SHIRLEY

CONTENTS.


I. LEVITICAL 3

II. THE WAGONS 16

III. MR. YORKE 31

IV. MR. YORKE (CONTINUED) 40

V. HOLLOW'S COTTAGE 51

VI. CORIOLANUS 66

VII. THE CURATES AT TEA 85

VIII. NOAH AND MOSES 110

IX. BRIARMAINS 125

X. OLD MAIDS 147

XI. FIELDHEAD 164

XII. SHIRLEY AND CAROLINE 181

XIII. FURTHER COMMUNICATIONS ON BUSINESS 201

XIV. SHIRLEY SEEKS TO BE SAVED BY WORKS 226

XV. MR. DONNE'S EXODUS 239

XVI. WHITSUNTIDE 253

XVII. THE SCHOOL FEAST 264

XVIII. WHICH THE GENTEEL READER IS RECOMMENDED TO SKIP, LOW
PERSONS BEING HERE INTRODUCED 279

XIX. A SUMMER NIGHT 290

XX. TO-MORROW 306

XXI. MRS. PRYOR 319

XXII. TWO LIVES 336

XXIII. AN EVENING OUT 346

XXIV. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH 365

XXV. THE WEST WIND BLOWS 384

XXVI. OLD COPY-BOOKS 392

XXVII. THE FIRST BLUESTOCKING 410

XXVIII. PHŒBE 433

XXIX. LOUIS MOORE 453

XXX. RUSHEDGE--A CONFESSIONAL 461

XXXI. UNCLE AND NIECE 475

XXXII. THE SCHOOLBOY AND THE WOOD-NYMPH 491

XXXIII. MARTIN'S TACTICS 502

XXXIV. CASE OF DOMESTIC PERSECUTION--REMARKABLE INSTANCE
OF PIOUS PERSEVERANCE IN THE DISCHARGE OF RELIGIOUS
DUTIES 513

XXXV. WHEREIN MATTERS MAKE SOME PROGRESS, BUT NOT MUCH 521

XXXVI. WRITTEN IN THE SCHOOLROOM 534

XXXVII. THE WINDING-UP 555




SHIRLEY.


CHAPTER I.

LEVITICAL.


Of late years an abundant shower of curates has fallen upon the north of
England: they lie very thick on the hills; every parish has one or more
of them; they are young enough to be very active, and ought to be doing
a great deal of good. But not of late years are we about to speak; we
are going back to the beginning of this century: late years--present
years are dusty, sunburnt, hot, arid; we will evade the noon, forget it
in siesta, pass the midday in slumber, and dream of dawn.

If you think, from this prelude, that anything like a romance is
preparing for you, reader, you never were more mistaken. Do you
anticipate sentiment, and poetry, and reverie? Do you expect passion,
and stimulus, and melodrama? Calm your expectations; reduce them to a
lowly standard. Something real, cool, and solid lies before you;
something unromantic as Monday morning, when all who have work wake with
the consciousness that they must rise and betake themselves thereto. It
is not positively affirmed that you shall not have a taste of the
exciting, perhaps towards the middle and close of the meal, but it is
resolved that the first dish set upon the table shall be one that a
Catholic--ay, even an Anglo-Catholic--might eat on Good Friday in
Passion Week: it shall be cold lentils and vinegar without oil; it shall
be unleavened bread with bitter herbs, and no roast lamb.

Of late years, I say, an abundant shower of curates has fallen upon the
north of England; but in eighteen-hundred-eleven-twelve that affluent
rain had not descended.