The prudent housekeeper was again despatched to bring the unhappy culprit before Mr. Allworthy, in order, not, as it was hoped by some, and expected by all, to be sent to the house of correction, but to receive wholesome admonition and reproof; which those, who relish that kind of instructive writing, may peruse in the next chapter.

CHAPTER VII.

would inspire you with repentance, and not drive you to desperation.

"There are other consequences, not indeed so dreadful or replete with horror as this; and yet such as, if attentively considered, must, one would think, deter all of your sex at least from the commission of this crime.

'For by it you are rendered infamous, and driven, like lepers of old, out of society; at least from the society of all but wicked and reprobate persons; for no others will associate with you.

'If you have fortunes, you are hereby rencan-dered incapable of enjoying them; if you have none, you are disabled from acquiring any, nay almost of procuring your sustenance; for no persons of character will receive you into their houses. Thus you are often driven by necessity itself into a state of shame and misery, which unavoidably ends in the destruction of both body and soul.

Containing such grave matter, that the reader
not laugh once through the whole chapter, unless
peradventure he should laugh at the author.
WHEN Jenny appeared, Mr. Allworthy
took her into his study, and spoke to her as
follows: 'You know, child, it is in my power,
as a magistrate, to punish you very rigor-
ously for what you have done; and you will,
perhaps, be the more apt to fear I should
execute that power, because you have in a
manner laid your sins at my door.

'Can any pleasure compensate these evils? Can any temptation have sophistry and de'But perhaps this is one reason which hath lusion strong enough to persuade you to so determined me to act in a milder manner simple a bargain? Or can any carnal apwith you; for, as no private resentment petite so overpower your reason, or so should ever influence a magistrate, I will be totally lay it asleep, as to prevent your flyso far from considering your having deposit-ing with affright and terror from a crime, ed the infant in my house as an aggravation which carries such punishment always with of your offence, that I will suppose, in your it? favour, this to have proceeded from a natural affection to your child; since you might have some hopes to see it thus better provided for, than was in the power of yourself, or its wicked father, to provide for it. I should, indeed, have been highly offended with you, had you exposed the little wretch in the manner of some inhuman mothers, who seem no less to have abandoned their humanity, than to have parted with their chastity. It is the other part of your offence, therefore, upon which I intend to admonish you; I mean the violation of your chastity; a crime, however lightly it may be treated by debauched persons, very heinous in itself, and very dreadful in its consequences.

How base and mean must that woman be, how void of that dignity of mind, and decent pride, without which we are not worthy the name of human creatures, who can bear to level herself with the lowest animal, and to sacrifice all that is great and noble in her, all her heavenly part, to an appetite which she hath in common with the vilest branch of the creation! For no woman, sure, will plead the passion of love for an excuse. This would be to own herself the mere tool and bubble of the man. Love, however barbarously we may corrupt and pervert its meaning, as it is a laudable, is a rational passion, and can never be violent, but when reciprocal; for though the scripture bids us love our enemies, it means not with that fervent love which we naturally bear towards our friends: much less that we should sacrifice to them our lives, and, what ought to be dearer to us, our innocence. Now in what light, but And here its consequences may well be that of an enemy, can a reasonable woargued to be dreadful; for what can be more man regard the man who solicits her to enso, than to incur the divine displeasure, by tail on herself all the misery I have describthe breach of the divine commands; and thated to you, and who would purchase to himin an instance, against which the highest vengeance is specifically denounced?

The heinous nature of this offence must be sufficiently apparent to every christian, inasmuch as it is committed in defiance of the laws of our religion, and of the express commands of Him who founded that religion.

self a short, trivial, contemptible pleasure, so greatly at her expense! For, by the laws 'But these things, though too little, I am of custom, the whole shame, with all its afraid, regarded, are so plain, that man- dreadful consequences, falls entirely upon her. kind, however they may want to be re- Can love, which always seeks the good of its minded, can never need information on this object, attempt to betray a woman intoa barhead. A hint, therefore, to awaken your gain where she is so greatly to be the loser? sense of this matter, shall suffice; for IIf such corrupter, therefore, should have

the impudence to pretend a real affection | thrown away upon me. I thank you, sir, for her, ought not the woman to regard | heartily, for your intended kindness to my him not only as an enemy, but as the worst poor helpless child: he is innocent, and, I of all enemies, a false, designing, treacherous, pretended friend, who intends not only to debauch her body, but her understanding at the same time?"

