“Prove that to know is to attend,
And that we ever keep in sight
What reason tells us once is right.”
WILKIE.
Great was the astonishment of the Earl of Trimmerstone at receiving the
following letter from Horatio Markham:
“My lord,
“In looking over the will of your lordship’s late lamented
relative, I am greatly concerned to find an error which
seriously affects myself. Not to keep you in suspense, I have
to inform your lordship that the legacy which devolves to me as
residuary-legatee is far beyond the intention or apprehension
of the devisor. It is very clear, that from neglecting to
investigate his affairs, the late Mr. Martindale was by no means
aware of the extent of his property. The legacies, therefore,
devised to your lordship and others related to the deceased,
are much less than otherwise they would have been. I know for
a certainty that the will was formed on a misapprehension. The
appearance of my name at all was by me unsought and unexpected,
and for many reasons undesirable. Had the late Mr. Martindale
bequeathed to me a small complimentary legacy, I should have
accepted it, unhesitatingly, as a memento of his kind friendship.
Had a definite, though unreasonably large legacy been devised to
me, I might perhaps have hesitated and refused to accept it. But
now I find that nearly one-half of the large property possessed
by the late Mr. Martindale is bequeathed to me by an error;
and therefore I must positively, though respectfully, decline
accepting more than the devisor apprehended he had bequeathed to
me.
“I have written on the same subject, and to the same purpose, to
Signora Rivolta; and I wait to know hers and your lordship’s will
and pleasure concerning the matter in question.
“I have the honor to be, &c.”
When the above letter arrived at Trimmerstone, his lordship was busily
engaged in inspecting the progress of the operatives at the old hall.
Part of the building had been promptly made fit for his lordship’s
residence; and as his establishment was now very small, he was not
reluctant to use the contracted residence assigned to him. We have
already intimated that the Earl of Trimmerstone was depressed in spirits:
it is indeed very natural that he should be. The life which he had led,
the companions with whom he had associated, the disappointments which
he had experienced, his foolish marriage, the disgraceful conduct of
his silly countess, the taunts and reproaches of his opulent relative,
the weariness and disgust that he felt in having nothing to do, and the
annoyance of an empty title, which merely mocked him with the epithet of
Right Honorable, all these things combined to render him almost disgusted
with, and weary of life.
In this humor he went to Trimmerstone, and took up his abode at the
miserable old hall. The gloom of the building was quite in unison with
the feelings of his mind, and he very contentedly set himself down
to lament over the vanity of life, and to make amends for his past
transgressions by growling right surlily at the sins of others. His
solitude was soon invaded by a visit from the rector of Trimmerstone, who
was rather fanatical in his theology, and finical in attire and address.
Neither of these qualities were, in the first instance, agreeable to his
lordship; but the Rev. Marmaduke Sprout had the capacity for flattery in
a very high degree. He could presently render himself agreeable to any
person of exalted rank by his very courteous and conciliating demeanour;
and he possessed a peculiar softness and gentleness of manner, with
which indeed the Earl of Trimmerstone would, in his past days of
cock-fighting, horse-racing, and boxing, have been thoroughly disgusted.
But his lordship was quite an altered man. He did not exactly know what
was the matter with himself, till Mr. Sprout introduced to his fretful
and fidgetty lordship the subject of fanaticism. That became an excellent
antistagnator, and set all his fancies and vagaries at work in quite an
opposite direction to that which they had hitherto taken. Formerly, the
lowest pursuits under the name of sport or fancy had been agreeable to
his lordship; and every species of religious sentiment he had regarded
with the profoundest contempt and the most unmingled abhorrence. But now
he was sick, and weary of all these things; and because one extreme was
purely offensive and wearisome, he took it for granted that the opposite
must be truly delightful and highly consistent, and so under the tuition
of Mr. Sprout, he changed and reversed all his habits, good, bad, and
indifferent. From staking thousands at a horse-race, he turned up his
eyes at the grievous abomination of half-crown whist; and, indeed, had
he been disposed to card-playing, he could not have indulged himself
at Trimmerstone, for Mr. Sprout had banished almost all card-playing
from the place, so that there was not a pack of cards in the parish,
except two or three mutilated well-thumbed packs of quadrille-cards,
which were still used by a knot of antiquated spinsters worthy of the
good old days of Sacheverel and High Church. Quadrille-cards will not do
for whist, for all the eights, nines and tens are thrown out. Formerly,
Lord Trimmerstone used to be proud of giving some of his acquaintance a
sumptuous dinner; but now he had changed all that, and he only kept one
female cook, who could just manage to make a comfortable and snug little
dish or two for his lordship’s own self, occasionally assisted by the
Rev. Mr. Sprout. Formerly, his lordship had been disposed to be lively,
and oftentimes facetious; but now he was prodigiously grave, and almost
sulky. Formerly, his lordship never went to church; now he went twice
every Sunday, and said Amen as loud as the clerk, and with much more
solemnity, for the clerk did not turn up his eyes for fear of losing the
place. Formerly, his lordship had been very candid; now he had become
exceedingly censorious, and he seemed to measure his religion by the
severity with which he reproved transgressors. His lordship several times
attempted to make all the inhabitants of Trimmerstone go to church twice
every Sunday, except his own cook. But in this his lordship could not
succeed, and indeed it was well for him that he could not; for if he had,
the church would have been so crowded that he could not have enjoyed a
great, large, lined, stuffed, padded, carpeted pew for himself.
Though Lord Trimmerstone was a zealous convert to Mr. Sprout’s theory
of the national religion, yet that theory was not quite obvious and
distinct to his lordship’s apprehension; and often did he blunder in
the enunciation of his theory, and awkwardly did he sometimes express
himself when he thought he was contending for the truth: for he has
been known to rebuke the unepiscopal worshippers in barns and outhouses
for holding the pestilential doctrines of election and predestination.
