits, by withdrawing at the exact point of propriety. She +does not retire in consequence of any look or gesture, any broad sign of +impatience, much less any command or intimation of her husband; but with +the ever watchful eye of vigilant affection and deep humility: + + When by his countenance he seem'd + Entering on thoughts abstruse, + +instructed only by her own quick intuition of what was right and +delicate, she withdrew. And here again how admirably does the poet +sustain her intellectual dignity, softened by a most tender stroke of +conjugal affection. + + Yet went she not, as not with such discourse + Delighted, or not capable her ear + Of what was high--such pleasure she reserved, + Adam relating, she sole auditress---- + +On perusing, however, the tête-à-tête which her absence occasioned, +methinks I hear some sprightly lady, fresh from the Royal Institution, +express her wonder why Eve should be banished by her husband from +Raphael's fine lecture on astronomy which follows; was not she as +capable as Adam of understanding all he said, of + + Cycle and Epicycle, Orb on Orb? + +If, however, the imaginary fair objector will take the trouble to read +to the end of the eighth book of this immortal work, it will raise in +her estimation both the poet and the heroine, when she contemplates the +just propriety of her being absent before Adam enters on the account of +the formation, beauty and attractions of his wife, and of his own love +and admiration. She will further observe, in her progress through this +divine poem, that the author is so far from making Eve a mere domestic +drudge, an unpolished housewife, that he pays an invariable attention +even to external elegance, in his whole delineation, ascribing grace to +her steps and dignity to her gesture. He uniformly keeps up the same +combination of intellectual worth and polished manners; + + For softness she, and sweet attractive grace. + +And her husband, so far from a churlish insensibility to her +perfections, politely calls her + + Daughter of God and man, _accomplish'd_ Eve. + +I will not, however, affirm that Adam, or even Milton, annexed to the +term _accomplished_ precisely the idea with which it is associated in +the mind of a true modern-bred lady. + +It may be objected to the poet's gallantry that he remarks + + How beauty is excell'd by manly grace, + And wisdom, which alone is truly fair; + +let it be remembered that the observation proceeds from the lips of Eve +herself, and thus adds to her other graces, the crowning grace of +humility. + +But it is high time that I should proceed from my criticism to myself. +The connexion, and of course the transition, will be found more natural +than may appear, till developed by my slight narrative. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +I am a young man, not quite four and twenty, of an ancient and +respectable family, and considerable estate in one of the northern +counties. Soon after I had completed my studies in the university of +Edinburgh, my father fell into a lingering illness. I attended him with +an assiduity which was richly rewarded by the lessons of wisdom, and the +example of piety, which I daily received from him. After languishing +about a year, I lost him, and in him the most affectionate father, the +most enlightened companion, and the most Christian friend. + +The grief of my mother was so poignant and so lasting, that I could +never prevail on myself to leave her, even for the sake of attaining +those advantages, and enjoying those pleasures, which may be reaped by a +wider range of observation, by a more extended survey of the +multifarious tastes, habits, pursuits, and characters of general +society. I felt with Mr. Gray that we can never have but one mother, and +postponed from time to time the moment of leaving home. + +I was her only child, and though it was now her sole remaining wish to +see me happily married, yet I was desirous of first putting myself in a +situation which might afford me a more extensive field of inquiry before +I ventured to take so irretrievable a step, a step which might perhaps +affect my happiness in both worlds. But time did not hang heavy on my +hands; if I had little society, I had many books. My father had left me +a copious library, and I had learnt from him to select whatever was most +valuable in that best species of literature which tends to form the +principles, the understanding, the taste, and the character. My father +had passed the early part of his life in the gay and busy world; and our +domestic society in the country had been occasionally enlivened by +visits from some of his London friends, men of sense and learning, and +some of them men of piety. + +My mother, when she was in tolerable spirits, was now frequently +describing the kind of woman whom she wished me to marry. "I am so +firmly persuaded, Charles," would she kindly say, "of the justness of +your taste, and the rectitude of your principles, that I am not much +afraid of your being misled by the captivating exterior of any woman who +is greatly deficient either in sense or conduct; but remember, my son, +that there are many women against whose characters there lies nothing +very objectionable, who are yet little calculated to taste or to +communicate rational happiness. Do not indulge romantic ideas, of +super-human excellence. Remember that the fairest creature is a fallen +creature. Yet let not your standard be low. If it be absurd to expect +perfection, it is not unreasonable to expect _consistency_. Do not +suffer yourself to be caught by a shining quality, till you know it is +not counteracted by the opposite defect. Be not taken in by strictness +in one point, till you are assured there is no laxity in others. In +character, as in architecture, proportion is beauty. The education of +the present race of females is not very favorable to domestic happiness. +For my own part I call education, not that which smothers a woman with +accomplishments, but that which tends to consolidate a firm and regular +system of character; that which tends to form a friend, a companion, and +a wife. I call education not that which is made up of the shreds and +patches of useless arts, but that which inculcates principles, polishes +taste, regulates temper, cultivates reason, subdues the passions, +directs the feelings, habituates to reflection, trains to self-denial, +and, more especially, that which refers all actions, feelings, +sentiments, tastes, and passions, to the love and fear of God." + +I had yet had little opportunity of contrasting the charms of my native +place with the less wild and romantic beauties of the south. I was +passionately fond of the scenery that surrounded me, which had never yet +lost that power of pleasing which it is commonly imagined that novelty +can alone confer. + +The priory, a handsome Gothic mansion, stands in the middle of a park, +not extensive, but beautifully varied. Behind are lofty mountains, the +feet of which are covered with wood that descends almost to the house. +On one side a narrow cultivated valley winds among the mountains; the +bright variegated tints of its meadows and corn fields, with here and +there a little white cottage, embosomed in trees, are finely contrasted +with the awful and impassable fells which contain it. + +An inconsiderable but impetuous river rushes from the mountains above, +through this unadorned but enchanting little valley, and passes through +the park at the distance of about a hundred yards from the house. The +ground falls beautifully down to it; and on the other side is a fine +wood of birch overhanging the river, which is here crossed by a small +rustic bridge; after being enlarged by many streams from the neighboring +hills, it runs about half a mile to the lake below, which, from the +front of the house, is seen in full beauty. It is a noble expanse of +water. The mountains that surround it are some of them covered with +wood, some skirted with cultivation, some rocky and barren to the +water's edge; while the rugged summits of them all present every variety +of fantastic outline. Toward the head of the lake a neat little village +ornaments the banks, and wonderfully harmonizes with the simple beauty +of the scene. At an opening among the hills, a view is caught of the +distant country, a wide vale richly wooded, adorned everywhere with +towns, villages, and gentlemen's houses, and backed by sublime +mountains, rivaling in height, though not in their broken and Alpine +forms, those that more immediately surround us. + +While I was thus dividing my time between the enjoyment of this +exquisite scenery, my books, the care of my affairs, my filial +attentions, and my religious duties, I was suddenly deprived of my +inestimable mother. She died the death of the righteous. + +Addison has finely touched on the singular sort of delicate and refined +tenderness of a father for a daughter: but I am persuaded that there is +no affection of the human heart more exquisitely pure than that which is +felt by a grateful son toward a mother who fostered his infancy with +fondness, watched over his childhood with anxiety, and his youth with an +interest compounded of all that is tender, wise, and pious. + +My retirement was now become solitude: the former is, I believe, the +best state for the mind of man, the latter almost the worst. In +complete solitude the eye wants objects, the heart wants attachments, +the understanding wants reciprocation. The character loses its +tenderness when it has nothing to love, its firmness when it has none to +strengthen it, its sweetness when it has nothing to soothe it; its +patience when it meets no contradiction, its humility when it is +surrounded by dependants, and its delicacy in the conversation of the +uninformed. Where the intercourse is very unequal, society is something +worse than solitude. + +I had naturally a keen relish for domestic happiness; and this +propensity had been cherished by what I had seen and enjoyed in my +father's family. Home was the scene in which my imagination had pictured +the only delights worthy of a rational, feeling, intellectual, immortal +man: + + sole bliss of Paradise + Which has survived the fall. + +This inclination had been much increased by my father's turn of +conversation. He often said to me, "I know your domestic propensities; +and I know, therefore, that the whole color of your future life will be, +in a particular manner, determined by the turn of mind of the woman you +may marry. Were you to live in the busy haunts of men; were you of any +profession, or likely to be engaged in public life, though I would still +counsel you to be equally careful in your choice, yet your happiness +would not so immediately, so exclusively depend on the individual +society of a woman, as that of a retired country gentleman must do. A +man of sense who loves home, and lives at home, requires a wife who can +and will be at half the expense of mind necessary for keeping up the +cheerful, animated, elegant intercourse which forms so great a part of +the bond of union between intellectual and well-bred persons. Had your +mother been a woman of an uninformed, inelegant mind, virtuous and +pious as she is, what abatement must there have been in the blessings of +my lot! The _exhibiting_, the _displaying_ wife may entertain your +company, but it is only the informed, the refined, the cultivated woman +who can entertain yourself; and I presume whenever you marry you will +marry primarily for yourself, and not for your friends; you will want a +COMPANION: an ARTIST you may hire. + +"But remember, Charles, that when I am insisting so much on mental +delicacy, I am assuming that all is right in still more essential +points. Do not be contented with this superstructure, till you have +ascertained the solidity of the foundation. The ornaments which decorate +do not support the edifice! Guarded as you are by Christian principles, +and confirmed in virtuous habits, I trust you may safely look abroad +into the world. Do not, however, irrevocably dispose of your affections +till you have made the long-promised visit to my earliest, wisest, and +best friend, Mr. Stanley. I am far from desiring that your friends +should direct your choice. It is what even your father would not do: but +he will be the most faithful and most disinterested of counselors." + +I resolved now for a few months to leave the priory, the seat of my +ancestors, to make a tour not only to London, but to Stanley Grove, in +Hampshire, the residence of my father's friend; a visit I was about to +make with him just before his last illness. He wished me to go alone, +but I could not prevail on myself to desert his sick-bed for any scheme +of amusement. + +I began to long earnestly for the pleasures of conversation, pleasures +which, in our small, but social and select circle of cultivated friends, +I had been accustomed to enjoy. I am aware that certain fine town-bred +men would ridicule the bare mention of learned and polished conversation +at a village in Westmoreland, or indeed at any place out of the +precincts of the metropolis; just as a London physician or lawyer smiles +superciliously at the suggested merits of a professional brother in a +provincial town. Good sense, however, is of all countries, and even +knowledge is not altogether a mere local advantage. These, and not the +topics of the hour, furnish the best raw materials for working up an +improving intercourse. + +It must be confessed, however, as I have since found, that for giving a +terseness and polish to conversation; for rubbing out prejudices; for +correcting egotism; for keeping self-importance out of sight, if not +curing it; for bringing a man to condense what he has to say, if he +intends to be listened to; for accustoming him to endure opposition; for +teaching him not to think every man who differs from him in matters of +taste, a fool, and in politics, a knave; for cutting down harangues; for +guarding him from producing as novelties and inventions, what has been +said a thousand times; for quickness of allusion, which brings the idea +before you without detail or quotation; nothing is equal to the +miscellaneous society of London. The advantages, too, which it possesses +in being the seat of the court, the parliament, and the courts of law, +as well as the common centre of arts and talents of every kind, all +these raise it above every other scene of intellectual improvement, or +colloquial pleasure, perhaps, in the whole world. + +But this was only the secondary motive of my intended migration. I +connected with it the hope, that, in a more extended survey, I might be +more likely to select a deserving companion for life. "In such a +companion," said I, as I drove along in my post-chaise, "I do not want a +Helen, a Saint Cecilia, or a Madame Dacier; yet she must be elegant, or +I should not love her; sensible, or I should not respect her; prudent, +or I could not confide in her; well-informed, or she could not educate +my children; well-bred, or she could not entertain my friends; +_consistent_, or I should offend the shade of my mother; pious, or I +should not be happy with her, because the prime comfort in a companion +for life is the delightful hope that she will be a companion for +eternity." + +After this soliloquy, I was frightened to reflect that so much was +requisite; and yet when I began to consider in which article I could +make any abatement, I was willing to persuade myself that my +requisitions were moderate. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +I had occasionally visited two or three families in our own county, who +were said to make a very genteel appearance on narrow fortunes. As I was +known not to consider money as a principal consideration, it had often +been intimated to me what excellent wives the daughters of these +families would make, because on a very slender allowance their +appearance was as elegant as that of women of ten times their +expectations. I translated this respectable appearance into a language +not the most favorable, as I instantly inferred, and afterward was +convinced, that this personal figure was made by the sacrifice of their +whole time to those decorations which procured them credit, by putting +their outward figure on a par with the most affluent. If a girl with a +thousand pounds rivals in her dress one with ten thousand, is it not +obvious, that not only all her time must be employed, but all her money +devoted to this one object? Nothing but the clippings and parings from +her personal adornments could enable her to supply the demands of +charity; and these sacrifices, it is evident she is not disposed to +make. + +Another inducement suggested to me was, that these young ladies would +make the better wives, because they had never been corrupted by the +expensive pleasures of London, and had not been spoiled by the gay +scenes of dissipation which it afforded. This argument would have +weighed powerfully with me, had I not observed, that they never +abstained from any amusement in the country that came within their +reach. + +I naturally inferred, that she who eagerly grasped at every petty +provincial dissipation, would with increased alacrity have plunged into +the more alluring gayeties of the metropolis had it been in her power. I +thought she had even less apology to plead than the town lady; the fault +was equal, while the temptation was less: and she who was as dissipated +as her limited bounds permitted, where there was little to attract, +would, I feared, be as dissipated as she possibly could be, when her +temptations were multiplied, and her facilities increased. + +I had met with several young ladies of a higher description, daughters +of our country gentlemen, a class which furnishes a number of valuable +and elegant women. Some of these, whom I knew, seemed unexceptional in +manner and in mind. They had seen something of the world, without having +been spoiled by it; had read with advantage; and acquitted themselves +well in the duties which they had been called to practice. But I was +withheld from cultivating that degree of intimacy which would have +enabled me to take an exact measure of their minds, by the injunction of +my father, that I would never attach myself to any woman till I had seen +and consulted Mr. Stanley. This direction, which, like all his wishes, +was a law to me, operated as a sort of sedative in the slight +intercourse I had with ladies; and resolving to postpone all such +intimacy as might have led to attachment, I did not allow myself to +come near enough to feel with interest, or to judge with decision. + +As soon as I got to town I visited some of my father's friends. I was +kindly received for his sake, and at their houses soon enlarged the +sphere of my acquaintance. I was concerned to remark that two or three +gentlemen, whom I had observed to be very regular in their attendance on +public worship in the country, seldom went to church in London; in the +afternoon never. "Religion," they said, by way of apology, "was entirely +a thing of example; it was of great political importance; society was +held together by the restraints it imposed on the lower orders. When +they were in the country it was highly proper that their tenants and +workmen should have the benefit of their example, but in London the case +was different. Where there were so many churches, no one knew whether +you went or not, and where no scandal was given, no harm was done." As +this was a logic which had not found its way into my father's religion, +I was not convinced by it. I remember Mr. Burke, speaking of the +English, who were so humane at home, and whom he unjustly accused of +wanting humanity in India, says, "that the humanity of Britain is a +humanity of points and parallels." Surely the religion of the gentlemen +in question is not a less geographical distinction. + +This error, I conceive, arises from religion being too much considered +as a mere institution of decorum, of convention, of society; and not as +an institution founded on the condition of human nature, a covenant of +mercy for repairing the evils which sin has produced. It springs from +the want of a conviction that Christianity is an individual as well as +general concern; that religion is a personal thing, previous to its +being a matter of example; that a man is not infallibly saved or lost as +a portion of any family, or any church, or any community; but that, as +he is individually responsible, he must be individually brought to a +deep and humbling sense of his own personal wants, without taking any +refuge in the piety he may see around him, of which he will have no +benefit, if he be no partaker. + +I regretted, even for inferior reasons, the little distinction which was +paid to this sacred day. To say nothing of the elevating views which the +soul acquires from devoting itself to its proper object; the man of +business, methinks, should rejoice in its return; the politician should +welcome its appearance, not only as a rest from anxiety and labor, but +as an occasion of cooling and quieting the mind, of softening its +irritation, of allaying its ferment, and thus restoring the repaired +faculties and invigorated spirits to the demands of the succeeding week, +in a frame of increased aptitude for meeting its difficulties and +encountering its duties. + +The first person whom I visited was a good-natured, friendly man, whom I +had occasionally seen in the North. As I had no reason to believe that +he was religious, in the true sense of the word, I had no intention of +looking for a wife in his family. I, however, thought it not amiss to +associate a little with persons of different descriptions, that by a +wider range I might learn to correct my general judgment, as well as to +guide my particular pursuit. Nothing, it is true, would tempt me to +select a woman on whose pious dispositions I could not form a reasonable +dependence: yet to come at the reality of those dispositions was no easy +matter. + +I had heard my father remark, that he had, more than once, known a +right-minded girl, who seemed to have been first taught of heaven, and +afterward supported in her Christian course under almost every human +disadvantage; who boldly, but meekly, maintained her own principles, +under all the hourly temptations and oppositions of a worldly and +irreligious family, and who had given the best evidence of her piety +toward God, by her patient forbearance toward her erring friends. Such +women had made admirable wives when they were afterward transplanted +into families where their virtues were understood, and their piety +cherished. While, on the other hand, he had known others, who, +accustomed from childhood to the sober habits of family religion, under +pious but injudicious parents, had fallen in mechanically with the +domestic practices, without having ever been instructed in Christian +principles, or having ever manifested any religious tendencies. The +implantation of a new principle never having been inculcated, the +religious habit has degenerated into a mere form, the parents acting as +if they thought that religion must come by nature or infection in a +religious family. These girls, having never had their own hearts +impressed, nor their own characters distinctly considered, nor +individually cultivated, but being taken out as a portion from the mass, +have afterward taken the cast and color of any society into which they +have happened to be thrown; and they who before had lived religiously +with the religious, have afterward assimilated with the gay and +dissipated, when thus thrown into their company, as cordially as if they +had never been habituated to better things. + +At dinner there appeared two pretty-looking young ladies, daughters of +my friend, who had been some time a widower. I placed myself between +them for the purpose of prying a little into their minds, while the rest +of the company were conversing on indifferent subjects. Having formerly +heard this gentleman's deceased wife extolled as the mirror of managers, +and the arrangements of his table highly commended, I was surprised to +see it so ill-appointed, and every thing wearing marks of palpable +inelegance. Though no epicure, I could not forbear observing that many +of the dishes were out of season, ill-chosen, and ill-dressed. + +While I was puzzling my head for a solution, I recollected that I had +lately read in a most respectable periodical work, a paper (composed, I +believe, however, by a raw recruit of that well-disciplined corps) which +insisted that nothing tended to make ladies so useless and inefficient +in the _ménage_ as the study of the dead languages. I jumped to the +conclusion, and was in an instant persuaded that my young hostesses must +not only be perfect mistresses of Latin, but the _tout ensemble_ was so +ill arranged as to induce me to give them full credit for Greek also. + +Finding, therefore, that my appetite was balked, I took comfort in the +certainty that my understanding would be well regaled; and after +secretly regretting that learning should so effectually destroy +usefulness, I was resolved to derive intellectual comfort from this too +classical repast. Turning suddenly to the eldest lady, I asked her at +once if she did not think Virgil the finest poet in the world. She +blushed, and thus confirmed me in the opinion that her modesty was equal +to her erudition. I repeated my question with a little circumlocution. +She stared, and said she had never heard of the person I mentioned, but +that she had read Tears of Sensibility, and Rosa Matilda, and Sympathy +of Souls, and Too Civil by Half, and the Sorrows of Werter, and the +Stranger, and the Orphans of Snowdon. + +"Yes, sir," joined in the younger sister, who did not rise to so high a +pitch of literature, "and we have read Perfidy Punished, and Jemmy and +Jenny Jessamy, and the Fortunate Footman, and the Illustrious +Chambermaid." I blushed and stared in my turn; and here the +conversation, through the difficulty of our being intelligible to each +other, dropped; and I am persuaded that I sunk much lower in their +esteem for not being acquainted with their favorite authors, than they +did in mine for having never heard of Virgil. + +I arose from the table with a full conviction that it is very possible +for a woman to be totally ignorant of the ordinary but indispensable, +duties of common life without knowing one word of Latin; and that her +being a bad companion is no infallible proof of her being a good +economist. + +I am afraid the poor father saw something of my disappointment in my +countenance, for when we were alone in the evening, he observed, that a +heavy addition to his other causes of regret for the loss of his wife, +was her excellent management of his family. I found afterward that, +though she had brought him a great fortune, she had had a very low +education. Her father, a coarse country esquire, to whom the pleasures +of the table were the only pleasures for which he had any relish, had no +other ambition for his daughter but that she should be the most famous +housewife in the country. He gloried in her culinary perfections, which +he understood; of the deficiencies of her mind he had not the least +perception. Money and good eating, he owned, were the only things in +life which had a real intrinsic value; the value of all other things, he +declared, existed in the imagination only. + +The poor lady, when she became a mother, and was brought out into the +world, felt keenly the deficiencies of her own education. The dread of +Scylla, as is usual, wrecked her on Charybdis. Her first resolution, as +soon as she had daughters, was, that they should _learn every thing_. +All the masters who teach things of little intrinsic use were +extravagantly paid for supernumerary attendance; and as no one in the +family was capable of judging of their improvements, their progress was +but slow. Though they were taught much, they learned but little, even of +these unnecessary things; and of things necessary they learned nothing. +Their well-intentioned mother was not aware that her daughters' +education was almost as much calculated to gratify the senses, though in +a different way, and with more apparent refinement, as her own had been; +and that _mind_ is left nearly as much out of the question in making an +ordinary artist as in making a good cook. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +From my fondness for conversation, my imagination had been early fired +with Dr. Johnson's remark, that there is no pleasure on earth comparable +to the _fine full flow of London talk_. I, who, since I had quitted +college had seldom had my mind refreshed, but with the petty rills and +penurious streams of knowledge which country society afforded, now +expected to meet it in a strong and rapid current, fertilizing wherever +it flowed, producing in abundance the rich fruits of argument, and the +gay flowers of rhetoric. I looked for an uninterrupted course of profit +and delight. I flattered myself that every dinner would add to my stock +of images; that every debate would clear up some difficulty, every +discussion elucidate some truth; that every allusion would be purely +classical, every sentence abound with instruction, and every period be +pointed with wit. + +On the tiptoe of expectation I went to dine with Sir John Belfield, in +Cavendish-square. I looked at my watch fifty times. I thought it would +never be six o'clock. I did not care to show my country breeding, by +going too early, to incommode my friend, nor my town breeding, by going +too late, and spoiling his dinner. Sir John is a valuable, +elegant-minded man, and, next to Mr. Stanley, stood highest in my +father's esteem for his mental accomplishments and correct morals. As I +knew he was remarkable for assembling at his table men of sense, taste, +and learning, my expectations of pleasure were very high. "Here, at +least," said I as I heard the name of one clever man announced after +another, "here at least, I can not fail to find + + The feast of reason and the flow of soul: + +here, at least, all the energies of my mind will be brought into +exercise. From this society I shall carry away documents for the +improvement of my taste; I shall treasure up hints to enrich my +understanding, and collect aphorisms for the conduct of life." + +At first there was no fair opportunity to introduce any conversation +beyond the topics of the day, and to those, it must be confessed, this +eventful period gives a new and powerful interest. I should have been +much pleased to have had my country politics rectified, and any +prejudices, which I might have contracted, removed or softened, could +the discussion have been carried on without the frequent interruption of +the youngest man in the company. This gentleman broke in on every +remark, by descanting successively on the merits of the various dishes; +and, if it be true that experience only can determine the judgment, he +gave proof of that best right to peremptory decision by not trusting to +delusive theory, but by actually eating of every dish at table. + +His animadversions were uttered with the gravity of a German +philosopher, and the science of a French cook. If any of his opinions +happened to be controverted, he quoted in confirmation of his own +judgment, _l'Almanac des Gourmands_, which he assured us was the most +valuable work that had appeared in France since the Revolution. The +author of this book he seemed to consider of as high authority in the +science of eating, as Coke or Hale in that of jurisprudence, or +Quintilian in the art of criticism. To the credit of the company, +however, be it spoken, he had the whole of this topic to himself. The +rest of the party were, in general, of quite a different calibre, and as +little acquainted with his favorite author, as he probably was with +theirs. + +The lady of the house was perfectly amiable and well-bred. Her dinner +was excellent; and every thing about her had an air of elegance and +splendor; of course she completely escaped the disgrace of being thought +a scholar, but not the suspicion of having a very good taste. I longed +for the removal of the cloth, and was eagerly anticipating the pleasure +and improvement which awaited me. + +As soon as the servants were beginning to withdraw, we got into a sort +of attitude of conversation; all except the eulogist of l'Almanac des +Gourmands, who, wrapping himself up in the comfortable consciousness of +his own superior judgment, and a little piqued that he had found neither +support nor opposition (the next best thing to a professed talker), he +seemed to have a perfect indifference to all topics except that on which +he had shown so much eloquence with so little effect. + +The last tray was now carried out, the last lingering servant had +retired. I was beginning to listen with all my powers of attention to an +ingenious gentleman who was about to give an interesting account of +Egypt, where he had spent a year, and from whence he was lately +returned. He was just got to the catacombs, + + When on a sudden open fly, + With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, + +the mahogany folding doors, and in at once, struggling who should be +first, rushed half a dozen children, lovely, fresh, gay, and noisy. This +sudden and violent irruption of the pretty barbarians necessarily +caused a total interruption of conversation. The sprightly creatures ran +round the table to choose where they would sit. At length this great +difficulty of courts and cabinets, _the choice of places_, was settled. +The little things were jostled in between the ladies, who all contended +who should get possession of the _little beauties_. One was in raptures +with the rosy cheeks of a sweet girl she held in her lap. A second +exclaimed aloud at the beautiful lace with which the frock of another +was trimmed, and which she was sure mamma had given her for being good. +A profitable, and doubtless a lasting and inseparable association was +thus formed in the child's mind between lace and goodness. A third cried +out, "Look at the pretty angel!--do but observe--her bracelets are as +blue as her eyes. Did you ever see such a match?" "Surely, Lady +Belfield," cried a fourth, "you carried the eyes to the shop, or there +must have been a shade of difference." I myself, who am passionately +fond of children, eyed the sweet little rebels with complacency, +notwithstanding the unseasonableness of their interruption. + +At last, when they were all disposed of, I resumed my inquiries about +the resting-place of the mummies. But the grand dispute who should have +oranges and who should have almonds and raisins, soon raised such a +clamor that it was impossible to hear my Egyptian friend. This great +contest was, however, at length settled, and I was returning to the +antiquities of Memphis, when the important point, who should have red +wine, and who should have white, who should have half a glass, and who a +whole one, set us again in an uproar. Sir John was visibly uneasy, and +commanded silence. During this interval of peace, I gave up the +catacombs and took refuge in the pyramids. But I had no sooner proposed +my question about the serpent said to be found in one of them, than the +son and heir, a fine little fellow just six years old, reaching out his +arm to dart an apple across the table at his sister, roguishly intending +to overset her glass, unluckily overthrew his own, brimful of port wine. +The whole contents were discharged on the elegant drapery of a +white-robed nymph. + +All was now agitation, and distress, and disturbance, and confusion; the +gentlemen ringing for napkins, the ladies assisting the dripping fair +one; each vying with the other who should recommend the most approved +specific for getting out the stain of red wine, and comforting the +sufferer by stories of similar misfortunes. The poor little culprit was +dismissed, and all difficulties and disasters seemed at last surmounted. +But you can not heat up again an interest which has been so often +cooled. The thread of conversation had been so frequently broken that I +despaired of seeing it tied together again. I sorrowfully gave up +catacombs, pyramids, and serpent, and was obliged to content myself with +a little desultory chat with my next neighbor; sorry and disappointed to +glean only a few scattered ears where I had expected so abundant a +harvest; and the day from which I had promised myself so much benefit +and delight passed away with a very slender acquisition of either. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +I went almost immediately after, at the invitation of Mr. Ranby, to pass +a few days at his villa at Hampstead. Mr. and Mrs. Ranby were esteemed +pious persons, but having risen to great affluence by a sudden turn of +fortune in a commercial engagement, they had a little self-sufficiency, +and not a little disposition to ascribe an undue importance to wealth. +This I should have thought more pardonable under their circumstances, +had I not expected that religion would in this respect have more than +supplied the deficiencies of education. Their religion, however, +consisted almost exclusively in a disproportionate zeal for a very few +doctrines. And though they were far from being immoral in their own +practice, yet, in their discourse, they affected to undervalue morality. + +This was, indeed, more particularly the case with the lady, whose chief +object of discourse seemed to be, to convince me of her great +superiority to her husband in polemical skill. Her chaste conversation +certainly was not coupled with fear. In one respect she was the very +reverse of those pharisees who were scrupulously exact about their petty +observances. Mrs. Ranby was, on the contrary, anxious about a very few +important particulars, and exonerated herself from the necessity of all +inferior attentions. She was strongly attached to one or two preachers, +and discovered little candor for all others, or for those who attended +them. Nay, she somewhat doubted of the soundness of the faith of her +friends and acquaintance who would not incur great inconvenience to +attend one or other of her favorites. + +Mrs. Ranby's table was "more than hospitably good." There was not the +least suspicion of Latin here. The eulogist of female ignorance might +have dined in comfortable security against the intrusion and vanity of +erudition. She had three daughters, not unpleasing young women. But I +was much concerned to observe, that they were not only dressed to the +very extremity of fashion, but their drapery was as transparent, as +short, and as scanty, there was as sedulous a disclosure of their +persons, and as great a redundancy of ornaments, as I had seen in the +gayest circles. + +"Expect not perfection," said my good mother, "but look for +_consistency_." This principle my parents had not only taught me in the +closet, but had illustrated by their deportment in the family and in the +world. They observed a uniform correctness in their general demeanor. +They were not over anxious about character for its own sake, but they +were tenderly vigilant not to bring any reproach on the Christian name +by imprudence, negligence, or inconsistency, even in small things. +"Custom," said my mother, "can never alter the immutable nature of +right; fashion can never justify any practice which is improper in +itself; and to dress indecently is as great an offence against purity +and modesty, when it is the fashion, as when it is obsolete. There +should be a line of demarcation somewhere. In the article of dress and +appearance, Christian mothers should make a stand. They should not be so +unreasonable as to expect that a young girl will of herself have courage +to oppose the united temptations of fashion without, and the secret +prevalence of corruption within: and authority should be called in where +admonition fails." + +The conversation after dinner took a religious turn. Mrs. Ranby was not +unacquainted with the subject, and expressed herself with energy on many +serious points. I could have been glad, however, to have seen her views +a little more practical; and her spirit a little less censorious. I saw +she took the lead in debate, and that Mr. Ranby submitted to act as +subaltern, but whether his meekness was the effect of piety or fear, I +could not at that time determine. She protested vehemently against all +dissipation, in which I cordially joined her, though I hope with +something less intemperance of manner, and less acrimony against those +who pursued it. I began, however, to lose sight of the errors of the +daughters' dress in the pleasure I felt at conversing with so pious a +mother of a family. For pious she really was, though her piety was a +little debased by coarseness, and not a little disfigured by asperity. + +I was sorry to observe that the young ladies not only took no part in +the conversation, but that they did not even seem to know what was going +on, and I must confess the _manner_ in which it was conducted was not +calculated to make the subject interesting. The girls sat jogging and +whispering each other, and got away as fast as they could. + +As soon as they were withdrawn--"There sir," said the mother, "are three +girls who will make three excellent wives. They were never at a ball or +a play in their lives; and yet, though I say it, who should not say it, +they are as highly accomplished as any ladies at St. James." I cordially +approved the former part of her assertion, and bowed in silence to the +latter. + +I took this opportunity of inquiring what had been her mode of religious +instruction for her daughters; but though I put the question with much +caution and deference, she looked displeased, and said she did not think +it necessary to do a great deal in that way; all these things must come +from above; it was not human endeavors, but divine grace which made +Christians. I observed that the truth appeared to be, that divine grace +_blessing_ human endeavors seemed most likely to accomplish that great +end. She replied that experience was not on my side, for that the +children of religious parents were not always religious. I allowed that +it was too true. I knew that she drew her instances from two or three of +her own friends, who, while they discovered much earnestness about their +own spiritual interests, had almost totally neglected the religious +cultivation of their children; the daughters in particular had been +suffered to follow their own devices, and to waste their days in company +of their own choosing and in the most frivolous manner. "What do ye +more than others?" is an interrogation which this negligence has +frequently suggested. Nay, professing serious piety, if ye do not more +than those who profess it not, ye do less. + +I took the liberty to remark that though there was no such thing as +hereditary holiness, no entail of goodness; yet the Almighty had +promised in the Scriptures many blessings to the offspring of the +righteous. He never meant, however, that religion was to be transferred +arbitrarily like an heir-loom; but the promise was accompanied with +conditions and injunctions. The directions were express and frequent, to +inculcate early and late the great truths of religion; nay, it was +enforced with all the minuteness of detail, "precept upon precept, line +upon line, here a little, and there a little"--at all times and seasons, +"walking by the way, and sitting in the house." I hazarded the +assertion, that it would _generally_ be found that where the children of +pious parents turned out ill, there had been some mistake, some neglect, +or some fault on the part of the parents; that they had not used the +right methods. I observed that I thought it did not at all derogate from +the sovereignty of the Almighty that he appointed certain means to +accomplish certain ends; and that the adopting these, in conformity to +his appointment, and dependence on his blessing, seemed to be one of the +cases in which we should prove our faith by our obedience. + +I found I had gone too far: she said, with some warmth, that she was not +wanting in any duty to her daughters; she set them a good example, and +she prayed daily for their conversion. I highly commended her for both, +but risked the observation, "that praying without instilling principles, +might be as inefficacious as instruction without prayer. That it was +like a husbandman who should expect that praying for sunshine should +produce a crop of corn in a field where not one grain had been sown. +God, indeed, _could_ effect this, but he does not do it; and the means +being of his own appointment, his omnipotence is not less exerted, by +his directing certain effects to follow certain causes, than it would be +by any arbitrary act." As it was evident that she did not choose to +quarrel with me, she contented herself with saying coldly, that she +perceived I was a _legalist_, and had but a low view of divine things. + +At tea I found the young ladies took no more interest in the +conversation, than they had done at dinner, but sat whispering and +laughing, and netting white silk gloves till they were summoned to the +harpsichord. Despairing of getting on with them in company, I proposed a +walk in the garden. I now found them as willing to talk, as destitute of +any thing to say. Their conversation was vapid and frivolous. They laid +great stress on small things. They seemed to have no shades in their +understanding, but used the strongest terms for the commonest occasions, +and admiration was excited by things hardly worthy to command attention. +They were extremely glad, and extremely sorry, on subjects not +calculated to excite affections of any kind. They were animated about +trifles, and indifferent on things of importance. They were, I must +confess, frank and good-natured, but it was evident, that as they were +too open to have any thing to conceal, so they were too uninformed to +have any thing to produce: and I was resolved not to risk my happiness +with a woman who could not contribute her full share toward spending a +wet winter cheerfully in the country. + +The next day, all the hours from breakfast to dinner were devoted to the +harp. I had the vanity to think that this sacrifice of time was made in +compliment to me, as I had professed to like music; till I found that +all their mornings were spent in the same manner, and the only fruit of +their education, which seemed to be used to any purpose was, that after +their family devotions in the evening, they sung and played a hymn. This +was almost the only sign they gave of intellectual or spiritual life. +They attended morning prayers if they were dressed before the bell rang. +One morning when they did not appear till late, they were reproved by +their father; Mrs. Ranby said, "she should be more angry with them for +their irregularity, were it not that Mr. Ranby obstinately persisted in +reading a printed form which she was persuaded could not do any body +much good." The poor man, who was really well disposed, very properly +defended himself by saying, that he hoped his own heart went along with +every word he read; and as to his family, he thought it much more +beneficial for them to join in an excellent composition of a judicious +divine, than to attend to any such crude rhapsody as he should be able +to produce, whose education had not qualified him to lead the devotions +of others. I had never heard him venture to make use of his +understanding before; and I continued to find it much better than I had +at first given him credit for. The lady observed, with some asperity, +that where there were _gifts_ and _graces_, it superseded the necessity +of learning. + +In vindication of my own good breeding, I should observe that in my +little debates with Mrs. Ranby, to which I was always challenged by her, +I never lost sight of that becoming example of the son of Cato, who, +when about to deliver sentiments which might be thought too assuming in +so young a man, introduced his admonitions with the modest preface, + + Remember what our _father_ oft has taught us. + +I, without quoting the son of the sage of Utica, constantly adduced the +paternal authority for opinions which might savor too much of arrogance +without such a sanction. + +I observed, in the course of my visit, that self-denial made no part of +Mrs. Ranby's religious plan. She fancied, I believe that it savored of +works, and of works she was evidently afraid. She talked as if activity +were useless, and exertion unnecessary, and as if, like inanimate +matter, we had nothing to do but sit still and be shone upon. + +I assured her that though I depended on the mercy of God, through the +merits of his Son, for salvation, as entirely as she could do, yet I +thought that Almighty grace, so far from setting aside diligent +exertion, was the principle which promoted it. That salvation is in no +part of Scripture represented as attainable by the indolent Christian, +if I might couple such contradictory terms. That I had been often +awfully struck with the plain declarations, "that the kingdom of +heaven suffereth violence"--"strive to enter in at the strait +gate"--"whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy +might"--"give diligence to make your calling sure"--"work out your own +salvation." To this labor, this watchfulness, this sedulity of endeavor, +the crown of life is expressly promised, and salvation is not less the +free gift of God, because he has annexed certain conditions to our +obtaining it. + +The more I argued, the more I found my reputation decline, yet to argue +she compelled me. I really believe she was sincere, but she was ill +informed, governed by feelings and impulses, rather than by the plain +express rule of Scripture. It was not that she did not read Scripture, +but she interpreted it her own way; built opinions on insulated texts; +did not compare Scripture with Scripture, except as it concurred to +strengthen her bias. She considered with a disproportionate fondness, +those passages which supported her preconceived opinions, instead of +being uniformly governed by the general tenor and spirit of the sacred +page. She had far less reverence for the preceptive, than for the +doctrinal parts, because she did not sufficiently consider faith as an +operative influential principle; nor did she conceive that the sublimest +doctrines involve deep practical consequences. She did not consider the +government of the tongue, nor the command of her passions, as forming +any material part of the Christian character. Her zeal was fiery because +her temper was so; and her charity was cold because it was an expensive +propensity to keep warm. Among the perfections of the Redeemer's +character, she did not consider his being "meek and lowly" as an +example, the influence of which was to extend to her. She considered it +indeed as _admirable_ but not as _imitable_; a distinction she was very +apt to make in all her practical dissertations, and in her +interpretation of Scripture. + +In the evening Mrs. Ranby was lamenting in general and rather customary +terms, her own exceeding sinfulness. Mr. Ranby said, "You accuse +yourself rather too heavily, my dear: you have sins to be sure." "And +pray what sins have I, Mr. Ranby?" said she, turning upon him with so +much quickness that the poor man started. "Nay," said he meekly, "I did +not mean to offend you; so far from it, that hearing you condemn +yourself so grievously, I intended to comfort you, and to say that +except a few faults--" "And pray what faults?" interrupted she, +continuing to speak however, lest he should catch an interval to tell +them. "I defy you, Mr. Ranby, to produce one." "My dear," replied he, +"as you charged yourself with all, I thought it would be letting you off +cheaply by naming only two or three, such as--." Here, fearing matters +would go too far, I interposed, and softening things as much as I could +for the lady, said, "I conceived that Mr. Ranby meant, that though she +partook of the general corruption--" Here Ranby, interrupting me with +more spirit than I thought he possessed, said "General corruption, sir, +must be the source of particular corruption: I did not mean that my +wife was worse than other women."--"Worse, Mr. Ranby, worse?" cried she. +Ranby, for the first time in his life, not minding her, went on, "As she +is always insisting that the whole species is corrupt, she can not help +allowing that she herself has not quite escaped the infection. Now to be +a sinner in the gross and a saint in the detail; that is, to have all +sins, and no faults, is a thing I do not quite comprehend." + +After he had left the room, which he did as the shortest way of allaying +the storm, she apologized for him, said, "he was a well-meaning man, and +acted up to the little light he had;" but added, "that he was +unacquainted with religious feelings, and knew little of the nature of +conversion." + +Mrs. Ranby, I found, seems to consider Christianity as a kind of +free-masonry, and therefore thinks it superfluous to speak on serious +subjects to any but the initiated. If they do not _return the sign_, she +gives them up as blind and dead. She thinks she can only make herself +intelligible to those to whom certain peculiar phrases are familiar; and +though her friends may be correct, devout, and both doctrinally and +practically pious; yet if they can not catch a certain mystic meaning, +if there is not a sympathy of intelligence between her and them, if they +do not fully conceive of impressions, and can not respond to mysterious +communications, she holds them unworthy of intercourse with her. She +does not so much insist on high moral excellence as the criterion of +their worth, as on their own account of their internal feelings. + +She holds very cheap, that gradual growth in piety which is, in reality, +no less the effect of divine grace, than those instantaneous +conversions, which she believes to be so common. She can not be +persuaded that, of every advance in piety, of every improvement in +virtue, of every illumination of the understanding, of every amendment +in the heart, of every rectification of the will, the Spirit of God is +no less the author, because it is progressive, than if it were sudden. +It is true Omnipotence can, when he pleases, still produce these +instantaneous effects, as he has sometimes done; but as it is not his +established or common mode of operation, it seems vain and rash, +presumptuously to wait for these miraculous interferences. An implicit +dependence, however, on such interferences, is certainly more gratifying +to the genius of enthusiasm, than the anxious vigilance, the fervent +prayer, the daily struggle, the sometimes scarcely perceptible though +constant progress of the sober-minded Christian. Such a Christian is +fully aware that his heart requires as much watching in the more +advanced as in the earliest stages of his religious course. He is +cheerful in a well-grounded hope, and looks not for ecstasies, till that +hope be swallowed up in fruition. Thankful if he feel in his heart a +growing love to God, and an increasing submission to his will, though he +is unconscious of visions, and unacquainted with any revelation but that +which God has made in his word. He remembers, and he derives consolation +from the remembrance, that his Saviour, in his most gracious and +soothing invitation to the "heavy laden," has mercifully promised +"rest," but he has no where promised rapture. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +But to return to Mrs. Ranby's daughters. Is this _consistency_, said I +to myself, when I compared the inanity of the life with the seriousness +of the discourse: and contrasted the vacant way in which the day was +spent, with the decent and devout manner in which it was begun and +ended? I recollected, that under the early though imperfect sacred +institution, the fire of the morning and evening sacrifice was never +suffered to be extinguished during the day. + +Though Mrs. Ranby would have thought it a little heathenish to have had +her daughters instructed in polite literature, and to have filled a +leisure hour in reading to her a useful book, that was not professedly +religious, she felt no compunction at their waste of time, or the +trifling pursuits in which the day was suffered to spend itself. The +piano-forte, when they were weary of the harp, copying some indifferent +drawings, gilding a set of flower-pots, and netting white gloves and +veils, seemed to fill up the whole business of these immortal beings, of +these Christians, for whom it had been solemnly engaged that they should +manfully fight under Christ's banner. + +On a further acquaintance, I was much more inclined to lay the blame on +their education than their dispositions. I found them not only +good-humored, but charitably disposed: but their charities were small +and casual, often ill applied, and always without a plan. They knew +nothing of the state, character, or wants of the neighboring poor; and +it had never been pointed out to them that the instruction of the young +and ignorant made any part of the duty of the rich toward them. + +When I once ventured to drop a hint on this subject to Mrs. Ranby, she +drily said there were many other ways of doing good to the poor, besides +exposing her daughters to the probability of catching diseases, and the +certainty of getting dirt by such visits. Her subscription was never +wanting when she was _quite sure_ that the object was deserving. As I +suspected that she a little over-rated her own charity, I could not +forbear observing, that I did not think it demanded a combination of all +the virtues to entitle a poor sick wretch to a dinner. And though I +durst not quote so light an authority as Hamlet to her, I could not +help saying to myself, _Give every man his due, and who shall 'scape +whipping_? O! if God dealt so rigidly with us; if he waited to bestow +his ordinary blessings till we were good enough to deserve them, who +would be clothed? who would be fed? who would have a roof to shelter +him? + +It was not that she gave nothing away, but she had a great dislike to +relieve any but those of her own religious persuasion. Though her +Redeemer laid down his life for all people, nations, and languages, she +will only lay down her money for a very limited number of a very limited +class. To be religious is not claim sufficient on her bounty, they must +be religious in a particular way. + +The Miss Ranbys had not been habituated to make any systematic provision +for regular charity, or for any of those accidental calamities for which +the purse of the affluent should always be provided; and being very +expensive in their persons, they had often not a sixpence to bestow, +when the most deserving case presented itself. This must frequently +happen where there is no specific fund for charity, which should be +included in the general arrangement of expenses; and the exercise of +benevolence not be left to depend on the accidental state of the purse. +If no new trinket happened to be wanted, these young ladies were liberal +to any application, though always without judging of its merits by their +own eyes and ears. But if there was a competition between a sick family +and a new brooch, the brooch was sure to carry the day. This would not +have been the case, had they been habituated to visit themselves the +abodes of penury and woe. Their flexible young hearts would have been +wrought upon by the actual sight of miseries, the impression of which +was feeble when it reached their ears at a distance, surrounded as they +were with all the softnesses and accommodations of luxurious life. +"They would do what they could. They hoped it was not so bad as was +represented." They fell into the usual way of pacifying their +consciences by their regrets; and brought themselves to believe that +their sympathy with the suffering was an atonement for their not +relieving it. + +I observed with concern, during my visit, how little the Christian +temper seemed to be considered as a part of the Christian religion. This +appeared in the daily concerns of this high professor. An opinion +contradicted, a person of different religious views commended, the +smallest opposition to her will, the intrusion of an unseasonable +visitor, even an imperfection in the dressing of some dish at table: +such trifles not only discomposed her, but the discomposure was +manifested with a vehemence which she was not aware was a fault; nor did +she seem at all sensible that her religion was ever to be resorted to +but on great occasions, forgetting that great occasions but rarely occur +in common life, and that these small passes, at which the enemy is +perpetually entering, the true Christian will vigilantly guard. + +I observed in Mrs. Ranby one striking inconsistency. While she +considered it as forming a complete line of separation from the world, +that she and her daughters abstained from public places, she had no +objection to their indemnifying themselves for this forbearance, by +devoting so monstrous a disproportion of their time to that very +amusement which constitutes so principal a part of diversion abroad. The +time which is redeemed from what is wrong, is of little value, if not +dedicated to what is right; and it is not enough that the doctrines of +the gospel furnish a subject for discussion, if they do not furnish a +principle of action. + +One of the most obvious defects which struck me in this and two or three +other families, whom I afterward visited, was the want of +companionableness in the daughters. They did not seem to form a part of +the family compact; but made a kind of distinct branch of themselves. +Surely, when only the parents and a few select friends are met together +in a family way, the daughters should contribute their portion to +enliven the domestic circle. They were always ready to sing and to play, +but did not take the pains to produce themselves in conversation; but +seemed to carry on a distinct intercourse by herding, and whispering, +and laughing together. + +In some women who seemed to be possessed of good ingredients, they were +so ill mixed up together as not to produce an elegant, interesting +companion. It appeared to me that three of the grand inducements in the +choice of a wife, are, that a man may have a directress for his family, +a preceptress for his children, and a companion for himself. Can it be +honestly affirmed that the present habits of domestic life are generally +favorable to the union of these three essentials? Yet which of them can +a man of sense and principle consent to relinquish in his conjugal +prospects? + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +I returned to town at the end of a few days. To a speculative stranger, +a _London day_ presents every variety of circumstance in every +conceivable shape, of which human life is susceptible. When you trace +the solicitude of the morning countenance, the anxious exploring of the +morning paper, the eager interrogation of the morning guest; when you +hear the dismal enumeration of losses by land, and perils by sea--taxes +trebling, dangers multiplying, commerce annihilating, war protracted, +invasion threatening, destruction impending--your mind catches and +communicates the terror, and you feel yourself "falling, with a falling +state." + +But when, in the course of the very same day, you meet these gloomy +prognosticators at the sumptuous, not "dinner but Hecatomb," at the +gorgeous fête, the splendid spectacle; when you hear the frivolous +discourse, witness the luxurious dissipation, contemplate the boundless +indulgence, and observe the ruinous gaming, you would be ready to +exclaim, "Am I not supping in the antipodes of that land in which I +breakfasted? Surely this is a country of different men, different +characters, and different circumstances. This at least is a place in +which there is neither fear nor danger, nor want, nor misery, nor war." + +If you observed the overflowing subscriptions raised, the innumerable +societies formed, the committees appointed, the agents employed, the +royal patrons engaged, the noble presidents provided, the palace-like +structures erected; and all this to alleviate, to cure, and even to +prevent, every calamity which the indigent can suffer, or the affluent +conceive; to remove not only want but ignorance; to suppress not only +misery but vice--would you not exclaim with Hamlet, "What a piece of +work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties! In action +how like an angel! In compassion how like a god!" + +If you looked into the whole comet-like eccentric orb of the human +character; if you compared all the struggling contrariety of principle +and of passion; the clashing of opinion and of action, of resolution and +of performance; the victories of evil over the propensities to good; if +you contrasted the splendid virtue with the disorderly vice; the exalted +generosity with the selfish narrowness; the provident bounty with the +thoughtless prodigality; the extremes of all that is dignified, with the +excesses of all that is abject, would you not exclaim, in the very +spirit of Pascal, O! the grandeur and the littleness, the excellence +and the corruption, the majesty and the meanness of man! + +If you attended the debates in our great deliberative assemblies; if you +heard the argument and the eloquence, "the wisdom and the wit," the +public spirit and the disinterestedness; Curtius's devotedness to his +country, and Regulus's disdain of self, expressed with all the logic +which reason can suggest, and embellished with all the rhetoric which +fancy can supply, would you not rapturously cry out, this is + + Above all Greek, above all Roman fame? + +But if you discerned the bitter personality, the incurable prejudice, +the cutting retort, the suspicious implication, the recriminating sneer, +the cherished animosity; if you beheld the interests of an empire +standing still, the business of the civilized globe suspended, while two +intellectual gladiators are thrusting each to give the other a fall, and +to show his own strength; would you not lament the littleness of the +great, the infirmities of the good, and the weaknesses of the wise? +Would you not, soaring a flight far above Hamlet or Pascal, apostrophize +with the royal Psalmist, "Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of +him, or the son of man that thou regardest him?" + +But to descend to my individual concerns. Among my acquaintance, I +visited two separate families, where the daughters were remarkably +attractive; and more than usually endowed with beauty, sense, and +elegance; but I was deterred from following up the acquaintance, by +observing, in each family, practices which, though very different, +almost equally revolted me. + +In one, where the young ladies had large fortunes, they insinuated +themselves into the admiration, and invited the familiarity, of young +men, by attentions the most flattering, and civilities the most +alluring. When they had made sure of their aim, and the admirers were +encouraged to make proposals, the ladies burst out into a loud laugh, +wondered what the man could mean; they never dreamt of any thing more +than common politeness; then petrified them with distant looks, and +turned about to practice the same arts on others. + +The other family in which I thought I had secured an agreeable intimacy, +I instantly deserted on observing the gracious and engaging reception +given by the ladies to more than one libertine of the most notorious +profligacy. The men were handsome, and elegant, and fashionable, and had +figured in newspapers and courts of justice. This degrading popularity +rather attracted than repelled attention; and while the guilty +associates in their crimes were shunned with abhorrence by these very +ladies, the specious undoers were not only received with complaisance, +but there was a sort of competition who should be most strenuous in +their endeavors to attract them. Surely women of fashion can hardly make +a more corrupt use of influence, a talent for which they will be +peculiarly accountable. Surely, mere personal purity can hardly deserve +the name of virtue in those who can sanction notoriously vicious +characters, which their reprobation, if it could not reform, would at +least degrade. + +On a further acquaintance, I found Sir John and Lady Belfield to be +persons of much worth. They were candid, generous, and sincere. They saw +the errors of the world in which they lived, but had not resolution to +emancipate themselves from its shackles. They partook, indeed, very +sparingly of its diversions, not so much because they suspected their +evil tendency, as because they were weary of them, and because they had +better resources in themselves. + +Indeed, it is wonderful that more people from mere good sense and just +taste, without the operation of any religious consideration, do not, +when the first ardor is cooled, perceive the futility of what is called +pleasure, and decline it as the man declines the amusements of the +child. But fashionable society produces few persons, who, like the +ex-courtier of King David, assign their fourscore years as a reason for +no longer "delighting in the voice of singing men and singing women." + +Sir John and Lady Belfield, however, kept a large general acquaintance; +and it is not easy to continue to associate with the world, without +retaining something of its spirit. Their standard of morals was high, +compared with that of those with whom they lived; but when the standard +of the gospel was suggested, they drew in a little, and thought _things +might be carried too far_. There was nothing in their practice which +made it their interest to hope that Christianity might not be true. They +both assented to its doctrines, and lived in a kind of general hope of +its final promises. But their views were neither correct, nor elevated. +They were contented to generalize the doctrines of Scripture, and though +they venerated its awful truths in the aggregate, they rather took them +upon trust than labored to understand them, or to imbue their minds with +the spirit of them. Many a high professor, however, might have blushed +to see how carefully they exercised not a few Christian dispositions; +how kind and patient they were! how favorable in their construction of +the actions of others! how charitable to the necessitous! how exact in +veracity! and how tender of the reputation of their neighbor! + +Sir John had been early hurt by living so much with men of the world, +with wits, politicians, and philosophers. This, though he had escaped +the contagion of false principles, had kept back the growth of such as +were true. Men versed in the world, and abstracted from all religious +society, begin, in time, a little to suspect whether their own religious +opinions may not possibly be wrong, or at least rigid, when they see +them so opposite to those of persons to whose judgment they are +accustomed to look up in other points. He found too, that, in the +society in which he lived, the reputation of religion detracted much +from that of talents; and a man does not care to have his understanding +questioned by those in whose opinion he wishes to stand well. This +apprehension did not, indeed, drive him to renounce his principles, but +it led him to conceal them; and that piety which is forcibly kept out of +sight, which has nothing to fortify, and every thing to repel it, is too +apt to decline. + +His marriage with an amiable woman, whose virtues and graces attached +him to his own home, drew him off from the most dangerous of his prior +connections. This union had at once improved his character, and +augmented his happiness. If Lady Belfield erred, it was through excess +of kindness and candor. Her kindness led to the too great indulgence of +her children; and her candor to the too favorable construction of the +errors of her acquaintance. She was the very reverse of my Hampstead +friend. Whereas Mrs. Ranby thought hardly any body would be saved, Lady +Belfield comforted herself that hardly any body was in danger. This +opinion was not taken up as a palliative to quiet her conscience, on +account of the sins of her own conduct, for her conduct was remarkably +correct; but it sprang from a natural sweetness of temper, joined to a +mind not sufficiently informed and guided by scriptural truth. She was +candid and teachable, but as she could not help seeing that she had more +religion than most of her acquaintance; she felt a secret complacency in +observing how far her principles rose above theirs, instead of an +humbling conviction of how far her own fell below the requisitions of +the gospel. + +The fundamental error was, that she had no distinct view of the +corruptions of human nature. She often lamented the weaknesses and +vices of individuals, but thought all vice an incidental, not a radical +mischief, the effect of thoughtlessness and casual temptation. She +talked with discrimination of the faults of some of her children; but +while she rejoiced in the happier dispositions of the others, she never +suspected that they had all brought into the world with them any natural +tendency to evil; and thought it cruel to suppose that such, innocent +little things had any such wrong propensities as education would not +effectually cure. In every thing the complete contrast of Mrs. Ranby--as +the latter thought education could do nothing, Lady Belfield thought it +would do every thing; that there was no good tendency which it would not +bring to perfection, and no corruption which it could not completely +eradicate. On the operation of a higher influence she placed too little +dependence; while Mrs. Ranby rested in an unreasonable trust on an +interference not warranted by Scripture. + +In regard to her children, Lady Belfield was led by the strength of her +affection to extreme indulgence. She encouraged no vice in them, but she +did not sufficiently check those indications which are the seeds of +vice. She reproved the actual fault, but never thought of implanting a +principle which might extirpate the evil from whence the fault sprung; +so that the individual error and the individual correction were +continually recurring. + +As Mrs. Ranby, I had observed, seldom quoted any sacred writer but St. +Paul, I remarked that Lady Belfield admired almost exclusively +Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and the historical books of the Bible. Of the +Epistles, that of St. James was her favorite; the others she thought +chiefly, if not entirely, applicable to the circumstances of the Jews +and Pagans, to the converts from among whom they were addressed. If she +entertained rather an awful reverence for the doctrinal parts, than an +earnest wish to study them, it arose from the common mistake of +believing that they were purely speculative, without being aware of +their deep practical importance. But if these two ladies were +diametrically opposite to each other in certain points, both were +frequently right in what they assumed, and both wrong only in what they +rejected. Each contended for one half of that which will not save when +disjointed from the other, but which when united to it, makes up the +complete Christian character. + +Lady Belfield, who was, if I may so speak, constitutionally charitable, +almost thought that heaven might be purchased by charity. She inverted +the valuable superstructure of good works, and laid them as her +foundation; and while Mrs. Ranby would not, perhaps, much have blamed +Moses for breaking the tables of the law, had he only demolished the +second, Lady Belfield would have saved the second, as the more important +of the two. + +Lady Belfield had less vanity than any woman I ever knew who was not +governed by a very strict religious principle. Her modesty never courted +the admiration of the world, but her timidity too much dreaded its +censure. She would not do a wrong thing to obtain any applause, but she +omitted some right ones from the dread of blame. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +The house of Sir John Belfield was become a pleasant kind of home to me. +He and his lady seldom went out in an evening. Happy in each other and +in their children, though they lived much with the rational, they +associated as little as they thought possible with the racketing world. +Yet being known to be generally at home, they were exposed to the +inroads of certain invaders, called fine ladies, who, always afraid of +being too early for their parties, are constantly on the watch how to +disburden themselves for the intermediate hour, of the heavy commodity +_time_; a raw material, which as they seldom work up at home, they are +always willing to truck against the time of their more domestic +acquaintance. Now as these last _have_ always something to do, it is an +unfair traffic; "all the reciprocity is on one side," to borrow the +expression of an illustrious statesman; and the barter is as +disadvantageous to the sober home-trader, as that of the honest negroes, +who exchange their gold-dust and ivory for the beads and bits of glass +of the wily English. + +These nightly irruptions, though sometimes inconvenient to my friends, +were of use to me, as they enabled me to see and judge more of the gay +world than I could have done without going in search of it; a risk which +I thought bore no proportion to the gain. It was like learning the +language of the enemy's country at home. + +One evening, when we were sitting happily alone in the library, Lady +Belfield, working at her embroidery, cheerfully joining in our little +discussions, and comparing our peaceful pleasures with those pursued by +the occupiers of the countless carriages which were tearing up the +"wheel-worn streets," or jostling each other at the door of the next +house, where a grand assembly was collecting its myriads--Sir John asked +what should be the evening book. Then rising, he took down from the +shelf Akenside's Pleasures of Imagination. + +"Is it," said he, as soon as he sat down, "the rage for novelty, or a +real degeneracy of taste, that we now so seldom hear of a poet, who, +when I was a boy, was the admiration of every man who had a relish for +true genius? I can not defend his principles, since in a work, of which +_Man_ is professedly the object, he has overlooked his _immortality_: a +subject which one wonders did not force itself upon him, as so congenial +to the sublimity of his genius, whatever his religious views might have +been. But to speak of him only as a poet; a work which abounds in a +richer profusion of images, and a more variegated luxuriance of +expression than the Pleasures of Imagination, can not easily be found. +The flimsy metre of our day seems to add fresh value to his sinewy +verse. We have no happier master of poetic numbers; none who better knew + + To build the lofty rhyme. + +The condensed vigor, so indispensable to blank verse, the skillful +variation of the pause, the masterly structure of the period, and all +the occult mysteries of the art, can, perhaps, be best learned from +Akenside. If he could have conveyed to Thomson his melody and rhyme, and +Thomson would have paid him back in perspicuity and transparency of +meaning, how might they have enriched each other!" + +"I confess," said I, "in reading Akenside, I have now and then found the +same passage at once enchanting and unintelligible. As it happens to +many frequenters of the opera, the music always transports, but the +words are not always understood." I then desired my friend to gratify us +with the first book of the Pleasures of Imagination. + +Sir John is a passionate lover of poetry, in which he has a fine taste. +He read it with much spirit and feeling, especially these truly +classical lines, + + _Mind, Mind_ alone, bear witness earth and heaven, + The living fountains in itself contains + Of beauteous and sublime: here hand in hand + Sit paramount the graces; here enthroned + Celestial Venus, with divinest airs + Invites the soul to never-fading joy. + +"The reputation of this exquisite passage," said he, laying down the +book, "is established by the consenting suffrage of all men of taste, +though by the critical countenance you are beginning to put on, you look +as if you had a mind to attack it." + +"So far from it," said I, "that I know nothing more splendid in the +whole mass of our poetry. And I feel almost guilty of high treason +against the majesty of the sublimer Muses, in the remark I am going to +hazard, on the celebrated lines which follow. The poet's object, through +this and the two following pages, is to establish the infinite +superiority of mind over unconscious matter, even in its fairest forms. +The idea is as just as the execution is beautiful; so also is his +supreme elevation of intellect, over + + Greatness of bulk, or symmetry of parts. + +Nothing again can be finer, than his subsequent preference of + + The powers of genius and design, + +over even the stupendous range + + Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres. + +He proceeds to ransack the stores of the mental and the moral world, as +he had done the world of matter, and with a pen dipped in Hippocrene, +opposes to the latter, + + The charms of virtuous friendship, etc. + * * * * * + The candid blush + Of him who strives with fortune to be just. + * * * * * + All the mild majesty of private life. + + The graceful tear that streams from others' woes. + +"Why, Charles," said Sir John, "I am glad to find you the enthusiastic +eulogist of the passage of which I suspected you were about to be the +saucy censurer." + +"Censure," replied I, "is perhaps too strong a term for any part +especially the most admired part of this fine poem. I need not repeat +the lines on which I was going to risk a slight observation; they live +in the mind and memory of every lover of the Muses." + +"I will read the next passage, however," said Sir John, "that I may be +better able to controvert your criticism: + + Look then abroad through nature to the range + Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres, + Wheeling unshaken through the void immense, + And speak, oh man! does the capacious scene + With half that kindling majesty dilate + Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose + Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate + Amid the crowd of patriots, and his arm + Aloft extending, like eternal Jove + When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud + On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel, + And bade the father of his country hail; + For lo! the tyrant prostrate in the dust, + And Rome again is free? + +"What a grand and powerful passage!" said Sir John. + +"I acknowledge it," said I, "but is it as just as it is grand? _Le vrai +est le seul beau._ Is it a fair and direct opposition between mind and +matter? The poet could not have expressed the image more nobly, but +might he not, out of the abundant treasures of his opulent mind have +chosen it with more felicity? Is an act of murder, even of an usurper, +as happily contrasted with the organization of matter, as the other +beautiful instances I named, and which he goes on to select? The +superiority of mental beauty is the point he is establishing, and his +elaborate preparation leads you to expect all his other instances to be +drawn from pure mental excellence. His other exemplifications are +general, this is particular. They are a class, this is only a variety. I +question if Milton, who was at least as ardent a champion for liberty, +and as much of a party-man as Akenside, would have used this +illustration. Milton, though he often insinuates a political stroke in +his great poem, always, I think, generalizes. Whatever had been his +principles, or at whatever period he had written, I question, when he +wanted to describe the overthrow of authority by the rebel angels, if he +would have illustrated it by Cromwell's seizing the mace, or the +decapitation of Charles. Much less, if he would have selected those two +instances as the triumph of mind over matter." + +"But," said Sir John, "you forget that Akenside professedly adopts the +language of Cicero in his second Philippic." He then read the note +beginning with, Cæsare interfecto, etc. + +"True," said I; "I am not arguing the matter as a point of fact, but as +a point of just application. I pass over the comparison of Brutus with +Jove, which by the way would have become Tully better than Akenside, but +which Tully would have perhaps thought too bold. Cicero adorns his +oration with this magnificent description. He relates it as an event, +the other uses it as an illustration of that to which I humbly conceive +it does not exactly apply. The orator paints the violent death of a +hero; the poet adopts the description of the violent death, or rather of +the stroke which caused it, to illustrate the perfection of intellectual +grandeur. After all, it is as much a party question as a poetical one. A +question on which the critic will be apt to be guided in his decision by +his politics rather than by his taste. The splendor of the passage, +however, will inevitably dazzle the feeling reader, till it produce the +common effect of excessive brightness, that of somewhat blinding the +beholder." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +While we were thus pleasantly engaged, the servant announced Mrs. +Fentham; and a fashionable looking woman, about the middle of life, +rather youthfully dressed, and not far from handsome, made her +appearance. Instead of breaking forth into the usual modish jargon, she +politely entered into the subject in which she found us engaged; envied +Lady Belfield the happiness of elegant quiet, which she herself might +have been equally enjoying at her own house, and professed herself a +warm admirer of poetry. She would probably have professed an equal +fondness for metaphysics, geometry, military tactics, or the Arabic +language, if she had happened to have found us employed in the study of +either. + +From poetry the transition to painting was easy and natural. Mrs. +Fentham possessed all the phraseology of connoisseurship, and asked me +if I was fond of pictures. I professed the delight I took in them in +strong, that is in true terms. She politely said that Mr. Fentham had a +very tolerable collection of the best masters, and particularly a +Titian, which she would be happy to have the honor of showing me next +morning. I bowed my thankful assent; she appointed the hour, and soon +after, looking at her watch, said she was afraid she must leave the +delights of such a select and interesting society for a far less +agreeable party. + +When she was gone, I expressed my obligations to her politeness, and +anticipated the pleasure I should have in seeing her pictures. "She is +much more anxious that you should see her _Originals_," said Lady +Belfield smiling; "the kindness is not _quite_ disinterested; take care +of your heart." Sir John, rather gravely, said, "It is with reluctance +that I ever say any thing to the prejudice of any body that I receive in +my house; but as the son of my valued friend, I think it fair to tell +you that this vigilant matron keeps a keen look out after all young men +of fortune. This is not the first time that the Titian has been made the +bait to catch a promising acquaintance. Indeed it is now grown so stale, +that had you not been a new man, she would hardly have risked it. If you +had happened not to like painting, some book would have been offered +you. The return of a book naturally brings on a visit. But all these +devices have not yet answered. The damsels still remain, like +Shakspeare's plaintive maid, 'in single blessedness.' They do not, +however, like her, spend gloomy nights + + Chaunting cold hymns to the pale, lifeless moon, + +but in singing sprightlier roundelays to livelier auditors." + +I punctually attended the invitation, effectually shielded from danger +by the friendly intimation, and a still more infallible Ægis, the charge +of my father never to embark in any engagement till I had made my visit +to Mr. Stanley. My veneration for his memory operated as a complete +defence. + +I saw and admired the pictures. The pictures brought on an invitation to +dinner. I found Mrs. Fentham to be in her conversation, a sensible, +correct, knowing woman. Her daughters were elegant in their figures, +well instructed in the usual accomplishments, well-bred, and apparently +well tempered. Mr. Fentham was a man of business, and of the world. He +had a great income from a place under government, out of which the +expenses of his family permitted him to save nothing. Private fortune he +had little or none. His employment engaged him almost entirely, so that +he interfered but little with domestic affairs. A general air of +elegance, almost amounting to magnificence, pervaded the whole +establishment. + +I at first saw but little to excite any suspicion of the artificial +character of the lady of the house. The first gleam of light which let +in the truth was the expressions most frequent in Mrs. Fentham's +mouth--"What will the world say?" "What will people think?" "How will +such a thing appear?" "Will it have a good look?" "The world is of +opinion." "Won't such a thing be censured?" On a little acquaintance I +discovered that human applause was the motive of all she said, and +reputation her great object in all she did. Opinion was the idol to +which she sacrificed. Decorum was the inspirer of her duties, and praise +the reward of them. The standard of the world was the standard by which +she weighed actions. She had no higher principle of conduct. She adopted +the forms of religion, because she saw that, carried to a certain +degree, they rather produced credit than censure. While her husband +adjusted his accounts on the Sunday morning, she regularly carried her +daughters to church, except a head-ache had been caught at the +Saturday's opera; and as regularly exhibited herself and them afterward +in Hyde-Park. As she said it was Mr. Fentham's leisure day, she +complimented him with always having a great dinner on Sundays, but +alleged her piety as a reason for not having cards in the evening at +home, though she had no scruple to make one at a private party at a +friend's house; soberly conditioning, however, that there should not be +more than _three tables_; the right or wrong, the decorum or +impropriety, the gayety or gravity always being made specifically to +depend on the number of tables. + +She was, in general, extremely severe against women who had lost their +reputation; though she had no hesitation in visiting a few of the most +dishonorable, if they were of high rank or belonged to a certain set. +In that case, she excused herself by saying, "That as fashionable people +continued to countenance them, it was not for her to be scrupulous; one +must sail with the stream; I can't set my face against the world." But +if an unhappy girl had been drawn aside, or one who had not rank to bear +her out had erred, that altered the case, and she then expressed the +most virtuous indignation. When modesty happened to be in repute, not +the necks of Queen Elizabeth and her courtly virgins were more +entrenched in ruffs and shrouded in tuckers, than those of Mrs. Fentham +and her daughters; but when _display_ became the order of the day, the +Grecian Venus was scarcely more unconscious of a vail. + +With a very good understanding she never allowed herself one original +thought, or one spontaneous action. Her ideas, her language, and her +conduct were entirely regulated by the ideas, language, and conduct of +those who stood well in the world. Vanity in her was a steady, inward, +but powerfully pervading principle. It did not evaporate in levity or +indiscretion, but was the hidden, though forcible spring of her whole +course of action. She had all the gratification which vanity affords in +secret, and all the credit which its prudent operation procures in +public. She was apparently guilty of no excess of any kind. She had a +sober scale of creditable vices, and never allowed herself to exceed a +few stated degrees in any of them. She reprobated gaming, but could not +exist without cards. Masquerades she censured as highly extravagant and +dangerous, but when given by ladies of high quality, at their own +houses, she thought them an elegant and proper amusement. Though she +sometimes went to the play, she did not care for what passed on the +stage, for she confessed the chief pleasure the theatre afforded was to +reckon up when she came home, how many duchesses and countesses had +bowed to her across the house. + +A complete despot at home, her arbitrariness is so vailed by correctness +of manner, and studied good breeding, that she obtains the credit of +great mildness and moderation. She is said not to love her daughters, +who come too near her in age, and go too much beyond her in beauty to be +forgiven; yet like a consummate politician, she is ever laboring for +their advancement. She has generally several schemes in hand, and always +one scheme under another, the under-plot ready to be brought forward if +the principal one fails. Though she encourages pretenders, yet she is +afraid to accept of a tolerable proposal, lest a better should present +itself; but if the loftier hope fails, she then contrives to lure back +the inferior offer. She can balance to a nicety, in the calculation of +chances, the advantages or disadvantages of a higher possibility against +a lower probability. + +Though she neither wants reading nor taste, her mind is never +sufficiently disengaged to make her an agreeable companion. Her head is +always at work conjecturing the event of every fresh ball and every new +acquaintance. She can not even + + Take her tea without a stratagem. + +She set out in life with a very slender acquaintance, and clung for a +while to one or two damaged peeresses, who were not received by women of +their own rank. But I am told it was curious to see with what adroitness +she could extricate herself from a disreputable acquaintance, when a +more honorable one stepped in to fill the niche. She made her way +rapidly, by insinuating to one person of note how intimate she was with +another, and to both what handsome things each said of the other. By +constant attentions, petty offices, and measured flattery, she has got +footing into almost every house of distinction. Her decorum is +invariable. She boasts that she was never guilty of the indecency of +violent passion. Poor woman! she fancies there is no violent passion but +that of anger. Little does she think that ambition, vanity, the hunger +of applause, a rage for being universally known, are all violent +passion, however modified by discretion or varnished by art. She suffers +too all that "vexation of spirit" which treads on the heels of "vanity." +Disappointment and jealousy poison the days devoted to pleasure. The +party does not answer. The wrong people never stay away, and the right +ones never come. The guest for whom the fête is made is sure to fail. +Her party is thin, while that of her competitor overflows; or there is a +plenty of dowagers and a paucity of young men. When the costly and +elaborate supper is on the table excuses arrive; even if the supper is +crowded, the daughters remain upon hands. How strikingly does she +exemplify the strong expression of--"laboring in the fire for very +vanity"--"of giving her money for that which is not bread, and her labor +for that which satisfieth not!" + +After spending the day at Mrs. Fentham's, I went to sup with my friends +in Cavendish-square. Lady Belfield was impatient for my history of the +dinner. But Sir John said, laughing, "You shall not say a word, +Charles--I can tell how it was as exactly as if I had been there. +Charlotte, who has the best voice, was brought out to sing, but was +placed a little behind, as her person is not quite perfect; Maria, who +is the most picturesque figure, was put _to attitudinize_ at the harp, +arrayed in the costume, and assuming the fascinating graces of Marmion's +Lady Heron: + + Fair was her rounded arm, as o'er + The strings her fingers flow. + +"Then, Charles, was the moment of peril! then, according to your favorite +Milton's most incongruous image, + + You took in sounds that might create a soul + Under the ribs of death. + +"For fear, however, that your heart of adamant should hold out against +all these perilous assaults, its vulnerability was tried in other +quarters. The Titian would naturally lead to Livinia's drawings. A +beautiful sketch of the lakes would be produced, with a gentle +intimation, what a sweet place Westmoreland must be to live in! When you +had exhausted all proper raptures on the art and on the artist, it would +be recollected, that as Westmoreland was so near Scotland, you would +naturally be fond of a reel. The reel of course succeeded." Then, +putting himself into an attitude and speaking theatrically, he +continued, + + "Then universal Pan + Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance-- + +"Oh! no, I forgot universal Pan could not join, but he could admire. Then +all the perfections of all the nymphs burst on you in full blaze. Such a +concentration of attractions you never could resist! You are _but_ a +man, and now, doubtless, a lost man." Here he stopped to finish his +laugh, and I was driven reluctantly to acknowledge that his picture, +though a caricature, was, notwithstanding, a resemblance. + +"And so," said Sir John, "you were brought under no power of incantation +by this dangerous visit. You will not be driven, like the tempted +Ithacan, to tie yourself to a mast, or to flee for safety from the +enchantment of these Sirens." + +While we were at supper, with more gravity, he said, "Among the various +objects of ambition, there are few in life which bring less accession +to its comfort, than an unceasing struggle to rise to an elevation in +society very much above the level of our own condition, without being +aided by any stronger ascending power than mere vanity. Great talents, +of whatever kind, have a natural tendency to rise, and to lift their +possessor. The flame in mounting does but obey its impulse. But when +there is no energy more powerful than the passion to be great, destitute +of the gifts which confer greatness, the painful efforts of ambition are +like water, forced above its level by mechanical powers. It requires +constant exertions of art, to keep up what art first set a-going. Poor +Mrs. Fentham's head is perpetually at work to maintain the elevation she +has reached. And how little after all is she considered by those on +whose caresses her happiness depends! She has lost the esteem of her +original circle, where she might have been respected, without gaining +that of her high associates, who, though they receive her, still refuse +her claims of equality. She is not considered as of their +_establishment_; it is but _toleration_ at best. + +"At Mrs. Fentham's, I encountered Lady Bab Lawless, a renowned modish +dowager, famous for laying siege to the heart of every distinguished +man, with the united artillery of her own wit and her daughters' beauty. +How many ways there are of being wrong! She was of a character +diametrically opposite to that of Mrs. Fentham. She had the same end in +view, but the means she used to accomplish it were of a bolder strain. +Lady Bab affected no delicacy, she laughed at reserve; she had shaken +hands with decorum. + + She held the _noisy_ tenor of her way + +with no assumed refinement; and, so far from shielding her designs +behind the mask of decency, she disdained the obsolete expedient. Her +plans succeeded the more infallibly, because her frankness defeated all +suspicion. A man could never divine that such gay and open assaults +could have their foundation in design, and he gave her full credit for +artless simplicity, at the moment she was catching him in her toils. If +she now and then had gone too far, and by a momentary oversight, or +excessive levity had betrayed too much, with infinite address she would +make a crane-neck turn, and fall to discussing, not without ability, +some moral or theological topic. Thus she affected to establish the +character of a woman, thoughtless through wit, indiscreet through +simplicity, but religious on principle. + +As there is no part of the appendage to a wife, which I have ever more +dreaded than a Machiavelian mother, I should have been deaf to wit and +blind to beauty, and dead to advances, had their united batteries been +directed against me. But I had not the ambition to aspire to that honor. +I was much too low a mark for her lofty aim. She had a natural antipathy +to every name that could not be found in the red book. She equally +shrunk from untitled opulence and indigent nobility. She knew by +instinct if a younger son was in the room, and by a petrifying look +checked his most distant approaches; while with her powerful spells she +never failed to draw within her magic circle the splendid heir, and +charm him to her purpose. + +Highly born herself, she had early been married to a rich man of +inferior rank, for the sake of a large settlement. Her plan was, that +her daughters (who, by the way, are modest and estimable), should find +in the man they married, still higher birth than her own, and more +riches than her husband's. + +It was a curious speculation to compare these two friends, and to +observe how much less the refined maneuvers of Mrs. Fentham answered, +than the open assaults of the intrepid Lady Bab. All the intricacies +and labyrinths which the former has been so skillful and so patient in +weaving, have not yet enthralled one captive, while the composed +effrontery, the affecting to take for granted the offer which was never +meant to be made, and treating that as concluded, which was never so +much as intended, drew the unconscious victim of the other into the +trap, before he knew it was set: the depth of her plot consisting in not +appearing to have any. It was a novelty in intrigue. An originality +which defied all competition, and in which no imitator had any chance of +success. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Sir John carried me one morning to call on Lady Denham, a dowager of +fashion, who had grown old in the trammels of the world. Though she +seems resolved to die in the harness, yet she piques herself on being +very religious, and no one inveighs against infidelity or impiety with +more pointed censure. "She has a grand-daughter," said Sir John, "who +lives with her, and whom she has trained to walk precisely in her own +steps, and which, she thinks, _is the way she should go_. The girl," +added he, smiling, "is well looking, and will have a handsome fortune, +and I am persuaded that, as a friend, I could procure you a good +reception." + +We were shown into her dressing-room, where we found her with a book +lying open before her. From a glance which I caught of the large black +letter, I saw it was a _Week's Preparation_. This book, it seems, +constantly lay open before her from breakfast to dinner, at this +season. It was Passion week. But as this is the room in which he sees +all her morning visitors, to none of whom is she ever denied, even at +this period of retreat, she could only pick up momentary snatches of +reading in the short intervals between one person bowing out and another +courtesying in. Miss Denham sat by, painting flowers. + +Sir John asked her ladyship if she would go and dine in a family way +with Lady Belfield. She drew up, looked grave, and said with much +solemnity, that she should never think of dining abroad at this holy +season. Sir John said, "As we have neither cards nor company, I thought +you might as well have eaten your chicken in my house as in your own." +But though she thought it a sin to dine with a sober family, she made +herself amends for the sacrifice, by letting us see that her heart was +brimful of the world, pressed down and running over. She indemnified +herself for her abstinence from its diversions, by indulging in the only +pleasures which she thought compatible with the sanctity of the season, +uncharitable gossip, and unbounded calumny. She would not touch a card +for the world, but she played over to Sir John the whole game of the +preceding Saturday night: told him by what a shameful inattention her +partner had lost the odd trick; and that she should not have been beaten +after all, had not her adversary, she verily believed, contrived to look +over her hand. + +Sir John seized the only minute in which we were alone, to ask her to +add a guinea to a little sum he was collecting for a poor tradesman with +a large family, who had been burned out a few nights ago. "His wife," +added he, "was your favorite maid Dixon, and both are deserving people." +"Ah, poor Dixon! She was always unlucky," replied the lady. "How could +they be so careless? Surely they might have put the fire out sooner. +They should not have let it get ahead. I wonder people are not more +active." "It is too late to inquire about that," said Sir John; "the +question now is, not how their loss might have been prevented, but how +it may be repaired." "I am really quite sorry," said she, "that I can +give you nothing. I have had so many calls lately, that my charity purse +is completely exhausted--and that abominable property-tax makes me quite +a beggar." + +While she was speaking, I glanced at the open leaf at, "Charge them that +are rich in this world that they be ready to give;" and directing my eye +further, it fell on, "Be not deceived. God is not mocked." These were +the awful passages which formed a part of her _Preparation_; and this +was the practical use she made of them! + +A dozen persons of both sexes "had their exits and their entrances" +during our stay; for the scene was so strange, and the character so new +to me, that I felt unwilling to stir. Among other visitors was Signor +Squallini, a favorite opera singer, whom she patronized. Her face was +lighted up with joy at the sight of him. He brought her an admired new +air in which he was preparing himself, and sung a few notes, that she +might say she had heard it the first. She felt all the dignity of the +privilege, and extolled the air with all the phrases, cant, and rapture +of _dilettanteism_. + +After this, she drew a paper from between the leaves of her still open +book, which she showed him. It contained a list of all the company she +had engaged to attend his benefit. "I will call on some others," said +she, "to-morrow after prayers. I am sorry this is a week in which I can +not see my friends at their assemblies, but on Sunday you know it will +be over, and I shall have my house full in the evening. Next Monday will +be Easter, and I shall be at our dear Duchess's private masquerade, and +then I hope to see and engage the whole world. Here are ten guineas," +said she in a half whisper to the obsequious Signor; "you may mention +what I gave for _my_ ticket, and it may set the fashion going." She then +pressed a ticket on Sir John and another on me. Ho declined, saying with +great _sang froid_, "You know we are _Handelians_." What excuse I made I +do not well know; I only know that I saved my ten guineas with a very +bad grace, but felt bound in conscience to add them to what I had before +subscribed to poor Dixon. + +Hitherto I had never seen the gnat-strainer and the camel-swallower so +strikingly exemplified. And it is observable how forcibly the truth of +Scripture is often illustrated by those who live in the boldest +opposition to it. If you have any doubt while you are reading, go into +the world and your belief will be confirmed. + +As we took our leave, she followed us to the door, I hoped it was with +the guinea for the fire; but she only whispered Sir John, though he did +not go himself, to prevail on such and such ladies to go to Squallini's +benefit. "Pray do," said she, "it will be charity. Poor fellow! he is +sadly out at elbows; he has a fine liberal spirit, and can hardly make +his large income do." + +When we got into the street we admired the splendid chariot and laced +liveries of this _indigent_ professor, for whom our charity had been +just solicited, and whose "liberal spirit," my friend assured me, +consisted in sumptuous living and the indulgence of every fashionable +vice. + +I could not restrain my exclamations as soon as we got out of hearing. +To Sir John, the scene was amusing, but to him it had lost the interest +of novelty. "I have known her ladyship about twelve years," said he, +"and of course have witnessed a dozen of these annual paroxysms of +devotion. I am persuaded that she is a gainer by them on her own +principle, that is, in the article of pleasure. This short periodical +abstinence whets her appetite to a keener relish for suspended +enjoyment; and while she fasts from amusements, her blinded conscience +enjoys a feast of self-gratulation. She feeds on the remembrance of her +self-denial, even after she has returned to those delights which she +thinks her retreat has fairly purchased. She considers religion as a +system of pains and penalties, by the voluntary enduring of which, for a +short time, she shall compound for all the indulgences of the year. She +is persuaded that something must be annually forborne, in order to make +her peace. After these periodical atonements, the Almighty being in her +debt, will be obliged at last to pay her with heaven. This composition, +which rather brings her in on the creditor side, not only quiets her +conscience for the past, but enables her joyfully to enter on a new +score." + +I asked Sir John how Lady Belfield _could_ associate with a woman of a +character so opposite to her own? "What can we do?" said he, "we can not +be singular. We must conform a _little_ to the world in which we live." +Trusting to his extreme good nature, and fired at the scene to which I +had been a witness, I ventured to observe that non-conformity to such a +world as that of which this lady was a specimen, was the very criterion +of the religion taught by Him who had declared by way of pre-eminent +distinction, that "his kingdom was not of this world." + +"You are a young man," answered he mildly, "and this delicacy and these +prejudices would soon wear off if you were to live some time in the +world." "My dear Sir John," said I, warmly, "by the grace of God, I +never _will_ live in the world; at least, I never will associate with +that part of it whose society would be sure to wear off that delicacy +and remove those prejudices. Why this is retaining all the worst part of +popery. Here is the abstinence without the devotion; the outward +observance without the interior humiliation; the suspending of sin, not +only without any design of forsaking it, but with a fixed resolution of +returning to it, and of increasing the gust by the forbearance. Nay, +the sins she retains in order to mitigate the horrors of forbearance, +are as bad as those she lays down. A postponed sin, which is fully +intended to be resumed, is as much worse than a sin persisted in, as +deliberate hypocrisy is worse than the impulse of passion. I desire not +a more explicit comment on a text which I was once almost tempted to +think unjust; I mean, the greater facility of the entrance of gross and +notorious offenders into heaven than of these formalists. No! If Miss +Denham were sole heiress to Cr[oe]sus, and joined the beauty of +Cleopatra to the wit of Sappho, I never would connect myself with a +disciple of that school." + +"How many ways there are of being unhappy!" said Sir John, as we +returned one day from a ride we had taken some miles out of town, to +call on a friend of his. "Mr. Stanhope, whom we have just quitted, is a +man of great elegance of mind. His early life was passed in liberal +studies, and in the best company. But his fair prospects were blasted by +a disproportionate marriage. He was drawn in by a vanity too natural to +young men, that of fancying himself preferred by a woman who had no one +recommendation but beauty. To be admired by her whom all his +acquaintance admired, gratified his _amour propre_. He was overcome by +her marked attentions so far as to declare himself, without knowing her +real disposition. It was some time before his prepossession allowed him +to discover that she was weak and ill-informed, selfish and +bad-tempered. What she wanted in understanding, she made up in spirit. +The more she exacted, the more he submitted; and her demands grew in +proportion to his sacrifices. My friend, with patient affection, +struggled for a long time to raise her character, and to enlighten her +mind; but finding that she pouted whenever he took up a book, and that +she even hid the newspaper before he had read it, complaining that he +preferred any thing to her company; the softness of his temper and his +habitual indolence at length prevailed. His better judgment sunk in the +hopeless contest. For a quiet life, he has submitted to a disgraceful +life. The compromise has not answered. He has incurred the degradation +which, by a more spirited conduct, he might have avoided, and has missed +the quiet which he sacrificed his dignity to purchase. He compassionates +her folly, and continues to translate her wearisome interruptions into +the flattering language of affection. + +"In compliment to her, no less than in justification of his own choice, +he has persuaded himself that all women are pretty much alike. That in +point of capacity, disposition, and knowledge he has but drawn the +common lot, with the balance in his favor, of strong affection and +unsullied virtue. He hardly ever sees his fine library, which is the +object of her supreme aversion, but wastes his days in listless idleness +and his evenings at cards, the only thing in which she takes a lively +interest. His fine mind is, I fear, growing mean and disingenuous. The +gentleness of his temper leads him not only to sacrifice his peace, but +to infringe on his veracity in order to keep her quiet. All the +entertainment he finds at dinner is a recapitulation of the faults of +her maids, or the impertinence of her footmen, or the negligence of her +gardener. If to please her he joins in the censure, she turns suddenly +about, and defends them. If he vindicates them, she insists on their +immediate dismission; and no sooner are they irrevocably discharged, +than she is continually dwelling on their perfections, and then it is +only their successors who have any faults. + +"He is now so afraid of her driving out his few remaining old servants, +if she sees his partiality for them, that in order to conceal it, he +affects to reprimand them as the only means for them to secure her +favor. Thus the integrity of his heart is giving way to a petty +duplicity, and the openness of his temper to shabby artifices. He could +submit to the loss of his comfort, but sensibly feels the diminution of +his credit. The loss of his usefulness too is a constant source of +regret. She will not even suffer him to act as a magistrate, lest her +doors should be beset with vagabonds, and her house dirtied by men of +business. If he chance to commend a dish he has tasted at a friend's +house--Yes, every body's things are good but hers, she can never please. +He had always better dine abroad, if nothing is fit to be eaten at home. + +"Though poor Stanhope's conduct is so correct, and his attachment to his +wife so notorious, he never ventures to commend any thing that is said +or done by another woman. She has, indeed, no definitive object of +jealousy, but feels an uneasy vague sensation of envy at any thing or +person he admires. I believe she would be jealous of a fine day, if her +husband praised it. + +"If a tale reaches her ears of a wife who has failed of her duty, or if +the public newspapers record a divorce, then she awakens her husband to +a sense of his superior happiness, and her own irreproachable virtue. O +Charles, the woman who, reposing on the laurels of her boasted virtue, +allows herself to be a disobliging, a peevish, a gloomy, a discontented +companion, defeats one great end of the institution, which is happiness. +The wife who violates the marriage vow, is indeed more criminal; but the +very magnitude of her crime emancipates her husband; while she who makes +him not dishonorable, but wretched, fastens on him a misery for life, +from which no laws can free him, and under which religion alone can +support him." + +We continued talking, till we reached home, on the multitude of +marriages in which the parties are "joined not matched," and where the +term union is a miserable misnomer. I endeavored to turn all these new +acquaintances to account, and considered myself at every visit I made, +as taking a lesson for my own conduct. I beheld the miscarriages of +others, not only with concern for the individual, but as beacons to +light me on my way. It was no breach of charity to use the aberrations +of my acquaintance for the purpose of making my own course more direct. +I took care however, never to lose sight of the humbling consideration +that my own deviations were equally liable to become the object of their +animadversion, if the same motive had led them to the same scrutiny. + +I remained some weeks longer in town, indulging myself in all its safe +sights, and all its sober pleasures. I examined whatever was new in art, +or curious in science. I found out the best pictures, saw the best +statues, explored the best museums, heard the best speakers in the +courts of law, the best preachers in the church, and the best orators in +parliament; attended the best lectures, and visited the best company, in +the most correct, though not always the most fashionable sense of the +term. I associated with many learned, sensible, and some pious men, +commodities with which London, with all its faults, abounds, perhaps, +more than any other place on the habitable globe. I became acquainted +with many agreeable, well informed, valuable women, with a few who even +seemed in a good measure to live above the world while they were living +in it. + +There is a large class of excellent female characters who on account of +that very excellence, are little known, because to be known is not their +object. Their ambition has a better taste. They pass through life +honored and respected in their own small, but not unimportant sphere, +and approved by Him, "whose they are, and whom they serve," though their +faces are hardly known in promiscuous society. If they occasion little +sensation abroad, they produce much happiness at home. And when once a +woman who has "all appliances and means to get it," _can_ withstand the +intoxication of the flatterer, and the adoration of the fashionable; +_can_ conquer the fondness for public distinction, _can_ resist the +temptations of that magic circle to which she is courted, and in which +she is qualified to shine--this is indeed a trial of firmness; a trial +in which those who have never been called to resist themselves, can +hardly judge of the merit of resistance in others. + +These are the women who bless, dignify, and truly adorn society. The +painter indeed does not make his fortune by their sitting to him; the +jeweler is neither brought into vogue by furnishing their diamonds, nor +undone by not being paid for them; the prosperity of the milliner does +not depend on affixing their name to a cap or a color; the poet does not +celebrate them; the novelist does not dedicate to them; but they possess +the affection of their husbands, the attachment of their children, the +esteem of the wise and good, and above all they possess _His_ favor, +"whom to know is life eternal." Among these I doubt not I might have +found objects highly deserving of my heart, but the injunction of my +father was a sort of panoply which guarded it. + +I am persuaded that such women compose a larger portion of the sex, than +is generally allowed. It is not the number, but the noise which makes a +sensation, and a set of fair dependent young creatures who are every +night forced, some of them reluctantly, upon the public eye; and a bevy +of faded matrons rouged and repaired for an ungrateful public, dead to +their blandishments, do not compose the whole female world! I repeat +it--a hundred amiable women, who are living in the quiet practice of +their duties, and the modest exertion of their talents, do not fill the +public eye, or reach the public ear, like one aspiring leader, who, +hungering for observation, and disdaining censure, dreads not abuse but +oblivion; who thinks it more glorious to head a little phalanx of +fashionable followers, than to hold out, as from her commanding +eminence, and imposing talents she might have done, a shining example of +all that is great, and good, and dignified in woman. These +self-appointed queens maintain an absolute but ephemeral empire over +that little _fantastic aristocracy_ which they call the +world--admiration besets them, crowds attend them, conquests follow +them, inferiors imitate them, rivals envy them, newspapers extol them, +sonnets deify them. A few ostentatious charities are opposed as a large +atonement for a _few amiable weaknesses_, while the unpaid tradesman is +exposed to ruin by their vengeance if he refuses to trust them, and to a +jail if he continue to do it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The three days previous to my leaving London were passed with Sir John +and Lady Belfield. Knowing I was on the wing for Hampshire, they +promised to make their long intended visit to Stanley Grove during my +stay there. + +On the first of these days we were agreeably surprised at the appearance +of Dr. Barlow, an old friend of Sir John, and the excellent rector of +Mr. Stanley's parish. Being obliged to come to town on urgent business +for a couple of days, he was charged to assure me of the cordial welcome +which awaited me at the Grove. I was glad to make this early +acquaintance with this highly respectable divine. I made a thousand +inquiries about his neighbors, and expressed my impatience to know more +of a family in whose characters I already felt a more than common +interest. + +"Sir," said he, "if you set me talking of Mr. Stanley, you must abide by +the consequences of your indiscretion, and bear with the loquacity of +which that subject never fails to make me guilty. He is a greater +blessing to me as a friend, and to my parish as an example and a +benefactor than I can describe." I assured him that he could not be too +minute in speaking of a man whom I had been early taught to admire, by +that exact judge of merit, my late father. + +"Mr. Stanley," said the worthy doctor, "is about six-and-forty, his +admirable wife is about six or seven years younger. He passed the early +part of his life in London, in the best society. His commerce with the +world was, to a mind like his, all pure gain; for he brought away from +it all the good it had to give, without exchanging for it one particle +of his own integrity. He acquired the air, manners, and sentiments of a +gentleman, without any sacrifice of his sincerity. Indeed, he may be +said to have turned his knowledge of the world to a religious account, +for it has enabled him to recommend religion to those who do not like it +well enough to forgive, for its sake, the least awkwardness of gesture, +or inelegance of manner. + +"When I became acquainted with the family," continued he, "I told Mrs. +Stanley that I was afraid her husband hurt religion in one sense as much +as he recommended it in another; for that some men who would forgive him +his piety for the sake of his agreeableness, would be led to dislike +religion more than ever in other men in whom the jewel was not so well +set. 'We should like your religious men well enough,' will they say, 'if +they all resembled Stanley.' Whereas the truth is, they do not so much +_like_ Mr. Stanley's religion, as _bear_ with it for the pleasure which +his other qualities afford them. She assured me that this was not +altogether the case, for that his other qualities having pioneered his +way, and hewed down the prejudices which the reputation of piety +naturally raises, his endeavors to be useful to them were much +facilitated, and he not only kept the ground he had gained, but was +often able to turn this influence over his friends to a better account +than they had intended. He converted their admiration of him into arms +against their own errors. + +"He possesses in perfection," continued Dr. Barlow, "that sure criterion +of abilities, a great power over the minds of his acquaintance, and has +in a high degree that rare talent, the art of conciliation without the +aid of flattery. I have seen more men brought over to his opinion by a +management derived from his knowledge of mankind, and by a principle +which forbade his ever using this knowledge but for good purposes, than +I ever observed in any other instance; and this without the slightest +deviation from his scrupulous probity. + +"He is master of one great advantage in conversation, that of not only +knowing _what_ to say that may be useful, but exactly _when_ to say it; +in knowing when to press a point, and when to forbear; in his sparing +the self-love of a vain man, whom he wishes to reclaim, by contriving to +make him feel himself wrong without making him appear ridiculous. The +former he knows is easily pardoned, the latter never. He has studied the +human heart long enough to know that to wound pride is not the way to +cure, but to inflame it; and that exasperating self-conceit will never +subdue it. He seldom, I believe, goes into company without an earnest +desire to be useful to some one in it; but if circumstances are adverse; +if the _mollia tempora fandi_ does not present itself; he knows he +should lose more than they would gain, by trying to make the occasion +when he does not find it. And I have often heard him say, that when he +can not benefit others, or be benefited by them, he endeavors to benefit +himself by the disappointment, which does his own mind as much good by +humbling him with the sense of his own uselessness, as the subject he +wished to have introduced, might have done them. + +"The death of his only son, about six years ago, who had just entered +his eighth year, is the only interruption his family has had to a +felicity so unbroken, that I told Mr. Stanley some such calamity was +necessary to convince him that he was not to be put off with so poor a +portion as this world has to give. I added that I should have been +tempted to doubt his being in the favor of God, if he had totally +escaped chastisement. A circumstance which to many parents would have +greatly aggravated the blow, rather lightened it to him. The boy, had he +lived to be of age, was to have had a large independent fortune from a +distant relation, which will now go to a remote branch, unless there +should be another son. 'This wealth,' said he to me, 'might have proved +the boy's snare, and this independence his destruction. He who does all +things well has afflicted the parents, but he has saved the child.' The +loss of an only son, however, sat heavy on his heart, but it was the +means of enabling him to glorify God by his submission, I should rather +say, by his acquiescence. Submission is only yielding to what we can not +help. Acquiescence is a more sublime kind of resignation. It is a +conviction that the divine will is holy, just, and good. He once said to +me, 'We were too fond of the mercy, but not sufficiently grateful for +it. We loved him so passionately that we might have forgotten who +bestowed him. To preserve us from this temptation, God in great mercy +withdrew him. Let us turn our eyes from the one blessing we have lost, +to the countless mercies which are continued to us, and especially to +the hand which confers them; to the hand which, if we continue to +murmur, may strip us of our remaining blessings.' + +"I can not," continued Dr. Barlow, "make a higher eulogium of Mrs. +Stanley than to say, that she is every way worthy of the husband whose +happiness she makes. They have a large family of lovely daughters of all +ages. Lucilla, the eldest, is near nineteen; you would think me too +poetical were I to say she adorns every virtue with every grace; and yet +I should only speak the simple truth. Ph[oe]be, who is just turned +fifteen, has not less vivacity and sweetness than her sister, but, from +her extreme naïveté and warmheartedness, she has somewhat less +discretion; and her father says, that her education has afforded him, +not less pleasure, but more trouble, for the branches shot so fast as to +call for more pruning." + +Before I had time to thank the good doctor for his interesting little +narrative, a loud rap announced company. It was Lady Bab Lawless. With +her usual versatility she plunged at once into every subject with every +body. She talked to Lady Belfield of the news and her nursery, of poetry +with Sir John, of politics with me, and religion with Dr. Barlow. She +talked well upon most of these points, and not ill upon any of them; for +she had the talent of embellishing subjects of which she knew but +little, and a kind of conjectural sagacity and rash dexterity, which +prevented her from appearing ignorant, even when she knew nothing. She +thought that a full confidence in her own powers was the sure way to +raise them in the estimation of others, and it generally succeeded. + +Turning suddenly to Lady Belfield, she said, "Pray my dear, look at my +flowers." "They are beautiful roses, indeed," said Lady Belfield, "and +as exquisitely exact as if they were artificial." "Which in truth they +are," replied Lady Bab. "Your mistake is a high compliment to them, but +not higher than they deserve. Look especially at these roses in my cap. +You positively shall go and get some at the same place." "Indeed," said +Lady Belfield, "I am thinking of laying aside flowers, though my +children are hardly old enough to take them." "What affectation!" +replied Lady Bab, "why you are not above two or three and thirty; I am +almost as old again, and yet I don't think of giving up flowers to my +children, or my grandchildren, who will be soon wanting them. Indeed, I +only now wear _white_ roses." I discovered by this, that white roses +made the same approximation to sobriety in dress, that three tables made +to it in cards. "Seriously, though," continued Lady Bab, "you must and +shall go and buy some of Fanny's flowers. I need only tell you, it will +be the greatest charity you ever did, and then I know you won't rest +till you have been. A beautiful girl maintains her dying mother by +making and selling flowers. Here is her direction," throwing a card on +the table. "Oh no, this is not it. I have forgot the name, but it is +within two doors of your hair-dresser, in what d'ye call the lane, just +out of Oxford-street. It is a poor miserable hole, but her roses are as +bright as if they grew in the gardens of Armida." She now rung the bell +violently, saying she had overstaid her time, though she had not been in +the house ten minutes. + +Next morning I attended Lady Belfield to the exhibition. In driving home +through one of the narrow passages near Oxford-street, I observed that +we were in the street where the poor flower-maker lived. Lady Belfield +directed her footman to inquire for the house. We went into it, and in a +small but clean room, up three pair of stairs, we found a very pretty +and very genteel young girl at work on her gay manufacture. The young +woman presented her elegant performances with an air of uncommon grace +and modesty. + +She was the more interesting, because the delicacy of her appearance +seemed to proceed from ill health, and a tear stood in her eye while she +exhibited her works. "You do not seem well, my dear," said Lady +Belfield, with a kindness which was natural to her. "I never care about +my own health, madam," replied she, "but I fear my dear mother is +dying." She stopped, and the tears which she had endeavored to restrain +now flowed plentifully down her cheeks. "Where is your mother, child?" +said Lady Belfield. "In the next room, madam." "Let us see her," said +her ladyship, "if it won't too much disturb her." So saying, she led the +way, and I followed her. + +We found the sick woman lying on a little poor, but clean, bed, pale and +emaciated, but she did not seem so near her end as Fanny's affection had +made her apprehend. After some kind expressions of concern, Lady +Belfield inquired into their circumstances, which she found were +deplorable. "But for that dear girl, madam, I should have perished with +want," said the good woman; "since our misfortunes I have had nothing to +support me but what she earns by making these flowers. She has ruined +her own health, by sitting up the greatest part of the night to procure +me necessaries, while she herself lives on a crust." + +I was so affected with this scene, that I drew Lady Belfield into the +next room; "if we can not preserve the mother, at least let us save the +daughter from destruction," said I; "you may command my purse." "I was +thinking of the same thing," she replied. "Pray, my good girl, what sort +of education have you had?" "O, madam," said she, "one much too high for +my situation. But my parents, intending to qualify me for a governess, +as the safest way of providing for me, have had me taught every thing +necessary for that employment. I have had the best masters, and I hope I +have not misemployed my time." "How comes it then," said I, "that you +were not placed out in some family?" "What, sir! and leave my dear +mother helpless and forlorn? I had rather live only on my tea and dry +bread, which indeed I have done for many months, and supply her little +wants, than enjoy all the luxuries in the world at a distance from her." + +"What were your misfortunes occasioned by?" said I, while Lady Belfield +was talking with the mother. "One trouble followed another, sir," said +she, "but what most completely ruined us, and sent my father to prison, +and brought a paralytic stroke on my mother; was his being arrested for +a debt of seven hundred pounds. This sum, which he had promised to pay, +was long due to him for laces, and to my mother for millinery and fancy +dresses, from a lady who has not paid it to this moment, and my father +is dead, and my mother dying! This sum would have saved them both!" + +She was turning away to conceal the excess of her grief, when a +venerable clergyman entered the room. It was the rector of the parish, +who came frequently to administer spiritual consolation to the poor +woman. Lady Belfield knew him slightly, and highly respected his +character. She took him aside, and questioned him as to the disposition +and conduct of these people, especially the young woman. His testimony +was highly satisfactory. The girl, he said, had not only had an +excellent education, but her understanding and principles were equally +good. He added, that he reckoned her beauty among her misfortunes. It +made good people afraid to take her into the house, and exposed her to +danger from those of the opposite description. + +I put my purse into Lady Belfield's hands, declining to make any present +myself, lest, after the remark he had just made, I should incur the +suspicions of the worthy clergyman. + +We promised to call again the next day, and took our leave, but not +till we had possessed ourselves of as many flowers as she could spare. I +begged that we might stop and send some medical assistance to the sick +woman, for though it was evident that all relief was hopeless, yet it +would be a comfort to the affectionate girl's heart to know that nothing +was omitted which might restore her mother. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +In the evening we talked over our little adventure with Sir John, who +entered warmly into the distresses of Fanny and was inclined to adopt +our opinion, that if her character and attainments stood the test of a +strict inquiry, she might hereafter be transplanted into their family as +governess. We were interrupted in the formation of this plan by a visit +from Lady Melbury, the acknowledged queen of beauty and of ton. I had +long been acquainted with her character, for her charms and her +accomplishments were the theme of every man of fashion, and the envy of +every modish woman. + +She is one of those admired but pitiable characters, who, sent by +Providence as an example to their sex, degrade themselves into a +warning. Warm-hearted, feeling, liberal on the one hand; on the other +vain, sentimental, romantic, extravagantly addicted to dissipation and +expense, and with that union of contrarieties which distinguishes her, +equally devoted to poetry and gaming, to liberality and injustice. She +is too handsome to be envious, and too generous to have any relish for +detraction, but she gives to excess into the opposite fault. As Lady +Denham can detect blemishes in the most perfect, Lady Melbury finds +perfections in the most depraved. From a judgment which can not +discriminate, a temper which will not censure, and a hunger for +popularity, which can feed on the coarsest applause, she flatters +egregiously and universally, on the principle of being paid back +usuriously in the same coin. Prodigal of her beauty, she exists but on +the homage paid to it from the drawing-room at St. James's, to the mob +at an election. Candor in her is as mischievous as calumny in others, +for it buoys up characters which ought to sink. Not content with being +blind to the bad qualities of her favorites, she invents good ones for +them, and you would suppose her corrupt "little senate" was a choir of +seraphims. + +A recent circumstance related by Sir John was quite characteristical. +Her favorite maid was dangerously ill, and earnestly begged to see her +lady, who always had loaded her with favors. To all company she talked +of the virtues of the poor Toinette, for whom she not only expressed, +but felt real compassion. Instead of one apothecary who would have +sufficed, two physicians were sent for; and she herself resolved to go +up and visit her, as soon as she had finished setting to music an elegy +on the death of her Java sparrow. Just as she had completed it, she +received a fresh entreaty to see her maid, and was actually got to the +door in order to go up stairs, when the milliner came in with such a +distracting variety of beautiful new things, that there was no +possibility of letting them go till she had tried every thing on, one +after the other. This took up no little time. To determine which she +should keep and which return, where all was so attractive, took up still +more. After numberless vicissitudes and fluctuations of racking thought, +it was at length decided she should take the whole. The milliner +withdrew; the lady went up--Toinette had just expired. + +I found her manners no less fascinating than her person. With all her +modish graces, there was a tincture of romance and an appearance of +softness and sensibility which gave her the variety of two characters. +She was the enchanting woman of fashion, and the elegiac muse. + +Lady Belfield had taken care to cover her work-table with Fanny's +flowers, with a view to attract any chance visitor. Lady Melbury admired +them excessively. "You must do more than admire them," said Lady +Belfield, "you must buy and recommend." She then told her the affecting +scene we had witnessed, and described the amiable girl who supported the +dying mother by making these flowers. "It is quite enchanting," +continued she, resolving to attack Lady Melbury in her own sentimental +way, "to see this sweet girl twisting rose-buds, and forming hyacinths +into bouquets." "Dear, how charming!" exclaimed Lady Melbury, "it is +really quite touching. I will make a subscription for her, and write at +the head of the list a melting description of her case. She shall bring +me all her flowers, and as many more as she can make. But no, we will +make a party, and go and see her. You shall carry me. How interesting to +see a beautiful creature making roses and hyacinths! her delicate hands +and fair complexion must be amazingly set off by the contrast of the +bright flowers. If it were a coarse-looking girl spinning hemp, to be +sure one should pity her, but it would not be half so moving. It will be +delightful. I will call on you to-morrow, exactly at two, and carry you +all. Perhaps," whispered she to Lady Belfield, "I may work up the +circumstances into a sonnet. Do think of a striking title for it. On +second thoughts, the sonnet shall be sent about with the subscription, +and I'll get a pretty vignette to suit it." + +"That fine creature," said Sir John, in an accent of compassion, as she +went out, "was made for nobler purposes. How grievously does she fall +short of the high expectations her early youth had raised! Oh! what a +sad return does she make to Providence for his rich and varied +bounties. Vain of her beauty, lavish of her money, careless of her +reputation; associating with the worst company, yet formed for the best; +living on the adulation of parasites, whose understanding she despises! +I grieve to compare what she is with what she might have been, had she +married a man of spirit, who would prudently have guided and tenderly +have restrained her. He has ruined her and himself by his indifference +and easiness of temper. Satisfied with knowing how much she is admired +and he envied, he never thought of reproving or restricting her. He is +proud of her, but has no particular delight in her company, and trusting +to her honor, lets her follow her own devices, while he follows his. She +is a striking instance of the eccentricity of that bounty which springs +from mere sympathy and feeling. Her charity requires stage effect; +objects that have novelty, and circumstances which, as Mr. Bayes says, +'elevate and surprise.' She lost, when an infant, her mother, a woman of +sense and piety; who, had she lived, would have formed the ductile mind +of the daughter, turned her various talents into other channels, and +raised her character to the elevation it was meant to reach." + +"How melancholy a consideration is it," said I, "that so superior a +woman should live so much below her high destination! She is doubtless +utterly destitute of any thought of religion." + +"You are much mistaken," replied Sir John, "I will not indeed venture to +pronounce that she entertains much _thought_ about it; but she by no +means denies its truth, nor neglects occasionally to exhibit its outward +and visible signs. She has not yet completely forgotten + + All that the nurse and all the priest have taught. + +I do not think that, like Lady Denham, she considers it as a +commutation, but she preserves it as a habit. A religious exercise, +however, never interferes with a worldly one. They are taken up in +succession, but with this distinction, the worldly business is to be +done, the religious one is not altogether to be left undone. She has a +moral chemistry which excels in the amalgamation of contradictory +ingredients. On a Sunday at Melbury castle if by any strange accident +she and her lord happen to be there together, she first reads him a +sermon, and plays at cribbage with him the rest of the evening. In town +one Sunday when she had a cold she wrote a tract on the sacrament, for +her maids, and then sat up all night at deep play. She declared if she +had been successful she would have given her winnings to charity; but as +she lost some hundreds, she said she could now with a safe conscience +borrow that sum from her charity purse, which she had hoped to add to +it, to pay her debt of honor." + +Next day, within two hours of her appointed time, she came, and was +complimented by Sir John on her punctuality. "Indeed," said she, "I _am_ +rather late, but I met with such a fascinating German novel, that it +positively chained me to my bed till past three. I assure you, I never +lose time by not rising. In the course of a few winters I have exhausted +half Hookham's catalogue, before some of my acquaintance are awake, or I +myself out of bed." + +We soon stopped at the humble door of which we were in search. Sir John +conducted Lady Melbury up the little winding stairs. I assisted Lady +Belfield. We reached the room, where Fanny was just finishing a +beautiful bunch of jonquils. "How picturesque," whispered Lady Melbury +to me. "Do lend me your pencil; I must take a sketch of that sweet girl +with the jonquils in her hand. My dear creature," continued she, "you +must not only let me have these, but you must make me twelve dozen more +flowers as fast as possible, and be sure let me have a great many sprigs +of jessamine and myrtle." Then snatching up a wreath of various colored +geraniums--"I must try this on my head by the glass." So saying she ran +into an adjoining room, the door of which was open; Lady Belfield having +before stolen into it to speak to the poor invalid. + +As soon as Lady Melbury got into the room, she uttered a loud shriek. +Sir John and I ran in, and were shocked to find her near fainting. "Oh, +Belfield," said she, "this is a trick, and a most cruel one! Why did you +not tell me where you were bringing me? Why did you not tell me the +people's name?" "I have never heard it myself," said Sir John, "on my +honor I do not understand you." "You know as much of the woman as I +know," said Lady Belfield. "Alas, much more," cried she, as fast as her +tears would give her leave to speak. She retired to the window for air, +wringing her hands, and called for a glass of water to keep her from +fainting. I turned to the sick woman for an explanation; I saw her +countenance much changed. + +"This sir," said she, "is the lady, whose debt of seven hundred pounds +ruined me, and was the death of my husband." I was thunderstruck, but +went to assist Lady Melbury, who implored Sir John to go home with her +instantly, saying, her coach should come back for us. "But, dear Lady +Belfield, do lend me twenty guineas, I have not a shilling about me." +"Then, my dear Lady Melbury," said Lady Belfield, "how _could_ you order +twelve dozen expensive flowers?" "Oh," said she, "I did not mean to have +paid for them till next year." "And how," replied Lady Belfield, "could +the debt which was not to have been paid for a twelvemonth have relieved +the pressing wants of a creature who must pay ready money for her +materials? However, as you are so distressed we will contrive to do +without your money." "I would pawn my diamond necklace directly," +returned she, but speaking lower, "to own the truth, it is already in +the jeweler's hands, and I wear a paste necklace of the same form." + +Sir John knowing I had been at my banker's that morning, gave me such a +significant look as restrained my hand, which was already on my +pocket-book. In great seeming anguish, she gave Sir John her hand, who +conducted her to her coach. As he was leading her down stairs, she +solemnly declared she would never again run in debt, never order more +things than she wanted, and above all, would never play while she lived. +She was miserable, because she durst not ask Lord Melbury to pay this +woman, he having already given her money three times for the purpose, +which she had lost at Faro. Then retracting, she protested, if ever she +_did_ touch a card again, it should be for the sole purpose of getting +something to discharge this debt. Sir John earnestly conjured her not to +lay "that flattering unction to her soul," but to convert the present +vexation into an occasion of felicity, by making it the memorable and +happy era of abandoning a practice which injured her fortune, her fame, +her principles, and her peace. "Poor thing," said Sir John, when he +repeated this to us, + + "Ease will recant + Vows made in pain, as violent and void." + +"In an interval of weeping, she told me," added he, "that she was to be +at the opera to-night. To the opera Faro will succeed, and to-morrow +probably the diamond earrings will go to Grey's in pursuit of the +necklace." + +Lady Belfield inquired of Fanny how it happened that Lady Melbury, who +talked with _her_, without surprise or emotion, discovered so much of +both at the bare sight of her mother. The girl explained this by saying, +that she had never been in the way while they lived in Bond-street when +her ladyship used to come, having been always employed in an upper room, +or attending her masters. + +Before we parted, effectual measures were taken for the comfortable +subsistence of the sick mother, and for alleviating the sorrows, and +lightening the labors of her daughter, and next morning I set out on my +journey for Stanley Grove, Sir John and Lady Belfield promising to +follow me in a few weeks. + + * * * * * + +As soon as I got into my post-chaise, and fairly turned my back on +London, I fell into a variety of reflections on the persons with whom I +had been living. In this soliloquy, I was particularly struck with that +discrepancy of characters, all of which are yet included under the broad +comprehensive appellation of _Christians_. I found that though all +differed widely from each other, they differed still more widely from +that rule by which they professed to walk. Yet not one of these +characters was considered as disreputable. There was not one that was +profane or profligate. Not one who would not in conversation have +defended Christianity if its truth had been attacked. Not one who +derided or even neglected its forms; and who in her own class would not +have passed for religious. Yet how little had any one of them adorned +the profession she adopted! Of Mrs. Ranby, Mrs. Fentham, Lady Bab +Lawless, Lady Denham, Lady Melbury, which of them would not have been +startled had her Christianity been called in question? Yet how merely +speculative was the religion of even the most serious among them! How +superficial, or inconsistent, or mistaken, or hollow, or hypocritical, +or self-deceiving was that of all the others! Had either of them been +asked from what source she drew her religion, she would indignantly have +answered, from the Bible. Yet if we compare the copy with the model, +the Christian with Christianity, how little can we trace the +resemblance! In what particular did their lives imitate the life of Him +_who pleased not himself_, who _did the will of his Father_; who _went +about doing good_? How irreconcilable is their faith with the principles +which He taught! How dissimilar their practice with the precepts He +delivered! How inconsistent their lives with the example He bequeathed! +How unfounded their hope of heaven, if an entrance into heaven be +restricted to those who are _like minded with Christ_! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +My father had been early in life intimately connected with the family of +Mr. Stanley. Though this gentleman was his junior by several years, yet +there subsisted between them such a similarity of tastes, sentiments, +views, and principles, that they lived in the closest friendship; and +both their families having in the early part of their lives resided in +London, the occasions of that thorough mutual knowledge that grows out +of familiar intercourse, were much facilitated. I remembered Mr. +Stanley, when I was a very little boy, paying an annual visit to my +father at the Priory, and I had retained an imperfect but pleasing +impression of his countenance and engaging manners. + +Having had a large estate left him in Hampshire, he settled there on his +marriage; an intercourse of letters had kept up the mutual attachment +between him and my father. On the death of each parent, I had received a +cordial invitation to come and soothe my sorrows in his society. My +father enjoined me that one of my first visits after his death, should +be to the Grove; and in truth I now considered my Hampshire engagement +as the _bonne bouche_ of my southern excursion. + +I reached Stanley Grove before dinner. I found a spacious mansion, +suited to the ample fortune and liberal spirit of its possessor. I was +highly gratified with fine forest scenery in the approach to the park. +The house had a noble appearance without; and within, it was at once +commodious and elegant. It stood on the south side of a hill, nearer the +bottom than the summit, and was sheltered on the north-east by a fine +old wood. The park, though it was not very extensive, was striking from +the beautiful inequality of the ground, which was richly clothed with +the most picturesque oaks I ever saw, interspersed with stately beeches. +The grounds were laid out in good taste, but though the hand of modern +improvement was visible, the owner had in one instance spared + + "The obsolete prolixity of shade," + +for which the most interesting of poets so pathetically pleads. The +poet's plea had saved the avenue. + +I was cordially welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Stanley; and by that powerful +and instantaneous impression which fine sense and good breeding, joined +to high previous veneration of character, produce on the feelings of the +guest, I at once felt myself at home. All the preliminaries of gradual +acquaintance were in a manner superseded, and I soon experienced that +warm and affectionate esteem, which seemed scarcely to require +intercourse to strengthen, or time to confirm it. Mr. Stanley had only a +few minutes to present me to his lady and two lovely daughters, before +we were summoned to dinner, to which a considerable party had been +invited; for the neighborhood was populous and rather polished. + +The conversation after dinner was rational, animated, and instructive. I +observed that Mr. Stanley lost no opportunity, which fairly offered, for +suggesting useful reflections. But what chiefly struck me in his manner +of conversing, was, that without ever pressing religion unseasonably +into the service, he had the talent of making the most ordinary topics +subservient to instruction, and of extracting some profitable hint, or +striking out some important light, from subjects which, in ordinary +hands, would have been unproductive of improvement. It was evident that +piety was the predominating principle of his mind, and that he was +consulting its interests as carefully when prudence made him forbear to +press it, as when propriety allowed him to introduce it. This piety was +rather visible in the sentiment than the phrase. He was of opinion that +bad taste could never advance the interests of Christianity. And he gave +less offense to worldly men, than most religious people I have known, +because though he would, on no human consideration, abate one atom of +zeal, or lower any doctrine, nor disguise any truth, nor palliate, nor +trim, nor compromise, yet he never contended for words or trifling +distinctions. He thought it detracted from no man's piety to bring all +his elegance of expression, his correctness of taste, and his accuracy +of reasoning to the service of that cause which lies the nearest to the +heart of every Christian, and demands the exertion of his best +faculties. + +He was also forward to promote subjects of practical use in the affairs +of common life, suited to the several circumstances and pursuits of his +guests. But he particularly rejoiced that there was so broad, and safe, +and uninclosed a field as general literature. This he observed always +supplies men of education with an ample refuge from all vulgar, and +dangerous, and unproductive topics. "If we can not," said he, "by +friendly intercourse, always raise our principles, we may always keep +our understanding in exercise; and those authors who supply so peccable +a creature as man with subjects of elegant and innocent discussion, I do +not reckon among the lowest benefactors of mankind." + +In my further acquaintance with Mr. Stanley, I have sometimes observed +with what address he has converted a merely moral passage to a religious +purpose. I have known him, when conversing with a man who would not have +relished a more sacred authority, seize on a sentiment in Tully's +Offices, for the lowest degree in his scale of morals, and then +gradually ascending, trace and exalt the same thought through Paley or +Johnson, or Addison or Bacon, till he has unsuspectedly landed his +opponent in the pure ethics of the Gospel, and surprised him into the +adoption of a Christian principle. + +As I had heard there was a fine little flock of children, I was +surprised, and almost disappointed every time the door opened, not to +see them appear, for I already began to take an interest in all that +related to this most engaging family. The ladies having, to our great +gratification, sat longer than is usual at most tables, at length obeyed +the signal of the mistress of the house. They withdrew, followed by the +Miss Stanleys, + + With grace + Which won who saw to wish their stay. + +After their departure the conversation was not changed. There was no +occasion; it could not become more rational, and we did not desire that +it should become less pure. Mrs. Stanley and her fair friends had taken +their share in it with a good sense and delicacy which raised the tone +of our society; and we did not give them to understand by a loud laugh +before they were out of hearing, that we rejoiced in being emancipated +from the restraint of their presence. + +Mrs. Stanley is a graceful and elegant woman. Among a thousand other +excellences, she is distinguished for her judgment in adapting her +discourse to the character of her guests, and for being singularly +skillful in selecting her topics of conversation. I never saw a lady who +possessed the talent of diffusing at her table so much pleasure to those +around her, without the smallest deviation from her own dignified +purity. She asks such questions as strangers may be likely to gain, at +least not to lose, credit by answering; and she suits her interrogations +to the kind of knowledge they may be supposed likely to possess. By +this, two ends are answered: while she gives her guest an occasion of +appearing to advantage, she puts herself in the way of gaining some +information. From want of this discernment, I have known ladies ask a +gentleman just arrived from the East Indies, questions about America; +and others, from the absence of that true delicacy, which, where it +exists, shows itself even on the smallest occasions, who have inquired +of a person how he liked such a book, though she knew, that in the +nature of things, there was no probability of his ever having heard of +it: thus assuming an ungenerous superiority herself, and mortifying +another by a sense of his own comparative ignorance. If there is any one +at table who from his station has least claim to attention, he is sure +to be treated with particular kindness by Mrs. Stanley, and the +diffident never fail to be encouraged, and the modest to be brought +forward, by the kindness and refinement of her attentions. + +When we were summoned to the drawing-room, I was delighted to see four +beautiful children, fresh as health and gay as youth could make them, +busily engaged with the ladies. One was romping; another singing; a +third was showing some drawings of birds, the natural history of which +she seemed to understand; a fourth had spread a dissected map on the +carpet, and had pulled down her eldest sister on the floor to show her +Copenhagen. It was an animating scene. I could have devoured the sweet +creatures. I got credit with the little singer by helping her to a line +which she had forgotten, and with the geographer by my superior +acquaintance with the shores of the Baltic. + +In the evening when the company had left us, I asked Mrs. Stanley how +she came so far to deviate from established custom as not to produce her +children immediately after dinner? "You must ask me," said Mr. Stanley, +smiling, "for it was I who first ventured to suggest this bold +innovation. I love my children fondly, but my children I have always at +home; I have my friends but seldom; and I do not choose that any portion +of the time that I wish to dedicate to intellectual and social enjoyment +should be broken in upon by another, and an interfering pleasure, which +I have always within my reach. At the same time I like my children to +see my friends. Company amuses, improves, and polishes them. I therefore +consulted with Mrs. Stanley how we could so manage as to enjoy our +friends without locking up our children. She recommended this expedient. +The time, she said, spent by the ladies from their leaving the +dining-room till the gentlemen came in to tea, was often a little heavy, +it was rather an interval of anticipation than of enjoyment. Those +ladies who had not much _mind_, had soon exhausted their admiration of +each other's worked muslins, and lace sleeves; and those who _had_, +would be glad to rest it so agreeably. She therefore proposed to enliven +that dull period by introducing the children. + +"This little change has not only succeeded in our own family, but has +been adopted by many of our neighbors. For ourselves, it has answered a +double purpose. It not only delights the little things, but it delights +them with less injury than the usual season of their appearance. Our +children have always as much fruit as they like, after their own dinner; +they do not therefore want or desire the fruits, the sweetmeats, the +cakes, and the wine with which the guests, in order to please mamma, are +too apt to cram them. Besides, poor little dears, it mixes too much +selfishness with the natural delight they have in seeing company, by +connecting it with the idea of the good things they shall get. But by +this alteration we do all in our power to infuse a little +disinterestedness into the pleasure they have in coming to us. We love +them too tenderly to crib their little enjoyments, so we give them two +pleasures instead of one, for they have their dessert and our company in +succession." + +Though I do not approve of too great familiarity with servants, yet I +think that to an old and faithful domestic, superior consideration is +due. My attendant on my present tour had lived in our family from his +youth, and had the care of me before I can remember. His fidelity and +good sense, and I may add, his piety, had obtained for him the privilege +of free speaking. "Oh, sir," said he, when he came to attend me next +morning, "we are got into the right house at last. Such a family! so +godly! so sober! so charitable! 'Tis all of a piece here, sir. Mrs. +Comfit, the housekeeper, tells me that her master and mistress are the +example of all the rich, and the refuge of all the poor in the +neighborhood. And as to Miss Lucilla, if the blessing of them that are +ready to perish can send any body to heaven, she will go there sure +enough." + +This rhapsody of honest Edwards warmed my heart, and put me in mind that +I had neglected to inquire after this worthy housekeeper, who had lived +with my grandfather, and was at his death transplanted into the family +of Mr. Stanley. I paid a visit, the first opportunity, to the good +woman in her room, eager to learn more of a family who much resembled my +own parents, and for whom I had already conceived something more tender +than mere respect. + +I congratulated Mrs. Comfit on the happiness of living in so valuable a +family. In return, she was even eloquent in their praises. "Her +mistress," she said, "was a pattern for ladies, so strict, and yet so +kind! but now, indeed, Miss Lucilla has taken almost all the family +cares from her mamma. The day she was sixteen, sir, that is about two +years and a half ago, she began to inspect the household affairs a +little, and as her knowledge increased, she took more and more upon her. +Miss Ph[oe]be will very soon be old enough to relieve her sister; but my +mistress won't let her daughters have any thing to do with family +affairs till they are almost women grown, both for fear it should take +them off from their learning, and also give them a low turn about eating +and caring for niceties, and lead them into vulgar gossip and +familiarity with servants. It is time enough, she says, when their +characters are a little formed, they will then gain all the good and +escape all the danger." + +Seeing me listen with the most eager and delighted attention, the worthy +woman proceeded. "In summer, sir, Miss Stanley rises at six, and spends +two hours in her closet, which is stored with the best books. At eight +she consults me on the state of provisions, and other family matters, +and gives me a bill of fare, subject to the inspection of her mamma. The +cook has great pleasure in acting under her direction, because she +allows that Miss understands when things are well done, and never finds +fault in the wrong place; which, she says, is a great mortification in +serving ignorant ladies, who praise or find fault by chance, not +according to the cook's performance, but their own humor. She looks +over my accounts every week, which being kept so short, give her but +little trouble, and once a month she settles every thing with her +mother. + +"'Tis a pleasure, sir, to see how skillful she is in accounts! One can't +impose upon her a farthing if one would; and yet she is so mild and so +reasonable! and so quick at distinguishing what are mistakes, and what +are willful faults! Then she is so compassionate! It will be a +heart-breaking day at the Grove, sir, whenever Miss marries. When my +master is sick, she writes his letters, reads to him, and assists her +mamma in nursing him. + +"After her morning's work, sir, does she come into company, tired and +cross, as ladies do who have done nothing or are but just up? No, she +comes in to make breakfast for her parents, as fresh as a rose, and as +gay as a lark. An hour after breakfast, she and my master read some +learned books together. She then assists in teaching her little sisters, +and never were children better instructed. One day in a week, she sets +aside both for them and herself to work for the poor, whom she also +regularly visits at their own cottages, two evenings in the week; for +she says it would be troublesome and look ostentatious to have her +father's doors crowded with poor people, neither could she get at their +wants and their characters half so well as by going herself to their own +houses. My dear mistress has given her a small room as a store-house for +clothing and books for her indigent neighbors. In this room each of the +younger daughters, the day she is seven years old, has her own drawer, +with her name written on it; and almost the only competition among them +is, whose shall be soonest filled with caps, aprons, and handkerchiefs. +The working day is commonly concluded by one of these charitable visits. +The dear creatures are loaded with their little work-baskets, crammed +with necessaries. This, sir, is the day--and it is always looked +forward to with pleasure by them all. Even little Celia, the youngest, +who is but just turned of five, will come to me and beg for something +good to put in her basket for poor Mary or Betty such a one. I wonder I +do not see any thing of the little darlings; it is about the time they +used to pay me a visit. + +"On Sundays before church they attend the village school; when the +week's pocket-money, which has been carefully hoarded for the purpose, +is produced for rewards to the most deserving scholars. And yet, sir, +with all this, you may be in the house a month without hearing a word of +the matter; it is all done so quietly; and when they meet at their meals +they are more cheerful and gay than if they had been ever so idle." + +Here Mrs. Comfit stopped, for just then two sweet little cherry-cheeked +figures presented themselves at the door, swinging a straw basket +between them, and crying out, in a little begging voice, "Pray, Mrs. +Comfit, bestow your charity--we want something coarse for the hungry, +and something nice for the sick--poor Dame Alice and her little +grand-daughter!" They were going on, but spying me, they colored up to +the ears, and ran away as fast as they could, though I did all in my +power to detain them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +When Miss Stanley came in to make breakfast, she beautifully exemplified +the worthy housekeeper's description. I have sometimes seen young women, +whose simplicity was destitute of elegance, and others in whom a too +elaborate polish had nearly effaced their native graces: Lucilla +appeared to unite the simplicity of nature to the refinement of good +breeding. It was thus she struck me at first sight. I forbore to form a +decided opinion till I had leisure to observe whether her mind fulfilled +all that her looks promised. + +Lucilla Stanley is rather perfectly elegant than perfectly beautiful. I +have seen women as striking, but I never saw one so interesting. Her +beauty is countenance: it is the stamp of mind intelligibly printed on +the face. It is not so much the symmetry of features as the joint +triumph of intellect and sweet temper. A fine old poet has well +described her: + + Her pure and eloquent blood + Spoke in her cheeks and so distinctly wrought. + That one could almost say her body thought. + +Her conversation, like her countenance, is compounded of liveliness, +sensibility, and delicacy. She does not say things to be quoted, but the +effect of her conversation is that it leaves an impression of pleasure +on the mind, and a love of goodness on the heart. She enlivens without +dazzling, and entertains without overpowering. Contented to please, she +has no ambition to shine. There is nothing like effort in her +expression, or vanity in her manner. She has rather a playful gayety +than a pointed wit. Of repartee she has little, and dislikes it in +others; yet I have seldom met with a truer taste for inoffensive wit. +This is indeed the predominating quality of her mind; and she may rather +be said to be a nice judge of the genius of others than to be a genius +herself. She has a quick perception of whatever is beautiful or +defective in composition or in character. The same true taste pervades +her writing, her conversation, her dress, her domestic arrangements, and +her gardening, for which last she has both a passion and a talent. +Though she has a correct ear, she neither sings nor plays; and her +taste is so exact in drawing, that she really seems to have _le compass +dans l'[oe]uil_; yet I never saw a pencil in her fingers, except to +sketch a seat or a bower for the pleasure-grounds. Her notions are too +just to allow her to be satisfied with mediocrity in any thing, and for +perfection in many things, she thinks that life is too short, and its +duties too various and important. Having five younger sisters to assist, +has induced her to neglect some acquisitions which she would have liked. +Had she been an only daughter, she owns that she would have indulged a +little more in the garnish and decoration of life. + +At her early age, the soundness of her judgment on persons and things +can not be derived from experience; she owes it to a _tact_ so fine as +enables her to seize on the strong feature, the prominent circumstance, +the leading point, instead of confusing her mind and dissipating her +attention, on the inferior parts of a character, a book, or a business. +This justness of thinking teaches her to rate things according to their +worth, and to arrange them according to their place. Her manner of +speaking adds to the effect of her words, and the tone of her voice +expresses with singular felicity, gayety or kindness, as her feelings +direct, and the occasion demands. This manner is so natural, and her +sentiments spring so spontaneously from the occasion, that it is obvious +that display is never in her head, nor an eagerness for praise in her +heart. I never heard her utter a word which I could have wished unsaid, +or a sentiment I could have wished unthought. + +As to her dress, it reminds me of what Dr. Johnson once said to an +acquaintance of mine, of a lady who was celebrated for dressing well. +"The best evidence that I can give you of her perfection in this respect +is, that one can never remember what she had on." The dress of Lucilla +is not neglected, and it is not studied. She is as neat as the strictest +delicacy _demands_, and as fashionable as the strictest delicacy +_permits_; and her nymph-like form does not appear to less advantage for +being vailed with scrupulous modesty. + +Oh! if women in general knew what was their real interest! if they could +guess with what a charm even the _appearance_ of modesty invests its +possessor, they would dress decorously from mere self-love, if not from +principle. The designing would assume modesty as an artifice, the coquet +would adopt it as an allurement, the pure as her appropriate attraction, +and the voluptuous as the most infallible art of seduction. + +What I admire in Miss Stanley, and what I have sometime regretted the +want of in some other women, is, that I am told she is so lively, so +playful, so desirous of amusing her father and mother when alone, that +they are seldom so gay as in their family party. It is then that her +talents are all unfolded, and that her liveliness is without restraint. +She was rather silent the two or three first days after my arrival, yet +it was evidently not the silence of reserve or inattention, but of +delicate propriety. Her gentle frankness and undesigning temper +gradually got the better of this little shyness, and she soon began to +treat me as the son of her father's friend. I very early found, that +though a stranger might behold her without admiration, it was impossible +to converse with her with indifference. Before I had been a week at the +Grove, my precautions vanished, my panoply was gone, and yet I had not +consulted Mr. Stanley. + +In contemplating the captivating figure, and the delicate mind of this +charming girl, I felt that imagination, which misleads so many youthful +hearts, had preserved mine. The image my fancy had framed, and which had +been suggested by Milton's heroine, had been refined indeed, but it had +not been romantic. I had early formed an ideal standard in my mind; too +high, perhaps; but its very elevation had rescued me from the common +dangers attending the society of the sex. I was continually comparing +the women with whom I conversed, with the fair conception which filled +my mind. The comparison might be unfair to them; I am sure it was not +unfavorable to myself, for it preserved me from the fascination of mere +personal beauty, the allurements of fictitious character, and the +attractions of ordinary merit. + +I am aware that love is apt to throw a radiance around the being it +prefers, till it becomes dazzled, less perhaps with the brightness of +the object itself, than with the beams with which imagination has +invested it. But religion, though it had not subdued my imagination, had +chastised it. It had sobered the splendors of fancy, without obscuring +them. It had not extinguished the passions, but it had taught me to +regulate them.----I now seemed to have found the being of whom I had +been in search. My mind felt her excellences, my heart acknowledged its +conqueror. I struggled, however, not to abandon myself to its impulses. +I endeavored to keep my own feelings in order, till I had time to +appreciate a character which appeared as artless as it was correct. And +I did not allow myself to make this slight sketch of Lucilla, and of the +effect she produced on my heart, till more intimate acquaintance had +justified my prepossessions. + +But let me not forget that Mr. Stanley had another daughter. If +Lucilla's character is more elevated, Ph[oe]be's is not less amiable. +Her face is equally handsome, but her figure is somewhat less delicate. +She has a fine temper, and strong virtues. The little faults she has, +seem to flow from the excess of her good qualities. Her susceptibility +is extreme, and to guide and guard it, finds employment for her +mother's fondness, and her father's prudence. Her heart overflows with +gratitude for the smallest service. This warmth of her tenderness keeps +her affections in more lively exercise than her judgment; it leads her +to over-rate the merit of those she loves, and to estimate their +excellences, less by their own worth than by their kindness to her. She +soon behaved to me with the most engaging frankness, and her innocent +vivacity encouraged, in return, that affectionate freedom with which one +treats a beloved sister. + +The other children are gay, lovely, interesting, and sweet-tempered. +Their several acquisitions, for I detest the term _accomplishments_, +since it has been warped from the true meaning in which Milton used it, +seem to be so many individual contributions brought in to enrich the +common stock of domestic delight. Their talents are never put into +exercise by artificial excitements. Habitual industry, quiet exertion, +successive employments, affectionate intercourse, and gay and animated +relaxation, make up the round of their cheerful day. + +I could not forbear admiring in this happy family the graceful union of +piety with cheerfulness; strictness of principle embellished, but never +relaxed by gayety of manners; a gayety, not such as requires turbulent +pleasures to stimulate it, but evidently the serene, yet animated, +result of well-regulated minds;--of minds actuated by a tenderness of +conscience, habitually alive to the perception of the smallest sin, and +kindling into holy gratitude at the smallest mercy. + +I often called to my mind that my father, in order to prevent my being +deceived, and run away with by persons who appeared lively at first +sight, had early accustomed me to discriminate carefully, whether it was +not the _animal_ only that was lively, and the man dull. I have found +this caution of no small use in my observations on the other sex. I had +frequently remarked, that the musical and the dancing ladies, and those +who were most admired for modish attainments, had little _intellectual_ +gayety. In numerous instances I found that the mind was the only part +which was not kept in action; and no wonder, for it was the only part +which had received no previous forming, no preparatory molding. + +When I mentioned this to Mr. Stanley, "the education," replied he, +"which now prevails, is a Mohammedan education. It consists entirely in +making woman an object of attraction. There are, however, a few +reasonable people left, who, while they retain the object, improve upon +the plan. They too would make woman attractive; but it is by sedulously +laboring to make the understanding, the temper, the mind, and the +manners of their daughters, as engaging as these Circassian parents +endeavor to make the person." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +The friendly rector frequently visited at Stanley Grove, and, for my +father's sake, honored me with his particular kindness. Dr. Barlow +filled up all my ideas of a country clergyman of the higher class. There +is a uniform consistency runs through his whole life and character, +which often brings to my mind, allowing for the revolution in habits +that almost two hundred years have necessarily produced, the +incomparable _country parson_ of the ingenious Mr. George Herbert.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See Herbert's Country Parson, under the heads of the parson +in his house, the parson praying, the parson preaching, the parson +comforting, the parson's church, the parson catechizing, the parson in +mirth, &c., &c. The term parson has now indeed a vulgar and +disrespectful sound, but in Herbert's time it was used in its true sense +_persona ecclesiæ_. I would recommend to those who have not seen it, +this sketch of the ancient clerical life. As Mr. Herbert was a man of +quality, he knew what became the more opulent of his function; as he was +eminently pious, he practiced all that he recommended. "This appellation +of parson," says Judge Blackstone, "however depreciated by clownish and +familiar use, is the most legal, most beneficial, and most honorable +title, which a parish priest can enjoy." _Vide Blackstone's +Commentaries._] + +"I never saw _Zeal without Innovation_," said Mr. Stanley, "more +exemplified than in Dr. Barlow. His piety is as enlightened as it is +sincere. No errors in religion escape him, through ignorance of their +existence, or through carelessness in their detection, or through +inactivity in opposing them. He is too honest not to attack the +prevailing evil, whatever shape it may assume; too correct to excite in +the wise any fears that his zeal may mislead his judgment, and too +upright to be afraid of the censures which active piety must ever have +to encounter from the worldly and the indifferent, from cold hearts and +unfurnished heads. + +"From his affectionate warmth, however, and his unremitting application, +arising from the vast importance he attaches to the worth of souls, the +man of the world might honor him with the title of enthusiast; while his +prudence, sober-mindedness, and regularity, would draw on him from the +fanatic, the appellation of formalist. Though he is far from being +'content to _dwell_ in decencies,' he is careful never to neglect them. +He is a clergyman all the week as well as on Sunday; for he says, if he +did not spend much of the intermediate time in pastoral visits, there +could not be kept up that mutual intercourse of kindness which so much +facilitates his own labors, and his people's improvement. They listen to +him because they love him, and they understand him, because he has +familiarized them by private discourse to the great truths which he +delivers from the pulpit. + +"Dr. Barlow has greatly diminished the growth of innovation in his +parishes, by attacking the innovator with his own weapons. Not indeed by +stooping to the same disorderly practices, but by opposing an +enlightened earnestness to an eccentric earnestness; a zeal _with_ +knowledge to a zeal _without_ it. He is of opinion that activity does +more good than invective, and that the latter is too often resorted to, +because it is the cheaper substitute. + +"His charity, however, is large, and his spirit truly catholic. He +honors all his truly pious brethren, who are earnest in doing good, +though they may differ from him as to the manner of doing it. Yet his +candor never intrenches on his firmness; and while he will not dispute +with others about shades of difference, he maintains his own opinions +with the steadiness of one who embraced them on the fullest conviction. + +"He is a 'scholar, and being a good and a ripe one,' it sets him above +aiming at the paltry reputation to be acquired by those false +embellishments of style, those difficult and uncommon words, and that +labored inversion of sentences, by which some injudicious clergymen make +themselves unacceptable to the higher, and unintelligible to the lower, +and of course, the larger part of their audience. He always bears in +mind that the common people are not foolish, they are only ignorant. To +meet the one he preaches good sense, to suit the other, plain language. +But while he seldom shoots over the heads of the uninformed, he never +offends the judicious. He considers the advice of Polonius to his son +to be as applicable to preachers as to travelers-- + + Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. + +"In his pulpit he is no wrangling polemic, but a genuine Bible +Christian, deeply impressed himself with the momentous truths he so +earnestly presses upon others. His mind is so imbued, so saturated, if I +may hazard the expression, with scriptural knowledge, that from that +rich store-house, he is ever ready to bring forth _treasures, new and +old_, and to apply them wisely, temperately, and seasonably. + +"Though he carefully inculcates universal holiness in all his +discourses, yet his practical instructions are constantly deduced from +those fundamental principles of Christianity which are the root and life +and spirit of all goodness. Next to a solid piety, and a deep +acquaintance with the Bible, he considers it of prime importance to a +clergyman to be thoroughly acquainted with human nature in general, and +with the state of his own parish in particular. The knowledge of both +will alone preserve him from preaching too personally so as to hurt, or +too generally so as not to touch. + +"He is careful not to hurry over the prayers in so cold, inattentive, +and careless a manner, as to make the audience suspect he is saving +himself, that he may make a greater figure in delivering the sermon. +Instead of this, the devout, reverential, and impressive manner in which +he pronounces the various parts of the Liturgy, best prepares his own +heart, and the hearts of his people, to receive benefit from his +discourse. His petitions are delivered with such sober fervor, his +exhortations with such humble dignity, his thanksgiving with such holy +animation as carry the soul of the hearer along with him. When he +ascends the pulpit, he never throws the liturgical service into the back +ground by a long elaborate composition of his own, delivered with +superior force and emphasis. And he pronounces the Lord's prayer with a +solemnity which shows that he recollects its importance and its author. + +"In preaching, he is careful to be distinctly heard, even by his +remotest auditors, and by constant attention to this important article, +he has brought his voice, which was not strong, to be particularly +audible. He affixes so much importance to a distinct delivery, that he +smilingly told me he suspected the grammatical definition of a +substantive was originally meant for a clergyman, whose great object it +was, if possible, _to be seen_, but indispensably to be _heard_, _felt_, +and _understood_. + +"His whole performance is distinguished by a grave and majestic +simplicity, as far removed from the careless reader of a common story, +as from the declamation of an actor. His hearers leave the church, not +so much in raptures with the preacher, as affected with the truths he +has delivered. He says, he always finds he has done most good when he +has been least praised, and that he feels most humbled when he receives +the warmest commendation, because men, generally extol most the sermons +which have probed them least; whereas those which really do good, being +often such as make them most uneasy, are consequently the least likely +to attract panegyric. '_They_ only bear true testimony to the excellence +of a discourse,' added he, 'not who commend the composition or the +delivery, but who are led by it to examine their own hearts, to search +out its corruptions, and to reform their lives. Reformation is the +flattery I covet.' + +"He is aware that the generality of hearers like to retire from the +sermon with the comfortable belief, that little is to be done on _their_ +parts. Such hearers he always disappoints, by leaving on their minds at +the close, some impressive precept deduced from, and growing out of, the +preparatory doctrine. He does not press any one truth to the exclusion +of all others. He proposes no subtleties, but labors to excite +seriousness, to alarm the careless, to quicken the supine, to confirm +the doubting. He presses eternal things as things near at hand; as +things in which every living man has an equal interest. + +"Mr. Stanley says, that though Dr. Barlow was considered at Cambridge as +a correct young man, who carefully avoided vice and even irregularity, +yet being cheerful, and addicted to good society, he had a disposition +to innocent conviviality, which might, unsuspectedly, have led him into +the errors he abhorred. He was struck with a passage in a letter from +Dr. Johnson to a young man who had just taken orders, in which, among +other wholesome counsel, he advises him 'to acquire the courage to +refuse _sometimes_ invitations to dinner.' It is inconceivable what a +degree of force and independence his mind acquired by the occasional +adoption of this single hint. He is not only, Mr. Stanley, the spiritual +director, but the father, the counselor, the arbitrator, and the friend +of those whom Providence has placed under his instruction. + +"He is happy in an excellent wife, who, by bringing him a considerable +fortune, has greatly enlarged his power of doing good. But still more +essentially has she increased his happiness, and raised his character, +by her piety and prudence. By the large part she takes in his affairs, +he is enabled to give himself wholly up to the duties of his profession. +She is as attentive to the bodies, as her husband is to the souls of his +people, and educates her own family as sedulously as he instructs his +parish. + +"One day when I had been congratulating Dr. Barlow on the excellence of +his wife's character, the conversation fell, by a sudden transition, on +the celibacy of the Romish clergy. He smiled and said, 'Let us +ministers of the Reformation be careful never to provoke the people to +wish for the restoration of that part of popery. I often reflect how +peculiarly incumbent it is on us, to select such partners as shall never +cause our emancipation from the old restrictions to be regretted. And we +ourselves ought, by improving the character of our wives, to repay the +debt we owe to the ecclesiastical laws of Protestantism for the +privilege of possessing them.' + +"Will it be thought too trifling to add, how carefully this valuable +pair carry their consistency into the most minute details of their +family arrangements? Their daughters are no less patterns of decorum and +modesty in their dress and appearance, than in the more important parts +of their conduct. The Doctor says, 'that the most distant and +inconsiderable appendages to the temple of God, should have something of +purity and decency. Besides,' added he, 'with what face could I censure +improprieties from the pulpit, if the appearance of my own family in the +pew below were to set my precepts at defiance, by giving an example of +extravagance and vanity to the parish, and thus by making the preacher +ridiculous make his expostulations worse than ineffectual. + +"So conscientious a rector," added Mr. Stanley, "could not fail to be +particularly careful in the choice of a curate; and a more humble, +pious, diligent assistant than Mr. Jackson could not easily be found. He +is always a welcome guest at my table. But this valuable man, who was +about as good a judge of the world as the great Hooker, made just such +another indiscreet marriage. He was drawn in to choose his wife, the +daughter of a poor tradesman in the next town, because he concluded that +a woman bred in humble and active life, would necessarily be humble and +active herself. _Her_ reason for accepting _him_ was because she +thought that as every clergyman was a _gentleman_, she of course, as his +wife, should be a _gentlewoman_, and fit company for any body. + +"'He instructs my parish admirably,' said Dr. Barlow, 'but his own +little family he can not manage. His wife is continually reproaching +him, that though he may know the way to heaven, he does not know how to +push his way in the world. His daughter is the finest lady in the +parish, and outdoes them all, not only in the extremity, but the +immodesty of the fashion. It is her mother's great ambition that she +should excel the Miss Stanleys and my daughters in music, while her good +father's linen betrays sad marks of negligence. I once ventured to tell +Mrs. Jackson that there was only one reason which could excuse the +education she had given her daughter, which was that I presumed she +intended to qualify her for getting her bread; and that if she would +correct the improprieties of the girl's dress, and get her instructed in +useful knowledge, I would look out for a good situation for her. This +roused her indignation. She refused my offer with scorn, saying, that +when she asked my charity, she would take my advice; and desired that I +would remember that one clergyman's daughter was as good as another. I +told her that there was indeed a sense in which one clergyman was as +good as another, because the profession dignified the lowest of the +order, if, like her husband, he was a credit to that order. Yet still +there were gradations in the church as well as in the state. But between +the _wives_ and _daughters_ of the higher and lower clergy, there were +the same distinction which riches and poverty have established between +those of the higher and lower orders of the laity; and that rank and +independence in the one case, confer the same outward superiority with +rank and independence in the other." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Among the visitors at Stanley Grove, there was a family of ladies, who, +though not particularly brilliant, were singularly engaging from their +modesty, gentleness, and good sense. One day when they had just left us, +Mr. Stanley obliged me with the following little relation: Mrs. Stanley +and Lucilla only being present. + +"Lady Aston has been a widow almost seven years. On the death of Sir +George, she retired into this neighborhood with her daughters, the +eldest of whom is about the age of Lucilla. She herself had had a pious +but a very narrow education. Her excessive grief for the loss of her +husband augmented her natural love of retirement which she cultivated, +not to the purpose of improvement, but to the indulgence of melancholy. +Soon after she settled here, we heard how much good she did, and in how +exemplary a manner she lived, before we saw her. She was not very easy +of access even to us; and after we had made our way to her, we were the +only visitors she admitted for a long time. We soon learned to admire +her deadness to the world, and her unaffected humility. Our esteem for +her increased with our closer intercourse, which however enabled us also +to observe some considerable mistakes in her judgment, especially in the +mode in which she was training up her daughters. These errors we +regretted, and with all possible tenderness ventured to point out to +her. The girls were the prettiest demure little nuns you ever saw, mute +and timid, cheerless and inactive, but kind, good, and gentle. + +"Their pious mother, who was naturally of a fearful and doubting mind, +had had this pensive turn increased by several early domestic losses, +which, even previous to Sir George's death, had contributed to fix +something of a too tender and hopeless melancholy on her whole +character. There are two refuges for the afflicted; two diametrically +opposite ways of getting out of sorrow--religion and the world. Lady +Aston had wisely chosen the former. But her scrupulous spirit had made +the narrow way narrower than religion required. She read the Scriptures +diligently, and she prayed over them devoutly; but she had no judicious +friend to direct her in these important studies. As your Mrs. Ranby +attended only to the doctrines, and our friend Lady Belfield trusted +indefinitely to the promises, so poor Lady Aston's broken spirit was too +exclusively carried to dwell on the threatenings; together with the +rigid performance of those duties which she earnestly hoped might enable +her to escape them. This round of duty, of watchfulness, and prayer, she +invariably performed with almost the sanctity of an apostle, but with a +little too much of the scrupulosity of an ascetic. While too many were +rejoicing with unfounded confidence in those animating passages of +Scripture, which the whole tenor of their lives demonstrates not to +belong to them, she trembled at those denunciations which she could not +fairly apply to herself. And the promises from which she might have +derived reasonable consolation, she overlooked as designed for others. + +"Her piety, though sincere, was a little tinctured with superstition. If +any petty strictness was omitted, she tormented herself with causeless +remorse. If any little rule was broken, she repaired the failure with +treble diligence the following day; and labored to retrieve her +perplexed accounts with the comfortless anxiety of a person who is +working out a heavy debt. I endeavored to convince her, that an inferior +duty which clashed with one of a higher order, might be safely postponed +at least, if not omitted. + +"A diary has been found useful to many pious Christians, as a record of +their sins, and of their mercies. But this poor lady spent so much time +in weighing the offenses of one day against those of another, that +before the scruple was settled, the time for action was past. She +brought herself into so much perplexity by reading over this journal of +her infirmities, that her difficulties were augmented by the very means +she had employed to remove them; and her conscience was disturbed by the +method she had taken to quiet it. This plan, however, though distressing +to a troubled mind, is wholesome to one of a contrary cast. + +"_My_ family, as you have seen, are rather exact in the distribution of +their time, but we do not distress ourselves at interruptions which are +unavoidable: but _her_ arrangements were carried on with a rigor which +made her consider the smallest deviation as a sin that required severe +repentance. Her alms were expiations, her self-denials penances. + +"She was rather a disciple of the mortified Baptist, than of the merciful +Redeemer. Her devotions were sincere but discouraging. They consisted +much in contrition, but little in praise; much in sorrow for sin, but +little in hope of its pardon. She did not sufficiently cast her care and +confidence on the great propitiation. She firmly believed all that her +Saviour had done and suffered, but she had not the comfort of +practically appropriating the sacrifice. While she was painfully working +out her salvation with fear and trembling, she indulged the most +unfounded apprehensions of the divine displeasure. At Aston Hall the +Almighty was literally feared, but he was not glorified. It was the +obedience of a slave, and not the reverential affection of a child. + +"When I saw her denying herself and her daughters the most innocent +enjoyments, and suspecting sin in the most lawful indulgences, I took +the liberty to tell her how little acceptable uncommanded austerities +and arbitrary impositions were to the God of mercies. I observed to her +that the world, that human life, that our own sins and weaknesses, found +us daily and hourly occasions of exercising patience and self-denial; +that life is not entirely made up of great evils or heavy trials, but +that the perpetual recurrence of petty evils and small trials is the +ordinary and appointed exercise of the Christian graces. To bear with +the failings of those about us, with their infirmities, their bad +judgment, their ill-breeding, their perverse tempers; to endure neglect +where we feel we have deserved attention, and ingratitude where we +expected thanks; to bear with the company of disagreeable people, whom +Providence has placed in our way, and whom he has perhaps provided on +purpose for the trial of our virtue: these are the best exercises; and +the better because not chosen by ourselves. To bear with vexations in +business, with disappointments in our expectations, with interruptions +of our retirement, with folly, intrusion, disturbance, in short, with +whatever opposes our will, and contradicts our humor; this habitual +acquiescence appears to be more of the essence of self-denial than any +little rigors or inflictions of our own imposing. These constant, +inevitable, but inferior evils, properly improved, furnish a good moral +discipline, and might well in the days of ignorance have superseded +pilgrimage and penance. It has this advantage too over the other, that +it sweetens the temper and promotes humility, while the former gives +rigidness instead of strength, and inflexibility instead of firmness." + +"I have often thought," said I, when Mr. Stanley made a pause, "that we +are apt to mistake our vocation by looking out of the way for occasions +to exercise great and rare virtues, and by stepping over those ordinary +ones which lie directly in the road before us. When we read, we fancy we +could be martyrs, and when we come to act, we can not even bear a +provoking word." + +Miss Stanley looked pleased at my remark, and in a modest tone observed +that "in no one instance did we deceive ourselves more than in fancying +we could do great things well, which we were never likely to be called +to do at all; while, if we were honest, we could not avoid owning how +negligently we performed our own little appointed duties, and how +sedulously we avoided the petty inconveniences which these duties +involved." + +"By kindness," resumed Mr. Stanley, "we gradually gained Lady Aston's +confidence, and of that confidence we have availed ourselves to give +something of a new face to the family. Her daughters, good as they were +dutiful, by living in a solitude unenlivened by books, and unvaried by +improving company, had acquired a manner rather resembling fearfulness +than delicacy. Religious they were, but they had contracted gloomy views +of religion. They considered it as something that must be endured in +order to avoid punishment, rather than as a principle of peace, and +trust, and comfort; as a task to be gone through, rather than as a +privilege to be enjoyed. They were tempted to consider the Almighty as a +hard master, whom however they were resolved to serve, rather than as a +gracious father who was not only loving, but LOVE in the abstract. Their +mother was afraid to encourage a cheerful look, lest it might lead to +levity, or a sprightly thought, for fear it might have a wrong tendency. +She forgot, or rather she did not know, that young women were not formed +for contemplative life. She forgot that in all our plans and operations +we should still bear in mind that there are two worlds. As it is the +fault of too many to leave the _next_ out of their calculation, it was +the error of Lady Aston, in forming the minds of her children, to leave +out _this_. She justly considered heaven as their great aim and end; but +neglected to qualify them for the present temporal life, on the due use +and employment of which so obviously depends the happiness of that which +is eternal. + +"Her charities were very extensive, but of these charities her sweet +daughters were not made the active dispensers, because an old servant, +who governed not only the family but her lady also, chose that office +herself. Thus the bounty being made to flow in partial channels, the +woman's relations and favorites almost entirely engrossing it, it did +little comparative good. + +"With fair understandings the Miss Astons had acquired very little +knowledge: their mother's scrupulous mind found something dangerous in +every author who did not professedly write on religious subjects. If +there were one exceptionable page in a book, otherwise valuable, instead +of suppressing the page, she suppressed the book. And indeed, my dear +Charles, grieved am I to think how few authors of the more entertaining +kind we _can_ consider as perfectly pure, and put without caution, +restriction, or mutilation, into the hands of our daughters. I am, +however, of opinion, that as they will not always have their parents for +tasters, and as they will everywhere, even in the most select libraries, +meet with these mixed works, in which, though there is much to admire, +yet there is something to expunge, it is the safest way to accustom them +early to hear read the most unexceptionable parts of these books. + +"Read them yourself to them without any air of mystery; tell them that +what you omit is not worth reading, and then the omissions will not +excite but stifle curiosity. The books to which I allude are those where +the principle is sound and the tendency blameless, and where the few +faults consist rather in coarseness than in corruption. + +"But to return; she fancied that these inexperienced creatures, who had +never tried the world, and whose young imaginations had perhaps painted +it in all the brilliant colors with which erring fancy gilds the scenes +it has never beheld, and the pleasure it has never tried, could +renounce it as completely as herself, who had exhausted what it has to +give, and was weary of it. She thought they could live contentedly in +their closets, without considering that she had neglected to furnish +their minds with that knowledge which may make the closet a place of +enjoyment, by supplying the intervals of devotional with entertaining +reading. + +"We carried Lucilla and Ph[oe]be to visit them; I believe she was a +little afraid of their gay countenances. I talked to her of the +necessity of literature to inform her daughters, and of pleasures to +enliven them. The term pleasure alarmed her still more than that of +literature. 'What pleasures were allowed to religious people? She would +make her daughters as happy as she dared without offending her Maker.' I +quoted the devout but liberal Hooker, who exhorts us not to regard the +Almighty as a captious sophist, but as a merciful Father. + +"During this conversation we were sitting under the fine spreading oak +on my lawn, in front of that rich bank of flowers which you so much +admire. It was a lovely evening in the end of June, the setting sun was +all mild radiance, the sky all azure, the air all fragrance. The birds +were in full song. The children, sitting on the grass before us, were +weaving chaplets of wild flowers. + + It looked like nature in the world's first spring. + +"My heart was touched with joy and gratitude. 'Look, madam,' said I, 'at +the bountiful provision which a beneficent Father makes, not only for +the necessities, but for the pleasures of his children; + + ----not content + With every food of life to nourish man, + He makes all nature beauty to his eye, + And music to his ear. + +"'These flowers are of so little apparent use, that it might be thought +profuseness in any economy short of that which is divine, to gratify us +at once with such forms, and such hues, and such fragrance. It is a +gratification not necessary, yet exquisite, which lies somewhere between +the pleasure of sense and intellect, and in a measure partakes of both. +It elevates while it exhilarates, and lifts the soul from the gift to +the Giver. God has not left his goodness to be _inferred_ from abstract +speculation, from the conclusions of reason, from deduction and +argument: we not only collect it from observation, but have palpable +evidences of his bounty, we feel it with our senses. Were God a hard +master, might he not withhold these superfluities of goodness? Do you +think he makes such rich provision for us, that we should shut our eyes +and close our ears to them? Does he present such gifts with one hand, +and hold in the other a stern interdict of 'touch not, taste not, handle +not?' And can you believe he is less munificent in the economy of grace, +than in that of nature? Do you imagine that he provides such abundant +supplies for our appetites and senses here, without providing more +substantial pleasures for our future enjoyment? Is not what we see a +prelude to what we hope for, a pledge of what we may expect? A specimen +of larger, higher, richer bounty, an encouraging cluster from the land +of promise? If from his works we turn to his word, we shall find the +same inexhaustible goodness exercised to still nobler purposes. Must we +not hope then, even by analogy, that he has in store blessings exalted +in their nature, and eternal in their duration, for all those who love +and serve him in the gospel of his Son?' + +"We now got on fast. She was delighted with my wife, and grew less and +less afraid of my girls. I believe, however, that we should have made a +quicker progress in gaining her confidence if we had looked less happy. +I suggested to her to endeavor to raise the tone of her daughters' +piety, to make their habits less monastic, their tempers more cheerful, +their virtues more active; to render their lives more useful, by making +them the immediate instruments of her charity; to take them out of +themselves, and teach them to compare their fictitious distresses with +real substantial misery, and to make them feel grateful for the power +and the privilege of relieving it. + +"As Dr. Barlow has two parishes which join, and we had pre-occupied the +ground in our own, I advised them to found a school in the next, for the +instruction of the young, and a friendly society for the aged of their +own sex. We prevailed on them to be themselves not the nominal but the +active patronesses; to take the measure of all the wants and all the +merit of their immediate neighborhood; to do every thing under the +advice and superintendence of Dr. Barlow, and to make him their 'guide, +philosopher, and friend.' By adopting this plan, they now see the +poverty of which they only used to hear, and know personally the +dependants whom they protect. + +"Dr. Barlow took infinite pains to correct Lady Aston's views of +religion. 'Let your notions of God,' said he, 'be founded, not on your +own gloomy apprehensions, and visionary imaginations, but on what is +revealed in his word, else the very intenseness of your feelings, the +very sincerity of your devotion, may betray you into enthusiasm, into +error, into superstition, into despair. Spiritual notions which are not +grounded on scriptural truth, and directed and guarded by a close +adherence to it, mislead tender hearts and warm imaginations. But while +you rest on the sure unperverted foundation of the word of God, and pray +for his Spirit to assist you in the use of his word, you will have +little cause to dread that you shall fear him too much, or serve him too +well. I earnestly exhort you,' continued he, 'not to take the measure of +your spiritual state from circumstances which have nothing to do with +it. Be not dismayed at an incidental depression which may depend on the +state of your health, or your spirits, or your affairs. Look not for +sensible communications. Do not consider rapturous feelings as any +criterion of the favor of your Maker, nor the absence of them as any +indication of his displeasure. An increasing desire to know him more, +and serve him better; an increasing desire to do, and to suffer his +whole will; a growing resignation to his providential dispensations is a +much surer, a much more unequivocal test.' + +"I next," continued Mr. Stanley, "carried our worthy curate, Mr. +Jackson, to visit her, and proposed that she should engage him to spend +a few hours every week with the young ladies. I recommended that after +he had read with them a portion of Scripture, of which he would give +them a sound and plain exposition, he should convince them he had not +the worse taste for being religious, by reading with them some books of +general instruction, history, travels, and polite literature. This would +imbue their minds with useful knowledge, form their taste, and fill up +profitably and pleasantly that time which now lay heavy on their hands; +and, without intrenching on any of their duties, would qualify them to +discharge them more cheerfully. + +"I next suggested that they should study gardening; and that they should +put themselves under the tuition of Lucilla, who is become the little +Repton of the valley. To add to the interest, I requested that a fresh +piece of ground might be given them, that they might not only exercise +their taste, but be animated with seeing the complete effect of their +own exertions, as a creation of their own would be likely to afford them +more amusement than improving on the labors of another. + +"I had soon the gratification of seeing my little Carmelites, who used +when they walked in the garden to look as if they came to dig a daily +portion of their own graves, now enjoying it, embellishing it, and +delighted by watching its progress; and their excellent mother, who, +like Spenser's Despair, used to look 'as if she never dined,' now +enjoying the company of her select friends. The mother is become almost +cheerful, and the daughters almost gay. Their dormant faculties are +awakened. Time is no longer a burden, but a blessing: the day is too +short for their duties, which are performed with alacrity since they +have been converted into pleasures. You will believe I did not hazard +all these terrible innovations as rapidly as I recount them, but +gradually, as they were able to bear it. + +"This happy change in themselves has had the happiest consequences. +Their friends had conceived the strongest prejudices against religion, +from the gloomy garb in which they had seen it arrayed at Aston Hall. +The uncle who was also the guardian, had threatened to remove the girls +before they were quite moped to death; the young baronet was actually +forbidden to come home at the holidays; but now the uncle is quite +reconciled to them, and almost to _religion_. He has resumed his +fondness for the daughters; and their brother, a fine youth at +Cambridge, is happy in spending his vacations with his family, to whom +he is become tenderly attached. He has had his own principles and +character much raised by the conversation and example of Dr. Barlow, who +contrives to be at Aston Hall as much as possible when Sir George is +there. He is daily expected to make his mother a visit, when I shall +recommend him to your particular notice and acquaintance." + +Lucilla blushing, said, she thought her father had too exclusively +recommended the _brother_ to my friendship; she would venture to say the +_sisters_ were equally worthy of my regard, adding, in an affectionate +tone, "they are every thing that is amiable and kind. The more you know +them, sir, the more you will admire them; for their good qualities are +kept back by the best quality of all, their modesty." This candid and +liberal praise did not sink the fair eulogist herself in my esteem. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +I had now been near three weeks at the Grove. Ever since my arrival I +had contracted the habit of pouring out my heart to Mr. and Mrs. Stanley +with grateful affection and filial confidence. I still continued to do +so on all subjects except one. + +The more I saw of Lucilla, the more difficult I found it to resist her +numberless attractions. I could not persuade myself that either prudence +or duty demanded that I should guard my heart against such a combination +of amiable virtues and gentle graces: virtues and graces which, as I +before observed, my mind had long been combining as a delightful idea, +and which I now saw realized in a form more engaging than even my own +imagination had allowed itself to picture. + +I did not feel courage sufficient to risk the happiness I actually +enjoyed, by aspiring too suddenly to a happiness more perfect. I dared +not yet avow to the parents, or the daughter, feelings which my fears +told me might possibly be discouraged, and which, if discouraged, would +at once dash to the ground a fabric of felicity that my heart, not my +fancy, had erected, and which my taste, my judgment, and my principles +equally approved, and delighted to contemplate. + +The great critic of antiquity, in his treatise on the drama, observes +that the introduction of a new person is of the next importance to a new +incident. Whether the introduction of two interlocutors is equal in +importance to two incidents, Aristotle has forgotten to establish. This +dramatic rule was illustrated by the arrival of Sir John and Lady +Belfield, who, though not new to the reader or the writer, were new at +Stanley Grove. + +The early friendship of the two gentlemen had suffered little diminution +from absence, though their intercourse had been much interrupted. Sir +John, who was a few years younger than his friend, since his marriage, +having lived as entirely in town as Mr. Stanley had done in the country. +Mrs. Stanley had, indeed, seen Lady Belfield a few times in +Cavendish-square, but her ladyship had never before been introduced to +the other inhabitants of the Grove. + +The guests were received with cordial affection, and easily fell into +the family habits, which they did not wish to interrupt, but from the +observation of which they hoped to improve their own. They were charmed +with the interesting variety of characters in the lovely young family, +who in return were delighted with the politeness, kindness, and +cheerfulness of their father's guests. + +Shall I avow my own meanness? Cordially as I loved the Belfields, I am +afraid I saw them arrive with a slight tincture of jealousy. They would, +I thought, by enlarging the family circle, throw me at a further +distance from the being whom I wished to contemplate nearly. They would, +by dividing her attention, diminish my proportion. I had been hitherto +the sole guest, I was now to be one of several. This was the first +discovery I made that love is a narrower of the heart. I tried to subdue +the ungenerous feeling, and to meet my valuable friends with a warmth +adequate to that which they so kindly manifested. I found that a wrong +feeling at which one has virtue enough left to blush, is seldom lasting, +and shame soon expelled it. + +The first day was passed in mutual inquiries and mutual communications. +Lady Belfield told me that the amiable Fanny, after having wept over the +grave of her mother, was removed to the house of the benevolent +clergyman, who had kindly promised her an asylum till Lady Belfield's +return to town, when it was intended she should be received into her +family; that worthy man and his wife having taken on themselves a full +responsibility for her character and disposition; and generously +promised that they would exert themselves to advance her progress in +knowledge during the interval. Lady Belfield added, that every inquiry +respecting Fanny, whom we must now call Miss Stokes, had been attended +with the most satisfactory result, her principles being as +unquestionable as her talents. + +After dinner, I observed that whenever the door opened, Lady Belfield's +eye was always turned toward it, in expectation of seeing the children. +Her affectionate heart felt disappointed on finding that they did not +appear, and she could not forbear whispering to me, who sat next her, +"that she was afraid the piety of our good friends was a little +tinctured with severity. For her part, she saw no reason why religion +should diminish one's affection for one's children, and rob them of +their innocent pleasures." I assured her gravely I thought so too; but +forbore telling her how totally inapposite her application was to Mr. +and Mrs. Stanley. She seemed glad to find me of her opinion, and gave up +all hope of seeing the "little melancholy recluses," as she called them, +"unless," she said, laughing, "she might be permitted to look at them +through the grate of their cells." I smiled, but did not undeceive her, +and affected to join in her compassion. When we went to attend the +ladies in the drawing-room, I was delighted to find lady Belfield +sitting on a low stool, the whole gay group at play around her. A blush +mixed itself with her good-natured smile as we interchanged a +significant look. She was questioning one of the elder ones, while the +youngest sat on her lap singing. Sir John entered, with that kindness +and good humor so natural to him, into the sports of the others, who, +though wild with health and spirits, were always gentle and docile. He +had a thousand pleasant things to entertain them with. He, too, it +seems, had not been without his misgivings. + +"Are not these poor miserable recluses?" whispered I maliciously to her +ladyship, "and are not these rueful looks proof positive that religion +diminishes our affection for our children? and is it not abridging their +innocent pleasures, to give them their full range in a fresh airy +apartment, instead of cramming them into an eating-room, of which the +air is made almost fetid by the fumes of the dinner and a crowded table? +and is it not better that they should spoil the pleasure of the company, +though the mischief they do is bought by the sacrifice of their own +liberty?" "I make my _amende_," said she. "I never will be so forward +again to suspect piety of ill nature." "So far from it, Caroline," said +Sir John, "that we will adopt the practice we were so forward to blame; +and I shall not do it," said he, "more from regard to the company, than +to the children, who I am sure will be gainers in point of enjoyment; +liberty, I perceive, is to them positive pleasure, and paramount to any +which our false epicurism can contrive for them." + +"Well, Charles," said Sir John, as soon as he saw me alone, "now tell us +about this Lucilla, this paragon, this nonpareil of Dr. Barlow's. Tell +me what is she? or rather what is she not?" + +"First," replied I, "I will as you desire, define her by negatives--she +is _not_ a professed beauty, she is _not_ a professed genius, she is +_not_ a professed philosopher, she is _not_ a professed wit, she is +_not_ a professed any thing; and, I thank my stars, she is _not_ an +artist!" "Bravo, Charles, now as to what she is." "She is," replied I, +"from nature--a woman, gentle, feeling, animated, modest. She is by +education, elegant, informed, enlightened. She is, from religion, pious, +humble, candid, charitable." + +"What a refreshment will it be," said Sir John, "to see a girl of fine +sense, more cultivated than accomplished--the creature, not of fiddlers +and dancing-masters, but of nature, of books, and of good company! If +there is the same mixture of spirit and delicacy in her character, that +there is of softness and animation in her countenance, she is a +dangerous girl, Charles." + +"She certainly does," said I, "possess the essential charm of beauty +where it exists; and the most effectual substitute for it, where it does +not; the power of prepossessing the beholder by her look and manner, in +favor of her understanding and temper." + +This prepossession I afterward found confirmed, not only by her own +share in the conversation, but by its effect on myself; I always feel +that our intercourse unfolds, not only her powers, but my own. In +conversing with such a woman, I am apt to fancy that I have more +understanding, because her animating presence brings it more into +exercise. + +After breakfast, next day, the conversation happened to turn on the +indispensable importance of unbounded confidence to the happiness of +married persons. Mr. Stanley expressed his regret, that though it was +one of the grand ingredients of domestic comfort, yet it was sometimes +unavoidably prevented by an unhappy inequality of mind between the +parties, by violence, or imprudence, or imbecility on one side, which +almost compelled the other to a degree of reserve, as incompatible with +the design of the union, as with the frankness of the individual. + +"We have had an instance among our own friends," replied Sir John, "of +this evil being produced, not by any of the faults to which you have +adverted, but by an excess of misapplied sensibility, in two persons of +near equality as to merit, and in both of whom the utmost purity of +mind, and exactness of conduct rendered all concealment superfluous. Our +worthy friends Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton married from motives of affection, +and with a high opinion of each other's merit, which their long and +intimate connection has rather contributed to exalt than to lower; and +yet, now at the end of seven years, they are only beginning to be happy. +They contrived to make each other and themselves as uncomfortable by an +excess of tenderness, as some married pairs are rendered by the want of +it. A mistaken sensibility has intrenched, not only on their comfort, +but on their sincerity. Their resolution never to give each other pain +has led them to live in a constant state of petty concealment. They are +neither of them remarkably healthy, and to hide from each other every +little indisposition, have kept up a continual vigilance to conceal +illness on the one part, and to detect it on the other, till it became a +trial of skill which could make the other most unhappy; each suffering +much more by suspicion when there was no occasion for it, than they +could have done by the acknowledgment of slight complaints when they +actually existed. + +"This valuable pair, after seven years' apprenticeship to a petty +martyrdom, have at last found out that it is better to submit to the +inevitable ills of life cheerfully and in concert, and to comfort each +other under them cordially, than alternately to suffer and inflict the +pain of perpetual disingenuousness. They have at last discovered that +uninterrupted prosperity is not the lot of man. Each is happier now +with knowing that the other is sometimes sick, than they used to be with +suspecting they were always so. The physician is now no longer secretly +sent for to one, when the other is known to be from home. The apothecary +is at last allowed to walk boldly up the public staircase fearless of +detection. + +"These amiable persons have at length attained all that was wanting to +their felicity, that of each believing the other to be well when they +_say_ they are so. They have found out that unreserved communication is +the lawful commerce of conjugal affection, and that all concealment is +contraband." + +"Surely," said I, when Sir John had done speaking, "it is a false +compliment to the objects of our affection, if, for the sake of sparing +them a transient uneasiness, we rob them of the comfort to which they +are entitled, of mitigating our sufferings by partaking it. All +dissimulation is disloyal to love. Besides, it appears to me to be an +introduction to wider evils, and I should fear, both for the woman I +loved and for myself, that if once we allowed ourselves concealment in +one point, where we thought the motive excused us, we might learn to +adopt it in others, where the principle was more evidently wrong." + +"Besides," replied Mr. Stanley, "it argues a lamentable ignorance of +human life, to set out with an expectation of health without +interruption, and of happiness without alloy. When young persons marry +with the fairest prospects, they should never forget that infirmity is +inseparably bound up with their very nature, and that in bearing one +another's burdens, they fulfill one of the highest duties of the +union." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +After supper, when only the family party were present, the conversation +turned on the unhappy effects of misguided passion. Mrs. Stanley +lamented that novels, with a very few admirable exceptions, had done +infinite mischief, by so completely establishing the omnipotence of +love, that the young reader was almost systematically taught an +unresisting submission to a feeling, because the feeling was commonly +represented as irresistible. + +"Young ladies," said Sir John, smiling, "in their blind submission to +this imaginary omnipotence, are apt to be necessarians. When they _fall_ +in love, as it is so justly called, they then obey their _fate_; but in +their stout opposition to prudence and duty, they most manfully exert +their _free will_; so that they want nothing but _knowledge absolute_ of +the miseries attendant on an indiscreet attachment, completely to +exemplify the occupation assigned by Milton to a class of beings to whom +it would not be gallant to resemble young ladies." + +Mrs. Stanley continued to assert, that ill-placed affection only became +invincible, because its supposed invincibility had been first erected +into a principle. She then adverted to the power of religion in subduing +the passions, that of love among the rest. + +I ventured to ask Lucilla, who was sitting next me (a happiness which, +by some means or other, I generally contrived to enjoy), what were her +sentiments on this point? With a little confusion, she said, "to conquer +an ill placed attachment, I conceive may be effected by motives inferior +to religion. Reason, the humbling conviction of having made an unworthy +choice, for I will not resort to so bad a motive as pride, may easily +accomplish it. But to conquer a well-founded affection, a justifiable +attachment, I should imagine, requires the powerful principle of +Christian piety; and what can not that effect?" She stopped and blushed, +as fearing she had said too much. + +Lady Belfield observed, that she believed a virtuous attachment might +possibly be subdued by the principle Miss Stanley had mentioned; yet she +doubted if it were in the power of religion itself, to enable the heart +to conquer aversion, much less to establish affection for an object for +whom dislike had been entertained. + +"I believe," said Mr. Stanley, "the example is rare, and the exertion +difficult; but that which is difficult to us, is not impossible to him +who has the hearts of all men in his hand. And I am happy to resolve +Lady Belfield's doubt by a case in point. + +"You can not, Sir John, have forgotten our old London acquaintance, +Carlton?" "No," replied he, "nor can I ever forget what I have since +heard of his ungenerous treatment of that most amiable woman, his wife. +I suppose he has long ago broken her heart." + +"You know," resumed Mr. Stanley, "they married not only without any +inclination on either side, but on her part with something more than +indifference, with a preference for another person. _She_ married +through an implicit obedience to her mother's will, which she had never +in any instance opposed: _He_, because his father had threatened to +disinherit him if he married any other woman; for as they were distant +relations, there was no other way of securing the estate in the family." + +"What a motive for a union so sacred and so indissoluble!" exclaimed I, +with an ardor which raised a smile in the whole party. I asked pardon +for my involuntary interruption, and Mr. Stanley proceeded. + +"She had long entertained a partiality for a most deserving young +clergyman, much her inferior in rank and fortune. But though her high +sense of filial duty led her to sacrifice this innocent inclination, and +though she resolved never to see him again, and had even prevailed on +him to quit the country, and settle in a distant place, yet Carlton was +ungenerous and inconsistent enough to be jealous of her without loving +her. He was guilty of great irregularities, while Mrs. Carlton set about +acquitting herself of the duties of a wife, with the most meek and +humble patience, burying her sorrows in her own bosom, and not allowing +herself even the consolation of complaining. + +"Among the many reasons for his dislike, her piety was the principal. He +said religion was of no use but to disqualify people for the business of +life; that it taught them to make a merit of despising their duties, and +hating their relations; and that pride, ill-humor, opposition, and +contempt for the rest of the world, were the meat and drink of all those +who pretended to religion. + +"At first she nearly sunk under his unkindness; her health declined, and +her spirits failed. In this distress she applied to the only sure refuge +for the unhappy, and took comfort in the consideration that her trials +were appointed, by a merciful Father, to detach her from a world which +she might have loved too fondly, had it not been thus stripped of its +delights. + +"When Mrs. Stanley, who was her confidential friend, expressed the +tenderest sympathy in her sufferings, she meekly replied, 'Remember who +are they whose robes are washed white in the kingdom of glory, _it is +they who come out of great tribulation_. I endeavor to strengthen my +faith with a view of what the best Christians have suffered, and my hope +with meditating on the shortness of all suffering. I will confess my +weakness,' added she: 'of the various motives to patience under the +ills of life, which the Bible presents, though my reason and religion +acknowledge them all, there is not one which comes home so powerfully to +my feelings as this--_the time is short_.' + +"Another time Mrs. Stanley, who had heard of some recent irregularities +of Carlton, called upon her, and lamenting the solitude to which she was +often left for days together, advised her to have a female friend in the +house, that her mind might not be left to prey upon itself by living so +much alone. She thanked her for the kind suggestion, but said she felt +it was wiser and better not to have a confidential friend always at +hand, 'for of what subject should we talk,' said she, 'but of my +husband's faults? Ought I to allow myself in such a practice? It would +lead me to indulge a habit of complaint which I am laboring to subdue. +The compassion of my friend would only sharpen my feelings, which I wish +to blunt. Giving vent to a flame only makes it rage the more; if +suppressing can not subdue it, at least the consciousness that I am +doing my duty will enable me to support it. When we feel,' added she, +'that we are _doing_ wrong, the opening our heart may strengthen our +virtue; but when we are _suffering_ wrong, the mind demands another sort +of strength; it wants higher support than friendship has to impart. It +pours out its sorrows in prayer with fuller confidence, knowing that he +who sees can sustain; that he who hears will recompense; that he will +judge, not our weakness, but our efforts to conquer it; not our success, +but our endeavors; with him endeavor is victory. + +"'The grace I most want,' added she, 'is humility. A partial friend, in +order to support my spirits, would flatter my conduct: gratified with +her soothing, I should, perhaps, not so entirely cast myself for comfort +on God. Contented with human praise, I might rest in it. Besides, having +endured the smart, I would not willingly endure it in vain. We know who +has said, 'If you suffer with me, you shall also reign with me.' It is +not, however, to mere suffering that the promise is addressed, but to +suffering for his sake, and in his spirit.' Then turning to the Bible +which lay before her, and pointing to the sublime passage of St Paul, +which she had just been reading, 'Our light affliction which is but for +a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of +glory.' 'Pray,' said she, 'read this in connection with the next verse, +which is not always done. _When_ is it that it works for us this weight +of glory? _Only_ 'while we are looking at the things which are not +seen.' Do admire the beauty of this position, and how the good is +weighed against the evil, like two scales differently filled; the +affliction is light, and but for a moment; the glory is a _weight_, and +it is _forever_. 'Tis a feather against lead, a grain of sand against +the universe, a moment against eternity. Oh, how the scale which +contains this world's light trouble kicks the beam, when weighed against +the glory which shall be revealed.' + +"At the end of two years she had a little girl; this opened to her a new +scene of duties, and a fresh source of consolation. Her religion proved +itself to be of the right stamp, by making her temper still more sweet, +and diffusing the happiest effects through her whole character and +conversation. When her husband had staid out late, or even all night, +she never reproached him. When he was at home, she received his friends +with as much civility as if she had liked them. He found that his house +was conducted with the utmost prudence, and that while she maintained +his credit at his table, her personal expenses were almost nothing: +indeed, self seemed nearly annihilated in her. He sometimes felt +disappointed, because he had no cause of complaint, and was angry that +he had nothing to condemn. + +"As he has a very fine understanding, he was the more provoked, because +he could not help seeing that her blameless conduct put him continually +in the wrong. All this puzzled him. He never suspected there was a +principle, out of which such consequences could grow, and was ready to +attribute to insensibility, that patience which nothing short of +Christian piety could have inspired. He had conceived of religion as a +visionary system of words and phrases, and concluded that from so +unsubstantial a theory, it would be a folly to look for practical +effects. + +"Sometimes, when he saw her nursing his child, of whom he was very fond, +he was almost tempted to admire the mother, who is a most pleasing +figure; and now and then when his heart was thus softened for a moment, +he would ask himself, what reasonable ground of objection there was +either to her mind or person? + +"Mrs. Carlton, knowing that his affairs must necessarily be embarrassed, +by the extraordinary expenses he had incurred, when the steward brought +her usual year's allowance she refused to take more than half, and +ordered him to employ the remainder on his master's account. The +faithful old man was ready to weep, and could not forbear saying, +'Madam, you could not do more for a kind husband. Besides, it is but a +drop of water in the ocean.' 'That drop,' said she, 'it is my duty to +contribute.' When the steward communicated this to Carlton, he was +deeply affected, refused to take the money, and again was driven to +resort to the wonderful principle from which such right but difficult +actions could proceed." + +Here I interrupted Mr. Stanley. "I am quite of the steward's opinion," +said I. "That a woman should do this and much more for the man who loved +her, and whom she loved, is quite intelligible to every being who has a +heart. But for a cruel, unfeeling tyrant! I do not comprehend it. What +say you, Miss Stanley?" + +"Under the circumstance you suppose," said she, blushing, "I think the +woman would have no shadow of merit; her conduct would be a mere +gratification, an entire indulgence of her own feelings. The triumph of +affection would have been cheap; Mrs. Carlton's was the triumph of +religion; of a principle which could subdue an attachment to a worthy +object, and act with such generosity toward an unworthy one." + +Mr. Stanley went on. "Mrs. Carlton frequently sat up late, reading such +books as might qualify her for the education of her child, but always +retired before she had reason to expect Mr. Carlton, lest he might +construe it into upbraiding. One night, as he was not expected to come +home at all, she sat later than usual, and had indulged herself with +taking her child to pass the night in her bed. With her usual +earnestness she knelt down and offered up her devotions by her bed-side, +and in a manner particularly solemn and affecting, prayed for her +husband. Her heart was deeply touched, and she dwelt on these petitions +in a strain peculiarly fervent. She prayed for his welfare in both +worlds, and earnestly implored that she might be made the humble +instrument of his happiness. She meekly acknowledged her own many +offenses; of his she said nothing. + +"Thinking herself secure from interruption, her petitions were uttered +aloud; her voice often faltering, and her eyes streaming with tears. +Little did she suspect that the object of her prayers was within hearing +of them. He had returned home unexpectedly, and coming softly into the +room, heard her pious aspirations. He was inexpressibly affected. He +wept, and sighed bitterly. The light from the candles on the table fell +on the blooming face of his sleeping infant, and on that of his weeping +wife. It was too much for him. But he had not the virtuous courage to +give way to his feelings. He had not the generosity to come forward and +express the admiration he felt. He withdrew unperceived, and passed the +remainder of the night in great perturbation of spirit. Shame, remorse, +and confusion, raised such a conflict in his mind, as prevented him from +closing his eyes; while she slept in quiet, and awoke in peace. + +"The next morning, during a very short interview, he behaved to her with +a kindness which she had never before experienced. He had not resolution +to breakfast with her, but promised, with affection in his words and +manners, to return to dinner. The truth was, he never quitted home, but +wandered about his woods to compose and strengthen his mind. This +self-examination was the first he had practiced; its effects were +salutary. + +"A day or two previous to this, they had dined at our house. He had +always been much addicted to the pleasures of the table. He expressed +high approbation of a particular dish, and mentioned again when he got +home how much he liked it. The next morning Mrs. Carlton wrote to +Lucilla to beg the receipt for making this ragout; and this day, when he +returned from his solitary ramble and 'compunctuous visitings,' the +favorite dish, most exquisitely dressed, was produced at his dinner. He +thanked her for this obliging attention, and turning to the butler, +directed him to tell the cook that no dish was ever so well dressed. +Mrs. Carlton blushed when the honest butler said, 'Sir, it was my +mistress dressed it with her own hands, because she knew your honor was +fond of it.' + +"Tears of gratitude rushed into Carlton's eyes, and tears of joy +overflowed those of the old domestic, when his master, rising from the +table, tenderly embraced his wife, and declared he was unworthy of such +a treasure. 'I have been guilty of a public wrong, Johnson,' said he to +his servant, 'and my reparation shall be as public. I can never deserve +her, but my life shall be spent in endeavoring to do so.' + +"The little girl was brought in, and her presence seemed to cement this +new formed union. An augmented cheerfulness on the part of Mrs. Carlton +invited an increased tenderness on that of her husband. He began every +day to discover new excellences in his wife, which he readily +acknowledged to herself, and to the world. The conviction of her worth +had been gradually producing esteem, esteem now ripened into affection, +and his affection for his wife was mingled with a blind sort of +admiration of that piety which had produced such effects. He now began +to think home the pleasantest place, and his wife the pleasantest +companion. + +"A gentle censure from him on the excessive frugality of her dress, +mixed with admiration of the purity of its motive, was an intimation to +her to be more elegant. He happened to admire a gown worn by a lady whom +they had visited. She not only sent for the same materials, but had it +made by the same pattern. A little attention of which he felt the +delicacy. + +"He not only saw, but in no long time acknowledged, that a religion +which produced such admirable effects, could not be so mischievous a +principle as he had supposed, nor could it be an inert principle. Her +prudence has accomplished what her piety began. She always watched the +turn of his eye, to see how far she might venture, and changed the +discourse when the look was not encouraging. She never tired him with +lectures, never obtruded serious discourse unseasonably, nor prolonged +it improperly. His early love of reading, which had for some years given +way to more turbulent pleasures, he has resumed; and frequently +insists, that the books he reads to her shall be of her own choosing. In +this choice she exercises the nicest discretion, selecting such as may +gently lead his mind to higher pursuits, but which at the same time are +so elegantly written as not to disgust his taste. In all this Mrs. +Stanley is her friend and counselor. + +"While Mrs. Carlton is advancing her husband's relish for books of +piety, he is forming hers to polite literature. She herself often +proposes an amusing book, that he may not suspect her of a wish to +abridge his innocent gratifications; and by this complaisance she gains +more than she loses, for, not to be outdone in generosity, he often +proposes some pious one in return. Thus their mutual sacrifices are +mutual benefits. She has found out that he has a highly cultivated +understanding, and he has discovered that she has a mind remarkably +susceptible of cultivation. He has by degrees dropped most of his former +associates, and has entirely renounced the diversions into which they +led him. He is become a frequent and welcome visitor here. His conduct +is uniformly respectable, and I look forward with hope to his becoming +even a shining character. There is, however, a pertinacity, I may say a +sincerity, in his temper, which somewhat keeps him back. He will never +adopt any principle without the most complete conviction of his own +mind; nor profess any truth of which he himself does not actually feel +the force." + +Lady Belfield, after thanking Mr. Stanley for his interesting little +narrative, earnestly requested that Sir John would renew his +acquaintance with Mr. Carlton, that she herself might be enabled to +profit by such an affecting example of the power of genuine religion as +his wife exhibited; confessing that one such living instance would weigh +more with her than a hundred arguments. Mrs. Stanley obligingly promised +to invite them to dinner the first leisure day. Mr. Stanley now +informed us that Sir George Aston was arrived from Cambridge on a visit +to his mother and sisters; that he was a youth of great promise whom he +begged to introduce to us as a young man in whose welfare he took a +lively concern, and on the right formation of whose character much would +depend, as he had a large estate, and the family interest in the county +would give him a very considerable influence; to this influence it was, +therefore, of great importance to give a right direction. We next +morning took a ride to Aston Hall, and I commenced an acquaintance with +the engaging young baronet, which I doubt not, from what I saw and +heard, will hereafter ripen into friendship. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +The good rector joined the party at dinner. The conversation afterward +happened to turn on the value of human opinion, and Sir John Belfield +made the hackneyed observation, that the desire of obtaining it should +never be discouraged, it being highly useful as a motive of action. + +"Yes," said Dr. Barlow, "it certainly has its uses in a world, the +affairs of which must be chiefly carried on by worldly men; a world +which is itself governed by low motives. But human applause is not a +Christian principle of action; nay, it is so adverse to Christianity +that our Saviour himself assigns it as a powerful cause of men's not +believing, or at least not confessing Him; _because they loved the +praise of men_. The eager desire of fame is a sort of separation line +between Paganism and Christianity. The ancient philosophers have left us +many shining examples of moderation in earthly things, and of the +contempt of riches. So far the light of reason, and a noble self-denial +carried them; and many a Christian may blush at these instances of their +superiority; but of an indifference to fame, of a deadness to human +applause except as founded on loftiness of spirit, disdain of their +judges, and self-sufficient pride, I do not recollect any instance." + +"And yet," said Sir John, "I remember Seneca says in one of his +epistles, that no man expresses such a respect and devotion to virtue as +he who forfeits the _repute_ of being a good man, that he may not +forfeit the _conscience_ of being such." + +"They might," replied Mr. Stanley, "incidentally express some such +sentiment, in a well turned period, to give antithesis to an expression, +or weight to an apothegm; they might declaim against it in a fit of +disappointment in the burst of indignation excited by a recent loss of +popularity; but I question if they ever once acted upon it. I question +if Marius himself, sitting amid the ruins of Carthage, actually felt it. +Seldom, if ever, does it seem to have been inculcated as a principle, or +enforced as a rule of action: nor could it--it was against the canon law +of their foundation." + +"Yet," said Sir John, "a good man struggling with adversity is, I think, +represented by one of their authors as an object worthy of the attention +of the gods." + +"Yes," said Mr. Stanley, "but the divine approbation alone was never +proposed as the standard of right, or the reward of actions, except by +divine revelation." + +"Nothing seems more difficult," said I, "to settle than the standard of +right. Every man has a standard of his own, which he considers as of +universal application. One makes his own tastes, desires, and appetites, +his rule of right; another the example of certain individuals, fallible +like himself; a third, and indeed the generality, the maxims, habits, +and manners of the fashionable part of the world." + +Sir John remarked, "That since it is so difficult to discriminate +between allowable indulgence and criminal conformity, the life of a +conscientious man, if he be not constitutionally temperate, or +habitually firm, must be poisoned with solicitude, and perpetually +racked with the fear of exceeding his limits." + +"My dear Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "the peace and security of a +Christian, we well know, are not left to depend on constitutional +temperance, or habitual firmness. These are, as the young Numidian says, + + Perfections that are placed in bones and nerves. + +There is a higher and surer way to prevent the solicitude, which is, by +correcting the principle; to get the heart set right; to be jealous over +ourselves; to be careful never to venture to the edge of our lawful +limits; in short, and that is the only infallible standard, to live in +the conscientious practice of measuring all we say, and do, and think, +by the unerring rule of God's word." + +"The impossibility of reaching the perfection which that rule requires," +said Sir John, "sometimes discourages well-meaning men, as if the +attempt were hopeless." + +Dr. Barlow replied, "That is, sir, because they take up with a hearsay +Christianity. Its reputed pains and penalties drive them off from +inquiring for themselves. They rest on the surface. If they would go +deeper, they would see that the Spirit which dictated the Scriptures is +a Spirit of power, as well as a Spirit of promise. All that he requires +us to do, he enables us to perform. He does not prescribe 'rules' +without furnishing us with 'arms.'" + +In answer to some further remarks of Sir John, who spoke with due +abhorrence of any instance of actual vice, but who seemed to have no +just idea of its root and principle, Dr. Barlow observed: "While every +one agrees in reprobating wicked actions, few, comparatively, are aware +of the natural and habitual evil which lurks in the heart. To this the +Bible particularly directs our attention. In describing a bad character, +it does not say that his actions are flagitious, but that 'God is not in +all his _thoughts_.' This is the description of a thoroughly worldly +man. Those who are given up completely to the world, to its maxims, its +principles, its cares, or its pleasures, can not entertain thoughts of +God. And to be unmindful of his providence, to be regardless of his +presence, to be insensible to his mercies, must be nearly as offensive +to him as to deny his existence. Excessive dissipation, a supreme love +of money, or an entire devotedness to ambition, drinks up that spirit, +swallows up that affection, exhausts that vigor, starves that zeal, with +which a Christian should devote himself to serve his Maker. + +"Pray observe," continued Dr. Barlow, "that I am not speaking of avowed +profligates, but of decent characters; men who, while they are pursuing +with keen intenseness the great objects of their attachment, do not +deride or even totally neglect religious observances, yet think they do +much and well, by affording some odd scraps of refuse time to a few +weary prayers, and sleepy thoughts, from a mind worn down with +engagements of pleasure, or projects of accumulation, or schemes of +ambition. In all these several pursuits, there may be nothing which, to +the gross perceptions of the world, would appear to be moral turpitude. +The pleasure may not be profligacy, the wealth so cherished may not have +been fraudulently obtained, the ambition, in human estimation, may not +be dishonorable; but an alienation from God, an indifference to eternal +things, a spirit incompatible with the spirit of the gospel, will be +found at the bottom of all these restless pursuits." + +"I am entirely of your opinion, Doctor," said Mr. Stanley; "it is taking +up with something short of real Christianity; it is an apostacy from the +doctrines of the Bible; it is the substitution of a spurious and popular +religion for that which was revealed from heaven; it is a departure from +the faith once delivered to the saints, that has so fatally sunk our +morality; and given countenance to that low standard of practical virtue +which prevails. If we lower the principle, if we obscure the light, if +we reject the influence, if we sully the purity, if we abridge the +strictness of the divine law, there will remain no ascending power in +the soul, no stirring spirit, no quickening aspiration after perfection, +no stretching forward after that holiness to which the beatific vision +is specifically promised. It is vain to expect that the practice will +rise higher than the principle which inspires it; that the habits will +be superior to the motives which govern them." + +"Selfishness, security, and sensuality," said the Doctor, "are predicted +by our Saviour, as the character of the last times. In alluding to the +antediluvian world, and the cause of its destruction, eating, drinking, +and marrying could not be named in the gospel as things censurable in +themselves, they being necessary to the very existence of that world +which the abuse of them was tending to destroy. Our Saviour does not +describe criminality by the excess, but by the spirit of the act. He +speaks of eating, not gluttony; of drinking, not intoxication; of +marriage, not licentious intercourse. This seems a plain intimation, +that carrying on the transactions of the world in the spirit of the +world, and that habitual deadness to the concerns of eternity, in beings +so alive to the pleasures or the interests of the present moment, do not +indicate a state of safety, even where gross acts of vice may be rare." + +Mr. Stanley said it was his opinion that it is not by a few, or even by +many, instances of excessive wickedness, that the moral state of a +country is to be judged, but by a general averseness and indifference to +_real_ religion. "A few examples of glaring impiety," said he, "may +furnish more subject for declamation, but are not near so deadly a +symptom. It is no new remark, that more men are undone by an excessive +indulgence in things permitted, than by the commission of avowed sins." + +"How happy," said Sir John, "are those who by their faith and piety are +delivered from these difficulties!" + +"My dear Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "where are those privileged +beings? It is one sad proof of human infirmity, that the best men have +continually these things to struggle with. What makes the difference is, +that those whom we call good men struggle on to the end, while the +others, not seeing the danger, do not struggle at all." + +"Christians," said Dr. Barlow, "who would strictly keep within the +bounds prescribed by their religion, should imitate the ancient Romans, +who carefully watched that their god Terminus, who defined their limits, +should never recede; the first step of his retreat, they said, would be +the destruction of their security." + +"But, Doctor," said Sir John, "pray what remedy do you recommend against +this natural, I had almost said this invincible, propensity to +over-value the world? I do not mean a propensity merely to over-rate its +pleasures and its honors, but a disposition to yield to its dominion +over the mind, to indulge a too earnest desire of standing well with it, +to cherish a too anxious regard for its good opinion?" + +"The knowledge of the disease," replied the worthy Doctor, "should +precede the application of the remedy. Human applause is, by a worldly +man, reckoned not only among the luxuries of life, but among articles of +the first necessity. An undue desire to obtain it has certainly its +foundation in vanity; and it is one of our grand errors to reckon vanity +a trivial fault. An over-estimation of character, and an anxious wish to +conciliate all suffrages, is an infirmity from which even worthy men are +not exempt; nay, it is a weakness from which, if they are not governed +by a strict religious principle, worthy men are in most danger. +Reputation being in itself so very desirable a good, those who actually +possess it, and in some sense deserve to possess it, are apt to make it +their standard, and to rest in it as their supreme aim and end." + +"You have," said Sir John, "exposed the latent principle; it remains +that you suggest its cure." + +"I believe," said Dr. Barlow, "that the most effectual remedy would be, +to excite in the mind frequent thoughts of our divine Redeemer, and of +_his_ estimate of that world on which we so fondly set our affections, +and whose approbation we are too apt to make the chief object of our +ambition." + +"I allow it to have been necessary," replied Sir John, "that Christ, in +the great end which he had to accomplish, should have been poor, and +neglected, and contemned, and that he should have trampled on the great +things of this world, human applause among the rest; but I do not +conceive that this obligation extends to his followers, nor that we are +called upon to partake the poverty which he preferred, or to renounce +the wealth and grandeur which he set at naught, or to imitate him in +making himself of no reputation." + +"It is true," said the Doctor, "we are not called to resemble him in his +external circumstances. It is not our bounden duty to be necessarily +exposed to the same contempt; nor are we obliged to embrace the same +ignominy. Yet it seems a natural consequence of our Christian +profession, that the things which he despised, we should not venerate; +the vanities he trampled on, we should not admire; the world which he +censured, we ought not to idolize; the ease which he renounced, we +should not rate too highly; the fame which he set at naught, we ought +not anxiously to covet. Surely, the followers of him who was 'despised +and rejected of men' should not seek their highest gratification from +the flattery and applause of men. The truth is, in all discourses on +this subject, we are compelled continually to revert to the observation, +that Christianity is a religion of the _heart_. And though we are not +called upon to partake the poverty and meanness of his situation, yet +the precept is clear and direct, respecting the temper by which we +should be governed: 'Let the same _mind_ be in you which was also in +Christ Jesus.' If, therefore, we happen to possess that wealth and +grandeur which he disdained, we should _possess them as though we +possessed them not_. We have a fair and liberal permission to use them +as his gift, and to his glory, but not to erect them into the supreme +objects of our attachment. In the same manner, in every other point, it +is still the spirit of the act, the temper of the mind, to which we are +to look. For instance, I do not think that I am obliged to show my faith +by sacrificing my son, nor my obedience by selling all that I have, to +give to the poor; but I think I am bound by the spirit of these two +powerful commands, to practice a cheerful acquiescence in the whole will +of God, in suffering and renouncing as well as in doing, when I know +what is really his will." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +The pleasant reflections excited by the interesting conversation of the +evening were cruelly interrupted by my faithful Edwards. "Sir," said he, +when he came to attend me, "do you know that all the talk of the Hall +to-night at supper was, that Miss Stanley is going to be married to +young Lord Staunton. He is a cousin of Mrs. Carlton's, and Mr. Stanley's +coachman brought home the news from thence yesterday. I could not get at +the very truth, because Mrs. Comfit was out of the way, but all the +servants agree, that though he is a lord, and rich and handsome, he is +not half good enough for her. Indeed, sir, they say he is no better than +he should be." + +I was thunderstruck at this intelligence. It was a trial I had not +suspected. "Does he visit here, then, Edwards," said I, "for I have +neither seen nor heard of him?" "No sir," said he, "but Miss meets him +at Mr. Carlton's." This shocked me beyond expression. Lucilla meet a man +at another house? Lucilla carry on a clandestine engagement? Can Mrs. +Carlton be capable of conniving at it? Yet if it were not clandestine, +why should he not visit at the Grove? + +These tormenting reflections kept me awake the whole night. To acquit +Lucilla, Edward's story made difficult; to condemn her my heart found +impossible. One moment I blamed my own foolish timidity, which had kept +me back from making any proposal, and the next, I was glad that the +delay would enable me to sift the truth, and to probe her character. "If +I do not find consistency here," said I, "I shall renounce all +confidence in human virtue." + +I arose early, and went to indulge my meditations in the garden. I saw +Mr. Stanley sitting under the favorite oak. I was instantly tempted to +go and open my heart to him, but seeing a book in his hand, I feared to +interrupt him, and was turning into another walk till I had acquired +more composure. He called after me, and invited me to sit down. + +How violent were my fluctuations! How inconsistent were my feelings? How +much at variance was my reason with my heart! The man on earth with whom +I wished to confer invited me to a conference. With a mind under the +dominion of a passion which I was eager to declare, yet agitated with an +uncertainty which I had as much reason to fear might be painfully as +pleasantly removed, I stood doubtful whether to seize or to decline the +occasion which thus presented itself to me. A moment's reflection +however convinced me that the opportunity was too inviting to be +neglected. My impatience for an eclaircissement on Lord Staunton's +subject was too powerful to be any longer resisted. + +At length with a most unfeigned diffidence, and a hesitation which I +feared would render my words unintelligible, I ventured to express my +tender admiration of Miss Stanley, and implored permission to address +her. + +My application did not seem to surprise him. He only gravely said, "We +will talk of this some future day." This cold and laconic reply +instantly sunk my spirits. I was shocked and visibly confused. "It is +too late," said I to myself; "happy Lord Staunton!" He saw my distress, +and taking my hand, with the utmost kindness of voice and manner said, +"My dear young friend, content yourself for the present with the +assurance of my entire esteem and affection. This is a very early +declaration. You are scarcely acquainted with Lucilla; you do not yet +know," added he smiling, "half her faults." + +"Only tell me, my dear sir," said I, a little re-assured and grasping +his hand, "that when you know all mine, you will not reject me. Only +tell me that you feel no repugnance; that you have no other views; that +Miss Stanley has no other"--here I stopped, my voice failed; the excess +of my emotion prevented me from finishing my sentence. He encouragingly +said, "I know not that Lucilla has any attachment. For myself, I have no +views hostile to your wishes. You have a double interest in my heart. +You are endeared to me by your personal merit, and by my tender +friendship for your beloved father. But be not impetuous. Form no sudden +resolution. Try to assure yourself of my daughter's affection before you +ask it of her. Remain here another month as my welcome guest, as the son +of my friend. Take that month to examine your own heart, and to endeavor +to obtain an interest in hers; we will then resume the subject." + +"But, my dear sir," said I, "is not Lord Staunton--" "Set your heart at +rest," said he. "Though we are both a little aristocratic in our +political principles, yet when the competition is for the happiness of +life, and the interests of virtue, both Lucilla and her father think +with Dumont, that + + "A lord + Opposed against a man, is but a man." + +So saying, he quitted me; but with a benignity in his countenance and +manner that infused not only consolation but joy into my heart. My +spirits were at once elated. To be allowed to think of Lucilla! To be +permitted to attach myself to her! To be sure her heart was not engaged! +To be invited to remain a month longer under the same roof with her; to +see her; to hear her; to talk to her; all this was a happiness so great +that I did not allow myself to repine because it was not all I had +wished to obtain. + +I met Mrs. Stanley soon after. I perceived by her illuminated +countenance, that my proposal had been already communicated to her. I +ventured to take her hand, and with the most respectful earnestness +intreated her friendship; her good offices. "I dare not trust myself +with you just now," said she with an affectionate smile; "Mr. Stanley +will think I abet rebellion, if through my encouragement you should +violate your engagements with him. But," added she, kindly pressing my +hand; "you need not be much afraid of _me_. Mr. Stanley's sentiments on +this point, as on all others, are exactly my own. We have but one heart +and one mind, and that heart and mind are not unfavorable to your +wishes." With a tear in her eyes and affection in her looks, she tore +herself away, evidently afraid of giving way to her feelings. + +I did not think myself bound by any point of honor to conceal the state +of my heart from Sir John Belfield, who with his lady joined me soon +after in the garden. I was astonished to find that my passion for Miss +Stanley was no secret to either of them. Their penetration had left me +nothing to disclose. Sir John however looked serious, and affected an +air of mystery which a little alarmed me. "I own," said he, "there is +some danger of your success." I eagerly inquired what he thought I had +to fear? "You have every thing to fear," replied he, in a tone of grave +irony, "which a man not four-and-twenty, of an honorable family, with a +clear estate of four thousand a year, a person that all the ladies +admire, a mind which all the men esteem, and a temper which endears you +to men, women, and children, can fear from a little country girl, whose +heart is as free as a bird, and who, if I may judge by her smiles and +blushes whenever you are talking to her, would have no mortal objection +to sing in the same cage with you." + +"It will be a sad dull novel, however," said Lady Belfield: "all is +likely to go on so smoothly that we shall flag for want of incident. No +difficulties, nor adventures to heighten the interest. No cruel +step-dame, no tyrant father, no capricious mistress, no moated castle, +no intriguing confidante, no treacherous spy, no formidable rival, not +so much as a duel or even a challenge, I fear, to give variety to the +monotonous scene." + +I mentioned Edwards's report respecting Lord Staunton, and owned how +much it had disturbed me. "That he admires her," said Lady Belfield, "is +notorious. That his addresses have not been encouraged, I have also +heard, but not from the family. As to Lucilla, she is the last girl that +would ever insinuate even to me, to whom she is so unreserved, that she +had rejected so great an offer. I have heard her express herself with an +indignation, foreign to her general mildness, against women who are +guilty of this fashionable, this dishonorable indelicacy." + +"Well, but Charles," said Sir John "you must positively assume a little +dejection, to diversify the business. It will give interest to your +countenance and pathos to your manner, and tenderness to your accent. +And you must forget all attentions, and neglect all civilities. And you +must appear absent, and _distrait_ and _réveur_; especially while your +fate hangs in some suspense. And you must read Petrarch, and repeat +Tibullus, and write sonnets. And when you are spoken to, you must not +listen. And you must wander in the grove by moonshine, and talk to the +Oreads, and the Dryads, and the Naiads; oh no, unfortunately, I am +afraid there are no Naiads within hearing. You must make the woods vocal +with the name of Lucilla; luckily 'tis such a poetical name that Echo +won't be ashamed to repeat it. I have gone through it all, Charles, and +know every highway and byway in the map of love. I will, however, be +serious for one moment, and tell you for your comfort, that though at +your age I was full as much in for it as you are now, yet after ten +years' union, Lady Belfield has enabled me to declare + + "How much the wife is dearer than the bride." + +A tear glistened in her soft eyes, at this tender compliment. + +Just at that moment, Lucilla happened to cross the lawn at a distance. +At sight of her, I could not, as I pointed to her, forbear exclaiming in +the words of Sir John's favorite poet, + + There doth beauty dwell, + There most conspicuous, e'en in outward shape, + Where dawns the high expression of a MIND. + +"This is very fine," said Sir John, sarcastically; "I admire all you +young enthusiastic philosophers, with your intellectual refinement. You +pretend to be captivated only with _mind_. I observe, however, that +previous to your raptures, you always take care to get this mind lodged +in a fair and youthful form. This mental beauty is always prudently +enshrined in some elegant corporeal frame, before it is worshiped. I +should be glad to see some of these intellectual adorers in love with +the mind of an old or ugly woman. I never heard any of you fall into +ecstasies in descanting on the mind of your grandmother." After some +further irony, they left me to indulge my meditations, in the nature of +which a single hour had made so pleasant a revolution. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +The conversation of two men bred at the same school or college, when +they happen to meet afterward, is commonly uninteresting, not to say +tiresome, to a third person, as involving local circumstances in which +he has no concern. But this was not always the case since the meeting of +my two friends. Something was generally to be gained by their +communications even on these unpromising topics. + +At breakfast Mr. Stanley said, "Sir John, you will see here at dinner +to-morrow our old college acquaintance, Ned Tyrrel. Though he does not +commonly live at the family house in this neighborhood, but at a little +place he has in Buckinghamshire, he comes among us periodically to +receive his rents. He always invites himself, for his society is not the +most engaging." + +"I heard," replied Sir John, "that he became a notorious profligate +after he left Cambridge, though I have lost sight of him ever since we +parted there. But I was glad to learn lately that he is become quite a +reformed man." + +"He is so far reformed," replied Mr. Stanley, "that he is no longer +grossly licentious. But in laying down the vices of youth, he has taken +up successively those which he thought better suited to the successive +stages of his progress. As he withdrew himself from his loose habits and +connections, ambition became his governing passion; he courted public +favor, thirsted for place and distinction, and labored by certain +obliquities, and some little sacrifices of principle, to obtain +promotion. Finding it did not answer, and all his hopes failing, he now +rails at ambition, wonders men will wound their consciences and renounce +their peace for vain applause and 'the bubble reputation.' His sole +delight at present, I hear, is in amassing money and reading +controversial divinity. Avarice has supplanted ambition, just as +ambition expelled profligacy. + +"In the interval in which he was passing from one of these stages to the +other, in a very uneasy state of mind he dropped in by accident where a +famous irregular preacher was disseminating his Antinomian doctrines. +Caught by his vehement but coarse eloquence, and captivated by an +alluring doctrine which promised much while it required little, he +adopted the soothing but fallacious tenet. It is true, I hear he is +become a more respectable man in his conduct, but I doubt, though I have +not lately seen him, if his present state may not be rather worse than +his former ones. + +"In the two previous stages, he was disturbed and dissatisfied. Here he +has taken up his rest. Out of this stronghold, it is not probable that +any subsequent vice will ever drive him, or true religion draw him. He +sometimes attends public worship, but as he thinks no part of it but the +sermon of much value, it is only when he likes the preacher. He has +little notion of the respect due to established institutions, and does +not heartily like any precomposed form of prayer, not even our +incomparable Liturgy. He reads such religious books only as tend to +establish his own opinions, and talks and disputes loudly on certain +doctrinal points. But an accumulating Christian, and a Christian who, +for the purpose of accumulation, is said to be uncharitable, and even +somewhat oppressive, is a paradox which I can not solve, and an anomaly +which I can not comprehend. Covetousness is, as I said, a more +creditable vice than Ned's former ones, but for that very reason more +dangerous." + +"From this sober vice," said I, "proceeded the blackest crime ever +perpetrated by human wickedness; for it does not appear that Judas, in +his direful treason, was instigated by malice. It is observable, that +when our Saviour names this sin, it is with an emphatical warning, as +knowing its mischief to be greater because its scandal was less. Not +contented with a single caution, he doubles his exhortation. '_Take heed +and beware_ of covetousness.'" + +After some remarks of Sir John, which I do not recollect, Mr. Stanley +said, "I did not intend making a philippic against covetousness, a sin +to which I believe no one here is addicted. Let us not, however, plume +ourselves in not being guilty of a vice to which, as we have no natural +bias so in not committing it, we resist no temptation. What I meant to +insist on was, that exchanging a turbulent for a quiet sin, or a +scandalous for an orderly one, is not reformation; or, if you will allow +me the strong word, is not conversion." + +Mr. Tyrrel, according to his appointment, came to dinner, and brought +with him his nephew, Mr. Edward Tyrrel, whom he had lately entered at +the university, with a design to prepare him for holy orders. He was a +well-disposed young man, but his previous education was said to have +been very much neglected, and was rather deficient in the necessary +learning. Mr. Stanley had heard that Tyrrel had two reasons for breeding +him to the church. In the first place, he fancied it was the cheapest +profession, and in the next he had labored to infuse into him some +particular opinions of his own, which he wished to disseminate through +his nephew. Sir George Aston having accidentally called, he was +prevailed on to stay, and Dr. Barlow was one of the party. + +Mr. Tyrrel, by his observations, soon enabled us to discover that his +religion had altered nothing but his language. He seemed evidently more +fond of controversy than of truth, and the whole turn of his +conversation indicated that he derived his religious security rather +from the adoption of a party, than from the implantation of a new +principle. "His discourse is altered," said Mr. Stanley to me +afterward, "but I greatly fear his heart and affections remain +unchanged." + +Mr. Stanley contrived, for the sake of his two academical guests, +particularly young Tyrrel, to divert the conversation to the subject of +learning, more especially clerical learning. + +In answer to a remark of mine on the satisfaction I had felt in seeing +such a happy union of learning and piety in two clergymen who had lately +dined at the Grove, Mr. Stanley said, "Literature is an excellent thing, +when it is not the best thing a man has. It can surely be no offense to +our Maker to cultivate carefully his highest natural gift, our reason. +In pious men it is peculiarly important, as the neglect of such +cultivation, in certain individuals, has led to much error in religion, +and given much just offense to the irreligious, who are very +sharp-sighted to the faults of pious characters. I therefore truly +rejoice to see a higher tone of literature now prevailing, especially in +so many of our pious young divines; the deficiency of learning in some +of their well-meaning predecessors having served to bring not only +themselves, but religion also, into contempt, especially with men who +have only learning." + +"I say nothing," remarked Mr. Tyrrel, "against the necessity of learning +in a lawyer, because it may help him to lead a judge, and to mislead a +jury; nor in a physician, because it may advance his credit by enabling +him to conceal the deficiencies of his art; nor in a private gentleman, +because it may keep him out of worse mischief. But I see no use of +learning in the clergy. There is my friend Dr. Barlow. I would willingly +give up all his learning, if he would go a little deeper into the +doctrines he professes to preach." + +"Indeed," said Mr. Stanley, "I should think Dr. Barlow's various +knowledge of little value, did he exhibit the smallest deficiency in the +great points to which you allude. But when I am persuaded that his +learning is so far from detracting from his piety that it enables him +to render it more extensively useful, I can not wish him dispossessed of +that knowledge which adorns his religion without diminishing its good +effects." + +"You will allow," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that those first great publishers of +Christianity, the Apostles, had none of this vain learning." + +"I admit," said Mr. Stanley, "that it is frequently pleaded by the +despisers of learning, that the Apostles were illiterate. The fact is +too notorious, and the answer too obvious to require to be dwelt upon. +But it is unfortunately adduced to illustrate a position to which it can +never apply, the vindication of an unlettered clergy. It is a hackneyed +remark, but not the less true for being old, that the wisdom of God +chose to accomplish the first promulgation of the gospel by illiterate +men, to prove that the work was his own, and that its success depended +not on the instruments employed, but on the divinity of the truth +itself. But if the Almighty chose to establish his religion by miracles, +he chooses to carry it on by means. And he no more sends an ignorant +peasant or fisherman to instruct men in Christianity now, than he +appointed a Socrates or a Plato to be its publisher at first. As, +however, there is a great difference in the situations, so there may be +a proportionate difference allowed in the attainments of the clergy. I +do not say it is necessary for every village curate to be a profound +scholar, but as he may not always remain in obscurity, there is no +necessity for his being a contemptible one." + +Sir John remarked, that what has been said of those who affect to +despise birth, has been applied also to those who decry learning; +neither is ever undervalued except by men who are destitute of them; and +it is worthy of observation, that as literature and religion both sunk +in the dark ages, so both emerged at the same auspicious era. + +Mr. Stanley finding that Dr. Barlow was not forward to embark in a +subject which he considered as rather personal, said, "It is +presumptuous to observe, that the Apostles were unlettered men, yet +those instruments who were to be employed in services singularly +difficult, the Almighty condescended partly to fit for their peculiar +work by great human attainments. The Apostle of the Gentiles was brought +up at the feet of Gamaliel; and Moses, who was destined to the high +office of a great legislator, was instructed in all the wisdom of the +most learned nation then existing. The Jewish law-giver, though under +the guidance of inspiration itself, did not fill his station the worse +for this preparatory instruction. To how important a use the Apostle +converted _his_ erudition, we may infer from his conduct in the most +learned and polished assembly in the world. He did not unnecessarily +exasperate the polite Athenians, by coarse upbraiding, or illiterate +clamor, but he attacked them on their own ground. With what +discriminating wisdom, with what powerful reasoning did he unfold to +them that God whom they ignorantly worshiped! With what temper, with +what elegance, did he expose their shallow theology! Had he been as +unacquainted with _their_ religion, as they were with _his_, he had +wanted the appropriate ground on which to build his instruction. He +seized on the inscription of their own pagan altar, as a text from which +to preach the doctrine of Christianity. From his knowledge of their +errors, he was enabled to advance the cause of truth. He made their +poetry, which he quoted, and their mythology which he would not have +been able to explode, if he had not understood it, a thesis from which +to deduce the doctrine of the Resurrection; thus softening their +prejudices, and letting them see the infinite superiority of that +Christianity which he enforced, to the mere learning and mental +cultivation on which they so highly valued themselves. By the same +sober discretion, acute reasoning, and graceful elegance, he afterward +obtained a patient hearing, and a favorable judgment from King Agrippa." + +"It has always appeared to me," returned Dr. Barlow, "that a strong +reason why the younger part of a clergyman's life should be in a good +measure devoted to learning is, that he may afterward discover its +comparative vanity. It would have been a less difficult sacrifice for +St. Paul to profess that he renounced all things for religion, if he had +had nothing to renounce; and to count all things as dross in the +comparison, if he had had no gold to put in the empty scale. Gregory +Nazianzen, one of the most accomplished masters of Greek literature, +declared that the chief value which he set upon it was, that in +possessing it, he had something of worth to esteem as nothing in +comparison of Christian truth. And it is delightful to hear Selden and +Grotius, and Pascal and Salmasius, whom I may be allowed to quote, +without being suspected of professional prejudice, as none of them were +clergymen, while they warmly recommended to others that learning of +which they themselves were the most astonishing examples, at the same +time dedicating their lives to the advancement of religion. It is +delightful, I say, to hear them acknowledge that their learning was only +valuable as it put it in their power to promote Christianity, and to +have something to sacrifice for its sake." + +"I can willingly allow," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that a poet, a dramatic poet +especially, may study the works of the great critics of antiquity with +some profit; but that a Christian writer of sermons can have any just +ground for studying a pagan critic, it is to me quite inconceivable." + +"And yet, sir," replied Mr. Stanley, "a sermon is a work which demands +regularity of plan, as well as a poem. It requires, too, something of +the same unity, arrangement, divisions, and lucid order as a tragedy; +something of the exordium and the peroration which belong to the +composition of the orator. I do not mean that he is constantly to +exhibit all this, but he should always understand it. And a discreet +clergyman, especially one who is to preach before auditors of the higher +rank, and who, in order to obtain respect from them, wishes to excel in +the art of composition, will scarcely be less attentive to form his +judgment by some acquaintance with Longinus and Quintilian than a +dramatic poet. A writer of verse, it is true, may please to a certain +degree by the force of mere genius, and a writer of sermons will +instruct by the mere power of his piety; but neither the one nor the +other will ever write well, if they do not possess the principles of +good writing, and form themselves on the models of good writers." + +"Writing," said Sir John, "to a certain degree is an art, or, if you +please, a trade. And as no man is allowed to set up in an ordinary trade +till he has served a long apprenticeship to its _mysteries_ (the word, I +think, used in indentures), so no man should set up for a writer till he +knows somewhat of the mysteries of the art he is about to practice. He +may, after all, if he want talents, produce a vapid and inefficient +book; but possess what talents he may, he will, without knowledge, +produce a crude and indigested one." + +Mr. Tyrrel, however, still insisted upon it, that in a Christian +minister the lustre of learning is tinsel, and human wisdom folly. + +"I am entirely of your opinion," returned Mr. Stanley, "if he rest in +his learning as an _end_ instead of using it as a _means_; if the fame, +or the pleasure, or even the human profit of learning be his ultimate +object. Learning in a clergyman without religion is dross, is nothing; +not so religion without learning. I am persuaded that much good is done +by men who, though deficient in this respect, are abundant in zeal and +piety; but the good they do arises from the exertion of their piety, and +not from the deficiency of their learning. Their labors are beneficial +from the talent they exercise, and not from their want of another +talent. The Spirit of God can work, and often does work, by feeble +instruments, and divine truth by its own omnipotent energy can effect +its own purposes. But particular instances do not go to prove that the +instrument ought not to be fitted, and polished, and sharpened for its +allotted work. Every student should be emulously watchful that he do not +diminish the stock of professional credit by his idleness; he should be +stimulated to individual exertion by bearing in mind that the English +clergy have always been allowed by foreigners to be the most learned +body in the world." + +Dr. Barlow was of opinion that what Mr. Stanley had said of the value of +knowledge, did not at all militate against such fundamental prime truths +as--"This is life eternal to _know_ God and Jesus Christ whom he has +sent. I desire to _know_ nothing, save Jesus Christ. The natural man can +not _know_ the things of the Spirit of God. The world by wisdom _knew_ +not God;" and a hundred other such passages. + +"Ay, Doctor," said Mr. Tyrrel, "now you talk a little more like a +Christian minister. But from the greater part of what has been asserted, +you are all of you such advocates for human reason and human learning as +to give an air of paganism to your sentiments." + +"Surely," said Mr. Stanley, "it does not diminish the utility, though it +abases the pride of learning, that Christianity did not come into the +world by human discovery, or the disquisitions of reason, but by +immediate revelation. Those who adopt your way of thinking, Mr. Tyrrel, +should bear in mind that the work of God, in changing the heart, is not +intended to supply the place of the human faculties. God expects, in +his most highly favored servants, the diligent exercise of their natural +powers; and if any human being has a stronger call for the exercise of +wisdom and judgment than another, it is a religious clergyman. +Christianity does not supersede the use of natural gifts, but turns them +into their proper channel. + +"One distinction has often struck me. The enemy of mankind seizes on the +soul through the medium of the passions and senses: the divine friend of +man addresses him through his rational powers--_the eyes of your +understanding being enlightened_, says the Apostle." + +Here I ventured to observe, that the highest panegyric bestowed on one +of the brightest luminaries of our church is, that his name is seldom +mentioned without the epithet _judicious_ being prefixed to it. Yet does +Hooker want fervor? Does Hooker want zeal? Does Hooker want courage in +declaring the whole counsel of God? + +"I hope," said Sir John, "we have now no clergymen to whom we may apply +the biting sarcasm of Dr. South on some of the popular but illiterate +preachers of the opposite party in his day, 'that there was all the +confusion of Babel without the gift of tongues.'" + +"And yet," returned Mr. Stanley, "that party produced some great +scholars, and many eminently pious men. But look back to that day, and +especially to the period a little antecedent to it, at those prodigies +of erudition, the old bishops and other divines of our church. They +were, perhaps, somewhat too profuse of their learning in their +discourses, or rather they were so brimful, that they involuntarily +overflowed. A juster taste, in our time, avoids that lavish display +which then not only crowded the margin, but forced itself into every +part of the body of the work. The display of erudition might be wrong, +but one thing is clear, it proved they had it; and, as Dryden said, when +he accused of having too much wit, 'after all, it is a good crime.'" + +"We may justly," said Dr. Barlow, "in the refinement of modern taste, +censure their prolixity, and ridicule their redundancies; we may smile +at their divisions, which are numberless, and at their subdivisions, +which are endless; we may allow that this labor for perspicuity +sometimes produced perplexity. But let us confess they always went to +the bottom of whatever they embarked in. They ransacked the stores of +ancient learning, and the treasures of modern science, not to indulge +their vanity by obtruding their acquirements, but to prove, to adorn, +and to illustrate the doctrine they delivered. How incredible must their +industry have been, when the bare transcript of their voluminous folios +seems alone sufficient to have occupied a long life?" + +"The method," said I, "which they adopted, of saying every thing that +could be said on all topics, and exhausting them to the very dregs, +though it may and does tire the patience of the reader, yet it never +leaves him ignorant; and of two evils, had not an author better be +tedious than superficial? From an overflowing vessel you may gather more +indeed than you want, but from an empty one you can gather nothing." + +"It appears to me," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that you wish to make a clergyman +every thing but a Christian, and to bestow upon him every requisite +except faith." + +"God forbid that I should make any comparison between human learning and +Christian principle," replied Mr. Stanley; "the one is indeed lighter +than the dust of the balance, when weighed against the other. All I +contend for is, that they are not incompatible, and that human +knowledge, used only in subserviency to that of the Scriptures, may +advance the interests of religion. For the better elucidation of those +Scriptures, a clergyman should know not a little of ancient languages. +Without some insight into remote history and antiquities, especially the +Jewish, he will be unable to explain many of the manners and customs +recorded in the sacred volume. Ignorance on some of these points has +drawn many attacks on our religion from skeptical writers. As to a +thorough knowledge of ecclesiastical history, it would be superfluous to +recommend that, it being the history of his own immediate profession. It +is therefore requisite, not only for the general purposes of +instruction, but that he may be enabled to guard against modern +innovation, by knowing the origin and progress of the various heresies +with which the Church in all ages has been infested." + +"But," said Mr. Tyrrel, "he may be thoroughly acquainted with all this, +and not have one spark of light." + +"He may indeed," said the Doctor; "with deep concern I allow it. I will +go further. The pride of learning, when not subdued by religion, may +help to extinguish that spark. Reason has been too much decried by one +party and too much deified by the other. The difference between reason +and revelation seems to be the same as between the eye and the light; +the one is the organ of vision, the other the source of illumination." + +"Take notice, Stanley," observed Mr. Tyrrel, "that if I can help it, +I'll never attend your accomplished clergyman." + +"I have not yet completed the circle of his accomplishments," said Mr. +Stanley, smiling; "besides what we call book learning, there is another +species of knowledge in which some truly good men are sadly deficient: I +mean an acquaintance with human nature. The knowledge of the world, and +of him who made it; the study of the heart of man, and of him who has +the hearts of all men in his hand, enable a minister to excel in the +art of instruction; one kind of knowledge reflecting light upon the +other. The knowledge of mankind, then, I may venture to assert, is, next +to religion, one of the first requisites of a preacher; and I can not +help ascribing the little success which has sometimes attended the +ministry of even worthy men, to their want of this grand ingredient. It +will diminish the use they might make of the great doctrines of our +religion, if they are ignorant of the various modifications of the human +character to which those doctrines are to be addressed. + +"As no man ever made a true poet without this talent, one may venture to +say that few without it have ever made eminent preachers. Destitute of +this, the most elaborate addresses will be only random shot, which, if +they hit, will be more owing to chance than to skill. Without this +knowledge, warmed by Christian affection, guided by Christian judgment, +and tempered with Christian meekness, a clergyman will not be able in +the pulpit to accommodate himself to the various wants of his hearers; +without this knowledge, in his private spiritual visits he will resemble +those empirics in medicine who have but one method of treatment for all +diseases, and who apply indiscriminately the same pill and the same drop +to the various distempers of all ages, sexes, and constitutions. This +spirit of accommodation does not consist in falsifying, or abridging, or +softening, or disguising any truth; but in applying truth in every form, +communicating it in every direction, and diverting it into every +channel. Some good men seem sadly to forget that precept--_making a +difference_--for they act as if all characters were exactly alike." + +"You talk," said Mr. Tyrrel, "as if you would wish clergymen to depart +from the singleness of truth, and preach two gospels." + +"Far from it," replied Mr. Stanley, "but though truth is single, the +human character is multiplied almost to infinity, and can not be +addressed with advantage if it be not well understood. I am ashamed of +having said so much on such a subject in presence of Dr. Barlow, who is +silent through delicacy. I will only add, that a learned young clergyman +is not driven for necessary relaxation to improper amusements. His mind +will be too highly set to be satisfied with those light diversions which +purloin time without affording the necessary renovation to the body and +spirits, which is the true and lawful end of all amusement. In all +circumstances, learning confers dignity on his character. It enables him +to raise the tone of general conversation, and is a safe kind of medium +with persons of a higher class who are not religious; and it will always +put it in his power to keep the standard of intercourse above the +degrading topics of diversions, sports, and vulgar gossip." + +"You see, Mr. Tyrrel," said the Doctor, "that a prudent combatant thinks +only of defending himself on that side where he is assaulted. If Mr. +Stanley's antagonist had been a vehement advocate for clerical learning +as the great essential to his profession, he would have been the first +to caution him against the pride and inflation which often attend +learning, when not governed by religion. Learning, not so governed, +might injure Christian humility, and thus become a far more formidable +enemy to religion than that which it was called in to oppose." + +Sir John said, smiling, "I will not apply to the clergy what Rasselas +says to Imlac, after he had been enumerating the numberless qualities +necessary to the perfection of the poetic art--'Thou hast convinced me +that no man can be a poet;'--but if all Stanley says be just, I will +venture to assert that no common share of industry and zeal will qualify +a young student for that sacred profession. I have indeed no experience +on the subject, as it relates to the clerical order, but I conceive in +general, that learning is the best human preservative of virtue; that it +safely fills up leisure, and honorably adorns life, even where it does +not form the business of it." + +"Learning, too," said I, "has this strong recommendation, that it is the +offspring of a most valuable virtue, I mean industry; a quality on which +I am ashamed to see pagans frequently set a higher value than we seem to +do." + +"I believe, indeed," replied Sir John, "that the ancients had a higher +idea of industry and severe application than we have. Tully calls them +the _imperatoriæ virtutes_, and Alexander said that slaves might indulge +in sloth, but that it was a most royal thing to labor." + +"It has been the error of sensible men of the world to erect talents and +learning into idols, which they would have universally and exclusively +worshiped. This has, perhaps, driven some religious men into such a fear +of over-cultivating learning, that they do not cultivate it at all. +Hence the intervals between their religious employments, and intervals +there must be while we are invested with these frail bodies, are languid +and insipid, wasted in trifling and sauntering. Nay, it is well if this +disoccupation of the intellect do not lead from sloth to improper +indulgences." + +"You are perfectly right," said Sir John; "our worthy friend Thompson is +a living illustration of your remark. He was at college with us; he +brought from thence a competent share of knowledge; has a fair +understanding, and the manners of a gentleman. For several years past he +has not only adopted a religious character, but is truly pious. As he is +much in earnest, he very properly assigns a considerable portion of his +time to religious reading. But as he is of no profession, the +intermediate hours often hang heavy on his hands. He continues to live +in some measure in the world, without the inconsistency of entering into +its pursuits; but having renounced the study of human learning, and yet +accustoming himself to mix occasionally with general society, he has few +subjects in common with his company, but is dull and silent in all +rational conversation, of which religion is not the professed object. He +takes so little interest in any literary or political discussion, +however useful, that it is evident nothing but his good breeding +prevents his falling asleep. At the same time, he scruples not to +violate consistency in another respect, for his table is so elaborately +luxurious, that it seems as if he were willing to add to the pleasures +of sense what he deducts from those of intellect." + +"I have often thought," said Mr. Stanley, "of sending him Dr. Barlow's +_three sermons on industry in our calling as Christians, industry as +gentlemen, and industry as scholars_; which sermons, by the way, I +intended to have made my son read at least once a year, had he lived, +that he might see the consistency, the compatibility, nay, the analogy +of the two latter with the former. I wish the spirit of these three +discourses was infused into every gentleman, every scholar, and every +Christian through the land. For my own part, I should have sedulously +labored to make my son a sound scholar; while I should have labored +still more sedulously to convince him that the value of learning depends +solely on the purposes to which it is devoted. I would have a Christian +gentleman able to beat the world at its own weapons, and convince it, +that it is not from penury of mind, or inability to distinguish himself +in other matters, that he applies himself to seek that wisdom which is +from above; that he does not fly to religion as a shelter from the +ignominy of ignorance, but from a deep conviction of the comparative +vanity of that very learning which he yet is so assiduous to acquire." + +During this conversation, it was amusing to observe the different +impressions made on the minds of our two college guests. Young Tyrrel, +who, with moderate parts and slender application, had been taught to +adopt some of his uncle's dogmas as the cheapest way of being wise, +greedily swallowed his eulogium of clerical ignorance, which the young +man seemed to feel as a vindication of his own neglected studies, and an +encouragement to his own mediocrity of intellect. While the interesting +young baronet, though silent through modesty, discovered in his +intelligent eyes evident marks of satisfaction in hearing that +literature, for which he was every day acquiring a higher relish, warmly +recommended as the best pursuit of a gentleman, by the two men in the +world for whose judgment he entertained the highest reverence. At the +same time it raised his veneration for Christian piety, when he saw it +so sedulously practiced by these advocates for human learning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +During these conversations I remarked that Lucilla, though she commonly +observed the most profound silence, had her attention always riveted on +the speaker. If that speaker was Dr. Barlow, or her father, or any one +whom she thought entitled to particular respect, she gently laid down +her work, and as quietly resumed it when they had done speaking. + +I observed to Sir John Belfield, afterward, as we were walking together, +how modestly flattering her manner was when any of us were reading; how +intelligent her silence; how well-bred her attention. + +"I have often contrasted it," replied he, "with the manners of some +other ladies of my acquaintance, who are sometimes of our quiet evening +party. When one is reading history, or any ordinary book, aloud to them, +I am always pleased that they should pursue their little employments. It +amuses themselves, and gives ease and familiarity to the social circle. +But while I have been reading, as has sometimes happened, a passage of +the highest sublimity, or most tender interest, I own I feel a little +indignant to see the shuttle plied with as eager assiduity as if the +Destinies themselves were weaving the thread. I have known a lady take +up the candlestick to search for her netting-pin, in the midst of Cato's +soliloquy; or stoop to pick up her scissors while Hamlet says to the +ghost, 'I'll go no further.' I remember another who would whisper across +the table to borrow thread while Lear has been raving in the storm, or +Macbeth starting at the spirit of Banquo; and make signs for a +thread-paper while cardinal Beaufort 'dies, and makes no sign.' Nay, +once I remember when I was with much agitation hurrying through the +gazette of the battle of Trafalgar, while I pronounced, almost agonized, +the last memorable words of the immortal Nelson, I heard one lady +whisper to another that she had broken her needle." + +"It would be difficult to determine," replied I, "whether this +inattention most betrays want of sense, of feeling, or of good breeding. +The habit of attention should be carefully formed in early life, and +then the mere force of custom would teach these ill-bred women 'to +assume the virtue if they have it not.'" + +The family at the Grove was, with us, an inexhaustible topic whenever we +met. I observed to Sir John, "that I had sometimes noticed in charitable +families a display, a bustle, a kind of animal restlessness, a sort of +mechanical _besoin_ to be charitably busy. That though they fulfilled +conscientiously one part of the apostolic injunction, that of 'giving,' +yet they failed in the other clause, that of doing it 'with simplicity.'" + +"Yes," replied he, "I visit a charitable lady in town, who almost puts +me out of love with benevolence. Her own bounties form the entire +subject of her conversation. As soon as the breakfast is removed, the +table is regularly covered with plans, and proposals, and subscription +papers. This display conveniently performs the threefold office of +publishing her own charities, furnishing subjects of altercation, and +raising contributions on the visitor. Her narratives really cost me more +than my subscription. She is so full of debate, and detail, and +opposition; she makes you read so many papers of her own drawing up, and +so many answers to the schemes of other people, and she has so many +objections to every other person's mode of doing good, and so many +arguments to prove that her own is the best, that she appears less like +a benevolent lady than a chicaning attorney." + +"Nothing," said I, "corrects this bustling bounty so completely, as when +it is mixed up with religion, I should rather say, as when it flows from +religion. This motive, so far from diminishing the energy, augments it; +but it cures the display, and converts the irritation into a principle. +It transfers the activity from the tongue to the heart. It is the only +sort of charity which 'blesses twice.' All charity, indeed, blesses the +receiver; but the blessing promised to the giver, I have sometimes +trembled to think, may be forfeited even by a generous mind, from +ostentation and parade in the manner, and want of purity in the motive." + +"In Stanley's family," replied he, in a more serious tone, "I have met +with a complete refutation of that favorite maxim in the world, that +religion is a dull thing itself, and makes its professors gloomy and +morose. Charles! I have often frequented houses where pleasure was the +avowed object of idolatry. But to see the votaries of the 'reeling +goddess,' after successive nights passed in her temples! to see the +languor, the listlessness, the discontent--you would rather have taken +them for her victims than her worshipers. So little mental vivacity, so +little gayety of heart! In short, after no careless observations, I am +compelled to declare, that I never saw two forms less alike than those +of Pleasure and Happiness." + +"Your testimony, Sir John," said I, "is of great weight in a case of +which you are so experienced a judge. What a different scene do we now +contemplate! Mr. Stanley seems to have diffused his own spirit through +the whole family. What makes his example of such efficacy is, that he +considers the Christian _temper_ as so considerable a part of +Christianity. This temper seems to imbue his whole soul, pervade his +whole conduct, and influence his whole conversation. I see every day +some fresh occasion to admire his candor, his humility, his constant +reference, not as a topic of discourse, but as a principle of conduct, +to the gospel as the standard by which actions are to be weighed. His +conscientious strictness of speech, his serious reproof of calumnies, +his charitable construction of every case which has two sides; 'his +simplicity and godly sincerity;' his rule of referring all events to +providential direction, and his invariable habit of vindicating the +divine goodness under dispensations apparently the most unfavorable." + +Here Sir John left me, and I could not forbear pursuing the subject in +soliloquy as I proceeded in my walk. I reflected with admiration that +Mr. Stanley, in his religious conversation, rendered himself so useful, +because instead of the uniform nostrum of _the drop and the pill_, he +applied a different class of arguments, as the case required, to +objectors to the different parts of Christianity; to ill informed +persons who adopted a partial gospel without understanding it as a +scheme, or embracing it as a whole; to those who allow its truth merely +on the same ground of evidence that establishes the truth of any other +well authenticated history, and who, satisfied with this external +evidence, not only do not feel its power on their own heart, but deny +that it has any such influence on the hearts of others; to those who +believe the gospel to be a mere code of ethics; to their antipodes, who +assert that Christ has lowered the requisitions of the law; to Lady +Belfield, who rests on her charities--Sir John, on his correctness--Lady +Aston, on her austerities; to this man, who values himself solely on the +stoutness of his orthodoxy; to another, on the firmness of his +integrity; to a third, on the peculiarities of his party, he addresses +himself with a particular view to their individual errors. This he does +with such a discriminating application to the case as might lead the +ill-informed to suspect that he was not equally earnest in those other +points, which, not being attacked, he does not feel himself called on to +defend, but which, had they been attacked, he would then have defended +with equal zeal as relative to the discussion. To crown all, I +contemplated that affectionate warmth of heart, that sympathizing +kindness, that tenderness of feeling, of which the gay and the +thoughtless fancy that they themselves possess the monopoly, while they +make over harshness, austerity, and want of charity to religious men, as +their inseparable characteristics. + +These qualities excite in my heart a feeling compounded of veneration, +and of love. And oh! how impossible it is, even in religion itself, to +be disinterested! All these excellences I contemplate with a more +heartfelt delight from the presumptuous hope that I may one day have the +felicity of connecting myself still more intimately with them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Some days after, while we were conversing over our tea, we heard the +noise of a carriage; and Mr. Stanley, looking out from a bow window in +which he and I were sitting, said it was Lady and Miss Rattle driving up +the avenue. He had just time to add, "These are our _fine_ neighbors. +They always make us a visit as soon as they come down, while all the +gloss and lustre of London is fresh upon them. We have always our +regular routine of conversation. While her Ladyship is pouring the +fashions into Mrs. Stanley's ear, Miss Rattle, who is about Ph[oe]be's +age, entertains my daughters and me with the history of her own talents +and acquirements." + +Here they entered. After a few compliments, Lady Rattle seated herself +between Lady Belfield and Mrs. Stanley at the upper end of the room; +while the fine, sprightly, boisterous girl of fifteen or sixteen threw +herself back on the sofa at nearly her full length between Mr. Stanley +and me, the Miss Stanleys and Sir John sitting near us, within hearing +of her lively loquacity. + +"Well, Miss Amelia," said Mr. Stanley, "I dare say you have made good +use of your time this winter; I suppose you have ere now completed the +whole circle of the arts. Now let me hear what you have been doing, and +tell me your whole achievements as frankly as you used to do when you +were a little girl." "Indeed," replied she, "I have not been idle, if I +must speak the truth. One has so many things to learn, you know. I have +gone on with my French and Italian of course, and I am beginning German. +Then comes my drawing-master; he teaches me to paint flowers and shells, +and to draw ruins and buildings, and to take views. He is a good soul, +and is finishing a set of pictures, and half a dozen fire-screens, which +I began for mamma. He _does_ help me to be sure, but indeed I do some of +it myself, don't I, mamma?" calling out to her mother, who was too much +absorbed in her own narratives to attend to her daughter. + +"And then," pursued the young prattler, "I learn varnishing, and +gilding, and japaning. And next winter I shall learn modeling, and +etching, and engraving in mezzotinto and aquatinta; for Lady Di. Dash +learns etching, and mamma says, as I shall have a better fortune than +Lady Di., she vows I shall learn every thing she does. Then I have a +dancing-master, who teaches me the Scotch and Irish steps; and another +who teaches me attitudes, and I shall soon learn the waltz, and I can +stand longer on one leg already than Lady Di. Then I have a +singing-master, and another who teaches me the harp, and another for the +piano-forte. And what little time I can spare from these _principal_ +things, I give by odd minutes to ancient and modern history, and +geography, and astronomy, and grammar, and botany. Then I attend +lectures on chemistry, and experimental philosophy, for as I am not yet +come out, I have not much to do in the evenings; and mamma says there is +nothing in the world that money can pay for but what I shall learn. And +I run so delightfully fast from one thing to another that I am never +tired. What makes it so pleasant is, as soon as I am fairly set in with +one master, another arrives. I should hate to be long at the same thing. +But I sha'n't have a great while to work so hard, for as soon as I come +out, I shall give it all up, except music and dancing." + +All this time Lucilla sat listening with a smile, behind the complacency +of which she tried to conceal her astonishment. Ph[oe]be, who had less +self-control, was on the very verge of a broad laugh. Sir John, who had +long lived in a soil where this species is indigenous, had been too long +accustomed to all its varieties to feel much astonishment at this +specimen, which, however, he sat contemplating with philosophical but +discriminating coolness. + +For my own part, my mind was wholly absorbed in contrasting the coarse +manners of this voluble and intrepid, but good-humored girl, with the +quiet, cheerful, and unassuming elegance of Lucilla. + +"I should be afraid, Miss Rattle," said Mr. Stanley, "if you did not +look in such blooming health, that, with all these incessant labors, you +did not allow yourself time for rest. Surely you never sleep?" + +"O yes, that I do, and eat too," said she; "my life is not quite so hard +and moping as you fancy. What between shopping and morning visits with +mamma, and seeing sights, and the park, and the gardens (which, by the +way, I hate, except on a Sunday when they are crowded), and our young +balls, which are four or five in a week after Easter, and mamma's music +parties at home, I contrive to enjoy myself tolerably, though after I +have been presented, I shall be a thousand times better off, for then I +sha'n't have a moment to myself. Won't that be delightful?" said she, +twitching my arm rather roughly, by way of recalling my attention, +which, however, had seldom wandered. + +As she had now run out her London materials, the news of the +neighborhood next furnished a subject for her volubility. After she had +mentioned in detail one or two stories of low village gossip, while I +was wondering how she could come at them, she struck me dumb by quoting +the coachman as her authority. This enigma was soon explained. The +mother and daughter having exhausted their different topics of discourse +nearly at the same time, they took their leave, in order to enrich +every family in the neighborhood, on whom they were going to call, with +the same valuable knowledge which they had imparted to us. + +Mr. Stanley conducted Lady Rattle, and I led her daughter; but as I +offered to hand her into the carriage she started back with a sprightly +motion, and screamed out, "O no, not in the inside, pray help me up to +the _dickey_; I always protest I never _will_ ride with any body but the +coachman, if we go ever so far." So saying, with a spring which showed +how much she despised my assistance, the little hoyden was seated in a +moment, nodding familiarly at me as if I had been an old friend. + +Then with a voice, emulating that which, when passing by Charing Cross, +I have heard issue from an over-stuffed vehicle, when a robust sailor +has thrust his body out at the window, the fair creature vociferated, +"Drive on, coachman!" He obeyed, and turning round her whole person, she +continued nodding at me till they were out of sight. + +"Here is a mass of accomplishments," said I, "without one particle of +mind, one ray of common sense, or one shade of delicacy! Surely somewhat +less time and less money might have sufficed to qualify a companion for +the coachman!" + +"What poor creatures are we men," said I to Mr. Stanley as soon as he +came in. "We think it very well, if, after much labor and long +application, we can attain to one or two of the innumerable acquirements +of this gay little girl. Nor is this I find the rare achievement of one +happy genius--there is a whole class of these miraculous females. Miss +Rattle + + "Is knight of the shire, and represents them all." + +"It is only young ladies," replied he, "whose vast abilities, whose +mighty grasp of mind can take in every thing. Among men, learned men, +talents are commonly directed into some one channel, and fortunate is he +who, in that one, attains to excellence. The linguist is rarely a +painter, nor is the mathematician often a poet. Even in one profession, +there are divisions and subdivisions. The same lawyer never thinks of +presiding both in the King's Bench, and in the Court of Chancery. The +science of healing is not only divided into its three distinct branches, +but in the profession of surgery only, how many are the subdivisions! +One professor undertakes the eye, another the ear, and a third the +teeth. But woman, ambitious, aspiring, universal, triumphant, glorious +woman, even at the age of a school-boy, encounters the whole range of +arts, attacks the whole circle of sciences!" + +"A mighty maze, and _quite_ without a plan," replied Sir John, laughing. +"But the truth is, the misfortune does not so much consist in their +learning every thing, as in their knowing nothing; I mean nothing well. +When gold is beaten out so wide, the lamina must needs be very thin. And +you may observe, the more valuable attainments, though they are not to +be left out of the modish plan, are kept in the background; and are to +be picked up out of the odd remnants of that time, the sum of which is +devoted to frivolous accomplishments. All this gay confusion of +acquirements, these holiday splendors, this superfluity of enterprise, +enumerated in the first part of her catalogue, is the _real business_ of +education, the latter part is incidental, and if taught is not learned. + +"As to the lectures so boastfully mentioned, they may doubtless be made +very useful subsidiaries to instruction. They most happily illustrate +book-knowledge; but if the pupil's instructions in private do not +precede, and keep pace with these useful public exhibitions, her +knowledge will be only presumptuous ignorance. She may learn to talk of +oxygen and hydrogen, and deflagration, and trituration but she will know +nothing of the science except the terms. It is not knowing the name of +his tools that makes an artist; and I should be afraid of the vanity +which such superficial information would communicate to a mind not +previously prepared, nor exercised at home in corresponding studies. But +as Miss Rattle honestly confessed, as soon as she _comes out_, all these +things will die away of themselves, and dancing and music will be almost +all which will survive of her multifarious pursuits." + +"I look upon the great predominance of music in female education," said +Mr. Stanley, "to be the source of more mischief than is suspected; not +from any evil in the thing itself, but from its being such a gulf of +time, as really to leave little room for solid acquisitions. I love +music, and, were it only cultivated as an amusement, should commend it. +But the monstrous proportion, or rather disproportion of life which it +swallows up, even in many religious families--and this is the chief +subject of my regret--has converted an innocent diversion into a +positive sin. I question if many gay men devote more hours in a day to +idle purposes, than the daughters of many pious parents spend in this +amusement. All these hours the mind lies fallow, improvement is at a +stand, if even it does not retrograde. Nor is it the shreds and scraps +of time, stolen in the intervals of better things, that are so devoted; +but it is the morning, the prime, the profitable, the active hours, when +the mind is vigorous, the spirits light, the intellect awake and fresh, +and the whole being wound up by the refreshment of sleep, and animated +by the return of light and life, for nobler services." + +"If," said Sir John, "music were cultivated to embellish retirement, to +be practiced where pleasures are scarce, and good performers are not to +be had, it would quite alter the case. But the truth is, these highly +taught ladies are not only living in public where they constantly hear +the most exquisite professors, but they have them also at their own +houses. Now one of these two things must happen. Either the performance +of the lady will be so inferior as not to be worth hearing on the +comparison, or so good that she will fancy herself the rival, instead of +the admirer of the performer, whom she had better pay and praise than +fruitlessly emulate." + +"This anxious struggle to reach the unattainable excellence of the +professor," said Mr. Stanley, "often brings to my mind the contest for +victory between the ambitious nightingale and the angry lutanist in the +beautiful Prolusion of Strada." + +"It is to the predominance of this talent," replied I, "that I ascribe +that want of companionableness of which I complain. The excellence of +musical performance is a decorated screen, behind which all defects in +domestic knowledge, in taste, judgment, and literature, and the talents +which make an elegant companion, are creditably concealed." + +"I have made," said Sir John, "another remark. Young ladies, who from +apparent shyness do not join in the conversation of a small select +party, are always ready enough to entertain them with music on the +slightest hint. Surely it is equally modest to _say_ as to _sing_, +especially to sing those melting strains we sometimes hear sung, and +which we should be ashamed to hear said. After all, how few hours are +there in a week, in which a man engaged in the pursuits of life, and a +woman in the duties of a family, wish to employ in music. I am fond of +it myself, and Lady Belfield plays admirably; but with the cares +inseparable from the conscientious discharge of her duty with so many +children, how little time has she to play, or I to listen! But there is +no day, no hour, no meal in which I do not enjoy in her the ever ready +pleasure of an elegant and interesting companion. A man of sense, when +all goes smoothly, wants to be entertained; under vexation to be +soothed; in difficulties to be counseled; in sorrow to be comforted. In +a mere artist can he reasonably look for these resources?" + +"Only figure to yourself," replied Mr. Stanley, "my six girls daily +playing their four hours a piece, which is now a moderate allowance! As +we have but one instrument they must be at it in succession, day and +night, to keep pace with their neighbors. If I may compare light things +with serious ones, it would resemble," added he, smiling, "the perpetual +psalmody of good Mr. Nicholars Ferrar, who had relays of musicians every +six hours to sing the whole Psalter through every day and night! I mean +not to ridicule that holy man; but my girls thus keeping their useless +vigils in turn, we should only have the melody without any of the piety. +No, my friend! I will have but two or three singing birds to cheer my +little grove. If all the world are performers, there will soon be no +hearers. Now, as I am resolved in my own family that some shall listen, +I will have but few to perform." + +"It must be confessed," said Sir John, "that Miss Rattle is no servile +imitator of the vapid tribe of the superficially accomplished. Her +violent animal spirits prevent her from growing smooth by attrition. She +is as rough and angular as rusticity itself could have made her. Where +strength of character, however, is only marked by the worst concomitant +of strength, which is coarseness, I should almost prefer inanity +itself." + +"I should a little fear," said I, "that I lay too much stress on +companionableness; on the _positive duty of being agreeable at home_, +had I not early learned the doctrine from my father, and seen it +exemplified so happy in the practice of my mother." + +"I entirely agree with you, Charles," said Mr. Stanley, "as to the +absolute _morality_ of being agreeable and even entertaining in one's +own family circle. Nothing so soon, and so certainly wears out the +happiness of married persons, as that too common bad effect of +familiarity, the sinking down into dullness and insipidity; neglecting +to keep alive the flame by the delicacy which first kindled it; want of +vigilance in keeping the temper cheerful by Christian discipline, and +the faculties bright by constant use. Mutual affection decays of itself, +even where there is no great moral turpitude, without mutual endeavors, +not only to improve, but to amuse. + +"This," continued he, "is one of the great arts of _home enjoyment_. +That it is so little practiced, accounts in a good measure for the +undomestic turn of too many married persons. The man meets abroad with +amusements, and the woman with attentions, to which they are not +accustomed at home. Whereas a capacity to please on the one part, and a +disposition to be pleased on the other, in their own house, would make +most visits appear dull. But then the disposition and the capacity must +be cultivated antecedently to marriage. A woman, whose whole education +has been rehearsal, will always be dull, except she lives on the stage, +constantly displaying what she has been sedulously acquiring. Books, on +the contrary, well chosen books, do not lead to exhibition. The +knowledge a woman acquires in private, desires no witnesses; the +possession is the pleasure. It improves herself, it embellishes her +family society, it entertains her husband, it informs her children. The +gratification is cheap, is safe, is always to be had at home." + +"It is superfluous," said Sir John, "to decorate women so highly for +early youth; youth is itself a decoration. We mistakingly adorn most +that part of life which least requires it, and neglect to provide for +that which will want it most. It is for that sober period when life has +lost its freshness, the passions their intenseness, and the spirits +their hilarity, that we should be preparing. Our wisdom would be to +anticipate the wants of middle life, to lay in a store of notions, +ideas, principles, and habits, which may preserve or transfer to the +mind that affection which was at first partly attracted by the person. +But to add a vacant mind to a form which has ceased to please; to +provide no subsidiary aid to beauty while it lasts, and especially no +substitute when it is departed, is to render life comfortless, and +marriage dreary." + +"The reading of a cultivated woman," said Mr. Stanley, "commonly +occupies less time than the music of a musical woman, or the idleness of +an indolent woman, or the dress of a vain woman, or the dissipation of a +fluttering woman; she is therefore likely to have more leisure for her +duties, as well as more inclination, and a sounder judgment for +performing them. But pray observe, that I assume my reading woman to be +a religious woman; and I will not answer for the effect of a literary +vanity, more than for that of any other vanity, in a mind not habitually +disciplined by Christian principle, the only safe and infallible +antidote for knowledge of every kind." + +Before we had finished our conversation, we were interrupted by the +arrival of the post. Sir John eagerly opened the newspaper; but, instead +of gratifying our impatience with the intelligence for which we panted +from the glorious Spaniards, he read a paragraph which stated "that Miss +Denham had eloped with Signor Squallini, that they were on their way to +Scotland, and that Lady Denham had been in fits ever since." + +Lady Belfield with her usual kindness was beginning to express how much +she pitied her old acquaintance. "My dear Caroline," said Sir John, +"there is too much substantial and inevitable misery in the world, for +you to waste much compassion on this foolish woman. Lady Denham has +little reason to be surprised at an event which all reasonable people +must have anticipated. Provoking and disgraceful as it is, what has she +to blame but her own infatuation? This Italian was the associate of all +her pleasures; the constant theme of her admiration. He was admitted +when her friends were excluded. The girl was continually hearing that +music was the best gift, and that Signor Squallini was the best gifted. +Miss Denham," added, he laughing, "had more wit than your Strada's +nightingale. Instead of dropping down dead on the lute for envy, she +thought it better to run away with the lutanist for love. I pity the +poor girl, however, who has furnished such a commentary to our text, and +who is rather the victim of a wretched education than of her own bad +propensities." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +I had generally found that a Sunday passed in a visit was so heavy a +day, that I had been accustomed so to arrange my engagements, as +commonly to exclude this from the days spent from home. I had often +found that even where the week had been pleasantly occupied, the +necessity of passing several hours of a season peculiarly designed for +religious purposes, with people whose habits have little similarity with +our own, either draws one into their relaxed mode of getting rid of the +day, or drives one to a retirement which having an unsociable +appearance, is liable to the reproach of austerity and gloom. + +The case was quite different at Stanley Grove. The seriousness was +without severity, and the cheerfulness had no mixture of levity. The +family seemed more than usually animated, and there was a variety in the +religious pursuits of the young people, enlivened by intervals of +cheerful and improving conversation, which particularly struck Lady +Belfield. She observed to me, that the difficulty of getting through the +Sunday, without any mixture of worldly occupations or amusements on the +one hand, or of disgust and weariness on the other, was among the many +right things which she had never been able to accomplish in her own +family. + +As we walked from church one Sunday, Miss Stanley told me that her +father does not approve the habit of criticising the sermon. He says +that the custom of pointing out the faults, can not be maintained +without the custom of watching for them; that it gives the attention a +wrong turn, and leads the hearer only to treasure up such passages as +may serve for animadversion, and a display, not of Christian temper, but +of critical skill. If the general tenor and principle be right, that is +the main point they are to look to, and not to hunt for philosophical +errors; that the hearer would do well to observe, whether it is not "he +that sleeps," as often, at least, as "Homer nods:" a remark exemplified +at church, as often as on the occasion which suggested it; that a +critical spirit is the worst that can be brought out of church, being a +symptom of an unhumbled mind, and an evidence that whatever the sermon +may have done for others, it has not benefited the caviler. + +Here Mr. Stanley joined us. I found he did not encourage his family to +take down the sermon. "It is no disparagement," said he, "to the +discourse preached, to presume that there may be as good already +printed. Why, therefore, not read the printed sermon at home in the +evening, instead of that by which you ought to have been improving while +it was delivering? If it be true that _faith cometh by hearing_, an +inferior sermon, 'coming warm and instant from the heart,' assisted by +all the surrounding solemnities which make a sermon _heard_, so +different from one _read_, may strike more forcibly than an abler +discourse coolly perused at home. In writing, the mechanical act must +necessarily lessen the effect to the writer, and to the spectator it +diminishes the dignity of the scene, and seems like short-hand writer +taking down a trial. + +"But that, my daughters may not plead this as an excuse for +inattention," continued he, "I make it a part of their evening duty to +repeat what they retain, separately, to me in my library. The +consciousness that this repetition will be required of them, stimulates +their diligence; and the exercise itself not only strengthens the +memory, but habituates to serious reflection." + +At tea, Ph[oe]be, a charming, warm-hearted creature, but who now and +then, carried away by the impulse of the moment, forgets habits and +prohibitions, said, "I think, papa, Dr. Barlow was rather dull to-day. +There was nothing new in the sermon." "My dear," replied her father, "we +do not go to church to hear news. Christianity is no novelty; and though +it is true that we go to be instructed, yet we require to be reminded +full as much as to be taught. General truths are what we all +acknowledge, and all forget. We acknowledge them, because a general +assent of the understanding costs but little; and we forget them, +because the remembrance would force upon the conscience a great deal of +practical labor. To believe, and remember, and act upon, common, +undisputed, general truths, is the most important part of religion. +This, though in fact very difficult, is overlooked, on account of its +being supposed very easy. To keep up in the heart a lively impression of +a few plain momentous truths, is of more use than the ablest discussion +of a hundred controverted points. + +"Now tell me, Ph[oe]be, do you really think that you have remembered and +practiced all the instructions you have received from Dr. Barlow's +sermons last year? If you have, though you will have a better right to +be critical, you will be less disposed to be so. If you have not, do not +complain that the sermon is not new till you have made all possible use +of the old ones; which if you had done, you would have acquired so much +humility, that you would meekly listen even to what you already know. +But however the discourse may have been superfluous to such deep divines +as Miss Ph[oe]be Stanley, it will be very useful to me, and to other +hearers who are not so wise." + +Poor Ph[oe]be blushed up to her ears; tears rushed into her eyes. She +was so overcome with shame that, regardless of the company, she flew +into her father's arms, and softly whispered that if he would forgive +her foolish vanity, she would never again be above being taught. The +fond, but not blind father, withdrew with her. Lucilla followed, with +looks of anxious love. + +During their short absence, Mrs. Stanley said, "Lucilla is so +practically aware of the truth of her father's observation, that she +often says she finds as much advantage as pleasure in teaching the +children at her school. This elementary instruction obliges her +continually to recur to first principles, and to keep constantly +uppermost in her mind those great truths contained in the articles of +our belief, the commandments, and the prayer taught by our Redeemer. +This perpetual simplifying of religion she assures me, keeps her more +humble, fixes her attention on fundamental truths, and makes her more +indifferent to controverted points." + +In a few minutes Mr. Stanley and his daughters returned cheerful and +happy: Lucilla smiling like the angel of peace and love. + +"If I were not afraid," said Lady Belfield, "of falling under the same +censure with my friend Ph[oe]be," smiling on the sweet girl, "I should +venture to say that I thought the sermon rather too severe." + +"Do not be afraid, madam," replied Mr. Stanley; "though I disapprove +that cheap and cruel criticism which makes a man _an offender for a +word_, yet discussion does not necessarily involve censoriousness; so +far from it, it is fair to discuss whatever seems to be doubtful, and I +shall be glad to hear your ladyship's objections." + +"Well then," replied she, in the most modest tone and accent, "with all +my reverence for Dr. Barlow, I thought him a little unreasonable in +seeming to expect universal goodness from creatures whom he yet insisted +were fallen creatures." + +"Perhaps, madam," said Mr. Stanley, "you mistook his meaning, for he +appeared to me perfectly consistent, not only with himself, but with his +invariable rule and guide, the Scriptures. Sanctification--will you +allow me to use so serious a word?--however imperfect, must be +universal. It is not the improvement of any one faculty, or quality, or +temper, which divines mean, when they say we are renewed in part, so +much as that the change is not perfect, the holiness is not complete in +_any_ part or power, or faculty, though progressive in all. He who +earnestly desires a universal victory over sin, knows which of his evil +dispositions or affections it is that is yet unsubdued. This rebellious +enemy he vigilantly sets himself to watch against, to struggle with, +and, through divine grace, to conquer. The test of his sincerity does +not so much consist in avoiding many faults to which he has no +temptation, as in conquering that one to which his natural bent and bias +forcibly impel him." + +Lady Belfield said, "But is it not impossible to bring every part of our +nature under this absolute dominion? Suppose a man is very passionate, +and yet very charitable; would you look upon that person to be in a +dangerous state?" + +"It is not my province, madam, to decide," replied Mr. Stanley. "'God,' +as Bishop Sanderson says, 'reserves this _royalty_ to himself of being +the searcher of hearts.' I can not judge how far he resists anger, nor +what are his secret struggles against it. God, who expects not +perfection, expects sincerity. Though complete, unmixed goodness is not +to be attained in this imperfect state, yet the earnest desire after it +is the only sure criterion of the sincerity we profess. If the man you +allude to does not watch, and pray, and strive against the passion of +anger, which is his natural infirmity, I should doubt whether any of his +affections were really renewed; and I should fear that his charity was +rather a mere habitual feeling, though a most amiable one, than a +Christian grace. He indulges in charity, because it is a constitutional +bias, and costs him nothing. He indulges in passion, because it is a +natural bias also; and to set about a victory over it would cost him a +great deal. This should put him on a strict self-examination; when he +would probably find that, while he gives the uncontrolled reins to any +one wrong inclination, his religion, even when he does right things, is +questionable. True religion is seated in the heart; that is the centre +from which all the lines of right practice must diverge. It is the great +duty and chief business of a Christian to labor to make all his +affections, with all their motives, tendencies, and operations, +subservient to the word and will of God. His irregular passions, which +are still apt to start out into disorder, will require vigilance to the +end. He must not think all is safe, because the more tractable ones are +not rebellious; but he may entertain a cheerful hope, when those which +were once rebellious are become tractable." + +"I feel the importance of what you say," returned Lady Belfield; "but I +feel also my utter inability to set about it." + +"My dear madam," said Mr. Stanley, "this is the best and most salutary +feeling you can have. That very consciousness of insufficiency will, I +trust, drive you to the fountain of all strength and power: it will +quicken your faith, and animate your prayer; faith, which is the +habitual principle of confidence in God; and prayer, which is the +exercise of that principle toward him who is the object of it." + +"But Dr. Barlow," said Lady Belfield, "was so discouraging! He seemed to +intimate, as if the conflict of a Christian with sin must be as lasting +as his life; whereas, I had hoped that victory once obtained, was +obtained forever." + +"The _strait gate_," replied Mr. Stanley, "is only the entrance of +religion; the _narrow way_ is a continued course. The Christian life, my +dear Lady Belfield, is not a point but a progress. It is precisely in +the race of Christianity as in the race of human glory. Julius Cæsar and +St. Paul describe their respective warfares in nearly the same terms. +_We should count nothing done, while any thing remains undone_,[2] says +the Warrior. _Not counting myself to have attained--forgetting the +things which are behind, and pressing forward to those which are +before_, says the Apostle. And it is worth remarking, that they both +made the disqualifying observation after attainments almost incredible. +As there was no being a hero by any idler way, so there is no being a +Christian by any easier road. The necessity of pursuit is the same in +both cases, though the objects pursued differ as widely as the vanities +of time from the riches of eternity. + +[Footnote 2: Nil actum reputans dum quod superesset agendum. LUCAN.] + +"Do not think, my dear madam," added Mr. Stanley, "that I am erecting +myself into a censor, much less into a model. The corruptions which I +lament, I participate. The deficiencies which I deplore, I feel. Not +only when I look abroad, am I persuaded of the general prevalence of +evil by what I see; but when I look into my own heart, my conviction is +confirmed by what I experience. I am conscious, not merely of frailties, +but of sins. I will not hypocritically accuse myself of gross offenses +which I have no temptation to commit, and from the commission of which, +motives inferior to religion would preserve me. But I am continually +humbled in detecting mixed motives in almost all I do. Such strugglings +of pride with my endeavors after humility! Such irresolution in my +firmest purposes! So much imperfection in my best actions! So much want +of simplicity in my purest designs! Such fresh shoots of selfishness +where I had hoped the plant itself had been eradicated! Such frequent +deadness in duty! Such coldness in my affections! Such infirmity of +will! Such proneness to earth in my highest aspirations after heaven! +All these you see would hardly make, in the eyes of those who want +Christian discernment, very gross sins; yet they prove demonstrably the +root of sin in the heart, and the infection of nature tainting my best +resolves." + +"The true Christian," said I, when Mr. Stanley had done speaking, +"extracts humility from the very circumstance which raises pride in the +irreligious. The sight of any enormity in another makes the mere +moralist proud that he is exempt from it, while the religious man is +humbled from a view of the sinfulness of that nature he partakes, a +nature which admits of such excesses, and from which excesses he knows +that he himself is preserved by divine grace alone. I have often +observed that comparison is the aliment of pride in the worldly man, and +of self-abasement in the Christian." + +Poor Lady Belfield looked comforted on finding that her friend Mr. +Stanley was not quite so perfect as she had feared. "Happy are those," +exclaimed she, looking at Lucilla, "the innocence of whose lives +recommends them to the divine favor." + +"Innocence," replied Mr. Stanley, "can never be pleaded as a ground of +acceptance, because the thing does not exist. Innocence excludes the +necessity of repentance, and where there is no sin, there can be no need +of a Saviour. Whatever therefore we may be in comparison with others, +innocence can afford no plea for our acceptance, without annulling the +great plan of our redemption." + +"One thing puzzles me," said Lady Belfield. "The most worthless people I +converse with deny the doctrine of human corruption, a doctrine the +truth of which one should suppose their own feelings must confirm; while +those few excellent persons who almost seem to have escaped it, insist +the most peremptorily on its reality. But if it be really true, surely +the mercies of God are so great that he will overlook the frailties of +such weak and erring mortals. So gracious a Saviour will not exact such +rigorous obedience from creatures so infirm." + +"Let not what I am going to say, my dear Lady Belfield," replied Mr. +Stanley, "offend you; the correctness of your conduct exempts you from +any particular application. But there are too many Christians who, while +they speak with reverence of Christ as the Saviour of sinners, do not +enough consider him as a deliverer from sin. They regard him rather as +having lowered the requisitions of the law, and exonerated his followers +from the necessity of that strictness of life which they view as a +burdensome part of religion. From this burden they flatter themselves it +was the chief object of the gospel to deliver them; and from this +supposed deliverance it is, that they chiefly consider it a merciful +dispensation. A cheap Christianity, of which we can acquit ourselves by +a general recognition, and a few stated observances; which requires no +sacrifices of the will, nor rectification of the life, is, I assure you, +the prevailing system; the religion of that numerous class who like to +save appearances, and to decline realities; who expect every thing +hereafter while they resolve to give up nothing here; but who keep +heaven in view as a snug reversion after they shall have squeezed out of +this world, to the very last dregs and droppings, all it has to give." + +Lady Belfield with great modesty replied, "Indeed I am ashamed to have +said so much upon a topic on which I am unable and unused to debate. Sir +John only smiles, and looks resolved not to help me out. Believe me, +however, my dear sir, that what I have said proceeds not from +presumption, but from an earnest desire of being set right. I will only +venture to offer one more observation on the afternoon's sermon. Dr. +Barlow, to my great surprise, spoke of the death of Christ as exhibiting +_practical_ lessons. Now though I have always considered it in a general +way, as the cause of our salvation, yet its preceptive and moral +benefits, I must confess, do not appear to me at all obvious." + +"I conceive," replied Mr. Stanley, "our deliverance from the punishment +incurred by sin, to be one great end and object of the death of our +Redeemer; but I am very far from considering this as the only benefit +attending it. I conceive it to be most abundant in instruction, and the +strongest possible incentive to practical goodness, and that in a great +variety of ways. The death of our Redeemer shows us the infinite value +of our souls, by showing the inestimable price paid for them, and thus +leads us to more diligence in securing their eternal felicity. It is +calculated to inspire us with an unfeigned hatred of sin, and more +especially to convince us of God's hatred to that, for the pardon of +which such a sacrifice was deemed necessary. Now if it actually produce +such an effect, it consequently stimulates us to repentance, and to an +increasing dread of violating those engagements which we have so often +made to lead a better life. Then the contemplation of this stupendous +circumstance will tend to fill our hearts with such a sense of gratitude +and obedience, as will be likely to preserve us from relapsing into +fresh offenses. Again, can any motive operate so powerfully on us toward +producing universal charity and forgiveness? Whatever promotes our love +to God will dispose us to an increased love for our fellow-creatures. We +can not converse with any man, we can not receive a kindness from any +man, nay, we can not receive an injury from any man, for whom the +Redeemer has not died. The remembrance of the sufferings which procured +pardon for the greatest offenses, has a natural tendency to lead us to +forgive small ones." + +Lady Belfield said, "I had not indeed imagined there were any practical +uses in an event to which I had been, however, accustomed to look with +reverence as an atonement for sin." + +"Of these practical effects," replied Mr. Stanley, "I will only further +observe, that all human considerations put together can not so +powerfully inspire us with an indifference to the vanities of life, and +the allurements of unhallowed pleasures. No human motive can be so +efficacious in sustaining the heart under trials, and reconciling it to +afflictions. For what trials and afflictions do not sink into nothing in +comparison with the sufferings attending that august event, from which +we derive this support? The contemplation of this sacrifice also +degrades wealth, debases power, annihilates ambition. We rise from this +contemplation with a mind prepared to bear with the infirmities, to +relieve the wants, to forgive the unkindnesses of men. We extract from +it a more humbling sense of ourselves, a more subdued spirit, a more +sober contempt of whatever the world calls great, than all the lectures +of ancient philosophy, or the teachers of modern morals ever inspired." + +During this little debate, Sir John maintained the most invincible +silence. His countenance bore not the least mark of ill-humor or +impatience, but it was serious and thoughtful, except when his wife got +into any little difficulty; he then encouraged her by an affectionate +smile, but listened like a man who has not quite made up his mind, yet +thinks the subject too important to be dismissed without a fair and +candid hearing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +While we were at breakfast the next morning, a sweet little gay girl +flew into the room almost breathless with joy, and running to her +mother, presented her with a beautiful nosegay. + +"O, I see you were the industrious girl last week, Kate," said Mrs. +Stanley, embracing her, and admiring the flowers. Lady Belfield looked +inquisitively. "It is an invention of Lucilla's," said the mother, "that +the little one who performs best in the school-room, instead of having +any reward which may excite vanity or sensuality, shall be taught to +gratify a better feeling, by being allowed to present her mother with a +nosegay of the finest flowers, which it is reward enough to see worn at +dinner, to which she is always admitted when there is no company." + +"Oh pray do not consider us as company; pray let Kate dine with us +to-day," said Lady Belfield. Mrs. Stanley bowed her assent and went on. +"But this is not all. The flowers they present, they also raise. I went +rather too far, when I said that no vanity was excited; they are vain +enough of their carnations, and each is eager to produce the largest. In +this competition, however, the vanity is not personal. Lucilla has some +skill in raising flowers: each girl has a subordinate post under her. +Their father often treats them with half a day's work, and then they all +treat me with tea and cakes in the honey-suckle arbor of their own +planting, which is called Lucilla's bower. It would be hard to say +whether parents or children most enjoy these happy holidays." + +At dinner Mrs. Stanley appeared with her nosegay in a large knot of +ribbons, which was eyed with no small complacency by little Kate. I +observed that Lucilla, who used to manifest much pleasure in the +conversation after dinner, was beckoned out of the room by Ph[oe]be, as +soon as it was over. I felt uneasy at an absence to which I had not been +accustomed; but the cause was explained, when, at six o'clock, Kate, who +was the queen of the day, was sent to invite us to drink tea in +Lucilla's bower: we instantly obeyed the summons. + +"I knew nothing of this," said the delighted mother, while we were all +admiring the elegant arrangements of this little fête. The purple +clematis, twisting its flexile branches with those of the pale woodbine, +formed a sweet and fragrant canopy to the arched bower, while the +flowery tendrils hung down on all sides. Large bunches of roses, +intermixed with the silver stars of the jessamine, were stuck into the +moss on the inside as a temporary decoration only. The finest plants had +been brought from the green-house for the occasion. It was a delicious +evening, and the little fairy festivity, together with the flitting +about of the airy spirits which had prepared it, was absolutely +enchanting. Sir John, always poetical, exclaimed in rapture, + + "Hesperian fables true, + If true, here only." + +I needed not this quotation to bring the garden of Eden to my mind, for +Lucilla presided. Ph[oe]be was all alive. The other little ones had +decorated Kate's flaxen hair with a wreath of woodbines. They sung two +or three baby stanzas, which they had composed among themselves, in +which Kate was complimented as queen of the fête. The youngest daughter +of Lady Aston, who was about Kate's age, and two little girls of Dr. +Barlow's, were of the children's party on the green. The elder sisters +of both families made part of the company within. + +When we were all seated in our enchanting bower, and drinking our tea, +at which we had no other attendants than the little Hebes themselves, I +asked Kate how it happened that she seemed to be distinguished on this +occasion from her little sisters. "Oh, sir," said she, "it is because it +is my birth-day. I am eight years old to-day. I gave up all my gilt +books, with pictures, this day twelvemonth, and to-day I give up all my +little story books, and I am now going to read such books as men and +women read." + +She then ran to her companions who ranged themselves round a turf seat +at a little distance before us, to which were transferred a profusion of +cakes and fruit from the bower. While they were devouring them, I turned +to Mr. Stanley and desired an explanation of Kate's speech. + +"I make," said he, "the renouncing their baby books a kind of epocha, +and by thus distinctly marking the period, they never think of returning +back to them. We have in our domestic plan several of these artificial +divisions of life. These little celebrations are eras that we use as +marking-posts, from which we set out on some new course." + +"But as to Kate's books?" said Lady Belfield. + +"We have," replied Mr. Stanley, "too many elementary books. They are +read too much and too long. The youthful mind, which was formerly sick +from inanition, is now in danger from a plethora. Much, however, will +depend on capacity and disposition. A child of slower parts may be +indulged till nine years old with books which a lively genius will look +down upon at seven. A girl of talents _will_ read. To _her_ no +excitement is wanting. The natural appetite is a sufficient incentive. +The less brilliant child requires the allurement of lighter books. She +wants encouragement as much as the other requires restraint." + +"But don't you think," said Lady Belfield, "that they are of great use +in attracting children to love reading?" + +"Doubtless they are," said Mr. Stanley. "The misfortune is, that the +stimulants used to attract at first, must be not only continued but +heightened, to keep up the attraction. These books are novels in +miniature, and the excess of them will lead to the want of novels at +full length. The early use of savory dishes is not usually followed by +an appetite for plain food. To the taste thus pampered, history becomes +dry, grammar laborious, and religion dull. + +"My wife, who was left to travel through the wide expanse of Universal +History, and the dreary deserts of Rapin and Mezerai, is, I will venture +to assert, more competently skilled in ancient, French, and English +history, than any of the girls who have been fed, or rather starved, on +extracts and abridgments. I mean not to recommend the two last named +authors for very young people. They are dry and tedious, and children in +our day have opportunities of acquiring the same knowledge with less +labor. We have brighter, I wish I could say safer, lights. Still fact, +and not wit, is the leading object of history. + +"Mrs. Stanley says, that the very tediousness of her historians had a +good effect; they were a ballast to her levity, a discipline to her +mind, of which she has felt the benefit in her subsequent life. + +"But to return to the mass of children's books. The too great profusion +of them protracts the imbecility of childhood. They arrest the +understanding, instead of advancing it. They give forwardness without +strength. They hinder the mind from making vigorous shoots, teach it to +stoop when it should soar, and to contract when it should expand. Yet I +allow that many of them are delightfully amusing, and to a certain +degree instructive. But they must not be used as the basis of +instruction, and but sparingly used at all as refreshment from labor." + +"They inculcate morality and good actions surely," said Lady Belfield. + +"It is true," replied Mr. Stanley, "but they often inculcate them on a +worldly principle, and rather teach the pride of virtue, and the profit +of virtue, than point out the motive of virtue, and the principle of +sin. They reprobate bad actions as evil and injurious to others, but not +as an offense against the Almighty. Whereas the Bible comes with a +plain, straightforward, simple, but powerful principle--'How shall I do +this great wickedness against GOD?' 'Against THEE, THEE only have I +sinned, and done this evil in THY sight.' + +"Even children should be taught that when a man has committed the +greatest possible crime against his fellow creature, still the offense +against God is what will strike a true penitent with the most deep +remorse. All morality which is not drawn from this scriptural source is +weak, defective, and hollow. These entertaining authors seldom ground +their stories on any intimation that human nature is corrupt; that the +young reader is helpless, and wants assistance; that he is guilty, and +wants pardon." + +"Surely, my dear Mr. Stanley," said Lady Belfield, "though I do not +object to the truth and reasonableness of any thing you have said, I can +not think that these things can possibly be made intelligible to +children." + +"The framers of our catechism, madam, thought otherwise," replied Mr. +Stanley. "The catechism was written for children, and contains all the +seeds and principles of Christianity for men. It evidently requires much +explanation, much development; still it furnishes a wide and important +field for colloquial instruction, without which young persons can by no +means understand a composition so admirable, but so condensed. The +catechism speaks expressly of 'a death unto sin'--of 'a new birth unto +righteousness'--of 'being born in sin'--of being the 'children of +wrath'--of becoming the 'children of grace'--of 'forsaking sin by +repentance'--of 'believing the promises of God by faith.' Now while +children are studying these great truths in the catechism, they are +probably, at the same time, almost constantly reading some of those +entertaining stories which are grounded and built on a quite opposite +principle, and do not even imply the existence of any such fundamental +truths." + +"Surely," interrupted Lady Belfield, "you would not have these serious +doctrines brought forward in story books?" + +"By no means, madam," replied Mr. Stanley; "but I will venture to assert +that even story books should not be founded on a principle directly +_contradictory_ to them, nay, totally _subversive_ of them. The Arabian +Nights, and other oriental books of fable, though loose and faulty in +many respects, yet have always a reference to the religion of the +country. Nothing is introduced against the law of Mohammed; nothing +subversive of the opinions of a Mussulman. I do not quarrel with books +for having _no_ religion, but for having a _false_ religion. A book +which in nothing opposes the principle of the Bible, I would be far from +calling a bad book, though the Bible was never named in it." + +Lady Belfield observed, "That she was sorry to say her children found +religious studies very dry and tiresome; though she took great pains, +and made them learn by heart a multitude of questions and answers, a +variety of catechisms and explanations, and the best abridgments of the +Bible." + +"My dear Lady Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "you have fully accounted +for the dryness and dullness of which you complain. Give them the _Bible +itself_. I never yet knew a child who did not delight in the Bible +histories, and who would not desire to hear them again and again. From +the histories, Mrs. Stanley and I proceed with them to the parables; and +from them to the miracles, and a few of the most striking prophecies. +When they have acquired a good deal of this desultory knowledge, we +begin to weave the parts into a whole. The little girl who had the honor +of dining with you to-day, has begun this morning to read the Scriptures +with her mother systematically. We shall soon open to her something of +the _scheme_ of Christianity, and explain how those miracles and +prophecies confirm the truth of that religion in which she is to be more +fully instructed. + +"Upon their historical knowledge, which they acquire by picking out the +most interesting stories, we endeavor to ground principles to enlighten +their minds, and precepts to influence their conduct. With the genuine +language of Scripture I have taken particular care they shall be well +acquainted, by digging for the ore in its native bed. While they have +been studying the stories, their minds have at the same time been imbued +with the impressive phraseology of Scripture. I make a great point of +this, having often seen this useful impression effectually prevented by +a multitude of subsidiary histories and explanations, which too much +supersede the use of the original text. + +"Only observe," continued he, "what divine sentiments, what holy +precepts, what devout ejaculations, what strokes of self-abasement, what +flights of gratitude, what transports of praise, what touches of +penitential sorrow, are found comprised in some one short sentence woven +into almost every part of the historical Scriptures! Observe this, and +then confess what a pity it is that children should be commonly set to +read the history in a meagre abridgment, stripped of those gems with +which the original is so richly inlaid! These histories and expositions +become very useful afterward to young people who are thoroughly +conversant with the Bible itself." + +Sir John observed that he had been struck with the remarkable +_disinterestedness_ of Mr. Stanley's daughters, and their indifference +to things about which most children were so eager. "Selfishness," said +Mr. Stanley, "is the hydra we are perpetually combating; but the monster +has so much vitality, that new heads spring up as fast as the old ones +are cut off. _To counteract selfishness, that inborn, inbred mischief, I +hold to be the great art of education._ Education, therefore, can not be +adequately carried on, except by those who are deeply convinced of the +doctrine of human corruption. This evil principle, as it shows itself +early, must be early lopped, or the rapid shoots it makes will, as your +favorite Eve observes, + + Soon mock our scant manuring. + +"This counteraction," continued Mr. Stanley, "is not like an art or a +science, which is to be taken up at set times, and laid aside till the +allotted period of instruction returns; but as the evil shows itself at +all times, and in all shapes, the _whole force_ of instruction is to be +bent against it. Mrs. Stanley and I endeavor that not one reward we +bestow, not one gratification we afford, shall be calculated to promote +it. Gratifications children ought to have. The appetites and +inclinations should be reasonably indulged. We only are cautious not to +employ them as _the instrument of recompense_, which would look as if we +valued them highly, and thought them a fit remuneration for merit. I +would rather show a little indulgence to sensuality _as_ sensuality, +than make it the reward of goodness, which seems to be the common way. +While I indulged the appetite of a child, I would never hold out that +indulgence which I granted to the lowest, the animal part of his nature, +as a payment for the exertion of his mental or moral faculties." + +"You have one great advantage," said Sir John, "and I thank God it is +the same in Cavendish-square, that you and Mrs. Stanley draw evenly +together. Nothing impedes domestic regulation so effectually as where +parents, from difference of sentiment, ill-humor, or bad judgment, +obstruct each other's plans, or where one parent makes the other +insignificant in the eyes of their children." + +"Mr. Reynolds," replied Mr. Stanley, "a friend of mine in this +neighborhood, is in this very predicament. To the mother's weakness the +father's temperate discipline seems cruelty. She is perpetually blaming +him before the children for setting them to their books. Her attentions +are divided between their health, which is perfect, and their pleasure, +which is obstructed by her foolish zeal to promote it, far more than by +his prudent restrictions. Whatever the father helps them to at table, +the mother takes from them, lest it should make them sick. What he +forbids is always the very thing which is good for them. She is much +more afraid, however, of overloading their memories than their stomachs. +Reading, she says, will spoil the girls' eyes, stooping to write will +ruin their chests, and working will make them round-shouldered. If the +boys run, they will have fevers; if they jump, they will sprain their +ankles; if they play at cricket, a blow may kill them; if they swim, +they may be drowned; the shallowness of the stream is no argument of +safety. + +"Poor Reynolds' life is one continued struggle between his sense of duty +to his children, and his complaisance to his wife. If he carries his +point, it is at the expense of his peace; if he relaxes, as he commonly +does, his children are the victims. He is at length brought to submit +his excellent judgment to her feeble mind, lest his opposition should +hurt her health; and he has the mortification of seeing his children +trained as if they had nothing but bodies. + +"To the wretched education of Mrs. Reynolds herself, all this mischief +may be attributed; for she is not a bad, though an ignorant woman; and +having been harshly treated by her own parents, she fell into the vulgar +error of vulgar minds, that of supposing the opposite of wrong must +necessarily be right. As she found that being perpetually contradicted +had made herself miserable, she concluded that never being contradicted +at all would make her children happy. The event has answered as might +have been foreseen. Never was a more discontented, disagreeing, +troublesome family. The gratification of one want instantly creates a +new one. And it is only when they are quite worn out with having done +nothing, that they take refuge in their books, as less wearisome than +idleness." + +Sir John, turning to Lady Belfield, said in a very tender tone, "My dear +Caroline, this story, in its principal feature, does not apply to us. We +concur completely, it is true, but I fear we concur by being both +wrong: we both err by excessive indulgence. As to the case in point, +while children are young, they may perhaps lean to the parent that +spoils them, but I have never yet seen an instance of young persons, +where the parents differed, who did not afterward discover a much +stronger affection for the one who had reasonably restrained them, than +for the other, whose blind indulgence had at once diminished her +importance and their own reverence." + +I observed to Mr. Stanley, that as he had so noble a library, and wished +to inspire his children with the love of literature, I was surprised to +see their apartment so slenderly provided with books. + +"This is the age of excess in every thing," replied he; "nothing is a +gratification of which the want has not been previously felt. The wishes +of children are all so anticipated, that they never experience the +pleasure excited by wanting and waiting. Of their initiatory books they +_must_ have a pretty copious supply. But as to books of entertainment or +instruction of a higher kind, I never allow them to possess one of their +own, till they have attentively read and improved by it; this gives them +a kind of title to it; and that desire of property, so natural to human +creatures, I think stimulates them in dispatching books which are in +themselves a little dry. Expectation with them, as with men, quickens +desire, while possession deadens it." + +By this time the children had exhausted all the refreshments set before +them, and had retreated to a little further distance, where, without +disturbing us, they freely enjoyed their innocent gambols: playing, +singing, laughing, dancing, reciting verses, trying which could puzzle +the other in the names of plants, of which they pulled single leaves to +increase the difficulty, all succeeded each other. Lady Belfield looking +consciously at me, said, "These are the creatures whom I foolishly +suspected of being made miserable by restraint, and gloomy through want +of indulgence." + +"After long experience," said Mr. Stanley, "I will venture to pronounce, +that not all the anxious cutting out of pleasure, not all the costly +indulgences which wealth can procure, not all the contrivances of +inventive man for his darling youthful offspring, can find out an +amusement so pure, so natural, so cheap, so rational, so healthful, I +had almost said so religious, as that unbought pleasure connected with a +garden." + +Kate and Celia, who had for some time been peeping into the bower, in +order to catch an interval in the conversation, as soon as they found +our attention disengaged, stole in among us, each took the fond father +by a hand, and led him to the turf seat. Ph[oe]be presented him a book +which he opened, and out of it read with infinite humor, grace, and +gayety, THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN. This, it seems, was a +pleasure to which they had been led to look forward for some time, but +which, in honor of Kate, had been purposely withheld till this memorable +day. His little auditors, who grouped themselves around him on the +grass, were nearly convulsed with laughter, nor were the tenants of the +bower much less delighted. + +As we walked into the house, Mr. Stanley said, "Whenever I read to my +children a light and gay composition, which I often do, I generally take +care it shall be the work of some valuable author, to whose writings +this shall be a pleasant and tempting prelude. What child of spirit who +hears John Gilpin, will not long to be thought old and wise enough to +read the 'Task?' The remembrance of the infant rapture will give a +predilection for the poet. Desiring to keep their standard high, I +accustom them to none but good writers, in every sense of the word; by +this means they will be less likely to stoop to ordinary ones when they +shall hereafter come to choose for themselves." + +Lady Belfield regretted to me that she had not brought some of her +children to the Grove. "To confess a disgraceful truth," said she, "I +was afraid they would have been moped to death; and to confess another +truth still more disgraceful to my own authority, my indulgence has been +so injudicious, and I have maintained so little control, that I durst +not bring some of them, for fear of putting the rest out of humor; I am +now in a school where I trust I may learn to acquire firmness, without +any diminution of fondness." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +The next morning Mr. Stanley proposed that we should pay a visit to some +of his neighbors. He and Sir John Belfield rode on horseback, and I had +the honor of attending the ladies in the sociable. Lady Belfield, who +was now become desirous of improving her own too relaxed domestic system +by the experience of Mrs. Stanley, told her how much she admired the +cheerful obedience of her children. She said, "she did not so much +wonder to see them so good, but she owned she was surprised to see them +so happy." + +"I know not," replied Mrs. Stanley, "whether the increased +insubordination of children is owing to the new school of philosophy and +politics, but it seems to me to make part of the system. When I go +sometimes to stay with a friend in town to do business, she is always +making apologies that she can not go out with me--'her daughters want +the coach.' If I ask leave to see the friends who call on me in such a +room--'her daughters have company there, or they want the room for their +music, or it is preparing for the children's ball in the evening.' If a +messenger is required--'her daughters want the footman.' There certainly +prevails a spirit of independence, a revolutionary spirit, a separation +from the parent state. IT IS THE CHILDREN'S WORLD." + +"You remind me, madam," said I, "of an old courtier, who being asked by +Louis XV., which age he preferred, his own or the present, replied, 'I +passed my youth in respecting old age, and I find I must now pass my old +age in respecting children.'" + +"In some other houses," said Mrs. Stanley, "where we visit, besides that +of poor Mr. Reynolds, the children seem to have all the accommodation; +and I have observed that the convenience and comfort of the father is +but a subordinate consideration. The respectful terms of address are +nearly banished from the vocabulary of children, and the somewhat too +orderly manner which once prevailed is superseded by an incivility, a +roughness, a want of attention, which is surely not better than the +harmless formality which it has driven out." + +Just as she had said this, we stopped at Mr. Reynolds's gate; neither he +nor his lady were at home. Mr. Stanley, who wished to show us a fine +reach of the river from the drawing-room window, desired the servant to +show us into it. There we beheld a curious illustration of what we had +heard. In the ample bow-window lay a confused heap of the glittering +spoils of the most expensive toys. Before the rich silk chairs knelt two +of the children, in the act of demolishing their fine painted +playthings; "others apart sat on _the floor_ retired," and more +deliberately employed in picking to pieces their little gaudy works of +art. A pretty girl, who had a beautiful wax doll on her lap, almost as +big as herself, was pulling out its eyes, that she might see how they +were put in. Another, weary of this costly baby, was making a little +doll of rags. A turbulent-looking boy was tearing out the parchment from +a handsome new drum, that he might see, as he told us, where the noise +came from. These I forgave: they had meaning in their mischief. + +Another, having kicked about a whole little gilt library, was sitting, +with the decorated pages torn asunder at his feet, reading a little +dirty penny book, which the kitchen-maid had bought of a hawker at the +door. The Persian carpet was strewed with the broken limbs of a painted +horse, almost as large as a poney, while the discontented little master +was riding astride on a long rough stick. A bigger boy, after having +broken the panels of a fine gilt coach, we saw afterwards in the +court-yard nailing together a few dirty bits of ragged elm boards, to +make himself a wheel-barrow. + +"Not only the disciple of the fastidious Jean Jacques," exclaimed I, +"but the sound votary of truth and reason, must triumph at such an +instance of the satiety of riches, and the weariness of ignorance and +idleness. One such practical instance of the insufficiency of affluence +to _bestow_ the pleasures which industry must _buy_; one such actual +exemplification of the folly of supposing that injudicious profusion and +mistaken fondness can supply that pleasure which must be worked out +before it can be enjoyed, is worth a whole folio of argument or +exhortation. The ill-bred little flock paid no attention to us, and only +returned a rude 'n--o' or 'ye--s' to our questions." + +"Caroline," said Sir John, "these painted ruins afford a good lesson for +us. We must desire our rich uncles and our generous god-mothers to make +an alteration in their presents, if they can not be prevailed upon to +withhold them." + +"It is a sad mistake," said Mr. Stanley, "to suppose that youth wants to +be so incessantly amused. They want not pleasures to be chalked out for +them. Lay a few cheap and coarse materials in their way, and let their +own busy inventions be suffered to work. They have abundant pleasure in +the mere freshness and novelty of life, its unbroken health, its elastic +spirit, its versatile temper, and its ever new resources." + +"So it appears, Stanley," said Sir John, "when I look at your little +group of girls, recluses as they are called. How many cheap, yet lively +pleasures do they enjoy! their successive occupations, their books, +their animating exercise, their charitable rounds, their ardent +friendships; the social table, at which the elder ones are companions, +not mutes; the ever-varying pleasures of their garden, + + "Increasing virtue, and approving heaven." + +While we were sitting with Lady Aston, on whom we next called, Mr. +Stanley suddenly exclaimed, "The Misses Flam are coming up the gravel +walk." Lady Aston looked vexed, but correcting herself said, "Mr. +Stanley, we owe this visit to you, or rather to your friend," bowing to +me; "they saw your carriage stop here, or they would not have done so +dull a thing as to have called on me." + +These new guests presented a new scene, very uncongenial to the timid +and tranquil spirit of the amiable hostess. There seemed to be a contest +between the sisters, who should be most eloquent, most loud, or most +inquisitive. They eagerly attacked me all at once, as supposing me to be +overflowing with intelligence from the metropolis, a place which they +not only believed to contain exclusively all that was worth seeing, but +all that was worth hearing. The rest of the world they considered as a +barren wilderness, of which the hungry inhabitants could only be kept +from starving, by such meagre aliment as the occasional reports of its +pleasures, fashions, and anecdotes, which might now and then be conveyed +by some stray traveler, might furnish. + +"It is so strange to us," said Miss Bell, "and so monstrously dull and +vulgar, to be in the country at this time of the year, that we don't +know what to do with ourselves." + +"As to the time of year, madam," said I, "if ever one would wish to be +in the country at all, surely this month is the point of perfection. The +only immoral thing with which I could ever charge our excellent +sovereign is, that he was born in June, and has thus furnished his +fashionable subjects with a loyal pretense for encountering 'the sin and +sea-coal of London,' to borrow Will Honeycomb's phrase, in the finest +month of the twelve. But where that is the real motive with one, it is +the pretense of a thousand." + +"How can you be so shocking?" said she. "But papa is really grown so +cross and stingy, as to prevent our going to town at all these last two +or three years; and for so mean a reason that I am ashamed to tell you." +Out of politeness I did not press to know; I needed not, for she was +resolved I should not 'burst in ignorance.' + +She went on: "Do you know he pretends that times are hard, and public +difficulties increasing; and he declares that whatever privations we +endure, government must be supported: so he says it is right to draw in +in the only way in which he can do it honestly; I am sure it is not +doing it creditably. Did you ever hear any thing so shabby?" + +"Shabby, madam," replied I; "I honor a gentleman who has integrity +enough to do a right thing, and good sense enough not to be ashamed to +own it." + +"Yes, but papa need not. The steward declares, if he would only raise +his tenants a very little, he would have more than enough; but papa is +inflexible. He says my brother must do as he pleases when he comes to +the estate, but that he himself promised when he came into possession, +that he would never raise the rents, and that he will never be worse +than his word." As I could not find in my heart to join in abusing a +gentleman for resolving never to be worse than his word, I was silent. + +She then inquired with more seriousness, if there were any prospect of +peace. I was better pleased with this question, as it implied more +anxiety for the lives of her fellow-creatures, than I had given her +credit for. "I am anxiously looking into all the papers," continued she, +without giving me time to speak, "because as soon as there is peace, +papa has promised that we shall go to town again. If it was not for that +I should not care if there was war till doomsday, for what with marching +regiments, and militia, and volunteers, nothing can be pleasanter than +it makes the country, I mean as far as the country _can_ be pleasant." +They then ran over the names and respective merits of every opera +singer, every dancer, and every actor, with incredible volubility; and I +believe they were not a little shocked at my slender acquaintance with +the nomenclature, and the little interest I took in the criticisms they +built upon it. + +Poor Lady Aston looked oppressed and fatigued, but inwardly rejoiced, as +she afterward owned to me, that her daughters were not within hearing. I +was of a different opinion, upon the Spartan principle, of making their +children sober, by the spectacle of the intoxicated Helots. Miss Bell's +eloquence seemed to make but little impression on Sir George; or rather +it produced an effect directly contrary to admiration. His good taste +seemed to revolt at her flippancy. Every time I see this young man he +rises in my esteem. His ingenuous temper and engaging modesty set off to +advantage a very fair understanding. + +In our way home, we were accosted by Mr. Flam. After a rough but hearty +salutation, and a cordial invitation to come and dine with him, he +galloped off, being engaged on business. "This is an honest country +'squire of the old cut," said Mr. Stanley afterward; "he has a very good +estate which he has so much delight in managing, that he has no pleasure +in any thing else. He was prevailed on by his father to marry his +present wife for no other reason than because her estate joined to his, +and broke in a little on the _arrondissement_; but it was judged that +both being united, all might be brought within a ring fence. This was +thought a reason sufficiently powerful for the union of two immortal +beings, whose happiness here and hereafter might be impeded or promoted +by it! The felicity of the connection has been in exact proportion to +the purity of the motive." + +I could not forbear interrupting Mr. Stanley, by observing that nothing +had surprised or hurt me more in the little observation I had made on +the subject of marriage than the frequent indifference of parents to the +moral, and especially to the religious character of the man who proposed +himself. "That family, fortune, and connections should have their full +share in the business, I readily admit," added I, "but that it should +ever form the chief, often the only ground of acceptance, has, I +confess, lowered mankind in my esteem more completely than almost any +other instance of ambition, avarice, or worldliness. That a very young +girl, who has not been carefully educated, should be captivated by +personal advantages, and even infatuated by splendor, is less surprising +than that parents, who having themselves experienced the insufficiency +of riches to happiness, that they should be eagerly impatient to part +from a beloved daughter, reared with fondness at least, if not with +wisdom, to a man of whose principles they have any doubt, and of whose +mind they have a mean opinion, is a thing I can not understand. And yet +what proposal almost is rejected on this ground?" Lucilla's eyes at +this moment shone with such expressive brightness that I exultingly said +to myself, "Lord Staunton! I defy thee!" + +"The mischief of this lax principle is of wide extent," replied Mr. +Stanley. "When girls are continually hearing what an advantageous, what +a desirable marriage such a young friend has made, with a man so rich, +so splendid, so great, though they have been accustomed to hear this +very man condemned for his profligacy perhaps, at least they know him to +be destitute of piety; when they hear that these things are not +considered as any objection to the union, what opinion must these girls +form, not only of the maxims by which the world is governed, but of the +truth of that religion which those persons profess? + +"But to return to Mr. Flam. He passed through the usual course of +education, but has profited so little by it, that though he has a +certain natural shrewdness in his understanding, I believe he has +scarcely read a book these twenty years, except Burn's 'Justice' and +'The Agricultural Reports.' Yet when he wants to make a figure, he now +and then lards his discourse with a scrap of thread-bare Latin which he +used to steal in his school-boy exercises. He values himself on his +integrity, and is not destitute of benevolence. These, he says, are the +sum and substance of religion; and though I combat this mistaken notion +as often as he puts it in my power, yet I must say that some who make +more profession would do well to be as careful in these points. He often +contrasts himself with his old friend Ned Tyrrel, and is proud of +showing how much better a man he is without religion than Ned is with +all his pretensions to it. It is by thus comparing ourselves with worse +men that we grow vain, and with more fortunate men that we become +discontented. + +"All the concern he gives himself about his wife and daughters is, that +they shall not run him in debt; and, indeed, he is so liberal that he +does not drive them to the necessity. In every thing else, they follow +their own devices. They teased him, however, to let them spend two or +three winters in town, the mother hinting _that it would answer_. He was +prevailed on to try it as a speculation, but the experiment failed. He +now insists that they shall go no more, till the times mend, to any of +the advertising places, such as London, Brighton, or Bath; he says that +attending so many fairs and markets is very expensive, especially as the +girls don't go off. He will now see what can be done by private contract +at home, without the cost of journeys, with fresh keep and trimming and +docking into the bargain. They must now take their chance among country +dealers; and provided they will give him a son-in-law, whose estate is +free from incumbrances, who pays his debts, lives within his income, +does not rack his tenants, never drinks claret, hates the French, and +loves field sports, he will ask no more questions." + +I could not but observe how preferable the father's conduct, with all +its faults, was to that of the rest of the family. "I had imagined," +said I, "that this coarse character was quite out of print. Though it is +religiously bad, and of course morally defective, yet it is so +politically valuable that I should not be sorry to see a new edition of +these obsolete squires, somewhat corrected, and better lettered." + +"All his good qualities," said Mr. Stanley, "for want of religion have a +flaw in them. His good nature is so little directed by judgment, that +while it serves the individual, it injures the public. As a brother +magistrate, I am obliged to act in almost constant opposition to him, +and his indiscretions do more mischief by being of a nature to increase +his popularity. He is fully persuaded that occasional intoxication is +the best reward for habitual industry; and insists that it is good old +English kindness to make the church ringers periodically tipsy at the +holidays, though their families starve for it the whole week. He and I +have a regular contest at the annual village fairs, because he insists +that my refusing to let them begin on a Sunday is abridging their few +rights, and robbing them of a day which they might add to their pleasure +without injury to their profit. He allows all the strolling players, +mountebanks, and jugglers to exhibit, because, he says, it is a charity. +His charity, however, is so short-sighted that he does not see that +while these vagabonds are supplying the wants of the day, their +improvident habits suffer them to look no further; that his own workmen +are spending their hard-earned money in these illegal diversions, while +the expense is the least mischief which their daughters incur." + +Our next visit was to Mr. Carlton, whom I had found, in one or two +previous interviews, to be a man of excellent sense, and a perfect +gentleman. Sir John renewed with pleasure his acquaintance with the +husband, while Lady Belfield was charmed to be introduced to the wife, +with whose character she was so enamored, and whose gentle manners were +calculated to confirm the affection which her little history had +inspired. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +Though Mr. Stanley had checked my impetuosity in my application to him, +and did not encourage my addresses with a promptitude suited to the +ardor of my affection: yet as the warmth of my attachment, +notwithstanding I made it a duty to restrain its outward expression, +could not escape either his penetration or that of his admirable wife, +they began a little to relax in the strictness with which they had +avoided speaking of their daughter. They never indeed introduced the +subject themselves, yet it some how or other never failed to find its +way into all conversation in which I was one of the interlocutors. + +Sitting one day in Lucilla's bower with Mrs. Stanley, and speaking, +though in general terms, on the subject nearest my heart, with a +tenderness and admiration as sincere as it was fervent, I dwelt +particularly on some instances which I had recently heard from Edwards, +of her tender attention to the sick poor, and her zeal in often visiting +them, without regard to weather, or the accommodation of a carriage. + +"I assure you," said Mrs. Stanley, "you over-rate her. Lucilla is no +prodigy dropped down from the clouds. Ten thousand other young women, +with natural good sense, and good temper, might, with the same +education, the same neglect of what is useless, and the same attention +to what is necessary, acquire the same habits and the same principles. +Her being no prodigy, however, perhaps makes her example, as far as it +goes, more important. She may be more useful, because she carries not +that discouraging superiority, which others might be deterred from +imitating, through hopelessness to reach. If she is not a miracle whom +others might despair to emulate, she is a Christian whom every girl of a +fair understanding and good temper may equal, and whom, I hope and +believe, many girls excel." + +I asked Mrs. Stanley's permission to attend the young ladies in one of +their benevolent rounds. "When I have leisure to be one of the party," +replied she, smiling, "you shall accompany us. I am afraid to trust your +warm feelings. Your good-nature would perhaps lead you to commend as a +merit, what in fact deserves no praise at all, the duly being so +obvious, and so indispensable. I have often heard it regretted that +ladies have no stated employment, no profession. It is a mistake. +_Charity is the calling of a lady; the care of the poor is her +profession._ Men have little time or taste for details. Women of fortune +have abundant leisure, which can in no way be so properly or so +pleasantly filled up, as in making themselves intimately acquainted with +the worth and the wants of all within their reach. With their wants, +because it is their bounden duty to administer to them; with their +worth, because without this knowledge, they can not administer prudently +and appropriately." + +I expressed to Mrs. Stanley the delight with which I had heard of the +admirable regulations of her family, in the management of the poor, and +how much their power of doing good was said to be enlarged by the +judgment and discrimination with which it was done. + +"We are far from thinking," replied she, "that our charity should be +limited to our own immediate neighborhood. We are of opinion, that it +should not be left undone anywhere, but that _there_ it should be done +indispensably. We consider our own parish as our more appropriate field +of action, where providence, by 'fixing the bounds of our habitation,' +seems to have made us peculiarly responsible for the comfort of those +whom he has doubtless placed around us for that purpose. It is thus that +the Almighty vindicates his justice, or rather calls on us to vindicate +it. It is thus he explains why he admits natural evil into the world, by +making the wants of one part of the community an exercise for the +compassion of the other. As in different circumstances, the faults of +one part of mankind are an exercise for the forbearance of the other. + +"Surely," added Mrs. Stanley, "the reason is particularly obvious, why +the bounty of the affluent ought to be most liberally, though not +exclusively, extended to the spot whence they derive their revenues. +There seems indeed to be a double motive for it. The same act involves a +duty both to God and man. The largest bounty to the necessitous on our +estates, is rather justice than charity. 'Tis but a kind of pepper-corn +acknowledgment to the great Lord and proprietor of all, from whom we +hold them. And to assist their own laboring poor is a kind of natural +debt, which persons who possess great landed property owe to those from +the sweat of whose brow they derive their comforts, and even their +riches. 'Tis a commutation, in which, as the advantage is greatly on our +side, so is our duty to diminish the difference a paramount obligation." + +I then repeated my request, that I might be allowed to take a practical +lesson in the next periodical visit to the cottages. + +Mrs. Stanley replied, "As to my girls, the elder ones I trust are such +veterans in their trade, that your approbation can do them no harm, nor +do they stand in need of it as an incentive. But should the little ones +find that their charity procures them praise, they might perhaps be +charitable for the sake of praise, their benevolence might be set at +work by their vanity, and they might be led to do that, from the love of +applause, which can only please God when the principle is pure. _The +iniquity of our holy things_, my good friend, requires much Christian +vigilance. Next to not giving at all, the greatest fault is to give from +ostentation. The motive robs the act of the very name of virtue. While +the good work that is paid in praise, is stripped of the hope of higher +retribution." + +On my assuring Mrs. Stanley that I thought such an introduction to their +systematic schemes of charity might inform my own mind and improve my +habits, she consented, and I have since been a frequent witness of their +admirable method; and have been studying plans, which involve the good +both of body and soul. Oh! if I am ever blest with a coadjutress, a +directress let me rather say, formed under such auspices, with what +delight shall I transplant the principles and practices of Stanley Grove +to the Priory! Nor indeed would I ever marry but with the animating hope +that not only myself, but all around me, would be the better and the +happier for the presiding genius I shall place there. + +Sir John Belfield had joined us while we were on this topic. I had +observed that though he was earnest on the general principle of +benevolence, which he considered as a most imperious duty, or, as he +said in his warm way, as so lively a pleasure that he was almost ready +to suspect if it _were_ a duty; yet I was sorry to find that his +generous mind had not viewed this large subject under all its aspects. +He had not hitherto regarded it as a matter demanding any thing but +money; while time, inquiry, discrimination, system, he confessed, he had +not much taken into the account. He did a great deal of good, but had +not allowed himself time or thought for the best way of doing it. +Charity, as opposed to hard-heartedness and covetousness, he warmly +exercised; but when, with a willing liberality, he had cleared himself +from the suspicion of those detestable vices, he was indolent in the +proper distribution of money, and somewhat negligent of its just +application. Nor had he ever considered, as every man should do, because +every man's means are limited, how the greatest quantity of good could +be done with any given sum. + +But the worst of all was, he had imbibed certain popular prejudices +respecting the more _religious_ charities; prejudices altogether +unworthy of his enlightened mind. He too much limited his ideas of +bounty to bodily wants. This distinction was not with him, as it is with +many, invented as an argument for saving his money, which he most +willingly bestowed for feeding and clothing the necessitous. But as to +the propriety of affording them religious instruction, he owned he had +not made up his mind. He had some doubts whether it were a duty. Whether +it were a benefit he had still stronger doubts; adding that he should +begin to consider the subject more attentively than he had yet done. + +Mrs. Stanley in reply, said, "I am but a poor casuist, Sir John, and I +must refer you to Mr. Stanley for abler arguments than I can use. I will +venture, however, to say, that even on your own ground it appears to be +a pressing duty. If sin be the cause of so large a portion of the +miseries of human life, must not that be the noblest charity which +cures, or lessens, or prevents sin? And are not they the truest +benefactors even to the bodies of men, who by their religious exertions +to prevent the corruption of vice, prevent also in some measure that +poverty and disease which are the natural concomitants of vice? If in +endeavoring to make men better, by the infusion of a religious +principle, which shall check idleness, drinking, and extravagance, we +put them in the way to become healthier, and richer, and happier, it +will furnish a practical argument which I am sure will satisfy your +benevolent heart." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +Mr. Tyrrel and his nephew called on us this evening, and interrupted a +pleasant and useful conversation on which we were just entering. "Do +you know, Stanley," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that you absolutely corrupted my +nephew, by what passed at your house the other day in favor of reading? +He has ever since been ransacking the shelves for idle books." + +"I should be seriously concerned," replied Mr. Stanley, "if any thing I +had said should have drawn Mr. Edward off from more valuable studies, or +diverted him from the important pursuit of religious knowledge." + +"Why, to do him justice, and you too," resumed Mr. Tyrrel, "he has since +that conversation begun assiduously to devote his mornings to serious +reading, and it is only an hour's leisure in the evening, which he used +to trifle away, that he gives to books of taste; but I had rather he +would let them all alone; the best of them will only fill his heart with +cold morality, and stuff his head with romance and fiction. I would not +have a religious man ever look into a book of your belles-lettres +nonsense; and if he be really religious, he will make a general bonfire +of the poets." + +"That is rather too sweeping a sentence," said Mr. Stanley. "It would, I +grant you, have been a benefit to mankind, if the entire works of some +celebrated poets, and a considerable portion of the works of many not +quite so exceptionable, were to assist the conflagration of your pile." + +"And if fuel failed," said Sir John Belfield, "we might not only rob +Belinda's altar of her + + Twelve tomes of French romances neatly gilt, + +but feed the flame with countless marble-covered octavos from the modern +school. But having made this concession, allow me to observe, that +because there has been a voluptuous Petronius, a scoffing Lucian, and a +licentious Ovid, to say nothing of the numberless modern poets, or +rather individual poems, that are immoral and corrupt--shall we +therefore exclude all works of imagination from the library of a young +man? Surely? we should not indiscriminately banish the Muses, as +infallible corrupters of the youthful mind; I would rather consider a +blameless poet as the auxiliar of virtue. Whatever talent enables a +writer to possess an empire over the heart, and to lead the passions at +his command, puts it in his power to be of no small service to mankind. +It is no new remark that the abuse of any good thing is no argument +against its legitimate use. Intoxication affords no just reason against +the use of wine, nor prodigality against the possession of wealth. In +the instance in dispute, I should rather infer that a talent capable of +diffusing so much mischief was susceptible of no small benefit. That it +has been so often abused by its misapplication, is one of the highest +instances of the ingratitude of man for one of the highest gifts of +God." + +"I can not think," said I, "that the Almighty conferred such a faculty +with a wish to have it extinguished. Works of imagination have in many +countries been a chief instrument in civilization. Poetry has not only +preceded science in the history of human progress, but it has in many +countries preceded the knowledge of the mechanical arts; and I have +somewhere read, that in Scotland they could write elegant Latin verse +before they could make a wheel-barrow. For my own part, in my late visit +to London, I thought the decline of poetry no favorable symptom." + +"I rejoice to hear it _is_ declining," said Mr. Tyrrel. "I hope that +what is decaying, may in time be extinguished." + +"Mr. Tyrrel would have been delighted with that with which I was +displeased," replied I. "I met with philosophers, who were like Plato in +nothing but his abhorrence of the Muses; with politicians, who resembled +Burleigh only in his enmity to Spenser; and with warriors, who, however +they might emulate Alexander in his conquests, would never have imitated +him in sparing the house of Pindarus." + +"The _art_ of poetry," said Mr. Stanley, "is to touch the passions, and +its _duty_ to lead them on the side of virtue. To raise and to purify +the amusements of mankind; to multiply and to exalt pleasures, which +being purely intellectual, may help to exclude such as are gross, in +beings so addicted to sensuality, is surely not only to give pleasure, +but to render service. It is allowable to seize every avenue to the +heart of a being so prone to evil; to rescue him by every fair means, +not only from the degradation of vice, but from the dominion of +idleness. I do not now speak of gentlemen of the sacred function, to +which Mr. Edward Tyrrel aspires, but of those who, having no profession, +have no stated employment; and who, having more leisure, will be in +danger of exceeding the due bounds in the article of amusement. Let us +then endeavor to snatch our youth of fashion from the low pleasures of +the dissolute; to snatch them, not only from the destruction of the +gaming-table, but from the excesses of the dining-table, by inviting +them to an elegant delight that is safe, and especially by enlarging the +range of pure mental pleasure. + +"In order to this, let us do all we can to cultivate their taste, and +innocently indulge their fancy. Let us contend with impure writers, +those deadliest enemies to the youthful mind, by opposing to them in the +chaster author, images more attractive, wit more acute, learning more +various; in all which excellences our first-rate poets certainly excel +their vicious competitors." + +"Would you, Mr. Tyrrel," said Sir John, "throw into the enemy's camp all +the light arms which often successfully annoy where the heavy artillery +can not reach?" + +"Let us," replied Mr. Stanley, "rescue from the hands of the profane and +the impure, the monopoly of wit which, they affect to possess, and which +they would possess, if no good men had written works of elegant +literature, and if all good men totally despised them." + +"For my own part," said Mr. Tyrrel, "I believe that a good man, in my +sense of the word, will neither write works of imagination, nor read +them." + +"At your age and mine, and better employed as we certainly may be," said +Mr. Stanley, "we want not such resources. I myself, though I retain the +relish, have little leisure for the indulgence, which yet I would allow, +though with great discrimination, to the young and the unoccupied. What +is to whet the genius of the champions of virtue, so as to enable them +successfully to combat the leaders of vice and infidelity, if we refuse +to let them be occasionally sharpened and polished by such studies? That +model of brilliant composition, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, was of this +opinion, when he said, 'by whatever instrument piety is advantaged, use +that, though thou grindest thy spears and arrows at the forges of the +Philistines.' + +"I know," continued Mr. Stanley, "that a Christian need not borrow +weapons of attack or defense from the classic armory; but, to drop all +metaphor, if he is called upon to defend truth and virtue against men +whose minds are adorned with all that is elegant, strengthened with all +that is powerful, and enriched with all that is persuasive, from the +writers in question--is he likely to engage with due advantage if his +own mind be destitute of the embellishments with which theirs abound? +While wit and imagination are _their_ favorite instruments, shall we +consider the aid of either as useless, much less as sinful in their +opponents?" + +"While young men _will_ be amused," said Sir John, "it is surely of +importance that they should be _safely_ amused. We should not therefore +wish to obliterate in authors such faculties as wit and fancy, nor to +extinguish a taste for them in readers." + +"Show me any one instance of good that ever was effected by any one +poet," said Mr. Tyrrel, "and I will give up the point; while, on the +other hand, a thousand instances of mischief might be produced." + +"The latter part of your assertion, sir," said I, "I fear is too true: +but to what evil has elevation of fancy led Milton, or Milton his +readers? Into what immoralities did it involve Spenser or Cowley? Has +Thomson added to the crimes or the calamities of mankind? Into what +immoralities did it plunge Gray, or Goldsmith? Has it tainted the purity +of Beattie in his Minstrel, or that of the living minstrel of the LAY? +What reader has Mason corrupted, or what reader has Cowper not +benefitted? Milton was an enthusiast both in religion and politics. Many +enthusiasts with whom he was connected, doubtless condemned the exercise +of his imagination in his immortal poem as a crime; but his genius was +too mighty to be restrained by opposition, and his imagination too vast +and powerful to be kept down by a party. Had he confined himself to his +prose writings, weighty and elaborate as some of them are, how little +service would he have done the world, and how little would he now be +read or quoted! In his life-time politics might blind his enemies, and +fanaticism his friends. But now, who, comparatively, reads the +Iconoclastes? who does not read Comus?" + +"What then," said Mr. Tyrrel, "you would have our young men spend their +time in reading idle verses, and our girls, I suppose, in reading loose +romances?" + +"It is to preserve both from evils which I deprecate," said Mr. Stanley, +"that I would consign the most engaging subjects to the best hands, and +raise the taste of our youth, by allowing a little of their leisure, and +of their leisure only, to such amusements; and that chiefly with a view +to disengage them from worse pursuits. It is not romance, but indolence; +it is not poetry, but sensuality, which are the prevailing evils of the +day--evils far more fatal in themselves, far more durable in their +effects, than the perusal of works of wit and genius. Imagination will +cool of itself. The effervescence of fancy will soon subside; but +absorbing dissipation, but paralyzing idleness, but degrading self-love, + + "Grows with their growth, and strengthens with their strength." + +"A judicious reformer," said Sir John, "will accommodate his remedy to +an existing and not an imaginary evil. When the old romances, the grand +Cyruses, the Clelias, the Calprenedes, and the Cassandras, had turned +all the young heads in Europe; or when the fury of knight-errantry +demanded the powerful rein of Cervantes to check it--it was a duty to +attempt to lower the public delirium. When, in our own age and country, +Sterne wrote his corrupt, but too popular lesser work, he became the +mischievous founder of the school of sentiment. A hundred writers +communicated, a hundred thousand readers caught, the infection. +Sentimentality was the disease which then required to be expelled. The +reign of Sterne is past. Sensibility is discarded, and with it the +softness which it must be confessed belonged to it. Romance is vanished, +and with it the heroic, though somewhat unnatural, elevation which +accompanied it. We have little to regret in the loss of either; nor have +we much cause to rejoice in what we have gained by the exchange. A +pervading and substantial selfishness, the striking characteristic of +our day, is no great improvement on the wildness of the old romance, or +the vapid puling of the sentimental school." + +"Surely," said I (L'Almanac des Gourmands at that instant darting across +my mind), "it is as honorable for a gentleman to excel in critical as in +culinary skill. It is as noble to cultivate the intellectual taste, as +that of the palate. It is at least as creditable to discuss the +comparative merits of Sophocles and Shakspeare, as the rival ingredients +of a soup or a sauce. I will even venture to affirm that it is as +dignified an amusement to run a tilt in favor of Virgil or Tasso against +their assailants, as to run a barouche against a score of rival +barouches; and though I own that, in Gulliver's land of the Houyhnhnms, +the keeping up the breed of horses might have been the nobler +patriotism, yet in Great Britain it is hitherto, at least, no +contemptible exertion of skill and industry 'to keep up the breed of +gentlemen.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +I strolled out alone, intending to call at the Rectory, but was +prevented by meeting the worthy Dr. Barlow, who was coming to the Grove. +I could not lose so fair an opportunity of introducing a subject that +was seldom absent from my thoughts. I found it was a subject on which I +had no new discoveries to impart. He told me he had seen and rejoiced in +the election my heart had made. I was surprised at his penetration. He +smiled, and told me he "took no great credit for his sagacity in +perceiving what was obvious to spectators far more indifferent than +himself; that I resembled those animals who, by hiding their heads in +the earth, fancied nobody could see them." + +I asked him a thousand questions about Lucilla, whose fine mind I knew +he had in some measure contributed to form. I inquired, with an +eagerness which he called jealousy, who were her admirers? "As many men +as have seen her," replied he; "I know no man who has so many rivals as +yourself. To relieve your apprehensions, however, I will tell you, that +though there have been several competitors for her favor, not one has +been accepted. There has, indeed, this summer been a very formidable +candidate, young Lord Staunton, who has a large estate in the county, +and whom she met on a visit." At these words I felt my fears revive. A +young and handsome peer seemed so redoubtable a rival, that for a moment +I only remembered she was a woman, and forgot that she was Lucilla. + +"You may set your heart at rest," said Dr. Barlow, who saw my emotion; +"she heard he had seduced the innocent daughter of one of his tenants, +under the most specious pretense of honorable love. This, together with +the looseness of his religious principles, led her to give his lordship +a positive refusal, though he is neither destitute of talents, nor +personal accomplishments." + +How ashamed was I of my jealousy! How I felt my admiration increase! Yet +I thought it was too great before to admit of augmentation. "Another +proposal," said Dr. Barlow, "was made to her father by a man every way +unexceptionable. But she desired him to be informed that it was her +earnest request that he would proceed no further, but spare her the pain +of refusing a gentleman for whose character she entertained a sincere +respect; but being persuaded she could never be able to feel more than +respect, she positively declined receiving his addresses, assuring him, +at the same time, that she sincerely desired to retain, as a friend, him +whom she felt herself obliged to refuse as a husband. She is as far from +the vanity of seeking to make conquest, as from the ungenerous insolence +of using ill those whom her merit has captivated, and her judgment can +not accept." + +After admiring in the warmest terms the purity and generosity of her +heart, I pressed Dr. Barlow still further, as to the interior of her +mind. I questioned him as to her early habits, and particularly as to +her religious attainments, telling him that nothing was indifferent to +me which related to Lucilla. + +"Miss Stanley," replied he, "is governed by a simple, practical end, in +all her religious pursuits. She reads her Bible, not from habit, that +she may acquit herself of a customary form; not to exercise her +ingenuity by allegorizing literal passages, or spiritualizing plain +ones, but that she may improve in knowledge and grow in grace. She +accustoms herself to meditation, in order to get her mind more deeply +imbued with a sense of eternal things. She practices self-examination, +that she may learn to watch against the first risings of bad +dispositions, and to detect every latent evil in her heart. She lives in +the regular habit of prayer, not only that she may implore pardon of +sin, but that she may obtain strength against it. She told me one day +when she was ill, that if she did not constantly examine the actual +state of her mind, she should pray at random, without any certainty what +particular sins she should pray against, or what were her particular +wants. She has read much Scripture and little controversy. There are +some doctrines that she does not pretend to define, which she yet +practically adopts. She can not perhaps give you a disquisition on the +mysteries of the Holy Spirit, but she can and does fervently implore his +guidance and instruction; she believes in his efficacy, and depends on +his support. She is sensible that those truths, which from their deep +importance are most obvious, have more of the vitality of religion, and +influence practice more, than those abstruse points which unhappily +split the religious world into so many parties. + +"If I were to name what are her predominant virtues, I should say +sincerity and humility. Conscious of her own imperfections, she never +justifies her faults, and seldom extenuates them. She receives reproof +with meekness, and advice with gratitude. Her own conscience is always +so ready to condemn her, that she never wonders, nor takes offense, at +the censures of others." + +"That softness of manner which you admire in her is not the varnish of +good breeding, nor is it merely the effect of good temper, though in +both she excels, but it is the result of humility. She appears humble, +not because a mild exterior is graceful, but because she has an inward +conviction of unworthiness which prevents an assuming manner. Yet her +humility has no cant; she never disburdens her conscience by a few +disparaging phrases, nor lays a trap for praise by indiscriminately +condemning herself. Her humility never impairs her cheerfulness; for the +sense of her wants directs her to seek, and her faith enables her to +find, the sure foundation of a better hope than any which can be derived +from a delusive confidence in her own goodness." + +"One day," continued Dr. Barlow, "when I blamed her gently for her +backwardness in expressing her opinion on some serious point, she said, +'I always feel diffident in speaking on these subjects, not only lest I +should be _thought_ to assume, but lest I really _should_ assume a +degree of piety which may not belong to me. My great advantages make me +jealous of myself. My dear father has so carefully instructed me, and I +live so much in the habit of hearing his pious sentiments that I am +often afraid of appearing better than I am, and of pretending to feel in +my heart what perhaps I only approve in my judgment. When my beloved +mother was ill,' continued she, 'I often caught myself saying +mechanically, God's will be done! when I blush to own how little I felt +in my heart of that resignation of which my lips were so lavish.'" + +I hung with inexpressible delight on every word Dr. Barlow uttered, and +expressed my fears that such a prize was too much above my deserts to +allow me to encourage very sanguine hopes. "You have my cordial wishes +for your success," said he, "though I shall lament the day when you +snatch so fair a flower from our fields, to transplant it into your +northern gardens." + +We had now reached the park-gate, where Sir John and Lady Belfield +joined us. As it was very hot, Dr. Barlow proposed to conduct us a +nearer way. He carried us through a small nursery of fruit-trees, which +I had not before observed, though it was adjoining the ladies' +flower-garden, from which it was separated and concealed by a row of +tall trees. I expressed my surprise that the delicate Lucilla would +allow so coarse an inclosure to be so near her ornamented ground. "You +see she does all she can to shut it out," replied he. "I will tell you +how it happens, for I can not vindicate the taste of my fair friend, +without exposing a better quality in her. But if I betray her, you must +not betray me. + +"It is a rule when any servant who has lived seven years at the Grove, +marries, provided they have conducted themselves well, and make a +prudent choice, for Mr. Stanley to give them a piece of ground on the +waste, to build a cottage; he also allows them to take stones from his +quarry, and lime from his kiln; to this he adds a bit of ground for a +garden. Mrs. Stanley presents some kitchen furniture, and gives a +wedding dinner; and the rector refuses his fee for performing the +ceremony." + +"Caroline," said Sir John, "this is not the first time since we have +been at the Grove that I have been struck with observing how many +benefits naturally result to the poor, from the rich living on +their own estates. Their dependants have a thousand petty local +advantages, which cost almost nothing to the giver, which are yet +valuable to the receiver, and of which the absent never think." + +"You have heard," said Dr. Barlow, "that Miss Stanley, from her +childhood, has been passionately fond of cultivating a garden. When she +was hardly fourteen, she began to reflect that the delight she took in +this employment was attended neither with pleasure nor profit to any one +but herself, and she became jealous of a gratification which was so +entirely selfish. She begged this piece of waste ground of her father, +and stocked it with a number of fine young fruit-trees of the common +sort, apples, pears, plums, and the smaller fruits. When there is a +wedding among the older servants, or when any good girl out of her +school marries, she presents their little empty garden with a dozen +young apple-trees, and a few trees of the other sorts, never forgetting +to embellish their little court with roses and honey-suckles. These last +she transplants from the shrubbery, not to fill up the _village garden_, +as it is called, with any thing that is of no positive use. She employs +a poor lame man in the village a day in a week to look after this +nursery, and by cutting and grafts a good stock is raised on a small +space. It is done at her own expense, Mr. Stanley making this a +condition when he gave her the ground; 'otherwise,' said he, 'trifling +as it is, it would be my charity and not hers, and she would get thanked +for a kindness which would cost her nothing.' The warm-hearted little +Ph[oe]be cooperates in this, and all her sister's labors of love. + +"Some such union of charity with every personal indulgence, she +generally imposes on herself; and from this association she has acquired +another virtue, for she tells me, smiling, she is sometimes obliged to +content herself with practicing frugality instead of charity. When she +finds she can not afford both her own gratification, and the charitable +act which she wanted to associate with it, and is therefore compelled to +give up the charity, she compels herself to give up the indulgence also. +By this self-denial she gets a little money in hand for the next demand, +and thus is enabled to afford both next time." + +As he finished speaking, we spied the lame gardener pruning and clearing +the trees. "Well, James," said the Doctor, "how does your nursery +thrive?" "Why, sir," said the poor man, "we are rather thin of stout +trees at present. You know we had three weddings at Christmas, which +took thirty-six of my best apple-trees at a blow, besides half a dozen +tall pear-trees, and as many plums. But we shall soon fetch it up, for +Miss Lucilla makes me plant two for every one that is removed, so that +we are always provided for a wedding, come when it will." + +I now recollected that I had been pleased with observing so many young +orchards and flourishing cottage gardens in the village: little did I +suspect the fair hand which could thus in a few years diffuse an air of +smiling comfort around these humble habitations, and embellish poverty +itself. She makes, they told me, her periodical visits of inspection to +see that neatness and order do not degenerate. + +Not to appear too eager, I asked the poor man some questions about his +health, which seemed infirm. "I am but weak, sir," said he, "for matter +of that, but I should have been dead long ago but for the Squire's +family. He gives me the run of his kitchen, and Miss Lucilla allows me +half-a-crown a week for one day's work and any odd hour I can spare; but +she don't let me earn it, for she is always watching for fear it should +be too hot, or too cold, or too wet for me; and she brings me my dose of +bark herself into this tool-house, that she may be sure I take it; for +she says, servants and poor people like to have medicines provided for +them, but don't care to take them. Then she watches that I don't throw +my coat on the wet grass, which she says, gives laboring men so much +rheumatism; and she made me this nice flannel waistcoat, sir, with her +own hands. At Christmas they give me a new suit from top to toe, so that +I want for nothing but a more thankful heart, for I never can be +grateful enough to God and my benefactors." + +I asked some further questions, only to have the pleasure of hearing him +talk longer about Lucilla. "But, sir," said he, interrupting me, "I hear +bad news, very bad news. Pray, your honor, forgive me." "What do you +mean, James?" said I, seeing his eyes fill. "Why, sir, all the servants +at the Grove will have it that you are come to carry off Miss Lucilla, +God bless her whenever she goes. Your Mr. Edwards, sir, says you are one +of the best of gentlemen, but indeed, indeed, I don't know who can +deserve her. She will carry a blessing wherever she goes." The honest +fellow put up the sleeve of his coat to brush away his tears, nor was I +ashamed of those with which his honest affection filled my own eyes. +While we were talking, a poor little girl, who I knew, by her neat +uniform, belonged to Miss Stanley's school, passed us with a little +basket in her hand. James called to her, "Make haste, Rachel, you are +after your time." + +"What, this is market-day, James, is it?" said Doctor Barlow, "and +Rachel is come for her nosegays." "Yes, sir," said James; "I forgot to +tell their honors, that every Saturday, as soon as her school is over, +the younger Misses give Rachel leave to come and fetch some flowers out +of their garden, which she carries to the town to sell; she commonly +gets a shilling, half of which they make her lay out to bring home a +little tea for her poor sick mother, and the other half she lays up to +buy shoes and stockings for herself and her crippled sister. Every +little is a help where there is nothing, sir." + +Sir John said nothing, but looked at Lady Belfield, whose eyes glistened +while she softly said, "O, how little do the rich ever think what the +aggregate even of their own squandered shillings would do in the way of +charity, were they systematically applied to it!" + +James now unlocked a little private door, which opened into the +pleasure-ground. There, at a distance, sitting in a circle on the +new-mown grass, under a tree, we beheld all the little Stanleys, with a +basket of flowers between them, out of which they were earnestly +employed in sorting and tying up nosegays. We stood some time admiring +their little busy faces and active fingers, without their perceiving us, +and got up to them just as they were putting their prettily-formed +bouquets into Rachel's basket, with which she marched off, with many +charges from the children to waste no time by the way, and to be sure to +leave the nosegay that had the myrtle in it at Mrs. Williams's. + +"How many nosegays have you given to Rachel to-day, Louisa?" said Dr. +Barlow to the eldest of the four. "Only three apiece, sir," replied she. +"We think it a bad day when we can't make up our dozen. They are all our +own; we seldom touch mamma's flowers, and we never suffer James to take +ours, because Ph[oe]be says it might be tempting him. Little Jane +lamented that Lucilla had given them nothing to-day, except two or three +sprigs of her best flowering myrtle, which," added she, "we make Rachel +give into the bargain to a poor sick lady who loves flowers, and used to +have good ones of her own, but who has now no money to spare, and could +not afford to give more than the common price for a nosegay for her sick +room. So we always slip a nice flower or two out of the green-house into +her little bunch, and say nothing. When we walk that way we often leave +her some flowers ourselves, and would do it oftener if it did not hurt +poor Rachel's trade." + +As we walked away from the sweet prattlers, Dr. Barlow said: "These +little creatures already emulate their sisters in associating some petty +kindness with their own pleasures. The act is trifling, but the habit is +good; as is every habit which helps to take us out of self, which +teaches us to transfer our attention from our own gratification to the +wants or the pleasures of another." + +"I confess," said Lady Belfield, as we entered the house, "that it never +occurred to me that it was any part of charity to train my children to +the habit of sacrificing their time or their pleasure for the benefit of +others, though to do them justice, they are very feeling and very +liberal with their money." + +"My dear Caroline," said Sir John, "it is our money, not theirs. It is, +I fear, a cheap liberality, and abridges not themselves of one +enjoyment. They well know we are so pleased to see them charitable that +we shall instantly repay them with interest whatever they give away, so +that we have hitherto afforded them no opportunity to show their actual +dispositions. Nay, I begin to fear that they may become charitable +through covetousness, if they find out that the more they give the more +they shall get. We must correct this artificial liberality as soon as we +get home." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +A few days after, Sir John Belfield and I agreed to take a ride to Mr. +Carlton's, where we breakfasted. Nothing could be more rational than the +whole turn of his mind, nor more agreeable and unreserved than his +conversation. His behavior to his amiable wife was affectionately +attentive, and Sir John, who is a most critical observer, remarked that +it was quite natural and unaffected. It appeared to be the result of +esteem inspired by her merit, and quickened by a sense of his own former +unworthiness, which made him feel as if he could never do enough to +efface the memory of past unkindness. He manifested evident symptoms of +a mind earnestly intent on the discovery and pursuit of moral and +religious truth; and from the natural ardor of his character, and the +sincerity of his remorse, his attainments seemed likely to be rapid and +considerable. + +The sweet benignity of Mrs. Carlton's countenance was lighted up at our +entrance with a smile of satisfaction. We had been informed with what +pleasure she observed every accession of right-minded acquaintance which +her husband made. Though her natural modesty prevented her from +introducing any subject herself, yet when any thing useful was brought +forward by others, she promoted it by a look compounded of pleasure and +intelligence. + +After a variety of topics had been dispatched, the conversation fell on +the prejudices which were commonly entertained by men of the world +against religion. "For my own part," said Mr. Carlton, "I must confess +that no man had ever more or stronger prejudices to combat than myself. +I mean not my own exculpation when I add, that the imprudence, the want +of judgment, and, above all, the incongruous mixtures and +inconsistencies in many characters who are reckoned religious, are ill +calculated to do away the unfavorable opinions of men of an opposite way +of thinking. As I presume that you, gentlemen, are not ignorant of the +errors of my early life--error indeed is an appellation far too mild--I +shall not scruple to own to you the source of those prejudices which +retarded my progress, even after I became ashamed of my deviations from +virtue. I had felt the turpitude of my bad habits long before I had +courage to renounce them; and I renounced them long before I had courage +to avow my abhorrence of them." + +Sir John and I expressed ourselves extremely obliged by the candor of +his declaration, and assured him that his further communications would +not only gratify but benefit us. + +"Educated as I had been," said Mr. Carlton, "in an almost entire +ignorance of religion, mine was rather a habitual indifference than a +systematic unbelief. My thoughtless course of life, though it led me to +hope that Christianity might not be true, yet had by no means been able +to convince me that it was false. As I had not been taught to search for +truth at the fountain, for I was unacquainted with the Bible, I had no +readier means for forming my judgment than by observing, though with a +careless and casual eye, what effect religion produced in those who +professed to be influenced by it. My observations augmented my +prejudices. What I saw of the professors increased my dislike of the +profession. All the charges brought by their enemies, for I had been +accustomed to weigh the validity of testimony, had not riveted my +dislike so much as the difference between their own avowed principles +and their obvious practice. Religious men should be the more cautious of +giving occasion for reproach, as they know the world is always on the +watch, and is more glad to have its prejudices confirmed than removed. + +"I seize the moment of Mrs. Carlton's absence (who was just then called +out of the room, but returned almost immediately) to observe, that what +rooted my disgust was, the eagerness with which the mother of my +inestimable wife, who made a great parade of religion, pressed the +marriage of her only child with a man whose conduct she knew to be +irregular, and of whose principles she entertained a just, that is, an +unfavorable opinion. To see, I repeat, the religious mother of Mrs. +Carlton obviously governed in her zeal for promoting our union by +motives as worldly as those of my poor father, who pretended to no +religion at all, would have extremely lowered any respect which I might +have previously been induced to entertain for characters of that +description. Nor was this disgust diminished by my acquaintance with Mr. +Tyrrel. I had known him while a professed man of the world, and had at +that time, I fear, disliked his violent temper, his narrow mind, and his +coarse manners, more than his vices. + +"I had heard of the power of religion to change the heart, and I +ridiculed the wild chimera. My contempt for this notion was confirmed by +the conduct of Mr. Tyrrel in his new character. I found it had produced +little change in him, except furnishing him with a new subject of +discussion. I saw that he had only laid down one set of opinions and +taken up another, with no addition whatever to his virtues, and with the +addition to his vices of spiritual pride and self-confidence; for with +hypocrisy I have no right to charge any man. I observed that Tyrrel and +one or two of his new friends rather courted attack than avoided it. +They considered discretion as the infirmity of a worldly mind, and every +attempt at kindness or conciliation as an abandonment of faith. They +eagerly ascribed to their piety the dislike which was often excited by +their peculiarities. I found them apt to dignify the disapprobation +which their singularity occasioned with the name of persecution. I have +seen them take comfort in the belief that it was their religion which +was disliked, when perhaps it was chiefly their oddities. + +"At Tyrrel's I became acquainted with your friends Mr. and Mrs. Ranby. I +leave you to judge whether their characters, that of the lady +especially, was calculated to do away my prejudices. I had learned from +my favorite Roman poet a precept in composition, of never making a God +appear, except on occasions worthy of a God. I have since had reason to +think this rule as justly theological as it is classical. So thought not +the Ranbys. + +"It will, indeed, readily be allowed by every reflecting mind, as God is +to be viewed in all his works, so his 'never-failing providence ordereth +all things both in heaven and on earth.' But surely there is something +very offensive in the indecent familiarity with which the name of God +and Providence is brought in on every trivial occasion, as was the +constant practice of Mr. and Mrs. Ranby. I was not even then so +illogical a reasoner as to allow a general and deny a particular +Providence. If the one were true, I inferred that the other could not be +false. But I felt that the religion of these people was of a slight +texture and a bad taste. I was disgusted with littleness in some +instances, and with inconsistency in others. Still their absurdity gave +me no right to suspect their sincerity. + +"Whenever Mrs. Ranby had a petty inclination to gratify, she had always +recourse to what she called the _leadings of Providence_. In matters of +no more moment than whether she should drink tea with one neighbor +instead of another, she was _impelled_, or _directed_, or _overruled_. I +observed that she always took care to interpret these _leadings_ to her +own taste, and under their sanction she always did what her fancy led +her to do. She professed to follow this guidance on such minute +occasions, that I had almost said her piety seemed a little impious. To +the actual dispensations of Providence, especially when they came in a +trying or adverse shape, I did not observe more submission than I had +seen in persons who could not be suspected of religion. I must own to +you also, that as I am rather fastidious, I began to fancy that vulgar +language, quaint phrases, and false grammar, were necessarily connected +with religion. The sacrifice of taste and elegance, seemed +indispensable, and I was inclined to fear that if _they_ were right, it +would be impossible to get to heaven with good English." + +"Though I grant there is some truth in your remarks, sir," said I, "you +must allow that when men are determined at all events to hunt down +religious characters, they are never at a loss to find plausible +objections to justify their dislike; and while they conceal, even from +themselves, the real motive of their aversion, the vigilance with which +they pry into the characters of men who are reckoned pious, is exercised +with the secret hope of finding faults enough to confirm their +prejudices." + +"As a general truth, you are perfectly right," said Mr. Carlton; "but at +the period to which I allude, I had now got to that stage of my +progress, as to be rather searching for instances to invite than to +repel me in my inquiry." + +"You will grant, however," said I, "that it is a common effect of +prejudice to transfer the fault of a religious man to religion itself. +Such a man happens to have an uncouth manner, an awkward gesture, an +unmodulated voice; his allusions may be coarse, his phraseology quaint, +his language slovenly. The solid virtues which may lie disguised under +these incumbrances go for nothing. The man is absurd, and therefore +Christianity is ridiculous. Its truth, however, though it may be +eclipsed, can not be extinguished. Like its divine Author, it is the +same yesterday, to-day, and forever." + +"There was another repulsive circumstance," replied Mr. Carlton: "the +scanty charities both of Tyrrel and his new friends, so inferior to the +liberality of my father and of Mr. Flam, who never professed to be +governed by any higher motive than mere feeling, strengthened my +dislike. The calculations of mere reason taught me that the religious +man who does not greatly exceed the man of the world in his +liberalities, falls short of him; because the worldly man who gives +liberally, acts above his principle, while the Christian who does no +more, falls short of his. And though I by no means insist that +liberality is a certain indication of piety, yet I will venture to +assert that the want of the one is no doubtful symptom of the absence of +the other. + +"I next resolved to watch carefully the conduct of another description +of Christians, who come under the class of the formal and the decent. +They were considered as more creditable, but I did not perceive them to +be more exemplary. They were more absorbed in the world, and more +governed by its opinions. I found them clamorous in defense of the +church in words, but neither adorning it by their lives, nor embracing +its doctrines in their hearts. Rigid in the observance of some of its +external rites, but little influenced by its liberal principles, and +charitable spirit. They venerated the establishment merely as a +political institution, but of her outward forms they conceived, as +comprehending the whole of her excellence. Of her spiritual beauty and +superiority, they seemed to have no conception. I observed in them less +warmth of affection, for those with whom they agreed in external +profession, than of rancor for those who differed from them, though but +a single shade, and in points of no importance. They were cordial +haters, and frigid lovers. Had they lived in the early ages, when the +church was split into parties by paltry disputes, they would have +thought the controversy about the time of keeping Easter of more +consequence than the event itself, which that festival celebrates." + +"My dear sir," said I, as soon as he had done speaking, "you have +accounted very naturally for your prejudices. Your chief error seems to +have consisted in the selection of the persons you adopted as standards. +They all differed as much from the right as they differed from each +other; and the truth is, their vehement desire to differ from each +other, was a chief cause why they departed so much from the right. But +your instances were so unhappily chosen, that they prove nothing against +Christianity. The two opposite descriptions of persons who deterred you +from religion, and who passed muster in their respective corps, under +the generic term of religious, would, I believe, be scarcely +acknowledged as such by the soberly and the soundly pious." + +"My own subsequent experience," resumed Mr. Carlton, "has confirmed the +justness of your remark. When I began, through the gradual change +wrought in my views and actions, by the silent, but powerful preaching +of Mrs. Carlton's example, to have less interest in believing that +Christianity was false, I then applied myself to search for reasons to +believe that it was true. But plain, abstract reasoning, though it might +catch hold on beings who are all pure intellect, and though it might +have given a right bias even to _my_ opinions, would probably never have +determined my conduct, unless I saw it clothed, as it were, with a body. +I wanted examples which should influence me to act, as well as proofs +which should incline me to believe; something which would teach me what +to do, as well as what to think. I wanted exemplifications as well as +precepts. I doubted of all merely speculative truth. I wanted, from +beholding the effect, to refer back to the principle. I wanted arguments +more palpable and less theoretic. Surely, said I to myself, if religion +be a principle, it must be an operative one, and I would rationally +infer that Christianity were true, if the tone of Christian practice +were high. + +"I began to look clandestinely into Henrietta's Bible. There I indeed +found that the spirit of religion was invested with just such a body as +I had wished to see; that it exhibited actions as well as sentiments, +characters, as well as doctrines; the life portrayed evidently governed +by the principle inculcated; the conduct and the doctrine in just +correspondence. But if the Bible be true, thought I, may we not +reasonably expect that the principles which once produced the exalted +practice which that Bible records, will produce similar effects now? + +"I put, rashly perhaps, the truth of Christianity on this issue, and +sought society of a higher stamp. Fortunately the increasing external +decorum of my conduct began to make my reception less difficult among +good men than it had been. Hitherto, and that for the sake of my wife, +my visits had rather been endured than encouraged; nor was I myself +forward to seek the society which shunned me. Even with those superior +characters with whom I did occasionally associate, I had not come near +enough to form an exact estimate. + +"DISINTERESTEDNESS and CONSISTENCY had become with me a sort of +touchstone, by which to try the characters I was investigating. My +experiment was favorable. I had for some time observed my wife's +conduct, with a mixture of admiration as to the act, and incredulity as +to the motive. I had seen her foregoing her own indulgences, that she +might augment those of a husband whom she had so little reason to love. +Here were the two qualities I required, with a renunciation of self +without parade or profession. Still this was a solitary instance. When +on a nearer survey, I beheld Dr. Barlow exhibiting by his exemplary +conduct during the week, the best commentary on his Sunday's sermon: +when I saw him refuse a living of nearly twice the value of that he +possessed, because the change would diminish his usefulness, I was +_staggered_. + +"When I saw Mr. and Mrs. Stanley spending their time and fortune as +entirely in acts of beneficence, as if they had built their eternal +hope on charity alone, and yet utterly renouncing any such confidence, +and trusting entirely to another foundation;--when I saw Lucilla, a girl +of eighteen, refuse a young nobleman of a clear estate, and neither +disagreeable in his person or manner, on the single avowed ground of his +loose principles; when the noble rejection of the daughter was supported +by the parents, whose principles no arguments drawn from rank or fortune +could subvert or shake--I was _convinced_. + +"These, and some other instances of the same nature, were exactly the +test I had been seeking. Here was _disinterestedness_ upon full proof. +Here was _consistency_ between practice and profession. By such +examples, and by cordially adopting those principles which produced +them, together with a daily increasing sense of my past enormities, I +hope to become in time less unworthy of the wife to whom I owe my peace +on earth, and my hope in heaven." + +The tears which had been collecting in Mrs. Carlton's eyes for some +time, now silently stole down her cheeks. Sir John and myself were +deeply affected with the frank and honest narrative to which we had been +listening. It raised in us an esteem and affection for the narrator +which has since been continually augmenting. I do not think the worse of +his state, for the difficulties which impeded it, nor that his +advancement will be less sure, because it has been gradual. His fear of +delusion has been a salutary guard. The apparent slowness of his +progress has arisen from his dread of self-deception, and the diligence +of his search is an indication of his sincerity. + +"But did you not find," said I, "that the piety of these more correct +Christians drew upon them nearly as much censure and suspicion as the +indiscretion of the enthusiasts? and that the formal class who were +nearly as far removed from effective piety, as from wild fanaticism, +ran away with all the credit of religion?'" + +"With those," replied Mr. Carlton, "who are on the watch to discredit +Christianity, no consistency can stand their determined opposition; but +the fair and candid inquirer will not reject the truth, when it forces +the truth on the mind with a clear and convincing evidence." + +Though I had been joining in the general subject, yet my thoughts had +wandered from it to Lucilla ever since her noble rejection of Lord +Staunton had been named by Mr. Carlton as one of the causes which had +strengthened his unsteady faith. And while he and Sir John were talking +over their youthful connections, I resumed with Mrs. Carlton, who sat +next me, the interesting topic. + +"Lord Staunton," said she, "is a relation, and not a very distant one, +of ours. He used to take more delight in Mr. Carlton's society when it +was less improving than he does now, that it is become really valuable; +yet he often visits us. Miss Stanley now and then indulges me with her +company for a day or two. In these visits Lord Staunton happened to meet +her two or three times. He was enchanted with her person and manners, +and exerted every art and faculty of pleasing, which it must be owned he +possesses. Though we should both have rejoiced in an alliance with the +excellent family at the Grove, through this sweet girl, I thought it my +duty not to conceal from her the irregularity of my cousin's conduct in +one particular instance, as well as the general looseness of his +religious principles. The caution was the more necessary, as he had so +much prudence and good breeding, as to behave with general propriety +when under our roof; and he allowed me to speak to him more freely than +any other person. When I talked seriously, he sometimes laughed, always +opposed, but was never angry. + +"One day he arrived quite unexpectedly when Miss Stanley was with me. He +found us in my dressing-room reading together a _Dissertation on the +power of religion to change the heart_. Dreading some levity, I strove +to hide the book, but he took it out of my hand, and glancing his eye on +the title, he said, laughing, 'This is a foolish subject enough; a _good +heart_ does not want changing, and with a _bad_ one none of _us three_ +have any thing to do.' Lucilla spoke not a syllable. All the light +things he uttered, and which he meant for wit, so far from raising a +smile, increased her gravity. She listened, but with some uneasiness, to +a desultory conversation between us, in which I attempted to assert the +power of the Almighty to rectify the mind, and alter the character. Lord +Staunton treated my assertion as a wild chimera, and said, 'He was sure +I had more understanding than to adopt such a methodistical notion;' +professing at the same time a vague admiration of virtue and goodness, +which, he said, bowing to Miss Stanley, were _natural_ where they +existed at all; that a good heart did not want mending, and a bad one +could not be mended, with other similar expressions, all implying +contempt of my position, and exclusive compliment to her. + +"After dinner, Lucilla stole away from a conversation, which was not +very interesting to her, and carried her book to the summer-house, +knowing that Lord Staunton liked to sit long at table. But his lordship +missing her for whom the visit was meant, soon broke up the party, and +hearing which way she took, pursued her to the summer-house. After a +profusion of compliments, expressive of his high admiration, he declared +his passion in very strong and explicit terms, and requested her +permission to make proposals to her father, to which he conceived she +could have no possible objection. + +"She thanked him with great politeness for his favorable opinion, but +frankly told him, that though extremely sensible of the honor he +intended her, thanks were all she had to offer in return; she earnestly +desired the business might go no further, and that he would spare +himself the trouble of an application to her father, who always kindly +allowed her to decide for herself in a concern of so much importance. + +"Disappointed, shocked, and irritated at a rejection so wholly +unexpected, he insisted on knowing the cause. Was it his person? Was it +his fortune? Was it his understanding to which she objected? She +honestly assured him it was neither. His rank and fortune were above her +expectations. To his natural advantages there could be no reasonable +objection. He still vehemently insisted on her assigning the true cause. +She was then driven to the necessity of confessing that she feared his +principles were not those of a man with whom she could venture to trust +her own. + +"He bore this reproof with more patience than she had expected. As she +had made no exception to his person and understanding, both of which he +rated very highly, he could better bear with the charge brought against +his principles, on which he did not set so great a value. She had indeed +wounded his pride, but not in the part where it was most vulnerable. 'If +that be all,' said he gayly, 'the objection is at an end; your charming +society will reform me, your influence will raise my principles, and +your example will change my character.' + +"'What, my lord,' said she, her courage increasing with her indignation, +'this from _you_? From you, who declared only this morning, that the +work of changing the heart was too great for the Almighty himself? You +do not now scruple to declare that it is in _my_ power. That work which +is too hard for Omnipotence, your flattery would make me believe a weak +girl can accomplish. No, my lord, I will never add to the number of +those rash women who have risked their eternal happiness on this vain +hope. It would be too late to repent of my folly, after my presumption +had incurred its just punishment.' + +"So saying, she left the summer-house with a polite dignity, which, as +he afterward told me, increased his passion, while it inflamed his pride +almost to madness. Finding she refused to appear, he quitted the house, +but not his design. His applications have since been repeated, but +though he has met with the firmest repulses, both from the parents and +the daughter, he can not be prevailed upon to relinquish his hope. It is +so far a misfortune to us, as Lucilla now never comes near us, except he +is known not to be in the country. Had the objection been to his person, +or fortune, he says, as it would have been substantial, it might have +been insuperable; but where the only ground of difference is mere matter +of opinion, he is sure that time and perseverance will conquer such a +chimerical objection." + +I returned to the Grove, not only cured of every jealous feeling, but +transported with such a decisive proof of the dignity and purity of Miss +Stanley's mind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +Miss Sparkes, a neighboring lady, whom the reputation of being a wit and +an amazon, had kept single at the age of five-and-forty, though her +person was not disagreeable, and her fortune considerable, called in one +morning while we were at breakfast. She is remarkable for her pretension +to odd and opposite qualities. She is something of a scholar, and a +huntress, a politician, and a farrier. She outrides Mr. Flam, and +outargues Mr. Tyrrel; excels in driving four in hand, and in canvassing +at an election. She is always anxious about the party, but never about +the candidate, in whom she requires no other merit but his being in the +opposition, which she accepts as a pledge for all other merit. In her +adoption of any talent, or her exercise of any quality, it is always +sufficient recommendation to her that it is not feminine. + +From the window we saw her descend from her lofty phæton, and when she +came, + + The cap, the whip, the masculine attire, + +the loud voice, the intrepid look, the independent air, the whole +deportment indicated a disposition rather to confer protection than to +accept it. + +She made an apology for her intrusion, by saying that her visit was +rather to the stable than the breakfast-room. One of her horses was a +little lame, and she wanted to consult Mr. Stanley's groom, who, it +seems, was her oracle in that science, in which she herself is a +professed adept. + +During her short visit, she labored so sedulously not to diminish by her +conversation the character she was so desirous to establish, that her +efforts defeated the end they aimed to secure. She was witty with all +her might, and her sarcastic turn, for wit it was not, made little +amends for her want of simplicity. I perceived that she was fond of the +bold, the marvelous, and the incredible. She ventured to tell a story or +two, so little within the verge of ordinary probability, that she risked +her credit for veracity without, perhaps, really violating truth. The +credit acquired by such relations seldom pays the relator for the hazard +run by the communication. + +As we fell into conversation, I observed the peculiarities of her +character. She never sees any difficulties in any question. Whatever the +topic is started, while the rest of the company are hesitating as to the +propriety of their determination, she alone is never at a loss. Her +answer always follows the proposition, without a moment's interval for +examination herself, or for allowing any other person a chance of +delivering an opinion. + +Mr. Stanley, who always sets an example of strict punctuality to his +family, had to-day come in to perform his daily devotions somewhat later +than usual. I could perceive that he had been a little moved. His +countenance wanted something of its placid serenity, though it seemed to +be seriousness untinctured with anger. He confessed while we were at +breakfast, that he had been spending above an hour in bringing one of +his younger children to a sense of a fault she had committed. "She has +not," said he, "told an absolute falsehood, but in what she said there +was prevarication, there was pride, there was passion. Her perverseness +has at length given way. Tears of resentment are changed into tears of +contrition. But she is not to appear in the drawing-room to-day. She is +to be deprived of the honor of carrying food to the poor in the evening. +Nor is she to furnish her contribution of nosegays to Rachel's basket. +This is a mode of punishment we prefer to that of curtailing any +personal indulgences; the importance we should assign to the privation +would be setting too much value on the enjoyment." + +"You should be careful, Mr. Stanley," said Miss Sparkes, "not to break +the child's spirit. Too tight a rein will check her generous ardor, and +curb her genius. I would not subdue the independence of her mind, and +make a tame dull animal of a creature whose very faults give indications +of a soaring nature." Even Lady Belfield, to whose soft and tender heart +the very sound of punishment, or even privation, carried a sort of +terror, asked Mr. Stanley "if he did not think he had taken-up a +trifling offense too seriously, and punished it too severely." + +"The thing is a trifle in itself," replied he, "but infant prevarication +unnoticed, and unchecked, is the prolific seed of subterfuge, of +expediency, of deceit, of falsehood, of hypocrisy." + +"But the dear little creature," said Lady Belfield, "is not addicted to +equivocation. I have always admired her correctness in her pleasant +prattle." + +"It is for that very reason," replied Mr. Stanley, "that I am so careful +to check the first indication of the contrary tendency. As the fault is +a solitary one, I trust the punishment will be so too. For which reason +I have marked it in a way to which her memory will easily recur. Mr. +Brandon, an amiable friend of mine, but of an indolent temper, through a +negligence in watching over an early propensity to deceit, suffered his +only son to run on from one stage of falsehood to another, till he +settled down in a most consummate hypocrite. His plausible manners +enabled him to keep his more turbulent vices out of sight. Impatient +when a youth of that contradiction to which he had never been accustomed +when a boy, he became notoriously profligate. His dissimulation was at +length too thin to conceal from his mistaken father his more palpable +vices. His artifices finally involved him in a duel, and his premature +death broke the heart of my poor friend. + +"This sad example led me in my own family to watch this evil in the bud. +Divines often say that unbelief lies at the root of all sin. This seems +strikingly true in our conniving at the faults of our children. If we +really believed the denunciations of Scripture, could we for the sake of +a momentary gratification, not so much to our child as to ourselves +(which is the case in all blamable indulgence), overlook that fault +which may be the germ of unspeakable miseries! In my view of things, +deceit is no slight offense; I feel myself answerable in no small degree +for the eternal happiness of these beloved creatures whom Providence has +especially committed to my trust." + +"But it is such a severe trial," said Lady Belfield, "to a fond parent +to inflict voluntary pain!" + +"Shall we feel for their pain and not for their danger?" replied Mr. +Stanley. "I wonder how parents who love their children as I love mine, +can put in competition a temporary indulgence, which may foster one evil +temper, or fasten one bad habit, with the eternal welfare of that +child's soul. A soul of such inconceivable worth, whether we consider +its nature, its duration, or the price which was paid for its +redemption! What parent, I say, can by his own rash negligence, or false +indulgence, risk the happiness of such a soul, not for a few days or +years, but for a period compared with which the whole duration of time +is but a point? A soul of such infinite faculties, which has a capacity +for improving in holiness and happiness, through all the countless ages +of eternity?" + +Observing Sir John listen with some emotion, Mr. Stanley went on: "What +remorse, my dear friend, can equal the pangs of him who has reason to +believe that his child has not only lost this eternity of glory, but +incurred an eternity of misery, through the carelessness of that parent +who assigned his very fondness as a reason for his neglect? Think of the +state of such a father, when he figures to himself the thousands and ten +thousands of glorified spirits that stand before the throne, and his +darling excluded--excluded perhaps by his own ill-judging fondness. Oh, +my friends, disguise it as we may, and deceive ourselves as we will, +want of faith is as much at the bottom of this sin as of all others. +Notwithstanding an indefinite, indistinct notion which men call faith, +they do not actually _believe_ in this eternity; they believe it in a +general way, but they do not believe in it practically, personally, +influentially." + +While Mr. Stanley was speaking with an energy which evinced how much his +own heart was affected, Miss Sparkes, by the impatience of her looks, +evidently manifested that she wished to interrupt him. Good breeding, +however, kept her silent till he had done speaking: she then said, "that +though she allowed that absolute falsehood, and falsehood used for +mischievous purposes, was really criminal, yet there was a danger on the +other hand of laying too severe restrictions on freedom of speech. That +there might be such a thing as tacit hypocrisy. That people might be +guilty of as much deceit by suppressing their sentiments if just, as by +expressing such as were not quite correct. That a repulsive treatment +was calculated to extinguish the fire of invention. She thought, also, +that there were occasions where a harmless falsehood might not only be +pardonable, but laudable. But then she allowed, that a falsehood to be +allowed, must be inoffensive." + +Mr. Stanley said, "that an inoffensive falsehood was a perfect anomaly. +But allowing it possible that an individual instance of deceit might be +passed over, which, however, he never could allow, yet one successful +falsehood, on the plea of doing good, would necessarily make way for +another, till the limits which divide right and wrong would be +completely broken down, and every distinction between truth and +falsehood be utterly confounded. If such latitude were allowed, even to +obtain some good purpose, it would gradually debauch all human +intercourse. The smallest deviation would naturally induce a pernicious +habit, endanger the security of society, and violate an express law of +God." + +"There is no tendency," said Sir John Belfield, "more to be guarded +against among young persons of warm hearts and lively imaginations. The +feeling will think falsehood good if it is meant to _do_ good, and the +fanciful will think it justifiable if it is ingenious." + +Ph[oe]be, in presenting her father with a dish of coffee, said in a half +whisper, "Surely, papa, there can be no harm in speaking falsely on a +subject where I am ignorant of the truth." + +"There are occasions, my dear Ph[oe]be," replied her father, "in which +ignorance itself is a fault. Inconsiderateness is always one. It is your +duty to deliberate before you speak. It is your duty not to deceive by +your negligence in getting at the truth; or by publishing false +information as truth, though you have reason to suspect it may be false. +You well know who it is that associates him that _loveth_ a lie, with +him that _maketh_ it." + +"But sir," said Miss Sparkes, "if by a falsehood I could preserve a +life, or save my country, falsehood would then be meritorious, and I +should glory in deceiving." + +"Persons, madam," said Mr. Stanley, "who, in debate, have a favorite +point to carry, are apt to suppose extreme cases, which _can_ and _do_ +very rarely if ever occur. This they do in order to compel the +acquiescence of an opponent to what ought never to be allowed. It is a +proud and fruitless speculation. The infinite power of God can never +stand in need of the aid of a weak mortal to help him out in his +difficulties. If he sees fit to preserve the life, or to save the +country, he is not driven to such shifts. Omnipotence can extricate +himself, and accomplish his own purposes, without endangering an +immortal soul." + +Miss Sparkes took her leave soon after, in order, as she said, to go to +the stable and take the groom's opinion. Mr. Stanley insisted that her +carriage should be brought round to the door, to which we all attended +her. He inquired which was the lame horse. Instead of answering, she +went directly up to the animal, and after patting him with some +technical jockey phrases, she fearlessly took up his hind leg, carefully +examined the foot, and while she continued standing in what appeared to +the ladies a perilous, and to me a disgusting situation, she ran over +all the terms of the veterinary art with the groom, and when Miss +Stanley expressed some fear of her danger, and some dislike of her +coarseness, she burst into a loud laugh, and slapping her on the +shoulder, asked her if it was not better to understand the properties +and diseases of so noble an animal, than to waste her time in studying +confectionery with old Goody Comfit, or in teaching the catechism to +little ragged beggar-brats? + +As soon as she was gone, the lively Ph[oe]be, who, her father says, has +narrowly escaped being a wit herself, cried out: "Well, papa, I must say +that I think Miss Sparkes, with all her faults, is rather an agreeable +woman." "I grant that she is amusing," returned he, "but I do not allow +her to be quite agreeable. Between these, Ph[oe]be, there is a wide +distinction. To a correct mind, no one can be agreeable who is +incorrect. Propriety is so indispensable to agreeableness, that when a +lady allows herself to make any, even the smallest, sacrifice of +veracity, religion, modesty, candor, or the decorum of her sex, she may +be shining, she may be showy, she may be amusing, but she can not, +properly speaking, be agreeable. Miss Sparkes, I very reluctantly +confess, does sometimes make these sacrifices, in a degree to make her +friends look about them, though not in a degree to alarm her own +principles. She would not tell a direct falsehood for the world; she +does not indeed invent, but she embellishes, she enlarges, she +exaggerates, she discolors. In her moral grammar there is no positive or +comparative degree. Pink with her is scarlet. The noise of a popgun is +a cannon. A shower is a tempest. A person of small fortune is a beggar. +One in easy circumstances is a Cr[oe]sus. A girl, if not perfectly well +made, is deformity personified; if tolerable, a Grecian Venus. Her +favorites are angels. Her enemies, demons. + +"She would be thought very religious, and I hope that she will one day +become so; yet she sometimes treats serious things with no small levity, +and though she would not originally say a very bad word, yet she makes +no scruple of repeating, with great glee, profane stories told by +others. Besides, she possesses the dangerous art of exciting an improper +idea, without using an improper word. Gross indecency would shock her, +but she often verges so far toward indelicacy as to make Mrs. Stanley +uneasy. Then she is too much of a genius to be tied down by any +consideration of prudence. If a good thing occurs, out it comes, without +regard to time or circumstance. She would tell the same story to a +bishop as to her chambermaid. If she says a right thing, which she often +does, it is seldom in the right place. She makes her way in society, +without attaching many friends. Her bon-mots are admired and repeated; +yet I never met with a man of sense, though he may join in flattering +her, who did not declare, as soon as she was out of the room, that he +would not for the world that she should be his wife or daughter. It is +irksome to her to converse with her own sex, while she little suspects +that ours is not properly grateful for the preference with which she +honors us. + +"She is," continued Mr. Stanley, "charitable with her purse, but not +with her tongue; she relieves her poor neighbors, and indemnifies +herself by slandering her rich ones. She has, however, many good +qualities, is generous, feeling, and humane, and I would on no account +speak so freely of a lady whom I receive at my house were it not that, +if I were, quite silent, after Ph[oe]be's expressed admiration, she +might conclude that I saw nothing to condemn in Miss Sparkes, and might +be copying her faults under the notion that being entertaining made +amends for every thing." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +One morning, Sir John coming in from his ride, gayly called out to me, +as I was reading, "Oh Charles, such a piece of news! The Miss Flams are +converted. They have put on tuckers. They were at church twice on +Sunday. Blair's Sermons are sent for, and _you_ are the reformer." This +ludicrous address reminded Mr. Stanley that Mr. Flam had told him we +were all in disgrace for not having called on the ladies, and it was +proposed to repair this neglect. + +"Now take notice," said Sir John, "if you do not see a new character +assumed. Thinking Charles to be a fine man of the town, the modish +racket, which indeed is their natural state, was played off, but it did +not answer. As they probably, by this time, suspect your character to be +somewhat between the Strephon and the Hermit, we shall now, in return, +see something between the wood-nymph and the nun, and I shall not wonder +if the extravagantly modish Miss Bell + + "Is now Pastora by a fountain's side." + +Though I would not attribute the change to the cause assigned by Sir +John, yet I confess we found, when we made our visit, no small +revolution in Miss Bell Flam. The part of the Arcadian nymph, the +reading lady, the lover of retirement, the sentimental admirer of +domestic life, the censurer of thoughtless dissipation, was each acted +in succession, but so skillfully touched that the shades of each melted +in the other without any of those violent transitions which a less +experienced actress would have exhibited: Sir John slyly, yet with +affected gravity, assisting her to sustain this newly adapted character, +which, however, he was sure would last no longer than the visit. + +When we returned home, we met the Miss Stanleys in the garden and joined +them. "Don't you admire," said Sir John, "the versatility of Miss Bell's +genius? You, Charles, are not the first man on whom an assumed fondness +for rural delights has been practiced. A friend of mine was drawn in to +marry, rather suddenly, a thorough-paced town-bred lady, by her repeated +declarations of her passionate fondness for the country, and the rapture +she expressed when rural scenery was the subject. All she knew of the +country was, that she had now and then been on a party of pleasure at +Richmond, in the fine summer months; a great dinner at the Star and +Garter, gay company, a bright day, lovely scenery, a dance on the green, +a partner to her taste, French horns on the water, altogether +constituted a feeling of pleasure from which she had really persuaded +herself that she was fond of the country. But when all these +concomitants were withdrawn, when she had lost the gay partner, the +dance, the horns, the flattery, and the frolic, and nothing was left but +her books, her own dull mansion, her domestic employments, and the sober +society of her husband, the pastoral vision vanished. She discovered, or +rather _he_ discovered, but too late, that the country had not only no +charms for her, but that it was a scene of constant ennui and vapid +dullness. She languished for the pleasures she had quitted, and he for +the comforts he had lost. Opposite inclinations led to opposite +pursuits; difference of taste however, needed not to have led to a +total disunion, had there been on the part of the lady such a degree of +attachment as might have induced a spirit of accommodation, or such a +fund of principle as might have taught her the necessity of making those +sacrifices which affection, had it existed, would have rendered +pleasant, or duty would have made light, had she been early taught +self-government." + +Lucilla, smiling, said, "she hoped Sir John had a little over-charged +the picture." He defended himself by declaring, "he drew from the life, +and that from his long observations he could present us with a whole +gallery of such portraits." He left me to continue my walk with the two +Miss Stanleys. + +The more I conversed with Lucilla, the more I saw that good breeding in +her was only the outward expression of humility, and not an art employed +for the purpose of enabling her to do without it. We continued to +converse on the subject of Miss Flam's fondness for the gay world. This +introduced a natural expression of my admiration of Miss Stanley's +choice of pleasures and pursuits so different from those of most other +women of her age. + +With the most graceful modesty she said, "Nothing humbles me more than +compliments; for when I compare what I hear with what I feel, I find the +picture of myself drawn by a flattering friend so utterly unlike the +original in my own heart, that I am more sunk by my own consciousness of +the want of resemblance, than elated that another has not discovered it. +It makes me feel like an imposter. If I contradict this favorable +opinion, I am afraid of being accused of affectation; and if I silently +swallow it, I am contributing to the deceit of passing for what I am +not." This ingenious mode of disclaiming flattery only raised her in my +esteem, and the more, as I told her such humble renunciation of praise +could only proceed from that inward principle of genuine piety and +devout feeling which made so amiable a part of her character. + +"How little," said she, "is the human heart known except to him who made +it! While a fellow creature may admire our apparent devotion, he who +appears to be its object, witnesses the wandering of the heart, which +seems to be lifted up to him. He sees it roving to the ends of the +earth, busied about any thing rather than himself, running after trifles +which would not only dishonor Christian, but would disgrace a child. As +to my very virtues, if I dare apply such a word to myself, they +sometimes lose their character by not keeping their proper place. They +become sins by infringing on higher duties. If I mean to perform an act +of devotion, some crude plan of charity forces itself on my mind, and +what with trying to drive out one, and to establish the other, I rise +dissatisfied and unimproved, and resting my sole hope, not on the duty I +have been performing, but on the mercy I have been offending." + +I assured her with all the simplicity of truth, and all the sincerity of +affection, that this confession only served to raise my opinion of the +piety she disclaimed; that such deep consciousness of imperfection, so +quick a discernment of the slightest deviation, and such constant +vigilance to prevent it, were the truest indications of an humble +spirit; and that those who thus carefully guarded themselves against +small errors, were in little danger of being betrayed into great ones. + +She replied, smiling, that "she should not be so angry with vanity, if +it would be contented to keep its proper place among its vices; but her +quarrel with it was, that it would mix itself among our virtues, and +rob us of their reward." + +"Vanity, indeed," replied I, "differs from the other vices in this; +_they_ commonly are only opposite to the one contrary virtue, while this +vice has a kind of ubiquity, is on the watch to intrude everywhere, and +weakens all the virtues which it can not destroy. I believe vanity was +the harpy of the ancient poets, which, they tell us, tainted whatever it +touched." + +"Self-deception is so easy," replied Miss Stanley, "that I am even +afraid of highly extolling any good quality, lest I should sit down +satisfied with having borne any testimony in its favor, and so rest +contented with the praise instead of the practise. Commending a right +thing is a cheap substitute for doing it, with which we are too apt to +satisfy ourselves." + +"There is no mark," I replied, "which more clearly distinguishes that +humility which has the love of God for its principle, from its +counterfeit--a false and superficial politeness--than that while this +last flatters, in order to extort in return more praise than its due, +humility, like the divine principle from which it springs, seeketh not +even its own." + +In answer to some further remark of mine, with an air of infinite +modesty, she said, "I have been betrayed, sir, into saying too much. It +will, I trust, however, have the good effect of preventing you from +thinking better of me than I deserve. In general, I hold it indiscreet +to speak of the state of one's mind. I have been taught this piece of +prudence by my own indiscretion. I once lamented to a lady the fault of +which we have now been speaking, and observed how difficult it was to +keep the heart right. She so little understood the nature of this inward +corruption, that she told in confidence to two or three friends, that +they were all much mistaken in Miss Stanley, for though her character +stood so fair with all the world, she had secretly confessed to her that +she was a great sinner." + +I could not forbear repeating though she had chid me for it before, how +much I had been struck with several instances of her indifference to the +work, and her superiority to its pleasures. "Do you know," continued +she, smiling, "that you are more my enemy than the lady of whom I have +been speaking? She only defamed my principles, but you are corrupting +them. The world, I believe, is not so much a place as a nature. It is +possible to be religious in a court, and worldly in a monastery. I find +that the thoughts may be engaged too anxiously about so petty a concern +as a little family arrangement; that the mind may be drawn off from +better pursuits, and engrossed by things too trivial to name, as much as +by objects more apparently wrong. The country is certainly favorable to +religion, but it would be hard on the millions who are doomed to live in +towns if it were exclusively favorable. Nor must we lay more stress on +the accidental circumstance than it deserves. Nay, I almost doubt if it +is not too pleasant to be quite safe. An enjoyment which assumes a sober +shape may deceive us by making us believe we are practicing a duty when +we are only gratifying a taste." + +"But do you not think," said I, "that there may be merit in the taste +itself? May not a succession of acts, forming a habit, and that habit a +good one, induce so sound a way of thinking that it may become difficult +to distinguish the duty from the taste, and to separate the principle +from the choice? This I really believe to be the case in minds finely +wrought and vigilantly watched." + +I observed that however delightful the country might be a great part of +the year, yet there were a few winter months when I feared it might be +dull, though not in the degree Sir John's Richmond lady found it. + +With a smile of compassion at my want of taste, she said, "she perceived +I was no gardener. To me," added she, "the winter has charms of its own. +If I were not afraid of the light habit of introducing Providence on an +occasion not sufficiently important, I would say that he seems to reward +those who love the country well enough to live in it the whole year, by +making the greater part of the winter the busy season for gardening +operations. If I happen to be in town a few days only, every sun that +shines, every shower that falls, every breeze that blows, seems wasted, +because I do not see their effects upon my plants." + +"But surely," said I, "the winter at least suspends your enjoyment. +There is little pleasure in contemplating vegetation in its torpid +state, in surveying + + The naked shoots, barren as lances, + +as Cowper describes the winter-shrubbery." + +"The pleasure is in the preparation," replied she. "When all appears +dead and torpid to you idle spectators, all is secretly at work; nature +is busy in preparing her treasures under ground, and art has a hand in +the process. When the blossoms of summer are delighting you mere +amateurs, then it is that we professional people," added she, laughing, +"are really idle. The silent operations of the winter now produce +themselves--the canvas of nature is covered--the great Artist has laid +on his colors--then we petty agents lay down our implements, and enjoy +our leisure in contemplating _his_ work." + +I had never known her so communicative; but my pleased attention, +instead of drawing her on, led her to check herself. Ph[oe]be, who had +been busily employed in trimming a flaunting yellow Azalia, now turned +to me and said: "Why it is only the Christmas-month that our labors are +suspended, and then we have so much pleasure that we want no business; +such in-door festivities and diversions that that dull month is with us +the gayest in the year." So saying, she called Lucilla to assist her in +tying up the branch of an orange-tree which the wind had broken. + +I was going to offer my services when Mrs. Stanley joined us, before I +could obtain an answer to my question about these Christmas diversions. +A stranger, who had seen me pursuing Mrs. Stanley in her walks, might +have supposed not the daughter, but the mother, was the object of my +attachment. But with Mrs. Stanley I could always talk of Lucilla, with +Lucilla I durst not often talk of herself. + +The fond mother and I stood looking with delight on the fair gardeners. +When I had admired their alacrity in these innocent pursuits, their +fondness for retirement, and their cheerful delight in its pleasures, +Mrs. Stanley replied: "Yes, Lucilla is half a nun. She likes the rule, +but not the vow. Poor thing! her conscience is so tender that she +oftener requires encouragement than restraint. While she was making this +plantation, she felt herself so absorbed by it that she came to me one +day and said that her gardening work so fascinated her that she found +whole hours passed unperceived, and she began to be uneasy by observing +that all cares and all duties were suspended while she was disposing +beds of carnations, or knots of anemones. Even when she tore herself +away, and returned to her employments, her flowers still pursued her, +and the improvement of her mind gave way to the cultivation of her +geraniums. + +"'I am afraid,' said the poor girl, 'that I must really give it up.' I +would not hear of this. I would not suffer her to deny herself so pure a +pleasure. She then suggested the expedient of limiting her time, and +hanging up her watch in the conservatory to keep her within her +prescribed bounds. She is so observant of this restriction, that when +her allotted time is expired, she forces herself to leave off even in +the midst of the most interesting operation. By this limitation a treble +end is answered. Her time is saved, self-denial is exercised, and the +interest which would languish by protracting the work is kept in fresh +vigor." + +I told Mrs. Stanley that I had observed her watch hanging in a +citron-tree the day I came, but little thought it had a moral meaning. +She said it had never been left there since I had been in the house, for +fear of causing interrogatories. Here Mrs. Stanley left me to my +meditations. + +It is wisely ordered that all mortal enjoyments should have some alloy. +I never tasted a pleasure since I had been at the Grove, I never +witnessed a grace, I never heard related an excellence of Lucilla, +without a sigh that my beloved parents did not share my happiness. "How +would they," said I, "delight in her delicacy, rejoice in her piety, +love her benevolence, her humility, her usefulness! O how do children +feel who wound the peace of _living_ parents by an unworthy choice, when +not a little of my comfort springs from the certainty that the departed +would rejoice in mine! Even from their blessed abode, my grateful heart +seems to hear them say, 'This is the creature we would have chosen for +thee! This is the creature with whom we shall rejoice with thee through +all eternity!'" + +Yet such was my inconsistency, that charmed as I was that so young and +lovely a woman could be so cheaply pleased, and delighted with that +simplicity of taste which made her resemble my favorite heroine of +Milton in her amusements, as well as in her domestic pursuits; yet I +longed to know what these Christmas diversions, so slightly hinted at, +could be, diversions which could reconcile these girls to their absence +not only from their green-house, but from London. I could hardly fear +indeed to find at Stanley Grove what the newspapers pertly call _Private +Theatricals_. Still I suspected it might be some gay dissipation not +quite suited to their general character, nor congenial to their usual +amusements. My mother's favorite rule of _consistency_ strongly forced +itself on my mind, though I tried to repel the suggestion as unjust and +ungenerous. + +Of what meannesses will not love be guilty: it drove me to have recourse +to my friend Mrs. Comfit to dissipate my doubts. From her I learned that +that cold and comfortless season was mitigated at Stanley Grove by +several feasts for the poor of different classes and ages. "Then, sir," +continued she, "if you could see the blazing fires, and the abundant +provisions! The roasting, and the boiling, and the baking! The house is +all alive! On those days the drawers and shelves of Miss Lucilla's +store-room are completely emptied. 'Tis the most delightful bustle, sir, +to see our young ladies tying on the good women's warm cloaks, fitting +their caps and aprons, and sending home blankets to the infirm who can +not come themselves. The very little ones kneeling down on the ground to +try on the poor girls' shoes--even little Miss Celia, and she is so +tender--to fit them exactly and not hurt them! Last feast-day, not +finding a pair small enough for a poor little girl, she privately +slipped off her own and put on the child. It was some time before it was +discovered that she herself was without shoes. We are all alive, sir. +Parlor, and hall, and kitchen, all is in motion! Books, and business, +and walks, and gardening, all are forgot for these few happy days." + +How I hated myself for my suspicion! And how I loved the charming +creatures who could find in these humble but exhilarating duties an +equivalent for the pleasures of the metropolis! "Surely," said I to +myself, "my mother would call _this_ consistency, when the amusements of +a religious family smack of the same flavor with its business and its +duties." My heart was more than easy; it was dilated, while I +congratulated myself in the thought that there _were_ young ladies to be +found who could spend a winter not only unrepiningly but cheerfully and +delightedly in the country. + +I am aware that were I to repeat my conversations with Lucilla, I should +subject myself to ridicule by recording such cold and spiritless +discourse on my own part. But I had not yet declared my attachment. I +made it a point of duty not to violate my engagement with Mr. Stanley. I +was not addressing declarations, but studying the character of her on +whom the happiness of my life was to depend. I had resolved not to show +my attachment by any overt act. I confined the expression of my +affection to that _series of small, quiet attentions_, which an accurate +judge of the human heart has pronounced to be the surest avenue to a +delicate mind. I had, in the mean time, the inexpressible felicity to +observe a constant union of feeling, as well as a general consonance of +opinion between us. Every sentiment seemed a reciprocation of sympathy, +and every look, of intelligence. This unstudied correspondence enchanted +me the more as I had always considered that a conformity of tastes was +nearly as necessary to conjugal happiness as a conformity of principles. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +One morning I took a ride alone to breakfast at Lady Aston's; Mr. +Stanley having expressed a particular desire that I should cultivate the +acquaintance of her son. "Sir George is not quite twenty," said he, +"and your being a few years older, will make him consider your +friendship as an honor to him; I am sure it will be an advantage." + +In her own little family circle, I had the pleasure of seeing Lady Aston +appear to more advantage than I had yet done. Her understanding is good, +and her affections are strong. She had received a too favorable +impression of my character from Mr. Stanley, and treated me with as much +openness as if I had been his son. + +The gentle girls, animated by the spirit of their brother, seemed to +derive both happiness and importance from his presence: while the +amiable young baronet himself won my affection by his engaging manners, +and my esteem by his good sense and his considerable acquirements in +every thing which becomes a gentleman. + +This visit exemplified a remark I had sometimes made, that shy +characters, who from natural timidity are reserved in general society, +open themselves with peculiar warmth and frankness to a few select +friends, or to an individual of whom they think kindly. A distant manner +is not always, as is suspected, the result of a cold heart, or a dull +head; nor is gayety necessarily connected with feeling. High animal +spirits, though they often evaporate in mere talk, yet by their warmth +and quickness of motion obtain the credit of strong sensibility: a +sensibility, however, of which the heart is not always the fountain. +While in the timid, that silence which is construed into pride, +indifference, or want of capacity, is often the effect of keen feelings. +Friendship is the genial climate in which such hearts disclose +themselves; they flourish in the shade, and kindness alone makes them +expand. A keen discerner will often detect, in such characters, +qualities which are not always connected with + + the rattling tongue + Of saucy and audacious eloquence. + +When people who have seen little of each other are thrown together, +nothing brings on free communication so quickly or so pleasantly, as +their being both intimate with a third person, for whom all parties +entertain one common sentiment. Mr. Stanley seemed always a point of +union between his neighbors and me. + +After various topics had been discussed, Lady Aston remarked, that she +could now trace the goodness of Providence in having so ordered events, +as to make those things which she had so much dreaded at the time, work +out advantages which could not have been otherwise obtained for her. + +"I had a singular aversion," added she, "to the thoughts of removing to +this place, and quitting Sir George's estate in Warwickshire, where I +had spent the happiest years of my life. When I had the misfortune to +lose him" (here a tear quietly strayed down her cheek), "I resolved +never to remove from the place where he died. I had fully persuaded +myself that it was a duty to do all I could to cherish grief. I obliged +myself as a law, to spend whole hours in walking round the place where +he was buried. These melancholy visits, the intervals of which were +filled with tears, prayers, and reading a few good, but not well chosen +books, made up the whole round of my sad existence. I had nearly +forgotten that I had any duties to perform, any mercies left. Almost all +the effect which the sight of my children produced in me was, by their +resemblance to their father, to put me in mind of what I had lost. + +"I was not sufficiently aware how much more truly I should have honored +his memory by training his living representatives in such a manner as +he, had he been living, would have approved. My dear George," added she, +smiling at her son through her tears, "was glad to get away to school, +and my poor girls, when they lost the company of their brother, lost +all the little cheerfulness which my recluse habits had left them. We +sunk into total inaction, and our lives became as comfortless as they +were unprofitable." + +"My dear madam," said Sir George, in the most affectionate tone and +manner, "I can only forgive myself from the consideration of my being +then too young and thoughtless to know the value of the mother whose +sorrows ought to have endeared my home to me, instead of driving me from +it." + +"They are _my_ faults, my dear George, and not yours, that I am +relating. Few mothers would have acted like me; few sons differently +from you. Your affectionate heart deserved a warmer return than my +broken spirits were capable of making you. But I was telling you, sir," +said she, again addressing herself to me, "that the event of my coming +to this place, not only became the source of my present peace, and of +the comfort of my children, but that its result enables me to look +forward with a cheerful hope to that state where there is neither sin, +sorrow, nor separation. The thoughts of death, which used to render me +useless, now make me only serious. The reflection that 'the night +cometh' which used to extinguish my activity, now kindles it. + +"Forgive me, sir," added she, wiping her eyes; "these are not such tears +as I then shed. These are tears of gratitude, I had almost said of joy. +In the family at the Grove, Providence had been providing for me +friends, for whom I doubt not I shall bless him in eternity. + +"I had long been convinced of the importance of religion. I had always +felt the insufficiency of the world to bestow happiness; but I had never +before beheld religion in such a form. I had never been furnished with a +proper substitute for the worldly pleasures which I yet despised. I did +right in giving up diversions, but I did wrong in giving up employment, +and in neglecting duties. I knew something of religion as a principle of +fear, but I had no conception of it as a motive to the love of God, and +of active duty; nor did I consider it as a source of inward peace. Books +had not been of any great service to me, for I had no one to guide me in +the choice, or to assist me in the perusal. I went to my daily task of +devotion with a heavy heart, and returned from it with no other sense of +comfort but that I had not omitted it. + +"My former friends and acquaintance had been decent and regular; but +they had adopted religion as a form, and not as a principle. It was +compliance and not conviction. It was conformity to custom, and not the +persuasion of the heart. Judge then how I must have been affected, in a +state when sorrow and disappointment had made my mind peculiarly +impressible, with the conversation and example of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley! +I saw in them that religion was not a formal profession, but a powerful +principle. It ran through their whole life and character. All the +Christian graces were brought into action in a way, with a uniformity, +and a beauty, which nothing but Christian motives could have effected. + +"The change which took place in my own mind, however, was progressive. +The strict consonance which I observed between their sentiments and +actions, and those of Dr. Barlow and Mr. Jackson, strengthened and +confirmed mine. This similarity in all points, was a fresh confirmation +that they were all right. The light of religion gradually grew stronger, +and the way more smooth. It was literally a 'lamp to my feet,' for I +walked more safely as I saw more clearly. My difficulties insensibly +lessened, and my doubts disappeared. I still indeed continue hourly to +feel much cause to be humbled, but none to be unhappy." + +When Lady Aston had done speaking, Sir George said, "I owe a thousand +obligations to my mother, but not one so great as her introduction of me +to Mr. Stanley. He has given a bent and bias to my sentiments, habit, +and pursuits, to which I trust every day will add fresh strength. I look +up to him as my model: happy if I may, in any degree, be able to form +myself by it! Till I had the happiness of knowing you, sir, I preferred +the company of Dr. Barlow and Mr. Stanley, to that of any _young_ man +with whom I am acquainted." + +After some further conversation, in which Sir George, with great credit +to himself, bore a considerable part, Miss Aston took courage to ask me +if I would accompany them all into the garden, as she wished me to carry +home intelligence to Miss Stanley of the flourishing state of some +American plants which had been raised under her direction. To speak the +truth, I had for some time been trying to bring Lucilla on the tapis, +but had not found a plausible pretense. I now inquired if Miss Stanley +directed their gardening pursuits. "She directs _all_ our pursuits," +said the two bashful blushing girls, who now, for the first time in +their lives, spoke both at once; the subject kindling an energy in their +affectionate hearts, which even their timidity could not rein in. + +"I thought, Clara," said Sir George, "that Miss _Ph[oe]be_ Stanley too, +had assisted in laying out the flower garden. Surely she is not behind +her sister in any thing that is kind, or any thing that is elegant." His +complexion heightened as he spoke, and he expressed himself with an +emphasis, which I had not before observed in his manner of speaking. I +stole a glance at Lady Aston, whose meek eye glistened with pleasure, at +the earnestness with which her son spoke of the lovely Ph[oe]be. My +rapid imagination instantly shot forward to an event which some years +hence will probably unite two families so worthy of each other. Lady +Aston, who already honors me with her confidence, afterward confirmed my +suspicions on a subject about which nothing but the extreme youth of +both parties made her backward to express the secret hope she fondly +entertained. + +In our walk round the gardens, the Miss Astons continued to vie with +each other who should be warmest in the praise of their young friends at +the Grove. To Miss Stanley, they gratefully declared, they owed any +little taste, knowledge, or love of goodness which they themselves might +possess. + +It was delightful to observe these quiet girls warmed and excited by a +subject so interesting. I was charmed to see them so far from feeling +any shadow of envy at the avowed superiority of their young friends, and +so unanimously eloquent in the praise of merit so eclipsing. + +After having admired the plants of which I promised to make a favorable +report, I was charged with a large and beautiful bouquet for the young +ladies at the Grove. They then drew me to the prettiest spot in the +grounds. While I was admiring it, Miss Clara, with a blush, and some +hesitation, begged leave to ask my advice about a little rustic building +which she and her sisters were just going to raise in honor of the Miss +Stanleys. It was to be dedicated to them, and called the Temple of +Friendship. "My brother," said she, "is kindly assisting us. The +materials are all prepared, and we have now only to fix them up." + +She then put into my hands a little plan. I highly approved it; +venturing, however, to suggest some trifling alteration, which I told +them I did, in order to implicate myself a little in the pleasant +project. How proud was I when Clara added, "that Miss Stanley had +expressed a high opinion of my general taste!" They all begged me to +look in on them in my rides, and assist them with my further counsel; +adding that, above all things, I must keep it a secret at the Grove. + +Lady Aston said, "that she expected our whole party to dine at the Hall +some day next week." Her daughters entreated that it might be postponed +till the latter end, by which time they doubted not their little edifice +would be completed. Sir George then told me, that his sisters had +requested him to furnish an inscription, or to endeavor to procure one +from me. He added his wishes to theirs that I would comply. They all +joined so earnestly in the entreaty that I could not withstand them, +"albeit unused to the _rhyming_ mood." + +After some deliberation, Friday in the next week was fixed upon for the +party at the Grove to dine at Aston-Hall, and I was to carry the +invitation. I took a respectful leave of the excellent lady of the +mansion, and an affectionate one of the young people, with whom the +familiar intercourse of this quiet morning had contributed to advance my +friendly acquaintance more than could have been done by many ceremonious +meetings. + +When I returned to the Grove, which was but just in time to dress for +dinner, I spoke with sincere satisfaction of the manner in which I had +passed the morning. It was beautiful to observe the honest delight, the +ingenuous kindness, with which Lucilla heard me commend the Miss Astons. +No little disparaging hint on the one hand, gently to let down her +friends, nor, on the other, no such exaggerated praise as I have +sometimes seen employed as a screen for envy, or as a trap to make the +hearer lower what the speaker had too highly raised. + +I dropped in at Aston-Hall two or three times in the course of the week, +as well to notice the progress of the work, as to carry my inscription, +in which, as Lucilla was both the subject and the muse, I succeeded +rather better than I expected. + +On the Friday, according to appointment, our whole party went to dine +at the Hall. In our way, Mr. Stanley expressed the pleasure it gave him, +that Lady Aston was now so convinced of the duty of making home +agreeable to her son, as delightfully to receive such of her friends as +were warmly disposed to become his. + +Sir George, who is extremely well bred, did the honors admirably for so +young a man, to the great relief of his excellent mother, whom long +retirement had rendered habitually timid in a party, of which some were +almost strangers. + +The Miss Astons had some difficulty to restrain their young guests from +running directly to look at the progress of the American plants; but as +they grew near the mysterious spot, they were not allowed to approach it +before the allotted time. + +After dinner, when the whole party were walking in the garden, Lady +Aston was desired by her daughters to conduct her company to a winding +grass-walk, near the little building, but from whence it was not +visible. While they were all waiting at the appointed place, the two +elder Miss Astons gravely took a hand of Lucilla, Sir George and I each +presented a hand to Ph[oe]be, and in profound silence, and great +ceremony, we led them up the turf steps into this simple, but really +pretty temple. The initials of Lucilla and Ph[oe]be were carved in +cypher over a little rustic window, under which was written, + + "SACRED TO FRIENDSHIP." + +In two niches prepared for the purpose, we severally seated the two +astonished nymphs, who seemed absolutely enchanted. Above was the +inscription in large Roman letters. + +The Astons looked so much alive, that they might have been mistaken for +Stanleys, who, in their turn, were so affected with this tender mark of +friendship, that they looked as tearful as if they had been Astons. +After reading the inscription, "My dear Clara," said Lucilla to Miss +Aston, "where _could_ you get these beautiful verses? Though the praise +they convey is too flattering to be just, it is too delicate not to +please. The lines are at once tender and elegant." "We got them," said +Miss Aston, with a sweet vivacity, "where we get every thing that is +good, from Stanley-Grove," bowing modestly to me. + +How was I elated; and how did Lucilla blush! but though she now tried to +qualify her flattery, she could not recall it. And I would not allow +myself to be robbed of the delight it had given me. All the company +seemed to enjoy her confusion and my pleasure. + +I forgot to mention, that as we crossed the park, we had seen enter the +house, through a back avenue, a procession of little girls neatly +dressed in a uniform. In a whisper, I asked Lady Aston what it meant. +"You are to know," replied her ladyship, "that my daughters adopt all +Miss Stanley's plans, and among the rest, that of associating with all +their own indulgences some little act of charity, that while they are +receiving pleasure, they may also be conferring it. The opening of the +temple of friendship is likely to afford too much gratification to be +passed over without some such association. So my girls give to-day a +little feast, with prizes of merit to their village-school, and a few +other deserving young persons." + +When we had taken our seats in the temple, Ph[oe]be suddenly cried out, +clasping her hands in an ecstacy, "Only look, Lucilla! There is no end +to the enchantment. It is all fairy land." On casting our eyes as she +directed, we were agreeably surprised with observing a large kind of +temporary shed or booth at some distance from us. It was picturesquely +fixed near an old spreading oak, and was ingeniously composed of +branches of trees, fresh and green. Under the oak stood ranged the +village maids. We walked to the spot. The inside of the booth was hung +round with caps, aprons, bonnets, handkerchiefs, and other coarse, but +neat articles of female dress. On a rustic table was laid a number of +Bibles, and specimens of several kinds of coarse works, and little +manufactures. The various performances were examined by the company; +some presents were given to all. But additional prizes were awarded by +the young patronesses, to the best specimens of different work; to the +best knitters, the best manufacturers of split straw, and the best +performers in plain work, I think they called it. + +Three grown up young women, neatly dressed, and of modest manners, stood +behind. It appeared that one of them had taken such good care of her +young sisters and brothers, since their mother's death, and had so +prudently managed her father's house, that it had saved him from an +imprudent choice. Another had postponed, for many months, a marriage in +which her heart was engaged, because she had a paralytic grandmother +whom she attended day and night, and whom nothing, not even love itself, +could tempt her to desert. Death having now released the aged sufferer, +the wedding was to take place next Sunday. The third had, for above a +year, worked two hours every day, over and above her set time, and +applied the gains to clothe the orphan child of a deceased friend. She +was also to accompany her lover to the altar on Sunday, but had made it +a condition of her marrying him, that she should be allowed to continue +her supernumerary hours' work, for the benefit of the poor orphan. All +three had been exemplary in their attendance at church, as well as in +their general conduct. The fair patronesses presented each with a +handsome Bible, and with a complete, plain, but very neat suit of +apparel. + +While these gifts were distributing, I whispered Sir John that one such +ticket as we were each desired to take for Squallini's benefit, would +furnish the cottages of these poor girls. "And it _shall_," replied he, +with emphasis. "How little a way will that sum go in superfluities, +which will make two honest couple happy! How costly is vanity! how cheap +is charity!" + +"Can these happy, useful young creatures be my little inactive, insipid +Astons, Charles?" whispered Mr. Stanley, as we walked away to leave the +girls to sit down to their plentiful supper, which was spread on a long +table under the oak, without the green booth. This group of figures made +an interesting addition to the scenery, when we got back to the temple, +and often attracted our attention while we were engaged in conversation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +The company were not soon weary of admiring the rustic building, which +seemed raised as if by the stroke of a magician's wand, so rapidly had +it sprung up. They were delighted to find that their pleasure was to be +prolonged by drinking tea in the temple. + +While we were at tea Mr. Stanley, addressing himself to me, said, "I +have always forgotten to ask you, Charles, if your high expectations of +pleasure from the society in London had quite answered?" + +"I was entertained, and I was disappointed," replied I. "I always found +the pleasure of the moment not heightened, but effaced by the succeeding +moment. The ever restless, rolling tide of new intelligence at once +gratified and excited the passion for novelty, which I found to be _le +grand poisson qui mange les petits_. This successive abundance of fresh +supply gives an ephemeral importance to every thing, and a lasting +importance to nothing. We skimmed every topic, but dived into none. Much +desultory talk, but little discussion. The combatants skirmished like +men whose arms are kept bright by constant use; who were accustomed to a +flying fight, but who avoided the fatigue of coming to close quarters. +What was old, however momentous, was rejected as dull, what was new, +however insignificant, was thought interesting. Events of the past week +were placed with those beyond the flood; and the very existence of +occurrences which continued to be matter of deep interest with us in the +country, seemed there totally forgotten. + +"I found, too, that the inhabitants of the metropolis had a standard of +merit of their own. That knowledge of the town was concluded to be +knowledge of the world; that local habits, reigning phrases, temporary +fashions, and an acquaintance with the surface of manners, was supposed +to be knowledge of mankind. Of course, he who was ignorant of the topics +of the hour, and the anecdotes of a few modish leaders, was ignorant of +human nature." + +Sir John observed, that I was rather too young to be a _praiser of past +times_, yet he allowed that the standard of conversation was not so high +as it had been in the time of my father, by whose reports my youthful +ardor had been inflamed. He did not indeed suppose that men were less +intellectual now, but they certainly were less colloquially +intellectual. "For this," added he, "various reasons may be assigned. In +London man is every day becoming less of a social, and more of a +gregarious animal. Crowds are as little favorable to conversation as to +reflection. He finds, therefore, that he may figure in the mass with +less expense of mind; and as to women, they are put to no expense at +all. They find that by mixing with myriads, they may carry on the daily +intercourse of life, without being obliged to bring a single idea to +enrich the common stock." + +"I do not wonder," said I, "that the dull and the uninformed love to +shelter their insignificance in a crowd. In mingling with the multitude, +their deficiencies elude detection. The vapid and the ignorant are like +a bad play; they owe the little figure they make to the dress, the +scenery, the music, and the company. The noise and the glare take off +all attention from the defects of the work. The spectator is amused, and +he does not inquire whether it is with the piece or with the +accompaniments. The end is attained, and he is little solicitous about +the means. But an intellectual woman, like a well written drama, will +please at home without all these aids and adjuncts; nay, the beauties of +the superior piece, and of the superior woman, will rise on a more +intimate survey. But you were going, Sir John, to assign other causes +for the decline and fall of conversation." + +"One very affecting reason," replied he; "is that the alarming state of +public affairs fills all men's minds with one momentous object. As every +Englishman is a patriot, every patriot is a politician. It is natural +that that subject should fill every mouth which occupies every heart, +and that little room should be left for extraneous matter." + +"I should accept this," said I, "as a satisfactory vindication, had I +heard that the same absorbing cause had thinned the public places, or +diminished the attraction of the private resorts of dissipation." + +"There is a third reason," said Sir John. "Polite literature has in a +good degree given way to experimental philosophy. The admirers of +science assert, that the last was the age of words, and that this is the +age of things. A more substantial kind of knowledge has partly +superseded these elegant studies, which have caught such hold on your +affections." + +"I heartily wish," replied I, "that the new pursuits may be found to +make men wiser; they certainly have not made them more agreeable." + +"It is affirmed," said Mr. Stanley, "that the prevailing philosophical +studies have a religious use, and that they naturally tend to elevate +the heart to the great Author of the universe." + +"I have but one objection to that assertion," replied Sir John, "namely, +that it is not true. This would seem indeed to be their direct tendency, +yet experiment, which you know is the soul of philosophy, has proved the +contrary." + +He then adduced some instances in our own country, which I forbear to +name, that clearly evinced that this was not their necessary +consequence; adding, however, a few great names on the more honorable +side. He next adverted to the Baillies, the Condorcets, the D'Alemberts, +and the Lalandes, as melancholy proofs of the inefficacy of mere science +to make Christians. + +"Far be it from me," said Sir John, "to undervalue philosophical +pursuits. The modern discoveries are extremely important, especially in +their application to the purposes of common life; but where these are +pursued exclusively, I can not help preferring the study of the great +classic authors, those exquisite masters of life and manners, with whose +spirit conversation, twenty or thirty years ago, was so richly +impregnated." + +"I confess," said I, "there may be more matter; but there is certainly +less mind in the reigning pursuits. The reputation of skill, it is true, +may be obtained at a much less expense of time and intellect. The +comparative cheapness of the acquisition holds out the powerful +temptation of more credit with less labor. A sufficient knowledge of +botany or chemistry to make a figure, is easily obtained, while a +thorough acquaintance with the historians, poets, and orators of +antiquity requires much time, and close application." + +"But," exclaimed Sir John, "can the fashionable studies pretend to give +the same expansion to the mind, the same elevation to the sentiments, +the same energy to the feelings, the same stretch and compass to the +understanding, the same correctness to the taste, the same grace and +spirit to the whole moral and intellectual man." + +"For my own part," replied I, "so far from saying with Hamlet, 'Man +delights not me, nor woman neither,' I confess I have little delight in +any thing else. As a man, man is the creature with whom I have to do, +and the varieties in his character interest me more than all the +possible varieties of mosses, shells and fossils. To view this compound +creature in the complexity of his actions, as portrayed by the hand of +those immortal masters, Tacitus and Plutarch; to view him in the +struggle of his passions, as displayed by Euripides and Shakspeare; to +contemplate him in the blaze of his eloquence, by the two rival orators +of Greece and Rome, is more congenial to my feelings than the ablest +disquisition of which matter was ever the subject." Sir John, who is a +passionate, and rather too exclusive, admirer of classic lore, warmly +declared himself of my opinion. + +"I went to town," replied I, "with a mind eager for intellectual +pleasure. My memory was not quite unfurnished with passages which I +thought likely to be adverted to, and which might serve to embellish +conversation, without incurring the charge of pedantry. But though most +of the men I conversed with were my equals in education, and my +superiors in talent, there seemed little disposition to promote such +topics as might bring our understandings into play. Whether it is that +business, active life, and public debate, absorb the mind, and make men +consider society rather as a scene to rest than to exercise it, I know +not; certain it is that they brought less into the treasury of +conversation than I expected; not because they were poor, but proud, or +idle, and reserved their talents and acquisitions for higher occasions. +The most opulent possessors, I often found the most penurious +contributors." + +"_Rien de trop_," said Mr. Stanley, "was the favorite maxim of an +author[3] whom I am not apt to quote for rules of moral conduct. Yet its +adoption would be a salutary check against excess in all our pursuits. +If polite learning is undervalued by the mere man of science, it is +perhaps over-rated by the mere man of letters. If it dignifies +retirement, and exalts society, it is not the great business of life; it +is not the prime fountain of moral excellence." + +[Footnote 3: Frederic the Great, king of Prussia.] + +"Well, so much for _man_," said Sir John, "but, Charles, you have not +told us what you had to say of _woman_, in your observations on +society." + +"As to woman," replied I, "I declare that I found more propensity to +promote subjects of taste and elegant speculation among some of the +superior class of females, than in many of my own sex. The more prudent, +however, are restrained through fear of the illiberal sarcasms of men +who, not contented to suppress their own faculties, ridicule all +intellectual exertion in woman, though evidently arising from a modest +desire of improvement, and not the vanity of hopeless rivalry." + +"Charles is always the Paladin of the reading ladies," said Sir John. "I +do not deny it," replied I, "if they bear their faculties meekly. But I +confess that what is sneeringly called a learned lady, is to me far +preferable to a scientific one, such as I encountered one evening, who +talked of the fulcrum, and the lever, and the statera, which she took +care to tell us was the Roman steel-yard, with all the sang-froid of +philosophical conceit." + +"Scientific men," said Sir John, "are in general admirable for their +simplicity, but in a technical woman, I have seldom found a grain of +taste or elegance." + +"I own," replied I, "I should greatly prefer a fair companion who could +modestly discriminate between the beauties of Virgil and Milton, to one +who was always dabbling in chemistry, and who came to dinner with dirty +hands from the laboratory. And yet I admire chemistry too; I am now only +speaking of that knowledge which is desirable in a female companion; for +knowledge I must have. But arts, which are of immense value in +manufactures, won't make my wife's conversation entertaining to me. +Discoveries which may greatly improve dyeing and bleaching, will add +little to the delights of one's summer evening's walk, or winter +fire-side." + +The ladies, Lucilla especially, smiled at my warmth. I felt that there +was approbation in her smile, and though I thought I had said too much +already, it encouraged me to go on. "I repeat, that next to religion, +whatever relates to human manners, is most attracting to human +creatures. To turn from conversation to composition. What is it that +excites so feeble an interest, in perusing that finely written poem of +the Abbe de Lille, '_Les Jardins?_' It is because his garden has no +cultivators, no inhabitants, no men and women. What confers that +powerful charm on the descriptive parts of Paradise Lost? A fascination, +I will venture to affirm, paramount to all the lovely and magnificent +scenery which adorns it. Eden itself with all its exquisite landscape, +would excite a very inferior pleasure did it exhibit only inanimate +beauties. 'Tis the proprietors, 'tis the inhabitants, 'tis the _live +stock_, of Eden, which seize upon the affections, and twine about the +heart. The gardens, even of Paradise, would be dull without the +gardeners. 'Tis mental excellence, 'tis moral beauty which completes the +charm. Where this is wanting, landscape poetry, though it be read with +pleasure, yet the interest it raises is cold. It is admired, but seldom +quoted. It leaves no definite idea on the mind. If general, it is +indistinct; if minute, tedious." + +"It must be confessed," said Sir John, "that some poets are apt to +forget that the finest representation of nature is only the scene, not +the object; the canvas, not the portrait. We had indeed some time ago, +so much of this gorgeous scene-painting, so much splendid poetical +botany, so many amorous flowers, and so many vegetable courtships; so +many wedded plants; roots transformed to nymphs, and dwelling in emerald +palaces; that some how or other, truth and probability and nature, and +man slipped out of the picture, though it must be allowed that genius +held the pencil." + +"In Mason's 'English Garden,'" replied I, "Alcander's precepts would +have been cold, had there been no personification. The introduction of +character dramatizes what else would have been frigidly didactic. +Thomson enriches his landscape with here and there a figure, drawn with +more correctness than warmth, with more nature than spirit, and exalts +it everywhere by moral allusion and religious reference. The scenery of +Cowper is perpetually animated with sketches of character, enlivened +with portraits from real life, and the exhibition of human manners and +passions. His most exquisite descriptions owe their vividness to moral +illustration. Loyalty, liberty, patriotism, charity, piety, benevolence, +every generous feeling, every glowing sentiment, every ennobling +passion, grows out of his descriptive powers. His matter always bursts +into mind. His shrubbery, his forest, his flower-garden, all produce + + Fruits worthy of Paradise, + +and lead to immortality." + +Mr. Stanley said, adverting again to the subject of conversation, it was +an amusement to him to observe what impression the first introduction to +general society made on a mind conversant with books, but to whom a the +world was in a manner new. + +"I believe," said Sir John, "that an overflowing commerce, and the +excessive opulence it has introduced, though favorable to all the +splendors of art and mechanic ingenuity, yet have lowered the standard +of taste, and debilitated the mental energies. They are advantageous to +luxury, but fatal to intellect. It has added to the brilliancy of the +drawing-room itself, but deducted from that of the inhabitant. It has +given perfection to our mirrors, our candelabras, our gilding, our +inlaying, and our sculpture, but it has communicated a torpor to the +imagination, and enervated our intellectual vigor." + +"In one way," said Mr. Stanley, smiling, "luxury has been favorable to +literature. From the unparalleled splendor of our printing, paper, +engraving, illuminating and binding, luxury has caused more books to be +purchased, while from the growth of time-absorbing dissipation, it +causes fewer to be read. I believe we were much more familiar with our +native poets in their former plain garb than since they have been +attired in the gorgeous dress which now decorates our shelves." + +"Poetry," replied Mr. Stanley, "has of late too much degenerated into +personal satire, persiflage, and caricature among one class of writers, +while among another it has exhibited the vagrancies of genius without +the inspiration, the exuberance of fancy without the curb of judgment, +and the eccentricities of invention without the restrictions of taste. +The image has been strained, while the verse has been slackened. We have +had pleonasm without fullness, and facility without force. Redundancy +has been mistaken for plenitude, flimsiness for ease, and distortion +for energy. An over desire of being natural has made the poet feeble, +and the rage for being simple has sometimes made him silly. The +sensibility is sickly, and the elevation vertiginous." + +"To Cowper," said Sir John, "master of melody as he is, the mischief is +partly attributable. Such an original must naturally have a herd of +imitators. If they can not attain to his excellences, his faults are +always attainable. The resemblance between the master and the scholar is +found chiefly in his defects. The determined imitator of an easy writer +becomes insipid; of a sublime one, absurd. Cowper's ease appeared his +most imitable charm, but ease aggraved is insipidity. His occasional +negligences, his disciples adopted uniformly. In Cowper, there might +sometimes be carelessness in the verse, but the verse itself was +sustained by the vigor of the sentiment. The imitator forgot that his +strength lay in the thought; that his buoyant spirit always supported +itself; that the figure, though amplified, was never distorted; the +image, though bold, was never incongruous; and the illustration, though +new, was never false. + +"The evil, however," continued Sir John, "seems to be correcting itself. +The real genius, which exists in several of this whimsical school, I +trust, will at length lead them to prune their excrescences, and reform +their youthful eccentricities. Their good sense will teach that the +surest road to fame is to condescend to tread in the luminous track of +their great precursors in the art. They will see that deviation is not +always improvement; that whoever wants to be better than nature will +infallibly be worse; that truth in taste is as obvious as in morals, and +as certain as in mathematics. In other quarters, both the classic and +the Gothic muse are emulously soaring, and I hail the restoration of +genuine poetry and pure taste." + +"I must not," said I, "loquacious as I have already been, dismiss the +subject of conversation without remarking that I found there was one +topic which seemed as uniformly avoided by common consent as if it had +been banished by the interdict of absolute authority, and that some +forfeiture, or at least dishonor and disgrace, were to follow it on +conviction--I mean religion." + +"Surely, Charles," said Sir John, "you would not convert general +conversation into a divinity school, and friendly societies into +debating clubs." + +"Far from it," replied I, "nor do I desire that ladies and gentlemen +over their tea and coffee should rehearse their articles of faith, or +fill the intervals of carving and eating with introducing dogmas, or +discussing controversies. I do not wish to erect the social table, which +was meant for innocent relaxation, into an arena for theological +combatants. I only wish, as people live so much together, that if, when +out of the multitude of topics which arise in conversation, an unlucky +wight happens to start a serious thought, I could see a cordial +recognition of its importance; I wish I could see a disposition to +pursue it, instead of a chilling silence which obliges him to draw in as +if he had dropped something dangerous to the state, or inimical to the +general cheerfulness, or derogatory to his own understanding. I only +desire that as, without any effort on the part of the speaker, but +merely from the overflowing fullness of a mind habitually occupied with +one leading concern, we easily perceive that one of the company is a +lawyer, another a soldier, a third a physician, I only wish that we +could oftener discover from the same plenitude, so hard to conceal where +it exists, that we were in a company of Christians." + +"We must not expect in our day," said Mr. Stanley, "to see revive that +animating picture of the prevalence of religious intercourse given by +the prophet: 'Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to +another.' And yet one can not but regret that, in select society, men +well informed as we know, well principled as we hope, having one common +portion of being to fill, having one common faith, one common Father, +one common journey to perform, one common termination to that journey, +and one common object in view beyond it, should, when together, be so +unwilling to advert occasionally to those great points which doubtless +often occupy them in secret; that they should on the contrary adopt a +sort of inverted hypocrisy, and wish to appear worse than they really +are; that they should be so backward to give or to gain information, to +lend or to borrow lights, in a matter in which they are all equally +interested: which can not be the case in any other possible subject." + +"In all human concerns," said I, "we find that those dispositions, +tastes, and affections which are brought into exercise, flourish, while +others are smothered by concealment." + +"It is certain," replied Mr. Stanley, "that knowledge which is never +brought forward is apt to decline. Some feelings require to be excited +in order to know if they exist. In short, topics of every kind which are +kept totally out of sight make a fainter impression on the mind than +such as are occasionally introduced. Communication is a great +strengthener of any principle. Feelings, as well as ideas, are often +elicited by collision. Thoughts that are never to be produced, in time +seldom present themselves, while mutual interchange almost creates as +well as cultivates them. And as to the social affections, I am persuaded +that men would love each other more cordially; good-will and kindness +would be inconceivably promoted, were they in the habit of maintaining +that sort of intercourse which would keep up a mutual regard for their +eternal interests, and lead them more to consider each other as +candidates for the same immortality through the same common hope." + +Just as he had ceased to speak, we heard a warbling of female voices, +which came softened to us by distance and the undulation of the air. The +little band under the oak had finished their cheerful repast, and +arranged themselves in the same regular procession in which they had +arrived. They stood still at a respectful distance from the temple, and +in their artless manner sung Addison's beautiful version of the +twenty-third psalm, which the Miss Astons had taught them, because it +was a favorite with their mother. + +Here the setting sun reminded us to retreat to the house. Before we +quitted the temple, however, Sir George Aston, ventured modestly to +intimate a wish, that if it pleased the Almighty to spare our lives, the +same party should engage always to celebrate this anniversary in the +Temple of Friendship, which should be finished on a larger scale, and +rendered less unworthy to receive such guests. The ladies smiled +assentingly. Ph[oe]be applauded rapturously. Sir John Belfield and I +warmly approved the proposal. Mr. Stanley said it could not but meet +with his cordial concurrence, as it would involve the assurance of an +annual visit from his valued friends. + +As we walked into the house, Lady Aston, who held by my arm, in answer +to the satisfaction I expressed at the day I had passed, said, "we owe +what little we are and do, under Providence, to Mr. Stanley. You will +admire his discriminating mind, when I tell you that he recommends these +little exhibitions for my daughters far more than to his own. He says +that they, being naturally cheerful and habitually active, require not +the incentive of company to encourage them. But that for my poor timid +inactive girls, the support and animating presence of a few chosen +friends just give them that degree of life and spirit which serves to +warm their hearts, and keep their minds in motion." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + +Miss Sparkes came to spend the next day according to her appointment. +Mr. Flam, who called accidentally, staid to dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Carlton +had been previously invited. After dinner the conversation chanced to +turn upon domestic economy, a quality which Miss Sparkes professed to +hold in the most sovereign contempt. + +After some remark of Mrs. Stanley, in favor of the household virtues, +Mr. Carlton said, "Mr. Addison in the Spectator, and Dr. Johnson in the +Rambler, have each given us a lively picture of a vulgar, +ungentlewoman-like, illiterate housewife. The notable woman of the one +suffocated her guests at night with drying herbs in their chamber, and +tormented them all day with plans of economy, and lectures on +management. The economist of the other ruined her husband by her +parsimonious extravagance, if I may be allowed to couple contradictions; +by her tent-stich hangings for which she had no walls, and her +embroidery for which she had no use. The poor man pathetically laments +her detestable catalogues of made wines, which hurt his fortune by their +profusion, and his health by not being allowed to drink them till they +were sour. Both ladies are painted as domestic tyrants, whose husbands +had no peace, and whose children had no education." + +"Those coarse housewives," said Sir John, "were exhibited as _warnings_. +It was reserved for the pen of Richardson to exhibit _examples_. This +author, with deeper and juster views of human nature, a truer taste for +the proprieties of female character, and a more exact intuition into +real life than any other writer of fabulous narrative, has given in his +heroines exemplifications of elegantly cultivated minds, combined with +the sober virtues of domestic economy. In no other writer of fictitious +adventures has the triumph of religion and reason over the passions, and +the now almost exploded doctrines of filial obedience, and the household +virtues, their natural concomitants, been so successfully blended. +Whether the works of this most original, but by no means faultless +writer, were cause or effect, I know not; whether these well-imagined +examples induced the ladies of that day 'to study household good;' or +whether the then existing ladies, by their acknowledged attention to +feminine concerns, furnished Richardson with living models, I can not +determine. Certain it is, that the novel-writers of the subsequent +period have, in general, been as little disposed to represent these +qualities as forming an indispensable part of the female character, as +the contemporary young ladies themselves have been to supply them with +patterns. I a little fear that the predominance of this sort of reading +has contributed its full share to bring such qualities into contempt." + +Miss Sparkes characteristically observed, that "the meanest +understanding and most vulgar education were competent to form such a +wife as the generality of men preferred. That a man of talents, dreading +a rival, always took care to secure himself by marrying a fool." + +"Always excepting the present company, madam, I presume," said Mr. +Stanley, laughing. "But pardon me, if I differ from you. That many men +are sensual in their appetites, and low in their relish of intellectual +pleasures, I confess. That many others, who are neither sensual, nor of +mean attainments, prefer women whose ignorance will favor their indolent +habits, and whom it requires no exertion of mind to entertain, I allow +also. But permit me to say, that men of the most cultivated minds, and +who admire talents in a woman, are still of opinion that _domestic_ +talents can never be dispensed with: and I totally dissent from you in +thinking that these qualities infer the absence of higher attainments, +and necessarily imply a sordid or a vulgar mind. + +"Any ordinary art, after it is once discovered, may be practiced by a +very common understanding. In this, as in every thing else, the kind +arrangements of Providence are visible, because, as the common arts +employ the mass of mankind, they could not be universally carried on, if +they were not of easy and cheap attainment. Now, cookery is one of these +arts, and I agree with you, madam, in thinking that a mean understanding +and a vulgar education suffice to make a good cook. But a cook or +housekeeper, and a lady qualified to wield a considerable establishment, +are two very different characters. To prepare a dinner, and to conduct a +great family, require talents of a very different size: and one reason +why I would never choose to marry a woman ignorant of domestic affairs +is, that she who wants, or she who despises this knowledge, must possess +that previous bad judgment which, as it prevented her from seeing this +part of her duty, would be likely to operate on other occasions." + +"I entirely agree with Mr. Stanley," said Mr. Carlton. "In general I +look upon the contempt or the fulfillment of these duties as pretty +certain indications of the turn of mind from which the one or the other +proceeds. I allow, however, that _with_ this knowledge a lady may +unhappily have overlooked more important acquisitions; but _without_ it +I must ever consider the female character as defective in the texture, +however it may be embroidered and spangled on the surface." + +Sir John Belfield declared, that though he had not that natural +antipathy to a wit, which some men have; yet unless the wildness of a +wit was tamed like the wildness of other animals, by domestic habits, he +himself would not choose to venture on one. He added, that he should +pay a bad compliment to Lady Belfield, who had so much higher claims to +his esteem, if he were to allege that these habits were the determining +cause of his choice, yet had he seen no such tendencies in her +character, he should have suspected her power of making him as happy as +she had done. + +"I confess with shame," said Mr. Carlton, "that one of the first things +that touched me with any sense of my wife's merit, was the admirable +good sense she discovered in the direction of my family. Even at the +time that I had most reason to blush at my own conduct, she never gave +me cause to blush for hers. The praises constantly bestowed on her +elegant, yet prudent, arrangement, by my friends, flattered my vanity, +and raised her in my opinion, though they did not lead me to do her full +justice." + +The two ladies who were thus agreeably flattered, looked modestly +grateful. Mr. Stanley said, "I was going to endeavor at removing Miss +Sparke's prejudices, by observing how much this domestic turn brings the +understanding into action. The operation of good sense is requisite in +making the necessary calculations for a great family, in a hundred ways. +Good sense is required to teach that a perpetually recurring small +expense is more to be avoided than an incidental great one, while it +shows that petty savings can not retrieve an injured estate. The story +told by Johnson, of a lady, who, while ruining her fortune by excessive +splendor and expense, yet refused to let a two shilling mango be cut at +her table, exemplifies exactly my idea. Shabby curtailments, without +repairing the breach which prodigality has made, discredit the husband, +and bring the reproach of meanness on the wife. Retrenchments, to be +efficient, must be applied to great objects. The true economist will +draw in by contracting the outline, by narrowing the bottom, by cutting +off with an unsparing hand costly superfluities, which affect not +comfort, but cherish vanity." + +"'Retrench the lazy vermin of thine hall,' was the wise counsel of the +prudent Venetian to his thoughtless son-in-law," said Sir John, "and its +wisdom consisted in its striking at one of the most ruinous and +prevailing domestic evils, an overloaded establishment." + +If Miss Sparkes had been so long without speaking, it was evident by her +manner and turn of countenance, that contempt had kept her silent, and +that she thought the topic under discussion as unworthy of the support +of the gentleman as of her own opposition. + +"A discreet woman," said Mr. Stanley, "adjusts her expenses to her +revenues. Every thing knows its time, and every person his place. She +will live within her income, be it large or small; if large, she will +not be luxurious; if small, she will not be mean. Proportion and +propriety are among the best secrets of domestic wisdom; and there is no +surer test, both of integrity and judgment, than a well-proportioned +expenditure. + +"Now the point to which I would bring all this verbiage," continued he, +"is this--will a lady of a mean understanding, or a vulgar education, be +likely to practice economy on this large scale? And is not such economy +a field in which a woman of the best sense may honorably exercise her +powers?" + +Miss Sparkes, who was always a stanch opposer in moral as well as in +political debate, because she said it was the best side for the exertion +of wit and talents, comforted herself that though she felt she was +completely in the minority, yet she always thought that was rather a +proof of being right than the contrary; for if it be true, that the +generality are either weak or wicked, it follows that the inferior +number is most likely to be neither. + +"Women," said Mr. Carlton, "in their course of action describe a smaller +circle than men; but the perfection of a circle consists not in its +dimensions but in its correctness. There may be," added he, carefully +turning away his eyes from Miss Sparkes, "here and there a soaring +female, who looks down with disdain on the party affairs of 'this dim +speck called earth;' who despises order and regularity as indications of +a groveling spirit. But a sound mind judges directly contrary. The +larger the capacity, the wider is the sweep of duties it takes in. A +sensible woman loves to imitate that order which is stamped on the whole +creation of God. All the operations of nature are uniform even in their +changes, and regular in their infinite variety. Nay, the great Author of +Nature himself disdains not to be called the God of order." + +"I agree with you," said Sir John. "A philosophical lady may 'read +Malebranche, Boyle, and Locke;' she may boast of her intellectual +superiority; she may talk of abstract and concrete; of substantial forms +and essences; complex ideas and mixed modes, of identity and relation; +she may decorate all the logic of one sex with all the rhetoric of the +other; yet if her affairs are _delabré_, if her house is disorderly, her +servants irregular, her children neglected, and her table ill-arranged, +she will indicate the want of the most valuable faculty of the human +mind, a sound judgment." + +"It must, however, be confessed," replied Mr. Stanley, "that such +instances are so rare, that the exceptions barely serve to establish the +rule. I have known twenty women mismanage their affairs, through a bad +education, through ignorance, especially of arithmetic, that grand +deficiency in the education of women, through a multiplicity of vain +accomplishments, through an excess of dissipation, through a devotedness +to personal embellishments, through an absorption of the whole soul in +music, for one who has made her husband metaphysically miserable." + +"What marks the distinction," said Mr. Carlton, "between the judicious +and the vulgar economist is this: the narrow-minded woman succeeds +tolerably in the filling up, but never in the outline. She is made up of +detail but destitute of plan. Petty duties demand her whole grasp of +mind, and, after all, the thing is incomplete. There is so much bustle +and evident exertion in all she does! she brings into company a mind +exhausted with her little efforts! overflowing with a sense of her own +merits! looking up to her own performance as the highest possible +elevation of the human intellect, and looking down on the attainments of +more highly gifted women, as so many obstructions to their usefulness; +always drawing comparisons to her own advantage, with the cultivated and +the refined, and concluding that because she possesses not their +elegance they must necessarily be deficient in her art. While economists +of a higher strain--I draw from living and not absent instances," added +he, looking benignantly round him--"execute their well ordered plan, as +an indispensable duty, but not as a superlative merit. They have too +much sense to omit it, but they have too much taste to talk of it. It is +their business, not their boast. The effect is produced, but the hand +which accomplishes it is not seen. The mechanism is set at work, but it +is behind the scenes. The beauty is visible, the labor is kept out of +sight." + +"The misfortune is," said Mr. Stanley, "that people are apt to fancy +that judgment is a faculty only to be exercised on great occasions; +whereas it is one that every hour is calling into exercise. There are +certain habits which, though they appear inconsiderable when examined +individually, are yet of no small importance in the aggregate. +Exactness, punctuality, and other minor virtues, contribute more than +many are aware, to promote and to facilitate the exercise of the higher +qualities. I would not erect them into a magnitude beyond their real +size; as persons are too apt to do who are _only_ punctual, and are +deficient in the higher qualities; but by the regular establishment of +these habits in a family, it is inconceivable to those who have not made +the experiment, how it saves, how it amplifies time, that canvas upon +which all the virtues must be wrought. It is incredible how an orderly +division of the day gives apparent rapidity to the wings of time, while +a stated devotion of the hour to its employment really lengthens life. +It lengthens it by the traces which solid occupation leaves behind it: +while it prevents tediousness by affording, with the successive change, +the charm of novelty, and keeping up an interest which would flag, if +any one employment were too long pursued. Now all these arrangements of +life, these divisions of time, and these selections and appropriations +of the business to the hour, come within the department of the lady. And +how much will the cares of a man of sense be relieved, if he choose a +wife who can do all this for him!" + +"In how many of my friends' houses," said Mr. Carlton, "have I observed +the contrary habits produce contrary effects! A young lady bred in total +ignorance of family management, transplanted from the house of her +father, where she has learned nothing, to that of her husband, where she +is expected to know every thing, disappoints a prudent man: his +affection may continue, but his esteem will be diminished; and with his +happiness, his attachment to home will be proportionably lessened." + +"It is perfectly just," said Sir John, "and this comfortless deficiency +has naturally taught men to inveigh against that higher kind of +knowledge which they suppose, though unjustly, to be the cause of +ignorance in domestic matters. It is not entirely to gratify the animal, +as Miss Sparkes supposes, that a gentleman likes to have his table well +appointed; but because his own dignity and his wife's credit are +involved in it. The want of this skill is one of the grand evils of +modern life. _From the heiress of the man of rank, to the daughter of +the opulent tradesman, there is no one quality in which young women are +so generally deficient as in domestic economy._ And when I hear learning +contended for on one hand, and modish accomplishments on the other, I +always contend for this intermediate, this valuable, this neglected +quality, so little insisted on, so rarely found, and so indispensably +necessary." + +"Besides," said Mr. Carlton, addressing himself to Miss Sparkes, "you +ladies are apt to consider versatility as a mark of genius. She, +therefore, who can do a great thing well, ought to do a small one +better; for, as Lord Bacon well observes, he who can not contract his +mind as well as dilate it, wants one great talent in life." + +Miss Sparkes, condescending at length to break a silence which she had +maintained with evident uneasiness, said, "All these plodding +employments cramp the genius, degrade the intellect, depress the +spirits, debase the taste, and clip the wings of imagination. And this +poor, cramped, degraded, stinted, depressed, debased creature is the +very being whom men, men of reputed sense too, commonly prefer to the +mind of large dimensions, soaring fancy, and aspiring tastes." + +"Imagination," replied Mr. Stanley, "well directed, is the charm of +life; it gilds every object, and embellishes every scene; but allow me +to say, that where a woman abandons herself to the dominion of this +vagrant faculty it may lead to something worse than a disorderly table; +and the husband may find that the badness of his dinner is not the only +ill consequence of her super-lunary vagaries." + +"True enough," said Mr. Flam, who had never been known to be so silent, +or so attentive; "true enough, I have not heard so much sense for a long +time. I am sure 'tis sense, because 'tis exactly my own way of thinking. +There is my Bell now. I have spent seven hundred pounds, and more money, +for her to learn music and whimwhams, which all put together are not +worth sixpence. I would give them all up to see her make such a tansy +pudding as that which the widow in the Spectator helped Sir Roger to at +dinner; why I don't believe Bell knows whether pie-crust is made with +butter or cheese; or whether a venison pastry should be baked or boiled. +I can tell her, that when her husband, if she ever gets one, comes in +sharp set from hunting, he won't like to be put off with a tune instead +of a dinner. To marry a singing girl, and complain she does not keep you +a good table, is like eating nightingales, and finding fault that they +are not good tasted. They sing, but they are of no further use--to _eat_ +them, instead of listening to them, is applying to one sense, the +gratification which belongs to another." + +In the course of conversation, Miss Sparkes a little shocked the +delicate feelings of the ladies, of Lucilla especially, by throwing out +some expressions of envy at the superior advantages which men possess +for distinguishing themselves. "Women," she said, "with talents not +inferior were allowed no stage for display, while men had such a reach +for their exertions, such a compass for exercising their genius, such a +range for obtaining distinction that they were at once the objects of +her envy for the means they possessed, and of her pity for turning them +to no better account. There were indeed," she added, "a few men who +redeemed the credit of the rest, and for their sakes she gloried, since +she could not be of their sex, that she was at least of their species." + +"I know, madam," said Mr. Stanley, "your admiration of heroic qualities +and manly virtues: courage for instance. But there are still nobler ways +of exercising courage than even in the field of battle. There are more +exalted means of showing spirit than by sending or accepting a +challenge. To sustain a fit of sickness may exhibit as true heroism as +to lead an army. To bear a deep affliction well calls for as high +exertion of soul as to storm a town; and to meet death with Christian +resolution is an act of courage in which many a woman has triumphed, and +many a philosopher, and even some generals, have failed." + +I thought I saw in Miss Sparkes's countenance a kind of civil contempt, +as if she would be glad to exchange the patient sickness and heroic +death-bed for the renown of victory and the glory of a battle; and I +suspected that she envied the fame of the challenge, and the spirit of +the duel, more than those meek and passive virtues which we all agreed +were peculiarly Christian, and peculiarly feminine. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + +In the afternoon, when the company were assembled in the drawing-room, +the conversation turned on various subjects. Mr. Flam, feeling as if he +had not sufficiently produced himself at dinner now took the lead. He +was never solicitous to show what he called his learning, but when Miss +Sparkes was present, whom it was his grand delight to _set down_ as he +called it. Then he never failed to give broad hints that if he was now +no great student, it was not from ignorance, but from the pressure of +more indispensable avocations. + +He first rambled into some desultory remarks on the absurdity of the +world, and the preposterousness of modern usages, which perverted the +ends of education, and exalted things which were of least use into most +importance. + +"You seem out of humor with the world, Mr. Flam," said Mr. Stanley. "I +hate the world," returned he. "It is indeed," replied Mr. Stanley, "a +scene of much danger, because of much evil." + +"I don't value the danger a straw," rejoined Mr. Flam; "and as to the +evil, I hope I have sense enough to avoid that: but I hate it for its +folly, and despise it for its inconsistency." + +"In what particulars, Mr. Flam?" said Sir John Belfield. + +"In every thing," replied he. "In the first place, don't people educate +their daughters entirely for holidays, and then wonder that they are of +no use? Don't they charge them to be modest, and then teach them every +thing that can make them bold? Are we not angry that they don't attend +to great concerns, after having instructed them to take the most pains +for the least things? There is my Fan, now, they tell me she can dance +as well as a posture mistress, but she slouches in her walk like a +milkmaid. Now as she seldom dances, and is always walking, would it not +be more rational to teach her to do that best which she is to do the +oftenest? She sings like a siren, but 'tis only to strangers. I, who +paid for it, never hear her voice. She is always warbling in a distant +room, or in every room where there is company; but if I have the gout +and want to be amused, she is as dumb as a dormouse." + +"So much for the errors in educating our daughters," said Sir John, "now +for the sons." + +"As to our boys," returned Mr. Flam, "don't we educate them in one +religion, and then expect them to practice another? Don't we cram them +with books of heathen philosophy, and then bid them go and be good +Christians? Don't we teach them to admire the heroes and gods of the +old poets, when there is hardly one hero, and certainly not one god, who +would not in this country have been tried at the Old Bailey, if not +executed at Tyburn? And as to the goddesses, if they had been brought +before us on the bench, brother Stanley, there is scarcely one of them +but we should have ordered to the house of correction. The queen of +them, indeed, I should have sent to the ducking-stool for a scold. + +"Then again, don't we tell our sons when men that they must admire a +monarchical government, after every pains have been taken, when they +were boys, to fill them with raptures for the ancient republics?" + +"Surely, Mr. Flam," said Sir John, "the ancient forms of government may +be studied with advantage, were it only to show us by contrast the +superior excellence of our own." + +"We might," said Miss Sparkes, in a supercilious accent, "learn some +things from them which we much want. You have been speaking of economy. +These republicans, whom Mr. Flam is pleased to speak of with so much +contempt, he must allow, had some good, clever contrivances to keep down +the taxes, which it would do us no harm to imitate. Victories were much +better bargains to them than they are to us. A few laurel leaves or a +sprig of oak was not quite so dear as a pension." + +"But you will allow, madam," said Sir John, smiling, "that a triumph was +a more expensive reward than a title?" + +Before she had time to answer, Mr. Flam said: "Let me tell you, Miss +Sparkes, that as to triumphs, our heroes are so used to them at sea, +that they would laugh at them at home. Those who obtain triumphs as +often as they meet their enemies, would despise such holiday play among +their friends. We don't to be sure reward them as your ancients did. We +don't banish them, nor put them to death for saving their country like +your Athenians. We don't pay them with a trumpery wreath like your +Romans. We English don't put our conquerors off with leaves; we give +them fruits, as cheerfully bestowed as they are fairly earned. God bless +them! I would reduce my table to one dish, my hall to one servant, my +stable to one saddle-horse, and my kennel to one pointer, rather than +abridge the preservers of old England of a feather." + +"Signal exploits, if nationally beneficial," said Sir John, "deserve +substantial remuneration; and I am inclined to think that public honors +are valuable, not only as rewards but incitements. They are as politic +as they are just. When Miltiades and his illustrious ten thousand gained +their immortal victory, would not a Blenheim erected on the plains of +Marathon, have stimulated unborn soldiers more than the little +transitory columns which barely recorded the names of the victors?" + +"What warrior," said Mr. Carlton, "will hereafter visit the future +palace of Trafalgar without reverence? A reverence, the purity of which +will be in no degree impaired by contemplating such an additional motive +to emulation." + +In answer to some further observations of Miss Sparkes, on the +superiority of the ancient to British patriotism, Mr. Flam, whose +indignation now provoked him to display his whole stock of erudition, +eagerly exclaimed: "Do you call that patriotism in your favorite +Athenians, to be so fond of raree-shows, as not only to devote the money +of the state to the play-house, but to make it capital to divert a +little of it to the wants of the gallant soldiers who were fighting +their battles? I hate to hear fellows called patriots who preferred +their diversions to their country." + +Then erecting himself as if he felt the taller for being an Englishman, +he added--"What, Madam Sparkes, would your Greeks have said to a +PATRIOTIC FUND by private contribution, of nearly half a million, in the +midst of heavy taxes and a tedious war, voluntarily raised and +cheerfully given to the orphans, widows, and mothers of their brave +countrymen, who fell in their defense? Were the poor soldiers who fought +under your Cimons, and your ----, I forget their names, ever so kindly +remembered? Make it out that they were--show me such a spirit among your +ancients, and I'll turn republican to-morrow." + +Miss Sparkes having again said something which he thought tended to +exalt the ancient states at the expense of our own country, Mr. Flam +indignantly replied--"Tell me, madam, did your Athens, or your Sparta, +or your Rome, ever take in seven thousand starving priests driven from a +country with which they were at war; a country they had reason to hate, +of a religion they detested? Did they ever receive them, I say, maintain +them like gentlemen, and caress them like friends? If you can bring me +one such instance, I will give up Old England, and turn Greek, or Roman, +or--any thing but Frenchman." + +"I should be inclined," said Mr. Stanley, "to set down that noble deed +to the account of our national religion, as well as of our national +generosity." + +Miss Sparkes said, "In one respect, however, Mr. Flam imitates the +French whom he is abusing. He is very apt to triumph where he has gained +no victory. If you hear his account of a defeat, you would take it, like +theirs, for a conquest." She added, however, that there were illustrious +men in other countries beside our own, as their successes testified. For +her part, she was a citizen of the world, and honored heroes wherever +they were found, in Macedon, in Sweden, or even in France. + +"True enough," rejoined Mr. Flam, "the rulers of other countries have +gone about and delivered kingdoms as we are doing; but there is this +difference: they free them from mild masters, to make them their own +slaves; we neither get them for ourselves or our minions, our brothers, +or cousins, our Jeromes, or Josephs. _We_ raise the weak, _they_ pull +down the prosperous. If _we_ redeem kingdoms, 'tis to bestow them on +their own lawful kings. If we help this nation, 'tis to recall one +sovereign from banishment, if we assist that, 'tis to deliver him from +captivity." + +"What a scene for Spain," said Sir John, "to behold in us their own +national Quixotism soberly exemplified, and rationally realized! The +generous theory of their romantic knight-errant brought into actual +practice. The fervor without the absurdity; the sound principle of +justice without the extravagance of fancy! Wrongs redressed and rights +restored, and upon the grandest scale! Deliverance wrought, not for +imaginary princesses, but for deposed and imprisoned monarchs! Injuries +avenged--not the ideal injuries of ridiculous individuals, but the +substantial wrongs of plundered empires!" + +Sir John, who was amused with the oddities of Mr. Flam, was desirous of +still provoking him to talk; much effort indeed was not required to +induce him to do what he was fond of doing, whenever there was an +opportunity of contradicting Miss Sparkes. + +"But, Mr. Flam," said Sir John, "you were interrupted as you began to +enumerate the inconsistencies which you said had put you out of love +with the world." + +"Why, it makes me mad," replied he, "to hear men who make the loudest +outcry about the dangers of the state, cramming their houses with French +governesses, French cooks, and French valets; is not this adding flame +to the fire? Then I have no patience to see people who pretend great +zeal for the church, delighted that an Italian singer should have a +larger revenue than the highest of our own bishops. Such patriots might +have done well enough for Athenians," added he, looking exultingly at +Miss Sparkes, "but they make miserable Englishmen. Then I hate to see +fellows who pay least taxes, complaining most of the burden--those who +most lament the hardness of the times, spending money in needless +extravagance, and luxury increasing in exact proportion as means +diminish. + +"Then I am sick of the conceit of the boys and girls. Do but observe how +their vanity imposes on their understanding, and how names disguise +things. My son would start, if I were to desire him to go to London in +the _stage coach_, but he _puts himself into the mail_ with great +coolness. If I were to talk to Fan about living in a _small house_, she +would not give me the hearing, whereas she is quite wild to live in a +_cottage_." + +"I do not quite agree with you, Mr. Flam," said Sir John, smiling, "as +to the inconsistency of the world, I rather lament its dull uniformity. +If we may rely on those living chronicles, the newspapers, all is one +faultless scene of monotonous perfection. Were it otherwise, I presume +those frugal philologers would not keep a set of phrases ready cut and +dried, in order to apply them universally in all cases. For instance, is +not every public place from St. James's to Otaheite, or the Cape, +invariably _crowded with beauty and fashion_? Is not every public sermon +pronounced to be _excellent_? Is not every civic speech, every +provincial harangue, _neat and appropriate_? And is not every military +corps, from the veteran regiment of regulars, to the volunteer company +of a month's standing, always declared to be _in the highest state of +discipline_?" + +Before the company went away, I observed that Mrs. Carlton gave Lucilla +a significant glance, and both withdrew together. In spite of my +thorough belief of the injustice and absurdity of my suspicions, a pang +darted through my heart at the bare possibility that Lord Staunton +might be the subject of this secret conference. I was perfectly assured, +that Miss Stanley would never accept him, while he retained his present +character, but that character might be improved. She had rejected him +for his principles; if these principles were changed, there was no other +reasonable ground of objection. He might be reformed. Dare I own, even +to myself, that I dreaded to hear of his reformation. I hate myself for +the thought. I will, said I faintly, endeavor to rejoice if it be so. I +felt a conflict in my mind, between my principles and my passion, that +distressed me not a little. My integrity had never before been so +assailed. At length they returned; I earnestly examined their +countenances. Both looked cheerful, and even animated; yet it was +evident from the redness of their eyes that they had been weeping. The +company immediately took their leave; all our party, as it was a fine +evening, attended them out to their carriages, except Miss Stanley: she +only pressed the hand of Mrs. Carlton, smiled, and looking as if she +durst not trust herself to talk to her, withdrew to the bow window from +whence she could see them depart. I remained in the room. As she was +wiping her eyes to take away the redness, which was a sure way to +increase it, I ventured to join her, and inquired with an earnestness I +could not conceal, what had happened to distress her. "These are not +tears of distress," said she, sweetly smiling. "I am quite ashamed that +I have so little self-control; but Mrs. Carlton has given me so much +pleasure! I have caught the infection of her joy, though my foolish +sympathy looks more like sorrow." Surely, said I, indignantly to myself, +she will not own Lord Staunton's love to my face? + +All frank and open as Miss Stanley was, I was afraid to press her. I had +not courage to ask what I longed to know. Though Lord Staunton's +renewed addresses might not give them so much pleasure, yet his +reformation, I knew, would. I now looked so earnestly inquisitive at +Lucilla, that she said, "My poor friend is at last quite happy. I know +you will rejoice with us. Mr. Carlton has for some time regularly read +the Bible with her. He condescends to hear her and to invite her +remarks, telling her, that if he is the better classic, she is the +better Christian, and that their assistance in the things which each +understands must be reciprocal. If he is her teacher in human +literature, he says, she must be his in that which is divine. He has +been very earnest to get his mind imbued with scriptural knowledge; but +this is not all. + +"Last Saturday he said to her, 'Henrietta, I have but one complaint to +make of you; and it is for a fault which I always thought would be the +last I should ever have to charge you with. It is selfishness.' Mrs. +Carlton was a little shocked, though the tenderness of his manner +mitigated her alarm. 'Henrietta,' resumed he, 'you intend to go to +heaven without your husband? I know you always retire to your +dressing-room, not only for your private devotions, but to read prayers +to your maids. What have your men-servants done, what has your husband +done, that they should be excluded? Is it not a little selfish, my +Henrietta,' added he, smiling, 'to confine your zeal to the eternal +happiness of your own sex? Will you allow me and our men-servants to +join you? To-morrow is Sunday, we will then, if you please, begin in the +hall. You shall prepare what you would have read; and I will be your +chaplain. A most unworthy one, Henrietta, I confess; but you will not +only have a chaplain of your own making, but a Christian also.' + +"'Never, my dear Lucilla,' continued Mrs. Carlton, 'did I know what true +happiness was till that moment. My husband, with all his faults, had +always been remarkably sincere. Indeed, his aversion to all hypocrisy +had made him keep back his right feelings and sentiments till he was +assured they were well established in his mind. He has for some time +been regular at church, a thing, he said, too much taken up as a +customary form to be remarkable, and which therefore involved not much; +but family prayer, adopted from conviction of its being a duty, rather +pledged a man to consistent religion. Never, I hope, shall I forget the +joy I felt, nor my gratitude to that 'Being from whom all holy desires +proceed,' when, with all his family kneeling solemnly around him, I +heard my once unhappy husband with a sober fervor begin: + +"'To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have +rebelled against him, neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our +God, to walk in his laws which he set before us.' + +"He evidently struggled with his own feelings; but his manly mind +carried him through with an admirable mixture of dignity and feeling. He +was so serenely cheerful the rest of the evening that I felt he had +obtained a great victory over himself, and his heart was at peace within +him. Prayer with him was not a beginning form, but a consummation of his +better purposes." + +The sweet girl could not forbear weeping again while she was giving me +this interesting account. I felt as if I had never loved her till then. +To see her so full of sensibility without the slightest tincture of +romance, so feeling, yet so sober-minded, enchanted me. I could now +afford to wish heartily for Lord Staunton's reformation, because it was +not likely to interfere with my hopes. And now the danger was over, I +even endeavored to make myself believe that I _should_ have wished it in +any event, so treacherous will the human heart be found by those who +watch its motions. And it proceeds from not watching them that the +generality are so little acquainted with the evils which lurk within it. + +Before I had time to express half what I felt to the fair narrator the +party came in. They seemed as much puzzled at the position in which they +found Lucilla and myself, she wiping her eyes, and I standing by in +admiration, as I had been at her mysterious interview with Mrs. Carlton. +The Belfields knew not what to make of it. The mother's looks expressed +astonishment and anxiety. The father's eye demanded an explanation. All +this mute eloquence passed in an instant. Miss Stanley gave them not +time to inquire. She flew to her mother, and eagerly repeated the little +tale which furnished matter for grateful joy and improving conversation +the rest of the evening. + +Mr. Stanley expressed a thorough confidence in the sincerity of Carlton. +"He had always," continued he, "in his worst days an abhorrence of +deceit, and such a dread of people appearing better than they are, that +he even commended that most absurd practice of Dean Swift, who, you +know, used to perform family prayers in a garret, for fear any one +should call in and detect him in the performance." Carlton defended this +as an honorable instance of Swift's abhorrence of ostentation in +religion. I opposed it on the more probable ground of his being ashamed +of it. For allowing, what however never can be allowed, that an ordinary +man might have some excuse for the dread of being sneered at, as wanting +to be thought righteous overmuch; yet in a churchman, in a dignified +churchman, family prayer would be expected as a customary decency, an +indispensable appendage to his situation, which, though it might be +practiced without piety, could not be omitted without disgrace, and +which even a sensible infidel, considering it merely as a professional +act, could not say was a custom + + "More honored in the breach than the observance." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + +One evening, which Mr. Tyrrel happened to spend with us, after Mr. +Stanley had performed the family devotions, Mr. Tyrrel said to him: +"Stanley, I don't much like the prayer you read. It seems, by the great +stress it lays on holiness, to imply that a man has something in his own +power. You did indeed mention the necessity of faith and the power of +grace, but there was too much about making the life holy as if that were +all in all. You seem to be putting us so much upon working and doing +that you leave nothing to do for the Saviour." + +"I wish," replied Mr. Stanley, "as I am no deep theologian, that you had +started this objection before Dr. Barlow went away, for I know no man +more able or more willing for serious discussion." + +"No," replied Mr. Tyrrel, "I see clearly by some things he dropped in +conversation, as well as by the whole tenor of his sermons, that Barlow +and I should never agree. He means well, but knows little. He sees +something, but feels nothing. More argument than unction. Too much +reasoning, and too little religion; a little light, and no heat. He +seems to me so to 'overload the ship with duties' that it will sink by +the very means he takes to keep it afloat. I thank God my own eyes are +opened, and I at last feel comfortable in my mind." + +"Religious comfort," said Mr. Stanley, "is a high attainment. Only it is +incumbent on every Christian to be assured that if he is happy it is on +safe grounds." + +"I have taken care of that," replied Mr. Tyrrel. "For some years after I +had quitted my loose habits, I attended occasionally at church, but +found no comfort in it, because I perceived so much was to be _done_ +and so much was to be _sacrificed_. But the great doctrines of faith, as +opened to me by Mr. _H--n_, have at last given me peace, and liberty, +and I rest myself without solicitude on the mercy so freely offered in +the gospel. No mistakes or sins of mine can ever make me forfeit the +divine favor." + +"Let us hear, however," replied Mr. Stanley, "what the Bible says; for +as that is the only rule by which we shall be judged hereafter, it may +be prudent to be guided by it here. God says by the prophet, 'I will put +my Spirit within you;' but he does this for some purpose, for he says in +the very next words, 'I will cause you to _walk_ in my statutes.' And +for fear this should not plainly enough inculcate holiness, he goes on +to say, 'And ye shall _keep_ my judgments, and _do_ them.' Show me, if +you can, a single promise made to an impenitent, unholy man." + +"Why," said Tyrrel, "is not the mercy of God promised to the wicked in +every part of the Bible?" + +"It is," said Mr. Stanley; "but that is, 'if he forsake his way.'" + +"This fondness for works is, in my opinion, nothing else but setting +aside the free grace of God." + +"Quite the contrary: so far from setting it aside, it is the way to +glorify it, for it is by that grace alone that we are enabled to perform +right actions. For myself, I always find it difficult to answer persons, +who, in flying to one extreme, think they can not too much degrade the +opposite. If we give faith its due prominence, the mere moralist +reprobates our principles as if we were depreciating works. If we +magnify the beauty of holiness, the advocate for exclusive faith accuses +us of being its enemy." + +"For my own part, I am persuaded that unqualified trust is the only +ground of safety." + +"He who can not lie has indeed told us so. But trust in God is humble +dependence, not presumptuous security. The Bible does not say, trust in +the Lord and sin on, but 'trust in the Lord, and be doing good.' We are +elsewhere told that, 'God works in us to will and to do.' There is no +getting over that little word to _do_. I suppose you allow the necessity +of prayer." + +"Certainly I do." + +"But there are conditions to our prayers also: 'if I regard iniquity in +my heart the Lord will not hear me.'" + +"The Scriptures affirm that we must live on the promises." + +"They are indeed the very aliment of the Christian life. But what are +the promises?" + +"Free pardon and eternal life to them that are in Christ Jesus." + +"True. But who are they that _are_ in Christ Jesus? The apostle tells +us, 'they who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.' Besides, +is not holiness promised as well as pardon? 'A new heart will I give +you, and a new spirit will I put within you.'" + +"Surely, Stanley, you abuse the grace of the gospel, by pretending that +man is saved by his own righteousness." + +"No, no, my dear Tyrrel, it is you who abuse it, by making God's mercy +set aside man's duty. Allow me to observe, that he who exalts the grace +of God with a view to indulge himself in any sin, is deceiving no one +but himself; and he who trusts in Christ, with a view to spare himself +the necessity of watchfulness, humility, and self-denial, that man +depends upon Christ for more than he has promised." + +"Well, Mr. Stanley, it appears to me that you want to patch up a +convenient accommodating religion, as if Christ were to do a little, and +we were to do the rest; a sort of partnership salvation, and in which +man has the larger share." + +"This, I fear, is indeed the dangerous creed of many worldly Christians. +No; God may be said to do all, because he gives power for all, strength +for all, grace for all. But this grace, is a principle, a vital energy, +a life-giving spirit to quicken us, to make us abound in holiness. He +does not make his grace abound, that we may securely live in sin, but +that we may subdue it, renounce it, live above it." + +"When our Saviour was upon earth, there was no one quality he so +uniformly commended in those who came to be healed by him, as faith." + +"It is most true. But we do not meet in any of them with such a +presumptuous faith as led them to rush into diseases on purpose to show +their confidence in his power of healing them, neither are we to +'continue in sin that grace may abound.' You can not but observe, that +the faith of the persons you mention was always accompanied with an +earnest desire to get rid of their diseases. And it is worth remarking, +that to the words, 'thy faith has made thee whole,' is added, '_sin no +more_, lest a worse thing come unto thee.'" + +"You can not persuade me that any neglect, or even sin of mine, can make +void the covenant of God." + +"Nothing can set side the covenant of God, which is sure and steadfast. +But as for him who lives in the allowed practice of any sin, it is clear +that he has no part nor lot in the matter. It is clear that he is not +one of those whom God has taken into the covenant. That God will keep +his word is most certain, but such a one does not appear to be the +person to whom that word is addressed. God as much designed that you +should apply the faculties, the power, and the will he has given you, to +a life of holiness, as he meant when he gave you legs, hands, and eyes, +that you should walk, work, and see. His grace is not intended to +exclude the use of his gifts but to perfect, exalt, and ennoble them." + +"I can produce a multitude of texts to prove that Christ has done every +thing, and of course has left nothing for me to do, but to believe on +him." + +"Let us take the general tenor and spirit of Scripture, and neither pack +single texts together, detached from the connection in which they stand; +nor be so unreasonable as to squeeze all the doctrines of Christianity +out of every single text, which perhaps, was only meant to inculcate one +individual principle. How consistently are the great leading doctrines +of faith and holiness balanced and reconciled in every part of the +Bible! If ever I have been in danger of resting on a mere dead faith, by +one of those texts on which you exclusively build; in the very next +sentence, perhaps, I am aroused to active virtue, by some lively +example, or absolute command. If again I am ever in danger, as you say, +of sinking the ship with my proud duties, the next passage calls me to +order, by some powerful injunction to renounce all confidence in my +miserable defective virtues, and to put my whole trust in Christ. By +thus assimilating the Creed with the Commandment, the Bible becomes its +own interpreter, and perfect harmony is the result. Allow me also to +remark, that this invariable rule of exhibiting the doctrines of +Scripture in their due proportion, order, and relative connection, is +one of the leading excellences in the service of our Church. While no +doctrine is neglected or undervalued, none is disproportionately +magnified, at the expense of the others. There is neither omission, +undue prominence, nor exaggeration. There is complete symmetry and +correct proportion." + +"I assert that we are free by the gospel from the condemnation of the +law." + +"But where do you find that we are free from the obligation of obeying +it? For my own part, I do not combine the doctrine of grace, to which I +most cordially assent, with any doctrine which practically denies the +voluntary agency of man. Nor, in my adoption of the belief of that +voluntary agency, do I, in the remotest degree, presume to abridge the +sovereignty of God. I adopt none of the metaphysical subtilties, none of +the abstruse niceties of any party, nor do I imitate either in the +reprobation of the other, firmly believing that heaven is peopled with +the humble and the conscientious out of every class of real Christians." + +"Still I insist that if Christ has delivered me from sin, sin can do me +no harm." + +"My dear Mr. Tyrrel, if the king of your country were a mighty general, +and had delivered the land from some powerful enemy, would it show your +sense of the obligation, or your allegiance as a subject, if you were to +join the enemy he had defeated? By so doing, though the country might be +saved, you would ruin yourself. Let us not then live in confederacy with +sin, the power of which, indeed, our Redeemer has broken, but both the +power and guilt of which the individual is still at liberty to incur." + +"Stanley, I remember when you thought the gospel was all in all." + +"I think so still; but I am now, as I was then, for a sober consistent +gospel, a Christianity which must evidence itself by its fruits. The +first words of the apostle after his conversion were, 'Lord, what wilt +thou have me to do?' When he says, 'so run that ye may obtain,' he could +never mean that we could obtain by sitting still, nor would he have +talked of 'laboring _in vain_,' if he meant that we should not labor at +all. We dare not persist in any thing that is wrong, or neglect any +thing that is right, from an erroneous notion that we have such an +interest in Christ as will excuse us from doing the one, or persisting +in the other." + +"I fancy you think that a man's salvation depends on the number of good +actions he can muster together." + +"No, it is the very spirit of Christianity not to build on this or that +actual work, but sedulously to strive for that temper and those +dispositions which are the seminal principles of all virtues; and where +the heart struggles and prays for the attainment of this state, though +the man should be placed in such circumstances as to be able to do +little to promote the welfare of mankind, or the glory of God, in the +eyes of the world; this very habitual aim and bent of the mind, with +humble sorrow at its low attainments, is in my opinion no slight degree +of obedience. + +"But you will allow that the Scriptures affirm that Christ is not only a +sacrifice but a refuge, a consolation, a rest." + +"Blessed be God, he is indeed all these. But he is a consolation only to +the heavy laden, a refuge to those alone who forsake sin. The rest he +promises, is not a rest from labor but from evil. It is a rest from the +drudgery of the world, but not from the service of God. It is not +inactivity, but quietness of spirit; not sloth, but peace. He draws men +indeed from slavery to freedom, but not a freedom to do evil, or to do +nothing. He makes his service easy, but not by lowering the rule of +duty, not by adapting his commands to the corrupt inclinations of our +nature. He communicates his grace, gives fresh and higher motives to +obedience, and imparts peace and comfort, not by any abatement in his +demands, but by this infusion of his own grace, and this communication +of his own Spirit." + +"You are a strange fellow. According to you, we can neither be saved by +good works, nor without them." + +"Come, Mr. Tyrrel, you are nearer the truth than you intended. We can +not be saved by the merit of our good works, without setting at naught +the merits and death of Christ; and we can not be saved without them, +unless we set at naught God's holiness, and make him a favorer of sin. +Now to this the doctrine of the atonement, properly understood, is most +completely hostile. That this doctrine _favors_ sin, is one of the false +charges which worldly men bring against vital Christianity, because they +do not understand the principle, nor inquire into the grounds, on which +it is adopted." + +"Still, I think you limit the grace of God, as if people must be very +good first, in order to deserve it, and then he will come and add his +grace to their goodness. Whereas grace has been most conspicuous in the +most notorious sinners." + +"I allow that the grace of God has never manifested itself more +gloriously than in the conversion of notorious sinners. But it is worth +remarking, that all such, with St. Paul at their head, have ever after +been eminently more afraid than other men of falling again into sin; +they have prayed with the greater earnestness to be delivered from the +power of it, and have continued to lament most deeply the remaining +corruption of their hearts." + +In the course of the conversation Mr. Tyrrel said, "he should be +inclined to entertain doubts of that man's state who could not give an +accurate account of the time, and the manner, in which he was first +awakened, and who had had no sensible manifestations of the divine +favor." + +"I believe," replied Mr. Stanley, "that my notions of the evidence of +being in the favor of God differ materially from yours. If a man feel in +himself a hatred of all sin, without sparing his favorite corruption; if +he rest for salvation on the promise of the gospel alone; if he maintain +in his mind such a sense of the nearness and immeasurable importance of +eternal things, as shall enable him to use temporal things with +moderation, and anticipate their end without dismay; if he delight in +the worship of God, is zealous for his service, making _his_ glory the +end and aim of all his actions; if he labor to fulfill his allotted +duties conscientiously; if he love his fellow-creatures as the children +of the same common Father, and partakers of the same common hope; if he +feel the same compassion for the immortal interests, as for the worldly +distresses of the unfortunate; forgiving others, as he hopes to be +forgiven; if he endeavor according to his measure and ability, to +diminish the vice and misery with which the world abounds, _that_ man +has a solid ground of peace and hope, though he may not have those +sensible evidences which afford triumph and exultation. In the mean +while, the man of a heated imagination, who boasts of mysterious +communications within, is perhaps exhibiting outwardly unfavorable marks +of his real state, and holding out by his low practice discouragements +unfriendly to that religion of which he professes himself a shining +instance. + +"The sober Christian is as fully convinced that only he who made the +heart can renew it, as the enthusiast. He is as fully persuaded that his +natural dispositions can not be changed, nor his affections purified but +by the agency of the divine Spirit, as the fanatic. And though he +presume not to limit omnipotence to a sudden or a gradual change, yet he +does not think it necessary to ascertain the day, and the hour, and the +moment, contented to be assured that whereas he was once blind he now +sees. If he does not presume in his own case to fix the _chronology of +conversion_, he is not less certain as to its effects. If he can not +enumerate dates, and recapitulate feelings, he can and does produce such +evidence of his improvement, as virtuous habits, a devout temper, an +humble and charitable spirit, repentance toward God, and faith in our +Lord Jesus Christ; and this gives an evidence less equivocal, as +existing more in the heart than on the lips, and more in the life than +in the discourse. Surely, if a plant be flourishing, the branches +green, and the fruit fair and abundant, we may venture to pronounce +these to be indications of health and vigor, though we can not ascertain +the moment when the seed was sown, or the manner in which it sprung up." + +Sir John, who had been an attentive listener, but had not yet spoken a +word, now said, smiling, "Mr. Stanley, you steer most happily between +the two extremes. This exclusive cry of grace in one party of +religionists, which drives the opposite side into as unreasonable a +clamor against it, reminds me of the Queen of Louis Quatorze. When the +Jesuits, who were of the court-party, made so violent an outcry against +the Jasenists, for no reason but because they had more piety than +themselves, her majesty was so fearful of being thought to favor the +oppressed side, that in the excess of her party zeal, she vehemently +exclaimed, 'Oh, fie upon grace! fie upon grace!'" + +"Party violence," continued Mr. Stanley, "thinks it can never recede far +enough from the side it opposes!" + +"But how then," replied Mr. Tyrrel, "is our religion to be known, except +by our making a profession of truths which the irreligious are either +ignorant of, or oppose?" + +"There is," rejoined Mr. Stanley, "as I have already observed, a more +infallible criterion. It is best known by the effects it produces on the +heart and on the temper. A religion which consists in opinions only, +will not advance us in our progress to heaven: it is apt to inflate the +mind with the pride of disputation; and victory is so commonly the +object of debate, that eternity slides out of sight. The two cardinal +points of our religion, justification and sanctification, are, if I may +be allowed the term, correlatives; they imply a reciprocal relation, nor +do I call that state Christianity, in which either is separately and +exclusively maintained. The union of these manifests the dominion of +religion in the heart, by increasing its humility, by purifying its +affections, by setting it above the contamination of the maxims and +habits of the world, by detaching it from the vanities of time, and +elevating it to a desire for the riches of eternity." + +"All the exhortations to duties," returned Mr. Tyrrel, "with which so +many sermons abound, are only an infringement on the liberty of a +Christian. A true believer knows of no duty but faith, no rule but +love." + +"Love is indeed," said Mr. Stanley, "the fountain and principle of all +practical virtue. But love itself requires some regulations to direct +its exertion; some law to guide its motions; some rule to prevent its +aberrations; some guard to hinder that which is vigorous from becoming +eccentric. With such a regulation, such a law, such a guard, the divine +ethics of the gospel have furnished us. The word of God is as much our +rule, as his Spirit is our guide, or his Son our 'way.' This unerring +rule alone secures Christian liberty from disorder, from danger, from +irregularity, from excess. Conformity to the precepts of the Redeemer is +the most infallible proof of having an interest in his death." + +We afterward insensibly slid into other subjects, when Mr. Tyrrel, like +a combatant who thought himself victorious, seemed inclined to return to +the charge. The love of money having been mentioned by Sir John with +extreme severity, Mr. Tyrrel seemed to consider it as a venial failing, +and said that both avarice and charity might be constitutional. + +"They may be so," said Mr. Stanley, "but Christianity, sir, has a +constitution of its own; a superinduced constitution. A real Christian +'confers not with flesh and blood,' with his _constitution_, whether he +shall give or forbear to give, when it is a clear duty, and the will of +God requires it. If we believe in the principles, we must adopt the +conclusions. Religion is not an unproductive theory, nor charity an +unnecessary, an incidental consequence, nor a contingent left to our own +choice. You are a classic, Mr. Tyrrel, and can not have forgotten that +in your mythological poets, the three Pagan graces were always knit +together hand in hand; the three Christian graces are equally +inseparable, and that the greatest of these is charity; that grand +principle of love, of which almsgiving is only one branch." + +Mr. Tyrrel endeavored to evade the subject, and seemed to intimate that +true Christianity might be known without any such evidences as Mr. +Stanley thought necessary. This led the latter to insist warmly on the +vast stress which every part of Scripture laid on the duty of charity. +"Its doctrines," said he, "its precepts, its promises, and its examples +all inculcate it. 'The new commandment' of John; 'the pure and undefiled +religion' of James; 'ye shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the +just' of Luke; the daily and hourly practice of him, who not only taught +to do good, but who went about doing it; 'the store for a good +foundation against the time to come' of Paul--nay, in the only full, +solemn, and express representation of the last day, which the gospel +exhibits, charity is not only brought forward as a predominant, a +distinguishing feature of the righteous, but a specific recompense seems +to be assigned to it, when practiced on true Christian grounds. And it +is not a little observable, that the only posthumous quotation from the +sayings of our divine Saviour which the Scripture has recorded, is an +encouragement to charity: 'Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he +said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + +The next afternoon, when we were all conversing together, I asked Mr. +Stanley what opinion he held on a subject which had lately been a good +deal canvassed; the propriety of young ladies learning the dead +languages; particularly Latin. He was silent. Mrs. Stanley smiled. +Ph[oe]be laughed outright. Lucilla, who had nearly finished making tea, +blushed excessively. Little Celia, who was sitting on my knee while I +was teaching her to draw a bird, put an end to the difficulty, by +looking up in my face and crying out--"Why, sir, Lucilla reads Latin +with papa every morning." I cast a timid eye on Miss Stanley, who, after +putting the sugar into the cream pot, and the tea into the sugar bason, +slid out of the room, beckoning Ph[oe]be to follow her. + +"Poor Lucilla," said Mr. Stanley, "I feel for her. Well, sir," continued +he, "you have discovered by external, what I trust you would not have +soon found by internal evidence. Parents who are in high circumstances, +yet from principle abridge their daughters of the pleasures of the +dissipated part of the world, may be allowed to substitute other +pleasures; and if the girl has a strong inquisitive mind, they may +direct it to such pursuits as call for vigorous application, and the +exercise of the mental powers." + +"How does that sweet girl manage," said Lady Belfield, "to be so +utterly void of pretension? So much softness and so much usefulness +strip her of all the terrors of learning." + +"At first," replied Mr. Stanley, "I only meant to give Lucilla as much +Latin as would teach her to grammaticize her English, but her quickness +in acquiring led me on, and I think I did right; for it is superficial +knowledge that excites vanity. A learned language, which a discreet +woman will never produce in company, is less likely to make her vain +than those acquirements which, are always in exhibition. And after all, +it is a hackneyed remark, that the best instructed girl will have less +learning than a school-boy; and why should vanity operate in her case +more than in his?" + +"For this single reason, sir," said I, "that every body knows that which +very few girls are taught. Suspect me not, however, of censuring a +measure which I admire. I hope the example of your daughters will help +to raise the tone of female education." + +"Softly, softly," interrupted Mr. Stanley, "retrench your plural number. +It is only one girl out of six that has deviated from the beaten track. +I do not expect many converts to what I must rather call my practice in +one instance, than my general opinion. I am so convinced of the +prevailing prejudice, that the thing has never been named out of the +family. If my gay neighbor Miss Rattle knew that Lucilla had learned +Latin, she would instantly find out a few moments to add that language +to her innumerable acquirements, because her mother can afford to pay +for it, and because Lady Di. Dash has never learned it. I assure you, +however" (laughing as he spoke), "I never intend to smuggle my poor girl +on any man by concealing from him this unpopular attainment, any more +than I would conceal any personal defect." + +"I will honestly confess," said Sir John, who had not yet spoken, "that +had I been to judge the case _à priori_, had I met Miss Stanley under +the terrifying persuasion that she was a scholar, I own I should have +met her with a prejudice; I should have feared she might be forward in +conversation, deficient in feminine manners, and destitute of domestic +talents. But having had such a fair occasion of admiring her engaging +modesty, her gentle and unassuming tone in society, and above all, +having heard from Lady Belfield how eminently she excels in the true +science of a lady--domestic knowledge--I can not refuse her that +additional regard, which this solid acquirement, so meekly borne, +deserves. Nor, on reflection, do I see why we should be so forward to +instruct a woman in the language spoken at Rome in its present degraded +state, in which there are comparatively few authors to improve her, and +yet be afraid that she should be acquainted with that which was its +vernacular tongue, in its age of glory two thousand years ago, and which +abounds with writers of supreme excellence." + +I was charmed at these concessions from Sir John, and exclaimed with a +transport which I could not restrain: "In our friends, even in our +common acquaintance, do we not delight to associate with those whose +pursuits have been similar to our own, and who have read the same books? +How dull do we find it, when civility compels us to pass even a day with +an illiterate man? Shall we not then delight in the kindred acquirements +of a dearer friend? Shall we not rejoice in a companion who has drawn, +though less copiously, perhaps, from the same rich sources with +ourselves; who can relish the beauty we quote, and trace the allusion at +which we hint? I do not mean that _learning_ is absolutely necessary, +but a man of taste who has an ignorant wife, can not, in her company, +think his own thoughts, nor speak his own language; his thoughts he will +suppress; his language he will debase, the one from hopelessness, the +other from compassion. He must be continually lowering and diluting his +meaning, in order to make himself intelligible. This he will do for the +woman he loves, but in doing it he will not be happy. She, who can not +be entertained by his conversation, will not be convinced by his +reasoning; and at length he will find out that it is less trouble to +lower his own standard to hers, than to exhaust himself in the vain +attempt to raise hers to his own." + +"A fine high-sounding _tirade_, Charles, spoken _con amore_," said Sir +John. "I really believe, though, that one reason why women are so +frivolous is, that the things they are taught are not solid enough to +fix the attention, exercise the intellect, and fortify the +understanding. They learn little that inures to reasoning, or compels to +patient meditation." + +"I consider the difficulties of a solid education," said Mr. Stanley, +"as a sort of preliminary course, intended perhaps by Providence as a +gradual preparative for the subsequent difficulties of life; as a +prelude to the acquisition of that solidity and firmness of character +which actual trials are hereafter to confirm. Though I would not make +instruction unnecessarily harsh and rugged, yet I would not wish to +increase its facilities to such a degree as to weaken that robustness of +mind which it should be its object to promote, in order to render mental +discipline subservient to moral." + +"How have you managed with your other girls, Stanley?" said Sir John, +"for though you vindicate general knowledge, you profess not to wish for +general learning in the sex." + +"Far from it," replied Mr. Stanley. "I am a gardener you know, and +accustomed to study the genius of the soil before I plant. Most of my +daughters, like the daughters of other men, have some one talent, or at +least propensity; for parents are too apt to mistake inclination for +genius. This propensity I endeavor to find out and to cultivate. But if +I find the natural bias very strong, and not very safe, I then labor to +counteract, instead of encouraging the tendency, and try to give it a +fresh direction. Lucilla having a strong bent to whatever relates to +intellectual taste, I have read over with her the most unexceptionable +parts of a few of the best Roman classics. She began at nine years old, +for I have remarked that it is not learning much, but learning late, +which makes pedants. + +"Ph[oe]be, who has a superabundance of vivacity, I have in some measure +tamed, by making her not only a complete mistress of arithmetic, but by +giving her a tincture of mathematics. Nothing puts such a bridle on the +fancy as demonstration. A habit of computing steadies the mind, and +subdues the soarings of imagination. It sobers the vagaries of trope and +figure, substitutes truth for metaphor, and exactness for amplification. +This girl, who if she had been fed on poetry and works of imagination, +might have become a Miss Sparkes, now rather gives herself the airs of a +calculator and of a grave computist. Though as in the case of the cat in +the fable, who was metamorphosed into a lady, nature will breath out as +soon as the scratching of a mouse is heard; and all Ph[oe]be's +philosophy can scarcely keep her in order, if any work of fancy comes in +her way. + +"To soften the horrors of her fate, however, I allowed her to read a few +of the best things in her favorite class. When I read to her the more +delicate parts of Gulliver's Travels, with which she was enchanted, she +affected to be angry at the voyage to Laputa, because it ridicules +philosophical science. And in Brobdignag, she said, the proportions were +not correct. I must, however, explain to you, that the use which I made +of these dry studies with Ph[oe]be, was precisely the same which the +ingenious Mr. Cheshire makes of his steel machines for defective shapes, +to straiten a crooked tendency or strengthen a weak one. Having employed +these means to set her mind upright, and to cure a wrong bias; as that +skillful gentleman discards his apparatus as soon as the patient becomes +strait, so have I discontinued these pursuits, for I never meant to +make a mathematical lady. Jane has a fine ear and a pretty voice, and +will sing and play well enough for any girl who is not to make music her +profession. One or two of the others sing agreeably. + +"The little one, who brought the last nosegay, has a strong turn for +natural history, and we all of us generally botanize a little of an +evening, which gives a fresh interest to our walks. She will soon draw +plants and flowers pretty accurately. Louisa also has some taste in +designing, and takes tolerable sketches from nature. These we encourage +because they are solitary pleasures, and want no witnesses. They all are +too eager to impart somewhat of what they know to your little favorite +Celia, who is in danger of picking up a little of every thing, the sure +way to excel in nothing. + +"Thus each girl is furnished with some one source of independent +amusement. But what would become of them, or rather what would become of +their mother and me, if every one of them was a scholar, a +mathematician, a singer, a performer, a botanist, a painter? Did we +attempt to force all these acquirements and a dozen more on every girl; +all her _time_ would be occupied about things which will be of no value +to her in _eternity_. I need not tell you that we are carefully +communicating to every one of them that general knowledge which should +be common to all gentlewomen. + +"In unrolling the vast volume of ancient and modern history, I ground on +it some of my most useful instructions, and point out how the truth of +Scripture is illustrated by the crimes and corruptions which history +records, and how the same pride, covetousness, ambition, turbulence, and +deceit, which bring misery on empires, destroy the peace of families. To +history, geography and chronology are such, indispensable appendages, +that it would be superfluous to insist on their usefulness. As to +astronomy, while 'the heavens declare the glory of God,' it seems a kind +of impiety, not to give young people some insight into it." "I hope," +said Sir John, "that you do not exclude the modern languages from your +plan." "As to the French," replied Mr. Stanley, "with that thorough +inconsistency which is common to man, the demand for it seems to have +risen in exact proportion as it ought to have sunk.