THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD MACMILLAN AND CO.. LIMITED LONDON - BOMBAY CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO n cC^/Cnc^f Too (aie vVxq- c/tarm. ra Can x"^> a. First Edition 1890 Second Edition 1891. Reprinted 1892, 1894, 1900, 1904, 1910 Printed by R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, Edinburgh. are 261236 1 NOT many months since, a propos of a certain book of epistolary parodies, the par agr aphis ts were busily discuss- ing the different aspects which the characters of fiction present to different readers. It was shoivn that, not only as regards the fainter and less strongly drawn figures the Frank Osbaldis tones, the Clive Newcomes, the David Copperfields, but even as regards what Gautier would have called " the grotesques " - the Costigans, the Swivellers, the Gamps, each admirer, in his separate " study of imagination" had his own idea, which was not that of another. What is true of the intellectual perception is equally true of the pictorial Nothing is more notable than the diversities afforded by the same book ^vhen illustrated by different artists. Contrast for a moment the Don Quixotes of Smirke, of Tony Johannot, of Gustave Dore ; contrast the Falstaffs of Kenny Meadows, of Sir John Gilbert, of Mr. Edwin A. 1 Reprinted from the English Illustrated Magazine for October 1890. viii PREFACE Abbey. Or, to take another instance, compare the con- temporary illustrations of Dickens with the modern designs of (say) Mr. Charles Green or Mr. Frederick Barnard. The variations, it will at mice be manifest, are not the mere variations arising from ampler resource or from fuller academic skill on the part of the younger men. It is not alone that they have conquered the inner secret of Mr. du Mauriers artistic stumbling-blocks the irreconcilable chirnney-pot hat, the " terrible trousers" the unspeakable evening clothes of the Victorian era : it is that their point of view is different. Nay, in the case of Mr. Barnard, one of the first, if not the first, of modern humorous designers, although he is studiously loyal to the Dickens tradition as revealed by " Phiz " and Cruikshank, he is at the same time as iinlike them as it is well possible to be. To this individual and personal attitude of the artist must be added, among other things, t/ie further fact that each age has a trick of investing the book it decorates with something of its own tem- perament and atmosphere. It may faithfully endea- vour to revive costume ; it may reproduce accessory with the utmost care ; but it can never look ^vith the old eyes, or see exactly in the old way. Of these positions , * the Vicar of Wakefield is as good an example as any. Between its earlier illustrated editions and those of the last fifty years the gulf is wide ; while the portraits of Dr. Primrose as presented by Rowlandson on the one hand and Stothard on the other are as strikingly in contrast as any of the cases above indicated. We shall PREFACE ix add ivhat is practically a fresh chapter to a hackneyed history if for a page or two we attempt to give some account of Goldsmiths story considered exclusively in its aspect as an illustrated book. There were no illustrations to the first edition of 1766. The two duodecimo volumes "on grey paper with blunt type? printed at Salisbury in that year " by B. Collins ', for F. Newbery" were without embellishments of any kind ; and the sixth issue of 1779 had been reached before we come to the earliest native attempt at pictorial realisation of the characters. In the following year appeared the first English edition with illustrations, being two tiny booklets bearing the imprint of one J. Wenman, 0/14.4. Fleet Street, and containing a couple of poorly-executed frontispieces by the miniaturist, Daniel Dodd. They represent the Vicar taking leave of George, and Olivia and the Landlady a choice of subjects in which the artist had many subsequent imitators. The designs have little distinction but that of priority, and can claim no higher merit than attaches to the cheap adornments of a cheap book. Dodd is seen to greater advantage in one of the two plates which, about the same date, figured in Harrison's Novelist's Magazine, and also in the octavo edition of the Vicar printed for the same publisher in 1781. These plates have the pretty, old - fashioned ornamental framezvork which the elder Heath and his colleagues had borrowed from the French vignettists. Dodd illustrates the episode of the pocket-book, while his companion Walker, at once engraver X PREFACE and designer, selects the second rescue of Sophia at the precise moment when BurcheWs "great stick " has shivered the small sword of Mr. Timothy Baxter. Walker's design is the better of the two ; but their main interest is that of costume -pieces, and in both the story is told by gesture rather than by expression. So natural is it to associate the grace of Stothard with the grace of Goldsmith, that one almost resents the fact that, in the collection for which he did sc/much, the task of illustrating the Vicar fell into other hands. But as his first relations with Harrison's Magazine originated in an application made to him to correct a drawing by Dodd for Joseph Andrews, it is probable that, before he began to work regularly for the publisher, the plates for the Vicar had already been arranged for. Yet it was not long before he was engaged upon the book. In 1792 was published an octavo edition, the plates of whicJi were beautifully engraved by Basire's pupil and Blake s partner, James Parker. Stothard' s designs, six in num- ber, illustrate the Vicar taking leave of George, the Rescue of Sophia from Drowning, the Honeysuckle Arbour, the Vicar and Olivia, the Prison Sermon, and the Family Party at the end. The best of. them, perhaps, is that in which Olivia's father, with an inexpressible tenderness of gesture, lifts the half-sinking, half -kneeling form of his repentant daughter. But though none