Tales and Novels, Vol. V by Maria Edgeworth

M >> Maria Edgeworth >> Tales and Novels, Vol. V

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Vivian assured his friend at parting, that his reason was convinced:
that he would not yield to the whims of taste, and that he would
prudently give up his folly. So he determined; and he abided by his
determination till he heard numbers speak on the other side of the
question. With Vivian, those who spoke last frequently seemed to speak
best; and, in general, the number of voices overpowered the weight of
argument. By the persuasions of his mother, the example of his
neighbours, and the urgency of architects and men of taste who got about
him soon afterwards, he was convinced that there was no living without a
castle, and that the expense would be _next to nothing at all.
Convinced_, we should not say; for he yielded, against his conviction,
from mere want of power to resist reiterated solicitations. He had no
other motive; for the enthusiasm raised by the view of Glistonbury
Castle had passed away: he plainly saw, what Russell had pointed out to
him, that he should spoil the inside of his house for the sake of the
outside; and, for his own part, he preferred comfort to show. It was
not, therefore, to please his own taste that he ran into this imprudent
expense, but merely to gratify the taste of others.

Now the bustle of building began, and workmen swarmed round his house;
the foundations sank, the scaffolds rose; and many times did Vivian sigh
and repent, when he saw how much was to be undone before any thing could
be done; when he found his house dismantled, saw the good ceilings and
elegant cornices knocked to pieces, saw the light domes and modern
sashes give way; all taken out to be replaced, at profuse expense, by a
clumsy imitation of Gothic; how often did be sigh and calculate, when he
saw the tribes of workmen file off as their dinner bell rang! how often
did he bless himself, when he beheld the huge beams of timber dragged
into his yards, and the solid masses of stone brought from a quarry at
an enormous distance!--Vivian perceived that the expense would be treble
the estimate; and said, that if the thing were to be done again, he
would never consent to it; but now, as Lady Mary observed, it was too
late to repent; and it was, at any rate, best to go on and finish it
with spirit--since it was impossible (nobody knew why) to stop. He
hurried on the workmen with impatience; for he was anxious to have the
roof and some apartments in his castle finished before his marriage. The
dilatoriness of the lawyers, and the want of the trustee, who had not
yet arrived in England, were no longer complained of so grievously by
the lover. Russell, one day, as he saw Vivian overlooking his workmen,
and urging them to expedition, smiled, and asked whether the impatience
of an architect or of a lover was now predominant in his mind. Vivian,
rather offended by the question, replied, that his eagerness to finish
this part of his castle arose from his desire to give an agreeable
surprise to his bride; and he declared that his passion for Selina was
as ardent, at this moment, as it had ever been; but that it was
impossible to make lawyers move faster than their accustomed pace; and
that Miss Sidney was too secure of his affection, and he too well
convinced of hers, to feel that sort of anxiety, which persons who had
less confidence in each other might experience in similar circumstances.
This was all very true, and very reasonable; but Russell could not help
perceiving that Vivian's language and tone were somewhat altered since
the time when he was ready to brave heaven and earth to marry his
mistress, without license or consent of friends, without the possibility
of waiting a few months till he was of age. In fact, though Vivian would
not allow it, this consent of friends, this ceasing of opposition, this
security and tranquillity of happiness, had considerably changed the
appearance, at least, of his love. Lady Mary perceived it, with a
resolution to say nothing, and see how it would end. Selina did not
perceive it for some time; for she was of a most unsuspicious temper;
and her confidence in Vivian was equal to the fondness of her love. She
began to think, indeed, that the lawyers were provokingly slow; and when
Vivian did not blame them as much as he used to do, she only thought
that he understood business better than she did--besides, the necessary
trustee was not come--and, in short, the last thing that occurred to her
mind was to blame Vivian.

