Chapter 19.00: Chapter vi. — The trial of Partridge, the schoolmaster, for incontinency; the evidence of his wife; a short reflection on the wisdom of our law; with other grave matters, which those will like best who understand them most.

**
Chapter vi. — The trial of Partridge, the schoolmaster, for
incontinency; the evidence of his wife; a short reflection on the wisdom
of our law; with other grave matters, which those will like best who
understand them most.
**

It may be wondered that a story so well known, and which had furnished so
much matter of conversation, should never have been mentioned to Mr
Allworthy himself, who was perhaps the only person in that country who had
never heard of it.

To account in some measure for this to the reader, I think proper to
inform him, that there was no one in the kingdom less interested in
opposing that doctrine concerning the meaning of the word charity, which
hath been seen in the preceding chapter, than our good man. Indeed, he was
equally intitled to this virtue in either sense; for as no man was ever
more sensible of the wants, or more ready to relieve the distresses of
others, so none could be more tender of their characters, or slower to
believe anything to their disadvantage.

Scandal, therefore, never found any access to his table; for as it hath
been long since observed that you may know a man by his companions, so I
will venture to say, that, by attending to the conversation at a great
man's table, you may satisfy yourself of his religion, his politics, his
taste, and indeed of his entire disposition: for though a few odd fellows
will utter their own sentiments in all places, yet much the greater part
of mankind have enough of the courtier to accommodate their conversation
to the taste and inclination of their superiors.

But to return to Mrs Wilkins, who, having executed her commission with
great dispatch, though at fifteen miles distance, brought back such a
confirmation of the schoolmaster's guilt, that Mr Allworthy determined to
send for the criminal, and examine him _viva voce_. Mr Partridge,
therefore, was summoned to attend, in order to his defence (if he could
make any) against this accusation.

At the time appointed, before Mr Allworthy himself, at Paradise-hall, came
as well the said Partridge, with Anne, his wife, as Mrs Wilkins his
accuser.

And now Mr Allworthy being seated in the chair of justice, Mr Partridge
was brought before him. Having heard his accusation from the mouth of Mrs
Wilkins, he pleaded not guilty, making many vehement protestations of his
innocence.

Mrs Partridge was then examined, who, after a modest apology for being
obliged to speak the truth against her husband, related all the
circumstances with which the reader hath already been acquainted; and at
last concluded with her husband's confession of his guilt.

Whether she had forgiven him or no, I will not venture to determine; but
it is certain she was an unwilling witness in this cause; and it is
probable from certain other reasons, would never have been brought to
depose as she did, had not Mrs Wilkins, with great art, fished all out of
her at her own house, and had she not indeed made promises, in Mr
Allworthy's name, that the punishment of her husband should not be such as
might anywise affect his family.

Partridge still persisted in asserting his innocence, though he admitted
he had made the above-mentioned confession; which he however endeavoured
to account for, by protesting that he was forced into it by the continued
importunity she used: who vowed, that, as she was sure of his guilt, she
would never leave tormenting him till he had owned it; and faithfully
promised, that, in such case, she would never mention it to him more.
Hence, he said, he had been induced falsely to confess himself guilty,
though he was innocent; and that he believed he should have confest a
murder from the same motive.

Mrs Partridge could not bear this imputation with patience; and having no
other remedy in the present place but tears, she called forth a plentiful
assistance from them, and then addressing herself to Mr Allworthy, she
said (or rather cried), “May it please your worship, there never was
any poor woman so injured as I am by that base man; for this is not the
only instance of his falsehood to me. No, may it please your worship, he
hath injured my bed many's the good time and often. I could have put up
with his drunkenness and neglect of his business, if he had not broke one
of the sacred commandments. Besides, if it had been out of doors I had not
mattered it so much; but with my own servant, in my own house, under my
own roof, to defile my own chaste bed, which to be sure he hath, with his
beastly stinking whores. Yes, you villain, you have defiled my own bed,
you have; and then you have charged me with bullocking you into owning the
truth. It is very likely, an't please your worship, that I should bullock
him? I have marks enow about my body to show of his cruelty to me. If you
had been a man, you villain, you would have scorned to injure a woman in
that manner. But you an't half a man, you know it. Nor have you been half
a husband to me. You need run after whores, you need, when I'm sure—And
since he provokes me, I am ready, an't please your worship, to take my
bodily oath that I found them a-bed together. What, you have forgot, I
suppose, when you beat me into a fit, and made the blood run down my
forehead, because I only civilly taxed you with adultery! But I can prove
it by all my neighbours. You have almost broke my heart, you have, you
have.”

Here Mr Allworthy interrupted, and begged her to be pacified, promising
her that she should have justice; then turning to Partridge, who stood
aghast, one half of his wits being hurried away by surprize and the other
half by fear, he said he was sorry to see there was so wicked a man in the
world. He assured him that his prevaricating and lying backward and
forward was a great aggravation of his guilt; for which the only atonement
he could make was by confession and repentance. He exhorted him,
therefore, to begin by immediately confessing the fact, and not to persist
in denying what was so plainly proved against him even by his own wife.

Here, reader, I beg your patience a moment, while I make a just compliment
to the great wisdom and sagacity of our law, which refuses to admit the
evidence of a wife for or against her husband. This, says a certain
learned author, who, I believe, was never quoted before in any but a
law-book, would be the means of creating an eternal dissension between
them. It would, indeed, be the means of much perjury, and of much
whipping, fining, imprisoning, transporting, and hanging.

