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domestic lives of clergymen, it is seen by too many to leave any deficiency
of information
?Where any one body of educated men, of whatever denomination,
are condemned indiscriminately, there must be a deficiency of
information, or (smiling) of something elseYour uncle, and his
brother admirals, perhaps knew little of clergymen beyond the chaplains
whom, good or bad, they were always wishing away
?Poor William! He has met with great kindness from the chaplain
of the Antwerp,? was a tender apostrophe of Fanny?s, very much to
the purpose of her own feelings if not of the conversation
?I have been so little addicted to take my opinions from my uncle,?
said Miss Crawford, ?that I can hardly suppose?and since you push
me so hard, I must observe, that I am not entirely without the means
of seeing what clergymen are, being at this present time the guest of
my own brother, DrGrant is most kind
and obliging to me, and though he is really a gentleman, and, I dare
say, a good scholar and clever, and often preaches good sermons,
and is very respectable, I see him to be an indolent, selfish bon vi98
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vant, who must have his palate consulted in everything; who will
not stir a finger for the convenience of any one; and who, moreover,
if the cook makes a blunder, is out of humour with his excellent
wifeTo own the truth, Henry and I were partly driven out this very
evening by a disappointment about a green goose, which he could
not get the better ofMy poor sister was forced to stay and bear it
?I do not wonder at your disapprobation, upon my wordIt is a
great vintage cartier ladies watch defect of temper, made worse by a very faulty habit of selfindulgence;
and to see your sister suffering from it must be exceedingly
painful to such feelings as yoursFanny, it goes against usWe
cannot attempt to defend Dr
?No,? replied Fanny, ?but we need not give up his profession for
all that; because, whatever profession DrGrant had chosen, he would
have taken a?not a good temper into it; and as he must, either in
the navy or army, have had a great many more people under his
command than he has now, I think more would have been made
unhappy by him as a sailor or soldier than as a clergymanBesides,
I cannot but suppose that whatever there may be to wish otherwise
in DrGrant would have been in a greater danger of becoming worse
in a more active and worldly profession, where he would have had
less time and obligation?where he might have escaped that knowledge
of himself, the frequency, at least, of that knowledge which it is
impossible he should escape as he is nowA man?a sensible man
like DrGrant, cannot be in the habit of teaching others their duty
every week, cannot go to church twice every Sunday, and preach
such very good sermons in so good a manner as he does, without
being the better for it himselfIt must make him think; and I have
no doubt that he oftener endeavours to restrain himself than he
would if he had been anything but a clergyman
?We cannot prove to the contrary, to be sure; but I wish you a
better fate, Miss Price, than to be the wife of a man whose amiableness
depends upon his own sermons; for though he may preach himself
into a good-humour every Sunday, it will be bad enough to fake vintage chanel wallet have
him quarrelling about green geese from Monday morning till Saturday
night
?I think the man who could often quarrel with Fanny,? said
Edmund affectionately, ?must be beyond the reach of any sermons
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Fanny turned farther into the window; and Miss Crawford had
only time to say, in a pleasant manner, ?I fancy Miss Price has been
more used to deserve praise than to hear it?; when, being earnestly
invited by the Miss Bertrams to join in a glee, she tripped off to the
instrument, leaving Edmund looking after her in an ecstasy of admiration
of all her many virtues, from her obliging manners down
to her light and graceful tread
?There goes good-humour, I am sure,? said he presently?There
goes a temper which would never give pain! How well she walks!
and how readily she falls in with the inclination of others! joining
them the moment she is askedWhat a pity,? he added, after an
instant?s reflection, ?that she should have been in such hands!?
Fanny agreed to it, and had the pleasure of seeing him continue at
the window with her, in spite of the expected glee; and of having his
eyes soon turned, like hers, towards the scene without, where all
that was solemn, and soothing, and lovely, appeared in the brilliancy
of an unclouded night, and the contrast of the deep shade of
the woodsFanny spoke her feelings?Here?s harmony!? said she;
?here?s repose! Here?s what may leave all painting and all music behind,
and what poetry only can attempt to describe! Here?s what
may tranquillise every care, and lift the heart to rapture! When I
look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be tiffany co bracelets neither
wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be
less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more attended to, and
people were carried more out of themselves by contemplating such
a scene
?I like to hear your enthusiasm, FannyIt is a lovely night, and
they are much to be pitied who have not been taught to feel, in
some degree, as you do; who have not, at least, been given a taste for
Nature in early lifeThey lose a great deal
?You taught me to think and feel on the subject, cousin
?I had a very apt scholarThere?s Arcturus looking very brightI wish I could see Cassiopeia
?We must go out on the lawn for thatShould you be afraid??
?Not in the leastIt is a great while since we have had any stargazing
?Yes; I do not know how it has happened?We
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will stay till this is finished, Fanny,? said he, turning his back on the
window; and as it advanced, she had the mortification of seeing
him advance too, moving forward by gentle degrees towards the
instrument, and when it ceased, he was close by the singers, among
the most urgent in requesting to hear the glee again
Fanny sighed alone at the window till scolded away by MrsNorris?s
threats of catching cold
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CHAPTER XII
SIR THOMAS was to return in November, and his eldest son had
duties to call him earlier homeThe approach of September brought
tidings of MrBertram, first in a letter to the gamekeeper and then
in a letter to Edmund; and by the end of August he arrived himself,
to be gay, agreeable, and gallant again as occasion served, or Miss
Crawford demanded; to tell of races and Weymouth, and parties
and chanel ice cube handbag friends, to which she might have listened six weeks before with
some interest, and altogether to give her the fullest conviction, by
the power of actual comparison, of her preferring his younger brother
It was very vexatious, and she was heartily sorry for it; but so it was;
and so far from now meaning to marry the elder, she did not even
want to attract him beyond what the simplest claims of conscious
beauty required: his lengthened absence from Mansfield, without
anything but pleasure in view, and his own will to consult, made it
perfectly clear that he did not care about her; and his indifference was
so much more than equalled by her own, that were he now to step
forth the owner of Mansfield Park, the Sir Thomas complete, which
he was to be in time, she did not believe she could accept him
The season and duties which brought MrBertram back to
Mansfield took MrCrawford into NorfolkEveringham could not
do without him in the beginning of SeptemberHe went for a fortnight?
a fortnight of such dullness to the Miss Bertrams as ought
to have put them both on their guard, and made even Julia admit,
in her jealousy of her sister, the absolute necessity of distrusting his
attentions, and wishing him not to return; and a fortnight of sufficient
leisure, in the intervals of shooting and sleeping, to have convinced
the gentleman that he ought to keep longer away, had he
been more in the habit of examining his own motives, and of reflecting
to what the indulgence of his idle vanity was tending; but,
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thoughtless and selfish from prosperity and bad example, he would
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