Sir Charles died about five years ago, and through his wife's
extravagance left his estate over-charged with debts and two daughters
and a son unprovided for. Lady Melvyn's jointure was not great; Sir
George, her eldest son, received but just sufficient out of his estate
to maintain himself genteelly. By the first Lady Melvyn's marriage
settlements, six thousand pounds were settled on her children, which, as
Mrs Morgan was her only child, became her property; this she divided
between her stepmother's three younger children, and has besides
conferred several favours on that family and frequently makes them
valuable presents. The young gentlemen and ladies often pass some time
here; Lady Melvyn made us a visit in the first year of her widowhood,
but our way of life is so ill suited to her taste that, except during
that dull period of confinement, she has never favoured us with her
company.
My cousin, I believe, was going to mention some other of the actions of
these ladies, which seemed a favourite topic with her, when the rest of
the company came into the garden, and we thought ourselves obliged to
join them.
The afternoons, in this family, generally concluded with one of their
delightful concerts; but as soon as the visitors were departed, the
ladies said, they would amuse us that evening with an entertainment
which might possibly be more new to us, a rustic ball. The occasion of
it was the marriage of a young woman who had been brought up by them and
had for three years been in service, but having for that whole time been
courted by a young farmer of good character, she had been married in the
morning, and that evening was dedicated to the celebration of their
wedding.
We removed into the servants' hall, a neat room, and well lighted, where
we found a very numerous assembly; sixteen couples were preparing to
dance; the rest were only spectators. The bride was a pretty, genteel
girl, dressed in a white calico gown, white ribbons, and in every
particular neat to an excess. The bridegroom was a well looking young
man, as clean and sprucely dressed as his bride, though not with such
emblematic purity. This couple, contrary to the custom of finer people
on such occasions, were to begin the ball together; but Lamont asked
leave to be the bride's partner for two or three dances, a compliment
not disagreeable to the ladies, and highly pleasing to the rest of the
company, except the bride, whose vanity one might plainly see did not
find gratification enough in having so genteel a partner to recompense
her for the loss of her Colin; he, however, seemed well satisfied with
the honour conferred on his wife.
That the bridegroom might not be without his share of civility, the
ladies gave him leave to dance with the eldest of the young girls more
particularly under their care, till his wife was restored to him.
We sat above an hour with this joyous company, whose mirth seemed as
pure as it was sincere, and I never saw a ball managed with greater
decorum. There is a coquetry and gallantry appropriated to all
conditions, and to see the different manner in which it was expressed in
this little set, from what one is accustomed to behold in higher life,
afforded me great amusement; and the little arts used among these young
people to captivate each other were accompanied with so much innocence
as made it excessively pleasing. We stayed about an hour and half in
this company, and then went to supper.
My cousin told me that Miss Mancel gave the young bride a fortune, and
that she might have her share of employment and contribute to the
provision for her family had stocked her dairy and furnished her with
poultry. This, Mrs Maynard added, was what they did for all the young
women they brought up, if they proved deserving; shewing, likewise, the
same favour to any other girls in the parish who, during their single
state, behaved with remarkable industry and sobriety. By this mark of
distinction they were incited to a proper behaviour, and appeared more
anxious for this benevolence on account of the honour that arose from it
than for the pecuniary advantage.
As the ladies' conduct in this particular was uncommon, I could not
forbear telling them, that I was surprised to find so great
encouragement given to matrimony by persons whose choice shewed them
little inclined in its favour.
'Does it surprise you,' answered Mrs Morgan smiling, 'to see people
promote that in others which they themselves do not choose to practise?
We consider matrimony as absolutely necessary to the good of society; it
is a general duty; but as, according to all ancient tenures, those
obliged to perform knight's service, might, if they chose to enjoy their
own firesides, be excused by sending deputies to supply their places; so
we, using the same privilege substitute many others, and certainly much
more promote wedlock than we could do by entering into it ourselves.
This may wear the appearance of some devout persons of a certain
religion who, equally indolent and timorous, when they do not choose to
say so many prayers as they think their duty, pay others for supplying
their deficiencies.'
'In this case,' said I, 'your example is somewhat contradictory, and
should it be entirely followed, it would confine matrimony to the lower
rank of people, among whom it seems going out of fashion, as well as
with their superiors; nor indeed can we wonder at it, for dissipation
and extravagance are now become such universal vices that it requires
great courage in any to enter into an indissoluble society. Instead of
being surprised at the common disinclination to marriage, I am rather
disposed to wonder when I see a man venture to render himself liable to
the expenses of a woman who lavishes both her time and money on every
fashionable folly, and still more, when one of your sex subjects herself
to be reduced to poverty by a husband's love for gaming, and to neglect
by his inconstancy.'
