row Sir Charles's thought; the character he has given you, sir, is stamped in your countenance. I should have venerated you wherever I had seen you. The gentleman has such a truly venerable aspect, my Lucy, I could not help saying this. Sir Charles's goodness, madam, said he, as it ever did, prevents my wishes. I rejoice to see, and to congratulate a new sister restored, as I will call it in the language of Miss Grandison, to the best of families. Just then came in a servant, and whispered to Sir Charles: Shew the gentleman, said Sir Charles, into the drawing-room, next the study. Mr Grandison came up to me, and said many silly things. I thought them so at that time. Mr Reeves soon after was sent for out by Sir Charles. I did not like his looks on his return. Dinner being ready to be served, and Sir Charles, who was still with the gentleman, summoned to it, he desired we would walk down, and he would wait upon us by the time we were seated. Some new trouble, thought I, of which I am the cause, I doubt. Presently came in Sir Charles, unaffectedly smiling and serene.—God bless you, sir! thought I-His looks pleased me better than my cousin's. But, my dear, there is something going forward that I cannot get out of my cousin. I hoped I should, when I got home. The gentleman, to whom Sir Charles was called out, was certainly that Bagenhall. Mr Reeves cannot deny that. I guessed it was, by Sir Charles sending in for Mr Reeves. It must be about me. We had several charming conversations. Sir Charles was extremely entertaining. So unassuming, so lively, so modest! It was also delightful to see the attention paid to him by the servants as they waited at table. They watched every look of his. I never saw love and reverence so agreeably mingled in servants' faces in my life. And his commands were delivered to them with so much gentleness of voice and aspect, that one could not but conclude, in favour of both, that they were the best of servants to the best of masters. Mr Grandison was very gallant in his speeches to me; but very uncivil with his eyes. Lord L- said but little ; but what he did say, deservedly gained attention. Everybody reverenced Dr Bartlett, and was attentive when he spoke; and would, I dare say, on his own account, had not the master of the house, by the regard he paid him, engaged every one's veneration for him. Many of the questions which Sir Charles put to him, as if to inform himself, it was evident he could himself have answered; yet he put them with an air of teachableness, if I may so express myself; and received the Doctor's answers to them with as much satisfaction, as if he were then newly enlightened by them.—Ah, my Lucy! you imagine, I dare say, that this admirable man lost nothing in my eyes, by this his polite condescension. Reserve, and a politeness that had dignity in it, shewed that the fine gentleman and the clergyman were not separated in Dr Bartlett.-Pity they should be in any of the function! Sir Charles gave Lord Gan opportunity to shine, by leading the discourse into circumstances and details, which Lord G could best recount. My lord has been a traveller. He is a connoisseur in antiquities, and in those parts of nice knowledge, as I, a woman, call it, with which the Royal Society here, and the learned and polite of other nations, entertain themselves. Lord G appeared to advantage, as Sir Charles managed it, under the awful eye of Miss Grandison. Upon my word, Lucy, she makes very free with him. I whispered her, that she did—A very Miss Howe, said I. To a very Mr Hickman, re-whispered she. But here's the difference; I am not determined to have Lord G. Miss Howe yielded to her mother's recommendation, and intended to marry Mr Hickman, even when she used him worst. One time or other (archly continued she the whisper, holding up her spread hand, and with a countenance of admiration,) my Lord G— is to shew us his collection of butterflies, and other gaudy insects; will you make one? Of the gaudy insects? whispered I. Fie, Harriet!-One of the party, you know, I must mean. Let me tell you, I never saw a collection of these various insects, that I did not the more admire the Maker of them, and of all us insects, whatever I thought of the collectors of the minute ones.-Another word with you, Harriet These little playful studies may do well enough with persons who do not want to be more than indifferent to us; but do you think a lover ought to take high delight in the painted wings of a butterfly, when a fine lady has made herself all over butterfly to attract him?—Eyes off, Sir Charles!