o commerce, how wonderful are thy ways, how vast thy power, how invisible thy dominion! who can restrain thee and forbid thy further progress? kings are but as infants in thy hands, and emperors, despotic in all else, are bound to obey thee! thou civilizest, hast civilized, and wilt civilize. civilization is thy mission, and man's welfare thine appointed charge. the nation that most warmly fosters thee shall ever be the greatest in the earth; and without thee no nation shall endure for a day. thou art our alpha and our omega, our beginning and our end; the marrow of our bones, the salt of our life, the sap of our branches, the corner-stone of our temple, the rock of our foundation. we are built on thee, and for thee, and with thee. to worship thee should be man's chiefest care, to know thy hidden ways his chosen study.
one maxim hast thou, o commerce, great and true and profitable above all others;—one law which thy votaries should never transgress. "buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest." may those divine words be ever found engraved on the hearts of brown, jones, and robinson!
of mr. brown, the senior member of our firm, it is expedient that some short memoir should be given. at the time at which we signed our articles in 185—, mr. brown had just retired from the butter business. it does not appear that in his early youth he ever had the advantage of an apprenticeship, and he seems to have been employed in various branches of trade in the position, if one may say so, of an out-door messenger. in this capacity he entered the service of mr. mccockerell, a retail butter dealer in smithfield. when mr. mccockerell died our mr. brown married his widow, and thus found himself elevated at once to the full-blown dignity of a tradesman. he and his wife lived together for thirty years, and it is believed that in the temper of his lady he found some alloy to the prosperity which he had achieved. the widow mccockerell, in bestowing her person upon mr. brown, had not intended to endow him also with entire dominion over her shop and chattels. she loved to be supreme over her butter tubs, and she loved also to be supreme over her till. brown's views on the rights of women were more in accordance with the law of the land as laid down in the statutes. he opined that a femme couverte could own no property, not even a butter tub;—and hence quarrels arose.
after thirty years of contests such as these mr. brown found himself victorious, made so not by the power of arguments, nor by that of his own right arm, but by the demise of mrs. brown. that amiable lady died, leaving two daughters to lament their loss, and a series of family quarrels, by which she did whatever lay in her power to embarrass her husband, but by which she could not prevent him from becoming absolute owner of the butter business, and of the stock in trade.
the two young ladies had not been brought up to the ways of the counter; and as mr. brown was not himself especially expert at that particular business in which his money was embarked, he prudently thought it expedient to dispose of the shop and goodwill. this he did to advantage; and thus at the age of fifty-five he found himself again on the world with 4,000l. in his pocket.
at this period one of his daughters was no longer under his own charge. sarah jane, the eldest of the two, was already mrs. jones. she had been captivated by the black hair and silk waistcoat of mr. jones, and had gone off with him in opposition to the wishes of both parents. this, she was aware, was not matter of much moment, for the opposition of one was sure to bring about a reconciliation with the other. and such was soon the case. mrs. brown would not see her daughter, or allow jones to put his foot inside the butter-shop. mr. brown consequently took lodgings for them in the neighbourhood, and hence a close alliance sprung up between the future partners.
at this crisis maryanne devoted herself to her mother. it was admitted by all who knew her that maryanne brown had charms. at that time she was about twenty-four years of age, and was certainly a fine young woman. she was, like her mother, a little too much inclined to corpulence, and there may be those who would not allow that her hair was auburn. mr. robinson, however, who was then devotedly attached to her, was of that opinion, and was ready to maintain his views against any man who would dare to say that it was red.
there was a dash about maryanne brown at that period which endeared her greatly to mr. robinson. she was quite above anything mean, and when her papa was left a widower in possession of four thousand pounds, she was one of those who were most anxious to induce him to go to work with spirit in a new business. she was all for advertising; that must be confessed of her, though her subsequent conduct was not all that it should have been. maryanne brown, when tried in the furnace, did not come out pure gold; but this, at any rate, shall be confessed in her behalf, that she had a dash about her, and understood more of the tricks of trade than any other of her family.
mrs. mccockerell died about six months after her eldest daughter's marriage. she was generally called mrs. mccockerell in the neighbourhood of smithfield, though so many years had passed since she had lost her right to that name. indeed, she generally preferred being so styled, as mr. brown was peculiarly averse to it. the name was wormwood to him, and this was quite sufficient to give it melody in her ears.
