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diff --git a/40974-0.txt b/40974-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed666d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/40974-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5966 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40974 *** + +[Transcriber notes: Fred. is always treated as an abbreviation in this +book. + +Some quotation marks were left out of the printing. Preserved as +printed. + +Numerous mispellings. These were retained as printed. + +Italicized text surrounded by "_" . Small capped text converted to +all caps.] + + + + + BLUE-STOCKING HALL. + + "From woman's eyes this doctrine I derive: + They sparkle still the right Promethean fire; + They are the books, the arts, the academes, + That show, contain, and nourish all the world." + LOVE'S LABOUR LOST. + + + IN THREE VOLUMES. + + VOL. I. + + LONDON: + HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. + 1827. + + + + + J. B. NICHOLS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET. + + + + + PREFACE. + + + GENTLE READER, + +An Author who is only making a _début_, should be particularly +careful not to offend against established rules; otherwise you and +I might be spared the plague of a Preface; but as I am heartily +desirous to conciliate your regard, I will not forfeit any portion +of your esteem at my onset, by the slightest contempt of Court. +I will therefore say a few words in the way of introduction to +Blue-stocking Hall, though I may find it difficult to tell you more +than you will easily find out for yourself, if you take the trouble +of reading the following Letters, which sufficiently explain +their own story. They are selected from a correspondence which is +supposed to have been spread over a period of four years. + +As to my motives (for I observe that most prefaces talk of +_motives_) for publishing the letters which I have been at the +pains to collect, they are such as we may in charity suppose +to operate upon the mind of a criminal, when by the expiatory +tribute of his "last speech and dying words," he endeavours, in +a recantation of his own errors, to prevent others from falling +into similar ones. Besides, we are generally eager to make as many +proselytes as we can to any opinion which we have newly adopted; +and as my prejudices upon some subjects were very strong before I +visited Blue-stocking Hall, I am induced, through abundance of the +milk of human kindness, to wish that if my reader entertains any +prejudices against ladies stigmatized as _Bas Bleus_, as I myself +once did, he may, like me, become a convert to another and a fairer +belief respecting them. + + + + + BLUE-STOCKING HALL. + + + + + LETTER I. + + CHARLES FALKLAND TO ARTHUR HOWARD. + + + My Dear Howard, _Dover_. + +Perhaps you and I are at this moment similarly situated, and +similarly employed. I am seated at a window which opens on the +sea, waiting for a summons to the steam-packet which is to waft me +over to Calais--while you are, probably, expecting that which is +to convey you to Ireland. When I reach France I shall certainly +send you a bill of health from time to time; but as few things are +less satisfactory than letters _from the road_, I shall reserve my +share in the performance of our parting covenant till I am quietly +settled at Geneva. + +You do not require descriptions of either places or people; because +innumerable diaries, journals, and sketch-books, tell you as much +as you want to know of all the scenes which it is your intention +ere long to visit; and as to men and women, no second-hand account +can supply the place of actual acquaintance with the few of +either sex that deserve to occupy thoughts or pen. What you _do_ +desire, and what I have engaged to furnish, is a history of my own +employments, pursuits, and impressions; but leisure is necessary +for collecting and arranging; and, till I can satisfy myself by +sending you such details as I hope may _interest_, you must be +content to receive only certificates of whole bones. + +Now _you_ are to be set down quietly in less than a week at the end +of your journey; and before I set sail I shall take the liberty of +repeating the terms of our epistolary contract, by way of flapper +to your memory, and leaving you no possible excuse for violating +the treaty ratified at Cambridge on Monday evening, ere a mutual +_Vale_ dismissed us on our several adventures. + +You see that I have _first_ registered my own part in our +engagement, and generously bound myself, before I proceed to tie +you down.--Now for _your_ undertaking. Remember, that when you +reach the wilds of Kerry, you are under a heavy bond to devote a +part of every day regularly to the task which I have assigned you +of narrating, in minute detail, every circumstance connected with +the external situation, personal appearance, mind, manners, and +habits of your aunt and her family. Aye, there I see you at this +instant in a full roar of laughter: so be it.--I am case-hardened; +and have so long endured your merriment with becoming philosophy, +that I am not to be subdued by a little louder ridicule than you +are accustomed to level at my _romance_. Well, I will confess (now +that I am a few miles distant from that taunting smile), that my +notions are somewhat odd, quaint, old fashioned, or romantic if +you will; and in return for this concession, I only ask that you +will bear with me, and indulge your friend's peculiarities, as they +are at least harmlessly eccentric. The bias of my mind is to be +traced without difficulty to the circumstances of my early life, +so different from your own, that it would be very extraordinary if +much dissimilarity were not discoverable in our ways of thinking. +My boyish years were passed in the seclusion of almost perfect +solitude, with a mother, whose image lives indelibly engraven on +my heart. A child of feeble frame, I was unable in early life to +bear the "peltings of the pitiless storm," and from every wind that +would have visited my infant form too roughly, did the tenderest +of maternal affections shroud, without enervating, my childhood. +My widowed mother was every thing to me--my friend, my tutor, my +protectress, my play-fellow--my all on earth. In losing her at +sixteen, I was left a mere wreck upon the ocean of life; and, while +"Memory holds her seat," never shall I forget the sweet expression +of her elegant and feminine countenance, as it spoke the language +of love, kindness, or pity; nor shall I ever lose the recollection +of that fine understanding which sparkled through her eye, in the +brightest scintillations of intellectual energy, and acuteness. +She was my _Gamaliel_, and no wonder if her lessons, her thoughts, +her sentiments, have left traces upon my mind not easily to be +obliterated. When I entered Cambridge, I felt no affection for any +living creature. Relations I had none, that were not too remote to +fill the chasm which death had created in my heart. My guardian, +though an excellent man, only put me painfully in mind of my +bereavement, when he attempted to condole or advise; and I turned +from him, not with disrespect, but in disgust with all created +things. + +The natural elasticity of youth, and your society, gradually +reclaimed me from a state which, had it continued, must have ended +in madness, or idiotcy; and I am able now, at the termination of +our collegiate career, to think gratefully of prolonged existence, +and look back with thankfulness. + +Perhaps you have just laid down my letter to exclaim, "Poor +Falkland! surely the man is bewildered, or he would not tell me +now, as if for the first time, what I have known these six years." +Now, my good fellow, be not so hasty in declaring me _non compos_. +You know the general outline of my story, and you are acquainted +sufficiently with what you call my romance of character, to find +in it a constant fund of amusement when we are together; but you +do not know more than this! You are _not_ aware that the tree +has adopted its decided inclination from that bias which the twig +received. Nothing, I feel, can ever make me a man of fashion. +Nothing, I _hope_, will loosen the ties which, all unseen as +they are, bind me to the memory of her by whose judgment, were she +living, I should desire to be directed in all things to which +her admirable sense would permit her to apply those reasoning +powers which never dogmatized, nor lost themselves in the mazes of +imagination.--I admired my mother's taste as much as I reverenced +her virtues--I respected her talents; and since her death have not +met with any one capable of interesting me who did not resemble, in +some degree, the character which faithful memory attaches to her +much-loved image. + +Different as has been your path from mine, your affectionate +heart has been my best solace; and though you have been trained +in the school of modern luxury, which is so little conversant +with Nature, the generous impulses of your breast have not been +sacrificed, and you are not _yet_ spoiled by what is called The +World. For being what you are, you are, I firmly believe, indebted +in part to original structure; and perhaps, in some degree, to +that friendship which has united us both at school, and at the +University.--Somewhat older, and much graver than you, I have +always been permitted to take the lead, and exercise an influence +over your pleasures and pursuits, which, though frequently +counteracted, has, notwithstanding, communicated an individuality +to one and the other, that distinguishes you essentially from the +heartless specimens of human mechanism that pass for men of _ton_. + +You know what pleasant day-dreams occupy my fancy--I anticipate +nothing less than your _radical reform_, from all the follies +which sometimes obscure your good sense; and I look for this +change, not as the result of a Hohenlohe miracle, wrought upon +you through the intercession of the Irish priesthood, but as the +natural effect of living domesticated with such a family as I +conceive to be now about to welcome you at Glenalta. I know your +charming aunt and cousins only through their letters to you; but +by "these presents," I feel that I cannot be mistaken in the +attributes with which I have invested them: and, laugh as you like, +you know that my castles are all built with materials from the +county of Kerry, in Ireland; and I only say, if it be enthusiasm +to love and venerate a set of people whom I have never seen--yes, +and fully to intend, if life be spared me, to make a pilgrimage in +quest of your relations, inspired by as much zeal as ever actuated +the followers of Mahomet in their pious journeys to Mecca, why, let +me cry with Falstaff, "God help the wicked." A sort of internal +evidence quite incommunicable to any one else, assures me, that my +fate is linked with that of the Douglas family; and I can give you +no better reason for this belief, than the improbability that so +much sympathy as draws me towards Glenalta, should be thrown away. + +However baseless you may consider the fabric of my visions, you +can at least imagine that, while they possess my mind, they are +not a little interesting; and therefore I conclude, as I began, by +entreating that you will feed my Quixotism with journals containing +the most accurate and minute accounts of all that is said and +done, planned and projected, at that Ultima Thule, as you call it, +whither you are bending your steps. + +The gun is fired as a signal for sailing--I see an army of +carpet-bags and portmanteaus in full march, and must say--farewell! +God bless you, my dear Howard. + + Your affectionate + CHARLES FALKLAND. + + + + + LETTER II. + + MISS DOUGLAS TO MISS SANDFORD. + + + Dearest Julia, _Glenalta_. + +Your letter, which I received yesterday, reproaches me with +silence, and I plead guilty to the charge, though you are very +wrong in supposing that my failure in punctuality proceeds from +weariness of communion with you. I have very few correspondents, +and amongst these few I rejoice to say, that there is not one, to +whom I write from any other motive than because I love and value +every species of intercourse with those who are really dear to my +heart. I know that it is only necessary to tell you, that I have +been much engaged, to be certain of your forgiveness; but I should +not satisfy myself if I did not say how I have been occupied. + +Shut out as we are from the gay world, and living for weeks +together without any interruption to our pursuits, even _you_ may +perhaps wonder that time is not a burthen on our hands. Yet this is +not the case; but on the contrary, the day appears scarcely set in +before it has arrived at its close. Is this always the effect of +full employment, or is it peculiar to the little circle at Glenalta +to wish that the sun would stand still, and give more of his +company?--I am too little acquainted with people and places beyond +my own home to answer the question; and you are not here to do it +for me; so now I will proceed with the causes of my long silence. + +Our dear friend, and invaluable neighbour, Mr. Otway, has been ill: +thank heaven, he is quite recovered now.--This dear friend and your +aunt are, I think, the only people on earth who for the last twelve +years could have poured the balm of comfort into the desolate +spirit of my beloved mother--the latter in becoming a tender parent +to you and your sisters has had too much care connected with her +immediate duties to admit of her being often with us; but what she, +under different circumstances, _might_ have been, Mr. Otway has +been; and what can we ever do sufficiently to prove our gratitude, +as well as our affection? During his illness, which continued +for three months, we shared, not only the task of nursing him +with unremitting assiduity, but endeavoured to supply his place +by undertaking the labours which, for a series of years, he has +imposed upon himself. We took care of his schools, we visited his +sick poor, we distributed his benefactions, became his deputies +on the roads and in the fields; and resolved that, on his return +to his gardens and plantations, he should find all things meeting +him with that pleasant welcome which even the inanimate world is +enabled to testify, when the hand of diligent affection has taught +every shrub and flower to glow with its own emotions!--I know +nothing more touching than such a reception, which needs no words +to convince the object of our solicitude, how constantly the heart +has been occupied in an endeavour to please by the cultivation of +whatever might confer enjoyment; and the suppression of all that +would be productive of pain. + +Though one of the actors in the scene, I will confess to you, +that the success of our efforts was complete. There was no +arrangement--no display that appeared to solicit thanks for our +faithful stewardship; but I never shall forget the happiness of +seeing tears, _not_ of grief, stealing from my mother's eyes, while +our dear friend, leaning upon her arm on one side, and Frederick's +on the other--Charlotte, Fanny, and I, bringing up the rear--took +his first walk upon the terrace which commands that panorama of +loveliness and expanse which you admired so much in your visit at +Glenalta, to which my mind frequently recurs as the most joyful +period of my existence. In addition to all the blessings of my +daily life, I had then the enlivening influence of your presence. +The landscape was the same, but you were the sunshine: and while +you were here, all seemed "gold and green."--When will you come +again, I wonder!--Well, what a wanderer I am! continually +deviating from my path, my narrative advances but slowly,--and you +are yet to learn, that besides our extra employments at his farm, +we have been as busy as bees preparing for the accommodation of my +Cousin Arthur Howard, who is expected here to-morrow evening. + +People who live in towns, or even in what is called _civilized_ +parts of the country, have little idea how we poor pill-garlicks +labour to perform what they accomplish as if by the stroke of +a magical wand. A few words are pronounced in the shape of an +order, to one of your fashionable upholsterers, and lo! sophas, +ottomans, tables, arm-chairs, and all the elegant etceteras of +modern furniture rise up like an exhalation, and are found in their +exact places, as if a fairy had arranged them. While country folks, +like us, have to wish, and to wait, for many a long day before we +can obtain even an imperfect representation of a new luxury. I do +not complain of this; for I really believe, that we gain by every +difficulty, and enjoy our humble acquisitions, after going through +much trouble to obtain them, a thousand times more than the rich +and fashionable do their superfluities, which it is only to desire, +and to possess; but I state the fact to account for the employment +of time and pains in filling up a comfortable bed-chamber and +dressing-room for Arthur Howard, whose approach I dread, not +because I have any reason to be afraid of him, but because I +feel how entirely out of his natural (or perhaps I should rather +say _artificial_) element, he will find himself in this peaceful +retreat. + +I believe I told you in my last letter, that Arthur has been +very delicate for some months past, and apprehensions have been +entertained that if the change of air to a softer climate than +that of Buckinghamshire were not resorted to, his lungs might soon +become affected. Poor fellow! He is an only son; and as my aunt +could not make up her mind to going abroad with him herself, and +she would not consent to let him go to the Continent without her, +though in the company of his friend Mr. Falkland, matters have +been compromised by accepting mamma's invitation to the _Island +of mists_; and truly it would delight us all to cherish this young +cousin at Glenalta, if it were not for the painful feeling that he +considers it a heavy penance to come amongst his Irish relations. +The performance of duty is, however, so agreeable in itself, that +if we find our cares successful, and are enabled to return the +invalid in good health to his mother and sisters, we shall be +amply recompensed. It is but to think of the grateful love which +would warm our own hearts (were Frederick similarly circumstanced) +towards any friend who might be instrumental in his recovery, +to enter _con amore_ into the feelings of Arthur's family, and +sing a _Te Deum_ if we are permitted to excite them. Sickness, in +producing a powerful sense of our mortality, often awakens the +heart to the _realities_ of happiness, by shewing us the utter +futility of pleasures on which we had thoughtlessly relied, till +evil days came upon us, and our helpless dependence was brought +experimentally home to our conviction. + +I sometimes flatter myself with a hope that mamma's enchanting +influence, Frederick's sweet disposition, and the cheerful aid of +the three _handmaids_, may operate a change in Arthur's mind, and +reclaim a fine understanding from the blighting effects of cold and +selfish fashion. You see that I am castle-building--may it not be +in the air! + +I am desired by mamma, to say that your dear aunt shall soon hear +from her; and you shall have a letter ere long to tell you what +progress we make in acquaintance with our guest, who is a perfect +stranger amongst the juniors of our house, and only remembered as a +little boy by my mother. + +So much have I had to say of our _hospital_ concerns, that I +have not told you a word of a surprise which Frederick and I are +preparing for this precious Author of our being.--There is a little +solitary spot not far removed from this, the most sequestered, +wild, and lovely glen that Nature I believe ever formed. For years +after we came to Glenalta, my sisters and I never saw or heard of +it, mamma never having mentioned its existence; and its distance +placing it without the bounds of our allotted walks while we were +children. Frederick was the first who made me acquainted with this +tiny Paradise of beauty and seclusion, the story of which I must +reserve for my next letter. + +Our fond and united loves attend your circle from all here, and +particularly your + + Faithful and affectionate Friend, + EMILY DOUGLAS. + + + + + LETTER III. + + ARTHUR HOWARD TO CHARLES FALKLAND. + + + My Dear Falkland, _Glenalta_. + +Your letter from Dover has travelled many a mile in quest of +me; first into Buckinghamshire, then to Grosvenor-square, +"tried" Cambridge, and _non est inventus_ being the return made +at each of these places, it has followed me into the wilds of +Kerry in Ireland. Here I am actually at Glenalta, and as I mean +faithfully to perform my promise, and execute the task which you +have so solemnly _spread out_ before me, in such detail that I +am not likely to forget the engagement, I shall _begin from the +beginning_, for the following cogent reasons: first, that I may +be correct by not trusting to memory; secondly, that I may not be +overwhelmed by an inconvenient accumulation of materials, thirdly +and lastly, because to vent my spleen in a letter is next to the +relief of doing so in a _viva voce_ unburthening, disemboguing, or +whatever else you choose to call this pouring out of my vexations. + +After a journey through a horrible country, as naked as if it +was but just born, and as comfortless as if it had never been +inhabited, I reached at last my haven of rest yesterday evening at +six o'clock. You must not expect me to name places which I cannot +spell, nor jolt over such roads as I have escaped again with you. +This would indeed be "thrice to slay the slain," for I am in a +state of mummy this morning. If David had known the county of +Kerry, I should believe that it rose upon his mind, when he wrote +of the judges that were overthrown in stony places. As I approached +within a mile of my journey's end I should possibly have been put +into good humour, if my temper had not been previously so ruffled +as to counteract the influence of pleasanter impressions. Candour +obliges me to confess, that nothing in nature can exceed the +scenery of this spot when _once you are at it_; but in my present +feelings I doubt whether I would go to Heaven itself, if there +were no better road thither than that by which I have achieved my +safe landing at Glenalta. Part of my way lay through a morass, +technically called _bog_ in this country, which brought to my +recollection every frightful engulfment that I ever heard or read +of. The vast American swamps, the Indian jungles, aye, even "that +great Lerborian bog 'twixt Damietta and the sea," so finely touched +by Milton, appeared safe and smooth to my imagination in comparison +with the dark abysses that seemed to yawn upon me from either +side of my gloomy and monotonous path. No, it is not in human +nature to recover a man's equilibrium after what I have suffered +in less than a week; and therefore the features of this _cul de +sac_, which has nothing beyond it but the waves of the Atlantic, +will stand but a bad chance of being sketched in any other than +_distemper_ colouring, if I must _fix_ my first impressions. Your +orders, however, concur with my bile, and thus duty and inclination +happily coincide, which is somewhat uncommon. Well, "through mud +and mire, brake and brier," I at last beheld the termination of +my woes, and drove up in a post chaise, which I firmly believe sat +for its picture to Miss Edgeworth, and found myself in front of a +verandah, which, in any other place and any other at time, might +have seemed a bower of enchantment; but my eyes were jaundiced, +my bones were weary, and every thought was steeped in vinegar, so +cross, cold, sour, and discontented did I feel, as the lubberly +brute, called post-boy by a strange misnomer, trundled off his +jaded horse, and thumping up like a sack against the hall door, +gave a knock which might have been heard in Labrador. I expected +to have been met and smothered on the threshold by my aunt and +cousins, but a servant only made his appearance, and the step was +let down; Lewis had descended, and I was fairly on my feet, and +trying to pump up a smile upon my countenance, lest its previous +expression should stamp my character irretrievably, ere in two +minutes I found myself affectionately greeted and as affectionately +dismissed to my apartments, for I have got a _suite_ allotted to +me, and as I was preparing to obey, and retire, my aunt, with +one of the sweetest voices I ever heard, begged that I would not +hurry myself. "Frederick my love," added she, "I depend upon your +shewing dear Arthur his room, and I need not remind you that as +he is an invalid, he must not be asked to do any thing in the +least distressing, or requiring effort. Arthur, you will I hope +feel yourself _at home_, and that charming little word comprises +all that I can offer you, and so _much_, that I should weaken its +force, if I attempted by any addition to render it more impressive." + +When I was dressed, I went down stairs, and opening a door that +lay on my right hand, found myself in a snug library and alone. +Supposing this to be the room in which we were to muster before +dinner, I took up some books which lay on the table, and what +should I discover? why, positively that I have got amongst a +batch of _Blues_. Full ten minutes elapsed before my rapid survey +was interrupted; and in that short period I found the initials +of Emily and Charlotte annexed to the name of Douglas, in at +least a dozen volumes, one of which was Sallust, a second Virgil, +a third Sowerby on Minerals, a fourth some one, I forget who, +upon Botany, and so on. I absolutely felt my cheeks glow with +shame and indignation. What! set down in a nook of the county of +Kerry, in Ireland, without a creature to speak to, who I suppose +ever saw "a good man's feast," though I dare say they are not +without "bells that call to church;" and to find myself not only +shut out from the world, but screwed in a vice as it were, with +all manner of pedantry, and required to talk science all day +to a set of _precieuses ridicules_! it was too much for _my_ +constitution I assure you; and with the celerity of lightning I +resolved to construct an apology, as quickly as possible, for my +speedy departure. The _manner_ of disengaging myself from the +noose still remains to be determined, but it is quite plain that +at Blue-Stocking Hall, which is a much more appropriate name than +Glenalta, I cannot stay. + +My aunt's letters never threw light upon the accomplishments +of her daughters, and as one does not take much interest in +the occupations of the elders in a family, her own literary +propensities would not have annoyed me at all, particularly, too, +as I might probably find able assistance in Frederick whenever I +had a mind to laugh at learned ladies. But to my narrative,--the +first who entered the room was Fanny, the youngest of the family. +She is about fifteen, strikingly pretty, with almost the funniest +expression of countenance that I ever saw, and thank Heaven, of +an age to be treated as a child. _She_ will, I see, be my sheet +anchor while I am obliged to tarry on this coast. My aunt and her +_Aspasias_ followed before I had time to utter a sentence, and +Frederick brought up the rear. In the moment of his entrance, the +servant who was at his heels, announced dinner, and while we were +crossing the hall, my aunt said, "You were in the library while +we were waiting your arrival in the drawing-room, so we missed +the pleasure of your company, my dear boy, for I know not how +long. Arthur, I know how disagreeable it is to be watched with +too great anxiety, so to day you shall eat and drink as you find +that you _can_ do; and if there is any thing that you are in the +habit of taking, or any thing that you would like to try, I can +promise you the aid of three of the kindest nurses that ever took +care of an invalid. They have had great experience, and will be +delighted to be useful to you." I thanked her, secretly resolving +to give my fair cousins as little trouble as possible, and down +we sat to dinner, which was not a bit like what I supposed it +would have been, but actually _got up_ in excellent style. We had +two nice little courses of capital materials that might have done +credit to the London market; admirably dressed, served up quite +in a civilized manner, and, would you believe it, not a word of +_azure_ during the repast. Don't fancy me, however, the block-head +to cry roast-meat before I am out of the wood. Indigo itself could +scarcely have found opportunity to display its tints in the midst +of all the inquiries for mother, sisters, uncles, aunts, that +happily filled the intervals of carving and eating. In all my life +I never felt so much indebted to my relations before; and when the +ladies got up to leave the room, not a word had escaped their lips +which was not delivered in their vernacular language; and by the +bye, I will tell you what appears to me very extraordinary, that +not one of this family speaks with that horrible accent, vulgarly +called _brogue_. No, positively they all express themselves +remarkably well, and what is also strange enough, they are very +elegant, and modern in their appearance. In short, I should not be +ashamed of the _coup d'[oe]il_ of the house and its inhabitants, +were it not for this cursed _blue_ which will burst upon me in a +torrent to-morrow, and be no doubt the more impetuous in its flow, +for having been dammed up during so many hours. + +When left alone with Fred. who seems a very honest sort of fellow, +I found that he was a sportsman, I suppose in a coarse way; but +still here is a resource, and he tells me that he has excellent +greyhounds and setters; that game abounds in these mountains; +and that there is good fun to be had at small cost of labour. +_Tant mieux_ for an invalid. We sat for an hour without drinking +much wine, from which I am under orders to abstain till this +plaguy chest of mine is well, and to which my companion seemed +to have no natural propensity. We then joined the party in the +drawing-room, and there I found Emily writing music, Charlotte +tuning a harp,--yes, a very fine one too, Fanny rolling a ball for +a beautiful little spaniel, and her mother smiling at its gambols. + +There was nothing appalling here, but the evening was young; +however, here was a _new_ resource, and with grateful alacrity I +hastened to beg for a soft strain of Erin. Certainly I am lost +in astonishment. Do you know that these girls sing like syrens? +Nothing can be in finer harmony than their voices, and some of the +simple Irish airs which were sung this evening, have so completely +taken possession of my mind, that I shall dream of nothing else. +Why will women be so absurd as to mistake the true feminine +character, and, despising the sceptre which nature has placed in +their hands, relinquish a legitimate and undisputed empire, to +engage in the silly project of conquest over regions which will +never submit to their arms? + +Were it not for the farrago of Latin, Greek, botany, chemistry, +and the devil knows what, with which my ears are to be assailed, +how readily should I bear testimony to the charms which sweet +music and good manners possess; and when I consider (and I really +speak impartially), the fund upon which the Douglas girls might +fairly _trade_, I am at a loss to perceive the motive for all this +nonsense of learning. If they were ugly or old, or surrounded +by professors, there might be some reason for experimenting in +literary lore, and hoisting a blue flag; but young, pleasing, +singularly elegant, with heavenly voices, what is it that the +fools would be at? I suppose that my poor aunt, whose affliction +I fancy made her a recluse for several years, has insisted upon +making scholars of the sisterhood, because Fred's tutor, who of +course was some antiquated piece of furniture, had time to spare, +and probably knew about as much of life and manners, as Noah did +in the Ark. If this be the case, I shall soon find out all about +the matter, and my visit here may be a blessing, as I shall take +the very first opportunity that offers of opening aunty's eyes +to the impolicy of her conduct, by assuring her that men of the +_present_ day dread a _blue_ more than a scorpion, which argument, +I believe, never failed yet with a _mamma_; and as to the poor +girls, it will be easy to work upon their minds without being +ungallant. To be sure they cannot unlearn all that old domine +has crammed into their noddles, but if they are frightened into +a careful concealment, there is not much harm done; for if after +they are married, they can put their boys through the Latin grammar +and Selecta, the employment will not be disagreeable to them, the +children may benefit, and if they should settle in Ireland, I mean +in the country, no body need be the wiser for their latinity. +Fanny is young enough to snatch from contagion, and with her merry +phiz, she ought not to drudge over _Hic hæc hoc_. I could not help +thinking of Marmontel's description (is it not?) of _Agathe_ in +the _Misanthrope_, when I looked at her, "_La plus jolie espiegle +que l'Amour eut jamais formé_," and as I applied these words, I +resolved to save her if possible. + +Well, tea, coffee, and milk-cakes, as good of their kinds as you +ever tasted, succeeded by the harp and piano-forte, left me no +time for a game of chess to which Frederick had challenged me on +entering the room. At ten o'clock a tray made its appearance with +some really fine fruit, and the best milk I ever tasted; nothing +could be more easy, cheerful, and pleasant than our little party; +and so entirely were books left out of the evening's amusement, +that what I had seen before dinner was never remembered till I +reached my own room; we were as gay as larks, and even danced some +quadrille figures. Here again surprise is no word to express what +I felt at seeing my cousins acquit themselves with a grace that +would actually be quite _distingué_ at Almack's. A little _fashion_ +might be added, but nothing can be better than the flexibility and +perfect ear which accompany every movement of these mountaineers. +So far so good, but old Solon used to say "the end is not come +yet," and I felt all the prudence of suspended judgment conveyed +in his _laconicism_, when on the removal of the tray, Frederick +placed a large book before his mother, and having rung the bell, I +found myself presently engaged,--yes, actually engaged in family +prayers with no less than six domestics and an old non-descript +with grey hair, who hobbled in leaning upon a stick, and for whose +accommodation Fanny placed a cushion; all ranged along the end +of the room: it was a complete _take in_, and I never felt more +awkwardly in all my life. However there was no escaping, and I had +nothing for it but submission. My aunt, to do her justice, gave us +a short prayer, and I cannot say that there was any _cant_ in it; +but conceive the bad taste of following this part of the ceremony +by reading a chapter in the New Testament, and during the time, +sitting "hail fellows well met" in the midst of the servants, who +took to their seats as naturally as if they had been born to five +thousand a year each. + +Now my good friend, _you_ stand up for these exhibitions; but to +see the gentry of the country thus brought on a level with their +footmen; and to see a girl of Fanny's appearance fly to help +old Lawrence, whose stick slipped as he was about to retire, I +must ever think revolting to common sense, and I went to my room +determined to hasten my departure as much as possible. Of course I +conclude that my antediluvian relations go through this religious +mummery twice a day; and though you know that I am not of the +infidel school, I hate piety in such clothing as I find it dressed +in here; and as I equally dislike old fashions and _new_ lights, +I shall get rid of the one and the other as fast as I can. I must +not offend people, however, who are kindly inclined to me, and +therefore you may address one letter at least to this place. Good +night, and believe me, in a confounded cross humour, + + Truly yours + ARTHUR HOWARD. + +P.S. I mean to send you my next packet on this day week. + + + + + LETTER IV. + + MRS. DOUGLAS TO MRS. E. SANDFORD. + + + My dearly loved Friend, + +And are you really once more in your own Derbyshire, enjoying the +blessing of rest after all your wanderings? My heart flies to bid +you welcome at Checkley, where your presence, I doubt not, was +long desired and affectionately greeted, though not perhaps with +such energy as is conveyed in our Irish "Cead Millagh farthagh." +But how doubly blessed is your return, and how largely has a +merciful Providence repaid your labours, and compensated for every +privation that you have endured, by restoring the sweet Agnes to +perfect health! You are a mother, in almost every sense of that +comprehensive title, to three dear and doubly orphaned girls, who +now employ your whole attention; and though you have been spared +those anxieties, incident to the relation of parent, which belong +exclusively to the tender years of infancy, you can sympathize in +all the solicitude to which the unfoldings of youth give birth; and +thus a new bond has arisen to link our souls together. + +Now that the peril is past, that which was toil while actually +present, becomes pleasure when viewed in the distance; and thus it +is that the great Dispenser of Good rewards the patient performance +of duty. + +You longed to be at home, and you are safely lodged within its +delightful retreat; while your girls like bees have been collecting +honey from every flower to enrich their hive, and no longer +indebted to "books and swains alone," for their knowledge of the +world, can talk of Switzerland, and Italy, and France with all the +many who have visited their shores. _My_ holidays are yet to come; +but do not be frightened; I am not thinking of the Continent--I am +only running forward with my mind's eye to the happy accomplishment +of our mutual wishes in the meeting at this dear spot of which your +promise holds out the exhilarating prospect. My children seem +to feel that months are years, till August comes and brings the +Sandfords to Glenalta. + +But dearest Elizabeth, I am not answering your question: "Will you +help me with your experience in this weighty task which I have +undertaken, and give me your advice upon the important subject of +female education, as I proceed in an endeavour to fulfil the part +which I have engaged to act?" Yes surely, my friend, I will gladly +afford you every aid in my power to bestow, but you will not expect +more than I can give. You must not look to me for that which I have +never found myself, namely a plan or system by which I could work +under the guidance of another mind without exercising at every +moment whatever penetration the Almighty had conferred upon my own. +This, whatever be its measure, has been employed night and day in +scrutinizing the individual varieties that presented themselves in +the several dispositions of my children. + +You know the little history of their infant years, and that they +were ever with me. You know also of the frightful chasm in my +life, which succeeded. I dare not even now look back upon that +period, nor is it necessary; for you have nothing to do with the +first years of childhood: but till this moment I never told you of +the _heart-sting_ by which I was roused from that torpor which had +diffused a species of Upas shade over my character for some years. + +While I was buried in my cottage near Linton, in Devonshire, I +was attacked by low fever which threatened my life. It was not +contagious, and therefore I was not debarred from seeing my +children. Frederick, the eldest, was then twelve years old, and one +day when he and his little sisters came to kiss and say farewell +before they took their walk, I perceived my dear boy's cheek wet as +it touched mine, and almost in the same instant that the tiny group +hurried from my room I found a scrap of paper lying on the pillow +upon which my head was reclined. I opened and read the following +artless effusion addressed + + + "_To my beloved Mamma._ + + And wilt _thou also_ fall asleep? + And must we never cease to weep? + And can'st thou breathe a long farewell + To those whose little bosoms swell + With love, that would thy sorrows cheer, + With grief, that finds no solace here? + Oh take us to the realms of light, + Or stay awhile thy spirit's flight + Tho' angels beckon: hear our prayer, + Nor leave thy children to despair!" + +This first lisping of an almost infant muse produced an electric +effect, and seemed the proximate instrument to inspire a degree of +resolution which till then had been denied to my prayers; for God +does his work in our hearts by secondary means and not by miracles. +From that hour my mind appeared gradually to receive strength. I +began to feel that solitude was too selfish an enjoyment; that I +had _active_ duties which claimed a share of my thoughts. I prayed +earnestly, I exerted myself unceasingly, recovered health, and then +determined on the great sacrifice of re-visiting Glenalta. The +anguish, which that effort cost me, it would be as impossible for +me to express, as it would be painful to you to conceive. Enough +of this! Your request for assistance in your new character has led +me back through a labyrinth of past time, and my pen has almost +unconsciously pursued the train. + +The excellent tutor who was procured for me by my invaluable +friend Edward Otway, seemed as if formed expressly for my purpose. +I could not have borne the society of any mortal who expected +to be made a companion, nor could I have allowed my children to +associate with a person who did not deserve to be made a friend. +Mr. Oliphant, old enough to be my father, yet cheerful enough to +be the play-fellow of my children when he was not their teacher, +religious, benevolent, learned, simple in his manners, enthusiastic +both in acquiring and imparting knowledge, and never desiring +other company than that of his pupils and his books, was the man +whom I found at Lisfarne under the roof of my friend, and waiting +the arrival of my family at Glenalta. A few dreadful struggles +over, we commenced upon the "noiseless tenor of our way." I read +every volume of which I had ever heard upon education, and found +instruction in a short paper upon the subject, written by the late +Mrs. Barbauld, whose pen was called upon to direct the conduct of +a father and mother who found themselves the parents of a darling +only son, and possessed of such affluence as to induce them to give +a _carte blanche_ for whatever might be suggested as most likely to +succeed in making this object of their common affection all that +they fondly desired to see him. + +Her letter in reply to their solicitations for advice, was +published many years ago in a periodical work entitled "The +Inquirer," and contains more strong good sense in a few pages than +I have ever met with in the many ponderous quartos which maternal +anxiety induced me to wade through. Mrs. Barbauld tells her friends +_to be_ themselves in daily life, in all their habits of speaking +and acting, _that_ which they desire to impress upon their son. The +quantity of Greek and Latin, logic, and mathematics, which he might +attain in the progress of his studies, or the place in which such +knowledge should be acquired, she wisely leaves in a great measure +to other advisers; and resting on what is surely of far higher +consequence in the human compound, namely the principles, the +sentiments, the opinions which it is desirable should actuate the +conduct of the future man, she admirably remarks that the _moral +atmosphere_ by which youth is surrounded, is the real teacher--not +the tutor or governess who lays down precepts in the closet. + +We are told in holy writ, that "the children of this world are +wiser in their generation than the children of light," and we may +fairly draw a similar comparison between the young and the more +advanced of our fellow creatures upon earth. The whole _strength_ +of a child lies in his sagacity, which accounts for all the +acuteness employed by young people in observing looks and actions, +and in developing the secret motives of those in whose conduct +they are interested. In low minds this acuteness degenerates into +cunning, but in all children there is a quickness of intellect, +a readiness in deducing effects from causes, and marking +inconsistencies between theory and practice, which ought to +operate as a powerful incentive with those who undertake the care +of youth, to make singleness of heart and a broad bold integrity +the rule of every act in life. It is in vain that we talk of the +beauty of truth, while we employ dissimulation in our intercourse +with society; or descant on the advantages of occupation, while +our own days are passed in idleness and sloth. _Words_ go for very +little, whilst it is what we are _doing_ that secretly determines +the bias of our children either to imitate or avoid. Powerfully +impressed with this leading truth, I endeavoured to act upon my +conviction. My rules were simple, few, and determined. I avoided +as much as possible the multiplication of _decrees_, and, where it +was practicable, rather sought to shew my little flock the path in +which I wished them to walk by accompanying their steps, than to +point out by prohibition that which was to be avoided. The success +with which a merciful Providence has blessed my humble efforts +is not granted to all in the same _degree_; but all must try for +the goal, though it may not be given to reach it in every case. +The original structure of the human mind is after all the great +thing, and our best endeavours can but improve or restrain; but +will never _create_. That belongs to higher influence. You know my +feelings, and how much I prize one unselfish movement of the heart +above all the intellect that ever adorned the greatest philosopher; +and therefore it is that I have tried with such incessant care +to cultivate the affections of my children. Here again nature +must co-operate; for there are characters so phlegmatic, so cold, +so inclined to contradiction, that no kindness will warm them +into confidence and love. But though we do not make sufficient +allowance for the vast variety of constitutional temperament, and +too frequently expect equal results from different soils, which +will always disappoint our hopes; a careful study of the materials +upon which we are to act, and a judicious application of culture +according to the _grain_ and _character_ of those materials, will +seldom fail of repaying our labours by such harvest as it is +reasonable to anticipate. + +I have, you see, only attempted here to give you a loose sketch of +my ground plan. You must ask specific questions, to which you shall +have the best replies in my power to give: but if I go on tacking +my thoughts together _generally_ upon the subject of education, I +may be giving you what you do not want. Tell me, then, all your +difficulties as they arise, and as far as my experience can remove +them you may rely upon my inclination to assist your virtuous +resolution of supplying a parent's place to your poor brother's +orphans. + +The many volumes devoted to the subject of education are frequently +written by people who have, like the spider, spun out the web of +their theories from within, and then applied those tissues to +creatures of their own imagination, fitting and conforming the one +to the other as nicely as Cinderella's slipper was found to suit +the princess for whose foot it had been made. Such books remind me +of a fine contrivance which should be devised with mathematical +precision by one wholly unacquainted with practical operations. +The machine is set going, and the influence of friction alone, +upon which our philosopher had never calculated in his closet, is +sufficient to overset the entire speculation. + +I must now employ the remainder of my paper in mentioning the +arrival of my nephew Arthur Howard. His health is far from being +robust: but I flatter myself _already_ that our balmy breezes from +the sea, and fragrant gales from the heath-covered mountains, which +nearly surround this little glen, have been of use to him. Nothing +could be more delightful to my heart than his perfect recovery, +if I might hope that, with renewed health, he were to inhale +amongst us some better notions (for I cannot dignify his nonsense +with the title of _opinions_) than the silly society of his poor +mother, and those vapid votaries of fashion with whom her hours +are passed, have infused into his youthful mind. Arthur is not +more than twenty, and has so good an understanding, combined with +a remarkably open, candid nature, that I cannot bear to think of +his being misled by vanity and folly. He is very engaging, though +in the high road to be spoiled, if we cannot, by some necromancy, +contrive to make him love our peaceful pleasures at Glenalta. + +It is to me a source of great amusement as well as delight to be +a silent observer of the group by which I am encircled. I had +prepared my dear Frederick and his sisters to find their cousin +frank and amiable, but sadly led astray by the tyranny of fashion; +and it is really more interesting than I can express, to behold the +sweet assiduities of these beloved children in administering to his +wants, endeavouring to promote his amusement, and softening his +prejudices by the most endearing kindness, and gentle, judicious +opposition. So nice is the tact which singleness of heart, and +affection inspire, that I have not had once to animadvert upon +any part of their manners towards our young guest since he came +amongst us, and as all their innocent projects for his reformation, +and delicate remarks upon the progress or failure of their little +schemes are imparted with the glow of confiding sympathy to me, I +am charmed with the discoveries which I am thus enabled to make in +the dispositions of my children, through circumstances calculated +to place them in new lights to my view. + +My mind undergoes variety of emotion in considering Arthur, whose +conflicts of spirit I can clearly penetrate. Sometimes diverted +beyond measure by his rising indignation, I can scarcely preserve +my gravity when I see his choler ready to burst into furious +invective against the many pursuits in which my girls are occupied +_so new_ to him; then checked ere it has exploded by some sprightly +sally on their part, or by his own evidently growing attachment +to their pleasant society. Emily reasons with him, Charlotte +expostulates, and Fanny banters so playfully with her cousin, +that her merriment seems always with a magic touch to restore his +temper to its equipoise. Arthur you know has been bred up in the +school of _the world_, and holds all its doctrines with tenacity. +Accomplishments make up all his idea of female education. To sing, +play on the harp and piano-forte, speak French, and know enough of +Italian to quote a line from Metastasio, are the utmost extent to +which he would permit a woman's lore to extend. Any thing more +than this, every degree of literary information beyond the poems of +Lord Byron or an Album, is voted _blue_, and Arthur's eloquence is +in continual exercise upon the absurdity, inutility, and vulgarity +of _learning in a lady_. His tirades are met with such perfect good +humour, and he is so frequently indebted to those resources in +his cousins which he affects to despise for varying the pleasures +of his day, that I prophesy a change in his opinions, but it will +not be wrought all at once. We must patiently endure some more +reproach, ere our young man of fashion will declare himself a +convert, but such is the charm of _mind over matter_, that I think +we shall conquer in the end. + +My dears all unite in most affectionate loves to you and yours with +my Elizabeth's + + Attached friend, + CAROLINE DOUGLAS. + +Mr. Oliphant returns from his northern trip next week. + + + + + LETTER V. + + ARTHUR HOWARD TO CHARLES FALKLAND. + + + My dear Falkland, + +Here comes the day for sealing my promised packet, which you will +find to contain the last week's register of matters and things +as time glides on at Glenalta.--Well; shall I begin by giving +you this day's impression, or travel, like a crab, backwards, in +order to get forward? As the latter will be in the Irish style, +and also conformable to my promise, I suppose that I must give it +the preference. To return then--I made up my budget on Wednesday +night, went to bed, tossed about rather feverishly for an hour or +two, partly from this plaguy cough, which was, I conclude, excited +by my journey, and partly, no doubt, from the irritation of my +temper. Sleep, however, that "sweet restorer," as _our_ poet so +beautifully calls it, came ere long to my aid, and my eyes were +closed until they opened at once upon Lewis, and the most brilliant +sunshine I ever beheld! + +"Lewis, I will get up before the family are stirring--I want to +look about me, and see something of this place before breakfast." +"Lord, sir," replied my squire, "the people of this house I believe +live without sleep, at least if I may judge by what I have seen as +yet. I was up myself at half past six, and the young ladies were +coming then from the sea when I went down stairs. They are off upon +some other prank now, for I saw two of them on donkies, and Mr. +Frederick is, I know not where, but certainly not in his room, for +the door and windows of it are wide open." + +I jumped up, and at eight o'clock sallied forth in quest of +adventures. The Glen, in which my aunt's dwelling is situated, +is most assuredly quite lovely; and this time of the year is so +charming in itself, that it is provoking that all things here +should not be in harmony. Just conceive a set of Blue Stockings +in a scene fit for nothing but love-music and romance,--faith it +is mortifying; not that I am near so angry as I was when I last +wrote. No; they are all very prudent, I must own; but the accursed +thing is _there_, and only waiting for an opportunity to overwhelm +me;--but to my diary. + +I had not gone ten yards from the hall door, along a winding +pathway that leads through a wood to the sea, when, fascinated +by the beauty of every thing around me, I thought that I would +run back for my sketch-book, and try if I could not at least take +_notes_ of the view near the house, particularly as I shall leave +it so soon, before I joined the family party. Just as I regained my +own room, I met pretty Fan, looking like a rose-bud. "Fred. and I +have been searching every where for you, Arthur, to give you your +little _dose_ of milk warm from the cow, which I am determined +shall cure your cough, and make you as fat as my Flora." So saying, +off she skipped, desiring me to wait for her return, and in a few +seconds she came back in the character of Hebe, bearing a goblet +of high-frothed milk instead of nectar, not for Jupiter, but your +humble servant. Never having been paid such an attention in all my +life before, I felt rather at a nonplus. Not a line from Scott, +Byron, or any of our British bards!--no, not even the "Thought +upon new milk," at which you and I have laughed in the Rolliad, +came to my relief. Not intimate enough to be thus served by a +princess of the castle, without returning _some_ acknowledgment, +and nothing either chivalric or poetical starting to my _rescue_, +I was completely _at fault_, and looked, perhaps for the first +time, something like Simon Pure. Fanny, however, did not seem to +observe any thing but the main point of whether the draught were +honestly dregged to the very bottom.--"Drink it all; the conserve +of roses, I dare say, will reward the last gulp,--there, that is a +dear boy--it will do you good;" and away flitted my nymph of the +mountain, saying, as she sped along, that she would come and walk +with me in a moment. Scarcely had I lost sight of her, before she +was back again; and all animation, with youth, health, and good +humour, she ran up to me and said--"Old Lawrence does not treat me +so formally as you do; _he_ does not look surprised when I offer +him a glass of milk; but smiles kindly, with a 'bless you, missy,' +as my reward." + +"What," answered I, "have you been meting out your favors this +morning to a set of pensioners, amongst whom I have the honour +to be classed? If that be the case, _my_ gratitude might be +taken from the general tribute, and hardly missed."--"Oh, then, +I see how it is," replied my little coz, "you are offended at me +for having taken care of a helpless old man in company with a +smart and fashionable young one; but you will not be angry when +I tell you, that this dear old soul is the precious mother's +foster-father." "And pray, my amiable Fan, what is the meaning of +_foster_-father, for in my life I never happened to hear of such a +relation."--"Well, you astonish me, Arthur; I find that you have a +great deal to learn. Old Lawrence, or Lorry, as you will soon be +taught to call him, was husband to mamma's nurse. Nanny is dead, +and much did we grieve for her; but it is a great consolation +for her loss, that we are enabled to make her excellent and aged +partner so happy and comfortable as he is at Glenalta. Remember, +too, that the blessed sun does not shine less brightly upon you, +dear Arthur, because it warms our poor old man: and when you think +of this, you will never grudge him a share of Drimindhu's milk." + +"And who, may I ask, is Drimindhu?" rejoined I. "A favourite cow. +Our Kerry cows are beautiful, and not unlike those of Alderney; but +Drim is my own property, and her milk is better than any other; +at least, _I_ think so, or I would not give it to you and Lorry. +Have your sisters _pets_ of this kind at Selby?" "No, indeed, _my_ +sisters know very little of cows; and I question whether they +ever heard that it is these animals which supply us with milk. +Louisa and Adelaide live for a great part of every year in town, +and when they go down into Buckinghamshire, or to Brighton, or +elsewhere, they ride and drive, but never take any part in domestic +affairs."--"Well, then," answered Fanny, "I am sorry for it--they +lose a very great pleasure by not cultivating a love for the +country and its pursuits. The act of loving is so delightful, that +it always seems like the soul's sunshine; and I never understand +the character of the Deity so well as when I think of Him as a God +of Love." + +Though I could not refrain from smiling, I felt for the time that +Fanny's view of things was very contagious. The splendor of a May +morning, the freshness of Nature, and the concert of singing birds, +had put me into a disposition to be pleased, and the simplicity of +this dear little girl had all the stimulating effect of novelty on +my senses. + +At this moment, turning round a wooded knoll which we had been +skirting while thus engaged in a sort of conversation so unlike +what I had ever been accustomed to, a group of three donkies +appeared in view. "Here they come," exclaimed Fanny; and, darting +with the fleetness of a greyhound, she flew to meet her sisters, +who were attended by a peasant-boy, carrying a basket before +him. Nothing could be more picturesque than the scene, and it +was much heightened by the approach of these rustic equestrians. +While I was moving towards them, a fine pointer passed me by at +full speed, and a tap on my shoulder announced Frederick, who came +running across the grass to join the party. A few moments brought +us together, and, to my amazement, the brother and sisters met with +as much demonstration of gladness at sight of each other as Louisa, +Adelaide, and I could have mustered after a year's separation. +The effect was pleasant; and, if _sincere_, this affection which +the people here discover towards each other has something very +_comfortable_ in it; but it is only calculated for this sort of +place, and, like hospitality, naturally flies into these recesses +of the earth, where the objects are scarce upon which one's +practice can be exercised. Politeness is necessary to a _certain_ +degree in the world, and even _that_ may be overdone; but beyond +this how little of the heart does one see brought into play, and +indeed on a great theatre the thing would be impracticable, if it +were not such a bore as to render an attempt to love every one that +a man meets as absurd as it is impossible. But I digress.--Large +coarse straw hats shaded my pretty cousins from the sun, which +shone brightly. The eldest has a peculiar expression, made up +of the intellectual and pensive, which is singularly agreeable, +though her features are not regular enough for what requires no +periphrasis to describe, but is at once called beauty. Charlotte +is very pleasing also; her countenance is less strongly marked +than Emily's by reflection, but it is quick as lightning--and full +of sensibility; while Fanny's face exhibits a mixture of all the +varied characteristics of both her sisters', or may perhaps be more +properly denominated a mirror, in which every movement of _their_ +minds that makes it way to the surface, is shadowed with fidelity. + +All were in a hurry to get home lest my aunt should be kept +waiting a moment; and so quick were the subsequent operations, +that Frederick has assisted the two damsels from their donkies, +the riding costume was _doffed_, as if by magic; and ere it +seemed possible to have gone through half the preliminary work of +preparation for breakfast, a bell tingled, and hastily pocketing +my sketch-book, I quitted my station near the house, where I had +lingered to make a memorandum of the spot, and was met at the door +by Fred. who stopped my entrance, saying, "Arthur, my mother fears +it may not be agreeable to you to attend family prayers; and, +as you are an invalid, I am desired to say, that you are not to +consider yourself bound to our hours, or observances; therefore, my +dear fellow, as you have of course said your own prayers, do not +think it necessary to join us; but Lewis has been asked, and as it +is pleasant to be _sure_ of religious instruction for the servants, +I came to mention the circumstance, lest you should want your +_valet_." + +Now the fact was, that though you know I _do_ say my prayers +generally, and think the practice a right one, I had not knelt down +on that morning. The stimulus of a new place, the vexation of the +preceding evening, and a sort of restless curiosity to look about +me, and make my observations while I had an opportunity of being +alone; all excited me to quit my room as fast as I could, and I did +so without a syllable of devotion: behold me, then, again caught in +the trap; and having blundered out something of being "very happy, +&c. &c." Frederick led the way, and in a small room where there was +no appearance of eatables, I found Mrs. Douglas and her daughters. + +My aunt, who is about forty, is a heavenly looking being, without +being handsome in the _common_ sense of the word. Her character of +countenance, manner, dress, is entirely and exclusively _her own_, +without conveying in any thing the idea of eccentric. Her smile is +lovely, and seems to warm into life and serenity whatever it rests +upon. + + "At length her sorrows drew a line of care + Across her brow, and sketch'd her story there. + Years of internal suffering dried the stream + That lent her youthful eye its liquid beam; + A mild composure to its glance succeeds, + The gayest look still spoke of widow's weeds." + +The exquisite lines, written by I know not whom, from which I +have made this extract, seem to have been drawn for my aunt. The +portraiture is perfect; but I must not forget that we are all +_fasting_. I was received with "welcome, _my_ Arthur," which I do +not know _why_, gave me a lump in my throat--a mixed sensation +of pain and pleasure, which I have very seldom experienced. The +servants, neatly dressed, and decorously arranged, lined the room. +Fanny placed old Lawrence's cushion, and a psalm, which was read by +Frederick, was succeeded by a prayer from his mother, pronounced +with such a thrilling pathos, that I felt it "_knock_ at my heart," +as our friend Russell said one day of an Irish melody. I admire +not only my aunt's selection, but since she _must_ have family +devotion, her judgment in limiting the time which it occupies to +so short a period. Nobody seems either tired or inattentive; but +the petition is so simple, so energetic, and so reasonable in point +of duration, that really one cannot say much against the practice, +after all: custom, too, familiarizes one in a day or two to +kneeling down among the servants, so that on the whole I have no +right to complain; and as I shall not describe our _genuflections_ +again, you may fancy me performing my matins and vespers with +monastic regularity. The Roman Catholic servants here attend as +punctually as the Protestants, and of their own free will, as +my aunt dreads hypocrisy, and therefore deprecates the idea of +_compelling_ her household to a mere lip-worship; but _her_ prayers +include all who require divine assistance, of whatever kind; and +the people seem to feel that she is truth itself. + +Well, we went to breakfast, and a very nice one it was. The soil +of this country and its humid atmosphere appear favourable to +grass, and all the dairy department is much better managed than +in England, at least as to the excellence of the milk, cream, and +butter, when brought upon the table; for I do not profess to be +acquainted, as yet, with the manipulations which they undergo. + +"My children, have you been fortunate in your ramble this morning? +What plants have you brought me?" asked Mrs. Douglas. I now +expected a first dissertation upon stamens and pistils--felt myself +starching my countenance involuntarily into a most repellent +expression, and was hastening to swallow a bit of toast that I +might turn to Frederick while the Linnæan lecture continued, when +Emily quickly, but joyously answered, "Oh, I am delighted to tell +you, that we found every thing you want except the club-moss." + +Much pleased, as well as surprised, I ventured now to hint about +the botanical books which I had glanced at, adding, "I thought +that you were all learned in botany as well as the whole circle of +sciences." A hearty laugh went round the table, and Emily replied, +"We know a few plants, and it is very amusing to go in search of +them in our mountain walks."--"And pray," I asked, "have they not +all long Latin teeth-breaking names? I dare say you know some +scientific title for club-moss." "I _do_ know another name," said +Emily, "but the English is always the easiest and pleasantest, +when one does not want to be precise." "Then, Emmy, we may set +about our recipe to-day, I think," half whispered little Fan. +Growing bold, now that I had broken the ice, I proceeded to say, +"So then you are _doctors_, too. Upon my word, it is somewhat +formidable to come into the midst of an academy in this unprepared +manner. You should all put on wigs, and write treatises; and you +should inform your friends what course is necessary to be read +before they come to examination." + +What answer I should have received to this sally, I cannot tell, +for in the moment of uttering it, the door opened, and my aunt's +dear friend, Mr. Otway, made his appearance. The vivid joy with +which he was greeted was quite unlike any thing that I had ever +seen, before my acquaintance here; but it was neither noisy nor +overwhelming, and though certainly very _unfashionable_, I could +not for the life of me help feeling how very delightful it must be +to excite so much lively emotion of a pleasurable kind by one's +presence. Mr. Otway's presence was welcomed with rapture by the +whole group, though in the expression of each _bien venu_ there +was something individually characteristic. My aunt's reception of +a person for whom she feels affection, is touchingly kind; and +while the bright glow of hospitality lights up her whole manner +and appearance, the gleam is accompanied by a sort of tender +melancholy, which would evidently conceal itself were it possible, +but which, when interpreted, seems to say, "there _was_ a time when +you would have been doubly welcome, for then I was not alone." + +Her smile brings that beautiful image in Ossian to my mind, which +you and I have admired, "It was like a sun-beam on the dark side +of a wave." Fanny's exclamation, upon Mr. Otway's entrance, was, +"Oh, dearest _Phil._ can this indeed be you?" To expound this +extraordinary salutation would have been difficult when first I +heard it; but I am now enabled to say, that this gay assembly +christened him "The Philosopher," because of his extensive +knowledge, to which all the family are in the habit of appealing +as to a great bank of deposit; and it appears, that no letter of +credit drawn upon it has ever been dishonored. _Phil._ then, is +short-hand for philosopher, and my ear is now familiar with this +playful abbreviation. + +The first effervescence over, I was presented to, and met with +a cordial shake of the hand by Mr. Otway, to whom I must now +introduce you. He is about five-and-fifty, tall, and striking in +his appearance, with a fine forehead, remarkably intelligent eyes, +and splendid teeth. His manners are easy and polished: and though +the first _coup d'[oe]il_ was a little in the Robinson Crusoe +style, yet, when he put off a large and shaggy looking cloak, laid +by a prodigious staff, like that of a watchman, which he held in +his hand, and got rid of a cap, the laps of which were folded +over his cheeks when he first came in, I perceived that he was a +remarkably well-looking man; perhaps I should say _distingué_ most +decidedly, and thereby hangs a tale, for my evil genius was at +hand, and I got into a scrape on account of him ere an hour elapsed +after his introduction; but not to anticipate, it seems that a long +illness had confined him for some time, and this was the first +visit that he had made on foot, which was the reason of his being +unusually muffled, and also of the more than common happiness +expressed at sight of him. He sat only a few minutes, but promised +to dine on the following day; and immediately after his departure +my aunt, addressing herself to me, said, "Arthur, my love, we are +a home-spun set of people here, very unlike the world to which you +are accustomed, and instead of passing our mornings in amusement, +we go to our several occupations till two o'clock, at which hour +you will always find luncheon in the breakfast-parlour, and your +cousins ready to ride or walk; but as you must not be expected to +drop all at once into our old-fashioned ways, Frederick and Emily +shall be your companions to-day, Charlotte and Fanny to-morrow. In +this manner, you will be acquainted with our walks, and introduced +to our sunny bowers. When Fred.'s next examinations are over, he +will be a free man; and in the mean time you will, I know, bear +with our stupidity."--So saying, she pressed my hand, and left the +room, followed by the younger girls. + +"Shall we walk or ride to-day?" said Emily. "We are your attendant +knights," answered Frederick, "and wait your decision." "Oh, +oh!" quoth I, "Sir Charles Grandison upon our hands:" I did not, +however, say so _aloud_; I thought it better to feel my way a +little, and only replied, "Certainly."--Emily, with perfect ease, +rejoined, that she thought we might perhaps do both, and, turning +to her brother, added, "Suppose that we take him first through the +Glen, then round the coppice to Lisfarne Wood; and after luncheon, +if Arthur is not tired, we may ride up the mountain, and shew him +the bay." Matters were arranged in a moment, and forth we sallied, +Frederick presenting one arm to his sister and the other to me. +"Pooh! what a piece of ceremony you are," said I. "How so?" eagerly +asked Emily; "Fred. is so affectionate, that he _cannot_ be formal: +his heart always serves with him in the place of etiquette, by +suggesting all that the most genuine politeness could dictate: his +attentions are not confined to strangers; but, unlike those of cold +mannerists, are bestowed upon the people whom he loves best." + +This savoured of a _sting_, and I felt my colour rising; but in +a second I found that none could have been designed; indeed, how +should it, for they knew nothing of my conduct with my sisters, and +therefore could never have intended a stab in the dark. "Plague +on these _retirements_," thought I to myself, "where there is no +standard for good manners but people's own crude notions of what +is right and wrong! This ponderous machinery of morals, brought to +bear upon every trifle, is as difficult to be at ease with, as the +heavy cross-stitch, long-backed chairs of antiquity which are just +suited to such _buckram_, and it is a pity that the furniture at +Glenalta is not in _keeping_ with these straight-laced puritans who +are its inhabitants."--Thoughts are rapid, and these flew over my +mind so fleetly as not to be fashioned into any sort of utterable +form, when the gay cheerfulness of my companions dispelled the +passing cloud, and we took a delightful walk, which was enlivened +by a great deal of pleasant conversation. We talked of Killarney, +which they tell me I must visit when I cease to _bark_. We planned +some boating parties, which, by the bye, will be just the thing, +and kill two birds with one stone; for the physicians, my mother +tells me in her last letter, desire me to go upon the water, and +as I like it excessively I shall have the credit of being a very +docile patient. They tell me that there are some curious remnants +of antiquity, which I am to see; and, in short, we cut out work +enough to occupy some time, which, if I can spin out in this back +settlement of mankind, _tant mieux_. + +Well, but now for my scrape, and a _devil_ of a one I can tell you +it was. While we were jogging on as merrily as possible, Fred. +made a hop, step, and jump into the bottom of a ditch, "Emily, +what is this?" as he snapped at something growing near the bottom. +I do believe, answered she, that it is a leaf of the parnassia; +but to make _sure_, we will keep it for dear Phil. This unlucky +Phil. was my stumbling block. "By the bye," I said, "he is a very +fine looking man of his age," and totally forgetting where I was, +Old Nick put it into my head to add, "pray, is he one of aunt's +aspirants?" If I had fired a pistol at Emily, she could not have +been more amazed. For a second she stood motionless, and then +burst into tears. I begged a thousand pardons, and asked how I had +offended, while Frederick, exactly as if he had been her lover, +pressed her hand with the most affectionate solicitude, and leading +his sister towards the bank, we were all seated by a sort of tacit +consent in a moment. A silence while you could reckon ten, ensued, +and I felt foolish enough, as well as vexed, at such a _contre +tems_ in the midst of our good humour. Again I mentally cursed +botanists, philosophers, and _precieuses_, though I must own they +were not to blame upon the present occasion, when it was my own +confounded folly in forgetting what a _Ninette à la Cour_ I had to +deal with that produced this vexatious _kick up_. But while I was +biting my lip, and thinking what I should say _next_, Emily brushed +off her tears, and seizing my hand in the kindest manner, gently +implored my forgiveness, as if _she_ had been the offender, and +with as much _naïveté_ and tenderness, as if she had never read a +word of Greek or Latin in her life, said with energy, "Arthur, will +you pardon me. I know that you could never have meant the least +degree of unkindness; I was very foolish not to recollect in the +instant when you spoke, that you were only jesting; but I am so +jealous for my beloved mother, and feel such love and respect for +her valued friend, that unaccustomed to any other sentiments than +those of reverence and affection, I was quite unprepared for your +joke, which I know you will not repeat: say that you forgive me." I +felt really grateful for this good-natured address, because I had +certainly distressed her, and I therefore said very sincerely that +I was sorry for having inadvertently touched a chord that vibrated +so sensitively, adding, "but you do me only justice in believing +that nothing was further from my intentions than to wound your +feelings. I live in a world where such things are said every day +with impunity, and in fact (if you will not be angry with me for +_explaining_) I meant simply to say, that Mr. Otway and my aunt +seem well suited to each other. She is still a very attractive +woman, and he seems to feel that she is so. Now dear Emily is not +this 'the very head and front of mine offending?'" "I will try and +not again expose myself," said Emily, "by giving way to impulses +which should be under better control; it is very wrong, as well as +silly I know, to judge all things and people by the same standard; +and therefore I ought to have remembered, that the gay circle of +fashion in which you live, must of necessity be governed both in +habits and opinions by a rule as different as possible from any +that guides our simple hearts in the Kerry mountains. Now then, +here is my bargain,--I will not be angry any more, and you will +not draw conclusions, till you are better acquainted at Glenalta. +When you are, you will not be inclined to repeat the _treason_; you +will then see clearly how much you mistake the characters of the +persons who surround you: when the subject may be more interesting +than it can be while you are a mere stranger here, I will give you +a sketch of Mr. Otway's history; till then, you are to be a _calm +observer_." + +All this was said with an air that partook of playful and serious; +and while it conveyed the most cheerful pardon to me, intimated +as clearly, that the error I had committed was not a slight one. +Frederick gave an encouraging look at his sister, and merrily +turning to me, finished, by saying, "We shall all be intimate by +and by, and see each other as we really are; till then, we must +obey our little mistress." Frederick and Emily appear quite devoted +to one another. We recovered our fracas very speedily; and after +a walk through some of the most beautiful scenery I ever saw, +returned home. Just as we were leaving a coppice that joins with +the shrubbery grounds, a poor woman without shoes or stockings, and +one of the most grotesque figures I ever beheld, popped upon her +knees while we were crossing a stream; recollecting suddenly that +I was now in the island of saints, I expected to hear an _ave_ at +least from this poor disciple of St. Patrick; but with uplifted +hands, streaming eyes, and county of Kerry _whine_, she invoked the +"'blessed Virgin' to shower down her best gifts on Emily's head" +"Oh Miss, _mavourneen_, Jem is well again, and going to work; and +I made bould to come over the mountain with a bit o' fish and a +little hen for ye." "Eileen, I thank you heartily," said Emily, +"and am very glad to hear that your husband is better; but where +are your shoes and stockings?" "Honey, I left 'em at home, a fear +I'd be wearing 'em out too soon; but the flax you gave me is a'most +spun, and when I gets the price of it, I'll have another pair of +stockings, and then, plase God, I'll not come to your honor any +more bare-footed." + +How strange is this sort of thing! and yet this creature, scarcely +human, had a kind of natural grace about her which I believe to +be the offspring of enthusiasm: she was not at all abashed by my +presence, but tripped lightly along with us, as if assured that +she was welcome to Emily, who seemed her principal object, though +turning to Fred. presently, she exclaimed "Och, then Maisther +Frederick, how low my poor Jem was the last day that your honor +comed to see him! sure he called to little Tade, and tould him to +bring down the priest, and not tell me, a fear I'd be fretted; and +sure enough, Father Clancy come to us afore night fall, and said a +dail over him in gibberish like, that Jem did'nt know a word of; +why then, ever since, he's growing better every day; God bless +Father Clancy, and the physicks that I gets from Miss Emly." + +I was much amused: this was worthy a place in Miss Edgeworth's +Absentee; but we were now opening a little wicket into the +shrubbery, and Eileen stopping, told Emily that she would go +round, it not being fit for "the likes of her to come in front of +the house." Emily's answer was, "you should come this way my good +Eileen, if it was the shortest, but you shall go round by those +trees, because you will get rid of your load directly by doing so, +and I will go with you to keep Carlo from barking at you." How new +to me is all this attention to the feelings of mere peasants; and +yet my mother's family are all zealous reformists, and of course +talk much of the people. The reason no doubt of all this is to be +found in the total ignorance of the world which prevails here. We +had now come within a few paces of the verandah, when Fanny, with a +delighted face, flew up to her brother and me, "Pray do look! the +warm sunshine of this day is bringing out my _grubs_, and I shall +have butterflies before the usual time." "Aye, Fan, said Frederick, +but you will not prevail on this day's warmth to last, and your +early butterflies may be killed by frost, if you force them out +before their time." This was a new idea, and abated Fanny's joy, +who now ran off to consult her mother and Emily upon this matter of +importance. I find my obedience to your commands, will involve me +in quires of paper, so if you do not desire a stationer's bill of +large amount to be brought in to you, upon your return, you must +let me _skip_ now and then, after giving you these _peeps_ into +character. + +Imagine now a nice luncheon furnished with fine apples that have +outlived the winter, milk, honey, and sandwiches. Suppose us all +met, and an arrangement entered upon, for the mountain ride. +Charlotte, Fanny, Fred. and I, mounted, and my aunt setting out in +a little donkey cart with Emily, upon some of their inventions. We +took a charming ride, and I certainly feel this air quite a balsam +in itself. These dear little girls; think of their having prepared +Iceland moss, and made up the finest stuff you ever tasted for a +cold, which they have left in my room. At every turn I find some +mark of kind attention, and all this without fuss, or the slightest +demand upon my gratitude. + +Brother and sisters were gay and agreeable during our excursion. + +Frederick is a very fine fellow, with excellent abilities and noble +spirits; and in short, what with sunshine, soft air, fine views, +and good society, I came back to Glenalta in monstrous good humour, +notwithstanding that I was put in mind of my morning's annoyance +by the sight of _Phil._ driving up to the door in a gig just as we +reached home. The bell rang, (for I do assure you that we do things +here _secundum artem_, and dress for dinner), and we separated +after greeting Mr. Otway _en passant_. A very good repast, at which +Eileen's fish made a figure, as also some extraordinary sea-kale +which is a matter of rivalry between the houses of Glenalta and +Lisfarne, Emily trying one mode of culture and Mr. Otway another, +came to an end in due season without the least _stagnation_, such +as one so often witnesses in the country. + +Mr. Otway is decidedly a very superior man, his conversation +displays extensive information, and, what is singular enough, +though I am given to understand that Killarney is _now_ the limit +of his excursions from home, there is nothing awkward about him. +He is accounted by all, except this family, a great oddity, for he +does not mix in society with the neighbourhood, and is given to +solitary walks and musing, which people, less cultivated than he +is, do not understand. He is not an idler however, as they tell me +that his life is a continued series of active beneficence. + +When the dessert was put upon the table, and the servants gone, +we drew our chairs very snugly round a blazing billet, which the +evenings are just chilly enough still to render as comfortable as +it is a social sight; and just as we had formed a crescent about +the fire, that sly-boots, little Fan, looking over at me, with the +most innocent archness imaginable, made an appeal, for which I was +not quite prepared, and addressing herself to Mr. Otway, suddenly +asked him, "What is the meaning, dear Phil. of calling people +Blue-stockings, whose stockings are really white?" + +Mr. Otway smiled, and answered, "Blue-stockings, my Fan, is a +vulgar slang for learned ladies." + +"Why not for learned gentlemen too?" replied Fanny. + +"That is more than I can tell you, unless for the reason, that +those who have given this nickname to your sex, are of the other +themselves, and there are not many men who like ridicule, when it +is brought home." + +"Then I am to understand that the appellation Blue Stocking implies +a taunt." + +"Certainly, a learned lady is the terror of all ignorant men, and +to cover their own idleness, or incapacity, they never fail to +under-value what they do not possess, particularly if they find +knowledge and ability in those, whom, _as females_, they consider +their inferiors; but you ought to apply to your cousin, who can +give you the latest _edition_. I am an old square-toes you know, +and words change their meaning every day. Howard, _unde derivatur_, +modern Blue-stockings if you please?" + +I felt a little awkwardly, but answered, "Mr. Stillingfleet, +I believe, is the origin. At least his Blue-stockings at Mrs. +Montagu's _soirées_ are the only parentage that I have heard of for +the term, and you have defined it." + +"Well," said Fanny, "this is odd enough, for it appears that +a gentleman wore the blue-stockings, which are transferred to +the ladies; but now Phil. I want to know why learned ladies are +disliked. I always thought that people were esteemed in proportion +to their knowledge, if they made a right use of it." + +"_There_," answered Mr. Otway, "you have yourself told the whole +secret; _if they make a right use of it_. Now it has happened +that some ladies have made a _wrong_ use of their talents and +attainments, and thus have drawn reproach upon the whole sex to +which they appertain." + +"What _is_ this wrong use which which has been so heavily punished, +may I enquire," interposed Charlotte, while my aunt, Emily, and +Frederick, seemed quite delighted with this curious catechism. + +"The word _display_, includes the whole charge," said Mr. Otway. +"Some women have foolishly destroyed the ease of society by an +unseasonable introduction of their acquirements, and a pedantic +exhibition of the variety and extent of them in pompous expression, +unsuited to mixed companies, and uncalled for by the occasion." + +"But why visit the faults of a few on the whole sisterhood," +interrupted Fanny, with eagerness, "Mr. Otway?" + +"Because men are very uncandid in their judgments, and find it +easier to get rid of a vexation by annihilating the cause, than by +regulating the effects." + +Emily here begged to know "whether men were never vain-glorious, +and if they were, why they too were not nicknamed." + +"In fact," said Mr. Otway, "dunces and fools hate in men, as well +as women, whatever they cannot understand or appreciate; and the +terms Bookworm, Philosopher, Quid-nunc, &c. are frequently employed +to designate persons of superior erudition; but men are simply +avoided as _bores_; women are contemned as rivals." + +At this moment I chanced to look at Fanny, and saw a tear gliding +down her cheek. In the instant of being observed, she started +up, and throwing her affectionate arms around Mr. Otway's neck +exclaimed, "Oh never, never, will I call you Phil. again, which +is the short name with us for philosopher. Why did you not tell +me before that it was a term of derision? I love you as our dear +friend, and I thought it the most delightful thing possible, to +know so much as you do, and to be so like the Encyclopedia as you +are." + +It was not in nature to resist this sally. We all laughed heartily, +though I saw a responding tear glitter in my aunt's eye, and Mr. +Otway impressing a parental kiss on Fanny's cheek, explained in a +few words, assuring her that however he might feel undeserving of +the title which she had bestowed upon him, yet, as being her gift, +it was so valuable that he would not exchange the appellation of +_Phil._ for the most beautiful name in the English language. + +Fanny's gaiety was immediately restored, and as the conversation +hit my fancy very much, I was glad that Mr. Otway resumed it by +saying, "the reason why display of a little learning is not so +common amongst men as women, is not that they are less subject to +vanity than the latter, but because _their_ vanity is differently +directed. Learning being the business of _all_ educated men, there +is nothing on which to plume themselves in knowing a little Greek, +Latin, and mathematics. Every school-boy does the same, and it is +only pre-eminence in these studies which renders a man remarkable. +Now _real_ knowledge, extensive learning, and powerful intellect, +of the highest class, preclude boasting for two reasons, first +because I believe that it may be asserted of such minds, that they +are most sensible to the great truths of religion, which, above all +monitors with whose influence we are acquainted, inspires genuine +humility; and secondly, because it is the nature of knowledge to +render those who have made the greatest progress in its attainment +most keenly alive to the deficiencies of all human intellect. 