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Online Texts for Craig White's Literature Courses
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1791, 1794 by (1762-1824)
CHAPTER XVI. |
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CHAPTER XVI. NECESSARY
DIGRESSION.
[Instructor’s
note: Sailing the
[16.1]
On board of the
ship in which Charlotte and Mademoiselle were embarked, was an officer of large
unencumbered fortune
[<free of family responsibilities]
and elevated rank,
and whom I shall call Crayton.
[16.2]
He was one of those men, who, having travelled in their
youth, pretend to have contracted
a
peculiar fondness for everything foreign, and to hold in contempt the
productions of their own country; and this affected partiality extended even to
the women.
[another defense of English
domestic
plain style w/ scorn for the French]
[16.3]
With him
therefore the blushing modesty and unaffected simplicity of
[16.4]
The reader no doubt has already developed
the character of La Rue: designing,
artful, and selfish, she had accepted the devoirs
[attentions]
of Belcour
because she was heartily weary of the retired life she led at the school, wished
to be released from what she deemed a slavery, and to
return to that vortex
[whirl]
of folly and
dissipation
which had once plunged her into the deepest misery; but
her plan she flattered herself was now
better formed: she resolved to put herself
under the protection of no man till she
had first secured a settlement
[money];
but the clandestine manner in which she left Madame Du Pont's prevented her
putting this plan in execution
[bad references or reputation],
though Belcour solemnly protested he
would make her a handsome settlement the moment they arrived at Portsmouth. This
he afterwards contrived to evade by a pretended hurry of business;
La Rue readily conceiving he
[Belcour]
never meant to
fulfil his promise, determined to change her battery
[tactics], and attack the heart of
Colonel Crayton.
She soon discovered the partiality he entertained for her
nation; and having imposed on him
a
feigned tale of distress, representing Belcour as a villain who had seduced her
from her friends under promise of marriage, and afterwards betrayed her,
pretending great remorse for the errors she had committed, and declaring
whatever her affection for Belcour might have been, it was now entirely
extinguished, and she wished for nothing more than an opportunity to leave a
course of life which her soul abhorred; but she had no friends to apply to, they
had all renounced her, and guilt and misery would undoubtedly be her future
portion through life.
[16.5]
Crayton
was possessed of many amiable qualities, though the peculiar trait in his
character [<preference for
the foreign or exotic],
which we have already mentioned, in a great measure threw a shade over them. He
was beloved for his humanity and benevolence by all who knew him, but he was
easy and unsuspicious himself, and became a dupe to the artifice
[deception]
of others.
[16.6]
He was, when very young, united to an amiable Parisian
lady, and perhaps it was his affection for her that laid the foundation for the
partiality he ever retained for the whole nation. He had by her
one daughter, who entered into the
world but a few hours before her mother left it. This lady was universally
beloved and admired, being
endowed with
all the virtues of her mother, without the weakness of the father: she was
married to Major Beauchamp, and was at this time in the same fleet with her
father, attending her husband to New-York.
[16.7]
Crayton was melted by the affected contrition and distress
of La Rue: he would converse with her for hours, read to her, play cards with
her, listen to all her complaints, and promise to protect her to the utmost of
his power. La Rue easily saw his character; her sole aim was to awaken a passion
in his bosom that might turn out to her advantage, and in this aim she was but
too successful, for
before the voyage was finished, the infatuated Colonel gave
her from under his hand
[i.e., in writing] a promise of marriage on their arrival at New-York,
under forfeiture of five thousand pounds.
[16.8]
And how did
our poor
[16.9]
But during the voyage
a great revolution took place not only
in the fortune of La Rue but in the bosom of Belcour: whilst in pursuit of
his amour with Mademoiselle, he had attended little to the interesting,
inobtrusive charms of Charlotte, but when, cloyed by possession, and disgusted
with the art and dissimulation of one,
he beheld the simplicity and gentleness of the other
[Charlotte],
the contrast became too striking not to fill him at once with surprise and
admiration. He frequently conversed with
[16.10]
Let not the reader imagine Belcour's designs were
honourable.
Alas! when once a woman has
forgot the respect due to herself, by yielding to the solicitations of illicit
love, they lose all their consequence
[status, claims to honor],
even in the eyes of the man whose art has betrayed them, and for whose sake they
have sacrificed every valuable consideration.
The heedless Fair, who stoops to guilty joys,
A man may pity—but he must despise.
[16.11] Nay, every libertine [sexual adventurer] will think he has a right to insult her with his licentious passion; and should the unhappy creature shrink from the insolent overture, he will sneeringly taunt her with pretence of modesty.
