CHAPTER X.
“This fellow is wise enough to play the fool,
And to do that well craves a kind of wit;
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons and the time.”
Shakspeare.
The time was now arrived for Brigland Abbey to become the scene of festivity and hospitality. Under the direction and with the permission of old Mr. Martindale, the young tenant-at-will assembled at his splendid residence a set of people called his friends; but why they were called his friends is difficult to say, unless they were so designated for want of some other comprehensive name. Two of the party certainly were his friends; and well would it have been for him, had he availed himself more of their friendship, and been ruled by their advice. We allude to his father and mother, Lord and Lady Martindale.
It is with great pleasure that we introduce to our readers a pair so truly respectable and honorable in every point of view. High rank certainly displays to great advantage those qualities which it is unable to give. Common-place minds do very well in common-place situations. It is sad indeed if they whose time is fully occupied by the duties of their station, and whose employments are marked out for them, should widely or grossly deviate from propriety: they have, comparatively speaking, but little room or time for folly. But they who have the direction of all their time, the choice of all their pursuits, need great steadiness of mind, and a strong sense of propriety to avoid follies and extravagance. They who have nothing to do have much to think of, and they need to be vigilant; and when their conduct is indeed proper and good, then high rank and the leisure which wealth bestows appear to great advantage.
Thus honorable and reputable was the conduct of Lord and Lady Martindale. His lordship’s estate was not very large for his rank, yet quite large enough for him to make a fool of himself had he been so inclined:—he was wealthy enough to be his own coachman had he been so disposed, or to benefit the country by playing at cards and dice at Newmarket in order to improve the breed of horses:—he might have immortalized himself on the canisters of a snuff-shop, or by the cut of a coat:—he might have run away with his neighbour’s wife, or have insulted and neglected his own:—he might have spent more money upon his dogs than upon his children:—he might have sought for distinction through the medium of cookery, and have become so excessively refined as to ask if Captain Cook had not in one of his voyages seen a nation of cannibals who ate roast beef and drank port wine: and by many other fooleries, equally reputable, he might have tempted the multitude to ask what lords were made for.
In like manner her ladyship might have done her part towards the dilapidation of their property. She might have spent a year’s income in a single entertainment:—she might have sent her jewels to the pawnbroker’s to pay her gambling-debts:—she might have forgotten the names and number of her children:—she might have been so superbly ignorant as not to know whether the kitchen was at the top of the house or at the bottom:—she might have played as many mad pranks as others in high life have done; but she coveted not that species of notoriety which arises from violating the principles of decorum and common sense.