THE HISTORY OF SIR GEORGE ELLISON
SIR George Ellisons father was the younger son of an ancient and opulent family and as such received only a small proportion of his fathers wealth but by his profession was enabled to live genteely He dedicated all his leisure hours to the care of
his childrens education Their learning he left to proper masters the object of his attention was their hearts He instructed them fully in the Christian religion and shewed them that it was the best foundation as well as surest support of moral virtue
Before his son George had completed his one and twentieth year his family by the death of his wife and two children was reduced to two sons and one daughter James his second son was then but twelve and his daughter fourteen years old This difference in their ages determined Mr Ellison to trust in his son Georges hands two thirds of the sum of 4000l of which he was possessed By so good a capital he hoped to secure the success of his eldest son whose disposition gave him reason to believe he should thereby do the best service to his other children He knew the young man to be perfectly sober humane and generous and at the same time an exceeding good oeconomist extremely diligent and well inclined to that care of and attention to his affairs so necessary for those
who undertake merchandise And indeed George as he entered into merchandise he wished to pursue it in the most profitable manner indifferent as to any inconveniencies which might attend it He therefore endeavoured to settle correspondences with some of the less adventurous merchants by whose means he might negotiate a quick trade from Jamaica where he intended to fix and the character he had established in the city by his excellent behaviour during his apprenticeship with Mr Lamont an eminent merchant rendered him successful in both these articles and with warm hopes though tender concern he took leave of his father and this kingdom well provided with correspondents here and recommendations to the principal people in Jamaica
Five years after his first settling at Jamaica he acquainted his father with his resolution of returning the whole capital he set out with observing the hazard his brother and sister ran by his being intrusted with the whole but that his father might not apprehend he
was distressing himself he further informed him that he had now raised a capital of 6000l to which he should always think he had as good a title as himself
If Mr Ellisons good conduct gained him the esteem of his own sex we may easily suppose the other was not insensible of his merit especially as it was accompanied by a very fine person a face handsome from great symmetry of features but still more from vivacity sensibility and sweetness of countenance a manner and address polite and engaging and a turn for conversation peculiarly agreeable As the manners of Jamaica are not peculiarly reserved many intimations were given to him of the favourable disposition of the Ladies but his attention was so totally engaged by his business that the strongest hints were lost upon him Yet the politeness of his behaviour and the chearfulness of his temper so well concealed the coldness of his heart that to warm it seemed no impracticable attempt and prudence as well as inclination might dispose many to endeavour to gain the affections
of so worthy and so successful a young man No woman had the mortification of thinking she had a rival till a widow Lady entered the lists
This Lady was seven years older than Mr Ellison having completed her three and thirtieth year Though the bloom of youth was past she was still handsome and behaved very prudently in the different states of life in which she had appeared was possessed of ten thousand pounds in money and a plantation of no less value Mr Ellisons friends persuaded him not to let slip so good an opportunity of improving his fortune since without those advantages her character and person rendered it an eligible match He listened without reluctance to the advice of his friends but being sensible he should feel double satisfaction if he had his fathers sanction he would not make any direct address to the Lady till he had received that necessary consent His father took the first opportunity of removing this impediment sending not only his consent but his approbation
accompanied with the warmest wishes for his happiness
Mr Ellison whose inclination for the Lady had increased with acquaintance received his fathers letter with joy and now making an express declaration of his attachment the widow without affected reluctance accepted his proposal and the marriage was soon completed
By the alteration of his fortune Mr Ellison found his sphere of action extended but as is frequently the case this gave him great uneasiness The thing which had chiefly hurt him during his abode in Jamaica was the cruelty used on one part of mankind as if the difference of complexion excluded them from the human race He had not been married above a week before he gave great offence to his wife and steward by putting a stop to a most severe punishment just beginning to be inflicted on a great number of them who intoxicated with the pleasures of a holyday had not returned home at the
time commanded I am said he determined henceforward to ease your steward of this part of his business the produce of the land he may still attend but those who cultivate it shall be my care he is not fit to be trusted with any thing but what is inanimate And that you may not think I pay too high a price for this indulgence of my compassion or rather this compliance with my conscience I will endeavour to find a means of rendering our slaves obedient without violating the laws of justice and humanity
Mrs Ellison was mortified to find her husband incorrigible in so material an article fearing least her fortune should suffer thro his simplicity but humanity when sufficiently warm and steady seldom waits long for the power and opportunity of exertion He soon formed a plan and set about the execution of it with the utmost diligence Afterwards haranguing his slaves While you perform your duty said he I shall look upon you as free servants or rather like my children for whose wellbeing I am ever anxious and
watchful I have provided you with convenient habitations given you a plentiful portion of all necessaries assigned to each a small share of peculiar property taken care of you in sickness and considered your ease in health I have increased your liberty promoted your amusements and much lightened your punishments But still these are too heavy I cannot feel myself so superior to any of my fellowcreatures as to have a right of correcting them severely I am determined therefore for the future to abolish all corporal punishments I shall require nothing of you that can be properly thought a hardship but if gratitude and prudence cannot bind you to good behaviour the first offence shall be punished by excluding you from partaking of the next weekly holydays for the second fault you shall not only be deprived of your diversion but of a days food and if these gentle corrections do not reform you on the third offence you shall be sold to the first purchaser however low the price offered and this sentence is irreversible no prayers no intreaties shall move me
The man who after so happy a change to his condition can repeatedly offend is not worthy to be the object of my care and shall become the property of some master whose chastisements may keep within the bounds of duty the actions of that man whose heart cannot be influenced by gratitude or his own true interest
Mr Ellisons humanity had already gained the affections of his slaves but on this declaration they almost adored him and in the strongest terms promised him and themselves likewise never to offend so good a master in such a manner as to bring them under the heavy sentence he had pronounced against those who persevered in disobedience This was at that time the real sentiments of their hearts but human frailty had left scarcely the resolution of one unbroken yet few of them were so senseless as to incur the third punishment The first who was so unfortunate when he found that the sentence was going to be put in execution was almost distracted and was with difficulty restrained
from doing violence on himself His importunate intreaties for pardon extremely distressed Mr Ellison To deny the poor wretch a farther trial grieved him to the soul and yet he saw that a strict adherence to his first declaration was absolutely necessary he therefore resolved to endure the conflict though not unmoved yet with unaltered purpose and to shew them that in despight of his compassion which was too great to be concealed he was still inflexible
Mrs Ellison who met him as he returned from this unhappy wretch was amazed at his uneasiness Surely said she you have no spirit if you can pity such an ungrateful creature I hope you are sensible it is a great weakness to be so tamely forgiving How 〈◊〉 I think so replied Mr Ellison when I see such various proofs that the Being in whom there is no weakness who is all perfection is far more forgiving than any of his creatures He is love and mercy itself can then any portion of the divine nature that part of his image which he stamped on
man be esteemed a failing How much more disobedient are the best of us to him than our slaves are to us Yet he does not crush us with his power he neither sends the lightnings to blast the offender nor pestilence to consume a sinful country he bears with us year after year gives us frequent calls and admonitions to repentance and leaves us a long season for amendment
