Mr. Percy fortunately possessed, independently of the Percy estate, a
farm worth about seven or eight hundred a year, which he had purchased
with part of his wife’s fortune; on which he had built a lodge, that he
had intended for the future residence of one of his sons. _The Hills_
was the name of this lodge, to which all the family now retired.
Though it was in the same county with Percy-hall, Clermont-park,
Falconer-court, Hungerford-castle, and within reach of several other
gentlemen’s seats, yet from its being in a hilly part of the country,
through which no regular road had been made, it was little frequented,
and gave the idea not only of complete retirement, but of remoteness.
Though a lonely situation, it was, however, a beautiful one. The house
stood on the brow of a hill, and looked into a deep glen, through the
steep descent of which ran a clear and copious rivulet rolling over
a stony bed; the rocks were covered with mountain flowers, and wild
shrubs--But nothing is more tiresome than a picture in prose: we shall,
therefore, beg our readers to recall to their imagination some of the
views they may have seen in Wales, and they will probably have a better
idea of this place than any that we could give by the most laboured
description, amplified with all the epithets in the English language.
The house at the Hills, though finished, was yet but scantily furnished,
and was so small that it could hardly hold the family, who were now
obliged to take refuge in it. However, they were well disposed to
accommodate each other: they had habits of order, and had so little
accustomed themselves to be waited upon, that this sudden change in
their fortune and way of life did not appear terrible, as it would
to many in the same rank. Undoubtedly they felt the loss of real
conveniences, but they were not tormented with ideal wants, or with the
pangs of mortified vanity. Evils they had to bear, but they were not the
most dreadful of all evils--those of the imagination.
Mr. Percy, to whom his whole family looked for counsel and support, now
showed all the energy and decision of his character. What he knew must
be done sooner or later he did decidedly at first. The superfluities
to which his family had been accustomed, were instantly abandoned.
The great torment of decayed gentry is the remembrance of their former
station, and a weak desire still to appear what their fortune no longer
allows them to be. This folly Mr. Percy had not to combat in his family,
where all were eager to resign even more of their own comforts than the
occasion required. It was the object now for the family who were at home
to live as frugally as possible, that they might save as much of their
small income as they could, to assist and forward the sons in their
professions.
The eldest son, Godfrey, could not yet have heard of the change in his
father’s fortune, and in his own expectations; but from a passage in his
last letter, it was evident that he had some idea of the possibility of
such a reverse, and that he was preparing himself to live with
economy. From Alfred and Erasmus Mr. Percy had at this trying time
the satisfaction of receiving at once the kindest and the most manly
letters, containing strong expressions of gratitude to their father
for having given them such an education as would enable them,
notwithstanding the loss of hereditary fortune, to become independent
and respectable. What would have been the difference of their fate and
of their feelings, had they been suffered to grow up into mere idle
lounging gentlemen, or four-in-hand coachmen! In different words, but
with the same spirit, both brothers declared that this change in the
circumstances of their family did not depress their minds, but, on the
contrary, gave them new and powerful motives for exertion. It seemed
to be the first wish of their souls to fulfil the fond hopes and
predictions of their father, and to make some return for the care their
parents had taken of their education.
Their father, pleased by the sanguine hopes and ardent spirit expressed
in their letters, was, however, sensible that a considerable time must
elapse before they could make any thing by law or medicine. They were
as yet only in the outset of their professions, the difficult beginning,
when men must toil often without reward, be subject to crosses and
losses, and rebukes and rebuffs, when their rivals push them back, and
when they want the assistance of friends to help them forward, whilst
with scarcely the means to live they must appear like gentlemen.
Besides the faithful steward, two servants, who were much attached to
the family, accompanied them to their retirement. One was Mrs. Harte,
who had lived with Mrs. Percy above thirty years; and who, from being
a housekeeper with handsome wages and plenary power over a numerous
household at Percy-hall, now served with increased zeal at the Hills,
doing a great part of the work of the house herself, with the assistance
only of a stout country girl newly hired, whose awkwardness and
ignorance, or, as Mrs. Harte expressed it, whose _comical_ ways, she
bore with a patience that cost her more than all the rest. The other
servant who followed the altered fortunes of the Percy family was a
young man of the name of Johnson, whom Mr. Percy had bred up from a boy,
and who was so creditable a servant that he could readily have obtained
a place with high wages in any opulent family, either in the country
or in London; but he chose to abide by his master, who could now only
afford to give him very little. Indeed, Mr. Percy would not have kept
any man-servant in his present circumstances, but out of regard for this
young man, who seemed miserable at the thoughts of leaving him, and who
undertook to make himself useful in the farm as well as in the house.
