u n AUTHORE SS. 5 chanced to be by the water-side,) an imi tation of a naval en gagem en t —l ’twas ' n on e of these. Som e fair ' l …

T H E A UT H O RE S S .

A T A L E.

THE AUTHOR OF RACH EL.

So Fancy weavesHer flimsy web,wh ile sober Reason sits,

An d smiling wonders at the puny work,

A net for her.

” H u nm s.

LONDON

P RINTED FOR TAYLOR AND H E S S E Y,

F LEET STR E ET .

1 8 19. we,603

a w n ba —

j

PRE FACE .

IT is the design of the follow ing pages

to poin t out som e of the many_

absurdities,

which abound in the literature of a circu

lating library .

I can scarcely be supposed so devoid

of understanding as to rail at all works

bearing the nam e of Novels. It were,

indeed, to he w ished that a m ore ho

nourable appellation cou ld be found for

v i P RE FA CE .

the works of those great Gen iuses,whose

talen ts have been employed for the amuse

m ent of mankin d ; or that a different term

were applied to those to which m y cen

sure alludes. But as I am persuaded that

no one can possibly con found the two

classes, i t would be equally useless and

im pertin en t in m e to attempt to fix the

line of demarcation

There doubtless exist m any abuses of

comm on sense m ore flagran t than those

I have selected ; but to point out all hadbeen an endless undertaking : and besides, I d id not intend m y work to beof too sombre a cast . My highest

amb i tion w ill be gratified, should my

P RE FA CE . vh

readers be inclined to say of my old

gen tleman,(as Hardcastle does of Tony

Lumpkin,) There ’s m orality, however,

in h is reply .

TH E AU TH ORE S S .

CHAPTER I .

S o,my young friend, I hear you have

turn ed au thoress,”said Mr . Newman .

“ It is too true,”

replied the young

lady,m ournfully .

Too ,true ! why, how is that ? you

were not comp elled to becom e a wielder

of the plum e .”

It is,notwithstan ding,the m ost ,un

fortunate thing I ever did in my life .

”

How so ? , bow so ?” demanded the

old gentlem an,,with som e im patience .

,My first work,”

replied she, went

off very well . This flattered my van i ty,and I wrote my second in high spiri ts ;but, and a deep blush here overspread

B

2 TH E Au r non nss

her face,“ but my unfortunate second

m et not with the sam e fate ; itwas refused,rejected . This, though it m ortified mypride, did not subdue my inclination for

writing ; bu t my ideas no longer flowed

in an easy and natural m ann er. I wrote

and blotted,began and n ever fin ished,till now my desk is filled w ith uncon

nected scrawls,which I am unwilling to

destroy,but which I foresee will n ever

be completed .

”

It is a m oum ful case,certainly,”said

the old gen tleman ‘drily, that your

brains should go wool-gathering to so

little purpose ; but suffer m e to overlook

this desk,and perhaps I m ay be able to

disentangle som e of these confused ideas.

”

To this pr0po‘

sal the au thoress made no

objection,stip ulat ing on ly,that sheshould

be allowed a few days“

to arrange,in som e

d egree, the various papers she intended

.to subm it to h is inspection .

.‘Ou the; day appointed the old gentlea

T H E AUTH O R E S S . 3:

m an m ade his appearance,and professing

great eagerness to begin his exam ination,she showed him in to her study, placed

two chairs and a table near the fire,and

drawing forth her keys,she un locked the

sacred repository of her cogitations,and

presen ted him w ith the following tale

Before I begin, said Mr . Newm an,

rubbing his spectacles w ith his handker

chief,and fitting them ,with great solem

n ity,on his n ose before I begin,I wish

you to understand,that I consider myself

at liberty to m ake any observation that

m ay appear to m e su itable to the occa:sion .

”

The authoress bowed her head in token

of acqu iescence,and the old gentlemanbegan thus z r

4 TH E AUTHO RE S S .

THE OLD SOLDIER.

H A D I been on a j ourney of life and

death,I m ust have made a pause ; as I

travelled for pleasure, I m ade a

'

dead

stand . It was the m ost in teresting scene

I had ever beheld . It was a calm sum

m er’s evening, and the m ellow tin ts of

approaching tw ilight . . gave a threefold

interest to every obj ect . I cannot here,like som e authors,who delight in giving

scope to the imaginationsof their readers,by draw ing the ou tline of som e catas

trophe, leave you to suppose any other

than the real state of the case . Alas ! I

know not what offence I m ay be giving .

S om e am ong you m ay im agine I beheld

active preparations for ap ugilistic m atch ;others m ay an ticipate the ground m arked

out for a foot-race,or a duel ; others may

look forward to a cricket match or,(if I

r u n AUTHORE S S . 5

chanced to be by the water-side,) an im i

tation of a naval engagem en t — l ’twas'

non e of these . S om e fair'

lady m ay sup

pose I saw som e favourite lap-dog being

extricated from a slough ; or som e fond

lovers,who were using m ore haste than

sense or discretion in posting to Gretna

Green,overtaken on this hapless spot by

an austere father, or vindictive brother,who m ight be exerting his au thority in

severing hearts,which Caprice and Folly

had boun d in their strongest chains. But’twas none of these

Pray,my dear, said the old gentle

man,raising his eyes, hav e you written

particularly and expressly for the descend

ants of JobS ir l” u ttered the authoress.

I say,m y dear, you have stretched

this part of your story considerably too

much ; bu t few I should imagin e wou ld

have patience to peruse such an enum era

tion of events,‘m erely to be told at the

c onclusion — T was none of these .”

6 TH E A u r n on n sm

I ' perceive, sir, replied the younglady, that you kn ow nothing of one of

the principal beau ties'

of this style of

writing . To wind up the im agination to

the utm ost height, before you‘

develope

the real fact, causes the reader to enj oy

all the delight of a strong con trast .”

'

As soon m ight you persuade m e,

return ed Mr . Newm an, that after travel

ling up a steep hill,in hopes of con tem

plating the scen ery below,I should enj oy

the con trast of being suddenly and vio

lently pushed to the bottom . But to

proceed

You have entirely destroyed my

climax, by this abrupt interruption : I

beg you will take up the story at, Alas !

I kn ow not what .’

The old gen tleman,who was by som e

of his friends reckoned a little facetious,felt vastly inclin ed to u tter the j oke to

which the con clusion of the young lady’s

speech had given rise in his m ind : bu tremarking the air of im portance w ith

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

8 TH E A ur noanss.

“ In short, I give you a specim en of

another of the m iseries incident to an

author.

”

Notwithstanding your sarcasm, mydear sir, there are many things of m ore

m om en t, less trying to the temper of an

author, than hearing his works m angled

by another . But do you not perceive this

narrative is written in the abrupt style

the'

sen tences are disj oin ed, though not

unconnected . It is a difficu lt style to

read with propriety, because the reader

should so m odulate his voice,as'

to allow

his t hearers tim e to fill up,in their own

m inds,-what the author has om itted to

express.

”

Then.

we will call it the incomprehen

sible style,”said .Mr . Newm an one in

which the m ean ing of the work depends

on ~ the ‘ in‘

tellect of the reader ; and this

is I suppose,‘

of your own invention

Did you never hear of S terne? ” asked

the authoress, in a tone in which was

TH E AUTHO RE S S .

blended contem pt for his ign orance,and

m ortification at his not having made the

d iscovery without her assistance .

So ho ! it is an im itation of S tern e !

Nay, then, now we shall do very well .Aye,aye, there are a plentiful number of

dashes. I crave your pardon for not hav

ing perceived the resemblance before ;but, now I am let in to the secret, you

n eed not fear another stoppage for som e

tim e .”

It was not my in ten tion,sir,that the

resemblance shou ld have remained a se

cret,”

said the young lady,resum ing her

seat . Mr. Newm an m ade a wry face at

hisblunder,and taking up the m anuscript,began again

Ben eath a large tree,which screened

the village inn from the storm s of w in ter

and the dust of summ er,the little group

were assembled — They appeared to myview — but the pen cil of Hogarth wouldhave described them infin itely better ; and

B 5

10 TH E A u r n oaass.

so let it pass unm ention ed . On a seat on

one side sat an old wom an kn itting ;she was blind — but the eyes,which hadceased to behold her fellow-creatures,had

not ceased to shed the sym pathetic tear

for their sorrows.— A youn g child stood

by her side, playing w ith a kitten ; — a

burn ing tear fell on its little hand ; — the

child dropped the string which held his

play-fellow ;— the kitten took the oppor

tun ity to escape ;— the child turn ed to

wards its aged paren t — he took the

corner of his p in-afore — looked at it

’twas very dirty ; — he hesitated— another

drop fell— consideration was at an end .

Don ’t cry,granny,”said the child,an d

w iped her cheek with the very corn er he had

before deem ed unworthy of the office ;he had no better,and the part was neces

sary to be perform ed .

’

I suppose she wanted a pocket hand

kerchi ef, said Mr. Newman The au

thoress frowned, even though a tear of

r n n aur nonnss. 1 1

ecstacy swam in her own eye . The

affection of the ch ild,”

said she, sug

gested the necessity of offering som e

mark of attention at that m om en t .”

I stand corrected,”rej oinedMr. New

man . But are the feelings of children

generally so very acute ?”

“ Indeed I can ’t tell ; I have never

been in the habit of studying the dispositions of children very closely, It , is

enough for my purpose that those of this

were so.

”

Say rather that you have made them

so, said1

Mr . Newm an .

Well,well,’tis of little consequence .

If there be no greater error in my work

than a few transgressions of

shall depend on the dulness of my readers

not to fin d them out .”

If the du lness of your readers should

throw so conven ien t a blind over the deffeets of your tale,what is to fill up the

gaps which you have left for the exercise

12 TH E Aur n onass.

of their imaginations ?” asked her friend .

The au thoress was puzzled . We

scribes,”said she, are not in the habit

of attending to such ~ininutiae. No work

is,or can be expected to be,fau ltless,and

a comprom ise may'

readily be made : if

they are blind to the beau ties, they are

also insensible to the defects and if they

have pen etration en ough to discover-the

fau lts,they will likew ise be aware ‘

of the

perfections. Pray have the goodness to

proceed .

”

Mr. Newman obeyed Had I everbefore thism om en t doubtedman

’

s superiority

oy er all' other an im als,this one inciden t

had‘

m ade‘ m e a proselyte .'— The kitten,unconscious’ of ‘ the woes of an other,and

alive on ly to its own gratifications, had

fled the scen e of sorrow the mom en t ' its

little owner dropt the string -the child,though equally undonscmus of the cause

of 1i

bis’ paren t’s grief, had yet seen her

tears,and endeavoured to console her.

TH E AUTH O RE S S . 13

And so much for this,thought I ; I wou ld

not have m issed this sight for butwho shall set a price on nature ? Her

scen es are too’ comm on to be valued,and

too in im itable to be exchanged for any

.thing . Rail on,ye proud ones,sighed I,rail as ye w ill against Pity,it is still an

am iable quality .

Opposite the old wom an sat a weather

beaten sold ier— his dress bespoke extrem e

poverty, and the furrows in his cheek

plainly showed that you th no longer as

sisted him to bear up against its griping

hand — And were I Comm ander in Chief,thought I— bu t what m atters it — I shall

find som e other way,said I softly,as a

glance at my own hom ely . habilim ents

brought to my recollection who I really

was.-At the feet of the old soldier,and

lying on the ground,I beheld the obj ectof,m ine . host’s ha

’

rangue : he was a tall

thin youth ; and if ever Grief had set her

stamp ou‘

any human countenance,it was

14 T H E Au r n onass.

on his — Many of the neighbouring ‘

cot

tagers had assembled round to hear their

story— and a doleful one it was.- In the

m iddle of the group stood m ine host ; he

held an empty tankard in his .hand,which,by way of garn ish to his discourse, he

frequ en tly flourished in the air — he had

n early com pleted his narrative when I

arrived .

And not one of them,I fear, con ti

nued he, w ill stand up for this ‘ poor

lad : and it goes to my heart to think

that while one of the true fam ily is alive,the Hall should go to any body else .

But have I no friend left? are all,all

dead ?” demanded the lad .

All repeated m ine host ; all are

gone, said he, as he poured the last

drain ings of the emptied tankard on the

ground .

All are not gon e exclaim ed the old

soldier,starting from his seat : his fa,

ther,in the field of battle,left him to my


16 TH E AUT'

H ORE S S .

my workswere complete . But m ay I ask

your op i n lon of this specim en ? ”

I suppose you w ish m e to advise you

to fin ish it ; and so I wou ld,if I thought

you at all likely to succeed ; but,indeed,my dear, I think you have don e well in

giving up the attempt . Independen t of

(you m ust allow m e to say,) the absurdity

of supposing any m an senseless en ough

to offer to risk all his property in the m an

n er you have described, there are manyobjections to be m ade . It is a d ifficu lt

and a dangerous thing to affect the style

of any au thor,particu larly one so pecu liar

as that of S tern e . I have ‘

seen . other

attem pts lately,bu t they all fail -and so,

w ith your leave,we will proceed to the

next .

The authoress took the m anuscript in

silence : like the cripple who j okes at his

own deform ity, she could decry the m e

rits of her own perform ances ; but would

TH E AUTH OR E S S . 17

have been as well pleased to hear them

praised by another . Mr. Newman, dis

regarding her silence,took up the scroll

which lay n earest to him, and began to

read, The Mem oirs of Martha.

1 8 TH E AUTH O RE S S .

CHAPTER II .

MEMOIRS OF MARTH A .

MARTHA HE RN S HAW had,at the tim e

this history comm ences,sarcely attain ed

her thirteen th year ; yet, though young,her judgm en t was m ature,and her under

standing far above her years. Her edu

cation had fitted her for the highest

station ; whilst the retirem en t in which

she had been brought up had preserved

her inn ocent,and ignoran t of the dissipa

tion and luxury attendan t on the great .

H er grandm other,who had reared her

from her earliest recollection, had ever

preserved the m ost inflexible silen ce re

specting her paren ts ; and though Martha

had often en treated her grandm other to

rem ove the veil, the ven erable old lady

checked all inquiry by inform ing her that'

circumstances then existed which ren

TH E AUTHORE S S . 19

dered her incapable of com plying with

her request . Martha thought it strange ;bu t the care of her flowers or her fowls

served to banish curiosity ; and tim e im per

ceptibly stole on till she had completed her

thirteen th year. It was a custom with

Mrs. Hernshaw,on'

each return of Mar

the’s birthday, to m ake a little festival

for the young people of the village ; and,as usual,preparations were made to cele

brate the even t .

It had been for som e tim e the declared

in tention of Mrs. Hernshaw to unfold to

her grand-daughter, on this day, the

secret of her birth ; but, as all m atters

of great im portance,whether their subj ect

be painful or otherwise, equally engross

the m ind, and render the atten tion to

triflin g occurrences disgusting, she had

resolved to postpon e the conference till

after the departure of her young friends.

