Beginning Entity Framework Core 2.

0: Database
Access from .NET - Work directly with data
through domain-specific objects and methods 1st
Edition Derek J. Rouleau download
https://textbookfull.com/product/beginning-entity-framework-
core-2-0-database-access-from-net-work-directly-with-data-
through-domain-specific-objects-and-methods-1st-edition-derek-j-
rouleau/

Download more ebook from https://textbookfull.com

We believe these products will be a great fit for you. Click
the link to download now, or visit textbookfull.com
to discover even more!

Modern Data Access with Entity Framework Core: Database

Programming Techniques for .NET, .NET Core, UWP, and
Xamarin with C# 1st Edition Holger Schwichtenberg

https://textbookfull.com/product/modern-data-access-with-entity-
framework-core-database-programming-techniques-for-net-net-core-
uwp-and-xamarin-with-c-1st-edition-holger-schwichtenberg/

Modern Data Access with Entity Framework Core: Database

Programming Techniques for . NET, . NET Core, UWP, and
Xamarin with C# 1st Edition Holger Schwichtenberg

https://textbookfull.com/product/modern-data-access-with-entity-
framework-core-database-programming-techniques-for-net-net-core-
uwp-and-xamarin-with-c-1st-edition-holger-schwichtenberg-2/

Beginning Entity Framework Core 5: From Novice to

Professional 1st Edition Eric Vogel

https://textbookfull.com/product/beginning-entity-framework-
core-5-from-novice-to-professional-1st-edition-eric-vogel/

C 8 0 and NET Core 3 0 Modern Cross Platform

Development Build applications with C NET Core Entity
Framework Core ASP NET Core and ML NET using Visual
Studio Code 4th Edition Mark J. Price
https://textbookfull.com/product/c-8-0-and-net-core-3-0-modern-
cross-platform-development-build-applications-with-c-net-core-
entity-framework-core-asp-net-core-and-ml-net-using-visual-
Practical Entity Framework: Database Access for
Enterprise Applications 1st Edition Brian L. Gorman

https://textbookfull.com/product/practical-entity-framework-
database-access-for-enterprise-applications-1st-edition-brian-l-
gorman/

Pro Entity Framework Core 2 for ASP.NET Core MVC Adam

Freeman

https://textbookfull.com/product/pro-entity-framework-core-2-for-
asp-net-core-mvc-adam-freeman/

Beginning Database Programming Using ASP NET Core 3

With MVC Razor Pages Web API jQuery Angular SQL Server
and NoSQL 1st Edition Bipin Joshi

https://textbookfull.com/product/beginning-database-programming-
using-asp-net-core-3-with-mvc-razor-pages-web-api-jquery-angular-
sql-server-and-nosql-1st-edition-bipin-joshi/

Modern Web Development with ASP NET Core 3 An end to

end guide covering the latest features of Visual Studio
2019 Blazor and Entity Framework 2nd Edition Ricardo
Peres
https://textbookfull.com/product/modern-web-development-with-asp-
net-core-3-an-end-to-end-guide-covering-the-latest-features-of-
visual-studio-2019-blazor-and-entity-framework-2nd-edition-
ricardo-peres/

Pro C# 7 with .NET and .NET Core Andrew Troelsen

https://textbookfull.com/product/pro-c-7-with-net-and-net-core-
andrew-troelsen/
Beginning
Entity Framework
Core 2.0
Database Access from .NET
—
Work directly with data through
domain-specific objects and methods
—
Derek J. Rouleau
 Beginning Entity
Framework Core 2.0
Database Access from .NET

Derek J. Rouleau
Beginning Entity Framework Core 2.0
Derek J. Rouleau
East Baldwin, Maine, USA

ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-3374-0 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-3375-7

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3375-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018935922

Copyright © 2018 by Derek J. Rouleau

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the
material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with
every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an
editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the
trademark.
The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not
identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to
proprietary rights.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication,
neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or
omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein.
Managing Director, Apress Media LLC: Welmoed Spahr
Acquisitions Editor: Jonathan Gennick
Development Editor: Laura Berendson
Coordinating Editor: Jill Balzano
Cover designed by eStudioCalamar
Cover image designed by Freepik (www.freepik.com)
Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media New York, 233 Spring Street,
6th Floor, New York, NY 10013. Phone 1-800-SPRINGER, fax (201) 348-4505, e-mail orders-ny@springer-
sbm.com, or visit www.springeronline.com. Apress Media, LLC is a California LLC and the sole member
(owner) is Springer Science + Business Media Finance Inc (SSBM Finance Inc). SSBM Finance Inc is a
Delaware corporation.
For information on translations, please e-mail [email protected], or visit http://www.apress.com/
rights-permissions.
Apress titles may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. eBook versions and
licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Print and eBook Bulk Sales
web page at http://www.apress.com/bulk-sales.
Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to
readers on GitHub via the book's product page, located at www.apress.com/9781484233740. For more
detailed information, please visit http://www.apress.com/source-code.
Printed on acid-free paper
To my best friend Chris and his father Paul Champagne.
If it wasn’t for you two, I may have never gotten
interested in computer science.
Table of Contents
About the Author����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ix

About the Technical Reviewer��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi

Acknowledgments������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xiii

Introduction�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xv

Chapter 1: Getting Started���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1

What Is .NET Core������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
Setting Up Your Application����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 2
Creating the Database and Tables (Entities)��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3
Creating the Database����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 19
Adding Data to a Table���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 21
Retrieving Data from a Database and Displaying It�������������������������������������������������������������������� 31
Deleting Data from a Database��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 33
Deleting a Single Record������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 33
Deleting Multiple Records����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 40
Updating Data in a Table������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 42
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 45

Chapter 2: Working with Multiple Tables���������������������������������������������������������������� 49

Adding Data to a Table That Has Foreign Keys��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 50
Retrieving Data from Multiple Tables������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 75
Updating Tables��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 81
Updating Multiple Records���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 91
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 95

v
Table of Contents

Chapter 3: Stepping Beyond the Basics������������������������������������������������������������������ 97

Specifying Fields������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 98
Joins����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 101
Left Outer Join��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 102
Right Outer Join������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 104
Cross Join���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 109
Inner Join: Method Syntax��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 110
Grouping����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 112
Query Syntax����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 112
Method Syntax��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 114
Logical Operators���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 115
Logical OR��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 119
Paging and Filtering Results����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 121
Concurrency������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 125
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 130

Chapter 4: Data Validation and POCOs������������������������������������������������������������������ 133

Validation Using DataAnnotations��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 134
Using Recursion������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 143
POCOs��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 153
Helper Classes��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 156
Validating Using a Class������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 168
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 177

Chapter 5: Stored Procedures, Table Design, and Modifications�������������������������� 179

Stored Procedures�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 179
Calling a Stored Procedure with One Parameter����������������������������������������������������������������� 185
Inserting Into Multiple Tables���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 189
Table and Entity Design������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 192
Making Changes to the Table���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 194
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 201

vi
 Table of Contents

Chapter 6: ASP.NET MVC and EF Core 2.0������������������������������������������������������������� 203

Setting Up the Application�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 204
Database-First Development���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 207
Creating Controllers and Views������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 209
Page Navigation������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 214
The Home Page and Adding an Image�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 216
Error Handling��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 218
Displaying Events by Location��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 224
Sorting Results�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 228
ASP.NET MVC Basics����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 230
Strongly Typed Views����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 232
Why Use MVC?��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 234
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 235

Chapter 7: Finishing Our ASP.NET MVC .NET Core 2.0 Project������������������������������ 237
Data Validation�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 237
Using a Regular Expression to Validate a Property�������������������������������������������������������������� 241
Validating the Rest of Our Models��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 243
Adding Column Sorting to Results�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 252
Adding Search Capabilities������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 256
Adding Pagination: Version 1���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 262
Adding Paging: Version 2���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 270
Grouping Results����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 275
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 287

Chapter 8: Wrap Up and Where to Go Next����������������������������������������������������������� 289

Not Just C# Anymore���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 289
Cross Platform�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 295
Unit Testing������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 297
More on LINQ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 312
SQL Server Profiler�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 315

vii
Table of Contents

Change Tracking����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 316

Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 321

Appendix A: Database Script for Chapter 6���������������������������������������������������������� 323

Database Diagrams������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 329

Index��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 333

viii
About the Author
Derek J. Rouleau is a Computer and Information Systems Manager for a small company
in the greater Portland, Maine area. He has been working with computers since the mid
1990s thanks to a friend’s father, who got him interested in hardware and the workings
of the operating system. Derek started professionally programming while working for
an educational publishing and software company in the Quality Assurance department.
He has been using Visual Basic since VB 6 and C# since 2010. Although he now manages
the department where he works, Derek still makes time each week to write code and
research new and exciting technologies. When he’s not working, he is involved with Off
Track Standardbreds, and he competes in Dressage.

ix
About the Technical Reviewer
Doug Holland is a Technical Evangelist at Microsoft. Before joining Microsoft in 2010,
he was awarded the Microsoft MVP (C#) and Intel Black Belt Developer awards. He has
presented sessions at the Microsoft BUILD conference and frequently speaks at other
events about Microsoft technologies, from cloud computing to mixed reality. He holds a
Master’s Degree in Software Engineering from Oxford University, as well as certifications
from Microsoft and Unity Technologies. You can follow him on Twitter @dougholland or
connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougholland/.

xi
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Jonathan Gennick and Jill Balzano for having the faith in me and
for helping me bring this book to you. If it weren’t for them and all the great people at
Apress, this would not have been possible.
I also need to thank my Uncle “Doc” and Don Rahmlow of TC2 Consulting Services for
reminding me that we always need to keep trying to learn new things and for pushing me
to keep improving myself. As we get along in our careers, we tend to stick with what we
know, but in this industry you need to keep up with the ever-changing environment, which
isn’t always easy.

xiii
Introduction
We decided to try a different approach at writing a technical book, and that is to convey
the information through examples, rather than long paragraphs of text you are only
going to forget later. The hope is that this will give you a good foundation to start your
Entity Framework Core 2.0 journey and that, when you complete the book and start
working on your own projects, you’ll have a good understanding of the material.
Even though this is a book on Entity Framework Core 2.0, we are going to cover some
C# topics that you might not be familiar with, so I hope you find those parts helpful.
In the second part of this book, we cover some aspects of ASP.NET MVC Core. If you
are interested in that topic, Apress has some very good books on the subject. I highly
recommend that you look into them. Although you will have a working web application
by the end, it will behoove you to do some more reading on the subject.