Very different was Johnson from the present race of _fine_ town
servants, who follow with no unequal steps the follies and vices of
their _betters_; and who, by their insolence and extravagance, become
the just torments of their masters. Very different was Johnson from some
country servants, who with gross selfishness look solely to their own
eating and drinking, and whose only thought is how to swallow as much
and do as little as possible.
As soon as he had settled his home, Mr. Percy looked abroad to a tract
of improveable ground, on which he might employ his agricultural skill.
He had reason to rejoice in having really led the life of a country
gentleman. He understood country business, and he was ably assisted in
all the details of farming and management. Never, in the most prosperous
days, did the old steward seem so fully interested in his master’s
affairs, so punctual and active in executing his commands, and, above
all, so respectful in his manner to his master, as now in his fallen
fortunes.
It would be uninteresting to readers who are not farmers to enter into
a detail of Mr. Percy’s probable improvements. It is enough to say, that
his hopes were founded upon experience, and that he was a man capable of
calculating. He had been long in the habit of keeping accurate accounts,
not such as gentlemen display when they are pleased to prove that their
farm, produces more than ever farm produced before. All the tradesmen
with whom he had dealt were, notwithstanding his change of fortune,
ready to trust him; and those who were strangers, finding themselves
regularly paid, soon acquired confidence in his punctuality. So that,
far from being terrified at having so little, he felt surprised at
having still so much money at his command.--The enjoyment of high credit
must surely give more pleasurable feelings than the mere possession of
wealth.
Often, during the first year after he had been deprived of the Percy
estate, Mr. Percy declared, that, as to himself, he had actually lost
nothing; for he had never been expensive or luxurious, his personal
enjoyments were nearly the same, and his active pursuits were not very
different from what they had always been. He had, it is true, less time
than he wished to give to literature, or to indulge in the company
and conversation of his wife and daughters; but even the pain of this
privation was compensated by the pleasure he felt in observing the
excellences in their characters which adversity developed.--It has by
some persons been thought, that women who have been suffered to acquire
literary tastes, whose understandings have been cultivated and refined,
are apt to disdain or to become unfit for the useful minutiæ of domestic
duties. In the education of her daughters Mrs. Percy had guarded against
this danger, and she now experienced the happy effects of her prudence.
At first they had felt it somewhat irksome, in their change of
circumstances, to be forced to spend a considerable portion of their
time in preparations for the mere business of living, but they perceived
that this constraint gave a new spring to their minds, and a higher
relish to their favourite employments. After the domestic business of
the day was done, they enjoyed, with fresh delight, the pleasures of
which it is not in the power of fortune to deprive us.
Soon after the family were settled at the Hills, they were surprised by
a visit from Commissioner Falconer--_surprised_, because, though they
knew that he had a certain degree of commonplace friendship for them as
relations, yet they were aware that his regard was not independent of
fortune, and they had never supposed that he would come to seek them in
their retirement. After some general expressions of condolence on their
losses, their change of situation, and the inconveniences to which a
large family, bred up, as they had been, in affluence, must suffer in
their present abode, he went out to walk with Mr. Percy, and he then
began to talk over his own family affairs. With polite acknowledgment to
Mr. Percy of the advantage he had derived from his introduction to Lord
Oldborough, and with modestly implied compliments to his own address in
turning that introduction to the best possible account, Mr. Falconer led
to the subject on which he wanted to dilate.
“You see, my dear Mr. Percy,” said he, “without vanity I may now venture
to say, my plans for advancing my family have all succeeded; my sons
have risen in the world, or rather have been pushed up, beyond my most
sanguine hopes.”
“I give you joy with all my heart,” said Mr. Percy.
“But, my good sir, listen to me; your sons might have been in as
advantageous situations, if you had not been too proud to benefit by the
evidently favourable dispositions which Lord Oldborough shewed towards
you and yours.”
“Too proud! No, my friend, I assure you, pride never influenced my
conduct--I acted from principle.”
