The first check this tranquillity received was upon the day of the
masquerade, the preparations for which have been already mentioned.
The whole house was then in commotion from various arrangements and
improvements which were planned for almost every apartment that was
to be opened for the reception of masks. Cecilia herself, however
little pleased with the attendant circumstance of wantonly
accumulating unnecessary debts, was not the least animated of the
party: she was a stranger to every diversion of this sort, and from
the novelty of the scene, hoped for uncommon satisfaction.
At noon Mrs Harrel sent for her to consult upon a new scheme which
occurred to Mr Harrel, of fixing in fantastic forms some coloured
lamps in the drawing-room.
While they were all discoursing this matter over, one of the
servants, who had two or three times whispered some message to Mr
Harrel, and then retired, said, in a voice not too low to be heard
by Cecilia, “Indeed, Sir, I can’t get him away.”
“He’s an insolent scoundrel,” answered Mr Harrel; “however, if I
must speak to him, I must;” and went out of the room.
Mrs Harrel still continued to exercise her fancy upon this new
project, calling both upon Mr Arnott and Cecilia to admire her taste
and contrivance; till they were all interrupted by the loudness of a
voice from below stairs, which frequently repeated, “Sir, I can wait
no longer! I have been put off till I can be put off no more!”
Startled by this, Mrs Harrel ceased her employment, and they all
stood still and silent. They then heard Mr Harrel with much softness
answer, “Good Mr Rawlins, have a little patience; I shall receive a
large sum of money to-morrow, or next day, and you may then depend
upon being paid.”
“Sir,” cried the man, “you have so often told me the same, that it
goes just for nothing: I have had a right to it a long time, and I
have a bill to make up that can’t be waited for any longer.”
“Certainly, Mr Rawlins,” replied Mr Harrel, with still increasing
gentleness, “and certainly you shall have it: nobody means to
dispute your right; I only beg you to wait a day, or two days at
furthest, and you may then depend upon being paid. And you shall not
be the worse for obliging me; I will never employ any body else, and
I shall have occasion for you very soon, as I intend to make some
alterations at Violet-Bank that will be very considerable.”
“Sir,” said the man, still louder, “it is of no use your employing
me, if I can never get my money. All my workmen must be paid whether
I am or no; and so, if I must needs speak to a lawyer, why there’s
no help for it.”
“Did you ever hear any thing so impertinent?” exclaimed Mrs Harrel;
“I am sure Mr Harrel will be very much to blame, if ever he lets
that man do any thing more for him.”
Just then Mr Harrel appeared, and, with an air of affected
unconcern, said, “Here’s the most insolent rascal of a mason below
stairs I ever met with in my life; he has come upon me, quite
unexpectedly, with a bill of 400 pounds, and won’t leave the house
without the money. Brother Arnott, I wish you would do me the favour
to speak to the fellow, for I could not bear to stay with him any
longer.”
“Do you wish me to give him a draft for the money upon my own
banker?”
“That would be vastly obliging,” answered Mr Harrel, “and I will
give you my note for it directly. And so we shall get rid of this
fellow at once: and he shall do nothing more for me as long as he
lives. I will run up a new building at Violet-Bank next summer, if
only to shew him what a job he has lost.”
“Pay the man at once, there’s a good brother,” cried Mrs Harrel,
“and let’s hear no more of him.”
The two gentlemen then retired to another room, and Mrs Harrel,
after praising the extreme good-nature of her brother, of whom she
was very fond, and declaring that the mason’s impertinence had quite
frightened her, again returned to her plan of new decorations.
Cecilia, amazed at this indifference to the state of her husband’s
affairs, began to think it was her own duty to talk with her upon
the subject: and therefore, after a silence so marked that Mrs
Harrel enquired into its reason, she said, “Will you pardon me, my
dear friend, if I own I am rather surprized to see you continue
these preparations?”
“Lord, why?”
“Because any fresh unnecessary expences just now, till Mr Harrel
actually receives the money he talks of—”
“Why, my dear, the expence of such a thing as this is nothing; in Mr
Harrel’s affairs I assure you it will not be at all felt. Besides,
he expects money so soon, that it is just the same as if he had it
already.”
Cecilia, unwilling to be too officious, began then to express her
admiration of the goodness and generosity of Mr Arnott; taking
frequent occasion, in the course of her praise, to insinuate that
those only can be properly liberal, who are just and economical.
She had prepared no masquerade habit for this evening, as Mrs
Harrel, by whose direction she was guided, informed her it was not
necessary for ladies to be masked at home, and said she should
receive her company herself in a dress which she might wear upon any
other occasion. Mr Harrel, also, and Mr Arnott made not any
alteration in their appearance.
At about eight o’clock the business of the evening began; and before
nine, there were so many masks that Cecilia wished she had herself
made one of the number, as she was far more conspicuous in being
almost the only female in a common dress, than any masquerade habit
could have made her. The novelty of the scene, however, joined to
the general air of gaiety diffused throughout the company, shortly
lessened her embarrassment; and, after being somewhat familiarized
to the abruptness with which the masks approached her, and the
freedom with which they looked at or addressed her, the first
confusion of her situation subsided, and in her curiosity to watch
others, she ceased to observe how much she was watched herself.
Her expectations of entertainment were not only fulfilled but
surpassed; the variety of dresses, the medley of characters, the
quick succession of figures, and the ludicrous mixture of groups,
kept her attention unwearied: while the conceited efforts at wit,
the total thoughtlessness of consistency, and the ridiculous
incongruity of the language with the appearance, were incitements to
surprise and diversion without end. Even the local cant of, Do
you know me? Who are you? and I know you; with the sly
pointing of the finger, the arch nod of the head, and the pert
squeak of the voice, though wearisome to those who frequent such
assemblies, were, to her unhackneyed observation, additional
subjects of amusement.