'A +little learning is a dangerous thing,' and flippancy is ever the +offspring of superficial information." + +"Now unfortunately some of the female sex having just tasted of +the Pierian springs, have become stimulated to intoxication, +without proceeding to the sobering draught recommended by the poet. +Then, as a woman's education does not _usually_ comprehend either +classical or scientific literature, a very slight proficiency in +either will make a great shew, just as a solitary candle will do +in a dark place; but there are silly people to be found in every +country as of every age, and _both_ sexes." "Pray then," said +Emily, "would not the abuse of learning be remedied in a manner +_kind_ as well as efficient, by making knowledge fashionable, +rather than by condemning half the creation to ignorance? If girls +were _generally_ allowed to acquire more information than it is +customary to teach them, there would be an end of what you call +blue-stockings, and women would not boast of a little reading any +more than they do of drawing or music." + +"You are perfectly right, Emily," answered Mr. Otway, "the best +gifts may be abused, and the improper use of any good that +we possess can never be considered as a sound argument for +relinquishing it. Neither do men argue in this way when the +question relates to money, power, rank, or any of those advantages +which they _desire_ to achieve. Now, my own opinion is, that much +of the unhappiness of married life, as well as the insipidity of +mixed society, results from the present style of female education. +Accomplishments are ornamental, yet they are only the acanthus +that decorates the pillar, not the pillar itself. The most empty +mind, the worst regulated temper, may be the portion of a young +lady who plays and sings like a professor, who draws and models, +who can take casts, and sculpture marble. All these things, +however pretty, occupy neither the highest nor the best powers of +the human mind; and, generally speaking, they are pursuits which +_suppose_ exhibition. There are few who cultivate them on their +_own account_; and thousands arrive at excellence in several +branches of polite education without natural taste, merely to +attain certain ends, and when they are compassed, the scaffolding +is thrown aside altogether; the fingers are given a holyday, and +the unfurnished understanding stands confessed in all its vacuity. +If the vessel be not valuable from what it contains, it naturally +follows that the external fashion will determine its estimation; +and thus a short-lived grace comes to be the pearl of price; and +when the bloom of youth is past, there is no fund to support the +long evening of life. A sleepy animalized existence at _home_, or +a perpetual search after excitement abroad, succeeds. Both sexes +degenerate, society grows more vapid, and more vulgar, every day, +till reduced to its coarse elements of mere sensual attraction, +folly ends in vice, and things are worse and worse, till some +new impetus arises to change the entire system. If companionship +be the charm of social intercourse, why should not both sexes +cultivate those qualities and attainments which, besides being most +intrinsically excellent, promise durability?" + +"Arthur," said my Aunt, "you must represent _the world_, and reply +to Mr. Otway." "Well then, with deference to his opinion," said +I, "let it be remembered that there is no necessary connection +between the amiable qualities of heart which we admire in woman, +and book knowledge. On the contrary, I should say that reading is +a selfish pleasure; shut up in a library, surrounded by grammars +and lexicons, people are not likely to improve their tempers +half so much as in the endeavour to please by proficiency in +music, dancing, drawing, sculpture, and all the list of elegant +accomplishments which every mother in the fashionable world +procures with the utmost anxiety for her daughters. In fact, the +_establishment_ of a girl who has no fortune, absolutely depends +upon her power of attraction; and when you reflect that men seek +society to unbend their thoughts, and to get rid of the studies, as +well as the cares which oppress them in the several walks of busy +occupation, whether in the field, or the closet, the senate, or the +court, I cannot help feeling that matters are very happily adjusted +in the division of labour, which the general sense of mankind has +adopted, and that women have no business whatsoever with any thing +but the _agrémens_ of life, and should leave to us the whole toil +of reading and thinking." + +"Well I am sure," said Fanny, "the motive is so kind that the +arrangement _ought_ to be a good one. What do you think, Mamma?" +"My love," answered her Mother, "I shall lie by and be a listener. +The argument is in very good hands, and I shall keep my opinion in +reserve, for a _single combat_ with Arthur, when he is inclined 'to +fight the battle o'er again.'" + +"We will take Emily's judgment upon this question," said Mr. Otway: +"Emily, what think _you_ of the gallantry which Fanny conceives +to be deserving of such praise?" "Indeed," ingenuously answered +Emily, "a kind motive, I should say with Fan, is so sweet, that +it inclines one to find fault with great moderation; but, however +amiable the desire to save our sex all trouble, I must own that I +do not at all admire the expedient, nor think that it seems to be a +judicious one. Reading is a great pleasure to me, and if books were +denied me, I should feel a void in my life which I do not believe +it would be easy to fill; besides, the day is so long, if one rises +early that I do not see why there should not be time for many +things as well as music and drawing." + +"Come, come," said Mr. Otway, "it is not generous to profit by the +simplicity of our panegyrists. If the motive for denying, or, at +least, _grudging_ to women the advantages of a sound and a literary +education, be analyzed, I fear that it will turn out but little +creditable to our sex, and the proof that it is so, may rest on +the circumstance that the cleverest and really best informed men +are those who encourage female ambition to soar above the common +standard. _These_ men delight in superior talents, and cultivation +wherever they find them. They are not afraid of rivalry, and their +minds are too large to take pleasure in any supremacy which is +produced by exclusion. The lazy, and the tyrannical, would fence +in their privileges, and not permit to women a participation in +what they choose to call their inherent rights; the former to save +themselves the trouble of acquiring knowledge, and the latter +because they would depress and enslave the sex to which they +would allot no higher calling than that of administering to their +amusement? Is not this a _true bill_?" I could not deny that there +was some force in the statement, but urged the _general_ voice as +being considered the best criterion of what is good in itself, and +then advanced the necessity of making some difference between two +sets of beings destined to such dissimilar offices. "Men are born +to action. They live in public, they preside in the councils of +nations; they provide for the families that look up to them for +protection; they labour in the field with their hands, and in the +closet with their brains. When the toil of life is suspended, they +desire relaxation, and to be gratified by the charms of beauty, +grace, sweet music, and good manners." + +"And these are all compatible with much higher and more dignified +powers, and purposes," rejoined my antagonist. "Some writer, +whose name I forget, has said, 'tell me your amusements, and I'll +tell you what you are.' There is a great deal of wisdom in the +idea, and it holds good in forming an estimate both of nations +and individuals. The love of gain, the dread of poverty, desire +of fame; in short, a thousand motives may, and do, constrain men +to engage in pursuits which make the _business_ of life. A set +of shoemakers, or a privy council, merely _as such_, are brought +to a level with each other, the one party as tradesmen, the +other as ministers, and the only difference that we perceive in +contemplating the _body_, in either case, resides in the superior +or inferior skill of the workman or the statesman, compared with +his fellows; but when the low occupation of the one, or the high +employment of the other, is brought to its close, and the _man_ +retires from his labours to unbend in the enjoyment of the social +hour, it is _then_ that we find of what materials he is made." + +"We will suppose first of the humble artizan, that one takes the +fruit of his toil to the public-house, where it is spent in company +with the idle and the vicious; that from thence he proceeds to the +pugilistic ring, and gambles away the remainder of his earnings, +while his mind is brutalized by the nature of the sport, and his +wife and children are left to starve. _Here_ you have no hesitation +in condemning such an appropriation of time and money; nor do I +believe that you would find any greater difficulty in bestowing +your praise upon the industrious father who, gathering his children +round the evening fire, can participate with the goodly partner +of his cares in the task of rearing a young family to virtuous +principles and prudent habits as his best happiness. Trust me, my +young friend, that in the higher classes of society we may trace +as much variety of character as in the humbler walks; and vice is +both as vulgar, and unholy, when varnished over by fashion, as it +is in those situations that present its deformity to view unveiled +by the gloss of rank and fortune. Why should recreation be found +only in the inanity of sloth, or the stimulus of dissipation? Is +such recreation worthy of a rational creature? I do not mean to +say that music and merriment are not very agreeable, but are these +less pleasing because they are not the _sole_ resources? Here are +my dear little nurses, whose kindness during a long and painful +illness I shall never forget. Do you think that I dreaded poison in +my cup, because Emily can translate Lucian, and Charlotte is not +perplexed by a quotation from Virgil?" + +"Pray, pray, dear Phil." exclaimed Fanny, "say nothing about Greek +and Latin, lest Arthur, adopting the language of fashion, should +call the peaceable inhabitants of Glenalta, Blue-stockings." +"Indeed but I will," quoth Phil. "and, as I design to enlist Howard +as the champion of his cousins, I think it fair to tell him all +that he will have to defend." + +Here was a pretty loop-hole for a civil speech, such as I did not +neglect, but declared my readiness to enter the lists, provided +that I was not to be considered a Don Quixote, prepared cap-à-pé, +to fight the battles of every distressed _Blue_, who might chance +to be attacked by an uncourteous enemy. "But, my good Sir," said +I, "since we have gone so far in this discussion, let me soberly +and seriously ask what is the _use_ of learning in a woman? Is +she handsomer, more lively, more attractive, for having her head +crammed with strange languages? If I am to be a champion, I must +begin my service by what may appear perhaps rather ungallant, +though I hope that the present company will acquit me of any design +to do otherwise than afford my _best_ service, provided that you +succeed in converting me from opinions which I have been brought up +in a belief are founded in nature and good sense." + +"My dear fellow," replied Mr. Otway, "do not profane the names +of nature and good sense by identifying the one or the other +with fashion. I would appeal to your understanding, and if that +is not convinced of error, I would leave you to the prejudices +which you have imbibed. Let us then now fairly meet each other. +You ask, will women be made more beautiful, more lively, more +attractive, by being more instructed? Perhaps I may encounter a +laugh, if I answer yes; first, I always consider intelligence as +the greatest beautifier of a face, which, if handsome, is lit up +by an additional ray in every new exercise of the mental powers; +and if ugly is at least prevented from being stupid by cultivation. +But this will not satisfy you, because I assume the very thing +that you deny; so I will ask you, have men _a right_ to consider +women as objects merely of gratification to their eyes and ears? +Are not women endowed with sense and feeling; with high powers of +intellectual energy, and immortal spirits like men? Were these +gifts, think you, conferred for nothing but to be employed in the +arts of catching butterflies? No, no-- + + 'Domestic bliss, that like a harmless dove + Can centre in a little nest, + All that desire would fly for through the world,' + +is improved by all that gives variety and interest to the social +union of two souls destined to find the principal portion of their +happiness _at home_. The merely fashionable accomplishments can +last only for a season, and that very season which least requires +their aid, for youth and sprightliness are so full of elasticity +and joy, that were music, painting, &c. banished from the world, +there is a halcyon hour in the life of all, in which their +aids would not be missed, because they are not wanted; but the +summer-fly, which gaily flits in the warmth of a meridian beam, +ought not to be our model. Life, like every four and twenty hours, +has its morning and evening, then its night. Do not start, I am +not going to give you a homily; I would only call an intelligent +mind to a quiet investigation of truth, and farther ask, when time +steals the bloom from beauty's cheek, and the song, which once +charmed the ear has died away--when the fairy fingers have lost the +ease, + + 'Which marks security to please?' + +When the nymph is changed into the matron, and the sylphid form of +eighteen is transformed into the "mother of many children," pray +what becomes of companionship which had rested its sole support +on the evanescent perfections of youth, the very nature of which +is to pass away like a morning dream? Would it not be wiser first +to consider the human species as formed for a world beyond this, +in which it is appointed 'to fret our little hour,' and to make a +vital sense of our _ultimate_ destination, the _primum mobile_ in +every scheme of existence? This is the grand, the principal, the +master-link of all earthly union, because it does not end here, but +binds the faster as terrestrial things wax nearer to a close. Upon +this broad base would not rational creatures, who are expressly +fashioned for each others' society in this world, naturally be +led to cultivate in common the greatest degree of intellectual +perfection? Do you believe that the ditinguishing, the ennobling +boon of reason is granted to _both_ sexes, to be only exercised by +a very limited number of _one_ sex, and lavished in thoughtless +waste by all the rest? Never entertain such an idea of the Creator, +who has made nothing without its end, purpose, and design. I do +not expect you to become a convert in the twinkling of an eye, but +I feel as if we should one day have you added to our ranks, a +staunch partisan of better views than those which you have learned +to advocate." + +"Before you conclude," said I, "your introductory lecture upon +_Bluism_, you must hear my creed, such as I brought it to Glenalta. +Do not suppose that I think it possible for a society to be held +together without the bond of religion. Whatever errors I might have +been inclined to fall into, had I been left to myself, I have a +friend, and that a youthful one too, who has kept such a _watch_ +upon my sayings, doings, and thinkings, as to preserve me at least +from the _grosser_ mistakes to which young men are liable who have +no Mentor to guide their course. I am thoroughly convinced that +religion is necessary in every community that aims at being well +ordered, and that women ought to be considered as peculiarly its +guardians; they are the nurses of young ideas, the first shoots of +which are directed by female solicitude, and it would never do to +have our _ladies_ turn infidels." + +"Very well," said Mr. Otway, "here are some strong admissions. +You believe in the absolute necessity of religion in a well +constituted state, and you are right; for if all the restraints +which religion superadds to those arising out of mere moral fitness +and utility, be quite inadequate to render men virtuous, _a +fortiori_, they would not be better for increased latitude to do +evil." + +"You _next_ admit that the most valuable of all things here, +because that which best secures peace on earth and happiness in +heaven, it is _peculiarly_ the province of the female part of +creation to protect with care, and distribute with zeal. Here is a +high trust--here is a mighty office, and it would naturally follow +from your acquiescence in reposing such confidence in a certain set +of people, that you must admit the propriety of rendering them fit +depositories for the sacred trust by some suitable preparation. Be +assured, my young friend, that a fashionable education will not +achieve this end. But you must not mistake me. I do not mean to +assert that there is any necromancy in learning _this_ language or +the other. I would only be understood to say that during the early +years of childhood there is time enough for much more than is +usually taught to girls from five to fifteen; and while the memory +is retentive, the curiosity fresh, and all the faculties ready for +action, it is a pity that food for the mind should not be provided +of a more substantial kind than is generally supplied. In learning +the dead, we attain the principles of living languages; we become +able to trace our own mother tongue to its source; we enlarge the +field of knowledge and of comparison; we search the Scriptures +with effect, because we are enabled to search them minutely; and +why should these advantages be denied to one half of the creation? +Woman's empire is peculiarly to be found in her _Home_. Whatever +adds dignity to her dominion, and variety to her pleasures in the +scene of them, I must ever maintain to be the best safeguard of +national virtue. Barbarism and excessive refinement are extremes +of a widely-extended series, and like all other extremes come +to meet at last. The selfishness of the former, exercises the +pre-eminence of animal strength in compelling the weaker sex to +endure the fatigue of cultivating the ground, and performing +every servile occupation, in order that the stronger may enjoy, +without interruption, the coarse and sensual gratifications which +constitute their happiness; while the equally selfish, but more +elegant sons of modern luxury, exert a tyranny not less despotic, +in reducing the female mind to that dull level best suited to +their own inglorious apathy and sloth. The matter can never rest +here. Providence has formed the sexes for each other; and the +mutual attraction is too powerful to be resisted. To regulate the +nature of this attraction is all that moral improvement can effect; +and I see with grief a mighty change in progress. Our young men +are (I speak not of all) cold, careless, rude, and covetous; our +youthful females are bred up as if for the stage, and as, with +all 'the means and appliances to boot,' the opera and the theatre +will always supply more finished specimens of singing, dancing, +and acting, than can be found elsewhere. We accordingly see that +many of our present generation of men are not ashamed of seeking +the companion of their lives, the wife of their bosoms, and the +mother of their future offspring, on the boards of Drury Lane +or Covent Garden: thus destroying whatever gives sweetness to +domestic retirement. An actress _may_ possess more worth than many +of the audience who gaze upon her through their glasses from the +surrounding boxes, but the charm of modesty can _hardly_ belong to +her who lives in perpetual exhibition; nor can the woman, whose +sole profession is the study of fictitious and, generally speaking, +unamiable characters, be expected to have much time for cultivating +her own character to the profit of an immortal soul." + +"But, Sir, you speak of the theatre. Our young women of fashion +are not players; and supposing that they were, and that we must +all select our partners in the school of Thespis, would the study +of Homer and Simonides, of Virgil and Horace, be a remedy for the +evils of which you complain?" + +"No, my dear Howard. I attach no magic to these authors. On the +contrary, there may be an overweening attachment to the ancients, +and there are still a few scholars of the old school who value +_every_ thing that comes to them in Greek or Latin cloathing, +and encumber their pages with quotations which have nothing to +recommend them beyond the mere learning which they exhibit. But, +returning to our argument, I deny your premises. You assert that +our young women of fashion are not actresses: I maintain that they +are." + +"Aye, 'all the world's a stage,' now-a-days. Nature--beautiful, +refreshing Nature--is dismissed from what is technically called +'good society.' Too many of our youth of _one_ sex are become +horse-jockies, and pugilists--idle at school, dissipated at the +University, and ignorant of most things, except what contributes +to animal ease and luxury, they issue from the academic groves +in full-fledged folly, knowing little indeed of learning, either +ancient or modern, but well skilled in sauces and French wines. +They are well read in the last edition of Dr. Kitchener, they are +connoisseurs in eating and drinking, they can break their heads +in the fancy ring, and their hearts in a rowing match. But, alas! +how comparatively small the number of those who commence the +business of life well furnished with useful knowledge, learning, +taste, discretion! with all those qualities in short which ought +to distinguish man from the inferior creation! How often are we +disappointed when we cast our eyes around, in this polished age of +the world, in quest of the materials which are to supply our future +strength in every department of the State! A youth governed by +religious principle, his head stored with science and literature, +while his heart expands to _all_ the social ties of generous +affection, is the _only_ character to whom the interests of his +fellow-men may be fearlessly consigned; because he alone feels what +they truly are: and he only who has learned himself to bow with +respect to the wisdom of experience, and conform to the discipline +of moral rule may be trusted to watch over the happiness of others. +Yet such a being as this is a _rara avis in terris_, while the +degenerate race, which I before described, crowd our streets and +highways; and hope one day, through the influence of rank, to take +their seats upon our parliamentary benches, where they will vote +away our liberties, or relax them to license, just as interest +guides, or party governs. Believe me, my young friend, 'there is +something rotten in the state of Denmark;' and in turning our eyes +towards the other sex, the eye finds nothing on which to rest with +more complacency, except amongst the few who have sense enough to +perceive and courage sufficient to resist the tide of fashionable +folly. In what is called _the world_, it would seem that there is +a _guillotine_ established, to which every intellectual energy is +fitted by lopping off every germ that buds beyond the narrow limits +assigned as the modern standard. The heart is forced to undergo a +like operation; and all the young affections, timid respect, and +blushing reserve, which would seem to be the indigenous growth of +the female mind, are destroyed with as much zeal as the gardener +employs in restraining the luxuriance of his espaliers. Dressed to +a common model, both in mind and body, you pass from one automaton +to another, in a London drawing-room, without being conscious +that you change your place unless by the variety of glare in the +colours that surround you. These _effigies_ neither see, feel, +hear, nor understand, except as machines may appear to do. Likings, +dislikings, looks, words, and actions, all are artificial; and +natural disposition is only displayed when it is too late to +regulate its movements. Marriage, like the fifth act of a play, +brings matters to a conclusion, and our young ladies drive off from +the theatre to exhibit at home the materials which _really_ compose +their characters. It may be that vanity, only changing its diet, is +still fed to repletion; but should circumstances deny what habit +and education have taught to be the only good, disappointment will +have its revenge, a hecatomb of domestic victims must expiate the +crime of all who withhold the accustomed tribute that had been paid +to the attractions of youth." + +I could not restrain a sigh. The portrait was sketched with +animation, and the features of it were familiar to me. Our _Phil._ +proceeded: + +"I do not _insist_ upon any of the acquirements which excite +such general terror. I see no specific for the evils which I +have prescribed in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chemistry, Botany, or +Mathematics. My only object is to deprecate ridicule, and to +ask for a little portion of that liberality which even descends +to _cant_ at the present day, in favour of all women of whatever +country, who are seeking mental improvement. Let us only have +an end of nick-names, which terrify the timorous; and, with the +enlightened policy which is beginning to operate in our financial +and commercial relations, let us renounce our narrow ideas of +monopoly, and open the way to a free trade of mind, unincumbered by +the taxes which retard its progress. Let us look a little higher +than Mrs. Montagu's formal _soirées_, and the quaint cerulean hosen +of Mr. Stillingfleet. + + Fortunata la calza d'azzura e d'oro + Cosi dilett' al Febo e l'Aonio coro." + +"Apollo and the Aonian choir do not seem to have made any +exclusions here. The blue and gold which are thus eulogized in +Ariosto, may be permitted to decorate the softer sex; and we have +no right to laugh them out of a costume which the gods themselves +proclaimed as the livery in common of all their votaries. But you +have been a patient listener to my inaugural lecture, and it +is time to give you a writ of ease. You must breakfast with me +to-morrow, and we shall find plenty of matter for more chat upon +the world and its ways." + +"Oh dear Phil.," exclaimed Fanny, "how delightful it will be, if +Arthur, under your tuition, ceases to be woman-hater." + +A burst of merriment at my expense, was the consequence. When I +protested that nothing could possibly be farther from my character, +and that I had rather the credit of being a _lady's_ man; her reply +was, "well it may be so, but if you wish to continue so vile a +system as Phil. has been describing, you would sacrifice one half +of the species to indulge the whims of the other." + +Our little party now broke up; and after a very short interval we +found ourselves re-assembled in the drawing-room. It was agreed +upon that Mr. Otway's late illness rendered it imprudent for him +to risk the effects of evening air; and the whole family who +seemed actuated by one principle in renouncing _self_, immediately +declared their intention to amuse their guest and relinquish the +afternoon's ramble. We passed the evening, I cannot tell you how +pleasantly. My aunt is a charming person, and I cry _peccavi_. +Though her appearance is singularly striking, and the expression of +her face quite heavenly, dignity is the natural character of both. +Gentle as a lamb, there is no weakness about her. The mother shines +pre-eminently in all her conduct, and after one hour's observation +of her manners towards Mr. Otway, I felt as ready to contradict +my own suspicion which had wounded Emily's feelings as she could +possibly be herself. + +You and I have often argued the point of second marriages, of which +I was always the advocate; more, I confess because we see them +every day in the first circles, than from thinking much upon the +subject one way or the other; but though I hardly as yet know why, +it would grieve me, were my aunt to marry again. + +We had music, chess, and conversation, which never flagged, but +I cannot detail any more of this day's history. Phil. staid to +prayers, in which he joined with the appearance of genuine piety; +and I retired to my room, shall I own it, in a state of mind very +new, and by no means disagreeable. I felt excited without delirium, +such as succeeds the whirl of dissipation in town. My mind seemed +full, my heart glowed, and a sort of _reality_ appeared connected +with every thing around me at Glenalta, quite unlike what I have +ever experienced before. Do you know that I was inclined two +or three times this evening to turn hermit, and live in Kerry. +However, the fit will not last. The arrival of a stranger is always +met with something like a flourish of trumpets, which quickly +subsides, to say nothing of old Oliphant's return, which will tie a +log about our necks in a day or two. + +As you _will_ have exact accounts of all that we say, as well as +do, I find that I must resume my narrative in another letter. This +has swelled to an unconscionable bulk. Good night. In my next +you may expect a description of _C[oe]lebs_ and his breakfast +at Lisfarne, whither I must go alone as the cousinhood seemed +determined on giving a welcome to old Squaretoes, the tutor, _en +masse_. How primitive! Vale. + + Ever your affectionate friend, + ARTHUR HOWARD. + + + + +LETTER VI. + +THE SAME TO THE SAME. + + + My dear Falkland, + + "Early to bed and early to rise, + Is the way to be healthy and wealthy and wise." + +If this be true, as the old spelling books have it, and as I saw +confirmed to day, by the authority of a village schoolmaster, who +had a large class operating upon the above sapient apophthegm, +which served as a copy in the school, and which I have adopted +for the heading of my letter instead of an extract from some "old +play," I may come out at last a goodly example of rosy cheeks, full +pockets, and well-stored pericranium, for here I am living a life +worthy of Hygeia herself. I was up at six o'clock this morning, and +according to an arrangement with Emily, had an hour's walk with her +before I set out for Lisfarne. When we were retiring last night, +I heard her whisper to Frederick that she meant to visit "Susan" +in the morning, and on inquiry, I found that the said Susan is a +poor woman residing in the mountain, for whom some present had been +prepared. Now, it occurred to me that before I saw Mr. Otway at +his own house, and particularly as I was to encounter him _alone_, +I should like to hear the sketch of his history, which Emily had +promised me at a future day, so following her to the foot of the +stairs, I told her how entirely I repented my error, and requested +her perfect forgiveness, proposing that she should seal my pardon +by allowing me to be her mountain beau; and moreover, that she +should come to our morning's walk prepared to gratify my curiosity. +My petition was granted; a brilliant sun-rise invited us to perform +our mutual engagement, and we had not made much way in the rugged +ascent towards Susan Lambert's wild abode, followed by Paddy, the +running footman upon such occasions, who trotted after us with a +large basket, well stuffed with I knew not what, when I reminded +Emily of her task, and she gave me the narrative, which I shall try +to convey as briefly as I can of Phil's Life and Character. + +"Mr. Otway," said Emily, "was the dear friend of my father, and so +devotedly were they attached to each other, that even at school +they were always called Pylades and Orestes. At the University +they lived together; and the same day saw them both embark in the +same profession. For the character of that loved parent who was +taken from us, before his children were of an age to appreciate +his various excellences, his splendid talents, exquisite taste, +and uncommon attainments, I must refer you to his friend, who, it +is probable will one day describe your uncle, and tell you that he +was indeed 'a man whose like we ne'er shall look upon again.' I +could not hope to do justice to the portrait, and will therefore +not attempt to draw his resemblance. My father and mother, who +seemed to have been peculiarly formed for each other, met in early +life, and became mutually attached, as one might naturally suppose +that two such gifted beings would be. Pecuniary circumstances alone +prevented their union; but while their happiness was retarded, +their affection was tried in the furnace, and came out purified. +Mr. Otway was the sole guardian of their secret, and the only +support of their long deferred hopes. After years of devoted +constancy, they were rewarded at last by such domestic felicity +as I have heard from Mr. Otway falls to the lot of very few on +earth, and was too perfect for continuance in a world designed by +its Great Creator to serve only as a vestibule to more abiding +mansions. The friends were separated by the tide of events, +but never ceased to correspond. Once, and I believe but once, +imagining that he had found a resemblance of my mother, Mr. Otway's +affections were engaged, and he resigned himself to the fascination +of such an attachment as only minds of lofty pitch are capable of +feeling at once noble, disinterested, and devoted. The lady whom he +loved was rich, while, he at _that_ time, was a younger brother, +and but slenderly provided for. The dread of being suspected of +mercenary motives, sealed his lips; and a man of fortune making his +appearance, the object of his thoughts proved how little worthy she +was of such a being, by marrying this more opulent suitor after a +very short acquaintance. So dreadful was the shock which our dear +friend's sensitive nature sustained upon this unexpected event, +that his life nearly fell a sacrifice to the conflicts which he +endured. My father and mother were now his staff and solace in the +hour of trial; and their tender solicitude, aided by time, restored +to comparative peace that generous spirit which had nearly sunk +under the pressure of disappointment. He travelled, and ere the +expiration of many years, was recalled to England, by the death of +his elder brother, which event was followed at no great distance +of time by that of Mr. Stanhope, the husband of her who had so +cruelly trifled with his happiness. Mrs. Stanhope was the mother +of an only child, and the noble character of our friend overcoming +every selfish retrospect, cast off the memory of past wrongs, and +he stepped forward to offer the aid of his best services to the +widow and the orphan, without, however, I believe, even for a +moment, entertaining the remotest idea of renewing his suit. His +lot had been cast; he had retired from what is called the world, +and though so far from becoming a misanthrope that all his fine +qualities appeared to expand when he obtained the means of making +others happy; yet he never seemed to calculate upon any change +in his own situation. Though delicacy and feeling prevented him +from ever uttering a harsh sentiment, his friends were of opinion +that he had arrived at a full conviction of having misplaced his +affections in early life; and that conviction once attained, he +never sought to hazard a new experiment. + +But the care of young Stanhope became a favourite object, and no +assistance which the most efficient friendship could bestow was +withheld from the boy's mother. Lisfarne was part of the property +which devolved to this invaluable neighbour of ours by his +brother's bequest; and the retired beauty of the scenery determined +him to make this his asylum. His next object was to induce the +beloved companions of youth, who had shared the gladness of his +brightest, and dispelled the clouds of his darkest days, to come +and live in his immediate vicinity. He purchased Glenalta for my +father, and by his good taste and activity, transformed its rude +wilds into the little paradise which you see. Here resided the +happiest family which, I believe, ever existed; but I cannot talk +of home, I must proceed with the story which I promised you:--Mr. +Otway received a letter from a Solicitor in London, to say that +the interests of his young ward (not that he was _legally_ so) +required his immediate attendance in town. It was to him a most +disagreeable undertaking. A recluse through long habit, and devoted +to the society of Glenalta; active in the discharge of such +multiplied duties at Lisfarne, as could ill spare his vigilant eye +and beneficent heart, it was great pain to set out upon a journey +without understanding its object, and plunge anew into scenes which +he had abjured in idea for ever. But dear Phil. only hesitates till +he has satisfied himself concerning what is right to be done, and +there is no farther pause--he proceeds to execution. To London he +went, and never shall I forget how much we longed for his return; +and what blazing fires of heath _telegraphed_ his approach upon our +neighbouring hills. On reaching town, he only waited to refresh +himself before he set forward to the Solicitor's, from whom his +summons had issued, and the mystery was soon unravelled. Mrs. +Stanhope had married a young fortune-hunter, and was endeavouring +to prevail upon her son, then a child of fourteen, to make a +settlement on his pennyless stepfather. Relying on the influence of +her former attractions, she had prepared a _scene_, and desiring +her Attorney carefully to abstain from giving Mr. Otway the least +intimation of her new tie, she burst upon him in the moment of +his entrance at Mr. Scriven's house, dressed in fashionable +attire, which had succeeded in all the gay colouring of a London +milliner's shop, to the garb of sorrow in which he had seen her +arrayed in _one_ personal interview after her husband's death. The +only time of their meeting had been upon that occasion, when he +begged permission to consider himself as guardian to her child, +thus proving that, though he had ceased to _love_, he still felt +the kindest and most sacred interest in her fate. Disgusted now +beyond the power of controlling his feelings, he put a speedy +termination to a conference, the manner, as well as the matter +of which had excited his utmost indignation; and assuring her +that if any undue advantage was taken by her influence over the +minor, a suit should be immediately commenced against her and her +husband, he took a hasty leave. Frightened by these menaces, the +lady retired, and soon announced her departure to the Continent, +where, about two years ago, she died of a broken heart. Mr. Otway's +business completed, he quickly returned to his favourite retreat, +and loved to wander alone along the beach which surrounds a part of +his demesne. My dear father once caught him upon a rocky promontory +with pencil and paper in his hand. The question of 'what is that? +Has Otway secrets with _me_?' was answered by 'it is a worthless +scrap; take it, but Henry touch not that chord again--it jars upon +my ear, and spoils all harmony.' I will now read you the lines +which my father obtained by this surprise. It is the only poetry +which even mamma has ever seen of her friend's writing.