As Mrs Ellison was not deficient in understanding she saw there was some truth in what her husband had said but it was a truth her reason could more easily perceive than her heart feel for it was steeled by habit
Mr Ellison soon after his marriage had desired his father to send him over a proper person to teach reading writing and accompts leaving him at liberty as to the stipend only desiring that the man might be sober and virtuous As soon as this person arrived he gave him a neat house and established him schoolmaster sending all the
children of his Negroe slaves to be under his tuition He caused them to be instructed in the principles of the Christian religion hoping thereby to civilise their manners and rectify their dispositions This office he performed himself to those more advanced in years believing instruction would come with more authority and persuasion from him as they respected him as their master and loved him for the happiness they enjoyed in his service and certainly such doctrine can scarcely fail of proving persuasive when the preachers actions are so eminently conformable to his precepts
By plentiful food and a comfortable life Mr Ellisons Negroes became stronger than any in the island the natural strength of those who belonged to other masters being consumed by hardships and hunger His were therefore able with ease to do so much more work that he might have diminished their number if compassion had not prevented him He had the satisfaction of seeing his conduct succeed to his utmost wish Negroes
are naturally faithful and affectionate though on great provocation their resentment is unbounded and they will indulge their revenge though to their own certain destruction
Above a year passed away without his being obliged to sell another slave which gave him hopes he should never again be exposed to so painful an exertion of his power And the poor wretch whose example had so good an effect on his companions had all that time suffered the usual severities under a hard master His selfreproaches made him doubly wretched and as he lived in a plantation adjacent to Mr Ellisons he was a constant object of compassion to his former companions who frequently lamented his fate and represented his distress with such pathetic simplicity as touched Mr Ellisons compassionate heart to so great a degree that he resolved to repurchase him at any price This he effected on more reasonable terms than he hoped for the poor fellows dejection of spirits was such that it undermined his health
and rendered him so weak that his master was very glad to get the price he had given for him When he was acquainted with his being again become Mr Ellisons property his joy was near proving fatal having entirely overpowered his spirits A holyday was given to all the slaves to welcome his return and never was the restoration of a Monarch celebrated with so much heartfelt disinterested joy
But although the gratitude and assiduity of this poor fellows future behaviour greatly rewarded his master yet it produced a disagreeable event another slave was encouraged by it to flatter himself that Mr Ellison would never again exercise the same severity since it had proved so painful to him but above all not on one who was particularly intelligent and useful as this slave knew himself to be On this supposition he extended his offence to a third time but was dreadfully surprised to find himself notwithstanding his most earnest intreaties doomed to be sold Before the day appointed for the sale
of the offender arrived he was seized with a violent fever and his malady so increased as to render his recovery doubtful and he was desirous not to recover Preferring death to slavery under another master he refused to take the remedies prescribed and earnestly begged he might be suffered to die Mr Ellison thought his condition would sufficiently excuse the reversing of his sentence so that the poor man now became as anxious to preserve as he had been before desirous of losing his life and his mind being at ease he recovered from his fever and his perverseness together
Mrs Ellison before the expiration of the first year of their marriage brought him a very fine boy Her fortune enabled him to extend his trade and his success therein always answered his wishes But he was not free from vexations Mrs Ellison though a good sort of a woman was one of those who make bad companions in intimate society She was so very fond of her husband that she was miserable if he was out of her sight If when
abroad on business he did not return just at the hour she expected he found her in agonies lest some misfortune had befallen him and with floods of tears she reproached him with insensibility of the pain she suffered from his want of punctuality If he expressed an inclination to spend an evening with a friend she was inconsolable and lamented his indifference If he paid the common attentions which politeness required for any other woman she was fired with jealousy When any generous action of his reached her ears which could not but happen frequently she would most pathetically lament that notwithstanding the fine fortune she brought her dear boy would be a beggar and upon all emergencies she would say that her first husband would not have used her so Had Mrs Ellison openly shewed an intention of enslaving her husband she would have found him better acquainted with the relative duties of matrimony than to have submitted to a disgraceful and unnatural yoke But when they were first married she restrained only with silken threads the fetters were forged
by degrees By the little endearments of excessive fondness she would bring him to compliance when he raised objections from convenience or politeness and unwilling to appear insensible of so much tenderness he would sometimes delay business and break appointments Every compliance of this sort rendered her applications more frequent and if he shewed much reluctance plaintive affectionate reproaches of want of love strengthened the request Every conquest more fully convinced her of his weakness she perceived that his greatest fear was to give pain that he could not bear without severe pangs to be the cause of uneasiness to any person but above all to one who was rendered susceptible of it chiefly by her love for him
Mr Ellison however at length saw reason to suspect there was more of policy than love in her behaviour but before he conceived this suspicion she had brought him to a habit of compliance which he could not shake oft without a stronger effort than the gentleness of his nature would suffer him to exert
But if he stood justified to himself his friends passed a less favourable sentence They found themselves deprived of the most agreeable society the place afforded and were not a little angry with the occasion of it Some seriously and sensibly advised him to free himself from his bondage Others laughed at him for his pusillanimity A secret consciousness that the advice was good and the ridicule just made him receive both with great good humour but they were equally ineffectual he eluded them in the best manner he could telling the first that to throw off the restraint would give him more trouble than he found in submitting to it and to the jesters he only said they must not wonder if his long application to merchandize had taught him to see every thing in the light of traffic and his wife had bought him at so great a price that he thot she had a right to make the best of the purchase Her power over him could not be a secret but he had pride enough to wish to conceal the uneasiness it gave him
Mr Ellison had other vexations which increased with the age of his little boy He was equally the darling of both his parents but they differed much in their opinions as to the proofs of that affection The child was naturally of a passionate and stubborn temper which his father saw with concern and thought it his duty to keep him within reasonable controul and if possible to conquer faults which when strengthened by time and habit must prove incorrigible Mrs Ellison on the contrary called his passion spirit and his stubbornness constancy and steadiness and could not bear he should receive the least contradiction She was continually puffing him up with the notion of his consequence representing all the people about him as his slaves and making them seek to please him by the most abject means She taught him to look on them in the same light as she herself did as creatures destitute of all natural rights of sense and feeling She was pleased to see him vent his childish passions upon them and was always ready to gratify his resentments beyond his wish and so
successful were her endeavours that by the time he arrived at the age of five years he was a little fury bursting with pride passion insolence and obstinacy Mr Ellison saw all this with a very sensible concern he endeavoured to teach his wife the duty of a parent and to convince her that her indulgence rendered her the childs most pernicious enemy but having never reasoned in her life the faculty was too feeble to enter into the force of his arguments she was too perverse to attend and too weak to be convinced
He then assumed an air to which she had hitherto been a stranger and told her though he had sacrificed his own inclinations to her she must not expect to find the same easy temper in him when the welfare of his son was at stake and in the most resolute manner declared he would not suffer him to be made a brute Tears were now called to her aid she wept for his cruelty and lamented the hatred he bore both to her and her child But all these arts proved now unavailing Mr Ellisons heart was too deeply
