Tales and Novels Volume II Part 1

Tales And Novels.

Volume 2.

by Maria Edgeworth.

PREFACE.

Some author says, that a good book needs no apology; and, as a preface is usually an apology, a book enters into the world with a better grace without one. I, however, appeal to those readers who are not gluttons, but epicures, in literature, whether they do not wish to see the bill of fare? I appeal to monthly critics, whether a preface that gives a view of the pretensions of the writer is not a good thing? The author may overvalue his subject, and very naturally may overrate the manner in which it is treated; but still he will explain his views, and facilitate the useful and necessary art which the French call _reading with the thumb_. We call this _hunting a book_, a term certainly invented by a sportsman. I leave the reader to choose which he pleases, whilst I lay before him the contents and design of these volumes.

Burke supposes that there are eighty thousand readers in Great Britain, nearly one hundredth part of its inhabitants! Out of these we may calculate that ten thousand are n.o.bility, clergy, or gentlemen of the learned professions. Of seventy thousand readers which remain, there are many who might be amused and instructed by books which were not professedly adapted to the cla.s.ses that have been enumerated. With this view the following volumes{1} have been composed. The t.i.tle of POPULAR TALES has been chosen, not as a presumptuous and premature claim to popularity, but from the wish that they may be current beyond circles which are sometimes exclusively considered as polite.

The art of printing has opened to all cla.s.ses of people various new channels of entertainment and information.--Amongst the ancients, wisdom required austere manners and a length of beard to command attention; but in our days, instruction, in the dress of innocent amus.e.m.e.nt, is not denied admittance amongst the wise and good of all ranks. It is therefore hoped that a succession of stories, adapted to different ages, s.e.xes, and situations in life, will not be rejected by the public, unless they offend against morality, tire by their sameness, or disgust by their imitation of other writers.

RICHARD LOVELL EDGEWORTH.

LAME JERVAS

CHAPTER I.

Some years ago, a lad of the name of William Jervas, or, as he was called from his lameness, Lame Jervas, whose business it was to tend the horses in one of the Cornwall tin-mines, was missing. He was left one night in a little hut, at one end of the mine, where he always slept; but in the morning, he could no where be found; and this his sudden disappearance gave rise to a number of strange and ridiculous stories among the miners. The most rational, however, concluded that the lad, tired of his situation, had made his escape during the night. It was certainly rather surprising that he could no where be traced; but after the neighbours had wondered and talked for some time about it, the circ.u.mstance was by degrees forgotten. The name of William Jervas was scarcely remembered by any, except two or three of the oldest miners, when, twenty years afterward, there came a party of gentlemen and ladies to see the mines! and, as the guide was showing the curiosities of the place, one among the company, a gentleman of about six-and-thirty years of age, pointed to some letters that were carved on the rock, and asked, "Whose name was written there?" "Only the name of one William Jervas,"

answered the guide; "a poor lad, who ran away from the mines a great long while ago." "Are you sure that he ran away?" said the gentleman.

"Yes," answered the guide, "sure and certain I am of that." "Not at all sure and certain of any such thing," cried one of the oldest of the miners, who interrupted the guide, and then related all that he knew, all that he had heard, and all that he imagined and believed concerning the sudden disappearance of Jervas; concluding by positively a.s.suring the stranger that the ghost of the said Jervas was often seen to walk, slowly, in the long west gallery of the mine, with a blue taper in his hand.--"I will take my Bible oath," added the man, "that about a month after he was missing, I saw the ghost just as the clock struck twelve, walking slowly, with the light in one hand, and a chain dragging after him in t'other; and he was coming straight towards me, and I ran away into the stables to the horses; and from that time forth I've taken special good care never to go late in the evening to that there gallery, or near it: for I never was so frightened, above or under ground, in all my born days."