--Here +Emily read to me the following stanzas:-- + + + _On first seeing Stella in a coloured dress after her second + marriage._ + + "Stella! thy beauty rested on the shade + Of sorrow's lonely night, like that fair flower,[A] + Queen of the dark, whose tender glories fade + In the gay radiance of a noon-tide hour. + + "That flower supreme in loveliness--and pure + As the pale Cynthian beam thro' which unveiled + It blooms--as if unwilling to endure + The gaze by which such beauties are assailed. + + "And in the solitude of Nature's sleep, + Unfolds such treasures to the midnight gloom, + As gem the vault of Heaven in silence deep + When widowed wanderer seeks the mouldering tomb. + + "Yes! like the velvet-soft, and snowy star, + Wrapped in thy sable garb, it erst was thine, + With unassuming lustre, spreading far, + In mild and chastened majesty to shine. + + "Each stranger footstep that approached the fane, + Eager to view, yet fearful to intrude; + Seemed to partake the dread of giving pain, + By glance unhallowed, or by finger rude. + + "And has Aurora chased the sable cloud, + And, even jealous of a twilight grey, + Dispelled with sudden touch that mourning shroud, + And with her saffron robe unfurled the day? + + "Alas! the graceful Cactus now no more, + Queen of the dark, asserts her silver reign, + Her empire nought on earth can e'er restore, + With other faded flowers she strews the plain." + +[Footnote A: The Cactus Grandiflora, or Night-blowing Cereus.] + +"These lines," continued Emily, "first taught my parents the nature +and extent of those feelings which had outlived the blights of +early hope. They appear to prove that, however shipwrecked had +been his own happiness, Mr. Otway had respected a perfect freedom +of choice, and, though Mr. Stanhope differed widely from him, +he had tutored his unselfish soul to consider this rival as the +successful candidate in an election, the honourable fairness of +which he had no right to question. It would seem that, in the +depth of his heart, Mrs. Stanhope's pardon had been sealed, and +when the death of her husband released her from her first vows, +a romantic mixture of affection, which borrowed a reflected glow +from the memory of brighter days, and that high and delicate +respect of which the most refined and exalted minds alone are +capable, spread round the consecrated image a mantle of fond +protective kindness, akin perhaps to love, as pity is said to be, +but so beautifully tempered, that it would never have passed the +sacred boundary of friendship pure as angels might have breathed. +The unseen bonds which had silently preserved connection between +our friend and a woman whom I can never believe to have been at any +time deserving such attachment as he bestowed, was rudely severed +by Mrs. Stanhope's late conduct; and, for some time, the impression +which such levity as was discovered in her second ill-assorted +marriage made upon a mind almost morbidly sensitive, threatened to +impair the benevolence of a character formed to shed on all around +an atmosphere of happiness; but a strong sense of religion, which +is the pole-star of his every action, gained its second victory; +and time gave him back, once more unshorn of his beams, to be the +life and animation of that little society who enjoy the blessing of +his presence. I must hurry you through the remaining part of my +_memoir_, not only because we are arriving at Susan's cabin, but +also because it is so interwoven with the sorrows of Glenalta, that +I fear to trust myself with a theme too fresh in recollection to +bear the light; suffice it to say, that Heaven has given us such a +friend in Mr. Otway, as no measure of gratitude can ever repay." + +Emily paused, and I expressed my warm interest in her narrative, +and thankfulness for the eloquent sketch which she had thrown off; +but as my evil genius never even _dozes_ in the county of Kerry, +what should I unfortunately add, but "Phil. indeed is a treasure, +and I rejoice for you all in such a tower of strength as his +friendship affords to my aunt and her family. Frederick too is, I +dare say, his object, and will inherit his possessions." + +Emily blushed scarlet; her eyes were instantly suffused with +tears, and she seemed ready to choke; but, recovering herself in +an instant, with a little effort she said, "Arthur, I _will_ not +attribute any thing of this sort to motives unworthy of you; I am +determined to set down to the mode of your own education whatever +may appear like want of feeling. You are mistaken in your surmises; +but, while it pleases God to continue to us the happiness which we +now enjoy, let us not embitter life by dreadful anticipations." + +We reached the hut to which we were bound, and I had no time for +reply: I could only remark, in my own mind, on the difficulty of +accommodating the ways of the world to the peculiarities of these +simple folks; yet, at the same time, no doubt it is a pleasanter +sensation to be "_Alcibiade ou le Moi_," rather than cherished for +the sake of one's money.--On entering the cabin, alias cottage, we +found a boy of about twelve years old nursing a weeping infant, +and vainly endeavouring with one hand to scrape together a few +expiring embers, while a poor woman, apparently in the extremity +of weakness, lay in a corner, upon a miserable bed. "Susan, how do +you do?" was answered faintly by, "very ill, dear miss." "Where is +Nancy?" "Gone to the fair to buy a bit of flannel for the child, +and her father is gone with her to sell our _slip_ of a pig." + +"Arthur," said Emily, throwing off shawl and bonnet in an instant, +"here is work to be done, and we must not be idle. You have taken +Frederick's place this morning, and will kindly, I am sure, perform +his duty: fly and bring me a good bundle of dry heath, or any +thing else that you can find of which we can make a fire. Paddy, +bring me a pitcher of water directly; and you, Tommy, give me +your little sister, and settle the turf in a moment." So saying, +she took the child, and soon set the poor thing at rest with some +milk, which the basket contained, while I, glad to make the _amende +honorable_ by my alacrity, went off as if quicksilver were in my +heels, to rummage up whatever combustible the mountain afforded. +I was successful, and got credit for my speed. You never saw any +thing like the magic of Emily's operations: as if she had been +a peasant born, she broke up the sticks which I had gathered, +and, blowing with her breath, for the cabin was unfurnished with +bellows, she had a blazing fire in five minutes. Then, with a +neatness and dexterity which would have done honor to a Welch +inn, she washed an old sauce-pan, and put some meal into it to +make gruel; hushed the baby to sleep, and, after laying it by the +poor mother, and giving the latter a little weak wine and water, +she desired Paddy to remain and stir the gruel till her return; +then, taking my arm, hurried down the hill, and crossing a field +which we had not come through before, tripped lightly up to a +half-ruined gate, which was fastened by a twig to an old post, and +disengaging this rustic band, lifted the frame, and we were in the +adjoining space before I perceived that my fair cousin, to avoid +interrupting our conversation, had performed the office of pioneer, +which, according to all the laws of chivalry, should have fallen +to my portion. I was going to apologize, when Emily pointed to a +path, and turning into another herself, bid me fly, or I should be +late at Lisfarne. We shook hands, and separated; and as I walked +on alone, I could not help moralizing on the novelties which daily +present themselves to my view. Lighting a fire, boiling gruel, +sweeping up a cabin-hearth, and singing lullaby to a squalid infant +in a dirty dress; and all this done and executed as if custom had +rendered the whole business perfectly familiar, by a young lady of +family and education; a scholar too, well read in Greek, Latin, +Italian, French,--skilled in botany, chemistry, and I know not how +much more; in short, a _Blue_ to all intents and purposes. It is +certainly neither more nor less than an anomaly which as yet I am +unable to account for. + +The Douglas girls are totally divested of affectation. Whatever +they say or do, is said and done without the slightest reference to +_effect_ farther than this, that the best tact seems to regulate +every word and action. The desire to impart pleasure makes them +sure to please, and the dread of giving pain must, I think, render +it impossible that they should wound one's feelings. Beyond this +limit my cousins know no art. I fancy that I see a half-suppressed +smile curling on your lip, as you exclaim, _mentally_ at least, +"What a revolution! Why here is Howard talking sense like a doctor +of the _Sorbonne_!" + +I confess to some very sober thoughts as I jogged on to Lisfarne; +but as I was alone, I had nothing else to do except to muse and +moralize; however, no triumph. I enter a caveat against any manner +of rejoicing. I have not read my recantation, having a just dread +of hasty judgments, and also of old Oliphant: he is the Mordecai +sitting in my gate, and another week at Glenalta may bring out a +very different story. + +In four-and-twenty hours Kill-joy will have arrived, and then comes +Sunday, as if at one blow to crush one's spirits to annihilation. + +These were my lucubrations _en chemin faisant_, and just as I +reached the hall-door at Lisfarne, the nine-o'clock bell ushered +me in with _eclat_, though as little _hinging_ upon my _entrée_, +as the thunder and lightning which happened to synchronise with +the poor Jew's carousal over a pork steak at Genoa. I was met +at the threshold by Mr. Otway, who smiled a delightful welcome, +and, taking me by both hands, accosted me with, "My dear Howard, +I am heartily glad to see you at Lisfarne, and not the less so, +because you are _punctual_. You should have had your breakfast +at _any_ hour; but I love to see young people recollective." I +did not think it exactly _honest_ to appropriate this compliment +of the old school to myself, as I certainly never deserved it in +all my life, and therefore expressed my happiness at not having +kept him waiting; but _handed_ over to Emily the whole merit of +Cindarillaship in this my first visit at Lisfarne. + +"Emily is a charming creature," answered mine host, "but that +is nothing wonderful at Glenalta, where such a mother presides. +Howard, you have the good fortune to reckon amongst your nearest +relations, a little group whose virtues would save the universe +from destruction, were the divine vengeance to over-take a guilty +world, as in days of yore.--How do you like your aunt and cousin?" +"Extremely, were I to judge by what I have seen; but we are new to +each other, and they are very kind in excusing all the blunders +which a man wholly unused to retirement is liable to make in a +circle where a much higher standard of moral feeling prevails than +that which governs what we call 'the world.'" + +Mr. Otway looked benignly at me, saying, "Come, we must not get +into a discussion now; you deserve your breakfast, and shall not +be interrupted." And a capital breakfast we had. + +A beautiful Newfoundland dog lay at his master's feet; a fine +tortoise-shell cat purred upon the back of his arm-chair; and the +windows were presently assailed by an army of supplicants in the +shape of the finest pea-fowls that I ever saw. + +"See what it is, Arthur, to be an old batchelor! I am obliged to +keep my affections from becoming stagnant, you find, by practising +them upon all these birds and beasts which you perceive are my +companions as well as pensioners." After feeding the numerous +host, we sallied from the breakfast-parlour, and Phil. escorted me +to his study, a most comfortable apartment, and well lined with +books. He has a beautiful collection of the classics, all the best +modern works of science, and a rich assortment of history and +_Belles Lettres_. While I was glancing over this, he pointed to +a compartment in the far end of the room, desiring me to examine +its contents. "There I keep my novels, reviews, and magazines; for +you know, that 'all work and no play would make Jack a dull boy;' +and as I suppose that you do not intend to read yourself into a +consumption while you stay at Glenalta, I give you a letter of +credit on whatever amusement these shelves can supply." In this +Poets' Corner I found Scott's works, both in prose and verse; +several other modern novels of good name; and all the early poems +of Lord Byron. "I perceive," said I, "Mr. Otway, that you have +not yet completed your set of Byron's works; you have not got Don +Juan, nor--" "Nor never shall, my young friend," answered the sage +of Lisfarne. "I cannot prevent people who have money to buy and +inclination to peruse, from reading these works; but they shall +not find them in _my_ library." "Then, sir, you are, I presume, of +opinion that one cannot separate the poison from the poetry, and +avoid imbibing the one, while we enjoy the exquisite beauty of the +other." + +"No, my dear boy; these are idle notions. Wherever vice is an +ingredient in any compound so mingled as to seize upon the +passions, or delight the imagination, the draught will always be +injurious more or less. Even those minds of finer mould than we +commonly meet with, will not escape, though they hate the contact, +they cannot shun its defilement; and that which is impure, must +sully whatever it touches." "Well, I should have supposed that good +taste would protect a man of refined education. In fact, such a +man rejects whatever is coarse, and simply vicious: he reads Lord +Byron, not _because_ of his occasional deviations from religion and +morality; but in _spite_ of them he admires the splendid genius who +of all modern writers best understands, if I may so express myself, +the metaphysics of the human heart, while every man of feeling must +lament the shipwreck of such talents. The broad-cast pollution +which is necessary to season a mess for vulgar palates, _must_ +be pernicious in the highest degree; but I confess I have never +felt in the same way of those _polished_ compositions which are +only read by people of superior attainment, and who are fortified +against evil by knowledge of the world." + +"Alas, Howard, these are nice distinctions, and lead but to +delusion. Our morals are much like a taper lit at each extremity, +they are consuming at both ends. You talk of coarse messes, +seasoned to the taste of vulgar appetite: believe me, it is a +melancholy fact, that there are cooks who undertake to cater +for nicer stomachs, and who know how to insinuate their poisons +with such skill as to secure the custom of all who are not proof +against their temptation. That number, I fear, is small; and as to +the difference between vice well and ill dressed, you will find +that it is about the same with that which distinguishes Tilburina +stark mad in white satin, from her confidante stark mad in white +linen. Amongst the mal-contents of the present day, you hear the +complaint continually repeated, that there is one law for the rich, +and another for the poor: the charge is unfounded, and, generally +speaking, _known_ to be so by the men who bring it forward. It +will neither do to have two sets of laws, nor of _morals_, in any +country. The tendency of all ranks in the community is to imitate +those who are placed above them; and this aspiring inclination is +to be traced from the lowest grade in society, till having reached +the throne, you can rise no higher. The self-same rule applies to +religion. I was glad to hear you say yesterday at Glenalta that +you felt the absolute necessity of its influence in a state for +the preservation of order and virtue; and that you considered +women as the natural guardians of its altars. This is all right; +but you are egregiously mistaken if you suppose that women will, +generally speaking, take pains to nurture and cherish what is +despised by the other sex. There are a few, and very few, such +beings as your aunt, who appear to have dropped into our planet +from some happier sphere, and who adjust their principles of action +to a model of abstract perfection, with which common-place mortals +are unacquainted. Such beings only think of how to please God; but +the mass of men and women dress themselves daily in the mirror of +each other's approbation, and act reciprocally on each others' +characters. Let one sex degenerate, it matters not which, you will +find the other follow in the downward course." + +"But, my dear sir, these authors whom you decry, do not _create_ +vice, they only _exhibit_ it; and though I do not advocate the +practice, yet after all it would seem that men need not be +much worse for _reading_, than for hearing and seeing what is +exceptionable. If infidelity and immorality were only propagated +by books, your argument against such writers as Lord Byron would +be unanswerable. But allow me to say, that the Bible itself, +in the strongest terms, insists on the depravity of the human +species, and offers the most flagrant illustrations in proof of +human delinquency. The hardness of heart, and unbelief of man, +are frequently held up to view in Holy Writ; and what does a +Rochefaucauld in prose, or a Byron in verse, do more than represent +things as they _are_?" + +"If you consider the matter for a moment," replied my opponent, +"I fancy that you will be at no loss to discover some striking +differences which will sufficiently answer your question. The +evil tendency of such writers as Rochefaucauld, and all the class +of satirists, who represent man as a debased and hypocritical +animal, does not proceed from the truth of the picture, but from +the manner of the painter. The scriptures indulge us in no 'lying +vanities;' they speak of the human race as born in sin and the +children of wrath; and Conscience, when we attend to her voice, +confirms the humiliating charge, with uncompromising fidelity. But +while the Bible, and those who preach its doctrines, point out the +disease, they likewise present the antidote. If they proclaim the +deformity of the natural man, it is to shew how the crooked may +be made straight; if they expose his weakness, it is to impart +strength; if they display his corruption, it is but to invite him +to wash in those waters which cleanse from all impurity. But such +moralists as you support, if moralists they can be called without +absurdity, would seem intent on excusing vice. The effect of their +books is, as it were to _legalize_ iniquity, by representing it as +invincible, and to destroy all sense of shame by laying bare its +concealments. Whatever produces this result by means of a pungent +and sententious brevity, is doubly injurious; for the authority +of a maxim is thus combined with the stimulus of evil: the form +is thus rendered portable and adhesive; and truths conveyed in +an epigrammatic shape at once flattering to our sagacity in an +appeal to its accuteness, and soothing to our faults by pronouncing +them to be universal, are not likely to be viewed as subjects for +serious lamentation; and the danger is, that the generality of men +will contemplate the moral sketches with feelings similar to those +commonly inspired by a spirited cariacature; namely, a desire that +the object of ridicule may continue to exist, rather than not be so +strikingly pourtrayed. As to Lord Byron, who stands pre-eminent, +like Milton's Satan, at the head of all the mischief-workers of the +present time, his poison is of another kind: slow and penetrating, +it is inhaled in the breeze, and absorbed into the circulation; its +effects are of the morbid class; it seduces, it insinuates, and, +like opium too freely used, destroys every healthful function of +the mind, and substitutes the distempered energy of an over-wrought +imagination for the wholesome exercise of reason and the sweet +charities of the heart. His beautiful poetry, and an inexhaustible +source of talents, rare as they were brilliant, operate as +cords which draw all mankind after him in bonds of submission. +Descriptions of nature or character, external to ourselves, however +happy in their delineation, interest but feebly in comparison with +what you justly call the '_metaphysics_' of sentiment. This is the +most fascinating of all possible studies; it requires no labour, +it asks no preparation; and all people, whatever their pretensions +in other respects, conceive themselves qualified for the school +of mental analysis which Byron has instituted and endowed. A +bad husband, a bad son, a bad father, has but to retire to some +'rose-leaf couch, where, nursing his dainty loves and slothful +sympathies,' he may find, in a volume of this too-attractive bard, +an apology for every sin of temper, every violation of duty; nay, +so contagious is the influence of this Byron-mania, that our young +men _cultivate_ the failings of their chief, and seem to fancy that +in becoming imitators of Childe Harold's eccentricities, they may +slide into his unrivalled genius. Selfishness and egotism are to +be found in the fallows of many a mind; but where are our youth to +learn Lord Byron's recipe for compounding them?" + +Though not convinced, I was excited, and ventured again into the +field, by asking Mr. Otway whether good does not grow out of evil? +"Surely," said I, "Truth, like a lazy corporation, would rely upon +its charter, and have nothing to do but fatten on its revenues, +were it not for opposition. + + 'Si Lyra non lyrasset, + Lutherus non Saltasset.' + +"The publication of wrong principles stirs up our slumbering +virtue; and besides, is it not useful to _see_ exactly what we +should avoid, that we may have no doubts regarding what we ought +to follow? If I had not been the advocate of Lord Byron as a poet, +I should not have had the pleasure of hearing your excellent +remarks." "No, no, young man; a specious sophistry is not sound +argument. I cannot allow you to misapply a scripture rule. Though +Providence has decreed that all things should work together for +good, it offers us no latitude to do evil that good may come of +it. _Our_ duty is defined; we must perform our part as well as we +can, and keep ourselves unspotted from the world, leaving events +in which we have no power given us of interference to the wisdom +of Him whose ways are not as our ways. We learn much better from +positive than from negative precepts: do you remember the pretty +little French song-- + + 'Jongeant à ce qu'il faut qu'on oublie, + On s'en souvient.' + +"The mind of man is easily corrupted, and clings with tenacity to +what it were better to forget. Believe me, that whatever we desire +to keep a stranger from the heart should not be familiarized to the +imagination. Vice is so alluring, that all the penalties appended +to its indulgence by the laws of God and man, are found unequal to +its suppression; but if the charms of wit and humour be employed +to palliate its criminality, and trifle with its punishment, we +may anticipate the conclusion, and expect to see the day when its +progress will be unresisted. Do not fancy that there is any class +of men exempt from the danger of infection. The stately quarto, +like a whited sepulchre, may hide its contents under a splendid +covering, but death and destruction are its inmates: rank and +wealth confer no privilege, and afford no amulet to preserve from +the contamination of immorality, alike fatal in its effects to high +and low--rich and poor; but though I would guard you from giving +yourself up to such a pilot through Parnassus as Lord Byron, I love +poetry too well myself to withhold its enjoyment from my young +friends. I am an old bachelor, but I hope that you will not find +me a severe ascetic; all things in their season--buds in spring, +blossoms in summer, and the fruit to crown our autumn board. +Youth is the natural period in which Hope and Fancy delight to +weave their golden tissues, and life is too changeful a scene to +make it necessary that we should voluntarily abridge its harmless +gratifications. We must not, however, sit here all day, while +such a brilliant sun is inviting us to walk; I have a great deal +to shew you, and we shall have many opportunities, I hope, for +conversation." + +We were soon in the fields. After seeing a great deal of well-kept +and tastefully disposed pleasure-ground immediately contiguous +to the house, excellent kitchen garden, and admirable farm-yard, +stables, &c. we visited an inclosure, called here the _paddock_, +where were at least a dozen old horses, which were turned to graze +as superannuated pensioners. "When any of these my old and faithful +servants," said Phil., "can enjoy life no longer, I have him +despatched by a friendly bullet." "But, sir, you might get money +for these; they do not seem by any means past their labour." "Not +_quite_, perhaps, but they have worked diligently, and shall now +have a holyday while they live." From the paddock we proceeded to a +line of neat cottages, furnished each with a strip of garden at the +back, and ornamented in front by a little rustic paling, thickened +into a fence impervious to pigs and dogs, by privet, sweet brier, +and roses. "Here are some of your tenants' houses, Mr. Otway, I +suppose." "Why not exactly tenants in the _usual_ sense: these are +poor people, who, like my old horses, have seen their best days in +my service, and it is fair that _they_ too should rest from their +labours." + +Showers of blessings were shed from these humble dwellings as +we passed along, which were repaid by kind greetings from their +benefactor. With one poor soul who sat in an arm-chair made of +straw at her door, and who was blind, the good Phil. shook hands, +and said aloud, "Mr. Howard, this is Kate Sullivan, the Queen of +_Pastime Row_, which is the name given by your cousin Fanny to +this line of houses." Old Kate appeared to feel as much delighted +by this distinguishing compliment, as an autocrat of the proudest +empire could be in seeing all the nations of the earth paying +homage to his supremacy. + +"God bless Miss Fanny, and all the misses of the Glynn," cried old +_Cathleen_; "they are the Lord's own children; and glory, honour, +and praise be to his holy name; he will make a wide gap for 'em +whenever they are going into heaven; and _Maaster_ Arthur, my +heart (for 'tis I that very well has a right to know that you're +he, and nobody else), if his honour would'nt be after telling you +the _maining_ of Miss Fanny's _concait_, why, sir, 'tis, that she's +a pleasant, funny craiture in herself, and she have a _double aim_ +in _wording_ the houses; for _pastime_ they say is all as one as +games, and sport-like; and it _mains_ too, that (God be praised for +all things) _we_ are going down the hill, as I may say, and past +our time for being any good-for." + +I charmed this old soul as much by laughing heartily, and entering +with spirit into Fanny's humour, as if I had presented her with +fifty pounds. She called an aged man from the next door to hobble +out and join in the merriment, which I dare say ran before it +stopped, like an electric stream through every conductor of the +whole series. As we walked on, "I perceive," said I, "that her +majesty of _pastime_, is a Protestant, by her assurance that my +cousins are all travelling the high road to heaven." "You are +mistaken my dear fellow,--Kate has an _ave_ for every bead in her +_paddreen_, which is the Hibernian version of Corona, or Coronach; +and blind as she is, is conveyed by one of my paddock horses +annually on the eve of St. John, to a holy well, not far distant +from Lisfarne. This little journey is all the work that the queen +and her cattle are able to accomplish; and the same beast, that +'roan barbary' which came up to welcome us at the gate, has drawn +Kate and her truckle for so many years, that were True-penny to +die, I believe that blind as is his mistress, she would find out +that she had lost him, and be uneasy till the priest was sent for, +to _shrive_ and anoint her, in the full persuasion that _her_ hour +was also come." + +"Well, you really do surprise me, but to confess the truth, you +deal in nothing but miracles in this county of Kerry. In less +than a week I have seen some strange things, which had any one +presumed, ere I beheld them, to say were existing realities, I +should have laughed as the king of Pegu is said to have done when +he heard of nations being governed without a monarch. I have seen +_Blue-stockings_ without pedantry, refinement that has never +been learned in the world of fashion, religion free from cant, +retirement unaccompanied by _ennui_; and now, as my list goes on +increasing like the story of the house that Jack built, here is the +Roman Catholic creed divested of bigotry; in the shape of an old +woman too, who fully expects, though a Papist herself, to meet a +Protestant family in the skies." + +"Aye, my boy, and I hope that you will soon cease to wonder at +any of these things. The poor people of this island are brim-full +of intelligence and feeling; qualities which are of _adjective_ +character, and increase the measure of good or bad exactly as they +happen to be associated. Were our peasantry fairly dealt with, the +tables would speedily be turned, and instead of that cold-hearted +sarcasm which would seem to be 'the badge and sufferance of all +their kind,' you would see their accusers glad to steal away, and +hide their diminished heads." + +"But, sir, this is peculiarly the age of reason, and you will soon +be able to bring your assertion to the proof. All the world is mad +now upon the subject of education, and I suppose the light of +modern liberality, which scorns the narrow principle of a churlish +exclusion, has with the eagle eye of truth, borne down and pierced +the shades of prejudice that may have hung upon your sea-girt Isle. +Have you not schools at Lisfarne, and Glenalta? and if you will let +me ask one question allied to the last, _may_ I venture to enquire +why you, whom I should imagine of all men, the last to countenance +ignorance and superstition, should abet them both by sending old +Kate upon her pilgrimage of folly, instead of endeavouring to +open her mind to the sun of knowledge?" Otway smiled, and taking +me by the hand, jocosely said, "why, Arthur, thou art fit for a +senator; we must have you in the House of Commons; you are an +orator:" then, resuming his usual expression of features, "you +will despise me perhaps," added he, "if I tell you that I am not +bitten with the fashionable school mania to the extent which you +deem requisite to constitute a _liberal_. I have two schools,--one +of them, and by far the most numerously attended, is for works of +industry exclusively. To the other I only admit such children +as by a previous discipline in moral conduct, and regularity +of demeanor, earn the reward of being taught to read. To this +promotion there are two conditions annexed, which form a _sine qua +non_ of admission. The first is, that the scriptures without note +or comment, should be read daily, the master selecting, according +to my instruction, such parts as are best adapted to the age and +capacity of his pupils; the second, that each child should bring +a penny per week, to create a fund for winter clothing, books, or +whatever occasion may require. In this way I endeavour to prevent +the abuse of letters, by preparing the soil for their introduction. +Respect for learning is increased, when it costs something to +obtain it; and I find a test of sincerity is established to a +certain degree by this small pecuniary condition, as people never +pay for what they do not really desire to possess. Though the money +thus collected returns whence it came, it goes back in another +form. Like the dew, it rises in imperceptible vapour, and falls in +palpable, and refreshing showers. It requires a slight degree of +self-denial, _even_ to allot a penny per week in this manner; and +there is a feeling of independence connected with every benefit +which exercises individual frugality in its acquisition, while +gratitude is still kept alive towards the fostering hands which +deal out the fund so husbanded for general good. Then again, by not +offering gratuitous teaching, I prevent many from coming, who would +not turn their learning to good account, while I may always provide +for an exception to my rule in supplying a worthy object who is too +poor to _qualify_, with means of contributing the appointed mite." + +"Then, sir, I conclude that you think education may be spread too +widely." + +"Certainly; in _this_ country we cannot interfere with the +religion of the _Mass_. If I could plant a Bible in every cottage, +I would teach all men, women, and children to read it; but the +accomplishment of reading considered, without reference to +religious instruction, is about as necessary and suitable to a poor +labouring man, as a gold snuff box would be; and it is to me quite +astonishing, that so many sober minds should give into the opposite +absurdity which prevails at present, with a _rage_ equal to that in +the medical world for white mustard seed. We never think of silk +gowns or fine cloth for the poor; we do not dream of serving up +venison and turtle for them at a charity dinner; and, when sick, we +do not order them the South of France, or prescribe hock, ice, and +all the expensive delicacies become necessary to the luxury of our +opulent higher classes. All things should _be in keeping_. A man +who works for a shilling a day, eats his potatoes, and lies down +to be refreshed by sleep for the morrow's labour, has no need of +literature. It will neither make him happier nor better, unless you +could secure the _use_ of his acquirement in increased knowledge of +the word of God. Our Irish Priests will not permit this. I do not +mean to be hard upon them; they are a needy class, usually taken +from the lowest conditions of life, and depending for subsistence +on the measure of their influence with the people. To keep the +minds of their flocks in absolute subjugation to their authority, +is essential to their very existence; and they are fearfully aware, +that free access to the Bible would quickly destroy their power, by +undermining its foundation." + +"At least," said I, "though the men cannot leave their spades, why +not teach the women? _They_ could instruct the children, and the +next generation would reap the profit." + +"Pooh, my dear Arthur, you are a young theorist, and float with +the fashionable tide. Whatever be the situation of one sex must +be shared by the other. A pair of diamond earrings would be about +as appropriate an appendage to the head of poor Susan, whom you +visited this morning, as the History of England, or a Treatise +on Political Economy would be in her hands. The thing is not +wanted--it is out of place. The sordid cares of life leave little +time for bodily rest or mental repose; and unless, as I said +before, you can be sure of planting the one thing needful, every +moment which could be stolen from household toil, and devoted to +books, would be employed on the trash which is placed through the +licentious _liberality_ of the press, within the grasp of all +who desire to quaff at the feculent stream. Music is a pleasing +resource, drawing is another, but you do not conceive these to be +requisite for the well-being of our cottagers. How are reading, +writing, arithmetic, and geometry, more allied to the happiness +of an agricultural labourer than the former? Remember _always_ +that my argument only applies when the Bible is excluded or +made subservient to the base purposes of secular advancement by +hypocrites, who employ it as a stepping-stone to the favour of +their superiors. Physicians do not read law, lawyers do not read +physic, nor either of them military tactics--and why? Because they +do not want a species of knowledge out of their department. The +same rule may be generally applied. A poor cottager has nothing +to do with letters, unless he be made better and happier by +acquaintance with them; and should his attention be directed to the +tirades of Messrs. Shiel and O'Connell, to the demoralizing details +of practical vice with which our newspapers unfortunately abound; +to the ethics of Mr. Cobbett or the religion of Mr. Carlile, +instead of to the Sacred Volume, I think that you must agree with +me in doubting the growth of virtue and contentment as the result +of such studies." + +I felt shaken, I must own, but replied, "The tide of public opinion +is so forcible, that we are often drawn along with it before we +are aware how far it will lead us. I confess that I have joined +a hue and cry in favour of universal education, without thinking +much about the matter. Experience, undoubtedly, must confirm or +contradict the utility of its unlimited extension, and I shall be +happy to hear your farther sentiments upon the subject, if you are +not tired of my questions." + +"Indeed, my dear Howard, you shall ever find me ready and willing +to discuss this and every other topic upon which I am capable of +offering an opinion; but we must not pass the day of your first +visit to Lisfarne, _at school_. We must have a little recreation +this morning, or I should despair of your coming again to see old +C[oe]lebs in his cell. I want to take you a walk along the sea +shore, and, as the day is fine, I am going, with your permission, +to send one of my young _footpads_ over to Glenalta, to say that +you will dine here; and should Oliphant arrive, as I think he +probably will by this evening's coach, you will not regret being +absent at the meeting, as you are a stranger to the good man." + +The name of Oliphant caused a sudden revulsion, and produced a +complete _bouleversement_ in all my pleasurable sensations. A +stripling mountaineer was despatched, who flew like an arrow +across the fields with Mr. Otway's message, and behold us arm in +arm skirting the wood, and, ere long, approaching a bold headland +which stood beautifully out into the bay. As we jogged on together, +I felt growing more and more at ease with mine host, and at last +ventured to give a vent to my _Oliphantphobia_, by saying, "How +I dread this tiresome piece of parchment divinity that we are +expecting! Adieu now to the cheerfulness of Glenalta. This old +bookworm is, I suppose, my aunt's domestic sense-carrier, and will +disapprove of every thing but black letter lore in the mornings, +and snuffling canticles for our evening diversion." + +"I think," said Phil. "that having found yourself deceived in so +many preconceptions respecting Glenalta, you ought not to condemn +poor Domine without benefit of clergy. Suspend your judgment. If +you do not like him, you will differ widely from your family, but +let him have fair play; I will not bespeak your favour, nor stand +sponsor to your taste." + +We walked on, stopped now and then to look at the views, and, at +length turning into a zig-zag path, arrived by a short circuit at +a little spot of exquisite beauty. It was an arch-way rather than +cavern in the rock, extending inwards no farther than to form a +bower of stone, if you will admit such a description. Lined with +ivy, which actually grows like a tissue fitted to the irregular +surface, and almost buried in arbutus, it seemed as if the very +Genius of Contemplation had selected this natural alcove for her +favourite haunt. I stood wonder-struck by the scene, innumerable +sea-birds wheeling round us, and uttering their plaintive wailings +to the wind. Rocks, ocean, solitude wherever the eye could reach, +while the sun-beams dancing on the calm surface of the "green one," +seemed to say, "you shall not indulge melancholy here." + +Mr. Otway appeared much pleased with my silent rapture, and, after +a little pause, took me to a seat covered with the same luxuriant +drapery which hung upon the rocky walls, and which, without any +apparent assistance from art, formed a bench entirely round the +cave. + +When we were seated, Mr. Otway, with a sigh which seemed to break +from his heart, told me that this rude temple, hewn by nature from +the wild mass of stone under the shelter of which we were now +conversing, was sacred to my uncle. + +"Here have I sat for hours with Henry Douglas, the friend, the +companion of my youth; and listened with unwearied delight to +the flow of mind which poured its exhaustless treasure from his +lips; sometimes expanding its stream to the amplitude of ocean, +then narrowing its pellucid waves within confines of unrivalled +fertility; and again, (if you will allow me to pursue the image,) +still farther contracting its limits to dissport occasionally amid +the enchantments of rock and bower, scattering its spray in bright +fantastic sparkles all around. You are to consider an introduction +to this hallowed spot, which I have consecrated to his memory, as +a distinguishing mark of the regard with which I wish to treat his +nephew, and an earnest of that friendship, which if you desire to +cultivate, I shall be happy to bestow on one so nearly allied to +the man who, of all others, I most loved upon earth." There was a +solemn tenderness in his manner which thrilled me; and I thanked +him heartily, expressing as well as I could, how gratefully I felt +inclined to profit by his kindness, adding, "I do not believe that +I ever saw my uncle Henry: if I did, it must have been in early +childhood, for I have no remembrance of him, but have often heard +of him as a person rarely gifted."