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Amelia Volume II

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THE WORKS OF HENRY FIELDING

EDITED BY

GEORGE SAINTSBURY

IN TWELVE VOLUMES

VOL. VIII.




AMELIA BY
HENRY FIELDING ESQ

VOL. II.

EDITED BY GEORGE
SAINTSBURY WITH
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
HERBERT RAILTON
& E. J. WHEELER.



CONTENTS OF VOL. II.



BOOK V.


CHAPTER I.
In which the reader will meet with an old acquaintance

CHAPTER I.
Containing a brace of doctors and much physical matter

CHAPTER II.
In which Booth pays a visit to the noble lord

CHAPTER III.
Relating principally to the affairs of serjeant Atkinson

CHAPTER IV.
Containing matters that require no preface

CHAPTER V.
Containing much heroic matter

CHAPTER VI.
In which the reader will find matter worthy his consideration

CHAPTER VII.
Containing various matters

CHAPTER VIII.
The heroic behaviour of Colonel Bath

CHAPTER IX.
Being the last chapter of the fifth book



BOOK VI.


CHAPTER I.
Panegyrics on beauty, with other grave matters

CHAPTER II.
Which will not appear, we presume, unnatural to all married readers

CHAPTER III.
In which the history looks a little backwards

CHAPTER IV.
Containing a very extraordinary incident

CHAPTER V.
Containing some matters not very unnatural

CHAPTER VI.
A scene in which some ladies will possibly think Amelia's conduct
exceptionable

CHAPTER VII.
A chapter in which there is much learning

CHAPTER VIII.
Containing some unaccountable behaviour in Mrs.. Ellison

CHAPTER IX.
Containing a very strange incident



BOOK VII.


CHAPTER I.
A very short chapter, and consequently requiring no preface

CHAPTER II.
The beginning of Mrs. Bennet's history

CHAPTER III.
Continuation of Mrs. Bennet's story

CHAPTER IV.
Farther continuation

CHAPTER V.
The story of Mrs. Bennet continued

CHAPTER VI.
Farther continued

CHAPTER VII.
The story farther continued

CHAPTER VIII.
Farther continuation

CHAPTER IX.
The conclusion of Mrs. Bennet's history

CHAPTER X.
Being the last chapter of the seventh book



BOOK VIII.


CHAPTER I.
Being the first chapter of the eighth book

CHAPTER II.
Containing an account of Mr. Booth's fellow-sufferers

CHAPTER III.
Containing some extraordinary behaviour in Mrs. Ellison

CHAPTER IV.
Containing, among many matters, the exemplary behaviour of Colonel
James

CHAPTER V.
Comments upon authors

CHAPTER VI.
Which inclines rather to satire than panegyric

CHAPTER VII.
Worthy a very serious perusal

CHAPTER VIII.
Consisting of grave matters

CHAPTER IX.
A curious chapter, from which a curious reader may draw sundry
observations

CHAPTER X.
In which are many profound secrets of philosophy




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

AMELIA AND HER CHILDREN . . . Frontispiece

COLONEL BATH

LAWYER MURPHY




BOOK V.

Chapter i.

_In which the reader will meet with an old acquaintance._


Booth's affairs were put on a better aspect than they had ever worn
before, and he was willing to make use of the opportunity of one day
in seven to taste the fresh air.

At nine in the morning he went to pay a visit to his old friend
Colonel James, resolving, if possible, to have a full explanation of
that behaviour which appeared to him so mysterious: but the colonel
was as inaccessible as the best defended fortress; and it was as
impossible for Booth to pass beyond his entry as the Spaniards found
it to take Gibraltar. He received the usual answers; first, that the
colonel was not stirring, and an hour after that he was gone out. All
that he got by asking further questions was only to receive still
ruder answers, by which, if he had been very sagacious, he might have
been satisfied how little worth his while it was to desire to go in;
for the porter at a great man's door is a kind of thermometer, by
which you may discover the warmth or coldness of his master's
friendship. Nay, in the highest stations of all, as the great man
himself hath his different kinds of salutation, from an hearty embrace
with a kiss, and my dear lord or dear Sir Charles, down to, well Mr.
----, what would you have me do? so the porter to some bows with
respect, to others with a smile, to some he bows more, to others less
low, to others not at all. Some he just lets in, and others he just
shuts out. And in all this they so well correspond, that one would be
inclined to think that the great man and his porter had compared their
lists together, and, like two actors concerned to act different parts
in the same scene, had rehearsed their parts privately together before
they ventured to perform in public.

