any part of mankind, but they were both more particularly open to
men of merit. To say the truth, this was the only house in the kingdom
where you was sure to gain a dinner by deserving it.
Above all others, men of genius and learning shared the principal
place in his favour; and in these he had much discernment: for
though he had missed the advantage of a learned education, yet,
being blest with vast natural abilities, he had so well profited by
a vigorous though late application to letters, and by much
conversation with men of eminence in this way, that he was himself a
very competent judge in most kinds of literature.
It is no wonder that in an age when this kind of merit is so
little in fashion, and so slenderly provided for, persons possessed of
it should very eagerly flock to a place where they were sure of
being received with great complaisance; indeed, where they might enjoy
almost the same advantages of a liberal fortune as if they were
entitled to it in their own right; for Mr. Allworthy was not one of
those generous persons who are ready most bountifully to bestow
meat, drink, and lodging on men of wit and learning, for which they
expect no other return but entertainment, instruction, flattery, and
subserviency; in a word, that such persons should be enrolled in the
number of domestics, without wearing their master's cloathes, or
receiving wages.
On the contrary, every person in this house was perfect master of
his own time: and as he might at his pleasure satisfy all his
appetites within the restrictions only of law, virtue, and religion;
so he might, if his health required, or his inclination prompted him
to temperance, or even to abstinence, absent himself from any meals,
or retire from them, whenever he was so disposed, without even a
sollicitation to the contrary: for, indeed, such sollicitations from
superiors always savour very strongly of commands. But all here were
free from such impertinence, not only those whose company is in all
other places esteemed a favour from their equality of fortune, but
even those whose indigent circumstances make such an eleemosynary
abode convenient to them, and who are therefore less welcome to a
great man's table because they stand in need of it.
Among others of this kind was Dr. Blifil, a gentleman who had the
misfortune of losing the advantage of great talents by the obstinacy
of a father, who would breed him to a profession he disliked. In
obedience to this obstinacy the doctor had in his youth been obliged
to study physic, or rather to say he studied it; for in reality
books of this kind were almost the only ones with which he was
unacquainted; and unfortunately for him, the doctor was master of
almost every other science but that by which he was to get his
bread; the consequence of which was, that the doctor at the age of
forty had no bread to eat.
Such a person as this was certain to find a welcome at Mr.
Allworthy's table, to whom misfortunes were ever a recommendation,
when they were derived from the folly or villany of others, and not of
the unfortunate person himself. Besides this negative merit, the
doctor had one positive recommendation;- this was a great appearance
of religion. Whether his religion was real, or consisted only in
appearance, I shall not presume to say, as I am not possessed of any
touchstone which can distinguish the true from the false.
If this part of his character pleased Mr. Allworthy, it delighted
Miss Bridget. She engaged him in many religious controversies; on
which occasions she constantly expressed great satisfaction in the
doctor's knowledge, and not much less in the compliments which he
frequently bestowed on her own. To say the truth, she had read much
English divinity, and had puzzled more than one of the neighbouring
curates. Indeed, her conversation was so pure, her looks so sage,
and her whole deportment so grave and solemn, that she seemed to
deserve the name of saint equally with her namesake, or with any other
female in the Roman kalendar.
As sympathies of all kinds are apt to beget love, so experience
teaches us that none have a more direct tendency this way than those
of a religious kind between persons of different sexes. The doctor
found himself so agreeable to Miss Bridget, that he now began to
lament an unfortunate accident which had happened to him about ten
years before; namely, his marriage with another woman, who was not
only still alive, but, what was worse, known to be so by Mr.
Allworthy. This was a fatal bar to that happiness which he otherwise
saw sufficient probability of obtaining with this young lady; for as
to criminal indulgences, he certainly never thought of them. This
was owing either to his religion, as is most probable, or to the
purity of his passion, which was fixed on those things which matrimony
only, and not criminal correspondence, could put him in possession of,
or could give him any title to.
He had not long ruminated on these matters, before it occurred to
his memory that he had a brother who was under no such unhappy
incapacity. This brother he made no doubt would succeed; for he
discerned, as he thought, an inclination to marriage in the lady;
and the reader perhaps, when he hears the brother's qualifications,
will not blame the confidence which he entertained of his success.
This gentleman was about thirty-five years of age. He was of a
middle size, and what is called well-built. He had a scar on his
forehead, which did not so much injure his beauty as it denoted his
valour (for he was a half-pay officer). He had good teeth, and
something affable, when he pleased, in his smile; though naturally his
countenance, as well as his air and voice, had much of roughness in
it: yet he could at any time deposit this, and appear all gentleness
and good humour. He was not ungenteel, nor entirely devoid of wit, and
in his youth had abounded in sprightliness, which, though he had
lately put on a more serious character, he could, when he pleased,
resume.
He had, as well as the doctor, an academic education; for his father
had, with the same paternal authority we have mentioned before,
decreed him for holy orders; but as the old gentleman died before he
was ordained, he chose the church military, and preferred the king's
commission to the bishop's.
He had purchased the post of lieutenant of dragoons, and
afterwards came to be a captain; but having quarrelled with his
colonel, was by his interest obliged to sell; from which time he had
entirely rusticated himself, had betaken himself to studying the
Scriptures, and was not a little suspected of an inclination to
methodism.
It seemed, therefore, not unlikely that such a person should succeed
with a lady of so saint-like a disposition, and whose inclinations
were no otherwise engaged than to the marriage state in general; but
why the doctor, who certainly had no great friendship for his brother,
should for his sake think of making so ill a return to the hospitality
of Allworthy, is a matter not so easy to be accounted for.