“So you are pleased to call it.--But we will not go back to the past--no
man likes to acknowledge he has been wrong. Let us, if you please, look
to the future. You know that you are now in a different situation from
what you were formerly, when you could afford to follow your principles
or your systems. Now, my dear sir, give me leave to tell you that it is
your duty, absolutely your duty, to make use of your interest for your
sons. There is not a man in England, who, if he chose it, might secure
for his sons a better patron than you could.”
“I trust,” replied Mr. Percy, “that I have secured for my sons what is
better than a good patron--a good education.”
“Both are best,” said Mr. Falconer. “Proud as you are, cousin Percy, you
must allow this, when you look round and see who rises, and how.--And
now we are by ourselves, let me ask you, frankly and seriously, why do
not you try to establish your sons by patronage?”
“Frankly and seriously, then, because I detest and despise the whole
system of patronage.”
“That’s very _strong_,” said Mr. Falconer. “And I am glad for your sake,
and for the sake of your family, that nobody heard it but myself.”
“If the whole world heard me,” pursued Mr. Percy, “I should say just the
same. _Strong_--very strong!--I am glad of it; for (excuse me, you are
my relation, and we are on terms of familiarity) the delicate, guarded,
qualifying, trimming, mincing, pouncet-box, gentleman-usher mode of
speaking truth, makes no sort of impression. Truth should always be
strong--speaking or acting.”
“Well, well, I beg your pardon; as strong let it be as you please, only
let it be cool, and then we cannot fail to understand one another. I
think you were going to explain to me why you detest and despise what
you call the system of patronage.”
“Because I believe it to be ruinous to my country. Whenever the honours
of professions, civil, military, or ecclesiastical, are bestowed by
favour, not earned by merit--whenever the places of trust and dignity in
a state are to be gained by intrigue and solicitation--there is an
end of generous emulation, and consequently of exertion. Talents and
integrity, in losing their reward of glory, lose their vigour, and often
their very existence. If the affairs of this nation were guided, and if
her battles were fought by the corrupt, imbecile creatures of patronage,
how would they be guided?--how fought?--Woe be to the country that
trusts to such rulers and such defenders! Woe has been to every country
that has so trusted!--May such never be the fate of England!--And that
it never may, let every honest independent Englishman set his face,
his hand, his heart against this base, this ruinous system!--I will for
one.”
“For one!--alas!” said Mr. Falconer, with a sigh meant to be heard, and
a smile not intended to be seen, “what can one do in such a desperate
case?--I am afraid certain things will go on in the world for ever,
whether we benefit by them or not.--And if I grant that patronage is
sometimes a public evil, you must allow that it is often a private
benefit.”
“I doubt even that,” said Mr. Percy; “for those young men who are
brought up to expect patronage in any profession--But,” said Mr. Percy,
checking himself, “I forgot whom I am speaking to: I don’t wish to say
any thing that can hurt your feelings, especially when you are so kind
to come to see me in adversity, and when you show so much interest in my
affairs.”
“Oh! pray go on, go on,” said the commissioner, smiling, “you will
not hurt me, I assure you: consider I am too firm in the success of my
system to be easily offended on that point--go on!--Those young men who
are brought up to expect patronage in any profession--”
“Are apt to depend upon it too much,” continued Mr. Percy, “and
consequently neglect to acquire knowledge. They know that things will
be passed over for them, and they think that they need not be assiduous,
because they are secure of being provided for, independently of their
own exertions; and if they have a turn for extravagance, they may
indulge it, because a place will set all to rights.”
“And if they are provided for, and if they do get good places, are they
not well enough off?” said Mr. Falconer: “I’ll answer for it, your sons
would think so.”
Mr. Percy, with a look of proud humility, replied, “I am inclined to
believe that my sons would not think themselves _well off_, unless they
were distinguished by their own merit.”
“To be sure,” said Mr. Falconer, correcting himself; “of course I mean
that too: but a young man can never distinguish himself, you know, so
well as when his merit is raised to a conspicuous situation.”
“Or disgrace himself so effectually, as when he is raised to a situation
for which he is unprepared and unfit.”
The commissioner’s brow clouded--some unpleasant reflection or
apprehension seemed to cross his mind. Mr. Percy had no intention
of raising any; he meant no allusion to the commissioner’s sons--he
hastened to turn what he had said more decidedly upon his own.