engaged in the importance of the cause of their contention to be moved by any thing she could say and he kept so firmly to his point that she began to think it advisable to calm him by a seeming compliance and that she or her dear darling might not incur Mr Ellisons anger she taught the boy to conceal his thoughts and inclinations and to assume such a manner in his fathers presence as for a little time gave that affectionate parent great pleasure but it was not long before he found that to his other faults his son had now added a degree of deceit and hypocrisy beyond what he imagined possible at so early an age and that while he loved his mother for laying the foundation of his future misery he beheld him only as an object of terror and hatred To be superiorly beloved was so great a gratification to Mrs Ellisons narrow and ungenerous mind that she rejoiced in every symptom of his dislike to his father though beloved by her as much as was consistent with such selfish principles as hers
How truly unhappy is it for mankind that this difference in parents in regard to the education of their children so generally prevails—the mother fond of her child to excess yet blinded by her fondness indulges it without reason—and the father tenderly dreading ing the ruin of his child counteracting the mother in its presence while yet unable to judge of right or wrong—Mr Ellisons conduct in this respect was quite different he was possessed of such a forethought and prudent constancy in the wrong he resolved to rectify as what is seldom but which it could be wished were oftner to be met with When he reproved Mrs Ellison it was always in the absence of his child and then indeed in such a sweet and persuasive manner that had the child been present and capable of reason, it must have been won over to its duty and the fondest affection for its father
Mr Ellison was convinced of what concern and great importance to its future happiness and welfare depended on the education of his child He was so convinced of the
pernicious principles that his son was imbibing and of the unhappy consequence of them that rather than have submitted to it he would have given up his own immediate and domestic quiet He knew that the evil habits imbibed at his sons age took too deep a root and if not checked in time were seldom to be conquered either by religion reason or persuasion He had too fatal an instance of it in Mrs Ellison educated in the islands she was familiarised to cruelty and hardened to any idea of sensibility—she could laugh at the sufferings of the poor blacks and would frequently reproach Mr Ellison for his humanity towards them Such also were the principles she would have instilled into her child But Mr Ellisons forecast of the natural consequences of this and how unhappy it must in future render not only his child but all those with whom he might be connected and more particularly those under his immediate protection and care put him on his guard to prevent it
When Mr Ellison found that all the care he could take towards rectifying his sons temper was only made the occasion of introducing more evil into his disposition he determined as the last resource to send him into England with a friend who was going thither and there to have him placed at a school under the eye of his grandfather who he knew would watch over him with the most affectionate attention To execute this resolution was a most painful talk Mrs Ellison at first absolutely refused consenting to it and to force on her the grief of parting with her son who was then but six years old gave him more poignant affliction than her heart was capable of feeling for any misfortune whatsoever
To remove her objections he therefore proposed their following the child into England as soon as they could settle their affairs in such a manner as might enable them to bid a long adieu to Jamaica without great detriment but this administered little consolation to Mrs Ellison as she had conceived
a dislike to England which even her sons being there could not conquer but forbearing to declare this imagining it would make her fondness for the child appear less than she chose it should be thought Mr Ellison after sending away his boy was very assiduous in hastening the means of their leaving the island supposing he therein gratified his wife as much as himself
The most difficult part of his business was to get a steward who would treat his slaves with the same gentleness to which he had accustomed them and he had nearly settled his commercial affairs before he saw any probability of finding a person fit for that important office
The first rumour of his intended departure caused the utmost consternation among these poor creatures they gathered round him and falling on their knees in their imperfect English cried out Oh massa no go no go if go steward whip beat kill poor slave no go no go you go we die
He assured them that he looked upon them all as his children and promised no one should supply his place that did not consider himself as their father Instead of being satisfied with this promise they exclaimed all fathers not good no father like you and such torrents of tears would accompany their words as frequently staggered his resolution Notwithstanding the most affectionate assurances he could give them melancholy constantly sat on their before happy countenances at their holyday meetings instead of indulging the jollity of which they used to be so fond their hours were spent in lamenting their approaching misfortune and laughter was now exchanged for tears
Business having called Mr Ellison to PortRoyal he there heard lamented the misfortunes of Mr Hammond an English gentleman who had been established there above two years as a merchant in good credit Mr Hammond had just received a 1000 l in return for some commodities he had exported
and this sum he insisted on an unsuccessful friends taking for a time in hopes it might enable him to save his credit and carry on his trade till affairs took a more favourable turn
By this welltimed loan the poor man and his family were saved from destruction but losses by shipwreck and other accidents having successively fallen on Mr Hammond he saw himself reduced into the situation from which he had relieved his friend with only this difference that his was a single distress whereas a wife and nine children would have been sharers in the misfortunes of the other All Mr Hammonds effects were seized but proved insufficient to discharge his debts The creditors knew he had lent some money but were ignorant as to the exact sum This they pressed him to call in promising on the receipt of it to discharge him from prison even if it did not quite amount to what was due to them
Mr Hammond could not support the thought of purchasing his liberty by reducing so large a family to beggary but as he was sensible his creditors had a just right to all his property he offered to enter into the most binding engagements to give up the sum to them as soon as his friend could refund it without ruin and to make him pay them the established interest till that time but enraged at this delay they refused to accept his offer and declared he should remain their prisoner
This story very much affected Mr Ellisons compassionate heart and in hopes of finding some method of relieving the distress of so worthy a man he went the next day to the prison to visit him and having undertaken to do his utmost to bring the creditors to agree to what he had offered he negociated the affair with great assiduity but little success
During the course of this transaction having had many proofs of Mr Hammonds integrity and humanity he acquainted him
with his resolution of advancing the thousand pounds lent to his friend and becoming himself that Gentlemans creditor assuring Mr Hammond that he should never ask for the payment but suffer his friend to suit his own convenience in that respect
He then told Mr Hammond that he was sensible though by this step he might deliver him from prison yet he should not secure him from distress he therefore begged leave to assist him in any course of life wherein he thought proper to engage adding that he could not but wish he might accept the offer he now made him of taking upon himself the direction of his plantation and slaves as he delayed his removal into England only till he could find a fit person for his steward
Mr Hammonds heart overflowed with gratitude as well for the transfer of the debt of the thousand pounds as for the kind offer he made him The care of the land he said would give him pleasure and he believed he might acquit himself tolerably well
in it but he knew himself totally unfit for the government of slaves the severities requisite to keep them in order being such as he was not only incapable of decreeing but even of beholding
Mr Ellison delighted with the sentiments he had expressed as they confirmed him in that opinion of his disposition which had first inspired him with the desire of leaving him his deputy when he should depart the island told him that the difficulties he had been under in finding a steward were occasioned by the fears of having his slaves ill treated who had always been used by him more like children than servants and had convinced him by their behaviour that severity was not only unnecessary but hurtful He desired Mr Hammond therefore if he had no other objection to the stewardship to go home with him and after sufficient observation to give him his answer
