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 proving too 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. _He_ was waited on & nursed, & _she_ cheered & comforted with unremitting kindness-- and as every office of Hospitality & friendliness was received as it ought-- as there was not more good will on one

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side than Gratitude on the other--nor any deficiency of generally pleasant manners on either, they grew to like each other in the course of that fortnight, exceedingly well.--M^r Parker’s Character & History were soon unfolded. All that he understood of himself, he readily told, for he was very openhearted;--& where he might be himself in the dark, his conversation was still giving information, to such of the Heywoods as could observe.--By such he was perceived to be an Enthusiast; --on the 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 a quiet Village of no pretensions; but some natural advantages in its position & some accidental circumstances having

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suggested to himself, & the other principal Land Holder, the probability of it’s becoming a profitable Speculation, they had engaged in it, & planned & built, & praised & puffed, & raised it to a something of young Renown-- and M^r. 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 was of a respectable Family, & 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 two former indeed, by collateral Inheritance, quite as well

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provided 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 spraining his ancle or doing himself any other Injury for the good of such Surgeon--nor (as M^r H. 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 w^d very materially promote the rise & prosperity of the Place--w^d in fact tend to bring a prodigious influx;-- nothing else was wanting. He had _strong_ reason to beleive that _one_ family had been deterred last year from trying

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Sanditon 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, M^r P. was evidently an amiable, family-man, fond of Wife, Child^n, Brothers & Sisters-- & generally kind-hearted;--Liberal, gentlemanlike, easy to please;--of a sanguine turn of mind, with more Imagination than Judgement. And M^{rs} P. 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 whether

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he were risking his Fortune or spraining his Ancle, she remained equally 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 of Birthplace, Property, and Home,--it was his Mine, his Lottery, his Speculation & his Hobby Horse; his Occupation his Hope & his Futurity.--He was extremely desirous of drawing his good friends at Willingden thither; and his endeavours in 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 his own house w^d contain, to follow him to Sanditon as soon as possible--and healthy as they all undeniably were--foresaw that every one of them w^d be benefited by the

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sea.--He held it indeed as certain, that no person c^d be really well, no person, (however upheld for the present by fortuitous aids of exercise & spirits in 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 were nearly infallible, one or the other of them being a match for every Disorder, of the Stomach, the Lungs or the Blood; They were anti-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--seemingly just as was wanted--sometimes one, sometimes the other.--If the Sea breeze failed, the Sea-Bath was the

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certain corrective;--& where Bathing disagreed, the Sea Breeze alone was evidently designed by Nature for the cure.--His eloquence however could not prevail. M^r & M^{rs} H-- never left home. Marrying early & having a very numerous Family, their movements had been long limitted to one small circle; & they were older in Habits than in Age.--Excepting two Journeys to London in the year, to receive his Dividends, M^r H. went no farther than his feet or his well-tried old Horse could carry him, and M^{rs} Heywood’s Adventurings were only now & then to visit her Neighbours, in the old Coach which had been new when they married & fresh lined on their eldest son’s coming of age 10 years ago.--They had very pretty Property--enough, had their family been of reasonable Limits to have

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allowed them a very gentlemanlike share of Luxuries & Change--enough for them to have indulged in a new Carriage & better roads, an occasional month at Tunbridge Wells, & symptoms of the Gout and a Winter at Bath;--but the maintenance, Education & fitting out of 14 Children demanded a very quiet, settled, careful course of Life--& obliged them 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 promote _their_ getting out into the World, as much as possible. _They_ staid at home, that their Children _might_ get out;-- and while making that home extremely comfortable, welcomed every change

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from it which could give useful connections or respectable acquaintance to Sons or Daughters. When M^r & M^{rs} Parker therefore ceased from soliciting a family-visit, and bounded their veiws to carrying back one Daughter with 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, who under her Mother’s directions had been particularly useful & obliging to them; who had 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 the gratitude of those she went with--& to buy new Parasols, new Gloves, & new Broches,

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for her sisters & herself at the Library, which M^r P. was anxiously wishing to support.--All that M^r Heywood himself could be persuaded to promise was, that he would send everyone to Sanditon, who asked his advice, & that nothing should ever induce him (as far <as> the future could be answered for) to spend even 5 shillings at Brinshore.--

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