The in tention of her grandm other was,

however,en tirely frustrated by the anxiety

20 T H E A UTHORE S S .

which Martha naturally experienced ou'

this occasion .

The little lawn,on the appoin ted day,was overspread w ith m erry groups for as

the season '

was the m iddle of Jun e,they

preferred dancing out of doors. Martha

alone was sad— Martha, who had ever

before shon e the qu een of the sports,was

on this n ight absen t, spiritless, and Ian

gu id . The thoughts of the approaching

commun ication pressed .heavy on her

heart : she dreaded to learn that her birth

would raise her above .the reach of her

beloved Edmund .

’

What !” exclaim ed Mr. Newman,in love at thirteen ?”

And why not, sir ?” demanded the

young lady .

Nay,if you w ill show cause relay, i t

w ill be useless for m e to show cause wirynot, and I think, as authoress, you are

bound to speak first .”

“ Then, sir,”

said Miss S tanley, for

TH E A UTH ORE S S . 21

such was the lady ’s nam e, I can show a

m ost unanswerable reason .

“ I am prodigiously glad to hear it,said Mr . Newman .

It is this,”replied she as my he

roin e is com pelled,for the, in terest of mytale,to go through numberless adven tures,it is absolutely n ecessary to fix the com

mencem en t of them at an early period,otherwise she

‘

m ust inevitably be old and

ugly before they could com e to a happy

term ination ; which I hope you perceive

wou ld destroy all curiosity,for who would

care abou t readin g the hair-breadth’

scapes ’

of an ugly old wom an,or desire,in the least, to know whether she got

through them .or not ; besides that,she

could not,’

in the course of nature,possibly

expect m ore than a year or two in which.to enj oy the fru i ts of her labours.

”

Truly, my young friend,”

replied

Mr. Newman, you are,indeed,provided

.w ith a very philosophical reason . The

22 T H E AUTH O RE S S .

life of m an, as has been ably dem on

strated by m any, is exceedingly short ;an d if it be so indispensably n ecessary

for one person to experien ce m ore vicis

situdes than is gen erally supposed pos

sible,you have don e w ell to m ake your

heroin e capable of enduring them at a

m u ch earlier period than is usual to hu

m an nature ; for I recollect that you

have prov ided for all obj ections that

m ight be raised on accoun t of ign orance

and inexperience, by telling us at the

setting out, that her judgm en t was m a

ture, and her understanding above her

years : ’ and so let us'

go on .

Every one n oticed the effect,though

n on e could surm ise the cause : in vain

did Martha endeavour to shake off the

un easiness that Oppressed her : in vain

did Edm und,by the m ost winn ing atten

tions, strive to discover her grief,or to

divert her n otice to other obj ects. The

company of her young friends wearied2


24 TH E AUTH ORE S S .

con tained nothing to excite her apprehen

sion, the possibility of its giving rise to

som e obstacle to her un ion with him who

had so long constituted all her felicity,appeared to her so overwhelm ing an evil,that sinking on her kn ees, she im plored

of her heaven ly Father, protection from

the m isfortun e which . m ight awai t her,and fortitude to support it wi th resi gna

tion to his w ill . She rose composed

and comforted,and retired to rest . ’

1 You are to understand, Miss S tan

ley,”said Mr. Newman,with som e seve

rity, that this is one of the greatest

obj ections that can be raised against

works of this kind . Nay,I am justified

in saying,it is the very greatest that can

possibly be made .

”

S ir !”said the young lady .

I say,my dear,”he resum ed, I hope

you have comm itted this error through

ignoran ce,as . I should be sorry to sup

pose you would call 'for the assistance of

TH E AUTH ORE S S . 25‘

a surgeon,if the skin of your finger threat

en ed the approach of a whitlow .

”

S ir ?”repeated Miss S tan ley .

Might it not be supposed,” con tinued

he, that you would see as m uch reason

in this proceeding as in that of which you

have m ade Martha guilty ? for, indeed,her’s borders on a crim e . I see you are

surprised,but su ch is the s fact ; for reli

gion, though affording a sure help and

refuge in real affliction,is not to be called

upon lightly on every trifling voccurrence.

Do not suppose that I am intending.

to

imply that . prayer is not n ecessary to be

used on all em ergencies I only obj ect

to the subj ect being in troduced under anycircum stan ces in w orks of the im agi ne.

tion,and m ost particularly on such absurd

occasions : for I think if the appeal were

to be m ade to persons of any understand

ing,all would agree that one m ore highly

ridiculous cou ld not,well be im agined,

than the rupture of a love affair between

C


a boy and girl of thirteen, even allowing

that such a thing ever really existed . Many

of our .modern novelists suppose (as

I presum e), that they stifle all objectionsto their performance,by occasionally

calling in som e such circumstan ce as that

we have just read : they think to qualify

their works for the taste of the m ost rigid,by quotin g the S criptures,withou t cere

m ony,on every Opportun ity that occurs ;and imagin e they are conveying religious

and m oral instruction by so doing . But

they hurt the cause they pretend to

espouse ; and would theybut reflect,theymust see the folly of such a supposition .

How can any believe that the least good

effect can follow the violation of a com

man dm en t ; for is i t not calling on the

Lord’s nam e in vain, to m ake any being

they may be describing, im plore (let the

mode of expression be ever so well chosen)His protection every tim e they have the

vapours; and how often is the occasion

TH E AUTHO RE S S . 27

no better ! Religion,my young friend,requ ires a composed temper of m ind, to

be con tem plated 'with advan tage . It isnot in scen es descriptive of tum ultu ous

and worldly passions, that the' doctrine

which teaches m eekness and resignation

can with propri ety be introduced : and

thrust in,as i t is too often,in this mann er,i t is far m ore likely to be received with

con tem pt,than with the reveren ce which

is its due It is a rem edy for all the real

ev ils of life ; but is of too sacred a nature

to be used m erely as affording a con trast

of character,a variety of expression,‘

or a

m eans of rounding a period .

-I have wandered far from the trifling

inciden t in your m anuscript,though from

it I have been led to express my Opin ion

so fully of these things in gen eral . -To

return toMartha. She appears to have had

no reasonable cause for despondency :

she kn ew her grandm other’ s station in

life to be respectable her incom e was not

c 2


insufficient for her wants : she had in

form ed her the commun ication'

was not

to’

be dreaded : so if you have m ade’

her

low spirited only to introduce her prayers,'it would have been far better let alon e ;or if it be to show she had a just pre

sentim en t of what was going to befalher, i t is a creed I am not m uch giv ento

i

adm ire ; . and so, with your leave, I

w ill endeavour to find if there was any

other reason .

”

The authoress said n othing,though in

wardly vexed,that the very sen ten ce she

expected to be praised,as contain ing a

good hint to young p eop le, should have

provoked so severe an an imadversion .

Mr. Newm an proceeded :

Martha slept in an apartm en t adj oin

ing her grandm other ; and towards m or n

ing she was m uch alarmed by groans,proceeding from Mrs. Hernshaw’

s cham

ber. Hastily throwi ng on her dressing

gown,she hurried to her room ; she found

TH E AU TH O RE S S . 29

hergrandm other insensible;and apparently

in much pain : w ith great promptitude she

summ on ed the servant, and" having . de

spatched her for m edical assistance, she

rendered all m her own power to her suf

fering paren t . Itwas not till towards theeven ing of the following day that

'Mrs.

Hern shaw became sen sible Zof the obj ects

around her. H er return ing reason was

hailed by her . grand-daughter with'

trari

sport : but the 'Doctor rem inded her. how

bften in sim ilar cases the return of sense

had preceded dissolution .

Marthawas overwhelm ed with afli ic

tion at this in formation,and rem ained lost

in grief ; till her gran dm other,at the‘

tim e

I have before m en tioned,called herto the

bedside, and taking her hand, thus ad

dressed her It .was myinten tion,my‘dear 'child, to have in form ed you of the

history of your birth,even had my.health

been spared me ; and now the commun i

c ation is m ore iinperatively n ecessary,as


I may not long remain here to impart the

interesting tale .” Martha,dreading her

grandm other would injure herself by too

much speaking,besought her to postpone

the recital till som e other period .

That period will n ev er arri ve, mylove,when I shall be better enabled to

perform this n ecessary du ty,”replied Mrs.

Hernshaw ; therefore listen atten tively

to what I am about to say.-Your great

grandfather But as I think I can

express the accoun t m ore circum stanti

ally,I shall relate in the third person the

narrative ofMrs. Hernshaw .

’

This,”

said Mr. Newm an, is one

of the things I am m ost particu larlyprovoked with . Scar cely any thing can

be conceived m ore uninteresting than the

long genealogi cal accoun ts,one of whi ch

I perc eive you are going to pour down

upon us. If it be necessary to trace the

ancestry of a person from any antedilu

vian date,why not do it at first ? why,



But if it be unavoidable ?” said Miss

S tanley

Such a case is not possible ; an au

thor has the choice of arranging his m ate

rials as he pleases : and as we proceed,I

much question whether we shall find any

sufficien t reason for keeping the old lady

long enough in the last agoni es to relate

the history of her an cestors.

”

“S ince you are so little disposed to

adm ire the in troduction,”

said the au

thoress, I will not trespass so m uch on

your patience as to allow you to proceed ;but recomm end this to your perusal .” As

shespoke,she drew the Mem oirs of Mar

tha from his han d, and presen ted him

with The Persecuted Lovers, or“

the

History of Lionel and Leonora.

”

T H E AuTH ORE ss. 33

CHAPTER III.

THE PEESECUTED LOVERS .

LION EL and LE O N ORA were the off

spring Of paren ts whose virtu es would have

shed a lustre-

ou the highest station . The

friendship which had for a great length Of

tim e connected these am iable fam ilieswas,in their earliest childhood,perceived to be

reciprocal in their children ; nor had m any

years elapsed before the attachm en t he

cam e m ore tender. Lion el pleaded'

his

passion with all the fervou r of youth and

the gen tle Leonorabliish'

ed consen t . The

delighted paren ts j oyfully accorded their

sanction to the union,only requ iring that

as they were both so young,Li onel should

m ake the tour of Europe,so necessarytothe com pletion of the education Of a gen

tiem an,before it took place . The partingwrung the hearts of the young people

0 5

34 TH E AUTH O RE S S .

with love’s m ost exquisi te torm ents ; butthe tim e was now n early expired ; and at

the comm encem en t of this history they

were looking forward with transport to

the m om ent which was to restore them to

each other,and heap on them the highest

happiness they were capable of conceiv

ing . But,before we proceed,i t may not

be amiss to give a description of their

persons. The figure of Lionel F itz osbertwas form ed in the fin est m ould of m anly

beauty .

’

“ You’ll excuse m e, my dear,but Icannot read the praises of a man with

much patience,”saidMr . Newman,break

mg off abruptly ; so I shall pass over

this long account of raven locks,aquiline

nose, arched brows, fire-eliciting eyes,noble soul,feeling heart,Ste. Sam . and just

take a peep at the lady .

”

Leonora Mandeville was one of those

beings whem ‘f youthful poets fancy when

they love .” The Medi cean grace of-her

TH E AUTHO RE S S . 35

m ovements accorded well with the syl

phid . fragili ty of her form . Of her countenance it would be vain to attempt a

description ; she m ight justly be consi

d ered as Nature ’s m asterpiece,so edm irably was the roseate hue interm ingled

with . the alabaster fairn ess of her skin,an im ated wi th the un ited expression of

c onscious di gnity and fem in in e softness.”Are there any m ore descriptions ?”

asked Mr . Newm an .

No,sir,”was the reply .

You rej oice m e exceedingly,”

said

the old gen tleman, as possibly I maynowbe enabled to proceed .

”

And why should the descriptions

d isable you?” asked Miss S tanley .

Merely because having taken up the

manuscript with the idea of being able to

recogn ise som e of the persons as resem

blin g those.I have knovm in real life,

on finding myself transported to such

asuper-excellent set of people,I feel rather


c onfused, and altogether u nable to de

cide w hether I should not have found

myself m ore at ease,if you had prem ised

that such people live only in fairy tales.

S ince,however, you‘ have secured m e

from the introduction of any m ore, I w ill

just ask,if i t is not‘

a little extraordinarythat every heroin e Of a novel should hap

pen to be Nature’

s m asterpiece ? (for all

I have ever heard of are described as peer

less,) and proceed .

”

Lionel was already on his return hom e,when a fatal fever broke out in the n eigh

bourhood,and carried Off, am ong m any

others,the parents of Lio'

nel and Leonora.

The aflli ction of the young and bean

tiful Leon ora may,by -hearts susceptible

as her own'

,be im agined ; but wordsmustfall far short of conveying any ad equate

idea : she walked from one cold corpse to

another,~ beatin g her breast,orending her

luxuriant locks w ith frantic violence,and

calling'

onDeath to release her from a life


which had now becom e a burthen too in

tolerable -to be borne . In this state she

rem ained m any days,refusing all consola

tion, till the rem embrance of Lionel re

called her to herself ; and for hi s sake she

endeavoured to compose her disordered

The m ournful task of commun icating

this in telligence she'

resolved to postpone

till his arrival ; for I can m ix consola

tion with my in formation when he is pre

sent,” thought she, and wipe away the

tearsmy tale will cause to flow .

” Besides,the exqui site delicacy Of Leonora’s m ind

was such, that she wou ld not writetoinform him of the death Ofhis paren ts,lest

by : announ cing to him her unprotected

state,she m ight appear desirous of hast

ening his retum .

’

u Delicacy with a witness !” exclaim ed

Mr. Newm an ; but it is .all false . What,in the-nam e of modesty,

‘

prudence,a nd

c ommon : decency,wouldzhavebeen the

38 TH E A U TH OE E ss.

breach,if she had even requested him to

use his u tm ost exertion to reach her ?

Misfortune abolishes all form s Of cere

m ony ; and if she had no other friend to

console and direct her at such a tim e,a

very m oderate degree of reason would

have poin ted out the propri ety,if not the

necessity,of sending for the only one she

possessed, even if their love had been

san ction ed only by an usual length of

intim acy,and he had not had a personal

interest in the calam ity . Yes, it is cer

tainly a false sentim en t .”

One even ing as Leonora sat in silent

contem plation, picturing to herself the

m elancholy delight she should experien ce

on beholding herbeloved Lionel,the seri

vant announced a strang er,who followed

her into the room . The gen tleman was

muffled in a large riding coat,and the

idea of Lionel being ever upperm ost in

the m ind of Leonora,she doubted not but

shebeheld him,and sprung towards the


40 TH E AUTHORE S S .

intrude on those sorrows?” asked Leonora.

