THE VICAR'S PROSPERITY.--HE SETS ABOUT MAKING SOME IMPORTANT REFORMS IN
THE VILLAGE.
The departure of Charles, so immediate and so unrepining, seemed to the
vicar a most satisfactory proof that the talent and firmness which he
had himself displayed in their final interview had produced exactly the
effect which he hoped and intended. "He will, I think, trouble me no
more:" such was the comfortable little mental soliloquy with which, as
he sat in his noble library, the Vicar of Wrexhill listened to the
wheels of the cab, lent to convey Mowbray to the nearest town through
which the coach passed.
This good work achieved, which was of that species permitted by the
peculiar doctrine of his sect, Mr. Cartwright, of Cartwright Park, began
to look around him among his neighbours and dependants for opportunities
of displaying both his sanctity and his magnificence.
Every thing seemed to prosper with him; and the satisfaction produced by
this success was very greatly enhanced by the consciousness that he owed
it all, from the humble courtesy of the village maidens up to the
crowning glory of his lady's love, and all the wealth it brought, wholly
and solely to himself. Ungrateful would he have been for such unnumbered
blessings had he neglected to reward that self by every kind observance
and by every thoughtful care which his active fancy, his fastidious
taste, and his luxurious nature could suggest. But he did it all so
"_doucely_," that no voice was raised to censure the dainty appetite of
the high-fed priest; no lip was curled in scorn as every week brought
forth some new indulgence, some exquisite refinement of elaborate
luxury.
Every thing seemed to prosper with him. The wines he ordered could
hardly be accounted dear even at the unheard-of prices he gave for them.
The beautiful creature he bought for his own riding, with just action
enough to show off his handsome figure, and not sufficient to occasion
him the least fatigue, appeared to be so born and bred on purpose for
his use, that every eye was fixed in admiration as he paced along, and
no tongue wagged to tell that while young Mowbray departed from his
father's house with ten pounds in his pocket, his stepfather's ambling
hack cost two hundred.
Every thing seemed to prosper with him. Mrs. Simpson, instead of
spoiling her fine eyes, and reducing by her secession his fair
congregation of elected saints, which he had certainly good reason to
fear, listened to his doctrine now with the same yielding obedience that
she did before; and so far was the tongue of slander from finding any
thing amiss in the frequent pastoral visits he continued to pay her,
that her credit, particularly with her tradespeople, stood higher than
ever, and her begging-boxes, and her tract-selling, and her albums,
flourished quite as well as when she believed that she and they would
ere long be translated to the Vicarage.
Of Mrs. Richards's converted daughters, little Mary was the only one who
ventured openly to declare that she thought the vicar had behaved
extremely ill; that after what she saw pass between him and sister
Louisa, it was a sin not to marry her; and that she did not think poor
Mrs. Mowbray would ever be happy with a man who was so very much in love
with another person.
But it was only little Mary who said all this, and nobody paid much
attention to it. The pious Louisa herself declared, indeed, that there
never had been any thing but the purest evangelical love between them;
and that the kiss about which silly Mary made such a fuss, was nothing
in the world but a kiss of holy peace and brotherly love.
The same eloquence which persuaded the young lady so to think, or at any
rate, so to say, persuaded her likewise, and her sister Charlotte with
her, to persevere in their avocations. They continued to compose tracts,
to get them printed and sold when they could, and to read them aloud and
give them away in manuscript when they could not. They also continued
most perseveringly to expound both tracts and Scriptures for the
edification of their very unhappy mother; who having passed the last
twenty years of her life in exerting every faculty to render them happy
around her, could not now so change her plan as to give them that
portion of her house for the display of their inspired eloquence which
she herself did not occupy--and thus she passed by far the greater
portion of every day in listening to their ceaseless assurances that the
pit of hell was yawning to receive her.
Major Dalrymple being present on one occasion when this was going on
with peculiar fervour, waited very patiently till there was a pause in
the eloquence of Miss Charlotte, who was holding forth, and then said
Scotchly and quietly, "Well, well, I see not but it is all very fair
between you and your mother, my bonny lasses: she has been always
forgetting herself for your sakes, and you are now forgetting yourselves
for hers."
It was not very long, however, after the marriage of the vicar, that a
welcome and much-needed ray of hope once more gleamed upon her. It rose
from the fair forehead of little Mary. From the time of her conversion,
all her very pretty curls had been straightened and pushed behind her
ears, and the little straw bonnet which covered them was the rival, or
rather, the model of Fanny Mowbray's. But by degrees, a few of these
curls began to reappear round her face; her sad-coloured ribbons were
exchanged for the bright tints that suited so well with her clear brown
skin: her laughing eyes began to recover their brightness, and at last
she whispered in her mother's ear, "Forgive me, dearest mamma, for all
my folly, my presumption. Forgive me, dearest mother; and pray God to
forgive me too!"
