The acquaintance, thus oddly begun,
was neither short nor unimportant.
For a whole fortnight the Travellors
were fixed at Willingden; Mr. P.’s
sprain proving too serious for him to
move sooner.--He had fallen into very
good hands. The Heywoods were a
thoroughly respectable family, & every
possible attention was paid in the
kindest & most unpretending manner,
to both Husband & wife. _He_ was
waited on & nursed, & _she_ cheered &
comforted with unremitting kindness--
and as every office of Hospitality &
friendliness was received as it ought--
as there was not more good will on one
( 20 )
side than Gratitude on the other--nor
any deficiency of generally pleasant
manners on either, they grew to like
each other in the course of that fortnight,
exceedingly well.--M^r Parker’s
Character & History were soon unfolded.
All that he understood of himself,
he readily told, for he was very
openhearted;--& where he might be
himself in the dark, his conversation
was still giving information, to such of
the Heywoods as could observe.--By
such he was perceived to be an Enthusiast;
--on the subject of Sanditon,
a complete Enthusiast.--Sanditon,--
the success of Sanditon as a small,
fashionable Bathing Place was the
object, for which he seemed to live.
A very few years ago, & it had been
a quiet Village of no pretensions; but
some natural advantages in its position
& some accidental circumstances having
( 21 )
suggested to himself, & the other
principal Land Holder, the probability
of it’s becoming a profitable Speculation,
they had engaged in it, & planned
& built, & praised & puffed, & raised
it to a something of young Renown--
and M^r. Parker could now think of very
little besides.--The Facts, which in
more direct communication, he laid
before them were that he was about
5 & 30--had been married,--very
happily married 7 years--& had 4 sweet
Children at home;--that he was of
a respectable Family, & easy though
not large fortune;--no Profession--
succeeding as eldest son to the Property
which 2 or 3 Generations had
been holding & accumulating before
him;--that he had 2 Brothers & 2
Sisters--all single & all independant--
the eldest of the two former indeed, by
collateral Inheritance, quite as well
( 22 )
provided for as himself.--His object in
quitting the high road, to hunt for an
advertising Surgeon, was also plainly
stated;--it had not proceeded from
any intention of spraining his ancle
or doing himself any other Injury
for the good of such Surgeon--nor (as
M^r H. had been apt to suppose) from
any design of entering into Partnership
with him--; it was merely in consequence
of a wish to establish some
medical Man at Sanditon, which the
nature of the Advertisement induced
him to expect to accomplish in Willingden.
--He was convinced that the advantage
of a medical Man at hand w^d
very materially promote the rise &
prosperity of the Place--w^d in fact
tend to bring a prodigious influx;--
nothing else was wanting. He had
_strong_ reason to beleive that _one_ family
had been deterred last year from trying
( 23 )
Sanditon on that account--& probably
very many more--and his own Sisters
who were sad Invalids, & whom he was
very anxious to get to Sanditon this
Summer, could hardly be expected to
hazard themselves in a place where
they could not have immediate medical
advice.--Upon the whole, M^r P. was
evidently an amiable, family-man, fond
of Wife, Child^n, Brothers & Sisters--
& generally kind-hearted;--Liberal,
gentlemanlike, easy to please;--of a
sanguine turn of mind, with more
Imagination than Judgement. And
M^{rs} P. was as evidently a gentle,
amiable, sweet tempered Woman, the
properest wife in the World for a Man
of strong Understanding, but not of
capacity to supply the cooler reflection
which her own Husband sometimes
needed, & so entirely waiting to be
guided on every occasion, that whether
( 24 )
he were risking his Fortune or spraining
his Ancle, she remained equally useless.
