Lucile :: :: University of Virginia Library

Drawn apart
From the gate, in the courtyard, and ready to start,
Postboys mounted, portmanteaus pack'd up and made fast,
A travelling-carriage, unnoticed, he pass'd.
He order'd his horse to be ready anon;
Sent, and paid, for the reckoning, and slowly pass'd on,
And ascended the staircase, and enter'd his room.
It was twilight. The chamber was dark in the gloom
Of the evening. He listlessly kindled a light,
On the mantelpiece; there a large card caught his sight—
A large card, a stout card, well printed and plain,
Nothing flourishing, flimsy, affected, or vain.

155

It gave a respectable look to the slab
That it lay on. The name was—

Sir Ridley MacNab.

Full familiar to him was the name that he saw,
For 'twas that of his own future uncle-in-law,
Mrs. Darcy's rich brother, the banker, well known
As wearing the longest-philacteried gown
Of all the rich Pharisees England can boast of;
A shrewd Puritan Scot, whose sharp wits made the most of
This world and the next; having largely invested
Not only where treasure is never molested
By thieves, moth, or rust; but on this earthly ball,
Where interest was high, and security small.
Of mankind there was never a theory yet
Not by some individual instance upset:
From old Homer's, who sang that the race may be found
Now flourishing high, and now low on the ground,
Like the leaves upon trees; for one sometimes perceives
Certain creatures that spring from the mud put forth leaves

156

In high places; and so to that verse in the Psalm
Which declares that the wicked expand like the palm
In a world where the righteous are stunted and pent,
A cheering exception did Ridley present.
Like the worthy of Uz, Heaven prosper'd his piety.
The leader of every religious society,
Christian knowledge he labour'd thro' life to promote
With personal profit, and knew how to quote
Both the stocks and the Scripture, with equal advantage
To himself and admiring friends, in this Cant-Age.