Page images
PDF
EPUB

stroy what they extol.

A fresh face ed to receive a fortune with the hand of his wife, he possesses an inestimable treasure in her; for the price of a good woman is far above rubies, the, heart of her husband shall trust in her: her children shall call her blessed, her own works shall praise her, and she shall rejoice in time to come."

is their centre of attraction; and she who lends a willing ear to their airy nothings, their subtile adulations, stands on a precipice of sinking sand. The appearance of my inexperienced Mary will excite their attention. Young, blooming, and sprightly as she is, they will not doubt that she is actuated by a large share of vanity. Form no acquaintance without the full approbation of Gordon; in the choice of your friends trust wholly to his judgment, and fear more to slight the councils or vex the heart of your husband than to be thought obsolete, or called un fashionable by the world. Be at tentive to his wishes: he merits all your tenderness and obedience. Remember, in your highest enjoyments, that you owe all to his love and generosity. Be moderate in your expences, and bear constantly in mind that the purest, the most exquisite terrestrial enjoyment is the approbation of a self-approving conscience, arising from the reflection of having performed our duty, of having cheered the heart of the desolate, and of having directed the steps of the wanderer from the paths of error and vice to those of vir:ue and religion. These will be acts of your life on which you will look back with satisfaction when the agonies of death shake your frame to dissolution, and on which the pure spirits in heaven look down with joyful approbation.

Gaming is a vice so odious and of so destructive a nature, that I hope I need not caution you against it. You carry not a single shilling to your husband's fortune; you add no splendid connections to his family; but take with you a docile mind, an affectionate disposition, a humble opinion of ourself, with a pure heart, and then it may be said with truth, "Though Gordon fail

Mary assured her mother that she would treasure in her memory all she had said, and affectionately kissing her cheek, led her to the house, where they found Gordon, with whom Mrs. Gayton requested a few moments.conversation, and leading him to the liburnam where he had first beheld Mary, and looking on him with tenderness, she said

May this spot, my son, be ever remembered by you with pleasure; may no after events give you reason to regret the hour which introduced my daughter to your knowledge! Your election of a wile has been free: you have chosen a child of nature, from among the daughters of simplicity; in more brilliant circles be not ashamed of your choice. The young rustic cannot be expected to shine in polished society; her ignorance of polite manners may sometimes tinge your cheek with a blush, but never, I trust, will you blush for the depravity of her heart. I feel: a presentiment that we are parting to meet no more in this world: if it should prove true, consider this conversation as my dying words. Be kind to my Mary when her mother's eyes are closed in death. Excuse the trifling petulances of a heart at ease; pardon small errors; be the patient guide of her youth, the affectionate mentor, the faithful friend; view her failings with an indulgent eye, remembering that you removed her from a sphere the humble duties of which she was better qualified to perform than the inore arduous ones to which you have exalted her. And,

ah! may you be able ten or twenty years hence to repair to this spot and say, "My mother, I have fulfilled your injunctions: I have endeavoured to render your Mary happy in this life; I have endeavoured to prepare her for a better world." As you act by her, the blessing of the dying, the benediction of the happy, be upon you; for be assured, it would add to my felicity in a future state to be allowed to watch over and be the guardian angel of you and Mary.'

Gordon was melted to tears by the solemnity of Mrs. Gayton's manner, the expression of her fine countenance, and the probability her form would be mouldering in the cold tomb ere the following spring, when he had promised to bring Mary down. She had hinted this herself; and while he gazed on her fragile app arance, he trembled at the too probable conjecture. He therefore earnestly and solemnly assured her, that his endeavours to render her Mary's felicity permanent should be unremitting. 'Her happiness,' added he, 'shall not be dearer to the anxious heart of her mother than to mine; and I hope that beloved mother doubts not my honour-my tenderness-my'

'Ono, my son: pardon the too ardent affection of her whose only treasures are her children, and who knows not which she loves most, her son or her daughter.'

Gordon kissed her hand, kneeling. • May the son you honour with your love,' said he,never do any thing to forfeit your good opinion!"

He arose, and, with raceful emotion, conducted her to her daughters, who arm in arm had come to seek and inform them that the carriage was arrived. Mrs. Gayton's countenance changed, and once more pressing her Mary to her heart, her streaming eyes raised to Heaven,

she silently invoked the blessing of that Heaven on her children. She presented Mary's hand to Gordon, and emphatically said Remember-She then hastened from them, and retired to her chamber, which she did not quit the remainder of the day.

