The next morning Mr. Stanley proposed that we should pay a visit to some
of his neighbors. He and Sir John Belfield rode on horseback, and I had
the honor of attending the ladies in the sociable. Lady Belfield, who
was now become desirous of improving her own too relaxed domestic system
by the experience of Mrs. Stanley, told her how much she admired the
cheerful obedience of her children. She said, "she did not so much
wonder to see them so good, but she owned she was surprised to see them
so happy."
"I know not," replied Mrs. Stanley, "whether the increased
insubordination of children is owing to the new school of philosophy and
politics, but it seems to me to make part of the system. When I go
sometimes to stay with a friend in town to do business, she is always
making apologies that she can not go out with me--'her daughters want
the coach.' If I ask leave to see the friends who call on me in such a
room--'her daughters have company there, or they want the room for their
music, or it is preparing for the children's ball in the evening.' If a
messenger is required--'her daughters want the footman.' There certainly
prevails a spirit of independence, a revolutionary spirit, a separation
from the parent state. IT IS THE CHILDREN'S WORLD."
"You remind me, madam," said I, "of an old courtier, who being asked by
Louis XV., which age he preferred, his own or the present, replied, 'I
passed my youth in respecting old age, and I find I must now pass my old
age in respecting children.'"
"In some other houses," said Mrs. Stanley, "where we visit, besides that
of poor Mr. Reynolds, the children seem to have all the accommodation;
and I have observed that the convenience and comfort of the father is
but a subordinate consideration. The respectful terms of address are
nearly banished from the vocabulary of children, and the somewhat too
orderly manner which once prevailed is superseded by an incivility, a
roughness, a want of attention, which is surely not better than the
harmless formality which it has driven out."
Just as she had said this, we stopped at Mr. Reynolds's gate; neither he
nor his lady were at home. Mr. Stanley, who wished to show us a fine
reach of the river from the drawing-room window, desired the servant to
show us into it. There we beheld a curious illustration of what we had
heard. In the ample bow-window lay a confused heap of the glittering
spoils of the most expensive toys. Before the rich silk chairs knelt two
of the children, in the act of demolishing their fine painted
playthings; "others apart sat on _the floor_ retired," and more
deliberately employed in picking to pieces their little gaudy works of
art. A pretty girl, who had a beautiful wax doll on her lap, almost as
big as herself, was pulling out its eyes, that she might see how they
were put in. Another, weary of this costly baby, was making a little
doll of rags. A turbulent-looking boy was tearing out the parchment from
a handsome new drum, that he might see, as he told us, where the noise
came from. These I forgave: they had meaning in their mischief.
Another, having kicked about a whole little gilt library, was sitting,
with the decorated pages torn asunder at his feet, reading a little
dirty penny book, which the kitchen-maid had bought of a hawker at the
door. The Persian carpet was strewed with the broken limbs of a painted
horse, almost as large as a poney, while the discontented little master
was riding astride on a long rough stick. A bigger boy, after having
broken the panels of a fine gilt coach, we saw afterwards in the
court-yard nailing together a few dirty bits of ragged elm boards, to
make himself a wheel-barrow.
"Not only the disciple of the fastidious Jean Jacques," exclaimed I,
"but the sound votary of truth and reason, must triumph at such an
instance of the satiety of riches, and the weariness of ignorance and
idleness. One such practical instance of the insufficiency of affluence
to _bestow_ the pleasures which industry must _buy_; one such actual
exemplification of the folly of supposing that injudicious profusion and
mistaken fondness can supply that pleasure which must be worked out
before it can be enjoyed, is worth a whole folio of argument or
exhortation. The ill-bred little flock paid no attention to us, and only
returned a rude 'n--o' or 'ye--s' to our questions."
"Caroline," said Sir John, "these painted ruins afford a good lesson for
us. We must desire our rich uncles and our generous god-mothers to make
an alteration in their presents, if they can not be prevailed upon to
withhold them."
"It is a sad mistake," said Mr. Stanley, "to suppose that youth wants to
be so incessantly amused. They want not pleasures to be chalked out for
them. Lay a few cheap and coarse materials in their way, and let their
own busy inventions be suffered to work. They have abundant pleasure in
the mere freshness and novelty of life, its unbroken health, its elastic
spirit, its versatile temper, and its ever new resources."
"So it appears, Stanley," said Sir John, "when I look at your little
group of girls, recluses as they are called. How many cheap, yet lively
pleasures do they enjoy! their successive occupations, their books,
their animating exercise, their charitable rounds, their ardent
friendships; the social table, at which the elder ones are companions,
not mutes; the ever-varying pleasures of their garden,
"Increasing virtue, and approving heaven."
While we were sitting with Lady Aston, on whom we next called, Mr.