Who This Book Is For

This book is for someone who has never used Entity Framework Core and is looking
for a new way to access databases. Although we focus on SQL Server in this book,
according to Microsoft, it is possible to connect to MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MyCAT as
well. (However, there is no Oracle support for EF Core yet, but hopefully there will be in
the future.) If you have not programmed in any language before, you may have a little
bit of trouble, as we don’t explain the basics of C# or ASP.NET. You may not understand
or might miss some key concepts. If you are coming over from Visual Basic, you will
probably do fine, although you need to remember to add those pesky semicolons at the
end of your code lines.
Although we do use quite a bit of LINQ in this book, it is not required that you have
any background in LINQ prior to running any of the examples. It would be wise to do
some follow-up reading on LINQ after you complete this book, but you should be able to
piece together most of what you need to do after completing these examples. If you get
stuck, an Internet search will give you a better idea of what you are looking at so you can
make a better decision as to what to use.

xv
Introduction

Requirements
When writing this book, I did everything in Visual Studio 2017 Preview and SQL Server
2014. The free version of SQL Server and Visual Studio works with all the examples in
this book. Since this is a beginner book, I thought it best to use the tools that someone
just starting might be using. You can use any version of SQL Server 2008 or newer with
Entity Framework Core 2.0; however, you will run into issues when you try to do the
paging examples if you have an older version of SQL Server, so try to use at least version
2014 if at all possible.
Although you do create a web application in the second section of this book, it is not
required that you have a web server. You need one only if you want to deploy the project
or one like it. Otherwise, you can run and test everything through Visual Studio.

Notes About NuGet Packages

At the time of the writing of this book, some of the packages that we use were still only
available in preview1-final or preview2-final. If you find that you are getting errors with
your application, it may be due to a mixture of the preview and the release versions. It’s
better to either use all preview or all release versions with your application, as that seems
to be the safest. When you use the preview packages, sometimes you will get warnings
in which it’s trying to find the best match. Normally those warnings won’t cause you any
problems when you run your code and are more of an annoyance than anything.

Before We Begin
One final note before we begin. I generally try to live my programming life by two of
my favorite quotes. The first is “never remember anything you can look up” which I’m
pretty sure is paraphrased from Albert Einstein. Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t
remember how to use an int without having to look it up online or in a book. But for
those things that you hardly ever do, don’t take the time to commit them to memory.
The second is “frustration begins where knowledge ends”. This quote I know for sure is
from Clinton Anderson. This is by far the hardest to implement. If you are getting frustrated

xvi
 Introduction

with something, take a step back and try to figure out why. If you are honest with
yourself, it’s probably because you have run out of knowledge on the subject. Try to
figure out where the problem is and which part you are missing. Then learn about it and
try again. By doing this, you will likely have more success than just plugging away and
blindly trying different things.

xvii
CHAPTER 1

Getting Started
We are going to jump right into an example, as I think that is the best way to learn
something. As we cover new topics, we explain them as we work on them. This is better
than a general overview at the start of the chapter or section, because that won’t mean
much to you while you are reading it. I personally dislike it when books show you the
wrong way of doing something and then show you how to do it “correctly” after you just
spent five minutes typing in the wrong way, so I’m not going to do that to you. However,
I do explain why we are doing something and explain what would be wrong. Since this is
a “getting started” type of book, all the examples work as written, although they may not
be the best way of getting it done. As you get more comfortable with this technology and
as your skills grow, you’ll come up with your own way of doing things. I’m just here to
help you started down the path to greatness.
For those of you who are like me and skipped the Introduction, you should be using
the latest build of Visual Studio 2017 and at least .NET Framework 4.6.1. At the time of
this writing, the latest build of Visual Studio was 15.3.3 with the .NET Framework build
4.7.02046. These build numbers can be found in the Visual Studio About window.

What Is .NET Core

Let’s take a quick moment to cover something that some of you may be wondering—
what is the difference between .NET and .NET Core? First off, .NET Core is cross
platform, so if you want to run an application on Windows, Linux, or Mac, .NET Core is
your tool. Due to its compact nature, .NET Core also gives better performance. The other
nice thing is that you can always start with .NET Core and, if you find you need more
features, you can switch to the full version of the .NET Framework. This is especially true
if you are writing a service.

1
© Derek J. Rouleau 2018
D. J. Rouleau, Beginning Entity Framework Core 2.0, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3375-7_1
Chapter 1 Getting Started

The application created here is used throughout the first section of this book and
each section builds off the last, so you really can’t skip around. With that being said, let’s
get started!

Setting Up Your Application

Follow these steps to set up the application:
Step 1: Create a new Visual C# Console App (.NET Core) Application in Visual studio
called ComputerInventory. Again, make sure you are using at least .NET Framework 4.6.1
for your application.
Step 2: Open the NuGet package browser by clicking on Project ➤ Manage NuGet
Packages (see Figure 1-1).

Figure 1-1. Location of NuGet package manager

2
 Chapter 1 Getting Started

Step 3: Add the following packages:

• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkcore.SqlServer v2.0.0

• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkcore.Tools v2.0.0

• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkcore.SqlServer.Design v2.0.0

Note As of the writing of this book, only the preview packages were available.
If you can’t find version 2.0.0, check the preview packages.

Figure 1-2 shows what it looks like when you search for a package. Once you have
selected the package you want to install, just click on the Install button to the right and
click I Accept for any prompts that come up.

Figure 1-2. NuGet package manager

That completes the basic setup of your application. Feel free to save your work before
you continue.

Creating the Database and Tables (Entities)

If you have used Entity Framework 6.x or one of the other versions in the past, this
next part will be a little new to you (or perhaps not). We are going to start with a ­code-­
first Entity Framework type of application, as that is somewhat easier when using EF
3
Chapter 1 Getting Started

Core. Later in the book, we use an application that is database-first, so you can see the
difference. If you were to create an application based on an existing database, database-­
first is the choice you’d probably use.
We are going to follow the model that is generally used by most people who design
websites, so we need to create two folders in our application—Models and Data. If you
have never done this before, it’s simple. Just right-click on the ComputerInventory
project in the Solution Explorer and select Add and then New Folder. Then change the
name to Models. See Figure 1-3. Each of our eventual tables will have a corresponding
class file in the Models folder. I’ll take you step by step through the first one and then you
should be able to create the remaining ones on your own (you just change the name of
the class).

Figure 1-3. Adding a new folder

4
 Chapter 1 Getting Started

Let’s create our first class file. Right-click on the Models folder, select Add, and
then select Class (should be at the bottom of the list). Make sure that Class is selected
and change the name to OperatingSys.cs. Figure 1-4 shows you what it should look
like when you are creating the new class file. We are using OperatingSys rather than
OperatingSystem, as OperatingSystem is a reserved type in C# and we’d have to put
Models.OperatingSystem in our code each time we wanted to use it.

Figure 1-4. Creating a new class

5
Chapter 1 Getting Started

Once you click on Add, OperatingSys.cs will be created and load for you to start
working on it. Listing 1-1 shows the code for this new class.

Listing 1-1. OperatingSys.cs After You Changed It

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace ComputerInventory.Models {
   public partial class OperatingSys {
      public OperatingSys() {
         Machine = new HashSet<Machine>();
      }

      public int OperatingSysId { get; set; }

      public string Name { get; set; }
      public bool StillSupported { get; set; }

      public ICollection<Machine> Machine { get; set; }

   }
}

The first thing you need to remember is to make the class public so it will be
accessible throughout the application. What we have done here is created the basis
for the first table in that database, which we will call OperatingSys. In your table, it’s a
good idea to have an ID field that is normally a primary key, and we have done that with
OperatingSysID. You should have two errors, both telling you the same thing, that the
type or namespace name Machine could not be found. That is correct, as you haven’t
added them yet, so you can ignore this for now.
Two things should hopefully jump out at you. We have created a constructor for our
class and within that, we have created a new HashSet<Machine> called Machine. You
don’t need to use a HashSet<T> here, but you do need to use a collection and since that is
the default for EF Core we are going to stick with it for our examples.
If you are more familiar with EF Core and have the time, I highly recommend looking
at the other set types as there are cases in which using a HashSet isn’t needed and there is
a better fit. We then have our ICollection<Machine>, which provides an interface to the
Machine table. After all, one OS could have multiple machines, but one machine generally
only has one OS (we aren’t going to handle multi-boot systems in this simple example).

6
 Chapter 1 Getting Started

For a simple class like this, that is all there is to it. We will set up all of our tables that
don’t have any linking via foreign keys first.
Now create the next class and call it MachineType. Listing 1-2 shows all the code you
need to create the class.

Listing 1-2. MachineType.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace ComputerInventory.Models {
   public partial class MachineType {
      public MachineType() {
         Machine = new HashSet<Machine>();
      }

      public int MachineTypeId { get; set; }

      public string Description { get; set; }

      public ICollection<Machine> Machine { get; set; }

   }
}

As you can see, this is very similar to the OperatingSys class. We have one basic class
left, the WarrantyProvider class. Its code is shown in Listing 1-3.

Listing 1-3. WarrantyProvider.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace ComputerInventory.Models {
   public partial class WarrantyProvider {
      public WarrantyProvider() {
         MachineWarranty = new HashSet<MachineWarranty>();
      }

7
Chapter 1 Getting Started

      public int WarrantyProviderId { get; set; }

      public string ProviderName { get; set; }
      public int? SupportExtension { get; set; }
      public string SupportNumber { get; set; }

      public ICollection<MachineWarranty> MachineWarranty { get; set; }

   }
}

There are a couple of things with this class that you need to be aware of. First of
all, the SupportNumber property is a string. This was done so that we can limit the
number of characters to 10 (this is the number of digits that United States telephone
numbers have; if you need to add a number from another country, this may need to be
increased). We will take care of the field length in a little bit. SupportExtension is not
required, as you could have a direct number to support and thus no value here, so we
add the question mark after int to make it nullable (int?). You should have two new
errors about MachineWarranty, but they will go away soon, so you can ignore those
as well. If you were going to put this into production, you could increase the length of
the ProviderName, as you may have a support contract with a company such as “Bob’s
Computer Repair Service of Northern California,” which would not fit into a 30-character
field.
Now for the first class that has a foreign key in it. Listing 1-4 shows the code for
Machine.cs, which will be the “base class” for most of what you’ll be working on in this
project.