Call'

it the effervescen ce of my solici

t ude, the result of my undim in ished

adoration ; call it any thing but pre

sum ption . Oh, Miss Mandeville,couldyou form,but for a m om en t, the least

idea of what I have endured sin ce ban ished your presen ce, you w ould surely

condescen d to listen to m e. Let m e

implore you,” he con tinued, sinking on

his kn ees, while the tears chased each

other down his m anly coun tenan ce ; let

m e en treat .you to listen . to a wretch,whose life depends upon your sm ile,whose future felicity or m isery must be

determ in ed by your lips.

”

Leon ora was soften ed by witnessing

his sufferings, and she again asked,bu twi th m ore kindness, the occasion of his

p resent appearan ce .

’

And doh you suppose, my dear,

asked Mr. Newm an, that any man can

so entirely lose sight of~all self-respect; as

THE AUTHORE S S . 41

to debase himself in this manner ? If such

is your Opin ion, our sex are very much

obliged to you for imagin in g us such

fools.

”

Indeed, S ll‘

, replied Miss S tanley,I cann ot say that any .one ever said as

much to m e,but I have not accustom ed

myself to con sider that as a proof t hat

such things are not said to any one else

particularly as there are somany instan ces

extan t sim ilar to the one I have related .

”

It m ay be that I was n ever of the

love-m aking sort,”returnedMr . Newman ;

‘f for certain ly I never was guilty of such

an absurdity . What m akes me rather

m ore particu larly inclin ed to doubt the

reality of such things is, that these de

scriptions, (as far as m y reading enables

m e to judge) are m ost comm only found

in the works of female writers, as if it

were soothing to their van ity to imagine

arbitrary power over the happiness of

man,which he is not altogether so willingto allow .

”


The m otive ofmy presen t visit,Miss

Mandeville,”

replied Mortim er, is to

renew those Offers I som e tim e ago so

unsuccessfully made . Your presen t nu

protected state pierces m e to the heart ;allow m e to convey you to where every

thing that affluen ce can comm and shall be

yours. Oh ! suffer m e to bid the sun of

prosperity dissipate the storm s of ad

versity,and the gentle balm of affection

heal the w ounds inflicted by the rude

hand of affliction .

”

Leonora heard him in silence,and then

said, Give m e leave to say,Mr. Mor

tim er, that, situated as I am, you m ight

have shown your friendship in a far m ore

acceptable m ann er, by remaining per

fectly inactive in my con cerns. What

must be your Opin ion of m e, if you can

suppose m e so capable of change,as in

the short space Of three years to have

altered my sentim ents respecting you ?

SO far from considering m yself under anyobligation,I feel you have offered me a

TH E A u'rn oness. 43

m ost unpardonable insult ; and the only

way in which you can m ake m e the least

reparation, is by instan tly leaving my

presence,n ever m ore to return .

I hope he did not go,”

said Mr.

Newm an .

Hope he did not go, sir ! why so ?”

asked the authoress.

More m oderation,my dear, replied

he, had been m ore consisten t wi th the

delicacy you have laid so m uch stress

upon . The least one can do,is to d ecline

an offered favour w ith civility ; and it is to

be presum ed that 'Mort im er was unac

quainted with her engagem en t to Lion el,or he would hardly have ren ewed his own

addresses. Indeed,I think her behaviour

verybad .

”

But recollect,my dear sir, that her

defen celess situation called for the great

est circum spection,”

said Miss S tanley .

It is to be hoped,”rej oined the old

gentleman, t hat passion and injustice

44 T H E AUTH ORE S S .

will n ever be gen erally m istaken for cir

cum spection ; or, farewell to all concord

and un ity. Mortim er’s offer appears_ . to

m e a very disin terested one ; and she

could not properly hav e don e less than

have return ed him her thanks, and ex

plain ed to him her situation w ith Lion el .”

What, sir !” exclaim ed the youn g

lady, would you advise a fem ale to tear

open the secret recesses of her heart,and

m ake a gen tlem an her confidan t ? ”

A lady’s heart -m u st be m ade of v ery

flim sy materials indeed, if it could not

close and be as soun d as ever,after such

an explanation . I think no woman of

deli cacy could unn ecessarily boast of an

attachm en t,however . worthy the obj ect ;but no wom an of justice (which is a m uch

m ore n oble prin ciple,) would withhold

the comm uni cation,if necessity called for

it. But I am in haste to see if he staid .

”

f Mortim er bowed low . I am incalcu

lably unfortunate,”

said he, to have

TH E AUTH OR E S S . 45

raised angerwhere Lhad hoped to . excite

pity ; and wi thou t u ttering an other

word he rushed from the apartm en t .

S everal days nowIpassed,’

duringwhibhtim e Leonora received a letter from Lionel,inform ing her that he shou ld

'

be w ith

her e arly in the ensuing week .

‘ Leon ora

w ished, yet dreaded to see him ; her

heart beat high when she thought of the

rapture she should experience on again

beholding him,but died within'

her,. as

\she rem embered the m elan choly intelli

gence that awaited him . On the ev en ing

preceding the day Lion el . had m ention ed

as that of his in tended arrival, Leon ora

was startled, and som ewhat a larm ed,by _a loud rin ging at : the gate, and

in trembling agitation she awaited the

explanation '

of this unexpected disturb

ance ; . but not long was . she kept in

suspense, a m an pale and breathless

rushed into her presence,.and throw ing

off his hat,she recogn ized Mortim er.

46 TH E A ur n onnss.

Wretch she exclaim ed,overcome

with surprise and terror, what do you

here ?”

I com e, replied he, to render you

an important service . S om e m iles from

hence,I chanced to overtake a gen tleman

who had fallen from his horse : be ap

peered in great pain : I assisted him to

the n earest inn,when, the doctor giving

him to understand he was in dan

ger, he besought m e to fly to you, and

entreat you to hasten to receive hi s last

sigh .

”

Leonora heard no m ore,but sunk backin a swoon . Wh en she recovered she

found her servant and Mr. Mortim er

standing by her : the sight of Mortim er

recalled his errand to her m in d, and

starting from her seat,she cried, Let us

go directly . Wretches why do you not

instan tly prepare for my departure? Oh

Lionel,Lionel,is i t thuswe are to m eet ?”

The servant in silence obeyed her2


48 TH E A UTHO RE S S .

Though I ackn ow ledge the-force of

your reason, yet it m akes the case still

worse ; for if he kn ew n othing abou t the

m atter, how could he inven t or foresee

the success of his schem e 7”

You m ust put up w ith this, and a

thousand other little inaccuracies,or you

will n ev er do for a novel-reader, my dear

I do indeed begin to perceive by

how d'

elicate a fibre the inciden ts of a

novel hang together,”

rej oined Mr.

Newman .

It is now n ecessary to m ake the

reader acquain ted w ith the real character

of Mortim er . He was artful, selfish,and

designing, and would st00p, wi thout

hesitation,to the m ean est act, to gratify

his m ost vicious inclination . Devoid of

generosity, courage, or hum anity,he was

equally in capable of perform in g a good

action, or defend ing a base one -whilst,unrestrained by any m otive, m oral or

0.

TH E A uTHoR E ss . 49

divine, his cruelty enabled‘

him to per

form any deed, howev er atrocious, of

which his subtlety ensured the success.

’

For sham e ! for sham e ! ” cried Mr.

Newm an, this exceeds all possibility'

there n ever was such a m an in the

world“ Indeed Mr. Newm an, said the

authoress, we shall n ever com e -to an

I”

end, if you w ill make these con tinual

in terruption s.

”

You will recollect it was a stipu lated

article, at the comm en cem en t of our un

dertaking, that I should be allowed ' this

liberty ; and I cannot avoid availing

myself of it when I see you“ dissem i

nating such false views of mankind .

Thanks to ourbeneficent Creator ! we are

non e of us form ed of su ch vile m aterials;though m any of us have m ore evil pas~

sions than we can-and the best

are often severely proved in‘ keeping

them in subjection ; but who could With1)


stand such a host ? I wi ll not say thereis any thing crim inal in fancying such a

character,but certain ly it is a being of

human inv enti on . It is an extrem e as

unnatural as that in which I expect you

are going to pain t your hero : the one

raises a m an to a height infin itely above

hum an nature,the other sinks him equally

below . I cannot conclude w ithou t en

forcing my argum en t with the authorityof the Spectator,who says, There is no

person .so vicious,who has not som e good

in him nor any so virtuous,who has not

in him som e evil .’

To return to Leonora.

”She suffered

herself to be born e along many m iles,Withou t m aking any inqu iries ’

as to herdestination,so en tirely was she absorbed

in m ournful reflec tions on the past,~ and

an ticipat ions of the future . At length

they_

.stopped at the gate of an old

fashioned mansion, where Mortim er de

sired her to alight . Leonora, roused to a.

T H E AUTH ORE S S . 5 1

sense of the objects aroun d her,gazed at

the house w ith astonishm en t . This

said she .

It is any thing you shall please to

call it,”

replied Mortim er, w ith a sar

castic'

sm ile : be it an inn, and I the

landlord of my. lovely guest .”

The kn owledge of her situation now

darted like a flash of lightn ing on the

m in d of Leonora ; she turn ed sick asd eath ;but hastily recoverin g her com posure,sheexclaim ed w ith dign ity, To what end,0thou villain,hast thou broughtm e here

Mr; Newm an laughed outright. I

fan cy her dign ity will mot be of much

avail in this case,”

said he ; and she

m ight,I should have imagin ed,have fixed

upon som e m ore m ollifying term. I

kn ow not how i t is,but heroines appear

house is no inn

to m e to have a language pecul iar to

them selves,at least they m ake no scruple

of using epithets,which in the m ou thsi

of

m o'

re comm on fem ales would be thought

D 2

52 TH E A UTH O RE S S .

rather incom patible w ith propriety . But

I am interrupting the lady in the m iddle

of her speech .

”

Instantly order your horses to return,for be assured I shall not alight . n

As you please,m adam,”replied the

abandon ed m an ;“bu t if you will not

alight willing ly,you m ust not com plain if

I use a little com pu lsion . My horses are

m uch too fatigued to obey your orders.

”

So saying, he advan ced towards the

chaise,and,in spite of her resistan ce,boreLeonora to the house . She shri eked

aloud ; but,alas ! there was no one to heed

her cries ; the postillion grinned,.and the

old wom an who had Open ed the door had

disappeared .

It w ill not be n ecessary to relate all the

entreaties,prom ises, and m enaces,which

this vile m an used to prevail on Leon ora

to becom e his wife . Tru e to her beloved

Lion el,she treated all his proposals with

disdain, and spen t her ,tim e in , endea

TH E'AU TH ORE S S .

’ 53‘

vourin'

g'to plan her

'

escape,but in vain

Eleven m on ths passed in this m ann er ;and despairing . of accomplishing her

purpose,she resign ed hers'elf t'

o'

ai hOpe

less m elancholy ; while the t hought .

‘

of.

what Lionel would suffer on her account

con tributed not a lit tle to her grief. One

even ing . about this tim e,when the fine

n ess of the weather had in som e'

degree

soothed her lacerated m ind, she left her'

cham ber w ith the in ten tion of requ esting'

perm ission to walk in the grounds,when'

how great was her joy and surprise to

fin d the —door which led to the garden

open . She rushed throu gh it the

grounds on one s ide w erebounded by anarrow stream .

— She fled towards it,and =

withou t the hesitation‘

of a mom ent,plunged in . Fear lent her strength,and

'

she gain ed the oppositebank in'

safety .

Withou t consideringawhich road m ight

lead to the last town she had passed

through on t he day in which she was)


trepanned from her hom e, she ran downthe one that first presen ted itself, nor

stopped till the detested house had long

been hidden from her sight . She then

sat down to rest herself,her wet clothes

hung heavily upon her,and she trembled

equally w ith cold and affright ;but awareshe m ust u se som e exertion to reach an

abode for the n ight, or pass it under a

hedge, she arose and pursued her way.

For som e tim e she con tinu ed her walk

without interruption, lost in j oy at her

escape, though unknow ing whither she

was going, or by what m eans she should

reach hom e .

’

She was in a j oyful plight to be

sure,. said Mr. Newman .~

At length she heard a horsem anbehind her : fearful of pursu it, she waited

not to east a look behind, but fled with

the u tm ost expediti on her exhausted

strength could use. The horsem an evi

dently gain ed ground upon her ; and


‘ 56 TH E A UTHORE S S .

the'heart of her beloved Lionel dissipated. all rem embrance of her form er sorrows.

“Lionel,on the other hand,was so enrap

tured at recovering his heart’s treasure,that for som e tim e he appeared un con

scious of his existen ce ; bu t his servant

com ing up at this m om en t,he so far re

collected him self as to be enabled to de

spatch him to the n earest town for a

chaise, and then seating Leonora on the

bank, he besought her to inform him of

the cause of her;

strange disappearance .

She related it all from the tim e of their

paren ts’ death;

to the presen t m eeting ;and then,in her turn, requested to know

what had befallen him during their sepa

ration . Bu t as thisnarrative will be given

m ore at large hereafter, it is only neces

sary to state here that he had passed the

tim e ever sin ce his return in endeavouring

to trace her retreat ; and that he was ac

cidentally travelling this road in-

the prose

cution ofh i s search when he overtook her .

’

TH E AUTH ORE S S . 57

Oh,m ost lucky chan ce exclaim ed

Mr ; Newm an ; how often does it happen

in works Of this k ind,that the happiness

or misery?of a person ’s life

'

depends upon

an acciden t as trifling as this ! Had'

not

Lionel set ou t on‘

his r ide,by chance,"at

the precise m om én t‘

he did an d had not

Leonora found the garden door Openbychance, and by chan ce taken‘ the '

same

road, they'

m ust in evi tably have m issed,and been , véry unhappy for the rest Of

theirjlife.

”

I am delighted,Mr. Newm an, said

the young lady,~ f‘ that f l can 'brin ‘

g some

authority again st you,you are‘

so'

severe

upon me.

" What say -you‘ to ~

.Pope ’s

m axim All chance, direction‘which

thOu icanst nOt see.

’

r 2

it may be l a ti‘tie

v in : compositions .of the

fancy,fwhere'

,as; I have £1108 :befOre'

said ;an author may; arrange his m aterials as

he pleases i t,ismore satisfactory. to . have

D 5


it shown that certain causes tended to

produce the effects described, than to

have it in on e’s power to worry our ima

gination with the torm en ting but if cir

cum stances had not so happily coincided

I wonder what would have happen ed .

