Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
If, in the progress of my acquaintance with Mrs. Benington, I should perceive any
extraordinary danger in the gift, cannot I refuse, or at least delay to comply with
any new conditions from Ludloe? Will not his candour and his aection for me
rather commend than disapprove my didence? In ne, I resolved to see this lady.
She was, it seems, the widow of Benington, whom I knew in Spain. This man
was an English merchant settled at Barcelona, to whom I had been commended by
Ludloe’s letters, and through whom my pecuniary supplies were furnished . . . . . .
. Much intercourse and some degree of intimacy had taken place between us, and
I had gained a pretty accurate knowledge of his character. I had been informed,
through dierent channels, that his wife was much his superior in rank, that she
possessed great wealth in her own right, and that some disagreement of temper or
views occasioned their separation. She had married him for love, and still doated
on him: the occasions for separation having arisen, it seems, not on her side but
on his. As his habits of reection were nowise friendly to religion, and as hers,
according to Ludloe, were of the opposite kind, it is possible that some jarring had
arisen between them from this source. Indeed, from some casual and broken hints
of Benington, especially in the latter part of his life, I had long since gathered this
conjecture . . . . . . . Something, thought I, may be derived from my acquaintance
with her husband favourable to my views.
I anxiously waited for an opportunity of acquainting Ludloe with my resolution.
On the day of our last conversation, he had made a short excursion from town,
intending to return the same evening, but had continued absent for several days.
As soon as he came back, I hastened to acquaint him with my wishes.
Have you well considered this matter, said he. Be assured it is of no trivial
import. The moment at which you enter the presence of this woman will decide
your future destiny. Even putting out of view the subject of our late conversations,
the light in which you shall appear to her will greatly inuence your happiness,
since, though you cannot fail to love her, it is quite uncertain what return she may
think proper to make. Much, doubtless, will depend on your own perseverance
and address, but you will have many, perhaps insuperable obstacles to encounter
on several accounts, and especially in her attachment to the memory of her late
husband. As to her devout temper, this is nearly allied to a warm imagination in
some other respects, and will operate much more in favour of an ardent and artful
lover, than against him.
I still expressed my willingness to try my fortune with her.
Well, said he, I anticipated your consent to my proposal, and the visit I have
just made was to her. I thought it best to pave the way, by informing her that I
had met with one for whom she had desired me to look out. You must know that
her father was one of these singular men who set a value upon things exactly in
proportion to the diculty of obtaining or comprehending them. His passion
was for antiques, and his favourite pursuit during a long life was monuments in
brass, marble, and parchment, of the remotest antiquity. He was wholly indierent
to the character or conduct of our present sovereign and his ministers, but was
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