Mr Hammond readily acquiesced When he saw Mr Ellisons conduct to his slaves
and how great the difference thereby made between them and all others whom he had seen in that condition how much less abject their way of thinking how chearful and assiduous they were in performing their duty the quickness of their apprehension and in many the nobleness of mind and rectitude of principle which kind encouragement and fatherly instruction had given them in comparison of those who are stupified by ill usage and oppression he no longer beheld the office he was invited to accept in a formidable light but on the contrary his heart swelling with joy and transport at the happiness of the poor slaves around him he broke into the following soliloquy which afforded Mr Ellison the highest satisfaction and delight
O Humanity—Heavenborn principle —true and never ceasing source of bliss—happy those whose hearts are warmed with thy sweet and benign influence Blessed with the divine principle of thee we forget ourselves and seek our dearest joys in bestowing happiness upon others By thy divine influence
we tread the paths of peace—and are led in the dear and blessed footsteps of Him of whom thou art an allglorious attribute By thee we are led to the true and delightful ways or piety and religion—to the ways of pleasantness—and to the paths of peace
Thrice happy that man whose soul impressed with the true principles of real and pious sensibility looks up to Heaven for an example for his conduct and behaviour in life If blessed with affluence his chief bliss is to make others happy and every time he relieves an object from distress he feels a joy unutterable—words want the power and language the expression to declare the delightful satisfaction he feels Or indeed supposing poverty his lot and that he has but little yet of that will he administer relief and find more comfort and real satisfaction than the miser in his hoard or the spend thrift in his pleasures
With all his affluence is it likely that Mr Ellison without that sweet and heavenly sensibility
that fired his soul would have enjoyed any degree of the happiness he did Is it not through all his actions the chief instrument of his bliss leading him as it were step by step to the summit of human perfection
Mr Ellison now saw the liberty of departing from Jamaica approach His mercantile affairs were the more easily settled by his brothers arrival in the island for as soon as he had determined on his return to England he wrote to his father to send over his brother James who had been likewise bred to merchandize as it would be in his power to settle him very advantageously and to establish him immediately in an extensive trade by making over his correspondents to him He found the young man sensible honest and diligent and well deserving the encouragement he designed to give him
Mrs Ellison was indeed less pleased with her brother inlaw fearing her husband might favour him too generously
The young man was shocked to see the arbitrary power she exercised over her husband not immediately discerning that there was one thing his brother feared even more than his wife the reproaches of his own conscience and though he sacrificed most worldly things to her caprices yet there was a Being whom he more carefully endeavoured to please than her
Affairs were in this situation when Mrs Ellison was seized with a fever at that time almost epidemical The attack was so violent as from the first gave little hopes of a recovery and notwithstanding the best medical assistance she died in a few days
Mr Ellison was sincerely afflicted at her death her faults he had long pitied and now forgot while her virtues or such as he imagined she possessed were engraven on his memory
But his friends while they endeavoured to console him comforted themselves in believing
that though habit and gentleness of temper may teach a prisoner to hug his chains yet when taken off he will soon grow sensible he is relieved from a burden and find the removal of constant constraint makes him amends for the loss of many pleasures which accompanied it
But they had not an opportunity of seeing this supposition verified as Mr Ellison did not stay long enough in the island after his wifes death to wear off the grief he felt on the occasion
In a short time however he became sufficiently himself to prosecute his plan for setling every thing there to the best advantage He found Mr Hammond even exceed his hopes he soon gained the affection of the slaves an open humane and chearful countenance giving them a prejudice in his favour which his conduct improved into a rational confidence
He also beheld with delight the improvement the children had received in the school he had established The masters salary was raised and a young lad left with him of a remarkable good disposition and understanding as an assistant but with a secret view of qualifying him to succeed in case the master should die or grow weary of the charge
The schoolmasters sister upon invitation being come over from England was made mistress of a school of Negroe girls a charge wherein she acquitted herself extremely well The effect of their instructions was evident in the conduct of the Negroes for the ferocity of their tempers their obstinacy and that resentful turn of mind seemingly natural to them were so softened by religion that it very seldom happened that any symptoms of them appeared
By this time Mr Ellisons brother James had entered into a very tender attachment The youth no sooner became acquainted with
Miss Reynolds a young lady in the neighbourhood than he felt the influence of her charms she was not insensible of the merits of her lover and they were so well agreed before Mr Ellisons departure that James thought it proper to inform his brother of his inclination
A long acquaintance with Miss Reynolds had afforded him a good opportunity to discern her merit his brother could not have chosen a woman he so much esteemed her fortune though not considerable was sufficient to be of some assistance in trade and her prudence and oeconomy were well suited to his situation He therefore very sincerely gave his approbation had the marriage celebrated with great elegance in his own house and made a present to the bride of all the jewels that belonged to his deceased wife To his brother he gave a house he had at Kingstown with all his plate and linen and the free use of all his furniture and to 〈◊〉 Hammond he allowed 200 l per
annum with the liberty of living in his house and many other privileges
Having thus intirely settled his affairs he set sail for England leaving his friends and dependants most sensibly afflicted and sharing in their grief though the desire of returning to his native country of seeing his father and his child and of repairing a constitution much hurt by the heat of the climate made the change on the whole very desirable to him
His voyage was swift and prosperous and no dangers called off his thoughts from the pleasure he felt in anticipating in imagination the joys he expected from his return to his native land but disappointments too often follow the hopes which have risen to the highest point and when we think we are just ready to grasp our pleasures they elude our touch and leave us nothing but regret
Mr Ellison had in his imagination formed many delightful scenes between himself and
his father the evening of whose days he hoped would be greatly brightened by sharing his prosperity and by his assiduous endeavours to amuse if he could not relieve the infirmities of age But all these flattering hopes are put to flight on his arrival in port a letter being delivered him there acquainting him that his father was very dangerously ill not from sudden sickness but a gradual decline
Old Mr Ellison had taken care he should receive this intimation to prepare him for their first meeting and render it less shocking and to make it still less affecting he had sent for his grandson home in hopes that the joy of the parent would mitigate filial sorrow Nor was he totally disappointed Mr Ellison could not be insensible of the pleasure of seeing his only child in health and in appearance improved of which the dying man gave him all the comfortable proofs he could recollect But this though it in some measure alleviated his grief scarcely sufficed to render it supportable
The indulgence he had given his imagination made the approaching death of his father more grievious He was greatly affected by the calm resignation of his mind the patience with which he supported his painful distemper and the chearful and lively hopes of a blessed eternity which in his eyes disarmed death of all its terrors and made him look on his last hour with the same placidity as on any one that preceded it and so well supported him at the fatal instant as to render him scarcely sensible of the pains which usually attend the separation of the soul from the body
Mr Ellison determined as soon as he had settled his affairs to fix in the country Sir William Ellison his cousingerman invited him to his seat in Dorsetshire promising to shew him several good houses any of which were to be hired or purchased and Mr Ellison was particularly inclined to fix his abode in that country as it had been the place of his familys former residence He had sent over before he left Jamaica 45000l
and beside the interest of that sum he received 1200l a year from his plantation clear of all deductions
