William Pitt Scargill

“ Had he been a proper hero, he would not have admitted the possibility that there could exist on the face of the earth any human being but himself worthy of Clara’s hand, or likely to obtain it. Had he been a proper hero, he would not have been quite so shy, as he clearly was, of the fact that his father kept a linen-draper’s shop in a country town.
We have represented Horatio Markham as a man of talent and general good judgment, but we have not described him as a paragon of all possible and impossible excellence. ”

“ Mr. Denver expanded his countenance into a broad look of astonishment, and said, “Bless me, Mr. Markham, why how very scrupulous you are! I cannot see how any body can blame you for taking the legacy. It was not your doing that Mr. Martindale was ignorant of the full value of his property. Though between ourselves, and I hope you will not let it go any farther, I dare say that Mr. Price used no little pains to keep Mr. Martindale in the dark with a view of coming into a handsome fortune as residuary-legatee.” ”

“ His lordship did not exactly know why it was not fashionable, and perhaps never thought of inquiring. It is the spirit and glory of fashion to follow models and obey laws, without knowing why or wherefore. The true reason of the unfashionableness of that which Signora Rivolta and her daughter persisted in doing is, that emotion and deep feeling are unfashionable. The Earl of Trimmerstone did not pursue the course of opposition, on finding that the ladies were sincere and earnest in their wish to pay this last tribute of respect to their departed relative. ”

“ Markham, with all his simplicity and ignorance of what is called the world, had not been inattentive [157] to theology. He had observed and thought much of the influence of religion upon the human mind; this, indeed, had been his first and almost his only speculation. He had been very desirous, even from early youth, of acting and living most accurately and conscientiously. He was as ignorant on the subject of sectarianism as any member of an establishment need wish to be. But sectarianism does not spring from the attractions of heresy so much as from the dissatisfactions of orthodoxy. ”

“ Now, if the gentleman whose vanity we have represented as being gratified by the title of Earl of Trimmerstone had been content to form his fortunes for himself, instead of leaning luxuriously idle on a capricious relative, he would have avoided many of those perplexities into which he was thrown; and though he might not have been honored so much by an association with men of high rank, he would have been honored much more by an intimacy with men of good understanding and decorous conduct. ”

“ Martindale waited not for a reply. He proceeded to make more minute inquiries concerning the illness of Mr. Markham the elder; but was not patient enough to wait for distinct and separate answers. When a person in high spirits and of natural hastiness of manner enters into any thing of a conversation with others who are not in high spirits, he does not immediately notice the contrast, for the loud crowing of his own voice is for a time a reflection of his own cheerful thoughts; but even vivacity needs sympathy to support it, and cannot long exist without. ”

“ It may readily be imagined that a lady of rank whose most intimate acquaintants were such as Mr. Tippetson and Dr. Crack, could not have much relish for a life of retirement, wherein her enjoyments must be of her own procuring, and must have their seat in the mind. When, therefore, his lordship mentioned the topic of retirement, it by no means met with her ladyship’s approbation. She laughed at his lordship’s gravity. That was bad policy; for laughing at gravity only makes it worse. By this mode of treating her lord’s humors, the Countess made him angry and positive ”

“ And you should consider whether there be not some peculiar spiritual good to be derived and drawn from temporal and worldly sorrow. You have lost a parent. Pray for his soul. His errors might have shaken the stability of your faith; and if he endeavoured, while living, to poison your soul with heresy, now return good for evil, and pray for him. Who can tell how much the prayers of the faithful may avail!”
Signora Rivolta listened calmly, and replied, “But, father, will my prayers be successful for a heretic?”
“Daughter,” replied the priest, “there are no heretics in the grave.” ”

“ And, considering that he wore the habiliments of sorrow, he carried on his countenance the aspect and look of much cheerfulness and composure of mind: for he was happy in the consciousness of having done that which he knew and felt to be right.
For Markham’s sake and our own we must be allowed a short digression on the subject of bright faces and black suits. It is a piece of arrant foolery, and detestably silly cant, to make a sneering prating about the manner [269] in which people bear or feel the loss of their friends or relatives. ”

“ Whether it be possible or not for a married woman who has lost the affection of her husband, ever to regain and recover that affection, we presume not to say; but notwithstanding the diffidence we feel in our own judgment, and notwithstanding our own inexperience of such matters, we will venture to give it as our firm opinion, that when the affections of a seducer are gone away from the silly one whom he has beguiled, or who has beguiled him, it is the most hopeless of all efforts to endeavour to recall them. ”

“ Signora Rivolta looked as if she expected that the priest would take his departure on the arrival of Lord Trimmerstone; but Father Martini looked as if he was fully resolved to stay and hear all that might pass. There is something very awkward in that arrangement of civilised society, which allows us to ask persons to come into our houses, but does not permit us to dismiss them when we please. ”

“ There is no waste of time in reading books of amusement when they are not amusing. What a fuss people make about amusement, and very sensible people too! But perhaps there is a pleasure in railing against pleasure, and so we will let it pass.
It was not usual with Signora Rivolta to express herself with so much freedom and cheerfulness to Markham as she did at this interview. ”

“ Markham, and had crossed his extended legs and clasped his long fingers, leaving only his thumbs at liberty to move, screwed up his lips as tight as a miser’s purse, and, as if economical of words, uttered through the nose a sound which no vowels or consonants in any European alphabet are competent to express, either severally or conjointly. As it oftentimes occurs that words are used when no meaning is conveyed, so does it on the other hand sometimes happen that much meaning is conveyed when no words are uttered. ”

