Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected
without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have
been retained as printed.
Words printed in italics are noted with underscores: _italics_.
The Table of Contents was not present in the original text and has
been produced for the reader's convenience.
The cover of this ebook was created by the transcriber and is hereby
placed in the public domain.
TALES OF MY TIME.
BY THE AUTHOR OF BLUE-STOCKING HALL.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
WHO IS SHE?
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY,
NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1829.
J. B. NICHOLS AND SON,
25, Parliament Street.
WHO IS SHE?
"As a stranger give it welcome." HAMLET.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The following story is founded on facts which came within the knowledge
of the writer. The precise point at which truth ends, and fiction
begins, it is not necessary to divulge; but in an age when an avidity
for the stimulus of real adventure seems in a great degree to have
superseded the love of mere romance, it may not be uninteresting to
state that the heroine of the following pages is not altogether a
creature of imagination.
CONTENTS
Chapter
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
CHAPTER I.
"Oh! this is trim!"--TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.
At not more than a stone's throw from a neat market town, in a certain
shire of England, lived Francis Hartland, Esq. in a well-built square
house, which was separated from the King's high road, by a lawn of
twenty acres. Round this lawn a double row of handsome elms lined a
ring fence, and formed the outer boundary, in that part next the house,
of a bank covered with all sorts of shrubs, which sloped in a gradually
inclined plane, from the shining laurel to the dwarf cistus, and met a
broad belt of gravel, hard and smooth as marble, through which no
upstart weed ever dared to force its way. This walk was fringed by a
border of flowers, in such variety of glowing tints, that lawn and all
might be aptly compared to a robe of green velvet, trimmed with a
phylactery of broidered work, worthy of Sheba's Queen in all her glory,
while the whole exhibited such precision and nicety in the keeping, as
to suggest the idea that its owner, in league with the fairies,
possessed some secret charm against every noxious reptile and devouring
fly.
This _Snuggery_ was not the hereditary right of Mr. Hartland, but was
purchased for valuable consideration, and he came to live in it, nobody
knew from whence, or how incited.
His appearance did not afford rich material for romance; for he was a
sleek, mild, contented looking man of forty odd, with an open
countenance. A spacious forehead of pipe-clay whiteness, from which his
hair was making annual recession, surmounted a nose of latinostrous
projection, eyes of rather the "lack lustre" character, and cheeks of
roseate hue, or perhaps more truly, though less poetically, of
brick-dust dye; while the _toute ensemble_ received decoration from a
set of teeth which seemed as if they had been newly chiselled from the
finest block of ivory ever imported from the land of Ophir. But
curiosity can find browsing even where food is most scantily provided;
and accordingly nothing could surpass the sensation produced by Mr.
Hartland's arrival at Henbury Lodge. The industry and zeal set in
motion by this event were rewarded at length to a certain extent by
information that the new comer was related to a noble house, and
possessed a clear independent property of twelve hundred a year.
Farther deponent sayeth not; but it usually happens that where truth
ends, generous fiction takes up the tale, and a thousand stories were
soon in circulation. That which excited most interest, and was
therefore most frequently repeated, though entirely divested of
foundation, gave to understand that a matrimonial disappointment had
driven him from the scene of mortification, and induced his removal to
a region in which he might hope to forget its sting.
Mr. Hartland's manner and appearances unquestionably contradicted this
surmise; but no matter for that. We know that stubborn facts are
accustomed to bend to theory in cases more impracticable than this; and
therefore, though we may object to the idea that features which seemed
to be moulded for the seat of a perennial smile, had ever been
"sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought," no such incongruity was
perceived in the market-town of which our narrative makes mention; and
not only was Mr. Hartland believed to have suffered all the pangs and
penalties of slighted passion; but by degrees a certain name, locality,
height, complexion, and many other particulars, came to be added
respecting the cruel fair one, with such variance as suited the
character of each reporter.
The honest truth of the matter was, that Mr. Hartland came to his
present independence late in life, and regulated his mind till then, by
the _pole-star_ maxim, which he imbibed with his alphabet, that the
worst of all poor things was a poor marriage. His father died before he
was born; and his mother, who understood the art of making one pound
perform the work of two in any other hands, had contrived to educate
her darling and only child, by exercising the closest economy; but,
strange to say, instead of placing him in any profession by which he
might support himself, and repay her for the sacrifices she had made,
she preferred keeping him at home, and it was her pride and delight,
that whatever were the privations which _she_ endured, her son should
know no want. Young Hartland had his horse, while his mother assured
him that she _chose_ to walk; his boots and shoes shone like mirrors,
his hat was glossy as a raven's wing, and his whole wardrobe appointed
with as much care as if he only waited for his legal majority to step
into a good estate.
But one and twenty years had looked at themselves in the glass of one
and twenty more, ere any change occurred; and then the heirship to a
comfortable property put him in possession of easy circumstances only
just three months before death deprived him of her with whom he had
passed his days. This event rendered his home intolerable, and ability
to quit the scene of his loss coinciding with inclination to do so, Mr.
Hartland sought in all directions for an eligible residence. Being a
man of orderly and clock-work habits, who had performed a measured
round of daily action from the time of his earliest childhood, he felt
no desire to alter the manner of his life, but only wished to continue
its wonted routine upon a different stage. It never once occurred to
his imagination that foreign travel, or even the recreation of a
neighbouring watering place, might afford diversion to the uneasy
thoughts which possessed his mind; but lighting accidentally upon an
advertisement, which set forth that Henbury, with its appurtenances,
was to be sold, he immediately resolved on being the purchaser. There
were just as many acres as constituted his _beau ideal_ of a snug
abode, and he lost no time in transplanting thither every biped and
quadruped on which he was accustomed to rest his eyes, insomuch that
when first he opened them after sleeping in his new _domicile_, every
thing around was so tranquilly arranged that he would have been
scarcely sensible of having quitted his ancient abiding place, had not
the painful feeling been removed of association with the image of his
poor mother, whose arm-chair and work-basket no longer rose upon his
view, empty and unoccupied in their allotted corner.
