Your obliged humble servant,
Percival Flint.
Memoirs of the Flint Family.
My father, Mr. Oliver Flint, by a diligent and persevering attention,
and a constant residence on his estate in Jamaica, not only enlarged
his property and increased his wealth, but also acquired so confirmed
a predilection for the place in which his prosperity had been always
flourishing, that he imagined the island of Jamaica to be the most
healthy spot in the habitable globe; and it was a frequent topic
of conversation with my mother, to prove to her, that the air was
salutary, and that no one died at Jamaica, whom intemperance did not
conduct to the grave. My mother was sensible that her health had
suffered in this "terrestrial paradise," and that it was hourly sinking
into debility; but she left to her countenance the office of confuting
my father's arguments, and suffered in silence. A very dangerous fever
with which my father in his fiftieth year was attacked, in spite of
his sobriety and precautions, effected a change in his opinions, and
probably preserved to my mother some years of existence in this world.
Jamaica was no longer conceived to be without the inconveniences of its
tropical situation, and my father hastened his preparations to leave it.
Our family, at the period we embarked for England, consisted of my
brother Oliver, my sister Lucretia, and myself, who was the youngest.
My mother, in her wish to return to England, had been governed
by motives of advantage to her children, as powerfully as by a
consideration for her own health. The uncontrolled indulgence which my
father granted us, bounded his views; our improvement constituted no
part of his cares; and the consequence was, that Oliver and Lucretia,
to use his own words, had never been ill a day in their lives. I was
born less robust, and was reared with more difficulty. My mother, in
her tender cares, kept me in her sight, and my mind was formed to
docility, and my sports to more quietness, than suited the vigorous
Oliver, and the romp my sister. I thus became my mother's amusement;
and to her taste I am indebted for my love of literature and science.
Our voyage was pleasant, though tedious. Our accommodations were easy,
for the vessel was my father's; and in the delights of the deck, I
lost, by my activity, the name of "_Miss Molly_," which my father,
though with good humour, had taught my brother and sister to give me.
My mother appeared to have left her complaints in "the wholesomest spot
in the world;" she hourly became more cheerful; and my father confessed
that the sea breeze was equal to the air of the plantation. We settled
in London; and a time was given to repose and amusements; when, again
my mother's cheek faded, and I took the alarm. Her maid-servant told
me, as _a secret_, that we should soon have a nursery and a cradle to
provide, and that her master was looking out for a country-house, in
order that my mother might be quiet. This plan was effected; the family
removed to a handsome, spacious house near Chelsea; and such was my
father's solicitude for the quiet of his wife, that he placed Oliver,
then thirteen, in a commercial academy in the city; Lucretia in a
boarding-school; and in conformity with the wishes of his wife, who was
not to be contradicted, I was sent to the Charter-house.
My father, who loved children, and coveted them with as much avidity
as he did money, received the promised blessing with transports of
joy; and my sister Mary's birth was commemorated as the renewal of
his own life. With fond delight he shewed the infant to his friends,
and exultingly pointed out to them the promises of a face which was,
indeed, angelic! She did not disappoint these early presages. As
she advanced in age, she exhibited a form and face which perfectly
corresponded with a temper of unequalled sweetness; and with such
graces, it was no wonder she was beloved even to adulation by my
father, and the whole house.
An artist of some celebrity, and more skill, requested permission to
take her picture. She was then in her eighth year, and the painter
succeeded so happily, that he gained credit by exhibiting his work, and
induced my father to have a full-length portrait of my mother, with
Mary. This picture was my father's pride; an engraving was made from
it, and scores of prints were sent to Jamaica, in order to convince
our friends there, that the elaborate praises they had heard of this
paragon of nature, did not exceed her beauty.
This instance of my father's fond admiration of his child, and in which
he was countenanced by all who knew her, would not have found a place
here, but for the inferences I drew from it. I had long perceived that
Lucretia did not partake with us in the partiality we manifested for
the innocent and bewitching Mary. I had seen the envy with which she
regarded every proof of kindness and favour shewn to her; the spiteful
misrepresentations which she gave of her disposition to strangers; and
the contempt she discovered for the weakness of my father's adulation
of his darling. During the time she was sitting for her picture, the
artist was become a favoured guest at our table; and, with apparent
sincerity, he observed one day, that a Guido alone could do justice to
Mary's style of beauty. I saw Lucretia colour with vexation; and that
very afternoon I rescued the poor child from her correcting hands, to
whom with some resentment, I said, that I should inform my father and
mother of her severity and violence. "Do so!" answered she, bursting
into tears, "tell them, that the _neglected, ugly_ Lucretia gave the
_beauty_ a sound box on the ear, and a lesson that she needs. Tell
them, her baby face will be her ruin, but it shall never excuse her
faults with me." The sweet and mild creature, with tears, protested
that she did not know how she had offended her, imploring her
forgiveness and soliciting to be friends.