Listing 1-4. Machine.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace ComputerInventory.Models {
   public partial class Machine {
      public Machine() {
         SupportTicket = new HashSet<SupportTicket>();
      }

8
 Chapter 1 Getting Started

      public int MachineId { get; set; }

      public string Name { get; set; }
      public string GeneralRole { get; set; }
      public string InstalledRoles { get; set; }
      public int OperatingSysId { get; set; }
      public int MachineTypeId { get; set; }

      public MachineType MachineType { get; set; }

      public OperatingSys OperatingSys { get; set; }
      public ICollection<SupportTicket> SupportTicket { get; set; }
   }
}

The first three quarters of this code contains all things that you have already seen,
except for the new error for SupportTicket. Then we get to public int OperatingSysId
{ get; set; }. In and of itself, there isn’t anything special about it, until you realize that
we created a property called OperatingSysId in the OperatingSys class. You then see
the line public OperatingSys OperatingSys { get; set; } at the bottom, and this
is what makes all the difference. Hopefully up until now, you have been wondering why
we haven’t specified which field is the primary key. That is because Entity Framework
Core is nice enough to do it if it’s obvious enough, plus we’ll be doing a bit more with
our database fields when we set up our DBContext class, but we are getting ahead of
ourselves. As you’ll see later, specifying the primary key is good practice for making your
code easier to read and for maintainability purposes. The first property we created in
each class so far has the name ID in it. Well, the great folks at Microsoft added logic that
gives EF the ability to pick the most logical choice for the key.
Now that makes sense for the first part, but what about for OperatingSysId? How
is it to know that we want that to be a foreign key? Well, that second line tells EF that we
are going to be adding a reference to the OperatingSys class/table and it assumes that
you want to link it with the OperatingSysId field to create the foreign key. I strongly
encourage you to look into this further if you aren’t going to create your tables in SQL
Server Management Studio or another DBMS, because a good table structure is like a
foundation; the stronger it is, the better it will perform/hold up.

9
Chapter 1 Getting Started

The code for the three remaining tables you need to create are shown in Listings 1-5,
1-6, and 1-7.

Listing 1-5. MachineWarranty.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace ComputerInventory.Models {
   public partial class MachineWarranty {
      public int MachineWarrantyId { get; set; }
      public string ServiceTag { get; set; }
      public DateTime WarrantyExpiration { get; set; }
      public int MachineId { get; set; }
      public int WarrantyProviderId { get; set; }

      public WarrantyProvider WarrantyProvider { get; set; }

    }
}

Listing 1-6. SupportTicket.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace ComputerInventory.Models {
   public partial class SupportTicket {
      public SupportTicket() {
         SupportLog = new HashSet<SupportLog>();
      }

      public int SupportTicketId { get; set; }

      public DateTime DateReported { get; set; }
      public DateTime? DateResolved { get; set; }
      public string IssueDescription { get; set; }
      public string IssueDetail { get; set; }
      public string TicketOpenedBy { get; set; }
      public int MachineId { get; set; }

10
 Chapter 1 Getting Started

      public Machine Machine { get; set; }

      public ICollection<SupportLog> SupportLog { get; set; }
   }
}

Listing 1-7. SupportLog.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace ComputerInventory.Models {
   public partial class SupportLog {
      public int SupportLogId { get; set; }
      public DateTime SupportLogEntryDate { get; set; }
      public string SupportLogEntry { get; set; }
      public string SupportLogUpdatedBy { get; set; }
      public int SupportTicketId { get; set; }

      public SupportTicket SupportTicket { get; set; }

   }
}

Now you have what you need to start creating the seven tables used in this first section
of the book. As I mentioned, each class created in the Models folder represents a table in
the database. The next thing we need to do is set up our DBContext, which is the Grand
Poobah of Entity Framework and Entity Framework Core. It’s the connection between
your entity classes and the database. Without this primary class, we wouldn’t have Entity
Framework and we’d be back to setting up database connections using the SQL client and
creating instances of the DataSet and DataTables classes while putting things in memory
and using lots of big SQL queries. You’ll see better how great it is once you use it.
Since we are talking about DBContext, let’s create a Context class so we can get to
writing some code to interact with our database that much quicker. Remember that
folder we created called Data? That is where we are going to put our class, so create a
new class in the Data folder and call it MachineContext.cs. Listing 1-8 shows the code
we’ll use for MachineContext.cs. You could have called this class anything you wanted
and you’ll want to give it a name that makes sense to you when you create your own
projects. Okay, this is going to be a big one, so get ready.

11
Chapter 1 Getting Started

Listing 1-8. MachineContext.cs

using System;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using ComputerInventory.Models;

namespace ComputerInventory.Data {
   class MachineContext : DbContext {
      public virtual DbSet<Machine> Machine { get; set; }
      public virtual DbSet<MachineType> MachineType { get; set; }
      public virtual DbSet<MachineWarranty> MachineWarranty { get; set; }
      public virtual DbSet<OperatingSys> OperatingSys { get; set; }
      public virtual DbSet<SupportLog> SupportLog { get; set; }
      public virtual DbSet<SupportTicket> SupportTicket { get; set; }
      public virtual DbSet<WarrantyProvider> WarrantyProvider { get; set; }

      protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder

optionsBuilder) {
      if (!optionsBuilder.IsConfigured) {

         
optionsBuilder.UseSqlServer(@"Server=ServerName;Database=BegEFCore2;
Trusted_Connection=false;User ID=sa;Password= ");
      }
   }

   protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder) {

      modelBuilder.Entity<Machine>(entity => {
      entity.Property(e => e.MachineId).HasColumnName("MachineID");

      entity.Property(e => e.GeneralRole)

         .IsRequired()
         .HasMaxLength(25)
         .IsUnicode(false);

      entity.Property(e => e.InstalledRoles)

         .IsRequired()
         .HasMaxLength(50)
         .IsUnicode(false);

12
 Chapter 1 Getting Started

      entity.Property(e => e.MachineTypeId).HasColumnName("MachineTypeID");

      entity.Property(e => e.Name)

         .IsRequired()
         .HasMaxLength(25)
         .IsUnicode(false);

      entity.Property(e => e.OperatingSysId).HasColumnName("OperatingSysID");

      entity.HasOne(d => d.MachineType)

         .WithMany(p => p.Machine)
         .HasForeignKey(d => d.MachineTypeId)
         .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.ClientSetNull)
         .HasConstraintName("FK_MachineType");

      entity.HasOne(d => d.OperatingSys)

         .WithMany(p => p.Machine)
         .HasForeignKey(d => d.OperatingSysId)
         .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.ClientSetNull)
         .HasConstraintName("FK_OperatingSys");
      });

      modelBuilder.Entity<MachineType>(entity => {
         entity.Property(e => e.MachineTypeId).HasColumnName("MachineTypeID");

         entity.Property(e => e.Description)

            .HasMaxLength(15)
            .IsUnicode(false);
         });

         modelBuilder.Entity<MachineWarranty>(entity => {
            entity.Property(e => e.MachineWarrantyId).HasColumnName
("MachineWarrantyID");

            entity.Property(e => e.MachineId).HasColumnName("MachineID");

            entity.Property(e => e.ServiceTag)

               .IsRequired()

13
Chapter 1 Getting Started

               .HasMaxLength(20)
               .IsUnicode(false);

             entity.Property(e => e.WarrantyExpiration).HasColumnType("date");

             entity.Property(e => e.WarrantyProviderId).HasColumnName

("WarrantyProviderID");

             entity.HasOne(d => d.WarrantyProvider)

                .WithMany(p => p.MachineWarranty)
                .HasForeignKey(d => d.WarrantyProviderId)
                .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.ClientSetNull)
                .HasConstraintName("FK_WarrantyProvider");
         });

         modelBuilder.Entity<OperatingSys>(entity => {
            entity.Property(e => e.OperatingSysId).HasColumnName
("OperatingSysID");

            entity.Property(e => e.Name)

               .IsRequired()
               .HasMaxLength(35)
               .IsUnicode(false);
         });

         modelBuilder.Entity<SupportLog>(entity => {
            entity.Property(e => e.SupportLogId).HasColumnName("SupportLogID");

            entity.Property(e => e.SupportLogEntry)

               .IsRequired()
               .IsUnicode(false);

            entity.Property(e => e.SupportLogEntryDate).HasColumnType("date");

                entity.Property(e => e.SupportLogUpdatedBy)

                    .IsRequired()
                    .HasMaxLength(50)
                    .IsUnicode(false);

14
 Chapter 1 Getting Started

                entity.Property(e => e.SupportTicketId).HasColumnName

("SupportTicketID");

                entity.HasOne(d => d.SupportTicket)

                   .WithMany(p => p.SupportLog)
                   .HasForeignKey(d => d.SupportTicketId)
                   .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.ClientSetNull)
                   .HasConstraintName("FK_SupportTicket");
          });

          modelBuilder.Entity<SupportTicket>(entity => {
             entity.Property(e => ­e.SupportTicketId).HasColumnName
("SupportTicketID");

             entity.Property(e => e.DateReported).HasColumnType("date");

             entity.Property(e => e.DateResolved).HasColumnType("date");

             entity.Property(e => e.IssueDescription)

                .IsRequired()
                .HasMaxLength(150)
                .IsUnicode(false);

             entity.Property(e => e.IssueDetail).IsUnicode(false);

                entity.Property(e => e.MachineId).HasColumnName("MachineID");

             entity.Property(e => e.TicketOpenedBy)