--Sanditon was a second Wife &
4 Children to him--hardly less Dear--
& certainly more engrossing.--He could
talk of it for ever.--It had indeed the
highest claims;--not only those of
Birthplace, Property, and Home,--it
was his Mine, his Lottery, his Speculation
& his Hobby Horse; his Occupation
his Hope & his Futurity.--He
was extremely desirous of drawing his
good friends at Willingden thither;
and his endeavours in the cause, were
as grateful & disinterested, as they
were warm.--He wanted to secure the
promise of a visit--to get as many of
the Family as his own house w^d contain,
to follow him to Sanditon as soon
as possible--and healthy as they all
undeniably were--foresaw that every
one of them w^d be benefited by the
( 25 )
sea.--He held it indeed as certain, that
no person c^d be really well, no person,
(however upheld for the present by
fortuitous aids of exercise & spirits in
a semblance of Health) could be really
in a state of secure & permanent Health
without spending at least 6 weeks by
the Sea every year.--The Sea air & Sea
Bathing together were nearly infallible,
one or the other of them being a match
for every Disorder, of the Stomach,
the Lungs or the Blood; They were
anti-spasmodic, anti-pulmonary, anti-sceptic,
anti-bilious & anti-rheumatic.
Nobody could catch cold by the Sea,
Nobody wanted appetite by the Sea,
Nobody wanted Spirits, Nobody wanted
Strength.--They were healing, softing,
relaxing--fortifying & bracing--seemingly
just as was wanted--sometimes
one, sometimes the other.--If the Sea
breeze failed, the Sea-Bath was the
( 26 )
certain corrective;--& where Bathing
disagreed, the Sea Breeze alone was
evidently designed by Nature for the
cure.--His eloquence however could
not prevail. M^r & M^{rs} H-- never
left home. Marrying early & having
a very numerous Family, their movements
had been long limitted to one
small circle; & they were older in
Habits than in Age.--Excepting two
Journeys to London in the year, to
receive his Dividends, M^r H. went no
farther than his feet or his well-tried
old Horse could carry him, and M^{rs}
Heywood’s Adventurings were only
now & then to visit her Neighbours,
in the old Coach which had been new
when they married & fresh lined on
their eldest son’s coming of age 10
years ago.--They had very pretty
Property--enough, had their family
been of reasonable Limits to have
( 27 )
allowed them a very gentlemanlike
share of Luxuries & Change--enough
for them to have indulged in a new
Carriage & better roads, an occasional
month at Tunbridge Wells, & symptoms
of the Gout and a Winter at
Bath;--but the maintenance, Education
& fitting out of 14 Children demanded
a very quiet, settled, careful
course of Life--& obliged them to be
stationary & healthy at Willingden.
What Prudence had at first enjoined,
was now rendered pleasant by Habit.
They never left home, & they had
a gratification in saying so.--But very
far from wishing their Children to do
the same, they were glad to promote
_their_ getting out into the World, as
much as possible. _They_ staid at home,
that their Children _might_ get out;--
and while making that home extremely
comfortable, welcomed every change
( 28 )
from it which could give useful connections
or respectable acquaintance
to Sons or Daughters. When M^r &
M^{rs} Parker therefore ceased from soliciting
a family-visit, and bounded their
veiws to carrying back one Daughter
with them, no difficulties were started.
It was general pleasure & consent.--
Their invitation was to Miss Charlotte
Heywood, a very pleasing young woman
of two and twenty, the eldest of the
Daughters at home, & the one, who
under her Mother’s directions had been
particularly useful & obliging to them;
who had attended them most, & knew
them best.--Charlotte was to go,--
with excellent health, to bathe & be
better if she could--to receive every
possible pleasure which Sanditon could
be made to supply by the gratitude of
those she went with--& to buy new
Parasols, new Gloves, & new Broches,
( 29 )
for her sisters & herself at the Library,
which M^r P. was anxiously wishing to
support.--All that M^r Heywood himself
could be persuaded to promise was,
that he would send everyone to Sanditon,
who asked his advice, & that
nothing should ever induce him (as far
<as> the future could be answered for)
to spend even 5 shillings at Brinshore.--
( 31 )