Chapter ii.
What befel Mr Jones on his arrival in London.
The learned Dr Misaubin used to say, that the proper direction to himwas _To Dr_ Misaubin, _in the World_; intimating that there were fewpeople in it to whom his great reputation was not known. And, perhaps,upon a very nice examination into the matter, we shall find that thiscircumstance bears no inconsiderable part among the many blessings ofgrandeur.
The great happiness of being known to posterity, with the hopes ofwhich we so delighted ourselves in the preceding chapter, is theportion of few. To have the several elements which compose our names,as Sydenham expresses it, repeated a thousand years hence, is a giftbeyond the power of title and wealth; and is scarce to be purchased,unless by the sword and the pen. But to avoid the scandalousimputation, while we yet live, of being _one whom nobody knows_ (ascandal, by the bye, as old as the days of Homer[*]) will always be theenvied portion of those, who have a legal title either to honour orestate.
[*] See the 2d Odyssey, ver. 175.
From that figure, therefore, which the Irish peer, who brought Sophiato town, hath already made in this history, the reader will conclude,doubtless, it must have been an easy matter to have discovered hishouse in London without knowing the particular street or square whichhe inhabited, since he must have been one _whom everybody knows_. Tosay the truth, so it would have been to any of those tradesmen who areaccustomed to attend the regions of the great; for the doors of thegreat are generally no less easy to find than it is difficult to getentrance into them. But Jones, as well as Partridge, was an entirestranger in London; and as he happened to arrive first in a quarter ofthe town, the inhabitants of which have very little intercourse withthe householders of Hanover or Grosvenor-square (for he enteredthrough Gray's-inn-lane), so he rambled about some time before hecould even find his way to those happy mansions where fortunesegregates from the vulgar those magnanimous heroes, the descendantsof antient Britons, Saxons, or Danes, whose ancestors, being born inbetter days, by sundry kinds of merit, have entailed riches and honouron their posterity.
Jones, being at length arrived at those terrestrial Elysian fields,would now soon have discovered his lordship's mansion; but the peerunluckily quitted his former house when he went for Ireland; and as hewas just entered into a new one, the fame of his equipage had not yetsufficiently blazed in the neighbourhood; so that, after a successlessenquiry till the clock had struck eleven, Jones at last yielded to theadvice of Partridge, and retreated to the Bull and Gate in Holborn,that being the inn where he had first alighted, and where he retiredto enjoy that kind of repose which usually attends persons in hiscircumstances.
Early in the morning he again set forth in pursuit of Sophia; and manya weary step he took to no better purpose than before. At last,whether it was that Fortune relented, or whether it was no longer inher power to disappoint him, he came into the very street which washonoured by his lordship's residence; and, being directed to thehouse, he gave one gentle rap at the door.
The porter, who, from the modesty of the knock, had conceived no highidea of the person approaching, conceived but little better from theappearance of Mr Jones, who was drest in a suit of fustian, and had byhis side the weapon formerly purchased of the serjeant; of which,though the blade might be composed of well-tempered steel, the handlewas composed only of brass, and that none of the brightest. WhenJones, therefore, enquired after the young lady who had come to townwith his lordship, this fellow answered surlily, "That there were noladies there." Jones then desired to see the master of the house; butwas informed that his lordship would see nobody that morning. And upongrowing more pressing the porter said, "he had positive orders to letno person in; but if you think proper," said he, "to leave your name,I will acquaint his lordship; and if you call another time you shallknow when he will see you."
Jones now declared, "that he had very particular business with theyoung lady, and could not depart without seeing her." Upon which theporter, with no very agreeable voice or aspect, affirmed, "that therewas no young lady in that house, and consequently none could he see;"adding, "sure you are the strangest man I ever met with, for you willnot take an answer."
I have often thought that, by the particular description of Cerberus,the porter of hell, in the 6th Aeneid, Virgil might possibly intend tosatirize the porters of the great men in his time; the picture, atleast, resembles those who have the honour to attend at the doors ofour great men. The porter in his lodge answers exactly to Cerberus inhis den, and, like him, must be appeased by a sop before access can begained to his master. Perhaps Jones might have seen him in that light,and have recollected the passage where the Sibyl, in order to procurean entrance for Aeneas, presents the keeper of the Stygian avenue withsuch a sop. Jones, in like manner, now began to offer a bribe to thehuman Cerberus, which a footman, overhearing, instantly advanced, anddeclared, "if Mr Jones would give him the sum proposed, he wouldconduct him to the lady." Jones instantly agreed, and was forthwithconducted to the lodging of Mrs Fitzpatrick by the very fellow who hadattended the ladies thither the day before.
Nothing more aggravates ill success than the near approach to good.The gamester, who loses his party at piquet by a single point, lamentshis bad luck ten times as much as he who never came within a prospectof the game. So in a lottery, the proprietors of the next numbers tothat which wins the great prize are apt to account themselves muchmore unfortunate than their fellow-sufferers. In short, these kind ofhairbreadth missings of happiness look like the insults of Fortune,who may be considered as thus playing tricks with us, and wantonlydiverting herself at our expense.