Sabina attended her brother and sister to the chaise. At the outer gate stood poor Martha, drowned in tears. Mary kissed her withered cheek. Ah, my dear young lady! said she, may you be as happy as poor old Martha wishes you!-Gordon approached, and putting a tenpound note in her hand, said, 'Take care of your lady and yourself, my good Martha: it shall be my study to render our dear Mary's life happy.' He then handed his wife into the chaise, and stepping in himself, it drove off. The white cottage and the weeping Sabina were soon out of sight, as was the cascade, and the enchanting scenes familiar to the eye or Mary, who, as the hills of Creden disappeared and new scenes opened to view, abated her tears, and by the time they entered London had forgotten all her sorrows, and was in high health and spirits.

[blocks in formation]

experience soon convinced him that the husband of an acknowledged beauty, of a celebrated toast, was not to be envied. In the public rooms her vivacity was enchanting; on the public walks her appearance was fascinating; hut, in a tête-à-tête with her husband she was ever complaining of vapours and low spirits. In vain poor Gordon sighed for quietness and domestic comfort. As Southampton began to thin of company, Mary discovered the air was too keen, too piercing for her constitution, and declared nothing but the Bath waters would do her any good. Her situation required indulgence, and Gordon consented to go for a few weeks. But Mary found the place so agreeable, and meeting several of her acquaintance there, she refused to return to town till her re turn could no longer be delayed; for a few days after their arrival in St. James's-street, she presented Gordon with a daughter. He received the little stranger with transport, not doubting but its mother would now become wholly domestic, and devote herself entirely to the pleasing, the tender task of nursing her child :-but, alas! his wishes, as usual, were too sanguine. On her convalescence she went into company more frequent than before, and seemed by her short confinement to have acquired a higher relish for dissipation, and to enter into the follies of the day with superior gusto.

time the families came to town for the winter, Mary was no longer ignorant of polite forms. Lady Facwett introduced her to several genteel families, who received her with respect and admiration. Mary remembered her father, and some few spoke of her mother with affection and pity. If Gordon had been pleased with Mary's quick progress in fashionable manners, he was absolutely astonished at the avidity with which she entered into the dissipations of the town. He experienced the tenderest anxiety, as he observed the late hours she kept began to affect her health: her complexion faded, her appetite decreased. Yet the lassitude of the morning was sure to be succeeded by the evening ball, or the midnight masquerade. Gordon looked forward to spring with hope and impatience. He doubted not her fulfilling her promise to her mother, and he fondly hoped in her native shades she would recover her bloom, and cheerfully return to the domestic habits and fascinating simplicity of manners which had won his heart. But when spring did arrive, his fondly cherished hopes were frustrated. Mary had discovered that though the fashionable world did leave London during the summer months, they by no means secluded themselves in solitudes and shades, but passed their hours in as much gaiety, and if possible in a greater crowd than even in the metropolis. She therefore prevailed on her phyGordon often endeavoured to consician to prescribe sea-bathing. And vince her of the impropriety of her what air so salubrious as the air of conduct as a wife and mother; but Southampton? A house was taken observing the more anxious he apfor the season: and here Mary be- peared for her company in her own came the rage; her caps, her rib-house the less she was in it, he at bands, were the ton; her bon mots were retailed by the would-be wits; her very walk was imitated; in short, she was the undisputed arbitress of taste and fashion. At first, Gor don felt gratified at the encomiums bestowed on his admired Mary; but

last forbore to iemoustrate, fearing his incessant importunities might alienate her affections from him. He hoped that the seeds of virtue, which he knew had been implanted in her bosom by her amiable mother, would at some time not far

distant spring up spontaneous in her heart. But when the following spring arrived, and Mary still refused to visit Crediton, pleading an engage ment with sir Thomas and lady Facwett to go to Brighton, he no longer had hopes of comfort from her society, and began to look abroad for that pleasure his own solitary fire-ide failed to afford. He still loved his Mary with too much tenderness to think of supplying her place with a mercenary; but his heart was a social one, and he was under the necessity of attaching himself to some person, to some society where its joys and sorrows would be attended to, and where a congruence of sentiment would cement a reciprocal friendship. Unhappily, he fell in with a set of young men of splendid talents, of shining abilities, of sparkling wit, of worthy families, but of profligate manners: fascinated by their conversation, he spent whole nights in their company at a tavern, where they met regularly to spend their evenings. Their wit, their mirth, their songs, their unceasing good-humour, acted with talismanic influence on the heart of Gordon, nor was it till his health was materially affected that he discovered their frequent libations to the jolly god would ruin his constitution if persisted in ; still he wanted resolution to give up their society: he had not the eye of an affectionate wife to observe the change in his countenance, which nevertheless was too obvious. Mary, wholly engaged in her preparation for Brighton, heeded not the alteration. He no longer objected to her departure; and she cared little what were his amusements, or what effect they had on his health, Lady Facwett was alarmed when she found he proposed staying in London, and hinted to Mary her wishes that she would not leave him. But Mary peremptorily