The trustee at length arrived, and the castle was almost in the
wished-for state of forwardness, when a new cause of delay arose--a
county election: but how this election was brought on, and how it was
conducted, it is necessary to record. It happened that a relation of
Vivian's was appointed to a new seventy-four gun ship, of which he came
to take the command at Yarmouth, which was within a few miles of him.
Vivian recollected that Russell had often expressed a desire to go on
board a man-of-war. Vivian, therefore, after having appointed a day for
their going, went to Glistonbury to invite Russell: his pupil, Lord
Lidhurst, begged to be permitted to accompany them: and Lady Julia, the
moment she heard of this new seventy-four gun ship, was, as her
governess expressed it, wild to be of the party. Indeed, any thing that
had the name of a party of pleasure, and that promised a transient
relief from the tedious monotony in which her days passed; any thing
that gave a chance of even a few hours' release from the bondage in
which she was held between the restraints of the most rigid of
governesses and the proudest of mothers, appeared delightful to this
lively and childish girl. She persecuted her governess with entreaties,
till at last she made Miss Strictland go with her petition to Lady
Glistonbury; whilst, in the mean time, Lady Julia overwhelmed her father
with caresses, till he consented; and with much difficulty, prevailed
upon Lady Glistonbury to give her permission for the young ladies to go
with their governess, their brother, their father, and Lady Mary Vivian,
on this excursion. The invitation was now extended to all the company
then at the castle; including the representative of the county, who,
being just threatened with a fit of the gout, brought on by hard
drinking at the last election, expressed some reluctance to going with
this party on the water. But this gentleman was now paying his humble
devoirs to the Lady Sarah Lidhurst; and it was represented to him, by
all who understood the ground, that he would give mortal offence if he
did not go; so it was ruled, that, hot or cold, gout or no gout, he must
appear in the Lady Sarah's train: he submitted to this perilous
necessity in the most gallant manner. The day proved tolerably
fine--Vivian had an elegant entertainment provided for the company,
under a marquee pitched on the shore--they _embarked_ in a
pleasure-boat--Lady Sarah was very sick, and her admirer very cold; but
Lady Julia was in extasies at every thing she saw and felt--she feared
nothing, found nothing inconvenient--was charmed to be drawn so easily
from the boat up the high side of the ship--charmed to find herself on
deck--charmed to see the sails, the ropes, the rigging, the waves, the
sea, the sun, the clouds, the sailors, the cook dressing dinner--all,
all indiscriminately charmed her; and, like a school-girl broke loose,
she ran about, wild with spirits, asking questions, some sensible, some
silly; laughing at her own folly, flying from this side to that, from
one end of the ship to the other, down the ladders and up again; whilst
Mr. Russell, who was deputed to take care of her, could scarcely keep up
with her: Lord Glistonbury stood by, holding his sides and laughing
aloud: Miss Strictland, quite disabled by the smell of the ship, was
lying on a bed in the state cabin; and Lady Sarah, all the time shaded
by an umbrella held by her shivering admirer, sat, as if chained upright
in her chair of state, upon deck, scorning her sister's childish levity,
and proving herself, with all due propriety, incapable of being moved to
surprise or admiration by any object on land or sea.

Lady Mary Vivian, while she observed with a quick eye all that passed,
and read her son's thoughts, was fully persuaded that neither of the
Lady Lidhursts would be likely to suit his taste, even if his affections
were disengaged: the one was too childish, the other too stiff. "Yet
their birth and connexions, and their consequence in the county,"
thought Lady Mary, "would have made their alliance highly desirable."
Every body seemed weary at the close of this day's entertainment, except
Lady Julia, who _kept it up_ with indefatigable gaiety, and could hardly
believe that it was time to go home, when the boat was announced to row
them to shore: heedless, and absolutely dizzy with talking and laughing,
her ladyship, escaping from the assistance of sailors and gentlemen,
made a false step in getting into the boat, and, falling over, would
have sunk for ever, but for Mr. Russell's presence of mind. He seized
her with a strong grasp, and saved her. The fright sobered her
completely; and she sat wrapped in great-coats, as silent, as tractable,
and as wet as possible, during the remainder of the way to shore. The
screams, the ejaculations, the reprimands from Miss Strictland; the
questions, the reflections, to which this incident led, may possibly be
conceived, but cannot be enumerated.