--"Yes,--had you ever seen him, +he could never have been forgotten! there was an illumination in +his very countenance which irresistibly seized upon the attention. +The play of intelligence upon his features was like the summer +lightning, 'as bright and harmless too;' and, in him were combined +'the wisdom of the serpent, with the innocence of the dove.' My +dear departed Douglas possessed the most brilliant talents. Imagine +these rising majestically from a solid plinth of boldest structure +in religion and morals, while Fancy in her most tasteful mood +had wreathed the light acanthus round his brow, and you may form +some idea of the man who, in our youthful days, was always called +the 'Corinthian pillar' of that little band in whose society he +passed his hours of recreation. He was at once the most profound +reasoner, the acutest critic, the soundest arbiter, and the +kindest friend. The peculiar sensitiveness of his character never +impaired its strength; and a remarkable accuracy of observation +with which heaven had endowed him, acting in concert with an +uncompromising integrity, imparted the influence of truth itself, +to the decisions of his judgment. He saw whatever subject was +presented to his understanding, in all its different bearings, with +quickness bordering on intuition; and was enabled by the variety +of his knowledge, to enter into the minutest details, without +diminishing the force of outline in any question that offered +itself for discussion. As might be easily supposed, this assemblage +of qualities, at once the most solid and attractive that I ever +knew, was little comprehended by the generality of mankind. That +noble independence which disdains the tricking arts of popularity, +and _dares_ to walk alone, was miscalled pride. The elegant +retirement of a mind replete with resources, and too refined to +consider as society what was not congenial companionship, was, +with equal departure from just discrimination, styled misanthropy, +while sensibility, which with magic touch can raise aërial hosts +of imagery; and straying over the sacred expanse of time gone by, +and yet to come, sighs to the memory of the past, or o'er the +uncertainty of the future: this was _selfishness_, according to +vulgar interpretation. But vice and folly are compelled to pay the +reluctant homage of an involuntary respect at the shrine of virtue, +and collective excellence is always sure to receive its tribute, +however incapable the mass of mankind may prove to appreciate the +individual beauties of a character which they do not understand. +_Such_ tribute was paid in large proportion to my friend; and while +kindred merit sought his acquaintance with enthusiasm, the _little +world_ were forced to gaze at him with reverence, and look up with +veneration. He is gone! and I never visit this spot, associated +peculiarly with his image, unaccompanied by the recollection of +that epitaph at the Leasowes, the only beautiful testimony of +surviving affection which I remember to have seen, and which seems +as if written for Douglas, and for him alone. + + Heu quanto minus est + Cum reliquis versari, + Quàm tui meminisse!" + +Mr. Otway paused, and I felt deeply affected by the impressive +manner in which these eloquent lines were repeated. After a short +silence, I told him how greatly I felt indebted for the animated +sketch which he had just given me of a relation whom I had never +till then heard so particularly described. "At Glenalta," said I, +"there is no allusion ever made to my uncle, and I think, that I +have already discovered, even at this distance of time from his +death, that even the name of Henry cannot be pronounced without +causing an inward convulsion of feeling in my aunt. At first I +thought it impossible, but on reading a paragraph to her in the +newspaper yesterday, I perceived a recurrence of such an expression +in her countenance, as determined me to avoid producing it again, +at least by a repetition of the same sound which gave rise to her +present agitation." + +"This, my young friend," answered the admirable Otway, "is true +to nature. In those horrible and overwhelming moments of recent +disseverment, when the grave has just closed upon all that lived +in our fondest affections,--when the affrighted spirit glances +round upon the desert wilderness, and the tremendous solitude +is only interrupted by images of despair,--then, _names_ arrest +not the attention. The throbbing heart is wrapped in present +anguish, and the dull ear is dead to sounds; even the shade of the +beloved might float upon the mourner's vision, and not surprise; +but when the first agony of bereavement has settled into the +waking consciousness of our loss, when the astonishment of death +has subsided, when the phantoms of an amazed and distempered +imagination no longer haunt the brain and people our dreams, then +it is that the lonely heart sits in silent abandonment, and even +'the willow that waves in the wind,' terrifies like a ghost of +other times; associations rise, names startle, and in proportion +as distance from the event diminishes the natural _right_ to +sympathy which great misfortunes claim in the first moments of +their visitation, the delicate mind shrinks within itself fearful +of repulse, and would hide its feelings even from the eye of day, +lest it might seem to solicit a participation in those thoughts, +which are too sacred to be shared. Caroline Douglas is not to be +judged of by common-place criteria. When she and the partner of +her affections took up their abode at Glenalta, they presented a +picture of human felicity of which while 'memory holds her seat,' +I shall never lose the most lively impression. Young, and united +by the most perfect attachment, grounded upon an intimate and +mutual acquaintance with disposition, character, sentiments, and +opinions, the highest eulogium which it was possible to pass on +either, might be comprised in one short sentence; they were formed +for each other. Never did I behold two people knit together in +bonds of love so tender, and friendship so rational. Every thought +appeared to be held in common; and when they were conversing, it +seemed as if the lips of one only gave utterance to that which in +the same instant had started into life within the breast of the +other. So perfect was the harmony of their souls, that every idea +which arose in either mind, was caught by the other at a glance, +improved and beautified ere it was reflected back again. In short, +it was impossible that any one whose lot was not already cast, +should enjoy the privilege of their intimacy, without becoming +enamoured of a state capable of producing such celestial happiness +as they were permitted to taste; while in proportion as the mind +was disposed to offer a tribute of _abstract_ homage at the altar +of hymen, the dread of risking individual experiment would +as naturally arise, lest mistaking an exception for the rule, +disappointment should ensue as the fruit of imitation. But there +are very few who marry upon the principles which governed their +union; and to expect similar results from discordant motives, is to +look for grapes on thorns, and figs on thistles. My friends were +mutually attracted by esteem, as well as affection. They did not +join their destinies upon the ground of external vanity, or the +sordid views of worldly aggrandisement. Their's was not a marriage +of two estates; they knew what to desire: they were aware of what +they wanted, and were contented with what they possessed. How often +have I heard them talk of riches and poverty, in this place where +you and I are now sitting! how often heard them agree that a larger +share of fortune's favour might render them less dependent perhaps, +upon each other for happiness, and consequently, diminish the sum +of it; thus would they render privation a subject for gratitude, +through the love that they bore to each other." + +"What a picture of earthly bliss," said I, "have you drawn, and +what a separation was that of two beings so united!" + +"Aye, it was indeed a picture worth going any distance to gaze +upon! It was a lesson never to be forgotten. Minds like those +which I have been attempting to describe, possess the art of +harmonizing every thing with which they come in contact in unison +with themselves. True refinement inheres _within_, and no more +derives its character from outward trappings, than heaven's gift +of symmetry owes its fair proportions to the fringes with which +fashion encumbers its beauty. In a cottage where luxury never +visited, inborn elegance fixed her abode. A favorite author of +mine says, that if death were considered stripped of the dreadful +paraphernalia which generally attends its mournful presence, half +its horrors would be annihilated. Of poverty, we may say the same. +Vulgar people bring the machinery of life in all its ugliness +and indelicacy before you. It is not whether your tables are of +mahogany or deal; your dishes of china or delft which distinguishes +_refinement_ from its opposite. It is the soul that presides at +the banquet. All this was so instinctively understood, by these +pattern specimens of human nature, that dignity and ease, polish +and simplicity, were the never-failing companions of their humble +home. It is a theme which makes me forgetful of time. We will now +bend our steps towards Lisfarne." + +As we rose, he continued:-- + +"Over the misery which succeeded, I must, like Timanthes of +old, draw a veil, for it was too painful to contemplate, even +in painting. Douglas was snatched in the prime of life from the +beloved of his bosom, from whom to part was the only anguish +which religion had not yet taught him to endure with heavenly +resignation. Even this bitter draught he learned at length to drink +with Christian fortitude. No language could describe the scene of +sorrow that I witnessed afterwards; but years have rolled away; +the dear survivor lives to be a blessing still; and while with +cheerfulness she can now mingle in the innocent gaieties of her +children, her heart is set on heaven where she hopes for re-union +with the only loved of earth." + +Here ended a recital which I felt deeply interesting, partly +perhaps because the actors in this sad tale were my nearest +relations, and partly too on account of the noble characters which +it pourtrayed. Falkland, I am growing serious in this place, and +shall lose my spirits if I stay much longer here. + +As we turned from the _sacred_ promontory, Mr. Otway playfully +shook my elbow, and, by a sudden change in the modulation of his +voice, made me feel that we were not to dwell any longer on the +topic which had occupied the preceeding hour. At his request I gave +him a history of my _life and adventures_. We talked of you, and +I so completely _fired_ him by my subject, that he has taken your +address, and means immediately to write to young Stanhope who, with +his tutor, (a nephew, by the bye of Oliphant's) is to be at Pisa +about the time of your arrival there, to make your acquaintance +with all suitable activity. Mr. Otway gives a good character of his +ward, so that probably you may find him worth knowing; but if not +for his own sake, you will I am assured _fly to the meeting_ for +the sake of your romance; and consider the youth as a link in that +mysterious _concatenation_, by which your fate _or_ your fancy is +bound to Glenalta. + +Before we re-entered the house, Mr. Otway desired me to follow him +down a winding-path, at the end of which I found myself within a +nice little enclosure, sheltered by a hawthorn hedge which was +bursting into a sheet of fragrant blossoms. "This is my botanic +garden," said my companion, "and I must not forget to send Fanny +some plants which I promised her. Here, Howard, help me to take +these to the gardener, and he shall send them over to my little +pupil." + +"I will take them myself in the evening," said I, "and shall have +the benefit of appearing very learned, if you will tell me their +names. Emily has extracted a promise from me in our walk from the +mountain this morning, to put myself under her tuition while I +remain in these flowery regions, so the sooner I begin my task the +better." + +"You are very right," replied 'mine host;' "knowledge is never a +burthen; and when the news of London is once told, and the stimulus +of novelty wears off, we shall then feel the full value of such +pursuits as at once sustain social communion, exercise common +curiosity, and employ the powers of the understanding." + +"You told me this morning, Mr. Otway, that you think the mania +for education is outrunning its natural progress; and that it is +the fashion at present to overleap the barrier of prudence in a +premature and forced extension of learning. May I not urge your +zeal in favour of female cultivation as somewhat inconsistent +with this theory? Setting all jocularity aside, and banishing +_nicknames_, as you call them, from our inquiry, will you tell me +if utility be the measure by which you ascertain and determine +the question of what possible use is education, beyond the polite +limits of fashionable acquirement amongst the higher orders, and +the necessary qualifications for a housewife in the lower classes? +Can women keep schools for our youth? Can women occupy professors' +chairs? Are women called upon to write works of science? In short, +do women ever _want_ all this lore? and if not, might not their +time be more valuably employed in cultivating the delightful arts +of pleasing? I confess to you," added I, "that I have a little +scheme of trying to save Fanny, who is as yet a child, and a very +engaging one too, from going through the ordeal which her sisters +have passed. They are sweet girls, and certainly have contributed +to soften my prejudices exceedingly against learned ladies. Still, +however, it is a pity not to spare Fanny the trouble as well as the +hazard of becoming one. _You_ are so looked up to at Glenalta, that +if you are on the opposition benches I may despair of a majority, +so pray answer me seriously." + +"I will, indeed," answered Phil, "though I cannot help laughing at +your pity and intended kindness, for which, however the _motive_ +may secure your pardon, my little Fan would certainly not thank +you as gratefully as you expect. To answer your question will in +no wise perplex me. Utility is a test by which I am very well +satisfied to abide; and, if we try the matter at present in debate +by that rule, I think I shall be able to convince you, that unless +in _our_ sex education is to lower its tone, or be neglected, there +can be no doubt of the advantage which would be gained by the solid +instruction of the female world. You grant that it is to women we +ought to look for all that is most valuable in first impressions. +Boys rarely quit their homes before ten years of age, and girls, +not generally speaking, till they marry. It seems then to require +no argument to prove, that upon a mother's being fond of her home, +and satisfied with the pleasures of her domestic fire-side, must +depend an _inclination_ to give up society abroad for the good +of her family; at least you will grant, without difficulty that, +though a sense of duty may do much with the truly conscientious, +the union of duty and inclination will work double tides--so far we +must be agreed. Now the question which remains is, _how_ the love +of home may be produced, and here I should have no hesitation in +saying, by a marriage, in which the greatest portion of sympathy +can be found, and, consequently, the greatest number of common +pursuits. The amusements of young men at the present day--I mean +the majority are such as no female can join in--hunting, shooting, +horse-racing, pugilism, rowing matches, are diversions exclusively +appertaining to the mass of our male population of the gentry +class. Now we will, if you please, suppose two families:--the first +shall be composed of a Gentleman, who has been bred at one of the +great schools without making a figure in scholarship of any kind, +and who, having passed through the University in a manner equally +undistinguished, and vapoured at balls, concerts, and parties, lost +his money at play, and gone the rounds of fashionable dissipation, +marries at length to repair his fortune and improve his interest; +and a young Lady who plays on the harp and piano forte, draws a +little, dances and dresses according to the last French receipt. +This happy pair set up an establishment. If rich, they live in a +whirl of company, sometimes at home, but more frequently abroad. +When children come, they are committed to the care of servants and +the nursery governess, till a time arrives for sending the boys to +school, and exchanging the humble services of the infant teacher +for the _Ma'amoiselle_, who, more like a dancing dog than a human +being, takes charge of the girls, and becomes the guardian of +their religion, morals, and manners! Perhaps you interrupt me, ere +my conclusion be drawn, to observe that this representation only +applies to what are called the higher circles. Very well--be it +so; you shall have the advantage of a second statement upon _your_ +side before I contrast it with _my_ view of the subject. Let us +suppose a Gentleman of a thousand a year, or a Professional man, +the former may, or may not, have profited more by his school and +collegiate course than the man of fashion. The latter is obliged +to plod his weary way through law or physic for his daily bread. +These Gentlemen marry, and, according to the present modes of +female education, are not likely to be much happier than our former +Benedick; for a young Lady, now-a-days, whose fortune is no more +than a thousand pounds, learns exactly the same things which are +taught to the daughters of a Duke; and it depends upon original +genius whether her accomplishments be more or less shining than +those of her more splendid models. But music and drawing, however +well performed, can enter but a little way into the happiness of a +fire-side in the country, or that of a Barrister or Physician in +town, when compared with the comforts which _might_ result from a +different order of things. Take a peep now into a _menage_, such as +I wish were not too often to be found only in an air-built castle." + +"Imagine a well-educated man, who, not stopping at the animal +qualifications of eating, drinking, boxing, and fox-hunting, has +cultivated his mind, and acquired a taste for literature, will +not such a man be likely to enjoy more happiness at home, if he +has a companion capable of participating in his most rational +gratifications? Will a sensible man admire an amiable woman +less, because in addition to whatever personal qualities may +have endeared her to his affections, she is possessed of solidly +useful knowledge which she is capable of imparting to her +offspring? Surely not; to maintain the contrary, would be to pass +the severest censure on our sex. A woman is neither less pretty, +less elegant, less kind, nor less accomplished of _necessity_, +because she has read and loves reading; and, considering her _own_ +happiness, can there be any question respecting the advantage of +books as a source of amusement as well as usefulness, above all +the lighter acquirements above enumerated? The former pass away +with the careless gaiety of youth. The rising generation steps +close upon the heels of that which has immediately preceded it; +and as novelty is the very essence of fashion, the singing which +has been heard, and the dancing which has been seen for a few +successive winters cease to charm, and newer attractions occupy +the stage. How much would the respect of children towards their +mothers be increased, were women, generally speaking, capable of +taking part in the instruction of a family, attending to their +interests, exercising a sound judgment on their progress, and +accompanying their pursuits! Reflect upon the numbers who are left +widows to guide sons, as well as daughters, through the thorny +paths of life? Is it of no importance that a woman, whom it has +pleased God to make the solitary guardian of a youthful progeny, +should place her affections on higher objects than dress, cards, +theatres? Is it of no use that she should be able to direct the +eternal interests of her children, and watch, as a careful nurse, +over their temporal welfare? And will she be less the object of +veneration and love, because every hour of the day presents some +variety of cheerful companionship, where utility and pleasure go +hand in hand, and knowledge is delightful, because associated with +maternal tenderness? Believe not such untruths, my dear Howard, and +if you ever marry, beware of those idle butterflies who, having +skimmed through a summer's day, flutter their fading wings and are +forgotten. Such women are, indeed, but children of a larger growth, +and totally unfit for the responsibility which devolves upon them. +But do not suppose that by a sweeping clause, as false as it would +be uncharitable, I mean to include the _entire_ world of fashion +in the denunciation which I have pronounced against modern modes +and manners. There are some beautiful exceptions, which not only +have escaped contagion, but which illustrate my position by being +themselves amongst its brightest examples. It is the _general_ +evil of which I complain, and unless women will stand their _own_ +friends, and resist the tyranny of opinion which, if it proceed +much farther in its present course, bids fair to deprive them of +those faculties which Heaven has bountifully bestowed, they may +rest assured that their power will daily decline; both sexes will +degenerate, and the rude supremacy of physical strength will be at +last resorted to, to complete female subjugation, and bring the +civilized world again to a state of barbarism from which it will +slowly emerge." + +Just as I was going to reply, a servant announced Mr. Bentley. +A young man entered the room, and we were ere long summoned to +dinner. Nothing could be more agreeable than the trio. You see that +I include myself in the compliment to our good humour, ease, and +festivity. Phil. is an extraordinary man, and I am much _taken_ +with him. He is a perfect Encyclopedia, as little Fanny called him, +and literally seems to know every thing; but so absolutely is he +divested of the pomps and ceremony of literature, that it is only +by the fulness of your own mind, and the number of new ideas that +you find in your brain, that you discover the superiority of him +from whom you have derived such accession to your thoughts. We ate, +drank, and were merry. + +Bentley is a very sensible young man, and a near neigbour of Mr. +Otway's. + +I suppose that I must tell you what we talked of. Well, I am +patiently going through my task of _minute_ narrative in the +beginning; but by the time that you are acquainted with the +characters around me, through these my _masterly_ sketches you +must prepare to take your leave of such reports. I shall write +regularly, and mention whatever incidents may occur; but to hold +on in this method, of repeating every word that is uttered, would +be more than flesh and blood are equal to. Besides, should money +fall short, you may take advantage of me, and make a book out of +these my voluminous materials. Thus forestalling, for all you can +possibly tell, my intentions of giving so many sapient observations +as I have committed to paper, one day myself to the world. + +Well, but you want to know who Bentley is, and what we talked +about. As to who a young man, living in the county of Kerry in +Ireland, may be, I am not quite ready to answer though _faute +d'autres sujets_, I shall inquire more concerning him; perhaps +somewhat more determined in my design so to do, from having +remarked a scarlet blush pass over his cheek at dinner when +Charlotte's name was mentioned. + +In these back settlements there is nothing to do, but exercise the +skill of a calm observer; and I expect to be quite _au fait_ as a +critic in every thing appertaining to countenance, by the time that +I return to the world. As to conversation we had a great deal of +one sort or other. Some politics, some anecdote, some I know not +what, pleasant enough, but nothing striking. I remember only two +remarks that I shall take the trouble of exporting to Pisa. We +were speaking of Scott's Novels (for I take the liberty of calling +them his, notwithstanding all the denials which are cited to prove +the contrary[A]) and I instanced these and some other works of +fiction which are justly celebrated, and of recent publication, to +support my opinion, that the present genius of literature stands +upon a lofty pedestal in comparison with former times, adding +"what can be a stronger argument in favour of modern wisdom than +that _such_ books are the recreation of our contemporaries?" A +stranger just set down in England might naturally say, if this be +_amusement_, what are the _serious_ studies in this country? And +if, as some writer has said, "tell me your diversions, and I'll +tell you what you are," carry any weight, we may fairly claim to +high pre-eminence." + +[Footnote A: The authorship of the Novels has been avowed by Sir +Walter Scott since this letter was written.] + +"And deserve it too," answered Phil., "if we do not push the +argument too far. The present day furnishes us some admirable +samples in the department of fiction; but I question much if you +will not find, that novels, with a large portion of existing men, +and women, make the _business_, as well as the relaxation of their +reading hours. The novels of our time are like letters of marque. +They are _armés en flute_ for war or merchandize, _alias_ for +instruction or entertainment; and if people will not read any thing +more serious we must be happy that there _is_ a method of riveting +attention by cloathing good sense in the light drapery of fiction. +Thousands are led on to better things than they are promised by +a pleasant tale; and I rejoice to perceive a growing sense of +accountableness in the writers who supply the present rage for +new publications. I see a consciousness arising amongst novelists +and the editors of reviews and magazines that the morbid diseases +induced by _mental_ opium eating (if you will allow me the image) +threaten paralysis and, would inevitably lead to dissolution of all +intellectual energy, if not arrested in their progress. Several +are usefully employed in applying alterations, and endeavouring to +bring about a more healthful action of the rational powers. Let +us earnestly desire a blessing on every effort of this nature, +and give our best individual support even to story, when, like +the useful wedge, it is successful in sliding in, what would not +find its way into the hands of half mankind unaided by such an +instrument." The remark struck me as valid, and I had the grace to +say so. Led on from one topic to another, in which this excellent +man discovered so much knowledge of life as perfectly to amaze me, +I turned to young Bentley, and said, "I have often heard people +obtain credit for extraordinary acquaintance with the world, and +wherever this has been the case, such skill has been attributed to +travelling, and a widely spreading communion with various classes +of men; but it sometimes strikes me as matter of surprise to find +the acutest sense of all that is doing on the great theatre, in +a retired corner of the earth, apparently shut out from all the +bustle, vice, and folly, that pervade the world." + +Bentley replied, "I know not to whom you may apply for information +on _this_ head, more appropriately than to my good friend of +Lisfarne, who contrives to know mankind so well without going +amongst them. Let us ask him how he manages to find them out?" + +"Were it really the case," answered Phil. "that I am better +informed than my neighbours in the science which you ascribe to me; +a point which I utterly dissent from, I should be apt perhaps to +take credit for my skill as resulting from the very reason that, +according to your view, might excuse its deficiency, namely, to +those retired habits which lead me to study a few, rather than +glance my eye over a multitude. It is with men as with books. You +may skim over too great a number to read any with profit. With some +few exceptions, the characters of which mankind is made up, are +easily classified; and if you master a score of distinct specimens +from each tribe with care and accuracy, you will find the sum of +your knowledge considerably to exceed that which has been gleaned +from a larger surface, where less attention has been brought to +the task of investigation. A certain impatience of decision leads +people frequently to pronounce upon as anomalies, what a severer +scrutiny would prove to be well understood, and belonging to +accredited divisions of human character." + +"I seldom meet with a _real_ non-descript, though appearances may +puzzle me for a time, and though I have not been in a crowd for +many years, I meet in succession with individuals of all sorts, and +perhaps am enabled to form a more discriminating judgment of each +single figure as it passes before me than I could do were my mind +distracted by many objects together. The whole being made up of +parts, one may give a shrewd guess at the collective effect from +acquaintance with the separate atoms." + +"From what you say," said I, "a man ought to live _out_ of the +world, to judge rightly of those men who compose it."--"No, my +young friend, not quite so _terse_. There is no more _necessary_ +connection between knowledge of the world and retirement, than +between naval tactics and an old gentleman sitting by his fireside +in Hampshire; yet it so happened, that the present system of +breaking the line, which was of such astonishing importance to +us in the last war, was the invention of a man unconnected with +naval affairs, and who, marshalling a parcel of cherry-stones +after dinner upon his table, proved to a practical understanding +how the object could be achieved, and what a Clarke projected, was +accomplished by a Rodney." + +"_In_ the world or _out_ of the world sagacity may find materials +upon which to work, and it will depend on the acuteness of that +sagacity to arrive at eminence in the knowledge of man.--Where this +is furnished, I should believe retirement, I do not mean solitude, +to be more favorable to sound discrimination than a busy scene, +because more likely to secure against precipitancy of judgment. +On the whole, we may see, and hear, a great deal too much with +our _outward_ senses. The principal defect of the present day is +want of reflection. The provision, the apparatus for conveying +instruction to the mind is superb, but exactly in proportion to +these "tricking facilities" is the deficiency of original thinking. +When books were few, and purchased with difficulty, they were +intensely studied. The mind was forced to be in some sort its +own library. The treasures of learning were committed to memory, +and the intellect traded upon its internal resources; the capital +was frequently turned, and mental riches crowned exertion; but +the multiplication of _means_ often retards the _end_, and the +understanding is encumbered with help." + +"But pray, sir, if we gain more in expansion than we lose in depth, +is not the balance on our side? Now that the press is teeming +with instruction brought down to the level of _all_ capacities, +are we not advancing by rapid strides to a full developement of +the reasoning faculty, and approaching that happy termination of +ignorance so devoutly to be wished for?" + +"I do not agree with you, Howard. If you desire my opinion, it must +be given in the negative. I am an old-fashioned fellow, and many of +my notions are desperately heretical in these days of display. I +cannot help prefering substance to shadows, and depth to surface. +I love real improvements, not mere changes. In some instances +we _are_ improving. The exact sciences are making progress, and +so are those arts which depend upon the application of their +principles. Chemistry, mechanics, &c. advance, and there is a +disposition to reward the talent that is exhibited in forwarding +them to perfection; but I maintain that the system of school and +collegiate education for our youth requires reform. The best part +of life, as regards some of our mental powers, is frittered away +in learning badly two dead languages, to the neglect of better +things at school; and at the Universities much might be done to +effect a better order of things than prevails in any of them. Then, +with respect to the prevailing taste in literature, it is too +much devoted to _stimulus_. We have too many new books, and too +many young authors. Some expatiating in the labyrinths of moral +paradox--others in the wild regions of uncontrolled imagination; +and so on. Whatever is _new_, is devoured with avidity, and so +great is the quantity, so pulp-like the quality, of this literary +pabulum, that the digestive organs are destroyed, and the mind is +seldom exercised for itself." + +As Phil. finished the last sentence, his old servant opened the +door, and in ran Frederick, followed by the redoubtable Domine. A +general commotion ensued. Much shaking of hands, inquiries after +health, friends, and all the etceteras which are hurried over in +the first ten minutes after meeting succeeded, I was presented; +and while Mr. Otway was engaged with Oliphant, and Fred. was +interchanging civilities with Mr. Bentley, I sat examining the +object of my fearful anticipations. Imprimis, he has no wig, but +a fine expansive front with a clean bald pate. His hair "a sable +silvered," scantily _set_, but curling naturally in a _fringe_ +round the back of his head, and a countenance full of benevolence, +and sparkling with affection. + +Yes, it is a true bill. Here are more fruits of Prophecy and +Prejudice, quoth you!--I will give up _anticipating_.--It will save +me a great deal of plague in future, not to think of people till +they cross my path, and are actually before my eyes. + +Before we set out on the return to Glenalta, I was as easy as +an old shoe with Oliphant; but all his quaint practice and +methodistical habits are hanging over _in terrorem_. + +On the following day, which was Saturday, we met as usual at +breakfast, and immediately afterwards, I was called by the girls +and Frederick to come and see the treasures of which their tutor +had been the escort. On entering the Library, I saw a valuable +addition to the book-shelves; Clarke's Bible, handsomely, but +unshewily bound, for my aunt; the Flora and Pomona Londinensis for +Emily; a capital Biographical Dictionary for Charlotte; a fine +Herodotus for Fred; and Withering's Botany for Fan. Besides these +were writing-desks, drawing-books, pencils, port-folios, and a +parcel containing the Pirates, Kenilworth, Quentin Durward, and the +Inheritance, as food for the "Evening hour." In short, Domine must +have been literally built up in the _stack_ which brought him, as +tightly as poor Rose de Beverley in the dungeon wall; and to have +seen the good man _deterré_ from such a mass of matter must have +been diverting enough. + +These various objects of acquisition were all gifts of Mr. Otway, +who had made his own remarks upon the wants and wishes of his +neighbours, and written to Oliphant accordingly, to come laden +with whatever he thought most likely to gratify the family group. +It is impossible to form an idea of the advantages in _one_ respect +which people living in these outposts of mankind possess over the +civilized world. If my mother and sisters require a packet of +books, or any thing else, from town, Gibson is ordered to write, +the things come per next mail. Turner, my mother's maid, opens +the store, and the contents are spread upon tables, where perhaps +they lie for days before they are observed, and when looked at, +are either to be returned, or if retained, it is ten to one if +they produce the slightest degree of animation. Here the minds +of the little party are so alive and fresh, that one catches the +contagion; and I found myself bustling through wrapping papers and +twine with an eagerness which I certainly never experienced upon +the arrival of a similar importation at Selby. + +"We have been so long _wishing_ for these," said Emily, "that they +are quite a mine of happiness." + +"Yes," answered Charlotte, "and how magical are our dear Phil.'s +guesses, for he always discovers what one _wants_ most." "And I," +added Fanny, "am just expiring to be off to Lisfarne, with a budget +of thanks to our necromancer." + +We all dispersed after this library scene; the young people to shew +Mr. Oliphant puppies, kittens, young pheasants, and sundry other +live stock, which had either grown or been acquired during his +absence, and I, after promising to walk with my aunt in an hour +or two, filed off to my room to fold up this enormous volume. On +looking over my journal before doing so, I perceived an omission: +you desired me to tell you more of the _tastes_ of my fair friends +in dress, furniture, _etcetera_, I thought that I had given you a +_coup d'[oe]il_ which might have sufficed; but if you must have +more, learn now, and for ever after hold your peace, that you may +walk from top to bottom of this house without hitching your skirts +in any of the fopperies of a modern _boudoir_. There is no danger +of being entangled amongst a nest of spider-tables covered with +china, or of overturning a chiffoniere burthened with flower-pots. +There are no scraps of japan, nor _odds_ and _ends_ of any sort to +molest a visitor, and interrupt conversation. Glenalta is furnished +with simplicity and convenience: the general _character_, is that +of chaste uniformity, without any thing of the _drab_ of quakerism. +A few good pictures ornament the walls both of drawing-room and +parlour. Some handsome busts in bronze give a finish to the +bookcases of the library; and the hall, which is light and airy, +has a very good appearance as you enter the house. The furniture is +solid, and there is every real comfort of polished life to be found +in its place without any exhibition of finery or _nick-knackery_, +if I may coin a word for the occasion.--Altogether the best idea +I can convey of my aunt's dwelling, is by telling you what it +is _not_: it is _not_ a _shew_-house--it is _not_ a fashionable +house, neither has it the cold, raw, uninhabited look of an English +provincial residence; but it is strictly clean, bright, _easy_ +looking, and has an air of unpretending elegance. + +Now, as to dress, hang me if I know the names of any manufacture; +but I told you before, that the cousins have very pretty figures, +beautiful hair, and are always perfectly _presentable_. They do +not wear the gaudy colouring of the French school, nor are they +squeezed as if in a vice, to look like wasps, without any visible +connecting link to unite the upper and lower parts of the body. +There is a natural grace and gentility in every movement; and the +_effect_ is pleasing to the eye from the _repose_ which it meets +with, equally remote from _excitement_ on the one hand, and torpor +on the other. + +What can I tell you more particular? And had I not better say Adieu +at once, than add to this mighty mass of paper by further general +description? + + Your affectionate friend, + ARTHUR HOWARD. + + + + + LETTER VII. + + FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. + + + My dear Falkland, + +My last despatch, you will remember, was sealed just after it had +been arranged that I should accompany my aunt in a walk. At the +appointed hour I tapped at her door, to put her in mind of our +assignation; and was not sorry to have a _tête à tête_ in prospect, +thinking that I might take advantage of this opportunity to edge +in a little word of counsel, that might be of use, at _least_ in +Fanny's, though Emily and Charlotte might be beyond my reach in +effecting a change in _their_ destiny. + +My sweet aunt (for she is really quite delightful) was speedily +equipped, and we set out upon our rambles. As soon as we had +cleared the house, and were not in danger of being overheard, I +expressed my gratitude for her kindness in asking me to Glenalta; +spoke of the pleasure which I already felt in its society, and my +admiration, as well as surprise, at finding my cousins every thing +that could be wished. My aunt smiled. "Then," said she, "you had +heard, I suppose, but an unflattering account of us, and expected +to see a very _outrè_ sort of a family." "I expected," answered +I, "to find, as I _have_ found, very superior attainments; but +you know, dearest lady, the prejudice which universally subsists +against _Blue-Stockings_; and though you have succeeded so +admirably in the result of your system, and may therefore triumph, +as 'those who win may laugh,' yet you must allow the experiment +to have been a bold one." "And why so, my dear Arthur? I should +not have felt at all inclined to make bold experiments, and am not +conscious how I have done so. You must explain yourself." "Well +then, I will; and hope that I may venture to do so without running +any risk of offending you." "Certainly, I cannot be offended, +having requested you to tell me what you mean; and I, on my part, +shall not only thank you for your observations, but shall be +ready, with the most perfect candour, to satisfy you as far as I +can, respecting my conduct." + +"Dear aunt, then," said I, "the great object to which a girl's +prospects should tend from infancy to maturity is marriage; and +every prudent mother, I need not say to you, is perpetually intent +upon this termination of all her cares and anxiety. To marry a +daughter _well_ is no easy matter now-a-days, and often requires a +vast deal of address to bring about the event. Beauty, though very +captivating, will not do without money, and young men have learned +to be philosophers; they can see and admire, but, like the Baron +of Moubray, they must know how 'to love and to ride away,' unless +they would entail ruin on their posterity. Almost every man's +circumstances are dipped more or less, either by his own folly or +that of his predecessors; and most men look to a fortunate marriage +some time or other in their lives, for the purpose of paying off +charges on their property, and clearing a load of debt. Now, girls +of large fortune, may certainly take some liberties; for even +were they old, ugly, or _Blue_, thousands _will_ tell, and they +may generally command a choice amongst the other sex; but young +women, even of such personal attraction as my cousins ought 'to be +with caution bold.' I do assure you, that were you at this moment +suddenly removed to London, I would not, for any consideration +that I can name, that Emily and Charlotte were discovered to know +a syllable of Greek, Latin, botany, chemistry, or any of the arts +and sciences: it is unheard of in town, except to be laughed at, or +avoided; and as your girls have pretensions that might secure their +being courted in the best society, it would mortify any one who +loves them to witness a complete failure in their _debut_, through +a want of that circumspection which mothers, _so_ inferior to you, +know how to exercise. Dear little Fan is young and volatile; there +is more danger of her betraying herself than of her sisters' being +giddy. Much might be done still with your elder girls, who are so +reasonable and so docile, that they would probably take a hint +immediately; but it is quite a _sin_ not to snatch Fanny from +perdition, by allowing what _azure_ she has already contracted, to +fade away as quickly as possible. Elegant and accomplished, pretty +and pleasing, my cousins are formed for the world, and would shine +in it: but Greek, Latin, chemistry, _etcetera_, are like forgery, +never to be forgiven." + +Here I paused, and my aunt calmly replied, "I fear, my dear boy, +that I shall make matters worse rather than better by my answer to +your advice; but, notwithstanding, I must run the risk, and boldly +hazard the loss of your esteem, by detailing some opinions of +mine, which do not harmonize at all with your's. First, then, you +will stare at me perhaps when I tell you, that I am very far from +thinking marriage necessary to the happiness of my children, though +should I live to see them find such partners as I think worthy of +them, I should rejoice, inasmuch as, under _certain_ circumstances, +I look upon marriage as the happiest lot of life in this chequered +scene; but, Arthur, rank and fortune are only _accidents_, and +make no part of the _essence_ in my creed of such requisites as +constitute felicity in domestic union. My dear girls will not be +rich, but they will have enough to make them independent. If they +marry, I think I may venture to say, that it will not be through +worldly motives of aggrandizement; and should they remain single, +they will, I trust in the Almighty, be both useful and contented." + +I certainly _did_ stare. What! a mother, and disregard the +establishment of daughters! My aunt continued: "According to your +ideas, a woman is merely an appendage, and, I dare say, frequently +considered a very troublesome one to her fortune, the acquisition +of which seems to be, even under favourable circumstances of youth +and beauty thrown into the scale, the _principal_ object, and where +these may be wanting, the _sole_ incentive which leads a man of +fashion to permit a young lady the honour of bearing his name. +Now in a country where the blessing of freedom has never been +known, where parents possess absolute power over their children, +and masters over their slaves, I can perceive a reason for such +an order of things; but I confess myself so ignorant as not to +comprehend why liberty and affluence _here_ should be sacrificed +without any valuable consideration. It would be better to subscribe +a part of one's property to the necessities of a needy gentleman +than be obliged to give up the whole, and tie oneself to him for +ever. May I ask you how women are compensated in your scheme for +the relinquishment of independence?" "Bless me, dear aunt, the +question is so extraordinary, that really I feel at a loss to +believe that you can ask it: _compensated_?