refused to stay in London a day after her ladyship. Let him please himself,' said she: if he is fond of stupefying himself in a tavern, and sotting his hours away, I am not. I wish to give and receive pleasure, to see and be seen.'

Lady Facwett made no reply; but from that day she thought but slightly of Mary's conjugal affection, and would gladly have given up her journey to Brighton, to watch the declining health of her brother, to promote his comfort, to supply to him the loss of his wife's society, and to become wholly his nurse, his companion, and adviser; but sir Thomas was a gay man, was fond of company, and would by no means hear of her kind proposal. Gordon was therefore left to himself in London; while Mary, at Brighton, added: one more to the thoughtless train, and in every gay circle was the gayest of the gay.

Far different passed the months at the white cottage. The anxious mother, the sorrowing sister, had been surprised at Mary's absence the first spring, which she had so faithfully promised to spend with them; but when the second elapsed and still she came not, they were truly miserable. It had been seldom, very seldom, Mary favoured them with a letter; but for some months they had ceased to receive any. The newspapers were the only vehicle of intelligence of what the great world were doing, and newspapers were a luxury Mrs. Gayton's small income would not afford, especially as, since the death of the worthy Westwood, she had been obliged to give up her drawing and embroidery, as the expence of the carriage to and from London so much lessened her profits, that it was no longer worth her care. A constant nervous fever, occasioned by anxiety, had greatly weakened her health and spirits; and

[blocks in formation]

In the summer of the second year of Mary's marriage, Mrs. Gayton became so alarmingly ill that a physician's advice was necessary. The doctor frankly acknowledged that medicine in her case would be unavailing, but observed that the Bath waters, and composure of mind, would tend materially to the re-establishment of her health. She thanked him for his generous and friendly advice; but declined the Bath journey, as too expensive for finances so low as hers. He shook his head.-' It is not in the physician's power,' said he, to administer to a mind diseased; but change of scene is so very essential in your case, that I will not be answerable for your life if it is not adopted.

The sands of life are ever running, and no person can add one grain to the amount; but it is every person's duty to endeavour to preserve their course undisturbed, and not by impatience or obstinacy hasten the hour which Heaven has appointed for all men. You have a daughter whose very existence depends on you; she is amiable, and deserves your exertions.'

Indeed, sir,' replied she eagerly, she does :-you have given me a motive; for her sake, I will en

deavour to bear with resignation and patience a life which has long been a burthen to me, and of little use to society.'

Preparations were accordingly Sabina acmade for the journey. companied her mother; and poor old Martha remained at home, to keep house in their absence, which was not to exceed six weeks or two months.

Mrs. Gayton quitted her beloved cottage with regret, and often turned a tearful eye towards its humble little gate, and repeated her adieu to the faithful Martha, who leaned on it for support as she supplicated Heaven to return her dear mistress well and happy at the promised time.

Mrs. Gayton found the expences of Bath exceed her expectation, but, as she received benefit from the waters, she determined to stay the six weeks, if possible, and took smaller lodging in the suburbs. But hers was a flattering disorder: scarce. ly had she taken possession of her new apartment ere the most alarming symp toms returned with fresh violence. One morning, the lassitude of her body and the depression of her spirits were so exceedingly severe, that, fearing to alarm Sabina, she sent her out for a walk. During her absence, the landlady brought her up a newspaper to amuse her. Rebecca cast her eye over the contents, and read the following distracting intelligence: -The fascinating Mrs. Gwell known as the Brighton belle, has at last opened the eyes of her husband and his family to the glaring impropriety of her conduct with captain B- -; but what could be expected better of a girl educated with pigs and oxen, whose mother nobody knew, and whose father was hanged for piracy? Lady F, in whose company and under whose auspices the good-natured G trusted his frail rib to Brighton, has at last very properly shut her door

« PreviousContinue »