Though Booth did not, perhaps, see the whole matter in this just
light, for that in reality it is, yet he was discerning enough to
conclude, from the behaviour of the servant, especially when he
considered that of the master likewise, that he had entirely lost the
friendship of James; and this conviction gave him a concern that not
only the flattering prospect of his lordship's favour was not able to
compensate, but which even obliterated, and made him for a while
forget the situation in which he had left his Amelia: and he wandered
about almost two hours, scarce knowing where he went, till at last he
dropt into a coffee-house near St James's, where he sat himself down.

He had scarce drank his dish of coffee before he heard a young officer
of the guards cry to another, "Od, d--n me, Jack, here he comes--
here's old honour and dignity, faith." Upon which he saw a chair open,
and out issued a most erect and stately figure indeed, with a vast
periwig on his head, and a vast hat under his arm. This august
personage, having entered the room, walked directly up to the upper
end, where having paid his respects to all present of any note, to
each according to seniority, he at last cast his eyes on Booth, and
very civilly, though somewhat coldly, asked him how he did.

Booth, who had long recognized the features of his old acquaintance
Major Bath, returned the compliment with a very low bow; but did not
venture to make the first advance to familiarity, as he was truly
possessed of that quality which the Greeks considered in the highest
light of honour, and which we term modesty; though indeed, neither
ours nor the Latin language hath any word adequate to the idea of the
original.

The colonel, after having discharged himself of two or three articles
of news, and made his comments upon them, when the next chair to him
became vacant, called upon Booth to fill it. He then asked him several
questions relating to his affairs; and, when he heard he was out of
the army, advised him earnestly to use all means to get in again,
saying that he was a pretty lad, and they must not lose him.

Booth told him in a whisper that he had a great deal to say to him on
that subject if they were in a more private place; upon this the
colonel proposed a walk in the Park, which the other readily accepted.

During their walk Booth opened his heart, and, among other matters,
acquainted Colonel Bath that he feared he had lost the friendship of
Colonel James; "though I am not," said he, "conscious of having done
the least thing to deserve it."

Bath answered, "You are certainly mistaken, Mr. Booth. I have indeed
scarce seen my brother since my coming to town; for I have been here
but two days; however, I am convinced he is a man of too nice honour
to do anything inconsistent with the true dignity of a gentleman."
Booth answered, "He was far from accusing him of anything
dishonourable."--"D--n me," said Bath, "if there is a man alive can or
dare accuse him: if you have the least reason to take anything ill,
why don't you go to him? you are a gentleman, and his rank doth not
protect him from giving you satisfaction." "The affair is not of any
such kind," says Booth; "I have great obligations to the colonel, and
have more reason to lament than complain; and, if I could but see him,
I am convinced I should have no cause for either; but I cannot get
within his house; it was but an hour ago a servant of his turned me
rudely from the door." "Did a servant of my brother use you rudely?"
said the colonel, with the utmost gravity. "I do not know, sir, in
what light you see such things; but, to me, the affront of a servant
is the affront of the master; and if he doth not immediately punish
it, by all the dignity of a man, I would see the master's nose between
my fingers." Booth offered to explain, but to no purpose; the colonel
was got into his stilts; and it was impossible to take him down, nay,
it was as much as Booth could possibly do to part with him without an
actual quarrel; nor would he, perhaps, have been able to have
accomplished it, had not the colonel by accident turned at last to
take Booth's side of the question; and before they separated he swore
many oaths that James should give him proper satisfaction.

Such was the end of this present interview, so little to the content
of Booth, that he was heartily concerned he had ever mentioned a
syllable of the matter to his honourable friend.



[This chapter occurs in the original edition of _Amelia,_ between 1
and 2. It is omitted later, and would have been omitted here but for
an accident. As it had been printed it may as well appear: for though
it has no great value it may interest some readers as an additional
illustration of Fielding's dislike to doctors.--ED.

_Containing a brace of doctors and much physical matter._


He now returned with all his uneasiness to Amelia, whom he found in a
condition very little adapted to relieve or comfort him. That poor
woman was now indeed under very great apprehensions for her child,
whose fever now began to rage very violently: and what was worse, an
apothecary had been with her, and frightened her almost out of her
wits. He had indeed represented the case of the child to be very
desperate, and had prevailed on the mother to call in the assistance
of a doctor.

