"New to the school of hard mishap,
Driven from the ease of fortune's lap,
What schemes will nature not embrace
T' avoid less shame of drear distress?
Gold can the charms of youth bestow,
And mask deformity with show:
Gold can avert the sting of shame,
In Winter's arms create a flame:
Can couple youth with hoary age,
And make antipathies engage."
[Illustration: THE RAKE'S PROGRESS, PLATE V.]
To be thus degraded by the rude enforcement of the law, and relieved
from an exigence by one whom he had injured, would have wounded,
humbled, I had almost said reclaimed, any man who had either feeling
or elevation of mind; but, to mark the progression of vice, we here
see this depraved, lost character, hypocritically violating every
natural feeling of the soul to recruit his exhausted finances, and
marrying an old and withered Sibyl, at the sight of whom nature must
recoil.
The ceremony passes in Marybone Church, which was then considered
at such a distance from London, as to become the usual resort of
those who wished to be privately married.[81] That such was the
view of this prostituted young man, may be fairly inferred from
a glance at the object of his choice. Her charms are heightened
by the affectation of an amorous leer, which she directs to her
youthful husband, in grateful return for a similar compliment which
she supposed paid to herself. This gives her face much meaning, but
meaning of such a sort, that an observer being asked, "How dreadful
must be this creature's hatred?" would naturally reply, "How hateful
must be her love!"
In his demeanour we discover an attempt to appear at the altar with
becoming decorum: but internal perturbation darts through assumed
tranquillity; for though he is plighting his troth to the old woman,
his eyes are fixed on the young girl who kneels behind her.[82]
The parson and clerk seem made for each other: a sleepy, stupid
solemnity marks every muscle of the divine, and the nasal droning of
the lay brother is most happily expressed. Accompanied by her child
and mother, the unfortunate victim of his seduction is here again
introduced, endeavouring to enter the church and forbid the banns.
The opposition made by an old pew-opener, with her bunch of keys,
gave the artist a good opportunity for indulging his taste in the
burlesque, and he has not neglected it.
A dog[83] paying his addresses to a one-eyed quadruped of his own
species, is a happy parody of the unnatural union going on in the
church.
The Commandments are broken:[84] a crack runs near the tenth, which
says, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife;" a prohibition
in the present case hardly necessary. The Creed is destroyed by
the damps of the church; and so little attention has been paid to
the poor's box, that--it is covered with a cobweb!!! These three
high-wrought strokes of satirical humour were perhaps never equalled
by an exertion of the pencil; excelled they cannot be.
On one of the pew-doors is the following curious specimen of
churchyard poetry and mortuary orthography:--
THESE : PEWES : VNSCRUD : AND TANE : IN : SVNDER
IN : STONE : THERS : GRAUEN : WHAT : IS : VNDER
TO : WIT : A VALT : FOR : BURIAL : THERE : IS
WHICH : EDWARD : FORSET : MADE : FOR : HIM : AND : HIS.[85]
A glory over the bride's head is whimsical.
The bay and holly, which decorate the pews, give a date to the
period, and determine this preposterous union of January with June to
have taken place about the time of Christmas,
"When Winter linger'd in her icy veins."
Addison would have classed her among the evergreens of the sex.
It has been observed, that "the church is too small, and that the
wooden post, which seems to have no use, divides the picture very
disagreeably."[86] This cannot be denied: but it appears to be meant
as an accurate representation of the place, and the artist delineated
what he saw.
The grouping is good, and the principal figure has the air of
a gentleman. The light is well distributed, and the scene most
characteristically represented.