This event, however alarming at the moment, had no serious consequence;
for Lady Julia caught neither fever nor cold, though Miss Strictland was
morally certain her ladyship would have one or the other; indeed she
insinuated, that her ladyship deserved to have both. Lady Sarah's poor
shivering knight of the shire, however, did not escape so well. Obliged
to row home, in a damp evening, without his great-coat, which he had
been forced to offer to Lady Julia, in a pleasure-boat, when he should
have been in flannels or in bed, he had "cause to rue the boating of
that day." His usual panacea of the gout did not come as expected, _to
set him up again_. The cold he caught this day killed him. Lady Sarah
Lidhurst was precisely as sorry as decorum required. But the bustle of a
new election was soon to obliterate the memory of the old member, in the
minds of his numerous friends. Lord Glistonbury, and several other
voices in the county, called upon Vivian to stand on the independent
interest. There was to be a contest: for a government candidate declared
himself at the same moment that application was made to Vivian. The
expense of a contested election alarmed both Vivian and his mother.
Gratified as she was by the honour of this offer, yet she had the
prudence to advise her son rather to go into parliament as
representative for a borough than to hazard the expense of a contest for
the county. Miss Sidney, also, whom he consulted upon this occasion,
supported his mother's prudent advice, in the most earnest manner; and
Vivian was inclined to follow this counsel, till Lord Glistonbury came
one morning to plead the contrary side of the question: he assured
Vivian, that from his experience of the county, he was morally certain
they should carry it without trouble, and with no expense _worth
mentioning_. These were only general phrases, to be sure, not arguments;
but these, joined to her ambition to see her son member for the county,
at length overpowered Lady Mary's better judgment: her urgent entreaties
were now joined to those of Lord Glistonbury, and of many loud-tongued
electioneerers, who proved to Vivian, by every thing but calculation,
that he must be returned if he would but stand--if he would only declare
himself. Russell and his own prudence strongly counselled him to resist
these clamorous importunities; the two preceding candidates, whose
fortunes had been nearly as good as his, had been ruined by the
contests. Vivian was very young, but just of age; and Russell observed,
"that it would be better for him to see something more of the world,
before he should embark in politics, and plunge into public business."
"True," said Vivian; "but Mr. Pitt was only three-and-twenty when he was
minister of England. I am not ambitious; but I should certainly like to
distinguish myself, if I could; and whilst I feel in youth the glow of
patriotism, why should I not serve my country?"

"Serve it and welcome," said Russell: "but don't begin by ruining
yourself by a contested election; or else, whatever glow of
patriotism you may feel, it will be out of your power to be an honest
member of parliament. If you must go into parliament immediately for
the good of your country, go in as member for some borough, which
will not ruin you."

"But the committee of our friends will be so disappointed if I decline;
and my mother, who has now set her heart upon it, and Lord Glistonbury,
and Mr. C----, and Mr. G----, and Mr. D----, who are such zealous
friends, and who urge me so much----"

"Judge for yourself," said Russell, "and don't let any persons who
happen to be near you persuade you to see with their eyes, and decide
with their wishes. Zealous friends, indeed!--because they love to make
themselves of consequence, by bawling and scampering about at an
election!--And you would let such people draw you on, to ruin yourself."

"I will show you that they shall not," cried Vivian, seizing a sheet of
paper, and sitting down immediately to write the copy of a circular
letter to his friends, informing them, with many thanks, that he
declined to stand for the county. Russell eagerly wrote copies of this
letter, which Vivian declared should be sent early the next morning. But
no sooner was Russell out of sight than Lady Mary Vivian resumed her
arguments in favour of commencing his canvass immediately, and before
his friends should cool. When she saw the letters that he had been
writing, she was excessively indignant; and, by a torrent of female and
maternal eloquence, he was absolutely overwhelmed. Auxiliaries poured in
to her ladyship on all sides; horsemen after horsemen, freeholders of
all degrees, now flocked to the house, hearing that Mr. Vivian had
thoughts of standing for the county. They were unanimously loud in their
assurances of success. Old and new copies of poll books were produced,
and the different interests of the county counted and recounted,
balanced and counterbalanced, again and again, by each person, after his
own fashion: and it was proved to Mr. Vivian, _in black and white, and
as plain as figures could make it_, that he had the game in his own
hands; and that, if he would but declare himself, the other candidate
would, the very next day, they would be bound for it, decline the
contest. Vivian had a clear head, and a competent knowledge of
arithmetic; he saw the fallacies and inaccuracies in their modes of
computation; he saw, upon examining the books, that the state of the
county interests was very different from what they pretended or
believed; and he was convinced that the opposite candidate would not
decline: but after Vivian had stated these reasons ten times, and his
mother and his electioneering partisans had reiterated their assertions
twenty times, he yielded, merely because they had said twice as much as
he had, and because, poor easy man! he had not power to resist
continuity of solicitation.

