Middlemarch

by George Eliot

  BOOK II.

  OLD AND YOUNG.

  CHAPTER XIII.

  1st Gent. How class your man?--as better than the most, Or, seeming better, worse beneath that cloak? As saint or knave, pilgrim or hypocrite? 2d Gent. Nay, tell me how you class your wealth of books The drifted relics of all time. As well sort them at once by size and livery: Vellum, tall copies, and the common calf Will hardly cover more diversity Than all your labels cunningly devised To class your unread authors.

  In consequence of what he had heard from Fred, Mr. Vincy determined tospeak with Mr. Bulstrode in his private room at the Bank at half-pastone, when he was usually free from other callers. But a visitor hadcome in at one o'clock, and Mr. Bulstrode had so much to say to him,that there was little chance of the interview being over in half anhour. The banker's speech was fluent, but it was also copious, and heused up an appreciable amount of time in brief meditative pauses. Donot imagine his sickly aspect to have been of the yellow, black-hairedsort: he had a pale blond skin, thin gray-besprinkled brown hair,light-gray eyes, and a large forehead. Loud men called his subduedtone an undertone, and sometimes implied that it was inconsistent withopenness; though there seems to be no reason why a loud man should notbe given to concealment of anything except his own voice, unless it canbe shown that Holy Writ has placed the seat of candor in the lungs.Mr. Bulstrode had also a deferential bending attitude in listening, andan apparently fixed attentiveness in his eyes which made those personswho thought themselves worth hearing infer that he was seeking theutmost improvement from their discourse. Others, who expected to makeno great figure, disliked this kind of moral lantern turned on them.If you are not proud of your cellar, there is no thrill of satisfactionin seeing your guest hold up his wine-glass to the light and lookjudicial. Such joys are reserved for conscious merit. Hence Mr.Bulstrode's close attention was not agreeable to the publicans andsinners in Middlemarch; it was attributed by some to his being aPharisee, and by others to his being Evangelical. Less superficialreasoners among them wished to know who his father and grandfatherwere, observing that five-and-twenty years ago nobody had ever heard ofa Bulstrode in Middlemarch. To his present visitor, Lydgate, thescrutinizing look was a matter of indifference: he simply formed anunfavorable opinion of the banker's constitution, and concluded that hehad an eager inward life with little enjoyment of tangible things.

  "I shall be exceedingly obliged if you will look in on me hereoccasionally, Mr. Lydgate," the banker observed, after a brief pause."If, as I dare to hope, I have the privilege of finding you a valuablecoadjutor in the interesting matter of hospital management, there willbe many questions which we shall need to discuss in private. As to thenew hospital, which is nearly finished, I shall consider what you havesaid about the advantages of the special destination for fevers. Thedecision will rest with me, for though Lord Medlicote has given theland and timber for the building, he is not disposed to give hispersonal attention to the object."

  "There are few things better worth the pains in a provincial town likethis," said Lydgate. "A fine fever hospital in addition to the oldinfirmary might be the nucleus of a medical school here, when once weget our medical reforms; and what would do more for medical educationthan the spread of such schools over the country? A born provincialman who has a grain of public spirit as well as a few ideas, should dowhat he can to resist the rush of everything that is a little betterthan common towards London. Any valid professional aims may often finda freer, if not a richer field, in the provinces."

  One of Lydgate's gifts was a voice habitually deep and sonorous, yetcapable of becoming very low and gentle at the right moment. About hisordinary bearing there was a certain fling, a fearless expectation ofsuccess, a confidence in his own powers and integrity much fortified bycontempt for petty obstacles or seductions of which he had had noexperience. But this proud openness was made lovable by an expressionof unaffected good-will. Mr. Bulstrode perhaps liked him the better forthe difference between them in pitch and manners; he certainly likedhim the better, as Rosamond did, for being a stranger in Middlemarch.One can begin so many things with a new person!--even begin to be abetter man.

  "I shall rejoice to furnish your zeal with fuller opportunities," Mr.Bulstrode answered; "I mean, by confiding to you the superintendence ofmy new hospital, should a maturer knowledge favor that issue, for I amdetermined that so great an object shall not be shackled by our twophysicians. Indeed, I am encouraged to consider your advent to thistown as a gracious indication that a more manifest blessing is now tobe awarded to my efforts, which have hitherto been much with stood.With regard to the old infirmary, we have gained the initial point--Imean your election. And now I hope you will not shrink from incurringa certain amount of jealousy and dislike from your professionalbrethren by presenting yourself as a reformer."