Soon after nine o’clock, every room was occupied, and the common
crowd of regular masqueraders were dispersed through the various
apartments. Dominos of no character, and fancy dresses of no
meaning, made, as is usual at such meetings, the general herd of the
company: for the rest, the men were Spaniards, chimney-sweepers,
Turks, watchmen, conjurers, and old women; and the ladies,
shepherdesses, orange girls, Circassians, gipseys, haymakers, and
sultanas.
Cecilia had, as yet, escaped any address beyond the customary
enquiry of Do you know me? and a few passing compliments; but
when the rooms filled, and the general crowd gave general courage,
she was attacked in a manner more pointed and singular.
The very first mask who approached her seemed to have nothing less
in view than preventing the approach of every other: yet had he
little reason to hope favour for himself, as the person he
represented, of all others least alluring to the view, was the
devil! He was black from head to foot, save that two red horns
seemed to issue from his forehead; his face was so completely
covered that the sight only of his eyes was visible, his feet were
cloven, and in his right hand he held a wand the colour of fire.
Waving this wand as he advanced towards Cecilia, he cleared a semi-circular space before her chair, thrice with the most profound
reverence bowed to her, thrice. turned himself around with sundry
grimaces, and then fiercely planted himself at her side.
Cecilia was amused by his mummery, but felt no great delight in his
guardianship, and, after a short time, arose, with intention to walk
to another place; but the black gentleman, adroitly moving round
her, held out his wand to obstruct her passage, and therefore,
preferring captivity to resistance, she was again obliged to seat
herself.
An Hotspur, who just then made his appearance, was now strutting
boldly towards her; but the devil, rushing furiously forwards,
placed himself immediately between them. Hotspur, putting his arms
a-kimbo with an air of defiance, gave a loud stamp with his right
foot, and then—marched into another room!
The victorious devil ostentatiously waved his wand, and returned to
his station.
Mr Arnott, who had never moved two yards from Cecilia, knowing her
too well to suppose she received any pleasure from being thus
distinguished, modestly advanced to offer his assistance in
releasing her from confinement; but the devil, again describing a
circle with his wand, gave him three such smart raps on the head
that his hair was disordered, and his face covered with powder. A
general laugh succeeded, and Mr Arnott, too diffident to brave
raillery, or withstand shame, retired in confusion.
The black gentleman seemed now to have all authority in his own
hands, and his wand was brandished with more ferocity than ever, no
one again venturing to invade the domain he thought fit to
appropriate for his own.
At length, however, a Don Quixote appeared, and every mask in the
room was eager to point out to him the imprisonment of Cecilia.
This Don Quixote was accoutered with tolerable exactness according
to the description of the admirable Cervantes; his armour was rusty,
his helmet was a barber’s basin, his shield, a pewter dish, and his
lance, an old sword fastened to a slim cane. His figure, tall and
thin, was well adapted to the character he represented, and his
mask, which depictured a lean and haggard face, worn with care, yet
fiery with crazy passions, exhibited, with propriety the most
striking, the knight of the doleful countenance.
The complaints against the devil with which immediately and from all
quarters he was assailed, he heard with the most solemn taciturnity:
after which, making a motion for general silence, he stalked
majestically towards Cecilia, but stopping short of the limits
prescribed by her guard, he kissed his spear in token of allegiance,
and then, slowly dropping upon one knee, began the following
address:
“Most incomparable Princess!—Thus humbly prostrate at the feet of
your divine and ineffable beauty, graciously permit the most pitiful
of your servitors, Don Quixote De la Mancha, from your high and
tender grace, to salute the fair boards which sustain your corporeal
machine.”
Then, bending down his head, he kissed the floor; after which,
raising himself upon his feet, he proceeded in his speech.
“Report, O most fair and unmatchable virgin! daringly affirmeth that
a certain discourteous person, who calleth himself the devil, even
now, and in thwart of your fair inclinations, keepeth and detaineth
your irradiant frame in hostile thraldom. Suffer then, magnanimous
and undescribable lady! that I, the most groveling of your unworthy
vassals, do sift the fair truth out of this foul sieve, and
obsequiously bending to your divine attractions, conjure your
highness veritably to inform me, if that honourable chair which
haply supports your terrestrial perfections, containeth the
inimitable burthen with the free and legal consent of your celestial
spirit?”
Here he ceased: and Cecilia, who laughed at this characteristic
address, though she had not courage to answer it, again made an
effort to quit her place, but again by the wand of her black
persecutor was prevented.
This little incident was answer sufficient for the valorous knight,
who indignantly exclaimed,
“Sublime Lady!—I beseech but of your exquisite mercy to refrain
mouldering the clay composition of my unworthy body to impalpable
dust, by the refulgence of those bright stars vulgarly called eyes,
till I have lawfully wreaked my vengeance upon this unobliging
caitiff, for his most disloyal obstruction of your highness’s
adorable pleasure.”
Then, bowing low, he turned from her, and thus addressed his
intended antagonist:
“Uncourtly Miscreant,—The black garment which envellopeth thy most
unpleasant person, seemeth even of the most ravishing whiteness, in
compare of the black bile which floateth within thy sable interior.
