The Project Gutenberg EBook of Headlong Hall, by Thomas Love Peacock
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Headlong Hall
Author: Thomas Love Peacock
Release Date: July 2, 2004 [EBook #12803]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEADLONG HALL ***
Produced by Harrison Ainsworth
HEADLONG HALL
by
Thomas Love Peacock
Contents
Preface
I. The Mail
II. The Squire--The Breakfast
III. The Arrivals
IV. The Grounds
V. The Dinner
VI. The Evening
VII. The Walk
VIII. The Tower
IX. The Sexton
X. The Skull
XI. The Anniversary
XII. The Lecture
XIII. The Ball
XIV. The Proposals
XV. The Conclusion
All philosophers, who find
Some favourite system to their mind,
In every point to make it fit,
Will force all nature to submit.
P R E F A C E
to
"Headlong Hall" and the three novels
published along with it in 1837.
--------
All these little publications appeared originally without prefaces. I
left them to speak for themselves; and I thought I might very fitly
preserve my own impersonality, having never intruded on the
personality of others, nor taken any liberties but with public conduct
and public opinions. But an old friend assures me, that to publish a
book without a preface is like entering a drawing-room without making
a bow. In deference to this opinion, though I am not quite clear of
its soundness, I make my prefatory bow at this eleventh hour.
"Headlong Hall" was written in 1815; "Nightmare Abbey" in 1817; "Maid
Marian", with the exception of the last three chapters, in 1818;
"Crotchet Castle" in 1830. I am desirous to note the intervals,
because, at each of those periods, things were true, in great matters
and in small, which are true no longer. "Headlong Hall" begins with
the Holyhead Mail, and "Crotchet Castle" ends with a rotten borough.
The Holyhead mail no longer keeps the same hours, nor stops at the
Capel Cerig Inn, which the progress of improvement has thrown out of
the road; and the rotten boroughs of 1830 have ceased to exist, though
there are some very pretty pocket properties, which are their worthy
successors. But the classes of tastes, feelings, and opinions, which
were successively brought into play in these little tales, remain
substantially the same. Perfectibilians, deteriorationists,
statu-quo-ites, phrenologists, transcendentalists, political
economists, theorists in all sciences, projectors in all arts, morbid
visionaries, romantic enthusiasts, lovers of music, lovers of the
picturesque, and lovers of good dinners, march, and will march for
ever, _pari passu_ with the march of mechanics, which some facetiously
call the march of the intellect. The fastidious in old wine are a race
that does not decay. Literary violators of the confidences of private
life still gain a disreputable livelihood and an unenviable notoriety.
Match-makers from interest, and the disappointed in love and in
friendship, are varieties of which specimens are extant. The great
principle of the Right of Might is as flourishing now as in the days
of Maid Marian: the array of false pretensions, moral, political, and
literary, is as imposing as ever: the rulers of the world still feel
things in their effects, and never foresee them in their causes: and
political mountebanks continue, and will continue, to puff nostrums
and practise legerdemain under the eyes of the multitude: following,
like the "learned friend" of Crotchet Castle, a course as tortuous as
that of a river, but in a reverse process; beginning by being dark and
deep, and ending by being transparent.
The Author of "Headlong Hall".
_March_ 4, 1837.
H E A D L O N G H A L L
---*---
CHAPTER I
The Mail
The ambiguous light of a December morning, peeping through the windows
of the Holyhead mail, dispelled the soft visions of the four insides,
who had slept, or seemed to sleep, through the first seventy miles of
the road, with as much comfort as may be supposed consistent with the
jolting of the vehicle, and an occasional admonition to _remember the
coachman_, thundered through the open door, accompanied by the gentle
breath of Boreas, into the ears of the drowsy traveller.
A lively remark, that _the day was none of the finest_, having
elicited a repartee of _quite the contrary_, the various knotty points
of meteorology, which usually form the exordium of an English
conversation, were successively discussed and exhausted; and, the ice
being thus broken, the colloquy rambled to other topics, in the course
of which it appeared, to the surprise of every one, that all four,
though perfect strangers to each other, were actually bound to the
same point, namely, Headlong Hall, the seat of the ancient and
honourable family of the Headlongs, of the vale of Llanberris, in
Caernarvonshire. This name may appear at first sight not to be truly
Cambrian, like those of the Rices, and Prices, and Morgans, and Owens,
and Williamses, and Evanses, and Parrys, and Joneses; but,
nevertheless, the Headlongs claim to be not less genuine derivatives
from the antique branch of Cadwallader than any of the last named
multiramified families. They claim, indeed, by one account, superior
antiquity to all of them, and even to Cadwallader himself, a tradition
having been handed down in Headlong Hall for some few thousand years,
that the founder of the family was preserved in the deluge on the
summit of Snowdon, and took the name of Rhaiader, which signifies a
_waterfall_, in consequence of his having accompanied the water in its
descent or diminution, till he found himself comfortably seated on the
rocks of Llanberris. But, in later days, when commercial bagmen began
to scour the country, the ambiguity of the sound induced his
descendants to drop the suspicious denomination of _Riders_, and
translate the word into English; when, not being well pleased with the
sound of the _thing_, they substituted that of the _quality_, and
accordingly adopted the name _Headlong_, the appropriate epithet of
waterfall.
I cannot tell how the truth may be:
I say the tale as 'twas said to me.
The present representative of this ancient and dignified house, Harry
Headlong, Esquire, was, like all other Welsh squires, fond of
shooting, hunting, racing, drinking, and other such innocent
amusements, _meizonos d' allou tinos_, as Menander expresses it. But,
unlike other Welsh squires, he had actually suffered certain
phenomena, called books, to find their way into his house; and, by
dint of lounging over them after dinner, on those occasions when he
was compelled to take his bottle alone, he became seized with a
violent passion to be thought a philosopher and a man of taste; and
accordingly set off on an expedition to Oxford, to inquire for other
varieties of the same genera, namely, men of taste and philosophers;
but, being assured by a learned professor that there were no such
things in the University, he proceeded to London, where, after beating
up in several booksellers' shops, theatres, exhibition-rooms, and
other resorts of literature and taste, he formed as extensive an
acquaintance with philosophers and dilettanti as his utmost ambition
could desire: and it now became his chief wish to have them all
together in Headlong Hall, arguing, over his old Port and Burgundy,
the various knotty points which had puzzled his pericranium. He had,
therefore, sent them invitations in due form to pass their Christmas
at Headlong Hall; which invitations the extensive fame of his kitchen
fire had induced the greater part of them to accept; and four of the
chosen guests had, from different parts of the metropolis, ensconced
themselves in the four corners of the Holyhead mail.
These four persons were, Mr Foster[1.1], the perfectibilian; Mr
Escot[1.2], the deteriorationist; Mr Jenkison[1.3], the statu-quo-ite;
and the Reverend Doctor Gaster[1.4], who, though of course neither a
philosopher nor a man of taste, had so won on the Squire's fancy, by a
learned dissertation on the art of stuffing a turkey, that he
concluded no Christmas party would be complete without him.
The conversation among these illuminati soon became animated; and Mr
Foster, who, we must observe, was a thin gentleman, about thirty years
of age, with an aquiline nose, black eyes, white teeth, and black
hair--took occasion to panegyrize the vehicle in which they were then
travelling, and observed what remarkable improvements had been made in
the means of facilitating intercourse between distant parts of the
kingdom: he held forth with great energy on the subject of roads and
railways, canals and tunnels, manufactures and machinery: "In short,"
said he, "every thing we look on attests the progress of mankind in
all the arts of life, and demonstrates their gradual advancement
towards a state of unlimited perfection."
Mr Escot, who was somewhat younger than Mr Foster, but rather more
pale and saturnine in his aspect, here took up the thread of the
discourse, observing, that the proposition just advanced seemed to him
perfectly contrary to the true state of the case: "for," said he,
"these improvements, as you call them, appear to me only so many links
in the great chain of corruption, which will soon fetter the whole
human race in irreparable slavery and incurable wretchedness: your
improvements proceed in a simple ratio, while the factitious wants and
unnatural appetites they engender proceed in a compound one; and thus
one generation acquires fifty wants, and fifty means of supplying them
are invented, which each in its turn engenders two new ones; so that
the next generation has a hundred, the next two hundred, the next four
hundred, till every human being becomes such a helpless compound of
perverted inclinations, that he is altogether at the mercy of external
circumstances, loses all independence and singleness of character, and
degenerates so rapidly from the primitive dignity of his sylvan
origin, that it is scarcely possible to indulge in any other
expectation, than that the whole species must at length be
exterminated by its own infinite imbecility and vileness."
"Your opinions," said Mr Jenkison, a round-faced little gentleman of
about forty-five, "seem to differ _toto coelo_. I have often debated
the matter in my own mind, _pro_ and _con_, and have at length arrived
at this conclusion,--that there is not in the human race a tendency
either to moral perfectibility or deterioration; but that the
quantities of each are so exactly balanced by their reciprocal
results, that the species, with respect to the sum of good and evil,
knowledge and ignorance, happiness and misery, remains exactly and
perpetually _in statu quo_."
"Surely," said Mr Foster, "you cannot maintain such a proposition in
the face of evidence so luminous. Look at the progress of all the arts
and sciences,--see chemistry, botany, astronomy----"
"Surely," said Mr Escot, "experience deposes against you. Look at the
rapid growth of corruption, luxury, selfishness----"
"Really, gentlemen," said the Reverend Doctor Gaster, after clearing
the husk in his throat with two or three hems, "this is a very
sceptical, and, I must say, atheistical conversation, and I should
have thought, out of respect to my cloth----"
Here the coach stopped, and the coachman, opening the door,
vociferated--"Breakfast, gentlemen;" a sound which so gladdened the
ears of the divine, that the alacrity with which he sprang from the
vehicle superinduced a distortion of his ankle, and he was obliged to
limp into the inn between Mr Escot and Mr Jenkison; the former
observing, that he ought to look for nothing but evil, and, therefore,
should not be surprised at this little accident; the latter remarking,
that the comfort of a good breakfast, and the pain of a sprained
ankle, pretty exactly balanced each other.
CHAPTER II
The Squire--The Breakfast
Squire Headlong, in the meanwhile, was quadripartite in his locality;
that is to say, he was superintending the operations in four scenes of
action--namely, the cellar, the library, the picture-gallery, and the
dining-room,--preparing for the reception of his philosophical and
dilettanti visitors. His myrmidon on this occasion was a little
red-nosed butler, whom nature seemed to have cast in the genuine mould
of an antique Silenus, and who waddled about the house after his
master, wiping his forehead and panting for breath, while the latter
bounced from room to room like a cracker, and was indefatigable in his
requisitions for the proximity of his vinous Achates, whose advice and
co-operation he deemed no less necessary in the library than in the
cellar. Multitudes of packages had arrived, by land and water, from
London, and Liverpool, and Chester, and Manchester, and Birmingham,
and various parts of the mountains: books, wine, cheese, globes,
mathematical instruments, turkeys, telescopes, hams, tongues,
microscopes, quadrants, sextants, fiddles, flutes, tea, sugar,
electrical machines, figs, spices, air-pumps, soda-water, chemical
apparatus, eggs, French-horns, drawing books, palettes, oils and
colours, bottled ale and porter, scenery for a private theatre,
pickles and fish-sauce, patent lamps and chandeliers, barrels of
oysters, sofas, chairs, tables, carpets, beds, looking-glasses,
pictures, fruits and confections, nuts, oranges, lemons, packages of
salt salmon, and jars of Portugal grapes. These, arriving with
infinite rapidity, and in inexhaustible succession, had been deposited
at random, as the convenience of the moment dictated,--sofas in the
cellar, chandeliers in the kitchen, hampers of ale in the
drawing-room, and fiddles and fish-sauce in the library. The servants,
unpacking all these in furious haste, and flying with them from place
to place, according to the tumultuous directions of Squire Headlong
and the little fat butler who fumed at his heels, chafed, and crossed,
and clashed, and tumbled over one another up stairs and down. All was
bustle, uproar, and confusion; yet nothing seemed to advance: while
the rage and impetuosity of the Squire continued fermenting to the
highest degree of exasperation, which he signified, from time to time,
by converting some newly unpacked article, such as a book, a bottle, a
ham, or a fiddle, into a missile against the head of some unfortunate
servant who did not seem to move in a ratio of velocity corresponding
to the intensity of his master's desires.
In this state of eager preparation we shall leave the happy
inhabitants of Headlong Hall, and return to the three philosophers and
the unfortunate divine, whom we left limping with a sprained ankle,
into the breakfast-room of the inn; where his two supporters deposited
him safely in a large arm-chair, with his wounded leg comfortably
stretched out on another. The morning being extremely cold, he
contrived to be seated as near the fire as was consistent with his
other object of having a perfect command of the table and its
apparatus; which consisted not only of the ordinary comforts of tea
and toast, but of a delicious supply of new-laid eggs, and a
magnificent round of beef; against which Mr Escot immediately pointed
all the artillery of his eloquence, declaring the use of animal food,
conjointly with that of fire, to be one of the principal causes of the
present degeneracy of mankind. "The natural and original man," said
he, "lived in the woods: the roots and fruits of the earth supplied
his simple nutriment: he had few desires, and no diseases. But, when
he began to sacrifice victims on the altar of superstition, to pursue
the goat and the deer, and, by the pernicious invention of fire, to
pervert their flesh into food, luxury, disease, and premature death,
were let loose upon the world. Such is clearly the correct
interpretation of the fable of Prometheus, which is the symbolical
portraiture of that disastrous epoch, when man first applied fire to
culinary purposes, and thereby surrendered his liver to the vulture of
disease. From that period the stature of mankind has been in a state
of gradual diminution, and I have not the least doubt that it will
continue to grow _small by degrees, and lamentably less_, till the
whole race will vanish imperceptibly from the face of the earth."
"I cannot agree," said Mr Foster, "in the consequences being so very
disastrous. I admit, that in some respects the use of animal food
retards, though it cannot materially inhibit, the perfectibility of
the species. But the use of fire was indispensably necessary, as
AEschylus and Virgil expressly assert, to give being to the various
arts of life, which, in their rapid and interminable progress, will
finally conduct every individual of the race to the philosophic
pinnacle of pure and perfect felicity."
"In the controversy concerning animal and vegetable food," said Mr
Jenkison, "there is much to be said on both sides; and, the question
being in equipoise, I content myself with a mixed diet, and make a
point of eating whatever is placed before me, provided it be good in
its kind."
In this opinion his two brother philosophers practically coincided,
though they both ran down the theory as highly detrimental to the best
interests of man.
"I am really astonished," said the Reverend Doctor Gaster, gracefully
picking off the supernal fragments of an egg he had just cracked, and
clearing away a space at the top for the reception of a small piece of
butter--"I am really astonished, gentlemen, at the very heterodox
opinions I have heard you deliver: since nothing can be more obvious
than that all animals were created solely and exclusively for the use
of man."
"Even the tiger that devours him?" said Mr Escot.
"Certainly," said Doctor Gaster.
"How do you prove it?" said Mr Escot.
"It requires no proof," said Doctor Gaster: "it is a point of
doctrine. It is written, therefore it is so."
"Nothing can be more logical," said Mr Jenkison. "It has been said,"
continued he, "that the ox was expressly made to be eaten by man: it
may be said, by a parity of reasoning, that man was expressly made to
be eaten by the tiger: but as wild oxen exist where there are no men,
and men where there are no tigers, it would seem that in these
instances they do not properly answer the ends of their creation."
"It is a mystery," said Doctor Gaster.
"Not to launch into the question of final causes," said Mr Escot,
helping himself at the same time to a slice of beef, "concerning which
I will candidly acknowledge I am as profoundly ignorant as the most
dogmatical theologian possibly can be, I just wish to observe, that
the pure and peaceful manners which Homer ascribes to the Lotophagi,
and which at this day characterise many nations (the Hindoos, for
example, who subsist exclusively on the fruits of the earth), depose
very strongly in favour of a vegetable regimen."
"It may be said, on the contrary," said Mr Foster, "that animal food
acts on the mind as manure does on flowers, forcing them into a degree
of expansion they would not otherwise have attained. If we can imagine
a philosophical auricula falling into a train of theoretical
meditation on its original and natural nutriment, till it should work
itself up into a profound abomination of bullock's blood,
sugar-baker's scum, and other _unnatural_ ingredients of that rich
composition of soil which had brought it to perfection[2.1], and
insist on being planted in common earth, it would have all the
advantage of natural theory on its side that the most strenuous
advocate of the vegetable system could desire; but it would soon
discover the practical error of its retrograde experiment by its
lamentable inferiority in strength and beauty to all the auriculas
around it. I am afraid, in some instances at least, this analogy holds
true with respect to mind. No one will make a comparison, in point of
mental power, between the Hindoos and the ancient Greeks."
"The anatomy of the human stomach," said Mr Escot, "and the formation
of the teeth, clearly place man in the class of frugivorous animals."
"Many anatomists," said Mr Foster, "are of a different opinion, and
agree in discerning the characteristics of the carnivorous classes."
"I am no anatomist," said Mr Jenkison, "and cannot decide where
doctors disagree; in the meantime, I conclude that man is omnivorous,
and on that conclusion I act."
"Your conclusion is truly orthodox," said the Reverend Doctor Gaster:
"indeed, the loaves and fishes are typical of a mixed diet; and the
practice of the Church in all ages shows----"
"That it never loses sight of the loaves and fishes," said Mr Escot.
"It never loses sight of any point of sound doctrine," said the
reverend doctor.
The coachman now informed them their time was elapsed; nor could all
the pathetic remonstrances of the reverend divine, who declared he had
not half breakfasted, succeed in gaining one minute from the
inexorable Jehu.
"You will allow," said Mr Foster, as soon as they were again in
motion, "that the wild man of the woods could not transport himself
over two hundred miles of forest, with as much facility as one of
these vehicles transports you and me through the heart of this
cultivated country."
"I am certain," said Mr Escot, "that a wild man can travel an immense
distance without fatigue; but what is the advantage of locomotion? The
wild man is happy in one spot, and there he remains: the civilised man
is wretched in every place he happens to be in, and then congratulates
himself on being accommodated with a machine, that will whirl him to
another, where he will be just as miserable as ever."
We shall now leave the mail-coach to find its way to Capel Cerig, the
nearest point of the Holyhead road to the dwelling of Squire Headlong.
CHAPTER III
The Arrivals
In the midst of that scene of confusion thrice confounded, in which we
left the inhabitants of Headlong Hall, arrived the lovely Caprioletta
Headlong, the Squire's sister (whom he had sent for, from the
residence of her maiden aunt at Caernarvon, to do the honours of his
house), beaming like light on chaos, to arrange disorder and harmonise
discord. The tempestuous spirit of her brother became instantaneously
as smooth as the surface of the lake of Llanberris; and the little fat
butler "plessed Cot, and St Tafit, and the peautiful tamsel," for
being permitted to move about the house in his natural pace. In less
than twenty-four hours after her arrival, everything was disposed in
its proper station, and the Squire began to be all impatience for the
appearance of his promised guests.