Now it may easily be conceived that Mr. Hartland, such as we have
depicted him, though himself unperturbed, caused an active stir in the
neighbourhood of his new habitation. The tradespeople all gave
testimony to his being "a pure substantial man, who paid for every
thing he had like a true gentleman." The regularity of his attendance
at church gained him the rector's marked approval; while the apothecary
sighed as he contemplated the damask of a cheek which seemed to hold
out little hope of requiring aid from the leech's skill, or the rosy
conserves of his shop. But the chief commotion was among the female
part of the community, who, some for themselves, and others for their
daughters, set a longing eye on Henbury's "crisped shades and bowers,"
where revelled "the spruce and jocund spring." On Sundays a general
determination of gay hats and bonnets was observable towards that part
of the church which was occupied by Mr. Hartland, where such a stream
of floating ribbons might be remarked converging to his pew, as to
authorise the belief that a current of the electrid fluid set in that
direction, and drew the silken pennants thus to a point. The new comer
was visited and invited by all the inhabitants of the neighbourhood,
and declared to be an acquisition wherever he appeared. "Upon my word,
a very sensible steady man is Mr. Hartland," was the usual panegyric
pronounced by his hosts, while the old ladies protested that he played
a capital game of whist, and the young confessed that though he had
passed the first season of youth, he had not seen out its bloom.
Now it so happened that in the centre of the market-place, and in a
house distinguished by two bay windows so prominent and closely set,
that they looked like the eyes of a prawn, and served as spectacles to
her who dwelt within, there lived a maiden yclept Jemima Ferret, whose
name remarkably coincided with her character and vocation. Nature had
originally bestowed upon her features divested of all attraction, and
the small-pox had fatally confirmed the decree which had been issued in
her cradle against the chances of a husband. Jemima had attained the
age of fifty without a single proposal, though her favourite adage, and
one which she repeated with such emphasis as to prove that she believed
it in her heart, was, that "every Jack has his Jill."
When, however, half a century had fairly glided down the stream of
time, Miss Ferret transferred with honest zeal all those exertions
to the circle which surrounded her, which had hitherto proved
inefficacious while applied to her own use; and as the materials upon
which she worked were often widely different from those on which her
skill had been originally employed, the success was proportionate;
and Jemima Ferret rose to the highest pinnacle of consideration, as
the most adroit and judicious negociator who ever made a match, and
brought together two individuals in the holy bands of wedlock. Such
was the profound sagacity, such the acknowledged ability and discretion
of this hymeneal plenipotentiary, that she was always given _carte
blanche_ to proceed according to her own views, and there was a general
understanding that whatever she "_brought about_," was effected in the
very best manner.
In fact, such was the confidence which she inspired, that her
neighbours frequently avoided betraying their wishes in any direct
_commission_, relying upon her tact and penetration for discovering the
secret purpose of their hearts, and forwarding their wishes if no
pre-arrangement of her own militated against them; in which case it was
well known that her manoeuvring so far surpassed any tactics which
could be brought in opposition, as to secure the crown of victory, and
render vain every effort at competition.
Not to lead our readers into any false conclusions, which a little
trouble in the way of explanation might prevent, it may be well to
state the motives which induced an activity of zeal so very striking
and conspicuous. Be it known, then, that Miss Ferret's income was a
very small one, and though since she had given up all hope of bettering
her fortune by a lucrative barter of such qualifications as she had to
exchange for their money price, she had improved her means, by sinking
her little capital for an annuity, it was not so liberal a stipend as
to render her by any means indifferent to increase of comfort; and she
prudently considered that the next best thing to forming a good
establishment for herself, which we have hinted had hitherto proved
impracticable, would be to secure as many settlements as she could for
her friends, amongst whom she might pass from house to house much to
the solace of her spirits and the relief of her purse.
In this office of match-making, then, which she raised to the dignity
of a regular trade, or profession, she put forth all the strength of
her talents, and prospered exceedingly. She had all sorts, sizes, and
descriptions under her patronage; and her powers were so generally
known, that though people did not like to own their obligation to a
third person in matters of so delicate a nature, they were nevertheless
secretly felt to be of such importance, that to conciliate Miss
Ferret's regards became a point of rivalry in and about the town in
which she resided.
Mr. Hartland, without being aware of the honour, was placed at the head
of her list for matrimonial preferment as soon as he had come into
possession of Henbury; but for _once_, Jemima was puzzled about a
help-mate for him, some objection having occurred to three several
young ladies, whom she kept constantly in mind, and who were still on
the unattached service. When things are least expected, however, they
often come to pass, and it so chanced, that while Hymen's _chargé
d'affaires_ was at fault for her game, Miss Robinson came to pay a
visit at Colbrook, the seat of Sir Roger Goodman, an opulent and
corpulent Baronet, who lived within the district which Miss Ferret
resolved should limit the circuit of her exertions; because to have
engaged in distant experiment would have increased difficulties, and
diminished the probability of successful result.
The arrival of this lady, who deserves to be the heroine of a chapter,
as she was soon destined to be head of a house, at once furnished a
subject to animate the genius of our fair undertaker.