                .IsRequired()
                .HasMaxLength(50)
                .IsUnicode(false);

             entity.HasOne(d => d.Machine)

                .WithMany(p => p.SupportTicket)
                .HasForeignKey(d => d.MachineId)
                .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.ClientSetNull)
                .HasConstraintName("FK_Machine");
         });

15
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
"The letter, then, relates to the Signorina. She is well?"
"Yes, she is well now. She is in our native Italy."
Jackeymo raised his eyes involuntarily toward the orange-trees, and
the morning breeze swept by and bore to him the odor of their
blossoms.
"Those are sweet even here, with care," said he, pointing to the
trees. "I think I have said that before to the Padrone."
But Riccabocca was now looking again at the letter, and did not
notice either the gesture or the remark of his servant.
"My aunt is no more!" said he, after a pause.
"We will pray for her soul!" answered Jackeymo, solemnly. "But she
was very old, and had been a long time ailing. Let it not grieve the
Padrone too keenly: at that age, and with those infirmities, death
comes as a friend."
"Peace be to her dust!" returned the Italian. "If she had her faults,
be they now forgotten forever; and in the hour of my danger and
distress, she sheltered my infant! That shelter is destroyed. This
letter is from the priest, her confessor. You know that she had
nothing at her own disposal to bequeath to my child, and her
property passes to the male heir—mine enemy."
"Traitor!" muttered Jackeymo; and his right hand seemed to feel for
the weapon which the Italians of lower rank often openly wear in
their girdles.
"The priest," resumed Riccabocca, calmly, "has rightly judged in
removing my child as a guest from the house in which my enemy
enters as lord."
"And where is the Signorina?"
"With that poor priest. See, Giacomo—here, here—this is her
handwriting at the end of the letter—the first lines she ever yet
traced to me."
Jackeymo took off his hat, and looked reverently on the large
characters of a child's writing. But large as they were, they seemed
indistinct, for the paper was blistered with the child's tears; and on
the place where they had not fallen, there was a round fresh moist
stain of the tear that had dropped from the lids of the father.
Riccabocca renewed, "The priest recommends a convent."
"To the devil with the priest!" cried the servant; then, crossing
himself rapidly, he added, "I did not mean that, Monsignore San
Giacomo—forgive me! But your Excellency[5] does not think of
making a nun of his only child!"
"And yet why not?" said Riccabocca, mournfully; "what can I give
her in the world? Is the land of the stranger a better refuge than the
home of peace in her native clime?"
"In the land of the stranger beats her father's heart!"
"And if that beat were stilled, what then? Ill fares the life that a
single death can bereave of all. In a convent at least (and the
priest's influence can obtain her that asylum among her equals and
amidst her sex) she is safe from trial and from penury—to her
grave."
"Penury! Just see how rich we shall be when we take those fields at
Michaelmas."
"Pazzie!" (follies) said Riccabocca, listlessly. "Are these suns more
serene than ours, or the soil more fertile? Yet in our own Italy, saith
the proverb, 'he who sows land reaps more care than corn.' It were
different," continued the father, after a pause, and in a more
irresolute tone, "if I had some independence, however small, to
count on—nay, if among all my tribe of dainty relatives there were
but one female who would accompany Violante to the exile's hearth
—Ishmael had his Hagar. But how can we two rough-bearded men
provide for all the nameless wants and cares of a frail female child?
And she has been so delicately reared—the woman-child needs the
fostering hand and tender eye of a woman."
"And with a word," said Jackeymo, resolutely, "the Padrone might
secure to his child all that he needs, to save her from the sepulchre
of a convent; and ere the autumn leaves fall, she might be sitting on
his knee. Padrone, do not think that you can conceal from me the
truth, that you love your child better than all things in the world—
now the Patria is as dead to you as the dust of your fathers—and
your heart-strings would crack with the effort to tear her from them,
and consign her to a convent. Padrone, never again to hear her
voice—never again to see her face! Those little arms that twined
round your neck that dark night, when we fled fast for life and
freedom, and you said, as you felt their clasp, 'Friend, all is not yet
lost!'"
"Giacomo!" exclaimed the father, reproachfully, and his voice seemed
to choke him. Riccabocca turned away, and walked restlessly to and
fro the terrace; then, lifting his arms with a wild gesture as he still
continued his long, irregular strides, he muttered, "yes, heaven is my
witness that I could have borne reverse and banishment without a
murmur, had I permitted myself that young partner in exile and
privation. Heaven is my witness that, if I hesitate now, it is because I
would not listen to my own selfish heart. Yet never, never to see her
again—my child! And it was but as the infant that I beheld her! O
friend, friend—" (and, stopping short with a burst of uncontrollable
emotion, he bowed his head upon his servant's shoulder;) "thou
knowest what I have endured and suffered at my hearth, as in my
country; the wrong, the perfidy, the—the—" His voice again failed
him; he clung to his servant's breast, and his whole frame shook.
"But your child, the innocent one—think now only of her!" faltered
Giacomo, struggling with his own sobs.
"True, only of her," replied the exile, raising his face—"only of her.
Put aside thy thoughts for myself, friend—counsel me. If I were to
send for Violante, and if, transplanted to these keen airs, she
drooped and died—look, look—the priest says that she needs such
tender care; or if I myself were summoned from the world, to leave
her in it alone, friendless, homeless, breadless perhaps, at the age
of woman's sharpest trial against temptation; would she not live to
mourn the cruel egotism that closed on her infant innocence the
gates of the House of God?"
Giacomo was appalled by this appeal; and indeed Riccabocca had
never before thus reverently spoken of the cloister. In his hours of
philosophy, he was wont to sneer at monks and nuns, priesthood
and superstition. But now, in that hour of emotion, the Old Religion
reclaimed her empire; and the skeptical, world-wise man, thinking
only of his child, spoke and felt with a child's simple faith.

CHAPTER XX.
"But again, I say," murmured Jackeymo, scarce audibly, and after a
long silence, "if the Padrone would make up his mind—to marry!"
He expected that his master would start up in his customary
indignation at such a suggestion—nay, he might not have been sorry
so to have changed the current of feeling; but the poor Italian only
winced slightly, and mildly withdrawing himself from his servant's
supporting arm, again paced the terrace, but this time quietly and in
silence. A quarter of an hour thus passed. "Give me the pipe," said P.
Riccabocca, passing into the Belvidere.
Jackeymo again struck the spark, and, wonderfully relieved at the
Padrone's return to his usual adviser, mentally besought his sainted
namesake to bestow a double portion of soothing wisdom on the
benignant influences of the weed.

CHAPTER XXI.
Dr. Riccabocca had been some little time in the solitude of the
Belvidere, when Lenny Fairfield, not knowing that his employer was
therein, entered to lay down a book which the Doctor had lent him,
with injunctions to leave on a certain table when done with.
Riccabocca looked up at the sound of the young peasant's step.
"I beg your honor's pardon—I did not know—"
"Never mind; lay the book there. I wish to speak with you. You look
well, my child; this air agrees with you as well as that of
Hazeldean?"
"Oh, yes, sir."
"Yet it is higher ground, more exposed?"
"That can hardly be, sir," said Lenny; "there are many plants grow
here which don't flourish at the Squire's. The hill yonder keeps off
the east wind, and the place lays to the south."
"Lies, not lays, Lenny. What are the principal complaints in these
parts?"
"Eh, sir?"
"I mean what maladies, what diseases?"
"I never heard tell of any, sir, except the rheumatism."
"No low fevers? no consumption?"
"Never heard of them, sir."
Riccabocca drew a long breath, as if relieved.
"That seems a very kind family at the Hall."
"I have nothing to say against it," answered Lenny, bluntly. "I have
not been treated justly. But as that book says, sir, 'It is not every one
who comes into the world with a silver spoon in his mouth.'"
Little thought the Doctor that those wise maxims may leave sore
thoughts behind them. He was too occupied with the subject most at
his own heart to think then of what was in Lenny Fairfield's.
"Yes; a kind, English, domestic family. Did you see much of Miss
Hazeldean?"
"Not so much as of the Lady."
"Is she liked in the village, think you?"
"Miss Jemima? Yes. She never did harm. Her little dog bit me once—
she did not ask me to beg its pardon, she asked mine! She's a very
nice young lady; the girls say she's very affable: and," added Lenny
with a smile, "there are always more weddings going on when she's
down at the Hall."
"Oh!" said Riccabocca. Then, after a long whiff, "Did you ever see
her play with the little children? Is she fond of children, do you
think?"
"Lord, sir, you guess every thing. She's never so pleased as when
she's playing with the babies."
"Humph!" grunted Riccabocca. "Babies—well, that's womanlike. I
don't mean exactly babies, but when they're older—little girls."
"Indeed, sir, I dare say; but," said Lenny, primly, "I never as yet kept
company with the little girls."
"Quite right, Lenny; be equally discreet all your life. Mrs. Dale is very
intimate with Miss Hazeldean—more than with the Squire's lady.
Why is that, think you?"
"Well, sir," said Leonard, shrewdly, "Mrs. Dale has her little tempers,
though she's a very good lady; and Madam Hazeldean is rather high,
and has a spirit. But Miss Jemima is so soft: any one could live with
Miss Jemima, as Joe and the servants say at the Hall."
"Indeed! Get my hat out of the parlor, and—just bring a clothes-
brush, Lenny. A fine sunny day for a walk."
After this most mean and dishonorable inquisition into the character
and popular repute of Miss Hazeldean, Signore Riccabocca seemed
as much cheered up and elated as if he had committed some very
noble action; and he walked forth in the direction of the Hall with a
far lighter and livelier step than that with which he had paced the
terrace.
"Monsignore San Giacomo, by thy help and the pipe's, the Padrone
shall have his child!" muttered the servant, looking up from the
garden.

