He had, as well as the doctor, an academic education;
for his father had, with the same paternal authority
we have mentioned before, decreed him for holy orders;
but as the old gentleman died before he was ordained,
he chose the church military, and preferred the king’s
commission to the bishop’s.
He had purchased the post of lieutenant of dragoons,
and afterwards came to be a captain; but having quarrelled
with his colonel, was by his interest obliged to sell;
from which time he had entirely rusticated himself,
had betaken himself to studying the Scriptures, and
was not a little suspected of an inclination to methodism.
It seemed, therefore, not unlikely that such a person
should succeed with a lady of so saint-like a disposition,
and whose inclinations were no otherwise engaged than
to the marriage state in general; but why the doctor,
who certainly had no great friendship for his brother,
should for his sake think of making so ill a return
to the hospitality of Allworthy, is a matter not so
easy to be accounted for.
Is it that some natures delight in evil, as others
are thought to delight in virtue? Or is there
a pleasure in being accessory to a theft when we cannot
commit it ourselves? Or lastly (which experience
seems to make probable), have we a satisfaction in
aggrandizing our families, even though we have not
the least love or respect for them?
Whether any of these motives operated on the doctor,
we will not determine; but so the fact was. He
sent for his brother, and easily found means to introduce
him at Allworthy’s as a person who intended
only a short visit to himself.
The captain had not been in the house a week before
the doctor had reason to felicitate himself on his
discernment. The captain was indeed as great
a master of the art of love as Ovid was formerly.
He had besides received proper hints from his brother,
which he failed not to improve to the best advantage.
Containing many rules, and some examples, concerning
falling in love: descriptions of beauty, and
other more prudential inducements to matrimony.
It hath been observed, by wise men or women, I forget
which, that all persons are doomed to be in love once
in their lives. No particular season is, as I
remember, assigned for this; but the age at which Miss
Bridget was arrived, seems to me as proper a period
as any to be fixed on for this purpose: it often,
indeed, happens much earlier; but when it doth not,
I have observed it seldom or never fails about this
time. Moreover, we may remark that at this season
love is of a more serious and steady nature than what
sometimes shows itself in the younger parts of life.
The love of girls is uncertain, capricious, and so
foolish that we cannot always discover what the young
lady would be at; nay, it may almost be doubted whether
she always knows this herself.
