Camilla; or, A Picture of Youth — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Camilla; or, A Picture of Youth
John Stuart Mill · en
'O what; my cousin Indiana?'
'Your cousin? have you any affinity with such a creature as that? O
Tyrold! I glory in your acquaintance! she is all I ever read of! all I
ever conceived! she is beauty in its very essence! she is elegance,
delicacy, and sensibility personified!'
'All very true,' said Lionel; 'but how should you know anything of her
besides her beauty?'
'How? by looking at her! Can you view that countenance and ask me how?
Are not those eyes all soul? Does not that mouth promise every thing
that is intelligent? Can those lips ever move but to diffuse sweetness
and smiles? I must not look at her again! another glance may set me
raving!'
'May?' cried Lionel, laughing; 'why what have you been doing all this
time? However, be a little less in the sublime, and I'll introduce you
to her.'
'Is it possible? shall I owe to you so celestial a happiness? O Tyrold!
you bind me to you for life!'
Lionel, heartily hallowing, then brought him forward to Indiana: 'Miss
Lynmere,' he cried, 'a fellow student of mine, though somewhat more
given to study than your poor cousin, most humbly begs the honour of
kissing your toe.'
The uncommon lowness of the bow which the Oxonian, ignorant of what
Lionel would say, was making, led Miss Margland to imagine he was really
going to perform that popish ceremony; and hastily pulling Lionel by the
sleeve, she angrily said: 'Mr. Lionel, I desire to know by whose
authority you present such actor-men to a young lady under my care.'
Lionel, almost in convulsions, repeated this aloud; and the young
student, who had just, in a voice of the deepest interest and respect,
begun, 'The high honour, madam;' hearing an universal laugh from the
company, stopt short, utterly disconcerted, and after a few vainly
stammering attempts, bowed again, and was silent.
Edgar, who in this distress, read an ingenuousness of nature that
counterpoised its romantic enthusiasm, felt for the young man, and
taking Lionel by the arm, said: 'Will you not introduce me also to your
friend?'
'Mr. Melmond of Brazen Nose! Mr. Mandlebert of Beech Park!' cried
Lionel, flourishing, and bowing from one to the other.
Edgar shook hands with the youth, and hoped they should be better
acquainted.
Camilla, gliding round, whispered him: 'How like my dear father was
that! to give relief to embarrassment, instead of joining in the laugh
which excites it!'
Edgar, touched by a comparison to the person he most honoured,
gratefully looked his acknowledgment; and all displeasure at her flight,
even from Thomson's scene of conjugal felicity, was erased from his
mind.
The company grew impatient for the raffle, though some of the
subscribers were not arrived. It was voted, at the proposition of Mrs.
Arlbery, that the master of the shop should represent, as their turns
came round, those who were absent.