Rank and Talent; A Novel, Vol. 1 (of 3)Scargill, William Pitt
General
Rank and Talent; A Novel, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Scargill, William Pitt
England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
Very properly resenting this insult, he speedily left the house; and
being guided by his own knowledge as well as by the reports of others,
he hastened to bestow his patronage on another of the same profession.
But the Hon. Philip Martindale of Brigland Abbey was not, it appeared,
at that time a name in high repute with that class of gentry who
observe the strictest honor and secrecy in their transactions; and he
had the mortification to find that his journey to London had been of
no avail, and was not likely to be productive of any thing beneficial.
Some people would, under these circumstances, have been disgusted with
the world, and have retired to a hermitage, thinking that all their
fellow-creatures were so worthless and unprincipled as not to be worth
noticing or fit to live with. But happily in this instance for the Hon.
Philip Martindale, he was not so easily disgusted with the world; he
was under great obligations to it, and hoped to be under more. It is
certainly a very pleasant thing to have a good opinion of oneself, but
it is pleasanter to have that opinion positively than comparatively;
and to quarrel with all the world at once is no great proof either of
wisdom or virtue. Besides, Mr. Philip knew that half a dozen tradesmen,
and half as many money-lenders, were not all the world.
The old proverb concerning misfortunes not coming singly, seemed to
be about to be verified in the case of Philip Martindale; for as he
was thoughtfully pacing the streets of the great city, and thinking
of the various ills of life, and wondering how it should come to pass
that a gentleman called the honorable, and residing in a magnificent
mansion, and being heir-apparent to a title, and being nearly related
to and a great favorite of a person of enormous wealth, should not be
comfortable and satisfied in his own feelings as one residing in an
inn of court, and giving much of his days to the dry study of the law.
As he was thus meditating with himself, and communing with his own
thoughts, he was roused from his reverie by the sound of the well-known
voice of old John Martindale; for the old gentleman had just left
the Bank at the moment that his cousin was passing it. With no very
pleasant feeling did Philip return the old gentleman’s greeting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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