can be said to be wanting in that grace which is the unfail- ing characteristic of tJie artist, upon the whole they are not chefs - cTceuvre. Certainly they are not as good as PREFACE xi the best of the Clarissa series in Harrison ; they are not even better than the illustrations to Sterne, the originals of which are at South Kensington. Indeed, there is at South Kensington a circular composition by Stothard from the Vicar a lightly -washed sketch in Indian ink ^vhich surpasses them all. The moment selected is obscure ; but the persons represented are plainly the Wakefield family, Sir William Thornhill, and the 'Squire. The 'Squire is speaking, Olivia hides her face in her mother's lap, Dr. Primrose listens with bent head, and the ci-devant Mr. Burchell looks sternly at his nepheiv. The entire group, which is admirable in refinement and composition, has all the serene gravity of a drawing by Flaxman. Besides the above, and a pair of plates to be mentioned presently, Stothard did a set of twenty-four minute headpieces to a Memorandum Book for 1805 ( or thereabouts), all of which were derived from Goldsmiths novel, and these probably do not exhaust his efforts in this direction. After the Stothard of 1792 comes a succession of editions more or less illustrated. In 1793 Cooke published the Vicar in his Select Novels, with a vignette and plate by R. Corbould, and a plate by A nker Smith. The last, which depicts " Olivia rejecting ^vith disdain the offer of a Pttrse of Money from 'Squire Thornhill? is not only a dainty little picture, but serves to exemplify some of the remarks at the outset of this paper. Seven- and-twenty years later, the same design was re-engraved as the frontispiece to an edition published by Dean and xii PREFACE Munday, and the costumes were modernised to date. T/ie 'Squire Thorn hill of 1793 has a three-cornered hat and ruffles ; in 1820 he wears whiskers, a stiff cravat with a little collar, and a cocked hat set athzvart ships. Olivia, who disdained him in 1793 in a cap and sash, disdains him in 1820 in her own hair and a high waist. Cprbould's illustrations to these volumes ere commonplace. But he does better in the five plates which he supplied to Whittingham s edition of 1800, three of which, the Honeysuckle Arbour, Moses starting on his Journey, and Olivia and the Landlady, are pleasant enough. In 1808 followed an edition with a charming frontispiece by S tot hard, in which the Vicar with his arm in a sling is endeavouring to reconcile Mrs. Primrose to Olivia. There is also a vignette by the same hand. These, engraved at first by Heath, were repeated in 1813 by J. Romney. In the same year the book appeared in the Mirror of Amusement with three plates by that artistic Jack-of- all-trades, William Marshall Craig, sometime drawing -master to the Princess Charlotte of Wales. There are also editions in 1812, 1823, and 1824 with frontispieces by the Academician, Thomas Uwins. But as an interpreter of Goldsmith, the painter of the once- popular Chapeau de Brigand is not inspiriting. In following the line of engravers on copper, soon tc be superseded by steel, we have neglected the sister art Oj engraving upon wood, of which the revival is practically synchronous with Harrison's Magazine. The firs edition of the Vicar, decorated ivith ^uhat Horace Walpol PREFACE mptnously called "wooden cuts" is dated Was seven designs^ three of which are by an unknown n called Eginton, and the remainder by Thomas %#il&ick, by ^vhon^ all of them are engraved. Eginton rJf be at once dismissed ; but Bewick's oivn work, not- '.' standing his genuine admiration for Goldsmith^ . *es no particular enthusiasm. He was too original ^flf ^ itt ustra t r f other men's ideas, and his designs, Wgk fair specimens of his technique as a xylographer, ijjpoor as artistic conceptions. The most successfid is WProcession to Church, the stubbornness of Black- itfy, as may be imagined, being effectively rendered, mtispieces by Bewick also appear in editions of I 8 I o I i 8 I 2 ; and betiveen 1807 ana/ I 8 1 o the records %&& of tJiree American issues with woodcuts by Bewick's for Atlantic imitator, Alexander Anderson. Whether were or ^vere not merely copies of Beivick, like \ of Anderson's zvork, cannot be affirmed without lion. Nor, for tJie same reason, is it possible to ivith certainty of the edition illustrated by and engraved by Bewick's pupil, Luke ell, of iv kick Mr. W. J. Lin ton speaks in his Krs of Wood Engraving as containing a " * Mr. Ife// in the hay fie Id reading to the tivo Primrose WjLfutt f drawing and daylight',' which should be \ seeing. Biit the triumph of woodcut copies at mdate is undoubtedly the so-called " W hittingham' s gw " of 1815. This is illustrated by thirty -seven yjfitts and tailpieces engraved by the prince of modern b xiv PREFACE ' ' * .>' wood-engravers, Jo/in Thompson. T/ie artist's name has been modestly witJiheld, and the designs are sometiifa attributed to Thurston, but they are not entirely manner, and zve are inclined to assign them to Sanu Williams. In any case, they are unpretending little pieces, simple in treatment, and sympathetic in character. The Vicar Consoled by his little Boys, and the Two Girls and the Fortune-teller, may be cited as favourable examples. But the scale is too small for mucJi play of expression. " W hittingham' s edition " was very popu- lar, and copies are by no means rare. It was cer- tainly republished in 1822 and 1825, and probably tJiere are other issues. And so ^ve come to that most extraordinary of contributions by a popular designer to the embellishment of a popular author, the Vicar of Thomas Rowlands on. Roivlandson was a caricaturist, and his Vicar is a caricature. He was not ^vitJwut artistic power ; he could, if he liked, draw a beautiful woman (it is /;m; that his ideal generally deserves those epithets of " plantureux, luxuriant, exuberant " which the painter in Gerfaut gives to the charms of Mile. Rcinc Gobillof) ; but he