CHAPTER XXII.
Yet Dr. Riccabocca was not rash. The man who wants his wedding-
garment to fit him must allow plenty of time for the measure. But,
from that day, the Italian notably changed his manner toward Miss
Hazeldean. He ceased that profusion of compliment in which he had
hitherto carried off in safety all serious meaning. For indeed the
Doctor considered that compliments, to a single gentleman, were
what the inky liquid it dispenses is to the cuttle-fish, that by
obscuring the water, sails away from its enemy. Neither did he, as
before, avoid prolonged conversations with that young lady, and
contrive to escape from all solitary rambles by her side. On the
contrary, he now sought every occasion to be in her society; and,
entirely dropping the language of gallantry, he assumed something
of the earnest tone of friendship. He bent down his intellect to
examine and plumb her own. To use a very homely simile, he blew
away that froth which there is on the surface of mere
acquaintanceships, especially with the opposite sex; and which,
while it lasts, scarce allows you to distinguish between small beer
and double X. Apparently Dr. Riccabocca was satisfied with his
scrutiny—at all events, under that froth there was no taste of bitter.
The Italian might not find any great strength of intellect in Miss
Jemima, but he found that, disentangled from many little whims and
foibles—which he had himself the sense to perceive were harmless
enough if they lasted, and not so absolutely constitutional but what
they might be removed by a tender hand—Miss Hazeldean had quite
enough sense to comprehend the plain duties of married life; and if
the sense could fail, it found a substitute in good old homely English
principles and the instincts of amiable kindly feelings.
I know not how it is, but your very clever man never seems to care
so much as your less gifted mortals for cleverness in his helpmate.
Your scholars, and poets, and ministers of state, are more often than
not found assorted with exceedingly humdrum good sort of women,
and apparently like them all the better for their deficiencies. Just see
how happily Racine lived with his wife, and what an angel he
thought her, and yet she had never read his plays. Certainly Goethe
never troubled the lady who called him "Mr. Privy Councilor" with
whims about "monads," and speculations on "color," nor those stiff
metaphysical problems on which one breaks one's shins in the
Second Part of the Faust. Probably it may be that such great
geniuses—knowing that, as compared with themselves, there is little
difference between your clever woman and your humdrum woman—
merge at once all minor distinctions, relinquish all attempts that
could not but prove unsatisfactory, at sympathy in hard intellectual
pursuits, and are quite satisfied to establish that tie which, after all,
best resists wear and tear—viz., the tough household bond between
one human heart and another.
At all events, this, I suspect, was the reasoning of Dr. Riccabocca,
when one morning, after a long walk with Miss Hazeldean, he
muttered to himself,

"Duro con duro

Non fece mai buon muro."

Which may bear the paraphrase, "Bricks without mortar would make
a very bad wall." There was quite enough in Miss Jemima's
disposition to make excellent mortar: the Doctor took the bricks to
himself.
When his examination was concluded, our philosopher symbolically
evinced the result he had arrived at by a very simple proceeding on
his part—which would have puzzled you greatly if you had not
paused, and meditated thereon, till you saw all that it implied. Dr.
Riccabocca took off his spectacles! He wiped them carefully, put
them into their shagreen case, and locked them in his bureau: that
is to say, he left off wearing his spectacles.
You will observe that there was a wonderful depth of meaning in
that critical symptom, whether it be regarded as a sign outward,
positive, and explicit; or a sign metaphysical, mystical, and esoteric.
For, as to the last—it denoted that the task of the spectacles was
over; that, when a philosopher has made up his mind to marry, it is
better henceforth to be short-sighted—nay, even somewhat purblind
—than to be always scrutinizing the domestic felicity, to which he is
about to resign himself, through a pair of cold, unillusory barnacles.
And for the things beyond the hearth, if he can not see without
spectacles, he is not about to ally to his own defective vision a good
sharp pair of eyes, never at fault where his interests are concerned?
On the other hand, regarded positively, categorically, and explicitly,
Dr. Riccabocca, by laying aside those spectacles, signified that he
was about to commence that happy initiation of courtship when
every man, be he ever so much a philosopher, wishes to look as
young and as handsome as time and nature will allow. Vain task to
speed the soft language of the eyes through the medium of these
glassy interpreters! I remember, for my own part, that once on a
visit to Adelaide, I was in great danger of falling in love—with a
young lady, too, who would have brought me a very good fortune—
when she suddenly produced from her reticule a very neat pair of
No. 4, set in tortoise-shell, and, fixing upon me their Gorgon gaze,
froze the astonished Cupid into stone! And I hold it a great proof of
the wisdom of Riccabocca, and of his vast experience in mankind,
that he was not above the consideration of what your pseudo-sages
would have regarded as foppish and ridiculous trifles. It argued all
the better for that happiness which is our being's end and aim, that,
in condescending to play the lover, he put those unbecoming
petrifiers under lock and key.
And certainly, now the spectacles were abandoned, it was impossible
to deny that the Italian had remarkably handsome eyes. Even
through the spectacles, or lifted a little above them, they were
always bright and expressive; but without those adjuncts, the blaze
was soft and more tempered: they had that look which the French
call velouté, or velvety; and he appeared altogether ten years
younger. If our Ulysses, thus rejuvenated by his Minerva, has not
fully made up his mind to make a Penelope of Miss Jemima, all I can
say is, that he is worse than Polyphemus, who was only an
Anthropophagos.
He preys upon the weaker sex, and is a Gynophagite!

CHAPTER XXIII.
"And you commission me, then, to speak to our dear Jemima?" said
Mrs. Dale, joyfully, and without any bitterness whatever in that
"dear."
Dr. Riccabocca.—"Nay, before speaking to Miss Hazeldean, it would
surely be proper to know how far my addresses would be acceptable
to the family."
Mrs. Dale.—"Ah!"
Dr. Riccabocca.—"The Squire is of course the head of the family."
Mrs. Dale (absent and distrait).—"The Squire—yes, very true—quite
proper." (Then looking up with naïveté)—"Can you believe me, I
never thought of the Squire. And he is such an odd man, and has so
many English prejudices, that really—dear me, how vexatious that it
should never once have occurred to me that Mr. Hazeldean had a
voice in the matter. Indeed, the relationship is so distant—it is not
like being her father; and Jemima is of age, and can do as she
pleases; and—but as you say, it is quite proper that he should be
consulted, as the head of the family."
Dr. Riccabocca.—"And you think that the Squire of Hazeldean might
reject my alliance! Pshaw! that's a grand word indeed; I mean, that
he might object very reasonably to his cousin's marriage with a
foreigner, of whom he can know nothing, except that which in all
countries is disreputable, and is said in this to be criminal—poverty."
Mrs. Dale (kindly).—"You mistake us poor English people, and you
wrong the Squire, heaven bless him! for we were poor enough when
he singled out my husband from a hundred for the minister of his
parish, for his neighbor and his friend. I will speak to him fearlessly
—"
Dr. Riccabocca.—"And frankly. And now I have used that word, let me
go on with the confession which your kindly readiness, my fair
friend, somewhat interrupted. I said that if I might presume to think
my addresses would be acceptable to Miss Hazeldean and her family,
I was too sensible of her amiable qualities not to—not to—"
Mrs. Dale (with demure archness).—"Not to be the happiest of men
—that's the customary English phrase, Doctor."
Riccabocca (gallantly).—"There can not be a better. But," continued
he, seriously, "I wish it first to be understood that I have—been
married before."
Mrs. Dale (astonished).—"Married before!"
Riccabocca.—"And that I have an only child, dear to me—
inexpressibly dear. That child, a daughter, has hitherto lived abroad;
circumstances now render it desirable that she should make her
home with me. And I own fairly that nothing has so attached me to
Miss Hazeldean, nor so induced my desire for our matrimonial
connection, as my belief that she has the heart and the temper to
become a kind mother to my little one."
Mrs. Dale (with feeling and warmth).—"You judge her rightly there."
Riccabocca.—"Now, in pecuniary matters, as you may conjecture from
my mode of life, I have nothing to offer to Miss Hazeldean
correspondent with her own fortune, whatever that may be."
Mrs. Dale.—"That difficulty is obviated by settling Miss Hazeldean's
fortune on herself, which is customary in such cases."
Dr. Riccabocca's face lengthened. "And my child, then?" said he,
feelingly. There was something in that appeal so alien from all sordid
and merely personal mercenary motives, that Mrs. Dale could not
have had the heart to make the very rational suggestion—"But that
child is not Jemima's, and you may have children by her."
She was touched, and replied hesitatingly—"But, from what you and
Jemima may jointly possess, you can save something annually—you
can insure your life for your child. We did so when our poor child
whom we lost was born," (the tears rushed into Mrs. Dale's eyes);
"and I fear that Charles still insures his life for my sake, though
heaven knows that—that—"
The tears burst out. That little heart, quick and petulant thought it
was, had not a fibre of the elastic muscular tissues which are
mercifully bestowed on the hearts of predestined widows. Dr.
Riccabocca could not pursue the subject of life insurances further.
But the idea—which had never occurred to the foreigner before,
though so familiar to us English people, when only possessed of a
life income—pleased him greatly. I will do him the justice to say, that
he preferred it to the thought of actually appropriating to himself
and his child a portion of Miss Hazeldean's dower.
Shortly afterward he took his leave, and Mrs. Dale hastened to seek
her husband in his study, inform him of the success of her
matrimonial scheme, and consult him as to the chance of the
Squire's acquiescence therein. "You see," said she, hesitatingly,
"though the Squire might be glad to see Jemima married to some
Englishman, yet, if he asks who and what is this Dr. Riccabocca, how
am I to answer him?"
"You should have thought of that before," said Mr. Dale, with
unwonted asperity; "and, indeed, if I had ever believed any thing
serious could come out of what seemed to me so absurd, I should
long since have requested you not to interfere in such matters."
"Good heavens!" continued the Parson, changing color, "if we should
have assisted, underhand as it were, to introduce into the family of a
man to whom we owe so much, a connection that he would dislike!
how base we should be! how ungrateful!"
Poor Mrs. Dale was frightened by this speech, and still more by her
husband's consternation and displeasure. To do Mrs. Dale justice,
whenever her mild partner was really either grieved or offended, her
little temper vanished—she became as meek as a lamb. As soon as
she recovered the first shock she experienced, she hastened to
dissipate the Parson's apprehensions. She assured him that she was
convinced that if the Squire disapproved of Riccabocca's pretensions,
the Italian would withdraw them at once, and Miss Hazeldean would
never know of his proposals. Therefore, in that case, no harm would
be done.
This assurance coinciding with Mr. Dale's convictions as to
Riccabocca's scruples on the point of honor, tended much to
compose the good man; and if he did not, as my reader of the
gentler sex would expect from him, feel alarm lest Miss Jemima's
affections should have been irretrievably engaged, and her
happiness thus put in jeopardy by the Squire's refusal, it was not
that the Parson wanted tenderness of heart, but experience in
womankind; and he believed, very erroneously, that Miss Jemima
Hazeldean was not one upon whom a disappointment of that kind
would produce a lasting impression. Therefore Mr. Dale, after a
pause of consideration, said kindly—
"Well, don't vex yourself—and I was to blame quite as much as you.
But, indeed, I should have thought it easier for the Squire to have
transplanted one of his tall cedars into his kitchen-garden, than for
you to inveigle Dr. Riccabocca into matrimonial intentions. But a man
who could voluntarily put himself into the Parish Stocks for the sake
of experiment, must be capable of any thing! However, I think it
better that I, rather than yourself, should speak to the Squire, and I
will go at once."

