Which sloping hills around enclose, Where many a beech and
brown oak grows, Beneath whose dark and branching bowers,
Its tides a far-fam'd river pours, By nature's beauties
taught to please, Sweet Tusculan of rural ease!--
Warton.
Woodbourne, the habitation which Mannering, by Mr. Mac-Morlan's
mediation, had hired for a season, was a large comfortable mansion,
snugly situated beneath a hill covered with wood, which shrouded
the house upon the north and east; the front looked upon a little
lawn bordered by a grove of old trees; beyond were some arable
fields, extending down to the river, which was seen from the
windows of the house. A tolerable, though old-fashioned garden, a
well-stocked dovecot, and the possession of any quantity of ground
which the convenience of the family might require, rendered the
place in every respect suitable, as the advertisements have it,
"for the accommodation of a genteel family."
Here, then, Mannering resolved, for some time at least, to set up
the staff of his rest. Though an East-Indian, he was not partial
to an ostentatious display of wealth. In fact, he was too proud a
man to be a vain one. He resolved, therefore, to place himself
upon the footing of a country gentleman of easy fortune, without
assuming, or permitting, his household to assume, any of the faste
which then was considered as characteristic of a nabob.
He had still his eye upon the purchase of Ellangowan, which
Mac-Morlan conceived Mr. Glossin would be compelled to part with,
as some of the creditors disputed his title to retain so large a
part of the purchase-money in his own hands, and his power to pay
it was much questioned. In that case MacMorlan was assured he
would readily give up his bargain, if 'tempted with something above
the price which he had stipulated to pay. It may seem
strange,--that Mannering was so much attached to a spot which he
had only seen once, and that for a short time, in early life. But
the circumstances which passed there had laid a strong hold on his
imagination. There seemed to be a fate which conjoined the
remarkable passages of his own family history with those of the
inhabitants of Ellangowan, and he felt a mysterious desire to call
the terrace his own, from which he had read in the book of heaven a
fortune strangely accomplished in the person of the infant Heir of
that family, and corresponding so closely with one which had been
strikingly fulfilled in his own. Besides, when once this thought
had got possession of his imagination, he could not, without great
reluctance, brook the, idea of his plan being defeated, and by a
fellow like Glossin. So pride came to the aid of fancy, and both
combined to fortify his resolution to buy the estate if possible.
Let us do Mannering justice. A desire to serve the distressed had
also its share in determining him. He had considered the advantage
which Julia might receive from the company of Lucy Bertram, whose
genuine prudence and good sense could so surely be relied upon.
This idea had become much stronger since Mac-Morlan had confided to
him, under the solemn seal of secrecy, the whole of her conduct
towards young Hazlewood. To propose to her to become an inmate in
his family, if distant from the scenes of her youth and the few
whom she called friends, would have been less delicate; but at
Woodbourne she might without difficulty be induced to become the
visitor of a season, without being depressed into the situation of
an humble companion. Lucy Bertram, with some hesitation, accepted
the invitation to reside a few weeks with Miss Mannering. She felt
too well, that however the Colonel's delicacy might disguise the
truth, his principal motive was a generous desire to afford her his
countenance and protection, which his high connections, and higher
character, were likely to render influential in the neighbourhood.
About the same time the orphan girl received a letter from Mrs.
Bertram, the relation to whom she had written, as cold and
comfortless as could well be imagined. It enclosed, indeed, a
small sum of money, but strongly recommended economy, and that Miss
Bertram should board herself in some quiet family, either at
Kippletringan or in the neighbourhood, assuring her, that though
her own income was very scanty, she would not see her kinswoman
want.
Miss Bertram shed some natural tears over this cold-hearted
epistle; for in her mother's time, this good lady. had been a
guest at Ellangowan for nearly three years, and it was only upon
succeeding to a property of about 400L a-year that she had, taken
farewell of that hospitable mansion, which, otherwise, might have
had the honour of sheltering her until the death of its owner. Lucy
was strongly inclined to return the paltry donation, which, after
some struggles with avarice, pride had extorted from the old lady.
But on consideration, she contented herself with writing, that she
accepted it as a loan, which she hoped in a short time to repay,
and consulted her relative upon the invitation she had received
from Colonel and Miss Mannering. This time the answer came in
course of post, so fearful was Mrs. Bertram, that some frivolous
delicacy, or nonsense, as she termed it, might induce her cousin to
reject such a promising offer, and thereby at the same time to
leave herself still a burden upon her relations. Lucy, therefore,
had no alternative, unless she preferred continuing a burden upon
the worthy Mac-Morlans, who were too liberal to be rich. Those
kinsfolk who formerly requested the favour of her company, had of
late either silently, or with expressions of resentment that she
should have preferred Mac-Morlan's invitation to theirs, gradually
withdrawn their notice.