The stranger, upon hearing this story, burst into a loud fit of laughter; and, on recovering himself, he desired the ghost-seer to look stedfastly in his face, and to tell whether he bore any resemblance to the ghost that walked with the blue taper in the west gallery. The miner stared for some minutes, and answered, "No; he that walks in the gallery is clear another guess sort of a person; in a white jacket, a leather ap.r.o.n, and ragged cap, like what Jervas used to wear in his lifetime; and, moreover, he limps in his gait, as Lame Jervas always did, I remember well." The gentleman walked on, and the miners observed, what had before escaped their notice, that he limped a little; and, when he came again to the light, the guide, after considering him very attentively, said, "If I was not afraid of affronting the like of a gentleman such as your honour, I should make bold for to say that you be very much--only a deal darker complexioned--you be very much of the same sort of person as our Lame Jervas used for to be." "Not at all like our Lame Jervas," cried the old miner, who professed to have seen the ghost; "no more like to him than _Black Jack to Blue John._" The by-standers laughed at this comparison; and the guide, provoked at being laughed at, st.u.r.dily maintained that not a man that wore a head in Cornwall should laugh him out of his senses. Each party now growing violent in support of his opinion, from words they were just coming to blows, when the stranger at once put an end to the dispute, by declaring that he was the very man. "Jervas!" exclaimed they all at once, "Jervas alive!--our Lame Jervas turned gentleman!"

The miners could scarcely believe their eyes, or their ears, especially when, upon following him out of the mine, they saw him get into a handsome coach, and drive toward the mansion of one of the princ.i.p.al gentlemen of the neighbourhood, who was a proprietor of the mine.

The next day, all the head miners were invited to dine in tents, pitched in a field near this gentleman's house. It was fine weather, and harvest time; the guests a.s.sembled, and in the tents found abundance of good cheer provided for them.

After dinner, Mr. R----, the master of the house, appeared, accompanied by Lame Jervas, dressed in his miner's old jacket and cap. Even the ghost-seer acknowledged that he now looked wonderful like himself. Mr.

R----, the master of the house, filled a gla.s.s, and drank--"Welcome home to our friend, Mr. Jervas; and may good faith always meet with good fortune." The toast went round, each drank, and repeated, "Welcome home to our friend Mr. Jervas; and may good faith always meet good fortune."

Indeed, what was meant by the good faith, or the good fortune, none could guess; and many in whispers, and some aloud, made bold to ask for an explanation of the toast.

Mr. Jervas, on whom all eyes were fixed, after thanking the company for their _welcome home_, took his seat at the table; and in compliance with Mr. R----'s request, and the wishes of all present, related to them his story nearly in the following manner:

"Where I was born, or who were my parents, I do not well know myself; nor can I recollect who was my nurse, or whether I was ever nursed at all: but, luckily, these circ.u.mstances are not of much importance to the world. The first thing which I can distinctly remember is the being set, along with a number of children of my own age, to pick and wash loose ore of tin mixed with the earth, which in those days we used to call _shoad_, or _squad_--I don't know what you call it now."

"We call it _squad_ to this day, master," interrupted one of the miners.

"I might be at this time, I suppose," continued the gentleman, "about five or six years old; and from that time till I was thirteen I worked in the mine where we were yesterday. From the bottom of my heart I rejoice that the times are bettered for youngsters since then; for I know I had a hard life of it.

"My good master, here, never knew any thing of the matter but I was cruelly used by those under him. First, the oldwoman--Betty Morgan, I think, was her name--who set us our tasks of picking and was.h.i.+ng the _squad_, was as cross as the rheumatism could make her. She never picked an ounce herself, but made us do her heap for her among us; and I being the youngest, it was shoved down to me. Often and often my day's wages were kept back, not having done this woman's task; and I did not dare to tell my master the truth, lest she should beat me. But, G.o.d rest her soul! she was an angel of light in comparison with the _trap-door keeper_, who was my next tyrant.

"It was our business to open and shut certain doors, that were placed in the mine for letting in air to the different galleries: but my young tyrant left them every one to me to take care of; and I was made to run to and fro, till I had scarcely breath in my body, while every miner in turn was swearing at me for the idlest little fellow upon the surface of the earth; though the surface of the earth, alas! was a place on which I had never yet, to my knowledge, set my foot.