The first visitor with whom he had the felicity of shaking hands was
Marmaduke Milestone, Esquire, who arrived with a portfolio under his
arm. Mr Milestone[3.1] was a picturesque landscape gardener of the
first celebrity, who was not without hopes of persuading Squire
Headlong to put his romantic pleasure-grounds under a process of
improvement, promising himself a signal triumph for his incomparable
art in the difficult and, therefore, glorious achievement of polishing
and trimming the rocks of Llanberris.
Next arrived a post-chaise from the inn at Capel Cerig, containing the
Reverend Doctor Gaster. It appeared, that, when the mail-coach
deposited its valuable cargo, early on the second morning, at the inn
at Capel Cerig, there was only one post-chaise to be had; it was
therefore determined that the reverend Doctor and the luggage should
proceed in the chaise, and that the three philosophers should walk.
When the reverend gentleman first seated himself in the chaise, the
windows were down all round; but he allowed it to drive off under the
idea that he could easily pull them up. This task, however, he had
considerable difficulty in accomplishing, and when he had succeeded,
it availed him little; for the frames and glasses had long since
discontinued their ancient familiarity. He had, however, no
alternative but to proceed, and to comfort himself, as he went, with
some choice quotations from the book of Job. The road led along the
edges of tremendous chasms, with torrents dashing in the bottom; so
that, if his teeth had not chattered with cold, they would have done
so with fear. The Squire shook him heartily by the hand, and
congratulated him on his safe arrival at Headlong Hall. The Doctor
returned the squeeze, and assured him that the congratulation was by
no means misapplied.
Next came the three philosophers, highly delighted with their walk,
and full of rapturous exclamations on the sublime beauties of the
scenery.
The Doctor shrugged up his shoulders, and confessed he preferred the
scenery of Putney and Kew, where a man could go comfortably to sleep
in his chaise, without being in momentary terror of being hurled
headlong down a precipice.
Mr Milestone observed, that there were great capabilities in the
scenery, but it wanted shaving and polishing. If he could but have it
under his care for a single twelvemonth, he assured them no one would
be able to know it again.
Mr Jenkison thought the scenery was just what it ought to be, and
required no alteration.
Mr Foster thought it could be improved, but doubted if that effect
would be produced by the system of Mr Milestone.
Mr Escot did not think that any human being could improve it, but had
no doubt of its having changed very considerably for the worse, since
the days when the now barren rocks were covered with the immense
forest of Snowdon, which must have contained a very fine race of wild
men, not less than ten feet high.
The next arrival was that of Mr Cranium, and his lovely daughter Miss
Cephalis Cranium, who flew to the arms of her dear friend Caprioletta,
with all that warmth of friendship which young ladies usually assume
towards each other in the presence of young gentlemen.[3.2]
Miss Cephalis blushed like a carnation at the sight of Mr Escot, and
Mr Escot glowed like a corn-poppy at the sight of Miss Cephalis. It
was at least obvious to all observers, that he could imagine the
possibility of one change for the better, even in this terrestrial
theatre of universal deterioration.
Mr Cranium's eyes wandered from Mr Escot to his daughter, and from his
daughter to Mr Escot; and his complexion, in the course of the
scrutiny, underwent several variations, from the dark red of the peony
to the deep blue of the convolvulus.
Mr Escot had formerly been the received lover of Miss Cephalis, till
he incurred the indignation of her father by laughing at a very
profound craniological dissertation which the old gentleman delivered;
nor had Mr Escot yet discovered the means of mollifying his wrath.
Mr Cranium carried in his own hands a bag, the contents of which were
too precious to be intrusted to any one but himself; and earnestly
entreated to be shown to the chamber appropriated for his reception,
that he might deposit his treasure in safety. The little butler was
accordingly summoned to conduct him to his _cubiculum_.
Next arrived a post-chaise, carrying four insides, whose extreme
thinness enabled them to travel thus economically without experiencing
the slightest inconvenience. These four personages were, two very
profound critics, Mr Gall and Mr Treacle, who followed the trade of
reviewers, but occasionally indulged themselves in the composition of
bad poetry; and two very multitudinous versifiers, Mr Nightshade and
Mr Mac Laurel, who followed the trade of poetry, but occasionally
indulged themselves in the composition of bad criticism. Mr Nightshade
and Mr Mac Laurel were the two senior lieutenants of a very formidable
corps of critics, of whom Timothy Treacle, Esquire, was captain, and
Geoffrey Gall, Esquire, generalissimo.
The last arrivals were Mr Cornelius Chromatic, the most profound and
scientific of all amateurs of the fiddle, with his two blooming
daughters, Miss Tenorina and Miss Graziosa; Sir Patrick O'Prism, a
dilettante painter of high renown, and his maiden aunt, Miss Philomela
Poppyseed, an indefatigable compounder of novels, written for the
express purpose of supporting every species of superstition and
prejudice; and Mr Panscope, the chemical, botanical, geological,
astronomical, mathematical, metaphysical, meteorological, anatomical,
physiological, galvanistical, musical, pictorial, bibliographical,
critical philosopher, who had run through the whole circle of the
sciences, and understood them all equally well.
Mr Milestone was impatient to take a walk round the grounds, that he
might examine how far the system of clumping and levelling could be
carried advantageously into effect. The ladies retired to enjoy each
other's society in the first happy moments of meeting: the Reverend
Doctor Gaster sat by the library fire, in profound meditation over a
volume of the "_Almanach des Gourmands_:" Mr Panscope sat in the
opposite corner with a volume of Rees' Cyclopaedia: Mr Cranium was
busy upstairs: Mr Chromatic retreated to the music-room, where he
fiddled through a book of solos before the ringing of the first dinner
bell. The remainder of the party supported Mr Milestone's proposition;
and, accordingly, Squire Headlong and Mr Milestone leading the van,
they commenced their perambulation.
CHAPTER IV
The Grounds
"I perceive," said Mr Milestone, after they had walked a few paces,
"these grounds have never been touched by the finger of taste."
"The place is quite a wilderness," said Squire Headlong: "for, during
the latter part of my father's life, while I was _finishing_ my
_education_, he troubled himself about nothing but the cellar, and
suffered everything else to go to rack and ruin. A mere wilderness, as
you see, even now in December; but in summer a complete nursery of
briers, a forest of thistles, a plantation of nettles, without any
live stock but goats, that have eaten up all the bark of the trees.
Here you see is the pedestal of a statue, with only half a leg and
four toes remaining: there were many here once. When I was a boy, I
used to sit every day on the shoulders of Hercules: what became of
_him_ I have never been able to ascertain. Neptune has been lying
these seven years in the dust-hole; Atlas had his head knocked off to
fit him for propping a shed; and only the day before yesterday we
fished Bacchus out of the horse-pond."
"My dear sir," said Mr Milestone, "accord me your permission to wave
the wand of enchantment over your grounds. The rocks shall be blown
up, the trees shall be cut down, the wilderness and all its goats
shall vanish like mist. Pagodas and Chinese bridges, gravel walks and
shrubberies, bowling-greens, canals, and clumps of larch, shall rise
upon its ruins. One age, sir, has brought to light the treasures of
ancient learning; a second has penetrated into the depths of
metaphysics; a third has brought to perfection the science of
astronomy; but it was reserved for the exclusive genius of the present
times, to invent the noble art of picturesque gardening, which has
given, as it were, a new tint to the complexion of nature, and a new
outline to the physiognomy of the universe!"
"Give me leave," said Sir Patrick O'Prism, "to take an exception to
that same. Your system of levelling, and trimming, and clipping, and
docking, and clumping, and polishing, and cropping, and shaving,
destroys all the beautiful intricacies of natural luxuriance, and all
the graduated harmonies of light and shade, melting into one another,
as you see them on that rock over yonder. I never saw one of your
improved places, as you call them, and which are nothing but big
bowling-greens, like sheets of green paper, with a parcel of round
clumps scattered over them, like so many spots of ink, flicked at
random out of a pen,[4.1] and a solitary animal here and there looking
as if it were lost, that I did not think it was for all the world like
Hounslow Heath, thinly sprinkled over with bushes and highwaymen."
"Sir," said Mr Milestone, "you will have the goodness to make a
distinction between the picturesque and the beautiful."
"Will I?" said Sir Patrick, "och! but I won't. For what is beautiful?
That what pleases the eye. And what pleases the eye? Tints variously
broken and blended. Now, tints variously broken and blended constitute
the picturesque."
"Allow me," said Mr Gall. "I distinguish the picturesque and the
beautiful, and I add to them, in the laying out of grounds, a third
and distinct character, which I call _unexpectedness_."
"Pray, sir," said Mr Milestone, "by what name do you distinguish this
character, when a person walks round the grounds for the second
time?"[4.2]
Mr Gall bit his lips, and inwardly vowed to revenge himself on
Milestone, by cutting up his next publication.
A long controversy now ensued concerning the picturesque and the
beautiful, highly edifying to Squire Headlong.
The three philosophers stopped, as they wound round a projecting point
of rock, to contemplate a little boat which was gliding over the
tranquil surface of the lake below.
"The blessings of civilisation," said Mr Foster, "extend themselves to
the meanest individuals of the community. That boatman, singing as he
sails along, is, I have no doubt, a very happy, and, comparatively to
the men of his class some centuries back, a very enlightened and
intelligent man."
"As a partisan of the system of the moral perfectibility of the human
race," said Mr Escot,--who was always for considering things on a
large scale, and whose thoughts immediately wandered from the lake to
the ocean, from the little boat to a ship of the line,--"you will
probably be able to point out to me the degree of improvement that you
suppose to have taken place in the character of a sailor, from the
days when Jason sailed through the Cyanean Symplegades, or Noah moored
his ark on the summit of Ararat."
"If you talk to me," said Mr Foster, "of mythological personages, of
course I cannot meet you on fair grounds."
"We will begin, if you please, then," said Mr Escot, "no further back
than the battle of Salamis; and I will ask you if you think the
mariners of England are, in any one respect, morally or
intellectually, superior to those who then preserved the liberties of
Greece, under the direction of Themistocles?"
"I will venture to assert," said Mr Foster, "that considered merely as
sailors, which is the only fair mode of judging them, they are as far
superior to the Athenians, as the structure of our ships is superior
to that of theirs. Would not one English seventy-four, think you, have
been sufficient to have sunk, burned, and put to flight, all the
Persian and Grecian vessels in that memorable bay? Contemplate the
progress of naval architecture, and the slow, but immense succession
of concatenated intelligence, by which it has gradually attained its
present stage of perfectibility. In this, as in all other branches of
art and science, every generation possesses all the knowledge of the
preceding, and adds to it its own discoveries in a progression to
which there seems no limit. The skill requisite to direct these
immense machines is proportionate to their magnitude and complicated
mechanism; and, therefore, the English sailor, considered merely as a
sailor, is vastly superior to the ancient Greek."
"You make a distinction, of course," said Mr Escot, "between
scientific and moral perfectibility?"
"I conceive," said Mr Foster, "that men are virtuous in proportion as
they are enlightened; and that, as every generation increases in
knowledge, it also increases in virtue."
"I wish it were so," said Mr Escot; "but to me the very reverse
appears to be the fact. The progress of knowledge is not general: it
is confined to a chosen few of every age. How far these are better
than their neighbours, we may examine by and bye. The mass of mankind
is composed of beasts of burden, mere clods, and tools of their
superiors. By enlarging and complicating your machines, you degrade,
not exalt, the human animals you employ to direct them. When the
boatswain of a seventy-four pipes all hands to the main tack, and
flourishes his rope's end over the shoulders of the poor fellows who
are tugging at the ropes, do you perceive so dignified, so gratifying
a picture, as Ulysses exhorting his dear friends, his ERIAERES
'ETAIROI, to ply their oars with energy? You will say, Ulysses was a
fabulous character. But the economy of his vessel is drawn from
nature. Every man on board has a character and a will of his own. He
talks to them, argues with them, convinces them; and they obey him,
because they love him, and know the reason of his orders. Now, as I
have said before, all singleness of character is lost. We divide men
into herds like cattle: an individual man, if you strip him of all
that is extraneous to himself, is the most wretched and contemptible
creature on the face of the earth. The sciences advance. True. A few
years of study puts a modern mathematician in possession of more than
Newton knew, and leaves him at leisure to add new discoveries of his
own. Agreed. But does this make him a Newton? Does it put him in
possession of that range of intellect, that grasp of mind, from which
the discoveries of Newton sprang? It is mental power that I look for:
if you can demonstrate the increase of that, I will give up the field.
Energy--independence--individuality--disinterested virtue--active
benevolence--self-oblivion--universal philanthropy--these are the
qualities I desire to find, and of which I contend that every
succeeding age produces fewer examples. I repeat it; there is scarcely
such a thing to be found as a single individual man; a few classes
compose the whole frame of society, and when you know one of a class
you know the whole of it. Give me the wild man of the woods; the
original, unthinking, unscientific, unlogical savage: in him there is
at least some good; but, in a civilised, sophisticated, cold-blooded,
mechanical, calculating slave of Mammon and the world, there is
none--absolutely none. Sir, if I fall into a river, an unsophisticated
man will jump in and bring me out; but a philosopher will look on with
the utmost calmness, and consider me in the light of a projectile,
and, making a calculation of the degree of force with which I have
impinged the surface, the resistance of the fluid, the velocity of the
current, and the depth of the water in that particular place, he will
ascertain with the greatest nicety in what part of the mud at the
bottom I may probably be found, at any given distance of time from the
moment of my first immersion."
Mr Foster was preparing to reply, when the first dinner-bell rang, and
he immediately commenced a precipitate return towards the house;
followed by his two companions, who both admitted that he was now
leading the way to at least a temporary period of physical
amelioration: "but, alas!" added Mr Escot, after a moment's
reflection, "Epulae NOCUERE repostae![4.3]"
CHAPTER V
The Dinner
The sun was now terminating his diurnal course, and the lights were
glittering on the festal board. When the ladies had retired, and the
Burgundy had taken two or three tours of the table, the following
conversation took place:--
_Squire Headlong._
Push about the bottle: Mr Escot, it stands with you. No heeltaps. As
to skylight, liberty-hall.
_Mr Mac Laurel._
Really, Squire Headlong, this is the vara nectar itsel. Ye hae
saretainly discovered the tarrestrial paradise, but it flows wi' a
better leecor than milk an' honey.
_The Reverend Doctor Gaster._
Hem! Mr Mac Laurel! there is a degree of profaneness in that
observation, which I should not have looked for in so staunch a
supporter of church and state. Milk and honey was the pure food of the
antediluvian patriarchs, who knew not the use of the grape, happily
for them.--(_Tossing off a bumper of Burgundy._)
_Mr Escot._
Happy, indeed! The first inhabitants of the world knew not the use
either of wine or animal food; it is, therefore, by no means
incredible that they lived to the age of several centuries, free from
war, and commerce, and arbitrary government, and every other species
of desolating wickedness. But man was then a very different animal to
what he now is: he had not the faculty of speech; he was not
encumbered with clothes; he lived in the open air; his first step out
of which, as Hamlet truly observes, is _into his grave_[5.1]. His
first dwellings, of course, were the hollows of trees and rocks. In
process of time he began to build: thence grew villages; thence grew
cities. Luxury, oppression, poverty, misery, and disease kept pace
with the progress of his pretended improvements, till, from a free,
strong, healthy, peaceful animal, he has become a weak, distempered,
cruel, carnivorous slave.
_The Reverend Doctor Gaster._
Your doctrine is orthodox, in so far as you assert that the original
man was not encumbered with clothes, and that he lived in the open
air; but, as to the faculty of speech, that, it is certain, he had,
for the authority of Moses----
_Mr Escot._
Of course, sir, I do not presume to dissent from the very exalted
authority of that most enlightened astronomer and profound
cosmogonist, who had, moreover, the advantage of being inspired; but
when I indulge myself with a ramble in the fields of speculation, and
attempt to deduce what is probable and rational from the sources of
analysis, experience, and comparison, I confess I am too often apt to
lose sight of the doctrines of that great fountain of theological and
geological philosophy.
_Squire Headlong._
Push about the bottle.
_Mr Foster._
Do you suppose the mere animal life of a wild man, living on acorns,
and sleeping on the ground, comparable in felicity to that of a
Newton, ranging through unlimited space, and penetrating into the
arcana of universal motion--to that of a Locke, unravelling the
labyrinth of mind--to that of a Lavoisier, detecting the minutest
combinations of matter, and reducing all nature to its elements--to
that of a Shakespeare, piercing and developing the springs of
passion--or of a Milton, identifying himself, as it were, with the
beings of an invisible world?
_Mr Escot._
You suppose extreme cases: but, on the score of happiness, what
comparison can you make between the tranquil being of the wild man of
the woods and the wretched and turbulent existence of Milton, the
victim of persecution, poverty, blindness, and neglect? The records of
literature demonstrate that Happiness and Intelligence are seldom
sisters. Even if it were otherwise, it would prove nothing. The many
are always sacrificed to the few. Where one man advances, hundreds
retrograde; and the balance is always in favour of universal
deterioration.
_Mr Foster._
Virtue is independent of external circumstances. The exalted
understanding looks into the truth of things, and, in its own peaceful
contemplations, rises superior to the world. No philosopher would
resign his mental acquisitions for the purchase of any terrestrial
good.
_Mr Escot._
In other words, no man whatever would resign his identity, which is
nothing more than the consciousness of his perceptions, as the price
of any acquisition. But every man, without exception, would willingly
effect a very material change in his relative situation to other
individuals. Unluckily for the rest of your argument, the
understanding of literary people is for the most part _exalted_, as
you express it, not so much by the love of truth and virtue, as by
arrogance and self-sufficiency; and there is, perhaps, less
disinterestedness, less liberality, less general benevolence, and more
envy, hatred, and uncharitableness among them, than among any other
description of men.
(_The eye of Mr Escot, as he pronounced these words, rested very
innocently and unintentionally on Mr Gall._)
_Mr Gall._
You allude, sir, I presume, to my review.
_Mr Escot._
Pardon me, sir. You will be convinced it is impossible I can allude to
your review, when I assure you that I have never read a single page of
it.
_Mr Gall, Mr Treacle, Mr Nightshade, and Mr Mac Laurel._
Never read our review! ! ! !
_Mr Escot._
Never. I look on periodical criticism in general to be a species of
shop, where panegyric and defamation are sold, wholesale, retail, and
for exportation. I am not inclined to be a purchaser of these
commodities, or to encourage a trade which I consider pregnant with
mischief.
_Mr Mac Laurel._
I can readily conceive, sir, ye wou'd na wullingly encoorage ony
dealer in panegeeric: but, frae the manner in which ye speak o' the
first creetics an' scholars o' the age, I shou'd think ye wou'd hae a
leetle mair predilaction for deefamation.
_Mr Escot._
I have no predilection, sir, for defamation. I make a point of
speaking the truth on all occasions; and it seldom happens that the
truth can be spoken without some stricken deer pronouncing it a libel.
