4. CHAPTER IV.
The Reader's Neck brought into danger by a Description; his Escape; and the great
Condescension of Miss Bridget Allworthy
The Gothic style of building could produce nothing nobler than Mr.
Allworthy's house. There was an air of grandeur in it that struck
you with 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
than the top of it, so as to be sheltered from the north-east by a
grove of old 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
valley beneath.
In the midst of the grove was a fine lawn, sloping down towards
the house, near the summit of which rose a plentiful spring, gushing
out of a rock covered with firs, and forming a constant cascade of
about thirty feet, not carried down a regular flight of steps, but
tumbling in a natural fall over the broken and mossy stones till it
came to the bottom of the rock, then running off in a pebly channel,
that with many lesser falls winded along, till it fell into a lake
at the foot of the hill, about a quarter of a mile below the house
on the south side, and which was seen from every room in the front.
Out of this lake, which filled the center of a beautiful plain,
embellished with groups of beeches and elms, and fed with sheep,
issued a river, that for several miles was seen to meander through
an amazing variety of meadows and woods till it emptied itself into
the sea, with a large arm of which, and an island beyond it, the
prospect was closed.
On the right of this valley opened another of less extent, adorned
with several villages, and terminated by one of the towers of an old
ruined abby, grown over with ivy, and part of the front, which
remained still entire.
The left-hand scene presented the view of a very fine park, composed
of very unequal ground, and agreeably varied with all the diversity
that hills, lawns, wood, and water, laid out with admirable taste, but
owing less to art than to nature, could give. Beyond this, the country
gradually rose into a ridge of wild mountains, the tops of which
were above 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
opened every minute that lovely prospect we have before described to
his eye; and now having sent forth streams of light, which ascended
the blue firmament before him, as harbingers preceding his pomp, in
the full blaze of his majesty rose the sun, than which one object
alone in this lower creation could be more glorious, and that Mr.
Allworthy himself presented- a human being replete with benevolence,
meditating in what manner he might render himself most acceptable to
his Creator, by doing most good to his creatures.
Reader, take care. I have unadvisedly led thee to the top of as high
a hill as Mr. Allworthy and how to get thee down without breaking
thy neck, I do not well know. However, let us e'en venture to slide
down together; for Miss Bridget rings her bell, and Mr. Allworthy is
summoned to breakfast, where I must attend, and, if you please,
shall be glad of your company.
The usual compliments having past between Mr. Allworthy and Miss
Bridget, and the tea being poured out, he summoned Mrs. Wilkins, and
told his sister he had a present for her, for which she thanked
him- imagining, I suppose, it had been a gown, or some ornament for
her person. Indeed, he very often made her such presents; and she, in
complacence to him, spent much time in adorning herself. I say in
complacence to him, because she always exprest the greatest contempt
for dress, and for those ladies who made it their study.
But if such was her expectation, how was she disappointed when
Mrs. Wilkins, 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
ladies are pleased to call virtue, and had herself maintained such a
severity of character, that it was expected, especially by Wilkins,
that she would have vented much bitterness on this occasion, and would
have voted for sending the child, as a kind of noxious animal,
immediately out of the house; but, on the contrary, she rather took
the good-natured side of the question, intimated some compassion for
the helpless little creature, and commended her brother's charity in
what he had done.
Perhaps the reader may account for this behaviour from her
condescension to Mr. Allworthy, when we have informed him that the
good man had ended his narrative with owning a resolution to take care
of the child, and to breed him up as his own; for, to acknowledge
the truth, she was always ready to oblige her brother, and very
seldom, if ever, contradicted his sentiments. She would, indeed,
sometimes make a few observations, as that men were headstrong, and
must have their own way, and would wish she had been blest with an
independent fortune; but these were always vented in a low voice,
and at the most amounted only to what is called muttering.
However, what she withheld from the infant, she bestowed with the
utmost profuseness on the poor unknown mother, whom she called an
impudent slut, a wanton hussy, an audacious harlot, a wicked jade, a
vile strumpet, with every other appellation with which the tongue of
virtue never fails to lash those who bring a disgrace on the sex.
A consultation was now entered into how to proceed in order to
discover the mother. A scrutiny was first made into the characters
of the female servants of the house, who were all acquitted by Mrs.
Wilkins, and with apparent merit; for she had collected them
herself, and perhaps it would be difficult to find such another set of
scarecrows.
The next step was to examine among the inhabitants of the parish;
and this was referred to Mrs. Wilkins, who was to enquire with all
imaginable diligence, and to make her report in the afternoon.
Matters being thus settled, Mr. Allworthy withdrew to his study,
as was his custom, and left the child to his sister, who, at his
desire, had undertaken the care of it.