the good lady died about six months after her daughter's marriage. she was struck with apoplexy, and at that time had not been reconciled to her married daughter. sarah jane, nevertheless, when she heard what had occurred, came over to smithfield. her husband was then in employment as shopman at the large haberdashery house on snow hill, and lived with his wife in lodgings in cowcross street. they were supported nearly entirely by mr. brown, and therefore owed to him at this crisis not only obedience, but dutiful affection.
when, however, sarah jane first heard of her mother's illness, she seemed to think that she couldn't quarrel with her father fast enough. jones had an idea that the old lady's money must go to her daughters, that she had the power of putting it altogether out of the hands of her husband, and that having the power she would certainly exercise it. on this speculation he had married; and as he and his wife fully concurred in their financial views, it was considered expedient by them to lose no time in asserting their right. this they did as soon as the breath was out of the old lady's body.
jones had married sarah jane solely with this view; and, indeed, it was highly improbable that he should have done so on any other consideration. sarah jane was certainly not a handsome girl. her neck was scraggy, her arms lean, and her lips thin; and she resembled neither her father nor her mother. her light brown, sandy hair, which always looked as though it were too thin and too short to adapt itself to any feminine usage, was also not of her family; but her disposition was a compound of the paternal and maternal qualities. she had all her father's painful hesitating timidity, and with it all her mother's grasping spirit. if there ever was an eye that looked sharp after the pence, that could weigh the ounces of a servant's meal at a glance, and foresee and prevent the expenditure of a farthing, it was the eye of sarah jane brown. they say that it is as easy to save a fortune as to make one; and in this way, if in no other, jones may be said to have got a fortune with his wife.
as soon as the breath was out of mrs. mccockerell's body, sarah jane was there, taking inventory of the stock. at that moment poor mr. brown was very much to be pitied. he was a man of feeling, and even if his heart was not touched by his late loss, he knew what was due to decency. it behoved him now as a widower to forget the deceased lady's faults, and to put her under the ground with solemnity. this was done with the strictest propriety; and although he must, of course, have been thinking a good deal at that time as to whether he was to be a beggar or a rich man, nevertheless he conducted himself till after the funeral as though he hadn't a care on his mind, except the loss of mrs. b.
maryanne was as much on the alert as her sister. she had been for the last six months her mother's pet, as sarah jane had been her father's darling. there was some excuse, therefore, for maryanne when she endeavoured to get what she could in the scramble. sarah jane played the part of goneril to the life, and would have denied her father the barest necessaries of existence, had it not ultimately turned out that the property was his own.
maryanne was not well pleased to see her sister returning to the house at such a moment. she, at least, had been dutiful to her mother, or, if undutiful, not openly so. if mrs. mccockerell had the power of leaving her property to whom she pleased, it would be only natural that she should leave it to the daughter who had obeyed her, and not to the daughter who had added to personal disobedience the worse fault of having been on friendly terms with her father.
this, one would have thought, would have been clear at any rate to jones, if not to sarah jane; but they both seemed at this time to have imagined that the eldest child had some right to the inheritance as being the eldest. it will be observed by this and by many other traits in his character that mr. jones had never enjoyed the advantages of an education.
mrs. mccockerell never spoke after the fit first struck her. she never moved an eye, or stirred a limb, or uttered a word. it was a wretched household at that time. the good lady died on a wednesday, and was gathered to her fathers at kensal green cemetery on the tuesday following. during the intervening days mr. jones and sarah jane took on themselves as though they were owners of everything. maryanne did try to prevent the inventory, not wishing it to appear that mrs. jones had any right to meddle; but the task was too congenial to sarah jane's spirit to allow of her giving it over. she revelled in the work. it was a delight to her to search out hidden stores of useless wealth,—to bring forth to the light forgotten hoards of cups and saucers, and to catalogue every rag on the premises.
the house at this time was not a pleasant one. mr. brown, finding that jones, in whom he had trusted, had turned against him, put himself very much into the hands of a young friend of his, named george robinson. who and what george robinson was will be told in the next chapter.
