Sees his Sister happily married--Visits Emilia, who receives him
according to his Deserts.
Her brother being of opinion, that Mr. Clover's proposal was not to
be neglected, especially as Julia's heart was engaged in his favour,
communicated the affair to his uncle, who, with the approbation of
Mrs. Trunnion, declared himself well satisfied with the young man's
addresses, and desired that they might be buckled with all expedition,
without the knowledge or concurrence of her parents, to whom (on account
of their unnatural barbarity) she was not bound to pay the least regard.
Though our adventurer entertained the same sentiments of the matter,
and the lover, dreading some obstruction, earnestly begged the immediate
condescension of his mistress, she could not be prevailed upon to take
such a material step, without having first solicited the permission of
her father; resolved, nevertheless, to comply with the dictates of her
own heart, should his objections be frivolous or unjust.
Urged by this determination, her admirer waited upon Mr. Gamaliel at the
public-house, and, with the appearance of great deference and respect,
made him acquainted with his affection for his daughter, communicated
the particulars of his fortune, with the terms of settlement he was
ready to make; and in conclusion told him, that he would marry her
without a portion. This last offer seemed to have some weight with the
father, who received it with civility, and promised in a day or two to
favour him with a final answer to his demand. He, accordingly, that same
evening consulted his wife, who, being exasperated at the prospect of
her daughter's independency, argued with the most virulent expostulation
against the match, as an impudent scheme of her own planning, with a
view of insulting her parents, towards whom she had already been guilty
of the most vicious disobedience. In short, she used such remonstrances,
as not only averted this weak husband's inclination from the proposal
which he had relished before, but even instigated him to apply for a
warrant to apprehend his daughter, on the supposition that she was about
to bestow herself in marriage without his privity or consent.
The justice of peace to whom this application was made, though he could
not refuse the order, yet, being no stranger to the malevolence of the
mother, which, together with Gamaliel's simplicity, was notorious in the
county, he sent an intimation of what had happened to the garrison; upon
which a couple of sentinels were placed on the gate, and at the pressing
solicitation of the lover, as well as the desire of the commodore, her
brother, and aunt, Julia was wedded without further delay, the ceremony
being performed by Mr. Jolter, because the parish priest prudently
declined any occasion of giving offence, and the curate was too much in
the interest of their enemies to be employed in that office.
This domestic concern being settled to the satisfaction of our hero, he
escorted her next day to the house of her husband, who immediately wrote
a letter to her father, declaring his reasons for having thus superseded
his authority; and Mrs. Pickle's mortification was unspeakable.
That the new-married couple might be guarded against all insult, our
young gentleman and his friend Hatchway, with their adherents, lodged
in Mr. Clover's house for some weeks; during which they visited their
acquaintance in the neighbourhood, according to custom. When the
tranquility of their family was perfectly established, and the contract
of the marriage executed in the presence of the old commodore and his
lady, who gave her niece five hundred pounds to purchase jewels and
clothes, Mr. Peregrine could no longer restrain his impatience to see
his dear Emily; and told his uncle, that next day he proposed to ride
across the country, in order to visit his friend Gauntlet, whom he had
not heard of for a long time.
The old gentleman, looking steadfastly in his face, “Ah! D--n your
cunning!” said he, “I find the anchor holds fast! I did suppose as how
you would have slipt your cable, and changed your berth; but, I see,
when a young fellow is once brought up by a pretty wench, he may man his
capstans and viol block, if he wool; but he'll as soon heave up the Pike
of Teneriffe, as bring his anchor aweigh! Odds heartlikins! had I known
the young woman was Ned Gauntlet's daughter, I shouldn't have thrown out
signal for leaving off chase.”
Our adventurer was not a little surprised to hear the commodore talk
in this style; and immediately conjectured that his friend Godfrey
had informed him of the whole affair. Instead of listening to this
approbation of his flame, with those transports of joy which he would
have felt, had he retained his former sentiments, he was chagrined at
Trunnion's declaration, and offended at the presumption of the young
soldier, in presuming to disclose the secret with which he had entrusted
him. Reddening with these reflections, he assured the commodore that he
never had serious thoughts of matrimony; so that if any person had told
him he was under any engagement of that kind, he had abused his ear; for
he protested that he would never contract such attachments without his
knowledge and express permission.