Booth had been a very little time in the room before this doctor
arrived, with the apothecary close at his heels, and both approached
the bed, where the former felt the pulse of the sick, and performed
several other physical ceremonies.

He then began to enquire of the apothecary what he had already done
for the patient; all which, as soon as informed, he greatly approved.
The doctor then sat down, called for a pen and ink, filled a whole
side of a sheet of paper with physic, then took a guinea, and took his
leave; the apothecary waiting upon him downstairs, as he had attended
him up.

All that night both Amelia and Booth sat up with their child, who
rather grew worse than better. In the morning Mrs. Ellison found the
infant in a raging fever, burning hot, and very light-headed, and the
mother under the highest dejection; for the distemper had not given
the least ground to all the efforts of the apothecary and doctor, but
seemed to defy their utmost power, with all that tremendous apparatus
of phials and gallypots, which were arranged in battle-array all over
the room.

Mrs. Ellison, seeing the distrest, and indeed distracted, condition of
Amelia's mind, attempted to comfort her by giving her hopes of the
child's recovery. "Upon my word, madam," says she, "I saw a child of
much the same age with miss, who, in my opinion, was much worse,
restored to health in a few days by a physician of my acquaintance.
Nay, I have known him cure several others of very bad fevers; and, if
miss was under his care, I dare swear she would do very well." "Good
heavens! madam," answered Amelia, "why should you not mention him to
me? For my part I have no acquaintance with any London physicians, nor
do I know whom the apothecary hath brought me." "Nay, madam," cries
Mrs. Ellison, "it is a tender thing, you know, to recommend a
physician; and as for my doctor, there are abundance of people who
give him an ill name. Indeed, it is true, he hath cured me twice of
fevers, and so he hath several others to my knowledge; nay, I never
heard of any more than one of his patients that died; and yet, as the
doctors and apothecaries all give him an ill character, one is
fearful, you know, dear madam." Booth enquired the doctor's name,
which he no sooner heard than he begged his wife to send for him
immediately, declaring he had heard the highest character imaginable
of him at the Tavern from an officer of very good understanding.
Amelia presently complied, and a messenger was despatched accordingly.

But before the second doctor could be brought, the first returned with
the apothecary attending him as before. He again surveyed and handled
the sick; and when Amelia begged him to tell her if there was any
hopes, he shook his head, and said, "To be sure, madam, miss is in a
very dangerous condition, and there is no time to lose. If the
blisters which I shall now order her, should not relieve her, I fear
we can do no more."--"Would not you please, sir," says the apothecary,
"to have the powders and the draught repeated?" "How often were they
ordered?" cries the doctor. "Only _tertia_ quaq. hora," says the
apothecary. "Let them be taken every hour by all means," cries the
doctor; "and--let me see, pray get me a pen and ink."--"If you think
the child in such imminent danger," said Booth, "would you give us
leave to call in another physician to your assistance--indeed my
wife"--"Oh, by all means," said the doctor, "it is what I very much
wish. Let me see, Mr. Arsenic, whom shall we call?" "What do you think
of Dr Dosewell?" said the apothecary.--"Nobody better," cries the
physician.--"I should have no objection to the gentleman," answered
Booth, "but another hath been recommended to my wife." He then
mentioned the physician for whom they had just before sent. "Who,
sir?" cries the doctor, dropping his pen; and when Booth repeated the
name of Thompson, "Excuse me, sir," cries the doctor hastily, "I shall
not meet him."--"Why so, sir?" answered Booth. "I will not meet him,"
replied the doctor. "Shall I meet a man who pretends to know more than
the whole College, and would overturn the whole method of practice,
which is so well established, and from which no one person hath
pretended to deviate?" "Indeed, sir," cries the apothecary, "you do
not know what you are about, asking your pardon; why, he kills
everybody he comes near." "That is not true," said Mrs. Ellison. "I
have been his patient twice, and I am alive yet." "You have had good
luck, then, madam," answered the apothecary, "for he kills everybody
he comes near." "Nay, I know above a dozen others of my own
acquaintance," replied Mrs. Ellison, "who have all been cured by him."
"That may be, madam," cries Arsenic; "but he kills everybody for all
that--why, madam, did you never hear of Mr. ----? I can't think of the
gentleman's name, though he was a man of great fashion; but everybody
knows whom I mean." "Everybody, indeed, must know whom you mean,"
answered Mrs. Ellison; "for I never heard but of one, and that many
years ago."