"In my own defence, I made all the excuses I could think of; and, from excuses, I went on to all kinds of deceit: for tyranny and injustice always produce cunning and falsehood.

"One day, having shut all the doors on my side of the mine, I left three open on my companion's side. The men, I thought, would not go to work on that side of the mine for a day or two: but in this I was mistaken; and about noon I was alarmed by the report of a man having been killed in one of the galleries for want of fresh air.

"The door-keepers were summoned before the overseer; or, as you call him, the viewer. I was the youngest, and the blame was all laid upon me. The man, who had only swooned, recovered; but I was thrashed and thrashed for the neglect of another person, till the viewer was tired.

"A weary life I led afterwards with my friend the door-keeper, who was enraged against me for having told the truth.

"In process of time, as I grew stronger and bigger, I was set to other work. First, I was employed at the barrow; and then a pick-axe and a _gad_{Footnote: A gad is a tool used in mines; it resembles a smith's punch.} were put into my hands; and I thought myself a great man.--It was my fate to fall among the idlest set in the mine. I observed that those men who worked by task, and who had the _luck_ to hit upon easy beds of the rock, were not obliged to work more than three or four hours a day: they got high wages with little labour; and they spent their money jollily above-ground in the ale-houses, as I heard. I did not know that these jolly fellows often left their wives and families starving while they were getting drunk.

"I longed for the time when I should be a man, and do as I saw others do. I longed for the days when I should be able to drink and be idle; and, in the mean time, I set all my wits to work to baffle and overreach the viewer.

"I was now about fourteen, and, had I grown up with these notions and habits, I must have spent my life in wretchedness, and I should probably have ended my days in a workhouse; but fortunately for me, an accident happened, which made as great a change in my mind as in my body.

"One of my companions bribed me, with a strong dram, to go down into a hole in the mine to search for his _gad_; which he, being half intoxicated, had dropped. My head could not stand the strength of the dram which he made me swallow to give me courage: and being quite insensible to the danger, I took a leap down a precipice which I should have shuddered to look at, if I had not lost my recollection.

"I soon came to my senses, for I broke my leg; and it is wonderful I did not break my neck by my fall. I was drawn up by cords, and was carried to a hut in the mine, near the stables, where I lay in great pain.

"My master was in the mine at the time the accident happened; and, hearing where I was, he had the goodness to come directly to me himself, to let me know that he had sent for a surgeon.

"The surgeon, who lived in the neighbourhood, was not at home; but there was then upon a visit at my master's a Mr. Y----, an old gentleman who had been a surgeon; and, though he had for many years left off practice, he no sooner heard of the accident that had happened to me than he had the goodness to come down into the mine, to set my leg.

"After the operation was over, my master returned to tell me that I should want for nothing. Never shall I forget the humanity with which he treated me. I do not remember that I had ever heard him speak to me before this time; but now his voice and manner were so full of compa.s.sion and kindness, that I looked up to him as to a new sort of being.

"His goodness wakened and warmed me to a sense of grat.i.tude--the first virtuous emotion I was conscious of having ever felt.

"I was attended with the greatest care, during my illness, by the benevolent surgeon, Mr. Y----. The circ.u.mstance of my having been intoxicated, when I took the leap, had been concealed by the man who gave me the dram; who declared that I had fallen by accident, as I was looking down the hole for a _gad_ that I had dropped. I did not join in this falsehood: for, the moment my master spoke to me with so much goodness about my mishap, my heart opened to him, and I told him just how the thing happened.

"Mr. Y---- also heard the truth from me, and I had no reason to repent having told it, for this gave him, as he said, hopes that I might turn out well, and was the cause of his taking some pains to instruct me. He observed to me, that it was a pity a lad like me should so early in my days take to dram-drinking; and he explained the consequences of intemperance, of which I had never before heard or thought.

"While I was confined to my bed, I had leisure for many reflections. The drunken and brutal among the miners, with whom I formerly a.s.sociated, never came near me in my illness; but the better sort used to come and see me often, and I began to take a liking to their ways, and to wish to imitate them.