As Lionel con cluded his accoun t the

chaise arrived,and during their ride it was

determin ed,that Leonora should be placed

in som e respectable fam ily till such tim e

as they should be un i ted . Lion el pleaded

for an early day but Leonora wou ld not

hear of shorten ing the tim e of her m ourn

ing . It is but one m on th,myLionel,”

said she, and‘

shall we not pay our

dear paren ts this last tribute of our affec

tion

In vain did Lionel urge the probabilityof her being exposed ti) the fresh m achi

nations Of Mortim er ; in vain did he de

scribe the agony he should endure if

again she was lost to him ; in vain did he

remind xher that he was her only friend,


and that the sooner she gave him a title

to protect her,the sooner would she put

an end to their m utual anxiety : she was

inflexible— nay m ore,her delicacy m ade

her shrink from the idea of receivin g the

frequen t visits of any man unsan ctioned

by the presence Of a father,or a brother ;and she therefore d em ande d,that after she

sh ould -be com fortably settled he should

absen t him self from her,andbe con ten tedwith correspondin g w ith .her i till . the

month shouldbe expired. Lion el,thengh

grieved at her resolution, could not but

admire the refined and elevated '

mind

which thus resolu tely persisted in the dis

charge ef a f an cied duty, regardless ‘0f

personal danger and inconven ience.

’

1 can ’t read another lin e upon my

honour,”

said Mr. Newm an,kthrowin g

down the m anuscript. “ It is Often Oh

jected to’

Novels in gen eral,that the act ionsOf the characters introduced arewithoutsufficien t motives,and that principles are

60. TH E AUTHO RE S S :

not attended to . But such are innocent,in com parison w ith the class to

'

which this:

belongs: Here but ;

the m ost false that can be imagined ;where Virtue and Decorum are

?strain ed

till they becom e Folly and Indiscretion,if nothing worse

”

; and where the m ost'

absurd con clusion s are'

d rawn ; which; if

the au thor really m ean his m axims tobeattended .to, cannot fail of impartin g a

wrong bias to thesm ind of the you thful

reader ;'

and which,’

were he to apply

them -in real life,‘

m ight tend greatly to

his 'injury,before experien ce had t aught

him the fallacy Of such'

rules. DO not

suppose I am recommending a younggirl to leap into the arm s o fh er lover,or

of him who pretends to be such,for every

trifling occurrence‘

that may happen' to

’

chafe her tem per: It is,perhaps,a hazard

ous resource at all tim es ; but man i s the

c reature ! of circumstances,and,'

as such,must yield to their,

influence : in the

TH E AuTH O RE ss . 61

case you have drawn,n othing but a perversion Of in tellect could have induced a

young unprotected fem ale to act in so

singular a mann er ; un less, indeed, one

m ay suppose the lady was fond Of being

smuggled, and so, volun tarily exposed

herself to all the evils inciden t to hersi

tuation . If you would not w ish to incur

the high-

reproach of m isleading youngm inds,who are not able to discrim inate

for them selves,be cau tiou s to distinguish

every thing by its proper nam e ; you m ust

not,for the indulgence of your own fancy,dign ify absolute folly by the

.

nam e of de

licacy, nor term the too great indulgen ce

Of an overstrained sensibili ty the refi ne

m en ts of an elevated m ind . But .what is

the n ext production you wish‘

me to

read ?”

M iss S tanley,withou t speaking,offered

him Valen tina ; or, the Spirit Of the

Vault .


CHAPTER IV

VALENTINA .

s as =x= :x: a: it

H ow is this 7” asked Mr. Newman :

this,unlike any Of the others,has no

beginning .

”

This is a romance, replied Miss

S tan ley ; and the m ore it is wrapped in

Obscurity the better. I have always ad

m ired the comm encem en t of the Old

English Baron,’which the editor, pro

fessing to have found it in som e strange

place, has described as being so much

mu tilated by the dam p as to have renderedthe first part un intelli gible ; and has,

therefore, begun with a lin e or two Of

asterisks. I have said I adm ire it,whichwill account for my having adopted the

plan .

”


64 TH E AUTH ORE S S . ’

Happy stream l” sighed Valentina,as she

‘

seated’

herself at the window to

listen for the expected signal thou art

not,like m e,condemned to linger here

At last the shrill whistle and appoin ted

words summ on ed her . she rose,and de

scending to the court, found a m an c iri

arm our awaiting her arrival ; febe s tarted;but prepared to follow her guide,who ledthe . way. towards the vault. The wind

whistled bleakly as they descended I

shall n ever have courage to proceed,whispered the trembling Valen tina 1

Fea'

r

'

nothing, repliedherconductor ;the blast,though an unpleasan t one,is

no terrible Oppon en t .”

The castle clOck at this m om en t struck

one : Valentina shuddered ; I daré ‘

not,

indeed I dare nOt she "

And hasJove no greater power over.

thy heart ?” demanded her. guide . 1 How

much stronger is the love of him,whointhe . cOld dungeon Ihas so long awaited

our coming !”


S timulated to fresh exertion by thism ention Of the situation Of her lover,Va

lentina drew her cloak round her and

advan ced a few steps ; bu t in so doing,recollected the danger of trusting herselfat this lon e hour in so rem ote a place w ith

,two m en, one of whom she had seen buttwice since the tou rnam en t, and of the

other she was probably totally ignoran t .’

A v ery good thought,though recol

lected alm ost too late,”

said the Old gen

tleman . But as I have remarked that

the ladies,'

in these tales,are m iraculously

protected, though they may comm en ce

Open warfare against comm on sense by

comm ittin g the m ost flagran t absurdities,I hope,for the sake Of the story,you have

suffered her to proceed .

For the sake Of the story I have not

suffered her to proceed,”

replied the

Authoress.

I am afraid,then,she will have 'some

trouble toi

get away ; for I presum e they


were alone, and at such a tim e of night

she m ight shou t for a long while w ithout

making any one hear.

”

And to render her situation still m ore

perilous, said the Authoress,with a look

of importance, I have m ade her a resi

dent in a castle possessing no inhabitan ts

but herself and a deaf Old wom an .

”

Delightful ! delightful exclaim ed

the Old gen tleman but,” he added in a

tone of disappointment, I suppose you

have had recourse to the interposition Of

fairies.

”

Proceed,”said the young lady, and

you will find that it is all brought about

in a very reasonable and natural man

ner.

”

Exqu isite beyond comparison, re

j oined he ; if you are not crowned

Q ueen of S cribes for this,I will say thereis neither sense nor sen tim ent am ong the

whole band Of cri tics.

”

This reflection caused her to make an

TH E A uTH OE E ss. 67

involun tary stand, and she eagerly.

cast

her eyes along the dark passage to asoer

tain if there was any possibili ty of escape ;but,alas ! she perceived not the slightest

chance Of even a temporary concealm en t .

Her com pan ion watched her qu ick and

searching glance ; and, as if suspecting

her inten tion,Offered her his arm to assist

her progress. Conscious that if her de

sire had really been to proceed,su ch an

assistance wou ld have been m ost wel-i

com e,Valen tina forced herself to place

her arm within his,and giving up all idea

Of escape,she stepped on over the m oul

dering ston es. The footing was very in

secure . Tim e had en tirely decayed som e

Of the ston es ; and others were so m uch

loosened that they rocked beneath their

weight . In this m ann er they proceeded

for som e tim e,when Valen tina’

s attention

was roused by a half-suppressed start of

her compan ion : she raised her eyes,supposing it to have been occasioned by the

68 TH E AUTHO RE S S .

stones’

slipping'

from his foot,but howgreat was her surprise and terror onbeholding ‘

a ,tall m aj estic figure approaching

them ! Itsi

height appeared m ore . than

human,and its white garm en ts fell in long

and graceful folds to its feet . It advan ced

w ith one . hand on itsbreast, the otherraised in the .air. Its steps were .slow,m easured, an d noiseless ; and as it drew

n earer i t uttered,in a hollow voice,‘f Be

ware ! beware ! beware '” and continuing

its m arch,before Valen tina cou ld recover

from her aston ishm ent it had disappeared

am ong the ruins

All this is the climax of rationality.

to be sure,”

said Mr. Newman .

1 I am sorry it does not m eet -with

your approbation,”

said the m ortified

Au thoress ;bu t you w ill please to Observethat this apparition is not m ean t as the

m eans of her escape,but m erely to confirm her desire Of returning : and that

such'

a confirmation was necessary,you

TH E A UTH ORE S S .

‘

69

will allow,to inspire heri

with courage to

act in the m anner you w ill find she.

did

What ! did she knock the man in

armour down ?” asked Mr. Newman .

Have the goodness to proceed,”was

the dign ified rejoinder .

H er resolution strengthened by the

warning voice of the apparition,Valentina

determ in ed to proceed no further ; butperceiving no chan ce of eluding the vigi

lance ‘

of her compan ion, she resolved to

extingu ish the light he carried,and trust

to"her own knowledge of the castle for

regain ing her apartm en t. For this pur

pose she took two or three unsteady steps,and design edly m issing her footing,. shé

fell in such a mann er as to dash the lampto the ground .

‘

The light was instan tly

extinguished ; .but her conductor,. 1in

suspicious of her d esign,assisted her torise befoie he attempted . to restore . 1 t

and having'

seated her on the ground,he


proceeded to draw from his pocket a

bottle of phosphorus. Valen tina, in the

m eanwhile, cautiously rem oved from her

seat,and having stationed herself behind

a large colum n, which had in ancien t

tim es supported an imm ense arch, she

awaited with anxiety an d trembling sus

pense the discovery of her absence .

In a few mom en ts the unsteady light

of the lam p again flashed on the crumbling

walls,showing the m any coloured damps

which stain ed this on ce gorgeous resi

dence . The man in arm our looked round

with astonishm ent on perceiving the

absence of his com pan ion Does she

think to escape m e now ?” he exclaim ed

in a voice so dem on iac, that,whilst it

pierced the throbbin g heart Of the terri

fied Valentina,‘

caused her secretly to t e

j oice at having left him . Fearing herwhite drapery m ight attract his atten tion,she drew her robe close round her .fragile

figure ; and though convinced she could



I do not perceive she 'had any just

reason for thinking so,” Observed Mr :

Newm an : theman happen ing to be tall,and the place happening to be Old,affords

non e in my Opin ion ; and as for arm our,I suppose that was not altogether nu

comm on in those days.

”

It was not till the last streak of light

had van ished from her sight, and the

sound Of the last footstep had died upon

her ear,that Valentina felt a superstitious

dread stealing over her. To be alone at

such an hour,and in such a place,struck

terror to her heart ; while the rem em

brance Of the supernatural figure she had

so lately seen, increased that terror so

much,that she almost expected to see it

again issue '

from the circumambient

gloom . A cold chill overspread her limbs,and,

'

unable to support herself, she sunk

senseless 011 the ground .

’

I may H OW ’

stop,withou t danger‘

of

interrupting Valentina, to make a few


observations”or rather to poin t out a few

inconsisten cies Ih ave remarked . In the

first place,my dear,you tell us these folks

w ere proceeding .along a, dark passage,in which the young lady,previous to the

ghost’s exhortation,could see no place'of

concealmen t ; but the words which served

to confirm her resolution,appear also to

have built a column to enable her to put

that resolution in execution .

I declare that never struckm e before,said Miss S tan ley .

“S econdly,

” proceeded Mr . Newman,

you say she had the address to gain

this ambush while her conductor was

striking. a light : ’twasbu t a short tim e,but we ,

will pass over that ; it was .p os

sible,and that in roman ces is a rare m erit

but,if she concealed herself so effectually

from h iss ight, it wasl not,,spossible thatshe could have, c omm anded so entire

a v iew -Of his actions; } inasmuch as no ;

person can see ~ through a stone column;

74 TH E AUTHORE SS .

n ei ther was it possible,that when his back

was turn ed towards her,she could behold

the expression of his eyes.

”

But I have not said his back was

towards her,”said Miss S tanley.

True ; but I presume you do not

m ean to imply that the m an in arm our

walked backwards : and! if he did not,

you must be sensible that '

two; or at m ost

three steps, would have prevented her

from any longerbeholding 'his face .”

Really I think you are too hard upon

m e,Mr . Newman : I am sure I. haveseen

much great er absurdities in many ro

mances.

”

“'I believe you,bew use I have seen

many greater myself ;but this qu ick percaption of the faults‘of Omers throws no

veil over your own.

”

On recovering her recollection; Valen

tina made an efibrt to:

return ! to: has

chamber ; put how. green was her horror:

when shefound herself fbrciblytdet eiamed e!

TH E A u'rnonsss. 75

A strong grasp held her cloak. Unable toturn through extrem e alarm,she uttered

a piercing scream : the dark and silent

passages reverberated only with her cry,but it seem ed to her borroriz ed imag ination the m ingled tones of many voices

With an alm ost supernatural strength she

slipped her cloak from her shoulders,and

w inged by the excessive impulse of un

adulterated terror, she fled towards her

apartm ent,which having at length gained,she sunk, deprived of sense, upon the

couch,and remain ed lost to all sense of te

membrance till the old woman summ oned

her the next m orning to breakfast ; when,on open ing her eyes, she perceived the

sun shin ing with uncommon splendour,and

the various songsters,Who found habita

tions in the neighbouring groves,hymn

ing their early‘

matins to theGod of day.

’

The long and the short of thismatter

then,”

said Mn N’

ewman, is, that she

had had the night-mare .”

E 2

TH E AUTH ORE S S .

Very far from it,as you will perceive,when you proceed,

”said the young lady .

Pardon m e,my dear,”replied he, if

I beg to st0p here . This tal e,like most

others of its kind, is conducive to no one

goodend . The principal recomm endation,of works of the im aginati on,is when the

sen tim en ts and inciden ts,related in them,convey som e u seful and m oral instruction

to the reader : in this shape they are not

only sources of am usem en t,but vehiclesof improvem en t ; but, devoid of this

qualification,they becom e vain,frivolous,and worthless. Reason is at all tim es to

be preferred to fan cy,as being the safestand surest guide of the m ind ; for,though

the lat ter m ay som etim es be called in as

an agreeable and en tertaining com pan ion,she will n ever prove

‘

a steady and trust

worthy leader . Is it not then an unneces

sary expenditure of tim e an d trouble,both

on t he part of the au thor andi

the reader,to compile or peruse a thing, which,

TH E Abr n onnss . 77

when it is com pleted, they are com

pelled to own is inconsistent with nature ;and

‘

which, so far from enlarging their

views of mankind, may raise in weakm inds a distaste for the comm on occurrenees of life, and perhaps unfit themfor the perform an ce of the duties incident

to that station in which it has pleased their

Creator to place them .

”

Do you then consider rom ances as

actually criminal ? ”

In some hands they are harm less ; assom e may despise, and others m ay be

insensible of their poison : but as they

cannot in any hands be productive of

advan tage,they m ay, in my Opinion, be

pron ounced unworthy perusal, as being

the m eans of corrupting the m inds of

som e,and misspending the talent’of all.”

78 TH E AUTH ORE SS .

CHAPTER V .

THE TRIAL or FRIENDSRIP .

I H AVE here, said Miss S tanley,another sort of composition,which it is

possible may please you better .

”

Mr. Newman took the manuscript,and

read as follows

ToMiss S EYM O U R .

Rosebud Cottage .

M Y DEAR JEM IM A l

CAN you believe i t possible

that your gay,volatile,unthinking Lou isa,is absalutely domesticated in a cottage ?