_Mr Nightshade._
You are perhaps, sir, an enemy to literature in general?
_Mr Escot._
If I were, sir, I should be a better friend to periodical critics.
_Squire Headlong._
Buz!
_Mr Treacle._
May I simply take the liberty to inquire into the basis of your
objection?
_Mr Escot._
I conceive that periodical criticism disseminates superficial
knowledge, and its perpetual adjunct, vanity; that it checks in the
youthful mind the habit of thinking for itself; that it delivers
partial opinions, and thereby misleads the judgment; that it is never
conducted with a view to the general interests of literature, but to
serve the interested ends of individuals, and the miserable purposes
of party.
_Mr Mac Laurel._
Ye ken, sir, a mon mun leeve.
_Mr Escot._
While he can live honourably, naturally, justly, certainly: no longer.
_Mr Mac Laurel._
Every mon, sir, leeves according to his ain notions of honour an'
justice: there is a wee defference amang the learned wi' respact to
the defineetion o' the terms.
_Mr Escot._
I believe it is generally admitted that one of the ingredients of
justice is disinterestedness.
_Mr Mac Laurel._
It is na admetted, sir, amang the pheelosophers of Edinbroo', that
there is ony sic thing as desenterestedness in the warld, or that a
mon can care for onything sae much as his ain sel: for ye mun observe,
sir, every mon has his ain parteecular feelings of what is gude, an'
beautifu', an' consentaneous to his ain indiveedual nature, an'
desires to see every thing aboot him in that parteecular state which
is maist conformable to his ain notions o' the moral an' poleetical
fetness o' things. Twa men, sir, shall purchase a piece o' grund
atween 'em, and ae mon shall cover his half wi' a park----
_Mr Milestone._
Beautifully laid out in lawns and clumps, with a belt of trees at the
circumference, and an artificial lake in the centre.
_Mr Mac Laurel._
Exactly, sir: an' shall keep it a' for his ain sel: an' the other mon
shall divide his half into leetle farms of twa or three acres----
_Mr Escot._
Like those of the Roman republic, and build a cottage on each of them,
and cover his land with a simple, innocent, and smiling population,
who shall owe, not only their happiness, but their existence, to his
benevolence.
_Mr Mac Laurel._
Exactly, sir: an' ye will ca' the first mon selfish, an' the second
desenterested; but the pheelosophical truth is semply this, that the
ane is pleased wi' looking at trees, an' the other wi' seeing people
happy an' comfortable. It is aunly a matter of indiveedual feeling. A
paisant saves a mon's life for the same reason that a hero or a
footpad cuts his thrapple: an' a pheelosopher delevers a mon frae a
preson, for the same reason that a tailor or a prime meenester puts
him into it: because it is conformable to his ain parteecular feelings
o' the moral an' poleetical fetness o' things.
_Squire Headlong._
Wake the Reverend Doctor. Doctor, the bottle stands with you.
_The Reverend Doctor Gaster._
It is an error of which I am seldom guilty.
_Mr Mac Laurel._
Noo, ye ken, sir, every mon is the centre of his ain system, an'
endaivours as much as possible to adapt every thing aroond him to his
ain parteecular views.
_Mr Escot._
Thus, sir, I presume, it suits the particular views of a poet, at one
time to take the part of the people against their oppressors, and at
another, to take the part of the oppressors, against the people.
_Mr Mac Laurel._
Ye mun alloo, sir, that poetry is a sort of ware or commodity, that is
brought into the public market wi' a' other descreptions of
merchandise, an' that a mon is pairfectly justified in getting the
best price he can for his article. Noo, there are three reasons for
taking the part o' the people; the first is, when general leeberty an'
public happiness are conformable to your ain parteecular feelings o'
the moral an' poleetical fetness o' things: the second is, when they
happen to be, as it were, in a state of exceetabeelity, an' ye think
ye can get a gude price for your commodity, by flingin' in a leetle
seasoning o' pheelanthropy an' republican speerit; the third is, when
ye think ye can bully the menestry into gieing ye a place or a pansion
to hau'd your din, an' in that case, ye point an attack against them
within the pale o' the law; an' if they tak nae heed o' ye, ye open a
stronger fire; an' the less heed they tak, the mair ye bawl; an' the
mair factious ye grow, always within the pale o' the law, till they
send a plenipotentiary to treat wi' ye for yoursel, an' then the mair
popular ye happen to be, the better price ye fetch.
_Squire Headlong._
Off with your heeltaps.
_Mr Cranium._
I perfectly agree with Mr Mac Laurel in his definition of self-love
and disinterestedness: every man's actions are determined by his
peculiar views, and those views are determined by the organisation of
his skull. A man in whom the organ of benevolence is not developed,
cannot be benevolent: he in whom it is so, cannot be otherwise. The
organ of self-love is prodigiously developed in the greater number of
subjects that have fallen under my observation.
_Mr Escot._
Much less I presume, among savage than civilised men, who, _constant
only to the love of self, and consistent only in their aim to deceive,
are always actuated by the hope of personal advantage, or by the dread
of personal punishment_[5.2].
_Mr Cranium._
Very probably.
_Mr Escot._
You have, of course, found very copious specimens of the organs of
hypocrisy, destruction, and avarice.
_Mr Cranium._
Secretiveness, destructiveness, and covetiveness. You may add, if you
please, that of constructiveness.
_Mr Escot._
Meaning, I presume, the organ of building; which I contend to be not a
natural organ of the _featherless biped_.
_Mr Cranium._
Pardon me: it is here.--(_As he said these words, he produced a skull
from his pocket, and placed it on the table to the great surprise of
the company._)--This was the skull of Sir Christopher Wren. You
observe this protuberance--(_The skull was handed round the table._)
_Mr Escot._
I contend that the original unsophisticated man was by no means
constructive. He lived in the open air, under a tree.
_The Reverend Doctor Gaster._
The tree of life. Unquestionably. Till he had tasted the forbidden
fruit.
_Mr Jenkison._
At which period, probably, the organ of constructiveness was added to
his anatomy, as a punishment for his transgression.
_Mr Escot._
There could not have been a more severe one, since the propensity
which has led him to building cities has proved the greatest curse of
his existence.
_Squire Headlong._
(_taking the skull._) _Memento mori._ Come, a bumper of Burgundy.
_Mr Nightshade._
A very classical application, Squire Headlong. The Romans were in the
practice of adhibiting skulls at their banquets, and sometimes little
skeletons of silver, as a silent admonition to the guests to enjoy
life while it lasted.
_The Reverend Doctor Gaster._
Sound doctrine, Mr Nightshade.
_Mr Escot._
I question its soundness. The use of vinous spirit has a tremendous
influence in the deterioration of the human race.
_Mr Foster._
I fear, indeed, it operates as a considerable check to the progress of
the species towards moral and intellectual perfection. Yet many great
men have been of opinion that it exalts the imagination, fires the
genius, accelerates the flow of ideas, and imparts to dispositions
naturally cold and deliberative that enthusiastic sublimation which is
the source of greatness and energy.
_Mr Nightshade._
_Laudibus arguitur vini vinosus Homerus._[5.3]
_Mr Jenkison._
I conceive the use of wine to be always pernicious in excess, but
often useful in moderation: it certainly kills some, but it saves the
lives of others: I find that an occasional glass, taken with judgment
and caution, has a very salutary effect in maintaining that
equilibrium of the system, which it is always my aim to preserve; and
this calm and temperate use of wine was, no doubt, what Homer meant to
inculcate, when he said: _Par de depas oinoio, piein hote thumos
anogoi._[5.4]
_Squire Headlong._
Good. Pass the bottle. (_Un morne silence_). Sir Christopher does not
seem to have raised our spirits. Chromatic, favour us with a specimen
of your vocal powers. Something in point.
Mr Chromatic, without further preface, immediately struck up the
following
SONG
In his last binn Sir Peter lies,
Who knew not what it was to frown:
Death took him mellow, by surprise,
And in his cellar stopped him down.
Through all our land we could not boast
A knight more gay, more prompt than he,
To rise and fill a bumper toast,
And pass it round with THREE TIMES THREE.
None better knew the feast to sway,
Or keep Mirth's boat in better trim;
For Nature had but little clay
Like that of which she moulded him.
The meanest guest that graced his board
Was there the freest of the free,
His bumper toast when Peter poured,
And passed it round with THREE TIMES THREE.
He kept at true good humour's mark
The social flow of pleasure's tide:
He never made a brow look dark,
Nor caused a tear, but when he died.
No sorrow round his tomb should dwell:
More pleased his gay old ghost would be,
For funeral song, and passing bell,
To hear no sound but THREE TIMES THREE.
(_Hammering of knuckles and glasses and shouts of bravo!_)
_Mr Panscope._
(_Suddenly emerging from a deep reverie._) I have heard, with the most
profound attention, every thing which the gentleman on the other side
of the table has thought proper to advance on the subject of human
deterioration; and I must take the liberty to remark, that it augurs a
very considerable degree of presumption in any individual, to set
himself up against the _authority_ of so many great men, as may be
marshalled in metaphysical phalanx under the opposite banners of the
controversy; such as Aristotle, Plato, the scholiast on Aristophanes,
St Chrysostom, St Jerome, St Athanasius, Orpheus, Pindar, Simonides,
Gronovius, Hemsterhusius, Longinus, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Paine,
Doctor Paley, the King of Prussia, the King of Poland, Cicero,
Monsieur Gautier, Hippocrates, Machiavelli, Milton, Colley Cibber,
Bojardo, Gregory Nazianzenus, Locke, D'Alembert, Boccaccio, Daniel
Defoe, Erasmus, Doctor Smollett, Zimmermann, Solomon, Confucius,
Zoroaster, and Thomas-a-Kempis.
_Mr Escot._
I presume, sir, you are one of those who value an _authority_ more
than a reason.
_Mr Panscope._
The _authority_, sir, of all these great men, whose works, as well as
the whole of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the entire series of the
Monthly Review, the complete set of the Variorum Classics, and the
Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions, I have read through from
beginning to end, deposes, with irrefragable refutation, against your
ratiocinative speculations, wherein you seem desirous, by the futile
process of analytical dialectics, to subvert the pyramidal structure
of synthetically deduced opinions, which have withstood the secular
revolutions of physiological disquisition, and which I maintain to be
transcendentally self-evident, categorically certain, and
syllogistically demonstrable.
_Squire Headlong._
Bravo! Pass the bottle. The very best speech that ever was made.
_Mr Escot._
It has only the slight disadvantage of being unintelligible.
_Mr Panscope._
I am not obliged, sir, as Dr Johnson observed on a similar occasion,
to furnish you with an understanding.
_Mr Escot._
I fear, sir, you would have some difficulty in furnishing me with such
an article from your own stock.
_Mr Panscope._
'Sdeath, sir, do you question my understanding?
_Mr Escot._
I only question, sir, where I expect a reply; which, from things that
have no existence, I am not visionary enough to anticipate.
_Mr Panscope._
I beg leave to observe, sir, that my language was perfectly
perspicuous, and etymologically correct; and, I conceive, I have
demonstrated what I shall now take the liberty to say in plain terms,
that all your opinions are extremely absurd.
_Mr Escot._
I should be sorry, sir, to advance any opinion that you would not
think absurd.
_Mr Panscope._
Death and fury, sir----
_Mr Escot._
Say no more, sir. That apology is quite sufficient.
_Mr Panscope._
Apology, sir?
_Mr Escot._
Even so, sir. You have lost your temper, which I consider equivalent
to a confession that you have the worst of the argument.
_Mr Panscope._
Lightning and devils! sir----
_Squire Headlong._
No civil war!--Temperance, in the name of Bacchus!--A glee! a glee!
_Music has charms to bend the knotted oak._ Sir Patrick, you'll join?
_Sir Patrick O'Prism._
Troth, with all my heart; for, by my soul, I'm bothered completely.
_Squire Headlong._
Agreed, then; you, and I, and Chromatic. Bumpers! Come, strike up.
Squire Headlong, Mr Chromatic, and Sir Patrick O'Prism, each holding a
bumper, immediately vociferated the following
GLEE
A heeltap! a heeltap! I never could bear it!
So fill me a bumper, a bumper of claret!
Let the bottle pass freely, don't shirk it nor spare it,
For a heeltap! a heeltap! I never could bear it!
No skylight! no twilight! while Bacchus rules o'er us:
No thinking! no shrinking! all drinking in chorus:
Let us moisten our clay, since 'tis thirsty and porous:
No thinking! no shrinking! all drinking in chorus!
GRAND CHORUS
_By Squire Headlong, Mr Chromatic, Sir Patrick O'Prism, Mr
Panscope, Mr Jenkison, Mr Gall, Mr Treacle, Mr Nightshade, Mr Mac
Laurel, Mr Cranium, Mr Milestone, and the Reverend Dr Gaster._
A heeltap! a heeltap! I never could bear it!
So fill me a bumper, a bumper of claret!
Let the bottle pass freely, don't shirk it nor spare it,
For a heeltap! a heeltap! I never could bear it!
'OMADOS KAI DOUPOS OROREI'
The little butler now waddled in with a summons from the ladies to tea
and coffee. The squire was unwilling to leave his Burgundy. Mr Escot
strenuously urged the necessity of immediate adjournment, observing,
that the longer they continued drinking the worse they should be. Mr
Foster seconded the motion, declaring the transition from the bottle
to female society to be an indisputable amelioration of the state of
the sensitive man. Mr Jenkison allowed the squire and his two brother
philosophers to settle the point between them, concluding that he was
just as well in one place as another. The question of adjournment was
then put, and carried by a large majority.
CHAPTER VI
The Evening
Mr Panscope, highly irritated by the cool contempt with which Mr Escot
had treated him, sate sipping his coffee and meditating revenge. He
was not long in discovering the passion of his antagonist for the
beautiful Cephalis, for whom he had himself a species of predilection;
and it was also obvious to him, that there was some lurking anger in
the mind of her father, unfavourable to the hopes of his rival. The
stimulus of revenge, superadded to that of preconceived inclination,
determined him, after due deliberation, to _cut out_ Mr Escot in the
young lady's favour. The practicability of this design he did not
trouble himself to investigate; for the havoc he had made in the
hearts of some silly girls, who were extremely vulnerable to flattery,
and who, not understanding a word he said, considered him a
_prodigious clever man_, had impressed him with an unhesitating idea
of his own irresistibility. He had not only the requisites already
specified for fascinating female vanity, he could likewise fiddle with
tolerable dexterity, though by no means so _quick_ as Mr Chromatic
(for our readers are of course aware that rapidity of execution, not
delicacy of expression, constitutes the scientific perfection of
modern music), and could warble a fashionable love-ditty with
considerable affectation of feeling: besides this, he was always
extremely well dressed, and was heir-apparent to an estate of ten
thousand a-year. The influence which the latter consideration might
have on the minds of the majority of his female acquaintance, whose
morals had been formed by the novels of such writers as Miss Philomela
Poppyseed, did not once enter into his calculation of his own personal
attractions. Relying, therefore, on past success, he determined _to
appeal to his fortune_, and already, in imagination, considered
himself sole lord and master of the affections of the beautiful
Cephalis.
Mr Escot and Mr Foster were the only two of the party who had entered
the library (to which the ladies had retired, and which was interior
to the music-room) in a state of perfect sobriety. Mr Escot had placed
himself next to the beautiful Cephalis: Mr Cranium had laid aside much
of the terror of his frown; the short craniological conversation,
which had passed between him and Mr Escot, had softened his heart in
his favour; and the copious libations of Burgundy in which he had
indulged had smoothed his brow into unusual serenity.
Mr Foster placed himself near the lovely Caprioletta, whose artless
and innocent conversation had already made an impression on his
susceptible spirit.
The Reverend Doctor Gaster seated himself in the corner of a sofa near
Miss Philomela Poppyseed. Miss Philomela detailed to him the plan of a
very moral and aristocratical novel she was preparing for the press,
and continued holding forth, with her eyes half shut, till a
long-drawn nasal tone from the reverend divine compelled her suddenly
to open them in all the indignation of surprise. The cessation of the
hum of her voice awakened the reverend gentleman, who, lifting up
first one eyelid, then the other, articulated, or rather murmured,
"Admirably planned, indeed!"
"I have not quite finished, sir," said Miss Philomela, bridling. "Will
you have the goodness to inform me where I left off?"
The doctor hummed a while, and at length answered: "I think you had
just laid it down as a position, that a thousand a-year is an
indispensable ingredient in the passion of love, and that no man, who
is not so far gifted by _nature_, can reasonably presume to feel that
passion himself, or be correctly the object of it with a well-educated
female."
"That, sir," said Miss Philomela, highly incensed, "is the fundamental
principle which I lay down in the first chapter, and which the whole
four volumes, of which I detailed to you the outline, are intended to
set in a strong practical light."
"Bless me!" said the doctor, "what a nap I must have had!"
Miss Philomela flung away to the side of her dear friends Gall and
Treacle, under whose fostering patronage she had been puffed into an
extensive reputation, much to the advantage of the young ladies of the
age, whom she taught to consider themselves as a sort of commodity, to
be put up at public auction, and knocked down to the highest bidder.
Mr Nightshade and Mr Mac Laurel joined the trio; and it was secretly
resolved, that Miss Philomela should furnish them with a portion of
her manuscripts, and that Messieurs Gall & Co. should devote the
following morning to cutting and drying a critique on a work
calculated to prove so extensively beneficial, that Mr Gall protested
he really _envied_ the writer.
While this amiable and enlightened quintetto were busily employed in
flattering one another, Mr Cranium retired to complete the
preparations he had begun in the morning for a lecture, with which he
intended, on some future evening, to favour the company: Sir Patrick
O'Prism walked out into the grounds to study the effect of moonlight
on the snow-clad mountains: Mr Foster and Mr Escot continued to make
love, and Mr Panscope to digest his plan of attack on the heart of
Miss Cephalis: Mr Jenkison sate by the fire, reading _Much Ado about
Nothing_: the Reverend Doctor Gaster was still enjoying the benefit of
Miss Philomela's opiate, and serenading the company from his solitary
corner: Mr Chromatic was reading music, and occasionally humming a
note: and Mr Milestone had produced his portfolio for the edification
and amusement of Miss Tenorina, Miss Graziosa, and Squire Headlong, to
whom he was pointing out the various beauties of his plan for Lord
Littlebrain's park.
_Mr Milestone._
This, you perceive, is the natural state of one part of the grounds.
Here is a wood, never yet touched by the finger of taste; thick,
intricate, and gloomy. Here is a little stream, dashing from stone to
stone, and overshadowed with these untrimmed boughs.
_Miss Tenorina._
The sweet romantic spot! How beautifully the birds must sing there on
a summer evening!
_Miss Graziosa._
Dear sister! how can you endure the horrid thicket?