I believe my prudent mother had observed the discontents of her eldest
daughter as soon as myself; and in order to preserve the peace of the
family, she studied to give Lucretia a consequence in it which she
judged might satisfy, at least, her love of power. On her leaving
school, my mother treated her as a young woman on whom she depended for
assistance in the domestic concerns of the family. Oliver and myself
were ordered to treat her with deference, and the servants were taught
to respect Miss Flint's orders as her own. She continually praised
her good qualities, and treated her with the utmost kindness and
confidence. But Lucretia exercised her authority rather too much like
a despot; my brother and myself were not always passive subjects; and
the servants murmured under the controul of the young house-keeper. My
father's tranquillity was thus invaded, and he determined on a measure,
which, had it succeeded, would have restored order in his house. But
Miss Flint was a plain girl; and my good father found that neither the
frequent intimations which he gave of his liberal fortune, and designs
in her favour, nor the commendations he bestowed on her _good sense_
and _notability_, produced any overtures of a matrimonial kind for his
daughter. Lucretia, estimating her fortune and pretensions, was too
proud "to undervalue herself," and with manners never pleasing, she
was overlooked by men whose fortune needed not trafficking for a wife.
This period of her youth, of course, passed unpleasantly; and conscious
that she was neither a favourite with her own sex nor the other, she
disdained both, and acquired a severity of speech, and a pointed
incivility of behaviour to all around her.
I had in the course of these events quitted my situation at the
Charter-house. My partiality towards my sister Mary had not been
unnoticed. Lucretia classed me with those whom she despised; and I
met this indifference, it may be, with too much carelessness. In the
mean time, my dear mother's influence was again exerted in my favour;
but she gained her point with some difficulty. My father ungraciously
observing, that he saw she was determined to have me learned and
useless. He had no interest but such as his commercial concerns gave
him; and he only wished, that I might not in the end blame her for an
ambition so little profitable to my future fortune in life. My mother
prevailed, and I was sent to Oxford. Satisfied with this extorted
compliance, she saw me for two or three years happy in my pursuits,
and the friend of my tutor; and wherefore, my dear Madam, should I
suppress the glory of my life? She saw me her pride and hope! Her
discernment in choosing the moment propitious to her applications in my
behalf, and her gentle arguments in my favour had their effect; they
could not make my father generous; but they prevented him from being
mean; and my oeconomy rendered his bounty sufficient.
At this period of my history, I received the melancholy summons to
attend my mother, whose life was in danger. Too soon were these
apprehensions verified! I will pass over a sorrow which your feeling
heart has known, and which was the tribute that every child must pay
to the loss of a good parent. My mother appeared to have settled her
accounts with this world, but as they related to Mary, then nearly
fourteen. She spoke of her approaching dissolution with calmness and
the hopes of a christian. "I have," said she to me, "only one anxiety
to banish from my mind, before I give myself up to my merciful maker.
But the mother is yet too busy for my resignation. You Percival, are
my hope; you see the partial hand of nature has endowed your sister
Mary with a beauty, which all must acknowledge; I dread it, as her
misfortune. You know her artless, unsuspecting nature, the cheerful
gaiety of her temper, and her soft, compliant disposition. Guard her,
as you wish for a mother's blessing! Your father's pursuits in life,
his excessive fondness for his dear girl, and, I may say it to you,
his want of mental attainments, must disqualify him for the guide of
her youthful career. Your brother will soon be so remote from her,
that were he capable of protecting her, his situation will render him
useless to her. Lucretia loves her not, and from the violence of her
temper and the authority she will assume, every thing pernicious is to
be feared. Watch over her safety; establish her in those principles
to which alone she can trust for her security. Strengthen her in her
weakness, encourage her in her duty, and preserve her spotless for
that abode, in which, I hope, we shall be reunited. Your education,"
continued she calmly, "and what is of infinitely more importance, your
moral attainments, not only qualify you to supply my loss to this
precious girl, but they will, I trust, secure to you that mediocrity
of fortune and independence I wish you. You are no stranger to your
father's temper, and in his foibles you will find motives of gratitude
to that providence which has afforded you the opportunity of correcting
and enlarging your own views. I have of late," added she, deeply
sighing, "found him more averse than usual to your expenditure at
college. That wife who could convince him that his son was moderate
and prudent, will be in her grave. Take this pocket-book, it contains
my little savings, and it has been destined for your exigencies for
some years. The time may come, when, with a mother's blessing, and
the Almighty's favour, it will comfort you; preserve it for an hour
of difficulty;" continued she, pressing my hand with great emotion,
"endeavour to please your father; he has, my dear Percival, many good
qualities. Live, if it be possible, in peace with Lucretia; be prepared
for her ascendency. She will grieve your father in many points. I have
laboured in vain to correct her temper, but God, in his own time, will,
I trust, create in her a new heart; and she may live to _befriend_, not
to _annoy_ her family. Till that happy change takes place, be on your
guard, never provoke her to anger, nor defy her power; such a conduct
will never reclaim her, and _will ruin you_. Remember _this_ my dear
son, and continue to press forward in that course, which must, and
will end well for those who faint not. The distance is short, and the
recompence of virtue the prize; fear not the ruggedness of the path,
nor be discouraged, because the wicked prosper."--But I am forgetting
my purpose, Madam, in recalling the last words of my guardian angel!
