The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves - Tobias Smollett
"This joyous season was of short duration. In a little time all the
happiness of the family was overcast by a sad incident, which hath left
such an unfortunate impression upon the mind of the young gentleman, as,
I am afraid, will never be effaced. Mr. Darnel's niece and ward, the
great heiress, whose name is Aurelia, was the most celebrated beauty of
the whole country; if I said the whole kingdom, or indeed all Europe,
perhaps I should barely do her justice. I don't pretend to be a limner,
gemmen; nor does it become me to delineate such excellence; but surely I
may presume to repeat from the play--
Oh! she is all that painting can express,
Or youthful poets fancy when they love?
"At that time she might be about seventeen, tall and fair, and so
exquisitely shaped--you may talk of your Venus de Medicis, your Dianas,
your Nymphs, and Galateas; but if Praxiteles, and Roubilliac, and Wilton,
were to lay their heads together, in order to make a complete pattern of
beauty, they would hardly reach her model of perfection.--As for
complexion, poets will talk of blending the lily with the rose, and bring
in a parcel of similes of cowslips, carnations, pinks, and daisies.--
There's Dolly, now, has got a very good complexion.--Indeed, she's the
very picture of health and innocence--you are, indeed, my pretty lass;--
but parva componere magnis.--Miss Darnel is all amazing beauty, delicacy,
and dignity! Then the softness and expression of her fine blue eyes; her
pouting lips of coral hue; her neck, that rises like a tower of polished
alabaster between two mounts of snow. I tell you what, gemmen, it don't
signify talking; if e'er a one of you was to meet this young lady alone,
in the midst of a heath or common, or any unfrequented place, he would
down on his knees, and think he kneeled before some supernatural being.
I'll tell you more: she not only resembles an angel in beauty, but a
saint in goodness, and an hermit in humility;--so void of all pride and
affectation; so soft, and sweet, and affable, and humane! Lord! I could
tell such instances of her charity!
"Sure enough, she and Sir Launcelot were formed by nature for each other.
Howsoever, the cruel hand of fortune hath intervened, and severed them
for ever. Every soul that knew them both, said it was a thousand pities
but they should come together, and extinguish, in their happy union, the
mutual animosity of the two families, which had so often embroiled the
whole neighbourhood. Nothing was heard but the praises of Miss Aurelia
Darnel and Mr. Launcelot Greaves; and no doubt the parties were
prepossessed, by this applause, in favour of each other. At length, Mr.
Greaves went one Sunday to her parish church; but, though the greater
part of the congregation watched their looks, they could not perceive
that she took the least notice of him; or that he seemed to be struck
with her appearance. He afterwards had an opportunity of seeing her,
more at leisure, at the York assembly, during the races; but this
opportunity was productive of no good effect, because he had that same
day quarrelled with her uncle on the turf.
"An old grudge, you know, gemmen, is soon inflamed to a fresh rupture.
It was thought Mr. Darnel came on purpose to show his resentment. They
differed about a bet upon Miss Cleverlegs, and, in the course of the
dispute, Mr. Darnel called him a petulant boy. The young squire, who was
as hasty as gunpowder, told him he was man enough to chastise him for his
insolence; and would do it on the spot, if he thought it would not
interrupt the diversion. In all probability they would have come to
points immediately, had not the gentlemen interposed; so that nothing
further passed, but abundance of foul language on the part of Mr.
Anthony, and a repeated defiance to single combat.
"Mr. Greaves, making a low bow, retired from the field; and in the
evening danced at the assembly with a young lady from the bishoprick,
seemingly in good temper and spirits, without having any words with Mr.
Darnel, who was also present. But in the morning he visited that proud
neighbour betimes; and they had almost reached a grove of trees on the
north side of the town, when they were suddenly overtaken by half a dozen
gentlemen, who had watched their motions. It was in vain for them to
dissemble their design, which could not now take effect. They gave up
their pistols, and a reconciliation was patched up by the pressing
remonstrances of their common friends; but Mr. Darnel's hatred still
rankled at bottom, and soon broke out in the sequel. About three months
after this transaction, his niece Aurelia, with her mother, having been
to visit a lady in the chariot, the horses being young, and not used to
the traces, were startled at the braying of a jackass on the common, and,
taking fright, ran away with the carriage, like lightning. The coachman
was thrown from the box, and the ladies screamed piteously for help. Mr.