Stanley suddenly exclaimed, "The Misses Flam are coming up the gravel
walk." Lady Aston looked vexed, but correcting herself said, "Mr.
Stanley, we owe this visit to you, or rather to your friend," bowing to
me; "they saw your carriage stop here, or they would not have done so
dull a thing as to have called on me."
These new guests presented a new scene, very uncongenial to the timid
and tranquil spirit of the amiable hostess. There seemed to be a contest
between the sisters, who should be most eloquent, most loud, or most
inquisitive. They eagerly attacked me all at once, as supposing me to be
overflowing with intelligence from the metropolis, a place which they
not only believed to contain exclusively all that was worth seeing, but
all that was worth hearing. The rest of the world they considered as a
barren wilderness, of which the hungry inhabitants could only be kept
from starving, by such meagre aliment as the occasional reports of its
pleasures, fashions, and anecdotes, which might now and then be conveyed
by some stray traveler, might furnish.
"It is so strange to us," said Miss Bell, "and so monstrously dull and
vulgar, to be in the country at this time of the year, that we don't
know what to do with ourselves."
"As to the time of year, madam," said I, "if ever one would wish to be
in the country at all, surely this month is the point of perfection. The
only immoral thing with which I could ever charge our excellent
sovereign is, that he was born in June, and has thus furnished his
fashionable subjects with a loyal pretense for encountering 'the sin and
sea-coal of London,' to borrow Will Honeycomb's phrase, in the finest
month of the twelve. But where that is the real motive with one, it is
the pretense of a thousand."
"How can you be so shocking?" said she. "But papa is really grown so
cross and stingy, as to prevent our going to town at all these last two
or three years; and for so mean a reason that I am ashamed to tell you."
Out of politeness I did not press to know; I needed not, for she was
resolved I should not 'burst in ignorance.'
She went on: "Do you know he pretends that times are hard, and public
difficulties increasing; and he declares that whatever privations we
endure, government must be supported: so he says it is right to draw in
in the only way in which he can do it honestly; I am sure it is not
doing it creditably. Did you ever hear any thing so shabby?"
"Shabby, madam," replied I; "I honor a gentleman who has integrity
enough to do a right thing, and good sense enough not to be ashamed to
own it."
"Yes, but papa need not. The steward declares, if he would only raise
his tenants a very little, he would have more than enough; but papa is
inflexible. He says my brother must do as he pleases when he comes to
the estate, but that he himself promised when he came into possession,
that he would never raise the rents, and that he will never be worse
than his word." As I could not find in my heart to join in abusing a
gentleman for resolving never to be worse than his word, I was silent.
She then inquired with more seriousness, if there were any prospect of
peace. I was better pleased with this question, as it implied more
anxiety for the lives of her fellow-creatures, than I had given her
credit for. "I am anxiously looking into all the papers," continued she,
without giving me time to speak, "because as soon as there is peace,
papa has promised that we shall go to town again. If it was not for that
I should not care if there was war till doomsday, for what with marching
regiments, and militia, and volunteers, nothing can be pleasanter than
it makes the country, I mean as far as the country _can_ be pleasant."
They then ran over the names and respective merits of every opera
singer, every dancer, and every actor, with incredible volubility; and I
believe they were not a little shocked at my slender acquaintance with
the nomenclature, and the little interest I took in the criticisms they
built upon it.
Poor Lady Aston looked oppressed and fatigued, but inwardly rejoiced, as
she afterward owned to me, that her daughters were not within hearing. I
was of a different opinion, upon the Spartan principle, of making their
children sober, by the spectacle of the intoxicated Helots. Miss Bell's
eloquence seemed to make but little impression on Sir George; or rather
it produced an effect directly contrary to admiration. His good taste
seemed to revolt at her flippancy. Every time I see this young man he
rises in my esteem. His ingenuous temper and engaging modesty set off to
advantage a very fair understanding.
In our way home, we were accosted by Mr. Flam. After a rough but hearty
salutation, and a cordial invitation to come and dine with him, he
galloped off, being engaged on business. "This is an honest country
'squire of the old cut," said Mr. Stanley afterward; "he has a very good
estate which he has so much delight in managing, that he has no pleasure
in any thing else. He was prevailed on by his father to marry his
present wife for no other reason than because her estate joined to his,
and broke in a little on the _arrondissement_; but it was judged that
both being united, all might be brought within a ring fence. This was
thought a reason sufficiently powerful for the union of two immortal
beings, whose happiness here and hereafter might be impeded or promoted
by it! The felicity of the connection has been in exact proportion to
the purity of the motive."
