CHAPTER III

Dr. and Mrs. Proudie

This narrative is supposed to commence immediately after the

installation of Dr. Proudie. I will not describe the ceremony, as

I do not precisely understand its nature. I am ignorant whether

a bishop be chaired like a member of Parliament, or carried in a

gilt coach like a lord mayor, or sworn like a justice of peace,

or introduced like a peer to the upper house, or led between two

brethren like a knight of the garter; but I do know that everything

was properly done, and that nothing fit or becoming to a young

bishop was omitted on the occasion.

Dr. Proudie was not the man to allow anything to be omitted that

might be becoming to his new dignity. He understood well the value

of forms, and knew that the due observance of rank could not be

maintained unless the exterior trappings belonging to it were held in

proper esteem. He was a man born to move in high circles; at least

so he thought himself, and circumstances had certainly sustained him

in this view. He was the nephew of an Irish baron by his mother's

side, and his wife was the niece of a Scotch earl. He had for years

held some clerical office appertaining to courtly matters, which

had enabled him to live in London, and to entrust his parish to his

curate. He had been preacher to the royal beefeaters, curator of

theological manuscripts in the Ecclesiastical Courts, chaplain to the

Queen's yeomanry guard, and almoner to his Royal Highness the Prince

of Rappe-Blankenberg.

His residence in the metropolis, rendered necessary by duties thus

entrusted to him, his high connexions, and the peculiar talents and

nature of the man, recommended him to persons in power, and Dr.

Proudie became known as a useful and rising clergyman.

Some few years since, even within the memory of many who are not yet

willing to call themselves old, a liberal clergyman was a person not

frequently to be met. Sydney Smith was such and was looked on as

little better than an infidel; a few others also might be named, but

they were _rarae aves_ and were regarded with doubt and distrust

by their brethren. No man was so surely a Tory as a country

rector--nowhere were the powers that be so cherished as at Oxford.

When, however, Dr. Whately was made an archbishop, and Dr. Hampden

some years afterwards regius professor, many wise divines saw that a

change was taking place in men's minds, and that more liberal ideas

would henceforward be suitable to the priests as well as to the

laity. Clergymen began to be heard of who had ceased to anathematize

papists on the one hand, or vilify dissenters on the other. It

appeared clear that High Church principles, as they are called, were

no longer to be surest claims to promotion with at any rate one

section of statesmen, and Dr. Proudie was one among those who early

in life adapted himself to the views held by the Whigs on most

theological and religious subjects. He bore with the idolatry of

Rome, tolerated even the infidelity of Socinianism, and was hand and

glove with the Presbyterian Synods of Scotland and Ulster.

Such a man at such a time was found to be useful, and Dr. Proudie's

name began to appear in the newspapers. He was made one of a

commission who went over to Ireland to arrange matters preparative

to the working of the national board; he became honorary secretary

to another commission nominated to inquire into the revenues of

cathedral chapters; he had had something to do with both the _regium

donum_ and the Maynooth grant.

It must not on this account be taken as proved that Dr. Proudie was

a man of great mental powers, or even of much capacity for business,

for such qualities had not been required in him. In the arrangement

of those church reforms with which he was connected, the ideas and

original conception of the work to be done were generally furnished

by the liberal statesmen of the day, and the labour of the details

was borne by officials of a lower rank. It was, however, thought

expedient that the name of some clergyman should appear in such

matters, and as Dr. Proudie had become known as a tolerating divine,

great use of this sort was made of his name. If he did not do much

active good, he never did any harm; he was amenable to those who were

really in authority and, at the sittings of the various boards to

which he belonged, maintained a kind of dignity which had its value.

He was certainly possessed of sufficient tact to answer the purpose

for which he was required without making himself troublesome; but

it must not therefore be surmised that he doubted his own power, or

failed to believe that he could himself take a high part in high

affairs when his own turn came. He was biding his time, and patiently

looking forward to the days when he himself would sit authoritative

at some board, and talk and direct, and rule the roost, while lesser

stars sat round and obeyed, as he had so well accustomed himself to

do.