My brother Oliver's voyage to Jamaica took place soon after my mother's
death, and his marriage and final settlement in the island succeeded
to these events. In the following year, my father purchased the estate
of Tarefield, and giving up his business to my brother, and his old
and faithful clerk, retired to the hall. His first sorrow for my
mother's loss, was so violent as to give us fears for his life. His
constitution was shaken by a fever of some danger and duration. On
recovering from this peril, I could not help perceiving that the gloom
which hung on his spirits, was tending to that state of discontent
which invariably precludes all the "uses of adversity." Accustomed to
seek, in the cheerful and conciliating temper of my mother, a relief in
all the little petulancy of his own unequal disposition, he lamented
her loss without ceasing, as a _convenience_, rather than a blessing,
which he had seen torn from him. Lucretia, with unremitting attention,
endeavoured to regulate his domestic comforts. Mary alone possessed
the power to calm and compose his fretful hours; she was indulged as a
child, in return for her tender solicitude to amuse and please him. I
was useful to him in no way, and sunk into a cypher.
My father, in his sorrow, had forgotten to lament the loss of that
benign influence, which had so skilfully counteracted the encroachments
of avarice. Left to his natural bias, these soon appeared, and Lucretia
failed not to make an advantage of a weakness which her mother had
checked and restrained. Every reform in the expences of the family
met with approbation, and my father insensibly gave his confidence
"to his excellent manager." I silently submitted to the new order of
things. The time approached for my emancipation from the restraints
of my father's house; I had taken my degrees, and wished to pass one
term more at the university, before I solicited my ordination. I spoke
to my father on the subject, explaining to him my motives for the
request I urged. "I have withdrawn your name from the college books,"
said he, "more than a week since. I see no good that can result from
your losing your time, and spending my money there." I ventured to
remonstrate, urged my disappointment, and added, that I had not been
idle, but had worked both for honour and independence. "Pray, Sir,"
asked he with a sneer, "how much did you expect to make yearly, of
your _learned_ labours?" "Even in deacon's orders," replied I, cut
to the very soul, "I might have eaten my own bread, and gratified my
love of _learning_."--"That you may do here," replied he roughly, "by
being Mary's schoolmaster; and at my table, with forty pounds per
annum, I presume you will be as well off as with a curacy." My mother's
blessed spirit saved me from uttering the reproaches which were on my
lips. I remembered her dying advice, I bowed, and was retiring. "Hark
ye, Sir!" cried he, "I see I have offended your classical pride, but
you ought to remember, that I never wished to see you brought up in
idleness. It was your mother's pleasure to see you the _gentleman_ of
the family. I always told her, I would not buy you a _living_: earn
one, as I have done before you. Go to your brother Oliver, and he will
teach you a better trade than that of a country curate. I will send
you in the next ship, and then do something for you that will not be
lost should you die: so you have time to consider of my offer, and to
study your multiplication table into the bargain." I bowed, and said,
"that my part required no time for a resolution: I was not educated
for commerce; nor should I go to Jamaica; but I should consider that
time well employed, which was devoted to Mary's improvement: for the
rest, I relied on his goodness and favour." "As you please," answered
he, somewhat softened: "at least, you will be useful, and you will
have no wants under my roof." I bowed, and was permitted to retire.