CHAPTER XXIV.
The Parson put on the shovel hat, which—conjoined with other
details in his dress peculiarly clerical, and already, even then,
beginning to be out of fashion with churchmen—had served to fix
upon him, emphatically, the dignified but antiquated style and
cognomen of "Parson;" and took his way toward the Home Farm, at
which he expected to find the Squire. But he had scarcely entered
upon the village green when he beheld Mr. Hazeldean, leaning both
hands on his stick, and gazing intently upon the Parish Stocks. Now,
sorry am I to say that, ever since the Hegira of Lenny and his
mother, the Anti-Stockian and Revolutionary spirit in Hazeldean,
which the memorable homily of our Parson had awhile averted or
suspended, had broken forth afresh. For though, while Lenny was
present to be mowed and jeered at, there had been no pity for him,
yet no sooner was he removed from the scene of trial, than a
universal compassion for the barbarous usage he had received
produced what is called "the reaction of public opinion." Not that
those who had mowed and jeered repented them of their mockery,
or considered themselves in the slightest degree the cause of his
expatriation. No; they, with the rest of the villagers, laid all the
blame upon the Stocks. It was not to be expected that a lad of such
exemplary character could be thrust into that place of ignominy, and
not be sensible of the affront. And who, in the whole village, was
safe, if such goings-on and puttings-in were to be tolerated in
silence, and at the expense of the very best and quietest lad the
village had ever known? Thus, a few days after the widow's
departure, the Stocks was again the object of midnight desecration:
it was bedaubed and bescratched—it was hacked and hewed—it was
scrawled all over with pithy lamentations for Lenny, and laconic
execrations on tyrants. Night after night new inscriptions appeared,
testifying the sarcastic wit and the vindictive sentiment of the parish.
And perhaps the Stocks themselves were only spared from ax and
bonfire by the convenience they afforded to the malice of the
disaffected: they became the Pasquin of Hazeldean.
As disaffection naturally produces a correspondent vigor in authority,
so affairs had been lately administered with greater severity than
had been hitherto wont in the easy rule of the Squire and his
predecessors. Suspected persons were naturally marked out by Mr.
Stirn, and reported to his employer, who, too proud or too pained to
charge them openly with ingratitude, at first only passed them by in
his walks with a silent and stiff inclination of his head; and afterward
gradually yielding to the baleful influence of Stirn, the Squire
grumbled forth that "he did not see why he should be always putting
himself out of his way to show kindness to those who made such a
return. There ought to be a difference between the good and the
bad." Encouraged by this admission, Stirn had conducted himself
toward the suspected parties, and their whole kith and kin, with the
iron-handed justice that belonged to his character. For some,
habitual donations of milk from the dairy, and vegetables from the
gardens, were surlily suspended; others were informed that their
pigs were always trespassing on the woods in search of acorns; or
that they were violating the Game Laws in keeping lurchers. A beer-
house, popular in the neighborhood, but of late resorted to
overmuch by the grievance-mongers (and no wonder, since they had
become the popular party), was threatened with an application to
the magistrates for the withdrawal of its license. Sundry old women,
whose grandsons were notoriously ill-disposed towards the Stocks,
were interdicted from gathering dead sticks under the avenues, on
pretense that they broke down the live boughs; and, what was more
obnoxious to the younger members of the parish than most other
retaliatory measures, three chestnut trees, one walnut, and two
cherry trees, standing at the bottom of the park, and which had,
from time immemorial, been given up to the youth of Hazeldean,
were now solemnly placed under the general defense of "private
property." And the crier had announced that, henceforth, all
depredators on the fruit-trees in Copse Hollow would be punished
with the utmost rigor of the law. Stirn, indeed, recommended much
more stringent proceedings than all these indications of a change of
policy, which, he averred, would soon bring the parish to its senses—
such as discontinuing many little jobs of unprofitable work that
employed the surplus labor of the village. But there the Squire,
falling into the department, and under the benigner influence of his
Harry, was as yet not properly hardened. When it came to a question
that affected the absolute quantity of loaves to be consumed by the
graceless mouths that fed upon him, the milk of human kindness—
with which Providence has so bountifully supplied that class of the
mammalia called the "Bucolic," and of which our Squire had an extra
"yield"—burst forth, and washed away all the indignation of the
harsher Adam.
Still your policy of half-measures, which irritates without crushing its
victims, which flaps an exasperated wasp-nest with a silk pocket-
handkerchief, instead of blowing it up with a match and train, is
rarely successful; and, after three or four other and much guiltier
victims than Lenny had been incarcerated in the Stocks, the parish
of Hazeldean was ripe for any enormity. Pestilent jacobinical tracts,
conceived and composed in the sinks of manufacturing towns—
found their way into the popular beer-house—heaven knows how,
though the Tinker was suspected of being the disseminator by all
but Stirn, who still, in a whisper, accused the Papishers. And, finally,
there appeared among the other graphic embellishments which the
poor Stocks had received, the rude gravure of a gentleman in a
broad-brimmed hat and top-boots, suspended from a gibbet, with
the inscription beneath—"A warnin to hall tirans—mind your hi!—
sighnde Captin sTraw."
It was upon this significant and emblematic portraiture that the
Squire was gazing when the Parson joined him.
"Well, Parson," said Mr. Hazeldean, with a smile which he meant to
be pleasant and easy, but which was exceedingly bitter and grim, "I
wish you joy of your flock—you see they have just hanged me in
effigy!"
The Parson stared, and, though greatly shocked, smothered his
emotions; and attempted, with the wisdom of the serpent and the
mildness of the dove, to find another original for the effigy.
"It is very bad," quoth he, "but not so bad as all that, Squire; that's
not the shape of your hat. It is evidently meant for Mr. Stirn."
"Do you think so!" said the Squire, softened. "Yet the top-boots—
Stirn never wears top-boots."
"No more do you—except in hunting. If you look again, those are
not tops—they are leggings—Stirn wears leggings. Besides, that
flourish, which is meant for a nose, is a kind of a hook like Stirn's;
whereas your nose—though by no means a snub—rather turns up
than not, as the Apollo's does, according to the plaster cast in
Riccabocca's parlor."
"Poor Stirn!" said the Squire, in a tone that evinced complacency, not
unmingled with compassion, "that's what a man gets in this world by
being a faithful servant, and doing his duty with zeal for his
employer. But you see that things have come to a strange pass, and
the question now is, what course to pursue. The miscreants hitherto
have defied all vigilance, and Stirn recommends the employment of
a regular night-watch with a lantern and bludgeon."
"That may protect the Stocks, certainly; but will it keep those
detestable tracts out of the beer-house?"
"We shall shut the beer-house up at the next sessions."
"The tracts will break out elsewhere—the humor's in the blood!"
"I've half a mind to run off to Brighton or Leamington—good hunting
at Leamington—for a year, just to let the rogues see how they can
get on without me!"
The Squire's lip trembled.
"My dear Mr. Hazeldean," said the Parson, taking his friend's hand, "I
don't want to parade my superior wisdom; but if you had taken my
advice, quieta non movere. Was there ever a parish so peaceable as
this, or a country-gentleman so beloved as you were, before you
undertook the task which has dethroned kings and ruined states—
that of wantonly meddling with antiquity, whether for the purpose of
uncalled-for repairs, or the revival of obsolete uses."
At this rebuke the Squire did not manifest his constitutional
tendencies to choler; but he replied almost meekly, "If it were to do
again, faith, I would leave the parish to the enjoyment of the
shabbiest pair of Stocks that ever disgraced a village. Certainly I
meant it for the best—an ornament to the green; however, now they
are rebuilt, the Stocks must be supported. Will Hazeldean is not the
man to give way to a set of thankless rapscallions."
"I think," said the Parson, "that you will allow that the House of
Tudor, whatever its faults, was a determined, resolute dynasty
enough—high-hearted and strong-headed. A Tudor would never
have fallen into the same calamities as the poor Stuart did!"
"What the plague has the House of Tudor got to do with my Stocks?"
"A great deal. Henry the VIII. found a subsidy so unpopular that he
gave it up; and the people, in return, allowed him to cut off as many
heads as he pleased, besides those in his own family. Good Queen
Bess, who, I know, is your idol in history—"
"To be sure!—she knighted my ancestor at Tilbury Fort."
"Good Queen Bess struggled hard to maintain a certain monopoly;
she saw it would not do, and she surrendered it with that frank
heartiness which becomes a sovereign, and makes surrender a
grace."
"Ha! and you would have me give up the Stocks?"
"I would much rather they had staid as they were, before you
touched them; but, as it is, if you could find a good plausible pretext
—and there is an excellent one at hand—the sternest kings open
prisons, and grant favors, upon joyful occasions. Now a marriage in
the royal family is of course a joyful occasion!—and so it should be
in that of the King of Hazeldean." Admire that artful turn in the
Parson's eloquence!—it was worthy of Riccabocca himself. Indeed,
Mr. Dale had profited much by his companionship with that
Machiavellian intellect.
"A marriage—yes; but Frank has only just got into long tails!"
"I did not allude to Frank, but to your cousin Jemima!"