--for he looked, though smilingly, yet earnestly, at us, as we whispered behind the Countess's chair; who heard what was said, and was pleased with it. LETTER XLVII. MISS BYRON. [In continuation.] Thursday Morn. March 2. I SHOULD have told you that Miss Grandison did the honours of the table; and I will go round it; for I know you expect I should. But I have not yet done with Lord G. Poor SIR CHARLES GRANDISON. man! he is excessively in love, I see that. Well he may. What man would not with Miss Grandison? Yet is she too superior, I think. What can a woman do, who is addressed by a man of talents inferior to her own? Must she throw away her talents? Must she hide her light under a bushel, purely to do credit to the man? She She cannot pick and choose, as men can. has only her negative; and, if she is desirous to oblige her friends, not always that. Yet it is said, women must not encourage fops and fools. They must encourage men of sense only. And it is well said. But what will they do, if their lot be cast only among foplings? If the men of sense do not offer themselves? And pray, may I not ask, if the taste of the age, among the men, is not dress, equipage, and foppery? Is the cultivation of the mind any part of their study? The men, in short, are sunk, my dear, and the women but barely swim. Lord G seems a little too finical in his dress. And yet I am told, that Sir Walter Watkins outdoes him in foppery. What can they mean by it, when Sir Charles Grandison is before them? He scruples not to modernize a little; but then you see, that it is in compliance with the fashion, and to avoid singularity; a fault to which great minds are perhaps too often subject, though he is so much above it. I want to know, methinks, whether Sir Charles is very much in earnest in his favour to Lord G——— with regard to Miss Grandison. I doubt not, if he be, but he has good reasons for it. Were this vile Sir Hargrave out of my head, I could satisfy myself about twenty and twenty things, that now and then I want to know. Miss Jervois behaved very discreetly. With what pleasure did she hang on every word that fell from the lips of her guardian! I thought more than once of Swift's Cadenus and Vanessa. Poor girl! how I should pity her, were she insensibly to suffer her gratitude to lead her to be in love with her benefactor! Indeed, I pity everybody who is hopelessly in love. Now don't shake your head, my uncle! Did I not always pity Mr Orm.2 and Mr Fowler ?— You know I did, Lucy. Miss Jervois had a smile ready for every one; but it was not an implicit, a childish smile. It had distinction in it; and shewed intelligence. Upon the whole, she said little; and heard all that was said with attention; and hence I pronounce her a very discreet young lady. But I thought to have done with the men first; and here is Mr Grandison hardly mentioned; who, yet, in his own opinion, was not the last of the men at table. Mr Grandison is a man of middling stature ; not handsome in my eyes; but so near being handsome, that he may be excused, when one knows him, for thinking himself so; because he is liable to make greater mistakes than that. He dresses very gaily too. He is at the head of the fashion, as it seems he thinks; but, however, is one of the first in it, be it what it will. He is a great frequenter of the drawingroom; of all manner of public spectacles; a leader of the taste at a new play, or opera. He dances, he sings, he laughs; and values himself on all three qualifications; and yet certainly has sense; but is not likely to improve it much; since he seems to be so much afraid of suffering in the consequence he thinks himself of, that whenever Sir Charles applies himself to him, upon any of his levities, though but by the eye, his consciousness, however mild the look, makes him shew an uneasiness at the instant. He reddens, sits in pain; calls for favour by his eyes and his quivering lips; and has, notwithstanding, a smile ready to turn into a laugh, in order to lessen his own sensibility, should he be likely to suffer in the opinion of the company; but every motion shews his consciousness of inferiority to the man, of whose smiles or animadversions he is so very apprehensive. What a captious, what a supercilious husband, to a woman who should happen to have a stronger mind than his, would Mr Grandison make! But he values himself upon his having preserved his liberty. I believe there are more bachelors now in England by many thousands, than were a few of course) will every year years ago; and, probably, the numbers of them (and of single women, increase. The luxury of the age will account a good deal for this; and the turn our sex take in un-domesticating themselves, for a good deal more. But let not those worthy young women, who may think themselves destined to a single life, repine over-much at their lot; since, possibly, if they have had no lovers, or having had one, two, or three, have not found a husband, they have had rather a miss than a loss, as men go. And let me here add, that I think, as matters stand in this age, or indeed ever did stand, that those women who have joined with the men in their insolent ridicule of old maids, ought never to be forgiven; no, though Miss Grandison should be one of the ridiculers. An old maid may be an odious character, if they will tell us, that the bad qualities of the persons, not the maiden state, are what they mean to expose; but then they must allow, that there are old maids of twenty; and even that there are widows and wives of all ages and complexions, who, in the abusive sense of the words, are as much old maids, as the most particular of that class of females. But a word or two more concerning Mr Grandison. He is about