Greaves chanced to be a-horseback on the other side of an enclosure, when
he heard their shrieks; and riding up the hedge, knew the chariot, and
saw their disaster. The horses were then running full speed in such a
direction, as to drive headlong over a precipice into a stone quarry,
where they and the chariot, and the ladies, must be dashed to pieces.
"You may conceive, gemmen, what his thoughts were when he saw such a fine
young lady, in the flower of her age, just plunging into eternity; when
he saw the lovely Aurelia on the brink of being precipitated among rocks,
where her delicate limbs must be mangled and tore asunder; when he
perceived, that, before he could ride round by the gate, the tragedy
would be finished. The fence was so thick and high, flanked with a broad
ditch on the outside, that he could not hope to clear it, although he was
mounted on Scipio, bred out of Miss Cowslip, the sire Muley, and his
grandsire the famous Arabian Mustapha.--Scipio was bred by my father, who
would not have taken a hundred guineas for him, from any other person but
the young squire--indeed, I have heard my poor father say"----
By this time Ferret's impatience was become so outrageous, that he
exclaimed in a furious tone, "D--n your father, and his horse, and his
colt into the bargain!"
Tom made no reply; but began to strip with great expedition. Captain
Crowe was so choked with passion that he could utter nothing but
disjointed sentences. He rose from his seat, brandished his horsewhip,
and, seizing his nephew by the collar, cried, "Odd's heartlikins! sirrah,
I have a good mind--Devil fire your running tackle, you landlubber!--
can't you steer without all this tacking hither and thither, and the Lord
knows whither?--'Noint my block! I'd give thee a rope's end for thy
supper if it wan't"----
Dolly had conceived a sneaking kindness for the young lawyer, and
thinking him in danger of being roughly handled, flew to his relief. She
twisted her hand in Crowe's neckcloth without ceremony, crying, "Sha't
then, I tell thee, old codger--who kears a vig vor thy voolish tantrums?"
While Crowe looked black in the face, and ran the risk of strangulation
under the gripe of this Amazon, Mr. Clarke having disengaged himself of
his hat, wig, coat, and waistcoat, advanced in an elegant attitude of
manual offence towards the misanthrope, who snatched up a gridiron from
the chimney corner, and Discord seemed to clap her sooty wings in
expectation of battle. But as the reader may have more than once already
cursed the unconscionable length of this chapter, we must postpone to the
next opportunity the incidents that succeeded this denunciation of war.
CHAPTER FOUR
IN WHICH IT APPEARS THAT THE KNIGHT, WHEN HEARTILY SET IN FOR SLEEPING,
WAS NOT EASILY DISTURBED.
In all probability the kitchen of the Black Lion, from a domestic temple
of society and good fellowship, would have been converted into a scene or
stage of sanguinary dispute, had not Pallas, or Discretion, interposed in
the person of Mr. Fillet, and, with the assistance of the ostler,
disarmed the combatants, not only of their arms, but also of their
resentment.
The impetuosity of Mr. Clarke was a little checked at sight of the
gridiron, which Ferret brandished with uncommon dexterity; a circumstance
from whence the company were, upon reflection, induced to believe,
that before he plunged into the sea of politics, he had occasionally
figured in the character of that facetious droll, who accompanies your
itinerant physicians, under the familiar appellation of Merry-Andrew, or
Jack-Pudding, and on a wooden stage entertains the populace with a solo
on the saltbox, or a sonata on the tongs and gridiron. Be that as it
may, the young lawyer seemed to be a little discomposed at the glancing
of this extraordinary weapon of offence, which the fair hands of Dolly
had scoured, until it had shone as bright as the shield of Achilles; or
as the emblem of good old English fare, which hangs by a red ribbon round
the neck of that thrice-honoured sage's head, in velvet bonnet cased, who
presides by rotation at the genial board, distinguished by the title of
the Beef-steak Club where the delicate rumps irresistibly attract the
stranger's eye, and, while they seem to cry, "Come cut me--come cut me,"
constrain, by wondrous sympathy, each mouth to overflow. Where the
obliging and humorous Jemmy B----t, the gentle Billy H----d, replete with
human kindness, and the generous Johnny B----d, respected and beloved by
all the world, attend as the priests and ministers of mirth, good cheer,
and jollity, and assist with culinary art the raw, unpractised, awkward
guest.