Behold, then, my gauntlet! yet ere I deign to be the instrument of
thy extirpation, O thou most mean and ignoble enemy! that the honour
of Don Quixote De la Mancha may not be sullied by thy extinction, I
do here confer upon thee the honour of knighthood, dubbing thee, by
my own sword, Don Devil, knight of the horrible physiognomy.”
He then attempted to strike his shoulder with his spear, but the
black gentleman, adroitly eluding the blow, defended himself with
his wand: a mock fight ensued, conducted on both sides with
admirable dexterity; but Cecilia, less eager to view it than to
become again a free agent, made her escape into another apartment;
while the rest of the ladies, though they almost all screamed,
jumped upon chairs and sofas to peep at the combat.
In conclusion, the wand of the knight of the horrible physiognomy
was broken against the shield of the knight of the doleful
countenance; upon which Don Quixote called out victoria! the
whole room echoed the sound; the unfortunate new knight retired
abruptly into another apartment, and the conquering Don, seizing the
fragments of the weapon of his vanquished enemy went out in search
of the lady for whose releasement he had fought: and the moment he
found her, prostrating both himself and the trophies at her feet, he
again pressed the floor with his lips, and then, slowly arising,
repeated his reverences with added formality, and, without waiting
her acknowledgments, gravely retired.
The moment he departed a Minerva, not stately nor austere, not
marching in warlike majesty, but gay and airy,
ran up to Cecilia, and squeaked out, “Do you know me?”
“Not,” answered she, instantly recollecting Miss Larolles, “by your
appearance, I own! but by your voice, I think I can guess you.”
“I was monstrous sorry,” returned the goddess, without understanding
this distinction, “that I was not at home when you called upon me.
Pray, how do you like my dress? I assure you I think it’s the
prettiest here. But do you know there’s the most shocking thing in
the world happened in the next room! I really believe there’s a
common chimney-sweeper got in! I assure you it’s enough to frighten
one to death, for every time he moves the soot smells so you can’t
think; quite real soot, I assure you! only conceive how nasty! I
declare I wish with all my heart it would suffocate him!”
Here she was interrupted by the re-appearance of Don Devil;
who, looking around him, and perceiving that his antagonist was
gone, again advanced to Cecilia: not, however, with the authority of
his first approach, for with his wand he had lost much of his power;
but to recompense himself for this disgrace, he had recourse to
another method equally effectual for keeping his prey to himself,
for he began a growling, so dismal and disagreeable, that while many
of the ladies, and, among the first, the Goddess of Wisdom and
Courage, ran away to avoid him, the men all stood aloof to watch
what next was to follow.
Cecilia now became seriously uneasy; for she was made an object of
general attention, yet could neither speak nor be spoken to. She
could suggest no motive for behaviour so whimsical, though she
imagined the only person who could have the assurance to practise it
was Sir Robert Floyer.
After some time spent thus disagreeably, a white domino, who for a
few minutes had been a very attentive spectator, suddenly came
forward, and exclaiming, “I’ll cross him though he blast me!”
rushed upon the fiend, and grasping one of his horns, called out to
a Harlequin who stood near him, “Harlequin! do you fear to fight the
devil?”
“Not I truly!” answered Harlequin, whose voice immediately betrayed
young Morrice, and who, issuing from the crowd, whirled himself
round before the black gentleman with yet more agility than he had
himself done before Cecilia, giving him, from time to time, many
smart blows on his shoulders, head, and back, with his wooden sword.
The rage of Don Devil at this attack seemed somewhat beyond
what a masquerade character rendered necessary; he foamed at the
mouth with resentment, and defended himself with so much vehemence,
that he soon drove poor Harlequin into another room: but, when he
would have returned to his prey, the genius of pantomime, curbed,
but not subdued, at the instigation of the white domino, returned to
the charge, and by a perpetual rotation of attack and retreat, kept
him in constant employment, pursuing him from room to room, and
teazing him without cessation or mercy.
Mean time Cecilia, delighted at being released, hurried into a
corner, where she hoped to breathe and look on in quiet; and the
white domino having exhorted Harlequin to torment the tormentor, and
keep him at bay, followed her with congratulations upon her
recovered freedom.
“It is you,” answered she, “I ought to thank for it, which indeed I
do most heartily. I was so tired of confinement, that my mind seemed
almost as little at liberty as my person.”
“Your persecutor, I presume,” said the domino, “is known to you.”
“I hope so,” answered she, “because there is one man I suspect, and
I should be sorry to find there was another equally disagreeable.”
“O, depend upon it,” cried he, “there are many who would be happy to
confine you in the same manner; neither have you much cause for
complaint; you have, doubtless, been the aggressor, and played this
game yourself without mercy, for I read in your face the captivity
of thousands: have you, then, any right to be offended at the spirit
of retaliation which one, out of such numbers has courage to exert
in return?”
“I protest,” cried Cecilia, “I took you for my defender! whence is
it you are become my accuser?”
“From seeing the danger to which my incautious knight-errantry has
exposed me; I begin, indeed, to take you for a very mischievous sort
of person, and I fear the poor devil from whom I rescued you will be
amply revenged for his disgrace, by finding that the first use you
make of your freedom is to doom your deliverer to bondage.”
Here they were disturbed by the extreme loquacity of two opposite
parties: and listening attentively, they heard from one side, “My
angel! fairest of creatures! goddess of my heart!” uttered in
accents of rapture; while from the other, the vociferation was so
violent they could distinctly hear nothing.
The white domino satisfied his curiosity by going to both parties;
and then, returning to Cecilia, said, “Can you conjecture who was
making those soft speeches? a Shylock! his knife all the while in
his hand, and his design, doubtless, to cut as near the heart as
possible! while the loud cackling from the other side is owing
to the riotous merriment of a noisy Mentor! when next I hear a
disturbance, I shall expect to see some simpering Pythagoras stunned
by his talkative disciples.”