thirty-two. He has had the glory of ruining two or three women. Sir Charles has restored him to a sense of shame; [all men, I hope, are born with it; which a few months ago, he had got above. And he does not now entertain ladies with instances of the frailty of in dividuals of their sex; which many are too apt, encouragingly, to smile at; when, I am very much mistaken, if every woman would not find her account, if she wishes herself to be thought well of, in discouraging every reflection that may have a tendency to debase or expose the sex in general. How can a man be suffered to boast of his vileness to one woman in the presence of another, without a rebuke, that should put it to the proof, whether the boaster was, or was not, past blushing! Mr Grandison is thought to have hurt his fortune, which was very considerable, by his free living, and an itch of gaming; to cure him of which, Sir Charles encourages him to give him his company at all opportunities. He certainly has understanding enough to know how to value the favour; for he owns to Miss Grandison, that he both loves and fears him; and now and then tells her, that he would give the world, if he had it, to be able to be just what Sir Charles is. Good God! at other times he has broke out, what an odious creature is a rake! How I hate myself, when I contemplate the excellencies of this divine brother of yours! I shall say nothing of Sir Charles in this place. You, I know, my Lucy, will admire me for my forbearance. Lady L and Miss Grandison were the Graces of the table. So lively, so sensible, so frank, so polite, so good-humoured, what honour do they and their brother reflect back on the memory of their mother! Lady Grandison, it seems, was an excellent woman. Sir Thomas was not, I have heard, quite unexceptionable. How useful, if so, are the women in the greater, as well as in the lesser, parts of domestic duty, where they perform their duty! And what have those, who do not, to answer for, to GoD, to their children, and even to their whole sex, for the contempts they bring upon it by their uselessness, and perhaps extravagance; since, if the the human mind is not actively good, it will generally be actively evil. Dr Bartlett I have already spoken of. How did he enliven the conversation, whenever he bore a part in it! So happy an elocution, so clear, so just, so solid, his reasoning! I wish I could remember every word he said. Sir Charles observed to us, before we saw him, that he was not forward to speak; but, as I hinted, he threw the occasions in his way, on purpose to draw him out; and, at such times, what he said was easy, free, and unaffected; and whenever a subject was concluded, he had done with it. His modesty, in short, made him always follow rather than lead a subject, as he very well might do, be it what it would. I was charmed with the Brachman's prayer; which he, occasionally, gave us, on the ancient Persians being talked of. Looking up to the rising sun, which it was supposed they worshipped, these were the words of the Brachman: "O THOU (meaning the ALMIGHTY) by whom Thou (meaning the sun) art enlightened, illuminate my mind, that my actions may be agreeable to THY Will !" And this I will think of, my Lucy, as often as my early hour, for the future, shall be irradiated by that glorious orb. Everybody was pleased with Mr and Mrs Reeves. Their modesty, good sense, and amiable tempers, and the kind, yet not ostentatious regard which they expressed to each other, (a regard so creditable to the married state,) cause them to be always treated and spoken of with distinction. But I believe, as I am in a scribbling vein, I must give you the particulars of one conversation; in which farther honour was done to Dr Bartlett. After dinner, the Countess, drawing me on one side, by both my hands, said; Well, our other sister, our new found sister, let me know how you like us; I am in pain lest you should not love us as well as you do our Northamptonshire relations. You overcome me, madam, with your good ness. Miss Grandison then coming towards us, Dear Miss Grandison, said I, help me to words No, indeed, I'll help you to nothing. I am jealous. Lady L-, don't think to rob me of my Harriet's preferable love, as you have of Sir Charles's. I will be best sister here. But what was your subject ?-Yet I will answer my own question. Some pretty compliment, I suppose; women to women. Women hunger and thirst after compliments. Rather than to be without them, if no men are at hand to flatter us, we love to say handsome things to one another; and so teach the men to find us out. You need not be jealous, Charlotte, said the Countess; you may be sure. This saucy girl, Miss Byron, is ever frustrating her own pretensions. Can flattery, Charlotte, say what we will, have place here?