The Vicar of Bullhampton · Chapter
The Rev. Henry Fitzackerley Chamberlaine explained
The Vicarage decides to invite Mr.
What happens
The Vicarage decides to invite Mr. Chamberlaine, Gilmore's uncle, to stay at Hampton Privets for a week. Gilmore, despondent over Mary Lowther's rejection, spends Sunday in isolation. Mr. Chamberlaine arrives, a comfortable prebendary with refined tastes, and discusses the murder case with Gilmore, expressing that he would not have released Sam Brattle. That evening, Gilmore envies his uncle's untroubled contentment, but when Mr. Chamberlaine brings up Mary Lowther, Gilmore reacts with bitter anguish, declaring he would give everything to marry her.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Marriage
Gilmore's unrequited love for Mary Lowther dominates his thoughts, contrasting with his uncle's comfortable bachelorhood.
Hypocrisy and Moral Courage
Mr. Chamberlaine's comfortable detachment and criticism of Fenwick and Gilmore highlight a lack of moral engagement, while Gilmore's raw honesty about his feelings shows a different kind of courage.
Characters to notice
- Harry Gilmore
Suffering from Mary Lowther's rejection, he isolates himself, envies his uncle's calm, and reacts with despair when Mary is mentioned.
- Mr. Chamberlaine
The Rev. Henry Fitzackerley Chamberlaine, a prebendary of Salisbury, arrives at Hampton Privets; he is handsome, refined, and complacent, critical of Fenwick and unsympathetic to Gilmore's love.
- Mr. Fenwick
Writes the letter inviting Mr. Chamberlaine and walks Gilmore home; he admires Chamberlaine as a philosopher but is not admired in return.
- Squire Greenthorne
Mentioned as dining at the Privets with the Fenwicks on the following day.
Key passages
“It was decided that evening at the Vicarage that it would be better for all parties that the reverend uncle from Salisbury should be told to make his visit, and spend the next week at Hampton Privets; that is, that he should come on the Monday and stay till the Saturday.”
That evening at the Vicarage, they agreed it would be best to invite the uncle from Salisbury to visit Hampton Privets for the week, from Monday to Saturday.
The decision to invite Mr. Chamberlaine is made to provide company for Gilmore.
“He had staked everything on obtaining a certain object, and that object was now beyond his reach. Men fail often in other things, in the pursuit of honour, fortune, or power, and when they fail they can begin again. There was no beginning again for him.”
Gilmore had risked everything for Mary Lowther, and now she was lost to him. Unlike other failures, this one offered no chance to start over.
Gilmore's despair is absolute; he sees no recovery from losing Mary.
“No Mary Lowther had ever disturbed that man's happiness. A good dinner, a pretty ring, an easy chair, a china teacup, might all be procured with certainty, as long as money lasted.”
Mr. Chamberlaine had never been troubled by love; his happiness depended only on material comforts that money could buy.
Gilmore envies his uncle's untroubled existence, contrasting it with his own emotional turmoil.
“By G⸺, said Gilmore, I'd give every acre I have in the world, and every shilling, and every friend, and twenty years of my life, if I could only be allowed at this moment to think it possible that she would ever marry me!”
Gilmore swore he would sacrifice all his land, money, friends, and twenty years of life just to believe Mary might still marry him.
Gilmore's passionate declaration reveals the depth of his love and despair.