Chapter 5.00: Chapter iv. — The reader's neck brought into danger by a description; his escape; and the great condescension of Miss Bridget Allworthy.

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Chapter iv. — The reader's neck brought into danger by a
description; his escape; and the great condescension of Miss Bridget
Allworthy.
**

The Gothic stile of building could produce nothing nobler than Mr
Allworthy's house. There was an air of grandeur in it that struck you with
awe, and rivalled the beauties of the best Grecian architecture; and it
was as commodious within as venerable without.

It stood on the south-east side of a hill, but nearer the bottom than the
top of it, so as to be sheltered from the north-east by a grove of old
oaks which rose above it in a gradual ascent of near half a mile, and yet
high enough to enjoy a most charming prospect of the valley beneath.

In the midst of the grove was a fine lawn, sloping down towards the house,
near the summit of which rose a plentiful spring, gushing out of a rock
covered with firs, and forming a constant cascade of about thirty feet,
not carried down a regular flight of steps, but tumbling in a natural fall
over the broken and mossy stones till it came to the bottom of the rock,
then running off in a pebly channel, that with many lesser falls winded
along, till it fell into a lake at the foot of the hill, about a quarter
of a mile below the house on the south side, and which was seen from every
room in the front. Out of this lake, which filled the center of a
beautiful plain, embellished with groups of beeches and elms, and fed with
sheep, issued a river, that for several miles was seen to meander through
an amazing variety of meadows and woods till it emptied itself into the
sea, with a large arm of which, and an island beyond it, the prospect was
closed.

On the right of this valley opened another of less extent, adorned with
several villages, and terminated by one of the towers of an old ruined
abby, grown over with ivy, and part of the front, which remained still
entire.

The left-hand scene presented the view of a very fine park, composed of
very unequal ground, and agreeably varied with all the diversity that
hills, lawns, wood, and water, laid out with admirable taste, but owing
less to art than to nature, could give. Beyond this, the country gradually
rose into a ridge of wild mountains, the tops of which were above the
clouds.

It was now the middle of May, and the morning was remarkably serene, when
Mr Allworthy walked forth on the terrace, where the dawn opened every
minute that lovely prospect we have before described to his eye; and now
having sent forth streams of light, which ascended the blue firmament
before him, as harbingers preceding his pomp, in the full blaze of his
majesty rose the sun, than which one object alone in this lower creation
could be more glorious, and that Mr Allworthy himself presented—a
human being replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner he might
render himself most acceptable to his Creator, by doing most good to his
creatures.

Reader, take care. I have unadvisedly led thee to the top of as high a
hill as Mr Allworthy's, and how to get thee down without breaking thy
neck, I do not well know. However, let us e'en venture to slide down
together; for Miss Bridget rings her bell, and Mr Allworthy is summoned to
breakfast, where I must attend, and, if you please, shall be glad of your
company.

The usual compliments having past between Mr Allworthy and Miss Bridget,
and the tea being poured out, he summoned Mrs Wilkins, and told his sister
he had a present for her, for which she thanked him—imagining, I
suppose, it had been a gown, or some ornament for her person. Indeed, he
very often made her such presents; and she, in complacence to him, spent
much time in adorning herself. I say in complacence to him, because she
always exprest the greatest contempt for dress, and for those ladies who
made it their study.

But if such was her expectation, how was she disappointed when Mrs
Wilkins, according to the order she had received from her master, produced
the little infant? Great surprizes, as hath been observed, are apt to be
silent; and so was Miss Bridget, till her brother began, and told her the
whole story, which, as the reader knows it already, we shall not repeat.

Miss Bridget had always exprest so great a regard for what the ladies are
pleased to call virtue, and had herself maintained such a severity of
character, that it was expected, especially by Wilkins, that she would
have vented much bitterness on this occasion, and would have voted for
sending the child, as a kind of noxious animal, immediately out of the
house; but, on the contrary, she rather took the good-natured side of the
question, intimated some compassion for the helpless little creature, and
commended her brother's charity in what he had done.

Perhaps the reader may account for this behaviour from her condescension
to Mr Allworthy, when we have informed him that the good man had ended his
narrative with owning a resolution to take care of the child, and to breed
him up as his own; for, to acknowledge the truth, she was always ready to
oblige her brother, and very seldom, if ever, contradicted his sentiments.
She would, indeed, sometimes make a few observations, as that men were
headstrong, and must have their own way, and would wish she had been blest
with an independent fortune; but these were always vented in a low voice,
and at the most amounted only to what is called muttering.

However, what she withheld from the infant, she bestowed with the utmost
profuseness on the poor unknown mother, whom she called an impudent slut,
a wanton hussy, an audacious harlot, a wicked jade, a vile strumpet, with
every other appellation with which the tongue of virtue never fails to
lash those who bring a disgrace on the sex. — A consultation was now
entered into how to proceed in order to discover the mother. A scrutiny
was first made into the characters of the female servants of the house,
who were all acquitted by Mrs Wilkins, and with apparent merit; for she
had collected them herself, and perhaps it would be difficult to find such
another set of scarecrows.

The next step was to examine among the inhabitants of the parish; and this
was referred to Mrs Wilkins, who was to enquire with all imaginable
diligence, and to make her report in the afternoon.

Matters being thus settled, Mr Allworthy withdrew to his study, as was his
custom, and left the child to his sister, who, at his desire, had
undertaken the care of it.