[4] I would not, +however, rob my children of a language in which, though there are more +books to be avoided, there are more that deserve to be read, than in all +the foreign languages put together." + +[Footnote 4: See an ingenious little treatise entitled Latium Redivivum, +or the modern use of the Latin language, and the prevalence of the +French.] + +"If you prohibit Italian," said Sir John, laughing, "I will serve you as +Cowper advised the boys and girls to serve Johnson for depreciating +Henry and Emma; I will join the musical and poetical ladies in tearing +you to pieces, as the Thracian damsels did Orpheus, and send your head +with his + + "Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore." + +"You remember me, my dear Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "a warm +admirer of the exquisite beauties of Italian poetry. But a father feels, +or rather judges differently from the mere man of taste, and as a +father, I can not help regretting, that what is commonly put into the +hands of our daughters, is so amatory, that it has a tendency to soften +those minds which rather want to be invigorated. + +"There are few things I more deprecate for girls than a poetical +education, the evils of which I saw sadly exemplified in a young friend +of Mrs. Stanley's. She had beauty and talents. Her parents, enchanted +with both, left her entirely to her own guidance. She yielded herself up +to the uncontrolled rovings of a vagrant fancy. When a child she wrote +verses, which were shown in her presence to every guest. Their flattery +completed her intoxication. She afterward translated Italian sonnets and +composed elegies of which love was the only theme. These she was +encouraged by her mother to recite herself, in all companies, with a +pathos and sensibility which delighted her parents, but alarmed her more +prudent friends. + +"She grew up with the confirmed opinion that the two great and sole +concerns of human life were love and poetry. She considered them as +inseparably connected, and she resolved in her own instance never to +violate so indispensable a union. The object of her affection was +unhappily chosen, and the effects of her attachment were such as might +have been expected from a connexion formed on so slight a foundation. In +the perfections with which she invested her lover, she gave the reins to +her imagination, when she thought she was only consulting her heart. She +picked out and put together the fine qualities of all the heroes of all +the poets she had ever read, and into this finished creature, her fancy +transformed her admirer. + +"Love and poetry commonly influence the two sexes in a very +disproportionate degree. With men, each of them is only one passion +among many. Love has various and powerful competitors in hearts divided +between ambition, business, and pleasure. Poetry is only one amusement +in minds, distracted by a thousand tumultuous pursuits, whereas in girls +of ardent tempers, whose feelings are not curbed by restraint, and +regulated by religion, love is considered as the great business of their +earthly existence. It is cherished, not as 'the cordial drop,' but as +the whole contents of the cup; the remainder is considered only as froth +or dregs. The unhappy victim not only submits to the destructive +dominion of a despotic passion but glories in it. So at least did this +ill-starred girl. + +"The sober duties of a family had early been transferred to her sisters, +as far beneath the attention of so fine a genius; while she abandoned +herself to studies which kept her imagination in a fever, and to a +passion which those studies continually fed and inflamed. Both together +completed her delirium. She was ardent, generous, and sincere; but +violent, imprudent, and vain to excess. She set the opinion of the world +at complete defiance, and was not only totally destitute of judgment and +discretion herself, but despised them in others. Her lover and her muse +were to her instead of the whole world. + +"After having for some years exchanged sonnets, under the names of Laura +and Petrarch, and elegies under those of Sappho and Phaon; the lover, to +whom all this had been mere sport, the gratification of vanity, and the +recreation of an idle hour grew weary. + + Younger and fairer he another saw. + +He drew off. Her verses were left unanswered, her reproaches unpitied. +Laura wept, and Sappho raved in vain. + +"The poor girl, to whom all this visionary romance had been a serious +occupation, which had swallowed up cares and duties, now realized the +woes she had so often admired and described. Her upbraidings only served +to alienate still more the heart of her deserter; and her despair, which +he had the cruelty to treat as fictitious, was to him a subject of mirth +and ridicule. Her letters were exposed, her expostulatory verses read at +clubs and taverns, and the unhappy Sappho toasted in derision. + +"All her ideal refinements now degenerated into practical improprieties. +The public avowal of her passion drew on her from the world charges +which she had not merited. Her reputation was wounded, her health +declined, her peace was destroyed. She experienced the dishonors of +guilt without its turpitude, and in the bloom of life fell, the +melancholy victim to a mistaken education and an undisciplined mind." + +Mrs. Stanley dropped a silent tear to the memory of her unhappy friend, +the energies of whose mind she said would, had they been lightly +directed, have formed a fine character. + +"But none of the things of which I have been speaking," resumed Mr. +Stanley, "are the great and primary objects of instruction. The +inculcation of fortitude, prudence, humility, temperance, +self-denial--this is education. These are things we endeavor to promote +far more than arts or languages. These are tempers, the habit of which +should be laid in early, and followed up constantly, as there is no day +in life which will not call them into exercise; and how can that be +practiced which has never been acquired? + +"Perseverance, meekness, and industry," continued he, "are the qualities +we most carefully cherish and commend. For poor Laura's sake, I make it +a point never to extol any indications of genius. Genius has pleasure +enough in its own high aspirings. Nor am I indeed overmuch delighted +with a great blossom of talents. I agree with good Bishop Hull, that it +is better to thin the blossoms that the rest may thrive; and that in +encouraging too many propensities, one faculty may not starve another." + +Lady Belfield expressed herself grateful for the hints Mr. Stanley had +thrown out, which could not be but of importance to her who had so large +a family. After some further questions from her, he proceeded: + +"I have partly explained to you, my dear madam, why, though I would not +have every woman learn every thing, yet why I would give every girl, in +a certain station of life, some one amusing accomplishment. There is +here and there a strong mind, which requires a more substantial +nourishment than the common education of girls affords. To such, and to +such only, would I furnish the quiet resource of a dead language as a +solid aliment, which may fill the mind without inflating it. + +"But that no acquirement may inflate it, let me add, there is but one +sure corrective. Against learning, against talents of any kind, nothing +can steady the head, unless you fortify the heart with real +Christianity. In raising the moral edifice, we must sink deep in +proportion as we build high. We must widen the foundation if we extend +the superstructure. Religion alone can counteract the aspirings of +genius, can regulate the pride of talents. + +"And let such women as are disposed to be vain of their comparatively +petty attainments, look up with admiration to those two cotemporary +shining examples, the venerable Elizabeth Carter and the blooming +Elizabeth Smith. I knew them both, and to know was to revere them. In +_them_, let our young ladies contemplate profound and various learning +chastised by true Christian humility. In _them_, let them venerate +acquirements which would have been distinguished in a university, +meekly, softened, and beautifully shaded by the gentle exertion of every +domestic virtue, the unaffected exercise of every feminine employment." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + + +Ever since Mr. Tyrrel had been last with us, I had observed an unusual +seriousness in the countenance of Sir John Belfield, though accompanied +with his natural complacency. His mind seemed intent on something he +wished to communicate. The first time we were both alone in the library +with Mr. Stanley, Sir John said: "Stanley, the conversations we have +lately had, and especially the last, in which you bore so considerable a +part, have furnished me with matter for reflection. I hope the pleasure +will not be quite destitute of profit." + +"My dear Sir John," replied Mr. Stanley, "in conversing with Mr. Tyrrel, +I labor under a disadvantage common to every man, who, when he is called +to defend some important principle which he thinks attacked or +undervalued, is brought into danger of being suspected to undervalue +others, which, if they in their turn were assailed, he would defend with +equal zeal. When points of the last importance are slighted as +insignificant in order exclusively to magnify one darling opinion, I am +driven to appear as if I opposed that important tenet, which, if I may +so speak, seems pitted against the others. Those who do not previously +know my principles, might almost suspect me of being an opposer of that +prime doctrine, which I really consider as the leading principle of +Christianity." + +"Allow me to say," returned Sir John, "that my surprise has been equal +to my satisfaction. Those very doctrines which you maintained, I had +been assured, were the very tenets you rejected. Many of our +acquaintance, who do not come near enough to judge, or who would not be +competent to judge if they did, ascribe the strictness of your practice +to some unfounded peculiarities of opinion, and suspect that the +doctrines of Tyrrel, though somewhat modified, a little more rationally +conceived, and more ably expressed, are the doctrines held by you, and +by every man who rises above the ordinary standard of what the world +calls religious men. And what is a little absurd and inconsistent, they +ascribe to these supposed dangerous doctrines, his abstinence from the +diversions, and his disapprobation of the manners and maxims of the +world. _Your_ opinions, however, I always suspected could not be very +pernicious, the effects of which, from the whole tenor of your life, I +knew to be so salutary. + +"I now find upon full proof that there is nothing in your sentiments but +what a man of sense may approve; nothing but what if he be really a man +of sense, he will without scruple adopt. May I be enabled more fully, +more practically, to adopt them! You shall point out to me such a course +of reading as may not only clear up my remaining difficulties, but, what +is infinitely more momentous than the solution of any abstract question, +may help to awaken me to a more deep and lively sense of my own +individual interest in this great concern!" + +Mr. Stanley's benevolent countenance was lighted up with more than its +wonted animation. He did not attempt to conceal the deep satisfaction +with which his heart was penetrated. He modestly referred his friend to +Dr. Barlow, as a far more able casuist, though not a more cordial +friend. For my own part, I felt my heart expand toward Sir John with new +sympathies and an enlarged affection. I felt noble motives of +attachment, an attachment which I hoped would be perpetuated beyond the +narrow bounds of this perishable world. + +"My dear Sir John," said Mr. Stanley, "it is among the daily but +comparatively petty trials of every man who is deeply in earnest to +secure his immortal interests, to be classed with low and wild +enthusiasts whom his judgment condemns, with hypocrites against whom his +principles revolt, and with men, pious and conscientious I am most +willing to allow, but differing widely from his own views; with others +who evince a want of charity in some points, and a want of judgment in +most. To be identified, I say, with men so different from yourself, +because you hold in common some great truths, which all real Christians +have held in all ages, and because you agree with them in avoiding the +blamable excesses of dissipation, is among the sacrifices of reputation, +which a man must be contented to make who is earnest in the great object +of a Christian's pursuit. I trust, however, that, through divine grace, +I shall never renounce my integrity for the praise of men, who have so +little consistency, that though they pretend their quarrel is with your +faith, yet who would not care how extravagant your belief was if your +practice assimilated with their own. I trust, on the other hand, that I +shall always maintain my candor toward those with whom we are unfairly +involved; men, religious, though somewhat eccentric, devout, though +injudicious, and sincere, though mistaken; but who, with all their +errors, against which I protest, and with all their indiscretion, which +I lament, and with all their ill-judged, because irregular zeal, I shall +ever think--always excepting hypocrites and false pretenders--are better +men, and in a safer state than their revilers." + +"I have often suspected," said I, "that under the plausible pretense of +objecting to your creed, men conceal their quarrel with the +commandments." + +"My dear Stanley," said Sir John, "but for this visit, I might have +continued in the common error, that there was but one description of +religious professors; that a fanatical spirit, and a fierce adoption of +one or two particular doctrines, to the exclusion of all the rest, with +a total indifference to morality, and a sovereign contempt of prudence, +made up the character against which, I confess, I entertained a secret +disgust. Still, however, I loved _you_ too well, and had too high an +opinion of your understanding, to suspect that you would ever be drawn +into those practical errors, to which I had been told your theory +inevitably led. Yet I own I had an aversion to this dreaded enthusiasm +which drove me into the opposite extreme." + +"How many men have I known," replied Mr. Stanley, smiling, "who, from +their dread of a burning zeal, have taken refuge in a freezing +indifference! As to the two extremes of heat and cold, neither of them +is the true climate of Christianity; yet the fear of each drives men of +opposite complexions into the other, instead of fixing them in the +temperate zone which lies between them, and which is the region of +genuine piety." + +"The truth is, Sir John, _your_ society considers ardor in religion as +the fever of a distempered understanding, while in inferior concerns +they admire it as the indication of a powerful mind. Is zeal in politics +accounted the mark of a vulgar intellect? Did they consider the +unquenchable ardor of Pitt, did they regard the lofty enthusiasm of Fox, +as evidences of a feeble or a disordered mind? Yet I will venture to +assert, that ardor in religion is as much more noble than ardor in +politics, as the prize for which it contends is more exalted. It is +beyond all comparison superior to the highest human interests, the truth +and justice of which, after all, may possibly be mistaken, and the +objects of which, must infallibly have an end." + +Dr. Barlow came in, and seeing us earnestly engaged, desired that he +might not interrupt the conversation. Sir John in a few words informed +him what had passed, and with a most graceful humility spoke of his own +share in it, and confessed how much he had been carried away by the +stream of popular prejudice, respecting men who had courage to make a +consistent profession of Christianity. "I now," added he, "begin to +think with Addison, that singularity in religion is heroic bravery, +'because it only leaves the species by soaring above it.'" + +After some observations from Dr. Barlow, much in point, he went on to +remark that the difficulties of a clergyman were much increased by the +altered manners of the age. "The tone of religious writing," said he, +"but especially the tone of religious conversation, is much lowered. The +language of a Christian minister in discussing Christian topics will +naturally be consonant to that of Scripture. The Scripture speaks of a +man being _renewed in the spirit of his mind_, of his being _sanctified +by the grace of God_. Now how much circumlocution is necessary for us in +conversing with a man of the world, to convey the sense, without +adopting the expression; and what pains must we take to make our meaning +intelligible without giving disgust, and to be useful without causing +irritation!" + +"But, my good Doctor," said Sir John, "is it not a little puritanical to +make use of such solemn expressions in company?" + +"Sir," replied Dr. Barlow, "it is worse than puritanical, it is +hypocritical, where the principle itself does not exist, and even where +it does, it is highly inexpedient to introduce such phrases into general +company at all. But I am speaking of serious private conversation when, +if a minister is really in earnest, there is nothing absurd in his +prudent use of Scripture expressions. One great difficulty, and which +obstructs the usefulness of a clergyman, in conversation with many +persons of the higher class, who would be sorry not to be thought +religious, is, that they keep up so little acquaintance with the Bible, +that from their ignorance of its venerable phraseology, they are +offended at the introduction of a text, not because it is Scripture--for +that they maintain a kind of general reverence--but because from not +reading it, they do not know that it _is_ Scripture. + +"I once lent a person of rank and talents an admirable sermon, written +by one of our first divines. Though deeply pious, it was composed with +uncommon spirit and elegance, and I thought it did not contain one +phrase which could offend the most fastidious critic. When he returned +it, he assured me that he liked it much on the whole, and should have +approved it altogether, but for one methodistical expression. To my +utter astonishment he pointed to the exceptionable passage, 'There is +now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after +the flesh but after the spirit.' The chapter and verse not being +mentioned, he never suspected it was a quotation from the Bible." + +"This is one among many reasons," said Mr. Stanley, "why I so +strenuously insist that young persons should read the Scriptures, +unaltered, unmodernized, unmutilated, unabridged. If parents do not make +a point of this, the peculiarity of sacred language will become really +obsolete to the next generation." + +In answer to some further remarks of Sir John, Mr. Stanley said, +smiling, "I have sometimes amused myself with making a collection of +certain things, which are now considered and held up by a pretty large +class of men as the infallible symptoms of methodism. Those which at +present occur to my recollection are the following: Going to church in +the afternoon, maintaining family prayer, not traveling, or giving great +dinners or other entertainments on Sundays, rejoicing in the abolition +of the slave-trade, promoting the religious instruction of the poor at +home, subscribing to the Bible Society, and contributing to establish +Christianity abroad. These, though the man attend no eccentric +clergyman, hold no one enthusiastic doctrine, associate with no fanatic, +is sober in his conversation, consistent in his practice, correct in his +whole deportment, will infallibly fix on him the charge of methodism. +Any _one_ of these will excite suspicion, but all united will not fail +absolutely to stigmatize him. The most devoted attachment to the +establishment will avail him nothing, if not accompanied with a fiery +intolerance toward all who differ. Without intolerance, his charity is +construed into unsoundness, and his candor into disaffection. He is +accused of assimilating with the principles of every weak brother whom, +though his judgment compels him to blame, his candor forbids him to +calumniate. Saint and hypocrite are now, in the scoffer's lexicon, +become convertible terms; the last being always implied where the first +is sneeringly used." + +"It has often appeared to me," said I, "that the glory of a tried +Christian somewhat resembles that of a Roman victor, in whose solemn +processions, among the odes of gratulation, a mixture of abuse and +railing made part of the triumph." + +"Happily," resumed Mr. Stanley, "a religious man knows the worst he is +likely to suffer. In the present established state of things he is not +called, as in the first ages of Christianity, to be made a spectacle to +the world, and to angels, and to men. But he must submit to be assailed +by three different descriptions of persons. From the first, he must be +contented to have principles imputed to him which he abhors, motives +which he disdains, and ends which he deprecates. He must submit to have +the energies of his well-regulated piety confounded with the follies of +the fanatic, and his temperate zeal blended with the ravings of the +insane. He must submit to be involved in the absurdities of the +extravagant, in the duplicity of the designing, and in the mischiefs of +the dangerous; to be reckoned among the disturbers of that church which +he would defend with his blood, and of that government which he is +perhaps supporting in every possible direction. Every means is devised +to shake his credit. From such determined assailants no prudence can +protect his character, no private integrity can defend it, no public +service rescue it." + +"I have often wondered," said Sir John, "at the success of attacks which +seemed to have nothing but the badness of the cause to recommend them. +But the assailant, whose object it is to make good men ridiculous, well +knows that he has secured to himself a large patronage in the hearts of +all the envious, the malignant, and the irreligious, who, like other +levelers, find it more easy to establish the equality of mankind by +abasing the lofty, than by elevating the low." + +"In my short experience of life," said I, when Sir John had done +speaking, "I have often observed it as a hardship, that a man must not +only submit to be condemned for doctrines he disowns, but also for +consequences which others may draw from the doctrines he maintains, +though he himself, both practically and speculatively, disavows any such +consequences." + +"There is another class of enemies," resumed Mr. Stanley. "To do them +justice, it is not so much the individual Christian as Christianity +itself, which _they_ hope to discredit; _that_ Christianity which would +not only restrain the conduct, but would humble the heart; which strips +them of the pride of philosophy, and the arrogant plea of merit; which +would save, but will not flatter them. In this enlightened period, +however, for men who would preserve any character, it would be too gross +to attack religion itself, and they find they can wound her more deeply +and more creditably through the sides of her professors." + +"I have observed," said I, "that the uncandid censurer always picks out +the worst man of a class, and then confidently produces him as being a +fair specimen of it." + +"From our more thoughtless, but less uncharitable acquaintance, the gay +and the busy," resumed Mr. Stanley, "we have to sustain a gentler +warfare. A little reproach, a good deal of ridicule, a little suspicion +of our designs, and not a little compassion for our gloomy habits of +life, an implied contempt of our judgment, some friendly hints that we +carry things too far, an intimation that being righteous overmuch in the +practice has a tendency to produce derangement in the faculties. These +are the petty but daily trials of every man who is seriously in earnest; +and petty indeed they are to him whose prospects are well-grounded, and +whose hope is full of immortality." + +"This hostility, which a real Christian is sure to experience," said I, +"is not without its uses. It quickens his vigilance over her own heart, +and enlarges his charity toward others, whom reproach perhaps may as +unjustly stigmatize. It teaches him to be on his guard, lest he should +really deserve the censure he incurs; and what I presume is of no small +importance, it teaches him to sit loose to human opinion; it weakens his +excessive tenderness for reputation, makes him more anxious to deserve, +and less solicitous to obtain it." + +"It were well," said Dr. Barlow, "if the evil ended here. The +established Christian will evince himself to be such by not shrinking +from the attack. But the misfortune is, that the dread of this attack +keeps back well disposed but vacillating characters. They are +intimidated at the idea of partaking the censure, though they know it to +be false. When they hear the reputation of men of piety assailed, they +assume an indifference which they are far from feeling. They listen to +the reproaches cast on characters which they inwardly revere, without +daring to vindicate them. They hear the most attached subjects accused +of disaffection, and the most sober-minded churchmen of innovation, +without venturing to repel the charge, lest they should be suspected of +leaning to the party. They are afraid fully to avow that their own +principles are the same, lest they should be involved in the same +calumny. To efface this suspicion, they affect a coldness which they do +not feel, and treat with levity what they inwardly venerate. Very young +men, from this criminal timidity, are led to risk their eternal +happiness through the dread of a laugh. Though they know that they have +not only religion but reason on their side, yet it requires a hardy +virtue to repel a sneer, and an intrepid principle to confront a +sarcasm. Thus their own mind loses its firmness, religion loses their +support, the world loses the benefit which their example would afford, +and they themselves become liable to the awful charge which is denounced +against him who is ashamed of his Christian profession." + +"Men of the world," said Sir John, "are extremely jealous of whatever +may be thought _particular_; they are frightened at every thing that has +not the sanction of public opinion, and the stamp of public applause. +They are impatient of the slightest suspicion of censure in what may be +supposed to affect the credit of their judgment, though often +indifferent enough as to any blame that may attach to their conduct. +They have been accustomed to consider strict religion as a thing which +militates against good taste, and to connect the idea of something +unclassical and inelegant, something awkward and unpopular, something +uncouth and ill-bred, with the peculiar doctrines of Christianity; +doctrines which, though there is no harm in believing, they think there +can be no good in avowing." + +"It is a little hard," said Mr. Stanley, "that men of piety, who are +allowed to possess good sense on all other occasions, and whose judgment +is respected in all the ordinary concerns of life, should not have a +little credit given them in matters of religion, but that they should be +at once transformed into idiots or madmen in that very point which +affords the noblest exercise to the human faculties." + +"A Christian, then," said I, "if human applause be his idol is of all +men most miserable. He forfeits his reputation every way. He is accused +by the men of the world of going too far; by the enthusiast of not going +far enough. While it is one of the best evidences of his being right, +that he is rejected by one party for excess, and by the other for +deficiency." + +"What then is to be done?" said Dr. Barlow. "Must a discreet and pious +man give up a principle because it has been disfigured by the fanatic, +or abused by the hypocrite, or denied by the skeptic, or reprobated by +the formalist, or ridiculed by the men of the world? He should rather +support it with an earnestness proportioned to its value; he should +rescue it from the injuries it has sustained from its enemies; and the +discredit brought on it by its imprudent friends. He should redeem it +from the enthusiasm which misconceives, and from the ignorance or +malignity which misrepresents it. If the learned and the judicious are +silent in proportion as the illiterate and the vulgar are obtrusive and +loquacious, the most important truths will be abandoned by those who are +best able to unfold, and to defend them, while they will be embraced +exclusively by those who misunderstand, degrade, and debase them. +Because the unlettered are absurd, must the able cease to be religious? +If there is to be an abandonment of every Christian principle because it +has been unfairly, unskillfully, or inadequately treated, there would, +one by one, be an abandonment of every doctrine of the New Testament." + +"I felt myself bound," said Mr. Stanley, "to act on this principle in +our late conversation with Mr. Tyrrel. I would not refuse to assert with +him the doctrines of grace, but I endeavored to let him see that I had +adopted them in a scriptural sense. I would not try to convince him that +he was wrong, by disowning a truth because he abused it. I would +cordially reject all the bad use he makes of any opinion, without +rejecting the opinion itself, if the Bible will bear me out in the +belief of it. But I would scrupulously reject all the other opinions +which he connects with it, and with which I am persuaded it has no +connection." + +"The nominal Christian," said Dr. Barlow, "who insists that religion +resides in the understanding only, may contend that love to God, +gratitude to our Redeemer, and sorrow for our offenses, are enthusiastic +extravagances; and effectually repress, by ridicule and sarcasm, those +feelings which the devout heart recognizes, and which Scripture +sanctions. On the other hand, those very feelings are inflamed, +exaggerated, distorted, and misrepresented, as including the whole of +religion, by the intemperate enthusiast, who thinks reason has nothing +to do in the business; but who, trusting to tests not warranted in the +Scripture, is governed by fancies, feelings, and visions of his own. + +"Between these pernicious extremes, what course is the sober Christian +to pursue? Must he discard from his heart all pious affections because +the fanatic abuses them, and the fastidious denies their existence! This +would be like insisting, that because one man happens to be sick of a +dead palsy, and another of a frenzy fever, there is therefore in the +human constitution no such temperate medium as sound health." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + + +Since the conversation which had accidentally led to the discovery of +Miss Stanley's acquirements, I could not forbear surveying the perfect +arrangements of the family, and the completely elegant but not luxurious +table, with more than ordinary interest. I felt no small delight in +reflecting that all this order and propriety were produced without the +smallest deduction from mental cultivation. + +I could not refrain from mentioning this to Mrs. Stanley. She was not +displeased with my observation, though she cautiously avoided saying any +thing which might be construed into a wish to set off her daughter. As +she seemed surprised at my knowledge of the large share her Lucilla had +in the direction of the family concerns, I could not, in the imprudence +of my satisfaction, conceal the conversation I had had with my old +friend Mrs. Comfit. + +After this avowal she felt that any reserve on this point would look +like affectation, a littleness which would have been unworthy of her +character. "I am frequently blamed by my friends," said she, "for taking +some of the load from my own shoulders, and laying it on hers. 'Poor +thing, she is too young!' is the constant cry of the fashionable +mothers. My general answer is, you do not think your daughters of the +same age too young to be married, though you know marriage must bring +with it these, and still heavier cares. Surely then Lucilla is not too +young to be initiated into that useful knowledge which will hereafter +become no inconsiderable part of her duty. The acquisition would be +really burdensome then, if it were not lightened by preparatory practice +now. I have, I trust, convinced my daughters, that though there is no +great merit in possessing this sort of knowledge, yet to be destitute of +it is highly discreditable." + +In several houses where I had visited, I had observed the forwardness of +the parents, the mother especially, to make a display of the daughter's +merits: "so dutiful! so notable! such an excellent nurse!" The girl was +then called out to sing or to play, and was thus, by that +_inconsistency_ which my good mother deprecated, kept in the full +exhibition of those very talents which are most likely to interfere with +nursing and notableness. But since I had been on my present visit, I had +never once heard my friends extol their Lucilla, or bring forward any of +her excellences. I had however observed their eyes fill with a delight, +which they could not suppress, when her merits were the subject of the +praise of others. + +I took notice of this difference of conduct to Mrs. Stanley. "I have +often," said she, "been so much hurt at the indelicacy to which you +allude, that I very early resolved to avoid it. If the girl in question +does not deserve the commendation, it is not only disingenuous but +dishonest. If she does, it is a coarse and not very honorable stratagem +for getting her off. But if the daughter be indeed all that a mother's +partial fondness believes," added she, her eyes filling with tears of +tenderness, "how can she be in such haste to deprive herself of the +solace of her life? How can she by gross acts wound that delicacy in her +daughter, which, to a man of refinement, would be one of her chief +attractions, and which will be lowered in his esteem, by the suspicion +that she may concur in the indiscretion of the mother. + +"As to Lucilla," added she, "Mr. Stanley and I sometimes say to each +other, 'Little children, keep yourselves from idols!' O my dear young +friend! it is in vain to dissemble her unaffected worth and sweetness. +She is not only our delightful companion, but our confidential friend. +We encourage her to give us her opinion on matters of business, as well +as of taste; and having reflected as well as read a good deal, she is +not destitute of materials on which to exercise her reasoning powers. We +have never repressed her natural vivacity, because we never saw it, like +Ph[oe]be's, in danger of carrying her off from the straight line." + +I thanked Mrs. Stanley for her affectionate frankness, with a warmth +which showed the cordial interest I took in her, who was the object of +it: company coming in, interrupted our interesting tête-à-tête. + +After tea, I observed the party in the saloon to be thinner than usual. +Sir John and Lady Belfield having withdrawn to write letters; and that +individual having quitted the room, whose presence would have reconciled +me to the absence of all the rest, I stole out to take a solitary walk. +At the distance of a quarter of a mile from the park-gate, on a little +common, I observed, for the first time, the smallest and neatest cottage +I ever beheld. There was a flourishing young orchard behind it, and a +little court full of flowers in front. But I was particularly attracted +by a beautiful rose-tree, in full blossom, which grew against the house, +and almost covered the clean white walls. As I knew this sort of rose +was a particular favorite of Lucilla's I opened the low wicket which led +into the little court, and I looked about for some living creature, of +whom I might have begged the flowers. But seeing no one, I ventured to +gather a bunch of the roses, and the door being open, walked into the +house, in order to acknowledge my theft, and make my compensation. In +vain I looked round the little neat kitchen: no one appeared. + +I was just going out, when the sound of a soft female voice over head +arrested my attention. Impelled by a curiosity which, considering the +rank of the inhabitants, I did not feel it necessary to resist, I softly +stole up the narrow stairs, cautiously stooping as I ascended, the +lowness of the ceiling not allowing me to walk upright. I stood still at +the door of a little chamber, which was left half open to admit the air. +I gently put my head through. What were my emotions when I saw Lucilla +Stanley kneeling by the side of a little clean bed, a large old Bible +spread open on the bed before her, out of which she was reading one of +the penitential Psalms to a pale emaciated female figure, who lifted up +her failing eyes, and clasped her feeble hands in solemn attention! + +Before two little bars, which served for a grate, knelt Ph[oe]be, with +one hand stirring some broth which she had brought from home, and with +the other fanning with her straw bonnet the dying embers, in order to +make the broth boil; yet seemingly attentive to her sister's reading. +Her disheveled hair, the deep flush which the fire, and her labor of +love gave her naturally animated countenance, formed a fine contrast to +the angelic tranquillity and calm devotion which sat on the face of +Lucilla. Her voice was inexpressibly sweet and penetrating, while faith, +hope, and charity seemed to beam from her fine uplifted eyes. On account +of the closeness of the room, she had thrown off her hat, cloak, and +gloves, and laid them on the bed; and her fine hair, which had escaped +from its confinement, shaded that side of her face which was next the +door, and prevented her seeing me. + +I scarcely dared to breathe, lest I should interrupt such a scene. It +was a subject not unworthy of Raphael. She next began to read the +forty-first Psalm, with the meek, yet solemn emphasis of devout feeling: +"Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy, the Lord shall +deliver him in the time of trouble." Neither the poor woman nor myself +could hold out any longer. She was overcome by her gratitude and I by my +admiration, and we both at the same moment involuntarily exclaimed, +Amen! I sprang forward with a motion which I could no longer control. +Lucilla saw me, started up in confusion, + + And blushed + Celestial rosy red, + +then eagerly endeavoring to conceal the Bible, by drawing her hat over +it, "Ph[oe]be," said she, with all the composure she could assume, "is +the broth ready?" Ph[oe]be, with her usual gayety, called out to me to +come and assist, which I did, but so unskillfully, that she chid me for +my awkwardness. + +It was an interesting sight to see one of the blooming sisters lift the +dying woman in her bed, and support her with her arm, while the other +fed her, her own weak hand being unequal to the task. At that moment, +how little did the splendors and vanities of life appear in my eyes! and +how ready was I to exclaim with Wolsey, + + Vain pomp and glory of the world, I hate you. + +When they had finished their pious office, I inquired if the poor woman +had no attendant. Ph[oe]be, who was generally the chief speaker, said, +"she has a good daughter, who is out at work by day, but takes care of +her mother at night; but she is never left alone, for she has a little +grand-daughter who attends her in the mean time; but as she is obliged +to go once a day to the Grove to fetch provisions, we generally contrive +to send her while we are here, that Dame Alice may never be left alone." + +While we were talking, I heard a little weary step, painfully climbing +up the stairs, and looked round, expecting to see the grand-daughter; +but it was little Kate Stanley, with a lap full of dried sticks, which +she had been collecting for the poor woman's fire. The sharp points of +the sticks had forced their way in many places through the white muslin +frock, part of which, together with her bonnet, she had left in the +hedge, which she had been robbing. At this loss she expressed not much +concern, but lamented not a little that sticks were so scarce; that she +feared the broth had been spoiled, from her being so long in picking +them, but _indeed_ she could not help it. I was pleased with these +under allotments, these low degrees in the scale of charity. + +I had gently laid my roses on the hat of Miss Stanley, as it lay on the +Bible, and before we left the room, as I drew near the good old dame to +slip a couple of guineas into her hand, I had the pleasure of seeing +Lucilla, who thought herself unobserved, retire to the little window, +and fasten the roses into the crown of her hat like a garland. When the +grand-daughter returned loaded with the daily bounty from the Grove, we +took our leave, followed by the prayers and blessings of the good woman. + +As we passed by the rose-tree, the orchard, and the court, Ph[oe]be said +to me, "A'n't you glad that poor people can have such pleasures?" I told +her it doubled my gratification to witness the enjoyment, and to trace +the hand which conferred it; for she had owned it was _their_ work. "We +have always," replied Ph[oe]be, "a particular satisfaction in observing +a neat little flower-garden about a cottage, because it holds out a +comfortable indication that the inhabitants are free from absolute want, +before they think of these little embellishments." + +"It looks, also," said Miss Stanley, "as if the woman, instead of +spending her few leisure moments in gadding abroad, employed them in +adorning her little habitation, in order to make it more attractive to +her husband. And we know more than one instance in this village in which +the man has been led to give up the public-house, by the innocent +ambition of improving on her labors." + +I asked her what first inspired her with such fondness for gardening, +and how she had acquired so much skill and taste in this elegant art? +She blushed and said she was afraid I should think her romantic, if +she were to confess that she had caught both the taste and the passion, +as far as she possessed either, from an early and intimate acquaintance +with the Paradise Lost, of which she considered the beautiful +descriptions of scenery and plantations as the best precepts for +landscape gardening. "Milton," she said, "both excited the taste and +supplied the rules. He taught the art and inspired the love of it." From +the gardens of Paradise the transition was easy and natural. On my +asking her opinion of this portrait, as drawn by Milton, she replied, +"That she considered Eve, in her state of innocence, as the most +beautiful model of the delicacy, propriety, grace, and elegance of the +female character which any poet ever exhibited. Even after her fall," +added she, "there is something wonderfully touching in her remorse, and +affecting in her contrition." + +"We are probably," replied I, "more deeply affected with the beautifully +contrite expressions of repentance in our first parents, from being so +deeply involved in the consequences of the offense which occasioned it." + +"And yet," replied she, "I am a little affronted with the poet, that +while, with a noble justness, he represents Adam's grief at his +expulsion, as chiefly arising from his being banished from the presence +of his Maker, the sorrows of Eve seem too much to arise from being +banished from her flowers. The grief, though never grief was so +beautifully eloquent, is rather too exquisite, her substantial ground +for lamentation considered." + +Seeing me going to speak, she stopped me with a smile, saying, "I see by +your looks that you are going, with Mr. Addison, to vindicate the poet, +and to call this a just appropriation of the sentiment to the sex; but +surely the disproportion in the feeling here is rather too violent, +though I own the loss of her flowers _might_ have aggravated any common +privation. There is, however, no female character in the whole compass +of poetry in which I have ever taken so lively an interest, and no poem +that ever took such powerful possession of my mind." + +If any thing had been wanting to my full assurance of the sympathy of +our tastes and feelings, this would have completed my conviction. It +struck me as the Virgilian lots formerly struck the superstitious. Our +mutual admiration of the Paradise Lost, and of its heroine, seemed to +bring us nearer together than we had yet been. Her remarks, which I +gradually drew from her in the course of our walk, on the construction +of the fable, the richness of the imagery, the elevation of the +language, the sublimity and just appropriation of the sentiments, the +artful structure of the verse, and the variety of the characters, +convinced me that she had imbibed her taste from the purest sources. It +was easy to trace her knowledge of the best authors, though she quoted +none. + +"This," said I exultingly to myself, "is the true learning for a lady; a +knowledge that is rather detected than displayed, that is felt in its +effects on her mind and conversation; that is seen, not by her citing +learned names, or adducing long quotations, but in the general result, +by the delicacy of her taste, and the correctness of her sentiments." + +In our way home I made a merit with little Kate, not only by rescuing +her hat from the hedge, but by making a little provision of wood under +it, of larger sticks than she could gather, which she joyfully promised +to assist the grand-daughter in carrying to the cottage. + +I ventured, with as much diffidence as if I had been soliciting a +pension for myself, to entreat that I might be permitted to undertake +the putting forward Dame Alice's little girl in the world, as soon as +she should be released from her attendance on her grandmother. My +proposal was graciously accepted, on condition that it met with Mr. and +Mrs. Stanley's approbation. + +When we joined the party at supper, it was delightful to observe that +the habits of religious charity were so interwoven with the texture of +these girl's minds; that the evening which had been so interesting to +me, was to them only a common evening, marked with nothing particular. +It never occurred to them to allude to it; and once or twice when I was +tempted to mention it, my imprudence was repressed by a look of the most +significant gravity from Lucilla. + +I was comforted, however, by observing that my roses were transferred +from the hat to the hair. This did not escape the penetrating eye of +Ph[oe]be, who archly said, "I wonder, Lucilla, what particular charm +there is in Dame Alice's faded roses. I offered you some fresh ones +since we came home. I never knew you prefer withered flowers before." +Lucilla made no answer, but cast down her timid eyes, and out-blushed +the roses on her head. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + + +After breakfast next morning the company dropped off one after another, +except Lady Belfield, Miss Stanley, and myself. We had been so busily +engaged in looking over the plan of a conservatory, which Sir John +proposed to build at Beechwood, his estate in Surrey, that we hardly +missed them. + +Little Celia, whom I call the rosebud, had climbed up my knees, a +favorite station with her, and was begging me to tell her another pretty +story. I had before told her so many, that I had exhausted both my +memory and my imagination. Lucilla was smiling at my impoverished +invention, when Lady Belfield was called out of the room. Her fair +friend rose mechanically to follow her. Her ladyship begged her not to +stir, but to employ the five minutes of her absence in carefully +criticising the plan she held in her hand, saying she would bring back +another which Sir John had by him; and that Lucilla, who is considered +as the last appeal in all matters of this nature, should decide to which +the preference should be given, before the architect went to work. In a +moment I forgot my tale and my rosebud, and the conservatory, and every +thing but Lucilla, whom I was beginning to address, when little Celia, +pulling my coat, said--"Oh, Charles" (for so I teach all the little ones +to call me), "Mrs. Comfit tells me very bad news. She says that your new +curricle is come down, and that you are going to run away. Oh! don't go; +I can't part with you," said the little charmer, throwing her arms round +my neck. + +"Will you go with me, Celia?" said I, kissing her rosy cheek. "There +will be room enough in the curricle." + +"Oh, I should like to go," said she, "if Lucilla may go with us. Do, +dear Charles, do let Lucilla go to the Priory. She will be very good: +won't you, Lucilla?" + +I ventured to look at Miss Stanley, who tried to laugh without +succeeding, and blushed without trying at it. On my making no reply, for +fear of adding to her confusion, Celia looked up piteously in my face +and cried: + +"And so you won't let Lucilla go home with you? I am sure the curricle +will hold us all nicely; for I am very little, and Lucilla is not very +big." + +"Will _you_ persuade her, Celia?" said I. + +"O," said she, "she does not want persuading; she is willing enough, and +I will run to papa and mamma and ask their leave, and then Lucilla will +go and glad: won't you, Lucilla?" + +So saying, she sprang out of my arms, and ran out of the room; Lucilla +would have followed and prevented her. I respectfully detained her. How +could I neglect such an opportunity? Such an opening as the sweet +prattler had given me it was impossible to overlook. The impulse was too +powerful to be resisted; I gently replaced her on her seat, and in +language, which, if it did any justice to my feelings, was the most +ardent, tender, and respectful, poured out my whole heart. I believe my +words were incoherent; I am sure they were sincere. + +She was evidently distressed. Her emotion prevented her replying. But it +was the emotion of surprise, not of resentment. Her confusion bore no +symptoms of displeasure. Blushing and hesitating, she at last said: "My +father, sir--my mother." Here her voice failed her. I recollected with +joy that on the application of Lord Staunton she had allowed of no such +reference, nay, she had forbidden it. + +"I take your reference joyfully," said I, "only tell me that if I am so +happy as to obtain their consent, you will not withhold yours." She +ventured to raise her timid eyes to mine, and her modest but expressive +look encouraged me almost as much as any words could have done. + +At that moment the door opened, and in came Sir John with the other +drawing of the conservatory in his hand. After having examined us both +with his keen, critical eye; "Well, Miss Stanley," said he, with a look +and tone which had more meaning than she could well stand, "here is the +other drawing. As you look as if you had been _calmly_ examining the +first, you will now give me your _cool, deliberate_ opinion of the +merits of both." He had the cruelty to lay so much stress on the words, +cool, calm, and deliberate, and to pronounce them in so arch a manner, +and so ironical a tone, as clearly showed, he read in her countenance +that no epithets could possibly have been so ill applied. + +Lady Belfield came in immediately after. "Well, Caroline," said he, with +a significant glance, "Miss Stanley has deeply considered the subject +since you went; I never saw her look more interested about any thing. I +don't think she is dissatisfied on the whole. General approbation is all +she now expresses. She will have time to spy out faults hereafter: she +sees none at present. All is beauty, grace, and proportion." + +As if this was not enough, in ran Celia quite out of breath--"Oh, +Lucilla," cried she, "papa and mamma won't let you go with Charles, +though I told them you begged and prayed to go." + +Lucilla, the pink of whose cheeks was become crimson, said angrily, "How +Celia! what do you mean?" + +"Oh, no," replied the child, "I mean to say that _I_ begged and prayed, +and I thought you looked as if you would like to go, though Charles did +not ask you, and so I told papa." + +This was too much. The Belfields laughed outright; but Lady Belfield had +the charity to take Lucilla's hand, saying, "Come into my dressing-room, +my dear, and let us settle this conservatory business. This prattling +child will never let us get on." Miss Stanley followed, her face glowing +with impatience. Celia, whom I detained, called after her, "Papa only +said there was not room in the curricle for three; but if it is only a +little way, I am sure we could sit, could we not, Lucilla?" Lucilla was +now happily out of hearing. + +Though I was hurt that her delicacy had suffered so much, yet I own I +hugged the little innocent author of this confusion with additional +fondness. Sir John's raillery, now that Lucilla could be no longer +pained by it, was cordially received, or rather I was inattentive to +every object but the one of which my heart was full. To be heard, to be +accepted, though tacitly, to be referred to parents who I knew had no +will but hers, + + Was such a sacred and homefelt delight, + Such sober certainty of waking bliss + As I ne'er felt till now. + +During the remainder of the day I found no opportunity of speaking to +Mr. Stanley. Always frank and cheerful, he neither avoided nor sought +me, but the arrival of company prevented our being thrown together. +Lucilla appeared at dinner as usual: a little graver and more silent, +but always unaffected, natural, and delicate. Sir John whispered to me +that she had entreated her mother to keep Celia out of the way till this +curricle business was a little got out of her head. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + + +The next morning, as soon as I thought Mr. Stanley had retreated to his +library, I followed him thither. He was busy writing letters. I +apologized for my intrusion. He laid his papers aside, and invited me to +sit by him. + +"You are too good, sir," said I, "to receive with so much kindness a +culprit who appears before you ingenuously to acknowledge the infraction +of a treaty into which he had the honor of entering with you. I fear +that a few days are wanting of my prescribed month. I had resolved to +obey you with the most religious scrupulousness; but a circumstance, +trifling in itself, has led almost irresistibly to a declaration, which +in obedience to your command I had resolved to postpone. But though it +is somewhat premature, I hope, however, you will not condemn my +precipitancy. I have ventured to tell your charming daughter how +necessary she is to my happiness. She does not reject me. She refers me +to her father." + +"You have your peace to make with my daughter, I can tell you, sir," +said Mr. Stanley, looking gravely; "I fear you have mortally offended +her." + +I was dreadfully alarmed. "You know not how you afflict me, sir," said +I: "how have I offended Miss Stanley?" + +"Not Miss Stanley," said he, smiling, "but Miss Celia Stanley, who +extremely resents having been banished from the drawing-room yesterday +evening." + +"If Celia's displeasure is all I have to fear, sir, I am most fortunate. +Oh, sir, my happiness, the peace of my future life, is in your hands. +But first tell me you forgive the violation of my promise." + +"I am willing to believe, Charles," replied he, "that you kept the +spirit of your engagement, though you broke it in the letter; and for an +unpremeditated breach of an obligation of this nature, we must not, I +believe, be too rigorous. Your conduct since your declaration to me has +confirmed the affection which your character had before excited. You +were probably surprised and hurt at my cold reception of your proposal, +a proposal which gave me a deeper satisfaction than I can express. Yet I +was no dissembler in suppressing the pleasure I felt at an address so +every way desirable. My dear Charles, I know a little of human nature. I +know how susceptible the youthful heart is of impressions. I know how +apt these impressions are to be obliterated--a new face, a more +advantageous connection--" + +"Hold, sir," said I, indignantly interrupting him, "you can not think so +meanly of me--you can not rate the son of your friend so low!" + +"I am very far indeed," replied he, "from rating you low. I know you +abhor mercenary considerations; but I know also that you are a young +man, lively, ardent, impressible. I know the rapid effect that leisure, +retirement, rural scenes, daily opportunities of seeing a young woman +not ugly, of conversing with a young woman not disagreeable, may produce +on the heart, or rather on the imagination. I was aware that seeing no +other, conversing with no other, none at least that, to speak honestly, +I could consider as a fair competitor, hardly left you an unprejudiced +judge of the state of your own heart. I was not sure but that this sort +of easy commerce might produce a feeling of complacency which might be +mistaken for love. I could not consent that mere accident, mere leisure, +the mere circumstance of being thrown together, should irrevocably +entangle either of you. I was desirous of affording you time to see, to +know, and to judge. I would not take advantage of your first emotions. I +would not take advantage of your friendship for me. I would not take +advantage of your feeling ardently, till I had given you time to judge +temperately and fairly." + +I assured him I was equally at a loss to express my gratitude for his +kindness, and my veneration of his wisdom; and thanked him in terms of +affectionate energy. + +"My regard for you," said he, "is not of yesterday: I have taken a warm +interest in your character and happiness almost ever since you have been +in being; and in a way more intimate and personal than you can suspect." + +So saying he arose, unlocked the drawer of a cabinet which stood behind +him, and took out a large packet of letters. He then resumed his seat, +and holding out the direction on the covers asked me if I was acquainted +with the hand-writing. A tear involuntarily started into my eye as I +exclaimed; "It is the well-known hand of my beloved father." + +"Listen to me attentively," resumed he. "You are not ignorant that never +were two men more firmly attached by all the ties which ever cemented a +Christian friendship than your lamented father and myself. Our early +youth was spent in the same studies, the same pleasures, the same +society. 'We took sweet counsel together and went to the house of God as +friends.' He condescendingly overlooked my being five or six years +younger than himself. After his marriage with your excellent mother, the +current of life carried us different ways, but without causing any +abatement in the warmth of our attachment. + +"I continued to spend one month every year with him at the Priory, till +I myself married. You were then not more than three or four years old; +and your engaging manners, and sweet temper, laid the foundation of an +affection which has not been diminished by time, and the reports of your +progress. Sedentary habits on the part of your father, and a rapidly +increasing family on mine, kept us stationary at the two extremities of +the kingdom. I settled at the Grove, and both as husband and father have +been happiest of the happy. + +"As soon as Lucilla was born, your father and I, simultaneously, formed +a wish that it might be possible to perpetuate our friendship by the +future union of our children." + +When Mr. Stanley uttered these words, my heart beat so fast, and the +agitation of my whole frame was so visible that he paused for a moment, +but perceiving that I was all ear, and that I made a silent motion for +him to proceed, he went on. + +"This was a favorite project with us. We pursued it however with the +moderation of men who had a settled sense of the uncertainty of all +human things, of human life itself; and with a strong conviction of the +probability that our project might never be realized. + +"Without too much indulging the illusions of hope, we agreed that there +could be no harm in educating our children for each other: in inspiring +them with corresponding tastes, similar inclinations, and especially +with an exact conformity in their religious views. We never indulged the +presumptuous thought of counteracting providential dispensations, of +conquering difficulties which time might prove to be inseparable, and, +above all, we determined never to be so weak, or so unjust, as to think +of compelling their affections. We had both studied the human heart long +enough to know that it is a perverse and wayward thing. We were +convinced that it would not be dictated to in a matter which involved +its dearest interests, we knew that it liked to pick out its own +happiness in its own way." + +As Mr. Stanley proceeded, my heart melted with grateful love for a +father who, in making such a provision for my happiness, had generously +left my choice so free. But while my conscience seemed to reproach me as +if I had not deserved such tenderness, I rejoiced that my memory had no +specific charge to bring against it. + +"For all these reasons," continued Mr. Stanley, "we mutually agreed to +bury our wishes in our own bosoms; to commit the event to Him by whom +all events are governed; never to name you to each other but in a +general way; to excite no fictitious liking, to elicit no artificial +passion, and to kindle neither impatience, curiosity, nor interest. +Nothing more than a friendly family regard was ever manifested, and the +names of Charles and Lucilla were never mentioned together. + +"In this you have found your advantage. Had my daughter been accustomed +to hear you spoken of with any particularity; had she been conscious +that any important consequences might have attached to your visit, you +would have lost the pleasure of seeing her in her native simplicity of +character. Undesigning and artless I trust she would have been under any +circumstances, but to have been unreserved and open would have been +scarcely possible; nor might you, my dear Charles, with your strong +sense of filial piety, have been able exactly to discriminate how much +of your attachment was choice, how much was duty. The awkwardness of +restraint would have diminished the pleasure of intercourse to both. + +"Knowing that the childish brother and sister sort of intimacy was not +the most promising mode for the development of your mutual sentiments, +we agreed that you should not meet till within a year or two of the +period when it would be proper that the union, if ever, might take +place. + +"We were neither of us of an age or character to indulge very romantic +ideas of the doctrine of sympathies. Still we saw no reason for +excluding such a possibility. If we succeeded, we knew that we were +training two beings in a conformity of Christian principles, which, if +they did not at once attract affection, would not fail to insure it, +should inferior motives first influence your mutual liking. And if it +failed, we should each have educated a Christian, who would be likely to +carry piety and virtue into two other families. Much good would attend +our success, and no possible evil could attend our failure. + +"I could show you, I believe, near a hundred letters on each side, of +which you were the unconscious subject. Your father, in his last +illness, returned all mine, to prevent a premature discovery, knowing +how soon his papers would fall into your hands. If it will give you +pleasure, you may peruse a correspondence of which, for almost twenty +years, you were the little hero. In reading my letters you will make +yourself master of the character of Lucilla. You will read the history +of her mind; you will mark the unfolding of her faculties, and the +progress of her education. In those of your father, you will not be +sorry to trace back your own steps." + +Here Mr. Stanley making a pause, I bowed my grateful acceptance of his +obliging offer. I was afraid to speak, I was almost afraid to breathe, +lest I should lose a word of a communication so interesting. + +"You now see," resumed Mr. Stanley, "why you were sent to Edinburg. +Cambridge and Oxford were too near London, and of course too near +Hampshire, to have maintained the necessary separation. As soon as you +left the University, your father proposed accompanying you on a visit to +the Grove. Like fond parents, we had prepared each other to expect to +see a being just such a one as each would have wished for the companion +of his child. + +"This was to be merely a visit of experiment. You were both too young to +marry. But we were impatient to place you both in a post of observation; +to see the result of a meeting; to mark what sympathy there would be +between two minds formed with a view to each other. + +"But vain are all the projects of man. 'Oh! blindness to the future!' +You doubtless remember, that just as every thing was prepared for your +journey southward your dear father was seized with the lingering illness +of which he died. Till almost the last, he was able to write me, in his +intervals of ease, short letters on the favorite topic. I remember with +what joy his heart dilated, when he told me of your positive refusal to +leave him, on his pressing you to pursue the plan already settled, and +to make your visit to London and the Grove without him. I will read you +a passage from his letter." He read as follows: + +"In vain have I endeavored to drive this dear son for a short time from +me. He asked with the indignant feeling of affronted filial piety, if I +could propose to him any compensation for my absence from his sick +couch? 'I make no sacrifice to duty,' said he, 'in preferring you. If I +make any sacrifice, it is to pleasure.'" + +Seeing my eyes overflow with grateful tenderness, Mr. Stanley said, "If +I can find his last letter I will show it you." Then looking over the +packet--"here it is," said he, putting it into my hands with visible +emotion. Neither of us had strength of voice to be able to read it +aloud. It was written at several times. + + "PRIORY, Wednesday, _March 18, 1807_. + + "Stanley--I feel that I am dying. Death is awful, my dear friend, + but it is neither surprising nor terrible. I have been too long + accustomed steadily to contemplate it at a distance, to start from + it now it is near. + + "As a man, I have feared death. As a Christian, I trust I have + overcome this fear. Why should I dread that, which mere reason + taught me is not an extinction of my being, and which revelation + has convinced me will be an improvement of it? An improvement, oh + how inconceivable! + + "For several years I have habituated myself every day to reflect + for some moments on the vanity of life, the certainty of death, the + awfulness of judgment, and the duration of eternity. + + "The separation from my excellent wife, is a trial from which I + should utterly shrink, were I not sustained by the Christian hope. + When we married, we knew that we were not immortal. I have + endeavored to familiarize to her and to myself the inevitable + separation, by constantly keeping up in the minds of both the idea + that one of us _must_ be the survivor. I have endeavored to make + that idea supportable by the conviction that the survivorship will + be short--the re-union certain--speedy--eternal. O _præclarum + diem_![5] etc., etc. How gloriously does Christianity exalt the + rapture, by ennobling the objects of this sublime apostrophe!" + + [Footnote 5: See this whole beautiful passage in Cicero de + Senectute] + + * * * * * + + "Friday the 20th. + + "As to the union of my son with Lucilla, you and I, my friend, have + long learned from an authority higher than that classical one, of + which we have frequently admired the expression, and lamented the + application, that long views and remote hopes, and distant + expectations become not so short-sighted, so short-lived a creature + as man.[6] I trust, however; that our plans have been carried on + with a complete conviction of this brevity; with an entire + acquiescence in the will of the great arbiter of life and death. I + have told Charles it is my wish that he should visit you soon after + my death. I durst not command it--for this incomparable youth, who + has sacrificed so much to his father, will find he has a mother + worthy of still greater sacrifices. As soon as he can prevail on + himself to leave her, you will see him. May he and your Lucilla + behold each other with the eyes with which each of us views his own + child! If they see each other with indifference, never let them + know our wishes. It would perplex and hamper those to whom we wish + perfect freedom of thought and action. If they conceive a mutual + attachment, reveal our project. In such minds, it will strengthen + that attachment. The approbation of a living and the desire of a + deceased parent will sanctify their union. I must break off + through weakness." + +[Footnote 6: Horace, in speaking of the brevity and uncertainty of life, +seldom fails to produce it as an incentive to sensual indulgence. See +particularly the fourth and eleventh Odes of the first book.] + + * * * * * + + "Monday, 23d. + + "I resume my pen, which I thought I had held for the last time. May + God bless and direct our children! Infinite wisdom permits me not + to see their union. Indeed my interest in all earthly things + weakens. Even my solicitude for this event is somewhat diminished. + The most important circumstance, if it have not God for its object, + now seems comparatively little. The longest life with all its + concerns, shrinks to a point in the sight of a dying man whose eye + is filled by eternity. Eternity! Oh my friend, Eternity is a depth + which no geometry can measure, no arithmetic calculate, no + imagination conceive, no rhetoric describe. The eye of a dying + Christian seems gifted to penetrate depths hid from the wisdom of + philosophy. It looks athwart the dark valley without dismay, + cheered by the bright scene beyond it. It looks with a kind of + chastised impatience to that land where happiness will be only + holiness perfected. There all the promises of the gospel will be + accomplished. There afflicted virtue will rejoice at its past + trials, and acknowledge their subservience to its present bliss. + The secret self-denials of the righteous shall be recognized and + rewarded. And all the hopes of the Christian shall have their + complete consummation." + + * * * * * + + "Saturday, 28th. + + "My weakness increases--I have written this at many intervals. My + body faints, but in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Oh + Stanley! if pain is trying, if death is awful to him who knows in + whom he has trusted; how is pain endured, how is death encountered + by those who have no such support?" + + * * * * * + + "Tuesday the 31st. + + "I am better to-day. If I experience little of that rapture which + some require, as the sign of their acceptance, I yet have a good + hope through grace. Nay, there are moments when I rejoice with joy + unspeakable. I would not produce this joy as any certain criterion + of my safety, because from the nature of my disease, there are also + moments when my spirits sink, and this might equally furnish + arguments against my state, to those who decide by frames and + feelings. I think my faith as sound, my pardon as sure, when these + privileges are withdrawn, as when I enjoy them." + + * * * * * + + "Friday, 3d April. + + "Stanley: my departure is at hand. My eternal redemption draweth + nigh. My hope is full of immortality. This is my comfort--not that + my sins are few or small, but that they are, I humbly trust, + pardoned, through him who loved me, and gave himself for me. + Faithful is HE that has promised, and HIS promises are not too + great to be made good--for Omniscience is my promiser, and I have + Omnipotence itself for my security. Adieu!" + + * * * * * + +On the cover was written, in Mr. Stanley's hand, "He died three days +after!" + + * * * * * + +It is impossible to describe the mingled and conflicting emotions of my +soul, while I perused this letter. Gratitude that I had possessed such a +father; sorrow, that I had lost him; transport, in anticipating an event +which had been his earnest wish for almost twenty years; regret, that he +was not permitted to witness it; devout joy, that he was in a state so +superior to even _my_ sense of happiness; a strong feeling of the +uncertainty and brevity of _all_ happiness; a solemn resolution that I +would never act unworthy of such a father; a fervent prayer that I might +be enabled to keep that resolution: all these emotions so agitated and +divided my whole mind, as to render me unfit for any society, even for +that of Lucilla. I withdrew, gratefully pressing Mr. Stanley's hand; he +kindly returned the pressure, but neither of us attempted to speak. + +He silently put my father's packet into my hands. I shut myself into my +apartment, and read, for three hours, letters for which I hope to be the +better in time and in eternity. I found in them a treasure of religious +wisdom, excellent maxims of human prudence, a thorough acquaintance with +life and manners, a keen insight into human nature in the abstract, and +a nice discrimination of individual characters; admirable documents of +general education, the application of those documents to my particular +turn of character, and diversified methods for improving it. The pure +delight to which I looked forward in reading these letters with Lucilla, +soon became my predominant feeling. + +I returned to the company with a sense of felicity, which the above +feelings and reflections had composed into a soothing tranquillity. My +joy was sobered without being abated. I received the cordial +congratulations of my friends. Mrs. Stanley behaved to me with increased +affection: she presented me to her daughter, with whom I afterward +passed two hours. This interview left me nothing to desire but that my +gratitude to the Almighty Dispenser of happiness might bear some little +proportion to his blessings. + +As I was passing through the hall after dinner, I spied little Celia +peeping out of the door of the children's apartment, in hope of seeing +me pass. She flew to me, and begged I would take her in to the company. +As I knew the interdict was taken off, I carried her into the saloon +where they were sitting. She ran into Lucilla's arms, and said, in a +voice which she meant for a whisper, but loud enough to be heard by the +whole company, "Do, dear Lucilla, forgive me, I will never say another +word about the curricle, and you sha'n't go to the Priory since you +don't like it." Lucilla found means to silence her, by showing her the +pictures in the "Peacock at Home;" and without looking up to observe +the general smile, contrived to attract the sweet child's attention to +this beautiful little poem, in spite of Sir John, who did his utmost to +widen the mischief. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + + +The next day, in the afternoon, Dr. Barlow called on us. By the uncommon +seriousness of his countenance I saw something was the matter. "You will +be shocked," said he, "to hear that Mr. Tyrrel is dying, if not actually +dead. He was the night before last seized with a paralytic stroke. He +lay a long time without sense or motion; a delirium followed. In a short +interval of reason he sent, earnestly imploring to see me. Seldom have I +witnessed so distressing a scene. + +"As I entered the room he fixed his glassy eyes full upon me, quite +unconscious who I was, and groaned out in an inward hollow voice--'Go to +now, ye rich men, weep and howl, for your miseries are come upon you.' I +asked how he did. He replied still from St. James: 'How? why my gold and +silver are cankered, the rust of them shall witness against me; they eat +up my flesh as it were fire.' + +"I was astonished," continued Dr. Barlow, "to see so exact a memory +coupled with so wild an imagination. 'Be composed, sir,' said I, seeing +he began to recollect me, 'this deep contrition is a favorable symptom.' +'Dr. Barlow,' replied he, grasping my hand with a vehemence which +corresponded with his look, 'have you never heard of riches kept by the +owner thereof to his hurt? Restitution! Doctor, restitution! and it must +be immediate, or it will be too late.' I was now deeply alarmed. +'Surely, sir,' said I, 'you are not unhappily driven to adopt St. +James's next words--forgive me but--you can not surely have defrauded.' +'O no, no,' cried he, 'I have been what the world calls honest, but not +what the Judge of quick and dead will call so. The restitution I must +make is not to the rich, for any thing I have _taken_ from them, but to +the poor, for what I have _kept_ from them. Hardness of heart would have +been but a common sin, in a common man; but I have been a professor, +Doctor, I will not say a hypocrite, for I deceived myself as much as +others. But oh! how hollow has my profession been!' + +"Here seeing him ready to faint," continued Dr. Barlow, "I imposed +silence on him, till he had taken a cordial. This revived him, and he +went on. + +"'I was miserable in my early course of profligacy. I was disappointed +in my subsequent schemes of ambition. I expected more from the world +than it had to give. But I continued to love it with all its +disappointments. Under whatever new shape it presented its temptations, +it was still my idol. I had always loved money; but other passions more +turbulent had been hitherto predominant. These I at length renounced. +Covetousness now became my reigning sin. Still it was to the broken +cistern that I cleaved. Still it was on the broken reed that I leaned. +Still I was unhappy, I was at a loss whither to turn for comfort. Of +religion I scarcely knew the first principles. + +"'In this state I met with a plausible, but ill-informed man. He had +zeal, and a sort of popular eloquence; but he wanted knowledge, and +argument, and soundness. I was, however, struck with his earnestness, +and with the importance of some truths which, though common to others, +were new to me. But his scheme was hollow and imperfect, and his leading +principle subversive of all morality.' + +"Here Mr. Tyrrel paused. I intreated him to spare himself; but after a +few deep groans he proceeded. + +"'Whether his opinions had made _himself_ immoral I never inquired. It +is certain they were calculated to make his hearers so. Instead of +lowering my spiritual disease, by prescribing repentence and humility, +he inflamed it by cordials. All was high, all was animating all was +safe! On no better ground than my avowed discontent, he landed me at one +in a security so much the more fatal, as it laid asleep all +apprehension. He mistook my uneasiness for a complete change. My talking +of sin was made a substitute for my renouncing it. Proud of a rich man +for a convert, he led me to mistake conviction for conversion. I was +buoyed up with an unfounded confidence. I adopted a religion which +promised pardon without repentance, happiness without obedience, and +heaven without holiness. I had found a short road to peace. I never +inquired if it were a safe one.' + +"The poor man now fell back, unable to speak for some minutes. Then +rallying again, he resumed, in a still more broken voice: + +"'Here I stopped short. My religion had made no change in my heart, it +therefore made none in my life. I read good books, but they were low and +fanatical in their language, and Antinomian in their principle. But my +religious ignorance was so deplorable, that their novelty caught strong +hold of me.' + +"I now desired him," continued Dr. Barlow, "not to exhaust himself +further. I prayed with him. He was struck with awe at the holy energy in +the office for the sick, which was quite new to him. He owned he had not +suspected the church to be so evangelical. This is no uncommon error. +Hot-headed and superficial men, when they are once alarmed, are rather +caught by phrases than sentiments, by terms than principles. It is this +ignorance of the doctrines of the Bible and of the church, in which men +of the world unhappily live, that makes it so difficult for us to +address them under sickness and affliction. We have no common ground on +which to stand; no intelligible medium through which to communicate with +them. It is having both a language and a science to learn at once." + +In the morning Dr. Barlow again visited Mr. Tyrrel. He found him still +in great perturbation of mind. Feeling himself quite sensible, he had +begun to make his will. He had made large bequests to several charities. +Dr. Barlow highly approved of this; but reminded him, that though he +himself would never recommend charity as a commutation or a bribe, yet +some immediate acts of bounty, while there was a possibility of his +recovery, would be a better earnest of his repentance than the +bequeathing his whole estate when it could be of no further use to +himself. He was all acquiescence. + +He desired to see Mr. Stanley. He recommended to him his nephew, over +whose conduct Mr. Stanley promised to have an eye. He made him and Dr. +Barlow joint executors. He offered to leave them half his fortune. With +their usual disinterestedness they positively refused to accept it, and +suggested to him a better mode of bestowing it. + +He lifted up his hands and eyes, saying, "This is indeed +Christianity--pure, undefiled religion! If it be not faith, it is its +fruits. If it be not the procuring cause of salvation, it is one +evidence of a safe state. O, Mr. Stanley, our last conversation has sunk +deep into my heart. You had begun to pull the vail from my eyes; but +nothing tears the whole mask off, like the hand of death, like impending +judgment. How little have I considered eternity! Judgment was not in all +my thoughts, I had got rid of the terrors of responsibility! O, Dr. +Barlow, is there any hope for me?" + +"Sir," replied the Doctor, "your sin is not greater because you feel it: +so far from it, your danger diminishes in proportion as it is discerned. +Your condition is not worse but better, because you are become sensible +of your own sins and wants. I judge far more favorably of your state +now, than when you thought so well of it. Your sense of the evil of your +own heart is the best proof of your sincerity; your repentance toward +God is the best evidence of your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." + +"Doctor, it is too late," replied the sick man. "How can I show that my +repentance is sincere? In this miserable condition how can I glorify +God?" + +"Sir," replied Dr. Barlow, "you must lay anew the whole foundation of +your faith. That Saviour whom you had unhappily adopted as a substitute +for virtue, must be received as a propitiation for sin. If you recover, +you must devote yourself, spirit, soul, and body, to his service. You +must adorn his gospel by your conduct; you must plead his cause in your +conversation; you must recommend his doctrines by your humility; you +must dedicate every talent God has given you to his glory. If he +continue to visit you with sickness, this will call new and more +difficult Christian graces into exercise. If by this severe affliction +you lose all ability to do God actual service, you may perhaps glorify +him more effectually by casting yourself entirely on him for support, by +patient suffering for his sake who suffered every thing for yours. You +will have an additional call for trusting in the divine promises; an +additional occasion of imitating the divine example; a stronger motive +for saying practically, The cup which my Father has given me, shall I +not drink it?" + +"O, Doctor," said the unhappy man, "my remorse arises not merely from +my having neglected this or that moral duty, this or that act of +charity, but from the melancholy evidence which that neglect affords +that my religion was not sincere." + +"I repeat, sir," said Dr. Barlow, "that your false security and +unfounded hope were more alarming than your present distress of mind. +Examine your own heart, fear not to probe it to the bottom; it will be a +salutary smart. As you are able, I will put you into a course of reading +the Scriptures, with a view to promote self-examination. Try yourself by +the strait rule they hold out. Pray fervently that the Almighty may +assist you by his Spirit, and earnestly endeavor to suffer as well as to +do his whole will." + +Dr. Barlow says, he thinks there is now as little prospect of his +perfect recovery as of his immediate dissolution; but as far as one +human creature can judge of the state of another, he believes the +visitation will be salutary. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + + +As we were sitting at supper, after Dr. Barlow had left us, Lady +Belfield, turning to me, said, "She had had a governess proposed to her +from a quarter I should little expect to hear." She then produced a +letter, informing her that Mr. Fentham was lately found dead in his bed +of an apoplexy. That he had died insolvent; and his large income ceasing +with his life, his family were plunged into the utmost distress. That +Mrs. Fentham experienced the most mortifying neglect from her numerous +and noble friends, who now, that she could no longer amuse them with +balls, concerts, and suppers, revenged themselves by wondering what she +could ever mean by giving them at all, and declaring what a bore it had +always been to them to go to her parties. They now insisted that people +ought to confine themselves to their own station, and live within their +income, though they themselves had lifted her above her station, and had +led her to exceed her income. + +"The poor woman," continued Lady Belfield, "is in extreme distress. Her +magnificently furnished house will go but a very little way toward +satisfying her creditors. That house, whose clamorous knocker used to +keep the neighborhood awake, is already reduced to utter stillness. The +splendid apartments, brilliant with lustres and wax-lights, and crowded +with company, are become a frightful solitude, terrifying to those to +whom solitude has not one consolation or resource to offer. Poor Mrs. +Fentham is more wounded by this total desertion of those whom she so +sumptuously fed, and so obsequiously flattered, than by her actual +wants." + +"It is," said Sir John, "a fine exemplification of the friendships of +the world, + + "Confederacies in vice, or leagues in pleasure." + +"Lady Denham, when applied to," resumed Lady Belfield, "said, that she +was extremely sorry for them; but as she thought extravagance the +greatest of faults, it would look like an encouragement to imprudence if +she did any thing for them. Their extravagance, however, had never been +objected to by her, till the fountain which had supplied it was stopped: +and she had for years made no scruple of winning money almost nightly +from the woman whose distresses she now refused to relieve. Lady Denham +further assigned the misery into which the elopement of her darling +child with Signor Squallini had brought her, as an additional reason for +withholding her kindness from Mrs. Fentham." + +"It is a reason," said I, interrupting Lady Belfield, "which, in a +rightly-turned mind, would have had a directly contrary operation. When +domestic calamity overtakes us, is it not the precise moment for holding +out a hand to the wretched? for diminishing the misery abroad, which at +home may be irretrievable?" + +"Lady Bab Lawless, to whom Mrs. Fentham applied for assistance, coolly +advised her to send her daughters to service, saying, 'that she knew of +no acquirement they had which would be of any use to them, except their +skill in hair-dressing.'" + +"It seemed a cruel reproach from a professed friend," said Sir John, +"and yet it is a literal truth. I know not what can be done for them, or +for what they are fit. Their accomplishments might be turned to some +account, if they were accompanied with real knowledge, useful +acquirements, or sober habits. Mrs. Fentham wishes us to recommend them +as governesses. But can I conscientiously recommend to others, girls +with whom I could not trust my own family? Had they been taught to look +no higher than the clerks of their father, who had been a clerk himself, +they might have been happy; but those very men will now think them as +much beneath themselves, as the young ladies lately thought they were +above them." + +"I have often," said Mr. Stanley, "been amused, with observing what a +magic transformation the same event produces on two opposite classes of +characters. The misfortunes of their acquaintance convert worldly +friends into instantaneous strictness of principle. The faults of the +distressed are produced as a plea for their own hard-hearted +covetousness; while that very misfortune so relaxes the strictness of +good men, that the faults are forgotten in the calamity! and they, who +had been perpetually warning the prodigal of his impending ruin, when +that ruin comes, are the first to relieve him." + +It was agreed among us that some small contribution must be added to a +little sum that had been already raised, for their immediate relief; but +that nothing was so difficult, as effectually to serve persons whose +views wore so disproportioned to their deserts, and whose habits would +be too likely to carry corruption into families who might receive them +from charitable motives. + +The conversation then fell insensibly on the pleasure we had enjoyed +since we had been together; and on the delights of rational society, and +confidential intercourse such as ours had been, where minds mingled, and +affection and esteem were reciprocal. Mr. Stanley said many things which +evinced how happily his piety was combined with the most affectionate +tenderness of heart. Indeed I had always been delighted to observe in +him a quality which is not so common as it is thought to be, a thorough +capacity for friendship. + +"My dear Stanley," said Sir John, "it is of the very essence of human +enjoyments, that they must have an end. I observe with regret, that the +time assigned for our visit is more than elapsed. We have prolonged it +beyond our intention, beyond our convenience: but we have, I trust, been +imbibing principles, stealing habits, and borrowing plans, which will +ever make us consider this visit as an important era in our lives. + +"My excellent Caroline is deeply affected with all she has seen and +heard at the Grove. We must now leave it, though not without reluctance. +We must go and endeavor to imitate what, six weeks ago, we almost feared +to contemplate. Lady Belfield and I have compared notes. On the most +mature deliberation, we agree that we have lived long enough to the +world. We agree that it is time to begin to live to ourselves, and to +him who made us. We propose in future to make our winters in London much +shorter. We intend to remove early every spring to Beechwood, which we +will no longer consider as a temporary residence, but as our home; we +will supply it with every thing that may make it interesting and +improving to us all. We are resolved to educate our children in the fear +of God. Our fondness for them is rather increased than diminished; but +in the exercise of that fondness, we will remember that we are to train +them for immortality. We will watch over them as creatures for whose +eternal well-being a vast responsibility will attach to ourselves. + +"In our new plan of life, we shall have fewer sacrifices to make than +most people in our situation; for we have long felt a growing +indifference for things which we appeared to enjoy. Of the world, we are +only going to give up that part which is not worth keeping, and of which +we are really weary. In securing our real friends, we shall not regret +if we drop some acquaintances by the way. The wise and the worthy we +shall more than ever cherish. In your family we have enjoyed those true +pleasures which entail no repentance. That cheerfulness which alone is +worthy of accountable beings, we shall industriously maintain in our +own. I bless God if we have not so many steps to tread back as some +others have who are entering, upon principle, on a new course of life. + +"We have always endeavored, though with much imperfection, to fill some +duties to each other, to our children, to our friends, and to the poor. +But of the prime duty, the main spring of action, and of all moral +goodness, duty to God, we have not been sufficiently mindful. I hope we +have at length learned to consider him as the fountain of all good, and +the gospel of his Son, as the fountain of all hope. This new principle, +I am persuaded, will never impair our cheerfulness, it will only fix it +on a solid ground. By purifying the motive, it will raise the enjoyment. + +"But if we have not so many bad habits to correct as poor Carlton had, I +question if we have not as many difficulties to meet in another way. His +loose course was discreditable. His vices made him stand ill with the +world. He would, therefore, acquire nothing but credit in changing his +outward practice. Lady Belfield and I, on the contrary, stand rather too +well with the world. We had just that external regularity, that cool +indifference about our own spiritual improvement, and the wrong courses +of our friends, which procure regard, because they do not interfere with +others, nor excite jealousy for ourselves. But we have now to encounter +that censure, which we have, perhaps, hitherto been too solicitous to +avoid. It will still be our trial, but I humbly trust that it will be no +longer our snare. Our morality pleased, because it seemed to proceed +merely from a sense of propriety; our strictness will offend when it is +found to spring from a principle of religion. + +"To what tendency in the heart of man, my dear Stanley, is it owing, +that religion is commonly seen to excite more suspicion than the want of +it? When a man of the world meets with a gay, thoughtless, amusing +person, he seldom thinks of inquiring whether such a one be immoral, or +an unbeliever, or a profligate, though the bent of his conversation +rather leans that way. Satisfied with what he finds him, he feels little +solicitude to ascertain what he really is. But no sooner does actual +piety show itself in any man, than your friends are putting you on your +guard; there is instantly a suggestion, a hint, a suspicion, 'Does he +not carry things too far?' 'Is he not righteous over much?' 'Is he not +intemperate in his zeal?' 'Above all things, is he _sincere_?' and, in +short--for that is the centre in which all the lines of suspicion and +reprobation meet--'_Is he not a Methodist?_' + +"I trust, however, that, through divine grace, our minds will be +fortified against all attacks on this our weak side; this pass through +which the sort of assaults most formidable to us will be likely to +enter. I was mentioning this danger to Caroline this morning. She opened +her Bible, over which she now spends much of her solitary time, and with +an emphasis foreign from her usual manner, read, + +"'Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he +to be accounted of?'" + +As Sir John repeated these words, I saw Lucilla, who was sitting next +Lady Belfield, snatch one of her hands, and kiss it, with a rapture +which she had no power to control. It was evident that nothing but our +presence restrained her from rising to embrace her friend. Her fine eyes +glistened, but seeing that I observed her, she gently let go the hand +she held, and tried to look composed. I can not describe the chastised, +but not less fervent, joy of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley. Their looks expressed +the affectionate interest they took in Sir John's honest declaration. +Their hearts overflowed with gratitude to him without whom "nothing is +strong nothing is holy." For my own part, I felt myself raised + + Above this visible diurnal sphere. + +Sir John afterward said, "I begin more and more to perceive the +scantiness of all morality which has not the love of God for its motive. +_That_ virtue will not carry us safely, and will not carry us far, which +looks to human estimation as its reward. As it was a false and +inadequate principle which first set it a going, it will always stop +short of the true ends of goodness." + +"Sir John," said Lady Belfield, "I have been seriously thinking that I +ought not to indulge in the expense of this intended conservatory. We +will, if you please, convert the money to the building of a charity +school. I can not consent to incur such a superfluous expense for my +amusement." + +"My dear Caroline," replied Sir John, "through the undeserved goodness +of God, my estate is so large, and through your excellent management it +is so unimpaired, that we will not give up the conservatory, unless Mr. +Stanley thinks we ought to give it up. But we will adopt Lucilla's idea +of combining a charity with an indulgence--we will associate the charity +school with the conservatory. This union will be a kind of monument to +our friends at the Grove, from whom you have acquired the love of +plants, and I of religious charity." + +We all looked with anxious expectation at Mr. Stanley. He gave it as his +opinion, that as Lady Belfield was now resolved to live the greater part +of the year in the country, she ought to have some amusements in lieu of +those she was going to give up. "Costly decorations and expensive +gardens," continued he, "at a place where the proprietors do not so much +as _intend_ to reside, have always appeared to me among the infatuations +of opulence. To the expenses which they do not _want_, it is adding an +expense which they do not _see_. But surely, at a mansion where an +affluent family actually _live_, all reasonable indulgences should be +allowed. And where a garden and green-house are to supply to the +proprietor the place of the abdicated theatre and ball-room; and +especially when it is to be a means in her hands of attaching her +children to the country, and of teaching them to love home, I declare +myself in favor of the conservatory." + +Lucilla's eyes sparkled, but she said nothing. + +"It would be unfair," continued Mr. Stanley, "to blame too severely +those, who, living constantly in the country, give a little in to its +appropriate pleasures. The real objects of censure seem to be those who, +grafting bad taste on bad habits, bring into the country the amusements +of the town, and superadd to such as are local, and natural, and +innocent, such as are foreign, artificial, and corrupt." + +"My dear Stanley," said Sir John, "we have resolved to indemnify our +poor neighbors for two injuries which we have been doing them. The one +is, by our having lived so little among them: for I have now learned, +that the mere act of residence is a kind of charity even in the +uncharitable, as it necessarily causes much money to be spent, even +where little is given. The other is, that we will endeavor to make up +for our past indifference to their spiritual concerns, by now acting as +if we were aware that the poor have souls as well as bodies; and that in +the great day of account, the care of both will attach to our +responsibility." + +Such a sense of sober joy seemed to pervade our little party that we +were not aware that the night was far advanced. Our minds were too +highly set for much loquacity, when Ph[oe]be suddenly exclaimed. "Papa, +why is it that happiness does not make one merry? I never was half so +happy in my life, and yet I can hardly forbear crying; and I believe it +is catching, sir, for look, Lucilla is not much wiser than myself." + +The next day but one after this conversation our valuable friends left +us. Our separation was softened by the prospect of a speedy meeting. The +day before they set out, Lady Belfield made an earnest request to Mr. +and Mrs. Stanley that they would have the goodness to receive Fanny +Stokes into their family for a few months previous to her entering +theirs as governess. "I can think of no method so likely," continued +she, "to raise the tone of education in my own family as the transfusion +into it of your spirit, and the adoption of your regulations." Mr. and +Mrs. Stanley most cheerfully acceded to the proposal. + +Sir John said: "I was meditating the same request, but with an +additional clause tacked to it, that of sending our eldest girl with +Fanny, that the child also may get imbued with something of your family +spirit, and be broken into better habits than she has acquired from our +hitherto relaxed discipline." This proposal was also cordially approved. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + + +Dr. Barlow came to the Grove to take leave of our friends. He found Sir +John and I sitting in the library with Mr. Stanley. "As I came from Mr. +Tyrrel," said the Doctor, "I met Mr. Flam going to see him. He seemed so +anxious about his old friend that a wish strongly presented itself to my +mind that the awful situation of the sick man might be salutary to him. + +"It is impossible to say," continued he, "what injury religion has +suffered from the opposite characters of these two men. Flam, who gives +himself no concern about the matter, is kind and generous; while Tyrrel, +who has made a high profession, is mean and sordid. It has been said, of +what use is religion when morality has made Mr. Flam a better man than +religion makes Mr. Tyrrel? Thus men of the world reason! But nothing can +be more false than their conclusions. Flam is naturally an open, +warm-hearted man, but incorrect in many respects, and rather loose in +his principles. His natural good propensities religion would have +improved into solid virtues, and would have cured the more +exceptionable parts of his character. But from religion he stands aloof. + +"Tyrrel is naturally narrow and selfish. Religion has not made but found +him such. But what a religion has he adopted! A mere assumption of +terms; a dead, inoperative, uninfluencing notion, which he has taken up; +not, I hope, with a view to deceive others, but by which he has grossly +deceived himself. He had heard that religion was a cure for an uneasy +mind; but he did not attend to the means by which the cure is effected, +and it relieved not him. + +"The corrupt principle whence his vices proceeded was not subdued. He +did not desire to subdue it, because in the struggle he must have parted +with what he was resolved to keep. He adopted what he believed was a +cheap and easy religion; little aware that the great fundamental +Scripture doctrine of salvation by Jesus Christ was a doctrine +powerfully opposing our corruptions, and involving in its comprehensive +requirements a new heart and a new life." + +At this moment Mr. Flam called at the Grove. "I am just come from +Tyrrel," said he. "I fear it is nearly over with him. Poor Ned! he is +very low, almost in despair. I always told him that the time would come +when he would be glad to exchange notions for actions. I am grieved for +him. The remembrance of a kind deed or two done to a poor tenant would +be some comfort to him now at a time when every man stands in need of +comfort." + +"Sir," said Dr. Barlow, "the scene which I have lately witnessed at Mr. +Tyrrel's makes me serious. If you and I were alone, I am afraid it would +make me bold. I will, however, suppress the answer I was tempted to make +you, because I should not think it prudent or respectful to utter before +company what, I am persuaded, your good sense would permit me to say +were we alone!" + +"Doctor," replied the good-tempered, but thoughtless man, "don't stand +upon ceremony. You know I love a debate, and I insist on your saying +what was in your mind to say. I don't fear getting out of any scrape you +can bring me into. You are too well-bred to offend, and I hope I am too +well-natured to be easily offended. Stanley, I know, always takes your +side. Sir John, I trust, will take mine; and so will the young man here, +if he is like most other young men." + +"Allow me then to observe," returned Dr. Barlow, "that if Mr. Tyrrel has +unhappily deceived himself by resting too exclusively on a mere +speculative faith--a faith which by his conduct did not evince itself to +be of the right sort--yet, on the other hand, a dependence for salvation +on our own benevolence, our own integrity, or any other good quality we +may possess, is an error not less fatal, and far more usual. Such a +dependence does as practically set at naught the Redeemer's sacrifice as +the avowed rejection of the infidel. Honesty and benevolence are among +the noblest qualities; but where the one is practiced for reputation, +and the other from mere feeling, they are sadly delusive as to the ends +of practical goodness. They have both indeed their reward; integrity, in +the credit it brings, and benevolence, in the pleasure it yields. Both +are beneficial to society: both therefore are politically valuable. Both +sometimes lead me to admire the ordinations of that overruling power +which often uses as instruments of public good, men who, acting well in +many respects, are essentially useful to others; but, who, acting from +motives merely human, forfeit for themselves that high reward which +those virtues would obtain, if they were evidences of a lively faith, +and the results of Christian principle. Think me not severe, Mr. Flam. +To be personal is always extremely painful to me." + +"No, no, Doctor," replied he, "I know you mean well. 'Tis your trade to +give good counsel; and your lot, I suppose, to have it seldom followed. +I shall hear you without being angry. You, in turn, must not be angry, +if I hear you without being better." + +"I respect you, sir, too much," replied Dr. Barlow, "to deceive you in a +matter of such infinite importance. For one man who errs on Mr. Tyrrel's +principle, a hundred err on yours. His mistake is equally pernicious, +but it is not equally common. I must repeat it. For one whose soul is +endangered through an unwarranted dependence on the Saviour, multitudes +are destroyed, not only by the open rejection, but through a fatal +neglect of the salvation wrought by him. Many more perish through a +presumptuous confidence in their own merits, than through an +unscriptural trust in the merits of Christ." + +"Well, Doctor," replied Mr. Flam, "I must say that I think an ounce of +morality will go further toward making up my accounts than a ton of +religion, for which no one but myself would be the better." + +"My dear sir," said Dr. Barlow, "I will not presume to determine between +the exact comparative proportions of two ingredients, both of which are +so indispensable in the composition of a Christian. I dare not hazard +the assertion, which of the two is the more perilous state, but I think +I am justified in saying which of the two cases occurs most frequently." + +Mr. Flam said: "I should be sorry, Dr. Barlow, to find out at this time +of day that I have been all my life long in an error." + +"Believe me, sir," said Dr. Barlow, "it is better to find it out now +than at a still later period. One good quality can never be made to +supply the absence of another. There are no substitutes in this warfare. +Nor can all the good qualities put together, if we could suppose them to +unite in one man, and to exist without religion, stand proxy for the +death of Christ. If they could so exist, it would be in the degree only, +and not in the perfection required by that law which said, do _this and +live_. So kind a neighbor as you are, so honest a gentleman, so generous +a master, as you are allowed to be, I can not, sir, think without pain +of your losing the reward of such valuable qualities, by your placing +your hope of eternal happiness in the exercise of them. Believe me, Mr. +Flam, it is easier for a compassionate man, if he be not religious, to +'give all his goods to the poor,' than to bring every thought, 'nay than +to bring _any_ thought' into captivity to the obedience of Christ! But +be assured, if we give ever so much with our hands, while we withhold +our hearts from God, though we may do much good to others, we do none to +ourselves." + +"Why surely," said Mr. Flam, "you don't mean to insinuate that I should +be in a safer state if I never did a kind thing?" + +"Quite the contrary," replied Dr. Barlow, "but I could wish to see your +good actions exalted, by springing from a higher principle, I mean the +love of God; ennobled by being practiced to a higher end, and purified +by your renouncing all self-complacency in the performance." + +"But is there not less danger, sir," said Mr. Flam, "in being somewhat +proud of what one really _does_, than in doing nothing? And is it not +more excusable to be a little satisfied with what one really _is_, than +in hypocritically pretending to be what one is _not_?" + +"I must repeat," returned Dr. Barlow, "that I can not exactly decide on +the question of relative enormity between two opposite sins. I can not +pronounce which is the best of two states so very bad." + +"Why now, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, "what particular sin can you charge me +with?" + +"I erect not myself into an accuser," replied Dr. Barlow; "but permit me +to ask you, sir, from what motive is it that you avoid any wrong +practice? Is there any one sin from which you abstain through the fear +of offending your Maker?" + +"As to that," replied Mr. Flam, "I can't say I ever considered about the +motive of the thing. I thought it was quite enough not to do it. Well +but, Doctor, since we are gone so far in the catechism, what duty to my +neighbor can you convict me of omitting?" + +"It will be well, sir," said the Doctor, "if you can indeed stand so +close a scrutiny, as that to which you challenge me, even on your own +principles. But tell me, with that frank honesty which marks your +character, does your kindness to your neighbor spring from the true +fountain, the love of God? That you do many right things I am most +willing to allow. But do you perform them from a sense of obedience to +the law of your Maker? Do you perform them because they are commanded in +his word, and conformable to his will?" + +"I can't say I do," said Mr. Flam, "but if the thing be right in itself, +that appears to me to be all in all. It seems hard to encumber a man of +business like me with the action and the motive too. Surely if I serve a +man, it can make no difference to him, _why_ I serve him." + +"To yourself, my dear sir," said the Doctor, "it makes all the +difference in the world. Besides, good actions performed on any other +principle than obedience, are not only spurious as to their birth, but +they are defective in themselves; they commonly want something in weight +and measure." + +"Why, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, "I have often heard you say in the pulpit +that the best are not perfect. Now as this is the case, I will tell you +how I manage. I think it a safe way to average one's good qualities, to +throw a bad one against a good one, and if the balance sinks on the +right side the man is safe." + +Dr. Barlow shook his head, and was beginning to express his regret at +such delusive casuistry, when Mr. Flam interrupted him by saying, "Well, +Doctor, my great care in life has been to avoid all suspicion of +hypocrisy." + +"You can not do better," replied Dr. Barlow, "than to avoid its +_reality_. But, for my own part, I believe religious hypocrisy to be +rather a rare vice among persons of your station in life. Among the +vulgar, indeed, I fear it is not so rare. In neighborhoods where there +is much real piety, there is no small danger of some false profession. +But among the higher classes of society, serious religion confers so +little credit on him who professes it, that a gentleman is not likely to +put on appearances from which he knows he is far more likely to lose +reputation than to acquire it. When such a man, therefore, assumes the +character of piety, I own I always feel disposed to give him full credit +for possessing it. His religion may indeed be mistaken; it may be +defective; it may even be unsound; but the chances are very much in +favor of its not being insincere. Where piety is genuine it can not be +altogether concealed. Where 'the fruits of the Spirit abound, they will +appear.'" + +"Now, my dear Doctor," replied Mr. Flam, "is not that cant? What do you +mean by the fruits of the Spirit? Would it not have been more worthy of +your good sense to have said morality or virtue? Would not these terms +have been more simple and intelligible?" + +"They might be so," rejoined the Doctor, "but they would not rise quite +so high. They would not take in my _whole_ meaning. The fruit of the +Spirit indeed always includes _your_ meaning, but it includes much more. +It is something higher than worldly morality, something holier than +mere human virtue. I rather conceive morality, in your sense, to be the +effect of natural temper, natural conscience, or worldly prudence, or +perhaps a combination of all three. The fruit of the Spirit is the +morality of the renewed heart. Worldly morality is easily satisfied with +itself. It sits down contented with its own meagre performances; with +legal honesty, with bare weight justice. It seldom gives a particle +'that is not in the bond.' It is always making out its claim to doubtful +indulgences; it litigates its right to every inch of contested +enjoyment; and is so fearful of not getting enough, that it commonly +takes more than its due. It is one of the cases where 'the letter +killeth, but the spirit giveth life.' + +"It obtains, however, its worldly reward. It procures a good degree of +respect and commendation; but it is not attended by the silent train of +the Christian graces, with that 'joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, +goodness, faith,' which are the fruits of the Spirit, and the evidences +of a Christian. These graces are calculated to adorn all that is right +with all that is amiable, 'whatsoever things are honest and just,' with +'whatsoever things are lovely and of good report.' And, to crown all, +they add the deepest humility and most unfeigned self-abasement, to the +most correct course of conduct, a course of conduct which, though a +Christian never thinks himself at liberty to neglect, he never feels +himself permitted or disposed to be proud of!" + +"Well, well, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, "I never denied the truth of +Christianity, as Carlton formerly did. 'Tis the religion of the country +by law established. And I often go to church, because that too is +established by law, for which you know I have a great veneration. 'Tis +the religion of my ancestors, I like it for that too." + +"But, sir," said the Doctor, "would you not show your veneration for the +church more fully if you attended it twice instead of once? And your +veneration for the law, if instead of going sometimes, you went every +Sunday, which you know both the law of God and man enjoins." + +"Why, unluckily," returned Mr. Flam, "the hour of service interferes +with that of dinner." + +"Sir," said Dr. Barlow, smiling, "hours are so altered that I believe if +the church were to new model the calendar, she would say that dinners +ought to be placed among the _moveable feasts_. An hour earlier or later +would accommodate the difference, liberate your servants, and enable you +to do a thing right in itself, and beneficial in its example." + +Mr. Flam not being prepared with an answer, went on with his confession +of faith. "Doctor," said he, "I am a better Christian than you think. I +take it for granted that the Bible is true, for I have heard many men +say, who have examined for themselves, which I can not say I have ever +had time or inclination to do, that no opposer has ever yet refuted the +Scripture account of miracles and prophecies. So if you don't call this +being a good Christian, I don't know what is." + +Dr. Barlow replied, "Nothing can be better as far as it goes. But allow +me to say, that there is another kind of evidence of the truth of our +religion, which is peculiar to the real Christian. I mean that evidence +which arises from his individual conviction of the efficacy of +Christianity in remedying the disorders of his own nature. He who has +had his own temper improved, his evil propensities subdued, and his +whole character formed anew, by being cast in the mold of Christianity, +will have little doubt of the truth of a religion which has produced +such obvious effects in himself. The truths for which his reason pleads, +and in which his understanding, after much examination, is able to rest, +having had a purifying influence on his heart, become established +principles, producing in him at the same time holiness of life and +peace of conscience. The stronger evidence a man has of his own internal +improvement, the stronger will be his conviction of the truth of the +religion he professes." + +"There are worse men than I am, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, rather +seriously. + +"Sir," replied he, "I heartily wish every gentleman had your good +qualities. But as we shall be judged positively and not comparatively; +as our characters will be finally decided upon, not by our superiority +to other men, nor merely by our inferiority to the divine rule, but by +our departure from it, I wish you would begin to square your life by +that rule now; which, in order that you may do, you should begin to +study it. While we live in a total neglect of the Bible, we must not +talk of our deficiencies, our failings, our imperfections, as if these +alone stood between us and the mercy of God. That indeed is the language +and the state of the devout Christian. Stronger terms must be used to +express the alienation of heart of those, who, living in the avowed +neglect of Scripture, maybe said, forgive me, sir, 'to live without God +in the world.' Ignorance is no plea in a gentleman. In a land of light +and knowledge, ignorance itself is a sin." + +Here Dr. Barlow being silent, and Mr. Flam not being prepared to answer, +Mr. Stanley said, "That the pure and virtuous dispositions which arise +out of a sincere belief of Christianity, are not more frequently seen in +persons professing themselves to be Christians, is, unhappily, one of +the strongest arguments against us that can be urged by unbelievers. +Instances, however, occur, which are too plain to be denied, of +individuals who, having been led by divine grace cordially to receive +Christianity, have exhibited in their conduct a very striking proof of +its excellence; and among these are some who, like our friend Carlton, +had previously led very corrupt lives. The ordinary class of Christians, +who indeed scarcely deserve the name, as well as skeptics and +unbelievers, would do well to mark the lives of the truly religious, and +to consider them as furnishing a proof which will come powerfully in aid +of that body of testimony with which Christianity is intrenched on all +sides. And these observers should remember, that though they themselves +may not yet possess that best evidence in favor of Christianity, which +arises from an inward sense of its purifying nature, they may +nevertheless aspire after it; and those who have any remaining doubts +should encourage themselves with the hope, that if they fully yield +themselves to the doctrines and precepts of the gospel, a salutary +change will in time be effected in their own hearts, which will furnish +them with irresistible evidence of its truth." + +I could easily perceive, that though Mr. Stanley and Dr. Barlow +entertained small hopes of the beneficial effect of their discourse on +the person to whom it was directed; yet they prolonged it with an eye to +Sir John Belfield, who sat profoundly attentive, and encouraged them by +his looks. + +As to Mr. Flam, it was amusing to observe the variety of his motions, +gestures, and contortions, and the pains he took to appear easy and +indifferent, and even victorious: sometimes fixing the end of his whip +on the floor, and whirling it around at full speed; then working it into +his boot; then making up his mouth for a whistle, but stopping short to +avoid being guilty of the incivility of interruption. + +At length with the same invincible good nature, and with the same +pitiable insensibility to his own state, he arose to take leave. He +shook us all by the hand, Dr. Barlow twice, saying, "Doctor, I don't +think the worse of you for your plain speaking. He is a knave or a fool +that is angry with a good man for doing his duty. 'Tis my fault if I +don't take his advice; but 'tis his fault if he does not give it. +Parsons are paid for it, and ought not to be mealy-mouthed, when there +is a proper opening, such as poor Tyrrel's case gave you. I challenged +_you_. I should perhaps have been angry if you had challenged _me_. It +makes all the difference, in the event of a duel, which is the +challenger. As to myself, it is time enough for me to think of the +things you recommend. Thank God, I am in excellent good health and +spirits and am not yet quite fifty. 'There is a time for all things.' +Even the Bible allows that." + +The Doctor shook his head at this sad misapplication of the text. Mr. +Flam went away, pressing us all to dine with him next day; he had killed +a fine buck, and he assured Dr. Barlow that he should have the best port +in his cellar. The Doctor pleaded want of time, and the rest of the +party could not afford a day, out of the few which remained to us; but +we promised to call on him. He nodded kindly at Dr. Barlow, saying, +"Well, Doctor, as you won't come to the buck, one of his haunches shall +come to you; so tell madam to expect it." + +As soon as he had left the room, we all joined in lamenting that the +blessings of health and strength should ever be produced as arguments +for neglecting to secure those blessings which have eternity for their +object. + +"Unhappy man!" said Dr. Barlow, "little does he think that he is, if +possible, more the object of my compassion than poor Mr. Tyrrel. Tyrrel, +it is true, is lying on a sick, probably a dying bed. His body is in +torture. His mind is in anguish. He has to look back on a life, the +retrospect of which can afford him no ray of comfort. But he _knows_ his +misery. The hand of God is upon him. His proud heart is brought low. His +self-confidence is subdued. His high imaginations are cast down. His +abasement of soul, as far as I can judge, is sincere. He abhors himself +in dust and ashes. He sees death at hand. He feels that the sting of +death is sin. All subterfuge is at an end. He is at last seeking the +only refuge of penitent sinners, I trust on right grounds. His state is +indeed perilous in the extreme; yet awful as it is, he _knows_ it. He +will not open his eyes on the eternal world in a state of delusion. But +what shall awaken poor Mr. Flam from his dream of security? His high +health, his unbroken spirits, his prosperous circumstances and various +blessings, are so many snares to him. He thinks that 'to-morrow shall be +as this day, and still more abundant.' Even the wretched situation of +his dying friend, though it awakens compassion, awakens not compunction. +Nay, it affords matter of triumph rather than of humiliation. He feeds +his vanity with comparisons from which he contrives to extract comfort. +His own offenses being of a different kind, instead of lamenting them, +he glories in being free from those which belong to an opposite cast of +character. Satisfied that he has not the vices of Tyrrel, he never once +reflects on his own unrepented sins. Even his good qualities increase +his danger. He wraps himself up in that constitutional good nature, +which, being partly founded on vanity and self-approbation, strengthens +his delusion, and hardens him against reproof." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + + +In conversing with Mr. Stanley on my happy prospects, and my future +plans; after having referred all concerns of a pecuniary nature to be +settled between him and Sir John Belfield, I ventured to entreat that he +would crown his goodness, and my happiness, by allowing me to solicit +his daughter for an early day. + +Mr. Stanley said, the term _early_ was relative; but he was afraid that +he should hardly consent to what I might consider even as a late one. +"In parting with such a child as Lucilla," added he, "some weaning time +must be allowed to the tenderest of mothers. The most promising +marriage, and surely none can promise more happiness than that to which +we are looking, is a heavy trial to fond parents. To have trained a +creature with anxious fondness, in hope of her repaying their solicitude +hereafter by the charms of her society, and then as soon as she becomes +capable of being a friend and companion, to lose her forever, is such a +trial, that I sometimes wonder at the seeming impatience of parents to +get rid of a treasure, of which they best know the value. The sadness +which attends the consummation even of our dearest hopes on these +occasions, is one striking instance of that _Vanity of human wishes_, on +which Juvenal and Johnson have so beautifully expatiated. + +"A little delay indeed I shall require, from motives of prudence as well +as fondness. Lucilla will not be nineteen these three months and more. +You will not, I trust, think me unreasonable if I say, that neither her +mother nor myself can consent to part with her before that period." + +"Three months!" exclaimed I, with more vehemence than politeness. "Three +months! it is impossible." + +"It is very possible," said he, smiling, "that you can wait, and very +certain that we shall not consent sooner." + +"Have you any doubts, sir," said I, "have you any objections which I can +remove, and which, being removed, may abridge this long probation?" + +"None," said he, kindly. "But I consider even nineteen as a very early +age; too early, indeed, were not my mind so completely at rest about you +on the grand points of religion, morals, and temper, that no delay +could, I trust, afford me additional security. You will, however, my +dear Charles, find so much occupation in preparing your affairs and your +mind for so important a change, that you will not find the time of +absence so irksome as you fancy." + +"Absence, sir?" replied I. "What then, do you intend to banish me?" + +"No," replied he, smiling again. "But I intend to send you _home_. A +sentence, indeed, which in this dissipated age is thought the worst sort +of exile. You have now been absent six or seven months. This absence has +been hitherto justifiable. It is time to return to your affairs, to your +duties. Both the one and the other always slide into some disorder by a +too long separation from the place of their legitimate exercise. Your +steward will want inspection, your tenants may want redress, your poor +always want assistance." + +Seeing me look irresolute, "I must I find," added he, with the kindest +look and voice, "be compelled to the inhospitable necessity of turning +you out of doors." + +"Live without Lucilla three months!" said I. "Allow me, sir, at least to +remain a few weeks longer at the Grove?" + +"Love is a bad calculator," replied Mr. Stanley, "I believe he never +learned arithmetic. Don't you know that as you are enjoined a three +month's banishment, that the sooner you go, the sooner you will return? +And that however long your stay now is, your three months' absence will +still remain to be accomplished. To speak seriously, Lucilla's sense of +propriety, as well as that of Mrs. Stanley, will not allow you to remain +much longer under the same roof, now that the motive will become so +notorious. Besides that, an act of self-denial is a good principle to +set out upon, business and duties will fill up your active hours, and an +intercourse of letters with her you so reluctantly quit, will not only +give an interest to your leisure, but put you both still more completely +in possession of each other's character!" + +"I will set out to-morrow, sir," said I, earnestly, "in order to begin +to hasten the day of my return." + +"Now you are as much too precipitate on the other side," replied he. "A +few days, I think, may be permitted, without any offense to Lucilla's +delicacy. This even her mother pleads for." + +"With what excellence will this blessed union give me an alliance!" +replied I. "I will go directly, and thank Mrs. Stanley for this +goodness." + +I found Mrs. Stanley and her daughter together, with whom I had a long +and interesting conversation. They took no small pains to convince my +judgment, that my departure was perfectly proper. My will however +continued rebellions. But as I had been long trained to the habit of +submitting my will to my reason, I acquiesced, though not without +murmuring, and, as they told me, with a very bad grace. I informed Mrs. +Stanley of an intimation I had received from Sir George Aston of his +attachment to Ph[oe]be, and of his mother's warm approbation of his +choice, adding that he alleged her extreme youth, as the ground of his +deferring to express his hope that his plea might one day be received +with favor. + +"He forgot to allege his own youth," replied she, "which is a reason +almost equally cogent." + +Miss Stanley and I agreed that a connection more desirable in all +respects could not be expected. + +"When I assure you," replied Mrs. Stanley, "that I am quite of your +opinion, you will think me inconsistent if I add that I earnestly hope +such a proposal will not be made by Sir George lest his precipitancy +should hinder the future accomplishment of a wish, which I may be +allowed remotely to indulge." + +"What objection," said I, "can Mr. Stanley possibly make to such a +proposal, except that his daughter is too young?" + +"I see," replied she, "that you do not yet completely know Mr. Stanley: +or rather, you do not know all that he has done for the Aston family. +His services have been very important, not only in that grand point +which you and I think the most momentous; but he has also very +successfully exerted himself in settling Lady Aston's worldly affairs, +which were in the utmost disorder. The large estate which had suffered +by her own ignorance of business, and the dishonesty of a steward, he +has not only enabled her to clear, but put her in the way greatly to +improve. This skill and kindness in worldly things so raised his credit +in the eyes of the guardian, young Sir George's uncle, that he declared +he should never again be so afraid of religious men; whom he had always +understood to be without judgment, or kindness, or disinterestedness. + +"Now," added Mrs. Stanley, "don't you perceive that not only the purity +of Mr. Stanley's motives, but religion itself would suffer, should we be +forward to promote this connection? Will not this Mr. Aston say, that +sinister designs influenced all this zeal and kindness, and that Sir +George's estate was improved with an eye to his own daughter? It will be +said that these religious people always know what they are about--that +when they seem to be purely serving God, they are resolved not to serve +him for nothing, but always keep their own interest in view. Should Sir +George's inclination continue, and his principles stand the siege which +the world will not fail to lay to a man of his fortune--some years +hence, when he is complete master of his actions, his character formed, +and his judgment ripened to direct his choice, so as to make it evident +to the world, that it was not the effect of influence--this connection +is an event to which we should look forward with much pleasure." + +"Never," exclaimed I, "no not once, have I been disappointed in my +expectation of consistency in Mr. Stanley's character. O, my beloved +parents, how wise was your injunction that I should make _consistency +the test of true piety_! It is thus that Christians should always keep +the credit of religion in view, if they would promote its interests in +the world." + +When I communicated to Miss Stanley my conversation with _her_ father, +and read over with her the letters of _mine_, how tenderly did she weep! +How were my own feelings renewed! To be thus assured that she was +selected for their son, by my deceased parents, seemed, to her pious +mind, to shed a sacredness on our union. How did she venerate their +virtues! How feelingly regret their loss! + +Before I left the country, I did not omit a visit of civility to Mr. +Flam. The young ladies, as Sir John predicted, had stepped back into +their natural character, and natural _un_-dress; though he was too +severe when he added, that their hopes in assuming the other were now at +an end. + +They both asked me, if I was not moped to death at the Grove; the +Stanleys, they said, were _good sort_ of people, but quite +_mauvais-ton_, as every body must be who did not spend half the year in +London. Miss Stanley was a fine girl enough, but knew nothing of the +world, wanted manner, which two or three winters in town would give her. +"Better as she is," interrupted Mr. Flam, "better as she is. She is a +pattern daughter, and will make a pattern wife. _Her_ mother has no +care, nor trouble; I wish I could say as much of all mothers. I never +saw a bad humor, or a bad dinner in the house. She is always at home, +always employed, always in spirits, and always in temper. She is as +cheerful as if she had no religion, and as useful as if she could not +spell her own receipt-book." + +I was affected with this generous tribute to my Lucilla's virtues; and +when he wished me joy, as he cordially shook me by the hand, I could not +forbear saying to myself, why will not this good-natured man go to +heaven? + +I next paid a farewell visit to Mr. and Mrs. Carlton, and to the amiable +family at Aston Hall, and to Dr. Barlow. How rich has this excursion +made me in valuable friendships; to say nothing of the inestimable +connection at the Grove! I did not forget to assure Dr. Barlow that if +any thing could add a value to the blessing which awaited me, it was, +that his hand would consecrate it. + +Through the good Doctor I received a message from Mr. Tyrrel, requesting +me to make him a visit of charity before I quitted the neighborhood. I +instantly obeyed the summons. I found him totally changed in all +respects, a body wasted by disease, a mind apparently full of +contrition, and penetrated with that deep humility, in which he had been +so eminently deficient. + +He earnestly intreated my prayers, adding, "though it is presumption in +so unworthy a being as I am, to suppose his intercession may be heard, I +will pray for a blessing on your happy prospects. A connection with such +a family is itself a blessing. Oh! that my nephew had been worthy of it! +It is to recommend that poor youth to your friendship, that I invited +you to this melancholy visit. I call him poor, because I have neglected +to enrich his mind: but he will have too much of this world's goods. May +he employ well what I have risked my soul to amass! Counsel him, dear +sir; admonish him. Recall to his mind his dying uncle. I would now give +my whole estate, nay, I would live upon the alms I have refused, to +purchase one more year, though spent in pain and misery, that I might +prove the sincerity of my repentance. Be to Ned what my blessed friend +Stanley would have been to me. But my pride repelled his kindness. I +could not bear his superiority, I turned away my eyes from a model I +could not imitate." I now intreated him to spare himself, but after a +few minutes' pause he proceeded: "As to Ned, I trust he is not +ill-disposed, but I have neither furnished his mind for solitude, nor +fortified his heart for the world. I foolishly thought that to keep him +ignorant, was to keep him safe. I have provided for him the snare of a +large fortune, without preparing him for the use of it. I fell into an +error not uncommon, that of grudging the expenses of education to a +relation, for whom I designed my estate. I have thus fitted him for a +companion to the vulgar, and a prey to the designing. I thought it +sufficient to keep him from actual vice, without furnishing him with +arguments to combat it, or with principles to abhor it." + +Here the poor man paused for want of breath. I was too much affected to +speak. + +At length he went on. "I have made over to Dr. Barlow's son two thousand +pounds for completing his education. I have also given two thousand +pounds apiece to the two elder daughters of Mr. Stanley in aid of their +charities. I have made a deed of gift of this, and of a large sum for +charitable purposes at the discretion of my executors. A refusal to +accept it, will greatly distress me. Ned still will have too much left, +unless he employs it to better purposes than I have done." + +Though deeply moved, I hardly knew what to reply; I wished to give him +comfort, but distrusted my own judgment as to the manner. I promised my +best services to his nephew. + +"Oh, good young man!" cried he, "if ever you are tempted to forget God, +as I did for above thirty years; or to mock him by an outward profession +as I have lately done, think of me. Think of one who for the largest +portion of his life, lived as if there were no God. And who, since he +has made a profession of Christianity, deceived his own soul, no less by +the religion he adopted, than by his former neglect of all religion. My +delusion was this, I did not choose to be good, but I chose to be saved. +It was no wonder then that I should be struck with a religion which I +hoped would free me from the discipline of moral rectitude, and yet +deliver me from the punishment of having neglected it. Will God accept +my present forced submission? Will he accept a penitence of which I may +have no time to prove the sincerity? Tell me--you are a Christian." + +I was much distressed. I thought it neither modest nor prudent for me to +give a decisive answer. He grasped my hand. "Then," said he, "you think +my case hopeless. You think the Almighty can not forgive me?" Thus +pressed, I ventured to say, "To doubt his will to pardon, and his power +to save, would, as it appears to me, sir, be a greater fault than any +you have committed." + +"One great comfort is left," replied he, "the mercy I have abused is +infinite. Tell Stanley I now believe with him, that if we pretend to +trust in God, we must be governed by him, if we truly believe in him, we +shall obey him; if we think he sent his Son to save sinners, we shall +hate sin." + +I ventured to congratulate him on his frame of mind; and seeing him +quite overcome, took leave of him with a heart deeply touched with this +salutary scene. The family at the Grove were greatly moved with my +description, and with the method poor Tyrrel had found out of eluding +the refusal of his liberal-minded executors to accept of legacies. + +The day fixed for my departure too soon arrived. I took a most +affectionate leave of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, and a very tender one of +Lucilla, who gratified my affection by the emotion she evidently felt, +and my delicacy by the effort she made to conceal it. Ph[oe]be wept +outright. The children all hung about me, each presenting me some of her +flowers, saying they had nothing else to give me; and assuring me that +Rachel should be no loser by it. Little Celia was clamorous in her +sorrow, when she saw me ascend the curricle, in which neither she nor +Lucilla was to have a place. I took the sweet child up into the +carriage, placed her by me, and gently drove her through the park, at +the gate of which I consigned her to the arms of her father, who had +good-naturedly walked by the side of the carriage in order to carry her +back. I drove off, enriched with his prayers and blessings, which seemed +to insure me protection. + +Though this separation from all I loved threw a transient sadness around +me, I had abundant matter for delightful reflection and pious gratitude. +I experienced the truth of Ph[oe]be's remark, that happiness is a +serious thing. While pleasure manifests itself by extravagant gayety, +exuberant spirits, and overt acts, happiness retreats to its own proper +region, the heart. There concentrating its feelings, it contemplates its +treasures, meditates on its enjoyments, and still more fondly on its +hopes; counts up its mercies, and feels the consummation of them in +looking to the fountain from whence they flow; feels every blessing +immeasurably heightened by the heart-cheering reflection, that the most +exquisite human pleasures are not the perfection of his nature, but only +a gracious earnest, a bounteous pre-libation of that blessedness which +is without measure, and shall be without end. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + + +Before the Belfields had quitted us, it was stipulated that we should, +with submission to the will of a higher power, all meet for six weeks +every other summer at Stanley Grove, and pass a month together every +intermediate year, either at the Priory, or at Beechwood. + +I passed through London, and spent three days in Cavendish-square, my +friends having kindly postponed their departure for the country on my +account. Lady Belfield voluntarily undertook whatever was necessary for +the internal decoration of the Priory; while Sir John took on himself +the friendly office of arranging for me all preliminaries with Mr. +Stanley, whose largeness of heart and extreme disinterestedness, I knew +I durst not trust, without some such check as I placed in the hands of +our common friend. + +As soon as all personal concerns were adjusted, Lady Belfield said, "I +have something to communicate, in which, I am persuaded, you will take a +lively interest. On my return to town, I found, among my visiting +tickets, several of Lady Melbury's. The porter told me she had called +every day for the last week, and seemed very impatient for my return. +Finding she was still in town, I went to her immediately. She was not at +home, but came to me within an hour. She expressed great joy at seeing +me. She looked more beautiful than ever, at least the blush of conscious +shame, which mingled with her usual sweetness, rendered her more +interesting. + +"She was at a loss how to begin. With a perplexed air she said, 'Why did +you stay so long? I have sadly wanted you. Where is Sir John? I have +wanted counselors--comforters--friends. I have never had a friend.' + +"I was affected at an opening so unexpected. Sir John came in. This +increased her confusion. At length, after the usual compliments, she +thus addressed him: 'I am determined to conquer this false shame. There +is not a worse symptom in human nature than that we blush to own what we +have not been afraid to do. From you, Sir John, I heard the first +remonstrance which ever reached my ears. You ought to be informed of its +effect. You can not have forgotten our conversation in my coach, after +we had quitted the scene which filled you with contempt for me, and me +with anguish for the part I had acted. You reasonably supposed that my +remorse would last no longer than the scene which had inspired it. You +left me alone. My lord dined abroad. I was abandoned to all the horrors +of solitude. I wanted somebody to keep me from myself. Mrs. Stokes +dying! her husband dead! the sweet flower-girl pining for want--and I +the cause of all! The whole view presented such a complication of misery +to my mind, and of guilt to my heart, as made me unsupportable to +myself. + +"'It was Saturday! I was of course engaged to the opera. I was utterly +unfit to go, but wanted courage to frame an excuse. Fortunately Lady +Bell Finley, whom I had promised to chaperon, sent to excuse herself. +This set my person at liberty, but left my mind upon the rack. Though I +should have rejoiced in the company even of my own chambermaid, so much +did I dread being left to my own thoughts, yet I resolved to let no one +in that night. I had scarcely passed a single evening out of the giddy +circle for several years. For the first time in my life I was driven to +look into myself. I took a retrospect of my past conduct--a confused and +imperfect one indeed. This review aggravated my distress. Still I +pursued my distracting self-inquisition. Not for millions would I pass +such another night! + +"'I had done as wrong things before, but they had never been thus +brought home to me. My extravagance must have made others suffer, but +their sufferings had not been placed before my eyes. What was not seen, +I had hoped might not be true. I had indeed heard distant reports of the +consequences of my thoughtless expense, but they might be invented--they +might be exaggerated. At the flower-maker's I _witnessed_ the ruin I had +made--I _saw_ the fruits of my unfeeling vanity--I _beheld_ the +calamities I had caused. O how much mischief would such actual +observation prevent! I was alone. I had no dependant to qualify the +deed, no sycophant to divert my attention to more soothing objects. +Though Sir John's honest expostulation had touched me to the quick, yet +I confess, had I found any of my coterie at home, had I gone to the +opera, had a joyous supper succeeded, all together would have quite +obliterated the late mortifying scene. I should, as I have often done +before, have soon lost all sense of the Stokes's misery, and of my own +crime.'" + +"Here," pursued Lady Belfield, "the sweet creature looked so contrite, +that Sir John and I were both deeply affected." + +"'You are not accustomed, Sir John,' resumed she, with a faint smile, +'to the office of a confessor, nor I to that of a penitent. But I make +it a test to myself of my own sincerity to tell you the whole truth. + +"'I wandered from room to room, fancying I should be more at ease in any +other than that in which I was. I envied the starving tenant of the +meanest garret. I envied Mrs. Stokes herself. Both might have pitied the +pangs which rent my heart as I roamed through the decorated apartments +of our spacious house. In the gayest part of London I felt the +dreariness of a desert. Surrounded with magnificence, I endured a sense +of want and woe, of which a blameless beggar can form no idea. + +"'I went into the library: I took up a book which my lord had left on +the table. It was a translation from a Roman classic. I opened it at the +speech of the tragedian to Pompey: '_The time will come that thou shalt +mourn deeply, because thou didst not mourn sooner!_' I was struck to the +heart. 'Shall a pagan,' said I, 'thus forcibly reprove me; and shall I +neglect to search for truth at the fountain?' + +"'I knew my lord would not come home from his club till the morning. The +struggle in my soul between principle and pride was severe; but after a +bitter conflict, I resolved to employ the night in writing him a long +letter. In it I ingenuously confessed the whole state of my mind, and +what had occasioned it. I implored his permission for my setting out +next morning for Melbury Castle. I entreated him to prevail on his +excellent aunt, Lady Jane, whom I had so shamefully slighted, to +accompany me. I knew she was a character of that singular class who +would be glad to revenge herself for any ill-treatment by doing me a +service. Her company would be at once a pledge to my lord of the purity +of my intentions, and to myself a security against falling into worse +society. I assured him that I had no safeguard but in flight. An +additional reason which I alleged for my absence was, that as I had +promised to give a grand masquerade in a fortnight, the evading this +expense would nearly enable me to discharge the debt which sat so heavy +on my conscience. + +"'I received a note from him as soon as he came home. With his usual +complaisance he complied with my request. With his usual nonchalance, he +neither troubled me with reproaches, nor comforted me with approbation. + +"'As he knew that Lady Jane usually rose about the hour he came home +from St. James's street, he obligingly went to her at once. I had not +been in bed. He came to my dressing-room, and informed me that his aunt +had consented at the first word. I expressed my gratitude to them both, +saying that I was ready to set out that very day.' + +"'You must wait till to-morrow,' said he. 'There is no accounting for +the oddities of some people. Lady Jane told me she could not possibly +travel on a Sunday. I wondered where was the impossibility. Sunday, I +assured her, was the only day for traveling in comfort, as the road was +not obstructed by wagons and carts. She replied, with a gravity which +made me laugh, 'That she should be ashamed to think that a person of her +rank and education should be indebted, for her being able to trample +with more convenience on a divine law, to the piety of the vulgar who +durst not violate it.' Did you ever hear any thing so whimsical, +Matilda?' I said nothing, but my heart smote me. Never will I repeat +this offense. + +"'On the Monday we set out. I had kept close the preceding day, under +pretense of illness. This I also assigned as an excuse in the cards sent +to my invited guests, pleading the necessity of going into the country +for change of air. Shall I own I dreaded being shut up in a barouche, +and still more in the lonely castle, with Lady Jane? I looked for +nothing every moment but 'the thorns and briars of reproof.' But I soon +found that the woman whom I thought was a Methodist, was a most +entertaining companion. Instead of austerity in her looks and reproach +in her language, I found nothing but kindness and affection, vivacity +and elegance. While she soothed my sorrows, she strengthened my better +purposes. Her conversation gradually revived in my mind tastes and +principles which had been early sown in it, but which the world seemed +completely to have eradicated. + +"'In the neighborhood of the castle, Lady Jane carried me to visit the +abodes of poverty and sickness. I envied her large but discriminating +liberality, and the means she had of gratifying it, while I shed tears +at the remembrance of my own squandered thousands. I had never been +hard-hearted, but I had always given to importunity, rather than to want +or merit. I blushed, that while I had been absurdly profuse to cases of +which I knew nothing, my own village had been perishing with a +contagious sickness. + +"'While I amused myself with drawing, my aunt often read to me some +rationally entertaining book, occasionally introducing religious reading +and discourse, with a wisdom and moderation which increased the effect +of both. Knowing my natural levity and wretched habits, she generally +waited till the proposal came from myself. At first when I suggested it, +it was to please her: at length I began to find a degree of pleasure in +it myself. + +"'You will say I have not quite lost my romance. A thought struck me, +that the first use I made of my pencil should serve to perpetuate at +least one of my offenses. You know I do not execute portraits badly. +With a little aid from fancy, which I thought made it allowable to bring +separate circumstances into one piece, I composed a picture. It +consisted of a detached figure in the background of poor Stokes, seen +through the grate of his prison on a bed of straw: and a group, composed +of his wife in the act of expiring, Fanny bending over a wreath of +roses, withered with the tears she was shedding, and myself in the +horrors in which you saw me, + + Spectatress of the mischief I had made. + +"'Wherever I go, this picture shall always be my companion. It hangs in +my closet. My dear friends,' added she, with a look of infinite +sweetness, 'whenever I am tempted to contract a debt, or to give in to +any act of vanity or dissipation which may lead to debt, if after having +looked on this picture I can pursue the project, renounce me, cast me +off forever! + +"'You know Lady Jane's vein of humor. One day, as we were conversing +together, I confessed that at the very time I was the object of general +notice, and my gayety the theme of general envy, I had never known +happiness. 'I do not wonder at it,' said she. 'Those who greedily pursue +admiration, would be ashamed to sit down with so quiet a thing as +happiness.' 'My dear Lady Jane,' said I, 'correct me, counsel me, +instruct me: you have been too lenient, too forbearing.' 'Well,' said +she, with a cheerful tone, 'as you appoint me your physician, as you +disclose your case, and ask relief, I will give you a prescription, +which, though the simplest thing in the world, will, I am certain, go a +great way toward curing you. As you are barely six-and-twenty, your +disease, I trust, is not inveterate. If you will be an obedient patient, +I will answer for your recovery.' + +"'I assured her of my willing adoption of any remedy she might +prescribe, as I was certain she would consider my weakness, and adapt +her treatment, not so much to what my case absolutely required as to +what my strength was able to bear. + +"'Well, then,' said she--'but pray observe I am no quack. I do not +undertake to restore you instantaneously. Though my medicine will work +surely, it will work slowly. You know,' added she, smiling, 'the success +of all alteratives depends on the punctuality with which they are taken, +and the constancy with which they are followed up. Mine must be taken +two or three times a day, in small quantities at first, the dose to be +enlarged as you are able to bear it. I can safely assert, with the +advertising doctors, that it may be used full or fasting, in all +weathers, and all seasons; but I can not add with them that _it requires +no confinement_.' + +"'I grew impatient, and begged she would come to the point. + +"'Softly, Matilda,' said she, 'softly. I must first look into my +receipt-book, for fear I should mistake any of my ingredients. This +book,' said she, opening it, 'though written by no charlatan, contains a +cure for all diseases. It exhibits not only general directions, but +specified cases.' Turning over the leaves as she was speaking, she at +length stopped, saying, 'here is your case, my dear, or rather your +remedy.' She then read very deliberately: 'COMMUNE WITH YOUR OWN +HEART--AND IN YOUR CHAMBER--AND BE STILL.' + +"'I now found her grand receipt-book was the Bible. I rose and embraced +her. 'My dear aunt,' said I, 'do with me whatever you please. I will be +all obedience. I pledge myself to take your alterative regularly, +constantly. Do not spare me. Speak your whole mind.' + +"'My dear Matilda,' said she, 'ever since your marriage, your life has +been one continued opposition to your feelings. You have lived as much +below your understanding as your principles. Your conduct has been a +system of contradictions. You have believed in Christianity, and acted +in direct violation of its precepts. You knew that there was a day of +future reckoning, and yet neglected to prepare for it. With a heart full +of tenderness, you have been guilty of repeated acts of cruelty. You +have been faithful to your husband, without making him respectable or +happy. You have been virtuous, without the reputation or the peace which +belongs to virtue. You have been charitable without doing good, and +affectionate without having ever made a friend. You have wasted those +attentions on the worthless which the worthy would have delighted to +receive, and those talents on the frivolous which would have been +cherished by the enlightened. You have defeated the use of a fine +understanding by the want of common prudence, and robbed society of the +example of your good qualities by your total inability to resist and +oppose. Inconsideration and vanity have been the joint cause of your +malady. At your age I trust it is not incurable. As you have caught it +by keeping infected company, there is no possible mode of cure but by +avoiding the contagious air they breathe. You have performed your +quarantine with admirable patience. Beware, my dearest niece, of +returning to the scene where the plague rages, till your antidote has +taken its full effect.' + +"'I will _never_ return to it, my dear Lady Jane,' cried I, throwing +myself into her arms. 'I do not mean that I will never return to town. +My duty to my lord requires me to be where he is, or where he wishes me +to be. My residence will be the same, but my society shall be changed.' + +"'You please me entirely,' replied she. 'In resorting to religion, take +care that you do not dishonor it. Never plead your piety to God as an +apology for your neglect of the relative duties. If the one is soundly +adopted, the others will be correctly performed. There are those who +would delight to throw such a stigma on real Christianity, as to be able +to report that it had extinguished your affections, and soured your +temper. Disappoint them, my sweet niece: while you serve your Maker more +fervently, you must be still more patient with your husband. But while +you bear with his faults, you must not connive at them. If you are in +earnest, you must expect some trials. He who prepares these trials for +you, will support you under them, will carry you through them, will make +them instruments of his glory, and of your own eternal happiness.' + +"'Lord Melbury's complaisance to my wishes,' replied I, 'has been +unbounded. As he never controlled my actions when they required control, +I trust he will be equally indulgent now they will be less censurable. +Alas! we have too little interfered with each other's concerns--we have +lived too much asunder--who knows but I may recall him?' My tears would +not let me go on--'nor will they now,' added she, wiping her fine eyes. + +"Sir John and I were too much touched to attempt to answer her: at +length she proceeded. + +"'By adhering to Lady Jane's directions, I have begun to get acquainted +with my own heart. Little did I suspect the evil that was in it. Yet I +am led to believe that the incessant whirl in which I have lived, my +total want of leisure for reflection, my excessive vanity and complete +inconsiderateness, are of themselves causes adequate to any effects +which the grossest vices would have produced. + +"'Last week my lord made us a visit at the castle. I gave him a warm +reception; but he seemed rather surprised at the cold one which I gave +to a large cargo of new French novels and German plays, which he had +been so good as to bring me. I did not venture to tell him that I had +changed my course of study. Lady Jane charged me to avoid giving him the +least disgust by any unusual gravity in my looks, or severity in my +conversation. I exerted myself to such good purpose that he declared he +wanted neither cards nor company. I tried to let him see, by my change +of habits rather than by dry documents, or cold remonstrances, the +alteration which had taken place in my sentiments. He was pleased to see +me blooming and cheerful. He told Lady Jane he never saw me so pleasant. +He did not know I was so agreeable a woman, and was glad he had this +opportunity of getting acquainted with me. As he has great expectations +from her, he was delighted at the friendship which subsisted between +us. + +"'He brought us up to town. As it was now empty, the terrors of the +masquerade no longer hung over me, and I cheerfully complied with his +wishes. I drove immediately to Mrs. Stokes's with such a portion of my +debt, as my retirement had enabled me to save. I feasted all the way on +the joy I should have in surprising her with this two hundred pounds. +How severe, but how just was my punishment, when on knocking at the +door, I found she had been dead these two months! No one could tell what +was become of her daughter. This shock operated almost as powerfully on +my feelings as the first had done. But if it augmented my self-reproach, +it confirmed my good resolutions. My present concern is how to discover +the sweet girl, whom, alas, I have helped to deprive of both her +parents.' + +"Here I interrupted her," continued Lady Belfield, "saying, 'You have +not far to seek: Fanny Stokes is in this house. She is appointed +governess to our children.' + +"Poor Lady Melbury's joy was excessive at this intelligence, and she +proceeded: 'That a too sudden return to the world might not weaken my +better purposes, I was preparing to request my lord's permission to go +back to the castle, when he prevented me, by telling me that he had had +an earnest desire to make a visit to the brave patriots in Spain, and to +pass the winter among them, but feared he must give it up, as the state +of the continent rendered it impossible for me to accompany him. + +"'This filled my heart with joy. I encouraged him to make the voyage, +assured him I would live under Lady Jane's observation, and that I would +pass the whole winter in the country.' + +"'Then you shall pass it with us at Beechwood, my dear Lady Melbury,' +cried Sir John and I, both at once; 'we will strengthen each other in +every virtuous purpose. We shall rejoice in Lady Jane's company.' + +"She joyfully accepted the proposal, not doubting her lord's consent; +and kindly said, that she should be doubly happy in a society at once so +rational and so elegant. + +"It was settled that she should spend with us the three months that +Fanny Stokes and little Caroline are to pass at Stanley Grove. She +desired to see Fanny, to whom she behaved with great tenderness. She +paid her the two hundred pounds, assuring her she had no doubt of being +able to discharge the whole debt in the spring. + +"I received a note from her the next day, informing me of her lord's +cheerful concurrence, as well as that of Lady Jane. She added, that when +she went up to dress, she had found on her toilette, her diamond +necklace, which her dear aunt had redeemed and restored to her, as a +proof of her confidence and affection. As Lady Melbury has forever +abolished her coterie, I have the most sanguine hope of her +perseverance. All her promises would have gone for nothing, without this +practical pledge of her sincerity." + +When Lady Belfield had finished her little tale, I expressed, in the +strongest terms, the delight I felt at the happy change in this charming +woman. I could not forbear observing to Sir John, that as Lady Melbury +had been the "glass of fashion," while her conduct was wrong, I hoped +she would not lose all her influence by its becoming right. I added with +a smile, "in that case, I shall rejoice to see the fine ladies turn +their talent for drawing to the same moral account with this fair +penitent. Such a record of their faults as she has had the courage to +make of hers, hanging in their closets, and perpetually staring them in +the face, would be no unlikely means to prevent a repetition, +especially if the picture is to be as visible as the fault had been." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + + +The next morning I resumed my journey northward, and on the fourth day, +I reached the seat of my ancestors. The distant view of the Priory +excited strong but mingled emotions in my bosom. The tender sorrow for +the loss of the beloved society I had once enjoyed under its roof, was a +salutary check to the abundant joy arising from the anticipation of the +blessing which awaited me there. My mind was divided between the two +conflicting sentiments that I was soon to be in possession of every +material for the highest happiness--and that the highest happiness is +short! May I ever live under the influence of that act of devout +gratitude, in which, as soon as I entered the house, I dedicated the +whole of my future life to its divine Author, solemnly consecrating to +his service, my time, my talents, my fortune; all I am, and all I have. + +I next wrote to Lucilla; with whom I continued to maintain a regular and +animated correspondence. Her letters gratify my taste, and delight my +heart, while they excite me to every thing that is good. This +interchange of sentiment sheds a ray of brightness on a separation which +every day is diminishing. + +Mr. Stanley also has the goodness to write to me frequently. In one of +my letters to him, I ventured to ask him how he had managed to produce +in his daughter such complete satisfaction in his sober and correct +habits of life; adding, that her conformity was so cheerful that it did +not look so much like acquiescence as choice. + +I received from Mr. Stanley the answer which follows: + + "STANLEY GROVE, _September_, 1808. + + "MY DEAR CHARLES; + + "As I wish to put you in possession of whatever relates to the mind + of Lucilla, I will devote this letter to answer your inquiries + respecting her cheerful conformity to what you call our 'sober + habits of life;' and her indifference to those pleasures which are + usually thought to constitute the sole happiness of young women of + a certain rank. + + "Mrs. Stanley and I are not so unacquainted with human nature, as + to have pretended to impose on her understanding, by attempting to + breed her up in entire ignorance of the world, or in perfect + seclusion from it. She often accompanied us to town for a short + time. The occasional sight of London, and the frequent enjoyment of + the best society, dissipated the illusions of fancy. The bright + colors with which young imagination, inflamed by ignorance, report, + and curiosity, invests unknown, and distant objects, faded under + actual observation. Complete ignorance and complete seclusion form + no security from the dangers incident to the world, or for correct + conduct at a distance from it. Ignorance may be the safety of an + idiot, and seclusion the security of a nun. Christian parents + should act on a more large and liberal principle, or what is the + use of observation and experience? The French women of fashion, + under the old regime, were bred in convents, and what women were + ever more licentious than many of them, as soon as marriage had set + them at liberty? + + "I am persuaded that the best-intended formation of character, if + founded on ignorance or deceit, will never answer. As to Lucilla, + we have never attempted to blind her judgment. We have never + thought it necessary to leave her understanding out of the + question, while we were forming her heart. We have never told her + that the world is a scene absolutely destitute of pleasure: we have + never assured her that there is no amusement in the diversions + which we disapprove. Even if this assurance had not been deceitful, + it would have been vain and fruitless. We can not totally separate + her from the society of those who frequent them, who find their + happiness in them, and whom she would hear speak of them with + rapture. + + "We went upon other grounds. We accustomed her to reflect that she + was an intellectual creature; that she was an immortal creature; + that she was a Christian. That to an intellectual being, diversions + must always be subordinate to the exercise of the mental faculties; + that to an immortal being, born to higher hopes than enjoyments, + the exercise of the mental faculties must be subservient to + religious duties. That in the practice of a Christian, self-denial + is the turning-point, the specific distinction. That as to many of + the pleasures which the world pursues, Christianity requires her + votaries to live above the temptations which they hold out. She + requires it the more especially, because Christians in our time, + not being called upon to make great and trying sacrifices, of life, + of fortune, and of liberty; and having but comparatively small + occasions to evidence their sincerity, should the more cheerfully + make the petty but daily renunciation of those pleasures which are + the very element in which worldly people exist. + + "We have not misled her by unfair and flattering representations of + the Christian life. We have not, with a view to allure her to + embrace it on false pretenses, taught her that when religion is + once rooted in the heart, the remainder of life is uninterrupted + peace, and unbroken delight: that all shall be perpetually smooth + hereafter, because it is smooth at present. This would be as unfair + as to show a raw recruit the splendors of a parade day, and tell + him it was actual service. We have not made her believe that the + established Christian has no troubles to expect, no vexations to + fear, no storms to encounter. We have not attempted to cheat her + into religion, by concealing its difficulties, its trials, no, nor + its unpopularity. + + "We have been always aware, that to have enforced the most exalted + Christian principles, together with the necessity of a + corresponding practice, ever so often and so strongly, would have + been worse than foolish, had we been impressing these truths one + part of the day, and had on the other part, been living ourselves + in the actual enjoyment of the very things against which we were + guarding her. My dear Charles, if we would talk to young people + with effect, we must, by the habits of which we set them the + example, dispose them to listen, or our documents will be something + worse than fruitless. It is really hard upon girls to be tantalized + with religious lectures, while they are at the same time tempted to + every thing against which they are warned; while the whole bent and + bias of the family practice are diametrically opposite to the + principles inculcated. + + "In our own case, I think I may venture to affirm, that the plan + has answered. We endeavored to establish a principle of right, + instead of unprofitable invective against what was wrong. Perhaps + there can scarcely be found a religious family in which so few + anathemas have been denounced against this or that specific + diversion, as in ours. We aimed to take another road. The turn of + mind, the tendency of the employment, the force of the practice, + the bent of the conversation, the spirit of amusement, have all + leaned to the contrary direction, till the habits are gradually + worked into a kind of nature. It would be cruel to condemn a + creature to a retired life without qualifying her for retirement: + next to religion, nothing can possibly do this but mental + cultivation in women who are above the exercise of vulgar + employments. The girl who possesses only the worldly + acquirements--the singer and the dancer--when condemned to + retirement, may reasonably exclaim with Milton's Adam, when looking + at the constellations, + + Why all night long shine these? + Wherefore, if none _behold_? + + "Now the woman who derives her principles from the Bible, and her + amusements from intellectual sources, from the beauties of nature, + and from active employment and exercise, will not pant for + _beholders_. She is no clamorous beggar for the extorted alms of + admiration. She lives on her own stock. Her resources are within + herself. She possesses the truest independence. She does not wait + for the opinion of the world, to know if she is right; nor the + applause of the world, to know if she is happy. + + "Too many religious people fancy that the infectious air of the + world is confined to the ball-room, or the play-house, and that + when you have escaped from these, you are got out of the reach of + its contagion. But the contagion follows wherever there is a human + heart left to its own natural impulse. And though I allow that + places and circumstances greatly contribute to augment or diminish + the evil; and that a prudent Christian will always avoid an + atmosphere which he thinks not quite wholesome; yet whoever lives + in the close examination of his own heart, will still find + something of the morbid mischief clinging to it, which will require + constant watching, whatever be his climate or his company. + + "I have known pious persons, who would on no account allow their + children to attend places of gay resort, who were yet little + solicitous to extinguish the spirit which these places are + calculated to generate and nourish. This is rather a geographical + than a moral distinction. It is thinking more of the place than of + the temper. They restrain their persons; but are not careful to + expel from their hearts the dispositions which excite the appetite, + and form the very essence of danger. A young creature can not be + happy who spends her time at home in amusements destined for + exhibition, while she is forbidden to be exhibited. + + "But while we are teaching them that Christianity involves a heroic + self-denial; that it requires some things to be done, and others to + be sacrificed, at which mere people of the world revolt; that it + directs us to renounce some pursuits because they are wrong, and + others because they are trifling; we should, at the same time, let + them see and feel, that to a Christian the region of enjoyment is + not so narrow and circumscribed, is not so barren and unproductive, + nor the pleasures it produces so few and small, as the enemies of + religion would insinuate. While early habits of self-denial are + giving firmness to the character, strengthening the texture of the + mind, and hardening it against ordinary temptations; the pleasures + and employments which we substitute in the stead of those we + banish, must be such as tend to raise the taste, to invigorate the + intellect, to exalt the nature, and enlarge the sphere of + enjoyment; to give a tone to the mind, and an elevation to the + sentiments, which shall really reduce to insignificance the + pleasures that are prohibited. + + "In our own instance I humbly trust, that through the divine + blessing, perseverance has been its own reward. As to Lucilla, I + firmly believe that right habits are now so rooted, and the relish + of superior pleasures so established in her mind, that had she the + whole range of human enjoyment at her command; had she no higher + consideration, no fear of God, no obedience to her mother and me, + which forbade the ordinary dissipations, she would voluntarily + renounce them, from a full persuasion of their empty, worthless, + unsatisfying nature, and from a superinduced taste for higher + gratifications. + + "I am as far from intending to represent my daughter as a faultless + creature, as she herself is from wishing to be so represented. She + is deeply conscious both of the corruption of her nature, and the + deficiencies of her life. This consciousness I trust will continue + to stimulate her vigilance without which all religion will decline, + and to maintain her humility, without which all religion is vain. + + "My dear Charles! a rational sense of felicity lies open before you + both. It is lawful to rejoice in the fair perspective, but it is + safe to rejoice with trembling. Do not abandon yourself to the + chimerical hope that life will be to you, what it has never yet + been to any man--a scene of unmingled delight. This life, so bright + in prospect, will have its sorrows. This life, which at + four-and-twenty seems to stretch itself to an indefinite length, + will have an end. May its sorrows correct its illusions! May its + close be the entrance on a life, which shall have no sorrows and no + end. + + "I will not say how frequently we talk of you, nor how much we miss + you. Need I tell you that the person who says least on the subject, + is not the one that least feels your absence? She writes by this + post. + + "Adieu, my dear Charles! I am with great truth your attached + friend, and hope before Christmas to subscribe myself your + affectionate father, + + "FRANCIS STANLEY." + +Delightful hope! as Miss Stanley, when that blessed event takes place, +will resign her name, I shall resume mine, and joyfully renounce forever +that of + + C[OE]LEBS. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Coelebs In Search of a Wife, by Hannah More + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COELEBS IN SEARCH OF A WIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 31879-8.txt or 31879-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/8/7/31879/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Coelebs In Search of a Wife + +Author: Hannah More + +Release Date: April 4, 2010 [EBook #31879] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COELEBS IN SEARCH OF A WIFE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + + + +<h1>C[OE]LEBS</h1> + +<h3>IN SEARCH OF A WIFE.</h3> + +<h2>BY MRS. HANNAH MORE.</h2> + +<h4>NEW YORK:<br /> +DERBY & JACKSON, 119 NASSAU STREET.<br /> +1858.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">"Among unequals what society<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Can sort, what harmony or true delight?<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Of fellowship, I speak, fit to participate<br /></span> +<span class="i10">All rational enjoyment."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII">CHAPTER XLIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV">CHAPTER XLIV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLV">CHAPTER XLV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI">CHAPTER XLVI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII">CHAPTER XLVII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII">CHAPTER XLVIII.</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>When I quitted home, on a little excursion in the spring of this present +year 1808, a thought struck me, which I began to put into immediate +execution. I determined to commit to paper any little circumstances that +might arise, and any conversations in which I might be engaged, when the +subject was at all important, though there might be nothing particularly +new or interesting in the discussion itself.</p> + +<p>I fulfilled my intention as occasions arose to furnish me with +materials; and on my return to the North, in the autumn of this same +year, it was my amusement on my journey to look over and arrange these +papers.</p> + +<p>As soon as I arrived at my native place, I lent my manuscript to a +confidential friend, as the shortest way of imparting to him whatever +had occurred to me during our separation, together with my reflections +on those occurrences. I took care to keep his expectations low, by +apprizing him, that in a tour from my house in Westmoreland to the house +of a friend in Hampshire, he must not look for adventures, but content +himself with the every-day details of common life, diversified only by +the different habits and tempers of the persons with whom I had +conversed.</p> + +<p>He brought back my manuscript in a few days, with an earnest wish that I +would consent to its publication, assuring me that he was of opinion +that it might not be altogether useless, not only to young men engaged +in the same pursuit with myself, but to the general reader. He obviated +all my objections arising from my want of leisure, during my present +interesting engagements, by offering to undertake the whole business +himself, and to release me from any further trouble, as he was just +setting out for London, where he proposed passing more time than the +printing would require.</p> + +<p>Thus I am driven to the stale apology for publishing what perhaps it +would have been more prudent to have withheld—<i>the importunity of +friends</i>; an apology so commonly unfounded, and so repeatedly alleged, +from the days of John Faustus to the publication of C[oe]lebs.</p> + +<p>But whether my friend, or my vanity, had the largest share of influence, +I am willing to indulge the hope that a better motive than either +friendship or vanity was an operating ingredient in my consent. Be that +as it may—I sent him my copy "<i>with all its imperfections on its +head</i>." It was accompanied by a letter of which the following extract +shall conclude these short prefatory remarks:</p> + +<p>"I here send you my manuscript, with permission to make what use of it +you please. By publishing it I fear you will draw on me the particular +censure of two classes of critics. The novel reader will reject it as +dull. The religious may throw it aside as frivolous. The one will accuse +it of excessive strictness; the other of censurable levity. Readers of +the former description must be satisfied with the following brief and +general answer:</p> + +<p>"Had it been my leading object to have indulged in details that have +amusement only for their end, it might not have been difficult to have +produced a work more acceptable to the tastes accustomed to be gratified +with such compositions. But to entertain that description of readers +makes no part of my design.</p> + +<p>"The persons with whom I have associated in my excursion were +principally, though not exclusively, the family of a country gentleman, +and a few of his friends—a narrow field, and unproductive of much +variety! The generality of these characters move in the quiet and +regular course of domestic life. I found them placed in no difficult +situations. It was a scene rather favorable to reflection than +description. Social intercourse, and not striking events, marked the +daily progress of my visit. I had little of pathetic scenes or trying +circumstances to work on my own feelings, or, by the relation of them, +to work on the feelings of others. My friend's house resembled the +reign of some pacific sovereigns. It was the pleasantest to live in, but +its annals were not the most splendid to record. The periods which make +life happy do not always render history brilliant.</p> + +<p>"Great passions, therefore, and great trials growing out of them as I +did not witness, I have not attempted to delineate. Love itself appears +in these pages, not as an ungovernable impulse, but as a sentiment +arising out of qualities calculated to inspire attachment in persons +under the dominion of reason and religion, brought together by the +ordinary course of occurrences, in a private family party.</p> + +<p>"The familiar conversations of this little society comprehend a +considerable portion of this slender work. The texture of the narrative +is so slight, that it barely serves for a ground into which to weave the +sentiments and observations which it was designed to introduce.</p> + +<p>"It may not be unnecessary to anticipate an objection to which these +conversations may sometimes be thought liable. In a few instances, the +speeches may be charged with a degree of stiffness, and with a length +not altogether consistent with familiar dialogue. I must apologize for +this by observing, that when the subjects were serious, the dialogue +would not, in every instance, bend to such facilities, nor break into +such small parcels, as may easily be effected in the discussion of +topics of gayer intercourse.</p> + +<p>"But it is time to meet the objections of the more pious reader, if any +such should condescend to peruse this little performance. If it be +objected, that religious characters have been too industriously brought +forward, and their faults somewhat too severely treated, let it be +remembered, that while it is one of the principal objects of the work to +animadvert on those very faults, it has never been done with the +insidious design of depreciating the religion, but with the view, by +exposing the fault, to correct the practice. Grossly vicious characters +have seldom come in my way; but I had frequent occasion to observe the +different shapes and shades of error in various descriptions of society, +not only in those worldly persons who do not quite leave religion out of +their scheme, but on the mistakes and inconsistencies of better +characters, and even on the errors of some who would be astonished not +to find themselves reckoned altogether religious. I have not so much +animadverted on the unavoidable faults and frailties inseparable from +humanity, even in the best characters, and which the best characters +most sensibly feel, and most feelingly deplore, as on those errors which +are often tolerated, justified, and in some instances systematized.</p> + +<p>"If I have been altogether deceived in the ambitious hope that these +pages may not be entirely useless; if I have failed in my endeavors to +show how religion may be brought to mix with the concerns of ordinary +life, without impairing its activity, lessening its cheerfulness, or +diminishing its usefulness; if I have erred in fancying that material +defects exist in fashionable education; if I have been wrong in +supposing that females of the higher class may combine more domestic +knowledge with more intellectual acquirement, that they may be at the +same time more knowing and more useful, than has always been thought +necessary or compatible; in short, if I shall be found to have totally +disappointed you, my friend, in your too sanguine opinion that some +little benefit might arise from the publication, I shall rest satisfied +with a low and negative merit. I must be content with the humble hope +that no part of these volumes will be found injurious to the important +interests which it was rather in my wish than in my ability to advance; +that where I failed in effecting good, little evil has been done; that +if my book has answered no valuable purpose, it has, at least, not added +to the number of those publications which, by impairing the virtue, have +diminished the happiness of mankind; that if I possessed not talents to +promote the cause of Christian morals, I possessed an abhorrence of +those principles which lead to their contamination.</p> + +<p>"C[OE]LEBS."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>C[OE]LEBS.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>I have been sometimes surprised when in conversation I have been +expressing my admiration of the character of Eve in her state of +innocence, as drawn by our immortal poet, to hear objections started by +those, from whom of all critics I should have least expected it—the +ladies. I confess that as the Sophia of Rousseau had her young +imagination captivated by the character of Fenelon's Telemachus, so I +early became enamored of that of Milton's Eve. I never formed an idea of +conjugal happiness, but my mind involuntarily adverted to the graces of +that finished picture.</p> + +<p>The ladies, in order to justify their censure, assert that Milton, a +harsh domestic tyrant, must needs be a very inadequate judge, and of +course a very unfair delineator, of female accomplishments. These fair +cavilers draw their inference from premises, from which I have always +been accustomed to deduce a directly contrary conclusion. They insist +that it is highly derogatory from the dignity of the sex, that the poet +should affirm that it is the perfection of the character of a wife,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">To study household good,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And good works in her husband to promote.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Now according to my notion of "household good," which does not include +one idea of drudgery or servility, but which involves a large and +comprehensive scheme of excellence, I will venture to affirm, that let a +woman know what she may, yet if she knows not this, she is ignorant of +the most indispensable, the most appropriate branch of female knowledge. +Without it, however she may inspire admiration abroad, she will never +excite esteem, nor of coarse, durable affection, at home, and will bring +neither credit nor comfort to her ill-starred partner.</p> + +<p>The domestic arrangements of such a woman as filled the capacious mind +of the poet resemble, if I may say it without profaneness, those of +Providence, whose under-agent she is. Her wisdom is seen in its effects. +Indeed it is rather felt than seen. It is sensibly acknowledged in the +peace, the happiness, the virtue of the component parts; in the order, +regularity and beauty of the whole system, of which she is the moving +spring. The perfection of her character, as the divine poet intimates, +does not arise from a prominent quality, or a showy talent, or a +brilliant accomplishment, but it is the beautiful combination and result +of them all. Her excellencies consist not so much in acts as in habits, +in</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Those thousand decencies which daily flow<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From all her words and actions.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A description more calculated than any I ever met with to convey an idea +of the purest conduct resulting from the best principles. It gives an +image of that tranquillity, smoothness, and quiet beauty, which is the +very essence of perfection in a wife; while the happily chosen verb +<i>flow</i> takes away any impression of dullness, or stagnant torpor, which +the <i>still</i> idea might otherwise suggest.</p> + +<p>But the offense taken by the ladies against the uncourtly bard is +chiefly occasioned by his having presumed to intimate that conjugal +obedience</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Is woman's highest honor and her praise.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This is so nice a point that I, as a bachelor, dare only just hint, that +on this delicate question the poet has not gone an inch further than the +apostle. Nay, Paul is still more uncivilly explicit than Milton. If, +however, I could hope to bring over to my side critics, who, being of +the party, are too apt to prejudge the cause, I would point out to them +that the supposed harshness of the observation is quite done away by the +recollection that this scrupled "obedience" is so far from implying +degradation, that it is connected with the injunction to the woman "to +promote good works" in her husband; an injunction surely inferring a +degree of influence that raises her condition, and restores her to all +the dignity of equality; it makes her not only the associate but the +inspirer of his virtues.</p> + +<p>But to return to the economical part of the character of Eve. And here +she exhibits a consummate specimen and beautiful model of domestic skill +and elegance. How exquisitely conceived is her reception and +entertainment of Raphael! How modest and yet how dignified! I am afraid +I know some husbands who would have had to encounter very ungracious +looks, not to say words, if they had brought home even an angel, +<i>unexpectedly</i> to dinner. Not so our general mother:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">Her dispatchful looks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her hospitable thoughts, * * * intent<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What choice to choose for delicacy best,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>all indicate not only the "prompt" but the cheerful "obedience." Though +her repast consisted only of the fruits of Paradise,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Whatever earth, all bearing mother, yields;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>yet of these, with a liberal hospitality,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She gathers tribute large, and on the board<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heaps with unsparing hand.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The finest modern lady need not disdain the arrangement of her table, +which was</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">So contrived as not to mix<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tastes not well join'd, inelegant, but bring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Taste after taste, upheld by kindliest change.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It must, however, I fear, be conceded, by the way, that this "taste +<i>after</i> taste" rather holds out an encouragement to second courses.</p> + +<p>When this unmatched trio had finished their repast, which, let it be +observed, before they tasted, Adam acknowledged that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">These bounties from our <i>Nourisher</i> are given,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From whom all perfect good descends,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Milton, with great liberality to that sex against which he is accused of +so much severity, obligingly permitted Eve to sit much longer after +dinner, than most modern husbands would allow. She had attentively +listened to all the historical and moral subjects so divinely discussed +between the first Angel and the first Man; and perhaps there can +scarcely be found a more beautiful trait of a delicately attentive wife, +than she exhibits, by withdrawing at the exact point of propriety. She +does not retire in consequence of any look or gesture, any broad sign of +impatience, much less any command or intimation of her husband; but with +the ever watchful eye of vigilant affection and deep humility:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">When by his countenance he seem'd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Entering on thoughts abstruse,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>instructed only by her own quick intuition of what was right and +delicate, she withdrew. And here again how admirably does the poet +sustain her intellectual dignity, softened by a most tender stroke of +conjugal affection.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Yet went she not, as not with such discourse<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Delighted, or not capable her ear<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of what was high—such pleasure she reserved,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Adam relating, she sole auditress——<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>On perusing, however, the tête-à-tête which her absence occasioned, +methinks I hear some sprightly lady, fresh from the Royal Institution, +express her wonder why Eve should be banished by her husband from +Raphael's fine lecture on astronomy which follows; was not she as +capable as Adam of understanding all he said, of</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Cycle and Epicycle, Orb on Orb?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>If, however, the imaginary fair objector will take the trouble to read +to the end of the eighth book of this immortal work, it will raise in +her estimation both the poet and the heroine, when she contemplates the +just propriety of her being absent before Adam enters on the account of +the formation, beauty and attractions of his wife, and of his own love +and admiration. She will further observe, in her progress through this +divine poem, that the author is so far from making Eve a mere domestic +drudge, an unpolished housewife, that he pays an invariable attention +even to external elegance, in his whole delineation, ascribing grace to +her steps and dignity to her gesture. He uniformly keeps up the same +combination of intellectual worth and polished manners;</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">For softness she, and sweet attractive grace.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And her husband, so far from a churlish insensibility to her +perfections, politely calls her</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Daughter of God and man, <i>accomplish'd</i> Eve.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I will not, however, affirm that Adam, or even Milton, annexed to the +term <i>accomplished</i> precisely the idea with which it is associated in +the mind of a true modern-bred lady.</p> + +<p>It may be objected to the poet's gallantry that he remarks</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How beauty is excell'd by manly grace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wisdom, which alone is truly fair;<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>let it be remembered that the observation proceeds from the lips of Eve +herself, and thus adds to her other graces, the crowning grace of +humility.</p> + +<p>But it is high time that I should proceed from my criticism to myself. +The connexion, and of course the transition, will be found more natural +than may appear, till developed by my slight narrative.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>I am a young man, not quite four and twenty, of an ancient and +respectable family, and considerable estate in one of the northern +counties. Soon after I had completed my studies in the university of +Edinburgh, my father fell into a lingering illness. I attended him with +an assiduity which was richly rewarded by the lessons of wisdom, and the +example of piety, which I daily received from him. After languishing +about a year, I lost him, and in him the most affectionate father, the +most enlightened companion, and the most Christian friend.</p> + +<p>The grief of my mother was so poignant and so lasting, that I could +never prevail on myself to leave her, even for the sake of attaining +those advantages, and enjoying those pleasures, which may be reaped by a +wider range of observation, by a more extended survey of the +multifarious tastes, habits, pursuits, and characters of general +society. I felt with Mr. Gray that we can never have but one mother, and +postponed from time to time the moment of leaving home.</p> + +<p>I was her only child, and though it was now her sole remaining wish to +see me happily married, yet I was desirous of first putting myself in a +situation which might afford me a more extensive field of inquiry before +I ventured to take so irretrievable a step, a step which might perhaps +affect my happiness in both worlds. But time did not hang heavy on my +hands; if I had little society, I had many books. My father had left me +a copious library, and I had learnt from him to select whatever was most +valuable in that best species of literature which tends to form the +principles, the understanding, the taste, and the character. My father +had passed the early part of his life in the gay and busy world; and our +domestic society in the country had been occasionally enlivened by +visits from some of his London friends, men of sense and learning, and +some of them men of piety.</p> + +<p>My mother, when she was in tolerable spirits, was now frequently +describing the kind of woman whom she wished me to marry. "I am so +firmly persuaded, Charles," would she kindly say, "of the justness of +your taste, and the rectitude of your principles, that I am not much +afraid of your being misled by the captivating exterior of any woman who +is greatly deficient either in sense or conduct; but remember, my son, +that there are many women against whose characters there lies nothing +very objectionable, who are yet little calculated to taste or to +communicate rational happiness. Do not indulge romantic ideas, of +super-human excellence. Remember that the fairest creature is a fallen +creature. Yet let not your standard be low. If it be absurd to expect +perfection, it is not unreasonable to expect <i>consistency</i>. Do not +suffer yourself to be caught by a shining quality, till you know it is +not counteracted by the opposite defect. Be not taken in by strictness +in one point, till you are assured there is no laxity in others. In +character, as in architecture, proportion is beauty. The education of +the present race of females is not very favorable to domestic happiness. +For my own part I call education, not that which smothers a woman with +accomplishments, but that which tends to consolidate a firm and regular +system of character; that which tends to form a friend, a companion, and +a wife. I call education not that which is made up of the shreds and +patches of useless arts, but that which inculcates principles, polishes +taste, regulates temper, cultivates reason, subdues the passions, +directs the feelings, habituates to reflection, trains to self-denial, +and, more especially, that which refers all actions, feelings, +sentiments, tastes, and passions, to the love and fear of God."</p> + +<p>I had yet had little opportunity of contrasting the charms of my native +place with the less wild and romantic beauties of the south. I was +passionately fond of the scenery that surrounded me, which had never yet +lost that power of pleasing which it is commonly imagined that novelty +can alone confer.</p> + +<p>The priory, a handsome Gothic mansion, stands in the middle of a park, +not extensive, but beautifully varied. Behind are lofty mountains, the +feet of which are covered with wood that descends almost to the house. +On one side a narrow cultivated valley winds among the mountains; the +bright variegated tints of its meadows and corn fields, with here and +there a little white cottage, embosomed in trees, are finely contrasted +with the awful and impassable fells which contain it.</p> + +<p>An inconsiderable but impetuous river rushes from the mountains above, +through this unadorned but enchanting little valley, and passes through +the park at the distance of about a hundred yards from the house. The +ground falls beautifully down to it; and on the other side is a fine +wood of birch overhanging the river, which is here crossed by a small +rustic bridge; after being enlarged by many streams from the neighboring +hills, it runs about half a mile to the lake below, which, from the +front of the house, is seen in full beauty. It is a noble expanse of +water. The mountains that surround it are some of them covered with +wood, some skirted with cultivation, some rocky and barren to the +water's edge; while the rugged summits of them all present every variety +of fantastic outline. Toward the head of the lake a neat little village +ornaments the banks, and wonderfully harmonizes with the simple beauty +of the scene. At an opening among the hills, a view is caught of the +distant country, a wide vale richly wooded, adorned everywhere with +towns, villages, and gentlemen's houses, and backed by sublime +mountains, rivaling in height, though not in their broken and Alpine +forms, those that more immediately surround us.</p> + +<p>While I was thus dividing my time between the enjoyment of this +exquisite scenery, my books, the care of my affairs, my filial +attentions, and my religious duties, I was suddenly deprived of my +inestimable mother. She died the death of the righteous.</p> + +<p>Addison has finely touched on the singular sort of delicate and refined +tenderness of a father for a daughter: but I am persuaded that there is +no affection of the human heart more exquisitely pure than that which is +felt by a grateful son toward a mother who fostered his infancy with +fondness, watched over his childhood with anxiety, and his youth with an +interest compounded of all that is tender, wise, and pious.</p> + +<p>My retirement was now become solitude: the former is, I believe, the +best state for the mind of man, the latter almost the worst. In +complete solitude the eye wants objects, the heart wants attachments, +the understanding wants reciprocation. The character loses its +tenderness when it has nothing to love, its firmness when it has none to +strengthen it, its sweetness when it has nothing to soothe it; its +patience when it meets no contradiction, its humility when it is +surrounded by dependants, and its delicacy in the conversation of the +uninformed. Where the intercourse is very unequal, society is something +worse than solitude.</p> + +<p>I had naturally a keen relish for domestic happiness; and this +propensity had been cherished by what I had seen and enjoyed in my +father's family. Home was the scene in which my imagination had pictured +the only delights worthy of a rational, feeling, intellectual, immortal +man:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">sole bliss of Paradise<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which has survived the fall.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This inclination had been much increased by my father's turn of +conversation. He often said to me, "I know your domestic propensities; +and I know, therefore, that the whole color of your future life will be, +in a particular manner, determined by the turn of mind of the woman you +may marry. Were you to live in the busy haunts of men; were you of any +profession, or likely to be engaged in public life, though I would still +counsel you to be equally careful in your choice, yet your happiness +would not so immediately, so exclusively depend on the individual +society of a woman, as that of a retired country gentleman must do. A +man of sense who loves home, and lives at home, requires a wife who can +and will be at half the expense of mind necessary for keeping up the +cheerful, animated, elegant intercourse which forms so great a part of +the bond of union between intellectual and well-bred persons. Had your +mother been a woman of an uninformed, inelegant mind, virtuous and +pious as she is, what abatement must there have been in the blessings of +my lot! The <i>exhibiting</i>, the <i>displaying</i> wife may entertain your +company, but it is only the informed, the refined, the cultivated woman +who can entertain yourself; and I presume whenever you marry you will +marry primarily for yourself, and not for your friends; you will want a +<span class="smcap">companion</span>: an <span class="smcap">artist</span> you may hire.</p> + +<p>"But remember, Charles, that when I am insisting so much on mental +delicacy, I am assuming that all is right in still more essential +points. Do not be contented with this superstructure, till you have +ascertained the solidity of the foundation. The ornaments which decorate +do not support the edifice! Guarded as you are by Christian principles, +and confirmed in virtuous habits, I trust you may safely look abroad +into the world. Do not, however, irrevocably dispose of your affections +till you have made the long-promised visit to my earliest, wisest, and +best friend, Mr. Stanley. I am far from desiring that your friends +should direct your choice. It is what even your father would not do: but +he will be the most faithful and most disinterested of counselors."</p> + +<p>I resolved now for a few months to leave the priory, the seat of my +ancestors, to make a tour not only to London, but to Stanley Grove, in +Hampshire, the residence of my father's friend; a visit I was about to +make with him just before his last illness. He wished me to go alone, +but I could not prevail on myself to desert his sick-bed for any scheme +of amusement.</p> + +<p>I began to long earnestly for the pleasures of conversation, pleasures +which, in our small, but social and select circle of cultivated friends, +I had been accustomed to enjoy. I am aware that certain fine town-bred +men would ridicule the bare mention of learned and polished conversation +at a village in Westmoreland, or indeed at any place out of the +precincts of the metropolis; just as a London physician or lawyer smiles +superciliously at the suggested merits of a professional brother in a +provincial town. Good sense, however, is of all countries, and even +knowledge is not altogether a mere local advantage. These, and not the +topics of the hour, furnish the best raw materials for working up an +improving intercourse.</p> + +<p>It must be confessed, however, as I have since found, that for giving a +terseness and polish to conversation; for rubbing out prejudices; for +correcting egotism; for keeping self-importance out of sight, if not +curing it; for bringing a man to condense what he has to say, if he +intends to be listened to; for accustoming him to endure opposition; for +teaching him not to think every man who differs from him in matters of +taste, a fool, and in politics, a knave; for cutting down harangues; for +guarding him from producing as novelties and inventions, what has been +said a thousand times; for quickness of allusion, which brings the idea +before you without detail or quotation; nothing is equal to the +miscellaneous society of London. The advantages, too, which it possesses +in being the seat of the court, the parliament, and the courts of law, +as well as the common centre of arts and talents of every kind, all +these raise it above every other scene of intellectual improvement, or +colloquial pleasure, perhaps, in the whole world.</p> + +<p>But this was only the secondary motive of my intended migration. I +connected with it the hope, that, in a more extended survey, I might be +more likely to select a deserving companion for life. "In such a +companion," said I, as I drove along in my post-chaise, "I do not want a +Helen, a Saint Cecilia, or a Madame Dacier; yet she must be elegant, or +I should not love her; sensible, or I should not respect her; prudent, +or I could not confide in her; well-informed, or she could not educate +my children; well-bred, or she could not entertain my friends; +<i>consistent</i>, or I should offend the shade of my mother; pious, or I +should not be happy with her, because the prime comfort in a companion +for life is the delightful hope that she will be a companion for +eternity."</p> + +<p>After this soliloquy, I was frightened to reflect that so much was +requisite; and yet when I began to consider in which article I could +make any abatement, I was willing to persuade myself that my +requisitions were moderate.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>I had occasionally visited two or three families in our own county, who +were said to make a very genteel appearance on narrow fortunes. As I was +known not to consider money as a principal consideration, it had often +been intimated to me what excellent wives the daughters of these +families would make, because on a very slender allowance their +appearance was as elegant as that of women of ten times their +expectations. I translated this respectable appearance into a language +not the most favorable, as I instantly inferred, and afterward was +convinced, that this personal figure was made by the sacrifice of their +whole time to those decorations which procured them credit, by putting +their outward figure on a par with the most affluent. If a girl with a +thousand pounds rivals in her dress one with ten thousand, is it not +obvious, that not only all her time must be employed, but all her money +devoted to this one object? Nothing but the clippings and parings from +her personal adornments could enable her to supply the demands of +charity; and these sacrifices, it is evident she is not disposed to +make.</p> + +<p>Another inducement suggested to me was, that these young ladies would +make the better wives, because they had never been corrupted by the +expensive pleasures of London, and had not been spoiled by the gay +scenes of dissipation which it afforded. This argument would have +weighed powerfully with me, had I not observed, that they never +abstained from any amusement in the country that came within their +reach.</p> + +<p>I naturally inferred, that she who eagerly grasped at every petty +provincial dissipation, would with increased alacrity have plunged into +the more alluring gayeties of the metropolis had it been in her power. I +thought she had even less apology to plead than the town lady; the fault +was equal, while the temptation was less: and she who was as dissipated +as her limited bounds permitted, where there was little to attract, +would, I feared, be as dissipated as she possibly could be, when her +temptations were multiplied, and her facilities increased.</p> + +<p>I had met with several young ladies of a higher description, daughters +of our country gentlemen, a class which furnishes a number of valuable +and elegant women. Some of these, whom I knew, seemed unexceptional in +manner and in mind. They had seen something of the world, without having +been spoiled by it; had read with advantage; and acquitted themselves +well in the duties which they had been called to practice. But I was +withheld from cultivating that degree of intimacy which would have +enabled me to take an exact measure of their minds, by the injunction of +my father, that I would never attach myself to any woman till I had seen +and consulted Mr. Stanley. This direction, which, like all his wishes, +was a law to me, operated as a sort of sedative in the slight +intercourse I had with ladies; and resolving to postpone all such +intimacy as might have led to attachment, I did not allow myself to +come near enough to feel with interest, or to judge with decision.</p> + +<p>As soon as I got to town I visited some of my father's friends. I was +kindly received for his sake, and at their houses soon enlarged the +sphere of my acquaintance. I was concerned to remark that two or three +gentlemen, whom I had observed to be very regular in their attendance on +public worship in the country, seldom went to church in London; in the +afternoon never. "Religion," they said, by way of apology, "was entirely +a thing of example; it was of great political importance; society was +held together by the restraints it imposed on the lower orders. When +they were in the country it was highly proper that their tenants and +workmen should have the benefit of their example, but in London the case +was different. Where there were so many churches, no one knew whether +you went or not, and where no scandal was given, no harm was done." As +this was a logic which had not found its way into my father's religion, +I was not convinced by it. I remember Mr. Burke, speaking of the +English, who were so humane at home, and whom he unjustly accused of +wanting humanity in India, says, "that the humanity of Britain is a +humanity of points and parallels." Surely the religion of the gentlemen +in question is not a less geographical distinction.</p> + +<p>This error, I conceive, arises from religion being too much considered +as a mere institution of decorum, of convention, of society; and not as +an institution founded on the condition of human nature, a covenant of +mercy for repairing the evils which sin has produced. It springs from +the want of a conviction that Christianity is an individual as well as +general concern; that religion is a personal thing, previous to its +being a matter of example; that a man is not infallibly saved or lost as +a portion of any family, or any church, or any community; but that, as +he is individually responsible, he must be individually brought to a +deep and humbling sense of his own personal wants, without taking any +refuge in the piety he may see around him, of which he will have no +benefit, if he be no partaker.</p> + +<p>I regretted, even for inferior reasons, the little distinction which was +paid to this sacred day. To say nothing of the elevating views which the +soul acquires from devoting itself to its proper object; the man of +business, methinks, should rejoice in its return; the politician should +welcome its appearance, not only as a rest from anxiety and labor, but +as an occasion of cooling and quieting the mind, of softening its +irritation, of allaying its ferment, and thus restoring the repaired +faculties and invigorated spirits to the demands of the succeeding week, +in a frame of increased aptitude for meeting its difficulties and +encountering its duties.</p> + +<p>The first person whom I visited was a good-natured, friendly man, whom I +had occasionally seen in the North. As I had no reason to believe that +he was religious, in the true sense of the word, I had no intention of +looking for a wife in his family. I, however, thought it not amiss to +associate a little with persons of different descriptions, that by a +wider range I might learn to correct my general judgment, as well as to +guide my particular pursuit. Nothing, it is true, would tempt me to +select a woman on whose pious dispositions I could not form a reasonable +dependence: yet to come at the reality of those dispositions was no easy +matter.</p> + +<p>I had heard my father remark, that he had, more than once, known a +right-minded girl, who seemed to have been first taught of heaven, and +afterward supported in her Christian course under almost every human +disadvantage; who boldly, but meekly, maintained her own principles, +under all the hourly temptations and oppositions of a worldly and +irreligious family, and who had given the best evidence of her piety +toward God, by her patient forbearance toward her erring friends. Such +women had made admirable wives when they were afterward transplanted +into families where their virtues were understood, and their piety +cherished. While, on the other hand, he had known others, who, +accustomed from childhood to the sober habits of family religion, under +pious but injudicious parents, had fallen in mechanically with the +domestic practices, without having ever been instructed in Christian +principles, or having ever manifested any religious tendencies. The +implantation of a new principle never having been inculcated, the +religious habit has degenerated into a mere form, the parents acting as +if they thought that religion must come by nature or infection in a +religious family. These girls, having never had their own hearts +impressed, nor their own characters distinctly considered, nor +individually cultivated, but being taken out as a portion from the mass, +have afterward taken the cast and color of any society into which they +have happened to be thrown; and they who before had lived religiously +with the religious, have afterward assimilated with the gay and +dissipated, when thus thrown into their company, as cordially as if they +had never been habituated to better things.</p> + +<p>At dinner there appeared two pretty-looking young ladies, daughters of +my friend, who had been some time a widower. I placed myself between +them for the purpose of prying a little into their minds, while the rest +of the company were conversing on indifferent subjects. Having formerly +heard this gentleman's deceased wife extolled as the mirror of managers, +and the arrangements of his table highly commended, I was surprised to +see it so ill-appointed, and every thing wearing marks of palpable +inelegance. Though no epicure, I could not forbear observing that many +of the dishes were out of season, ill-chosen, and ill-dressed.</p> + +<p>While I was puzzling my head for a solution, I recollected that I had +lately read in a most respectable periodical work, a paper (composed, I +believe, however, by a raw recruit of that well-disciplined corps) which +insisted that nothing tended to make ladies so useless and inefficient +in the <i>ménage</i> as the study of the dead languages. I jumped to the +conclusion, and was in an instant persuaded that my young hostesses must +not only be perfect mistresses of Latin, but the <i>tout ensemble</i> was so +ill arranged as to induce me to give them full credit for Greek also.</p> + +<p>Finding, therefore, that my appetite was balked, I took comfort in the +certainty that my understanding would be well regaled; and after +secretly regretting that learning should so effectually destroy +usefulness, I was resolved to derive intellectual comfort from this too +classical repast. Turning suddenly to the eldest lady, I asked her at +once if she did not think Virgil the finest poet in the world. She +blushed, and thus confirmed me in the opinion that her modesty was equal +to her erudition. I repeated my question with a little circumlocution. +She stared, and said she had never heard of the person I mentioned, but +that she had read Tears of Sensibility, and Rosa Matilda, and Sympathy +of Souls, and Too Civil by Half, and the Sorrows of Werter, and the +Stranger, and the Orphans of Snowdon.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," joined in the younger sister, who did not rise to so high a +pitch of literature, "and we have read Perfidy Punished, and Jemmy and +Jenny Jessamy, and the Fortunate Footman, and the Illustrious +Chambermaid." I blushed and stared in my turn; and here the +conversation, through the difficulty of our being intelligible to each +other, dropped; and I am persuaded that I sunk much lower in their +esteem for not being acquainted with their favorite authors, than they +did in mine for having never heard of Virgil.</p> + +<p>I arose from the table with a full conviction that it is very possible +for a woman to be totally ignorant of the ordinary but indispensable, +duties of common life without knowing one word of Latin; and that her +being a bad companion is no infallible proof of her being a good +economist.</p> + +<p>I am afraid the poor father saw something of my disappointment in my +countenance, for when we were alone in the evening, he observed, that a +heavy addition to his other causes of regret for the loss of his wife, +was her excellent management of his family. I found afterward that, +though she had brought him a great fortune, she had had a very low +education. Her father, a coarse country esquire, to whom the pleasures +of the table were the only pleasures for which he had any relish, had no +other ambition for his daughter but that she should be the most famous +housewife in the country. He gloried in her culinary perfections, which +he understood; of the deficiencies of her mind he had not the least +perception. Money and good eating, he owned, were the only things in +life which had a real intrinsic value; the value of all other things, he +declared, existed in the imagination only.</p> + +<p>The poor lady, when she became a mother, and was brought out into the +world, felt keenly the deficiencies of her own education. The dread of +Scylla, as is usual, wrecked her on Charybdis. Her first resolution, as +soon as she had daughters, was, that they should <i>learn every thing</i>. +All the masters who teach things of little intrinsic use were +extravagantly paid for supernumerary attendance; and as no one in the +family was capable of judging of their improvements, their progress was +but slow. Though they were taught much, they learned but little, even of +these unnecessary things; and of things necessary they learned nothing. +Their well-intentioned mother was not aware that her daughters' +education was almost as much calculated to gratify the senses, though in +a different way, and with more apparent refinement, as her own had been; +and that <i>mind</i> is left nearly as much out of the question in making an +ordinary artist as in making a good cook.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>From my fondness for conversation, my imagination had been early fired +with Dr. Johnson's remark, that there is no pleasure on earth comparable +to the <i>fine full flow of London talk</i>. I, who, since I had quitted +college had seldom had my mind refreshed, but with the petty rills and +penurious streams of knowledge which country society afforded, now +expected to meet it in a strong and rapid current, fertilizing wherever +it flowed, producing in abundance the rich fruits of argument, and the +gay flowers of rhetoric. I looked for an uninterrupted course of profit +and delight. I flattered myself that every dinner would add to my stock +of images; that every debate would clear up some difficulty, every +discussion elucidate some truth; that every allusion would be purely +classical, every sentence abound with instruction, and every period be +pointed with wit.</p> + +<p>On the tiptoe of expectation I went to dine with Sir John Belfield, in +Cavendish-square. I looked at my watch fifty times. I thought it would +never be six o'clock. I did not care to show my country breeding, by +going too early, to incommode my friend, nor my town breeding, by going +too late, and spoiling his dinner. Sir John is a valuable, +elegant-minded man, and, next to Mr. Stanley, stood highest in my +father's esteem for his mental accomplishments and correct morals. As I +knew he was remarkable for assembling at his table men of sense, taste, +and learning, my expectations of pleasure were very high. "Here, at +least," said I as I heard the name of one clever man announced after +another, "here at least, I can not fail to find</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The feast of reason and the flow of soul:<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>here, at least, all the energies of my mind will be brought into +exercise. From this society I shall carry away documents for the +improvement of my taste; I shall treasure up hints to enrich my +understanding, and collect aphorisms for the conduct of life."</p> + +<p>At first there was no fair opportunity to introduce any conversation +beyond the topics of the day, and to those, it must be confessed, this +eventful period gives a new and powerful interest. I should have been +much pleased to have had my country politics rectified, and any +prejudices, which I might have contracted, removed or softened, could +the discussion have been carried on without the frequent interruption of +the youngest man in the company. This gentleman broke in on every +remark, by descanting successively on the merits of the various dishes; +and, if it be true that experience only can determine the judgment, he +gave proof of that best right to peremptory decision by not trusting to +delusive theory, but by actually eating of every dish at table.</p> + +<p>His animadversions were uttered with the gravity of a German +philosopher, and the science of a French cook. If any of his opinions +happened to be controverted, he quoted in confirmation of his own +judgment, <i>l'Almanac des Gourmands</i>, which he assured us was the most +valuable work that had appeared in France since the Revolution. The +author of this book he seemed to consider of as high authority in the +science of eating, as Coke or Hale in that of jurisprudence, or +Quintilian in the art of criticism. To the credit of the company, +however, be it spoken, he had the whole of this topic to himself. The +rest of the party were, in general, of quite a different calibre, and as +little acquainted with his favorite author, as he probably was with +theirs.</p> + +<p>The lady of the house was perfectly amiable and well-bred. Her dinner +was excellent; and every thing about her had an air of elegance and +splendor; of course she completely escaped the disgrace of being thought +a scholar, but not the suspicion of having a very good taste. I longed +for the removal of the cloth, and was eagerly anticipating the pleasure +and improvement which awaited me.</p> + +<p>As soon as the servants were beginning to withdraw, we got into a sort +of attitude of conversation; all except the eulogist of l'Almanac des +Gourmands, who, wrapping himself up in the comfortable consciousness of +his own superior judgment, and a little piqued that he had found neither +support nor opposition (the next best thing to a professed talker), he +seemed to have a perfect indifference to all topics except that on which +he had shown so much eloquence with so little effect.</p> + +<p>The last tray was now carried out, the last lingering servant had +retired. I was beginning to listen with all my powers of attention to an +ingenious gentleman who was about to give an interesting account of +Egypt, where he had spent a year, and from whence he was lately +returned. He was just got to the catacombs,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">When on a sudden open fly,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With impetuous recoil and jarring sound,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>the mahogany folding doors, and in at once, struggling who should be +first, rushed half a dozen children, lovely, fresh, gay, and noisy. This +sudden and violent irruption of the pretty barbarians necessarily +caused a total interruption of conversation. The sprightly creatures ran +round the table to choose where they would sit. At length this great +difficulty of courts and cabinets, <i>the choice of places</i>, was settled. +The little things were jostled in between the ladies, who all contended +who should get possession of the <i>little beauties</i>. One was in raptures +with the rosy cheeks of a sweet girl she held in her lap. A second +exclaimed aloud at the beautiful lace with which the frock of another +was trimmed, and which she was sure mamma had given her for being good. +A profitable, and doubtless a lasting and inseparable association was +thus formed in the child's mind between lace and goodness. A third cried +out, "Look at the pretty angel!—do but observe—her bracelets are as +blue as her eyes. Did you ever see such a match?" "Surely, Lady +Belfield," cried a fourth, "you carried the eyes to the shop, or there +must have been a shade of difference." I myself, who am passionately +fond of children, eyed the sweet little rebels with complacency, +notwithstanding the unseasonableness of their interruption.</p> + +<p>At last, when they were all disposed of, I resumed my inquiries about +the resting-place of the mummies. But the grand dispute who should have +oranges and who should have almonds and raisins, soon raised such a +clamor that it was impossible to hear my Egyptian friend. This great +contest was, however, at length settled, and I was returning to the +antiquities of Memphis, when the important point, who should have red +wine, and who should have white, who should have half a glass, and who a +whole one, set us again in an uproar. Sir John was visibly uneasy, and +commanded silence. During this interval of peace, I gave up the +catacombs and took refuge in the pyramids. But I had no sooner proposed +my question about the serpent said to be found in one of them, than the +son and heir, a fine little fellow just six years old, reaching out his +arm to dart an apple across the table at his sister, roguishly intending +to overset her glass, unluckily overthrew his own, brimful of port wine. +The whole contents were discharged on the elegant drapery of a +white-robed nymph.</p> + +<p>All was now agitation, and distress, and disturbance, and confusion; the +gentlemen ringing for napkins, the ladies assisting the dripping fair +one; each vying with the other who should recommend the most approved +specific for getting out the stain of red wine, and comforting the +sufferer by stories of similar misfortunes. The poor little culprit was +dismissed, and all difficulties and disasters seemed at last surmounted. +But you can not heat up again an interest which has been so often +cooled. The thread of conversation had been so frequently broken that I +despaired of seeing it tied together again. I sorrowfully gave up +catacombs, pyramids, and serpent, and was obliged to content myself with +a little desultory chat with my next neighbor; sorry and disappointed to +glean only a few scattered ears where I had expected so abundant a +harvest; and the day from which I had promised myself so much benefit +and delight passed away with a very slender acquisition of either.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + + +<p>I went almost immediately after, at the invitation of Mr. Ranby, to pass +a few days at his villa at Hampstead. Mr. and Mrs. Ranby were esteemed +pious persons, but having risen to great affluence by a sudden turn of +fortune in a commercial engagement, they had a little self-sufficiency, +and not a little disposition to ascribe an undue importance to wealth. +This I should have thought more pardonable under their circumstances, +had I not expected that religion would in this respect have more than +supplied the deficiencies of education. Their religion, however, +consisted almost exclusively in a disproportionate zeal for a very few +doctrines. And though they were far from being immoral in their own +practice, yet, in their discourse, they affected to undervalue morality.</p> + +<p>This was, indeed, more particularly the case with the lady, whose chief +object of discourse seemed to be, to convince me of her great +superiority to her husband in polemical skill. Her chaste conversation +certainly was not coupled with fear. In one respect she was the very +reverse of those pharisees who were scrupulously exact about their petty +observances. Mrs. Ranby was, on the contrary, anxious about a very few +important particulars, and exonerated herself from the necessity of all +inferior attentions. She was strongly attached to one or two preachers, +and discovered little candor for all others, or for those who attended +them. Nay, she somewhat doubted of the soundness of the faith of her +friends and acquaintance who would not incur great inconvenience to +attend one or other of her favorites.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ranby's table was "more than hospitably good." There was not the +least suspicion of Latin here. The eulogist of female ignorance might +have dined in comfortable security against the intrusion and vanity of +erudition. She had three daughters, not unpleasing young women. But I +was much concerned to observe, that they were not only dressed to the +very extremity of fashion, but their drapery was as transparent, as +short, and as scanty, there was as sedulous a disclosure of their +persons, and as great a redundancy of ornaments, as I had seen in the +gayest circles.</p> + +<p>"Expect not perfection," said my good mother, "but look for +<i>consistency</i>." This principle my parents had not only taught me in the +closet, but had illustrated by their deportment in the family and in the +world. They observed a uniform correctness in their general demeanor. +They were not over anxious about character for its own sake, but they +were tenderly vigilant not to bring any reproach on the Christian name +by imprudence, negligence, or inconsistency, even in small things. +"Custom," said my mother, "can never alter the immutable nature of +right; fashion can never justify any practice which is improper in +itself; and to dress indecently is as great an offence against purity +and modesty, when it is the fashion, as when it is obsolete. There +should be a line of demarcation somewhere. In the article of dress and +appearance, Christian mothers should make a stand. They should not be so +unreasonable as to expect that a young girl will of herself have courage +to oppose the united temptations of fashion without, and the secret +prevalence of corruption within: and authority should be called in where +admonition fails."</p> + +<p>The conversation after dinner took a religious turn. Mrs. Ranby was not +unacquainted with the subject, and expressed herself with energy on many +serious points. I could have been glad, however, to have seen her views +a little more practical; and her spirit a little less censorious. I saw +she took the lead in debate, and that Mr. Ranby submitted to act as +subaltern, but whether his meekness was the effect of piety or fear, I +could not at that time determine. She protested vehemently against all +dissipation, in which I cordially joined her, though I hope with +something less intemperance of manner, and less acrimony against those +who pursued it. I began, however, to lose sight of the errors of the +daughters' dress in the pleasure I felt at conversing with so pious a +mother of a family. For pious she really was, though her piety was a +little debased by coarseness, and not a little disfigured by asperity.</p> + +<p>I was sorry to observe that the young ladies not only took no part in +the conversation, but that they did not even seem to know what was going +on, and I must confess the <i>manner</i> in which it was conducted was not +calculated to make the subject interesting. The girls sat jogging and +whispering each other, and got away as fast as they could.</p> + +<p>As soon as they were withdrawn—"There sir," said the mother, "are three +girls who will make three excellent wives. They were never at a ball or +a play in their lives; and yet, though I say it, who should not say it, +they are as highly accomplished as any ladies at St. James." I cordially +approved the former part of her assertion, and bowed in silence to the +latter.</p> + +<p>I took this opportunity of inquiring what had been her mode of religious +instruction for her daughters; but though I put the question with much +caution and deference, she looked displeased, and said she did not think +it necessary to do a great deal in that way; all these things must come +from above; it was not human endeavors, but divine grace which made +Christians. I observed that the truth appeared to be, that divine grace +<i>blessing</i> human endeavors seemed most likely to accomplish that great +end. She replied that experience was not on my side, for that the +children of religious parents were not always religious. I allowed that +it was too true. I knew that she drew her instances from two or three of +her own friends, who, while they discovered much earnestness about their +own spiritual interests, had almost totally neglected the religious +cultivation of their children; the daughters in particular had been +suffered to follow their own devices, and to waste their days in company +of their own choosing and in the most frivolous manner. "What do ye +more than others?" is an interrogation which this negligence has +frequently suggested. Nay, professing serious piety, if ye do not more +than those who profess it not, ye do less.</p> + +<p>I took the liberty to remark that though there was no such thing as +hereditary holiness, no entail of goodness; yet the Almighty had +promised in the Scriptures many blessings to the offspring of the +righteous. He never meant, however, that religion was to be transferred +arbitrarily like an heir-loom; but the promise was accompanied with +conditions and injunctions. The directions were express and frequent, to +inculcate early and late the great truths of religion; nay, it was +enforced with all the minuteness of detail, "precept upon precept, line +upon line, here a little, and there a little"—at all times and seasons, +"walking by the way, and sitting in the house." I hazarded the +assertion, that it would <i>generally</i> be found that where the children of +pious parents turned out ill, there had been some mistake, some neglect, +or some fault on the part of the parents; that they had not used the +right methods. I observed that I thought it did not at all derogate from +the sovereignty of the Almighty that he appointed certain means to +accomplish certain ends; and that the adopting these, in conformity to +his appointment, and dependence on his blessing, seemed to be one of the +cases in which we should prove our faith by our obedience.</p> + +<p>I found I had gone too far: she said, with some warmth, that she was not +wanting in any duty to her daughters; she set them a good example, and +she prayed daily for their conversion. I highly commended her for both, +but risked the observation, "that praying without instilling principles, +might be as inefficacious as instruction without prayer. That it was +like a husbandman who should expect that praying for sunshine should +produce a crop of corn in a field where not one grain had been sown. +God, indeed, <i>could</i> effect this, but he does not do it; and the means +being of his own appointment, his omnipotence is not less exerted, by +his directing certain effects to follow certain causes, than it would be +by any arbitrary act." As it was evident that she did not choose to +quarrel with me, she contented herself with saying coldly, that she +perceived I was a <i>legalist</i>, and had but a low view of divine things.</p> + +<p>At tea I found the young ladies took no more interest in the +conversation, than they had done at dinner, but sat whispering and +laughing, and netting white silk gloves till they were summoned to the +harpsichord. Despairing of getting on with them in company, I proposed a +walk in the garden. I now found them as willing to talk, as destitute of +any thing to say. Their conversation was vapid and frivolous. They laid +great stress on small things. They seemed to have no shades in their +understanding, but used the strongest terms for the commonest occasions, +and admiration was excited by things hardly worthy to command attention. +They were extremely glad, and extremely sorry, on subjects not +calculated to excite affections of any kind. They were animated about +trifles, and indifferent on things of importance. They were, I must +confess, frank and good-natured, but it was evident, that as they were +too open to have any thing to conceal, so they were too uninformed to +have any thing to produce: and I was resolved not to risk my happiness +with a woman who could not contribute her full share toward spending a +wet winter cheerfully in the country.</p> + +<p>The next day, all the hours from breakfast to dinner were devoted to the +harp. I had the vanity to think that this sacrifice of time was made in +compliment to me, as I had professed to like music; till I found that +all their mornings were spent in the same manner, and the only fruit of +their education, which seemed to be used to any purpose was, that after +their family devotions in the evening, they sung and played a hymn. This +was almost the only sign they gave of intellectual or spiritual life. +They attended morning prayers if they were dressed before the bell rang. +One morning when they did not appear till late, they were reproved by +their father; Mrs. Ranby said, "she should be more angry with them for +their irregularity, were it not that Mr. Ranby obstinately persisted in +reading a printed form which she was persuaded could not do any body +much good." The poor man, who was really well disposed, very properly +defended himself by saying, that he hoped his own heart went along with +every word he read; and as to his family, he thought it much more +beneficial for them to join in an excellent composition of a judicious +divine, than to attend to any such crude rhapsody as he should be able +to produce, whose education had not qualified him to lead the devotions +of others. I had never heard him venture to make use of his +understanding before; and I continued to find it much better than I had +at first given him credit for. The lady observed, with some asperity, +that where there were <i>gifts</i> and <i>graces</i>, it superseded the necessity +of learning.</p> + +<p>In vindication of my own good breeding, I should observe that in my +little debates with Mrs. Ranby, to which I was always challenged by her, +I never lost sight of that becoming example of the son of Cato, who, +when about to deliver sentiments which might be thought too assuming in +so young a man, introduced his admonitions with the modest preface,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Remember what our <i>father</i> oft has taught us.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I, without quoting the son of the sage of Utica, constantly adduced the +paternal authority for opinions which might savor too much of arrogance +without such a sanction.</p> + +<p>I observed, in the course of my visit, that self-denial made no part of +Mrs. Ranby's religious plan. She fancied, I believe that it savored of +works, and of works she was evidently afraid. She talked as if activity +were useless, and exertion unnecessary, and as if, like inanimate +matter, we had nothing to do but sit still and be shone upon.</p> + +<p>I assured her that though I depended on the mercy of God, through the +merits of his Son, for salvation, as entirely as she could do, yet I +thought that Almighty grace, so far from setting aside diligent +exertion, was the principle which promoted it. That salvation is in no +part of Scripture represented as attainable by the indolent Christian, +if I might couple such contradictory terms. That I had been often +awfully struck with the plain declarations, "that the kingdom of +heaven suffereth violence"—"strive to enter in at the strait +gate"—"whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy +might"—"give diligence to make your calling sure"—"work out your own +salvation." To this labor, this watchfulness, this sedulity of endeavor, +the crown of life is expressly promised, and salvation is not less the +free gift of God, because he has annexed certain conditions to our +obtaining it.</p> + +<p>The more I argued, the more I found my reputation decline, yet to argue +she compelled me. I really believe she was sincere, but she was ill +informed, governed by feelings and impulses, rather than by the plain +express rule of Scripture. It was not that she did not read Scripture, +but she interpreted it her own way; built opinions on insulated texts; +did not compare Scripture with Scripture, except as it concurred to +strengthen her bias. She considered with a disproportionate fondness, +those passages which supported her preconceived opinions, instead of +being uniformly governed by the general tenor and spirit of the sacred +page. She had far less reverence for the preceptive, than for the +doctrinal parts, because she did not sufficiently consider faith as an +operative influential principle; nor did she conceive that the sublimest +doctrines involve deep practical consequences. She did not consider the +government of the tongue, nor the command of her passions, as forming +any material part of the Christian character. Her zeal was fiery because +her temper was so; and her charity was cold because it was an expensive +propensity to keep warm. Among the perfections of the Redeemer's +character, she did not consider his being "meek and lowly" as an +example, the influence of which was to extend to her. She considered it +indeed as <i>admirable</i> but not as <i>imitable</i>; a distinction she was very +apt to make in all her practical dissertations, and in her +interpretation of Scripture.</p> + +<p>In the evening Mrs. Ranby was lamenting in general and rather customary +terms, her own exceeding sinfulness. Mr. Ranby said, "You accuse +yourself rather too heavily, my dear: you have sins to be sure." "And +pray what sins have I, Mr. Ranby?" said she, turning upon him with so +much quickness that the poor man started. "Nay," said he meekly, "I did +not mean to offend you; so far from it, that hearing you condemn +yourself so grievously, I intended to comfort you, and to say that +except a few faults—" "And pray what faults?" interrupted she, +continuing to speak however, lest he should catch an interval to tell +them. "I defy you, Mr. Ranby, to produce one." "My dear," replied he, +"as you charged yourself with all, I thought it would be letting you off +cheaply by naming only two or three, such as—." Here, fearing matters +would go too far, I interposed, and softening things as much as I could +for the lady, said, "I conceived that Mr. Ranby meant, that though she +partook of the general corruption—" Here Ranby, interrupting me with +more spirit than I thought he possessed, said "General corruption, sir, +must be the source of particular corruption: I did not mean that my +wife was worse than other women."—"Worse, Mr. Ranby, worse?" cried she. +Ranby, for the first time in his life, not minding her, went on, "As she +is always insisting that the whole species is corrupt, she can not help +allowing that she herself has not quite escaped the infection. Now to be +a sinner in the gross and a saint in the detail; that is, to have all +sins, and no faults, is a thing I do not quite comprehend."</p> + +<p>After he had left the room, which he did as the shortest way of allaying +the storm, she apologized for him, said, "he was a well-meaning man, and +acted up to the little light he had;" but added, "that he was +unacquainted with religious feelings, and knew little of the nature of +conversion."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ranby, I found, seems to consider Christianity as a kind of +free-masonry, and therefore thinks it superfluous to speak on serious +subjects to any but the initiated. If they do not <i>return the sign</i>, she +gives them up as blind and dead. She thinks she can only make herself +intelligible to those to whom certain peculiar phrases are familiar; and +though her friends may be correct, devout, and both doctrinally and +practically pious; yet if they can not catch a certain mystic meaning, +if there is not a sympathy of intelligence between her and them, if they +do not fully conceive of impressions, and can not respond to mysterious +communications, she holds them unworthy of intercourse with her. She +does not so much insist on high moral excellence as the criterion of +their worth, as on their own account of their internal feelings.</p> + +<p>She holds very cheap, that gradual growth in piety which is, in reality, +no less the effect of divine grace, than those instantaneous +conversions, which she believes to be so common. She can not be +persuaded that, of every advance in piety, of every improvement in +virtue, of every illumination of the understanding, of every amendment +in the heart, of every rectification of the will, the Spirit of God is +no less the author, because it is progressive, than if it were sudden. +It is true Omnipotence can, when he pleases, still produce these +instantaneous effects, as he has sometimes done; but as it is not his +established or common mode of operation, it seems vain and rash, +presumptuously to wait for these miraculous interferences. An implicit +dependence, however, on such interferences, is certainly more gratifying +to the genius of enthusiasm, than the anxious vigilance, the fervent +prayer, the daily struggle, the sometimes scarcely perceptible though +constant progress of the sober-minded Christian. Such a Christian is +fully aware that his heart requires as much watching in the more +advanced as in the earliest stages of his religious course. He is +cheerful in a well-grounded hope, and looks not for ecstasies, till that +hope be swallowed up in fruition. Thankful if he feel in his heart a +growing love to God, and an increasing submission to his will, though he +is unconscious of visions, and unacquainted with any revelation but that +which God has made in his word. He remembers, and he derives consolation +from the remembrance, that his Saviour, in his most gracious and +soothing invitation to the "heavy laden," has mercifully promised +"rest," but he has no where promised rapture.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p>But to return to Mrs. Ranby's daughters. Is this <i>consistency</i>, said I +to myself, when I compared the inanity of the life with the seriousness +of the discourse: and contrasted the vacant way in which the day was +spent, with the decent and devout manner in which it was begun and +ended? I recollected, that under the early though imperfect sacred +institution, the fire of the morning and evening sacrifice was never +suffered to be extinguished during the day.</p> + +<p>Though Mrs. Ranby would have thought it a little heathenish to have had +her daughters instructed in polite literature, and to have filled a +leisure hour in reading to her a useful book, that was not professedly +religious, she felt no compunction at their waste of time, or the +trifling pursuits in which the day was suffered to spend itself. The +piano-forte, when they were weary of the harp, copying some indifferent +drawings, gilding a set of flower-pots, and netting white gloves and +veils, seemed to fill up the whole business of these immortal beings, of +these Christians, for whom it had been solemnly engaged that they should +manfully fight under Christ's banner.</p> + +<p>On a further acquaintance, I was much more inclined to lay the blame on +their education than their dispositions. I found them not only +good-humored, but charitably disposed: but their charities were small +and casual, often ill applied, and always without a plan. They knew +nothing of the state, character, or wants of the neighboring poor; and +it had never been pointed out to them that the instruction of the young +and ignorant made any part of the duty of the rich toward them.</p> + +<p>When I once ventured to drop a hint on this subject to Mrs. Ranby, she +drily said there were many other ways of doing good to the poor, besides +exposing her daughters to the probability of catching diseases, and the +certainty of getting dirt by such visits. Her subscription was never +wanting when she was <i>quite sure</i> that the object was deserving. As I +suspected that she a little over-rated her own charity, I could not +forbear observing, that I did not think it demanded a combination of all +the virtues to entitle a poor sick wretch to a dinner. And though I +durst not quote so light an authority as Hamlet to her, I could not +help saying to myself, <i>Give every man his due, and who shall 'scape +whipping</i>? O! if God dealt so rigidly with us; if he waited to bestow +his ordinary blessings till we were good enough to deserve them, who +would be clothed? who would be fed? who would have a roof to shelter +him?</p> + +<p>It was not that she gave nothing away, but she had a great dislike to +relieve any but those of her own religious persuasion. Though her +Redeemer laid down his life for all people, nations, and languages, she +will only lay down her money for a very limited number of a very limited +class. To be religious is not claim sufficient on her bounty, they must +be religious in a particular way.</p> + +<p>The Miss Ranbys had not been habituated to make any systematic provision +for regular charity, or for any of those accidental calamities for which +the purse of the affluent should always be provided; and being very +expensive in their persons, they had often not a sixpence to bestow, +when the most deserving case presented itself. This must frequently +happen where there is no specific fund for charity, which should be +included in the general arrangement of expenses; and the exercise of +benevolence not be left to depend on the accidental state of the purse. +If no new trinket happened to be wanted, these young ladies were liberal +to any application, though always without judging of its merits by their +own eyes and ears. But if there was a competition between a sick family +and a new brooch, the brooch was sure to carry the day. This would not +have been the case, had they been habituated to visit themselves the +abodes of penury and woe. Their flexible young hearts would have been +wrought upon by the actual sight of miseries, the impression of which +was feeble when it reached their ears at a distance, surrounded as they +were with all the softnesses and accommodations of luxurious life. +"They would do what they could. They hoped it was not so bad as was +represented." They fell into the usual way of pacifying their +consciences by their regrets; and brought themselves to believe that +their sympathy with the suffering was an atonement for their not +relieving it.</p> + +<p>I observed with concern, during my visit, how little the Christian +temper seemed to be considered as a part of the Christian religion. This +appeared in the daily concerns of this high professor. An opinion +contradicted, a person of different religious views commended, the +smallest opposition to her will, the intrusion of an unseasonable +visitor, even an imperfection in the dressing of some dish at table: +such trifles not only discomposed her, but the discomposure was +manifested with a vehemence which she was not aware was a fault; nor did +she seem at all sensible that her religion was ever to be resorted to +but on great occasions, forgetting that great occasions but rarely occur +in common life, and that these small passes, at which the enemy is +perpetually entering, the true Christian will vigilantly guard.</p> + +<p>I observed in Mrs. Ranby one striking inconsistency. While she +considered it as forming a complete line of separation from the world, +that she and her daughters abstained from public places, she had no +objection to their indemnifying themselves for this forbearance, by +devoting so monstrous a disproportion of their time to that very +amusement which constitutes so principal a part of diversion abroad. The +time which is redeemed from what is wrong, is of little value, if not +dedicated to what is right; and it is not enough that the doctrines of +the gospel furnish a subject for discussion, if they do not furnish a +principle of action.</p> + +<p>One of the most obvious defects which struck me in this and two or three +other families, whom I afterward visited, was the want of +companionableness in the daughters. They did not seem to form a part of +the family compact; but made a kind of distinct branch of themselves. +Surely, when only the parents and a few select friends are met together +in a family way, the daughters should contribute their portion to +enliven the domestic circle. They were always ready to sing and to play, +but did not take the pains to produce themselves in conversation; but +seemed to carry on a distinct intercourse by herding, and whispering, +and laughing together.</p> + +<p>In some women who seemed to be possessed of good ingredients, they were +so ill mixed up together as not to produce an elegant, interesting +companion. It appeared to me that three of the grand inducements in the +choice of a wife, are, that a man may have a directress for his family, +a preceptress for his children, and a companion for himself. Can it be +honestly affirmed that the present habits of domestic life are generally +favorable to the union of these three essentials? Yet which of them can +a man of sense and principle consent to relinquish in his conjugal +prospects?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>I returned to town at the end of a few days. To a speculative stranger, +a <i>London day</i> presents every variety of circumstance in every +conceivable shape, of which human life is susceptible. When you trace +the solicitude of the morning countenance, the anxious exploring of the +morning paper, the eager interrogation of the morning guest; when you +hear the dismal enumeration of losses by land, and perils by sea—taxes +trebling, dangers multiplying, commerce annihilating, war protracted, +invasion threatening, destruction impending—your mind catches and +communicates the terror, and you feel yourself "falling, with a falling +state."</p> + +<p>But when, in the course of the very same day, you meet these gloomy +prognosticators at the sumptuous, not "dinner but Hecatomb," at the +gorgeous fête, the splendid spectacle; when you hear the frivolous +discourse, witness the luxurious dissipation, contemplate the boundless +indulgence, and observe the ruinous gaming, you would be ready to +exclaim, "Am I not supping in the antipodes of that land in which I +breakfasted? Surely this is a country of different men, different +characters, and different circumstances. This at least is a place in +which there is neither fear nor danger, nor want, nor misery, nor war."</p> + +<p>If you observed the overflowing subscriptions raised, the innumerable +societies formed, the committees appointed, the agents employed, the +royal patrons engaged, the noble presidents provided, the palace-like +structures erected; and all this to alleviate, to cure, and even to +prevent, every calamity which the indigent can suffer, or the affluent +conceive; to remove not only want but ignorance; to suppress not only +misery but vice—would you not exclaim with Hamlet, "What a piece of +work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties! In action +how like an angel! In compassion how like a god!"</p> + +<p>If you looked into the whole comet-like eccentric orb of the human +character; if you compared all the struggling contrariety of principle +and of passion; the clashing of opinion and of action, of resolution and +of performance; the victories of evil over the propensities to good; if +you contrasted the splendid virtue with the disorderly vice; the exalted +generosity with the selfish narrowness; the provident bounty with the +thoughtless prodigality; the extremes of all that is dignified, with the +excesses of all that is abject, would you not exclaim, in the very +spirit of Pascal, O! the grandeur and the littleness, the excellence +and the corruption, the majesty and the meanness of man!</p> + +<p>If you attended the debates in our great deliberative assemblies; if you +heard the argument and the eloquence, "the wisdom and the wit," the +public spirit and the disinterestedness; Curtius's devotedness to his +country, and Regulus's disdain of self, expressed with all the logic +which reason can suggest, and embellished with all the rhetoric which +fancy can supply, would you not rapturously cry out, this is</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Above all Greek, above all Roman fame?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But if you discerned the bitter personality, the incurable prejudice, +the cutting retort, the suspicious implication, the recriminating sneer, +the cherished animosity; if you beheld the interests of an empire +standing still, the business of the civilized globe suspended, while two +intellectual gladiators are thrusting each to give the other a fall, and +to show his own strength; would you not lament the littleness of the +great, the infirmities of the good, and the weaknesses of the wise? +Would you not, soaring a flight far above Hamlet or Pascal, apostrophize +with the royal Psalmist, "Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of +him, or the son of man that thou regardest him?"</p> + +<p>But to descend to my individual concerns. Among my acquaintance, I +visited two separate families, where the daughters were remarkably +attractive; and more than usually endowed with beauty, sense, and +elegance; but I was deterred from following up the acquaintance, by +observing, in each family, practices which, though very different, +almost equally revolted me.</p> + +<p>In one, where the young ladies had large fortunes, they insinuated +themselves into the admiration, and invited the familiarity, of young +men, by attentions the most flattering, and civilities the most +alluring. When they had made sure of their aim, and the admirers were +encouraged to make proposals, the ladies burst out into a loud laugh, +wondered what the man could mean; they never dreamt of any thing more +than common politeness; then petrified them with distant looks, and +turned about to practice the same arts on others.</p> + +<p>The other family in which I thought I had secured an agreeable intimacy, +I instantly deserted on observing the gracious and engaging reception +given by the ladies to more than one libertine of the most notorious +profligacy. The men were handsome, and elegant, and fashionable, and had +figured in newspapers and courts of justice. This degrading popularity +rather attracted than repelled attention; and while the guilty +associates in their crimes were shunned with abhorrence by these very +ladies, the specious undoers were not only received with complaisance, +but there was a sort of competition who should be most strenuous in +their endeavors to attract them. Surely women of fashion can hardly make +a more corrupt use of influence, a talent for which they will be +peculiarly accountable. Surely, mere personal purity can hardly deserve +the name of virtue in those who can sanction notoriously vicious +characters, which their reprobation, if it could not reform, would at +least degrade.</p> + +<p>On a further acquaintance, I found Sir John and Lady Belfield to be +persons of much worth. They were candid, generous, and sincere. They saw +the errors of the world in which they lived, but had not resolution to +emancipate themselves from its shackles. They partook, indeed, very +sparingly of its diversions, not so much because they suspected their +evil tendency, as because they were weary of them, and because they had +better resources in themselves.</p> + +<p>Indeed, it is wonderful that more people from mere good sense and just +taste, without the operation of any religious consideration, do not, +when the first ardor is cooled, perceive the futility of what is called +pleasure, and decline it as the man declines the amusements of the +child. But fashionable society produces few persons, who, like the +ex-courtier of King David, assign their fourscore years as a reason for +no longer "delighting in the voice of singing men and singing women."</p> + +<p>Sir John and Lady Belfield, however, kept a large general acquaintance; +and it is not easy to continue to associate with the world, without +retaining something of its spirit. Their standard of morals was high, +compared with that of those with whom they lived; but when the standard +of the gospel was suggested, they drew in a little, and thought <i>things +might be carried too far</i>. There was nothing in their practice which +made it their interest to hope that Christianity might not be true. They +both assented to its doctrines, and lived in a kind of general hope of +its final promises. But their views were neither correct, nor elevated. +They were contented to generalize the doctrines of Scripture, and though +they venerated its awful truths in the aggregate, they rather took them +upon trust than labored to understand them, or to imbue their minds with +the spirit of them. Many a high professor, however, might have blushed +to see how carefully they exercised not a few Christian dispositions; +how kind and patient they were! how favorable in their construction of +the actions of others! how charitable to the necessitous! how exact in +veracity! and how tender of the reputation of their neighbor!</p> + +<p>Sir John had been early hurt by living so much with men of the world, +with wits, politicians, and philosophers. This, though he had escaped +the contagion of false principles, had kept back the growth of such as +were true. Men versed in the world, and abstracted from all religious +society, begin, in time, a little to suspect whether their own religious +opinions may not possibly be wrong, or at least rigid, when they see +them so opposite to those of persons to whose judgment they are +accustomed to look up in other points. He found too, that, in the +society in which he lived, the reputation of religion detracted much +from that of talents; and a man does not care to have his understanding +questioned by those in whose opinion he wishes to stand well. This +apprehension did not, indeed, drive him to renounce his principles, but +it led him to conceal them; and that piety which is forcibly kept out of +sight, which has nothing to fortify, and every thing to repel it, is too +apt to decline.</p> + +<p>His marriage with an amiable woman, whose virtues and graces attached +him to his own home, drew him off from the most dangerous of his prior +connections. This union had at once improved his character, and +augmented his happiness. If Lady Belfield erred, it was through excess +of kindness and candor. Her kindness led to the too great indulgence of +her children; and her candor to the too favorable construction of the +errors of her acquaintance. She was the very reverse of my Hampstead +friend. Whereas Mrs. Ranby thought hardly any body would be saved, Lady +Belfield comforted herself that hardly any body was in danger. This +opinion was not taken up as a palliative to quiet her conscience, on +account of the sins of her own conduct, for her conduct was remarkably +correct; but it sprang from a natural sweetness of temper, joined to a +mind not sufficiently informed and guided by scriptural truth. She was +candid and teachable, but as she could not help seeing that she had more +religion than most of her acquaintance; she felt a secret complacency in +observing how far her principles rose above theirs, instead of an +humbling conviction of how far her own fell below the requisitions of +the gospel.</p> + +<p>The fundamental error was, that she had no distinct view of the +corruptions of human nature. She often lamented the weaknesses and +vices of individuals, but thought all vice an incidental, not a radical +mischief, the effect of thoughtlessness and casual temptation. She +talked with discrimination of the faults of some of her children; but +while she rejoiced in the happier dispositions of the others, she never +suspected that they had all brought into the world with them any natural +tendency to evil; and thought it cruel to suppose that such, innocent +little things had any such wrong propensities as education would not +effectually cure. In every thing the complete contrast of Mrs. Ranby—as +the latter thought education could do nothing, Lady Belfield thought it +would do every thing; that there was no good tendency which it would not +bring to perfection, and no corruption which it could not completely +eradicate. On the operation of a higher influence she placed too little +dependence; while Mrs. Ranby rested in an unreasonable trust on an +interference not warranted by Scripture.</p> + +<p>In regard to her children, Lady Belfield was led by the strength of her +affection to extreme indulgence. She encouraged no vice in them, but she +did not sufficiently check those indications which are the seeds of +vice. She reproved the actual fault, but never thought of implanting a +principle which might extirpate the evil from whence the fault sprung; +so that the individual error and the individual correction were +continually recurring.</p> + +<p>As Mrs. Ranby, I had observed, seldom quoted any sacred writer but St. +Paul, I remarked that Lady Belfield admired almost exclusively +Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and the historical books of the Bible. Of the +Epistles, that of St. James was her favorite; the others she thought +chiefly, if not entirely, applicable to the circumstances of the Jews +and Pagans, to the converts from among whom they were addressed. If she +entertained rather an awful reverence for the doctrinal parts, than an +earnest wish to study them, it arose from the common mistake of +believing that they were purely speculative, without being aware of +their deep practical importance. But if these two ladies were +diametrically opposite to each other in certain points, both were +frequently right in what they assumed, and both wrong only in what they +rejected. Each contended for one half of that which will not save when +disjointed from the other, but which when united to it, makes up the +complete Christian character.</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield, who was, if I may so speak, constitutionally charitable, +almost thought that heaven might be purchased by charity. She inverted +the valuable superstructure of good works, and laid them as her +foundation; and while Mrs. Ranby would not, perhaps, much have blamed +Moses for breaking the tables of the law, had he only demolished the +second, Lady Belfield would have saved the second, as the more important +of the two.</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield had less vanity than any woman I ever knew who was not +governed by a very strict religious principle. Her modesty never courted +the admiration of the world, but her timidity too much dreaded its +censure. She would not do a wrong thing to obtain any applause, but she +omitted some right ones from the dread of blame.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + + +<p>The house of Sir John Belfield was become a pleasant kind of home to me. +He and his lady seldom went out in an evening. Happy in each other and +in their children, though they lived much with the rational, they +associated as little as they thought possible with the racketing world. +Yet being known to be generally at home, they were exposed to the +inroads of certain invaders, called fine ladies, who, always afraid of +being too early for their parties, are constantly on the watch how to +disburden themselves for the intermediate hour, of the heavy commodity +<i>time</i>; a raw material, which as they seldom work up at home, they are +always willing to truck against the time of their more domestic +acquaintance. Now as these last <i>have</i> always something to do, it is an +unfair traffic; "all the reciprocity is on one side," to borrow the +expression of an illustrious statesman; and the barter is as +disadvantageous to the sober home-trader, as that of the honest negroes, +who exchange their gold-dust and ivory for the beads and bits of glass +of the wily English.</p> + +<p>These nightly irruptions, though sometimes inconvenient to my friends, +were of use to me, as they enabled me to see and judge more of the gay +world than I could have done without going in search of it; a risk which +I thought bore no proportion to the gain. It was like learning the +language of the enemy's country at home.</p> + +<p>One evening, when we were sitting happily alone in the library, Lady +Belfield, working at her embroidery, cheerfully joining in our little +discussions, and comparing our peaceful pleasures with those pursued by +the occupiers of the countless carriages which were tearing up the +"wheel-worn streets," or jostling each other at the door of the next +house, where a grand assembly was collecting its myriads—Sir John asked +what should be the evening book. Then rising, he took down from the +shelf Akenside's Pleasures of Imagination.</p> + +<p>"Is it," said he, as soon as he sat down, "the rage for novelty, or a +real degeneracy of taste, that we now so seldom hear of a poet, who, +when I was a boy, was the admiration of every man who had a relish for +true genius? I can not defend his principles, since in a work, of which +<i>Man</i> is professedly the object, he has overlooked his <i>immortality</i>: a +subject which one wonders did not force itself upon him, as so congenial +to the sublimity of his genius, whatever his religious views might have +been. But to speak of him only as a poet; a work which abounds in a +richer profusion of images, and a more variegated luxuriance of +expression than the Pleasures of Imagination, can not easily be found. +The flimsy metre of our day seems to add fresh value to his sinewy +verse. We have no happier master of poetic numbers; none who better knew</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To build the lofty rhyme.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The condensed vigor, so indispensable to blank verse, the skillful +variation of the pause, the masterly structure of the period, and all +the occult mysteries of the art, can, perhaps, be best learned from +Akenside. If he could have conveyed to Thomson his melody and rhyme, and +Thomson would have paid him back in perspicuity and transparency of +meaning, how might they have enriched each other!"</p> + +<p>"I confess," said I, "in reading Akenside, I have now and then found the +same passage at once enchanting and unintelligible. As it happens to +many frequenters of the opera, the music always transports, but the +words are not always understood." I then desired my friend to gratify us +with the first book of the Pleasures of Imagination.</p> + +<p>Sir John is a passionate lover of poetry, in which he has a fine taste. +He read it with much spirit and feeling, especially these truly +classical lines,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Mind, Mind</i> alone, bear witness earth and heaven,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The living fountains in itself contains<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of beauteous and sublime: here hand in hand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sit paramount the graces; here enthroned<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Celestial Venus, with divinest airs<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Invites the soul to never-fading joy.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"The reputation of this exquisite passage," said he, laying down the +book, "is established by the consenting suffrage of all men of taste, +though by the critical countenance you are beginning to put on, you look +as if you had a mind to attack it."</p> + +<p>"So far from it," said I, "that I know nothing more splendid in the +whole mass of our poetry. And I feel almost guilty of high treason +against the majesty of the sublimer Muses, in the remark I am going to +hazard, on the celebrated lines which follow. The poet's object, through +this and the two following pages, is to establish the infinite +superiority of mind over unconscious matter, even in its fairest forms. +The idea is as just as the execution is beautiful; so also is his +supreme elevation of intellect, over</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Greatness of bulk, or symmetry of parts.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Nothing again can be finer, than his subsequent preference of</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The powers of genius and design,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>over even the stupendous range</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He proceeds to ransack the stores of the mental and the moral world, as +he had done the world of matter, and with a pen dipped in Hippocrene, +opposes to the latter,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The charms of virtuous friendship, etc.<br /></span> +<span class="i6">* * * * *<br /></span> +<span class="i6">The candid blush<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of him who strives with fortune to be just.<br /></span> +<span class="i6">* * * * *<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All the mild majesty of private life.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The graceful tear that streams from others' woes.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Why, Charles," said Sir John, "I am glad to find you the enthusiastic +eulogist of the passage of which I suspected you were about to be the +saucy censurer."</p> + +<p>"Censure," replied I, "is perhaps too strong a term for any part +especially the most admired part of this fine poem. I need not repeat +the lines on which I was going to risk a slight observation; they live +in the mind and memory of every lover of the Muses."</p> + +<p>"I will read the next passage, however," said Sir John, "that I may be +better able to controvert your criticism:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Look then abroad through nature to the range<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wheeling unshaken through the void immense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And speak, oh man! does the capacious scene<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With half that kindling majesty dilate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amid the crowd of patriots, and his arm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aloft extending, like eternal Jove<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bade the father of his country hail;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For lo! the tyrant prostrate in the dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Rome again is free?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"What a grand and powerful passage!" said Sir John.</p> + +<p>"I acknowledge it," said I, "but is it as just as it is grand? <i>Le vrai +est le seul beau.</i> Is it a fair and direct opposition between mind and +matter? The poet could not have expressed the image more nobly, but +might he not, out of the abundant treasures of his opulent mind have +chosen it with more felicity? Is an act of murder, even of an usurper, +as happily contrasted with the organization of matter, as the other +beautiful instances I named, and which he goes on to select? The +superiority of mental beauty is the point he is establishing, and his +elaborate preparation leads you to expect all his other instances to be +drawn from pure mental excellence. His other exemplifications are +general, this is particular. They are a class, this is only a variety. I +question if Milton, who was at least as ardent a champion for liberty, +and as much of a party-man as Akenside, would have used this +illustration. Milton, though he often insinuates a political stroke in +his great poem, always, I think, generalizes. Whatever had been his +principles, or at whatever period he had written, I question, when he +wanted to describe the overthrow of authority by the rebel angels, if he +would have illustrated it by Cromwell's seizing the mace, or the +decapitation of Charles. Much less, if he would have selected those two +instances as the triumph of mind over matter."</p> + +<p>"But," said Sir John, "you forget that Akenside professedly adopts the +language of Cicero in his second Philippic." He then read the note +beginning with, Cæsare interfecto, etc.</p> + +<p>"True," said I; "I am not arguing the matter as a point of fact, but as +a point of just application. I pass over the comparison of Brutus with +Jove, which by the way would have become Tully better than Akenside, but +which Tully would have perhaps thought too bold. Cicero adorns his +oration with this magnificent description. He relates it as an event, +the other uses it as an illustration of that to which I humbly conceive +it does not exactly apply. The orator paints the violent death of a +hero; the poet adopts the description of the violent death, or rather of +the stroke which caused it, to illustrate the perfection of intellectual +grandeur. After all, it is as much a party question as a poetical one. A +question on which the critic will be apt to be guided in his decision by +his politics rather than by his taste. The splendor of the passage, +however, will inevitably dazzle the feeling reader, till it produce the +common effect of excessive brightness, that of somewhat blinding the +beholder."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<p>While we were thus pleasantly engaged, the servant announced Mrs. +Fentham; and a fashionable looking woman, about the middle of life, +rather youthfully dressed, and not far from handsome, made her +appearance. Instead of breaking forth into the usual modish jargon, she +politely entered into the subject in which she found us engaged; envied +Lady Belfield the happiness of elegant quiet, which she herself might +have been equally enjoying at her own house, and professed herself a +warm admirer of poetry. She would probably have professed an equal +fondness for metaphysics, geometry, military tactics, or the Arabic +language, if she had happened to have found us employed in the study of +either.</p> + +<p>From poetry the transition to painting was easy and natural. Mrs. +Fentham possessed all the phraseology of connoisseurship, and asked me +if I was fond of pictures. I professed the delight I took in them in +strong, that is in true terms. She politely said that Mr. Fentham had a +very tolerable collection of the best masters, and particularly a +Titian, which she would be happy to have the honor of showing me next +morning. I bowed my thankful assent; she appointed the hour, and soon +after, looking at her watch, said she was afraid she must leave the +delights of such a select and interesting society for a far less +agreeable party.</p> + +<p>When she was gone, I expressed my obligations to her politeness, and +anticipated the pleasure I should have in seeing her pictures. "She is +much more anxious that you should see her <i>Originals</i>," said Lady +Belfield smiling; "the kindness is not <i>quite</i> disinterested; take care +of your heart." Sir John, rather gravely, said, "It is with reluctance +that I ever say any thing to the prejudice of any body that I receive in +my house; but as the son of my valued friend, I think it fair to tell +you that this vigilant matron keeps a keen look out after all young men +of fortune. This is not the first time that the Titian has been made the +bait to catch a promising acquaintance. Indeed it is now grown so stale, +that had you not been a new man, she would hardly have risked it. If you +had happened not to like painting, some book would have been offered +you. The return of a book naturally brings on a visit. But all these +devices have not yet answered. The damsels still remain, like +Shakspeare's plaintive maid, 'in single blessedness.' They do not, +however, like her, spend gloomy nights</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Chaunting cold hymns to the pale, lifeless moon,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>but in singing sprightlier roundelays to livelier auditors."</p> + +<p>I punctually attended the invitation, effectually shielded from danger +by the friendly intimation, and a still more infallible Ægis, the charge +of my father never to embark in any engagement till I had made my visit +to Mr. Stanley. My veneration for his memory operated as a complete +defence.</p> + +<p>I saw and admired the pictures. The pictures brought on an invitation to +dinner. I found Mrs. Fentham to be in her conversation, a sensible, +correct, knowing woman. Her daughters were elegant in their figures, +well instructed in the usual accomplishments, well-bred, and apparently +well tempered. Mr. Fentham was a man of business, and of the world. He +had a great income from a place under government, out of which the +expenses of his family permitted him to save nothing. Private fortune he +had little or none. His employment engaged him almost entirely, so that +he interfered but little with domestic affairs. A general air of +elegance, almost amounting to magnificence, pervaded the whole +establishment.</p> + +<p>I at first saw but little to excite any suspicion of the artificial +character of the lady of the house. The first gleam of light which let +in the truth was the expressions most frequent in Mrs. Fentham's +mouth—"What will the world say?" "What will people think?" "How will +such a thing appear?" "Will it have a good look?" "The world is of +opinion." "Won't such a thing be censured?" On a little acquaintance I +discovered that human applause was the motive of all she said, and +reputation her great object in all she did. Opinion was the idol to +which she sacrificed. Decorum was the inspirer of her duties, and praise +the reward of them. The standard of the world was the standard by which +she weighed actions. She had no higher principle of conduct. She adopted +the forms of religion, because she saw that, carried to a certain +degree, they rather produced credit than censure. While her husband +adjusted his accounts on the Sunday morning, she regularly carried her +daughters to church, except a head-ache had been caught at the +Saturday's opera; and as regularly exhibited herself and them afterward +in Hyde-Park. As she said it was Mr. Fentham's leisure day, she +complimented him with always having a great dinner on Sundays, but +alleged her piety as a reason for not having cards in the evening at +home, though she had no scruple to make one at a private party at a +friend's house; soberly conditioning, however, that there should not be +more than <i>three tables</i>; the right or wrong, the decorum or +impropriety, the gayety or gravity always being made specifically to +depend on the number of tables.</p> + +<p>She was, in general, extremely severe against women who had lost their +reputation; though she had no hesitation in visiting a few of the most +dishonorable, if they were of high rank or belonged to a certain set. +In that case, she excused herself by saying, "That as fashionable people +continued to countenance them, it was not for her to be scrupulous; one +must sail with the stream; I can't set my face against the world." But +if an unhappy girl had been drawn aside, or one who had not rank to bear +her out had erred, that altered the case, and she then expressed the +most virtuous indignation. When modesty happened to be in repute, not +the necks of Queen Elizabeth and her courtly virgins were more +entrenched in ruffs and shrouded in tuckers, than those of Mrs. Fentham +and her daughters; but when <i>display</i> became the order of the day, the +Grecian Venus was scarcely more unconscious of a vail.</p> + +<p>With a very good understanding she never allowed herself one original +thought, or one spontaneous action. Her ideas, her language, and her +conduct were entirely regulated by the ideas, language, and conduct of +those who stood well in the world. Vanity in her was a steady, inward, +but powerfully pervading principle. It did not evaporate in levity or +indiscretion, but was the hidden, though forcible spring of her whole +course of action. She had all the gratification which vanity affords in +secret, and all the credit which its prudent operation procures in +public. She was apparently guilty of no excess of any kind. She had a +sober scale of creditable vices, and never allowed herself to exceed a +few stated degrees in any of them. She reprobated gaming, but could not +exist without cards. Masquerades she censured as highly extravagant and +dangerous, but when given by ladies of high quality, at their own +houses, she thought them an elegant and proper amusement. Though she +sometimes went to the play, she did not care for what passed on the +stage, for she confessed the chief pleasure the theatre afforded was to +reckon up when she came home, how many duchesses and countesses had +bowed to her across the house.</p> + +<p>A complete despot at home, her arbitrariness is so vailed by correctness +of manner, and studied good breeding, that she obtains the credit of +great mildness and moderation. She is said not to love her daughters, +who come too near her in age, and go too much beyond her in beauty to be +forgiven; yet like a consummate politician, she is ever laboring for +their advancement. She has generally several schemes in hand, and always +one scheme under another, the under-plot ready to be brought forward if +the principal one fails. Though she encourages pretenders, yet she is +afraid to accept of a tolerable proposal, lest a better should present +itself; but if the loftier hope fails, she then contrives to lure back +the inferior offer. She can balance to a nicety, in the calculation of +chances, the advantages or disadvantages of a higher possibility against +a lower probability.</p> + +<p>Though she neither wants reading nor taste, her mind is never +sufficiently disengaged to make her an agreeable companion. Her head is +always at work conjecturing the event of every fresh ball and every new +acquaintance. She can not even</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Take her tea without a stratagem.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>She set out in life with a very slender acquaintance, and clung for a +while to one or two damaged peeresses, who were not received by women of +their own rank. But I am told it was curious to see with what adroitness +she could extricate herself from a disreputable acquaintance, when a +more honorable one stepped in to fill the niche. She made her way +rapidly, by insinuating to one person of note how intimate she was with +another, and to both what handsome things each said of the other. By +constant attentions, petty offices, and measured flattery, she has got +footing into almost every house of distinction. Her decorum is +invariable. She boasts that she was never guilty of the indecency of +violent passion. Poor woman! she fancies there is no violent passion but +that of anger. Little does she think that ambition, vanity, the hunger +of applause, a rage for being universally known, are all violent +passion, however modified by discretion or varnished by art. She suffers +too all that "vexation of spirit" which treads on the heels of "vanity." +Disappointment and jealousy poison the days devoted to pleasure. The +party does not answer. The wrong people never stay away, and the right +ones never come. The guest for whom the fête is made is sure to fail. +Her party is thin, while that of her competitor overflows; or there is a +plenty of dowagers and a paucity of young men. When the costly and +elaborate supper is on the table excuses arrive; even if the supper is +crowded, the daughters remain upon hands. How strikingly does she +exemplify the strong expression of—"laboring in the fire for very +vanity"—"of giving her money for that which is not bread, and her labor +for that which satisfieth not!"</p> + +<p>After spending the day at Mrs. Fentham's, I went to sup with my friends +in Cavendish-square. Lady Belfield was impatient for my history of the +dinner. But Sir John said, laughing, "You shall not say a word, +Charles—I can tell how it was as exactly as if I had been there. +Charlotte, who has the best voice, was brought out to sing, but was +placed a little behind, as her person is not quite perfect; Maria, who +is the most picturesque figure, was put <i>to attitudinize</i> at the harp, +arrayed in the costume, and assuming the fascinating graces of Marmion's +Lady Heron:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fair was her rounded arm, as o'er<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The strings her fingers flow.