Yet such is the fact ; and you may credit

m e,my dear girl,when I assure you,that

now I have in som e m easure tranquil

liz ed the excess of feeling called forthbymy separation from you,I am more truly


80 T H E A ur n onnss.

Learn,like us,in shades to dwel l,.Far fromenvy,strife,and noise ;

Bid the busy town farewel l,Come and prove the Christian ’

sjoys.

H ere he marks.

the rolling yearC lothe, the mountain,tree,and sod ;

Here he learns to live,and fearThe wonder-working hand Of God .

And this is a specim en of a young

lady’s poetry ! ” said Mr. Newman .

Withou t making any comm en t on the

language, which is as comm on-place as

I ever remember to have seen, I shall

only say that it contains a sen tim en t as

false as your account of Mr. Mortim er,your

Pardon m e,my dear sir,if I beg you

to reserve your comm en ts till you have

com pleted the perusa .

” Mr . Newm an

wen t on

I m ake rio apology, my dear, for

troubling you w ith my poetical effusions,convinced you will value them for my

TH E AUTHORE S S2 8 1'

sake ; and indeed I am so n early at a lossfor

'

m aterials to fill my paper, that they

com e apropos enough to save you from

an empty sheet : I m ust, however, tell

you how I spend my time — As it is

early spring, I have som e cade lam bs,which I visit every-d ay ; I then proc eedto the aviary and feedmy little pensionersthere ; then I return to the house,practisemy favourite lessons a

'

few hours,(for as

I hOpe to return to fair Augusta’s loftytowers next win ter,I am unwilling to lose

any ofmy attractions,)or add a fewtouchesto the likeness I am taking ‘

of our cat,

or som ething of that kind ; then dress

for dirm er ; after which I sometim es walk

out w ith the squire ’s son,(a m ost'

elegan t

young man,just com e down,as refreshing

to my Optics as a stream in a desert) or

play at whist with his papa, -a duran ce

v ile to which I am compelled to submit,anorder to secure the conquest of the son,

whohas some odd notions that way.

E 5

82 TH E n ur no nnss .

And so having given you this insight

into our mode of life,I will take this op

portunity of giving you thea ccount you

so Often requested while we were togeth er,of my papa,mamma,un cles,and aun ts,as far back as my sieve-like brains will

enable me to recollect .’

Whic h ditty 1 shall take the liberty

of passing over in silen ce,”

said the Old

gen tleman ; for I see it fills twelve pages

of foolscap ; and proceed to the end .

But why should you refuse it a hear

ing? ” asked Mi ss S tanley .

Because I am no Cambrian ; 1 never

took the slightest pleasure in trac ing myown genealogy,much less that of other

people .

”

Somuch for your request ; and I have

now only to assure you of the unalterable

affection of your truly sincere, and ever

affecti onate fri end,LOU I S A DELA U N EY .

’

P . S . My mamma’s health,which you

ra n sum onnss. 83

know was the cause of our coming here,is,Ibelieve,som ewhat m ended .

’

To‘

Mz’

ss D ELAUNEY .

Portman Square.

YOUR long,affecti onate,and truly wel

com e letter,my best Louisa,arrived at a

tim e when‘

I was devoured with the spleen,to cheer m e with its sweet and honeyed

sentences.

”

You must know that I have commanded

that deceitful m onster Beauclerc n ever to

en ter my presence again . But you shall

have particulars. Every thing was,asyou

know,settled between us,and in a few days

I was to have taken him for better or

worse : bu t a blessed escape I have had,asyou shall hear . The other evening I wen t

to a masked balle t Lady P— ’

s,attended

by S ir Charles F your quondam lover,

(who,by the bye,has becom e very parti

Culat in hisatten tions in a certain quarter).

84 T H E AU'rn on Ess.

Well, I went as Venus, he as Adonis,

(could any thing have: been m ore appro

priate? ) at whi ch Beauclerc chose to take

offence ; but I dare say nothin gwould have

com e of it,had I not unluckily m issed the

rest of our party,by which acciden t I was

forced to spend two hours in searchm gthe room s for them . What was ‘

to be

don e ? I could not walk hom e,you kn ow :

to be sure old Lady BabFlowers offeredto set m e down,but S ir Charles. told me

she had qu ite a coachful of her .own fa

m ily ; so I agreed to use his,‘and at last I

got hom e j ust after all our folks w ere

gone to bed .

Would you believe it ? my gentleman

cam e the next day,gave him self as many

airs as m ight have served a husband . of the

last cen tury ; and when we should hav e

parted I am quite at a loss to imagine,had

I not ordered him to leave m e,whi ch he

d id . I threW ‘

myselfback in an engaging

at titude, considering whether -I should

TH E AUTHO R'E S S . 85

abate aught of my severity at our next

m eeting,when the door Opened . I ex

pected,Of course,‘he had return ed to ask

my highn ess’

spardon ; but no,itwas yourletter : and I have just heard the an imalhas van ished in to the country .

’

Poor lady ! how I pity her disap

pointm en t 9’

said Mr. Newman .

To you,my'beloved Lou isa,to

'

Whom‘

I comm un icate every thought, in the

pleasin g confidence ‘

Of your sym pathy and

affection ; to you,if I felt any thing butpleasure at what has Occurred,I should

without hesitation declare it ; but you know

the heart of your Jem im a,and will readily

believe that I rejoice at having slipped

the yoke from my neck .

’

From the very circumstan ce of her

using somuch protestation,I shou ld sus

peot her'

sincerity. But we n eed go no

further ; I see clearly that this is oneOf the

sentim en tal class, to which,as I hate'

all

things ridiculous,'I bear am ortalan tipathy .

86 r u e aur uonnss.

I must, however,offer a few Observations

on what I have read . It is,I believe,a

custom wi th all people pretending to sen

timent, to decry towns as the seat of all

vice,and eulogize villages as the abode of

all virtu e . It is a position so very absurd,that I should say n othing on the subj ect,did I not wish to prevent you (from falling

into the same error again . You m ay be

assured, my dear young friend, that in

every station we have ample room for the

discharge Of our duty ; and because the

taste of som e individuals may lead them

to prefer the quiet of a country life,they

have no reason to imagine that others have

not equal room for rational happin ess in

the bustle of a town, or that the choice

of such a life argues any perversion of

principle Hard would itbe indeed,if,inconformity with your young lady’s poetry,the Christian ’

s j oys were to be confined

to the low roofed cottages and ham lets

small .’ With respec t to the young ladies


88 r u n AUTH ORE S S .

contained any fam ily secrets, which of

course it did, or where was the u tility

of telling it ? This is a very frequent

oversight in those au thors who choose

to make their heroines write letters.

“'

I will trespass on your patience no

longer than to add a rem ark or two of

m ore authority than any of my own . The

first'

is from an author whose name I amunacquain ted w ith ; the other you w ill

recogn ise to be Dr. Johnson ’

s.

”

Without friendship and warm affec

tiOn towards connexions,it is‘

impossibleto be either individually happy,or to

make other people so. Engag ing,however,as the kindness Of real fri end

ship ever is, the afi‘

ectatien Of it is

equally disagreeable ; and it is a fault

beldnging to every station,and alm ost

to every age.

But the tender friendships of young

ladies from fifteen to twenty are what’

I m ost'

wish‘

ann ihilat ed ; the j oy of


receiving and wri ting letters,which at'

first is a novelty,gives rise‘

to the folly

of m ultiplied c orrespondence, which,though not

TO waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole,’

yet wafts loads of n onsense,and of fa

m ily tales, which m ight as well not be

told at all,and tend most sadly to feed

the vanity of each separate writer ;'

who,

thinking that she writes wi th m ore taste

than her beloved friend,wastes‘

adouble

portion '

Of her tim e in reading novels,in imitating the rom antic fan cies she

adm ires, and in which she endeavours

to clothe the sentimen tswhich she com

m un icates to the absent partner of her

heart . These affected friendships are

seldom Of long duration ; and I have

known them succeed one another witha

rapidi ty,which one would suppose must

have struck the friends themselves as a

ridicu le on friendship .

”

90 r u n s ur noan ss.

It has been so long said, says Dr.

Johnson, as to be comm only believed,that the true charac ters of m en may be

found in their letters,and that he who

wri tes to his friend lays his heart Open

before him . But the truth is,that such

were the simrile fri endships of the

golden age,and are now the friendships

only of children . Very few can boast

of hearts which they dare lay Open to

th emselves,and of which,by whatever

accident exposed, they do not shun a

distin ct and con tinued view ; and,cer

tainly,what we hide from ourselves we

do not show to our fri ends.”

If these thingsbe true,how much credit is due to the unsuspecting confidence,unreserved fii endship, unalterable affec

tion, and all the other epithets which

compose a young lady’s vocabulary ?”


92 TH E AUTH ORE SS .

For ah ! no weal thy Lord was he,Nor was with honour blestA heart sincere,and warm,and free,Was all that he possessed .

But though his state was poor and mean,

His sires’had notbeen so

For in their festive courts was seen

The pomp of court ly show .

Amidst the train that daily bowed,A haughty knight was seen,A kn ight implacab le and proud,Of high and lofty m ien .

Oft he had fac’

d his country’

s foes,

And oft his blood had shedBut he from mean estate arose,

A peasant he was bred .

For what reason this poor man was

to be condemned for ‘being a brave and

rich peasant, or the other esteem ed for

being a pennyless noble, I own I am at

a loss to discover, said Mr. Newman .

If your patience does not tire before

you come to the end, you will be no


longer at a loss for the reason, replied

the Authoress.

You w ill observe, returned the old

g entleman, that it is, in my Opin ion,a

m ost illiberal prejudice, which supposes

a m ean spirit inseparable from a mean

descent .” But let us' go on

But fame now on hissteps awaits,With honour was he crowned,

And pride and plen ty crowd his gates,And

.

vassals fawn around .

Long had he sought the m aiden’

s hand,

Bu t she his love abhorr’d,Nor could his riches or his landMake interest for their Lord .

A t length he saw .with rage and prideHis ev

’ry wish was vain,

Sooner thanbe Ordonio’s brideShe

’d join the vestal train .

Then dire revenge for slighted loveInspired his daily thought ;Unb lest with fair E lvira’

s hand,

He deem’

d his riches nought .

94 TH E A‘

u'rnon izss.

Heyday !” exclaim ed Mr. Newman,

how com es this change in the m etre ? ”

I said the yotmg lady,with a

slight blush, that the continuation of

the alternate rhym e would, in so long a

work, fetter my genius so much, that I

dropt it for the sake‘ of allowing myself

greater variety of expression .

”

Mr.Newman looked at herfor amom ent,and the Authoress thought he seem ed to

believe that inability had, in . reality,been

the cause of the alteration she had

ascribed to convenience. But before she

could say any thing to refute this opin ion,

‘he went on :

Deep sheltered in a lonely dellA ruined castle stood,Whose lofty turrets)met the

‘

eye

Above the neighbouring wood .

This castleby the village roundWas view’d in solemmdread }

He there resolved,despite her hate,The lovelymaid towed.



And is it thou at length the maidIndignantly exc laims,Who durst to force m e to this place,Where nough tbut ruin reignsA las,my love 1

”Ordonio cried,

My late rash act forgive,Without E lvira’s bloom ing charms,

Ordonio cannot l ive .

”

Forgive thee,tyrant ! n ever,no,”

Return’d theweeping fair,

Un less you instantly restore

Me to my father’s care

Thou shalt return,if thou’lt consent,

The haughty.

kn ight replied ;That very hour thou shalt returnThat thoubecom ’

st my bride.

"

Then here for ever w ill I mourn,A prey to.

hopeless griefFor rather than w ed thee,proud knight,Stern .death,sh.

all bringSince it is so,f

’

the Chief exclaims,Thou here alone must bide,

Til l sol itude and scan ty fare

Subdue thy useless pride.

”

TH E‘

AU TH on E ssZ

They parted thus; Ordonio leftThe hapless maid tomourn,

Of father,fortune,fri ends bereft,From ev

’

ry blessing torn .

Meanwhile her strange mysteriousWas noised the country rou nd

H er aged father rends'

his hair,

And noughtbut tears abound .

Great twasthe price,large the reward,

He offered to that K nightWho should make known to him the placeWhere she had ta

’

en herflight .Sebastian,though with grief distraet,iWhen

'

first thenews‘

he heard,Then hastened

'

to'

her father’

s court,And thus his suit prefe

'

rr’

d

Nor power; nor'

riches do I seek,A nob ler prize I c laim ;

Long have I loved E lvira’s charms,Long has she known my

'

flam e.

T hen swear,myLord,by ev’ry tie,

Most sacred and divine,'

Th e day I bring E lvira hdmeShall make her whol ly mine.

97

98 TH E A UTHO RE S S .’

I swear, cried hersire,By ev

’

ry tie divine,

The day thou bring’

st E lvira homeShal l make her whol ly thine.

”

Enough,my Lord,” Sebastian said,

For ever wil l I roam,Un til I find my long-lost love,And bring her safely home.

He spoke,and springing on his steed,Ful l quickly disappears,

And carries with him,as he rides,

A father’shopes and fears.

For many days and darksome nightsH e roam

’d o’er hill and dale,When first bright Phoebus gilt the EastUntil.his last beams fail’d .

Yet still nor clue. rioi trace he found

That m ight direct his way .

To wherethe fair E lvira mourn’d,

To hopeless grief a prey.

One even ing,_when the lengthening shadesStretch

’d on the 'plains around,Sebastian onward urg

’d his'

way,


100 TH E AU'mi on Ess:

Thou ’l t find no entrance here; SiriK night ; r

Onward thou sti ll m ust ride

The vil lage is not far away,A nd there thou

’lt safely bide .

”

A t this Sebastian ’s choler grewNow,w retch ! prepare to d ie,

For m uch unfit is he to l iveWho succour can deny.

”

This said,he raised his manly arm ;And fell’d h im to the ground ;

The purple stream in torrents.flowed,”

And stain’d the place .around .

I must con fess, said Mr. Newman,

that the'

m an ly arm of Ordon io appears

to m e to have been m ore laudably em

ployed again st his coun try’s foes, than

that of S ebastian,"

who I should imagin e

could n ot 'have believed ' that he s hould

gain m uch honour by thus‘

m'

eanly m ur

dering a'

defen celessm an. Besides,‘

I can

not help rej oicing that I do not live in an

age nor a nation,where every hot-headed

TH E An'rn onnss. lOl

boy that knocks at my: gate considers

him self a j udge of myfi tness to live.

”

I am aware,”

said'

Miss Stanley,that this m ust to every one appear a

rash,and perhaps a Cru el action ; but as

there was no other m eans by which S ebas

tian cou ld gain admi ttance to the castle,

you perceive it was n ecessary to rem ove

this man .

”

It would in real life be deem ed buta slight reason

'

for the forfeit of a man’

s

existence ; but it is adm issible,perhaps,for a lady and a poet .”