'I am of your opinion,' said Miss Trentham, 'to face the enemy's cannon
appears to me a less effort of courage than to put our happiness into
the hands of a person who perhaps will not once reflect on the
importance of the trust committed to his or her care. For the case is
pretty equal as to both sexes, each can destroy the other's peace. Ours
seems to have found out the means of being on an equality with yours.
Few fortunes are sufficient to stand a double expense. The husband must
attend the gaming-table and horse-races; the wife must have a profusion
of ornaments for her person, and cards for her entertainment. The care
of the estate and family are left in the hands of servants who, in
imitation of their masters and mistresses, will have their pleasures,
and these must be supplied out of the fortunes of those they serve. Man
and wife are often nothing better than assistants in each other's ruin;
domestic virtues are exploded, and social happiness despised as dull and
insipid.
'The example of the great infects the whole community. The honest
tradesman who wishes for a wife to assist him in his business, and to
take care of his family, dare not marry when every woman of his own
rank, emulating her superiors, runs into such fashions of dress as
require great part of his gains to supply, and the income which would
have been thought sufficient some years ago for the wife of a gentleman
of large estate will now scarcely serve to enable a tradesman's wife to
appear like her neighbours. They too must have their evening parties,
they must attend the places of public diversion, and must be allowed
perpetual dissipation without control. The poor man sighs after the days
when his father married; then cleanliness was a woman's chief personal
ornament, half the quantity of silk sufficed for her clothes, variety of
trumpery ornaments were not thought of, her husband's business employed
her attention, and her children were the objects of her care. When he
came home, wearied with the employment of the day, he found her ready to
receive him, and was not afraid of being told she was gone to the play
or opera, or of finding her engaged in a party at cards, while he was
reduced to spend his evening alone. But in a world so changed, a man
dare not venture on marriage which promises him no comfort, and may
occasion his ruin, nor wishes for children whose mother's neglect may
expose them to destruction.
'It is common to blame the lower sort of people for imitating their
superiors; but it is equally the fault of every station, and therefore
those of higher rank should consider it is their duty to set no examples
that may hurt others. A degree of subordination is always acquiesced in,
but while the nobleman lives like a prince, the gentleman will rise to
the proper expenses of a nobleman, and the tradesman take that vacant
rank which the gentleman has quitted; nor will he be ashamed of becoming
a bankrupt when he sees the fortunes of his superiors mouldering away
and knows them to be oppressed with debts. Whatever right people may
have to make free with their own happiness, a beneficial example is a
duty which they indispensably owe to society, and the profuse have the
extravagance of their inferiors to answer for. The same may be said for
those who contribute to the dissipation of others, by being dissipated
themselves.'
'But, madam,' interrupted Lamont, 'do you think it incumbent on people
of fashion to relinquish their pleasures, lest their example should lead
others to neglect their business?'
'I should certainly,' replied Miss Trentham, 'answer you in the
affirmative were the case as you put it, but much more so in the light I
see it. Every station has its duties, those of the great are more
various than those of their inferiors. They are not so confined to
economical attentions, nor ought they to be totally without them; but
their more extensive influence, their greater leisure to serve their
Creator with all the powers of their minds, constitute many duties on
their part to which dissipation is as great an enemy as it can be to
those more entirely domestic; therefore on each side there is an equal
neglect; and why should we expect that such as we imagine have fewer
advantages of education should be more capable of resisting temptations
and dedicating themselves solely to the performance of their duties,
than persons whose minds are more improved?'
'I cannot deny,' answered Lamont, 'but what you say is just, yet I fear
you have uttered truths that must continue entirely speculative; though
if any people have a right to turn reformers, you ladies are best
qualified, since you begin by reforming yourselves; you practise more
than you preach, and therefore must always be listened to with
attention.'
'We do not set up for reformers,' said Miss Mancel, 'we wish to regulate
ourselves by the laws laid down to us, and as far as our influence can
extend, endeavour to enforce them; beyond that small circle all is
foreign to us; we have sufficient employment in improving ourselves; to
mend the world requires much abler hands.'
'When you talk of laws, madam, by which you would regulate your
actions,' said Lamont, 'you raise a just alarm; as for matter of
opinion, every one may demand an equal power, but laws seem to require
obedience; pray, from whence do you take those which you wish to make
your rule of life?'
