The popularity of the Parkers brought
them some visitors the very next morning;
--amongst them, Sir Edw^d Denham
& his Sister, who having been at
Sanditon H-- drove on to pay their
Compliments; & the duty of Letter-
writing being accomplished, Charlotte
was settled with M^{rs} P.-- in the Drawing
room in time to see them all.--The
Denhams were the only ones to excite
particular attention. Charlotte was
glad to complete her knowledge of the
family by an introduction to them, &
found them, the better half at least--
(for while single, the _Gentleman_ may
sometimes be thought the better half,
( 84 )
of the pair)--not unworthy notice.--
Miss D. was a fine young woman, but
cold & reserved, giving the idea of one
who felt her consequence with Pride
& her Poverty with Discontent, & who
was immediately gnawed by the want
of an handsomer Equipage than the
simple Gig in which they travelled,
& which their Groom was leading about
still in her sight.--Sir Edw^d was much
her superior in air & manner;--certainly
handsome, but yet more to be
remarked for his very good address
& wish of paying attention & giving
pleasure.--He came into the room remarkably
well, talked much--& very
much to Charlotte, by whom he chanced
to be placed--& she soon perceived
that he had a fine Countenance, a most
pleasing gentleness of Voice, & a great
deal of Conversation. She liked him.--
Sober-minded as she was, she thought
( 85 )
him agreable, & did not quarrel with
the suspicion of his finding her equally
so, which _would_ arise from his evidently
disregarding his Sister’s motion to go,
& persisting in his station & his discourse.
--I make no apologies for my
Heroine’s vanity.--If there are young
Ladies in the World at her time of
Life, more dull of Fancy & more careless
of pleasing, I know them not, &
never wish to know them.--At last,
from the low French windows of the
Drawing room which commanded the
road & all the Paths across the Down,
Charlotte & Sir Edw: as they sat,
could not but observe Lady D. & Miss
B. walking by--& there was instantly
a slight change in Sir Edw:’s countenance
--with an anxious glance after
them as they proceeded--followed by
an early proposal to his Sister--not
merely for moving, but for walking
( 86 )
on together to the Terrace--which
altogether gave an hasty turn to
Charlotte’s fancy, cured her of her
halfhour’s fever, & placed her in
a more capable state of judging, when
Sir Edw: was gone, of _how_ agreable
he had actually been.--“Perhaps there
was a good deal in his Air & Address;
And his Title did him no harm.” She
was very soon in his company again.
The first object of the Parkers, when
their House was cleared of morn^g
visitors was to get out themselves;--
the Terrace was the attraction to
all;--Every body who walked, must
begin with the Terrace, & there, seated
on one of the two Green Benches by
the Gravel walk, they found the united
Denham Party;--but though united in
the Gross, very distinctly divided again
--the two superior Ladies being at one
end of the bench, & Sir Edw: & Miss B.
( 87 )
at the other.--Charlotte’s first glance
told her that Sir Edw:’s air was that
of a Lover.--There could be no doubt
of his Devotion to Clara.--How Clara
received it, was less obvious--but she
was inclined to think not very favourably;
for tho’ sitting thus apart with
him (which probably she might not
have been able to prevent) her air was
calm & grave.--That the young Lady
at the other end of the Bench was
doing Penance, was indubitable. The
difference in Miss Denham’s countenance,
the change from Miss Denham
sitting in cold Grandeur in M^{rs} Parker’s
Draw^g-room to be kept from silence by
the efforts of others, to Miss D. at
Lady D.’s Elbow, listening & talking
with smiling attention or solicitous
eagerness, was very striking--and very
amusing--or very melancholy, just as
Satire or Morality might prevail.--
( 88 )
Miss Denham’s Character was pretty
well decided with Charlotte. Sir
Edward’s required longer Observation.
He surprised her by quitting
Clara immediately on their all joining
& agreeing to walk, & by addressing
his attentions entirely to herself.--
Stationing himself close by her, he
seemed to mean to detach her as much
as possible from the rest of the Party
& to give her the whole of his Conversation.
He began, in a tone of
great Taste & Feeling, to talk of the
Sea & the Sea shore--& ran with
Energy through all the usual Phrases
employed in praise of their Sublimity,
& descriptive of the _undescribable_ Emotions
they excite in the Mind of Sensibility.