"there are three questions," said robinson, "to be asked and answered.—had mrs. b. the power to make a will? if so, did she make a will? and if so, what was the will she made?"
mr. brown couldn't remember whether or no there had been any signing of papers at his marriage. a good deal of rum and water, he said, had been drunk; and there might have been signing too,—but he didn't remember it.
then there was the search for the will. this was supposed to be in the hands of one brisket, a butcher, for whom it was known mrs. mccockerell had destined the hand of her younger daughter. mr. brisket had been a great favourite with the old lady, and she had often been heard to declare that he should have the wife and money, or the money without the wife. this she said to coerce maryanne into the match.
but brisket, when questioned, declared that he had no will in his possession. at this time he kept aloof from the house and showed no disposition to meddle with the affairs of the family. indeed, all through these trying days he behaved honestly, if not with high feeling. in recounting the doings of brown, jones, and robinson, it will sometimes be necessary to refer to mr. brisket. he shall always be spoken of as an honest man. he did all that in him lay to mar the bright hopes of one who was perhaps not the most insignificant of that firm. he destroyed the matrimonial hopes of mr. robinson, and left him to wither like a blighted trunk on a lone waste. but he was, nevertheless, an honest man, and so much shall be said of him. let us never forget that "an honest man is the noblest work of god."
brisket, when asked, said that he had no will, and that he knew of none. in fact there was no will forthcoming, and there is no doubt that the old woman was cut off before she had made one. it may also be premised that had she made one it would have been invalid, seeing that mr. brown, as husband, was, in fact, the owner of the whole affair.
sarah jane and maryanne, when they found that no document was forthcoming, immediately gave out that they intended to take on themselves the duties of joint heiresses, and an alliance, offensive and defensive, was sworn between them. at this time mr. brown employed a lawyer, and the heiresses, together with jones, employed another. there could be no possible doubt as to mr. brown being the owner of the property, however infatuated on such a subject jones and his wife may have been. no lawyer in london could have thought that the young women had a leg to stand upon. nevertheless, the case was undertaken, and brown found himself in the middle of a lawsuit. sarah jane and maryanne both remained in the house in smithfield to guard the property on their own behalf. mr. brown also remained to guard it on his behalf. the business for a time was closed. this was done in opposition both to mr. brown and maryanne; but mrs. jones could not bring herself to permit the purchase of a firkin of butter, unless the transaction could be made absolutely under her own eyes; and, even then, she would insist on superintending the retail herself and selling every pound, short weight. it was the custom of the trade, she said; and to depart from it would ruin them.
things were in this condition, going from bad to worse, when jones came over one evening, and begged an interview with mr. brown. that interview was the commencement of the partnership. from such small matters do great events arise.
at that interview mr. robinson was present. mr. brown indeed declared that he would have no conversation with jones on business affairs, unless in the presence of a third party. jones represented that if they went on as they were now doing, the property would soon be swallowed up by the lawyers. to this mr. brown, whose forte was not eloquence, tacitly assented with a deep groan.
"then," said jones, "let us divide it into three portions. you shall have one; sarah jane a second; and i will manage the third on behalf of my sister-in-law, maryanne. if we arrange it well, the lawyers will never get a shilling."
the idea of a compromise appeared to mr. brown to be not uncommendable; but a compromise on such terms as those could not of course be listened to. robinson strongly counselled him to nail his colours to the mast, and kick mr. jones downstairs. but mr. brown had not spirit for this.
"one's children is one's children," said he to robinson, when they went apart into the shop to talk the matter over. "the fruit of one's loins, and the prop of one's age."
robinson could not help thinking that sarah jane was about as bad a prop as any that ever a man leant on; but he was too generous to say so. the matter was ended at last by a compromise. "go on with the business together," said robinson; "mr. brown keeping, of course, a preponderating share in his own hands."
"i don't like butter," said jones. "nothing great can be done in butter."
"it is a very safe line," said mr. brown, "if the connection is good."
"the connection must have been a good deal damaged," said robinson, "seeing that the shop has been closed for a fortnight. besides, it's a woman's business;—and you have no woman to manage it," added he, fearing that mrs. jones might be brought in, to the detriment of all concerned.
jones suggested haberdashery; robinson, guided by a strong idea that there is a more absolute opening for the advertising line in haberdashery than in any other business, assented.
"then let it be haberdashery," said mr. brown, with a sigh. and so that was settled.