Trunnion commended him for his prudent resolution, and observed, that,
though no person mentioned to him what promises had passed betwixt him
and his sweetheart, it was very plain that he had made love to her, and
therefore it was to be supposed that his intentions were honourable; for
he could not believe he was such a rogue in his heart, as to endeavour
to debauch the daughter of a brave officer, who had served his country
with credit and reputation. Notwithstanding this remonstrance, which
Pickle imputed to the commodore's ignorance of the world, he set out for
the habitation of Mrs. Gauntlet, with the unjustifiable sentiments of a
man of pleasure, who sacrifices every consideration to the desire of his
ruling appetite; and, as Winchester lay in his way, resolved to visit
some of his friends who lived in that place. It was in the house of one
of these that he was informed of Emilia's being then in town with her
mother; upon which he excused himself from staying to drink tea, and
immediately repaired to their lodgings, according to the directions he
had received.
When he arrived at the door, instead of undergoing that perturbation of
spirits, which a lover in his interesting situation might be supposed to
feel, he suffered no emotion but that of vanity and pride, favoured with
an opportunity of self-gratification, and entered his Emilia's apartment
with the air of a conceited petit-maitre, rather than that of the
respectful admirer, when he visits the object of his passion, after an
absence of seventeen months.
The young lady, having been very much disobliged at his mortifying
neglect of her brother's letter, had summoned all her own pride and
resolution to her aid; and, by means of a happy disposition, so far
overcame her chagrin at his indifference, that she was able to behave in
his presence with apparent tranquility and ease. She was even pleased
to find he had, by accident, chosen a time for his visit when she was
surrounded by two or three young gentlemen, who professed themselves her
admirers. Our gallant was no sooner announced, than she collected all
her coquetry, put on the gayest air she could assume, and contrived
to giggle just as he appeared at the room door. The compliments of
salutation being performed, she welcomed him to England in a careless
manner, asked the news of Paris, and, before he could make any reply,
desired one of the other gentlemen to proceed with the sequel of that
comical adventure, in the relation of which he had been interrupted.
Peregrine smiled within himself at this behaviour, which, without all
doubt, he believed she had affected to punish him for his unkind silence
while he was abroad, being fully persuaded that her heart was absolutely
at his devotion. On this supposition, he practised his Parisian
improvements on the art of conversation, and uttered a thousand
prettinesses in the way of compliment, with such incredible rotation of
tongue, that his rivals were struck dumb with astonishment, and Emilia
fretted out of all temper, at seeing herself deprived of the prerogative
of the sex. He persisted, however, in this surprising loquacity, until
the rest of the company thought proper to withdraw, and then contracted
his discourse into the focus of love, which now put on a very different
appearance from that which it had formerly worn. Instead of awful
veneration, which her presence used to inspire, that chastity of
sentiment, and delicacy of expression, he now gazed upon her with the
eyes of a libertine, he glowed with the impatience of desire, talked in
a strain that barely kept within the bounds of decency, and attempted
to snatch such favours, as she, in the tenderness of mutual
acknowledgments, had once vouchsafed to bestow.
Grieved and offended as she was, at this palpable alteration in his
carriage, she disdained to remind him of his former deportment, and,
with dissembled good-humour, rallied him on the progress he had made
in gallantry and address. But, far from submitting to the liberties he
would have taken, she kept her person sacred from his touch, and would
not even suffer him to ravish a kiss of her fair hand; so that he
reaped no other advantage from the exercise of his talents, during
this interview, which lasted a whole hour, than that of knowing he had
overrated his own importance, and that Emily's heart was not a garrison
likely to surrender at discretion.
At length his addresses were interrupted by the arrival of the mother,
who had gone abroad to visit by herself; and the conversation becoming
more general, he understood that Godfrey was at London, soliciting for a
lieutenancy that had fallen vacant in the regiment to which he belonged;
and that Miss Sophy was at home with her father.
Though our adventurer had not met with all the success he expected by
his first visit, he did not despair of reducing the fortress, believing
that in time there would be a mutiny in his favour, and accordingly
carried on the siege for several days, without profiting by his
perseverance; till, at length, having attended the ladies to their
own house in the country, he began to look upon this adventure as time
misspent, and resolved to discontinue his attack, in hopes of meeting
with a more favourable occasion; being, in the meantime, ambitious of
displaying in a higher sphere, those qualifications which his vanity
told him were at present misapplied.