Partridge stood a while silent, till, being bid to speak, he said he had
already spoken the truth, and appealed to Heaven for his innocence, and
lastly to the girl herself, whom he desired his worship immediately to
send for; for he was ignorant, or at least pretended to be so, that she
had left that part of the country.

Mr Allworthy, whose natural love of justice, joined to his coolness of
temper, made him always a most patient magistrate in hearing all the
witnesses which an accused person could produce in his defence, agreed to
defer his final determination of this matter till the arrival of Jenny,
for whom he immediately dispatched a messenger; and then having
recommended peace between Partridge and his wife (though he addressed
himself chiefly to the wrong person), he appointed them to attend again
the third day; for he had sent Jenny a whole day's journey from his own
house.

At the appointed time the parties all assembled, when the messenger
returning brought word, that Jenny was not to be found; for that she had
left her habitation a few days before, in company with a recruiting
officer.

Mr Allworthy then declared that the evidence of such a slut as she
appeared to be would have deserved no credit; but he said he could not
help thinking that, had she been present, and would have declared the
truth, she must have confirmed what so many circumstances, together with
his own confession, and the declaration of his wife that she had caught
her husband in the fact, did sufficiently prove. He therefore once more
exhorted Partridge to confess; but he still avowing his innocence, Mr
Allworthy declared himself satisfied of his guilt, and that he was too bad
a man to receive any encouragement from him. He therefore deprived him of
his annuity, and recommended repentance to him on account of another
world, and industry to maintain himself and his wife in this.

There were not, perhaps, many more unhappy persons than poor Partridge. He
had lost the best part of his income by the evidence of his wife, and yet
was daily upbraided by her for having, among other things, been the
occasion of depriving her of that benefit; but such was his fortune, and
he was obliged to submit to it.

Though I called him poor Partridge in the last paragraph, I would have the
reader rather impute that epithet to the compassion in my temper than
conceive it to be any declaration of his innocence. Whether he was
innocent or not will perhaps appear hereafter; but if the historic muse
hath entrusted me with any secrets, I will by no means be guilty of
discovering them till she shall give me leave.

Here therefore the reader must suspend his curiosity. Certain it is that,
whatever was the truth of the case, there was evidence more than
sufficient to convict him before Allworthy; indeed, much less would have
satisfied a bench of justices on an order of bastardy; and yet,
notwithstanding the positiveness of Mrs Partridge, who would have taken
the sacrament upon the matter, there is a possibility that the
schoolmaster was entirely innocent: for though it appeared clear on
comparing the time when Jenny departed from Little Baddington with that of
her delivery that she had there conceived this infant, yet it by no means
followed of necessity that Partridge must have been its father; for, to
omit other particulars, there was in the same house a lad near eighteen,
between whom and Jenny there had subsisted sufficient intimacy to found a
reasonable suspicion; and yet, so blind is jealousy, this circumstance
never once entered into the head of the enraged wife.

Whether Partridge repented or not, according to Mr Allworthy's advice, is
not so apparent. Certain it is that his wife repented heartily of the
evidence she had given against him: especially when she found Mrs Deborah
had deceived her, and refused to make any application to Mr Allworthy on
her behalf. She had, however, somewhat better success with Mrs Blifil, who
was, as the reader must have perceived, a much better-tempered woman, and
very kindly undertook to solicit her brother to restore the annuity; in
which, though good-nature might have some share, yet a stronger and more
natural motive will appear in the next chapter.

These solicitations were nevertheless unsuccessful: for though Mr
Allworthy did not think, with some late writers, that mercy consists only
in punishing offenders; yet he was as far from thinking that it is proper
to this excellent quality to pardon great criminals wantonly, without any
reason whatever. Any doubtfulness of the fact, or any circumstance of
mitigation, was never disregarded: but the petitions of an offender, or
the intercessions of others, did not in the least affect him. In a word,
he never pardoned because the offender himself, or his friends, were
unwilling that he should be punished.

Partridge and his wife were therefore both obliged to submit to their
fate; which was indeed severe enough: for so far was he from doubling his
industry on the account of his lessened income, that he did in a manner
abandon himself to despair; and as he was by nature indolent, that vice
now increased upon him, by which means he lost the little school he had;
so that neither his wife nor himself would have had any bread to eat, had
not the charity of some good Christian interposed, and provided them with
what was just sufficient for their sustenance.

As this support was conveyed to them by an unknown hand, they imagined,
and so, I doubt not, will the reader, that Mr Allworthy himself was their
secret benefactor; who, though he would not openly encourage vice, could
yet privately relieve the distresses of the vicious themselves, when these
became too exquisite and disproportionate to their demerit. In which light
their wretchedness appeared now to Fortune herself; for she at length took
pity on this miserable couple, and considerably lessened the wretched
state of Partridge, by putting a final end to that of his wife, who soon
after caught the small-pox, and died.

The justice which Mr Allworthy had executed on Partridge at first met with
universal approbation; but no sooner had he felt its consequences, than
his neighbours began to relent, and to compassionate his case; and
presently after, to blame that as rigour and severity which they before
called justice. They now exclaimed against punishing in cold blood, and
sang forth the praises of mercy and forgiveness.

These cries were considerably increased by the death of Mrs Partridge,
which, though owing to the distemper above mentioned, which is no
consequence of poverty or distress, many were not ashamed to impute to Mr
Allworthy's severity, or, as they now termed it, cruelty.

Partridge having now lost his wife, his school, and his annuity, and the
unknown person having now discontinued the last-mentioned charity,
resolved to change the scene, and left the country, where he was in danger
of starving, with the universal compassion of all his neighbours.