will provide for it in a better manner than you can ever hope. And now
nothing remains but that you inform me who was the wicked man that
seduced you; for my anger against him will be much greater than you
have experienced on this occasion."
Jenny now lifted her eyes from the ground, and with a modest look
and decent voice thus began:-
"To know you, sir, and not love your goodness, would be an
argument of total want of sense or goodness in any one. In me it would
amount to the highest ingratitude, not to feel, in the most sensible
manner, the great degree of goodness you have been pleased to exert on
this occasion. As to my concern for what is past, I know you will
spare my blushes the repetition. My future conduct will much better
declare my sentiments than any professions I can now make. I beg leave
to assure you, sir, that I take your advice much kinder than your
generous offer with which you concluded it; for, as you are pleased to
say, sir, it is an instance of your opinion of my understanding."-
Here her tears flowing apace, she stopped a few moments, and then
proceeded thus:- "Indeed, sir, your kindness overcomes me; but I will
endeavour to deserve this good opinion: for if I have the
understanding you are so kindly pleased to allow me, such advice
cannot be thrown away upon me. I thank you, sir, heartily, for your
intended kindness to my poor helpless child: he is innocent, and I
hope will live to be grateful for all the favours you shall show him.
But now, sir, I must on my knees entreat you not to persist in asking
me to declare the father of my infant. I promise you faithfully you
shall one day know; but I am under the most solemn ties and
engagements of honour, as well as the most religious vows and
protestations, to conceal his name at this time. And I know you too
well, to think you would desire I should sacrifice either my honour or
my religion."
Mr. Allworthy, whom the least mention of those sacred words was
sufficient to stagger, hesitated a moment before he replied, and
then told her, she had done wrong to enter into such engagements to
a villain; but since she had, he could not insist on her breaking
them. He said, it was not from a motive of vain curiosity he had
inquired, but in order to punish the fellow; at least, that he might
not ignorantly confer favours on the undeserving.
As to these points, Jenny satisfied him by the most solemn
assurances, that the man was entirely out of his reach; and was
neither subject to his power, nor in any probability of becoming an
object of his goodness.
The ingenuity of this behaviour had gained Jenny so much credit with
this worthy man, that he easily believed what she told him; for as she
had disdained to excuse herself by a lie, and had hazarded his further
displeasure in her present situation, rather than she would forfeit
her honour or integrity by betraying another, he had but little
apprehensions that she would be guilty of falsehood towards himself.
He therefore dismissed her with assurances that he would very soon
remove her out of the reach of that obloquy she had incurred;
concluding with some additional documents, in which he recommended
repentance, saying, "Consider, child, there is One still to
reconcile yourself to, whose favour is of much greater importance to
you than mine."
Chapter 8
A dialogue between Mesdames Bridget and Deborah; containing more
amusement, but less instruction, than the former
When Mr. Allworthy had retired to his study with Jenny Jones, as
hath been seen, Mrs. Bridget, with the good housekeeper, had betaken
themselves to a post next adjoining to the said study; whence, through
the conveyance of a keyhole, they sucked in at their ears the
instructive lecture delivered by Mr. Allworthy, together with the
answers of Jenny, and indeed every other particular which passed in
the last chapter.
This hole in her brother's study-door was indeed as well known to
Mrs. Bridget, and had been as frequently applied to by her, as the
famous hole in the wall was by Thisbe of old. This served to many good
purposes. For by such means Mrs. Bridget became often acquainted
with her brother's inclinations, without giving him the trouble of
repeating them to her. It is true, some inconveniences attended this
intercourse, and she had sometimes reason to cry out with Thisbe, in
Shakespear, "O, wicked, wicked wall!" For as Mr. Allworthy was a
justice of peace, certain things occurred in examinations concerning
bastards, and such like, which are apt to give great offence to the
chaste ears of virgins, especially when they approach the age of
forty, as was the case of Miss Bridget. However, she had, on such
occasions, the advantage of concealing her blushes from the eyes of
men; and De non apparentibus, et non existentibus eadem est
ratio*- in English, "When a woman is not seen to blush, she doth not
blush at all."
*Things which do not appear are to be treated the same as those
which do not exist.- COKE
Both the good women kept strict silence during the whole scene
between Mr. Allworthy and the girl; but as soon as it was ended, and
that gentleman was out of hearing, Mrs. Deborah could not help
exclaiming against the clemency of her master, and especially
against his suffering her to conceal the father of the child, which
she swore she would have out of her before the sun set.
At these words Miss Bridget discomposed her features with a smile (a
thing very unusual to her). Not that I would have my reader imagine,
that this was one of those wanton smiles which Homer would have you
conceive came from Venus, when he calls her the laughter-loving
goddess; nor was it one of those smiles which Lady Seraphina shoots
from the stage-box, and which Venus would quit her immortality to be
able to equal. No, this was rather one of those smiles which might
be supposed to have come from the dimpled cheeks of the august
Tisiphone, or from one of the misses, her sisters.
With such a smile then, and with a voice sweet as the evening breeze
of Boreas in the pleasant month of November, Miss Bridget gently
reproved the curiosity of Mrs. Deborah; a vice with which it seems the
latter was too much tainted, and which the former inveighed against
with great bitterness, adding, "That, among all her faults, she
thanked Heaven her enemies could not accuse her of prying into the
affairs of other people."
She then proceeded to commend the honour and spirit with which Jenny
had acted. She said, she could not help agreeing with her brother,
that there was some merit in the sincerity of her confession, and in
her integrity to her lover: that she had always thought her a very
good girl, and doubted not but she had been seduced by some rascal,
who had been infinitely more to blame than herself, and very
probably had prevailed with her by a promise of marriage, or some
other treacherous proceeding.