“To own the truth,” said Cecilia, “the almost universal neglect of
the characters assumed by these masquers has been the chief source
of my entertainment this evening: for at a place of this sort, the
next best thing to a character well supported is a character
ridiculously burlesqued.”
“You cannot, then, have wanted amusement,” returned the domino, “for
among all the persons assembled in these apartments, I have seen
only three who have seemed conscious that any change but that of
dress was necessary to disguise them.”
“And pray who are those?”
“A Don Quixote, a schoolmaster, and your friend the devil.”
“O, call him not my friend,” exclaimed Cecilia, “for indeed in or
out of that garb he is particularly my aversion.”
“My friend, then, I will call him,” said the domino, “for so,
were he ten devils, I must think him, since I owe to him the honour
of conversing with you. And, after all, to give him his due, to
which, you know, he is even proverbially entitled, he has shewn such
abilities in the performance of his part, so much skill in the
display of malice, and so much perseverance in the art of
tormenting, that I cannot but respect his ingenuity and capacity.
And, indeed, if instead of an evil genius, he had represented a
guardian angel, he could not have shewn a more refined taste in his
choice of an object to hover about.”
Just then they were approached by a young haymaker, to whom the
white domino called out, “You look as gay and as brisk as if fresh
from the hay-field after only half a day’s work. Pray, how is it you
pretty lasses find employment for the winter”
“How?” cried she, pertly, “why, the same as for the summer!” And
pleased with her own readiness at repartee, without feeling the
ignorance it betrayed, she tript lightly on.
Immediately after the schoolmaster mentioned by the white domino
advanced to Cecilia. His dress was merely a long wrapping gown of
green stuff, a pair of red slippers, and a woollen night-cap of the
same colour; while, as the symbol of his profession, he held a rod
in his hand.
“Ah, fair lady,” he cried, “how soothing were it to the austerity of
my life, how softening to the rigidity of my manners, might I—
without a breaking out of bounds, which I ought to be the
first to discourage, and a “confusion to all order” for which the
school-boy should himself chastise his master—be permitted to cast
at your feet this emblem of my authority! and to forget, in the
softness of your conversation, all the roughness of discipline!”
“No, no,” cried Cecilia, “I will not be answerable for such
corruption of taste!”
“This repulse,” answered he, “is just what I feared; for alas! under
what pretence could a poor miserable country pedagogue presume to
approach you? Should I examine you in the dead languages, would not
your living accents charm from me all power of reproof? Could I look
at you, and hear a false concord? Should I doom you to water-gruel
as a dunce, would not my subsequent remorse make me want it myself
as a madman? Were your fair hand spread out to me for correction,
should I help applying my lips to it, instead of my rat-tan? If I
ordered you to be called up, should I ever remember to have
you sent back? And if I commanded you to stand in a corner, how
should I forbear following you thither myself?”
Cecilia, who had no difficulty in knowing this pretended
schoolmaster for Mr Gosport, was readily beginning to propose
conditions for according him her favour, when their ears were
assailed by a forced phthisical cough, which they found proceeded
from an apparent old woman, who was a young man in disguise, and
whose hobbling gait, grunting voice, and most grievous asthmatic
complaints, seemed greatly enjoyed and applauded by the company.
“How true is it, yet how inconsistent,” cried the white domino,
“that while we all desire to live long, we have all a horror of
being old! The figure now passing is not meant to ridicule any
particular person, nor to stigmatize any particular absurdity; its
sole view is to expose to contempt and derision the general and
natural infirmities of age! and the design is not more disgusting
than impolitic; for why, while so carefully we guard from all
approaches of death, should we close the only avenues to happiness
in long life, respect and tenderness?”
Cecilia, delighted both by the understanding and humanity of her new
acquaintance, and pleased at being joined by Mr Gosport, was
beginning to be perfectly satisfied with her situation, when,
creeping softly towards her, she again perceived the black
gentleman.
“Ah!” cried she, with some vexation, “here comes my old tormentor!
screen me from him if possible, or he will again make me his
prisoner.”
“Fear not,” cried the white domino, “he is an evil spirit, and we
will surely lay him. If one spell fails, we must try another.”
Cecilia then perceiving Mr Arnott, begged he would also assist in
barricading her from the fiend who so obstinately pursued her.
Mr Arnott most gratefully acceded to the proposal; and the white
domino, who acted as commanding officer, assigned to each his
station: he desired Cecilia would keep quietly to her seat,
appointed the schoolmaster to be her guard on the left, took
possession himself of the opposite post, and ordered Mr Arnott to
stand centinel in front.
This arrangement being settled, the guards of the right and left
wings instantly secured their places; but while Mr Arnott was
considering whether it were better to face the besieged or the
enemy, the arch-foe rushed suddenly before him, and laid himself
down at the feet of Cecilia!
Mr Arnott, extremely disconcerted, began a serious expostulation
upon the ill-breeding of this behaviour; but the devil, resting all
excuse upon supporting his character, only answered by growling.
The white domino seemed to hesitate for a moment in what manner to
conduct himself, and with a quickness that marked his chagrin, said
to Cecilia, “You told me you knew him,—has he any right to follow
you?”
“If he thinks he has,” answered she, a little alarmed by his
question, “this is no time to dispute it.”
And then, to avoid any hazard of altercation, she discreetly forbore
making further complaints, preferring any persecution to seriously
remonstrating with a man of so much insolence as the Baronet.