H e pass’d the gates,the bridge was down,

Enter’

d the spacious court ;A solem n sti l lness fill’d the placeOnce fam ’

d for festive sport .

Awhile he paus’d,and look

’

d around,

No sound broke'

on his ear,

Save .the loud shrieking of the owl,Which made the place more drear


Ah,me l” he c ried, in this abodeNow fal l ing to decay,

Perchance som e haughty Lord has reign’d

With proud tyrannic sway

But,ah,this ruin’d pile can tell

_That neither pride,nor power,

Nor fame,

i

nor wealth,can e’

er avert

Th’inevitable hour.

’

A'

s thus he m us’d,heonward passed

To court sleep’8 balmy aid ,

But sleep'heban ish'd fromhis eyesBy thinking of the m aid . .

I dont at all feel surprised he couldnot sleep when he had a newly comm itted

m urder on his m ind.

”

Long had he paced the marble floor,H is thoughtsall rest denied ;

When,10 ! the glimmeringof a torchA t distance he descried .

A stonishm'

eh t pervade'

s h is sob],For in the distan t shade

H e sees a beauteous female form,In purest whitearrayed.


TH E AUTH O RE S S .

tempt and disgust. Indeed,my dear, I

wish I could comm end .you ; bu t, alas '

I am “compelled . to say . that -your tim e'

m ight havebeen better employed . It is

not every one,who has had the advantage

of atwriting-m aster, that is capable of

writing a novel . While t hemworks of

D'Arblay,West, and Edgeworth,. are in

circulation,. a . female author . should be

careful what she wri tes. Who that has

access

'

to the f

grain w ill turn to the chaff?

Not persons of in tellect,'

certain ly and of

what esteem is the praise'

of fools.

However,” con tinued the old gen tle

man,remarking the .disappointed coun te

nance of the au th'oress, publish these

fragm en ts in the order’

in which .we have

read them '

,and com fort yourself with t he-assuran ce that they. will sell at least-for waste

‘paper.

TH E AU TH ORE S S :

PART THE SECOND.


108 m s a ur noaass.

Indeed,”

said Miss'

S tanley, it is

widely differen t from those you form erly

read . Pray sufi‘

er m e to show you that I

have profited by your remarks.

”Thus

urged, the old gentleman shrugged his

shoulders and consented . Again, then,he was seated in his form er place ; again

the desk was un locked ; and again he

essayed his critical powers ou Fanny ;or,The Dupe of False Principles.

TH E . A nTu on nss. 109

FANNY ; on,THE DUPE or FALSE

PRINCIPLES}

FAN N Y, Fanny !”

said her father,those books w ill be your

Fanny rose from her seat,and,with

out speaking, placed the book she'

was

readin g on a table on the opposi te side of

the room . But it was not from a sense

of,du ty and subm issi on to her father’s

judgm en t that Fanny evin ced such ready

obedience ; but because her studies (if

such they m ight be called)had taught her

that it was consisten t with the character

of a heroine to com ply with every m an

date of an unreasonable parent . ~

You are a good girl,Fanny, said

Mr . Anderson, pleased w ith her‘

imm e

diate compliance : Ihardlywished youto break off so very abruptly, though I

1 10 T 11 13 AUTHORE S S .

could w ish,my love, to see your taste

otherw ise directed . You have so long

indulged.

in the perusal of works of this

kind,that I grieve to observe n on e other

have now the power of affording you

am usemen t. Nor is this their Worst

efi'

ect : your love of th em in creases-so

rapidly'

, that your usual'

oc cupations ‘

are

neglected : Fanny he m ore

gravely, this am oun ts'

to a crim e . No

earthly: pursult shou ld en gross the atten

tion, to the exclusion of the rest of our

d uties ; how then can you suffer this so

far to m islead you 7”

Indeed,papa, replied Fanny,“you

consider this m atter too seri ously . Your

situatip n in life precludes the n ecessity of

my taking an active part in y our house

.hold ; and surely it can sign ify little'

Whether I darn i m y own stockings

“

, or suffer

my servan t to“

m end them .

”

f‘. To me,Fanny, it sign ifies nothing ;


1 12 Tn n t au r u on n sst

reflection darted through her m ind,"

she

rése wi th a

'

sensation of offended - pride,and

'

taking the n ovel from the table; was

soon again lost in the delusion from which

the en tran ce of her father had roused her .

But Fanny had yet to learn that a de

scription of real life,though cloaked in its

coarsest dress, cannot m islead,though it

m ay offend,a delicate m ind ; while fiction

is still unnatural,however fascinating its

appearan ce m ay be .

It'

had un fortunately happen ed for

Miss-

Anderson that her m other expired

soon after herbirth . The num erous avocations of her rem ain ing parent prevented

his superin tending‘

her‘

education him self,and the task had consequen tly dev’olved

to a maternal relative,who, pitying'the

motherless state of her little charge; had

indulged her e very w ish, in the idea; of

compensating .the loss she had sustained,as far as her power enabled her. Fanny’s

TH E A ur n onnss. 1 13

disposition was good, and‘

she f therefore

escaped m any evils which excessive indul-s

gen ce engenders. Her abilities were -not

contem ptible,and her early inclination forreading had been gratified by the perusalof all the novels,which the library of thelittle market-town n ear which she resided

could boast. Miss Anderson was in her

own idea a perfect heroin e,and only

wan ted opportun ity to exhibit heraccom

plishm en ts,when her father recalled her

from the country . H er . highest desire

-was now fii lfilled z s he was goin g to Lon

.don ; adventures would . doubt1ess crowdupon her on her arrival,though the care

of herf ather-had preven ted any occurring

on .the road,.by sending a trusty servan t

to accompany her to the m etropolis'. The

old lady,who was sin cerely attached to

her,and who looked forward to the many

hours which in Fanny’s absence she must

pass alon e,wept bitterly at, parting with

1 14 .THE. ADTH ORE S S .

her : and Fanny, ‘whose . heart'

Was the

abode.of m uchaffection,wou ld have shedtears of.sincere regret,had,,they not been

converted’ into‘

tears (if sen tim ent,by re

collecting; that, it was h ighly. proper to

weep w ithout moderation, and even to

fain t, if possible, at all su ch partings as

this between herself and her aged friend .

It was not till som e tim e after he'r arrival

in London,that her father perceived her

excessive love of n ovel-reading : but re

garding it in the light of harmlessa muse

m en t,. he thought ~nbt ‘

of resuzain irrg . her

inclination ; and it was. not -till he. was

c onvin ced",bybeholdin g zit absorb all her

atten tion,that he discovered amusem en t

ghtadegenerate in to fault It was then

he endeavoured to eradicate the ev il buti t was

'

too deep ly rooted to be m oved at

will : i t requ ired ’much'

time and Expe

rience to break a spell,that ‘for so m any

years had been daily gaining strength . 1


1 16 .T H E . A U TH ORE S S .

son would induce her to adm it as a loiwer,and Elean or doubted not,w ith a little m a

nagem ent, as a husband, any one-who

cam e with z the delightful accom pan iments

of secrecy,’

stolen interv iews,and all the

high sounding sen ten ces which ,could be

cram m ed in to a love letter . That Mon

tagu e was not a m an likely to reflect too

much credit on his species,his ready ao

qu iescence in this’

plan w ill attest . -To

prove the practicability of their schem e,.Miss Mon tagu e c on trived, to in troduceher brother at a rom an tic jun cture,

‘and

notw ithou t effect . The instructed brother

played his part to adm iration, and by

dint of vows ,of eternal constancy, unal

terable affection,8m . 8m . on his side,and

tears,prayers for the sake of her unhappybrother’s peace of m ind,and the delivery

of certain long epistles' on thatjof his

sister, Fanny was drawn on to grant in

terview after in terview, till the deluded

gid was,'or imagined herself,as deeply in

TH E Aur n onnss. 1 17

love as any of the many heroines whosecase she believed her own to resemble ;

With what success Miss Montagueand herbrother m ight have been crown ed,cannot rightly be pronounced,as it was in

this stage of the adventure t hat‘a know

ledge of it reached the ears of Mr. Anderson . Provoked at the subtlety. of her.

advisers,and hurt at the duplicity of his

child,his first step was to order hernev er

to see them more ; and his next,’

towrite to

his -sister,Iwho lived at a considerable

distance,’

to'

entreat her to .receiv e Fanny;for -a tim e,

’

as a part'

of her fami ly . The

request .was‘

readily'

gran ted, and at 1 the

tim e ourfstory comm ences, the following

day was the3one on which :Fann'

y (in a

mann er self-exiled) .was again to leaveher

paren tal roof“ In vain had shewept, in

vain implored'a m itigation of her senten ce

Mr? Anderson ’

s knowledgeof her Opin ions

m adeJ himdr'

ead ‘ to‘ trust her where she

wou ld be exposed to the m achinations‘

of

1 18 TH E A u r n oanss.

the Montagues‘

; and having no female in

his family qualified to superin tend her

conduct,he comm itted her the m ore wil

lingly to the care of his sister,possessing

equal,confiden ce in her affection for his

daughter,and in the efficacy of change of

scene to, dissolve the power of her present

attachm ent .’

We left Fanny lost in the perusal of

one of her favourite tales. The story was

her own ; alm ost she could have believed

it the work of inspiration . An unfeeling,an uriteasbnable, an implacable parent,calléus toall interest in the real welfare of

his child,had compelled her to resign a

bra'

ve,, noble, am iable, and all-aecom

plished love‘

r ; and,to consum e her youth inan .old fam ily mansion,wi th n o other com‘

panions than prudish !aunts and crosscousins : while .she

‘

,gentlef and beautifu l

prototype of all that the'eye or heart of

man looks for in woman, though out to

the soul,and sinking beneath her load of


120. T H E n ur n oni

nss.

’

ginary heroine because she had exhausted

all .her wom an’s weapons withou t ' effect;and ba’d ‘

n o choice left ;'

and‘by ‘Fanny

Anderson, because her hopes whispered

that a sim ilar com pliance m ight m eet with :

what she would have called the reward “

of

filialevirtue and obed ience .

These reflection s enabled Fanny' to

m eet her father the : n ext m orning with

placid and alm ost cheerful looks. Mr}

Anderson,pleased with what he im agined

to be her wish to oblige him,as he‘

placed'

her in the coach which was to convey her .

from him, dropt a tear of satisfaction on '

her‘

cheek,’

and added to h is parting'bles

sing a p rom ise’

of aspeedy return .

Thesemarks of affection,which might

on "som e hearts'

have m ade a‘

softer 1m

pression,(and would have don e on'

Fanny’

s

had she been . differen tly educated); were,"

by Miss Anderson,considered as circum

stances m erely inciden tal to her situation

thé'

tear which had wetted her cheek ‘she

TH E A u r n onnss . 121

beheld as an involun tary,mark'

of com

punction, and the'

unasked prom ise of

return, as wrung from relenting severityby an impulse of natural affection .

The close of the day,

found Fanny

seated in the large wainscoted p arlour at

Exton Park and,but for one circum

stance,shem ight have fancied her waking

dream s’

realiz ed . During her j ourney,she

had pictured to herself the gloomy avenue,the , drearyh ouse,the staid mistress,and

her coun tryfied daughter ; judge,then,ofhef transport,on en tering an avenue even

m ore gloomy than she had imagin ed,and,on alighting at a house,whose appearan ce

m ight have bespoken it an abbey. But

if these things excited j oy which I

able to describe,how far.

short shall I fall

ofexpressing that which filled her bosom,when her aun t hastened to m eet her,in a

cap‘

cleargstarched after the fashion of her

youth,her hair drawn over,

a roller,and

an apron worked at‘

the corners, These

G

b

122 TH E

pleasurable sensations were,‘ however,a

little dan’

rped'by

‘

the circum stance "

to

which‘

d havebefore a lluded and t h is

was no -0ther than 'th'

e affectionate wel

come . she received from the person

she ‘

had designed to con sider as her

jailer ;‘

and the sisterly embrace from her,

whose'

youth was't0fhave a

’

dded envy to

the malignity -of hermother. To Fanny ’s

astonishment, not‘ the '

slightest .rancour

was visible on eith er'

side : they'

affecte'

d

not“

t‘

o’know th e reason

”

of her and

consequ en tly not the m ost distant allusi on

was m ade to her imprudence,her unduti

fiflzne’

s’

s,or her unmai‘

denlike forwardfiess ;on

’

which subjects,she'

had supposed her

aunt woiild have exhausted her stock Iof

eloquence,and so had prepared herself to

retire tobetcomfo'i'tlesscha’

mber,fatigued

With her “

journ ey, and h‘ari'assed -in'

hbrmafiaby the persecutions‘

of those,‘ whose

seas affinity should have induced thenr

tdl shlhcebherm tvouhded heart ." But 'the'


124 T H E AUTHORE S S :

gaimbar. heart; and had, therefore,. used

these m eans to efface from ~ her m ind . the

remembrance of Mon tague . If a proof

was wan ting,what'

couldbe a m ore satisfactory one, than , their having ,

avoided

m entioning his nam e throughou t the even

m g . But, no,”she cried,.

w ith all the

emphasis . due on the occasion, n ever

shall , they succeed .

” With this m ost

wise ' and . worthy resolution ~ she sought

her pillow.

’

I do not yet qui te com prehend your

design,”said Mr. Newman,as he corn

p leted the chapter.

I ,scarce1y know, replied the au

thoress, whether I have been able ' to

accomplish it. But I have thought ,a

good dealcon the remarks ;you m ade on

t he form er contents of my desk ; ,and ,was

w illing to . set , before such persons as

might h onour me with a perusal, the

evils,which .may result from false,p,

rin

ciples.

”

~ TH E AUTH O RE S S . :125

But hitherto, rej oined t he old gen

-t1eman, the‘

instances you have shownof Fanny’s conduct,are such as from m ost'persons (not having,as wehave,the privi

lege of tracing her m otives,) would have

procu red for her the title of an obedien t

-child .

”

Very true ; and it is this false virtue I

would w ish to expose .”

But are there no s0phists,M iss S tan

le'

y,who would tell you that the welfare of

the world wou ld be equally well prom oted,i f every

'

one should perform his duty,let

h is secret inducem en t be what it m ay ?

If such there be,”

said the young

lady, I shall be proud to prove the ab‘

surdity of such an opin ion ; though cer

tainly,at first sight, the proposition does

not seem very unreasonable . But it is

not to you,Mr. Newman,that I need eu-deavour to dem onstrate the impossibility

of a long contin uance of rectitude,where

good principles do not exist . The ex


128 'rn n Aur non sss.

CHAPTER II .

TH E m ovem en tsof the fam ily at Exton

Park were as regular as those of the old

clock,that had told the departure oftim e

totheir ancestors for m any generations.