CHAPTER XXV.
The Squire staggered as if the breath had been knocked out of him,
and, for want of a better seat, sate down on the Stocks.
All the female heads in the neighboring cottages peered, themselves
unseen, through the casements. What could the Squire be about?—
what new mischief did he meditate? Did he mean to fortify the
Stocks? Old Gaffer Solomons, who had an indefinite idea of the
lawful power of squires, and who had been for the last ten minutes
at watch on his threshold, shook his head and said, "Them as a-cut
out the mon, a-hanging, as a-put in the Squire's head!"
"Put what?" asked his grand-daughter.
"The gallus!" answered Solomons—"he be a-goin to have it hung
from the great elm-tree. And the Parson, good mon, is a-quotin
Scripter agin it—you see he's a-taking off his gloves, and a-putting
his two han's together, as he do when he pray for the sick, Jenny."
That description of the Parson's mien and manner, which, with his
usual niceness of observation, Gaffer Solomons thus sketched off,
will convey to you some idea of the earnestness with which the
Parson pleaded the cause he had undertaken to advocate. He dwelt
much upon the sense of propriety which the foreigner had evinced in
requesting that the Squire might be consulted before any formal
communication to his cousin; and he repeated Mrs. Dale's
assurance, that such were Riccabocca's high standard of honor and
belief in the sacred rights of hospitality, that, if the Squire withheld
his consent to his proposals, the Parson was convinced that the
Italian would instantly retract them. Now, considering that Miss
Hazeldean was, to say the least, come to years of discretion, and the
Squire had long since placed her property entirely at her own
disposal, Mr. Hazeldean was forced to acquiesce in the Parson's
corollary remark, "That this was a delicacy which could not be
expected from every English pretender to the lady's hand." Seeing
that he had so far cleared ground, the Parson went on to intimate,
though with great tact, that, since Miss Jemima would probably
marry sooner or later, (and, indeed, that the Squire could not wish to
prevent her), it might be better for all parties concerned that it
should be with some one who, though a foreigner, was settled in the
neighborhood, and of whose character what was known was
certainly favorable, than run the hazard of her being married for her
money by some adventurer or Irish fortune-hunter at the watering-
places she yearly visited. Then he touched lightly on Riccabocca's
agreeable and companionable qualities; and concluded with a skillful
peroration upon the excellent occasion the wedding would afford to
reconcile Hall and Parish, by making a voluntary holocaust of the
Stocks.
As he concluded, the Squire's brow, before thoughtful, though not
sullen, cleared up benignly. To say truth, the Squire was dying to get
rid of the Stocks, if he could but do so handsomely and with dignity;
and if all the stars in the astrological horoscope had conjoined
together to give Miss Jemima "assurance of a husband," they could
not so have served her with the Squire, as that conjunction between
the Altar and the Stocks which the Parson had effected!
Accordingly, when Mr. Dale had come to an end, the Squire replied
with great placidity and good sense, "That Mr. Rickeybockey had
behaved very much like a gentleman, and that he was very much
obliged to him; that he (the Squire) had no right to interfere in the
matter, farther than with his advice; that Jemima was old enough to
choose for herself, and that, as the Parson had implied, after all, she
might go farther and fare worse—indeed, the farther she went (that
is, the longer she waited), the worse she was likely to fare. I own for
my part," continued the Squire, "that, though I like Rickeybockey
very much, I never suspected that Jemima was caught with his long
face; but there's no accounting for tastes. My Harry, indeed, was
more shrewd, and gave me many a hint, for which I only laughed at
her. Still I ought to have thought it looked queer when Mounseer
took to disguising himself by leaving off his glasses, ha—ha! I
wonder what Harry will say; let's go and talk to her."
The Parson, rejoiced at this easy way of taking the matter, hooked
his arm into the Squire's, and they walked amicably toward the Hall.
But on coming first into gardens, they found Mrs. Hazeldean herself,
clipping dead leaves or fading flowers from her rose-trees. The
Squire stole slily behind her, and startled her in her turn by putting
his arm round her waist, and saluting her smooth cheek with one of
his hearty kisses; which, by the way, from some association of ideas,
was a conjugal freedom that he usually indulged whenever a
wedding was going on in the village.
"Fie, William!" said Mrs. Hazeldean coyly, and blushing as she saw
the Parson. "Well, who's going to be married now?"
"Lord, was there ever such a woman?—she's guessed it!" cried the
Squire in great admiration. "Tell her all about it, Parson."
The Parson obeyed.
Mrs. Hazeldean, as the reader may suppose, showed much less
surprise than her husband had done; but she took the news
graciously, and made much the same answer as that which had
occurred to the Squire, only with somewhat more qualification and
reserve. "Signor Riccabocca had behaved very handsomely; and
though a daughter of the Hazeldeans of Hazeldean, might expect a
much better marriage, in a worldly point of view, yet as the lady in
question had deferred finding one so long, it would be equally idle
and impertinent now to quarrel with her choice—if indeed she
should decide on accepting Signor Riccabocca. As for fortune, that
was a consideration for the two contracting parties. Still, it ought to
be pointed out to Miss Jemima that the interest of her fortune would
afford but a very small income. That Dr. Riccabocca was a widower
was another matter for deliberation; and it seemed rather suspicious
that he should have been hitherto so close upon all matters
connected with his former life. Certainly his manners were in his
favor, and as long as he was merely an acquaintance, and at most a
tenant, no one had a right to institute inquiries of a strictly private
nature; but that, when he was about to marry a Hazeldean of
Hazeldean, it became the Squire at least to know a little more about
him—who and what he was. Why did he leave his own country?
English people went abroad to save; no foreigner would choose
England as a country in which to save money! She supposed that a
foreign doctor was no very great things; probably he had been but a
professor in some Italian university. At all events, if the Squire
interfered at all, it was on such points that he should request
information."
"My dear madam," said the Parson, "what you say is extremely just.
As to the causes which have induced our friend to expatriate himself,
I think we need not look far for them. He is evidently one of the
many Italian refugees whom political disturbances have driven to our
shore, whose boast it is to receive all exiles, of whatever party. For
his respectability of birth and family he certainly ought to obtain
some vouchers. And if that be the only objection, I trust we may
soon congratulate Miss Hazeldean on a marriage with a man who,
though certainly very poor, has borne privations without a murmur;
has preferred all hardship to debt; has scorned to attempt betraying
her into any clandestine connection; who, in short, has shown
himself so upright and honest, that I hope my dear Mr. Hazeldean
will forgive him if he is only a doctor—probably of laws—and not, as
most foreigners pretend to be, a marquis, or a baron at least."
"As to that," cried the Squire, "'tis the best thing I know about
Rickeybockey, that he don't attempt to humbug us by any such
foreign trumpery. Thank heaven, the Hazeldeans of Hazeldean were
never tuft-hunters and title-mongers; and if I never ran after an
English lord, I should certainly be devilishly ashamed of a brother-in-
law whom I was forced to call markee or count! I should feel sure he
was a courier, or runaway valley-de-sham. Turn up your nose at a
doctor, indeed, Harry!—pshaw, good English style that! Doctor! my
aunt married a Doctor of Divinity—excellent man—wore a wig, and
was made a dean! So long as Rickeybockey is not a doctor of physic,
I don't care a button. If he's that, indeed, it would be suspicious;
because, you see those foreign doctors of physic are quacks, and tell
fortunes, and go about on a stage with a Merry-Andrew."
"Lord, Hazeldean! where on earth did you pick up that idea?" said
Harry, laughing.
"Pick it up!—why, I saw a fellow myself at the cattle fair last year—
when I was buying short-horns—with a red waistcoat and a cocked
hat, a little like the Parson's shovel. He called himself Doctor
Phoscophornio—wore a white wig, and sold pills! The Merry-Andrew
was the funniest creature—in salmon-colored tights—turned head
over heels, and said he came from Timbuctoo. No, no; if
Rickeybockey's a physic Doctor, we shall have Jemima in a pink tinsel
dress, tramping about the country in a caravan!"
At this notion, both the Squire and his wife laughed so heartily that
the Parson felt the thing was settled, and slipped away, with the
intention of making his report to Riccabocca.