--The terrific Grandeur of the
Ocean in a Storm, its glassy surface in
a calm, it’s Gulls & its Samphire, & the
deep fathoms of it’s Abysses, it’s quick
( 89 )
vicissitudes, it’s direful Deceptions, it’s
Mariners tempting it in Sunshine &
overwhelmed by the sudden Tempest,
All were eagerly & fluently touched;--
rather commonplace perhaps--but
doing very well from the Lips of a handsome
Sir Edward,--and she c^d not but
think him a Man of Feeling--till he
began to stagger her by the number of
his Quotations, & the bewilderment of
some of his sentences.--“Do you remember,
said he, Scott’s beautiful Lines
on the Sea?--Oh! what a description
they convey!--They are never out of
my Thoughts when I walk here.--
That Man who can read them unmoved
must have the nerves of an Assassin!--
Heaven defend me from meeting such
a Man un-armed.”--“What description
do you mean?--said Charlotte. I remember
none at this moment, of the
Sea, in either of Scott’s Poems.”--
( 90 )
“Do not you indeed?--Nor can I
exactly recall the beginning at this
moment--But--you cannot have forgotten
his description of Woman.--
“Oh! Woman in our Hours of
Ease--”
Delicious! Delicious!--Had he written
nothing more, he w^d have been Immortal.
And then again, that unequalled,
unrivalled address to Parental
affection--
“Some feelings are to Mortals given
With less of Earth in them than
Heaven” &c
But while we are on the subject of
Poetry, what think you Miss H. of
Burns Lines to his Mary?”--
“Oh! there is Pathos to madden one!
--If ever there was a Man who _felt_, it
was Burns.--Montgomery has all the
Fire of Poetry, Wordsworth has the true
soul of it--Campbell in his pleasures
( 91 )
of Hope has touched the extreme of
our Sensations--“Like Angel’s visits,
few & far between.” Can you conceive
any thing more subduing, more melting,
more fraught with the deep Sublime
than that Line?--But Burns--I
confess my sence of his Pre-eminence
Miss H.--If Scott _has_ a fault, it is the
want of Passion.--Tender, Elegant,
Descriptive--but _Tame_.--The Man
who cannot do justice to the attributes
of Woman is my contempt.--Sometimes
indeed a flash of feeling seems to
irradiate him--as in the Lines we were
speaking of--“Oh! Woman in our
hours of Ease”--. But Burns is always
on fire.--His Soul was the Altar in
which lovely Woman sat enshrined,
his Spirit truly breathed the immortal
Incence which is her Due.--” “I
have read several of Burn’s Poems with
great delight, said Charlotte as soon as
( 92 )
she had time to speak, but I am not
poetic enough to separate a Man’s
Poetry entirely from his Character;--
& poor Burns’s known Irregularities,
greatly interrupt my enjoyment of his
Lines.--I have difficulty, in depending
on the _Truth_ of his Feelings as a Lover.
I have not faith in the _sincerity_ of the
affections of a Man of his Description.
He felt & he wrote & he forgot.” “Oh!
no no--exclaimed Sir Edw: in an
extasy. He was all ardour & Truth!
--His Genius & his Susceptibilities
might lead him into some Aberrations
--But who is perfect?--It were Hyper-
criticism, it were Pseudo-philosophy to
expect from the soul of high toned
Genius, the grovellings of a common
mind.--The Coruscations of Talent,
elicited by impassioned feeling in the
breast of Man, are perhaps incompatible
with some of the prosaic
( 93 )
Decencies of Life;--nor can you, loveliest
Miss Heywood--(speaking with
an air of deep sentiment)--nor can
any Woman be a fair Judge of what
a Man may be propelled to say, write
or do, by the sovereign impulses of
illimitable Ardour.” This was very
fine;--but if Charlotte understood it at
all, not very moral--& being moreover
by no means pleased with his extraordinary
stile of compliment, she
gravely answered “I really know nothing
of the matter.--This is a charming
day. The Wind I fancy must
be Southerly.” “Happy, happy
Wind, to engage Miss Heywood’s
Thoughts!--” She began to think
him downright silly.--His chusing to
walk with her, she had learnt to understand.
