Page:Austen Sanditon and other miscellanea.djvu/42

 18 (as Mr. Heywood had been apt to suppose) from any design of entering into Partnership with him; it was merely in consequence of a wish to establish some medical Man at Sanditon, which the nature of the Advertisement induced him to expect to accomplish in Willingden. He was convinced that the advantage of a medical Man at hand would very materially promote the rise and prosperity of the Place—would in fact tend to bring a prodigious influx; nothing else was wanting. He had strong reason to believe that one family had been deterred last year from trying Sanditon on that account, and probably very many more, and his own Sisters, who were sad Invalids, and whom he was very anxious to get to Sanditon this Summer, could hardly be expected to hazard themselves in a place where they could not have immediate medical advice. Upon the whole, Mr. Parker was evidently an amiable family-man, fond of Wife, Children, Brothers and Sisters—and generally kind-hearted. Liberal, gentlemanlike, easy to please; of a sanguine turn of mind, with more Imagination than JudgmentJudgement [sic]. And Mrs. Parker was as evidently a gentle, amiable, sweet tempered Woman, the properest wife in the World for a Man of strong Understanding, but not of capacity to supply the cooler reflection which her own Husband sometimes needed, and so entirely waiting to be guided on every occasion, that whether he were risking his Fortune or spraining his Ankle, she remained equally useless. Sanditon was a second Wife and 4 Children to him, hardly less Dear, and certainly more engrossing. He could talk of it for ever. It had indeed the highest claims; not only those of Birthplace, Property, and Home, it was his Mine, his Lottery, his Speculation and his Hobby Horse; his Occupation, his Hope and his Futurity. He was extremely desirous of drawing his good friends at Willingden thither; and his endeavours in the cause were as grateful and