Square himself was not unacquainted with the true
impression which those several instances of goodness
had made on the excellent heart of Allworthy; for
the philosopher very well knew what virtue was, though
he was not always perhaps steady in its pursuit; but
as for Thwackum, from what reason I will not determine,
no such thoughts ever entered into his head:
he saw Jones in a bad light, and he imagined Allworthy
saw him in the same, but that he was resolved, from
pride and stubbornness of spirit, not to give up the
boy whom he had once cherished; since by so doing,
he must tacitly acknowledge that his former opinion
of him had been wrong.
Square therefore embraced this opportunity of injuring
Jones in the tenderest part, by giving a very bad
turn to all these before-mentioned occurrences.
“I am sorry, sir,” said he, “to own
I have been deceived as well as yourself. I could
not, I confess, help being pleased with what I ascribed
to the motive of friendship, though it was carried
to an excess, and all excess is faulty and vicious:
but in this I made allowance for youth. Little
did I suspect that the sacrifice of truth, which we
both imagined to have been made to friendship, was
in reality a prostitution of it to a depraved and
debauched appetite. You now plainly see whence
all the seeming generosity of this young man to the
family of the gamekeeper proceeded. He supported
the father in order to corrupt the daughter, and preserved
the family from starving, to bring one of them to shame
and ruin. This is friendship! this is generosity!
As Sir Richard Steele says, `Gluttons who give high
prices for delicacies, are very worthy to be called
generous.’ In short I am resolved, from
this instance, never to give way to the weakness of
human nature more, nor to think anything virtue which
doth not exactly quadrate with the unerring rule of
right.”
The goodness of Allworthy had prevented those considerations
from occurring to himself; yet were they too plausible
to be absolutely and hastily rejected, when laid before
his eyes by another. Indeed what Square had said
sunk very deeply into his mind, and the uneasiness
which it there created was very visible to the other;
though the good man would not acknowledge this, but
made a very slight answer, and forcibly drove off
the discourse to some other subject. It was well
perhaps for poor Tom, that no such suggestions had
been made before he was pardoned; for they certainly
stamped in the mind of Allworthy the first bad impression
concerning Jones.
Chapter xii.
Containing much clearer matters; but which flowed
from the same fountain with those in the preceding
chapter.
The reader will be pleased, I believe, to return with
me to Sophia. She passed the night, after we
saw her last, in no very agreeable manner. Sleep
befriended her but little, and dreams less. In
the morning, when Mrs Honour, her maid, attended her
at the usual hour, she was found already up and drest.