He declared himself candidate for the county; and was soon immersed in
all the toil, trouble, vexation, and expense, of a contested election.
Of course, his marriage was now to be postponed till the election should
be over. Love and county politics have little affinity. What the evils
of a contested election are can be fully known only to those by whom
they have been personally experienced. The contest was bitter. The
Glistonbury interest was the strongest which supported Vivian: Lord
Glistonbury and _his lordship's friends_ were warm in his cause. Not
that they had any particular regard for Vivian; but he was to be _their
member_, opposed to the court candidate, whom his lordship was anxious
to keep out of the county. Lord Glistonbury had once been a strong
friend to government, and was thought a confirmed courtier, especially
as he had been brought up in high aristocratic notions; but he had made
it his great object to turn his earldom into a marquisate; and
government having delayed or refused to gratify him in this point, he
quitted them with disgust, and set up his standard amongst the
opposition. He was now loud and zealous on every occasion that could, as
he said, _annoy_ government; and merely because he could not be a
marquis, he became a patriot. Mistaken, abused name! how glorious in its
original, how despicable in its debased signification!--Lord
Glistonbury's exertions were indefatigable.

Vivian felt much gratitude for this apparently disinterested friendship;
and, during a few weeks, whilst this canvass was going on, he formed a
degree of intimacy with the Glistonbury family, which, in any other
circumstances, could scarcely have been brought about during months or
years. An election, in England, seems, for the time, to level all
distinctions, not only of rank, but even of pride: Lady Glistonbury
herself, at this season, found it necessary to relax from her usual
rigidity.--There was an extraordinary freedom of egress and regress; and
the haughty code of Glistonbury lay dormant. Vivian, of course, was the
centre of all interest; and, whenever he appeared, every individual of
the family was eager to inquire, "What news?--What news?--How do things
go on to-day?--How will the election turn out?--Have you written to Mr.
Such-a-one?--Have you been to Mr. Such-a-one's?--I'll write a note for
you--I'll copy a letter."--There was one common cause--Miss Strictland
even deigned to assist Mr. Vivian, and to try her awkward hand to
forward his canvass, for it was to support the Glistonbury interest; and
"there was no impropriety could attach to the thing." Russell's extreme
anxiety made Vivian call more frequently even than it was necessary at
the castle, to quiet his apprehensions, and to assure him that things
were going on well. Young Lord Lidhurst, who was really good-natured,
and over whose mind Russell began to gain some ascendancy, used to stand
upon the watch for Vivian's appearance, and would run up the back stairs
to Russell's apartment, to give him notice of it, and to be the first to
tell the news. Lady Sarah--the icy lady Sarah herself--began to thaw;
and every day, in the same phrase, she condescended to say to Mr.
Vivian, that she "hoped the poll was going on as well as could be
expected." It was, of course, reported, that Vivian was to succeed the
late representative of the county in all its honours. In eight days he
was confidently given to Lady Sarah by the generous public; and the day
of their nuptials was positively fixed. As the lady was, even by the
account of her friends, two or three years older than Mr. Vivian, and
four or five years older by her looks, and as she was peculiarly
unsuited to his taste, he heard the report without the slightest
apprehension for his own constancy to Selina. He laughed at the idea, as
an excellent joke, when it was first mentioned to him by Russell. Lord
Glistonbury's manners, however, and the cordial familiarity with which
he treated Vivian, gave every day increasing credit to the report. "If
he were his son, my lord could not be more anxious about Mr. Vivian,"
said one of the plain-spoken freeholders, in the presence of the Lady
Lidhursts.--Lady Sarah pursed up her mouth, and threw back her head; but
Lady Julia, archly looking at her sister, smiled. The vivacity of Lady
Julia's manner did not appear excessive during this election time, when
all the world seemed mad; on the contrary, there was, in her utmost
freedom and raillery, that air of good-breeding and politeness, in which
vulgar mirth and liberty are always deficient. Vivian began to think
that she was become less childish, and that there was something of a
mixture of womanish timidity in her appearance, which rendered her
infinitely more attractive. One evening, in particular, when her father
having sent her for her morning's work, she returned with a basket full
of _the Vivian cockade_, which she had made with her own delicate hands,
Vivian thought she looked "very pretty:" her father desired her to give
them to the person for whom they were intended, and she presented them
to Mr. Russell, saying, "They are for your friend, sir."--Vivian thought
she looked "very graceful."--Lady Mary Vivian suppressed half a sigh,
and thought she kept the whole of her mind to herself. These happy days
of canvassing, and this _freedom of election_, could not last for ever.
After polling the county to the last freeholder, the contest was at
length decided, and Vivian was declared duly elected. He was chaired,
and he scattered money with a lavish hand, as he passed over the heads
of the huzzaing populace; and he had all the honours of an election: the
horses were taken from his carriage, and he was drawn by men, who were
soon afterwards so much intoxicated, that they retained no vestige of
rationality. Not only the inferior, but the superior rank of electors,
as usual upon such occasions, thought proper to do honour to their
choice, and to their powers of judgment, by drinking their member's
health at the expense of their own, till they could neither see, hear,
nor understand. Our hero was not by any means fond of drinking, but he
could not refuse to do as others did; and Lord Glistonbury swore, that
now he had found out that Vivian could be such a pleasant companion over
a bottle, he should never listen to his excuses in future.