The schoolmaster, laughing at the whole transaction, only said, “And
pray, madam, after playing the devil with all mankind, what right
have you to complain that one man plays the devil with you?”
“We shall, at least, fortify you,” said the white domino, “from any
other assailant: no three-headed Cerberus could protect you more
effectually: but you will not, therefore, fancy yourself in the
lower regions, for, if I mistake not, the torment of three
guardians is nothing new to you.”
“And how,” said Cecilia, surprised, “should you know of my three
guardians? I hope I am not quite encompassed with evil spirits!”
“No,” answered he; “you will find me as inoffensive as the hue of
the domino I wear;——and would I could add as insensible!”
“This black gentleman,” said the schoolmaster, “who, and very
innocently, I was going to call your black-guard, has as
noble and fiend-like a disposition as I remember to have seen; for
without even attempting to take any diversion himself, he seems
gratified to his heart’s content in excluding from it the lady he
serves.”
“He does me an honour I could well dispense with,” said Cecilia;
“but I hope he has some secret satisfaction in his situation which
pays him for its apparent inconvenience.”
Here the black gentleman half-raised himself, and attempted to take
her hand. She started, and with much displeasure drew it back. He
then growled, and again sank prostrate.
“This is a fiend,” said the schoolmaster, “who to himself sayeth,
Budge not! let his conscience never so often say budge! Well,
fair lady, your fortifications, however, may now be deemed
impregnable, since I, with a flourish of my rod, can keep off the
young by recollection of the past, and since the fiend, with a jut
of his foot, may keep off the old from dread of the future!”
Here a Turk, richly habited and resplendent with jewels, stalked
towards Cecilia, and, having regarded her some time, called out, “I
have been looking hard about me the whole evening, and, faith, I
have seen nothing handsome before!”
The moment he opened his mouth, his voice, to her utter
astonishment, betrayed Sir Robert Floyer! “Mercy on me,” cried she
aloud, and pointing to the fiend, “who, then, can this possibly be?”
“Do you not know?” cried the white domino.
“I thought I had known with certainty,” answered she, “but I now
find I was mistaken.”
“He is a happy man,” said the schoolmaster, sarcastically looking at
the Turk, “who has removed your suspicions only by appearing in
another character!”
“Why, what the deuce, then,” exclaimed the Turk, “have you taken
that black dog there for me?”
Before this question could be answered, an offensive smell of soot,
making everybody look around the room, the chimney-sweeper already
mentioned by Miss Larolles was perceived to enter it. Every way he
moved a passage was cleared for him, as the company, with general
disgust, retreated wherever he advanced.
He was short, and seemed somewhat incommoded by his dress; he held
his soot-bag over one arm, and his shovel under the other. As soon
as he espied Cecilia, whose situation was such as to prevent her
eluding him, he hooted aloud, and came stumping up to her; “Ah ha,”
he cried, “found at last;” then, throwing down his shovel, he opened
the mouth of his bag, and pointing waggishly to her head, said,
“Come, shall I pop you?—a good place for naughty girls; in, I say,
poke in!—cram you up the chimney.”
And then he put forth his sooty hands to reach her cap.
Cecilia, though she instantly knew the dialect of her guardian Mr
Briggs, was not therefore the more willing to be so handled, and
started back to save herself from his touch; the white domino also
came forward, and spread out his arms as a defence to her, while the
devil, who was still before her, again began to growl.
“Ah ha!” cried the chimney-sweeper, laughing, “so did not know me?
Poor duck! won’t hurt you; don’t be frightened; nothing but old
guardian; all a joke!” And then, patting her cheek with his dirty
hand, and nodding at her with much kindness, “Pretty dove,” he
added, “be of good heart! shan’t be meddled with; come to see after
you. Heard of your tricks; thought I’d catch you!—come o’ purpose.
—Poor duck! did not know me! ha! ha!—good joke enough!”
“What do you mean, you dirty dog,” cried the Turk, “by touching that
lady?”
“Won’t tell!” answered he; “not your business. Got a good right. Who
cares for pearls? Nothing but French beads.” Pointing with a sneer
to his turban. Then, again addressing Cecilia, “Fine doings!” he
continued, “Here’s a place! never saw the like before! turn a man’s
noddle!—All goings out; no comings in; wax candles in every room;
servants thick as mushrooms! And where’s the cash? Who’s to pay the
piper? Come to more than a guinea; warrant Master Harrel thinks that
nothing!”
“A guinea?” contemptuously repeated the Turk, “and what do you
suppose a guinea will do?”
“What? Why, keep a whole family handsome a week;—never spend so
much myself; no, nor half neither.”
“Why then, how the devil do you live? Do you beg?”
“Beg? Who should I beg of? You?—Got anything to give? Are warm?”
“Take the trouble to speak more respectfully, sir!” said the Turk,
haughtily; “I see you are some low fellow, and I shall not put up
with your impudence.”
“Shall, shall! I say!” answered the chimneysweeper, sturdily;
“Hark’ee, my duck,” chucking Cecilia under the chin, “don’t be
cajoled, nick that spark! never mind gold trappings; none of his
own; all a take-in; hired for eighteenpence; not worth a groat.
Never set your heart on a fine outside, nothing within. Bristol
stones won’t buy stock: only wants to chouse you.”
“What do you mean by that, you little old scrub!” cried the
imperious Turk; “would you provoke me to soil my fingers by pulling
that beastly snub nose?” For Mr Briggs had saved himself any actual
mask, by merely blacking his face with soot.
