Nature seemed to have
intended them as examples of the futility of those theories which
ascribe every thing to conformation and instinct and nothing to external
circumstances; in what different modes the same materials may be
fashioned, and to what different purposes the same materials may be
applied. Perhaps the rudiments of their intellectual character, as well
as of their form, were the same; but the powers that in one case were
exerted in the cause of virtue were, in the other, misapplied to sordid
and flagitious purposes. Arthur Wiatte (that was his name) had ever been the object of his
sister's affection. As long as he existed, she never ceased to labour in
the promotion of his happiness. All her kindness was repaid by a stern
and inexorable hatred. This man was an exception to all the rules which
govern us in our judgments of human nature. He exceeded in depravity all
that has been imputed to the arch-foe of mankind. His wickedness was
without any of those remorseful intermissions from which it has been
supposed that the deepest guilt is not entirely exempt. He seemed to
relish no food but pure unadulterated evil. He rejoiced in proportion to
the depth of that distress of which he was the author. His sister, by being placed most within the reach of his enmity,
experienced its worst effects. She was the subject on which, by being
acquainted with the means of influencing her happiness, he could try his
malignant experiments with most hope of success. Her parents being high
in rank and wealth, the marriage of their daughter was, of course, an
object of anxious attention. There is no event on which our felicity and
usefulness more materially depends, and with regard to which, therefore,
the freedom of choice and the exercise of our own understanding ought to
be less infringed; but this maxim is commonly disregarded in proportion
to the elevation of our rank and extent of our property. The lady made her own election; but she wras one of those who acted on a
comprehensive plan, and would not admit her private inclination to
dictate her decision. The happiness of others, though founded on
mistaken views, she did not consider as unworthy of her regard. The
choice was such as was not likely to obtain the parental sanction, to
whom the moral qualities of their son-in-law, though not absolutely
weightless in the balance, were greatly inferior to the considerations
of wealth and dignity. The brother set no value on any thing but the means of luxury and power. He was astonished at that perverseness which entertained a different
conception of happiness from himself. Love and friendship he considered
as groundless and chimerical, and believed that those delusions would,
in people of sense, be rectified by experience; but he knew the
obstinacy of his sister's attachment to these phantoms, and that to
bereave her of the good they promised was the most effectual means of
rendering her miserable. For this end he set himself to thwart her
wishes. In the imbecility and false indulgence of his parents he found
the most powerful auxiliaries. He prevailed upon them to forbid that
union which wanted nothing but their concurrence, and their consent to
endow her with a small portion of their patrimony, to render completely
eligible. The cause was that of her happiness and the happiness of him
on whom she had bestowed her heart. It behooved her, therefore, to call
forth all her energies in defence of it, to weaken her brother's
influence on the minds of her parents, or to win him to be her advocate. When I reflect upon her mental powers, and the advantages which should
seem to flow from the circumstance of pleading in the character of
daughter arid sister, I can scarcely believe that her attempts
miscarried. I should have imagined that all obstacles would yield before
her, and particularly in a case like this, in which she must have
summoned all her forces, and never have believed that she had struggled
sufficiently. Certain it is that her lot was fixed. She was not only denied the
husband of her choice, but another was imposed upon her, whose
recommendations were irresistible in every one's apprehension but her
own. The discarded lover was treated with every sort of contumely. Deceit and violence were employed by her brother to bring his honour,
his liberty, and even his life, into hazard. All these iniquities
produced no inconsiderable effect on the mind of the lady. The
machinations to which her love was exposed would have exasperated him
into madness, had not her most strenuous exertions been directed to
appease him. She prevailed on him at length to abandon his country, though she
thereby merely turned her brother's depravity into a new channel. Her
parents died without consciousness of the evils they inflicted, but they
experienced a bitter retribution in the conduct of their son. He was the
darling and stay of an ancient and illustrious house, but his actions
reflected nothing but disgrace upon his ancestry, and threatened to
bring the honours of their line to a period in his person. At their
death the bulk of their patrimony devolved upon him. This he speedily
consumed in gaming and riot. From splendid he descended to meaner vices. The efforts of his sister to recall him to virtue were unintermitted and
fruitless. Her affection for him he converted into a means of prolonging
his selfish gratifications. She decided for the best. It was no argument
of weakness that she was so frequently deceived. If she had judged truly
of her brother, she would have judged not only without example, but in
opposition to the general experience of mankind. But she was not to be
forever deceived. Her tenderness was subservient to justice. And when
his vices had led him from the gaming-table to the highway, when seized
at length by the ministers of law, when convicted and sentenced to
transportation, her intercession was solicited, when all the world knew
that pardon would readily be granted to a suppliant of her rank,
fortune, and character, when the criminal himself, his kindred, his
friends, and even indifferent persons, implored her interference, her
justice was inflexible. She knew full well the incurableness of his
depravity; that banishment was the mildest destiny that would befall
him; that estrangement from ancient haunts and associates was the
condition from which his true friends had least to fear. Finding
entreaties unavailing, the wretch delivered himself to the suggestions
of his malice, and he vowed to be bloodily revenged on her
inflexibility. The sentence was executed. That character must indeed be
monstrous from which the execution of such threats was to be dreaded. The event sufficiently showed that our fears on this head were well
grounded. This event, however, was at a great distance. It was reported
that the felons, of whom he was one, mutinied on board the ship in which
they had been embarked. In the affray that succeeded, it was said that
he was killed.