CHAPTER XXVI.
It was with a slight disturbance of his ordinary suave and well-bred
equanimity that the Italian received the information, that he need
apprehend no obstacle to his suit from the insular prejudices or the
worldly views of the lady's family. Not that he was mean and
cowardly enough to recoil from the near and unclouded prospect of
that felicity which he had left off his glasses to behold with
unblinking naked eyes:—no, there his mind was made up; but he
had met with very little kindness in life, and he was touched not only
by the interest in his welfare testified by a heretical priest, but by
the generosity with which he was admitted into a well-born and
wealthy family, despite his notorious poverty and his foreign descent.
He conceded the propriety of the only stipulation, which was
conveyed to him by the Parson with all the delicacy that became a
man professionally habituated to deal with the subtler susceptibilities
of mankind—viz., that, among Riccabocca's friends or kindred, some
one should be found whose report would confirm the persuasion of
his respectability entertained by his neighbors;—he assented, I say,
to the propriety of this condition; but it was not with alacrity and
eagerness. His brow became clouded. The Parson hastened to
assure him that the Squire was not a man qui stupet in titulis, (who
was besotted with titles), that he neither expected nor desired to
find an origin and rank for his brother-in-law above that decent
mediocrity of condition to which it was evident, from Riccabocca's
breeding and accomplishments, he could easily establish his claim.
"And though," said he smiling, "the Squire is a warm politician in his
own country, and would never see his sister again, I fear, if she
married some convicted enemy of our happy constitution, yet for
foreign politics he does not care a straw: so that if, as I suspect,
your exile arises from some quarrel with your Government—which,
being foreign, he takes for granted must be insupportable—he would
but consider you as he would a Saxon who fled from the iron hand
of William the Conqueror, or a Lancastrian expelled by the Yorkists in
our Wars of the Roses."
The Italian smiled. "Mr. Hazeldean shall be satisfied," said he simply.
"I see, by the Squire's newspaper, that an English gentleman who
knew me in my own country has just arrived in London. I will write
to him for a testimonial, at least to my probity and character.
Probably he may be known to you by name—nay, he must be, for he
was a distinguished officer in the late war. I allude to Lord
L'Estrange."
The Parson started.
"You know Lord L'Estrange?—a profligate, bad man, I fear."
"Profligate!—bad!" exclaimed Riccabocca. "Well, calumnious as the
world is, I should never have thought that such expressions would
be applied to one who, though I knew him but little—knew him
chiefly by the service he once rendered to me—first taught me to
love and revere the English name!"
"He may be changed since—" The parson paused.
"Since when?" asked Riccabocca, with evident curiosity.
Mr. Dale seemed embarrassed. "Excuse me," said he, "it is many
years ago; and, in short, the opinion I then formed of the gentleman
in question was based upon circumstances which I can not
communicate."
The punctilious Italian bowed in silence, but he still looked as if he
should have liked to prosecute inquiry.
After a pause, he said, "Whatever your impressions respecting Lord
L'Estrange, there is nothing, I suppose, which would lead you to
doubt his honor, or reject his testimonial in my favor?"
"According to fashionable morality," said Mr. Dale, rather precisely, "I
know of nothing that could induce me to suppose that Lord
L'Estrange would not, in this instance, speak the truth. And he has
unquestionably a high reputation as a soldier, and a considerable
position in the world." Therewith the Parson took his leave. A few
days afterward, Dr. Riccabocca inclosed to the Squire, in a blank
envelope, a letter he had received from Harley L'Estrange. It was
evidently intended for the Squire's eye, and to serve as a voucher for
the Italian's respectability; but this object was fulfilled, not in the
coarse form of a direct testimonial, but with a tact and delicacy
which seemed to show more than the fine breeding to be expected
from one in Lord L'Estrange's station. It argued that most exquisite
of all politeness which comes from the heart: a certain tone of
affectionate respect (which even the homely sense of the Squire felt,
intuitively, proved far more in favor of Riccabocca than the most
elaborate certificate of his qualities and antecedents) pervaded the
whole, and would have sufficed in itself to remove all scruples from
a mind much more suspicious and exacting than that of the Squire
of Hazeldean. But, lo and behold! an obstacle now occurred to the
Parson, of which he ought to have thought long before—viz., the
Papistical religion of the Italian. Dr. Riccabocca was professedly a
Roman Catholic. He so little obtruded that fact—and, indeed, had
assented so readily to any animadversions upon the superstition and
priestcraft which, according to Protestants, are the essential
characteristics of Papistical communities—that it was not till the
hymeneal torch, which brings all faults to light, was fairly illumined
for the altar, that the remembrance of a faith so cast into the shade
burst upon the conscience of the Parson. The first idea that then
occurred to him was the proper and professional one—viz., the
conversion of Dr. Riccabocca. He hastened to his study, took down
from his shelves long neglected volumes of controversial divinity,
armed himself with an arsenal of authorities, arguments, and texts;
then, seizing the shovel-hat, posted off to the Casino.

CHAPTER XXVII.
The Parson burst upon the philosopher like an avalanche! He was so
full of his subject that he could not let it out in prudent driblets. No,
he went souse upon the astounded Riccabocca,

"Tremendo.
Jupiter ipse ruens tumultu."
The sage—shrinking deeper into his arm-chair, and drawing his
dressing-robe more closely round him—suffered the Parson to talk
for three-quarters of an hour, till indeed he had thoroughly proved
his case; and, like Brutus, "paused for a reply."
Then said Riccabocca mildly, "In much of what you have urged so
ably, and so suddenly, I am inclined to agree. But base is the man
who formally forswears the creed he has inherited from his fathers,
and professed since the cradle up to years of maturity, when the
change presents itself in the guise of a bribe;—when, for such is
human nature, he can hardly distinguish or disentangle the appeal to
his reason from the lure to his interests—here a text, and there a
dowry!—here Protestantism, there Jemima. Own, my friend, that the
soberest casuist would see double under the inebriating effects
produced by so mixing his polemical liquors. Appeal, my good Mr.
Dale, from Philip drunken to Philip sober!—from Riccabocca
intoxicated with the assurance of your excellent lady, that he is
about to be "the happiest of men," to Riccabocca accustomed to his
happiness, and carrying it off with the seasoned equability of one
grown familiar with stimulants—in a word, appeal from Riccabocca
the wooer to Riccabocca the spouse. I may be convertible, but
conversion is a slow process; courtship should be a quick one—ask
Miss Jemima. Finalmente, marry me first, and convert me
afterward!"
"You take this too jestingly," began the Parson; "and I don't see why,
with your excellent understanding, truths so plain and obvious
should not strike you at once."
"Truths," interrupted Riccabocca profoundly, "are the slowest
growing things in the world! It took 1500 years from the date of the
Christian era to produce your own Luther, and then he flung his Bible
at Satan (I have seen the mark made by the book on the wall of his
prison in Germany), besides running off with a nun, which no
Protestant clergyman would think it proper and right to do
nowadays." Then he added, with seriousness, "Look you, my dear sir
—I should lose my own esteem if I were even to listen to you now
with becoming attention—now, I say, when you hint that the creed I
have professed may be in the way of my advantage. If so, I must
keep the creed and resign the advantage. But if, as I trust—not only
as a Christian, but a man of honor—you will defer this discussion, I
will promise to listen to you hereafter; and though, to say truth, I
believe that you will not convert me, I will promise you faithfully
never to interfere with my wife's religion."
"And any children you may have?"
"Children!" said Dr. Riccabocca, recoiling—"you are not contented
with firing your pocket-pistol right in my face; you must also pepper
me all over with small-shot. Children! well, if they are girls, let them
follow the faith of their mother; and if boys, while in childhood, let
them be contented with learning to be Christians; and when they
grow into men, let them choose for themselves which is the best
form for the practice of the great principles which all sects have in
common."
"But," began Mr. Dale again, pulling a large book from his pocket.
Dr. Riccabocca flung open the window, and jumped out of it.
It was the rapidest and most dastardly flight you could possibly
conceive; but it was a great compliment to the argumentative
powers of the Parson, and he felt it as such. Nevertheless, Mr. Dale
thought it right to have a long conversation, both with the Squire
and Miss Jemima herself, upon the subject which his intended
convert had so ignominiously escaped.
The Squire, though a great foe to Popery, politically considered, had
also quite as great a hatred to turn-coats and apostates. And in his
heart he would have despised Riccabocca if he could have thrown
off his religion as easily as he had done his spectacles. Therefore he
said, simply—"Well, it is certainly a great pity that Rickeybockey is
not of the Church of England, though, I take it, that would be
unreasonable to expect in a man born and bred under the nose of
the Inquisition"—(the Squire firmly believed that the Inquisition was
in full force in all the Italian states, with whips, racks, and thumb-
screws; and, indeed, his chief information of Italy was gathered from
a perusal he had given in early youth to The One-Handed Monk)
—"but I think he speaks very fairly, on the whole, as to his wife and
children. And the thing's gone too far now to retract. It is all your
fault for not thinking of it before; and I've now just made up my
mind as to the course to pursue respecting those d—d Stocks!"
As for Miss Jemima, the parson left her with a pious thanksgiving
that Riccabocca at least was a Christian, and not a Pagan,
Mahometan, or Jew!

CHAPTER XXVIII.
There is that in a wedding which appeals to a universal sympathy.
No other event in the lives of their superiors in rank creates an equal
sensation among the humbler classes.
From the moment the news had spread throughout the village that
Miss Jemima was to be married, all the old affection for the Squire
and his House burst forth the stronger for its temporary suspension.
Who could think of the Stocks at such a season? They were swept
out of fashion—hunted from remembrance as completely as the
question of Repeal or the thought of Rebellion from the warm Irish
heart, when the fair young face of the Royal Wife beamed on the
sister isle.
Again cordial courtesies were dropped at the thresholds by which
the Squire passed to his home-farm; again the sun-burnt brows
uncovered—no more with sullen ceremony—were smoothed into
cheerful gladness at his nod. Nay, the little ones began again to
assemble at their ancient rendezvous by the Stocks, as if either
familiarized with the phenomenon, or convinced that, in the general
sentiment of good-will, its powers of evil were annulled.
The Squire tasted once more the sweets of the only popularity which
is much worth having, and the loss of which a wise man would
reasonably deplore; viz., the popularity which arises from a
persuasion of our goodness, and a reluctance to recall our faults.
Like all blessings, the more sensibly felt from previous interruption,
the Squire enjoyed this restored popularity with an exhilarated sense
of existence; his stout heart beat more vigorously; his stalwart step
trod more lightly; his comely English face looked comelier and more
English than ever—you would have been a merrier man for a week
to have come within hearing of his jovial laugh.
He felt grateful to Jemima and to Riccabocca as the special agents of
Providence in this general integratio amoris. To have looked at him,
you would suppose that it was the Squire who was going to be
married a second time to his Harry!
One may well conceive that such would have been an inauspicious
moment for Parson Dale's theological scruples. To have stopped that
marriage—chilled all the sunshine it diffused over the village—seen
himself surrounded again by long sulky visages—I verily believe,
though a better friend of Church and State never stood on a
hustings, that, rather than court such a revulsion, the Squire would
have found jesuitical excuses for the marriage if Riccabocca had
been discovered to be the Pope in disguise! As for the Stocks, their
fate was now irrevocably sealed. In short, the marriage was
concluded—first privately, according to the bridegroom's creed, by a
Roman Catholic clergyman, who lived in a town some miles off, and
next publicly in the village church of Hazeldean.
It was the heartiest rural wedding! Village girls strewed flowers on
the way; a booth was placed amidst the prettiest scenery of the
Park, on the margin of the lake—for there was to be a dance later in
the day—an ox was roasted whole. Even Mr. Stirn—no, Mr. Stirn was
not present, so much happiness would have been the death of him!
And the Papisher, too, who had conjured Lenny out of the stocks;
nay, who had himself sate in the Stocks for the very purpose of
bringing them into contempt—the Papisher! he had as lief Miss
Jemima had married the devil! Indeed he was persuaded that, in
point of fact, it was all one and the same. Therefore Mr. Stirn had
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

textbookfull.com