This behaviour of Miss Bridget greatly surprised Mrs. Deborah; for
this well-bred woman seldom opened her lips, either to her master or
his sister, till she had first sounded their inclinations, with
which her sentiments were always consonant. Here, however, she thought
she might have launched forth with safety; and the sagacious reader
will not perhaps accuse her of want of sufficient forecast in so
doing, but will rather admire with what wonderful celerity she
tacked about, when she found herself steering a wrong course.
"Nay, madam," said this able woman, and truly great politician, "I
must own I cannot help admiring the girl's spirit, as well as your
ladyship. And, as your ladyship says, if she was deceived by some
wicked man, the poor wretch is to be pitied. And to be sure, as your
ladyship says, the girl hath always appeared like a good, honest,
plain girl, and not vain of her face, forsooth, as some wanton husseys
in the neighbourhood are."
"You say true, Deborah," said Miss Bridget. "If the girl had been
one of those vain trollops, of which we have too many in the parish, I
should have condemned my brother for his lenity towards her. I saw two
farmers' daughters at church, the other day, with bare necks. I
protest they shocked me. If wenches will hang out lures for fellows,
it is no matter what they suffer. I detest such creatures; and it
would be much better for them that their faces had been seamed with
the smallpox; but I must confess, I never saw any of this wanton
behaviour in poor Jenny: some artful villain, I am convinced, hath
betrayed, nay perhaps forced her; and I pity the poor wretch with
all my heart."
Mrs. Deborah approved all these sentiments, and the dialogue
concluded with a general and bitter invective against beauty, and with
many compassionate considerations for all honest, plain girls who
are deluded by the wicked arts of deceitful men.
Chapter 9
Containing matters which will surprize the reader
Jenny returned home well pleased with the reception she had met with
from Mr. Allworthy, whose indulgence to her she industriously made
public; partly perhaps as a sacrifice to her own pride, and partly
from the more prudent motive of reconciling her neighbours to her, and
silencing their clamours.
But though this latter view, if she indeed had it, may appear
reasonable enough, yet the event did not answer her expectation; for
when she was convened before the justice, and it was universally
apprehended that the House of Correction would have been her fate,
though some of the young women cryed out "It was good enough for her,"
and diverted themselves with the thoughts of her beating hemp in a
silk gown; yet there were many others who began to pity her condition:
but when it was known in what manner Mr. Allworthy had behaved, the
tide turned against her. One said, "I'll assure you, madam hath had
good luck." A second cryed, "See what it is to be a favourite!" A
third, "Ay, this comes of her learning." Every person made some
malicious comment or other on the occasion, and reflected on the
partiality of the justice.
The behaviour of these people may appear impolitic and ungrateful to
the reader, who considers the power and benevolence of Mr.
Allworthy. But as to his power, he never used it; and as to his
benevolence, he exerted so much, that he had thereby disobliged all
his neighbours; for it is a secret well known to great men, that, by
conferring an obligation, they do not always procure a friend, but are
certain of creating many enemies.
Jenny was, however, by the care and goodness of Mr. Allworthy,
soon removed out of the reach of reproach; when malice being no longer
able to vent its rage on her, began to seek another object of its
bitterness, and this was no less than Mr. Allworthy, himself; for a
whisper soon went abroad, that he himself was the father of the
foundling child.
This supposition so well reconciled his conduct to the general
opinion, that it met with universal assent; and the outcry against his
lenity soon began to take another turn, and was changed into an
invective against his cruelty to the poor girl. Very grave and good
women exclaimed against men who begot children, and then disowned
them. Nor were there wanting some, who, after the departure of
Jenny, insinuated that she was spirited away with a design too black
to be mentioned, and who gave frequent hints that a legal inquiry
ought to be made into the whole matter, and that some people should be
forced to produce the girl.
These calumnies might have probably produced ill consequences, at
the least might gave occasioned some trouble, to a person of a more
doubtful and suspicious character than Mr. Allworthy was blessed with;
but in his case they had no such effect; and, being heartily
despised by him, they served only to afford an innocent amusement to
the good gossips of the neighbourhood.
But as we cannot possibly divine what complection our reader may
be of, and as it will be some time before he will hear any more of
Jenny, we think proper to give him a very early intimation, that Mr.
Allworthy was, and will hereafter appear to be, absolutely innocent of
any criminal intention whatever. He had indeed committed no other than
an error in politics, by tempering justice with mercy, and by refusing
to gratify the good-natured disposition of the mob,* with an object
for their compassion to work on in the person of poor Jenny, whom,
in order to pity, they desired to have seen sacrificed to ruin and
infamy, by a shameful correction in Bridewell.
*Whenever this word occurs in our writings, it intends persons
without virtue or sense, in all stations; and many of the highest rank
are often meant by it.
So far from complying with this their inclination, by which all
hopes of reformation would have been abolished, and even the gate shut
against her if her own inclinations should ever hereafter lead her
to chuse the road of virtue, Mr. Allworthy rather chose to encourage
the girl to return thither by the only possible means; for too true
I am afraid it is, that many women have become abandoned, and have
sunk to the last degree of vice, by being unable to retrieve the first
slip. This will be, I am afraid, always the case while they remain
among their former acquaintance; it was therefore wisely done by Mr.
Allworthy, to remove Jenny to a place where she might enjoy the
pleasure of reputation, after having tasted the ill consequences of
losing it.
To this place therefore, wherever it was, we will wish her a good
journey, and for the present take leave of her, and of the little
foundling her child, having matters of much higher importance to
communicate to the reader.
Chapter 10
The hospitality of Allworthy; with a short sketch of the
characters of two brothers, a doctor and a captain, who were
entertained by that gentleman
Neither Mr. Allworthy's house, nor his heart, were shut against
