But when I came to the address to be made to the accursed man, 'if he
were not to be diverted from seeing her dead, whom ONCE before he had
seen in a manner dead'----execration, and either vows or wishes of
revenge, filled every mouth.
These were still more fervently renewed, when they came to hear read her
forgiveness of even this man.
You remember, Sir, on our first reading of the will in town, the
observations I made on the foul play which it is evident the excellent
creature met with from this abandoned man, and what I said upon the
occasion. I am not used to repeat things of that nature.
The dear creature's noble contempt of the nothing, as she nobly calls it,
about which she had been giving such particular directions, to wit, her
body; and her apologizing for the particularity of those directions from
the circumstances she was in--had the same, and as strong an effect upon
me, as when I first read the animated paragraph; and, pointed by my eye,
(by turns cast upon them all,) affected them all.
When the article was read which bequeathed to the father the
grandfather's estate, and the reason assigned for it, (so generous and so
dutiful,) the father could sit no longer; but withdrew, wiping his eyes,
and lifting up his spread hands at Mr. James Harlowe; who rose to attend
him to the door, as Arabella likewise did----All he could say--O Son!
Son!--O Girl! Girl!--as if he reproached them for the parts they had
acted, and put him upon acting.
But yet, on some occasions, this brother and sister showed themselves to
be true will disputants.
Let tongue and eyes express what they will, Mr. Belford, the first
reading of a will, where a person dies worth anything considerable,
generally affords a true test of the relations' love to the deceased.
The clothes, the thirty guineas for mourning to Mrs. Norton, with the
recommendation of the good woman for housekeeper at The Grove, were
thought sufficient, had the article of 600£. which was called monstrous,
been omitted. Some other passages in the will were called flights, and
such whimsies as distinguish people of imagination from those of
judgment.
My cousin Dolly Hervey was grudged the library. Miss Harlowe said, That
as she and her sister never bought the same books, she would take that
to herself, and would make it up to her cousin Dolly one way or other.
I intend, Mr. Belford, to save you the trouble of interposing--the
library shall be my cousin Dolly's.
Mrs. Hervey could hardly keep her seat. On this occasion, however, she
only said, That her late dear and ever dear niece, was too glad to her
and hers. But, at another time, she declared, with tears, that she could
not forgive herself for a letter she wrote,* looking at Miss Arabella,
whom, it seems, unknown to any body, she had consulted before she wrote
it and which, she said, must have wounded a spirit, that now she saw had
been too deeply wounded before.
* See Vol. III. Letter LII.
O my Aunt, said Arabella, no more of that!--Who would have thought that
the dear creature had been such a penitent?
Mr. John and Mr. Antony Harlowe were so much affected with the articles
in their favour, (bequeathed to them without a word or hint of reproach
or recrimination,) that they broke out into self-accusations; and
lamented that their sweet niece, as they called her, was not got above
all grateful acknowledgement and returns. Indeed, the mutual upbraidings
and grief of all present, upon those articles in which every one was
remembered for good, so often interrupted me, that the reading took up
above six hours. But curses upon the accursed man were a refuge to which
they often resorted to exonerate themselves.
How wounding a thing, Mr. Belford, is a generous and well-distinguished
forgiveness! What revenge can be more effectual, and more noble, were
revenge intended, and were it wished to strike remorse into a guilty or
ungrateful heart! But my dear cousin's motives were all duty and love.
She seems indeed to have been, as much as a mortal could be, LOVE itself.
Love sublimed by a purity, by a true delicacy, that hardly any woman
before her could boast of. O Mr. Belford, what an example would she have
given in every station of life, (as wife, mother, mistress, friend,) had
her lot fallen upon a man blessed with a mind like her own!
The 600£. bequeathed to Mrs. Norton, the library to Miss Hervey, and the
remembrances to Miss Howe, were not the only articles grudged. Yet to
what purpose did they regret the pecuniary bequests, when the poor's
fund, and not themselves, would have had the benefit, had not those
legacies been bequeathed?
But enough passed to convince me that my cousin was absolutely right in
her choice of an executor out of the family. Had she chosen one in it,
I dare say that her will would have been no more regarded than if it had
been the will of a dead king; than that of Lousi XIV. in particular; so
flagrantly broken through by his nephew the Duke of Orleans before he was
cold. The only will of that monarch, perhaps, which was ever disputed.
But little does Mr. James Harlowe think that, while he is grasping at
hundreds, he will, most probably, lose thousands, if he be my survivor.
A man of a spirit so selfish and narrow shall not be my heir.
You will better conceive, Mr. Belford, than I can express, how much they
were touched at the hint that the dear creature had been obliged to part
with some of her clothes.
Silent reproach seized every one of them when I came to the passage where
she mentions that she deferred filling up some blanks, in hopes of
receiving their last blessing and forgiveness.
I will only add, that they could not bear to hear read the concluding
part, so solemnly addressed to her Redeemer. They all arose from their
seats, and crowded out of the apartment we were in; and then, as I
afterwards found, separated, in order to seek that consolation in
solitary retirement, which, though they could not hope for from their own
reflections, yet, at the time, they had less reason to expect in each
other's company. I am, Sir,
Your faithful and obedient servant,
WILLIAM MORDEN.