A style of life, so opposite to that to

which she had been lately accustom ed,‘

had at first the effect of depressin g the

spirits of Fanny so m uch,that many con

sultations were heldbetween Mrs. Exton

and her daughter,for the purpose of dis

covering som e m ean s of en tertain ing their

guest ; Mrs. Exton rightly judging that

the liberty shehad of indulging thoughts

of the past,was the last wayl

in the world

to effect that alteration in her sen timen ts,which they desired to see accom plished .

These consu ltations had produced nothing

but increased perplexi ty ; for the habits of

life,which custom had endeared to the

.TH E AUTHO RE S S . 5129

own ers'

Of Exton Park,afforded them no

Opportun ities of judging which was them ost probable way of diverting the atten

tion Of their young relative . Fanny had

been,however,but little m ore than a fortn ight under her aun t’s protection,whenan apparen t alteration took place in herm anners ; shewas cheerfu l,an im ated,andso differen t from the pensive, spiri tless

being,she had before seem ed, that the

aston ishm en t Of Mrs. Exton could on ly

be equalled by her fear that Fanny had

found m eans Of eluding her vigilanc e,and

had seen,or at least heard from Mon tague .

To ascertain the truth Of her surm ise,she

took the earliest Opportun ity'

Of summ on

ing Fanny to her dressing-room,and thus

spoke to her You must be convinced,my dear child, that I am not ignorant Of

your father’s m otives for placing you with

Now,thought Fan'

ny,my persecu

tion is about to comm ence ; but she only

bent her head,an d her aun t continued

G 5

1 30 .TH E au r n on nss .

ff I’

m not, therefore, surprised on dis

pleased to perceive your dejection ef

sp ir its on your first arrival ; and too sin

cerely should I have rej oiced at behold

ing their am endm ent, to be thus the

first to check them,had not their sudden

restorati on excited an alarm whi ch,I trust,i t’ is in your power to rem ove .

'

I am too

Old,Fanny,to be very much deceived .ih

these matters. The balm afforded by time

is n ecessarily slow, though certain in its

Operation . I have experienced sorrow

myself,and know that a ,wounded heart

does not suddenly recover its wonted

seren ity .

Fanny listen ed in ~silen t trepidation

but her aun t,who had paused in expectat ion Of som e answer,finding she .was not

likely to gain onewithou t a di rect inquiry,

proceeded again You force m e,

~Fanny,tospeak m plainer term s— have

you within these last few days seen Mon

tague?”


132 TH E A ur n onnss.

cheek, and calling her a good girl, left

theroom .

3"It remains now for us to account for

the change in Fanny’ s conduct . Withoutemploym ent of a nature to interest her,Without a prospect of beholding Mon tagu e,and withou t a w ish that his rem embrance

should lose any of its influen ce i n her

bosom.

the first fortn ight of her residence

at the Park passed heavily enough . It is

true she j oin ed in the family devotions

night and m orn ing, not from a desire to

be enabled to perform her duty by yielding

up her wishesto those of her father,butbecause all young ladies in

.

her, situation

have thought it expedient to do so. It is

also true that she m ade patchwork for her

aun t,and walked or rode with her cousin,bu t it was all without m otive ; no prin

ciple of’

ssen se or duty actuated her 1 11 any

one instance of her conduct : all that she

sought or aspired to attain to,was to act

as a'Izero

'

iive would have acted ; and the

”TH E AUTHORES S . 3133

consequence ‘

was, she becam e listless,spiritless, an

'

d unhappy . , It was about

this tim e that she recollected,that although

her father had comm anded her to see

n either Mon tagu e nor his sister again,yet there were duties of friendship as well

as of obedience tobefulfilled . Alas !”

she exclaim ed, Eleanor is my only

friend ! She will speak com fort to mydepressed and care-worn heart z . she will

send m e' som e tidings of h im I am no

m ore to see.

” Having shed the right

quantity of tears,she set about writing to

this'

only friend ; and, after m any contri

van ces, succeeded in conveying a letter

to her. Elean or,once m ade acquainted

with the place of her retreat,lost no tim e

in writing to inform her beloved Fanny of

the distress,the unspeakable angu ish,she

had endured on her accoun t . Of her

distracted brother i t would, she said,he

to Speak it was m ore thanp robablethat his life would have fallen a sacrifice

134 TH E A U'rnoaess.

to his feelings; had not her thrice wel

com e letter allayed in som e trifl ing degreethe intense agony of his m ind .

It would be difficult in this place to

decide if Fanny had the m ost trouble in

resolving whether to rej oice or m ourn .

It was but natural to grieve for those

miseries which,though she possessed the

power, she was not allowed to alleviate ;but it was still m ore natural that she

sh ould rej oice to fin d she was not for

gotten by Mon tagu e ; that Eleanor had

forgiven her apparen t breach of fri end

ship : and so, rej oice she did ; which

conduct had the sin gular u tility of exciting

the suspicion of her aunt,and wringing

from herself a prom ise,which increasedher sorrows and embarrassm ents. The

day that Mrs . Exton held this conference

w ith her n iece,was also marked by the

return of her son,who had for som e tim e

been absent on a visit. His appearance

raised the spiri ts of his m other and sister


‘136 TH E Aur non nss.

qu'

iet routine of dom estic enj oym en ts forsom e weeks during which tim e Fanny in

‘

sensibly becam e interested in the scen e

around her. The retirem ent which at first

w as irksom e,custom rendered endurable

and the restoration ofmany little habits,“which had enliven ed the seclusion in which‘her infan cy had been passed,tended very

considerably to m ake it agreeable .

More than once we have intim ated that

Fanny’s natural disposition was m ild and

affectionate : her mann ers,when uninflu

enced by the ridicu lous n otions which

had tinctured her m ind so deeply,w ere

gen tle and u naffected . At the Park there

was nothing to call forth affectati on or

disgu ise,while the constant kindness and

attention she experienced from every

individual; warm ed a heart not insensible

to affectionate indulgence,and Fannybydegrees becam e sincerely attached ' to the

relatives whom she had m et wi th such dif

ferent sensations. Had it so happened,or

TH E AUTH ORE S S . 137

been so ordered (whi ch you will),that thisintimacy had been form ed previous to that

with the Mon tagu es, it is possible that

Fanny m ight in tim e have becom e an al

tered character. But this is m ere specu~

lation what is, appears ; what m ighthave been,is doubtful and certain i t is,that an unforeseen occurrence destroyed

at a blow all the advan tages which Fanny

in appearance was gain ing .

The real cause of her visit to Exton

Park had been con cealed from the know

ledge of her cousin Charles : his m other,though wearing a starched cap and lawn

apron,possessed delicacy en ough to feel

for the uneasy sensations Fanny would

endure,’

if she had any reason to sup

pose h im acquain ted with it . Ignoran t

of these circum stances, and becom ingevery day m ore attached to their visitor,i t had som etim es occurred to young

Exton that the loss of her society wou ld

be very sensibly felt,before he came to

138 ,TH E AU TH ORES S .

the resolution of endeavouring to -make

her a constan t resident in the fam ily .

But, from considerin g it to be desirable,he believed it to be practicable,and ao;

cordingly m ade kn own h is inten tion to

his m other ; not because he could not

form a decided 0p 1n 1on w ithou t the aid of

hers,but because the h abit of consultingand unfolding every Wish to each other,had rendered the concealmen t of any plan

unthought of,if not disagreeable .

Mrs. Exton heard her son in silence,and paused som e tim e after he had con

cluded,before she spoke . To suffer him

to address a wom an whose affectionswere

engaged,start led her at first as an impos

sibility ; but when she considered that it

was both the wish of her father,and the

interest of Fanny,to break off her present

engagem en t,(if, indeed, it deserved such

a nam e), when she recollected,too,the

change that had apparently taken place

in her sentim ents,she began to think it


‘

TH E AUTHO RES S .

’

I am not possessed of the property the

world imagin es. Many unexpected and

heavy losses have recen tly befallen'

m e,

an d Fanny Anderson is portion less.

To this information Exton simply said,'that the failure was to him of no couse

quence,otherwise than as it preven ted his

m aking a m ore liberal provision for Fanny

in case of his death . The property my‘father bequeathed m e, said he, and‘which accumu lated during a lon g m ino

rity,is sufficien t for all our wan ts, and I‘hope our w ishes. If Fanny canbe ‘

satis'

fied w ith such arrangements as i t m ay be

in my power to make,I have nothingleftto des1re .

”

The consequence of this statem en twas: the cordial con currence of Mr. Anderson ;to which he added a letter to his daughter,inform ing her of h is consen t to the prosposals of her cousin, and of his wish to! seei t confirm ed by her own .

The n ight was far advanced when

TH E A ur non nss. 14 1

Charles reached the Park . He found hism other and sister waiting his arrival but

Fanny,who had that night a m om en tousaffair . to transact,had long since retired .

The in telligence he brought, so far as it

concerned him self, gave them pleasure,for they saw his happiness would be

affected by the term ination of the affair ;and they doubted not,from what they had

observed of Fanny’s character, that with

so gen tle a subj ect as herself,her .father’

s

wishes could not fail of abolishing the

rem ain ing influen ce , of Mon tague,which

they believed to be greatly hon the

'

wane,

it not totally destroyed .

Fanny,as we before said,had this n ight

a m om entous affair to transact,which was

no other t han to determ ine whether she

should yield to the temptation ofopening

a letter she had thateven ing received from

Mon tague,enclosed in one from his sister.

As this matter required much deliberation,and

,much ‘ consultation between the for;

142 T1 1 13: h ur n o’

n s ss.

and againsts, Fanny had retired early to

settlethe point. When the locked door,the letter placed on the table, and the

alm ost irresistible pleadings of the sister

to read it,conned over two or three tim es

(which were undoubtedly the f ors, inas

m uch as they comprised tim e,place,and

inclination),“

had had their claim heard ;the againsts asserted thei r right. Did

ever young lady,at the first solicitation},consen t to read a letter from aban ishedlover ? Certainly not. D id ever younglady break her prom ise of not hearingfrom -h im,the fi rst tim e she was asked ?

Certainly not . Consequen tly,ought she,a

‘

young lady,a heroin e,whose lover wasban ished,who had prom ised never to hold

correspondence with him again ought

she to seiz e‘

the first opportun ity cast in her

way to forfeit all0theseclaim s to heroin e

i‘sm ? Certainly not. The againsts pre

mailed ; Fanny pushed the ‘letter from her,resolved not to read it,and burst intotears.


144 TH E AUTH OR E S S .

It is too soon to hazard an opinion,replied the old gen tlem an but as Ibelieve your inten tion is good,I hope you

will not very greatly fail . Of one thing,however,I tru st you have taken care : as

I presum e Fanny is to be led from une

impruden ce to an other,we shall not, I

hbpe, be shocked by any unn atural ca

tastrophe,or improbable adven tures.

”

i

“ I have van ity enough to believe,replied Miss S tanley, that som e portion

of instruction is m ingled w ith the inci

dents of my tale ; and it has, therefore,been my endeavour to avoid any actual

impossibility for I have sufficien t glim

m erings 0’ comm on sense ’ to perceive

that it would be fru itless to extol or decry

a lin e of conduct'

in situations m whichnobody has been,or ever can be placed .

Let us proceed then,”said Mr. New

man,as he tum ed'

the leaf.

TH E AUTH O RE S S .

CHAPTER III.

WH EN Fanny rose the n ext m orning,she en closed Montague’s letter in a blank

cover,and cam e down stairs w ith the in

tention of sending itw ithou t the knowledge

of any one ; but'

as she crossed the hall

she encoun tered her aun t.

Good m orn ing,my love, said“

she .

To whom,” glancing her eyes towards

the letter, have you been writin g so,

early?”

Fanny hesitated a m om en t : to utter a

falsehood was too unheroinelike to be

thought of and to acknowledge she had

kept her prom ise of not hearing from her

lover, would seem like boasting . H er

aun t fearing from her silence that her

corresponden t was Mon tague,said,with

som e severity, I'

insist on seeing the

1 1

146 T H E A u r n oanss.

direction . Fanny put the letter into herhands.

D isingenuous girl !” exclaim ed Mrs.

Exton hav e you then so little regardfor the prom ise you pledged your father,and repeated to m e

Never,perhaps,in her life had Fanny

rej oiced so much in having acted w ith

propriety ; an d the heroine, for a tim e,“

was laid aside, as w ith a coun tenance

glowing with a consciousness of being

unjustly suspected, she said, Open it,m adam : Ibeg,I insist that you Open it .”Mrs. Exton com plied, and Mon tagu e ’s

letter unopen ed, unanswered, met her

eyes. Forgive me,my dear Fanny,”

said she, taking her hand ; I ought to

have known you better than to have

suspected you for a m om en t ;'but it is

my anxiety for you that so read ily awakes

my . fears. S eal up the letter again,Fanny ; or stay,w ill it not be better for

m e to direct it ? Montague will then see


148 r n n Aur n onnss.

portun ity of conversing with his cousinwithout restraint . With the sam e open

sinceri ty he repeated to her the prOpOsals

he had m ade her father. Fanny heard

him alm ostw i th horror . The disinterested

friendship, the delicate atten tions, the

warm affection that had been shown her

by all the inhabitan ts of Exton Park,ap

peared to her disordered imagination'

the

effects of a deeply laid collusion : butthinking it pruden t to conceal her appre

hensions, she said, You are not, sir,I

imagine,1grioran t of my situation,nor can

you wonder that underexisting circum

stances ‘ your offers excite my surprise,my

”— detei

station she would have added ;bu t Exton,who supposed the circum

stances to which she alluded,m ust be the

recen t change that had taken place in her

father’s affairs,interrupted her.

Trifles of this kind,dearest Fanny,Weigh nothing in the scale of affection .

I sincerely grieve for the loss you have

'rn a AUTHO RE S S . 149

Sustained ; but,believe me,it w ill ever be

the object of my m ost constan t care and

atten tion to efface from your m ind‘

every

unpleasan t recollection .

”

Trifles !” repeated Fanny, when he

ceased speaking . Losses to be effaced

from my m ind by your atten tion ! Is it

possible ? Do I hear right ? Have I then

lost all that was m ost prized, m ost

loved 7”

The astonishm en t of Exton was ex

trem e at these apostrophes, as he had

n ever suspected the love of m oney to be

so deeply~

rooted in the breast of any

youn g person, particularly in that of

Fanny Anderson : but he strove'

to calm

her agitation by saying, It is possible

your father’s i nformation may not‘be

correct .”

And is it possible, exclaim ed she,

that while a doubt remains, you can

im agine I can listen to you w ith patien ce ?

Have I no honour, no sense of j ustice,

150 T H E A u r n on sss.

think you,Mr. Exton, that I could bear

to un i te my fate with your’

s,while only a

possibility existed that the informationwas not true ? ”

Indeed, Fanny,you carry your no

tions of hon ou r to an extrem e . I have

property en ough ‘to support you in therank of life to which you have hitherto

been accustom ed,and

Say no m ore on the subj ect, intera

rupted Fanny,waving her hand . Po

verty were preferable,with unblem ished

in tegrity .

