Pagina 135 di 817

Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature

had been but little assisted by education or society; the

greatest part of his life having been spent under the guidance of

an illiterate and miserly father; and though he belonged to one

of the universities, he had merely kept the necessary terms

without forming at it any useful acquaintance. The subjection in

which his father had brought him up had given him originally

great humility of manner; but it was now a good deal counteracted

by the self-conceit of a weak head, living in retirement, and the

consequential feelings of early and unexpected prosperity.