On his arrival at his cousins seat in Dorsetshire he was received very affectionately Sir William had not seen him from the time he first left England but retained a great regard for him founded on an early acquaintance with his virtues Though nearly related in blood there was little resemblance in the dispositions of these two gentlemen Sir William was a man of sense and integrity but a humourist He was now at fifty years old a batchelor for having been in his youth jilted by a woman he ardently loved who after all preliminaries to their marriage was settled left him for a man of larger fortune and more gaudy appearance he had made a vow never more to address any of the sex and kept that vow better than is usually done by those who make it in a fit of resentful rage and disappointment His father died soon after and left him in the possession of 3000l per annum free
from any incumbrances whatsoever the estate in good order and the mansion house well furnished and above a years income in cash
Mr Ellison though well pleased with Sir Williams reception and conversation finding he laid him under some restraint determined not to make his visit very long and therefore soon called upon the Baronet to fulfil his promise of shewing him the houses which were to be purchased in that country
After seeing them all he fixed on one almost adjoining to Sir Williams and purchased it with the estate belonging thereto consisting of two farms of about 150l a year each
The house was a large and good old mansion in tolerable repair but having stood empty near ten years during the minority of the owner was inwardly in very bad order and the gardens entirely gone to ruin This circumstance much lessened the price
but was no disagreeable thing to Mr Ellison who rather chose to lay out the place to his own taste than to pay for what the seller might call improvements
He immediately purchased it and being provided with a housekeeper who had ample recommendations to him he informed her that a decent and regular oeconomy in his house was what he expected as far from extravagance and wastefulness as from parsimony He would have his servants enjoy soberly all the comforts of life as he thought that to make them happy was his first duty but this he knew was best done by order regularity and decent frugality He would have such a number of servants as could perform the business of his house with ease and therefore desired her to consider how many servants would be requisite
As for the state of the adjacent poor being yet but little acquainted with it he could give no particular directions but wished she would inform him of what she heard on that
point and likewise ••ntion to him the sort of relief she judged more proper
It may not be amiss to shew how Mr Ellison was circumstanced as to a more extensive neighbourhood
On the contrary side to Sir Williams house lived Mr Grantham lawful heir to the Duke of— if that Nobleman died without children which was now highly probable as he was above 60 years old and his Duchess but little younger Mr Grantham was indeed a very distant relation yet was heir both to the estate and title but this branch of that great family having fallen to decay he inherited from his father only 50l a year This he farmed himself and lived in the only house 〈◊〉 had which was little better than a common cottage His education had been on a level with his fortune and his manners were those of a plain honest farmer yet regard for his birth and compassion for his narrow circumstances procured him a due portion of 〈…〉 all the neighbouring
gentlemen His notions of family pride had an influence over him in the choice of a wife He thought he should disgrace his blood by marrying a farmers daughter though with such a one he might have got a few hundred pounds which would have set him much at his ease and a Lieutenant dying in an adjacent town where he was quartered and leaving a daughter intirely unprovided for and greatly distressed he thought her a wife much more suitable to the dignity of his family Captivated by her gentility rather than by her person for she was no beauty he took a pride in addressing the Captains daughter for the courtesy of a country town kindly bestows the title of Captain on every officer and she was glad to accept of any provision
However Mr Grantham was more fortunate than he had reason to expect his wife proved very notable and industrious only too prolific having perpetuated the family of the Granthams of which the Duke and he were the last by bringing him five
sons and three daughters a number attended with great difficulties in their narrow circumstances but the thought that they might one day be so many Lords and Ladies was a sufficient consolation and made them behold so numerous a progeny with exultation
At the distance of about two miles from Mr Ellisons lived Mr Allin a gentleman who inherited a good estate from his father but being extravagant in his youth had reduced it within very narrow bounds and involved himself in difficulties that had a good deal soured his temper converting his extravagance into parsimony His society would not have been very eligible had it not been for an only daughter who kept his house whose beauty accomplishments and excellent qualities rendered her the most distinguished young woman in the whole country
A little father off dwelt Mr Blackburn an old gentleman of great merit who by a due mixture of study and conversation had greatly embellished an admirable understanding
On the other side of Mr Ellisons house and about five miles from it lived young Mr Blackburn son to the gentleman just mentioned his father having given him an estate with a good house upon it on his marriage with a young woman of family but no fortune whose beauty had captivated the young man his father being glad to encourage any rational inclination in hopes the society of a woman he loved might reform him from his vices But success had not answered his wishes young Mr Blackburn soon grew tired of his wife and returned to his bottle to hunting gaming and women and behaved with such insolence to his father when he reproached him for his dissolute course of life that he banished him his presence and declared a resolution to disinherit him This breach had subsisted three years when Mr Ellison came into the country and the father still as much offended and the son as far from reformation as ever
These were Mr Ellisons nearest neighbours and first visitors paying him their
compliments before he had got a room fit to receive them But as he aimed at nothing farther than neatness and convenience it was not long before his house was as well furnished as he desired
Mr Ellison had two very particular attractions in his neighbourhood Mr Blackburn delighted his understanding Miss Allin captivated his heart But it is probable that even all Miss Allins attractions might have proved ineffectual had they not found him in a state of leisure
Business first and then duty had hitherto defended his heart these shields were now removed and it lay open to Cupids arrows in such a defenceless state it might have fallen a prey to half her perfections and could not make the least resistance Nor indeed did he wish it he yielded himself a willing captive for as he had no desire to remain single he with pleasure encouraged an inclination for a woman he thought so well qualified to make him happy and whose narrow
circumstances gave him reason to hope for a favourable reception
An inclination we chuse rather to encourage than repress is very quick in its growth Mr Ellison had been settled but two months in Dorsetshire when he came to a resolution of asking Mr Allins permission to address his daughter giving him to understand that his fortune set him above all pecuniary demands
The great advantages his daughter would find in such an union would have made Mr Allin sufficiently eager to compleat it had he not been spurred on by the last article which however was a stronger incentive for the miser in Moliere was not more sensible of the charms of that part of a lovers address sans dot than Mr Allin Mr Ellison therefore had not only his consent but his good wishes and secretly all the influence of his authority
Unfortunately the fathers was not the only will of consequence in this case The joy Mr Ellison felt on receiving the permission he asked was soon damped for on explaining himself to Miss Allin she burst into tears having foreseen from the manner in which she was left alone with him what was to be the subject of his conversation and the more generously and nobly he expressed his affection the faster her tears flowed Alarmed by the tenderest fears he begged to know the cause of her distress but before she could assume sufficient power over herself to comply they heard Mr Allin coming towards them Dreading his presence she requested her lover to conceal her uneasiness and promising to lay her whole heart open to him the next time they met she made her escape by one door as her father entered at another
Mr Ellison was not much better able than his mistress to support an interview with the father so that eluding his questions in such a manner as gave him no suspicions of
what had passed he pretended business that obliged him to return home directly
He shut himself up in his room in a state of mind which the heart may guess but words cannot describe He passed the night in an agitation and anxiety he had before no conception of; the hope which selfflattery would sometimes suggest only served to prevent his exerting his reason to support what his fears anticipated He rose before the sun with a resolution to know his fate ere the day was over but wished to learn it without Mr Allins knowledge
