CHAPTER VII

arton Park was about half a mile from the cottage. The

ladies had passed near it in their way along the valley,

but it was screened from their view at home by the

projection of a hill. The house was large and handsome; and the

Middletons lived in a style of equal hospitality and elegance. The

former was for Sir John's gratification, the latter for that of his

lady. They were scarcely ever without some friends staying with

them in the house, and they kept more company of every kind

than any other family in the neighbourhood. It was necessary to

the happiness of both; for however dissimilar in temper and

outward behaviour, they strongly resembled each other in that

total want of talent and taste which confined their employments,

unconnected with such as society produced, within a very narrow

compass. Sir John was a sportsman, Lady Middleton a mother. He

hunted and shot, and she humoured her children; and these were

their only resources. Lady Middleton had the advantage of being

able to spoil her children all the year round, while Sir John's

independent employments were in existence only half the time.

Continual engagements at home and abroad, however, supplied all

the deficiencies of nature and education; supported the good

spirits of Sir John, and gave exercise to the good breeding of his

wife.

Lady Middleton piqued herself upon the elegance of her table,

and of all her domestic arrangements; and from this kind of vanity

was her greatest enjoyment in any of their parties. But Sir John's

satisfaction in society was much more real; he delighted in

collecting about him more young people than his house would

hold, and the noisier they were the better was he pleased. He was

a blessing to all the juvenile part of the neighbourhood, for in

summer he was for ever forming parties to eat cold ham and

chicken out of doors, and in winter his private balls were

numerous enough for any young lady who was not suffering under

the unsatiable appetite of fifteen.

The arrival of a new family in the country was always a matter

of joy to him, and in every point of view he was charmed with the

inhabitants he had now procured for his cottage at Barton. The

Miss Dashwoods were young, pretty, and unaffected. It was

enough to secure his good opinion; for to be unaffected was all

that a pretty girl could want to make her mind as captivating as

her person. The friendliness of his disposition made him happy in

accommodating those, whose situation might be considered, in

comparison with the past, as unfortunate. In showing kindness to

his cousins therefore he had the real satisfaction of a good heart;

and in settling a family of females only in his cottage, he had all

the satisfaction of a sportsman; for a sportsman, though he

esteems only those of his sex who are sportsmen likewise, is not

often desirous of encouraging their taste by admitting them to a

residence within his own manor.

Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters were met at the door of the

house by Sir John, who welcomed them to Barton Park with

unaffected sincerity; and as he attended them to the drawing room

repeated to the young ladies the concern which the same subject

had drawn from him the day before, at being unable to get any

smart young men to meet them. They would see, he said, only one

gentleman there besides himself; a particular friend who was

staying at the park, but who was neither very young nor very gay.

He hoped they would all excuse the smallness of the party, and

could assure them it should never happen so again. He had been

to several families that morning in hopes of procuring some

addition to their number, but it was moonlight and every body was

full of engagements. Luckily Lady Middleton's mother had arrived

at Barton within the last hour, and as she was a very cheerful

agreeable woman, he hoped the young ladies would not find it so

very dull as they might imagine. The young ladies, as well as their

mother, were perfectly satisfied with having two entire strangers

of the party, and wished for no more.

Mrs. Jennings, Lady Middleton's mother, was a good-

humoured, merry, fat, elderly woman, who talked a great deal,

seemed very happy, and rather vulgar. She was full of jokes and

laughter, and before dinner was over had said many witty things

on the subject of lovers and husbands; hoped they had not left

their hearts behind them in Sussex, and pretended to see them

blush whether they did or not. Marianne was vexed at it for her

sister's sake, and turned her eyes towards Elinor to see how she

bore these attacks, with an earnestness which gave Elinor far

more pain than could arise from such common-place raillery as

Mrs. Jennings's.

Colonel Brandon, the friend of Sir John, seemed no more

adapted by resemblance of manner to be his friend, than Lady

Middleton was to be his wife, or Mrs. Jennings to be Lady

Middleton's mother. He was silent and grave. His appearance

however was not unpleasing, in spite of his being in the opinion of

Marianne and Margaret an absolute old bachelor, for he was on

the wrong side of five and thirty; but though his face was not

handsome, his countenance was sensible, and his address was

particularly gentlemanlike.

There was nothing in any of the party which could recommend

them as companions to the Dashwoods; but the cold insipidity of

Lady Middleton was so particularly repulsive, that in comparison

of it the gravity of Colonel Brandon, and even the boisterous mirth

of Sir John and his mother-in-law was interesting. Lady Middleton

seemed to be roused to enjoyment only by the entrance of her four

noisy children after dinner, who pulled her about, tore her clothes,

and put an end to every kind of discourse except what related to

themselves.

In the evening, as Marianne was discovered to be musical, she

was invited to play. The instrument was unlocked, every body

prepared to be charmed, and Marianne, who sang very well, at

their request went through the chief of the songs which Lady

Middleton had brought into the family on her marriage, and which

perhaps had lain ever since in the same position on the pianoforté,

for her ladyship had celebrated that event by giving up music,

although by her mother's account, she had played extremely well,

and by her own was very fond of it.

Marianne's performance was highly applauded. Sir John was

loud in his admiration at the end of every song, and as loud in his

conversation with the others while every song lasted. Lady

Middleton frequently called him to order, wondered how any one's

attention could be diverted from music for a moment, and asked

Marianne to sing a particular song which Marianne had just

finished. Colonel Brandon alone, of all the party, heard her

without being in raptures. He paid her only the compliment of

attention; and she felt a respect for him on the occasion, which the

others had reasonably forfeited by their shameless want of taste.

His pleasure in music, though it amounted not to that ecstatic

delight which alone could sympathize with her own, was estimable

when contrasted against the horrible insensibility of the others;

and she was reasonable enough to allow that a man of five and

thirty might well have outlived all acuteness of feeling and every

exquisite power of enjoyment. She was perfectly disposed to make

every allowance for the colonel's advanced state of life which

humanity required.
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