CHAPTER 2.
The acquaintance, thus oddly begun, was neither short nor unimportant.For a whole fortnight the Travellors were fixed at Willingden;Mr. P.’s sprain provingtoo serious for him to move sooner.—He had fallen into very good hands. The Heywoods were a thoroughly respectable family, & every possible attention was paid in the kindest & most unpretending manner, to both Husband & wife.Hewas waited on & nursed, &shecheered & comforted withunremittingkindness—and as everyofficeof Hospitality & friendliness was received as it ought—as there was not more good will on oneside than Gratitude on the other—nor any deficiency of generally pleasant mannerson either, they grew to like each other in the course of that fortnight, exceedingly well.—MrParker’s Character & History were soonunfolded. All that he understood of himself, he readily told,for he wasvery openhearted;—& where he might be himself in the dark,his conversationwas still givinginformation, to such of the Heywoods as could observe.—By such he was perceived to be an Enthusiast;—onthe subject of Sanditon, a complete Enthusiast.—Sanditon,—the success of Sanditon as a small, fashionable Bathing Place was the object, for which he seemed to live. A very few years ago, & it had been aquietVillageof nopretensions; but some natural advantages in its position &someaccidental circumstances havingsuggested to himself, & the other principalLand Holder, the probability of it’sbecominga profitable Speculation, they had engaged in it, & planned & built, & praised & puffed, & raised it to a something ofyoungRenown—and Mr. Parker could now think of very little besides.—The Facts, which in more direct communication, he laid before them were that he was about 5 & 30—had been married,—very happily married 7 years—& had 4 sweet Children at home;—that he wasof a respectableFamily, & easy though not large fortune;—no Profession—succeeding as eldest son to the Property which 2 or 3 Generations had been holding & accumulating before him;—that he had 2 Brothers & 2 Sisters—all single & all independant—the eldest of the twoformer indeed, by collateral Inheritance, quite as wellprovided for as himself.—His object in quitting the high road, to hunt for an advertising Surgeon, was also plainly stated;—it had not proceeded from any intention of spraininghis ancleor doing himself any other Injury for the good of such Surgeon—nor (as MrH. had been apt to suppose) from any design of entering into Partnership with him—; it was merely in consequence of a wish to establish some medical Man at Sanditon, which the nature of the Advertisement induced him to expect to accomplish in Willingden.—He was convinced that the advantage of a medical Man at hand wdvery materially promote the rise & prosperity of the Place—wdin fact tend to bring aprodigiousinflux;—nothing else was wanting. He hadstrongreason to beleive thatonefamily had been deterredlast yearfrom tryingSanditon on that account—& probably very many more—and his own Sisters who were sad Invalids, & whom he was very anxious to get to Sanditon this Summer, could hardly be expected to hazard themselves in a place where they could not have immediate medical advice.—Upon the whole, MrP. was evidently an amiable, family-man, fond of Wife, Childn, Brothers & Sisters—& generally kind-hearted;—Liberal, gentlemanlike, easy to please;—of a sanguine turn of mind, with more Imagination than Judgement. And MrsP. was as evidently a gentle, amiable, sweet tempered Woman, the properest wife in the World for a Man of strong Understanding, but not of capacity to supply the cooler reflection which her own Husband sometimes needed, & so entirely waiting to be guided on every occasion, that whetherhe were risking his Fortune or spraining his Ancle, sheremainedequally useless.—Sanditon was a second Wife & 4 Children to him—hardly less Dear—& certainly more engrossing.—He could talk of it for ever.—It had indeed the highest claims;—not only those ofBirthplace, Property,and Home,—it washis Mine, his Lottery, his Speculation & his Hobby Horse;his Occupationhis Hope & his Futurity.—He was extremely desirous of drawing his good friends at Willingden thither;and his endeavoursin the cause, were as grateful & disinterested, as they were warm.—He wanted to secure the promise of a visit—to get as many of the Family as hisown housewdcontain, to follow him to Sanditon as soon as possible—and healthy as they all undeniably were—foresaw that every one of them wdbe benefited by thesea.—He held it indeed as certain, that no person cdbe really well, no person, (however upheld for the present by fortuitous aids of exercise &spiritsin a semblance of Health) could be really in a state of secure & permanent Health without spending at least 6 weeks by the Sea every year.—The Sea air & Sea Bathing together werenearlyinfallible, one or the other of them being a match for everyDisorder, of the Stomach, the Lungs or theBlood;They wereanti-spasmodic, anti-pulmonary, anti-sceptic,anti-bilious& anti-rheumatic. Nobody could catch cold by the Sea, Nobody wanted appetite by the Sea,Nobody wanted Spirits, Nobody wanted Strength.—They were healing, softing, relaxing—fortifying & bracing—seeminglyjust aswas wanted—sometimes one, sometimes the other.—If the Sea breeze failed, the Sea-Bath was thecertain corrective;—& where Bathing disagreed, the Sea Breeze alone wasevidentlydesigned by Nature for the cure.—His eloquence however could not prevail. Mr& MrsH—never left home. Marrying early & having a very numerous Family,theirmovements had beenlonglimitted to one small circle; & they were older in Habits than in Age.—Excepting two Journeys to London in the year, to receive his Dividends, MrH. went no farther than his feet or his well-tried old Horsecould carryhim, and MrsHeywood’s Adventurings were only now & then to visit her Neighbours, in theoldCoach which had been new when they married & fresh lined on theireldestson’s coming of age 10 years ago.—They had very pretty Property—enough, had their family been of reasonable Limits to haveallowed them a very gentlemanlike share of Luxuries & Change—enough for them to have indulged in a new Carriage & better roads,an occasional monthat Tunbridge Wells, &symptomsof the Goutanda Winter at Bath;—but the maintenance, Education & fitting out of 14 Children demanded a very quiet, settled, careful course of Life—&obligedthem to be stationary & healthy at Willingden. What Prudence had at first enjoined, was now rendered pleasant by Habit. They never left home, & they had a gratification in saying so.—But very far from wishing their Children to do the same, they were glad to promotetheirgetting out into the World, as much as possible.Theystaid at home, that their Childrenmightget out;—and while making that home extremely comfortable, welcomed every changefrom it which couldgive useful connections orrespectable acquaintance to Sons or Daughters. When Mr& MrsParker therefore ceased from soliciting a family-visit, and bounded their veiws to carrying back oneDaughterwith them, no difficulties were started. It was general pleasure & consent.—Their invitation was to Miss Charlotte Heywood, a very pleasing young woman of two and twenty, the eldest of the Daughters at home, & the one, whounder her Mother’s directionshad been particularly useful & obliging to them;whohad attended them most, & knew them best.—Charlotte was to go,—with excellent health, to bathe & be better if she could—to receive every possible pleasure which Sanditon could be made to supply by thegratitudeof those she went with—& to buy new Parasols, new Gloves, & new Broches,for her sisters &herself at theLibrary, which MrP. was anxiously wishing to support.—All that MrHeywood himself could be persuaded to promise was, that he wouldsendeveryone toSanditon, who asked his advice, & that nothing should ever induce him (as far[as]the future could be answered for) to spend even5 shillingsatBrinshore.—