Mr. Tovell's widow had doubtless her suitable jointure, and probably a
modest dower-residence to retire to; but Parham Hall had to be vacated,
and Crabbe, having purchased its furniture, at once entered on
possession. The mere re-arrangement of the contents caused many
heartburnings to the spinster-sister, who had known them under the old
_régime_, and the alteration of the hanging of a picture would have made
"Jacky," she averred, to turn in his grave. Crabbe seems, however, to
have shown so much good-feeling and forbearance in the matter that the
old lady, after grimly boasting that she could "screw Crabbe up and down
like a fiddle," was ultimately friendly, and her share of her brother's
estate came in due course to Crabbe and his wife. Moreover, the change
of tenancy at the Hall was anything but satisfactory to the village
generally. Mr. Tovell had been much given to hospitality, and that of a
convivial sort. Such of the neighbours as were of kindred tastes had
been in the habit of "dropping in" of an evening two or three times a
week, when, if a _quorum_ was present, a bowl of punch would be brewed,
and sometimes a second and a third. The substitution for all this of the
quiet and decorous family life of the Crabbes was naturally a hoary blow
and grave discouragement to the village reveller, and contributed to
make Crabbe's life at starting far from happy. His pursuits and
inclinations, literary as well as clerical, made such company
distasteful; and his wife, who had borne him seven children in nine
years, and of these had lost four in infancy, had little strength or
heart for miscellaneous company. But there was compensation for her
husband among the county gentry of the neighbourhood, and notably in the
constant kindness of Dudley North, of Little Glemham Hall, the same
friend who had helped him with money when twelve years before he had
left Aldeburgh, an almost penniless adventurer, to try his fortune in
London. At Mr. North's table Crabbe had once more the opportunity of