_Mr Milestone._
You are right, Miss Graziosa: your taste is correct--perfectly
_en regle_. Now, here is the same place corrected--trimmed--polished
--decorated--adorned. Here sweeps a plantation, in that beautiful regular
curve: there winds a gravel walk: here are parts of the old wood, left in
these majestic circular clumps, disposed at equal distances with
wonderful symmetry: there are some single shrubs scattered in elegant
profusion: here a Portugal laurel, there a juniper; here a laurustinus,
there a spruce fir; here a larch, there a lilac; here a rhododendron,
there an arbutus. The stream, you see, is become a canal: the banks are
perfectly smooth and green, sloping to the water's edge: and there is
Lord Littlebrain, rowing in an elegant boat.
_Squire Headlong._
Magical, faith!
_Mr Milestone._
Here is another part of the grounds in its natural state. Here is a
large rock, with the mountain-ash rooted in its fissures, overgrown,
as you see, with ivy and moss; and from this part of it bursts a
little fountain, that runs bubbling down its rugged sides.
_Miss Tenorina._
O how beautiful! How I should love the melody of that miniature
cascade!
_Mr Milestone._
Beautiful, Miss Tenorina! Hideous. Base, common, and popular. Such a
thing as you may see anywhere, in wild and mountainous districts. Now,
observe the metamorphosis. Here is the same rock, cut into the shape
of a giant. In one hand he holds a horn, through which that little
fountain is thrown to a prodigious elevation. In the other is a
ponderous stone, so exactly balanced as to be apparently ready to fall
on the head of any person who may happen to be beneath[6.1]: and there
is Lord Littlebrain walking under it.
_Squire Headlong._
Miraculous, by Mahomet!
_Mr Milestone._
This is the summit of a hill, covered, as you perceive, with wood, and
with those mossy stones scattered at random under the trees.
_Miss Tenorina._
What a delightful spot to read in, on a summer's day! The air must be
so pure, and the wind must sound so divinely in the tops of those old
pines!
_Mr Milestone._
Bad taste, Miss Tenorina. Bad taste, I assure you. Here is the spot
improved. The trees are cut down: the stones are cleared away: this is
an octagonal pavilion, exactly on the centre of the summit: and there
you see Lord Littlebrain, on the top of the pavilion, enjoying the
prospect with a telescope.
_Squire Headlong._
Glorious, egad!
_Mr Milestone._
Here is a rugged mountainous road, leading through impervious shades:
the ass and the four goats characterise a wild uncultured scene. Here,
as you perceive, it is totally changed into a beautiful gravel-road,
gracefully curving through a belt of limes: and there is Lord
Littlebrain driving four-in-hand.
_Squire Headlong._
Egregious, by Jupiter!
_Mr Milestone._
Here is Littlebrain Castle, a Gothic, moss-grown structure, half
bosomed in trees. Near the casement of that turret is an owl peeping
from the ivy.
_Squire Headlong._
And devilish wise he looks.
_Mr Milestone._
Here is the new house, without a tree near it, standing in the midst
of an undulating lawn: a white, polished, angular building, reflected
to a nicety in this waveless lake: and there you see Lord Littlebrain
looking out of the window.
_Squire Headlong._
And devilish wise he looks too. You shall cut me a giant before you
go.
_Mr Milestone._
Good. I'll order down my little corps of pioneers.
During this conversation, a hot dispute had arisen between Messieurs
Gall and Nightshade; the latter pertinaciously insisting on having his
new poem reviewed by Treacle, who he knew would extol it most loftily,
and not by Gall, whose sarcastic commendation he held in superlative
horror. The remonstrances of Squire Headlong silenced the disputants,
but did not mollify the inflexible Gall, nor appease the irritated
Nightshade, who secretly resolved that, on his return to London, he
would beat his drum in Grub Street, form a mastigophoric corps of his
own, and hoist the standard of determined opposition against this
critical Napoleon.
Sir Patrick O'Prism now entered, and, after some rapturous
exclamations on the effect of the mountain-moonlight, entreated that
one of the young ladies would favour him with a song. Miss Tenorina
and Miss Graziosa now enchanted the company with some very scientific
compositions, which, as usual, excited admiration and astonishment in
every one, without a single particle of genuine pleasure. The
beautiful Cephalis being then summoned to take her station at the
harp, sang with feeling and simplicity the following air:--
LOVE AND OPPORTUNITY
Oh! who art thou, so swiftly flying?
My name is Love, the child replied:
Swifter I pass than south-winds sighing,
Or streams, through summer vales that glide.
And who art thou, his flight pursuing?
'Tis cold Neglect whom now you see:
The little god you there are viewing,
Will die, if once he's touched by me.
Oh! who art thou so fast proceeding,
Ne'er glancing back thine eyes of flame?
Marked but by few, through earth I'm speeding,
And Opportunity's my name.
What form is that, which scowls beside thee?
Repentance is the form you see:
Learn then, the fate may yet betide thee:
She seizes them who seize not me.[6.2]
The little butler now appeared with a summons to supper, shortly after
which the party dispersed for the night.
CHAPTER VII
The Walk
It was an old custom in Headlong Hall to have breakfast ready at
eight, and continue it till two; that the various guests might rise at
their own hour, breakfast when they came down, and employ the morning
as they thought proper; the squire only expecting that they should
punctually assemble at dinner. During the whole of this period, the
little butler stood sentinel at a side-table near the fire, copiously
furnished with all the apparatus of tea, coffee, chocolate, milk,
cream, eggs, rolls, toast, muffins, bread, butter, potted beef, cold
fowl and partridge, ham, tongue, and anchovy. The Reverend Doctor
Gaster found himself rather _queasy_ in the morning, therefore
preferred breakfasting in bed, on a mug of buttered ale and an anchovy
toast. The three philosophers made their appearance at eight, and
enjoyed _les premices des depouilles_. Mr Foster proposed that, as it
was a fine frosty morning, and they were all good pedestrians, they
should take a walk to Tremadoc, to see the improvements carrying on in
that vicinity. This being readily acceded to, they began their walk.
After their departure, appeared Squire Headlong and Mr Milestone, who
agreed, over their muffin and partridge, to walk together to a ruined
tower, within the precincts of the squire's grounds, which Mr
Milestone thought he could improve.
The other guests dropped in by ones and twos, and made their
respective arrangements for the morning. Mr Panscope took a little
ramble with Mr Cranium, in the course of which, the former professed a
great enthusiasm for the science of craniology, and a great deal of
love for the beautiful Cephalis, adding a few words about his
expectations; the old gentleman was unable to withstand this triple
battery, and it was accordingly determined--after the manner of the
heroic age, in which it was deemed superfluous to consult the opinions
and feelings of the lady, as to the manner in which she should be
disposed of--that the lovely Miss Cranium should be made the happy
bride of the accomplished Mr Panscope. We shall leave them for the
present to settle preliminaries, while we accompany the three
philosophers in their walk to Tremadoc.
The vale contracted as they advanced, and, when they had passed the
termination of the lake, their road wound along a narrow and romantic
pass, through the middle of which an impetuous torrent dashed over
vast fragments of stone. The pass was bordered on both sides by
perpendicular rocks, broken into the wildest forms of fantastic
magnificence.
"These are, indeed," said Mr Escot, "_confracti mundi rudera_[7.1]:
yet they must be feeble images of the valleys of the Andes, where the
philosophic eye may contemplate, in their utmost extent, the effects
of that tremendous convulsion which destroyed the perpendicularity of
the poles, and inundated this globe with that torrent of physical
evil, from which the greater torrent of moral evil has issued, that
will continue to roll on, with an expansive power and an accelerated
impetus, till the whole human race shall be swept away in its vortex."
"The precession of the equinoxes," said Mr Foster, "will gradually
ameliorate the physical state of our planet, till the ecliptic shall
again coincide with the equator, and the equal diffusion of light and
heat over the whole surface of the earth typify the equal and happy
existence of man, who will then have attained the final step of pure
and perfect intelligence."
"It is by no means clear," said Mr Jenkison, "that the axis of the
earth was ever perpendicular to the plane of its orbit, or that it
ever will be so. Explosion and convulsion are necessary to the
maintenance of either hypothesis: for La Place has demonstrated, that
the precession of the equinoxes is only a secular equation of a very
long period, which, of course, proves nothing either on one side or
the other."
They now emerged, by a winding ascent, from the vale of Llanberris,
and after some little time arrived at Bedd Gelert. Proceeding through
the sublimely romantic pass of Aberglaslynn, their road led along the
edge of Traeth Mawr, a vast arm of the sea, which they then beheld in
all the magnificence of the flowing tide. Another five miles brought
them to the embankment, which has since been completed, and which, by
connecting the two counties of Meirionnydd and Caernarvon, excludes
the sea from an extensive tract. The embankment, which was carried on
at the same time from both the opposite coasts, was then very nearly
meeting in the centre. They walked to the extremity of that part of it
which was thrown out from the Caernarvonshire shore. The tide was now
ebbing: it had filled the vast basin within, forming a lake about five
miles in length and more than one in breadth. As they looked upwards
with their backs to the open sea, they beheld a scene which no other
in this country can parallel, and which the admirers of the
magnificence of nature will ever remember with regret, whatever
consolation may be derived from the probable utility of the works
which have excluded the waters from their ancient receptacle. Vast
rocks and precipices, intersected with little torrents, formed the
barrier on the left: on the right, the triple summit of Moelwyn reared
its majestic boundary: in the depth was that sea of mountains, the
wild and stormy outline of the Snowdonian chain, with the giant Wyddfa
towering in the midst. The mountain-frame remains unchanged,
unchangeable: but the liquid mirror it enclosed is gone.
The tide ebbed with rapidity: the waters within, retained by the
embankment, poured through its two points an impetuous cataract,
curling and boiling in innumerable eddies, and making a tumultuous
melody admirably in unison with the surrounding scene. The three
philosophers looked on in silence; and at length unwillingly turned
away, and proceeded to the little town of Tremadoc, which is built on
land recovered in a similar manner from the sea. After inspecting the
manufactories, and refreshing themselves at the inn on a cold saddle
of mutton and a bottle of sherry, they retraced their steps towards
Headlong Hall, commenting as they went on the various objects they had
seen.
_Mr Escot._
I regret that time did not allow us to see the caves on the sea-shore.
There is one of which the depth is said to be unknown. There is a
tradition in the country, that an adventurous fiddler once resolved to
explore it; that he entered, and never returned; but that the
subterranean sound of a fiddle was heard at a farm-house seven miles
inland. It is, therefore, concluded that he lost his way in the
labyrinth of caverns, supposed to exist under the rocky soil of this
part of the country.
_Mr Jenkison._
A supposition that must always remain in force, unless a second
fiddler, equally adventurous and more successful, should return with
an accurate report of the true state of the fact.
_Mr Foster._
What think you of the little colony we have just been inspecting; a
city, as it were, in its cradle?
_Mr Escot._
With all the weakness of infancy, and all the vices of maturer age. I
confess, the sight of those manufactories, which have suddenly sprung
up, like fungous excrescences, in the bosom of these wild and desolate
scenes, impressed me with as much horror and amazement as the sudden
appearance of the stocking manufactory struck into the mind of
Rousseau, when, in a lonely valley of the Alps, he had just
congratulated himself on finding a spot where man had never been.
_Mr Foster._
The manufacturing system is not yet purified from some evils which
necessarily attend it, but which I conceive are greatly overbalanced
by their concomitant advantages. Contemplate the vast sum of human
industry to which this system so essentially contributes: seas covered
with vessels, ports resounding with life, profound researches,
scientific inventions, complicated mechanism, canals carried over deep
valleys, and through the bosoms of hills: employment and existence
thus given to innumerable families, and the multiplied comforts and
conveniences of life diffused over the whole community.
_Mr Escot._
You present to me a complicated picture of artificial life, and
require me to admire it. Seas covered with vessels: every one of which
contains two or three tyrants, and from fifty to a thousand slaves,
ignorant, gross, perverted, and active only in mischief. Ports
resounding with life: in other words, with noise and drunkenness, the
mingled din of avarice, intemperance, and prostitution. Profound
researches, scientific inventions: to what end? To contract the sum of
human wants? to teach the art of living on a little? to disseminate
independence, liberty, and health? No; to multiply factitious desires,
to stimulate depraved appetites, to invent unnatural wants, to heap up
incense on the shrine of luxury, and accumulate expedients of selfish
and ruinous profusion. Complicated machinery: behold its blessings.
Twenty years ago, at the door of every cottage sate the good woman
with her spinning-wheel: the children, if not more profitably employed
than in gathering heath and sticks, at least laid in a stock of health
and strength to sustain the labours of maturer years. Where is the
spinning-wheel now, and every simple and insulated occupation of the
industrious cottager? Wherever this boasted machinery is established,
the children of the poor are death-doomed from their cradles. Look for
one moment at midnight into a cotton-mill, amidst the smell of oil,
the smoke of lamps, the rattling of wheels, the dizzy and complicated
motions of diabolical mechanism: contemplate the little human machines
that keep play with the revolutions of the iron work, robbed at that
hour of their natural rest, as of air and exercise by day: observe
their pale and ghastly features, more ghastly in that baleful and
malignant light, and tell me if you do not fancy yourself on the
threshold of Virgil's hell, where
Continuo auditae voces, vagitus et ingens,
_Infantumque animae flentes_, in limine primo,
Quos _dulcis vitae exsortes_, et ab ubere raptos,
_Abstulit atra dies_, et FUNERE MERSIT ACERBO!
As Mr Escot said this, a little rosy-cheeked girl, with a basket of
heath on her head, came tripping down the side of one of the rocks on
the left. The force of contrast struck even on the phlegmatic spirit
of Mr Jenkison, and he almost inclined for a moment to the doctrine of
deterioration. Mr Escot continued:
_Mr Escot._
Nor is the lot of the parents more enviable. Sedentary victims of
unhealthy toil, they have neither the corporeal energy of the savage,
nor the mental acquisitions of the civilised man. Mind, indeed, they
have none, and scarcely animal life. They are mere automata, component
parts of the enormous machines which administer to the pampered
appetites of the few, who consider themselves the most valuable
portion of a state, because they consume in indolence the fruits of
the earth, and contribute nothing to the benefit of the community.
_Mr Jenkison._
That these are evils cannot be denied; but they have their
counterbalancing advantages. That a man should pass the day in a
furnace and the night in a cellar, is bad for the individual, but good
for others who enjoy the benefit of his labour.
_Mr Escot._
By what right do they so?
_Mr Jenkison._
By the right of all property and all possession: _le droit du plus
fort_.
_Mr Escot._
Do you justify that principle?
_Mr Jenkison._
I neither justify nor condemn it. It is practically recognised in all
societies; and, though it is certainly the source of enormous evil, I
conceive it is also the source of abundant good, or it would not have
so many supporters.
_Mr Escot._
That is by no means a consequence. Do we not every day see men
supporting the most enormous evils, which they know to be so with
respect to others, and which in reality are so with respect to
themselves, though an erroneous view of their own miserable
self-interest induces them to think otherwise?
_Mr Jenkison._
Good and evil exist only as they are perceived. I cannot therefore
understand, how that which a man perceives to be good can be in
reality an evil to him: indeed, the word _reality_ only signifies
_strong belief_.
_Mr Escot._
The views of such a man I contend are false. If he could be made to
see the truth----
_Mr Jenkison._
He sees his own truth. Truth is that which a man _troweth_. Where
there is no man there is no truth. Thus the truth of one is not the
truth of another.[7.2]
_Mr Foster._
I am aware of the etymology; but I contend that there is an universal
and immutable truth, deducible from the nature of things.
_Mr Jenkison._
By whom deducible? Philosophers have investigated the nature of things
for centuries, yet no two of them will agree in _trowing_ the same
conclusion.
_Mr Foster._
The progress of philosophical investigation, and the rapidly
increasing accuracy of human knowledge, approximate by degrees the
diversities of opinion; so that, in process of time, moral science
will be susceptible of mathematical demonstration; and, clear and
indisputable principles being universally recognised, the coincidence
of deduction will necessarily follow.
_Mr Escot._
Possibly when the inroads of luxury and disease shall have
exterminated nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and
ninety-nine of every million of the human race, the remaining
fractional units may congregate into one point, and come to something
like the same conclusion.
_Mr Jenkison._
I doubt it much. I conceive, if only we three were survivors of the
whole system of terrestrial being, we should never agree in our
decisions as to the cause of the calamity.
_Mr Escot._
Be that as it may, I think you must at least assent to the following
positions: that the many are sacrificed to the few; that ninety-nine
in a hundred are occupied in a perpetual struggle for the preservation
of a perilous and precarious existence, while the remaining one
wallows in all the redundancies of luxury that can be wrung from their
labours and privations; that luxury and liberty are incompatible; and
that every new want you invent for civilised man is a new instrument
of torture for him who cannot indulge it.
They had now regained the shores of the lake, when the conversation
was suddenly interrupted by a tremendous explosion, followed by a
violent splashing of water, and various sounds of tumult and
confusion, which induced them to quicken their pace towards the spot
whence they proceeded.
CHAPTER VIII
The Tower
In all the thoughts, words, and actions of Squire Headlong, there was
a remarkable alacrity of progression, which almost annihilated the
interval between conception and execution. He was utterly regardless
of obstacles, and seemed to have expunged their very name from his
vocabulary. His designs were never nipped in their infancy by the
contemplation of those trivial difficulties which often turn awry the
current of enterprise; and, though the rapidity of his movements was
sometimes arrested by a more formidable barrier, either naturally
existing in the pursuit he had undertaken, or created by his own
impetuosity, he seldom failed to succeed either in knocking it down or
cutting his way through it. He had little idea of gradation: he saw no
interval between the first step and the last, but pounced upon his
object with the impetus of a mountain cataract. This rapidity of
movement, indeed, subjected him to some disasters which cooler spirits
would have escaped. He was an excellent sportsman, and almost always
killed his game; but now and then he killed his dog.[8.1] Rocks,
streams, hedges, gates, and ditches, were objects of no account in his
estimation; though a dislocated shoulder, several severe bruises, and
two or three narrow escapes for his neck, might have been expected to
teach him a certain degree of caution in effecting his transitions. He
was so singularly alert in climbing precipices and traversing
torrents, that, when he went out on a shooting party, he was very soon
left to continue his sport alone, for he was sure to dash up or down
some nearly perpendicular path, where no one else had either ability
or inclination to follow. He had a pleasure boat on the lake, which he
steered with amazing dexterity; but as he always indulged himself in
the utmost possible latitude of sail, he was occasionally upset by a
sudden gust, and was indebted to his skill in the art of swimming for
the opportunity of tempering with a copious libation of wine the
unnatural frigidity introduced into his stomach by the extraordinary
intrusion of water, an element which he had religiously determined
should never pass his lips, but of which, on these occasions, he was
sometimes compelled to swallow no inconsiderable quantity. This
circumstance alone, of the various disasters that befell him,
occasioned him any permanent affliction, and he accordingly noted the
day in his pocket-book as a _dies nefastus_, with this simple
abstract, and brief chronicle of the calamity: _Mem. Swallowed two or
three pints of water_: without any notice whatever of the concomitant
circumstances. These days, of which there were several, were set apart
in Headlong Hall for the purpose of anniversary expiation; and, as
often as the day returned on which the squire had swallowed water, he
not only made a point of swallowing a treble allowance of wine
himself, but imposed a heavy mulct on every one of his servants who
should be detected in a state of sobriety after sunset: but their
conduct on these occasions was so uniformly exemplary, that no
instance of the infliction of the penalty appears on record.
