Courtship -- Fiction; England -- Social life and customs -- 18th century -- Fiction
He now obtained a recommendation to be private tutor to the children of a
nobleman. This nobleman was celebrated for the politeness of his manners
and the elegance of his taste. It was his boast and his ambition to be
considered as the patron of men of letters. With his prospect therefore in
this connection, Mr. Godfrey was perfectly satisfied. "I shall no longer,"
said he, "be the slave of ignorance, and the victim of insensibility. My
talents perhaps point me a step higher than to the business of forming the
minds of youth. But, at least, the youth under my care are destined to
fill the most conspicuous stations in future life. If propitious fortune
might have raised me to the character of a statesman; depressed by
adversity, I may yet have the honour of moulding the mind, and infusing
generosity into the heart, of a future statesman. I have heard the second
son of my patron celebrated for the early promises of capacity. To unfold
the springing germs of genius, to direct them in the path of general
happiness, is an employment by no means unworthy of a philosopher."
In this situation Mr. Godfrey however once more looked for pleasure, and
found disappointment. The nobleman had more the affectation of a patron,
than any real enthusiasm in the cause of literature. The abilities of Mr.
Godfrey were universally acknowledged. And so long as the novelty
remained, he was caressed, honoured, and distinguished. In a short time
however, he was completely forgotten by the patron, in the hurry of
dissipation, and the pursuits of an unbounded ambition. His eldest care
was universally confessed stupid and impracticable. And in the younger he
found nothing but the prating forwardness of a boy who had been flattered,
without sentiment, and without meaning. Her ladyship treated Mr. Godfrey
with superciliousness, as an intruder at her lord's table. The servants
caught the example, and showed him a distinction of neglect, which the
exquisiteness of his sensibility would not permit him to despise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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