It was done to pique Miss
Brereton. She had read it, in an
anxious glance or two on his side--
( 94 )
but why he sh^d talk so much Nonsense,
unless he could do no better, was unintelligible.
--He seemed very sentimental,
very full of some Feelings or
other, & very much addicted to all the
newest-fashioned hard words--had not
a very clear Brain she presumed, &
talked a good deal by rote.--The
Future might explain him further--
but when there was a proposition for
going into the Library she felt that she
had had quite enough of Sir Edw: for
one morn^g, & very gladly accepted
Lady D.’s invitation of remaining on
the Terrace with her.--The others all
left them, Sir Edw: with looks of very
gallant despair in tearing himself away,
& they united their agreableness--that
is, Lady Denham like a true great
Lady, talked & talked only of her own
concerns, & Charlotte listened--amused
in considering the contrast between
( 95 )
her two companions.--Certainly, there
was no strain of doubtful Sentiment,
nor any phrase of difficult interpretation
in Lady D’s discourse. Taking
hold of Charlotte’s arm with the ease
of one who felt that any notice from
her was an Honour, & communicative,
from the influence of the same conscious
Importance or a natural love of
talking, she immediately said in a tone
of great satisfaction--& with a look of
arch sagacity--“Miss Esther wants me
to invite her & her Brother to spend
a week with me at Sanditon House, as
I did last Summer--But I shan’t.--
She has been trying to get round me
every way, with her praise of this, &
her praise of that; but I saw what she
was about.--I saw through it all.--
I am not very easily taken-in my
Dear.” Charlotte c^d think of nothing
more harmless to be said, than the
( 96 )
simple enquiry of--“Sir Edward &
Miss Denham?”--“Yes, my Dear.
_My young Folks_, as I call them sometimes,
for I take them very much by
the hand. I had them with me last
Summer about this time, for a week;
from Monday to Monday; and very
delighted & thankful they were.--For
they are very good young People my
Dear. I w^d not have you think that I
_only_ notice them, for poor dear Sir
Harry’s sake. No, no; they are very
deserving themselves, or trust me, they
w^d not be so much in _my_ Company.--I
am not the Woman to help any body
blindfold.--I always take care to know
what I am about & who I have to deal
with, before I stir a finger.--I do not
think I was ever over-reached in my
Life; & That is a good deal for a
Woman to say that has been married
twice.--Poor dear Sir Harry (between
( 97 )
ourselves) thought at first to have got
more.--But (with a bit of a sigh) He
is gone, & we must not find fault with
the Dead. Nobody could live happier
together than us--& he was a very
honourable Man, quite the Gentleman
of ancient Family.--And when he died,
I gave Sir Edw^d his Gold Watch.--”
She said this with a look at her Companion
which implied it’s right to produce
a great Impression--& seeing no
rapturous astonishment in Charlottes
countenance, added quickly--“He did
not bequeath it to his Nephew, my
dear--It was no bequest. It was not
in the Will. He only told me, & _that_
but once, that he sh^d wish his Nephew
to have his Watch; but it need not
have been binding, if I had not chose
it.--” “Very kind indeed! very
Handsome!”--said Charlotte, absolutely
forced to affect admiration.--
( 98 )
“Yes, my dear--& it is not the _only_
kind thing I have done by him.--I have
been a very liberal friend to Sir Edw^d.
And poor young Man, he needs it bad
enough;--For though I am _only_ the
_Dowager_ my Dear, & he is the _Heir_,
things do not stand between us in the
way they commonly do between those
two parties.--Not a shilling do I receive
from the Denham Estate. Sir
Edw: has no Payments to make _me_.
He don’t stand uppermost, beleive me.--It
is _I_ that help _him_.” “Indeed!--
He is a very fine young Man;--particularly
Elegant in his Address.”--
This was said cheifly for the sake
of saying something--but Charlotte
directly saw that it was laying her open
to suspicion by Lady D’s giving a
shrewd glance at her & replying--
“Yes, yes, he is very well to look at
--& it is to be hoped some Lady of
( 99 )
large fortune will think so--for Sir
Edw^d _must_ marry for Money.--He &
I often talk that matter over.--A handsome
young fellow like him, will go
smirking & smiling about & paying
girls compliments, but he knows he
_must_ marry for Money.--And Sir Edw:
is a very steady young Man in the main,
& has got very good notions.” “Sir
Edw: Denham, said Charlotte, with
such personal Advantages may be
almost sure of getting a Woman of
fortune, if he chuses it.”--This glorious
sentiment seemed quite to remove suspicion.
