Camilla; or, A Picture of Youth — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Camilla; or, A Picture of Youth
John Stuart Mill · en
Steady occupations, such as these, kept off all attention to her
personal misfortunes, which Sir Hugh had strictly ordered should never
be alluded to; first, he said, for fear they should vex her; and next,
lest they should make her hate him, for being their cause. Those
incidents, therefore, from never being named, glided imperceptibly from
her thoughts; and she grew up as unconscious as she was innocent, that,
though born with a beauty which surpassed that of her lovely sisters,
disease and accident had robbed her of that charm ere she knew she
possessed it. But neither disease nor accident had power over her mind;
there, in its purest proportions, moral beauty preserved its first
energy. The equanimity of her temper made her seem, though a female,
born to be a practical philosopher; her abilities and her sentiments
were each of the highest class, uniting the best adorned intellects with
the best principled virtues.
The dissatisfaction of Sir Hugh with his nephew reached not to
prohibition: his consent was painful, but his remittances were generous,
and Clermont had three years allowed him for his travels through Europe.
Yet this permission was no sooner granted than the baronet again became
dejected. Three years appeared to him to be endless: he could hardly
persuade himself to look forward to them with expectation of life; and
all the learned labours he had promoted seemed vain and unpromising, ill
requiting his toils, and still less answering his hopes. Even the
studious turn of Eugenia, hitherto his first delight, he now thought
served but to render her unsociable; and the time she devoted to study,
he began to regret as lost to himself; nor could he suggest any possible
consolation for his drooping spirits, till it occurred to him that
Camilla might again enliven him.
This idea, and the order for his carriage, were the birth of the same
moment; and, upon entering the study of Mr. Tyrold, he abruptly
exclaimed, 'My dear brother, I must have Camilla back! Indiana says
nothing to amuse me; and Eugenia is so bookish, I might as well live
with an old woman; which God forbid I should object to, only I like
Camilla better.'
This request was by no means welcome to Mr. Tyrold, and utterly
distasteful to his lady. Camilla was now just seventeen years of age,
and attractively lovely; but of a character that called for more
attention to its developement than to its formation; though of a
disposition so engaging, that affection kept pace with watchfulness, and
her fond parents knew as little for their own sakes as for her's how to
part with her.