Fanny now begged Joseph to return with her to parson
Adams, and to promise that he would leave her no more.
These were propositions so agreeable to Joseph, that,
had he heard them, he would have given an immediate
assent; but indeed his eyes were now his only sense;
for you may remember, reader, that the ravisher had
tore her handkerchief from Fanny’s neck, by
which he had discovered such a sight, that Joseph hath
declared all the statues he ever beheld were so much
inferior to it in beauty, that it was more capable
of converting a man into a statue than of being imitated
by the greatest master of that art. This modest
creature, whom no warmth in summer could ever induce
to expose her charms to the wanton sun, a modesty
to which, perhaps, they owed their inconceivable whiteness,
had stood many minutes bare-necked in the presence
of Joseph before her apprehension of his danger and
the horror of seeing his blood would suffer her once
to reflect on what concerned herself; till at last,
when the cause of her concern had vanished, an admiration
at his silence, together with observing the fixed position
of his eyes, produced an idea in the lovely maid which
brought more blood into her face than had flowed from
Joseph’s nostrils. The snowy hue of her
bosom was likewise changed to vermilion at the instant
when she clapped her handkerchief round her neck.
Joseph saw the uneasiness she suffered, and immediately
removed his eyes from an object, in surveying which
he had felt the greatest delight which the organs of
sight were capable of conveying to his soul;—so
great was his fear of offending her, and so truly
did his passion for her deserve the noble name of
love.
Fanny, being recovered from her confusion, which was
almost equalled by what Joseph had felt from observing
it, again mentioned her request; this was instantly
and gladly complied with; and together they crossed
two or three fields, which brought them to the habitation
of Mr Adams.
CHAPTER VIII.
A discourse which happened between Mr Adams, Mrs
Adams, Joseph, and Fanny; with some behaviour of Mr
Adams which will be called by some few readers very
low, absurd, and unnatural.
The parson and his wife had just ended a long dispute
when the lovers came to the door. Indeed, this
young couple had been the subject of the dispute;
for Mrs Adams was one of those prudent people who never
do anything to injure their families, or, perhaps,
one of those good mothers who would even stretch their
conscience to serve their children. She had long
entertained hopes of seeing her eldest daughter succeed
Mrs Slipslop, and of making her second son an exciseman
by Lady Booby’s interest. These were expectations
she could not endure the thoughts of quitting, and
was, therefore, very uneasy to see her husband so resolute
to oppose the lady’s intention in Fanny’s
affair. She told him, “It behoved every
man to take the first care of his family; that he had
