Caleb Williams | Page 9

means resorted to for
supplying resources and conquering difficulties. I inured myself to
mechanical pursuits, and devoted much of my time to an endeavour
after mechanical invention.
The spring of action which, perhaps more than any other, characterised
the whole train of my life, was curiosity. It was this that gave me my
mechanical turn; I was desirous of tracing the variety of effects which
might be produced from given causes. It was this that made me a sort
of natural philosopher; I could not rest till I had acquainted myself with
the solutions that had been invented for the phenomena of the universe.
In fine, this produced in me an invincible attachment to books of
narrative and romance. I panted for the unravelling of an adventure
with an anxiety, perhaps almost equal to that of the man whose future
happiness or misery depended on its issue. I read, I devoured
compositions of this sort. They took possession of my soul; and the
effects they produced were frequently discernible in my external
appearance and my health. My curiosity, however, was not entirely
ignoble: village anecdotes and scandal had no charms for me: my
imagination must be excited; and when that was not done, my curiosity
was dormant.
The residence of my parents was within the manor of Ferdinando
Falkland, a country squire of considerable opulence. At an early age I
attracted the favourable notice of Mr. Collins, this gentleman's steward,
who used to call in occasionally at my father's. He observed the
particulars of my progress with approbation, and made a favourable
report to his master of my industry and genius.
In the summer of the year ----, Mr. Falkland visited his estate in our
county after an absence of several months. This was a period of

misfortune to me. I was then eighteen years of age. My father lay dead
in our cottage. I had lost my mother some years before. In this forlorn
situation I was surprised with a message from the squire, ordering me
to repair to the mansion-house the morning after my father's funeral.
Though I was not a stranger to books, I had no practical acquaintance
with men. I had never had occasion to address a person of this elevated
rank, and I felt no small uneasiness and awe on the present occasion. I
found Mr. Falkland a man of small stature, with an extreme delicacy of
form and appearance. In place of the hard-favoured and inflexible
visages I had been accustomed to observe, every muscle and petty line
of his countenance seemed to be in an inconceivable degree pregnant
with meaning. His manner was kind, attentive, and humane. His eye
was full of animation; but there was a grave and sad solemnity in his air,
which, for want of experience, I imagined was the inheritance of the
great, and the instrument by which the distance between them and their
inferiors was maintained. His look bespoke the unquietness of his mind,
and frequently wandered with an expression of disconsolateness and
anxiety.
My reception was as gracious and encouraging as I could possibly
desire. Mr. Falkland questioned me respecting my learning, and my
conceptions of men and things, and listened to my answers with
condescension and approbation. This kindness soon restored to me a
considerable part of my self-possession, though I still felt restrained by
the graceful, but unaltered dignity of his carriage. When Mr. Falkland
had satisfied his curiosity, he proceeded to inform me that he was in
want of a secretary, that I appeared to him sufficiently qualified for that
office, and that, if, in my present change of situation, occasioned by the
death of my father, I approved of the employment, he would take me
into his family.
I felt highly flattered by the proposal, and was warm in the expression
of my acknowledgments. I set eagerly about the disposal of the little
property my father had left, in which I was assisted by Mr. Collins. I
had not now a relation in the world, upon whose kindness and
interposition I had any direct claim. But, far from regarding this

deserted situation with terror, I formed golden visions of the station I
was about to occupy. I little suspected that the gaiety and lightness of
heart I had hitherto enjoyed were upon the point of leaving me for ever,
and that the rest of my days were devoted to misery and alarm.
My employment was easy and agreeable. It consisted partly in the
transcribing and arranging certain papers, and partly in writing from my
master's dictation letters of business, as well as sketches of literary
composition. Many of these latter consisted of an analytical survey of
the plans of different authors and conjectural speculations upon hints
they afforded, tending either to the detection of their