William Pitt Scargill

“ This was a feeling which manifestly [176] had possession of more than one of the mourners, who had attracted the curiosity of Sir Andrew Featherstone and the ladies that were with him. The keenness of their sorrow prevented Lady Woodstock and her daughter from gazing upon them with an eye of too curious inquiry. To gaze upon the afflicted without a look of sympathy is very cruel; and to look with compassion upon the eye that is full of tears, which it would fain suppress, does but still more unnerve the sorrowing heart. ”

“ A profession cannot be indispensable that is essentially immoral. But, sir, I have to thank you for the manner in which you conducted my cause. It was well done of you that you spoke so temperately of the defendant, or that you rather let facts speak for themselves. I have no spiteful feeling against the gentleman, and for my own part could easily have borne with what I received from him; but I have a serious charge here,” pointing to his niece; “that poor child looks up to me for protection, and I must not suffer any one to approach her disrespectfully. I love her as if she were my own. ”

“ Philip Martindale is a man of very profligate habits. How does that suit his cousin?”
“Why, yes, the young man is rather gay; and so indeed was the old gentleman formerly, or his old acquaintance very much belie him. Now, however, he is occasionally very grave in his way, and frequently gives his cousin very serious lectures, which are not of much avail; for Mr. Martindale’s style of reproof is more jesting than rebuking: he says whatever he thinks; and has the oddest mode of thinking of any man that I know. He says any thing to any body, and where he is known nobody heeds him.” ”

“ When the old gentleman had finished a tolerably long harangue on fools and follies of all descriptions, it almost occurred to him that if so great was the number of follies, and so long was the list of fools, there could be little else than folly in all human pursuits; and that he himself, in his own singularity of wisdom, was something of a fool for being so outrageously wise, when there was nobody left to keep him in countenance. Paradoxical as it may sound, it is not far from truth that excess of wisdom is excess of folly. ”

“ Every man who calls himself a fool is offended if he fancies that he is believed, is offended if he be not contradicted, and is also offended if he be contradicted, so as to give proof that he is suspected of expecting contradiction.
Now, though Philip Martindale was a gentleman of very fashionable manners, and perfectly informed and well instructed as to all the forms and modes of fashionable address, yet his knowledge was simply that of forms and modes; he had no natural intuition; no native and unbought perception of abstract propriety and unchangeable good manners. ”

“ Philip Martindale, he was not so easily disgusted with the world; he was under great obligations to it, and hoped to be under more. It is certainly a very pleasant thing to have a good opinion of oneself, but it is pleasanter to have that opinion positively than comparatively; and to quarrel with all the world at once is no great proof either of wisdom or virtue. Besides, Mr. Philip knew that half a dozen tradesmen, and half as many money-lenders, were not all the world. ”

“ He almost wished that he had not been born an hereditary legislator, for then he might have applied himself to some useful pursuit, and not have been under the necessity of going to Newmarket and losing his money in a right honorable way to keep up his dignity. But it is very hard if a man of rank and fortune cannot have his amusements, and what else can a man of rank and fortune do with his time and property than waste them among sharpers? ”

“ Martindale did not repeat the question, but proceeded to say:
“Well, my good man, I have brought with [60] me the young advocate who pleaded your cause so effectually. I hope he will be as successful in every cause that he undertakes, and that he will never undertake any less honourable to himself.”
“The law is a dangerous profession, sir; but we must not measure a man’s integrity by the brief which he holds. The barrister professes himself an advocate, not a judge; and if he refuses a brief because he thinks the cause a bad one, he acts with prejudice, seeing only one side of the question. ”

“ It is a truth, and a sad one too, that many persons, situated as Mr. John Martindale, are not always really sorry for an opportunity of showing their authority by means of the eloquence or annoyance of rebuke. Had Philip, by any exertion of his own, or by any spirit of pride, removed himself from a state of dependence, it would have been a serious loss to his cousin; and even the very appearance of an act of independence disturbed the old gentleman, and rendered him for a considerable time silent and sulky. ”

“ Mr Martindale himself had given way to strong emotions on the preceding day, the ground of which emotions was rather remorse than affection: not that he was incapable of affection, or insensible to its claims; but age makes a difference in the mode of expressing affection; and the old gentleman had never been in the way of that habitual intercourse which gives to sentiments of love their strength and feeling. ”

“ Miss Sampson was not a beauty, but was good-looking and rather pretty; of middle stature, light complexion, and fine natural colour; good-humored and cheerful; ambitious of elegance, but not well-informed as to the means; critical as to the externals of behaviour, and much exposed herself to the same kind of criticism; sadly afraid of vulgarity, though often sinning through mere ignorance. Her appearance and dress attracted, as she designed, universal attention ”

