History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Page 14
Chapter xii.
Containing what the reader may, perhaps, expect to find in it.
In all bargains, whether to fight or to marry, or concerning any othersuch business, little previous ceremony is required to bring thematter to an issue when both parties are really in earnest. This wasthe case at present, and in less than a month the captain and his ladywere man and wife.
The great concern now was to break the matter to Mr Allworthy; andthis was undertaken by the doctor.
One day, then, as Allworthy was walking in his garden, the doctor cameto him, and, with great gravity of aspect, and all the concern whichhe could possibly affect in his countenance, said, "I am come, sir, toimpart an affair to you of the utmost consequence; but how shall Imention to you what it almost distracts me to think of!" He thenlaunched forth into the most bitter invectives both against men andwomen; accusing the former of having no attachment but to theirinterest, and the latter of being so addicted to vicious inclinationsthat they could never be safely trusted with one of the other sex."Could I," said he, "sir, have suspected that a lady of such prudence,such judgment, such learning, should indulge so indiscreet a passion!or could I have imagined that my brother--why do I call him so? he isno longer a brother of mine----"
"Indeed but he is," said Allworthy, "and a brother of mine too."
"Bless me, sir!" said the doctor, "do you know the shocking affair?"
"Look'ee, Mr Blifil," answered the good man, "it hath been my constantmaxim in life to make the best of all matters which happen. My sister,though many years younger than I, is at least old enough to be at theage of discretion. Had he imposed on a child, I should have been moreaverse to have forgiven him; but a woman upwards of thirty mustcertainly be supposed to know what will make her most happy. She hathmarried a gentleman, though perhaps not quite her equal in fortune;and if he hath any perfections in her eye which can make up thatdeficiency, I see no reason why I should object to her choice of herown happiness; which I, no more than herself, imagine to consist onlyin immense wealth. I might, perhaps, from the many declarations I havemade of complying with almost any proposal, have expected to have beenconsulted on this occasion; but these matters are of a very delicatenature, and the scruples of modesty, perhaps, are not to be overcome.As to your brother, I have really no anger against him at all. He hathno obligations to me, nor do I think he was under any necessity ofasking my consent, since the woman is, as I have said, _sui juris_,and of a proper age to be entirely answerable only, to herself for herconduct."
The doctor accused Mr Allworthy of too great lenity, repeated hisaccusations against his brother, and declared that he should nevermore be brought either to see, or to own him for his relation. He thenlaunched forth into a panegyric on Allworthy's goodness; into thehighest encomiums on his friendship; and concluded by saying, heshould never forgive his brother for having put the place which hebore in that friendship to a hazard.
Allworthy thus answered: "Had I conceived any displeasure against yourbrother, I should never have carried that resentment to the innocent:but I assure you I have no such displeasure. Your brother appears tome to be a man of sense and honour. I do not disapprove the taste ofmy sister; nor will I doubt but that she is equally the object of hisinclinations. I have always thought love the only foundation ofhappiness in a married state, as it can only produce that high andtender friendship which should always be the cement of this union;and, in my opinion, all those marriages which are contracted fromother motives are greatly criminal; they are a profanation of a mostholy ceremony, and generally end in disquiet and misery: for surely wemay call it a profanation to convert this most sacred institution intoa wicked sacrifice to lust or avarice: and what better can be said ofthose matches to which men are induced merely by the consideration ofa beautiful person, or a great fortune?
"To deny that beauty is an agreeable object to the eye, and evenworthy some admiration, would be false and foolish. Beautiful is anepithet often used in Scripture, and always mentioned with honour. Itwas my own fortune to marry a woman whom the world thought handsome,and I can truly say I liked her the better on that account. But tomake this the sole consideration of marriage, to lust after it soviolently as to overlook all imperfections for its sake, or to requireit so absolutely as to reject and disdain religion, virtue, and sense,which are qualities in their nature of much higher perfection, onlybecause an elegance of person is wanting: this is surely inconsistent,either with a wise man or a good Christian. And it is, perhaps, beingtoo charitable to conclude that such persons mean anything more bytheir marriage than to please their carnal appetites; for thesatisfaction of which, we are taught, it was not ordained.
"In the next place, with respect to fortune. Worldly prudence,perhaps, exacts some consideration on this head; nor will I absolutelyand altogether condemn it. As the world is constituted, the demands ofa married state, and the care of posterity, require some little regardto what we call circumstances. Yet this provision is greatlyincreased, beyond what is really necessary, by folly and vanity, whichcreate abundantly more wants than nature. Equipage for the wife, andlarge fortunes for the children, are by custom enrolled in the list ofnecessaries; and to procure these, everything truly solid and sweet,and virtuous and religious, are neglected and overlooked.
"And this in many degrees; the last and greatest of which seems scarcedistinguishable from madness;--I mean where persons of immensefortunes contract themselves to those who are, and must be,disagreeable to them--to fools and knaves--in order to increase anestate already larger even than the demands of their pleasures. Surelysuch persons, if they will not be thought mad, must own, either thatthey are incapable of tasting the sweets of the tenderest friendship,or that they sacrifice the greatest happiness of which they arecapable to the vain, uncertain, and senseless laws of vulgar opinion,which owe as well their force as their foundation to folly."
Here Allworthy concluded his sermon, to which Blifil had listened withthe profoundest attention, though it cost him some pains to preventnow and then a small discomposure of his muscles. He now praised everyperiod of what he had heard with the warmth of a young divine, whohath the honour to dine with a bishop the same day in which hislordship hath mounted the pulpit.