Unable to contrive any means of effecting this desire the restlessness of his mind led him abroad and the impulse of his heart directed him towards Mr Allins house He wandered in the adjacent fields a long time uncertain what methods to pursue and fearing to create uneasiness to the woman for whom he suffered so much
At length Miss Allin who had not rested much better than her lover going to the window in hopes new objects might divert her thoughts saw him in a field adjoining to the garden The delicacy of her mind bore so great a resemblance to his that she imagined the cause which brought him thither and desirous to conclude the interview before her father rose from his bed she hastened to him with as much speed as a person can use who feels a very sensible affliction for the pain she is going to give one whom she sincerely esteems
When he saw her approach he had scarcely courage to meet her dreading the explanation he had so impatiently longed for Maiden bashfulness with some mixture of concern on one side and extreme agitation of spirits on the other rendered them equally unable to speak but with common though tacit consent they sat down together on a green bank at the foot of a tree a l••• silence ensued and it is difficult to say when it would have ended if Miss Allin had not
sooner recovered her spirits than her lover She tempered the disagreeable intelligence she was going to impart with very sincere expressions of concern at the necessity she saw herself under of giving him pain professed a due sense of his merit and lamented that when they first met her heart was not so free as his since then in all probability they might have constituted each others happiness instead of mutually destroying each others peace
She then told him that she had with her fathers consent been engaged above a year to Dr Tunstall a young physician in the neighbourhood and their marriage had been so long deferred only by the difficulties her father found or that his parsimonious temper made him imagine in raising 2000l the sum he had promised to give with her That she received the Doctor as her intended husband at her fathers command when her heart was so little prejudiced in his favour that she could without any severe pang have been equally obedient had be ordered her
never to see him any more but since she had considered it as her duty and happiness to increase the little prepossession she had conceived the case was much altered and she was now as strongly engaged to him in affection as in honour An engagement she was determined not to violate though she despaired of seeing it fulfilled for she had received an express command from her father never to entertain the least acquaintance or correspondence with Dr Tunstall but to look on Mr Ellison as her husband and she feared he would never revoke the decree since beside the many reasons which she was sensible there was for preferring him to the Doctor his generosity had added one that with her father was insurmountable by declining the acceptance of a fortune
She proceeded to say that she had nothing to expect but her fathers anger which was impetuous and dreadful all therefore she had to ask of Mr Ellison who she hoped would rather think her unfortunate than ungrateful was that he would as far as lay in
his power mitigate her fathers rage and prevail with him to let her live peaceably in her present condition for she relinquished all hopes of changing it and did it with the less concern as she imagined his partiality for her might render it more vexatious to him to see her married to another than merely to be disappointed of her himself
It is unnecessary to describe the effect Miss Allins words had upon Mr Ellison She felt so lively a compassion for him that she forgot her own grief and said every thing she thought might contribute to his consolation except what alone could prove effectual but as she was fully determined to adhere strictly to her engagement she carefully avoided giving him the least room to hope a change in her sentiments
As soon as his mind was a little composed he took his leave assuring her that he would try every means to secure her peace though he was not yet sufficiently master of his thoughts to see the manner in which it
would be most adviseable for him to proceed
Each returned to their respective houses but with different sensations she found her heart much lightened since she had acquainted her generous lover with the state of it but he carried back despair instead of uncertainty
However after some time spent in reflection he grew resigned and patient and notwithstanding his disappointment he was ardently desirous to restore Miss Allin to the happiness of which he had for a time deprived her and resolved to perform his promise more effectually than she could expect
Accordingly three days after he had received his sentence from her he sent an invitation to Mr Allin to dine with him and took that opportunity of acquainting him that since he was last at his house he had learnt that Miss Allin had long been engaged with his consent to Dr Tunstall and therefore
had resolved to desist from his pretensions as he should think himself very criminal if taking the advantage of a superiority of fortune he should attempt to deprive another of a blessing which must be so dear to him and indeed he should have so bad an opinion of a woman who could be mercenary and inconstant enough to break her word though in his favour as would render it impossible for him to be happy with her
Mr Allin was much disconcerted at this declaration and answered He might do as he pleased but that as for Dr Tunstall if he intended to marry his daughter he must wait till business increased or death put her in possession of his little estate for he found it impossible to raise a fortune for her without distressing himself
From the account Mr Ellison had heard of his circumstances he easily believed there was some truth in what he said and told him he would remove that objection only desiring him to confirm his former consent with
a good grace and not diminish the satisfaction of his daughter by an apparent reluctance or even the coldness of his compliance
Mr Ellison was not slow in executing his purpose He wrote Miss Allin a letter the next morning wherein he inclosed a draught on his banker for 2000l His generosity went still farther he feared her father would not acquit himself properly in regard to her cloaths and considered that as the income of the man she married was very small to be well equipped might prove hereafter much to her convenience he therefore sent his housekeeper to the next great town to buy silks lace cambrick muslins hollands in such abundance as would not only enable her to make a very genteel appearance on her marriage but suffice for some years and he chose to do it in this manner rather than to make her a present of the money as the surest means of securing her convenience to which moderation and generosity might have made her less attentive
The pleasure he felt in this disinterested conduct almost extinguished for the time the sense of sorrow but the heart will have its due when the gratification began to deaden vexation returned and he could gladly have excused a visit Dr Tunstall made him in order to return thanks for his generosity which Mr Ellison learnt from him was with great pain accepted by Miss Allin nor could any thing, but her fathers express and absolute command have conquered her reluctance in this particular The sight of a man so much happier than himself brought so painful a comparison to Mr Ellisons mind that the effect was visible to the Doctor who could not blame the sensation though Mr Ellison could scarcely forgive it in himself and was hurt to find by this first instance, that he was capable of envy a passion he had never felt before
His politeness however did not forsake him on so severe a trial he commanded both his countenance and words so well as to give his happy rival a kind though melancholy
reception and determined to conquer the sensation he so much disapproved he expressed an inclination to be sometimes favoured with his visits though he must request him to excuse his returning them
While Mr Ellison flattered himself with the hopes of marrying Miss Allin he delayed settling his family in the order he intended thinking it more adviseable to regulate the whole at once but when that prospect •ani••ed there no longer subsisted any reason for postponing it
The knowledge he had of his sons impetuous temper and bad qualities determined him to educate him at home Whether he would there acquire an equal share of learning as at school he much questioned but the rectifying his heart appeared to him the most essential article towards his happiness and of all knowledge that he most wished him to acquire was the knowledge of himself and the means of governing his passions in these points he thought he might
be better instructed under his own eye than at school and if thereby he could render him an honest and amiable man he should have good reason to be contented though he did not prove a learned one
He had already begun to make proper inquiries after a well qualified tutor and was likely to succeed as he had set no bounds to the salary A gentleman of excellent character great learning and amiable manners having met with some disappointments in the profession of physic to which he was bred was very glad of so eligible a retirement on a promised salary of 400l a year and as Mr Ellison was so great a master in the science of benevolence that he performed few actions that did not bear more than one good fruit he had in view the serving Mr Grantham by the home education of his son and therefore made it a condition that the tutor should teach as many boys as he pleased with the same care as his own
