Fortunately, and most seasonably, just about the time that these
extraordinary nuptials were in agitating approach, an intercourse the
most benign was opened between the family of Dr. Burney and that of Mr.
Locke, of Norbury Park.
The value of such an intercourse was warmly appreciated by Dr. Burney,
to whose taste it was sympathy, and to whose feelings it was animation:
while the period at which it took place, that of a blight the most
baneful to himself and his second daughter, gave to it a character of
salubrity as restorative to their nerves as it was soothing to their
hearts.
What, indeed, of blight, of baleful, could adhere to, could commix
with the Lockes of Norbury Park? All that could be devised, rather
than described, of virtue with hilarity, of imagination with wisdom,
appeared there to make their stand. A mansion of classical elegance;
a situation bright, varied, bewitching in picturesque attraction; a
chief in whom every high quality under heaven seemed concentrated;
a partner to that chief uniting the closest mental resemblance
to the embellishment of the most captivating beauty; a progeny
blithe, blooming, and intelligent, encircling them like grouping
angels—exhibited, all together, a picture of happiness so sanctified
by virtue; of talents so ennobled by character; of religion so always
manifested by good works; that Norbury Park presented a scene of
perfection that seemed passing reality! and even while viewed and
enjoyed, to wear the air of a living vision of ideal felicity.
The first visit that Dr. Burney paid to this incomparable spot was in
company with Sir Joshua Reynolds.
No place would be more worthy the painter’s eye, and painter’s mind
of the knight of Plympton than this; and he entered into all the
merits of the mansion, its dwellers, and its scenery, with a vivacity
of approvance, as gratifying to his elegant host and hostess, as to
himself were the objects of taste, fancy, and fine workmanship, with
which he was encircled in that school, or assemblage of the fine arts,
which seemed in Mr. Locke to exhibit a living Apollo at their head:
while the delicacy, the feeling, the witching softness of his fair
partner, expanded a genial cheerfulness that seemed to bloom around her
wherever she looked or moved.
The conversation of Mr. Locke was a source inexhaustible of
instruction, conveyed in language at once so sensitive and so pointed;
with a tone, a manner, a look so impressively in harmony with every
word that he uttered; that observations of a depth and a novelty
that seemed to demand the most lengthened discussion, obtained
immediate comprehension, if his hearer examined the penetration of his
countenance while he listened to that of his voice.
His taste, alike in works of nature and of art, was profound in itself
and illuminating to others: yet, from his habitual silence in mixt
companies, the most strikingly amiable parts of his character could be
developed only on his own domain, amidst his family, his friends, his
neighbours, and the poor: where the refinement of his converse, and the
melting humanity of his disposition, reflected genial lustre on each
other.[75]
Here, too, the knight of Plympton made a leisurely survey of the
extraordinary early sketches of the eldest son of the mansion’s Apollo;
who, for boundless invention, exquisite taste, and masterly sketches
of original execution, was gifted with a genius that mocked all
contemporary rivalry.[76]
Dr. Burney himself, at home in all the arts, partook of this
entertainment with his usual animated pleasure in excellence; while in
all that accompanied it of literary or social description, he as often
led as followed these distinguished conversers.
* * * * *
But the exhilaration of this almost heavenly sojourn—for such, to its
guests, it had appeared—was succeeded by an alarm to the heart of Dr.
Burney the most intense, perhaps, by which it could be attacked; an
alarm deeply affecting his comforts, his wishes, and the happiness of
his whole house, from a menace of consumption to his daughter Susanna,
which demanded a rapid change of air, and forced a hasty and immediate
trial of that of Boulogne sur Mer.
The motive, however, of the little voyage, with its hope, made Dr.
Burney submit to it with his accustomed rational resignation; though
severe, nearly lacerating, was every separation from that beloved
child; and though suspense and fear hovered over him unremittingly
during the whole of the ensuing winter.
Doubly, therefore, now, was felt the acquisition of the Lockes, the
charm of whose intercourse was endowed with powers the most balsamic
for alleviating, though it could not heal, the pain of this fearful
wound, through their sympathizing knowledge of the virtues of the
invalid; their appreciation of her sweetness of disposition, their
taste for her society, their enjoyment of her talents, and their
admiration of her conduct and character; of her patience in suffering,
her fortitude in adversity; her mild submission to every inevitable
evil, with her noble struggles against every calamity that firmness,
vigour, or toil, might prevent, or might distance. They loved her as
she merited to be loved! and almost as she loved them in return; for
their souls were in unison of excellence.