sucked in at their ears the instructive lec- | nour and spirit with which Jenny had actture delivered by Mr. Allworthy, together ed. She said, she could not help agreeing with the answers of Jenny, and, indeed, with her brother, that there was some meevery other particular which passed in the last chapter.

rit in the sincerity of her confession, and her integrity to her lover: that she had always thought her a very good girl, and doubted not but she had been seduced by some rascal, who had been infinitely more to blame than herself, and very probably had prevailed with her by a promise of marriage, or some other treacherous proceeding.

This behaviour of Mrs. Bridget greatly surprised Mrs. Deborah; for this well-bred woman seldom opened her lips, either to her master or his sister, till she had first sounded their inclinations, with which her sentiments were always strictly consonant. Here, however, she thought she might have

This hole in her brother's study-door was indeed as well known to Mrs. Bridget, and had been as frequently applied to by her, as the famous hole in the wall was by Thisbe of old. This served to many good purposes. For, by such means, Mrs. Bridget became often acquainted with her brother's inclinations, without giving him the trouble of repeating them to her. It is true, some inconveniencies attended this intercourse, and she had sometimes reason to cry out with Thisbe, in Shakspeare, 'O wicked, wicked wall!' For, as Mr. Allworthy was a justice of peace, certain things occurred in exami-launched forth with safety; and the saganations concerning bastards, and such like, which are apt to give great offence to the chaste ears of virgins, especially when they approach the age of forty, as was the case of Mrs. Bridget. However, she had, on such occasions, the advantage of concealing her blushes from the eyes of men; and De non apparentibus, et non existentibus, eadem est ratio. In English, 'When a woman is not seen to blush, she doth not blush at all.'

Both the good women kept strict silence during the whole scene between Mr. Allworthy and the girl; but as soon as it was ended, and that gentleman out of hearing, Mrs. Deborah could not help exclaiming against the clemency of her master, and especially against his suffering her to conceal the father of the child, which she swore she would have out of her before the sun set.

At these words Mrs. Bridget discomposed her features with a smile, (a thing very unusual to her.) Not that I would have my reader imagine, that this was one of those wanton smiles which Homer would have you conceive came from Venus, when he calls her the laughter-loving goddess; nor was it one of those smiles which lady Seraphina shoots from the stage-box, and which Venus would quit her immortality to be able to equal. No, this was rather one of those smiles, which might be supposed to have come from the dimpled cheeks of the august Tisiphone, or from one of the misses her sisters.

With such a smile, then, and with a voice sweet as the evening breeze of Boreas in the pleasant month of November, Mrs. Bridget gently reproved the curiosity of Mrs. Deborah; a vice with which it seems the latter was too much tainted, and which the former inveighed against with great bitterness, adding, "That, among all her faults, she thanked Heaven her enemies could not accuse her of prying into the affairs of other people.'

She then proceeded to commend the ho

cious reader will not, perhaps, accuse her of want of sufficient forecast in so doing, but will rather admire with what wonderful celerity she tacked about, when she found herself steering a wrong course.

'Nay, madam,' said this able woman, and truly great politician, I must own I cannot help admiring the girl's spirit, as well as your ladyship. And, as your ladyship says, if she was deceived by some wicked man, the poor wretch is to be pitied. And to be sure, as your ladyship says, the girl hath always appeared like a good, honest, plain girl, and not vain of her face, forsooth, as some wanton hussies in the neighbourhood are.'

'You say true, Deborah,' said Mrs. Bridget. If the girl had been one of those vain trollops, of which we have too many in the parish, I should have condemned my brother for his lenity towards her. I saw two farmers' daughters at church, the other day, with bare necks. I protest they shocked me. If wenches will hang out lures for fellows, it is no matter what they suffer. I detest such creatures; and it would be much better for them, that their faces had been seamed with the small-pox; but, I must confess, I never saw any of this wanton behaviour in poor Jenny: some artful villain, I am convinced, hath betrayed, nay, perhaps, forced her; and I pity the poor wretch with all my heart.'