Jones, who more than once already had experienced this frolicsomedisposition of the heathen goddess, was now again doomed to betantalized in the like manner; for he arrived at the door of MrsFitzpatrick about ten minutes after the departure of Sophia. He nowaddressed himself to the waiting-woman belonging to Mrs Fitzpatrick;who told him the disagreeable news that the lady was gone, but couldnot tell him whither; and the same answer he afterwards received fromMrs Fitzpatrick herself. For as that lady made no doubt but that MrJones was a person detached from her uncle Western, in pursuit of hisdaughter, so she was too generous to betray her.
Though Jones had never seen Mrs Fitzpatrick, yet he had heard that acousin of Sophia was married to a gentleman of that name. This,however, in the present tumult of his mind, never once recurred to hismemory; but when the footman, who had conducted him from hislordship's, acquainted him with the great intimacy between the ladies,and with their calling each other cousin, he then recollected thestory of the marriage which he had formerly heard; and as he waspresently convinced that this was the same woman, he became moresurprized at the answer which he had received, and very earnestlydesired leave to wait on the lady herself; but she as positivelyrefused him that honour.
Jones, who, though he had never seen a court, was better bred thanmost who frequent it, was incapable of any rude or abrupt behaviour toa lady. When he had received, therefore, a peremptory denial, heretired for the present, saying to the waiting-woman, "That if thiswas an improper hour to wait on her lady, he would return in theafternoon; and that he then hoped to have the honour of seeing her."The civility with which he uttered this, added to the great comelinessof his person, made an impression on the waiting-woman, and she couldnot help answering; "Perhaps, sir, you may;" and, indeed, sheafterwards said everything to her mistress, which she thought mostlikely to prevail on her to admit a visit from the handsome younggentleman; for so she called him.
Jones very shrewdly suspected that Sophia herself was now with hercousin, and was denied to him; which he imputed to her resentment ofwhat had happened at Upton. Having, therefore, dispatched Partridge toprocure him lodgings, he remained all day in the street, watching thedoor where he thought his angel lay concealed; but no person did hesee issue forth, except a servant of the house, and in the evening hereturned to pay his visit to Mrs Fitzpatrick, which that good lady atlast condescended to admit.
T
here is a certain air of natural gentility, which it is neither inthe power of dress to give, nor to conceal. Mr Jones, as hath beenbefore hinted, was possessed of this in a very eminent degree. He met,therefore, with a reception from the lady somewhat different from whathis apparel seemed to demand; and after he had paid her his properrespects, was desired to sit down.
The reader will not, I believe, be desirous of knowing all theparticulars of this conversation, which ended very little to thesatisfaction of poor Jones. For though Mrs Fitzpatrick soon discoveredthe lover (as all women have the eyes of hawks in those matters), yetshe still thought it was such a lover, as a generous friend of thelady should not betray her to. In short, she suspected this was thevery Mr Blifil, from whom Sophia had flown; and all the answers whichshe artfully drew from Jones, concerning Mr Allworthy's family,confirmed her in this opinion. She therefore strictly denied anyknowledge concerning the place whither Sophia was gone; nor couldJones obtain more than a permission to wait on her again the nextevening.
When Jones was departed Mrs Fitzpatrick communicated her suspicionconcerning Mr Blifil to her maid; who answered, "Sure, madam, he istoo pretty a man, in my opinion, for any woman in the world to runaway from. I had rather fancy it is Mr Jones."--"Mr Jones!" said thelady, "what Jones?" For Sophia had not given the least hint of anysuch person in all their conversation; but Mrs Honour had been muchmore communicative, and had acquainted her sister Abigail with thewhole history of Jones, which this now again related to her mistress.
Mrs Fitzpatrick no sooner received this information, than sheimmediately agreed with the opinion of her maid; and, what is veryunaccountable, saw charms in the gallant, happy lover, which she hadoverlooked in the slighted squire. "Betty," says she, "you arecertainly in the right: he is a very pretty fellow, and I don't wonderthat my cousin's maid should tell you so many women are fond of him. Iam sorry now I did not inform him where my cousin was; and yet, if hebe so terrible a rake as you tell me, it is a pity she should ever seehim any more; for what but her ruin can happen from marrying a rakeand a beggar against her father's consent? I protest, if he be such aman as the wench described him to you, it is but an office of charityto keep her from him; and I am sure it would be unpardonable in me todo otherwise, who have tasted so bitterly of the misfortunes attendingsuch marriages."
Here she was interrupted by the arrival of a visitor, which was noother than his lordship; and as nothing passed at this visit eithernew or extraordinary, or any ways material to this history, we shallhere put an end to this chapter.
History of Tom Jones, a Foundling Page 145