Chapter iv.
The reader's neck brought into danger by a description; his escape;and the great condescension of Miss Bridget Allworthy.
The Gothic stile of building could produce nothing nobler than MrAllworthy's house. There was an air of grandeur in it that struck youwith awe, and rivalled the beauties of the best Grecian architecture;and it was as commodious within as venerable without.
It stood on the south-east side of a hill, but nearer the bottom thanthe top of it, so as to be sheltered from the north-east by a grove ofold oaks which rose above it in a gradual ascent of near half a mile,and yet high enough to enjoy a most charming prospect of the valleybeneath.
In the midst of the grove was a fine lawn, sloping down towards thehouse, near the summit of which rose a plentiful spring, gushing outof a rock covered with firs, and forming a constant cascade of aboutthirty feet, not carried down a regular flight of steps, but tumblingin a natural fall over the broken and mossy stones till it came to thebottom of the rock, then running off in a pebly channel, that withmany lesser falls winded along, till it fell into a lake at the footof the hill, about a quarter of a mile below the house on the southside, and which was seen from every room in the front. Out of thislake, which filled the center of a beautiful plain, embellished withgroups of beeches and elms, and fed with sheep, issued a river, thatfor several miles was seen to meander through an amazing variety ofmeadows and woods till it emptied itself into the sea, with a largearm of which, and an island beyond it, the prospect was closed.
On the right of this valley opened another of less extent, adornedwith several villages, and terminated by one of the towers of an oldruined abby, grown over with ivy, and part of the front, whichremained still entire.
The left-hand scene presented the view of a very fine park, composedof very unequal ground, and agreeably varied with all the diversitythat hills, lawns, wood, and water, laid out with admirable taste, butowing less to art than to nature, could give. Beyond this, the countrygradually rose into a ridge of wild mountains, the tops of which wereabove the clouds.
It was now the middle of May, and the morning was remarkably serene,when Mr Allworthy walked forth on the terrace, where the dawn openedevery minute that lovely prospect we have before described to his eye;and now having sent forth streams of light, which ascended the bluefirmament before him, as harbingers preceding his pomp, in the fullblaze of his majesty rose the sun, than which one object alone in thislower creation could be more glorious, and that Mr Allworthy himselfpresented--a human being replete with benevolence, meditating in whatmanner he might render himself most acceptable to his Creator, bydoing most good to his creatures.
Reader, take care. I have unadvisedly led thee to the top of as high ahill as Mr Allworthy's, and how to get thee down without breaking thyneck, I do not well know. However, let us e'en venture to slide downtogether; for Miss Bridget rings her bell, and Mr Allworthy issummoned to breakfast, where I must attend, and, if you please, shallbe glad of your company.
The usual compliments having past between Mr Allworthy and MissBridget, and the tea being poured out, he summoned Mrs Wilkins, andtold his sister he had a present for her, for which she thankedhim--imagining, I suppose, it had been a gown, or some ornament forher person. Indeed, he very often made her such presents; and she, incomplacence to him, spent much time in adorning herself. I say incomplacence to him, because she always exprest the greatest contemptfor dress, and for those ladies who made it their study.
But if such was her expectation, how was she disappointed when MrsWilkins, according to the order she had received from her master,produced the little infant? Great surprizes, as hath been observed,are apt to be silent; and so was Miss Bridget, till her brother began,and told her the whole story, which, as the reader knows it already,we shall not repeat.
Miss Bridget had always exprest so great a regard for what the ladiesare pleased to call virtue, and had herself maintained such a severityof character, that it was expected, especially by Wilkins, that shewould have vented much bitterness on this occasion, and would havevoted for sending the child, as a kind of noxious animal, immediatelyout of the house; but, on the contrary, she rather took thegood-natured side of the question, intimated some compassion for thehelpless little creature, and commended her brother's charity in whathe had done.
Perhaps the reader may account for this behaviour from hercondescension to Mr Allworthy, when we have informed him that the goodman had ended his narrative with owning a resolution to take care ofthe child, and to breed him up as his own; for, to acknowledge thetruth, she was always ready to oblige her brother, and very seldom, ifever, contradicted his sentiments. She would, indeed, sometimes make afew observations, as that men were headstrong, and must have their ownway, and would wish she had been blest with an independent fortune;but these were always vented in a low voice, and at the most amountedonly to what is called muttering.
However, what she withheld from the infant, she bestowed with theutmost profuseness on the poor unknown mother, whom she called animpudent slut, a wanton hussy, an audacious harlot, a wicked jade, avile strumpet, with every other appellation with which the tongue ofvirtue never fails to lash those who bring a disgrace on the sex.
A consultation was now entered into how to proceed in order todiscover the mother. A scrutiny was first made into the characters ofthe female servants of the house, who were all acquitted by MrsWilkins, and with apparent merit; for she had collected them herself,and perhaps it would be difficult to find such another set ofscarecrows.
The next step was to examine among the inhabitants of the parish; andthis was referred to Mrs Wilkins, who was to enquire with allimaginable diligence, and to make her report in the afternoon.
Matters being thus settled, Mr Allworthy withdrew to his study, as washis custom, and left the child to his sister, who, at his desire, hadundertaken the care of it.