  "I will not profess bravery," said Lydgate, smiling, "but I acknowledgea good deal of pleasure in fighting, and I should not care for myprofession, if I did not believe that better methods were to be foundand enforced there as well as everywhere else."

  "The standard of that profession is low in Middlemarch, my dear sir,"said the banker. "I mean in knowledge and skill; not in social status,for our medical men are most of them connected with respectabletownspeople here. My own imperfect health has induced me to give someattention to those palliative resources which the divine mercy hasplaced within our reach. I have consulted eminent men in themetropolis, and I am painfully aware of the backwardness under whichmedical treatment labors in our provincial districts."

  "Yes;--with our present medical rules and education, one must besatisfied now and then to meet with a fair practitioner. As to all thehigher questions which determine the starting-point of a diagnosis--asto the philosophy of medical evidence--any glimmering of these can onlycome from a scientific culture of which country practitioners haveusually no more notion than the man in the moon."

  Mr. Bulstrode, bending and looking intently, found the form whichLydgate had given to his agreement not quite suited to hiscomprehension. Under such circumstances a judicious man changes thetopic and enters on ground where his own gifts may be more useful.

  "I am aware," he said, "that the peculiar bias of medical ability istowards material means. Nevertheless, Mr. Lydgate, I hope we shall notvary in sentiment as to a measure in which you are not likely to beactively concerned, but in which your sympathetic concurrence may be anaid to me. You recognize, I hope; the existence of spiritual interestsin your patients?"

  "Certainly I do. But those words are apt to cover different meaningsto different minds."

  "Precisely. And on such subjects wrong teaching is as fatal as noteaching. Now a point which I have much at heart to secure is a newregulation as to clerical attendance at the old infirmary. Thebuilding stands in Mr. Farebrother's parish. You know Mr. Farebrother?"

  "I have seen him. He gave me his vote. I must call to thank him. Heseems a very bright pleasant little fellow. And I understand he is anaturalist."

  "Mr. Farebrother, my dear sir, is a man deeply painful to contemplate.I suppose there is not a clergyman in this country who has greatertalents." Mr. Bulstrode paused and looked meditative.

  "I have not yet been pained by finding any excessive talent inMiddlemarch," said Lydgate, bluntly.

  "What I desire," Mr. Bulstrode continued, looking still more serious,"is that Mr. Farebrother's attendance at the hospital should besuperseded by the appointment of a chaplain--of Mr. Tyke, in fact--andthat no other spiritual aid should be called in."

  "As a medical man I could have no opinion on such a point unless I knewMr. Tyke, and even then I should require to know the cases in which hewas applied." Lydgate smiled, but he was bent on being circumspect.

  "Of course you cannot enter fully into the merits of this measure atpresent. But"--here Mr. Bulstrode began to speak with a more chisel
ledemphasis--"the subject is likely to be referred to the medical board ofthe infirmary, and what I trust I may ask of you is, that in virtue ofthe cooperation between us which I now look forward to, you will not,so far as you are concerned, be influenced by my opponents in thismatter."

  "I hope I shall have nothing to do with clerical disputes," saidLydgate. "The path I have chosen is to work well in my own profession."

  "My responsibility, Mr. Lydgate, is of a broader kind. With me,indeed, this question is one of sacred accountableness; whereas with myopponents, I have good reason to say that it is an occasion forgratifying a spirit of worldly opposition. But I shall not thereforedrop one iota of my convictions, or cease to identify myself with thattruth which an evil generation hates. I have devoted myself to thisobject of hospital-improvement, but I will boldly confess to you, Mr.Lydgate, that I should have no interest in hospitals if I believed thatnothing more was concerned therein than the cure of mortal diseases. Ihave another ground of action, and in the face of persecution I willnot conceal it."

  Mr. Bulstrode's voice had become a loud and agitated whisper as he saidthe last words.

  "There we certainly differ," said Lydgate. But he was not sorry thatthe door was now opened, and Mr. Vincy was announced. That floridsociable personage was become more interesting to him since he had seenRosamond. Not that, like her, he had been weaving any future in whichtheir lots were united; but a man naturally remembers a charming girlwith pleasure, and is willing to dine where he may see her again.Before he took leave, Mr. Vincy had given that invitation which he hadbeen "in no hurry about," for Rosamond at breakfast had mentioned thatshe thought her uncle Featherstone had taken the new doctor into greatfavor.