“Beastly snub nose!” sputtered out the chimneysweeper in much wrath,
“good nose enough; don’t want a better; good as another man’s.
Where’s the harm on’t?”
“How could this blackguard get in?” cried the Turk, “I believe he’s
a mere common chimneysweeper out of the streets, for he’s all over
dirt and filth. I never saw such a dress at a masquerade before in
my life.”
“All the better,” returned the other; “would not change. What do
think it cost?”
“Cost? Why, not a crown.”
“A crown? ha! ha!—a pot o’ beer! Little Tom borrowed it; had it of
our own sweep. Said ’twas for himself. I bid him a pint; rascal
would not take less.”
“Did your late uncle,” said the white domino in a low voice to
Cecilia, “chuse for two of your guardians Mr Harrel and Mr Briggs,
to give you an early lesson upon the opposite errors of profusion
and meanness?”
“My uncle?” cried Cecilia, starting, “were you acquainted with my
uncle?”
“No,” said he, “for my happiness I knew him not.”
“You would have owed no loss of happiness to an acquaintance with
him,” said Cecilia, very seriously, “for he was one who dispensed to
his friends nothing but good.”
“Perhaps so,” said the domino; “but I fear I should have found the
good he dispensed through his niece not quite unmixed with evil!”
“What’s here?” cried the chimney-sweeper, stumbling over the fiend,
“what’s this black thing? Don’t like it; looks like the devil. You
shan’t stay with it; carry you away; take care of you myself.”
He then offered Cecilia his hand; but the black gentleman, raising
himself upon his knees before her, paid her, in dumb shew, the
humblest devoirs, yet prevented her from removing.
“Ah ha!” cried the chimney-sweeper, significantly nodding his head,
“smell a rat! a sweetheart in disguise. No bamboozling! it won’t do;
a’n’t so soon put upon. If you’ve got any thing to say, tell
me, that’s the way. Where’s the cash? Got ever a
rental? Are warm? That’s the point; are warm?”
The fiend, without returning any answer, continued his homage to
Cecilia; at which the enraged chimney-sweeper exclaimed, “Come, come
with me! won’t be imposed upon; an old fox,—understand trap!”
He then again held out his hand, but Cecilia, pointing to the fiend,
answered, “How can I come, sir?”
“Shew you the way,” cried he, “shovel him off.” And taking his
shovel, he very roughly set about removing him.
The fiend then began a yell so horrid, that it disturbed the whole
company; but the chimney-sweeper, only saying, “Aye, aye, blacky,
growl away, blacky,—makes no odds,” sturdily continued his work,
and, as the fiend had no chance of resisting so coarse an antagonist
without a serious struggle, he was presently compelled to change his
ground.
“Warm work!” cried the victorious chimney-sweeper, taking off his
wig, and wiping his head with the sleeves of his dress, “pure warm
work this!”
Cecilia, once again freed from her persecutor, instantly quitted her
place, almost equally desirous to escape the haughty Turk, who was
peculiarly her aversion, and the facetious chimney-sweeper, whose
vicinity, either on account of his dress or his conversation, was by
no means desirable. She was not, however, displeased that the white
domino and the schoolmaster still continued to attend her.
“Pray, look,” said the white domino, as they entered another
apartment, “at that figure of Hope; is there any in the room half so
expressive of despondency?”
“The reason, however,” answered the schoolmaster, “is obvious; that
light and beautiful silver anchor upon which she reclines presents
an occasion irresistible for an attitude of elegant dejection; and
the assumed character is always given up where an opportunity offers
to display any beauty, or manifest any perfection in the dear proper
person!”
“But why,” said Cecilia, “should she assume the character of
Hope? Could she not have been equally dejected and equally
elegant as Niobe, or some tragedy queen?”
“But she does not assume the character,” answered the schoolmaster,
“she does not even think of it: the dress is her object, and that
alone fills up all her ideas. Enquire of almost any body in the room
concerning the persons they seem to represent, and you will find
their ignorance more gross than you can imagine; they have not once
thought upon the subject; accident, or convenience, or caprice has
alone directed their choice.”
A tall and elegant youth now approached them, whose laurels and harp
announced Apollo. The white domino immediately enquired of him if
the noise and turbulence of the company had any chance of being
stilled into silence and rapture by the divine music of the inspired
god?
“No,” answered he, pointing to the room in which was erected the new
gallery, and whence, as he spoke, issued the sound of a
hautboy, “there is a flute playing there already.”
“O for a Midas,” cried the white domino, “to return to this leather-eared god the disgrace he received from him!”
They now proceeded to the apartment which had been lately fitted up
for refreshments, and which was so full of company that they entered
it with difficulty. And here they were again joined by Minerva, who,
taking Cecilia’s hand, said, “Lord, how glad I am you’ve got away
from that frightful black mask! I can’t conceive who he is; nobody
can find out; it’s monstrous odd, but he has not spoke a word all
night, and he makes such a shocking noise when people touch him,
that I assure you it’s enough to put one in a fright.”
“And pray,” cried the schoolmaster, disguising his voice, “how
camest thou to take the helmet of Minerva for a fool’s cap?”
“Lord, I have not,” cried she, innocently, “why, the whole dress is
Minerva’s; don’t you see?”
“My dear child,” answered he, “thou couldst as well with that little
figure pass for a Goliath, as with that little wit for a Pallas.”
Their attention was now drawn from the goddess of wisdom to a mad
Edgar, who so vehemently ran about the room calling out “Poor Tom’s
a cold!” that, in a short time, he was obliged to take off his mask,
from an effect, not very delicate, of the heat!
