Camilla
CAMILLA
or, A Picture of Youth
Frances Burney
CONTENTS
Dedication
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Volume I
Book I
Introduction
Chapter I—A Family Scene
Chapter II—Comic Gambols
Chapter III—Consequences
Chapter IV—Studies of a Grown Gentleman
Chapter V—Schooling of a Young Gentleman
Chapter VI—Tuition of a Young Lady
Chapter VII—Lost Labour
Book II
Chapter I—New Projects
Chapter II—New Characters
Chapter III—A Family Breakfast
Chapter IV—A Public Breakfast
Chapter V—A Raffle
Chapter VI—A Barn
Chapter VII—A Declaration
Chapter VIII—An Answer
Chapter IX—An Explication
Chapter X—A Panic
Chapter XI—Two Lovers
Chapter XII—Two Doctors
Chapter XIII—Two Ways of Looking at the Same Thing
Chapter XIV—Two Retreats
Chapter XV—Two Sides of a Question
Volume II
Book III
Chapter I—A Few Kind Offices
Chapter II—A Pro and a Con
Chapter III—An Author’s Notion of Travelling
Chapter IV—An Internal Detection
Chapter V—An Author’s Opinion of Visiting
Chapter VI—An Author’s Idea of Order
Chapter VII—A Maternal Eye
Chapter VIII—Modern Ideas of Duty
Chapter IX—A Few Embarrassments
Chapter X—Modern Ideas of Life
Chapter XI—Modern Notions of Penitence
Chapter XII—Airs and Graces
Chapter XIII—Attic Adventures
Book IV
Chapter I—A Few Explanations
Chapter II—Specimens of Taste
Chapter III—A Few Compliments
Chapter IV—The Danger of Disguise
Chapter V—Strictures on Deformity
Chapter VI—Strictures on Beauty
Chapter VII—The Pleadings of Pity
Chapter VIII—The Disastrous Buskins
Chapter IX—Three Golden Maxims
Volume III
Book V
Chapter I—A Pursuer
Chapter II—An Adviser
Chapter III—Various Confabulations
Chapter IV—A Dodging
Chapter V—A Sermon
Chapter VI—A Chat
Chapter VII—A Recall
Chapter VIII—A Youth of the Times
Book VI
Chapter I—A Walk by Moonlight
Chapter II—The Pantiles
Chapter III—Mount Ephraim
Chapter IV—Knowle
Chapter V—Mount Pleasant
Chapter VI—The Accomplished Monkeys
Chapter VII—The Rooms
Chapter VIII—Ways to the Heart
Chapter IX—Counsels for Conquest
Chapter X—Strictures upon the Ton
Chapter XI—Traits of Character
Chapter XII—Traits of Eccentricity
Chapter XIII—Traits of Instruction
Chapter XIV—A Demander
Chapter XV—An Accorder
Chapter XVI—An Helper
Volume IV
Book VII
Chapter I—The Right Style of Arguing
Chapter II—A Council
Chapter III—A Proposal of Marriage
Chapter IV—A Bulldog
Chapter V—An Oak Tree
Chapter VI—A Call of the House
Chapter VII—The Triumph of Pride
Chapter VIII—A Summons to Happiness
Chapter IX—Offs and Ons
Chapter X—Resolutions
Chapter XI—Ease and Freedom
Chapter XII—Dilemmas
Chapter XIII—Live and Learn
Book VIII
Chapter I—A Way to Make Friends
Chapter II—A Rage of Obliging
Chapter III—A Pleasant Adventure
Chapter IV—An Author’s Timekeeper
Chapter V—An Agreeable Hearing
Chapter VI—Ideas upon Marriage
Chapter VII—How to Treat a Defamer
Chapter VIII—The Power of Prepossession
Chapter IX—A Scuffle
Chapter X—A Youthful Effusion
Chapter XI—The Computations of Self-Love
Chapter XII—Juvenile Calculations
Volume V
Book IX
Chapter I—A Water Party
Chapter II—Touches of Wit and Humour
Chapter III—An Adieu
Chapter IV—A Modest Request
Chapter V—A Self-Dissection
Chapter VI—A Reckoning
Chapter VII—Brides and No Brides
Chapter VIII—A Hint for Debtors
Chapter IX—A Lover’s Eye
Chapter X—A Bride’s Resolves
Chapter XI—The Workings of Sorrow
Book X
Chapter I—A Surprise
Chapter II—A Narrative
Chapter III—The Progress of Dissipation
Chapter IV—Hints upon National Prejudice
Chapter V—The Operation of Terror
Chapter VI—The Reverse of a Mask
Chapter VII—A New View of an Old Mansion
Chapter VIII—A Last Resource
Chapter IX—A Spectacle
Chapter X—A Vision
Chapter XI—Means to Still Agitation
Chapter XII—Means to Obtain a Boon
Chapter XIII—Questions and Answers
Chapter XIV—The Last Touches of the Picture
About the Author
About the Series
Copyright
About the Publisher
To the Queen
Madam,
That goodness inspires a confidence, which, by divesting respect of terror, excites attachment to greatness, the presentation of this little work to Your Majesty must truly, however humbly, evince; and though a public manifestation of duty and regard from an obscure individual may betray a proud ambition, it is, I trust, but a venial—I am sure it is a natural one.