did not care to modify his ordinary style. Conse- quently he has illustrated GohlsmitJi s masterpiece as he illustrated Combes Doctor Syntax, and the result .is a pictorial outrage. The unhappy Primrose family romp through his pages, vulgarised by all sorts of indignities, and the reader reaches the last of the " twenty -four coloured plates" which Ackermann put fortli in 1817, PREFACE xv and again in 1823, as one escaping from a nightmare. It is only necessary to glance at S tot hard's charming little plate of Hunt the Slipper in Rogers s Pleasures of Memory of 1802 to see how far -from the Goldsmith spirit is Rowlandsoris treatment of the same pastime. Where he is most endurable, is where his designs to the Vicar have the least relation to the personages of the book, as, for example, in " A Connoisseur Mellowing the Tone of a Picture',' which is simply a humorous print neither better nor zvorse than any of the other humorous prints with which he was wont to fill the windows of the "Repository of Arts" in Piccadilly. It is a relief to turn from the coarse rotundities of Rowlandson to the edition which immediately followed that known to collectors as Sharpes. It contains five illustrations by Richard Westall, engraved on copper by Corbould, Warren, Roniney, and others. WestalVs designs are of the school of Stothard that is to say, they are graceful and elegant rather than humorous ; but they are most beautifully rendered by their engravers. The Honeysuckle Arbour (George Corbould], where the girls lean across the table to watch the labouring stag as it pants past, is one of the most brilliant little pictures we ever remember to have seen. In 1829, William Finden re-engraved the whole of these designs on steel, slightly reducing them in size, and the merits of the two methods may be compared. It is hard to adjudge the palm. Finden s fif tli plate especially, depicting Sophias return to the Vicar in Prison, is a miracle of executive finesse. xvi PREFACE Goldsmith's next illustrators of importance are Cruikshank and Mulready. The contributions of the former are limited to two plates for Vol. X. (1832) of Roscoe's Novelist's Library, They are not successes. The kindly Genius of Broadgrin is hardly as vulgar as Roivlandson, but his efforts to make his subject " comic" at all risks, are not the less disastrous, and there is little of the Vicar, or Mrs. Primrose, or even Moses, in the sketch with which he illustrates the tragedy of the gross of green spectacles ; while the most salient characteristic of the somewhat more successful Hunt the Slipper is the artists inveterate tendency to make the waists of his women (in the words of Pope's imitation of Prior] "fine by defect, and delicately weak" Mulready s designs (1843), excellently interpreted by John Thompson, have a far greater reputation, a reputation heightened not a little by the familiar group of pictures which he elaborated from three of the sketches. Choosing the Wedding Gown, the Wkistonian Controversy, and Sophia and Burchell Haymaking, with their unrivalled rendering of texture and material, are among the painter's . most successful works in oil ; and it is the fashion to speak of his illustrated Vicar as if all of its designs were at the same artistic level. This is by no means the case. Some of them, e.g. Olivia measuring herself with the 'Squire, have playfidness and charrn, but the majority are not only crowded in composition, but heavy and unattractive. Mulready's paintings, however, and the generally dif- fused feeling that the domestic note in his work should PREFACE xvn make him a born illustrator of Goldsmith, have given him a prestige which cannot now be gainsaid. After Mulready follows a crowd of minor illustrators. One of the most successful of these was the clever artist George Thomas ; one of the most disappointing, because his gifts were of so high an order, was the late G. J. Pinwell. Of Absolon, Anelay, Gilbert, and the rest, it is impossible to speak here, and we must close this rapid summary with brief reference to some of the foreign editions. At the beginning of this paper, in enumerating certain of the causes for the diversities, pleasing or otherwise, which prevail in illustrated copies of the classics, we purposely reserved one which it is more convenient to treat in connection with those books when "embellished" by foreign artists. If, even in the country of birth, each age (as has been well said of translations} " a eu de ce cote son belvedere different," it follows that every other country will have its point of view, which will be at variance zvith that of a native. To say that no book dealing with human nature in the abstract is capable of being adequately illustrated except in the country of its origin, would be to state a proposition in imminent danger of prompt contradiction. But it may be safely asserted, that, except by an artist ^vho, from long residence or familiarity, has enjoyed unusual facilities for assimi- lating the national atmosphere, no novel of manners (to which class the Vicar undoubtedly belongs) can be illustrated with complete success by a foreigner. For this xviii PREFACE reason, it will not be necessary here to do more than refer briefly to the principal French and German editions. In either country the Vicar has had the advantage of being artistically interpreted by draughtsmen of marked ability ; but in both cases the solecisms are thicker than the beauties. It must be admitted, notwithstanding, for Germany, that it was earlier in the field than England. Wen- man's edition is dated 1780 ; but it was in 1776 that August Mylius, of Berlin, issued the first frontispiece of the Vicar. // is an etching by the Berlin Hogarth, Daniel Chodowiecki, prefixed to an English reprint of the second edition, and represents the popular episode of Mr. Burchell and the pocket-book. The poor Vicar is transformed into a loose- lipped, heavy-jowled German pastor in a dressing-gown and slippers, while