-Lut tell me, Miss Byron, how you like Dr Bartlett? Ay, tell us, Harriet, said Miss Grandison, how you like Dr Bartlett? Pray, Lady L, don't anticipate me; I propose to give our new sister the history of us all; and is not Dr Bartlett one of us? She has already given me the history of all her friends, and of herself; and I have communicated to you, like a good sister, all she has told me. I considered Dr Bartlett, I said, as a saint; and, at the same time, as a man of true polite ness. He is indeed, said the Countess, all that is worthy and amiable in man. Don't you see how Sir Charles admires him? Pray, Lady L, keep clear of my province. Here is Sir Charles. He will not let us break into parties. Sir Charles heard this last sentence-Yet I wonder not, said he, joining us, that three such women get together; goodness to goodness is a natural attraction. We men, however, will not be excluded.-Dr Bartlett, if you please The Doctor approached in a most graceful manner-Let me again, Miss Byron, present Dr Bartlett to you, as a man that is an honour to his cloth ; and that is the same thing, as if I said, to human nature; [the good man bowed in silence; and Miss Byron to you, my good Doctor, (taking my hand,) as a lady most worthy your distinguished regard. You do me too much honour, sir, said I. I shall hope, good Dr Bartlett, by your instructions, to be enabled to deserve such a recommendation. My dear Harriet, said the Countess, snatching my other hand, you are a good girl; and that is more to your honour than beauty. Be quiet, Lady L, said Miss Grandison. Mr Grandison came up-What? Is there not another hand for me? I was vexed at his interruption. It prevented Dr Bartlett from saying something that his lips were opening to speak with a smile of benignity. How the world, said Sir Charles, smiling, will push itself in! Heart, not hand, my dear Mr Grandison, was the subject. Whenever you, Sir Charles, and the Doctor, and these ladies, are got together, I know I must be unseasonable; but if you exclude me such company, how shall I ever be what you and the Doctor would have me to be? Lord Land Lord G- were coming up to us; See your attraction, Miss Byron! said the Countess. But, joined in Miss Grandison, we will not leave our little Jervois by herself, expecting and longing! Our cousins Reeves-only that when they are together, they cannot want companyshould not be thus left. Is there more than one heart among us?-This man's excepted, humorously pushing Mr Grandison, as if from the company-Let us be orderly, and take our seats. How cruel is this! said Mr Grandison, appealing to Sir Charles. Indeed I think it is a little cruel, Charlotte. Not so: let him be good then.-Till when, may all our sex say, to such men as my cousin has been-" Thus let it be done by the man, whom, if he were good, good persons would delight to honour." Shame, if not principle, said Lord L smiling, would effect the cure, if all ladies were to act thus. Don't you think so, cousin Everard? Well, well, said Mr Grandison, I will be good, as fast as I can: but, Doctor, what say you?-Rome was not built in a day. I have great hopes of Mr Grandison, said the Doctor. But, ladies, you must not, as Mr Grandison observed, exclude from the benefit of your conversation, the man whom you wish to be good. What! Not till he is good? said Miss Grandison. Did I not say, we should delight to honour him when he was? But, what, Sir Charles? (come, I had rather take my cue from you, than anybody ;) what are the signs which I am to give to be allowed Only these, my cousin-When you can be serious on serious subjects; yet so cheerful in your seriousness, as if it sat easy upon you; when you can, at times, prefer the company and conversation of Dr Bartlett, who is not a solemn or severe man, to any other; and, in general, had rather stand well in his opinion, than in that of the gayest man or woman in the world. Provided yours, Sir Charles, may be added to the Doctor's Command me, Mr Grandison, whenever you two are together. We will not oppress you with our subjects. Our conversation shall be that of men, of cheerful men. You shall lead them and change them at pleasure. The first moment (and I will watch for it) that I shall imagine you to be tired or uneasy, I will break off the conversation; and you shall leave us, and pursue your own diversions, without a question. You were always indulgent to me, Sir Charles, said Mr Grandison; and I have retired, and blushed to myself, sometimes, for wanting your indulgence. Tea was preparing. Sir Charles took his own seat next Lord L, whom he set in to talk of Scotland. He enjoyed the account my lord gave of the pleasure which the Countess, on that her first journey into those parts, gave to all his family and friends; as Lady Lon her part acknowledged she had a grateful sense of their goodness to her. I rejoice, said Sir Charles, that the sea divides us not from such worthy people, as you, my lord, have given us a relation to. Next visit you make, (Charlotte, I hope, will accompany me,) I intend to inake one in your train, as I have told your lordship before. You will add to our pleasure, Sir Charles. All my relations are prepared to do you honour. But, my lord, did not the ladies think a little hardly of your lordship's engagement? that a man of your merit should go from Scotland for a wife? I do assure you, my lord, that, in all the countries I have been in, I never saw finer women than I have seen in Scotland; and, in very few nations, though