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Then, Charles, was the moment of peril! then, according to your favorite +Milton's most incongruous image,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">You took in sounds that might create a soul<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Under the ribs of death.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"For fear, however, that your heart of adamant should hold out against +all these perilous assaults, its vulnerability was tried in other +quarters. The Titian would naturally lead to Livinia's drawings. A +beautiful sketch of the lakes would be produced, with a gentle +intimation, what a sweet place Westmoreland must be to live in! When you +had exhausted all proper raptures on the art and on the artist, it would +be recollected, that as Westmoreland was so near Scotland, you would +naturally be fond of a reel. The reel of course succeeded." Then, +putting himself into an attitude and speaking theatrically, he +continued,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"Then universal Pan<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Oh! no, I forgot universal Pan could not join, but he could admire. Then +all the perfections of all the nymphs burst on you in full blaze. Such a +concentration of attractions you never could resist! You are <i>but</i> a +man, and now, doubtless, a lost man." Here he stopped to finish his +laugh, and I was driven reluctantly to acknowledge that his picture, +though a caricature, was, notwithstanding, a resemblance.</p> + +<p>"And so," said Sir John, "you were brought under no power of incantation +by this dangerous visit. You will not be driven, like the tempted +Ithacan, to tie yourself to a mast, or to flee for safety from the +enchantment of these Sirens."</p> + +<p>While we were at supper, with more gravity, he said, "Among the various +objects of ambition, there are few in life which bring less accession +to its comfort, than an unceasing struggle to rise to an elevation in +society very much above the level of our own condition, without being +aided by any stronger ascending power than mere vanity. Great talents, +of whatever kind, have a natural tendency to rise, and to lift their +possessor. The flame in mounting does but obey its impulse. But when +there is no energy more powerful than the passion to be great, destitute +of the gifts which confer greatness, the painful efforts of ambition are +like water, forced above its level by mechanical powers. It requires +constant exertions of art, to keep up what art first set a-going. Poor +Mrs. Fentham's head is perpetually at work to maintain the elevation she +has reached. And how little after all is she considered by those on +whose caresses her happiness depends! She has lost the esteem of her +original circle, where she might have been respected, without gaining +that of her high associates, who, though they receive her, still refuse +her claims of equality. She is not considered as of their +<i>establishment</i>; it is but <i>toleration</i> at best.</p> + +<p>"At Mrs. Fentham's, I encountered Lady Bab Lawless, a renowned modish +dowager, famous for laying siege to the heart of every distinguished +man, with the united artillery of her own wit and her daughters' beauty. +How many ways there are of being wrong! She was of a character +diametrically opposite to that of Mrs. Fentham. She had the same end in +view, but the means she used to accomplish it were of a bolder strain. +Lady Bab affected no delicacy, she laughed at reserve; she had shaken +hands with decorum.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She held the <i>noisy</i> tenor of her way<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>with no assumed refinement; and, so far from shielding her designs +behind the mask of decency, she disdained the obsolete expedient. Her +plans succeeded the more infallibly, because her frankness defeated all +suspicion. A man could never divine that such gay and open assaults +could have their foundation in design, and he gave her full credit for +artless simplicity, at the moment she was catching him in her toils. If +she now and then had gone too far, and by a momentary oversight, or +excessive levity had betrayed too much, with infinite address she would +make a crane-neck turn, and fall to discussing, not without ability, +some moral or theological topic. Thus she affected to establish the +character of a woman, thoughtless through wit, indiscreet through +simplicity, but religious on principle.</p> + +<p>As there is no part of the appendage to a wife, which I have ever more +dreaded than a Machiavelian mother, I should have been deaf to wit and +blind to beauty, and dead to advances, had their united batteries been +directed against me. But I had not the ambition to aspire to that honor. +I was much too low a mark for her lofty aim. She had a natural antipathy +to every name that could not be found in the red book. She equally +shrunk from untitled opulence and indigent nobility. She knew by +instinct if a younger son was in the room, and by a petrifying look +checked his most distant approaches; while with her powerful spells she +never failed to draw within her magic circle the splendid heir, and +charm him to her purpose.</p> + +<p>Highly born herself, she had early been married to a rich man of +inferior rank, for the sake of a large settlement. Her plan was, that +her daughters (who, by the way, are modest and estimable), should find +in the man they married, still higher birth than her own, and more +riches than her husband's.</p> + +<p>It was a curious speculation to compare these two friends, and to +observe how much less the refined maneuvers of Mrs. Fentham answered, +than the open assaults of the intrepid Lady Bab. All the intricacies +and labyrinths which the former has been so skillful and so patient in +weaving, have not yet enthralled one captive, while the composed +effrontery, the affecting to take for granted the offer which was never +meant to be made, and treating that as concluded, which was never so +much as intended, drew the unconscious victim of the other into the +trap, before he knew it was set: the depth of her plot consisting in not +appearing to have any. It was a novelty in intrigue. An originality +which defied all competition, and in which no imitator had any chance of +success.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<p>Sir John carried me one morning to call on Lady Denham, a dowager of +fashion, who had grown old in the trammels of the world. Though she +seems resolved to die in the harness, yet she piques herself on being +very religious, and no one inveighs against infidelity or impiety with +more pointed censure. "She has a grand-daughter," said Sir John, "who +lives with her, and whom she has trained to walk precisely in her own +steps, and which, she thinks, <i>is the way she should go</i>. The girl," +added he, smiling, "is well looking, and will have a handsome fortune, +and I am persuaded that, as a friend, I could procure you a good +reception."</p> + +<p>We were shown into her dressing-room, where we found her with a book +lying open before her. From a glance which I caught of the large black +letter, I saw it was a <i>Week's Preparation</i>. This book, it seems, +constantly lay open before her from breakfast to dinner, at this +season. It was Passion week. But as this is the room in which he sees +all her morning visitors, to none of whom is she ever denied, even at +this period of retreat, she could only pick up momentary snatches of +reading in the short intervals between one person bowing out and another +courtesying in. Miss Denham sat by, painting flowers.</p> + +<p>Sir John asked her ladyship if she would go and dine in a family way +with Lady Belfield. She drew up, looked grave, and said with much +solemnity, that she should never think of dining abroad at this holy +season. Sir John said, "As we have neither cards nor company, I thought +you might as well have eaten your chicken in my house as in your own." +But though she thought it a sin to dine with a sober family, she made +herself amends for the sacrifice, by letting us see that her heart was +brimful of the world, pressed down and running over. She indemnified +herself for her abstinence from its diversions, by indulging in the only +pleasures which she thought compatible with the sanctity of the season, +uncharitable gossip, and unbounded calumny. She would not touch a card +for the world, but she played over to Sir John the whole game of the +preceding Saturday night: told him by what a shameful inattention her +partner had lost the odd trick; and that she should not have been beaten +after all, had not her adversary, she verily believed, contrived to look +over her hand.</p> + +<p>Sir John seized the only minute in which we were alone, to ask her to +add a guinea to a little sum he was collecting for a poor tradesman with +a large family, who had been burned out a few nights ago. "His wife," +added he, "was your favorite maid Dixon, and both are deserving people." +"Ah, poor Dixon! She was always unlucky," replied the lady. "How could +they be so careless? Surely they might have put the fire out sooner. +They should not have let it get ahead. I wonder people are not more +active." "It is too late to inquire about that," said Sir John; "the +question now is, not how their loss might have been prevented, but how +it may be repaired." "I am really quite sorry," said she, "that I can +give you nothing. I have had so many calls lately, that my charity purse +is completely exhausted—and that abominable property-tax makes me quite +a beggar."</p> + +<p>While she was speaking, I glanced at the open leaf at, "Charge them that +are rich in this world that they be ready to give;" and directing my eye +further, it fell on, "Be not deceived. God is not mocked." These were +the awful passages which formed a part of her <i>Preparation</i>; and this +was the practical use she made of them!</p> + +<p>A dozen persons of both sexes "had their exits and their entrances" +during our stay; for the scene was so strange, and the character so new +to me, that I felt unwilling to stir. Among other visitors was Signor +Squallini, a favorite opera singer, whom she patronized. Her face was +lighted up with joy at the sight of him. He brought her an admired new +air in which he was preparing himself, and sung a few notes, that she +might say she had heard it the first. She felt all the dignity of the +privilege, and extolled the air with all the phrases, cant, and rapture +of <i>dilettanteism</i>.</p> + +<p>After this, she drew a paper from between the leaves of her still open +book, which she showed him. It contained a list of all the company she +had engaged to attend his benefit. "I will call on some others," said +she, "to-morrow after prayers. I am sorry this is a week in which I can +not see my friends at their assemblies, but on Sunday you know it will +be over, and I shall have my house full in the evening. Next Monday will +be Easter, and I shall be at our dear Duchess's private masquerade, and +then I hope to see and engage the whole world. Here are ten guineas," +said she in a half whisper to the obsequious Signor; "you may mention +what I gave for <i>my</i> ticket, and it may set the fashion going." She then +pressed a ticket on Sir John and another on me. Ho declined, saying with +great <i>sang froid</i>, "You know we are <i>Handelians</i>." What excuse I made I +do not well know; I only know that I saved my ten guineas with a very +bad grace, but felt bound in conscience to add them to what I had before +subscribed to poor Dixon.</p> + +<p>Hitherto I had never seen the gnat-strainer and the camel-swallower so +strikingly exemplified. And it is observable how forcibly the truth of +Scripture is often illustrated by those who live in the boldest +opposition to it. If you have any doubt while you are reading, go into +the world and your belief will be confirmed.</p> + +<p>As we took our leave, she followed us to the door, I hoped it was with +the guinea for the fire; but she only whispered Sir John, though he did +not go himself, to prevail on such and such ladies to go to Squallini's +benefit. "Pray do," said she, "it will be charity. Poor fellow! he is +sadly out at elbows; he has a fine liberal spirit, and can hardly make +his large income do."</p> + +<p>When we got into the street we admired the splendid chariot and laced +liveries of this <i>indigent</i> professor, for whom our charity had been +just solicited, and whose "liberal spirit," my friend assured me, +consisted in sumptuous living and the indulgence of every fashionable +vice.</p> + +<p>I could not restrain my exclamations as soon as we got out of hearing. +To Sir John, the scene was amusing, but to him it had lost the interest +of novelty. "I have known her ladyship about twelve years," said he, +"and of course have witnessed a dozen of these annual paroxysms of +devotion. I am persuaded that she is a gainer by them on her own +principle, that is, in the article of pleasure. This short periodical +abstinence whets her appetite to a keener relish for suspended +enjoyment; and while she fasts from amusements, her blinded conscience +enjoys a feast of self-gratulation. She feeds on the remembrance of her +self-denial, even after she has returned to those delights which she +thinks her retreat has fairly purchased. She considers religion as a +system of pains and penalties, by the voluntary enduring of which, for a +short time, she shall compound for all the indulgences of the year. She +is persuaded that something must be annually forborne, in order to make +her peace. After these periodical atonements, the Almighty being in her +debt, will be obliged at last to pay her with heaven. This composition, +which rather brings her in on the creditor side, not only quiets her +conscience for the past, but enables her joyfully to enter on a new +score."</p> + +<p>I asked Sir John how Lady Belfield <i>could</i> associate with a woman of a +character so opposite to her own? "What can we do?" said he, "we can not +be singular. We must conform a <i>little</i> to the world in which we live." +Trusting to his extreme good nature, and fired at the scene to which I +had been a witness, I ventured to observe that non-conformity to such a +world as that of which this lady was a specimen, was the very criterion +of the religion taught by Him who had declared by way of pre-eminent +distinction, that "his kingdom was not of this world."</p> + +<p>"You are a young man," answered he mildly, "and this delicacy and these +prejudices would soon wear off if you were to live some time in the +world." "My dear Sir John," said I, warmly, "by the grace of God, I +never <i>will</i> live in the world; at least, I never will associate with +that part of it whose society would be sure to wear off that delicacy +and remove those prejudices. Why this is retaining all the worst part of +popery. Here is the abstinence without the devotion; the outward +observance without the interior humiliation; the suspending of sin, not +only without any design of forsaking it, but with a fixed resolution of +returning to it, and of increasing the gust by the forbearance. Nay, +the sins she retains in order to mitigate the horrors of forbearance, +are as bad as those she lays down. A postponed sin, which is fully +intended to be resumed, is as much worse than a sin persisted in, as +deliberate hypocrisy is worse than the impulse of passion. I desire not +a more explicit comment on a text which I was once almost tempted to +think unjust; I mean, the greater facility of the entrance of gross and +notorious offenders into heaven than of these formalists. No! If Miss +Denham were sole heiress to Cr[oe]sus, and joined the beauty of +Cleopatra to the wit of Sappho, I never would connect myself with a +disciple of that school."</p> + +<p>"How many ways there are of being unhappy!" said Sir John, as we +returned one day from a ride we had taken some miles out of town, to +call on a friend of his. "Mr. Stanhope, whom we have just quitted, is a +man of great elegance of mind. His early life was passed in liberal +studies, and in the best company. But his fair prospects were blasted by +a disproportionate marriage. He was drawn in by a vanity too natural to +young men, that of fancying himself preferred by a woman who had no one +recommendation but beauty. To be admired by her whom all his +acquaintance admired, gratified his <i>amour propre</i>. He was overcome by +her marked attentions so far as to declare himself, without knowing her +real disposition. It was some time before his prepossession allowed him +to discover that she was weak and ill-informed, selfish and +bad-tempered. What she wanted in understanding, she made up in spirit. +The more she exacted, the more he submitted; and her demands grew in +proportion to his sacrifices. My friend, with patient affection, +struggled for a long time to raise her character, and to enlighten her +mind; but finding that she pouted whenever he took up a book, and that +she even hid the newspaper before he had read it, complaining that he +preferred any thing to her company; the softness of his temper and his +habitual indolence at length prevailed. His better judgment sunk in the +hopeless contest. For a quiet life, he has submitted to a disgraceful +life. The compromise has not answered. He has incurred the degradation +which, by a more spirited conduct, he might have avoided, and has missed +the quiet which he sacrificed his dignity to purchase. He compassionates +her folly, and continues to translate her wearisome interruptions into +the flattering language of affection.</p> + +<p>"In compliment to her, no less than in justification of his own choice, +he has persuaded himself that all women are pretty much alike. That in +point of capacity, disposition, and knowledge he has but drawn the +common lot, with the balance in his favor, of strong affection and +unsullied virtue. He hardly ever sees his fine library, which is the +object of her supreme aversion, but wastes his days in listless idleness +and his evenings at cards, the only thing in which she takes a lively +interest. His fine mind is, I fear, growing mean and disingenuous. The +gentleness of his temper leads him not only to sacrifice his peace, but +to infringe on his veracity in order to keep her quiet. All the +entertainment he finds at dinner is a recapitulation of the faults of +her maids, or the impertinence of her footmen, or the negligence of her +gardener. If to please her he joins in the censure, she turns suddenly +about, and defends them. If he vindicates them, she insists on their +immediate dismission; and no sooner are they irrevocably discharged, +than she is continually dwelling on their perfections, and then it is +only their successors who have any faults.</p> + +<p>"He is now so afraid of her driving out his few remaining old servants, +if she sees his partiality for them, that in order to conceal it, he +affects to reprimand them as the only means for them to secure her +favor. Thus the integrity of his heart is giving way to a petty +duplicity, and the openness of his temper to shabby artifices. He could +submit to the loss of his comfort, but sensibly feels the diminution of +his credit. The loss of his usefulness too is a constant source of +regret. She will not even suffer him to act as a magistrate, lest her +doors should be beset with vagabonds, and her house dirtied by men of +business. If he chance to commend a dish he has tasted at a friend's +house—Yes, every body's things are good but hers, she can never please. +He had always better dine abroad, if nothing is fit to be eaten at home.</p> + +<p>"Though poor Stanhope's conduct is so correct, and his attachment to his +wife so notorious, he never ventures to commend any thing that is said +or done by another woman. She has, indeed, no definitive object of +jealousy, but feels an uneasy vague sensation of envy at any thing or +person he admires. I believe she would be jealous of a fine day, if her +husband praised it.</p> + +<p>"If a tale reaches her ears of a wife who has failed of her duty, or if +the public newspapers record a divorce, then she awakens her husband to +a sense of his superior happiness, and her own irreproachable virtue. O +Charles, the woman who, reposing on the laurels of her boasted virtue, +allows herself to be a disobliging, a peevish, a gloomy, a discontented +companion, defeats one great end of the institution, which is happiness. +The wife who violates the marriage vow, is indeed more criminal; but the +very magnitude of her crime emancipates her husband; while she who makes +him not dishonorable, but wretched, fastens on him a misery for life, +from which no laws can free him, and under which religion alone can +support him."</p> + +<p>We continued talking, till we reached home, on the multitude of +marriages in which the parties are "joined not matched," and where the +term union is a miserable misnomer. I endeavored to turn all these new +acquaintances to account, and considered myself at every visit I made, +as taking a lesson for my own conduct. I beheld the miscarriages of +others, not only with concern for the individual, but as beacons to +light me on my way. It was no breach of charity to use the aberrations +of my acquaintance for the purpose of making my own course more direct. +I took care however, never to lose sight of the humbling consideration +that my own deviations were equally liable to become the object of their +animadversion, if the same motive had led them to the same scrutiny.</p> + +<p>I remained some weeks longer in town, indulging myself in all its safe +sights, and all its sober pleasures. I examined whatever was new in art, +or curious in science. I found out the best pictures, saw the best +statues, explored the best museums, heard the best speakers in the +courts of law, the best preachers in the church, and the best orators in +parliament; attended the best lectures, and visited the best company, in +the most correct, though not always the most fashionable sense of the +term. I associated with many learned, sensible, and some pious men, +commodities with which London, with all its faults, abounds, perhaps, +more than any other place on the habitable globe. I became acquainted +with many agreeable, well informed, valuable women, with a few who even +seemed in a good measure to live above the world while they were living +in it.</p> + +<p>There is a large class of excellent female characters who on account of +that very excellence, are little known, because to be known is not their +object. Their ambition has a better taste. They pass through life +honored and respected in their own small, but not unimportant sphere, +and approved by Him, "whose they are, and whom they serve," though their +faces are hardly known in promiscuous society. If they occasion little +sensation abroad, they produce much happiness at home. And when once a +woman who has "all appliances and means to get it," <i>can</i> withstand the +intoxication of the flatterer, and the adoration of the fashionable; +<i>can</i> conquer the fondness for public distinction, <i>can</i> resist the +temptations of that magic circle to which she is courted, and in which +she is qualified to shine—this is indeed a trial of firmness; a trial +in which those who have never been called to resist themselves, can +hardly judge of the merit of resistance in others.</p> + +<p>These are the women who bless, dignify, and truly adorn society. The +painter indeed does not make his fortune by their sitting to him; the +jeweler is neither brought into vogue by furnishing their diamonds, nor +undone by not being paid for them; the prosperity of the milliner does +not depend on affixing their name to a cap or a color; the poet does not +celebrate them; the novelist does not dedicate to them; but they possess +the affection of their husbands, the attachment of their children, the +esteem of the wise and good, and above all they possess <i>His</i> favor, +"whom to know is life eternal." Among these I doubt not I might have +found objects highly deserving of my heart, but the injunction of my +father was a sort of panoply which guarded it.</p> + +<p>I am persuaded that such women compose a larger portion of the sex, than +is generally allowed. It is not the number, but the noise which makes a +sensation, and a set of fair dependent young creatures who are every +night forced, some of them reluctantly, upon the public eye; and a bevy +of faded matrons rouged and repaired for an ungrateful public, dead to +their blandishments, do not compose the whole female world! I repeat +it—a hundred amiable women, who are living in the quiet practice of +their duties, and the modest exertion of their talents, do not fill the +public eye, or reach the public ear, like one aspiring leader, who, +hungering for observation, and disdaining censure, dreads not abuse but +oblivion; who thinks it more glorious to head a little phalanx of +fashionable followers, than to hold out, as from her commanding +eminence, and imposing talents she might have done, a shining example of +all that is great, and good, and dignified in woman. These +self-appointed queens maintain an absolute but ephemeral empire over +that little <i>fantastic aristocracy</i> which they call the +world—admiration besets them, crowds attend them, conquests follow +them, inferiors imitate them, rivals envy them, newspapers extol them, +sonnets deify them. A few ostentatious charities are opposed as a large +atonement for a <i>few amiable weaknesses</i>, while the unpaid tradesman is +exposed to ruin by their vengeance if he refuses to trust them, and to a +jail if he continue to do it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<p>The three days previous to my leaving London were passed with Sir John +and Lady Belfield. Knowing I was on the wing for Hampshire, they +promised to make their long intended visit to Stanley Grove during my +stay there.</p> + +<p>On the first of these days we were agreeably surprised at the appearance +of Dr. Barlow, an old friend of Sir John, and the excellent rector of +Mr. Stanley's parish. Being obliged to come to town on urgent business +for a couple of days, he was charged to assure me of the cordial welcome +which awaited me at the Grove. I was glad to make this early +acquaintance with this highly respectable divine. I made a thousand +inquiries about his neighbors, and expressed my impatience to know more +of a family in whose characters I already felt a more than common +interest.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said he, "if you set me talking of Mr. Stanley, you must abide by +the consequences of your indiscretion, and bear with the loquacity of +which that subject never fails to make me guilty. He is a greater +blessing to me as a friend, and to my parish as an example and a +benefactor than I can describe." I assured him that he could not be too +minute in speaking of a man whom I had been early taught to admire, by +that exact judge of merit, my late father.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley," said the worthy doctor, "is about six-and-forty, his +admirable wife is about six or seven years younger. He passed the early +part of his life in London, in the best society. His commerce with the +world was, to a mind like his, all pure gain; for he brought away from +it all the good it had to give, without exchanging for it one particle +of his own integrity. He acquired the air, manners, and sentiments of a +gentleman, without any sacrifice of his sincerity. Indeed, he may be +said to have turned his knowledge of the world to a religious account, +for it has enabled him to recommend religion to those who do not like it +well enough to forgive, for its sake, the least awkwardness of gesture, +or inelegance of manner.</p> + +<p>"When I became acquainted with the family," continued he, "I told Mrs. +Stanley that I was afraid her husband hurt religion in one sense as much +as he recommended it in another; for that some men who would forgive him +his piety for the sake of his agreeableness, would be led to dislike +religion more than ever in other men in whom the jewel was not so well +set. 'We should like your religious men well enough,' will they say, 'if +they all resembled Stanley.' Whereas the truth is, they do not so much +<i>like</i> Mr. Stanley's religion, as <i>bear</i> with it for the pleasure which +his other qualities afford them. She assured me that this was not +altogether the case, for that his other qualities having pioneered his +way, and hewed down the prejudices which the reputation of piety +naturally raises, his endeavors to be useful to them were much +facilitated, and he not only kept the ground he had gained, but was +often able to turn this influence over his friends to a better account +than they had intended. He converted their admiration of him into arms +against their own errors.</p> + +<p>"He possesses in perfection," continued Dr. Barlow, "that sure criterion +of abilities, a great power over the minds of his acquaintance, and has +in a high degree that rare talent, the art of conciliation without the +aid of flattery. I have seen more men brought over to his opinion by a +management derived from his knowledge of mankind, and by a principle +which forbade his ever using this knowledge but for good purposes, than +I ever observed in any other instance; and this without the slightest +deviation from his scrupulous probity.</p> + +<p>"He is master of one great advantage in conversation, that of not only +knowing <i>what</i> to say that may be useful, but exactly <i>when</i> to say it; +in knowing when to press a point, and when to forbear; in his sparing +the self-love of a vain man, whom he wishes to reclaim, by contriving to +make him feel himself wrong without making him appear ridiculous. The +former he knows is easily pardoned, the latter never. He has studied the +human heart long enough to know that to wound pride is not the way to +cure, but to inflame it; and that exasperating self-conceit will never +subdue it. He seldom, I believe, goes into company without an earnest +desire to be useful to some one in it; but if circumstances are adverse; +if the <i>mollia tempora fandi</i> does not present itself; he knows he +should lose more than they would gain, by trying to make the occasion +when he does not find it. And I have often heard him say, that when he +can not benefit others, or be benefited by them, he endeavors to benefit +himself by the disappointment, which does his own mind as much good by +humbling him with the sense of his own uselessness, as the subject he +wished to have introduced, might have done them.</p> + +<p>"The death of his only son, about six years ago, who had just entered +his eighth year, is the only interruption his family has had to a +felicity so unbroken, that I told Mr. Stanley some such calamity was +necessary to convince him that he was not to be put off with so poor a +portion as this world has to give. I added that I should have been +tempted to doubt his being in the favor of God, if he had totally +escaped chastisement. A circumstance which to many parents would have +greatly aggravated the blow, rather lightened it to him. The boy, had he +lived to be of age, was to have had a large independent fortune from a +distant relation, which will now go to a remote branch, unless there +should be another son. 'This wealth,' said he to me, 'might have proved +the boy's snare, and this independence his destruction. He who does all +things well has afflicted the parents, but he has saved the child.' The +loss of an only son, however, sat heavy on his heart, but it was the +means of enabling him to glorify God by his submission, I should rather +say, by his acquiescence. Submission is only yielding to what we can not +help. Acquiescence is a more sublime kind of resignation. It is a +conviction that the divine will is holy, just, and good. He once said to +me, 'We were too fond of the mercy, but not sufficiently grateful for +it. We loved him so passionately that we might have forgotten who +bestowed him. To preserve us from this temptation, God in great mercy +withdrew him. Let us turn our eyes from the one blessing we have lost, +to the countless mercies which are continued to us, and especially to +the hand which confers them; to the hand which, if we continue to +murmur, may strip us of our remaining blessings.'</p> + +<p>"I can not," continued Dr. Barlow, "make a higher eulogium of Mrs. +Stanley than to say, that she is every way worthy of the husband whose +happiness she makes. They have a large family of lovely daughters of all +ages. Lucilla, the eldest, is near nineteen; you would think me too +poetical were I to say she adorns every virtue with every grace; and yet +I should only speak the simple truth. Ph[oe]be, who is just turned +fifteen, has not less vivacity and sweetness than her sister, but, from +her extreme naïveté and warmheartedness, she has somewhat less +discretion; and her father says, that her education has afforded him, +not less pleasure, but more trouble, for the branches shot so fast as to +call for more pruning."</p> + +<p>Before I had time to thank the good doctor for his interesting little +narrative, a loud rap announced company. It was Lady Bab Lawless. With +her usual versatility she plunged at once into every subject with every +body. She talked to Lady Belfield of the news and her nursery, of poetry +with Sir John, of politics with me, and religion with Dr. Barlow. She +talked well upon most of these points, and not ill upon any of them; for +she had the talent of embellishing subjects of which she knew but +little, and a kind of conjectural sagacity and rash dexterity, which +prevented her from appearing ignorant, even when she knew nothing. She +thought that a full confidence in her own powers was the sure way to +raise them in the estimation of others, and it generally succeeded.</p> + +<p>Turning suddenly to Lady Belfield, she said, "Pray my dear, look at my +flowers." "They are beautiful roses, indeed," said Lady Belfield, "and +as exquisitely exact as if they were artificial." "Which in truth they +are," replied Lady Bab. "Your mistake is a high compliment to them, but +not higher than they deserve. Look especially at these roses in my cap. +You positively shall go and get some at the same place." "Indeed," said +Lady Belfield, "I am thinking of laying aside flowers, though my +children are hardly old enough to take them." "What affectation!" +replied Lady Bab, "why you are not above two or three and thirty; I am +almost as old again, and yet I don't think of giving up flowers to my +children, or my grandchildren, who will be soon wanting them. Indeed, I +only now wear <i>white</i> roses." I discovered by this, that white roses +made the same approximation to sobriety in dress, that three tables made +to it in cards. "Seriously, though," continued Lady Bab, "you must and +shall go and buy some of Fanny's flowers. I need only tell you, it will +be the greatest charity you ever did, and then I know you won't rest +till you have been. A beautiful girl maintains her dying mother by +making and selling flowers. Here is her direction," throwing a card on +the table. "Oh no, this is not it. I have forgot the name, but it is +within two doors of your hair-dresser, in what d'ye call the lane, just +out of Oxford-street. It is a poor miserable hole, but her roses are as +bright as if they grew in the gardens of Armida." She now rung the bell +violently, saying she had overstaid her time, though she had not been in +the house ten minutes.</p> + +<p>Next morning I attended Lady Belfield to the exhibition. In driving home +through one of the narrow passages near Oxford-street, I observed that +we were in the street where the poor flower-maker lived. Lady Belfield +directed her footman to inquire for the house. We went into it, and in a +small but clean room, up three pair of stairs, we found a very pretty +and very genteel young girl at work on her gay manufacture. The young +woman presented her elegant performances with an air of uncommon grace +and modesty.</p> + +<p>She was the more interesting, because the delicacy of her appearance +seemed to proceed from ill health, and a tear stood in her eye while she +exhibited her works. "You do not seem well, my dear," said Lady +Belfield, with a kindness which was natural to her. "I never care about +my own health, madam," replied she, "but I fear my dear mother is +dying." She stopped, and the tears which she had endeavored to restrain +now flowed plentifully down her cheeks. "Where is your mother, child?" +said Lady Belfield. "In the next room, madam." "Let us see her," said +her ladyship, "if it won't too much disturb her." So saying, she led the +way, and I followed her.</p> + +<p>We found the sick woman lying on a little poor, but clean, bed, pale and +emaciated, but she did not seem so near her end as Fanny's affection had +made her apprehend. After some kind expressions of concern, Lady +Belfield inquired into their circumstances, which she found were +deplorable. "But for that dear girl, madam, I should have perished with +want," said the good woman; "since our misfortunes I have had nothing to +support me but what she earns by making these flowers. She has ruined +her own health, by sitting up the greatest part of the night to procure +me necessaries, while she herself lives on a crust."</p> + +<p>I was so affected with this scene, that I drew Lady Belfield into the +next room; "if we can not preserve the mother, at least let us save the +daughter from destruction," said I; "you may command my purse." "I was +thinking of the same thing," she replied. "Pray, my good girl, what sort +of education have you had?" "O, madam," said she, "one much too high for +my situation. But my parents, intending to qualify me for a governess, +as the safest way of providing for me, have had me taught every thing +necessary for that employment. I have had the best masters, and I hope I +have not misemployed my time." "How comes it then," said I, "that you +were not placed out in some family?" "What, sir! and leave my dear +mother helpless and forlorn? I had rather live only on my tea and dry +bread, which indeed I have done for many months, and supply her little +wants, than enjoy all the luxuries in the world at a distance from her."</p> + +<p>"What were your misfortunes occasioned by?" said I, while Lady Belfield +was talking with the mother. "One trouble followed another, sir," said +she, "but what most completely ruined us, and sent my father to prison, +and brought a paralytic stroke on my mother; was his being arrested for +a debt of seven hundred pounds. This sum, which he had promised to pay, +was long due to him for laces, and to my mother for millinery and fancy +dresses, from a lady who has not paid it to this moment, and my father +is dead, and my mother dying! This sum would have saved them both!"</p> + +<p>She was turning away to conceal the excess of her grief, when a +venerable clergyman entered the room. It was the rector of the parish, +who came frequently to administer spiritual consolation to the poor +woman. Lady Belfield knew him slightly, and highly respected his +character. She took him aside, and questioned him as to the disposition +and conduct of these people, especially the young woman. His testimony +was highly satisfactory. The girl, he said, had not only had an +excellent education, but her understanding and principles were equally +good. He added, that he reckoned her beauty among her misfortunes. It +made good people afraid to take her into the house, and exposed her to +danger from those of the opposite description.</p> + +<p>I put my purse into Lady Belfield's hands, declining to make any present +myself, lest, after the remark he had just made, I should incur the +suspicions of the worthy clergyman.</p> + +<p>We promised to call again the next day, and took our leave, but not +till we had possessed ourselves of as many flowers as she could spare. I +begged that we might stop and send some medical assistance to the sick +woman, for though it was evident that all relief was hopeless, yet it +would be a comfort to the affectionate girl's heart to know that nothing +was omitted which might restore her mother.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<p>In the evening we talked over our little adventure with Sir John, who +entered warmly into the distresses of Fanny and was inclined to adopt +our opinion, that if her character and attainments stood the test of a +strict inquiry, she might hereafter be transplanted into their family as +governess. We were interrupted in the formation of this plan by a visit +from Lady Melbury, the acknowledged queen of beauty and of ton. I had +long been acquainted with her character, for her charms and her +accomplishments were the theme of every man of fashion, and the envy of +every modish woman.</p> + +<p>She is one of those admired but pitiable characters, who, sent by +Providence as an example to their sex, degrade themselves into a +warning. Warm-hearted, feeling, liberal on the one hand; on the other +vain, sentimental, romantic, extravagantly addicted to dissipation and +expense, and with that union of contrarieties which distinguishes her, +equally devoted to poetry and gaming, to liberality and injustice. She +is too handsome to be envious, and too generous to have any relish for +detraction, but she gives to excess into the opposite fault. As Lady +Denham can detect blemishes in the most perfect, Lady Melbury finds +perfections in the most depraved. From a judgment which can not +discriminate, a temper which will not censure, and a hunger for +popularity, which can feed on the coarsest applause, she flatters +egregiously and universally, on the principle of being paid back +usuriously in the same coin. Prodigal of her beauty, she exists but on +the homage paid to it from the drawing-room at St. James's, to the mob +at an election. Candor in her is as mischievous as calumny in others, +for it buoys up characters which ought to sink. Not content with being +blind to the bad qualities of her favorites, she invents good ones for +them, and you would suppose her corrupt "little senate" was a choir of +seraphims.</p> + +<p>A recent circumstance related by Sir John was quite characteristical. +Her favorite maid was dangerously ill, and earnestly begged to see her +lady, who always had loaded her with favors. To all company she talked +of the virtues of the poor Toinette, for whom she not only expressed, +but felt real compassion. Instead of one apothecary who would have +sufficed, two physicians were sent for; and she herself resolved to go +up and visit her, as soon as she had finished setting to music an elegy +on the death of her Java sparrow. Just as she had completed it, she +received a fresh entreaty to see her maid, and was actually got to the +door in order to go up stairs, when the milliner came in with such a +distracting variety of beautiful new things, that there was no +possibility of letting them go till she had tried every thing on, one +after the other. This took up no little time. To determine which she +should keep and which return, where all was so attractive, took up still +more. After numberless vicissitudes and fluctuations of racking thought, +it was at length decided she should take the whole. The milliner +withdrew; the lady went up—Toinette had just expired.</p> + +<p>I found her manners no less fascinating than her person. With all her +modish graces, there was a tincture of romance and an appearance of +softness and sensibility which gave her the variety of two characters. +She was the enchanting woman of fashion, and the elegiac muse.</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield had taken care to cover her work-table with Fanny's +flowers, with a view to attract any chance visitor. Lady Melbury admired +them excessively. "You must do more than admire them," said Lady +Belfield, "you must buy and recommend." She then told her the affecting +scene we had witnessed, and described the amiable girl who supported the +dying mother by making these flowers. "It is quite enchanting," +continued she, resolving to attack Lady Melbury in her own sentimental +way, "to see this sweet girl twisting rose-buds, and forming hyacinths +into bouquets." "Dear, how charming!" exclaimed Lady Melbury, "it is +really quite touching. I will make a subscription for her, and write at +the head of the list a melting description of her case. She shall bring +me all her flowers, and as many more as she can make. But no, we will +make a party, and go and see her. You shall carry me. How interesting to +see a beautiful creature making roses and hyacinths! her delicate hands +and fair complexion must be amazingly set off by the contrast of the +bright flowers. If it were a coarse-looking girl spinning hemp, to be +sure one should pity her, but it would not be half so moving. It will be +delightful. I will call on you to-morrow, exactly at two, and carry you +all. Perhaps," whispered she to Lady Belfield, "I may work up the +circumstances into a sonnet. Do think of a striking title for it. On +second thoughts, the sonnet shall be sent about with the subscription, +and I'll get a pretty vignette to suit it."</p> + +<p>"That fine creature," said Sir John, in an accent of compassion, as she +went out, "was made for nobler purposes. How grievously does she fall +short of the high expectations her early youth had raised! Oh! what a +sad return does she make to Providence for his rich and varied +bounties. Vain of her beauty, lavish of her money, careless of her +reputation; associating with the worst company, yet formed for the best; +living on the adulation of parasites, whose understanding she despises! +I grieve to compare what she is with what she might have been, had she +married a man of spirit, who would prudently have guided and tenderly +have restrained her. He has ruined her and himself by his indifference +and easiness of temper. Satisfied with knowing how much she is admired +and he envied, he never thought of reproving or restricting her. He is +proud of her, but has no particular delight in her company, and trusting +to her honor, lets her follow her own devices, while he follows his. She +is a striking instance of the eccentricity of that bounty which springs +from mere sympathy and feeling. Her charity requires stage effect; +objects that have novelty, and circumstances which, as Mr. Bayes says, +'elevate and surprise.' She lost, when an infant, her mother, a woman of +sense and piety; who, had she lived, would have formed the ductile mind +of the daughter, turned her various talents into other channels, and +raised her character to the elevation it was meant to reach."</p> + +<p>"How melancholy a consideration is it," said I, "that so superior a +woman should live so much below her high destination! She is doubtless +utterly destitute of any thought of religion."</p> + +<p>"You are much mistaken," replied Sir John, "I will not indeed venture to +pronounce that she entertains much <i>thought</i> about it; but she by no +means denies its truth, nor neglects occasionally to exhibit its outward +and visible signs. She has not yet completely forgotten</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">All that the nurse and all the priest have taught.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I do not think that, like Lady Denham, she considers it as a +commutation, but she preserves it as a habit. A religious exercise, +however, never interferes with a worldly one. They are taken up in +succession, but with this distinction, the worldly business is to be +done, the religious one is not altogether to be left undone. She has a +moral chemistry which excels in the amalgamation of contradictory +ingredients. On a Sunday at Melbury castle if by any strange accident +she and her lord happen to be there together, she first reads him a +sermon, and plays at cribbage with him the rest of the evening. In town +one Sunday when she had a cold she wrote a tract on the sacrament, for +her maids, and then sat up all night at deep play. She declared if she +had been successful she would have given her winnings to charity; but as +she lost some hundreds, she said she could now with a safe conscience +borrow that sum from her charity purse, which she had hoped to add to +it, to pay her debt of honor."</p> + +<p>Next day, within two hours of her appointed time, she came, and was +complimented by Sir John on her punctuality. "Indeed," said she, "I <i>am</i> +rather late, but I met with such a fascinating German novel, that it +positively chained me to my bed till past three. I assure you, I never +lose time by not rising. In the course of a few winters I have exhausted +half Hookham's catalogue, before some of my acquaintance are awake, or I +myself out of bed."</p> + +<p>We soon stopped at the humble door of which we were in search. Sir John +conducted Lady Melbury up the little winding stairs. I assisted Lady +Belfield. We reached the room, where Fanny was just finishing a +beautiful bunch of jonquils. "How picturesque," whispered Lady Melbury +to me. "Do lend me your pencil; I must take a sketch of that sweet girl +with the jonquils in her hand. My dear creature," continued she, "you +must not only let me have these, but you must make me twelve dozen more +flowers as fast as possible, and be sure let me have a great many sprigs +of jessamine and myrtle." Then snatching up a wreath of various colored +geraniums—"I must try this on my head by the glass." So saying she ran +into an adjoining room, the door of which was open; Lady Belfield having +before stolen into it to speak to the poor invalid.</p> + +<p>As soon as Lady Melbury got into the room, she uttered a loud shriek. +Sir John and I ran in, and were shocked to find her near fainting. "Oh, +Belfield," said she, "this is a trick, and a most cruel one! Why did you +not tell me where you were bringing me? Why did you not tell me the +people's name?" "I have never heard it myself," said Sir John, "on my +honor I do not understand you." "You know as much of the woman as I +know," said Lady Belfield. "Alas, much more," cried she, as fast as her +tears would give her leave to speak. She retired to the window for air, +wringing her hands, and called for a glass of water to keep her from +fainting. I turned to the sick woman for an explanation; I saw her +countenance much changed.</p> + +<p>"This sir," said she, "is the lady, whose debt of seven hundred pounds +ruined me, and was the death of my husband." I was thunderstruck, but +went to assist Lady Melbury, who implored Sir John to go home with her +instantly, saying, her coach should come back for us. "But, dear Lady +Belfield, do lend me twenty guineas, I have not a shilling about me." +"Then, my dear Lady Melbury," said Lady Belfield, "how <i>could</i> you order +twelve dozen expensive flowers?" "Oh," said she, "I did not mean to have +paid for them till next year." "And how," replied Lady Belfield, "could +the debt which was not to have been paid for a twelvemonth have relieved +the pressing wants of a creature who must pay ready money for her +materials? However, as you are so distressed we will contrive to do +without your money." "I would pawn my diamond necklace directly," +returned she, but speaking lower, "to own the truth, it is already in +the jeweler's hands, and I wear a paste necklace of the same form."</p> + +<p>Sir John knowing I had been at my banker's that morning, gave me such a +significant look as restrained my hand, which was already on my +pocket-book. In great seeming anguish, she gave Sir John her hand, who +conducted her to her coach. As he was leading her down stairs, she +solemnly declared she would never again run in debt, never order more +things than she wanted, and above all, would never play while she lived. +She was miserable, because she durst not ask Lord Melbury to pay this +woman, he having already given her money three times for the purpose, +which she had lost at Faro. Then retracting, she protested, if ever she +<i>did</i> touch a card again, it should be for the sole purpose of getting +something to discharge this debt. Sir John earnestly conjured her not to +lay "that flattering unction to her soul," but to convert the present +vexation into an occasion of felicity, by making it the memorable and +happy era of abandoning a practice which injured her fortune, her fame, +her principles, and her peace. "Poor thing," said Sir John, when he +repeated this to us,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"Ease will recant<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Vows made in pain, as violent and void."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"In an interval of weeping, she told me," added he, "that she was to be +at the opera to-night. To the opera Faro will succeed, and to-morrow +probably the diamond earrings will go to Grey's in pursuit of the +necklace."</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield inquired of Fanny how it happened that Lady Melbury, who +talked with <i>her</i>, without surprise or emotion, discovered so much of +both at the bare sight of her mother. The girl explained this by saying, +that she had never been in the way while they lived in Bond-street when +her ladyship used to come, having been always employed in an upper room, +or attending her masters.</p> + +<p>Before we parted, effectual measures were taken for the comfortable +subsistence of the sick mother, and for alleviating the sorrows, and +lightening the labors of her daughter, and next morning I set out on my +journey for Stanley Grove, Sir John and Lady Belfield promising to +follow me in a few weeks.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>As soon as I got into my post-chaise, and fairly turned my back on +London, I fell into a variety of reflections on the persons with whom I +had been living. In this soliloquy, I was particularly struck with that +discrepancy of characters, all of which are yet included under the broad +comprehensive appellation of <i>Christians</i>. I found that though all +differed widely from each other, they differed still more widely from +that rule by which they professed to walk. Yet not one of these +characters was considered as disreputable. There was not one that was +profane or profligate. Not one who would not in conversation have +defended Christianity if its truth had been attacked. Not one who +derided or even neglected its forms; and who in her own class would not +have passed for religious. Yet how little had any one of them adorned +the profession she adopted! Of Mrs. Ranby, Mrs. Fentham, Lady Bab +Lawless, Lady Denham, Lady Melbury, which of them would not have been +startled had her Christianity been called in question? Yet how merely +speculative was the religion of even the most serious among them! How +superficial, or inconsistent, or mistaken, or hollow, or hypocritical, +or self-deceiving was that of all the others! Had either of them been +asked from what source she drew her religion, she would indignantly have +answered, from the Bible. Yet if we compare the copy with the model, +the Christian with Christianity, how little can we trace the +resemblance! In what particular did their lives imitate the life of Him +<i>who pleased not himself</i>, who <i>did the will of his Father</i>; who <i>went +about doing good</i>? How irreconcilable is their faith with the principles +which He taught! How dissimilar their practice with the precepts He +delivered! How inconsistent their lives with the example He bequeathed! +How unfounded their hope of heaven, if an entrance into heaven be +restricted to those who are <i>like minded with Christ</i>!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + + +<p>My father had been early in life intimately connected with the family of +Mr. Stanley. Though this gentleman was his junior by several years, yet +there subsisted between them such a similarity of tastes, sentiments, +views, and principles, that they lived in the closest friendship; and +both their families having in the early part of their lives resided in +London, the occasions of that thorough mutual knowledge that grows out +of familiar intercourse, were much facilitated. I remembered Mr. +Stanley, when I was a very little boy, paying an annual visit to my +father at the Priory, and I had retained an imperfect but pleasing +impression of his countenance and engaging manners.</p> + +<p>Having had a large estate left him in Hampshire, he settled there on his +marriage; an intercourse of letters had kept up the mutual attachment +between him and my father. On the death of each parent, I had received a +cordial invitation to come and soothe my sorrows in his society. My +father enjoined me that one of my first visits after his death, should +be to the Grove; and in truth I now considered my Hampshire engagement +as the <i>bonne bouche</i> of my southern excursion.</p> + +<p>I reached Stanley Grove before dinner. I found a spacious mansion, +suited to the ample fortune and liberal spirit of its possessor. I was +highly gratified with fine forest scenery in the approach to the park. +The house had a noble appearance without; and within, it was at once +commodious and elegant. It stood on the south side of a hill, nearer the +bottom than the summit, and was sheltered on the north-east by a fine +old wood. The park, though it was not very extensive, was striking from +the beautiful inequality of the ground, which was richly clothed with +the most picturesque oaks I ever saw, interspersed with stately beeches. +The grounds were laid out in good taste, but though the hand of modern +improvement was visible, the owner had in one instance spared</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The obsolete prolixity of shade,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>for which the most interesting of poets so pathetically pleads. The +poet's plea had saved the avenue.</p> + +<p>I was cordially welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Stanley; and by that powerful +and instantaneous impression which fine sense and good breeding, joined +to high previous veneration of character, produce on the feelings of the +guest, I at once felt myself at home. All the preliminaries of gradual +acquaintance were in a manner superseded, and I soon experienced that +warm and affectionate esteem, which seemed scarcely to require +intercourse to strengthen, or time to confirm it. Mr. Stanley had only a +few minutes to present me to his lady and two lovely daughters, before +we were summoned to dinner, to which a considerable party had been +invited; for the neighborhood was populous and rather polished.</p> + +<p>The conversation after dinner was rational, animated, and instructive. I +observed that Mr. Stanley lost no opportunity, which fairly offered, for +suggesting useful reflections. But what chiefly struck me in his manner +of conversing, was, that without ever pressing religion unseasonably +into the service, he had the talent of making the most ordinary topics +subservient to instruction, and of extracting some profitable hint, or +striking out some important light, from subjects which, in ordinary +hands, would have been unproductive of improvement. It was evident that +piety was the predominating principle of his mind, and that he was +consulting its interests as carefully when prudence made him forbear to +press it, as when propriety allowed him to introduce it. This piety was +rather visible in the sentiment than the phrase. He was of opinion that +bad taste could never advance the interests of Christianity. And he gave +less offense to worldly men, than most religious people I have known, +because though he would, on no human consideration, abate one atom of +zeal, or lower any doctrine, nor disguise any truth, nor palliate, nor +trim, nor compromise, yet he never contended for words or trifling +distinctions. He thought it detracted from no man's piety to bring all +his elegance of expression, his correctness of taste, and his accuracy +of reasoning to the service of that cause which lies the nearest to the +heart of every Christian, and demands the exertion of his best +faculties.</p> + +<p>He was also forward to promote subjects of practical use in the affairs +of common life, suited to the several circumstances and pursuits of his +guests. But he particularly rejoiced that there was so broad, and safe, +and uninclosed a field as general literature. This he observed always +supplies men of education with an ample refuge from all vulgar, and +dangerous, and unproductive topics. "If we can not," said he, "by +friendly intercourse, always raise our principles, we may always keep +our understanding in exercise; and those authors who supply so peccable +a creature as man with subjects of elegant and innocent discussion, I do +not reckon among the lowest benefactors of mankind."</p> + +<p>In my further acquaintance with Mr. Stanley, I have sometimes observed +with what address he has converted a merely moral passage to a religious +purpose. I have known him, when conversing with a man who would not have +relished a more sacred authority, seize on a sentiment in Tully's +Offices, for the lowest degree in his scale of morals, and then +gradually ascending, trace and exalt the same thought through Paley or +Johnson, or Addison or Bacon, till he has unsuspectedly landed his +opponent in the pure ethics of the Gospel, and surprised him into the +adoption of a Christian principle.</p> + +<p>As I had heard there was a fine little flock of children, I was +surprised, and almost disappointed every time the door opened, not to +see them appear, for I already began to take an interest in all that +related to this most engaging family. The ladies having, to our great +gratification, sat longer than is usual at most tables, at length obeyed +the signal of the mistress of the house. They withdrew, followed by the +Miss Stanleys,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">With grace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which won who saw to wish their stay.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>After their departure the conversation was not changed. There was no +occasion; it could not become more rational, and we did not desire that +it should become less pure. Mrs. Stanley and her fair friends had taken +their share in it with a good sense and delicacy which raised the tone +of our society; and we did not give them to understand by a loud laugh +before they were out of hearing, that we rejoiced in being emancipated +from the restraint of their presence.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stanley is a graceful and elegant woman. Among a thousand other +excellences, she is distinguished for her judgment in adapting her +discourse to the character of her guests, and for being singularly +skillful in selecting her topics of conversation. I never saw a lady who +possessed the talent of diffusing at her table so much pleasure to those +around her, without the smallest deviation from her own dignified +purity. She asks such questions as strangers may be likely to gain, at +least not to lose, credit by answering; and she suits her interrogations +to the kind of knowledge they may be supposed likely to possess. By +this, two ends are answered: while she gives her guest an occasion of +appearing to advantage, she puts herself in the way of gaining some +information. From want of this discernment, I have known ladies ask a +gentleman just arrived from the East Indies, questions about America; +and others, from the absence of that true delicacy, which, where it +exists, shows itself even on the smallest occasions, who have inquired +of a person how he liked such a book, though she knew, that in the +nature of things, there was no probability of his ever having heard of +it: thus assuming an ungenerous superiority herself, and mortifying +another by a sense of his own comparative ignorance. If there is any one +at table who from his station has least claim to attention, he is sure +to be treated with particular kindness by Mrs. Stanley, and the +diffident never fail to be encouraged, and the modest to be brought +forward, by the kindness and refinement of her attentions.</p> + +<p>When we were summoned to the drawing-room, I was delighted to see four +beautiful children, fresh as health and gay as youth could make them, +busily engaged with the ladies. One was romping; another singing; a +third was showing some drawings of birds, the natural history of which +she seemed to understand; a fourth had spread a dissected map on the +carpet, and had pulled down her eldest sister on the floor to show her +Copenhagen. It was an animating scene. I could have devoured the sweet +creatures. I got credit with the little singer by helping her to a line +which she had forgotten, and with the geographer by my superior +acquaintance with the shores of the Baltic.</p> + +<p>In the evening when the company had left us, I asked Mrs. Stanley how +she came so far to deviate from established custom as not to produce her +children immediately after dinner? "You must ask me," said Mr. Stanley, +smiling, "for it was I who first ventured to suggest this bold +innovation. I love my children fondly, but my children I have always at +home; I have my friends but seldom; and I do not choose that any portion +of the time that I wish to dedicate to intellectual and social enjoyment +should be broken in upon by another, and an interfering pleasure, which +I have always within my reach. At the same time I like my children to +see my friends. Company amuses, improves, and polishes them. I therefore +consulted with Mrs. Stanley how we could so manage as to enjoy our +friends without locking up our children. She recommended this expedient. +The time, she said, spent by the ladies from their leaving the +dining-room till the gentlemen came in to tea, was often a little heavy, +it was rather an interval of anticipation than of enjoyment. Those +ladies who had not much <i>mind</i>, had soon exhausted their admiration of +each other's worked muslins, and lace sleeves; and those who <i>had</i>, +would be glad to rest it so agreeably. She therefore proposed to enliven +that dull period by introducing the children.</p> + +<p>"This little change has not only succeeded in our own family, but has +been adopted by many of our neighbors. For ourselves, it has answered a +double purpose. It not only delights the little things, but it delights +them with less injury than the usual season of their appearance. Our +children have always as much fruit as they like, after their own dinner; +they do not therefore want or desire the fruits, the sweetmeats, the +cakes, and the wine with which the guests, in order to please mamma, are +too apt to cram them. Besides, poor little dears, it mixes too much +selfishness with the natural delight they have in seeing company, by +connecting it with the idea of the good things they shall get. But by +this alteration we do all in our power to infuse a little +disinterestedness into the pleasure they have in coming to us. We love +them too tenderly to crib their little enjoyments, so we give them two +pleasures instead of one, for they have their dessert and our company in +succession."</p> + +<p>Though I do not approve of too great familiarity with servants, yet I +think that to an old and faithful domestic, superior consideration is +due. My attendant on my present tour had lived in our family from his +youth, and had the care of me before I can remember. His fidelity and +good sense, and I may add, his piety, had obtained for him the privilege +of free speaking. "Oh, sir," said he, when he came to attend me next +morning, "we are got into the right house at last. Such a family! so +godly! so sober! so charitable! 'Tis all of a piece here, sir. Mrs. +Comfit, the housekeeper, tells me that her master and mistress are the +example of all the rich, and the refuge of all the poor in the +neighborhood. And as to Miss Lucilla, if the blessing of them that are +ready to perish can send any body to heaven, she will go there sure +enough."</p> + +<p>This rhapsody of honest Edwards warmed my heart, and put me in mind that +I had neglected to inquire after this worthy housekeeper, who had lived +with my grandfather, and was at his death transplanted into the family +of Mr. Stanley. I paid a visit, the first opportunity, to the good +woman in her room, eager to learn more of a family who much resembled my +own parents, and for whom I had already conceived something more tender +than mere respect.</p> + +<p>I congratulated Mrs. Comfit on the happiness of living in so valuable a +family. In return, she was even eloquent in their praises. "Her +mistress," she said, "was a pattern for ladies, so strict, and yet so +kind! but now, indeed, Miss Lucilla has taken almost all the family +cares from her mamma. The day she was sixteen, sir, that is about two +years and a half ago, she began to inspect the household affairs a +little, and as her knowledge increased, she took more and more upon her. +Miss Ph[oe]be will very soon be old enough to relieve her sister; but my +mistress won't let her daughters have any thing to do with family +affairs till they are almost women grown, both for fear it should take +them off from their learning, and also give them a low turn about eating +and caring for niceties, and lead them into vulgar gossip and +familiarity with servants. It is time enough, she says, when their +characters are a little formed, they will then gain all the good and +escape all the danger."</p> + +<p>Seeing me listen with the most eager and delighted attention, the worthy +woman proceeded. "In summer, sir, Miss Stanley rises at six, and spends +two hours in her closet, which is stored with the best books. At eight +she consults me on the state of provisions, and other family matters, +and gives me a bill of fare, subject to the inspection of her mamma. The +cook has great pleasure in acting under her direction, because she +allows that Miss understands when things are well done, and never finds +fault in the wrong place; which, she says, is a great mortification in +serving ignorant ladies, who praise or find fault by chance, not +according to the cook's performance, but their own humor. She looks +over my accounts every week, which being kept so short, give her but +little trouble, and once a month she settles every thing with her +mother.</p> + +<p>"'Tis a pleasure, sir, to see how skillful she is in accounts! One can't +impose upon her a farthing if one would; and yet she is so mild and so +reasonable! and so quick at distinguishing what are mistakes, and what +are willful faults! Then she is so compassionate! It will be a +heart-breaking day at the Grove, sir, whenever Miss marries. When my +master is sick, she writes his letters, reads to him, and assists her +mamma in nursing him.</p> + +<p>"After her morning's work, sir, does she come into company, tired and +cross, as ladies do who have done nothing or are but just up? No, she +comes in to make breakfast for her parents, as fresh as a rose, and as +gay as a lark. An hour after breakfast, she and my master read some +learned books together. She then assists in teaching her little sisters, +and never were children better instructed. One day in a week, she sets +aside both for them and herself to work for the poor, whom she also +regularly visits at their own cottages, two evenings in the week; for +she says it would be troublesome and look ostentatious to have her +father's doors crowded with poor people, neither could she get at their +wants and their characters half so well as by going herself to their own +houses. My dear mistress has given her a small room as a store-house for +clothing and books for her indigent neighbors. In this room each of the +younger daughters, the day she is seven years old, has her own drawer, +with her name written on it; and almost the only competition among them +is, whose shall be soonest filled with caps, aprons, and handkerchiefs. +The working day is commonly concluded by one of these charitable visits. +The dear creatures are loaded with their little work-baskets, crammed +with necessaries. This, sir, is the day—and it is always looked +forward to with pleasure by them all. Even little Celia, the youngest, +who is but just turned of five, will come to me and beg for something +good to put in her basket for poor Mary or Betty such a one. I wonder I +do not see any thing of the little darlings; it is about the time they +used to pay me a visit.</p> + +<p>"On Sundays before church they attend the village school; when the +week's pocket-money, which has been carefully hoarded for the purpose, +is produced for rewards to the most deserving scholars. And yet, sir, +with all this, you may be in the house a month without hearing a word of +the matter; it is all done so quietly; and when they meet at their meals +they are more cheerful and gay than if they had been ever so idle."</p> + +<p>Here Mrs. Comfit stopped, for just then two sweet little cherry-cheeked +figures presented themselves at the door, swinging a straw basket +between them, and crying out, in a little begging voice, "Pray, Mrs. +Comfit, bestow your charity—we want something coarse for the hungry, +and something nice for the sick—poor Dame Alice and her little +grand-daughter!" They were going on, but spying me, they colored up to +the ears, and ran away as fast as they could, though I did all in my +power to detain them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + + +<p>When Miss Stanley came in to make breakfast, she beautifully exemplified +the worthy housekeeper's description. I have sometimes seen young women, +whose simplicity was destitute of elegance, and others in whom a too +elaborate polish had nearly effaced their native graces: Lucilla +appeared to unite the simplicity of nature to the refinement of good +breeding. It was thus she struck me at first sight. I forbore to form a +decided opinion till I had leisure to observe whether her mind fulfilled +all that her looks promised.</p> + +<p>Lucilla Stanley is rather perfectly elegant than perfectly beautiful. I +have seen women as striking, but I never saw one so interesting. Her +beauty is countenance: it is the stamp of mind intelligibly printed on +the face. It is not so much the symmetry of features as the joint +triumph of intellect and sweet temper. A fine old poet has well +described her:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">Her pure and eloquent blood<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spoke in her cheeks and so distinctly wrought.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That one could almost say her body thought.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Her conversation, like her countenance, is compounded of liveliness, +sensibility, and delicacy. She does not say things to be quoted, but the +effect of her conversation is that it leaves an impression of pleasure +on the mind, and a love of goodness on the heart. She enlivens without +dazzling, and entertains without overpowering. Contented to please, she +has no ambition to shine. There is nothing like effort in her +expression, or vanity in her manner. She has rather a playful gayety +than a pointed wit. Of repartee she has little, and dislikes it in +others; yet I have seldom met with a truer taste for inoffensive wit. +This is indeed the predominating quality of her mind; and she may rather +be said to be a nice judge of the genius of others than to be a genius +herself. She has a quick perception of whatever is beautiful or +defective in composition or in character. The same true taste pervades +her writing, her conversation, her dress, her domestic arrangements, and +her gardening, for which last she has both a passion and a talent. +Though she has a correct ear, she neither sings nor plays; and her +taste is so exact in drawing, that she really seems to have <i>le compass +dans l'[oe]uil</i>; yet I never saw a pencil in her fingers, except to +sketch a seat or a bower for the pleasure-grounds. Her notions are too +just to allow her to be satisfied with mediocrity in any thing, and for +perfection in many things, she thinks that life is too short, and its +duties too various and important. Having five younger sisters to assist, +has induced her to neglect some acquisitions which she would have liked. +Had she been an only daughter, she owns that she would have indulged a +little more in the garnish and decoration of life.</p> + +<p>At her early age, the soundness of her judgment on persons and things +can not be derived from experience; she owes it to a <i>tact</i> so fine as +enables her to seize on the strong feature, the prominent circumstance, +the leading point, instead of confusing her mind and dissipating her +attention, on the inferior parts of a character, a book, or a business. +This justness of thinking teaches her to rate things according to their +worth, and to arrange them according to their place. Her manner of +speaking adds to the effect of her words, and the tone of her voice +expresses with singular felicity, gayety or kindness, as her feelings +direct, and the occasion demands. This manner is so natural, and her +sentiments spring so spontaneously from the occasion, that it is obvious +that display is never in her head, nor an eagerness for praise in her +heart. I never heard her utter a word which I could have wished unsaid, +or a sentiment I could have wished unthought.</p> + +<p>As to her dress, it reminds me of what Dr. Johnson once said to an +acquaintance of mine, of a lady who was celebrated for dressing well. +"The best evidence that I can give you of her perfection in this respect +is, that one can never remember what she had on." The dress of Lucilla +is not neglected, and it is not studied. She is as neat as the strictest +delicacy <i>demands</i>, and as fashionable as the strictest delicacy +<i>permits</i>; and her nymph-like form does not appear to less advantage for +being vailed with scrupulous modesty.</p> + +<p>Oh! if women in general knew what was their real interest! if they could +guess with what a charm even the <i>appearance</i> of modesty invests its +possessor, they would dress decorously from mere self-love, if not from +principle. The designing would assume modesty as an artifice, the coquet +would adopt it as an allurement, the pure as her appropriate attraction, +and the voluptuous as the most infallible art of seduction.</p> + +<p>What I admire in Miss Stanley, and what I have sometime regretted the +want of in some other women, is, that I am told she is so lively, so +playful, so desirous of amusing her father and mother when alone, that +they are seldom so gay as in their family party. It is then that her +talents are all unfolded, and that her liveliness is without restraint. +She was rather silent the two or three first days after my arrival, yet +it was evidently not the silence of reserve or inattention, but of +delicate propriety. Her gentle frankness and undesigning temper +gradually got the better of this little shyness, and she soon began to +treat me as the son of her father's friend. I very early found, that +though a stranger might behold her without admiration, it was impossible +to converse with her with indifference. Before I had been a week at the +Grove, my precautions vanished, my panoply was gone, and yet I had not +consulted Mr. Stanley.</p> + +<p>In contemplating the captivating figure, and the delicate mind of this +charming girl, I felt that imagination, which misleads so many youthful +hearts, had preserved mine. The image my fancy had framed, and which had +been suggested by Milton's heroine, had been refined indeed, but it had +not been romantic. I had early formed an ideal standard in my mind; too +high, perhaps; but its very elevation had rescued me from the common +dangers attending the society of the sex. I was continually comparing +the women with whom I conversed, with the fair conception which filled +my mind. The comparison might be unfair to them; I am sure it was not +unfavorable to myself, for it preserved me from the fascination of mere +personal beauty, the allurements of fictitious character, and the +attractions of ordinary merit.</p> + +<p>I am aware that love is apt to throw a radiance around the being it +prefers, till it becomes dazzled, less perhaps with the brightness of +the object itself, than with the beams with which imagination has +invested it. But religion, though it had not subdued my imagination, had +chastised it. It had sobered the splendors of fancy, without obscuring +them. It had not extinguished the passions, but it had taught me to +regulate them.——I now seemed to have found the being of whom I had +been in search. My mind felt her excellences, my heart acknowledged its +conqueror. I struggled, however, not to abandon myself to its impulses. +I endeavored to keep my own feelings in order, till I had time to +appreciate a character which appeared as artless as it was correct. And +I did not allow myself to make this slight sketch of Lucilla, and of the +effect she produced on my heart, till more intimate acquaintance had +justified my prepossessions.</p> + +<p>But let me not forget that Mr. Stanley had another daughter. If +Lucilla's character is more elevated, Ph[oe]be's is not less amiable. +Her face is equally handsome, but her figure is somewhat less delicate. +She has a fine temper, and strong virtues. The little faults she has, +seem to flow from the excess of her good qualities. Her susceptibility +is extreme, and to guide and guard it, finds employment for her +mother's fondness, and her father's prudence. Her heart overflows with +gratitude for the smallest service. This warmth of her tenderness keeps +her affections in more lively exercise than her judgment; it leads her +to over-rate the merit of those she loves, and to estimate their +excellences, less by their own worth than by their kindness to her. She +soon behaved to me with the most engaging frankness, and her innocent +vivacity encouraged, in return, that affectionate freedom with which one +treats a beloved sister.</p> + +<p>The other children are gay, lovely, interesting, and sweet-tempered. +Their several acquisitions, for I detest the term <i>accomplishments</i>, +since it has been warped from the true meaning in which Milton used it, +seem to be so many individual contributions brought in to enrich the +common stock of domestic delight. Their talents are never put into +exercise by artificial excitements. Habitual industry, quiet exertion, +successive employments, affectionate intercourse, and gay and animated +relaxation, make up the round of their cheerful day.</p> + +<p>I could not forbear admiring in this happy family the graceful union of +piety with cheerfulness; strictness of principle embellished, but never +relaxed by gayety of manners; a gayety, not such as requires turbulent +pleasures to stimulate it, but evidently the serene, yet animated, +result of well-regulated minds;—of minds actuated by a tenderness of +conscience, habitually alive to the perception of the smallest sin, and +kindling into holy gratitude at the smallest mercy.</p> + +<p>I often called to my mind that my father, in order to prevent my being +deceived, and run away with by persons who appeared lively at first +sight, had early accustomed me to discriminate carefully, whether it was +not the <i>animal</i> only that was lively, and the man dull. I have found +this caution of no small use in my observations on the other sex. I had +frequently remarked, that the musical and the dancing ladies, and those +who were most admired for modish attainments, had little <i>intellectual</i> +gayety. In numerous instances I found that the mind was the only part +which was not kept in action; and no wonder, for it was the only part +which had received no previous forming, no preparatory molding.</p> + +<p>When I mentioned this to Mr. Stanley, "the education," replied he, +"which now prevails, is a Mohammedan education. It consists entirely in +making woman an object of attraction. There are, however, a few +reasonable people left, who, while they retain the object, improve upon +the plan. They too would make woman attractive; but it is by sedulously +laboring to make the understanding, the temper, the mind, and the +manners of their daughters, as engaging as these Circassian parents +endeavor to make the person."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + + +<p>The friendly rector frequently visited at Stanley Grove, and, for my +father's sake, honored me with his particular kindness. Dr. Barlow +filled up all my ideas of a country clergyman of the higher class. There +is a uniform consistency runs through his whole life and character, +which often brings to my mind, allowing for the revolution in habits +that almost two hundred years have necessarily produced, the +incomparable <i>country parson</i> of the ingenious Mr. George Herbert.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>"I never saw <i>Zeal without Innovation</i>," said Mr. Stanley, "more +exemplified than in Dr. Barlow. His piety is as enlightened as it is +sincere. No errors in religion escape him, through ignorance of their +existence, or through carelessness in their detection, or through +inactivity in opposing them. He is too honest not to attack the +prevailing evil, whatever shape it may assume; too correct to excite in +the wise any fears that his zeal may mislead his judgment, and too +upright to be afraid of the censures which active piety must ever have +to encounter from the worldly and the indifferent, from cold hearts and +unfurnished heads.</p> + +<p>"From his affectionate warmth, however, and his unremitting application, +arising from the vast importance he attaches to the worth of souls, the +man of the world might honor him with the title of enthusiast; while his +prudence, sober-mindedness, and regularity, would draw on him from the +fanatic, the appellation of formalist. Though he is far from being +'content to <i>dwell</i> in decencies,' he is careful never to neglect them. +He is a clergyman all the week as well as on Sunday; for he says, if he +did not spend much of the intermediate time in pastoral visits, there +could not be kept up that mutual intercourse of kindness which so much +facilitates his own labors, and his people's improvement. They listen to +him because they love him, and they understand him, because he has +familiarized them by private discourse to the great truths which he +delivers from the pulpit.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Barlow has greatly diminished the growth of innovation in his +parishes, by attacking the innovator with his own weapons. Not indeed by +stooping to the same disorderly practices, but by opposing an +enlightened earnestness to an eccentric earnestness; a zeal <i>with</i> +knowledge to a zeal <i>without</i> it. He is of opinion that activity does +more good than invective, and that the latter is too often resorted to, +because it is the cheaper substitute.</p> + +<p>"His charity, however, is large, and his spirit truly catholic. He +honors all his truly pious brethren, who are earnest in doing good, +though they may differ from him as to the manner of doing it. Yet his +candor never intrenches on his firmness; and while he will not dispute +with others about shades of difference, he maintains his own opinions +with the steadiness of one who embraced them on the fullest conviction.</p> + +<p>"He is a 'scholar, and being a good and a ripe one,' it sets him above +aiming at the paltry reputation to be acquired by those false +embellishments of style, those difficult and uncommon words, and that +labored inversion of sentences, by which some injudicious clergymen make +themselves unacceptable to the higher, and unintelligible to the lower, +and of course, the larger part of their audience. He always bears in +mind that the common people are not foolish, they are only ignorant. To +meet the one he preaches good sense, to suit the other, plain language. +But while he seldom shoots over the heads of the uninformed, he never +offends the judicious. He considers the advice of Polonius to his son +to be as applicable to preachers as to travelers—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"In his pulpit he is no wrangling polemic, but a genuine Bible +Christian, deeply impressed himself with the momentous truths he so +earnestly presses upon others. His mind is so imbued, so saturated, if I +may hazard the expression, with scriptural knowledge, that from that +rich store-house, he is ever ready to bring forth <i>treasures, new and +old</i>, and to apply them wisely, temperately, and seasonably.</p> + +<p>"Though he carefully inculcates universal holiness in all his +discourses, yet his practical instructions are constantly deduced from +those fundamental principles of Christianity which are the root and life +and spirit of all goodness. Next to a solid piety, and a deep +acquaintance with the Bible, he considers it of prime importance to a +clergyman to be thoroughly acquainted with human nature in general, and +with the state of his own parish in particular. The knowledge of both +will alone preserve him from preaching too personally so as to hurt, or +too generally so as not to touch.</p> + +<p>"He is careful not to hurry over the prayers in so cold, inattentive, +and careless a manner, as to make the audience suspect he is saving +himself, that he may make a greater figure in delivering the sermon. +Instead of this, the devout, reverential, and impressive manner in which +he pronounces the various parts of the Liturgy, best prepares his own +heart, and the hearts of his people, to receive benefit from his +discourse. His petitions are delivered with such sober fervor, his +exhortations with such humble dignity, his thanksgiving with such holy +animation as carry the soul of the hearer along with him. When he +ascends the pulpit, he never throws the liturgical service into the back +ground by a long elaborate composition of his own, delivered with +superior force and emphasis. And he pronounces the Lord's prayer with a +solemnity which shows that he recollects its importance and its author.</p> + +<p>"In preaching, he is careful to be distinctly heard, even by his +remotest auditors, and by constant attention to this important article, +he has brought his voice, which was not strong, to be particularly +audible. He affixes so much importance to a distinct delivery, that he +smilingly told me he suspected the grammatical definition of a +substantive was originally meant for a clergyman, whose great object it +was, if possible, <i>to be seen</i>, but indispensably to be <i>heard</i>, <i>felt</i>, +and <i>understood</i>.</p> + +<p>"His whole performance is distinguished by a grave and majestic +simplicity, as far removed from the careless reader of a common story, +as from the declamation of an actor. His hearers leave the church, not +so much in raptures with the preacher, as affected with the truths he +has delivered. He says, he always finds he has done most good when he +has been least praised, and that he feels most humbled when he receives +the warmest commendation, because men, generally extol most the sermons +which have probed them least; whereas those which really do good, being +often such as make them most uneasy, are consequently the least likely +to attract panegyric. '<i>They</i> only bear true testimony to the excellence +of a discourse,' added he, 'not who commend the composition or the +delivery, but who are led by it to examine their own hearts, to search +out its corruptions, and to reform their lives. Reformation is the +flattery I covet.'</p> + +<p>"He is aware that the generality of hearers like to retire from the +sermon with the comfortable belief, that little is to be done on <i>their</i> +parts. Such hearers he always disappoints, by leaving on their minds at +the close, some impressive precept deduced from, and growing out of, the +preparatory doctrine. He does not press any one truth to the exclusion +of all others. He proposes no subtleties, but labors to excite +seriousness, to alarm the careless, to quicken the supine, to confirm +the doubting. He presses eternal things as things near at hand; as +things in which every living man has an equal interest.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Stanley says, that though Dr. Barlow was considered at Cambridge as +a correct young man, who carefully avoided vice and even irregularity, +yet being cheerful, and addicted to good society, he had a disposition +to innocent conviviality, which might, unsuspectedly, have led him into +the errors he abhorred. He was struck with a passage in a letter from +Dr. Johnson to a young man who had just taken orders, in which, among +other wholesome counsel, he advises him 'to acquire the courage to +refuse <i>sometimes</i> invitations to dinner.' It is inconceivable what a +degree of force and independence his mind acquired by the occasional +adoption of this single hint. He is not only, Mr. Stanley, the spiritual +director, but the father, the counselor, the arbitrator, and the friend +of those whom Providence has placed under his instruction.</p> + +<p>"He is happy in an excellent wife, who, by bringing him a considerable +fortune, has greatly enlarged his power of doing good. But still more +essentially has she increased his happiness, and raised his character, +by her piety and prudence. By the large part she takes in his affairs, +he is enabled to give himself wholly up to the duties of his profession. +She is as attentive to the bodies, as her husband is to the souls of his +people, and educates her own family as sedulously as he instructs his +parish.</p> + +<p>"One day when I had been congratulating Dr. Barlow on the excellence of +his wife's character, the conversation fell, by a sudden transition, on +the celibacy of the Romish clergy. He smiled and said, 'Let us +ministers of the Reformation be careful never to provoke the people to +wish for the restoration of that part of popery. I often reflect how +peculiarly incumbent it is on us, to select such partners as shall never +cause our emancipation from the old restrictions to be regretted. And we +ourselves ought, by improving the character of our wives, to repay the +debt we owe to the ecclesiastical laws of Protestantism for the +privilege of possessing them.'</p> + +<p>"Will it be thought too trifling to add, how carefully this valuable +pair carry their consistency into the most minute details of their +family arrangements? Their daughters are no less patterns of decorum and +modesty in their dress and appearance, than in the more important parts +of their conduct. The Doctor says, 'that the most distant and +inconsiderable appendages to the temple of God, should have something of +purity and decency. Besides,' added he, 'with what face could I censure +improprieties from the pulpit, if the appearance of my own family in the +pew below were to set my precepts at defiance, by giving an example of +extravagance and vanity to the parish, and thus by making the preacher +ridiculous make his expostulations worse than ineffectual.</p> + +<p>"So conscientious a rector," added Mr. Stanley, "could not fail to be +particularly careful in the choice of a curate; and a more humble, +pious, diligent assistant than Mr. Jackson could not easily be found. He +is always a welcome guest at my table. But this valuable man, who was +about as good a judge of the world as the great Hooker, made just such +another indiscreet marriage. He was drawn in to choose his wife, the +daughter of a poor tradesman in the next town, because he concluded that +a woman bred in humble and active life, would necessarily be humble and +active herself. <i>Her</i> reason for accepting <i>him</i> was because she +thought that as every clergyman was a <i>gentleman</i>, she of course, as his +wife, should be a <i>gentlewoman</i>, and fit company for any body.</p> + +<p>"'He instructs my parish admirably,' said Dr. Barlow, 'but his own +little family he can not manage. His wife is continually reproaching +him, that though he may know the way to heaven, he does not know how to +push his way in the world. His daughter is the finest lady in the +parish, and outdoes them all, not only in the extremity, but the +immodesty of the fashion. It is her mother's great ambition that she +should excel the Miss Stanleys and my daughters in music, while her good +father's linen betrays sad marks of negligence. I once ventured to tell +Mrs. Jackson that there was only one reason which could excuse the +education she had given her daughter, which was that I presumed she +intended to qualify her for getting her bread; and that if she would +correct the improprieties of the girl's dress, and get her instructed in +useful knowledge, I would look out for a good situation for her. This +roused her indignation. She refused my offer with scorn, saying, that +when she asked my charity, she would take my advice; and desired that I +would remember that one clergyman's daughter was as good as another. I +told her that there was indeed a sense in which one clergyman was as +good as another, because the profession dignified the lowest of the +order, if, like her husband, he was a credit to that order. Yet still +there were gradations in the church as well as in the state. But between +the <i>wives</i> and <i>daughters</i> of the higher and lower clergy, there were +the same distinction which riches and poverty have established between +those of the higher and lower orders of the laity; and that rank and +independence in the one case, confer the same outward superiority with +rank and independence in the other."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + + +<p>Among the visitors at Stanley Grove, there was a family of ladies, who, +though not particularly brilliant, were singularly engaging from their +modesty, gentleness, and good sense. One day when they had just left us, +Mr. Stanley obliged me with the following little relation: Mrs. Stanley +and Lucilla only being present.</p> + +<p>"Lady Aston has been a widow almost seven years. On the death of Sir +George, she retired into this neighborhood with her daughters, the +eldest of whom is about the age of Lucilla. She herself had had a pious +but a very narrow education. Her excessive grief for the loss of her +husband augmented her natural love of retirement which she cultivated, +not to the purpose of improvement, but to the indulgence of melancholy. +Soon after she settled here, we heard how much good she did, and in how +exemplary a manner she lived, before we saw her. She was not very easy +of access even to us; and after we had made our way to her, we were the +only visitors she admitted for a long time. We soon learned to admire +her deadness to the world, and her unaffected humility. Our esteem for +her increased with our closer intercourse, which however enabled us also +to observe some considerable mistakes in her judgment, especially in the +mode in which she was training up her daughters. These errors we +regretted, and with all possible tenderness ventured to point out to +her. The girls were the prettiest demure little nuns you ever saw, mute +and timid, cheerless and inactive, but kind, good, and gentle.</p> + +<p>"Their pious mother, who was naturally of a fearful and doubting mind, +had had this pensive turn increased by several early domestic losses, +which, even previous to Sir George's death, had contributed to fix +something of a too tender and hopeless melancholy on her whole +character. There are two refuges for the afflicted; two diametrically +opposite ways of getting out of sorrow—religion and the world. Lady +Aston had wisely chosen the former. But her scrupulous spirit had made +the narrow way narrower than religion required. She read the Scriptures +diligently, and she prayed over them devoutly; but she had no judicious +friend to direct her in these important studies. As your Mrs. Ranby +attended only to the doctrines, and our friend Lady Belfield trusted +indefinitely to the promises, so poor Lady Aston's broken spirit was too +exclusively carried to dwell on the threatenings; together with the +rigid performance of those duties which she earnestly hoped might enable +her to escape them. This round of duty, of watchfulness, and prayer, she +invariably performed with almost the sanctity of an apostle, but with a +little too much of the scrupulosity of an ascetic. While too many were +rejoicing with unfounded confidence in those animating passages of +Scripture, which the whole tenor of their lives demonstrates not to +belong to them, she trembled at those denunciations which she could not +fairly apply to herself. And the promises from which she might have +derived reasonable consolation, she overlooked as designed for others.</p> + +<p>"Her piety, though sincere, was a little tinctured with superstition. If +any petty strictness was omitted, she tormented herself with causeless +remorse. If any little rule was broken, she repaired the failure with +treble diligence the following day; and labored to retrieve her +perplexed accounts with the comfortless anxiety of a person who is +working out a heavy debt. I endeavored to convince her, that an inferior +duty which clashed with one of a higher order, might be safely postponed +at least, if not omitted.</p> + +<p>"A diary has been found useful to many pious Christians, as a record of +their sins, and of their mercies. But this poor lady spent so much time +in weighing the offenses of one day against those of another, that +before the scruple was settled, the time for action was past. She +brought herself into so much perplexity by reading over this journal of +her infirmities, that her difficulties were augmented by the very means +she had employed to remove them; and her conscience was disturbed by the +method she had taken to quiet it. This plan, however, though distressing +to a troubled mind, is wholesome to one of a contrary cast.</p> + +<p>"<i>My</i> family, as you have seen, are rather exact in the distribution of +their time, but we do not distress ourselves at interruptions which are +unavoidable: but <i>her</i> arrangements were carried on with a rigor which +made her consider the smallest deviation as a sin that required severe +repentance. Her alms were expiations, her self-denials penances.</p> + +<p>"She was rather a disciple of the mortified Baptist, than of the merciful +Redeemer. Her devotions were sincere but discouraging. They consisted +much in contrition, but little in praise; much in sorrow for sin, but +little in hope of its pardon. She did not sufficiently cast her care and +confidence on the great propitiation. She firmly believed all that her +Saviour had done and suffered, but she had not the comfort of +practically appropriating the sacrifice. While she was painfully working +out her salvation with fear and trembling, she indulged the most +unfounded apprehensions of the divine displeasure. At Aston Hall the +Almighty was literally feared, but he was not glorified. It was the +obedience of a slave, and not the reverential affection of a child.</p> + +<p>"When I saw her denying herself and her daughters the most innocent +enjoyments, and suspecting sin in the most lawful indulgences, I took +the liberty to tell her how little acceptable uncommanded austerities +and arbitrary impositions were to the God of mercies. I observed to her +that the world, that human life, that our own sins and weaknesses, found +us daily and hourly occasions of exercising patience and self-denial; +that life is not entirely made up of great evils or heavy trials, but +that the perpetual recurrence of petty evils and small trials is the +ordinary and appointed exercise of the Christian graces. To bear with +the failings of those about us, with their infirmities, their bad +judgment, their ill-breeding, their perverse tempers; to endure neglect +where we feel we have deserved attention, and ingratitude where we +expected thanks; to bear with the company of disagreeable people, whom +Providence has placed in our way, and whom he has perhaps provided on +purpose for the trial of our virtue: these are the best exercises; and +the better because not chosen by ourselves. To bear with vexations in +business, with disappointments in our expectations, with interruptions +of our retirement, with folly, intrusion, disturbance, in short, with +whatever opposes our will, and contradicts our humor; this habitual +acquiescence appears to be more of the essence of self-denial than any +little rigors or inflictions of our own imposing. These constant, +inevitable, but inferior evils, properly improved, furnish a good moral +discipline, and might well in the days of ignorance have superseded +pilgrimage and penance. It has this advantage too over the other, that +it sweetens the temper and promotes humility, while the former gives +rigidness instead of strength, and inflexibility instead of firmness."</p> + +<p>"I have often thought," said I, when Mr. Stanley made a pause, "that we +are apt to mistake our vocation by looking out of the way for occasions +to exercise great and rare virtues, and by stepping over those ordinary +ones which lie directly in the road before us. When we read, we fancy we +could be martyrs, and when we come to act, we can not even bear a +provoking word."</p> + +<p>Miss Stanley looked pleased at my remark, and in a modest tone observed +that "in no one instance did we deceive ourselves more than in fancying +we could do great things well, which we were never likely to be called +to do at all; while, if we were honest, we could not avoid owning how +negligently we performed our own little appointed duties, and how +sedulously we avoided the petty inconveniences which these duties +involved."</p> + +<p>"By kindness," resumed Mr. Stanley, "we gradually gained Lady Aston's +confidence, and of that confidence we have availed ourselves to give +something of a new face to the family. Her daughters, good as they were +dutiful, by living in a solitude unenlivened by books, and unvaried by +improving company, had acquired a manner rather resembling fearfulness +than delicacy. Religious they were, but they had contracted gloomy views +of religion. They considered it as something that must be endured in +order to avoid punishment, rather than as a principle of peace, and +trust, and comfort; as a task to be gone through, rather than as a +privilege to be enjoyed. They were tempted to consider the Almighty as a +hard master, whom however they were resolved to serve, rather than as a +gracious father who was not only loving, but <span class="smcap">love</span> in the abstract. Their +mother was afraid to encourage a cheerful look, lest it might lead to +levity, or a sprightly thought, for fear it might have a wrong tendency. +She forgot, or rather she did not know, that young women were not formed +for contemplative life. She forgot that in all our plans and operations +we should still bear in mind that there are two worlds. As it is the +fault of too many to leave the <i>next</i> out of their calculation, it was +the error of Lady Aston, in forming the minds of her children, to leave +out <i>this</i>. She justly considered heaven as their great aim and end; but +neglected to qualify them for the present temporal life, on the due use +and employment of which so obviously depends the happiness of that which +is eternal.</p> + +<p>"Her charities were very extensive, but of these charities her sweet +daughters were not made the active dispensers, because an old servant, +who governed not only the family but her lady also, chose that office +herself. Thus the bounty being made to flow in partial channels, the +woman's relations and favorites almost entirely engrossing it, it did +little comparative good.</p> + +<p>"With fair understandings the Miss Astons had acquired very little +knowledge: their mother's scrupulous mind found something dangerous in +every author who did not professedly write on religious subjects. If +there were one exceptionable page in a book, otherwise valuable, instead +of suppressing the page, she suppressed the book. And indeed, my dear +Charles, grieved am I to think how few authors of the more entertaining +kind we <i>can</i> consider as perfectly pure, and put without caution, +restriction, or mutilation, into the hands of our daughters. I am, +however, of opinion, that as they will not always have their parents for +tasters, and as they will everywhere, even in the most select libraries, +meet with these mixed works, in which, though there is much to admire, +yet there is something to expunge, it is the safest way to accustom them +early to hear read the most unexceptionable parts of these books.</p> + +<p>"Read them yourself to them without any air of mystery; tell them that +what you omit is not worth reading, and then the omissions will not +excite but stifle curiosity. The books to which I allude are those where +the principle is sound and the tendency blameless, and where the few +faults consist rather in coarseness than in corruption.</p> + +<p>"But to return; she fancied that these inexperienced creatures, who had +never tried the world, and whose young imaginations had perhaps painted +it in all the brilliant colors with which erring fancy gilds the scenes +it has never beheld, and the pleasure it has never tried, could +renounce it as completely as herself, who had exhausted what it has to +give, and was weary of it. She thought they could live contentedly in +their closets, without considering that she had neglected to furnish +their minds with that knowledge which may make the closet a place of +enjoyment, by supplying the intervals of devotional with entertaining +reading.</p> + +<p>"We carried Lucilla and Ph[oe]be to visit them; I believe she was a +little afraid of their gay countenances. I talked to her of the +necessity of literature to inform her daughters, and of pleasures to +enliven them. The term pleasure alarmed her still more than that of +literature. 'What pleasures were allowed to religious people? She would +make her daughters as happy as she dared without offending her Maker.' I +quoted the devout but liberal Hooker, who exhorts us not to regard the +Almighty as a captious sophist, but as a merciful Father.</p> + +<p>"During this conversation we were sitting under the fine spreading oak +on my lawn, in front of that rich bank of flowers which you so much +admire. It was a lovely evening in the end of June, the setting sun was +all mild radiance, the sky all azure, the air all fragrance. The birds +were in full song. The children, sitting on the grass before us, were +weaving chaplets of wild flowers.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It looked like nature in the world's first spring.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"My heart was touched with joy and gratitude. 'Look, madam,' said I, 'at +the bountiful provision which a beneficent Father makes, not only for +the necessities, but for the pleasures of his children;</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">——not content<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With every food of life to nourish man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He makes all nature beauty to his eye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And music to his ear.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"'These flowers are of so little apparent use, that it might be thought +profuseness in any economy short of that which is divine, to gratify us +at once with such forms, and such hues, and such fragrance. It is a +gratification not necessary, yet exquisite, which lies somewhere between +the pleasure of sense and intellect, and in a measure partakes of both. +It elevates while it exhilarates, and lifts the soul from the gift to +the Giver. God has not left his goodness to be <i>inferred</i> from abstract +speculation, from the conclusions of reason, from deduction and +argument: we not only collect it from observation, but have palpable +evidences of his bounty, we feel it with our senses. Were God a hard +master, might he not withhold these superfluities of goodness? Do you +think he makes such rich provision for us, that we should shut our eyes +and close our ears to them? Does he present such gifts with one hand, +and hold in the other a stern interdict of 'touch not, taste not, handle +not?' And can you believe he is less munificent in the economy of grace, +than in that of nature? Do you imagine that he provides such abundant +supplies for our appetites and senses here, without providing more +substantial pleasures for our future enjoyment? Is not what we see a +prelude to what we hope for, a pledge of what we may expect? A specimen +of larger, higher, richer bounty, an encouraging cluster from the land +of promise? If from his works we turn to his word, we shall find the +same inexhaustible goodness exercised to still nobler purposes. Must we +not hope then, even by analogy, that he has in store blessings exalted +in their nature, and eternal in their duration, for all those who love +and serve him in the gospel of his Son?'</p> + +<p>"We now got on fast. She was delighted with my wife, and grew less and +less afraid of my girls. I believe, however, that we should have made a +quicker progress in gaining her confidence if we had looked less happy. +I suggested to her to endeavor to raise the tone of her daughters' +piety, to make their habits less monastic, their tempers more cheerful, +their virtues more active; to render their lives more useful, by making +them the immediate instruments of her charity; to take them out of +themselves, and teach them to compare their fictitious distresses with +real substantial misery, and to make them feel grateful for the power +and the privilege of relieving it.</p> + +<p>"As Dr. Barlow has two parishes which join, and we had pre-occupied the +ground in our own, I advised them to found a school in the next, for the +instruction of the young, and a friendly society for the aged of their +own sex. We prevailed on them to be themselves not the nominal but the +active patronesses; to take the measure of all the wants and all the +merit of their immediate neighborhood; to do every thing under the +advice and superintendence of Dr. Barlow, and to make him their 'guide, +philosopher, and friend.' By adopting this plan, they now see the +poverty of which they only used to hear, and know personally the +dependants whom they protect.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Barlow took infinite pains to correct Lady Aston's views of +religion. 'Let your notions of God,' said he, 'be founded, not on your +own gloomy apprehensions, and visionary imaginations, but on what is +revealed in his word, else the very intenseness of your feelings, the +very sincerity of your devotion, may betray you into enthusiasm, into +error, into superstition, into despair. Spiritual notions which are not +grounded on scriptural truth, and directed and guarded by a close +adherence to it, mislead tender hearts and warm imaginations. But while +you rest on the sure unperverted foundation of the word of God, and pray +for his Spirit to assist you in the use of his word, you will have +little cause to dread that you shall fear him too much, or serve him too +well. I earnestly exhort you,' continued he, 'not to take the measure of +your spiritual state from circumstances which have nothing to do with +it. Be not dismayed at an incidental depression which may depend on the +state of your health, or your spirits, or your affairs. Look not for +sensible communications. Do not consider rapturous feelings as any +criterion of the favor of your Maker, nor the absence of them as any +indication of his displeasure. An increasing desire to know him more, +and serve him better; an increasing desire to do, and to suffer his +whole will; a growing resignation to his providential dispensations is a +much surer, a much more unequivocal test.'</p> + +<p>"I next," continued Mr. Stanley, "carried our worthy curate, Mr. +Jackson, to visit her, and proposed that she should engage him to spend +a few hours every week with the young ladies. I recommended that after +he had read with them a portion of Scripture, of which he would give +them a sound and plain exposition, he should convince them he had not +the worse taste for being religious, by reading with them some books of +general instruction, history, travels, and polite literature. This would +imbue their minds with useful knowledge, form their taste, and fill up +profitably and pleasantly that time which now lay heavy on their hands; +and, without intrenching on any of their duties, would qualify them to +discharge them more cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"I next suggested that they should study gardening; and that they should +put themselves under the tuition of Lucilla, who is become the little +Repton of the valley. To add to the interest, I requested that a fresh +piece of ground might be given them, that they might not only exercise +their taste, but be animated with seeing the complete effect of their +own exertions, as a creation of their own would be likely to afford them +more amusement than improving on the labors of another.</p> + +<p>"I had soon the gratification of seeing my little Carmelites, who used +when they walked in the garden to look as if they came to dig a daily +portion of their own graves, now enjoying it, embellishing it, and +delighted by watching its progress; and their excellent mother, who, +like Spenser's Despair, used to look 'as if she never dined,' now +enjoying the company of her select friends. The mother is become almost +cheerful, and the daughters almost gay. Their dormant faculties are +awakened. Time is no longer a burden, but a blessing: the day is too +short for their duties, which are performed with alacrity since they +have been converted into pleasures. You will believe I did not hazard +all these terrible innovations as rapidly as I recount them, but +gradually, as they were able to bear it.</p> + +<p>"This happy change in themselves has had the happiest consequences. +Their friends had conceived the strongest prejudices against religion, +from the gloomy garb in which they had seen it arrayed at Aston Hall. +The uncle who was also the guardian, had threatened to remove the girls +before they were quite moped to death; the young baronet was actually +forbidden to come home at the holidays; but now the uncle is quite +reconciled to them, and almost to <i>religion</i>. He has resumed his +fondness for the daughters; and their brother, a fine youth at +Cambridge, is happy in spending his vacations with his family, to whom +he is become tenderly attached. He has had his own principles and +character much raised by the conversation and example of Dr. Barlow, who +contrives to be at Aston Hall as much as possible when Sir George is +there. He is daily expected to make his mother a visit, when I shall +recommend him to your particular notice and acquaintance."</p> + +<p>Lucilla blushing, said, she thought her father had too exclusively +recommended the <i>brother</i> to my friendship; she would venture to say the +<i>sisters</i> were equally worthy of my regard, adding, in an affectionate +tone, "they are every thing that is amiable and kind. The more you know +them, sir, the more you will admire them; for their good qualities are +kept back by the best quality of all, their modesty." This candid and +liberal praise did not sink the fair eulogist herself in my esteem.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + + +<p>I had now been near three weeks at the Grove. Ever since my arrival I +had contracted the habit of pouring out my heart to Mr. and Mrs. Stanley +with grateful affection and filial confidence. I still continued to do +so on all subjects except one.</p> + +<p>The more I saw of Lucilla, the more difficult I found it to resist her +numberless attractions. I could not persuade myself that either prudence +or duty demanded that I should guard my heart against such a combination +of amiable virtues and gentle graces: virtues and graces which, as I +before observed, my mind had long been combining as a delightful idea, +and which I now saw realized in a form more engaging than even my own +imagination had allowed itself to picture.</p> + +<p>I did not feel courage sufficient to risk the happiness I actually +enjoyed, by aspiring too suddenly to a happiness more perfect. I dared +not yet avow to the parents, or the daughter, feelings which my fears +told me might possibly be discouraged, and which, if discouraged, would +at once dash to the ground a fabric of felicity that my heart, not my +fancy, had erected, and which my taste, my judgment, and my principles +equally approved, and delighted to contemplate.</p> + +<p>The great critic of antiquity, in his treatise on the drama, observes +that the introduction of a new person is of the next importance to a new +incident. Whether the introduction of two interlocutors is equal in +importance to two incidents, Aristotle has forgotten to establish. This +dramatic rule was illustrated by the arrival of Sir John and Lady +Belfield, who, though not new to the reader or the writer, were new at +Stanley Grove.</p> + +<p>The early friendship of the two gentlemen had suffered little diminution +from absence, though their intercourse had been much interrupted. Sir +John, who was a few years younger than his friend, since his marriage, +having lived as entirely in town as Mr. Stanley had done in the country. +Mrs. Stanley had, indeed, seen Lady Belfield a few times in +Cavendish-square, but her ladyship had never before been introduced to +the other inhabitants of the Grove.</p> + +<p>The guests were received with cordial affection, and easily fell into +the family habits, which they did not wish to interrupt, but from the +observation of which they hoped to improve their own. They were charmed +with the interesting variety of characters in the lovely young family, +who in return were delighted with the politeness, kindness, and +cheerfulness of their father's guests.</p> + +<p>Shall I avow my own meanness? Cordially as I loved the Belfields, I am +afraid I saw them arrive with a slight tincture of jealousy. They would, +I thought, by enlarging the family circle, throw me at a further +distance from the being whom I wished to contemplate nearly. They would, +by dividing her attention, diminish my proportion. I had been hitherto +the sole guest, I was now to be one of several. This was the first +discovery I made that love is a narrower of the heart. I tried to subdue +the ungenerous feeling, and to meet my valuable friends with a warmth +adequate to that which they so kindly manifested. I found that a wrong +feeling at which one has virtue enough left to blush, is seldom lasting, +and shame soon expelled it.</p> + +<p>The first day was passed in mutual inquiries and mutual communications. +Lady Belfield told me that the amiable Fanny, after having wept over the +grave of her mother, was removed to the house of the benevolent +clergyman, who had kindly promised her an asylum till Lady Belfield's +return to town, when it was intended she should be received into her +family; that worthy man and his wife having taken on themselves a full +responsibility for her character and disposition; and generously +promised that they would exert themselves to advance her progress in +knowledge during the interval. Lady Belfield added, that every inquiry +respecting Fanny, whom we must now call Miss Stokes, had been attended +with the most satisfactory result, her principles being as +unquestionable as her talents.</p> + +<p>After dinner, I observed that whenever the door opened, Lady Belfield's +eye was always turned toward it, in expectation of seeing the children. +Her affectionate heart felt disappointed on finding that they did not +appear, and she could not forbear whispering to me, who sat next her, +"that she was afraid the piety of our good friends was a little +tinctured with severity. For her part, she saw no reason why religion +should diminish one's affection for one's children, and rob them of +their innocent pleasures." I assured her gravely I thought so too; but +forbore telling her how totally inapposite her application was to Mr. +and Mrs. Stanley. She seemed glad to find me of her opinion, and gave up +all hope of seeing the "little melancholy recluses," as she called them, +"unless," she said, laughing, "she might be permitted to look at them +through the grate of their cells." I smiled, but did not undeceive her, +and affected to join in her compassion. When we went to attend the +ladies in the drawing-room, I was delighted to find lady Belfield +sitting on a low stool, the whole gay group at play around her. A blush +mixed itself with her good-natured smile as we interchanged a +significant look. She was questioning one of the elder ones, while the +youngest sat on her lap singing. Sir John entered, with that kindness +and good humor so natural to him, into the sports of the others, who, +though wild with health and spirits, were always gentle and docile. He +had a thousand pleasant things to entertain them with. He, too, it +seems, had not been without his misgivings.</p> + +<p>"Are not these poor miserable recluses?" whispered I maliciously to her +ladyship, "and are not these rueful looks proof positive that religion +diminishes our affection for our children? and is it not abridging their +innocent pleasures, to give them their full range in a fresh airy +apartment, instead of cramming them into an eating-room, of which the +air is made almost fetid by the fumes of the dinner and a crowded table? +and is it not better that they should spoil the pleasure of the company, +though the mischief they do is bought by the sacrifice of their own +liberty?" "I make my <i>amende</i>," said she. "I never will be so forward +again to suspect piety of ill nature." "So far from it, Caroline," said +Sir John, "that we will adopt the practice we were so forward to blame; +and I shall not do it," said he, "more from regard to the company, than +to the children, who I am sure will be gainers in point of enjoyment; +liberty, I perceive, is to them positive pleasure, and paramount to any +which our false epicurism can contrive for them."</p> + +<p>"Well, Charles," said Sir John, as soon as he saw me alone, "now tell us +about this Lucilla, this paragon, this nonpareil of Dr. Barlow's. Tell +me what is she? or rather what is she not?"</p> + +<p>"First," replied I, "I will as you desire, define her by negatives—she +is <i>not</i> a professed beauty, she is <i>not</i> a professed genius, she is +<i>not</i> a professed philosopher, she is <i>not</i> a professed wit, she is +<i>not</i> a professed any thing; and, I thank my stars, she is <i>not</i> an +artist!" "Bravo, Charles, now as to what she is." "She is," replied I, +"from nature—a woman, gentle, feeling, animated, modest. She is by +education, elegant, informed, enlightened. She is, from religion, pious, +humble, candid, charitable."</p> + +<p>"What a refreshment will it be," said Sir John, "to see a girl of fine +sense, more cultivated than accomplished—the creature, not of fiddlers +and dancing-masters, but of nature, of books, and of good company! If +there is the same mixture of spirit and delicacy in her character, that +there is of softness and animation in her countenance, she is a +dangerous girl, Charles."</p> + +<p>"She certainly does," said I, "possess the essential charm of beauty +where it exists; and the most effectual substitute for it, where it does +not; the power of prepossessing the beholder by her look and manner, in +favor of her understanding and temper."</p> + +<p>This prepossession I afterward found confirmed, not only by her own +share in the conversation, but by its effect on myself; I always feel +that our intercourse unfolds, not only her powers, but my own. In +conversing with such a woman, I am apt to fancy that I have more +understanding, because her animating presence brings it more into +exercise.</p> + +<p>After breakfast, next day, the conversation happened to turn on the +indispensable importance of unbounded confidence to the happiness of +married persons. Mr. Stanley expressed his regret, that though it was +one of the grand ingredients of domestic comfort, yet it was sometimes +unavoidably prevented by an unhappy inequality of mind between the +parties, by violence, or imprudence, or imbecility on one side, which +almost compelled the other to a degree of reserve, as incompatible with +the design of the union, as with the frankness of the individual.</p> + +<p>"We have had an instance among our own friends," replied Sir John, "of +this evil being produced, not by any of the faults to which you have +adverted, but by an excess of misapplied sensibility, in two persons of +near equality as to merit, and in both of whom the utmost purity of +mind, and exactness of conduct rendered all concealment superfluous. Our +worthy friends Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton married from motives of affection, +and with a high opinion of each other's merit, which their long and +intimate connection has rather contributed to exalt than to lower; and +yet, now at the end of seven years, they are only beginning to be happy. +They contrived to make each other and themselves as uncomfortable by an +excess of tenderness, as some married pairs are rendered by the want of +it. A mistaken sensibility has intrenched, not only on their comfort, +but on their sincerity. Their resolution never to give each other pain +has led them to live in a constant state of petty concealment. They are +neither of them remarkably healthy, and to hide from each other every +little indisposition, have kept up a continual vigilance to conceal +illness on the one part, and to detect it on the other, till it became a +trial of skill which could make the other most unhappy; each suffering +much more by suspicion when there was no occasion for it, than they +could have done by the acknowledgment of slight complaints when they +actually existed.</p> + +<p>"This valuable pair, after seven years' apprenticeship to a petty +martyrdom, have at last found out that it is better to submit to the +inevitable ills of life cheerfully and in concert, and to comfort each +other under them cordially, than alternately to suffer and inflict the +pain of perpetual disingenuousness. They have at last discovered that +uninterrupted prosperity is not the lot of man. Each is happier now +with knowing that the other is sometimes sick, than they used to be with +suspecting they were always so. The physician is now no longer secretly +sent for to one, when the other is known to be from home. The apothecary +is at last allowed to walk boldly up the public staircase fearless of +detection.</p> + +<p>"These amiable persons have at length attained all that was wanting to +their felicity, that of each believing the other to be well when they +<i>say</i> they are so. They have found out that unreserved communication is +the lawful commerce of conjugal affection, and that all concealment is +contraband."</p> + +<p>"Surely," said I, when Sir John had done speaking, "it is a false +compliment to the objects of our affection, if, for the sake of sparing +them a transient uneasiness, we rob them of the comfort to which they +are entitled, of mitigating our sufferings by partaking it. All +dissimulation is disloyal to love. Besides, it appears to me to be an +introduction to wider evils, and I should fear, both for the woman I +loved and for myself, that if once we allowed ourselves concealment in +one point, where we thought the motive excused us, we might learn to +adopt it in others, where the principle was more evidently wrong."</p> + +<p>"Besides," replied Mr. Stanley, "it argues a lamentable ignorance of +human life, to set out with an expectation of health without +interruption, and of happiness without alloy. When young persons marry +with the fairest prospects, they should never forget that infirmity is +inseparably bound up with their very nature, and that in bearing one +another's burdens, they fulfill one of the highest duties of the +union."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + + +<p>After supper, when only the family party were present, the conversation +turned on the unhappy effects of misguided passion. Mrs. Stanley +lamented that novels, with a very few admirable exceptions, had done +infinite mischief, by so completely establishing the omnipotence of +love, that the young reader was almost systematically taught an +unresisting submission to a feeling, because the feeling was commonly +represented as irresistible.</p> + +<p>"Young ladies," said Sir John, smiling, "in their blind submission to +this imaginary omnipotence, are apt to be necessarians. When they <i>fall</i> +in love, as it is so justly called, they then obey their <i>fate</i>; but in +their stout opposition to prudence and duty, they most manfully exert +their <i>free will</i>; so that they want nothing but <i>knowledge absolute</i> of +the miseries attendant on an indiscreet attachment, completely to +exemplify the occupation assigned by Milton to a class of beings to whom +it would not be gallant to resemble young ladies."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stanley continued to assert, that ill-placed affection only became +invincible, because its supposed invincibility had been first erected +into a principle. She then adverted to the power of religion in subduing +the passions, that of love among the rest.</p> + +<p>I ventured to ask Lucilla, who was sitting next me (a happiness which, +by some means or other, I generally contrived to enjoy), what were her +sentiments on this point? With a little confusion, she said, "to conquer +an ill placed attachment, I conceive may be effected by motives inferior +to religion. Reason, the humbling conviction of having made an unworthy +choice, for I will not resort to so bad a motive as pride, may easily +accomplish it. But to conquer a well-founded affection, a justifiable +attachment, I should imagine, requires the powerful principle of +Christian piety; and what can not that effect?" She stopped and blushed, +as fearing she had said too much.</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield observed, that she believed a virtuous attachment might +possibly be subdued by the principle Miss Stanley had mentioned; yet she +doubted if it were in the power of religion itself, to enable the heart +to conquer aversion, much less to establish affection for an object for +whom dislike had been entertained.</p> + +<p>"I believe," said Mr. Stanley, "the example is rare, and the exertion +difficult; but that which is difficult to us, is not impossible to him +who has the hearts of all men in his hand. And I am happy to resolve +Lady Belfield's doubt by a case in point.</p> + +<p>"You can not, Sir John, have forgotten our old London acquaintance, +Carlton?" "No," replied he, "nor can I ever forget what I have since +heard of his ungenerous treatment of that most amiable woman, his wife. +I suppose he has long ago broken her heart."</p> + +<p>"You know," resumed Mr. Stanley, "they married not only without any +inclination on either side, but on her part with something more than +indifference, with a preference for another person. <i>She</i> married +through an implicit obedience to her mother's will, which she had never +in any instance opposed: <i>He</i>, because his father had threatened to +disinherit him if he married any other woman; for as they were distant +relations, there was no other way of securing the estate in the family."</p> + +<p>"What a motive for a union so sacred and so indissoluble!" exclaimed I, +with an ardor which raised a smile in the whole party. I asked pardon +for my involuntary interruption, and Mr. Stanley proceeded.</p> + +<p>"She had long entertained a partiality for a most deserving young +clergyman, much her inferior in rank and fortune. But though her high +sense of filial duty led her to sacrifice this innocent inclination, and +though she resolved never to see him again, and had even prevailed on +him to quit the country, and settle in a distant place, yet Carlton was +ungenerous and inconsistent enough to be jealous of her without loving +her. He was guilty of great irregularities, while Mrs. Carlton set about +acquitting herself of the duties of a wife, with the most meek and +humble patience, burying her sorrows in her own bosom, and not allowing +herself even the consolation of complaining.</p> + +<p>"Among the many reasons for his dislike, her piety was the principal. He +said religion was of no use but to disqualify people for the business of +life; that it taught them to make a merit of despising their duties, and +hating their relations; and that pride, ill-humor, opposition, and +contempt for the rest of the world, were the meat and drink of all those +who pretended to religion.</p> + +<p>"At first she nearly sunk under his unkindness; her health declined, and +her spirits failed. In this distress she applied to the only sure refuge +for the unhappy, and took comfort in the consideration that her trials +were appointed, by a merciful Father, to detach her from a world which +she might have loved too fondly, had it not been thus stripped of its +delights.</p> + +<p>"When Mrs. Stanley, who was her confidential friend, expressed the +tenderest sympathy in her sufferings, she meekly replied, 'Remember who +are they whose robes are washed white in the kingdom of glory, <i>it is +they who come out of great tribulation</i>. I endeavor to strengthen my +faith with a view of what the best Christians have suffered, and my hope +with meditating on the shortness of all suffering. I will confess my +weakness,' added she: 'of the various motives to patience under the +ills of life, which the Bible presents, though my reason and religion +acknowledge them all, there is not one which comes home so powerfully to +my feelings as this—<i>the time is short</i>.'</p> + +<p>"Another time Mrs. Stanley, who had heard of some recent irregularities +of Carlton, called upon her, and lamenting the solitude to which she was +often left for days together, advised her to have a female friend in the +house, that her mind might not be left to prey upon itself by living so +much alone. She thanked her for the kind suggestion, but said she felt +it was wiser and better not to have a confidential friend always at +hand, 'for of what subject should we talk,' said she, 'but of my +husband's faults? Ought I to allow myself in such a practice? It would +lead me to indulge a habit of complaint which I am laboring to subdue. +The compassion of my friend would only sharpen my feelings, which I wish +to blunt. Giving vent to a flame only makes it rage the more; if +suppressing can not subdue it, at least the consciousness that I am +doing my duty will enable me to support it. When we feel,' added she, +'that we are <i>doing</i> wrong, the opening our heart may strengthen our +virtue; but when we are <i>suffering</i> wrong, the mind demands another sort +of strength; it wants higher support than friendship has to impart. It +pours out its sorrows in prayer with fuller confidence, knowing that he +who sees can sustain; that he who hears will recompense; that he will +judge, not our weakness, but our efforts to conquer it; not our success, +but our endeavors; with him endeavor is victory.</p> + +<p>"'The grace I most want,' added she, 'is humility. A partial friend, in +order to support my spirits, would flatter my conduct: gratified with +her soothing, I should, perhaps, not so entirely cast myself for comfort +on God. Contented with human praise, I might rest in it. Besides, having +endured the smart, I would not willingly endure it in vain. We know who +has said, 'If you suffer with me, you shall also reign with me.' It is +not, however, to mere suffering that the promise is addressed, but to +suffering for his sake, and in his spirit.' Then turning to the Bible +which lay before her, and pointing to the sublime passage of St Paul, +which she had just been reading, 'Our light affliction which is but for +a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of +glory.' 'Pray,' said she, 'read this in connection with the next verse, +which is not always done. <i>When</i> is it that it works for us this weight +of glory? <i>Only</i> 'while we are looking at the things which are not +seen.' Do admire the beauty of this position, and how the good is +weighed against the evil, like two scales differently filled; the +affliction is light, and but for a moment; the glory is a <i>weight</i>, and +it is <i>forever</i>. 'Tis a feather against lead, a grain of sand against +the universe, a moment against eternity. Oh, how the scale which +contains this world's light trouble kicks the beam, when weighed against +the glory which shall be revealed.'</p> + +<p>"At the end of two years she had a little girl; this opened to her a new +scene of duties, and a fresh source of consolation. Her religion proved +itself to be of the right stamp, by making her temper still more sweet, +and diffusing the happiest effects through her whole character and +conversation. When her husband had staid out late, or even all night, +she never reproached him. When he was at home, she received his friends +with as much civility as if she had liked them. He found that his house +was conducted with the utmost prudence, and that while she maintained +his credit at his table, her personal expenses were almost nothing: +indeed, self seemed nearly annihilated in her. He sometimes felt +disappointed, because he had no cause of complaint, and was angry that +he had nothing to condemn.</p> + +<p>"As he has a very fine understanding, he was the more provoked, because +he could not help seeing that her blameless conduct put him continually +in the wrong. All this puzzled him. He never suspected there was a +principle, out of which such consequences could grow, and was ready to +attribute to insensibility, that patience which nothing short of +Christian piety could have inspired. He had conceived of religion as a +visionary system of words and phrases, and concluded that from so +unsubstantial a theory, it would be a folly to look for practical +effects.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes, when he saw her nursing his child, of whom he was very fond, +he was almost tempted to admire the mother, who is a most pleasing +figure; and now and then when his heart was thus softened for a moment, +he would ask himself, what reasonable ground of objection there was +either to her mind or person?</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Carlton, knowing that his affairs must necessarily be embarrassed, +by the extraordinary expenses he had incurred, when the steward brought +her usual year's allowance she refused to take more than half, and +ordered him to employ the remainder on his master's account. The +faithful old man was ready to weep, and could not forbear saying, +'Madam, you could not do more for a kind husband. Besides, it is but a +drop of water in the ocean.' 'That drop,' said she, 'it is my duty to +contribute.' When the steward communicated this to Carlton, he was +deeply affected, refused to take the money, and again was driven to +resort to the wonderful principle from which such right but difficult +actions could proceed."</p> + +<p>Here I interrupted Mr. Stanley. "I am quite of the steward's opinion," +said I. "That a woman should do this and much more for the man who loved +her, and whom she loved, is quite intelligible to every being who has a +heart. But for a cruel, unfeeling tyrant! I do not comprehend it. What +say you, Miss Stanley?"</p> + +<p>"Under the circumstance you suppose," said she, blushing, "I think the +woman would have no shadow of merit; her conduct would be a mere +gratification, an entire indulgence of her own feelings. The triumph of +affection would have been cheap; Mrs. Carlton's was the triumph of +religion; of a principle which could subdue an attachment to a worthy +object, and act with such generosity toward an unworthy one."</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley went on. "Mrs. Carlton frequently sat up late, reading such +books as might qualify her for the education of her child, but always +retired before she had reason to expect Mr. Carlton, lest he might +construe it into upbraiding. One night, as he was not expected to come +home at all, she sat later than usual, and had indulged herself with +taking her child to pass the night in her bed. With her usual +earnestness she knelt down and offered up her devotions by her bed-side, +and in a manner particularly solemn and affecting, prayed for her +husband. Her heart was deeply touched, and she dwelt on these petitions +in a strain peculiarly fervent. She prayed for his welfare in both +worlds, and earnestly implored that she might be made the humble +instrument of his happiness. She meekly acknowledged her own many +offenses; of his she said nothing.</p> + +<p>"Thinking herself secure from interruption, her petitions were uttered +aloud; her voice often faltering, and her eyes streaming with tears. +Little did she suspect that the object of her prayers was within hearing +of them. He had returned home unexpectedly, and coming softly into the +room, heard her pious aspirations. He was inexpressibly affected. He +wept, and sighed bitterly. The light from the candles on the table fell +on the blooming face of his sleeping infant, and on that of his weeping +wife. It was too much for him. But he had not the virtuous courage to +give way to his feelings. He had not the generosity to come forward and +express the admiration he felt. He withdrew unperceived, and passed the +remainder of the night in great perturbation of spirit. Shame, remorse, +and confusion, raised such a conflict in his mind, as prevented him from +closing his eyes; while she slept in quiet, and awoke in peace.</p> + +<p>"The next morning, during a very short interview, he behaved to her with +a kindness which she had never before experienced. He had not resolution +to breakfast with her, but promised, with affection in his words and +manners, to return to dinner. The truth was, he never quitted home, but +wandered about his woods to compose and strengthen his mind. This +self-examination was the first he had practiced; its effects were +salutary.</p> + +<p>"A day or two previous to this, they had dined at our house. He had +always been much addicted to the pleasures of the table. He expressed +high approbation of a particular dish, and mentioned again when he got +home how much he liked it. The next morning Mrs. Carlton wrote to +Lucilla to beg the receipt for making this ragout; and this day, when he +returned from his solitary ramble and 'compunctuous visitings,' the +favorite dish, most exquisitely dressed, was produced at his dinner. He +thanked her for this obliging attention, and turning to the butler, +directed him to tell the cook that no dish was ever so well dressed. +Mrs. Carlton blushed when the honest butler said, 'Sir, it was my +mistress dressed it with her own hands, because she knew your honor was +fond of it.'</p> + +<p>"Tears of gratitude rushed into Carlton's eyes, and tears of joy +overflowed those of the old domestic, when his master, rising from the +table, tenderly embraced his wife, and declared he was unworthy of such +a treasure. 'I have been guilty of a public wrong, Johnson,' said he to +his servant, 'and my reparation shall be as public. I can never deserve +her, but my life shall be spent in endeavoring to do so.'</p> + +<p>"The little girl was brought in, and her presence seemed to cement this +new formed union. An augmented cheerfulness on the part of Mrs. Carlton +invited an increased tenderness on that of her husband. He began every +day to discover new excellences in his wife, which he readily +acknowledged to herself, and to the world. The conviction of her worth +had been gradually producing esteem, esteem now ripened into affection, +and his affection for his wife was mingled with a blind sort of +admiration of that piety which had produced such effects. He now began +to think home the pleasantest place, and his wife the pleasantest +companion.</p> + +<p>"A gentle censure from him on the excessive frugality of her dress, +mixed with admiration of the purity of its motive, was an intimation to +her to be more elegant. He happened to admire a gown worn by a lady whom +they had visited. She not only sent for the same materials, but had it +made by the same pattern. A little attention of which he felt the +delicacy.</p> + +<p>"He not only saw, but in no long time acknowledged, that a religion +which produced such admirable effects, could not be so mischievous a +principle as he had supposed, nor could it be an inert principle. Her +prudence has accomplished what her piety began. She always watched the +turn of his eye, to see how far she might venture, and changed the +discourse when the look was not encouraging. She never tired him with +lectures, never obtruded serious discourse unseasonably, nor prolonged +it improperly. His early love of reading, which had for some years given +way to more turbulent pleasures, he has resumed; and frequently +insists, that the books he reads to her shall be of her own choosing. In +this choice she exercises the nicest discretion, selecting such as may +gently lead his mind to higher pursuits, but which at the same time are +so elegantly written as not to disgust his taste. In all this Mrs. +Stanley is her friend and counselor.</p> + +<p>"While Mrs. Carlton is advancing her husband's relish for books of +piety, he is forming hers to polite literature. She herself often +proposes an amusing book, that he may not suspect her of a wish to +abridge his innocent gratifications; and by this complaisance she gains +more than she loses, for, not to be outdone in generosity, he often +proposes some pious one in return. Thus their mutual sacrifices are +mutual benefits. She has found out that he has a highly cultivated +understanding, and he has discovered that she has a mind remarkably +susceptible of cultivation. He has by degrees dropped most of his former +associates, and has entirely renounced the diversions into which they +led him. He is become a frequent and welcome visitor here. His conduct +is uniformly respectable, and I look forward with hope to his becoming +even a shining character. There is, however, a pertinacity, I may say a +sincerity, in his temper, which somewhat keeps him back. He will never +adopt any principle without the most complete conviction of his own +mind; nor profess any truth of which he himself does not actually feel +the force."</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield, after thanking Mr. Stanley for his interesting little +narrative, earnestly requested that Sir John would renew his +acquaintance with Mr. Carlton, that she herself might be enabled to +profit by such an affecting example of the power of genuine religion as +his wife exhibited; confessing that one such living instance would weigh +more with her than a hundred arguments. Mrs. Stanley obligingly promised +to invite them to dinner the first leisure day. Mr. Stanley now +informed us that Sir George Aston was arrived from Cambridge on a visit +to his mother and sisters; that he was a youth of great promise whom he +begged to introduce to us as a young man in whose welfare he took a +lively concern, and on the right formation of whose character much would +depend, as he had a large estate, and the family interest in the county +would give him a very considerable influence; to this influence it was, +therefore, of great importance to give a right direction. We next +morning took a ride to Aston Hall, and I commenced an acquaintance with +the engaging young baronet, which I doubt not, from what I saw and +heard, will hereafter ripen into friendship.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + + +<p>The good rector joined the party at dinner. The conversation afterward +happened to turn on the value of human opinion, and Sir John Belfield +made the hackneyed observation, that the desire of obtaining it should +never be discouraged, it being highly useful as a motive of action.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Dr. Barlow, "it certainly has its uses in a world, the +affairs of which must be chiefly carried on by worldly men; a world +which is itself governed by low motives. But human applause is not a +Christian principle of action; nay, it is so adverse to Christianity +that our Saviour himself assigns it as a powerful cause of men's not +believing, or at least not confessing Him; <i>because they loved the +praise of men</i>. The eager desire of fame is a sort of separation line +between Paganism and Christianity. The ancient philosophers have left us +many shining examples of moderation in earthly things, and of the +contempt of riches. So far the light of reason, and a noble self-denial +carried them; and many a Christian may blush at these instances of their +superiority; but of an indifference to fame, of a deadness to human +applause except as founded on loftiness of spirit, disdain of their +judges, and self-sufficient pride, I do not recollect any instance."</p> + +<p>"And yet," said Sir John, "I remember Seneca says in one of his +epistles, that no man expresses such a respect and devotion to virtue as +he who forfeits the <i>repute</i> of being a good man, that he may not +forfeit the <i>conscience</i> of being such."</p> + +<p>"They might," replied Mr. Stanley, "incidentally express some such +sentiment, in a well turned period, to give antithesis to an expression, +or weight to an apothegm; they might declaim against it in a fit of +disappointment in the burst of indignation excited by a recent loss of +popularity; but I question if they ever once acted upon it. I question +if Marius himself, sitting amid the ruins of Carthage, actually felt it. +Seldom, if ever, does it seem to have been inculcated as a principle, or +enforced as a rule of action: nor could it—it was against the canon law +of their foundation."</p> + +<p>"Yet," said Sir John, "a good man struggling with adversity is, I think, +represented by one of their authors as an object worthy of the attention +of the gods."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Stanley, "but the divine approbation alone was never +proposed as the standard of right, or the reward of actions, except by +divine revelation."</p> + +<p>"Nothing seems more difficult," said I, "to settle than the standard of +right. Every man has a standard of his own, which he considers as of +universal application. One makes his own tastes, desires, and appetites, +his rule of right; another the example of certain individuals, fallible +like himself; a third, and indeed the generality, the maxims, habits, +and manners of the fashionable part of the world."</p> + +<p>Sir John remarked, "That since it is so difficult to discriminate +between allowable indulgence and criminal conformity, the life of a +conscientious man, if he be not constitutionally temperate, or +habitually firm, must be poisoned with solicitude, and perpetually +racked with the fear of exceeding his limits."</p> + +<p>"My dear Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "the peace and security of a +Christian, we well know, are not left to depend on constitutional +temperance, or habitual firmness. These are, as the young Numidian says,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i1">Perfections that are placed in bones and nerves.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There is a higher and surer way to prevent the solicitude, which is, by +correcting the principle; to get the heart set right; to be jealous over +ourselves; to be careful never to venture to the edge of our lawful +limits; in short, and that is the only infallible standard, to live in +the conscientious practice of measuring all we say, and do, and think, +by the unerring rule of God's word."</p> + +<p>"The impossibility of reaching the perfection which that rule requires," +said Sir John, "sometimes discourages well-meaning men, as if the +attempt were hopeless."</p> + +<p>Dr. Barlow replied, "That is, sir, because they take up with a hearsay +Christianity. Its reputed pains and penalties drive them off from +inquiring for themselves. They rest on the surface. If they would go +deeper, they would see that the Spirit which dictated the Scriptures is +a Spirit of power, as well as a Spirit of promise. All that he requires +us to do, he enables us to perform. He does not prescribe 'rules' +without furnishing us with 'arms.'"</p> + +<p>In answer to some further remarks of Sir John, who spoke with due +abhorrence of any instance of actual vice, but who seemed to have no +just idea of its root and principle, Dr. Barlow observed: "While every +one agrees in reprobating wicked actions, few, comparatively, are aware +of the natural and habitual evil which lurks in the heart. To this the +Bible particularly directs our attention. In describing a bad character, +it does not say that his actions are flagitious, but that 'God is not in +all his <i>thoughts</i>.' This is the description of a thoroughly worldly +man. Those who are given up completely to the world, to its maxims, its +principles, its cares, or its pleasures, can not entertain thoughts of +God. And to be unmindful of his providence, to be regardless of his +presence, to be insensible to his mercies, must be nearly as offensive +to him as to deny his existence. Excessive dissipation, a supreme love +of money, or an entire devotedness to ambition, drinks up that spirit, +swallows up that affection, exhausts that vigor, starves that zeal, with +which a Christian should devote himself to serve his Maker.</p> + +<p>"Pray observe," continued Dr. Barlow, "that I am not speaking of avowed +profligates, but of decent characters; men who, while they are pursuing +with keen intenseness the great objects of their attachment, do not +deride or even totally neglect religious observances, yet think they do +much and well, by affording some odd scraps of refuse time to a few +weary prayers, and sleepy thoughts, from a mind worn down with +engagements of pleasure, or projects of accumulation, or schemes of +ambition. In all these several pursuits, there may be nothing which, to +the gross perceptions of the world, would appear to be moral turpitude. +The pleasure may not be profligacy, the wealth so cherished may not have +been fraudulently obtained, the ambition, in human estimation, may not +be dishonorable; but an alienation from God, an indifference to eternal +things, a spirit incompatible with the spirit of the gospel, will be +found at the bottom of all these restless pursuits."</p> + +<p>"I am entirely of your opinion, Doctor," said Mr. Stanley; "it is taking +up with something short of real Christianity; it is an apostacy from the +doctrines of the Bible; it is the substitution of a spurious and popular +religion for that which was revealed from heaven; it is a departure from +the faith once delivered to the saints, that has so fatally sunk our +morality; and given countenance to that low standard of practical virtue +which prevails. If we lower the principle, if we obscure the light, if +we reject the influence, if we sully the purity, if we abridge the +strictness of the divine law, there will remain no ascending power in +the soul, no stirring spirit, no quickening aspiration after perfection, +no stretching forward after that holiness to which the beatific vision +is specifically promised. It is vain to expect that the practice will +rise higher than the principle which inspires it; that the habits will +be superior to the motives which govern them."</p> + +<p>"Selfishness, security, and sensuality," said the Doctor, "are predicted +by our Saviour, as the character of the last times. In alluding to the +antediluvian world, and the cause of its destruction, eating, drinking, +and marrying could not be named in the gospel as things censurable in +themselves, they being necessary to the very existence of that world +which the abuse of them was tending to destroy. Our Saviour does not +describe criminality by the excess, but by the spirit of the act. He +speaks of eating, not gluttony; of drinking, not intoxication; of +marriage, not licentious intercourse. This seems a plain intimation, +that carrying on the transactions of the world in the spirit of the +world, and that habitual deadness to the concerns of eternity, in beings +so alive to the pleasures or the interests of the present moment, do not +indicate a state of safety, even where gross acts of vice may be rare."</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley said it was his opinion that it is not by a few, or even by +many, instances of excessive wickedness, that the moral state of a +country is to be judged, but by a general averseness and indifference to +<i>real</i> religion. "A few examples of glaring impiety," said he, "may +furnish more subject for declamation, but are not near so deadly a +symptom. It is no new remark, that more men are undone by an excessive +indulgence in things permitted, than by the commission of avowed sins."</p> + +<p>"How happy," said Sir John, "are those who by their faith and piety are +delivered from these difficulties!"</p> + +<p>"My dear Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "where are those privileged +beings? It is one sad proof of human infirmity, that the best men have +continually these things to struggle with. What makes the difference is, +that those whom we call good men struggle on to the end, while the +others, not seeing the danger, do not struggle at all."</p> + +<p>"Christians," said Dr. Barlow, "who would strictly keep within the +bounds prescribed by their religion, should imitate the ancient Romans, +who carefully watched that their god Terminus, who defined their limits, +should never recede; the first step of his retreat, they said, would be +the destruction of their security."</p> + +<p>"But, Doctor," said Sir John, "pray what remedy do you recommend against +this natural, I had almost said this invincible, propensity to +over-value the world? I do not mean a propensity merely to over-rate its +pleasures and its honors, but a disposition to yield to its dominion +over the mind, to indulge a too earnest desire of standing well with it, +to cherish a too anxious regard for its good opinion?"</p> + +<p>"The knowledge of the disease," replied the worthy Doctor, "should +precede the application of the remedy. Human applause is, by a worldly +man, reckoned not only among the luxuries of life, but among articles of +the first necessity. An undue desire to obtain it has certainly its +foundation in vanity; and it is one of our grand errors to reckon vanity +a trivial fault. An over-estimation of character, and an anxious wish to +conciliate all suffrages, is an infirmity from which even worthy men are +not exempt; nay, it is a weakness from which, if they are not governed +by a strict religious principle, worthy men are in most danger. +Reputation being in itself so very desirable a good, those who actually +possess it, and in some sense deserve to possess it, are apt to make it +their standard, and to rest in it as their supreme aim and end."</p> + +<p>"You have," said Sir John, "exposed the latent principle; it remains +that you suggest its cure."</p> + +<p>"I believe," said Dr. Barlow, "that the most effectual remedy would be, +to excite in the mind frequent thoughts of our divine Redeemer, and of +<i>his</i> estimate of that world on which we so fondly set our affections, +and whose approbation we are too apt to make the chief object of our +ambition."</p> + +<p>"I allow it to have been necessary," replied Sir John, "that Christ, in +the great end which he had to accomplish, should have been poor, and +neglected, and contemned, and that he should have trampled on the great +things of this world, human applause among the rest; but I do not +conceive that this obligation extends to his followers, nor that we are +called upon to partake the poverty which he preferred, or to renounce +the wealth and grandeur which he set at naught, or to imitate him in +making himself of no reputation."</p> + +<p>"It is true," said the Doctor, "we are not called to resemble him in his +external circumstances. It is not our bounden duty to be necessarily +exposed to the same contempt; nor are we obliged to embrace the same +ignominy. Yet it seems a natural consequence of our Christian +profession, that the things which he despised, we should not venerate; +the vanities he trampled on, we should not admire; the world which he +censured, we ought not to idolize; the ease which he renounced, we +should not rate too highly; the fame which he set at naught, we ought +not anxiously to covet. Surely, the followers of him who was 'despised +and rejected of men' should not seek their highest gratification from +the flattery and applause of men. The truth is, in all discourses on +this subject, we are compelled continually to revert to the observation, +that Christianity is a religion of the <i>heart</i>. And though we are not +called upon to partake the poverty and meanness of his situation, yet +the precept is clear and direct, respecting the temper by which we +should be governed: 'Let the same <i>mind</i> be in you which was also in +Christ Jesus.' If, therefore, we happen to possess that wealth and +grandeur which he disdained, we should <i>possess them as though we +possessed them not</i>. We have a fair and liberal permission to use them +as his gift, and to his glory, but not to erect them into the supreme +objects of our attachment. In the same manner, in every other point, it +is still the spirit of the act, the temper of the mind, to which we are +to look. For instance, I do not think that I am obliged to show my faith +by sacrificing my son, nor my obedience by selling all that I have, to +give to the poor; but I think I am bound by the spirit of these two +powerful commands, to practice a cheerful acquiescence in the whole will +of God, in suffering and renouncing as well as in doing, when I know +what is really his will."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + + +<p>The pleasant reflections excited by the interesting conversation of the +evening were cruelly interrupted by my faithful Edwards. "Sir," said he, +when he came to attend me, "do you know that all the talk of the Hall +to-night at supper was, that Miss Stanley is going to be married to +young Lord Staunton. He is a cousin of Mrs. Carlton's, and Mr. Stanley's +coachman brought home the news from thence yesterday. I could not get at +the very truth, because Mrs. Comfit was out of the way, but all the +servants agree, that though he is a lord, and rich and handsome, he is +not half good enough for her. Indeed, sir, they say he is no better than +he should be."</p> + +<p>I was thunderstruck at this intelligence. It was a trial I had not +suspected. "Does he visit here, then, Edwards," said I, "for I have +neither seen nor heard of him?" "No sir," said he, "but Miss meets him +at Mr. Carlton's." This shocked me beyond expression. Lucilla meet a man +at another house? Lucilla carry on a clandestine engagement? Can Mrs. +Carlton be capable of conniving at it? Yet if it were not clandestine, +why should he not visit at the Grove?</p> + +<p>These tormenting reflections kept me awake the whole night. To acquit +Lucilla, Edward's story made difficult; to condemn her my heart found +impossible. One moment I blamed my own foolish timidity, which had kept +me back from making any proposal, and the next, I was glad that the +delay would enable me to sift the truth, and to probe her character. "If +I do not find consistency here," said I, "I shall renounce all +confidence in human virtue."</p> + +<p>I arose early, and went to indulge my meditations in the garden. I saw +Mr. Stanley sitting under the favorite oak. I was instantly tempted to +go and open my heart to him, but seeing a book in his hand, I feared to +interrupt him, and was turning into another walk till I had acquired +more composure. He called after me, and invited me to sit down.</p> + +<p>How violent were my fluctuations! How inconsistent were my feelings? How +much at variance was my reason with my heart! The man on earth with whom +I wished to confer invited me to a conference. With a mind under the +dominion of a passion which I was eager to declare, yet agitated with an +uncertainty which I had as much reason to fear might be painfully as +pleasantly removed, I stood doubtful whether to seize or to decline the +occasion which thus presented itself to me. A moment's reflection +however convinced me that the opportunity was too inviting to be +neglected. My impatience for an eclaircissement on Lord Staunton's +subject was too powerful to be any longer resisted.</p> + +<p>At length with a most unfeigned diffidence, and a hesitation which I +feared would render my words unintelligible, I ventured to express my +tender admiration of Miss Stanley, and implored permission to address +her.</p> + +<p>My application did not seem to surprise him. He only gravely said, "We +will talk of this some future day." This cold and laconic reply +instantly sunk my spirits. I was shocked and visibly confused. "It is +too late," said I to myself; "happy Lord Staunton!" He saw my distress, +and taking my hand, with the utmost kindness of voice and manner said, +"My dear young friend, content yourself for the present with the +assurance of my entire esteem and affection. This is a very early +declaration. You are scarcely acquainted with Lucilla; you do not yet +know," added he smiling, "half her faults."</p> + +<p>"Only tell me, my dear sir," said I, a little re-assured and grasping +his hand, "that when you know all mine, you will not reject me. Only +tell me that you feel no repugnance; that you have no other views; that +Miss Stanley has no other"—here I stopped, my voice failed; the excess +of my emotion prevented me from finishing my sentence. He encouragingly +said, "I know not that Lucilla has any attachment. For myself, I have no +views hostile to your wishes. You have a double interest in my heart. +You are endeared to me by your personal merit, and by my tender +friendship for your beloved father. But be not impetuous. Form no sudden +resolution. Try to assure yourself of my daughter's affection before you +ask it of her. Remain here another month as my welcome guest, as the son +of my friend. Take that month to examine your own heart, and to endeavor +to obtain an interest in hers; we will then resume the subject."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear sir," said I, "is not Lord Staunton—" "Set your heart at +rest," said he. "Though we are both a little aristocratic in our +political principles, yet when the competition is for the happiness of +life, and the interests of virtue, both Lucilla and her father think +with Dumont, that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"A lord<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Opposed against a man, is but a man."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>So saying, he quitted me; but with a benignity in his countenance and +manner that infused not only consolation but joy into my heart. My +spirits were at once elated. To be allowed to think of Lucilla! To be +permitted to attach myself to her! To be sure her heart was not engaged! +To be invited to remain a month longer under the same roof with her; to +see her; to hear her; to talk to her; all this was a happiness so great +that I did not allow myself to repine because it was not all I had +wished to obtain.</p> + +<p>I met Mrs. Stanley soon after. I perceived by her illuminated +countenance, that my proposal had been already communicated to her. I +ventured to take her hand, and with the most respectful earnestness +intreated her friendship; her good offices. "I dare not trust myself +with you just now," said she with an affectionate smile; "Mr. Stanley +will think I abet rebellion, if through my encouragement you should +violate your engagements with him. But," added she, kindly pressing my +hand; "you need not be much afraid of <i>me</i>. Mr. Stanley's sentiments on +this point, as on all others, are exactly my own. We have but one heart +and one mind, and that heart and mind are not unfavorable to your +wishes." With a tear in her eyes and affection in her looks, she tore +herself away, evidently afraid of giving way to her feelings.</p> + +<p>I did not think myself bound by any point of honor to conceal the state +of my heart from Sir John Belfield, who with his lady joined me soon +after in the garden. I was astonished to find that my passion for Miss +Stanley was no secret to either of them. Their penetration had left me +nothing to disclose. Sir John however looked serious, and affected an +air of mystery which a little alarmed me. "I own," said he, "there is +some danger of your success." I eagerly inquired what he thought I had +to fear? "You have every thing to fear," replied he, in a tone of grave +irony, "which a man not four-and-twenty, of an honorable family, with a +clear estate of four thousand a year, a person that all the ladies +admire, a mind which all the men esteem, and a temper which endears you +to men, women, and children, can fear from a little country girl, whose +heart is as free as a bird, and who, if I may judge by her smiles and +blushes whenever you are talking to her, would have no mortal objection +to sing in the same cage with you."</p> + +<p>"It will be a sad dull novel, however," said Lady Belfield: "all is +likely to go on so smoothly that we shall flag for want of incident. No +difficulties, nor adventures to heighten the interest. No cruel +step-dame, no tyrant father, no capricious mistress, no moated castle, +no intriguing confidante, no treacherous spy, no formidable rival, not +so much as a duel or even a challenge, I fear, to give variety to the +monotonous scene."</p> + +<p>I mentioned Edwards's report respecting Lord Staunton, and owned how +much it had disturbed me. "That he admires her," said Lady Belfield, "is +notorious. That his addresses have not been encouraged, I have also +heard, but not from the family. As to Lucilla, she is the last girl that +would ever insinuate even to me, to whom she is so unreserved, that she +had rejected so great an offer. I have heard her express herself with an +indignation, foreign to her general mildness, against women who are +guilty of this fashionable, this dishonorable indelicacy."</p> + +<p>"Well, but Charles," said Sir John "you must positively assume a little +dejection, to diversify the business. It will give interest to your +countenance and pathos to your manner, and tenderness to your accent. +And you must forget all attentions, and neglect all civilities. And you +must appear absent, and <i>distrait</i> and <i>réveur</i>; especially while your +fate hangs in some suspense. And you must read Petrarch, and repeat +Tibullus, and write sonnets. And when you are spoken to, you must not +listen. And you must wander in the grove by moonshine, and talk to the +Oreads, and the Dryads, and the Naiads; oh no, unfortunately, I am +afraid there are no Naiads within hearing. You must make the woods vocal +with the name of Lucilla; luckily 'tis such a poetical name that Echo +won't be ashamed to repeat it. I have gone through it all, Charles, and +know every highway and byway in the map of love. I will, however, be +serious for one moment, and tell you for your comfort, that though at +your age I was full as much in for it as you are now, yet after ten +years' union, Lady Belfield has enabled me to declare</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"How much the wife is dearer than the bride."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A tear glistened in her soft eyes, at this tender compliment.</p> + +<p>Just at that moment, Lucilla happened to cross the lawn at a distance. +At sight of her, I could not, as I pointed to her, forbear exclaiming in +the words of Sir John's favorite poet,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">There doth beauty dwell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There most conspicuous, e'en in outward shape,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where dawns the high expression of a <span class="smcap">mind</span>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"This is very fine," said Sir John, sarcastically; "I admire all you +young enthusiastic philosophers, with your intellectual refinement. You +pretend to be captivated only with <i>mind</i>. I observe, however, that +previous to your raptures, you always take care to get this mind lodged +in a fair and youthful form. This mental beauty is always prudently +enshrined in some elegant corporeal frame, before it is worshiped. I +should be glad to see some of these intellectual adorers in love with +the mind of an old or ugly woman. I never heard any of you fall into +ecstasies in descanting on the mind of your grandmother." After some +further irony, they left me to indulge my meditations, in the nature of +which a single hour had made so pleasant a revolution.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + + +<p>The conversation of two men bred at the same school or college, when +they happen to meet afterward, is commonly uninteresting, not to say +tiresome, to a third person, as involving local circumstances in which +he has no concern. But this was not always the case since the meeting of +my two friends. Something was generally to be gained by their +communications even on these unpromising topics.</p> + +<p>At breakfast Mr. Stanley said, "Sir John, you will see here at dinner +to-morrow our old college acquaintance, Ned Tyrrel. Though he does not +commonly live at the family house in this neighborhood, but at a little +place he has in Buckinghamshire, he comes among us periodically to +receive his rents. He always invites himself, for his society is not the +most engaging."</p> + +<p>"I heard," replied Sir John, "that he became a notorious profligate +after he left Cambridge, though I have lost sight of him ever since we +parted there. But I was glad to learn lately that he is become quite a +reformed man."</p> + +<p>"He is so far reformed," replied Mr. Stanley, "that he is no longer +grossly licentious. But in laying down the vices of youth, he has taken +up successively those which he thought better suited to the successive +stages of his progress. As he withdrew himself from his loose habits and +connections, ambition became his governing passion; he courted public +favor, thirsted for place and distinction, and labored by certain +obliquities, and some little sacrifices of principle, to obtain +promotion. Finding it did not answer, and all his hopes failing, he now +rails at ambition, wonders men will wound their consciences and renounce +their peace for vain applause and 'the bubble reputation.' His sole +delight at present, I hear, is in amassing money and reading +controversial divinity. Avarice has supplanted ambition, just as +ambition expelled profligacy.</p> + +<p>"In the interval in which he was passing from one of these stages to the +other, in a very uneasy state of mind he dropped in by accident where a +famous irregular preacher was disseminating his Antinomian doctrines. +Caught by his vehement but coarse eloquence, and captivated by an +alluring doctrine which promised much while it required little, he +adopted the soothing but fallacious tenet. It is true, I hear he is +become a more respectable man in his conduct, but I doubt, though I have +not lately seen him, if his present state may not be rather worse than +his former ones.</p> + +<p>"In the two previous stages, he was disturbed and dissatisfied. Here he +has taken up his rest. Out of this stronghold, it is not probable that +any subsequent vice will ever drive him, or true religion draw him. He +sometimes attends public worship, but as he thinks no part of it but the +sermon of much value, it is only when he likes the preacher. He has +little notion of the respect due to established institutions, and does +not heartily like any precomposed form of prayer, not even our +incomparable Liturgy. He reads such religious books only as tend to +establish his own opinions, and talks and disputes loudly on certain +doctrinal points. But an accumulating Christian, and a Christian who, +for the purpose of accumulation, is said to be uncharitable, and even +somewhat oppressive, is a paradox which I can not solve, and an anomaly +which I can not comprehend. Covetousness is, as I said, a more +creditable vice than Ned's former ones, but for that very reason more +dangerous."</p> + +<p>"From this sober vice," said I, "proceeded the blackest crime ever +perpetrated by human wickedness; for it does not appear that Judas, in +his direful treason, was instigated by malice. It is observable, that +when our Saviour names this sin, it is with an emphatical warning, as +knowing its mischief to be greater because its scandal was less. Not +contented with a single caution, he doubles his exhortation. '<i>Take heed +and beware</i> of covetousness.'"</p> + +<p>After some remarks of Sir John, which I do not recollect, Mr. Stanley +said, "I did not intend making a philippic against covetousness, a sin +to which I believe no one here is addicted. Let us not, however, plume +ourselves in not being guilty of a vice to which, as we have no natural +bias so in not committing it, we resist no temptation. What I meant to +insist on was, that exchanging a turbulent for a quiet sin, or a +scandalous for an orderly one, is not reformation; or, if you will allow +me the strong word, is not conversion."</p> + +<p>Mr. Tyrrel, according to his appointment, came to dinner, and brought +with him his nephew, Mr. Edward Tyrrel, whom he had lately entered at +the university, with a design to prepare him for holy orders. He was a +well-disposed young man, but his previous education was said to have +been very much neglected, and was rather deficient in the necessary +learning. Mr. Stanley had heard that Tyrrel had two reasons for breeding +him to the church. In the first place, he fancied it was the cheapest +profession, and in the next he had labored to infuse into him some +particular opinions of his own, which he wished to disseminate through +his nephew. Sir George Aston having accidentally called, he was +prevailed on to stay, and Dr. Barlow was one of the party.</p> + +<p>Mr. Tyrrel, by his observations, soon enabled us to discover that his +religion had altered nothing but his language. He seemed evidently more +fond of controversy than of truth, and the whole turn of his +conversation indicated that he derived his religious security rather +from the adoption of a party, than from the implantation of a new +principle. "His discourse is altered," said Mr. Stanley to me +afterward, "but I greatly fear his heart and affections remain +unchanged."</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley contrived, for the sake of his two academical guests, +particularly young Tyrrel, to divert the conversation to the subject of +learning, more especially clerical learning.</p> + +<p>In answer to a remark of mine on the satisfaction I had felt in seeing +such a happy union of learning and piety in two clergymen who had lately +dined at the Grove, Mr. Stanley said, "Literature is an excellent thing, +when it is not the best thing a man has. It can surely be no offense to +our Maker to cultivate carefully his highest natural gift, our reason. +In pious men it is peculiarly important, as the neglect of such +cultivation, in certain individuals, has led to much error in religion, +and given much just offense to the irreligious, who are very +sharp-sighted to the faults of pious characters. I therefore truly +rejoice to see a higher tone of literature now prevailing, especially in +so many of our pious young divines; the deficiency of learning in some +of their well-meaning predecessors having served to bring not only +themselves, but religion also, into contempt, especially with men who +have only learning."</p> + +<p>"I say nothing," remarked Mr. Tyrrel, "against the necessity of learning +in a lawyer, because it may help him to lead a judge, and to mislead a +jury; nor in a physician, because it may advance his credit by enabling +him to conceal the deficiencies of his art; nor in a private gentleman, +because it may keep him out of worse mischief. But I see no use of +learning in the clergy. There is my friend Dr. Barlow. I would willingly +give up all his learning, if he would go a little deeper into the +doctrines he professes to preach."</p> + +<p>"Indeed," said Mr. Stanley, "I should think Dr. Barlow's various +knowledge of little value, did he exhibit the smallest deficiency in the +great points to which you allude. But when I am persuaded that his +learning is so far from detracting from his piety that it enables him +to render it more extensively useful, I can not wish him dispossessed of +that knowledge which adorns his religion without diminishing its good +effects."</p> + +<p>"You will allow," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that those first great publishers of +Christianity, the Apostles, had none of this vain learning."</p> + +<p>"I admit," said Mr. Stanley, "that it is frequently pleaded by the +despisers of learning, that the Apostles were illiterate. The fact is +too notorious, and the answer too obvious to require to be dwelt upon. +But it is unfortunately adduced to illustrate a position to which it can +never apply, the vindication of an unlettered clergy. It is a hackneyed +remark, but not the less true for being old, that the wisdom of God +chose to accomplish the first promulgation of the gospel by illiterate +men, to prove that the work was his own, and that its success depended +not on the instruments employed, but on the divinity of the truth +itself. But if the Almighty chose to establish his religion by miracles, +he chooses to carry it on by means. And he no more sends an ignorant +peasant or fisherman to instruct men in Christianity now, than he +appointed a Socrates or a Plato to be its publisher at first. As, +however, there is a great difference in the situations, so there may be +a proportionate difference allowed in the attainments of the clergy. I +do not say it is necessary for every village curate to be a profound +scholar, but as he may not always remain in obscurity, there is no +necessity for his being a contemptible one."</p> + +<p>Sir John remarked, that what has been said of those who affect to +despise birth, has been applied also to those who decry learning; +neither is ever undervalued except by men who are destitute of them; and +it is worthy of observation, that as literature and religion both sunk +in the dark ages, so both emerged at the same auspicious era.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley finding that Dr. Barlow was not forward to embark in a +subject which he considered as rather personal, said, "It is +presumptuous to observe, that the Apostles were unlettered men, yet +those instruments who were to be employed in services singularly +difficult, the Almighty condescended partly to fit for their peculiar +work by great human attainments. The Apostle of the Gentiles was brought +up at the feet of Gamaliel; and Moses, who was destined to the high +office of a great legislator, was instructed in all the wisdom of the +most learned nation then existing. The Jewish law-giver, though under +the guidance of inspiration itself, did not fill his station the worse +for this preparatory instruction. To how important a use the Apostle +converted <i>his</i> erudition, we may infer from his conduct in the most +learned and polished assembly in the world. He did not unnecessarily +exasperate the polite Athenians, by coarse upbraiding, or illiterate +clamor, but he attacked them on their own ground. With what +discriminating wisdom, with what powerful reasoning did he unfold to +them that God whom they ignorantly worshiped! With what temper, with +what elegance, did he expose their shallow theology! Had he been as +unacquainted with <i>their</i> religion, as they were with <i>his</i>, he had +wanted the appropriate ground on which to build his instruction. He +seized on the inscription of their own pagan altar, as a text from which +to preach the doctrine of Christianity. From his knowledge of their +errors, he was enabled to advance the cause of truth. He made their +poetry, which he quoted, and their mythology which he would not have +been able to explode, if he had not understood it, a thesis from which +to deduce the doctrine of the Resurrection; thus softening their +prejudices, and letting them see the infinite superiority of that +Christianity which he enforced, to the mere learning and mental +cultivation on which they so highly valued themselves. By the same +sober discretion, acute reasoning, and graceful elegance, he afterward +obtained a patient hearing, and a favorable judgment from King Agrippa."</p> + +<p>"It has always appeared to me," returned Dr. Barlow, "that a strong +reason why the younger part of a clergyman's life should be in a good +measure devoted to learning is, that he may afterward discover its +comparative vanity. It would have been a less difficult sacrifice for +St. Paul to profess that he renounced all things for religion, if he had +had nothing to renounce; and to count all things as dross in the +comparison, if he had had no gold to put in the empty scale. Gregory +Nazianzen, one of the most accomplished masters of Greek literature, +declared that the chief value which he set upon it was, that in +possessing it, he had something of worth to esteem as nothing in +comparison of Christian truth. And it is delightful to hear Selden and +Grotius, and Pascal and Salmasius, whom I may be allowed to quote, +without being suspected of professional prejudice, as none of them were +clergymen, while they warmly recommended to others that learning of +which they themselves were the most astonishing examples, at the same +time dedicating their lives to the advancement of religion. It is +delightful, I say, to hear them acknowledge that their learning was only +valuable as it put it in their power to promote Christianity, and to +have something to sacrifice for its sake."</p> + +<p>"I can willingly allow," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that a poet, a dramatic poet +especially, may study the works of the great critics of antiquity with +some profit; but that a Christian writer of sermons can have any just +ground for studying a pagan critic, it is to me quite inconceivable."</p> + +<p>"And yet, sir," replied Mr. Stanley, "a sermon is a work which demands +regularity of plan, as well as a poem. It requires, too, something of +the same unity, arrangement, divisions, and lucid order as a tragedy; +something of the exordium and the peroration which belong to the +composition of the orator. I do not mean that he is constantly to +exhibit all this, but he should always understand it. And a discreet +clergyman, especially one who is to preach before auditors of the higher +rank, and who, in order to obtain respect from them, wishes to excel in +the art of composition, will scarcely be less attentive to form his +judgment by some acquaintance with Longinus and Quintilian than a +dramatic poet. A writer of verse, it is true, may please to a certain +degree by the force of mere genius, and a writer of sermons will +instruct by the mere power of his piety; but neither the one nor the +other will ever write well, if they do not possess the principles of +good writing, and form themselves on the models of good writers."</p> + +<p>"Writing," said Sir John, "to a certain degree is an art, or, if you +please, a trade. And as no man is allowed to set up in an ordinary trade +till he has served a long apprenticeship to its <i>mysteries</i> (the word, I +think, used in indentures), so no man should set up for a writer till he +knows somewhat of the mysteries of the art he is about to practice. He +may, after all, if he want talents, produce a vapid and inefficient +book; but possess what talents he may, he will, without knowledge, +produce a crude and indigested one."</p> + +<p>Mr. Tyrrel, however, still insisted upon it, that in a Christian +minister the lustre of learning is tinsel, and human wisdom folly.</p> + +<p>"I am entirely of your opinion," returned Mr. Stanley, "if he rest in +his learning as an <i>end</i> instead of using it as a <i>means</i>; if the fame, +or the pleasure, or even the human profit of learning be his ultimate +object. Learning in a clergyman without religion is dross, is nothing; +not so religion without learning. I am persuaded that much good is done +by men who, though deficient in this respect, are abundant in zeal and +piety; but the good they do arises from the exertion of their piety, and +not from the deficiency of their learning. Their labors are beneficial +from the talent they exercise, and not from their want of another +talent. The Spirit of God can work, and often does work, by feeble +instruments, and divine truth by its own omnipotent energy can effect +its own purposes. But particular instances do not go to prove that the +instrument ought not to be fitted, and polished, and sharpened for its +allotted work. Every student should be emulously watchful that he do not +diminish the stock of professional credit by his idleness; he should be +stimulated to individual exertion by bearing in mind that the English +clergy have always been allowed by foreigners to be the most learned +body in the world."</p> + +<p>Dr. Barlow was of opinion that what Mr. Stanley had said of the value of +knowledge, did not at all militate against such fundamental prime truths +as—"This is life eternal to <i>know</i> God and Jesus Christ whom he has +sent. I desire to <i>know</i> nothing, save Jesus Christ. The natural man can +not <i>know</i> the things of the Spirit of God. The world by wisdom <i>knew</i> +not God;" and a hundred other such passages.</p> + +<p>"Ay, Doctor," said Mr. Tyrrel, "now you talk a little more like a +Christian minister. But from the greater part of what has been asserted, +you are all of you such advocates for human reason and human learning as +to give an air of paganism to your sentiments."</p> + +<p>"Surely," said Mr. Stanley, "it does not diminish the utility, though it +abases the pride of learning, that Christianity did not come into the +world by human discovery, or the disquisitions of reason, but by +immediate revelation. Those who adopt your way of thinking, Mr. Tyrrel, +should bear in mind that the work of God, in changing the heart, is not +intended to supply the place of the human faculties. God expects, in +his most highly favored servants, the diligent exercise of their natural +powers; and if any human being has a stronger call for the exercise of +wisdom and judgment than another, it is a religious clergyman. +Christianity does not supersede the use of natural gifts, but turns them +into their proper channel.</p> + +<p>"One distinction has often struck me. The enemy of mankind seizes on the +soul through the medium of the passions and senses: the divine friend of +man addresses him through his rational powers—<i>the eyes of your +understanding being enlightened</i>, says the Apostle."</p> + +<p>Here I ventured to observe, that the highest panegyric bestowed on one +of the brightest luminaries of our church is, that his name is seldom +mentioned without the epithet <i>judicious</i> being prefixed to it. Yet does +Hooker want fervor? Does Hooker want zeal? Does Hooker want courage in +declaring the whole counsel of God?</p> + +<p>"I hope," said Sir John, "we have now no clergymen to whom we may apply +the biting sarcasm of Dr. South on some of the popular but illiterate +preachers of the opposite party in his day, 'that there was all the +confusion of Babel without the gift of tongues.'"</p> + +<p>"And yet," returned Mr. Stanley, "that party produced some great +scholars, and many eminently pious men. But look back to that day, and +especially to the period a little antecedent to it, at those prodigies +of erudition, the old bishops and other divines of our church. They +were, perhaps, somewhat too profuse of their learning in their +discourses, or rather they were so brimful, that they involuntarily +overflowed. A juster taste, in our time, avoids that lavish display +which then not only crowded the margin, but forced itself into every +part of the body of the work. The display of erudition might be wrong, +but one thing is clear, it proved they had it; and, as Dryden said, when +he accused of having too much wit, 'after all, it is a good crime.'"</p> + +<p>"We may justly," said Dr. Barlow, "in the refinement of modern taste, +censure their prolixity, and ridicule their redundancies; we may smile +at their divisions, which are numberless, and at their subdivisions, +which are endless; we may allow that this labor for perspicuity +sometimes produced perplexity. But let us confess they always went to +the bottom of whatever they embarked in. They ransacked the stores of +ancient learning, and the treasures of modern science, not to indulge +their vanity by obtruding their acquirements, but to prove, to adorn, +and to illustrate the doctrine they delivered. How incredible must their +industry have been, when the bare transcript of their voluminous folios +seems alone sufficient to have occupied a long life?"</p> + +<p>"The method," said I, "which they adopted, of saying every thing that +could be said on all topics, and exhausting them to the very dregs, +though it may and does tire the patience of the reader, yet it never +leaves him ignorant; and of two evils, had not an author better be +tedious than superficial? From an overflowing vessel you may gather more +indeed than you want, but from an empty one you can gather nothing."</p> + +<p>"It appears to me," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that you wish to make a clergyman +every thing but a Christian, and to bestow upon him every requisite +except faith."</p> + +<p>"God forbid that I should make any comparison between human learning and +Christian principle," replied Mr. Stanley; "the one is indeed lighter +than the dust of the balance, when weighed against the other. All I +contend for is, that they are not incompatible, and that human +knowledge, used only in subserviency to that of the Scriptures, may +advance the interests of religion. For the better elucidation of those +Scriptures, a clergyman should know not a little of ancient languages. +Without some insight into remote history and antiquities, especially the +Jewish, he will be unable to explain many of the manners and customs +recorded in the sacred volume. Ignorance on some of these points has +drawn many attacks on our religion from skeptical writers. As to a +thorough knowledge of ecclesiastical history, it would be superfluous to +recommend that, it being the history of his own immediate profession. It +is therefore requisite, not only for the general purposes of +instruction, but that he may be enabled to guard against modern +innovation, by knowing the origin and progress of the various heresies +with which the Church in all ages has been infested."</p> + +<p>"But," said Mr. Tyrrel, "he may be thoroughly acquainted with all this, +and not have one spark of light."</p> + +<p>"He may indeed," said the Doctor; "with deep concern I allow it. I will +go further. The pride of learning, when not subdued by religion, may +help to extinguish that spark. Reason has been too much decried by one +party and too much deified by the other. The difference between reason +and revelation seems to be the same as between the eye and the light; +the one is the organ of vision, the other the source of illumination."</p> + +<p>"Take notice, Stanley," observed Mr. Tyrrel, "that if I can help it, +I'll never attend your accomplished clergyman."</p> + +<p>"I have not yet completed the circle of his accomplishments," said Mr. +Stanley, smiling; "besides what we call book learning, there is another +species of knowledge in which some truly good men are sadly deficient: I +mean an acquaintance with human nature. The knowledge of the world, and +of him who made it; the study of the heart of man, and of him who has +the hearts of all men in his hand, enable a minister to excel in the +art of instruction; one kind of knowledge reflecting light upon the +other. The knowledge of mankind, then, I may venture to assert, is, next +to religion, one of the first requisites of a preacher; and I can not +help ascribing the little success which has sometimes attended the +ministry of even worthy men, to their want of this grand ingredient. It +will diminish the use they might make of the great doctrines of our +religion, if they are ignorant of the various modifications of the human +character to which those doctrines are to be addressed.</p> + +<p>"As no man ever made a true poet without this talent, one may venture to +say that few without it have ever made eminent preachers. Destitute of +this, the most elaborate addresses will be only random shot, which, if +they hit, will be more owing to chance than to skill. Without this +knowledge, warmed by Christian affection, guided by Christian judgment, +and tempered with Christian meekness, a clergyman will not be able in +the pulpit to accommodate himself to the various wants of his hearers; +without this knowledge, in his private spiritual visits he will resemble +those empirics in medicine who have but one method of treatment for all +diseases, and who apply indiscriminately the same pill and the same drop +to the various distempers of all ages, sexes, and constitutions. This +spirit of accommodation does not consist in falsifying, or abridging, or +softening, or disguising any truth; but in applying truth in every form, +communicating it in every direction, and diverting it into every +channel. Some good men seem sadly to forget that precept—<i>making a +difference</i>—for they act as if all characters were exactly alike."</p> + +<p>"You talk," said Mr. Tyrrel, "as if you would wish clergymen to depart +from the singleness of truth, and preach two gospels."</p> + +<p>"Far from it," replied Mr. Stanley, "but though truth is single, the +human character is multiplied almost to infinity, and can not be +addressed with advantage if it be not well understood. I am ashamed of +having said so much on such a subject in presence of Dr. Barlow, who is +silent through delicacy. I will only add, that a learned young clergyman +is not driven for necessary relaxation to improper amusements. His mind +will be too highly set to be satisfied with those light diversions which +purloin time without affording the necessary renovation to the body and +spirits, which is the true and lawful end of all amusement. In all +circumstances, learning confers dignity on his character. It enables him +to raise the tone of general conversation, and is a safe kind of medium +with persons of a higher class who are not religious; and it will always +put it in his power to keep the standard of intercourse above the +degrading topics of diversions, sports, and vulgar gossip."</p> + +<p>"You see, Mr. Tyrrel," said the Doctor, "that a prudent combatant thinks +only of defending himself on that side where he is assaulted. If Mr. +Stanley's antagonist had been a vehement advocate for clerical learning +as the great essential to his profession, he would have been the first +to caution him against the pride and inflation which often attend +learning, when not governed by religion. Learning, not so governed, +might injure Christian humility, and thus become a far more formidable +enemy to religion than that which it was called in to oppose."</p> + +<p>Sir John said, smiling, "I will not apply to the clergy what Rasselas +says to Imlac, after he had been enumerating the numberless qualities +necessary to the perfection of the poetic art—'Thou hast convinced me +that no man can be a poet;'—but if all Stanley says be just, I will +venture to assert that no common share of industry and zeal will qualify +a young student for that sacred profession. I have indeed no experience +on the subject, as it relates to the clerical order, but I conceive in +general, that learning is the best human preservative of virtue; that it +safely fills up leisure, and honorably adorns life, even where it does +not form the business of it."</p> + +<p>"Learning, too," said I, "has this strong recommendation, that it is the +offspring of a most valuable virtue, I mean industry; a quality on which +I am ashamed to see pagans frequently set a higher value than we seem to +do."</p> + +<p>"I believe, indeed," replied Sir John, "that the ancients had a higher +idea of industry and severe application than we have. Tully calls them +the <i>imperatoriæ virtutes</i>, and Alexander said that slaves might indulge +in sloth, but that it was a most royal thing to labor."</p> + +<p>"It has been the error of sensible men of the world to erect talents and +learning into idols, which they would have universally and exclusively +worshiped. This has, perhaps, driven some religious men into such a fear +of over-cultivating learning, that they do not cultivate it at all. +Hence the intervals between their religious employments, and intervals +there must be while we are invested with these frail bodies, are languid +and insipid, wasted in trifling and sauntering. Nay, it is well if this +disoccupation of the intellect do not lead from sloth to improper +indulgences."</p> + +<p>"You are perfectly right," said Sir John; "our worthy friend Thompson is +a living illustration of your remark. He was at college with us; he +brought from thence a competent share of knowledge; has a fair +understanding, and the manners of a gentleman. For several years past he +has not only adopted a religious character, but is truly pious. As he is +much in earnest, he very properly assigns a considerable portion of his +time to religious reading. But as he is of no profession, the +intermediate hours often hang heavy on his hands. He continues to live +in some measure in the world, without the inconsistency of entering into +its pursuits; but having renounced the study of human learning, and yet +accustoming himself to mix occasionally with general society, he has few +subjects in common with his company, but is dull and silent in all +rational conversation, of which religion is not the professed object. He +takes so little interest in any literary or political discussion, +however useful, that it is evident nothing but his good breeding +prevents his falling asleep. At the same time, he scruples not to +violate consistency in another respect, for his table is so elaborately +luxurious, that it seems as if he were willing to add to the pleasures +of sense what he deducts from those of intellect."</p> + +<p>"I have often thought," said Mr. Stanley, "of sending him Dr. Barlow's +<i>three sermons on industry in our calling as Christians, industry as +gentlemen, and industry as scholars</i>; which sermons, by the way, I +intended to have made my son read at least once a year, had he lived, +that he might see the consistency, the compatibility, nay, the analogy +of the two latter with the former. I wish the spirit of these three +discourses was infused into every gentleman, every scholar, and every +Christian through the land. For my own part, I should have sedulously +labored to make my son a sound scholar; while I should have labored +still more sedulously to convince him that the value of learning depends +solely on the purposes to which it is devoted. I would have a Christian +gentleman able to beat the world at its own weapons, and convince it, +that it is not from penury of mind, or inability to distinguish himself +in other matters, that he applies himself to seek that wisdom which is +from above; that he does not fly to religion as a shelter from the +ignominy of ignorance, but from a deep conviction of the comparative +vanity of that very learning which he yet is so assiduous to acquire."</p> + +<p>During this conversation, it was amusing to observe the different +impressions made on the minds of our two college guests. Young Tyrrel, +who, with moderate parts and slender application, had been taught to +adopt some of his uncle's dogmas as the cheapest way of being wise, +greedily swallowed his eulogium of clerical ignorance, which the young +man seemed to feel as a vindication of his own neglected studies, and an +encouragement to his own mediocrity of intellect. While the interesting +young baronet, though silent through modesty, discovered in his +intelligent eyes evident marks of satisfaction in hearing that +literature, for which he was every day acquiring a higher relish, warmly +recommended as the best pursuit of a gentleman, by the two men in the +world for whose judgment he entertained the highest reverence. At the +same time it raised his veneration for Christian piety, when he saw it +so sedulously practiced by these advocates for human learning.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + + +<p>During these conversations I remarked that Lucilla, though she commonly +observed the most profound silence, had her attention always riveted on +the speaker. If that speaker was Dr. Barlow, or her father, or any one +whom she thought entitled to particular respect, she gently laid down +her work, and as quietly resumed it when they had done speaking.</p> + +<p>I observed to Sir John Belfield, afterward, as we were walking together, +how modestly flattering her manner was when any of us were reading; how +intelligent her silence; how well-bred her attention.</p> + +<p>"I have often contrasted it," replied he, "with the manners of some +other ladies of my acquaintance, who are sometimes of our quiet evening +party. When one is reading history, or any ordinary book, aloud to them, +I am always pleased that they should pursue their little employments. It +amuses themselves, and gives ease and familiarity to the social circle. +But while I have been reading, as has sometimes happened, a passage of +the highest sublimity, or most tender interest, I own I feel a little +indignant to see the shuttle plied with as eager assiduity as if the +Destinies themselves were weaving the thread. I have known a lady take +up the candlestick to search for her netting-pin, in the midst of Cato's +soliloquy; or stoop to pick up her scissors while Hamlet says to the +ghost, 'I'll go no further.' I remember another who would whisper across +the table to borrow thread while Lear has been raving in the storm, or +Macbeth starting at the spirit of Banquo; and make signs for a +thread-paper while cardinal Beaufort 'dies, and makes no sign.' Nay, +once I remember when I was with much agitation hurrying through the +gazette of the battle of Trafalgar, while I pronounced, almost agonized, +the last memorable words of the immortal Nelson, I heard one lady +whisper to another that she had broken her needle."</p> + +<p>"It would be difficult to determine," replied I, "whether this +inattention most betrays want of sense, of feeling, or of good breeding. +The habit of attention should be carefully formed in early life, and +then the mere force of custom would teach these ill-bred women 'to +assume the virtue if they have it not.'"</p> + +<p>The family at the Grove was, with us, an inexhaustible topic whenever we +met. I observed to Sir John, "that I had sometimes noticed in charitable +families a display, a bustle, a kind of animal restlessness, a sort of +mechanical <i>besoin</i> to be charitably busy. That though they fulfilled +conscientiously one part of the apostolic injunction, that of 'giving,' +yet they failed in the other clause, that of doing it 'with simplicity.'"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied he, "I visit a charitable lady in town, who almost puts +me out of love with benevolence. Her own bounties form the entire +subject of her conversation. As soon as the breakfast is removed, the +table is regularly covered with plans, and proposals, and subscription +papers. This display conveniently performs the threefold office of +publishing her own charities, furnishing subjects of altercation, and +raising contributions on the visitor. Her narratives really cost me more +than my subscription. She is so full of debate, and detail, and +opposition; she makes you read so many papers of her own drawing up, and +so many answers to the schemes of other people, and she has so many +objections to every other person's mode of doing good, and so many +arguments to prove that her own is the best, that she appears less like +a benevolent lady than a chicaning attorney."</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said I, "corrects this bustling bounty so completely, as when +it is mixed up with religion, I should rather say, as when it flows from +religion. This motive, so far from diminishing the energy, augments it; +but it cures the display, and converts the irritation into a principle. +It transfers the activity from the tongue to the heart. It is the only +sort of charity which 'blesses twice.' All charity, indeed, blesses the +receiver; but the blessing promised to the giver, I have sometimes +trembled to think, may be forfeited even by a generous mind, from +ostentation and parade in the manner, and want of purity in the motive."</p> + +<p>"In Stanley's family," replied he, in a more serious tone, "I have met +with a complete refutation of that favorite maxim in the world, that +religion is a dull thing itself, and makes its professors gloomy and +morose. Charles! I have often frequented houses where pleasure was the +avowed object of idolatry. But to see the votaries of the 'reeling +goddess,' after successive nights passed in her temples! to see the +languor, the listlessness, the discontent—you would rather have taken +them for her victims than her worshipers. So little mental vivacity, so +little gayety of heart! In short, after no careless observations, I am +compelled to declare, that I never saw two forms less alike than those +of Pleasure and Happiness."</p> + +<p>"Your testimony, Sir John," said I, "is of great weight in a case of +which you are so experienced a judge. What a different scene do we now +contemplate! Mr. Stanley seems to have diffused his own spirit through +the whole family. What makes his example of such efficacy is, that he +considers the Christian <i>temper</i> as so considerable a part of +Christianity. This temper seems to imbue his whole soul, pervade his +whole conduct, and influence his whole conversation. I see every day +some fresh occasion to admire his candor, his humility, his constant +reference, not as a topic of discourse, but as a principle of conduct, +to the gospel as the standard by which actions are to be weighed. His +conscientious strictness of speech, his serious reproof of calumnies, +his charitable construction of every case which has two sides; 'his +simplicity and godly sincerity;' his rule of referring all events to +providential direction, and his invariable habit of vindicating the +divine goodness under dispensations apparently the most unfavorable."</p> + +<p>Here Sir John left me, and I could not forbear pursuing the subject in +soliloquy as I proceeded in my walk. I reflected with admiration that +Mr. Stanley, in his religious conversation, rendered himself so useful, +because instead of the uniform nostrum of <i>the drop and the pill</i>, he +applied a different class of arguments, as the case required, to +objectors to the different parts of Christianity; to ill informed +persons who adopted a partial gospel without understanding it as a +scheme, or embracing it as a whole; to those who allow its truth merely +on the same ground of evidence that establishes the truth of any other +well authenticated history, and who, satisfied with this external +evidence, not only do not feel its power on their own heart, but deny +that it has any such influence on the hearts of others; to those who +believe the gospel to be a mere code of ethics; to their antipodes, who +assert that Christ has lowered the requisitions of the law; to Lady +Belfield, who rests on her charities—Sir John, on his correctness—Lady +Aston, on her austerities; to this man, who values himself solely on the +stoutness of his orthodoxy; to another, on the firmness of his +integrity; to a third, on the peculiarities of his party, he addresses +himself with a particular view to their individual errors. This he does +with such a discriminating application to the case as might lead the +ill-informed to suspect that he was not equally earnest in those other +points, which, not being attacked, he does not feel himself called on to +defend, but which, had they been attacked, he would then have defended +with equal zeal as relative to the discussion. To crown all, I +contemplated that affectionate warmth of heart, that sympathizing +kindness, that tenderness of feeling, of which the gay and the +thoughtless fancy that they themselves possess the monopoly, while they +make over harshness, austerity, and want of charity to religious men, as +their inseparable characteristics.</p> + +<p>These qualities excite in my heart a feeling compounded of veneration, +and of love. And oh! how impossible it is, even in religion itself, to +be disinterested! All these excellences I contemplate with a more +heartfelt delight from the presumptuous hope that I may one day have the +felicity of connecting myself still more intimately with them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + + +<p>Some days after, while we were conversing over our tea, we heard the +noise of a carriage; and Mr. Stanley, looking out from a bow window in +which he and I were sitting, said it was Lady and Miss Rattle driving up +the avenue. He had just time to add, "These are our <i>fine</i> neighbors. +They always make us a visit as soon as they come down, while all the +gloss and lustre of London is fresh upon them. We have always our +regular routine of conversation. While her Ladyship is pouring the +fashions into Mrs. Stanley's ear, Miss Rattle, who is about Ph[oe]be's +age, entertains my daughters and me with the history of her own talents +and acquirements."</p> + +<p>Here they entered. After a few compliments, Lady Rattle seated herself +between Lady Belfield and Mrs. Stanley at the upper end of the room; +while the fine, sprightly, boisterous girl of fifteen or sixteen threw +herself back on the sofa at nearly her full length between Mr. Stanley +and me, the Miss Stanleys and Sir John sitting near us, within hearing +of her lively loquacity.</p> + +<p>"Well, Miss Amelia," said Mr. Stanley, "I dare say you have made good +use of your time this winter; I suppose you have ere now completed the +whole circle of the arts. Now let me hear what you have been doing, and +tell me your whole achievements as frankly as you used to do when you +were a little girl." "Indeed," replied she, "I have not been idle, if I +must speak the truth. One has so many things to learn, you know. I have +gone on with my French and Italian of course, and I am beginning German. +Then comes my drawing-master; he teaches me to paint flowers and shells, +and to draw ruins and buildings, and to take views. He is a good soul, +and is finishing a set of pictures, and half a dozen fire-screens, which +I began for mamma. He <i>does</i> help me to be sure, but indeed I do some of +it myself, don't I, mamma?" calling out to her mother, who was too much +absorbed in her own narratives to attend to her daughter.</p> + +<p>"And then," pursued the young prattler, "I learn varnishing, and +gilding, and japaning. And next winter I shall learn modeling, and +etching, and engraving in mezzotinto and aquatinta; for Lady Di. Dash +learns etching, and mamma says, as I shall have a better fortune than +Lady Di., she vows I shall learn every thing she does. Then I have a +dancing-master, who teaches me the Scotch and Irish steps; and another +who teaches me attitudes, and I shall soon learn the waltz, and I can +stand longer on one leg already than Lady Di. Then I have a +singing-master, and another who teaches me the harp, and another for the +piano-forte. And what little time I can spare from these <i>principal</i> +things, I give by odd minutes to ancient and modern history, and +geography, and astronomy, and grammar, and botany. Then I attend +lectures on chemistry, and experimental philosophy, for as I am not yet +come out, I have not much to do in the evenings; and mamma says there is +nothing in the world that money can pay for but what I shall learn. And +I run so delightfully fast from one thing to another that I am never +tired. What makes it so pleasant is, as soon as I am fairly set in with +one master, another arrives. I should hate to be long at the same thing. +But I sha'n't have a great while to work so hard, for as soon as I come +out, I shall give it all up, except music and dancing."</p> + +<p>All this time Lucilla sat listening with a smile, behind the complacency +of which she tried to conceal her astonishment. Ph[oe]be, who had less +self-control, was on the very verge of a broad laugh. Sir John, who had +long lived in a soil where this species is indigenous, had been too long +accustomed to all its varieties to feel much astonishment at this +specimen, which, however, he sat contemplating with philosophical but +discriminating coolness.</p> + +<p>For my own part, my mind was wholly absorbed in contrasting the coarse +manners of this voluble and intrepid, but good-humored girl, with the +quiet, cheerful, and unassuming elegance of Lucilla.</p> + +<p>"I should be afraid, Miss Rattle," said Mr. Stanley, "if you did not +look in such blooming health, that, with all these incessant labors, you +did not allow yourself time for rest. Surely you never sleep?"</p> + +<p>"O yes, that I do, and eat too," said she; "my life is not quite so hard +and moping as you fancy. What between shopping and morning visits with +mamma, and seeing sights, and the park, and the gardens (which, by the +way, I hate, except on a Sunday when they are crowded), and our young +balls, which are four or five in a week after Easter, and mamma's music +parties at home, I contrive to enjoy myself tolerably, though after I +have been presented, I shall be a thousand times better off, for then I +sha'n't have a moment to myself. Won't that be delightful?" said she, +twitching my arm rather roughly, by way of recalling my attention, +which, however, had seldom wandered.</p> + +<p>As she had now run out her London materials, the news of the +neighborhood next furnished a subject for her volubility. After she had +mentioned in detail one or two stories of low village gossip, while I +was wondering how she could come at them, she struck me dumb by quoting +the coachman as her authority. This enigma was soon explained. The +mother and daughter having exhausted their different topics of discourse +nearly at the same time, they took their leave, in order to enrich +every family in the neighborhood, on whom they were going to call, with +the same valuable knowledge which they had imparted to us.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley conducted Lady Rattle, and I led her daughter; but as I +offered to hand her into the carriage she started back with a sprightly +motion, and screamed out, "O no, not in the inside, pray help me up to +the <i>dickey</i>; I always protest I never <i>will</i> ride with any body but the +coachman, if we go ever so far." So saying, with a spring which showed +how much she despised my assistance, the little hoyden was seated in a +moment, nodding familiarly at me as if I had been an old friend.</p> + +<p>Then with a voice, emulating that which, when passing by Charing Cross, +I have heard issue from an over-stuffed vehicle, when a robust sailor +has thrust his body out at the window, the fair creature vociferated, +"Drive on, coachman!" He obeyed, and turning round her whole person, she +continued nodding at me till they were out of sight.</p> + +<p>"Here is a mass of accomplishments," said I, "without one particle of +mind, one ray of common sense, or one shade of delicacy! Surely somewhat +less time and less money might have sufficed to qualify a companion for +the coachman!"</p> + +<p>"What poor creatures are we men," said I to Mr. Stanley as soon as he +came in. "We think it very well, if, after much labor and long +application, we can attain to one or two of the innumerable acquirements +of this gay little girl. Nor is this I find the rare achievement of one +happy genius—there is a whole class of these miraculous females. Miss +Rattle</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Is knight of the shire, and represents them all."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"It is only young ladies," replied he, "whose vast abilities, whose +mighty grasp of mind can take in every thing. Among men, learned men, +talents are commonly directed into some one channel, and fortunate is he +who, in that one, attains to excellence. The linguist is rarely a +painter, nor is the mathematician often a poet. Even in one profession, +there are divisions and subdivisions. The same lawyer never thinks of +presiding both in the King's Bench, and in the Court of Chancery. The +science of healing is not only divided into its three distinct branches, +but in the profession of surgery only, how many are the subdivisions! +One professor undertakes the eye, another the ear, and a third the +teeth. But woman, ambitious, aspiring, universal, triumphant, glorious +woman, even at the age of a school-boy, encounters the whole range of +arts, attacks the whole circle of sciences!"</p> + +<p>"A mighty maze, and <i>quite</i> without a plan," replied Sir John, laughing. +"But the truth is, the misfortune does not so much consist in their +learning every thing, as in their knowing nothing; I mean nothing well. +When gold is beaten out so wide, the lamina must needs be very thin. And +you may observe, the more valuable attainments, though they are not to +be left out of the modish plan, are kept in the background; and are to +be picked up out of the odd remnants of that time, the sum of which is +devoted to frivolous accomplishments. All this gay confusion of +acquirements, these holiday splendors, this superfluity of enterprise, +enumerated in the first part of her catalogue, is the <i>real business</i> of +education, the latter part is incidental, and if taught is not learned.</p> + +<p>"As to the lectures so boastfully mentioned, they may doubtless be made +very useful subsidiaries to instruction. They most happily illustrate +book-knowledge; but if the pupil's instructions in private do not +precede, and keep pace with these useful public exhibitions, her +knowledge will be only presumptuous ignorance. She may learn to talk of +oxygen and hydrogen, and deflagration, and trituration but she will know +nothing of the science except the terms. It is not knowing the name of +his tools that makes an artist; and I should be afraid of the vanity +which such superficial information would communicate to a mind not +previously prepared, nor exercised at home in corresponding studies. But +as Miss Rattle honestly confessed, as soon as she <i>comes out</i>, all these +things will die away of themselves, and dancing and music will be almost +all which will survive of her multifarious pursuits."</p> + +<p>"I look upon the great predominance of music in female education," said +Mr. Stanley, "to be the source of more mischief than is suspected; not +from any evil in the thing itself, but from its being such a gulf of +time, as really to leave little room for solid acquisitions. I love +music, and, were it only cultivated as an amusement, should commend it. +But the monstrous proportion, or rather disproportion of life which it +swallows up, even in many religious families—and this is the chief +subject of my regret—has converted an innocent diversion into a +positive sin. I question if many gay men devote more hours in a day to +idle purposes, than the daughters of many pious parents spend in this +amusement. All these hours the mind lies fallow, improvement is at a +stand, if even it does not retrograde. Nor is it the shreds and scraps +of time, stolen in the intervals of better things, that are so devoted; +but it is the morning, the prime, the profitable, the active hours, when +the mind is vigorous, the spirits light, the intellect awake and fresh, +and the whole being wound up by the refreshment of sleep, and animated +by the return of light and life, for nobler services."</p> + +<p>"If," said Sir John, "music were cultivated to embellish retirement, to +be practiced where pleasures are scarce, and good performers are not to +be had, it would quite alter the case. But the truth is, these highly +taught ladies are not only living in public where they constantly hear +the most exquisite professors, but they have them also at their own +houses. Now one of these two things must happen. Either the performance +of the lady will be so inferior as not to be worth hearing on the +comparison, or so good that she will fancy herself the rival, instead of +the admirer of the performer, whom she had better pay and praise than +fruitlessly emulate."</p> + +<p>"This anxious struggle to reach the unattainable excellence of the +professor," said Mr. Stanley, "often brings to my mind the contest for +victory between the ambitious nightingale and the angry lutanist in the +beautiful Prolusion of Strada."</p> + +<p>"It is to the predominance of this talent," replied I, "that I ascribe +that want of companionableness of which I complain. The excellence of +musical performance is a decorated screen, behind which all defects in +domestic knowledge, in taste, judgment, and literature, and the talents +which make an elegant companion, are creditably concealed."</p> + +<p>"I have made," said Sir John, "another remark. Young ladies, who from +apparent shyness do not join in the conversation of a small select +party, are always ready enough to entertain them with music on the +slightest hint. Surely it is equally modest to <i>say</i> as to <i>sing</i>, +especially to sing those melting strains we sometimes hear sung, and +which we should be ashamed to hear said. After all, how few hours are +there in a week, in which a man engaged in the pursuits of life, and a +woman in the duties of a family, wish to employ in music. I am fond of +it myself, and Lady Belfield plays admirably; but with the cares +inseparable from the conscientious discharge of her duty with so many +children, how little time has she to play, or I to listen! But there is +no day, no hour, no meal in which I do not enjoy in her the ever ready +pleasure of an elegant and interesting companion. A man of sense, when +all goes smoothly, wants to be entertained; under vexation to be +soothed; in difficulties to be counseled; in sorrow to be comforted. In +a mere artist can he reasonably look for these resources?"</p> + +<p>"Only figure to yourself," replied Mr. Stanley, "my six girls daily +playing their four hours a piece, which is now a moderate allowance! As +we have but one instrument they must be at it in succession, day and +night, to keep pace with their neighbors. If I may compare light things +with serious ones, it would resemble," added he, smiling, "the perpetual +psalmody of good Mr. Nicholars Ferrar, who had relays of musicians every +six hours to sing the whole Psalter through every day and night! I mean +not to ridicule that holy man; but my girls thus keeping their useless +vigils in turn, we should only have the melody without any of the piety. +No, my friend! I will have but two or three singing birds to cheer my +little grove. If all the world are performers, there will soon be no +hearers. Now, as I am resolved in my own family that some shall listen, +I will have but few to perform."</p> + +<p>"It must be confessed," said Sir John, "that Miss Rattle is no servile +imitator of the vapid tribe of the superficially accomplished. Her +violent animal spirits prevent her from growing smooth by attrition. She +is as rough and angular as rusticity itself could have made her. Where +strength of character, however, is only marked by the worst concomitant +of strength, which is coarseness, I should almost prefer inanity +itself."</p> + +<p>"I should a little fear," said I, "that I lay too much stress on +companionableness; on the <i>positive duty of being agreeable at home</i>, +had I not early learned the doctrine from my father, and seen it +exemplified so happy in the practice of my mother."</p> + +<p>"I entirely agree with you, Charles," said Mr. Stanley, "as to the +absolute <i>morality</i> of being agreeable and even entertaining in one's +own family circle. Nothing so soon, and so certainly wears out the +happiness of married persons, as that too common bad effect of +familiarity, the sinking down into dullness and insipidity; neglecting +to keep alive the flame by the delicacy which first kindled it; want of +vigilance in keeping the temper cheerful by Christian discipline, and +the faculties bright by constant use. Mutual affection decays of itself, +even where there is no great moral turpitude, without mutual endeavors, +not only to improve, but to amuse.</p> + +<p>"This," continued he, "is one of the great arts of <i>home enjoyment</i>. +That it is so little practiced, accounts in a good measure for the +undomestic turn of too many married persons. The man meets abroad with +amusements, and the woman with attentions, to which they are not +accustomed at home. Whereas a capacity to please on the one part, and a +disposition to be pleased on the other, in their own house, would make +most visits appear dull. But then the disposition and the capacity must +be cultivated antecedently to marriage. A woman, whose whole education +has been rehearsal, will always be dull, except she lives on the stage, +constantly displaying what she has been sedulously acquiring. Books, on +the contrary, well chosen books, do not lead to exhibition. The +knowledge a woman acquires in private, desires no witnesses; the +possession is the pleasure. It improves herself, it embellishes her +family society, it entertains her husband, it informs her children. The +gratification is cheap, is safe, is always to be had at home."</p> + +<p>"It is superfluous," said Sir John, "to decorate women so highly for +early youth; youth is itself a decoration. We mistakingly adorn most +that part of life which least requires it, and neglect to provide for +that which will want it most. It is for that sober period when life has +lost its freshness, the passions their intenseness, and the spirits +their hilarity, that we should be preparing. Our wisdom would be to +anticipate the wants of middle life, to lay in a store of notions, +ideas, principles, and habits, which may preserve or transfer to the +mind that affection which was at first partly attracted by the person. +But to add a vacant mind to a form which has ceased to please; to +provide no subsidiary aid to beauty while it lasts, and especially no +substitute when it is departed, is to render life comfortless, and +marriage dreary."</p> + +<p>"The reading of a cultivated woman," said Mr. Stanley, "commonly +occupies less time than the music of a musical woman, or the idleness of +an indolent woman, or the dress of a vain woman, or the dissipation of a +fluttering woman; she is therefore likely to have more leisure for her +duties, as well as more inclination, and a sounder judgment for +performing them. But pray observe, that I assume my reading woman to be +a religious woman; and I will not answer for the effect of a literary +vanity, more than for that of any other vanity, in a mind not habitually +disciplined by Christian principle, the only safe and infallible +antidote for knowledge of every kind."</p> + +<p>Before we had finished our conversation, we were interrupted by the +arrival of the post. Sir John eagerly opened the newspaper; but, instead +of gratifying our impatience with the intelligence for which we panted +from the glorious Spaniards, he read a paragraph which stated "that Miss +Denham had eloped with Signor Squallini, that they were on their way to +Scotland, and that Lady Denham had been in fits ever since."</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield with her usual kindness was beginning to express how much +she pitied her old acquaintance. "My dear Caroline," said Sir John, +"there is too much substantial and inevitable misery in the world, for +you to waste much compassion on this foolish woman. Lady Denham has +little reason to be surprised at an event which all reasonable people +must have anticipated. Provoking and disgraceful as it is, what has she +to blame but her own infatuation? This Italian was the associate of all +her pleasures; the constant theme of her admiration. He was admitted +when her friends were excluded. The girl was continually hearing that +music was the best gift, and that Signor Squallini was the best gifted. +Miss Denham," added, he laughing, "had more wit than your Strada's +nightingale. Instead of dropping down dead on the lute for envy, she +thought it better to run away with the lutanist for love. I pity the +poor girl, however, who has furnished such a commentary to our text, and +who is rather the victim of a wretched education than of her own bad +propensities."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + + +<p>I had generally found that a Sunday passed in a visit was so heavy a +day, that I had been accustomed so to arrange my engagements, as +commonly to exclude this from the days spent from home. I had often +found that even where the week had been pleasantly occupied, the +necessity of passing several hours of a season peculiarly designed for +religious purposes, with people whose habits have little similarity with +our own, either draws one into their relaxed mode of getting rid of the +day, or drives one to a retirement which having an unsociable +appearance, is liable to the reproach of austerity and gloom.</p> + +<p>The case was quite different at Stanley Grove. The seriousness was +without severity, and the cheerfulness had no mixture of levity. The +family seemed more than usually animated, and there was a variety in the +religious pursuits of the young people, enlivened by intervals of +cheerful and improving conversation, which particularly struck Lady +Belfield. She observed to me, that the difficulty of getting through the +Sunday, without any mixture of worldly occupations or amusements on the +one hand, or of disgust and weariness on the other, was among the many +right things which she had never been able to accomplish in her own +family.</p> + +<p>As we walked from church one Sunday, Miss Stanley told me that her +father does not approve the habit of criticising the sermon. He says +that the custom of pointing out the faults, can not be maintained +without the custom of watching for them; that it gives the attention a +wrong turn, and leads the hearer only to treasure up such passages as +may serve for animadversion, and a display, not of Christian temper, but +of critical skill. If the general tenor and principle be right, that is +the main point they are to look to, and not to hunt for philosophical +errors; that the hearer would do well to observe, whether it is not "he +that sleeps," as often, at least, as "Homer nods:" a remark exemplified +at church, as often as on the occasion which suggested it; that a +critical spirit is the worst that can be brought out of church, being a +symptom of an unhumbled mind, and an evidence that whatever the sermon +may have done for others, it has not benefited the caviler.</p> + +<p>Here Mr. Stanley joined us. I found he did not encourage his family to +take down the sermon. "It is no disparagement," said he, "to the +discourse preached, to presume that there may be as good already +printed. Why, therefore, not read the printed sermon at home in the +evening, instead of that by which you ought to have been improving while +it was delivering? If it be true that <i>faith cometh by hearing</i>, an +inferior sermon, 'coming warm and instant from the heart,' assisted by +all the surrounding solemnities which make a sermon <i>heard</i>, so +different from one <i>read</i>, may strike more forcibly than an abler +discourse coolly perused at home. In writing, the mechanical act must +necessarily lessen the effect to the writer, and to the spectator it +diminishes the dignity of the scene, and seems like short-hand writer +taking down a trial.</p> + +<p>"But that, my daughters may not plead this as an excuse for +inattention," continued he, "I make it a part of their evening duty to +repeat what they retain, separately, to me in my library. The +consciousness that this repetition will be required of them, stimulates +their diligence; and the exercise itself not only strengthens the +memory, but habituates to serious reflection."</p> + +<p>At tea, Ph[oe]be, a charming, warm-hearted creature, but who now and +then, carried away by the impulse of the moment, forgets habits and +prohibitions, said, "I think, papa, Dr. Barlow was rather dull to-day. +There was nothing new in the sermon." "My dear," replied her father, "we +do not go to church to hear news. Christianity is no novelty; and though +it is true that we go to be instructed, yet we require to be reminded +full as much as to be taught. General truths are what we all +acknowledge, and all forget. We acknowledge them, because a general +assent of the understanding costs but little; and we forget them, +because the remembrance would force upon the conscience a great deal of +practical labor. To believe, and remember, and act upon, common, +undisputed, general truths, is the most important part of religion. +This, though in fact very difficult, is overlooked, on account of its +being supposed very easy. To keep up in the heart a lively impression of +a few plain momentous truths, is of more use than the ablest discussion +of a hundred controverted points.</p> + +<p>"Now tell me, Ph[oe]be, do you really think that you have remembered and +practiced all the instructions you have received from Dr. Barlow's +sermons last year? If you have, though you will have a better right to +be critical, you will be less disposed to be so. If you have not, do not +complain that the sermon is not new till you have made all possible use +of the old ones; which if you had done, you would have acquired so much +humility, that you would meekly listen even to what you already know. +But however the discourse may have been superfluous to such deep divines +as Miss Ph[oe]be Stanley, it will be very useful to me, and to other +hearers who are not so wise."</p> + +<p>Poor Ph[oe]be blushed up to her ears; tears rushed into her eyes. She +was so overcome with shame that, regardless of the company, she flew +into her father's arms, and softly whispered that if he would forgive +her foolish vanity, she would never again be above being taught. The +fond, but not blind father, withdrew with her. Lucilla followed, with +looks of anxious love.</p> + +<p>During their short absence, Mrs. Stanley said, "Lucilla is so +practically aware of the truth of her father's observation, that she +often says she finds as much advantage as pleasure in teaching the +children at her school. This elementary instruction obliges her +continually to recur to first principles, and to keep constantly +uppermost in her mind those great truths contained in the articles of +our belief, the commandments, and the prayer taught by our Redeemer. +This perpetual simplifying of religion she assures me, keeps her more +humble, fixes her attention on fundamental truths, and makes her more +indifferent to controverted points."</p> + +<p>In a few minutes Mr. Stanley and his daughters returned cheerful and +happy: Lucilla smiling like the angel of peace and love.</p> + +<p>"If I were not afraid," said Lady Belfield, "of falling under the same +censure with my friend Ph[oe]be," smiling on the sweet girl, "I should +venture to say that I thought the sermon rather too severe."</p> + +<p>"Do not be afraid, madam," replied Mr. Stanley; "though I disapprove +that cheap and cruel criticism which makes a man <i>an offender for a +word</i>, yet discussion does not necessarily involve censoriousness; so +far from it, it is fair to discuss whatever seems to be doubtful, and I +shall be glad to hear your ladyship's objections."</p> + +<p>"Well then," replied she, in the most modest tone and accent, "with all +my reverence for Dr. Barlow, I thought him a little unreasonable in +seeming to expect universal goodness from creatures whom he yet insisted +were fallen creatures."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, madam," said Mr. Stanley, "you mistook his meaning, for he +appeared to me perfectly consistent, not only with himself, but with his +invariable rule and guide, the Scriptures. Sanctification—will you +allow me to use so serious a word?—however imperfect, must be +universal. It is not the improvement of any one faculty, or quality, or +temper, which divines mean, when they say we are renewed in part, so +much as that the change is not perfect, the holiness is not complete in +<i>any</i> part or power, or faculty, though progressive in all. He who +earnestly desires a universal victory over sin, knows which of his evil +dispositions or affections it is that is yet unsubdued. This rebellious +enemy he vigilantly sets himself to watch against, to struggle with, +and, through divine grace, to conquer. The test of his sincerity does +not so much consist in avoiding many faults to which he has no +temptation, as in conquering that one to which his natural bent and bias +forcibly impel him."</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield said, "But is it not impossible to bring every part of our +nature under this absolute dominion? Suppose a man is very passionate, +and yet very charitable; would you look upon that person to be in a +dangerous state?"</p> + +<p>"It is not my province, madam, to decide," replied Mr. Stanley. "'God,' +as Bishop Sanderson says, 'reserves this <i>royalty</i> to himself of being +the searcher of hearts.' I can not judge how far he resists anger, nor +what are his secret struggles against it. God, who expects not +perfection, expects sincerity. Though complete, unmixed goodness is not +to be attained in this imperfect state, yet the earnest desire after it +is the only sure criterion of the sincerity we profess. If the man you +allude to does not watch, and pray, and strive against the passion of +anger, which is his natural infirmity, I should doubt whether any of his +affections were really renewed; and I should fear that his charity was +rather a mere habitual feeling, though a most amiable one, than a +Christian grace. He indulges in charity, because it is a constitutional +bias, and costs him nothing. He indulges in passion, because it is a +natural bias also; and to set about a victory over it would cost him a +great deal. This should put him on a strict self-examination; when he +would probably find that, while he gives the uncontrolled reins to any +one wrong inclination, his religion, even when he does right things, is +questionable. True religion is seated in the heart; that is the centre +from which all the lines of right practice must diverge. It is the great +duty and chief business of a Christian to labor to make all his +affections, with all their motives, tendencies, and operations, +subservient to the word and will of God. His irregular passions, which +are still apt to start out into disorder, will require vigilance to the +end. He must not think all is safe, because the more tractable ones are +not rebellious; but he may entertain a cheerful hope, when those which +were once rebellious are become tractable."</p> + +<p>"I feel the importance of what you say," returned Lady Belfield; "but I +feel also my utter inability to set about it."</p> + +<p>"My dear madam," said Mr. Stanley, "this is the best and most salutary +feeling you can have. That very consciousness of insufficiency will, I +trust, drive you to the fountain of all strength and power: it will +quicken your faith, and animate your prayer; faith, which is the +habitual principle of confidence in God; and prayer, which is the +exercise of that principle toward him who is the object of it."</p> + +<p>"But Dr. Barlow," said Lady Belfield, "was so discouraging! He seemed to +intimate, as if the conflict of a Christian with sin must be as lasting +as his life; whereas, I had hoped that victory once obtained, was +obtained forever."</p> + +<p>"The <i>strait gate</i>," replied Mr. Stanley, "is only the entrance of +religion; the <i>narrow way</i> is a continued course. The Christian life, my +dear Lady Belfield, is not a point but a progress. It is precisely in +the race of Christianity as in the race of human glory. Julius Cæsar and +St. Paul describe their respective warfares in nearly the same terms. +<i>We should count nothing done, while any thing remains undone</i>,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> says +the Warrior. <i>Not counting myself to have attained—forgetting the +things which are behind, and pressing forward to those which are +before</i>, says the Apostle. And it is worth remarking, that they both +made the disqualifying observation after attainments almost incredible. +As there was no being a hero by any idler way, so there is no being a +Christian by any easier road. The necessity of pursuit is the same in +both cases, though the objects pursued differ as widely as the vanities +of time from the riches of eternity.</p> + +<p>"Do not think, my dear madam," added Mr. Stanley, "that I am erecting +myself into a censor, much less into a model. The corruptions which I +lament, I participate. The deficiencies which I deplore, I feel. Not +only when I look abroad, am I persuaded of the general prevalence of +evil by what I see; but when I look into my own heart, my conviction is +confirmed by what I experience. I am conscious, not merely of frailties, +but of sins. I will not hypocritically accuse myself of gross offenses +which I have no temptation to commit, and from the commission of which, +motives inferior to religion would preserve me. But I am continually +humbled in detecting mixed motives in almost all I do. Such strugglings +of pride with my endeavors after humility! Such irresolution in my +firmest purposes! So much imperfection in my best actions! So much want +of simplicity in my purest designs! Such fresh shoots of selfishness +where I had hoped the plant itself had been eradicated! Such frequent +deadness in duty! Such coldness in my affections! Such infirmity of +will! Such proneness to earth in my highest aspirations after heaven! +All these you see would hardly make, in the eyes of those who want +Christian discernment, very gross sins; yet they prove demonstrably the +root of sin in the heart, and the infection of nature tainting my best +resolves."</p> + +<p>"The true Christian," said I, when Mr. Stanley had done speaking, +"extracts humility from the very circumstance which raises pride in the +irreligious. The sight of any enormity in another makes the mere +moralist proud that he is exempt from it, while the religious man is +humbled from a view of the sinfulness of that nature he partakes, a +nature which admits of such excesses, and from which excesses he knows +that he himself is preserved by divine grace alone. I have often +observed that comparison is the aliment of pride in the worldly man, and +of self-abasement in the Christian."</p> + +<p>Poor Lady Belfield looked comforted on finding that her friend Mr. +Stanley was not quite so perfect as she had feared. "Happy are those," +exclaimed she, looking at Lucilla, "the innocence of whose lives +recommends them to the divine favor."</p> + +<p>"Innocence," replied Mr. Stanley, "can never be pleaded as a ground of +acceptance, because the thing does not exist. Innocence excludes the +necessity of repentance, and where there is no sin, there can be no need +of a Saviour. Whatever therefore we may be in comparison with others, +innocence can afford no plea for our acceptance, without annulling the +great plan of our redemption."</p> + +<p>"One thing puzzles me," said Lady Belfield. "The most worthless people I +converse with deny the doctrine of human corruption, a doctrine the +truth of which one should suppose their own feelings must confirm; while +those few excellent persons who almost seem to have escaped it, insist +the most peremptorily on its reality. But if it be really true, surely +the mercies of God are so great that he will overlook the frailties of +such weak and erring mortals. So gracious a Saviour will not exact such +rigorous obedience from creatures so infirm."</p> + +<p>"Let not what I am going to say, my dear Lady Belfield," replied Mr. +Stanley, "offend you; the correctness of your conduct exempts you from +any particular application. But there are too many Christians who, while +they speak with reverence of Christ as the Saviour of sinners, do not +enough consider him as a deliverer from sin. They regard him rather as +having lowered the requisitions of the law, and exonerated his followers +from the necessity of that strictness of life which they view as a +burdensome part of religion. From this burden they flatter themselves it +was the chief object of the gospel to deliver them; and from this +supposed deliverance it is, that they chiefly consider it a merciful +dispensation. A cheap Christianity, of which we can acquit ourselves by +a general recognition, and a few stated observances; which requires no +sacrifices of the will, nor rectification of the life, is, I assure you, +the prevailing system; the religion of that numerous class who like to +save appearances, and to decline realities; who expect every thing +hereafter while they resolve to give up nothing here; but who keep +heaven in view as a snug reversion after they shall have squeezed out of +this world, to the very last dregs and droppings, all it has to give."</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield with great modesty replied, "Indeed I am ashamed to have +said so much upon a topic on which I am unable and unused to debate. Sir +John only smiles, and looks resolved not to help me out. Believe me, +however, my dear sir, that what I have said proceeds not from +presumption, but from an earnest desire of being set right. I will only +venture to offer one more observation on the afternoon's sermon. Dr. +Barlow, to my great surprise, spoke of the death of Christ as exhibiting +<i>practical</i> lessons. Now though I have always considered it in a general +way, as the cause of our salvation, yet its preceptive and moral +benefits, I must confess, do not appear to me at all obvious."</p> + +<p>"I conceive," replied Mr. Stanley, "our deliverance from the punishment +incurred by sin, to be one great end and object of the death of our +Redeemer; but I am very far from considering this as the only benefit +attending it. I conceive it to be most abundant in instruction, and the +strongest possible incentive to practical goodness, and that in a great +variety of ways. The death of our Redeemer shows us the infinite value +of our souls, by showing the inestimable price paid for them, and thus +leads us to more diligence in securing their eternal felicity. It is +calculated to inspire us with an unfeigned hatred of sin, and more +especially to convince us of God's hatred to that, for the pardon of +which such a sacrifice was deemed necessary. Now if it actually produce +such an effect, it consequently stimulates us to repentance, and to an +increasing dread of violating those engagements which we have so often +made to lead a better life. Then the contemplation of this stupendous +circumstance will tend to fill our hearts with such a sense of gratitude +and obedience, as will be likely to preserve us from relapsing into +fresh offenses. Again, can any motive operate so powerfully on us toward +producing universal charity and forgiveness? Whatever promotes our love +to God will dispose us to an increased love for our fellow-creatures. We +can not converse with any man, we can not receive a kindness from any +man, nay, we can not receive an injury from any man, for whom the +Redeemer has not died. The remembrance of the sufferings which procured +pardon for the greatest offenses, has a natural tendency to lead us to +forgive small ones."</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield said, "I had not indeed imagined there were any practical +uses in an event to which I had been, however, accustomed to look with +reverence as an atonement for sin."</p> + +<p>"Of these practical effects," replied Mr. Stanley, "I will only further +observe, that all human considerations put together can not so +powerfully inspire us with an indifference to the vanities of life, and +the allurements of unhallowed pleasures. No human motive can be so +efficacious in sustaining the heart under trials, and reconciling it to +afflictions. For what trials and afflictions do not sink into nothing in +comparison with the sufferings attending that august event, from which +we derive this support? The contemplation of this sacrifice also +degrades wealth, debases power, annihilates ambition. We rise from this +contemplation with a mind prepared to bear with the infirmities, to +relieve the wants, to forgive the unkindnesses of men. We extract from +it a more humbling sense of ourselves, a more subdued spirit, a more +sober contempt of whatever the world calls great, than all the lectures +of ancient philosophy, or the teachers of modern morals ever inspired."</p> + +<p>During this little debate, Sir John maintained the most invincible +silence. His countenance bore not the least mark of ill-humor or +impatience, but it was serious and thoughtful, except when his wife got +into any little difficulty; he then encouraged her by an affectionate +smile, but listened like a man who has not quite made up his mind, yet +thinks the subject too important to be dismissed without a fair and +candid hearing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + + +<p>While we were at breakfast the next morning, a sweet little gay girl +flew into the room almost breathless with joy, and running to her +mother, presented her with a beautiful nosegay.</p> + +<p>"O, I see you were the industrious girl last week, Kate," said Mrs. +Stanley, embracing her, and admiring the flowers. Lady Belfield looked +inquisitively. "It is an invention of Lucilla's," said the mother, "that +the little one who performs best in the school-room, instead of having +any reward which may excite vanity or sensuality, shall be taught to +gratify a better feeling, by being allowed to present her mother with a +nosegay of the finest flowers, which it is reward enough to see worn at +dinner, to which she is always admitted when there is no company."</p> + +<p>"Oh pray do not consider us as company; pray let Kate dine with us +to-day," said Lady Belfield. Mrs. Stanley bowed her assent and went on. +"But this is not all. The flowers they present, they also raise. I went +rather too far, when I said that no vanity was excited; they are vain +enough of their carnations, and each is eager to produce the largest. In +this competition, however, the vanity is not personal. Lucilla has some +skill in raising flowers: each girl has a subordinate post under her. +Their father often treats them with half a day's work, and then they all +treat me with tea and cakes in the honey-suckle arbor of their own +planting, which is called Lucilla's bower. It would be hard to say +whether parents or children most enjoy these happy holidays."</p> + +<p>At dinner Mrs. Stanley appeared with her nosegay in a large knot of +ribbons, which was eyed with no small complacency by little Kate. I +observed that Lucilla, who used to manifest much pleasure in the +conversation after dinner, was beckoned out of the room by Ph[oe]be, as +soon as it was over. I felt uneasy at an absence to which I had not been +accustomed; but the cause was explained, when, at six o'clock, Kate, who +was the queen of the day, was sent to invite us to drink tea in +Lucilla's bower: we instantly obeyed the summons.</p> + +<p>"I knew nothing of this," said the delighted mother, while we were all +admiring the elegant arrangements of this little fête. The purple +clematis, twisting its flexile branches with those of the pale woodbine, +formed a sweet and fragrant canopy to the arched bower, while the +flowery tendrils hung down on all sides. Large bunches of roses, +intermixed with the silver stars of the jessamine, were stuck into the +moss on the inside as a temporary decoration only. The finest plants had +been brought from the green-house for the occasion. It was a delicious +evening, and the little fairy festivity, together with the flitting +about of the airy spirits which had prepared it, was absolutely +enchanting. Sir John, always poetical, exclaimed in rapture,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Hesperian fables true,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If true, here only."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I needed not this quotation to bring the garden of Eden to my mind, for +Lucilla presided. Ph[oe]be was all alive. The other little ones had +decorated Kate's flaxen hair with a wreath of woodbines. They sung two +or three baby stanzas, which they had composed among themselves, in +which Kate was complimented as queen of the fête. The youngest daughter +of Lady Aston, who was about Kate's age, and two little girls of Dr. +Barlow's, were of the children's party on the green. The elder sisters +of both families made part of the company within.</p> + +<p>When we were all seated in our enchanting bower, and drinking our tea, +at which we had no other attendants than the little Hebes themselves, I +asked Kate how it happened that she seemed to be distinguished on this +occasion from her little sisters. "Oh, sir," said she, "it is because it +is my birth-day. I am eight years old to-day. I gave up all my gilt +books, with pictures, this day twelvemonth, and to-day I give up all my +little story books, and I am now going to read such books as men and +women read."</p> + +<p>She then ran to her companions who ranged themselves round a turf seat +at a little distance before us, to which were transferred a profusion of +cakes and fruit from the bower. While they were devouring them, I turned +to Mr. Stanley and desired an explanation of Kate's speech.</p> + +<p>"I make," said he, "the renouncing their baby books a kind of epocha, +and by thus distinctly marking the period, they never think of returning +back to them. We have in our domestic plan several of these artificial +divisions of life. These little celebrations are eras that we use as +marking-posts, from which we set out on some new course."</p> + +<p>"But as to Kate's books?" said Lady Belfield.</p> + +<p>"We have," replied Mr. Stanley, "too many elementary books. They are +read too much and too long. The youthful mind, which was formerly sick +from inanition, is now in danger from a plethora. Much, however, will +depend on capacity and disposition. A child of slower parts may be +indulged till nine years old with books which a lively genius will look +down upon at seven. A girl of talents <i>will</i> read. To <i>her</i> no +excitement is wanting. The natural appetite is a sufficient incentive. +The less brilliant child requires the allurement of lighter books. She +wants encouragement as much as the other requires restraint."</p> + +<p>"But don't you think," said Lady Belfield, "that they are of great use +in attracting children to love reading?"</p> + +<p>"Doubtless they are," said Mr. Stanley. "The misfortune is, that the +stimulants used to attract at first, must be not only continued but +heightened, to keep up the attraction. These books are novels in +miniature, and the excess of them will lead to the want of novels at +full length. The early use of savory dishes is not usually followed by +an appetite for plain food. To the taste thus pampered, history becomes +dry, grammar laborious, and religion dull.</p> + +<p>"My wife, who was left to travel through the wide expanse of Universal +History, and the dreary deserts of Rapin and Mezerai, is, I will venture +to assert, more competently skilled in ancient, French, and English +history, than any of the girls who have been fed, or rather starved, on +extracts and abridgments. I mean not to recommend the two last named +authors for very young people. They are dry and tedious, and children in +our day have opportunities of acquiring the same knowledge with less +labor. We have brighter, I wish I could say safer, lights. Still fact, +and not wit, is the leading object of history.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Stanley says, that the very tediousness of her historians had a +good effect; they were a ballast to her levity, a discipline to her +mind, of which she has felt the benefit in her subsequent life.</p> + +<p>"But to return to the mass of children's books. The too great profusion +of them protracts the imbecility of childhood. They arrest the +understanding, instead of advancing it. They give forwardness without +strength. They hinder the mind from making vigorous shoots, teach it to +stoop when it should soar, and to contract when it should expand. Yet I +allow that many of them are delightfully amusing, and to a certain +degree instructive. But they must not be used as the basis of +instruction, and but sparingly used at all as refreshment from labor."</p> + +<p>"They inculcate morality and good actions surely," said Lady Belfield.</p> + +<p>"It is true," replied Mr. Stanley, "but they often inculcate them on a +worldly principle, and rather teach the pride of virtue, and the profit +of virtue, than point out the motive of virtue, and the principle of +sin. They reprobate bad actions as evil and injurious to others, but not +as an offense against the Almighty. Whereas the Bible comes with a +plain, straightforward, simple, but powerful principle—'How shall I do +this great wickedness against <span class="smcap">God</span>?' 'Against <span class="smcap">Thee</span>, <span class="smcap">Thee</span> only have I +sinned, and done this evil in THY sight.'</p> + +<p>"Even children should be taught that when a man has committed the +greatest possible crime against his fellow creature, still the offense +against God is what will strike a true penitent with the most deep +remorse. All morality which is not drawn from this scriptural source is +weak, defective, and hollow. These entertaining authors seldom ground +their stories on any intimation that human nature is corrupt; that the +young reader is helpless, and wants assistance; that he is guilty, and +wants pardon."</p> + +<p>"Surely, my dear Mr. Stanley," said Lady Belfield, "though I do not +object to the truth and reasonableness of any thing you have said, I can +not think that these things can possibly be made intelligible to +children."</p> + +<p>"The framers of our catechism, madam, thought otherwise," replied Mr. +Stanley. "The catechism was written for children, and contains all the +seeds and principles of Christianity for men. It evidently requires much +explanation, much development; still it furnishes a wide and important +field for colloquial instruction, without which young persons can by no +means understand a composition so admirable, but so condensed. The +catechism speaks expressly of 'a death unto sin'—of 'a new birth unto +righteousness'—of 'being born in sin'—of being the 'children of +wrath'—of becoming the 'children of grace'—of 'forsaking sin by +repentance'—of 'believing the promises of God by faith.' Now while +children are studying these great truths in the catechism, they are +probably, at the same time, almost constantly reading some of those +entertaining stories which are grounded and built on a quite opposite +principle, and do not even imply the existence of any such fundamental +truths."</p> + +<p>"Surely," interrupted Lady Belfield, "you would not have these serious +doctrines brought forward in story books?"</p> + +<p>"By no means, madam," replied Mr. Stanley; "but I will venture to assert +that even story books should not be founded on a principle directly +<i>contradictory</i> to them, nay, totally <i>subversive</i> of them. The Arabian +Nights, and other oriental books of fable, though loose and faulty in +many respects, yet have always a reference to the religion of the +country. Nothing is introduced against the law of Mohammed; nothing +subversive of the opinions of a Mussulman. I do not quarrel with books +for having <i>no</i> religion, but for having a <i>false</i> religion. A book +which in nothing opposes the principle of the Bible, I would be far from +calling a bad book, though the Bible was never named in it."</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield observed, "That she was sorry to say her children found +religious studies very dry and tiresome; though she took great pains, +and made them learn by heart a multitude of questions and answers, a +variety of catechisms and explanations, and the best abridgments of the +Bible."</p> + +<p>"My dear Lady Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "you have fully accounted +for the dryness and dullness of which you complain. Give them the <i>Bible +itself</i>. I never yet knew a child who did not delight in the Bible +histories, and who would not desire to hear them again and again. From +the histories, Mrs. Stanley and I proceed with them to the parables; and +from them to the miracles, and a few of the most striking prophecies. +When they have acquired a good deal of this desultory knowledge, we +begin to weave the parts into a whole. The little girl who had the honor +of dining with you to-day, has begun this morning to read the Scriptures +with her mother systematically. We shall soon open to her something of +the <i>scheme</i> of Christianity, and explain how those miracles and +prophecies confirm the truth of that religion in which she is to be more +fully instructed.</p> + +<p>"Upon their historical knowledge, which they acquire by picking out the +most interesting stories, we endeavor to ground principles to enlighten +their minds, and precepts to influence their conduct. With the genuine +language of Scripture I have taken particular care they shall be well +acquainted, by digging for the ore in its native bed. While they have +been studying the stories, their minds have at the same time been imbued +with the impressive phraseology of Scripture. I make a great point of +this, having often seen this useful impression effectually prevented by +a multitude of subsidiary histories and explanations, which too much +supersede the use of the original text.</p> + +<p>"Only observe," continued he, "what divine sentiments, what holy +precepts, what devout ejaculations, what strokes of self-abasement, what +flights of gratitude, what transports of praise, what touches of +penitential sorrow, are found comprised in some one short sentence woven +into almost every part of the historical Scriptures! Observe this, and +then confess what a pity it is that children should be commonly set to +read the history in a meagre abridgment, stripped of those gems with +which the original is so richly inlaid! These histories and expositions +become very useful afterward to young people who are thoroughly +conversant with the Bible itself."</p> + +<p>Sir John observed that he had been struck with the remarkable +<i>disinterestedness</i> of Mr. Stanley's daughters, and their indifference +to things about which most children were so eager. "Selfishness," said +Mr. Stanley, "is the hydra we are perpetually combating; but the monster +has so much vitality, that new heads spring up as fast as the old ones +are cut off. <i>To counteract selfishness, that inborn, inbred mischief, I +hold to be the great art of education.</i> Education, therefore, can not be +adequately carried on, except by those who are deeply convinced of the +doctrine of human corruption. This evil principle, as it shows itself +early, must be early lopped, or the rapid shoots it makes will, as your +favorite Eve observes,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Soon mock our scant manuring.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"This counteraction," continued Mr. Stanley, "is not like an art or a +science, which is to be taken up at set times, and laid aside till the +allotted period of instruction returns; but as the evil shows itself at +all times, and in all shapes, the <i>whole force</i> of instruction is to be +bent against it. Mrs. Stanley and I endeavor that not one reward we +bestow, not one gratification we afford, shall be calculated to promote +it. Gratifications children ought to have. The appetites and +inclinations should be reasonably indulged. We only are cautious not to +employ them as <i>the instrument of recompense</i>, which would look as if we +valued them highly, and thought them a fit remuneration for merit. I +would rather show a little indulgence to sensuality <i>as</i> sensuality, +than make it the reward of goodness, which seems to be the common way. +While I indulged the appetite of a child, I would never hold out that +indulgence which I granted to the lowest, the animal part of his nature, +as a payment for the exertion of his mental or moral faculties."</p> + +<p>"You have one great advantage," said Sir John, "and I thank God it is +the same in Cavendish-square, that you and Mrs. Stanley draw evenly +together. Nothing impedes domestic regulation so effectually as where +parents, from difference of sentiment, ill-humor, or bad judgment, +obstruct each other's plans, or where one parent makes the other +insignificant in the eyes of their children."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Reynolds," replied Mr. Stanley, "a friend of mine in this +neighborhood, is in this very predicament. To the mother's weakness the +father's temperate discipline seems cruelty. She is perpetually blaming +him before the children for setting them to their books. Her attentions +are divided between their health, which is perfect, and their pleasure, +which is obstructed by her foolish zeal to promote it, far more than by +his prudent restrictions. Whatever the father helps them to at table, +the mother takes from them, lest it should make them sick. What he +forbids is always the very thing which is good for them. She is much +more afraid, however, of overloading their memories than their stomachs. +Reading, she says, will spoil the girls' eyes, stooping to write will +ruin their chests, and working will make them round-shouldered. If the +boys run, they will have fevers; if they jump, they will sprain their +ankles; if they play at cricket, a blow may kill them; if they swim, +they may be drowned; the shallowness of the stream is no argument of +safety.</p> + +<p>"Poor Reynolds' life is one continued struggle between his sense of duty +to his children, and his complaisance to his wife. If he carries his +point, it is at the expense of his peace; if he relaxes, as he commonly +does, his children are the victims. He is at length brought to submit +his excellent judgment to her feeble mind, lest his opposition should +hurt her health; and he has the mortification of seeing his children +trained as if they had nothing but bodies.</p> + +<p>"To the wretched education of Mrs. Reynolds herself, all this mischief +may be attributed; for she is not a bad, though an ignorant woman; and +having been harshly treated by her own parents, she fell into the vulgar +error of vulgar minds, that of supposing the opposite of wrong must +necessarily be right. As she found that being perpetually contradicted +had made herself miserable, she concluded that never being contradicted +at all would make her children happy. The event has answered as might +have been foreseen. Never was a more discontented, disagreeing, +troublesome family. The gratification of one want instantly creates a +new one. And it is only when they are quite worn out with having done +nothing, that they take refuge in their books, as less wearisome than +idleness."</p> + +<p>Sir John, turning to Lady Belfield, said in a very tender tone, "My dear +Caroline, this story, in its principal feature, does not apply to us. We +concur completely, it is true, but I fear we concur by being both +wrong: we both err by excessive indulgence. As to the case in point, +while children are young, they may perhaps lean to the parent that +spoils them, but I have never yet seen an instance of young persons, +where the parents differed, who did not afterward discover a much +stronger affection for the one who had reasonably restrained them, than +for the other, whose blind indulgence had at once diminished her +importance and their own reverence."</p> + +<p>I observed to Mr. Stanley, that as he had so noble a library, and wished +to inspire his children with the love of literature, I was surprised to +see their apartment so slenderly provided with books.</p> + +<p>"This is the age of excess in every thing," replied he; "nothing is a +gratification of which the want has not been previously felt. The wishes +of children are all so anticipated, that they never experience the +pleasure excited by wanting and waiting. Of their initiatory books they +<i>must</i> have a pretty copious supply. But as to books of entertainment or +instruction of a higher kind, I never allow them to possess one of their +own, till they have attentively read and improved by it; this gives them +a kind of title to it; and that desire of property, so natural to human +creatures, I think stimulates them in dispatching books which are in +themselves a little dry. Expectation with them, as with men, quickens +desire, while possession deadens it."</p> + +<p>By this time the children had exhausted all the refreshments set before +them, and had retreated to a little further distance, where, without +disturbing us, they freely enjoyed their innocent gambols: playing, +singing, laughing, dancing, reciting verses, trying which could puzzle +the other in the names of plants, of which they pulled single leaves to +increase the difficulty, all succeeded each other. Lady Belfield looking +consciously at me, said, "These are the creatures whom I foolishly +suspected of being made miserable by restraint, and gloomy through want +of indulgence."</p> + +<p>"After long experience," said Mr. Stanley, "I will venture to pronounce, +that not all the anxious cutting out of pleasure, not all the costly +indulgences which wealth can procure, not all the contrivances of +inventive man for his darling youthful offspring, can find out an +amusement so pure, so natural, so cheap, so rational, so healthful, I +had almost said so religious, as that unbought pleasure connected with a +garden."</p> + +<p>Kate and Celia, who had for some time been peeping into the bower, in +order to catch an interval in the conversation, as soon as they found +our attention disengaged, stole in among us, each took the fond father +by a hand, and led him to the turf seat. Ph[oe]be presented him a book +which he opened, and out of it read with infinite humor, grace, and +gayety, <span class="smcap">The Diverting History of John Gilpin</span>. This, it seems, was a +pleasure to which they had been led to look forward for some time, but +which, in honor of Kate, had been purposely withheld till this memorable +day. His little auditors, who grouped themselves around him on the +grass, were nearly convulsed with laughter, nor were the tenants of the +bower much less delighted.</p> + +<p>As we walked into the house, Mr. Stanley said, "Whenever I read to my +children a light and gay composition, which I often do, I generally take +care it shall be the work of some valuable author, to whose writings +this shall be a pleasant and tempting prelude. What child of spirit who +hears John Gilpin, will not long to be thought old and wise enough to +read the 'Task?' The remembrance of the infant rapture will give a +predilection for the poet. Desiring to keep their standard high, I +accustom them to none but good writers, in every sense of the word; by +this means they will be less likely to stoop to ordinary ones when they +shall hereafter come to choose for themselves."</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield regretted to me that she had not brought some of her +children to the Grove. "To confess a disgraceful truth," said she, "I +was afraid they would have been moped to death; and to confess another +truth still more disgraceful to my own authority, my indulgence has been +so injudicious, and I have maintained so little control, that I durst +not bring some of them, for fear of putting the rest out of humor; I am +now in a school where I trust I may learn to acquire firmness, without +any diminution of fondness."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + + +<p>The next morning Mr. Stanley proposed that we should pay a visit to some +of his neighbors. He and Sir John Belfield rode on horseback, and I had +the honor of attending the ladies in the sociable. Lady Belfield, who +was now become desirous of improving her own too relaxed domestic system +by the experience of Mrs. Stanley, told her how much she admired the +cheerful obedience of her children. She said, "she did not so much +wonder to see them so good, but she owned she was surprised to see them +so happy."</p> + +<p>"I know not," replied Mrs. Stanley, "whether the increased +insubordination of children is owing to the new school of philosophy and +politics, but it seems to me to make part of the system. When I go +sometimes to stay with a friend in town to do business, she is always +making apologies that she can not go out with me—'her daughters want +the coach.' If I ask leave to see the friends who call on me in such a +room—'her daughters have company there, or they want the room for their +music, or it is preparing for the children's ball in the evening.' If a +messenger is required—'her daughters want the footman.' There certainly +prevails a spirit of independence, a revolutionary spirit, a separation +from the parent state. <span class="smcap">It is the children's world.</span>"</p> + +<p>"You remind me, madam," said I, "of an old courtier, who being asked by +Louis XV., which age he preferred, his own or the present, replied, 'I +passed my youth in respecting old age, and I find I must now pass my old +age in respecting children.'"</p> + +<p>"In some other houses," said Mrs. Stanley, "where we visit, besides that +of poor Mr. Reynolds, the children seem to have all the accommodation; +and I have observed that the convenience and comfort of the father is +but a subordinate consideration. The respectful terms of address are +nearly banished from the vocabulary of children, and the somewhat too +orderly manner which once prevailed is superseded by an incivility, a +roughness, a want of attention, which is surely not better than the +harmless formality which it has driven out."</p> + +<p>Just as she had said this, we stopped at Mr. Reynolds's gate; neither he +nor his lady were at home. Mr. Stanley, who wished to show us a fine +reach of the river from the drawing-room window, desired the servant to +show us into it. There we beheld a curious illustration of what we had +heard. In the ample bow-window lay a confused heap of the glittering +spoils of the most expensive toys. Before the rich silk chairs knelt two +of the children, in the act of demolishing their fine painted +playthings; "others apart sat on <i>the floor</i> retired," and more +deliberately employed in picking to pieces their little gaudy works of +art. A pretty girl, who had a beautiful wax doll on her lap, almost as +big as herself, was pulling out its eyes, that she might see how they +were put in. Another, weary of this costly baby, was making a little +doll of rags. A turbulent-looking boy was tearing out the parchment from +a handsome new drum, that he might see, as he told us, where the noise +came from. These I forgave: they had meaning in their mischief.</p> + +<p>Another, having kicked about a whole little gilt library, was sitting, +with the decorated pages torn asunder at his feet, reading a little +dirty penny book, which the kitchen-maid had bought of a hawker at the +door. The Persian carpet was strewed with the broken limbs of a painted +horse, almost as large as a poney, while the discontented little master +was riding astride on a long rough stick. A bigger boy, after having +broken the panels of a fine gilt coach, we saw afterwards in the +court-yard nailing together a few dirty bits of ragged elm boards, to +make himself a wheel-barrow.</p> + +<p>"Not only the disciple of the fastidious Jean Jacques," exclaimed I, +"but the sound votary of truth and reason, must triumph at such an +instance of the satiety of riches, and the weariness of ignorance and +idleness. One such practical instance of the insufficiency of affluence +to <i>bestow</i> the pleasures which industry must <i>buy</i>; one such actual +exemplification of the folly of supposing that injudicious profusion and +mistaken fondness can supply that pleasure which must be worked out +before it can be enjoyed, is worth a whole folio of argument or +exhortation. The ill-bred little flock paid no attention to us, and only +returned a rude 'n—o' or 'ye—s' to our questions."</p> + +<p>"Caroline," said Sir John, "these painted ruins afford a good lesson for +us. We must desire our rich uncles and our generous god-mothers to make +an alteration in their presents, if they can not be prevailed upon to +withhold them."</p> + +<p>"It is a sad mistake," said Mr. Stanley, "to suppose that youth wants to +be so incessantly amused. They want not pleasures to be chalked out for +them. Lay a few cheap and coarse materials in their way, and let their +own busy inventions be suffered to work. They have abundant pleasure in +the mere freshness and novelty of life, its unbroken health, its elastic +spirit, its versatile temper, and its ever new resources."</p> + +<p>"So it appears, Stanley," said Sir John, "when I look at your little +group of girls, recluses as they are called. How many cheap, yet lively +pleasures do they enjoy! their successive occupations, their books, +their animating exercise, their charitable rounds, their ardent +friendships; the social table, at which the elder ones are companions, +not mutes; the ever-varying pleasures of their garden,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Increasing virtue, and approving heaven."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>While we were sitting with Lady Aston, on whom we next called, Mr. +Stanley suddenly exclaimed, "The Misses Flam are coming up the gravel +walk." Lady Aston looked vexed, but correcting herself said, "Mr. +Stanley, we owe this visit to you, or rather to your friend," bowing to +me; "they saw your carriage stop here, or they would not have done so +dull a thing as to have called on me."</p> + +<p>These new guests presented a new scene, very uncongenial to the timid +and tranquil spirit of the amiable hostess. There seemed to be a contest +between the sisters, who should be most eloquent, most loud, or most +inquisitive. They eagerly attacked me all at once, as supposing me to be +overflowing with intelligence from the metropolis, a place which they +not only believed to contain exclusively all that was worth seeing, but +all that was worth hearing. The rest of the world they considered as a +barren wilderness, of which the hungry inhabitants could only be kept +from starving, by such meagre aliment as the occasional reports of its +pleasures, fashions, and anecdotes, which might now and then be conveyed +by some stray traveler, might furnish.</p> + +<p>"It is so strange to us," said Miss Bell, "and so monstrously dull and +vulgar, to be in the country at this time of the year, that we don't +know what to do with ourselves."</p> + +<p>"As to the time of year, madam," said I, "if ever one would wish to be +in the country at all, surely this month is the point of perfection. The +only immoral thing with which I could ever charge our excellent +sovereign is, that he was born in June, and has thus furnished his +fashionable subjects with a loyal pretense for encountering 'the sin and +sea-coal of London,' to borrow Will Honeycomb's phrase, in the finest +month of the twelve. But where that is the real motive with one, it is +the pretense of a thousand."</p> + +<p>"How can you be so shocking?" said she. "But papa is really grown so +cross and stingy, as to prevent our going to town at all these last two +or three years; and for so mean a reason that I am ashamed to tell you." +Out of politeness I did not press to know; I needed not, for she was +resolved I should not 'burst in ignorance.'</p> + +<p>She went on: "Do you know he pretends that times are hard, and public +difficulties increasing; and he declares that whatever privations we +endure, government must be supported: so he says it is right to draw in +in the only way in which he can do it honestly; I am sure it is not +doing it creditably. Did you ever hear any thing so shabby?"</p> + +<p>"Shabby, madam," replied I; "I honor a gentleman who has integrity +enough to do a right thing, and good sense enough not to be ashamed to +own it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but papa need not. The steward declares, if he would only raise +his tenants a very little, he would have more than enough; but papa is +inflexible. He says my brother must do as he pleases when he comes to +the estate, but that he himself promised when he came into possession, +that he would never raise the rents, and that he will never be worse +than his word." As I could not find in my heart to join in abusing a +gentleman for resolving never to be worse than his word, I was silent.</p> + +<p>She then inquired with more seriousness, if there were any prospect of +peace. I was better pleased with this question, as it implied more +anxiety for the lives of her fellow-creatures, than I had given her +credit for. "I am anxiously looking into all the papers," continued she, +without giving me time to speak, "because as soon as there is peace, +papa has promised that we shall go to town again. If it was not for that +I should not care if there was war till doomsday, for what with marching +regiments, and militia, and volunteers, nothing can be pleasanter than +it makes the country, I mean as far as the country <i>can</i> be pleasant." +They then ran over the names and respective merits of every opera +singer, every dancer, and every actor, with incredible volubility; and I +believe they were not a little shocked at my slender acquaintance with +the nomenclature, and the little interest I took in the criticisms they +built upon it.</p> + +<p>Poor Lady Aston looked oppressed and fatigued, but inwardly rejoiced, as +she afterward owned to me, that her daughters were not within hearing. I +was of a different opinion, upon the Spartan principle, of making their +children sober, by the spectacle of the intoxicated Helots. Miss Bell's +eloquence seemed to make but little impression on Sir George; or rather +it produced an effect directly contrary to admiration. His good taste +seemed to revolt at her flippancy. Every time I see this young man he +rises in my esteem. His ingenuous temper and engaging modesty set off to +advantage a very fair understanding.</p> + +<p>In our way home, we were accosted by Mr. Flam. After a rough but hearty +salutation, and a cordial invitation to come and dine with him, he +galloped off, being engaged on business. "This is an honest country +'squire of the old cut," said Mr. Stanley afterward; "he has a very good +estate which he has so much delight in managing, that he has no pleasure +in any thing else. He was prevailed on by his father to marry his +present wife for no other reason than because her estate joined to his, +and broke in a little on the <i>arrondissement</i>; but it was judged that +both being united, all might be brought within a ring fence. This was +thought a reason sufficiently powerful for the union of two immortal +beings, whose happiness here and hereafter might be impeded or promoted +by it! The felicity of the connection has been in exact proportion to +the purity of the motive."</p> + +<p>I could not forbear interrupting Mr. Stanley, by observing that nothing +had surprised or hurt me more in the little observation I had made on +the subject of marriage than the frequent indifference of parents to the +moral, and especially to the religious character of the man who proposed +himself. "That family, fortune, and connections should have their full +share in the business, I readily admit," added I, "but that it should +ever form the chief, often the only ground of acceptance, has, I +confess, lowered mankind in my esteem more completely than almost any +other instance of ambition, avarice, or worldliness. That a very young +girl, who has not been carefully educated, should be captivated by +personal advantages, and even infatuated by splendor, is less surprising +than that parents, who having themselves experienced the insufficiency +of riches to happiness, that they should be eagerly impatient to part +from a beloved daughter, reared with fondness at least, if not with +wisdom, to a man of whose principles they have any doubt, and of whose +mind they have a mean opinion, is a thing I can not understand. And yet +what proposal almost is rejected on this ground?" Lucilla's eyes at +this moment shone with such expressive brightness that I exultingly said +to myself, "Lord Staunton! I defy thee!"</p> + +<p>"The mischief of this lax principle is of wide extent," replied Mr. +Stanley. "When girls are continually hearing what an advantageous, what +a desirable marriage such a young friend has made, with a man so rich, +so splendid, so great, though they have been accustomed to hear this +very man condemned for his profligacy perhaps, at least they know him to +be destitute of piety; when they hear that these things are not +considered as any objection to the union, what opinion must these girls +form, not only of the maxims by which the world is governed, but of the +truth of that religion which those persons profess?</p> + +<p>"But to return to Mr. Flam. He passed through the usual course of +education, but has profited so little by it, that though he has a +certain natural shrewdness in his understanding, I believe he has +scarcely read a book these twenty years, except Burn's 'Justice' and +'The Agricultural Reports.' Yet when he wants to make a figure, he now +and then lards his discourse with a scrap of thread-bare Latin which he +used to steal in his school-boy exercises. He values himself on his +integrity, and is not destitute of benevolence. These, he says, are the +sum and substance of religion; and though I combat this mistaken notion +as often as he puts it in my power, yet I must say that some who make +more profession would do well to be as careful in these points. He often +contrasts himself with his old friend Ned Tyrrel, and is proud of +showing how much better a man he is without religion than Ned is with +all his pretensions to it. It is by thus comparing ourselves with worse +men that we grow vain, and with more fortunate men that we become +discontented.</p> + +<p>"All the concern he gives himself about his wife and daughters is, that +they shall not run him in debt; and, indeed, he is so liberal that he +does not drive them to the necessity. In every thing else, they follow +their own devices. They teased him, however, to let them spend two or +three winters in town, the mother hinting <i>that it would answer</i>. He was +prevailed on to try it as a speculation, but the experiment failed. He +now insists that they shall go no more, till the times mend, to any of +the advertising places, such as London, Brighton, or Bath; he says that +attending so many fairs and markets is very expensive, especially as the +girls don't go off. He will now see what can be done by private contract +at home, without the cost of journeys, with fresh keep and trimming and +docking into the bargain. They must now take their chance among country +dealers; and provided they will give him a son-in-law, whose estate is +free from incumbrances, who pays his debts, lives within his income, +does not rack his tenants, never drinks claret, hates the French, and +loves field sports, he will ask no more questions."</p> + +<p>I could not but observe how preferable the father's conduct, with all +its faults, was to that of the rest of the family. "I had imagined," +said I, "that this coarse character was quite out of print. Though it is +religiously bad, and of course morally defective, yet it is so +politically valuable that I should not be sorry to see a new edition of +these obsolete squires, somewhat corrected, and better lettered."</p> + +<p>"All his good qualities," said Mr. Stanley, "for want of religion have a +flaw in them. His good nature is so little directed by judgment, that +while it serves the individual, it injures the public. As a brother +magistrate, I am obliged to act in almost constant opposition to him, +and his indiscretions do more mischief by being of a nature to increase +his popularity. He is fully persuaded that occasional intoxication is +the best reward for habitual industry; and insists that it is good old +English kindness to make the church ringers periodically tipsy at the +holidays, though their families starve for it the whole week. He and I +have a regular contest at the annual village fairs, because he insists +that my refusing to let them begin on a Sunday is abridging their few +rights, and robbing them of a day which they might add to their pleasure +without injury to their profit. He allows all the strolling players, +mountebanks, and jugglers to exhibit, because, he says, it is a charity. +His charity, however, is so short-sighted that he does not see that +while these vagabonds are supplying the wants of the day, their +improvident habits suffer them to look no further; that his own workmen +are spending their hard-earned money in these illegal diversions, while +the expense is the least mischief which their daughters incur."