“Oh, is that all!” exclaimed Mr Primrose; “why at that rate all the world is exclusive. This is no new character though it may be a new name.”
“Very true, indeed, very true, there has always been too much pride among persons of high rank.”
“And not too little among persons of low rank, I presume,” replied Mr Primrose; “and I suppose as you have a set of people in England, called exclusives, you have most likely another set called intrusives. For my part I like a little pride, or at least what the world calls pride; I have so much myself, that I dislike the situation in which I find my daughter is placed, and I shall make all haste to remove her from it. I am most happy that I have arrived in England time enough to prevent her from making a public display of her musical talents.”
The wise and scientific Mr Kipperson was not sorry to hear that the father of Penelope Primrose could talk thus boldly and definitely concerning his daughter’s independence. It was also not unpleasant to him to hear that it was the intention of the young lady’s father to remove her from the house and patronage of the Earl of Smatterton. It has been already hinted that Mr Kipperson was an admirer of the young lady, and it was not likely that his admiration should be less when he found that her father had returned to England in possession, most probably, of ample means of securing his daughter’s independence. This consideration inspired the agriculturist with an earnest desire of making himself more agreeable than usual; and as there was a great deal of freedom of manner and candour of feeling about Mr Primrose, he very readily and sociably conversed with Mr Kipperson on any and every topic that could be started. In the fullness of his heart the admirer of Penelope urged the young lady’s father to partake of a humble dinner, quite in a social friendly way. This invitation however was of necessity declined, it being the intention of Mr Primrose to pass the remainder of the day at the rectory.
The mention of the rectory led Mr Kipperson to speak of the new rector, the Rev. Charles Pringle. “You will of course meet this gentleman at dinner. He is a very different man from our late rector; as yet we know little of him. I have conversed with him occasionally; he seems to have very just notions on the subject of the interests of agriculture; but his mind does not appear to be comprehensive and philosophical; he does not read much, I think; indeed, he has scarcely any books of his own, and though I have offered him the use of my library he does not avail himself of it. But you will see him at the rectory at dinner, and then you may form your own opinion of him.”
It was very kind and liberal of Mr Kipperson to give Mr Primrose leave to form his own opinion of the new rector. What opinion Mr Primrose did form of the new rector we cannot say, for he was not very free in expressing his opinion of those with whom he had no common interest or sympathies, nor was he particularly and curiously observant to ascertain whether those with whom he conversed occasionally were persons of comprehensive and philosophical minds or not. He was not quite sure that he knew what was meant by the term comprehensive, as applied to the mind; and as to philosophical, if that meant loving wisdom, he himself was philosophical enough in all conscience, for he liked wise men much better than fools. In a word, the father of Penelope had quite as good an understanding as multitudes who make a great deal of prating about intellect, but he was not a man of much reading, and did not value pedantry of any kind, whether literary, scientific, fashionable or philosophical.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Even as Mr Kipperson predicted so it came to pass; Mr Primrose met at dinner the new rector of Smatterton.
The great difference which there is between an old man and a young one, is one cause of the general common-place notion of the deterioration of the human species. It seemed a very great transition from Dr Greendale to Mr Pringle. The doctor used to be grave, sedate, yet cheerful, very placid and gentle in his manner, and towards his parishioners he wore the aspect of a father. His dress too was so venerable. He used to wear a long single-breasted coat, and he had such fine broad old-fashioned silver buckles at his knees and on his shoes; his hat too was just such a hat as a clergyman ought to wear. And when he walked out into the village he always carried under his arm an old gold-headed walking cane; for he seldom leant upon it. He walked slowly and demurely, and when the little boys and girls who met him planted themselves, according to their clumsy but sincere politeness, directly before him to make their bow or curtesy, he patted them on the head, and they felt themselves as much honoured and pleased as the alderman of some provincial borough when the king places the sword on his shoulder. And when the old people met him he talked to them, and, even more than that, he listened to their talk; he could not always understand it, but he paid attention to it and it pleased them. Sometimes he would be in a gayer and livelier mood than usual, especially if in his morning studies he had been successful in detecting, or eloquent in pointing, some irrefragable argument against the sectarians. And then, if he met any young woman of pretty and smiling looks, for there were many such in Smatterton, he would ask her when she was going to be married, and then she would laugh and try to blush, and she would go home and tell her mother what a funny man Dr Greendale was.
Now whatever might be the virtues, moral or professional, of the Rev. Charles Pringle, it is very clear that he could not find the way to the hearts of his parishioners by the same means as his predecessor. A slightly built youth of five-and-twenty would look anything but venerable, if dressed in attire of the same form, cut and complexion as that which Dr Greendale wore. The gold-headed cane, the looped hat, the slow and stately walk, would not at all answer with a young man; and had he asked any young woman when she was going to be married, it would have been thought quite indecorous. The old women too would not think of telling a young man round-about stories concerning their sufferings with the rheumatiz, or other ills that “flesh,” or more properly skin and bone, may be “heir to.”