Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

manfully. In a short time, my friend Mr. B. having, for some purpose or other, left the room, the attorney, with an appearance of great candour and cordi. ality, inquired of me, whether that unhappy contest relative to the farm of Oxentown were drawing to an issue? Nothing that depends on my will for that purpose shall he wanting, answered I. You allow, then,' immediately interposed the Knight, ⚫ that the lands of Harrow-field make part of my barony of • Acredale: you are at last become sensible of the justice of 6 claims.' my I am glad of it, heartily glad of it, rejoined the attorney; but, indeed, it is impossible to doubt of it for and here he began a long dissertation, so full of law-terms and bad Latin, that I did not understand a word on't, which he finished with, From all which, it is luce clarius, that the lands belong to Sir Ralph. Most assuredly, echoed the parson. And when, my dear Sir, do you • mean to renounce your claim?' resumed the attorney. All this, Mr. MIRROR, passed with so much rapidity, that I had no time for recollection or reply. Nothing could be farther from my intention, than totally to surrender my claim; an amicable accommodation was all that I meant to hint at. But what could I do, Mr. MIRROR? My friend, who might have supported me, had left the room: I had no answer ready to the attorney's argument; the whole company concurred in regarding my claims as groundless; my meaning had been misunderstood, and an explanation, besides exposing me to their resentment (but that I did not value a straw), would have subjected me to the suspicion of insincerity and loose dealing. Still, however, I was loth thus to play away so considerable a part of my inheritance. After hesitating a little while, awkward and embarrassed between these opposite motives, I did at last resolve

to undeceive them, and had actually begun to medi. tate an address for that purpose, which, I do believe, I should have delivered, when the attorney, slapping me on the shoulder with one hand, and stretching out the other to me, with an air of the greatest cordiality, cut me short, What say you, Mr. Softly? "fast bind fast find; what say you to finishing the matter immediately? This proposal being quite unexpected, utterly disconcerted me. Between sur. prise, embarrassment, and the desire of relieving myself by a decision one way or other, seeing them, at the same time, full of expectation, I hastily, almost without knowing what I did, took him by the hand, and answered, Sir, with all my heart." In short, Mr. MIRROR, paper, pen, and ink were called for, and a deed drawn out, which I instantly executed. The Knight, immediately after, coming up to me, shook me by the hand, and commanding a bumper to my health, desired and insisted to see me often at Castle Holdencourt.

6

Being naturally of an easy temper, and seeing that the matter could not be mended, touched at the same time with the satisfaction it had diffused, I soon, in some degree, regained my good-humour. More wine was called for repeatedly; and next morning I found myself at my friend Mr. B.'s house, without knowing how or when I had been transported to it.

Upon serious deliberation, however, and after some conversation upon the subject with my wife, I am really vexed and dispirited with this affair. In making application to you, I have three views; the first merely to disburden my mind by telling the story (I fear it is a dull and tedious one); the second, to learn from any of your readers who is at the bar, whether my facility be a ground for reducing my consent? the third, to warn persons of a similar

disposition from going into company with their adversaries in a law-suit.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.

SIMON SOFTLY.

As I sincerely sympathise with Mr. Softly in his distress, I have published this letter for the first purpose mentioned in its conclusion, to disburden his mind of the story. As to the second, I am afraid I ean be of little use to him, as a law opinion, delivered through the channel of the MIRROR, would be destitute of some of the pre-requisites, without which it would be dangerous to rely on it as the ground of legal proceeding. The third, which is a very disin. terested motive, is, I believe, more charitable in him, than it will be useful to his readers. There is, I fancy, very little occasion for warning people against going into the company of those with whom they are at law, lest they should be surprised into improper concessions; I have generally observed, that being in company with an adversary in a law-suit, has a greater tendency to make a man tenacious of his rights, than to dispose him to relinquish them.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

N° 104. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1780.

IT has been remarked, that the country-life prevails more in Great Britain than in any civilized nation in Europe. However true this observation may be in the general, there is one set of men among us, to whom, in the present times, it will by no

means

apply: I mean our great nobles and men of high fortune. It is indeed vain to expect, that persons in that rank of life should be able to withstand the attractions of a court, and the seductions of a luxu rious capital.

It is, nevertheless, a melancholy circumstance, in travelling through this island, to find so many noble palaces deserted by their illustrious owners, even in that season of the year when, to every man of taste, the country must afford true pleasure. How mortifying is it to hear a great man tell you, that he cannot afford to live at his country-seat, and to see him, after passing a winter in London, aud losing thousands in a week, reduced to the necessity of murdering the summer, by lounging from wateringplace to watering-place, or retiring with two or three humble friends to a villa in the environs of London, instead of living with a becoming dignity in the mansion of his ancestors! To such men I would beg leave to recommend the advice of King James I. who, as Lord Bacon tells us, was wont to be very earnest with the country gentlemen to go from London to their country-seats; and sometimes • would say to them, Gentlemen, at London you are like ships in the sea, which shew like nothing; but in your

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

country-villages, your are like ships in a river, which look like great things.'

I do not mean, however, to say, that a great man should live always in the country. The duties of his station, and the rank he holds in society, require, that he should pass part of the year in the capital; and, independent of those considerations, I believe it will be allowed, that a man of high rank, who has passed his whole life immured within the walls of his own chateau, and constantly surrounded by a circle who look up to him, is, of all mortals, the most insupportable.

Nay, I will go farther; I am disposed to believe, that it is an improper and a hurtful thing, even for a private gentleman of moderate fortune, to retire from the world, and betake himself altogether to a country-life.

A remarkable instance of the bad consequences of abandoning society, I lately met with in a visit I had occasion to pay to a gentleman with whom I had become acquainted at college, and whose real name I shall conceal under that of Acasto. Soon after he quitted the university, where he had been distinguished by an ardent love of literature, Acasta retired to his estate in the country, which, though not great, was fully sufficient for all his wants. There he had resided ever since; and, either from inclination or indolence, had remained a bachelor. I had not seen him for many years. Time had made some alteration on his figure; but that was little, when compared with the change I found in him in all other respects. In his dress and manners he was indeed completely rusticated; and, by living much alone, he had contracted an indifference to that decorum, and to those little attentions, without which no man can be agreeable in society. The day Į arrived at his house, I found him sauntering in his

« VorigeDoorgaan »