“ Very few of the annoyances to which man is exposed from his fellow-men have a remedy from law. To be sure, it may be said that the legacy-hunter is a simpleton for giving another power over him; but, alas! how could a young man, situated as the Hon. Philip Martindale, help himself. As he himself observed to his mother, “if I refuse the offer of the Abbey, I may so far offend the old gentleman, as to induce him to leave his property elsewhere.” ”

“ It was very true that no confidence could be placed in the whims and caprices of a wealthy old humorist. He might, notwithstanding his advanced years, take it into his mind to marry. He might find out some new favourite on whom he might bestow the greatest part of his property. He would in all human probability live many years; and his capriciousness might, and most likely would, rather increase than diminish. Lady Martindale also reminded her son, that the allowance which he received from the old gentleman was barely sufficient to meet the increased expenses of so large an establishment ”

“ Philip, on his return to Brigland, explained the whole affair.
Thereupon serious looks were assumed by Lord and Lady Martindale, and those serious looks reflected by their honorable son. They were all three greatly perplexed—they all three uttered many wise sayings—they all three talked the matter over with great deliberation—they all three resolved and concluded that something must be done; but they were all three at a loss to know what must be done. Looking at one another was not the best way to get over their perplexities, and yet it is what people often do in perplexities ”

“ What occupation so befitting the most noble, the right honorable of the land—the superfine part of the species—the arbiters of the world’s destiny—the brightest lights of the collective wisdom of the nation—as the spending of princely fortunes to see how much faster one horse can run than another? ”

“ Moralists and divines may speak as contemptuously as they will of negative virtues; but in defiance of their wisdom, we will contend that, humanly speaking, there was great merit in Horatio, that he did not feel himself unduly elated by all his honors. He attentively listened to the common-place harangue of old Richard Smith, and replied to it with the respect due to old age.
“You are very candid to the profession, sir; few will concede so much: but it would be difficult to find any profession or employment which is not subject to the reproaches of those who are not engaged in it. ”

“ For what is the use or benefit of knowing any thing, if we cannot let that knowledge be known. If a secret be confided to us, an honour is thereby conferred; but if that secret be not by us again talked about, directly or indirectly, how can the world know how much we are honoured? Who would give a fig to receive the honour of knighthood, if he were under an obligation to let no one know it? ”

“ He was placed in a certain rank in society, and must keep up the dignity of that rank; and it was his misfortune if necessity put him upon using means for that purpose not quite in unison with his better judgment. Royalty itself has not free choice in matters of the heart; and nobility, as it approaches royalty in its splendour, is sometimes assimilated to it in its restraints and perplexities. Still, however, making every concession which candour and human kindness prompt us to make in behalf of Philip Martindale ”

“ Martindale away from the immediate explanation which was just coming upon him, Oliver’s next concern was to construct something of a plausible story to account not only for the presence of the officers at the Abbey, but for their rude behaviour, which to his mind appeared totally insoluble on any other theory than that of their being in possession by virtue of their office. To acknowledge this truth appeared to him as the most effectual means to bring ruin on himself and his master. ”

“ In spite, however, of all his feeling of dignity and propriety, he felt an irresistible propensity to call on Mr. Denver, who, as a public intelligencer, was certainly one of the most able men in the town of Brigland. The very polite and exquisitely courteous manner in which the reverend perpetual curate received the tenant of the Abbey, was not at all indicative of falling fortunes or painful change of circumstance. ”

“ Our present concern is with the mind of Clara Rivolta, and her sentiments of and towards this young man. He was to all intents the most agreeable man she had seen since her arrival in England; and his slight tincture of pedantry, and his love of quotation and recitation, tedious and stupid as they might have been to many others, were to her peculiarly agreeable. Men’s hearts are stolen through the eye—women’s through the ear. Clara was pleased with Markham’s voice because she liked poetry ”

“ The Featherstones are a very respectable and an old family, but you must look for something more than mere family; you cannot keep up the dignity of your rank without an accession, and a very considerable accession of fortune, which you cannot have from the Featherstones. I wish I could persuade you to apply yourself to public business; I am sure you might make a good figure in the house, and provide for yourself far better and more honorably than by living in a state of dependence. ”

“ We have read, and have in our political feelings profited by reading, the fable of the old man, his son, and his ass, and we know how difficult it is to please every body. We know that if the government does not reward its servants liberally, they will be very angry; and we know that if it does reward them liberally, others will be very angry. But let that pass. It is, however, a fact, that Lady Woodstock and her four daughters lived at Hollywick Priory in very good style, considering the limited means which they possessed. ”

“ The Miss Featherstones had recourse to their portfolio of plans and drawings, and sections, and elevations; and these they spread out on the table, in order to excite admiration, and to prompt discussion. Old Mr. Martindale was so perverse that he would not take any notice of the display; and the rest of the company had already, on a previous occasion, said all that they had to say. Isabella, the youngest of the Miss Featherstones, prided herself on her very superior wisdom, and therefore was very much disconcerted that any one should slightingly regard her favorite study ”