University of Virginia Library

2. CHAPTER II.
THE LITTLE HEIRESS, AND THE MASTER OF THE
MANSION.

Lucy Blakeney had from her earliest infancy been
under the protection of her maternal grandfather;
her mother had ushered her into life at the expense
of her own, and captain Blakeney of the navy, having
been her godfather, she was baptized by the name of
Blakeney in addition to her own family name. Captain
Blakeney was the intimate friend of her grandfather,
he had loved her mother as his own child, and dying
a bachelor when Lucy was ten years old, he left her
the whole of the property he had acquired during the
war which had given to the United States of America,
rank and consequence among the nations of the earth;
and during which period he had been fortunate in
taking prizes, so that at the time of his death, his
property amounted to more than twenty thousand
pounds sterling. This he bequeathed to his little
favourite on condition that she took the name and
bore the arms of Blakeney; indeed, she had never
been called by any other name, but the will required
that the assumption should be legally authorized, and
a further condition was, that whoever married her,
should change his own family name to that of Blakeney,
but on a failure of this, the original sum was to
go to increase the pensions of the widows of officers
of the navy dying in actual service, Lucy only

retaining the interest which might have accumulated
during her minority.

About two years after this rich bequest, Lucy
literally became an orphan by the death of both her
grandparents, within a few months of each other.
She inherited from her grandfather a handsome patrimony,
enough to support and educate her in a very
superior style, without infringing on the bequest of
captain Blakeney, the interest of which yearly accumulating
would make her by the time she was twenty
one, a splendid heiress.

The reverend Mr. Matthews had lived in habits
of intimacy with both the grandfather of Lucy and
captain Blakeney, though considerably younger than
either; he was nominated her guardian in conjunction
with Sir Robert Ainslie, a banker in London, a
man of strict probity, to whom the management of
her fortune was intrusted.

To Mr. Matthews the care of her person was consigned,
he had promised her grandfather that she
should reside constantly in his family, and under his
eye receive instruction in the accomplishments becoming
the rank she would most probably fill in society,
from the best masters; whilst the cultivation of her
mental powers, the formation of her moral and religious
character, and the correction of those erring
propensities which are the sad inheritance of all the
sons and daughters of Adam, he solemnly promised
should be his own peculiar care.

Mr. Matthews was, what every minister of the
Gospel should be, the profound scholar, the finished
gentleman, and the sincere, devout christian. Plain

and unaffected in his address to his parishioners, on
the sabbath day, or any day set apart for devotional
exercises, he at all other times exemplified in his
own conduct the piety and pure morality he had from
the pulpit forcibly recommended to others. Liberal
as far as his circumstances would allow, without
ostentation; strictly economical without meanness;
conscientiously pious without bigotry or intolerance;
mild in his temper, meek and gentle in his demeanour,
he kept his eye steadily fixed on his divine master,
and in perfect humility of spirit endeavoured as
far as human nature permits, to tread in his steps.

Alfred Matthews was the youngest son of a younger
branch of an honourable but reduced family, he
received his early education at Eton, on the foundation,
from whence he removed to Cambridge, where
he finished his studies, and received the honours of
the university; his moral character, steady deportment,
and literary abilities had raised him so high in
the esteem of the heads of the college, that he was
recommended as private tutor, and afterwards became
the travelling companion to the young Earl of Hartford
and his brother, Lord John Milcombe. Returning
from this tour, he for a considerable time became
stationary as domestic chaplain in the family of the
Earl. This nobleman had two sisters, the children
of his mother by a former marriage, both by several
years his seniors. The elder, Philippa, was of a
serious cast, accomplished, sensible, well informed,
pleasing in her person, and engaging in her manners.
Constantia, the younger of the two, had been celebrated
for her beauty, she was stately, somewhat

affected, and very dictatorial: they were both highly
tinctured with family pride, thinking the name of
Cavendish, might rank almost with royalty itself;
but withal so strongly attached to each other, that
whatever one resolved to do or say, the other upheld
as unquestionably right.