A few days after this election, parliament met for the dispatch of
business; and as some important question was to come on, all the
members were summoned, by a peremptory call of the house. Vivian was
obliged to go to town immediately, and compelled to defer his marriage.
He regretted being thus hurried away from Selina; and with a thousand
tender and passionate expressions, assured her, that the moment his
attendance on public business could be spared, he should hasten to the
country to claim his promised happiness. The castle would be finished
by the time the session was over; the lawyers would also have completed
their settlements; and Vivian said he should make every other necessary
preparation whilst he was in town: therefore he urged Selina now to fix
the time for their marriage, and to let it be the first week of the
recess of parliament. But Miss Sidney, who had great delicacy of
feeling and dignity of character, thought that Vivian had of late shown
some symptoms of decreased affection, and that he had betrayed signs of
unsteadiness of character. In the whole affair of the castle-building
and of the election, he had evidently been led by others instead of
following his own conviction:--she wisely dreaded that he might, in
more important actions, yield his judgment to others; and then what
security could she have for his principles? He might, perhaps, be led
into all sorts of fashionable dissipation and vice. Besides these
fears, she considered that Vivian was the possessor of a large fortune;
that his mother had with difficulty consented to this match; that he
was very young, had seen but little of the world, and might, perhaps,
in future, repent of having made, thus early in life, a _love match_.
She therefore absolutely refused to let him now bind himself to her by
any fresh promises. She desired that he should consider himself as
perfectly at liberty, and released from all engagement to her. It was
evident, however, from the manner in which she spoke that she wished to
restore her lover's liberty for his sake only; and that her own
feelings, however they might be suppressed, were unchanged. Vivian was
touched and charmed by her delicacy and generosity: in the fervour of
his feelings he swore that his affections could never change; and he
believed what he swore. Lady Mary Vivian was struck, also, with Miss
Sidney's conduct at parting; and she acknowledged that it was
impossible to show at once more tenderness and dignity. No one,
however, not even Vivian, knew how much pain this separation gave
Selina. Her good sense and prudence told her indeed, that it was best,
both for her happiness and Vivian's, that he should see something more
of the world, and that she should have some farther proof of the
steadiness of his attachment, before she should unite herself with him
irrevocably: but whilst she endeavoured to fortify her mind with these
reflections, love inspired many painful fears; and, though she never
repented having set him free from his promises and engagements, she
trembled for the consequences of his being thus at liberty, in such
scenes of temptation as a London life would present.

CHAPTER III.

When our hero arrived in London, and when he was first introduced into
fashionable society, his thoughts were so intent upon Selina Sidney,
that he was in no danger of plunging into dissipation. He was surprised
at the eagerness with which some young men pursued frivolous pleasures:
he was still more astonished at seeing the apathy in which others of his
own age were sunk, and the listless insignificance in which they lounged
away their lives.

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