But to return from this digressive simile. The ostler no sooner stept
between those menacing antagonists, than Tom Clarke very quietly resumed
his clothes, and Mr. Ferret resigned the gridiron without further
question. The doctor did not find it quite so easy to release the throat
of Captain Crowe from the masculine grasp of the virago Dolly, whose
fingers could not be disengaged until the honest seaman was almost at the
last gasp. After some pause, during which he panted for breath, and
untied his neckcloth, "D--n thee, for a brimstone galley," cried he; "I
was never so grappled withal since I knew a card from a compass.--
Adzooks! the jade has so tautened my rigging, d'ye see, that I--Snatch my
bowlines, if I come athwart thy hawser, I'll turn thy keel upwards--or
mayhap set thee a-driving under thy bare poles--I will--I will, you
hell-fire, saucy--I will."
Dolly made no reply; but seeing Mr. Clarke sit down again with great
composure, took her station likewise at the opposite side of the
apartment. Then Mr. Fillet requested the lawyer to proceed with his
story, which, after three hems, he accordingly prosecuted in these words:
"I told you, gemmen, that Mr. Greaves was mounted on Scipio, when he saw
Miss Darnel and her mother in danger of being hurried over a precipice.
Without reflecting a moment, he gave Scipio the spur, and at one spring
he cleared five-and-twenty feet, over hedge and ditch and every
obstruction. Then he rode full speed, in order to turn the coach-horses;
and, finding them quite wild and furious, endeavoured to drive against
the counter of the hither horse, which he missed, and staked poor Scipio
on the pole of the coach. The shock was so great, that the coach-horses
made a full stop within ten yards of the quarry, and Mr. Greaves was
thrown forwards towards the coach-box, which mounting with admirable
dexterity, he seized the reins before the horses could recover of their
fright. At that instant the coachman came running up, and loosed them
from the traces with the utmost despatch. Mr. Greaves had now time to
give his attention to the ladies, who were well-nigh distracted with
fear. He no sooner opened the chariot door than Aurelia, with a wildness
of look, sprung into his arms, and, clasping him round the neck, fainted
away. I leave you to guess, gemmen, what were his feelings at this
instant. The mother was not so discomposed, but that she could
contribute to the recovery of her daughter, whom the young squire still
supported in his embrace. At length she retrieved the use of her senses,
and, perceiving the situation in which she was, the blood revisited her
face with a redoubled glow, while she desired him to set her down upon
the turf.
"Mrs. Darnel, far from being shy or reserved in her compliments of
acknowledgments, kissed Mr. Launcelot without ceremony, the tears of
gratitude running down her cheeks; she called him her dear son, her
generous deliverer, who, at the hazard of his own life, had saved her and
her child from the most dismal fate that could be imagined.
"Mr. Greaves was so much transported on this occasion, that he could not
help disclosing a passion, which he had hitherto industriously concealed.
'What I have done,' said he, 'was but a common office of humanity, which
I would have performed for any of my fellow-creatures; but for the
preservation of Miss Aurelia Darnel, I would at any time sacrifice my
life with pleasure.' The young lady did not hear this declaration
unmoved. Her face was again flushed, and her eyes sparkled with
pleasure. Nor was the youth's confession disagreeable to the good lady,
her mother, who, at one glance, perceived all the advantages of such an
union between the two families.
"Mr. Greaves proposed to send the coachman to his father's stable for a
pair of sober horses, that could be depended upon, to draw the ladies
home to their own habitation; but they declined the offer, and chose to
walk, as the distance was not great. He then insisted upon his being
their conductor; and, each taking him under the arm, supported them to
their own gate, where such an apparition filled all the domestics with
astonishment. Mrs. Darnel taking him by the hand, led him into the
house, where she welcomed him with another affectionate embrace, and
indulged him with an ambrosial kiss of Aurelia, saying, 'But for you, we
had both been by this time in eternity. Sure it was Heaven that sent you
as an angel to our assistance!' She kindly inquired if he had himself
sustained any damage in administering that desperate remedy to which they
owed their lives. She entertained him with a small collation; and, in
the course of the conversation, lamented the animosity which had so long
divided two neighbouring families of such influence and character. He
was not slow in signifying his approbation of her remarks, and expressing
the most eager desire of seeing all those unhappy differences removed.
In a word, they parted with mutual satisfaction.