  Mr. Bulstrode, alone with his brother-in-law, poured himself out aglass of water, and opened a sandwich-box.

  "I cannot persuade you to adopt my regimen, Vincy?"

  "No, no; I've no opinion of that system. Life wants padding," said Mr.Vincy, unable to omit his portable theory. "However," he went on,accenting the word, as if to dismiss all irrelevance, "what I came hereto talk about was a little affair of my young scapegrace, Fred's."

  "That is a subject on which you and I are likely to take quite asdifferent views as on diet, Vincy."

  "I hope not this time." (Mr. Vincy was resolved to be good-humored.)"The fact is, it's about a whim of old Featherstone's. Somebody hasbeen cooking up a story out of spite, and telling it to the old man, totry to set him against Fred. He's very fond of Fred, and is likely todo something handsome for him; indeed he has as good as told Fred thathe means to leave him his land, and that makes other people jealous."

  "Vincy, I must repeat, that you will not get any concurrence from me asto the course you have pursued with your eldest son. It was entirelyfrom worldly vanity that you destined him for the Church: with a familyof three sons and four daughters, you were not warranted in devotingmoney to an expensive education which has succeeded in nothing but ingiving him extravagant idle habits. You are now reaping theconsequences."

  To point out other people's errors was a duty that Mr. Bulstrode rarelyshrank from, but Mr. Vincy was not equally prepared to be patient.When a man has the immediate prospect of being mayor, and is ready, inthe interests of commerce, to take up a firm attitude on politicsgenerally, he has naturally a sense of his importance to the frameworkof things which seems to throw questions of private conduct into thebackground. And this particular reproof irritated him more than anyother. It was eminently superfluous to him to be told that he wasreaping the consequences. But he felt his neck under Bulstrode's yoke;and though he usually enjoyed kicking, he was anxious to refrain fromthat relief.

  "As to that, Bulstrode, it's no use going back. I'm not one of yourpattern men, and I don't pretend to be. I couldn't foresee everythingin the trade; there wasn't a finer business in Middlemarch than ours,and the lad was clever. My poor brother was in the Church, and wouldhave done well--had got preferment already, but that stomach fever tookhim off: else he might have been a dean by this time. I think I wasjustified in what I tried to do for Fred. If you come to religion, itseems to me a man shouldn't want to carve out his meat to an ouncebeforehand:--one must trust a little to Providence and be generous.It's a good British feeling to try and raise your family a little: inmy opinion, it's a father's duty to give his sons a fine chance."

  "I don't wish to act otherwise than as your best friend, Vincy, when Isay that what you have been uttering just now is one mass ofworldliness and inconsistent folly."

  "Very well," said Mr. Vincy, kicking in spite of resolutions, "I neverprofessed to be anything but worldly; and, what's more, I don't seeanybody else who is not worldly. I suppose you don't conduct businesson what you call unworldly principles. The only difference I see isthat one worldliness is a little bit honester than another."

  "This kind of discussion is unfruitful, Vincy," said Mr. Bulstrode,who, finishing his sandwich, had thrown himself back in his chair, andshaded his eyes as if weary. "You had some more particular business."

  "Yes, yes. The long and short of it is, somebody has told oldFeatherstone, giving you as the authority, that Fred has been borrowingor trying to borrow money on the prospect of his land. Of course younever said any such nonsense. But the old fellow will insist on itthat Fred should bring him a denial in your handwriting; that is, justa bit of a note saying you don't believe a word of such stuff, eitherof his having borrowed or tried to borrow in such a fool's way. Isuppose you can have no objection to do that."

  "Pardon me. I have an objection. I am by no means sure that your son,in his recklessness and ignorance--I will use no severer word--has nottried to raise money by holding out his future prospects, or even thatsome one may not have been foolish enough to supply him on so vague apresumption: there is plenty of such lax money-lending as of otherfolly in the world."

  "But Fred gives me his honor that he has never borrowed money on thepretence of any understanding about his uncle's land. He is not aliar. I don't want to make him better than he is. I have blown him upwell--nobody can say I wink at what he does. But he is not a liar.And I should have thought--but I may be wrong--that there was noreligion to hinder a man from believing the best of a young fellow,when you don't know worse. It seems to me it would be a poor sort ofreligion to put a spoke in his wheel by refusing to say you don'tbelieve such harm of him as you've got no good reason to believe."