The squire and Mr Milestone, as we have already said, had set out
immediately after breakfast to examine the capabilities of the
scenery. The object that most attracted Mr Milestone's admiration was
a ruined tower on a projecting point of rock, almost totally overgrown
with ivy. This ivy, Mr Milestone observed, required trimming and
clearing in various parts: a little pointing and polishing was also
necessary for the dilapidated walls: and the whole effect would be
materially increased by a plantation of spruce fir, interspersed with
cypress and juniper, the present rugged and broken ascent from the
land side being first converted into a beautiful slope, which might be
easily effected by blowing up a part of the rock with gunpowder,
laying on a quantity of fine mould, and covering the whole with an
elegant stratum of turf.
Squire Headlong caught with avidity at this suggestion; and, as he had
always a store of gunpowder in the house, for the accommodation of
himself and his shooting visitors, and for the supply of a small
battery of cannon, which he kept for his private amusement, he
insisted on commencing operations immediately. Accordingly, he bounded
back to the house, and very speedily returned, accompanied by the
little butler, and half a dozen servants and labourers, with pickaxes
and gunpowder, a hanging stove and a poker, together with a basket of
cold meat and two or three bottles of Madeira: for the Squire thought,
with many others, that a copious supply of provision is a very
necessary ingredient in all rural amusements.
Mr Milestone superintended the proceedings. The rock was excavated,
the powder introduced, the apertures strongly blockaded with fragments
of stone: a long train was laid to a spot which Mr Milestone fixed on
as sufficiently remote from the possibility of harm: the Squire seized
the poker, and, after flourishing it in the air with a degree of
dexterity which induced the rest of the party to leave him in solitary
possession of an extensive circumference, applied the end of it to the
train; and the rapidly communicated ignition ran hissing along the
surface of the soil.
At this critical moment, Mr Cranium and Mr Panscope appeared at the
top of the tower, which, unseeing and unseen, they had ascended on the
opposite side to that where the Squire and Mr Milestone were
conducting their operations. Their sudden appearance a little dismayed
the Squire, who, however, comforted himself with the reflection, that
the tower was perfectly safe, or at least was intended to be so, and
that his friends were in no probable danger but of a knock on the head
from a flying fragment of stone.
The succession of these thoughts in the mind of the Squire was
commensurate in rapidity to the progress of the ignition, which having
reached its extremity, the explosion took place, and the shattered
rock was hurled into the air in the midst of fire and smoke.
Mr Milestone had properly calculated the force of the explosion; for
the tower remained untouched: but the Squire, in his consolatory
reflections, had omitted the consideration of the influence of sudden
fear, which had so violent an effect on Mr Cranium, who was just
commencing a speech concerning the very fine prospect from the top of
the tower, that, cutting short the thread of his observations, he
bounded, under the elastic influence of terror, several feet into the
air. His ascent being unluckily a little out of the perpendicular, he
descended with a proportionate curve from the apex of his projection,
and alighted not on the wall of the tower, but in an ivy-bush by its
side, which, giving way beneath him, transferred him to a tuft of
hazel at its base, which, after upholding him an instant, consigned
him to the boughs of an ash that had rooted itself in a fissure about
half way down the rock, which finally transmitted him to the waters
below.
Squire Headlong anxiously watched the tower as the smoke which at
first enveloped it rolled away; but when this shadowy curtain was
withdrawn, and Mr Panscope was discovered, _solus_, in a tragical
attitude, his apprehensions became boundless, and he concluded that
the unlucky collision of a flying fragment of rock had indeed
emancipated the spirit of the craniologist from its terrestrial
bondage.
Mr Escot had considerably outstripped his companions, and arrived at
the scene of the disaster just as Mr Cranium, being utterly destitute
of natatorial skill, was in imminent danger of final submersion. The
deteriorationist, who had cultivated this valuable art with great
success, immediately plunged in to his assistance, and brought him
alive and in safety to a shelving part of the shore. Their landing was
hailed with a view-holla from the delighted Squire, who, shaking them
both heartily by the hand, and making ten thousand lame apologies to
Mr Cranium, concluded by asking, in a pathetic tone, _How much water
he had swallowed?_ and without waiting for his answer, filled a large
tumbler with Madeira, and insisted on his tossing it off, which was no
sooner said than done. Mr Jenkison and Mr Foster now made their
appearance. Mr Panscope descended the tower, which he vowed never
again to approach within a quarter of a mile. The tumbler of Madeira
was replenished, and handed round to recruit the spirits of the party,
which now began to move towards Headlong Hall, the Squire capering for
joy in the van, and the little fat butler waddling in the rear.
The Squire took care that Mr Cranium should be seated next to him at
dinner, and plied him so hard with Madeira to prevent him, as he said,
from taking cold, that long before the ladies sent in their summons to
coffee, every organ in his brain was in a complete state of
revolution, and the Squire was under the necessity of ringing for
three or four servants to carry him to bed, observing, with a smile of
great satisfaction, that he was in a very excellent way for escaping
any ill consequences that might have resulted from his accident.
The beautiful Cephalis, being thus freed from his _surveillance_, was
enabled, during the course of the evening, to develop to his preserver
the full extent of her gratitude.
CHAPTER IX
The Sexton
Mr Escot passed a sleepless night, the ordinary effect of love,
according to some amatory poets, who seem to have composed their
whining ditties for the benevolent purpose of bestowing on others that
gentle slumber of which they so pathetically lament the privation. The
deteriorationist entered into a profound moral soliloquy, in which he
first examined _whether a philosopher ought to be in love?_ Having
decided this point affirmatively against Plato and Lucretius, he next
examined, _whether that passion ought to have the effect of keeping a
philosopher awake?_ Having decided this negatively, he resolved to go
to sleep immediately: not being able to accomplish this to his
satisfaction, he tossed and tumbled, like Achilles or Orlando, first
on one side, then on the other; repeated to himself several hundred
lines of poetry; counted a thousand; began again, and counted another
thousand: in vain: the beautiful Cephalis was the predominant image in
all his soliloquies, in all his repetitions: even in the numerical
process from which he sought relief, he did but associate the idea of
number with that of his dear tormentor, till she appeared to his
mind's eye in a thousand similitudes, distinct, not different. These
thousand images, indeed, were but one; and yet the one was a thousand,
a sort of uni-multiplex phantasma, which will be very intelligible to
some understandings.
He arose with the first peep of day, and sallied forth to enjoy the
balmy breeze of morning, which any but a lover might have thought too
cool; for it was an intense frost, the sun had not risen, and the wind
was rather fresh from north-east and by north. But a lover, who, like
Ladurlad in the Curse of Kehama, always has, or at least is supposed
to have, "a fire in his heart and a fire in his brain," feels a wintry
breeze from N.E. and by N. steal over his cheek like the south over a
bank of violets; therefore, on walked the philosopher, with his coat
unbuttoned and his hat in his hand, careless of whither he went, till
he found himself near the enclosure of a little mountain chapel.
Passing through the wicket, and stepping over two or three graves, he
stood on a rustic tombstone, and peeped through the chapel window,
examining the interior with as much curiosity as if he had "forgotten
what the inside of a church was made of," which, it is rather to be
feared, was the case. Before him and beneath him were the font, the
altar, and the grave; which gave rise to a train of moral reflections
on the three great epochs in the course of the _featherless
biped_,--birth, marriage, and death. The middle stage of the process
arrested his attention; and his imagination placed before him several
figures, which he thought, with the addition of his own, would make a
very picturesque group; the beautiful Cephalis, "arrayed in her bridal
apparel of white;" her friend Caprioletta officiating as bridemaid; Mr
Cranium giving her away; and, last, not least, the Reverend Doctor
Gaster, intoning the marriage ceremony with the regular orthodox
allowance of nasal recitative. Whilst he was feasting his eyes on this
imaginary picture, the demon of mistrust insinuated himself into the
storehouse of his conceptions, and, removing his figure from the
group, substituted that of Mr Panscope, which gave such a violent
shock to his feelings, that he suddenly exclaimed, with an
extraordinary elevation of voice, _Oimoi kakodaimon, kai tris
kakodaimon, kai tetrakis, kai pentakis, kai dodekakis, kai
muriakis!_[9.1] to the great terror of the sexton, who was just
entering the churchyard, and, not knowing from whence the voice
proceeded, _pensa que fut un diableteau_. The sight of the philosopher
dispelled his apprehensions, when, growing suddenly valiant, he
immediately addressed him:--
"Cot pless your honour, I should n't have thought of meeting any pody
here at this time of the morning, except, look you, it was the
tevil--who, to pe sure, toes not often come upon consecrated
cround--put for all that, I think I have seen him now and then, in
former tays, when old Nanny Llwyd of Llyn-isa was living--Cot teliver
us! a terriple old witch to pe sure she was--I tid n't much like
tigging her crave--put I prought two cocks with me--the tevil hates
cocks--and tied them py the leg on two tombstones--and I tug, and the
cocks crowed, and the tevil kept at a tistance. To pe sure now, if I
had n't peen very prave py nature--as I ought to pe truly--for my
father was Owen Ap-Llwyd Ap-Gryffydd Ap-Shenkin Ap-Williams Ap-Thomas
Ap-Morgan Ap-Parry Ap-Evan Ap-Rhys, a coot preacher and a lover of
_cwrw_[9.2]--I should have thought just now pefore I saw your honour,
that the foice I heard was the tevil's calling Nanny Llwyd--Cot pless
us! to pe sure she should have been puried in the middle of the river,
where the tevil can't come, as your honour fery well knows."
"I am perfectly aware of it," said Mr Escot.
"True, true," continued the sexton; "put to pe sure, Owen Thomas of
Morfa-Bach will have it that one summer evening--when he went over to
Cwm Cynfael in Meirionnydd, apout some cattles he wanted to puy--he
saw a strange figure--pless us!--with five horns!--Cot save us!
sitting on Hugh Llwyd's pulpit, which, your honour fery well knows, is
a pig rock in the middle of the river----"
"Of course he was mistaken," said Mr Escot.
"To pe sure he was," said the sexton. "For there is no toubt put the
tevil, when Owen Thomas saw him, must have peen sitting on a piece of
rock in a straight line from him on the other side of the river, where
he used to sit, look you, for a whole summer's tay, while Hugh Llwyd
was on his pulpit, and there they used to talk across the water! for
Hugh Llwyd, please your honour, never raised the tevil except when he
was safe in the middle of the river, which proves that Owen Thomas, in
his fright, did n't pay proper attention to the exact spot where the
tevil was."
The sexton concluded his speech with an approving smile at his own
sagacity, in so luminously expounding the nature of Owen Thomas's
mistake.
"I perceive," said Mr Escot, "you have a very deep insight into
things, and can, therefore, perhaps, facilitate the resolution of a
question, concerning which, though I have little doubt on the subject,
I am desirous of obtaining the most extensive and accurate
information."
The sexton scratched his head, the language of Mr Escot not being to
his apprehension quite so luminous as his own.
"You have been sexton here," continued Mr Escot, in the language of
Hamlet, "man and boy, forty years."
The sexton turned pale. The period Mr Escot named was so nearly the
true one, that he began to suspect the personage before him of being
rather too familiar with Hugh Llwyd's sable visitor. Recovering
himself a little, he said, "Why, thereapouts, sure enough."
"During this period, you have of course dug up many bones of the
people of ancient times."
"Pones! Cot pless you, yes! pones as old as the 'orlt."
"Perhaps you can show me a few."
The sexton grinned horribly a ghastly smile. "Will you take your Pible
oath you ton't want them to raise the tevil with?"
"Willingly," said Mr Escot, smiling; "I have an abstruse reason for
the inquiry."
"Why, if you have an _obtuse_ reason," said the sexton, who thought
this a good opportunity to show that he could pronounce hard words as
well as other people; "if you have an _obtuse_ reason, that alters the
case."
So saying he led the way to the bone-house, from which he began to
throw out various bones and skulls of more than common dimensions, and
amongst them a skull of very extraordinary magnitude, which he swore
by St David was the skull of Cadwallader.
"How do you know this to be his skull?" said Mr Escot.
"He was the piggest man that ever lived, and he was puried here; and
this is the piggest skull I ever found: you see now----"
"Nothing can be more logical," said Mr Escot. "My good friend will you
allow me to take this skull away with me?"
"St Winifred pless us!" exclaimed the sexton, "would you have me
haunted py his chost for taking his plessed pones out of consecrated
cround? Would you have him come in the tead of the night, and fly away
with the roof of my house? Would you have all the crop of my carden
come to nothing? for, look you, his epitaph says,
"He that my pones shall ill pestow,
Leek in his cround shall never crow."
"You will ill bestow them," said Mr Escot, "in confounding them with
those of the sons of little men, the degenerate dwarfs of later
generations; you will well bestow them in giving them to me: for I
will have this illustrious skull bound with a silver rim, and filled
with mantling wine, with this inscription, NUNC TANDEM: signifying
that that pernicious liquor has at length found its proper receptacle;
for, when the wine is in, the brain is out."
Saying these words, he put a dollar into the hands of the sexton, who
instantly stood spellbound by the talismanic influence of the coin,
while Mr Escot walked off in triumph with the skull of Cadwallader.
CHAPTER X
The Skull
When Mr Escot entered the breakfast-room he found the majority of the
party assembled, and the little butler very active at his station.
Several of the ladies shrieked at the sight of the skull; and Miss
Tenorina, starting up in great haste and terror, caused the subversion
of a cup of chocolate, which a servant was handing to the Reverend
Doctor Gaster, into the nape of the neck of Sir Patrick O'Prism. Sir
Patrick, rising impetuously, _to clap an extinguisher_, as he
expressed himself, _on the farthing rushlight of the rascal's life_,
pushed over the chair of Marmaduke Milestone, Esquire, who, catching
for support at the first thing that came in his way, which happened
unluckily to be the corner of the table-cloth, drew it instantaneously
with him to the floor, involving plates, cups and saucers, in one
promiscuous ruin. But, as the principal _materiel_ of the breakfast
apparatus was on the little butler's side-table, the confusion
occasioned by this accident was happily greater than the damage. Miss
Tenorina was so agitated that she was obliged to retire: Miss Graziosa
accompanied her through pure sisterly affection and sympathy, not
without a lingering look at Sir Patrick, who likewise retired to
change his coat, but was very expeditious in returning to resume his
attack on the cold partridge. The broken cups were cleared away, the
cloth relaid, and the array of the table restored with wonderful
celerity.
Mr Escot was a little surprised at the scene of confusion which
signalised his entrance; but, perfectly unconscious that it originated
with the skull of Cadwallader, he advanced to seat himself at the
table by the side of the beautiful Cephalis, first placing the skull
in a corner, out of the reach of Mr Cranium, who sate eyeing it with
lively curiosity, and after several efforts to restrain his
impatience, exclaimed, "You seem to have found a rarity."
"A rarity indeed," said Mr Escot, cracking an egg as he spoke; "no
less than the genuine and indubitable skull of Cadwallader."
"The skull of Cadwallader!" vociferated Mr Cranium; "O treasure of
treasures!"
Mr Escot then detailed by what means he had become possessed of it,
which gave birth to various remarks from the other individuals of the
party: after which, rising from table, and taking the skull again in
his hand,
"This skull," said he, "is the skull of a hero, _palai
katatethneiotos_[10.1], and sufficiently demonstrates a point,
concerning which I never myself entertained a doubt, that the human
race is undergoing a gradual process of diminution, in length,
breadth, and thickness. Observe this skull. Even the skull of our
reverend friend, which is the largest and thickest in the company, is
not more than half its size. The frame this skull belonged to could
scarcely have been less than nine feet high. Such is the lamentable
progress of degeneracy and decay. In the course of ages, a boot of the
present generation would form an ample chateau for a large family of
our remote posterity. The mind, too, participates in the contraction
of the body. Poets and philosophers of all ages and nations have
lamented this too visible process of physical and moral deterioration.
'The sons of little men', says Ossian. '_Oioi nun brotoi eisin_,' says
Homer: 'such men as live in these degenerate days.' 'All things,' says
Virgil, 'have a retrocessive tendency, and grow worse and worse by the
inevitable doom of fate.'[10.2] 'We live in the ninth age,' says
Juvenal, 'an age worse than the age of iron; nature has no
metal sufficiently pernicious to give a denomination to its
wickedness.'[10.3] 'Our fathers,' says Horace, 'worse than our
grandfathers, have given birth to us, their more vicious progeny,
who, in our turn, shall become the parents of a still viler
generation.'[10.4] You all know the fable of the buried Pict, who bit
off the end of a pickaxe, with which sacrilegious hands were breaking
open his grave, and called out with a voice like subterranean thunder,
_I perceive the degeneracy of your race by the smallness of your
little finger!_ videlicet, the pickaxe. This, to be sure, is a
fiction; but it shows the prevalent opinion, the feeling, the
conviction, of absolute, universal, irremediable deterioration."
"I should be sorry," said Mr Foster, "that such an opinion should
become universal, independently of my conviction of its fallacy. Its
general admission would tend, in a great measure, to produce the very
evils it appears to lament. What could be its effect, but to check the
ardour of investigation, to extinguish the zeal of philanthropy, to
freeze the current of enterprising hope, to bury in the torpor of
scepticism and in the stagnation of despair, every better faculty of
the human mind, which will necessarily become retrograde in ceasing to
be progressive?"
"I am inclined to think, on the contrary," said Mr Escot, "that the
deterioration of man is accelerated by his blindness--in many respects
wilful blindness--to the truth of the fact itself, and to the causes
which produce it; that there is no hope whatever of ameliorating his
condition but in a total and radical change of the whole scheme of
human life, and that the advocates of his indefinite perfectibility
are in reality the greatest enemies to the practical possibility of
their own system, by so strenuously labouring to impress on his
attention that he is going on in a good way, while he is really in a
deplorably bad one."
"I admit," said Mr Foster, "there are many things that may, and
therefore will, be changed for the better."
"Not on the present system," said Mr Escot, "in which every change is
for the worse."
"In matters of taste I am sure it is," said Mr Gall: "there is, in
fact, no such thing as good taste left in the world."
"Oh, Mr Gall!" said Miss Philomela Poppyseed, "I thought my novel----"
"My paintings," said Sir Patrick O'Prism----
"My ode," said Mr Mac Laurel----
"My ballad," said Mr Nightshade----
"My plan for Lord Littlebrain's park," said Marmaduke Milestone,
Esquire----
"My essay," said Mr Treacle----
"My sonata," said Mr Chromatic----
"My claret," said Squire Headlong----
"My lectures," said Mr Cranium----
"Vanity of vanities," said the Reverend Doctor Gaster, turning down an
empty egg-shell; "all is vanity and vexation of spirit."