Mr. Burchell becomes a slim personage in top-boots, and such a hunts- man's cap as stage tradition assigns to Tony Lumpkin. In the Almanac Genealogique for 1777 Chodowiecki returned to this subject, and produced a series of twelve charming plates little marvels of delicate execution upon the same theme. Some of these, e.g. the " Conversa- tion brillante des Dames de la ville " and " George sur le Teatre (sic) reconnoit son Pere " are delightfully quaint. But they are not illustrations of the text and there is no more to say. The same radical objection applies to the illustrations, full of fancy, ingenuity, and playful- ness as they are, of another German, Ludwig Richter. His edition has often been reprinted. But it is sufficient PREFACE xix to glance at his barefooted Sophia, making hay with her straw hat at her back, in order to decide against it. One crosses out " Sophia " and writes in " Frederika" She may have lived at Sesenheim, biit never at Wakefield. In like manner, the insular mind recoils from the spectacle of the patriarchal Jenkinson studying the Cosmogony in company ivith a tankard of a make unmistakably Teutonic. In France, to judge by certain entries in Cohen's invaluable Guide de TAmateur de Livres a Vignettes, the book seems to have been illustrated as early as the end of the last century. Huot and Texier are mentioned as artists, but their works have escaped us. The chief French edition, however, is that which belongs to the famous series of books " aux images incrustees en plein texte" (as Jules Janin says), inaugurated in 1835 by the Gil Bias of Jean Gigoux. The Vicaire de Wakefield (Bourgueleret, 1838), admirably paraphrased by Charles Nodier, was accompanied by ten engravings on steel by William Finden after Tony Johannot, and a number of small woodcuts, entetes and culs-de-lampe by Janet Lange, Charles Jacque, and C. Marville} As composi- tions, Johannofs contributions are effective, but highly theatrical, while his types are frankly French. Of the woodcuts it may be sufficient to note that when the Vicar and Mrs. Primrose discuss the prospects of the family in the privacy of their own chamber, they do so (in the picture] 1 To the edition of 1843, which does not contain these woodcuts, is added one by Meissonier. xx PREFACE from tivo separate four-posters with tivisted uprights, and a crucifix betzveen them. The same eccentricities, tJiongh scarcely so naively ignorant, are not absent from the work of two muck more modern artists, M. V. A. Poirson and M. Adolphe Lalauze. M. Poirson (Quantin, 1885) who, in his own domain, has extra- ordinary skill as a decorative artist, depicts 'Squire TJwrnhill as a gay young French chasseur with many- buttoned gaiters and a fusil en bandouliere, while the hero of the Elegy on a Mad Dog appears in those " wooden shoes " (with straw in therri) which for so long ivere to English cobblers the chief terror of a French invasion. M. Lalauze again (Jouaust, 1888), for ^vhose distinguished gifts (in their place) we have the keenest admiration, promotes the whole Wakefield family into the haute noblesse. An elegant Dr. Primrose blesses an elegant George with the air of a Rochefou- caidt, wJtile Mrs. Primrose, in the background, vvith the Bible and cane, is a grande dame de par le monde. Under the same treatment, the scene in the hayfield becomes a fete galante after the fashion of Lancret or Watteau. Upon the whole, dismissing foreign artists for the reason given above, one is forced to the conclusion that Goldsmith has not hitherto found his fitting pictorial interpreter. Stothard and Mulready ' have accentuated his graver side ; Cruikshank and Rowlandson have exaggerated his humour. But no single artist in 'the past, as far as we are aware, has, in any just proportion, PREFACE xxi combined them both. By the delicate quality of his art, by the alliance in his work of a grace and playfulness ^vk^ch has a kind of parallel in Goldsmiths literary style, the late Mr. Randolph Caldecott seemed always to suggest that lie could, if he would, supply this want. But, apart from the captivating play -book of the Mad Dog and a frontispiece in the Parchment Library, Mr. Caldecott contributed nothing to the illustration of Goldsmith's novel. AUSTIN DOB SON. E A LING, October 1890. Goldsmith's Chair and Cane. South Kensington Musettm. CHAPTER I PAGE The Description of the Family of Wakefield, in which a kindred Likeness prevails, as well of Minds as of Persons . . I CHAPTER II Family Misfortunes. TJie Loss of Fortune only serves to increase the Pride of the Worthy . . . . . .10 CHAPTER III A Migration. The fortunate Circumstances of our Lives are gener- ally found at last to be of our own procuring . . .20 CHAPTER IV A Proof that even the humblest Fortune may grant Happiness, which depends, not on Circumstances, but Constitution . 31 CHAPTER V A new and great Acquaintance introduced. What we place most Hopes upon, generally proves most fatal . . -39 xxiv CONTENTS CHAPTER VI PAGE The Happiness of a Country Fireside . . . . -47 CHAPTER VII A Town Wit described. The dullest Fellows may learn to be comical for a Night or Two . . . . -55 CHAPTER VIII An Amour which promises little good Fortune yet may be pro- ductive of much . ...... 62 CHAPTER IX Two Ladies of great Distinction introduced. Superior Finery ever seems to confer superior Breeding . . . 71 CHAPTER X The Family endeavour to cope with their Betters. The Miseries of the Poor, when they attempt to appear above their Circumstances 78 CHAPTER XI The Family still resolve to hold up their Heads . 87 CHAPTER XII Fortune seems resolved to humble the Family of Wakefield. Mortifications are often more painful than real Calamities . 96 CHAPTER XIII Mr. Burchell is found to be an Enemy, for he has the confidence to give disagreeable Advice . . . . .106 CONTENTS XXV CHAPTER XIV PAGE Fresh Mortifications, or a Demonstration that seeming Calamities may be real Blessings . . . . , .in CHAPTER XV All Mr. Burchell's Villainy at once detected. The Folly of being overwise . 