I would not creep along the
coast but steer
Out in mid-sea, by guidance
of the stars.
When Dorothea, walking round the laurel-planted plots
of the New Hospital with Lydgate, had learned from
him that there were no signs of change in Mr. Casaubon’s
bodily condition beyond the mental sign of anxiety
to know the truth about his illness, she was silent
for a few moments, wondering whether she had said or
done anything to rouse this new anxiety. Lydgate,
not willing to let slip an opportunity of furthering
a favorite purpose, ventured to say—
“I don’t know whether your or Mr.—Casaubon’s
attention has been drawn to the needs of our New Hospital.
Circumstances have made it seem rather egotistic
in me to urge the subject; but that is not my fault:
it is because there is a fight being made against it
by the other medical men. I think you are generally
interested in such things, for I remember that when
I first had the pleasure of seeing you at Tipton Grange
before your marriage, you were asking me some questions
about the way in which the health of the poor was affected
by their miserable housing.”
“Yes, indeed,” said Dorothea, brightening.
“I shall be quite grateful to you if you will
tell me how I can help to make things a little better.
Everything of that sort has slipped away from me
since I have been married. I mean,” she
said, after a moment’s hesitation, “that
the people in our village are tolerably comfortable,
and my mind has been too much taken up for me to inquire
further. But here—in such a place
as Middlemarch—there must be a great deal
to be done.”
“There is everything to be done,” said
Lydgate, with abrupt energy. “And this
Hospital is a capital piece of work, due entirely to
Mr. Bulstrode’s exertions, and in a great degree
to his money. But one man can’t do everything
in a scheme of this sort. Of course he looked
forward to help. And now there’s a mean,
petty feud set up against the thing in the town, by
certain persons who want to make it a failure.”
“What can be their reasons?” said Dorothea,
with naive surprise.
“Chiefly Mr. Bulstrode’s unpopularity,
to begin with. Half the town would almost take
trouble for the sake of thwarting him. In this
stupid world most people never consider that a thing
is good to be done unless it is done by their own
set. I had no connection with Bulstrode before
I came here. I look at him quite impartially,
and I see that he has some notions—that
he has set things on foot— which I can
turn to good public purpose. If a fair number
of the better educated men went to work with the belief
that their observations might contribute to the reform
of medical doctrine and practice, we should soon see
a change for the better. That’s my point
of view. I hold that by refusing to work with
Mr. Bulstrode I should be turning my back on an opportunity
of making my profession more generally serviceable.”