Before the dispute was ended, the doctor himself entered the room. As
he was a very well-bred and very good-natured man, he addressed
himself with much civility to his brother physician, who was not quite
so courteous on his side. However, he suffered the new comer to be
conducted to the sick-bed, and at Booth's earnest request to deliver
his opinion.

The dispute which ensued between the two physicians would, perhaps, be
unintelligible to any but those of the faculty, and not very
entertaining to them. The character which the officer and Mrs. Ellison
had given of the second doctor had greatly prepossessed Booth in his
favour, and indeed his reasoning seemed to be the juster. Booth
therefore declared that he would abide by his advice, upon which the
former operator, with his zany, the apothecary, quitted the field, and
left the other in full possession of the sick.

The first thing the new doctor did was (to use his own phrase) to blow
up the physical magazine. All the powders and potions instantly
disappeared at his command; for he said there was a much readier and
nearer way to convey such stuff to the vault, than by first sending it
through the human body. He then ordered the child to be blooded, gave
it a clyster and some cooling physic, and, in short (that I may not
dwell too long on so unpleasing a part of history), within three days
cured the little patient of her distemper, to the great satisfaction
of Mrs. Ellison, and to the vast joy of Amelia.

Some readers will, perhaps, think this whole chapter might have been
omitted; but though it contains no great matter of amusement, it may
at least serve to inform posterity concerning the present state of
physic.]




Chapter ii.

_In which Booth pays a visit to the noble lord._


When that day of the week returned in which Mr. Booth chose to walk
abroad, he went to wait on the noble peer, according to his kind
invitation.

Booth now found a very different reception with this great man's
porter from what he had met with at his friend the colonel's. He no
sooner told his name than the porter with a bow told him his lordship
was at home: the door immediately flew wide open, and he was conducted
to an ante-chamber, where a servant told him he would acquaint his
lordship with his arrival. Nor did he wait many minutes before the
same servant returned and ushered him to his lordship's apartment.

He found my lord alone, and was received by him in the most courteous
manner imaginable. After the first ceremonials were over, his lordship
began in the following words: "Mr. Booth, I do assure you, you are
very much obliged to my cousin Ellison. She hath given you such a
character, that I shall have a pleasure in doing anything in my power
to serve you.--But it will be very difficult, I am afraid, to get you
a rank at home. In the West Indies, perhaps, or in some regiment
abroad, it may be more easy; and, when I consider your reputation as a
soldier, I make no doubt of your readiness to go to any place where
the service of your country shall call you." Booth answered, "That he
was highly obliged to his lordship, and assured him he would with
great chearfulness attend his duty in any part of the world. The only
thing grievous in the exchange of countries," said he, "in my opinion,
is to leave those I love behind me, and I am sure I shall never have a
second trial equal to my first. It was very hard, my lord, to leave a
young wife big with her first child, and so affected with my absence,
that I had the utmost reason to despair of ever seeing her more. After
such a demonstration of my resolution to sacrifice every other
consideration to my duty, I hope your lordship will honour me with
some confidence that I shall make no objection to serve in any
country."--"My dear Mr. Booth," answered the lord, "you speak like a
soldier, and I greatly honour your sentiments. Indeed, I own the
justice of your inference from the example you have given; for to quit
a wife, as you say, in the very infancy of marriage, is, I
acknowledge, some trial of resolution." Booth answered with a low bow;
and then, after some immaterial conversation, his lordship promised to
speak immediately to the minister, and appointed Mr. Booth to come to
him again on the Wednesday morning, that he might be acquainted with
his patron's success. The poor man now blushed and looked silly, till,
after some time, he summoned up all his courage to his assistance, and
relying on the other's friendship, he opened the whole affair of his
circumstances, and confessed that he did not dare stir from his
lodgings above one day in seven. His lordship expressed great concern
at this account, and very kindly promised to take some opportunity of
calling on him at his cousin Ellison's, when he hoped, he said, to
bring him comfortable tidings.

Booth soon afterwards took his leave with the most profuse
acknowledgments for so much goodness, and hastened home to acquaint
his Amelia with what had so greatly overjoyed him. She highly
congratulated him on his having found so generous and powerful a
friend, towards whom both their bosoms burnt with the warmest
sentiments of gratitude. She was not, however, contented till she had
made Booth renew his promise, in the most solemn manner, of taking her
with him. After which they sat down with their little children to a
scrag of mutton and broth, with the highest satisfaction, and very
heartily drank his lordship's health in a pot of porter.