From that moment Mrs. Richards felt restored to happiness. She had too
early learnt that, at the best, life is but like a changeable web of
silk, in which the dark tints predominate, to poison the enjoyment which
Mary's return to reason brought her, by remembering at any moment when
it was possible to forget it, that she had still two daughters who
declared their persuasion that they could never meet her in the life to
come. She wisely and with true piety turned all her thoughts to Mary,
soothed her remorse, and reconciled her to herself. In addition to this
great joy, she thought she saw the promise of another, that for years
had formed her favourite castle in the air. She thought she saw that
Major Dalrymple looked at the recovered Mary with eyes expressive of
love as well as of joy; and with this hope before her, and the
delightful occupation of watching Mary sometimes blush, and always smile
when the major entered, her life once more ceased to be a burden, and
Rosalind again found that she sang the very sweetest second in the
world.
As soon as the occupation of receiving and returning the wedding visits
was pretty well over, Mr. Cartwright set about making some important
alterations and reforms in the village of Wrexhill.
His attentive wife suggested to him, that he would find the fatigues of
a large landed proprietor who so actively inquired into every thing, as
he did, too much for his health and spirits, if he continued Vicar of
Wrexhill. But to this he answered, "Heaven forbid, my lovely Clara, that
I should ever suffer my cares for my earthly possessions to interfere
with those especially relating to my heavenly ones! The cure of souls,
my love, has ever been a favourite occupation with me. It greatly
assists in giving one that sort of influence over the minds of ones
fellow-creatures which every wise and holy man would wish to possess.
But I have already secured the services of a very serious and exemplary
curate, my dear love, who will relieve me from that part of the duty
which, as you justly fear, might prove injurious to my health. This
arrangement will, I trust, answer all your wishes for the present, sweet
love; and in future I intend that our son Charles shall be my curate. He
will, I have no doubt, like the Vicarage as a residence: it is really
very pretty, and sufficiently near us to permit of easy, and I should
hope, frequent intercourse. But it must be a year or two before this can
be put in practice; and, in the mean time, I trust that we shall find
Mr. Samuel Hetherington a pious and prayerful young man. I am not
without hopes that he will arrive at the Vicarage to-night. I forget,
dear, if I mentioned to you any thing about him?--I certainly, as you
observe, am very much occupied!--However, don't let me forget to say,
that if he comes to-night he must be invited to dine here to-morrow."
Another of Mr. Cartwright's new arrangements arose from a scene that
passed between Mr. Marsh, the quiet, peaceable, pains-taking village
schoolmaster, and himself. This poor man, who had a wife and some
half-dozen children, contrived to maintain them all by keeping school.
He had a good house and extensive play-ground, which tempted many a
tradesman in the county town, and some even in London, to send their
sons to Wrexhill to improve at once their lungs and their learning. He
had also a considerable number of day-boarders from all the farmers
round, besides many of the most decent and well-born of the village
children as day-scholars.
To keep up this flourishing concern certainly took up every hour of Mr.
Marsh's waking existence, and weary enough was he at night, poor man,
when he laid his head on his pillow. But no one had ever heard him
complain. His wife and children were comfortably clothed, fed, and
lodged; his "_parents_" were all well contented with the learning and
the health of their children, and all his neighbours esteemed and spoke
well of him.
Before Mr. Cartwright had been many weeks at Wrexhill, he took an
opportunity of making a very kind and condescending call upon the worthy
schoolmaster. Mr. Marsh happened at that moment to be superintending the
afternoon writing-lessons; but he instantly obeyed the summons, and
received the vicar in his best parlour with every demonstration of
reverence.
"You have good premises here, Mr. Marsh," said the newly-installed
clergyman of the parish; "really a very decent and respectable-looking
domain. How many boys have you, sir?"
"Twenty-seven boarders, twelve day-boarders, and sixteen day-scholars."
"Indeed!--that makes a considerable number of Christian souls. And what,
sir, may be the method and the principle of your religious instruction?"
"I take all my boarders, sir, to church twice every Sunday; and they
read from the Bible twice a week. In addition to which, we have family
prayer night and morning."
"Then it is as I feared, Mr. Marsh," replied the vicar: "you altogether
neglect, both for your pupils and yourself, sir, my nine o'clock Sabbath
evening lecture in the church, together with the Tuesday evening's
expounding and the Thursday evening's church lecture. This is awful
negligence, sir; it is a terrible tempting of the Lord!"