"As they stood talking over their own affairs in my hut, I learned how they laid out their time and their money; and I now began to desire to have, as they had, a little garden, and property of my own, for which I knew I must work hard. So I rose from my bed with very different views from those which I had when I was laid down upon it; and from this time forward I kept company with the sober and industrious as much as I could. I saw things with different eyes: formerly I used, like my companions, to be ready enough to take any advantage that lay in my way of my employer; but my grat.i.tude to him who had befriended me in my helpless state wrought such a change in me, that I now took part with my master on all occasions, and could not bear to see him wronged--so grat.i.tude first made me honest.

"My master would not let the viewer turn me out of the work, as he wanted to do, because I was lame and weak, and not able to do much.--'Let him have the care of my horses in the stable,' said my master: 'he can do something. I don't want to make money of poor _Lame Jervas_. So, as long as he is willing to work, he shall not be turned out to starve.'--These were his very words; and when I heard them I said in my heart, 'G.o.d bless him!' And, from that time forth, I could, as I thought, have fought with the stoutest man in the mine that said a word to his disparagement.

"Perhaps my feeling of attachment to him was the stronger, because he was, I may say, the first person then in the world who had ever shown me any tenderness, and the only one from whom I felt sure of meeting with justice.

"About this time, as I was busied in the stable, unperceived by them, I saw through a window a party of the miners, amongst whom were several of my old a.s.sociates, at work opposite to me. Suddenly, one of them gave a shout--then all was hushed--they threw down their tools, huddled together, and I judged by the keenness of their looks that they knew they had made some valuable discovery. I further observed, that, instead of beginning to work the vein, they covered it up immediately with rubbish, and defaced the _country_ with their pick-axes; so that, to look at, no one could have suspected there was any _load_ to be found near. I also saw them secrete a lump of spar, in which they had reason to guess there were Cornish diamonds, as they call them, and they carefully hid the bits of _kellus_{Footnote: 2 _Kellus_ is the miner's name for a substance like a white soft stone, which lies above the floor or spar, near to a vein.}, which they had picked out, lest the viewer should notice them and suspect the truth.

"From all this, the whispering that went on, and the pains they took to chase or entice the overseer away from this spot, I conjectured they meant to keep their discovery a secret, that they might turn it to their own advantage.

"There was a pa.s.sage out of the mine, known only to themselves, as they thought, through which they intended to convey all the newly-found ore.

This pa.s.sage, I should observe, led through an old gallery in the mine, along the side of the mountain, immediately up to the surface of the earth; so that you could by this way come in and out of the mine without the a.s.sistance of the _gin_, by which people and ore are usually let down or drawn up.

"I made myself sure of my facts by searching this pa.s.sage, in which I found plenty of their purloined treasure. I then went up to one of the party, whose name was Clarke, and, drawing him aside, ventured to expostulate with him. Clarke cursed me for a spy, and then knocked me down, and returned to tell his a.s.sociates what I had been saying, and how he had served me. They one and all swore that they would be revenged upon me, if I gave the least hint of what I had seen to our master.

"From this time they watched me, whenever he came down amongst us, lest I should have an opportunity of speaking to him; and they never, on any account, would suffer me to go out of the mine. Under pretence that the horses must be looked after, and that no one tended them so well as I did, they contrived to keep me prisoner night and day; hinting to me pretty plainly, that if I ever again complained of being thus _shut up_, I should not long be buried _alive_.

"Whether they would have gone the lengths they threatened I know not: perhaps they threw out these hints only with a design to intimidate me, and so to preserve their secret. I confess I was alarmed; but there was something in the thought of showing my good master how much I was attached to his interests, that continually prevailed over my fears; and my spirits rose with the reflection that I, a poor insignificant lad; I, that was often the scoff and laughing-stock of the miners; I, that went by the name of _Lame Jervas_; I, who they thought could be bullied to any thing by their threats, might do a n.o.bler action than any man amongst them would have the courage to do in my place. Then the kindness of my master, and the words he said about me to the viewer, came into my memory; and I was so worked up, that I resolved, let the consequence be what it might, I would, living or dying, be faithful to my benefactor.