</p> + +<p>Our next visit was to Mr. Carlton, whom I had found, in one or two +previous interviews, to be a man of excellent sense, and a perfect +gentleman. Sir John renewed with pleasure his acquaintance with the +husband, while Lady Belfield was charmed to be introduced to the wife, +with whose character she was so enamored, and whose gentle manners were +calculated to confirm the affection which her little history had +inspired.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + + +<p>Though Mr. Stanley had checked my impetuosity in my application to him, +and did not encourage my addresses with a promptitude suited to the +ardor of my affection: yet as the warmth of my attachment, +notwithstanding I made it a duty to restrain its outward expression, +could not escape either his penetration or that of his admirable wife, +they began a little to relax in the strictness with which they had +avoided speaking of their daughter. They never indeed introduced the +subject themselves, yet it some how or other never failed to find its +way into all conversation in which I was one of the interlocutors.</p> + +<p>Sitting one day in Lucilla's bower with Mrs. Stanley, and speaking, +though in general terms, on the subject nearest my heart, with a +tenderness and admiration as sincere as it was fervent, I dwelt +particularly on some instances which I had recently heard from Edwards, +of her tender attention to the sick poor, and her zeal in often visiting +them, without regard to weather, or the accommodation of a carriage.</p> + +<p>"I assure you," said Mrs. Stanley, "you over-rate her. Lucilla is no +prodigy dropped down from the clouds. Ten thousand other young women, +with natural good sense, and good temper, might, with the same +education, the same neglect of what is useless, and the same attention +to what is necessary, acquire the same habits and the same principles. +Her being no prodigy, however, perhaps makes her example, as far as it +goes, more important. She may be more useful, because she carries not +that discouraging superiority, which others might be deterred from +imitating, through hopelessness to reach. If she is not a miracle whom +others might despair to emulate, she is a Christian whom every girl of a +fair understanding and good temper may equal, and whom, I hope and +believe, many girls excel."</p> + +<p>I asked Mrs. Stanley's permission to attend the young ladies in one of +their benevolent rounds. "When I have leisure to be one of the party," +replied she, smiling, "you shall accompany us. I am afraid to trust your +warm feelings. Your good-nature would perhaps lead you to commend as a +merit, what in fact deserves no praise at all, the duly being so +obvious, and so indispensable. I have often heard it regretted that +ladies have no stated employment, no profession. It is a mistake. +<i>Charity is the calling of a lady; the care of the poor is her +profession.</i> Men have little time or taste for details. Women of fortune +have abundant leisure, which can in no way be so properly or so +pleasantly filled up, as in making themselves intimately acquainted with +the worth and the wants of all within their reach. With their wants, +because it is their bounden duty to administer to them; with their +worth, because without this knowledge, they can not administer prudently +and appropriately."</p> + +<p>I expressed to Mrs. Stanley the delight with which I had heard of the +admirable regulations of her family, in the management of the poor, and +how much their power of doing good was said to be enlarged by the +judgment and discrimination with which it was done.</p> + +<p>"We are far from thinking," replied she, "that our charity should be +limited to our own immediate neighborhood. We are of opinion, that it +should not be left undone anywhere, but that <i>there</i> it should be done +indispensably. We consider our own parish as our more appropriate field +of action, where providence, by 'fixing the bounds of our habitation,' +seems to have made us peculiarly responsible for the comfort of those +whom he has doubtless placed around us for that purpose. It is thus that +the Almighty vindicates his justice, or rather calls on us to vindicate +it. It is thus he explains why he admits natural evil into the world, by +making the wants of one part of the community an exercise for the +compassion of the other. As in different circumstances, the faults of +one part of mankind are an exercise for the forbearance of the other.</p> + +<p>"Surely," added Mrs. Stanley, "the reason is particularly obvious, why +the bounty of the affluent ought to be most liberally, though not +exclusively, extended to the spot whence they derive their revenues. +There seems indeed to be a double motive for it. The same act involves a +duty both to God and man. The largest bounty to the necessitous on our +estates, is rather justice than charity. 'Tis but a kind of pepper-corn +acknowledgment to the great Lord and proprietor of all, from whom we +hold them. And to assist their own laboring poor is a kind of natural +debt, which persons who possess great landed property owe to those from +the sweat of whose brow they derive their comforts, and even their +riches. 'Tis a commutation, in which, as the advantage is greatly on our +side, so is our duty to diminish the difference a paramount obligation."</p> + +<p>I then repeated my request, that I might be allowed to take a practical +lesson in the next periodical visit to the cottages.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stanley replied, "As to my girls, the elder ones I trust are such +veterans in their trade, that your approbation can do them no harm, nor +do they stand in need of it as an incentive. But should the little ones +find that their charity procures them praise, they might perhaps be +charitable for the sake of praise, their benevolence might be set at +work by their vanity, and they might be led to do that, from the love of +applause, which can only please God when the principle is pure. <i>The +iniquity of our holy things</i>, my good friend, requires much Christian +vigilance. Next to not giving at all, the greatest fault is to give from +ostentation. The motive robs the act of the very name of virtue. While +the good work that is paid in praise, is stripped of the hope of higher +retribution."</p> + +<p>On my assuring Mrs. Stanley that I thought such an introduction to their +systematic schemes of charity might inform my own mind and improve my +habits, she consented, and I have since been a frequent witness of their +admirable method; and have been studying plans, which involve the good +both of body and soul. Oh! if I am ever blest with a coadjutress, a +directress let me rather say, formed under such auspices, with what +delight shall I transplant the principles and practices of Stanley Grove +to the Priory! Nor indeed would I ever marry but with the animating hope +that not only myself, but all around me, would be the better and the +happier for the presiding genius I shall place there.</p> + +<p>Sir John Belfield had joined us while we were on this topic. I had +observed that though he was earnest on the general principle of +benevolence, which he considered as a most imperious duty, or, as he +said in his warm way, as so lively a pleasure that he was almost ready +to suspect if it <i>were</i> a duty; yet I was sorry to find that his +generous mind had not viewed this large subject under all its aspects. +He had not hitherto regarded it as a matter demanding any thing but +money; while time, inquiry, discrimination, system, he confessed, he had +not much taken into the account. He did a great deal of good, but had +not allowed himself time or thought for the best way of doing it. +Charity, as opposed to hard-heartedness and covetousness, he warmly +exercised; but when, with a willing liberality, he had cleared himself +from the suspicion of those detestable vices, he was indolent in the +proper distribution of money, and somewhat negligent of its just +application. Nor had he ever considered, as every man should do, because +every man's means are limited, how the greatest quantity of good could +be done with any given sum.</p> + +<p>But the worst of all was, he had imbibed certain popular prejudices +respecting the more <i>religious</i> charities; prejudices altogether +unworthy of his enlightened mind. He too much limited his ideas of +bounty to bodily wants. This distinction was not with him, as it is with +many, invented as an argument for saving his money, which he most +willingly bestowed for feeding and clothing the necessitous. But as to +the propriety of affording them religious instruction, he owned he had +not made up his mind. He had some doubts whether it were a duty. Whether +it were a benefit he had still stronger doubts; adding that he should +begin to consider the subject more attentively than he had yet done.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stanley in reply, said, "I am but a poor casuist, Sir John, and I +must refer you to Mr. Stanley for abler arguments than I can use. I will +venture, however, to say, that even on your own ground it appears to be +a pressing duty. If sin be the cause of so large a portion of the +miseries of human life, must not that be the noblest charity which +cures, or lessens, or prevents sin? And are not they the truest +benefactors even to the bodies of men, who by their religious exertions +to prevent the corruption of vice, prevent also in some measure that +poverty and disease which are the natural concomitants of vice? If in +endeavoring to make men better, by the infusion of a religious +principle, which shall check idleness, drinking, and extravagance, we +put them in the way to become healthier, and richer, and happier, it +will furnish a practical argument which I am sure will satisfy your +benevolent heart."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. Tyrrel and his nephew called on us this evening, and interrupted a +pleasant and useful conversation on which we were just entering. "Do +you know, Stanley," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that you absolutely corrupted my +nephew, by what passed at your house the other day in favor of reading? +He has ever since been ransacking the shelves for idle books."</p> + +<p>"I should be seriously concerned," replied Mr. Stanley, "if any thing I +had said should have drawn Mr. Edward off from more valuable studies, or +diverted him from the important pursuit of religious knowledge."</p> + +<p>"Why, to do him justice, and you too," resumed Mr. Tyrrel, "he has since +that conversation begun assiduously to devote his mornings to serious +reading, and it is only an hour's leisure in the evening, which he used +to trifle away, that he gives to books of taste; but I had rather he +would let them all alone; the best of them will only fill his heart with +cold morality, and stuff his head with romance and fiction. I would not +have a religious man ever look into a book of your belles-lettres +nonsense; and if he be really religious, he will make a general bonfire +of the poets."</p> + +<p>"That is rather too sweeping a sentence," said Mr. Stanley. "It would, I +grant you, have been a benefit to mankind, if the entire works of some +celebrated poets, and a considerable portion of the works of many not +quite so exceptionable, were to assist the conflagration of your pile."</p> + +<p>"And if fuel failed," said Sir John Belfield, "we might not only rob +Belinda's altar of her</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Twelve tomes of French romances neatly gilt,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>but feed the flame with countless marble-covered octavos from the modern +school. But having made this concession, allow me to observe, that +because there has been a voluptuous Petronius, a scoffing Lucian, and a +licentious Ovid, to say nothing of the numberless modern poets, or +rather individual poems, that are immoral and corrupt—shall we +therefore exclude all works of imagination from the library of a young +man? Surely? we should not indiscriminately banish the Muses, as +infallible corrupters of the youthful mind; I would rather consider a +blameless poet as the auxiliar of virtue. Whatever talent enables a +writer to possess an empire over the heart, and to lead the passions at +his command, puts it in his power to be of no small service to mankind. +It is no new remark that the abuse of any good thing is no argument +against its legitimate use. Intoxication affords no just reason against +the use of wine, nor prodigality against the possession of wealth. In +the instance in dispute, I should rather infer that a talent capable of +diffusing so much mischief was susceptible of no small benefit. That it +has been so often abused by its misapplication, is one of the highest +instances of the ingratitude of man for one of the highest gifts of +God."</p> + +<p>"I can not think," said I, "that the Almighty conferred such a faculty +with a wish to have it extinguished. Works of imagination have in many +countries been a chief instrument in civilization. Poetry has not only +preceded science in the history of human progress, but it has in many +countries preceded the knowledge of the mechanical arts; and I have +somewhere read, that in Scotland they could write elegant Latin verse +before they could make a wheel-barrow. For my own part, in my late visit +to London, I thought the decline of poetry no favorable symptom."</p> + +<p>"I rejoice to hear it <i>is</i> declining," said Mr. Tyrrel. "I hope that +what is decaying, may in time be extinguished."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Tyrrel would have been delighted with that with which I was +displeased," replied I. "I met with philosophers, who were like Plato in +nothing but his abhorrence of the Muses; with politicians, who resembled +Burleigh only in his enmity to Spenser; and with warriors, who, however +they might emulate Alexander in his conquests, would never have imitated +him in sparing the house of Pindarus."</p> + +<p>"The <i>art</i> of poetry," said Mr. Stanley, "is to touch the passions, and +its <i>duty</i> to lead them on the side of virtue. To raise and to purify +the amusements of mankind; to multiply and to exalt pleasures, which +being purely intellectual, may help to exclude such as are gross, in +beings so addicted to sensuality, is surely not only to give pleasure, +but to render service. It is allowable to seize every avenue to the +heart of a being so prone to evil; to rescue him by every fair means, +not only from the degradation of vice, but from the dominion of +idleness. I do not now speak of gentlemen of the sacred function, to +which Mr. Edward Tyrrel aspires, but of those who, having no profession, +have no stated employment; and who, having more leisure, will be in +danger of exceeding the due bounds in the article of amusement. Let us +then endeavor to snatch our youth of fashion from the low pleasures of +the dissolute; to snatch them, not only from the destruction of the +gaming-table, but from the excesses of the dining-table, by inviting +them to an elegant delight that is safe, and especially by enlarging the +range of pure mental pleasure.</p> + +<p>"In order to this, let us do all we can to cultivate their taste, and +innocently indulge their fancy. Let us contend with impure writers, +those deadliest enemies to the youthful mind, by opposing to them in the +chaster author, images more attractive, wit more acute, learning more +various; in all which excellences our first-rate poets certainly excel +their vicious competitors."</p> + +<p>"Would you, Mr. Tyrrel," said Sir John, "throw into the enemy's camp all +the light arms which often successfully annoy where the heavy artillery +can not reach?"</p> + +<p>"Let us," replied Mr. Stanley, "rescue from the hands of the profane and +the impure, the monopoly of wit which, they affect to possess, and which +they would possess, if no good men had written works of elegant +literature, and if all good men totally despised them."</p> + +<p>"For my own part," said Mr. Tyrrel, "I believe that a good man, in my +sense of the word, will neither write works of imagination, nor read +them."</p> + +<p>"At your age and mine, and better employed as we certainly may be," said +Mr. Stanley, "we want not such resources. I myself, though I retain the +relish, have little leisure for the indulgence, which yet I would allow, +though with great discrimination, to the young and the unoccupied. What +is to whet the genius of the champions of virtue, so as to enable them +successfully to combat the leaders of vice and infidelity, if we refuse +to let them be occasionally sharpened and polished by such studies? That +model of brilliant composition, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, was of this +opinion, when he said, 'by whatever instrument piety is advantaged, use +that, though thou grindest thy spears and arrows at the forges of the +Philistines.'</p> + +<p>"I know," continued Mr. Stanley, "that a Christian need not borrow +weapons of attack or defense from the classic armory; but, to drop all +metaphor, if he is called upon to defend truth and virtue against men +whose minds are adorned with all that is elegant, strengthened with all +that is powerful, and enriched with all that is persuasive, from the +writers in question—is he likely to engage with due advantage if his +own mind be destitute of the embellishments with which theirs abound? +While wit and imagination are <i>their</i> favorite instruments, shall we +consider the aid of either as useless, much less as sinful in their +opponents?"</p> + +<p>"While young men <i>will</i> be amused," said Sir John, "it is surely of +importance that they should be <i>safely</i> amused. We should not therefore +wish to obliterate in authors such faculties as wit and fancy, nor to +extinguish a taste for them in readers."</p> + +<p>"Show me any one instance of good that ever was effected by any one +poet," said Mr. Tyrrel, "and I will give up the point; while, on the +other hand, a thousand instances of mischief might be produced."</p> + +<p>"The latter part of your assertion, sir," said I, "I fear is too true: +but to what evil has elevation of fancy led Milton, or Milton his +readers? Into what immoralities did it involve Spenser or Cowley? Has +Thomson added to the crimes or the calamities of mankind? Into what +immoralities did it plunge Gray, or Goldsmith? Has it tainted the purity +of Beattie in his Minstrel, or that of the living minstrel of the <span class="smcap">Lay</span>? +What reader has Mason corrupted, or what reader has Cowper not +benefitted? Milton was an enthusiast both in religion and politics. Many +enthusiasts with whom he was connected, doubtless condemned the exercise +of his imagination in his immortal poem as a crime; but his genius was +too mighty to be restrained by opposition, and his imagination too vast +and powerful to be kept down by a party. Had he confined himself to his +prose writings, weighty and elaborate as some of them are, how little +service would he have done the world, and how little would he now be +read or quoted! In his life-time politics might blind his enemies, and +fanaticism his friends. But now, who, comparatively, reads the +Iconoclastes? who does not read Comus?"</p> + +<p>"What then," said Mr. Tyrrel, "you would have our young men spend their +time in reading idle verses, and our girls, I suppose, in reading loose +romances?"</p> + +<p>"It is to preserve both from evils which I deprecate," said Mr. Stanley, +"that I would consign the most engaging subjects to the best hands, and +raise the taste of our youth, by allowing a little of their leisure, and +of their leisure only, to such amusements; and that chiefly with a view +to disengage them from worse pursuits. It is not romance, but indolence; +it is not poetry, but sensuality, which are the prevailing evils of the +day—evils far more fatal in themselves, far more durable in their +effects, than the perusal of works of wit and genius. Imagination will +cool of itself. The effervescence of fancy will soon subside; but +absorbing dissipation, but paralyzing idleness, but degrading self-love,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Grows with their growth, and strengthens with their strength."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"A judicious reformer," said Sir John, "will accommodate his remedy to +an existing and not an imaginary evil. When the old romances, the grand +Cyruses, the Clelias, the Calprenedes, and the Cassandras, had turned +all the young heads in Europe; or when the fury of knight-errantry +demanded the powerful rein of Cervantes to check it—it was a duty to +attempt to lower the public delirium. When, in our own age and country, +Sterne wrote his corrupt, but too popular lesser work, he became the +mischievous founder of the school of sentiment. A hundred writers +communicated, a hundred thousand readers caught, the infection. +Sentimentality was the disease which then required to be expelled. The +reign of Sterne is past. Sensibility is discarded, and with it the +softness which it must be confessed belonged to it. Romance is vanished, +and with it the heroic, though somewhat unnatural, elevation which +accompanied it. We have little to regret in the loss of either; nor have +we much cause to rejoice in what we have gained by the exchange. A +pervading and substantial selfishness, the striking characteristic of +our day, is no great improvement on the wildness of the old romance, or +the vapid puling of the sentimental school."</p> + +<p>"Surely," said I (L'Almanac des Gourmands at that instant darting across +my mind), "it is as honorable for a gentleman to excel in critical as in +culinary skill. It is as noble to cultivate the intellectual taste, as +that of the palate. It is at least as creditable to discuss the +comparative merits of Sophocles and Shakspeare, as the rival ingredients +of a soup or a sauce. I will even venture to affirm that it is as +dignified an amusement to run a tilt in favor of Virgil or Tasso against +their assailants, as to run a barouche against a score of rival +barouches; and though I own that, in Gulliver's land of the Houyhnhnms, +the keeping up the breed of horses might have been the nobler +patriotism, yet in Great Britain it is hitherto, at least, no +contemptible exertion of skill and industry 'to keep up the breed of +gentlemen.'"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + + +<p>I strolled out alone, intending to call at the Rectory, but was +prevented by meeting the worthy Dr. Barlow, who was coming to the Grove. +I could not lose so fair an opportunity of introducing a subject that +was seldom absent from my thoughts. I found it was a subject on which I +had no new discoveries to impart. He told me he had seen and rejoiced in +the election my heart had made. I was surprised at his penetration. He +smiled, and told me he "took no great credit for his sagacity in +perceiving what was obvious to spectators far more indifferent than +himself; that I resembled those animals who, by hiding their heads in +the earth, fancied nobody could see them."</p> + +<p>I asked him a thousand questions about Lucilla, whose fine mind I knew +he had in some measure contributed to form. I inquired, with an +eagerness which he called jealousy, who were her admirers? "As many men +as have seen her," replied he; "I know no man who has so many rivals as +yourself. To relieve your apprehensions, however, I will tell you, that +though there have been several competitors for her favor, not one has +been accepted. There has, indeed, this summer been a very formidable +candidate, young Lord Staunton, who has a large estate in the county, +and whom she met on a visit." At these words I felt my fears revive. A +young and handsome peer seemed so redoubtable a rival, that for a moment +I only remembered she was a woman, and forgot that she was Lucilla.</p> + +<p>"You may set your heart at rest," said Dr. Barlow, who saw my emotion; +"she heard he had seduced the innocent daughter of one of his tenants, +under the most specious pretense of honorable love. This, together with +the looseness of his religious principles, led her to give his lordship +a positive refusal, though he is neither destitute of talents, nor +personal accomplishments."</p> + +<p>How ashamed was I of my jealousy! How I felt my admiration increase! Yet +I thought it was too great before to admit of augmentation. "Another +proposal," said Dr. Barlow, "was made to her father by a man every way +unexceptionable. But she desired him to be informed that it was her +earnest request that he would proceed no further, but spare her the pain +of refusing a gentleman for whose character she entertained a sincere +respect; but being persuaded she could never be able to feel more than +respect, she positively declined receiving his addresses, assuring him, +at the same time, that she sincerely desired to retain, as a friend, him +whom she felt herself obliged to refuse as a husband. She is as far from +the vanity of seeking to make conquest, as from the ungenerous insolence +of using ill those whom her merit has captivated, and her judgment can +not accept."</p> + +<p>After admiring in the warmest terms the purity and generosity of her +heart, I pressed Dr. Barlow still further, as to the interior of her +mind. I questioned him as to her early habits, and particularly as to +her religious attainments, telling him that nothing was indifferent to +me which related to Lucilla.</p> + +<p>"Miss Stanley," replied he, "is governed by a simple, practical end, in +all her religious pursuits. She reads her Bible, not from habit, that +she may acquit herself of a customary form; not to exercise her +ingenuity by allegorizing literal passages, or spiritualizing plain +ones, but that she may improve in knowledge and grow in grace. She +accustoms herself to meditation, in order to get her mind more deeply +imbued with a sense of eternal things. She practices self-examination, +that she may learn to watch against the first risings of bad +dispositions, and to detect every latent evil in her heart. She lives in +the regular habit of prayer, not only that she may implore pardon of +sin, but that she may obtain strength against it. She told me one day +when she was ill, that if she did not constantly examine the actual +state of her mind, she should pray at random, without any certainty what +particular sins she should pray against, or what were her particular +wants. She has read much Scripture and little controversy. There are +some doctrines that she does not pretend to define, which she yet +practically adopts. She can not perhaps give you a disquisition on the +mysteries of the Holy Spirit, but she can and does fervently implore his +guidance and instruction; she believes in his efficacy, and depends on +his support. She is sensible that those truths, which from their deep +importance are most obvious, have more of the vitality of religion, and +influence practice more, than those abstruse points which unhappily +split the religious world into so many parties.</p> + +<p>"If I were to name what are her predominant virtues, I should say +sincerity and humility. Conscious of her own imperfections, she never +justifies her faults, and seldom extenuates them. She receives reproof +with meekness, and advice with gratitude. Her own conscience is always +so ready to condemn her, that she never wonders, nor takes offense, at +the censures of others."</p> + +<p>"That softness of manner which you admire in her is not the varnish of +good breeding, nor is it merely the effect of good temper, though in +both she excels, but it is the result of humility. She appears humble, +not because a mild exterior is graceful, but because she has an inward +conviction of unworthiness which prevents an assuming manner. Yet her +humility has no cant; she never disburdens her conscience by a few +disparaging phrases, nor lays a trap for praise by indiscriminately +condemning herself. Her humility never impairs her cheerfulness; for the +sense of her wants directs her to seek, and her faith enables her to +find, the sure foundation of a better hope than any which can be derived +from a delusive confidence in her own goodness."</p> + +<p>"One day," continued Dr. Barlow, "when I blamed her gently for her +backwardness in expressing her opinion on some serious point, she said, +'I always feel diffident in speaking on these subjects, not only lest I +should be <i>thought</i> to assume, but lest I really <i>should</i> assume a +degree of piety which may not belong to me. My great advantages make me +jealous of myself. My dear father has so carefully instructed me, and I +live so much in the habit of hearing his pious sentiments that I am +often afraid of appearing better than I am, and of pretending to feel in +my heart what perhaps I only approve in my judgment. When my beloved +mother was ill,' continued she, 'I often caught myself saying +mechanically, God's will be done! when I blush to own how little I felt +in my heart of that resignation of which my lips were so lavish.'"</p> + +<p>I hung with inexpressible delight on every word Dr. Barlow uttered, and +expressed my fears that such a prize was too much above my deserts to +allow me to encourage very sanguine hopes. "You have my cordial wishes +for your success," said he, "though I shall lament the day when you +snatch so fair a flower from our fields, to transplant it into your +northern gardens."</p> + +<p>We had now reached the park-gate, where Sir John and Lady Belfield +joined us. As it was very hot, Dr. Barlow proposed to conduct us a +nearer way. He carried us through a small nursery of fruit-trees, which +I had not before observed, though it was adjoining the ladies' +flower-garden, from which it was separated and concealed by a row of +tall trees. I expressed my surprise that the delicate Lucilla would +allow so coarse an inclosure to be so near her ornamented ground. "You +see she does all she can to shut it out," replied he. "I will tell you +how it happens, for I can not vindicate the taste of my fair friend, +without exposing a better quality in her. But if I betray her, you must +not betray me.</p> + +<p>"It is a rule when any servant who has lived seven years at the Grove, +marries, provided they have conducted themselves well, and make a +prudent choice, for Mr. Stanley to give them a piece of ground on the +waste, to build a cottage; he also allows them to take stones from his +quarry, and lime from his kiln; to this he adds a bit of ground for a +garden. Mrs. Stanley presents some kitchen furniture, and gives a +wedding dinner; and the rector refuses his fee for performing the +ceremony."</p> + +<p>"Caroline," said Sir John, "this is not the first time since we have +been at the Grove that I have been struck with observing how many +benefits naturally result to the poor, from the rich living on +their own estates. Their dependants have a thousand petty local +advantages, which cost almost nothing to the giver, which are yet +valuable to the receiver, and of which the absent never think."</p> + +<p>"You have heard," said Dr. Barlow, "that Miss Stanley, from her +childhood, has been passionately fond of cultivating a garden. When she +was hardly fourteen, she began to reflect that the delight she took in +this employment was attended neither with pleasure nor profit to any one +but herself, and she became jealous of a gratification which was so +entirely selfish. She begged this piece of waste ground of her father, +and stocked it with a number of fine young fruit-trees of the common +sort, apples, pears, plums, and the smaller fruits. When there is a +wedding among the older servants, or when any good girl out of her +school marries, she presents their little empty garden with a dozen +young apple-trees, and a few trees of the other sorts, never forgetting +to embellish their little court with roses and honey-suckles. These last +she transplants from the shrubbery, not to fill up the <i>village garden</i>, +as it is called, with any thing that is of no positive use. She employs +a poor lame man in the village a day in a week to look after this +nursery, and by cutting and grafts a good stock is raised on a small +space. It is done at her own expense, Mr. Stanley making this a +condition when he gave her the ground; 'otherwise,' said he, 'trifling +as it is, it would be my charity and not hers, and she would get thanked +for a kindness which would cost her nothing.' The warm-hearted little +Ph[oe]be cooperates in this, and all her sister's labors of love.</p> + +<p>"Some such union of charity with every personal indulgence, she +generally imposes on herself; and from this association she has acquired +another virtue, for she tells me, smiling, she is sometimes obliged to +content herself with practicing frugality instead of charity. When she +finds she can not afford both her own gratification, and the charitable +act which she wanted to associate with it, and is therefore compelled to +give up the charity, she compels herself to give up the indulgence also. +By this self-denial she gets a little money in hand for the next demand, +and thus is enabled to afford both next time."</p> + +<p>As he finished speaking, we spied the lame gardener pruning and clearing +the trees. "Well, James," said the Doctor, "how does your nursery +thrive?" "Why, sir," said the poor man, "we are rather thin of stout +trees at present. You know we had three weddings at Christmas, which +took thirty-six of my best apple-trees at a blow, besides half a dozen +tall pear-trees, and as many plums. But we shall soon fetch it up, for +Miss Lucilla makes me plant two for every one that is removed, so that +we are always provided for a wedding, come when it will."</p> + +<p>I now recollected that I had been pleased with observing so many young +orchards and flourishing cottage gardens in the village: little did I +suspect the fair hand which could thus in a few years diffuse an air of +smiling comfort around these humble habitations, and embellish poverty +itself. She makes, they told me, her periodical visits of inspection to +see that neatness and order do not degenerate.</p> + +<p>Not to appear too eager, I asked the poor man some questions about his +health, which seemed infirm. "I am but weak, sir," said he, "for matter +of that, but I should have been dead long ago but for the Squire's +family. He gives me the run of his kitchen, and Miss Lucilla allows me +half-a-crown a week for one day's work and any odd hour I can spare; but +she don't let me earn it, for she is always watching for fear it should +be too hot, or too cold, or too wet for me; and she brings me my dose of +bark herself into this tool-house, that she may be sure I take it; for +she says, servants and poor people like to have medicines provided for +them, but don't care to take them. Then she watches that I don't throw +my coat on the wet grass, which she says, gives laboring men so much +rheumatism; and she made me this nice flannel waistcoat, sir, with her +own hands. At Christmas they give me a new suit from top to toe, so that +I want for nothing but a more thankful heart, for I never can be +grateful enough to God and my benefactors."</p> + +<p>I asked some further questions, only to have the pleasure of hearing him +talk longer about Lucilla. "But, sir," said he, interrupting me, "I hear +bad news, very bad news. Pray, your honor, forgive me." "What do you +mean, James?" said I, seeing his eyes fill. "Why, sir, all the servants +at the Grove will have it that you are come to carry off Miss Lucilla, +God bless her whenever she goes. Your Mr. Edwards, sir, says you are one +of the best of gentlemen, but indeed, indeed, I don't know who can +deserve her. She will carry a blessing wherever she goes." The honest +fellow put up the sleeve of his coat to brush away his tears, nor was I +ashamed of those with which his honest affection filled my own eyes. +While we were talking, a poor little girl, who I knew, by her neat +uniform, belonged to Miss Stanley's school, passed us with a little +basket in her hand. James called to her, "Make haste, Rachel, you are +after your time."</p> + +<p>"What, this is market-day, James, is it?" said Doctor Barlow, "and +Rachel is come for her nosegays." "Yes, sir," said James; "I forgot to +tell their honors, that every Saturday, as soon as her school is over, +the younger Misses give Rachel leave to come and fetch some flowers out +of their garden, which she carries to the town to sell; she commonly +gets a shilling, half of which they make her lay out to bring home a +little tea for her poor sick mother, and the other half she lays up to +buy shoes and stockings for herself and her crippled sister. Every +little is a help where there is nothing, sir."</p> + +<p>Sir John said nothing, but looked at Lady Belfield, whose eyes glistened +while she softly said, "O, how little do the rich ever think what the +aggregate even of their own squandered shillings would do in the way of +charity, were they systematically applied to it!"</p> + +<p>James now unlocked a little private door, which opened into the +pleasure-ground. There, at a distance, sitting in a circle on the +new-mown grass, under a tree, we beheld all the little Stanleys, with a +basket of flowers between them, out of which they were earnestly +employed in sorting and tying up nosegays. We stood some time admiring +their little busy faces and active fingers, without their perceiving us, +and got up to them just as they were putting their prettily-formed +bouquets into Rachel's basket, with which she marched off, with many +charges from the children to waste no time by the way, and to be sure to +leave the nosegay that had the myrtle in it at Mrs. Williams's.</p> + +<p>"How many nosegays have you given to Rachel to-day, Louisa?" said Dr. +Barlow to the eldest of the four. "Only three apiece, sir," replied she. +"We think it a bad day when we can't make up our dozen. They are all our +own; we seldom touch mamma's flowers, and we never suffer James to take +ours, because Ph[oe]be says it might be tempting him. Little Jane +lamented that Lucilla had given them nothing to-day, except two or three +sprigs of her best flowering myrtle, which," added she, "we make Rachel +give into the bargain to a poor sick lady who loves flowers, and used to +have good ones of her own, but who has now no money to spare, and could +not afford to give more than the common price for a nosegay for her sick +room. So we always slip a nice flower or two out of the green-house into +her little bunch, and say nothing. When we walk that way we often leave +her some flowers ourselves, and would do it oftener if it did not hurt +poor Rachel's trade."</p> + +<p>As we walked away from the sweet prattlers, Dr. Barlow said: "These +little creatures already emulate their sisters in associating some petty +kindness with their own pleasures. The act is trifling, but the habit is +good; as is every habit which helps to take us out of self, which +teaches us to transfer our attention from our own gratification to the +wants or the pleasures of another."</p> + +<p>"I confess," said Lady Belfield, as we entered the house, "that it never +occurred to me that it was any part of charity to train my children to +the habit of sacrificing their time or their pleasure for the benefit of +others, though to do them justice, they are very feeling and very +liberal with their money."</p> + +<p>"My dear Caroline," said Sir John, "it is our money, not theirs. It is, +I fear, a cheap liberality, and abridges not themselves of one +enjoyment. They well know we are so pleased to see them charitable that +we shall instantly repay them with interest whatever they give away, so +that we have hitherto afforded them no opportunity to show their actual +dispositions. Nay, I begin to fear that they may become charitable +through covetousness, if they find out that the more they give the more +they shall get. We must correct this artificial liberality as soon as we +get home."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + + +<p>A few days after, Sir John Belfield and I agreed to take a ride to Mr. +Carlton's, where we breakfasted. Nothing could be more rational than the +whole turn of his mind, nor more agreeable and unreserved than his +conversation. His behavior to his amiable wife was affectionately +attentive, and Sir John, who is a most critical observer, remarked that +it was quite natural and unaffected. It appeared to be the result of +esteem inspired by her merit, and quickened by a sense of his own former +unworthiness, which made him feel as if he could never do enough to +efface the memory of past unkindness. He manifested evident symptoms of +a mind earnestly intent on the discovery and pursuit of moral and +religious truth; and from the natural ardor of his character, and the +sincerity of his remorse, his attainments seemed likely to be rapid and +considerable.</p> + +<p>The sweet benignity of Mrs. Carlton's countenance was lighted up at our +entrance with a smile of satisfaction. We had been informed with what +pleasure she observed every accession of right-minded acquaintance which +her husband made. Though her natural modesty prevented her from +introducing any subject herself, yet when any thing useful was brought +forward by others, she promoted it by a look compounded of pleasure and +intelligence.</p> + +<p>After a variety of topics had been dispatched, the conversation fell on +the prejudices which were commonly entertained by men of the world +against religion. "For my own part," said Mr. Carlton, "I must confess +that no man had ever more or stronger prejudices to combat than myself. +I mean not my own exculpation when I add, that the imprudence, the want +of judgment, and, above all, the incongruous mixtures and +inconsistencies in many characters who are reckoned religious, are ill +calculated to do away the unfavorable opinions of men of an opposite way +of thinking. As I presume that you, gentlemen, are not ignorant of the +errors of my early life—error indeed is an appellation far too mild—I +shall not scruple to own to you the source of those prejudices which +retarded my progress, even after I became ashamed of my deviations from +virtue. I had felt the turpitude of my bad habits long before I had +courage to renounce them; and I renounced them long before I had courage +to avow my abhorrence of them."</p> + +<p>Sir John and I expressed ourselves extremely obliged by the candor of +his declaration, and assured him that his further communications would +not only gratify but benefit us.</p> + +<p>"Educated as I had been," said Mr. Carlton, "in an almost entire +ignorance of religion, mine was rather a habitual indifference than a +systematic unbelief. My thoughtless course of life, though it led me to +hope that Christianity might not be true, yet had by no means been able +to convince me that it was false. As I had not been taught to search for +truth at the fountain, for I was unacquainted with the Bible, I had no +readier means for forming my judgment than by observing, though with a +careless and casual eye, what effect religion produced in those who +professed to be influenced by it. My observations augmented my +prejudices. What I saw of the professors increased my dislike of the +profession. All the charges brought by their enemies, for I had been +accustomed to weigh the validity of testimony, had not riveted my +dislike so much as the difference between their own avowed principles +and their obvious practice. Religious men should be the more cautious of +giving occasion for reproach, as they know the world is always on the +watch, and is more glad to have its prejudices confirmed than removed.</p> + +<p>"I seize the moment of Mrs. Carlton's absence (who was just then called +out of the room, but returned almost immediately) to observe, that what +rooted my disgust was, the eagerness with which the mother of my +inestimable wife, who made a great parade of religion, pressed the +marriage of her only child with a man whose conduct she knew to be +irregular, and of whose principles she entertained a just, that is, an +unfavorable opinion. To see, I repeat, the religious mother of Mrs. +Carlton obviously governed in her zeal for promoting our union by +motives as worldly as those of my poor father, who pretended to no +religion at all, would have extremely lowered any respect which I might +have previously been induced to entertain for characters of that +description. Nor was this disgust diminished by my acquaintance with Mr. +Tyrrel. I had known him while a professed man of the world, and had at +that time, I fear, disliked his violent temper, his narrow mind, and his +coarse manners, more than his vices.</p> + +<p>"I had heard of the power of religion to change the heart, and I +ridiculed the wild chimera. My contempt for this notion was confirmed by +the conduct of Mr. Tyrrel in his new character. I found it had produced +little change in him, except furnishing him with a new subject of +discussion. I saw that he had only laid down one set of opinions and +taken up another, with no addition whatever to his virtues, and with the +addition to his vices of spiritual pride and self-confidence; for with +hypocrisy I have no right to charge any man. I observed that Tyrrel and +one or two of his new friends rather courted attack than avoided it. +They considered discretion as the infirmity of a worldly mind, and every +attempt at kindness or conciliation as an abandonment of faith. They +eagerly ascribed to their piety the dislike which was often excited by +their peculiarities. I found them apt to dignify the disapprobation +which their singularity occasioned with the name of persecution. I have +seen them take comfort in the belief that it was their religion which +was disliked, when perhaps it was chiefly their oddities.</p> + +<p>"At Tyrrel's I became acquainted with your friends Mr. and Mrs. Ranby. I +leave you to judge whether their characters, that of the lady +especially, was calculated to do away my prejudices. I had learned from +my favorite Roman poet a precept in composition, of never making a God +appear, except on occasions worthy of a God. I have since had reason to +think this rule as justly theological as it is classical. So thought not +the Ranbys.</p> + +<p>"It will, indeed, readily be allowed by every reflecting mind, as God is +to be viewed in all his works, so his 'never-failing providence ordereth +all things both in heaven and on earth.' But surely there is something +very offensive in the indecent familiarity with which the name of God +and Providence is brought in on every trivial occasion, as was the +constant practice of Mr. and Mrs. Ranby. I was not even then so +illogical a reasoner as to allow a general and deny a particular +Providence. If the one were true, I inferred that the other could not be +false. But I felt that the religion of these people was of a slight +texture and a bad taste. I was disgusted with littleness in some +instances, and with inconsistency in others. Still their absurdity gave +me no right to suspect their sincerity.</p> + +<p>"Whenever Mrs. Ranby had a petty inclination to gratify, she had always +recourse to what she called the <i>leadings of Providence</i>. In matters of +no more moment than whether she should drink tea with one neighbor +instead of another, she was <i>impelled</i>, or <i>directed</i>, or <i>overruled</i>. I +observed that she always took care to interpret these <i>leadings</i> to her +own taste, and under their sanction she always did what her fancy led +her to do. She professed to follow this guidance on such minute +occasions, that I had almost said her piety seemed a little impious. To +the actual dispensations of Providence, especially when they came in a +trying or adverse shape, I did not observe more submission than I had +seen in persons who could not be suspected of religion. I must own to +you also, that as I am rather fastidious, I began to fancy that vulgar +language, quaint phrases, and false grammar, were necessarily connected +with religion. The sacrifice of taste and elegance, seemed +indispensable, and I was inclined to fear that if <i>they</i> were right, it +would be impossible to get to heaven with good English."</p> + +<p>"Though I grant there is some truth in your remarks, sir," said I, "you +must allow that when men are determined at all events to hunt down +religious characters, they are never at a loss to find plausible +objections to justify their dislike; and while they conceal, even from +themselves, the real motive of their aversion, the vigilance with which +they pry into the characters of men who are reckoned pious, is exercised +with the secret hope of finding faults enough to confirm their +prejudices."</p> + +<p>"As a general truth, you are perfectly right," said Mr. Carlton; "but at +the period to which I allude, I had now got to that stage of my +progress, as to be rather searching for instances to invite than to +repel me in my inquiry."</p> + +<p>"You will grant, however," said I, "that it is a common effect of +prejudice to transfer the fault of a religious man to religion itself. +Such a man happens to have an uncouth manner, an awkward gesture, an +unmodulated voice; his allusions may be coarse, his phraseology quaint, +his language slovenly. The solid virtues which may lie disguised under +these incumbrances go for nothing. The man is absurd, and therefore +Christianity is ridiculous. Its truth, however, though it may be +eclipsed, can not be extinguished. Like its divine Author, it is the +same yesterday, to-day, and forever."</p> + +<p>"There was another repulsive circumstance," replied Mr. Carlton: "the +scanty charities both of Tyrrel and his new friends, so inferior to the +liberality of my father and of Mr. Flam, who never professed to be +governed by any higher motive than mere feeling, strengthened my +dislike. The calculations of mere reason taught me that the religious +man who does not greatly exceed the man of the world in his +liberalities, falls short of him; because the worldly man who gives +liberally, acts above his principle, while the Christian who does no +more, falls short of his. And though I by no means insist that +liberality is a certain indication of piety, yet I will venture to +assert that the want of the one is no doubtful symptom of the absence of +the other.</p> + +<p>"I next resolved to watch carefully the conduct of another description +of Christians, who come under the class of the formal and the decent. +They were considered as more creditable, but I did not perceive them to +be more exemplary. They were more absorbed in the world, and more +governed by its opinions. I found them clamorous in defense of the +church in words, but neither adorning it by their lives, nor embracing +its doctrines in their hearts. Rigid in the observance of some of its +external rites, but little influenced by its liberal principles, and +charitable spirit. They venerated the establishment merely as a +political institution, but of her outward forms they conceived, as +comprehending the whole of her excellence. Of her spiritual beauty and +superiority, they seemed to have no conception. I observed in them less +warmth of affection, for those with whom they agreed in external +profession, than of rancor for those who differed from them, though but +a single shade, and in points of no importance. They were cordial +haters, and frigid lovers. Had they lived in the early ages, when the +church was split into parties by paltry disputes, they would have +thought the controversy about the time of keeping Easter of more +consequence than the event itself, which that festival celebrates."</p> + +<p>"My dear sir," said I, as soon as he had done speaking, "you have +accounted very naturally for your prejudices. Your chief error seems to +have consisted in the selection of the persons you adopted as standards. +They all differed as much from the right as they differed from each +other; and the truth is, their vehement desire to differ from each +other, was a chief cause why they departed so much from the right. But +your instances were so unhappily chosen, that they prove nothing against +Christianity. The two opposite descriptions of persons who deterred you +from religion, and who passed muster in their respective corps, under +the generic term of religious, would, I believe, be scarcely +acknowledged as such by the soberly and the soundly pious."</p> + +<p>"My own subsequent experience," resumed Mr. Carlton, "has confirmed the +justness of your remark. When I began, through the gradual change +wrought in my views and actions, by the silent, but powerful preaching +of Mrs. Carlton's example, to have less interest in believing that +Christianity was false, I then applied myself to search for reasons to +believe that it was true. But plain, abstract reasoning, though it might +catch hold on beings who are all pure intellect, and though it might +have given a right bias even to <i>my</i> opinions, would probably never have +determined my conduct, unless I saw it clothed, as it were, with a body. +I wanted examples which should influence me to act, as well as proofs +which should incline me to believe; something which would teach me what +to do, as well as what to think. I wanted exemplifications as well as +precepts. I doubted of all merely speculative truth. I wanted, from +beholding the effect, to refer back to the principle. I wanted arguments +more palpable and less theoretic. Surely, said I to myself, if religion +be a principle, it must be an operative one, and I would rationally +infer that Christianity were true, if the tone of Christian practice +were high.</p> + +<p>"I began to look clandestinely into Henrietta's Bible. There I indeed +found that the spirit of religion was invested with just such a body as +I had wished to see; that it exhibited actions as well as sentiments, +characters, as well as doctrines; the life portrayed evidently governed +by the principle inculcated; the conduct and the doctrine in just +correspondence. But if the Bible be true, thought I, may we not +reasonably expect that the principles which once produced the exalted +practice which that Bible records, will produce similar effects now?</p> + +<p>"I put, rashly perhaps, the truth of Christianity on this issue, and +sought society of a higher stamp. Fortunately the increasing external +decorum of my conduct began to make my reception less difficult among +good men than it had been. Hitherto, and that for the sake of my wife, +my visits had rather been endured than encouraged; nor was I myself +forward to seek the society which shunned me. Even with those superior +characters with whom I did occasionally associate, I had not come near +enough to form an exact estimate.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Disinterestedness</span> and <span class="smcap">consistency</span> had become with me a sort of +touchstone, by which to try the characters I was investigating. My +experiment was favorable. I had for some time observed my wife's +conduct, with a mixture of admiration as to the act, and incredulity as +to the motive. I had seen her foregoing her own indulgences, that she +might augment those of a husband whom she had so little reason to love. +Here were the two qualities I required, with a renunciation of self +without parade or profession. Still this was a solitary instance. When +on a nearer survey, I beheld Dr. Barlow exhibiting by his exemplary +conduct during the week, the best commentary on his Sunday's sermon: +when I saw him refuse a living of nearly twice the value of that he +possessed, because the change would diminish his usefulness, I was +<i>staggered</i>.</p> + +<p>"When I saw Mr. and Mrs. Stanley spending their time and fortune as +entirely in acts of beneficence, as if they had built their eternal +hope on charity alone, and yet utterly renouncing any such confidence, +and trusting entirely to another foundation;—when I saw Lucilla, a girl +of eighteen, refuse a young nobleman of a clear estate, and neither +disagreeable in his person or manner, on the single avowed ground of his +loose principles; when the noble rejection of the daughter was supported +by the parents, whose principles no arguments drawn from rank or fortune +could subvert or shake—I was <i>convinced</i>.</p> + +<p>"These, and some other instances of the same nature, were exactly the +test I had been seeking. Here was <i>disinterestedness</i> upon full proof. +Here was <i>consistency</i> between practice and profession. By such +examples, and by cordially adopting those principles which produced +them, together with a daily increasing sense of my past enormities, I +hope to become in time less unworthy of the wife to whom I owe my peace +on earth, and my hope in heaven."</p> + +<p>The tears which had been collecting in Mrs. Carlton's eyes for some +time, now silently stole down her cheeks. Sir John and myself were +deeply affected with the frank and honest narrative to which we had been +listening. It raised in us an esteem and affection for the narrator +which has since been continually augmenting. I do not think the worse of +his state, for the difficulties which impeded it, nor that his +advancement will be less sure, because it has been gradual. His fear of +delusion has been a salutary guard. The apparent slowness of his +progress has arisen from his dread of self-deception, and the diligence +of his search is an indication of his sincerity.</p> + +<p>"But did you not find," said I, "that the piety of these more correct +Christians drew upon them nearly as much censure and suspicion as the +indiscretion of the enthusiasts? and that the formal class who were +nearly as far removed from effective piety, as from wild fanaticism, +ran away with all the credit of religion?'"</p> + +<p>"With those," replied Mr. Carlton, "who are on the watch to discredit +Christianity, no consistency can stand their determined opposition; but +the fair and candid inquirer will not reject the truth, when it forces +the truth on the mind with a clear and convincing evidence."</p> + +<p>Though I had been joining in the general subject, yet my thoughts had +wandered from it to Lucilla ever since her noble rejection of Lord +Staunton had been named by Mr. Carlton as one of the causes which had +strengthened his unsteady faith. And while he and Sir John were talking +over their youthful connections, I resumed with Mrs. Carlton, who sat +next me, the interesting topic.</p> + +<p>"Lord Staunton," said she, "is a relation, and not a very distant one, +of ours. He used to take more delight in Mr. Carlton's society when it +was less improving than he does now, that it is become really valuable; +yet he often visits us. Miss Stanley now and then indulges me with her +company for a day or two. In these visits Lord Staunton happened to meet +her two or three times. He was enchanted with her person and manners, +and exerted every art and faculty of pleasing, which it must be owned he +possesses. Though we should both have rejoiced in an alliance with the +excellent family at the Grove, through this sweet girl, I thought it my +duty not to conceal from her the irregularity of my cousin's conduct in +one particular instance, as well as the general looseness of his +religious principles. The caution was the more necessary, as he had so +much prudence and good breeding, as to behave with general propriety +when under our roof; and he allowed me to speak to him more freely than +any other person. When I talked seriously, he sometimes laughed, always +opposed, but was never angry.</p> + +<p>"One day he arrived quite unexpectedly when Miss Stanley was with me. He +found us in my dressing-room reading together a <i>Dissertation on the +power of religion to change the heart</i>. Dreading some levity, I strove +to hide the book, but he took it out of my hand, and glancing his eye on +the title, he said, laughing, 'This is a foolish subject enough; a <i>good +heart</i> does not want changing, and with a <i>bad</i> one none of <i>us three</i> +have any thing to do.' Lucilla spoke not a syllable. All the light +things he uttered, and which he meant for wit, so far from raising a +smile, increased her gravity. She listened, but with some uneasiness, to +a desultory conversation between us, in which I attempted to assert the +power of the Almighty to rectify the mind, and alter the character. Lord +Staunton treated my assertion as a wild chimera, and said, 'He was sure +I had more understanding than to adopt such a methodistical notion;' +professing at the same time a vague admiration of virtue and goodness, +which, he said, bowing to Miss Stanley, were <i>natural</i> where they +existed at all; that a good heart did not want mending, and a bad one +could not be mended, with other similar expressions, all implying +contempt of my position, and exclusive compliment to her.</p> + +<p>"After dinner, Lucilla stole away from a conversation, which was not +very interesting to her, and carried her book to the summer-house, +knowing that Lord Staunton liked to sit long at table. But his lordship +missing her for whom the visit was meant, soon broke up the party, and +hearing which way she took, pursued her to the summer-house. After a +profusion of compliments, expressive of his high admiration, he declared +his passion in very strong and explicit terms, and requested her +permission to make proposals to her father, to which he conceived she +could have no possible objection.</p> + +<p>"She thanked him with great politeness for his favorable opinion, but +frankly told him, that though extremely sensible of the honor he +intended her, thanks were all she had to offer in return; she earnestly +desired the business might go no further, and that he would spare +himself the trouble of an application to her father, who always kindly +allowed her to decide for herself in a concern of so much importance.</p> + +<p>"Disappointed, shocked, and irritated at a rejection so wholly +unexpected, he insisted on knowing the cause. Was it his person? Was it +his fortune? Was it his understanding to which she objected? She +honestly assured him it was neither. His rank and fortune were above her +expectations. To his natural advantages there could be no reasonable +objection. He still vehemently insisted on her assigning the true cause. +She was then driven to the necessity of confessing that she feared his +principles were not those of a man with whom she could venture to trust +her own.</p> + +<p>"He bore this reproof with more patience than she had expected. As she +had made no exception to his person and understanding, both of which he +rated very highly, he could better bear with the charge brought against +his principles, on which he did not set so great a value. She had indeed +wounded his pride, but not in the part where it was most vulnerable. 'If +that be all,' said he gayly, 'the objection is at an end; your charming +society will reform me, your influence will raise my principles, and +your example will change my character.'</p> + +<p>"'What, my lord,' said she, her courage increasing with her indignation, +'this from <i>you</i>? From you, who declared only this morning, that the +work of changing the heart was too great for the Almighty himself? You +do not now scruple to declare that it is in <i>my</i> power. That work which +is too hard for Omnipotence, your flattery would make me believe a weak +girl can accomplish. No, my lord, I will never add to the number of +those rash women who have risked their eternal happiness on this vain +hope. It would be too late to repent of my folly, after my presumption +had incurred its just punishment.'</p> + +<p>"So saying, she left the summer-house with a polite dignity, which, as +he afterward told me, increased his passion, while it inflamed his pride +almost to madness. Finding she refused to appear, he quitted the house, +but not his design. His applications have since been repeated, but +though he has met with the firmest repulses, both from the parents and +the daughter, he can not be prevailed upon to relinquish his hope. It is +so far a misfortune to us, as Lucilla now never comes near us, except he +is known not to be in the country. Had the objection been to his person, +or fortune, he says, as it would have been substantial, it might have +been insuperable; but where the only ground of difference is mere matter +of opinion, he is sure that time and perseverance will conquer such a +chimerical objection."</p> + +<p>I returned to the Grove, not only cured of every jealous feeling, but +transported with such a decisive proof of the dignity and purity of Miss +Stanley's mind.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + + +<p>Miss Sparkes, a neighboring lady, whom the reputation of being a wit and +an amazon, had kept single at the age of five-and-forty, though her +person was not disagreeable, and her fortune considerable, called in one +morning while we were at breakfast. She is remarkable for her pretension +to odd and opposite qualities. She is something of a scholar, and a +huntress, a politician, and a farrier. She outrides Mr. Flam, and +outargues Mr. Tyrrel; excels in driving four in hand, and in canvassing +at an election. She is always anxious about the party, but never about +the candidate, in whom she requires no other merit but his being in the +opposition, which she accepts as a pledge for all other merit. In her +adoption of any talent, or her exercise of any quality, it is always +sufficient recommendation to her that it is not feminine.</p> + +<p>From the window we saw her descend from her lofty phæton, and when she +came,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The cap, the whip, the masculine attire,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>the loud voice, the intrepid look, the independent air, the whole +deportment indicated a disposition rather to confer protection than to +accept it.</p> + +<p>She made an apology for her intrusion, by saying that her visit was +rather to the stable than the breakfast-room. One of her horses was a +little lame, and she wanted to consult Mr. Stanley's groom, who, it +seems, was her oracle in that science, in which she herself is a +professed adept.</p> + +<p>During her short visit, she labored so sedulously not to diminish by her +conversation the character she was so desirous to establish, that her +efforts defeated the end they aimed to secure. She was witty with all +her might, and her sarcastic turn, for wit it was not, made little +amends for her want of simplicity. I perceived that she was fond of the +bold, the marvelous, and the incredible. She ventured to tell a story or +two, so little within the verge of ordinary probability, that she risked +her credit for veracity without, perhaps, really violating truth. The +credit acquired by such relations seldom pays the relator for the hazard +run by the communication.</p> + +<p>As we fell into conversation, I observed the peculiarities of her +character. She never sees any difficulties in any question. Whatever the +topic is started, while the rest of the company are hesitating as to the +propriety of their determination, she alone is never at a loss. Her +answer always follows the proposition, without a moment's interval for +examination herself, or for allowing any other person a chance of +delivering an opinion.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley, who always sets an example of strict punctuality to his +family, had to-day come in to perform his daily devotions somewhat later +than usual. I could perceive that he had been a little moved. His +countenance wanted something of its placid serenity, though it seemed to +be seriousness untinctured with anger. He confessed while we were at +breakfast, that he had been spending above an hour in bringing one of +his younger children to a sense of a fault she had committed. "She has +not," said he, "told an absolute falsehood, but in what she said there +was prevarication, there was pride, there was passion. Her perverseness +has at length given way. Tears of resentment are changed into tears of +contrition. But she is not to appear in the drawing-room to-day. She is +to be deprived of the honor of carrying food to the poor in the evening. +Nor is she to furnish her contribution of nosegays to Rachel's basket. +This is a mode of punishment we prefer to that of curtailing any +personal indulgences; the importance we should assign to the privation +would be setting too much value on the enjoyment."</p> + +<p>"You should be careful, Mr. Stanley," said Miss Sparkes, "not to break +the child's spirit. Too tight a rein will check her generous ardor, and +curb her genius. I would not subdue the independence of her mind, and +make a tame dull animal of a creature whose very faults give indications +of a soaring nature." Even Lady Belfield, to whose soft and tender heart +the very sound of punishment, or even privation, carried a sort of +terror, asked Mr. Stanley "if he did not think he had taken-up a +trifling offense too seriously, and punished it too severely."</p> + +<p>"The thing is a trifle in itself," replied he, "but infant prevarication +unnoticed, and unchecked, is the prolific seed of subterfuge, of +expediency, of deceit, of falsehood, of hypocrisy."</p> + +<p>"But the dear little creature," said Lady Belfield, "is not addicted to +equivocation. I have always admired her correctness in her pleasant +prattle."</p> + +<p>"It is for that very reason," replied Mr. Stanley, "that I am so careful +to check the first indication of the contrary tendency. As the fault is +a solitary one, I trust the punishment will be so too. For which reason +I have marked it in a way to which her memory will easily recur. Mr. +Brandon, an amiable friend of mine, but of an indolent temper, through a +negligence in watching over an early propensity to deceit, suffered his +only son to run on from one stage of falsehood to another, till he +settled down in a most consummate hypocrite. His plausible manners +enabled him to keep his more turbulent vices out of sight. Impatient +when a youth of that contradiction to which he had never been accustomed +when a boy, he became notoriously profligate. His dissimulation was at +length too thin to conceal from his mistaken father his more palpable +vices. His artifices finally involved him in a duel, and his premature +death broke the heart of my poor friend.</p> + +<p>"This sad example led me in my own family to watch this evil in the bud. +Divines often say that unbelief lies at the root of all sin. This seems +strikingly true in our conniving at the faults of our children. If we +really believed the denunciations of Scripture, could we for the sake of +a momentary gratification, not so much to our child as to ourselves +(which is the case in all blamable indulgence), overlook that fault +which may be the germ of unspeakable miseries! In my view of things, +deceit is no slight offense; I feel myself answerable in no small degree +for the eternal happiness of these beloved creatures whom Providence has +especially committed to my trust."</p> + +<p>"But it is such a severe trial," said Lady Belfield, "to a fond parent +to inflict voluntary pain!"</p> + +<p>"Shall we feel for their pain and not for their danger?" replied Mr. +Stanley. "I wonder how parents who love their children as I love mine, +can put in competition a temporary indulgence, which may foster one evil +temper, or fasten one bad habit, with the eternal welfare of that +child's soul. A soul of such inconceivable worth, whether we consider +its nature, its duration, or the price which was paid for its +redemption! What parent, I say, can by his own rash negligence, or false +indulgence, risk the happiness of such a soul, not for a few days or +years, but for a period compared with which the whole duration of time +is but a point? A soul of such infinite faculties, which has a capacity +for improving in holiness and happiness, through all the countless ages +of eternity?"</p> + +<p>Observing Sir John listen with some emotion, Mr. Stanley went on: "What +remorse, my dear friend, can equal the pangs of him who has reason to +believe that his child has not only lost this eternity of glory, but +incurred an eternity of misery, through the carelessness of that parent +who assigned his very fondness as a reason for his neglect? Think of the +state of such a father, when he figures to himself the thousands and ten +thousands of glorified spirits that stand before the throne, and his +darling excluded—excluded perhaps by his own ill-judging fondness. Oh, +my friends, disguise it as we may, and deceive ourselves as we will, +want of faith is as much at the bottom of this sin as of all others. +Notwithstanding an indefinite, indistinct notion which men call faith, +they do not actually <i>believe</i> in this eternity; they believe it in a +general way, but they do not believe in it practically, personally, +influentially."</p> + +<p>While Mr. Stanley was speaking with an energy which evinced how much his +own heart was affected, Miss Sparkes, by the impatience of her looks, +evidently manifested that she wished to interrupt him. Good breeding, +however, kept her silent till he had done speaking: she then said, "that +though she allowed that absolute falsehood, and falsehood used for +mischievous purposes, was really criminal, yet there was a danger on the +other hand of laying too severe restrictions on freedom of speech. That +there might be such a thing as tacit hypocrisy. That people might be +guilty of as much deceit by suppressing their sentiments if just, as by +expressing such as were not quite correct. That a repulsive treatment +was calculated to extinguish the fire of invention. She thought, also, +that there were occasions where a harmless falsehood might not only be +pardonable, but laudable. But then she allowed, that a falsehood to be +allowed, must be inoffensive."</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley said, "that an inoffensive falsehood was a perfect anomaly. +But allowing it possible that an individual instance of deceit might be +passed over, which, however, he never could allow, yet one successful +falsehood, on the plea of doing good, would necessarily make way for +another, till the limits which divide right and wrong would be +completely broken down, and every distinction between truth and +falsehood be utterly confounded. If such latitude were allowed, even to +obtain some good purpose, it would gradually debauch all human +intercourse. The smallest deviation would naturally induce a pernicious +habit, endanger the security of society, and violate an express law of +God."</p> + +<p>"There is no tendency," said Sir John Belfield, "more to be guarded +against among young persons of warm hearts and lively imaginations. The +feeling will think falsehood good if it is meant to <i>do</i> good, and the +fanciful will think it justifiable if it is ingenious."</p> + +<p>Ph[oe]be, in presenting her father with a dish of coffee, said in a half +whisper, "Surely, papa, there can be no harm in speaking falsely on a +subject where I am ignorant of the truth."</p> + +<p>"There are occasions, my dear Ph[oe]be," replied her father, "in which +ignorance itself is a fault. Inconsiderateness is always one. It is your +duty to deliberate before you speak. It is your duty not to deceive by +your negligence in getting at the truth; or by publishing false +information as truth, though you have reason to suspect it may be false. +You well know who it is that associates him that <i>loveth</i> a lie, with +him that <i>maketh</i> it."</p> + +<p>"But sir," said Miss Sparkes, "if by a falsehood I could preserve a +life, or save my country, falsehood would then be meritorious, and I +should glory in deceiving."</p> + +<p>"Persons, madam," said Mr. Stanley, "who, in debate, have a favorite +point to carry, are apt to suppose extreme cases, which <i>can</i> and <i>do</i> +very rarely if ever occur. This they do in order to compel the +acquiescence of an opponent to what ought never to be allowed. It is a +proud and fruitless speculation. The infinite power of God can never +stand in need of the aid of a weak mortal to help him out in his +difficulties. If he sees fit to preserve the life, or to save the +country, he is not driven to such shifts. Omnipotence can extricate +himself, and accomplish his own purposes, without endangering an +immortal soul."</p> + +<p>Miss Sparkes took her leave soon after, in order, as she said, to go to +the stable and take the groom's opinion. Mr. Stanley insisted that her +carriage should be brought round to the door, to which we all attended +her. He inquired which was the lame horse. Instead of answering, she +went directly up to the animal, and after patting him with some +technical jockey phrases, she fearlessly took up his hind leg, carefully +examined the foot, and while she continued standing in what appeared to +the ladies a perilous, and to me a disgusting situation, she ran over +all the terms of the veterinary art with the groom, and when Miss +Stanley expressed some fear of her danger, and some dislike of her +coarseness, she burst into a loud laugh, and slapping her on the +shoulder, asked her if it was not better to understand the properties +and diseases of so noble an animal, than to waste her time in studying +confectionery with old Goody Comfit, or in teaching the catechism to +little ragged beggar-brats?</p> + +<p>As soon as she was gone, the lively Ph[oe]be, who, her father says, has +narrowly escaped being a wit herself, cried out: "Well, papa, I must say +that I think Miss Sparkes, with all her faults, is rather an agreeable +woman." "I grant that she is amusing," returned he, "but I do not allow +her to be quite agreeable. Between these, Ph[oe]be, there is a wide +distinction. To a correct mind, no one can be agreeable who is +incorrect. Propriety is so indispensable to agreeableness, that when a +lady allows herself to make any, even the smallest, sacrifice of +veracity, religion, modesty, candor, or the decorum of her sex, she may +be shining, she may be showy, she may be amusing, but she can not, +properly speaking, be agreeable. Miss Sparkes, I very reluctantly +confess, does sometimes make these sacrifices, in a degree to make her +friends look about them, though not in a degree to alarm her own +principles. She would not tell a direct falsehood for the world; she +does not indeed invent, but she embellishes, she enlarges, she +exaggerates, she discolors. In her moral grammar there is no positive or +comparative degree. Pink with her is scarlet. The noise of a popgun is +a cannon. A shower is a tempest. A person of small fortune is a beggar. +One in easy circumstances is a Cr[oe]sus. A girl, if not perfectly well +made, is deformity personified; if tolerable, a Grecian Venus. Her +favorites are angels. Her enemies, demons.</p> + +<p>"She would be thought very religious, and I hope that she will one day +become so; yet she sometimes treats serious things with no small levity, +and though she would not originally say a very bad word, yet she makes +no scruple of repeating, with great glee, profane stories told by +others. Besides, she possesses the dangerous art of exciting an improper +idea, without using an improper word. Gross indecency would shock her, +but she often verges so far toward indelicacy as to make Mrs. Stanley +uneasy. Then she is too much of a genius to be tied down by any +consideration of prudence. If a good thing occurs, out it comes, without +regard to time or circumstance. She would tell the same story to a +bishop as to her chambermaid. If she says a right thing, which she often +does, it is seldom in the right place. She makes her way in society, +without attaching many friends. Her bon-mots are admired and repeated; +yet I never met with a man of sense, though he may join in flattering +her, who did not declare, as soon as she was out of the room, that he +would not for the world that she should be his wife or daughter. It is +irksome to her to converse with her own sex, while she little suspects +that ours is not properly grateful for the preference with which she +honors us.</p> + +<p>"She is," continued Mr. Stanley, "charitable with her purse, but not +with her tongue; she relieves her poor neighbors, and indemnifies +herself by slandering her rich ones. She has, however, many good +qualities, is generous, feeling, and humane, and I would on no account +speak so freely of a lady whom I receive at my house were it not that, +if I were, quite silent, after Ph[oe]be's expressed admiration, she +might conclude that I saw nothing to condemn in Miss Sparkes, and might +be copying her faults under the notion that being entertaining made +amends for every thing."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + + +<p>One morning, Sir John coming in from his ride, gayly called out to me, +as I was reading, "Oh Charles, such a piece of news! The Miss Flams are +converted. They have put on tuckers. They were at church twice on +Sunday. Blair's Sermons are sent for, and <i>you</i> are the reformer." This +ludicrous address reminded Mr. Stanley that Mr. Flam had told him we +were all in disgrace for not having called on the ladies, and it was +proposed to repair this neglect.</p> + +<p>"Now take notice," said Sir John, "if you do not see a new character +assumed. Thinking Charles to be a fine man of the town, the modish +racket, which indeed is their natural state, was played off, but it did +not answer. As they probably, by this time, suspect your character to be +somewhat between the Strephon and the Hermit, we shall now, in return, +see something between the wood-nymph and the nun, and I shall not wonder +if the extravagantly modish Miss Bell</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Is now Pastora by a fountain's side."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Though I would not attribute the change to the cause assigned by Sir +John, yet I confess we found, when we made our visit, no small +revolution in Miss Bell Flam. The part of the Arcadian nymph, the +reading lady, the lover of retirement, the sentimental admirer of +domestic life, the censurer of thoughtless dissipation, was each acted +in succession, but so skillfully touched that the shades of each melted +in the other without any of those violent transitions which a less +experienced actress would have exhibited: Sir John slyly, yet with +affected gravity, assisting her to sustain this newly adapted character, +which, however, he was sure would last no longer than the visit.</p> + +<p>When we returned home, we met the Miss Stanleys in the garden and joined +them. "Don't you admire," said Sir John, "the versatility of Miss Bell's +genius? You, Charles, are not the first man on whom an assumed fondness +for rural delights has been practiced. A friend of mine was drawn in to +marry, rather suddenly, a thorough-paced town-bred lady, by her repeated +declarations of her passionate fondness for the country, and the rapture +she expressed when rural scenery was the subject. All she knew of the +country was, that she had now and then been on a party of pleasure at +Richmond, in the fine summer months; a great dinner at the Star and +Garter, gay company, a bright day, lovely scenery, a dance on the green, +a partner to her taste, French horns on the water, altogether +constituted a feeling of pleasure from which she had really persuaded +herself that she was fond of the country. But when all these +concomitants were withdrawn, when she had lost the gay partner, the +dance, the horns, the flattery, and the frolic, and nothing was left but +her books, her own dull mansion, her domestic employments, and the sober +society of her husband, the pastoral vision vanished. She discovered, or +rather <i>he</i> discovered, but too late, that the country had not only no +charms for her, but that it was a scene of constant ennui and vapid +dullness. She languished for the pleasures she had quitted, and he for +the comforts he had lost. Opposite inclinations led to opposite +pursuits; difference of taste however, needed not to have led to a +total disunion, had there been on the part of the lady such a degree of +attachment as might have induced a spirit of accommodation, or such a +fund of principle as might have taught her the necessity of making those +sacrifices which affection, had it existed, would have rendered +pleasant, or duty would have made light, had she been early taught +self-government."</p> + +<p>Lucilla, smiling, said, "she hoped Sir John had a little over-charged +the picture." He defended himself by declaring, "he drew from the life, +and that from his long observations he could present us with a whole +gallery of such portraits." He left me to continue my walk with the two +Miss Stanleys.</p> + +<p>The more I conversed with Lucilla, the more I saw that good breeding in +her was only the outward expression of humility, and not an art employed +for the purpose of enabling her to do without it. We continued to +converse on the subject of Miss Flam's fondness for the gay world. This +introduced a natural expression of my admiration of Miss Stanley's +choice of pleasures and pursuits so different from those of most other +women of her age.</p> + +<p>With the most graceful modesty she said, "Nothing humbles me more than +compliments; for when I compare what I hear with what I feel, I find the +picture of myself drawn by a flattering friend so utterly unlike the +original in my own heart, that I am more sunk by my own consciousness of +the want of resemblance, than elated that another has not discovered it. +It makes me feel like an imposter. If I contradict this favorable +opinion, I am afraid of being accused of affectation; and if I silently +swallow it, I am contributing to the deceit of passing for what I am +not." This ingenious mode of disclaiming flattery only raised her in my +esteem, and the more, as I told her such humble renunciation of praise +could only proceed from that inward principle of genuine piety and +devout feeling which made so amiable a part of her character.</p> + +<p>"How little," said she, "is the human heart known except to him who made +it! While a fellow creature may admire our apparent devotion, he who +appears to be its object, witnesses the wandering of the heart, which +seems to be lifted up to him. He sees it roving to the ends of the +earth, busied about any thing rather than himself, running after trifles +which would not only dishonor Christian, but would disgrace a child. As +to my very virtues, if I dare apply such a word to myself, they +sometimes lose their character by not keeping their proper place. They +become sins by infringing on higher duties. If I mean to perform an act +of devotion, some crude plan of charity forces itself on my mind, and +what with trying to drive out one, and to establish the other, I rise +dissatisfied and unimproved, and resting my sole hope, not on the duty I +have been performing, but on the mercy I have been offending."</p> + +<p>I assured her with all the simplicity of truth, and all the sincerity of +affection, that this confession only served to raise my opinion of the +piety she disclaimed; that such deep consciousness of imperfection, so +quick a discernment of the slightest deviation, and such constant +vigilance to prevent it, were the truest indications of an humble +spirit; and that those who thus carefully guarded themselves against +small errors, were in little danger of being betrayed into great ones.</p> + +<p>She replied, smiling, that "she should not be so angry with vanity, if +it would be contented to keep its proper place among its vices; but her +quarrel with it was, that it would mix itself among our virtues, and +rob us of their reward."</p> + +<p>"Vanity, indeed," replied I, "differs from the other vices in this; +<i>they</i> commonly are only opposite to the one contrary virtue, while this +vice has a kind of ubiquity, is on the watch to intrude everywhere, and +weakens all the virtues which it can not destroy. I believe vanity was +the harpy of the ancient poets, which, they tell us, tainted whatever it +touched."</p> + +<p>"Self-deception is so easy," replied Miss Stanley, "that I am even +afraid of highly extolling any good quality, lest I should sit down +satisfied with having borne any testimony in its favor, and so rest +contented with the praise instead of the practise. Commending a right +thing is a cheap substitute for doing it, with which we are too apt to +satisfy ourselves."</p> + +<p>"There is no mark," I replied, "which more clearly distinguishes that +humility which has the love of God for its principle, from its +counterfeit—a false and superficial politeness—than that while this +last flatters, in order to extort in return more praise than its due, +humility, like the divine principle from which it springs, seeketh not +even its own."</p> + +<p>In answer to some further remark of mine, with an air of infinite +modesty, she said, "I have been betrayed, sir, into saying too much. It +will, I trust, however, have the good effect of preventing you from +thinking better of me than I deserve. In general, I hold it indiscreet +to speak of the state of one's mind. I have been taught this piece of +prudence by my own indiscretion. I once lamented to a lady the fault of +which we have now been speaking, and observed how difficult it was to +keep the heart right. She so little understood the nature of this inward +corruption, that she told in confidence to two or three friends, that +they were all much mistaken in Miss Stanley, for though her character +stood so fair with all the world, she had secretly confessed to her that +she was a great sinner."</p> + +<p>I could not forbear repeating though she had chid me for it before, how +much I had been struck with several instances of her indifference to the +work, and her superiority to its pleasures. "Do you know," continued +she, smiling, "that you are more my enemy than the lady of whom I have +been speaking? She only defamed my principles, but you are corrupting +them. The world, I believe, is not so much a place as a nature. It is +possible to be religious in a court, and worldly in a monastery. I find +that the thoughts may be engaged too anxiously about so petty a concern +as a little family arrangement; that the mind may be drawn off from +better pursuits, and engrossed by things too trivial to name, as much as +by objects more apparently wrong. The country is certainly favorable to +religion, but it would be hard on the millions who are doomed to live in +towns if it were exclusively favorable. Nor must we lay more stress on +the accidental circumstance than it deserves. Nay, I almost doubt if it +is not too pleasant to be quite safe. An enjoyment which assumes a sober +shape may deceive us by making us believe we are practicing a duty when +we are only gratifying a taste."</p> + +<p>"But do you not think," said I, "that there may be merit in the taste +itself? May not a succession of acts, forming a habit, and that habit a +good one, induce so sound a way of thinking that it may become difficult +to distinguish the duty from the taste, and to separate the principle +from the choice? This I really believe to be the case in minds finely +wrought and vigilantly watched."</p> + +<p>I observed that however delightful the country might be a great part of +the year, yet there were a few winter months when I feared it might be +dull, though not in the degree Sir John's Richmond lady found it.</p> + +<p>With a smile of compassion at my want of taste, she said, "she perceived +I was no gardener. To me," added she, "the winter has charms of its own. +If I were not afraid of the light habit of introducing Providence on an +occasion not sufficiently important, I would say that he seems to reward +those who love the country well enough to live in it the whole year, by +making the greater part of the winter the busy season for gardening +operations. If I happen to be in town a few days only, every sun that +shines, every shower that falls, every breeze that blows, seems wasted, +because I do not see their effects upon my plants."</p> + +<p>"But surely," said I, "the winter at least suspends your enjoyment. +There is little pleasure in contemplating vegetation in its torpid +state, in surveying</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The naked shoots, barren as lances,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>as Cowper describes the winter-shrubbery."</p> + +<p>"The pleasure is in the preparation," replied she. "When all appears +dead and torpid to you idle spectators, all is secretly at work; nature +is busy in preparing her treasures under ground, and art has a hand in +the process. When the blossoms of summer are delighting you mere +amateurs, then it is that we professional people," added she, laughing, +"are really idle. The silent operations of the winter now produce +themselves—the canvas of nature is covered—the great Artist has laid +on his colors—then we petty agents lay down our implements, and enjoy +our leisure in contemplating <i>his</i> work."</p> + +<p>I had never known her so communicative; but my pleased attention, +instead of drawing her on, led her to check herself. Ph[oe]be, who had +been busily employed in trimming a flaunting yellow Azalia, now turned +to me and said: "Why it is only the Christmas-month that our labors are +suspended, and then we have so much pleasure that we want no business; +such in-door festivities and diversions that that dull month is with us +the gayest in the year." So saying, she called Lucilla to assist her in +tying up the branch of an orange-tree which the wind had broken.</p> + +<p>I was going to offer my services when Mrs. Stanley joined us, before I +could obtain an answer to my question about these Christmas diversions. +A stranger, who had seen me pursuing Mrs. Stanley in her walks, might +have supposed not the daughter, but the mother, was the object of my +attachment. But with Mrs. Stanley I could always talk of Lucilla, with +Lucilla I durst not often talk of herself.</p> + +<p>The fond mother and I stood looking with delight on the fair gardeners. +When I had admired their alacrity in these innocent pursuits, their +fondness for retirement, and their cheerful delight in its pleasures, +Mrs. Stanley replied: "Yes, Lucilla is half a nun. She likes the rule, +but not the vow. Poor thing! her conscience is so tender that she +oftener requires encouragement than restraint. While she was making this +plantation, she felt herself so absorbed by it that she came to me one +day and said that her gardening work so fascinated her that she found +whole hours passed unperceived, and she began to be uneasy by observing +that all cares and all duties were suspended while she was disposing +beds of carnations, or knots of anemones. Even when she tore herself +away, and returned to her employments, her flowers still pursued her, +and the improvement of her mind gave way to the cultivation of her +geraniums.</p> + +<p>"'I am afraid,' said the poor girl, 'that I must really give it up.' I +would not hear of this. I would not suffer her to deny herself so pure a +pleasure. She then suggested the expedient of limiting her time, and +hanging up her watch in the conservatory to keep her within her +prescribed bounds. She is so observant of this restriction, that when +her allotted time is expired, she forces herself to leave off even in +the midst of the most interesting operation. By this limitation a treble +end is answered. Her time is saved, self-denial is exercised, and the +interest which would languish by protracting the work is kept in fresh +vigor."</p> + +<p>I told Mrs. Stanley that I had observed her watch hanging in a +citron-tree the day I came, but little thought it had a moral meaning. +She said it had never been left there since I had been in the house, for +fear of causing interrogatories. Here Mrs. Stanley left me to my +meditations.</p> + +<p>It is wisely ordered that all mortal enjoyments should have some alloy. +I never tasted a pleasure since I had been at the Grove, I never +witnessed a grace, I never heard related an excellence of Lucilla, +without a sigh that my beloved parents did not share my happiness. "How +would they," said I, "delight in her delicacy, rejoice in her piety, +love her benevolence, her humility, her usefulness! O how do children +feel who wound the peace of <i>living</i> parents by an unworthy choice, when +not a little of my comfort springs from the certainty that the departed +would rejoice in mine! Even from their blessed abode, my grateful heart +seems to hear them say, 'This is the creature we would have chosen for +thee! This is the creature with whom we shall rejoice with thee through +all eternity!'"</p> + +<p>Yet such was my inconsistency, that charmed as I was that so young and +lovely a woman could be so cheaply pleased, and delighted with that +simplicity of taste which made her resemble my favorite heroine of +Milton in her amusements, as well as in her domestic pursuits; yet I +longed to know what these Christmas diversions, so slightly hinted at, +could be, diversions which could reconcile these girls to their absence +not only from their green-house, but from London. I could hardly fear +indeed to find at Stanley Grove what the newspapers pertly call <i>Private +Theatricals</i>. Still I suspected it might be some gay dissipation not +quite suited to their general character, nor congenial to their usual +amusements. My mother's favorite rule of <i>consistency</i> strongly forced +itself on my mind, though I tried to repel the suggestion as unjust and +ungenerous.</p> + +<p>Of what meannesses will not love be guilty: it drove me to have recourse +to my friend Mrs. Comfit to dissipate my doubts. From her I learned that +that cold and comfortless season was mitigated at Stanley Grove by +several feasts for the poor of different classes and ages. "Then, sir," +continued she, "if you could see the blazing fires, and the abundant +provisions! The roasting, and the boiling, and the baking! The house is +all alive! On those days the drawers and shelves of Miss Lucilla's +store-room are completely emptied. 'Tis the most delightful bustle, sir, +to see our young ladies tying on the good women's warm cloaks, fitting +their caps and aprons, and sending home blankets to the infirm who can +not come themselves. The very little ones kneeling down on the ground to +try on the poor girls' shoes—even little Miss Celia, and she is so +tender—to fit them exactly and not hurt them! Last feast-day, not +finding a pair small enough for a poor little girl, she privately +slipped off her own and put on the child. It was some time before it was +discovered that she herself was without shoes. We are all alive, sir. +Parlor, and hall, and kitchen, all is in motion! Books, and business, +and walks, and gardening, all are forgot for these few happy days."</p> + +<p>How I hated myself for my suspicion! And how I loved the charming +creatures who could find in these humble but exhilarating duties an +equivalent for the pleasures of the metropolis! "Surely," said I to +myself, "my mother would call <i>this</i> consistency, when the amusements of +a religious family smack of the same flavor with its business and its +duties." My heart was more than easy; it was dilated, while I +congratulated myself in the thought that there <i>were</i> young ladies to be +found who could spend a winter not only unrepiningly but cheerfully and +delightedly in the country.</p> + +<p>I am aware that were I to repeat my conversations with Lucilla, I should +subject myself to ridicule by recording such cold and spiritless +discourse on my own part. But I had not yet declared my attachment. I +made it a point of duty not to violate my engagement with Mr. Stanley. I +was not addressing declarations, but studying the character of her on +whom the happiness of my life was to depend. I had resolved not to show +my attachment by any overt act. I confined the expression of my +affection to that <i>series of small, quiet attentions</i>, which an accurate +judge of the human heart has pronounced to be the surest avenue to a +delicate mind. I had, in the mean time, the inexpressible felicity to +observe a constant union of feeling, as well as a general consonance of +opinion between us. Every sentiment seemed a reciprocation of sympathy, +and every look, of intelligence. This unstudied correspondence enchanted +me the more as I had always considered that a conformity of tastes was +nearly as necessary to conjugal happiness as a conformity of principles.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + + +<p>One morning I took a ride alone to breakfast at Lady Aston's; Mr. +Stanley having expressed a particular desire that I should cultivate the +acquaintance of her son. "Sir George is not quite twenty," said he, +"and your being a few years older, will make him consider your +friendship as an honor to him; I am sure it will be an advantage."</p> + +<p>In her own little family circle, I had the pleasure of seeing Lady Aston +appear to more advantage than I had yet done. Her understanding is good, +and her affections are strong. She had received a too favorable +impression of my character from Mr. Stanley, and treated me with as much +openness as if I had been his son.</p> + +<p>The gentle girls, animated by the spirit of their brother, seemed to +derive both happiness and importance from his presence: while the +amiable young baronet himself won my affection by his engaging manners, +and my esteem by his good sense and his considerable acquirements in +every thing which becomes a gentleman.</p> + +<p>This visit exemplified a remark I had sometimes made, that shy +characters, who from natural timidity are reserved in general society, +open themselves with peculiar warmth and frankness to a few select +friends, or to an individual of whom they think kindly. A distant manner +is not always, as is suspected, the result of a cold heart, or a dull +head; nor is gayety necessarily connected with feeling. High animal +spirits, though they often evaporate in mere talk, yet by their warmth +and quickness of motion obtain the credit of strong sensibility: a +sensibility, however, of which the heart is not always the fountain. +While in the timid, that silence which is construed into pride, +indifference, or want of capacity, is often the effect of keen feelings. +Friendship is the genial climate in which such hearts disclose +themselves; they flourish in the shade, and kindness alone makes them +expand. A keen discerner will often detect, in such characters, +qualities which are not always connected with</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">the rattling tongue<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of saucy and audacious eloquence.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>When people who have seen little of each other are thrown together, +nothing brings on free communication so quickly or so pleasantly, as +their being both intimate with a third person, for whom all parties +entertain one common sentiment. Mr. Stanley seemed always a point of +union between his neighbors and me.</p> + +<p>After various topics had been discussed, Lady Aston remarked, that she +could now trace the goodness of Providence in having so ordered events, +as to make those things which she had so much dreaded at the time, work +out advantages which could not have been otherwise obtained for her.</p> + +<p>"I had a singular aversion," added she, "to the thoughts of removing to +this place, and quitting Sir George's estate in Warwickshire, where I +had spent the happiest years of my life. When I had the misfortune to +lose him" (here a tear quietly strayed down her cheek), "I resolved +never to remove from the place where he died. I had fully persuaded +myself that it was a duty to do all I could to cherish grief. I obliged +myself as a law, to spend whole hours in walking round the place where +he was buried. These melancholy visits, the intervals of which were +filled with tears, prayers, and reading a few good, but not well chosen +books, made up the whole round of my sad existence. I had nearly +forgotten that I had any duties to perform, any mercies left. Almost all +the effect which the sight of my children produced in me was, by their +resemblance to their father, to put me in mind of what I had lost.</p> + +<p>"I was not sufficiently aware how much more truly I should have honored +his memory by training his living representatives in such a manner as +he, had he been living, would have approved. My dear George," added she, +smiling at her son through her tears, "was glad to get away to school, +and my poor girls, when they lost the company of their brother, lost +all the little cheerfulness which my recluse habits had left them. We +sunk into total inaction, and our lives became as comfortless as they +were unprofitable."</p> + +<p>"My dear madam," said Sir George, in the most affectionate tone and +manner, "I can only forgive myself from the consideration of my being +then too young and thoughtless to know the value of the mother whose +sorrows ought to have endeared my home to me, instead of driving me from +it."</p> + +<p>"They are <i>my</i> faults, my dear George, and not yours, that I am +relating. Few mothers would have acted like me; few sons differently +from you. Your affectionate heart deserved a warmer return than my +broken spirits were capable of making you. But I was telling you, sir," +said she, again addressing herself to me, "that the event of my coming +to this place, not only became the source of my present peace, and of +the comfort of my children, but that its result enables me to look +forward with a cheerful hope to that state where there is neither sin, +sorrow, nor separation. The thoughts of death, which used to render me +useless, now make me only serious. The reflection that 'the night +cometh' which used to extinguish my activity, now kindles it.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, sir," added she, wiping her eyes; "these are not such tears +as I then shed. These are tears of gratitude, I had almost said of joy. +In the family at the Grove, Providence had been providing for me +friends, for whom I doubt not I shall bless him in eternity.</p> + +<p>"I had long been convinced of the importance of religion. I had always +felt the insufficiency of the world to bestow happiness; but I had never +before beheld religion in such a form. I had never been furnished with a +proper substitute for the worldly pleasures which I yet despised. I did +right in giving up diversions, but I did wrong in giving up employment, +and in neglecting duties. I knew something of religion as a principle of +fear, but I had no conception of it as a motive to the love of God, and +of active duty; nor did I consider it as a source of inward peace. Books +had not been of any great service to me, for I had no one to guide me in +the choice, or to assist me in the perusal. I went to my daily task of +devotion with a heavy heart, and returned from it with no other sense of +comfort but that I had not omitted it.</p> + +<p>"My former friends and acquaintance had been decent and regular; but +they had adopted religion as a form, and not as a principle. It was +compliance and not conviction. It was conformity to custom, and not the +persuasion of the heart. Judge then how I must have been affected, in a +state when sorrow and disappointment had made my mind peculiarly +impressible, with the conversation and example of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley! +I saw in them that religion was not a formal profession, but a powerful +principle. It ran through their whole life and character. All the +Christian graces were brought into action in a way, with a uniformity, +and a beauty, which nothing but Christian motives could have effected.</p> + +<p>"The change which took place in my own mind, however, was progressive. +The strict consonance which I observed between their sentiments and +actions, and those of Dr. Barlow and Mr. Jackson, strengthened and +confirmed mine. This similarity in all points, was a fresh confirmation +that they were all right. The light of religion gradually grew stronger, +and the way more smooth. It was literally a 'lamp to my feet,' for I +walked more safely as I saw more clearly. My difficulties insensibly +lessened, and my doubts disappeared. I still indeed continue hourly to +feel much cause to be humbled, but none to be unhappy."</p> + +<p>When Lady Aston had done speaking, Sir George said, "I owe a thousand +obligations to my mother, but not one so great as her introduction of me +to Mr. Stanley. He has given a bent and bias to my sentiments, habit, +and pursuits, to which I trust every day will add fresh strength. I look +up to him as my model: happy if I may, in any degree, be able to form +myself by it! Till I had the happiness of knowing you, sir, I preferred +the company of Dr. Barlow and Mr. Stanley, to that of any <i>young</i> man +with whom I am acquainted."</p> + +<p>After some further conversation, in which Sir George, with great credit +to himself, bore a considerable part, Miss Aston took courage to ask me +if I would accompany them all into the garden, as she wished me to carry +home intelligence to Miss Stanley of the flourishing state of some +American plants which had been raised under her direction. To speak the +truth, I had for some time been trying to bring Lucilla on the tapis, +but had not found a plausible pretense. I now inquired if Miss Stanley +directed their gardening pursuits. "She directs <i>all</i> our pursuits," +said the two bashful blushing girls, who now, for the first time in +their lives, spoke both at once; the subject kindling an energy in their +affectionate hearts, which even their timidity could not rein in.</p> + +<p>"I thought, Clara," said Sir George, "that Miss <i>Ph[oe]be</i> Stanley too, +had assisted in laying out the flower garden. Surely she is not behind +her sister in any thing that is kind, or any thing that is elegant." His +complexion heightened as he spoke, and he expressed himself with an +emphasis, which I had not before observed in his manner of speaking. I +stole a glance at Lady Aston, whose meek eye glistened with pleasure, at +the earnestness with which her son spoke of the lovely Ph[oe]be. My +rapid imagination instantly shot forward to an event which some years +hence will probably unite two families so worthy of each other. Lady +Aston, who already honors me with her confidence, afterward confirmed my +suspicions on a subject about which nothing but the extreme youth of +both parties made her backward to express the secret hope she fondly +entertained.</p> + +<p>In our walk round the gardens, the Miss Astons continued to vie with +each other who should be warmest in the praise of their young friends at +the Grove. To Miss Stanley, they gratefully declared, they owed any +little taste, knowledge, or love of goodness which they themselves might +possess.</p> + +<p>It was delightful to observe these quiet girls warmed and excited by a +subject so interesting. I was charmed to see them so far from feeling +any shadow of envy at the avowed superiority of their young friends, and +so unanimously eloquent in the praise of merit so eclipsing.</p> + +<p>After having admired the plants of which I promised to make a favorable +report, I was charged with a large and beautiful bouquet for the young +ladies at the Grove. They then drew me to the prettiest spot in the +grounds. While I was admiring it, Miss Clara, with a blush, and some +hesitation, begged leave to ask my advice about a little rustic building +which she and her sisters were just going to raise in honor of the Miss +Stanleys. It was to be dedicated to them, and called the Temple of +Friendship. "My brother," said she, "is kindly assisting us. The +materials are all prepared, and we have now only to fix them up."</p> + +<p>She then put into my hands a little plan. I highly approved it; +venturing, however, to suggest some trifling alteration, which I told +them I did, in order to implicate myself a little in the pleasant +project. How proud was I when Clara added, "that Miss Stanley had +expressed a high opinion of my general taste!" They all begged me to +look in on them in my rides, and assist them with my further counsel; +adding that, above all things, I must keep it a secret at the Grove.</p> + +<p>Lady Aston said, "that she expected our whole party to dine at the Hall +some day next week." Her daughters entreated that it might be postponed +till the latter end, by which time they doubted not their little edifice +would be completed. Sir George then told me, that his sisters had +requested him to furnish an inscription, or to endeavor to procure one +from me. He added his wishes to theirs that I would comply. They all +joined so earnestly in the entreaty that I could not withstand them, +"albeit unused to the <i>rhyming</i> mood."</p> + +<p>After some deliberation, Friday in the next week was fixed upon for the +party at the Grove to dine at Aston-Hall, and I was to carry the +invitation. I took a respectful leave of the excellent lady of the +mansion, and an affectionate one of the young people, with whom the +familiar intercourse of this quiet morning had contributed to advance my +friendly acquaintance more than could have been done by many ceremonious +meetings.</p> + +<p>When I returned to the Grove, which was but just in time to dress for +dinner, I spoke with sincere satisfaction of the manner in which I had +passed the morning. It was beautiful to observe the honest delight, the +ingenuous kindness, with which Lucilla heard me commend the Miss Astons. +No little disparaging hint on the one hand, gently to let down her +friends, nor, on the other, no such exaggerated praise as I have +sometimes seen employed as a screen for envy, or as a trap to make the +hearer lower what the speaker had too highly raised.</p> + +<p>I dropped in at Aston-Hall two or three times in the course of the week, +as well to notice the progress of the work, as to carry my inscription, +in which, as Lucilla was both the subject and the muse, I succeeded +rather better than I expected.</p> + +<p>On the Friday, according to appointment, our whole party went to dine +at the Hall. In our way, Mr. Stanley expressed the pleasure it gave him, +that Lady Aston was now so convinced of the duty of making home +agreeable to her son, as delightfully to receive such of her friends as +were warmly disposed to become his.</p> + +<p>Sir George, who is extremely well bred, did the honors admirably for so +young a man, to the great relief of his excellent mother, whom long +retirement had rendered habitually timid in a party, of which some were +almost strangers.</p> + +<p>The Miss Astons had some difficulty to restrain their young guests from +running directly to look at the progress of the American plants; but as +they grew near the mysterious spot, they were not allowed to approach it +before the allotted time.</p> + +<p>After dinner, when the whole party were walking in the garden, Lady +Aston was desired by her daughters to conduct her company to a winding +grass-walk, near the little building, but from whence it was not +visible. While they were all waiting at the appointed place, the two +elder Miss Astons gravely took a hand of Lucilla, Sir George and I each +presented a hand to Ph[oe]be, and in profound silence, and great +ceremony, we led them up the turf steps into this simple, but really +pretty temple. The initials of Lucilla and Ph[oe]be were carved in +cypher over a little rustic window, under which was written,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">Sacred To Friendship.</span>"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In two niches prepared for the purpose, we severally seated the two +astonished nymphs, who seemed absolutely enchanted. Above was the +inscription in large Roman letters.</p> + +<p>The Astons looked so much alive, that they might have been mistaken for +Stanleys, who, in their turn, were so affected with this tender mark of +friendship, that they looked as tearful as if they had been Astons. +After reading the inscription, "My dear Clara," said Lucilla to Miss +Aston, "where <i>could</i> you get these beautiful verses? Though the praise +they convey is too flattering to be just, it is too delicate not to +please. The lines are at once tender and elegant." "We got them," said +Miss Aston, with a sweet vivacity, "where we get every thing that is +good, from Stanley-Grove," bowing modestly to me.</p> + +<p>How was I elated; and how did Lucilla blush! but though she now tried to +qualify her flattery, she could not recall it. And I would not allow +myself to be robbed of the delight it had given me. All the company +seemed to enjoy her confusion and my pleasure.</p> + +<p>I forgot to mention, that as we crossed the park, we had seen enter the +house, through a back avenue, a procession of little girls neatly +dressed in a uniform. In a whisper, I asked Lady Aston what it meant. +"You are to know," replied her ladyship, "that my daughters adopt all +Miss Stanley's plans, and among the rest, that of associating with all +their own indulgences some little act of charity, that while they are +receiving pleasure, they may also be conferring it. The opening of the +temple of friendship is likely to afford too much gratification to be +passed over without some such association. So my girls give to-day a +little feast, with prizes of merit to their village-school, and a few +other deserving young persons."</p> + +<p>When we had taken our seats in the temple, Ph[oe]be suddenly cried out, +clasping her hands in an ecstacy, "Only look, Lucilla! There is no end +to the enchantment. It is all fairy land." On casting our eyes as she +directed, we were agreeably surprised with observing a large kind of +temporary shed or booth at some distance from us. It was picturesquely +fixed near an old spreading oak, and was ingeniously composed of +branches of trees, fresh and green. Under the oak stood ranged the +village maids. We walked to the spot. The inside of the booth was hung +round with caps, aprons, bonnets, handkerchiefs, and other coarse, but +neat articles of female dress. On a rustic table was laid a number of +Bibles, and specimens of several kinds of coarse works, and little +manufactures. The various performances were examined by the company; +some presents were given to all. But additional prizes were awarded by +the young patronesses, to the best specimens of different work; to the +best knitters, the best manufacturers of split straw, and the best +performers in plain work, I think they called it.</p> + +<p>Three grown up young women, neatly dressed, and of modest manners, stood +behind. It appeared that one of them had taken such good care of her +young sisters and brothers, since their mother's death, and had so +prudently managed her father's house, that it had saved him from an +imprudent choice. Another had postponed, for many months, a marriage in +which her heart was engaged, because she had a paralytic grandmother +whom she attended day and night, and whom nothing, not even love itself, +could tempt her to desert. Death having now released the aged sufferer, +the wedding was to take place next Sunday. The third had, for above a +year, worked two hours every day, over and above her set time, and +applied the gains to clothe the orphan child of a deceased friend. She +was also to accompany her lover to the altar on Sunday, but had made it +a condition of her marrying him, that she should be allowed to continue +her supernumerary hours' work, for the benefit of the poor orphan. All +three had been exemplary in their attendance at church, as well as in +their general conduct. The fair patronesses presented each with a +handsome Bible, and with a complete, plain, but very neat suit of +apparel.</p> + +<p>While these gifts were distributing, I whispered Sir John that one such +ticket as we were each desired to take for Squallini's benefit, would +furnish the cottages of these poor girls. "And it <i>shall</i>," replied he, +with emphasis. "How little a way will that sum go in superfluities, +which will make two honest couple happy! How costly is vanity! how cheap +is charity!"</p> + +<p>"Can these happy, useful young creatures be my little inactive, insipid +Astons, Charles?" whispered Mr. Stanley, as we walked away to leave the +girls to sit down to their plentiful supper, which was spread on a long +table under the oak, without the green booth. This group of figures made +an interesting addition to the scenery, when we got back to the temple, +and often attracted our attention while we were engaged in conversation.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + + +<p>The company were not soon weary of admiring the rustic building, which +seemed raised as if by the stroke of a magician's wand, so rapidly had +it sprung up. They were delighted to find that their pleasure was to be +prolonged by drinking tea in the temple.</p> + +<p>While we were at tea Mr. Stanley, addressing himself to me, said, "I +have always forgotten to ask you, Charles, if your high expectations of +pleasure from the society in London had quite answered?"</p> + +<p>"I was entertained, and I was disappointed," replied I. "I always found +the pleasure of the moment not heightened, but effaced by the succeeding +moment. The ever restless, rolling tide of new intelligence at once +gratified and excited the passion for novelty, which I found to be <i>le +grand poisson qui mange les petits</i>. This successive abundance of fresh +supply gives an ephemeral importance to every thing, and a lasting +importance to nothing. We skimmed every topic, but dived into none. Much +desultory talk, but little discussion. The combatants skirmished like +men whose arms are kept bright by constant use; who were accustomed to a +flying fight, but who avoided the fatigue of coming to close quarters. +What was old, however momentous, was rejected as dull, what was new, +however insignificant, was thought interesting. Events of the past week +were placed with those beyond the flood; and the very existence of +occurrences which continued to be matter of deep interest with us in the +country, seemed there totally forgotten.</p> + +<p>"I found, too, that the inhabitants of the metropolis had a standard of +merit of their own. That knowledge of the town was concluded to be +knowledge of the world; that local habits, reigning phrases, temporary +fashions, and an acquaintance with the surface of manners, was supposed +to be knowledge of mankind. Of course, he who was ignorant of the topics +of the hour, and the anecdotes of a few modish leaders, was ignorant of +human nature."</p> + +<p>Sir John observed, that I was rather too young to be a <i>praiser of past +times</i>, yet he allowed that the standard of conversation was not so high +as it had been in the time of my father, by whose reports my youthful +ardor had been inflamed. He did not indeed suppose that men were less +intellectual now, but they certainly were less colloquially +intellectual. "For this," added he, "various reasons may be assigned. In +London man is every day becoming less of a social, and more of a +gregarious animal. Crowds are as little favorable to conversation as to +reflection. He finds, therefore, that he may figure in the mass with +less expense of mind; and as to women, they are put to no expense at +all. They find that by mixing with myriads, they may carry on the daily +intercourse of life, without being obliged to bring a single idea to +enrich the common stock."</p> + +<p>"I do not wonder," said I, "that the dull and the uninformed love to +shelter their insignificance in a crowd. In mingling with the multitude, +their deficiencies elude detection. The vapid and the ignorant are like +a bad play; they owe the little figure they make to the dress, the +scenery, the music, and the company. The noise and the glare take off +all attention from the defects of the work. The spectator is amused, and +he does not inquire whether it is with the piece or with the +accompaniments. The end is attained, and he is little solicitous about +the means. But an intellectual woman, like a well written drama, will +please at home without all these aids and adjuncts; nay, the beauties of +the superior piece, and of the superior woman, will rise on a more +intimate survey. But you were going, Sir John, to assign other causes +for the decline and fall of conversation."</p> + +<p>"One very affecting reason," replied he; "is that the alarming state of +public affairs fills all men's minds with one momentous object. As every +Englishman is a patriot, every patriot is a politician. It is natural +that that subject should fill every mouth which occupies every heart, +and that little room should be left for extraneous matter."</p> + +<p>"I should accept this," said I, "as a satisfactory vindication, had I +heard that the same absorbing cause had thinned the public places, or +diminished the attraction of the private resorts of dissipation."</p> + +<p>"There is a third reason," said Sir John. "Polite literature has in a +good degree given way to experimental philosophy. The admirers of +science assert, that the last was the age of words, and that this is the +age of things. A more substantial kind of knowledge has partly +superseded these elegant studies, which have caught such hold on your +affections."</p> + +<p>"I heartily wish," replied I, "that the new pursuits may be found to +make men wiser; they certainly have not made them more agreeable."</p> + +<p>"It is affirmed," said Mr. Stanley, "that the prevailing philosophical +studies have a religious use, and that they naturally tend to elevate +the heart to the great Author of the universe."</p> + +<p>"I have but one objection to that assertion," replied Sir John, "namely, +that it is not true. This would seem indeed to be their direct tendency, +yet experiment, which you know is the soul of philosophy, has proved the +contrary."</p> + +<p>He then adduced some instances in our own country, which I forbear to +name, that clearly evinced that this was not their necessary +consequence; adding, however, a few great names on the more honorable +side. He next adverted to the Baillies, the Condorcets, the D'Alemberts, +and the Lalandes, as melancholy proofs of the inefficacy of mere science +to make Christians.</p> + +<p>"Far be it from me," said Sir John, "to undervalue philosophical +pursuits. The modern discoveries are extremely important, especially in +their application to the purposes of common life; but where these are +pursued exclusively, I can not help preferring the study of the great +classic authors, those exquisite masters of life and manners, with whose +spirit conversation, twenty or thirty years ago, was so richly +impregnated."</p> + +<p>"I confess," said I, "there may be more matter; but there is certainly +less mind in the reigning pursuits. The reputation of skill, it is true, +may be obtained at a much less expense of time and intellect. The +comparative cheapness of the acquisition holds out the powerful +temptation of more credit with less labor. A sufficient knowledge of +botany or chemistry to make a figure, is easily obtained, while a +thorough acquaintance with the historians, poets, and orators of +antiquity requires much time, and close application."</p> + +<p>"But," exclaimed Sir John, "can the fashionable studies pretend to give +the same expansion to the mind, the same elevation to the sentiments, +the same energy to the feelings, the same stretch and compass to the +understanding, the same correctness to the taste, the same grace and +spirit to the whole moral and intellectual man."</p> + +<p>"For my own part," replied I, "so far from saying with Hamlet, 'Man +delights not me, nor woman neither,' I confess I have little delight in +any thing else. As a man, man is the creature with whom I have to do, +and the varieties in his character interest me more than all the +possible varieties of mosses, shells and fossils. To view this compound +creature in the complexity of his actions, as portrayed by the hand of +those immortal masters, Tacitus and Plutarch; to view him in the +struggle of his passions, as displayed by Euripides and Shakspeare; to +contemplate him in the blaze of his eloquence, by the two rival orators +of Greece and Rome, is more congenial to my feelings than the ablest +disquisition of which matter was ever the subject." Sir John, who is a +passionate, and rather too exclusive, admirer of classic lore, warmly +declared himself of my opinion.</p> + +<p>"I went to town," replied I, "with a mind eager for intellectual +pleasure. My memory was not quite unfurnished with passages which I +thought likely to be adverted to, and which might serve to embellish +conversation, without incurring the charge of pedantry. But though most +of the men I conversed with were my equals in education, and my +superiors in talent, there seemed little disposition to promote such +topics as might bring our understandings into play. Whether it is that +business, active life, and public debate, absorb the mind, and make men +consider society rather as a scene to rest than to exercise it, I know +not; certain it is that they brought less into the treasury of +conversation than I expected; not because they were poor, but proud, or +idle, and reserved their talents and acquisitions for higher occasions. +The most opulent possessors, I often found the most penurious +contributors."</p> + +<p>"<i>Rien de trop</i>," said Mr. Stanley, "was the favorite maxim of an +author<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> whom I am not apt to quote for rules of moral conduct. Yet its +adoption would be a salutary check against excess in all our pursuits. +If polite learning is undervalued by the mere man of science, it is +perhaps over-rated by the mere man of letters. If it dignifies +retirement, and exalts society, it is not the great business of life; it +is not the prime fountain of moral excellence."</p> + +<p>"Well, so much for <i>man</i>," said Sir John, "but, Charles, you have not +told us what you had to say of <i>woman</i>, in your observations on +society."</p> + +<p>"As to woman," replied I, "I declare that I found more propensity to +promote subjects of taste and elegant speculation among some of the +superior class of females, than in many of my own sex. The more prudent, +however, are restrained through fear of the illiberal sarcasms of men +who, not contented to suppress their own faculties, ridicule all +intellectual exertion in woman, though evidently arising from a modest +desire of improvement, and not the vanity of hopeless rivalry."</p> + +<p>"Charles is always the Paladin of the reading ladies," said Sir John. "I +do not deny it," replied I, "if they bear their faculties meekly. But I +confess that what is sneeringly called a learned lady, is to me far +preferable to a scientific one, such as I encountered one evening, who +talked of the fulcrum, and the lever, and the statera, which she took +care to tell us was the Roman steel-yard, with all the sang-froid of +philosophical conceit."</p> + +<p>"Scientific men," said Sir John, "are in general admirable for their +simplicity, but in a technical woman, I have seldom found a grain of +taste or elegance."</p> + +<p>"I own," replied I, "I should greatly prefer a fair companion who could +modestly discriminate between the beauties of Virgil and Milton, to one +who was always dabbling in chemistry, and who came to dinner with dirty +hands from the laboratory. And yet I admire chemistry too; I am now only +speaking of that knowledge which is desirable in a female companion; for +knowledge I must have. But arts, which are of immense value in +manufactures, won't make my wife's conversation entertaining to me. +Discoveries which may greatly improve dyeing and bleaching, will add +little to the delights of one's summer evening's walk, or winter +fire-side."</p> + +<p>The ladies, Lucilla especially, smiled at my warmth. I felt that there +was approbation in her smile, and though I thought I had said too much +already, it encouraged me to go on. "I repeat, that next to religion, +whatever relates to human manners, is most attracting to human +creatures. To turn from conversation to composition. What is it that +excites so feeble an interest, in perusing that finely written poem of +the Abbe de Lille, '<i>Les Jardins?</i>' It is because his garden has no +cultivators, no inhabitants, no men and women. What confers that +powerful charm on the descriptive parts of Paradise Lost? A fascination, +I will venture to affirm, paramount to all the lovely and magnificent +scenery which adorns it. Eden itself with all its exquisite landscape, +would excite a very inferior pleasure did it exhibit only inanimate +beauties. 'Tis the proprietors, 'tis the inhabitants, 'tis the <i>live +stock</i>, of Eden, which seize upon the affections, and twine about the +heart. The gardens, even of Paradise, would be dull without the +gardeners. 'Tis mental excellence, 'tis moral beauty which completes the +charm. Where this is wanting, landscape poetry, though it be read with +pleasure, yet the interest it raises is cold. It is admired, but seldom +quoted. It leaves no definite idea on the mind. If general, it is +indistinct; if minute, tedious."</p> + +<p>"It must be confessed," said Sir John, "that some poets are apt to +forget that the finest representation of nature is only the scene, not +the object; the canvas, not the portrait. We had indeed some time ago, +so much of this gorgeous scene-painting, so much splendid poetical +botany, so many amorous flowers, and so many vegetable courtships; so +many wedded plants; roots transformed to nymphs, and dwelling in emerald +palaces; that some how or other, truth and probability and nature, and +man slipped out of the picture, though it must be allowed that genius +held the pencil."</p> + +<p>"In Mason's 'English Garden,'" replied I, "Alcander's precepts would +have been cold, had there been no personification. The introduction of +character dramatizes what else would have been frigidly didactic. +Thomson enriches his landscape with here and there a figure, drawn with +more correctness than warmth, with more nature than spirit, and exalts +it everywhere by moral allusion and religious reference. The scenery of +Cowper is perpetually animated with sketches of character, enlivened +with portraits from real life, and the exhibition of human manners and +passions. His most exquisite descriptions owe their vividness to moral +illustration. Loyalty, liberty, patriotism, charity, piety, benevolence, +every generous feeling, every glowing sentiment, every ennobling +passion, grows out of his descriptive powers. His matter always bursts +into mind. His shrubbery, his forest, his flower-garden, all produce</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fruits worthy of Paradise,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and lead to immortality."</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley said, adverting again to the subject of conversation, it was +an amusement to him to observe what impression the first introduction to +general society made on a mind conversant with books, but to whom a the +world was in a manner new.</p> + +<p>"I believe," said Sir John, "that an overflowing commerce, and the +excessive opulence it has introduced, though favorable to all the +splendors of art and mechanic ingenuity, yet have lowered the standard +of taste, and debilitated the mental energies. They are advantageous to +luxury, but fatal to intellect. It has added to the brilliancy of the +drawing-room itself, but deducted from that of the inhabitant. It has +given perfection to our mirrors, our candelabras, our gilding, our +inlaying, and our sculpture, but it has communicated a torpor to the +imagination, and enervated our intellectual vigor."</p> + +<p>"In one way," said Mr. Stanley, smiling, "luxury has been favorable to +literature. From the unparalleled splendor of our printing, paper, +engraving, illuminating and binding, luxury has caused more books to be +purchased, while from the growth of time-absorbing dissipation, it +causes fewer to be read. I believe we were much more familiar with our +native poets in their former plain garb than since they have been +attired in the gorgeous dress which now decorates our shelves."</p> + +<p>"Poetry," replied Mr. Stanley, "has of late too much degenerated into +personal satire, persiflage, and caricature among one class of writers, +while among another it has exhibited the vagrancies of genius without +the inspiration, the exuberance of fancy without the curb of judgment, +and the eccentricities of invention without the restrictions of taste. +The image has been strained, while the verse has been slackened. We have +had pleonasm without fullness, and facility without force. Redundancy +has been mistaken for plenitude, flimsiness for ease, and distortion +for energy. An over desire of being natural has made the poet feeble, +and the rage for being simple has sometimes made him silly. The +sensibility is sickly, and the elevation vertiginous."</p> + +<p>"To Cowper," said Sir John, "master of melody as he is, the mischief is +partly attributable. Such an original must naturally have a herd of +imitators. If they can not attain to his excellences, his faults are +always attainable. The resemblance between the master and the scholar is +found chiefly in his defects. The determined imitator of an easy writer +becomes insipid; of a sublime one, absurd. Cowper's ease appeared his +most imitable charm, but ease aggraved is insipidity. His occasional +negligences, his disciples adopted uniformly. In Cowper, there might +sometimes be carelessness in the verse, but the verse itself was +sustained by the vigor of the sentiment. The imitator forgot that his +strength lay in the thought; that his buoyant spirit always supported +itself; that the figure, though amplified, was never distorted; the +image, though bold, was never incongruous; and the illustration, though +new, was never false.</p> + +<p>"The evil, however," continued Sir John, "seems to be correcting itself. +The real genius, which exists in several of this whimsical school, I +trust, will at length lead them to prune their excrescences, and reform +their youthful eccentricities. Their good sense will teach that the +surest road to fame is to condescend to tread in the luminous track of +their great precursors in the art. They will see that deviation is not +always improvement; that whoever wants to be better than nature will +infallibly be worse; that truth in taste is as obvious as in morals, and +as certain as in mathematics. In other quarters, both the classic and +the Gothic muse are emulously soaring, and I hail the restoration of +genuine poetry and pure taste."</p> + +<p>"I must not," said I, "loquacious as I have already been, dismiss the +subject of conversation without remarking that I found there was one +topic which seemed as uniformly avoided by common consent as if it had +been banished by the interdict of absolute authority, and that some +forfeiture, or at least dishonor and disgrace, were to follow it on +conviction—I mean religion."</p> + +<p>"Surely, Charles," said Sir John, "you would not convert general +conversation into a divinity school, and friendly societies into +debating clubs."</p> + +<p>"Far from it," replied I, "nor do I desire that ladies and gentlemen +over their tea and coffee should rehearse their articles of faith, or +fill the intervals of carving and eating with introducing dogmas, or +discussing controversies. I do not wish to erect the social table, which +was meant for innocent relaxation, into an arena for theological +combatants. I only wish, as people live so much together, that if, when +out of the multitude of topics which arise in conversation, an unlucky +wight happens to start a serious thought, I could see a cordial +recognition of its importance; I wish I could see a disposition to +pursue it, instead of a chilling silence which obliges him to draw in as +if he had dropped something dangerous to the state, or inimical to the +general cheerfulness, or derogatory to his own understanding. I only +desire that as, without any effort on the part of the speaker, but +merely from the overflowing fullness of a mind habitually occupied with +one leading concern, we easily perceive that one of the company is a +lawyer, another a soldier, a third a physician, I only wish that we +could oftener discover from the same plenitude, so hard to conceal where +it exists, that we were in a company of Christians."</p> + +<p>"We must not expect in our day," said Mr. Stanley, "to see revive that +animating picture of the prevalence of religious intercourse given by +the prophet: 'Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to +another.' And yet one can not but regret that, in select society, men +well informed as we know, well principled as we hope, having one common +portion of being to fill, having one common faith, one common Father, +one common journey to perform, one common termination to that journey, +and one common object in view beyond it, should, when together, be so +unwilling to advert occasionally to those great points which doubtless +often occupy them in secret; that they should on the contrary adopt a +sort of inverted hypocrisy, and wish to appear worse than they really +are; that they should be so backward to give or to gain information, to +lend or to borrow lights, in a matter in which they are all equally +interested: which can not be the case in any other possible subject."</p> + +<p>"In all human concerns," said I, "we find that those dispositions, +tastes, and affections which are brought into exercise, flourish, while +others are smothered by concealment."</p> + +<p>"It is certain," replied Mr. Stanley, "that knowledge which is never +brought forward is apt to decline. Some feelings require to be excited +in order to know if they exist. In short, topics of every kind which are +kept totally out of sight make a fainter impression on the mind than +such as are occasionally introduced. Communication is a great +strengthener of any principle. Feelings, as well as ideas, are often +elicited by collision. Thoughts that are never to be produced, in time +seldom present themselves, while mutual interchange almost creates as +well as cultivates them. And as to the social affections, I am persuaded +that men would love each other more cordially; good-will and kindness +would be inconceivably promoted, were they in the habit of maintaining +that sort of intercourse which would keep up a mutual regard for their +eternal interests, and lead them more to consider each other as +candidates for the same immortality through the same common hope."</p> + +<p>Just as he had ceased to speak, we heard a warbling of female voices, +which came softened to us by distance and the undulation of the air. The +little band under the oak had finished their cheerful repast, and +arranged themselves in the same regular procession in which they had +arrived. They stood still at a respectful distance from the temple, and +in their artless manner sung Addison's beautiful version of the +twenty-third psalm, which the Miss Astons had taught them, because it +was a favorite with their mother.</p> + +<p>Here the setting sun reminded us to retreat to the house. Before we +quitted the temple, however, Sir George Aston, ventured modestly to +intimate a wish, that if it pleased the Almighty to spare our lives, the +same party should engage always to celebrate this anniversary in the +Temple of Friendship, which should be finished on a larger scale, and +rendered less unworthy to receive such guests. The ladies smiled +assentingly. Ph[oe]be applauded rapturously. Sir John Belfield and I +warmly approved the proposal. Mr. Stanley said it could not but meet +with his cordial concurrence, as it would involve the assurance of an +annual visit from his valued friends.</p> + +<p>As we walked into the house, Lady Aston, who held by my arm, in answer +to the satisfaction I expressed at the day I had passed, said, "we owe +what little we are and do, under Providence, to Mr. Stanley. You will +admire his discriminating mind, when I tell you that he recommends these +little exhibitions for my daughters far more than to his own. He says +that they, being naturally cheerful and habitually active, require not +the incentive of company to encourage them. But that for my poor timid +inactive girls, the support and animating presence of a few chosen +friends just give them that degree of life and spirit which serves to +warm their hearts, and keep their minds in motion."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + + +<p>Miss Sparkes came to spend the next day according to her appointment. +Mr. Flam, who called accidentally, staid to dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Carlton +had been previously invited. After dinner the conversation chanced to +turn upon domestic economy, a quality which Miss Sparkes professed to +hold in the most sovereign contempt.</p> + +<p>After some remark of Mrs. Stanley, in favor of the household virtues, +Mr. Carlton said, "Mr. Addison in the Spectator, and Dr. Johnson in the +Rambler, have each given us a lively picture of a vulgar, +ungentlewoman-like, illiterate housewife. The notable woman of the one +suffocated her guests at night with drying herbs in their chamber, and +tormented them all day with plans of economy, and lectures on +management. The economist of the other ruined her husband by her +parsimonious extravagance, if I may be allowed to couple contradictions; +by her tent-stich hangings for which she had no walls, and her +embroidery for which she had no use. The poor man pathetically laments +her detestable catalogues of made wines, which hurt his fortune by their +profusion, and his health by not being allowed to drink them till they +were sour. Both ladies are painted as domestic tyrants, whose husbands +had no peace, and whose children had no education."</p> + +<p>"Those coarse housewives," said Sir John, "were exhibited as <i>warnings</i>. +It was reserved for the pen of Richardson to exhibit <i>examples</i>. This +author, with deeper and juster views of human nature, a truer taste for +the proprieties of female character, and a more exact intuition into +real life than any other writer of fabulous narrative, has given in his +heroines exemplifications of elegantly cultivated minds, combined with +the sober virtues of domestic economy. In no other writer of fictitious +adventures has the triumph of religion and reason over the passions, and +the now almost exploded doctrines of filial obedience, and the household +virtues, their natural concomitants, been so successfully blended. +Whether the works of this most original, but by no means faultless +writer, were cause or effect, I know not; whether these well-imagined +examples induced the ladies of that day 'to study household good;' or +whether the then existing ladies, by their acknowledged attention to +feminine concerns, furnished Richardson with living models, I can not +determine. Certain it is, that the novel-writers of the subsequent +period have, in general, been as little disposed to represent these +qualities as forming an indispensable part of the female character, as +the contemporary young ladies themselves have been to supply them with +patterns. I a little fear that the predominance of this sort of reading +has contributed its full share to bring such qualities into contempt."</p> + +<p>Miss Sparkes characteristically observed, that "the meanest +understanding and most vulgar education were competent to form such a +wife as the generality of men preferred. That a man of talents, dreading +a rival, always took care to secure himself by marrying a fool."</p> + +<p>"Always excepting the present company, madam, I presume," said Mr. +Stanley, laughing. "But pardon me, if I differ from you. That many men +are sensual in their appetites, and low in their relish of intellectual +pleasures, I confess. That many others, who are neither sensual, nor of +mean attainments, prefer women whose ignorance will favor their indolent +habits, and whom it requires no exertion of mind to entertain, I allow +also. But permit me to say, that men of the most cultivated minds, and +who admire talents in a woman, are still of opinion that <i>domestic</i> +talents can never be dispensed with: and I totally dissent from you in +thinking that these qualities infer the absence of higher attainments, +and necessarily imply a sordid or a vulgar mind.</p> + +<p>"Any ordinary art, after it is once discovered, may be practiced by a +very common understanding. In this, as in every thing else, the kind +arrangements of Providence are visible, because, as the common arts +employ the mass of mankind, they could not be universally carried on, if +they were not of easy and cheap attainment. Now, cookery is one of these +arts, and I agree with you, madam, in thinking that a mean understanding +and a vulgar education suffice to make a good cook. But a cook or +housekeeper, and a lady qualified to wield a considerable establishment, +are two very different characters. To prepare a dinner, and to conduct a +great family, require talents of a very different size: and one reason +why I would never choose to marry a woman ignorant of domestic affairs +is, that she who wants, or she who despises this knowledge, must possess +that previous bad judgment which, as it prevented her from seeing this +part of her duty, would be likely to operate on other occasions."</p> + +<p>"I entirely agree with Mr. Stanley," said Mr. Carlton. "In general I +look upon the contempt or the fulfillment of these duties as pretty +certain indications of the turn of mind from which the one or the other +proceeds. I allow, however, that <i>with</i> this knowledge a lady may +unhappily have overlooked more important acquisitions; but <i>without</i> it +I must ever consider the female character as defective in the texture, +however it may be embroidered and spangled on the surface."</p> + +<p>Sir John Belfield declared, that though he had not that natural +antipathy to a wit, which some men have; yet unless the wildness of a +wit was tamed like the wildness of other animals, by domestic habits, he +himself would not choose to venture on one. He added, that he should +pay a bad compliment to Lady Belfield, who had so much higher claims to +his esteem, if he were to allege that these habits were the determining +cause of his choice, yet had he seen no such tendencies in her +character, he should have suspected her power of making him as happy as +she had done.</p> + +<p>"I confess with shame," said Mr. Carlton, "that one of the first things +that touched me with any sense of my wife's merit, was the admirable +good sense she discovered in the direction of my family. Even at the +time that I had most reason to blush at my own conduct, she never gave +me cause to blush for hers. The praises constantly bestowed on her +elegant, yet prudent, arrangement, by my friends, flattered my vanity, +and raised her in my opinion, though they did not lead me to do her full +justice."</p> + +<p>The two ladies who were thus agreeably flattered, looked modestly +grateful. Mr. Stanley said, "I was going to endeavor at removing Miss +Sparke's prejudices, by observing how much this domestic turn brings the +understanding into action. The operation of good sense is requisite in +making the necessary calculations for a great family, in a hundred ways. +Good sense is required to teach that a perpetually recurring small +expense is more to be avoided than an incidental great one, while it +shows that petty savings can not retrieve an injured estate. The story +told by Johnson, of a lady, who, while ruining her fortune by excessive +splendor and expense, yet refused to let a two shilling mango be cut at +her table, exemplifies exactly my idea. Shabby curtailments, without +repairing the breach which prodigality has made, discredit the husband, +and bring the reproach of meanness on the wife. Retrenchments, to be +efficient, must be applied to great objects. The true economist will +draw in by contracting the outline, by narrowing the bottom, by cutting +off with an unsparing hand costly superfluities, which affect not +comfort, but cherish vanity."</p> + +<p>"'Retrench the lazy vermin of thine hall,' was the wise counsel of the +prudent Venetian to his thoughtless son-in-law," said Sir John, "and its +wisdom consisted in its striking at one of the most ruinous and +prevailing domestic evils, an overloaded establishment."</p> + +<p>If Miss Sparkes had been so long without speaking, it was evident by her +manner and turn of countenance, that contempt had kept her silent, and +that she thought the topic under discussion as unworthy of the support +of the gentleman as of her own opposition.</p> + +<p>"A discreet woman," said Mr. Stanley, "adjusts her expenses to her +revenues. Every thing knows its time, and every person his place. She +will live within her income, be it large or small; if large, she will +not be luxurious; if small, she will not be mean. Proportion and +propriety are among the best secrets of domestic wisdom; and there is no +surer test, both of integrity and judgment, than a well-proportioned +expenditure.</p> + +<p>"Now the point to which I would bring all this verbiage," continued he, +"is this—will a lady of a mean understanding, or a vulgar education, be +likely to practice economy on this large scale? And is not such economy +a field in which a woman of the best sense may honorably exercise her +powers?"</p> + +<p>Miss Sparkes, who was always a stanch opposer in moral as well as in +political debate, because she said it was the best side for the exertion +of wit and talents, comforted herself that though she felt she was +completely in the minority, yet she always thought that was rather a +proof of being right than the contrary; for if it be true, that the +generality are either weak or wicked, it follows that the inferior +number is most likely to be neither.</p> + +<p>"Women," said Mr. Carlton, "in their course of action describe a smaller +circle than men; but the perfection of a circle consists not in its +dimensions but in its correctness. There may be," added he, carefully +turning away his eyes from Miss Sparkes, "here and there a soaring +female, who looks down with disdain on the party affairs of 'this dim +speck called earth;' who despises order and regularity as indications of +a groveling spirit. But a sound mind judges directly contrary. The +larger the capacity, the wider is the sweep of duties it takes in. A +sensible woman loves to imitate that order which is stamped on the whole +creation of God. All the operations of nature are uniform even in their +changes, and regular in their infinite variety. Nay, the great Author of +Nature himself disdains not to be called the God of order."</p> + +<p>"I agree with you," said Sir John. "A philosophical lady may 'read +Malebranche, Boyle, and Locke;' she may boast of her intellectual +superiority; she may talk of abstract and concrete; of substantial forms +and essences; complex ideas and mixed modes, of identity and relation; +she may decorate all the logic of one sex with all the rhetoric of the +other; yet if her affairs are <i>delabré</i>, if her house is disorderly, her +servants irregular, her children neglected, and her table ill-arranged, +she will indicate the want of the most valuable faculty of the human +mind, a sound judgment."</p> + +<p>"It must, however, be confessed," replied Mr. Stanley, "that such +instances are so rare, that the exceptions barely serve to establish the +rule. I have known twenty women mismanage their affairs, through a bad +education, through ignorance, especially of arithmetic, that grand +deficiency in the education of women, through a multiplicity of vain +accomplishments, through an excess of dissipation, through a devotedness +to personal embellishments, through an absorption of the whole soul in +music, for one who has made her husband metaphysically miserable."</p> + +<p>"What marks the distinction," said Mr. Carlton, "between the judicious +and the vulgar economist is this: the narrow-minded woman succeeds +tolerably in the filling up, but never in the outline. She is made up of +detail but destitute of plan. Petty duties demand her whole grasp of +mind, and, after all, the thing is incomplete. There is so much bustle +and evident exertion in all she does! she brings into company a mind +exhausted with her little efforts! overflowing with a sense of her own +merits! looking up to her own performance as the highest possible +elevation of the human intellect, and looking down on the attainments of +more highly gifted women, as so many obstructions to their usefulness; +always drawing comparisons to her own advantage, with the cultivated and +the refined, and concluding that because she possesses not their +elegance they must necessarily be deficient in her art. While economists +of a higher strain—I draw from living and not absent instances," added +he, looking benignantly round him—"execute their well ordered plan, as +an indispensable duty, but not as a superlative merit. They have too +much sense to omit it, but they have too much taste to talk of it. It is +their business, not their boast. The effect is produced, but the hand +which accomplishes it is not seen. The mechanism is set at work, but it +is behind the scenes. The beauty is visible, the labor is kept out of +sight."</p> + +<p>"The misfortune is," said Mr. Stanley, "that people are apt to fancy +that judgment is a faculty only to be exercised on great occasions; +whereas it is one that every hour is calling into exercise. There are +certain habits which, though they appear inconsiderable when examined +individually, are yet of no small importance in the aggregate. +Exactness, punctuality, and other minor virtues, contribute more than +many are aware, to promote and to facilitate the exercise of the higher +qualities. I would not erect them into a magnitude beyond their real +size; as persons are too apt to do who are <i>only</i> punctual, and are +deficient in the higher qualities; but by the regular establishment of +these habits in a family, it is inconceivable to those who have not made +the experiment, how it saves, how it amplifies time, that canvas upon +which all the virtues must be wrought. It is incredible how an orderly +division of the day gives apparent rapidity to the wings of time, while +a stated devotion of the hour to its employment really lengthens life. +It lengthens it by the traces which solid occupation leaves behind it: +while it prevents tediousness by affording, with the successive change, +the charm of novelty, and keeping up an interest which would flag, if +any one employment were too long pursued. Now all these arrangements of +life, these divisions of time, and these selections and appropriations +of the business to the hour, come within the department of the lady. And +how much will the cares of a man of sense be relieved, if he choose a +wife who can do all this for him!"</p> + +<p>"In how many of my friends' houses," said Mr. Carlton, "have I observed +the contrary habits produce contrary effects! A young lady bred in total +ignorance of family management, transplanted from the house of her +father, where she has learned nothing, to that of her husband, where she +is expected to know every thing, disappoints a prudent man: his +affection may continue, but his esteem will be diminished; and with his +happiness, his attachment to home will be proportionably lessened."</p> + +<p>"It is perfectly just," said Sir John, "and this comfortless deficiency +has naturally taught men to inveigh against that higher kind of +knowledge which they suppose, though unjustly, to be the cause of +ignorance in domestic matters. It is not entirely to gratify the animal, +as Miss Sparkes supposes, that a gentleman likes to have his table well +appointed; but because his own dignity and his wife's credit are +involved in it. The want of this skill is one of the grand evils of +modern life. <i>From the heiress of the man of rank, to the daughter of +the opulent tradesman, there is no one quality in which young women are +so generally deficient as in domestic economy.</i> And when I hear learning +contended for on one hand, and modish accomplishments on the other, I +always contend for this intermediate, this valuable, this neglected +quality, so little insisted on, so rarely found, and so indispensably +necessary."</p> + +<p>"Besides," said Mr. Carlton, addressing himself to Miss Sparkes, "you +ladies are apt to consider versatility as a mark of genius. She, +therefore, who can do a great thing well, ought to do a small one +better; for, as Lord Bacon well observes, he who can not contract his +mind as well as dilate it, wants one great talent in life."</p> + +<p>Miss Sparkes, condescending at length to break a silence which she had +maintained with evident uneasiness, said, "All these plodding +employments cramp the genius, degrade the intellect, depress the +spirits, debase the taste, and clip the wings of imagination. And this +poor, cramped, degraded, stinted, depressed, debased creature is the +very being whom men, men of reputed sense too, commonly prefer to the +mind of large dimensions, soaring fancy, and aspiring tastes."</p> + +<p>"Imagination," replied Mr. Stanley, "well directed, is the charm of +life; it gilds every object, and embellishes every scene; but allow me +to say, that where a woman abandons herself to the dominion of this +vagrant faculty it may lead to something worse than a disorderly table; +and the husband may find that the badness of his dinner is not the only +ill consequence of her super-lunary vagaries."</p> + +<p>"True enough," said Mr. Flam, who had never been known to be so silent, +or so attentive; "true enough, I have not heard so much sense for a long +time. I am sure 'tis sense, because 'tis exactly my own way of thinking. +There is my Bell now. I have spent seven hundred pounds, and more money, +for her to learn music and whimwhams, which all put together are not +worth sixpence. I would give them all up to see her make such a tansy +pudding as that which the widow in the Spectator helped Sir Roger to at +dinner; why I don't believe Bell knows whether pie-crust is made with +butter or cheese; or whether a venison pastry should be baked or boiled. +I can tell her, that when her husband, if she ever gets one, comes in +sharp set from hunting, he won't like to be put off with a tune instead +of a dinner. To marry a singing girl, and complain she does not keep you +a good table, is like eating nightingales, and finding fault that they +are not good tasted. They sing, but they are of no further use—to <i>eat</i> +them, instead of listening to them, is applying to one sense, the +gratification which belongs to another."</p> + +<p>In the course of conversation, Miss Sparkes a little shocked the +delicate feelings of the ladies, of Lucilla especially, by throwing out +some expressions of envy at the superior advantages which men possess +for distinguishing themselves. "Women," she said, "with talents not +inferior were allowed no stage for display, while men had such a reach +for their exertions, such a compass for exercising their genius, such a +range for obtaining distinction that they were at once the objects of +her envy for the means they possessed, and of her pity for turning them +to no better account. There were indeed," she added, "a few men who +redeemed the credit of the rest, and for their sakes she gloried, since +she could not be of their sex, that she was at least of their species."</p> + +<p>"I know, madam," said Mr. Stanley, "your admiration of heroic qualities +and manly virtues: courage for instance. But there are still nobler ways +of exercising courage than even in the field of battle. There are more +exalted means of showing spirit than by sending or accepting a +challenge. To sustain a fit of sickness may exhibit as true heroism as +to lead an army. To bear a deep affliction well calls for as high +exertion of soul as to storm a town; and to meet death with Christian +resolution is an act of courage in which many a woman has triumphed, and +many a philosopher, and even some generals, have failed."</p> + +<p>I thought I saw in Miss Sparkes's countenance a kind of civil contempt, +as if she would be glad to exchange the patient sickness and heroic +death-bed for the renown of victory and the glory of a battle; and I +suspected that she envied the fame of the challenge, and the spirit of +the duel, more than those meek and passive virtues which we all agreed +were peculiarly Christian, and peculiarly feminine.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + + +<p>In the afternoon, when the company were assembled in the drawing-room, +the conversation turned on various subjects. Mr. Flam, feeling as if he +had not sufficiently produced himself at dinner now took the lead. He +was never solicitous to show what he called his learning, but when Miss +Sparkes was present, whom it was his grand delight to <i>set down</i> as he +called it. Then he never failed to give broad hints that if he was now +no great student, it was not from ignorance, but from the pressure of +more indispensable avocations.</p> + +<p>He first rambled into some desultory remarks on the absurdity of the +world, and the preposterousness of modern usages, which perverted the +ends of education, and exalted things which were of least use into most +importance.</p> + +<p>"You seem out of humor with the world, Mr. Flam," said Mr. Stanley. "I +hate the world," returned he. "It is indeed," replied Mr. Stanley, "a +scene of much danger, because of much evil."</p> + +<p>"I don't value the danger a straw," rejoined Mr. Flam; "and as to the +evil, I hope I have sense enough to avoid that: but I hate it for its +folly, and despise it for its inconsistency."</p> + +<p>"In what particulars, Mr. Flam?" said Sir John Belfield.</p> + +<p>"In every thing," replied he. "In the first place, don't people educate +their daughters entirely for holidays, and then wonder that they are of +no use? Don't they charge them to be modest, and then teach them every +thing that can make them bold? Are we not angry that they don't attend +to great concerns, after having instructed them to take the most pains +for the least things? There is my Fan, now, they tell me she can dance +as well as a posture mistress, but she slouches in her walk like a +milkmaid. Now as she seldom dances, and is always walking, would it not +be more rational to teach her to do that best which she is to do the +oftenest? She sings like a siren, but 'tis only to strangers. I, who +paid for it, never hear her voice. She is always warbling in a distant +room, or in every room where there is company; but if I have the gout +and want to be amused, she is as dumb as a dormouse."</p> + +<p>"So much for the errors in educating our daughters," said Sir John, "now +for the sons."</p> + +<p>"As to our boys," returned Mr. Flam, "don't we educate them in one +religion, and then expect them to practice another? Don't we cram them +with books of heathen philosophy, and then bid them go and be good +Christians? Don't we teach them to admire the heroes and gods of the +old poets, when there is hardly one hero, and certainly not one god, who +would not in this country have been tried at the Old Bailey, if not +executed at Tyburn? And as to the goddesses, if they had been brought +before us on the bench, brother Stanley, there is scarcely one of them +but we should have ordered to the house of correction. The queen of +them, indeed, I should have sent to the ducking-stool for a scold.</p> + +<p>"Then again, don't we tell our sons when men that they must admire a +monarchical government, after every pains have been taken, when they +were boys, to fill them with raptures for the ancient republics?"</p> + +<p>"Surely, Mr. Flam," said Sir John, "the ancient forms of government may +be studied with advantage, were it only to show us by contrast the +superior excellence of our own."</p> + +<p>"We might," said Miss Sparkes, in a supercilious accent, "learn some +things from them which we much want. You have been speaking of economy. +These republicans, whom Mr. Flam is pleased to speak of with so much +contempt, he must allow, had some good, clever contrivances to keep down +the taxes, which it would do us no harm to imitate. Victories were much +better bargains to them than they are to us. A few laurel leaves or a +sprig of oak was not quite so dear as a pension."</p> + +<p>"But you will allow, madam," said Sir John, smiling, "that a triumph was +a more expensive reward than a title?"</p> + +<p>Before she had time to answer, Mr. Flam said: "Let me tell you, Miss +Sparkes, that as to triumphs, our heroes are so used to them at sea, +that they would laugh at them at home. Those who obtain triumphs as +often as they meet their enemies, would despise such holiday play among +their friends. We don't to be sure reward them as your ancients did. We +don't banish them, nor put them to death for saving their country like +your Athenians. We don't pay them with a trumpery wreath like your +Romans. We English don't put our conquerors off with leaves; we give +them fruits, as cheerfully bestowed as they are fairly earned. God bless +them! I would reduce my table to one dish, my hall to one servant, my +stable to one saddle-horse, and my kennel to one pointer, rather than +abridge the preservers of old England of a feather."</p> + +<p>"Signal exploits, if nationally beneficial," said Sir John, "deserve +substantial remuneration; and I am inclined to think that public honors +are valuable, not only as rewards but incitements. They are as politic +as they are just. When Miltiades and his illustrious ten thousand gained +their immortal victory, would not a Blenheim erected on the plains of +Marathon, have stimulated unborn soldiers more than the little +transitory columns which barely recorded the names of the victors?"</p> + +<p>"What warrior," said Mr. Carlton, "will hereafter visit the future +palace of Trafalgar without reverence? A reverence, the purity of which +will be in no degree impaired by contemplating such an additional motive +to emulation."</p> + +<p>In answer to some further observations of Miss Sparkes, on the +superiority of the ancient to British patriotism, Mr. Flam, whose +indignation now provoked him to display his whole stock of erudition, +eagerly exclaimed: "Do you call that patriotism in your favorite +Athenians, to be so fond of raree-shows, as not only to devote the money +of the state to the play-house, but to make it capital to divert a +little of it to the wants of the gallant soldiers who were fighting +their battles? I hate to hear fellows called patriots who preferred +their diversions to their country."</p> + +<p>Then erecting himself as if he felt the taller for being an Englishman, +he added—"What, Madam Sparkes, would your Greeks have said to a +<span class="smcap">Patriotic Fund</span> by private contribution, of nearly half a million, in the +midst of heavy taxes and a tedious war, voluntarily raised and +cheerfully given to the orphans, widows, and mothers of their brave +countrymen, who fell in their defense? Were the poor soldiers who fought +under your Cimons, and your ——, I forget their names, ever so kindly +remembered? Make it out that they were—show me such a spirit among your +ancients, and I'll turn republican to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Miss Sparkes having again said something which he thought tended to +exalt the ancient states at the expense of our own country, Mr. Flam +indignantly replied—"Tell me, madam, did your Athens, or your Sparta, +or your Rome, ever take in seven thousand starving priests driven from a +country with which they were at war; a country they had reason to hate, +of a religion they detested? Did they ever receive them, I say, maintain +them like gentlemen, and caress them like friends? If you can bring me +one such instance, I will give up Old England, and turn Greek, or Roman, +or—any thing but Frenchman."</p> + +<p>"I should be inclined," said Mr. Stanley, "to set down that noble deed +to the account of our national religion, as well as of our national +generosity."</p> + +<p>Miss Sparkes said, "In one respect, however, Mr. Flam imitates the +French whom he is abusing. He is very apt to triumph where he has gained +no victory. If you hear his account of a defeat, you would take it, like +theirs, for a conquest." She added, however, that there were illustrious +men in other countries beside our own, as their successes testified. For +her part, she was a citizen of the world, and honored heroes wherever +they were found, in Macedon, in Sweden, or even in France.</p> + +<p>"True enough," rejoined Mr. Flam, "the rulers of other countries have +gone about and delivered kingdoms as we are doing; but there is this +difference: they free them from mild masters, to make them their own +slaves; we neither get them for ourselves or our minions, our brothers, +or cousins, our Jeromes, or Josephs. <i>We</i> raise the weak, <i>they</i> pull +down the prosperous. If <i>we</i> redeem kingdoms, 'tis to bestow them on +their own lawful kings. If we help this nation, 'tis to recall one +sovereign from banishment, if we assist that, 'tis to deliver him from +captivity."</p> + +<p>"What a scene for Spain," said Sir John, "to behold in us their own +national Quixotism soberly exemplified, and rationally realized! The +generous theory of their romantic knight-errant brought into actual +practice. The fervor without the absurdity; the sound principle of +justice without the extravagance of fancy! Wrongs redressed and rights +restored, and upon the grandest scale! Deliverance wrought, not for +imaginary princesses, but for deposed and imprisoned monarchs! Injuries +avenged—not the ideal injuries of ridiculous individuals, but the +substantial wrongs of plundered empires!"</p> + +<p>Sir John, who was amused with the oddities of Mr. Flam, was desirous of +still provoking him to talk; much effort indeed was not required to +induce him to do what he was fond of doing, whenever there was an +opportunity of contradicting Miss Sparkes.</p> + +<p>"But, Mr. Flam," said Sir John, "you were interrupted as you began to +enumerate the inconsistencies which you said had put you out of love +with the world."</p> + +<p>"Why, it makes me mad," replied he, "to hear men who make the loudest +outcry about the dangers of the state, cramming their houses with French +governesses, French cooks, and French valets; is not this adding flame +to the fire? Then I have no patience to see people who pretend great +zeal for the church, delighted that an Italian singer should have a +larger revenue than the highest of our own bishops. Such patriots might +have done well enough for Athenians," added he, looking exultingly at +Miss Sparkes, "but they make miserable Englishmen. Then I hate to see +fellows who pay least taxes, complaining most of the burden—those who +most lament the hardness of the times, spending money in needless +extravagance, and luxury increasing in exact proportion as means +diminish.</p> + +<p>"Then I am sick of the conceit of the boys and girls. Do but observe how +their vanity imposes on their understanding, and how names disguise +things. My son would start, if I were to desire him to go to London in +the <i>stage coach</i>, but he <i>puts himself into the mail</i> with great +coolness. If I were to talk to Fan about living in a <i>small house</i>, she +would not give me the hearing, whereas she is quite wild to live in a +<i>cottage</i>."</p> + +<p>"I do not quite agree with you, Mr. Flam," said Sir John, smiling, "as +to the inconsistency of the world, I rather lament its dull uniformity. +If we may rely on those living chronicles, the newspapers, all is one +faultless scene of monotonous perfection. Were it otherwise, I presume +those frugal philologers would not keep a set of phrases ready cut and +dried, in order to apply them universally in all cases. For instance, is +not every public place from St. James's to Otaheite, or the Cape, +invariably <i>crowded with beauty and fashion</i>? Is not every public sermon +pronounced to be <i>excellent</i>? Is not every civic speech, every +provincial harangue, <i>neat and appropriate</i>? And is not every military +corps, from the veteran regiment of regulars, to the volunteer company +of a month's standing, always declared to be <i>in the highest state of +discipline</i>?"</p> + +<p>Before the company went away, I observed that Mrs. Carlton gave Lucilla +a significant glance, and both withdrew together. In spite of my +thorough belief of the injustice and absurdity of my suspicions, a pang +darted through my heart at the bare possibility that Lord Staunton +might be the subject of this secret conference. I was perfectly assured, +that Miss Stanley would never accept him, while he retained his present +character, but that character might be improved. She had rejected him +for his principles; if these principles were changed, there was no other +reasonable ground of objection. He might be reformed. Dare I own, even +to myself, that I dreaded to hear of his reformation. I hate myself for +the thought. I will, said I faintly, endeavor to rejoice if it be so. I +felt a conflict in my mind, between my principles and my passion, that +distressed me not a little. My integrity had never before been so +assailed. At length they returned; I earnestly examined their +countenances. Both looked cheerful, and even animated; yet it was +evident from the redness of their eyes that they had been weeping. The +company immediately took their leave; all our party, as it was a fine +evening, attended them out to their carriages, except Miss Stanley: she +only pressed the hand of Mrs. Carlton, smiled, and looking as if she +durst not trust herself to talk to her, withdrew to the bow window from +whence she could see them depart. I remained in the room. As she was +wiping her eyes to take away the redness, which was a sure way to +increase it, I ventured to join her, and inquired with an earnestness I +could not conceal, what had happened to distress her. "These are not +tears of distress," said she, sweetly smiling. "I am quite ashamed that +I have so little self-control; but Mrs. Carlton has given me so much +pleasure! I have caught the infection of her joy, though my foolish +sympathy looks more like sorrow." Surely, said I, indignantly to myself, +she will not own Lord Staunton's love to my face?</p> + +<p>All frank and open as Miss Stanley was, I was afraid to press her. I had +not courage to ask what I longed to know. Though Lord Staunton's +renewed addresses might not give them so much pleasure, yet his +reformation, I knew, would. I now looked so earnestly inquisitive at +Lucilla, that she said, "My poor friend is at last quite happy. I know +you will rejoice with us. Mr. Carlton has for some time regularly read +the Bible with her. He condescends to hear her and to invite her +remarks, telling her, that if he is the better classic, she is the +better Christian, and that their assistance in the things which each +understands must be reciprocal. If he is her teacher in human +literature, he says, she must be his in that which is divine. He has +been very earnest to get his mind imbued with scriptural knowledge; but +this is not all.</p> + +<p>"Last Saturday he said to her, 'Henrietta, I have but one complaint to +make of you; and it is for a fault which I always thought would be the +last I should ever have to charge you with. It is selfishness.' Mrs. +Carlton was a little shocked, though the tenderness of his manner +mitigated her alarm. 'Henrietta,' resumed he, 'you intend to go to +heaven without your husband? I know you always retire to your +dressing-room, not only for your private devotions, but to read prayers +to your maids. What have your men-servants done, what has your husband +done, that they should be excluded? Is it not a little selfish, my +Henrietta,' added he, smiling, 'to confine your zeal to the eternal +happiness of your own sex? Will you allow me and our men-servants to +join you? To-morrow is Sunday, we will then, if you please, begin in the +hall. You shall prepare what you would have read; and I will be your +chaplain. A most unworthy one, Henrietta, I confess; but you will not +only have a chaplain of your own making, but a Christian also.'</p> + +<p>"'Never, my dear Lucilla,' continued Mrs. Carlton, 'did I know what true +happiness was till that moment. My husband, with all his faults, had +always been remarkably sincere. Indeed, his aversion to all hypocrisy +had made him keep back his right feelings and sentiments till he was +assured they were well established in his mind. He has for some time +been regular at church, a thing, he said, too much taken up as a +customary form to be remarkable, and which therefore involved not much; +but family prayer, adopted from conviction of its being a duty, rather +pledged a man to consistent religion. Never, I hope, shall I forget the +joy I felt, nor my gratitude to that 'Being from whom all holy desires +proceed,' when, with all his family kneeling solemnly around him, I +heard my once unhappy husband with a sober fervor begin:</p> + +<p>"'To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have +rebelled against him, neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our +God, to walk in his laws which he set before us.'</p> + +<p>"He evidently struggled with his own feelings; but his manly mind +carried him through with an admirable mixture of dignity and feeling. He +was so serenely cheerful the rest of the evening that I felt he had +obtained a great victory over himself, and his heart was at peace within +him. Prayer with him was not a beginning form, but a consummation of his +better purposes."</p> + +<p>The sweet girl could not forbear weeping again while she was giving me +this interesting account. I felt as if I had never loved her till then. +To see her so full of sensibility without the slightest tincture of +romance, so feeling, yet so sober-minded, enchanted me. I could now +afford to wish heartily for Lord Staunton's reformation, because it was +not likely to interfere with my hopes. And now the danger was over, I +even endeavored to make myself believe that I <i>should</i> have wished it in +any event, so treacherous will the human heart be found by those who +watch its motions. And it proceeds from not watching them that the +generality are so little acquainted with the evils which lurk within it.</p> + +<p>Before I had time to express half what I felt to the fair narrator the +party came in. They seemed as much puzzled at the position in which they +found Lucilla and myself, she wiping her eyes, and I standing by in +admiration, as I had been at her mysterious interview with Mrs. Carlton. +The Belfields knew not what to make of it. The mother's looks expressed +astonishment and anxiety. The father's eye demanded an explanation. All +this mute eloquence passed in an instant. Miss Stanley gave them not +time to inquire. She flew to her mother, and eagerly repeated the little +tale which furnished matter for grateful joy and improving conversation +the rest of the evening.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley expressed a thorough confidence in the sincerity of Carlton. +"He had always," continued he, "in his worst days an abhorrence of +deceit, and such a dread of people appearing better than they are, that +he even commended that most absurd practice of Dean Swift, who, you +know, used to perform family prayers in a garret, for fear any one +should call in and detect him in the performance." Carlton defended this +as an honorable instance of Swift's abhorrence of ostentation in +religion. I opposed it on the more probable ground of his being ashamed +of it. For allowing, what however never can be allowed, that an ordinary +man might have some excuse for the dread of being sneered at, as wanting +to be thought righteous overmuch; yet in a churchman, in a dignified +churchman, family prayer would be expected as a customary decency, an +indispensable appendage to his situation, which, though it might be +practiced without piety, could not be omitted without disgrace, and +which even a sensible infidel, considering it merely as a professional +act, could not say was a custom</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"More honored in the breach than the observance."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + + +<p>One evening, which Mr. Tyrrel happened to spend with us, after Mr. +Stanley had performed the family devotions, Mr. Tyrrel said to him: +"Stanley, I don't much like the prayer you read. It seems, by the great +stress it lays on holiness, to imply that a man has something in his own +power. You did indeed mention the necessity of faith and the power of +grace, but there was too much about making the life holy as if that were +all in all. You seem to be putting us so much upon working and doing +that you leave nothing to do for the Saviour."</p> + +<p>"I wish," replied Mr. Stanley, "as I am no deep theologian, that you had +started this objection before Dr. Barlow went away, for I know no man +more able or more willing for serious discussion."</p> + +<p>"No," replied Mr. Tyrrel, "I see clearly by some things he dropped in +conversation, as well as by the whole tenor of his sermons, that Barlow +and I should never agree. He means well, but knows little. He sees +something, but feels nothing. More argument than unction. Too much +reasoning, and too little religion; a little light, and no heat. He +seems to me so to 'overload the ship with duties' that it will sink by +the very means he takes to keep it afloat. I thank God my own eyes are +opened, and I at last feel comfortable in my mind."</p> + +<p>"Religious comfort," said Mr. Stanley, "is a high attainment. Only it is +incumbent on every Christian to be assured that if he is happy it is on +safe grounds."</p> + +<p>"I have taken care of that," replied Mr. Tyrrel. "For some years after I +had quitted my loose habits, I attended occasionally at church, but +found no comfort in it, because I perceived so much was to be <i>done</i> +and so much was to be <i>sacrificed</i>. But the great doctrines of faith, as +opened to me by Mr. <i>H—n</i>, have at last given me peace, and liberty, +and I rest myself without solicitude on the mercy so freely offered in +the gospel. No mistakes or sins of mine can ever make me forfeit the +divine favor."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear, however," replied Mr. Stanley, "what the Bible says; for +as that is the only rule by which we shall be judged hereafter, it may +be prudent to be guided by it here. God says by the prophet, 'I will put +my Spirit within you;' but he does this for some purpose, for he says in +the very next words, 'I will cause you to <i>walk</i> in my statutes.' And +for fear this should not plainly enough inculcate holiness, he goes on +to say, 'And ye shall <i>keep</i> my judgments, and <i>do</i> them.' Show me, if +you can, a single promise made to an impenitent, unholy man."</p> + +<p>"Why," said Tyrrel, "is not the mercy of God promised to the wicked in +every part of the Bible?"</p> + +<p>"It is," said Mr. Stanley; "but that is, 'if he forsake his way.'"</p> + +<p>"This fondness for works is, in my opinion, nothing else but setting +aside the free grace of God."</p> + +<p>"Quite the contrary: so far from setting it aside, it is the way to +glorify it, for it is by that grace alone that we are enabled to perform +right actions. For myself, I always find it difficult to answer persons, +who, in flying to one extreme, think they can not too much degrade the +opposite. If we give faith its due prominence, the mere moralist +reprobates our principles as if we were depreciating works. If we +magnify the beauty of holiness, the advocate for exclusive faith accuses +us of being its enemy."</p> + +<p>"For my own part, I am persuaded that unqualified trust is the only +ground of safety."</p> + +<p>"He who can not lie has indeed told us so. But trust in God is humble +dependence, not presumptuous security. The Bible does not say, trust in +the Lord and sin on, but 'trust in the Lord, and be doing good.' We are +elsewhere told that, 'God works in us to will and to do.' There is no +getting over that little word to <i>do</i>. I suppose you allow the necessity +of prayer."</p> + +<p>"Certainly I do."</p> + +<p>"But there are conditions to our prayers also: 'if I regard iniquity in +my heart the Lord will not hear me.'"</p> + +<p>"The Scriptures affirm that we must live on the promises."</p> + +<p>"They are indeed the very aliment of the Christian life. But what are +the promises?"</p> + +<p>"Free pardon and eternal life to them that are in Christ Jesus."</p> + +<p>"True. But who are they that <i>are</i> in Christ Jesus? The apostle tells +us, 'they who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.' Besides, +is not holiness promised as well as pardon? 'A new heart will I give +you, and a new spirit will I put within you.'"</p> + +<p>"Surely, Stanley, you abuse the grace of the gospel, by pretending that +man is saved by his own righteousness."</p> + +<p>"No, no, my dear Tyrrel, it is you who abuse it, by making God's mercy +set aside man's duty. Allow me to observe, that he who exalts the grace +of God with a view to indulge himself in any sin, is deceiving no one +but himself; and he who trusts in Christ, with a view to spare himself +the necessity of watchfulness, humility, and self-denial, that man +depends upon Christ for more than he has promised."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Stanley, it appears to me that you want to patch up a +convenient accommodating religion, as if Christ were to do a little, and +we were to do the rest; a sort of partnership salvation, and in which +man has the larger share."</p> + +<p>"This, I fear, is indeed the dangerous creed of many worldly Christians. +No; God may be said to do all, because he gives power for all, strength +for all, grace for all. But this grace, is a principle, a vital energy, +a life-giving spirit to quicken us, to make us abound in holiness. He +does not make his grace abound, that we may securely live in sin, but +that we may subdue it, renounce it, live above it."</p> + +<p>"When our Saviour was upon earth, there was no one quality he so +uniformly commended in those who came to be healed by him, as faith."</p> + +<p>"It is most true. But we do not meet in any of them with such a +presumptuous faith as led them to rush into diseases on purpose to show +their confidence in his power of healing them, neither are we to +'continue in sin that grace may abound.' You can not but observe, that +the faith of the persons you mention was always accompanied with an +earnest desire to get rid of their diseases. And it is worth remarking, +that to the words, 'thy faith has made thee whole,' is added, '<i>sin no +more</i>, lest a worse thing come unto thee.'"</p> + +<p>"You can not persuade me that any neglect, or even sin of mine, can make +void the covenant of God."</p> + +<p>"Nothing can set side the covenant of God, which is sure and steadfast. +But as for him who lives in the allowed practice of any sin, it is clear +that he has no part nor lot in the matter. It is clear that he is not +one of those whom God has taken into the covenant. That God will keep +his word is most certain, but such a one does not appear to be the +person to whom that word is addressed. God as much designed that you +should apply the faculties, the power, and the will he has given you, to +a life of holiness, as he meant when he gave you legs, hands, and eyes, +that you should walk, work, and see. His grace is not intended to +exclude the use of his gifts but to perfect, exalt, and ennoble them."</p> + +<p>"I can produce a multitude of texts to prove that Christ has done every +thing, and of course has left nothing for me to do, but to believe on +him."</p> + +<p>"Let us take the general tenor and spirit of Scripture, and neither pack +single texts together, detached from the connection in which they stand; +nor be so unreasonable as to squeeze all the doctrines of Christianity +out of every single text, which perhaps, was only meant to inculcate one +individual principle. How consistently are the great leading doctrines +of faith and holiness balanced and reconciled in every part of the +Bible! If ever I have been in danger of resting on a mere dead faith, by +one of those texts on which you exclusively build; in the very next +sentence, perhaps, I am aroused to active virtue, by some lively +example, or absolute command. If again I am ever in danger, as you say, +of sinking the ship with my proud duties, the next passage calls me to +order, by some powerful injunction to renounce all confidence in my +miserable defective virtues, and to put my whole trust in Christ. By +thus assimilating the Creed with the Commandment, the Bible becomes its +own interpreter, and perfect harmony is the result. Allow me also to +remark, that this invariable rule of exhibiting the doctrines of +Scripture in their due proportion, order, and relative connection, is +one of the leading excellences in the service of our Church. While no +doctrine is neglected or undervalued, none is disproportionately +magnified, at the expense of the others. There is neither omission, +undue prominence, nor exaggeration. There is complete symmetry and +correct proportion."</p> + +<p>"I assert that we are free by the gospel from the condemnation of the +law."</p> + +<p>"But where do you find that we are free from the obligation of obeying +it? For my own part, I do not combine the doctrine of grace, to which I +most cordially assent, with any doctrine which practically denies the +voluntary agency of man. Nor, in my adoption of the belief of that +voluntary agency, do I, in the remotest degree, presume to abridge the +sovereignty of God. I adopt none of the metaphysical subtilties, none of +the abstruse niceties of any party, nor do I imitate either in the +reprobation of the other, firmly believing that heaven is peopled with +the humble and the conscientious out of every class of real Christians."</p> + +<p>"Still I insist that if Christ has delivered me from sin, sin can do me +no harm."</p> + +<p>"My dear Mr. Tyrrel, if the king of your country were a mighty general, +and had delivered the land from some powerful enemy, would it show your +sense of the obligation, or your allegiance as a subject, if you were to +join the enemy he had defeated? By so doing, though the country might be +saved, you would ruin yourself. Let us not then live in confederacy with +sin, the power of which, indeed, our Redeemer has broken, but both the +power and guilt of which the individual is still at liberty to incur."</p> + +<p>"Stanley, I remember when you thought the gospel was all in all."</p> + +<p>"I think so still; but I am now, as I was then, for a sober consistent +gospel, a Christianity which must evidence itself by its fruits. The +first words of the apostle after his conversion were, 'Lord, what wilt +thou have me to do?' When he says, 'so run that ye may obtain,' he could +never mean that we could obtain by sitting still, nor would he have +talked of 'laboring <i>in vain</i>,' if he meant that we should not labor at +all. We dare not persist in any thing that is wrong, or neglect any +thing that is right, from an erroneous notion that we have such an +interest in Christ as will excuse us from doing the one, or persisting +in the other."</p> + +<p>"I fancy you think that a man's salvation depends on the number of good +actions he can muster together."</p> + +<p>"No, it is the very spirit of Christianity not to build on this or that +actual work, but sedulously to strive for that temper and those +dispositions which are the seminal principles of all virtues; and where +the heart struggles and prays for the attainment of this state, though +the man should be placed in such circumstances as to be able to do +little to promote the welfare of mankind, or the glory of God, in the +eyes of the world; this very habitual aim and bent of the mind, with +humble sorrow at its low attainments, is in my opinion no slight degree +of obedience.</p> + +<p>"But you will allow that the Scriptures affirm that Christ is not only a +sacrifice but a refuge, a consolation, a rest."</p> + +<p>"Blessed be God, he is indeed all these. But he is a consolation only to +the heavy laden, a refuge to those alone who forsake sin. The rest he +promises, is not a rest from labor but from evil. It is a rest from the +drudgery of the world, but not from the service of God. It is not +inactivity, but quietness of spirit; not sloth, but peace. He draws men +indeed from slavery to freedom, but not a freedom to do evil, or to do +nothing. He makes his service easy, but not by lowering the rule of +duty, not by adapting his commands to the corrupt inclinations of our +nature. He communicates his grace, gives fresh and higher motives to +obedience, and imparts peace and comfort, not by any abatement in his +demands, but by this infusion of his own grace, and this communication +of his own Spirit."</p> + +<p>"You are a strange fellow. According to you, we can neither be saved by +good works, nor without them."</p> + +<p>"Come, Mr. Tyrrel, you are nearer the truth than you intended. We can +not be saved by the merit of our good works, without setting at naught +the merits and death of Christ; and we can not be saved without them, +unless we set at naught God's holiness, and make him a favorer of sin. +Now to this the doctrine of the atonement, properly understood, is most +completely hostile. That this doctrine <i>favors</i> sin, is one of the false +charges which worldly men bring against vital Christianity, because they +do not understand the principle, nor inquire into the grounds, on which +it is adopted."</p> + +<p>"Still, I think you limit the grace of God, as if people must be very +good first, in order to deserve it, and then he will come and add his +grace to their goodness. Whereas grace has been most conspicuous in the +most notorious sinners."</p> + +<p>"I allow that the grace of God has never manifested itself more +gloriously than in the conversion of notorious sinners. But it is worth +remarking, that all such, with St. Paul at their head, have ever after +been eminently more afraid than other men of falling again into sin; +they have prayed with the greater earnestness to be delivered from the +power of it, and have continued to lament most deeply the remaining +corruption of their hearts."</p> + +<p>In the course of the conversation Mr. Tyrrel said, "he should be +inclined to entertain doubts of that man's state who could not give an +accurate account of the time, and the manner, in which he was first +awakened, and who had had no sensible manifestations of the divine +favor."</p> + +<p>"I believe," replied Mr. Stanley, "that my notions of the evidence of +being in the favor of God differ materially from yours. If a man feel in +himself a hatred of all sin, without sparing his favorite corruption; if +he rest for salvation on the promise of the gospel alone; if he maintain +in his mind such a sense of the nearness and immeasurable importance of +eternal things, as shall enable him to use temporal things with +moderation, and anticipate their end without dismay; if he delight in +the worship of God, is zealous for his service, making <i>his</i> glory the +end and aim of all his actions; if he labor to fulfill his allotted +duties conscientiously; if he love his fellow-creatures as the children +of the same common Father, and partakers of the same common hope; if he +feel the same compassion for the immortal interests, as for the worldly +distresses of the unfortunate; forgiving others, as he hopes to be +forgiven; if he endeavor according to his measure and ability, to +diminish the vice and misery with which the world abounds, <i>that</i> man +has a solid ground of peace and hope, though he may not have those +sensible evidences which afford triumph and exultation. In the mean +while, the man of a heated imagination, who boasts of mysterious +communications within, is perhaps exhibiting outwardly unfavorable marks +of his real state, and holding out by his low practice discouragements +unfriendly to that religion of which he professes himself a shining +instance.</p> + +<p>"The sober Christian is as fully convinced that only he who made the +heart can renew it, as the enthusiast. He is as fully persuaded that his +natural dispositions can not be changed, nor his affections purified but +by the agency of the divine Spirit, as the fanatic. And though he +presume not to limit omnipotence to a sudden or a gradual change, yet he +does not think it necessary to ascertain the day, and the hour, and the +moment, contented to be assured that whereas he was once blind he now +sees. If he does not presume in his own case to fix the <i>chronology of +conversion</i>, he is not less certain as to its effects. If he can not +enumerate dates, and recapitulate feelings, he can and does produce such +evidence of his improvement, as virtuous habits, a devout temper, an +humble and charitable spirit, repentance toward God, and faith in our +Lord Jesus Christ; and this gives an evidence less equivocal, as +existing more in the heart than on the lips, and more in the life than +in the discourse. Surely, if a plant be flourishing, the branches +green, and the fruit fair and abundant, we may venture to pronounce +these to be indications of health and vigor, though we can not ascertain +the moment when the seed was sown, or the manner in which it sprung up."</p> + +<p>Sir John, who had been an attentive listener, but had not yet spoken a +word, now said, smiling, "Mr. Stanley, you steer most happily between +the two extremes. This exclusive cry of grace in one party of +religionists, which drives the opposite side into as unreasonable a +clamor against it, reminds me of the Queen of Louis Quatorze. When the +Jesuits, who were of the court-party, made so violent an outcry against +the Jasenists, for no reason but because they had more piety than +themselves, her majesty was so fearful of being thought to favor the +oppressed side, that in the excess of her party zeal, she vehemently +exclaimed, 'Oh, fie upon grace! fie upon grace!'"</p> + +<p>"Party violence," continued Mr. Stanley, "thinks it can never recede far +enough from the side it opposes!"</p> + +<p>"But how then," replied Mr. Tyrrel, "is our religion to be known, except +by our making a profession of truths which the irreligious are either +ignorant of, or oppose?"</p> + +<p>"There is," rejoined Mr. Stanley, "as I have already observed, a more +infallible criterion. It is best known by the effects it produces on the +heart and on the temper. A religion which consists in opinions only, +will not advance us in our progress to heaven: it is apt to inflate the +mind with the pride of disputation; and victory is so commonly the +object of debate, that eternity slides out of sight. The two cardinal +points of our religion, justification and sanctification, are, if I may +be allowed the term, correlatives; they imply a reciprocal relation, nor +do I call that state Christianity, in which either is separately and +exclusively maintained. The union of these manifests the dominion of +religion in the heart, by increasing its humility, by purifying its +affections, by setting it above the contamination of the maxims and +habits of the world, by detaching it from the vanities of time, and +elevating it to a desire for the riches of eternity."</p> + +<p>"All the exhortations to duties," returned Mr. Tyrrel, "with which so +many sermons abound, are only an infringement on the liberty of a +Christian. A true believer knows of no duty but faith, no rule but +love."</p> + +<p>"Love is indeed," said Mr. Stanley, "the fountain and principle of all +practical virtue. But love itself requires some regulations to direct +its exertion; some law to guide its motions; some rule to prevent its +aberrations; some guard to hinder that which is vigorous from becoming +eccentric. With such a regulation, such a law, such a guard, the divine +ethics of the gospel have furnished us. The word of God is as much our +rule, as his Spirit is our guide, or his Son our 'way.' This unerring +rule alone secures Christian liberty from disorder, from danger, from +irregularity, from excess. Conformity to the precepts of the Redeemer is +the most infallible proof of having an interest in his death."</p> + +<p>We afterward insensibly slid into other subjects, when Mr. Tyrrel, like +a combatant who thought himself victorious, seemed inclined to return to +the charge. The love of money having been mentioned by Sir John with +extreme severity, Mr. Tyrrel seemed to consider it as a venial failing, +and said that both avarice and charity might be constitutional.</p> + +<p>"They may be so," said Mr. Stanley, "but Christianity, sir, has a +constitution of its own; a superinduced constitution. A real Christian +'confers not with flesh and blood,' with his <i>constitution</i>, whether he +shall give or forbear to give, when it is a clear duty, and the will of +God requires it. If we believe in the principles, we must adopt the +conclusions. Religion is not an unproductive theory, nor charity an +unnecessary, an incidental consequence, nor a contingent left to our own +choice. You are a classic, Mr. Tyrrel, and can not have forgotten that +in your mythological poets, the three Pagan graces were always knit +together hand in hand; the three Christian graces are equally +inseparable, and that the greatest of these is charity; that grand +principle of love, of which almsgiving is only one branch."</p> + +<p>Mr. Tyrrel endeavored to evade the subject, and seemed to intimate that +true Christianity might be known without any such evidences as Mr. +Stanley thought necessary. This led the latter to insist warmly on the +vast stress which every part of Scripture laid on the duty of charity. +"Its doctrines," said he, "its precepts, its promises, and its examples +all inculcate it. 'The new commandment' of John; 'the pure and undefiled +religion' of James; 'ye shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the +just' of Luke; the daily and hourly practice of him, who not only taught +to do good, but who went about doing it; 'the store for a good +foundation against the time to come' of Paul—nay, in the only full, +solemn, and express representation of the last day, which the gospel +exhibits, charity is not only brought forward as a predominant, a +distinguishing feature of the righteous, but a specific recompense seems +to be assigned to it, when practiced on true Christian grounds. And it +is not a little observable, that the only posthumous quotation from the +sayings of our divine Saviour which the Scripture has recorded, is an +encouragement to charity: 'Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he +said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + + +<p>The next afternoon, when we were all conversing together, I asked Mr. +Stanley what opinion he held on a subject which had lately been a good +deal canvassed; the propriety of young ladies learning the dead +languages; particularly Latin. He was silent. Mrs. Stanley smiled. +Ph[oe]be laughed outright. Lucilla, who had nearly finished making tea, +blushed excessively. Little Celia, who was sitting on my knee while I +was teaching her to draw a bird, put an end to the difficulty, by +looking up in my face and crying out—"Why, sir, Lucilla reads Latin +with papa every morning." I cast a timid eye on Miss Stanley, who, after +putting the sugar into the cream pot, and the tea into the sugar bason, +slid out of the room, beckoning Ph[oe]be to follow her.</p> + +<p>"Poor Lucilla," said Mr. Stanley, "I feel for her. Well, sir," continued +he, "you have discovered by external, what I trust you would not have +soon found by internal evidence. Parents who are in high circumstances, +yet from principle abridge their daughters of the pleasures of the +dissipated part of the world, may be allowed to substitute other +pleasures; and if the girl has a strong inquisitive mind, they may +direct it to such pursuits as call for vigorous application, and the +exercise of the mental powers."</p> + +<p>"How does that sweet girl manage," said Lady Belfield, "to be so +utterly void of pretension? So much softness and so much usefulness +strip her of all the terrors of learning."</p> + +<p>"At first," replied Mr. Stanley, "I only meant to give Lucilla as much +Latin as would teach her to grammaticize her English, but her quickness +in acquiring led me on, and I think I did right; for it is superficial +knowledge that excites vanity. A learned language, which a discreet +woman will never produce in company, is less likely to make her vain +than those acquirements which, are always in exhibition. And after all, +it is a hackneyed remark, that the best instructed girl will have less +learning than a school-boy; and why should vanity operate in her case +more than in his?"</p> + +<p>"For this single reason, sir," said I, "that every body knows that which +very few girls are taught. Suspect me not, however, of censuring a +measure which I admire. I hope the example of your daughters will help +to raise the tone of female education."</p> + +<p>"Softly, softly," interrupted Mr. Stanley, "retrench your plural number. +It is only one girl out of six that has deviated from the beaten track. +I do not expect many converts to what I must rather call my practice in +one instance, than my general opinion. I am so convinced of the +prevailing prejudice, that the thing has never been named out of the +family. If my gay neighbor Miss Rattle knew that Lucilla had learned +Latin, she would instantly find out a few moments to add that language +to her innumerable acquirements, because her mother can afford to pay +for it, and because Lady Di. Dash has never learned it. I assure you, +however" (laughing as he spoke), "I never intend to smuggle my poor girl +on any man by concealing from him this unpopular attainment, any more +than I would conceal any personal defect."</p> + +<p>"I will honestly confess," said Sir John, who had not yet spoken, "that +had I been to judge the case <i>à priori</i>, had I met Miss Stanley under +the terrifying persuasion that she was a scholar, I own I should have +met her with a prejudice; I should have feared she might be forward in +conversation, deficient in feminine manners, and destitute of domestic +talents. But having had such a fair occasion of admiring her engaging +modesty, her gentle and unassuming tone in society, and above all, +having heard from Lady Belfield how eminently she excels in the true +science of a lady—domestic knowledge—I can not refuse her that +additional regard, which this solid acquirement, so meekly borne, +deserves. Nor, on reflection, do I see why we should be so forward to +instruct a woman in the language spoken at Rome in its present degraded +state, in which there are comparatively few authors to improve her, and +yet be afraid that she should be acquainted with that which was its +vernacular tongue, in its age of glory two thousand years ago, and which +abounds with writers of supreme excellence."</p> + +<p>I was charmed at these concessions from Sir John, and exclaimed with a +transport which I could not restrain: "In our friends, even in our +common acquaintance, do we not delight to associate with those whose +pursuits have been similar to our own, and who have read the same books? +How dull do we find it, when civility compels us to pass even a day with +an illiterate man? Shall we not then delight in the kindred acquirements +of a dearer friend? Shall we not rejoice in a companion who has drawn, +though less copiously, perhaps, from the same rich sources with +ourselves; who can relish the beauty we quote, and trace the allusion at +which we hint? I do not mean that <i>learning</i> is absolutely necessary, +but a man of taste who has an ignorant wife, can not, in her company, +think his own thoughts, nor speak his own language; his thoughts he will +suppress; his language he will debase, the one from hopelessness, the +other from compassion. He must be continually lowering and diluting his +meaning, in order to make himself intelligible. This he will do for the +woman he loves, but in doing it he will not be happy. She, who can not +be entertained by his conversation, will not be convinced by his +reasoning; and at length he will find out that it is less trouble to +lower his own standard to hers, than to exhaust himself in the vain +attempt to raise hers to his own."</p> + +<p>"A fine high-sounding <i>tirade</i>, Charles, spoken <i>con amore</i>," said Sir +John. "I really believe, though, that one reason why women are so +frivolous is, that the things they are taught are not solid enough to +fix the attention, exercise the intellect, and fortify the +understanding. They learn little that inures to reasoning, or compels to +patient meditation."</p> + +<p>"I consider the difficulties of a solid education," said Mr. Stanley, +"as a sort of preliminary course, intended perhaps by Providence as a +gradual preparative for the subsequent difficulties of life; as a +prelude to the acquisition of that solidity and firmness of character +which actual trials are hereafter to confirm. Though I would not make +instruction unnecessarily harsh and rugged, yet I would not wish to +increase its facilities to such a degree as to weaken that robustness of +mind which it should be its object to promote, in order to render mental +discipline subservient to moral."</p> + +<p>"How have you managed with your other girls, Stanley?" said Sir John, +"for though you vindicate general knowledge, you profess not to wish for +general learning in the sex."</p> + +<p>"Far from it," replied Mr. Stanley. "I am a gardener you know, and +accustomed to study the genius of the soil before I plant. Most of my +daughters, like the daughters of other men, have some one talent, or at +least propensity; for parents are too apt to mistake inclination for +genius. This propensity I endeavor to find out and to cultivate. But if +I find the natural bias very strong, and not very safe, I then labor to +counteract, instead of encouraging the tendency, and try to give it a +fresh direction. Lucilla having a strong bent to whatever relates to +intellectual taste, I have read over with her the most unexceptionable +parts of a few of the best Roman classics. She began at nine years old, +for I have remarked that it is not learning much, but learning late, +which makes pedants.</p> + +<p>"Ph[oe]be, who has a superabundance of vivacity, I have in some measure +tamed, by making her not only a complete mistress of arithmetic, but by +giving her a tincture of mathematics. Nothing puts such a bridle on the +fancy as demonstration. A habit of computing steadies the mind, and +subdues the soarings of imagination. It sobers the vagaries of trope and +figure, substitutes truth for metaphor, and exactness for amplification. +This girl, who if she had been fed on poetry and works of imagination, +might have become a Miss Sparkes, now rather gives herself the airs of a +calculator and of a grave computist. Though as in the case of the cat in +the fable, who was metamorphosed into a lady, nature will breath out as +soon as the scratching of a mouse is heard; and all Ph[oe]be's +philosophy can scarcely keep her in order, if any work of fancy comes in +her way.</p> + +<p>"To soften the horrors of her fate, however, I allowed her to read a few +of the best things in her favorite class. When I read to her the more +delicate parts of Gulliver's Travels, with which she was enchanted, she +affected to be angry at the voyage to Laputa, because it ridicules +philosophical science. And in Brobdignag, she said, the proportions were +not correct. I must, however, explain to you, that the use which I made +of these dry studies with Ph[oe]be, was precisely the same which the +ingenious Mr. Cheshire makes of his steel machines for defective shapes, +to straiten a crooked tendency or strengthen a weak one. Having employed +these means to set her mind upright, and to cure a wrong bias; as that +skillful gentleman discards his apparatus as soon as the patient becomes +strait, so have I discontinued these pursuits, for I never meant to +make a mathematical lady. Jane has a fine ear and a pretty voice, and +will sing and play well enough for any girl who is not to make music her +profession. One or two of the others sing agreeably.</p> + +<p>"The little one, who brought the last nosegay, has a strong turn for +natural history, and we all of us generally botanize a little of an +evening, which gives a fresh interest to our walks. She will soon draw +plants and flowers pretty accurately. Louisa also has some taste in +designing, and takes tolerable sketches from nature. These we encourage +because they are solitary pleasures, and want no witnesses. They all are +too eager to impart somewhat of what they know to your little favorite +Celia, who is in danger of picking up a little of every thing, the sure +way to excel in nothing.</p> + +<p>"Thus each girl is furnished with some one source of independent +amusement. But what would become of them, or rather what would become of +their mother and me, if every one of them was a scholar, a +mathematician, a singer, a performer, a botanist, a painter? Did we +attempt to force all these acquirements and a dozen more on every girl; +all her <i>time</i> would be occupied about things which will be of no value +to her in <i>eternity</i>. I need not tell you that we are carefully +communicating to every one of them that general knowledge which should +be common to all gentlewomen.</p> + +<p>"In unrolling the vast volume of ancient and modern history, I ground on +it some of my most useful instructions, and point out how the truth of +Scripture is illustrated by the crimes and corruptions which history +records, and how the same pride, covetousness, ambition, turbulence, and +deceit, which bring misery on empires, destroy the peace of families. To +history, geography and chronology are such, indispensable appendages, +that it would be superfluous to insist on their usefulness. As to +astronomy, while 'the heavens declare the glory of God,' it seems a kind +of impiety, not to give young people some insight into it." "I hope," +said Sir John, "that you do not exclude the modern languages from your +plan." "As to the French," replied Mr. Stanley, "with that thorough +inconsistency which is common to man, the demand for it seems to have +risen in exact proportion as it ought to have sunk.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> I would not, +however, rob my children of a language in which, though there are more +books to be avoided, there are more that deserve to be read, than in all +the foreign languages put together."</p> + +<p>"If you prohibit Italian," said Sir John, laughing, "I will serve you as +Cowper advised the boys and girls to serve Johnson for depreciating +Henry and Emma; I will join the musical and poetical ladies in tearing +you to pieces, as the Thracian damsels did Orpheus, and send your head +with his</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"You remember me, my dear Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "a warm +admirer of the exquisite beauties of Italian poetry. But a father feels, +or rather judges differently from the mere man of taste, and as a +father, I can not help regretting, that what is commonly put into the +hands of our daughters, is so amatory, that it has a tendency to soften +those minds which rather want to be invigorated.</p> + +<p>"There are few things I more deprecate for girls than a poetical +education, the evils of which I saw sadly exemplified in a young friend +of Mrs. Stanley's. She had beauty and talents. Her parents, enchanted +with both, left her entirely to her own guidance. She yielded herself up +to the uncontrolled rovings of a vagrant fancy. When a child she wrote +verses, which were shown in her presence to every guest. Their flattery +completed her intoxication. She afterward translated Italian sonnets and +composed elegies of which love was the only theme. These she was +encouraged by her mother to recite herself, in all companies, with a +pathos and sensibility which delighted her parents, but alarmed her more +prudent friends.</p> + +<p>"She grew up with the confirmed opinion that the two great and sole +concerns of human life were love and poetry. She considered them as +inseparably connected, and she resolved in her own instance never to +violate so indispensable a union. The object of her affection was +unhappily chosen, and the effects of her attachment were such as might +have been expected from a connexion formed on so slight a foundation. In +the perfections with which she invested her lover, she gave the reins to +her imagination, when she thought she was only consulting her heart. She +picked out and put together the fine qualities of all the heroes of all +the poets she had ever read, and into this finished creature, her fancy +transformed her admirer.</p> + +<p>"Love and poetry commonly influence the two sexes in a very +disproportionate degree. With men, each of them is only one passion +among many. Love has various and powerful competitors in hearts divided +between ambition, business, and pleasure. Poetry is only one amusement +in minds, distracted by a thousand tumultuous pursuits, whereas in girls +of ardent tempers, whose feelings are not curbed by restraint, and +regulated by religion, love is considered as the great business of their +earthly existence. It is cherished, not as 'the cordial drop,' but as +the whole contents of the cup; the remainder is considered only as froth +or dregs. The unhappy victim not only submits to the destructive +dominion of a despotic passion but glories in it. So at least did this +ill-starred girl.</p> + +<p>"The sober duties of a family had early been transferred to her sisters, +as far beneath the attention of so fine a genius; while she abandoned +herself to studies which kept her imagination in a fever, and to a +passion which those studies continually fed and inflamed. Both together +completed her delirium. She was ardent, generous, and sincere; but +violent, imprudent, and vain to excess. She set the opinion of the world +at complete defiance, and was not only totally destitute of judgment and +discretion herself, but despised them in others. Her lover and her muse +were to her instead of the whole world.</p> + +<p>"After having for some years exchanged sonnets, under the names of Laura +and Petrarch, and elegies under those of Sappho and Phaon; the lover, to +whom all this had been mere sport, the gratification of vanity, and the +recreation of an idle hour grew weary.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Younger and fairer he another saw.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>He drew off. Her verses were left unanswered, her reproaches unpitied. +Laura wept, and Sappho raved in vain.</p> + +<p>"The poor girl, to whom all this visionary romance had been a serious +occupation, which had swallowed up cares and duties, now realized the +woes she had so often admired and described. Her upbraidings only served +to alienate still more the heart of her deserter; and her despair, which +he had the cruelty to treat as fictitious, was to him a subject of mirth +and ridicule. Her letters were exposed, her expostulatory verses read at +clubs and taverns, and the unhappy Sappho toasted in derision.</p> + +<p>"All her ideal refinements now degenerated into practical improprieties. +The public avowal of her passion drew on her from the world charges +which she had not merited. Her reputation was wounded, her health +declined, her peace was destroyed. She experienced the dishonors of +guilt without its turpitude, and in the bloom of life fell, the +melancholy victim to a mistaken education and an undisciplined mind."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Stanley dropped a silent tear to the memory of her unhappy friend, +the energies of whose mind she said would, had they been lightly +directed, have formed a fine character.</p> + +<p>"But none of the things of which I have been speaking," resumed Mr. +Stanley, "are the great and primary objects of instruction. The +inculcation of fortitude, prudence, humility, temperance, +self-denial—this is education. These are things we endeavor to promote +far more than arts or languages. These are tempers, the habit of which +should be laid in early, and followed up constantly, as there is no day +in life which will not call them into exercise; and how can that be +practiced which has never been acquired?</p> + +<p>"Perseverance, meekness, and industry," continued he, "are the qualities +we most carefully cherish and commend. For poor Laura's sake, I make it +a point never to extol any indications of genius. Genius has pleasure +enough in its own high aspirings. Nor am I indeed overmuch delighted +with a great blossom of talents. I agree with good Bishop Hull, that it +is better to thin the blossoms that the rest may thrive; and that in +encouraging too many propensities, one faculty may not starve another."</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield expressed herself grateful for the hints Mr. Stanley had +thrown out, which could not be but of importance to her who had so large +a family. After some further questions from her, he proceeded:</p> + +<p>"I have partly explained to you, my dear madam, why, though I would not +have every woman learn every thing, yet why I would give every girl, in +a certain station of life, some one amusing accomplishment. There is +here and there a strong mind, which requires a more substantial +nourishment than the common education of girls affords. To such, and to +such only, would I furnish the quiet resource of a dead language as a +solid aliment, which may fill the mind without inflating it.</p> + +<p>"But that no acquirement may inflate it, let me add, there is but one +sure corrective. Against learning, against talents of any kind, nothing +can steady the head, unless you fortify the heart with real +Christianity. In raising the moral edifice, we must sink deep in +proportion as we build high. We must widen the foundation if we extend +the superstructure. Religion alone can counteract the aspirings of +genius, can regulate the pride of talents.</p> + +<p>"And let such women as are disposed to be vain of their comparatively +petty attainments, look up with admiration to those two cotemporary +shining examples, the venerable Elizabeth Carter and the blooming +Elizabeth Smith. I knew them both, and to know was to revere them. In +<i>them</i>, let our young ladies contemplate profound and various learning +chastised by true Christian humility. In <i>them</i>, let them venerate +acquirements which would have been distinguished in a university, +meekly, softened, and beautifully shaded by the gentle exertion of every +domestic virtue, the unaffected exercise of every feminine employment."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> + + +<p>Ever since Mr. Tyrrel had been last with us, I had observed an unusual +seriousness in the countenance of Sir John Belfield, though accompanied +with his natural complacency. His mind seemed intent on something he +wished to communicate. The first time we were both alone in the library +with Mr. Stanley, Sir John said: "Stanley, the conversations we have +lately had, and especially the last, in which you bore so considerable a +part, have furnished me with matter for reflection. I hope the pleasure +will not be quite destitute of profit."</p> + +<p>"My dear Sir John," replied Mr. Stanley, "in conversing with Mr. Tyrrel, +I labor under a disadvantage common to every man, who, when he is called +to defend some important principle which he thinks attacked or +undervalued, is brought into danger of being suspected to undervalue +others, which, if they in their turn were assailed, he would defend with +equal zeal. When points of the last importance are slighted as +insignificant in order exclusively to magnify one darling opinion, I am +driven to appear as if I opposed that important tenet, which, if I may +so speak, seems pitted against the others. Those who do not previously +know my principles, might almost suspect me of being an opposer of that +prime doctrine, which I really consider as the leading principle of +Christianity."</p> + +<p>"Allow me to say," returned Sir John, "that my surprise has been equal +to my satisfaction. Those very doctrines which you maintained, I had +been assured, were the very tenets you rejected. Many of our +acquaintance, who do not come near enough to judge, or who would not be +competent to judge if they did, ascribe the strictness of your practice +to some unfounded peculiarities of opinion, and suspect that the +doctrines of Tyrrel, though somewhat modified, a little more rationally +conceived, and more ably expressed, are the doctrines held by you, and +by every man who rises above the ordinary standard of what the world +calls religious men. And what is a little absurd and inconsistent, they +ascribe to these supposed dangerous doctrines, his abstinence from the +diversions, and his disapprobation of the manners and maxims of the +world. <i>Your</i> opinions, however, I always suspected could not be very +pernicious, the effects of which, from the whole tenor of your life, I +knew to be so salutary.</p> + +<p>"I now find upon full proof that there is nothing in your sentiments but +what a man of sense may approve; nothing but what if he be really a man +of sense, he will without scruple adopt. May I be enabled more fully, +more practically, to adopt them! You shall point out to me such a course +of reading as may not only clear up my remaining difficulties, but, what +is infinitely more momentous than the solution of any abstract question, +may help to awaken me to a more deep and lively sense of my own +individual interest in this great concern!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley's benevolent countenance was lighted up with more than its +wonted animation. He did not attempt to conceal the deep satisfaction +with which his heart was penetrated. He modestly referred his friend to +Dr. Barlow, as a far more able casuist, though not a more cordial +friend. For my own part, I felt my heart expand toward Sir John with new +sympathies and an enlarged affection. I felt noble motives of +attachment, an attachment which I hoped would be perpetuated beyond the +narrow bounds of this perishable world.</p> + +<p>"My dear Sir John," said Mr. Stanley, "it is among the daily but +comparatively petty trials of every man who is deeply in earnest to +secure his immortal interests, to be classed with low and wild +enthusiasts whom his judgment condemns, with hypocrites against whom his +principles revolt, and with men, pious and conscientious I am most +willing to allow, but differing widely from his own views; with others +who evince a want of charity in some points, and a want of judgment in +most. To be identified, I say, with men so different from yourself, +because you hold in common some great truths, which all real Christians +have held in all ages, and because you agree with them in avoiding the +blamable excesses of dissipation, is among the sacrifices of reputation, +which a man must be contented to make who is earnest in the great object +of a Christian's pursuit. I trust, however, that, through divine grace, +I shall never renounce my integrity for the praise of men, who have so +little consistency, that though they pretend their quarrel is with your +faith, yet who would not care how extravagant your belief was if your +practice assimilated with their own. I trust, on the other hand, that I +shall always maintain my candor toward those with whom we are unfairly +involved; men, religious, though somewhat eccentric, devout, though +injudicious, and sincere, though mistaken; but who, with all their +errors, against which I protest, and with all their indiscretion, which +I lament, and with all their ill-judged, because irregular zeal, I shall +ever think—always excepting hypocrites and false pretenders—are better +men, and in a safer state than their revilers."</p> + +<p>"I have often suspected," said I, "that under the plausible pretense of +objecting to your creed, men conceal their quarrel with the +commandments."</p> + +<p>"My dear Stanley," said Sir John, "but for this visit, I might have +continued in the common error, that there was but one description of +religious professors; that a fanatical spirit, and a fierce adoption of +one or two particular doctrines, to the exclusion of all the rest, with +a total indifference to morality, and a sovereign contempt of prudence, +made up the character against which, I confess, I entertained a secret +disgust. Still, however, I loved <i>you</i> too well, and had too high an +opinion of your understanding, to suspect that you would ever be drawn +into those practical errors, to which I had been told your theory +inevitably led. Yet I own I had an aversion to this dreaded enthusiasm +which drove me into the opposite extreme."</p> + +<p>"How many men have I known," replied Mr. Stanley, smiling, "who, from +their dread of a burning zeal, have taken refuge in a freezing +indifference! As to the two extremes of heat and cold, neither of them +is the true climate of Christianity; yet the fear of each drives men of +opposite complexions into the other, instead of fixing them in the +temperate zone which lies between them, and which is the region of +genuine piety."</p> + +<p>"The truth is, Sir John, <i>your</i> society considers ardor in religion as +the fever of a distempered understanding, while in inferior concerns +they admire it as the indication of a powerful mind. Is zeal in politics +accounted the mark of a vulgar intellect? Did they consider the +unquenchable ardor of Pitt, did they regard the lofty enthusiasm of Fox, +as evidences of a feeble or a disordered mind? Yet I will venture to +assert, that ardor in religion is as much more noble than ardor in +politics, as the prize for which it contends is more exalted. It is +beyond all comparison superior to the highest human interests, the truth +and justice of which, after all, may possibly be mistaken, and the +objects of which, must infallibly have an end."</p> + +<p>Dr. Barlow came in, and seeing us earnestly engaged, desired that he +might not interrupt the conversation. Sir John in a few words informed +him what had passed, and with a most graceful humility spoke of his own +share in it, and confessed how much he had been carried away by the +stream of popular prejudice, respecting men who had courage to make a +consistent profession of Christianity. "I now," added he, "begin to +think with Addison, that singularity in religion is heroic bravery, +'because it only leaves the species by soaring above it.'"</p> + +<p>After some observations from Dr. Barlow, much in point, he went on to +remark that the difficulties of a clergyman were much increased by the +altered manners of the age. "The tone of religious writing," said he, +"but especially the tone of religious conversation, is much lowered. The +language of a Christian minister in discussing Christian topics will +naturally be consonant to that of Scripture. The Scripture speaks of a +man being <i>renewed in the spirit of his mind</i>, of his being <i>sanctified +by the grace of God</i>. Now how much circumlocution is necessary for us in +conversing with a man of the world, to convey the sense, without +adopting the expression; and what pains must we take to make our meaning +intelligible without giving disgust, and to be useful without causing +irritation!"</p> + +<p>"But, my good Doctor," said Sir John, "is it not a little puritanical to +make use of such solemn expressions in company?"</p> + +<p>"Sir," replied Dr. Barlow, "it is worse than puritanical, it is +hypocritical, where the principle itself does not exist, and even where +it does, it is highly inexpedient to introduce such phrases into general +company at all. But I am speaking of serious private conversation when, +if a minister is really in earnest, there is nothing absurd in his +prudent use of Scripture expressions. One great difficulty, and which +obstructs the usefulness of a clergyman, in conversation with many +persons of the higher class, who would be sorry not to be thought +religious, is, that they keep up so little acquaintance with the Bible, +that from their ignorance of its venerable phraseology, they are +offended at the introduction of a text, not because it is Scripture—for +that they maintain a kind of general reverence—but because from not +reading it, they do not know that it <i>is</i> Scripture.</p> + +<p>"I once lent a person of rank and talents an admirable sermon, written +by one of our first divines. Though deeply pious, it was composed with +uncommon spirit and elegance, and I thought it did not contain one +phrase which could offend the most fastidious critic. When he returned +it, he assured me that he liked it much on the whole, and should have +approved it altogether, but for one methodistical expression. To my +utter astonishment he pointed to the exceptionable passage, 'There is +now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after +the flesh but after the spirit.' The chapter and verse not being +mentioned, he never suspected it was a quotation from the Bible."</p> + +<p>"This is one among many reasons," said Mr. Stanley, "why I so +strenuously insist that young persons should read the Scriptures, +unaltered, unmodernized, unmutilated, unabridged. If parents do not make +a point of this, the peculiarity of sacred language will become really +obsolete to the next generation."</p> + +<p>In answer to some further remarks of Sir John, Mr. Stanley said, +smiling, "I have sometimes amused myself with making a collection of +certain things, which are now considered and held up by a pretty large +class of men as the infallible symptoms of methodism. Those which at +present occur to my recollection are the following: Going to church in +the afternoon, maintaining family prayer, not traveling, or giving great +dinners or other entertainments on Sundays, rejoicing in the abolition +of the slave-trade, promoting the religious instruction of the poor at +home, subscribing to the Bible Society, and contributing to establish +Christianity abroad. These, though the man attend no eccentric +clergyman, hold no one enthusiastic doctrine, associate with no fanatic, +is sober in his conversation, consistent in his practice, correct in his +whole deportment, will infallibly fix on him the charge of methodism. +Any <i>one</i> of these will excite suspicion, but all united will not fail +absolutely to stigmatize him. The most devoted attachment to the +establishment will avail him nothing, if not accompanied with a fiery +intolerance toward all who differ. Without intolerance, his charity is +construed into unsoundness, and his candor into disaffection. He is +accused of assimilating with the principles of every weak brother whom, +though his judgment compels him to blame, his candor forbids him to +calumniate. Saint and hypocrite are now, in the scoffer's lexicon, +become convertible terms; the last being always implied where the first +is sneeringly used."</p> + +<p>"It has often appeared to me," said I, "that the glory of a tried +Christian somewhat resembles that of a Roman victor, in whose solemn +processions, among the odes of gratulation, a mixture of abuse and +railing made part of the triumph."</p> + +<p>"Happily," resumed Mr. Stanley, "a religious man knows the worst he is +likely to suffer. In the present established state of things he is not +called, as in the first ages of Christianity, to be made a spectacle to +the world, and to angels, and to men. But he must submit to be assailed +by three different descriptions of persons. From the first, he must be +contented to have principles imputed to him which he abhors, motives +which he disdains, and ends which he deprecates. He must submit to have +the energies of his well-regulated piety confounded with the follies of +the fanatic, and his temperate zeal blended with the ravings of the +insane. He must submit to be involved in the absurdities of the +extravagant, in the duplicity of the designing, and in the mischiefs of +the dangerous; to be reckoned among the disturbers of that church which +he would defend with his blood, and of that government which he is +perhaps supporting in every possible direction. Every means is devised +to shake his credit. From such determined assailants no prudence can +protect his character, no private integrity can defend it, no public +service rescue it."</p> + +<p>"I have often wondered," said Sir John, "at the success of attacks which +seemed to have nothing but the badness of the cause to recommend them. +But the assailant, whose object it is to make good men ridiculous, well +knows that he has secured to himself a large patronage in the hearts of +all the envious, the malignant, and the irreligious, who, like other +levelers, find it more easy to establish the equality of mankind by +abasing the lofty, than by elevating the low."</p> + +<p>"In my short experience of life," said I, when Sir John had done +speaking, "I have often observed it as a hardship, that a man must not +only submit to be condemned for doctrines he disowns, but also for +consequences which others may draw from the doctrines he maintains, +though he himself, both practically and speculatively, disavows any such +consequences."</p> + +<p>"There is another class of enemies," resumed Mr. Stanley. "To do them +justice, it is not so much the individual Christian as Christianity +itself, which <i>they</i> hope to discredit; <i>that</i> Christianity which would +not only restrain the conduct, but would humble the heart; which strips +them of the pride of philosophy, and the arrogant plea of merit; which +would save, but will not flatter them. In this enlightened period, +however, for men who would preserve any character, it would be too gross +to attack religion itself, and they find they can wound her more deeply +and more creditably through the sides of her professors."</p> + +<p>"I have observed," said I, "that the uncandid censurer always picks out +the worst man of a class, and then confidently produces him as being a +fair specimen of it."</p> + +<p>"From our more thoughtless, but less uncharitable acquaintance, the gay +and the busy," resumed Mr. Stanley, "we have to sustain a gentler +warfare. A little reproach, a good deal of ridicule, a little suspicion +of our designs, and not a little compassion for our gloomy habits of +life, an implied contempt of our judgment, some friendly hints that we +carry things too far, an intimation that being righteous overmuch in the +practice has a tendency to produce derangement in the faculties. These +are the petty but daily trials of every man who is seriously in earnest; +and petty indeed they are to him whose prospects are well-grounded, and +whose hope is full of immortality."</p> + +<p>"This hostility, which a real Christian is sure to experience," said I, +"is not without its uses. It quickens his vigilance over her own heart, +and enlarges his charity toward others, whom reproach perhaps may as +unjustly stigmatize. It teaches him to be on his guard, lest he should +really deserve the censure he incurs; and what I presume is of no small +importance, it teaches him to sit loose to human opinion; it weakens his +excessive tenderness for reputation, makes him more anxious to deserve, +and less solicitous to obtain it."</p> + +<p>"It were well," said Dr. Barlow, "if the evil ended here. The +established Christian will evince himself to be such by not shrinking +from the attack. But the misfortune is, that the dread of this attack +keeps back well disposed but vacillating characters. They are +intimidated at the idea of partaking the censure, though they know it to +be false. When they hear the reputation of men of piety assailed, they +assume an indifference which they are far from feeling. They listen to +the reproaches cast on characters which they inwardly revere, without +daring to vindicate them. They hear the most attached subjects accused +of disaffection, and the most sober-minded churchmen of innovation, +without venturing to repel the charge, lest they should be suspected of +leaning to the party. They are afraid fully to avow that their own +principles are the same, lest they should be involved in the same +calumny. To efface this suspicion, they affect a coldness which they do +not feel, and treat with levity what they inwardly venerate. Very young +men, from this criminal timidity, are led to risk their eternal +happiness through the dread of a laugh. Though they know that they have +not only religion but reason on their side, yet it requires a hardy +virtue to repel a sneer, and an intrepid principle to confront a +sarcasm. Thus their own mind loses its firmness, religion loses their +support, the world loses the benefit which their example would afford, +and they themselves become liable to the awful charge which is denounced +against him who is ashamed of his Christian profession."</p> + +<p>"Men of the world," said Sir John, "are extremely jealous of whatever +may be thought <i>particular</i>; they are frightened at every thing that has +not the sanction of public opinion, and the stamp of public applause. +They are impatient of the slightest suspicion of censure in what may be +supposed to affect the credit of their judgment, though often +indifferent enough as to any blame that may attach to their conduct. +They have been accustomed to consider strict religion as a thing which +militates against good taste, and to connect the idea of something +unclassical and inelegant, something awkward and unpopular, something +uncouth and ill-bred, with the peculiar doctrines of Christianity; +doctrines which, though there is no harm in believing, they think there +can be no good in avowing."</p> + +<p>"It is a little hard," said Mr. Stanley, "that men of piety, who are +allowed to possess good sense on all other occasions, and whose judgment +is respected in all the ordinary concerns of life, should not have a +little credit given them in matters of religion, but that they should be +at once transformed into idiots or madmen in that very point which +affords the noblest exercise to the human faculties."</p> + +<p>"A Christian, then," said I, "if human applause be his idol is of all +men most miserable. He forfeits his reputation every way. He is accused +by the men of the world of going too far; by the enthusiast of not going +far enough. While it is one of the best evidences of his being right, +that he is rejected by one party for excess, and by the other for +deficiency."</p> + +<p>"What then is to be done?" said Dr. Barlow. "Must a discreet and pious +man give up a principle because it has been disfigured by the fanatic, +or abused by the hypocrite, or denied by the skeptic, or reprobated by +the formalist, or ridiculed by the men of the world? He should rather +support it with an earnestness proportioned to its value; he should +rescue it from the injuries it has sustained from its enemies; and the +discredit brought on it by its imprudent friends. He should redeem it +from the enthusiasm which misconceives, and from the ignorance or +malignity which misrepresents it. If the learned and the judicious are +silent in proportion as the illiterate and the vulgar are obtrusive and +loquacious, the most important truths will be abandoned by those who are +best able to unfold, and to defend them, while they will be embraced +exclusively by those who misunderstand, degrade, and debase them. +Because the unlettered are absurd, must the able cease to be religious? +If there is to be an abandonment of every Christian principle because it +has been unfairly, unskillfully, or inadequately treated, there would, +one by one, be an abandonment of every doctrine of the New Testament."</p> + +<p>"I felt myself bound," said Mr. Stanley, "to act on this principle in +our late conversation with Mr. Tyrrel. I would not refuse to assert with +him the doctrines of grace, but I endeavored to let him see that I had +adopted them in a scriptural sense. I would not try to convince him that +he was wrong, by disowning a truth because he abused it. I would +cordially reject all the bad use he makes of any opinion, without +rejecting the opinion itself, if the Bible will bear me out in the +belief of it. But I would scrupulously reject all the other opinions +which he connects with it, and with which I am persuaded it has no +connection."</p> + +<p>"The nominal Christian," said Dr. Barlow, "who insists that religion +resides in the understanding only, may contend that love to God, +gratitude to our Redeemer, and sorrow for our offenses, are enthusiastic +extravagances; and effectually repress, by ridicule and sarcasm, those +feelings which the devout heart recognizes, and which Scripture +sanctions. On the other hand, those very feelings are inflamed, +exaggerated, distorted, and misrepresented, as including the whole of +religion, by the intemperate enthusiast, who thinks reason has nothing +to do in the business; but who, trusting to tests not warranted in the +Scripture, is governed by fancies, feelings, and visions of his own.</p> + +<p>"Between these pernicious extremes, what course is the sober Christian +to pursue? Must he discard from his heart all pious affections because +the fanatic abuses them, and the fastidious denies their existence! This +would be like insisting, that because one man happens to be sick of a +dead palsy, and another of a frenzy fever, there is therefore in the +human constitution no such temperate medium as sound health."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL.</h2> + + +<p>Since the conversation which had accidentally led to the discovery of +Miss Stanley's acquirements, I could not forbear surveying the perfect +arrangements of the family, and the completely elegant but not luxurious +table, with more than ordinary interest. I felt no small delight in +reflecting that all this order and propriety were produced without the +smallest deduction from mental cultivation.</p> + +<p>I could not refrain from mentioning this to Mrs. Stanley. She was not +displeased with my observation, though she cautiously avoided saying any +thing which might be construed into a wish to set off her daughter. As +she seemed surprised at my knowledge of the large share her Lucilla had +in the direction of the family concerns, I could not, in the imprudence +of my satisfaction, conceal the conversation I had had with my old +friend Mrs. Comfit.</p> + +<p>After this avowal she felt that any reserve on this point would look +like affectation, a littleness which would have been unworthy of her +character. "I am frequently blamed by my friends," said she, "for taking +some of the load from my own shoulders, and laying it on hers. 'Poor +thing, she is too young!' is the constant cry of the fashionable +mothers. My general answer is, you do not think your daughters of the +same age too young to be married, though you know marriage must bring +with it these, and still heavier cares. Surely then Lucilla is not too +young to be initiated into that useful knowledge which will hereafter +become no inconsiderable part of her duty. The acquisition would be +really burdensome then, if it were not lightened by preparatory practice +now. I have, I trust, convinced my daughters, that though there is no +great merit in possessing this sort of knowledge, yet to be destitute of +it is highly discreditable."</p> + +<p>In several houses where I had visited, I had observed the forwardness of +the parents, the mother especially, to make a display of the daughter's +merits: "so dutiful! so notable! such an excellent nurse!" The girl was +then called out to sing or to play, and was thus, by that +<i>inconsistency</i> which my good mother deprecated, kept in the full +exhibition of those very talents which are most likely to interfere with +nursing and notableness. But since I had been on my present visit, I had +never once heard my friends extol their Lucilla, or bring forward any of +her excellences. I had however observed their eyes fill with a delight, +which they could not suppress, when her merits were the subject of the +praise of others.</p> + +<p>I took notice of this difference of conduct to Mrs. Stanley. "I have +often," said she, "been so much hurt at the indelicacy to which you +allude, that I very early resolved to avoid it. If the girl in question +does not deserve the commendation, it is not only disingenuous but +dishonest. If she does, it is a coarse and not very honorable stratagem +for getting her off. But if the daughter be indeed all that a mother's +partial fondness believes," added she, her eyes filling with tears of +tenderness, "how can she be in such haste to deprive herself of the +solace of her life? How can she by gross acts wound that delicacy in her +daughter, which, to a man of refinement, would be one of her chief +attractions, and which will be lowered in his esteem, by the suspicion +that she may concur in the indiscretion of the mother.</p> + +<p>"As to Lucilla," added she, "Mr. Stanley and I sometimes say to each +other, 'Little children, keep yourselves from idols!' O my dear young +friend! it is in vain to dissemble her unaffected worth and sweetness. +She is not only our delightful companion, but our confidential friend. +We encourage her to give us her opinion on matters of business, as well +as of taste; and having reflected as well as read a good deal, she is +not destitute of materials on which to exercise her reasoning powers. We +have never repressed her natural vivacity, because we never saw it, like +Ph[oe]be's, in danger of carrying her off from the straight line."</p> + +<p>I thanked Mrs. Stanley for her affectionate frankness, with a warmth +which showed the cordial interest I took in her, who was the object of +it: company coming in, interrupted our interesting tête-à-tête.</p> + +<p>After tea, I observed the party in the saloon to be thinner than usual. +Sir John and Lady Belfield having withdrawn to write letters; and that +individual having quitted the room, whose presence would have reconciled +me to the absence of all the rest, I stole out to take a solitary walk. +At the distance of a quarter of a mile from the park-gate, on a little +common, I observed, for the first time, the smallest and neatest cottage +I ever beheld. There was a flourishing young orchard behind it, and a +little court full of flowers in front. But I was particularly attracted +by a beautiful rose-tree, in full blossom, which grew against the house, +and almost covered the clean white walls. As I knew this sort of rose +was a particular favorite of Lucilla's I opened the low wicket which led +into the little court, and I looked about for some living creature, of +whom I might have begged the flowers. But seeing no one, I ventured to +gather a bunch of the roses, and the door being open, walked into the +house, in order to acknowledge my theft, and make my compensation. In +vain I looked round the little neat kitchen: no one appeared.</p> + +<p>I was just going out, when the sound of a soft female voice over head +arrested my attention. Impelled by a curiosity which, considering the +rank of the inhabitants, I did not feel it necessary to resist, I softly +stole up the narrow stairs, cautiously stooping as I ascended, the +lowness of the ceiling not allowing me to walk upright. I stood still at +the door of a little chamber, which was left half open to admit the air. +I gently put my head through. What were my emotions when I saw Lucilla +Stanley kneeling by the side of a little clean bed, a large old Bible +spread open on the bed before her, out of which she was reading one of +the penitential Psalms to a pale emaciated female figure, who lifted up +her failing eyes, and clasped her feeble hands in solemn attention!</p> + +<p>Before two little bars, which served for a grate, knelt Ph[oe]be, with +one hand stirring some broth which she had brought from home, and with +the other fanning with her straw bonnet the dying embers, in order to +make the broth boil; yet seemingly attentive to her sister's reading. +Her disheveled hair, the deep flush which the fire, and her labor of +love gave her naturally animated countenance, formed a fine contrast to +the angelic tranquillity and calm devotion which sat on the face of +Lucilla. Her voice was inexpressibly sweet and penetrating, while faith, +hope, and charity seemed to beam from her fine uplifted eyes. On account +of the closeness of the room, she had thrown off her hat, cloak, and +gloves, and laid them on the bed; and her fine hair, which had escaped +from its confinement, shaded that side of her face which was next the +door, and prevented her seeing me.</p> + +<p>I scarcely dared to breathe, lest I should interrupt such a scene. It +was a subject not unworthy of Raphael. She next began to read the +forty-first Psalm, with the meek, yet solemn emphasis of devout feeling: +"Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy, the Lord shall +deliver him in the time of trouble." Neither the poor woman nor myself +could hold out any longer. She was overcome by her gratitude and I by my +admiration, and we both at the same moment involuntarily exclaimed, +Amen! I sprang forward with a motion which I could no longer control. +Lucilla saw me, started up in confusion,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">And blushed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Celestial rosy red,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>then eagerly endeavoring to conceal the Bible, by drawing her hat over +it, "Ph[oe]be," said she, with all the composure she could assume, "is +the broth ready?" Ph[oe]be, with her usual gayety, called out to me to +come and assist, which I did, but so unskillfully, that she chid me for +my awkwardness.</p> + +<p>It was an interesting sight to see one of the blooming sisters lift the +dying woman in her bed, and support her with her arm, while the other +fed her, her own weak hand being unequal to the task. At that moment, +how little did the splendors and vanities of life appear in my eyes! and +how ready was I to exclaim with Wolsey,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Vain pomp and glory of the world, I hate you.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>When they had finished their pious office, I inquired if the poor woman +had no attendant. Ph[oe]be, who was generally the chief speaker, said, +"she has a good daughter, who is out at work by day, but takes care of +her mother at night; but she is never left alone, for she has a little +grand-daughter who attends her in the mean time; but as she is obliged +to go once a day to the Grove to fetch provisions, we generally contrive +to send her while we are here, that Dame Alice may never be left alone."</p> + +<p>While we were talking, I heard a little weary step, painfully climbing +up the stairs, and looked round, expecting to see the grand-daughter; +but it was little Kate Stanley, with a lap full of dried sticks, which +she had been collecting for the poor woman's fire. The sharp points of +the sticks had forced their way in many places through the white muslin +frock, part of which, together with her bonnet, she had left in the +hedge, which she had been robbing. At this loss she expressed not much +concern, but lamented not a little that sticks were so scarce; that she +feared the broth had been spoiled, from her being so long in picking +them, but <i>indeed</i> she could not help it. I was pleased with these +under allotments, these low degrees in the scale of charity.</p> + +<p>I had gently laid my roses on the hat of Miss Stanley, as it lay on the +Bible, and before we left the room, as I drew near the good old dame to +slip a couple of guineas into her hand, I had the pleasure of seeing +Lucilla, who thought herself unobserved, retire to the little window, +and fasten the roses into the crown of her hat like a garland. When the +grand-daughter returned loaded with the daily bounty from the Grove, we +took our leave, followed by the prayers and blessings of the good woman.</p> + +<p>As we passed by the rose-tree, the orchard, and the court, Ph[oe]be said +to me, "A'n't you glad that poor people can have such pleasures?" I told +her it doubled my gratification to witness the enjoyment, and to trace +the hand which conferred it; for she had owned it was <i>their</i> work. "We +have always," replied Ph[oe]be, "a particular satisfaction in observing +a neat little flower-garden about a cottage, because it holds out a +comfortable indication that the inhabitants are free from absolute want, +before they think of these little embellishments."</p> + +<p>"It looks, also," said Miss Stanley, "as if the woman, instead of +spending her few leisure moments in gadding abroad, employed them in +adorning her little habitation, in order to make it more attractive to +her husband. And we know more than one instance in this village in which +the man has been led to give up the public-house, by the innocent +ambition of improving on her labors."</p> + +<p>I asked her what first inspired her with such fondness for gardening, +and how she had acquired so much skill and taste in this elegant art? +She blushed and said she was afraid I should think her romantic, if +she were to confess that she had caught both the taste and the passion, +as far as she possessed either, from an early and intimate acquaintance +with the Paradise Lost, of which she considered the beautiful +descriptions of scenery and plantations as the best precepts for +landscape gardening. "Milton," she said, "both excited the taste and +supplied the rules. He taught the art and inspired the love of it." From +the gardens of Paradise the transition was easy and natural. On my +asking her opinion of this portrait, as drawn by Milton, she replied, +"That she considered Eve, in her state of innocence, as the most +beautiful model of the delicacy, propriety, grace, and elegance of the +female character which any poet ever exhibited. Even after her fall," +added she, "there is something wonderfully touching in her remorse, and +affecting in her contrition."</p> + +<p>"We are probably," replied I, "more deeply affected with the beautifully +contrite expressions of repentance in our first parents, from being so +deeply involved in the consequences of the offense which occasioned it."</p> + +<p>"And yet," replied she, "I am a little affronted with the poet, that +while, with a noble justness, he represents Adam's grief at his +expulsion, as chiefly arising from his being banished from the presence +of his Maker, the sorrows of Eve seem too much to arise from being +banished from her flowers. The grief, though never grief was so +beautifully eloquent, is rather too exquisite, her substantial ground +for lamentation considered."</p> + +<p>Seeing me going to speak, she stopped me with a smile, saying, "I see by +your looks that you are going, with Mr. Addison, to vindicate the poet, +and to call this a just appropriation of the sentiment to the sex; but +surely the disproportion in the feeling here is rather too violent, +though I own the loss of her flowers <i>might</i> have aggravated any common +privation. There is, however, no female character in the whole compass +of poetry in which I have ever taken so lively an interest, and no poem +that ever took such powerful possession of my mind."</p> + +<p>If any thing had been wanting to my full assurance of the sympathy of +our tastes and feelings, this would have completed my conviction. It +struck me as the Virgilian lots formerly struck the superstitious. Our +mutual admiration of the Paradise Lost, and of its heroine, seemed to +bring us nearer together than we had yet been. Her remarks, which I +gradually drew from her in the course of our walk, on the construction +of the fable, the richness of the imagery, the elevation of the +language, the sublimity and just appropriation of the sentiments, the +artful structure of the verse, and the variety of the characters, +convinced me that she had imbibed her taste from the purest sources. It +was easy to trace her knowledge of the best authors, though she quoted +none.</p> + +<p>"This," said I exultingly to myself, "is the true learning for a lady; a +knowledge that is rather detected than displayed, that is felt in its +effects on her mind and conversation; that is seen, not by her citing +learned names, or adducing long quotations, but in the general result, +by the delicacy of her taste, and the correctness of her sentiments."</p> + +<p>In our way home I made a merit with little Kate, not only by rescuing +her hat from the hedge, but by making a little provision of wood under +it, of larger sticks than she could gather, which she joyfully promised +to assist the grand-daughter in carrying to the cottage.</p> + +<p>I ventured, with as much diffidence as if I had been soliciting a +pension for myself, to entreat that I might be permitted to undertake +the putting forward Dame Alice's little girl in the world, as soon as +she should be released from her attendance on her grandmother. My +proposal was graciously accepted, on condition that it met with Mr. and +Mrs. Stanley's approbation.</p> + +<p>When we joined the party at supper, it was delightful to observe that +the habits of religious charity were so interwoven with the texture of +these girl's minds; that the evening which had been so interesting to +me, was to them only a common evening, marked with nothing particular. +It never occurred to them to allude to it; and once or twice when I was +tempted to mention it, my imprudence was repressed by a look of the most +significant gravity from Lucilla.</p> + +<p>I was comforted, however, by observing that my roses were transferred +from the hat to the hair. This did not escape the penetrating eye of +Ph[oe]be, who archly said, "I wonder, Lucilla, what particular charm +there is in Dame Alice's faded roses. I offered you some fresh ones +since we came home. I never knew you prefer withered flowers before." +Lucilla made no answer, but cast down her timid eyes, and out-blushed +the roses on her head.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> + + +<p>After breakfast next morning the company dropped off one after another, +except Lady Belfield, Miss Stanley, and myself. We had been so busily +engaged in looking over the plan of a conservatory, which Sir John +proposed to build at Beechwood, his estate in Surrey, that we hardly +missed them.</p> + +<p>Little Celia, whom I call the rosebud, had climbed up my knees, a +favorite station with her, and was begging me to tell her another pretty +story. I had before told her so many, that I had exhausted both my +memory and my imagination. Lucilla was smiling at my impoverished +invention, when Lady Belfield was called out of the room. Her fair +friend rose mechanically to follow her. Her ladyship begged her not to +stir, but to employ the five minutes of her absence in carefully +criticising the plan she held in her hand, saying she would bring back +another which Sir John had by him; and that Lucilla, who is considered +as the last appeal in all matters of this nature, should decide to which +the preference should be given, before the architect went to work. In a +moment I forgot my tale and my rosebud, and the conservatory, and every +thing but Lucilla, whom I was beginning to address, when little Celia, +pulling my coat, said—"Oh, Charles" (for so I teach all the little ones +to call me), "Mrs. Comfit tells me very bad news. She says that your new +curricle is come down, and that you are going to run away. Oh! don't go; +I can't part with you," said the little charmer, throwing her arms round +my neck.</p> + +<p>"Will you go with me, Celia?" said I, kissing her rosy cheek. "There +will be room enough in the curricle."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I should like to go," said she, "if Lucilla may go with us. Do, +dear Charles, do let Lucilla go to the Priory. She will be very good: +won't you, Lucilla?"</p> + +<p>I ventured to look at Miss Stanley, who tried to laugh without +succeeding, and blushed without trying at it. On my making no reply, for +fear of adding to her confusion, Celia looked up piteously in my face +and cried:</p> + +<p>"And so you won't let Lucilla go home with you? I am sure the curricle +will hold us all nicely; for I am very little, and Lucilla is not very +big."</p> + +<p>"Will <i>you</i> persuade her, Celia?" said I.</p> + +<p>"O," said she, "she does not want persuading; she is willing enough, and +I will run to papa and mamma and ask their leave, and then Lucilla will +go and glad: won't you, Lucilla?"</p> + +<p>So saying, she sprang out of my arms, and ran out of the room; Lucilla +would have followed and prevented her. I respectfully detained her. How +could I neglect such an opportunity? Such an opening as the sweet +prattler had given me it was impossible to overlook. The impulse was too +powerful to be resisted; I gently replaced her on her seat, and in +language, which, if it did any justice to my feelings, was the most +ardent, tender, and respectful, poured out my whole heart. I believe my +words were incoherent; I am sure they were sincere.</p> + +<p>She was evidently distressed. Her emotion prevented her replying. But it +was the emotion of surprise, not of resentment. Her confusion bore no +symptoms of displeasure. Blushing and hesitating, she at last said: "My +father, sir—my mother." Here her voice failed her. I recollected with +joy that on the application of Lord Staunton she had allowed of no such +reference, nay, she had forbidden it.</p> + +<p>"I take your reference joyfully," said I, "only tell me that if I am so +happy as to obtain their consent, you will not withhold yours." She +ventured to raise her timid eyes to mine, and her modest but expressive +look encouraged me almost as much as any words could have done.</p> + +<p>At that moment the door opened, and in came Sir John with the other +drawing of the conservatory in his hand. After having examined us both +with his keen, critical eye; "Well, Miss Stanley," said he, with a look +and tone which had more meaning than she could well stand, "here is the +other drawing. As you look as if you had been <i>calmly</i> examining the +first, you will now give me your <i>cool, deliberate</i> opinion of the +merits of both." He had the cruelty to lay so much stress on the words, +cool, calm, and deliberate, and to pronounce them in so arch a manner, +and so ironical a tone, as clearly showed, he read in her countenance +that no epithets could possibly have been so ill applied.</p> + +<p>Lady Belfield came in immediately after. "Well, Caroline," said he, with +a significant glance, "Miss Stanley has deeply considered the subject +since you went; I never saw her look more interested about any thing. I +don't think she is dissatisfied on the whole. General approbation is all +she now expresses. She will have time to spy out faults hereafter: she +sees none at present. All is beauty, grace, and proportion."</p> + +<p>As if this was not enough, in ran Celia quite out of breath—"Oh, +Lucilla," cried she, "papa and mamma won't let you go with Charles, +though I told them you begged and prayed to go."</p> + +<p>Lucilla, the pink of whose cheeks was become crimson, said angrily, "How +Celia! what do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," replied the child, "I mean to say that <i>I</i> begged and prayed, +and I thought you looked as if you would like to go, though Charles did +not ask you, and so I told papa."</p> + +<p>This was too much. The Belfields laughed outright; but Lady Belfield had +the charity to take Lucilla's hand, saying, "Come into my dressing-room, +my dear, and let us settle this conservatory business. This prattling +child will never let us get on." Miss Stanley followed, her face glowing +with impatience. Celia, whom I detained, called after her, "Papa only +said there was not room in the curricle for three; but if it is only a +little way, I am sure we could sit, could we not, Lucilla?" Lucilla was +now happily out of hearing.</p> + +<p>Though I was hurt that her delicacy had suffered so much, yet I own I +hugged the little innocent author of this confusion with additional +fondness. Sir John's raillery, now that Lucilla could be no longer +pained by it, was cordially received, or rather I was inattentive to +every object but the one of which my heart was full. To be heard, to be +accepted, though tacitly, to be referred to parents who I knew had no +will but hers,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Was such a sacred and homefelt delight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such sober certainty of waking bliss<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As I ne'er felt till now.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>During the remainder of the day I found no opportunity of speaking to +Mr. Stanley. Always frank and cheerful, he neither avoided nor sought +me, but the arrival of company prevented our being thrown together. +Lucilla appeared at dinner as usual: a little graver and more silent, +but always unaffected, natural, and delicate. Sir John whispered to me +that she had entreated her mother to keep Celia out of the way till this +curricle business was a little got out of her head.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII.</h2> + + +<p>The next morning, as soon as I thought Mr. Stanley had retreated to his +library, I followed him thither. He was busy writing letters. I +apologized for my intrusion. He laid his papers aside, and invited me to +sit by him.</p> + +<p>"You are too good, sir," said I, "to receive with so much kindness a +culprit who appears before you ingenuously to acknowledge the infraction +of a treaty into which he had the honor of entering with you. I fear +that a few days are wanting of my prescribed month. I had resolved to +obey you with the most religious scrupulousness; but a circumstance, +trifling in itself, has led almost irresistibly to a declaration, which +in obedience to your command I had resolved to postpone. But though it +is somewhat premature, I hope, however, you will not condemn my +precipitancy. I have ventured to tell your charming daughter how +necessary she is to my happiness. She does not reject me. She refers me +to her father."</p> + +<p>"You have your peace to make with my daughter, I can tell you, sir," +said Mr. Stanley, looking gravely; "I fear you have mortally offended +her."</p> + +<p>I was dreadfully alarmed. "You know not how you afflict me, sir," said +I: "how have I offended Miss Stanley?"</p> + +<p>"Not Miss Stanley," said he, smiling, "but Miss Celia Stanley, who +extremely resents having been banished from the drawing-room yesterday +evening."</p> + +<p>"If Celia's displeasure is all I have to fear, sir, I am most fortunate. +Oh, sir, my happiness, the peace of my future life, is in your hands. +But first tell me you forgive the violation of my promise."</p> + +<p>"I am willing to believe, Charles," replied he, "that you kept the +spirit of your engagement, though you broke it in the letter; and for an +unpremeditated breach of an obligation of this nature, we must not, I +believe, be too rigorous. Your conduct since your declaration to me has +confirmed the affection which your character had before excited. You +were probably surprised and hurt at my cold reception of your proposal, +a proposal which gave me a deeper satisfaction than I can express. Yet I +was no dissembler in suppressing the pleasure I felt at an address so +every way desirable. My dear Charles, I know a little of human nature. I +know how susceptible the youthful heart is of impressions. I know how +apt these impressions are to be obliterated—a new face, a more +advantageous connection—"</p> + +<p>"Hold, sir," said I, indignantly interrupting him, "you can not think so +meanly of me—you can not rate the son of your friend so low!"</p> + +<p>"I am very far indeed," replied he, "from rating you low. I know you +abhor mercenary considerations; but I know also that you are a young +man, lively, ardent, impressible. I know the rapid effect that leisure, +retirement, rural scenes, daily opportunities of seeing a young woman +not ugly, of conversing with a young woman not disagreeable, may produce +on the heart, or rather on the imagination. I was aware that seeing no +other, conversing with no other, none at least that, to speak honestly, +I could consider as a fair competitor, hardly left you an unprejudiced +judge of the state of your own heart. I was not sure but that this sort +of easy commerce might produce a feeling of complacency which might be +mistaken for love. I could not consent that mere accident, mere leisure, +the mere circumstance of being thrown together, should irrevocably +entangle either of you. I was desirous of affording you time to see, to +know, and to judge. I would not take advantage of your first emotions. I +would not take advantage of your friendship for me. I would not take +advantage of your feeling ardently, till I had given you time to judge +temperately and fairly."</p> + +<p>I assured him I was equally at a loss to express my gratitude for his +kindness, and my veneration of his wisdom; and thanked him in terms of +affectionate energy.</p> + +<p>"My regard for you," said he, "is not of yesterday: I have taken a warm +interest in your character and happiness almost ever since you have been +in being; and in a way more intimate and personal than you can suspect."</p> + +<p>So saying he arose, unlocked the drawer of a cabinet which stood behind +him, and took out a large packet of letters. He then resumed his seat, +and holding out the direction on the covers asked me if I was acquainted +with the hand-writing. A tear involuntarily started into my eye as I +exclaimed; "It is the well-known hand of my beloved father."</p> + +<p>"Listen to me attentively," resumed he. "You are not ignorant that never +were two men more firmly attached by all the ties which ever cemented a +Christian friendship than your lamented father and myself. Our early +youth was spent in the same studies, the same pleasures, the same +society. 'We took sweet counsel together and went to the house of God as +friends.' He condescendingly overlooked my being five or six years +younger than himself. After his marriage with your excellent mother, the +current of life carried us different ways, but without causing any +abatement in the warmth of our attachment.</p> + +<p>"I continued to spend one month every year with him at the Priory, till +I myself married. You were then not more than three or four years old; +and your engaging manners, and sweet temper, laid the foundation of an +affection which has not been diminished by time, and the reports of your +progress. Sedentary habits on the part of your father, and a rapidly +increasing family on mine, kept us stationary at the two extremities of +the kingdom. I settled at the Grove, and both as husband and father have +been happiest of the happy.</p> + +<p>"As soon as Lucilla was born, your father and I, simultaneously, formed +a wish that it might be possible to perpetuate our friendship by the +future union of our children."</p> + +<p>When Mr. Stanley uttered these words, my heart beat so fast, and the +agitation of my whole frame was so visible that he paused for a moment, +but perceiving that I was all ear, and that I made a silent motion for +him to proceed, he went on.</p> + +<p>"This was a favorite project with us. We pursued it however with the +moderation of men who had a settled sense of the uncertainty of all +human things, of human life itself; and with a strong conviction of the +probability that our project might never be realized.</p> + +<p>"Without too much indulging the illusions of hope, we agreed that there +could be no harm in educating our children for each other: in inspiring +them with corresponding tastes, similar inclinations, and especially +with an exact conformity in their religious views. We never indulged the +presumptuous thought of counteracting providential dispensations, of +conquering difficulties which time might prove to be inseparable, and, +above all, we determined never to be so weak, or so unjust, as to think +of compelling their affections. We had both studied the human heart long +enough to know that it is a perverse and wayward thing. We were +convinced that it would not be dictated to in a matter which involved +its dearest interests, we knew that it liked to pick out its own +happiness in its own way."</p> + +<p>As Mr. Stanley proceeded, my heart melted with grateful love for a +father who, in making such a provision for my happiness, had generously +left my choice so free. But while my conscience seemed to reproach me as +if I had not deserved such tenderness, I rejoiced that my memory had no +specific charge to bring against it.</p> + +<p>"For all these reasons," continued Mr. Stanley, "we mutually agreed to +bury our wishes in our own bosoms; to commit the event to Him by whom +all events are governed; never to name you to each other but in a +general way; to excite no fictitious liking, to elicit no artificial +passion, and to kindle neither impatience, curiosity, nor interest. +Nothing more than a friendly family regard was ever manifested, and the +names of Charles and Lucilla were never mentioned together.</p> + +<p>"In this you have found your advantage. Had my daughter been accustomed +to hear you spoken of with any particularity; had she been conscious +that any important consequences might have attached to your visit, you +would have lost the pleasure of seeing her in her native simplicity of +character. Undesigning and artless I trust she would have been under any +circumstances, but to have been unreserved and open would have been +scarcely possible; nor might you, my dear Charles, with your strong +sense of filial piety, have been able exactly to discriminate how much +of your attachment was choice, how much was duty. The awkwardness of +restraint would have diminished the pleasure of intercourse to both.</p> + +<p>"Knowing that the childish brother and sister sort of intimacy was not +the most promising mode for the development of your mutual sentiments, +we agreed that you should not meet till within a year or two of the +period when it would be proper that the union, if ever, might take +place.</p> + +<p>"We were neither of us of an age or character to indulge very romantic +ideas of the doctrine of sympathies. Still we saw no reason for +excluding such a possibility. If we succeeded, we knew that we were +training two beings in a conformity of Christian principles, which, if +they did not at once attract affection, would not fail to insure it, +should inferior motives first influence your mutual liking. And if it +failed, we should each have educated a Christian, who would be likely to +carry piety and virtue into two other families. Much good would attend +our success, and no possible evil could attend our failure.</p> + +<p>"I could show you, I believe, near a hundred letters on each side, of +which you were the unconscious subject. Your father, in his last +illness, returned all mine, to prevent a premature discovery, knowing +how soon his papers would fall into your hands. If it will give you +pleasure, you may peruse a correspondence of which, for almost twenty +years, you were the little hero. In reading my letters you will make +yourself master of the character of Lucilla. You will read the history +of her mind; you will mark the unfolding of her faculties, and the +progress of her education. In those of your father, you will not be +sorry to trace back your own steps."</p> + +<p>Here Mr. Stanley making a pause, I bowed my grateful acceptance of his +obliging offer. I was afraid to speak, I was almost afraid to breathe, +lest I should lose a word of a communication so interesting.</p> + +<p>"You now see," resumed Mr. Stanley, "why you were sent to Edinburg. +Cambridge and Oxford were too near London, and of course too near +Hampshire, to have maintained the necessary separation. As soon as you +left the University, your father proposed accompanying you on a visit to +the Grove. Like fond parents, we had prepared each other to expect to +see a being just such a one as each would have wished for the companion +of his child.</p> + +<p>"This was to be merely a visit of experiment. You were both too young to +marry. But we were impatient to place you both in a post of observation; +to see the result of a meeting; to mark what sympathy there would be +between two minds formed with a view to each other.</p> + +<p>"But vain are all the projects of man. 'Oh! blindness to the future!' +You doubtless remember, that just as every thing was prepared for your +journey southward your dear father was seized with the lingering illness +of which he died. Till almost the last, he was able to write me, in his +intervals of ease, short letters on the favorite topic. I remember with +what joy his heart dilated, when he told me of your positive refusal to +leave him, on his pressing you to pursue the plan already settled, and +to make your visit to London and the Grove without him. I will read you +a passage from his letter." He read as follows:</p> + +<p>"In vain have I endeavored to drive this dear son for a short time from +me. He asked with the indignant feeling of affronted filial piety, if I +could propose to him any compensation for my absence from his sick +couch? 'I make no sacrifice to duty,' said he, 'in preferring you. If I +make any sacrifice, it is to pleasure.'"</p> + +<p>Seeing my eyes overflow with grateful tenderness, Mr. Stanley said, "If +I can find his last letter I will show it you." Then looking over the +packet—"here it is," said he, putting it into my hands with visible +emotion. Neither of us had strength of voice to be able to read it +aloud. It was written at several times.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Priory</span>, Wednesday, <i>March 18, 1807</i>.</p> + +<p>"Stanley—I feel that I am dying. Death is awful, my dear friend, +but it is neither surprising nor terrible. I have been too long +accustomed steadily to contemplate it at a distance, to start from +it now it is near.</p> + +<p>"As a man, I have feared death. As a Christian, I trust I have +overcome this fear. Why should I dread that, which mere reason +taught me is not an extinction of my being, and which revelation +has convinced me will be an improvement of it? An improvement, oh +how inconceivable!</p> + +<p>"For several years I have habituated myself every day to reflect +for some moments on the vanity of life, the certainty of death, the +awfulness of judgment, and the duration of eternity.</p> + +<p>"The separation from my excellent wife, is a trial from which I +should utterly shrink, were I not sustained by the Christian hope. +When we married, we knew that we were not immortal. I have +endeavored to familiarize to her and to myself the inevitable +separation, by constantly keeping up in the minds of both the idea +that one of us <i>must</i> be the survivor. I have endeavored to make +that idea supportable by the conviction that the survivorship will +be short—the re-union certain—speedy—eternal. O <i>præclarum +diem</i>!<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> etc., etc. How gloriously does Christianity exalt the +rapture, by ennobling the objects of this sublime apostrophe!"</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>"Friday the 20th.</p> + +<p>"As to the union of my son with Lucilla, you and I, my friend, have +long learned from an authority higher than that classical one, of +which we have frequently admired the expression, and lamented the +application, that long views and remote hopes, and distant +expectations become not so short-sighted, so short-lived a creature +as man.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> I trust, however; that our plans have been carried on +with a complete conviction of this brevity; with an entire +acquiescence in the will of the great arbiter of life and death. I +have told Charles it is my wish that he should visit you soon after +my death. I durst not command it—for this incomparable youth, who +has sacrificed so much to his father, will find he has a mother +worthy of still greater sacrifices. As soon as he can prevail on +himself to leave her, you will see him. May he and your Lucilla +behold each other with the eyes with which each of us views his own +child! If they see each other with indifference, never let them +know our wishes. It would perplex and hamper those to whom we wish +perfect freedom of thought and action. If they conceive a mutual +attachment, reveal our project. In such minds, it will strengthen +that attachment. The approbation of a living and the desire of a +deceased parent will sanctify their union. I must break off +through weakness."</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>"Monday, 23d.</p> + +<p>"I resume my pen, which I thought I had held for the last time. May +God bless and direct our children! Infinite wisdom permits me not +to see their union. Indeed my interest in all earthly things +weakens. Even my solicitude for this event is somewhat diminished. +The most important circumstance, if it have not God for its object, +now seems comparatively little. The longest life with all its +concerns, shrinks to a point in the sight of a dying man whose eye +is filled by eternity. Eternity! Oh my friend, Eternity is a depth +which no geometry can measure, no arithmetic calculate, no +imagination conceive, no rhetoric describe. The eye of a dying +Christian seems gifted to penetrate depths hid from the wisdom of +philosophy. It looks athwart the dark valley without dismay, +cheered by the bright scene beyond it. It looks with a kind of +chastised impatience to that land where happiness will be only +holiness perfected. There all the promises of the gospel will be +accomplished. There afflicted virtue will rejoice at its past +trials, and acknowledge their subservience to its present bliss. +The secret self-denials of the righteous shall be recognized and +rewarded. And all the hopes of the Christian shall have their +complete consummation."</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>"Saturday, 28th.</p> + +<p>"My weakness increases—I have written this at many intervals. My +body faints, but in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Oh +Stanley! if pain is trying, if death is awful to him who knows in +whom he has trusted; how is pain endured, how is death encountered +by those who have no such support?"</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>"Tuesday the 31st.</p> + +<p>"I am better to-day. If I experience little of that rapture which +some require, as the sign of their acceptance, I yet have a good +hope through grace. Nay, there are moments when I rejoice with joy +unspeakable. I would not produce this joy as any certain criterion +of my safety, because from the nature of my disease, there are also +moments when my spirits sink, and this might equally furnish +arguments against my state, to those who decide by frames and +feelings. I think my faith as sound, my pardon as sure, when these +privileges are withdrawn, as when I enjoy them."</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<blockquote><p>"Friday, 3d April.</p> + +<p>"Stanley: my departure is at hand. My eternal redemption draweth +nigh. My hope is full of immortality. This is my comfort—not that +my sins are few or small, but that they are, I humbly trust, +pardoned, through him who loved me, and gave himself for me. +Faithful is HE that has promised, and HIS promises are not too +great to be made good—for Omniscience is my promiser, and I have +Omnipotence itself for my security. Adieu!"</p></blockquote> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>On the cover was written, in Mr. Stanley's hand, "He died three days +after!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>It is impossible to describe the mingled and conflicting emotions of my +soul, while I perused this letter. Gratitude that I had possessed such a +father; sorrow, that I had lost him; transport, in anticipating an event +which had been his earnest wish for almost twenty years; regret, that he +was not permitted to witness it; devout joy, that he was in a state so +superior to even <i>my</i> sense of happiness; a strong feeling of the +uncertainty and brevity of <i>all</i> happiness; a solemn resolution that I +would never act unworthy of such a father; a fervent prayer that I might +be enabled to keep that resolution: all these emotions so agitated and +divided my whole mind, as to render me unfit for any society, even for +that of Lucilla. I withdrew, gratefully pressing Mr. Stanley's hand; he +kindly returned the pressure, but neither of us attempted to speak.</p> + +<p>He silently put my father's packet into my hands. I shut myself into my +apartment, and read, for three hours, letters for which I hope to be the +better in time and in eternity. I found in them a treasure of religious +wisdom, excellent maxims of human prudence, a thorough acquaintance with +life and manners, a keen insight into human nature in the abstract, and +a nice discrimination of individual characters; admirable documents of +general education, the application of those documents to my particular +turn of character, and diversified methods for improving it. The pure +delight to which I looked forward in reading these letters with Lucilla, +soon became my predominant feeling.</p> + +<p>I returned to the company with a sense of felicity, which the above +feelings and reflections had composed into a soothing tranquillity. My +joy was sobered without being abated. I received the cordial +congratulations of my friends. Mrs. Stanley behaved to me with increased +affection: she presented me to her daughter, with whom I afterward +passed two hours. This interview left me nothing to desire but that my +gratitude to the Almighty Dispenser of happiness might bear some little +proportion to his blessings.</p> + +<p>As I was passing through the hall after dinner, I spied little Celia +peeping out of the door of the children's apartment, in hope of seeing +me pass. She flew to me, and begged I would take her in to the company. +As I knew the interdict was taken off, I carried her into the saloon +where they were sitting. She ran into Lucilla's arms, and said, in a +voice which she meant for a whisper, but loud enough to be heard by the +whole company, "Do, dear Lucilla, forgive me, I will never say another +word about the curricle, and you sha'n't go to the Priory since you +don't like it." Lucilla found means to silence her, by showing her the +pictures in the "Peacock at Home;" and without looking up to observe +the general smile, contrived to attract the sweet child's attention to +this beautiful little poem, in spite of Sir John, who did his utmost to +widen the mischief.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2> + + +<p>The next day, in the afternoon, Dr. Barlow called on us. By the uncommon +seriousness of his countenance I saw something was the matter. "You will +be shocked," said he, "to hear that Mr. Tyrrel is dying, if not actually +dead. He was the night before last seized with a paralytic stroke. He +lay a long time without sense or motion; a delirium followed. In a short +interval of reason he sent, earnestly imploring to see me. Seldom have I +witnessed so distressing a scene.</p> + +<p>"As I entered the room he fixed his glassy eyes full upon me, quite +unconscious who I was, and groaned out in an inward hollow voice—'Go to +now, ye rich men, weep and howl, for your miseries are come upon you.' I +asked how he did. He replied still from St. James: 'How? why my gold and +silver are cankered, the rust of them shall witness against me; they eat +up my flesh as it were fire.'</p> + +<p>"I was astonished," continued Dr. Barlow, "to see so exact a memory +coupled with so wild an imagination. 'Be composed, sir,' said I, seeing +he began to recollect me, 'this deep contrition is a favorable symptom.' +'Dr. Barlow,' replied he, grasping my hand with a vehemence which +corresponded with his look, 'have you never heard of riches kept by the +owner thereof to his hurt? Restitution! Doctor, restitution! and it must +be immediate, or it will be too late.' I was now deeply alarmed. +'Surely, sir,' said I, 'you are not unhappily driven to adopt St. +James's next words—forgive me but—you can not surely have defrauded.' +'O no, no,' cried he, 'I have been what the world calls honest, but not +what the Judge of quick and dead will call so. The restitution I must +make is not to the rich, for any thing I have <i>taken</i> from them, but to +the poor, for what I have <i>kept</i> from them. Hardness of heart would have +been but a common sin, in a common man; but I have been a professor, +Doctor, I will not say a hypocrite, for I deceived myself as much as +others. But oh! how hollow has my profession been!'</p> + +<p>"Here seeing him ready to faint," continued Dr. Barlow, "I imposed +silence on him, till he had taken a cordial. This revived him, and he +went on.