”

This, then, is m y only -hope, said

Exton, presen ting her father’s letter.

Consider i t well : if th is should fail to in

fluenes you in my favour,Fanny,I will

trouble you no. m ore .

” He left the momas he pronounced these words,and Fanny

hastened to her chamber.

Alas !” she exclaimed,throwing her

self into a chair,and coverin g her face

with her handkerchi ef, did I not from


152 TH E Aur n on sss.

sider what course it wou ld be the best to

pursue . Opposition w ill som etim es ren

der that precious,whose value was pre

v iously doubtful . If Fanny had before

entertain ed any suspicion of the reali ty Of

her attachm en t to Mon tague, she was

now convin ced that she loved him better

than life ; that life m ust cease'

ere she

could be insensible to him,Ste. 8Lc . &c . :

and her resolution was accordingly taken,that _nothing should induce her to give

Independen t of Montague,what could

equal the interest of her situation ? Was

she to m arry,when her father was, per

haps, abou t to becom e the inm ate of a

prison ? When every one would fly him

as a pestilence,was she to join the train

of fai thless fri ends,and leave him com fort

less ? Was it not her place to attend,to

soothe,. to cheer him ; to work day and

n ight to procure him som e better fare than

the prison allowed ; in short, ought she

'rn r; A u r n onsss. 153

not to becom e his servan t,his slave,‘his

horse,h is ox,hisass,his goods,h is house

hold stuff,as well as his child ? Yes : and

she would fly to him, and prove at once

her devotion to her father,and her fidelity

to Mon tague — Let us not set down aught

in m alice . Fanny did not positiv ely rej oice

that her father was likely to have to eu

dure the hardships inciden t to so great a

change 1 11 his fortune ; bu t it is certainthat the prospect of her . own in teresting

c ondition greatly assisted to assuage her

These ideas took su ch en tire possession

of her m ind,that she was anxi ous to put

them in imm ediate execu tion ; and her

desire of return ing hom e met no opposi

tion ; as . Exton Park could not now be

considered an agreeable or an eligible

abode for her. On her arri val in London,however, she found her power of cheer

ing the gloom of a'

prison was little likely

to be called in to action,asher father was

11 5

1 54 TH E AUTHORE S S .

still able to reside in the sam e house ; and

though som e of the dom estics had been

dism issed, enough remain ed to prevent

the n ecessity of her taking their place .

The rej ection of Charles was also likely

to prove the last of her adven tures ; for in

spite of her having taken the trouble to

inform Eleanor of her having done so,

Mon tague seem ed in no haste to profit by

the tacit en couragem en t it held out to

him ; no letter arrived,either from himself

or his sister. . How was she to accoun t

for i t ? Fanny’ s hear t began to sicken

with ~ disappoin tmen t. Mon tague had

always represented him self to be a m an

of large and independent property,and it-was

‘therefore ' impossible to account for

h is neglect'by suppesing her loss of for

tun e tobe the cause . But it m ight be he

had not heard of their m isfortunes ; even'to f herself Fanny was obliged to con fess

thislwas m ost unlikely ; , for when did afaithful and devoted lover ever lose sight



m isfortune,fnot her fault ; for while her

m ind was unbiassed,and capable Of -re

ceiving proper im pression s,they had n ever

been instilled . Right pri nciples would

have,taught her that,when on ce m arri ed,

she had nothing to do ~with ascertain ing

the reality of the attac hm en t Mon tague

had,professed for her ;

‘

they would have

taught her that it was her in terest, and

above all her duty to crush all remains of

tendern ess in her own bosom but Fannywas the Dupe of False Principles.

’

I hope you have not brought her to

a very tragical end,”said Mr . Newman,

pausing to take breath .

I -shall not an ticipate my own ca

tastrophe, replied Miss S tanley . But

whence com es i t you are not so liberal of

your remarks on this tale,as on those you

form erly read ?”

Do you expect, my youn g fri end,asked -the old gen tleman, that by way

'rn r; s u r n onsss. 157

of comprom ise for the dissatisfaction I

then expressed,I am going to say this is

perfect ? I cannot forswear myself,even

to please a lady ; such is not the case ; but

as you have an ticipated m ost of the t e

marks I should hav e m ade, I am not

disposed to interrupt the story, for the

sake of arranging a period,or transposing

an adverb .

”

158 TH E -A u r n ons ss.

CHAPTER IV .

IT is needless to trace the progress of

even ts from this period till that of Fan ny’s

m arriage,on which occasion so much real

satisfaction appeared in the coun tenan ces

of all around her, that Fanny,kn owing

herself to be the rul ing cause.of it,could

only wonder how she had refrain ed from

contribu ting to it before . And now it

would appear that the au thor has n othing

m ore to do than to m ake his bow,and exit :

but patience, gen tle reader,m arriage is

not always the si gnal for the departure of

sorrow . Nearly a year and a half passed

in perfect tranqu illity at the Park . Peace

appeared to have taken up her abode w ith

them ; and Happin ess,who like a fai thful

handmaid always attends her steps, had

arrayed her in her m ost enchan ting garb .

’


160 TH E A u r n on nss.

such a proceeding ; and shehad tried toban ish him from her m ind,m ore from a sense

of m ortified vanity,than from principle

One even ing abou t this tim e she was

summ oned to a rustic, who stated that

a sick person,who had fallen ill at his

house, w ished to see her. There was

nothing extraordinary in the business,as

su ch appeals to their ben evolence were

often m ade by the neighbouring poor'

in

cases of em ergency, and Fanny accord

ingly accompanied the m an to his cottage .

On .entering . the sick chamber, as she

supposed it to have been,Fanny beheld

a man closely m uffled in a long dressing

gown, sitting by the fire The cottager

placed a seat,and retired : the stranger

did not offer to break silen ce ; and Fanny,at length finding her situation som ewhat

unpleasan t, inqu ired if it was in her

power to relieve him . The stranger shook

his head in silence .

For what purpose, then, did you

send for me'

l” : asked Fanny .

rm : AUTH ORES S . 161

To curse you before I die exclaim !

ed the stranger, thr owing off the gown,and discovering to the terror-struck

Fanny the features of Montagu e .

She sunk back in her chair scarcely

able to breathe . To curse m e,Mon ta

gue !”she fain tly articulated ; to curse

Fanny Anderson

No,”replied he, but Fanny Exton

I would curse . Tell m e,” he added, tell

m e instan tly,am I to bless or curse you?”

Oh ! not to curse me, surely not

curse m e I”

said Fanny.

Mon tagu e knew precisely the character

he had to work upon : You say true,”

said he, sighing deeply ; I cann ot

choosebut bless you still . But you shall

hear my wrongs. Oh Fanny ! how cruelly

have you deceived me !”

Poor Fanny sat the image of death,while

,Mon tague related a long fabrica

tion of his endeavours to see her duringher residence at the Park, in which , he


was circumven ted by the m achinations of

Exton ; of his letters having been intera

cepted by the sam e m eans ; and finally,of a long and dangerous illn ess in to which

the news of her m arriage had thrownhim : he concluded by sayin g, that as

soon as his health perm i tted, he had set

out for the n eighbourhood of Exton Park,to take his last farewell,and die .

All this was so exactly according with

the m ost choic e love tales, that Fanny

believed every syllable, an d thought her

own rashn ess had alon e dashed away a

cup of the purest bliss that had ever been

offered to m ortal lips.

There was no prin ciple in Fanny’s

bosom that rem inded her of the impro

priety of listening to such tales of a m an,

who, if they were true, was still her

husband ; non e,that represen ted the at

tention she paid them as inconsistent

w ith the duty and honour she had vowed

to render him,inasmuch as it was under-r


164 TH E AUTHORES S .

lieved he was going to propose that they

should poison them selves death will

be welcom e to m e now .

”

This desperate declaration encouraged

Mon tague to lay aside the reserve he had

till now preserved, and he in formed'

her

that i t was not his in ten tion to die,butelope with her . Thi s was an awfu l hour

m Fanny’s.

life,and one that she after

wards looked back upon with terror.

Fancied injuries had roused her indigna

tion ; Montagu e’

s affected m isery had

awakened all the tenderness which had

nearly expired ; hOpe of fu ture happiness

strengthen ed her resolu tions ; and Fanny

consen ted to sacrifice hon our,reputation,and peace of m ind, to rend asunder all

the ties im posed by conjugal, m aternal,and filial duty, and elope with Mon tague

the following even ing .

’

It is over-drawn,upon my honour it

is over-drawn,”said Mr. Newm an .

“. I cannot think so indeed,

”return ed

TH E A UTHO RE S S . 165

the Authoress. Rem ember the cha

racter I have described ; and consider too

that she was not as dispassionate as we

are,who are reading her adventures.

”

Ten o ’clock,the following night,was

the hour appoin ted for Fanny to leave

the Park . It was the hour when the

fam ily. assembled in the supper-room ;

and she com plain ed of indisposition, to

excuse herself from j oin ing them . Hav ing

tied up the few things she intended taking

w ith her, she stole softly to the nursery,to take her last leave of her

’

sleeping

in fan t She drew the curtains of his

little bed— he was in a profound sleep .

This,”said she, is worst of all. Why

d id I com e ? ”'

She stooped and pressed

her lips to his cheek ; the action startled'

the little sleeper ; he woke and u ttered

a peevish cry, but seeing his m other in

theact of tu rn ing fromhim,he stretchedhisarm s towards her. It turned the

2


scale in a m om en t. The voice of nature

routed all her en em ies from the bosom

of Fan ny, and saved her from irremedi

able destru ction .

I am glad she has got safe off at

last, said the old gentleman, as he laid

down the manuscript ;but you surely do

not mean to break off here .

It is one of my endless tales, replied

the Authoress ; and I think, on that

accoun t, it m ay be allowed to go with

the rest .

Oh ! add it by all m eans, return ed

Mr. Newman :“ it will act the part of a

long m oral,to a set of short fables. But

I should hav e been better pleased to have

heard of a reformation in‘ Fanny

’s prin

ciples, or rather the importation of a

fresh stock ; for, as the matter now

stands,we do not feel at all convinced

that she will not do the like again .

”

It was my intention,”

said Miss


168 TH E Aur n onnss.

I am glad that I have m ade so fair a

p roselyte, said Mr. Newm an . You

w ill then agree w ith m e in saying, that

novels in gen eral, when considered in

any other light than that of amusem ent,may, in the hands of the unskilful, prove

not only dangerous,bu t fatal .

T H E E N D .

J . MOYES,GREVI LLE STREET,I ONDON .

l U R

nati ng 19201312,P U BL I SH ED BY

TAYLOR AND HESSEY,93, ru n STREET ;

Where an extensiveCollect ion ofthebest mod ern Works are on sale,

eleg an tlybound ,and adap tedfor P resen tsof a sup erior Desc r ip t ion .

RACHEL : aTA L E . Second Edition . With a beau tiful frorrtisp iece. H andsomely printed in foolscap 8vo. price 5 8 .

bORI‘d S .We were at a loss under what head to c lass th is exce llen t

little p i ece,and had som e thoughtsat first of grv ing ita place underthe head of romance ; brrt upon second consideration the book appeared tobe too good for such an allotment ; and not know ing wellhow to announce i t,we have m entioned i t here as ad rn rrably cal

culated for female education .

” The story is sim ple,but forc iblyinstructi ve, and exh ibi ts,w ith great li fe, the contrast betweenalf ected sentiment and the sensibility of nature. There are also

many valuable remarks scattered throughout,on the necessi ty of

cultrvating the art of pleasing,no less than of adhering fi rm ly tothe sim plrcrty and candour of truth .”

New Mon thly Mag . Aug . 181 1 .

RECIPRoCAL DUTIES of PARENTS and

CH ILDREN . By Mrs. TA YLOR",of Ongar. Second Ed ition .

H andsomely prin ted in foolscap 8vc . with a beautiful frori tispiece, price 55 . boards. i

The same soundness of understandin g,the same sim plic i ty or

m ind and correct feeling,as obtained for Mrs.Taylor’s first DIIOS

terrtatious volume an instan t yc t perm anent popularity,have beendisplayed throughout the series to w h ich this maybe consideredasbelorrgrng ; and rt rsno small men t to have fairly won that pepulari ty by means so free from stratagem . Mrs.

'l aylorwri tesW i th

the air of a person who thoroughly know s what she undertakesto im part,and who has but one objec t in '

view in w ritrng rt,

namely, to m ake others the w iser and bet ter for her experienceand reflection .

” E clect ic Review,Ap r il,1 8 19.

Booksp ublishedby Taylor and H essey .

CORRESPONDENCE between a MOTHER and

her DAUGHTER at SCHOOL. By Mrs. TA YLOR,Authorof Maternal Solic itude,

’and Miss TAYLOR,Author of

Display,’ 860. Third Edition . With a beautiful frontispiece,

price 53. in boards.This is an inestimable little volume,and wi ll prove of em :

ueut servi ce in conveying right sentim entsw ith much amusement,

and at the same time serve as a model for epistolary composition .

I t aboundsw ith thebestmaxirns for the imp rovement of them rndand the regu lation of the conduct,w ithout didactic formality,orthe ted iousness of moral disquisition .

”

NewMont hly Mag . Aug . 1 8 17.

ESSAYS IN RHYME, on Morals and Manners.

By JANE TAYLOR,Author of Disp lay,’Ste. Third Edition,

price 63. boards.We have seldom m et w ith a volume of poetry that boremore

strikingly the im press of native thought,or that supplied themind more richly with materials for deep reflection .

”

Eclectic Review,Sep t. 1 8 16.

MATERNAL SOLICITUDE for a DAUGHTER’

S

BEST INTERESTS . ByMrs.TAY Lon . of On c an . Seventh

Edition . Handsomely printed in foolscap 8vc . with a beautifulfrontispiece, price 53. bds.

The subjects of these Essays arewell chosen,and ingeniouslydiversified and the fair writer displays a degree of p iety,Wi tha know ledge and application of the Scriptures,which increases thevalue of her work . MonthlyRev . 18 14.

PRACTICAL HINTS to YOUNG FEMALES ,on the Duties of aWife,aMother,and a Mistressof a Family .

By Mrs.TAYLOR,of ONG AR . Eighth Ed ition . H and somelyprin ted in foolscap 8vc . with a beautiful frontispiece, price 53.boards.

The duties of a wife,a mother,and am istressof a fam i ly. areadm irably portrayed and most successfully urged in this littlevolume. It is a book thatw ill

\be placed in the handsof those w ho

are to fi ll those enviable situations,w ith the utmost advan tage.


BINDING S ECT . JUN2 6

Jon e

The aut hor ess

FHEIQEEEXD hKDT RENRDVTE

CARDS OR SUPS FROM THIS POCK

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO UBRAR

Documents

u n AUTHORE SS. 5 chanced to be by the water-side,) an imi tation of a naval en gagem en t —l ’twas ' n on e of these. Som e fair ' l …