The fate of Dominie Sampson would have been deplorable had it
depended upon any one except Mannering, who was an admirer of
originality, for a separation from Lucy Bertram would have
certainly broken his heart. Mac-Morlan had given a full account of
his proceedings towards the daughter of his patron. The answer was
a request from Mannering to know, whether the Dominie still
possessed that admirable virtue of taciturnity by which he was so
notably distinguished at Ellangowan. Mac-Morlan replied in the
affirmative. "Let Mr. Sampson know," said the Colonel's next
letter, "that I shall want his assistance to catalogue and put in
order the library of my uncle, the bishop, which I have ordered to
be sent down by sea. I shall also want him to copy and arrange
some papers. Fix his salary at what you think befitting. Let the
poor man be properly dressed, and accompany his young lady to
Woodbourne."
Honest Mac-Morlan received this mandate with great joy, but
pondered much upon executing that part of it which related to newly
attiring the worthy Dominie. He looked at him with a scrutinising
eye, and it was but too plain that his present garments were daily
waxing more deplorable. To give him money, and bid him go and
furnish himself, would be only giving him the means of making
himself ridiculous; for when such a rare event arrived to Mr.
Sampson as the purchase of new garments, the additions which he
made to his wardrobe, by the guidance of his own taste, usually
brought all the boys of the village after him for many days. On
the other hand, to bring a tailor to measure him, and send home his
clothes, as for a schoolboy, would probably give offence. At length
Mac-Morlan resolved to consult Miss Bertram, and request her
interference. She assured him, that though she could not pretend
to superintend a gentleman's wardrobe, nothing was more easy than
to arrange the Dominie's.
"At Ellangowan," she said, "whenever my poor father thought any
part of the Dominie's dress wanted renewal, a servant was directed
to enter his room by night, for he sleeps as fast as a dormouse,
carry off the old vestment, and leave the new one; nor could anyone
observe that the Dominie exhibited the least consciousness of the
change put upon him on such occasions."
Mac-Morlan, in conformity with Miss Bertram's advice, procured a
skilful artist, who, on looking at the Dominie attentively,
undertook to make for him two suits of clothes, one black, and one
raven-gray, and even engaged that they should fit him--as well at
least (so the tailor qualified his enterprise), as a man of such an
out-of-the-way build could be fitted by merely human needles and
shears. When this fashioner had accomplished his task, and the
dresses were brought home, Mac-Morlan, judiciously resolving to
accomplish his purpose by degrees, withdrew that evening an
important part of his dress, and substituted the new article of
raiment in its stead. Perceiving that this passed totally without
notice, he next ventured on the waistcoat, and lastly on the coat.
When fully metamorphosed, and arrayed for the first time in his
life in a decent dress, they did observe, that the Dominie seemed
to have some indistinct and embarrassing consciousness that a
change had taken place on his outward man. Whenever they observed
this dubious expression gather upon his countenance, accompanied
with a glance, that fixed now upon the sleeve of his coat, now upon
the knees of his breeches, where he probably missed some antique
patching and darning, which, being executed with blue thread upon a
black ground, had somewhat the effect of embroidery, they always
took care to turn his attention into some other channel, until his
garments, "by the aid of use, cleaved to their mould." The only
remark he was ever known to make on the subject was, that "the air
of a town like Kippletringan, seemed favourable unto wearing
apparel, for he thought his coat looked almost as new as the first
day he put it on, which was when he went to stand trial for his
licence as a preacher."
When the Dominie first heard the liberal proposal of Colonel
Mannering, he turned a jealous and doubtful glance towards Miss
Bertram, as if he suspected that the project involved their
separation, but when Mr Mac-Morlan hastened to explain that she
would be a guest at Woodbourne for some time, he rubbed his huge
hands together, and burst into a portentous sort of chuckle, like
that of the Afrite in the tale of the Caliph Vathek. After this
unusual explosion of satisfaction, he remained quite passive in all
the rest of the transaction.
It had been settled that Mr. and Mrs. Mac-Morlan should take
possession of the house a few days before Mannering's arrival, both
to put everything in perfect order, and to make the transference of
Miss Bertram's residence from their family to his as easy and
delicate as possible. Accordingly, in the beginning of the month of
December, the party were settled at Woodbourne.