122 CHAPTER XVI The Family use Art, which is opposed with still greater . .129 CHAPTER XVII Scarcely any Virtue found to resist the Power of long and pleasing Temptation . . . . . . 137 CHAPTER XVIII The Pursuit of a Father to reclaim a Lost Child to Virtue . . 148 CHAPTER XIX The Description of a Person discontented with the Present Govern- ment and apprehensive of the Loss of our Liberties . I 55 CHAPTER XX The History of a philosophic Vagabond, pursuing Novelty, but losing Content . . . . . . .167 xxvi CONTENTS CHAPTER XXI PAGE The short continuance of Friendship amongst the vicious, which is coeval only with mutual satisfaction . . . .189 CHAPTER XXII Offences are easily pardoned, where there is Love at bottom . 202 CHAPTER XXIII None but the Guilty can be long and completely miserable . . 209 CHAPTER XXIV Fresh Calamities . . . . . . .216 CHAPTER XXV No Situation, however wretched it seems, but has some sort of Comfort attending it ...... 224 CHAPTER XXVI A Reformation in the Gaol : to make laws complete, they should reward as well as punish . . . . .232 CHAPTER XXVII The same Subject continued ... . . 241 CHAPTER XXVIII Happiness and Misery rather the Result of Prudence than of Virtue in this Life ; temporal Evils or Felicities being regarded by Heaven as things merely in themselves trifling, and unworthy its care in the distribution . . . . . 247 CONTENTS XXVll CHAPTER XXIX PAGE The Equal Dealings of Providence demonstrated with regard to the jaftappy and the Miserable here below. That, from the nature Sgjpf Pleasure and Pain, the Wretched must be repaid the balance of their Sufferings in the Life hereafter .... 262 CHAPTER XXX Happier Prospects begin to appear. Let us be inflexible, and Fortune will at last change in our Favour .... 268 CHAPTER XXXI Former Benevolence now repaid with unexpected Interest . 280 CHAPTER XXXII Conclusion 300 Olivia ...... Dedication ..... Heading to Preface .... ^Goldsmith's Chair and Cane . Heading to Contents .... Tailpiece to Contents .... Heading to List of Illustrations Tailpiece to- List of Illustrations Advertisement .... Heading to Chapter I. ... "We had an elegant house" . " To taste our gooseberry wine " ." Tp lend him a riding-coat " . " In the most pathetic parts of my sermon " . " Would bid the girls hold up their heads " . Tailpiece to Chapter I. ... Heading to Chapter II. An Exhortation to Matrimony Mrs. Primrose's Epitaph " On fine days rode a-hunting " " And then gazed in the glass " " With the music-master's assistance " " The completing a tract " The great Whiston Controversy Tailpiece to Chapter II. Heading to Chapter III. Frontispiece vn xxi . xxiii . xxvii . xxix . xxxiv . xxxv 2 3 4 6 8 9 10 ii 12 14 15 . 16 17 . 18 19 20 xxx LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE " To spare an old broken soldier " . " . . 2 3 " Mr. Burchell and I bringing up the rear" . . . 25 " Pointing to a magnificent house " . . . . .26 The Rescue of Sophia . . ' . .29 .Up in the Clouds ..... -3 Heading to Chapter IV. . .31 "Came out to meet their minister " . . . . .32 "Our little habitation" . . . . . -33 " The Cruelty of Barbara Allen " . . . . -34 ' ' To read the lessons of the day " . . . . -35 " In all their former splendour " . . . . . 36 . " With an important air " . . . . . -37 Tailpiece to Chapter IV. .... .38 Heading to Chapter V. .... -39 " And enjoy the breeze that wafted both health and harmony " .40 " Come sweeping along " . . . . . 41 "With a careless superior air " . . .42 " Which she returned with a curtsey " . . .43 " Lifting up the flaps of his pocket-holes " . . .44 Tailpiece to Chapter V. . . . . .46 Heading to Chapter VI. . ... 47 " Little Dick reached him a chair" . 48 " The history of Patient Grissel " . ... 49 " A lump of sugar each " . . . . . .50 " To whose child he was carrying a whistle " . . 51 " This was said without the least design " . . . -53 " Seemingly by accident " . . . . .54 Heading to Chapter VII. . . . -55 " Mr. Thornhill came with a couple of friends " . . .56 " Winked on the rest of the company " . . . 57 " " No, Sir, there I protest you are too hard for me " . -59 Tailpiece to Chapter VII. . . .61 Heading to Chapter VIII. .... .62 " Our family dined in the field " . . . . .63 ' ' Bursting through the hedge^" . . . . .69 ' LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxxi PAGE Tailpiece to Chapter VIII. . . . . 70 Heading to Chapter IX. . . . . . 71 " Our landlord and two young ladies richly dressed " . -72 " Returned with my neighbour Flamborough's rosy daughters " . 73 4 ' Two fiddles, with a pipe and tabor " . . . .74 ' ' As pat to the music as its echo " . . . . -75 " Kept up beyond the usual time" . . . . -77 Heading to Chapter X. . . . . . 78 " I was tired of being always wise " . . . . -79 " True-love-knots lurked in the bottom of every teacup " . . 81 " With looks that betrayed a latent plot " . . .82 Blackberry and the Colt . . . . -83 " I walked on to the church " . . . . .84 " I waited near an hour" . . . . . 85 " At first refused to move from the door " . . . .86 Heading to Chapter XI. . . . . . -87 " His manner of telling stories " . . . . .88 " Jernigan ! Jernigan ! bring me my garters " . . -91 "Fudge" ........ 93 Tailpiece to Chapter XL . . . . . -95 Heading to Chapter XII. . . . . .96 " Pitting out Moses for the fair " . . . , . .98 Moses starting for the Fair . . . 99 " And gave the messenger sevenpence halfpenny " . . . 100 11 Moses came slowly on foot "..... 102 " Dear mother, why won't you listen to reason ? " . 103 Tailpiece to Chapter XII. ... . 105 Heading to Chapter XIII. .... .106 " I'll take my leave therefore " ... . 109 Tailpiece to Chapter XIII. ... . no Heading to Chapter XIV. . . . . . . 1 1 1 c c To advise me, in a whisper " . . . .112 At the Fair ... . . 