'From whence,' answered Miss Mancel, 'should a Christian take them, from
the Alcoran, think you, or from the wiser Confucius, or would you seek
in Coke on Littleton that you may escape the iron hand of the
legislative power? No, surely, the Christian's law is written in the
Bible, there, independent of the political regulations of particular
communities, is to be found the law of the supreme Legislator. There,
indeed, is contained the true and invariable law of nations; and
according to our performance of it, we shall be tried by a Judge whose
wisdom and impartiality secure him from error, and whose power is able
to execute his own decrees. This is the law I meant, and whoever obeys
it can never offend essentially against the private ordinances of any
community. This all to whom it has been declared are bound to obey, my
consent to receive it for the rule of my actions is not material; for as
whoever lives in England must submit to the laws of the country, though
he may be ignorant of many of the particulars of them, so whoever lives
in a Christian land is obliged to obey the laws of the Gospel, or to
suffer for infringing them; in both cases, therefore, it is prudent for
every man to acquaint himself thoroughly with these ordinances, which he
cannot break with impunity.'
'If such obedience be necessary,' said Lamont, 'what do you imagine will
be the fate of most of the inhabitants of Christendom; for you will
allow that they do not regulate their conduct by such severe commands?'
'What will be their fate,' replied Miss Mancel, 'I do not pretend even
to suppose, my business is to take care of my own. The laws against
robbery are not rendered either less just or less binding by the numbers
that daily steal or who demand your purse on the highway. Laws are not
abrogated by being infringed, nor does the disobedience of others make
the observance of them less my duty. I am required to answer only for
myself, and it is not man whom I am ordered to imitate. His failings
will not excuse mine. Humility forbids me to censure others, and
prudence obliges me to avoid copying them.'
Lamont thought Miss Mancel too severe in her doctrine; but there was
something so respectable in her severity, that he forbore to contest it,
and owned to me afterwards that, while she spoke and he contemplated
that amiable society, his heart silently acquiesced in the justness of
her sentiments.
We parted at our usual hour; and at the same time the company in the
lower part of the house broke up, eleven o'clock being the stated hour
for them on those occasions to return to their respective homes.
The next morning, as I went downstairs, I met the housekeeper and
entered into conversation with her, for which the preceding night's
festivity furnished me with topics. From her I learnt that since the
ladies had been established in that house they had given fortunes from
twenty to a hundred pounds, as merit and occasion directed, to above
thirty young women, and that they had seldom celebrated fewer than two
marriages in a year, sometimes more. Nor does their bounty cease on the
wedding-day, for they are always ready to assist them on any emergency;
and watch with so careful an eye over the conduct of these young people
as proves of much greater service to them than the money they bestow.
They kindly, but strongly, reprehend the first error, and guard them by
the most prudent admonitions against a repetition of their fault. By
little presents they shew their approbation of those who behave well,
always proportioning their gifts to the merits of the person; which are
therefore looked upon as the most honourable testimony of their
conduct, and are treasured up as valuable marks of distinction. This
encouragement has great influence, and makes them vie with each other in
endeavours to excel in sobriety, cleanliness, meekness and industry. She
told me also that the young women bred up at the schools these ladies
support are so much esteemed for many miles round that it is not
uncommon for young farmers, who want sober, good wives, to obtain them
from thence, and prefer them to girls of much better fortunes, educated
in a different manner, as there have been various instances wherein
their industry and quickness of understanding, which in a great measure
arises from the manner of their education, has proved more profitable to
their husbands than a more ample dower.
She added that she keeps a register of all the boys and girls, which, by
her good ladies' means, have been established in the world; whereby it
appears that thirty have been apprenticed out to good trades, three
score fixed in excellent places, and thirty married. And it seldom
happens that any one takes an apprentice or servant till they have first
sent to her ladies to know if they have any to recommend.
I expressed a desire to see the schools, which she obligingly offered to
shew me, but feared we could not then have time to go thither, as
breakfast was just ready. While I was talking with her, I observed that
the fingers of one of her hands were contracted quite close to the palm.
I took notice of it to her. 'Oh! sir,' said she, 'it was the luckiest
accident that could possibly be; as I was obliged to work for my
support, I was very much shocked at my recovery from a fever to find
myself deprived of the use of a hand, but still tried if I could get
myself received into service; as I was sensible I could, notwithstanding
my infirmity, perform the business of a housekeeper; but no one would
take me in this maimed condition. At last I was advised to apply to
these ladies and found what had hitherto been an impediment was a
stronger recommendation than the good character I had from my last
place; and I am sure I have reason to value these distorted fingers,
more than ever any one did the handsomest hands that ever nature made.
But,' added she, smiling, 'few of my fellow-servants are better
qualified; the cook cannot walk without crutches, the kitchen maid has
but one eye, the dairy maid is almost stone deaf, and the housemaid has
but one hand; and yet, perhaps, there is no family where the business is
better done; for gratitude, and a conviction that this is the only house
into which we can be received, makes us exert ourselves to the utmost;
and most people fail not from a deficiency of power, but of inclination.