“I have chosen for my sons, or rather they have chosen for themselves,”
continued he, “professions which are independent of influence, and
in which it could be of little use to them. Patrons can be of little
advantage to a lawyer or a physician. No judge, no attorney, can push
a lawyer up, beyond a certain point--he may rise like a rocket, but he
will fall like the stick, if he be not supported by his own inherent
powers. Where property or life is at stake, men will not compliment or
even be influenced by great recommendations--they will consult the best
lawyer, and the best physician, whoever he may be. I have endeavoured
to give my Alfred and Erasmus such an education as shall enable them
honestly to work their own way to eminence.”
“A friend’s helping hand is no bad thing,” said Mr. Falconer, “in that
hard and slippery ascent.”
“As many friends, as many helping hands, in a fair way, as you please,”
said Mr. Percy: “I by no means would inculcate the anti-social, absurd,
impossible doctrine, that young men, or any men, can or ought to be
independent of the world. Let my sons make friends for themselves, and
enjoy the advantage of mine. I object only to their becoming dependent,
wasting the best years of their lives in a miserable, debasing servitude
to patrons--to patrons, who at last may perhaps capriciously desert them
at their utmost need.”
Again, without designing it, Mr. Percy wakened unpleasant recollections
in the mind of the commissioner.
“Ah! there you touch a tender string with me,” said Mr. Falconer,
sighing. “I have known something of that in my life. Lord N---- and Mr.
G---- did indeed use me shamefully ill. But I was young then, and did
not choose my friends well. I know more of the world now, and have done
better for my sons--and shall do better, I trust, for myself. In the
mean time, my dear Mr. Percy, let us think of your affairs. Such a man
as you should not be lost here on a farm amongst turnips and carrots. So
Lord Oldborough says and thinks--and, in short, to come to the point at
once, I was not sounding you from idle curiosity respecting patronage,
or from any impertinent desire to interfere with your concerns; but I
come, commissioned by Lord Oldborough, to make an offer, which, I
am persuaded, whatever theoretical objections might occur,” said the
commissioner, with a significant smile, “Mr. Percy is too much a man of
practical sense to reject. Lord Oldborough empowers me to say, that it
is his wish to see his government supported and strengthened by men of
Mr. Percy’s talents and character; that he is persuaded that Mr. Percy
would speak well in parliament; that if Mr. Percy will join _us_,
his lordship will bring him into parliament, and give him thus an
opportunity of at once distinguishing himself, advancing his family,
repairing the injustice of fortune, and serving his country.”
Commissioner Falconer made this offer with much pomposity, with the air
of a person sure that he is saying something infinitely flattering, and
at the same time with a lurking smile on his countenance, at the idea of
the ease and certainty with which this offer would induce Mr. Percy to
recant all he had said against patrons and patronage. He was curious to
hear how the philosopher would change his tone; but, to his surprise,
Mr. Percy did not alter it in the least.
He returned his respectful and grateful acknowledgments to Lord
Oldborough, but begged leave totally to decline the honour intended him;
he could not, he said, accept it consistently with his principles--he
could not go into parliament with a view to advance himself or to
provide for his family.
The commissioner interrupted to _qualify_, for he was afraid he had
spoken too broadly, and observed that what he had said was quite
confidential.
Mr. Percy understood it so, and assured him there was no danger that it
should be repeated. The commissioner was then in a state to listen again
quietly.
Mr. Percy said, that when he was rich, he had preferred domestic
happiness to ambition, therefore he had never stood for the county to
which he belonged; that now he was poor, he felt an additional reason
for keeping out of parliament, that he might not put himself in a
situation to be tempted--a situation where he must spend more than he
could afford, and could only pay his expenses by selling his conscience.
The commissioner was silent with astonishment for some moments after Mr.
Percy ceased speaking. He had always thought his good cousin a singular
man, but he had never thought him a wrongheaded fool till this moment.
At first he was somewhat vexed, for Mr. Percy’s sake and for the sake of
his sons, that he refused such an offer; for the commissioner had some
of the feelings of a relation, but more of the habits of a politician,
and these last, in a few moments, reconciled him to what he thought the
ruin of his cousin’s prospects in life. Mr. Falconer considered, that
if Mr. Percy were to go into parliament to join their party, and to get
near Lord Oldborough, he might become a dangerous rival. He pressed the
matter, therefore, no longer with urgency, but only just sufficient
to enable him to report to Lord Oldborough that he had executed his
commission, but had found Mr. Percy _impracticable_.