Mrs. Deborah approved all these sentiments, and the dialogue concluded with a general and bitter invective against beauty, and with many compassionate considerations for all honest plain girls who are deluded by the wicked arts of deceitful men.

CHAPTER IX.

Containing matters which will surprise the reader.

JENNY returned home well pleased with the reception she had met with from Mr.

Allworthy, whose indulgence to her she in- | of a more doubtful and suspicious character dustriously made public; partly, perhaps, as than Mr. Allworthy was blessed with; but in this case they had no such effect; and, being heartily despised by him, they served only to afford an innocent amusement to the good gossips of the neighbourhood.

a sacrifice to her own pride, and partly from the more prudent motive of reconciling her neighbours to her, and silencing their cla

mours.

But though this latter view, if indeed she had it, may appear reasonable enough, yet the event did not answer her expectation; for when she was convened before the justice, and it was universally apprehended that the house of correction would have been her fate, though some of the young women cried out, 'It was good enough for her,' they diverted themselves with the thoughts of her beating hemp in a silk gown; yet there were many others who began to pity her condition: but when it was known in what manner Mr. Allworthy had behaved, the tide turned against her. One said, 'I'll assure you, madam hath good luck.' A second cried, See what it is to be a favour-correction in a Bridewell. ite! A third, Ay, this comes of her learning.' Every person made some malicious comment or other on the occasion, and reflected on the partiality of the justice.

But as we cannot possibly divine what complexion our reader may be of, and as it will be some time before he will hear any more of Jenny, we think proper to give him a very early intimation, that Mr. Allworthy was, and will hereafter appear to be, absolutely innocent of any criminal intention whatever. He had indeed committed no other than an error in politics, by tempering justice with mercy, and by refusing to gratify the good-natured disposition of the mob* with an object for their compassion to work on in the person of poor Jenny, whom, in order to pity, they desired to have seen sacrificed to ruin and infamy by a shameful

The behaviour of these people may appear impolitic and ungrateful to the reader, who considers the power and the benevolence of Mr. Allworthy: but as to his power, he never used it; and as to his benevolence, he exerted so much, that he had thereby disobliged all his neighbours; for it is a secret well known to great men, that, by conferring an obligation, they do not always procure a friend, but are certain of creating many enemies.

So far from complying with this their inclination, by which all hopes of reformation would have been abolished, and even the gate shut against her, if her own inclinations should ever hereafter lead her to choose the road of virtue, Mr. Allworthy rather chose to encourage the girl to return thither by the only possible means; for too true I am afraid it is, that many women have become abandoned, and have sunk to the last degree of vice, by being unable to retrieve the first slip. This will be, I am afraid, always the case while they remain among their former acquaintance: it was therefore wisely done by Mr. Allworthy, to remove Jenny to a place where she might enjoy the pleasure of reputation, after having tasted the ill consequences of losing it.

Jenny was, however, by the care and goodness of Mr. Allworthy, soon removed out of the reach of reproach; when malice, being no longer able to vent its rage on her, To this place, therefore, wherever it was, began to seek another object of its bitter- we will wish her a good journey, and for the ness, and this was no less than Mr. Allwor- present take leave of her, and of the little thy himself; for a whisper soon went abroad, foundling her child, having matters of much that he himself was the father of the found-higher importance to communicate to the ling child.

This supposition so well reconciled his conduct to the general opinion, that it met with universal assent; and the outcry against his lenity soon began to take another turn, and was changed into an invective against his cruelty to the poor girl. Very grave and good women exclaimed against men who begot children, and then disowned them. Nor were there wanting some, who, after the departure of Jenny, insinuated, that she was spirited away with a design too black to, be mentioned, and who gave frequent hints, that a legal inquiry ought to be made into the whole matter, and that some people should be forced to produce the girl."

These calumnies might have probably produced ill consequences, (at the least might have occasioned some trouble,) to a person

reader.

CHAPTER X.

The hospitality of Allworthy; with a short sketch of the characters of two brothers, a doctor and a captain, who were entertained by that gentleman. NEITHER Mr. Allworthy's house, nor his heart, were shut against any part of mankind; but they were both more particularly open to men of merit. To say the truth, this was the only house in the kingdom where you was sure to gain a dinner by deserving it.