--Why, by being married; +by being promoted to a state in society of more consideration than +they previously occupied; by being provided for, established, and, +finally, as the acme of all female hope and ambition, taken out of +the never-ending defile of recruits through which a man has to make +his way at every ball, concert, or theatre in town." + +"Well," said Mrs. Douglas, "I am not a little amazed that these +_recruits_, as you call them, should be ready to place themselves +under the control of officers so little disposed to regard them +with tenderness; but, as this is a serious subject in which the +happiness of mankind at large is concerned, we will treat it +gravely. Providence has so ordered the affairs of earth, that +marriage will always be a primary object of concern with _both_ +sexes; for remember, that the idea of _wife_, involves that of +_husband_; and to supply each _aspirant_ of either sex, you must +find a disengaged individual of the other. Now if it appear that +the mass of human beings are intended by their Creator for the +state of matrimony, and that their own wishes generally coincide +with the original purpose of creation, would it not seem a +reasonable consequence that a condition which almost all men and +women anticipate, should be rendered as desirable, as suitable, as +happy, and as wise as a reflecting choice can make it?" "Surely," +said I, "and _there_ lies the difference between an improvident +silly mother, or one who is governed by a prudent knowledge of +the world, and clear views of her childrens' advantage. Women +are, you will confess, great fools when they allow their girls +to flirt with younger sons who have nothing; military men, whose +fortunes are on their backs, and all the idle host who furnish +a drawing-room and excel in a quadrille. Maternal solicitude +ought unquestionably to be directed to a good settlement, liberal +pin-money--if _possible_ a distinguished connection; and in short, +all the circumstances which constitute what every one admits to be +a _good match_. How painful must it be to read a paragraph in the +public papers announcing that on such a day Mr. Such-an-one, whom +nobody knows, was married by some clergyman whose name was never +heard of, in a parish church not to be found in any map, to Miss +Douglas of Glenalta! If I am doomed to suffer such disgrace, I +shall set out directly for Greece, or some other distant quarter to +which my countrymen do not flock in the crowds that one is certain +to meet in France and Italy, _there_ to remain till the event is +forgotten, and the unfortunate actors in it, are consigned to +well-merited oblivion. Forgive me if I am warm; I do not mean to +be disrespectful, but my energies rise in proportion to the hourly +increase of love and admiration which I feel towards relations so +near and so deserving." + +"Arthur, I am not angry," rejoined my aunt, "but I must oppose, +though I may fail to convince you; I can never desire to see my +dear girls, who have been loved, valued, and considered as rational +creatures in their own home, become a part of the _retinue_ of a +man of fashion; and therefore I neither intend to introduce them +upon a theatre where success is failure according to my notion of +things, nor attempt to infuse a new class of doctrines upon the +nature of happiness into their guiltless hearts. Let us go on in +our accustomed routine, and if there ever was a case to which we +may apply the maxim 'If ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise,' +you will admit its force upon that in question, for _so_ happy are +my dear children at Glenalta, that visionary dreams of joy seem +not to pass beyond its well-known boundary. When the mind is full +of resource, it is wonderfully independent, and suffers none of +that _ennui_ which is the disease of vacancy. From the birth of +my children to the present time, they have never heard that there +was an _effect_ to be produced by any thing they learned except +the natural consequences that grow out of virtue and occupation. +Marriage may, or may not, be their portion; should it be so, the +characters of their husbands may probably differ, as their own do, +from each other; and thus far I meet your views, that I should +be sorry to see any child of mine marry so imprudently as to +plunge into the sordid cares of life without consideration. Should +misfortune bring poverty, and the Almighty try his creatures by +affliction, how beautiful is it _then_ to behold the exertions +which the finest minds are capable of making when sustained by +religious submission, and encouraged by fond affection; but to +_place_ ourselves _willingly_ in situations which our strength may +not prove sufficient to admit of our filling conscientiously, is +to presume upon our own powers, and is therefore dangerous. You +see then, my dear boy, that as far as my opinion may have weight, +you are not to expect any accession to your worldly pride from +the Douglas family, who are very unambitious people; and, though +I trust that they will never 'disgrace you,' I fear that you must +be contented to love them for their _own_ sakes, and not for any +flattering unction to be derived through their future destiny. +No, I hardly think it likely that Emily, Charlotte, or Fanny, +will ever contribute their aid to a high-sounding paragraph in +the newspapers; but I shall indeed be disappointed if they are +satisfied with less than sense and affection, if they marry." + +"My dear aunt, you mistake me: as much sense as you like; and you +cannot imagine that I could be such a barbarian as to fancy that +any man who married one of my cousins should be so deficient in +good taste as not to love her as well as men generally love their +wives. Remember, that the happiest home of infancy must, in the +course of nature, dissolve; and then what becomes of a luckless +sisterhood of old maids, who, having suffered the spring and summer +to pass by unheeded, in vain deplore their idle improvidence, and +fret away the gloomy remnant of their days on earth in sourness and +solitude?" "A dismal picture, indeed," replied my aunt, "I must +try if I cannot draw one less dispiriting. In the first place you +acknowledge that, according to _your_ scheme, sense and affection, +though not _principals_, are useful _accessories_, and are to be +taken as make-weights into the scale of happiness. Now my idea is, +that this is to expect too much, and more than experience will +realize, unless in some instance perhaps of extraordinary exception +upon which we have no right to calculate. If you marry for rank, +you _obtain_ it, and should be satisfied with your bargain; if for +fortune, you have gained your object, and must not complain: the +contract is fair, though you receive only that for which you make +your agreement; and it is quite unjust to suppose that perfections +which you never sought, and qualities of which you never went in +search, will be added to heap up your measure." + +"The happiest home of early life must in nature's course dissolve, +you say: agreed; but, the affrighting scene of unavailing misery +which you have painted, is not the necessary consequence of such +an event. _I_ can imagine three sisters who may not have been +tempted to quit the paternal roof by meeting such congeniality of +character as they deemed essential to happiness, living together as +kindly in the decline, as in the meridian of life. I can imagine +them to look abroad without envy, and at home without disgust. +If excluded from some enjoyments which belong to another mode of +existence, they are spared also many of the evils which attach to +it, and with this advantage, that while the former are precarious, +the latter are inevitable. The brightest anticipations founded on +the most apparently stable foundation, may _possibly_ deceive, but +the physical suffering, and the anxious care which are inseparable +from the maternal relation, are penalties from which there is no +exemption. No bill of indemnity can set aside a mother's pangs; +and be assured, that were women endowed with the gift of oracular +foresight, and like the ancient Sybils capable of peeping into +the cup of futurity, very few would have courage to taste the +bitter draught which marriage too frequently mingles to allure by +promises, and poison by disappointment. The fondest affection, the +kindest support, and all the inestimable charms of sympathetic +companionship, may indeed render the conjugal union an antepast +of heaven; but such contracts of folly and avarice, as are but too +often sealed in what you call the world, represent as truly a state +of severest punishment; and between these extremes, a single lot +is far to be preferred to the compromise which matrimony in its +average of calculation _usually_ exhibits. The great purposes of +life are, however, fulfilled at the expense of individual ease, +and many a spirit learns in the school of adversity, those blessed +lessons of humility and dependence upon a Heavenly Father, that pay +with such peace 'as the world can neither give nor take away' for +the infliction of an earthly husband." + +"Well, my ears," said I, "are unaccustomed to such language. I +confess it is no less new than surprising; yet that I may know the +full extent of your deviation from modern creeds, perhaps you will +describe the sort of helpmate to whose guardianship _you_ would +entrust a daughter?" + +"Most willingly, Arthur. The peculiar temperament of each +individual stamps an impress of its own upon the mind, and, +according to the variety of taste, will be our selection of +such qualities in a friend, as harmonize with its distinctive +character. Marriage has been eloquently described as 'the queen +of friendships,' and yet the monarch fares less well than any of +her subjects; and while the choice of a companion who is only to +travel in our society for a few short miles upon the continent, is +governed by kindred feeling and pursuits, the journey which is to +end but with life, is undertaken upon the most flimsy ground of +temporary whim or expediency. Is this rational, is it consistent +conduct?" + +"Then may I ask, my dear aunt, do you conceive it really necessary +that two people must have learned the same arts, have studied +the same sciences, and read the same books; spoken in the same +languages, thought the same thoughts, and been in fact, like Helen +and Hermia, 'a double cherry seeming parted, but yet a union in +partition;' to make a reasonably happy, suitable jog-trot couple in +the holy bands of wedlock?" + +"Not entirely, though perhaps the more of such similarity the +better; but Arthur, you asked for a description, and you shall +have one. After the great leading bond of sympathy upon religion +and moral conduct, the _grain_ of character is most essential to +happiness in married life. There is a fineness of texture in some +minds which cannot endure contact with what is coarse, any more +than cambrick will bear being united to sail-cloth. The unequal +tissue will give way, and the more delicate fabric will be torn to +atoms. The mere matters of acquirement may differ without injury +to affection, an interchange may take place, which shall borrow +sweetness from its source; and even that which possessed no charms +to invite its acquisition, may become delightful, if taught by, or +studied for the sake of a being whom we love. I knew a lady whose +husband was a barrister; they adored each other, but they were +poor, and professional industry could not be dispensed with. Their +mornings were necessarily passed in the performance of separate +duties; but when the business of the day was over, and the evening +hearth burned brightly as they sat together, a doubt would arise +whether the most enchanting of all gratifications, each others' +society, was not a luxury too great for _them_. The doubt ended +in certainty, that law reading ought to supersede the charms of +conversation, and what was the result? that affection was too +powerful to be selfish, or rather _self_ was extended to a second +and a dearer object. The wife determined to convert a solitary and +painful duty, into a social delight; she insisted on joining in +her husband's study, and several of the driest and most difficult +books were read aloud to each other in succession. The experiment +answered to admiration. They were engaged _together_, and this was +enough to make them happy. What was distasteful to one, and at +first unintelligible to the other, became amusement; and in the +morning's walk, were often discussed the cases which had occupied +the previous afternoon. Memory was improved by this exercise: a +little time enabled the lady still farther to share the fatigues +of a beloved partner in noting his briefs, and assisting in other +professional cares, rewarded by the delight of knowing that her +presence was necessary to the happiness of him who formed her own. +Arthur, such is what _I_ call affection, and such is my idea of +companionship in wedded love." + +My heart glowed, and I could not speak; I gazed on my aunt: her +cheek was slightly flushed, and her eyes had acquired the deep +and clear expression which brought to my mind that exquisite +description in the Prisoner of Chillon. + + "The eye of most transparent light + That almost made the dungeon bright." + +We both paused: when, recovering from a momentry lapse of thought, +she continued: "I knew another wife whose husband was employed for +several years in various diplomatic trusts of high importance. He +was an invalid, and frequently incapaciated from taking part in +public affairs; but the faithful friend of his bosom who was a most +admirable linguist, wrote his letters in five different tongues, +and was supposed to be a native in them all. Can you match these +instances of connubial tenderness and confidence in the frigid +annals of fashion? Turn, my Arthur, from the heartless trammels, +and dare to be free." + +"Such women," said I, "as you have represented, would soon +revolutionize the world, and bring about a mighty change in the +motives that influence marriage; but instances like these occur at +intervals, just to shew us of what your sex is _capable_, and that +is all." + +"Alas, Arthur," replied my aunt, "women rarely discover objects +amongst men worthy of exciting powerful affection, and none but +slaves will bestow the semblance where the reality does not +exist. Men and women act and re-act reciprocally on each other's +characters, and though exceptions may appear, you will find it +easy in general to decide upon one sex, by the merits or demerits +of the other, allowing for those differences between them which +distinguishes each from its opposite." + +"How then," said I, "is a new order of things to be effected? _One_ +swallow does not make a summer. + +"The change would be achieved with-out any difficulty, my child, +would each individual only throw off the artificial shackles which +are imposed by opinion upon the heart and understanding. Nature +is so lovely, truth so captivating, that one would _imagine_ it no +hard matter to disengage the mind from the bondage of a factitious +yoke, and I return to their gentle empire. Yet this is all that we +are called upon to do, and that only with _ourselves_. If our early +years were passed in laying up store for futurity in practising the +affections within the circle of those whom God has given to be our +nearest and dearest ties, in cultivating intellect, and acquiring +useful knowledge, we should need no farther security against the +mistakes of after life. Religion, virtue, wisdom, and good taste, +would be our guides as well as our protectors." + +"Aunt, 'almost thou persuadest me;' but you named religion, and +before we conclude I must say a word upon that part of the subject." + +At this instant who should appear at the entrance of a moss-house, +in which my aunt and I had been seated for the last half hour, but +Oliphant, Charlotte, and Fanny? They had taken a round of the wood, +and were returning when this _contre tems_ took place. I blushed +immoderately. It was such a topic to be caught in the act of +discussing; but my confusion did not last long. + +What a blessing is _tact_! That monosyllable contains a volume. My +aunt saw, I suppose, exactly all that was passing across my mind-- + +"_Caciata del core fuge nel volto_,"--and, instantly seizing on +Charlotte's hand, she said, "My love, I want you and Fanny to run +home and send the little car to me. I am a wee bit tired; I will +keep Mr. Oliphant and Arthur here, till Paddy and poney arrive." + +Like lightning, the nymph disappeared, and, quietly turning to me +as if our dialogue had suffered no interruption, "I am so glad that +just as we wanted Mr. Oliphant, he has come to our aid," said my +aunt. "He will be quite at home in answering your last question." + +She then in a moment playfully informed Domine of our single +combat, "which," added she "was fairly fought, and rather +favourably to my side at the close, till Arthur rallying his +forces, to make a powerful stand, entrenched himself under an +authority to which, were it against me, I should implicitly submit; +but I will now place _you_ in my stead; and, as I am sure that +Arthur was _going_ to say (no _young_ ladies being present) that +female inferiority is supported by that volume, from which there is +no appeal at Glenalta, I am not without hope that you will drive my +nephew from this last fastness." + +"I accept the challenge," said Oliphant, "and thank you for the +post which you allot to me, as the laurel of victory already +circles round my brow; but I must hear my adversary state his case." + +Thus forced into a tilting match with the tutor, I laughed, +and assured him that I had never presumed upon encountering so +formidable an enemy; but as it would be a tacit confession that +my cause was weak, were I to remain silent, "I must own," said I, +"that Mrs. Douglas precisely hit upon what I was going to urge, +namely, that however modern manners, to which my aunt discovers +so little gratitude, have _raised_ women to the pedestal on which +they stand, the Bible tells a different tale; and were it even +true that female pride had got a fall through fashion's fiat, would +not such depreciation be exact conformity with holy writ?" + +"Were it so," answered the _giant_ of learning, "Mrs. Douglas +would neither lament nor contend against her fate, but the Bible +is peculiarly her sanctuary of refuge, from which, when driven to +its sacred shelter by the taunts of the world, she might proudly +exclaim, 'it was not thus, when we came from the hands of God.'" + +"No, my dear sir, man was created in God's own image; 'male and +female created he them.' Eve (the meaning of which word is life) +was formed after, and _out of_ man. She was not given to him as +property, but given 'to be with him,' as a companion, because he +would have been a cheerless, as also a useless animal without +her. The original Hebrew implies no superiority, nor inferiority. +Adam and Eve were the counterparts of each other. Eve was bone +of bone, flesh of flesh, to her husband, _both_ endowed with +immortality, _both_ invested with rule over all creatures of the +earth. The word woman is from the Hebrew _Ish_, signifying man, +which, when simply altered by two letters to _Ishau_, literally +means she-man. _Andris_ is the female form of _Aner_, man, in the +Greek; and in Arabic we have _Imrat_, she-man, from _Imree_, man. +Every man should consider woman as a part of himself; and when, +as a punishment for her disobedience, the heavy denunciation was +issued that Eve should be subject to her _husband_, it was not +required by their Maker that she should resign any part of that +understanding, any prerogative of heart or intellect, which had +originally been bestowed, when she was formed his equal in power. +Both man and woman were deprived of immortality. Death came into +the world with sin, and with _these_, woman's legal bondage to +her _husband_; but beyond this limit you cannot proceed. On the +contrary, though the brutal habits of eastern tyranny debased the +sex, to which inferior bodily strength had been from the first +communicated, yet was it exalted in the moment of depression by Him +who called it into being, and inflicted the curse. The woman was to +bruise the serpent's head. She was the first destroyer, and was +permitted to be the first in the chain of restoration, by being the +appointed medium, the _sole_ earthly parent of the Saviour. When +Abraham was entitled Father of the faithful, Sarah received like +honour, and was named their Mother; and when our blessed Lord came +upon earth, from one end to the other of his ministry, there is +not a syllable to be found derogatory of the female sex. He loved +Mary as a sister; and upon various occasions distinguished certain +women by particular expressions of affectionate approbation. There +is no authority in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation for the +opinion that you hold; and with respect to punishment inflicted by +Deity for transgression, a generous feeling would naturally suggest +the desire of lightening rather than aggravating its infliction, +especially when we reflect that the only difference between the +culprits lay in the measure of delinquency. Adam and his sons have +no cause of triumph; and I never read the story of the fall without +considering with humiliation the first proof afforded of a lowered +nature in our common progenitor, when to save himself from the +principal condemnation, he selfishly consigned his partner to the +wrath of offended divinity. When our Saviour arose from the dead, +it was to his faithful female followers that he first revealed +himself; and, as a concluding remark, permit me to observe, that +if, as we are assured unequivocally, women are equal inheritors of +the skies, it ill befits us to refuse them their rights on earth. +No, sir, depend upon it, when men cannot support themselves, except +by asserting that power which the laws have conferred upon them, +they are _hard run_, and the edifice is tottering when it requires +a buttress. The nobler animals are all _quiescent_. The lion +reposes in his strength, and knowing how much he can command, is +slow at making exhibition of his force; but "man, proud man!" + + "Dressed in a little brief authority, + Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, + As make the angels weep." + +"I remember, sir," said I, "to have seen once, in the library of a +gentleman, who, by the bye, was a most complete domestic despot, an +odd sort of a book, entitled "Rights of Women." + +"Are you acquainted with, and an approver of that work?"--"No, +young gentleman, that is a book which has long ago found its +resting-place amid dust and cobwebs. When new, it was a wretched +thing, and is now forgotten; but you found it, as the mineralogists +express themselves, _in situ_, when you discovered a stray copy on +the shelves of a tyrant. The brawlers about liberty are generally +fond of keeping it all to themselves. The French revolution, which +was before your time, set many heads distracted, and loosened +the whole frame-work of our morals; but we are sobered, and have +consigned to oblivion the grosser absurbities of that disjointed +period. + +"Women have real and substantial rights, natural as well as civil, +which no one attempts to dispute; and they are fools when they part +with them, unless to secure a greater good than they relinquish; +but marriage is the rock upon which multitudes make shipwreck, +because from the present constitution of things, that solemn act +of life is performed with less consideration than people commonly +employ in the purchase of a field. Men, after a career of folly, +begin to look about them, and think it wise to _settle_, before +time has thinned their locks and scattered silver over the flowing +honours of youth. Women sigh for what are called establishments; +and happiness slides out of a scheme in which no provision has been +made for its entertainment. Take an old man's advice, Mr. Howard, +be as deliberate in your selection as you please, and I hope that +you will not marry till you know your own mind; but when you _do_ +become a Benedick, let your Beatrice be the friend of your bosom, +the companion of your life, and a partner in all your pains, +pleasures, and pursuits." + +I was not prepared to contradict, for the truth is, that Domine +told me more in half a dozen sentences than I ever heard before. +However, not to appear as if I had suddenly lost _my speech_, I +gently hinted, "that Solomon was usually thought a wise man, upon +the authority of the Scriptures; and he declares that, in his +search after wisdom, he had never found _one_ woman to reward his +pains." + +"Truly, that is not very wonderful," said Oliphant. "When the men, +who possessed all the advantages that superior power bestowed, +made so little use of it towards the cultivation of knowledge +and virtue, that Solomon complains of not finding a man of worth +in _a thousand_, no wonder that amongst the weaker sex, who were +kept in the lowest state of slavery and degradation, he should +not discover any who, deprived of the benefit of education, and +shut out from the light of truth, had broken her bonds, and soared +above the horrible debasement to which females were condemned by +their rulers. The Christian Religion, of which that Bible that +you lately quoted as authority for the servitude of women, is the +sacred repository, is in fact the charter of female liberty; and +in proportion as the Sun of Righteousness shines with more or less +refulgence in any land, in such proportion is woman respected." + +"Pray then, Mr. Oliphant, how comes it that the sense of mankind +has always been taking a contrary course? A boy is hardly out of +his nurse's arms, before he hears of his superiority over his +sisters. When he goes to school, the first grammar that his lisping +tongue is turned to repeat, tells him that his sex is most worthy. +In the _world_, one hears women only estimated by their beauty, +or their wealth; and in families we see them nothing better than +the wrecks of a former day, little loved by their husbands, or +respected by their children." + +"_Hinc illæ lachrymæ_," answered my opponent, "in _one_ sense +the male sex is decidedly superior--I mean in strength; and were +this employed in supporting the weak, instead of oppressing them, +the female world would not be disposed to grudge men a supremacy +of which they would themselves enjoy the happy fruits. But as to +your nursery nonsense, an elder son is always told that he is as +much above his younger brothers, as his sisters; and so he is, +by the laws of primogeniture, which give him the estate. Yet I +suppose that there are few such blockheads as to believe, that +because a man happens to come into the world before his brethren, +he is therefore invested with a patent of superior intellectual +endowment. On the contrary, it often happens, that elder sons, +satisfied with the gifts of fortune, take little trouble with their +minds, and are, in point of cultivation, at the _tail_ instead +of the _head_ of their Houses. Grammar rules prove nothing. They +were made by _men_, and according to vulgar estimates of physical +force; and as _to the world_, the most convincing proof in my eyes +of its degeneracy in our day, is to be found in the impertinent +neglect of women, so frequently observable in the _soi-disant_ men +of fashion. To sum up the argument: the sexes differ from each +other, but _difference_ implies nothing of better or worse, taller +or shorter, wiser or less wise. They are _different_, and each +beautifully adapted by the eternal Creator to fulfil the purposes +for which it was designed. The man stronger, more active--made to +encounter danger, and endure fatigue. The woman more delicate, +more refined, formed to sooth by her tenderness, to watch over the +helpless, comfort the unfortunate, and be the balm of human kind. +In mental capacity Nature has dealt with impartial bounty, and the +most splendid talents are to be found in that sex, which I grieve +to add, too rarely exercise their powers. Rely upon it, that men +are not less manly for sharing their privileges, nor women less +feminine for profiting by the boon. The age of Chivalry is gone, +and it would be well to restore it. + +"Look, my dear young gentleman, around you at Glenalta. Is +Frederick less likely to attain the gold medal at his University, +or is he less ardent in pursuit of game in the fields, because he +loves his mother and sisters, and would be unwilling to enjoy any +gratification in which they were not partakers? Turn your eyes +upon the dear gentle trio of your fair cousins, and tell me are +they less pleasing, less modest, less artless, and happy, because, +with minds well stored, they can always find resources at home, +for which others are vainly seeking abroad? Are they less elegant +because they are independent, or less delicate because they neither +shriek at a wasp, nor faint at the sight of a spider?"-- + +I was going to say something, I hardly know what, when a party +appeared in sight, that at a little distance might have passed +for a group of gipsies; Paddy and the poney car, led the van. +Frederick, the three girls, Phil., and young Bentley brought up +the rear. We were together in the next moment, and in the midst +of salutations, I could not help remarking the anxiety of all +the young people about my aunt, whose expression of fatigue had +brought them back to offer aid, and satisfy themselves that she +was not ill. Frederick settled the cushions, and dispatched Paddy, +saying, that he must himself drive the little car, lest it should +go too fast. Fanny had brought a small basket, in which was a phial +of hartshorn, and a glass having been also produced, away ran +Charlotte to the stream which tumbles through this rocky glen, to +procure water,--all without _fuss_, or effort. + +Yes, there is no question of it--what Oliphant says is true enough. +These people are not at all the worse for any thing that they have +said, done, learned, or acquired. My aunt was unusually gay, to +convince her children that nothing ailed her; and we all returned +home, laughing and talking as merrily as possible. Bentley was +asked to stay and dine, which Phil. had promised also to do, and so +sped Saturday away as smoothly as if it _rolled_ on _casters_. + +In the evening we walked. I took my first lesson in botany from +Emily. We planned a trip to Killarney, for July, if my aunt makes +no objection, and finished the _revels_ with music. + +What would you think, if I tell you, that Domine took the bass in +several glees, and has a remarkably fine sonorous voice. Our guests +departed. The bell rang. Servants were assembled, and the usual +prayer was read, with no other circumstance of change, than the +substitution of Mr. Oliphant, in quality of domestic chaplain, for +my aunt. + +Just as we were about to separate, Fanny called me, and whispered, +"Don't go yet to your room. We are going to hold a conference for +a few minutes in the study, and you must assist at our council." I +accordingly lagged behind, and after Mr. Oliphant and my aunt had +severally retired, _we_ five mustered in the Library. Emily opened +the proceedings, by saying, "Arthur, my brother, sisters and I, +have set our hearts upon accomplishing a project which Frederick +and I devised in our walk this evening. It is to prevail with our +beloved mother to accompany us to Killarney. It is _many_ years +since she has been there, and I know that she will not revisit +that heavenly spot without the deepest emotion. Yet we cannot +help flattering ourselves with its being of such a nature as not +to amount to pain; and it will be counteracted by the pleasure of +beholding our rapture at seeing her make one in our excursion. +Phil. is in our secret, and _now_ so are you. We are going to +write a petition. She shall not have it to-night, because it might +agitate her; and it shall only be signed by her children, because +if such happiness as her compliance would impart, should be in +store for us, it is of that sacred character which we could not +bear to owe even to the dearest friends; and if, on the other hand, +as I am afraid may prove the case, we are asking too much, we +will not involve any one else in the pain of a refusal. Now good +night--wish us success, and meet us in the moss-house at eight in +the morning to learn our fate." + +I went to my room quite unable to speak--I was suffocating, and, +_shall_ I confess to Falkland (but proclaim it not in Gath) tears, +such as I never shed before in all my life, coursed each other down +my "innocent nose." It is too much. Unmanned at a short turn, and +by what? a set of children laying schemes to have their mother's +company in a party of pleasure! Well, I know not what is to come +next, but this place will be the ruin of me, if this is the way +in which I go on resigning my understanding. Positively I shall +be absolutely unfit for society, and look when I go back to town +precisely as if I had been spending a couple of months with Noah in +the ark, and had just stepped out on Mount Ararat. I took myself to +task; shook myself; scolded myself; chewed the cud of the last ball +at Almack's; ditto at Lady Arabella Huntley's; placed myself in the +midst of that group with whom I passed my last London evening at +Lady Murray's after the Opera; but it would not do. + +When the mind gets one of these _wrenches_, it is in vain to +attempt setting matters to rights again in a hurry. I found, after +toiling to give a new bent to my reflections, that they would +still return with elastic force to the place whence they set out; +and I therefore gave vent to them in the new course which they +had channelled for themselves. While in this mood, I could not +help thinking, that if we measure life by the exercise of our +faculties, and the warmth of our feelings, instead of by such +evidences of existence as might apply to stocks and stones as well +as to sentient beings, I have only _lived_ in your society, and +since I came to Glenalta. A mournful chill stole over my heart as +I involuntarily asked myself, "Is my mother like _this_ mother, +or are my sisters like my cousins?" These questions led me to one +still more immediately painful--"Do I resemble Frederick?" The +inquiry was accompanied by a feeling of such bitterness, that I +fear it must have been answered in the negative, to each of my +self-addressed queries. Alas! thought I, of what light materials +are we formed! tossed about by every wind, and seizing on the +contagion of every new situation! Well, one week has worked a +strange _jumble_ of my tastes and opinions, but all will be +_stratified_ in regular order, according to received notions, by a +corresponding term, when I revisit Selby or Grosvenor Square. This +consolation seemed a _quietus_, for I fell asleep, and undisturbed +by farther moralizing, rose refreshed and full of spring, in due +season to keep my engagement. + +What a vein of lovely weather! and what an influence does it exert +over our souls. The morning appeared as if determined to cheat me +into good humour with all the wearisome business of Sunday in "a +pious family" (oh that quaint expression) in the country. Nature +looked as if she had just stepped, in the luxuriance of youth and +beauty, that moment from her bath. A dew-drop glistened on every +blade of grass, and fragrance breathed around from every flower. I +set out with that invigorating sensation of hilarity which I have +always found an early walk on a fine day to produce. I believe, +that besides the animal gratification arising from sunshine, +perfumes, and the bracing quality of fresh air, we are insensibly +pleased with ourselves, when we have started from the enervating +effects of drowsy slumbers, and snatched a portion of time from +Lethe's wave. + +I was in the humour to analyze, and I think that I was more +complacent in my feelings towards _myself_ than usual. If so, it +is not hard to account for the _balminess_ of charity towards +all things else--the key-note is ever to be found within our own +breasts, and it regulates the whole strain. + +Half-musing, half-poetizing, I reached the moss-house, and was +ruminating on the sparkling stream that dashes over the rock, +amongst its tangled brush-wood, when with light feet, my nymphs and +their brother hastened round the wood, and appeared at the seat of +Congress. + +After a joyous "good morrow," they told me that "mamma" had not +been awake when they left the house to attend the Sunday School, +and therefore they had no good news to impart to me; and only came +to the place of appointment, lest I should wait and accuse them of +a failure in punctuality. + +The words "Sunday School," acted as a "killing frost" to all the +tender leaves and buds with which Fanny had wreathed my morning +walk, and looking I dare say like an icicle, I said, "And are you +_really_ enlisted amongst those troops of godly women dressed in +grey, and looking like flocks of Solon geese, who paddle from +house to house on the Sabbath, and make that which was given us for +an anniversary of repose, the most tiresome and laborious day of +all the weekly seven?" My companions laughed, and Frederick bade me +not be alarmed, assuring me that there were no Solon geese in the +poultry-yard of Glenalta. + +"We do not belong," said Emily, "to a _train-band_ of any +description; and a very short portion of Sunday is sufficient +for our little task. But few children assemble at our school, as +Protestants are thinly scattered in Kerry; and, as it is a rule +here, never to teach to read where the Bible is not received, the +number of our scholars is very limited. This would be subject of +grief to mamma, were it not her fixed opinion, supported by the +experience and strong sense of our friend Mr. Otway, and the worthy +tutor, that in _this_ country matters are not ripe for the quantity +of education forced upon the people, and that a more gradual +process is for the advantage of every part of the community; but +were it otherwise, our individual labours would still be light. +Charlotte, Fanny, and I, go before breakfast to hear the children +read a chapter, repeat a collect, and answer a few questions, more +as _pioneers_ to Mr. Oliphant, than as teachers. This occupies +only one hour, and we do no more. Domine, as you call him, and the +Curate of our parish, who is a very good clergy-man, examine after +church, and this finishes the school-work of the day." + +"Bless me!" said I, "I am very glad to hear these things, but must +own that your account is most unexpected. The ladies whom I have +heard called 'pious,' at our post town in Buckinghamshire, sit up, +I imagine, all Saturday night, and starve all Sunday. They defile +along in troops, looking sour enough to curdle milk into whey by +their presence, and are always to be seen loaded with tracts, and +carrying bags which are filled with other implements of the trade. +These saintly damsels are, I firmly believe, a set of whale-boned +exclusionists, who deny salvation to all who are not within their +pale, and able to answer their _qui va là?_ by the signs and +countersigns of their free masonry." + +"Arthur," replied Emily, "though your anger diverts, I must +scold you for being too severe. Why should you judge so hardly +upon hearsay testimony of people whom it is your boast not to be +acquainted with? Surely starving, without food or rest by day, +and sleep at night, cannot be matter of _amusement_; and if your +picture be not greatly exaggerated, we may at least hope that the +motives are pure, which dictate so much self-denial." + +"Not a bit of it, I assure you," answered I. "I promise you that +these folks are self-sufficient, as they are generally weak; and +have as much pride, vanity, and dogmatism, in their own _plain_ +way, as their neighbours. They set up to be teachers, when they +would be much better employed in learning; and both men and women +of the new light get into the cant, and are sworn in to the +confederacies to serve very secular purposes. See how they nestle +into the houses of the great, marry the best fortunes, and while +they preach a religious republic, always take care if they can, to +secure the dictatorship." + +"We know nothing here of these abuses," said Emily; "I have +heard of noble characters who devote all their time, money, and +influence, to the high purposes of reclaiming the vicious, and +teaching the Word of God to the ignorant. But if we lived in a +less refined spot than this, we should not even then be likely to +join any of the societies to which you allude, composed of such +as are technically, and most improperly called, when with design +to convey a _taunt_, 'good people.' Mamma dislikes _liveries_, +whether of dress or manners. She disapproves of bazaars, working +parties, and all religious exhibitions and excitements: in short, +of all demonstrations of what she calls a _gregarious_ spirit of +piety; though she makes it a point never to express an opinion in +the presence of any one who could wrest it to the unworthy purpose +of throwing either ridicule or reproach on numbers of excellent +persons of both sexes who differ from her in theory as well as +practice." + +"I perceive," said I, with delight, "that my aunt does not consider +dancing a sin."