CHAPTER XI
The Anniversary
Among the _dies alba creta notandos_, which the beau monde of the
Cambrian mountains was in the habit of remembering with the greatest
pleasure, and anticipating with the most lively satisfaction, was the
Christmas ball which the ancient family of the Headlongs had been
accustomed to give from time immemorial. Tradition attributed the
honour of its foundation to Headlong Ap-Headlong Ap-Breakneck
Ap-Headlong Ap-Cataract Ap-Pistyll Ap-Rhaidr[11.1] Ap-Headlong, who
lived about the time of the Trojan war. Certain it is, at least, that
a grand chorus was always sung after supper in honour of this
illustrious ancestor of the squire. This ball was, indeed, an aera in
the lives of all the beauty and fashion of Caernarvon, Meirionnydd,
and Anglesea, and, like the Greek Olympiads and the Roman consulates,
served as the main pillar of memory, round which all the events of the
year were suspended and entwined. Thus, in recalling to mind any
circumstance imperfectly recollected, the principal point to be
ascertained was, whether it had occurred in the year of the first,
second, third, or fourth ball of Headlong Ap-Breakneck, or Headlong
Ap-Torrent, or Headlong Ap-Hurricane; and, this being satisfactorily
established, the remainder followed of course in the natural order of
its ancient association.
This eventful anniversary being arrived, every chariot, coach,
barouche and barouchette, landau and landaulet, chaise, curricle,
buggy, whiskey, and tilbury, of the three counties, was in motion: not
a horse was left idle within five miles of any gentleman's seat, from
the high-mettled hunter to the heath-cropping galloway. The ferrymen
of the Menai were at their stations before daybreak, taking a double
allowance of rum and _cwrw_ to strengthen them for the fatigues of the
day. The ivied towers of Caernarvon, the romantic woods of
Tan-y-bwlch, the heathy hills of Kernioggau, the sandy shores of
Tremadoc, the mountain recesses of Bedd-Gelert, and the lonely lakes
of Capel-Cerig, re-echoed to the voices of the delighted ostlers and
postillions, who reaped on this happy day their wintry harvest.
Landlords and landladies, waiters, chambermaids, and toll-gate
keepers, roused themselves from the torpidity which the last solitary
tourist, flying with the yellow leaves on the wings of the autumnal
wind, had left them to enjoy till the returning spring: the bustle of
August was renewed on all the mountain roads, and, in the meanwhile,
Squire Headlong and his little fat butler carried most energetically
into effect the lessons of the _savant_ in the Court of
Quintessence, _qui par engin mirificque jectoit les maisons par les
fenestres_[11.2].
It was the custom for the guests to assemble at dinner on the day of
the ball, and depart on the following morning after breakfast. Sleep
during this interval was out of the question: the ancient harp of
Cambria suspended the celebration of the noble race of Shenkin, and
the songs of Hoel and Cyveilioc, to ring to the profaner but more
lively modulation of _Voulez vous danser, Mademoiselle?_ in
conjunction with the symphonious scraping of fiddles, the tinkling of
triangles, and the beating of tambourines. Comus and Momus were the
deities of the night; and Bacchus of course was not forgotten by the
male part of the assembly (with them, indeed, a ball was invariably a
scene of "_tipsy dance and jollity_"): the servants flew about with
wine and negus, and the little butler was indefatigable with his
corkscrew, which is reported on one occasion to have grown so hot
under the influence of perpetual friction that it actually set fire to
the cork.
The company assembled. The dinner, which on this occasion was a
secondary object, was despatched with uncommon celerity. When the
cloth was removed, and the bottle had taken its first round, Mr
Cranium stood up and addressed the company.
"Ladies and gentlemen," said he, "the golden key of mental
phaenomena, which has lain buried for ages in the deepest vein of the
mine of physiological research, is now, by a happy combination of
practical and speculative investigations, grasped, if I may so
express myself, firmly and inexcusably, in the hands of
physiognomical empiricism." The Cambrian visitors listened with
profound attention, not comprehending a single syllable he said, but
concluding he would finish his speech by proposing the health of
Squire Headlong. The gentlemen accordingly tossed off their heeltaps,
and Mr Cranium proceeded: "Ardently desirous, to the extent of my
feeble capacity, of disseminating as much as possible, the
inexhaustible treasures to which this golden key admits the humblest
votary of philosophical truth, I invite you, when you have
sufficiently restored, replenished, refreshed, and exhilarated that
osteosarchaematosplanchnochondroneuromuelous, or to employ a more
intelligible term, osseocarnisanguineoviscericartilaginonervomedullary,
_compages_, or shell, the body, which at once envelopes and developes
that mysterious and inestimable kernel, the desiderative,
determinative, ratiocinative, imaginative, inquisitive, appetitive,
comparative, reminiscent, congeries of ideas and notions, simple and
compound, comprised in the comprehensive denomination of mind,
to take a peep with me into the mechanical arcana of the
anatomico-metaphysical universe. Being not in the least dubitative of
your spontaneous compliance, I proceed," added he, suddenly changing
his tone, "to get everything ready in the library." Saying these
words, he vanished.
The Welsh squires now imagined they had caught a glimpse of his
meaning, and set him down in their minds for a sort of gentleman
conjuror, who intended to amuse them before the ball with some tricks
of legerdemain. Under this impression, they became very impatient to
follow him, as they had made up their minds not to be drunk before
supper. The ladies, too, were extremely curious to witness an
exhibition which had been announced in so singular a preamble; and the
squire, having previously insisted on every gentleman tossing off a
half-pint bumper, adjourned the whole party to the library, where they
were not a little surprised to discover Mr Cranium seated, in a
pensive attitude, at a large table, decorated with a copious variety
of skulls.
Some of the ladies were so much shocked at this extraordinary display,
that a scene of great confusion ensued. Fans were very actively
exercised, and water was strenuously called for by some of the most
officious of the gentlemen; on which the little butler entered with a
large allowance of liquid, which bore, indeed, the name of _water_,
but was in reality a very powerful spirit. This was the only species
of water which the little butler had ever heard called for in Headlong
Hall. The mistake was not attended with any evil effects: for the
fluid was no sooner applied to the lips of the fainting fair ones,
than it resuscitated them with an expedition truly miraculous.
Order was at length restored; the audience took their seats, and the
craniological orator held forth in the following terms:
CHAPTER XII
The Lecture
"Physiologists have been much puzzled to account for the varieties of
moral character in men, as well as for the remarkable similarity of
habit and disposition in all the individual animals of every other
respective species. A few brief sentences, perspicuously worded, and
scientifically arranged, will enumerate all the characteristics of a
lion, or a tiger, or a wolf, or a bear, or a squirrel, or a goat, or a
horse, or an ass, or a rat, or a cat, or a hog, or a dog; and whatever
is physiologically predicted of any individual lion, tiger, wolf,
bear, squirrel, goat, horse, ass, hog, or dog, will be found to hold
true of all lions, tigers, wolves, bears, squirrels, goats, horses,
asses, hogs, and dogs, whatsoever. Now, in man, the very reverse of
this appears to be the case; for he has so few distinct and
characteristic marks which hold true of all his species, that
philosophers in all ages have found it a task of infinite difficulty
to give him a definition. Hence one has defined him to be a
_featherless biped_, a definition which is equally applicable to an
unfledged fowl: another to be _an animal which forms opinions_, than
which nothing can be more inaccurate, for a very small number of the
species form opinions, and the remainder take them upon trust, without
investigation or inquiry.
"Again, man has been defined to be _an animal that carries a stick_:
an attribute which undoubtedly belongs to man only, but not to all men
always; though it uniformly characterises some of the graver and more
imposing varieties, such as physicians, oran-outangs, and lords in
waiting.
"We cannot define man to be a reasoning animal, for we do not dispute
that idiots are men; to say nothing of that very numerous description
of persons who consider themselves reasoning animals, and are so
denominated by the ironical courtesy of the world, who labour,
nevertheless, under a very gross delusion in that essential
particular.
"It appears to me that man may be correctly defined an animal, which,
without any peculiar or distinguishing faculty of its own, is, as it
were, a bundle or compound of faculties of other animals, by a
distinct enumeration of which any individual of the species may be
satisfactorily described. This is manifest, even in the ordinary
language of conversation, when, in summing up, for example, the
qualities of an accomplished courtier, we say he has the vanity of a
peacock, the cunning of a fox, the treachery of an hyaena, the
cold-heartedness of a cat, and the servility of a jackal. That this is
perfectly consentaneous to scientific truth, will appear in the
further progress of these observations.
"Every particular faculty of the mind has its corresponding organ in
the brain. In proportion as any particular faculty or propensity
acquires paramount activity in any individual, these organs develope
themselves, and their development becomes externally obvious by
corresponding lumps and bumps, exuberances and protuberances, on the
osseous compages of the occiput and sinciput. In all animals but man,
the same organ is equally developed in every individual of the
species: for instance, that of migration in the swallow, that of
destruction in the tiger, that of architecture in the beaver, and that
of parental affection in the bear. The human brain, however, consists,
as I have said, of a bundle or compound of all the faculties of all
other animals; and from the greater development of one or more of
these, in the infinite varieties of combination, result all the
peculiarities of individual character.
"Here is the skull of a beaver, and that of Sir Christopher Wren. You
observe, in both these specimens, the prodigious development of the
organ of constructiveness.
"Here is the skull of a bullfinch, and that of an eminent fiddler. You
may compare the organ of music.
"Here is the skull of a tiger. You observe the organ of carnage. Here
is the skull of a fox. You observe the organ of plunder. Here is the
skull of a peacock. You observe the organ of vanity. Here is the skull
of an illustrious robber, who, after a long and triumphant process of
depredation and murder, was suddenly checked in his career by means of
a certain quality inherent in preparations of hemp, which, for the
sake of perspicuity, I shall call _suspensiveness_. Here is the skull
of a conqueror, who, after over-running several kingdoms, burning a
number of cities, and causing the deaths of two or three millions of
men, women, and children, was entombed with all the pageantry of
public lamentation, and figured as the hero of several thousand odes
and a round dozen of epics; while the poor highwayman was twice
executed--
'At the gallows first, and after in a ballad,
Sung to a villainous tune.'
"You observe, in both these skulls, the combined development of the
organs of carnage, plunder, and vanity, which I have separately
pointed out in the tiger, the fox, and the peacock. The greater
enlargement of the organ of vanity in the hero is the only criterion
by which I can distinguish them from each other. Born with the same
faculties, and the same propensities, these two men were formed by
nature to run the same career: the different combinations of external
circumstances decided the differences of their destinies.
"Here is the skull of a Newfoundland dog. You observe the organ of
benevolence, and that of attachment. Here is a human skull, in which
you may observe a very striking negation of both these organs; and an
equally striking development of those of destruction, cunning,
avarice, and self-love. This was one of the most illustrious statesmen
that ever flourished in the page of history.
"Here is the skull of a turnspit, which, after a wretched life of
_dirty work_, was turned out of doors to die on a dunghill. I have
been induced to preserve it, in consequence of its remarkable
similarity to this, which belonged to a courtly poet, who having grown
grey in flattering the great, was cast off in the same manner to
perish by the same catastrophe."
_After these, and several other illustrations, during which the skulls
were handed round for the inspection of the company, Mr Cranium
proceeded thus:--_
"It is obvious, from what I have said, that no man can hope for
worldly honour or advancement, who is not placed in such a relation to
external circumstances as may be consentaneous to his peculiar
cerebral organs; and I would advise every parent, who has the welfare
of his son at heart, to procure as extensive a collection as possible
of the skulls of animals, and, before determining on the choice of a
profession, to compare with the utmost nicety their bumps and
protuberances with those of the skull of his son. If the development
of the organ of destruction point out a similarity between the youth
and the tiger, let him be brought to some profession (whether that of
a butcher, a soldier, or a physician, may be regulated by
circumstances) in which he may be furnished with a licence to kill:
as, without such licence, the indulgence of his natural propensity may
lead to the untimely rescission of his vital thread, 'with edge of
penny cord and vile reproach.' If he show an analogy with the jackal,
let all possible influence be used to procure him a place at court,
where he will infallibly thrive. If his skull bear a marked
resemblance to that of a magpie, it cannot be doubted that he will
prove an admirable lawyer; and if with this advantageous conformation
be combined any similitude to that of an owl, very confident hopes may
be formed of his becoming a judge."
A furious flourish of music was now heard from the ball-room, the
squire having secretly dispatched the little butler to order it to
strike up, by way of a hint to Mr Cranium to finish his harangue. The
company took the hint and adjourned tumultuously, having just
understood as much of the lecture as furnished them with amusement for
the ensuing twelvemonth, in feeling the skulls of all their
acquaintance.
CHAPTER XIII
The Ball
The ball-room was adorned with great taste and elegance, under the
direction of Miss Caprioletta and her friend Miss Cephalis, who were
themselves its most beautiful ornaments, even though romantic Meirion,
the pre-eminent in loveliness, sent many of its loveliest daughters to
grace the festive scene. Numberless were the solicitations of the
dazzled swains of Cambria for the honour of the two first dances with
the one or the other of these fascinating friends; but little availed,
on this occasion, the pedigree lineally traced from Caractacus or King
Arthur; their two philosophical lovers, neither of whom could have
given the least account of his great-great-grandfather, had engaged
them many days before. Mr Panscope chafed and fretted like Llugwy in
his bed of rocks, when the object of his adoration stood up with his
rival: but he consoled himself with a lively damsel from the vale of
Edeirnion, having first compelled Miss Cephalis to promise him her
hand for the fourth set.
The ball was accordingly opened by Miss Caprioletta and Mr Foster,
which gave rise to much speculation among the Welsh gentry, as to who
this Mr Foster could be; some of the more learned among them secretly
resolving to investigate most profoundly the antiquity of the name of
Foster, and ascertain what right a person so denominated could have to
open the most illustrious of all possible balls with the lovely
Caprioletta Headlong, the only sister of Harry Headlong, Esquire, of
Headlong Hall, in the Vale of Llanberris, the only surviving male
representative of the antediluvian family of Headlong Ap-Rhaiader.
When the first two dances were ended, Mr Escot, who did not choose to
dance with any one but his adorable Cephalis, looking round for a
convenient seat, discovered Mr Jenkison in a corner by the side of the
Reverend Doctor Gaster, who was keeping excellent time with his nose
to the lively melody of the harp and fiddle. Mr Escot seated himself
by the side of Mr Jenkison, and inquired if he took no part in the
amusement of the night?
_Mr Jenkison._
No. The universal cheerfulness of the company induces me to rise; the
trouble of such violent exercise induces me to sit still. Did I see a
young lady in want of a partner, gallantry would incite me to offer
myself as her devoted knight for half an hour: but, as I perceive
there are enough without me, that motive is null. I have been weighing
these points _pro_ and _con_, and remain _in statu quo_.
_Mr Escot._
I have danced, contrary to my system, as I have done many other things
since I have been here, from a motive that you will easily guess. (_Mr
Jenkison smiled._) I have great objections to dancing. The wild and
original man is a calm and contemplative animal. The stings of natural
appetite alone rouse him to action. He satisfies his hunger with roots
and fruits, unvitiated by the malignant adhibition of fire, and all
its diabolical processes of elixion and assation; he slakes his thirst
in the mountain-stream, _summisgetai tae epituchousae_, and returns to
his peaceful state of meditative repose.
_Mr Jenkison._
Like the metaphysical statue of Condillac.
_Mr Escot._
With all its senses and purely natural faculties developed, certainly.
Imagine this tranquil and passionless being, occupied in his first
meditation on the simple question of _Where am I? Whence do I come?
And what is the end of my existence?_ Then suddenly place before him a
chandelier, a fiddler, and a magnificent beau in silk stockings and
pumps, bounding, skipping, swinging, capering, and throwing himself
into ten thousand attitudes, till his face glows with fever, and
distils with perspiration: the first impulse excited in his mind by
such an apparition will be that of violent fear, which, by the
reiterated perception of its harmlessness, will subside into simple
astonishment. Then let any genius, sufficiently powerful to impress on
his mind all the terms of the communication, impart to him, that after
a long process of ages, when his race shall have attained what some
people think proper to denominate a very advanced stage of
perfectibility, the most favoured and distinguished of the community
shall meet by hundreds, to grin, and labour, and gesticulate, like the
phantasma before him, from sunset to sunrise, while all nature is at
rest, and that they shall consider this a happy and pleasurable mode
of existence, and furnishing the most delightful of all possible
contrasts to what they will call his vegetative state: would he not
groan from his inmost soul for the lamentable condition of his
posterity?
_Mr Jenkison._
I know not what your wild and original man might think of the matter
in the abstract; but comparatively, I conceive, he would be better
pleased with the vision of such a scene as this, than with that of a
party of Indians (who would have all the advantage of being nearly as
wild as himself), dancing their infernal war-dance round a midnight
fire in a North American forest.
_Mr Escot._
Not if you should impart to him the true nature of both, by laying
open to his view the springs of action in both parties.
_Mr Jenkison._
To do this with effect, you must make him a profound metaphysician,
and thus transfer him at once from his wild and original state to a
very advanced stage of intellectual progression; whether that
progression be towards good or evil, I leave you and our friend Foster
to settle between you.
_Mr Escot._
I wish to make no change in his habits and feelings, but to give him,
hypothetically, so much mental illumination, as will enable him to
take a clear view of two distinct stages of the deterioration of his
posterity, that he may be enabled to compare them with each other, and
with his own more happy condition. The Indian, dancing round the
midnight fire, is very far deteriorated; but the magnificent beau,
dancing to the light of chandeliers, is infinitely more so. The Indian
is a hunter: he makes great use of fire, and subsists almost entirely
on animal food. The malevolent passions that spring from these
pernicious habits involve him in perpetual war. He is, therefore,
necessitated, for his own preservation, to keep all the energies of
his nature in constant activity: to this end his midnight war-dance is
very powerfully subservient, and, though in itself a frightful
spectacle, is at least justifiable on the iron plea of necessity.
_Mr Jenkison._
On the same iron plea, the modern system of dancing is more
justifiable. The Indian dances to prepare himself for killing his
enemy: but while the beaux and belles of our assemblies dance, they
are in the very act of killing theirs--TIME!--a more inveterate and
formidable foe than any the Indian has to contend with; for, however
completely and ingeniously killed, he is sure to rise again, "with
twenty mortal murders on his crown," leading his army of blue devils,
with ennui in the van, and vapours in the rear.
_Mr Escot._
Your observation militates on my side of the question; and it is a
strong argument in favour of the Indian, that he has no such enemy to
kill.
_Mr Jenkison._
There is certainly a great deal to be said against dancing: there is
also a great deal to be said in its favour. The first side of the
question I leave for the present to you: on the latter, I may venture
to allege that no amusement seems more natural and more congenial to
youth than this. It has the advantage of bringing young persons of
both sexes together, in a manner which its publicity renders perfectly
unexceptionable, enabling them to see and know each other better than,
perhaps, any other mode of general association. _Tete-a-tetes_ are
dangerous things. Small family parties are too much under mutual
observation. A ball-room appears to me almost the only scene uniting
that degree of rational and innocent liberty of intercourse, which it
is desirable to promote as much as possible between young persons,
with that scrupulous attention to the delicacy and propriety of female
conduct, which I consider the fundamental basis of all our most
valuable social relations.