Soon after, a gentleman desiring some lemonade whose toga spoke the
consular dignity, though his broken English betrayed a native of
France, the schoolmaster followed him, and, with reverence the most
profound, began to address him in Latin; but, turning quick towards
him, he gaily said, “Monsieur, j’ai l’honneur de representer
Ciceron, le grand Ciceron, pere de sa patrie! mais quoique j’ai cet
honneur-la, je ne suit pas pedant!—mon dieu, Monsieur, je ne parle
que le Francois dans la bonne compagnie!” And, politely bowing,
he went on.
Just then Cecilia, while looking about the room for Mrs Harrel,
found herself suddenly pinched by the cheek, and hastily turning
round, perceived again her friend the chimney-sweeper, who,
laughing, cried, “Only me! don’t be frightened. Have something to
tell you;—had no luck!—got never a husband yet! can’t find one!
looked all over, too; sharp as a needle. Not one to be had! all
catched up!”
“I am glad to hear it, sir,” said Cecilia, somewhat vexed by
observing the white domino attentively listening; “and I hope,
therefore, you will give yourself no farther trouble.”
“Pretty duck!” cried he, chucking her under the chin; “never mind,
don’t be cast down; get one at last. Leave it to me. Nothing under a
plum; won’t take up with less. Good-by, ducky, good-by! must go home
now,—begin to be nodding.”
And then, repeating his kind caresses, he walked away.
“Do you think, then,” said the white domino, “more highly of Mr
Briggs for discernment and taste than of any body?”
“I hope not!” answered she, “for low indeed should I then think of
the rest of the world!”
“The commission with which he is charged,” returned the domino, “has
then misled me; I imagined discernment and taste might be necessary
ingredients for making such a choice as your approbation would
sanctify: but perhaps his skill in guarding against any fraud or
deduction in the stipulation he mentioned, may be all that is
requisite for the execution of his trust.”
“I understand very well,” said Cecilia, a little hurt, “the severity
of your meaning; and if Mr Briggs had any commission but of his own
suggestion, it would fill me with shame and confusion; but as that
is not the case, those at least are sensations which it cannot give
me.”
“My meaning,” cried the domino, with some earnestness, “should I
express it seriously, would but prove to you the respect and
admiration with which you have inspired me, and if indeed, as Mr
Briggs hinted, such a prize is to be purchased by riches, I know
not, from what I have seen of its merit, any sum I should think
adequate to its value.”
“You are determined, I see,” said Cecilia, smiling, “to make most
liberal amends for your asperity.”
A loud clack of tongues now interrupted their discourse; and the
domino, at the desire of Cecilia, for whom he had procured a seat,
went forward to enquire what was the matter. But scarce had he given
up his place a moment, before, to her great mortification, it was
occupied by the fiend.
Again, but with the same determined silence he had hitherto
preserved, he made signs of obedience and homage, and her perplexity
to conjecture who he could be, or what were his motives for this
persecution, became the more urgent as they seemed the less likely
to be satisfied. But the fiend, who was no other than Mr Monckton,
had every instant less and less encouragement to make himself known:
his plan had in nothing succeeded, and his provocation at its
failure had caused him the bitterest disappointment; he had
intended, in the character of a tormentor, not only to pursue and
hover around her himself, but he had also hoped, in the same
character, to have kept at a distance all other admirers: but the
violence with which he had over-acted his part, by raising her
disgust and the indignation of the company, rendered his views
wholly abortive while the consciousness of an extravagance for
which, if discovered, he could assign no reason not liable to excite
suspicions of his secret motives, reduced him to guarding a painful
and most irksome silence the whole evening. And Cecilia, to whose
unsuspicious mind the idea of Mr Monckton had never occurred, added
continually to the cruelty of his situation, by an undisguised
abhorrence of his assiduity, as well as by a manifest preference to
the attendance of the white domino. All, therefore, that his
disappointed scheme now left in his power, was to watch her motions,
listen to her discourse, and inflict occasionally upon others some
part of the chagrin with which he was tormented himself.
While they were in this situation, Harlequin, in consequence of
being ridiculed by the Turk for want of agility, offered to jump
over the new desert table, and desired to have a little space
cleared to give room for his motions. It was in vain the people who
distributed the refreshments, and who were placed at the other side
of the table, expostulated upon the danger of the experiment;
Morrice had a rage of enterprise untameable, and, therefore, first
taking a run, he attempted the leap.
The consequence was such as might naturally be expected; he could
not accomplish his purpose, but, finding himself falling,
imprudently caught hold of the lately erected Awning, and pulled it
entirely upon his own head, and with it the new contrived lights,
which, in various forms, were fixed to it, and which all came down
together.
The mischief and confusion occasioned by this exploit were very
alarming, and almost dangerous; those who were near the table
suffered most by the crush, but splinters of the glass flew yet
further; and as the room, which was small, had been only lighted up
by lamps hanging from the Awning, it was now in total darkness,
except close to the door, which was still illuminated from the
adjoining apartments.
The clamour of Harlequin, who was covered with glass, papier-machee,
lamps and oil, the screams of the ladies, the universal buz of
tongues, and the struggle between the frighted crowd which was
enclosed to get out, and the curious crowd from the other apartments
to get in, occasioned a disturbance and tumult equally noisy and
confused. But the most serious sufferer was the unfortunate fiend,
who, being nearer the table than Cecilia, was so pressed upon by the
numbers which poured from it, that he found a separation
unavoidable, and was unable, from the darkness and the throng, to
discover whether she was still in the same place, or had made her
escape into another.