His reward and his time had now come. He was selected for the vacant

bishopric and, on the next vacancy which might occur in any diocese,

would take his place in the House of Lords, prepared to give not

a silent vote in all matters concerning the weal of the church

establishment. Toleration was to be the basis on which he was to

fight his battles, and in the honest courage of his heart he thought

no evil would come to him in encountering even such foes as his

brethren of Exeter and Oxford.

Dr. Proudie was an ambitious man, and before he was well consecrated

Bishop of Barchester, he had begun to look up to archiepiscopal

splendour, and the glories of Lambeth, or at any rate of

Bishopsthorpe. He was comparatively young, and had, as he fondly

flattered himself, been selected as possessing such gifts, natural

and acquired, as must be sure to recommend him to a yet higher

notice, now that a higher sphere was opened to him. Dr. Proudie

was, therefore, quite prepared to take a conspicuous part in all

theological affairs appertaining to these realms; and having such

views, by no means intended to bury himself at Barchester as his

predecessor had done. No! London should still be his ground: a

comfortable mansion in a provincial city might be well enough for

the dead months of the year. Indeed, Dr. Proudie had always felt it

necessary to his position to retire from London when other great

and fashionable people did so; but London should still be his fixed

residence, and it was in London that he resolved to exercise that

hospitality so peculiarly recommended to all bishops by St. Paul.

How otherwise could he keep himself before the world? How else give

to the government, in matters theological, the full benefit of his

weight and talents?

This resolution was no doubt a salutary one as regarded the world at

large, but was not likely to make him popular either with the clergy

or people of Barchester. Dr. Grantly had always lived there--in

truth, it was hard for a bishop to be popular after Dr. Grantly. His

income had averaged £9,000 a year; his successor was to be rigidly

limited to £5,000. He had but one child on whom to spend his money;

Dr. Proudie had seven or eight. He had been a man of few personal

expenses, and they had been confined to the tastes of a moderate

gentleman; but Dr. Proudie had to maintain a position in fashionable

society, and had that to do with comparatively small means. Dr.

Grantly had certainly kept his carriage as became a bishop, but

his carriage, horses, and coachman, though they did very well for

Barchester, would have been almost ridiculous at Westminster.

Mrs. Proudie determined that her husband's equipage should not shame

her, and things on which Mrs. Proudie resolved were generally

accomplished.

From all this it was likely to result that Dr. Proudie would not

spend much money at Barchester, whereas his predecessor had dealt

with the tradesmen of the city in a manner very much to their

satisfaction. The Grantlys, father and son, had spent their money

like gentlemen, but it soon became whispered in Barchester that Dr.

Proudie was not unacquainted with those prudent devices by which the

utmost show of wealth is produced from limited means.

In person Dr. Proudie is a good-looking man; spruce and dapper, and

very tidy. He is somewhat below middle height, being about five feet

four; but he makes up for the inches which he wants by the dignity

with which he carries those which he has. It is no fault of his own

if he has not a commanding eye, for he studies hard to assume it.

His features are well formed, though perhaps the sharpness of his

nose may give to his face in the eyes of some people an air of

insignificance. If so, it is greatly redeemed by his mouth and chin,

of which he is justly proud.

Dr. Proudie may well be said to have been a fortunate man, for he was

not born to wealth, and he is now Bishop of Barchester; nevertheless,

he has his cares. He has a large family, of whom the three eldest

are daughters, now all grown up and fit for fashionable life;--and

he has a wife. It is not my intention to breathe a word against the

character of Mrs. Proudie, but still I cannot think that with all

her virtues she adds much to her husband's happiness. The truth is

that in matters domestic she rules supreme over her titular lord,

and rules with a rod of iron. Nor is this all. Things domestic

Dr. Proudie might have abandoned to her, if not voluntarily,

yet willingly. But Mrs. Proudie is not satisfied with such home

dominion, and stretches her power over all his movements, and will

not even abstain from things spiritual. In fact, the bishop is

hen-pecked.

