Nodiver d.o.o. · Pride & Prejudice · page 607 of 640

Pride & Prejudice – page 607

Pride and Prejudice

“I cannot give you credit for any philosophy of the

kind. Your retrospections must be so totally void of

reproach, that the contentment arising from them is not

of philosophy, but, what is much better, of innocence.

But with me, it is not so. Painful recollections will

intrude which cannot, which ought not, to be repelled. I

have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though

not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right,

but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given

good principles, but left to follow them in pride and

conceit. Unfortunately an only son (for many years an

only child), I was spoilt by my parents, who, though

good themselves (my father, particularly, all that was

benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost

taught me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for

none beyond my own family circle; to think meanly of

all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly

of their sense and worth compared with my own. Such

I was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might

still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth!

What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard

indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was

properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of

my reception. You showed me how insufficient were

599