113 " Wholly intent over a large book " . .114 " The modest youth shed tears" . . TI 5 xxxn LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE " Go and get gold for this " . . . . . .118 " He read it twice over " . . . . . .120 Tailpiece to Chapter XIV. . . . . . .121 Heading to Chapter XV. . . . . . .122 " Found on the green " . . . . . . 123 " Mr. Burchell was approaching " . . . . .124 Tailpiece to Chapter XV. . . . . . .128 Heading to Chapter XVI. ...... 129 "Setting my two little ones to box " . . . . .130 " Drawn together in one large historical family piece " . -132 Mr. Spanker . . . . . . 135 Heading to Chapter XVII. . . . . . . 137 " But he persuaded her again " . . . . .144 "They drove off very fast" ...... 146 Tailpiece to Chapter XVII. ... . . 147 Heading to Chapter XVIII. ... .148 " I was met by a person on horseback " . . 149 " A very well-dressed gentleman " . . 153 Tailpiece to Chapter XVIII. . ... . 154 Heading to Chapter XIX. J 55 " The player, with a wink " ... 156 "'What!' cried he". . . . . . .161 " Welcomed me with most cordial hospitality ' -163 Tailpiece to Chapter XIX. . 166 Heading to Chapter XX. ... 167 " But cheerful as the birds that carolled by the road " 168 " Drew out a bundle of proposals " I7 1 "A young gentleman approached me" 174 "Are you the bearer of this here letter ? " .178 Mr. Crispe .... 180 " All you have to do is to teach the Dutchmen English" . 181 " This amazed me " .... -183 " I played one of my most merry tunes " .184 Tailpiece to Chapter XX. . 188 Heading to Chapter XXI. . 189 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxxiii PAGE " Informed me, with a whisper " ..... 190 " He replied by drinking her health " .... 194 " Caught the dear forlorn wretch in my arms" . . . 196 " I burst from him in a rage" ..... 200 Tailpiece to Chapter XXI. ...... 201 Heading to Chapter XXII. ...... 202 " I strove to calm her sorrows" ..... 203 " While the family stood, with silent agony ". . . . 205 " Here, dear papa, here we are " ..... 206 Tailpiece to Chapter XXII. . ... 208 Heading to Chapter XXIII. . . . . . .209 " With the kindest condolence " . . . .210 " In the grandest equipage " . , . . . .213 Tailpiece to Chapter XXIII. . . . . . .215 Heading to Chapter XXIV. . . . . . .216 " ' Avoid my sight, thou reptile,' cried I " . . . .218 " To demand my annual rent " . . ... .221 " They came in " ....... 223 Heading to Chapter XXV. ...... 224 " And walked on slowly " ...... 225 " You talk of the world, Sir ". ..... 228 " To call over the prisoners' names ". .... 230 Tailpiece to Chapter XXV. . . . . .231 Heading to Chapter XXVI. . . . . . .232 " Perfectly merry upon the occasion " 235 " Swearing that I was a very honest fellow " . . . . 236 " And loved the ladies " .... . 239 " He slapped his forehead " ...... 240 Heading to Chapter XXVII. . . . . . .241 Tailpiece to Chapter XXVII. . . 246 Heading to Chapter XXVIII. . . . 247 " Leaning on her sister's arm "..... 248 "Who were using all their innocent efforts to comfort me " . . 252 " And delivered the letter " ...... 254 "The keeper entered " ...... 259 xxxiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Heading to Chapter XXIX. ...... 262 Tailpiece to Chapter XXIX. . . . . . .267 Heading to Chapter XXX. .... .268 11 With oaths and menaces drew his sword " . . . .271 " Climbed up Sir William's knee" ... . 278 Tailpiece to Chapter XXX. .... . 279 Heading to Chapter XXXI. ...... 280 " Hauling in a tall man " . . . 283 ' ' She learned from him " ...... 286 " To make a genteel appearance " . ... 289 " Received by the shouts of the villagers " .... 298 Tailpiece to Chapter XXXI. ...... 299 Heading to Chapter XXXII. . . . . . .300 " Learning to blow the French horn" . . . 303 " At which jest " ... . 304 Tailpiece to Chapter XXXII. . ... 305 J^svn.g&-> . Jnay 6e very di "t/3. tf-rte. greatest c&ra?fegan to think seriously of matrimony, and chose . B 2 THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD CHAP. my wife, as she did her wedding-gown, not for a fine glossy surface, but for such qualities as would wear well. To do her justice, she was a good-natured notable woman ; and, as for breeding, there were few country ladies who could show more. She could read any English book without much spelling ; but for pickling, preserving, and cookery, none could excel her. She prided herself also upon being an excellent contriver in housekeeping ; though I could never find that we grew richer with all her contrivances. However, we loved each other tenderly, and our fondness increased as we grew old. There was, in fact, nothing that could make us angry with the world or each other. We had an elegant house situated in a fine country, and a good neighbourhood. The year was spent in a moral or rural amusement, in visiting our rich neighbours, and relieving such as were poor. We had no revolutions to fear, nor fatigues to undergo ; i DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMILY 3 all our adventures were by the fireside, and all our migrations from the blue bed to the brown. As we lived near the road, we often had the traveller or stranger visit us to taste our gooseberry wine, for which we had great reputation ; and I profess, with the veracity of an historian, that I never knew one of them find fault with it. Our cousins, too, even to the fortieth remove, all remembered their affinity, without any help from the heralds' office, and came very frequently to see us. Some of them did us no great honour by thesefc claims of kindred ; as we had the blind, the maimed, and the halt amongst the number. However, THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD CHAP. my wife always insisted that, as they were the same flesh and blood, they should sit with us at the same table. So that, if we had not very rich, we generally had very happy friends about us ; for this remark will hold good through life, that the poorer the guest, the CAJ u?7i5 n im. cc rcdCcny G)u& I J \ 'J better pleased he ever is with being treated : and as some men gaze with admiration at the colours of a tulip, or the wing of a butterfly, so I was, by