</p> + +<p>"'I was miserable in my early course of profligacy. I was disappointed +in my subsequent schemes of ambition. I expected more from the world +than it had to give. But I continued to love it with all its +disappointments. Under whatever new shape it presented its temptations, +it was still my idol. I had always loved money; but other passions more +turbulent had been hitherto predominant. These I at length renounced. +Covetousness now became my reigning sin. Still it was to the broken +cistern that I cleaved. Still it was on the broken reed that I leaned. +Still I was unhappy, I was at a loss whither to turn for comfort. Of +religion I scarcely knew the first principles.</p> + +<p>"'In this state I met with a plausible, but ill-informed man. He had +zeal, and a sort of popular eloquence; but he wanted knowledge, and +argument, and soundness. I was, however, struck with his earnestness, +and with the importance of some truths which, though common to others, +were new to me. But his scheme was hollow and imperfect, and his leading +principle subversive of all morality.'</p> + +<p>"Here Mr. Tyrrel paused. I intreated him to spare himself; but after a +few deep groans he proceeded.</p> + +<p>"'Whether his opinions had made <i>himself</i> immoral I never inquired. It +is certain they were calculated to make his hearers so. Instead of +lowering my spiritual disease, by prescribing repentence and humility, +he inflamed it by cordials. All was high, all was animating all was +safe! On no better ground than my avowed discontent, he landed me at one +in a security so much the more fatal, as it laid asleep all +apprehension. He mistook my uneasiness for a complete change. My talking +of sin was made a substitute for my renouncing it. Proud of a rich man +for a convert, he led me to mistake conviction for conversion. I was +buoyed up with an unfounded confidence. I adopted a religion which +promised pardon without repentance, happiness without obedience, and +heaven without holiness. I had found a short road to peace. I never +inquired if it were a safe one.'</p> + +<p>"The poor man now fell back, unable to speak for some minutes. Then +rallying again, he resumed, in a still more broken voice:</p> + +<p>"'Here I stopped short. My religion had made no change in my heart, it +therefore made none in my life. I read good books, but they were low and +fanatical in their language, and Antinomian in their principle. But my +religious ignorance was so deplorable, that their novelty caught strong +hold of me.'</p> + +<p>"I now desired him," continued Dr. Barlow, "not to exhaust himself +further. I prayed with him. He was struck with awe at the holy energy in +the office for the sick, which was quite new to him. He owned he had not +suspected the church to be so evangelical. This is no uncommon error. +Hot-headed and superficial men, when they are once alarmed, are rather +caught by phrases than sentiments, by terms than principles. It is this +ignorance of the doctrines of the Bible and of the church, in which men +of the world unhappily live, that makes it so difficult for us to +address them under sickness and affliction. We have no common ground on +which to stand; no intelligible medium through which to communicate with +them. It is having both a language and a science to learn at once."</p> + +<p>In the morning Dr. Barlow again visited Mr. Tyrrel. He found him still +in great perturbation of mind. Feeling himself quite sensible, he had +begun to make his will. He had made large bequests to several charities. +Dr. Barlow highly approved of this; but reminded him, that though he +himself would never recommend charity as a commutation or a bribe, yet +some immediate acts of bounty, while there was a possibility of his +recovery, would be a better earnest of his repentance than the +bequeathing his whole estate when it could be of no further use to +himself. He was all acquiescence.</p> + +<p>He desired to see Mr. Stanley. He recommended to him his nephew, over +whose conduct Mr. Stanley promised to have an eye. He made him and Dr. +Barlow joint executors. He offered to leave them half his fortune. With +their usual disinterestedness they positively refused to accept it, and +suggested to him a better mode of bestowing it.</p> + +<p>He lifted up his hands and eyes, saying, "This is indeed +Christianity—pure, undefiled religion! If it be not faith, it is its +fruits. If it be not the procuring cause of salvation, it is one +evidence of a safe state. O, Mr. Stanley, our last conversation has sunk +deep into my heart. You had begun to pull the vail from my eyes; but +nothing tears the whole mask off, like the hand of death, like impending +judgment. How little have I considered eternity! Judgment was not in all +my thoughts, I had got rid of the terrors of responsibility! O, Dr. +Barlow, is there any hope for me?"</p> + +<p>"Sir," replied the Doctor, "your sin is not greater because you feel it: +so far from it, your danger diminishes in proportion as it is discerned. +Your condition is not worse but better, because you are become sensible +of your own sins and wants. I judge far more favorably of your state +now, than when you thought so well of it. Your sense of the evil of your +own heart is the best proof of your sincerity; your repentance toward +God is the best evidence of your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ."</p> + +<p>"Doctor, it is too late," replied the sick man. "How can I show that my +repentance is sincere? In this miserable condition how can I glorify +God?"</p> + +<p>"Sir," replied Dr. Barlow, "you must lay anew the whole foundation of +your faith. That Saviour whom you had unhappily adopted as a substitute +for virtue, must be received as a propitiation for sin. If you recover, +you must devote yourself, spirit, soul, and body, to his service. You +must adorn his gospel by your conduct; you must plead his cause in your +conversation; you must recommend his doctrines by your humility; you +must dedicate every talent God has given you to his glory. If he +continue to visit you with sickness, this will call new and more +difficult Christian graces into exercise. If by this severe affliction +you lose all ability to do God actual service, you may perhaps glorify +him more effectually by casting yourself entirely on him for support, by +patient suffering for his sake who suffered every thing for yours. You +will have an additional call for trusting in the divine promises; an +additional occasion of imitating the divine example; a stronger motive +for saying practically, The cup which my Father has given me, shall I +not drink it?"</p> + +<p>"O, Doctor," said the unhappy man, "my remorse arises not merely from +my having neglected this or that moral duty, this or that act of +charity, but from the melancholy evidence which that neglect affords +that my religion was not sincere."</p> + +<p>"I repeat, sir," said Dr. Barlow, "that your false security and +unfounded hope were more alarming than your present distress of mind. +Examine your own heart, fear not to probe it to the bottom; it will be a +salutary smart. As you are able, I will put you into a course of reading +the Scriptures, with a view to promote self-examination. Try yourself by +the strait rule they hold out. Pray fervently that the Almighty may +assist you by his Spirit, and earnestly endeavor to suffer as well as to +do his whole will."</p> + +<p>Dr. Barlow says, he thinks there is now as little prospect of his +perfect recovery as of his immediate dissolution; but as far as one +human creature can judge of the state of another, he believes the +visitation will be salutary.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2> + + +<p>As we were sitting at supper, after Dr. Barlow had left us, Lady +Belfield, turning to me, said, "She had had a governess proposed to her +from a quarter I should little expect to hear." She then produced a +letter, informing her that Mr. Fentham was lately found dead in his bed +of an apoplexy. That he had died insolvent; and his large income ceasing +with his life, his family were plunged into the utmost distress. That +Mrs. Fentham experienced the most mortifying neglect from her numerous +and noble friends, who now, that she could no longer amuse them with +balls, concerts, and suppers, revenged themselves by wondering what she +could ever mean by giving them at all, and declaring what a bore it had +always been to them to go to her parties. They now insisted that people +ought to confine themselves to their own station, and live within their +income, though they themselves had lifted her above her station, and had +led her to exceed her income.</p> + +<p>"The poor woman," continued Lady Belfield, "is in extreme distress. Her +magnificently furnished house will go but a very little way toward +satisfying her creditors. That house, whose clamorous knocker used to +keep the neighborhood awake, is already reduced to utter stillness. The +splendid apartments, brilliant with lustres and wax-lights, and crowded +with company, are become a frightful solitude, terrifying to those to +whom solitude has not one consolation or resource to offer. Poor Mrs. +Fentham is more wounded by this total desertion of those whom she so +sumptuously fed, and so obsequiously flattered, than by her actual +wants."</p> + +<p>"It is," said Sir John, "a fine exemplification of the friendships of +the world,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Confederacies in vice, or leagues in pleasure."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Lady Denham, when applied to," resumed Lady Belfield, "said, that she +was extremely sorry for them; but as she thought extravagance the +greatest of faults, it would look like an encouragement to imprudence if +she did any thing for them. Their extravagance, however, had never been +objected to by her, till the fountain which had supplied it was stopped: +and she had for years made no scruple of winning money almost nightly +from the woman whose distresses she now refused to relieve. Lady Denham +further assigned the misery into which the elopement of her darling +child with Signor Squallini had brought her, as an additional reason for +withholding her kindness from Mrs. Fentham."</p> + +<p>"It is a reason," said I, interrupting Lady Belfield, "which, in a +rightly-turned mind, would have had a directly contrary operation. When +domestic calamity overtakes us, is it not the precise moment for holding +out a hand to the wretched? for diminishing the misery abroad, which at +home may be irretrievable?"</p> + +<p>"Lady Bab Lawless, to whom Mrs. Fentham applied for assistance, coolly +advised her to send her daughters to service, saying, 'that she knew of +no acquirement they had which would be of any use to them, except their +skill in hair-dressing.'"</p> + +<p>"It seemed a cruel reproach from a professed friend," said Sir John, +"and yet it is a literal truth. I know not what can be done for them, or +for what they are fit. Their accomplishments might be turned to some +account, if they were accompanied with real knowledge, useful +acquirements, or sober habits. Mrs. Fentham wishes us to recommend them +as governesses. But can I conscientiously recommend to others, girls +with whom I could not trust my own family? Had they been taught to look +no higher than the clerks of their father, who had been a clerk himself, +they might have been happy; but those very men will now think them as +much beneath themselves, as the young ladies lately thought they were +above them."</p> + +<p>"I have often," said Mr. Stanley, "been amused, with observing what a +magic transformation the same event produces on two opposite classes of +characters. The misfortunes of their acquaintance convert worldly +friends into instantaneous strictness of principle. The faults of the +distressed are produced as a plea for their own hard-hearted +covetousness; while that very misfortune so relaxes the strictness of +good men, that the faults are forgotten in the calamity! and they, who +had been perpetually warning the prodigal of his impending ruin, when +that ruin comes, are the first to relieve him."</p> + +<p>It was agreed among us that some small contribution must be added to a +little sum that had been already raised, for their immediate relief; but +that nothing was so difficult, as effectually to serve persons whose +views wore so disproportioned to their deserts, and whose habits would +be too likely to carry corruption into families who might receive them +from charitable motives.</p> + +<p>The conversation then fell insensibly on the pleasure we had enjoyed +since we had been together; and on the delights of rational society, and +confidential intercourse such as ours had been, where minds mingled, and +affection and esteem were reciprocal. Mr. Stanley said many things which +evinced how happily his piety was combined with the most affectionate +tenderness of heart. Indeed I had always been delighted to observe in +him a quality which is not so common as it is thought to be, a thorough +capacity for friendship.</p> + +<p>"My dear Stanley," said Sir John, "it is of the very essence of human +enjoyments, that they must have an end. I observe with regret, that the +time assigned for our visit is more than elapsed. We have prolonged it +beyond our intention, beyond our convenience: but we have, I trust, been +imbibing principles, stealing habits, and borrowing plans, which will +ever make us consider this visit as an important era in our lives.</p> + +<p>"My excellent Caroline is deeply affected with all she has seen and +heard at the Grove. We must now leave it, though not without reluctance. +We must go and endeavor to imitate what, six weeks ago, we almost feared +to contemplate. Lady Belfield and I have compared notes. On the most +mature deliberation, we agree that we have lived long enough to the +world. We agree that it is time to begin to live to ourselves, and to +him who made us. We propose in future to make our winters in London much +shorter. We intend to remove early every spring to Beechwood, which we +will no longer consider as a temporary residence, but as our home; we +will supply it with every thing that may make it interesting and +improving to us all. We are resolved to educate our children in the fear +of God. Our fondness for them is rather increased than diminished; but +in the exercise of that fondness, we will remember that we are to train +them for immortality. We will watch over them as creatures for whose +eternal well-being a vast responsibility will attach to ourselves.</p> + +<p>"In our new plan of life, we shall have fewer sacrifices to make than +most people in our situation; for we have long felt a growing +indifference for things which we appeared to enjoy. Of the world, we are +only going to give up that part which is not worth keeping, and of which +we are really weary. In securing our real friends, we shall not regret +if we drop some acquaintances by the way. The wise and the worthy we +shall more than ever cherish. In your family we have enjoyed those true +pleasures which entail no repentance. That cheerfulness which alone is +worthy of accountable beings, we shall industriously maintain in our +own. I bless God if we have not so many steps to tread back as some +others have who are entering, upon principle, on a new course of life.</p> + +<p>"We have always endeavored, though with much imperfection, to fill some +duties to each other, to our children, to our friends, and to the poor. +But of the prime duty, the main spring of action, and of all moral +goodness, duty to God, we have not been sufficiently mindful. I hope we +have at length learned to consider him as the fountain of all good, and +the gospel of his Son, as the fountain of all hope. This new principle, +I am persuaded, will never impair our cheerfulness, it will only fix it +on a solid ground. By purifying the motive, it will raise the enjoyment.</p> + +<p>"But if we have not so many bad habits to correct as poor Carlton had, I +question if we have not as many difficulties to meet in another way. His +loose course was discreditable. His vices made him stand ill with the +world. He would, therefore, acquire nothing but credit in changing his +outward practice. Lady Belfield and I, on the contrary, stand rather too +well with the world. We had just that external regularity, that cool +indifference about our own spiritual improvement, and the wrong courses +of our friends, which procure regard, because they do not interfere with +others, nor excite jealousy for ourselves. But we have now to encounter +that censure, which we have, perhaps, hitherto been too solicitous to +avoid. It will still be our trial, but I humbly trust that it will be no +longer our snare. Our morality pleased, because it seemed to proceed +merely from a sense of propriety; our strictness will offend when it is +found to spring from a principle of religion.</p> + +<p>"To what tendency in the heart of man, my dear Stanley, is it owing, +that religion is commonly seen to excite more suspicion than the want of +it? When a man of the world meets with a gay, thoughtless, amusing +person, he seldom thinks of inquiring whether such a one be immoral, or +an unbeliever, or a profligate, though the bent of his conversation +rather leans that way. Satisfied with what he finds him, he feels little +solicitude to ascertain what he really is. But no sooner does actual +piety show itself in any man, than your friends are putting you on your +guard; there is instantly a suggestion, a hint, a suspicion, 'Does he +not carry things too far?' 'Is he not righteous over much?' 'Is he not +intemperate in his zeal?' 'Above all things, is he <i>sincere</i>?' and, in +short—for that is the centre in which all the lines of suspicion and +reprobation meet—'<i>Is he not a Methodist?</i>'</p> + +<p>"I trust, however, that, through divine grace, our minds will be +fortified against all attacks on this our weak side; this pass through +which the sort of assaults most formidable to us will be likely to +enter. I was mentioning this danger to Caroline this morning. She opened +her Bible, over which she now spends much of her solitary time, and with +an emphasis foreign from her usual manner, read,</p> + +<p>"'Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he +to be accounted of?'"</p> + +<p>As Sir John repeated these words, I saw Lucilla, who was sitting next +Lady Belfield, snatch one of her hands, and kiss it, with a rapture +which she had no power to control. It was evident that nothing but our +presence restrained her from rising to embrace her friend. Her fine eyes +glistened, but seeing that I observed her, she gently let go the hand +she held, and tried to look composed. I can not describe the chastised, +but not less fervent, joy of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley. Their looks expressed +the affectionate interest they took in Sir John's honest declaration. +Their hearts overflowed with gratitude to him without whom "nothing is +strong nothing is holy." For my own part, I felt myself raised</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Above this visible diurnal sphere.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Sir John afterward said, "I begin more and more to perceive the +scantiness of all morality which has not the love of God for its motive. +<i>That</i> virtue will not carry us safely, and will not carry us far, which +looks to human estimation as its reward. As it was a false and +inadequate principle which first set it a going, it will always stop +short of the true ends of goodness."</p> + +<p>"Sir John," said Lady Belfield, "I have been seriously thinking that I +ought not to indulge in the expense of this intended conservatory. We +will, if you please, convert the money to the building of a charity +school. I can not consent to incur such a superfluous expense for my +amusement."</p> + +<p>"My dear Caroline," replied Sir John, "through the undeserved goodness +of God, my estate is so large, and through your excellent management it +is so unimpaired, that we will not give up the conservatory, unless Mr. +Stanley thinks we ought to give it up. But we will adopt Lucilla's idea +of combining a charity with an indulgence—we will associate the charity +school with the conservatory. This union will be a kind of monument to +our friends at the Grove, from whom you have acquired the love of +plants, and I of religious charity."</p> + +<p>We all looked with anxious expectation at Mr. Stanley. He gave it as his +opinion, that as Lady Belfield was now resolved to live the greater part +of the year in the country, she ought to have some amusements in lieu of +those she was going to give up. "Costly decorations and expensive +gardens," continued he, "at a place where the proprietors do not so much +as <i>intend</i> to reside, have always appeared to me among the infatuations +of opulence. To the expenses which they do not <i>want</i>, it is adding an +expense which they do not <i>see</i>. But surely, at a mansion where an +affluent family actually <i>live</i>, all reasonable indulgences should be +allowed. And where a garden and green-house are to supply to the +proprietor the place of the abdicated theatre and ball-room; and +especially when it is to be a means in her hands of attaching her +children to the country, and of teaching them to love home, I declare +myself in favor of the conservatory."</p> + +<p>Lucilla's eyes sparkled, but she said nothing.</p> + +<p>"It would be unfair," continued Mr. Stanley, "to blame too severely +those, who, living constantly in the country, give a little in to its +appropriate pleasures. The real objects of censure seem to be those who, +grafting bad taste on bad habits, bring into the country the amusements +of the town, and superadd to such as are local, and natural, and +innocent, such as are foreign, artificial, and corrupt."</p> + +<p>"My dear Stanley," said Sir John, "we have resolved to indemnify our +poor neighbors for two injuries which we have been doing them. The one +is, by our having lived so little among them: for I have now learned, +that the mere act of residence is a kind of charity even in the +uncharitable, as it necessarily causes much money to be spent, even +where little is given. The other is, that we will endeavor to make up +for our past indifference to their spiritual concerns, by now acting as +if we were aware that the poor have souls as well as bodies; and that in +the great day of account, the care of both will attach to our +responsibility."</p> + +<p>Such a sense of sober joy seemed to pervade our little party that we +were not aware that the night was far advanced. Our minds were too +highly set for much loquacity, when Ph[oe]be suddenly exclaimed. "Papa, +why is it that happiness does not make one merry? I never was half so +happy in my life, and yet I can hardly forbear crying; and I believe it +is catching, sir, for look, Lucilla is not much wiser than myself."</p> + +<p>The next day but one after this conversation our valuable friends left +us. Our separation was softened by the prospect of a speedy meeting. The +day before they set out, Lady Belfield made an earnest request to Mr. +and Mrs. Stanley that they would have the goodness to receive Fanny +Stokes into their family for a few months previous to her entering +theirs as governess. "I can think of no method so likely," continued +she, "to raise the tone of education in my own family as the transfusion +into it of your spirit, and the adoption of your regulations." Mr. and +Mrs. Stanley most cheerfully acceded to the proposal.</p> + +<p>Sir John said: "I was meditating the same request, but with an +additional clause tacked to it, that of sending our eldest girl with +Fanny, that the child also may get imbued with something of your family +spirit, and be broken into better habits than she has acquired from our +hitherto relaxed discipline." This proposal was also cordially approved.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV.</h2> + + +<p>Dr. Barlow came to the Grove to take leave of our friends. He found Sir +John and I sitting in the library with Mr. Stanley. "As I came from Mr. +Tyrrel," said the Doctor, "I met Mr. Flam going to see him. He seemed so +anxious about his old friend that a wish strongly presented itself to my +mind that the awful situation of the sick man might be salutary to him.</p> + +<p>"It is impossible to say," continued he, "what injury religion has +suffered from the opposite characters of these two men. Flam, who gives +himself no concern about the matter, is kind and generous; while Tyrrel, +who has made a high profession, is mean and sordid. It has been said, of +what use is religion when morality has made Mr. Flam a better man than +religion makes Mr. Tyrrel? Thus men of the world reason! But nothing can +be more false than their conclusions. Flam is naturally an open, +warm-hearted man, but incorrect in many respects, and rather loose in +his principles. His natural good propensities religion would have +improved into solid virtues, and would have cured the more +exceptionable parts of his character. But from religion he stands aloof.</p> + +<p>"Tyrrel is naturally narrow and selfish. Religion has not made but found +him such. But what a religion has he adopted! A mere assumption of +terms; a dead, inoperative, uninfluencing notion, which he has taken up; +not, I hope, with a view to deceive others, but by which he has grossly +deceived himself. He had heard that religion was a cure for an uneasy +mind; but he did not attend to the means by which the cure is effected, +and it relieved not him.</p> + +<p>"The corrupt principle whence his vices proceeded was not subdued. He +did not desire to subdue it, because in the struggle he must have parted +with what he was resolved to keep. He adopted what he believed was a +cheap and easy religion; little aware that the great fundamental +Scripture doctrine of salvation by Jesus Christ was a doctrine +powerfully opposing our corruptions, and involving in its comprehensive +requirements a new heart and a new life."</p> + +<p>At this moment Mr. Flam called at the Grove. "I am just come from +Tyrrel," said he. "I fear it is nearly over with him. Poor Ned! he is +very low, almost in despair. I always told him that the time would come +when he would be glad to exchange notions for actions. I am grieved for +him. The remembrance of a kind deed or two done to a poor tenant would +be some comfort to him now at a time when every man stands in need of +comfort."</p> + +<p>"Sir," said Dr. Barlow, "the scene which I have lately witnessed at Mr. +Tyrrel's makes me serious. If you and I were alone, I am afraid it would +make me bold. I will, however, suppress the answer I was tempted to make +you, because I should not think it prudent or respectful to utter before +company what, I am persuaded, your good sense would permit me to say +were we alone!"</p> + +<p>"Doctor," replied the good-tempered, but thoughtless man, "don't stand +upon ceremony. You know I love a debate, and I insist on your saying +what was in your mind to say. I don't fear getting out of any scrape you +can bring me into. You are too well-bred to offend, and I hope I am too +well-natured to be easily offended. Stanley, I know, always takes your +side. Sir John, I trust, will take mine; and so will the young man here, +if he is like most other young men."</p> + +<p>"Allow me then to observe," returned Dr. Barlow, "that if Mr. Tyrrel has +unhappily deceived himself by resting too exclusively on a mere +speculative faith—a faith which by his conduct did not evince itself to +be of the right sort—yet, on the other hand, a dependence for salvation +on our own benevolence, our own integrity, or any other good quality we +may possess, is an error not less fatal, and far more usual. Such a +dependence does as practically set at naught the Redeemer's sacrifice as +the avowed rejection of the infidel. Honesty and benevolence are among +the noblest qualities; but where the one is practiced for reputation, +and the other from mere feeling, they are sadly delusive as to the ends +of practical goodness. They have both indeed their reward; integrity, in +the credit it brings, and benevolence, in the pleasure it yields. Both +are beneficial to society: both therefore are politically valuable. Both +sometimes lead me to admire the ordinations of that overruling power +which often uses as instruments of public good, men who, acting well in +many respects, are essentially useful to others; but, who, acting from +motives merely human, forfeit for themselves that high reward which +those virtues would obtain, if they were evidences of a lively faith, +and the results of Christian principle. Think me not severe, Mr. Flam. +To be personal is always extremely painful to me."</p> + +<p>"No, no, Doctor," replied he, "I know you mean well. 'Tis your trade to +give good counsel; and your lot, I suppose, to have it seldom followed. +I shall hear you without being angry. You, in turn, must not be angry, +if I hear you without being better."</p> + +<p>"I respect you, sir, too much," replied Dr. Barlow, "to deceive you in a +matter of such infinite importance. For one man who errs on Mr. Tyrrel's +principle, a hundred err on yours. His mistake is equally pernicious, +but it is not equally common. I must repeat it. For one whose soul is +endangered through an unwarranted dependence on the Saviour, multitudes +are destroyed, not only by the open rejection, but through a fatal +neglect of the salvation wrought by him. Many more perish through a +presumptuous confidence in their own merits, than through an +unscriptural trust in the merits of Christ."</p> + +<p>"Well, Doctor," replied Mr. Flam, "I must say that I think an ounce of +morality will go further toward making up my accounts than a ton of +religion, for which no one but myself would be the better."</p> + +<p>"My dear sir," said Dr. Barlow, "I will not presume to determine between +the exact comparative proportions of two ingredients, both of which are +so indispensable in the composition of a Christian. I dare not hazard +the assertion, which of the two is the more perilous state, but I think +I am justified in saying which of the two cases occurs most frequently."</p> + +<p>Mr. Flam said: "I should be sorry, Dr. Barlow, to find out at this time +of day that I have been all my life long in an error."</p> + +<p>"Believe me, sir," said Dr. Barlow, "it is better to find it out now +than at a still later period. One good quality can never be made to +supply the absence of another. There are no substitutes in this warfare. +Nor can all the good qualities put together, if we could suppose them to +unite in one man, and to exist without religion, stand proxy for the +death of Christ. If they could so exist, it would be in the degree only, +and not in the perfection required by that law which said, do <i>this and +live</i>. So kind a neighbor as you are, so honest a gentleman, so generous +a master, as you are allowed to be, I can not, sir, think without pain +of your losing the reward of such valuable qualities, by your placing +your hope of eternal happiness in the exercise of them. Believe me, Mr. +Flam, it is easier for a compassionate man, if he be not religious, to +'give all his goods to the poor,' than to bring every thought, 'nay than +to bring <i>any</i> thought' into captivity to the obedience of Christ! But +be assured, if we give ever so much with our hands, while we withhold +our hearts from God, though we may do much good to others, we do none to +ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Why surely," said Mr. Flam, "you don't mean to insinuate that I should +be in a safer state if I never did a kind thing?"</p> + +<p>"Quite the contrary," replied Dr. Barlow, "but I could wish to see your +good actions exalted, by springing from a higher principle, I mean the +love of God; ennobled by being practiced to a higher end, and purified +by your renouncing all self-complacency in the performance."</p> + +<p>"But is there not less danger, sir," said Mr. Flam, "in being somewhat +proud of what one really <i>does</i>, than in doing nothing? And is it not +more excusable to be a little satisfied with what one really <i>is</i>, than +in hypocritically pretending to be what one is <i>not</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I must repeat," returned Dr. Barlow, "that I can not exactly decide on +the question of relative enormity between two opposite sins. I can not +pronounce which is the best of two states so very bad."</p> + +<p>"Why now, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, "what particular sin can you charge me +with?"</p> + +<p>"I erect not myself into an accuser," replied Dr. Barlow; "but permit me +to ask you, sir, from what motive is it that you avoid any wrong +practice? Is there any one sin from which you abstain through the fear +of offending your Maker?"</p> + +<p>"As to that," replied Mr. Flam, "I can't say I ever considered about the +motive of the thing. I thought it was quite enough not to do it. Well +but, Doctor, since we are gone so far in the catechism, what duty to my +neighbor can you convict me of omitting?"</p> + +<p>"It will be well, sir," said the Doctor, "if you can indeed stand so +close a scrutiny, as that to which you challenge me, even on your own +principles. But tell me, with that frank honesty which marks your +character, does your kindness to your neighbor spring from the true +fountain, the love of God? That you do many right things I am most +willing to allow. But do you perform them from a sense of obedience to +the law of your Maker? Do you perform them because they are commanded in +his word, and conformable to his will?"</p> + +<p>"I can't say I do," said Mr. Flam, "but if the thing be right in itself, +that appears to me to be all in all. It seems hard to encumber a man of +business like me with the action and the motive too. Surely if I serve a +man, it can make no difference to him, <i>why</i> I serve him."</p> + +<p>"To yourself, my dear sir," said the Doctor, "it makes all the +difference in the world. Besides, good actions performed on any other +principle than obedience, are not only spurious as to their birth, but +they are defective in themselves; they commonly want something in weight +and measure."</p> + +<p>"Why, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, "I have often heard you say in the pulpit +that the best are not perfect. Now as this is the case, I will tell you +how I manage. I think it a safe way to average one's good qualities, to +throw a bad one against a good one, and if the balance sinks on the +right side the man is safe."</p> + +<p>Dr. Barlow shook his head, and was beginning to express his regret at +such delusive casuistry, when Mr. Flam interrupted him by saying, "Well, +Doctor, my great care in life has been to avoid all suspicion of +hypocrisy."</p> + +<p>"You can not do better," replied Dr. Barlow, "than to avoid its +<i>reality</i>. But, for my own part, I believe religious hypocrisy to be +rather a rare vice among persons of your station in life. Among the +vulgar, indeed, I fear it is not so rare. In neighborhoods where there +is much real piety, there is no small danger of some false profession. +But among the higher classes of society, serious religion confers so +little credit on him who professes it, that a gentleman is not likely to +put on appearances from which he knows he is far more likely to lose +reputation than to acquire it. When such a man, therefore, assumes the +character of piety, I own I always feel disposed to give him full credit +for possessing it. His religion may indeed be mistaken; it may be +defective; it may even be unsound; but the chances are very much in +favor of its not being insincere. Where piety is genuine it can not be +altogether concealed. Where 'the fruits of the Spirit abound, they will +appear.'"</p> + +<p>"Now, my dear Doctor," replied Mr. Flam, "is not that cant? What do you +mean by the fruits of the Spirit? Would it not have been more worthy of +your good sense to have said morality or virtue? Would not these terms +have been more simple and intelligible?"</p> + +<p>"They might be so," rejoined the Doctor, "but they would not rise quite +so high. They would not take in my <i>whole</i> meaning. The fruit of the +Spirit indeed always includes <i>your</i> meaning, but it includes much more. +It is something higher than worldly morality, something holier than +mere human virtue. I rather conceive morality, in your sense, to be the +effect of natural temper, natural conscience, or worldly prudence, or +perhaps a combination of all three. The fruit of the Spirit is the +morality of the renewed heart. Worldly morality is easily satisfied with +itself. It sits down contented with its own meagre performances; with +legal honesty, with bare weight justice. It seldom gives a particle +'that is not in the bond.' It is always making out its claim to doubtful +indulgences; it litigates its right to every inch of contested +enjoyment; and is so fearful of not getting enough, that it commonly +takes more than its due. It is one of the cases where 'the letter +killeth, but the spirit giveth life.'</p> + +<p>"It obtains, however, its worldly reward. It procures a good degree of +respect and commendation; but it is not attended by the silent train of +the Christian graces, with that 'joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, +goodness, faith,' which are the fruits of the Spirit, and the evidences +of a Christian. These graces are calculated to adorn all that is right +with all that is amiable, 'whatsoever things are honest and just,' with +'whatsoever things are lovely and of good report.' And, to crown all, +they add the deepest humility and most unfeigned self-abasement, to the +most correct course of conduct, a course of conduct which, though a +Christian never thinks himself at liberty to neglect, he never feels +himself permitted or disposed to be proud of!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, "I never denied the truth of +Christianity, as Carlton formerly did. 'Tis the religion of the country +by law established. And I often go to church, because that too is +established by law, for which you know I have a great veneration. 'Tis +the religion of my ancestors, I like it for that too."</p> + +<p>"But, sir," said the Doctor, "would you not show your veneration for the +church more fully if you attended it twice instead of once? And your +veneration for the law, if instead of going sometimes, you went every +Sunday, which you know both the law of God and man enjoins."</p> + +<p>"Why, unluckily," returned Mr. Flam, "the hour of service interferes +with that of dinner."</p> + +<p>"Sir," said Dr. Barlow, smiling, "hours are so altered that I believe if +the church were to new model the calendar, she would say that dinners +ought to be placed among the <i>moveable feasts</i>. An hour earlier or later +would accommodate the difference, liberate your servants, and enable you +to do a thing right in itself, and beneficial in its example."</p> + +<p>Mr. Flam not being prepared with an answer, went on with his confession +of faith. "Doctor," said he, "I am a better Christian than you think. I +take it for granted that the Bible is true, for I have heard many men +say, who have examined for themselves, which I can not say I have ever +had time or inclination to do, that no opposer has ever yet refuted the +Scripture account of miracles and prophecies. So if you don't call this +being a good Christian, I don't know what is."</p> + +<p>Dr. Barlow replied, "Nothing can be better as far as it goes. But allow +me to say, that there is another kind of evidence of the truth of our +religion, which is peculiar to the real Christian. I mean that evidence +which arises from his individual conviction of the efficacy of +Christianity in remedying the disorders of his own nature. He who has +had his own temper improved, his evil propensities subdued, and his +whole character formed anew, by being cast in the mold of Christianity, +will have little doubt of the truth of a religion which has produced +such obvious effects in himself. The truths for which his reason pleads, +and in which his understanding, after much examination, is able to rest, +having had a purifying influence on his heart, become established +principles, producing in him at the same time holiness of life and +peace of conscience. The stronger evidence a man has of his own internal +improvement, the stronger will be his conviction of the truth of the +religion he professes."</p> + +<p>"There are worse men than I am, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, rather +seriously.</p> + +<p>"Sir," replied he, "I heartily wish every gentleman had your good +qualities. But as we shall be judged positively and not comparatively; +as our characters will be finally decided upon, not by our superiority +to other men, nor merely by our inferiority to the divine rule, but by +our departure from it, I wish you would begin to square your life by +that rule now; which, in order that you may do, you should begin to +study it. While we live in a total neglect of the Bible, we must not +talk of our deficiencies, our failings, our imperfections, as if these +alone stood between us and the mercy of God. That indeed is the language +and the state of the devout Christian. Stronger terms must be used to +express the alienation of heart of those, who, living in the avowed +neglect of Scripture, maybe said, forgive me, sir, 'to live without God +in the world.' Ignorance is no plea in a gentleman. In a land of light +and knowledge, ignorance itself is a sin."</p> + +<p>Here Dr. Barlow being silent, and Mr. Flam not being prepared to answer, +Mr. Stanley said, "That the pure and virtuous dispositions which arise +out of a sincere belief of Christianity, are not more frequently seen in +persons professing themselves to be Christians, is, unhappily, one of +the strongest arguments against us that can be urged by unbelievers. +Instances, however, occur, which are too plain to be denied, of +individuals who, having been led by divine grace cordially to receive +Christianity, have exhibited in their conduct a very striking proof of +its excellence; and among these are some who, like our friend Carlton, +had previously led very corrupt lives. The ordinary class of Christians, +who indeed scarcely deserve the name, as well as skeptics and +unbelievers, would do well to mark the lives of the truly religious, and +to consider them as furnishing a proof which will come powerfully in aid +of that body of testimony with which Christianity is intrenched on all +sides. And these observers should remember, that though they themselves +may not yet possess that best evidence in favor of Christianity, which +arises from an inward sense of its purifying nature, they may +nevertheless aspire after it; and those who have any remaining doubts +should encourage themselves with the hope, that if they fully yield +themselves to the doctrines and precepts of the gospel, a salutary +change will in time be effected in their own hearts, which will furnish +them with irresistible evidence of its truth."</p> + +<p>I could easily perceive, that though Mr. Stanley and Dr. Barlow +entertained small hopes of the beneficial effect of their discourse on +the person to whom it was directed; yet they prolonged it with an eye to +Sir John Belfield, who sat profoundly attentive, and encouraged them by +his looks.</p> + +<p>As to Mr. Flam, it was amusing to observe the variety of his motions, +gestures, and contortions, and the pains he took to appear easy and +indifferent, and even victorious: sometimes fixing the end of his whip +on the floor, and whirling it around at full speed; then working it into +his boot; then making up his mouth for a whistle, but stopping short to +avoid being guilty of the incivility of interruption.</p> + +<p>At length with the same invincible good nature, and with the same +pitiable insensibility to his own state, he arose to take leave. He +shook us all by the hand, Dr. Barlow twice, saying, "Doctor, I don't +think the worse of you for your plain speaking. He is a knave or a fool +that is angry with a good man for doing his duty. 'Tis my fault if I +don't take his advice; but 'tis his fault if he does not give it. +Parsons are paid for it, and ought not to be mealy-mouthed, when there +is a proper opening, such as poor Tyrrel's case gave you. I challenged +<i>you</i>. I should perhaps have been angry if you had challenged <i>me</i>. It +makes all the difference, in the event of a duel, which is the +challenger. As to myself, it is time enough for me to think of the +things you recommend. Thank God, I am in excellent good health and +spirits and am not yet quite fifty. 'There is a time for all things.' +Even the Bible allows that."</p> + +<p>The Doctor shook his head at this sad misapplication of the text. Mr. +Flam went away, pressing us all to dine with him next day; he had killed +a fine buck, and he assured Dr. Barlow that he should have the best port +in his cellar. The Doctor pleaded want of time, and the rest of the +party could not afford a day, out of the few which remained to us; but +we promised to call on him. He nodded kindly at Dr. Barlow, saying, +"Well, Doctor, as you won't come to the buck, one of his haunches shall +come to you; so tell madam to expect it."</p> + +<p>As soon as he had left the room, we all joined in lamenting that the +blessings of health and strength should ever be produced as arguments +for neglecting to secure those blessings which have eternity for their +object.</p> + +<p>"Unhappy man!" said Dr. Barlow, "little does he think that he is, if +possible, more the object of my compassion than poor Mr. Tyrrel. Tyrrel, +it is true, is lying on a sick, probably a dying bed. His body is in +torture. His mind is in anguish. He has to look back on a life, the +retrospect of which can afford him no ray of comfort. But he <i>knows</i> his +misery. The hand of God is upon him. His proud heart is brought low. His +self-confidence is subdued. His high imaginations are cast down. His +abasement of soul, as far as I can judge, is sincere. He abhors himself +in dust and ashes. He sees death at hand. He feels that the sting of +death is sin. All subterfuge is at an end. He is at last seeking the +only refuge of penitent sinners, I trust on right grounds. His state is +indeed perilous in the extreme; yet awful as it is, he <i>knows</i> it. He +will not open his eyes on the eternal world in a state of delusion. But +what shall awaken poor Mr. Flam from his dream of security? His high +health, his unbroken spirits, his prosperous circumstances and various +blessings, are so many snares to him. He thinks that 'to-morrow shall be +as this day, and still more abundant.' Even the wretched situation of +his dying friend, though it awakens compassion, awakens not compunction. +Nay, it affords matter of triumph rather than of humiliation. He feeds +his vanity with comparisons from which he contrives to extract comfort. +His own offenses being of a different kind, instead of lamenting them, +he glories in being free from those which belong to an opposite cast of +character. Satisfied that he has not the vices of Tyrrel, he never once +reflects on his own unrepented sins. Even his good qualities increase +his danger. He wraps himself up in that constitutional good nature, +which, being partly founded on vanity and self-approbation, strengthens +his delusion, and hardens him against reproof."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2> + + +<p>In conversing with Mr. Stanley on my happy prospects, and my future +plans; after having referred all concerns of a pecuniary nature to be +settled between him and Sir John Belfield, I ventured to entreat that he +would crown his goodness, and my happiness, by allowing me to solicit +his daughter for an early day.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley said, the term <i>early</i> was relative; but he was afraid that +he should hardly consent to what I might consider even as a late one. +"In parting with such a child as Lucilla," added he, "some weaning time +must be allowed to the tenderest of mothers. The most promising +marriage, and surely none can promise more happiness than that to which +we are looking, is a heavy trial to fond parents. To have trained a +creature with anxious fondness, in hope of her repaying their solicitude +hereafter by the charms of her society, and then as soon as she becomes +capable of being a friend and companion, to lose her forever, is such a +trial, that I sometimes wonder at the seeming impatience of parents to +get rid of a treasure, of which they best know the value. The sadness +which attends the consummation even of our dearest hopes on these +occasions, is one striking instance of that <i>Vanity of human wishes</i>, on +which Juvenal and Johnson have so beautifully expatiated.</p> + +<p>"A little delay indeed I shall require, from motives of prudence as well +as fondness. Lucilla will not be nineteen these three months and more. +You will not, I trust, think me unreasonable if I say, that neither her +mother nor myself can consent to part with her before that period."</p> + +<p>"Three months!" exclaimed I, with more vehemence than politeness. "Three +months! it is impossible."</p> + +<p>"It is very possible," said he, smiling, "that you can wait, and very +certain that we shall not consent sooner."</p> + +<p>"Have you any doubts, sir," said I, "have you any objections which I can +remove, and which, being removed, may abridge this long probation?"</p> + +<p>"None," said he, kindly. "But I consider even nineteen as a very early +age; too early, indeed, were not my mind so completely at rest about you +on the grand points of religion, morals, and temper, that no delay +could, I trust, afford me additional security. You will, however, my +dear Charles, find so much occupation in preparing your affairs and your +mind for so important a change, that you will not find the time of +absence so irksome as you fancy."</p> + +<p>"Absence, sir?" replied I. "What then, do you intend to banish me?"</p> + +<p>"No," replied he, smiling again. "But I intend to send you <i>home</i>. A +sentence, indeed, which in this dissipated age is thought the worst sort +of exile. You have now been absent six or seven months. This absence has +been hitherto justifiable. It is time to return to your affairs, to your +duties. Both the one and the other always slide into some disorder by a +too long separation from the place of their legitimate exercise. Your +steward will want inspection, your tenants may want redress, your poor +always want assistance."</p> + +<p>Seeing me look irresolute, "I must I find," added he, with the kindest +look and voice, "be compelled to the inhospitable necessity of turning +you out of doors."</p> + +<p>"Live without Lucilla three months!" said I. "Allow me, sir, at least to +remain a few weeks longer at the Grove?"</p> + +<p>"Love is a bad calculator," replied Mr. Stanley, "I believe he never +learned arithmetic. Don't you know that as you are enjoined a three +month's banishment, that the sooner you go, the sooner you will return? +And that however long your stay now is, your three months' absence will +still remain to be accomplished. To speak seriously, Lucilla's sense of +propriety, as well as that of Mrs. Stanley, will not allow you to remain +much longer under the same roof, now that the motive will become so +notorious. Besides that, an act of self-denial is a good principle to +set out upon, business and duties will fill up your active hours, and an +intercourse of letters with her you so reluctantly quit, will not only +give an interest to your leisure, but put you both still more completely +in possession of each other's character!"</p> + +<p>"I will set out to-morrow, sir," said I, earnestly, "in order to begin +to hasten the day of my return."</p> + +<p>"Now you are as much too precipitate on the other side," replied he. "A +few days, I think, may be permitted, without any offense to Lucilla's +delicacy. This even her mother pleads for."</p> + +<p>"With what excellence will this blessed union give me an alliance!" +replied I. "I will go directly, and thank Mrs. Stanley for this +goodness."</p> + +<p>I found Mrs. Stanley and her daughter together, with whom I had a long +and interesting conversation. They took no small pains to convince my +judgment, that my departure was perfectly proper. My will however +continued rebellions. But as I had been long trained to the habit of +submitting my will to my reason, I acquiesced, though not without +murmuring, and, as they told me, with a very bad grace. I informed Mrs. +Stanley of an intimation I had received from Sir George Aston of his +attachment to Ph[oe]be, and of his mother's warm approbation of his +choice, adding that he alleged her extreme youth, as the ground of his +deferring to express his hope that his plea might one day be received +with favor.</p> + +<p>"He forgot to allege his own youth," replied she, "which is a reason +almost equally cogent."</p> + +<p>Miss Stanley and I agreed that a connection more desirable in all +respects could not be expected.</p> + +<p>"When I assure you," replied Mrs. Stanley, "that I am quite of your +opinion, you will think me inconsistent if I add that I earnestly hope +such a proposal will not be made by Sir George lest his precipitancy +should hinder the future accomplishment of a wish, which I may be +allowed remotely to indulge."</p> + +<p>"What objection," said I, "can Mr. Stanley possibly make to such a +proposal, except that his daughter is too young?"</p> + +<p>"I see," replied she, "that you do not yet completely know Mr. Stanley: +or rather, you do not know all that he has done for the Aston family. +His services have been very important, not only in that grand point +which you and I think the most momentous; but he has also very +successfully exerted himself in settling Lady Aston's worldly affairs, +which were in the utmost disorder. The large estate which had suffered +by her own ignorance of business, and the dishonesty of a steward, he +has not only enabled her to clear, but put her in the way greatly to +improve. This skill and kindness in worldly things so raised his credit +in the eyes of the guardian, young Sir George's uncle, that he declared +he should never again be so afraid of religious men; whom he had always +understood to be without judgment, or kindness, or disinterestedness.</p> + +<p>"Now," added Mrs. Stanley, "don't you perceive that not only the purity +of Mr. Stanley's motives, but religion itself would suffer, should we be +forward to promote this connection? Will not this Mr. Aston say, that +sinister designs influenced all this zeal and kindness, and that Sir +George's estate was improved with an eye to his own daughter? It will be +said that these religious people always know what they are about—that +when they seem to be purely serving God, they are resolved not to serve +him for nothing, but always keep their own interest in view. Should Sir +George's inclination continue, and his principles stand the siege which +the world will not fail to lay to a man of his fortune—some years +hence, when he is complete master of his actions, his character formed, +and his judgment ripened to direct his choice, so as to make it evident +to the world, that it was not the effect of influence—this connection +is an event to which we should look forward with much pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Never," exclaimed I, "no not once, have I been disappointed in my +expectation of consistency in Mr. Stanley's character. O, my beloved +parents, how wise was your injunction that I should make <i>consistency +the test of true piety</i>! It is thus that Christians should always keep +the credit of religion in view, if they would promote its interests in +the world."</p> + +<p>When I communicated to Miss Stanley my conversation with <i>her</i> father, +and read over with her the letters of <i>mine</i>, how tenderly did she weep! +How were my own feelings renewed! To be thus assured that she was +selected for their son, by my deceased parents, seemed, to her pious +mind, to shed a sacredness on our union. How did she venerate their +virtues! How feelingly regret their loss!</p> + +<p>Before I left the country, I did not omit a visit of civility to Mr. +Flam. The young ladies, as Sir John predicted, had stepped back into +their natural character, and natural <i>un</i>-dress; though he was too +severe when he added, that their hopes in assuming the other were now at +an end.</p> + +<p>They both asked me, if I was not moped to death at the Grove; the +Stanleys, they said, were <i>good sort</i> of people, but quite +<i>mauvais-ton</i>, as every body must be who did not spend half the year in +London. Miss Stanley was a fine girl enough, but knew nothing of the +world, wanted manner, which two or three winters in town would give her. +"Better as she is," interrupted Mr. Flam, "better as she is. She is a +pattern daughter, and will make a pattern wife. <i>Her</i> mother has no +care, nor trouble; I wish I could say as much of all mothers. I never +saw a bad humor, or a bad dinner in the house. She is always at home, +always employed, always in spirits, and always in temper. She is as +cheerful as if she had no religion, and as useful as if she could not +spell her own receipt-book."</p> + +<p>I was affected with this generous tribute to my Lucilla's virtues; and +when he wished me joy, as he cordially shook me by the hand, I could not +forbear saying to myself, why will not this good-natured man go to +heaven?</p> + +<p>I next paid a farewell visit to Mr. and Mrs. Carlton, and to the amiable +family at Aston Hall, and to Dr. Barlow. How rich has this excursion +made me in valuable friendships; to say nothing of the inestimable +connection at the Grove! I did not forget to assure Dr. Barlow that if +any thing could add a value to the blessing which awaited me, it was, +that his hand would consecrate it.</p> + +<p>Through the good Doctor I received a message from Mr. Tyrrel, requesting +me to make him a visit of charity before I quitted the neighborhood. I +instantly obeyed the summons. I found him totally changed in all +respects, a body wasted by disease, a mind apparently full of +contrition, and penetrated with that deep humility, in which he had been +so eminently deficient.</p> + +<p>He earnestly intreated my prayers, adding, "though it is presumption in +so unworthy a being as I am, to suppose his intercession may be heard, I +will pray for a blessing on your happy prospects. A connection with such +a family is itself a blessing. Oh! that my nephew had been worthy of it! +It is to recommend that poor youth to your friendship, that I invited +you to this melancholy visit. I call him poor, because I have neglected +to enrich his mind: but he will have too much of this world's goods. May +he employ well what I have risked my soul to amass! Counsel him, dear +sir; admonish him. Recall to his mind his dying uncle. I would now give +my whole estate, nay, I would live upon the alms I have refused, to +purchase one more year, though spent in pain and misery, that I might +prove the sincerity of my repentance. Be to Ned what my blessed friend +Stanley would have been to me. But my pride repelled his kindness. I +could not bear his superiority, I turned away my eyes from a model I +could not imitate." I now intreated him to spare himself, but after a +few minutes' pause he proceeded: "As to Ned, I trust he is not +ill-disposed, but I have neither furnished his mind for solitude, nor +fortified his heart for the world. I foolishly thought that to keep him +ignorant, was to keep him safe. I have provided for him the snare of a +large fortune, without preparing him for the use of it. I fell into an +error not uncommon, that of grudging the expenses of education to a +relation, for whom I designed my estate. I have thus fitted him for a +companion to the vulgar, and a prey to the designing. I thought it +sufficient to keep him from actual vice, without furnishing him with +arguments to combat it, or with principles to abhor it."</p> + +<p>Here the poor man paused for want of breath. I was too much affected to +speak.</p> + +<p>At length he went on. "I have made over to Dr. Barlow's son two thousand +pounds for completing his education. I have also given two thousand +pounds apiece to the two elder daughters of Mr. Stanley in aid of their +charities. I have made a deed of gift of this, and of a large sum for +charitable purposes at the discretion of my executors. A refusal to +accept it, will greatly distress me. Ned still will have too much left, +unless he employs it to better purposes than I have done."</p> + +<p>Though deeply moved, I hardly knew what to reply; I wished to give him +comfort, but distrusted my own judgment as to the manner. I promised my +best services to his nephew.</p> + +<p>"Oh, good young man!" cried he, "if ever you are tempted to forget God, +as I did for above thirty years; or to mock him by an outward profession +as I have lately done, think of me. Think of one who for the largest +portion of his life, lived as if there were no God. And who, since he +has made a profession of Christianity, deceived his own soul, no less by +the religion he adopted, than by his former neglect of all religion. My +delusion was this, I did not choose to be good, but I chose to be saved. +It was no wonder then that I should be struck with a religion which I +hoped would free me from the discipline of moral rectitude, and yet +deliver me from the punishment of having neglected it. Will God accept +my present forced submission? Will he accept a penitence of which I may +have no time to prove the sincerity? Tell me—you are a Christian."</p> + +<p>I was much distressed. I thought it neither modest nor prudent for me to +give a decisive answer. He grasped my hand. "Then," said he, "you think +my case hopeless. You think the Almighty can not forgive me?" Thus +pressed, I ventured to say, "To doubt his will to pardon, and his power +to save, would, as it appears to me, sir, be a greater fault than any +you have committed."</p> + +<p>"One great comfort is left," replied he, "the mercy I have abused is +infinite. Tell Stanley I now believe with him, that if we pretend to +trust in God, we must be governed by him, if we truly believe in him, we +shall obey him; if we think he sent his Son to save sinners, we shall +hate sin."</p> + +<p>I ventured to congratulate him on his frame of mind; and seeing him +quite overcome, took leave of him with a heart deeply touched with this +salutary scene. The family at the Grove were greatly moved with my +description, and with the method poor Tyrrel had found out of eluding +the refusal of his liberal-minded executors to accept of legacies.</p> + +<p>The day fixed for my departure too soon arrived. I took a most +affectionate leave of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, and a very tender one of +Lucilla, who gratified my affection by the emotion she evidently felt, +and my delicacy by the effort she made to conceal it. Ph[oe]be wept +outright. The children all hung about me, each presenting me some of her +flowers, saying they had nothing else to give me; and assuring me that +Rachel should be no loser by it. Little Celia was clamorous in her +sorrow, when she saw me ascend the curricle, in which neither she nor +Lucilla was to have a place. I took the sweet child up into the +carriage, placed her by me, and gently drove her through the park, at +the gate of which I consigned her to the arms of her father, who had +good-naturedly walked by the side of the carriage in order to carry her +back. I drove off, enriched with his prayers and blessings, which seemed +to insure me protection.</p> + +<p>Though this separation from all I loved threw a transient sadness around +me, I had abundant matter for delightful reflection and pious gratitude. +I experienced the truth of Ph[oe]be's remark, that happiness is a +serious thing. While pleasure manifests itself by extravagant gayety, +exuberant spirits, and overt acts, happiness retreats to its own proper +region, the heart. There concentrating its feelings, it contemplates its +treasures, meditates on its enjoyments, and still more fondly on its +hopes; counts up its mercies, and feels the consummation of them in +looking to the fountain from whence they flow; feels every blessing +immeasurably heightened by the heart-cheering reflection, that the most +exquisite human pleasures are not the perfection of his nature, but only +a gracious earnest, a bounteous pre-libation of that blessedness which +is without measure, and shall be without end.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2> + + +<p>Before the Belfields had quitted us, it was stipulated that we should, +with submission to the will of a higher power, all meet for six weeks +every other summer at Stanley Grove, and pass a month together every +intermediate year, either at the Priory, or at Beechwood.</p> + +<p>I passed through London, and spent three days in Cavendish-square, my +friends having kindly postponed their departure for the country on my +account. Lady Belfield voluntarily undertook whatever was necessary for +the internal decoration of the Priory; while Sir John took on himself +the friendly office of arranging for me all preliminaries with Mr. +Stanley, whose largeness of heart and extreme disinterestedness, I knew +I durst not trust, without some such check as I placed in the hands of +our common friend.</p> + +<p>As soon as all personal concerns were adjusted, Lady Belfield said, "I +have something to communicate, in which, I am persuaded, you will take a +lively interest. On my return to town, I found, among my visiting +tickets, several of Lady Melbury's. The porter told me she had called +every day for the last week, and seemed very impatient for my return. +Finding she was still in town, I went to her immediately. She was not at +home, but came to me within an hour. She expressed great joy at seeing +me. She looked more beautiful than ever, at least the blush of conscious +shame, which mingled with her usual sweetness, rendered her more +interesting.</p> + +<p>"She was at a loss how to begin. With a perplexed air she said, 'Why did +you stay so long? I have sadly wanted you. Where is Sir John? I have +wanted counselors—comforters—friends. I have never had a friend.'</p> + +<p>"I was affected at an opening so unexpected. Sir John came in. This +increased her confusion. At length, after the usual compliments, she +thus addressed him: 'I am determined to conquer this false shame. There +is not a worse symptom in human nature than that we blush to own what we +have not been afraid to do. From you, Sir John, I heard the first +remonstrance which ever reached my ears. You ought to be informed of its +effect. You can not have forgotten our conversation in my coach, after +we had quitted the scene which filled you with contempt for me, and me +with anguish for the part I had acted. You reasonably supposed that my +remorse would last no longer than the scene which had inspired it. You +left me alone. My lord dined abroad. I was abandoned to all the horrors +of solitude. I wanted somebody to keep me from myself. Mrs. Stokes +dying! her husband dead! the sweet flower-girl pining for want—and I +the cause of all! The whole view presented such a complication of misery +to my mind, and of guilt to my heart, as made me unsupportable to +myself.</p> + +<p>"'It was Saturday! I was of course engaged to the opera. I was utterly +unfit to go, but wanted courage to frame an excuse. Fortunately Lady +Bell Finley, whom I had promised to chaperon, sent to excuse herself. +This set my person at liberty, but left my mind upon the rack. Though I +should have rejoiced in the company even of my own chambermaid, so much +did I dread being left to my own thoughts, yet I resolved to let no one +in that night. I had scarcely passed a single evening out of the giddy +circle for several years. For the first time in my life I was driven to +look into myself. I took a retrospect of my past conduct—a confused and +imperfect one indeed. This review aggravated my distress. Still I +pursued my distracting self-inquisition. Not for millions would I pass +such another night!</p> + +<p>"'I had done as wrong things before, but they had never been thus +brought home to me. My extravagance must have made others suffer, but +their sufferings had not been placed before my eyes. What was not seen, +I had hoped might not be true. I had indeed heard distant reports of the +consequences of my thoughtless expense, but they might be invented—they +might be exaggerated. At the flower-maker's I <i>witnessed</i> the ruin I had +made—I <i>saw</i> the fruits of my unfeeling vanity—I <i>beheld</i> the +calamities I had caused. O how much mischief would such actual +observation prevent! I was alone. I had no dependant to qualify the +deed, no sycophant to divert my attention to more soothing objects. +Though Sir John's honest expostulation had touched me to the quick, yet +I confess, had I found any of my coterie at home, had I gone to the +opera, had a joyous supper succeeded, all together would have quite +obliterated the late mortifying scene. I should, as I have often done +before, have soon lost all sense of the Stokes's misery, and of my own +crime.'"</p> + +<p>"Here," pursued Lady Belfield, "the sweet creature looked so contrite, +that Sir John and I were both deeply affected."</p> + +<p>"'You are not accustomed, Sir John,' resumed she, with a faint smile, +'to the office of a confessor, nor I to that of a penitent. But I make +it a test to myself of my own sincerity to tell you the whole truth.</p> + +<p>"'I wandered from room to room, fancying I should be more at ease in any +other than that in which I was. I envied the starving tenant of the +meanest garret. I envied Mrs. Stokes herself. Both might have pitied the +pangs which rent my heart as I roamed through the decorated apartments +of our spacious house. In the gayest part of London I felt the +dreariness of a desert. Surrounded with magnificence, I endured a sense +of want and woe, of which a blameless beggar can form no idea.</p> + +<p>"'I went into the library: I took up a book which my lord had left on +the table. It was a translation from a Roman classic. I opened it at the +speech of the tragedian to Pompey: '<i>The time will come that thou shalt +mourn deeply, because thou didst not mourn sooner!</i>' I was struck to the +heart. 'Shall a pagan,' said I, 'thus forcibly reprove me; and shall I +neglect to search for truth at the fountain?'</p> + +<p>"'I knew my lord would not come home from his club till the morning. The +struggle in my soul between principle and pride was severe; but after a +bitter conflict, I resolved to employ the night in writing him a long +letter. In it I ingenuously confessed the whole state of my mind, and +what had occasioned it. I implored his permission for my setting out +next morning for Melbury Castle. I entreated him to prevail on his +excellent aunt, Lady Jane, whom I had so shamefully slighted, to +accompany me. I knew she was a character of that singular class who +would be glad to revenge herself for any ill-treatment by doing me a +service. Her company would be at once a pledge to my lord of the purity +of my intentions, and to myself a security against falling into worse +society. I assured him that I had no safeguard but in flight. An +additional reason which I alleged for my absence was, that as I had +promised to give a grand masquerade in a fortnight, the evading this +expense would nearly enable me to discharge the debt which sat so heavy +on my conscience.</p> + +<p>"'I received a note from him as soon as he came home. With his usual +complaisance he complied with my request. With his usual nonchalance, he +neither troubled me with reproaches, nor comforted me with approbation.</p> + +<p>"'As he knew that Lady Jane usually rose about the hour he came home +from St. James's street, he obligingly went to her at once. I had not +been in bed. He came to my dressing-room, and informed me that his aunt +had consented at the first word. I expressed my gratitude to them both, +saying that I was ready to set out that very day.'</p> + +<p>"'You must wait till to-morrow,' said he. 'There is no accounting for +the oddities of some people. Lady Jane told me she could not possibly +travel on a Sunday. I wondered where was the impossibility. Sunday, I +assured her, was the only day for traveling in comfort, as the road was +not obstructed by wagons and carts. She replied, with a gravity which +made me laugh, 'That she should be ashamed to think that a person of her +rank and education should be indebted, for her being able to trample +with more convenience on a divine law, to the piety of the vulgar who +durst not violate it.' Did you ever hear any thing so whimsical, +Matilda?' I said nothing, but my heart smote me. Never will I repeat +this offense.</p> + +<p>"'On the Monday we set out. I had kept close the preceding day, under +pretense of illness. This I also assigned as an excuse in the cards sent +to my invited guests, pleading the necessity of going into the country +for change of air. Shall I own I dreaded being shut up in a barouche, +and still more in the lonely castle, with Lady Jane? I looked for +nothing every moment but 'the thorns and briars of reproof.' But I soon +found that the woman whom I thought was a Methodist, was a most +entertaining companion. Instead of austerity in her looks and reproach +in her language, I found nothing but kindness and affection, vivacity +and elegance. While she soothed my sorrows, she strengthened my better +purposes. Her conversation gradually revived in my mind tastes and +principles which had been early sown in it, but which the world seemed +completely to have eradicated.</p> + +<p>"'In the neighborhood of the castle, Lady Jane carried me to visit the +abodes of poverty and sickness. I envied her large but discriminating +liberality, and the means she had of gratifying it, while I shed tears +at the remembrance of my own squandered thousands. I had never been +hard-hearted, but I had always given to importunity, rather than to want +or merit. I blushed, that while I had been absurdly profuse to cases of +which I knew nothing, my own village had been perishing with a +contagious sickness.</p> + +<p>"'While I amused myself with drawing, my aunt often read to me some +rationally entertaining book, occasionally introducing religious reading +and discourse, with a wisdom and moderation which increased the effect +of both. Knowing my natural levity and wretched habits, she generally +waited till the proposal came from myself. At first when I suggested it, +it was to please her: at length I began to find a degree of pleasure in +it myself.</p> + +<p>"'You will say I have not quite lost my romance. A thought struck me, +that the first use I made of my pencil should serve to perpetuate at +least one of my offenses. You know I do not execute portraits badly. +With a little aid from fancy, which I thought made it allowable to bring +separate circumstances into one piece, I composed a picture. It +consisted of a detached figure in the background of poor Stokes, seen +through the grate of his prison on a bed of straw: and a group, composed +of his wife in the act of expiring, Fanny bending over a wreath of +roses, withered with the tears she was shedding, and myself in the +horrors in which you saw me,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Spectatress of the mischief I had made.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"'Wherever I go, this picture shall always be my companion. It hangs in +my closet. My dear friends,' added she, with a look of infinite +sweetness, 'whenever I am tempted to contract a debt, or to give in to +any act of vanity or dissipation which may lead to debt, if after having +looked on this picture I can pursue the project, renounce me, cast me +off forever!</p> + +<p>"'You know Lady Jane's vein of humor. One day, as we were conversing +together, I confessed that at the very time I was the object of general +notice, and my gayety the theme of general envy, I had never known +happiness. 'I do not wonder at it,' said she. 'Those who greedily pursue +admiration, would be ashamed to sit down with so quiet a thing as +happiness.' 'My dear Lady Jane,' said I, 'correct me, counsel me, +instruct me: you have been too lenient, too forbearing.' 'Well,' said +she, with a cheerful tone, 'as you appoint me your physician, as you +disclose your case, and ask relief, I will give you a prescription, +which, though the simplest thing in the world, will, I am certain, go a +great way toward curing you. As you are barely six-and-twenty, your +disease, I trust, is not inveterate. If you will be an obedient patient, +I will answer for your recovery.'</p> + +<p>"'I assured her of my willing adoption of any remedy she might +prescribe, as I was certain she would consider my weakness, and adapt +her treatment, not so much to what my case absolutely required as to +what my strength was able to bear.</p> + +<p>"'Well, then,' said she—'but pray observe I am no quack. I do not +undertake to restore you instantaneously. Though my medicine will work +surely, it will work slowly. You know,' added she, smiling, 'the success +of all alteratives depends on the punctuality with which they are taken, +and the constancy with which they are followed up. Mine must be taken +two or three times a day, in small quantities at first, the dose to be +enlarged as you are able to bear it. I can safely assert, with the +advertising doctors, that it may be used full or fasting, in all +weathers, and all seasons; but I can not add with them that <i>it requires +no confinement</i>.'</p> + +<p>"'I grew impatient, and begged she would come to the point.</p> + +<p>"'Softly, Matilda,' said she, 'softly. I must first look into my +receipt-book, for fear I should mistake any of my ingredients. This +book,' said she, opening it, 'though written by no charlatan, contains a +cure for all diseases. It exhibits not only general directions, but +specified cases.' Turning over the leaves as she was speaking, she at +length stopped, saying, 'here is your case, my dear, or rather your +remedy.' She then read very deliberately: '<span class="smcap">Commune with your own +heart—and in your chamber—and be still.</span>'</p> + +<p>"'I now found her grand receipt-book was the Bible. I rose and embraced +her. 'My dear aunt,' said I, 'do with me whatever you please. I will be +all obedience. I pledge myself to take your alterative regularly, +constantly. Do not spare me. Speak your whole mind.'</p> + +<p>"'My dear Matilda,' said she, 'ever since your marriage, your life has +been one continued opposition to your feelings. You have lived as much +below your understanding as your principles. Your conduct has been a +system of contradictions. You have believed in Christianity, and acted +in direct violation of its precepts. You knew that there was a day of +future reckoning, and yet neglected to prepare for it. With a heart full +of tenderness, you have been guilty of repeated acts of cruelty. You +have been faithful to your husband, without making him respectable or +happy. You have been virtuous, without the reputation or the peace which +belongs to virtue. You have been charitable without doing good, and +affectionate without having ever made a friend. You have wasted those +attentions on the worthless which the worthy would have delighted to +receive, and those talents on the frivolous which would have been +cherished by the enlightened. You have defeated the use of a fine +understanding by the want of common prudence, and robbed society of the +example of your good qualities by your total inability to resist and +oppose. Inconsideration and vanity have been the joint cause of your +malady. At your age I trust it is not incurable. As you have caught it +by keeping infected company, there is no possible mode of cure but by +avoiding the contagious air they breathe. You have performed your +quarantine with admirable patience. Beware, my dearest niece, of +returning to the scene where the plague rages, till your antidote has +taken its full effect.'</p> + +<p>"'I will <i>never</i> return to it, my dear Lady Jane,' cried I, throwing +myself into her arms. 'I do not mean that I will never return to town. +My duty to my lord requires me to be where he is, or where he wishes me +to be. My residence will be the same, but my society shall be changed.'</p> + +<p>"'You please me entirely,' replied she. 'In resorting to religion, take +care that you do not dishonor it. Never plead your piety to God as an +apology for your neglect of the relative duties. If the one is soundly +adopted, the others will be correctly performed. There are those who +would delight to throw such a stigma on real Christianity, as to be able +to report that it had extinguished your affections, and soured your +temper. Disappoint them, my sweet niece: while you serve your Maker more +fervently, you must be still more patient with your husband. But while +you bear with his faults, you must not connive at them. If you are in +earnest, you must expect some trials. He who prepares these trials for +you, will support you under them, will carry you through them, will make +them instruments of his glory, and of your own eternal happiness.'</p> + +<p>"'Lord Melbury's complaisance to my wishes,' replied I, 'has been +unbounded. As he never controlled my actions when they required control, +I trust he will be equally indulgent now they will be less censurable. +Alas! we have too little interfered with each other's concerns—we have +lived too much asunder—who knows but I may recall him?' My tears would +not let me go on—'nor will they now,' added she, wiping her fine eyes.</p> + +<p>"Sir John and I were too much touched to attempt to answer her: at +length she proceeded.</p> + +<p>"'By adhering to Lady Jane's directions, I have begun to get acquainted +with my own heart. Little did I suspect the evil that was in it. Yet I +am led to believe that the incessant whirl in which I have lived, my +total want of leisure for reflection, my excessive vanity and complete +inconsiderateness, are of themselves causes adequate to any effects +which the grossest vices would have produced.</p> + +<p>"'Last week my lord made us a visit at the castle. I gave him a warm +reception; but he seemed rather surprised at the cold one which I gave +to a large cargo of new French novels and German plays, which he had +been so good as to bring me. I did not venture to tell him that I had +changed my course of study. Lady Jane charged me to avoid giving him the +least disgust by any unusual gravity in my looks, or severity in my +conversation. I exerted myself to such good purpose that he declared he +wanted neither cards nor company. I tried to let him see, by my change +of habits rather than by dry documents, or cold remonstrances, the +alteration which had taken place in my sentiments. He was pleased to see +me blooming and cheerful. He told Lady Jane he never saw me so pleasant. +He did not know I was so agreeable a woman, and was glad he had this +opportunity of getting acquainted with me. As he has great expectations +from her, he was delighted at the friendship which subsisted between +us.</p> + +<p>"'He brought us up to town. As it was now empty, the terrors of the +masquerade no longer hung over me, and I cheerfully complied with his +wishes. I drove immediately to Mrs. Stokes's with such a portion of my +debt, as my retirement had enabled me to save. I feasted all the way on +the joy I should have in surprising her with this two hundred pounds. +How severe, but how just was my punishment, when on knocking at the +door, I found she had been dead these two months! No one could tell what +was become of her daughter. This shock operated almost as powerfully on +my feelings as the first had done. But if it augmented my self-reproach, +it confirmed my good resolutions. My present concern is how to discover +the sweet girl, whom, alas, I have helped to deprive of both her +parents.'</p> + +<p>"Here I interrupted her," continued Lady Belfield, "saying, 'You have +not far to seek: Fanny Stokes is in this house. She is appointed +governess to our children.'</p> + +<p>"Poor Lady Melbury's joy was excessive at this intelligence, and she +proceeded: 'That a too sudden return to the world might not weaken my +better purposes, I was preparing to request my lord's permission to go +back to the castle, when he prevented me, by telling me that he had had +an earnest desire to make a visit to the brave patriots in Spain, and to +pass the winter among them, but feared he must give it up, as the state +of the continent rendered it impossible for me to accompany him.</p> + +<p>"'This filled my heart with joy. I encouraged him to make the voyage, +assured him I would live under Lady Jane's observation, and that I would +pass the whole winter in the country.'</p> + +<p>"'Then you shall pass it with us at Beechwood, my dear Lady Melbury,' +cried Sir John and I, both at once; 'we will strengthen each other in +every virtuous purpose. We shall rejoice in Lady Jane's company.'</p> + +<p>"She joyfully accepted the proposal, not doubting her lord's consent; +and kindly said, that she should be doubly happy in a society at once so +rational and so elegant.</p> + +<p>"It was settled that she should spend with us the three months that +Fanny Stokes and little Caroline are to pass at Stanley Grove. She +desired to see Fanny, to whom she behaved with great tenderness. She +paid her the two hundred pounds, assuring her she had no doubt of being +able to discharge the whole debt in the spring.</p> + +<p>"I received a note from her the next day, informing me of her lord's +cheerful concurrence, as well as that of Lady Jane. She added, that when +she went up to dress, she had found on her toilette, her diamond +necklace, which her dear aunt had redeemed and restored to her, as a +proof of her confidence and affection. As Lady Melbury has forever +abolished her coterie, I have the most sanguine hope of her +perseverance. All her promises would have gone for nothing, without this +practical pledge of her sincerity."</p> + +<p>When Lady Belfield had finished her little tale, I expressed, in the +strongest terms, the delight I felt at the happy change in this charming +woman. I could not forbear observing to Sir John, that as Lady Melbury +had been the "glass of fashion," while her conduct was wrong, I hoped +she would not lose all her influence by its becoming right. I added with +a smile, "in that case, I shall rejoice to see the fine ladies turn +their talent for drawing to the same moral account with this fair +penitent. Such a record of their faults as she has had the courage to +make of hers, hanging in their closets, and perpetually staring them in +the face, would be no unlikely means to prevent a repetition, +especially if the picture is to be as visible as the fault had been."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2> + + +<p>The next morning I resumed my journey northward, and on the fourth day, +I reached the seat of my ancestors. The distant view of the Priory +excited strong but mingled emotions in my bosom. The tender sorrow for +the loss of the beloved society I had once enjoyed under its roof, was a +salutary check to the abundant joy arising from the anticipation of the +blessing which awaited me there. My mind was divided between the two +conflicting sentiments that I was soon to be in possession of every +material for the highest happiness—and that the highest happiness is +short! May I ever live under the influence of that act of devout +gratitude, in which, as soon as I entered the house, I dedicated the +whole of my future life to its divine Author, solemnly consecrating to +his service, my time, my talents, my fortune; all I am, and all I have.</p> + +<p>I next wrote to Lucilla; with whom I continued to maintain a regular and +animated correspondence. Her letters gratify my taste, and delight my +heart, while they excite me to every thing that is good. This +interchange of sentiment sheds a ray of brightness on a separation which +every day is diminishing.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stanley also has the goodness to write to me frequently. In one of +my letters to him, I ventured to ask him how he had managed to produce +in his daughter such complete satisfaction in his sober and correct +habits of life; adding, that her conformity was so cheerful that it did +not look so much like acquiescence as choice.</p> + +<p>I received from Mr. Stanley the answer which follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Stanley Grove</span>, <i>September</i>, 1808.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Charles</span>;</p> + +<p>"As I wish to put you in possession of whatever relates to the mind +of Lucilla, I will devote this letter to answer your inquiries +respecting her cheerful conformity to what you call our 'sober +habits of life;' and her indifference to those pleasures which are +usually thought to constitute the sole happiness of young women of +a certain rank.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Stanley and I are not so unacquainted with human nature, as +to have pretended to impose on her understanding, by attempting to +breed her up in entire ignorance of the world, or in perfect +seclusion from it. She often accompanied us to town for a short +time. The occasional sight of London, and the frequent enjoyment of +the best society, dissipated the illusions of fancy. The bright +colors with which young imagination, inflamed by ignorance, report, +and curiosity, invests unknown, and distant objects, faded under +actual observation. Complete ignorance and complete seclusion form +no security from the dangers incident to the world, or for correct +conduct at a distance from it. Ignorance may be the safety of an +idiot, and seclusion the security of a nun. Christian parents +should act on a more large and liberal principle, or what is the +use of observation and experience? The French women of fashion, +under the old regime, were bred in convents, and what women were +ever more licentious than many of them, as soon as marriage had set +them at liberty?</p> + +<p>"I am persuaded that the best-intended formation of character, if +founded on ignorance or deceit, will never answer. As to Lucilla, +we have never attempted to blind her judgment. We have never +thought it necessary to leave her understanding out of the +question, while we were forming her heart. We have never told her +that the world is a scene absolutely destitute of pleasure: we have +never assured her that there is no amusement in the diversions +which we disapprove. Even if this assurance had not been deceitful, +it would have been vain and fruitless. We can not totally separate +her from the society of those who frequent them, who find their +happiness in them, and whom she would hear speak of them with +rapture.</p> + +<p>"We went upon other grounds. We accustomed her to reflect that she +was an intellectual creature; that she was an immortal creature; +that she was a Christian. That to an intellectual being, diversions +must always be subordinate to the exercise of the mental faculties; +that to an immortal being, born to higher hopes than enjoyments, +the exercise of the mental faculties must be subservient to +religious duties. That in the practice of a Christian, self-denial +is the turning-point, the specific distinction. That as to many of +the pleasures which the world pursues, Christianity requires her +votaries to live above the temptations which they hold out. She +requires it the more especially, because Christians in our time, +not being called upon to make great and trying sacrifices, of life, +of fortune, and of liberty; and having but comparatively small +occasions to evidence their sincerity, should the more cheerfully +make the petty but daily renunciation of those pleasures which are +the very element in which worldly people exist.</p> + +<p>"We have not misled her by unfair and flattering representations of +the Christian life. We have not, with a view to allure her to +embrace it on false pretenses, taught her that when religion is +once rooted in the heart, the remainder of life is uninterrupted +peace, and unbroken delight: that all shall be perpetually smooth +hereafter, because it is smooth at present. This would be as unfair +as to show a raw recruit the splendors of a parade day, and tell +him it was actual service. We have not made her believe that the +established Christian has no troubles to expect, no vexations to +fear, no storms to encounter. We have not attempted to cheat her +into religion, by concealing its difficulties, its trials, no, nor +its unpopularity.</p> + +<p>"We have been always aware, that to have enforced the most exalted +Christian principles, together with the necessity of a +corresponding practice, ever so often and so strongly, would have +been worse than foolish, had we been impressing these truths one +part of the day, and had on the other part, been living ourselves +in the actual enjoyment of the very things against which we were +guarding her. My dear Charles, if we would talk to young people +with effect, we must, by the habits of which we set them the +example, dispose them to listen, or our documents will be something +worse than fruitless. It is really hard upon girls to be tantalized +with religious lectures, while they are at the same time tempted to +every thing against which they are warned; while the whole bent and +bias of the family practice are diametrically opposite to the +principles inculcated.</p> + +<p>"In our own case, I think I may venture to affirm, that the plan +has answered. We endeavored to establish a principle of right, +instead of unprofitable invective against what was wrong. Perhaps +there can scarcely be found a religious family in which so few +anathemas have been denounced against this or that specific +diversion, as in ours. We aimed to take another road. The turn of +mind, the tendency of the employment, the force of the practice, +the bent of the conversation, the spirit of amusement, have all +leaned to the contrary direction, till the habits are gradually +worked into a kind of nature. It would be cruel to condemn a +creature to a retired life without qualifying her for retirement: +next to religion, nothing can possibly do this but mental +cultivation in women who are above the exercise of vulgar +employments. The girl who possesses only the worldly +acquirements—the singer and the dancer—when condemned to +retirement, may reasonably exclaim with Milton's Adam, when looking +at the constellations,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Why all night long shine these?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wherefore, if none <i>behold</i>?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Now the woman who derives her principles from the Bible, and her +amusements from intellectual sources, from the beauties of nature, +and from active employment and exercise, will not pant for +<i>beholders</i>. She is no clamorous beggar for the extorted alms of +admiration. She lives on her own stock. Her resources are within +herself. She possesses the truest independence. She does not wait +for the opinion of the world, to know if she is right; nor the +applause of the world, to know if she is happy.</p> + +<p>"Too many religious people fancy that the infectious air of the +world is confined to the ball-room, or the play-house, and that +when you have escaped from these, you are got out of the reach of +its contagion. But the contagion follows wherever there is a human +heart left to its own natural impulse. And though I allow that +places and circumstances greatly contribute to augment or diminish +the evil; and that a prudent Christian will always avoid an +atmosphere which he thinks not quite wholesome; yet whoever lives +in the close examination of his own heart, will still find +something of the morbid mischief clinging to it, which will require +constant watching, whatever be his climate or his company.</p> + +<p>"I have known pious persons, who would on no account allow their +children to attend places of gay resort, who were yet little +solicitous to extinguish the spirit which these places are +calculated to generate and nourish. This is rather a geographical +than a moral distinction. It is thinking more of the place than of +the temper. They restrain their persons; but are not careful to +expel from their hearts the dispositions which excite the appetite, +and form the very essence of danger. A young creature can not be +happy who spends her time at home in amusements destined for +exhibition, while she is forbidden to be exhibited.</p> + +<p>"But while we are teaching them that Christianity involves a heroic +self-denial; that it requires some things to be done, and others to +be sacrificed, at which mere people of the world revolt; that it +directs us to renounce some pursuits because they are wrong, and +others because they are trifling; we should, at the same time, let +them see and feel, that to a Christian the region of enjoyment is +not so narrow and circumscribed, is not so barren and unproductive, +nor the pleasures it produces so few and small, as the enemies of +religion would insinuate. While early habits of self-denial are +giving firmness to the character, strengthening the texture of the +mind, and hardening it against ordinary temptations; the pleasures +and employments which we substitute in the stead of those we +banish, must be such as tend to raise the taste, to invigorate the +intellect, to exalt the nature, and enlarge the sphere of +enjoyment; to give a tone to the mind, and an elevation to the +sentiments, which shall really reduce to insignificance the +pleasures that are prohibited.</p> + +<p>"In our own instance I humbly trust, that through the divine +blessing, perseverance has been its own reward. As to Lucilla, I +firmly believe that right habits are now so rooted, and the relish +of superior pleasures so established in her mind, that had she the +whole range of human enjoyment at her command; had she no higher +consideration, no fear of God, no obedience to her mother and me, +which forbade the ordinary dissipations, she would voluntarily +renounce them, from a full persuasion of their empty, worthless, +unsatisfying nature, and from a superinduced taste for higher +gratifications.</p> + +<p>"I am as far from intending to represent my daughter as a faultless +creature, as she herself is from wishing to be so represented. She +is deeply conscious both of the corruption of her nature, and the +deficiencies of her life. This consciousness I trust will continue +to stimulate her vigilance without which all religion will decline, +and to maintain her humility, without which all religion is vain.</p> + +<p>"My dear Charles! a rational sense of felicity lies open before you +both. It is lawful to rejoice in the fair perspective, but it is +safe to rejoice with trembling. Do not abandon yourself to the +chimerical hope that life will be to you, what it has never yet +been to any man—a scene of unmingled delight. This life, so bright +in prospect, will have its sorrows. This life, which at +four-and-twenty seems to stretch itself to an indefinite length, +will have an end. May its sorrows correct its illusions! May its +close be the entrance on a life, which shall have no sorrows and no +end.</p> + +<p>"I will not say how frequently we talk of you, nor how much we miss +you. Need I tell you that the person who says least on the subject, +is not the one that least feels your absence? She writes by this +post.</p> + +<p>"Adieu, my dear Charles! I am with great truth your attached +friend, and hope before Christmas to subscribe myself your +affectionate father,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Francis Stanley</span>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Delightful hope! as Miss Stanley, when that blessed event takes place, +will resign her name, I shall resume mine, and joyfully renounce forever +that of</p> + +<blockquote><p>C[OE]LEBS.</p></blockquote> + +<h4>THE END.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> See Herbert's Country Parson, under the heads of the parson +in his house, the parson praying, the parson preaching, the parson +comforting, the parson's church, the parson catechizing, the parson in +mirth, &c., &c. The term parson has now indeed a vulgar and +disrespectful sound, but in Herbert's time it was used in its true sense +<i>persona ecclesiæ</i>. I would recommend to those who have not seen it, +this sketch of the ancient clerical life. As Mr. Herbert was a man of +quality, he knew what became the more opulent of his function; as he was +eminently pious, he practiced all that he recommended. "This appellation +of parson," says Judge Blackstone, "however depreciated by clownish and +familiar use, is the most legal, most beneficial, and most honorable +title, which a parish priest can enjoy." <i>Vide Blackstone's +Commentaries.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Nil actum reputans dum quod superesset agendum. <span class="smcap">Lucan</span>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Frederic the Great, king of Prussia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> See an ingenious little treatise entitled Latium Redivivum, +or the modern use of the Latin language, and the prevalence of the +French.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> See this whole beautiful passage in Cicero de Senectute</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Horace, in speaking of the brevity and uncertainty of life, +seldom fails to produce it as an incentive to sensual indulgence. See +particularly the fourth and eleventh Odes of the first book.</p></div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Coelebs In Search of a Wife, by Hannah More + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COELEBS IN SEARCH OF A WIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 31879-h.htm or 31879-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/8/7/31879/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Coelebs In Search of a Wife + +Author: Hannah More + +Release Date: April 4, 2010 [EBook #31879] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COELEBS IN SEARCH OF A WIFE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + C[OE]LEBS + + IN SEARCH OF A WIFE. + + BY MRS. HANNAH MORE. + + + NEW YORK: + DERBY & JACKSON, 119 NASSAU STREET. + 1858. + + * * * * * + + "Among unequals what society + Can sort, what harmony or true delight? + Of fellowship, I speak, fit to participate + All rational enjoyment." + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE. + + +When I quitted home, on a little excursion in the spring of this present +year 1808, a thought struck me, which I began to put into immediate +execution. I determined to commit to paper any little circumstances that +might arise, and any conversations in which I might be engaged, when the +subject was at all important, though there might be nothing particularly +new or interesting in the discussion itself. + +I fulfilled my intention as occasions arose to furnish me with +materials; and on my return to the North, in the autumn of this same +year, it was my amusement on my journey to look over and arrange these +papers. + +As soon as I arrived at my native place, I lent my manuscript to a +confidential friend, as the shortest way of imparting to him whatever +had occurred to me during our separation, together with my reflections +on those occurrences. I took care to keep his expectations low, by +apprizing him, that in a tour from my house in Westmoreland to the house +of a friend in Hampshire, he must not look for adventures, but content +himself with the every-day details of common life, diversified only by +the different habits and tempers of the persons with whom I had +conversed. + +He brought back my manuscript in a few days, with an earnest wish that I +would consent to its publication, assuring me that he was of opinion +that it might not be altogether useless, not only to young men engaged +in the same pursuit with myself, but to the general reader. He obviated +all my objections arising from my want of leisure, during my present +interesting engagements, by offering to undertake the whole business +himself, and to release me from any further trouble, as he was just +setting out for London, where he proposed passing more time than the +printing would require. + +Thus I am driven to the stale apology for publishing what perhaps it +would have been more prudent to have withheld--_the importunity of +friends_; an apology so commonly unfounded, and so repeatedly alleged, +from the days of John Faustus to the publication of C[oe]lebs. + +But whether my friend, or my vanity, had the largest share of influence, +I am willing to indulge the hope that a better motive than either +friendship or vanity was an operating ingredient in my consent. Be that +as it may--I sent him my copy "_with all its imperfections on its +head_." It was accompanied by a letter of which the following extract +shall conclude these short prefatory remarks: + +"I here send you my manuscript, with permission to make what use of it +you please. By publishing it I fear you will draw on me the particular +censure of two classes of critics. The novel reader will reject it as +dull. The religious may throw it aside as frivolous. The one will accuse +it of excessive strictness; the other of censurable levity. Readers of +the former description must be satisfied with the following brief and +general answer: + +"Had it been my leading object to have indulged in details that have +amusement only for their end, it might not have been difficult to have +produced a work more acceptable to the tastes accustomed to be gratified +with such compositions. But to entertain that description of readers +makes no part of my design. + +"The persons with whom I have associated in my excursion were +principally, though not exclusively, the family of a country gentleman, +and a few of his friends--a narrow field, and unproductive of much +variety! The generality of these characters move in the quiet and +regular course of domestic life. I found them placed in no difficult +situations. It was a scene rather favorable to reflection than +description. Social intercourse, and not striking events, marked the +daily progress of my visit. I had little of pathetic scenes or trying +circumstances to work on my own feelings, or, by the relation of them, +to work on the feelings of others. My friend's house resembled the +reign of some pacific sovereigns. It was the pleasantest to live in, but +its annals were not the most splendid to record. The periods which make +life happy do not always render history brilliant. + +"Great passions, therefore, and great trials growing out of them as I +did not witness, I have not attempted to delineate. Love itself appears +in these pages, not as an ungovernable impulse, but as a sentiment +arising out of qualities calculated to inspire attachment in persons +under the dominion of reason and religion, brought together by the +ordinary course of occurrences, in a private family party. + +"The familiar conversations of this little society comprehend a +considerable portion of this slender work. The texture of the narrative +is so slight, that it barely serves for a ground into which to weave the +sentiments and observations which it was designed to introduce. + +"It may not be unnecessary to anticipate an objection to which these +conversations may sometimes be thought liable. In a few instances, the +speeches may be charged with a degree of stiffness, and with a length +not altogether consistent with familiar dialogue. I must apologize for +this by observing, that when the subjects were serious, the dialogue +would not, in every instance, bend to such facilities, nor break into +such small parcels, as may easily be effected in the discussion of +topics of gayer intercourse. + +"But it is time to meet the objections of the more pious reader, if any +such should condescend to peruse this little performance. If it be +objected, that religious characters have been too industriously brought +forward, and their faults somewhat too severely treated, let it be +remembered, that while it is one of the principal objects of the work to +animadvert on those very faults, it has never been done with the +insidious design of depreciating the religion, but with the view, by +exposing the fault, to correct the practice. Grossly vicious characters +have seldom come in my way; but I had frequent occasion to observe the +different shapes and shades of error in various descriptions of society, +not only in those worldly persons who do not quite leave religion out of +their scheme, but on the mistakes and inconsistencies of better +characters, and even on the errors of some who would be astonished not +to find themselves reckoned altogether religious. I have not so much +animadverted on the unavoidable faults and frailties inseparable from +humanity, even in the best characters, and which the best characters +most sensibly feel, and most feelingly deplore, as on those errors which +are often tolerated, justified, and in some instances systematized. + +"If I have been altogether deceived in the ambitious hope that these +pages may not be entirely useless; if I have failed in my endeavors to +show how religion may be brought to mix with the concerns of ordinary +life, without impairing its activity, lessening its cheerfulness, or +diminishing its usefulness; if I have erred in fancying that material +defects exist in fashionable education; if I have been wrong in +supposing that females of the higher class may combine more domestic +knowledge with more intellectual acquirement, that they may be at the +same time more knowing and more useful, than has always been thought +necessary or compatible; in short, if I shall be found to have totally +disappointed you, my friend, in your too sanguine opinion that some +little benefit might arise from the publication, I shall rest satisfied +with a low and negative merit. I must be content with the humble hope +that no part of these volumes will be found injurious to the important +interests which it was rather in my wish than in my ability to advance; +that where I failed in effecting good, little evil has been done; that +if my book has answered no valuable purpose, it has, at least, not added +to the number of those publications which, by impairing the virtue, have +diminished the happiness of mankind; that if I possessed not talents to +promote the cause of Christian morals, I possessed an abhorrence of +those principles which lead to their contamination. + +"C[OE]LEBS." + + + + +C[OE]LEBS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +I have been sometimes surprised when in conversation I have been +expressing my admiration of the character of Eve in her state of +innocence, as drawn by our immortal poet, to hear objections started by +those, from whom of all critics I should have least expected it--the +ladies. I confess that as the Sophia of Rousseau had her young +imagination captivated by the character of Fenelon's Telemachus, so I +early became enamored of that of Milton's Eve. I never formed an idea of +conjugal happiness, but my mind involuntarily adverted to the graces of +that finished picture. + +The ladies, in order to justify their censure, assert that Milton, a +harsh domestic tyrant, must needs be a very inadequate judge, and of +course a very unfair delineator, of female accomplishments. These fair +cavilers draw their inference from premises, from which I have always +been accustomed to deduce a directly contrary conclusion. They insist +that it is highly derogatory from the dignity of the sex, that the poet +should affirm that it is the perfection of the character of a wife, + + To study household good, + And good works in her husband to promote. + +Now according to my notion of "household good," which does not include +one idea of drudgery or servility, but which involves a large and +comprehensive scheme of excellence, I will venture to affirm, that let a +woman know what she may, yet if she knows not this, she is ignorant of +the most indispensable, the most appropriate branch of female knowledge. +Without it, however she may inspire admiration abroad, she will never +excite esteem, nor of coarse, durable affection, at home, and will bring +neither credit nor comfort to her ill-starred partner. + +The domestic arrangements of such a woman as filled the capacious mind +of the poet resemble, if I may say it without profaneness, those of +Providence, whose under-agent she is. Her wisdom is seen in its effects. +Indeed it is rather felt than seen. It is sensibly acknowledged in the +peace, the happiness, the virtue of the component parts; in the order, +regularity and beauty of the whole system, of which she is the moving +spring. The perfection of her character, as the divine poet intimates, +does not arise from a prominent quality, or a showy talent, or a +brilliant accomplishment, but it is the beautiful combination and result +of them all. Her excellencies consist not so much in acts as in habits, +in + + Those thousand decencies which daily flow + From all her words and actions. + +A description more calculated than any I ever met with to convey an idea +of the purest conduct resulting from the best principles. It gives an +image of that tranquillity, smoothness, and quiet beauty, which is the +very essence of perfection in a wife; while the happily chosen verb +_flow_ takes away any impression of dullness, or stagnant torpor, which +the _still_ idea might otherwise suggest. + +But the offense taken by the ladies against the uncourtly bard is +chiefly occasioned by his having presumed to intimate that conjugal +obedience + + Is woman's highest honor and her praise. + +This is so nice a point that I, as a bachelor, dare only just hint, that +on this delicate question the poet has not gone an inch further than the +apostle. Nay, Paul is still more uncivilly explicit than Milton. If, +however, I could hope to bring over to my side critics, who, being of +the party, are too apt to prejudge the cause, I would point out to them +that the supposed harshness of the observation is quite done away by the +recollection that this scrupled "obedience" is so far from implying +degradation, that it is connected with the injunction to the woman "to +promote good works" in her husband; an injunction surely inferring a +degree of influence that raises her condition, and restores her to all +the dignity of equality; it makes her not only the associate but the +inspirer of his virtues. + +But to return to the economical part of the character of Eve. And here +she exhibits a consummate specimen and beautiful model of domestic skill +and elegance. How exquisitely conceived is her reception and +entertainment of Raphael! How modest and yet how dignified! I am afraid +I know some husbands who would have had to encounter very ungracious +looks, not to say words, if they had brought home even an angel, +_unexpectedly_ to dinner. Not so our general mother: + + Her dispatchful looks, + Her hospitable thoughts, * * * intent + What choice to choose for delicacy best, + +all indicate not only the "prompt" but the cheerful "obedience." Though +her repast consisted only of the fruits of Paradise, + + Whatever earth, all bearing mother, yields; + +yet of these, with a liberal hospitality, + + She gathers tribute large, and on the board + Heaps with unsparing hand. + +The finest modern lady need not disdain the arrangement of her table, +which was + + So contrived as not to mix + Tastes not well join'd, inelegant, but bring + Taste after taste, upheld by kindliest change. + +It must, however, I fear, be conceded, by the way, that this "taste +_after_ taste" rather holds out an encouragement to second courses. + +When this unmatched trio had finished their repast, which, let it be +observed, before they tasted, Adam acknowledged that + + These bounties from our _Nourisher_ are given, + From whom all perfect good descends, + +Milton, with great liberality to that sex against which he is accused of +so much severity, obligingly permitted Eve to sit much longer after +dinner, than most modern husbands would allow. She had attentively +listened to all the historical and moral subjects so divinely discussed +between the first Angel and the first Man; and perhaps there can +scarcely be found a more beautiful trait of a delicately attentive wife, +than she exhibits, by withdrawing at the exact point of propriety. She +does not retire in consequence of any look or gesture, any broad sign of +impatience, much less any command or intimation of her husband; but with +the ever watchful eye of vigilant affection and deep humility: + + When by his countenance he seem'd + Entering on thoughts abstruse, + +instructed only by her own quick intuition of what was right and +delicate, she withdrew. And here again how admirably does the poet +sustain her intellectual dignity, softened by a most tender stroke of +conjugal affection. + + Yet went she not, as not with such discourse + Delighted, or not capable her ear + Of what was high--such pleasure she reserved, + Adam relating, she sole auditress---- + +On perusing, however, the tete-a-tete which her absence occasioned, +methinks I hear some sprightly lady, fresh from the Royal Institution, +express her wonder why Eve should be banished by her husband from +Raphael's fine lecture on astronomy which follows; was not she as +capable as Adam of understanding all he said, of + + Cycle and Epicycle, Orb on Orb? + +If, however, the imaginary fair objector will take the trouble to read +to the end of the eighth book of this immortal work, it will raise in +her estimation both the poet and the heroine, when she contemplates the +just propriety of her being absent before Adam enters on the account of +the formation, beauty and attractions of his wife, and of his own love +and admiration. She will further observe, in her progress through this +divine poem, that the author is so far from making Eve a mere domestic +drudge, an unpolished housewife, that he pays an invariable attention +even to external elegance, in his whole delineation, ascribing grace to +her steps and dignity to her gesture. He uniformly keeps up the same +combination of intellectual worth and polished manners; + + For softness she, and sweet attractive grace. + +And her husband, so far from a churlish insensibility to her +perfections, politely calls her + + Daughter of God and man, _accomplish'd_ Eve. + +I will not, however, affirm that Adam, or even Milton, annexed to the +term _accomplished_ precisely the idea with which it is associated in +the mind of a true modern-bred lady. + +It may be objected to the poet's gallantry that he remarks + + How beauty is excell'd by manly grace, + And wisdom, which alone is truly fair; + +let it be remembered that the observation proceeds from the lips of Eve +herself, and thus adds to her other graces, the crowning grace of +humility. + +But it is high time that I should proceed from my criticism to myself. +The connexion, and of course the transition, will be found more natural +than may appear, till developed by my slight narrative. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +I am a young man, not quite four and twenty, of an ancient and +respectable family, and considerable estate in one of the northern +counties. Soon after I had completed my studies in the university of +Edinburgh, my father fell into a lingering illness. I attended him with +an assiduity which was richly rewarded by the lessons of wisdom, and the +example of piety, which I daily received from him. After languishing +about a year, I lost him, and in him the most affectionate father, the +most enlightened companion, and the most Christian friend. + +The grief of my mother was so poignant and so lasting, that I could +never prevail on myself to leave her, even for the sake of attaining +those advantages, and enjoying those pleasures, which may be reaped by a +wider range of observation, by a more extended survey of the +multifarious tastes, habits, pursuits, and characters of general +society. I felt with Mr. Gray that we can never have but one mother, and +postponed from time to time the moment of leaving home. + +I was her only child, and though it was now her sole remaining wish to +see me happily married, yet I was desirous of first putting myself in a +situation which might afford me a more extensive field of inquiry before +I ventured to take so irretrievable a step, a step which might perhaps +affect my happiness in both worlds. But time did not hang heavy on my +hands; if I had little society, I had many books. My father had left me +a copious library, and I had learnt from him to select whatever was most +valuable in that best species of literature which tends to form the +principles, the understanding, the taste, and the character. My father +had passed the early part of his life in the gay and busy world; and our +domestic society in the country had been occasionally enlivened by +visits from some of his London friends, men of sense and learning, and +some of them men of piety. + +My mother, when she was in tolerable spirits, was now frequently +describing the kind of woman whom she wished me to marry. "I am so +firmly persuaded, Charles," would she kindly say, "of the justness of +your taste, and the rectitude of your principles, that I am not much +afraid of your being misled by the captivating exterior of any woman who +is greatly deficient either in sense or conduct; but remember, my son, +that there are many women against whose characters there lies nothing +very objectionable, who are yet little calculated to taste or to +communicate rational happiness. Do not indulge romantic ideas, of +super-human excellence. Remember that the fairest creature is a fallen +creature. Yet let not your standard be low. If it be absurd to expect +perfection, it is not unreasonable to expect _consistency_. Do not +suffer yourself to be caught by a shining quality, till you know it is +not counteracted by the opposite defect. Be not taken in by strictness +in one point, till you are assured there is no laxity in others. In +character, as in architecture, proportion is beauty. The education of +the present race of females is not very favorable to domestic happiness. +For my own part I call education, not that which smothers a woman with +accomplishments, but that which tends to consolidate a firm and regular +system of character; that which tends to form a friend, a companion, and +a wife. I call education not that which is made up of the shreds and +patches of useless arts, but that which inculcates principles, polishes +taste, regulates temper, cultivates reason, subdues the passions, +directs the feelings, habituates to reflection, trains to self-denial, +and, more especially, that which refers all actions, feelings, +sentiments, tastes, and passions, to the love and fear of God." + +I had yet had little opportunity of contrasting the charms of my native +place with the less wild and romantic beauties of the south. I was +passionately fond of the scenery that surrounded me, which had never yet +lost that power of pleasing which it is commonly imagined that novelty +can alone confer. + +The priory, a handsome Gothic mansion, stands in the middle of a park, +not extensive, but beautifully varied. Behind are lofty mountains, the +feet of which are covered with wood that descends almost to the house. +On one side a narrow cultivated valley winds among the mountains; the +bright variegated tints of its meadows and corn fields, with here and +there a little white cottage, embosomed in trees, are finely contrasted +with the awful and impassable fells which contain it. + +An inconsiderable but impetuous river rushes from the mountains above, +through this unadorned but enchanting little valley, and passes through +the park at the distance of about a hundred yards from the house. The +ground falls beautifully down to it; and on the other side is a fine +wood of birch overhanging the river, which is here crossed by a small +rustic bridge; after being enlarged by many streams from the neighboring +hills, it runs about half a mile to the lake below, which, from the +front of the house, is seen in full beauty. It is a noble expanse of +water. The mountains that surround it are some of them covered with +wood, some skirted with cultivation, some rocky and barren to the +water's edge; while the rugged summits of them all present every variety +of fantastic outline. Toward the head of the lake a neat little village +ornaments the banks, and wonderfully harmonizes with the simple beauty +of the scene. At an opening among the hills, a view is caught of the +distant country, a wide vale richly wooded, adorned everywhere with +towns, villages, and gentlemen's houses, and backed by sublime +mountains, rivaling in height, though not in their broken and Alpine +forms, those that more immediately surround us. + +While I was thus dividing my time between the enjoyment of this +exquisite scenery, my books, the care of my affairs, my filial +attentions, and my religious duties, I was suddenly deprived of my +inestimable mother. She died the death of the righteous. + +Addison has finely touched on the singular sort of delicate and refined +tenderness of a father for a daughter: but I am persuaded that there is +no affection of the human heart more exquisitely pure than that which is +felt by a grateful son toward a mother who fostered his infancy with +fondness, watched over his childhood with anxiety, and his youth with an +interest compounded of all that is tender, wise, and pious. + +My retirement was now become solitude: the former is, I believe, the +best state for the mind of man, the latter almost the worst. In +complete solitude the eye wants objects, the heart wants attachments, +the understanding wants reciprocation. The character loses its +tenderness when it has nothing to love, its firmness when it has none to +strengthen it, its sweetness when it has nothing to soothe it; its +patience when it meets no contradiction, its humility when it is +surrounded by dependants, and its delicacy in the conversation of the +uninformed. Where the intercourse is very unequal, society is something +worse than solitude. + +I had naturally a keen relish for domestic happiness; and this +propensity had been cherished by what I had seen and enjoyed in my +father's family. Home was the scene in which my imagination had pictured +the only delights worthy of a rational, feeling, intellectual, immortal +man: + + sole bliss of Paradise + Which has survived the fall. + +This inclination had been much increased by my father's turn of +conversation. He often said to me, "I know your domestic propensities; +and I know, therefore, that the whole color of your future life will be, +in a particular manner, determined by the turn of mind of the woman you +may marry. Were you to live in the busy haunts of men; were you of any +profession, or likely to be engaged in public life, though I would still +counsel you to be equally careful in your choice, yet your happiness +would not so immediately, so exclusively depend on the individual +society of a woman, as that of a retired country gentleman must do. A +man of sense who loves home, and lives at home, requires a wife who can +and will be at half the expense of mind necessary for keeping up the +cheerful, animated, elegant intercourse which forms so great a part of +the bond of union between intellectual and well-bred persons. Had your +mother been a woman of an uninformed, inelegant mind, virtuous and +pious as she is, what abatement must there have been in the blessings of +my lot! The _exhibiting_, the _displaying_ wife may entertain your +company, but it is only the informed, the refined, the cultivated woman +who can entertain yourself; and I presume whenever you marry you will +marry primarily for yourself, and not for your friends; you will want a +COMPANION: an ARTIST you may hire. + +"But remember, Charles, that when I am insisting so much on mental +delicacy, I am assuming that all is right in still more essential +points. Do not be contented with this superstructure, till you have +ascertained the solidity of the foundation. The ornaments which decorate +do not support the edifice! Guarded as you are by Christian principles, +and confirmed in virtuous habits, I trust you may safely look abroad +into the world. Do not, however, irrevocably dispose of your affections +till you have made the long-promised visit to my earliest, wisest, and +best friend, Mr. Stanley. I am far from desiring that your friends +should direct your choice. It is what even your father would not do: but +he will be the most faithful and most disinterested of counselors." + +I resolved now for a few months to leave the priory, the seat of my +ancestors, to make a tour not only to London, but to Stanley Grove, in +Hampshire, the residence of my father's friend; a visit I was about to +make with him just before his last illness. He wished me to go alone, +but I could not prevail on myself to desert his sick-bed for any scheme +of amusement. + +I began to long earnestly for the pleasures of conversation, pleasures +which, in our small, but social and select circle of cultivated friends, +I had been accustomed to enjoy. I am aware that certain fine town-bred +men would ridicule the bare mention of learned and polished conversation +at a village in Westmoreland, or indeed at any place out of the +precincts of the metropolis; just as a London physician or lawyer smiles +superciliously at the suggested merits of a professional brother in a +provincial town. Good sense, however, is of all countries, and even +knowledge is not altogether a mere local advantage. These, and not the +topics of the hour, furnish the best raw materials for working up an +improving intercourse. + +It must be confessed, however, as I have since found, that for giving a +terseness and polish to conversation; for rubbing out prejudices; for +correcting egotism; for keeping self-importance out of sight, if not +curing it; for bringing a man to condense what he has to say, if he +intends to be listened to; for accustoming him to endure opposition; for +teaching him not to think every man who differs from him in matters of +taste, a fool, and in politics, a knave; for cutting down harangues; for +guarding him from producing as novelties and inventions, what has been +said a thousand times; for quickness of allusion, which brings the idea +before you without detail or quotation; nothing is equal to the +miscellaneous society of London. The advantages, too, which it possesses +in being the seat of the court, the parliament, and the courts of law, +as well as the common centre of arts and talents of every kind, all +these raise it above every other scene of intellectual improvement, or +colloquial pleasure, perhaps, in the whole world. + +But this was only the secondary motive of my intended migration. I +connected with it the hope, that, in a more extended survey, I might be +more likely to select a deserving companion for life. "In such a +companion," said I, as I drove along in my post-chaise, "I do not want a +Helen, a Saint Cecilia, or a Madame Dacier; yet she must be elegant, or +I should not love her; sensible, or I should not respect her; prudent, +or I could not confide in her; well-informed, or she could not educate +my children; well-bred, or she could not entertain my friends; +_consistent_, or I should offend the shade of my mother; pious, or I +should not be happy with her, because the prime comfort in a companion +for life is the delightful hope that she will be a companion for +eternity." + +After this soliloquy, I was frightened to reflect that so much was +requisite; and yet when I began to consider in which article I could +make any abatement, I was willing to persuade myself that my +requisitions were moderate. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +I had occasionally visited two or three families in our own county, who +were said to make a very genteel appearance on narrow fortunes. As I was +known not to consider money as a principal consideration, it had often +been intimated to me what excellent wives the daughters of these +families would make, because on a very slender allowance their +appearance was as elegant as that of women of ten times their +expectations. I translated this respectable appearance into a language +not the most favorable, as I instantly inferred, and afterward was +convinced, that this personal figure was made by the sacrifice of their +whole time to those decorations which procured them credit, by putting +their outward figure on a par with the most affluent. If a girl with a +thousand pounds rivals in her dress one with ten thousand, is it not +obvious, that not only all her time must be employed, but all her money +devoted to this one object? Nothing but the clippings and parings from +her personal adornments could enable her to supply the demands of +charity; and these sacrifices, it is evident she is not disposed to +make. + +Another inducement suggested to me was, that these young ladies would +make the better wives, because they had never been corrupted by the +expensive pleasures of London, and had not been spoiled by the gay +scenes of dissipation which it afforded. This argument would have +weighed powerfully with me, had I not observed, that they never +abstained from any amusement in the country that came within their +reach. + +I naturally inferred, that she who eagerly grasped at every petty +provincial dissipation, would with increased alacrity have plunged into +the more alluring gayeties of the metropolis had it been in her power. I +thought she had even less apology to plead than the town lady; the fault +was equal, while the temptation was less: and she who was as dissipated +as her limited bounds permitted, where there was little to attract, +would, I feared, be as dissipated as she possibly could be, when her +temptations were multiplied, and her facilities increased. + +I had met with several young ladies of a higher description, daughters +of our country gentlemen, a class which furnishes a number of valuable +and elegant women. Some of these, whom I knew, seemed unexceptional in +manner and in mind. They had seen something of the world, without having +been spoiled by it; had read with advantage; and acquitted themselves +well in the duties which they had been called to practice. But I was +withheld from cultivating that degree of intimacy which would have +enabled me to take an exact measure of their minds, by the injunction of +my father, that I would never attach myself to any woman till I had seen +and consulted Mr. Stanley. This direction, which, like all his wishes, +was a law to me, operated as a sort of sedative in the slight +intercourse I had with ladies; and resolving to postpone all such +intimacy as might have led to attachment, I did not allow myself to +come near enough to feel with interest, or to judge with decision. + +As soon as I got to town I visited some of my father's friends. I was +kindly received for his sake, and at their houses soon enlarged the +sphere of my acquaintance. I was concerned to remark that two or three +gentlemen, whom I had observed to be very regular in their attendance on +public worship in the country, seldom went to church in London; in the +afternoon never. "Religion," they said, by way of apology, "was entirely +a thing of example; it was of great political importance; society was +held together by the restraints it imposed on the lower orders. When +they were in the country it was highly proper that their tenants and +workmen should have the benefit of their example, but in London the case +was different. Where there were so many churches, no one knew whether +you went or not, and where no scandal was given, no harm was done." As +this was a logic which had not found its way into my father's religion, +I was not convinced by it. I remember Mr. Burke, speaking of the +English, who were so humane at home, and whom he unjustly accused of +wanting humanity in India, says, "that the humanity of Britain is a +humanity of points and parallels." Surely the religion of the gentlemen +in question is not a less geographical distinction. + +This error, I conceive, arises from religion being too much considered +as a mere institution of decorum, of convention, of society; and not as +an institution founded on the condition of human nature, a covenant of +mercy for repairing the evils which sin has produced. It springs from +the want of a conviction that Christianity is an individual as well as +general concern; that religion is a personal thing, previous to its +being a matter of example; that a man is not infallibly saved or lost as +a portion of any family, or any church, or any community; but that, as +he is individually responsible, he must be individually brought to a +deep and humbling sense of his own personal wants, without taking any +refuge in the piety he may see around him, of which he will have no +benefit, if he be no partaker. + +I regretted, even for inferior reasons, the little distinction which was +paid to this sacred day. To say nothing of the elevating views which the +soul acquires from devoting itself to its proper object; the man of +business, methinks, should rejoice in its return; the politician should +welcome its appearance, not only as a rest from anxiety and labor, but +as an occasion of cooling and quieting the mind, of softening its +irritation, of allaying its ferment, and thus restoring the repaired +faculties and invigorated spirits to the demands of the succeeding week, +in a frame of increased aptitude for meeting its difficulties and +encountering its duties. + +The first person whom I visited was a good-natured, friendly man, whom I +had occasionally seen in the North. As I had no reason to believe that +he was religious, in the true sense of the word, I had no intention of +looking for a wife in his family. I, however, thought it not amiss to +associate a little with persons of different descriptions, that by a +wider range I might learn to correct my general judgment, as well as to +guide my particular pursuit. Nothing, it is true, would tempt me to +select a woman on whose pious dispositions I could not form a reasonable +dependence: yet to come at the reality of those dispositions was no easy +matter. + +I had heard my father remark, that he had, more than once, known a +right-minded girl, who seemed to have been first taught of heaven, and +afterward supported in her Christian course under almost every human +disadvantage; who boldly, but meekly, maintained her own principles, +under all the hourly temptations and oppositions of a worldly and +irreligious family, and who had given the best evidence of her piety +toward God, by her patient forbearance toward her erring friends. Such +women had made admirable wives when they were afterward transplanted +into families where their virtues were understood, and their piety +cherished. While, on the other hand, he had known others, who, +accustomed from childhood to the sober habits of family religion, under +pious but injudicious parents, had fallen in mechanically with the +domestic practices, without having ever been instructed in Christian +principles, or having ever manifested any religious tendencies. The +implantation of a new principle never having been inculcated, the +religious habit has degenerated into a mere form, the parents acting as +if they thought that religion must come by nature or infection in a +religious family. These girls, having never had their own hearts +impressed, nor their own characters distinctly considered, nor +individually cultivated, but being taken out as a portion from the mass, +have afterward taken the cast and color of any society into which they +have happened to be thrown; and they who before had lived religiously +with the religious, have afterward assimilated with the gay and +dissipated, when thus thrown into their company, as cordially as if they +had never been habituated to better things. + +At dinner there appeared two pretty-looking young ladies, daughters of +my friend, who had been some time a widower. I placed myself between +them for the purpose of prying a little into their minds, while the rest +of the company were conversing on indifferent subjects. Having formerly +heard this gentleman's deceased wife extolled as the mirror of managers, +and the arrangements of his table highly commended, I was surprised to +see it so ill-appointed, and every thing wearing marks of palpable +inelegance. Though no epicure, I could not forbear observing that many +of the dishes were out of season, ill-chosen, and ill-dressed. + +While I was puzzling my head for a solution, I recollected that I had +lately read in a most respectable periodical work, a paper (composed, I +believe, however, by a raw recruit of that well-disciplined corps) which +insisted that nothing tended to make ladies so useless and inefficient +in the _menage_ as the study of the dead languages. I jumped to the +conclusion, and was in an instant persuaded that my young hostesses must +not only be perfect mistresses of Latin, but the _tout ensemble_ was so +ill arranged as to induce me to give them full credit for Greek also. + +Finding, therefore, that my appetite was balked, I took comfort in the +certainty that my understanding would be well regaled; and after +secretly regretting that learning should so effectually destroy +usefulness, I was resolved to derive intellectual comfort from this too +classical repast. Turning suddenly to the eldest lady, I asked her at +once if she did not think Virgil the finest poet in the world. She +blushed, and thus confirmed me in the opinion that her modesty was equal +to her erudition. I repeated my question with a little circumlocution. +She stared, and said she had never heard of the person I mentioned, but +that she had read Tears of Sensibility, and Rosa Matilda, and Sympathy +of Souls, and Too Civil by Half, and the Sorrows of Werter, and the +Stranger, and the Orphans of Snowdon. + +"Yes, sir," joined in the younger sister, who did not rise to so high a +pitch of literature, "and we have read Perfidy Punished, and Jemmy and +Jenny Jessamy, and the Fortunate Footman, and the Illustrious +Chambermaid." I blushed and stared in my turn; and here the +conversation, through the difficulty of our being intelligible to each +other, dropped; and I am persuaded that I sunk much lower in their +esteem for not being acquainted with their favorite authors, than they +did in mine for having never heard of Virgil. + +I arose from the table with a full conviction that it is very possible +for a woman to be totally ignorant of the ordinary but indispensable, +duties of common life without knowing one word of Latin; and that her +being a bad companion is no infallible proof of her being a good +economist. + +I am afraid the poor father saw something of my disappointment in my +countenance, for when we were alone in the evening, he observed, that a +heavy addition to his other causes of regret for the loss of his wife, +was her excellent management of his family. I found afterward that, +though she had brought him a great fortune, she had had a very low +education. Her father, a coarse country esquire, to whom the pleasures +of the table were the only pleasures for which he had any relish, had no +other ambition for his daughter but that she should be the most famous +housewife in the country. He gloried in her culinary perfections, which +he understood; of the deficiencies of her mind he had not the least +perception. Money and good eating, he owned, were the only things in +life which had a real intrinsic value; the value of all other things, he +declared, existed in the imagination only. + +The poor lady, when she became a mother, and was brought out into the +world, felt keenly the deficiencies of her own education. The dread of +Scylla, as is usual, wrecked her on Charybdis. Her first resolution, as +soon as she had daughters, was, that they should _learn every thing_. +All the masters who teach things of little intrinsic use were +extravagantly paid for supernumerary attendance; and as no one in the +family was capable of judging of their improvements, their progress was +but slow. Though they were taught much, they learned but little, even of +these unnecessary things; and of things necessary they learned nothing. +Their well-intentioned mother was not aware that her daughters' +education was almost as much calculated to gratify the senses, though in +a different way, and with more apparent refinement, as her own had been; +and that _mind_ is left nearly as much out of the question in making an +ordinary artist as in making a good cook. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +From my fondness for conversation, my imagination had been early fired +with Dr. Johnson's remark, that there is no pleasure on earth comparable +to the _fine full flow of London talk_. I, who, since I had quitted +college had seldom had my mind refreshed, but with the petty rills and +penurious streams of knowledge which country society afforded, now +expected to meet it in a strong and rapid current, fertilizing wherever +it flowed, producing in abundance the rich fruits of argument, and the +gay flowers of rhetoric. I looked for an uninterrupted course of profit +and delight. I flattered myself that every dinner would add to my stock +of images; that every debate would clear up some difficulty, every +discussion elucidate some truth; that every allusion would be purely +classical, every sentence abound with instruction, and every period be +pointed with wit. + +On the tiptoe of expectation I went to dine with Sir John Belfield, in +Cavendish-square. I looked at my watch fifty times. I thought it would +never be six o'clock. I did not care to show my country breeding, by +going too early, to incommode my friend, nor my town breeding, by going +too late, and spoiling his dinner. Sir John is a valuable, +elegant-minded man, and, next to Mr. Stanley, stood highest in my +father's esteem for his mental accomplishments and correct morals. As I +knew he was remarkable for assembling at his table men of sense, taste, +and learning, my expectations of pleasure were very high. "Here, at +least," said I as I heard the name of one clever man announced after +another, "here at least, I can not fail to find + + The feast of reason and the flow of soul: + +here, at least, all the energies of my mind will be brought into +exercise. From this society I shall carry away documents for the +improvement of my taste; I shall treasure up hints to enrich my +understanding, and collect aphorisms for the conduct of life." + +At first there was no fair opportunity to introduce any conversation +beyond the topics of the day, and to those, it must be confessed, this +eventful period gives a new and powerful interest. I should have been +much pleased to have had my country politics rectified, and any +prejudices, which I might have contracted, removed or softened, could +the discussion have been carried on without the frequent interruption of +the youngest man in the company. This gentleman broke in on every +remark, by descanting successively on the merits of the various dishes; +and, if it be true that experience only can determine the judgment, he +gave proof of that best right to peremptory decision by not trusting to +delusive theory, but by actually eating of every dish at table. + +His animadversions were uttered with the gravity of a German +philosopher, and the science of a French cook. If any of his opinions +happened to be controverted, he quoted in confirmation of his own +judgment, _l'Almanac des Gourmands_, which he assured us was the most +valuable work that had appeared in France since the Revolution. The +author of this book he seemed to consider of as high authority in the +science of eating, as Coke or Hale in that of jurisprudence, or +Quintilian in the art of criticism. To the credit of the company, +however, be it spoken, he had the whole of this topic to himself. The +rest of the party were, in general, of quite a different calibre, and as +little acquainted with his favorite author, as he probably was with +theirs. + +The lady of the house was perfectly amiable and well-bred. Her dinner +was excellent; and every thing about her had an air of elegance and +splendor; of course she completely escaped the disgrace of being thought +a scholar, but not the suspicion of having a very good taste. I longed +for the removal of the cloth, and was eagerly anticipating the pleasure +and improvement which awaited me. + +As soon as the servants were beginning to withdraw, we got into a sort +of attitude of conversation; all except the eulogist of l'Almanac des +Gourmands, who, wrapping himself up in the comfortable consciousness of +his own superior judgment, and a little piqued that he had found neither +support nor opposition (the next best thing to a professed talker), he +seemed to have a perfect indifference to all topics except that on which +he had shown so much eloquence with so little effect. + +The last tray was now carried out, the last lingering servant had +retired. I was beginning to listen with all my powers of attention to an +ingenious gentleman who was about to give an interesting account of +Egypt, where he had spent a year, and from whence he was lately +returned. He was just got to the catacombs, + + When on a sudden open fly, + With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, + +the mahogany folding doors, and in at once, struggling who should be +first, rushed half a dozen children, lovely, fresh, gay, and noisy. This +sudden and violent irruption of the pretty barbarians necessarily +caused a total interruption of conversation. The sprightly creatures ran +round the table to choose where they would sit. At length this great +difficulty of courts and cabinets, _the choice of places_, was settled. +The little things were jostled in between the ladies, who all contended +who should get possession of the _little beauties_. One was in raptures +with the rosy cheeks of a sweet girl she held in her lap. A second +exclaimed aloud at the beautiful lace with which the frock of another +was trimmed, and which she was sure mamma had given her for being good. +A profitable, and doubtless a lasting and inseparable association was +thus formed in the child's mind between lace and goodness. A third cried +out, "Look at the pretty angel!--do but observe--her bracelets are as +blue as her eyes. Did you ever see such a match?" "Surely, Lady +Belfield," cried a fourth, "you carried the eyes to the shop, or there +must have been a shade of difference." I myself, who am passionately +fond of children, eyed the sweet little rebels with complacency, +notwithstanding the unseasonableness of their interruption. + +At last, when they were all disposed of, I resumed my inquiries about +the resting-place of the mummies. But the grand dispute who should have +oranges and who should have almonds and raisins, soon raised such a +clamor that it was impossible to hear my Egyptian friend. This great +contest was, however, at length settled, and I was returning to the +antiquities of Memphis, when the important point, who should have red +wine, and who should have white, who should have half a glass, and who a +whole one, set us again in an uproar. Sir John was visibly uneasy, and +commanded silence. During this interval of peace, I gave up the +catacombs and took refuge in the pyramids. But I had no sooner proposed +my question about the serpent said to be found in one of them, than the +son and heir, a fine little fellow just six years old, reaching out his +arm to dart an apple across the table at his sister, roguishly intending +to overset her glass, unluckily overthrew his own, brimful of port wine. +The whole contents were discharged on the elegant drapery of a +white-robed nymph. + +All was now agitation, and distress, and disturbance, and confusion; the +gentlemen ringing for napkins, the ladies assisting the dripping fair +one; each vying with the other who should recommend the most approved +specific for getting out the stain of red wine, and comforting the +sufferer by stories of similar misfortunes. The poor little culprit was +dismissed, and all difficulties and disasters seemed at last surmounted. +But you can not heat up again an interest which has been so often +cooled. The thread of conversation had been so frequently broken that I +despaired of seeing it tied together again. I sorrowfully gave up +catacombs, pyramids, and serpent, and was obliged to content myself with +a little desultory chat with my next neighbor; sorry and disappointed to +glean only a few scattered ears where I had expected so abundant a +harvest; and the day from which I had promised myself so much benefit +and delight passed away with a very slender acquisition of either. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +I went almost immediately after, at the invitation of Mr. Ranby, to pass +a few days at his villa at Hampstead. Mr. and Mrs. Ranby were esteemed +pious persons, but having risen to great affluence by a sudden turn of +fortune in a commercial engagement, they had a little self-sufficiency, +and not a little disposition to ascribe an undue importance to wealth. +This I should have thought more pardonable under their circumstances, +had I not expected that religion would in this respect have more than +supplied the deficiencies of education. Their religion, however, +consisted almost exclusively in a disproportionate zeal for a very few +doctrines. And though they were far from being immoral in their own +practice, yet, in their discourse, they affected to undervalue morality. + +This was, indeed, more particularly the case with the lady, whose chief +object of discourse seemed to be, to convince me of her great +superiority to her husband in polemical skill. Her chaste conversation +certainly was not coupled with fear. In one respect she was the very +reverse of those pharisees who were scrupulously exact about their petty +observances. Mrs. Ranby was, on the contrary, anxious about a very few +important particulars, and exonerated herself from the necessity of all +inferior attentions. She was strongly attached to one or two preachers, +and discovered little candor for all others, or for those who attended +them. Nay, she somewhat doubted of the soundness of the faith of her +friends and acquaintance who would not incur great inconvenience to +attend one or other of her favorites. + +Mrs. Ranby's table was "more than hospitably good." There was not the +least suspicion of Latin here. The eulogist of female ignorance might +have dined in comfortable security against the intrusion and vanity of +erudition. She had three daughters, not unpleasing young women. But I +was much concerned to observe, that they were not only dressed to the +very extremity of fashion, but their drapery was as transparent, as +short, and as scanty, there was as sedulous a disclosure of their +persons, and as great a redundancy of ornaments, as I had seen in the +gayest circles. + +"Expect not perfection," said my good mother, "but look for +_consistency_." This principle my parents had not only taught me in the +closet, but had illustrated by their deportment in the family and in the +world. They observed a uniform correctness in their general demeanor. +They were not over anxious about character for its own sake, but they +were tenderly vigilant not to bring any reproach on the Christian name +by imprudence, negligence, or inconsistency, even in small things. +"Custom," said my mother, "can never alter the immutable nature of +right; fashion can never justify any practice which is improper in +itself; and to dress indecently is as great an offence against purity +and modesty, when it is the fashion, as when it is obsolete. There +should be a line of demarcation somewhere. In the article of dress and +appearance, Christian mothers should make a stand. They should not be so +unreasonable as to expect that a young girl will of herself have courage +to oppose the united temptations of fashion without, and the secret +prevalence of corruption within: and authority should be called in where +admonition fails." + +The conversation after dinner took a religious turn. Mrs. Ranby was not +unacquainted with the subject, and expressed herself with energy on many +serious points. I could have been glad, however, to have seen her views +a little more practical; and her spirit a little less censorious. I saw +she took the lead in debate, and that Mr. Ranby submitted to act as +subaltern, but whether his meekness was the effect of piety or fear, I +could not at that time determine. She protested vehemently against all +dissipation, in which I cordially joined her, though I hope with +something less intemperance of manner, and less acrimony against those +who pursued it. I began, however, to lose sight of the errors of the +daughters' dress in the pleasure I felt at conversing with so pious a +mother of a family. For pious she really was, though her piety was a +little debased by coarseness, and not a little disfigured by asperity. + +I was sorry to observe that the young ladies not only took no part in +the conversation, but that they did not even seem to know what was going +on, and I must confess the _manner_ in which it was conducted was not +calculated to make the subject interesting. The girls sat jogging and +whispering each other, and got away as fast as they could. + +As soon as they were withdrawn--"There sir," said the mother, "are three +girls who will make three excellent wives. They were never at a ball or +a play in their lives; and yet, though I say it, who should not say it, +they are as highly accomplished as any ladies at St. James." I cordially +approved the former part of her assertion, and bowed in silence to the +latter. + +I took this opportunity of inquiring what had been her mode of religious +instruction for her daughters; but though I put the question with much +caution and deference, she looked displeased, and said she did not think +it necessary to do a great deal in that way; all these things must come +from above; it was not human endeavors, but divine grace which made +Christians. I observed that the truth appeared to be, that divine grace +_blessing_ human endeavors seemed most likely to accomplish that great +end. She replied that experience was not on my side, for that the +children of religious parents were not always religious. I allowed that +it was too true. I knew that she drew her instances from two or three of +her own friends, who, while they discovered much earnestness about their +own spiritual interests, had almost totally neglected the religious +cultivation of their children; the daughters in particular had been +suffered to follow their own devices, and to waste their days in company +of their own choosing and in the most frivolous manner. "What do ye +more than others?" is an interrogation which this negligence has +frequently suggested. Nay, professing serious piety, if ye do not more +than those who profess it not, ye do less. + +I took the liberty to remark that though there was no such thing as +hereditary holiness, no entail of goodness; yet the Almighty had +promised in the Scriptures many blessings to the offspring of the +righteous. He never meant, however, that religion was to be transferred +arbitrarily like an heir-loom; but the promise was accompanied with +conditions and injunctions. The directions were express and frequent, to +inculcate early and late the great truths of religion; nay, it was +enforced with all the minuteness of detail, "precept upon precept, line +upon line, here a little, and there a little"--at all times and seasons, +"walking by the way, and sitting in the house." I hazarded the +assertion, that it would _generally_ be found that where the children of +pious parents turned out ill, there had been some mistake, some neglect, +or some fault on the part of the parents; that they had not used the +right methods. I observed that I thought it did not at all derogate from +the sovereignty of the Almighty that he appointed certain means to +accomplish certain ends; and that the adopting these, in conformity to +his appointment, and dependence on his blessing, seemed to be one of the +cases in which we should prove our faith by our obedience. + +I found I had gone too far: she said, with some warmth, that she was not +wanting in any duty to her daughters; she set them a good example, and +she prayed daily for their conversion. I highly commended her for both, +but risked the observation, "that praying without instilling principles, +might be as inefficacious as instruction without prayer. That it was +like a husbandman who should expect that praying for sunshine should +produce a crop of corn in a field where not one grain had been sown. +God, indeed, _could_ effect this, but he does not do it; and the means +being of his own appointment, his omnipotence is not less exerted, by +his directing certain effects to follow certain causes, than it would be +by any arbitrary act." As it was evident that she did not choose to +quarrel with me, she contented herself with saying coldly, that she +perceived I was a _legalist_, and had but a low view of divine things. + +At tea I found the young ladies took no more interest in the +conversation, than they had done at dinner, but sat whispering and +laughing, and netting white silk gloves till they were summoned to the +harpsichord. Despairing of getting on with them in company, I proposed a +walk in the garden. I now found them as willing to talk, as destitute of +any thing to say. Their conversation was vapid and frivolous. They laid +great stress on small things. They seemed to have no shades in their +understanding, but used the strongest terms for the commonest occasions, +and admiration was excited by things hardly worthy to command attention. +They were extremely glad, and extremely sorry, on subjects not +calculated to excite affections of any kind. They were animated about +trifles, and indifferent on things of importance. They were, I must +confess, frank and good-natured, but it was evident, that as they were +too open to have any thing to conceal, so they were too uninformed to +have any thing to produce: and I was resolved not to risk my happiness +with a woman who could not contribute her full share toward spending a +wet winter cheerfully in the country. + +The next day, all the hours from breakfast to dinner were devoted to the +harp. I had the vanity to think that this sacrifice of time was made in +compliment to me, as I had professed to like music; till I found that +all their mornings were spent in the same manner, and the only fruit of +their education, which seemed to be used to any purpose was, that after +their family devotions in the evening, they sung and played a hymn. This +was almost the only sign they gave of intellectual or spiritual life. +They attended morning prayers if they were dressed before the bell rang. +One morning when they did not appear till late, they were reproved by +their father; Mrs. Ranby said, "she should be more angry with them for +their irregularity, were it not that Mr. Ranby obstinately persisted in +reading a printed form which she was persuaded could not do any body +much good." The poor man, who was really well disposed, very properly +defended himself by saying, that he hoped his own heart went along with +every word he read; and as to his family, he thought it much more +beneficial for them to join in an excellent composition of a judicious +divine, than to attend to any such crude rhapsody as he should be able +to produce, whose education had not qualified him to lead the devotions +of others. I had never heard him venture to make use of his +understanding before; and I continued to find it much better than I had +at first given him credit for. The lady observed, with some asperity, +that where there were _gifts_ and _graces_, it superseded the necessity +of learning. + +In vindication of my own good breeding, I should observe that in my +little debates with Mrs. Ranby, to which I was always challenged by her, +I never lost sight of that becoming example of the son of Cato, who, +when about to deliver sentiments which might be thought too assuming in +so young a man, introduced his admonitions with the modest preface, + + Remember what our _father_ oft has taught us. + +I, without quoting the son of the sage of Utica, constantly adduced the +paternal authority for opinions which might savor too much of arrogance +without such a sanction. + +I observed, in the course of my visit, that self-denial made no part of +Mrs. Ranby's religious plan. She fancied, I believe that it savored of +works, and of works she was evidently afraid. She talked as if activity +were useless, and exertion unnecessary, and as if, like inanimate +matter, we had nothing to do but sit still and be shone upon. + +I assured her that though I depended on the mercy of God, through the +merits of his Son, for salvation, as entirely as she could do, yet I +thought that Almighty grace, so far from setting aside diligent +exertion, was the principle which promoted it. That salvation is in no +part of Scripture represented as attainable by the indolent Christian, +if I might couple such contradictory terms. That I had been often +awfully struck with the plain declarations, "that the kingdom of +heaven suffereth violence"--"strive to enter in at the strait +gate"--"whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy +might"--"give diligence to make your calling sure"--"work out your own +salvation." To this labor, this watchfulness, this sedulity of endeavor, +the crown of life is expressly promised, and salvation is not less the +free gift of God, because he has annexed certain conditions to our +obtaining it. + +The more I argued, the more I found my reputation decline, yet to argue +she compelled me. I really believe she was sincere, but she was ill +informed, governed by feelings and impulses, rather than by the plain +express rule of Scripture. It was not that she did not read Scripture, +but she interpreted it her own way; built opinions on insulated texts; +did not compare Scripture with Scripture, except as it concurred to +strengthen her bias. She considered with a disproportionate fondness, +those passages which supported her preconceived opinions, instead of +being uniformly governed by the general tenor and spirit of the sacred +page. She had far less reverence for the preceptive, than for the +doctrinal parts, because she did not sufficiently consider faith as an +operative influential principle; nor did she conceive that the sublimest +doctrines involve deep practical consequences. She did not consider the +government of the tongue, nor the command of her passions, as forming +any material part of the Christian character. Her zeal was fiery because +her temper was so; and her charity was cold because it was an expensive +propensity to keep warm. Among the perfections of the Redeemer's +character, she did not consider his being "meek and lowly" as an +example, the influence of which was to extend to her. She considered it +indeed as _admirable_ but not as _imitable_; a distinction she was very +apt to make in all her practical dissertations, and in her +interpretation of Scripture. + +In the evening Mrs. Ranby was lamenting in general and rather customary +terms, her own exceeding sinfulness. Mr. Ranby said, "You accuse +yourself rather too heavily, my dear: you have sins to be sure." "And +pray what sins have I, Mr. Ranby?" said she, turning upon him with so +much quickness that the poor man started. "Nay," said he meekly, "I did +not mean to offend you; so far from it, that hearing you condemn +yourself so grievously, I intended to comfort you, and to say that +except a few faults--" "And pray what faults?" interrupted she, +continuing to speak however, lest he should catch an interval to tell +them. "I defy you, Mr. Ranby, to produce one." "My dear," replied he, +"as you charged yourself with all, I thought it would be letting you off +cheaply by naming only two or three, such as--." Here, fearing matters +would go too far, I interposed, and softening things as much as I could +for the lady, said, "I conceived that Mr. Ranby meant, that though she +partook of the general corruption--" Here Ranby, interrupting me with +more spirit than I thought he possessed, said "General corruption, sir, +must be the source of particular corruption: I did not mean that my +wife was worse than other women."--"Worse, Mr. Ranby, worse?" cried she. +Ranby, for the first time in his life, not minding her, went on, "As she +is always insisting that the whole species is corrupt, she can not help +allowing that she herself has not quite escaped the infection. Now to be +a sinner in the gross and a saint in the detail; that is, to have all +sins, and no faults, is a thing I do not quite comprehend." + +After he had left the room, which he did as the shortest way of allaying +the storm, she apologized for him, said, "he was a well-meaning man, and +acted up to the little light he had;" but added, "that he was +unacquainted with religious feelings, and knew little of the nature of +conversion." + +Mrs. Ranby, I found, seems to consider Christianity as a kind of +free-masonry, and therefore thinks it superfluous to speak on serious +subjects to any but the initiated. If they do not _return the sign_, she +gives them up as blind and dead. She thinks she can only make herself +intelligible to those to whom certain peculiar phrases are familiar; and +though her friends may be correct, devout, and both doctrinally and +practically pious; yet if they can not catch a certain mystic meaning, +if there is not a sympathy of intelligence between her and them, if they +do not fully conceive of impressions, and can not respond to mysterious +communications, she holds them unworthy of intercourse with her. She +does not so much insist on high moral excellence as the criterion of +their worth, as on their own account of their internal feelings. + +She holds very cheap, that gradual growth in piety which is, in reality, +no less the effect of divine grace, than those instantaneous +conversions, which she believes to be so common. She can not be +persuaded that, of every advance in piety, of every improvement in +virtue, of every illumination of the understanding, of every amendment +in the heart, of every rectification of the will, the Spirit of God is +no less the author, because it is progressive, than if it were sudden. +It is true Omnipotence can, when he pleases, still produce these +instantaneous effects, as he has sometimes done; but as it is not his +established or common mode of operation, it seems vain and rash, +presumptuously to wait for these miraculous interferences. An implicit +dependence, however, on such interferences, is certainly more gratifying +to the genius of enthusiasm, than the anxious vigilance, the fervent +prayer, the daily struggle, the sometimes scarcely perceptible though +constant progress of the sober-minded Christian. Such a Christian is +fully aware that his heart requires as much watching in the more +advanced as in the earliest stages of his religious course. He is +cheerful in a well-grounded hope, and looks not for ecstasies, till that +hope be swallowed up in fruition. Thankful if he feel in his heart a +growing love to God, and an increasing submission to his will, though he +is unconscious of visions, and unacquainted with any revelation but that +which God has made in his word. He remembers, and he derives consolation +from the remembrance, that his Saviour, in his most gracious and +soothing invitation to the "heavy laden," has mercifully promised +"rest," but he has no where promised rapture. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +But to return to Mrs. Ranby's daughters. Is this _consistency_, said I +to myself, when I compared the inanity of the life with the seriousness +of the discourse: and contrasted the vacant way in which the day was +spent, with the decent and devout manner in which it was begun and +ended? I recollected, that under the early though imperfect sacred +institution, the fire of the morning and evening sacrifice was never +suffered to be extinguished during the day. + +Though Mrs. Ranby would have thought it a little heathenish to have had +her daughters instructed in polite literature, and to have filled a +leisure hour in reading to her a useful book, that was not professedly +religious, she felt no compunction at their waste of time, or the +trifling pursuits in which the day was suffered to spend itself. The +piano-forte, when they were weary of the harp, copying some indifferent +drawings, gilding a set of flower-pots, and netting white gloves and +veils, seemed to fill up the whole business of these immortal beings, of +these Christians, for whom it had been solemnly engaged that they should +manfully fight under Christ's banner. + +On a further acquaintance, I was much more inclined to lay the blame on +their education than their dispositions. I found them not only +good-humored, but charitably disposed: but their charities were small +and casual, often ill applied, and always without a plan. They knew +nothing of the state, character, or wants of the neighboring poor; and +it had never been pointed out to them that the instruction of the young +and ignorant made any part of the duty of the rich toward them. + +When I once ventured to drop a hint on this subject to Mrs. Ranby, she +drily said there were many other ways of doing good to the poor, besides +exposing her daughters to the probability of catching diseases, and the +certainty of getting dirt by such visits. Her subscription was never +wanting when she was _quite sure_ that the object was deserving. As I +suspected that she a little over-rated her own charity, I could not +forbear observing, that I did not think it demanded a combination of all +the virtues to entitle a poor sick wretch to a dinner. And though I +durst not quote so light an authority as Hamlet to her, I could not +help saying to myself, _Give every man his due, and who shall 'scape +whipping_? O! if God dealt so rigidly with us; if he waited to bestow +his ordinary blessings till we were good enough to deserve them, who +would be clothed? who would be fed? who would have a roof to shelter +him? + +It was not that she gave nothing away, but she had a great dislike to +relieve any but those of her own religious persuasion. Though her +Redeemer laid down his life for all people, nations, and languages, she +will only lay down her money for a very limited number of a very limited +class. To be religious is not claim sufficient on her bounty, they must +be religious in a particular way. + +The Miss Ranbys had not been habituated to make any systematic provision +for regular charity, or for any of those accidental calamities for which +the purse of the affluent should always be provided; and being very +expensive in their persons, they had often not a sixpence to bestow, +when the most deserving case presented itself. This must frequently +happen where there is no specific fund for charity, which should be +included in the general arrangement of expenses; and the exercise of +benevolence not be left to depend on the accidental state of the purse. +If no new trinket happened to be wanted, these young ladies were liberal +to any application, though always without judging of its merits by their +own eyes and ears. But if there was a competition between a sick family +and a new brooch, the brooch was sure to carry the day. This would not +have been the case, had they been habituated to visit themselves the +abodes of penury and woe. Their flexible young hearts would have been +wrought upon by the actual sight of miseries, the impression of which +was feeble when it reached their ears at a distance, surrounded as they +were with all the softnesses and accommodations of luxurious life. +"They would do what they could. They hoped it was not so bad as was +represented." They fell into the usual way of pacifying their +consciences by their regrets; and brought themselves to believe that +their sympathy with the suffering was an atonement for their not +relieving it. + +I observed with concern, during my visit, how little the Christian +temper seemed to be considered as a part of the Christian religion. This +appeared in the daily concerns of this high professor. An opinion +contradicted, a person of different religious views commended, the +smallest opposition to her will, the intrusion of an unseasonable +visitor, even an imperfection in the dressing of some dish at table: +such trifles not only discomposed her, but the discomposure was +manifested with a vehemence which she was not aware was a fault; nor did +she seem at all sensible that her religion was ever to be resorted to +but on great occasions, forgetting that great occasions but rarely occur +in common life, and that these small passes, at which the enemy is +perpetually entering, the true Christian will vigilantly guard. + +I observed in Mrs. Ranby one striking inconsistency. While she +considered it as forming a complete line of separation from the world, +that she and her daughters abstained from public places, she had no +objection to their indemnifying themselves for this forbearance, by +devoting so monstrous a disproportion of their time to that very +amusement which constitutes so principal a part of diversion abroad. The +time which is redeemed from what is wrong, is of little value, if not +dedicated to what is right; and it is not enough that the doctrines of +the gospel furnish a subject for discussion, if they do not furnish a +principle of action. + +One of the most obvious defects which struck me in this and two or three +other families, whom I afterward visited, was the want of +companionableness in the daughters. They did not seem to form a part of +the family compact; but made a kind of distinct branch of themselves. +Surely, when only the parents and a few select friends are met together +in a family way, the daughters should contribute their portion to +enliven the domestic circle. They were always ready to sing and to play, +but did not take the pains to produce themselves in conversation; but +seemed to carry on a distinct intercourse by herding, and whispering, +and laughing together. + +In some women who seemed to be possessed of good ingredients, they were +so ill mixed up together as not to produce an elegant, interesting +companion. It appeared to me that three of the grand inducements in the +choice of a wife, are, that a man may have a directress for his family, +a preceptress for his children, and a companion for himself. Can it be +honestly affirmed that the present habits of domestic life are generally +favorable to the union of these three essentials? Yet which of them can +a man of sense and principle consent to relinquish in his conjugal +prospects? + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +I returned to town at the end of a few days. To a speculative stranger, +a _London day_ presents every variety of circumstance in every +conceivable shape, of which human life is susceptible. When you trace +the solicitude of the morning countenance, the anxious exploring of the +morning paper, the eager interrogation of the morning guest; when you +hear the dismal enumeration of losses by land, and perils by sea--taxes +trebling, dangers multiplying, commerce annihilating, war protracted, +invasion threatening, destruction impending--your mind catches and +communicates the terror, and you feel yourself "falling, with a falling +state." + +But when, in the course of the very same day, you meet these gloomy +prognosticators at the sumptuous, not "dinner but Hecatomb," at the +gorgeous fete, the splendid spectacle; when you hear the frivolous +discourse, witness the luxurious dissipation, contemplate the boundless +indulgence, and observe the ruinous gaming, you would be ready to +exclaim, "Am I not supping in the antipodes of that land in which I +breakfasted? Surely this is a country of different men, different +characters, and different circumstances. This at least is a place in +which there is neither fear nor danger, nor want, nor misery, nor war." + +If you observed the overflowing subscriptions raised, the innumerable +societies formed, the committees appointed, the agents employed, the +royal patrons engaged, the noble presidents provided, the palace-like +structures erected; and all this to alleviate, to cure, and even to +prevent, every calamity which the indigent can suffer, or the affluent +conceive; to remove not only want but ignorance; to suppress not only +misery but vice--would you not exclaim with Hamlet, "What a piece of +work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties! In action +how like an angel! In compassion how like a god!" + +If you looked into the whole comet-like eccentric orb of the human +character; if you compared all the struggling contrariety of principle +and of passion; the clashing of opinion and of action, of resolution and +of performance; the victories of evil over the propensities to good; if +you contrasted the splendid virtue with the disorderly vice; the exalted +generosity with the selfish narrowness; the provident bounty with the +thoughtless prodigality; the extremes of all that is dignified, with the +excesses of all that is abject, would you not exclaim, in the very +spirit of Pascal, O! the grandeur and the littleness, the excellence +and the corruption, the majesty and the meanness of man! + +If you attended the debates in our great deliberative assemblies; if you +heard the argument and the eloquence, "the wisdom and the wit," the +public spirit and the disinterestedness; Curtius's devotedness to his +country, and Regulus's disdain of self, expressed with all the logic +which reason can suggest, and embellished with all the rhetoric which +fancy can supply, would you not rapturously cry out, this is + + Above all Greek, above all Roman fame? + +But if you discerned the bitter personality, the incurable prejudice, +the cutting retort, the suspicious implication, the recriminating sneer, +the cherished animosity; if you beheld the interests of an empire +standing still, the business of the civilized globe suspended, while two +intellectual gladiators are thrusting each to give the other a fall, and +to show his own strength; would you not lament the littleness of the +great, the infirmities of the good, and the weaknesses of the wise? +Would you not, soaring a flight far above Hamlet or Pascal, apostrophize +with the royal Psalmist, "Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of +him, or the son of man that thou regardest him?" + +But to descend to my individual concerns. Among my acquaintance, I +visited two separate families, where the daughters were remarkably +attractive; and more than usually endowed with beauty, sense, and +elegance; but I was deterred from following up the acquaintance, by +observing, in each family, practices which, though very different, +almost equally revolted me. + +In one, where the young ladies had large fortunes, they insinuated +themselves into the admiration, and invited the familiarity, of young +men, by attentions the most flattering, and civilities the most +alluring. When they had made sure of their aim, and the admirers were +encouraged to make proposals, the ladies burst out into a loud laugh, +wondered what the man could mean; they never dreamt of any thing more +than common politeness; then petrified them with distant looks, and +turned about to practice the same arts on others. + +The other family in which I thought I had secured an agreeable intimacy, +I instantly deserted on observing the gracious and engaging reception +given by the ladies to more than one libertine of the most notorious +profligacy. The men were handsome, and elegant, and fashionable, and had +figured in newspapers and courts of justice. This degrading popularity +rather attracted than repelled attention; and while the guilty +associates in their crimes were shunned with abhorrence by these very +ladies, the specious undoers were not only received with complaisance, +but there was a sort of competition who should be most strenuous in +their endeavors to attract them. Surely women of fashion can hardly make +a more corrupt use of influence, a talent for which they will be +peculiarly accountable. Surely, mere personal purity can hardly deserve +the name of virtue in those who can sanction notoriously vicious +characters, which their reprobation, if it could not reform, would at +least degrade. + +On a further acquaintance, I found Sir John and Lady Belfield to be +persons of much worth. They were candid, generous, and sincere. They saw +the errors of the world in which they lived, but had not resolution to +emancipate themselves from its shackles. They partook, indeed, very +sparingly of its diversions, not so much because they suspected their +evil tendency, as because they were weary of them, and because they had +better resources in themselves. + +Indeed, it is wonderful that more people from mere good sense and just +taste, without the operation of any religious consideration, do not, +when the first ardor is cooled, perceive the futility of what is called +pleasure, and decline it as the man declines the amusements of the +child. But fashionable society produces few persons, who, like the +ex-courtier of King David, assign their fourscore years as a reason for +no longer "delighting in the voice of singing men and singing women." + +Sir John and Lady Belfield, however, kept a large general acquaintance; +and it is not easy to continue to associate with the world, without +retaining something of its spirit. Their standard of morals was high, +compared with that of those with whom they lived; but when the standard +of the gospel was suggested, they drew in a little, and thought _things +might be carried too far_. There was nothing in their practice which +made it their interest to hope that Christianity might not be true. They +both assented to its doctrines, and lived in a kind of general hope of +its final promises. But their views were neither correct, nor elevated. +They were contented to generalize the doctrines of Scripture, and though +they venerated its awful truths in the aggregate, they rather took them +upon trust than labored to understand them, or to imbue their minds with +the spirit of them. Many a high professor, however, might have blushed +to see how carefully they exercised not a few Christian dispositions; +how kind and patient they were! how favorable in their construction of +the actions of others! how charitable to the necessitous! how exact in +veracity! and how tender of the reputation of their neighbor! + +Sir John had been early hurt by living so much with men of the world, +with wits, politicians, and philosophers. This, though he had escaped +the contagion of false principles, had kept back the growth of such as +were true. Men versed in the world, and abstracted from all religious +society, begin, in time, a little to suspect whether their own religious +opinions may not possibly be wrong, or at least rigid, when they see +them so opposite to those of persons to whose judgment they are +accustomed to look up in other points. He found too, that, in the +society in which he lived, the reputation of religion detracted much +from that of talents; and a man does not care to have his understanding +questioned by those in whose opinion he wishes to stand well. This +apprehension did not, indeed, drive him to renounce his principles, but +it led him to conceal them; and that piety which is forcibly kept out of +sight, which has nothing to fortify, and every thing to repel it, is too +apt to decline. + +His marriage with an amiable woman, whose virtues and graces attached +him to his own home, drew him off from the most dangerous of his prior +connections. This union had at once improved his character, and +augmented his happiness. If Lady Belfield erred, it was through excess +of kindness and candor. Her kindness led to the too great indulgence of +her children; and her candor to the too favorable construction of the +errors of her acquaintance. She was the very reverse of my Hampstead +friend. Whereas Mrs. Ranby thought hardly any body would be saved, Lady +Belfield comforted herself that hardly any body was in danger. This +opinion was not taken up as a palliative to quiet her conscience, on +account of the sins of her own conduct, for her conduct was remarkably +correct; but it sprang from a natural sweetness of temper, joined to a +mind not sufficiently informed and guided by scriptural truth. She was +candid and teachable, but as she could not help seeing that she had more +religion than most of her acquaintance; she felt a secret complacency in +observing how far her principles rose above theirs, instead of an +humbling conviction of how far her own fell below the requisitions of +the gospel. + +The fundamental error was, that she had no distinct view of the +corruptions of human nature. She often lamented the weaknesses and +vices of individuals, but thought all vice an incidental, not a radical +mischief, the effect of thoughtlessness and casual temptation. She +talked with discrimination of the faults of some of her children; but +while she rejoiced in the happier dispositions of the others, she never +suspected that they had all brought into the world with them any natural +tendency to evil; and thought it cruel to suppose that such, innocent +little things had any such wrong propensities as education would not +effectually cure. In every thing the complete contrast of Mrs. Ranby--as +the latter thought education could do nothing, Lady Belfield thought it +would do every thing; that there was no good tendency which it would not +bring to perfection, and no corruption which it could not completely +eradicate. On the operation of a higher influence she placed too little +dependence; while Mrs. Ranby rested in an unreasonable trust on an +interference not warranted by Scripture. + +In regard to her children, Lady Belfield was led by the strength of her +affection to extreme indulgence. She encouraged no vice in them, but she +did not sufficiently check those indications which are the seeds of +vice. She reproved the actual fault, but never thought of implanting a +principle which might extirpate the evil from whence the fault sprung; +so that the individual error and the individual correction were +continually recurring. + +As Mrs. Ranby, I had observed, seldom quoted any sacred writer but St. +Paul, I remarked that Lady Belfield admired almost exclusively +Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and the historical books of the Bible. Of the +Epistles, that of St. James was her favorite; the others she thought +chiefly, if not entirely, applicable to the circumstances of the Jews +and Pagans, to the converts from among whom they were addressed. If she +entertained rather an awful reverence for the doctrinal parts, than an +earnest wish to study them, it arose from the common mistake of +believing that they were purely speculative, without being aware of +their deep practical importance. But if these two ladies were +diametrically opposite to each other in certain points, both were +frequently right in what they assumed, and both wrong only in what they +rejected. Each contended for one half of that which will not save when +disjointed from the other, but which when united to it, makes up the +complete Christian character. + +Lady Belfield, who was, if I may so speak, constitutionally charitable, +almost thought that heaven might be purchased by charity. She inverted +the valuable superstructure of good works, and laid them as her +foundation; and while Mrs. Ranby would not, perhaps, much have blamed +Moses for breaking the tables of the law, had he only demolished the +second, Lady Belfield would have saved the second, as the more important +of the two. + +Lady Belfield had less vanity than any woman I ever knew who was not +governed by a very strict religious principle. Her modesty never courted +the admiration of the world, but her timidity too much dreaded its +censure. She would not do a wrong thing to obtain any applause, but she +omitted some right ones from the dread of blame. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +The house of Sir John Belfield was become a pleasant kind of home to me. +He and his lady seldom went out in an evening. Happy in each other and +in their children, though they lived much with the rational, they +associated as little as they thought possible with the racketing world. +Yet being known to be generally at home, they were exposed to the +inroads of certain invaders, called fine ladies, who, always afraid of +being too early for their parties, are constantly on the watch how to +disburden themselves for the intermediate hour, of the heavy commodity +_time_; a raw material, which as they seldom work up at home, they are +always willing to truck against the time of their more domestic +acquaintance. Now as these last _have_ always something to do, it is an +unfair traffic; "all the reciprocity is on one side," to borrow the +expression of an illustrious statesman; and the barter is as +disadvantageous to the sober home-trader, as that of the honest negroes, +who exchange their gold-dust and ivory for the beads and bits of glass +of the wily English. + +These nightly irruptions, though sometimes inconvenient to my friends, +were of use to me, as they enabled me to see and judge more of the gay +world than I could have done without going in search of it; a risk which +I thought bore no proportion to the gain. It was like learning the +language of the enemy's country at home. + +One evening, when we were sitting happily alone in the library, Lady +Belfield, working at her embroidery, cheerfully joining in our little +discussions, and comparing our peaceful pleasures with those pursued by +the occupiers of the countless carriages which were tearing up the +"wheel-worn streets," or jostling each other at the door of the next +house, where a grand assembly was collecting its myriads--Sir John asked +what should be the evening book. Then rising, he took down from the +shelf Akenside's Pleasures of Imagination. + +"Is it," said he, as soon as he sat down, "the rage for novelty, or a +real degeneracy of taste, that we now so seldom hear of a poet, who, +when I was a boy, was the admiration of every man who had a relish for +true genius? I can not defend his principles, since in a work, of which +_Man_ is professedly the object, he has overlooked his _immortality_: a +subject which one wonders did not force itself upon him, as so congenial +to the sublimity of his genius, whatever his religious views might have +been. But to speak of him only as a poet; a work which abounds in a +richer profusion of images, and a more variegated luxuriance of +expression than the Pleasures of Imagination, can not easily be found. +The flimsy metre of our day seems to add fresh value to his sinewy +verse. We have no happier master of poetic numbers; none who better knew + + To build the lofty rhyme. + +The condensed vigor, so indispensable to blank verse, the skillful +variation of the pause, the masterly structure of the period, and all +the occult mysteries of the art, can, perhaps, be best learned from +Akenside. If he could have conveyed to Thomson his melody and rhyme, and +Thomson would have paid him back in perspicuity and transparency of +meaning, how might they have enriched each other!" + +"I confess," said I, "in reading Akenside, I have now and then found the +same passage at once enchanting and unintelligible. As it happens to +many frequenters of the opera, the music always transports, but the +words are not always understood." I then desired my friend to gratify us +with the first book of the Pleasures of Imagination. + +Sir John is a passionate lover of poetry, in which he has a fine taste. +He read it with much spirit and feeling, especially these truly +classical lines, + + _Mind, Mind_ alone, bear witness earth and heaven, + The living fountains in itself contains + Of beauteous and sublime: here hand in hand + Sit paramount the graces; here enthroned + Celestial Venus, with divinest airs + Invites the soul to never-fading joy. + +"The reputation of this exquisite passage," said he, laying down the +book, "is established by the consenting suffrage of all men of taste, +though by the critical countenance you are beginning to put on, you look +as if you had a mind to attack it." + +"So far from it," said I, "that I know nothing more splendid in the +whole mass of our poetry. And I feel almost guilty of high treason +against the majesty of the sublimer Muses, in the remark I am going to +hazard, on the celebrated lines which follow. The poet's object, through +this and the two following pages, is to establish the infinite +superiority of mind over unconscious matter, even in its fairest forms. +The idea is as just as the execution is beautiful; so also is his +supreme elevation of intellect, over + + Greatness of bulk, or symmetry of parts. + +Nothing again can be finer, than his subsequent preference of + + The powers of genius and design, + +over even the stupendous range + + Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres. + +He proceeds to ransack the stores of the mental and the moral world, as +he had done the world of matter, and with a pen dipped in Hippocrene, +opposes to the latter, + + The charms of virtuous friendship, etc. + * * * * * + The candid blush + Of him who strives with fortune to be just. + * * * * * + All the mild majesty of private life. + + The graceful tear that streams from others' woes. + +"Why, Charles," said Sir John, "I am glad to find you the enthusiastic +eulogist of the passage of which I suspected you were about to be the +saucy censurer." + +"Censure," replied I, "is perhaps too strong a term for any part +especially the most admired part of this fine poem. I need not repeat +the lines on which I was going to risk a slight observation; they live +in the mind and memory of every lover of the Muses." + +"I will read the next passage, however," said Sir John, "that I may be +better able to controvert your criticism: + + Look then abroad through nature to the range + Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres, + Wheeling unshaken through the void immense, + And speak, oh man! does the capacious scene + With half that kindling majesty dilate + Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose + Refulgent from the stroke of Caesar's fate + Amid the crowd of patriots, and his arm + Aloft extending, like eternal Jove + When guilt brings down the thunder, call'd aloud + On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel, + And bade the father of his country hail; + For lo! the tyrant prostrate in the dust, + And Rome again is free? + +"What a grand and powerful passage!" said Sir John. + +"I acknowledge it," said I, "but is it as just as it is grand? _Le vrai +est le seul beau._ Is it a fair and direct opposition between mind and +matter? The poet could not have expressed the image more nobly, but +might he not, out of the abundant treasures of his opulent mind have +chosen it with more felicity? Is an act of murder, even of an usurper, +as happily contrasted with the organization of matter, as the other +beautiful instances I named, and which he goes on to select? The +superiority of mental beauty is the point he is establishing, and his +elaborate preparation leads you to expect all his other instances to be +drawn from pure mental excellence. His other exemplifications are +general, this is particular. They are a class, this is only a variety. I +question if Milton, who was at least as ardent a champion for liberty, +and as much of a party-man as Akenside, would have used this +illustration. Milton, though he often insinuates a political stroke in +his great poem, always, I think, generalizes. Whatever had been his +principles, or at whatever period he had written, I question, when he +wanted to describe the overthrow of authority by the rebel angels, if he +would have illustrated it by Cromwell's seizing the mace, or the +decapitation of Charles. Much less, if he would have selected those two +instances as the triumph of mind over matter." + +"But," said Sir John, "you forget that Akenside professedly adopts the +language of Cicero in his second Philippic." He then read the note +beginning with, Caesare interfecto, etc. + +"True," said I; "I am not arguing the matter as a point of fact, but as +a point of just application. I pass over the comparison of Brutus with +Jove, which by the way would have become Tully better than Akenside, but +which Tully would have perhaps thought too bold. Cicero adorns his +oration with this magnificent description. He relates it as an event, +the other uses it as an illustration of that to which I humbly conceive +it does not exactly apply. The orator paints the violent death of a +hero; the poet adopts the description of the violent death, or rather of +the stroke which caused it, to illustrate the perfection of intellectual +grandeur. After all, it is as much a party question as a poetical one. A +question on which the critic will be apt to be guided in his decision by +his politics rather than by his taste. The splendor of the passage, +however, will inevitably dazzle the feeling reader, till it produce the +common effect of excessive brightness, that of somewhat blinding the +beholder." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +While we were thus pleasantly engaged, the servant announced Mrs. +Fentham; and a fashionable looking woman, about the middle of life, +rather youthfully dressed, and not far from handsome, made her +appearance. Instead of breaking forth into the usual modish jargon, she +politely entered into the subject in which she found us engaged; envied +Lady Belfield the happiness of elegant quiet, which she herself might +have been equally enjoying at her own house, and professed herself a +warm admirer of poetry. She would probably have professed an equal +fondness for metaphysics, geometry, military tactics, or the Arabic +language, if she had happened to have found us employed in the study of +either. + +From poetry the transition to painting was easy and natural. Mrs. +Fentham possessed all the phraseology of connoisseurship, and asked me +if I was fond of pictures. I professed the delight I took in them in +strong, that is in true terms. She politely said that Mr. Fentham had a +very tolerable collection of the best masters, and particularly a +Titian, which she would be happy to have the honor of showing me next +morning. I bowed my thankful assent; she appointed the hour, and soon +after, looking at her watch, said she was afraid she must leave the +delights of such a select and interesting society for a far less +agreeable party. + +When she was gone, I expressed my obligations to her politeness, and +anticipated the pleasure I should have in seeing her pictures. "She is +much more anxious that you should see her _Originals_," said Lady +Belfield smiling; "the kindness is not _quite_ disinterested; take care +of your heart." Sir John, rather gravely, said, "It is with reluctance +that I ever say any thing to the prejudice of any body that I receive in +my house; but as the son of my valued friend, I think it fair to tell +you that this vigilant matron keeps a keen look out after all young men +of fortune. This is not the first time that the Titian has been made the +bait to catch a promising acquaintance. Indeed it is now grown so stale, +that had you not been a new man, she would hardly have risked it. If you +had happened not to like painting, some book would have been offered +you. The return of a book naturally brings on a visit. But all these +devices have not yet answered. The damsels still remain, like +Shakspeare's plaintive maid, 'in single blessedness.' They do not, +however, like her, spend gloomy nights + + Chaunting cold hymns to the pale, lifeless moon, + +but in singing sprightlier roundelays to livelier auditors." + +I punctually attended the invitation, effectually shielded from danger +by the friendly intimation, and a still more infallible AEgis, the charge +of my father never to embark in any engagement till I had made my visit +to Mr. Stanley. My veneration for his memory operated as a complete +defence. + +I saw and admired the pictures. The pictures brought on an invitation to +dinner. I found Mrs. Fentham to be in her conversation, a sensible, +correct, knowing woman. Her daughters were elegant in their figures, +well instructed in the usual accomplishments, well-bred, and apparently +well tempered. Mr. Fentham was a man of business, and of the world. He +had a great income from a place under government, out of which the +expenses of his family permitted him to save nothing. Private fortune he +had little or none. His employment engaged him almost entirely, so that +he interfered but little with domestic affairs. A general air of +elegance, almost amounting to magnificence, pervaded the whole +establishment. + +I at first saw but little to excite any suspicion of the artificial +character of the lady of the house. The first gleam of light which let +in the truth was the expressions most frequent in Mrs. Fentham's +mouth--"What will the world say?" "What will people think?" "How will +such a thing appear?" "Will it have a good look?" "The world is of +opinion." "Won't such a thing be censured?" On a little acquaintance I +discovered that human applause was the motive of all she said, and +reputation her great object in all she did. Opinion was the idol to +which she sacrificed. Decorum was the inspirer of her duties, and praise +the reward of them. The standard of the world was the standard by which +she weighed actions. She had no higher principle of conduct. She adopted +the forms of religion, because she saw that, carried to a certain +degree, they rather produced credit than censure. While her husband +adjusted his accounts on the Sunday morning, she regularly carried her +daughters to church, except a head-ache had been caught at the +Saturday's opera; and as regularly exhibited herself and them afterward +in Hyde-Park. As she said it was Mr. Fentham's leisure day, she +complimented him with always having a great dinner on Sundays, but +alleged her piety as a reason for not having cards in the evening at +home, though she had no scruple to make one at a private party at a +friend's house; soberly conditioning, however, that there should not be +more than _three tables_; the right or wrong, the decorum or +impropriety, the gayety or gravity always being made specifically to +depend on the number of tables. + +She was, in general, extremely severe against women who had lost their +reputation; though she had no hesitation in visiting a few of the most +dishonorable, if they were of high rank or belonged to a certain set. +In that case, she excused herself by saying, "That as fashionable people +continued to countenance them, it was not for her to be scrupulous; one +must sail with the stream; I can't set my face against the world." But +if an unhappy girl had been drawn aside, or one who had not rank to bear +her out had erred, that altered the case, and she then expressed the +most virtuous indignation. When modesty happened to be in repute, not +the necks of Queen Elizabeth and her courtly virgins were more +entrenched in ruffs and shrouded in tuckers, than those of Mrs. Fentham +and her daughters; but when _display_ became the order of the day, the +Grecian Venus was scarcely more unconscious of a vail. + +With a very good understanding she never allowed herself one original +thought, or one spontaneous action. Her ideas, her language, and her +conduct were entirely regulated by the ideas, language, and conduct of +those who stood well in the world. Vanity in her was a steady, inward, +but powerfully pervading principle. It did not evaporate in levity or +indiscretion, but was the hidden, though forcible spring of her whole +course of action. She had all the gratification which vanity affords in +secret, and all the credit which its prudent operation procures in +public. She was apparently guilty of no excess of any kind. She had a +sober scale of creditable vices, and never allowed herself to exceed a +few stated degrees in any of them. She reprobated gaming, but could not +exist without cards. Masquerades she censured as highly extravagant and +dangerous, but when given by ladies of high quality, at their own +houses, she thought them an elegant and proper amusement. Though she +sometimes went to the play, she did not care for what passed on the +stage, for she confessed the chief pleasure the theatre afforded was to +reckon up when she came home, how many duchesses and countesses had +bowed to her across the house. + +A complete despot at home, her arbitrariness is so vailed by correctness +of manner, and studied good breeding, that she obtains the credit of +great mildness and moderation. She is said not to love her daughters, +who come too near her in age, and go too much beyond her in beauty to be +forgiven; yet like a consummate politician, she is ever laboring for +their advancement. She has generally several schemes in hand, and always +one scheme under another, the under-plot ready to be brought forward if +the principal one fails. Though she encourages pretenders, yet she is +afraid to accept of a tolerable proposal, lest a better should present +itself; but if the loftier hope fails, she then contrives to lure back +the inferior offer. She can balance to a nicety, in the calculation of +chances, the advantages or disadvantages of a higher possibility against +a lower probability. + +Though she neither wants reading nor taste, her mind is never +sufficiently disengaged to make her an agreeable companion. Her head is +always at work conjecturing the event of every fresh ball and every new +acquaintance. She can not even + + Take her tea without a stratagem. + +She set out in life with a very slender acquaintance, and clung for a +while to one or two damaged peeresses, who were not received by women of +their own rank. But I am told it was curious to see with what adroitness +she could extricate herself from a disreputable acquaintance, when a +more honorable one stepped in to fill the niche. She made her way +rapidly, by insinuating to one person of note how intimate she was with +another, and to both what handsome things each said of the other. By +constant attentions, petty offices, and measured flattery, she has got +footing into almost every house of distinction. Her decorum is +invariable. She boasts that she was never guilty of the indecency of +violent passion. Poor woman! she fancies there is no violent passion but +that of anger. Little does she think that ambition, vanity, the hunger +of applause, a rage for being universally known, are all violent +passion, however modified by discretion or varnished by art. She suffers +too all that "vexation of spirit" which treads on the heels of "vanity." +Disappointment and jealousy poison the days devoted to pleasure. The +party does not answer. The wrong people never stay away, and the right +ones never come. The guest for whom the fete is made is sure to fail. +Her party is thin, while that of her competitor overflows; or there is a +plenty of dowagers and a paucity of young men. When the costly and +elaborate supper is on the table excuses arrive; even if the supper is +crowded, the daughters remain upon hands. How strikingly does she +exemplify the strong expression of--"laboring in the fire for very +vanity"--"of giving her money for that which is not bread, and her labor +for that which satisfieth not!" + +After spending the day at Mrs. Fentham's, I went to sup with my friends +in Cavendish-square. Lady Belfield was impatient for my history of the +dinner. But Sir John said, laughing, "You shall not say a word, +Charles--I can tell how it was as exactly as if I had been there. +Charlotte, who has the best voice, was brought out to sing, but was +placed a little behind, as her person is not quite perfect; Maria, who +is the most picturesque figure, was put _to attitudinize_ at the harp, +arrayed in the costume, and assuming the fascinating graces of Marmion's +Lady Heron: + + Fair was her rounded arm, as o'er + The strings her fingers flow. + +"Then, Charles, was the moment of peril! then, according to your favorite +Milton's most incongruous image, + + You took in sounds that might create a soul + Under the ribs of death. + +"For fear, however, that your heart of adamant should hold out against +all these perilous assaults, its vulnerability was tried in other +quarters. The Titian would naturally lead to Livinia's drawings. A +beautiful sketch of the lakes would be produced, with a gentle +intimation, what a sweet place Westmoreland must be to live in! When you +had exhausted all proper raptures on the art and on the artist, it would +be recollected, that as Westmoreland was so near Scotland, you would +naturally be fond of a reel. The reel of course succeeded." Then, +putting himself into an attitude and speaking theatrically, he +continued, + + "Then universal Pan + Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance-- + +"Oh! no, I forgot universal Pan could not join, but he could admire. Then +all the perfections of all the nymphs burst on you in full blaze. Such a +concentration of attractions you never could resist! You are _but_ a +man, and now, doubtless, a lost man." Here he stopped to finish his +laugh, and I was driven reluctantly to acknowledge that his picture, +though a caricature, was, notwithstanding, a resemblance. + +"And so," said Sir John, "you were brought under no power of incantation +by this dangerous visit. You will not be driven, like the tempted +Ithacan, to tie yourself to a mast, or to flee for safety from the +enchantment of these Sirens." + +While we were at supper, with more gravity, he said, "Among the various +objects of ambition, there are few in life which bring less accession +to its comfort, than an unceasing struggle to rise to an elevation in +society very much above the level of our own condition, without being +aided by any stronger ascending power than mere vanity. Great talents, +of whatever kind, have a natural tendency to rise, and to lift their +possessor. The flame in mounting does but obey its impulse. But when +there is no energy more powerful than the passion to be great, destitute +of the gifts which confer greatness, the painful efforts of ambition are +like water, forced above its level by mechanical powers. It requires +constant exertions of art, to keep up what art first set a-going. Poor +Mrs. Fentham's head is perpetually at work to maintain the elevation she +has reached. And how little after all is she considered by those on +whose caresses her happiness depends! She has lost the esteem of her +original circle, where she might have been respected, without gaining +that of her high associates, who, though they receive her, still refuse +her claims of equality. She is not considered as of their +_establishment_; it is but _toleration_ at best. + +"At Mrs. Fentham's, I encountered Lady Bab Lawless, a renowned modish +dowager, famous for laying siege to the heart of every distinguished +man, with the united artillery of her own wit and her daughters' beauty. +How many ways there are of being wrong! She was of a character +diametrically opposite to that of Mrs. Fentham. She had the same end in +view, but the means she used to accomplish it were of a bolder strain. +Lady Bab affected no delicacy, she laughed at reserve; she had shaken +hands with decorum. + + She held the _noisy_ tenor of her way + +with no assumed refinement; and, so far from shielding her designs +behind the mask of decency, she disdained the obsolete expedient. Her +plans succeeded the more infallibly, because her frankness defeated all +suspicion. A man could never divine that such gay and open assaults +could have their foundation in design, and he gave her full credit for +artless simplicity, at the moment she was catching him in her toils. If +she now and then had gone too far, and by a momentary oversight, or +excessive levity had betrayed too much, with infinite address she would +make a crane-neck turn, and fall to discussing, not without ability, +some moral or theological topic. Thus she affected to establish the +character of a woman, thoughtless through wit, indiscreet through +simplicity, but religious on principle. + +As there is no part of the appendage to a wife, which I have ever more +dreaded than a Machiavelian mother, I should have been deaf to wit and +blind to beauty, and dead to advances, had their united batteries been +directed against me. But I had not the ambition to aspire to that honor. +I was much too low a mark for her lofty aim. She had a natural antipathy +to every name that could not be found in the red book. She equally +shrunk from untitled opulence and indigent nobility. She knew by +instinct if a younger son was in the room, and by a petrifying look +checked his most distant approaches; while with her powerful spells she +never failed to draw within her magic circle the splendid heir, and +charm him to her purpose. + +Highly born herself, she had early been married to a rich man of +inferior rank, for the sake of a large settlement. Her plan was, that +her daughters (who, by the way, are modest and estimable), should find +in the man they married, still higher birth than her own, and more +riches than her husband's. + +It was a curious speculation to compare these two friends, and to +observe how much less the refined maneuvers of Mrs. Fentham answered, +than the open assaults of the intrepid Lady Bab. All the intricacies +and labyrinths which the former has been so skillful and so patient in +weaving, have not yet enthralled one captive, while the composed +effrontery, the affecting to take for granted the offer which was never +meant to be made, and treating that as concluded, which was never so +much as intended, drew the unconscious victim of the other into the +trap, before he knew it was set: the depth of her plot consisting in not +appearing to have any. It was a novelty in intrigue. An originality +which defied all competition, and in which no imitator had any chance of +success. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Sir John carried me one morning to call on Lady Denham, a dowager of +fashion, who had grown old in the trammels of the world. Though she +seems resolved to die in the harness, yet she piques herself on being +very religious, and no one inveighs against infidelity or impiety with +more pointed censure. "She has a grand-daughter," said Sir John, "who +lives with her, and whom she has trained to walk precisely in her own +steps, and which, she thinks, _is the way she should go_. The girl," +added he, smiling, "is well looking, and will have a handsome fortune, +and I am persuaded that, as a friend, I could procure you a good +reception." + +We were shown into her dressing-room, where we found her with a book +lying open before her. From a glance which I caught of the large black +letter, I saw it was a _Week's Preparation_. This book, it seems, +constantly lay open before her from breakfast to dinner, at this +season. It was Passion week. But as this is the room in which he sees +all her morning visitors, to none of whom is she ever denied, even at +this period of retreat, she could only pick up momentary snatches of +reading in the short intervals between one person bowing out and another +courtesying in. Miss Denham sat by, painting flowers. + +Sir John asked her ladyship if she would go and dine in a family way +with Lady Belfield. She drew up, looked grave, and said with much +solemnity, that she should never think of dining abroad at this holy +season. Sir John said, "As we have neither cards nor company, I thought +you might as well have eaten your chicken in my house as in your own." +But though she thought it a sin to dine with a sober family, she made +herself amends for the sacrifice, by letting us see that her heart was +brimful of the world, pressed down and running over. She indemnified +herself for her abstinence from its diversions, by indulging in the only +pleasures which she thought compatible with the sanctity of the season, +uncharitable gossip, and unbounded calumny. She would not touch a card +for the world, but she played over to Sir John the whole game of the +preceding Saturday night: told him by what a shameful inattention her +partner had lost the odd trick; and that she should not have been beaten +after all, had not her adversary, she verily believed, contrived to look +over her hand. + +Sir John seized the only minute in which we were alone, to ask her to +add a guinea to a little sum he was collecting for a poor tradesman with +a large family, who had been burned out a few nights ago. "His wife," +added he, "was your favorite maid Dixon, and both are deserving people." +"Ah, poor Dixon! She was always unlucky," replied the lady. "How could +they be so careless? Surely they might have put the fire out sooner. +They should not have let it get ahead. I wonder people are not more +active." "It is too late to inquire about that," said Sir John; "the +question now is, not how their loss might have been prevented, but how +it may be repaired." "I am really quite sorry," said she, "that I can +give you nothing. I have had so many calls lately, that my charity purse +is completely exhausted--and that abominable property-tax makes me quite +a beggar." + +While she was speaking, I glanced at the open leaf at, "Charge them that +are rich in this world that they be ready to give;" and directing my eye +further, it fell on, "Be not deceived. God is not mocked." These were +the awful passages which formed a part of her _Preparation_; and this +was the practical use she made of them! + +A dozen persons of both sexes "had their exits and their entrances" +during our stay; for the scene was so strange, and the character so new +to me, that I felt unwilling to stir. Among other visitors was Signor +Squallini, a favorite opera singer, whom she patronized. Her face was +lighted up with joy at the sight of him. He brought her an admired new +air in which he was preparing himself, and sung a few notes, that she +might say she had heard it the first. She felt all the dignity of the +privilege, and extolled the air with all the phrases, cant, and rapture +of _dilettanteism_. + +After this, she drew a paper from between the leaves of her still open +book, which she showed him. It contained a list of all the company she +had engaged to attend his benefit. "I will call on some others," said +she, "to-morrow after prayers. I am sorry this is a week in which I can +not see my friends at their assemblies, but on Sunday you know it will +be over, and I shall have my house full in the evening. Next Monday will +be Easter, and I shall be at our dear Duchess's private masquerade, and +then I hope to see and engage the whole world. Here are ten guineas," +said she in a half whisper to the obsequious Signor; "you may mention +what I gave for _my_ ticket, and it may set the fashion going." She then +pressed a ticket on Sir John and another on me. Ho declined, saying with +great _sang froid_, "You know we are _Handelians_." What excuse I made I +do not well know; I only know that I saved my ten guineas with a very +bad grace, but felt bound in conscience to add them to what I had before +subscribed to poor Dixon. + +Hitherto I had never seen the gnat-strainer and the camel-swallower so +strikingly exemplified. And it is observable how forcibly the truth of +Scripture is often illustrated by those who live in the boldest +opposition to it. If you have any doubt while you are reading, go into +the world and your belief will be confirmed. + +As we took our leave, she followed us to the door, I hoped it was with +the guinea for the fire; but she only whispered Sir John, though he did +not go himself, to prevail on such and such ladies to go to Squallini's +benefit. "Pray do," said she, "it will be charity. Poor fellow! he is +sadly out at elbows; he has a fine liberal spirit, and can hardly make +his large income do." + +When we got into the street we admired the splendid chariot and laced +liveries of this _indigent_ professor, for whom our charity had been +just solicited, and whose "liberal spirit," my friend assured me, +consisted in sumptuous living and the indulgence of every fashionable +vice. + +I could not restrain my exclamations as soon as we got out of hearing. +To Sir John, the scene was amusing, but to him it had lost the interest +of novelty. "I have known her ladyship about twelve years," said he, +"and of course have witnessed a dozen of these annual paroxysms of +devotion. I am persuaded that she is a gainer by them on her own +principle, that is, in the article of pleasure. This short periodical +abstinence whets her appetite to a keener relish for suspended +enjoyment; and while she fasts from amusements, her blinded conscience +enjoys a feast of self-gratulation. She feeds on the remembrance of her +self-denial, even after she has returned to those delights which she +thinks her retreat has fairly purchased. She considers religion as a +system of pains and penalties, by the voluntary enduring of which, for a +short time, she shall compound for all the indulgences of the year. She +is persuaded that something must be annually forborne, in order to make +her peace. After these periodical atonements, the Almighty being in her +debt, will be obliged at last to pay her with heaven. This composition, +which rather brings her in on the creditor side, not only quiets her +conscience for the past, but enables her joyfully to enter on a new +score." + +I asked Sir John how Lady Belfield _could_ associate with a woman of a +character so opposite to her own? "What can we do?" said he, "we can not +be singular. We must conform a _little_ to the world in which we live." +Trusting to his extreme good nature, and fired at the scene to which I +had been a witness, I ventured to observe that non-conformity to such a +world as that of which this lady was a specimen, was the very criterion +of the religion taught by Him who had declared by way of pre-eminent +distinction, that "his kingdom was not of this world." + +"You are a young man," answered he mildly, "and this delicacy and these +prejudices would soon wear off if you were to live some time in the +world." "My dear Sir John," said I, warmly, "by the grace of God, I +never _will_ live in the world; at least, I never will associate with +that part of it whose society would be sure to wear off that delicacy +and remove those prejudices. Why this is retaining all the worst part of +popery. Here is the abstinence without the devotion; the outward +observance without the interior humiliation; the suspending of sin, not +only without any design of forsaking it, but with a fixed resolution of +returning to it, and of increasing the gust by the forbearance. Nay, +the sins she retains in order to mitigate the horrors of forbearance, +are as bad as those she lays down. A postponed sin, which is fully +intended to be resumed, is as much worse than a sin persisted in, as +deliberate hypocrisy is worse than the impulse of passion. I desire not +a more explicit comment on a text which I was once almost tempted to +think unjust; I mean, the greater facility of the entrance of gross and +notorious offenders into heaven than of these formalists. No! If Miss +Denham were sole heiress to Cr[oe]sus, and joined the beauty of +Cleopatra to the wit of Sappho, I never would connect myself with a +disciple of that school." + +"How many ways there are of being unhappy!" said Sir John, as we +returned one day from a ride we had taken some miles out of town, to +call on a friend of his. "Mr. Stanhope, whom we have just quitted, is a +man of great elegance of mind. His early life was passed in liberal +studies, and in the best company. But his fair prospects were blasted by +a disproportionate marriage. He was drawn in by a vanity too natural to +young men, that of fancying himself preferred by a woman who had no one +recommendation but beauty. To be admired by her whom all his +acquaintance admired, gratified his _amour propre_. He was overcome by +her marked attentions so far as to declare himself, without knowing her +real disposition. It was some time before his prepossession allowed him +to discover that she was weak and ill-informed, selfish and +bad-tempered. What she wanted in understanding, she made up in spirit. +The more she exacted, the more he submitted; and her demands grew in +proportion to his sacrifices. My friend, with patient affection, +struggled for a long time to raise her character, and to enlighten her +mind; but finding that she pouted whenever he took up a book, and that +she even hid the newspaper before he had read it, complaining that he +preferred any thing to her company; the softness of his temper and his +habitual indolence at length prevailed. His better judgment sunk in the +hopeless contest. For a quiet life, he has submitted to a disgraceful +life. The compromise has not answered. He has incurred the degradation +which, by a more spirited conduct, he might have avoided, and has missed +the quiet which he sacrificed his dignity to purchase. He compassionates +her folly, and continues to translate her wearisome interruptions into +the flattering language of affection. + +"In compliment to her, no less than in justification of his own choice, +he has persuaded himself that all women are pretty much alike. That in +point of capacity, disposition, and knowledge he has but drawn the +common lot, with the balance in his favor, of strong affection and +unsullied virtue. He hardly ever sees his fine library, which is the +object of her supreme aversion, but wastes his days in listless idleness +and his evenings at cards, the only thing in which she takes a lively +interest. His fine mind is, I fear, growing mean and disingenuous. The +gentleness of his temper leads him not only to sacrifice his peace, but +to infringe on his veracity in order to keep her quiet. All the +entertainment he finds at dinner is a recapitulation of the faults of +her maids, or the impertinence of her footmen, or the negligence of her +gardener. If to please her he joins in the censure, she turns suddenly +about, and defends them. If he vindicates them, she insists on their +immediate dismission; and no sooner are they irrevocably discharged, +than she is continually dwelling on their perfections, and then it is +only their successors who have any faults. + +"He is now so afraid of her driving out his few remaining old servants, +if she sees his partiality for them, that in order to conceal it, he +affects to reprimand them as the only means for them to secure her +favor. Thus the integrity of his heart is giving way to a petty +duplicity, and the openness of his temper to shabby artifices. He could +submit to the loss of his comfort, but sensibly feels the diminution of +his credit. The loss of his usefulness too is a constant source of +regret. She will not even suffer him to act as a magistrate, lest her +doors should be beset with vagabonds, and her house dirtied by men of +business. If he chance to commend a dish he has tasted at a friend's +house--Yes, every body's things are good but hers, she can never please. +He had always better dine abroad, if nothing is fit to be eaten at home. + +"Though poor Stanhope's conduct is so correct, and his attachment to his +wife so notorious, he never ventures to commend any thing that is said +or done by another woman. She has, indeed, no definitive object of +jealousy, but feels an uneasy vague sensation of envy at any thing or +person he admires. I believe she would be jealous of a fine day, if her +husband praised it. + +"If a tale reaches her ears of a wife who has failed of her duty, or if +the public newspapers record a divorce, then she awakens her husband to +a sense of his superior happiness, and her own irreproachable virtue. O +Charles, the woman who, reposing on the laurels of her boasted virtue, +allows herself to be a disobliging, a peevish, a gloomy, a discontented +companion, defeats one great end of the institution, which is happiness. +The wife who violates the marriage vow, is indeed more criminal; but the +very magnitude of her crime emancipates her husband; while she who makes +him not dishonorable, but wretched, fastens on him a misery for life, +from which no laws can free him, and under which religion alone can +support him." + +We continued talking, till we reached home, on the multitude of +marriages in which the parties are "joined not matched," and where the +term union is a miserable misnomer. I endeavored to turn all these new +acquaintances to account, and considered myself at every visit I made, +as taking a lesson for my own conduct. I beheld the miscarriages of +others, not only with concern for the individual, but as beacons to +light me on my way. It was no breach of charity to use the aberrations +of my acquaintance for the purpose of making my own course more direct. +I took care however, never to lose sight of the humbling consideration +that my own deviations were equally liable to become the object of their +animadversion, if the same motive had led them to the same scrutiny. + +I remained some weeks longer in town, indulging myself in all its safe +sights, and all its sober pleasures. I examined whatever was new in art, +or curious in science. I found out the best pictures, saw the best +statues, explored the best museums, heard the best speakers in the +courts of law, the best preachers in the church, and the best orators in +parliament; attended the best lectures, and visited the best company, in +the most correct, though not always the most fashionable sense of the +term. I associated with many learned, sensible, and some pious men, +commodities with which London, with all its faults, abounds, perhaps, +more than any other place on the habitable globe. I became acquainted +with many agreeable, well informed, valuable women, with a few who even +seemed in a good measure to live above the world while they were living +in it. + +There is a large class of excellent female characters who on account of +that very excellence, are little known, because to be known is not their +object. Their ambition has a better taste. They pass through life +honored and respected in their own small, but not unimportant sphere, +and approved by Him, "whose they are, and whom they serve," though their +faces are hardly known in promiscuous society. If they occasion little +sensation abroad, they produce much happiness at home. And when once a +woman who has "all appliances and means to get it," _can_ withstand the +intoxication of the flatterer, and the adoration of the fashionable; +_can_ conquer the fondness for public distinction, _can_ resist the +temptations of that magic circle to which she is courted, and in which +she is qualified to shine--this is indeed a trial of firmness; a trial +in which those who have never been called to resist themselves, can +hardly judge of the merit of resistance in others. + +These are the women who bless, dignify, and truly adorn society. The +painter indeed does not make his fortune by their sitting to him; the +jeweler is neither brought into vogue by furnishing their diamonds, nor +undone by not being paid for them; the prosperity of the milliner does +not depend on affixing their name to a cap or a color; the poet does not +celebrate them; the novelist does not dedicate to them; but they possess +the affection of their husbands, the attachment of their children, the +esteem of the wise and good, and above all they possess _His_ favor, +"whom to know is life eternal." Among these I doubt not I might have +found objects highly deserving of my heart, but the injunction of my +father was a sort of panoply which guarded it. + +I am persuaded that such women compose a larger portion of the sex, than +is generally allowed. It is not the number, but the noise which makes a +sensation, and a set of fair dependent young creatures who are every +night forced, some of them reluctantly, upon the public eye; and a bevy +of faded matrons rouged and repaired for an ungrateful public, dead to +their blandishments, do not compose the whole female world! I repeat +it--a hundred amiable women, who are living in the quiet practice of +their duties, and the modest exertion of their talents, do not fill the +public eye, or reach the public ear, like one aspiring leader, who, +hungering for observation, and disdaining censure, dreads not abuse but +oblivion; who thinks it more glorious to head a little phalanx of +fashionable followers, than to hold out, as from her commanding +eminence, and imposing talents she might have done, a shining example of +all that is great, and good, and dignified in woman. These +self-appointed queens maintain an absolute but ephemeral empire over +that little _fantastic aristocracy_ which they call the +world--admiration besets them, crowds attend them, conquests follow +them, inferiors imitate them, rivals envy them, newspapers extol them, +sonnets deify them. A few ostentatious charities are opposed as a large +atonement for a _few amiable weaknesses_, while the unpaid tradesman is +exposed to ruin by their vengeance if he refuses to trust them, and to a +jail if he continue to do it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The three days previous to my leaving London were passed with Sir John +and Lady Belfield. Knowing I was on the wing for Hampshire, they +promised to make their long intended visit to Stanley Grove during my +stay there. + +On the first of these days we were agreeably surprised at the appearance +of Dr. Barlow, an old friend of Sir John, and the excellent rector of +Mr. Stanley's parish. Being obliged to come to town on urgent business +for a couple of days, he was charged to assure me of the cordial welcome +which awaited me at the Grove. I was glad to make this early +acquaintance with this highly respectable divine. I made a thousand +inquiries about his neighbors, and expressed my impatience to know more +of a family in whose characters I already felt a more than common +interest. + +"Sir," said he, "if you set me talking of Mr. Stanley, you must abide by +the consequences of your indiscretion, and bear with the loquacity of +which that subject never fails to make me guilty. He is a greater +blessing to me as a friend, and to my parish as an example and a +benefactor than I can describe." I assured him that he could not be too +minute in speaking of a man whom I had been early taught to admire, by +that exact judge of merit, my late father. + +"Mr. Stanley," said the worthy doctor, "is about six-and-forty, his +admirable wife is about six or seven years younger. He passed the early +part of his life in London, in the best society. His commerce with the +world was, to a mind like his, all pure gain; for he brought away from +it all the good it had to give, without exchanging for it one particle +of his own integrity. He acquired the air, manners, and sentiments of a +gentleman, without any sacrifice of his sincerity. Indeed, he may be +said to have turned his knowledge of the world to a religious account, +for it has enabled him to recommend religion to those who do not like it +well enough to forgive, for its sake, the least awkwardness of gesture, +or inelegance of manner. + +"When I became acquainted with the family," continued he, "I told Mrs. +Stanley that I was afraid her husband hurt religion in one sense as much +as he recommended it in another; for that some men who would forgive him +his piety for the sake of his agreeableness, would be led to dislike +religion more than ever in other men in whom the jewel was not so well +set. 'We should like your religious men well enough,' will they say, 'if +they all resembled Stanley.' Whereas the truth is, they do not so much +_like_ Mr. Stanley's religion, as _bear_ with it for the pleasure which +his other qualities afford them. She assured me that this was not +altogether the case, for that his other qualities having pioneered his +way, and hewed down the prejudices which the reputation of piety +naturally raises, his endeavors to be useful to them were much +facilitated, and he not only kept the ground he had gained, but was +often able to turn this influence over his friends to a better account +than they had intended. He converted their admiration of him into arms +against their own errors. + +"He possesses in perfection," continued Dr. Barlow, "that sure criterion +of abilities, a great power over the minds of his acquaintance, and has +in a high degree that rare talent, the art of conciliation without the +aid of flattery. I have seen more men brought over to his opinion by a +management derived from his knowledge of mankind, and by a principle +which forbade his ever using this knowledge but for good purposes, than +I ever observed in any other instance; and this without the slightest +deviation from his scrupulous probity. + +"He is master of one great advantage in conversation, that of not only +knowing _what_ to say that may be useful, but exactly _when_ to say it; +in knowing when to press a point, and when to forbear; in his sparing +the self-love of a vain man, whom he wishes to reclaim, by contriving to +make him feel himself wrong without making him appear ridiculous. The +former he knows is easily pardoned, the latter never. He has studied the +human heart long enough to know that to wound pride is not the way to +cure, but to inflame it; and that exasperating self-conceit will never +subdue it. He seldom, I believe, goes into company without an earnest +desire to be useful to some one in it; but if circumstances are adverse; +if the _mollia tempora fandi_ does not present itself; he knows he +should lose more than they would gain, by trying to make the occasion +when he does not find it. And I have often heard him say, that when he +can not benefit others, or be benefited by them, he endeavors to benefit +himself by the disappointment, which does his own mind as much good by +humbling him with the sense of his own uselessness, as the subject he +wished to have introduced, might have done them. + +"The death of his only son, about six years ago, who had just entered +his eighth year, is the only interruption his family has had to a +felicity so unbroken, that I told Mr. Stanley some such calamity was +necessary to convince him that he was not to be put off with so poor a +portion as this world has to give. I added that I should have been +tempted to doubt his being in the favor of God, if he had totally +escaped chastisement. A circumstance which to many parents would have +greatly aggravated the blow, rather lightened it to him. The boy, had he +lived to be of age, was to have had a large independent fortune from a +distant relation, which will now go to a remote branch, unless there +should be another son. 'This wealth,' said he to me, 'might have proved +the boy's snare, and this independence his destruction. He who does all +things well has afflicted the parents, but he has saved the child.' The +loss of an only son, however, sat heavy on his heart, but it was the +means of enabling him to glorify God by his submission, I should rather +say, by his acquiescence. Submission is only yielding to what we can not +help. Acquiescence is a more sublime kind of resignation. It is a +conviction that the divine will is holy, just, and good. He once said to +me, 'We were too fond of the mercy, but not sufficiently grateful for +it. We loved him so passionately that we might have forgotten who +bestowed him. To preserve us from this temptation, God in great mercy +withdrew him. Let us turn our eyes from the one blessing we have lost, +to the countless mercies which are continued to us, and especially to +the hand which confers them; to the hand which, if we continue to +murmur, may strip us of our remaining blessings.' + +"I can not," continued Dr. Barlow, "make a higher eulogium of Mrs. +Stanley than to say, that she is every way worthy of the husband whose +happiness she makes. They have a large family of lovely daughters of all +ages. Lucilla, the eldest, is near nineteen; you would think me too +poetical were I to say she adorns every virtue with every grace; and yet +I should only speak the simple truth. Ph[oe]be, who is just turned +fifteen, has not less vivacity and sweetness than her sister, but, from +her extreme naivete and warmheartedness, she has somewhat less +discretion; and her father says, that her education has afforded him, +not less pleasure, but more trouble, for the branches shot so fast as to +call for more pruning." + +Before I had time to thank the good doctor for his interesting little +narrative, a loud rap announced company. It was Lady Bab Lawless. With +her usual versatility she plunged at once into every subject with every +body. She talked to Lady Belfield of the news and her nursery, of poetry +with Sir John, of politics with me, and religion with Dr. Barlow. She +talked well upon most of these points, and not ill upon any of them; for +she had the talent of embellishing subjects of which she knew but +little, and a kind of conjectural sagacity and rash dexterity, which +prevented her from appearing ignorant, even when she knew nothing. She +thought that a full confidence in her own powers was the sure way to +raise them in the estimation of others, and it generally succeeded. + +Turning suddenly to Lady Belfield, she said, "Pray my dear, look at my +flowers." "They are beautiful roses, indeed," said Lady Belfield, "and +as exquisitely exact as if they were artificial." "Which in truth they +are," replied Lady Bab. "Your mistake is a high compliment to them, but +not higher than they deserve. Look especially at these roses in my cap. +You positively shall go and get some at the same place." "Indeed," said +Lady Belfield, "I am thinking of laying aside flowers, though my +children are hardly old enough to take them." "What affectation!" +replied Lady Bab, "why you are not above two or three and thirty; I am +almost as old again, and yet I don't think of giving up flowers to my +children, or my grandchildren, who will be soon wanting them. Indeed, I +only now wear _white_ roses." I discovered by this, that white roses +made the same approximation to sobriety in dress, that three tables made +to it in cards. "Seriously, though," continued Lady Bab, "you must and +shall go and buy some of Fanny's flowers. I need only tell you, it will +be the greatest charity you ever did, and then I know you won't rest +till you have been. A beautiful girl maintains her dying mother by +making and selling flowers. Here is her direction," throwing a card on +the table. "Oh no, this is not it. I have forgot the name, but it is +within two doors of your hair-dresser, in what d'ye call the lane, just +out of Oxford-street. It is a poor miserable hole, but her roses are as +bright as if they grew in the gardens of Armida." She now rung the bell +violently, saying she had overstaid her time, though she had not been in +the house ten minutes. + +Next morning I attended Lady Belfield to the exhibition. In driving home +through one of the narrow passages near Oxford-street, I observed that +we were in the street where the poor flower-maker lived. Lady Belfield +directed her footman to inquire for the house. We went into it, and in a +small but clean room, up three pair of stairs, we found a very pretty +and very genteel young girl at work on her gay manufacture. The young +woman presented her elegant performances with an air of uncommon grace +and modesty. + +She was the more interesting, because the delicacy of her appearance +seemed to proceed from ill health, and a tear stood in her eye while she +exhibited her works. "You do not seem well, my dear," said Lady +Belfield, with a kindness which was natural to her. "I never care about +my own health, madam," replied she, "but I fear my dear mother is +dying." She stopped, and the tears which she had endeavored to restrain +now flowed plentifully down her cheeks. "Where is your mother, child?" +said Lady Belfield. "In the next room, madam." "Let us see her," said +her ladyship, "if it won't too much disturb her." So saying, she led the +way, and I followed her. + +We found the sick woman lying on a little poor, but clean, bed, pale and +emaciated, but she did not seem so near her end as Fanny's affection had +made her apprehend. After some kind expressions of concern, Lady +Belfield inquired into their circumstances, which she found were +deplorable. "But for that dear girl, madam, I should have perished with +want," said the good woman; "since our misfortunes I have had nothing to +support me but what she earns by making these flowers. She has ruined +her own health, by sitting up the greatest part of the night to procure +me necessaries, while she herself lives on a crust." + +I was so affected with this scene, that I drew Lady Belfield into the +next room; "if we can not preserve the mother, at least let us save the +daughter from destruction," said I; "you may command my purse." "I was +thinking of the same thing," she replied. "Pray, my good girl, what sort +of education have you had?" "O, madam," said she, "one much too high for +my situation. But my parents, intending to qualify me for a governess, +as the safest way of providing for me, have had me taught every thing +necessary for that employment. I have had the best masters, and I hope I +have not misemployed my time." "How comes it then," said I, "that you +were not placed out in some family?" "What, sir! and leave my dear +mother helpless and forlorn? I had rather live only on my tea and dry +bread, which indeed I have done for many months, and supply her little +wants, than enjoy all the luxuries in the world at a distance from her." + +"What were your misfortunes occasioned by?" said I, while Lady Belfield +was talking with the mother. "One trouble followed another, sir," said +she, "but what most completely ruined us, and sent my father to prison, +and brought a paralytic stroke on my mother; was his being arrested for +a debt of seven hundred pounds. This sum, which he had promised to pay, +was long due to him for laces, and to my mother for millinery and fancy +dresses, from a lady who has not paid it to this moment, and my father +is dead, and my mother dying! This sum would have saved them both!" + +She was turning away to conceal the excess of her grief, when a +venerable clergyman entered the room. It was the rector of the parish, +who came frequently to administer spiritual consolation to the poor +woman. Lady Belfield knew him slightly, and highly respected his +character. She took him aside, and questioned him as to the disposition +and conduct of these people, especially the young woman. His testimony +was highly satisfactory. The girl, he said, had not only had an +excellent education, but her understanding and principles were equally +good. He added, that he reckoned her beauty among her misfortunes. It +made good people afraid to take her into the house, and exposed her to +danger from those of the opposite description. + +I put my purse into Lady Belfield's hands, declining to make any present +myself, lest, after the remark he had just made, I should incur the +suspicions of the worthy clergyman. + +We promised to call again the next day, and took our leave, but not +till we had possessed ourselves of as many flowers as she could spare. I +begged that we might stop and send some medical assistance to the sick +woman, for though it was evident that all relief was hopeless, yet it +would be a comfort to the affectionate girl's heart to know that nothing +was omitted which might restore her mother. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +In the evening we talked over our little adventure with Sir John, who +entered warmly into the distresses of Fanny and was inclined to adopt +our opinion, that if her character and attainments stood the test of a +strict inquiry, she might hereafter be transplanted into their family as +governess. We were interrupted in the formation of this plan by a visit +from Lady Melbury, the acknowledged queen of beauty and of ton. I had +long been acquainted with her character, for her charms and her +accomplishments were the theme of every man of fashion, and the envy of +every modish woman. + +She is one of those admired but pitiable characters, who, sent by +Providence as an example to their sex, degrade themselves into a +warning. Warm-hearted, feeling, liberal on the one hand; on the other +vain, sentimental, romantic, extravagantly addicted to dissipation and +expense, and with that union of contrarieties which distinguishes her, +equally devoted to poetry and gaming, to liberality and injustice. She +is too handsome to be envious, and too generous to have any relish for +detraction, but she gives to excess into the opposite fault. As Lady +Denham can detect blemishes in the most perfect, Lady Melbury finds +perfections in the most depraved. From a judgment which can not +discriminate, a temper which will not censure, and a hunger for +popularity, which can feed on the coarsest applause, she flatters +egregiously and universally, on the principle of being paid back +usuriously in the same coin. Prodigal of her beauty, she exists but on +the homage paid to it from the drawing-room at St. James's, to the mob +at an election. Candor in her is as mischievous as calumny in others, +for it buoys up characters which ought to sink. Not content with being +blind to the bad qualities of her favorites, she invents good ones for +them, and you would suppose her corrupt "little senate" was a choir of +seraphims. + +A recent circumstance related by Sir John was quite characteristical. +Her favorite maid was dangerously ill, and earnestly begged to see her +lady, who always had loaded her with favors. To all company she talked +of the virtues of the poor Toinette, for whom she not only expressed, +but felt real compassion. Instead of one apothecary who would have +sufficed, two physicians were sent for; and she herself resolved to go +up and visit her, as soon as she had finished setting to music an elegy +on the death of her Java sparrow. Just as she had completed it, she +received a fresh entreaty to see her maid, and was actually got to the +door in order to go up stairs, when the milliner came in with such a +distracting variety of beautiful new things, that there was no +possibility of letting them go till she had tried every thing on, one +after the other. This took up no little time. To determine which she +should keep and which return, where all was so attractive, took up still +more. After numberless vicissitudes and fluctuations of racking thought, +it was at length decided she should take the whole. The milliner +withdrew; the lady went up--Toinette had just expired. + +I found her manners no less fascinating than her person. With all her +modish graces, there was a tincture of romance and an appearance of +softness and sensibility which gave her the variety of two characters. +She was the enchanting woman of fashion, and the elegiac muse. + +Lady Belfield had taken care to cover her work-table with Fanny's +flowers, with a view to attract any chance visitor. Lady Melbury admired +them excessively. "You must do more than admire them," said Lady +Belfield, "you must buy and recommend." She then told her the affecting +scene we had witnessed, and described the amiable girl who supported the +dying mother by making these flowers. "It is quite enchanting," +continued she, resolving to attack Lady Melbury in her own sentimental +way, "to see this sweet girl twisting rose-buds, and forming hyacinths +into bouquets." "Dear, how charming!" exclaimed Lady Melbury, "it is +really quite touching. I will make a subscription for her, and write at +the head of the list a melting description of her case. She shall bring +me all her flowers, and as many more as she can make. But no, we will +make a party, and go and see her. You shall carry me. How interesting to +see a beautiful creature making roses and hyacinths! her delicate hands +and fair complexion must be amazingly set off by the contrast of the +bright flowers. If it were a coarse-looking girl spinning hemp, to be +sure one should pity her, but it would not be half so moving. It will be +delightful. I will call on you to-morrow, exactly at two, and carry you +all. Perhaps," whispered she to Lady Belfield, "I may work up the +circumstances into a sonnet. Do think of a striking title for it. On +second thoughts, the sonnet shall be sent about with the subscription, +and I'll get a pretty vignette to suit it." + +"That fine creature," said Sir John, in an accent of compassion, as she +went out, "was made for nobler purposes. How grievously does she fall +short of the high expectations her early youth had raised! Oh! what a +sad return does she make to Providence for his rich and varied +bounties. Vain of her beauty, lavish of her money, careless of her +reputation; associating with the worst company, yet formed for the best; +living on the adulation of parasites, whose understanding she despises! +I grieve to compare what she is with what she might have been, had she +married a man of spirit, who would prudently have guided and tenderly +have restrained her. He has ruined her and himself by his indifference +and easiness of temper. Satisfied with knowing how much she is admired +and he envied, he never thought of reproving or restricting her. He is +proud of her, but has no particular delight in her company, and trusting +to her honor, lets her follow her own devices, while he follows his. She +is a striking instance of the eccentricity of that bounty which springs +from mere sympathy and feeling. Her charity requires stage effect; +objects that have novelty, and circumstances which, as Mr. Bayes says, +'elevate and surprise.' She lost, when an infant, her mother, a woman of +sense and piety; who, had she lived, would have formed the ductile mind +of the daughter, turned her various talents into other channels, and +raised her character to the elevation it was meant to reach." + +"How melancholy a consideration is it," said I, "that so superior a +woman should live so much below her high destination! She is doubtless +utterly destitute of any thought of religion." + +"You are much mistaken," replied Sir John, "I will not indeed venture to +pronounce that she entertains much _thought_ about it; but she by no +means denies its truth, nor neglects occasionally to exhibit its outward +and visible signs. She has not yet completely forgotten + + All that the nurse and all the priest have taught. + +I do not think that, like Lady Denham, she considers it as a +commutation, but she preserves it as a habit. A religious exercise, +however, never interferes with a worldly one. They are taken up in +succession, but with this distinction, the worldly business is to be +done, the religious one is not altogether to be left undone. She has a +moral chemistry which excels in the amalgamation of contradictory +ingredients. On a Sunday at Melbury castle if by any strange accident +she and her lord happen to be there together, she first reads him a +sermon, and plays at cribbage with him the rest of the evening. In town +one Sunday when she had a cold she wrote a tract on the sacrament, for +her maids, and then sat up all night at deep play. She declared if she +had been successful she would have given her winnings to charity; but as +she lost some hundreds, she said she could now with a safe conscience +borrow that sum from her charity purse, which she had hoped to add to +it, to pay her debt of honor." + +Next day, within two hours of her appointed time, she came, and was +complimented by Sir John on her punctuality. "Indeed," said she, "I _am_ +rather late, but I met with such a fascinating German novel, that it +positively chained me to my bed till past three. I assure you, I never +lose time by not rising. In the course of a few winters I have exhausted +half Hookham's catalogue, before some of my acquaintance are awake, or I +myself out of bed." + +We soon stopped at the humble door of which we were in search. Sir John +conducted Lady Melbury up the little winding stairs. I assisted Lady +Belfield. We reached the room, where Fanny was just finishing a +beautiful bunch of jonquils. "How picturesque," whispered Lady Melbury +to me. "Do lend me your pencil; I must take a sketch of that sweet girl +with the jonquils in her hand. My dear creature," continued she, "you +must not only let me have these, but you must make me twelve dozen more +flowers as fast as possible, and be sure let me have a great many sprigs +of jessamine and myrtle." Then snatching up a wreath of various colored +geraniums--"I must try this on my head by the glass." So saying she ran +into an adjoining room, the door of which was open; Lady Belfield having +before stolen into it to speak to the poor invalid. + +As soon as Lady Melbury got into the room, she uttered a loud shriek. +Sir John and I ran in, and were shocked to find her near fainting. "Oh, +Belfield," said she, "this is a trick, and a most cruel one! Why did you +not tell me where you were bringing me? Why did you not tell me the +people's name?" "I have never heard it myself," said Sir John, "on my +honor I do not understand you." "You know as much of the woman as I +know," said Lady Belfield. "Alas, much more," cried she, as fast as her +tears would give her leave to speak. She retired to the window for air, +wringing her hands, and called for a glass of water to keep her from +fainting. I turned to the sick woman for an explanation; I saw her +countenance much changed. + +"This sir," said she, "is the lady, whose debt of seven hundred pounds +ruined me, and was the death of my husband." I was thunderstruck, but +went to assist Lady Melbury, who implored Sir John to go home with her +instantly, saying, her coach should come back for us. "But, dear Lady +Belfield, do lend me twenty guineas, I have not a shilling about me." +"Then, my dear Lady Melbury," said Lady Belfield, "how _could_ you order +twelve dozen expensive flowers?" "Oh," said she, "I did not mean to have +paid for them till next year." "And how," replied Lady Belfield, "could +the debt which was not to have been paid for a twelvemonth have relieved +the pressing wants of a creature who must pay ready money for her +materials? However, as you are so distressed we will contrive to do +without your money." "I would pawn my diamond necklace directly," +returned she, but speaking lower, "to own the truth, it is already in +the jeweler's hands, and I wear a paste necklace of the same form." + +Sir John knowing I had been at my banker's that morning, gave me such a +significant look as restrained my hand, which was already on my +pocket-book. In great seeming anguish, she gave Sir John her hand, who +conducted her to her coach. As he was leading her down stairs, she +solemnly declared she would never again run in debt, never order more +things than she wanted, and above all, would never play while she lived. +She was miserable, because she durst not ask Lord Melbury to pay this +woman, he having already given her money three times for the purpose, +which she had lost at Faro. Then retracting, she protested, if ever she +_did_ touch a card again, it should be for the sole purpose of getting +something to discharge this debt. Sir John earnestly conjured her not to +lay "that flattering unction to her soul," but to convert the present +vexation into an occasion of felicity, by making it the memorable and +happy era of abandoning a practice which injured her fortune, her fame, +her principles, and her peace. "Poor thing," said Sir John, when he +repeated this to us, + + "Ease will recant + Vows made in pain, as violent and void." + +"In an interval of weeping, she told me," added he, "that she was to be +at the opera to-night. To the opera Faro will succeed, and to-morrow +probably the diamond earrings will go to Grey's in pursuit of the +necklace." + +Lady Belfield inquired of Fanny how it happened that Lady Melbury, who +talked with _her_, without surprise or emotion, discovered so much of +both at the bare sight of her mother. The girl explained this by saying, +that she had never been in the way while they lived in Bond-street when +her ladyship used to come, having been always employed in an upper room, +or attending her masters. + +Before we parted, effectual measures were taken for the comfortable +subsistence of the sick mother, and for alleviating the sorrows, and +lightening the labors of her daughter, and next morning I set out on my +journey for Stanley Grove, Sir John and Lady Belfield promising to +follow me in a few weeks. + + * * * * * + +As soon as I got into my post-chaise, and fairly turned my back on +London, I fell into a variety of reflections on the persons with whom I +had been living. In this soliloquy, I was particularly struck with that +discrepancy of characters, all of which are yet included under the broad +comprehensive appellation of _Christians_. I found that though all +differed widely from each other, they differed still more widely from +that rule by which they professed to walk. Yet not one of these +characters was considered as disreputable. There was not one that was +profane or profligate. Not one who would not in conversation have +defended Christianity if its truth had been attacked. Not one who +derided or even neglected its forms; and who in her own class would not +have passed for religious. Yet how little had any one of them adorned +the profession she adopted! Of Mrs. Ranby, Mrs. Fentham, Lady Bab +Lawless, Lady Denham, Lady Melbury, which of them would not have been +startled had her Christianity been called in question? Yet how merely +speculative was the religion of even the most serious among them! How +superficial, or inconsistent, or mistaken, or hollow, or hypocritical, +or self-deceiving was that of all the others! Had either of them been +asked from what source she drew her religion, she would indignantly have +answered, from the Bible. Yet if we compare the copy with the model, +the Christian with Christianity, how little can we trace the +resemblance! In what particular did their lives imitate the life of Him +_who pleased not himself_, who _did the will of his Father_; who _went +about doing good_? How irreconcilable is their faith with the principles +which He taught! How dissimilar their practice with the precepts He +delivered! How inconsistent their lives with the example He bequeathed! +How unfounded their hope of heaven, if an entrance into heaven be +restricted to those who are _like minded with Christ_! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +My father had been early in life intimately connected with the family of +Mr. Stanley. Though this gentleman was his junior by several years, yet +there subsisted between them such a similarity of tastes, sentiments, +views, and principles, that they lived in the closest friendship; and +both their families having in the early part of their lives resided in +London, the occasions of that thorough mutual knowledge that grows out +of familiar intercourse, were much facilitated. I remembered Mr. +Stanley, when I was a very little boy, paying an annual visit to my +father at the Priory, and I had retained an imperfect but pleasing +impression of his countenance and engaging manners. + +Having had a large estate left him in Hampshire, he settled there on his +marriage; an intercourse of letters had kept up the mutual attachment +between him and my father. On the death of each parent, I had received a +cordial invitation to come and soothe my sorrows in his society. My +father enjoined me that one of my first visits after his death, should +be to the Grove; and in truth I now considered my Hampshire engagement +as the _bonne bouche_ of my southern excursion. + +I reached Stanley Grove before dinner. I found a spacious mansion, +suited to the ample fortune and liberal spirit of its possessor. I was +highly gratified with fine forest scenery in the approach to the park. +The house had a noble appearance without; and within, it was at once +commodious and elegant. It stood on the south side of a hill, nearer the +bottom than the summit, and was sheltered on the north-east by a fine +old wood. The park, though it was not very extensive, was striking from +the beautiful inequality of the ground, which was richly clothed with +the most picturesque oaks I ever saw, interspersed with stately beeches. +The grounds were laid out in good taste, but though the hand of modern +improvement was visible, the owner had in one instance spared + + "The obsolete prolixity of shade," + +for which the most interesting of poets so pathetically pleads. The +poet's plea had saved the avenue. + +I was cordially welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Stanley; and by that powerful +and instantaneous impression which fine sense and good breeding, joined +to high previous veneration of character, produce on the feelings of the +guest, I at once felt myself at home. All the preliminaries of gradual +acquaintance were in a manner superseded, and I soon experienced that +warm and affectionate esteem, which seemed scarcely to require +intercourse to strengthen, or time to confirm it. Mr. Stanley had only a +few minutes to present me to his lady and two lovely daughters, before +we were summoned to dinner, to which a considerable party had been +invited; for the neighborhood was populous and rather polished. + +The conversation after dinner was rational, animated, and instructive. I +observed that Mr. Stanley lost no opportunity, which fairly offered, for +suggesting useful reflections. But what chiefly struck me in his manner +of conversing, was, that without ever pressing religion unseasonably +into the service, he had the talent of making the most ordinary topics +subservient to instruction, and of extracting some profitable hint, or +striking out some important light, from subjects which, in ordinary +hands, would have been unproductive of improvement. It was evident that +piety was the predominating principle of his mind, and that he was +consulting its interests as carefully when prudence made him forbear to +press it, as when propriety allowed him to introduce it. This piety was +rather visible in the sentiment than the phrase. He was of opinion that +bad taste could never advance the interests of Christianity. And he gave +less offense to worldly men, than most religious people I have known, +because though he would, on no human consideration, abate one atom of +zeal, or lower any doctrine, nor disguise any truth, nor palliate, nor +trim, nor compromise, yet he never contended for words or trifling +distinctions. He thought it detracted from no man's piety to bring all +his elegance of expression, his correctness of taste, and his accuracy +of reasoning to the service of that cause which lies the nearest to the +heart of every Christian, and demands the exertion of his best +faculties. + +He was also forward to promote subjects of practical use in the affairs +of common life, suited to the several circumstances and pursuits of his +guests. But he particularly rejoiced that there was so broad, and safe, +and uninclosed a field as general literature. This he observed always +supplies men of education with an ample refuge from all vulgar, and +dangerous, and unproductive topics. "If we can not," said he, "by +friendly intercourse, always raise our principles, we may always keep +our understanding in exercise; and those authors who supply so peccable +a creature as man with subjects of elegant and innocent discussion, I do +not reckon among the lowest benefactors of mankind." + +In my further acquaintance with Mr. Stanley, I have sometimes observed +with what address he has converted a merely moral passage to a religious +purpose. I have known him, when conversing with a man who would not have +relished a more sacred authority, seize on a sentiment in Tully's +Offices, for the lowest degree in his scale of morals, and then +gradually ascending, trace and exalt the same thought through Paley or +Johnson, or Addison or Bacon, till he has unsuspectedly landed his +opponent in the pure ethics of the Gospel, and surprised him into the +adoption of a Christian principle. + +As I had heard there was a fine little flock of children, I was +surprised, and almost disappointed every time the door opened, not to +see them appear, for I already began to take an interest in all that +related to this most engaging family. The ladies having, to our great +gratification, sat longer than is usual at most tables, at length obeyed +the signal of the mistress of the house. They withdrew, followed by the +Miss Stanleys, + + With grace + Which won who saw to wish their stay. + +After their departure the conversation was not changed. There was no +occasion; it could not become more rational, and we did not desire that +it should become less pure. Mrs. Stanley and her fair friends had taken +their share in it with a good sense and delicacy which raised the tone +of our society; and we did not give them to understand by a loud laugh +before they were out of hearing, that we rejoiced in being emancipated +from the restraint of their presence. + +Mrs. Stanley is a graceful and elegant woman. Among a thousand other +excellences, she is distinguished for her judgment in adapting her +discourse to the character of her guests, and for being singularly +skillful in selecting her topics of conversation. I never saw a lady who +possessed the talent of diffusing at her table so much pleasure to those +around her, without the smallest deviation from her own dignified +purity. She asks such questions as strangers may be likely to gain, at +least not to lose, credit by answering; and she suits her interrogations +to the kind of knowledge they may be supposed likely to possess. By +this, two ends are answered: while she gives her guest an occasion of +appearing to advantage, she puts herself in the way of gaining some +information. From want of this discernment, I have known ladies ask a +gentleman just arrived from the East Indies, questions about America; +and others, from the absence of that true delicacy, which, where it +exists, shows itself even on the smallest occasions, who have inquired +of a person how he liked such a book, though she knew, that in the +nature of things, there was no probability of his ever having heard of +it: thus assuming an ungenerous superiority herself, and mortifying +another by a sense of his own comparative ignorance. If there is any one +at table who from his station has least claim to attention, he is sure +to be treated with particular kindness by Mrs. Stanley, and the +diffident never fail to be encouraged, and the modest to be brought +forward, by the kindness and refinement of her attentions. + +When we were summoned to the drawing-room, I was delighted to see four +beautiful children, fresh as health and gay as youth could make them, +busily engaged with the ladies. One was romping; another singing; a +third was showing some drawings of birds, the natural history of which +she seemed to understand; a fourth had spread a dissected map on the +carpet, and had pulled down her eldest sister on the floor to show her +Copenhagen. It was an animating scene. I could have devoured the sweet +creatures. I got credit with the little singer by helping her to a line +which she had forgotten, and with the geographer by my superior +acquaintance with the shores of the Baltic. + +In the evening when the company had left us, I asked Mrs. Stanley how +she came so far to deviate from established custom as not to produce her +children immediately after dinner? "You must ask me," said Mr. Stanley, +smiling, "for it was I who first ventured to suggest this bold +innovation. I love my children fondly, but my children I have always at +home; I have my friends but seldom; and I do not choose that any portion +of the time that I wish to dedicate to intellectual and social enjoyment +should be broken in upon by another, and an interfering pleasure, which +I have always within my reach. At the same time I like my children to +see my friends. Company amuses, improves, and polishes them. I therefore +consulted with Mrs. Stanley how we could so manage as to enjoy our +friends without locking up our children. She recommended this expedient. +The time, she said, spent by the ladies from their leaving the +dining-room till the gentlemen came in to tea, was often a little heavy, +it was rather an interval of anticipation than of enjoyment. Those +ladies who had not much _mind_, had soon exhausted their admiration of +each other's worked muslins, and lace sleeves; and those who _had_, +would be glad to rest it so agreeably. She therefore proposed to enliven +that dull period by introducing the children. + +"This little change has not only succeeded in our own family, but has +been adopted by many of our neighbors. For ourselves, it has answered a +double purpose. It not only delights the little things, but it delights +them with less injury than the usual season of their appearance. Our +children have always as much fruit as they like, after their own dinner; +they do not therefore want or desire the fruits, the sweetmeats, the +cakes, and the wine with which the guests, in order to please mamma, are +too apt to cram them. Besides, poor little dears, it mixes too much +selfishness with the natural delight they have in seeing company, by +connecting it with the idea of the good things they shall get. But by +this alteration we do all in our power to infuse a little +disinterestedness into the pleasure they have in coming to us. We love +them too tenderly to crib their little enjoyments, so we give them two +pleasures instead of one, for they have their dessert and our company in +succession." + +Though I do not approve of too great familiarity with servants, yet I +think that to an old and faithful domestic, superior consideration is +due. My attendant on my present tour had lived in our family from his +youth, and had the care of me before I can remember. His fidelity and +good sense, and I may add, his piety, had obtained for him the privilege +of free speaking. "Oh, sir," said he, when he came to attend me next +morning, "we are got into the right house at last. Such a family! so +godly! so sober! so charitable! 'Tis all of a piece here, sir. Mrs. +Comfit, the housekeeper, tells me that her master and mistress are the +example of all the rich, and the refuge of all the poor in the +neighborhood. And as to Miss Lucilla, if the blessing of them that are +ready to perish can send any body to heaven, she will go there sure +enough." + +This rhapsody of honest Edwards warmed my heart, and put me in mind that +I had neglected to inquire after this worthy housekeeper, who had lived +with my grandfather, and was at his death transplanted into the family +of Mr. Stanley. I paid a visit, the first opportunity, to the good +woman in her room, eager to learn more of a family who much resembled my +own parents, and for whom I had already conceived something more tender +than mere respect. + +I congratulated Mrs. Comfit on the happiness of living in so valuable a +family. In return, she was even eloquent in their praises. "Her +mistress," she said, "was a pattern for ladies, so strict, and yet so +kind! but now, indeed, Miss Lucilla has taken almost all the family +cares from her mamma. The day she was sixteen, sir, that is about two +years and a half ago, she began to inspect the household affairs a +little, and as her knowledge increased, she took more and more upon her. +Miss Ph[oe]be will very soon be old enough to relieve her sister; but my +mistress won't let her daughters have any thing to do with family +affairs till they are almost women grown, both for fear it should take +them off from their learning, and also give them a low turn about eating +and caring for niceties, and lead them into vulgar gossip and +familiarity with servants. It is time enough, she says, when their +characters are a little formed, they will then gain all the good and +escape all the danger." + +Seeing me listen with the most eager and delighted attention, the worthy +woman proceeded. "In summer, sir, Miss Stanley rises at six, and spends +two hours in her closet, which is stored with the best books. At eight +she consults me on the state of provisions, and other family matters, +and gives me a bill of fare, subject to the inspection of her mamma. The +cook has great pleasure in acting under her direction, because she +allows that Miss understands when things are well done, and never finds +fault in the wrong place; which, she says, is a great mortification in +serving ignorant ladies, who praise or find fault by chance, not +according to the cook's performance, but their own humor. She looks +over my accounts every week, which being kept so short, give her but +little trouble, and once a month she settles every thing with her +mother. + +"'Tis a pleasure, sir, to see how skillful she is in accounts! One can't +impose upon her a farthing if one would; and yet she is so mild and so +reasonable! and so quick at distinguishing what are mistakes, and what +are willful faults! Then she is so compassionate! It will be a +heart-breaking day at the Grove, sir, whenever Miss marries. When my +master is sick, she writes his letters, reads to him, and assists her +mamma in nursing him. + +"After her morning's work, sir, does she come into company, tired and +cross, as ladies do who have done nothing or are but just up? No, she +comes in to make breakfast for her parents, as fresh as a rose, and as +gay as a lark. An hour after breakfast, she and my master read some +learned books together. She then assists in teaching her little sisters, +and never were children better instructed. One day in a week, she sets +aside both for them and herself to work for the poor, whom she also +regularly visits at their own cottages, two evenings in the week; for +she says it would be troublesome and look ostentatious to have her +father's doors crowded with poor people, neither could she get at their +wants and their characters half so well as by going herself to their own +houses. My dear mistress has given her a small room as a store-house for +clothing and books for her indigent neighbors. In this room each of the +younger daughters, the day she is seven years old, has her own drawer, +with her name written on it; and almost the only competition among them +is, whose shall be soonest filled with caps, aprons, and handkerchiefs. +The working day is commonly concluded by one of these charitable visits. +The dear creatures are loaded with their little work-baskets, crammed +with necessaries. This, sir, is the day--and it is always looked +forward to with pleasure by them all. Even little Celia, the youngest, +who is but just turned of five, will come to me and beg for something +good to put in her basket for poor Mary or Betty such a one. I wonder I +do not see any thing of the little darlings; it is about the time they +used to pay me a visit. + +"On Sundays before church they attend the village school; when the +week's pocket-money, which has been carefully hoarded for the purpose, +is produced for rewards to the most deserving scholars. And yet, sir, +with all this, you may be in the house a month without hearing a word of +the matter; it is all done so quietly; and when they meet at their meals +they are more cheerful and gay than if they had been ever so idle." + +Here Mrs. Comfit stopped, for just then two sweet little cherry-cheeked +figures presented themselves at the door, swinging a straw basket +between them, and crying out, in a little begging voice, "Pray, Mrs. +Comfit, bestow your charity--we want something coarse for the hungry, +and something nice for the sick--poor Dame Alice and her little +grand-daughter!" They were going on, but spying me, they colored up to +the ears, and ran away as fast as they could, though I did all in my +power to detain them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +When Miss Stanley came in to make breakfast, she beautifully exemplified +the worthy housekeeper's description. I have sometimes seen young women, +whose simplicity was destitute of elegance, and others in whom a too +elaborate polish had nearly effaced their native graces: Lucilla +appeared to unite the simplicity of nature to the refinement of good +breeding. It was thus she struck me at first sight. I forbore to form a +decided opinion till I had leisure to observe whether her mind fulfilled +all that her looks promised. + +Lucilla Stanley is rather perfectly elegant than perfectly beautiful. I +have seen women as striking, but I never saw one so interesting. Her +beauty is countenance: it is the stamp of mind intelligibly printed on +the face. It is not so much the symmetry of features as the joint +triumph of intellect and sweet temper. A fine old poet has well +described her: + + Her pure and eloquent blood + Spoke in her cheeks and so distinctly wrought. + That one could almost say her body thought. + +Her conversation, like her countenance, is compounded of liveliness, +sensibility, and delicacy. She does not say things to be quoted, but the +effect of her conversation is that it leaves an impression of pleasure +on the mind, and a love of goodness on the heart. She enlivens without +dazzling, and entertains without overpowering. Contented to please, she +has no ambition to shine. There is nothing like effort in her +expression, or vanity in her manner. She has rather a playful gayety +than a pointed wit. Of repartee she has little, and dislikes it in +others; yet I have seldom met with a truer taste for inoffensive wit. +This is indeed the predominating quality of her mind; and she may rather +be said to be a nice judge of the genius of others than to be a genius +herself. She has a quick perception of whatever is beautiful or +defective in composition or in character. The same true taste pervades +her writing, her conversation, her dress, her domestic arrangements, and +her gardening, for which last she has both a passion and a talent. +Though she has a correct ear, she neither sings nor plays; and her +taste is so exact in drawing, that she really seems to have _le compass +dans l'[oe]uil_; yet I never saw a pencil in her fingers, except to +sketch a seat or a bower for the pleasure-grounds. Her notions are too +just to allow her to be satisfied with mediocrity in any thing, and for +perfection in many things, she thinks that life is too short, and its +duties too various and important. Having five younger sisters to assist, +has induced her to neglect some acquisitions which she would have liked. +Had she been an only daughter, she owns that she would have indulged a +little more in the garnish and decoration of life. + +At her early age, the soundness of her judgment on persons and things +can not be derived from experience; she owes it to a _tact_ so fine as +enables her to seize on the strong feature, the prominent circumstance, +the leading point, instead of confusing her mind and dissipating her +attention, on the inferior parts of a character, a book, or a business. +This justness of thinking teaches her to rate things according to their +worth, and to arrange them according to their place. Her manner of +speaking adds to the effect of her words, and the tone of her voice +expresses with singular felicity, gayety or kindness, as her feelings +direct, and the occasion demands. This manner is so natural, and her +sentiments spring so spontaneously from the occasion, that it is obvious +that display is never in her head, nor an eagerness for praise in her +heart. I never heard her utter a word which I could have wished unsaid, +or a sentiment I could have wished unthought. + +As to her dress, it reminds me of what Dr. Johnson once said to an +acquaintance of mine, of a lady who was celebrated for dressing well. +"The best evidence that I can give you of her perfection in this respect +is, that one can never remember what she had on." The dress of Lucilla +is not neglected, and it is not studied. She is as neat as the strictest +delicacy _demands_, and as fashionable as the strictest delicacy +_permits_; and her nymph-like form does not appear to less advantage for +being vailed with scrupulous modesty. + +Oh! if women in general knew what was their real interest! if they could +guess with what a charm even the _appearance_ of modesty invests its +possessor, they would dress decorously from mere self-love, if not from +principle. The designing would assume modesty as an artifice, the coquet +would adopt it as an allurement, the pure as her appropriate attraction, +and the voluptuous as the most infallible art of seduction. + +What I admire in Miss Stanley, and what I have sometime regretted the +want of in some other women, is, that I am told she is so lively, so +playful, so desirous of amusing her father and mother when alone, that +they are seldom so gay as in their family party. It is then that her +talents are all unfolded, and that her liveliness is without restraint. +She was rather silent the two or three first days after my arrival, yet +it was evidently not the silence of reserve or inattention, but of +delicate propriety. Her gentle frankness and undesigning temper +gradually got the better of this little shyness, and she soon began to +treat me as the son of her father's friend. I very early found, that +though a stranger might behold her without admiration, it was impossible +to converse with her with indifference. Before I had been a week at the +Grove, my precautions vanished, my panoply was gone, and yet I had not +consulted Mr. Stanley. + +In contemplating the captivating figure, and the delicate mind of this +charming girl, I felt that imagination, which misleads so many youthful +hearts, had preserved mine. The image my fancy had framed, and which had +been suggested by Milton's heroine, had been refined indeed, but it had +not been romantic. I had early formed an ideal standard in my mind; too +high, perhaps; but its very elevation had rescued me from the common +dangers attending the society of the sex. I was continually comparing +the women with whom I conversed, with the fair conception which filled +my mind. The comparison might be unfair to them; I am sure it was not +unfavorable to myself, for it preserved me from the fascination of mere +personal beauty, the allurements of fictitious character, and the +attractions of ordinary merit. + +I am aware that love is apt to throw a radiance around the being it +prefers, till it becomes dazzled, less perhaps with the brightness of +the object itself, than with the beams with which imagination has +invested it. But religion, though it had not subdued my imagination, had +chastised it. It had sobered the splendors of fancy, without obscuring +them. It had not extinguished the passions, but it had taught me to +regulate them.----I now seemed to have found the being of whom I had +been in search. My mind felt her excellences, my heart acknowledged its +conqueror. I struggled, however, not to abandon myself to its impulses. +I endeavored to keep my own feelings in order, till I had time to +appreciate a character which appeared as artless as it was correct. And +I did not allow myself to make this slight sketch of Lucilla, and of the +effect she produced on my heart, till more intimate acquaintance had +justified my prepossessions. + +But let me not forget that Mr. Stanley had another daughter. If +Lucilla's character is more elevated, Ph[oe]be's is not less amiable. +Her face is equally handsome, but her figure is somewhat less delicate. +She has a fine temper, and strong virtues. The little faults she has, +seem to flow from the excess of her good qualities. Her susceptibility +is extreme, and to guide and guard it, finds employment for her +mother's fondness, and her father's prudence. Her heart overflows with +gratitude for the smallest service. This warmth of her tenderness keeps +her affections in more lively exercise than her judgment; it leads her +to over-rate the merit of those she loves, and to estimate their +excellences, less by their own worth than by their kindness to her. She +soon behaved to me with the most engaging frankness, and her innocent +vivacity encouraged, in return, that affectionate freedom with which one +treats a beloved sister. + +The other children are gay, lovely, interesting, and sweet-tempered. +Their several acquisitions, for I detest the term _accomplishments_, +since it has been warped from the true meaning in which Milton used it, +seem to be so many individual contributions brought in to enrich the +common stock of domestic delight. Their talents are never put into +exercise by artificial excitements. Habitual industry, quiet exertion, +successive employments, affectionate intercourse, and gay and animated +relaxation, make up the round of their cheerful day. + +I could not forbear admiring in this happy family the graceful union of +piety with cheerfulness; strictness of principle embellished, but never +relaxed by gayety of manners; a gayety, not such as requires turbulent +pleasures to stimulate it, but evidently the serene, yet animated, +result of well-regulated minds;--of minds actuated by a tenderness of +conscience, habitually alive to the perception of the smallest sin, and +kindling into holy gratitude at the smallest mercy. + +I often called to my mind that my father, in order to prevent my being +deceived, and run away with by persons who appeared lively at first +sight, had early accustomed me to discriminate carefully, whether it was +not the _animal_ only that was lively, and the man dull. I have found +this caution of no small use in my observations on the other sex. I had +frequently remarked, that the musical and the dancing ladies, and those +who were most admired for modish attainments, had little _intellectual_ +gayety. In numerous instances I found that the mind was the only part +which was not kept in action; and no wonder, for it was the only part +which had received no previous forming, no preparatory molding. + +When I mentioned this to Mr. Stanley, "the education," replied he, +"which now prevails, is a Mohammedan education. It consists entirely in +making woman an object of attraction. There are, however, a few +reasonable people left, who, while they retain the object, improve upon +the plan. They too would make woman attractive; but it is by sedulously +laboring to make the understanding, the temper, the mind, and the +manners of their daughters, as engaging as these Circassian parents +endeavor to make the person." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +The friendly rector frequently visited at Stanley Grove, and, for my +father's sake, honored me with his particular kindness. Dr. Barlow +filled up all my ideas of a country clergyman of the higher class. There +is a uniform consistency runs through his whole life and character, +which often brings to my mind, allowing for the revolution in habits +that almost two hundred years have necessarily produced, the +incomparable _country parson_ of the ingenious Mr. George Herbert.