The archdeacon's wife, in her happy home at Plumstead, knows how to

assume the full privileges of her rank and express her own mind in

becoming tone and place. But Mrs. Grantly's sway, if sway she has,

is easy and beneficent. She never shames her husband; before the

world she is a pattern of obedience; her voice is never loud, nor her

looks sharp: doubtless she values power, and has not unsuccessfully

striven to acquire it; but she knows what should be the limits of a

woman's rule.

Not so Mrs. Proudie. This lady is habitually authoritative to all,

but to her poor husband she is despotic. Successful as has been his

career in the eyes of the world, it would seem that in the eyes of

his wife he is never right. All hope of defending himself has long

passed from him; indeed he rarely even attempts self-justification,

and is aware that submission produces the nearest approach to peace

which his own house can ever attain.

Mrs. Proudie has not been able to sit at the boards and committees

to which her husband has been called by the State, nor, as he often

reflects, can she make her voice heard in the House of Lords. It may

be that she will refuse to him permission to attend to this branch

of a bishop's duties; it may be that she will insist on his close

attendance to his own closet. He has never whispered a word on the

subject to living ears, but he has already made his fixed resolve.

Should such attempt be made he will rebel. Dogs have turned against

their masters, and even Neapolitans against their rulers, when

oppression has been too severe. And Dr. Proudie feels within himself

that if the cord be drawn too tight, he also can muster courage and

resist.

The state of vassalage in which our bishop has been kept by his wife

has not tended to exalt his character in the eyes of his daughters,

who assume in addressing their father too much of that authority

which is not properly belonging, at any rate, to them. They are, on

the whole, fine engaging young ladies. They are tall and robust like

their mother, whose high cheek-bones, and--we may say auburn hair they

all inherit. They think somewhat too much of their grand-uncles, who

have not hitherto returned the compliment by thinking much of them.

But now that their father is a bishop, it is probable that family

ties will be drawn closer. Considering their connexion with the

church, they entertain but few prejudices against the pleasures of

the world, and have certainly not distressed their parents, as too

many English girls have lately done, by any enthusiastic wish to

devote themselves to the seclusion of a Protestant nunnery. Dr.

Proudie's sons are still at school.

One other marked peculiarity in the character of the bishop's wife

must be mentioned. Though not averse to the society and manners of

the world, she is in her own way a religious woman; and the form in

which this tendency shows itself in her is by a strict observance

of Sabbatarian rule. Dissipation and low dresses during the week

are, under her control, atoned for by three services, an evening

sermon read by herself, and a perfect abstinence from any cheering

employment on the Sunday. Unfortunately for those under her roof to

whom the dissipation and low dresses are not extended, her servants

namely and her husband, the compensating strictness of the Sabbath

includes all. Woe betide the recreant housemaid who is found to have

been listening to the honey of a sweetheart in the Regent's park

instead of the soul-stirring evening discourse of Mr. Slope. Not

only is she sent adrift, but she is so sent with a character which

leaves her little hope of a decent place. Woe betide the six-foot

hero who escorts Mrs. Proudie to her pew in red plush breeches, if

he slips away to the neighbouring beer-shop, instead of falling into

the back seat appropriated to his use. Mrs. Proudie has the eyes of

Argus for such offenders. Occasional drunkenness in the week may be

overlooked, for six feet on low wages are hardly to be procured if

the morals are always kept at a high pitch, but not even for grandeur

or economy will Mrs. Proudie forgive a desecration of the Sabbath.

In such matters Mrs. Proudie allows herself to be often guided by

that eloquent preacher, the Rev. Mr. Slope, and as Dr. Proudie is

guided by his wife, it necessarily follows that the eminent man we

have named has obtained a good deal of control over Dr. Proudie

in matters concerning religion. Mr. Slope's only preferment has

hitherto been that of reader and preacher in a London district

church; and on the consecration of his friend the new bishop, he

readily gave this up to undertake the onerous but congenial duties

of domestic chaplain to his lordship.

Mr. Slope, however, on his first introduction must not be brought

before the public at the tail of a chapter.