Chapter iv.

The reader's neck brought into danger by a description; his escape;

and the great condescension of Miss Bridget Allworthy.

The Gothic stile 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's, 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.