“Aye my Dear--That’s very
sensibly said cried Lady D-- And if
we c^d but get a young Heiress to S!
But Heiresses are monstrous scarce!
I do not think we have had an Heiress
here, or even a Co--since Sanditon
has been a public place. Families
come after Families, but as far as
( 100 )
I can learn, it is not one in an hundred
of them that have any real Property,
Landed or Funded.--An Income perhaps,
but no Property. Clergymen
may be, or Lawyers from Town, or
Half pay officers, or Widows with only
a Jointure. And what good can such
people do anybody?--except just as
they take our empty Houses--and
(between ourselves) I think they are
great fools for not staying at home.
Now, if we could get a young Heiress
to be sent here for her health--(and if
she was ordered to drink asses milk
I could supply her)--and as soon as
she got well, have her fall in love with
Sir Edward!”--“That would be very
fortunate indeed.” “And Miss Esther
must marry somebody of fortune too--
She must get a rich Husband. Ah!
young Ladies that have no Money are
very much to be pitied!--But--after
( 101 )
a short pause--if Miss Esther thinks
to talk me into inviting them to come
& stay at Sanditon House, she will find
herself mistaken.--Matters are altered
with me since last Summer you know--.
I have Miss Clara with me now, which
makes a great difference.” She spoke
this so seriously that Charlotte instantly
saw in it the evidence of real
penetration & prepared for some fuller
remarks--but it was followed only by--
“I have no fancy for having my House
as full as an Hotel. I should not chuse
to have my 2 Housemaids Time taken
up all the morn^g, in dusting out Bed
rooms.--They have Miss Clara’s room
to put to rights as well as my own
every day.--If they had hard Places,
they would want Higher Wages.--”
For objections of this Nature, Charlotte
was not prepared, & she found it
so impossible even to affect simpathy,
( 102 )
that she c^d say nothing.--Lady D.
soon added, with great glee--“And
besides all this my Dear, am I to be
filling my House to the prejudice of
Sanditon?--If People want to be by
the Sea, why dont they take Lodgings?
--Here are a great many empty Houses
--3 on this very Terrace; no fewer
than three Lodging Papers staring me
in the face at this very moment, Numbers
3, 4 & 8. 8, the Corner House
may be too large for them, but either
of the two others are nice little snug
Houses, very fit for a young Gentleman
& his sister--And so, my dear, the
next time Miss Esther begins talking
about the Dampness of Denham Park,
& the Good Bathing always does her,
I shall advise them to come & take
one of these Lodgings for a fortnight.--
Don’t you think that will be very fair?
--Charity begins at home you know.”--
( 103 )
Charlotte’s feelings were divided between
amusement & indignation--but
indignation had the larger & the increasing
share.--She kept her Countenance
& she kept a civil Silence. She
could not carry her forbearance farther;
but without attempting to listen longer,
& only conscious that Lady D. was still
talking on in the same way, allowed
her Thoughts to form themselves into
such a Meditation as this.--“She is
thoroughly mean. I had not expected
any thing so bad.--Mr. P. spoke too
mildly of her.--His Judgement is
evidently not to be trusted.--His own
Goodnature misleads him. He is too
kind hearted to see clearly.--I must
judge for myself.--And their very _connection_
prejudices him.--He has persuaded
her to engage in the same
Speculation--& because their object in
that Line is the same, he fancies she
( 104 )
feels like him in others.--But she is
very, very mean.--I can see no Good
in her.--Poor Miss Brereton!--And she
makes every body mean about her.--
This poor Sir Edward & his Sister,--
how far Nature meant them to be
respectable I cannot tell,--but they
are _obliged_ to be Mean in their Servility
to her.--And I am Mean too, in giving
her my attention, with the appearance
of coinciding with her.--Thus it is,
when Rich People are Sordid.”--
( 105 )