six times as large, greater numbers of them. I was to be the happiest of men, Sir Charles, in a Grandison-I thank you, bowing. It is one of my felicities, my lord, that my sister calls herself yours. Lady L― whispering me, as I sat between her and Miss Grandison, The two worthiest hearts in the world, Miss Byron! my Lord L-'s, and my brother's! With joy I congratulate your ladyship on both, re-whispered I. May God long continue to you two such blessings! I thought of the vile Sir Hargrave at the time. I can tell you how, said Mr Grandison, to repay that nation-You, Sir Charles, shall go down, and bring up with you a Scottish lady. I was vexed with myself for starting. I could not help it. Don't you think, Lucy, that Sir Charles made a very fine compliment to the Scottish ladies? -I own that I have heard the women of our northern counties praised also. But are there not, think you, as pretty women in England? My sister Harriet, applied Sir Charles to me, you need not, I hope, be told, that I am a great admirer of fine women. I had like to have bowed-I should not have been able to recover myself, had I so seemed to apply his compliment. I the less wonder that you are, Sir Charles, because, in the word fine, you include mind as well as person. That's my good girl! said Miss Grandison, as she poured out the tea and so he does. My dear Charlotte, whispered I-Pray, say something encouraging to Lord G——. He is pleased with everybody; but nobody says anything to him; and he, I see, both loves and fears you. Hush, child, whispered she again. The man's best when he is silent. If it be his day to love, it is his day to fear. What a deuce! shall a woman's time be never? That's good news for my lord: shall I hint to him, that his time will come? Do, if you dare. I want you to provoke me. She spoke aloud. I have done, said I. My lord, what do you think Miss Byron says? For Heaven's sake, dear Miss Grandison! Nay, I will speak it. Pray, madam, let me know, said my lord. You will know Miss Grandison in time, said Sir Charles. I trust her not with any of my secrets, Miss Byron. The more ungenerous you, Sir Charles: for you get out of me all mine. I complained of you, sir, to Miss Byron, for your reserves at Colnebrook. Be so good, madam, said my lordNay, nothing but the mountain and the mouse. Miss Byron only wanted to see your collection of insects. Miss Byron will do me great honourIf Charlotte won't attend you, madam, said the Countess, to my Lord G -'s, I will. Have I not brought you off, Harriet? whis pered Miss Grandison-Trust me another time. -She will let you know the day before, my lord. Miss Grandison, my lord, said I, loves to alarm. But I will with pleasure wait on her, and on the Countess, whenever they please. You will see many things worth your notice, madam, in Lord G -'s collection, said Sir Charles to me. But Charlotte thinks nothing less than men and women worthy of hers; her parrot and squirrel, the one for its prattle, the other for its vivacity, excepted. Thank you, Sir Charles-But pray do you be quiet! I fear nobody else. Miss Byron, said the Countess, pray spare her not: I see you can make Charlotte be afraid of two. Then it must be of three, Lady L—. You know my reverence for my elder sister. Indeed but I don't. I know only, that nobody can better tell what she should do, than my Charlotte but I have always taken too much delight in your vivacity, either to wish or expect you to rein it in. You acted by me like an indolent parent, Lady L, who miscalls herself indulgent. You gave me my head for your own pleasure; and when I had got it, though you found the inconvenience, you chose rather to bear it, than to take the pains to restrain me-But Sir Charles, whatever faults he might have had when he was from us, came over to us finished. He grew not up with us from year to year: his blaze dazzled me; and I have tried over and over, but cannot yet get the better of my reverence for him. If I have not my sister's love, rather than what she pleasantly calls her reverence, I shall have a much worse opinion of my own outward behaviour, than of her merit. Your outward behaviour, Sir Charles, cannot be in fault, said Lord L-: but I join with my sister Charlotte, in her opinion of what is. And I too, said the Countess-for I am a party -This is it, Sir Charles-Who that lies under obligations which they cannot return, can view the obliger but with the most delicate sensibility? Give me leave, said Miss Emily, her face crimsoned over with modest gratitude, to say, that I am one, that shall ever have a reverence, superior to my love, for the best of guardians. Blushes overspread my face, and gave a tacit acknowledgment, on my part, of the same sensibility, from the same motives. Who is it, joined in Dr Bartlett, that knows my patron, but must acknowledge My dear Dr Bartlett, interrupted Sir Charles, from you, and from my good Lord L—, these fine things are not to be borne. From my three sisters, looking at me for one, and from my dear ward, I cannot be so uneasy, when they will not be restrained from acknowledging, that I have succeeded in my endeavours to perform my duty to them. |