nature, an admirer of happy human faces. However, when any one of our relations was found to be a person of very bad character, a troublesome guest, or one we desired I DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMILY 5 to get rid of, upon his leaving my house I ever took care to lend him a riding-coat, or a pair of boots, or sometimes an horse of small value, and I always had the satisfaction of finding he never came back to return them. By this the house was cleared of such as we did not like ; but never was the family of Wakefield known to turn the traveller or the poor dependant out of doors. Thus we lived several years in a state of much happiness, not but that we sometimes had those little rubs which Providence sends to enhance the value of its favours. My orchard was often robbed by school- boys, and my wife's custards plundered by the cats or the children. The Squire would sometimes fall asleep in the most "pathetic parts of my sermon, or his lady return my wife's civilities at church with a mutilated curtsey. But we soon got over the uneasiness caused by such accidents, and usually in three or four days began to wonder how they vexed us. My children, the offspring of temperance, as they were educated without softness, so they were at once well-formed and healthy ; my sons hardy and active, my daughters beautiful and blooming. When I stood in the midst of the little circle, which promised to be the supports of my declining age, I could not avoid repeating the famous story of Count Abensberg who, in Henry the Second's progress through Germany, while other courtiers came with their treasures, brought his thirty -two children, and presented them to his sovereign as the most valuable offering he had to bestow. In this manner, though I had but six, I considered them as a very valuable present made to my country, and consequently looked upon it as my THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD CHAP. debtor. Our eldest son was named George, after his uncle, who left us ten thousand pounds. Our second of rw child, a girl, I intended to call after her aunt Grissel ; but my wife, who during her pregnancy had been reading romances, insisted upon her being called Olivia. I DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMILY 7 In less than another year we had another daughter, and now I was determined that Grissel should be her name ; but a rich relation taking a fancy to stand godmother, the girl was, by her directions, called Sophia ; so that we had two romantic names in the family ; but I solemnly protest I had no hand in it. Moses was our next, and, after an interval of twelve years, we had two sons more. It would be fruitless to deny exultation when I saw my little ones about me ; but the vanity and the satisfaction of my wife were even greater than mine. When our visitors would say, " Well, upon my word, Mrs. Primrose, you have the finest children in the whole country ; " " Ay, neighbour," she would answer, "they are as Heaven made them, handsome enough, if they be good enough ; for handsome is that handsome- does." And then she would bid the girls hold up their heads ; who, to conceal nothing, were certainly very handsome. Mere outside is so very trifling a circumstance with me, that I should scarce have remembered to mention it, had it not been a general topic of conversation in the country. Olivia, now about eighteen, had that luxuriancy of beauty with which painters generally draw Hebe ; open, sprightly, and commanding. Sophia's features were not so striking at first, but often did more certain execution ; for they were soft, modest, and alluring. The one vanquished by a single blow, the other by efforts successfully repeated. The temper of a woman is generally formed from the turn of her features : at least it was so with my daughters. Olivia wished for many lovers; Sophia to secure one. Olivia was often affected, from too great THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD CHAP. a desire to please ; Sophia even repressed excellence, from her fears to offend. The one entertained me with her vivacity when I was gay, the other with her sense when I was serious. But these qualities were never carried to excess in either, and I have often seen them exchange characters for a whole day together. A suit of mourning has transformed my coquette into a prude, and a new set of ribands has given her younger sister more than natural vivacity. My eldest son George was bred at Oxford, as I intended him for one of the learned professions. My second boy Moses, whom I designed for business, received a sort of I DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMILY 9 miscellaneous education at home. But it is needless to attempt describing the particular characters of young people that had seen but very little of the world. In short, a family likeness prevailed through all, and, properly speaking, they had but one character, that 9 of being all equally generous, credulous, simple, and inoffensive. JirWcf fe increase ifa fi , tufacti depends, not on (urcc(.msfcxnv& , 6tit~ il place of our retreat was in a little neigh- bourhood, consisting of farmers, who tilled their own grounds, and were equal strangers to opulence and poverty. As they had almost all the conveniences of life within themselves, they seldom visited towns or cities in search of superfluity. Remote from the polite, they still retained the primeval simplicity of manners ; and, frugal by habit, they scarce knew that temperance was a virtue. They wrought with cheerfulness on days of labour ; but observed festivals as intervals of idleness and pleasure. They kept up the Christmas carol, sent true love knots on Valentine morning, ate pancakes on Shrovetide, showed their wit on the first of April, and religiously cracked nuts on Michaelmas eve. Being apprised of our approach," the whole neighbourhood came out to meet their minister, dressed in their finest clothes, and preceded by a pipe and