In those to whom Your Majesty is known but by exaltation of rank, it may raise, perhaps, some surprise, that scenes, characters, and incidents, which have reference only to common life, should be brought into so august a presence; but the inhabitant of a retired cottage, who there receives the benign permission which at Your Majesty’s feet casts this humble offering, bears in mind recollections which must live there while ‘memory holds its seat,’ of a benevolence withheld from no condition, and delighting in all ways to speed the progress of morality, through whatever channel it could flow, to whatever port it might steer. I blush at the inference I seem here to leave open of annexing undue importance to a production of apparently so light a kind—yet if my hope, my view—however fallacious they may eventually prove, extended not beyond whiling away an idle hour, should I dare seek such patronage?
With the deepest gratitude, and most heartfelt respect, I am,
MADAM,
YOUR MAJESTY’S
Most obedient, most obliged,
And most dutiful servant,
F. d’ARBLAY
BOOKHAM,
June 28, 1796
The author of this little work cannot, in the anxious moment of committing it to its fate, refuse herself the indulgence of expressing some portion of the gratitude with which she is filled, by the highly favourable reception given to her TWO former attempts in this species of composition; nor forbear pouring forth her thanks to the many friends whose kind zeal has forwarded the present undertaking:—from amongst whom she knows not how to resist selecting and gratifying herself by naming the Hon. Mrs. BOSCAWEN, Mrs. CREWE, and Mrs. LOCKE.
The historian of human life finds less of difficulty and of intricacy to develop, in its accidents and adventures, than the investigator of the human heart in its feelings and its changes. In vain may fortune wave her many-coloured banner, alternately regaling and dismaying, with hues that seem glowing with all the creation’s felicities, or with tints that appear stained with ingredients of unmixed horrors; her most rapid vicissitudes, her most unassimilating eccentricities, are mocked, laughed at, and distanced by the wilder wonders of the heart of man; that amazing assemblage of all possible contrarieties, in which one thing alone is steady—the perverseness of spirit which grafts desire on what is denied. Its qualities are indefinable, its resources unfathomable, its weaknesses indefensible. In our neighbours we cannot judge, in ourselves we dare not trust it. We lose ere we learn to appreciate, and ere we can comprehend it we must be born again. Its capacity o’er-leaps all limit, while its futility includes every absurdity. It lives its own surprise—it ceases to beat—and the void is inscrutable! In one grand and general view, who can display such a portrait? Fairly, however faintly, to delineate some of its features, is the sole and discriminate province of the pen which would trace nature, yet blot out personality.
A Family Scene
Repose is not more welcome to the worn and to the aged, to the sick and to the unhappy, than danger, difficulty, and toil to the young and adventurous. Danger they encounter but as the forerunner of success; difficulty, as the spur of ingenuity; and toil, as the herald of honour. The experience which teaches the lesson of truth, and the blessings of tranquility, comes not in the shape of warning nor of wisdom; from such they turn aside, defying or disbelieving. ’Tis in the bitterness of personal proof alone, in suffering and in feeling, in erring and in repenting, that experience comes home with conviction, or impresses to any use.
In the bosom of her respectable family resided Camilla. Nature, with a bounty the most profuse, had been lavish to her of attractions; fortune, with a moderation yet kinder, had placed her between luxury and indigence. Her abode was in the parsonage house of Etherington, beautifully situated in the unequal county of Hampshire, and in the vicinity of the varied landscapes of the New Forest. Her father, the rector, was the younger son of the house of Tyrold. The living, though not considerable, enabled its incumbent to attain every rational object of his modest and circumscribed wishes; to bestow upon a deserving wife whatever her own forbearance declined not; and to educate a lovely race of one son and three daughters, with that expansive propriety, which unites improvement for the future with present enjoyment.
In goodness of heart, and in principles of piety, this exemplary couple was bound to each other by the most perfect unison of character, though in their tempers there was a contrast which had scarce the gradation of a single shade to smooth off its abrupt dissimilitude. Mr. Tyrold, gentle with wisdom, and benign in virtue, saw with compassion all imperfections but his own, and there doubled the severity which to others he spared. Yet the mildness that urged him to pity blinded him not to approve; his equity was unerring, though his judgment was indulgent. His partner had a firmness of mind which nothing could shake: calamity found her resolute; even prosperity was powerless to lull her duties asleep. The exalted character of her husband was the pride of her existence, and the source of her happiness. He was not merely her standard of excellence, but of endurance, since her sense of his worth was the criterion for her opinion of all others. This instigated a spirit of comparison, which is almost always uncandid, and which here could rarely escape proving injurious. Such, at its very best, is the unskillfulness of our fallible nature, that even the noble principle which impels our love of right, misleads us but into new deviations, when its ambition presumes to point at perfection. In this instance, however, distinctness of disposition stifled not reciprocity of affection—that magnetic concentration of all marriage felicity;—Mr. Tyrold revered while he softened the rigid virtues of his wife, who adored while she fortified the melting humanity of her husband.
Thus, in an interchange of happiness the most deserved, and of parental occupations the most promising, passed the first married years of this blest and blessing pair.
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