Is it that some natures delight in evil, as others are thought to
delight in virtue? Or is there a pleasure in being accessory to a
theft when we cannot commit it ourselves? Or lastly (which
experience seems to make probable), have we a satisfaction in
aggrandizing our families, even though we have not the least love or
respect for them?
Whether any of these motives operated on the doctor, we will not
determine; but so the fact was. He sent for his brother, and easily
found means to introduce him at Allworthy's as a person who intended
only a short visit to himself.
The captain had not been in the house a week before the doctor had
reason to felicitate himself on his discernment. The captain was
indeed as great a master of the art of love as Ovid was formerly. He
had besides received proper hints from his brother, which he failed
not to improve to the best advantage.
Chapter 11
Containing many rules, and some examples, concerning falling in
love: descriptions of beauty, and other more prudential inducements to
matrimony
It hath been observed, by wise men or women, I forget which, that
all persons are doomed to be in love once in their lives. No
particular season is, as I remember, assigned for this; but the age at
which Miss Bridget was arrived, seems to me as proper a period as
any to be fixed on for this purpose: it often, indeed, happens much
earlier; but when it doth not, I have observed it seldom or never
fails about this time. Moreover, we may remark that at this season
love is of a more serious and steady nature than what sometimes
shows itself in the younger parts of life. The love of girls is
uncertain, capricious, and so foolish that we cannot always discover
what the young lady would be at; nay, it may almost be doubted whether
she always knows this herself.
Now we are never at a loss to discern this in women about forty; for
as such grave, serious, and experienced ladies well know their own
meaning, so it is always very easy for a man of the least sagacity
to discover it with the utmost certainty.
Miss Bridget is an example of all these observations. She had not
been many times in the captain's company before she was seized with
this passion. Nor did she go pining and moping about the house, like a
puny, foolish girl, ignorant of her distemper: she felt, she knew, and
she enjoyed, the pleasing sensation, of which, as she was certain it
was not only innocent but laudable, she was neither afraid nor
ashamed.
And to say the truth, there is, in all points, great difference
between the reasonable passion which women at this age conceive
towards men, and the idle and childish liking of a girl to a boy,
which is often fixed on the outside only, and on things of little
value and no duration; as on cherry-cheeks, small, lily-white hands,
sloe-black eyes, flowing locks, downy chins, dapper shapes; nay,
sometimes on charms more worthless than these, and less the party's
own; such are the outward ornaments of the person, for which men are
beholden to the taylor, the laceman, the periwig-maker, the hatter,
and the milliner, and not to nature. Such a passion girls may well
be ashamed, as they generally are, to own either to themselves or
others.
The love of Miss Bridget was of another kind. The captain owed
nothing to any of these fop-makers in his dress, nor was his person
much more beholden to nature. Both his dress and person were such
as, had they appeared in an assembly or a drawing-room, would have
been the contempt and ridicule of all the fine ladies there. The
former of these was indeed neat, but plain, coarse, ill-fancied, and
out of fashion. As for the latter, we have expressly described it
above. So far was the skin on his cheeks from being cherry-coloured,
that you could not discern what the natural colour of his cheeks
was, they being totally overgrown by a black beard, which ascended
to his eyes. His shape and limbs were indeed exactly proportioned, but
so large that they denoted the strength rather of a ploughman than any
other. His shoulders were broad beyond all size, and the calves of his
legs larger than those of a common chairman. In short, his whole
person wanted all that elegance and beauty which is the very reverse
of clumsy strength, and which so agreeably sets off most of our fine
gentlemen; being partly owing to the high blood of their ancestors,
viz., blood made of rich sauces and generous wines, and partly to an
early town education.
Though Miss Bridget was a woman of the greatest delicacy of taste,
yet such were the charms of the captain's conversation, that she
totally overlooked the defects of his person. She imagined, and
perhaps very wisely, that she should enjoy more agreeable minutes with
the captain than with a much prettier fellow; and forewent the
consideration of pleasing her eyes, in order to procure herself much
more solid satisfaction.
The captain no sooner perceived the passion of Miss Bridget, in
which discovery he was very quick-sighted, than he faithfully returned
it. The lady, no more than her lover, was remarkable for beauty. I
would attempt to draw her picture, but that is done already by a
more able master, Mr. Hogarth himself, to whom she sat many years ago,
and hath been lately exhibited by that gentleman in his print of a
winter's morning, of which she was no improper emblem, and may be seen
walking (for walk she doth in the print) to Covent Garden church, with
a starved foot-boy behind carrying her prayer-book.
The captain likewise very wisely preferred the more solid enjoyments
he expected with this lady, to the fleeting charms of person. He was
one of those wise men who regard beauty in the other sex as a very
worthless and superficial qualification; or, to speak more truly,
who rather chuse to possess every convenience of life with an ugly
woman, than a handsome one without any of those conveniences. And
having a very good appetite, and but little nicety, he fancied he
should play his part very well at the matrimonial banquet, without the
sauce of beauty.
To deal plainly with the reader, the captain, ever since his
arrival, at least from the moment his brother had proposed the match
to him, long before he had discovered any flattering symptoms in
Miss Bridget, had been greatly enamoured; that is to say, of Mr.
Allworthy's house and gardens, and of his lands, tenements, and
hereditaments; of all which the captain was passionately fond, that he
would most probably have contracted marriage with had he been
obliged to have taken the witch of Endor into the bargain.
As Mr. Allworthy, therefore, had declared to the doctor that he
never intended to take a second wife, as his sister was his nearest
relation, and as the doctor had fished out that his intentions were to
make any child of hers his heir, which indeed the law, without his
interposition, would have done for him; the doctor and his brother