tabor. A feast 32 THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD also was provided for our reception, at which cheerfully down ; and what the conversation wanted in wit was made up in laughter. Our little habitation was situated at the fc sloping hill, sheltered with a beautiful underwood behind, and a prattling river before ; on one meadow, on the other a green. My farm c< of about twenty acres of excellent land, having given an hundred pounds for my predecessor's good-wilf. Nothing could exceed the neatness of my enclosures, the elms and hedge-rows appearing inexpressible beauty. My house consisted of bi story, and was covered with thatch, which ga\v air of great snugness ; the walls, on the inside, nicely whitewashed, and my daughters under adorn them with pictures of their own de Though the same room served us for park kitchen, that only made it the warmer. Besid was kept with the utmost neatness, the dishes, pi iv.. i HUMBLEST FORTUNE MAY GRANT HAPPINESS 33 . I coppers being well scoured, and all disposed in ght rows on the shelves, the eye was agreeably re- ^ r ed, and did not want richer furniture. There were : other apartments ; one for my wife and me, her for our two daughters within our own, and the ., with two beds, for the rest of the children. | The little republic to wrrjqh I gave laws, was .regulated in the following manner : By sunrise we all nbled in our common apartment, the fire being |viously kindled by the servant. After we had :ed each other with proper ceremony for I always nought fit to keep up some mechanical forms of good ding, without which freedom ever destroys friend- we all bent in gratitude to that Being who \ us another day. This duty being performed, ISson and I went Ito pursue our usual industry flbfed, while my wife and daughters employed them- JPes in providing breakfast, which was always ready cfe certain time. I allowed half an hour for this at and an hour for dinner ; which time was taken n innocent mirth between my wife and daughters, D 34 THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD and in philosophical arguments between my son and me. As we rose with the sun, so we never pursued our labours after it was gone down, but returned home to the expecting family, where smiling looks, a neat hearth, and pleasant fire, were prepared for our recep- tion. Nor were we without guests : sometimes farmer Flamborough, our talkative neighbour, and often the blind piper, would pay us a visit, and taste our goose- berry wine, for the making of which we had lost neither the receipt nor the reputation. These harmless people had several ways of being good company ; while one played, the other would sing some soothing ballad, Johnny Armstrong's Last Good-night, or the Cruelty of HUMBLEST FORTUNE MAY GRANT HAPPINESS 35 Barbara Allen. The night was concluded in the manner we began the morning, my youngest boys being appointed to read the lessons of the day ; and he that read loudest, distinctest, and best, was to have a half- penny on Sunday to put into the poor's box. When Sunday came, it was indeed a day of finery, which all my sumptuary edicts could not restrain, How well soever I fancied my lectures against pride had conquered the vanity of my daughters, yet I still found them secretly attached to all their former finery : they still loved laces, ribands, bugles, and catgut ; my wife herself retained a passion for her crimson paduasoy, because I formerly happened to say it became her. . The first Sunday, in particular, their behaviour served to mortify me. I had desired my girls the 36 THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD CHAP. preceding night to be dressed early the next day ; for I always loved to be at church a good while before the rest of the congregation. They punctually obeyed my directions; but when we were to assemble in the morning at breakfast, down came my wife and daughters, dressed out in all their former splendour ; their hair plastered up with pomatum, their faces patched to taste, their trains bundled up in a heap behind, and rustling at every motion. I could not help smiling at their vanity, particularly that of my wife, from whom I expected more discretion. In this .exigence, therefore, my only resource was to order my son, with an important air, to call our coach. The girls were amazed at the command ; but I repeated it iv HUMBLEST FORTUNE MAY GRANT HAPPINESS 37 with more solemnity than before. " Surely, my dear, you jest," cried my wife ; " we can walk it perfectly well : we want no coach to carry us now." " You mis- take, child," returned I, "we do want a coach ; for if we walk to church in this trim, the very children in the parish will hoot after us." " In- deed," replied my wife, " I always imagined that my Charles was fond of seeing his children neat and hand- some about him." " You may be as neat as you please," interrupted I, " and I shall love you the better for it ; but all this is not neatness, but frippery. These rufflings, and pinkings, and patchings will only m'ake us| hated by all the wives of our neighbours. No, my children," continued I, more cur gravely, " those gowns may be altered into something of a plainer cut ; for finery is very unbecoming in us, who want the means of decency. I do not know whether such flouncing and shredding is becoming even in the rich, if we consider, upon a moderate calculation, that the nakedness of the indigent -L world might be clothed from the trimmings of the vain." J This remonstrance had the proper effect : they went with great composure, that very instant, to change their 38 THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD CHAP, iv dress ; and the next day I had the satisfaction of finding my daughters, at their own request, employed in cutting up their trains into Sunday waistcoats for Dick and Bill, the two little ones ; and, what was still more satisfactory, the gowns seemed improved by this curtailing. dttcecf. WfUxf cue ftface. 7nojfJ&fte