The little Granthams spent few beside their sleeping hours at home for as their fathers house almost joined to Mr Ellisons they returned thither without inconvenience every night coming early the next morning and having at Mr Ellisons both their corporal and mental food the first of which was some ease to the narrow circumstances of those good people and the latter gave their father the most sincere joy as he now saw them in a way of being educated equal to their birth and future fortune of which he had before utterly despaired Indeed he found his expence much lightened for Mr Ellison carefully provided them apparel in every respect equal to that worn by his own son and was very watchful that the latter assumed no superiority over them to whom he shewed him he was in reality greatly inferior but this was explained to him in the absence of the Granthams for Mr Ellison wished for their sakes the thought might not occur to them and exhorted their father and mother not to destroy one benefit arising from their present low estate which might greatly add to the
happiness of their lives by instilling into their minds a pride that must be the source both of private chagrin and public contempt
Mr Ellison was not so wholly engaged either by private vexation or domestic business as not to extend his attention to all his neighbours The little estate he had bought lay in three parishes which gave him a knowledge of the state of each
He found the poor tax ran very high and yet the poor were but ill taken care of the farmer was much burdened the poor but little relieved
All these inconveniencies he endeavoured to apply remedies to which he did effectually and besides relieving the wants of the poor he promoted a spirit of industry among them
On other occurrences his benevolent disposition scarce knew any bounds he composed all differences in his neighbourhood
was the father of the orphan a true friend to the distressed and helpless a visitor of the sick and those who were in prison and many a debtor that had not been so out of wantonness he delivered from the unrelenting pursuits of his creditors
These scenes were indeed the great feasts of his soul but all his hours yielded him refined pleasures because they were all spent in the exercise of benevolence a desire to do good to others was so intirely his governing principle that however engaged in business or pleasure he never lost sight of it endeavouring to promote it by every action of his life
Though temperance and virtue are the best preservatives of health yet they cannot secure to any one an uninterrupted state Mr Ellison while employed in assiduous endeavours to alleviate the sufferings of others became himself the object of compassion
He was seized with a violent fever which so far baffled the skill and care of Dr Tunstall for whom he had sent on being first taken ill that in three days he was entirely delirious and his life judged to be in great danger The grief of his friends and dependants is easier to be imagined than described but none felt more sincerely on the occasion than Mrs Tunstall whose gratitude attached her very strongly to him though she had never been in his company since the morning that determined him to give up all pretensions to her
She always waited the Doctors return with impatient anxiety and was greatly affected by the account her husband gave her in the beginning of the second week of Mr Ellisons illness of the accident which had happened to his housekeeper who by a fall down stairs had put out her ankle and must be totally confined to her chamber whereby Mr Ellison was deprived of a very careful tender and sensible nurse which his situation rendered extremely necessary and yet the
Doctor saw no means of procuring him one any of the servants or people in the parish would have attended him with care and affection but their ignorance disqualified them for the trust
Mrs Tunstall was shocked to think of the danger he must run in such hands and presuming that in his insane state of mind he would not know her proposed attending him herself though it might prove very dangerous in her present state she being then in the eighth month of her pregnancy The Doctors tenderness for his amiable wife made him very unwilling to consent but she urged him with such persuasive importunity that he at length though reluctantly agreed to carry her to Mr Ellisons that very day
It is easy to imagine that Mrs Tunstall must perform with the greatest assiduity an office she undertook out of gratitude The only rest she allowed herself was on a couch in Mr Ellisons chamber she mixed all his medicines and gave him every thing he took
but was careful not to approach his bedside on his first waking lest sleep might calm his delirium and expose her to his knowledge
She was seldom out of his chamber except during one or two short visits she daily made his housekeeper for a whole week that he continued in the same melancholy state he then began to recover his senses but was so weak and spent he took little notice of any thing that passed she therefore prolonged her attendance for some days keeping out of his sight but directing the nurse and watching that all proper care was taken and she had the satisfaction before Mr Ellison was well enough to discover there was any other person than his nurse in the room to see the housekeeper able to be brought in and take the same care she herself had done for some days whereupon with great joy she resigned her office and returned home
Every day confirmed her in this easy state of mind for his recovery though slow was
uninterrupted and the many hearts which his extreme danger had oppressed with grief and anxiety were relieved from their heavy burden more sensible than ever of the value of the man on whom their happiness depended as all their sensibility had been awakened by his illness
Caution had been given to Sir William and the housekeeper not to disclose Mrs Tunstalls attendance but the appearance of so strong an attachment the hazard she had run and the uncommonness of the action had made such an impression on Sir William that the utmost his prudence could effect was to be silent on the subject till his cousin was pretty well recovered and then news being brought them as they were sitting together that Mrs Tunstall was brought to bed he could not forbear observing that she had but just had time to recover her fatigue
Mr Ellison usually avoided entering into any conversation on a subject wherein he felt
himself too tenderly interested but his sensibility on the present occasion put him off his guard and he enquired to what fatigue Sir William alluded
The Baronet could no longer resist the desire he felt of acquainting his cousin with Mrs Tunstalls extraordinary care of him to which Mr Ellison listened with equal surprise and pleasure Her conduct on this occasion had the effect she feared from it if it came to his knowledge for it awakened every tender sensation but these were not accompanied with the pain she thought might attend them He had brought himself to such a patient acquiescence in the decrees of Providence that while he cherished the remembrance of her with tenderness his regret for his disappointment was calm and temperate He attributed her care to the gratitude of a noble mind and felt ineffable pleasure in so strong a proof that his esteem was just
Mr Ellison as the most likely means of perfecting his recovery made some excursions into different parts of the country and it was for a considerable time before he again settled at home
At his return he was shocked at the evils electiondrunkenness had caused in his neighbourhood and Dr Tunstall particularly being violent in politics and having exerted himself much during the contest acquired such a habit of drinking and entered into intimacies with so many people who made it their chief pleasure that the love of it did not cease with the first inducement
Mrs Tunstalls situation was hereupon very melancholy She daily beheld the man she loved in the most disgustful condition and when not absolutely intoxicated the effects of the former nights debauch so stupified and disordered him that he was not capable of conversation nor susceptible of affection Add to this that the sensible decline of their circumstances from such a
perpetual round of rioting made her dread the consequences that must attend it
Mr Ellisons humanity was of so quick and lively a kind that it did not wait to be informed of a persons particular sufferings from comparing their income with their necessary expences he knew when they were under any difficulties in point of circumstances and this induced him to prevail upon Mrs Tunstalls father to receive from him a proper supply for her use as coming from himself
However Dr Tunstall was not to be reclaimed and he at last fell a victim to his passion being seized with a high fever which in a few days put a period to his life
Had Mr Ellison obeyed the impulse of his heart he would have flown to the disconsolate widow and endeavoured by all the tender sensibilities that can spring from friendship to have soothed her grief but he feared such a conduct might appear scarcely decent
in one whose sentiments were so well known and while he acted only as a friend her reputation might be wounded by being supposed so soon to receive the assiduities of a lover and her delicacy offended by any marks of regard which might bear the appearance of so early a renewal of his former addresses