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See Herbert's Country Parson, under the heads of the parson +in his house, the parson praying, the parson preaching, the parson +comforting, the parson's church, the parson catechizing, the parson in +mirth, &c., &c. The term parson has now indeed a vulgar and +disrespectful sound, but in Herbert's time it was used in its true sense +_persona ecclesiae_. I would recommend to those who have not seen it, +this sketch of the ancient clerical life. As Mr. Herbert was a man of +quality, he knew what became the more opulent of his function; as he was +eminently pious, he practiced all that he recommended. "This appellation +of parson," says Judge Blackstone, "however depreciated by clownish and +familiar use, is the most legal, most beneficial, and most honorable +title, which a parish priest can enjoy." _Vide Blackstone's +Commentaries._] + +"I never saw _Zeal without Innovation_," said Mr. Stanley, "more +exemplified than in Dr. Barlow. His piety is as enlightened as it is +sincere. No errors in religion escape him, through ignorance of their +existence, or through carelessness in their detection, or through +inactivity in opposing them. He is too honest not to attack the +prevailing evil, whatever shape it may assume; too correct to excite in +the wise any fears that his zeal may mislead his judgment, and too +upright to be afraid of the censures which active piety must ever have +to encounter from the worldly and the indifferent, from cold hearts and +unfurnished heads. + +"From his affectionate warmth, however, and his unremitting application, +arising from the vast importance he attaches to the worth of souls, the +man of the world might honor him with the title of enthusiast; while his +prudence, sober-mindedness, and regularity, would draw on him from the +fanatic, the appellation of formalist. Though he is far from being +'content to _dwell_ in decencies,' he is careful never to neglect them. +He is a clergyman all the week as well as on Sunday; for he says, if he +did not spend much of the intermediate time in pastoral visits, there +could not be kept up that mutual intercourse of kindness which so much +facilitates his own labors, and his people's improvement. They listen to +him because they love him, and they understand him, because he has +familiarized them by private discourse to the great truths which he +delivers from the pulpit. + +"Dr. Barlow has greatly diminished the growth of innovation in his +parishes, by attacking the innovator with his own weapons. Not indeed by +stooping to the same disorderly practices, but by opposing an +enlightened earnestness to an eccentric earnestness; a zeal _with_ +knowledge to a zeal _without_ it. He is of opinion that activity does +more good than invective, and that the latter is too often resorted to, +because it is the cheaper substitute. + +"His charity, however, is large, and his spirit truly catholic. He +honors all his truly pious brethren, who are earnest in doing good, +though they may differ from him as to the manner of doing it. Yet his +candor never intrenches on his firmness; and while he will not dispute +with others about shades of difference, he maintains his own opinions +with the steadiness of one who embraced them on the fullest conviction. + +"He is a 'scholar, and being a good and a ripe one,' it sets him above +aiming at the paltry reputation to be acquired by those false +embellishments of style, those difficult and uncommon words, and that +labored inversion of sentences, by which some injudicious clergymen make +themselves unacceptable to the higher, and unintelligible to the lower, +and of course, the larger part of their audience. He always bears in +mind that the common people are not foolish, they are only ignorant. To +meet the one he preaches good sense, to suit the other, plain language. +But while he seldom shoots over the heads of the uninformed, he never +offends the judicious. He considers the advice of Polonius to his son +to be as applicable to preachers as to travelers-- + + Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. + +"In his pulpit he is no wrangling polemic, but a genuine Bible +Christian, deeply impressed himself with the momentous truths he so +earnestly presses upon others. His mind is so imbued, so saturated, if I +may hazard the expression, with scriptural knowledge, that from that +rich store-house, he is ever ready to bring forth _treasures, new and +old_, and to apply them wisely, temperately, and seasonably. + +"Though he carefully inculcates universal holiness in all his +discourses, yet his practical instructions are constantly deduced from +those fundamental principles of Christianity which are the root and life +and spirit of all goodness. Next to a solid piety, and a deep +acquaintance with the Bible, he considers it of prime importance to a +clergyman to be thoroughly acquainted with human nature in general, and +with the state of his own parish in particular. The knowledge of both +will alone preserve him from preaching too personally so as to hurt, or +too generally so as not to touch. + +"He is careful not to hurry over the prayers in so cold, inattentive, +and careless a manner, as to make the audience suspect he is saving +himself, that he may make a greater figure in delivering the sermon. +Instead of this, the devout, reverential, and impressive manner in which +he pronounces the various parts of the Liturgy, best prepares his own +heart, and the hearts of his people, to receive benefit from his +discourse. His petitions are delivered with such sober fervor, his +exhortations with such humble dignity, his thanksgiving with such holy +animation as carry the soul of the hearer along with him. When he +ascends the pulpit, he never throws the liturgical service into the back +ground by a long elaborate composition of his own, delivered with +superior force and emphasis. And he pronounces the Lord's prayer with a +solemnity which shows that he recollects its importance and its author. + +"In preaching, he is careful to be distinctly heard, even by his +remotest auditors, and by constant attention to this important article, +he has brought his voice, which was not strong, to be particularly +audible. He affixes so much importance to a distinct delivery, that he +smilingly told me he suspected the grammatical definition of a +substantive was originally meant for a clergyman, whose great object it +was, if possible, _to be seen_, but indispensably to be _heard_, _felt_, +and _understood_. + +"His whole performance is distinguished by a grave and majestic +simplicity, as far removed from the careless reader of a common story, +as from the declamation of an actor. His hearers leave the church, not +so much in raptures with the preacher, as affected with the truths he +has delivered. He says, he always finds he has done most good when he +has been least praised, and that he feels most humbled when he receives +the warmest commendation, because men, generally extol most the sermons +which have probed them least; whereas those which really do good, being +often such as make them most uneasy, are consequently the least likely +to attract panegyric. '_They_ only bear true testimony to the excellence +of a discourse,' added he, 'not who commend the composition or the +delivery, but who are led by it to examine their own hearts, to search +out its corruptions, and to reform their lives. Reformation is the +flattery I covet.' + +"He is aware that the generality of hearers like to retire from the +sermon with the comfortable belief, that little is to be done on _their_ +parts. Such hearers he always disappoints, by leaving on their minds at +the close, some impressive precept deduced from, and growing out of, the +preparatory doctrine. He does not press any one truth to the exclusion +of all others. He proposes no subtleties, but labors to excite +seriousness, to alarm the careless, to quicken the supine, to confirm +the doubting. He presses eternal things as things near at hand; as +things in which every living man has an equal interest. + +"Mr. Stanley says, that though Dr. Barlow was considered at Cambridge as +a correct young man, who carefully avoided vice and even irregularity, +yet being cheerful, and addicted to good society, he had a disposition +to innocent conviviality, which might, unsuspectedly, have led him into +the errors he abhorred. He was struck with a passage in a letter from +Dr. Johnson to a young man who had just taken orders, in which, among +other wholesome counsel, he advises him 'to acquire the courage to +refuse _sometimes_ invitations to dinner.' It is inconceivable what a +degree of force and independence his mind acquired by the occasional +adoption of this single hint. He is not only, Mr. Stanley, the spiritual +director, but the father, the counselor, the arbitrator, and the friend +of those whom Providence has placed under his instruction. + +"He is happy in an excellent wife, who, by bringing him a considerable +fortune, has greatly enlarged his power of doing good. But still more +essentially has she increased his happiness, and raised his character, +by her piety and prudence. By the large part she takes in his affairs, +he is enabled to give himself wholly up to the duties of his profession. +She is as attentive to the bodies, as her husband is to the souls of his +people, and educates her own family as sedulously as he instructs his +parish. + +"One day when I had been congratulating Dr. Barlow on the excellence of +his wife's character, the conversation fell, by a sudden transition, on +the celibacy of the Romish clergy. He smiled and said, 'Let us +ministers of the Reformation be careful never to provoke the people to +wish for the restoration of that part of popery. I often reflect how +peculiarly incumbent it is on us, to select such partners as shall never +cause our emancipation from the old restrictions to be regretted. And we +ourselves ought, by improving the character of our wives, to repay the +debt we owe to the ecclesiastical laws of Protestantism for the +privilege of possessing them.' + +"Will it be thought too trifling to add, how carefully this valuable +pair carry their consistency into the most minute details of their +family arrangements? Their daughters are no less patterns of decorum and +modesty in their dress and appearance, than in the more important parts +of their conduct. The Doctor says, 'that the most distant and +inconsiderable appendages to the temple of God, should have something of +purity and decency. Besides,' added he, 'with what face could I censure +improprieties from the pulpit, if the appearance of my own family in the +pew below were to set my precepts at defiance, by giving an example of +extravagance and vanity to the parish, and thus by making the preacher +ridiculous make his expostulations worse than ineffectual. + +"So conscientious a rector," added Mr. Stanley, "could not fail to be +particularly careful in the choice of a curate; and a more humble, +pious, diligent assistant than Mr. Jackson could not easily be found. He +is always a welcome guest at my table. But this valuable man, who was +about as good a judge of the world as the great Hooker, made just such +another indiscreet marriage. He was drawn in to choose his wife, the +daughter of a poor tradesman in the next town, because he concluded that +a woman bred in humble and active life, would necessarily be humble and +active herself. _Her_ reason for accepting _him_ was because she +thought that as every clergyman was a _gentleman_, she of course, as his +wife, should be a _gentlewoman_, and fit company for any body. + +"'He instructs my parish admirably,' said Dr. Barlow, 'but his own +little family he can not manage. His wife is continually reproaching +him, that though he may know the way to heaven, he does not know how to +push his way in the world. His daughter is the finest lady in the +parish, and outdoes them all, not only in the extremity, but the +immodesty of the fashion. It is her mother's great ambition that she +should excel the Miss Stanleys and my daughters in music, while her good +father's linen betrays sad marks of negligence. I once ventured to tell +Mrs. Jackson that there was only one reason which could excuse the +education she had given her daughter, which was that I presumed she +intended to qualify her for getting her bread; and that if she would +correct the improprieties of the girl's dress, and get her instructed in +useful knowledge, I would look out for a good situation for her. This +roused her indignation. She refused my offer with scorn, saying, that +when she asked my charity, she would take my advice; and desired that I +would remember that one clergyman's daughter was as good as another. I +told her that there was indeed a sense in which one clergyman was as +good as another, because the profession dignified the lowest of the +order, if, like her husband, he was a credit to that order. Yet still +there were gradations in the church as well as in the state. But between +the _wives_ and _daughters_ of the higher and lower clergy, there were +the same distinction which riches and poverty have established between +those of the higher and lower orders of the laity; and that rank and +independence in the one case, confer the same outward superiority with +rank and independence in the other." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Among the visitors at Stanley Grove, there was a family of ladies, who, +though not particularly brilliant, were singularly engaging from their +modesty, gentleness, and good sense. One day when they had just left us, +Mr. Stanley obliged me with the following little relation: Mrs. Stanley +and Lucilla only being present. + +"Lady Aston has been a widow almost seven years. On the death of Sir +George, she retired into this neighborhood with her daughters, the +eldest of whom is about the age of Lucilla. She herself had had a pious +but a very narrow education. Her excessive grief for the loss of her +husband augmented her natural love of retirement which she cultivated, +not to the purpose of improvement, but to the indulgence of melancholy. +Soon after she settled here, we heard how much good she did, and in how +exemplary a manner she lived, before we saw her. She was not very easy +of access even to us; and after we had made our way to her, we were the +only visitors she admitted for a long time. We soon learned to admire +her deadness to the world, and her unaffected humility. Our esteem for +her increased with our closer intercourse, which however enabled us also +to observe some considerable mistakes in her judgment, especially in the +mode in which she was training up her daughters. These errors we +regretted, and with all possible tenderness ventured to point out to +her. The girls were the prettiest demure little nuns you ever saw, mute +and timid, cheerless and inactive, but kind, good, and gentle. + +"Their pious mother, who was naturally of a fearful and doubting mind, +had had this pensive turn increased by several early domestic losses, +which, even previous to Sir George's death, had contributed to fix +something of a too tender and hopeless melancholy on her whole +character. There are two refuges for the afflicted; two diametrically +opposite ways of getting out of sorrow--religion and the world. Lady +Aston had wisely chosen the former. But her scrupulous spirit had made +the narrow way narrower than religion required. She read the Scriptures +diligently, and she prayed over them devoutly; but she had no judicious +friend to direct her in these important studies. As your Mrs. Ranby +attended only to the doctrines, and our friend Lady Belfield trusted +indefinitely to the promises, so poor Lady Aston's broken spirit was too +exclusively carried to dwell on the threatenings; together with the +rigid performance of those duties which she earnestly hoped might enable +her to escape them. This round of duty, of watchfulness, and prayer, she +invariably performed with almost the sanctity of an apostle, but with a +little too much of the scrupulosity of an ascetic. While too many were +rejoicing with unfounded confidence in those animating passages of +Scripture, which the whole tenor of their lives demonstrates not to +belong to them, she trembled at those denunciations which she could not +fairly apply to herself. And the promises from which she might have +derived reasonable consolation, she overlooked as designed for others. + +"Her piety, though sincere, was a little tinctured with superstition. If +any petty strictness was omitted, she tormented herself with causeless +remorse. If any little rule was broken, she repaired the failure with +treble diligence the following day; and labored to retrieve her +perplexed accounts with the comfortless anxiety of a person who is +working out a heavy debt. I endeavored to convince her, that an inferior +duty which clashed with one of a higher order, might be safely postponed +at least, if not omitted. + +"A diary has been found useful to many pious Christians, as a record of +their sins, and of their mercies. But this poor lady spent so much time +in weighing the offenses of one day against those of another, that +before the scruple was settled, the time for action was past. She +brought herself into so much perplexity by reading over this journal of +her infirmities, that her difficulties were augmented by the very means +she had employed to remove them; and her conscience was disturbed by the +method she had taken to quiet it. This plan, however, though distressing +to a troubled mind, is wholesome to one of a contrary cast. + +"_My_ family, as you have seen, are rather exact in the distribution of +their time, but we do not distress ourselves at interruptions which are +unavoidable: but _her_ arrangements were carried on with a rigor which +made her consider the smallest deviation as a sin that required severe +repentance. Her alms were expiations, her self-denials penances. + +"She was rather a disciple of the mortified Baptist, than of the merciful +Redeemer. Her devotions were sincere but discouraging. They consisted +much in contrition, but little in praise; much in sorrow for sin, but +little in hope of its pardon. She did not sufficiently cast her care and +confidence on the great propitiation. She firmly believed all that her +Saviour had done and suffered, but she had not the comfort of +practically appropriating the sacrifice. While she was painfully working +out her salvation with fear and trembling, she indulged the most +unfounded apprehensions of the divine displeasure. At Aston Hall the +Almighty was literally feared, but he was not glorified. It was the +obedience of a slave, and not the reverential affection of a child. + +"When I saw her denying herself and her daughters the most innocent +enjoyments, and suspecting sin in the most lawful indulgences, I took +the liberty to tell her how little acceptable uncommanded austerities +and arbitrary impositions were to the God of mercies. I observed to her +that the world, that human life, that our own sins and weaknesses, found +us daily and hourly occasions of exercising patience and self-denial; +that life is not entirely made up of great evils or heavy trials, but +that the perpetual recurrence of petty evils and small trials is the +ordinary and appointed exercise of the Christian graces. To bear with +the failings of those about us, with their infirmities, their bad +judgment, their ill-breeding, their perverse tempers; to endure neglect +where we feel we have deserved attention, and ingratitude where we +expected thanks; to bear with the company of disagreeable people, whom +Providence has placed in our way, and whom he has perhaps provided on +purpose for the trial of our virtue: these are the best exercises; and +the better because not chosen by ourselves. To bear with vexations in +business, with disappointments in our expectations, with interruptions +of our retirement, with folly, intrusion, disturbance, in short, with +whatever opposes our will, and contradicts our humor; this habitual +acquiescence appears to be more of the essence of self-denial than any +little rigors or inflictions of our own imposing. These constant, +inevitable, but inferior evils, properly improved, furnish a good moral +discipline, and might well in the days of ignorance have superseded +pilgrimage and penance. It has this advantage too over the other, that +it sweetens the temper and promotes humility, while the former gives +rigidness instead of strength, and inflexibility instead of firmness." + +"I have often thought," said I, when Mr. Stanley made a pause, "that we +are apt to mistake our vocation by looking out of the way for occasions +to exercise great and rare virtues, and by stepping over those ordinary +ones which lie directly in the road before us. When we read, we fancy we +could be martyrs, and when we come to act, we can not even bear a +provoking word." + +Miss Stanley looked pleased at my remark, and in a modest tone observed +that "in no one instance did we deceive ourselves more than in fancying +we could do great things well, which we were never likely to be called +to do at all; while, if we were honest, we could not avoid owning how +negligently we performed our own little appointed duties, and how +sedulously we avoided the petty inconveniences which these duties +involved." + +"By kindness," resumed Mr. Stanley, "we gradually gained Lady Aston's +confidence, and of that confidence we have availed ourselves to give +something of a new face to the family. Her daughters, good as they were +dutiful, by living in a solitude unenlivened by books, and unvaried by +improving company, had acquired a manner rather resembling fearfulness +than delicacy. Religious they were, but they had contracted gloomy views +of religion. They considered it as something that must be endured in +order to avoid punishment, rather than as a principle of peace, and +trust, and comfort; as a task to be gone through, rather than as a +privilege to be enjoyed. They were tempted to consider the Almighty as a +hard master, whom however they were resolved to serve, rather than as a +gracious father who was not only loving, but LOVE in the abstract. Their +mother was afraid to encourage a cheerful look, lest it might lead to +levity, or a sprightly thought, for fear it might have a wrong tendency. +She forgot, or rather she did not know, that young women were not formed +for contemplative life. She forgot that in all our plans and operations +we should still bear in mind that there are two worlds. As it is the +fault of too many to leave the _next_ out of their calculation, it was +the error of Lady Aston, in forming the minds of her children, to leave +out _this_. She justly considered heaven as their great aim and end; but +neglected to qualify them for the present temporal life, on the due use +and employment of which so obviously depends the happiness of that which +is eternal. + +"Her charities were very extensive, but of these charities her sweet +daughters were not made the active dispensers, because an old servant, +who governed not only the family but her lady also, chose that office +herself. Thus the bounty being made to flow in partial channels, the +woman's relations and favorites almost entirely engrossing it, it did +little comparative good. + +"With fair understandings the Miss Astons had acquired very little +knowledge: their mother's scrupulous mind found something dangerous in +every author who did not professedly write on religious subjects. If +there were one exceptionable page in a book, otherwise valuable, instead +of suppressing the page, she suppressed the book. And indeed, my dear +Charles, grieved am I to think how few authors of the more entertaining +kind we _can_ consider as perfectly pure, and put without caution, +restriction, or mutilation, into the hands of our daughters. I am, +however, of opinion, that as they will not always have their parents for +tasters, and as they will everywhere, even in the most select libraries, +meet with these mixed works, in which, though there is much to admire, +yet there is something to expunge, it is the safest way to accustom them +early to hear read the most unexceptionable parts of these books. + +"Read them yourself to them without any air of mystery; tell them that +what you omit is not worth reading, and then the omissions will not +excite but stifle curiosity. The books to which I allude are those where +the principle is sound and the tendency blameless, and where the few +faults consist rather in coarseness than in corruption. + +"But to return; she fancied that these inexperienced creatures, who had +never tried the world, and whose young imaginations had perhaps painted +it in all the brilliant colors with which erring fancy gilds the scenes +it has never beheld, and the pleasure it has never tried, could +renounce it as completely as herself, who had exhausted what it has to +give, and was weary of it. She thought they could live contentedly in +their closets, without considering that she had neglected to furnish +their minds with that knowledge which may make the closet a place of +enjoyment, by supplying the intervals of devotional with entertaining +reading. + +"We carried Lucilla and Ph[oe]be to visit them; I believe she was a +little afraid of their gay countenances. I talked to her of the +necessity of literature to inform her daughters, and of pleasures to +enliven them. The term pleasure alarmed her still more than that of +literature. 'What pleasures were allowed to religious people? She would +make her daughters as happy as she dared without offending her Maker.' I +quoted the devout but liberal Hooker, who exhorts us not to regard the +Almighty as a captious sophist, but as a merciful Father. + +"During this conversation we were sitting under the fine spreading oak +on my lawn, in front of that rich bank of flowers which you so much +admire. It was a lovely evening in the end of June, the setting sun was +all mild radiance, the sky all azure, the air all fragrance. The birds +were in full song. The children, sitting on the grass before us, were +weaving chaplets of wild flowers. + + It looked like nature in the world's first spring. + +"My heart was touched with joy and gratitude. 'Look, madam,' said I, 'at +the bountiful provision which a beneficent Father makes, not only for +the necessities, but for the pleasures of his children; + + ----not content + With every food of life to nourish man, + He makes all nature beauty to his eye, + And music to his ear. + +"'These flowers are of so little apparent use, that it might be thought +profuseness in any economy short of that which is divine, to gratify us +at once with such forms, and such hues, and such fragrance. It is a +gratification not necessary, yet exquisite, which lies somewhere between +the pleasure of sense and intellect, and in a measure partakes of both. +It elevates while it exhilarates, and lifts the soul from the gift to +the Giver. God has not left his goodness to be _inferred_ from abstract +speculation, from the conclusions of reason, from deduction and +argument: we not only collect it from observation, but have palpable +evidences of his bounty, we feel it with our senses. Were God a hard +master, might he not withhold these superfluities of goodness? Do you +think he makes such rich provision for us, that we should shut our eyes +and close our ears to them? Does he present such gifts with one hand, +and hold in the other a stern interdict of 'touch not, taste not, handle +not?' And can you believe he is less munificent in the economy of grace, +than in that of nature? Do you imagine that he provides such abundant +supplies for our appetites and senses here, without providing more +substantial pleasures for our future enjoyment? Is not what we see a +prelude to what we hope for, a pledge of what we may expect? A specimen +of larger, higher, richer bounty, an encouraging cluster from the land +of promise? If from his works we turn to his word, we shall find the +same inexhaustible goodness exercised to still nobler purposes. Must we +not hope then, even by analogy, that he has in store blessings exalted +in their nature, and eternal in their duration, for all those who love +and serve him in the gospel of his Son?' + +"We now got on fast. She was delighted with my wife, and grew less and +less afraid of my girls. I believe, however, that we should have made a +quicker progress in gaining her confidence if we had looked less happy. +I suggested to her to endeavor to raise the tone of her daughters' +piety, to make their habits less monastic, their tempers more cheerful, +their virtues more active; to render their lives more useful, by making +them the immediate instruments of her charity; to take them out of +themselves, and teach them to compare their fictitious distresses with +real substantial misery, and to make them feel grateful for the power +and the privilege of relieving it. + +"As Dr. Barlow has two parishes which join, and we had pre-occupied the +ground in our own, I advised them to found a school in the next, for the +instruction of the young, and a friendly society for the aged of their +own sex. We prevailed on them to be themselves not the nominal but the +active patronesses; to take the measure of all the wants and all the +merit of their immediate neighborhood; to do every thing under the +advice and superintendence of Dr. Barlow, and to make him their 'guide, +philosopher, and friend.' By adopting this plan, they now see the +poverty of which they only used to hear, and know personally the +dependants whom they protect. + +"Dr. Barlow took infinite pains to correct Lady Aston's views of +religion. 'Let your notions of God,' said he, 'be founded, not on your +own gloomy apprehensions, and visionary imaginations, but on what is +revealed in his word, else the very intenseness of your feelings, the +very sincerity of your devotion, may betray you into enthusiasm, into +error, into superstition, into despair. Spiritual notions which are not +grounded on scriptural truth, and directed and guarded by a close +adherence to it, mislead tender hearts and warm imaginations. But while +you rest on the sure unperverted foundation of the word of God, and pray +for his Spirit to assist you in the use of his word, you will have +little cause to dread that you shall fear him too much, or serve him too +well. I earnestly exhort you,' continued he, 'not to take the measure of +your spiritual state from circumstances which have nothing to do with +it. Be not dismayed at an incidental depression which may depend on the +state of your health, or your spirits, or your affairs. Look not for +sensible communications. Do not consider rapturous feelings as any +criterion of the favor of your Maker, nor the absence of them as any +indication of his displeasure. An increasing desire to know him more, +and serve him better; an increasing desire to do, and to suffer his +whole will; a growing resignation to his providential dispensations is a +much surer, a much more unequivocal test.' + +"I next," continued Mr. Stanley, "carried our worthy curate, Mr. +Jackson, to visit her, and proposed that she should engage him to spend +a few hours every week with the young ladies. I recommended that after +he had read with them a portion of Scripture, of which he would give +them a sound and plain exposition, he should convince them he had not +the worse taste for being religious, by reading with them some books of +general instruction, history, travels, and polite literature. This would +imbue their minds with useful knowledge, form their taste, and fill up +profitably and pleasantly that time which now lay heavy on their hands; +and, without intrenching on any of their duties, would qualify them to +discharge them more cheerfully. + +"I next suggested that they should study gardening; and that they should +put themselves under the tuition of Lucilla, who is become the little +Repton of the valley. To add to the interest, I requested that a fresh +piece of ground might be given them, that they might not only exercise +their taste, but be animated with seeing the complete effect of their +own exertions, as a creation of their own would be likely to afford them +more amusement than improving on the labors of another. + +"I had soon the gratification of seeing my little Carmelites, who used +when they walked in the garden to look as if they came to dig a daily +portion of their own graves, now enjoying it, embellishing it, and +delighted by watching its progress; and their excellent mother, who, +like Spenser's Despair, used to look 'as if she never dined,' now +enjoying the company of her select friends. The mother is become almost +cheerful, and the daughters almost gay. Their dormant faculties are +awakened. Time is no longer a burden, but a blessing: the day is too +short for their duties, which are performed with alacrity since they +have been converted into pleasures. You will believe I did not hazard +all these terrible innovations as rapidly as I recount them, but +gradually, as they were able to bear it. + +"This happy change in themselves has had the happiest consequences. +Their friends had conceived the strongest prejudices against religion, +from the gloomy garb in which they had seen it arrayed at Aston Hall. +The uncle who was also the guardian, had threatened to remove the girls +before they were quite moped to death; the young baronet was actually +forbidden to come home at the holidays; but now the uncle is quite +reconciled to them, and almost to _religion_. He has resumed his +fondness for the daughters; and their brother, a fine youth at +Cambridge, is happy in spending his vacations with his family, to whom +he is become tenderly attached. He has had his own principles and +character much raised by the conversation and example of Dr. Barlow, who +contrives to be at Aston Hall as much as possible when Sir George is +there. He is daily expected to make his mother a visit, when I shall +recommend him to your particular notice and acquaintance." + +Lucilla blushing, said, she thought her father had too exclusively +recommended the _brother_ to my friendship; she would venture to say the +_sisters_ were equally worthy of my regard, adding, in an affectionate +tone, "they are every thing that is amiable and kind. The more you know +them, sir, the more you will admire them; for their good qualities are +kept back by the best quality of all, their modesty." This candid and +liberal praise did not sink the fair eulogist herself in my esteem. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +I had now been near three weeks at the Grove. Ever since my arrival I +had contracted the habit of pouring out my heart to Mr. and Mrs. Stanley +with grateful affection and filial confidence. I still continued to do +so on all subjects except one. + +The more I saw of Lucilla, the more difficult I found it to resist her +numberless attractions. I could not persuade myself that either prudence +or duty demanded that I should guard my heart against such a combination +of amiable virtues and gentle graces: virtues and graces which, as I +before observed, my mind had long been combining as a delightful idea, +and which I now saw realized in a form more engaging than even my own +imagination had allowed itself to picture. + +I did not feel courage sufficient to risk the happiness I actually +enjoyed, by aspiring too suddenly to a happiness more perfect. I dared +not yet avow to the parents, or the daughter, feelings which my fears +told me might possibly be discouraged, and which, if discouraged, would +at once dash to the ground a fabric of felicity that my heart, not my +fancy, had erected, and which my taste, my judgment, and my principles +equally approved, and delighted to contemplate. + +The great critic of antiquity, in his treatise on the drama, observes +that the introduction of a new person is of the next importance to a new +incident. Whether the introduction of two interlocutors is equal in +importance to two incidents, Aristotle has forgotten to establish. This +dramatic rule was illustrated by the arrival of Sir John and Lady +Belfield, who, though not new to the reader or the writer, were new at +Stanley Grove. + +The early friendship of the two gentlemen had suffered little diminution +from absence, though their intercourse had been much interrupted. Sir +John, who was a few years younger than his friend, since his marriage, +having lived as entirely in town as Mr. Stanley had done in the country. +Mrs. Stanley had, indeed, seen Lady Belfield a few times in +Cavendish-square, but her ladyship had never before been introduced to +the other inhabitants of the Grove. + +The guests were received with cordial affection, and easily fell into +the family habits, which they did not wish to interrupt, but from the +observation of which they hoped to improve their own. They were charmed +with the interesting variety of characters in the lovely young family, +who in return were delighted with the politeness, kindness, and +cheerfulness of their father's guests. + +Shall I avow my own meanness? Cordially as I loved the Belfields, I am +afraid I saw them arrive with a slight tincture of jealousy. They would, +I thought, by enlarging the family circle, throw me at a further +distance from the being whom I wished to contemplate nearly. They would, +by dividing her attention, diminish my proportion. I had been hitherto +the sole guest, I was now to be one of several. This was the first +discovery I made that love is a narrower of the heart. I tried to subdue +the ungenerous feeling, and to meet my valuable friends with a warmth +adequate to that which they so kindly manifested. I found that a wrong +feeling at which one has virtue enough left to blush, is seldom lasting, +and shame soon expelled it. + +The first day was passed in mutual inquiries and mutual communications. +Lady Belfield told me that the amiable Fanny, after having wept over the +grave of her mother, was removed to the house of the benevolent +clergyman, who had kindly promised her an asylum till Lady Belfield's +return to town, when it was intended she should be received into her +family; that worthy man and his wife having taken on themselves a full +responsibility for her character and disposition; and generously +promised that they would exert themselves to advance her progress in +knowledge during the interval. Lady Belfield added, that every inquiry +respecting Fanny, whom we must now call Miss Stokes, had been attended +with the most satisfactory result, her principles being as +unquestionable as her talents. + +After dinner, I observed that whenever the door opened, Lady Belfield's +eye was always turned toward it, in expectation of seeing the children. +Her affectionate heart felt disappointed on finding that they did not +appear, and she could not forbear whispering to me, who sat next her, +"that she was afraid the piety of our good friends was a little +tinctured with severity. For her part, she saw no reason why religion +should diminish one's affection for one's children, and rob them of +their innocent pleasures." I assured her gravely I thought so too; but +forbore telling her how totally inapposite her application was to Mr. +and Mrs. Stanley. She seemed glad to find me of her opinion, and gave up +all hope of seeing the "little melancholy recluses," as she called them, +"unless," she said, laughing, "she might be permitted to look at them +through the grate of their cells." I smiled, but did not undeceive her, +and affected to join in her compassion. When we went to attend the +ladies in the drawing-room, I was delighted to find lady Belfield +sitting on a low stool, the whole gay group at play around her. A blush +mixed itself with her good-natured smile as we interchanged a +significant look. She was questioning one of the elder ones, while the +youngest sat on her lap singing. Sir John entered, with that kindness +and good humor so natural to him, into the sports of the others, who, +though wild with health and spirits, were always gentle and docile. He +had a thousand pleasant things to entertain them with. He, too, it +seems, had not been without his misgivings. + +"Are not these poor miserable recluses?" whispered I maliciously to her +ladyship, "and are not these rueful looks proof positive that religion +diminishes our affection for our children? and is it not abridging their +innocent pleasures, to give them their full range in a fresh airy +apartment, instead of cramming them into an eating-room, of which the +air is made almost fetid by the fumes of the dinner and a crowded table? +and is it not better that they should spoil the pleasure of the company, +though the mischief they do is bought by the sacrifice of their own +liberty?" "I make my _amende_," said she. "I never will be so forward +again to suspect piety of ill nature." "So far from it, Caroline," said +Sir John, "that we will adopt the practice we were so forward to blame; +and I shall not do it," said he, "more from regard to the company, than +to the children, who I am sure will be gainers in point of enjoyment; +liberty, I perceive, is to them positive pleasure, and paramount to any +which our false epicurism can contrive for them." + +"Well, Charles," said Sir John, as soon as he saw me alone, "now tell us +about this Lucilla, this paragon, this nonpareil of Dr. Barlow's. Tell +me what is she? or rather what is she not?" + +"First," replied I, "I will as you desire, define her by negatives--she +is _not_ a professed beauty, she is _not_ a professed genius, she is +_not_ a professed philosopher, she is _not_ a professed wit, she is +_not_ a professed any thing; and, I thank my stars, she is _not_ an +artist!" "Bravo, Charles, now as to what she is." "She is," replied I, +"from nature--a woman, gentle, feeling, animated, modest. She is by +education, elegant, informed, enlightened. She is, from religion, pious, +humble, candid, charitable." + +"What a refreshment will it be," said Sir John, "to see a girl of fine +sense, more cultivated than accomplished--the creature, not of fiddlers +and dancing-masters, but of nature, of books, and of good company! If +there is the same mixture of spirit and delicacy in her character, that +there is of softness and animation in her countenance, she is a +dangerous girl, Charles." + +"She certainly does," said I, "possess the essential charm of beauty +where it exists; and the most effectual substitute for it, where it does +not; the power of prepossessing the beholder by her look and manner, in +favor of her understanding and temper." + +This prepossession I afterward found confirmed, not only by her own +share in the conversation, but by its effect on myself; I always feel +that our intercourse unfolds, not only her powers, but my own. In +conversing with such a woman, I am apt to fancy that I have more +understanding, because her animating presence brings it more into +exercise. + +After breakfast, next day, the conversation happened to turn on the +indispensable importance of unbounded confidence to the happiness of +married persons. Mr. Stanley expressed his regret, that though it was +one of the grand ingredients of domestic comfort, yet it was sometimes +unavoidably prevented by an unhappy inequality of mind between the +parties, by violence, or imprudence, or imbecility on one side, which +almost compelled the other to a degree of reserve, as incompatible with +the design of the union, as with the frankness of the individual. + +"We have had an instance among our own friends," replied Sir John, "of +this evil being produced, not by any of the faults to which you have +adverted, but by an excess of misapplied sensibility, in two persons of +near equality as to merit, and in both of whom the utmost purity of +mind, and exactness of conduct rendered all concealment superfluous. Our +worthy friends Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton married from motives of affection, +and with a high opinion of each other's merit, which their long and +intimate connection has rather contributed to exalt than to lower; and +yet, now at the end of seven years, they are only beginning to be happy. +They contrived to make each other and themselves as uncomfortable by an +excess of tenderness, as some married pairs are rendered by the want of +it. A mistaken sensibility has intrenched, not only on their comfort, +but on their sincerity. Their resolution never to give each other pain +has led them to live in a constant state of petty concealment. They are +neither of them remarkably healthy, and to hide from each other every +little indisposition, have kept up a continual vigilance to conceal +illness on the one part, and to detect it on the other, till it became a +trial of skill which could make the other most unhappy; each suffering +much more by suspicion when there was no occasion for it, than they +could have done by the acknowledgment of slight complaints when they +actually existed. + +"This valuable pair, after seven years' apprenticeship to a petty +martyrdom, have at last found out that it is better to submit to the +inevitable ills of life cheerfully and in concert, and to comfort each +other under them cordially, than alternately to suffer and inflict the +pain of perpetual disingenuousness. They have at last discovered that +uninterrupted prosperity is not the lot of man. Each is happier now +with knowing that the other is sometimes sick, than they used to be with +suspecting they were always so. The physician is now no longer secretly +sent for to one, when the other is known to be from home. The apothecary +is at last allowed to walk boldly up the public staircase fearless of +detection. + +"These amiable persons have at length attained all that was wanting to +their felicity, that of each believing the other to be well when they +_say_ they are so. They have found out that unreserved communication is +the lawful commerce of conjugal affection, and that all concealment is +contraband." + +"Surely," said I, when Sir John had done speaking, "it is a false +compliment to the objects of our affection, if, for the sake of sparing +them a transient uneasiness, we rob them of the comfort to which they +are entitled, of mitigating our sufferings by partaking it. All +dissimulation is disloyal to love. Besides, it appears to me to be an +introduction to wider evils, and I should fear, both for the woman I +loved and for myself, that if once we allowed ourselves concealment in +one point, where we thought the motive excused us, we might learn to +adopt it in others, where the principle was more evidently wrong." + +"Besides," replied Mr. Stanley, "it argues a lamentable ignorance of +human life, to set out with an expectation of health without +interruption, and of happiness without alloy. When young persons marry +with the fairest prospects, they should never forget that infirmity is +inseparably bound up with their very nature, and that in bearing one +another's burdens, they fulfill one of the highest duties of the +union." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +After supper, when only the family party were present, the conversation +turned on the unhappy effects of misguided passion. Mrs. Stanley +lamented that novels, with a very few admirable exceptions, had done +infinite mischief, by so completely establishing the omnipotence of +love, that the young reader was almost systematically taught an +unresisting submission to a feeling, because the feeling was commonly +represented as irresistible. + +"Young ladies," said Sir John, smiling, "in their blind submission to +this imaginary omnipotence, are apt to be necessarians. When they _fall_ +in love, as it is so justly called, they then obey their _fate_; but in +their stout opposition to prudence and duty, they most manfully exert +their _free will_; so that they want nothing but _knowledge absolute_ of +the miseries attendant on an indiscreet attachment, completely to +exemplify the occupation assigned by Milton to a class of beings to whom +it would not be gallant to resemble young ladies." + +Mrs. Stanley continued to assert, that ill-placed affection only became +invincible, because its supposed invincibility had been first erected +into a principle. She then adverted to the power of religion in subduing +the passions, that of love among the rest. + +I ventured to ask Lucilla, who was sitting next me (a happiness which, +by some means or other, I generally contrived to enjoy), what were her +sentiments on this point? With a little confusion, she said, "to conquer +an ill placed attachment, I conceive may be effected by motives inferior +to religion. Reason, the humbling conviction of having made an unworthy +choice, for I will not resort to so bad a motive as pride, may easily +accomplish it. But to conquer a well-founded affection, a justifiable +attachment, I should imagine, requires the powerful principle of +Christian piety; and what can not that effect?" She stopped and blushed, +as fearing she had said too much. + +Lady Belfield observed, that she believed a virtuous attachment might +possibly be subdued by the principle Miss Stanley had mentioned; yet she +doubted if it were in the power of religion itself, to enable the heart +to conquer aversion, much less to establish affection for an object for +whom dislike had been entertained. + +"I believe," said Mr. Stanley, "the example is rare, and the exertion +difficult; but that which is difficult to us, is not impossible to him +who has the hearts of all men in his hand. And I am happy to resolve +Lady Belfield's doubt by a case in point. + +"You can not, Sir John, have forgotten our old London acquaintance, +Carlton?" "No," replied he, "nor can I ever forget what I have since +heard of his ungenerous treatment of that most amiable woman, his wife. +I suppose he has long ago broken her heart." + +"You know," resumed Mr. Stanley, "they married not only without any +inclination on either side, but on her part with something more than +indifference, with a preference for another person. _She_ married +through an implicit obedience to her mother's will, which she had never +in any instance opposed: _He_, because his father had threatened to +disinherit him if he married any other woman; for as they were distant +relations, there was no other way of securing the estate in the family." + +"What a motive for a union so sacred and so indissoluble!" exclaimed I, +with an ardor which raised a smile in the whole party. I asked pardon +for my involuntary interruption, and Mr. Stanley proceeded. + +"She had long entertained a partiality for a most deserving young +clergyman, much her inferior in rank and fortune. But though her high +sense of filial duty led her to sacrifice this innocent inclination, and +though she resolved never to see him again, and had even prevailed on +him to quit the country, and settle in a distant place, yet Carlton was +ungenerous and inconsistent enough to be jealous of her without loving +her. He was guilty of great irregularities, while Mrs. Carlton set about +acquitting herself of the duties of a wife, with the most meek and +humble patience, burying her sorrows in her own bosom, and not allowing +herself even the consolation of complaining. + +"Among the many reasons for his dislike, her piety was the principal. He +said religion was of no use but to disqualify people for the business of +life; that it taught them to make a merit of despising their duties, and +hating their relations; and that pride, ill-humor, opposition, and +contempt for the rest of the world, were the meat and drink of all those +who pretended to religion. + +"At first she nearly sunk under his unkindness; her health declined, and +her spirits failed. In this distress she applied to the only sure refuge +for the unhappy, and took comfort in the consideration that her trials +were appointed, by a merciful Father, to detach her from a world which +she might have loved too fondly, had it not been thus stripped of its +delights. + +"When Mrs. Stanley, who was her confidential friend, expressed the +tenderest sympathy in her sufferings, she meekly replied, 'Remember who +are they whose robes are washed white in the kingdom of glory, _it is +they who come out of great tribulation_. I endeavor to strengthen my +faith with a view of what the best Christians have suffered, and my hope +with meditating on the shortness of all suffering. I will confess my +weakness,' added she: 'of the various motives to patience under the +ills of life, which the Bible presents, though my reason and religion +acknowledge them all, there is not one which comes home so powerfully to +my feelings as this--_the time is short_.' + +"Another time Mrs. Stanley, who had heard of some recent irregularities +of Carlton, called upon her, and lamenting the solitude to which she was +often left for days together, advised her to have a female friend in the +house, that her mind might not be left to prey upon itself by living so +much alone. She thanked her for the kind suggestion, but said she felt +it was wiser and better not to have a confidential friend always at +hand, 'for of what subject should we talk,' said she, 'but of my +husband's faults? Ought I to allow myself in such a practice? It would +lead me to indulge a habit of complaint which I am laboring to subdue. +The compassion of my friend would only sharpen my feelings, which I wish +to blunt. Giving vent to a flame only makes it rage the more; if +suppressing can not subdue it, at least the consciousness that I am +doing my duty will enable me to support it. When we feel,' added she, +'that we are _doing_ wrong, the opening our heart may strengthen our +virtue; but when we are _suffering_ wrong, the mind demands another sort +of strength; it wants higher support than friendship has to impart. It +pours out its sorrows in prayer with fuller confidence, knowing that he +who sees can sustain; that he who hears will recompense; that he will +judge, not our weakness, but our efforts to conquer it; not our success, +but our endeavors; with him endeavor is victory. + +"'The grace I most want,' added she, 'is humility. A partial friend, in +order to support my spirits, would flatter my conduct: gratified with +her soothing, I should, perhaps, not so entirely cast myself for comfort +on God. Contented with human praise, I might rest in it. Besides, having +endured the smart, I would not willingly endure it in vain. We know who +has said, 'If you suffer with me, you shall also reign with me.' It is +not, however, to mere suffering that the promise is addressed, but to +suffering for his sake, and in his spirit.' Then turning to the Bible +which lay before her, and pointing to the sublime passage of St Paul, +which she had just been reading, 'Our light affliction which is but for +a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of +glory.' 'Pray,' said she, 'read this in connection with the next verse, +which is not always done. _When_ is it that it works for us this weight +of glory? _Only_ 'while we are looking at the things which are not +seen.' Do admire the beauty of this position, and how the good is +weighed against the evil, like two scales differently filled; the +affliction is light, and but for a moment; the glory is a _weight_, and +it is _forever_. 'Tis a feather against lead, a grain of sand against +the universe, a moment against eternity. Oh, how the scale which +contains this world's light trouble kicks the beam, when weighed against +the glory which shall be revealed.' + +"At the end of two years she had a little girl; this opened to her a new +scene of duties, and a fresh source of consolation. Her religion proved +itself to be of the right stamp, by making her temper still more sweet, +and diffusing the happiest effects through her whole character and +conversation. When her husband had staid out late, or even all night, +she never reproached him. When he was at home, she received his friends +with as much civility as if she had liked them. He found that his house +was conducted with the utmost prudence, and that while she maintained +his credit at his table, her personal expenses were almost nothing: +indeed, self seemed nearly annihilated in her. He sometimes felt +disappointed, because he had no cause of complaint, and was angry that +he had nothing to condemn. + +"As he has a very fine understanding, he was the more provoked, because +he could not help seeing that her blameless conduct put him continually +in the wrong. All this puzzled him. He never suspected there was a +principle, out of which such consequences could grow, and was ready to +attribute to insensibility, that patience which nothing short of +Christian piety could have inspired. He had conceived of religion as a +visionary system of words and phrases, and concluded that from so +unsubstantial a theory, it would be a folly to look for practical +effects. + +"Sometimes, when he saw her nursing his child, of whom he was very fond, +he was almost tempted to admire the mother, who is a most pleasing +figure; and now and then when his heart was thus softened for a moment, +he would ask himself, what reasonable ground of objection there was +either to her mind or person? + +"Mrs. Carlton, knowing that his affairs must necessarily be embarrassed, +by the extraordinary expenses he had incurred, when the steward brought +her usual year's allowance she refused to take more than half, and +ordered him to employ the remainder on his master's account. The +faithful old man was ready to weep, and could not forbear saying, +'Madam, you could not do more for a kind husband. Besides, it is but a +drop of water in the ocean.' 'That drop,' said she, 'it is my duty to +contribute.' When the steward communicated this to Carlton, he was +deeply affected, refused to take the money, and again was driven to +resort to the wonderful principle from which such right but difficult +actions could proceed." + +Here I interrupted Mr. Stanley. "I am quite of the steward's opinion," +said I. "That a woman should do this and much more for the man who loved +her, and whom she loved, is quite intelligible to every being who has a +heart. But for a cruel, unfeeling tyrant! I do not comprehend it. What +say you, Miss Stanley?" + +"Under the circumstance you suppose," said she, blushing, "I think the +woman would have no shadow of merit; her conduct would be a mere +gratification, an entire indulgence of her own feelings. The triumph of +affection would have been cheap; Mrs. Carlton's was the triumph of +religion; of a principle which could subdue an attachment to a worthy +object, and act with such generosity toward an unworthy one." + +Mr. Stanley went on. "Mrs. Carlton frequently sat up late, reading such +books as might qualify her for the education of her child, but always +retired before she had reason to expect Mr. Carlton, lest he might +construe it into upbraiding. One night, as he was not expected to come +home at all, she sat later than usual, and had indulged herself with +taking her child to pass the night in her bed. With her usual +earnestness she knelt down and offered up her devotions by her bed-side, +and in a manner particularly solemn and affecting, prayed for her +husband. Her heart was deeply touched, and she dwelt on these petitions +in a strain peculiarly fervent. She prayed for his welfare in both +worlds, and earnestly implored that she might be made the humble +instrument of his happiness. She meekly acknowledged her own many +offenses; of his she said nothing. + +"Thinking herself secure from interruption, her petitions were uttered +aloud; her voice often faltering, and her eyes streaming with tears. +Little did she suspect that the object of her prayers was within hearing +of them. He had returned home unexpectedly, and coming softly into the +room, heard her pious aspirations. He was inexpressibly affected. He +wept, and sighed bitterly. The light from the candles on the table fell +on the blooming face of his sleeping infant, and on that of his weeping +wife. It was too much for him. But he had not the virtuous courage to +give way to his feelings. He had not the generosity to come forward and +express the admiration he felt. He withdrew unperceived, and passed the +remainder of the night in great perturbation of spirit. Shame, remorse, +and confusion, raised such a conflict in his mind, as prevented him from +closing his eyes; while she slept in quiet, and awoke in peace. + +"The next morning, during a very short interview, he behaved to her with +a kindness which she had never before experienced. He had not resolution +to breakfast with her, but promised, with affection in his words and +manners, to return to dinner. The truth was, he never quitted home, but +wandered about his woods to compose and strengthen his mind. This +self-examination was the first he had practiced; its effects were +salutary. + +"A day or two previous to this, they had dined at our house. He had +always been much addicted to the pleasures of the table. He expressed +high approbation of a particular dish, and mentioned again when he got +home how much he liked it. The next morning Mrs. Carlton wrote to +Lucilla to beg the receipt for making this ragout; and this day, when he +returned from his solitary ramble and 'compunctuous visitings,' the +favorite dish, most exquisitely dressed, was produced at his dinner. He +thanked her for this obliging attention, and turning to the butler, +directed him to tell the cook that no dish was ever so well dressed. +Mrs. Carlton blushed when the honest butler said, 'Sir, it was my +mistress dressed it with her own hands, because she knew your honor was +fond of it.' + +"Tears of gratitude rushed into Carlton's eyes, and tears of joy +overflowed those of the old domestic, when his master, rising from the +table, tenderly embraced his wife, and declared he was unworthy of such +a treasure. 'I have been guilty of a public wrong, Johnson,' said he to +his servant, 'and my reparation shall be as public. I can never deserve +her, but my life shall be spent in endeavoring to do so.' + +"The little girl was brought in, and her presence seemed to cement this +new formed union. An augmented cheerfulness on the part of Mrs. Carlton +invited an increased tenderness on that of her husband. He began every +day to discover new excellences in his wife, which he readily +acknowledged to herself, and to the world. The conviction of her worth +had been gradually producing esteem, esteem now ripened into affection, +and his affection for his wife was mingled with a blind sort of +admiration of that piety which had produced such effects. He now began +to think home the pleasantest place, and his wife the pleasantest +companion. + +"A gentle censure from him on the excessive frugality of her dress, +mixed with admiration of the purity of its motive, was an intimation to +her to be more elegant. He happened to admire a gown worn by a lady whom +they had visited. She not only sent for the same materials, but had it +made by the same pattern. A little attention of which he felt the +delicacy. + +"He not only saw, but in no long time acknowledged, that a religion +which produced such admirable effects, could not be so mischievous a +principle as he had supposed, nor could it be an inert principle. Her +prudence has accomplished what her piety began. She always watched the +turn of his eye, to see how far she might venture, and changed the +discourse when the look was not encouraging. She never tired him with +lectures, never obtruded serious discourse unseasonably, nor prolonged +it improperly. His early love of reading, which had for some years given +way to more turbulent pleasures, he has resumed; and frequently +insists, that the books he reads to her shall be of her own choosing. In +this choice she exercises the nicest discretion, selecting such as may +gently lead his mind to higher pursuits, but which at the same time are +so elegantly written as not to disgust his taste. In all this Mrs. +Stanley is her friend and counselor. + +"While Mrs. Carlton is advancing her husband's relish for books of +piety, he is forming hers to polite literature. She herself often +proposes an amusing book, that he may not suspect her of a wish to +abridge his innocent gratifications; and by this complaisance she gains +more than she loses, for, not to be outdone in generosity, he often +proposes some pious one in return. Thus their mutual sacrifices are +mutual benefits. She has found out that he has a highly cultivated +understanding, and he has discovered that she has a mind remarkably +susceptible of cultivation. He has by degrees dropped most of his former +associates, and has entirely renounced the diversions into which they +led him. He is become a frequent and welcome visitor here. His conduct +is uniformly respectable, and I look forward with hope to his becoming +even a shining character. There is, however, a pertinacity, I may say a +sincerity, in his temper, which somewhat keeps him back. He will never +adopt any principle without the most complete conviction of his own +mind; nor profess any truth of which he himself does not actually feel +the force." + +Lady Belfield, after thanking Mr. Stanley for his interesting little +narrative, earnestly requested that Sir John would renew his +acquaintance with Mr. Carlton, that she herself might be enabled to +profit by such an affecting example of the power of genuine religion as +his wife exhibited; confessing that one such living instance would weigh +more with her than a hundred arguments. Mrs. Stanley obligingly promised +to invite them to dinner the first leisure day. Mr. Stanley now +informed us that Sir George Aston was arrived from Cambridge on a visit +to his mother and sisters; that he was a youth of great promise whom he +begged to introduce to us as a young man in whose welfare he took a +lively concern, and on the right formation of whose character much would +depend, as he had a large estate, and the family interest in the county +would give him a very considerable influence; to this influence it was, +therefore, of great importance to give a right direction. We next +morning took a ride to Aston Hall, and I commenced an acquaintance with +the engaging young baronet, which I doubt not, from what I saw and +heard, will hereafter ripen into friendship. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +The good rector joined the party at dinner. The conversation afterward +happened to turn on the value of human opinion, and Sir John Belfield +made the hackneyed observation, that the desire of obtaining it should +never be discouraged, it being highly useful as a motive of action. + +"Yes," said Dr. Barlow, "it certainly has its uses in a world, the +affairs of which must be chiefly carried on by worldly men; a world +which is itself governed by low motives. But human applause is not a +Christian principle of action; nay, it is so adverse to Christianity +that our Saviour himself assigns it as a powerful cause of men's not +believing, or at least not confessing Him; _because they loved the +praise of men_. The eager desire of fame is a sort of separation line +between Paganism and Christianity. The ancient philosophers have left us +many shining examples of moderation in earthly things, and of the +contempt of riches. So far the light of reason, and a noble self-denial +carried them; and many a Christian may blush at these instances of their +superiority; but of an indifference to fame, of a deadness to human +applause except as founded on loftiness of spirit, disdain of their +judges, and self-sufficient pride, I do not recollect any instance." + +"And yet," said Sir John, "I remember Seneca says in one of his +epistles, that no man expresses such a respect and devotion to virtue as +he who forfeits the _repute_ of being a good man, that he may not +forfeit the _conscience_ of being such." + +"They might," replied Mr. Stanley, "incidentally express some such +sentiment, in a well turned period, to give antithesis to an expression, +or weight to an apothegm; they might declaim against it in a fit of +disappointment in the burst of indignation excited by a recent loss of +popularity; but I question if they ever once acted upon it. I question +if Marius himself, sitting amid the ruins of Carthage, actually felt it. +Seldom, if ever, does it seem to have been inculcated as a principle, or +enforced as a rule of action: nor could it--it was against the canon law +of their foundation." + +"Yet," said Sir John, "a good man struggling with adversity is, I think, +represented by one of their authors as an object worthy of the attention +of the gods." + +"Yes," said Mr. Stanley, "but the divine approbation alone was never +proposed as the standard of right, or the reward of actions, except by +divine revelation." + +"Nothing seems more difficult," said I, "to settle than the standard of +right. Every man has a standard of his own, which he considers as of +universal application. One makes his own tastes, desires, and appetites, +his rule of right; another the example of certain individuals, fallible +like himself; a third, and indeed the generality, the maxims, habits, +and manners of the fashionable part of the world." + +Sir John remarked, "That since it is so difficult to discriminate +between allowable indulgence and criminal conformity, the life of a +conscientious man, if he be not constitutionally temperate, or +habitually firm, must be poisoned with solicitude, and perpetually +racked with the fear of exceeding his limits." + +"My dear Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "the peace and security of a +Christian, we well know, are not left to depend on constitutional +temperance, or habitual firmness. These are, as the young Numidian says, + + Perfections that are placed in bones and nerves. + +There is a higher and surer way to prevent the solicitude, which is, by +correcting the principle; to get the heart set right; to be jealous over +ourselves; to be careful never to venture to the edge of our lawful +limits; in short, and that is the only infallible standard, to live in +the conscientious practice of measuring all we say, and do, and think, +by the unerring rule of God's word." + +"The impossibility of reaching the perfection which that rule requires," +said Sir John, "sometimes discourages well-meaning men, as if the +attempt were hopeless." + +Dr. Barlow replied, "That is, sir, because they take up with a hearsay +Christianity. Its reputed pains and penalties drive them off from +inquiring for themselves. They rest on the surface. If they would go +deeper, they would see that the Spirit which dictated the Scriptures is +a Spirit of power, as well as a Spirit of promise. All that he requires +us to do, he enables us to perform. He does not prescribe 'rules' +without furnishing us with 'arms.'" + +In answer to some further remarks of Sir John, who spoke with due +abhorrence of any instance of actual vice, but who seemed to have no +just idea of its root and principle, Dr. Barlow observed: "While every +one agrees in reprobating wicked actions, few, comparatively, are aware +of the natural and habitual evil which lurks in the heart. To this the +Bible particularly directs our attention. In describing a bad character, +it does not say that his actions are flagitious, but that 'God is not in +all his _thoughts_.' This is the description of a thoroughly worldly +man. Those who are given up completely to the world, to its maxims, its +principles, its cares, or its pleasures, can not entertain thoughts of +God. And to be unmindful of his providence, to be regardless of his +presence, to be insensible to his mercies, must be nearly as offensive +to him as to deny his existence. Excessive dissipation, a supreme love +of money, or an entire devotedness to ambition, drinks up that spirit, +swallows up that affection, exhausts that vigor, starves that zeal, with +which a Christian should devote himself to serve his Maker. + +"Pray observe," continued Dr. Barlow, "that I am not speaking of avowed +profligates, but of decent characters; men who, while they are pursuing +with keen intenseness the great objects of their attachment, do not +deride or even totally neglect religious observances, yet think they do +much and well, by affording some odd scraps of refuse time to a few +weary prayers, and sleepy thoughts, from a mind worn down with +engagements of pleasure, or projects of accumulation, or schemes of +ambition. In all these several pursuits, there may be nothing which, to +the gross perceptions of the world, would appear to be moral turpitude. +The pleasure may not be profligacy, the wealth so cherished may not have +been fraudulently obtained, the ambition, in human estimation, may not +be dishonorable; but an alienation from God, an indifference to eternal +things, a spirit incompatible with the spirit of the gospel, will be +found at the bottom of all these restless pursuits." + +"I am entirely of your opinion, Doctor," said Mr. Stanley; "it is taking +up with something short of real Christianity; it is an apostacy from the +doctrines of the Bible; it is the substitution of a spurious and popular +religion for that which was revealed from heaven; it is a departure from +the faith once delivered to the saints, that has so fatally sunk our +morality; and given countenance to that low standard of practical virtue +which prevails. If we lower the principle, if we obscure the light, if +we reject the influence, if we sully the purity, if we abridge the +strictness of the divine law, there will remain no ascending power in +the soul, no stirring spirit, no quickening aspiration after perfection, +no stretching forward after that holiness to which the beatific vision +is specifically promised. It is vain to expect that the practice will +rise higher than the principle which inspires it; that the habits will +be superior to the motives which govern them." + +"Selfishness, security, and sensuality," said the Doctor, "are predicted +by our Saviour, as the character of the last times. In alluding to the +antediluvian world, and the cause of its destruction, eating, drinking, +and marrying could not be named in the gospel as things censurable in +themselves, they being necessary to the very existence of that world +which the abuse of them was tending to destroy. Our Saviour does not +describe criminality by the excess, but by the spirit of the act. He +speaks of eating, not gluttony; of drinking, not intoxication; of +marriage, not licentious intercourse. This seems a plain intimation, +that carrying on the transactions of the world in the spirit of the +world, and that habitual deadness to the concerns of eternity, in beings +so alive to the pleasures or the interests of the present moment, do not +indicate a state of safety, even where gross acts of vice may be rare." + +Mr. Stanley said it was his opinion that it is not by a few, or even by +many, instances of excessive wickedness, that the moral state of a +country is to be judged, but by a general averseness and indifference to +_real_ religion. "A few examples of glaring impiety," said he, "may +furnish more subject for declamation, but are not near so deadly a +symptom. It is no new remark, that more men are undone by an excessive +indulgence in things permitted, than by the commission of avowed sins." + +"How happy," said Sir John, "are those who by their faith and piety are +delivered from these difficulties!" + +"My dear Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "where are those privileged +beings? It is one sad proof of human infirmity, that the best men have +continually these things to struggle with. What makes the difference is, +that those whom we call good men struggle on to the end, while the +others, not seeing the danger, do not struggle at all." + +"Christians," said Dr. Barlow, "who would strictly keep within the +bounds prescribed by their religion, should imitate the ancient Romans, +who carefully watched that their god Terminus, who defined their limits, +should never recede; the first step of his retreat, they said, would be +the destruction of their security." + +"But, Doctor," said Sir John, "pray what remedy do you recommend against +this natural, I had almost said this invincible, propensity to +over-value the world? I do not mean a propensity merely to over-rate its +pleasures and its honors, but a disposition to yield to its dominion +over the mind, to indulge a too earnest desire of standing well with it, +to cherish a too anxious regard for its good opinion?" + +"The knowledge of the disease," replied the worthy Doctor, "should +precede the application of the remedy. Human applause is, by a worldly +man, reckoned not only among the luxuries of life, but among articles of +the first necessity. An undue desire to obtain it has certainly its +foundation in vanity; and it is one of our grand errors to reckon vanity +a trivial fault. An over-estimation of character, and an anxious wish to +conciliate all suffrages, is an infirmity from which even worthy men are +not exempt; nay, it is a weakness from which, if they are not governed +by a strict religious principle, worthy men are in most danger. +Reputation being in itself so very desirable a good, those who actually +possess it, and in some sense deserve to possess it, are apt to make it +their standard, and to rest in it as their supreme aim and end." + +"You have," said Sir John, "exposed the latent principle; it remains +that you suggest its cure." + +"I believe," said Dr. Barlow, "that the most effectual remedy would be, +to excite in the mind frequent thoughts of our divine Redeemer, and of +_his_ estimate of that world on which we so fondly set our affections, +and whose approbation we are too apt to make the chief object of our +ambition." + +"I allow it to have been necessary," replied Sir John, "that Christ, in +the great end which he had to accomplish, should have been poor, and +neglected, and contemned, and that he should have trampled on the great +things of this world, human applause among the rest; but I do not +conceive that this obligation extends to his followers, nor that we are +called upon to partake the poverty which he preferred, or to renounce +the wealth and grandeur which he set at naught, or to imitate him in +making himself of no reputation." + +"It is true," said the Doctor, "we are not called to resemble him in his +external circumstances. It is not our bounden duty to be necessarily +exposed to the same contempt; nor are we obliged to embrace the same +ignominy. Yet it seems a natural consequence of our Christian +profession, that the things which he despised, we should not venerate; +the vanities he trampled on, we should not admire; the world which he +censured, we ought not to idolize; the ease which he renounced, we +should not rate too highly; the fame which he set at naught, we ought +not anxiously to covet. Surely, the followers of him who was 'despised +and rejected of men' should not seek their highest gratification from +the flattery and applause of men. The truth is, in all discourses on +this subject, we are compelled continually to revert to the observation, +that Christianity is a religion of the _heart_. And though we are not +called upon to partake the poverty and meanness of his situation, yet +the precept is clear and direct, respecting the temper by which we +should be governed: 'Let the same _mind_ be in you which was also in +Christ Jesus.' If, therefore, we happen to possess that wealth and +grandeur which he disdained, we should _possess them as though we +possessed them not_. We have a fair and liberal permission to use them +as his gift, and to his glory, but not to erect them into the supreme +objects of our attachment. In the same manner, in every other point, it +is still the spirit of the act, the temper of the mind, to which we are +to look. For instance, I do not think that I am obliged to show my faith +by sacrificing my son, nor my obedience by selling all that I have, to +give to the poor; but I think I am bound by the spirit of these two +powerful commands, to practice a cheerful acquiescence in the whole will +of God, in suffering and renouncing as well as in doing, when I know +what is really his will." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +The pleasant reflections excited by the interesting conversation of the +evening were cruelly interrupted by my faithful Edwards. "Sir," said he, +when he came to attend me, "do you know that all the talk of the Hall +to-night at supper was, that Miss Stanley is going to be married to +young Lord Staunton. He is a cousin of Mrs. Carlton's, and Mr. Stanley's +coachman brought home the news from thence yesterday. I could not get at +the very truth, because Mrs. Comfit was out of the way, but all the +servants agree, that though he is a lord, and rich and handsome, he is +not half good enough for her. Indeed, sir, they say he is no better than +he should be." + +I was thunderstruck at this intelligence. It was a trial I had not +suspected. "Does he visit here, then, Edwards," said I, "for I have +neither seen nor heard of him?" "No sir," said he, "but Miss meets him +at Mr. Carlton's." This shocked me beyond expression. Lucilla meet a man +at another house? Lucilla carry on a clandestine engagement? Can Mrs. +Carlton be capable of conniving at it? Yet if it were not clandestine, +why should he not visit at the Grove? + +These tormenting reflections kept me awake the whole night. To acquit +Lucilla, Edward's story made difficult; to condemn her my heart found +impossible. One moment I blamed my own foolish timidity, which had kept +me back from making any proposal, and the next, I was glad that the +delay would enable me to sift the truth, and to probe her character. "If +I do not find consistency here," said I, "I shall renounce all +confidence in human virtue." + +I arose early, and went to indulge my meditations in the garden. I saw +Mr. Stanley sitting under the favorite oak. I was instantly tempted to +go and open my heart to him, but seeing a book in his hand, I feared to +interrupt him, and was turning into another walk till I had acquired +more composure. He called after me, and invited me to sit down. + +How violent were my fluctuations! How inconsistent were my feelings? How +much at variance was my reason with my heart! The man on earth with whom +I wished to confer invited me to a conference. With a mind under the +dominion of a passion which I was eager to declare, yet agitated with an +uncertainty which I had as much reason to fear might be painfully as +pleasantly removed, I stood doubtful whether to seize or to decline the +occasion which thus presented itself to me. A moment's reflection +however convinced me that the opportunity was too inviting to be +neglected. My impatience for an eclaircissement on Lord Staunton's +subject was too powerful to be any longer resisted. + +At length with a most unfeigned diffidence, and a hesitation which I +feared would render my words unintelligible, I ventured to express my +tender admiration of Miss Stanley, and implored permission to address +her. + +My application did not seem to surprise him. He only gravely said, "We +will talk of this some future day." This cold and laconic reply +instantly sunk my spirits. I was shocked and visibly confused. "It is +too late," said I to myself; "happy Lord Staunton!" He saw my distress, +and taking my hand, with the utmost kindness of voice and manner said, +"My dear young friend, content yourself for the present with the +assurance of my entire esteem and affection. This is a very early +declaration. You are scarcely acquainted with Lucilla; you do not yet +know," added he smiling, "half her faults." + +"Only tell me, my dear sir," said I, a little re-assured and grasping +his hand, "that when you know all mine, you will not reject me. Only +tell me that you feel no repugnance; that you have no other views; that +Miss Stanley has no other"--here I stopped, my voice failed; the excess +of my emotion prevented me from finishing my sentence. He encouragingly +said, "I know not that Lucilla has any attachment. For myself, I have no +views hostile to your wishes. You have a double interest in my heart. +You are endeared to me by your personal merit, and by my tender +friendship for your beloved father. But be not impetuous. Form no sudden +resolution. Try to assure yourself of my daughter's affection before you +ask it of her. Remain here another month as my welcome guest, as the son +of my friend. Take that month to examine your own heart, and to endeavor +to obtain an interest in hers; we will then resume the subject." + +"But, my dear sir," said I, "is not Lord Staunton--" "Set your heart at +rest," said he. "Though we are both a little aristocratic in our +political principles, yet when the competition is for the happiness of +life, and the interests of virtue, both Lucilla and her father think +with Dumont, that + + "A lord + Opposed against a man, is but a man." + +So saying, he quitted me; but with a benignity in his countenance and +manner that infused not only consolation but joy into my heart. My +spirits were at once elated. To be allowed to think of Lucilla! To be +permitted to attach myself to her! To be sure her heart was not engaged! +To be invited to remain a month longer under the same roof with her; to +see her; to hear her; to talk to her; all this was a happiness so great +that I did not allow myself to repine because it was not all I had +wished to obtain. + +I met Mrs. Stanley soon after. I perceived by her illuminated +countenance, that my proposal had been already communicated to her. I +ventured to take her hand, and with the most respectful earnestness +intreated her friendship; her good offices. "I dare not trust myself +with you just now," said she with an affectionate smile; "Mr. Stanley +will think I abet rebellion, if through my encouragement you should +violate your engagements with him. But," added she, kindly pressing my +hand; "you need not be much afraid of _me_. Mr. Stanley's sentiments on +this point, as on all others, are exactly my own. We have but one heart +and one mind, and that heart and mind are not unfavorable to your +wishes." With a tear in her eyes and affection in her looks, she tore +herself away, evidently afraid of giving way to her feelings. + +I did not think myself bound by any point of honor to conceal the state +of my heart from Sir John Belfield, who with his lady joined me soon +after in the garden. I was astonished to find that my passion for Miss +Stanley was no secret to either of them. Their penetration had left me +nothing to disclose. Sir John however looked serious, and affected an +air of mystery which a little alarmed me. "I own," said he, "there is +some danger of your success." I eagerly inquired what he thought I had +to fear? "You have every thing to fear," replied he, in a tone of grave +irony, "which a man not four-and-twenty, of an honorable family, with a +clear estate of four thousand a year, a person that all the ladies +admire, a mind which all the men esteem, and a temper which endears you +to men, women, and children, can fear from a little country girl, whose +heart is as free as a bird, and who, if I may judge by her smiles and +blushes whenever you are talking to her, would have no mortal objection +to sing in the same cage with you." + +"It will be a sad dull novel, however," said Lady Belfield: "all is +likely to go on so smoothly that we shall flag for want of incident. No +difficulties, nor adventures to heighten the interest. No cruel +step-dame, no tyrant father, no capricious mistress, no moated castle, +no intriguing confidante, no treacherous spy, no formidable rival, not +so much as a duel or even a challenge, I fear, to give variety to the +monotonous scene." + +I mentioned Edwards's report respecting Lord Staunton, and owned how +much it had disturbed me. "That he admires her," said Lady Belfield, "is +notorious. That his addresses have not been encouraged, I have also +heard, but not from the family. As to Lucilla, she is the last girl that +would ever insinuate even to me, to whom she is so unreserved, that she +had rejected so great an offer. I have heard her express herself with an +indignation, foreign to her general mildness, against women who are +guilty of this fashionable, this dishonorable indelicacy." + +"Well, but Charles," said Sir John "you must positively assume a little +dejection, to diversify the business. It will give interest to your +countenance and pathos to your manner, and tenderness to your accent. +And you must forget all attentions, and neglect all civilities. And you +must appear absent, and _distrait_ and _reveur_; especially while your +fate hangs in some suspense. And you must read Petrarch, and repeat +Tibullus, and write sonnets. And when you are spoken to, you must not +listen. And you must wander in the grove by moonshine, and talk to the +Oreads, and the Dryads, and the Naiads; oh no, unfortunately, I am +afraid there are no Naiads within hearing. You must make the woods vocal +with the name of Lucilla; luckily 'tis such a poetical name that Echo +won't be ashamed to repeat it. I have gone through it all, Charles, and +know every highway and byway in the map of love. I will, however, be +serious for one moment, and tell you for your comfort, that though at +your age I was full as much in for it as you are now, yet after ten +years' union, Lady Belfield has enabled me to declare + + "How much the wife is dearer than the bride." + +A tear glistened in her soft eyes, at this tender compliment. + +Just at that moment, Lucilla happened to cross the lawn at a distance. +At sight of her, I could not, as I pointed to her, forbear exclaiming in +the words of Sir John's favorite poet, + + There doth beauty dwell, + There most conspicuous, e'en in outward shape, + Where dawns the high expression of a MIND. + +"This is very fine," said Sir John, sarcastically; "I admire all you +young enthusiastic philosophers, with your intellectual refinement. You +pretend to be captivated only with _mind_. I observe, however, that +previous to your raptures, you always take care to get this mind lodged +in a fair and youthful form. This mental beauty is always prudently +enshrined in some elegant corporeal frame, before it is worshiped. I +should be glad to see some of these intellectual adorers in love with +the mind of an old or ugly woman. I never heard any of you fall into +ecstasies in descanting on the mind of your grandmother." After some +further irony, they left me to indulge my meditations, in the nature of +which a single hour had made so pleasant a revolution. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +The conversation of two men bred at the same school or college, when +they happen to meet afterward, is commonly uninteresting, not to say +tiresome, to a third person, as involving local circumstances in which +he has no concern. But this was not always the case since the meeting of +my two friends. Something was generally to be gained by their +communications even on these unpromising topics. + +At breakfast Mr. Stanley said, "Sir John, you will see here at dinner +to-morrow our old college acquaintance, Ned Tyrrel. Though he does not +commonly live at the family house in this neighborhood, but at a little +place he has in Buckinghamshire, he comes among us periodically to +receive his rents. He always invites himself, for his society is not the +most engaging." + +"I heard," replied Sir John, "that he became a notorious profligate +after he left Cambridge, though I have lost sight of him ever since we +parted there. But I was glad to learn lately that he is become quite a +reformed man." + +"He is so far reformed," replied Mr. Stanley, "that he is no longer +grossly licentious. But in laying down the vices of youth, he has taken +up successively those which he thought better suited to the successive +stages of his progress. As he withdrew himself from his loose habits and +connections, ambition became his governing passion; he courted public +favor, thirsted for place and distinction, and labored by certain +obliquities, and some little sacrifices of principle, to obtain +promotion. Finding it did not answer, and all his hopes failing, he now +rails at ambition, wonders men will wound their consciences and renounce +their peace for vain applause and 'the bubble reputation.' His sole +delight at present, I hear, is in amassing money and reading +controversial divinity. Avarice has supplanted ambition, just as +ambition expelled profligacy. + +"In the interval in which he was passing from one of these stages to the +other, in a very uneasy state of mind he dropped in by accident where a +famous irregular preacher was disseminating his Antinomian doctrines. +Caught by his vehement but coarse eloquence, and captivated by an +alluring doctrine which promised much while it required little, he +adopted the soothing but fallacious tenet. It is true, I hear he is +become a more respectable man in his conduct, but I doubt, though I have +not lately seen him, if his present state may not be rather worse than +his former ones. + +"In the two previous stages, he was disturbed and dissatisfied. Here he +has taken up his rest. Out of this stronghold, it is not probable that +any subsequent vice will ever drive him, or true religion draw him. He +sometimes attends public worship, but as he thinks no part of it but the +sermon of much value, it is only when he likes the preacher. He has +little notion of the respect due to established institutions, and does +not heartily like any precomposed form of prayer, not even our +incomparable Liturgy. He reads such religious books only as tend to +establish his own opinions, and talks and disputes loudly on certain +doctrinal points. But an accumulating Christian, and a Christian who, +for the purpose of accumulation, is said to be uncharitable, and even +somewhat oppressive, is a paradox which I can not solve, and an anomaly +which I can not comprehend. Covetousness is, as I said, a more +creditable vice than Ned's former ones, but for that very reason more +dangerous." + +"From this sober vice," said I, "proceeded the blackest crime ever +perpetrated by human wickedness; for it does not appear that Judas, in +his direful treason, was instigated by malice. It is observable, that +when our Saviour names this sin, it is with an emphatical warning, as +knowing its mischief to be greater because its scandal was less. Not +contented with a single caution, he doubles his exhortation. '_Take heed +and beware_ of covetousness.'" + +After some remarks of Sir John, which I do not recollect, Mr. Stanley +said, "I did not intend making a philippic against covetousness, a sin +to which I believe no one here is addicted. Let us not, however, plume +ourselves in not being guilty of a vice to which, as we have no natural +bias so in not committing it, we resist no temptation. What I meant to +insist on was, that exchanging a turbulent for a quiet sin, or a +scandalous for an orderly one, is not reformation; or, if you will allow +me the strong word, is not conversion." + +Mr. Tyrrel, according to his appointment, came to dinner, and brought +with him his nephew, Mr. Edward Tyrrel, whom he had lately entered at +the university, with a design to prepare him for holy orders. He was a +well-disposed young man, but his previous education was said to have +been very much neglected, and was rather deficient in the necessary +learning. Mr. Stanley had heard that Tyrrel had two reasons for breeding +him to the church. In the first place, he fancied it was the cheapest +profession, and in the next he had labored to infuse into him some +particular opinions of his own, which he wished to disseminate through +his nephew. Sir George Aston having accidentally called, he was +prevailed on to stay, and Dr. Barlow was one of the party. + +Mr. Tyrrel, by his observations, soon enabled us to discover that his +religion had altered nothing but his language. He seemed evidently more +fond of controversy than of truth, and the whole turn of his +conversation indicated that he derived his religious security rather +from the adoption of a party, than from the implantation of a new +principle. "His discourse is altered," said Mr. Stanley to me +afterward, "but I greatly fear his heart and affections remain +unchanged." + +Mr. Stanley contrived, for the sake of his two academical guests, +particularly young Tyrrel, to divert the conversation to the subject of +learning, more especially clerical learning. + +In answer to a remark of mine on the satisfaction I had felt in seeing +such a happy union of learning and piety in two clergymen who had lately +dined at the Grove, Mr. Stanley said, "Literature is an excellent thing, +when it is not the best thing a man has. It can surely be no offense to +our Maker to cultivate carefully his highest natural gift, our reason. +In pious men it is peculiarly important, as the neglect of such +cultivation, in certain individuals, has led to much error in religion, +and given much just offense to the irreligious, who are very +sharp-sighted to the faults of pious characters. I therefore truly +rejoice to see a higher tone of literature now prevailing, especially in +so many of our pious young divines; the deficiency of learning in some +of their well-meaning predecessors having served to bring not only +themselves, but religion also, into contempt, especially with men who +have only learning." + +"I say nothing," remarked Mr. Tyrrel, "against the necessity of learning +in a lawyer, because it may help him to lead a judge, and to mislead a +jury; nor in a physician, because it may advance his credit by enabling +him to conceal the deficiencies of his art; nor in a private gentleman, +because it may keep him out of worse mischief. But I see no use of +learning in the clergy. There is my friend Dr. Barlow. I would willingly +give up all his learning, if he would go a little deeper into the +doctrines he professes to preach." + +"Indeed," said Mr. Stanley, "I should think Dr. Barlow's various +knowledge of little value, did he exhibit the smallest deficiency in the +great points to which you allude. But when I am persuaded that his +learning is so far from detracting from his piety that it enables him +to render it more extensively useful, I can not wish him dispossessed of +that knowledge which adorns his religion without diminishing its good +effects." + +"You will allow," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that those first great publishers of +Christianity, the Apostles, had none of this vain learning." + +"I admit," said Mr. Stanley, "that it is frequently pleaded by the +despisers of learning, that the Apostles were illiterate. The fact is +too notorious, and the answer too obvious to require to be dwelt upon. +But it is unfortunately adduced to illustrate a position to which it can +never apply, the vindication of an unlettered clergy. It is a hackneyed +remark, but not the less true for being old, that the wisdom of God +chose to accomplish the first promulgation of the gospel by illiterate +men, to prove that the work was his own, and that its success depended +not on the instruments employed, but on the divinity of the truth +itself. But if the Almighty chose to establish his religion by miracles, +he chooses to carry it on by means. And he no more sends an ignorant +peasant or fisherman to instruct men in Christianity now, than he +appointed a Socrates or a Plato to be its publisher at first. As, +however, there is a great difference in the situations, so there may be +a proportionate difference allowed in the attainments of the clergy. I +do not say it is necessary for every village curate to be a profound +scholar, but as he may not always remain in obscurity, there is no +necessity for his being a contemptible one." + +Sir John remarked, that what has been said of those who affect to +despise birth, has been applied also to those who decry learning; +neither is ever undervalued except by men who are destitute of them; and +it is worthy of observation, that as literature and religion both sunk +in the dark ages, so both emerged at the same auspicious era. + +Mr. Stanley finding that Dr. Barlow was not forward to embark in a +subject which he considered as rather personal, said, "It is +presumptuous to observe, that the Apostles were unlettered men, yet +those instruments who were to be employed in services singularly +difficult, the Almighty condescended partly to fit for their peculiar +work by great human attainments. The Apostle of the Gentiles was brought +up at the feet of Gamaliel; and Moses, who was destined to the high +office of a great legislator, was instructed in all the wisdom of the +most learned nation then existing. The Jewish law-giver, though under +the guidance of inspiration itself, did not fill his station the worse +for this preparatory instruction. To how important a use the Apostle +converted _his_ erudition, we may infer from his conduct in the most +learned and polished assembly in the world. He did not unnecessarily +exasperate the polite Athenians, by coarse upbraiding, or illiterate +clamor, but he attacked them on their own ground. With what +discriminating wisdom, with what powerful reasoning did he unfold to +them that God whom they ignorantly worshiped! With what temper, with +what elegance, did he expose their shallow theology! Had he been as +unacquainted with _their_ religion, as they were with _his_, he had +wanted the appropriate ground on which to build his instruction. He +seized on the inscription of their own pagan altar, as a text from which +to preach the doctrine of Christianity. From his knowledge of their +errors, he was enabled to advance the cause of truth. He made their +poetry, which he quoted, and their mythology which he would not have +been able to explode, if he had not understood it, a thesis from which +to deduce the doctrine of the Resurrection; thus softening their +prejudices, and letting them see the infinite superiority of that +Christianity which he enforced, to the mere learning and mental +cultivation on which they so highly valued themselves. By the same +sober discretion, acute reasoning, and graceful elegance, he afterward +obtained a patient hearing, and a favorable judgment from King Agrippa." + +"It has always appeared to me," returned Dr. Barlow, "that a strong +reason why the younger part of a clergyman's life should be in a good +measure devoted to learning is, that he may afterward discover its +comparative vanity. It would have been a less difficult sacrifice for +St. Paul to profess that he renounced all things for religion, if he had +had nothing to renounce; and to count all things as dross in the +comparison, if he had had no gold to put in the empty scale. Gregory +Nazianzen, one of the most accomplished masters of Greek literature, +declared that the chief value which he set upon it was, that in +possessing it, he had something of worth to esteem as nothing in +comparison of Christian truth. And it is delightful to hear Selden and +Grotius, and Pascal and Salmasius, whom I may be allowed to quote, +without being suspected of professional prejudice, as none of them were +clergymen, while they warmly recommended to others that learning of +which they themselves were the most astonishing examples, at the same +time dedicating their lives to the advancement of religion. It is +delightful, I say, to hear them acknowledge that their learning was only +valuable as it put it in their power to promote Christianity, and to +have something to sacrifice for its sake." + +"I can willingly allow," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that a poet, a dramatic poet +especially, may study the works of the great critics of antiquity with +some profit; but that a Christian writer of sermons can have any just +ground for studying a pagan critic, it is to me quite inconceivable." + +"And yet, sir," replied Mr. Stanley, "a sermon is a work which demands +regularity of plan, as well as a poem. It requires, too, something of +the same unity, arrangement, divisions, and lucid order as a tragedy; +something of the exordium and the peroration which belong to the +composition of the orator. I do not mean that he is constantly to +exhibit all this, but he should always understand it. And a discreet +clergyman, especially one who is to preach before auditors of the higher +rank, and who, in order to obtain respect from them, wishes to excel in +the art of composition, will scarcely be less attentive to form his +judgment by some acquaintance with Longinus and Quintilian than a +dramatic poet. A writer of verse, it is true, may please to a certain +degree by the force of mere genius, and a writer of sermons will +instruct by the mere power of his piety; but neither the one nor the +other will ever write well, if they do not possess the principles of +good writing, and form themselves on the models of good writers." + +"Writing," said Sir John, "to a certain degree is an art, or, if you +please, a trade. And as no man is allowed to set up in an ordinary trade +till he has served a long apprenticeship to its _mysteries_ (the word, I +think, used in indentures), so no man should set up for a writer till he +knows somewhat of the mysteries of the art he is about to practice. He +may, after all, if he want talents, produce a vapid and inefficient +book; but possess what talents he may, he will, without knowledge, +produce a crude and indigested one." + +Mr. Tyrrel, however, still insisted upon it, that in a Christian +minister the lustre of learning is tinsel, and human wisdom folly. + +"I am entirely of your opinion," returned Mr. Stanley, "if he rest in +his learning as an _end_ instead of using it as a _means_; if the fame, +or the pleasure, or even the human profit of learning be his ultimate +object. Learning in a clergyman without religion is dross, is nothing; +not so religion without learning. I am persuaded that much good is done +by men who, though deficient in this respect, are abundant in zeal and +piety; but the good they do arises from the exertion of their piety, and +not from the deficiency of their learning. Their labors are beneficial +from the talent they exercise, and not from their want of another +talent. The Spirit of God can work, and often does work, by feeble +instruments, and divine truth by its own omnipotent energy can effect +its own purposes. But particular instances do not go to prove that the +instrument ought not to be fitted, and polished, and sharpened for its +allotted work. Every student should be emulously watchful that he do not +diminish the stock of professional credit by his idleness; he should be +stimulated to individual exertion by bearing in mind that the English +clergy have always been allowed by foreigners to be the most learned +body in the world." + +Dr. Barlow was of opinion that what Mr. Stanley had said of the value of +knowledge, did not at all militate against such fundamental prime truths +as--"This is life eternal to _know_ God and Jesus Christ whom he has +sent. I desire to _know_ nothing, save Jesus Christ. The natural man can +not _know_ the things of the Spirit of God. The world by wisdom _knew_ +not God;" and a hundred other such passages. + +"Ay, Doctor," said Mr. Tyrrel, "now you talk a little more like a +Christian minister. But from the greater part of what has been asserted, +you are all of you such advocates for human reason and human learning as +to give an air of paganism to your sentiments." + +"Surely," said Mr. Stanley, "it does not diminish the utility, though it +abases the pride of learning, that Christianity did not come into the +world by human discovery, or the disquisitions of reason, but by +immediate revelation. Those who adopt your way of thinking, Mr. Tyrrel, +should bear in mind that the work of God, in changing the heart, is not +intended to supply the place of the human faculties. God expects, in +his most highly favored servants, the diligent exercise of their natural +powers; and if any human being has a stronger call for the exercise of +wisdom and judgment than another, it is a religious clergyman. +Christianity does not supersede the use of natural gifts, but turns them +into their proper channel. + +"One distinction has often struck me. The enemy of mankind seizes on the +soul through the medium of the passions and senses: the divine friend of +man addresses him through his rational powers--_the eyes of your +understanding being enlightened_, says the Apostle." + +Here I ventured to observe, that the highest panegyric bestowed on one +of the brightest luminaries of our church is, that his name is seldom +mentioned without the epithet _judicious_ being prefixed to it. Yet does +Hooker want fervor? Does Hooker want zeal? Does Hooker want courage in +declaring the whole counsel of God? + +"I hope," said Sir John, "we have now no clergymen to whom we may apply +the biting sarcasm of Dr. South on some of the popular but illiterate +preachers of the opposite party in his day, 'that there was all the +confusion of Babel without the gift of tongues.'" + +"And yet," returned Mr. Stanley, "that party produced some great +scholars, and many eminently pious men. But look back to that day, and +especially to the period a little antecedent to it, at those prodigies +of erudition, the old bishops and other divines of our church. They +were, perhaps, somewhat too profuse of their learning in their +discourses, or rather they were so brimful, that they involuntarily +overflowed. A juster taste, in our time, avoids that lavish display +which then not only crowded the margin, but forced itself into every +part of the body of the work. The display of erudition might be wrong, +but one thing is clear, it proved they had it; and, as Dryden said, when +he accused of having too much wit, 'after all, it is a good crime.'" + +"We may justly," said Dr. Barlow, "in the refinement of modern taste, +censure their prolixity, and ridicule their redundancies; we may smile +at their divisions, which are numberless, and at their subdivisions, +which are endless; we may allow that this labor for perspicuity +sometimes produced perplexity. But let us confess they always went to +the bottom of whatever they embarked in. They ransacked the stores of +ancient learning, and the treasures of modern science, not to indulge +their vanity by obtruding their acquirements, but to prove, to adorn, +and to illustrate the doctrine they delivered. How incredible must their +industry have been, when the bare transcript of their voluminous folios +seems alone sufficient to have occupied a long life?" + +"The method," said I, "which they adopted, of saying every thing that +could be said on all topics, and exhausting them to the very dregs, +though it may and does tire the patience of the reader, yet it never +leaves him ignorant; and of two evils, had not an author better be +tedious than superficial? From an overflowing vessel you may gather more +indeed than you want, but from an empty one you can gather nothing." + +"It appears to me," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that you wish to make a clergyman +every thing but a Christian, and to bestow upon him every requisite +except faith." + +"God forbid that I should make any comparison between human learning and +Christian principle," replied Mr. Stanley; "the one is indeed lighter +than the dust of the balance, when weighed against the other. All I +contend for is, that they are not incompatible, and that human +knowledge, used only in subserviency to that of the Scriptures, may +advance the interests of religion. For the better elucidation of those +Scriptures, a clergyman should know not a little of ancient languages. +Without some insight into remote history and antiquities, especially the +Jewish, he will be unable to explain many of the manners and customs +recorded in the sacred volume. Ignorance on some of these points has +drawn many attacks on our religion from skeptical writers. As to a +thorough knowledge of ecclesiastical history, it would be superfluous to +recommend that, it being the history of his own immediate profession. It +is therefore requisite, not only for the general purposes of +instruction, but that he may be enabled to guard against modern +innovation, by knowing the origin and progress of the various heresies +with which the Church in all ages has been infested." + +"But," said Mr. Tyrrel, "he may be thoroughly acquainted with all this, +and not have one spark of light." + +"He may indeed," said the Doctor; "with deep concern I allow it. I will +go further. The pride of learning, when not subdued by religion, may +help to extinguish that spark. Reason has been too much decried by one +party and too much deified by the other. The difference between reason +and revelation seems to be the same as between the eye and the light; +the one is the organ of vision, the other the source of illumination." + +"Take notice, Stanley," observed Mr. Tyrrel, "that if I can help it, +I'll never attend your accomplished clergyman." + +"I have not yet completed the circle of his accomplishments," said Mr. +Stanley, smiling; "besides what we call book learning, there is another +species of knowledge in which some truly good men are sadly deficient: I +mean an acquaintance with human nature. The knowledge of the world, and +of him who made it; the study of the heart of man, and of him who has +the hearts of all men in his hand, enable a minister to excel in the +art of instruction; one kind of knowledge reflecting light upon the +other. The knowledge of mankind, then, I may venture to assert, is, next +to religion, one of the first requisites of a preacher; and I can not +help ascribing the little success which has sometimes attended the +ministry of even worthy men, to their want of this grand ingredient. It +will diminish the use they might make of the great doctrines of our +religion, if they are ignorant of the various modifications of the human +character to which those doctrines are to be addressed. + +"As no man ever made a true poet without this talent, one may venture to +say that few without it have ever made eminent preachers. Destitute of +this, the most elaborate addresses will be only random shot, which, if +they hit, will be more owing to chance than to skill. Without this +knowledge, warmed by Christian affection, guided by Christian judgment, +and tempered with Christian meekness, a clergyman will not be able in +the pulpit to accommodate himself to the various wants of his hearers; +without this knowledge, in his private spiritual visits he will resemble +those empirics in medicine who have but one method of treatment for all +diseases, and who apply indiscriminately the same pill and the same drop +to the various distempers of all ages, sexes, and constitutions. This +spirit of accommodation does not consist in falsifying, or abridging, or +softening, or disguising any truth; but in applying truth in every form, +communicating it in every direction, and diverting it into every +channel. Some good men seem sadly to forget that precept--_making a +difference_--for they act as if all characters were exactly alike." + +"You talk," said Mr. Tyrrel, "as if you would wish clergymen to depart +from the singleness of truth, and preach two gospels." + +"Far from it," replied Mr. Stanley, "but though truth is single, the +human character is multiplied almost to infinity, and can not be +addressed with advantage if it be not well understood. I am ashamed of +having said so much on such a subject in presence of Dr. Barlow, who is +silent through delicacy. I will only add, that a learned young clergyman +is not driven for necessary relaxation to improper amusements. His mind +will be too highly set to be satisfied with those light diversions which +purloin time without affording the necessary renovation to the body and +spirits, which is the true and lawful end of all amusement. In all +circumstances, learning confers dignity on his character. It enables him +to raise the tone of general conversation, and is a safe kind of medium +with persons of a higher class who are not religious; and it will always +put it in his power to keep the standard of intercourse above the +degrading topics of diversions, sports, and vulgar gossip." + +"You see, Mr. Tyrrel," said the Doctor, "that a prudent combatant thinks +only of defending himself on that side where he is assaulted. If Mr. +Stanley's antagonist had been a vehement advocate for clerical learning +as the great essential to his profession, he would have been the first +to caution him against the pride and inflation which often attend +learning, when not governed by religion. Learning, not so governed, +might injure Christian humility, and thus become a far more formidable +enemy to religion than that which it was called in to oppose." + +Sir John said, smiling, "I will not apply to the clergy what Rasselas +says to Imlac, after he had been enumerating the numberless qualities +necessary to the perfection of the poetic art--'Thou hast convinced me +that no man can be a poet;'--but if all Stanley says be just, I will +venture to assert that no common share of industry and zeal will qualify +a young student for that sacred profession. I have indeed no experience +on the subject, as it relates to the clerical order, but I conceive in +general, that learning is the best human preservative of virtue; that it +safely fills up leisure, and honorably adorns life, even where it does +not form the business of it." + +"Learning, too," said I, "has this strong recommendation, that it is the +offspring of a most valuable virtue, I mean industry; a quality on which +I am ashamed to see pagans frequently set a higher value than we seem to +do." + +"I believe, indeed," replied Sir John, "that the ancients had a higher +idea of industry and severe application than we have. Tully calls them +the _imperatoriae virtutes_, and Alexander said that slaves might indulge +in sloth, but that it was a most royal thing to labor." + +"It has been the error of sensible men of the world to erect talents and +learning into idols, which they would have universally and exclusively +worshiped. This has, perhaps, driven some religious men into such a fear +of over-cultivating learning, that they do not cultivate it at all. +Hence the intervals between their religious employments, and intervals +there must be while we are invested with these frail bodies, are languid +and insipid, wasted in trifling and sauntering. Nay, it is well if this +disoccupation of the intellect do not lead from sloth to improper +indulgences." + +"You are perfectly right," said Sir John; "our worthy friend Thompson is +a living illustration of your remark. He was at college with us; he +brought from thence a competent share of knowledge; has a fair +understanding, and the manners of a gentleman. For several years past he +has not only adopted a religious character, but is truly pious. As he is +much in earnest, he very properly assigns a considerable portion of his +time to religious reading. But as he is of no profession, the +intermediate hours often hang heavy on his hands. He continues to live +in some measure in the world, without the inconsistency of entering into +its pursuits; but having renounced the study of human learning, and yet +accustoming himself to mix occasionally with general society, he has few +subjects in common with his company, but is dull and silent in all +rational conversation, of which religion is not the professed object. He +takes so little interest in any literary or political discussion, +however useful, that it is evident nothing but his good breeding +prevents his falling asleep. At the same time, he scruples not to +violate consistency in another respect, for his table is so elaborately +luxurious, that it seems as if he were willing to add to the pleasures +of sense what he deducts from those of intellect." + +"I have often thought," said Mr. Stanley, "of sending him Dr. Barlow's +_three sermons on industry in our calling as Christians, industry as +gentlemen, and industry as scholars_; which sermons, by the way, I +intended to have made my son read at least once a year, had he lived, +that he might see the consistency, the compatibility, nay, the analogy +of the two latter with the former. I wish the spirit of these three +discourses was infused into every gentleman, every scholar, and every +Christian through the land. For my own part, I should have sedulously +labored to make my son a sound scholar; while I should have labored +still more sedulously to convince him that the value of learning depends +solely on the purposes to which it is devoted. I would have a Christian +gentleman able to beat the world at its own weapons, and convince it, +that it is not from penury of mind, or inability to distinguish himself +in other matters, that he applies himself to seek that wisdom which is +from above; that he does not fly to religion as a shelter from the +ignominy of ignorance, but from a deep conviction of the comparative +vanity of that very learning which he yet is so assiduous to acquire." + +During this conversation, it was amusing to observe the different +impressions made on the minds of our two college guests. Young Tyrrel, +who, with moderate parts and slender application, had been taught to +adopt some of his uncle's dogmas as the cheapest way of being wise, +greedily swallowed his eulogium of clerical ignorance, which the young +man seemed to feel as a vindication of his own neglected studies, and an +encouragement to his own mediocrity of intellect. While the interesting +young baronet, though silent through modesty, discovered in his +intelligent eyes evident marks of satisfaction in hearing that +literature, for which he was every day acquiring a higher relish, warmly +recommended as the best pursuit of a gentleman, by the two men in the +world for whose judgment he entertained the highest reverence. At the +same time it raised his veneration for Christian piety, when he saw it +so sedulously practiced by these advocates for human learning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +During these conversations I remarked that Lucilla, though she commonly +observed the most profound silence, had her attention always riveted on +the speaker. If that speaker was Dr. Barlow, or her father, or any one +whom she thought entitled to particular respect, she gently laid down +her work, and as quietly resumed it when they had done speaking. + +I observed to Sir John Belfield, afterward, as we were walking together, +how modestly flattering her manner was when any of us were reading; how +intelligent her silence; how well-bred her attention. + +"I have often contrasted it," replied he, "with the manners of some +other ladies of my acquaintance, who are sometimes of our quiet evening +party. When one is reading history, or any ordinary book, aloud to them, +I am always pleased that they should pursue their little employments. It +amuses themselves, and gives ease and familiarity to the social circle. +But while I have been reading, as has sometimes happened, a passage of +the highest sublimity, or most tender interest, I own I feel a little +indignant to see the shuttle plied with as eager assiduity as if the +Destinies themselves were weaving the thread. I have known a lady take +up the candlestick to search for her netting-pin, in the midst of Cato's +soliloquy; or stoop to pick up her scissors while Hamlet says to the +ghost, 'I'll go no further.' I remember another who would whisper across +the table to borrow thread while Lear has been raving in the storm, or +Macbeth starting at the spirit of Banquo; and make signs for a +thread-paper while cardinal Beaufort 'dies, and makes no sign.' Nay, +once I remember when I was with much agitation hurrying through the +gazette of the battle of Trafalgar, while I pronounced, almost agonized, +the last memorable words of the immortal Nelson, I heard one lady +whisper to another that she had broken her needle." + +"It would be difficult to determine," replied I, "whether this +inattention most betrays want of sense, of feeling, or of good breeding. +The habit of attention should be carefully formed in early life, and +then the mere force of custom would teach these ill-bred women 'to +assume the virtue if they have it not.'" + +The family at the Grove was, with us, an inexhaustible topic whenever we +met. I observed to Sir John, "that I had sometimes noticed in charitable +families a display, a bustle, a kind of animal restlessness, a sort of +mechanical _besoin_ to be charitably busy. That though they fulfilled +conscientiously one part of the apostolic injunction, that of 'giving,' +yet they failed in the other clause, that of doing it 'with simplicity.'" + +"Yes," replied he, "I visit a charitable lady in town, who almost puts +me out of love with benevolence. Her own bounties form the entire +subject of her conversation. As soon as the breakfast is removed, the +table is regularly covered with plans, and proposals, and subscription +papers. This display conveniently performs the threefold office of +publishing her own charities, furnishing subjects of altercation, and +raising contributions on the visitor. Her narratives really cost me more +than my subscription. She is so full of debate, and detail, and +opposition; she makes you read so many papers of her own drawing up, and +so many answers to the schemes of other people, and she has so many +objections to every other person's mode of doing good, and so many +arguments to prove that her own is the best, that she appears less like +a benevolent lady than a chicaning attorney." + +"Nothing," said I, "corrects this bustling bounty so completely, as when +it is mixed up with religion, I should rather say, as when it flows from +religion. This motive, so far from diminishing the energy, augments it; +but it cures the display, and converts the irritation into a principle. +It transfers the activity from the tongue to the heart. It is the only +sort of charity which 'blesses twice.' All charity, indeed, blesses the +receiver; but the blessing promised to the giver, I have sometimes +trembled to think, may be forfeited even by a generous mind, from +ostentation and parade in the manner, and want of purity in the motive." + +"In Stanley's family," replied he, in a more serious tone, "I have met +with a complete refutation of that favorite maxim in the world, that +religion is a dull thing itself, and makes its professors gloomy and +morose. Charles! I have often frequented houses where pleasure was the +avowed object of idolatry. But to see the votaries of the 'reeling +goddess,' after successive nights passed in her temples! to see the +languor, the listlessness, the discontent--you would rather have taken +them for her victims than her worshipers. So little mental vivacity, so +little gayety of heart! In short, after no careless observations, I am +compelled to declare, that I never saw two forms less alike than those +of Pleasure and Happiness." + +"Your testimony, Sir John," said I, "is of great weight in a case of +which you are so experienced a judge. What a different scene do we now +contemplate! Mr. Stanley seems to have diffused his own spirit through +the whole family. What makes his example of such efficacy is, that he +considers the Christian _temper_ as so considerable a part of +Christianity. This temper seems to imbue his whole soul, pervade his +whole conduct, and influence his whole conversation. I see every day +some fresh occasion to admire his candor, his humility, his constant +reference, not as a topic of discourse, but as a principle of conduct, +to the gospel as the standard by which actions are to be weighed. His +conscientious strictness of speech, his serious reproof of calumnies, +his charitable construction of every case which has two sides; 'his +simplicity and godly sincerity;' his rule of referring all events to +providential direction, and his invariable habit of vindicating the +divine goodness under dispensations apparently the most unfavorable." + +Here Sir John left me, and I could not forbear pursuing the subject in +soliloquy as I proceeded in my walk. I reflected with admiration that +Mr. Stanley, in his religious conversation, rendered himself so useful, +because instead of the uniform nostrum of _the drop and the pill_, he +applied a different class of arguments, as the case required, to +objectors to the different parts of Christianity; to ill informed +persons who adopted a partial gospel without understanding it as a +scheme, or embracing it as a whole; to those who allow its truth merely +on the same ground of evidence that establishes the truth of any other +well authenticated history, and who, satisfied with this external +evidence, not only do not feel its power on their own heart, but deny +that it has any such influence on the hearts of others; to those who +believe the gospel to be a mere code of ethics; to their antipodes, who +assert that Christ has lowered the requisitions of the law; to Lady +Belfield, who rests on her charities--Sir John, on his correctness--Lady +Aston, on her austerities; to this man, who values himself solely on the +stoutness of his orthodoxy; to another, on the firmness of his +integrity; to a third, on the peculiarities of his party, he addresses +himself with a particular view to their individual errors. This he does +with such a discriminating application to the case as might lead the +ill-informed to suspect that he was not equally earnest in those other +points, which, not being attacked, he does not feel himself called on to +defend, but which, had they been attacked, he would then have defended +with equal zeal as relative to the discussion. To crown all, I +contemplated that affectionate warmth of heart, that sympathizing +kindness, that tenderness of feeling, of which the gay and the +thoughtless fancy that they themselves possess the monopoly, while they +make over harshness, austerity, and want of charity to religious men, as +their inseparable characteristics. + +These qualities excite in my heart a feeling compounded of veneration, +and of love. And oh! how impossible it is, even in religion itself, to +be disinterested! All these excellences I contemplate with a more +heartfelt delight from the presumptuous hope that I may one day have the +felicity of connecting myself still more intimately with them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Some days after, while we were conversing over our tea, we heard the +noise of a carriage; and Mr. Stanley, looking out from a bow window in +which he and I were sitting, said it was Lady and Miss Rattle driving up +the avenue. He had just time to add, "These are our _fine_ neighbors. +They always make us a visit as soon as they come down, while all the +gloss and lustre of London is fresh upon them. We have always our +regular routine of conversation. While her Ladyship is pouring the +fashions into Mrs. Stanley's ear, Miss Rattle, who is about Ph[oe]be's +age, entertains my daughters and me with the history of her own talents +and acquirements." + +Here they entered. After a few compliments, Lady Rattle seated herself +between Lady Belfield and Mrs. Stanley at the upper end of the room; +while the fine, sprightly, boisterous girl of fifteen or sixteen threw +herself back on the sofa at nearly her full length between Mr. Stanley +and me, the Miss Stanleys and Sir John sitting near us, within hearing +of her lively loquacity. + +"Well, Miss Amelia," said Mr. Stanley, "I dare say you have made good +use of your time this winter; I suppose you have ere now completed the +whole circle of the arts. Now let me hear what you have been doing, and +tell me your whole achievements as frankly as you used to do when you +were a little girl." "Indeed," replied she, "I have not been idle, if I +must speak the truth. One has so many things to learn, you know. I have +gone on with my French and Italian of course, and I am beginning German. +Then comes my drawing-master; he teaches me to paint flowers and shells, +and to draw ruins and buildings, and to take views. He is a good soul, +and is finishing a set of pictures, and half a dozen fire-screens, which +I began for mamma. He _does_ help me to be sure, but indeed I do some of +it myself, don't I, mamma?" calling out to her mother, who was too much +absorbed in her own narratives to attend to her daughter. + +"And then," pursued the young prattler, "I learn varnishing, and +gilding, and japaning. And next winter I shall learn modeling, and +etching, and engraving in mezzotinto and aquatinta; for Lady Di. Dash +learns etching, and mamma says, as I shall have a better fortune than +Lady Di., she vows I shall learn every thing she does. Then I have a +dancing-master, who teaches me the Scotch and Irish steps; and another +who teaches me attitudes, and I shall soon learn the waltz, and I can +stand longer on one leg already than Lady Di. Then I have a +singing-master, and another who teaches me the harp, and another for the +piano-forte. And what little time I can spare from these _principal_ +things, I give by odd minutes to ancient and modern history, and +geography, and astronomy, and grammar, and botany. Then I attend +lectures on chemistry, and experimental philosophy, for as I am not yet +come out, I have not much to do in the evenings; and mamma says there is +nothing in the world that money can pay for but what I shall learn. And +I run so delightfully fast from one thing to another that I am never +tired. What makes it so pleasant is, as soon as I am fairly set in with +one master, another arrives. I should hate to be long at the same thing. +But I sha'n't have a great while to work so hard, for as soon as I come +out, I shall give it all up, except music and dancing." + +All this time Lucilla sat listening with a smile, behind the complacency +of which she tried to conceal her astonishment. Ph[oe]be, who had less +self-control, was on the very verge of a broad laugh. Sir John, who had +long lived in a soil where this species is indigenous, had been too long +accustomed to all its varieties to feel much astonishment at this +specimen, which, however, he sat contemplating with philosophical but +discriminating coolness. + +For my own part, my mind was wholly absorbed in contrasting the coarse +manners of this voluble and intrepid, but good-humored girl, with the +quiet, cheerful, and unassuming elegance of Lucilla. + +"I should be afraid, Miss Rattle," said Mr. Stanley, "if you did not +look in such blooming health, that, with all these incessant labors, you +did not allow yourself time for rest. Surely you never sleep?" + +"O yes, that I do, and eat too," said she; "my life is not quite so hard +and moping as you fancy. What between shopping and morning visits with +mamma, and seeing sights, and the park, and the gardens (which, by the +way, I hate, except on a Sunday when they are crowded), and our young +balls, which are four or five in a week after Easter, and mamma's music +parties at home, I contrive to enjoy myself tolerably, though after I +have been presented, I shall be a thousand times better off, for then I +sha'n't have a moment to myself. Won't that be delightful?" said she, +twitching my arm rather roughly, by way of recalling my attention, +which, however, had seldom wandered. + +As she had now run out her London materials, the news of the +neighborhood next furnished a subject for her volubility. After she had +mentioned in detail one or two stories of low village gossip, while I +was wondering how she could come at them, she struck me dumb by quoting +the coachman as her authority. This enigma was soon explained. The +mother and daughter having exhausted their different topics of discourse +nearly at the same time, they took their leave, in order to enrich +every family in the neighborhood, on whom they were going to call, with +the same valuable knowledge which they had imparted to us. + +Mr. Stanley conducted Lady Rattle, and I led her daughter; but as I +offered to hand her into the carriage she started back with a sprightly +motion, and screamed out, "O no, not in the inside, pray help me up to +the _dickey_; I always protest I never _will_ ride with any body but the +coachman, if we go ever so far." So saying, with a spring which showed +how much she despised my assistance, the little hoyden was seated in a +moment, nodding familiarly at me as if I had been an old friend. + +Then with a voice, emulating that which, when passing by Charing Cross, +I have heard issue from an over-stuffed vehicle, when a robust sailor +has thrust his body out at the window, the fair creature vociferated, +"Drive on, coachman!" He obeyed, and turning round her whole person, she +continued nodding at me till they were out of sight. + +"Here is a mass of accomplishments," said I, "without one particle of +mind, one ray of common sense, or one shade of delicacy! Surely somewhat +less time and less money might have sufficed to qualify a companion for +the coachman!" + +"What poor creatures are we men," said I to Mr. Stanley as soon as he +came in. "We think it very well, if, after much labor and long +application, we can attain to one or two of the innumerable acquirements +of this gay little girl. Nor is this I find the rare achievement of one +happy genius--there is a whole class of these miraculous females. Miss +Rattle + + "Is knight of the shire, and represents them all." + +"It is only young ladies," replied he, "whose vast abilities, whose +mighty grasp of mind can take in every thing. Among men, learned men, +talents are commonly directed into some one channel, and fortunate is he +who, in that one, attains to excellence. The linguist is rarely a +painter, nor is the mathematician often a poet. Even in one profession, +there are divisions and subdivisions. The same lawyer never thinks of +presiding both in the King's Bench, and in the Court of Chancery. The +science of healing is not only divided into its three distinct branches, +but in the profession of surgery only, how many are the subdivisions! +One professor undertakes the eye, another the ear, and a third the +teeth. But woman, ambitious, aspiring, universal, triumphant, glorious +woman, even at the age of a school-boy, encounters the whole range of +arts, attacks the whole circle of sciences!" + +"A mighty maze, and _quite_ without a plan," replied Sir John, laughing. +"But the truth is, the misfortune does not so much consist in their +learning every thing, as in their knowing nothing; I mean nothing well. +When gold is beaten out so wide, the lamina must needs be very thin. And +you may observe, the more valuable attainments, though they are not to +be left out of the modish plan, are kept in the background; and are to +be picked up out of the odd remnants of that time, the sum of which is +devoted to frivolous accomplishments. All this gay confusion of +acquirements, these holiday splendors, this superfluity of enterprise, +enumerated in the first part of her catalogue, is the _real business_ of +education, the latter part is incidental, and if taught is not learned. + +"As to the lectures so boastfully mentioned, they may doubtless be made +very useful subsidiaries to instruction. They most happily illustrate +book-knowledge; but if the pupil's instructions in private do not +precede, and keep pace with these useful public exhibitions, her +knowledge will be only presumptuous ignorance. She may learn to talk of +oxygen and hydrogen, and deflagration, and trituration but she will know +nothing of the science except the terms. It is not knowing the name of +his tools that makes an artist; and I should be afraid of the vanity +which such superficial information would communicate to a mind not +previously prepared, nor exercised at home in corresponding studies. But +as Miss Rattle honestly confessed, as soon as she _comes out_, all these +things will die away of themselves, and dancing and music will be almost +all which will survive of her multifarious pursuits." + +"I look upon the great predominance of music in female education," said +Mr. Stanley, "to be the source of more mischief than is suspected; not +from any evil in the thing itself, but from its being such a gulf of +time, as really to leave little room for solid acquisitions. I love +music, and, were it only cultivated as an amusement, should commend it. +But the monstrous proportion, or rather disproportion of life which it +swallows up, even in many religious families--and this is the chief +subject of my regret--has converted an innocent diversion into a +positive sin. I question if many gay men devote more hours in a day to +idle purposes, than the daughters of many pious parents spend in this +amusement. All these hours the mind lies fallow, improvement is at a +stand, if even it does not retrograde. Nor is it the shreds and scraps +of time, stolen in the intervals of better things, that are so devoted; +but it is the morning, the prime, the profitable, the active hours, when +the mind is vigorous, the spirits light, the intellect awake and fresh, +and the whole being wound up by the refreshment of sleep, and animated +by the return of light and life, for nobler services." + +"If," said Sir John, "music were cultivated to embellish retirement, to +be practiced where pleasures are scarce, and good performers are not to +be had, it would quite alter the case. But the truth is, these highly +taught ladies are not only living in public where they constantly hear +the most exquisite professors, but they have them also at their own +houses. Now one of these two things must happen. Either the performance +of the lady will be so inferior as not to be worth hearing on the +comparison, or so good that she will fancy herself the rival, instead of +the admirer of the performer, whom she had better pay and praise than +fruitlessly emulate." + +"This anxious struggle to reach the unattainable excellence of the +professor," said Mr. Stanley, "often brings to my mind the contest for +victory between the ambitious nightingale and the angry lutanist in the +beautiful Prolusion of Strada." + +"It is to the predominance of this talent," replied I, "that I ascribe +that want of companionableness of which I complain. The excellence of +musical performance is a decorated screen, behind which all defects in +domestic knowledge, in taste, judgment, and literature, and the talents +which make an elegant companion, are creditably concealed." + +"I have made," said Sir John, "another remark. Young ladies, who from +apparent shyness do not join in the conversation of a small select +party, are always ready enough to entertain them with music on the +slightest hint. Surely it is equally modest to _say_ as to _sing_, +especially to sing those melting strains we sometimes hear sung, and +which we should be ashamed to hear said. After all, how few hours are +there in a week, in which a man engaged in the pursuits of life, and a +woman in the duties of a family, wish to employ in music. I am fond of +it myself, and Lady Belfield plays admirably; but with the cares +inseparable from the conscientious discharge of her duty with so many +children, how little time has she to play, or I to listen! But there is +no day, no hour, no meal in which I do not enjoy in her the ever ready +pleasure of an elegant and interesting companion. A man of sense, when +all goes smoothly, wants to be entertained; under vexation to be +soothed; in difficulties to be counseled; in sorrow to be comforted. In +a mere artist can he reasonably look for these resources?" + +"Only figure to yourself," replied Mr. Stanley, "my six girls daily +playing their four hours a piece, which is now a moderate allowance! As +we have but one instrument they must be at it in succession, day and +night, to keep pace with their neighbors. If I may compare light things +with serious ones, it would resemble," added he, smiling, "the perpetual +psalmody of good Mr. Nicholars Ferrar, who had relays of musicians every +six hours to sing the whole Psalter through every day and night! I mean +not to ridicule that holy man; but my girls thus keeping their useless +vigils in turn, we should only have the melody without any of the piety. +No, my friend! I will have but two or three singing birds to cheer my +little grove. If all the world are performers, there will soon be no +hearers. Now, as I am resolved in my own family that some shall listen, +I will have but few to perform." + +"It must be confessed," said Sir John, "that Miss Rattle is no servile +imitator of the vapid tribe of the superficially accomplished. Her +violent animal spirits prevent her from growing smooth by attrition. She +is as rough and angular as rusticity itself could have made her. Where +strength of character, however, is only marked by the worst concomitant +of strength, which is coarseness, I should almost prefer inanity +itself." + +"I should a little fear," said I, "that I lay too much stress on +companionableness; on the _positive duty of being agreeable at home_, +had I not early learned the doctrine from my father, and seen it +exemplified so happy in the practice of my mother." + +"I entirely agree with you, Charles," said Mr. Stanley, "as to the +absolute _morality_ of being agreeable and even entertaining in one's +own family circle. Nothing so soon, and so certainly wears out the +happiness of married persons, as that too common bad effect of +familiarity, the sinking down into dullness and insipidity; neglecting +to keep alive the flame by the delicacy which first kindled it; want of +vigilance in keeping the temper cheerful by Christian discipline, and +the faculties bright by constant use. Mutual affection decays of itself, +even where there is no great moral turpitude, without mutual endeavors, +not only to improve, but to amuse. + +"This," continued he, "is one of the great arts of _home enjoyment_. +That it is so little practiced, accounts in a good measure for the +undomestic turn of too many married persons. The man meets abroad with +amusements, and the woman with attentions, to which they are not +accustomed at home. Whereas a capacity to please on the one part, and a +disposition to be pleased on the other, in their own house, would make +most visits appear dull. But then the disposition and the capacity must +be cultivated antecedently to marriage. A woman, whose whole education +has been rehearsal, will always be dull, except she lives on the stage, +constantly displaying what she has been sedulously acquiring. Books, on +the contrary, well chosen books, do not lead to exhibition. The +knowledge a woman acquires in private, desires no witnesses; the +possession is the pleasure. It improves herself, it embellishes her +family society, it entertains her husband, it informs her children. The +gratification is cheap, is safe, is always to be had at home." + +"It is superfluous," said Sir John, "to decorate women so highly for +early youth; youth is itself a decoration. We mistakingly adorn most +that part of life which least requires it, and neglect to provide for +that which will want it most. It is for that sober period when life has +lost its freshness, the passions their intenseness, and the spirits +their hilarity, that we should be preparing. Our wisdom would be to +anticipate the wants of middle life, to lay in a store of notions, +ideas, principles, and habits, which may preserve or transfer to the +mind that affection which was at first partly attracted by the person. +But to add a vacant mind to a form which has ceased to please; to +provide no subsidiary aid to beauty while it lasts, and especially no +substitute when it is departed, is to render life comfortless, and +marriage dreary." + +"The reading of a cultivated woman," said Mr. Stanley, "commonly +occupies less time than the music of a musical woman, or the idleness of +an indolent woman, or the dress of a vain woman, or the dissipation of a +fluttering woman; she is therefore likely to have more leisure for her +duties, as well as more inclination, and a sounder judgment for +performing them. But pray observe, that I assume my reading woman to be +a religious woman; and I will not answer for the effect of a literary +vanity, more than for that of any other vanity, in a mind not habitually +disciplined by Christian principle, the only safe and infallible +antidote for knowledge of every kind." + +Before we had finished our conversation, we were interrupted by the +arrival of the post. Sir John eagerly opened the newspaper; but, instead +of gratifying our impatience with the intelligence for which we panted +from the glorious Spaniards, he read a paragraph which stated "that Miss +Denham had eloped with Signor Squallini, that they were on their way to +Scotland, and that Lady Denham had been in fits ever since." + +Lady Belfield with her usual kindness was beginning to express how much +she pitied her old acquaintance. "My dear Caroline," said Sir John, +"there is too much substantial and inevitable misery in the world, for +you to waste much compassion on this foolish woman. Lady Denham has +little reason to be surprised at an event which all reasonable people +must have anticipated. Provoking and disgraceful as it is, what has she +to blame but her own infatuation? This Italian was the associate of all +her pleasures; the constant theme of her admiration. He was admitted +when her friends were excluded. The girl was continually hearing that +music was the best gift, and that Signor Squallini was the best gifted. +Miss Denham," added, he laughing, "had more wit than your Strada's +nightingale. Instead of dropping down dead on the lute for envy, she +thought it better to run away with the lutanist for love. I pity the +poor girl, however, who has furnished such a commentary to our text, and +who is rather the victim of a wretched education than of her own bad +propensities." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +I had generally found that a Sunday passed in a visit was so heavy a +day, that I had been accustomed so to arrange my engagements, as +commonly to exclude this from the days spent from home. I had often +found that even where the week had been pleasantly occupied, the +necessity of passing several hours of a season peculiarly designed for +religious purposes, with people whose habits have little similarity with +our own, either draws one into their relaxed mode of getting rid of the +day, or drives one to a retirement which having an unsociable +appearance, is liable to the reproach of austerity and gloom. + +The case was quite different at Stanley Grove. The seriousness was +without severity, and the cheerfulness had no mixture of levity. The +family seemed more than usually animated, and there was a variety in the +religious pursuits of the young people, enlivened by intervals of +cheerful and improving conversation, which particularly struck Lady +Belfield. She observed to me, that the difficulty of getting through the +Sunday, without any mixture of worldly occupations or amusements on the +one hand, or of disgust and weariness on the other, was among the many +right things which she had never been able to accomplish in her own +family. + +As we walked from church one Sunday, Miss Stanley told me that her +father does not approve the habit of criticising the sermon. He says +that the custom of pointing out the faults, can not be maintained +without the custom of watching for them; that it gives the attention a +wrong turn, and leads the hearer only to treasure up such passages as +may serve for animadversion, and a display, not of Christian temper, but +of critical skill. If the general tenor and principle be right, that is +the main point they are to look to, and not to hunt for philosophical +errors; that the hearer would do well to observe, whether it is not "he +that sleeps," as often, at least, as "Homer nods:" a remark exemplified +at church, as often as on the occasion which suggested it; that a +critical spirit is the worst that can be brought out of church, being a +symptom of an unhumbled mind, and an evidence that whatever the sermon +may have done for others, it has not benefited the caviler. + +Here Mr. Stanley joined us. I found he did not encourage his family to +take down the sermon. "It is no disparagement," said he, "to the +discourse preached, to presume that there may be as good already +printed. Why, therefore, not read the printed sermon at home in the +evening, instead of that by which you ought to have been improving while +it was delivering? If it be true that _faith cometh by hearing_, an +inferior sermon, 'coming warm and instant from the heart,' assisted by +all the surrounding solemnities which make a sermon _heard_, so +different from one _read_, may strike more forcibly than an abler +discourse coolly perused at home. In writing, the mechanical act must +necessarily lessen the effect to the writer, and to the spectator it +diminishes the dignity of the scene, and seems like short-hand writer +taking down a trial. + +"But that, my daughters may not plead this as an excuse for +inattention," continued he, "I make it a part of their evening duty to +repeat what they retain, separately, to me in my library. The +consciousness that this repetition will be required of them, stimulates +their diligence; and the exercise itself not only strengthens the +memory, but habituates to serious reflection." + +At tea, Ph[oe]be, a charming, warm-hearted creature, but who now and +then, carried away by the impulse of the moment, forgets habits and +prohibitions, said, "I think, papa, Dr. Barlow was rather dull to-day. +There was nothing new in the sermon." "My dear," replied her father, "we +do not go to church to hear news. Christianity is no novelty; and though +it is true that we go to be instructed, yet we require to be reminded +full as much as to be taught. General truths are what we all +acknowledge, and all forget. We acknowledge them, because a general +assent of the understanding costs but little; and we forget them, +because the remembrance would force upon the conscience a great deal of +practical labor. To believe, and remember, and act upon, common, +undisputed, general truths, is the most important part of religion. +This, though in fact very difficult, is overlooked, on account of its +being supposed very easy. To keep up in the heart a lively impression of +a few plain momentous truths, is of more use than the ablest discussion +of a hundred controverted points. + +"Now tell me, Ph[oe]be, do you really think that you have remembered and +practiced all the instructions you have received from Dr. Barlow's +sermons last year? If you have, though you will have a better right to +be critical, you will be less disposed to be so. If you have not, do not +complain that the sermon is not new till you have made all possible use +of the old ones; which if you had done, you would have acquired so much +humility, that you would meekly listen even to what you already know. +But however the discourse may have been superfluous to such deep divines +as Miss Ph[oe]be Stanley, it will be very useful to me, and to other +hearers who are not so wise." + +Poor Ph[oe]be blushed up to her ears; tears rushed into her eyes. She +was so overcome with shame that, regardless of the company, she flew +into her father's arms, and softly whispered that if he would forgive +her foolish vanity, she would never again be above being taught. The +fond, but not blind father, withdrew with her. Lucilla followed, with +looks of anxious love. + +During their short absence, Mrs. Stanley said, "Lucilla is so +practically aware of the truth of her father's observation, that she +often says she finds as much advantage as pleasure in teaching the +children at her school. This elementary instruction obliges her +continually to recur to first principles, and to keep constantly +uppermost in her mind those great truths contained in the articles of +our belief, the commandments, and the prayer taught by our Redeemer. +This perpetual simplifying of religion she assures me, keeps her more +humble, fixes her attention on fundamental truths, and makes her more +indifferent to controverted points." + +In a few minutes Mr. Stanley and his daughters returned cheerful and +happy: Lucilla smiling like the angel of peace and love. + +"If I were not afraid," said Lady Belfield, "of falling under the same +censure with my friend Ph[oe]be," smiling on the sweet girl, "I should +venture to say that I thought the sermon rather too severe." + +"Do not be afraid, madam," replied Mr. Stanley; "though I disapprove +that cheap and cruel criticism which makes a man _an offender for a +word_, yet discussion does not necessarily involve censoriousness; so +far from it, it is fair to discuss whatever seems to be doubtful, and I +shall be glad to hear your ladyship's objections." + +"Well then," replied she, in the most modest tone and accent, "with all +my reverence for Dr. Barlow, I thought him a little unreasonable in +seeming to expect universal goodness from creatures whom he yet insisted +were fallen creatures." + +"Perhaps, madam," said Mr. Stanley, "you mistook his meaning, for he +appeared to me perfectly consistent, not only with himself, but with his +invariable rule and guide, the Scriptures. Sanctification--will you +allow me to use so serious a word?--however imperfect, must be +universal. It is not the improvement of any one faculty, or quality, or +temper, which divines mean, when they say we are renewed in part, so +much as that the change is not perfect, the holiness is not complete in +_any_ part or power, or faculty, though progressive in all. He who +earnestly desires a universal victory over sin, knows which of his evil +dispositions or affections it is that is yet unsubdued. This rebellious +enemy he vigilantly sets himself to watch against, to struggle with, +and, through divine grace, to conquer. The test of his sincerity does +not so much consist in avoiding many faults to which he has no +temptation, as in conquering that one to which his natural bent and bias +forcibly impel him." + +Lady Belfield said, "But is it not impossible to bring every part of our +nature under this absolute dominion? Suppose a man is very passionate, +and yet very charitable; would you look upon that person to be in a +dangerous state?" + +"It is not my province, madam, to decide," replied Mr. Stanley. "'God,' +as Bishop Sanderson says, 'reserves this _royalty_ to himself of being +the searcher of hearts.' I can not judge how far he resists anger, nor +what are his secret struggles against it. God, who expects not +perfection, expects sincerity. Though complete, unmixed goodness is not +to be attained in this imperfect state, yet the earnest desire after it +is the only sure criterion of the sincerity we profess. If the man you +allude to does not watch, and pray, and strive against the passion of +anger, which is his natural infirmity, I should doubt whether any of his +affections were really renewed; and I should fear that his charity was +rather a mere habitual feeling, though a most amiable one, than a +Christian grace. He indulges in charity, because it is a constitutional +bias, and costs him nothing. He indulges in passion, because it is a +natural bias also; and to set about a victory over it would cost him a +great deal. This should put him on a strict self-examination; when he +would probably find that, while he gives the uncontrolled reins to any +one wrong inclination, his religion, even when he does right things, is +questionable. True religion is seated in the heart; that is the centre +from which all the lines of right practice must diverge. It is the great +duty and chief business of a Christian to labor to make all his +affections, with all their motives, tendencies, and operations, +subservient to the word and will of God. His irregular passions, which +are still apt to start out into disorder, will require vigilance to the +end. He must not think all is safe, because the more tractable ones are +not rebellious; but he may entertain a cheerful hope, when those which +were once rebellious are become tractable." + +"I feel the importance of what you say," returned Lady Belfield; "but I +feel also my utter inability to set about it." + +"My dear madam," said Mr. Stanley, "this is the best and most salutary +feeling you can have. That very consciousness of insufficiency will, I +trust, drive you to the fountain of all strength and power: it will +quicken your faith, and animate your prayer; faith, which is the +habitual principle of confidence in God; and prayer, which is the +exercise of that principle toward him who is the object of it." + +"But Dr. Barlow," said Lady Belfield, "was so discouraging! He seemed to +intimate, as if the conflict of a Christian with sin must be as lasting +as his life; whereas, I had hoped that victory once obtained, was +obtained forever." + +"The _strait gate_," replied Mr. Stanley, "is only the entrance of +religion; the _narrow way_ is a continued course. The Christian life, my +dear Lady Belfield, is not a point but a progress. It is precisely in +the race of Christianity as in the race of human glory. Julius Caesar and +St. Paul describe their respective warfares in nearly the same terms. +_We should count nothing done, while any thing remains undone_,[2] says +the Warrior. _Not counting myself to have attained--forgetting the +things which are behind, and pressing forward to those which are +before_, says the Apostle. And it is worth remarking, that they both +made the disqualifying observation after attainments almost incredible. +As there was no being a hero by any idler way, so there is no being a +Christian by any easier road. The necessity of pursuit is the same in +both cases, though the objects pursued differ as widely as the vanities +of time from the riches of eternity. + +[Footnote 2: Nil actum reputans dum quod superesset agendum. LUCAN.] + +"Do not think, my dear madam," added Mr. Stanley, "that I am erecting +myself into a censor, much less into a model. The corruptions which I +lament, I participate. The deficiencies which I deplore, I feel. Not +only when I look abroad, am I persuaded of the general prevalence of +evil by what I see; but when I look into my own heart, my conviction is +confirmed by what I experience. I am conscious, not merely of frailties, +but of sins. I will not hypocritically accuse myself of gross offenses +which I have no temptation to commit, and from the commission of which, +motives inferior to religion would preserve me. But I am continually +humbled in detecting mixed motives in almost all I do. Such strugglings +of pride with my endeavors after humility! Such irresolution in my +firmest purposes! So much imperfection in my best actions! So much want +of simplicity in my purest designs! Such fresh shoots of selfishness +where I had hoped the plant itself had been eradicated! Such frequent +deadness in duty! Such coldness in my affections! Such infirmity of +will! Such proneness to earth in my highest aspirations after heaven! +All these you see would hardly make, in the eyes of those who want +Christian discernment, very gross sins; yet they prove demonstrably the +root of sin in the heart, and the infection of nature tainting my best +resolves." + +"The true Christian," said I, when Mr. Stanley had done speaking, +"extracts humility from the very circumstance which raises pride in the +irreligious. The sight of any enormity in another makes the mere +moralist proud that he is exempt from it, while the religious man is +humbled from a view of the sinfulness of that nature he partakes, a +nature which admits of such excesses, and from which excesses he knows +that he himself is preserved by divine grace alone. I have often +observed that comparison is the aliment of pride in the worldly man, and +of self-abasement in the Christian." + +Poor Lady Belfield looked comforted on finding that her friend Mr. +Stanley was not quite so perfect as she had feared. "Happy are those," +exclaimed she, looking at Lucilla, "the innocence of whose lives +recommends them to the divine favor." + +"Innocence," replied Mr. Stanley, "can never be pleaded as a ground of +acceptance, because the thing does not exist. Innocence excludes the +necessity of repentance, and where there is no sin, there can be no need +of a Saviour. Whatever therefore we may be in comparison with others, +innocence can afford no plea for our acceptance, without annulling the +great plan of our redemption." + +"One thing puzzles me," said Lady Belfield. "The most worthless people I +converse with deny the doctrine of human corruption, a doctrine the +truth of which one should suppose their own feelings must confirm; while +those few excellent persons who almost seem to have escaped it, insist +the most peremptorily on its reality. But if it be really true, surely +the mercies of God are so great that he will overlook the frailties of +such weak and erring mortals. So gracious a Saviour will not exact such +rigorous obedience from creatures so infirm." + +"Let not what I am going to say, my dear Lady Belfield," replied Mr. +Stanley, "offend you; the correctness of your conduct exempts you from +any particular application. But there are too many Christians who, while +they speak with reverence of Christ as the Saviour of sinners, do not +enough consider him as a deliverer from sin. They regard him rather as +having lowered the requisitions of the law, and exonerated his followers +from the necessity of that strictness of life which they view as a +burdensome part of religion. From this burden they flatter themselves it +was the chief object of the gospel to deliver them; and from this +supposed deliverance it is, that they chiefly consider it a merciful +dispensation. A cheap Christianity, of which we can acquit ourselves by +a general recognition, and a few stated observances; which requires no +sacrifices of the will, nor rectification of the life, is, I assure you, +the prevailing system; the religion of that numerous class who like to +save appearances, and to decline realities; who expect every thing +hereafter while they resolve to give up nothing here; but who keep +heaven in view as a snug reversion after they shall have squeezed out of +this world, to the very last dregs and droppings, all it has to give." + +Lady Belfield with great modesty replied, "Indeed I am ashamed to have +said so much upon a topic on which I am unable and unused to debate. Sir +John only smiles, and looks resolved not to help me out. Believe me, +however, my dear sir, that what I have said proceeds not from +presumption, but from an earnest desire of being set right. I will only +venture to offer one more observation on the afternoon's sermon. Dr. +Barlow, to my great surprise, spoke of the death of Christ as exhibiting +_practical_ lessons. Now though I have always considered it in a general +way, as the cause of our salvation, yet its preceptive and moral +benefits, I must confess, do not appear to me at all obvious." + +"I conceive," replied Mr. Stanley, "our deliverance from the punishment +incurred by sin, to be one great end and object of the death of our +Redeemer; but I am very far from considering this as the only benefit +attending it. I conceive it to be most abundant in instruction, and the +strongest possible incentive to practical goodness, and that in a great +variety of ways. The death of our Redeemer shows us the infinite value +of our souls, by showing the inestimable price paid for them, and thus +leads us to more diligence in securing their eternal felicity. It is +calculated to inspire us with an unfeigned hatred of sin, and more +especially to convince us of God's hatred to that, for the pardon of +which such a sacrifice was deemed necessary. Now if it actually produce +such an effect, it consequently stimulates us to repentance, and to an +increasing dread of violating those engagements which we have so often +made to lead a better life. Then the contemplation of this stupendous +circumstance will tend to fill our hearts with such a sense of gratitude +and obedience, as will be likely to preserve us from relapsing into +fresh offenses. Again, can any motive operate so powerfully on us toward +producing universal charity and forgiveness? Whatever promotes our love +to God will dispose us to an increased love for our fellow-creatures. We +can not converse with any man, we can not receive a kindness from any +man, nay, we can not receive an injury from any man, for whom the +Redeemer has not died. The remembrance of the sufferings which procured +pardon for the greatest offenses, has a natural tendency to lead us to +forgive small ones." + +Lady Belfield said, "I had not indeed imagined there were any practical +uses in an event to which I had been, however, accustomed to look with +reverence as an atonement for sin." + +"Of these practical effects," replied Mr. Stanley, "I will only further +observe, that all human considerations put together can not so +powerfully inspire us with an indifference to the vanities of life, and +the allurements of unhallowed pleasures. No human motive can be so +efficacious in sustaining the heart under trials, and reconciling it to +afflictions. For what trials and afflictions do not sink into nothing in +comparison with the sufferings attending that august event, from which +we derive this support? The contemplation of this sacrifice also +degrades wealth, debases power, annihilates ambition. We rise from this +contemplation with a mind prepared to bear with the infirmities, to +relieve the wants, to forgive the unkindnesses of men. We extract from +it a more humbling sense of ourselves, a more subdued spirit, a more +sober contempt of whatever the world calls great, than all the lectures +of ancient philosophy, or the teachers of modern morals ever inspired." + +During this little debate, Sir John maintained the most invincible +silence. His countenance bore not the least mark of ill-humor or +impatience, but it was serious and thoughtful, except when his wife got +into any little difficulty; he then encouraged her by an affectionate +smile, but listened like a man who has not quite made up his mind, yet +thinks the subject too important to be dismissed without a fair and +candid hearing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +While we were at breakfast the next morning, a sweet little gay girl +flew into the room almost breathless with joy, and running to her +mother, presented her with a beautiful nosegay. + +"O, I see you were the industrious girl last week, Kate," said Mrs. +Stanley, embracing her, and admiring the flowers. Lady Belfield looked +inquisitively. "It is an invention of Lucilla's," said the mother, "that +the little one who performs best in the school-room, instead of having +any reward which may excite vanity or sensuality, shall be taught to +gratify a better feeling, by being allowed to present her mother with a +nosegay of the finest flowers, which it is reward enough to see worn at +dinner, to which she is always admitted when there is no company." + +"Oh pray do not consider us as company; pray let Kate dine with us +to-day," said Lady Belfield. Mrs. Stanley bowed her assent and went on. +"But this is not all. The flowers they present, they also raise. I went +rather too far, when I said that no vanity was excited; they are vain +enough of their carnations, and each is eager to produce the largest. In +this competition, however, the vanity is not personal. Lucilla has some +skill in raising flowers: each girl has a subordinate post under her. +Their father often treats them with half a day's work, and then they all +treat me with tea and cakes in the honey-suckle arbor of their own +planting, which is called Lucilla's bower. It would be hard to say +whether parents or children most enjoy these happy holidays." + +At dinner Mrs. Stanley appeared with her nosegay in a large knot of +ribbons, which was eyed with no small complacency by little Kate. I +observed that Lucilla, who used to manifest much pleasure in the +conversation after dinner, was beckoned out of the room by Ph[oe]be, as +soon as it was over. I felt uneasy at an absence to which I had not been +accustomed; but the cause was explained, when, at six o'clock, Kate, who +was the queen of the day, was sent to invite us to drink tea in +Lucilla's bower: we instantly obeyed the summons. + +"I knew nothing of this," said the delighted mother, while we were all +admiring the elegant arrangements of this little fete. The purple +clematis, twisting its flexile branches with those of the pale woodbine, +formed a sweet and fragrant canopy to the arched bower, while the +flowery tendrils hung down on all sides. Large bunches of roses, +intermixed with the silver stars of the jessamine, were stuck into the +moss on the inside as a temporary decoration only. The finest plants had +been brought from the green-house for the occasion. It was a delicious +evening, and the little fairy festivity, together with the flitting +about of the airy spirits which had prepared it, was absolutely +enchanting. Sir John, always poetical, exclaimed in rapture, + + "Hesperian fables true, + If true, here only." + +I needed not this quotation to bring the garden of Eden to my mind, for +Lucilla presided. Ph[oe]be was all alive. The other little ones had +decorated Kate's flaxen hair with a wreath of woodbines. They sung two +or three baby stanzas, which they had composed among themselves, in +which Kate was complimented as queen of the fete. The youngest daughter +of Lady Aston, who was about Kate's age, and two little girls of Dr. +Barlow's, were of the children's party on the green. The elder sisters +of both families made part of the company within. + +When we were all seated in our enchanting bower, and drinking our tea, +at which we had no other attendants than the little Hebes themselves, I +asked Kate how it happened that she seemed to be distinguished on this +occasion from her little sisters. "Oh, sir," said she, "it is because it +is my birth-day. I am eight years old to-day. I gave up all my gilt +books, with pictures, this day twelvemonth, and to-day I give up all my +little story books, and I am now going to read such books as men and +women read." + +She then ran to her companions who ranged themselves round a turf seat +at a little distance before us, to which were transferred a profusion of +cakes and fruit from the bower. While they were devouring them, I turned +to Mr. Stanley and desired an explanation of Kate's speech. + +"I make," said he, "the renouncing their baby books a kind of epocha, +and by thus distinctly marking the period, they never think of returning +back to them. We have in our domestic plan several of these artificial +divisions of life. These little celebrations are eras that we use as +marking-posts, from which we set out on some new course." + +"But as to Kate's books?" said Lady Belfield. + +"We have," replied Mr. Stanley, "too many elementary books. They are +read too much and too long. The youthful mind, which was formerly sick +from inanition, is now in danger from a plethora. Much, however, will +depend on capacity and disposition. A child of slower parts may be +indulged till nine years old with books which a lively genius will look +down upon at seven. A girl of talents _will_ read. To _her_ no +excitement is wanting. The natural appetite is a sufficient incentive. +The less brilliant child requires the allurement of lighter books. She +wants encouragement as much as the other requires restraint." + +"But don't you think," said Lady Belfield, "that they are of great use +in attracting children to love reading?" + +"Doubtless they are," said Mr. Stanley. "The misfortune is, that the +stimulants used to attract at first, must be not only continued but +heightened, to keep up the attraction. These books are novels in +miniature, and the excess of them will lead to the want of novels at +full length. The early use of savory dishes is not usually followed by +an appetite for plain food. To the taste thus pampered, history becomes +dry, grammar laborious, and religion dull. + +"My wife, who was left to travel through the wide expanse of Universal +History, and the dreary deserts of Rapin and Mezerai, is, I will venture +to assert, more competently skilled in ancient, French, and English +history, than any of the girls who have been fed, or rather starved, on +extracts and abridgments. I mean not to recommend the two last named +authors for very young people. They are dry and tedious, and children in +our day have opportunities of acquiring the same knowledge with less +labor. We have brighter, I wish I could say safer, lights. Still fact, +and not wit, is the leading object of history. + +"Mrs. Stanley says, that the very tediousness of her historians had a +good effect; they were a ballast to her levity, a discipline to her +mind, of which she has felt the benefit in her subsequent life. + +"But to return to the mass of children's books. The too great profusion +of them protracts the imbecility of childhood. They arrest the +understanding, instead of advancing it. They give forwardness without +strength. They hinder the mind from making vigorous shoots, teach it to +stoop when it should soar, and to contract when it should expand. Yet I +allow that many of them are delightfully amusing, and to a certain +degree instructive. But they must not be used as the basis of +instruction, and but sparingly used at all as refreshment from labor." + +"They inculcate morality and good actions surely," said Lady Belfield. + +"It is true," replied Mr. Stanley, "but they often inculcate them on a +worldly principle, and rather teach the pride of virtue, and the profit +of virtue, than point out the motive of virtue, and the principle of +sin. They reprobate bad actions as evil and injurious to others, but not +as an offense against the Almighty. Whereas the Bible comes with a +plain, straightforward, simple, but powerful principle--'How shall I do +this great wickedness against GOD?' 'Against THEE, THEE only have I +sinned, and done this evil in THY sight.' + +"Even children should be taught that when a man has committed the +greatest possible crime against his fellow creature, still the offense +against God is what will strike a true penitent with the most deep +remorse. All morality which is not drawn from this scriptural source is +weak, defective, and hollow. These entertaining authors seldom ground +their stories on any intimation that human nature is corrupt; that the +young reader is helpless, and wants assistance; that he is guilty, and +wants pardon." + +"Surely, my dear Mr. Stanley," said Lady Belfield, "though I do not +object to the truth and reasonableness of any thing you have said, I can +not think that these things can possibly be made intelligible to +children." + +"The framers of our catechism, madam, thought otherwise," replied Mr. +Stanley. "The catechism was written for children, and contains all the +seeds and principles of Christianity for men. It evidently requires much +explanation, much development; still it furnishes a wide and important +field for colloquial instruction, without which young persons can by no +means understand a composition so admirable, but so condensed. The +catechism speaks expressly of 'a death unto sin'--of 'a new birth unto +righteousness'--of 'being born in sin'--of being the 'children of +wrath'--of becoming the 'children of grace'--of 'forsaking sin by +repentance'--of 'believing the promises of God by faith.' Now while +children are studying these great truths in the catechism, they are +probably, at the same time, almost constantly reading some of those +entertaining stories which are grounded and built on a quite opposite +principle, and do not even imply the existence of any such fundamental +truths." + +"Surely," interrupted Lady Belfield, "you would not have these serious +doctrines brought forward in story books?" + +"By no means, madam," replied Mr. Stanley; "but I will venture to assert +that even story books should not be founded on a principle directly +_contradictory_ to them, nay, totally _subversive_ of them. The Arabian +Nights, and other oriental books of fable, though loose and faulty in +many respects, yet have always a reference to the religion of the +country. Nothing is introduced against the law of Mohammed; nothing +subversive of the opinions of a Mussulman. I do not quarrel with books +for having _no_ religion, but for having a _false_ religion. A book +which in nothing opposes the principle of the Bible, I would be far from +calling a bad book, though the Bible was never named in it." + +Lady Belfield observed, "That she was sorry to say her children found +religious studies very dry and tiresome; though she took great pains, +and made them learn by heart a multitude of questions and answers, a +variety of catechisms and explanations, and the best abridgments of the +Bible." + +"My dear Lady Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "you have fully accounted +for the dryness and dullness of which you complain. Give them the _Bible +itself_. I never yet knew a child who did not delight in the Bible +histories, and who would not desire to hear them again and again. From +the histories, Mrs. Stanley and I proceed with them to the parables; and +from them to the miracles, and a few of the most striking prophecies. +When they have acquired a good deal of this desultory knowledge, we +begin to weave the parts into a whole. The little girl who had the honor +of dining with you to-day, has begun this morning to read the Scriptures +with her mother systematically. We shall soon open to her something of +the _scheme_ of Christianity, and explain how those miracles and +prophecies confirm the truth of that religion in which she is to be more +fully instructed. + +"Upon their historical knowledge, which they acquire by picking out the +most interesting stories, we endeavor to ground principles to enlighten +their minds, and precepts to influence their conduct. With the genuine +language of Scripture I have taken particular care they shall be well +acquainted, by digging for the ore in its native bed. While they have +been studying the stories, their minds have at the same time been imbued +with the impressive phraseology of Scripture. I make a great point of +this, having often seen this useful impression effectually prevented by +a multitude of subsidiary histories and explanations, which too much +supersede the use of the original text. + +"Only observe," continued he, "what divine sentiments, what holy +precepts, what devout ejaculations, what strokes of self-abasement, what +flights of gratitude, what transports of praise, what touches of +penitential sorrow, are found comprised in some one short sentence woven +into almost every part of the historical Scriptures! Observe this, and +then confess what a pity it is that children should be commonly set to +read the history in a meagre abridgment, stripped of those gems with +which the original is so richly inlaid! These histories and expositions +become very useful afterward to young people who are thoroughly +conversant with the Bible itself." + +Sir John observed that he had been struck with the remarkable +_disinterestedness_ of Mr. Stanley's daughters, and their indifference +to things about which most children were so eager. "Selfishness," said +Mr. Stanley, "is the hydra we are perpetually combating; but the monster +has so much vitality, that new heads spring up as fast as the old ones +are cut off. _To counteract selfishness, that inborn, inbred mischief, I +hold to be the great art of education._ Education, therefore, can not be +adequately carried on, except by those who are deeply convinced of the +doctrine of human corruption. This evil principle, as it shows itself +early, must be early lopped, or the rapid shoots it makes will, as your +favorite Eve observes, + + Soon mock our scant manuring. + +"This counteraction," continued Mr. Stanley, "is not like an art or a +science, which is to be taken up at set times, and laid aside till the +allotted period of instruction returns; but as the evil shows itself at +all times, and in all shapes, the _whole force_ of instruction is to be +bent against it. Mrs. Stanley and I endeavor that not one reward we +bestow, not one gratification we afford, shall be calculated to promote +it. Gratifications children ought to have. The appetites and +inclinations should be reasonably indulged. We only are cautious not to +employ them as _the instrument of recompense_, which would look as if we +valued them highly, and thought them a fit remuneration for merit. I +would rather show a little indulgence to sensuality _as_ sensuality, +than make it the reward of goodness, which seems to be the common way. +While I indulged the appetite of a child, I would never hold out that +indulgence which I granted to the lowest, the animal part of his nature, +as a payment for the exertion of his mental or moral faculties." + +"You have one great advantage," said Sir John, "and I thank God it is +the same in Cavendish-square, that you and Mrs. Stanley draw evenly +together. Nothing impedes domestic regulation so effectually as where +parents, from difference of sentiment, ill-humor, or bad judgment, +obstruct each other's plans, or where one parent makes the other +insignificant in the eyes of their children." + +"Mr. Reynolds," replied Mr. Stanley, "a friend of mine in this +neighborhood, is in this very predicament. To the mother's weakness the +father's temperate discipline seems cruelty. She is perpetually blaming +him before the children for setting them to their books. Her attentions +are divided between their health, which is perfect, and their pleasure, +which is obstructed by her foolish zeal to promote it, far more than by +his prudent restrictions. Whatever the father helps them to at table, +the mother takes from them, lest it should make them sick. What he +forbids is always the very thing which is good for them. She is much +more afraid, however, of overloading their memories than their stomachs. +Reading, she says, will spoil the girls' eyes, stooping to write will +ruin their chests, and working will make them round-shouldered. If the +boys run, they will have fevers; if they jump, they will sprain their +ankles; if they play at cricket, a blow may kill them; if they swim, +they may be drowned; the shallowness of the stream is no argument of +safety. + +"Poor Reynolds' life is one continued struggle between his sense of duty +to his children, and his complaisance to his wife. If he carries his +point, it is at the expense of his peace; if he relaxes, as he commonly +does, his children are the victims. He is at length brought to submit +his excellent judgment to her feeble mind, lest his opposition should +hurt her health; and he has the mortification of seeing his children +trained as if they had nothing but bodies. + +"To the wretched education of Mrs. Reynolds herself, all this mischief +may be attributed; for she is not a bad, though an ignorant woman; and +having been harshly treated by her own parents, she fell into the vulgar +error of vulgar minds, that of supposing the opposite of wrong must +necessarily be right. As she found that being perpetually contradicted +had made herself miserable, she concluded that never being contradicted +at all would make her children happy. The event has answered as might +have been foreseen. Never was a more discontented, disagreeing, +troublesome family. The gratification of one want instantly creates a +new one. And it is only when they are quite worn out with having done +nothing, that they take refuge in their books, as less wearisome than +idleness." + +Sir John, turning to Lady Belfield, said in a very tender tone, "My dear +Caroline, this story, in its principal feature, does not apply to us. We +concur completely, it is true, but I fear we concur by being both +wrong: we both err by excessive indulgence. As to the case in point, +while children are young, they may perhaps lean to the parent that +spoils them, but I have never yet seen an instance of young persons, +where the parents differed, who did not afterward discover a much +stronger affection for the one who had reasonably restrained them, than +for the other, whose blind indulgence had at once diminished her +importance and their own reverence." + +I observed to Mr. Stanley, that as he had so noble a library, and wished +to inspire his children with the love of literature, I was surprised to +see their apartment so slenderly provided with books. + +"This is the age of excess in every thing," replied he; "nothing is a +gratification of which the want has not been previously felt. The wishes +of children are all so anticipated, that they never experience the +pleasure excited by wanting and waiting. Of their initiatory books they +_must_ have a pretty copious supply. But as to books of entertainment or +instruction of a higher kind, I never allow them to possess one of their +own, till they have attentively read and improved by it; this gives them +a kind of title to it; and that desire of property, so natural to human +creatures, I think stimulates them in dispatching books which are in +themselves a little dry. Expectation with them, as with men, quickens +desire, while possession deadens it." + +By this time the children had exhausted all the refreshments set before +them, and had retreated to a little further distance, where, without +disturbing us, they freely enjoyed their innocent gambols: playing, +singing, laughing, dancing, reciting verses, trying which could puzzle +the other in the names of plants, of which they pulled single leaves to +increase the difficulty, all succeeded each other. Lady Belfield looking +consciously at me, said, "These are the creatures whom I foolishly +suspected of being made miserable by restraint, and gloomy through want +of indulgence." + +"After long experience," said Mr. Stanley, "I will venture to pronounce, +that not all the anxious cutting out of pleasure, not all the costly +indulgences which wealth can procure, not all the contrivances of +inventive man for his darling youthful offspring, can find out an +amusement so pure, so natural, so cheap, so rational, so healthful, I +had almost said so religious, as that unbought pleasure connected with a +garden." + +Kate and Celia, who had for some time been peeping into the bower, in +order to catch an interval in the conversation, as soon as they found +our attention disengaged, stole in among us, each took the fond father +by a hand, and led him to the turf seat. Ph[oe]be presented him a book +which he opened, and out of it read with infinite humor, grace, and +gayety, THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN. This, it seems, was a +pleasure to which they had been led to look forward for some time, but +which, in honor of Kate, had been purposely withheld till this memorable +day. His little auditors, who grouped themselves around him on the +grass, were nearly convulsed with laughter, nor were the tenants of the +bower much less delighted. + +As we walked into the house, Mr. Stanley said, "Whenever I read to my +children a light and gay composition, which I often do, I generally take +care it shall be the work of some valuable author, to whose writings +this shall be a pleasant and tempting prelude. What child of spirit who +hears John Gilpin, will not long to be thought old and wise enough to +read the 'Task?' The remembrance of the infant rapture will give a +predilection for the poet. Desiring to keep their standard high, I +accustom them to none but good writers, in every sense of the word; by +this means they will be less likely to stoop to ordinary ones when they +shall hereafter come to choose for themselves." + +Lady Belfield regretted to me that she had not brought some of her +children to the Grove. "To confess a disgraceful truth," said she, "I +was afraid they would have been moped to death; and to confess another +truth still more disgraceful to my own authority, my indulgence has been +so injudicious, and I have maintained so little control, that I durst +not bring some of them, for fear of putting the rest out of humor; I am +now in a school where I trust I may learn to acquire firmness, without +any diminution of fondness." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +The next morning Mr. Stanley proposed that we should pay a visit to some +of his neighbors. He and Sir John Belfield rode on horseback, and I had +the honor of attending the ladies in the sociable. Lady Belfield, who +was now become desirous of improving her own too relaxed domestic system +by the experience of Mrs. Stanley, told her how much she admired the +cheerful obedience of her children. She said, "she did not so much +wonder to see them so good, but she owned she was surprised to see them +so happy." + +"I know not," replied Mrs. Stanley, "whether the increased +insubordination of children is owing to the new school of philosophy and +politics, but it seems to me to make part of the system. When I go +sometimes to stay with a friend in town to do business, she is always +making apologies that she can not go out with me--'her daughters want +the coach.' If I ask leave to see the friends who call on me in such a +room--'her daughters have company there, or they want the room for their +music, or it is preparing for the children's ball in the evening.' If a +messenger is required--'her daughters want the footman.' There certainly +prevails a spirit of independence, a revolutionary spirit, a separation +from the parent state. IT IS THE CHILDREN'S WORLD." + +"You remind me, madam," said I, "of an old courtier, who being asked by +Louis XV., which age he preferred, his own or the present, replied, 'I +passed my youth in respecting old age, and I find I must now pass my old +age in respecting children.'" + +"In some other houses," said Mrs. Stanley, "where we visit, besides that +of poor Mr. Reynolds, the children seem to have all the accommodation; +and I have observed that the convenience and comfort of the father is +but a subordinate consideration. The respectful terms of address are +nearly banished from the vocabulary of children, and the somewhat too +orderly manner which once prevailed is superseded by an incivility, a +roughness, a want of attention, which is surely not better than the +harmless formality which it has driven out." + +Just as she had said this, we stopped at Mr. Reynolds's gate; neither he +nor his lady were at home. Mr. Stanley, who wished to show us a fine +reach of the river from the drawing-room window, desired the servant to +show us into it. There we beheld a curious illustration of what we had +heard. In the ample bow-window lay a confused heap of the glittering +spoils of the most expensive toys. Before the rich silk chairs knelt two +of the children, in the act of demolishing their fine painted +playthings; "others apart sat on _the floor_ retired," and more +deliberately employed in picking to pieces their little gaudy works of +art. A pretty girl, who had a beautiful wax doll on her lap, almost as +big as herself, was pulling out its eyes, that she might see how they +were put in. Another, weary of this costly baby, was making a little +doll of rags. A turbulent-looking boy was tearing out the parchment from +a handsome new drum, that he might see, as he told us, where the noise +came from. These I forgave: they had meaning in their mischief. + +Another, having kicked about a whole little gilt library, was sitting, +with the decorated pages torn asunder at his feet, reading a little +dirty penny book, which the kitchen-maid had bought of a hawker at the +door. The Persian carpet was strewed with the broken limbs of a painted +horse, almost as large as a poney, while the discontented little master +was riding astride on a long rough stick. A bigger boy, after having +broken the panels of a fine gilt coach, we saw afterwards in the +court-yard nailing together a few dirty bits of ragged elm boards, to +make himself a wheel-barrow. + +"Not only the disciple of the fastidious Jean Jacques," exclaimed I, +"but the sound votary of truth and reason, must triumph at such an +instance of the satiety of riches, and the weariness of ignorance and +idleness. One such practical instance of the insufficiency of affluence +to _bestow_ the pleasures which industry must _buy_; one such actual +exemplification of the folly of supposing that injudicious profusion and +mistaken fondness can supply that pleasure which must be worked out +before it can be enjoyed, is worth a whole folio of argument or +exhortation. The ill-bred little flock paid no attention to us, and only +returned a rude 'n--o' or 'ye--s' to our questions." + +"Caroline," said Sir John, "these painted ruins afford a good lesson for +us. We must desire our rich uncles and our generous god-mothers to make +an alteration in their presents, if they can not be prevailed upon to +withhold them." + +"It is a sad mistake," said Mr. Stanley, "to suppose that youth wants to +be so incessantly amused. They want not pleasures to be chalked out for +them. Lay a few cheap and coarse materials in their way, and let their +own busy inventions be suffered to work. They have abundant pleasure in +the mere freshness and novelty of life, its unbroken health, its elastic +spirit, its versatile temper, and its ever new resources." + +"So it appears, Stanley," said Sir John, "when I look at your little +group of girls, recluses as they are called. How many cheap, yet lively +pleasures do they enjoy! their successive occupations, their books, +their animating exercise, their charitable rounds, their ardent +friendships; the social table, at which the elder ones are companions, +not mutes; the ever-varying pleasures of their garden, + + "Increasing virtue, and approving heaven." + +While we were sitting with Lady Aston, on whom we next called, Mr. +Stanley suddenly exclaimed, "The Misses Flam are coming up the gravel +walk." Lady Aston looked vexed, but correcting herself said, "Mr. +Stanley, we owe this visit to you, or rather to your friend," bowing to +me; "they saw your carriage stop here, or they would not have done so +dull a thing as to have called on me." + +These new guests presented a new scene, very uncongenial to the timid +and tranquil spirit of the amiable hostess. There seemed to be a contest +between the sisters, who should be most eloquent, most loud, or most +inquisitive. They eagerly attacked me all at once, as supposing me to be +overflowing with intelligence from the metropolis, a place which they +not only believed to contain exclusively all that was worth seeing, but +all that was worth hearing. The rest of the world they considered as a +barren wilderness, of which the hungry inhabitants could only be kept +from starving, by such meagre aliment as the occasional reports of its +pleasures, fashions, and anecdotes, which might now and then be conveyed +by some stray traveler, might furnish. + +"It is so strange to us," said Miss Bell, "and so monstrously dull and +vulgar, to be in the country at this time of the year, that we don't +know what to do with ourselves." + +"As to the time of year, madam," said I, "if ever one would wish to be +in the country at all, surely this month is the point of perfection. The +only immoral thing with which I could ever charge our excellent +sovereign is, that he was born in June, and has thus furnished his +fashionable subjects with a loyal pretense for encountering 'the sin and +sea-coal of London,' to borrow Will Honeycomb's phrase, in the finest +month of the twelve. But where that is the real motive with one, it is +the pretense of a thousand." + +"How can you be so shocking?" said she. "But papa is really grown so +cross and stingy, as to prevent our going to town at all these last two +or three years; and for so mean a reason that I am ashamed to tell you." +Out of politeness I did not press to know; I needed not, for she was +resolved I should not 'burst in ignorance.' + +She went on: "Do you know he pretends that times are hard, and public +difficulties increasing; and he declares that whatever privations we +endure, government must be supported: so he says it is right to draw in +in the only way in which he can do it honestly; I am sure it is not +doing it creditably. Did you ever hear any thing so shabby?" + +"Shabby, madam," replied I; "I honor a gentleman who has integrity +enough to do a right thing, and good sense enough not to be ashamed to +own it." + +"Yes, but papa need not. The steward declares, if he would only raise +his tenants a very little, he would have more than enough; but papa is +inflexible. He says my brother must do as he pleases when he comes to +the estate, but that he himself promised when he came into possession, +that he would never raise the rents, and that he will never be worse +than his word." As I could not find in my heart to join in abusing a +gentleman for resolving never to be worse than his word, I was silent. + +She then inquired with more seriousness, if there were any prospect of +peace. I was better pleased with this question, as it implied more +anxiety for the lives of her fellow-creatures, than I had given her +credit for. "I am anxiously looking into all the papers," continued she, +without giving me time to speak, "because as soon as there is peace, +papa has promised that we shall go to town again. If it was not for that +I should not care if there was war till doomsday, for what with marching +regiments, and militia, and volunteers, nothing can be pleasanter than +it makes the country, I mean as far as the country _can_ be pleasant." +They then ran over the names and respective merits of every opera +singer, every dancer, and every actor, with incredible volubility; and I +believe they were not a little shocked at my slender acquaintance with +the nomenclature, and the little interest I took in the criticisms they +built upon it. + +Poor Lady Aston looked oppressed and fatigued, but inwardly rejoiced, as +she afterward owned to me, that her daughters were not within hearing. I +was of a different opinion, upon the Spartan principle, of making their +children sober, by the spectacle of the intoxicated Helots. Miss Bell's +eloquence seemed to make but little impression on Sir George; or rather +it produced an effect directly contrary to admiration. His good taste +seemed to revolt at her flippancy. Every time I see this young man he +rises in my esteem. His ingenuous temper and engaging modesty set off to +advantage a very fair understanding. + +In our way home, we were accosted by Mr. Flam. After a rough but hearty +salutation, and a cordial invitation to come and dine with him, he +galloped off, being engaged on business. "This is an honest country +'squire of the old cut," said Mr. Stanley afterward; "he has a very good +estate which he has so much delight in managing, that he has no pleasure +in any thing else. He was prevailed on by his father to marry his +present wife for no other reason than because her estate joined to his, +and broke in a little on the _arrondissement_; but it was judged that +both being united, all might be brought within a ring fence. This was +thought a reason sufficiently powerful for the union of two immortal +beings, whose happiness here and hereafter might be impeded or promoted +by it! The felicity of the connection has been in exact proportion to +the purity of the motive." + +I could not forbear interrupting Mr. Stanley, by observing that nothing +had surprised or hurt me more in the little observation I had made on +the subject of marriage than the frequent indifference of parents to the +moral, and especially to the religious character of the man who proposed +himself. "That family, fortune, and connections should have their full +share in the business, I readily admit," added I, "but that it should +ever form the chief, often the only ground of acceptance, has, I +confess, lowered mankind in my esteem more completely than almost any +other instance of ambition, avarice, or worldliness. That a very young +girl, who has not been carefully educated, should be captivated by +personal advantages, and even infatuated by splendor, is less surprising +than that parents, who having themselves experienced the insufficiency +of riches to happiness, that they should be eagerly impatient to part +from a beloved daughter, reared with fondness at least, if not with +wisdom, to a man of whose principles they have any doubt, and of whose +mind they have a mean opinion, is a thing I can not understand. And yet +what proposal almost is rejected on this ground?" Lucilla's eyes at +this moment shone with such expressive brightness that I exultingly said +to myself, "Lord Staunton! I defy thee!" + +"The mischief of this lax principle is of wide extent," replied Mr. +Stanley. "When girls are continually hearing what an advantageous, what +a desirable marriage such a young friend has made, with a man so rich, +so splendid, so great, though they have been accustomed to hear this +very man condemned for his profligacy perhaps, at least they know him to +be destitute of piety; when they hear that these things are not +considered as any objection to the union, what opinion must these girls +form, not only of the maxims by which the world is governed, but of the +truth of that religion which those persons profess? + +"But to return to Mr. Flam. He passed through the usual course of +education, but has profited so little by it, that though he has a +certain natural shrewdness in his understanding, I believe he has +scarcely read a book these twenty years, except Burn's 'Justice' and +'The Agricultural Reports.' Yet when he wants to make a figure, he now +and then lards his discourse with a scrap of thread-bare Latin which he +used to steal in his school-boy exercises. He values himself on his +integrity, and is not destitute of benevolence. These, he says, are the +sum and substance of religion; and though I combat this mistaken notion +as often as he puts it in my power, yet I must say that some who make +more profession would do well to be as careful in these points. He often +contrasts himself with his old friend Ned Tyrrel, and is proud of +showing how much better a man he is without religion than Ned is with +all his pretensions to it. It is by thus comparing ourselves with worse +men that we grow vain, and with more fortunate men that we become +discontented. + +"All the concern he gives himself about his wife and daughters is, that +they shall not run him in debt; and, indeed, he is so liberal that he +does not drive them to the necessity. In every thing else, they follow +their own devices. They teased him, however, to let them spend two or +three winters in town, the mother hinting _that it would answer_. He was +prevailed on to try it as a speculation, but the experiment failed. He +now insists that they shall go no more, till the times mend, to any of +the advertising places, such as London, Brighton, or Bath; he says that +attending so many fairs and markets is very expensive, especially as the +girls don't go off. He will now see what can be done by private contract +at home, without the cost of journeys, with fresh keep and trimming and +docking into the bargain. They must now take their chance among country +dealers; and provided they will give him a son-in-law, whose estate is +free from incumbrances, who pays his debts, lives within his income, +does not rack his tenants, never drinks claret, hates the French, and +loves field sports, he will ask no more questions." + +I could not but observe how preferable the father's conduct, with all +its faults, was to that of the rest of the family. "I had imagined," +said I, "that this coarse character was quite out of print. Though it is +religiously bad, and of course morally defective, yet it is so +politically valuable that I should not be sorry to see a new edition of +these obsolete squires, somewhat corrected, and better lettered." + +"All his good qualities," said Mr. Stanley, "for want of religion have a +flaw in them. His good nature is so little directed by judgment, that +while it serves the individual, it injures the public. As a brother +magistrate, I am obliged to act in almost constant opposition to him, +and his indiscretions do more mischief by being of a nature to increase +his popularity. He is fully persuaded that occasional intoxication is +the best reward for habitual industry; and insists that it is good old +English kindness to make the church ringers periodically tipsy at the +holidays, though their families starve for it the whole week. He and I +have a regular contest at the annual village fairs, because he insists +that my refusing to let them begin on a Sunday is abridging their few +rights, and robbing them of a day which they might add to their pleasure +without injury to their profit. He allows all the strolling players, +mountebanks, and jugglers to exhibit, because, he says, it is a charity. +His charity, however, is so short-sighted that he does not see that +while these vagabonds are supplying the wants of the day, their +improvident habits suffer them to look no further; that his own workmen +are spending their hard-earned money in these illegal diversions, while +the expense is the least mischief which their daughters incur." + +Our next visit was to Mr. Carlton, whom I had found, in one or two +previous interviews, to be a man of excellent sense, and a perfect +gentleman. Sir John renewed with pleasure his acquaintance with the +husband, while Lady Belfield was charmed to be introduced to the wife, +with whose character she was so enamored, and whose gentle manners were +calculated to confirm the affection which her little history had +inspired. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +Though Mr. Stanley had checked my impetuosity in my application to him, +and did not encourage my addresses with a promptitude suited to the +ardor of my affection: yet as the warmth of my attachment, +notwithstanding I made it a duty to restrain its outward expression, +could not escape either his penetration or that of his admirable wife, +they began a little to relax in the strictness with which they had +avoided speaking of their daughter. They never indeed introduced the +subject themselves, yet it some how or other never failed to find its +way into all conversation in which I was one of the interlocutors. + +Sitting one day in Lucilla's bower with Mrs. Stanley, and speaking, +though in general terms, on the subject nearest my heart, with a +tenderness and admiration as sincere as it was fervent, I dwelt +particularly on some instances which I had recently heard from Edwards, +of her tender attention to the sick poor, and her zeal in often visiting +them, without regard to weather, or the accommodation of a carriage. + +"I assure you," said Mrs. Stanley, "you over-rate her. Lucilla is no +prodigy dropped down from the clouds. Ten thousand other young women, +with natural good sense, and good temper, might, with the same +education, the same neglect of what is useless, and the same attention +to what is necessary, acquire the same habits and the same principles. +Her being no prodigy, however, perhaps makes her example, as far as it +goes, more important. She may be more useful, because she carries not +that discouraging superiority, which others might be deterred from +imitating, through hopelessness to reach. If she is not a miracle whom +others might despair to emulate, she is a Christian whom every girl of a +fair understanding and good temper may equal, and whom, I hope and +believe, many girls excel." + +I asked Mrs. Stanley's permission to attend the young ladies in one of +their benevolent rounds. "When I have leisure to be one of the party," +replied she, smiling, "you shall accompany us. I am afraid to trust your +warm feelings. Your good-nature would perhaps lead you to commend as a +merit, what in fact deserves no praise at all, the duly being so +obvious, and so indispensable. I have often heard it regretted that +ladies have no stated employment, no profession. It is a mistake. +_Charity is the calling of a lady; the care of the poor is her +profession._ Men have little time or taste for details. Women of fortune +have abundant leisure, which can in no way be so properly or so +pleasantly filled up, as in making themselves intimately acquainted with +the worth and the wants of all within their reach. With their wants, +because it is their bounden duty to administer to them; with their +worth, because without this knowledge, they can not administer prudently +and appropriately." + +I expressed to Mrs. Stanley the delight with which I had heard of the +admirable regulations of her family, in the management of the poor, and +how much their power of doing good was said to be enlarged by the +judgment and discrimination with which it was done. + +"We are far from thinking," replied she, "that our charity should be +limited to our own immediate neighborhood. We are of opinion, that it +should not be left undone anywhere, but that _there_ it should be done +indispensably. We consider our own parish as our more appropriate field +of action, where providence, by 'fixing the bounds of our habitation,' +seems to have made us peculiarly responsible for the comfort of those +whom he has doubtless placed around us for that purpose. It is thus that +the Almighty vindicates his justice, or rather calls on us to vindicate +it. It is thus he explains why he admits natural evil into the world, by +making the wants of one part of the community an exercise for the +compassion of the other. As in different circumstances, the faults of +one part of mankind are an exercise for the forbearance of the other. + +"Surely," added Mrs. Stanley, "the reason is particularly obvious, why +the bounty of the affluent ought to be most liberally, though not +exclusively, extended to the spot whence they derive their revenues. +There seems indeed to be a double motive for it. The same act involves a +duty both to God and man. The largest bounty to the necessitous on our +estates, is rather justice than charity. 'Tis but a kind of pepper-corn +acknowledgment to the great Lord and proprietor of all, from whom we +hold them. And to assist their own laboring poor is a kind of natural +debt, which persons who possess great landed property owe to those from +the sweat of whose brow they derive their comforts, and even their +riches. 'Tis a commutation, in which, as the advantage is greatly on our +side, so is our duty to diminish the difference a paramount obligation." + +I then repeated my request, that I might be allowed to take a practical +lesson in the next periodical visit to the cottages. + +Mrs. Stanley replied, "As to my girls, the elder ones I trust are such +veterans in their trade, that your approbation can do them no harm, nor +do they stand in need of it as an incentive. But should the little ones +find that their charity procures them praise, they might perhaps be +charitable for the sake of praise, their benevolence might be set at +work by their vanity, and they might be led to do that, from the love of +applause, which can only please God when the principle is pure. _The +iniquity of our holy things_, my good friend, requires much Christian +vigilance. Next to not giving at all, the greatest fault is to give from +ostentation. The motive robs the act of the very name of virtue. While +the good work that is paid in praise, is stripped of the hope of higher +retribution." + +On my assuring Mrs. Stanley that I thought such an introduction to their +systematic schemes of charity might inform my own mind and improve my +habits, she consented, and I have since been a frequent witness of their +admirable method; and have been studying plans, which involve the good +both of body and soul. Oh! if I am ever blest with a coadjutress, a +directress let me rather say, formed under such auspices, with what +delight shall I transplant the principles and practices of Stanley Grove +to the Priory! Nor indeed would I ever marry but with the animating hope +that not only myself, but all around me, would be the better and the +happier for the presiding genius I shall place there. + +Sir John Belfield had joined us while we were on this topic. I had +observed that though he was earnest on the general principle of +benevolence, which he considered as a most imperious duty, or, as he +said in his warm way, as so lively a pleasure that he was almost ready +to suspect if it _were_ a duty; yet I was sorry to find that his +generous mind had not viewed this large subject under all its aspects. +He had not hitherto regarded it as a matter demanding any thing but +money; while time, inquiry, discrimination, system, he confessed, he had +not much taken into the account. He did a great deal of good, but had +not allowed himself time or thought for the best way of doing it. +Charity, as opposed to hard-heartedness and covetousness, he warmly +exercised; but when, with a willing liberality, he had cleared himself +from the suspicion of those detestable vices, he was indolent in the +proper distribution of money, and somewhat negligent of its just +application. Nor had he ever considered, as every man should do, because +every man's means are limited, how the greatest quantity of good could +be done with any given sum. + +But the worst of all was, he had imbibed certain popular prejudices +respecting the more _religious_ charities; prejudices altogether +unworthy of his enlightened mind. He too much limited his ideas of +bounty to bodily wants. This distinction was not with him, as it is with +many, invented as an argument for saving his money, which he most +willingly bestowed for feeding and clothing the necessitous. But as to +the propriety of affording them religious instruction, he owned he had +not made up his mind. He had some doubts whether it were a duty. Whether +it were a benefit he had still stronger doubts; adding that he should +begin to consider the subject more attentively than he had yet done. + +Mrs. Stanley in reply, said, "I am but a poor casuist, Sir John, and I +must refer you to Mr. Stanley for abler arguments than I can use. I will +venture, however, to say, that even on your own ground it appears to be +a pressing duty. If sin be the cause of so large a portion of the +miseries of human life, must not that be the noblest charity which +cures, or lessens, or prevents sin? And are not they the truest +benefactors even to the bodies of men, who by their religious exertions +to prevent the corruption of vice, prevent also in some measure that +poverty and disease which are the natural concomitants of vice? If in +endeavoring to make men better, by the infusion of a religious +principle, which shall check idleness, drinking, and extravagance, we +put them in the way to become healthier, and richer, and happier, it +will furnish a practical argument which I am sure will satisfy your +benevolent heart." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +Mr. Tyrrel and his nephew called on us this evening, and interrupted a +pleasant and useful conversation on which we were just entering. "Do +you know, Stanley," said Mr. Tyrrel, "that you absolutely corrupted my +nephew, by what passed at your house the other day in favor of reading? +He has ever since been ransacking the shelves for idle books." + +"I should be seriously concerned," replied Mr. Stanley, "if any thing I +had said should have drawn Mr. Edward off from more valuable studies, or +diverted him from the important pursuit of religious knowledge." + +"Why, to do him justice, and you too," resumed Mr. Tyrrel, "he has since +that conversation begun assiduously to devote his mornings to serious +reading, and it is only an hour's leisure in the evening, which he used +to trifle away, that he gives to books of taste; but I had rather he +would let them all alone; the best of them will only fill his heart with +cold morality, and stuff his head with romance and fiction. I would not +have a religious man ever look into a book of your belles-lettres +nonsense; and if he be really religious, he will make a general bonfire +of the poets." + +"That is rather too sweeping a sentence," said Mr. Stanley. "It would, I +grant you, have been a benefit to mankind, if the entire works of some +celebrated poets, and a considerable portion of the works of many not +quite so exceptionable, were to assist the conflagration of your pile." + +"And if fuel failed," said Sir John Belfield, "we might not only rob +Belinda's altar of her + + Twelve tomes of French romances neatly gilt, + +but feed the flame with countless marble-covered octavos from the modern +school. But having made this concession, allow me to observe, that +because there has been a voluptuous Petronius, a scoffing Lucian, and a +licentious Ovid, to say nothing of the numberless modern poets, or +rather individual poems, that are immoral and corrupt--shall we +therefore exclude all works of imagination from the library of a young +man? Surely? we should not indiscriminately banish the Muses, as +infallible corrupters of the youthful mind; I would rather consider a +blameless poet as the auxiliar of virtue. Whatever talent enables a +writer to possess an empire over the heart, and to lead the passions at +his command, puts it in his power to be of no small service to mankind. +It is no new remark that the abuse of any good thing is no argument +against its legitimate use. Intoxication affords no just reason against +the use of wine, nor prodigality against the possession of wealth. In +the instance in dispute, I should rather infer that a talent capable of +diffusing so much mischief was susceptible of no small benefit. That it +has been so often abused by its misapplication, is one of the highest +instances of the ingratitude of man for one of the highest gifts of +God." + +"I can not think," said I, "that the Almighty conferred such a faculty +with a wish to have it extinguished. Works of imagination have in many +countries been a chief instrument in civilization. Poetry has not only +preceded science in the history of human progress, but it has in many +countries preceded the knowledge of the mechanical arts; and I have +somewhere read, that in Scotland they could write elegant Latin verse +before they could make a wheel-barrow. For my own part, in my late visit +to London, I thought the decline of poetry no favorable symptom." + +"I rejoice to hear it _is_ declining," said Mr. Tyrrel. "I hope that +what is decaying, may in time be extinguished." + +"Mr. Tyrrel would have been delighted with that with which I was +displeased," replied I. "I met with philosophers, who were like Plato in +nothing but his abhorrence of the Muses; with politicians, who resembled +Burleigh only in his enmity to Spenser; and with warriors, who, however +they might emulate Alexander in his conquests, would never have imitated +him in sparing the house of Pindarus." + +"The _art_ of poetry," said Mr. Stanley, "is to touch the passions, and +its _duty_ to lead them on the side of virtue. To raise and to purify +the amusements of mankind; to multiply and to exalt pleasures, which +being purely intellectual, may help to exclude such as are gross, in +beings so addicted to sensuality, is surely not only to give pleasure, +but to render service. It is allowable to seize every avenue to the +heart of a being so prone to evil; to rescue him by every fair means, +not only from the degradation of vice, but from the dominion of +idleness. I do not now speak of gentlemen of the sacred function, to +which Mr. Edward Tyrrel aspires, but of those who, having no profession, +have no stated employment; and who, having more leisure, will be in +danger of exceeding the due bounds in the article of amusement. Let us +then endeavor to snatch our youth of fashion from the low pleasures of +the dissolute; to snatch them, not only from the destruction of the +gaming-table, but from the excesses of the dining-table, by inviting +them to an elegant delight that is safe, and especially by enlarging the +range of pure mental pleasure. + +"In order to this, let us do all we can to cultivate their taste, and +innocently indulge their fancy. Let us contend with impure writers, +those deadliest enemies to the youthful mind, by opposing to them in the +chaster author, images more attractive, wit more acute, learning more +various; in all which excellences our first-rate poets certainly excel +their vicious competitors." + +"Would you, Mr. Tyrrel," said Sir John, "throw into the enemy's camp all +the light arms which often successfully annoy where the heavy artillery +can not reach?" + +"Let us," replied Mr. Stanley, "rescue from the hands of the profane and +the impure, the monopoly of wit which, they affect to possess, and which +they would possess, if no good men had written works of elegant +literature, and if all good men totally despised them." + +"For my own part," said Mr. Tyrrel, "I believe that a good man, in my +sense of the word, will neither write works of imagination, nor read +them." + +"At your age and mine, and better employed as we certainly may be," said +Mr. Stanley, "we want not such resources. I myself, though I retain the +relish, have little leisure for the indulgence, which yet I would allow, +though with great discrimination, to the young and the unoccupied. What +is to whet the genius of the champions of virtue, so as to enable them +successfully to combat the leaders of vice and infidelity, if we refuse +to let them be occasionally sharpened and polished by such studies? That +model of brilliant composition, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, was of this +opinion, when he said, 'by whatever instrument piety is advantaged, use +that, though thou grindest thy spears and arrows at the forges of the +Philistines.' + +"I know," continued Mr. Stanley, "that a Christian need not borrow +weapons of attack or defense from the classic armory; but, to drop all +metaphor, if he is called upon to defend truth and virtue against men +whose minds are adorned with all that is elegant, strengthened with all +that is powerful, and enriched with all that is persuasive, from the +writers in question--is he likely to engage with due advantage if his +own mind be destitute of the embellishments with which theirs abound? +While wit and imagination are _their_ favorite instruments, shall we +consider the aid of either as useless, much less as sinful in their +opponents?" + +"While young men _will_ be amused," said Sir John, "it is surely of +importance that they should be _safely_ amused. We should not therefore +wish to obliterate in authors such faculties as wit and fancy, nor to +extinguish a taste for them in readers." + +"Show me any one instance of good that ever was effected by any one +poet," said Mr. Tyrrel, "and I will give up the point; while, on the +other hand, a thousand instances of mischief might be produced." + +"The latter part of your assertion, sir," said I, "I fear is too true: +but to what evil has elevation of fancy led Milton, or Milton his +readers? Into what immoralities did it involve Spenser or Cowley? Has +Thomson added to the crimes or the calamities of mankind? Into what +immoralities did it plunge Gray, or Goldsmith? Has it tainted the purity +of Beattie in his Minstrel, or that of the living minstrel of the LAY? +What reader has Mason corrupted, or what reader has Cowper not +benefitted? Milton was an enthusiast both in religion and politics. Many +enthusiasts with whom he was connected, doubtless condemned the exercise +of his imagination in his immortal poem as a crime; but his genius was +too mighty to be restrained by opposition, and his imagination too vast +and powerful to be kept down by a party. Had he confined himself to his +prose writings, weighty and elaborate as some of them are, how little +service would he have done the world, and how little would he now be +read or quoted! In his life-time politics might blind his enemies, and +fanaticism his friends. But now, who, comparatively, reads the +Iconoclastes? who does not read Comus?" + +"What then," said Mr. Tyrrel, "you would have our young men spend their +time in reading idle verses, and our girls, I suppose, in reading loose +romances?" + +"It is to preserve both from evils which I deprecate," said Mr. Stanley, +"that I would consign the most engaging subjects to the best hands, and +raise the taste of our youth, by allowing a little of their leisure, and +of their leisure only, to such amusements; and that chiefly with a view +to disengage them from worse pursuits. It is not romance, but indolence; +it is not poetry, but sensuality, which are the prevailing evils of the +day--evils far more fatal in themselves, far more durable in their +effects, than the perusal of works of wit and genius. Imagination will +cool of itself. The effervescence of fancy will soon subside; but +absorbing dissipation, but paralyzing idleness, but degrading self-love, + + "Grows with their growth, and strengthens with their strength." + +"A judicious reformer," said Sir John, "will accommodate his remedy to +an existing and not an imaginary evil. When the old romances, the grand +Cyruses, the Clelias, the Calprenedes, and the Cassandras, had turned +all the young heads in Europe; or when the fury of knight-errantry +demanded the powerful rein of Cervantes to check it--it was a duty to +attempt to lower the public delirium. When, in our own age and country, +Sterne wrote his corrupt, but too popular lesser work, he became the +mischievous founder of the school of sentiment. A hundred writers +communicated, a hundred thousand readers caught, the infection. +Sentimentality was the disease which then required to be expelled. The +reign of Sterne is past. Sensibility is discarded, and with it the +softness which it must be confessed belonged to it. Romance is vanished, +and with it the heroic, though somewhat unnatural, elevation which +accompanied it. We have little to regret in the loss of either; nor have +we much cause to rejoice in what we have gained by the exchange. A +pervading and substantial selfishness, the striking characteristic of +our day, is no great improvement on the wildness of the old romance, or +the vapid puling of the sentimental school." + +"Surely," said I (L'Almanac des Gourmands at that instant darting across +my mind), "it is as honorable for a gentleman to excel in critical as in +culinary skill. It is as noble to cultivate the intellectual taste, as +that of the palate. It is at least as creditable to discuss the +comparative merits of Sophocles and Shakspeare, as the rival ingredients +of a soup or a sauce. I will even venture to affirm that it is as +dignified an amusement to run a tilt in favor of Virgil or Tasso against +their assailants, as to run a barouche against a score of rival +barouches; and though I own that, in Gulliver's land of the Houyhnhnms, +the keeping up the breed of horses might have been the nobler +patriotism, yet in Great Britain it is hitherto, at least, no +contemptible exertion of skill and industry 'to keep up the breed of +gentlemen.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +I strolled out alone, intending to call at the Rectory, but was +prevented by meeting the worthy Dr. Barlow, who was coming to the Grove. +I could not lose so fair an opportunity of introducing a subject that +was seldom absent from my thoughts. I found it was a subject on which I +had no new discoveries to impart. He told me he had seen and rejoiced in +the election my heart had made. I was surprised at his penetration. He +smiled, and told me he "took no great credit for his sagacity in +perceiving what was obvious to spectators far more indifferent than +himself; that I resembled those animals who, by hiding their heads in +the earth, fancied nobody could see them." + +I asked him a thousand questions about Lucilla, whose fine mind I knew +he had in some measure contributed to form. I inquired, with an +eagerness which he called jealousy, who were her admirers? "As many men +as have seen her," replied he; "I know no man who has so many rivals as +yourself. To relieve your apprehensions, however, I will tell you, that +though there have been several competitors for her favor, not one has +been accepted. There has, indeed, this summer been a very formidable +candidate, young Lord Staunton, who has a large estate in the county, +and whom she met on a visit." At these words I felt my fears revive. A +young and handsome peer seemed so redoubtable a rival, that for a moment +I only remembered she was a woman, and forgot that she was Lucilla. + +"You may set your heart at rest," said Dr. Barlow, who saw my emotion; +"she heard he had seduced the innocent daughter of one of his tenants, +under the most specious pretense of honorable love. This, together with +the looseness of his religious principles, led her to give his lordship +a positive refusal, though he is neither destitute of talents, nor +personal accomplishments." + +How ashamed was I of my jealousy! How I felt my admiration increase! Yet +I thought it was too great before to admit of augmentation. "Another +proposal," said Dr. Barlow, "was made to her father by a man every way +unexceptionable. But she desired him to be informed that it was her +earnest request that he would proceed no further, but spare her the pain +of refusing a gentleman for whose character she entertained a sincere +respect; but being persuaded she could never be able to feel more than +respect, she positively declined receiving his addresses, assuring him, +at the same time, that she sincerely desired to retain, as a friend, him +whom she felt herself obliged to refuse as a husband. She is as far from +the vanity of seeking to make conquest, as from the ungenerous insolence +of using ill those whom her merit has captivated, and her judgment can +not accept." + +After admiring in the warmest terms the purity and generosity of her +heart, I pressed Dr. Barlow still further, as to the interior of her +mind. I questioned him as to her early habits, and particularly as to +her religious attainments, telling him that nothing was indifferent to +me which related to Lucilla. + +"Miss Stanley," replied he, "is governed by a simple, practical end, in +all her religious pursuits. She reads her Bible, not from habit, that +she may acquit herself of a customary form; not to exercise her +ingenuity by allegorizing literal passages, or spiritualizing plain +ones, but that she may improve in knowledge and grow in grace. She +accustoms herself to meditation, in order to get her mind more deeply +imbued with a sense of eternal things. She practices self-examination, +that she may learn to watch against the first risings of bad +dispositions, and to detect every latent evil in her heart. She lives in +the regular habit of prayer, not only that she may implore pardon of +sin, but that she may obtain strength against it. She told me one day +when she was ill, that if she did not constantly examine the actual +state of her mind, she should pray at random, without any certainty what +particular sins she should pray against, or what were her particular +wants. She has read much Scripture and little controversy. There are +some doctrines that she does not pretend to define, which she yet +practically adopts. She can not perhaps give you a disquisition on the +mysteries of the Holy Spirit, but she can and does fervently implore his +guidance and instruction; she believes in his efficacy, and depends on +his support. She is sensible that those truths, which from their deep +importance are most obvious, have more of the vitality of religion, and +influence practice more, than those abstruse points which unhappily +split the religious world into so many parties. + +"If I were to name what are her predominant virtues, I should say +sincerity and humility. Conscious of her own imperfections, she never +justifies her faults, and seldom extenuates them. She receives reproof +with meekness, and advice with gratitude. Her own conscience is always +so ready to condemn her, that she never wonders, nor takes offense, at +the censures of others." + +"That softness of manner which you admire in her is not the varnish of +good breeding, nor is it merely the effect of good temper, though in +both she excels, but it is the result of humility. She appears humble, +not because a mild exterior is graceful, but because she has an inward +conviction of unworthiness which prevents an assuming manner. Yet her +humility has no cant; she never disburdens her conscience by a few +disparaging phrases, nor lays a trap for praise by indiscriminately +condemning herself. Her humility never impairs her cheerfulness; for the +sense of her wants directs her to seek, and her faith enables her to +find, the sure foundation of a better hope than any which can be derived +from a delusive confidence in her own goodness." + +"One day," continued Dr. Barlow, "when I blamed her gently for her +backwardness in expressing her opinion on some serious point, she said, +'I always feel diffident in speaking on these subjects, not only lest I +should be _thought_ to assume, but lest I really _should_ assume a +degree of piety which may not belong to me. My great advantages make me +jealous of myself. My dear father has so carefully instructed me, and I +live so much in the habit of hearing his pious sentiments that I am +often afraid of appearing better than I am, and of pretending to feel in +my heart what perhaps I only approve in my judgment. When my beloved +mother was ill,' continued she, 'I often caught myself saying +mechanically, God's will be done! when I blush to own how little I felt +in my heart of that resignation of which my lips were so lavish.'" + +I hung with inexpressible delight on every word Dr. Barlow uttered, and +expressed my fears that such a prize was too much above my deserts to +allow me to encourage very sanguine hopes. "You have my cordial wishes +for your success," said he, "though I shall lament the day when you +snatch so fair a flower from our fields, to transplant it into your +northern gardens." + +We had now reached the park-gate, where Sir John and Lady Belfield +joined us. As it was very hot, Dr. Barlow proposed to conduct us a +nearer way. He carried us through a small nursery of fruit-trees, which +I had not before observed, though it was adjoining the ladies' +flower-garden, from which it was separated and concealed by a row of +tall trees. I expressed my surprise that the delicate Lucilla would +allow so coarse an inclosure to be so near her ornamented ground. "You +see she does all she can to shut it out," replied he. "I will tell you +how it happens, for I can not vindicate the taste of my fair friend, +without exposing a better quality in her. But if I betray her, you must +not betray me. + +"It is a rule when any servant who has lived seven years at the Grove, +marries, provided they have conducted themselves well, and make a +prudent choice, for Mr. Stanley to give them a piece of ground on the +waste, to build a cottage; he also allows them to take stones from his +quarry, and lime from his kiln; to this he adds a bit of ground for a +garden. Mrs. Stanley presents some kitchen furniture, and gives a +wedding dinner; and the rector refuses his fee for performing the +ceremony." + +"Caroline," said Sir John, "this is not the first time since we have +been at the Grove that I have been struck with observing how many +benefits naturally result to the poor, from the rich living on +their own estates. Their dependants have a thousand petty local +advantages, which cost almost nothing to the giver, which are yet +valuable to the receiver, and of which the absent never think." + +"You have heard," said Dr. Barlow, "that Miss Stanley, from her +childhood, has been passionately fond of cultivating a garden. When she +was hardly fourteen, she began to reflect that the delight she took in +this employment was attended neither with pleasure nor profit to any one +but herself, and she became jealous of a gratification which was so +entirely selfish. She begged this piece of waste ground of her father, +and stocked it with a number of fine young fruit-trees of the common +sort, apples, pears, plums, and the smaller fruits. When there is a +wedding among the older servants, or when any good girl out of her +school marries, she presents their little empty garden with a dozen +young apple-trees, and a few trees of the other sorts, never forgetting +to embellish their little court with roses and honey-suckles. These last +she transplants from the shrubbery, not to fill up the _village garden_, +as it is called, with any thing that is of no positive use. She employs +a poor lame man in the village a day in a week to look after this +nursery, and by cutting and grafts a good stock is raised on a small +space. It is done at her own expense, Mr. Stanley making this a +condition when he gave her the ground; 'otherwise,' said he, 'trifling +as it is, it would be my charity and not hers, and she would get thanked +for a kindness which would cost her nothing.' The warm-hearted little +Ph[oe]be cooperates in this, and all her sister's labors of love. + +"Some such union of charity with every personal indulgence, she +generally imposes on herself; and from this association she has acquired +another virtue, for she tells me, smiling, she is sometimes obliged to +content herself with practicing frugality instead of charity. When she +finds she can not afford both her own gratification, and the charitable +act which she wanted to associate with it, and is therefore compelled to +give up the charity, she compels herself to give up the indulgence also. +By this self-denial she gets a little money in hand for the next demand, +and thus is enabled to afford both next time." + +As he finished speaking, we spied the lame gardener pruning and clearing +the trees. "Well, James," said the Doctor, "how does your nursery +thrive?" "Why, sir," said the poor man, "we are rather thin of stout +trees at present. You know we had three weddings at Christmas, which +took thirty-six of my best apple-trees at a blow, besides half a dozen +tall pear-trees, and as many plums. But we shall soon fetch it up, for +Miss Lucilla makes me plant two for every one that is removed, so that +we are always provided for a wedding, come when it will." + +I now recollected that I had been pleased with observing so many young +orchards and flourishing cottage gardens in the village: little did I +suspect the fair hand which could thus in a few years diffuse an air of +smiling comfort around these humble habitations, and embellish poverty +itself. She makes, they told me, her periodical visits of inspection to +see that neatness and order do not degenerate. + +Not to appear too eager, I asked the poor man some questions about his +health, which seemed infirm. "I am but weak, sir," said he, "for matter +of that, but I should have been dead long ago but for the Squire's +family. He gives me the run of his kitchen, and Miss Lucilla allows me +half-a-crown a week for one day's work and any odd hour I can spare; but +she don't let me earn it, for she is always watching for fear it should +be too hot, or too cold, or too wet for me; and she brings me my dose of +bark herself into this tool-house, that she may be sure I take it; for +she says, servants and poor people like to have medicines provided for +them, but don't care to take them. Then she watches that I don't throw +my coat on the wet grass, which she says, gives laboring men so much +rheumatism; and she made me this nice flannel waistcoat, sir, with her +own hands. At Christmas they give me a new suit from top to toe, so that +I want for nothing but a more thankful heart, for I never can be +grateful enough to God and my benefactors." + +I asked some further questions, only to have the pleasure of hearing him +talk longer about Lucilla. "But, sir," said he, interrupting me, "I hear +bad news, very bad news. Pray, your honor, forgive me." "What do you +mean, James?" said I, seeing his eyes fill. "Why, sir, all the servants +at the Grove will have it that you are come to carry off Miss Lucilla, +God bless her whenever she goes. Your Mr. Edwards, sir, says you are one +of the best of gentlemen, but indeed, indeed, I don't know who can +deserve her. She will carry a blessing wherever she goes." The honest +fellow put up the sleeve of his coat to brush away his tears, nor was I +ashamed of those with which his honest affection filled my own eyes. +While we were talking, a poor little girl, who I knew, by her neat +uniform, belonged to Miss Stanley's school, passed us with a little +basket in her hand. James called to her, "Make haste, Rachel, you are +after your time." + +"What, this is market-day, James, is it?" said Doctor Barlow, "and +Rachel is come for her nosegays." "Yes, sir," said James; "I forgot to +tell their honors, that every Saturday, as soon as her school is over, +the younger Misses give Rachel leave to come and fetch some flowers out +of their garden, which she carries to the town to sell; she commonly +gets a shilling, half of which they make her lay out to bring home a +little tea for her poor sick mother, and the other half she lays up to +buy shoes and stockings for herself and her crippled sister. Every +little is a help where there is nothing, sir." + +Sir John said nothing, but looked at Lady Belfield, whose eyes glistened +while she softly said, "O, how little do the rich ever think what the +aggregate even of their own squandered shillings would do in the way of +charity, were they systematically applied to it!" + +James now unlocked a little private door, which opened into the +pleasure-ground. There, at a distance, sitting in a circle on the +new-mown grass, under a tree, we beheld all the little Stanleys, with a +basket of flowers between them, out of which they were earnestly +employed in sorting and tying up nosegays. We stood some time admiring +their little busy faces and active fingers, without their perceiving us, +and got up to them just as they were putting their prettily-formed +bouquets into Rachel's basket, with which she marched off, with many +charges from the children to waste no time by the way, and to be sure to +leave the nosegay that had the myrtle in it at Mrs. Williams's. + +"How many nosegays have you given to Rachel to-day, Louisa?" said Dr. +Barlow to the eldest of the four. "Only three apiece, sir," replied she. +"We think it a bad day when we can't make up our dozen. They are all our +own; we seldom touch mamma's flowers, and we never suffer James to take +ours, because Ph[oe]be says it might be tempting him. Little Jane +lamented that Lucilla had given them nothing to-day, except two or three +sprigs of her best flowering myrtle, which," added she, "we make Rachel +give into the bargain to a poor sick lady who loves flowers, and used to +have good ones of her own, but who has now no money to spare, and could +not afford to give more than the common price for a nosegay for her sick +room. So we always slip a nice flower or two out of the green-house into +her little bunch, and say nothing. When we walk that way we often leave +her some flowers ourselves, and would do it oftener if it did not hurt +poor Rachel's trade." + +As we walked away from the sweet prattlers, Dr. Barlow said: "These +little creatures already emulate their sisters in associating some petty +kindness with their own pleasures. The act is trifling, but the habit is +good; as is every habit which helps to take us out of self, which +teaches us to transfer our attention from our own gratification to the +wants or the pleasures of another." + +"I confess," said Lady Belfield, as we entered the house, "that it never +occurred to me that it was any part of charity to train my children to +the habit of sacrificing their time or their pleasure for the benefit of +others, though to do them justice, they are very feeling and very +liberal with their money." + +"My dear Caroline," said Sir John, "it is our money, not theirs. It is, +I fear, a cheap liberality, and abridges not themselves of one +enjoyment. They well know we are so pleased to see them charitable that +we shall instantly repay them with interest whatever they give away, so +that we have hitherto afforded them no opportunity to show their actual +dispositions. Nay, I begin to fear that they may become charitable +through covetousness, if they find out that the more they give the more +they shall get. We must correct this artificial liberality as soon as we +get home." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +A few days after, Sir John Belfield and I agreed to take a ride to Mr. +Carlton's, where we breakfasted. Nothing could be more rational than the +whole turn of his mind, nor more agreeable and unreserved than his +conversation. His behavior to his amiable wife was affectionately +attentive, and Sir John, who is a most critical observer, remarked that +it was quite natural and unaffected. It appeared to be the result of +esteem inspired by her merit, and quickened by a sense of his own former +unworthiness, which made him feel as if he could never do enough to +efface the memory of past unkindness. He manifested evident symptoms of +a mind earnestly intent on the discovery and pursuit of moral and +religious truth; and from the natural ardor of his character, and the +sincerity of his remorse, his attainments seemed likely to be rapid and +considerable. + +The sweet benignity of Mrs. Carlton's countenance was lighted up at our +entrance with a smile of satisfaction. We had been informed with what +pleasure she observed every accession of right-minded acquaintance which +her husband made. Though her natural modesty prevented her from +introducing any subject herself, yet when any thing useful was brought +forward by others, she promoted it by a look compounded of pleasure and +intelligence. + +After a variety of topics had been dispatched, the conversation fell on +the prejudices which were commonly entertained by men of the world +against religion. "For my own part," said Mr. Carlton, "I must confess +that no man had ever more or stronger prejudices to combat than myself. +I mean not my own exculpation when I add, that the imprudence, the want +of judgment, and, above all, the incongruous mixtures and +inconsistencies in many characters who are reckoned religious, are ill +calculated to do away the unfavorable opinions of men of an opposite way +of thinking. As I presume that you, gentlemen, are not ignorant of the +errors of my early life--error indeed is an appellation far too mild--I +shall not scruple to own to you the source of those prejudices which +retarded my progress, even after I became ashamed of my deviations from +virtue. I had felt the turpitude of my bad habits long before I had +courage to renounce them; and I renounced them long before I had courage +to avow my abhorrence of them." + +Sir John and I expressed ourselves extremely obliged by the candor of +his declaration, and assured him that his further communications would +not only gratify but benefit us. + +"Educated as I had been," said Mr. Carlton, "in an almost entire +ignorance of religion, mine was rather a habitual indifference than a +systematic unbelief. My thoughtless course of life, though it led me to +hope that Christianity might not be true, yet had by no means been able +to convince me that it was false. As I had not been taught to search for +truth at the fountain, for I was unacquainted with the Bible, I had no +readier means for forming my judgment than by observing, though with a +careless and casual eye, what effect religion produced in those who +professed to be influenced by it. My observations augmented my +prejudices. What I saw of the professors increased my dislike of the +profession. All the charges brought by their enemies, for I had been +accustomed to weigh the validity of testimony, had not riveted my +dislike so much as the difference between their own avowed principles +and their obvious practice. Religious men should be the more cautious of +giving occasion for reproach, as they know the world is always on the +watch, and is more glad to have its prejudices confirmed than removed. + +"I seize the moment of Mrs. Carlton's absence (who was just then called +out of the room, but returned almost immediately) to observe, that what +rooted my disgust was, the eagerness with which the mother of my +inestimable wife, who made a great parade of religion, pressed the +marriage of her only child with a man whose conduct she knew to be +irregular, and of whose principles she entertained a just, that is, an +unfavorable opinion. To see, I repeat, the religious mother of Mrs. +Carlton obviously governed in her zeal for promoting our union by +motives as worldly as those of my poor father, who pretended to no +religion at all, would have extremely lowered any respect which I might +have previously been induced to entertain for characters of that +description. Nor was this disgust diminished by my acquaintance with Mr. +Tyrrel. I had known him while a professed man of the world, and had at +that time, I fear, disliked his violent temper, his narrow mind, and his +coarse manners, more than his vices. + +"I had heard of the power of religion to change the heart, and I +ridiculed the wild chimera. My contempt for this notion was confirmed by +the conduct of Mr. Tyrrel in his new character. I found it had produced +little change in him, except furnishing him with a new subject of +discussion. I saw that he had only laid down one set of opinions and +taken up another, with no addition whatever to his virtues, and with the +addition to his vices of spiritual pride and self-confidence; for with +hypocrisy I have no right to charge any man. I observed that Tyrrel and +one or two of his new friends rather courted attack than avoided it. +They considered discretion as the infirmity of a worldly mind, and every +attempt at kindness or conciliation as an abandonment of faith. They +eagerly ascribed to their piety the dislike which was often excited by +their peculiarities. I found them apt to dignify the disapprobation +which their singularity occasioned with the name of persecution. I have +seen them take comfort in the belief that it was their religion which +was disliked, when perhaps it was chiefly their oddities. + +"At Tyrrel's I became acquainted with your friends Mr. and Mrs. Ranby. I +leave you to judge whether their characters, that of the lady +especially, was calculated to do away my prejudices. I had learned from +my favorite Roman poet a precept in composition, of never making a God +appear, except on occasions worthy of a God. I have since had reason to +think this rule as justly theological as it is classical. So thought not +the Ranbys. + +"It will, indeed, readily be allowed by every reflecting mind, as God is +to be viewed in all his works, so his 'never-failing providence ordereth +all things both in heaven and on earth.' But surely there is something +very offensive in the indecent familiarity with which the name of God +and Providence is brought in on every trivial occasion, as was the +constant practice of Mr. and Mrs. Ranby. I was not even then so +illogical a reasoner as to allow a general and deny a particular +Providence. If the one were true, I inferred that the other could not be +false. But I felt that the religion of these people was of a slight +texture and a bad taste. I was disgusted with littleness in some +instances, and with inconsistency in others. Still their absurdity gave +me no right to suspect their sincerity. + +"Whenever Mrs. Ranby had a petty inclination to gratify, she had always +recourse to what she called the _leadings of Providence_. In matters of +no more moment than whether she should drink tea with one neighbor +instead of another, she was _impelled_, or _directed_, or _overruled_. I +observed that she always took care to interpret these _leadings_ to her +own taste, and under their sanction she always did what her fancy led +her to do. She professed to follow this guidance on such minute +occasions, that I had almost said her piety seemed a little impious. To +the actual dispensations of Providence, especially when they came in a +trying or adverse shape, I did not observe more submission than I had +seen in persons who could not be suspected of religion. I must own to +you also, that as I am rather fastidious, I began to fancy that vulgar +language, quaint phrases, and false grammar, were necessarily connected +with religion. The sacrifice of taste and elegance, seemed +indispensable, and I was inclined to fear that if _they_ were right, it +would be impossible to get to heaven with good English." + +"Though I grant there is some truth in your remarks, sir," said I, "you +must allow that when men are determined at all events to hunt down +religious characters, they are never at a loss to find plausible +objections to justify their dislike; and while they conceal, even from +themselves, the real motive of their aversion, the vigilance with which +they pry into the characters of men who are reckoned pious, is exercised +with the secret hope of finding faults enough to confirm their +prejudices." + +"As a general truth, you are perfectly right," said Mr. Carlton; "but at +the period to which I allude, I had now got to that stage of my +progress, as to be rather searching for instances to invite than to +repel me in my inquiry." + +"You will grant, however," said I, "that it is a common effect of +prejudice to transfer the fault of a religious man to religion itself. +Such a man happens to have an uncouth manner, an awkward gesture, an +unmodulated voice; his allusions may be coarse, his phraseology quaint, +his language slovenly. The solid virtues which may lie disguised under +these incumbrances go for nothing. The man is absurd, and therefore +Christianity is ridiculous. Its truth, however, though it may be +eclipsed, can not be extinguished. Like its divine Author, it is the +same yesterday, to-day, and forever." + +"There was another repulsive circumstance," replied Mr. Carlton: "the +scanty charities both of Tyrrel and his new friends, so inferior to the +liberality of my father and of Mr. Flam, who never professed to be +governed by any higher motive than mere feeling, strengthened my +dislike. The calculations of mere reason taught me that the religious +man who does not greatly exceed the man of the world in his +liberalities, falls short of him; because the worldly man who gives +liberally, acts above his principle, while the Christian who does no +more, falls short of his. And though I by no means insist that +liberality is a certain indication of piety, yet I will venture to +assert that the want of the one is no doubtful symptom of the absence of +the other. + +"I next resolved to watch carefully the conduct of another description +of Christians, who come under the class of the formal and the decent. +They were considered as more creditable, but I did not perceive them to +be more exemplary. They were more absorbed in the world, and more +governed by its opinions. I found them clamorous in defense of the +church in words, but neither adorning it by their lives, nor embracing +its doctrines in their hearts. Rigid in the observance of some of its +external rites, but little influenced by its liberal principles, and +charitable spirit. They venerated the establishment merely as a +political institution, but of her outward forms they conceived, as +comprehending the whole of her excellence. Of her spiritual beauty and +superiority, they seemed to have no conception. I observed in them less +warmth of affection, for those with whom they agreed in external +profession, than of rancor for those who differed from them, though but +a single shade, and in points of no importance. They were cordial +haters, and frigid lovers. Had they lived in the early ages, when the +church was split into parties by paltry disputes, they would have +thought the controversy about the time of keeping Easter of more +consequence than the event itself, which that festival celebrates." + +"My dear sir," said I, as soon as he had done speaking, "you have +accounted very naturally for your prejudices. Your chief error seems to +have consisted in the selection of the persons you adopted as standards. +They all differed as much from the right as they differed from each +other; and the truth is, their vehement desire to differ from each +other, was a chief cause why they departed so much from the right. But +your instances were so unhappily chosen, that they prove nothing against +Christianity. The two opposite descriptions of persons who deterred you +from religion, and who passed muster in their respective corps, under +the generic term of religious, would, I believe, be scarcely +acknowledged as such by the soberly and the soundly pious." + +"My own subsequent experience," resumed Mr. Carlton, "has confirmed the +justness of your remark. When I began, through the gradual change +wrought in my views and actions, by the silent, but powerful preaching +of Mrs. Carlton's example, to have less interest in believing that +Christianity was false, I then applied myself to search for reasons to +believe that it was true. But plain, abstract reasoning, though it might +catch hold on beings who are all pure intellect, and though it might +have given a right bias even to _my_ opinions, would probably never have +determined my conduct, unless I saw it clothed, as it were, with a body. +I wanted examples which should influence me to act, as well as proofs +which should incline me to believe; something which would teach me what +to do, as well as what to think. I wanted exemplifications as well as +precepts. I doubted of all merely speculative truth. I wanted, from +beholding the effect, to refer back to the principle. I wanted arguments +more palpable and less theoretic. Surely, said I to myself, if religion +be a principle, it must be an operative one, and I would rationally +infer that Christianity were true, if the tone of Christian practice +were high. + +"I began to look clandestinely into Henrietta's Bible. There I indeed +found that the spirit of religion was invested with just such a body as +I had wished to see; that it exhibited actions as well as sentiments, +characters, as well as doctrines; the life portrayed evidently governed +by the principle inculcated; the conduct and the doctrine in just +correspondence. But if the Bible be true, thought I, may we not +reasonably expect that the principles which once produced the exalted +practice which that Bible records, will produce similar effects now? + +"I put, rashly perhaps, the truth of Christianity on this issue, and +sought society of a higher stamp. Fortunately the increasing external +decorum of my conduct began to make my reception less difficult among +good men than it had been. Hitherto, and that for the sake of my wife, +my visits had rather been endured than encouraged; nor was I myself +forward to seek the society which shunned me. Even with those superior +characters with whom I did occasionally associate, I had not come near +enough to form an exact estimate. + +"DISINTERESTEDNESS and CONSISTENCY had become with me a sort of +touchstone, by which to try the characters I was investigating. My +experiment was favorable. I had for some time observed my wife's +conduct, with a mixture of admiration as to the act, and incredulity as +to the motive. I had seen her foregoing her own indulgences, that she +might augment those of a husband whom she had so little reason to love. +Here were the two qualities I required, with a renunciation of self +without parade or profession. Still this was a solitary instance. When +on a nearer survey, I beheld Dr. Barlow exhibiting by his exemplary +conduct during the week, the best commentary on his Sunday's sermon: +when I saw him refuse a living of nearly twice the value of that he +possessed, because the change would diminish his usefulness, I was +_staggered_. + +"When I saw Mr. and Mrs. Stanley spending their time and fortune as +entirely in acts of beneficence, as if they had built their eternal +hope on charity alone, and yet utterly renouncing any such confidence, +and trusting entirely to another foundation;--when I saw Lucilla, a girl +of eighteen, refuse a young nobleman of a clear estate, and neither +disagreeable in his person or manner, on the single avowed ground of his +loose principles; when the noble rejection of the daughter was supported +by the parents, whose principles no arguments drawn from rank or fortune +could subvert or shake--I was _convinced_. + +"These, and some other instances of the same nature, were exactly the +test I had been seeking. Here was _disinterestedness_ upon full proof. +Here was _consistency_ between practice and profession. By such +examples, and by cordially adopting those principles which produced +them, together with a daily increasing sense of my past enormities, I +hope to become in time less unworthy of the wife to whom I owe my peace +on earth, and my hope in heaven." + +The tears which had been collecting in Mrs. Carlton's eyes for some +time, now silently stole down her cheeks. Sir John and myself were +deeply affected with the frank and honest narrative to which we had been +listening. It raised in us an esteem and affection for the narrator +which has since been continually augmenting. I do not think the worse of +his state, for the difficulties which impeded it, nor that his +advancement will be less sure, because it has been gradual. His fear of +delusion has been a salutary guard. The apparent slowness of his +progress has arisen from his dread of self-deception, and the diligence +of his search is an indication of his sincerity. + +"But did you not find," said I, "that the piety of these more correct +Christians drew upon them nearly as much censure and suspicion as the +indiscretion of the enthusiasts? and that the formal class who were +nearly as far removed from effective piety, as from wild fanaticism, +ran away with all the credit of religion?'" + +"With those," replied Mr. Carlton, "who are on the watch to discredit +Christianity, no consistency can stand their determined opposition; but +the fair and candid inquirer will not reject the truth, when it forces +the truth on the mind with a clear and convincing evidence." + +Though I had been joining in the general subject, yet my thoughts had +wandered from it to Lucilla ever since her noble rejection of Lord +Staunton had been named by Mr. Carlton as one of the causes which had +strengthened his unsteady faith. And while he and Sir John were talking +over their youthful connections, I resumed with Mrs. Carlton, who sat +next me, the interesting topic. + +"Lord Staunton," said she, "is a relation, and not a very distant one, +of ours. He used to take more delight in Mr. Carlton's society when it +was less improving than he does now, that it is become really valuable; +yet he often visits us. Miss Stanley now and then indulges me with her +company for a day or two. In these visits Lord Staunton happened to meet +her two or three times. He was enchanted with her person and manners, +and exerted every art and faculty of pleasing, which it must be owned he +possesses. Though we should both have rejoiced in an alliance with the +excellent family at the Grove, through this sweet girl, I thought it my +duty not to conceal from her the irregularity of my cousin's conduct in +one particular instance, as well as the general looseness of his +religious principles. The caution was the more necessary, as he had so +much prudence and good breeding, as to behave with general propriety +when under our roof; and he allowed me to speak to him more freely than +any other person. When I talked seriously, he sometimes laughed, always +opposed, but was never angry. + +"One day he arrived quite unexpectedly when Miss Stanley was with me. He +found us in my dressing-room reading together a _Dissertation on the +power of religion to change the heart_. Dreading some levity, I strove +to hide the book, but he took it out of my hand, and glancing his eye on +the title, he said, laughing, 'This is a foolish subject enough; a _good +heart_ does not want changing, and with a _bad_ one none of _us three_ +have any thing to do.' Lucilla spoke not a syllable. All the light +things he uttered, and which he meant for wit, so far from raising a +smile, increased her gravity. She listened, but with some uneasiness, to +a desultory conversation between us, in which I attempted to assert the +power of the Almighty to rectify the mind, and alter the character. Lord +Staunton treated my assertion as a wild chimera, and said, 'He was sure +I had more understanding than to adopt such a methodistical notion;' +professing at the same time a vague admiration of virtue and goodness, +which, he said, bowing to Miss Stanley, were _natural_ where they +existed at all; that a good heart did not want mending, and a bad one +could not be mended, with other similar expressions, all implying +contempt of my position, and exclusive compliment to her. + +"After dinner, Lucilla stole away from a conversation, which was not +very interesting to her, and carried her book to the summer-house, +knowing that Lord Staunton liked to sit long at table. But his lordship +missing her for whom the visit was meant, soon broke up the party, and +hearing which way she took, pursued her to the summer-house. After a +profusion of compliments, expressive of his high admiration, he declared +his passion in very strong and explicit terms, and requested her +permission to make proposals to her father, to which he conceived she +could have no possible objection. + +"She thanked him with great politeness for his favorable opinion, but +frankly told him, that though extremely sensible of the honor he +intended her, thanks were all she had to offer in return; she earnestly +desired the business might go no further, and that he would spare +himself the trouble of an application to her father, who always kindly +allowed her to decide for herself in a concern of so much importance. + +"Disappointed, shocked, and irritated at a rejection so wholly +unexpected, he insisted on knowing the cause. Was it his person? Was it +his fortune? Was it his understanding to which she objected? She +honestly assured him it was neither. His rank and fortune were above her +expectations. To his natural advantages there could be no reasonable +objection. He still vehemently insisted on her assigning the true cause. +She was then driven to the necessity of confessing that she feared his +principles were not those of a man with whom she could venture to trust +her own. + +"He bore this reproof with more patience than she had expected. As she +had made no exception to his person and understanding, both of which he +rated very highly, he could better bear with the charge brought against +his principles, on which he did not set so great a value. She had indeed +wounded his pride, but not in the part where it was most vulnerable. 'If +that be all,' said he gayly, 'the objection is at an end; your charming +society will reform me, your influence will raise my principles, and +your example will change my character.' + +"'What, my lord,' said she, her courage increasing with her indignation, +'this from _you_? From you, who declared only this morning, that the +work of changing the heart was too great for the Almighty himself? You +do not now scruple to declare that it is in _my_ power. That work which +is too hard for Omnipotence, your flattery would make me believe a weak +girl can accomplish. No, my lord, I will never add to the number of +those rash women who have risked their eternal happiness on this vain +hope. It would be too late to repent of my folly, after my presumption +had incurred its just punishment.' + +"So saying, she left the summer-house with a polite dignity, which, as +he afterward told me, increased his passion, while it inflamed his pride +almost to madness. Finding she refused to appear, he quitted the house, +but not his design. His applications have since been repeated, but +though he has met with the firmest repulses, both from the parents and +the daughter, he can not be prevailed upon to relinquish his hope. It is +so far a misfortune to us, as Lucilla now never comes near us, except he +is known not to be in the country. Had the objection been to his person, +or fortune, he says, as it would have been substantial, it might have +been insuperable; but where the only ground of difference is mere matter +of opinion, he is sure that time and perseverance will conquer such a +chimerical objection." + +I returned to the Grove, not only cured of every jealous feeling, but +transported with such a decisive proof of the dignity and purity of Miss +Stanley's mind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +Miss Sparkes, a neighboring lady, whom the reputation of being a wit and +an amazon, had kept single at the age of five-and-forty, though her +person was not disagreeable, and her fortune considerable, called in one +morning while we were at breakfast. She is remarkable for her pretension +to odd and opposite qualities. She is something of a scholar, and a +huntress, a politician, and a farrier. She outrides Mr. Flam, and +outargues Mr. Tyrrel; excels in driving four in hand, and in canvassing +at an election. She is always anxious about the party, but never about +the candidate, in whom she requires no other merit but his being in the +opposition, which she accepts as a pledge for all other merit. In her +adoption of any talent, or her exercise of any quality, it is always +sufficient recommendation to her that it is not feminine. + +From the window we saw her descend from her lofty phaeton, and when she +came, + + The cap, the whip, the masculine attire, + +the loud voice, the intrepid look, the independent air, the whole +deportment indicated a disposition rather to confer protection than to +accept it. + +She made an apology for her intrusion, by saying that her visit was +rather to the stable than the breakfast-room. One of her horses was a +little lame, and she wanted to consult Mr. Stanley's groom, who, it +seems, was her oracle in that science, in which she herself is a +professed adept. + +During her short visit, she labored so sedulously not to diminish by her +conversation the character she was so desirous to establish, that her +efforts defeated the end they aimed to secure. She was witty with all +her might, and her sarcastic turn, for wit it was not, made little +amends for her want of simplicity. I perceived that she was fond of the +bold, the marvelous, and the incredible. She ventured to tell a story or +two, so little within the verge of ordinary probability, that she risked +her credit for veracity without, perhaps, really violating truth. The +credit acquired by such relations seldom pays the relator for the hazard +run by the communication. + +As we fell into conversation, I observed the peculiarities of her +character. She never sees any difficulties in any question. Whatever the +topic is started, while the rest of the company are hesitating as to the +propriety of their determination, she alone is never at a loss. Her +answer always follows the proposition, without a moment's interval for +examination herself, or for allowing any other person a chance of +delivering an opinion. + +Mr. Stanley, who always sets an example of strict punctuality to his +family, had to-day come in to perform his daily devotions somewhat later +than usual. I could perceive that he had been a little moved. His +countenance wanted something of its placid serenity, though it seemed to +be seriousness untinctured with anger. He confessed while we were at +breakfast, that he had been spending above an hour in bringing one of +his younger children to a sense of a fault she had committed. "She has +not," said he, "told an absolute falsehood, but in what she said there +was prevarication, there was pride, there was passion. Her perverseness +has at length given way. Tears of resentment are changed into tears of +contrition. But she is not to appear in the drawing-room to-day. She is +to be deprived of the honor of carrying food to the poor in the evening. +Nor is she to furnish her contribution of nosegays to Rachel's basket. +This is a mode of punishment we prefer to that of curtailing any +personal indulgences; the importance we should assign to the privation +would be setting too much value on the enjoyment." + +"You should be careful, Mr. Stanley," said Miss Sparkes, "not to break +the child's spirit. Too tight a rein will check her generous ardor, and +curb her genius. I would not subdue the independence of her mind, and +make a tame dull animal of a creature whose very faults give indications +of a soaring nature." Even Lady Belfield, to whose soft and tender heart +the very sound of punishment, or even privation, carried a sort of +terror, asked Mr. Stanley "if he did not think he had taken-up a +trifling offense too seriously, and punished it too severely." + +"The thing is a trifle in itself," replied he, "but infant prevarication +unnoticed, and unchecked, is the prolific seed of subterfuge, of +expediency, of deceit, of falsehood, of hypocrisy." + +"But the dear little creature," said Lady Belfield, "is not addicted to +equivocation. I have always admired her correctness in her pleasant +prattle." + +"It is for that very reason," replied Mr. Stanley, "that I am so careful +to check the first indication of the contrary tendency. As the fault is +a solitary one, I trust the punishment will be so too. For which reason +I have marked it in a way to which her memory will easily recur. Mr. +Brandon, an amiable friend of mine, but of an indolent temper, through a +negligence in watching over an early propensity to deceit, suffered his +only son to run on from one stage of falsehood to another, till he +settled down in a most consummate hypocrite. His plausible manners +enabled him to keep his more turbulent vices out of sight. Impatient +when a youth of that contradiction to which he had never been accustomed +when a boy, he became notoriously profligate. His dissimulation was at +length too thin to conceal from his mistaken father his more palpable +vices. His artifices finally involved him in a duel, and his premature +death broke the heart of my poor friend. + +"This sad example led me in my own family to watch this evil in the bud. +Divines often say that unbelief lies at the root of all sin. This seems +strikingly true in our conniving at the faults of our children. If we +really believed the denunciations of Scripture, could we for the sake of +a momentary gratification, not so much to our child as to ourselves +(which is the case in all blamable indulgence), overlook that fault +which may be the germ of unspeakable miseries! In my view of things, +deceit is no slight offense; I feel myself answerable in no small degree +for the eternal happiness of these beloved creatures whom Providence has +especially committed to my trust." + +"But it is such a severe trial," said Lady Belfield, "to a fond parent +to inflict voluntary pain!" + +"Shall we feel for their pain and not for their danger?" replied Mr. +Stanley. "I wonder how parents who love their children as I love mine, +can put in competition a temporary indulgence, which may foster one evil +temper, or fasten one bad habit, with the eternal welfare of that +child's soul. A soul of such inconceivable worth, whether we consider +its nature, its duration, or the price which was paid for its +redemption! What parent, I say, can by his own rash negligence, or false +indulgence, risk the happiness of such a soul, not for a few days or +years, but for a period compared with which the whole duration of time +is but a point? A soul of such infinite faculties, which has a capacity +for improving in holiness and happiness, through all the countless ages +of eternity?" + +Observing Sir John listen with some emotion, Mr. Stanley went on: "What +remorse, my dear friend, can equal the pangs of him who has reason to +believe that his child has not only lost this eternity of glory, but +incurred an eternity of misery, through the carelessness of that parent +who assigned his very fondness as a reason for his neglect? Think of the +state of such a father, when he figures to himself the thousands and ten +thousands of glorified spirits that stand before the throne, and his +darling excluded--excluded perhaps by his own ill-judging fondness. Oh, +my friends, disguise it as we may, and deceive ourselves as we will, +want of faith is as much at the bottom of this sin as of all others. +Notwithstanding an indefinite, indistinct notion which men call faith, +they do not actually _believe_ in this eternity; they believe it in a +general way, but they do not believe in it practically, personally, +influentially." + +While Mr. Stanley was speaking with an energy which evinced how much his +own heart was affected, Miss Sparkes, by the impatience of her looks, +evidently manifested that she wished to interrupt him. Good breeding, +however, kept her silent till he had done speaking: she then said, "that +though she allowed that absolute falsehood, and falsehood used for +mischievous purposes, was really criminal, yet there was a danger on the +other hand of laying too severe restrictions on freedom of speech. That +there might be such a thing as tacit hypocrisy. That people might be +guilty of as much deceit by suppressing their sentiments if just, as by +expressing such as were not quite correct. That a repulsive treatment +was calculated to extinguish the fire of invention. She thought, also, +that there were occasions where a harmless falsehood might not only be +pardonable, but laudable. But then she allowed, that a falsehood to be +allowed, must be inoffensive." + +Mr. Stanley said, "that an inoffensive falsehood was a perfect anomaly. +But allowing it possible that an individual instance of deceit might be +passed over, which, however, he never could allow, yet one successful +falsehood, on the plea of doing good, would necessarily make way for +another, till the limits which divide right and wrong would be +completely broken down, and every distinction between truth and +falsehood be utterly confounded. If such latitude were allowed, even to +obtain some good purpose, it would gradually debauch all human +intercourse. The smallest deviation would naturally induce a pernicious +habit, endanger the security of society, and violate an express law of +God." + +"There is no tendency," said Sir John Belfield, "more to be guarded +against among young persons of warm hearts and lively imaginations. The +feeling will think falsehood good if it is meant to _do_ good, and the +fanciful will think it justifiable if it is ingenious." + +Ph[oe]be, in presenting her father with a dish of coffee, said in a half +whisper, "Surely, papa, there can be no harm in speaking falsely on a +subject where I am ignorant of the truth." + +"There are occasions, my dear Ph[oe]be," replied her father, "in which +ignorance itself is a fault. Inconsiderateness is always one. It is your +duty to deliberate before you speak. It is your duty not to deceive by +your negligence in getting at the truth; or by publishing false +information as truth, though you have reason to suspect it may be false. +You well know who it is that associates him that _loveth_ a lie, with +him that _maketh_ it." + +"But sir," said Miss Sparkes, "if by a falsehood I could preserve a +life, or save my country, falsehood would then be meritorious, and I +should glory in deceiving." + +"Persons, madam," said Mr. Stanley, "who, in debate, have a favorite +point to carry, are apt to suppose extreme cases, which _can_ and _do_ +very rarely if ever occur. This they do in order to compel the +acquiescence of an opponent to what ought never to be allowed. It is a +proud and fruitless speculation. The infinite power of God can never +stand in need of the aid of a weak mortal to help him out in his +difficulties. If he sees fit to preserve the life, or to save the +country, he is not driven to such shifts. Omnipotence can extricate +himself, and accomplish his own purposes, without endangering an +immortal soul." + +Miss Sparkes took her leave soon after, in order, as she said, to go to +the stable and take the groom's opinion. Mr. Stanley insisted that her +carriage should be brought round to the door, to which we all attended +her. He inquired which was the lame horse. Instead of answering, she +went directly up to the animal, and after patting him with some +technical jockey phrases, she fearlessly took up his hind leg, carefully +examined the foot, and while she continued standing in what appeared to +the ladies a perilous, and to me a disgusting situation, she ran over +all the terms of the veterinary art with the groom, and when Miss +Stanley expressed some fear of her danger, and some dislike of her +coarseness, she burst into a loud laugh, and slapping her on the +shoulder, asked her if it was not better to understand the properties +and diseases of so noble an animal, than to waste her time in studying +confectionery with old Goody Comfit, or in teaching the catechism to +little ragged beggar-brats? + +As soon as she was gone, the lively Ph[oe]be, who, her father says, has +narrowly escaped being a wit herself, cried out: "Well, papa, I must say +that I think Miss Sparkes, with all her faults, is rather an agreeable +woman." "I grant that she is amusing," returned he, "but I do not allow +her to be quite agreeable. Between these, Ph[oe]be, there is a wide +distinction. To a correct mind, no one can be agreeable who is +incorrect. Propriety is so indispensable to agreeableness, that when a +lady allows herself to make any, even the smallest, sacrifice of +veracity, religion, modesty, candor, or the decorum of her sex, she may +be shining, she may be showy, she may be amusing, but she can not, +properly speaking, be agreeable. Miss Sparkes, I very reluctantly +confess, does sometimes make these sacrifices, in a degree to make her +friends look about them, though not in a degree to alarm her own +principles. She would not tell a direct falsehood for the world; she +does not indeed invent, but she embellishes, she enlarges, she +exaggerates, she discolors. In her moral grammar there is no positive or +comparative degree. Pink with her is scarlet. The noise of a popgun is +a cannon. A shower is a tempest. A person of small fortune is a beggar. +One in easy circumstances is a Cr[oe]sus. A girl, if not perfectly well +made, is deformity personified; if tolerable, a Grecian Venus. Her +favorites are angels. Her enemies, demons. + +"She would be thought very religious, and I hope that she will one day +become so; yet she sometimes treats serious things with no small levity, +and though she would not originally say a very bad word, yet she makes +no scruple of repeating, with great glee, profane stories told by +others. Besides, she possesses the dangerous art of exciting an improper +idea, without using an improper word. Gross indecency would shock her, +but she often verges so far toward indelicacy as to make Mrs. Stanley +uneasy. Then she is too much of a genius to be tied down by any +consideration of prudence. If a good thing occurs, out it comes, without +regard to time or circumstance. She would tell the same story to a +bishop as to her chambermaid. If she says a right thing, which she often +does, it is seldom in the right place. She makes her way in society, +without attaching many friends. Her bon-mots are admired and repeated; +yet I never met with a man of sense, though he may join in flattering +her, who did not declare, as soon as she was out of the room, that he +would not for the world that she should be his wife or daughter. It is +irksome to her to converse with her own sex, while she little suspects +that ours is not properly grateful for the preference with which she +honors us. + +"She is," continued Mr. Stanley, "charitable with her purse, but not +with her tongue; she relieves her poor neighbors, and indemnifies +herself by slandering her rich ones. She has, however, many good +qualities, is generous, feeling, and humane, and I would on no account +speak so freely of a lady whom I receive at my house were it not that, +if I were, quite silent, after Ph[oe]be's expressed admiration, she +might conclude that I saw nothing to condemn in Miss Sparkes, and might +be copying her faults under the notion that being entertaining made +amends for every thing." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +One morning, Sir John coming in from his ride, gayly called out to me, +as I was reading, "Oh Charles, such a piece of news! The Miss Flams are +converted. They have put on tuckers. They were at church twice on +Sunday. Blair's Sermons are sent for, and _you_ are the reformer." This +ludicrous address reminded Mr. Stanley that Mr. Flam had told him we +were all in disgrace for not having called on the ladies, and it was +proposed to repair this neglect. + +"Now take notice," said Sir John, "if you do not see a new character +assumed. Thinking Charles to be a fine man of the town, the modish +racket, which indeed is their natural state, was played off, but it did +not answer. As they probably, by this time, suspect your character to be +somewhat between the Strephon and the Hermit, we shall now, in return, +see something between the wood-nymph and the nun, and I shall not wonder +if the extravagantly modish Miss Bell + + "Is now Pastora by a fountain's side." + +Though I would not attribute the change to the cause assigned by Sir +John, yet I confess we found, when we made our visit, no small +revolution in Miss Bell Flam. The part of the Arcadian nymph, the +reading lady, the lover of retirement, the sentimental admirer of +domestic life, the censurer of thoughtless dissipation, was each acted +in succession, but so skillfully touched that the shades of each melted +in the other without any of those violent transitions which a less +experienced actress would have exhibited: Sir John slyly, yet with +affected gravity, assisting her to sustain this newly adapted character, +which, however, he was sure would last no longer than the visit. + +When we returned home, we met the Miss Stanleys in the garden and joined +them. "Don't you admire," said Sir John, "the versatility of Miss Bell's +genius? You, Charles, are not the first man on whom an assumed fondness +for rural delights has been practiced. A friend of mine was drawn in to +marry, rather suddenly, a thorough-paced town-bred lady, by her repeated +declarations of her passionate fondness for the country, and the rapture +she expressed when rural scenery was the subject. All she knew of the +country was, that she had now and then been on a party of pleasure at +Richmond, in the fine summer months; a great dinner at the Star and +Garter, gay company, a bright day, lovely scenery, a dance on the green, +a partner to her taste, French horns on the water, altogether +constituted a feeling of pleasure from which she had really persuaded +herself that she was fond of the country. But when all these +concomitants were withdrawn, when she had lost the gay partner, the +dance, the horns, the flattery, and the frolic, and nothing was left but +her books, her own dull mansion, her domestic employments, and the sober +society of her husband, the pastoral vision vanished. She discovered, or +rather _he_ discovered, but too late, that the country had not only no +charms for her, but that it was a scene of constant ennui and vapid +dullness. She languished for the pleasures she had quitted, and he for +the comforts he had lost. Opposite inclinations led to opposite +pursuits; difference of taste however, needed not to have led to a +total disunion, had there been on the part of the lady such a degree of +attachment as might have induced a spirit of accommodation, or such a +fund of principle as might have taught her the necessity of making those +sacrifices which affection, had it existed, would have rendered +pleasant, or duty would have made light, had she been early taught +self-government." + +Lucilla, smiling, said, "she hoped Sir John had a little over-charged +the picture." He defended himself by declaring, "he drew from the life, +and that from his long observations he could present us with a whole +gallery of such portraits." He left me to continue my walk with the two +Miss Stanleys. + +The more I conversed with Lucilla, the more I saw that good breeding in +her was only the outward expression of humility, and not an art employed +for the purpose of enabling her to do without it. We continued to +converse on the subject of Miss Flam's fondness for the gay world. This +introduced a natural expression of my admiration of Miss Stanley's +choice of pleasures and pursuits so different from those of most other +women of her age. + +With the most graceful modesty she said, "Nothing humbles me more than +compliments; for when I compare what I hear with what I feel, I find the +picture of myself drawn by a flattering friend so utterly unlike the +original in my own heart, that I am more sunk by my own consciousness of +the want of resemblance, than elated that another has not discovered it. +It makes me feel like an imposter. If I contradict this favorable +opinion, I am afraid of being accused of affectation; and if I silently +swallow it, I am contributing to the deceit of passing for what I am +not." This ingenious mode of disclaiming flattery only raised her in my +esteem, and the more, as I told her such humble renunciation of praise +could only proceed from that inward principle of genuine piety and +devout feeling which made so amiable a part of her character. + +"How little," said she, "is the human heart known except to him who made +it! While a fellow creature may admire our apparent devotion, he who +appears to be its object, witnesses the wandering of the heart, which +seems to be lifted up to him. He sees it roving to the ends of the +earth, busied about any thing rather than himself, running after trifles +which would not only dishonor Christian, but would disgrace a child. As +to my very virtues, if I dare apply such a word to myself, they +sometimes lose their character by not keeping their proper place. They +become sins by infringing on higher duties. If I mean to perform an act +of devotion, some crude plan of charity forces itself on my mind, and +what with trying to drive out one, and to establish the other, I rise +dissatisfied and unimproved, and resting my sole hope, not on the duty I +have been performing, but on the mercy I have been offending." + +I assured her with all the simplicity of truth, and all the sincerity of +affection, that this confession only served to raise my opinion of the +piety she disclaimed; that such deep consciousness of imperfection, so +quick a discernment of the slightest deviation, and such constant +vigilance to prevent it, were the truest indications of an humble +spirit; and that those who thus carefully guarded themselves against +small errors, were in little danger of being betrayed into great ones. + +She replied, smiling, that "she should not be so angry with vanity, if +it would be contented to keep its proper place among its vices; but her +quarrel with it was, that it would mix itself among our virtues, and +rob us of their reward." + +"Vanity, indeed," replied I, "differs from the other vices in this; +_they_ commonly are only opposite to the one contrary virtue, while this +vice has a kind of ubiquity, is on the watch to intrude everywhere, and +weakens all the virtues which it can not destroy. I believe vanity was +the harpy of the ancient poets, which, they tell us, tainted whatever it +touched." + +"Self-deception is so easy," replied Miss Stanley, "that I am even +afraid of highly extolling any good quality, lest I should sit down +satisfied with having borne any testimony in its favor, and so rest +contented with the praise instead of the practise. Commending a right +thing is a cheap substitute for doing it, with which we are too apt to +satisfy ourselves." + +"There is no mark," I replied, "which more clearly distinguishes that +humility which has the love of God for its principle, from its +counterfeit--a false and superficial politeness--than that while this +last flatters, in order to extort in return more praise than its due, +humility, like the divine principle from which it springs, seeketh not +even its own." + +In answer to some further remark of mine, with an air of infinite +modesty, she said, "I have been betrayed, sir, into saying too much. It +will, I trust, however, have the good effect of preventing you from +thinking better of me than I deserve. In general, I hold it indiscreet +to speak of the state of one's mind. I have been taught this piece of +prudence by my own indiscretion. I once lamented to a lady the fault of +which we have now been speaking, and observed how difficult it was to +keep the heart right. She so little understood the nature of this inward +corruption, that she told in confidence to two or three friends, that +they were all much mistaken in Miss Stanley, for though her character +stood so fair with all the world, she had secretly confessed to her that +she was a great sinner." + +I could not forbear repeating though she had chid me for it before, how +much I had been struck with several instances of her indifference to the +work, and her superiority to its pleasures. "Do you know," continued +she, smiling, "that you are more my enemy than the lady of whom I have +been speaking? She only defamed my principles, but you are corrupting +them. The world, I believe, is not so much a place as a nature. It is +possible to be religious in a court, and worldly in a monastery. I find +that the thoughts may be engaged too anxiously about so petty a concern +as a little family arrangement; that the mind may be drawn off from +better pursuits, and engrossed by things too trivial to name, as much as +by objects more apparently wrong. The country is certainly favorable to +religion, but it would be hard on the millions who are doomed to live in +towns if it were exclusively favorable. Nor must we lay more stress on +the accidental circumstance than it deserves. Nay, I almost doubt if it +is not too pleasant to be quite safe. An enjoyment which assumes a sober +shape may deceive us by making us believe we are practicing a duty when +we are only gratifying a taste." + +"But do you not think," said I, "that there may be merit in the taste +itself? May not a succession of acts, forming a habit, and that habit a +good one, induce so sound a way of thinking that it may become difficult +to distinguish the duty from the taste, and to separate the principle +from the choice? This I really believe to be the case in minds finely +wrought and vigilantly watched." + +I observed that however delightful the country might be a great part of +the year, yet there were a few winter months when I feared it might be +dull, though not in the degree Sir John's Richmond lady found it. + +With a smile of compassion at my want of taste, she said, "she perceived +I was no gardener. To me," added she, "the winter has charms of its own. +If I were not afraid of the light habit of introducing Providence on an +occasion not sufficiently important, I would say that he seems to reward +those who love the country well enough to live in it the whole year, by +making the greater part of the winter the busy season for gardening +operations. If I happen to be in town a few days only, every sun that +shines, every shower that falls, every breeze that blows, seems wasted, +because I do not see their effects upon my plants." + +"But surely," said I, "the winter at least suspends your enjoyment. +There is little pleasure in contemplating vegetation in its torpid +state, in surveying + + The naked shoots, barren as lances, + +as Cowper describes the winter-shrubbery." + +"The pleasure is in the preparation," replied she. "When all appears +dead and torpid to you idle spectators, all is secretly at work; nature +is busy in preparing her treasures under ground, and art has a hand in +the process. When the blossoms of summer are delighting you mere +amateurs, then it is that we professional people," added she, laughing, +"are really idle. The silent operations of the winter now produce +themselves--the canvas of nature is covered--the great Artist has laid +on his colors--then we petty agents lay down our implements, and enjoy +our leisure in contemplating _his_ work." + +I had never known her so communicative; but my pleased attention, +instead of drawing her on, led her to check herself. Ph[oe]be, who had +been busily employed in trimming a flaunting yellow Azalia, now turned +to me and said: "Why it is only the Christmas-month that our labors are +suspended, and then we have so much pleasure that we want no business; +such in-door festivities and diversions that that dull month is with us +the gayest in the year." So saying, she called Lucilla to assist her in +tying up the branch of an orange-tree which the wind had broken. + +I was going to offer my services when Mrs. Stanley joined us, before I +could obtain an answer to my question about these Christmas diversions. +A stranger, who had seen me pursuing Mrs. Stanley in her walks, might +have supposed not the daughter, but the mother, was the object of my +attachment. But with Mrs. Stanley I could always talk of Lucilla, with +Lucilla I durst not often talk of herself. + +The fond mother and I stood looking with delight on the fair gardeners. +When I had admired their alacrity in these innocent pursuits, their +fondness for retirement, and their cheerful delight in its pleasures, +Mrs. Stanley replied: "Yes, Lucilla is half a nun. She likes the rule, +but not the vow. Poor thing! her conscience is so tender that she +oftener requires encouragement than restraint. While she was making this +plantation, she felt herself so absorbed by it that she came to me one +day and said that her gardening work so fascinated her that she found +whole hours passed unperceived, and she began to be uneasy by observing +that all cares and all duties were suspended while she was disposing +beds of carnations, or knots of anemones. Even when she tore herself +away, and returned to her employments, her flowers still pursued her, +and the improvement of her mind gave way to the cultivation of her +geraniums. + +"'I am afraid,' said the poor girl, 'that I must really give it up.' I +would not hear of this. I would not suffer her to deny herself so pure a +pleasure. She then suggested the expedient of limiting her time, and +hanging up her watch in the conservatory to keep her within her +prescribed bounds. She is so observant of this restriction, that when +her allotted time is expired, she forces herself to leave off even in +the midst of the most interesting operation. By this limitation a treble +end is answered. Her time is saved, self-denial is exercised, and the +interest which would languish by protracting the work is kept in fresh +vigor." + +I told Mrs. Stanley that I had observed her watch hanging in a +citron-tree the day I came, but little thought it had a moral meaning. +She said it had never been left there since I had been in the house, for +fear of causing interrogatories. Here Mrs. Stanley left me to my +meditations. + +It is wisely ordered that all mortal enjoyments should have some alloy. +I never tasted a pleasure since I had been at the Grove, I never +witnessed a grace, I never heard related an excellence of Lucilla, +without a sigh that my beloved parents did not share my happiness. "How +would they," said I, "delight in her delicacy, rejoice in her piety, +love her benevolence, her humility, her usefulness! O how do children +feel who wound the peace of _living_ parents by an unworthy choice, when +not a little of my comfort springs from the certainty that the departed +would rejoice in mine! Even from their blessed abode, my grateful heart +seems to hear them say, 'This is the creature we would have chosen for +thee! This is the creature with whom we shall rejoice with thee through +all eternity!'" + +Yet such was my inconsistency, that charmed as I was that so young and +lovely a woman could be so cheaply pleased, and delighted with that +simplicity of taste which made her resemble my favorite heroine of +Milton in her amusements, as well as in her domestic pursuits; yet I +longed to know what these Christmas diversions, so slightly hinted at, +could be, diversions which could reconcile these girls to their absence +not only from their green-house, but from London. I could hardly fear +indeed to find at Stanley Grove what the newspapers pertly call _Private +Theatricals_. Still I suspected it might be some gay dissipation not +quite suited to their general character, nor congenial to their usual +amusements. My mother's favorite rule of _consistency_ strongly forced +itself on my mind, though I tried to repel the suggestion as unjust and +ungenerous. + +Of what meannesses will not love be guilty: it drove me to have recourse +to my friend Mrs. Comfit to dissipate my doubts. From her I learned that +that cold and comfortless season was mitigated at Stanley Grove by +several feasts for the poor of different classes and ages. "Then, sir," +continued she, "if you could see the blazing fires, and the abundant +provisions! The roasting, and the boiling, and the baking! The house is +all alive! On those days the drawers and shelves of Miss Lucilla's +store-room are completely emptied. 