_Mr Escot._
There would be some plausibility in your argument, if it were not the
very essence of this species of intercourse to exhibit them to each
other under false colours. Here all is show, and varnish, and
hypocrisy, and coquetry; they dress up their moral character for the
evening at the same toilet where they manufacture their shapes and
faces. Ill-temper lies buried under a studied accumulation of smiles.
Envy, hatred, and malice, retreat from the countenance, to entrench
themselves more deeply in the heart. Treachery lurks under the flowers
of courtesy. Ignorance and folly take refuge in that unmeaning gabble
which it would be profanation to call language, and which even those
whom long experience in "the dreary intercourse of daily life" has
screwed up to such a pitch of stoical endurance that they can listen
to it by the hour, have branded with the ignominious appellation of
"_small talk_." Small indeed!--the absolute minimum of the infinitely
little.
_Mr Jenkison._
Go on. I have said all I intended to say on the favourable side. I
shall have great pleasure in hearing you balance the argument.
_Mr Escot._
I expect you to confess that I shall have more than balanced it. A
ball-room is an epitome of all that is most worthless and unamiable in
the great sphere of human life. Every petty and malignant passion is
called into play. Coquetry is perpetually on the alert to captivate,
caprice to mortify, and vanity to take offence. One amiable female is
rendered miserable for the evening by seeing another, whom she
intended to outshine, in a more attractive dress than her own; while
the other omits no method of giving stings to her triumph, which she
enjoys with all the secret arrogance of an oriental sultana. Another
is compelled to dance with a _monster_ she abhors. A third has set her
heart on dancing with a particular partner, perhaps for the amiable
motive of annoying one of her _dear friends_: not only he does not ask
her, but she sees him dancing with that identical _dear friend_, whom
from that moment she hates more cordially than ever. Perhaps, what is
worse than all, she has set her heart on refusing some impertinent
fop, who does not give her the opportunity.--As to the men, the case
is very nearly the same with them. To be sure, they have the privilege
of making the first advances, and are, therefore, less liable to have
an odious partner forced upon them; though this sometimes happens, as
I know by woeful experience: but it is seldom they can procure the
very partner they prefer; and when they do, the absurd necessity of
changing every two dances forces them away, and leaves them only the
miserable alternative of taking up with something disagreeable perhaps
in itself, and at all events rendered so by contrast, or of retreating
into some solitary corner, to vent their spleen on the first idle
coxcomb they can find.
_Mr Jenkison._
I hope that is not the motive which brings you to me.
_Mr Escot._
Clearly not. But the most afflicting consideration of all is, that
these malignant and miserable feelings are masked under that uniform
disguise of pretended benevolence, _that fine and delicate irony,
called politeness, which gives so much ease and pliability to the
mutual intercourse of civilised man, and enables him to assume the
appearance of every virtue without the reality of one_.[13.1]
The second set of dances was now terminated, and Mr Escot flew off to
reclaim the hand of the beautiful Cephalis, with whom he figured away
with surprising alacrity, and probably felt at least as happy among
the chandeliers and silk stockings, at which he had just been railing,
as he would have been in an American forest, making one in an Indian
ring, by the light of a blazing fire, even though his hand had been
locked in that of the most beautiful _squaw_ that ever listened to the
roar of Niagara.
Squire Headlong was now beset by his maiden aunt, Miss Brindle-mew
Grimalkin Phoebe Tabitha Ap-Headlong, on one side, and Sir Patrick
O'Prism on the other; the former insisting that he should immediately
procure her a partner; the latter earnestly requesting the same
interference in behalf of Miss Philomela Poppyseed. The squire thought
to emancipate himself from his two petitioners by making them dance
with each other; but Sir Patrick vehemently pleading a prior
engagement, the squire threw his eyes around till they alighted on Mr
Jenkison and the Reverend Doctor Gaster; both of whom, after waking
the latter, he pressed into the service. The doctor, arising with a
strange kind of guttural sound, which was half a yawn and half a
groan, was handed by the officious squire to Miss Philomela, who
received him with sullen dignity: she had not yet forgotten his
falling asleep during the first chapter of her novel, while she was
condescending to detail to him the outlines of four superlative
volumes. The doctor, on his part, had most completely forgotten it;
and though he thought there was something in her physiognomy rather
more forbidding than usual, he gave himself no concern about the
cause, and had not the least suspicion that it was at all connected
with himself. Miss Brindle-mew was very well contented with Mr
Jenkison, and gave him two or three ogles, accompanied by a most
risible distortion of the countenance which she intended for a
captivating smile. As to Mr Jenkison, it was all one to him with whom
he danced, or whether he danced or not: he was therefore just as well
pleased as if he had been left alone in his corner; which is probably
more than could have been said of any other human being under similar
circumstances.
At the end of the third set, supper was announced; and the party,
pairing off like turtles, adjourned to the supper-room. The squire was
now the happiest of mortal men, and the little butler the most
laborious. The centre of the largest table was decorated with a model
of Snowdon, surmounted with an enormous artificial leek, the leaves of
angelica, and the bulb of blancmange. A little way from the summit was
a tarn, or mountain-pool, supplied through concealed tubes with an
inexhaustible flow of milk-punch, which, dashing in cascades down the
miniature rocks, fell into the more capacious lake below, washing the
mimic foundations of Headlong Hall. The reverend doctor handed Miss
Philomela to the chair most conveniently situated for enjoying this
interesting scene, protesting he had never before been sufficiently
impressed with the magnificence of that mountain, which he now
perceived to be well worthy of all the fame it had obtained.
"Now, when they had eaten and were satisfied," Squire Headlong called
on Mr Chromatic for a song; who, with the assistance of his two
accomplished daughters, regaled the ears of the company with the
following
TERZETTO[13.2]
Grey Twilight, from her shadowy hill,
Discolours Nature's vernal bloom,
And sheds on grove, and field, and rill,
One placid tint of deepening gloom.
The sailor sighs 'mid shoreless seas,
Touched by the thought of friends afar,
As, fanned by ocean's flowing breeze,
He gazes on the western star.
The wanderer hears, in pensive dream,
The accents of the last farewell,
As, pausing by the mountain stream,
He listens to the evening bell.
This terzetto was of course much applauded; Mr Milestone observing,
that he thought the figure in the last verse would have been more
picturesque, if it had been represented with its arms folded and its
back against a tree; or leaning on its staff, with a cockle-shell in
its hat, like a pilgrim of ancient times.
Mr Chromatic professed himself astonished that a gentleman of genuine
modern taste, like Mr Milestone, should consider the words of a song
of any consequence whatever, seeing that they were at the best only a
species of pegs, for the more convenient suspension of crotchets and
quavers. This remark drew on him a very severe reprimand from Mr Mac
Laurel, who said to him, "Dinna ye ken, sir, that soond is a thing
utterly worthless in itsel, and only effectual in agreeable
excitements, as far as it is an aicho to sense? Is there ony soond
mair meeserable an' peetifu' than the scrape o' a feddle, when it does
na touch ony chord i' the human sensorium? Is there ony mair divine
than the deep note o' a bagpipe, when it breathes the auncient
meelodies o' leeberty an' love? It is true, there are peculiar trains
o' feeling an' sentiment, which parteecular combinations o' meelody
are calculated to excite; an' sae far music can produce its effect
without words: but it does na follow, that, when ye put words to it,
it becomes a matter of indefference what they are; for a gude strain
of impassioned poetry will greatly increase the effect, and a tessue
o' nonsensical doggrel will destroy it a' thegither. Noo, as gude
poetry can produce its effect without music, sae will gude music
without poetry; and as gude music will be mair pooerfu' by itsel' than
wi' bad poetry, sae will gude poetry than wi' bad music: but, when ye
put gude music an' gude poetry thegither, ye produce the divinest
compound o' sentimental harmony that can possibly find its way through
the lug to the saul."
Mr Chromatic admitted that there was much justice in these
observations, but still maintained the subserviency of poetry to
music. Mr Mac Laurel as strenuously maintained the contrary; and a
furious war of words was proceeding to perilous lengths, when the
squire interposed his authority towards the reproduction of peace,
which was forthwith concluded, and all animosities drowned in a
libation of milk-punch, the Reverend Doctor Gaster officiating as high
priest on the occasion.
Mr Chromatic now requested Miss Caprioletta to favour the company with
an air. The young lady immediately complied, and sung the following
simple
BALLAD
"O Mary, my sister, thy sorrow give o'er,
I soon shall return, girl, and leave thee no more:
But with children so fair, and a husband so kind,
I shall feel less regret when I leave thee behind.
"I have made thee a bench for the door of thy cot,
And more would I give thee, but more I have not:
Sit and think of me there, in the warm summer day,
And give me three kisses, my labour to pay."
She gave him three kisses, and forth did he fare.
And long did he wander, and no one knew where;
And long from her cottage, through sunshine and rain,
She watched his return, but he came not again.
Her children grew up, and her husband grew grey;
She sate on the bench through the long summer day:
One evening, when twilight was deep on the shore,
There came an old soldier, and stood by the door.
In English he spoke, and none knew what he said,
But her oatcake and milk on the table she spread;
Then he sate to his supper, and blithely he sung,
And she knew the dear sounds of her own native tongue:
"O rich are the feasts in the Englishman's hall,
And the wine sparkles bright in the goblets of Gaul:
But their mingled attractions I well could withstand,
For the milk and the oatcake of Meirion's dear land."
"And art thou a Welchman, old soldier?" she cried.
"Many years have I wandered," the stranger replied:
"'Twixt Danube and Thames many rivers there be,
But the bright waves of Cynfael are fairest to me.
"I felled the grey oak, ere I hastened to roam,
And I fashioned a bench for the door of my home;
And well my dear sister my labour repaid,
Who gave me three kisses when first it was made.
"In the old English soldier thy brother appears:
Here is gold in abundance, the saving of years:
Give me oatcake and milk in return for my store,
And a seat by thy side on the bench at the door."
Various other songs succeeded, which, as we are not composing a song
book, we shall lay aside for the present.
An old squire, who had not missed one of these anniversaries, during
more than half a century, now stood up, and filling a half-pint
bumper, pronounced, with a stentorian voice--"To the immortal memory
of Headlong Ap-Rhaiader, and to the health of his noble descendant and
worthy representative!" This example was followed by all the gentlemen
present. The harp struck up a triumphal strain; and, the old squire
already mentioned, vociferating the first stave, they sang, or rather
roared, the following
CHORUS
Hail to the Headlong! the Headlong Ap-Headlong!
All hail to the Headlong, the Headlong Ap-Headlong!
The Headlong Ap-Headlong
Ap-Breakneck Ap-Headlong
Ap-Cataract Ap-Pistyll Ap-Rhaiader Ap-Headlong!
The bright bowl we steep in the name of the Headlong:
Let the youths pledge it deep to the Headlong Ap-Headlong,
And the rosy-lipped lasses
Touch the brim as it passes,
And kiss the red tide for the Headlong Ap-Headlong!
The loud harp resounds in the hall of the Headlong:
The light step rebounds in the hall of the Headlong:
Where shall music invite us,
Or beauty delight us,
If not in the hall of the Headlong Ap-Headlong?
Huzza! to the health of the Headlong Ap-Headlong!
Fill the bowl, fill in floods, to the health of the Headlong!
Till the stream ruby-glowing,
On all sides o'erflowing,
Shall fall in cascades to the health of the Headlong!
The Headlong Ap-Headlong
Ap-Breakneck Ap-Headlong
Ap-Cataract Ap-Pistyll Ap-Rhaiader Ap-Headlong!
Squire Headlong returned thanks with an appropriate libation, and the
company re-adjourned to the ballroom, where they kept it up till
sunrise, when the little butler summoned them to breakfast.
CHAPTER XIV
The Proposals
The chorus which celebrated the antiquity of her lineage, had been
ringing all night in the ears of Miss Brindle-mew Grimalkin Phoebe
Tabitha Ap-Headlong, when, taking the squire aside, while the visitors
were sipping their tea and coffee, "Nephew Harry," said she, "I have
been noting your behaviour, during the several stages of the ball and
supper; and, though I cannot tax you with any want of gallantry, for
you are a very gallant young man, Nephew Harry, very gallant--I wish I
could say as much for every one" (added she, throwing a spiteful look
towards a distant corner, where Mr Jenkison was sitting with great
_nonchalance_, and at the moment dipping a rusk in a cup of
chocolate); "but I lament to perceive that you were at least as
pleased with your lakes of milk-punch, and your bottles of Champagne
and Burgundy, as with any of your delightful partners. Now, though I
can readily excuse this degree of incombustibility in the descendant
of a family so remarkable in all ages for personal beauty as ours, yet
I lament it exceedingly, when I consider that, in conjunction with
your present predilection for the easy life of a bachelor, it may
possibly prove the means of causing our ancient genealogical tree,
which has its roots, if I may so speak, in the foundations of the
world, to terminate suddenly in a point: unless you feel yourself
moved by my exhortations to follow the example of all your ancestors,
by choosing yourself a fitting and suitable helpmate to immortalize
the pedigree of Headlong Ap-Rhaiader."
"Egad!" said Squire Headlong, "that is very true, I'll marry directly.
A good opportunity to fix on some one, now they are all here; and I'll
pop the question without further ceremony."
"What think you," said the old lady, "of Miss Nanny Glen-Du, the
lineal descendant of Llewelyn Ap-Yorwerth?"
"She won't do," said Squire Headlong.
"What say you, then," said the lady, "to Miss Williams, of
Pontyglasrhydyrallt, the descendant of the ancient family of----?"
"I don't like her," said Squire Headlong; "and as to her ancient
family, that is a matter of no consequence. I have antiquity enough
for two. They are all moderns, people of yesterday, in comparison with
us. What signify six or seven centuries, which are the most they can
make up?"
"Why, to be sure," said the aunt, "on that view of the question,
it is no consequence. What think you, then, of Miss Owen, of
Nidd-y-Gygfraen? She will have six thousand a year."
"I would not have her," said Squire Headlong, "if she had fifty. I'll
think of somebody presently. I should like to be married on the same
day with Caprioletta."
"Caprioletta!" said Miss Brindle-mew; "without my being consulted."
"Consulted!" said the squire: "I was commissioned to tell you, but
somehow or other I let it slip. However, she is going to be married to
my friend Mr Foster, the philosopher."
"Oh!" said the maiden aunt, "that a daughter of our ancient
family should marry a philosopher! It is enough to make the bones of
all the Ap-Rhaiaders turn in their graves!"
"I happen to be more enlightened," said Squire Headlong, "than
any of my ancestors were. Besides, it is Caprioletta's affair, not
mine. I tell you, the matter is settled, fixed, determined; and so am
I, to be married on the same day. I don't know, now I think of it,
whom I can choose better than one of the daughters of my friend
Chromatic."
"A Saxon!" said the aunt, turning up her nose, and was commencing a
vehement remonstrance; but the squire, exclaiming "Music has charms!"
flew over to Mr Chromatic, and, with a hearty slap on the shoulder,
asked him "how he should like him for a son-in-law?" Mr Chromatic,
rubbing his shoulder, and highly delighted with the proposal,
answered, "Very much indeed:" but, proceeding to ascertain which of
his daughters had captivated the squire, the squire demurred, and was
unable to satisfy his curiosity. "I hope," said Mr Chromatic, "it may
be Tenorina; for I imagine Graziosa has conceived a _penchant_ for Sir
Patrick O'Prism."--"Tenorina, exactly," said Squire Headlong; and
became so impatient to bring the matter to a conclusion, that Mr
Chromatic undertook to communicate with his daughter immediately. The
young lady proved to be as ready as the squire, and the preliminaries
were arranged in little more than five minutes.
Mr Chromatic's words, that he imagined his daughter Graziosa had
conceived a _penchant_ for Sir Patrick O'Prism, were not lost on the
squire, who at once determined to have as many companions in the
scrape as possible, and who, as soon as he could tear himself from Mrs
Headlong elect, took three flying bounds across the room to the
baronet, and said, "So, Sir Patrick, I find you and I are going to be
married?"
"Are we?" said Sir Patrick: "then sure won't I wish you joy, and
myself too? for this is the first I have heard of it."
"Well," said Squire Headlong, "I have made up my mind to it, and you
must not disappoint me."
"To be sure I won't, if I can help it," said Sir Patrick; "and I am
very much obliged to you for taking so much trouble off my hands. And
pray, now, who is it that I am to be metamorphosing into Lady
O'Prism?"
"Miss Graziosa Chromatic," said the squire.
"Och violet and vermilion!" said Sir Patrick; "though I never thought
of it before, I dare say she will suit me as well as another: but then
you must persuade the ould Orpheus to draw out a few _notes_ of rather
a more magical description than those he is so fond of scraping on his
crazy violin."
"To be sure he shall," said the squire; and, immediately returning to
Mr Chromatic, concluded the negotiation for Sir Patrick as
expeditiously as he had done for himself.
The squire next addressed himself to Mr Escot: "Here are three couple
of us going to throw off together, with the Reverend Doctor Gaster for
whipper-in: now, I think you cannot do better than make the fourth
with Miss Cephalis; and then, as my father-in-law that is to be would
say, we shall compose a very harmonious octave."
"Indeed," said Mr Escot, "nothing would be more agreeable to both of
us than such an arrangement: but the old gentleman, since I first knew
him, has changed, like the rest of the world, very lamentably for the
worse: now, we wish to bring him to reason, if possible, though we
mean to dispense with his consent, if he should prove much longer
refractory."
"I'll settle him," said Squire Headlong; and immediately posted up to
Mr Cranium, informing him that four marriages were about to take place
by way of a merry winding up of the Christmas festivities.
"Indeed!" said Mr Cranium; "and who are the parties?"
"In the first place," said the squire, "my sister and Mr Foster: in
the second, Miss Graziosa Chromatic and Sir Patrick O'Prism: in the
third, Miss Tenorina Chromatic and your humble servant: and in the
fourth to which, by the by, your consent is wanted----"
"Oho!" said Mr Cranium.
"Your daughter," said Squire Headlong.
"And Mr Panscope?" said Mr Cranium.
"And Mr Escot," said Squire Headlong. "What would you have better? He
has ten thousand virtues."
"So has Mr Panscope," said Mr Cranium; "he has ten thousand a year."
"Virtues?" said Squire Headlong.
"Pounds," said Mr Cranium.
"I have set my mind on Mr Escot," said the squire.
"I am much obliged to you," said Mr Cranium, "for dethroning me from
my paternal authority."
"Who fished you out of the water?" said Squire Headlong.