Even their musicians, if you observed it, sir, are much in the same
condition. The steward, indeed, must be excepted; he is one whom the
good Mr d'Avora chose for the sake of his integrity some years before he
died, as his successor in the care of the ladies' affairs, and employed
him for some time under his own inspection, that he might be sure he was
fit for the purpose, though he persuaded the ladies to receive their own
rents and direct all the chief concerns of their estates, which they
have done ever since, so that theirs is rather a household than a land
steward. But, except this gentleman and the shepherd, there is not one
of their musicians that is not under some natural disadvantage; the
defects of two of them are so visible I need not point them out, but of
the other two, one is subject to violent fits of the stone, and the
other to the asthma. Thus disabled from hard labour, though they find
some employment in the manufacture, yet the additional profit which
accrues from their playing here adds much to their comfort, as their
infirmities render greater expenses necessary to them than to others in
their station.'
There was something so whimsically good in the conduct of the ladies in
these particulars, as at first made me smile; but when I considered it
more thoroughly, I perceived herein a refinement of charity which,
though extremely uncommon, was entirely rational. I found that not
contented with merely bestowing on the indigent as large a part of their
fortunes as they can possibly spare, they carry the notion of their duty
to the poor so far as to give continual attention to it, and endeavour
so to apply all they spend as to make almost every shilling contribute
towards the support of some person in real necessity; by this means
every expense bears the merit of a donation in the sight of him who
knows their motives; and their constant application is directed towards
the relief of others, while to superficial observers they seem only
providing for their own convenience. The fashionable tradesman is sure
not to have them in the list of his customers; but should he, through
the caprice of the multitude, be left without business, and see his
elated hopes blasted, in all probability he will find these ladies his
friends. Those whose youth renders them disregarded, or whose old age
breeds neglect, will here meet with deserved encouragement. This sort of
economy pleases me much, it is of the highest kind, since it regards
those riches which neither moth nor rust can corrupt, nor thieves break
through and steal; and is within the reach of every person's imitation,
for the poorest may thus turn their necessary expenses into virtuous
actions. In this they excel others, as much as the bee does the common
butterfly; they both feed on the same flowers, but while the butterfly
only gains a transient subsistence and flies and flutters in all its
gaudy pride, the bee lays up a precious store for its future well-being,
and may brave all the rigours of winter. Man, indeed, often encroaches
on the labours of the bee and disappoints it of its reasonable hope; but
no one without our own concurrence can despoil us of the treasures laid
up in heaven.
As the good housekeeper foretold, the bell soon summoned me to
breakfast; which, like every other hour spent in that society, was
rendered delightful by their rational cheerfulness and polite freedom.
We offered to take our leave, but should have been disappointed had we
not been asked to prolong our visit; nor were we so insincere as to make
much resistance to this agreeable invitation; we expressed some fears of
interrupting their better employments; to which Mrs Morgan replied by
assuring us that we did not do so in the least; but added, 'I will tell
you plainly, gentlemen, the only alteration we shall wish to make, if
you will favour us with your company a few days longer. Our family
devotions are regular, as you were strangers we have not summoned you to
them, but for the rest of your visit we must beg leave to alter that
method; for we do not think it a proper example to our servants to
suffer any one in this house to be excluded from them; though as your
coming was sudden, and has been prolonged only, as it were, from hour to
hour, we at first did not think it necessary to require your presence.'
You may imagine we expressed ourselves obliged by this frankness; and,
for my own part, I was glad of what appeared to me like being received
into a community of saints; but was forced to wait for it till night,
the devotion of the morning having been paid before breakfast, as was
usual in that family.
Mrs Maynard accompanied us that morning into the park, and having placed
ourselves on a green bank under an elm, by the side of the canal, I
called on her to perform her promise, and increase my acquaintance with
the rest of the ladies, by giving some account of them.
'I shall not the less readily comply,' she answered, 'for being able to
bring what I have to say of them into less compass, than I did my
history of Mrs Morgan and Miss Mancel, of whom, when I begin to speak, I
always find it difficult to leave off, and am led by my fondness for the
subject into a detail, perhaps too circumstantial. Lady Mary Jones, by
what I have already said, you may have perceived must come next in
order.'
THE HISTORY OF Lady MARY JONES
Lady Mary was daughter to the Earl of Brumpton by his second wife, who
survived the birth of her child but a few hours. The earl died when his
daughter was about ten years old, and having before his second marriage
mortgaged to its full value all of his estate which was not settled on a
son born of his first lady, his daughter was left entirely destitute of
provision But as she was too young to be much affected with this
circumstance, so she had little reason to regret it, when an increase of
years might have awakened a sensibility to that particular. Immediately
on her father's death she was taken by her aunt, Lady Sheerness, who
declared she should look upon her as her own child, and indeed her
indulgence verified the truth of her declaration.