These considerations made him forbear visiting her for the present and when he thought he might visit her with decency the preference he often gave his duties to the pleasures arising from her society made her fancy his having no views beyond the enjoyment of her friendship till the expiration of the first year of her widowhood during which he had condemned himself to absolute silence concerning the situation of his heart but having given so much time to worldly form he was determined no longer to delay what was due to himself after having fulfilled all that decorum could possibly expect he therefore declared frankly to her how little alteration time had made in his affection
and intreated she would give him leave to hope that she would listen to his addresses with more complacency than when he first made them
Mrs Tunstall was somewhat surprised at Mr Ellisons constancy and not a little puzzled in what manner to answer him but as he insisted on a reply she stammered out some expressions of the honour he did her the greatness of the advantages he thus offered her and her high sense of the obligations she lay under which must incline her to wish to comply with any request of his
This sort of cold reception was ill suited to the ardor of Mr Ellisons passion he therefore begged that politeness gratitude and above all interest might be out of the question for though amiable virtues yet his heart was too delicate or too capricious to be contented with receiving them in return for his warmest affections
Mrs Tunstalls situation was rendered the more perplexing by being really ignorant of the state of her own heart She had only considered him as a most amiable and worthy friend and knew not whether she could with pleasure consent to be united to him by a tenderer tie however she could safely promise all his delicacy required not to marry him except he became the free disinterested choice of her heart Mr Ellison had no sooner received this assurance than he repented his request but his apprehensions were groundless
Mrs Tunstall was not quite so indifferent as she imagined love seldom rises to a blaze till it is fanned with hope and in a few other visits she declared to him that she could no longer resist any inclination of his on the contrary found her affection for him grow so intire that she wished to have it made her duty to love him with a warm and undivided heart
Every circumstance now seemed to concur to make Mr Ellison completely happy when three days before that fixed on for his nuptials he received a letter from Mrs Blackburn informing him that her husband was in the hands of the sheriffs officers and if he did not take compassion upon him he must be immediately removed to prison as they were not able to discharge the debt and the creditor refused to take Mr Blackburns bond knowing his whole fortune was mortgaged
Fewer intreaties would have sufficed to bring Mr Ellison to their relief He set out in all haste on horseback but had not gone three miles when his horse threw him He was at first intirely stunned by the fall but pain in a short time brought him to himself and convinced him that his thigh was broke His servant sent off a messenger to a surgeon to meet him at his own house and with great difficulty got him home
Mrs Tunstall was shocked to the greatest degree at this melancholy news and immediately
determined that the want of the marriage ceremony should not prevent her attendance on him during his confinement She had once acted this part from gratitude and trusted she might now without censure be allowed to perform it through affection Her tender attentions greatly alleviated Mr Ellisons pains but could not effect his cure the third day after the fracture a mortification began which gave the surgeons the most alarming apprehensions
Melancholy as his situation was no dejection appeared in his countenance and as soon as he apprehended his life was in danger he considered of the best methods of preventing others from suffering by his death He charged on his fortune the support of all the charities and benevolences he had established He discharged Mr Blackburns debt and bequeathed ten thousand pounds to Mrs Tunstall and as his sons fortune could not fail of being great since Sir Williams estate would come to him he charged it with annuities for all his dependants he had not a
servant to whom he did not leave some token of his bounty and not confining his thoughts to England obliged his son to leave his Jamaica estate in the hands of his steward as long as he should live providing for all the Negroes that should remain on the plantation at the time of his stewards death
His hardest trial was yet to come the taking leave of his son and intended spouse For the form•••• felt a thousand fears lest his unguided youth might be led into some of the many errors to which that season of life is prone and he did not more grieve than fear to leave him He recapitulated the substance of all the instructions he had for so many years been inculcating and beseeched him with tears and the tenderest caresses to imprint them deeply on his heart
But his severest task was taking leave of Mrs Tunstall who approached his bed more dead than alive He bade her not grieve for him since he trusted he was going to the only place where he could find a happiness
superior to what he should have enjoyed in her society Mrs Tunstall had no power to answer but with tears which flowed plentifully over the hand she pressed between hers while kneeling by his bed side
At night when the surgeons examined his leg they found the mortification to their surprise had not advanced The next day the symptoms appeared still a little more favourable and in a few days beyond all expectation he was declared out of danger and he now found that the life he could so contentedly have parted with was still extremely dear to him But had it indeed lost its charms it must have obtained new ones from the joy that was diffused over the whole neighbourhood
Mrs Tunstall was ever rejoicing over his restored life or on her knees giving thanks for so great a blessing till Mr Ellison was sufficiently recovered to confirm at church the union of their hearts which love had before completed an union which every succeeding
day rendered more delightful as a fuller knowledge of each others virtues by increasing their esteem and rational affection more than compensated for some abatement of passion which must unavoidably be the consequence of possession and that certainty of each others affections which banishes all the fears and anxieties that fan the fire of love and increase the passion by vicissitude mingling pains with its pleasures
Mr Ellison had now no wish ungratified Mrs Ellison returned his affection in the tenderest manner and completed his happiness by entering into all his views and assisting him in every work of humanity wherein her heart was as deeply engaged as his
In a short time after Mr Ellisons marriage Sir William died and left him heir to his estate and title
His children as they grew up were all honourably married and well settled in the world and among the rest the eldest of
his daughters was married to the eldest of the Granthams sons the old gentleman having for some time past enjoyed the title of Duke with the estate on the decease of his relation
Thus lived Mr Ellison enjoying in sweet and contented retirement the highest bliss and selfsatisfaction that human nature is capable of and which can only be obtained by a truly well spent and virtuous life Deriving from a pious and humane sensibility that happy and constant serenity of conscience that is only the attendant on good actions Guided by it he was early led to indefatigable industry and a steady and prudent attention to business This he knew was not only the surest and most rational way to prosper in life—but also the most pleasing and selfsatisfactory—that it was not only the way whereby he could expect to place himself above dependency—but that it was likewise the only means which could enable him to gratify the utmost wish of his heart—the being able to relieve his fellow creatures
His industry as it was guided by a a generous prudence and a constant and steady adherence to the dictates of conscience and humanity could not fail of the greatest success—but although it raised him to the greatest affluence it did not raise him above himself—he still retained the sentiments he at first set out with blessing and crowning with the most delightful happiness all around him— He sought not the favours of the great or the respect of the affluent—but the approbation of his own conscience—He delighted not in the bustle of courts or of the world—but while he thought it his duty he gave himself to business and pursued it with unwearied attention and being favoured by Heaven to the utmost of his wishes he chose a retirement most suitable to his inclination where sequestered from the noise and bustle of life he could gratify unmolested the purest desires of his soul and enjoy himself in peace and satisfaction—where envied by none— but adored by all—he might be a father to the fatherless—and a protector to the widow —a comforter to the afflicted—and a friend to the whole human race
We could not take leave of this worthy family at a better time than when it enjoys the utmost felicity the world can afford lest by some of those unavoidable misfortunes which in the course of time must befal every mortal being the scene may be overcast and those who are now the happiest of mortals become objects of compassion