'Tis the most delightful bustle, sir, +to see our young ladies tying on the good women's warm cloaks, fitting +their caps and aprons, and sending home blankets to the infirm who can +not come themselves. The very little ones kneeling down on the ground to +try on the poor girls' shoes--even little Miss Celia, and she is so +tender--to fit them exactly and not hurt them! Last feast-day, not +finding a pair small enough for a poor little girl, she privately +slipped off her own and put on the child. It was some time before it was +discovered that she herself was without shoes. We are all alive, sir. +Parlor, and hall, and kitchen, all is in motion! Books, and business, +and walks, and gardening, all are forgot for these few happy days." + +How I hated myself for my suspicion! And how I loved the charming +creatures who could find in these humble but exhilarating duties an +equivalent for the pleasures of the metropolis! "Surely," said I to +myself, "my mother would call _this_ consistency, when the amusements of +a religious family smack of the same flavor with its business and its +duties." My heart was more than easy; it was dilated, while I +congratulated myself in the thought that there _were_ young ladies to be +found who could spend a winter not only unrepiningly but cheerfully and +delightedly in the country. + +I am aware that were I to repeat my conversations with Lucilla, I should +subject myself to ridicule by recording such cold and spiritless +discourse on my own part. But I had not yet declared my attachment. I +made it a point of duty not to violate my engagement with Mr. Stanley. I +was not addressing declarations, but studying the character of her on +whom the happiness of my life was to depend. I had resolved not to show +my attachment by any overt act. I confined the expression of my +affection to that _series of small, quiet attentions_, which an accurate +judge of the human heart has pronounced to be the surest avenue to a +delicate mind. I had, in the mean time, the inexpressible felicity to +observe a constant union of feeling, as well as a general consonance of +opinion between us. Every sentiment seemed a reciprocation of sympathy, +and every look, of intelligence. This unstudied correspondence enchanted +me the more as I had always considered that a conformity of tastes was +nearly as necessary to conjugal happiness as a conformity of principles. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +One morning I took a ride alone to breakfast at Lady Aston's; Mr. +Stanley having expressed a particular desire that I should cultivate the +acquaintance of her son. "Sir George is not quite twenty," said he, +"and your being a few years older, will make him consider your +friendship as an honor to him; I am sure it will be an advantage." + +In her own little family circle, I had the pleasure of seeing Lady Aston +appear to more advantage than I had yet done. Her understanding is good, +and her affections are strong. She had received a too favorable +impression of my character from Mr. Stanley, and treated me with as much +openness as if I had been his son. + +The gentle girls, animated by the spirit of their brother, seemed to +derive both happiness and importance from his presence: while the +amiable young baronet himself won my affection by his engaging manners, +and my esteem by his good sense and his considerable acquirements in +every thing which becomes a gentleman. + +This visit exemplified a remark I had sometimes made, that shy +characters, who from natural timidity are reserved in general society, +open themselves with peculiar warmth and frankness to a few select +friends, or to an individual of whom they think kindly. A distant manner +is not always, as is suspected, the result of a cold heart, or a dull +head; nor is gayety necessarily connected with feeling. High animal +spirits, though they often evaporate in mere talk, yet by their warmth +and quickness of motion obtain the credit of strong sensibility: a +sensibility, however, of which the heart is not always the fountain. +While in the timid, that silence which is construed into pride, +indifference, or want of capacity, is often the effect of keen feelings. +Friendship is the genial climate in which such hearts disclose +themselves; they flourish in the shade, and kindness alone makes them +expand. A keen discerner will often detect, in such characters, +qualities which are not always connected with + + the rattling tongue + Of saucy and audacious eloquence. + +When people who have seen little of each other are thrown together, +nothing brings on free communication so quickly or so pleasantly, as +their being both intimate with a third person, for whom all parties +entertain one common sentiment. Mr. Stanley seemed always a point of +union between his neighbors and me. + +After various topics had been discussed, Lady Aston remarked, that she +could now trace the goodness of Providence in having so ordered events, +as to make those things which she had so much dreaded at the time, work +out advantages which could not have been otherwise obtained for her. + +"I had a singular aversion," added she, "to the thoughts of removing to +this place, and quitting Sir George's estate in Warwickshire, where I +had spent the happiest years of my life. When I had the misfortune to +lose him" (here a tear quietly strayed down her cheek), "I resolved +never to remove from the place where he died. I had fully persuaded +myself that it was a duty to do all I could to cherish grief. I obliged +myself as a law, to spend whole hours in walking round the place where +he was buried. These melancholy visits, the intervals of which were +filled with tears, prayers, and reading a few good, but not well chosen +books, made up the whole round of my sad existence. I had nearly +forgotten that I had any duties to perform, any mercies left. Almost all +the effect which the sight of my children produced in me was, by their +resemblance to their father, to put me in mind of what I had lost. + +"I was not sufficiently aware how much more truly I should have honored +his memory by training his living representatives in such a manner as +he, had he been living, would have approved. My dear George," added she, +smiling at her son through her tears, "was glad to get away to school, +and my poor girls, when they lost the company of their brother, lost +all the little cheerfulness which my recluse habits had left them. We +sunk into total inaction, and our lives became as comfortless as they +were unprofitable." + +"My dear madam," said Sir George, in the most affectionate tone and +manner, "I can only forgive myself from the consideration of my being +then too young and thoughtless to know the value of the mother whose +sorrows ought to have endeared my home to me, instead of driving me from +it." + +"They are _my_ faults, my dear George, and not yours, that I am +relating. Few mothers would have acted like me; few sons differently +from you. Your affectionate heart deserved a warmer return than my +broken spirits were capable of making you. But I was telling you, sir," +said she, again addressing herself to me, "that the event of my coming +to this place, not only became the source of my present peace, and of +the comfort of my children, but that its result enables me to look +forward with a cheerful hope to that state where there is neither sin, +sorrow, nor separation. The thoughts of death, which used to render me +useless, now make me only serious. The reflection that 'the night +cometh' which used to extinguish my activity, now kindles it. + +"Forgive me, sir," added she, wiping her eyes; "these are not such tears +as I then shed. These are tears of gratitude, I had almost said of joy. +In the family at the Grove, Providence had been providing for me +friends, for whom I doubt not I shall bless him in eternity. + +"I had long been convinced of the importance of religion. I had always +felt the insufficiency of the world to bestow happiness; but I had never +before beheld religion in such a form. I had never been furnished with a +proper substitute for the worldly pleasures which I yet despised. I did +right in giving up diversions, but I did wrong in giving up employment, +and in neglecting duties. I knew something of religion as a principle of +fear, but I had no conception of it as a motive to the love of God, and +of active duty; nor did I consider it as a source of inward peace. Books +had not been of any great service to me, for I had no one to guide me in +the choice, or to assist me in the perusal. I went to my daily task of +devotion with a heavy heart, and returned from it with no other sense of +comfort but that I had not omitted it. + +"My former friends and acquaintance had been decent and regular; but +they had adopted religion as a form, and not as a principle. It was +compliance and not conviction. It was conformity to custom, and not the +persuasion of the heart. Judge then how I must have been affected, in a +state when sorrow and disappointment had made my mind peculiarly +impressible, with the conversation and example of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley! +I saw in them that religion was not a formal profession, but a powerful +principle. It ran through their whole life and character. All the +Christian graces were brought into action in a way, with a uniformity, +and a beauty, which nothing but Christian motives could have effected. + +"The change which took place in my own mind, however, was progressive. +The strict consonance which I observed between their sentiments and +actions, and those of Dr. Barlow and Mr. Jackson, strengthened and +confirmed mine. This similarity in all points, was a fresh confirmation +that they were all right. The light of religion gradually grew stronger, +and the way more smooth. It was literally a 'lamp to my feet,' for I +walked more safely as I saw more clearly. My difficulties insensibly +lessened, and my doubts disappeared. I still indeed continue hourly to +feel much cause to be humbled, but none to be unhappy." + +When Lady Aston had done speaking, Sir George said, "I owe a thousand +obligations to my mother, but not one so great as her introduction of me +to Mr. Stanley. He has given a bent and bias to my sentiments, habit, +and pursuits, to which I trust every day will add fresh strength. I look +up to him as my model: happy if I may, in any degree, be able to form +myself by it! Till I had the happiness of knowing you, sir, I preferred +the company of Dr. Barlow and Mr. Stanley, to that of any _young_ man +with whom I am acquainted." + +After some further conversation, in which Sir George, with great credit +to himself, bore a considerable part, Miss Aston took courage to ask me +if I would accompany them all into the garden, as she wished me to carry +home intelligence to Miss Stanley of the flourishing state of some +American plants which had been raised under her direction. To speak the +truth, I had for some time been trying to bring Lucilla on the tapis, +but had not found a plausible pretense. I now inquired if Miss Stanley +directed their gardening pursuits. "She directs _all_ our pursuits," +said the two bashful blushing girls, who now, for the first time in +their lives, spoke both at once; the subject kindling an energy in their +affectionate hearts, which even their timidity could not rein in. + +"I thought, Clara," said Sir George, "that Miss _Ph[oe]be_ Stanley too, +had assisted in laying out the flower garden. Surely she is not behind +her sister in any thing that is kind, or any thing that is elegant." His +complexion heightened as he spoke, and he expressed himself with an +emphasis, which I had not before observed in his manner of speaking. I +stole a glance at Lady Aston, whose meek eye glistened with pleasure, at +the earnestness with which her son spoke of the lovely Ph[oe]be. My +rapid imagination instantly shot forward to an event which some years +hence will probably unite two families so worthy of each other. Lady +Aston, who already honors me with her confidence, afterward confirmed my +suspicions on a subject about which nothing but the extreme youth of +both parties made her backward to express the secret hope she fondly +entertained. + +In our walk round the gardens, the Miss Astons continued to vie with +each other who should be warmest in the praise of their young friends at +the Grove. To Miss Stanley, they gratefully declared, they owed any +little taste, knowledge, or love of goodness which they themselves might +possess. + +It was delightful to observe these quiet girls warmed and excited by a +subject so interesting. I was charmed to see them so far from feeling +any shadow of envy at the avowed superiority of their young friends, and +so unanimously eloquent in the praise of merit so eclipsing. + +After having admired the plants of which I promised to make a favorable +report, I was charged with a large and beautiful bouquet for the young +ladies at the Grove. They then drew me to the prettiest spot in the +grounds. While I was admiring it, Miss Clara, with a blush, and some +hesitation, begged leave to ask my advice about a little rustic building +which she and her sisters were just going to raise in honor of the Miss +Stanleys. It was to be dedicated to them, and called the Temple of +Friendship. "My brother," said she, "is kindly assisting us. The +materials are all prepared, and we have now only to fix them up." + +She then put into my hands a little plan. I highly approved it; +venturing, however, to suggest some trifling alteration, which I told +them I did, in order to implicate myself a little in the pleasant +project. How proud was I when Clara added, "that Miss Stanley had +expressed a high opinion of my general taste!" They all begged me to +look in on them in my rides, and assist them with my further counsel; +adding that, above all things, I must keep it a secret at the Grove. + +Lady Aston said, "that she expected our whole party to dine at the Hall +some day next week." Her daughters entreated that it might be postponed +till the latter end, by which time they doubted not their little edifice +would be completed. Sir George then told me, that his sisters had +requested him to furnish an inscription, or to endeavor to procure one +from me. He added his wishes to theirs that I would comply. They all +joined so earnestly in the entreaty that I could not withstand them, +"albeit unused to the _rhyming_ mood." + +After some deliberation, Friday in the next week was fixed upon for the +party at the Grove to dine at Aston-Hall, and I was to carry the +invitation. I took a respectful leave of the excellent lady of the +mansion, and an affectionate one of the young people, with whom the +familiar intercourse of this quiet morning had contributed to advance my +friendly acquaintance more than could have been done by many ceremonious +meetings. + +When I returned to the Grove, which was but just in time to dress for +dinner, I spoke with sincere satisfaction of the manner in which I had +passed the morning. It was beautiful to observe the honest delight, the +ingenuous kindness, with which Lucilla heard me commend the Miss Astons. +No little disparaging hint on the one hand, gently to let down her +friends, nor, on the other, no such exaggerated praise as I have +sometimes seen employed as a screen for envy, or as a trap to make the +hearer lower what the speaker had too highly raised. + +I dropped in at Aston-Hall two or three times in the course of the week, +as well to notice the progress of the work, as to carry my inscription, +in which, as Lucilla was both the subject and the muse, I succeeded +rather better than I expected. + +On the Friday, according to appointment, our whole party went to dine +at the Hall. In our way, Mr. Stanley expressed the pleasure it gave him, +that Lady Aston was now so convinced of the duty of making home +agreeable to her son, as delightfully to receive such of her friends as +were warmly disposed to become his. + +Sir George, who is extremely well bred, did the honors admirably for so +young a man, to the great relief of his excellent mother, whom long +retirement had rendered habitually timid in a party, of which some were +almost strangers. + +The Miss Astons had some difficulty to restrain their young guests from +running directly to look at the progress of the American plants; but as +they grew near the mysterious spot, they were not allowed to approach it +before the allotted time. + +After dinner, when the whole party were walking in the garden, Lady +Aston was desired by her daughters to conduct her company to a winding +grass-walk, near the little building, but from whence it was not +visible. While they were all waiting at the appointed place, the two +elder Miss Astons gravely took a hand of Lucilla, Sir George and I each +presented a hand to Ph[oe]be, and in profound silence, and great +ceremony, we led them up the turf steps into this simple, but really +pretty temple. The initials of Lucilla and Ph[oe]be were carved in +cypher over a little rustic window, under which was written, + + "SACRED TO FRIENDSHIP." + +In two niches prepared for the purpose, we severally seated the two +astonished nymphs, who seemed absolutely enchanted. Above was the +inscription in large Roman letters. + +The Astons looked so much alive, that they might have been mistaken for +Stanleys, who, in their turn, were so affected with this tender mark of +friendship, that they looked as tearful as if they had been Astons. +After reading the inscription, "My dear Clara," said Lucilla to Miss +Aston, "where _could_ you get these beautiful verses? Though the praise +they convey is too flattering to be just, it is too delicate not to +please. The lines are at once tender and elegant." "We got them," said +Miss Aston, with a sweet vivacity, "where we get every thing that is +good, from Stanley-Grove," bowing modestly to me. + +How was I elated; and how did Lucilla blush! but though she now tried to +qualify her flattery, she could not recall it. And I would not allow +myself to be robbed of the delight it had given me. All the company +seemed to enjoy her confusion and my pleasure. + +I forgot to mention, that as we crossed the park, we had seen enter the +house, through a back avenue, a procession of little girls neatly +dressed in a uniform. In a whisper, I asked Lady Aston what it meant. +"You are to know," replied her ladyship, "that my daughters adopt all +Miss Stanley's plans, and among the rest, that of associating with all +their own indulgences some little act of charity, that while they are +receiving pleasure, they may also be conferring it. The opening of the +temple of friendship is likely to afford too much gratification to be +passed over without some such association. So my girls give to-day a +little feast, with prizes of merit to their village-school, and a few +other deserving young persons." + +When we had taken our seats in the temple, Ph[oe]be suddenly cried out, +clasping her hands in an ecstacy, "Only look, Lucilla! There is no end +to the enchantment. It is all fairy land." On casting our eyes as she +directed, we were agreeably surprised with observing a large kind of +temporary shed or booth at some distance from us. It was picturesquely +fixed near an old spreading oak, and was ingeniously composed of +branches of trees, fresh and green. Under the oak stood ranged the +village maids. We walked to the spot. The inside of the booth was hung +round with caps, aprons, bonnets, handkerchiefs, and other coarse, but +neat articles of female dress. On a rustic table was laid a number of +Bibles, and specimens of several kinds of coarse works, and little +manufactures. The various performances were examined by the company; +some presents were given to all. But additional prizes were awarded by +the young patronesses, to the best specimens of different work; to the +best knitters, the best manufacturers of split straw, and the best +performers in plain work, I think they called it. + +Three grown up young women, neatly dressed, and of modest manners, stood +behind. It appeared that one of them had taken such good care of her +young sisters and brothers, since their mother's death, and had so +prudently managed her father's house, that it had saved him from an +imprudent choice. Another had postponed, for many months, a marriage in +which her heart was engaged, because she had a paralytic grandmother +whom she attended day and night, and whom nothing, not even love itself, +could tempt her to desert. Death having now released the aged sufferer, +the wedding was to take place next Sunday. The third had, for above a +year, worked two hours every day, over and above her set time, and +applied the gains to clothe the orphan child of a deceased friend. She +was also to accompany her lover to the altar on Sunday, but had made it +a condition of her marrying him, that she should be allowed to continue +her supernumerary hours' work, for the benefit of the poor orphan. All +three had been exemplary in their attendance at church, as well as in +their general conduct. The fair patronesses presented each with a +handsome Bible, and with a complete, plain, but very neat suit of +apparel. + +While these gifts were distributing, I whispered Sir John that one such +ticket as we were each desired to take for Squallini's benefit, would +furnish the cottages of these poor girls. "And it _shall_," replied he, +with emphasis. "How little a way will that sum go in superfluities, +which will make two honest couple happy! How costly is vanity! how cheap +is charity!" + +"Can these happy, useful young creatures be my little inactive, insipid +Astons, Charles?" whispered Mr. Stanley, as we walked away to leave the +girls to sit down to their plentiful supper, which was spread on a long +table under the oak, without the green booth. This group of figures made +an interesting addition to the scenery, when we got back to the temple, +and often attracted our attention while we were engaged in conversation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +The company were not soon weary of admiring the rustic building, which +seemed raised as if by the stroke of a magician's wand, so rapidly had +it sprung up. They were delighted to find that their pleasure was to be +prolonged by drinking tea in the temple. + +While we were at tea Mr. Stanley, addressing himself to me, said, "I +have always forgotten to ask you, Charles, if your high expectations of +pleasure from the society in London had quite answered?" + +"I was entertained, and I was disappointed," replied I. "I always found +the pleasure of the moment not heightened, but effaced by the succeeding +moment. The ever restless, rolling tide of new intelligence at once +gratified and excited the passion for novelty, which I found to be _le +grand poisson qui mange les petits_. This successive abundance of fresh +supply gives an ephemeral importance to every thing, and a lasting +importance to nothing. We skimmed every topic, but dived into none. Much +desultory talk, but little discussion. The combatants skirmished like +men whose arms are kept bright by constant use; who were accustomed to a +flying fight, but who avoided the fatigue of coming to close quarters. +What was old, however momentous, was rejected as dull, what was new, +however insignificant, was thought interesting. Events of the past week +were placed with those beyond the flood; and the very existence of +occurrences which continued to be matter of deep interest with us in the +country, seemed there totally forgotten. + +"I found, too, that the inhabitants of the metropolis had a standard of +merit of their own. That knowledge of the town was concluded to be +knowledge of the world; that local habits, reigning phrases, temporary +fashions, and an acquaintance with the surface of manners, was supposed +to be knowledge of mankind. Of course, he who was ignorant of the topics +of the hour, and the anecdotes of a few modish leaders, was ignorant of +human nature." + +Sir John observed, that I was rather too young to be a _praiser of past +times_, yet he allowed that the standard of conversation was not so high +as it had been in the time of my father, by whose reports my youthful +ardor had been inflamed. He did not indeed suppose that men were less +intellectual now, but they certainly were less colloquially +intellectual. "For this," added he, "various reasons may be assigned. In +London man is every day becoming less of a social, and more of a +gregarious animal. Crowds are as little favorable to conversation as to +reflection. He finds, therefore, that he may figure in the mass with +less expense of mind; and as to women, they are put to no expense at +all. They find that by mixing with myriads, they may carry on the daily +intercourse of life, without being obliged to bring a single idea to +enrich the common stock." + +"I do not wonder," said I, "that the dull and the uninformed love to +shelter their insignificance in a crowd. In mingling with the multitude, +their deficiencies elude detection. The vapid and the ignorant are like +a bad play; they owe the little figure they make to the dress, the +scenery, the music, and the company. The noise and the glare take off +all attention from the defects of the work. The spectator is amused, and +he does not inquire whether it is with the piece or with the +accompaniments. The end is attained, and he is little solicitous about +the means. But an intellectual woman, like a well written drama, will +please at home without all these aids and adjuncts; nay, the beauties of +the superior piece, and of the superior woman, will rise on a more +intimate survey. But you were going, Sir John, to assign other causes +for the decline and fall of conversation." + +"One very affecting reason," replied he; "is that the alarming state of +public affairs fills all men's minds with one momentous object. As every +Englishman is a patriot, every patriot is a politician. It is natural +that that subject should fill every mouth which occupies every heart, +and that little room should be left for extraneous matter." + +"I should accept this," said I, "as a satisfactory vindication, had I +heard that the same absorbing cause had thinned the public places, or +diminished the attraction of the private resorts of dissipation." + +"There is a third reason," said Sir John. "Polite literature has in a +good degree given way to experimental philosophy. The admirers of +science assert, that the last was the age of words, and that this is the +age of things. A more substantial kind of knowledge has partly +superseded these elegant studies, which have caught such hold on your +affections." + +"I heartily wish," replied I, "that the new pursuits may be found to +make men wiser; they certainly have not made them more agreeable." + +"It is affirmed," said Mr. Stanley, "that the prevailing philosophical +studies have a religious use, and that they naturally tend to elevate +the heart to the great Author of the universe." + +"I have but one objection to that assertion," replied Sir John, "namely, +that it is not true. This would seem indeed to be their direct tendency, +yet experiment, which you know is the soul of philosophy, has proved the +contrary." + +He then adduced some instances in our own country, which I forbear to +name, that clearly evinced that this was not their necessary +consequence; adding, however, a few great names on the more honorable +side. He next adverted to the Baillies, the Condorcets, the D'Alemberts, +and the Lalandes, as melancholy proofs of the inefficacy of mere science +to make Christians. + +"Far be it from me," said Sir John, "to undervalue philosophical +pursuits. The modern discoveries are extremely important, especially in +their application to the purposes of common life; but where these are +pursued exclusively, I can not help preferring the study of the great +classic authors, those exquisite masters of life and manners, with whose +spirit conversation, twenty or thirty years ago, was so richly +impregnated." + +"I confess," said I, "there may be more matter; but there is certainly +less mind in the reigning pursuits. The reputation of skill, it is true, +may be obtained at a much less expense of time and intellect. The +comparative cheapness of the acquisition holds out the powerful +temptation of more credit with less labor. A sufficient knowledge of +botany or chemistry to make a figure, is easily obtained, while a +thorough acquaintance with the historians, poets, and orators of +antiquity requires much time, and close application." + +"But," exclaimed Sir John, "can the fashionable studies pretend to give +the same expansion to the mind, the same elevation to the sentiments, +the same energy to the feelings, the same stretch and compass to the +understanding, the same correctness to the taste, the same grace and +spirit to the whole moral and intellectual man." + +"For my own part," replied I, "so far from saying with Hamlet, 'Man +delights not me, nor woman neither,' I confess I have little delight in +any thing else. As a man, man is the creature with whom I have to do, +and the varieties in his character interest me more than all the +possible varieties of mosses, shells and fossils. To view this compound +creature in the complexity of his actions, as portrayed by the hand of +those immortal masters, Tacitus and Plutarch; to view him in the +struggle of his passions, as displayed by Euripides and Shakspeare; to +contemplate him in the blaze of his eloquence, by the two rival orators +of Greece and Rome, is more congenial to my feelings than the ablest +disquisition of which matter was ever the subject." Sir John, who is a +passionate, and rather too exclusive, admirer of classic lore, warmly +declared himself of my opinion. + +"I went to town," replied I, "with a mind eager for intellectual +pleasure. My memory was not quite unfurnished with passages which I +thought likely to be adverted to, and which might serve to embellish +conversation, without incurring the charge of pedantry. But though most +of the men I conversed with were my equals in education, and my +superiors in talent, there seemed little disposition to promote such +topics as might bring our understandings into play. Whether it is that +business, active life, and public debate, absorb the mind, and make men +consider society rather as a scene to rest than to exercise it, I know +not; certain it is that they brought less into the treasury of +conversation than I expected; not because they were poor, but proud, or +idle, and reserved their talents and acquisitions for higher occasions. +The most opulent possessors, I often found the most penurious +contributors." + +"_Rien de trop_," said Mr. Stanley, "was the favorite maxim of an +author[3] whom I am not apt to quote for rules of moral conduct. Yet its +adoption would be a salutary check against excess in all our pursuits. +If polite learning is undervalued by the mere man of science, it is +perhaps over-rated by the mere man of letters. If it dignifies +retirement, and exalts society, it is not the great business of life; it +is not the prime fountain of moral excellence." + +[Footnote 3: Frederic the Great, king of Prussia.] + +"Well, so much for _man_," said Sir John, "but, Charles, you have not +told us what you had to say of _woman_, in your observations on +society." + +"As to woman," replied I, "I declare that I found more propensity to +promote subjects of taste and elegant speculation among some of the +superior class of females, than in many of my own sex. The more prudent, +however, are restrained through fear of the illiberal sarcasms of men +who, not contented to suppress their own faculties, ridicule all +intellectual exertion in woman, though evidently arising from a modest +desire of improvement, and not the vanity of hopeless rivalry." + +"Charles is always the Paladin of the reading ladies," said Sir John. "I +do not deny it," replied I, "if they bear their faculties meekly. But I +confess that what is sneeringly called a learned lady, is to me far +preferable to a scientific one, such as I encountered one evening, who +talked of the fulcrum, and the lever, and the statera, which she took +care to tell us was the Roman steel-yard, with all the sang-froid of +philosophical conceit." + +"Scientific men," said Sir John, "are in general admirable for their +simplicity, but in a technical woman, I have seldom found a grain of +taste or elegance." + +"I own," replied I, "I should greatly prefer a fair companion who could +modestly discriminate between the beauties of Virgil and Milton, to one +who was always dabbling in chemistry, and who came to dinner with dirty +hands from the laboratory. And yet I admire chemistry too; I am now only +speaking of that knowledge which is desirable in a female companion; for +knowledge I must have. But arts, which are of immense value in +manufactures, won't make my wife's conversation entertaining to me. +Discoveries which may greatly improve dyeing and bleaching, will add +little to the delights of one's summer evening's walk, or winter +fire-side." + +The ladies, Lucilla especially, smiled at my warmth. I felt that there +was approbation in her smile, and though I thought I had said too much +already, it encouraged me to go on. "I repeat, that next to religion, +whatever relates to human manners, is most attracting to human +creatures. To turn from conversation to composition. What is it that +excites so feeble an interest, in perusing that finely written poem of +the Abbe de Lille, '_Les Jardins?_' It is because his garden has no +cultivators, no inhabitants, no men and women. What confers that +powerful charm on the descriptive parts of Paradise Lost? A fascination, +I will venture to affirm, paramount to all the lovely and magnificent +scenery which adorns it. Eden itself with all its exquisite landscape, +would excite a very inferior pleasure did it exhibit only inanimate +beauties. 'Tis the proprietors, 'tis the inhabitants, 'tis the _live +stock_, of Eden, which seize upon the affections, and twine about the +heart. The gardens, even of Paradise, would be dull without the +gardeners. 'Tis mental excellence, 'tis moral beauty which completes the +charm. Where this is wanting, landscape poetry, though it be read with +pleasure, yet the interest it raises is cold. It is admired, but seldom +quoted. It leaves no definite idea on the mind. If general, it is +indistinct; if minute, tedious." + +"It must be confessed," said Sir John, "that some poets are apt to +forget that the finest representation of nature is only the scene, not +the object; the canvas, not the portrait. We had indeed some time ago, +so much of this gorgeous scene-painting, so much splendid poetical +botany, so many amorous flowers, and so many vegetable courtships; so +many wedded plants; roots transformed to nymphs, and dwelling in emerald +palaces; that some how or other, truth and probability and nature, and +man slipped out of the picture, though it must be allowed that genius +held the pencil." + +"In Mason's 'English Garden,'" replied I, "Alcander's precepts would +have been cold, had there been no personification. The introduction of +character dramatizes what else would have been frigidly didactic. +Thomson enriches his landscape with here and there a figure, drawn with +more correctness than warmth, with more nature than spirit, and exalts +it everywhere by moral allusion and religious reference. The scenery of +Cowper is perpetually animated with sketches of character, enlivened +with portraits from real life, and the exhibition of human manners and +passions. His most exquisite descriptions owe their vividness to moral +illustration. Loyalty, liberty, patriotism, charity, piety, benevolence, +every generous feeling, every glowing sentiment, every ennobling +passion, grows out of his descriptive powers. His matter always bursts +into mind. His shrubbery, his forest, his flower-garden, all produce + + Fruits worthy of Paradise, + +and lead to immortality." + +Mr. Stanley said, adverting again to the subject of conversation, it was +an amusement to him to observe what impression the first introduction to +general society made on a mind conversant with books, but to whom a the +world was in a manner new. + +"I believe," said Sir John, "that an overflowing commerce, and the +excessive opulence it has introduced, though favorable to all the +splendors of art and mechanic ingenuity, yet have lowered the standard +of taste, and debilitated the mental energies. They are advantageous to +luxury, but fatal to intellect. It has added to the brilliancy of the +drawing-room itself, but deducted from that of the inhabitant. It has +given perfection to our mirrors, our candelabras, our gilding, our +inlaying, and our sculpture, but it has communicated a torpor to the +imagination, and enervated our intellectual vigor." + +"In one way," said Mr. Stanley, smiling, "luxury has been favorable to +literature. From the unparalleled splendor of our printing, paper, +engraving, illuminating and binding, luxury has caused more books to be +purchased, while from the growth of time-absorbing dissipation, it +causes fewer to be read. I believe we were much more familiar with our +native poets in their former plain garb than since they have been +attired in the gorgeous dress which now decorates our shelves." + +"Poetry," replied Mr. Stanley, "has of late too much degenerated into +personal satire, persiflage, and caricature among one class of writers, +while among another it has exhibited the vagrancies of genius without +the inspiration, the exuberance of fancy without the curb of judgment, +and the eccentricities of invention without the restrictions of taste. +The image has been strained, while the verse has been slackened. We have +had pleonasm without fullness, and facility without force. Redundancy +has been mistaken for plenitude, flimsiness for ease, and distortion +for energy. An over desire of being natural has made the poet feeble, +and the rage for being simple has sometimes made him silly. The +sensibility is sickly, and the elevation vertiginous." + +"To Cowper," said Sir John, "master of melody as he is, the mischief is +partly attributable. Such an original must naturally have a herd of +imitators. If they can not attain to his excellences, his faults are +always attainable. The resemblance between the master and the scholar is +found chiefly in his defects. The determined imitator of an easy writer +becomes insipid; of a sublime one, absurd. Cowper's ease appeared his +most imitable charm, but ease aggraved is insipidity. His occasional +negligences, his disciples adopted uniformly. In Cowper, there might +sometimes be carelessness in the verse, but the verse itself was +sustained by the vigor of the sentiment. The imitator forgot that his +strength lay in the thought; that his buoyant spirit always supported +itself; that the figure, though amplified, was never distorted; the +image, though bold, was never incongruous; and the illustration, though +new, was never false. + +"The evil, however," continued Sir John, "seems to be correcting itself. +The real genius, which exists in several of this whimsical school, I +trust, will at length lead them to prune their excrescences, and reform +their youthful eccentricities. Their good sense will teach that the +surest road to fame is to condescend to tread in the luminous track of +their great precursors in the art. They will see that deviation is not +always improvement; that whoever wants to be better than nature will +infallibly be worse; that truth in taste is as obvious as in morals, and +as certain as in mathematics. In other quarters, both the classic and +the Gothic muse are emulously soaring, and I hail the restoration of +genuine poetry and pure taste." + +"I must not," said I, "loquacious as I have already been, dismiss the +subject of conversation without remarking that I found there was one +topic which seemed as uniformly avoided by common consent as if it had +been banished by the interdict of absolute authority, and that some +forfeiture, or at least dishonor and disgrace, were to follow it on +conviction--I mean religion." + +"Surely, Charles," said Sir John, "you would not convert general +conversation into a divinity school, and friendly societies into +debating clubs." + +"Far from it," replied I, "nor do I desire that ladies and gentlemen +over their tea and coffee should rehearse their articles of faith, or +fill the intervals of carving and eating with introducing dogmas, or +discussing controversies. I do not wish to erect the social table, which +was meant for innocent relaxation, into an arena for theological +combatants. I only wish, as people live so much together, that if, when +out of the multitude of topics which arise in conversation, an unlucky +wight happens to start a serious thought, I could see a cordial +recognition of its importance; I wish I could see a disposition to +pursue it, instead of a chilling silence which obliges him to draw in as +if he had dropped something dangerous to the state, or inimical to the +general cheerfulness, or derogatory to his own understanding. I only +desire that as, without any effort on the part of the speaker, but +merely from the overflowing fullness of a mind habitually occupied with +one leading concern, we easily perceive that one of the company is a +lawyer, another a soldier, a third a physician, I only wish that we +could oftener discover from the same plenitude, so hard to conceal where +it exists, that we were in a company of Christians." + +"We must not expect in our day," said Mr. Stanley, "to see revive that +animating picture of the prevalence of religious intercourse given by +the prophet: 'Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to +another.' And yet one can not but regret that, in select society, men +well informed as we know, well principled as we hope, having one common +portion of being to fill, having one common faith, one common Father, +one common journey to perform, one common termination to that journey, +and one common object in view beyond it, should, when together, be so +unwilling to advert occasionally to those great points which doubtless +often occupy them in secret; that they should on the contrary adopt a +sort of inverted hypocrisy, and wish to appear worse than they really +are; that they should be so backward to give or to gain information, to +lend or to borrow lights, in a matter in which they are all equally +interested: which can not be the case in any other possible subject." + +"In all human concerns," said I, "we find that those dispositions, +tastes, and affections which are brought into exercise, flourish, while +others are smothered by concealment." + +"It is certain," replied Mr. Stanley, "that knowledge which is never +brought forward is apt to decline. Some feelings require to be excited +in order to know if they exist. In short, topics of every kind which are +kept totally out of sight make a fainter impression on the mind than +such as are occasionally introduced. Communication is a great +strengthener of any principle. Feelings, as well as ideas, are often +elicited by collision. Thoughts that are never to be produced, in time +seldom present themselves, while mutual interchange almost creates as +well as cultivates them. And as to the social affections, I am persuaded +that men would love each other more cordially; good-will and kindness +would be inconceivably promoted, were they in the habit of maintaining +that sort of intercourse which would keep up a mutual regard for their +eternal interests, and lead them more to consider each other as +candidates for the same immortality through the same common hope." + +Just as he had ceased to speak, we heard a warbling of female voices, +which came softened to us by distance and the undulation of the air. The +little band under the oak had finished their cheerful repast, and +arranged themselves in the same regular procession in which they had +arrived. They stood still at a respectful distance from the temple, and +in their artless manner sung Addison's beautiful version of the +twenty-third psalm, which the Miss Astons had taught them, because it +was a favorite with their mother. + +Here the setting sun reminded us to retreat to the house. Before we +quitted the temple, however, Sir George Aston, ventured modestly to +intimate a wish, that if it pleased the Almighty to spare our lives, the +same party should engage always to celebrate this anniversary in the +Temple of Friendship, which should be finished on a larger scale, and +rendered less unworthy to receive such guests. The ladies smiled +assentingly. Ph[oe]be applauded rapturously. Sir John Belfield and I +warmly approved the proposal. Mr. Stanley said it could not but meet +with his cordial concurrence, as it would involve the assurance of an +annual visit from his valued friends. + +As we walked into the house, Lady Aston, who held by my arm, in answer +to the satisfaction I expressed at the day I had passed, said, "we owe +what little we are and do, under Providence, to Mr. Stanley. You will +admire his discriminating mind, when I tell you that he recommends these +little exhibitions for my daughters far more than to his own. He says +that they, being naturally cheerful and habitually active, require not +the incentive of company to encourage them. But that for my poor timid +inactive girls, the support and animating presence of a few chosen +friends just give them that degree of life and spirit which serves to +warm their hearts, and keep their minds in motion." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + +Miss Sparkes came to spend the next day according to her appointment. +Mr. Flam, who called accidentally, staid to dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Carlton +had been previously invited. After dinner the conversation chanced to +turn upon domestic economy, a quality which Miss Sparkes professed to +hold in the most sovereign contempt. + +After some remark of Mrs. Stanley, in favor of the household virtues, +Mr. Carlton said, "Mr. Addison in the Spectator, and Dr. Johnson in the +Rambler, have each given us a lively picture of a vulgar, +ungentlewoman-like, illiterate housewife. The notable woman of the one +suffocated her guests at night with drying herbs in their chamber, and +tormented them all day with plans of economy, and lectures on +management. The economist of the other ruined her husband by her +parsimonious extravagance, if I may be allowed to couple contradictions; +by her tent-stich hangings for which she had no walls, and her +embroidery for which she had no use. The poor man pathetically laments +her detestable catalogues of made wines, which hurt his fortune by their +profusion, and his health by not being allowed to drink them till they +were sour. Both ladies are painted as domestic tyrants, whose husbands +had no peace, and whose children had no education." + +"Those coarse housewives," said Sir John, "were exhibited as _warnings_. +It was reserved for the pen of Richardson to exhibit _examples_. This +author, with deeper and juster views of human nature, a truer taste for +the proprieties of female character, and a more exact intuition into +real life than any other writer of fabulous narrative, has given in his +heroines exemplifications of elegantly cultivated minds, combined with +the sober virtues of domestic economy. In no other writer of fictitious +adventures has the triumph of religion and reason over the passions, and +the now almost exploded doctrines of filial obedience, and the household +virtues, their natural concomitants, been so successfully blended. +Whether the works of this most original, but by no means faultless +writer, were cause or effect, I know not; whether these well-imagined +examples induced the ladies of that day 'to study household good;' or +whether the then existing ladies, by their acknowledged attention to +feminine concerns, furnished Richardson with living models, I can not +determine. Certain it is, that the novel-writers of the subsequent +period have, in general, been as little disposed to represent these +qualities as forming an indispensable part of the female character, as +the contemporary young ladies themselves have been to supply them with +patterns. I a little fear that the predominance of this sort of reading +has contributed its full share to bring such qualities into contempt." + +Miss Sparkes characteristically observed, that "the meanest +understanding and most vulgar education were competent to form such a +wife as the generality of men preferred. That a man of talents, dreading +a rival, always took care to secure himself by marrying a fool." + +"Always excepting the present company, madam, I presume," said Mr. +Stanley, laughing. "But pardon me, if I differ from you. That many men +are sensual in their appetites, and low in their relish of intellectual +pleasures, I confess. That many others, who are neither sensual, nor of +mean attainments, prefer women whose ignorance will favor their indolent +habits, and whom it requires no exertion of mind to entertain, I allow +also. But permit me to say, that men of the most cultivated minds, and +who admire talents in a woman, are still of opinion that _domestic_ +talents can never be dispensed with: and I totally dissent from you in +thinking that these qualities infer the absence of higher attainments, +and necessarily imply a sordid or a vulgar mind. + +"Any ordinary art, after it is once discovered, may be practiced by a +very common understanding. In this, as in every thing else, the kind +arrangements of Providence are visible, because, as the common arts +employ the mass of mankind, they could not be universally carried on, if +they were not of easy and cheap attainment. Now, cookery is one of these +arts, and I agree with you, madam, in thinking that a mean understanding +and a vulgar education suffice to make a good cook. But a cook or +housekeeper, and a lady qualified to wield a considerable establishment, +are two very different characters. To prepare a dinner, and to conduct a +great family, require talents of a very different size: and one reason +why I would never choose to marry a woman ignorant of domestic affairs +is, that she who wants, or she who despises this knowledge, must possess +that previous bad judgment which, as it prevented her from seeing this +part of her duty, would be likely to operate on other occasions." + +"I entirely agree with Mr. Stanley," said Mr. Carlton. "In general I +look upon the contempt or the fulfillment of these duties as pretty +certain indications of the turn of mind from which the one or the other +proceeds. I allow, however, that _with_ this knowledge a lady may +unhappily have overlooked more important acquisitions; but _without_ it +I must ever consider the female character as defective in the texture, +however it may be embroidered and spangled on the surface." + +Sir John Belfield declared, that though he had not that natural +antipathy to a wit, which some men have; yet unless the wildness of a +wit was tamed like the wildness of other animals, by domestic habits, he +himself would not choose to venture on one. He added, that he should +pay a bad compliment to Lady Belfield, who had so much higher claims to +his esteem, if he were to allege that these habits were the determining +cause of his choice, yet had he seen no such tendencies in her +character, he should have suspected her power of making him as happy as +she had done. + +"I confess with shame," said Mr. Carlton, "that one of the first things +that touched me with any sense of my wife's merit, was the admirable +good sense she discovered in the direction of my family. Even at the +time that I had most reason to blush at my own conduct, she never gave +me cause to blush for hers. The praises constantly bestowed on her +elegant, yet prudent, arrangement, by my friends, flattered my vanity, +and raised her in my opinion, though they did not lead me to do her full +justice." + +The two ladies who were thus agreeably flattered, looked modestly +grateful. Mr. Stanley said, "I was going to endeavor at removing Miss +Sparke's prejudices, by observing how much this domestic turn brings the +understanding into action. The operation of good sense is requisite in +making the necessary calculations for a great family, in a hundred ways. +Good sense is required to teach that a perpetually recurring small +expense is more to be avoided than an incidental great one, while it +shows that petty savings can not retrieve an injured estate. The story +told by Johnson, of a lady, who, while ruining her fortune by excessive +splendor and expense, yet refused to let a two shilling mango be cut at +her table, exemplifies exactly my idea. Shabby curtailments, without +repairing the breach which prodigality has made, discredit the husband, +and bring the reproach of meanness on the wife. Retrenchments, to be +efficient, must be applied to great objects. The true economist will +draw in by contracting the outline, by narrowing the bottom, by cutting +off with an unsparing hand costly superfluities, which affect not +comfort, but cherish vanity." + +"'Retrench the lazy vermin of thine hall,' was the wise counsel of the +prudent Venetian to his thoughtless son-in-law," said Sir John, "and its +wisdom consisted in its striking at one of the most ruinous and +prevailing domestic evils, an overloaded establishment." + +If Miss Sparkes had been so long without speaking, it was evident by her +manner and turn of countenance, that contempt had kept her silent, and +that she thought the topic under discussion as unworthy of the support +of the gentleman as of her own opposition. + +"A discreet woman," said Mr. Stanley, "adjusts her expenses to her +revenues. Every thing knows its time, and every person his place. She +will live within her income, be it large or small; if large, she will +not be luxurious; if small, she will not be mean. Proportion and +propriety are among the best secrets of domestic wisdom; and there is no +surer test, both of integrity and judgment, than a well-proportioned +expenditure. + +"Now the point to which I would bring all this verbiage," continued he, +"is this--will a lady of a mean understanding, or a vulgar education, be +likely to practice economy on this large scale? And is not such economy +a field in which a woman of the best sense may honorably exercise her +powers?" + +Miss Sparkes, who was always a stanch opposer in moral as well as in +political debate, because she said it was the best side for the exertion +of wit and talents, comforted herself that though she felt she was +completely in the minority, yet she always thought that was rather a +proof of being right than the contrary; for if it be true, that the +generality are either weak or wicked, it follows that the inferior +number is most likely to be neither. + +"Women," said Mr. Carlton, "in their course of action describe a smaller +circle than men; but the perfection of a circle consists not in its +dimensions but in its correctness. There may be," added he, carefully +turning away his eyes from Miss Sparkes, "here and there a soaring +female, who looks down with disdain on the party affairs of 'this dim +speck called earth;' who despises order and regularity as indications of +a groveling spirit. But a sound mind judges directly contrary. The +larger the capacity, the wider is the sweep of duties it takes in. A +sensible woman loves to imitate that order which is stamped on the whole +creation of God. All the operations of nature are uniform even in their +changes, and regular in their infinite variety. Nay, the great Author of +Nature himself disdains not to be called the God of order." + +"I agree with you," said Sir John. "A philosophical lady may 'read +Malebranche, Boyle, and Locke;' she may boast of her intellectual +superiority; she may talk of abstract and concrete; of substantial forms +and essences; complex ideas and mixed modes, of identity and relation; +she may decorate all the logic of one sex with all the rhetoric of the +other; yet if her affairs are _delabre_, if her house is disorderly, her +servants irregular, her children neglected, and her table ill-arranged, +she will indicate the want of the most valuable faculty of the human +mind, a sound judgment." + +"It must, however, be confessed," replied Mr. Stanley, "that such +instances are so rare, that the exceptions barely serve to establish the +rule. I have known twenty women mismanage their affairs, through a bad +education, through ignorance, especially of arithmetic, that grand +deficiency in the education of women, through a multiplicity of vain +accomplishments, through an excess of dissipation, through a devotedness +to personal embellishments, through an absorption of the whole soul in +music, for one who has made her husband metaphysically miserable." + +"What marks the distinction," said Mr. Carlton, "between the judicious +and the vulgar economist is this: the narrow-minded woman succeeds +tolerably in the filling up, but never in the outline. She is made up of +detail but destitute of plan. Petty duties demand her whole grasp of +mind, and, after all, the thing is incomplete. There is so much bustle +and evident exertion in all she does! she brings into company a mind +exhausted with her little efforts! overflowing with a sense of her own +merits! looking up to her own performance as the highest possible +elevation of the human intellect, and looking down on the attainments of +more highly gifted women, as so many obstructions to their usefulness; +always drawing comparisons to her own advantage, with the cultivated and +the refined, and concluding that because she possesses not their +elegance they must necessarily be deficient in her art. While economists +of a higher strain--I draw from living and not absent instances," added +he, looking benignantly round him--"execute their well ordered plan, as +an indispensable duty, but not as a superlative merit. They have too +much sense to omit it, but they have too much taste to talk of it. It is +their business, not their boast. The effect is produced, but the hand +which accomplishes it is not seen. The mechanism is set at work, but it +is behind the scenes. The beauty is visible, the labor is kept out of +sight." + +"The misfortune is," said Mr. Stanley, "that people are apt to fancy +that judgment is a faculty only to be exercised on great occasions; +whereas it is one that every hour is calling into exercise. There are +certain habits which, though they appear inconsiderable when examined +individually, are yet of no small importance in the aggregate. +Exactness, punctuality, and other minor virtues, contribute more than +many are aware, to promote and to facilitate the exercise of the higher +qualities. I would not erect them into a magnitude beyond their real +size; as persons are too apt to do who are _only_ punctual, and are +deficient in the higher qualities; but by the regular establishment of +these habits in a family, it is inconceivable to those who have not made +the experiment, how it saves, how it amplifies time, that canvas upon +which all the virtues must be wrought. It is incredible how an orderly +division of the day gives apparent rapidity to the wings of time, while +a stated devotion of the hour to its employment really lengthens life. +It lengthens it by the traces which solid occupation leaves behind it: +while it prevents tediousness by affording, with the successive change, +the charm of novelty, and keeping up an interest which would flag, if +any one employment were too long pursued. Now all these arrangements of +life, these divisions of time, and these selections and appropriations +of the business to the hour, come within the department of the lady. And +how much will the cares of a man of sense be relieved, if he choose a +wife who can do all this for him!" + +"In how many of my friends' houses," said Mr. Carlton, "have I observed +the contrary habits produce contrary effects! A young lady bred in total +ignorance of family management, transplanted from the house of her +father, where she has learned nothing, to that of her husband, where she +is expected to know every thing, disappoints a prudent man: his +affection may continue, but his esteem will be diminished; and with his +happiness, his attachment to home will be proportionably lessened." + +"It is perfectly just," said Sir John, "and this comfortless deficiency +has naturally taught men to inveigh against that higher kind of +knowledge which they suppose, though unjustly, to be the cause of +ignorance in domestic matters. It is not entirely to gratify the animal, +as Miss Sparkes supposes, that a gentleman likes to have his table well +appointed; but because his own dignity and his wife's credit are +involved in it. The want of this skill is one of the grand evils of +modern life. _From the heiress of the man of rank, to the daughter of +the opulent tradesman, there is no one quality in which young women are +so generally deficient as in domestic economy._ And when I hear learning +contended for on one hand, and modish accomplishments on the other, I +always contend for this intermediate, this valuable, this neglected +quality, so little insisted on, so rarely found, and so indispensably +necessary." + +"Besides," said Mr. Carlton, addressing himself to Miss Sparkes, "you +ladies are apt to consider versatility as a mark of genius. She, +therefore, who can do a great thing well, ought to do a small one +better; for, as Lord Bacon well observes, he who can not contract his +mind as well as dilate it, wants one great talent in life." + +Miss Sparkes, condescending at length to break a silence which she had +maintained with evident uneasiness, said, "All these plodding +employments cramp the genius, degrade the intellect, depress the +spirits, debase the taste, and clip the wings of imagination. And this +poor, cramped, degraded, stinted, depressed, debased creature is the +very being whom men, men of reputed sense too, commonly prefer to the +mind of large dimensions, soaring fancy, and aspiring tastes." + +"Imagination," replied Mr. Stanley, "well directed, is the charm of +life; it gilds every object, and embellishes every scene; but allow me +to say, that where a woman abandons herself to the dominion of this +vagrant faculty it may lead to something worse than a disorderly table; +and the husband may find that the badness of his dinner is not the only +ill consequence of her super-lunary vagaries." + +"True enough," said Mr. Flam, who had never been known to be so silent, +or so attentive; "true enough, I have not heard so much sense for a long +time. I am sure 'tis sense, because 'tis exactly my own way of thinking. +There is my Bell now. I have spent seven hundred pounds, and more money, +for her to learn music and whimwhams, which all put together are not +worth sixpence. I would give them all up to see her make such a tansy +pudding as that which the widow in the Spectator helped Sir Roger to at +dinner; why I don't believe Bell knows whether pie-crust is made with +butter or cheese; or whether a venison pastry should be baked or boiled. +I can tell her, that when her husband, if she ever gets one, comes in +sharp set from hunting, he won't like to be put off with a tune instead +of a dinner. To marry a singing girl, and complain she does not keep you +a good table, is like eating nightingales, and finding fault that they +are not good tasted. They sing, but they are of no further use--to _eat_ +them, instead of listening to them, is applying to one sense, the +gratification which belongs to another." + +In the course of conversation, Miss Sparkes a little shocked the +delicate feelings of the ladies, of Lucilla especially, by throwing out +some expressions of envy at the superior advantages which men possess +for distinguishing themselves. "Women," she said, "with talents not +inferior were allowed no stage for display, while men had such a reach +for their exertions, such a compass for exercising their genius, such a +range for obtaining distinction that they were at once the objects of +her envy for the means they possessed, and of her pity for turning them +to no better account. There were indeed," she added, "a few men who +redeemed the credit of the rest, and for their sakes she gloried, since +she could not be of their sex, that she was at least of their species." + +"I know, madam," said Mr. Stanley, "your admiration of heroic qualities +and manly virtues: courage for instance. But there are still nobler ways +of exercising courage than even in the field of battle. There are more +exalted means of showing spirit than by sending or accepting a +challenge. To sustain a fit of sickness may exhibit as true heroism as +to lead an army. To bear a deep affliction well calls for as high +exertion of soul as to storm a town; and to meet death with Christian +resolution is an act of courage in which many a woman has triumphed, and +many a philosopher, and even some generals, have failed." + +I thought I saw in Miss Sparkes's countenance a kind of civil contempt, +as if she would be glad to exchange the patient sickness and heroic +death-bed for the renown of victory and the glory of a battle; and I +suspected that she envied the fame of the challenge, and the spirit of +the duel, more than those meek and passive virtues which we all agreed +were peculiarly Christian, and peculiarly feminine. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + +In the afternoon, when the company were assembled in the drawing-room, +the conversation turned on various subjects. Mr. Flam, feeling as if he +had not sufficiently produced himself at dinner now took the lead. He +was never solicitous to show what he called his learning, but when Miss +Sparkes was present, whom it was his grand delight to _set down_ as he +called it. Then he never failed to give broad hints that if he was now +no great student, it was not from ignorance, but from the pressure of +more indispensable avocations. + +He first rambled into some desultory remarks on the absurdity of the +world, and the preposterousness of modern usages, which perverted the +ends of education, and exalted things which were of least use into most +importance. + +"You seem out of humor with the world, Mr. Flam," said Mr. Stanley. "I +hate the world," returned he. "It is indeed," replied Mr. Stanley, "a +scene of much danger, because of much evil." + +"I don't value the danger a straw," rejoined Mr. Flam; "and as to the +evil, I hope I have sense enough to avoid that: but I hate it for its +folly, and despise it for its inconsistency." + +"In what particulars, Mr. Flam?" said Sir John Belfield. + +"In every thing," replied he. "In the first place, don't people educate +their daughters entirely for holidays, and then wonder that they are of +no use? Don't they charge them to be modest, and then teach them every +thing that can make them bold? Are we not angry that they don't attend +to great concerns, after having instructed them to take the most pains +for the least things? There is my Fan, now, they tell me she can dance +as well as a posture mistress, but she slouches in her walk like a +milkmaid. Now as she seldom dances, and is always walking, would it not +be more rational to teach her to do that best which she is to do the +oftenest? She sings like a siren, but 'tis only to strangers. I, who +paid for it, never hear her voice. She is always warbling in a distant +room, or in every room where there is company; but if I have the gout +and want to be amused, she is as dumb as a dormouse." + +"So much for the errors in educating our daughters," said Sir John, "now +for the sons." + +"As to our boys," returned Mr. Flam, "don't we educate them in one +religion, and then expect them to practice another? Don't we cram them +with books of heathen philosophy, and then bid them go and be good +Christians? Don't we teach them to admire the heroes and gods of the +old poets, when there is hardly one hero, and certainly not one god, who +would not in this country have been tried at the Old Bailey, if not +executed at Tyburn? And as to the goddesses, if they had been brought +before us on the bench, brother Stanley, there is scarcely one of them +but we should have ordered to the house of correction. The queen of +them, indeed, I should have sent to the ducking-stool for a scold. + +"Then again, don't we tell our sons when men that they must admire a +monarchical government, after every pains have been taken, when they +were boys, to fill them with raptures for the ancient republics?" + +"Surely, Mr. Flam," said Sir John, "the ancient forms of government may +be studied with advantage, were it only to show us by contrast the +superior excellence of our own." + +"We might," said Miss Sparkes, in a supercilious accent, "learn some +things from them which we much want. You have been speaking of economy. +These republicans, whom Mr. Flam is pleased to speak of with so much +contempt, he must allow, had some good, clever contrivances to keep down +the taxes, which it would do us no harm to imitate. Victories were much +better bargains to them than they are to us. A few laurel leaves or a +sprig of oak was not quite so dear as a pension." + +"But you will allow, madam," said Sir John, smiling, "that a triumph was +a more expensive reward than a title?" + +Before she had time to answer, Mr. Flam said: "Let me tell you, Miss +Sparkes, that as to triumphs, our heroes are so used to them at sea, +that they would laugh at them at home. Those who obtain triumphs as +often as they meet their enemies, would despise such holiday play among +their friends. We don't to be sure reward them as your ancients did. We +don't banish them, nor put them to death for saving their country like +your Athenians. We don't pay them with a trumpery wreath like your +Romans. We English don't put our conquerors off with leaves; we give +them fruits, as cheerfully bestowed as they are fairly earned. God bless +them! I would reduce my table to one dish, my hall to one servant, my +stable to one saddle-horse, and my kennel to one pointer, rather than +abridge the preservers of old England of a feather." + +"Signal exploits, if nationally beneficial," said Sir John, "deserve +substantial remuneration; and I am inclined to think that public honors +are valuable, not only as rewards but incitements. They are as politic +as they are just. When Miltiades and his illustrious ten thousand gained +their immortal victory, would not a Blenheim erected on the plains of +Marathon, have stimulated unborn soldiers more than the little +transitory columns which barely recorded the names of the victors?" + +"What warrior," said Mr. Carlton, "will hereafter visit the future +palace of Trafalgar without reverence? A reverence, the purity of which +will be in no degree impaired by contemplating such an additional motive +to emulation." + +In answer to some further observations of Miss Sparkes, on the +superiority of the ancient to British patriotism, Mr. Flam, whose +indignation now provoked him to display his whole stock of erudition, +eagerly exclaimed: "Do you call that patriotism in your favorite +Athenians, to be so fond of raree-shows, as not only to devote the money +of the state to the play-house, but to make it capital to divert a +little of it to the wants of the gallant soldiers who were fighting +their battles? I hate to hear fellows called patriots who preferred +their diversions to their country." + +Then erecting himself as if he felt the taller for being an Englishman, +he added--"What, Madam Sparkes, would your Greeks have said to a +PATRIOTIC FUND by private contribution, of nearly half a million, in the +midst of heavy taxes and a tedious war, voluntarily raised and +cheerfully given to the orphans, widows, and mothers of their brave +countrymen, who fell in their defense? Were the poor soldiers who fought +under your Cimons, and your ----, I forget their names, ever so kindly +remembered? Make it out that they were--show me such a spirit among your +ancients, and I'll turn republican to-morrow." + +Miss Sparkes having again said something which he thought tended to +exalt the ancient states at the expense of our own country, Mr. Flam +indignantly replied--"Tell me, madam, did your Athens, or your Sparta, +or your Rome, ever take in seven thousand starving priests driven from a +country with which they were at war; a country they had reason to hate, +of a religion they detested? Did they ever receive them, I say, maintain +them like gentlemen, and caress them like friends? If you can bring me +one such instance, I will give up Old England, and turn Greek, or Roman, +or--any thing but Frenchman." + +"I should be inclined," said Mr. Stanley, "to set down that noble deed +to the account of our national religion, as well as of our national +generosity." + +Miss Sparkes said, "In one respect, however, Mr. Flam imitates the +French whom he is abusing. He is very apt to triumph where he has gained +no victory. If you hear his account of a defeat, you would take it, like +theirs, for a conquest." She added, however, that there were illustrious +men in other countries beside our own, as their successes testified. For +her part, she was a citizen of the world, and honored heroes wherever +they were found, in Macedon, in Sweden, or even in France. + +"True enough," rejoined Mr. Flam, "the rulers of other countries have +gone about and delivered kingdoms as we are doing; but there is this +difference: they free them from mild masters, to make them their own +slaves; we neither get them for ourselves or our minions, our brothers, +or cousins, our Jeromes, or Josephs. _We_ raise the weak, _they_ pull +down the prosperous. If _we_ redeem kingdoms, 'tis to bestow them on +their own lawful kings. If we help this nation, 'tis to recall one +sovereign from banishment, if we assist that, 'tis to deliver him from +captivity." + +"What a scene for Spain," said Sir John, "to behold in us their own +national Quixotism soberly exemplified, and rationally realized! The +generous theory of their romantic knight-errant brought into actual +practice. The fervor without the absurdity; the sound principle of +justice without the extravagance of fancy! Wrongs redressed and rights +restored, and upon the grandest scale! Deliverance wrought, not for +imaginary princesses, but for deposed and imprisoned monarchs! Injuries +avenged--not the ideal injuries of ridiculous individuals, but the +substantial wrongs of plundered empires!" + +Sir John, who was amused with the oddities of Mr. Flam, was desirous of +still provoking him to talk; much effort indeed was not required to +induce him to do what he was fond of doing, whenever there was an +opportunity of contradicting Miss Sparkes. + +"But, Mr. Flam," said Sir John, "you were interrupted as you began to +enumerate the inconsistencies which you said had put you out of love +with the world." + +"Why, it makes me mad," replied he, "to hear men who make the loudest +outcry about the dangers of the state, cramming their houses with French +governesses, French cooks, and French valets; is not this adding flame +to the fire? Then I have no patience to see people who pretend great +zeal for the church, delighted that an Italian singer should have a +larger revenue than the highest of our own bishops. Such patriots might +have done well enough for Athenians," added he, looking exultingly at +Miss Sparkes, "but they make miserable Englishmen. Then I hate to see +fellows who pay least taxes, complaining most of the burden--those who +most lament the hardness of the times, spending money in needless +extravagance, and luxury increasing in exact proportion as means +diminish. + +"Then I am sick of the conceit of the boys and girls. Do but observe how +their vanity imposes on their understanding, and how names disguise +things. My son would start, if I were to desire him to go to London in +the _stage coach_, but he _puts himself into the mail_ with great +coolness. If I were to talk to Fan about living in a _small house_, she +would not give me the hearing, whereas she is quite wild to live in a +_cottage_." + +"I do not quite agree with you, Mr. Flam," said Sir John, smiling, "as +to the inconsistency of the world, I rather lament its dull uniformity. +If we may rely on those living chronicles, the newspapers, all is one +faultless scene of monotonous perfection. Were it otherwise, I presume +those frugal philologers would not keep a set of phrases ready cut and +dried, in order to apply them universally in all cases. For instance, is +not every public place from St. James's to Otaheite, or the Cape, +invariably _crowded with beauty and fashion_? Is not every public sermon +pronounced to be _excellent_? Is not every civic speech, every +provincial harangue, _neat and appropriate_? And is not every military +corps, from the veteran regiment of regulars, to the volunteer company +of a month's standing, always declared to be _in the highest state of +discipline_?" + +Before the company went away, I observed that Mrs. Carlton gave Lucilla +a significant glance, and both withdrew together. In spite of my +thorough belief of the injustice and absurdity of my suspicions, a pang +darted through my heart at the bare possibility that Lord Staunton +might be the subject of this secret conference. I was perfectly assured, +that Miss Stanley would never accept him, while he retained his present +character, but that character might be improved. She had rejected him +for his principles; if these principles were changed, there was no other +reasonable ground of objection. He might be reformed. Dare I own, even +to myself, that I dreaded to hear of his reformation. I hate myself for +the thought. I will, said I faintly, endeavor to rejoice if it be so. I +felt a conflict in my mind, between my principles and my passion, that +distressed me not a little. My integrity had never before been so +assailed. At length they returned; I earnestly examined their +countenances. Both looked cheerful, and even animated; yet it was +evident from the redness of their eyes that they had been weeping. The +company immediately took their leave; all our party, as it was a fine +evening, attended them out to their carriages, except Miss Stanley: she +only pressed the hand of Mrs. Carlton, smiled, and looking as if she +durst not trust herself to talk to her, withdrew to the bow window from +whence she could see them depart. I remained in the room. As she was +wiping her eyes to take away the redness, which was a sure way to +increase it, I ventured to join her, and inquired with an earnestness I +could not conceal, what had happened to distress her. "These are not +tears of distress," said she, sweetly smiling. "I am quite ashamed that +I have so little self-control; but Mrs. Carlton has given me so much +pleasure! I have caught the infection of her joy, though my foolish +sympathy looks more like sorrow." Surely, said I, indignantly to myself, +she will not own Lord Staunton's love to my face? + +All frank and open as Miss Stanley was, I was afraid to press her. I had +not courage to ask what I longed to know. Though Lord Staunton's +renewed addresses might not give them so much pleasure, yet his +reformation, I knew, would. I now looked so earnestly inquisitive at +Lucilla, that she said, "My poor friend is at last quite happy. I know +you will rejoice with us. Mr. Carlton has for some time regularly read +the Bible with her. He condescends to hear her and to invite her +remarks, telling her, that if he is the better classic, she is the +better Christian, and that their assistance in the things which each +understands must be reciprocal. If he is her teacher in human +literature, he says, she must be his in that which is divine. He has +been very earnest to get his mind imbued with scriptural knowledge; but +this is not all. + +"Last Saturday he said to her, 'Henrietta, I have but one complaint to +make of you; and it is for a fault which I always thought would be the +last I should ever have to charge you with. It is selfishness.' Mrs. +Carlton was a little shocked, though the tenderness of his manner +mitigated her alarm. 'Henrietta,' resumed he, 'you intend to go to +heaven without your husband? I know you always retire to your +dressing-room, not only for your private devotions, but to read prayers +to your maids. What have your men-servants done, what has your husband +done, that they should be excluded? Is it not a little selfish, my +Henrietta,' added he, smiling, 'to confine your zeal to the eternal +happiness of your own sex? Will you allow me and our men-servants to +join you? To-morrow is Sunday, we will then, if you please, begin in the +hall. You shall prepare what you would have read; and I will be your +chaplain. A most unworthy one, Henrietta, I confess; but you will not +only have a chaplain of your own making, but a Christian also.' + +"'Never, my dear Lucilla,' continued Mrs. Carlton, 'did I know what true +happiness was till that moment. My husband, with all his faults, had +always been remarkably sincere. Indeed, his aversion to all hypocrisy +had made him keep back his right feelings and sentiments till he was +assured they were well established in his mind. He has for some time +been regular at church, a thing, he said, too much taken up as a +customary form to be remarkable, and which therefore involved not much; +but family prayer, adopted from conviction of its being a duty, rather +pledged a man to consistent religion. Never, I hope, shall I forget the +joy I felt, nor my gratitude to that 'Being from whom all holy desires +proceed,' when, with all his family kneeling solemnly around him, I +heard my once unhappy husband with a sober fervor begin: + +"'To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have +rebelled against him, neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our +God, to walk in his laws which he set before us.' + +"He evidently struggled with his own feelings; but his manly mind +carried him through with an admirable mixture of dignity and feeling. He +was so serenely cheerful the rest of the evening that I felt he had +obtained a great victory over himself, and his heart was at peace within +him. Prayer with him was not a beginning form, but a consummation of his +better purposes." + +The sweet girl could not forbear weeping again while she was giving me +this interesting account. I felt as if I had never loved her till then. +To see her so full of sensibility without the slightest tincture of +romance, so feeling, yet so sober-minded, enchanted me. I could now +afford to wish heartily for Lord Staunton's reformation, because it was +not likely to interfere with my hopes. And now the danger was over, I +even endeavored to make myself believe that I _should_ have wished it in +any event, so treacherous will the human heart be found by those who +watch its motions. And it proceeds from not watching them that the +generality are so little acquainted with the evils which lurk within it. + +Before I had time to express half what I felt to the fair narrator the +party came in. They seemed as much puzzled at the position in which they +found Lucilla and myself, she wiping her eyes, and I standing by in +admiration, as I had been at her mysterious interview with Mrs. Carlton. +The Belfields knew not what to make of it. The mother's looks expressed +astonishment and anxiety. The father's eye demanded an explanation. All +this mute eloquence passed in an instant. Miss Stanley gave them not +time to inquire. She flew to her mother, and eagerly repeated the little +tale which furnished matter for grateful joy and improving conversation +the rest of the evening. + +Mr. Stanley expressed a thorough confidence in the sincerity of Carlton. +"He had always," continued he, "in his worst days an abhorrence of +deceit, and such a dread of people appearing better than they are, that +he even commended that most absurd practice of Dean Swift, who, you +know, used to perform family prayers in a garret, for fear any one +should call in and detect him in the performance." Carlton defended this +as an honorable instance of Swift's abhorrence of ostentation in +religion. I opposed it on the more probable ground of his being ashamed +of it. For allowing, what however never can be allowed, that an ordinary +man might have some excuse for the dread of being sneered at, as wanting +to be thought righteous overmuch; yet in a churchman, in a dignified +churchman, family prayer would be expected as a customary decency, an +indispensable appendage to his situation, which, though it might be +practiced without piety, could not be omitted without disgrace, and +which even a sensible infidel, considering it merely as a professional +act, could not say was a custom + + "More honored in the breach than the observance." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + +One evening, which Mr. Tyrrel happened to spend with us, after Mr. +Stanley had performed the family devotions, Mr. Tyrrel said to him: +"Stanley, I don't much like the prayer you read. It seems, by the great +stress it lays on holiness, to imply that a man has something in his own +power. You did indeed mention the necessity of faith and the power of +grace, but there was too much about making the life holy as if that were +all in all. You seem to be putting us so much upon working and doing +that you leave nothing to do for the Saviour." + +"I wish," replied Mr. Stanley, "as I am no deep theologian, that you had +started this objection before Dr. Barlow went away, for I know no man +more able or more willing for serious discussion." + +"No," replied Mr. Tyrrel, "I see clearly by some things he dropped in +conversation, as well as by the whole tenor of his sermons, that Barlow +and I should never agree. He means well, but knows little. He sees +something, but feels nothing. More argument than unction. Too much +reasoning, and too little religion; a little light, and no heat. He +seems to me so to 'overload the ship with duties' that it will sink by +the very means he takes to keep it afloat. I thank God my own eyes are +opened, and I at last feel comfortable in my mind." + +"Religious comfort," said Mr. Stanley, "is a high attainment. Only it is +incumbent on every Christian to be assured that if he is happy it is on +safe grounds." + +"I have taken care of that," replied Mr. Tyrrel. "For some years after I +had quitted my loose habits, I attended occasionally at church, but +found no comfort in it, because I perceived so much was to be _done_ +and so much was to be _sacrificed_. But the great doctrines of faith, as +opened to me by Mr. _H--n_, have at last given me peace, and liberty, +and I rest myself without solicitude on the mercy so freely offered in +the gospel. No mistakes or sins of mine can ever make me forfeit the +divine favor." + +"Let us hear, however," replied Mr. Stanley, "what the Bible says; for +as that is the only rule by which we shall be judged hereafter, it may +be prudent to be guided by it here. God says by the prophet, 'I will put +my Spirit within you;' but he does this for some purpose, for he says in +the very next words, 'I will cause you to _walk_ in my statutes.' And +for fear this should not plainly enough inculcate holiness, he goes on +to say, 'And ye shall _keep_ my judgments, and _do_ them.' Show me, if +you can, a single promise made to an impenitent, unholy man." + +"Why," said Tyrrel, "is not the mercy of God promised to the wicked in +every part of the Bible?" + +"It is," said Mr. Stanley; "but that is, 'if he forsake his way.'" + +"This fondness for works is, in my opinion, nothing else but setting +aside the free grace of God." + +"Quite the contrary: so far from setting it aside, it is the way to +glorify it, for it is by that grace alone that we are enabled to perform +right actions. For myself, I always find it difficult to answer persons, +who, in flying to one extreme, think they can not too much degrade the +opposite. If we give faith its due prominence, the mere moralist +reprobates our principles as if we were depreciating works. If we +magnify the beauty of holiness, the advocate for exclusive faith accuses +us of being its enemy." + +"For my own part, I am persuaded that unqualified trust is the only +ground of safety." + +"He who can not lie has indeed told us so. But trust in God is humble +dependence, not presumptuous security. The Bible does not say, trust in +the Lord and sin on, but 'trust in the Lord, and be doing good.' We are +elsewhere told that, 'God works in us to will and to do.' There is no +getting over that little word to _do_. I suppose you allow the necessity +of prayer." + +"Certainly I do." + +"But there are conditions to our prayers also: 'if I regard iniquity in +my heart the Lord will not hear me.'" + +"The Scriptures affirm that we must live on the promises." + +"They are indeed the very aliment of the Christian life. But what are +the promises?" + +"Free pardon and eternal life to them that are in Christ Jesus." + +"True. But who are they that _are_ in Christ Jesus? The apostle tells +us, 'they who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.' Besides, +is not holiness promised as well as pardon? 'A new heart will I give +you, and a new spirit will I put within you.'" + +"Surely, Stanley, you abuse the grace of the gospel, by pretending that +man is saved by his own righteousness." + +"No, no, my dear Tyrrel, it is you who abuse it, by making God's mercy +set aside man's duty. Allow me to observe, that he who exalts the grace +of God with a view to indulge himself in any sin, is deceiving no one +but himself; and he who trusts in Christ, with a view to spare himself +the necessity of watchfulness, humility, and self-denial, that man +depends upon Christ for more than he has promised." + +"Well, Mr. Stanley, it appears to me that you want to patch up a +convenient accommodating religion, as if Christ were to do a little, and +we were to do the rest; a sort of partnership salvation, and in which +man has the larger share." + +"This, I fear, is indeed the dangerous creed of many worldly Christians. +No; God may be said to do all, because he gives power for all, strength +for all, grace for all. But this grace, is a principle, a vital energy, +a life-giving spirit to quicken us, to make us abound in holiness. He +does not make his grace abound, that we may securely live in sin, but +that we may subdue it, renounce it, live above it." + +"When our Saviour was upon earth, there was no one quality he so +uniformly commended in those who came to be healed by him, as faith." + +"It is most true. But we do not meet in any of them with such a +presumptuous faith as led them to rush into diseases on purpose to show +their confidence in his power of healing them, neither are we to +'continue in sin that grace may abound.' You can not but observe, that +the faith of the persons you mention was always accompanied with an +earnest desire to get rid of their diseases. And it is worth remarking, +that to the words, 'thy faith has made thee whole,' is added, '_sin no +more_, lest a worse thing come unto thee.'" + +"You can not persuade me that any neglect, or even sin of mine, can make +void the covenant of God." + +"Nothing can set side the covenant of God, which is sure and steadfast. +But as for him who lives in the allowed practice of any sin, it is clear +that he has no part nor lot in the matter. It is clear that he is not +one of those whom God has taken into the covenant. That God will keep +his word is most certain, but such a one does not appear to be the +person to whom that word is addressed. God as much designed that you +should apply the faculties, the power, and the will he has given you, to +a life of holiness, as he meant when he gave you legs, hands, and eyes, +that you should walk, work, and see. His grace is not intended to +exclude the use of his gifts but to perfect, exalt, and ennoble them." + +"I can produce a multitude of texts to prove that Christ has done every +thing, and of course has left nothing for me to do, but to believe on +him." + +"Let us take the general tenor and spirit of Scripture, and neither pack +single texts together, detached from the connection in which they stand; +nor be so unreasonable as to squeeze all the doctrines of Christianity +out of every single text, which perhaps, was only meant to inculcate one +individual principle. How consistently are the great leading doctrines +of faith and holiness balanced and reconciled in every part of the +Bible! If ever I have been in danger of resting on a mere dead faith, by +one of those texts on which you exclusively build; in the very next +sentence, perhaps, I am aroused to active virtue, by some lively +example, or absolute command. If again I am ever in danger, as you say, +of sinking the ship with my proud duties, the next passage calls me to +order, by some powerful injunction to renounce all confidence in my +miserable defective virtues, and to put my whole trust in Christ. By +thus assimilating the Creed with the Commandment, the Bible becomes its +own interpreter, and perfect harmony is the result. Allow me also to +remark, that this invariable rule of exhibiting the doctrines of +Scripture in their due proportion, order, and relative connection, is +one of the leading excellences in the service of our Church. While no +doctrine is neglected or undervalued, none is disproportionately +magnified, at the expense of the others. There is neither omission, +undue prominence, nor exaggeration. There is complete symmetry and +correct proportion." + +"I assert that we are free by the gospel from the condemnation of the +law." + +"But where do you find that we are free from the obligation of obeying +it? For my own part, I do not combine the doctrine of grace, to which I +most cordially assent, with any doctrine which practically denies the +voluntary agency of man. Nor, in my adoption of the belief of that +voluntary agency, do I, in the remotest degree, presume to abridge the +sovereignty of God. I adopt none of the metaphysical subtilties, none of +the abstruse niceties of any party, nor do I imitate either in the +reprobation of the other, firmly believing that heaven is peopled with +the humble and the conscientious out of every class of real Christians." + +"Still I insist that if Christ has delivered me from sin, sin can do me +no harm." + +"My dear Mr. Tyrrel, if the king of your country were a mighty general, +and had delivered the land from some powerful enemy, would it show your +sense of the obligation, or your allegiance as a subject, if you were to +join the enemy he had defeated? By so doing, though the country might be +saved, you would ruin yourself. Let us not then live in confederacy with +sin, the power of which, indeed, our Redeemer has broken, but both the +power and guilt of which the individual is still at liberty to incur." + +"Stanley, I remember when you thought the gospel was all in all." + +"I think so still; but I am now, as I was then, for a sober consistent +gospel, a Christianity which must evidence itself by its fruits. The +first words of the apostle after his conversion were, 'Lord, what wilt +thou have me to do?' When he says, 'so run that ye may obtain,' he could +never mean that we could obtain by sitting still, nor would he have +talked of 'laboring _in vain_,' if he meant that we should not labor at +all. We dare not persist in any thing that is wrong, or neglect any +thing that is right, from an erroneous notion that we have such an +interest in Christ as will excuse us from doing the one, or persisting +in the other." + +"I fancy you think that a man's salvation depends on the number of good +actions he can muster together." + +"No, it is the very spirit of Christianity not to build on this or that +actual work, but sedulously to strive for that temper and those +dispositions which are the seminal principles of all virtues; and where +the heart struggles and prays for the attainment of this state, though +the man should be placed in such circumstances as to be able to do +little to promote the welfare of mankind, or the glory of God, in the +eyes of the world; this very habitual aim and bent of the mind, with +humble sorrow at its low attainments, is in my opinion no slight degree +of obedience. + +"But you will allow that the Scriptures affirm that Christ is not only a +sacrifice but a refuge, a consolation, a rest." + +"Blessed be God, he is indeed all these. But he is a consolation only to +the heavy laden, a refuge to those alone who forsake sin. The rest he +promises, is not a rest from labor but from evil. It is a rest from the +drudgery of the world, but not from the service of God. It is not +inactivity, but quietness of spirit; not sloth, but peace. He draws men +indeed from slavery to freedom, but not a freedom to do evil, or to do +nothing. He makes his service easy, but not by lowering the rule of +duty, not by adapting his commands to the corrupt inclinations of our +nature. He communicates his grace, gives fresh and higher motives to +obedience, and imparts peace and comfort, not by any abatement in his +demands, but by this infusion of his own grace, and this communication +of his own Spirit." + +"You are a strange fellow. According to you, we can neither be saved by +good works, nor without them." + +"Come, Mr. Tyrrel, you are nearer the truth than you intended. We can +not be saved by the merit of our good works, without setting at naught +the merits and death of Christ; and we can not be saved without them, +unless we set at naught God's holiness, and make him a favorer of sin. +Now to this the doctrine of the atonement, properly understood, is most +completely hostile. That this doctrine _favors_ sin, is one of the false +charges which worldly men bring against vital Christianity, because they +do not understand the principle, nor inquire into the grounds, on which +it is adopted." + +"Still, I think you limit the grace of God, as if people must be very +good first, in order to deserve it, and then he will come and add his +grace to their goodness. Whereas grace has been most conspicuous in the +most notorious sinners." + +"I allow that the grace of God has never manifested itself more +gloriously than in the conversion of notorious sinners. But it is worth +remarking, that all such, with St. Paul at their head, have ever after +been eminently more afraid than other men of falling again into sin; +they have prayed with the greater earnestness to be delivered from the +power of it, and have continued to lament most deeply the remaining +corruption of their hearts." + +In the course of the conversation Mr. Tyrrel said, "he should be +inclined to entertain doubts of that man's state who could not give an +accurate account of the time, and the manner, in which he was first +awakened, and who had had no sensible manifestations of the divine +favor." + +"I believe," replied Mr. Stanley, "that my notions of the evidence of +being in the favor of God differ materially from yours. If a man feel in +himself a hatred of all sin, without sparing his favorite corruption; if +he rest for salvation on the promise of the gospel alone; if he maintain +in his mind such a sense of the nearness and immeasurable importance of +eternal things, as shall enable him to use temporal things with +moderation, and anticipate their end without dismay; if he delight in +the worship of God, is zealous for his service, making _his_ glory the +end and aim of all his actions; if he labor to fulfill his allotted +duties conscientiously; if he love his fellow-creatures as the children +of the same common Father, and partakers of the same common hope; if he +feel the same compassion for the immortal interests, as for the worldly +distresses of the unfortunate; forgiving others, as he hopes to be +forgiven; if he endeavor according to his measure and ability, to +diminish the vice and misery with which the world abounds, _that_ man +has a solid ground of peace and hope, though he may not have those +sensible evidences which afford triumph and exultation. In the mean +while, the man of a heated imagination, who boasts of mysterious +communications within, is perhaps exhibiting outwardly unfavorable marks +of his real state, and holding out by his low practice discouragements +unfriendly to that religion of which he professes himself a shining +instance. + +"The sober Christian is as fully convinced that only he who made the +heart can renew it, as the enthusiast. He is as fully persuaded that his +natural dispositions can not be changed, nor his affections purified but +by the agency of the divine Spirit, as the fanatic. And though he +presume not to limit omnipotence to a sudden or a gradual change, yet he +does not think it necessary to ascertain the day, and the hour, and the +moment, contented to be assured that whereas he was once blind he now +sees. If he does not presume in his own case to fix the _chronology of +conversion_, he is not less certain as to its effects. If he can not +enumerate dates, and recapitulate feelings, he can and does produce such +evidence of his improvement, as virtuous habits, a devout temper, an +humble and charitable spirit, repentance toward God, and faith in our +Lord Jesus Christ; and this gives an evidence less equivocal, as +existing more in the heart than on the lips, and more in the life than +in the discourse. Surely, if a plant be flourishing, the branches +green, and the fruit fair and abundant, we may venture to pronounce +these to be indications of health and vigor, though we can not ascertain +the moment when the seed was sown, or the manner in which it sprung up." + +Sir John, who had been an attentive listener, but had not yet spoken a +word, now said, smiling, "Mr. Stanley, you steer most happily between +the two extremes. This exclusive cry of grace in one party of +religionists, which drives the opposite side into as unreasonable a +clamor against it, reminds me of the Queen of Louis Quatorze. When the +Jesuits, who were of the court-party, made so violent an outcry against +the Jasenists, for no reason but because they had more piety than +themselves, her majesty was so fearful of being thought to favor the +oppressed side, that in the excess of her party zeal, she vehemently +exclaimed, 'Oh, fie upon grace! fie upon grace!'" + +"Party violence," continued Mr. Stanley, "thinks it can never recede far +enough from the side it opposes!" + +"But how then," replied Mr. Tyrrel, "is our religion to be known, except +by our making a profession of truths which the irreligious are either +ignorant of, or oppose?" + +"There is," rejoined Mr. Stanley, "as I have already observed, a more +infallible criterion. It is best known by the effects it produces on the +heart and on the temper. A religion which consists in opinions only, +will not advance us in our progress to heaven: it is apt to inflate the +mind with the pride of disputation; and victory is so commonly the +object of debate, that eternity slides out of sight. The two cardinal +points of our religion, justification and sanctification, are, if I may +be allowed the term, correlatives; they imply a reciprocal relation, nor +do I call that state Christianity, in which either is separately and +exclusively maintained. The union of these manifests the dominion of +religion in the heart, by increasing its humility, by purifying its +affections, by setting it above the contamination of the maxims and +habits of the world, by detaching it from the vanities of time, and +elevating it to a desire for the riches of eternity." + +"All the exhortations to duties," returned Mr. Tyrrel, "with which so +many sermons abound, are only an infringement on the liberty of a +Christian. A true believer knows of no duty but faith, no rule but +love." + +"Love is indeed," said Mr. Stanley, "the fountain and principle of all +practical virtue. But love itself requires some regulations to direct +its exertion; some law to guide its motions; some rule to prevent its +aberrations; some guard to hinder that which is vigorous from becoming +eccentric. With such a regulation, such a law, such a guard, the divine +ethics of the gospel have furnished us. The word of God is as much our +rule, as his Spirit is our guide, or his Son our 'way.' This unerring +rule alone secures Christian liberty from disorder, from danger, from +irregularity, from excess. Conformity to the precepts of the Redeemer is +the most infallible proof of having an interest in his death." + +We afterward insensibly slid into other subjects, when Mr. Tyrrel, like +a combatant who thought himself victorious, seemed inclined to return to +the charge. The love of money having been mentioned by Sir John with +extreme severity, Mr. Tyrrel seemed to consider it as a venial failing, +and said that both avarice and charity might be constitutional. + +"They may be so," said Mr. Stanley, "but Christianity, sir, has a +constitution of its own; a superinduced constitution. A real Christian +'confers not with flesh and blood,' with his _constitution_, whether he +shall give or forbear to give, when it is a clear duty, and the will of +God requires it. If we believe in the principles, we must adopt the +conclusions. Religion is not an unproductive theory, nor charity an +unnecessary, an incidental consequence, nor a contingent left to our own +choice. You are a classic, Mr. Tyrrel, and can not have forgotten that +in your mythological poets, the three Pagan graces were always knit +together hand in hand; the three Christian graces are equally +inseparable, and that the greatest of these is charity; that grand +principle of love, of which almsgiving is only one branch." + +Mr. Tyrrel endeavored to evade the subject, and seemed to intimate that +true Christianity might be known without any such evidences as Mr. +Stanley thought necessary. This led the latter to insist warmly on the +vast stress which every part of Scripture laid on the duty of charity. +"Its doctrines," said he, "its precepts, its promises, and its examples +all inculcate it. 'The new commandment' of John; 'the pure and undefiled +religion' of James; 'ye shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the +just' of Luke; the daily and hourly practice of him, who not only taught +to do good, but who went about doing it; 'the store for a good +foundation against the time to come' of Paul--nay, in the only full, +solemn, and express representation of the last day, which the gospel +exhibits, charity is not only brought forward as a predominant, a +distinguishing feature of the righteous, but a specific recompense seems +to be assigned to it, when practiced on true Christian grounds. And it +is not a little observable, that the only posthumous quotation from the +sayings of our divine Saviour which the Scripture has recorded, is an +encouragement to charity: 'Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he +said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + +The next afternoon, when we were all conversing together, I asked Mr. +Stanley what opinion he held on a subject which had lately been a good +deal canvassed; the propriety of young ladies learning the dead +languages; particularly Latin. He was silent. Mrs. Stanley smiled. +Ph[oe]be laughed outright. Lucilla, who had nearly finished making tea, +blushed excessively. Little Celia, who was sitting on my knee while I +was teaching her to draw a bird, put an end to the difficulty, by +looking up in my face and crying out--"Why, sir, Lucilla reads Latin +with papa every morning." I cast a timid eye on Miss Stanley, who, after +putting the sugar into the cream pot, and the tea into the sugar bason, +slid out of the room, beckoning Ph[oe]be to follow her. + +"Poor Lucilla," said Mr. Stanley, "I feel for her. Well, sir," continued +he, "you have discovered by external, what I trust you would not have +soon found by internal evidence. Parents who are in high circumstances, +yet from principle abridge their daughters of the pleasures of the +dissipated part of the world, may be allowed to substitute other +pleasures; and if the girl has a strong inquisitive mind, they may +direct it to such pursuits as call for vigorous application, and the +exercise of the mental powers." + +"How does that sweet girl manage," said Lady Belfield, "to be so +utterly void of pretension? So much softness and so much usefulness +strip her of all the terrors of learning." + +"At first," replied Mr. Stanley, "I only meant to give Lucilla as much +Latin as would teach her to grammaticize her English, but her quickness +in acquiring led me on, and I think I did right; for it is superficial +knowledge that excites vanity. A learned language, which a discreet +woman will never produce in company, is less likely to make her vain +than those acquirements which, are always in exhibition. And after all, +it is a hackneyed remark, that the best instructed girl will have less +learning than a school-boy; and why should vanity operate in her case +more than in his?" + +"For this single reason, sir," said I, "that every body knows that which +very few girls are taught. Suspect me not, however, of censuring a +measure which I admire. I hope the example of your daughters will help +to raise the tone of female education." + +"Softly, softly," interrupted Mr. Stanley, "retrench your plural number. +It is only one girl out of six that has deviated from the beaten track. +I do not expect many converts to what I must rather call my practice in +one instance, than my general opinion. I am so convinced of the +prevailing prejudice, that the thing has never been named out of the +family. If my gay neighbor Miss Rattle knew that Lucilla had learned +Latin, she would instantly find out a few moments to add that language +to her innumerable acquirements, because her mother can afford to pay +for it, and because Lady Di. Dash has never learned it. I assure you, +however" (laughing as he spoke), "I never intend to smuggle my poor girl +on any man by concealing from him this unpopular attainment, any more +than I would conceal any personal defect." + +"I will honestly confess," said Sir John, who had not yet spoken, "that +had I been to judge the case _a priori_, had I met Miss Stanley under +the terrifying persuasion that she was a scholar, I own I should have +met her with a prejudice; I should have feared she might be forward in +conversation, deficient in feminine manners, and destitute of domestic +talents. But having had such a fair occasion of admiring her engaging +modesty, her gentle and unassuming tone in society, and above all, +having heard from Lady Belfield how eminently she excels in the true +science of a lady--domestic knowledge--I can not refuse her that +additional regard, which this solid acquirement, so meekly borne, +deserves. Nor, on reflection, do I see why we should be so forward to +instruct a woman in the language spoken at Rome in its present degraded +state, in which there are comparatively few authors to improve her, and +yet be afraid that she should be acquainted with that which was its +vernacular tongue, in its age of glory two thousand years ago, and which +abounds with writers of supreme excellence." + +I was charmed at these concessions from Sir John, and exclaimed with a +transport which I could not restrain: "In our friends, even in our +common acquaintance, do we not delight to associate with those whose +pursuits have been similar to our own, and who have read the same books? +How dull do we find it, when civility compels us to pass even a day with +an illiterate man? Shall we not then delight in the kindred acquirements +of a dearer friend? Shall we not rejoice in a companion who has drawn, +though less copiously, perhaps, from the same rich sources with +ourselves; who can relish the beauty we quote, and trace the allusion at +which we hint? I do not mean that _learning_ is absolutely necessary, +but a man of taste who has an ignorant wife, can not, in her company, +think his own thoughts, nor speak his own language; his thoughts he will +suppress; his language he will debase, the one from hopelessness, the +other from compassion. He must be continually lowering and diluting his +meaning, in order to make himself intelligible. This he will do for the +woman he loves, but in doing it he will not be happy. She, who can not +be entertained by his conversation, will not be convinced by his +reasoning; and at length he will find out that it is less trouble to +lower his own standard to hers, than to exhaust himself in the vain +attempt to raise hers to his own." + +"A fine high-sounding _tirade_, Charles, spoken _con amore_," said Sir +John. "I really believe, though, that one reason why women are so +frivolous is, that the things they are taught are not solid enough to +fix the attention, exercise the intellect, and fortify the +understanding. They learn little that inures to reasoning, or compels to +patient meditation." + +"I consider the difficulties of a solid education," said Mr. Stanley, +"as a sort of preliminary course, intended perhaps by Providence as a +gradual preparative for the subsequent difficulties of life; as a +prelude to the acquisition of that solidity and firmness of character +which actual trials are hereafter to confirm. Though I would not make +instruction unnecessarily harsh and rugged, yet I would not wish to +increase its facilities to such a degree as to weaken that robustness of +mind which it should be its object to promote, in order to render mental +discipline subservient to moral." + +"How have you managed with your other girls, Stanley?" said Sir John, +"for though you vindicate general knowledge, you profess not to wish for +general learning in the sex." + +"Far from it," replied Mr. Stanley. "I am a gardener you know, and +accustomed to study the genius of the soil before I plant. Most of my +daughters, like the daughters of other men, have some one talent, or at +least propensity; for parents are too apt to mistake inclination for +genius. This propensity I endeavor to find out and to cultivate. But if +I find the natural bias very strong, and not very safe, I then labor to +counteract, instead of encouraging the tendency, and try to give it a +fresh direction. Lucilla having a strong bent to whatever relates to +intellectual taste, I have read over with her the most unexceptionable +parts of a few of the best Roman classics. She began at nine years old, +for I have remarked that it is not learning much, but learning late, +which makes pedants. + +"Ph[oe]be, who has a superabundance of vivacity, I have in some measure +tamed, by making her not only a complete mistress of arithmetic, but by +giving her a tincture of mathematics. Nothing puts such a bridle on the +fancy as demonstration. A habit of computing steadies the mind, and +subdues the soarings of imagination. It sobers the vagaries of trope and +figure, substitutes truth for metaphor, and exactness for amplification. +This girl, who if she had been fed on poetry and works of imagination, +might have become a Miss Sparkes, now rather gives herself the airs of a +calculator and of a grave computist. Though as in the case of the cat in +the fable, who was metamorphosed into a lady, nature will breath out as +soon as the scratching of a mouse is heard; and all Ph[oe]be's +philosophy can scarcely keep her in order, if any work of fancy comes in +her way. + +"To soften the horrors of her fate, however, I allowed her to read a few +of the best things in her favorite class. When I read to her the more +delicate parts of Gulliver's Travels, with which she was enchanted, she +affected to be angry at the voyage to Laputa, because it ridicules +philosophical science. And in Brobdignag, she said, the proportions were +not correct. I must, however, explain to you, that the use which I made +of these dry studies with Ph[oe]be, was precisely the same which the +ingenious Mr. Cheshire makes of his steel machines for defective shapes, +to straiten a crooked tendency or strengthen a weak one. Having employed +these means to set her mind upright, and to cure a wrong bias; as that +skillful gentleman discards his apparatus as soon as the patient becomes +strait, so have I discontinued these pursuits, for I never meant to +make a mathematical lady. Jane has a fine ear and a pretty voice, and +will sing and play well enough for any girl who is not to make music her +profession. One or two of the others sing agreeably. + +"The little one, who brought the last nosegay, has a strong turn for +natural history, and we all of us generally botanize a little of an +evening, which gives a fresh interest to our walks. She will soon draw +plants and flowers pretty accurately. Louisa also has some taste in +designing, and takes tolerable sketches from nature. These we encourage +because they are solitary pleasures, and want no witnesses. They all are +too eager to impart somewhat of what they know to your little favorite +Celia, who is in danger of picking up a little of every thing, the sure +way to excel in nothing. + +"Thus each girl is furnished with some one source of independent +amusement. But what would become of them, or rather what would become of +their mother and me, if every one of them was a scholar, a +mathematician, a singer, a performer, a botanist, a painter? Did we +attempt to force all these acquirements and a dozen more on every girl; +all her _time_ would be occupied about things which will be of no value +to her in _eternity_. I need not tell you that we are carefully +communicating to every one of them that general knowledge which should +be common to all gentlewomen. + +"In unrolling the vast volume of ancient and modern history, I ground on +it some of my most useful instructions, and point out how the truth of +Scripture is illustrated by the crimes and corruptions which history +records, and how the same pride, covetousness, ambition, turbulence, and +deceit, which bring misery on empires, destroy the peace of families. To +history, geography and chronology are such, indispensable appendages, +that it would be superfluous to insist on their usefulness. As to +astronomy, while 'the heavens declare the glory of God,' it seems a kind +of impiety, not to give young people some insight into it." "I hope," +said Sir John, "that you do not exclude the modern languages from your +plan." "As to the French," replied Mr. Stanley, "with that thorough +inconsistency which is common to man, the demand for it seems to have +risen in exact proportion as it ought to have sunk.[4] I would not, +however, rob my children of a language in which, though there are more +books to be avoided, there are more that deserve to be read, than in all +the foreign languages put together." + +[Footnote 4: See an ingenious little treatise entitled Latium Redivivum, +or the modern use of the Latin language, and the prevalence of the +French.] + +"If you prohibit Italian," said Sir John, laughing, "I will serve you as +Cowper advised the boys and girls to serve Johnson for depreciating +Henry and Emma; I will join the musical and poetical ladies in tearing +you to pieces, as the Thracian damsels did Orpheus, and send your head +with his + + "Down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore." + +"You remember me, my dear Belfield," replied Mr. Stanley, "a warm +admirer of the exquisite beauties of Italian poetry. But a father feels, +or rather judges differently from the mere man of taste, and as a +father, I can not help regretting, that what is commonly put into the +hands of our daughters, is so amatory, that it has a tendency to soften +those minds which rather want to be invigorated. + +"There are few things I more deprecate for girls than a poetical +education, the evils of which I saw sadly exemplified in a young friend +of Mrs. Stanley's. She had beauty and talents. Her parents, enchanted +with both, left her entirely to her own guidance. She yielded herself up +to the uncontrolled rovings of a vagrant fancy. When a child she wrote +verses, which were shown in her presence to every guest. Their flattery +completed her intoxication. She afterward translated Italian sonnets and +composed elegies of which love was the only theme. These she was +encouraged by her mother to recite herself, in all companies, with a +pathos and sensibility which delighted her parents, but alarmed her more +prudent friends. + +"She grew up with the confirmed opinion that the two great and sole +concerns of human life were love and poetry. She considered them as +inseparably connected, and she resolved in her own instance never to +violate so indispensable a union. The object of her affection was +unhappily chosen, and the effects of her attachment were such as might +have been expected from a connexion formed on so slight a foundation. In +the perfections with which she invested her lover, she gave the reins to +her imagination, when she thought she was only consulting her heart. She +picked out and put together the fine qualities of all the heroes of all +the poets she had ever read, and into this finished creature, her fancy +transformed her admirer. + +"Love and poetry commonly influence the two sexes in a very +disproportionate degree. With men, each of them is only one passion +among many. Love has various and powerful competitors in hearts divided +between ambition, business, and pleasure. Poetry is only one amusement +in minds, distracted by a thousand tumultuous pursuits, whereas in girls +of ardent tempers, whose feelings are not curbed by restraint, and +regulated by religion, love is considered as the great business of their +earthly existence. It is cherished, not as 'the cordial drop,' but as +the whole contents of the cup; the remainder is considered only as froth +or dregs. The unhappy victim not only submits to the destructive +dominion of a despotic passion but glories in it. So at least did this +ill-starred girl. + +"The sober duties of a family had early been transferred to her sisters, +as far beneath the attention of so fine a genius; while she abandoned +herself to studies which kept her imagination in a fever, and to a +passion which those studies continually fed and inflamed. Both together +completed her delirium. She was ardent, generous, and sincere; but +violent, imprudent, and vain to excess. She set the opinion of the world +at complete defiance, and was not only totally destitute of judgment and +discretion herself, but despised them in others. Her lover and her muse +were to her instead of the whole world. + +"After having for some years exchanged sonnets, under the names of Laura +and Petrarch, and elegies under those of Sappho and Phaon; the lover, to +whom all this had been mere sport, the gratification of vanity, and the +recreation of an idle hour grew weary. + + Younger and fairer he another saw. + +He drew off. Her verses were left unanswered, her reproaches unpitied. +Laura wept, and Sappho raved in vain. + +"The poor girl, to whom all this visionary romance had been a serious +occupation, which had swallowed up cares and duties, now realized the +woes she had so often admired and described. Her upbraidings only served +to alienate still more the heart of her deserter; and her despair, which +he had the cruelty to treat as fictitious, was to him a subject of mirth +and ridicule. Her letters were exposed, her expostulatory verses read at +clubs and taverns, and the unhappy Sappho toasted in derision. + +"All her ideal refinements now degenerated into practical improprieties. +The public avowal of her passion drew on her from the world charges +which she had not merited. Her reputation was wounded, her health +declined, her peace was destroyed. She experienced the dishonors of +guilt without its turpitude, and in the bloom of life fell, the +melancholy victim to a mistaken education and an undisciplined mind." + +Mrs. Stanley dropped a silent tear to the memory of her unhappy friend, +the energies of whose mind she said would, had they been lightly +directed, have formed a fine character. + +"But none of the things of which I have been speaking," resumed Mr. +Stanley, "are the great and primary objects of instruction. The +inculcation of fortitude, prudence, humility, temperance, +self-denial--this is education. These are things we endeavor to promote +far more than arts or languages. These are tempers, the habit of which +should be laid in early, and followed up constantly, as there is no day +in life which will not call them into exercise; and how can that be +practiced which has never been acquired? + +"Perseverance, meekness, and industry," continued he, "are the qualities +we most carefully cherish and commend. For poor Laura's sake, I make it +a point never to extol any indications of genius. Genius has pleasure +enough in its own high aspirings. Nor am I indeed overmuch delighted +with a great blossom of talents. I agree with good Bishop Hull, that it +is better to thin the blossoms that the rest may thrive; and that in +encouraging too many propensities, one faculty may not starve another." + +Lady Belfield expressed herself grateful for the hints Mr. Stanley had +thrown out, which could not be but of importance to her who had so large +a family. After some further questions from her, he proceeded: + +"I have partly explained to you, my dear madam, why, though I would not +have every woman learn every thing, yet why I would give every girl, in +a certain station of life, some one amusing accomplishment. There is +here and there a strong mind, which requires a more substantial +nourishment than the common education of girls affords. To such, and to +such only, would I furnish the quiet resource of a dead language as a +solid aliment, which may fill the mind without inflating it. + +"But that no acquirement may inflate it, let me add, there is but one +sure corrective. Against learning, against talents of any kind, nothing +can steady the head, unless you fortify the heart with real +Christianity. In raising the moral edifice, we must sink deep in +proportion as we build high. We must widen the foundation if we extend +the superstructure. Religion alone can counteract the aspirings of +genius, can regulate the pride of talents. + +"And let such women as are disposed to be vain of their comparatively +petty attainments, look up with admiration to those two cotemporary +shining examples, the venerable Elizabeth Carter and the blooming +Elizabeth Smith. I knew them both, and to know was to revere them. In +_them_, let our young ladies contemplate profound and various learning +chastised by true Christian humility. In _them_, let them venerate +acquirements which would have been distinguished in a university, +meekly, softened, and beautifully shaded by the gentle exertion of every +domestic virtue, the unaffected exercise of every feminine employment." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + + +Ever since Mr. Tyrrel had been last with us, I had observed an unusual +seriousness in the countenance of Sir John Belfield, though accompanied +with his natural complacency. His mind seemed intent on something he +wished to communicate. The first time we were both alone in the library +with Mr. Stanley, Sir John said: "Stanley, the conversations we have +lately had, and especially the last, in which you bore so considerable a +part, have furnished me with matter for reflection. I hope the pleasure +will not be quite destitute of profit." + +"My dear Sir John," replied Mr. Stanley, "in conversing with Mr. Tyrrel, +I labor under a disadvantage common to every man, who, when he is called +to defend some important principle which he thinks attacked or +undervalued, is brought into danger of being suspected to undervalue +others, which, if they in their turn were assailed, he would defend with +equal zeal. When points of the last importance are slighted as +insignificant in order exclusively to magnify one darling opinion, I am +driven to appear as if I opposed that important tenet, which, if I may +so speak, seems pitted against the others. Those who do not previously +know my principles, might almost suspect me of being an opposer of that +prime doctrine, which I really consider as the leading principle of +Christianity." + +"Allow me to say," returned Sir John, "that my surprise has been equal +to my satisfaction. Those very doctrines which you maintained, I had +been assured, were the very tenets you rejected. Many of our +acquaintance, who do not come near enough to judge, or who would not be +competent to judge if they did, ascribe the strictness of your practice +to some unfounded peculiarities of opinion, and suspect that the +doctrines of Tyrrel, though somewhat modified, a little more rationally +conceived, and more ably expressed, are the doctrines held by you, and +by every man who rises above the ordinary standard of what the world +calls religious men. And what is a little absurd and inconsistent, they +ascribe to these supposed dangerous doctrines, his abstinence from the +diversions, and his disapprobation of the manners and maxims of the +world. _Your_ opinions, however, I always suspected could not be very +pernicious, the effects of which, from the whole tenor of your life, I +knew to be so salutary. + +"I now find upon full proof that there is nothing in your sentiments but +what a man of sense may approve; nothing but what if he be really a man +of sense, he will without scruple adopt. May I be enabled more fully, +more practically, to adopt them! You shall point out to me such a course +of reading as may not only clear up my remaining difficulties, but, what +is infinitely more momentous than the solution of any abstract question, +may help to awaken me to a more deep and lively sense of my own +individual interest in this great concern!" + +Mr. Stanley's benevolent countenance was lighted up with more than its +wonted animation. He did not attempt to conceal the deep satisfaction +with which his heart was penetrated. He modestly referred his friend to +Dr. Barlow, as a far more able casuist, though not a more cordial +friend. For my own part, I felt my heart expand toward Sir John with new +sympathies and an enlarged affection. I felt noble motives of +attachment, an attachment which I hoped would be perpetuated beyond the +narrow bounds of this perishable world. + +"My dear Sir John," said Mr. Stanley, "it is among the daily but +comparatively petty trials of every man who is deeply in earnest to +secure his immortal interests, to be classed with low and wild +enthusiasts whom his judgment condemns, with hypocrites against whom his +principles revolt, and with men, pious and conscientious I am most +willing to allow, but differing widely from his own views; with others +who evince a want of charity in some points, and a want of judgment in +most. To be identified, I say, with men so different from yourself, +because you hold in common some great truths, which all real Christians +have held in all ages, and because you agree with them in avoiding the +blamable excesses of dissipation, is among the sacrifices of reputation, +which a man must be contented to make who is earnest in the great object +of a Christian's pursuit. I trust, however, that, through divine grace, +I shall never renounce my integrity for the praise of men, who have so +little consistency, that though they pretend their quarrel is with your +faith, yet who would not care how extravagant your belief was if your +practice assimilated with their own. I trust, on the other hand, that I +shall always maintain my candor toward those with whom we are unfairly +involved; men, religious, though somewhat eccentric, devout, though +injudicious, and sincere, though mistaken; but who, with all their +errors, against which I protest, and with all their indiscretion, which +I lament, and with all their ill-judged, because irregular zeal, I shall +ever think--always excepting hypocrites and false pretenders--are better +men, and in a safer state than their revilers." + +"I have often suspected," said I, "that under the plausible pretense of +objecting to your creed, men conceal their quarrel with the +commandments." + +"My dear Stanley," said Sir John, "but for this visit, I might have +continued in the common error, that there was but one description of +religious professors; that a fanatical spirit, and a fierce adoption of +one or two particular doctrines, to the exclusion of all the rest, with +a total indifference to morality, and a sovereign contempt of prudence, +made up the character against which, I confess, I entertained a secret +disgust. Still, however, I loved _you_ too well, and had too high an +opinion of your understanding, to suspect that you would ever be drawn +into those practical errors, to which I had been told your theory +inevitably led. Yet I own I had an aversion to this dreaded enthusiasm +which drove me into the opposite extreme." + +"How many men have I known," replied Mr. Stanley, smiling, "who, from +their dread of a burning zeal, have taken refuge in a freezing +indifference! As to the two extremes of heat and cold, neither of them +is the true climate of Christianity; yet the fear of each drives men of +opposite complexions into the other, instead of fixing them in the +temperate zone which lies between them, and which is the region of +genuine piety." + +"The truth is, Sir John, _your_ society considers ardor in religion as +the fever of a distempered understanding, while in inferior concerns +they admire it as the indication of a powerful mind. Is zeal in politics +accounted the mark of a vulgar intellect? Did they consider the +unquenchable ardor of Pitt, did they regard the lofty enthusiasm of Fox, +as evidences of a feeble or a disordered mind? Yet I will venture to +assert, that ardor in religion is as much more noble than ardor in +politics, as the prize for which it contends is more exalted. It is +beyond all comparison superior to the highest human interests, the truth +and justice of which, after all, may possibly be mistaken, and the +objects of which, must infallibly have an end." + +Dr. Barlow came in, and seeing us earnestly engaged, desired that he +might not interrupt the conversation. Sir John in a few words informed +him what had passed, and with a most graceful humility spoke of his own +share in it, and confessed how much he had been carried away by the +stream of popular prejudice, respecting men who had courage to make a +consistent profession of Christianity. "I now," added he, "begin to +think with Addison, that singularity in religion is heroic bravery, +'because it only leaves the species by soaring above it.'" + +After some observations from Dr. Barlow, much in point, he went on to +remark that the difficulties of a clergyman were much increased by the +altered manners of the age. "The tone of religious writing," said he, +"but especially the tone of religious conversation, is much lowered. The +language of a Christian minister in discussing Christian topics will +naturally be consonant to that of Scripture. The Scripture speaks of a +man being _renewed in the spirit of his mind_, of his being _sanctified +by the grace of God_. Now how much circumlocution is necessary for us in +conversing with a man of the world, to convey the sense, without +adopting the expression; and what pains must we take to make our meaning +intelligible without giving disgust, and to be useful without causing +irritation!" + +"But, my good Doctor," said Sir John, "is it not a little puritanical to +make use of such solemn expressions in company?" + +"Sir," replied Dr. Barlow, "it is worse than puritanical, it is +hypocritical, where the principle itself does not exist, and even where +it does, it is highly inexpedient to introduce such phrases into general +company at all. But I am speaking of serious private conversation when, +if a minister is really in earnest, there is nothing absurd in his +prudent use of Scripture expressions. One great difficulty, and which +obstructs the usefulness of a clergyman, in conversation with many +persons of the higher class, who would be sorry not to be thought +religious, is, that they keep up so little acquaintance with the Bible, +that from their ignorance of its venerable phraseology, they are +offended at the introduction of a text, not because it is Scripture--for +that they maintain a kind of general reverence--but because from not +reading it, they do not know that it _is_ Scripture. + +"I once lent a person of rank and talents an admirable sermon, written +by one of our first divines. Though deeply pious, it was composed with +uncommon spirit and elegance, and I thought it did not contain one +phrase which could offend the most fastidious critic. When he returned +it, he assured me that he liked it much on the whole, and should have +approved it altogether, but for one methodistical expression. To my +utter astonishment he pointed to the exceptionable passage, 'There is +now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after +the flesh but after the spirit.' The chapter and verse not being +mentioned, he never suspected it was a quotation from the Bible." + +"This is one among many reasons," said Mr. Stanley, "why I so +strenuously insist that young persons should read the Scriptures, +unaltered, unmodernized, unmutilated, unabridged. If parents do not make +a point of this, the peculiarity of sacred language will become really +obsolete to the next generation." + +In answer to some further remarks of Sir John, Mr. Stanley said, +smiling, "I have sometimes amused myself with making a collection of +certain things, which are now considered and held up by a pretty large +class of men as the infallible symptoms of methodism. Those which at +present occur to my recollection are the following: Going to church in +the afternoon, maintaining family prayer, not traveling, or giving great +dinners or other entertainments on Sundays, rejoicing in the abolition +of the slave-trade, promoting the religious instruction of the poor at +home, subscribing to the Bible Society, and contributing to establish +Christianity abroad. These, though the man attend no eccentric +clergyman, hold no one enthusiastic doctrine, associate with no fanatic, +is sober in his conversation, consistent in his practice, correct in his +whole deportment, will infallibly fix on him the charge of methodism. +Any _one_ of these will excite suspicion, but all united will not fail +absolutely to stigmatize him. The most devoted attachment to the +establishment will avail him nothing, if not accompanied with a fiery +intolerance toward all who differ. Without intolerance, his charity is +construed into unsoundness, and his candor into disaffection. He is +accused of assimilating with the principles of every weak brother whom, +though his judgment compels him to blame, his candor forbids him to +calumniate. Saint and hypocrite are now, in the scoffer's lexicon, +become convertible terms; the last being always implied where the first +is sneeringly used." + +"It has often appeared to me," said I, "that the glory of a tried +Christian somewhat resembles that of a Roman victor, in whose solemn +processions, among the odes of gratulation, a mixture of abuse and +railing made part of the triumph." + +"Happily," resumed Mr. Stanley, "a religious man knows the worst he is +likely to suffer. In the present established state of things he is not +called, as in the first ages of Christianity, to be made a spectacle to +the world, and to angels, and to men. But he must submit to be assailed +by three different descriptions of persons. From the first, he must be +contented to have principles imputed to him which he abhors, motives +which he disdains, and ends which he deprecates. He must submit to have +the energies of his well-regulated piety confounded with the follies of +the fanatic, and his temperate zeal blended with the ravings of the +insane. He must submit to be involved in the absurdities of the +extravagant, in the duplicity of the designing, and in the mischiefs of +the dangerous; to be reckoned among the disturbers of that church which +he would defend with his blood, and of that government which he is +perhaps supporting in every possible direction. Every means is devised +to shake his credit. From such determined assailants no prudence can +protect his character, no private integrity can defend it, no public +service rescue it." + +"I have often wondered," said Sir John, "at the success of attacks which +seemed to have nothing but the badness of the cause to recommend them. +But the assailant, whose object it is to make good men ridiculous, well +knows that he has secured to himself a large patronage in the hearts of +all the envious, the malignant, and the irreligious, who, like other +levelers, find it more easy to establish the equality of mankind by +abasing the lofty, than by elevating the low." + +"In my short experience of life," said I, when Sir John had done +speaking, "I have often observed it as a hardship, that a man must not +only submit to be condemned for doctrines he disowns, but also for +consequences which others may draw from the doctrines he maintains, +though he himself, both practically and speculatively, disavows any such +consequences." + +"There is another class of enemies," resumed Mr. Stanley. "To do them +justice, it is not so much the individual Christian as Christianity +itself, which _they_ hope to discredit; _that_ Christianity which would +not only restrain the conduct, but would humble the heart; which strips +them of the pride of philosophy, and the arrogant plea of merit; which +would save, but will not flatter them. In this enlightened period, +however, for men who would preserve any character, it would be too gross +to attack religion itself, and they find they can wound her more deeply +and more creditably through the sides of her professors." + +"I have observed," said I, "that the uncandid censurer always picks out +the worst man of a class, and then confidently produces him as being a +fair specimen of it." + +"From our more thoughtless, but less uncharitable acquaintance, the gay +and the busy," resumed Mr. Stanley, "we have to sustain a gentler +warfare. A little reproach, a good deal of ridicule, a little suspicion +of our designs, and not a little compassion for our gloomy habits of +life, an implied contempt of our judgment, some friendly hints that we +carry things too far, an intimation that being righteous overmuch in the +practice has a tendency to produce derangement in the faculties. These +are the petty but daily trials of every man who is seriously in earnest; +and petty indeed they are to him whose prospects are well-grounded, and +whose hope is full of immortality." + +"This hostility, which a real Christian is sure to experience," said I, +"is not without its uses. It quickens his vigilance over her own heart, +and enlarges his charity toward others, whom reproach perhaps may as +unjustly stigmatize. It teaches him to be on his guard, lest he should +really deserve the censure he incurs; and what I presume is of no small +importance, it teaches him to sit loose to human opinion; it weakens his +excessive tenderness for reputation, makes him more anxious to deserve, +and less solicitous to obtain it." + +"It were well," said Dr. Barlow, "if the evil ended here. The +established Christian will evince himself to be such by not shrinking +from the attack. But the misfortune is, that the dread of this attack +keeps back well disposed but vacillating characters. They are +intimidated at the idea of partaking the censure, though they know it to +be false. When they hear the reputation of men of piety assailed, they +assume an indifference which they are far from feeling. They listen to +the reproaches cast on characters which they inwardly revere, without +daring to vindicate them. They hear the most attached subjects accused +of disaffection, and the most sober-minded churchmen of innovation, +without venturing to repel the charge, lest they should be suspected of +leaning to the party. They are afraid fully to avow that their own +principles are the same, lest they should be involved in the same +calumny. To efface this suspicion, they affect a coldness which they do +not feel, and treat with levity what they inwardly venerate. Very young +men, from this criminal timidity, are led to risk their eternal +happiness through the dread of a laugh. Though they know that they have +not only religion but reason on their side, yet it requires a hardy +virtue to repel a sneer, and an intrepid principle to confront a +sarcasm. Thus their own mind loses its firmness, religion loses their +support, the world loses the benefit which their example would afford, +and they themselves become liable to the awful charge which is denounced +against him who is ashamed of his Christian profession." + +"Men of the world," said Sir John, "are extremely jealous of whatever +may be thought _particular_; they are frightened at every thing that has +not the sanction of public opinion, and the stamp of public applause. +They are impatient of the slightest suspicion of censure in what may be +supposed to affect the credit of their judgment, though often +indifferent enough as to any blame that may attach to their conduct. +They have been accustomed to consider strict religion as a thing which +militates against good taste, and to connect the idea of something +unclassical and inelegant, something awkward and unpopular, something +uncouth and ill-bred, with the peculiar doctrines of Christianity; +doctrines which, though there is no harm in believing, they think there +can be no good in avowing." + +"It is a little hard," said Mr. Stanley, "that men of piety, who are +allowed to possess good sense on all other occasions, and whose judgment +is respected in all the ordinary concerns of life, should not have a +little credit given them in matters of religion, but that they should be +at once transformed into idiots or madmen in that very point which +affords the noblest exercise to the human faculties." + +"A Christian, then," said I, "if human applause be his idol is of all +men most miserable. He forfeits his reputation every way. He is accused +by the men of the world of going too far; by the enthusiast of not going +far enough. While it is one of the best evidences of his being right, +that he is rejected by one party for excess, and by the other for +deficiency." + +"What then is to be done?" said Dr. Barlow. "Must a discreet and pious +man give up a principle because it has been disfigured by the fanatic, +or abused by the hypocrite, or denied by the skeptic, or reprobated by +the formalist, or ridiculed by the men of the world? He should rather +support it with an earnestness proportioned to its value; he should +rescue it from the injuries it has sustained from its enemies; and the +discredit brought on it by its imprudent friends. He should redeem it +from the enthusiasm which misconceives, and from the ignorance or +malignity which misrepresents it. If the learned and the judicious are +silent in proportion as the illiterate and the vulgar are obtrusive and +loquacious, the most important truths will be abandoned by those who are +best able to unfold, and to defend them, while they will be embraced +exclusively by those who misunderstand, degrade, and debase them. +Because the unlettered are absurd, must the able cease to be religious? +If there is to be an abandonment of every Christian principle because it +has been unfairly, unskillfully, or inadequately treated, there would, +one by one, be an abandonment of every doctrine of the New Testament." + +"I felt myself bound," said Mr. Stanley, "to act on this principle in +our late conversation with Mr. Tyrrel. I would not refuse to assert with +him the doctrines of grace, but I endeavored to let him see that I had +adopted them in a scriptural sense. I would not try to convince him that +he was wrong, by disowning a truth because he abused it. I would +cordially reject all the bad use he makes of any opinion, without +rejecting the opinion itself, if the Bible will bear me out in the +belief of it. But I would scrupulously reject all the other opinions +which he connects with it, and with which I am persuaded it has no +connection." + +"The nominal Christian," said Dr. Barlow, "who insists that religion +resides in the understanding only, may contend that love to God, +gratitude to our Redeemer, and sorrow for our offenses, are enthusiastic +extravagances; and effectually repress, by ridicule and sarcasm, those +feelings which the devout heart recognizes, and which Scripture +sanctions. On the other hand, those very feelings are inflamed, +exaggerated, distorted, and misrepresented, as including the whole of +religion, by the intemperate enthusiast, who thinks reason has nothing +to do in the business; but who, trusting to tests not warranted in the +Scripture, is governed by fancies, feelings, and visions of his own. + +"Between these pernicious extremes, what course is the sober Christian +to pursue? Must he discard from his heart all pious affections because +the fanatic abuses them, and the fastidious denies their existence! This +would be like insisting, that because one man happens to be sick of a +dead palsy, and another of a frenzy fever, there is therefore in the +human constitution no such temperate medium as sound health." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + + +Since the conversation which had accidentally led to the discovery of +Miss Stanley's acquirements, I could not forbear surveying the perfect +arrangements of the family, and the completely elegant but not luxurious +table, with more than ordinary interest. I felt no small delight in +reflecting that all this order and propriety were produced without the +smallest deduction from mental cultivation. + +I could not refrain from mentioning this to Mrs. Stanley. She was not +displeased with my observation, though she cautiously avoided saying any +thing which might be construed into a wish to set off her daughter. As +she seemed surprised at my knowledge of the large share her Lucilla had +in the direction of the family concerns, I could not, in the imprudence +of my satisfaction, conceal the conversation I had had with my old +friend Mrs. Comfit. + +After this avowal she felt that any reserve on this point would look +like affectation, a littleness which would have been unworthy of her +character. "I am frequently blamed by my friends," said she, "for taking +some of the load from my own shoulders, and laying it on hers. 'Poor +thing, she is too young!' is the constant cry of the fashionable +mothers. My general answer is, you do not think your daughters of the +same age too young to be married, though you know marriage must bring +with it these, and still heavier cares. Surely then Lucilla is not too +young to be initiated into that useful knowledge which will hereafter +become no inconsiderable part of her duty. The acquisition would be +really burdensome then, if it were not lightened by preparatory practice +now. I have, I trust, convinced my daughters, that though there is no +great merit in possessing this sort of knowledge, yet to be destitute of +it is highly discreditable." + +In several houses where I had visited, I had observed the forwardness of +the parents, the mother especially, to make a display of the daughter's +merits: "so dutiful! so notable! such an excellent nurse!" The girl was +then called out to sing or to play, and was thus, by that +_inconsistency_ which my good mother deprecated, kept in the full +exhibition of those very talents which are most likely to interfere with +nursing and notableness. But since I had been on my present visit, I had +never once heard my friends extol their Lucilla, or bring forward any of +her excellences. I had however observed their eyes fill with a delight, +which they could not suppress, when her merits were the subject of the +praise of others. + +I took notice of this difference of conduct to Mrs. Stanley. "I have +often," said she, "been so much hurt at the indelicacy to which you +allude, that I very early resolved to avoid it. If the girl in question +does not deserve the commendation, it is not only disingenuous but +dishonest. If she does, it is a coarse and not very honorable stratagem +for getting her off. But if the daughter be indeed all that a mother's +partial fondness believes," added she, her eyes filling with tears of +tenderness, "how can she be in such haste to deprive herself of the +solace of her life? How can she by gross acts wound that delicacy in her +daughter, which, to a man of refinement, would be one of her chief +attractions, and which will be lowered in his esteem, by the suspicion +that she may concur in the indiscretion of the mother. + +"As to Lucilla," added she, "Mr. Stanley and I sometimes say to each +other, 'Little children, keep yourselves from idols!' O my dear young +friend! it is in vain to dissemble her unaffected worth and sweetness. +She is not only our delightful companion, but our confidential friend. +We encourage her to give us her opinion on matters of business, as well +as of taste; and having reflected as well as read a good deal, she is +not destitute of materials on which to exercise her reasoning powers. We +have never repressed her natural vivacity, because we never saw it, like +Ph[oe]be's, in danger of carrying her off from the straight line." + +I thanked Mrs. Stanley for her affectionate frankness, with a warmth +which showed the cordial interest I took in her, who was the object of +it: company coming in, interrupted our interesting tete-a-tete. + +After tea, I observed the party in the saloon to be thinner than usual. +Sir John and Lady Belfield having withdrawn to write letters; and that +individual having quitted the room, whose presence would have reconciled +me to the absence of all the rest, I stole out to take a solitary walk. +At the distance of a quarter of a mile from the park-gate, on a little +common, I observed, for the first time, the smallest and neatest cottage +I ever beheld. There was a flourishing young orchard behind it, and a +little court full of flowers in front. But I was particularly attracted +by a beautiful rose-tree, in full blossom, which grew against the house, +and almost covered the clean white walls. As I knew this sort of rose +was a particular favorite of Lucilla's I opened the low wicket which led +into the little court, and I looked about for some living creature, of +whom I might have begged the flowers. But seeing no one, I ventured to +gather a bunch of the roses, and the door being open, walked into the +house, in order to acknowledge my theft, and make my compensation. In +vain I looked round the little neat kitchen: no one appeared. + +I was just going out, when the sound of a soft female voice over head +arrested my attention. Impelled by a curiosity which, considering the +rank of the inhabitants, I did not feel it necessary to resist, I softly +stole up the narrow stairs, cautiously stooping as I ascended, the +lowness of the ceiling not allowing me to walk upright. I stood still at +the door of a little chamber, which was left half open to admit the air. +I gently put my head through. What were my emotions when I saw Lucilla +Stanley kneeling by the side of a little clean bed, a large old Bible +spread open on the bed before her, out of which she was reading one of +the penitential Psalms to a pale emaciated female figure, who lifted up +her failing eyes, and clasped her feeble hands in solemn attention! + +Before two little bars, which served for a grate, knelt Ph[oe]be, with +one hand stirring some broth which she had brought from home, and with +the other fanning with her straw bonnet the dying embers, in order to +make the broth boil; yet seemingly attentive to her sister's reading. +Her disheveled hair, the deep flush which the fire, and her labor of +love gave her naturally animated countenance, formed a fine contrast to +the angelic tranquillity and calm devotion which sat on the face of +Lucilla. Her voice was inexpressibly sweet and penetrating, while faith, +hope, and charity seemed to beam from her fine uplifted eyes. On account +of the closeness of the room, she had thrown off her hat, cloak, and +gloves, and laid them on the bed; and her fine hair, which had escaped +from its confinement, shaded that side of her face which was next the +door, and prevented her seeing me. + +I scarcely dared to breathe, lest I should interrupt such a scene. It +was a subject not unworthy of Raphael. She next began to read the +forty-first Psalm, with the meek, yet solemn emphasis of devout feeling: +"Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy, the Lord shall +deliver him in the time of trouble." Neither the poor woman nor myself +could hold out any longer. She was overcome by her gratitude and I by my +admiration, and we both at the same moment involuntarily exclaimed, +Amen! I sprang forward with a motion which I could no longer control. +Lucilla saw me, started up in confusion, + + And blushed + Celestial rosy red, + +then eagerly endeavoring to conceal the Bible, by drawing her hat over +it, "Ph[oe]be," said she, with all the composure she could assume, "is +the broth ready?" Ph[oe]be, with her usual gayety, called out to me to +come and assist, which I did, but so unskillfully, that she chid me for +my awkwardness. + +It was an interesting sight to see one of the blooming sisters lift the +dying woman in her bed, and support her with her arm, while the other +fed her, her own weak hand being unequal to the task. At that moment, +how little did the splendors and vanities of life appear in my eyes! and +how ready was I to exclaim with Wolsey, + + Vain pomp and glory of the world, I hate you. + +When they had finished their pious office, I inquired if the poor woman +had no attendant. Ph[oe]be, who was generally the chief speaker, said, +"she has a good daughter, who is out at work by day, but takes care of +her mother at night; but she is never left alone, for she has a little +grand-daughter who attends her in the mean time; but as she is obliged +to go once a day to the Grove to fetch provisions, we generally contrive +to send her while we are here, that Dame Alice may never be left alone." + +While we were talking, I heard a little weary step, painfully climbing +up the stairs, and looked round, expecting to see the grand-daughter; +but it was little Kate Stanley, with a lap full of dried sticks, which +she had been collecting for the poor woman's fire. The sharp points of +the sticks had forced their way in many places through the white muslin +frock, part of which, together with her bonnet, she had left in the +hedge, which she had been robbing. At this loss she expressed not much +concern, but lamented not a little that sticks were so scarce; that she +feared the broth had been spoiled, from her being so long in picking +them, but _indeed_ she could not help it. I was pleased with these +under allotments, these low degrees in the scale of charity. + +I had gently laid my roses on the hat of Miss Stanley, as it lay on the +Bible, and before we left the room, as I drew near the good old dame to +slip a couple of guineas into her hand, I had the pleasure of seeing +Lucilla, who thought herself unobserved, retire to the little window, +and fasten the roses into the crown of her hat like a garland. When the +grand-daughter returned loaded with the daily bounty from the Grove, we +took our leave, followed by the prayers and blessings of the good woman. + +As we passed by the rose-tree, the orchard, and the court, Ph[oe]be said +to me, "A'n't you glad that poor people can have such pleasures?" I told +her it doubled my gratification to witness the enjoyment, and to trace +the hand which conferred it; for she had owned it was _their_ work. "We +have always," replied Ph[oe]be, "a particular satisfaction in observing +a neat little flower-garden about a cottage, because it holds out a +comfortable indication that the inhabitants are free from absolute want, +before they think of these little embellishments." + +"It looks, also," said Miss Stanley, "as if the woman, instead of +spending her few leisure moments in gadding abroad, employed them in +adorning her little habitation, in order to make it more attractive to +her husband. And we know more than one instance in this village in which +the man has been led to give up the public-house, by the innocent +ambition of improving on her labors." + +I asked her what first inspired her with such fondness for gardening, +and how she had acquired so much skill and taste in this elegant art? +She blushed and said she was afraid I should think her romantic, if +she were to confess that she had caught both the taste and the passion, +as far as she possessed either, from an early and intimate acquaintance +with the Paradise Lost, of which she considered the beautiful +descriptions of scenery and plantations as the best precepts for +landscape gardening. "Milton," she said, "both excited the taste and +supplied the rules. He taught the art and inspired the love of it." From +the gardens of Paradise the transition was easy and natural. On my +asking her opinion of this portrait, as drawn by Milton, she replied, +"That she considered Eve, in her state of innocence, as the most +beautiful model of the delicacy, propriety, grace, and elegance of the +female character which any poet ever exhibited. Even after her fall," +added she, "there is something wonderfully touching in her remorse, and +affecting in her contrition." + +"We are probably," replied I, "more deeply affected with the beautifully +contrite expressions of repentance in our first parents, from being so +deeply involved in the consequences of the offense which occasioned it." + +"And yet," replied she, "I am a little affronted with the poet, that +while, with a noble justness, he represents Adam's grief at his +expulsion, as chiefly arising from his being banished from the presence +of his Maker, the sorrows of Eve seem too much to arise from being +banished from her flowers. The grief, though never grief was so +beautifully eloquent, is rather too exquisite, her substantial ground +for lamentation considered." + +Seeing me going to speak, she stopped me with a smile, saying, "I see by +your looks that you are going, with Mr. Addison, to vindicate the poet, +and to call this a just appropriation of the sentiment to the sex; but +surely the disproportion in the feeling here is rather too violent, +though I own the loss of her flowers _might_ have aggravated any common +privation. There is, however, no female character in the whole compass +of poetry in which I have ever taken so lively an interest, and no poem +that ever took such powerful possession of my mind." + +If any thing had been wanting to my full assurance of the sympathy of +our tastes and feelings, this would have completed my conviction. It +struck me as the Virgilian lots formerly struck the superstitious. Our +mutual admiration of the Paradise Lost, and of its heroine, seemed to +bring us nearer together than we had yet been. Her remarks, which I +gradually drew from her in the course of our walk, on the construction +of the fable, the richness of the imagery, the elevation of the +language, the sublimity and just appropriation of the sentiments, the +artful structure of the verse, and the variety of the characters, +convinced me that she had imbibed her taste from the purest sources. It +was easy to trace her knowledge of the best authors, though she quoted +none. + +"This," said I exultingly to myself, "is the true learning for a lady; a +knowledge that is rather detected than displayed, that is felt in its +effects on her mind and conversation; that is seen, not by her citing +learned names, or adducing long quotations, but in the general result, +by the delicacy of her taste, and the correctness of her sentiments." + +In our way home I made a merit with little Kate, not only by rescuing +her hat from the hedge, but by making a little provision of wood under +it, of larger sticks than she could gather, which she joyfully promised +to assist the grand-daughter in carrying to the cottage. + +I ventured, with as much diffidence as if I had been soliciting a +pension for myself, to entreat that I might be permitted to undertake +the putting forward Dame Alice's little girl in the world, as soon as +she should be released from her attendance on her grandmother. My +proposal was graciously accepted, on condition that it met with Mr. and +Mrs. Stanley's approbation. + +When we joined the party at supper, it was delightful to observe that +the habits of religious charity were so interwoven with the texture of +these girl's minds; that the evening which had been so interesting to +me, was to them only a common evening, marked with nothing particular. +It never occurred to them to allude to it; and once or twice when I was +tempted to mention it, my imprudence was repressed by a look of the most +significant gravity from Lucilla. + +I was comforted, however, by observing that my roses were transferred +from the hat to the hair. This did not escape the penetrating eye of +Ph[oe]be, who archly said, "I wonder, Lucilla, what particular charm +there is in Dame Alice's faded roses. I offered you some fresh ones +since we came home. I never knew you prefer withered flowers before." +Lucilla made no answer, but cast down her timid eyes, and out-blushed +the roses on her head. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + + +After breakfast next morning the company dropped off one after another, +except Lady Belfield, Miss Stanley, and myself. We had been so busily +engaged in looking over the plan of a conservatory, which Sir John +proposed to build at Beechwood, his estate in Surrey, that we hardly +missed them. + +Little Celia, whom I call the rosebud, had climbed up my knees, a +favorite station with her, and was begging me to tell her another pretty +story. I had before told her so many, that I had exhausted both my +memory and my imagination. Lucilla was smiling at my impoverished +invention, when Lady Belfield was called out of the room. Her fair +friend rose mechanically to follow her. Her ladyship begged her not to +stir, but to employ the five minutes of her absence in carefully +criticising the plan she held in her hand, saying she would bring back +another which Sir John had by him; and that Lucilla, who is considered +as the last appeal in all matters of this nature, should decide to which +the preference should be given, before the architect went to work. In a +moment I forgot my tale and my rosebud, and the conservatory, and every +thing but Lucilla, whom I was beginning to address, when little Celia, +pulling my coat, said--"Oh, Charles" (for so I teach all the little ones +to call me), "Mrs. Comfit tells me very bad news. She says that your new +curricle is come down, and that you are going to run away. Oh! don't go; +I can't part with you," said the little charmer, throwing her arms round +my neck. + +"Will you go with me, Celia?" said I, kissing her rosy cheek. "There +will be room enough in the curricle." + +"Oh, I should like to go," said she, "if Lucilla may go with us. Do, +dear Charles, do let Lucilla go to the Priory. She will be very good: +won't you, Lucilla?" + +I ventured to look at Miss Stanley, who tried to laugh without +succeeding, and blushed without trying at it. On my making no reply, for +fear of adding to her confusion, Celia looked up piteously in my face +and cried: + +"And so you won't let Lucilla go home with you? I am sure the curricle +will hold us all nicely; for I am very little, and Lucilla is not very +big." + +"Will _you_ persuade her, Celia?" said I. + +"O," said she, "she does not want persuading; she is willing enough, and +I will run to papa and mamma and ask their leave, and then Lucilla will +go and glad: won't you, Lucilla?" + +So saying, she sprang out of my arms, and ran out of the room; Lucilla +would have followed and prevented her. I respectfully detained her. How +could I neglect such an opportunity? Such an opening as the sweet +prattler had given me it was impossible to overlook. The impulse was too +powerful to be resisted; I gently replaced her on her seat, and in +language, which, if it did any justice to my feelings, was the most +ardent, tender, and respectful, poured out my whole heart. I believe my +words were incoherent; I am sure they were sincere. + +She was evidently distressed. Her emotion prevented her replying. But it +was the emotion of surprise, not of resentment. Her confusion bore no +symptoms of displeasure. Blushing and hesitating, she at last said: "My +father, sir--my mother." Here her voice failed her. I recollected with +joy that on the application of Lord Staunton she had allowed of no such +reference, nay, she had forbidden it. + +"I take your reference joyfully," said I, "only tell me that if I am so +happy as to obtain their consent, you will not withhold yours." She +ventured to raise her timid eyes to mine, and her modest but expressive +look encouraged me almost as much as any words could have done. + +At that moment the door opened, and in came Sir John with the other +drawing of the conservatory in his hand. After having examined us both +with his keen, critical eye; "Well, Miss Stanley," said he, with a look +and tone which had more meaning than she could well stand, "here is the +other drawing. As you look as if you had been _calmly_ examining the +first, you will now give me your _cool, deliberate_ opinion of the +merits of both." He had the cruelty to lay so much stress on the words, +cool, calm, and deliberate, and to pronounce them in so arch a manner, +and so ironical a tone, as clearly showed, he read in her countenance +that no epithets could possibly have been so ill applied. + +Lady Belfield came in immediately after. "Well, Caroline," said he, with +a significant glance, "Miss Stanley has deeply considered the subject +since you went; I never saw her look more interested about any thing. I +don't think she is dissatisfied on the whole. General approbation is all +she now expresses. She will have time to spy out faults hereafter: she +sees none at present. All is beauty, grace, and proportion." + +As if this was not enough, in ran Celia quite out of breath--"Oh, +Lucilla," cried she, "papa and mamma won't let you go with Charles, +though I told them you begged and prayed to go." + +Lucilla, the pink of whose cheeks was become crimson, said angrily, "How +Celia! what do you mean?" + +"Oh, no," replied the child, "I mean to say that _I_ begged and prayed, +and I thought you looked as if you would like to go, though Charles did +not ask you, and so I told papa." + +This was too much. The Belfields laughed outright; but Lady Belfield had +the charity to take Lucilla's hand, saying, "Come into my dressing-room, +my dear, and let us settle this conservatory business. This prattling +child will never let us get on." Miss Stanley followed, her face glowing +with impatience. Celia, whom I detained, called after her, "Papa only +said there was not room in the curricle for three; but if it is only a +little way, I am sure we could sit, could we not, Lucilla?" Lucilla was +now happily out of hearing. + +Though I was hurt that her delicacy had suffered so much, yet I own I +hugged the little innocent author of this confusion with additional +fondness. Sir John's raillery, now that Lucilla could be no longer +pained by it, was cordially received, or rather I was inattentive to +every object but the one of which my heart was full. To be heard, to be +accepted, though tacitly, to be referred to parents who I knew had no +will but hers, + + Was such a sacred and homefelt delight, + Such sober certainty of waking bliss + As I ne'er felt till now. + +During the remainder of the day I found no opportunity of speaking to +Mr. Stanley. Always frank and cheerful, he neither avoided nor sought +me, but the arrival of company prevented our being thrown together. +Lucilla appeared at dinner as usual: a little graver and more silent, +but always unaffected, natural, and delicate. Sir John whispered to me +that she had entreated her mother to keep Celia out of the way till this +curricle business was a little got out of her head. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + + +The next morning, as soon as I thought Mr. Stanley had retreated to his +library, I followed him thither. He was busy writing letters. I +apologized for my intrusion. He laid his papers aside, and invited me to +sit by him. + +"You are too good, sir," said I, "to receive with so much kindness a +culprit who appears before you ingenuously to acknowledge the infraction +of a treaty into which he had the honor of entering with you. I fear +that a few days are wanting of my prescribed month. I had resolved to +obey you with the most religious scrupulousness; but a circumstance, +trifling in itself, has led almost irresistibly to a declaration, which +in obedience to your command I had resolved to postpone. But though it +is somewhat premature, I hope, however, you will not condemn my +precipitancy. I have ventured to tell your charming daughter how +necessary she is to my happiness. She does not reject me. She refers me +to her father." + +"You have your peace to make with my daughter, I can tell you, sir," +said Mr. Stanley, looking gravely; "I fear you have mortally offended +her." + +I was dreadfully alarmed. "You know not how you afflict me, sir," said +I: "how have I offended Miss Stanley?" + +"Not Miss Stanley," said he, smiling, "but Miss Celia Stanley, who +extremely resents having been banished from the drawing-room yesterday +evening." + +"If Celia's displeasure is all I have to fear, sir, I am most fortunate. +Oh, sir, my happiness, the peace of my future life, is in your hands. +But first tell me you forgive the violation of my promise." + +"I am willing to believe, Charles," replied he, "that you kept the +spirit of your engagement, though you broke it in the letter; and for an +unpremeditated breach of an obligation of this nature, we must not, I +believe, be too rigorous. Your conduct since your declaration to me has +confirmed the affection which your character had before excited. You +were probably surprised and hurt at my cold reception of your proposal, +a proposal which gave me a deeper satisfaction than I can express. Yet I +was no dissembler in suppressing the pleasure I felt at an address so +every way desirable. My dear Charles, I know a little of human nature. I +know how susceptible the youthful heart is of impressions. I know how +apt these impressions are to be obliterated--a new face, a more +advantageous connection--" + +"Hold, sir," said I, indignantly interrupting him, "you can not think so +meanly of me--you can not rate the son of your friend so low!" + +"I am very far indeed," replied he, "from rating you low. I know you +abhor mercenary considerations; but I know also that you are a young +man, lively, ardent, impressible. I know the rapid effect that leisure, +retirement, rural scenes, daily opportunities of seeing a young woman +not ugly, of conversing with a young woman not disagreeable, may produce +on the heart, or rather on the imagination. I was aware that seeing no +other, conversing with no other, none at least that, to speak honestly, +I could consider as a fair competitor, hardly left you an unprejudiced +judge of the state of your own heart. I was not sure but that this sort +of easy commerce might produce a feeling of complacency which might be +mistaken for love. I could not consent that mere accident, mere leisure, +the mere circumstance of being thrown together, should irrevocably +entangle either of you. I was desirous of affording you time to see, to +know, and to judge. I would not take advantage of your first emotions. I +would not take advantage of your friendship for me. I would not take +advantage of your feeling ardently, till I had given you time to judge +temperately and fairly." + +I assured him I was equally at a loss to express my gratitude for his +kindness, and my veneration of his wisdom; and thanked him in terms of +affectionate energy. + +"My regard for you," said he, "is not of yesterday: I have taken a warm +interest in your character and happiness almost ever since you have been +in being; and in a way more intimate and personal than you can suspect." + +So saying he arose, unlocked the drawer of a cabinet which stood behind +him, and took out a large packet of letters. He then resumed his seat, +and holding out the direction on the covers asked me if I was acquainted +with the hand-writing. A tear involuntarily started into my eye as I +exclaimed; "It is the well-known hand of my beloved father." + +"Listen to me attentively," resumed he. "You are not ignorant that never +were two men more firmly attached by all the ties which ever cemented a +Christian friendship than your lamented father and myself. Our early +youth was spent in the same studies, the same pleasures, the same +society. 'We took sweet counsel together and went to the house of God as +friends.' He condescendingly overlooked my being five or six years +younger than himself. After his marriage with your excellent mother, the +current of life carried us different ways, but without causing any +abatement in the warmth of our attachment. + +"I continued to spend one month every year with him at the Priory, till +I myself married. You were then not more than three or four years old; +and your engaging manners, and sweet temper, laid the foundation of an +affection which has not been diminished by time, and the reports of your +progress. Sedentary habits on the part of your father, and a rapidly +increasing family on mine, kept us stationary at the two extremities of +the kingdom. I settled at the Grove, and both as husband and father have +been happiest of the happy. + +"As soon as Lucilla was born, your father and I, simultaneously, formed +a wish that it might be possible to perpetuate our friendship by the +future union of our children." + +When Mr. Stanley uttered these words, my heart beat so fast, and the +agitation of my whole frame was so visible that he paused for a moment, +but perceiving that I was all ear, and that I made a silent motion for +him to proceed, he went on. + +"This was a favorite project with us. We pursued it however with the +moderation of men who had a settled sense of the uncertainty of all +human things, of human life itself; and with a strong conviction of the +probability that our project might never be realized. + +"Without too much indulging the illusions of hope, we agreed that there +could be no harm in educating our children for each other: in inspiring +them with corresponding tastes, similar inclinations, and especially +with an exact conformity in their religious views. We never indulged the +presumptuous thought of counteracting providential dispensations, of +conquering difficulties which time might prove to be inseparable, and, +above all, we determined never to be so weak, or so unjust, as to think +of compelling their affections. We had both studied the human heart long +enough to know that it is a perverse and wayward thing. We were +convinced that it would not be dictated to in a matter which involved +its dearest interests, we knew that it liked to pick out its own +happiness in its own way." + +As Mr. Stanley proceeded, my heart melted with grateful love for a +father who, in making such a provision for my happiness, had generously +left my choice so free. But while my conscience seemed to reproach me as +if I had not deserved such tenderness, I rejoiced that my memory had no +specific charge to bring against it. + +"For all these reasons," continued Mr. Stanley, "we mutually agreed to +bury our wishes in our own bosoms; to commit the event to Him by whom +all events are governed; never to name you to each other but in a +general way; to excite no fictitious liking, to elicit no artificial +passion, and to kindle neither impatience, curiosity, nor interest. +Nothing more than a friendly family regard was ever manifested, and the +names of Charles and Lucilla were never mentioned together. + +"In this you have found your advantage. Had my daughter been accustomed +to hear you spoken of with any particularity; had she been conscious +that any important consequences might have attached to your visit, you +would have lost the pleasure of seeing her in her native simplicity of +character. Undesigning and artless I trust she would have been under any +circumstances, but to have been unreserved and open would have been +scarcely possible; nor might you, my dear Charles, with your strong +sense of filial piety, have been able exactly to discriminate how much +of your attachment was choice, how much was duty. The awkwardness of +restraint would have diminished the pleasure of intercourse to both. + +"Knowing that the childish brother and sister sort of intimacy was not +the most promising mode for the development of your mutual sentiments, +we agreed that you should not meet till within a year or two of the +period when it would be proper that the union, if ever, might take +place. + +"We were neither of us of an age or character to indulge very romantic +ideas of the doctrine of sympathies. Still we saw no reason for +excluding such a possibility. If we succeeded, we knew that we were +training two beings in a conformity of Christian principles, which, if +they did not at once attract affection, would not fail to insure it, +should inferior motives first influence your mutual liking. And if it +failed, we should each have educated a Christian, who would be likely to +carry piety and virtue into two other families. Much good would attend +our success, and no possible evil could attend our failure. + +"I could show you, I believe, near a hundred letters on each side, of +which you were the unconscious subject. Your father, in his last +illness, returned all mine, to prevent a premature discovery, knowing +how soon his papers would fall into your hands. If it will give you +pleasure, you may peruse a correspondence of which, for almost twenty +years, you were the little hero. In reading my letters you will make +yourself master of the character of Lucilla. You will read the history +of her mind; you will mark the unfolding of her faculties, and the +progress of her education. In those of your father, you will not be +sorry to trace back your own steps." + +Here Mr. Stanley making a pause, I bowed my grateful acceptance of his +obliging offer. I was afraid to speak, I was almost afraid to breathe, +lest I should lose a word of a communication so interesting. + +"You now see," resumed Mr. Stanley, "why you were sent to Edinburg. +Cambridge and Oxford were too near London, and of course too near +Hampshire, to have maintained the necessary separation. As soon as you +left the University, your father proposed accompanying you on a visit to +the Grove. Like fond parents, we had prepared each other to expect to +see a being just such a one as each would have wished for the companion +of his child. + +"This was to be merely a visit of experiment. You were both too young to +marry. But we were impatient to place you both in a post of observation; +to see the result of a meeting; to mark what sympathy there would be +between two minds formed with a view to each other. + +"But vain are all the projects of man. 'Oh! blindness to the future!' +You doubtless remember, that just as every thing was prepared for your +journey southward your dear father was seized with the lingering illness +of which he died. Till almost the last, he was able to write me, in his +intervals of ease, short letters on the favorite topic. I remember with +what joy his heart dilated, when he told me of your positive refusal to +leave him, on his pressing you to pursue the plan already settled, and +to make your visit to London and the Grove without him. I will read you +a passage from his letter." He read as follows: + +"In vain have I endeavored to drive this dear son for a short time from +me. He asked with the indignant feeling of affronted filial piety, if I +could propose to him any compensation for my absence from his sick +couch? 'I make no sacrifice to duty,' said he, 'in preferring you. If I +make any sacrifice, it is to pleasure.'" + +Seeing my eyes overflow with grateful tenderness, Mr. Stanley said, "If +I can find his last letter I will show it you." Then looking over the +packet--"here it is," said he, putting it into my hands with visible +emotion. Neither of us had strength of voice to be able to read it +aloud. It was written at several times. + + "PRIORY, Wednesday, _March 18, 1807_. + + "Stanley--I feel that I am dying. Death is awful, my dear friend, + but it is neither surprising nor terrible. I have been too long + accustomed steadily to contemplate it at a distance, to start from + it now it is near. + + "As a man, I have feared death. As a Christian, I trust I have + overcome this fear. Why should I dread that, which mere reason + taught me is not an extinction of my being, and which revelation + has convinced me will be an improvement of it? An improvement, oh + how inconceivable! + + "For several years I have habituated myself every day to reflect + for some moments on the vanity of life, the certainty of death, the + awfulness of judgment, and the duration of eternity. + + "The separation from my excellent wife, is a trial from which I + should utterly shrink, were I not sustained by the Christian hope. + When we married, we knew that we were not immortal. I have + endeavored to familiarize to her and to myself the inevitable + separation, by constantly keeping up in the minds of both the idea + that one of us _must_ be the survivor. I have endeavored to make + that idea supportable by the conviction that the survivorship will + be short--the re-union certain--speedy--eternal. O _praeclarum + diem_![5] etc., etc. How gloriously does Christianity exalt the + rapture, by ennobling the objects of this sublime apostrophe!" + + [Footnote 5: See this whole beautiful passage in Cicero de + Senectute] + + * * * * * + + "Friday the 20th. + + "As to the union of my son with Lucilla, you and I, my friend, have + long learned from an authority higher than that classical one, of + which we have frequently admired the expression, and lamented the + application, that long views and remote hopes, and distant + expectations become not so short-sighted, so short-lived a creature + as man.[6] I trust, however; that our plans have been carried on + with a complete conviction of this brevity; with an entire + acquiescence in the will of the great arbiter of life and death. I + have told Charles it is my wish that he should visit you soon after + my death. I durst not command it--for this incomparable youth, who + has sacrificed so much to his father, will find he has a mother + worthy of still greater sacrifices. As soon as he can prevail on + himself to leave her, you will see him. May he and your Lucilla + behold each other with the eyes with which each of us views his own + child! If they see each other with indifference, never let them + know our wishes. It would perplex and hamper those to whom we wish + perfect freedom of thought and action. If they conceive a mutual + attachment, reveal our project. In such minds, it will strengthen + that attachment. The approbation of a living and the desire of a + deceased parent will sanctify their union. I must break off + through weakness." + +[Footnote 6: Horace, in speaking of the brevity and uncertainty of life, +seldom fails to produce it as an incentive to sensual indulgence. See +particularly the fourth and eleventh Odes of the first book.] + + * * * * * + + "Monday, 23d. + + "I resume my pen, which I thought I had held for the last time. May + God bless and direct our children! Infinite wisdom permits me not + to see their union. Indeed my interest in all earthly things + weakens. Even my solicitude for this event is somewhat diminished. + The most important circumstance, if it have not God for its object, + now seems comparatively little. The longest life with all its + concerns, shrinks to a point in the sight of a dying man whose eye + is filled by eternity. Eternity! Oh my friend, Eternity is a depth + which no geometry can measure, no arithmetic calculate, no + imagination conceive, no rhetoric describe. The eye of a dying + Christian seems gifted to penetrate depths hid from the wisdom of + philosophy. It looks athwart the dark valley without dismay, + cheered by the bright scene beyond it. It looks with a kind of + chastised impatience to that land where happiness will be only + holiness perfected. There all the promises of the gospel will be + accomplished. There afflicted virtue will rejoice at its past + trials, and acknowledge their subservience to its present bliss. + The secret self-denials of the righteous shall be recognized and + rewarded. And all the hopes of the Christian shall have their + complete consummation." + + * * * * * + + "Saturday, 28th. + + "My weakness increases--I have written this at many intervals. My + body faints, but in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Oh + Stanley! if pain is trying, if death is awful to him who knows in + whom he has trusted; how is pain endured, how is death encountered + by those who have no such support?" + + * * * * * + + "Tuesday the 31st. + + "I am better to-day. If I experience little of that rapture which + some require, as the sign of their acceptance, I yet have a good + hope through grace. Nay, there are moments when I rejoice with joy + unspeakable. I would not produce this joy as any certain criterion + of my safety, because from the nature of my disease, there are also + moments when my spirits sink, and this might equally furnish + arguments against my state, to those who decide by frames and + feelings. I think my faith as sound, my pardon as sure, when these + privileges are withdrawn, as when I enjoy them." + + * * * * * + + "Friday, 3d April. + + "Stanley: my departure is at hand. My eternal redemption draweth + nigh. My hope is full of immortality. This is my comfort--not that + my sins are few or small, but that they are, I humbly trust, + pardoned, through him who loved me, and gave himself for me. + Faithful is HE that has promised, and HIS promises are not too + great to be made good--for Omniscience is my promiser, and I have + Omnipotence itself for my security. Adieu!" + + * * * * * + +On the cover was written, in Mr. Stanley's hand, "He died three days +after!" + + * * * * * + +It is impossible to describe the mingled and conflicting emotions of my +soul, while I perused this letter. Gratitude that I had possessed such a +father; sorrow, that I had lost him; transport, in anticipating an event +which had been his earnest wish for almost twenty years; regret, that he +was not permitted to witness it; devout joy, that he was in a state so +superior to even _my_ sense of happiness; a strong feeling of the +uncertainty and brevity of _all_ happiness; a solemn resolution that I +would never act unworthy of such a father; a fervent prayer that I might +be enabled to keep that resolution: all these emotions so agitated and +divided my whole mind, as to render me unfit for any society, even for +that of Lucilla. I withdrew, gratefully pressing Mr. Stanley's hand; he +kindly returned the pressure, but neither of us attempted to speak. + +He silently put my father's packet into my hands. I shut myself into my +apartment, and read, for three hours, letters for which I hope to be the +better in time and in eternity. I found in them a treasure of religious +wisdom, excellent maxims of human prudence, a thorough acquaintance with +life and manners, a keen insight into human nature in the abstract, and +a nice discrimination of individual characters; admirable documents of +general education, the application of those documents to my particular +turn of character, and diversified methods for improving it. The pure +delight to which I looked forward in reading these letters with Lucilla, +soon became my predominant feeling. + +I returned to the company with a sense of felicity, which the above +feelings and reflections had composed into a soothing tranquillity. My +joy was sobered without being abated. I received the cordial +congratulations of my friends. Mrs. Stanley behaved to me with increased +affection: she presented me to her daughter, with whom I afterward +passed two hours. This interview left me nothing to desire but that my +gratitude to the Almighty Dispenser of happiness might bear some little +proportion to his blessings. + +As I was passing through the hall after dinner, I spied little Celia +peeping out of the door of the children's apartment, in hope of seeing +me pass. She flew to me, and begged I would take her in to the company. +As I knew the interdict was taken off, I carried her into the saloon +where they were sitting. She ran into Lucilla's arms, and said, in a +voice which she meant for a whisper, but loud enough to be heard by the +whole company, "Do, dear Lucilla, forgive me, I will never say another +word about the curricle, and you sha'n't go to the Priory since you +don't like it." Lucilla found means to silence her, by showing her the +pictures in the "Peacock at Home;" and without looking up to observe +the general smile, contrived to attract the sweet child's attention to +this beautiful little poem, in spite of Sir John, who did his utmost to +widen the mischief. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + + +The next day, in the afternoon, Dr. Barlow called on us. By the uncommon +seriousness of his countenance I saw something was the matter. "You will +be shocked," said he, "to hear that Mr. Tyrrel is dying, if not actually +dead. He was the night before last seized with a paralytic stroke. He +lay a long time without sense or motion; a delirium followed. In a short +interval of reason he sent, earnestly imploring to see me. Seldom have I +witnessed so distressing a scene. + +"As I entered the room he fixed his glassy eyes full upon me, quite +unconscious who I was, and groaned out in an inward hollow voice--'Go to +now, ye rich men, weep and howl, for your miseries are come upon you.' I +asked how he did. He replied still from St. James: 'How? why my gold and +silver are cankered, the rust of them shall witness against me; they eat +up my flesh as it were fire.' + +"I was astonished," continued Dr. Barlow, "to see so exact a memory +coupled with so wild an imagination. 'Be composed, sir,' said I, seeing +he began to recollect me, 'this deep contrition is a favorable symptom.' +'Dr. Barlow,' replied he, grasping my hand with a vehemence which +corresponded with his look, 'have you never heard of riches kept by the +owner thereof to his hurt? Restitution! Doctor, restitution! and it must +be immediate, or it will be too late.' I was now deeply alarmed. +'Surely, sir,' said I, 'you are not unhappily driven to adopt St. +James's next words--forgive me but--you can not surely have defrauded.' +'O no, no,' cried he, 'I have been what the world calls honest, but not +what the Judge of quick and dead will call so. The restitution I must +make is not to the rich, for any thing I have _taken_ from them, but to +the poor, for what I have _kept_ from them. Hardness of heart would have +been but a common sin, in a common man; but I have been a professor, +Doctor, I will not say a hypocrite, for I deceived myself as much as +others. But oh! how hollow has my profession been!' + +"Here seeing him ready to faint," continued Dr. Barlow, "I imposed +silence on him, till he had taken a cordial. This revived him, and he +went on. + +"'I was miserable in my early course of profligacy. I was disappointed +in my subsequent schemes of ambition. I expected more from the world +than it had to give. But I continued to love it with all its +disappointments. Under whatever new shape it presented its temptations, +it was still my idol. I had always loved money; but other passions more +turbulent had been hitherto predominant. These I at length renounced. +Covetousness now became my reigning sin. Still it was to the broken +cistern that I cleaved. Still it was on the broken reed that I leaned. +Still I was unhappy, I was at a loss whither to turn for comfort. Of +religion I scarcely knew the first principles. + +"'In this state I met with a plausible, but ill-informed man. He had +zeal, and a sort of popular eloquence; but he wanted knowledge, and +argument, and soundness. I was, however, struck with his earnestness, +and with the importance of some truths which, though common to others, +were new to me. But his scheme was hollow and imperfect, and his leading +principle subversive of all morality.' + +"Here Mr. Tyrrel paused. I intreated him to spare himself; but after a +few deep groans he proceeded. + +"'Whether his opinions had made _himself_ immoral I never inquired. It +is certain they were calculated to make his hearers so. Instead of +lowering my spiritual disease, by prescribing repentence and humility, +he inflamed it by cordials. All was high, all was animating all was +safe! On no better ground than my avowed discontent, he landed me at one +in a security so much the more fatal, as it laid asleep all +apprehension. He mistook my uneasiness for a complete change. My talking +of sin was made a substitute for my renouncing it. Proud of a rich man +for a convert, he led me to mistake conviction for conversion. I was +buoyed up with an unfounded confidence. I adopted a religion which +promised pardon without repentance, happiness without obedience, and +heaven without holiness. I had found a short road to peace. I never +inquired if it were a safe one.' + +"The poor man now fell back, unable to speak for some minutes. Then +rallying again, he resumed, in a still more broken voice: + +"'Here I stopped short. My religion had made no change in my heart, it +therefore made none in my life. I read good books, but they were low and +fanatical in their language, and Antinomian in their principle. But my +religious ignorance was so deplorable, that their novelty caught strong +hold of me.' + +"I now desired him," continued Dr. Barlow, "not to exhaust himself +further. I prayed with him. He was struck with awe at the holy energy in +the office for the sick, which was quite new to him. He owned he had not +suspected the church to be so evangelical. This is no uncommon error. +Hot-headed and superficial men, when they are once alarmed, are rather +caught by phrases than sentiments, by terms than principles. It is this +ignorance of the doctrines of the Bible and of the church, in which men +of the world unhappily live, that makes it so difficult for us to +address them under sickness and affliction. We have no common ground on +which to stand; no intelligible medium through which to communicate with +them. It is having both a language and a science to learn at once." + +In the morning Dr. Barlow again visited Mr. Tyrrel. He found him still +in great perturbation of mind. Feeling himself quite sensible, he had +begun to make his will. He had made large bequests to several charities. +Dr. Barlow highly approved of this; but reminded him, that though he +himself would never recommend charity as a commutation or a bribe, yet +some immediate acts of bounty, while there was a possibility of his +recovery, would be a better earnest of his repentance than the +bequeathing his whole estate when it could be of no further use to +himself. He was all acquiescence. + +He desired to see Mr. Stanley. He recommended to him his nephew, over +whose conduct Mr. Stanley promised to have an eye. He made him and Dr. +Barlow joint executors. He offered to leave them half his fortune. With +their usual disinterestedness they positively refused to accept it, and +suggested to him a better mode of bestowing it. + +He lifted up his hands and eyes, saying, "This is indeed +Christianity--pure, undefiled religion! If it be not faith, it is its +fruits. If it be not the procuring cause of salvation, it is one +evidence of a safe state. O, Mr. Stanley, our last conversation has sunk +deep into my heart. You had begun to pull the vail from my eyes; but +nothing tears the whole mask off, like the hand of death, like impending +judgment. How little have I considered eternity! Judgment was not in all +my thoughts, I had got rid of the terrors of responsibility! O, Dr. +Barlow, is there any hope for me?" + +"Sir," replied the Doctor, "your sin is not greater because you feel it: +so far from it, your danger diminishes in proportion as it is discerned. +Your condition is not worse but better, because you are become sensible +of your own sins and wants. I judge far more favorably of your state +now, than when you thought so well of it. Your sense of the evil of your +own heart is the best proof of your sincerity; your repentance toward +God is the best evidence of your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." + +"Doctor, it is too late," replied the sick man. "How can I show that my +repentance is sincere? In this miserable condition how can I glorify +God?" + +"Sir," replied Dr. Barlow, "you must lay anew the whole foundation of +your faith. That Saviour whom you had unhappily adopted as a substitute +for virtue, must be received as a propitiation for sin. If you recover, +you must devote yourself, spirit, soul, and body, to his service. You +must adorn his gospel by your conduct; you must plead his cause in your +conversation; you must recommend his doctrines by your humility; you +must dedicate every talent God has given you to his glory. If he +continue to visit you with sickness, this will call new and more +difficult Christian graces into exercise. If by this severe affliction +you lose all ability to do God actual service, you may perhaps glorify +him more effectually by casting yourself entirely on him for support, by +patient suffering for his sake who suffered every thing for yours. You +will have an additional call for trusting in the divine promises; an +additional occasion of imitating the divine example; a stronger motive +for saying practically, The cup which my Father has given me, shall I +not drink it?" + +"O, Doctor," said the unhappy man, "my remorse arises not merely from +my having neglected this or that moral duty, this or that act of +charity, but from the melancholy evidence which that neglect affords +that my religion was not sincere." + +"I repeat, sir," said Dr. Barlow, "that your false security and +unfounded hope were more alarming than your present distress of mind. +Examine your own heart, fear not to probe it to the bottom; it will be a +salutary smart. As you are able, I will put you into a course of reading +the Scriptures, with a view to promote self-examination. Try yourself by +the strait rule they hold out. Pray fervently that the Almighty may +assist you by his Spirit, and earnestly endeavor to suffer as well as to +do his whole will." + +Dr. Barlow says, he thinks there is now as little prospect of his +perfect recovery as of his immediate dissolution; but as far as one +human creature can judge of the state of another, he believes the +visitation will be salutary. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + + +As we were sitting at supper, after Dr. Barlow had left us, Lady +Belfield, turning to me, said, "She had had a governess proposed to her +from a quarter I should little expect to hear." She then produced a +letter, informing her that Mr. Fentham was lately found dead in his bed +of an apoplexy. That he had died insolvent; and his large income ceasing +with his life, his family were plunged into the utmost distress. That +Mrs. Fentham experienced the most mortifying neglect from her numerous +and noble friends, who now, that she could no longer amuse them with +balls, concerts, and suppers, revenged themselves by wondering what she +could ever mean by giving them at all, and declaring what a bore it had +always been to them to go to her parties. They now insisted that people +ought to confine themselves to their own station, and live within their +income, though they themselves had lifted her above her station, and had +led her to exceed her income. + +"The poor woman," continued Lady Belfield, "is in extreme distress. Her +magnificently furnished house will go but a very little way toward +satisfying her creditors. That house, whose clamorous knocker used to +keep the neighborhood awake, is already reduced to utter stillness. The +splendid apartments, brilliant with lustres and wax-lights, and crowded +with company, are become a frightful solitude, terrifying to those to +whom solitude has not one consolation or resource to offer. Poor Mrs. +Fentham is more wounded by this total desertion of those whom she so +sumptuously fed, and so obsequiously flattered, than by her actual +wants." + +"It is," said Sir John, "a fine exemplification of the friendships of +the world, + + "Confederacies in vice, or leagues in pleasure." + +"Lady Denham, when applied to," resumed Lady Belfield, "said, that she +was extremely sorry for them; but as she thought extravagance the +greatest of faults, it would look like an encouragement to imprudence if +she did any thing for them. Their extravagance, however, had never been +objected to by her, till the fountain which had supplied it was stopped: +and she had for years made no scruple of winning money almost nightly +from the woman whose distresses she now refused to relieve. Lady Denham +further assigned the misery into which the elopement of her darling +child with Signor Squallini had brought her, as an additional reason for +withholding her kindness from Mrs. Fentham." + +"It is a reason," said I, interrupting Lady Belfield, "which, in a +rightly-turned mind, would have had a directly contrary operation. When +domestic calamity overtakes us, is it not the precise moment for holding +out a hand to the wretched? for diminishing the misery abroad, which at +home may be irretrievable?" + +"Lady Bab Lawless, to whom Mrs. Fentham applied for assistance, coolly +advised her to send her daughters to service, saying, 'that she knew of +no acquirement they had which would be of any use to them, except their +skill in hair-dressing.'" + +"It seemed a cruel reproach from a professed friend," said Sir John, +"and yet it is a literal truth. I know not what can be done for them, or +for what they are fit. Their accomplishments might be turned to some +account, if they were accompanied with real knowledge, useful +acquirements, or sober habits. Mrs. Fentham wishes us to recommend them +as governesses. But can I conscientiously recommend to others, girls +with whom I could not trust my own family? Had they been taught to look +no higher than the clerks of their father, who had been a clerk himself, +they might have been happy; but those very men will now think them as +much beneath themselves, as the young ladies lately thought they were +above them." + +"I have often," said Mr. Stanley, "been amused, with observing what a +magic transformation the same event produces on two opposite classes of +characters. The misfortunes of their acquaintance convert worldly +friends into instantaneous strictness of principle. The faults of the +distressed are produced as a plea for their own hard-hearted +covetousness; while that very misfortune so relaxes the strictness of +good men, that the faults are forgotten in the calamity! and they, who +had been perpetually warning the prodigal of his impending ruin, when +that ruin comes, are the first to relieve him." + +It was agreed among us that some small contribution must be added to a +little sum that had been already raised, for their immediate relief; but +that nothing was so difficult, as effectually to serve persons whose +views wore so disproportioned to their deserts, and whose habits would +be too likely to carry corruption into families who might receive them +from charitable motives. + +The conversation then fell insensibly on the pleasure we had enjoyed +since we had been together; and on the delights of rational society, and +confidential intercourse such as ours had been, where minds mingled, and +affection and esteem were reciprocal. Mr. Stanley said many things which +evinced how happily his piety was combined with the most affectionate +tenderness of heart. Indeed I had always been delighted to observe in +him a quality which is not so common as it is thought to be, a thorough +capacity for friendship. + +"My dear Stanley," said Sir John, "it is of the very essence of human +enjoyments, that they must have an end. I observe with regret, that the +time assigned for our visit is more than elapsed. We have prolonged it +beyond our intention, beyond our convenience: but we have, I trust, been +imbibing principles, stealing habits, and borrowing plans, which will +ever make us consider this visit as an important era in our lives. + +"My excellent Caroline is deeply affected with all she has seen and +heard at the Grove. We must now leave it, though not without reluctance. +We must go and endeavor to imitate what, six weeks ago, we almost feared +to contemplate. Lady Belfield and I have compared notes. On the most +mature deliberation, we agree that we have lived long enough to the +world. We agree that it is time to begin to live to ourselves, and to +him who made us. We propose in future to make our winters in London much +shorter. We intend to remove early every spring to Beechwood, which we +will no longer consider as a temporary residence, but as our home; we +will supply it with every thing that may make it interesting and +improving to us all. We are resolved to educate our children in the fear +of God. Our fondness for them is rather increased than diminished; but +in the exercise of that fondness, we will remember that we are to train +them for immortality. We will watch over them as creatures for whose +eternal well-being a vast responsibility will attach to ourselves. + +"In our new plan of life, we shall have fewer sacrifices to make than +most people in our situation; for we have long felt a growing +indifference for things which we appeared to enjoy. Of the world, we are +only going to give up that part which is not worth keeping, and of which +we are really weary. In securing our real friends, we shall not regret +if we drop some acquaintances by the way. The wise and the worthy we +shall more than ever cherish. In your family we have enjoyed those true +pleasures which entail no repentance. That cheerfulness which alone is +worthy of accountable beings, we shall industriously maintain in our +own. I bless God if we have not so many steps to tread back as some +others have who are entering, upon principle, on a new course of life. + +"We have always endeavored, though with much imperfection, to fill some +duties to each other, to our children, to our friends, and to the poor. +But of the prime duty, the main spring of action, and of all moral +goodness, duty to God, we have not been sufficiently mindful. I hope we +have at length learned to consider him as the fountain of all good, and +the gospel of his Son, as the fountain of all hope. This new principle, +I am persuaded, will never impair our cheerfulness, it will only fix it +on a solid ground. By purifying the motive, it will raise the enjoyment. + +"But if we have not so many bad habits to correct as poor Carlton had, I +question if we have not as many difficulties to meet in another way. His +loose course was discreditable. His vices made him stand ill with the +world. He would, therefore, acquire nothing but credit in changing his +outward practice. Lady Belfield and I, on the contrary, stand rather too +well with the world. We had just that external regularity, that cool +indifference about our own spiritual improvement, and the wrong courses +of our friends, which procure regard, because they do not interfere with +others, nor excite jealousy for ourselves. But we have now to encounter +that censure, which we have, perhaps, hitherto been too solicitous to +avoid. It will still be our trial, but I humbly trust that it will be no +longer our snare. Our morality pleased, because it seemed to proceed +merely from a sense of propriety; our strictness will offend when it is +found to spring from a principle of religion. + +"To what tendency in the heart of man, my dear Stanley, is it owing, +that religion is commonly seen to excite more suspicion than the want of +it? When a man of the world meets with a gay, thoughtless, amusing +person, he seldom thinks of inquiring whether such a one be immoral, or +an unbeliever, or a profligate, though the bent of his conversation +rather leans that way. Satisfied with what he finds him, he feels little +solicitude to ascertain what he really is. But no sooner does actual +piety show itself in any man, than your friends are putting you on your +guard; there is instantly a suggestion, a hint, a suspicion, 'Does he +not carry things too far?' 'Is he not righteous over much?' 'Is he not +intemperate in his zeal?' 'Above all things, is he _sincere_?' and, in +short--for that is the centre in which all the lines of suspicion and +reprobation meet--'_Is he not a Methodist?_' + +"I trust, however, that, through divine grace, our minds will be +fortified against all attacks on this our weak side; this pass through +which the sort of assaults most formidable to us will be likely to +enter. I was mentioning this danger to Caroline this morning. She opened +her Bible, over which she now spends much of her solitary time, and with +an emphasis foreign from her usual manner, read, + +"'Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he +to be accounted of?'" + +As Sir John repeated these words, I saw Lucilla, who was sitting next +Lady Belfield, snatch one of her hands, and kiss it, with a rapture +which she had no power to control. It was evident that nothing but our +presence restrained her from rising to embrace her friend. Her fine eyes +glistened, but seeing that I observed her, she gently let go the hand +she held, and tried to look composed. I can not describe the chastised, +but not less fervent, joy of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley. Their looks expressed +the affectionate interest they took in Sir John's honest declaration. +Their hearts overflowed with gratitude to him without whom "nothing is +strong nothing is holy." For my own part, I felt myself raised + + Above this visible diurnal sphere. + +Sir John afterward said, "I begin more and more to perceive the +scantiness of all morality which has not the love of God for its motive. +_That_ virtue will not carry us safely, and will not carry us far, which +looks to human estimation as its reward. As it was a false and +inadequate principle which first set it a going, it will always stop +short of the true ends of goodness." + +"Sir John," said Lady Belfield, "I have been seriously thinking that I +ought not to indulge in the expense of this intended conservatory. We +will, if you please, convert the money to the building of a charity +school. I can not consent to incur such a superfluous expense for my +amusement." + +"My dear Caroline," replied Sir John, "through the undeserved goodness +of God, my estate is so large, and through your excellent management it +is so unimpaired, that we will not give up the conservatory, unless Mr. +Stanley thinks we ought to give it up. But we will adopt Lucilla's idea +of combining a charity with an indulgence--we will associate the charity +school with the conservatory. This union will be a kind of monument to +our friends at the Grove, from whom you have acquired the love of +plants, and I of religious charity." + +We all looked with anxious expectation at Mr. Stanley. He gave it as his +opinion, that as Lady Belfield was now resolved to live the greater part +of the year in the country, she ought to have some amusements in lieu of +those she was going to give up. "Costly decorations and expensive +gardens," continued he, "at a place where the proprietors do not so much +as _intend_ to reside, have always appeared to me among the infatuations +of opulence. To the expenses which they do not _want_, it is adding an +expense which they do not _see_. But surely, at a mansion where an +affluent family actually _live_, all reasonable indulgences should be +allowed. And where a garden and green-house are to supply to the +proprietor the place of the abdicated theatre and ball-room; and +especially when it is to be a means in her hands of attaching her +children to the country, and of teaching them to love home, I declare +myself in favor of the conservatory." + +Lucilla's eyes sparkled, but she said nothing. + +"It would be unfair," continued Mr. Stanley, "to blame too severely +those, who, living constantly in the country, give a little in to its +appropriate pleasures. The real objects of censure seem to be those who, +grafting bad taste on bad habits, bring into the country the amusements +of the town, and superadd to such as are local, and natural, and +innocent, such as are foreign, artificial, and corrupt." + +"My dear Stanley," said Sir John, "we have resolved to indemnify our +poor neighbors for two injuries which we have been doing them. The one +is, by our having lived so little among them: for I have now learned, +that the mere act of residence is a kind of charity even in the +uncharitable, as it necessarily causes much money to be spent, even +where little is given. The other is, that we will endeavor to make up +for our past indifference to their spiritual concerns, by now acting as +if we were aware that the poor have souls as well as bodies; and that in +the great day of account, the care of both will attach to our +responsibility." + +Such a sense of sober joy seemed to pervade our little party that we +were not aware that the night was far advanced. Our minds were too +highly set for much loquacity, when Ph[oe]be suddenly exclaimed. "Papa, +why is it that happiness does not make one merry? I never was half so +happy in my life, and yet I can hardly forbear crying; and I believe it +is catching, sir, for look, Lucilla is not much wiser than myself." + +The next day but one after this conversation our valuable friends left +us. Our separation was softened by the prospect of a speedy meeting. The +day before they set out, Lady Belfield made an earnest request to Mr. +and Mrs. Stanley that they would have the goodness to receive Fanny +Stokes into their family for a few months previous to her entering +theirs as governess. "I can think of no method so likely," continued +she, "to raise the tone of education in my own family as the transfusion +into it of your spirit, and the adoption of your regulations." Mr. and +Mrs. Stanley most cheerfully acceded to the proposal. + +Sir John said: "I was meditating the same request, but with an +additional clause tacked to it, that of sending our eldest girl with +Fanny, that the child also may get imbued with something of your family +spirit, and be broken into better habits than she has acquired from our +hitherto relaxed discipline." This proposal was also cordially approved. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + + +Dr. Barlow came to the Grove to take leave of our friends. He found Sir +John and I sitting in the library with Mr. Stanley. "As I came from Mr. +Tyrrel," said the Doctor, "I met Mr. Flam going to see him. He seemed so +anxious about his old friend that a wish strongly presented itself to my +mind that the awful situation of the sick man might be salutary to him. + +"It is impossible to say," continued he, "what injury religion has +suffered from the opposite characters of these two men. Flam, who gives +himself no concern about the matter, is kind and generous; while Tyrrel, +who has made a high profession, is mean and sordid. It has been said, of +what use is religion when morality has made Mr. Flam a better man than +religion makes Mr. Tyrrel? Thus men of the world reason! But nothing can +be more false than their conclusions. Flam is naturally an open, +warm-hearted man, but incorrect in many respects, and rather loose in +his principles. His natural good propensities religion would have +improved into solid virtues, and would have cured the more +exceptionable parts of his character. But from religion he stands aloof. + +"Tyrrel is naturally narrow and selfish. Religion has not made but found +him such. But what a religion has he adopted! A mere assumption of +terms; a dead, inoperative, uninfluencing notion, which he has taken up; +not, I hope, with a view to deceive others, but by which he has grossly +deceived himself. He had heard that religion was a cure for an uneasy +mind; but he did not attend to the means by which the cure is effected, +and it relieved not him. + +"The corrupt principle whence his vices proceeded was not subdued. He +did not desire to subdue it, because in the struggle he must have parted +with what he was resolved to keep. He adopted what he believed was a +cheap and easy religion; little aware that the great fundamental +Scripture doctrine of salvation by Jesus Christ was a doctrine +powerfully opposing our corruptions, and involving in its comprehensive +requirements a new heart and a new life." + +At this moment Mr. Flam called at the Grove. "I am just come from +Tyrrel," said he. "I fear it is nearly over with him. Poor Ned! he is +very low, almost in despair. I always told him that the time would come +when he would be glad to exchange notions for actions. I am grieved for +him. The remembrance of a kind deed or two done to a poor tenant would +be some comfort to him now at a time when every man stands in need of +comfort." + +"Sir," said Dr. Barlow, "the scene which I have lately witnessed at Mr. +Tyrrel's makes me serious. If you and I were alone, I am afraid it would +make me bold. I will, however, suppress the answer I was tempted to make +you, because I should not think it prudent or respectful to utter before +company what, I am persuaded, your good sense would permit me to say +were we alone!" + +"Doctor," replied the good-tempered, but thoughtless man, "don't stand +upon ceremony. You know I love a debate, and I insist on your saying +what was in your mind to say. I don't fear getting out of any scrape you +can bring me into. You are too well-bred to offend, and I hope I am too +well-natured to be easily offended. Stanley, I know, always takes your +side. Sir John, I trust, will take mine; and so will the young man here, +if he is like most other young men." + +"Allow me then to observe," returned Dr. Barlow, "that if Mr. Tyrrel has +unhappily deceived himself by resting too exclusively on a mere +speculative faith--a faith which by his conduct did not evince itself to +be of the right sort--yet, on the other hand, a dependence for salvation +on our own benevolence, our own integrity, or any other good quality we +may possess, is an error not less fatal, and far more usual. Such a +dependence does as practically set at naught the Redeemer's sacrifice as +the avowed rejection of the infidel. Honesty and benevolence are among +the noblest qualities; but where the one is practiced for reputation, +and the other from mere feeling, they are sadly delusive as to the ends +of practical goodness. They have both indeed their reward; integrity, in +the credit it brings, and benevolence, in the pleasure it yields. Both +are beneficial to society: both therefore are politically valuable. Both +sometimes lead me to admire the ordinations of that overruling power +which often uses as instruments of public good, men who, acting well in +many respects, are essentially useful to others; but, who, acting from +motives merely human, forfeit for themselves that high reward which +those virtues would obtain, if they were evidences of a lively faith, +and the results of Christian principle. Think me not severe, Mr. Flam. +To be personal is always extremely painful to me." + +"No, no, Doctor," replied he, "I know you mean well. 'Tis your trade to +give good counsel; and your lot, I suppose, to have it seldom followed. +I shall hear you without being angry. You, in turn, must not be angry, +if I hear you without being better." + +"I respect you, sir, too much," replied Dr. Barlow, "to deceive you in a +matter of such infinite importance. For one man who errs on Mr. Tyrrel's +principle, a hundred err on yours. His mistake is equally pernicious, +but it is not equally common. I must repeat it. For one whose soul is +endangered through an unwarranted dependence on the Saviour, multitudes +are destroyed, not only by the open rejection, but through a fatal +neglect of the salvation wrought by him. Many more perish through a +presumptuous confidence in their own merits, than through an +unscriptural trust in the merits of Christ." + +"Well, Doctor," replied Mr. Flam, "I must say that I think an ounce of +morality will go further toward making up my accounts than a ton of +religion, for which no one but myself would be the better." + +"My dear sir," said Dr. Barlow, "I will not presume to determine between +the exact comparative proportions of two ingredients, both of which are +so indispensable in the composition of a Christian. I dare not hazard +the assertion, which of the two is the more perilous state, but I think +I am justified in saying which of the two cases occurs most frequently." + +Mr. Flam said: "I should be sorry, Dr. Barlow, to find out at this time +of day that I have been all my life long in an error." + +"Believe me, sir," said Dr. Barlow, "it is better to find it out now +than at a still later period. One good quality can never be made to +supply the absence of another. There are no substitutes in this warfare. +Nor can all the good qualities put together, if we could suppose them to +unite in one man, and to exist without religion, stand proxy for the +death of Christ. If they could so exist, it would be in the degree only, +and not in the perfection required by that law which said, do _this and +live_. So kind a neighbor as you are, so honest a gentleman, so generous +a master, as you are allowed to be, I can not, sir, think without pain +of your losing the reward of such valuable qualities, by your placing +your hope of eternal happiness in the exercise of them. Believe me, Mr. +Flam, it is easier for a compassionate man, if he be not religious, to +'give all his goods to the poor,' than to bring every thought, 'nay than +to bring _any_ thought' into captivity to the obedience of Christ! But +be assured, if we give ever so much with our hands, while we withhold +our hearts from God, though we may do much good to others, we do none to +ourselves." + +"Why surely," said Mr. Flam, "you don't mean to insinuate that I should +be in a safer state if I never did a kind thing?" + +"Quite the contrary," replied Dr. Barlow, "but I could wish to see your +good actions exalted, by springing from a higher principle, I mean the +love of God; ennobled by being practiced to a higher end, and purified +by your renouncing all self-complacency in the performance." + +"But is there not less danger, sir," said Mr. Flam, "in being somewhat +proud of what one really _does_, than in doing nothing? And is it not +more excusable to be a little satisfied with what one really _is_, than +in hypocritically pretending to be what one is _not_?" + +"I must repeat," returned Dr. Barlow, "that I can not exactly decide on +the question of relative enormity between two opposite sins. I can not +pronounce which is the best of two states so very bad." + +"Why now, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, "what particular sin can you charge me +with?" + +"I erect not myself into an accuser," replied Dr. Barlow; "but permit me +to ask you, sir, from what motive is it that you avoid any wrong +practice? Is there any one sin from which you abstain through the fear +of offending your Maker?" + +"As to that," replied Mr. Flam, "I can't say I ever considered about the +motive of the thing. I thought it was quite enough not to do it. Well +but, Doctor, since we are gone so far in the catechism, what duty to my +neighbor can you convict me of omitting?" + +"It will be well, sir," said the Doctor, "if you can indeed stand so +close a scrutiny, as that to which you challenge me, even on your own +principles. But tell me, with that frank honesty which marks your +character, does your kindness to your neighbor spring from the true +fountain, the love of God? That you do many right things I am most +willing to allow. But do you perform them from a sense of obedience to +the law of your Maker? Do you perform them because they are commanded in +his word, and conformable to his will?" + +"I can't say I do," said Mr. Flam, "but if the thing be right in itself, +that appears to me to be all in all. It seems hard to encumber a man of +business like me with the action and the motive too. Surely if I serve a +man, it can make no difference to him, _why_ I serve him." + +"To yourself, my dear sir," said the Doctor, "it makes all the +difference in the world. Besides, good actions performed on any other +principle than obedience, are not only spurious as to their birth, but +they are defective in themselves; they commonly want something in weight +and measure." + +"Why, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, "I have often heard you say in the pulpit +that the best are not perfect. Now as this is the case, I will tell you +how I manage. I think it a safe way to average one's good qualities, to +throw a bad one against a good one, and if the balance sinks on the +right side the man is safe." + +Dr. Barlow shook his head, and was beginning to express his regret at +such delusive casuistry, when Mr. Flam interrupted him by saying, "Well, +Doctor, my great care in life has been to avoid all suspicion of +hypocrisy." + +"You can not do better," replied Dr. Barlow, "than to avoid its +_reality_. But, for my own part, I believe religious hypocrisy to be +rather a rare vice among persons of your station in life. Among the +vulgar, indeed, I fear it is not so rare. In neighborhoods where there +is much real piety, there is no small danger of some false profession. +But among the higher classes of society, serious religion confers so +little credit on him who professes it, that a gentleman is not likely to +put on appearances from which he knows he is far more likely to lose +reputation than to acquire it. When such a man, therefore, assumes the +character of piety, I own I always feel disposed to give him full credit +for possessing it. His religion may indeed be mistaken; it may be +defective; it may even be unsound; but the chances are very much in +favor of its not being insincere. Where piety is genuine it can not be +altogether concealed. Where 'the fruits of the Spirit abound, they will +appear.'" + +"Now, my dear Doctor," replied Mr. Flam, "is not that cant? What do you +mean by the fruits of the Spirit? Would it not have been more worthy of +your good sense to have said morality or virtue? Would not these terms +have been more simple and intelligible?" + +"They might be so," rejoined the Doctor, "but they would not rise quite +so high. They would not take in my _whole_ meaning. The fruit of the +Spirit indeed always includes _your_ meaning, but it includes much more. +It is something higher than worldly morality, something holier than +mere human virtue. I rather conceive morality, in your sense, to be the +effect of natural temper, natural conscience, or worldly prudence, or +perhaps a combination of all three. The fruit of the Spirit is the +morality of the renewed heart. Worldly morality is easily satisfied with +itself. It sits down contented with its own meagre performances; with +legal honesty, with bare weight justice. It seldom gives a particle +'that is not in the bond.' It is always making out its claim to doubtful +indulgences; it litigates its right to every inch of contested +enjoyment; and is so fearful of not getting enough, that it commonly +takes more than its due. It is one of the cases where 'the letter +killeth, but the spirit giveth life.' + +"It obtains, however, its worldly reward. It procures a good degree of +respect and commendation; but it is not attended by the silent train of +the Christian graces, with that 'joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, +goodness, faith,' which are the fruits of the Spirit, and the evidences +of a Christian. These graces are calculated to adorn all that is right +with all that is amiable, 'whatsoever things are honest and just,' with +'whatsoever things are lovely and of good report.' And, to crown all, +they add the deepest humility and most unfeigned self-abasement, to the +most correct course of conduct, a course of conduct which, though a +Christian never thinks himself at liberty to neglect, he never feels +himself permitted or disposed to be proud of!" + +"Well, well, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, "I never denied the truth of +Christianity, as Carlton formerly did. 'Tis the religion of the country +by law established. And I often go to church, because that too is +established by law, for which you know I have a great veneration. 'Tis +the religion of my ancestors, I like it for that too." + +"But, sir," said the Doctor, "would you not show your veneration for the +church more fully if you attended it twice instead of once? And your +veneration for the law, if instead of going sometimes, you went every +Sunday, which you know both the law of God and man enjoins." + +"Why, unluckily," returned Mr. Flam, "the hour of service interferes +with that of dinner." + +"Sir," said Dr. Barlow, smiling, "hours are so altered that I believe if +the church were to new model the calendar, she would say that dinners +ought to be placed among the _moveable feasts_. An hour earlier or later +would accommodate the difference, liberate your servants, and enable you +to do a thing right in itself, and beneficial in its example." + +Mr. Flam not being prepared with an answer, went on with his confession +of faith. "Doctor," said he, "I am a better Christian than you think. I +take it for granted that the Bible is true, for I have heard many men +say, who have examined for themselves, which I can not say I have ever +had time or inclination to do, that no opposer has ever yet refuted the +Scripture account of miracles and prophecies. So if you don't call this +being a good Christian, I don't know what is." + +Dr. Barlow replied, "Nothing can be better as far as it goes. But allow +me to say, that there is another kind of evidence of the truth of our +religion, which is peculiar to the real Christian. I mean that evidence +which arises from his individual conviction of the efficacy of +Christianity in remedying the disorders of his own nature. He who has +had his own temper improved, his evil propensities subdued, and his +whole character formed anew, by being cast in the mold of Christianity, +will have little doubt of the truth of a religion which has produced +such obvious effects in himself. The truths for which his reason pleads, +and in which his understanding, after much examination, is able to rest, +having had a purifying influence on his heart, become established +principles, producing in him at the same time holiness of life and +peace of conscience. The stronger evidence a man has of his own internal +improvement, the stronger will be his conviction of the truth of the +religion he professes." + +"There are worse men than I am, Doctor," said Mr. Flam, rather +seriously. + +"Sir," replied he, "I heartily wish every gentleman had your good +qualities. But as we shall be judged positively and not comparatively; +as our characters will be finally decided upon, not by our superiority +to other men, nor merely by our inferiority to the divine rule, but by +our departure from it, I wish you would begin to square your life by +that rule now; which, in order that you may do, you should begin to +study it. While we live in a total neglect of the Bible, we must not +talk of our deficiencies, our failings, our imperfections, as if these +alone stood between us and the mercy of God. That indeed is the language +and the state of the devout Christian. Stronger terms must be used to +express the alienation of heart of those, who, living in the avowed +neglect of Scripture, maybe said, forgive me, sir, 'to live without God +in the world.' Ignorance is no plea in a gentleman. In a land of light +and knowledge, ignorance itself is a sin." + +Here Dr. Barlow being silent, and Mr. Flam not being prepared to answer, +Mr. Stanley said, "That the pure and virtuous dispositions which arise +out of a sincere belief of Christianity, are not more frequently seen in +persons professing themselves to be Christians, is, unhappily, one of +the strongest arguments against us that can be urged by unbelievers. +Instances, however, occur, which are too plain to be denied, of +individuals who, having been led by divine grace cordially to receive +Christianity, have exhibited in their conduct a very striking proof of +its excellence; and among these are some who, like our friend Carlton, +had previously led very corrupt lives. The ordinary class of Christians, +who indeed scarcely deserve the name, as well as skeptics and +unbelievers, would do well to mark the lives of the truly religious, and +to consider them as furnishing a proof which will come powerfully in aid +of that body of testimony with which Christianity is intrenched on all +sides. And these observers should remember, that though they themselves +may not yet possess that best evidence in favor of Christianity, which +arises from an inward sense of its purifying nature, they may +nevertheless aspire after it; and those who have any remaining doubts +should encourage themselves with the hope, that if they fully yield +themselves to the doctrines and precepts of the gospel, a salutary +change will in time be effected in their own hearts, which will furnish +them with irresistible evidence of its truth." + +I could easily perceive, that though Mr. Stanley and Dr. Barlow +entertained small hopes of the beneficial effect of their discourse on +the person to whom it was directed; yet they prolonged it with an eye to +Sir John Belfield, who sat profoundly attentive, and encouraged them by +his looks. + +As to Mr. Flam, it was amusing to observe the variety of his motions, +gestures, and contortions, and the pains he took to appear easy and +indifferent, and even victorious: sometimes fixing the end of his whip +on the floor, and whirling it around at full speed; then working it into +his boot; then making up his mouth for a whistle, but stopping short to +avoid being guilty of the incivility of interruption. + +At length with the same invincible good nature, and with the same +pitiable insensibility to his own state, he arose to take leave. He +shook us all by the hand, Dr. Barlow twice, saying, "Doctor, I don't +think the worse of you for your plain speaking. He is a knave or a fool +that is angry with a good man for doing his duty. 'Tis my fault if I +don't take his advice; but 'tis his fault if he does not give it. +Parsons are paid for it, and ought not to be mealy-mouthed, when there +is a proper opening, such as poor Tyrrel's case gave you. I challenged +_you_. I should perhaps have been angry if you had challenged _me_. It +makes all the difference, in the event of a duel, which is the +challenger. As to myself, it is time enough for me to think of the +things you recommend. Thank God, I am in excellent good health and +spirits and am not yet quite fifty. 'There is a time for all things.' +Even the Bible allows that." + +The Doctor shook his head at this sad misapplication of the text. Mr. +Flam went away, pressing us all to dine with him next day; he had killed +a fine buck, and he assured Dr. Barlow that he should have the best port +in his cellar. The Doctor pleaded want of time, and the rest of the +party could not afford a day, out of the few which remained to us; but +we promised to call on him. He nodded kindly at Dr. Barlow, saying, +"Well, Doctor, as you won't come to the buck, one of his haunches shall +come to you; so tell madam to expect it." + +As soon as he had left the room, we all joined in lamenting that the +blessings of health and strength should ever be produced as arguments +for neglecting to secure those blessings which have eternity for their +object. + +"Unhappy man!" said Dr. Barlow, "little does he think that he is, if +possible, more the object of my compassion than poor Mr. Tyrrel. Tyrrel, +it is true, is lying on a sick, probably a dying bed. His body is in +torture. His mind is in anguish. He has to look back on a life, the +retrospect of which can afford him no ray of comfort. But he _knows_ his +misery. The hand of God is upon him. His proud heart is brought low. His +self-confidence is subdued. His high imaginations are cast down. His +abasement of soul, as far as I can judge, is sincere. He abhors himself +in dust and ashes. He sees death at hand. He feels that the sting of +death is sin. All subterfuge is at an end. He is at last seeking the +only refuge of penitent sinners, I trust on right grounds. His state is +indeed perilous in the extreme; yet awful as it is, he _knows_ it. He +will not open his eyes on the eternal world in a state of delusion. But +what shall awaken poor Mr. Flam from his dream of security? His high +health, his unbroken spirits, his prosperous circumstances and various +blessings, are so many snares to him. He thinks that 'to-morrow shall be +as this day, and still more abundant.' Even the wretched situation of +his dying friend, though it awakens compassion, awakens not compunction. +Nay, it affords matter of triumph rather than of humiliation. He feeds +his vanity with comparisons from which he contrives to extract comfort. +His own offenses being of a different kind, instead of lamenting them, +he glories in being free from those which belong to an opposite cast of +character. Satisfied that he has not the vices of Tyrrel, he never once +reflects on his own unrepented sins. Even his good qualities increase +his danger. He wraps himself up in that constitutional good nature, +which, being partly founded on vanity and self-approbation, strengthens +his delusion, and hardens him against reproof." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + + +In conversing with Mr. Stanley on my happy prospects, and my future +plans; after having referred all concerns of a pecuniary nature to be +settled between him and Sir John Belfield, I ventured to entreat that he +would crown his goodness, and my happiness, by allowing me to solicit +his daughter for an early day. + +Mr. Stanley said, the term _early_ was relative; but he was afraid that +he should hardly consent to what I might consider even as a late one. +"In parting with such a child as Lucilla," added he, "some weaning time +must be allowed to the tenderest of mothers. The most promising +marriage, and surely none can promise more happiness than that to which +we are looking, is a heavy trial to fond parents. To have trained a +creature with anxious fondness, in hope of her repaying their solicitude +hereafter by the charms of her society, and then as soon as she becomes +capable of being a friend and companion, to lose her forever, is such a +trial, that I sometimes wonder at the seeming impatience of parents to +get rid of a treasure, of which they best know the value. The sadness +which attends the consummation even of our dearest hopes on these +occasions, is one striking instance of that _Vanity of human wishes_, on +which Juvenal and Johnson have so beautifully expatiated. + +"A little delay indeed I shall require, from motives of prudence as well +as fondness. Lucilla will not be nineteen these three months and more. +You will not, I trust, think me unreasonable if I say, that neither her +mother nor myself can consent to part with her before that period." + +"Three months!" exclaimed I, with more vehemence than politeness. "Three +months! it is impossible." + +"It is very possible," said he, smiling, "that you can wait, and very +certain that we shall not consent sooner." + +"Have you any doubts, sir," said I, "have you any objections which I can +remove, and which, being removed, may abridge this long probation?" + +"None," said he, kindly. "But I consider even nineteen as a very early +age; too early, indeed, were not my mind so completely at rest about you +on the grand points of religion, morals, and temper, that no delay +could, I trust, afford me additional security. You will, however, my +dear Charles, find so much occupation in preparing your affairs and your +mind for so important a change, that you will not find the time of +absence so irksome as you fancy." + +"Absence, sir?" replied I. "What then, do you intend to banish me?" + +"No," replied he, smiling again. "But I intend to send you _home_. A +sentence, indeed, which in this dissipated age is thought the worst sort +of exile. You have now been absent six or seven months. This absence has +been hitherto justifiable. It is time to return to your affairs, to your +duties. Both the one and the other always slide into some disorder by a +too long separation from the place of their legitimate exercise. Your +steward will want inspection, your tenants may want redress, your poor +always want assistance." + +Seeing me look irresolute, "I must I find," added he, with the kindest +look and voice, "be compelled to the inhospitable necessity of turning +you out of doors." + +"Live without Lucilla three months!" said I. "Allow me, sir, at least to +remain a few weeks longer at the Grove?" + +"Love is a bad calculator," replied Mr. Stanley, "I believe he never +learned arithmetic. Don't you know that as you are enjoined a three +month's banishment, that the sooner you go, the sooner you will return? +And that however long your stay now is, your three months' absence will +still remain to be accomplished. To speak seriously, Lucilla's sense of +propriety, as well as that of Mrs. Stanley, will not allow you to remain +much longer under the same roof, now that the motive will become so +notorious. Besides that, an act of self-denial is a good principle to +set out upon, business and duties will fill up your active hours, and an +intercourse of letters with her you so reluctantly quit, will not only +give an interest to your leisure, but put you both still more completely +in possession of each other's character!" + +"I will set out to-morrow, sir," said I, earnestly, "in order to begin +to hasten the day of my return." + +"Now you are as much too precipitate on the other side," replied he. "A +few days, I think, may be permitted, without any offense to Lucilla's +delicacy. This even her mother pleads for." + +"With what excellence will this blessed union give me an alliance!" +replied I. "I will go directly, and thank Mrs. Stanley for this +goodness." + +I found Mrs. Stanley and her daughter together, with whom I had a long +and interesting conversation. They took no small pains to convince my +judgment, that my departure was perfectly proper. My will however +continued rebellions. But as I had been long trained to the habit of +submitting my will to my reason, I acquiesced, though not without +murmuring, and, as they told me, with a very bad grace. I informed Mrs. +Stanley of an intimation I had received from Sir George Aston of his +attachment to Ph[oe]be, and of his mother's warm approbation of his +choice, adding that he alleged her extreme youth, as the ground of his +deferring to express his hope that his plea might one day be received +with favor. + +"He forgot to allege his own youth," replied she, "which is a reason +almost equally cogent." + +Miss Stanley and I agreed that a connection more desirable in all +respects could not be expected. + +"When I assure you," replied Mrs. Stanley, "that I am quite of your +opinion, you will think me inconsistent if I add that I earnestly hope +such a proposal will not be made by Sir George lest his precipitancy +should hinder the future accomplishment of a wish, which I may be +allowed remotely to indulge." + +"What objection," said I, "can Mr. Stanley possibly make to such a +proposal, except that his daughter is too young?" + +"I see," replied she, "that you do not yet completely know Mr. Stanley: +or rather, you do not know all that he has done for the Aston family. +His services have been very important, not only in that grand point +which you and I think the most momentous; but he has also very +successfully exerted himself in settling Lady Aston's worldly affairs, +which were in the utmost disorder. The large estate which had suffered +by her own ignorance of business, and the dishonesty of a steward, he +has not only enabled her to clear, but put her in the way greatly to +improve. This skill and kindness in worldly things so raised his credit +in the eyes of the guardian, young Sir George's uncle, that he declared +he should never again be so afraid of religious men; whom he had always +understood to be without judgment, or kindness, or disinterestedness. + +"Now," added Mrs. Stanley, "don't you perceive that not only the purity +of Mr. Stanley's motives, but religion itself would suffer, should we be +forward to promote this connection? Will not this Mr. Aston say, that +sinister designs influenced all this zeal and kindness, and that Sir +George's estate was improved with an eye to his own daughter? It will be +said that these religious people always know what they are about--that +when they seem to be purely serving God, they are resolved not to serve +him for nothing, but always keep their own interest in view. Should Sir +George's inclination continue, and his principles stand the siege which +the world will not fail to lay to a man of his fortune--some years +hence, when he is complete master of his actions, his character formed, +and his judgment ripened to direct his choice, so as to make it evident +to the world, that it was not the effect of influence--this connection +is an event to which we should look forward with much pleasure." + +"Never," exclaimed I, "no not once, have I been disappointed in my +expectation of consistency in Mr. Stanley's character. O, my beloved +parents, how wise was your injunction that I should make _consistency +the test of true piety_! It is thus that Christians should always keep +the credit of religion in view, if they would promote its interests in +the world." + +When I communicated to Miss Stanley my conversation with _her_ father, +and read over with her the letters of _mine_, how tenderly did she weep! +How were my own feelings renewed! To be thus assured that she was +selected for their son, by my deceased parents, seemed, to her pious +mind, to shed a sacredness on our union. How did she venerate their +virtues! How feelingly regret their loss! + +Before I left the country, I did not omit a visit of civility to Mr. +Flam. The young ladies, as Sir John predicted, had stepped back into +their natural character, and natural _un_-dress; though he was too +severe when he added, that their hopes in assuming the other were now at +an end. + +They both asked me, if I was not moped to death at the Grove; the +Stanleys, they said, were _good sort_ of people, but quite +_mauvais-ton_, as every body must be who did not spend half the year in +London. Miss Stanley was a fine girl enough, but knew nothing of the +world, wanted manner, which two or three winters in town would give her. +"Better as she is," interrupted Mr. Flam, "better as she is. She is a +pattern daughter, and will make a pattern wife. _Her_ mother has no +care, nor trouble; I wish I could say as much of all mothers. I never +saw a bad humor, or a bad dinner in the house. She is always at home, +always employed, always in spirits, and always in temper. She is as +cheerful as if she had no religion, and as useful as if she could not +spell her own receipt-book." + +I was affected with this generous tribute to my Lucilla's virtues; and +when he wished me joy, as he cordially shook me by the hand, I could not +forbear saying to myself, why will not this good-natured man go to +heaven? + +I next paid a farewell visit to Mr. and Mrs. Carlton, and to the amiable +family at Aston Hall, and to Dr. Barlow. How rich has this excursion +made me in valuable friendships; to say nothing of the inestimable +connection at the Grove! I did not forget to assure Dr. Barlow that if +any thing could add a value to the blessing which awaited me, it was, +that his hand would consecrate it. + +Through the good Doctor I received a message from Mr. Tyrrel, requesting +me to make him a visit of charity before I quitted the neighborhood. I +instantly obeyed the summons. I found him totally changed in all +respects, a body wasted by disease, a mind apparently full of +contrition, and penetrated with that deep humility, in which he had been +so eminently deficient. + +He earnestly intreated my prayers, adding, "though it is presumption in +so unworthy a being as I am, to suppose his intercession may be heard, I +will pray for a blessing on your happy prospects. A connection with such +a family is itself a blessing. Oh! that my nephew had been worthy of it! +It is to recommend that poor youth to your friendship, that I invited +you to this melancholy visit. I call him poor, because I have neglected +to enrich his mind: but he will have too much of this world's goods. May +he employ well what I have risked my soul to amass! Counsel him, dear +sir; admonish him. Recall to his mind his dying uncle. I would now give +my whole estate, nay, I would live upon the alms I have refused, to +purchase one more year, though spent in pain and misery, that I might +prove the sincerity of my repentance. Be to Ned what my blessed friend +Stanley would have been to me. But my pride repelled his kindness. I +could not bear his superiority, I turned away my eyes from a model I +could not imitate." I now intreated him to spare himself, but after a +few minutes' pause he proceeded: "As to Ned, I trust he is not +ill-disposed, but I have neither furnished his mind for solitude, nor +fortified his heart for the world. I foolishly thought that to keep him +ignorant, was to keep him safe. I have provided for him the snare of a +large fortune, without preparing him for the use of it. I fell into an +error not uncommon, that of grudging the expenses of education to a +relation, for whom I designed my estate. I have thus fitted him for a +companion to the vulgar, and a prey to the designing. I thought it +sufficient to keep him from actual vice, without furnishing him with +arguments to combat it, or with principles to abhor it." + +Here the poor man paused for want of breath. I was too much affected to +speak. + +At length he went on. "I have made over to Dr. Barlow's son two thousand +pounds for completing his education. I have also given two thousand +pounds apiece to the two elder daughters of Mr. Stanley in aid of their +charities. I have made a deed of gift of this, and of a large sum for +charitable purposes at the discretion of my executors. A refusal to +accept it, will greatly distress me. Ned still will have too much left, +unless he employs it to better purposes than I have done." + +Though deeply moved, I hardly knew what to reply; I wished to give him +comfort, but distrusted my own judgment as to the manner. I promised my +best services to his nephew. + +"Oh, good young man!" cried he, "if ever you are tempted to forget God, +as I did for above thirty years; or to mock him by an outward profession +as I have lately done, think of me. Think of one who for the largest +portion of his life, lived as if there were no God. And who, since he +has made a profession of Christianity, deceived his own soul, no less by +the religion he adopted, than by his former neglect of all religion. My +delusion was this, I did not choose to be good, but I chose to be saved. +It was no wonder then that I should be struck with a religion which I +hoped would free me from the discipline of moral rectitude, and yet +deliver me from the punishment of having neglected it. Will God accept +my present forced submission? Will he accept a penitence of which I may +have no time to prove the sincerity? Tell me--you are a Christian." + +I was much distressed. I thought it neither modest nor prudent for me to +give a decisive answer. He grasped my hand. "Then," said he, "you think +my case hopeless. You think the Almighty can not forgive me?" Thus +pressed, I ventured to say, "To doubt his will to pardon, and his power +to save, would, as it appears to me, sir, be a greater fault than any +you have committed." + +"One great comfort is left," replied he, "the mercy I have abused is +infinite. Tell Stanley I now believe with him, that if we pretend to +trust in God, we must be governed by him, if we truly believe in him, we +shall obey him; if we think he sent his Son to save sinners, we shall +hate sin." + +I ventured to congratulate him on his frame of mind; and seeing him +quite overcome, took leave of him with a heart deeply touched with this +salutary scene. The family at the Grove were greatly moved with my +description, and with the method poor Tyrrel had found out of eluding +the refusal of his liberal-minded executors to accept of legacies. + +The day fixed for my departure too soon arrived. I took a most +affectionate leave of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, and a very tender one of +Lucilla, who gratified my affection by the emotion she evidently felt, +and my delicacy by the effort she made to conceal it. Ph[oe]be wept +outright. The children all hung about me, each presenting me some of her +flowers, saying they had nothing else to give me; and assuring me that +Rachel should be no loser by it. Little Celia was clamorous in her +sorrow, when she saw me ascend the curricle, in which neither she nor +Lucilla was to have a place. I took the sweet child up into the +carriage, placed her by me, and gently drove her through the park, at +the gate of which I consigned her to the arms of her father, who had +good-naturedly walked by the side of the carriage in order to carry her +back. I drove off, enriched with his prayers and blessings, which seemed +to insure me protection. + +Though this separation from all I loved threw a transient sadness around +me, I had abundant matter for delightful reflection and pious gratitude. +I experienced the truth of Ph[oe]be's remark, that happiness is a +serious thing. While pleasure manifests itself by extravagant gayety, +exuberant spirits, and overt acts, happiness retreats to its own proper +region, the heart. There concentrating its feelings, it contemplates its +treasures, meditates on its enjoyments, and still more fondly on its +hopes; counts up its mercies, and feels the consummation of them in +looking to the fountain from whence they flow; feels every blessing +immeasurably heightened by the heart-cheering reflection, that the most +exquisite human pleasures are not the perfection of his nature, but only +a gracious earnest, a bounteous pre-libation of that blessedness which +is without measure, and shall be without end. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + + +Before the Belfields had quitted us, it was stipulated that we should, +with submission to the will of a higher power, all meet for six weeks +every other summer at Stanley Grove, and pass a month together every +intermediate year, either at the Priory, or at Beechwood. + +I passed through London, and spent three days in Cavendish-square, my +friends having kindly postponed their departure for the country on my +account. Lady Belfield voluntarily undertook whatever was necessary for +the internal decoration of the Priory; while Sir John took on himself +the friendly office of arranging for me all preliminaries with Mr. +Stanley, whose largeness of heart and extreme disinterestedness, I knew +I durst not trust, without some such check as I placed in the hands of +our common friend. + +As soon as all personal concerns were adjusted, Lady Belfield said, "I +have something to communicate, in which, I am persuaded, you will take a +lively interest. On my return to town, I found, among my visiting +tickets, several of Lady Melbury's. The porter told me she had called +every day for the last week, and seemed very impatient for my return. +Finding she was still in town, I went to her immediately. She was not at +home, but came to me within an hour. She expressed great joy at seeing +me. She looked more beautiful than ever, at least the blush of conscious +shame, which mingled with her usual sweetness, rendered her more +interesting. + +"She was at a loss how to begin. With a perplexed air she said, 'Why did +you stay so long? I have sadly wanted you. Where is Sir John? I have +wanted counselors--comforters--friends. I have never had a friend.' + +"I was affected at an opening so unexpected. Sir John came in. This +increased her confusion. At length, after the usual compliments, she +thus addressed him: 'I am determined to conquer this false shame. There +is not a worse symptom in human nature than that we blush to own what we +have not been afraid to do. From you, Sir John, I heard the first +remonstrance which ever reached my ears. You ought to be informed of its +effect. You can not have forgotten our conversation in my coach, after +we had quitted the scene which filled you with contempt for me, and me +with anguish for the part I had acted. You reasonably supposed that my +remorse would last no longer than the scene which had inspired it. You +left me alone. My lord dined abroad. I was abandoned to all the horrors +of solitude. I wanted somebody to keep me from myself. Mrs. Stokes +dying! her husband dead! the sweet flower-girl pining for want--and I +the cause of all! The whole view presented such a complication of misery +to my mind, and of guilt to my heart, as made me unsupportable to +myself. + +"'It was Saturday! I was of course engaged to the opera. I was utterly +unfit to go, but wanted courage to frame an excuse. Fortunately Lady +Bell Finley, whom I had promised to chaperon, sent to excuse herself. +This set my person at liberty, but left my mind upon the rack. Though I +should have rejoiced in the company even of my own chambermaid, so much +did I dread being left to my own thoughts, yet I resolved to let no one +in that night. I had scarcely passed a single evening out of the giddy +circle for several years. For the first time in my life I was driven to +look into myself. I took a retrospect of my past conduct--a confused and +imperfect one indeed. This review aggravated my distress. Still I +pursued my distracting self-inquisition. Not for millions would I pass +such another night! + +"'I had done as wrong things before, but they had never been thus +brought home to me. My extravagance must have made others suffer, but +their sufferings had not been placed before my eyes. What was not seen, +I had hoped might not be true. I had indeed heard distant reports of the +consequences of my thoughtless expense, but they might be invented--they +might be exaggerated. At the flower-maker's I _witnessed_ the ruin I had +made--I _saw_ the fruits of my unfeeling vanity--I _beheld_ the +calamities I had caused. O how much mischief would such actual +observation prevent! I was alone. I had no dependant to qualify the +deed, no sycophant to divert my attention to more soothing objects. +Though Sir John's honest expostulation had touched me to the quick, yet +I confess, had I found any of my coterie at home, had I gone to the +opera, had a joyous supper succeeded, all together would have quite +obliterated the late mortifying scene. I should, as I have often done +before, have soon lost all sense of the Stokes's misery, and of my own +crime.'" + +"Here," pursued Lady Belfield, "the sweet creature looked so contrite, +that Sir John and I were both deeply affected." + +"'You are not accustomed, Sir John,' resumed she, with a faint smile, +'to the office of a confessor, nor I to that of a penitent. But I make +it a test to myself of my own sincerity to tell you the whole truth. + +"'I wandered from room to room, fancying I should be more at ease in any +other than that in which I was. I envied the starving tenant of the +meanest garret. I envied Mrs. Stokes herself. Both might have pitied the +pangs which rent my heart as I roamed through the decorated apartments +of our spacious house. In the gayest part of London I felt the +dreariness of a desert. Surrounded with magnificence, I endured a sense +of want and woe, of which a blameless beggar can form no idea. + +"'I went into the library: I took up a book which my lord had left on +the table. It was a translation from a Roman classic. I opened it at the +speech of the tragedian to Pompey: '_The time will come that thou shalt +mourn deeply, because thou didst not mourn sooner!_' I was struck to the +heart. 'Shall a pagan,' said I, 'thus forcibly reprove me; and shall I +neglect to search for truth at the fountain?' + +"'I knew my lord would not come home from his club till the morning. The +struggle in my soul between principle and pride was severe; but after a +bitter conflict, I resolved to employ the night in writing him a long +letter. In it I ingenuously confessed the whole state of my mind, and +what had occasioned it. I implored his permission for my setting out +next morning for Melbury Castle. I entreated him to prevail on his +excellent aunt, Lady Jane, whom I had so shamefully slighted, to +accompany me. I knew she was a character of that singular class who +would be glad to revenge herself for any ill-treatment by doing me a +service. Her company would be at once a pledge to my lord of the purity +of my intentions, and to myself a security against falling into worse +society. I assured him that I had no safeguard but in flight. An +additional reason which I alleged for my absence was, that as I had +promised to give a grand masquerade in a fortnight, the evading this +expense would nearly enable me to discharge the debt which sat so heavy +on my conscience. + +"'I received a note from him as soon as he came home. With his usual +complaisance he complied with my request. With his usual nonchalance, he +neither troubled me with reproaches, nor comforted me with approbation. + +"'As he knew that Lady Jane usually rose about the hour he came home +from St. James's street, he obligingly went to her at once. I had not +been in bed. He came to my dressing-room, and informed me that his aunt +had consented at the first word. I expressed my gratitude to them both, +saying that I was ready to set out that very day.' + +"'You must wait till to-morrow,' said he. 'There is no accounting for +the oddities of some people. Lady Jane told me she could not possibly +travel on a Sunday. I wondered where was the impossibility. Sunday, I +assured her, was the only day for traveling in comfort, as the road was +not obstructed by wagons and carts. She replied, with a gravity which +made me laugh, 'That she should be ashamed to think that a person of her +rank and education should be indebted, for her being able to trample +with more convenience on a divine law, to the piety of the vulgar who +durst not violate it.' Did you ever hear any thing so whimsical, +Matilda?' I said nothing, but my heart smote me. Never will I repeat +this offense. + +"'On the Monday we set out. I had kept close the preceding day, under +pretense of illness. This I also assigned as an excuse in the cards sent +to my invited guests, pleading the necessity of going into the country +for change of air. Shall I own I dreaded being shut up in a barouche, +and still more in the lonely castle, with Lady Jane? I looked for +nothing every moment but 'the thorns and briars of reproof.' But I soon +found that the woman whom I thought was a Methodist, was a most +entertaining companion. Instead of austerity in her looks and reproach +in her language, I found nothing but kindness and affection, vivacity +and elegance. While she soothed my sorrows, she strengthened my better +purposes. Her conversation gradually revived in my mind tastes and +principles which had been early sown in it, but which the world seemed +completely to have eradicated. + +"'In the neighborhood of the castle, Lady Jane carried me to visit the +abodes of poverty and sickness. I envied her large but discriminating +liberality, and the means she had of gratifying it, while I shed tears +at the remembrance of my own squandered thousands. I had never been +hard-hearted, but I had always given to importunity, rather than to want +or merit. I blushed, that while I had been absurdly profuse to cases of +which I knew nothing, my own village had been perishing with a +contagious sickness. + +"'While I amused myself with drawing, my aunt often read to me some +rationally entertaining book, occasionally introducing religious reading +and discourse, with a wisdom and moderation which increased the effect +of both. Knowing my natural levity and wretched habits, she generally +waited till the proposal came from myself. At first when I suggested it, +it was to please her: at length I began to find a degree of pleasure in +it myself. + +"'You will say I have not quite lost my romance. A thought struck me, +that the first use I made of my pencil should serve to perpetuate at +least one of my offenses. You know I do not execute portraits badly. +With a little aid from fancy, which I thought made it allowable to bring +separate circumstances into one piece, I composed a picture. It +consisted of a detached figure in the background of poor Stokes, seen +through the grate of his prison on a bed of straw: and a group, composed +of his wife in the act of expiring, Fanny bending over a wreath of +roses, withered with the tears she was shedding, and myself in the +horrors in which you saw me, + + Spectatress of the mischief I had made. + +"'Wherever I go, this picture shall always be my companion. It hangs in +my closet. My dear friends,' added she, with a look of infinite +sweetness, 'whenever I am tempted to contract a debt, or to give in to +any act of vanity or dissipation which may lead to debt, if after having +looked on this picture I can pursue the project, renounce me, cast me +off forever! + +"'You know Lady Jane's vein of humor. One day, as we were conversing +together, I confessed that at the very time I was the object of general +notice, and my gayety the theme of general envy, I had never known +happiness. 'I do not wonder at it,' said she. 'Those who greedily pursue +admiration, would be ashamed to sit down with so quiet a thing as +happiness.' 'My dear Lady Jane,' said I, 'correct me, counsel me, +instruct me: you have been too lenient, too forbearing.' 'Well,' said +she, with a cheerful tone, 'as you appoint me your physician, as you +disclose your case, and ask relief, I will give you a prescription, +which, though the simplest thing in the world, will, I am certain, go a +great way toward curing you. As you are barely six-and-twenty, your +disease, I trust, is not inveterate. If you will be an obedient patient, +I will answer for your recovery.' + +"'I assured her of my willing adoption of any remedy she might +prescribe, as I was certain she would consider my weakness, and adapt +her treatment, not so much to what my case absolutely required as to +what my strength was able to bear. + +"'Well, then,' said she--'but pray observe I am no quack. I do not +undertake to restore you instantaneously. Though my medicine will work +surely, it will work slowly. You know,' added she, smiling, 'the success +of all alteratives depends on the punctuality with which they are taken, +and the constancy with which they are followed up. Mine must be taken +two or three times a day, in small quantities at first, the dose to be +enlarged as you are able to bear it. I can safely assert, with the +advertising doctors, that it may be used full or fasting, in all +weathers, and all seasons; but I can not add with them that _it requires +no confinement_.' + +"'I grew impatient, and begged she would come to the point. + +"'Softly, Matilda,' said she, 'softly. I must first look into my +receipt-book, for fear I should mistake any of my ingredients. This +book,' said she, opening it, 'though written by no charlatan, contains a +cure for all diseases. It exhibits not only general directions, but +specified cases.' Turning over the leaves as she was speaking, she at +length stopped, saying, 'here is your case, my dear, or rather your +remedy.' She then read very deliberately: 'COMMUNE WITH YOUR OWN +HEART--AND IN YOUR CHAMBER--AND BE STILL.' + +"'I now found her grand receipt-book was the Bible. I rose and embraced +her. 'My dear aunt,' said I, 'do with me whatever you please. I will be +all obedience. I pledge myself to take your alterative regularly, +constantly. Do not spare me. Speak your whole mind.' + +"'My dear Matilda,' said she, 'ever since your marriage, your life has +been one continued opposition to your feelings. You have lived as much +below your understanding as your principles. Your conduct has been a +system of contradictions. You have believed in Christianity, and acted +in direct violation of its precepts. You knew that there was a day of +future reckoning, and yet neglected to prepare for it. With a heart full +of tenderness, you have been guilty of repeated acts of cruelty. You +have been faithful to your husband, without making him respectable or +happy. You have been virtuous, without the reputation or the peace which +belongs to virtue. You have been charitable without doing good, and +affectionate without having ever made a friend. You have wasted those +attentions on the worthless which the worthy would have delighted to +receive, and those talents on the frivolous which would have been +cherished by the enlightened. You have defeated the use of a fine +understanding by the want of common prudence, and robbed society of the +example of your good qualities by your total inability to resist and +oppose. Inconsideration and vanity have been the joint cause of your +malady. At your age I trust it is not incurable. As you have caught it +by keeping infected company, there is no possible mode of cure but by +avoiding the contagious air they breathe. You have performed your +quarantine with admirable patience. Beware, my dearest niece, of +returning to the scene where the plague rages, till your antidote has +taken its full effect.' + +"'I will _never_ return to it, my dear Lady Jane,' cried I, throwing +myself into her arms. 'I do not mean that I will never return to town. +My duty to my lord requires me to be where he is, or where he wishes me +to be. My residence will be the same, but my society shall be changed.' + +"'You please me entirely,' replied she. 'In resorting to religion, take +care that you do not dishonor it. Never plead your piety to God as an +apology for your neglect of the relative duties. If the one is soundly +adopted, the others will be correctly performed. There are those who +would delight to throw such a stigma on real Christianity, as to be able +to report that it had extinguished your affections, and soured your +temper. Disappoint them, my sweet niece: while you serve your Maker more +fervently, you must be still more patient with your husband. But while +you bear with his faults, you must not connive at them. If you are in +earnest, you must expect some trials. He who prepares these trials for +you, will support you under them, will carry you through them, will make +them instruments of his glory, and of your own eternal happiness.' + +"'Lord Melbury's complaisance to my wishes,' replied I, 'has been +unbounded. As he never controlled my actions when they required control, +I trust he will be equally indulgent now they will be less censurable. +Alas! we have too little interfered with each other's concerns--we have +lived too much asunder--who knows but I may recall him?' My tears would +not let me go on--'nor will they now,' added she, wiping her fine eyes. + +"Sir John and I were too much touched to attempt to answer her: at +length she proceeded. + +"'By adhering to Lady Jane's directions, I have begun to get acquainted +with my own heart. Little did I suspect the evil that was in it. Yet I +am led to believe that the incessant whirl in which I have lived, my +total want of leisure for reflection, my excessive vanity and complete +inconsiderateness, are of themselves causes adequate to any effects +which the grossest vices would have produced. + +"'Last week my lord made us a visit at the castle. I gave him a warm +reception; but he seemed rather surprised at the cold one which I gave +to a large cargo of new French novels and German plays, which he had +been so good as to bring me. I did not venture to tell him that I had +changed my course of study. Lady Jane charged me to avoid giving him the +least disgust by any unusual gravity in my looks, or severity in my +conversation. I exerted myself to such good purpose that he declared he +wanted neither cards nor company. I tried to let him see, by my change +of habits rather than by dry documents, or cold remonstrances, the +alteration which had taken place in my sentiments. He was pleased to see +me blooming and cheerful. He told Lady Jane he never saw me so pleasant. +He did not know I was so agreeable a woman, and was glad he had this +opportunity of getting acquainted with me. As he has great expectations +from her, he was delighted at the friendship which subsisted between +us. + +"'He brought us up to town. As it was now empty, the terrors of the +masquerade no longer hung over me, and I cheerfully complied with his +wishes. I drove immediately to Mrs. Stokes's with such a portion of my +debt, as my retirement had enabled me to save. I feasted all the way on +the joy I should have in surprising her with this two hundred pounds. +How severe, but how just was my punishment, when on knocking at the +door, I found she had been dead these two months! No one could tell what +was become of her daughter. This shock operated almost as powerfully on +my feelings as the first had done. But if it augmented my self-reproach, +it confirmed my good resolutions. My present concern is how to discover +the sweet girl, whom, alas, I have helped to deprive of both her +parents.' + +"Here I interrupted her," continued Lady Belfield, "saying, 'You have +not far to seek: Fanny Stokes is in this house. She is appointed +governess to our children.' + +"Poor Lady Melbury's joy was excessive at this intelligence, and she +proceeded: 'That a too sudden return to the world might not weaken my +better purposes, I was preparing to request my lord's permission to go +back to the castle, when he prevented me, by telling me that he had had +an earnest desire to make a visit to the brave patriots in Spain, and to +pass the winter among them, but feared he must give it up, as the state +of the continent rendered it impossible for me to accompany him. + +"'This filled my heart with joy. I encouraged him to make the voyage, +assured him I would live under Lady Jane's observation, and that I would +pass the whole winter in the country.' + +"'Then you shall pass it with us at Beechwood, my dear Lady Melbury,' +cried Sir John and I, both at once; 'we will strengthen each other in +every virtuous purpose. We shall rejoice in Lady Jane's company.' + +"She joyfully accepted the proposal, not doubting her lord's consent; +and kindly said, that she should be doubly happy in a society at once so +rational and so elegant. + +"It was settled that she should spend with us the three months that +Fanny Stokes and little Caroline are to pass at Stanley Grove. She +desired to see Fanny, to whom she behaved with great tenderness. She +paid her the two hundred pounds, assuring her she had no doubt of being +able to discharge the whole debt in the spring. + +"I received a note from her the next day, informing me of her lord's +cheerful concurrence, as well as that of Lady Jane. She added, that when +she went up to dress, she had found on her toilette, her diamond +necklace, which her dear aunt had redeemed and restored to her, as a +proof of her confidence and affection. As Lady Melbury has forever +abolished her coterie, I have the most sanguine hope of her +perseverance. All her promises would have gone for nothing, without this +practical pledge of her sincerity." + +When Lady Belfield had finished her little tale, I expressed, in the +strongest terms, the delight I felt at the happy change in this charming +woman. I could not forbear observing to Sir John, that as Lady Melbury +had been the "glass of fashion," while her conduct was wrong, I hoped +she would not lose all her influence by its becoming right. I added with +a smile, "in that case, I shall rejoice to see the fine ladies turn +their talent for drawing to the same moral account with this fair +penitent. Such a record of their faults as she has had the courage to +make of hers, hanging in their closets, and perpetually staring them in +the face, would be no unlikely means to prevent a repetition, +especially if the picture is to be as visible as the fault had been." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + + +The next morning I resumed my journey northward, and on the fourth day, +I reached the seat of my ancestors. The distant view of the Priory +excited strong but mingled emotions in my bosom. The tender sorrow for +the loss of the beloved society I had once enjoyed under its roof, was a +salutary check to the abundant joy arising from the anticipation of the +blessing which awaited me there. My mind was divided between the two +conflicting sentiments that I was soon to be in possession of every +material for the highest happiness--and that the highest happiness is +short! May I ever live under the influence of that act of devout +gratitude, in which, as soon as I entered the house, I dedicated the +whole of my future life to its divine Author, solemnly consecrating to +his service, my time, my talents, my fortune; all I am, and all I have. + +I next wrote to Lucilla; with whom I continued to maintain a regular and +animated correspondence. Her letters gratify my taste, and delight my +heart, while they excite me to every thing that is good. This +interchange of sentiment sheds a ray of brightness on a separation which +every day is diminishing. + +Mr. Stanley also has the goodness to write to me frequently. In one of +my letters to him, I ventured to ask him how he had managed to produce +in his daughter such complete satisfaction in his sober and correct +habits of life; adding, that her conformity was so cheerful that it did +not look so much like acquiescence as choice. + +I received from Mr. Stanley the answer which follows: + + "STANLEY GROVE, _September_, 1808. + + "MY DEAR CHARLES; + + "As I wish to put you in possession of whatever relates to the mind + of Lucilla, I will devote this letter to answer your inquiries + respecting her cheerful conformity to what you call our 'sober + habits of life;' and her indifference to those pleasures which are + usually thought to constitute the sole happiness of young women of + a certain rank. + + "Mrs. Stanley and I are not so unacquainted with human nature, as + to have pretended to impose on her understanding, by attempting to + breed her up in entire ignorance of the world, or in perfect + seclusion from it. She often accompanied us to town for a short + time. The occasional sight of London, and the frequent enjoyment of + the best society, dissipated the illusions of fancy. The bright + colors with which young imagination, inflamed by ignorance, report, + and curiosity, invests unknown, and distant objects, faded under + actual observation. Complete ignorance and complete seclusion form + no security from the dangers incident to the world, or for correct + conduct at a distance from it. Ignorance may be the safety of an + idiot, and seclusion the security of a nun. Christian parents + should act on a more large and liberal principle, or what is the + use of observation and experience? The French women of fashion, + under the old regime, were bred in convents, and what women were + ever more licentious than many of them, as soon as marriage had set + them at liberty? + + "I am persuaded that the best-intended formation of character, if + founded on ignorance or deceit, will never answer. As to Lucilla, + we have never attempted to blind her judgment. We have never + thought it necessary to leave her understanding out of the + question, while we were forming her heart. We have never told her + that the world is a scene absolutely destitute of pleasure: we have + never assured her that there is no amusement in the diversions + which we disapprove. Even if this assurance had not been deceitful, + it would have been vain and fruitless. We can not totally separate + her from the society of those who frequent them, who find their + happiness in them, and whom she would hear speak of them with + rapture. + + "We went upon other grounds. We accustomed her to reflect that she + was an intellectual creature; that she was an immortal creature; + that she was a Christian. That to an intellectual being, diversions + must always be subordinate to the exercise of the mental faculties; + that to an immortal being, born to higher hopes than enjoyments, + the exercise of the mental faculties must be subservient to + religious duties. That in the practice of a Christian, self-denial + is the turning-point, the specific distinction. That as to many of + the pleasures which the world pursues, Christianity requires her + votaries to live above the temptations which they hold out. She + requires it the more especially, because Christians in our time, + not being called upon to make great and trying sacrifices, of life, + of fortune, and of liberty; and having but comparatively small + occasions to evidence their sincerity, should the more cheerfully + make the petty but daily renunciation of those pleasures which are + the very element in which worldly people exist. + + "We have not misled her by unfair and flattering representations of + the Christian life. We have not, with a view to allure her to + embrace it on false pretenses, taught her that when religion is + once rooted in the heart, the remainder of life is uninterrupted + peace, and unbroken delight: that all shall be perpetually smooth + hereafter, because it is smooth at present. This would be as unfair + as to show a raw recruit the splendors of a parade day, and tell + him it was actual service. We have not made her believe that the + established Christian has no troubles to expect, no vexations to + fear, no storms to encounter. We have not attempted to cheat her + into religion, by concealing its difficulties, its trials, no, nor + its unpopularity. + + "We have been always aware, that to have enforced the most exalted + Christian principles, together with the necessity of a + corresponding practice, ever so often and so strongly, would have + been worse than foolish, had we been impressing these truths one + part of the day, and had on the other part, been living ourselves + in the actual enjoyment of the very things against which we were + guarding her. My dear Charles, if we would talk to young people + with effect, we must, by the habits of which we set them the + example, dispose them to listen, or our documents will be something + worse than fruitless. It is really hard upon girls to be tantalized + with religious lectures, while they are at the same time tempted to + every thing against which they are warned; while the whole bent and + bias of the family practice are diametrically opposite to the + principles inculcated. + + "In our own case, I think I may venture to affirm, that the plan + has answered. We endeavored to establish a principle of right, + instead of unprofitable invective against what was wrong. Perhaps + there can scarcely be found a religious family in which so few + anathemas have been denounced against this or that specific + diversion, as in ours. We aimed to take another road. The turn of + mind, the tendency of the employment, the force of the practice, + the bent of the conversation, the spirit of amusement, have all + leaned to the contrary direction, till the habits are gradually + worked into a kind of nature. It would be cruel to condemn a + creature to a retired life without qualifying her for retirement: + next to religion, nothing can possibly do this but mental + cultivation in women who are above the exercise of vulgar + employments. The girl who possesses only the worldly + acquirements--the singer and the dancer--when condemned to + retirement, may reasonably exclaim with Milton's Adam, when looking + at the constellations, + + Why all night long shine these? + Wherefore, if none _behold_? + + "Now the woman who derives her principles from the Bible, and her + amusements from intellectual sources, from the beauties of nature, + and from active employment and exercise, will not pant for + _beholders_. She is no clamorous beggar for the extorted alms of + admiration. She lives on her own stock. Her resources are within + herself. She possesses the truest independence. She does not wait + for the opinion of the world, to know if she is right; nor the + applause of the world, to know if she is happy. + + "Too many religious people fancy that the infectious air of the + world is confined to the ball-room, or the play-house, and that + when you have escaped from these, you are got out of the reach of + its contagion. But the contagion follows wherever there is a human + heart left to its own natural impulse. And though I allow that + places and circumstances greatly contribute to augment or diminish + the evil; and that a prudent Christian will always avoid an + atmosphere which he thinks not quite wholesome; yet whoever lives + in the close examination of his own heart, will still find + something of the morbid mischief clinging to it, which will require + constant watching, whatever be his climate or his company. + + "I have known pious persons, who would on no account allow their + children to attend places of gay resort, who were yet little + solicitous to extinguish the spirit which these places are + calculated to generate and nourish. This is rather a geographical + than a moral distinction. It is thinking more of the place than of + the temper. They restrain their persons; but are not careful to + expel from their hearts the dispositions which excite the appetite, + and form the very essence of danger. A young creature can not be + happy who spends her time at home in amusements destined for + exhibition, while she is forbidden to be exhibited. + + "But while we are teaching them that Christianity involves a heroic + self-denial; that it requires some things to be done, and others to + be sacrificed, at which mere people of the world revolt; that it + directs us to renounce some pursuits because they are wrong, and + others because they are trifling; we should, at the same time, let + them see and feel, that to a Christian the region of enjoyment is + not so narrow and circumscribed, is not so barren and unproductive, + nor the pleasures it produces so few and small, as the enemies of + religion would insinuate. While early habits of self-denial are + giving firmness to the character, strengthening the texture of the + mind, and hardening it against ordinary temptations; the pleasures + and employments which we substitute in the stead of those we + banish, must be such as tend to raise the taste, to invigorate the + intellect, to exalt the nature, and enlarge the sphere of + enjoyment; to give a tone to the mind, and an elevation to the + sentiments, which shall really reduce to insignificance the + pleasures that are prohibited. + + "In our own instance I humbly trust, that through the divine + blessing, perseverance has been its own reward. As to Lucilla, I + firmly believe that right habits are now so rooted, and the relish + of superior pleasures so established in her mind, that had she the + whole range of human enjoyment at her command; had she no higher + consideration, no fear of God, no obedience to her mother and me, + which forbade the ordinary dissipations, she would voluntarily + renounce them, from a full persuasion of their empty, worthless, + unsatisfying nature, and from a superinduced taste for higher + gratifications. + + "I am as far from intending to represent my daughter as a faultless + creature, as she herself is from wishing to be so represented. She + is deeply conscious both of the corruption of her nature, and the + deficiencies of her life. This consciousness I trust will continue + to stimulate her vigilance without which all religion will decline, + and to maintain her humility, without which all religion is vain. + + "My dear Charles! a rational sense of felicity lies open before you + both. It is lawful to rejoice in the fair perspective, but it is + safe to rejoice with trembling. Do not abandon yourself to the + chimerical hope that life will be to you, what it has never yet + been to any man--a scene of unmingled delight. This life, so bright + in prospect, will have its sorrows. This life, which at + four-and-twenty seems to stretch itself to an indefinite length, + will have an end. May its sorrows correct its illusions! May its + close be the entrance on a life, which shall have no sorrows and no + end. + + "I will not say how frequently we talk of you, nor how much we miss + you. Need I tell you that the person who says least on the subject, + is not the one that least feels your absence? She writes by this + post. + + "Adieu, my dear Charles! I am with great truth your attached + friend, and hope before Christmas to subscribe myself your + affectionate father, + + "FRANCIS STANLEY." + +Delightful hope! as Miss Stanley, when that blessed event takes place, +will resign her name, I shall resume mine, and joyfully renounce forever +that of + + C[OE]LEBS. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Coelebs In Search of a Wife, by Hannah More + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COELEBS IN SEARCH OF A WIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 31879.txt or 31879.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/8/7/31879/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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