This was pardonable in a young beginner; but Mr. Sprout set him right,
and showed that the doctrines of predestination and election had been
sometimes erroneously apprehended to mean predestination and election,
whereas the proper view of the subject was that they meant election and
predestination.
That part of fanaticism which consists in gloominess and moroseness, his
lordship could manage to admiration; for he was thoroughly disgusted with
every thing and every body. We cannot resist the inclination to observe
in this part of our narrative, how very just and appropriate a punishment
is fanaticism for gross immorality. When the mind has spurned the meeker
and gentler bonds of religious principle and conscientious thought,
it is rightly punished by the withering rigors of fanaticism, and the
gloomy terrors of superstition. Under these influences was now lying the
Earl of Trimmerstone. And he was engaged in conversation with the Rev.
Marmaduke Sprout, when there was delivered into his lordship’s hands the
above-mentioned letter of Horatio Markham.
His lordship made the apology usual on such occasions, and forthwith
opened and read Markham’s letter. As soon as the reading was finished,
his lordship said, “This is very honorable conduct in Mr. Markham.”
Then handing the letter to Mr. Sprout, he said, “Read this letter,
sir, and let me have your advice, how I ought to act under present
circumstances.”
The reverend gentleman took the letter bowing, and perused it with great
attention, and returned to his lordship with another bow, and a smile of
satisfaction at being let into a great man’s confidence; and said,
“Really, my lord, I hardly know how to advise. Cases do sometimes occur
in which there is a great deal of difficulty, and this appears to me to
be one of them.”
By this speech, though delivered with the solemnity of an oracle, very
little information was communicated to his lordship. When people ask
for advice, they should, in order to save their friends a great deal of
trouble, state explicitly what sort of advice they wish to have. It is
for want of this honesty and explicitness that so much good advice is
continually thrown away.
His lordship was now fairly puzzled and perplexed. It was necessary
to send some answer to the communication of Markham; and his lordship
had discernment enough to perceive that this gentleman was truly a
scrupulous and conscientious man. The present transaction proved that
fact abundantly. For nine hundred and ninety-nine persons out of a
thousand would, without much if any hesitation, have accepted the
legacy in question. That feeling in Markham, to which some persons
might be inclined to give the name of moral prudery, prevented him from
availing himself of a decided error; and on the other hand, his dislike
of ostentatious magnanimity and heroics placed him in an unpleasant
situation in making an offer of surrendering the legacy.
Notwithstanding the various lectures and the great and clear information
which Mr. Sprout had communicated to Lord Trimmerstone, concerning those
views of religion most suitable to fanaticism, his lordship was but
imperfectly initiated: therefore, when he had read Markham’s letter, and
handed it over to Mr. Sprout for his perusal also, his lordship could not
help observing,
“This is really very meritorious conduct in Mr. Markham, there is not one
man in a thousand who would have acted thus under these circumstances.”
To this Mr. Sprout very seriously and solemnly replied, “Your lordship
will excuse me, but I must observe that there is nothing meritorious in
human actions.”
“Mr. Sprout,” said his lordship, “I will not contend with you for a
word; but you must grant, that notwithstanding the supreme importance of
faith, which I am quite ready to allow, there is a great difference in
human actions, and that some conduct is better than other. There are
multitudes who have not faith who frequently perform virtuous actions,
and live according to the principles of morality.”
The clergyman shook his head, and said, “Mere heathen morality.”
“And that,” replied Lord Trimmerstone, “is better than no morality at
all.”
It could not be entertaining to our readers to pursue the long and
elaborate arguments by which the rector of Trimmerstone attempted to
prove that virtue was of no value but of great importance. We therefore
proceed with our narrative.
When the discussion was concluded, and his lordship was abundantly
convinced that he knew nothing about the matter, he directed his thoughts
to the subject of Markham’s letter: and as the divine had given all the
advice upon the business which he was able to give, he took his leave;
and the Earl of Trimmerstone remained alone to consult with his own
thoughts.
All that his lordship could think was, that this conduct of Markham
was very handsome. But that was not enough. It would not be a very
satisfactory answer to Markham should his lordship say merely that such
conduct was very handsome. After much deliberation, his lordship came to
the conclusion, that it would be best to have an interview with Markham
on the subject, and to make inquiry into all the particulars, resolving
to compel the barrister to the acceptance of as much as he could force
upon him.
With this view his lordship sent to Markham an immediate acknowledgment
of the receipt of his communication, proposing at the same time a meeting
with him for the purpose of entering into the particulars of the affair;
for Markham’s letter had not sufficiently to his lordship’s apprehension
explained the cause and nature of the error in the will.
Markham’s letter to Signora Rivolta received also an immediate answer,
and that answer was decisive. The lady, after complimenting the barrister
for his very honorable conduct, said, that it was quite out of the
question that she or her family could have, according to the laws of
England, any claim whatever on any part of the property, save that which
was literally and expressly bequeathed to them; and that if any remained
unappropriated or unclaimed, the only person who had aught to do with it
must of course be the heir-at-law.
Thus it seemed that the business was brought into a small compass,
resting only between Markham and Lord Trimmerstone. And though his
lordship’s moral susceptibility might not have been quite so acute and
delicate as Markham’s, yet when such an appeal as this was made to his
feelings, he could not but entertain some thoughts of disinterestedness:
for the disinterestedness of the residuary-legatee was so powerful, as to
excite in his lordship’s mind a degree of sympathy and a corresponding
feeling.