The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

286 TOBIAS SMOLLETT
monks, had a venerable appearance; and along the front that
looked into the garden, was a stone gallery, which afforded me
many an agreeable walk, when I was disposed to be contemplative
—Now the old front is covered with a screen of modern archi-
tecture; so that all without is Grecian, and all within Gothic—
As for the garden, which was well stocked with the best fruit
which England could produce, there is not now the least vestige
remaining of trees, walls, or hedges—Nothing appears but a
naked circus of loose sand, with a dry bason and a leaden triton in
the middle.
You must know, that Baynard, at his father’s death, had a clear
estate of fifteen hundred pounds a-year, and was in other respects
extremely well qualified to make a respectable figure in the com-
monwealth; but, what with some excesses of youth, and the expence
of a contested election, he in a few years found himself encumbered
with a debt of ten thousand pounds, which he resolved to discharge
by means of a prudent marriage—He accordingly married a miss
Thomson, whose fortune amounted to double the sum that he
owed—She was the daughter of a citizen, who had failed in trade;
but her fortune came by an uncle, who died in the East-Indies—
Her own parents being dead, she lived with a maiden aunt, who
had superintended her education; and, in all appearance, was well
enough qualified for the usual purposes of the married state—Her
virtues, however, stood rather upon a negative, than a positive
foundation—She was neither proud, insolent, nor capricious, nor
given to scandal, nor addicted to gaming, nor inclined to gallantry
—She could read, and write, and dance, and sing, and play upon
the harpsichord, and smatter French, and take a hand at whist and
ombre; but even these accomplishments she possessed by halves—
She excelled in nothing. Her conversation was flat, her stile mean,
and her expression embarrassed—In a word, her character was
totally insipid. Her person was not disagreeable; but there was
nothing graceful in her address, nor engaging in her manners; and
she was so ill qualified to do the honours of the house, that when
she sat at the head of the table, one was always looking for the mistress
of the family in some other place.
Baynard had flattered himself, that it would be no difficult
matter to mould such a subject after his own fashion, and that she
would chearfully enter into his views, which were wholly turned to
domestic happiness. He proposed to reside always in the country,