--"No, so far from it," answered Frederick, "that +when the Sandfords were with us, we were very gay, and I hope +shall be so again when they return in the autumn. My mother loves +that piety should rear her altar in the heart, and does not +rest so much as some well meaning people are inclined to do, on +petty observances of a merely external kind. She cannot endure +_mannerism_, and her feelings are very strong upon the injury which +true religion sustains through want of judgment in her votaries. +The tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, occupies many, perhaps not +to the entire _exclusion_ of weightier matters; but _little_ +things can be understood, and grasped by minds totally incapable +of enlarged views; and unfortunately these are often mistaken for +vital principles, when they are no more than sign-posts. For this +reason, the peculiar language which has become so common, is never +used here; and though Sunday at Glenalta is a very sacred day, I +hope that you will not find it more dull than other days." + +As Fred. ceased to speak, who should enter our council chamber but +my aunt. "What! all my dears assembled in committee?" "Yes, dearest +mother," said Frederick, springing forward to meet her, "and with +Arthur in the chair, we have passed a resolution, that you will +make us the happiest group in Christendom, if you will grant the +boon implored in this petition." So saying, he slipped a paper into +her hand, and taking two of his sisters, leaving Fanny to grace +my arm, he added, "we must not take our sovereign by surprise. +She must have time to _dwell_ upon the prayer of her subjects. So +we will make a tour of St. Colman's rock, and be back like true +liegemen, to assist her in returning home." Off he hurried us, and +this was done to spare his mother that emotion which is always +felt when we know that what passes within the heart is seen and +comprehended by others. It is astonishing! These young people study +every look, and can follow the windings, however sinuous, of every +thought, when affection is the lamp to guide their way. + +We took the round of St. Colman, a great white rock, about which, +there is a legend, that perhaps I may tell you at some other time, +and found my aunt seated where we left her: probably pondering +upon past happiness, and present gratitude, for blessings still +continued. Her _own_ sweet smile rested on her countenance, but +a tear had recently fallen on her cheek. She did not wait to be +addressed, but extending a hand to Fred. and his eldest sister, +told them by a beaming, but silent look, that she complied with +their entreaty. Fred. seized her in his arms in extacy, and having +given one emphatic kiss, which bore a world of thanks upon its +impress, he dashed out of the moss-house, unable to control the +feeling of his manly heart. He is a fine creature. Emily and +Charlotte glided away without uttering a word, and Fanny sobbed +aloud. Her mother kissed her, and taking my arm, with a tremulous +voice that seemed to struggle against display of those inward +conflicts which caused it to falter, said to me, "dear Arthur, you +are unused to scenes like this in fashionable life, yet they are +very sweet. Like Cornelia, I have my jewels, and they are precious +gems; but we shall be late, and Mr. Oliphant will wonder what has +become of his congregation." I felt again the plaguy _choke_, which +is an endemic, I suppose of these bogs, for I have scarcely ever +experienced a fit of the disease till I came here. I could not help +giving a gentle _squeeze_ to the hand that leaned upon my arm. "You +are the happiest set I ever saw," said I. A suppressed sigh met +my ear, and Fanny, jumping into the middle of the walk, to arrest +our progress, broke a chain which would have led to sorrow. "Oh! +mamma, stop: Arthur, don't put down your right foot for your life. +There, now he's safe poor thing," and in an instant, a frightful +frog, which had been hurt by some unlucky foot that had come down +too weightily on the reptile's leg, was gently deposited, first on +her hand, and then laid quietly on the grass under the shade of a +Lauristinus. "I will return after breakfast," muttered Fan. "and if +I find that you are not likely to recover, poor little wretch, you +shall be put out of your pain by old Lorry." How my sisters would +stare in wild amaze, were I to tell them of such an act! "Pray," +said I, "Fanny, do you cherish in this manner, all the vile vermin +that chance brings into your path?" "To be sure; every creature can +live its short hour in pleasure or in pain; and the less pretty +and likely to excite sympathy, the more I feel to be its friend: +it is so pleasant to be kind to any thing that is unfortunate. +These little traits let you into whole regions of character, and +therefore it is that I relate them. You are very near the end of +my _sketches_, and must then be contented with letters that sum +up events; but I will not relax the labours of my _pencil_, to +commence upon those of my _pen_, till you have Sunday sent down the +stream of time, with the years before the flood." + +Oliphant, who had not any _starch_ whatever in his features, met +us at the verandah, without his hat, and looking as benign as the +sky that he seemed to have stood admiring, before we reached the +door. He helped my aunt to take off her shawl, and then presenting +his arm, led the way towards the little room which serves as +a chapel, where the only addition to the usual orisons, was a +short and emphatic prayer for a blessing upon the employments and +instruction, whether public or private, of this day. Breakfast +ended, we soon set out to church, which is full a mile distant; +but the fineness of the weather tempted most of the party to walk. +My aunt and Emily accompanied Mr. Otway in his carriage; and young +Bentley, who is on a visit at Lisfarne, joined _us_. + +Arrived at the parish church, upon the side of a bleak and barren +hill, I looked with amazement at the poverty of all around, not +that there was an absence of decency, or even comfort; but the +bare white-washed walls, the simple uncarved pulpit, unfringed +cushions, with the absence of monumental decoration, music, and +all the paraphernalia of church worship on our civilized side of +the channel, struck me most unfavourably as I entered the family +pew; but these things were soon forgotten, and the service was +admirably performed. It so happened, that a gentleman who was on +his way to some other part of the country, and whose talents as +as a preacher stand deservedly high, had halted the day before at +our parson's house, and was prevailed upon to take the pulpit. +Mr. Oliphant, whose voice is well modulated, and whose devotion +communicates a kindred feeling to his auditors, read the lessons, +and prepared the mind, by the simple energy of his manner, for the +powerful impression which awaited it. The sermon was upon prayer, +and described the efficacy of supplication for divine mercy and +assistance. The preacher, who perhaps I may never see again, has +left an indelible impression upon my mind. He was tall, thin, and +pale, with a wonderful benevolence of aspect. A holy calm sat +upon all his features, which the serene but clear light of his +eye distinguished completely from the dulness of vanity. There +was nothing monotonous in the repose of his appearance; and when +he opened his lips, the effect was of music spoken. To the finest +voice I ever heard, he added the perfection of its adaptation to +every variety of meaning which his matter was designed to convey, +and while every inflection seemed to be suited to the words which +it uttered with such correspondence of expression, that had _they_ +been removed echo would still have given back all they could +have imparted; _study_ was the last idea that suggested itself +in listening to this eloquent being. All his tones, each look, +each emphasis, appeared to be the spontaneous drapery in which a +bright understanding clothed the feelings of his heart. I never +was so transfixed in my life, and the apostolic sacredness of his +figure harmonized so entirely with the simplicity of that lowly +building divested of even the common-place decoration usual in +English country churches, that for some time I was untrue to our +beloved _Gothic_, and actually began to fancy that I had never till +yesterday been amongst the faithful worshippers of God in His own +Temple. + +When the sermon was finished, the preacher remained in his pulpit, +apparently desirous of allowing the congregation to disperse before +his departure; and we saw no more of him. + +The family of Glenalta had heard frequently of his extraordinary +powers, but till now had never had an opportunity of judging for +themselves. As we walked home, our talk by the wayside naturally +enough took its hue from the scene which we had just quitted, and +I asked Mr. Oliphant whether Mr. Leighton, whose performance had +excited such general admiration, held the opinions distinctively +denominated Calvinistic? "No, I should imagine not; but cannot +speak positively, as I am not personally acquainted with him." +Young Bentley, who was a little behind us, stepped up, and said, "I +believe that I may answer with _certainty_; for an uncle of mine, +who lives in the north, is very intimate with Mr. Leighton, and +once asked him the question, from having heard some reports which +were circulated touching the doctrines that he inculcated; and he +entered upon that occasion into a full statement of his sentiments, +which, to sum up briefly, may I fancy be comprised in two words, +Gospel truth. He professed the most perfect charity for those who +sincerely differ from him; and likewise the deepest admiration +for holiness both of life and character, in some of those writers +who held the peculiar tenets that mark Calvin's creed: but he +unequivocally declared that he did not adopt the Genevan opinions, +while he as unhesitatingly asserted his belief in evangelical +piety as the only vital religion." "Pray," said I, "tell me what +you mean; for with _us_ evangelical preachers are synonymous +with Calvinists." "Aye," said Mr. Oliphant, "and probably with +Methodists too: there is nothing so easy as a _name_ by which +people are in the habit of representing things not understood +or inquired into? I once knew a young man who, being met in the +street by another who had known him at the university, was suddenly +asked, 'Why, Dick, when did you turn Calvinist?' My young friend +stared, and the other flippantly added, 'I heard that you never +dance now, and therefore suppose you to be one of the new light.' +In this way, idleness and folly make sad confusion; but to answer +_your_ question, as to differences between certain opinions, I +will put a volume into your hands, whenever you please, which will +give you in detail the points upon which Calvin dissented from the +Lutheran doctrines, and formed a sect now known by his name. Very +many individuals are called Calvinists in the unthinking manner +which I have described, without being in reality such; and many who +incontrovertibly held Calvin's opinions, and others who do hold +them at the present day, have been, and are, men whose virtues +ought to excite our deepest veneration, and inspire an earnest +desire of imitation; however we may consider them mistaken in their +explanation of those parts of the Bible which _appear_ to sanction +their doctrines. A pure evangelical faith embraces all that seems +necessary to salvation, namely, the most perfect self-abasement +before God, together with a lively sense of human unworthiness, +full implicit confidence in the free gift of atoning mercy as the +only way to everlasting glory, and an earnest desire, by increasing +holiness and obedience, to prove ourselves the children of God. +These principles, with the addition of a clear sense that we must +_adopt_ them, and become, through the divine spirit infused into +our souls, awakened from the delusive securities of natural pride, +and humbled by an abiding consciousness of our sins and infirmity, +constitute a summary of the Christian system, and comprise all that +is essentially evangelical." + +"I observed nothing," said I, "of peculiar phraseology in Mr. +Leighton's discourse, and certainly never heard any language more +entirely free than is his from that _twang_ which I have hitherto +considered as a characteristic of the ultras in religion." "Now, my +young friend," replied Domine, "are you not falling yourself into +the error which you reprobate? Why use those words, which designate +a sect of fashionable fault-finders, who rail against a religion +which they do not take the trouble to investigate, just as plainly +as the terms that you are desirous to abolish, mark what you call +the new light fraternity?" + +I told him that I stood corrected, and he shook my hand, saying, "I +thank you for so kindly excusing me in thus abruptly calling you +to order;" and then continued--"Mr. Leighton is a person of such +character, that my conclusion respecting his not being a Calvinist +was drawn entirely from the absence of those expressions generally +belonging to the school." "But, sir," said Mr. Bentley, "I have +heard several sermons preached by men whose principles I discovered +at a _short turn_ now and then to be really Calvinistic, though +they were free from every peculiarity of phrase, and so guarded +as to doctrine, that for a long time I have resisted the idea of +their being any other than evangelical ministers of the gospel, +such as you described it to be." "Aye," answered Oliphant, "that +is the very point to which I would draw your attention. It is, in +my opinion, not right to consider any tenet of a particular creed +essential to salvation, and yet _suppress_ it. Either the _decretum +horribile_ is, or is not, a vital article: If not, there is no +Calvinism, and if it be, no man who believes in its importance +as a pillar of faith is justified by motives of _expediency_ in +leaving out subjects so essential in _their_ view of the Christian +system. A practical evil which I have known to proceed from what is +commonly called a _judicious_ style of preaching is, that many are +taken in to become members of a congregation before they are aware +of the tenets of their instructor. Much confusion of mind sometimes +results. Weak understandings are perplexed, and the effect is, +that people who are not capable of drawing nice distinctions, at +last slide gradually, without any exercise of their own will or +understanding, into the opinions very different from those of +which they _imagine_ themselves to be the advocates. But, my dear +Mr. Howard, we should each in his own sphere, be it narrow or +extended, rejoice in all the good that exists, though it may vary +in its livery; and, so far from cultivating a spirit of ridicule, +endeavour to draw the bonds of charity together, so as to include +all the _sincere_ and pains-taking of the Christian community, +within its ample scope." + +We were now arrived at the house, and separated into little +parties. My aunt and her daughters disappeared, Mr. Oliphant and +young Bentley went off to the school, and Fred. and I took a +long and delightful walk _tête-à-tête_ by the sea side. We had a +great deal of conversation that informed me of many particulars +respecting my family, with which I had never till then been made +acquainted. On returning home, as we passed a cabin door, I saw +Fanny busily distributing bread and money, the former from a large +basket held by the same boy who attends the donkies, and the +latter from a small leather bag which she carried slung upon her +arm. "What are you doing here?" was answered by "nothing but our +Sunday-work;" which, being interpreted, meant a weekly donation +presented by these amiable girls to a few old people who cannot +work, and who esteem the gift tenfold for being communicated by +the hands of their young mistresses. This is a _striking_ feature +in the poor of this island. In England, a shilling is a shilling +provided it come legitimately from the mint, no matter who is the +donor; but here sentiment, which with us is confined to the higher +classes, is to be found in the most miserable habitations. + +Charlotte, who was within the hut, joined our party, and told us +that a poor man had just been expressing to her feelings which +certainly are not common in any rank of life. She had said, +"_Tim._, why are you not walking to-day; it is too fine weather +to stay in the house?" and his answer was, "The finer the day, my +dear miss, the more I'd covet not to be looking at it; ever since +I buried _her_, I'd rather be to myself, and Sunday brings all the +people out." What an artless expression of faithful affection! This +man's wife, who is the "_her_" to be comprehended, he supposes, by +every one, because there is no other to confound with the image in +his own breast, has been dead for six years; and yet Memory is true +to her trust. There is something very endearing in this tenderness, +and we feel in good humour with our species, when an instance +like what I have mentioned occurs, to prove that some of our best +movements can spring from an uncultivated soil. + +At dinner, after dinner, and all the evening, I am compelled in +honesty to say, that not a moment passed heavily. We laughed and +talked as usual. The interval between dinner and tea was spent in +walking; that between tea and nine o'clock in listening to some of +Handel's finest songs, very sweetly performed; and e'er "the close +of the silent eve," the family group were once more assembled; and +after prayers, and a short but impressive sermon, sent to their +rest with an emphatic blessing. + +You have now the panorama of Glenalta, and you are placed upon +a platform in the midst, from which, turning yourself round the +scene, you can form a just idea of every object which it includes +within the circuit. + +Thus have I brought (I believe with fidelity) the first part of my +epistolary labours to a conclusion. From this time forth you will +know all the _ground-plan_, and be enabled to allot its own place +to each occurrence as it may chance to arise. As to the general +impression made upon my mind, I own to you that I never was so +happy anywhere as since I came to this lone and lovely spot; and +I am powerfully struck with the truth of a remark which you once +made to me, and which at that time though I had a vague idea of +your being right, I had no actual experience that permitted me to +confirm; namely, that _society_ in its true sense consists not in +the number of those _persons_ with whom one converses, but in the +number of ideas excited in one's own mind. Glenalta completely +illustrates this observation. A family of five individuals, with +the addition of two intimate friends, have furnished such variety +and excitement in the flow of my thoughts, that I appear to have +lived in a crowd; and through a long duration of time I was +thinking of this circumstance before I got up this morning as a +contradiction to the common notion, that when we are most happy +time seems the fleetest; but I see how it is--both remarks are +strictly true. + +Stimulus of an agreeable diversified nature certainly prevents our +taking note of time while _present_, and therefore it may be said +to glide away rapidly; but when _remembered_, every circumstance +which produced a change of pleasure, serves to distinguish one +portion from another, and thus to afford a sense of progress, +which the dullness of monotony is incapable of producing, just as +a single acre of ground, animated by trees, houses, and living +creatures, fills a much greater extent in imagination, when we +_recollect_ the landscape, than is occupied by a wide expanse of +ocean, though the latter, when _looked_ upon, appeared a boundless +prospect; _still_, however, in the midst of this sunshine of the +heart, I always bear in mind that its _locality_ is the secret of +its charm. _You_ would not agree with me, but I am assured that the +sort of thing that delights where one feels no _responsibility_, +would cease to fascinate in the moment that the surrounding world +came to call one to account for one's country cousins: and these +dear souls, perhaps, might make one blush at the _west end_. I +ought not to say so from any thing that I have seen here; but +the whole course of our thoughts and feelings is _so_ subject to +join the tide of opinion, that I hardly dare to assert how far my +present impressions, vivid as they are, would stand the test of a +Bond-street jury. + +As Mrs. Malaprop says, however, "let us not have any retrospections +as to the future" _Viva, viva_. I am so much better, that I hardly +remember how I came here in the high road to Charon's ferry. + +I am longing to hear from you. Don't forget to let me know about +Stanhope, as Mr. Otway will be anxious to learn whether you and he +_cement_. + +Adieu, dear Falkland. Am I not the very pine-apple, and +quintessence of letter-writers? Huzza! + + Yours, ever affectionately, + ARTHUR HOWARD. + + + + + LETTER VIII. + + MISS DOUGLAS TO MISS SANDFORD. + + + My dearest Julia, _Glenalta_. + +Unfortunately for me, I promised to write again without entering +into any covenant with you; and were I prevented from performing +my vow for half a year to come, I suppose that you would be a +little female Shylock and insist upon your bond, before you put +pen to paper. I do not know whether I shall do more wisely in +refraining from all apology for my silence, or in attempting to +account for it. If you have been able to settle into a regular +track of daily employment since your return to Checkley, you will +be able to comprehend how the day should often find us defaulters +at its close, in at least half the amount of what we had to do +at its commencement; but if the _whirl_ of travelling be still +in operation, you may wonder how people, who are stationary, +should not have too much time, rather than too little, on hand. I +will therefore keep on the safe side, and make no excuse, lest it +should not be considered a valid one, till I know how far you can +understand our habits of life; but as I am very certain of your +heart, I will proceed to tell you, as I promised in my last letter, +of the surprise which Frederick and I have prepared lately for our +dearest mother. + +On Wednesday next Arthur is to take a long ride with Mr. George +Bentley, and Frederick, and I mean to take advantage of our +cousin's absence to introduce mamma to the _retreat_, for so we +have named the spot which is consecrated by our rural labours to +this idol of our daily worship. Surely such worship cannot be +idolatry, for through the finest mortal, as the most beautiful +natural, object, we may pay homage to the God that created it. But +_do_ we really offer this tribute, or does not too much love--does +not too large a share of adoration rest in the channel without +reaching the source, like the worship of our poor Roman Catholic, +which is certainly given to the pictures and images, that adorn +their altars rather than to the Divinity which they represent? +This is a question which my conscience so often asks itself, that +I believe the true answer would come against me; and yet with +the half convicted sense of being a sinner, the sin of loving my +mother beyond due bounds, borrows so much of her character from its +object, that it _appears_ like virtue, and so deludes. + +Fred. and I talked the matter over yesterday evening, as we stole +away to our hallowed bower. + +When you were at Glenalta, I never told you of the discovery which +my brother and I had made, because to have mentioned, without +shewing you, a gem so worthy of your admiration, as I shall +presently describe, would hardly have been kind. Your curiosity +and feeling would have been awakened, and I should have feared to +gratify them lest we might have disturbed the solitary genius of +the place, who was at that time, a daily visitant at its rustic +shrine. When first we came here, as I told you in my last letter, +Nanny and Mr. Oliphant were alternately our walking companions. +Mamma was weak both in body and spirits; and though she made +exertion to be gay when we were with her, it is only long since +that period that I have been fully sensible how much we owed her +for efforts that were beyond her strength. As the mind requires to +unbend after intense meditation, so her spirit asked repose after +over excitement, and she used to glide along the shrubbery, meet +her donkey at its wicket gate, and, following the winding pathway +of our glen, ascend, as we imagined the mountain that lies beyond +St. Colman's rock, to breathe the "unchartered air of heaven," in +full security of not being interrupted; but, as she never went +accompanied by any one, we still only conjectured whither she +directed her daily ride: and her sorrow was too sensitive, even to +our young eyes, to permit of our asking many questions. We had been +at Glenalta for three years, before Frederick and I, who were then +allowed to visit our poor people at a distance, and explore our +glens alone, found ourselves one day about three miles from home, +and along the course of the same rivulet which sports so gracefully +near our moss-house, at the most enchanting spot that I ever +beheld. It is a tiny dell, shut out, or rather shut in, from all +the world besides. A Liliputian lawn of the softest green, and not +more than a few yards in circumference, serves as a pedestal to one +single tree, the only one of its kind in the whole scene. This tree +is a beach of surpassing beauty, which casts its delicate branches +in a sweeping curve round the little area which it occupies, +forming an umbrella of shade, except in one part, where a natural +opening invites underneath its lovely archway. + +The stream, which near Glenalta is comparatively tame, though +sweetly fanciful, assumes a bolder aspect at the retreat, and +dashes over fragments of broken rock, which are richly clothed with +fern and ivy, and start from masses of holly, and other brushwood, +that grow luxuriantly down at each side, to the verge of our +mountain brook, which makes a circuit round the beech, so as to +render the _velvet cushion_ on which it stands almost a little +island. As the bleak heath-covered hill rises in every direction, +you could fancy yourself to have reached a fertile oasis in the +midst of a desert. Nothing of animated life appeared in view +except two young goats that had ventured down the precipice, and +the silence was only broken by the rush of waters. Frederick and I +stood quite transfixed; but when our first exclamations of wonder +and delight had subsided, we determined on exploring farther, and +passing round the tree we scrambled to the other side, and found a +rude seat of stone, over which a tuft of alders and mountain-ash +had formed a roof impenetrable to the sun. A variety of the +beautiful orchis, cowslip, and primrose tribes intermixed with wild +violets of the most brillant purple, enameled the ground, and the +softest moss lined every part of this sylvan niche with refreshing +verdure. We sat down in a perfect ecstacy, then pulled bundles of +flowers, drank at the stream, and were indulging in all the luxury +of our good fortune, when something white struck my eye, clung +into the root of an old hazle which stood a little below us. I +pointed it out to Frederick, who immediately jumped down the rock, +and found a bit of paper rolled round a pencil. It was torn, and +had been injured by wet, having evidently lain for a long time in +its concealment. The holly which grows so abundantly all over the +rocks, had furnished its evergreen protection so as to save the +paper from melting away, and the weight of the pencil, round which +it was tightly wrapped, had contributed with the tangled roots, to +prevent its being carried away by the wind. We eagerly unfolded +our mysterious prize, and with some difficulty decyphered, at last +completely, and in mamma's hand-writing, the following lines: + + Inscribed upon thy polished rind, + That name was once engraved, + Which, traced upon my heart I find, + The wreck that grief has saved. + + Nor ruthless time, nor cankering care, + Hath swept that sacred line; + The perfect record lingers there, + Carved on the faithful shrine. + + Yes, and within thy beechen breast, + Sweet sympathy conceals + The characters that once confessed, + Thy bark no more reveals. + + Thy glossy fane now furrowed o'er, + Protects from wandering gaze + That name adored, which never more + Thy jealous love betrays. + + Thy roughened form,--my time-worn cheek, + Alike refuse to tell + The signs that idlers vainly seek + Within this leafy dell. + + But when the axe hath laid thee low, + And bowed thy graceful head; + And _me_, life's latest mortal foe, + Shall number with the dead; + + Then in our bosoms' inmost seat, + The self same image found, + Reveals to view its deep retreat, + Fast in the heart-strings bound. + +We gazed on each other, and the truth flashed upon our hearts in +the same instant. Frederick and I, by a movement imparted from +within, darted towards the tree together, and on examination +found a part of the once varnished surface, raised into irregular +carbuncles, where the bark had closed with time over some letters +no longer legible. With much pains, we satisfied ourselves that the +initials H. A. C. D. had been interwoven, and cut in the bark from +the external face of which, these letters had been carried inward +by the process of annual growth. It immediately occurred to us, +that our beloved parents had made this a favourite haunt in happier +days; and that the undying memory of some faithful mourner had +sought again these now almost obliterated characters. Such mourner +could have been no other than the dear surviving guardian of our +youth; and our tears flowed without restraint, as we read again and +again, the stanzas of which we had become accidentally possessed. +The first movement of our minds was, as you may suppose, to restore +them directly to their author; and it was not without considerable +reasoning between ourselves, that either could convince the other +of its being better to suppress the verses, and say nothing of the +_retreat_. From mamma's never having communicated any hint relative +to this little hermit-cell, it was obvious that she did not wish +us to discover its situation; then, the pencilled lines had been +lost for some time. She had made no inquiry about them; her memory +was able in all probability, to supply them again; and in giving +up what manifestly appeared to be mamma's own composition, such +explanation might have ensued as would have opened all her wounds +afresh, and destroyed ever afterwards the pleasure which she +appeared to feel in visiting the sequestered spot which we had +discovered. Upon mature deliberation then we agreed to hush up our +little adventure, and keep the tender effusion that we had found, +till some natural opportunity might occur of giving it back again +to its owner. + +Time has rolled on, and the gradual influence of its healing power +is happily illustrated in the improved condition of our precious +_charge_, (for I consider her as a blessing conferred upon her +children, henceforward placed peculiarly in their care); and a +moment having arrived in which Frederick agreed with me that we +might venture to commence our little scheme, we set to work in +the beginning of November, just at the time when the change of +weather, and the death of faithful Dapple, that sole companion of +our _pilgrim's progress_, conspired to prevent the discovery of +our plan. Poor Tom Collins and his son, who live not far from the +scene of our operations, were necessarily let into the secret, for +they were manual contributors to the execution of our project; and +had this _not_ been the case, I should have still rewarded the +former by a confidence, the _distinguishing_ nature of which he +knows how to appreciate, in return for a trait of feeling so unlike +one's abstract notion of a _peasant_, and so delicate, that I must +tell the anecdote of him, before I proceed with our works at the +retreat. One day preparatory to our design, Frederick and I watched +an opportunity when mamma was obliged to drive on business to a +little town in our neighbourhood, and paid a visit to our favourite +spot. We were sitting talking over past, present, and future, +when a slight rustling amongst the leaves, announced the approach +of some one; and presently poor Tom Collins, on tip-toe, and his +finger, in sign of caution, placed upon his lip, stood before us. +"Och, then," said he, "its I that am after running to stop your +honours from coming down at all, at all, into my misthess's nook. +I does be keeping the childer always from this place till the sun +does be setting, and then I knows there 'ont be any danger in life +of seeing her honour, for becaase she only comes of a morning." + +"And Tom," answered I, "why are you so uneasy from the fear of +seeing mamma?" + +"Och, then, miss, my heart, I'll tell ye, and I never tould it +afore, nor wouldn't now, only becaase I never seed any one of +quality like, here, only her honour's self; and now if I don't +tell, why may be she'd be fretted to think that you and Masther +Fred. would find her out in her nook; and I knows very well, that +she wouldn't like it, for when it plased God to take my poor boy +Darby away from me, I'd covet to be all day moping if I could, down +in that very bottom. Why, then, sure enough, it was there I was one +Midsummer day, lying down flat on the ground beyont the big holly +stump, and thinking heavy enough of Darby, becaase of all days in +the year, 'twas his own birth day, when I heard a whispering like, +under the baach-tree, so I gets up fair and softly, without making +as much stir as a baatle among the laaves; why then _mavourneen_, +what would I see but my misthess on her two knees, upon the could +ground, looking up and praying like. Well, there I stood, and I +seed her crying like droppings from the ivy beyant; and I heerd the +words axing the Lord to make yees good childer, and mark yees to +Glory. And then she'd ax Him to make her a good mother, and to keep +and to help her all the days of her life; and sure, be the same +token, God listened to her prayer, for she's the best of ladies. +After that she'd get up, and talk to the tree all as one as if it +was a Christian, about my maasther, for I heerd her say, _Hinnery_, +and so I knew well enough who she'd be spaiking of, being that I'd +be often that way talking myself to the air, as I may say, about +Darby. Well, my heart grew so big, that I thought it would fairly +jump out o'me; so with that, I slinged away; and seeing poor Dapple +another day fastened behind the rock above, I says to myself, to be +sure says I, she's moping there like myself, and so I never would +come again till night fall; but when I have time, I does be above, +not far off, only she can't see me, be raison I'd like, if any +thing would be for going down the clift, to stop 'em till she'd be +clear and clane out o' the place for the day. So that's all about +it; and she don't be coming so often now, tho' in the main-time +'tis constant at her prayers or writing on a bit of a paper, or +reading out of a little book that she does be, whenever she'll come +to the lag below." + +The eloquence of Demosthenes could not have worked upon our hearts +like this simple story. I seized instinctively upon the rough hand +of honest Tom, and Frederick did so likewise. We were too full to +utter a word, but we each of us resolved that this trait should +have its recording angel, and that, however tears might bedew +the remembrance of it, they should never blot out the registry. +Of this we _said_ nothing, for it would have been a species of +sacrilege to sully the purity of such genuine feeling, by making +it an apparent cause of any temporal benefit. Oh what a withering +breath is praise, and how sickly do the motives of action become, +when flattery, that _simoon_ of the heart, has passed over them! +We now communicated our embryo purpose to Tom, and told him that +we intended proceeding to work on the following day, as it was not +likely, that during the winter season, my mother would visit her +seat again. Pride and joy took possession of his countenance, as we +developed our plan; and had we presented him with a purse of gold, +I do not think that the expression of his face could have indicated +such happiness as the feeling of being thus distinguished by our +confidence, inspired. + +I must now describe what we have done: Mr. Oliphant has been let +into our councils, and his excellent taste has assisted us not +a little; but dear Phil., Charlotte, Fanny, and Arthur are as +ignorant as mamma, of our necromancy. A beautiful rustic temple +has taken place of the stone seat. It is lined with reeds, +interleaved in a sort of basket-matting, which fits close to +the inside; and the front is supported by pillars of twisted +elm, which are surmounted by capitals of remarkably fine cones +from the stone-pine. These supporters are covered with clematis, +honeysuckle, and roses. A circular seat, equal in softness to any +Ottoman divan, is raised to a convenient height, and covered with +the same reed-matting which I have mentioned. The paving is of +snow-white pebbles, which Collins' little girls have collected for +me on the strand, and the whole Glen has been decorated by every +thing either fragrant or beautiful, which was not out of character +with its wildness. I have trained a number of Alpine plants over +the rocks, and taught the lovely water-lily to unfold its flowers +upon a tiny basin, which Frederick has scooped out, lower down the +stream. We have secured this bower from trespassers, and made a +serpentine path through the tangled brush-wood, to permit the dear +sovereign of these sylvan dominions to descend the hill without +fatigue, and admit of her being brought by Dapple the _second_, up +to the door of her rural palace. When this was completed, we set +to work at Tom Collins' abode, which is now raised and enlarged +into a thoroughly comfortable habitation. A nice cabbage-garden +is inclosed at the back, and the front is thickly planted with +a double hedge of quicks and privet, separating a little space +from the moor, which is filled with sweet, but common flowers. The +family have been set to spin, and are already clothed in their own +manufacture. Frederick has given poor Tom a cow, to which I have +added half a dozen sheep; and such a scene of contentment above, +and of beauty below, it would be difficult to equal: at least so +_we_ think; and when we contemplate the entire as a creation of +our own, Frederick and I certainly do confess to some degree of +self-complacency. But as far as I have hitherto narrated, only +relates to the _body_ of our exertions. I must now describe the +_soul_ of them. In the back part of our rustic temple, is a door +so completely concealed by the matting of reeds, as not to be +discernible to ordinary observers. This door, upon being opened, +discovers a little cell of just sufficient size to admit of one +person's sitting in it without inconvenience. Its furniture +consists of a small pedestal of delicate workmanship in white +marble, upon which Frederick has placed the exquisite urn that +you may remember, of alabaster, found at Pompeïa. It belonged to +my father, and has been kept in a closet, hidden from every eye +since the time of his death. Upon the front of the pedestal which +supports it, we have had engraved the following lines:-- + + Bless'd refuge of a sad and broken heart, + Soft soothing solitude, thy balm impart; + Come with thy gentle train, thy peaceful rest, + Thy tender stillness to this grief-worn breast. + With thee, how sweet to climb the craggy way, + And o'er these rocky cliffs in silence stray, + In Nature's temple to expand the soul, + While tears distil refreshing as they roll, + What fond deceit the present to beguile, + And bid the shades of past delight to smile. + Call back the dreams of youth, and hope, and love, + And 'mid the dear aërial phantoms rove. + But hush! too sharp that pang, my heart gives o'er, + Invoke the memory of thy bliss no more! + Raise up to heaven thy soul, quit earth, and fly, + Go seek thy refuge in yon azure sky; + Ask mercy's aid to shed celestial light + Upon the dismal gloom of sorrow's night, + And God's own spirits of the mountain air, + Shall waft on high the deep unuttered prayer, + While filial love shall consecrate the scene, + That gave a mother's tears for hope serene. + +Immediately behind the urn, which with its pedestal is let into a +niche, is a pretty little arched window of stained glass; and at +the opposite extremity of our Anchorite's cell stands a slab of +Kerry marble, which rests upon a simple cabinet of the beautiful +black oak of the bog which our island furnishes from its _ebony_ +stores. When opened, a flat box of polished beech-wood presents +itself, and this serves as a solid portfolio, preserving from damp +an exquisite drawing in pencil, by Frederick, of the large tree +to which you have been already introduced. Underneath the tree, +mamma's lines which we found, are neatly transcribed; and the old +pencil, with its original paper wrapped round it, as when first +discovered in its hiding place, and a pocket Bible, in the first +page of which, after the name of Caroline Douglas, are written +these words; "The prayer of the righteous availeth much," complete +the furniture of this rustic sanctuary. + +When Frederick and I went this morning at early dawn, to see that +all was finished according to our design, we found Tom Collins +already there, leaning against one of the pillars, in an attitude +of contemplation. He started from his reverie as we approached, and +twirling his old hat in his hands, resting first upon one foot, +then upon the other, he said, after the usual salutation, "Miss, +dear, I was thinking that you would'nt refuse me, if you plase, +just to let me be standing overright there beyant the big baach, +when my mistress will be coming--I'll engage I'll not let her see a +bit o'me, any more than if I was a sperret, nor I'ont brathe a word +good, or bad, only to set my two looking eyes upon her, when she'll +see the place you done for her." Could such a request fail of being +granted? + +This romantic mountaineer is full of the finest sensibilities, +and not perverted, as so much of acute feeling often is, to the +purposes of discontent and ingratitude. Tom is a good husband, +a good son, and a good father. Yet he knows not a letter in the +alphabet. + +"What shameful ignorance," I hear you exclaim! Ignorance of +letters it surely is, but not shameful. You, in England, can be +sure of giving your poor a religious education. We cannot! but +some of our peasants _act_ the Bible, which their priests will not +allow them to read; and what benefit would these derive from the +pennyworth of sedition or impurity which they might be permitted to +purchase, and instructed to peruse? With what fresh delight have I +sometimes returned to this dear desert, after having visited some +of the districts _said_ to be civilized when compared with our +neighbourhood!