“ Martindale, who was aware that it would be doing more harm than good to supply his noble relative’s extravagance with unlimited means of indulgence, thought that he should do his lordship more essential service by procuring him some appointment, which might have at least the semblance of occupation for him. With this view he waited upon the nobleman whom we have before mentioned as having patronised Horatio Markham. Here we are strongly tempted to observe how inaccurate is our ordinary language. We call men high in office, men in power. ”

“ What those opinions were we know not, and perhaps Markham himself did not exactly know; and therefore, as he apprehended these opinions indistinctly, he could not communicate them, and thus they were likely to continue his own. Whatever were his literal opinions, the spirit of his theological feeling was catholic; not Roman Catholic, gentle reader, but catholic in its widest acceptation. He did at one time reprobate sectarianism not as a nurse of dangerous heresies, but as a violation of the spirit of nature’s catholicism, and an unauthorised earth-born enclosure of heaven’s free blessings ”

“ In the mean time Markham’s mother made her appearance, wearing a much more composed aspect than the young gentleman had expected, judging from the language which his father had used. Mrs. Markham has little to do in our history; but the mother of an amiable, well-conducted, and [111] intelligent young man is almost always an object of respect. The direction and moral habits of the youthful mind depend much on the practical wisdom of a mother. She does not indeed create the mind, but she gives its energies their first impulse. ”

“ Tippetson, however, thought much of rank: it was so great an honor to be intimate with a countess. Every body said that Tippetson was too intimate with the Countess, and another every body said that he was going to be married to Clara Rivolta.
Our readers must have observed that we are in general tolerably candid. But sometimes we do find ourselves glowing with an indignation not easily expressed, and feeling a contempt, for the conveyance of which no ordinary terms or allowed language will suffice. ”

“ And is there not an undefinable, but powerfully apprehensible difference between the voice of inanity, selfishness, and grossness, and the voice of intelligence, generosity, and purity? Is there not also as great a difference between an eye which indicates mind, and one which is but a cold glassy inlet of uninterpreted light? ”

“ Never had he seen a countenance of such singular and curious expression. It seemed not only unenglish, but unearthly. The eyes were large, flat, and lustreless; the cheeks long, narrow, pendulous, and sadly sallow; the nose aquiline; the forehead low and wrinkled; the hair thick and grizzled; the mouth wide, and the lips thin and pale; and the teeth long and irregular, and alternately black and yellow, like the keys of an old harpsichord. Markham sickened at the sight; he guessed what the stranger was; and so can our readers.
[165]
CHAPTER XI.
“But here I am to speak what I do know.” ”

“ Martindale pitied him very sincerely; but Mr. Martindale ought to have blamed himself that he had not taken pains to prevent this unpleasant catastrophe. For under pretence and colour of supplying the young man with the means of keeping up an appearance in the world, he had only furnished him with an opportunity of making a fool of himself. Mr. Martindale had never given his young relative any of his confidence; he had treated him with a distant and capricious patronage. The old gentleman knew well enough the character of Celestina Sampson ”

“ In the minds of some there is a lurking suspicion that these people were proud, and that in order to preserve fairness and honesty in our descriptions and representations, we should acknowledge that much of their then suffering arose from pride. Perhaps it might be so. Let it be acknowledged. We can only say that it would have been much better for the Earl and Countess of Trimmerstone had they possessed more of that species of pride which abounded in the humbler family of Markham: then would his lordship have avoided the mortification of dependence ”

“ Her ladyship’s taste was rather more vulgar than usually happens in that class of society from whence she had her origin; and as the exclusives were not well pleased with her birth, they could easily apologise for their neglect of her on account of her manners. In spite, however, of all the indifference of what is called the fashionable world, she contrived to live a life of no little gaiety. Such companions and intimates as she honored with her acquaintance were not the best adapted to prepare her mind for retirement. ”

“ Her mother had all the wisdom of a Mentor, but could not lay aside the majesty of a Minerva. It is a painful and disagreeable state of being, when a soul of natural and ardent sensibility has had its feelings wrongly excited and improperly directed, and when, from the disappointment which naturally results from this, it is beginning to settle down into the coldness of apathy and indifference. ”

“ Almost all single men, who are not downright hermits, have some peculiar pet place of call; some friend’s house, where they uniformly make their first and last visit; where they pop in without fear of intruding. Sometimes, such is the fickleness of humanity, these places are changed; and even Markham, with all his steadiness, was once in great danger of substituting the house of Mr. Henderson for that of Mr. Martindale. ”

“ Nature often gives to individuals in every rank of life a species of inalienable nobility, and sometimes denies even to some in the highest walks that nobility of character, by which alone the artificial nobility of civilised society can be properly upheld in its dignity. ”

“ Tippetson, who had desired to immortalise himself by an elopement with a lady of rank, now that the Countess of Trimmerstone was in his power, did not feel quite so proud of his conquest as he had anticipated and fancied. There is nothing in rank where there is no distance and reserve. The Countess, even before they had reached Dover, began to appear to him as a weak, silly woman. Now, if in stealing a countess, he had stolen the title of earl for himself, he might have been more proud of his exploit ”

“ Why, Sir, ’tis neither satire nor moral, but the mere passage of an history; yet there are a sort of discontented creatures, that bear a stingless envy to great ones, and these will wrest the doings of any man to their base malicious appliment. ”

“ His lordship could not afford to quarrel with his wealthy relative; and therefore, though most deeply mortified by this salutation, he was under the absolute necessity of putting up with it, and preparing himself to expect as much more. It is very painful for a man of rank, who has passed some years beyond the age of boyhood, to be snubbed, schooled, and lectured. There is not one man in a thousand who would put up with it. But so it was that, step by step, this Hon. Earl of Trimmerstone had been entangled in the snares of dependence, and was now unable to extricate himself. ”