  "I am not at all sure that I should be befriending your son bysmoothing his way to the future possession of Featherstone's property.I cannot regard wealth as a blessing to those who use it simply as aharvest for this world. You do not like to hear these things, Vincy,but on this occasion I feel called upon to tell you that I have nomotive for furthering such a disposition of property as that which yourefer to. I do not shrink from saying that it will not tend to yourson's eternal welfare or to the glory of God. Why then should youexpect me to pen this kind of affidavit, which has no object but tokeep up a foolish partiality and secure a foolish bequest?"

  "If you mean to hinder everybody from having money but saints andevangelists, you must give up some profitable partnerships, that's allI can say," Mr. Vincy burst out very bluntly. "It may be for the gloryof God, but it is not for the glory of the Middlemarch trade, thatPlymdale's house uses those blue and green dyes it gets from theBrassing manufactory; they rot the silk, that's all I know about it.Perhaps if other people knew so much of the profit went to the glory ofGod, they might like it better. But I don't mind so much about that--Icould get up a pretty row, if I chose."

  Mr. Bulstrode paused a little before he answered. "You pain me verymuch by speaking in this way, Vincy. I do not expect you to understandmy grounds of action--it is not an easy thing even to thread a path forprinciples in the intricacies of the world--still less to make thethread clear for the careless and the scoffing. You must remember, ifyou please, that I stretch my tolerance towards you as my wife'sbrother, and that it little becomes you to complain of me aswithholdi
ng material help towards the worldly position of your family.I must remind you that it is not your own prudence or judgment that hasenabled you to keep your place in the trade."

  "Very likely not; but you have been no loser by my trade yet," said Mr.Vincy, thoroughly nettled (a result which was seldom much retarded byprevious resolutions). "And when you married Harriet, I don't see howyou could expect that our families should not hang by the same nail.If you've changed your mind, and want my family to come down in theworld, you'd better say so. I've never changed; I'm a plain Churchmannow, just as I used to be before doctrines came up. I take the worldas I find it, in trade and everything else. I'm contented to be noworse than my neighbors. But if you want us to come down in the world,say so. I shall know better what to do then."

  "You talk unreasonably. Shall you come down in the world for want ofthis letter about your son?"

  "Well, whether or not, I consider it very unhandsome of you to refuseit. Such doings may be lined with religion, but outside they have anasty, dog-in-the-manger look. You might as well slander Fred: itcomes pretty near to it when you refuse to say you didn't set a slandergoing. It's this sort of thing--this tyrannical spirit, wanting toplay bishop and banker everywhere--it's this sort of thing makes aman's name stink."

  "Vincy, if you insist on quarrelling with me, it will be exceedinglypainful to Harriet as well as myself," said Mr. Bulstrode, with atrifle more eagerness and paleness than usual.

  "I don't want to quarrel. It's for my interest--and perhaps for yourstoo--that we should be friends. I bear you no grudge; I think no worseof you than I do of other people. A man who half starves himself, andgoes the length in family prayers, and so on, that you do, believes inhis religion whatever it may be: you could turn over your capital justas fast with cursing and swearing:--plenty of fellows do. You like tobe master, there's no denying that; you must be first chop in heaven,else you won't like it much. But you're my sister's husband, and weought to stick together; and if I know Harriet, she'll consider it yourfault if we quarrel because you strain at a gnat in this way, andrefuse to do Fred a good turn. And I don't mean to say I shall bear itwell. I consider it unhandsome."

  Mr. Vincy rose, began to button his great-coat, and looked steadily athis brother-in-law, meaning to imply a demand for a decisive answer.

  This was not the first time that Mr. Bulstrode had begun by admonishingMr. Vincy, and had ended by seeing a very unsatisfactory reflection ofhimself in the coarse unflattering mirror which that manufacturer'smind presented to the subtler lights and shadows of his fellow-men; andperhaps his experience ought to have warned him how the scene wouldend. But a full-fed fountain will be generous with its waters even inthe rain, when they are worse than useless; and a fine fount ofadmonition is apt to be equally irrepressible.

  It was not in Mr. Bulstrode's nature to comply directly in consequenceof uncomfortable suggestions. Before changing his course, he alwaysneeded to shape his motives and bring them into accordance with hishabitual standard. He said, at last--

  "I will reflect a little, Vincy. I will mention the subject toHarriet. I shall probably send you a letter."

  "Very well. As soon as you can, please. I hope it will all be settledbefore I see you to-morrow."