You observe rightly, replied Sir Charles: And surely a most kind
disposition of Providence it is, that adversity, so painful in itself,
should conduce so peculiarly to the improvement of the human mind: It
teaches modesty, humility, and compassion.
You speak feelingly brother, said Lady L----, with a sigh. Do you think,
Lucy, nobody sighed but she?
I do, said he. I speak with a sense of gratitude: I am naturally of an
imperious spirit: But I have reaped advantages, from the early stroke of
a mother's death. Being for years, against my wishes, obliged to submit
to a kind of exile from my native country, which I considered as a heavy
evil, though I thought it my duty to acquiesce, I was determined, as much
as my capacity would allow, to make my advantage of the compulsion, by
qualifying myself to do credit, rather than discredit, to my father, my
friends, and my country. And, let me add, that if I have in any
tolerable manner succeeded, I owe much to the example and precepts of my
dear Dr. Bartlett.
The doctor blushed and bowed, and was going to disclaim the merit which
his patron had ascribed to him; but Sir Charles confirmed it in still
stronger terms: You, my dear Dr. Bartlett, said he, as I have told Miss
Byron, was a second conscience to me in my earlier youth: Your precepts,
your excellent life, your pure manners, your sweetness of temper, could
not but open and enlarge my mind.
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