I could not forbear interrupting Mr. Stanley, by observing that nothing
had surprised or hurt me more in the little observation I had made on
the subject of marriage than the frequent indifference of parents to the
moral, and especially to the religious character of the man who proposed
himself. "That family, fortune, and connections should have their full
share in the business, I readily admit," added I, "but that it should
ever form the chief, often the only ground of acceptance, has, I
confess, lowered mankind in my esteem more completely than almost any
other instance of ambition, avarice, or worldliness. That a very young
girl, who has not been carefully educated, should be captivated by
personal advantages, and even infatuated by splendor, is less surprising
than that parents, who having themselves experienced the insufficiency
of riches to happiness, that they should be eagerly impatient to part
from a beloved daughter, reared with fondness at least, if not with
wisdom, to a man of whose principles they have any doubt, and of whose
mind they have a mean opinion, is a thing I can not understand. And yet
what proposal almost is rejected on this ground?" Lucilla's eyes at
this moment shone with such expressive brightness that I exultingly said
to myself, "Lord Staunton! I defy thee!"
"The mischief of this lax principle is of wide extent," replied Mr.
Stanley. "When girls are continually hearing what an advantageous, what
a desirable marriage such a young friend has made, with a man so rich,
so splendid, so great, though they have been accustomed to hear this
very man condemned for his profligacy perhaps, at least they know him to
be destitute of piety; when they hear that these things are not
considered as any objection to the union, what opinion must these girls
form, not only of the maxims by which the world is governed, but of the
truth of that religion which those persons profess?
"But to return to Mr. Flam. He passed through the usual course of
education, but has profited so little by it, that though he has a
certain natural shrewdness in his understanding, I believe he has
scarcely read a book these twenty years, except Burn's 'Justice' and
'The Agricultural Reports.' Yet when he wants to make a figure, he now
and then lards his discourse with a scrap of thread-bare Latin which he
used to steal in his school-boy exercises. He values himself on his
integrity, and is not destitute of benevolence. These, he says, are the
sum and substance of religion; and though I combat this mistaken notion
as often as he puts it in my power, yet I must say that some who make
more profession would do well to be as careful in these points. He often
contrasts himself with his old friend Ned Tyrrel, and is proud of
showing how much better a man he is without religion than Ned is with
all his pretensions to it. It is by thus comparing ourselves with worse
men that we grow vain, and with more fortunate men that we become
discontented.
"All the concern he gives himself about his wife and daughters is, that
they shall not run him in debt; and, indeed, he is so liberal that he
does not drive them to the necessity. In every thing else, they follow
their own devices. They teased him, however, to let them spend two or
three winters in town, the mother hinting _that it would answer_. He was
prevailed on to try it as a speculation, but the experiment failed. He
now insists that they shall go no more, till the times mend, to any of
the advertising places, such as London, Brighton, or Bath; he says that
attending so many fairs and markets is very expensive, especially as the
girls don't go off. He will now see what can be done by private contract
at home, without the cost of journeys, with fresh keep and trimming and
docking into the bargain. They must now take their chance among country
dealers; and provided they will give him a son-in-law, whose estate is
free from incumbrances, who pays his debts, lives within his income,
does not rack his tenants, never drinks claret, hates the French, and
loves field sports, he will ask no more questions."
I could not but observe how preferable the father's conduct, with all
its faults, was to that of the rest of the family. "I had imagined,"
said I, "that this coarse character was quite out of print. Though it is
religiously bad, and of course morally defective, yet it is so
politically valuable that I should not be sorry to see a new edition of
these obsolete squires, somewhat corrected, and better lettered."
"All his good qualities," said Mr. Stanley, "for want of religion have a
flaw in them. His good nature is so little directed by judgment, that
while it serves the individual, it injures the public. As a brother
magistrate, I am obliged to act in almost constant opposition to him,
and his indiscretions do more mischief by being of a nature to increase
his popularity. He is fully persuaded that occasional intoxication is
the best reward for habitual industry; and insists that it is good old
English kindness to make the church ringers periodically tipsy at the
holidays, though their families starve for it the whole week. He and I
have a regular contest at the annual village fairs, because he insists
that my refusing to let them begin on a Sunday is abridging their few
rights, and robbing them of a day which they might add to their pleasure
without injury to their profit. He allows all the strolling players,
mountebanks, and jugglers to exhibit, because, he says, it is a charity.
His charity, however, is so short-sighted that he does not see that
while these vagabonds are supplying the wants of the day, their
improvident habits suffer them to look no further; that his own workmen
are spending their hard-earned money in these illegal diversions, while
the expense is the least mischief which their daughters incur."
Our next visit was to Mr. Carlton, whom I had found, in one or two
previous interviews, to be a man of excellent sense, and a perfect
gentleman. Sir John renewed with pleasure his acquaintance with the
husband, while Lady Belfield was charmed to be introduced to the wife,
with whose character she was so enamored, and whose gentle manners were
calculated to confirm the affection which her little history had
inspired.