"What is that to the purpose?" said Mr Cranium. "The whole
process of the action was mechanical and necessary. The application of
the poker necessitated the ignition of the powder: the ignition
necessitated the explosion: the explosion necessitated my sudden
fright, which necessitated my sudden jump, which, from a necessity
equally powerful, was in a curvilinear ascent: the descent, being in a
corresponding curve, and commencing at a point perpendicular to the
extreme line of the edge of the tower, I was, by the necessity of
gravitation, attracted, first, through the ivy, and secondly through
the hazel, and thirdly through the ash, into the water beneath. The
motive or impulse thus adhibited in the person of a drowning man, was
as powerful on his material compages as the force of gravitation on
mine; and he could no more help jumping into the water than I could
help falling into it."
"All perfectly true," said Squire Headlong; "and, on the same
principle, you make no distinction between the man who knocks you down
and him who picks you up."
"I make this distinction," said Mr Cranium, "that I avoid the former
as a machine containing a peculiar _cataballitive_ quality, which I
have found to be not consentaneous to my mode of pleasurable
existence; but I attach no moral merit or demerit to either of them,
as these terms are usually employed, seeing that they are equally
creatures of necessity, and must act as they do from the nature of
their organisation. I no more blame or praise a man for what is called
vice or virtue, than I tax a tuft of hemlock with malevolence, or
discover great philanthropy in a field of potatoes, seeing that the
men and the plants are equally incapacitated, by their original
internal organisation, and the combinations and modifications of
external circumstances, from being any thing but what they are. _Quod
victus fateare necesse est_."
"Yet you destroy the hemlock," said Squire Headlong, "and cultivate
the potato; that is my way, at least."
"I do," said Mr Cranium; "because I know that the farinaceous
qualities of the potato will tend to preserve the great requisites of
unity and coalescence in the various constituent portions of my animal
republic; and that the hemlock, if gathered by mistake for parsley,
chopped up small with butter, and eaten with a boiled chicken, would
necessitate a great derangement, and perhaps a total decomposition, of
my corporeal mechanism."
"Very well," said the squire; "then you are necessitated to like Mr
Escot better than Mr Panscope?"
"That is a _non sequitur_," said Mr Cranium.
"Then this is a _sequitur_," said the squire: "your daughter and Mr
Escot are necessitated to love one another; and, unless you feel
necessitated to adhibit your consent, they will feel necessitated to
dispense with it; since it does appear to moral and political
economists to be essentially inherent in the eternal fitness of
things."
Mr Cranium fell into a profound reverie: emerging from which, he said,
looking Squire Headlong full in the face, "Do you think Mr Escot would
give me that skull?"
"Skull!" said Squire Headlong.
"Yes," said Mr Cranium, "the skull of Cadwallader."
"To be sure he will," said the squire.
"Ascertain the point," said Mr Cranium.
"How can you doubt it?" said the squire.
"I simply know," said Mr Cranium, "that if it were once in my
possession, I would not part with it for any acquisition on earth,
much less for a wife. I have had one: and, as marriage has been
compared to a pill, I can very safely assert that _one is a dose_; and
my reason for thinking that he will not part with it is, that its
extraordinary magnitude tends to support his system, as much as its
very marked protuberances tend to support mine; and you know his own
system is of all things the dearest to every man of liberal thinking
and a philosophical tendency."
The Squire flew over to Mr Escot. "I told you," said he, "I would
settle him: but there is a very hard condition attached to his
compliance."
"I submit to it," said Mr Escot, "be it what it may."
"Nothing less," said Squire Headlong, "than the absolute and
unconditional surrender of the skull of Cadwallader."
"I resign it," said Mr Escot.
"The skull is yours," said the squire, skipping over to Mr Cranium.
"I am perfectly satisfied," said Mr Cranium.
"The lady is yours," said the squire, skipping back to Mr Escot.
"I am the happiest man alive," said Mr Escot.
"Come," said the squire, "then there is an amelioration in the state
of the sensitive man."
"A slight oscillation of good in the instance of a solitary
individual," answered Mr Escot, "by no means affects the solidity of
my opinions concerning the general deterioration of the civilised
world; which when I can be induced to contemplate with feelings of
satisfaction, I doubt not but that I may be persuaded _to be in love
with tortures, and to think charitably of the rack_[14.1]."
Saying these words, he flew off as nimbly as Squire Headlong himself,
to impart the happy intelligence to his beautiful Cephalis.
Mr Cranium now walked up to Mr Panscope, to condole with him on the
disappointment of their mutual hopes. Mr Panscope begged him not to
distress himself on the subject, observing, that the monotonous system
of female education brought every individual of the sex to so
remarkable an approximation of similarity, that no wise man would
suffer himself to be annoyed by a loss so easily repaired; and that
there was much truth, though not much elegance, in a remark which he
had heard made on a similar occasion by a post-captain of his
acquaintance, "that there never was a fish taken out of the sea, but
left another as good behind."
Mr Cranium replied that no two individuals having all the organs of
the skull similarly developed, the universal resemblance of which Mr
Panscope had spoken could not possibly exist. Mr Panscope rejoined;
and a long discussion ensued, concerning the comparative influence of
natural organisation and artificial education, in which the beautiful
Cephalis was totally lost sight of, and which ended, as most
controversies do, by each party continuing firm in his own opinion,
and professing his profound astonishment at the blindness and
prejudices of the other.
In the meanwhile, a great confusion had arisen at the outer doors, the
departure of the ball-visitors being impeded by a circumstance which
the experience of ages had discovered no means to obviate. The grooms,
coachmen, and postillions, were all drunk. It was proposed that the
gentlemen should officiate in their places: but the gentlemen were
almost all in the same condition. This was a fearful dilemma: but a
very diligent investigation brought to light a few servants and a few
gentlemen not above _half-seas-over_; and by an equitable distribution
of these rarities, the greater part of the guests were enabled to set
forward, with very nearly an even chance of not having their necks
broken before they reached home.
CHAPTER XV
The Conclusion
The squire and his select party of philosophers and dilettanti were
again left in peaceful possession of Headlong Hall: and, as the former
made a point of never losing a moment in the accomplishment of a
favourite object, he did not suffer many days to elapse, before the
spiritual metamorphosis of eight into four was effected by the
clerical dexterity of the Reverend Doctor Gaster.
Immediately after the ceremony, the whole party dispersed, the squire
having first extracted from every one of his chosen guests a positive
promise to re-assemble in August, when they would be better enabled,
in its most appropriate season, to form a correct judgment of Cambrian
hospitality.
Mr Jenkison shook hands at parting with his two brother philosophers.
"According to your respective systems," said he, "I ought to
congratulate _you_ on a change for the better, which I do most
cordially: and to condole with _you_ on a change for the worse,
though, when I consider whom you have chosen, I should violate every
principle of probability in doing so."
"You will do well," said Mr Foster, "to follow our example. The
extensive circle of general philanthropy, which, in the present
advanced stage of human nature, comprehends in its circumference the
destinies of the whole species, originated, and still proceeds, from
that narrower circle of domestic affection, which first set limits to
the empire of selfishness, and, by purifying the passions and
enlarging the affections of mankind, has given to the views of
benevolence an increasing and illimitable expansion, which will
finally diffuse happiness and peace over the whole surface of the
world."
"The affection," said Mr Escot, "of two congenial spirits, united not
by legal bondage and superstitious imposture, but by mutual confidence
and reciprocal virtues, is the only counterbalancing consolation in
this scene of mischief and misery. But how rarely is this the case
according to the present system of marriage! So far from being a
central point of expansion to the great circle of universal
benevolence, it serves only to concentrate the feelings of natural
sympathy in the reflected selfishness of family interest, and to
substitute for the _humani nihil alienum puto_ of youthful
philanthropy, the _charity begins at home_ of maturer years. And what
accession of individual happiness is acquired by this oblivion of the
general good? Luxury, despotism, and avarice have so seized and
entangled nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand of the
human race, that the matrimonial compact, which ought to be the most
easy, the most free, and the most simple of all engagements, is become
the most slavish and complicated,--a mere question of finance,--a
system of bargain, and barter, and commerce, and trick, and chicanery,
and dissimulation, and fraud. Is there one instance in ten thousand,
in which the buds of first affection are not most cruelly and
hopelessly blasted, by avarice, or ambition, or arbitrary power?
Females, condemned during the whole flower of their youth to a worse
than monastic celibacy, irrevocably debarred from the hope to which
their first affections pointed, will, at a certain period of life, as
the natural delicacy of taste and feeling is gradually worn away by
the attrition of society, become willing to take up with any coxcomb
or scoundrel, whom that merciless and mercenary gang of cold-blooded
slaves and assassins, called, in the ordinary prostitution of language
_friends_, may agree in designating as a _prudent choice_. Young men,
on the other hand, are driven by the same vile superstitions from the
company of the most amiable and modest of the opposite sex, to that of
those miserable victims and outcasts of a world which dares to call
itself virtuous, whom that very society whose pernicious institutions
first caused their aberrations,--consigning them, without one tear of
pity or one struggle of remorse, to penury, infamy, and
disease,--condemns to bear the burden of its own atrocious
absurdities! Thus, the youth of one sex is consumed in slavery,
disappointment, and spleen; that of the other, in frantic folly and
selfish intemperance: till at length, on the necks of a couple so
enfeebled, so perverted, so distempered both in body and soul, society
throws the yoke of marriage: that yoke which, once rivetted on the
necks of its victims, clings to them like the poisoned garments of
Nessus or Medea. What can be expected from these ill-assorted
yoke-fellows, but that, like two ill-tempered hounds, coupled by a
tyrannical sportsman, they should drag on their indissoluble fetter,
snarling and growling, and pulling in different directions? What can
be expected for their wretched offspring, but sickness and suffering,
premature decrepitude, and untimely death? In this, as in every other
institution of civilised society, avarice, luxury, and disease
constitute the TRIANGULAR HARMONY of the life of man. Avarice conducts
him to the abyss of toil and crime: luxury seizes on his ill-gotten
spoil; and, while he revels in her enchantments, or groans beneath her
tyranny, disease bursts upon him, and sweeps him from the earth."
"Your theory," said Mr Jenkison, "forms an admirable counterpoise to
your example. As far as I am attracted by the one, I am repelled by
the other. Thus, the scales of my philosophical balance remain
eternally equiponderant, and I see no reason to say of either of them,
OICHETAI EIS AIDAO[15.1]."
NOTES
Chapter 1
[1.1] Foster, quasi _Phostaer_,--from _phaos_ and _taereo_, lucem
servo, conservo, observo, custodio,--one who watches over and guards
the light; a sense in which the word is often used amongst us, when we
speak of _fostering_ a flame.
[1.2] Escot, quasi _es skoton_, _in tenebras_, scilicet, intuens; one
who is always looking into the dark side of the question.
[1.3] Jenkison: This name may be derived from _aien ex ison_, _semper
ex aequalibus_--scilicet, mensuris omnia metiens: one who from equal
measures divides and distributes all things: one who from equal
measures can always produce arguments on both sides of a question,
with so much nicety and exactness, as to keep the said question
eternally pending, and the balance of the controversy perpetually in
statu quo. By an aphaeresis of the _a_, an elision of the second _e_,
and an easy and natural mutation of _x_ into _k_, the derivation of
this name proceeds according to the strictest principles of
etymology: _aien ex ison--Ien ex ison--Ien ek ison--Ien 'k
ison--Ienkison_--Ienkison--Jenkison.
[1.4] Gaster: scilicet _Gastaer_--Venter, et praeterea nihil.
Chapter 2
[2.1] See Emmerton on the Auricula.
Chapter 3
[3.1] Mr Knight, in a note to the Landscape, having taken the liberty
of laughing at a notable device of a celebrated _improver_, for giving
greatness of character to a place, and showing an undivided extent of
property, by placing the family arms on the neighbouring _milestones_,
the improver retorted on him with a charge of misquotation,
misrepresentation, and malice prepense. Mr Knight, in the preface to
the second edition of his poem, quotes the improver's words:--"The
market-house, or other public edifice, or even a _mere stone with
distances_, may bear the arms of the family:" and adds:--"By a _mere
stone with distances_, the author of the Landscape certainly thought
he meant a _milestone_; but, if he did not, any other interpretation
which he may think more advantageous to himself shall readily be
adopted, as it will equally answer the purpose of the quotation." The
improver, however, did not condescend to explain what he really meant
by a _mere stone with distances_, though he strenuously maintained
that he did _not_ mean a _milestone._ His idea, therefore, stands on
record, invested with all the sublimity that obscurity can confer.
[3.2] "Il est constant qu'elles se baisent de meilleur coeur, et se
caressent avec plus de grace devant les hommes, fieres d'aiguiser
impunement leur convoitise par l'image des faveurs qu'elles savent
leur faire envier."--Rousseau, _Emile_, liv. 5.
Chapter 4
[4.1] See Price on the Picturesque.
[4.2] See Knight on Taste, and the Edinburgh Review, No. XIV.
[4.3] Protracted banquets have been copious sources of evil.
Chapter 5
[5.1] See Lord Monboddo's Ancient Metaphysics.
[5.2] Drummond's Academical Questions.
[5.3] Homer is proved to have been a lover of wine by the praises he
bestows upon it.
[5.4] A cup of wine at hand, to drink as inclination prompts.
Chapter 6
[6.1] See Knight on Taste.
[6.2] This stanza is imitated from Machiavelli's _Capitolo dell'
Occasione_.
Chapter 7
[7.1] Fragments of a demolished world.
[7.2] Took's Diversions of Purley.
Chapter 8
[8.1] Some readers will, perhaps, recollect the Archbishop of Prague,
who also was an excellent sportsman, and who,
Com' era scritto in certi suoi giornali,
Ucciso avea con le sue proprie mani
Un numero infinito d'animali:
Cinquemila con quindici fagiani,
Seimila lepri, ottantantre cignali,
E per disgrazia, ancor _tredici cani_, &c.
Chapter 9
[9.1] Me miserable! and thrice miserable! and four times, and five
times, and twelve times, and ten thousand times miserable!
[9.2] Pronounced cooroo--the Welsh word for _ale._
Chapter 10
[10.1] Long since dead.
[10.2] Georg. I. 199.
[10.3] Sat. XIII. 28.
[10.4] Carm. III. 6, 46.
Chapter 11
[11.1] Pistyll, in Welch, signifies a cataract, and Rhaidr a cascade.
[11.2] Rabelais.
Chapter 13
[13.1] Rousseau, Discours sur les Sciences.
[13.2] Imitated from a passage in the Purgatorio of Dante.
Chapter 14
[14.1] Jeremy Taylor.
Chapter 15
[15.1] _It descends to the shades_: or, in other words, _it goes to
the devil_.
TRANSCRIPTION NOTES
Source
Form: printed book
Title: Headlong Hall
Author: Thomas Love Peacock
Publisher: J. M. Dent & Co. at Aldine House, 69 Great Eastern
St., London.
Date: 1891
Editor: Richard Garnett, LLD.
Printer: Turnbull and Spears, Printers, Edinburgh.
British Library
Shelfmark: 012611.i.37/1
Description: tan cloth over board binding, 122mm x 184mm x 21mm,
176 pages plus 2 at front and 1 at back
Modifications
Chapter head and foot decorations have been deleted -- to simplify
production to purely text.
Decorative chapter-start drop-caps have been replaced with capitals
-- to simplify production to purely text.
Page numbers and headers have been deleted -- the new document is
unpaginated.
Fullstops have been deleted from chapter titles and song titles --
they are superfluous.
All notes have been moved to the end of the document -- to suit the
unpaginated format.
All notes by the editor Richard Garnett have been deleted -- to remove
(insubstantial) attachments to the original text.
Chapter 1 paragraph 7: inserted closing quotes after "perpetually in
statu quo." -- they appear to be missing, since the speech is not
continued in the next paragraph.
Chapter 1 paragraph 8: deleted fullstop after "astronomy----" -- the
sentence is truncated, it does not end.
Chapter 1 paragraph 9: deleted fullstop after "selfishness----" -- the
sentence is truncated, it does not end.
Chapter 1 paragraph 10: deleted fullstop after "cloth----" -- the
sentence is truncated, it does not end.
Chapter 1 paragraph 11: inserted a comma after "sprained ankle" --
there is a small comma-sized gap at the end of the line where a comma
appears to have been omitted.
Chapter 2 paragraph 1: deleted comma after "oils" in "oils, and
colours" -- "and" clusters things in an item, not separates items, in
this list.
Chapter 4 paragraph 13: inserted closing quotes after "summit of
Ararat." -- they appear to be missing, since the speech is not
continued in the next paragraph.
Chapter 5 paragraph 33: replaced emdash before "Exactly, sir: an' ye"
with fullstop and space -- it appears to be an erroneous
inconsistency, there being no other like instances in speech
indication.
Chapter 7 paragraph 5: deleted closing quotes after "confracti mundi
rudera:" -- the phrase is not quoted, and the speech does not end
there.
Chapter 7 paragraph 6: replaced "procession" with "precession" in "The
procession of the equinoxes" -- it appears to be a spelling error,
since Mr Foster is informed on the subject and not tending to make
such mistakes.
Chapter 7 paragraph 17: inserted "_Mr Escot._" at start of paragraph
before "Nor is" -- to follow consistent indication and layout of
speech.
Chapter 8 paragraph 1: replaced "befel" with "befell" -- it appears to
be a spelling error.
Chapter 9 paragraph 16: replaced fullstop with questionmark after "the
tevil with" -- the sentence is a question.
Chapter 9 paragraph 22: replaced fullstop with questionmark after
"away with me" -- the sentence is a question.
Chapter 9 paragraph 23: replaced "b" with "p" in "by his chost" -- the
sexton in all other cases says "py" instead of "by".
Chapter 10 paragraph 6: inserted single closing quote after "_Oioi nun
brotoi eisin_" -- it appears to be missing.
Chapter 11 paragraph 3: replaced "y" in "Vouley" with "z" -- it
appears to be a spelling error.
Chapter 12 paragraph 1: replaced "wolves" in "individual lion, tiger,
wolves," with "wolf" -- it is a list of singulars.
Chapter 12 paragraph 9: inserted paragraph start and opening quotes
before "You observe, in both these skulls" -- blockquotes cannot be
inside paragraphs in the layout scheme.
Chapter 12 paragraph 13: inserted closing quotes after "becoming a
judge." -- they appear to be missing, since the speech is not
continued in the next paragraph.
Chapter 13 paragraph 17: replaced "woful" with "woeful" in "by woful
experience" -- it appears to be a spelling error.
Chapter 13 ballad: replaced "feats" with "feasts" in "O rich are the
feats" -- it appears to be a spelling error.
Chapter 14 paragraph 3: replaced fullstop with questionmark after
"Llewelyn Ap-Yorwerth" -- the sentence is a question.
Chapter 14 paragraph 5: inserted comma after "said the lady" -- one
would be expected here.
Chapter 14 paragraph 27: capitalised "Squire" in ""Your daughter,"
said squire Headlong." -- all other instances of "Squire Headlong" are
capitalised.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Headlong Hall, by Thomas Love Peacock
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEADLONG HALL ***
***** This file should be named 12803.txt or 12803.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/8/0/12803/
Produced by Harrison Ainsworth
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
https://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at https://pglaf.org
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
[email protected]
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit https://pglaf.org
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
https://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