"I think, Mr. Cartwright," replied the poor schoolmaster, colouring,
"that I shall be able to explain to your satisfaction my reasons for not
attending your evening lectures. Some of my boys, sir, are almost
grown-up lads: I have two hard upon seventeen, and I need not tell a
gentleman like you that there is a deal of caution necessary at that age
to keep lads out of harm's way. I have had the character of sending home
very good, sober, decent lads; and this, I think, has done me more
service in getting scholars than even my writing and book-keeping. But
perhaps you don't know, sir, and I am sure I don't wish to put myself
forward to tell you--but the truth is, Mr. Cartwright, that these late
meetings, which break up quite in the dark, do bring together a great
many disorderly people. 'Tis an excuse, sir, for every boy and girl that
is in service to get out just when they ought to be at home, and
altogether it is not quite the sort of thing I approve for my boys."
"But when I tell you, Mr. Marsh," replied the vicar with much dignity,
"that it is the sort of thing which I approve, for all the girls and
boys too who live under my ministry, I presume that you do not intend to
persevere in your very futile, and I must call it, impious objection. If
you, sir, paid the attention that you ought to do to the religious
object of the meeting, your impure imagination would not be quite so
busy about its moral consequences. I am sorry to tell you, Mr. Marsh,
that you are splitting on the rock which sends more wrecked and wretched
souls to hell than any other peril of this mortal life, let it be what
it may."
"Well, sir," replied the schoolmaster mildly, "I must make up my account
between God and my own conscience, and trust to his mercy to overlook my
deficiencies."
"Overlook your deficiencies?--poor deluded man!--Do you really hope that
the Lord will pardon the clinging to works, and neglecting to hear his
word?--Do you really doubt that Satan stands ready at the door to seize
your soul, and bear it in his poisoned claws to everlasting torture?--Do
you really doubt this, Mr. Marsh?"
"Indeed I do, sir."
"This is terrible!" cried the vicar, starting up and attempting to stop
his ears. "Such blasphemy cannot be listened to without sin. I leave
you, sir, and I will shake the dust off this your carpet from off my
feet. But remember this,--I am your pastor and master, appointed to be
the minister and guide of all the souls in my parish. As for your
soul--I have no hope left for it: it must, and it will have its portion
among the condemned, and will exist only to burn in unspeakable tortures
for ever.--I have spoken, and you know your doom. But not so is it with
the young persons committed to your charge; though, alas! the peril in
which they now abide is sore to think of. Nevertheless, I will neither
leave them nor forsake them as long as hope is left that a single brand
can be snatched from the burning. Wherefore hear me!--This day is
Thursday; let me this night see yourself, and every boy abiding in your
house, in the gallery which you occupy in the church, or I will set to
work to weed the vineyard. Yea! I will cleanse it root and branch from
the corruption and abomination of you and your boys. Poor wretches, that
you are labouring and striving to prepare for the kingdom of hell! But I
speak sinfully in joining you and them together! and may the Lord
forgive me, as I will strive to atone for it. I will clear the vineyard
of you--but not till I have separated your boys from you. They shall be
saved,--by my hand shall they be saved; and when I shall have effected
this, you may perchance, while enjoying the leisure that will be your
portion, remember this day, and value at its worth the wisdom which made
you brave a minister of the evangelical church. Have I softened your
hard heart, Mr. Marsh? Will you bring your school to my lecture this
evening? Say 'Yes!' and you are forgiven."
"No, sir, I will not!" was the quiet but firm reply of the good man.
Not another syllable was spoken on either side; but well did the vicar
of Wrexhill keep his word. Public estimation and private good-will
appeared for a time to resist all the efforts he could make to persuade
the villagers, and the farmers round about, that Mr. Marsh was a very
impious and dangerous man, and one whom it was dangerous to trust with
their children. They knew better; they knew that he was honest,
pains-taking, intelligent, patient, and strictly attentive to his
religious duties. But constant dropping will wear away a stone; and
constant malevolence, kept in constant action, by one who was not very
scrupulous as to the truth or falsehood of any statement that tended to
produce the effect he wished, at length began, like rust upon steel, to
cover and hide its true colour and its real brightness. One by one his
daily scholars fell away from him,--one by one the neighbouring farmers
came with some civil reason for not finding the sending their boys so
likely to answer as formerly; and one by one his distant patrons found
out the same thing: so that soon after the vicar's marriage he had the
great delight of hearing that Mr. Marsh was sent to prison because he
could not pay his rent, that his furniture was seized for taxes, and
his tidy little wife lying ill of a brain fever at a small public-house
near the prison, with her children starving round her.