To both these ladies Mr. Matthews was an acceptable
companion, and from the society of both
he reaped the most unaffected pleasure. He admired
their talents, and esteemed their virtues; but his
heart felt no warmer sentiment, till from several concurring
circumstances he could not but perceive, that
the amiable Philippa evinced a tenderer attachment
than her sister. On some subjects she could never
converse with him without hesitation and blushes,
while Constantia was easy and unembarrassed upon
all topics. This discovery awakened his gratitude,
but honour told him that the sister of his patron was
in too elevated a station for him to hope to obtain her
brother's consent to their union, he therefore requested
permission to retire from the family.

“I am sorry to lose you from our family circle
Mr. Matthews,” said the Earl, when he mentioned
his desire; “but it is natural that you should wish to
have a fire side of your own, and it is probable that
you may also wish for a companion to make that
fire side cheerful, I must beg you to accept the Rectory
of L— which has lately become vacant and
is in my gift, till something better can be offered.”
Every thing being arranged for his leaving the family,
it was mentioned the next evening at supper.
Philippa felt her colour vary, but she neither looked

up nor spoke; Constantia, turning towards him, with
vivacity, inquired “How long he had taken the whim
of keeping bachelor's hall, though I beg your pardon
for the suggestion,” said she, “perhaps some fair
lady”—here she stopped, for Philippa's agitation was
evident, and Constantia perceived that her brother
noticed it.

When the ladies had retired, the Earl suddenly
addressed his friend, “If I am not very much mistaken,
Mr. Matthews, one of my sisters would have
no objection to break in upon your bachelor scheme.
Come, be candid, is the inclination mutual?” “I
hope, my lord,” replied Mr. Matthews, “that you
do not suspect me of the presumption.”—“I see no
presumption in it my friend,” rejoined the Earl;
“your family, your education, your talents, set you
upon an equality with any woman, and though Philippa
is not rich, yet her fortune and your income
from the Rectory will supply the comforts, conveniences,
and many of the elegances of life.”

The conversation continued till the hour of repose,
when after taking counsel of his pillow. Mr. Matthews
resolved to solicit the favour of Miss Cavendish,
and proved a successful wooer—a few months
after, he became master of the Rectory—had a fire
side of his own, and an amiable companion to render
that fire side cheerful.

In the course of twenty years many changes had
taken place: the Earl of Hartford had married a
beautiful, but very dissipated woman, who, though she
brought him but a very small fortune, knew extremely
well how to make use of his, and diffuse its benefits

in a most elegant and fashionable style. Her profusion
knew no bounds, and, the Earl being taken off by
a rapid fever, his affairs were found in so embarrassed
a state that his sisters' fortunes, which had never
been paid, though they had regularly received the
interest, were reduced to less than half their original
value, which was twenty thousand pounds. With
this comparatively small portion, Mrs. Matthews
and Mrs. Constantia Cavendish were obliged to be
content.

Mr. Matthews continued Rector of L—, but no
change of circumstances could lead him to accept a
plurality of livings. It was a point of conscience
with him to be paid for no more duty than he was
able to perform himself, and as he was not able to
allow a curate a liberal stipend, he employed none.
When Mrs. Constantia argued with him on the subject;
as she sometimes would; and wondered that
he would perform all offices of the Rectorship himself,
when he might have a curate who would think himself
well paid by fifty pounds a year, and who would
take the most troublesome part upon himself. “I
should be sorry sister,” he would reply “to consider
any part of my duty a trouble, and what right have
I to expect another to do for fifty pounds, what I am
paid five hundred for doing? Every clergyman is,
or should be a gentleman, and I think it highly disgraceful
for one minister of the gospel to be lolling
on velvet cushions, rolling in his carriage, and faring
sumptuously every day, while many, very many of
his poor brethren, labourers in the same vineyard,
bowed with poverty, burthened with large families,

would, like Lazarus, be glad to feed on the crumbs
that fall from the rich man's table.”

But Mr. Matthews was an old fashioned person,
and perhaps will not be thought very entertaining,
so I will bring forward the young ladies.