Adoptees -- Fiction; Fathers and daughters -- Fiction
"It cannot be doubted that she was alive to her husband's faults.
Generous, she was restrained by his selfishness; enthusiastic, she was
chilled by his worldly wisdom; sympathetic, she was rebuked by a
jealousy that demanded every feeling. She was like a poor bird, that
with untired wing would mount gayly to the skies, when on each side the
wires of the aviary impede its flight. Still it was her principle that
we ought not to endeavour to form a destiny for ourselves, but to act
well our part on the scene where Providence has placed us. She reflected
seriously, and perhaps sadly, for the first time in her life; and she
formed a system for herself, which would give the largest extent to the
exercise of her natural benevolence, and yet obviate the suspicions and
cure the fears of her narrow-minded, self-engrossed husband.
"In pursuance of her scheme, she made it her request that they should
take up their residence entirely at their seat in the north of England;
giving up London society, and transforming herself altogether into a
country lady. In her benevolent schemes, in the good she could there do,
and in the few friends she could gather round her, against whom her
husband could form no possible objection, she felt certain of possessing
a considerable share of rational happiness--exempt from the hurry and
excitement of town, for which her sensitive and ardent mind rendered her
very unfit, under the guidance of a man who at once desired that she
should hold a foremost place, and was yet disturbed by the admiration
which she elicited. Sir Boyvill complied with seeming reluctance, but
real exultation. He possesses a delightful seat in the southern part of
Cumberland. Here, amid a simple-hearted peasantry, and in a
neighbourhood where she could cultivate many social pleasures, she gave
herself up to a life which would have been one of extreme happiness, had
not the exactions, the selfishness, the uncongenial mind of Sir Boyvill
debarred her from the dearest blessings of all--sympathy and friendship
with the partner of her life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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