She had, however, encountered the white domino, and, under his
protection, was safely conveyed to a further part of the room. Her
intention and desire were to quit it immediately, but at the
remonstrance of her conductor, she consented to remain some time
longer. “The conflict at the door,” said he, “will quite overpower
you. Stay here but a few minutes, and both parties will have
struggled themselves tired, and you may then go without difficulty.
Meantime, can you not, by this faint light, suppose me one of your
guardians, Mr Briggs, for example, or, if he is too old for me, Mr
Harrel, and entrust yourself to my care?”
“You seem wonderfully well acquainted with my guardians,” said
Cecilia; “I cannot imagine how you have had your intelligence.”
“Nor can I,” answered the domino, “imagine how Mr Briggs became so
particularly your favourite as to be entrusted with powers to
dispose of you.”
“You are mistaken indeed; he is entrusted with no powers but such as
his own fancy has suggested.”
“But how has Mr Delvile offended you, that with him only you seem to
have no commerce or communication?”
“Mr Delvile!” repeated Cecilia, still more surprised, “are you also
acquainted with Mr Delvile?”
“He is certainly a man of fashion,” continued the domino, “and he is
also a man of honour; surely, then, he would be more pleasant for
confidence and consultation than one whose only notion of happiness
is money, whose only idea of excellence is avarice, and whose only
conception of sense is distrust!” Here a violent outcry again
interrupted their conversation; but not till Cecilia had satisfied
her doubts concerning the white domino, by conjecturing he was Mr
Belfield, who might easily, at the house of Mr Monckton, have
gathered the little circumstances of her situation to which he
alluded, and whose size and figure exactly resembled those of her
new acquaintance.
The author of the former disturbance was now the occasion of the
present: the fiend, having vainly traversed the room in search of
Cecilia, stumbled accidentally upon Harlequin, before he was freed
from the relicks of his own mischief; and unable to resist the
temptation of opportunity and the impulse of revenge, he gave vent
to the wrath so often excited by the blunders, forwardness, and
tricks of Morrice, and inflicted upon him, with his own wooden
sword, which he seized for that purpose, a chastisement the most
serious and severe.
Poor Harlequin, unable to imagine any reason for this violent
attack, and already cut with the glass, and bruised with the fall,
spared not his lungs in making known his disapprobation of such
treatment: but the fiend, regardless either of his complaints or his
resistance, forbore not to belabour him till compelled by the
entrance of people with lights. And then, after artfully playing
sundry antics under pretence of still supporting his character, with
a motion too sudden for prevention, and too rapid for pursuit, he
escaped out of the room, and hurrying down stairs, threw himself
into an hackney chair, which conveyed him to a place where he
privately changed his dress before he returned home, bitterly
repenting the experiment he had made, and conscious too late that,
had he appeared in a character he might have avowed, he could,
without impropriety, have attended Cecilia the whole evening. But
such is deservedly the frequent fate of cunning, which, while it
plots surprise and detection of others, commonly overshoots its
mark, and ends in its own disgrace.
The introduction of the lights now making manifest the confusion
which the frolic of Harlequin had occasioned, he was seized with
such a dread of the resentment of Mr Harrel, that, forgetting blows,
bruises, and wounds, not one of which were so frightful to him as
reproof, he made the last exhibition of his agility by an abrupt and
hasty retreat.
He had, however, no reason for apprehension, since, in every thing
that regarded expence, Mr Harrel had no feeling, and his lady had no
thought.
The rooms now began to empty very fast, but among the few masks yet
remaining, Cecilia again perceived Don Quixote; and while, in
conjunction with the white domino, she was allowing him the praise
of having supported his character with more uniform propriety than
any other person in the assembly, she observed him taking off his
mask for the convenience of drinking some lemonade, and, looking in
his face, found he was no other than Mr Belfield! Much astonished,
and more than ever perplexed, she again turned to the white domino,
who, seeing in her countenance a surprise of which he knew not the
reason, said, half-laughing, “You think, perhaps, I shall never be
gone? And indeed I am almost of the same opinion; but what can I do?
Instead of growing weary by the length of my stay, my reluctance to
shorten it increases with its duration; and all the methods I take,
whether by speaking to you or looking at you, with a view to be
satiated, only double my eagerness for looking and listening again!
I must go, however; and if I am happy, I may perhaps meet with you
again,—though, if I am wise, I shall never seek you more!”
And then, with the last stragglers that reluctantly disappeared, he
made his exit, leaving Cecilia greatly pleased with his conversation
and his manners, but extremely perplexed to account for his
knowledge of her affairs and situation.
The schoolmaster had already been gone some time.
She was now earnestly pressed by the Harrels and Sir Robert, who
still remained, to send to a warehouse for a dress, and accompany
them to the Pantheon; but though she was not without some
inclination to comply, in the hope of further prolonging the
entertainment of an evening from which she had received much
pleasure, she disliked the attendance of the Baronet, and felt
averse to grant any request that he could make, and therefore she
begged they would excuse her; and having waited to see their
dresses, which were very superb, she retired to her own apartment.
A great variety of conjecture upon all that had passed, now, and
till the moment that she sunk to rest, occupied her mind; the
extraordinary persecution of the fiend excited at once her curiosity
and amazement, while the knowledge of her affairs shown by the white
domino surprised her not less, and interested her more.
Nguồn: Wikisource English — Cecilia (Burney)/Book 2/Chapter iii. Văn bản được nhập và định dạng lại; CC BY-SA 4.0, có thể áp dụng điều khoản bổ sung của tác phẩm.