"Just as he advanced from the outward gate, on his return to Greavesbury
Hall, he was met by Anthony Darnel on horseback, who, riding up to him
with marks of surprise and resentment, saluted him with, 'Your servant,
sir.--Have you any commands for me?' The other replying with an air of
indifference, 'None at all,'--Mr. Darnel asked, what had procured him the
honour of a visit. The young gentleman, perceiving by the manner in
which he spoke, that the old quarrel was not yet extinguished, answered
with equal disdain, that the visit was not intended for him; and that, if
he wanted to know the cause of it, he might inform himself by his own
servants. 'So I shall,' cried the uncle of Aurelia; 'and perhaps let you
know my sentiments of the matter.'--'Hereafter as it may be,' said the
youth; who, turning out of the avenue, walked home, and made his father
acquainted with the particulars of this adventure.
"The old gentleman chid him for his rashness; but seemed pleased with the
success of his attempt; and still more so, when he understood his
sentiments of Aurelia, and the deportment of the ladies.
"Next day the son sent over a servant with a compliment to inquire about
their health; and the messenger, being seen by Mr. Darnel, was told that
the ladies were indisposed, and did not choose to be troubled with
messages. The mother was really seized with a fever, produced by the
agitation of her spirits, which every day became more and more violent,
until the physicians despaired of her life. Believing that her end
approached, she sent a trusty servant to Mr. Greaves, desiring that she
might see him without delay; and he immediately set out with the
messenger, who introduced him in the dark.
"He found the old lady in bed almost exhausted, and the fair Aurelia
sitting by her overwhelmed with grief, her lovely hair in the utmost
disorder, and her charming eyes inflamed with weeping. The good lady
beckoning Mr. Launcelot to approach, and directing all the attendants to
quit the room, except a favourite maid, from whom I learned the story,
she took him by the hand, and fixing her eyes upon him with all the
fondness of a mother, shed some tears in silence, while the same marks of
sorrow trickled down his cheeks. After this affecting pause, 'My dear
son,' said she, 'Oh! that I could have lived to see you so indeed! you
find me hastening to the goal of life.' Here the tender-hearted Aurelia,
being unable to contain herself longer, broke out into a violent passion
of grief, and wept aloud. The mother, waiting patiently till she had
thus given vent to her anguish, calmly entreated her to resign herself
submissively to the will of Heaven; then turning to Mr. Launcelot, 'I had
indulged,' said she, 'a fond hope of seeing you allied to my family.
This is no time for me to insist upon the ceremonies and forms of a vain
world. Aurelia looks upon you with the eyes of tender prepossession.'
No sooner had she pronounced these words than he threw himself on his
knees before the young lady, and pressing her hand to his lips, breathed
the softest expressions which the most delicate love could suggest. 'I
know,' resumed the mother, 'that your passion is mutually sincere, and I
should die satisfied if I thought your union would not be opposed; but
that violent man, my brother-in-law, who is Aurelia's sole guardian, will
thwart her wishes with every obstacle that brutal resentment and
implacable malice can contrive. Mr. Greaves, I have long admired your
virtues, and am confident that I can depend upon your honour. You shall
give me your word, that when I am gone you will take no steps in this
affair without the concurrence of your father, and endeavour, by all fair
and honourable means, to vanquish the prejudices, and obtain the consent
of her uncle; the rest we must leave to the dispensation of Providence.'
"The squire promised, in the most solemn and fervent manner, to obey all
her injunctions, as the last dictates of a parent whom he should never
cease to honour. Then she favoured them both with a great deal of
salutary advice touching their conduct before and after marriage, and
presented him with a ring as a memorial of her affection, at the same
time he pulled another off his finger, and made a tender of it as a
pledge of his love to Aurelia, whom her mother permitted to receive this
token. Finally, he took a last farewell of the good matron, and returned
to his father with the particulars of this interview.
"In two days Mrs. Darnel departed this life, and Aurelia was removed to
the house of a relation, where her grief had like to have proved fatal to
her constitution.
"In the meantime, the mother was no sooner committed to the earth, than
Mr. Greaves, mindful of her exhortations, began to take measures for a
reconciliation with the guardian. He engaged several gentlemen to
interpose their good offices, but they always met with the most
mortifying repulse, and at last Anthony Darnel declared that his hatred
to the house of Greaves was hereditary, habitual, and unconquerable. He
swore he would spend his heart's blood to perpetuate the quarrel, and
that, sooner than his niece should match with young Launcelot, he would
sacrifice her with his own hand.