--Oh it is a great mistake to imagine that _reading_ +is a cure for every evil, unless the Bible be allowed to offer its +blessed promises, and hold forth its bright meed of reward for +patience in adversity, and resignation under privations, which all +other learning is calculated to reveal in the strongest light, +without affording any means to remedy. The will of God has made +inequality the very essence of every social scheme. No spread of +knowledge can improve the lot of him who must till the ground in +the sweat of his brow, if that knowledge be not of a nature to +make him _better_, and therefore happier; and I never pass by our +smith's forge, which is the parish coffee-house, without hearing +expressions, and seeing looks that mark a murmuring spirit. + +The other day I asked an aged peasant, who lives on the lands of +Lisfarne, about fairies; "Did you ever see the _Luracawn_," said +I, "of which people say, that it is a sort of fairy that lives +always by the sea-side, and carries a purse such as we often find +on the strand with strings to it?" + +"No, miss, I never did _myself_; but in ould times they used to be +seen plenty enough." + +"Then," answered I, "perhaps the truth may be, that the people now +are grown too wise to believe the stories which were swallowed in +old times." + +The old man replied, "Miss, there's a great dael o' larning that +is'nt knowledge, and there's more of it than is good, I can assure +you. The people now gets hould o'books, and cares very little about +their parents, who were better folk than many o'_them_ that are +going now a' days." + +"Then you don't approve of learning Andrew."--"Why, miss, you might +as well say I don't approve o'my fellow craitures. There's two +kinds o'one as of the other.--Good men and good books, bad men and +bad books. I likes the two first, and I don't like the two last, +and when people gets hould o'larning, the're vastly fonder o'the +bad than the good." + +Really these people astonish me by the clearness of their views +and the acuteness of their observations. But before I close +this long letter, I must say a word of Arthur Howard, who is a +great favourite already at Glenalta. Had he been born under a +happier star than that which presided at his birth, he would be a +charming young man, and great improvements may yet be effected, +for he is young and full of generous feeling as of quick tact. +The contrarieties which nature and art sometimes display in +their contest for pre-eminence in his actions, would divert us +excessively, if there were not so much to love and regard in the +compound, that vexation must ever be a predominating sentiment +when he obeys an unworthy impulse. Selfishness is, I believe, the +leading vice of fashionable people; and it must be very difficult +to throw off the habits in which education has taught us that +comfort (that _aldermanic_ little word, as many use it) consists. + +The first thought in what is called the world, appears to be, +"is such or such a thing for _my_ pleasure, _my_ interest, _my_ +convenience;" and the _last_ is, "whether the matter in question +be useful, or agreeable to other people?" I am now speaking of the +school, not the scholar, for though Arthur has necessarily adopted +_some_ of the folly in the midst of which he has lived, moved, and +had his being, it is astonishing how little the natural tendencies +of his heart are obscured. He came here, as I told you, with very +strong prejudices, but I perceive with delight that they are fading +away; and, I believe, that he thinks less hardly than he did when +he first came amongst us, of female improvement. How could he bask +in the sunshine of mamma's sweet smile, and enjoy the constant +variety of her unrivalled powers in conversation, without feeling +how compatible are the charms of high cultivation with all that +is excellent in private life--all that is fascinating in female +softness? + +As I listened eagerly to a dialogue the other day, in which she +was engaged, shedding light and animation upon every subject which +came before her, I could not help thinking, that were amusement +the only object and end of existence, cultivation of mind would +appear, in my opinion, to be an indispensable requisite in the art +of attaining it. The gay world, I suppose has its charms, and may +attract for a season. Change of place, and change of faces, may +please perhaps for a time, but this cannot last for ever, and when +the period arrives in which people _must_ rely upon the resources +of _home_, what an immeasurable distance must there be between the +full mind and the empty one! The very playfulness of a superior +person is so exhilarating that I never grow weary of it; but of all +the tiresome companionships on earth, it is that of animal spirits +in perennial flow, that bear no treasure on the tide. How well Pope +has expressed what I mean! "For lively Dulness ever loves a joke." + +I must reserve space for a concluding word after our visit at the +Retreat. Till then adieu. + +Well, dear Julia, I feel the repose of my own room most welcome +after the excitement of this day. The sun shone in full splendor +on our project. Last night Frederick and I spoke to mamma of some +trifling alterations that we had been making for the comfort of Tom +Collins and his family, whose little dwelling had suffered much +from the winter storms. + +"Yes, my loves," said she, "I am rejoiced that your activity has +anticipated me. Since the death of my poor Dapple, I have not +gone so far as Tom's house, and have been _intending_ a visit to +the mountain, till you have made me ashamed by this lesson on +procrastination. The truth is, that my present _steed_ is so unlike +his predecessor in gait and humour, that he and I are not such +friends as to make me quite at home in his company; and I hate +to have Paddy running after me. My morning rambles were always +solitary, and I should not be at ease now in going alone, till I +am more accustomed to my _new Neddy_, or his temper becomes more +amiable; but all this is no excuse for not having employed other +eyes to see that the Collins' were not unroofed. I wonder why Tom +did not come." + +"We happened to see him," said Frederick, "which probably prevented +his applying to you, as Emily and I did the needful; but if +to-morrow should be a fine day, suppose that I drive you and Em. +in the pony car, before breakfast, and we will shew you how we have +patched up these poor people for the present." + +Mamma consented, and this morning early we sat out; but my tears +suffocate me at the bare remembrance of my mother's emotion. +She was amazed and delighted with our improvements. The garden, +the hedge, the clean house, and clean people, all appeared the +effect of enchantment. Tom, his wife, and children, grinned with +broad uncontrolled rapture, and overwhelmed the little party with +blessings. When we had praised, and been praised (_such_ praise +warms the heart without enervating its powers), Frederick took +mamma's arm, and said, "You must come, dearest mother, to look at +a dell which Emily and I discovered some time ago, the sweetest +spot that you ever beheld." A faint blush overspread her cheek, and +I perceived a thrill run through her frame. She hesitated, then +hinted that the banks were steep, and that we should be late for +breakfast; but _we_ coaxed, and she evidently not desiring to say +how well she was acquainted with the scene which she was about to +visit, suffered herself to be led forward, I walking behind with a +palpitating heart, down the narrow descent, and poor Tom following +at a discreet distance. As we proceeded, I observed mamma gaze to +the right and the left with amazement; but when our rustic temple +burst upon her eye, the expression of her countenance became +painfully inquisitive. The mysterious door was opened, Frederick +pushed her gently in, closed the wicker-work, and waited with me in +the outer inclosure. We heard her sob aloud, and in a few moments +she was in our arms. + +Here I pause. The sweetness of the feeling reciprocally called +forth, would baffle my little powers of language to describe. Is it +not Cora, in the play of Pizarro, who talks of three bright moments +in her life? No moment in any one's life ever surpassed this +expansion of hearts linked by a tie so pure end so affectionate as +binds our's to each other. We sat till breakfast was forgotten. +We looked, and looked again, and when the first swell of painful +pleasure had given way to more tranquil sensations, _we_ +architects became garrulous, and in the vanity of success, hurrying +our beloved mother from flower to flower, shrub to shrub, rock +to rivulet, that we might not lose one _atom_, or one _item_ of +applause; and at length so completely communicated the contagion of +_gladness_ to her who had inspired the emotion in ourselves, that +she entered zealously into the idea of surprising the rest of our +party, adding, "I will first come here alone with our dear friend +of Lisfarne, after which we will revisit this beloved retreat in a +body, and enjoy in common the pleasures which you have created." We +were now turning our steps towards Glenalta, when the sight of poor +Tom wiping his eyes in the sleeve of his coat, as he leaned against +the beech-tree, arrested mamma's attention. She went up, shook him +warmly by the hand, and without a word uttered on either side, we +separated. + +I am promised a conveyance of this _pamphlet_ rather than letter +by that excellent creature George Bentley, and I am particularly +pleased with the power of sending you so voluminous a packet +by private hand at present, because I may not be able to write +for some time again. We are all going to Killarney. Arthur is an +enthusiast about our Glen scenery, and I enjoy exceedingly the +delight of shewing him that gem of purest water. Some anxiety, +however, is always wisely mingled in our cup, which mamma's promise +to accompany us, would have rendered too intoxicating, and this +anxiety is relating to dearest Fred. whose College examinations +must precede our excursion. He and Mr. Oliphant leave us on +Thursday next, and will only be absent during five or six days. I +cannot sleep from feverish solicitude, though I believe that my +Fred. is very well prepared; but we have so managed this charming +trip to Killarney, that it will either crown our victory, should +such happiness be in store, or divert our melancholy, should the +dear fellow be doomed to suffer a disappointment. Phil. and Mr. +Bentley are to be of our party. Do you know that Arthur is quite +a surprising botanist already; and as I am his _Linnæa_, I am as +proud as a peacock of my pupil. He can now walk without _leading +strings_, and is grown so expert that our rambles are become trials +of rival skill. Well, I must bid my dear friends adieu. With many +loves from Charlotte and Fanny to Bertha and Agnes; and _all_ +our loves to your _dearly_ loved aunt, believe me, Julia's most +affectionate, + + EMILY DOUGLAS. + + + + + LETTER IX. + + CHARLES FALKLAND TO ARTHUR HOWARD. + + + My dear Howard, _Rome_. + +You are, indeed, a _prince_ of letter writers, and the delight +which you have afforded me is inexpressible. Two of your admirable +journals reached me at Pisa, and the last treasure I have +received since I came here in company with--whom do you think? +Why, actually, Mr. Richard Oliphant, young Stanhope, and I are +dwelling under the same roof, and enthusiastically employed in +exploring the wonders both within and without this enchanting city. +Stanhope has given Mr. Otway a detailed account of our meeting, +in consequence of a letter from Lisfarne, after your arrival at +Glenalta; and I will therefore not take up your time, nor my own, +in repetition, but proceed to say how greatly pleased I am with my +new acquaintances. Their grand object was Rome, and I determined +to quit Pisa much sooner than was my original design, that I might +enjoy such excellent society. Here then we are together, and, +should no unforeseen circumstances prevent the completion of our +arrangements, I think it likely that we shall not separate hastily, +but visit Florence, and Naples, see Pæstum, go to Venice, and pass +the winter at Paris in company with each other. If _you_ join us +there what a coterie shall we form. I feel now as if I were in +the midst of the Douglas group. I can see the very countenances, +and already make my selections, _even_ in that society where all +are so much to my taste, that it seems at first view difficult to +_prefer_, without doing injustice. From Stanhope I receive the +most satisfactory answers to every question which your _volume_ +suggests; and, oh! what happiness it is to know that in any +favoured spot of earth such purity and peace are to be found as +bless that little valley of Glenalta with their presence. In any +situation the contemplation of such a family would possess charms +for me beyond the power of any other pleasure to excite; but if it +required to be heightened through contrast, surely that contrast +is to be met with on the Continent! Yes, to a sober mind, there is +something horrible in the metamorphosis produced in the minds of +some with whom you and I are acquainted. Letters are so frequently +opened at the foreign post-offices, and so often lost, that I shall +be prudent, and not send names out to the winds; however, you will +have no difficulty in recognizing F---- and L---- by their initials; +and, though you are _still_ a wild sort of being yourself, you +will be sorry to hear that they are immersed in every thing at +Paris which they used to withstand so vigorously at Cambridge. We +ranked them there amongst the _élite_, for genius, good taste, and +polished habits. Alas! how are the mighty fallen? The facilitie +afforded in Paris to the commission of every vice, are, perhaps +hardly greater than those which London offers to tempt unwary +youth; but there is all the difference in the world between the +_manner_ of doing the thing in the two capitals. Notwithstanding +the daily intercourse between England and France, there is _still_ +such a body of national virtue and good feeling unshaken in the +former country, that the most profligate can hardly sin with +absolute impunity, and vice is scarcely bold enough to throw off +the veil which, however flimsy, still protects some purer eyes from +beholding corruption in all its deformity. Have you ever felt, when +you lingered at a ball till day-light, and the bright beams of a +newly risen sun shone with open freshness on the expiring lamps, +the pale faces, and the tinsel finery of the last night's pageant; +a sort of undefined sensation of shame at being thus caught by +the truth-telling hour of waking seriousness, in the midst of a +scene so unsuited to the time? If you have, I may avail myself of +the similitude to describe the difference which I feel between +England and the Continent. I say Continent at large, for the great +towns are alike in this; ours is a daylight dance, while here +is the nightly revel. With us the clear sunshine of opinion, if +it cannot prevent excess, at least exhibits its faded form and +haggard countenance, pronouncing on their ugliness, and inducing +their concealment. Cross the channel, and a new order of things +presents itself. _Decorum_ is busy indeed, but it is to deceive, +and while the fascination of gaiety and ease presents an opiate to +circumspection, the good taste which borrows an external clothing +of propriety in which to dress the votaries of pleasure, finishes +the delusion, and many young men are not aware of the counterfeit +till they are fast bound in the spell like Telemachus in the island +of Calypso. The French language too, now so universal, is a potent +ingredient in the intoxicating cup. It acts as a _mask_, and since +I left England, I have met with numbers of my countrymen, aye, and +countrywomen also, who say things at Paris in the idiom of another +tongue, which could never find utterance in their own, though no +infringement of decency in _conduct_ would be tolerated publicly +in good society abroad. All this renders foreign travelling a very +insidious poison, and happy are those who can enjoy the benefits +derivable from extensive acquaintance with men and manners, without +risk of confounding the boundaries which separate vice from virtue. +In short, no man is _safe_, upon whom the grand tour produces +other effect than to send him back with increased thankfulness to +the British Isles, as (waving adieu to the shores he has quitted) +he borrows the words of the poet to say, "these are my visits;" +and, turning to the white cliffs of Albion, finishes the line with +"but thou art my home." It would be stupid, however, as well as +ungrateful to deny the witchery, by way of securing either one's +self, or one's friends against its allurements. This device, which +my worthy guardian, I believe, in the honesty of his heart employed +as a bastion of strength to fortify my weakness, will never, in +any case, survive the first shot that experience levels against +it. It is in vain to call the Syren's song discord, to say that +nectar is but extract of wormwood, and Ambrosia but a mess of +Spartan pottage. The first sound, and the first taste, disabuse +the ignorant, adding the stimulus of surprise to what was but too +attractive without it. No, let us fairly acknowledge the magic, and +then try our best to repel its influence. You know that I shall +keep all my _scenery_, whether moral or physical, for fireside +talk, _perhaps_ at Glenalta, and not so much as a moon-beam on the +Coliseum will you have in the way of description, already exhausted +by abler limners than I am; but I cannot avoid adding my testimony +to the charms of foreign society. It is not that it is wiser or +better; it is not that you have better cheer, or one half so good +accommodation as at home. No, the whole necromancy exits in one +monosyllable--ease. In England ease is _practised_; in France it +springs naturally from every one with whom you converse. In England +people are _remembering_ to forget themselves; in France they do +_really_ forget themselves, and in this simple circumstance resides +the whole secret of being _at ease_. In England people _run_ to +shew you how freely they can _walk_, never considering that _ease_, +that grand desideratum, is as much banished by over exertion to +be gay, as by the torpor of _mauvaise honte_. In France there +is neither a _jerking_ activity, nor a leaden stupor, but people +convey the idea, while you are in their company, of being pleased, +interested, and animated, by the subject of conversation. There is +no _acted_ egotism, no effort at making display; and the effect of +an evening passed in a Parisian society is that of gaiety without +fatigue. You have, perhaps, not heard a single sentence that you +desire to treasure; but there has been no _strain_ upon your +animal spirits. You have spoken naturally what really presented +itself to be said, instead of _fishing_ for a theme, and having to +recollect at every turn whether you were going to speak to a man +or a woman. In fine, conversation, however trifling, flows on the +Continent, while with us it resembles _pints_ of water, _chucked_ +one after another into a pump. You work the handle, and up comes +your pint, but there is no more till you make a new deposit, and a +fresh exertion. It is unnecessary to add that I speak of _mixed_ +society, and of its _average_ state in the two countries. Come to +the sincere intercourse of mind and heart, when the affectations +of fashion are in _abeyance_, or I should more justly say where +they have never existed, and who would go to any climate of the +earth from that in which our happy stars have placed us, to enjoy +"the feast of reason and the flow of soul!" Ireland and Scotland, +remember, are always included in this preference. But we do not +understand _society_, even imitating the French, as we prove, +alas, that we can do continually, in their _faults_, while we +cannot throw off our whalebone and buckram. In France there is +much less of _gossip_ than in England; the King, the Court, the +national prosperity, or distress, the political relations of +Europe, philosophy, sentiment, all find their way broken down to +a convenient circulable medium into company. You hear many false +positions in each several department, but you have likewise a great +deal of good sense and discrimination; and at all events you have +_common property_ in the subjects which are treated in a French +circle, as if they really _interested_ the assembly. Perhaps at +the moment of reading this passage of my letter, you recollect +what _pops_ into my memory in the moment of writing it; I mean +a paragraph upon which you and I commented together, in one of +the letters of Madame du Deffand, where she describes to Horace +Walpole the "_grand succes_" of a _soirée_ at her house, from the +introduction of some paltry New-year or Easter gifts. There is no +inconsistency here. Whether it be the army, the navy, the funds, +Cuvier's last work, La Place's talents, the Jardin des Plantes, +the fashionable actor or musician; the last song, epigram, bon-mot +cap, bonnet or pin-cushion; the thing is talked of with animation, +and apparent _interest_; and it is the want of this that renders +common place society in England so insufferably dull, as often to +suggest the idea that the several members who compose it prepare +for meeting, by committing to memory a set of vapidly disjointed +questions, and answers; a very catechism of inanity upon the least +amusing topics which it is possible to select, and invariably such +as no stranger can participate in from the strict _confinement_ +of their locality. Here, men, women, old, young, handsome or +ugly; all who can speak the language, take a part according to +their several measures of ability in the general conversation. +All look happy, and, from being at perfect ease themselves, +possess the power of imparting this indispensable charm, this +_essential essence_ of society, to every one with whom they hold +companionship. Why cannot we seize upon this talent, and convert it +to our own use, grateful as we must ever feel for its enlivening +influence? Our deficiencies in colloquial power have long been +matter of observation; and it is a trite remark, that the English +cannot converse; but as it is admitted that every ingredient +requisite for conversation of the most brilliant kind is to be +found in our island, it would seem that we only want the method of +_combining_, in which our neighbours excel. Your charming circle in +Ireland have caught the happy art, and vainly should we look around +for many such specimens as Glenalta exhibits of its perfection; but +why cannot we all go into company determined to trade freely upon +our capitals, be they large or small, avoiding on the one hand that +_broad-cast_ sincerity which I am afraid I must call selfishness, +that refuses to take interest in any concern which does not come +home to the narrow enclosure of individual loss and gain, pain, or +pleasure; and on the other, that conventional adoption of trifles +incapable of amusing in any community, except a paradise of fools, +with which we are in the habit of performing the _mechanism_ of +society, fatiguing our friends, and doing penance ourselves? + +Stanhope is a very fine young man, full of fire and enterprize, +yet gentle and rational. He has a great deal of taste, and is very +fond of the classics. We are going presently, armed with a pocket +Horace, to visit Soracte, accompanied by Oliphant, who is exactly +the sort of man to whose care Mr. Otway may fearlessly confide +his charge. He has very good manners, plain, and unassuming, and +possesses that fortunate mixture of sobriety and cheerfulness, +which peculiarity befits the character of a tutor, securing at once +the double tribute of respect and affection. + +How I long for your next letter, which will tell me of your +expedition to Killarney, and, oh that I could transport myself into +the midst of you! + +Before I close my letter, I must express the joy of a _true_ +friend, at finding that you are so happy with your relations. Dear +Arthur, I _knew_ that your mind would undergo a revolution. It is +only in _progress_ at present, but I anticipate more decision in +all your views of people and things. You have too much sense, and +your feelings are too fine, to admit of your being hood-winked. +You must not drop into the crowd and suffer yourself to be borne +upon its tide, without the slightest sympathy in the folly, and, +shall I add, the _vulgarity_ that surround you. Yes, do not start, +and suppose that I have lost my senses. I repeat the word; there +is infinite _vulgarity_ in mere fashion. Something very poor and +mean, in never daring to think for oneself, and in sacrificing +every inclination and faculty to the tyranny of arbitrary control; +but you will speedily rise into the consequence of a rational +creature. You will take your station amongst intellectual beings, +and, giving reins to the _real_ bent of your character, find +that fulness of mind, which absolutely excludes _ennui_. I cannot +express how much I am interested by the conversations which you +have given me. A volume of description would not have conveyed a +_tithe_ of what you have imparted in the way of information, by +bringing me thus into the midst of the circle. I see the whole +mental _map_ before me, and though it would be unreasonable to +think that you can have time for such details in future, I cannot +set you entirely free; but would fain hope that, coupled with the +"incidents" which are all that you _promise_, henceforward I may +still find a few of those graphic touches which make me present in +that unrivalled group with whom your good fortune has _bound you +up_. + +To Mr. Otway I feel that I may desire to be presented with +gratitude for the pleasure of which he has thought me worthy, in +an introduction to my agreeable _colleagues_; but how shall I +contrive to make my bow at Glenalta? If you _can_ find a happy +moment in which to say with a good grace, "_Charles Falkland, Mrs. +Douglas_," you will be more than ever the cherished friend of, + + Your affectionate, + C. F----. + +P. S. Whenever you visit the city of the Seven Hills, be sure and +come hither provided with "Rome in the nineteenth Century." It is a +tribute which I for one, most willingly pay, to declare this work +of a female pen to be by a thousand degrees the best _vade mecum_ +with which you can furnish yourself. + + + + + LETTER X. + + MISS HOWARD TO ARTHUR HOWARD, ESQ. + + + Dear Arthur, _London_. + +I am so completely _obsedée_ with all that I have to accomplish, +that really you must be very thankful for a letter on any terms at +present. The fact is that _la Madre_ is put into a _flutterment_ +by news which we have just had from that old quiz, Mr. Ingoldsby, +of the India House, who says poz, that our ancient uncle is coming +home as rich as Cr[oe]sus. What is bringing him, we know not. No +matter for the cause, the effect is that _Ingot_ (as I always call +him) came here last week _express_ with the intelligence, since +when I could not command five minutes, or you should have had the +_on dit_ on the wings of the wind. At first I felt transformed into +a _begum_, and transported with joy. Shawls, gems, and jewels, +dazzled my senses. I dreamt of lacs of rupees, snuffed otto in +every breeze, and read envy, malice, and all uncharitableness, in +every female face throughout the metropolitan world. + +Such was the bright vision of half an hour, when, on the _per +contra_ side of the question a grisly band rose upon my disordered +imagination, and I terrified myself with the bare idea, that +_vielle-cour_ is becoming religious, to such a degree that I had +hardly spirits left for Lady Anne Legrave's "At Home," to which +I was obliged to go in the evening. I told my fears to mamma and +Adelaide. The former said that she would hope the best; but, if the +worst comes to the worst, we must, she says, of course indulge the +whim as long as it lasts. _Ingot_ does not expect him for several +months, so that we may take time by the forelock. Then it may be +only a rumour, and he may be snug at Calcutta; but to make _sure_, +we shall take a few _good books_ down to Selby, and, _per_ favour +of the Morleys and Arundels, and a few more of the "Praise God +Barebones" community, we shall get up a nice vocabulary, and with +the help of a fawn-coloured bonnet, which I shall certainly borrow +from Deborah Prim the grocer, that "demurest of the tabby kind," +who is of the society called _Friends_, I do not despair of acting +my part _à merveille_. + +Mamma is rather _cross_ upon the matter, I think, and _foresees_ +trouble; but she is always a bit of a Cassandra; and besides, she +lost horribly the other night at _ecarté_; but for heavens sake +don't say that I told you so. + +Adelaide, some how or other too, does not enter into the thing +_con amore_, and is not as much alive as one might expect upon a +point of such magnitude, for though we have at present nothing to +go upon but Ingot's testimony, and our own surmises, the return of +the old lad is a serious sort of concern. If he is in good humour, +and neither sick, nor pious, we are _Nabobs_ and _Nabobesses_ at +once. _C'est tout dit._ If, on the other hand, he has _got the +liver_ (as the Indians say so vulgarly), or has any crotchet in +his head, connected with new-light fantasies, I do assure you that +we may have much vexation in prospect; and unless you just put +yourself in training, and help me out, I do not promise myself any +effective assistance. Our poor mother is, as I said before, in an +acid vein, and will require Cheltenham certainly, when we leave +town; and as to Adelaide, she has other fish to fry, and till the +cookery is performed or the finny race, sent swimming _again from +the net_ (_vous comprenez_); I shall not be able to enlist her in +my pantomime. _Apropos_, Lord George was with us last night, and +protests that his mother shall give a masquerade at which he will +perform the part of our old Rajah, and I shall _rehearse_ my new +character, dressed as a quaker, carrying a basket of _tracts_ on my +arm, and, followed by half a dozen of his sister, Lady Somerville's +children, who are perfect cherubs, and are to enact _my school_. +You can't fancy any thing more _spirituel_. It was quite a +_scene_, and we were decidedly the attraction of the evening. I +was evidently _prima donna_, and felt so _couleur de rose_ with +every thing, and every body, that, forgetful of a quarrel which +I had with _Ady_. in the morning, I caught Lord Crayton by the +arm, and, under pretence of asking his advice how to prepare for +uncle's arrival, gave him such a _teeth-watering_ account of the +old boy's investments in the 3 _per cent. Consols_, that milord +stuck, for the rest of the evening, like bird-lime to my pensive +sister, and almost overturned poor Sir Leonard Twig to _beau_ mamma +down stairs; since when, he has never missed a day in visiting, +riding with our coterie in the park; and in short I shall not be +surprized if, before your return from the _land of darkness_, you +see a paragraph in the Morning Post: but what should bring the +Morning Post into the wilderness? I give myself immense credit for +remembering ever since I performed the Druidical priestess at Lady +Penguin's, and learned my evening's task for the occasion, that +Annan is the Druid's name for your island of saints, and that it +was held to be the dominions of night. It is _so à propos_! + +Well, but I was talking of Crayton and Adelaide. If indeed a +London newspaper should meet your eyes while you are suffering +_ostracism_, (I got _such_ credit for that stroke last night) I +verily think it not improbable, that you will stumble ere long, +upon, "It is rumoured in the higher circles, that Viscount Crayton +is shortly to lead to the Hymeneal altar the lovely Miss A. +Howard." What more you may see here-after, I cannot give you a hint +of till you come. + +Poor Lionel Strangeways bores me to death with his _petits soins_. +Sir Stephen (that odious name always sets me sneezing) haunts +Grosvenor-square; and Annesley with whom you used to be so _lié_, +and who, begging your pardon, is neither more nor less than _bête_, +worries me to dance wherever I meet him. + +Adelaide, Crayton, Lord George, and I, made a _parti quarré_, in +the park yesterday, when we met him quite _en polisson_. He had no +servant, looked _bourgeois_; and though I am not ill-natured as you +_know_, I was obliged to sham blindness, and to pass by without +even a nod. This may cure _him_, and release _me_ from a _blister_. +If he were not nephew to the Duke of Elsbury, there would be no +bearing him; but every one knows the relationship, and therefore +one is _safe_ in acknowledging him, though he is so horribly +disagreeable. Directly after I gave him _the go by_, I recollected +that perhaps he had heard from you since your letter to us of the +5th, and I might have asked how your cough is, but I did not think +of it in time. + +The match between Lady J. Marston and Mr. Harrop, ditto between +Miss Percy and Lord Anfield are off, positively off _faute +d'argent_. The old Countess held out for £2,000 a-year settlement, +and Harrop was tied up by his former marriage. It is whispered +that a Scotch coronet _hove in sight_ just before poor H. got his +_congé_; but I don't pledge myself for the truth of this _codicil_ +to the story.--I was interrupted here by Lord George and Mr. +Cambray, and have been laughing till I am weary at the best thing +in the world. I told you in a former part of this letter, that I +was in particularly good spirits last night, and made a sally, +in speaking of your banishment. Lord George's "_bravissimo_" +was the signal of applause, but poor Sir Hargrove Miles did not +know the meaning of _ostracism_, and asked some one (I believe +young Felton), who, in a funny mood, told him that I was talking +of oysters. There was a laugh, and some ridiculous things were +said which I did not hear, but Sir Hargrove looked _cloudy_, and +your Marplot friend, Annesley, dreading a meeting in the morning, +_explained_ like a goose, and put him into good humour by allowing +him to turn the joke against me. Poor Sir H. has accordingly been +representing me to-day up and down the whole length of Bond-street +as a _Blue_, and were it not that Lord George is my _chevalier_, +and that _nuncle_ is coming home with a heavy purse, it would not +be so pleasant. As things _are_, I can _afford_ a blue banner, +or, as Lord George says, "We may hoist the _blue Peter_ now if we +like." He is very witty, and I assure you that _our_ society is +considered quite _haut ton_--quite _French_. + +I did not intend to have written six lines, and you see how I have +run on. Do, my dear, return to us as quickly as possible: you ought +to be at your _post_ when the old fellow lands on English ground. +_You_ will of course be his principal _look out_, and ought +certainly to _toad_ him a little, especially as he will probably +be very bilious after the voyage. Mamma thinks it likely that the +new light and the bile will be extinguished together, and proposes +being ready at an hour's notice to _whisk_ him off to Leamington; +but should we find that there is any thing so fixed in his +religious derangement as not to give way immediately to the waters, +she says that the worst which can happen is our leaving him for a +time, and going to the continent. He will probably come home after +so long an absence with his heart in his hand, and be as generous +as a prince. If so, we shall get plenty of money to take us abroad, +and thus fare the better for any little _twist_ that he may have +got from received opinions, I do not say from _fashionable_ ways +of thinking; for I observe, that East Indians are never people of +_ton_: they are expensive and luxurious, but want the _je ne sais +quoi_, that inexplicable _odeur de la bonne société_ which marks +the select few in a London circle. + +My uncle, in all likelihood, will purchase a magnificent seat, +have a splendid establishment; and as a little time will remove +any quaint prejudices which he may have contracted, he may keep +a first-rate table, and see the best company if he is properly +managed. The _great_ bore will be to watch him so vigilantly as to +prevent his marrying. I am _sure_ that I know at least six regular +sieges that will be commenced against the citadel of his purse, +besides whatever masked batteries may be prepared to take him by +surprise. It must be our care to be his _videttes_, and keep a +strict guard upon the motions of the enemy, giving him notice upon +every approach of danger. + +Well, I must go and dress: I hate the Opera, but we are forced to +join a party of Lady Mildmay's, and Lord Clayton will not let us +be off. _Adio mio Caro._ Say something civil to the goodies of the +Glen. What sickly stuff is pastoral life! I yawn as I write the +word. Heaven defend me from your Arcadias! I absolutely shudder +at the notion of a golden age, cool grots, and mountain nymphs. +That milk diet, too, is a sleepy, corpulent sort of thing. You +will loose your _air de noblesse_, and we shall have to put you in +training, and fine you down like a jockey before you are fit to be +seen. + +Come quickly. _Bon repos._ _You_ are retiring to your slumbers, no +doubt. + +Your mother and Ady said something, I suppose--loves, and so forth, +but I'm not sure. + + Yours, ever, + L. HOWARD. + + + + + LETTER XI. + + GENERAL DOUGLAS TO MR. OTWAY. + + + My dear old Friend, _Calcutta_. + +Were I less acquainted than I am with what was once Edward Otway, I +could not dare to address a line with any hope of being remembered +after the lapse which has occurred since last I wrote to you. I +almost dread to look back and mark the time; I fear too that I +should not advance a very satisfactory apology in declaring that I +have been equally silent to all the European world. I am in this +dilemma. I will therefore make no effort at defence or explanation, +but proceed to tell you my present object in applying to you. A +short time ago I wrote to my old friend Ingoldsby, one of the +East India Directors to the like effect; but it may be prudent +to provide against casualties, and therefore be it known to you, +that with a constitution much shattered through vicissitudes of +climate, and a mind _somewhat_ jaundiced by disappointment, I am +turning my face towards England, which I hope to reach in about +six months after you receive this announcement of my design. Though +I speak of disappointment I am not _poor_; on the contrary I have +amassed more money than enough to secure all the luxuries, as well +as comforts of life, for my remaining term; but I have lived in +banishment from all that ought to have been dear to me; I have lost +my health, seen little but wickedness in my early intercourse with +mankind, and, now arrived at a premature old age, I look on the +past without pleasure, and to the future divested of hope. I have +for some time been determined to return, but found my pecuniary +circumstances in much need of winding up; and having learned, +through sad experience, to distrust the people in whose rectitude +I had principally confided, I resolved on an arduous undertaking, +which was no other than to go myself first to Delhi, and thence +across the country to Bombay, hoping not only to settle my affairs +in the best manner, but to retrieve my health by change of air +and scene. The first object I have in a great measure achieved, +but my liver is deranged, my digestive powers are so impaired +that I almost despair of cure, and my spirits are _gone_. Here +is a sorry picture; but to business. If this should find you in +England, I wish your own taste to be employed, and if you are in +Ireland, that of any friend on whose judgment you can rely, in +the purchase of a snug demesne, well wooded, well watered, and +having a handsome, commodious house, in an airy situation, into +which I may step as soon as possible after landing. As well as I +recollect my own impressions, I liked Hampshire, Staffordshire, +and Warwickshire, better than any other parts of the country, +and I have no objection to go as far as forty or fifty thousand +pounds; it must be fee simple property, and in a rich, cultivated +district. Order whatever furniture you think suitable, and let me +find a travelling carriage, five or six good horses, and a few +servants to begin with.--Dear Otway forgive me if I am giving +you a great deal of trouble; but Ingoldsby is a fixture in town, +and I know so little of my relations, that I am hardly aware to +whom I could give these commissions. The Howards, I conclude, are +flourishing, for I believe that when my poor brother took the +name he got a pretty estate. Of the Douglas family I have lost +sight, and as I have long enjoyed the privilege (no small one I +promise you) of being considered an oddity, I mean to preserve the +character, and choose for myself amongst the people I may meet +with. I _hate_ consanguinity. It is a cursed plague to have a set +of needy folks continually pressing about one, whose claims are +supported by relationship, and whose cares are generally directed +by self-interest. I have lived too long, and seen too much to be +bamboozled, though I do not mean to be uncivil. Poor Henry might +have made a fortune had he taken my advice, and come out to India +according to my suggestion; he was my favourite brother, and I +should have found both pride and pleasure in providing handsomely +for him; but so absurd a marriage as his naturally alienates a +prudent man. Poor fellow! I never answered his letters, and looked +on him as my son; for he was several years my junior, and _felt_ +his resistance to my advice. I never saw his wife, nor any of +his children, who have all been born since I came from Europe, +and though I _do_ feel sorry that he died without any act of +reconciliation on my part; though I intend also to settle something +on his family if they are in want; yet I certainly cannot blame +myself for having shewn a well merited resentment at conduct so +highly injurious to himself, and _obstinate_ towards me. It is +all over now, and I may perhaps follow him ere long; yet, while +we _are_ here, it is human nature to deplore _that_ folly which +blights the happiest anticipations in the bud. No man knows the +value of money so well as he who has made it for himself. If you +know where poor Mrs. H. Douglas and her family are, I shall thank +you to let me hear of their retreat, and believe me, my dear Otway, +with best wishes for a happy meeting, + + Your very sincere old friend, + FRED. AUBREY DOUGLAS. + + + + + END OF VOL. I + + PRINTED BY J. B. NICHOLS, 25, PARLIAMENT-STREET + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blue-Stocking Hall, Vol. 1 (of 3), by +William Pitt Scargill + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40974 *** |