The sort of inward chuckle with which the prosperous vicar received this
bit of village gossip from his valet has no letters by which it can be
spelt;--it was the hosannah of a fiend.
The supplying Mr. Marsh's place in Wrexhill was one of the things that
now demanded Mr. Cartwright's immediate attention; and notwithstanding
the many delicious temptations to idleness which surrounded him, his
love of power, stronger even than his love of luxury, led him to hunt
for and to find an individual to fill the situation, whose perfect
obedience to his will made the dominion of the village school worth
counting among the gratifying rights and immunities of his enviable
position.
Many of the country families, partly from curiosity, and partly from
respect for the owner of the Park, let him be who he would, paid their
visits, and sent their invitations with an appearance of consideration
very dear to his heart, particularly when it chanced that this
consideration proceeded from persons blessed by bearing a title. As to
his domestic circle, it went on rather better than he expected: if not a
happy, it was a very quiet one. Helen drooped, it is true, and looked
wofully pale; but she seldom complained at all, and if she did, he heard
her not. Rosalind was very wretched; but a host of womanly feelings were
at work within her to prevent its being guessed by any. Even Helen
thought that she had a wondrous portion of philosophy so speedily to
forget poor Charles, and so very soon to reconcile herself to the
hateful dominion of the usurper who had seized his place. But Helen knew
not how she passed the hours when no eye saw and no ear heard her.
Neither did Helen know the terrible effort she had made to redeem the
folly and the pride shown in her answer to Charles, the first and only
time that he had ever ventured to disclose his love. Had Helen known
this, and the manner in which this offer of herself had been refused,
she would have loved, and not blamed the resolution with which the
heart-stricken Rosalind hid her wound from every eye.
Fanny was gloomy, silent, and abstracted; but Mr. Cartwright only
thought that the poor girl, having been passionately in love with him,
was suffering a few natural pangs while teaching herself to consider
him as her father. But all this was so natural, so inevitable indeed,
that he permitted it not to trouble him: and, in truth, he was so
accustomed in the course of his ministry to win young ladies, and
sometimes old ones too, from the ordinary ways of this wicked world, to
his own particular path of righteousness, by means of a little
propitiatory love-making, that the moans and groans which usually
terminated this part of the process towards perfect holiness among the
ladies had become to him a matter of great indifference. Notwithstanding
his long practice in the study of the female heart, however, he did not
quite interpret that of Fanny Mowbray rightly. He knew nothing of the
depth and reality of fanatic enthusiasm into which he had plunged her
young mind; nor could he guess how that pure, but now fettered spirit,
would labour and struggle to reach some vantage-ground of assurance on
which to rest itself, and thence offer its unmixed adoration to the
throne of grace. He had no idea how constantly Fanny was thinking of
heaven, when he was talking of it.
Of Henrietta he never thought much. She had given him some trouble, and
he had used somewhat violent measures to bring her into such outward
training as might not violently shock his adherents and disciples. But
all this was now settled much to his satisfaction. She combed her hair
quite straight, never wore pink ribands, and sat in church exactly as
many hours as he commanded.
Mr. Jacob was, as usual, his joy and his pride; and nothing he could do
or say sufficed to raise a doubt in the mind of his admiring father of
his being the most talented young man in Europe. That Jacob was not yet
quite a saint, he was ready to allow; but so prodigiously brilliant an
intellect could not be expected to fold its wings and settle itself at
once in the temperate beatitude of saintship. He would come to it in
time. It offered such inestimable advantages both in this world and the
next, that Jacob, who had even now no objection to an easy chair, would
be sure to discover the advantages of the calling.
The wife of his bosom was really every thing he could wish a wife to be.
She seemed to forget that there could be any other use for her ample
revenue, than that of ministering to his convenience; and so complete
was the devotion with which she seemed to lay herself and all that was
hers at his feet, that no shadowy doubts or fears tormented him
respecting that now first object of his life, the making her will.
But though thus assured of becoming her heir whenever it should please
Heaven to recall her, he took care to omit nothing to render assurance
doubly sure. Not a caress, not a look, not a tender word, but had this
for its object; and when his "dearest life" repaid him with a smile, and
his "loveliest Clara" rewarded him with a kiss, he saw in his mind's eye
visions of exquisite engrossings, forming themselves day by day more
clearly into--"all my estates, real and personal, to my beloved
husband."
Thus, beyond contradiction, every thing seemed to prosper with him; and
few perhaps of those who gratified his vanity by becoming his guests,
guessed how many aching hearts sat around his daily banquet.