Lucretia exulted in this my defeat; but I kept my temper. Mary with
delight, now listened to my plans of instruction. Young as she was,
she entered into my vexations. "Be but contented here," said she,
"and I shall be happy. My father's love is not yet diverted from
his plaything; leave me to manage, you shall be comfortable." Every
device which innocence and affection could suggest, was now practised
in her playful hours with her doating father. She could not study
in the common parlour, she should never think herself at school. My
father ordered Mr. Percival to choose his own apartment; and a room
was dignified with the name of my study. It were endless to enumerate
the means this "spoiled child," to use Miss Flint's epithet, employed
to lesson the mortifying circumstances of my situation. Her winning
smiles, her sweet persuasions, her playful vivacity, had in appearance
but one stimulus;--_my ease and comfort_. She rode on horseback,
because this produced a horse for Percival's use, who was to attend
her. She loved only what he preferred at table, and even in her
application to my lessons, she was excited by the desire of serving
me. My father soon discovered by Mary's proficiency in arithmetic and
writing, that her schoolmaster was not ignorant in the multiplication
table; and I, satisfied with my dear pupil's improvement, and gratified
by her affection, became more reconciled to my situation. Mary's age,
when in her seventeenth year, produced her a new title. "The spoiled
child" was dismissed for "the idle girl," and lectures on the loss
of time were not spared. With serious remembrance of my mother's too
prophetic words, I laboured incessantly to implant in my lovely sister
those principles of conduct, which in female life, particularly, are
of more worth than all the learning of the schools. The regulation of
her heart, and the strengthening her judgment, neither deprived her of
her native simplicity, nor diverted her attention from the occupations
of her sex. She continued to be my father's source of joy and
comfort; and with a temper and an address, which it must be confessed,
peculiarly marks the fair sex, and which, when employed as Heaven
intended, renders a woman irresistible, she converted at her pleasure,
the ungracious refusal into kindness, gloom into social content,
and fretful complainings into laughter and delight. One triumph of
this angel in form and mind, I cannot omit. She had by her innocent
exertions to please her father, persuaded him, that at seventeen years
of age, it was time for her to begin to economize her own little purse.
"It is now three months since I was as old as my sister, when she had
her regular allowance," added she, "and it would be the means of making
me more careful and industrious, like Lucretia, had I the management
of my clothes and expences. My dear mother used to say," continued
she, changing her seat for my father's knee, as though sensible that
she could thus more successfully transpose into his bosom a portion of
that benevolence which warmed her own, "that nothing was more useful
to a girl, than committing to her care the annual sum requisite to
her expences. The pleasure of saving a trifle for some favourite poor
child, or an indigent widow, excited their personal frugality: the
attention it called out to _little things_, and the habits of order it
promoted, were of the most important use to a young woman, who, living
with good and tender parents, without wants, and void of cares, was in
danger of becoming ignorant of the value of money, and heedless. I know
I should manage my own affairs admirably," added she, fondly kissing
him, "for you see that I have not forgotten my dear mother's lessons,
nor her example." My father, subdued by this appeal, and softened by
caresses so artfully, but seasonably bestowed, immediately gave her
twenty guineas. She gratefully received them, and with bewitching
grace and gaiety, wrote him in much form, an acquittance. He laughed,
but was not displeased with her accuracy. "If," said he, "you can
keep your accounts as well as you have done this, you will be fit for
a merchant's wife in time."--"Never fear," cried she, "you shall see
how expert I am: I will first pay my _debts_, and then keep day-book
and ledger of what remains." My father, surprised, asked what _debts_
she could probably have incurred. "They are those," replied she, "not
only of gratitude, but of justice: my brother Percival has purchased
books for my use, which he needed not for his own, and I know he wishes
to enlarge his little store, but has not the means. Have I my dear
and tender father's permission to share with him _this_ his bounty?
I shall have sufficient remaining." Conscience, or nature, seconded
the sweet pleader. He gave her a note for five and twenty pounds for
me, and finished by saying, "you may as well say nothing of this to
your sister." Never shall I forget her transports when she related
this incident to me. "Take it," said she, pushing the whole sum toward
me, "take it as the first fruits of that affection, which my father
will soon shew you. Oh! if he were but left to his own goodness of
heart! how happy should we be, and how happy would he be himself!
But have courage, my dear Percival, we shall succeed, for we will
merit his love; and he will be just." I received my present with more
contentment of heart than I can express; and Mary begged I would be her
purse-bearer for the greater part of her treasure, adding, that she had
no other means of securing it from her sister's enquiry, who took upon
her to examine her drawers at her pleasure.