@@@@@For myself, at least, I must confess being
@@@@@For myself, at least, I must confess being not always so attentive
as I ought to be” (here was a glance at Fanny); “that nineteen times
out of twenty I am thinking how such a prayer ought to be read,
and longing to have it to read myselfDid you speak?” stepping
eagerly to Fanny, and addressing her in a softened voice; and upon
her saying “No,” he added, “Are you sure you did not speak? I saw
your lips moveI fancied you might be going to tell me I ought to
be more attentive, and not allow my thoughts to wanderAre not
you going to tell me so?”
“No, indeed, you know your duty too well for me to—even supposing—”
She stopt, felt herself getting into a puzzle, and could not be prevailed
on to add another word, not by dint of several minutes of
supplication and waitingHe then returned to his former station,
and went on as if there had been no such tender interruption
“A sermon, well delivered, is more uncommon even than prayers
well readA sermon, good in itself, is no rare thingIt is more difficult
to speak well than to compose well; that is, the rules and trick
of composition are oftener an object of studyA thoroughly good
sermon, thoroughly well delivered, is a capital gratificationI can
never hear such a one without the greatest admiration and respect,
and more than half a mind to take orders and preach myselfThere
is something in the eloquence of the pulpit, when it is really eloquence,
which is entitled to the highest praise and honourThe
preacher who can touch and affect such an heterogeneous mass of
hearers, on subjects limited, and long worn threadbare in all common
hands; who can say anything new or striking, anything that
rouses the attention without offending the taste, or wearing out the
feelings of his hearers, is a man whom one could not, in his public
capacity, honour enoughI should like to be such a manI never listened to a distinguished preacher in
my life without a sort of envyBut then, I must have a London
audienceI could not preach but to the educated; to those who were
capable of estimating my compositionAnd I do not know that I
should be fond of preaching often; now and then, perhaps once or
296
Mansfield Park
twice in the spring, after being anxiously expected for half a dozen
Sundays together; but not for a constancy; it would not do for a
constancy
Here Fanny, who could not but listen, involuntarily shook her
head, and Crawford was instantly by her side again, entreating to
know her meaning; and as Edmund perceived, by his drawing in a
chair, and sitting down close by her, that it was to be a very thorough
attack, that looks and undertones were to be well tried, he
sank as quietly as possible into a corner, turned his back, and took
up a newspaper, very sincerely wishing that dear little Fanny might
be persuaded into explaining away that shake of the head to the
satisfaction of her ardent lover; and as earnestly trying to bury every
sound of the business from himself in murmurs of his own, over the
various advertisements of “A most desirable Estate in South Wales”;
“To Parents and Guardians”; and a “Capital season’d Hunter
Fanny, meanwhile, vexed with herself for not having been as motionless
as she was speechless, and grieved to the heart to see
Edmund’s arrangements, was trying by everything in the power of
her modest, gentle nature, to repulse MrCrawford, and avoid both
his looks and inquiries; and he, unrepulsable, was persisting in both
“What did that shake of the head mean?” said he“What was it
meant to express? Disapprobation, I fearBut of what? What had I
been saying to displease you? Did you think me speaking improperly,
lightly, irreverently on the subject? Only tell me if I wasOnly
tell me if I was wrongI want to be set r