In the afternoon this happy couple, if the reader will allow me to
call poor people happy, drank tea with Mrs. Ellison, where his
lordship's praises, being again repeated by both the husband and wife,
were very loudly echoed by Mrs. Ellison. While they were here, the
young lady whom we have mentioned at the end of the last book to have
made a fourth at whist, and with whom Amelia seemed so much pleased,
came in; she was just returned to town from a short visit in the
country, and her present visit was unexpected. It was, however, very
agreeable to Amelia, who liked her still better upon a second
interview, and was resolved to solicit her further acquaintance.

Mrs. Bennet still maintained some little reserve, but was much more
familiar and communicative than before. She appeared, moreover, to be
as little ceremonious as Mrs. Ellison had reported her, and very
readily accepted Amelia's apology for not paying her the first visit,
and agreed to drink tea with her the very next afternoon.

Whilst the above-mentioned company were sitting in Mrs. Ellison's
parlour, serjeant Atkinson passed by the window and knocked at the
door. Mrs. Ellison no sooner saw him than she said, "Pray, Mr. Booth,
who is that genteel young serjeant? he was here every day last week to
enquire after you." This was indeed a fact; the serjeant was
apprehensive of the design of Murphy; but, as the poor fellow had
received all his answers from the maid of Mrs. Ellison, Booth had
never heard a word of the matter. He was, however, greatly pleased
with what he was now told, and burst forth into great praises of the
serjeant, which were seconded by Amelia, who added that he was her
foster-brother, and, she believed, one of the honestest fellows in the
world.

"And I'll swear," cries Mrs. Ellison, "he is one of the prettiest. Do,
Mr. Booth, desire him to walk in. A serjeant of the guards is a
gentleman; and I had rather give such a man as you describe a dish of
tea than any Beau Fribble of them all."

Booth wanted no great solicitation to shew any kind of regard to
Atkinson; and, accordingly, the serjeant was ushered in, though not
without some reluctance on his side. There is, perhaps, nothing more
uneasy than those sensations which the French call the _mauvaise
honte,_ nor any more difficult to conquer; and poor Atkinson would,
I am persuaded, have mounted a breach with less concern than he shewed
in walking across a room before three ladies, two of whom were his
avowed well-wishers.

Though I do not entirely agree with the late learned Mr. Essex, the
celebrated dancing-master's opinion, that dancing is the rudiment of
polite education, as he would, I apprehend, exclude every other art
and science, yet it is certain that persons whose feet have never been
under the hands of the professors of that art are apt to discover this
want in their education in every motion, nay, even when they stand or
sit still. They seem, indeed, to be overburthened with limbs which
they know not how to use, as if, when Nature hath finished her work,
the dancing-master still is necessary to put it in motion.

Atkinson was, at present, an example of this observation which doth so
much honour to a profession for which I have a very high regard. He
was handsome, and exquisitely well made; and yet, as he had never
learnt to dance, he made so awkward an appearance in Mrs. Ellison's
parlour, that the good lady herself, who had invited him in, could at
first scarce refrain from laughter at his behaviour. He had not,
however, been long in the room before admiration of his person got the
better of such risible ideas. So great is the advantage of beauty in
men as well as women, and so sure is this quality in either sex of
procuring some regard from the beholder.

The exceeding courteous behaviour of Mrs. Ellison, joined to that of
Amelia and Booth, at length dissipated the uneasiness of Atkinson; and
he gained sufficient confidence to tell the company some entertaining
stories of accidents that had happened in the army within his
knowledge, which, though they greatly pleased all present, are not,
however, of consequence enough to have a place in this history.

Mrs. Ellison was so very importunate with her company to stay supper
that they all consented. As for the serjeant, he seemed to be none of
the least welcome guests. She was, indeed, so pleased with what she
had heard of him, and what she saw of him, that, when a little warmed
with wine, for she was no flincher at the bottle, she began to indulge
some freedoms in her discourse towards him that a little offended
Amelia's delicacy, nay, they did not seem to be highly relished by the
other lady; though I am far from insinuating that these exceeded the
bounds of decorum, or were, indeed, greater liberties than ladies of
the middle age, and especially widows, do frequently allow to
themselves.

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