"The young gentleman, finding his prejudice so rancorous and invincible,
left off making any further advances, and, since he found it impossible
to obtain his consent, resolved to cultivate the good graces of Aurelia,
and wed her in despite of her implacable guardian. He found means to
establish a literary correspondence with her as soon as her grief was a
little abated, and even to effect an interview, after her return to her
own house; but he soon had reason to repent of his indulgence. The uncle
entertained spies upon the young lady, who gave him an account of this
meeting, in consequence of which she was suddenly hurried to some distant
part of the country, which we never could discover.
"It was then we thought Mr. Launcelot a little disordered in his brain,
his grief was so wild, and his passion so impetuous. He refused all
sustenance, neglected his person, renounced his amusements, rode out in
the rain, sometimes bareheaded; strolled about the fields all night, and
became so peevish, that none of the domestics durst speak to him without
the hazard of broken bones. Having played these pranks for about three
weeks, to the unspeakable chagrin of his father, and the astonishment of
all that knew him, he suddenly grew calm, and his good-humour returned.
But this, as your seafaring people say, was a deceitful calm, that soon
ushered in a dreadful storm.
"He had long sought an opportunity to tamper with some of Mr. Darnel's
servants, who could inform him of the place where Aurelia was confined;
but there was not one about the family who could give him that
satisfaction, for the persons who accompanied her remained as a watch
upon her motions, and none of the other domestics were privy to the
transaction. All attempts proving fruitless, he could no longer restrain
his impatience, but throwing himself in the way of the uncle, upbraided
him in such harsh terms, that a formal challenge ensued. They agreed to
decide their difference without witnesses, and one morning, before
sunrise, met on that very common where Mr. Greaves had saved the life of
Aurelia. The first pistol was fired on each side without any effect, but
Mr. Darnel's second wounded the young squire in the flank; nevertheless,
having a pistol in reserve, he desired his antagonist to ask his life.
The other, instead of submitting, drew his sword, and Mr. Greaves, firing
his piece into the air, followed his example. The contest then became
very hot, though of short continuance. Darnel being disarmed at the
first onset, our young squire gave him back the sword, which he was base
enough to use a second time against his conqueror. Such an instance of
repeated ingratitude and brutal ferocity divested Mr. Greaves of his
temper and forbearance. He attacked Mr. Anthony with great fury, and at
the first lunge ran him up to the hilt, at the same time seized with his
left hand the shell of his enemy's sword, which he broke in disdain. Mr.
Darnel having fallen, the other immediately mounted his horse, which he
had tied to a tree before the engagement, and, riding full speed to
Ashenton, sent a surgeon to Anthony's assistance. He afterwards
ingenuously confessed all these particulars to his father, who was
overwhelmed with consternation, for the wounds of Darnel were judged
mortal; and, as no person had seen the particulars of the duel, Mr.
Launcelot might have been convicted of murder.
"On these considerations, before a warrant could be served upon him, the
old knight, by dint of the most eager entreaties, accompanied with marks
of horror and despair, prevailed upon his son to withdraw himself from
the kingdom until such time as the storm should be overblown. Had his
heart been unengaged, he would have chose to travel, but at this period,
when his whole soul was engrossed, and so violently agitated by his
passion for Aurelia, nothing but the fear of seeing the old gentleman run
distracted would have induced him to desist from the pursuit of that
young lady, far less quit the kingdom where she resided.
"Well then, gemmen, he repaired to Harwich, where he embarked for
Holland, from whence he proceeded to Brussels, where he procured a
passport from the French king, by virtue of which he travelled to
Marseilles, and there took a tartan for Genoa. The first letter Sir
Everhard received from him was dated at Florence. Meanwhile the
surgeon's prognostic was not altogether verified. Mr. Darnel did not die
immediately of his wounds, but he lingered a long time, as it were in the
arms of death, and even partly recovered, yet, in all probability, he
will never be wholly restored to the enjoyment of his health, and is
obliged every summer to attend the hot-well at Bristol. As his wounds
began to heal, his hatred to Mr. Greaves seemed to revive with augmented
violence, and he is now, if possible, more than ever determined against
all reconciliation.
"Mr. Launcelot, after having endeavoured to amuse his imagination with a
succession of curious objects, in a tour of Italy, took up his residence
at a town called Pisa, and there fell into a deep melancholy, from which
nothing could rouse him but the news of his father's death.