Above all others, men of genius and learn

*Whenever this word occurs in our writings, it in

tends persons without virtue or sense, in all stations; and many of the highest rank are often meant by it.

ing shared the principal place in his favour; | misfortunes were ever a recommendation, and in these he had much discernment: for when they were derived from the folly or though he had missed the advantage of a villany of others, and not of the unfortunate learned education, yet, being blessed with vast natural abilities, he had so well profited by a vigorous, though late, application to letters, and by much conversation with men of eminence in this way, that he was himself a very competent judge in most kinds of literature.

person himself. Besides this negative merit, the doctor had one positive recommendation;-this was a great appearance of religion. Whether his religion was real, or consisted only in appearance, I shall not presume to say, as I am not possessed of any touchstone which can distinguish the true from the false.

It is no wonder that, in an age when this kind of merit is so little in fashion, and so If this part of his character pleased Mr. slenderly provided for, persons possessed of Allworthy, it delighted Miss Bridget. She it should very eagerly flock to a place where engaged him in many religious controverthey were sure of being received with great sies; on which occasions she constantly excomplaisance; indeed, where they might pressed great satisfaction in the doctor's enjoy almost the same advantages of a lib-knowledge, and not much less in the comeral fortune, as if they were entitled to it in pliments which he frequently bestowed on their own right; for Mr. Allworthy was not her own. To say the truth, she had read one of those generous persons, who are much English divinity, and had puzzled ready most bountifully to bestow meat, more than one of the neighbouring curates. drink, and lodging on men of wit and learn- Indeed, her conversation was so pure, her ing, for which they expect no other return looks so sage, and her whole deportment so but entertainment, instruction, flattery and grave and solemn, that she seemed to desubserviency; in a word, that such persons serve the name of saint equally with her should be enrolled in the number of domes- | namesake, or with any other female in the tics, without wearing their master's clothes, Roman calendar. or receiving wages.

As sympathies of all kinds are apt to beget On the contrary, every person in this love, so experience teaches us that none have house was perfect master of his own time; a more direct tendency this way than those of and as he might, at his pleasure, satisfy all a religious kind between persons of different his appetites within the restrictions only of sexes. The doctor found himself so agreelaw, virtue, and religion, so he might, if his able to Miss Bridget, that he now began to health required, or his inclination prompted lament an unfortunate accident which had him to temperance, or even to abstinence, happened to him about ten years before; absent himself from any meals, or retire from namely, his marriage with another woman, them, whenever he was so disposed, with- who was not only still alive, but, what was out even a solicitation to the contrary; for, worse, known to be so by Mr. Allworthy. indeed, such solicitations from superiors al- This was a fatal bar to that happiness which ways savour very strongly of commands. he otherwise saw sufficient probability of But all here were free from such imperti- obtaining with this young lady; for, as to nence, not only those whose company is in criminal indulgences, he certainly never all other places esteemed a favour from their thought of them. This was owing either equality of fortune, but even those whose to his religion, as is most probable, or to the indigent circumstances make such an elee- purity of his passion, which was fixed on mosynary abode convenient to them, and those things which matrimony only, and not who are therefore less welcome to a great criminal correspondence, could put him in man's table, because they stand in need of it. possession of, or could give him any title to. Among others of this kind was Dr. Blifil, He had not long ruminated on these mata gentleman who had the misfortune of los-ters, before it occurred to his memory, that ing the advantage of great talents by the obstinacy of a father, who would breed him to a profession he disliked. In obedience to this obstinacy, the doctor had in his youth been obliged to study physic, or rather to say he studied it; for, in reality, books of this kind were almost the only ones with which he was unacquainted; and, unfortunately for him, the doctor was master of almost every other science but that by which he was to get his bread; the consequence of which was, that the doctor at the age of forty had no bread to eat.

Such a person as this was certain to find a welcome at Mr. Allworthy's table, to whom

he had a brother who was under no such unhappy incapacity. This brother he made no doubt would succeed; for he discerned, as he thought, an inclination to marriage in the lady; and the reader, perhaps, when he hears the brother's qualifications, will not blame the confidence which he entertained of his success.

This gentleman was about thirty-five years of age. He was of a middle size, and what is called well-built. He had a scar on his forehead, which did not so much injure his beauty, as it denoted his valour, (for he was a half-pay officer.) He had good teeth, and something affable, when he pleased, in