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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19811-8.txt b/19811-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ae52df --- /dev/null +++ b/19811-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5672 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of English Prose, by Percy Lubbock + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Book of English Prose + Part II, Arranged for Secondary and High Schools + +Author: Percy Lubbock + +Release Date: November 14, 2006 [EBook #19811] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF ENGLISH PROSE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +A Book of English Prose + +Part II + + +_Arranged for Secondary and High Schools_ + + +BY + +PERCY LUBBOCK, M.A. + + + + +KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE + +Cambridge: + +at the University Press + +1913 + + + + +Cambridge: + +PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. + +AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + +The Editor desires to record his thanks to Messrs +Macmillan & Co., Ltd., Messrs Chatto & Windus +and Messrs Longmans, Green & Co., for their respective +permission to include in this volume passages from +Walter Pater's _Miscellaneous Studies_, from R. L. Stevenson's +_Random Memories_ and from Newman's _Historical +Sketches_. + +P. L. + +October 1913 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +Death of Sir Gawaine . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Sir Thomas Malory_ 1 + +The Queen's Speech to her last + Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . . _Elizabeth, Queen of England_ 4 + +Death of Cleopatra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Sir Thomas North_ 8 + +The Vanity of Greatness . . . . . . . . . . . _Sir Walter Ralegh_ 12 + +The Law of Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Richard Hooker_ 16 + +Of Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Francis Bacon_ 17 + +Meditation on Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . _William Drummond_ 19 + +Primitive Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Thomas Hobbes_ 21 + +Character of a Plodding Student . . . . . . . . . . _John Earle_ 24 + +Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Sir Thomas Browne_ 25 + +The Danger of interfering with the Liberty + of the Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _John Milton_ 27 + +Death of Falkland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Earl of Clarendon_ 30 + +The End of the Pilgrimage . . . . . . . . . . . . . _John Bunyan_ 35 + +Poetry and Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Sir William Temple_ 40 + +A Day in the Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Samuel Pepys_ 42 + +Captain Singleton in China . . . . . . . . . . . . _Daniel Defoe_ 46 + +The Art of Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . _Jonathan Swift_ 51 + +The Royal Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Joseph Addison_ 56 + +Sir Roger de Coverley's Ancestors . . . . . . . _Richard Steele_ 60 + +Partridge at the Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Henry Fielding_ 65 + +A Journey in a Stage-coach . . . . . . . . . . . _Samuel Johnson_ 71 + +Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim . . . . . . . . . . _Laurence Sterne_ 76 + +The Funeral of George II . . . . . . . . . . . . _Horace Walpole_ 79 + +The Credulity of the English . . . . . . . . . . _Oliver Goldsmith_ 83 + +Decay of the Principles of Liberty . . . . . . . . . _Edmund Burke_ 85 + +The Candidate for Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . _William Cowper_ 89 + +Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Edward Gibbon_ 93 + +First Sight of Dr Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . _James Boswell_ 94 + +Arrival at Osbaldistone Hall . . . . . . . . . . _Sir Walter Scott_ 100 + +A Visit to Coleridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Charles Lamb_ 107 + +Diogenes and Plato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _W. S. Landor_ 109 + +An Invitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Jane Austen_ 113 + +Coleridge as Preacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . _William Hazlitt_ 118 + +A Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Thomas de Quincey_ 120 + +The Use of Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _John Keats_ 122 + +The Flight to Varennes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Thomas Carlyle_ 124 + +The Trial of the Seven Bishops . . . . . . . . . . _Lord Macaulay_ 130 + +The University of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _J. H. Newman_ 135 + +The House of the Seven Gables . . . . . . . _Nathaniel Hawthorne_ 140 + +Denis Duval's first journey to London . . . . . _W. M. Thackeray_ 144 + +Storm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Charles Dickens_ 149 + +Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester . . . . . . . . . . . _Charlotte Brontė_ 153 + +A Hut in the Woods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _H. D. Thoreau_ 157 + +A Miser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _George Eliot_ 159 + +Ships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _John Ruskin_ 163 + +The Child in the House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Walter Pater_ 168 + +Diving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _R. L. Stevenson_ 171 + + +Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 + + + + +{1} + +SIR THOMAS MALORY 15th century + +DEATH OF SIR GAWAINE + +And so, as Sir Mordred was at Dover with his host, there came King +Arthur with a great navy of ships, galleys, and carracks. And there +was Sir Mordred ready waiting upon his landing, to let his own father +to land upon the land that he was king of. Then was there launching of +great boats and small, and all were full of noble men of arms; and +there was much slaughter of gentle knights, and many a full bold baron +was laid full low on both parties. But King Arthur was so courageous, +that there might no manner of knight let him to land, and his knights +fiercely followed him, and so they landed maugre Sir Mordred and all +his power, and put Sir Mordred back, that he fled and all his people. +So when this battle was done, King Arthur let bury his people that were +dead. And then was the noble knight Sir Gawaine found in a great boat, +lying more than half dead. When King Arthur wist that Sir Gawaine was +laid so low, he went unto him; and there the king made sorrow out of +measure, and took Sir Gawaine in his arms, and thrice he swooned. And +when he came to himself again, he said, "Alas! my sister's son, here +now thou liest, the man in the world {2} that I loved most, and now is +my joy gone. For now, my nephew Sir Gawaine, I will discover me unto +your person. In Sir Launcelot and you I most had my joy and mine +affiance, and now have I lost my joy of you both, wherefore all mine +earthly joy is gone from me." "My uncle King Arthur," said Sir +Gawaine, "wit you well that my death's day is come, and all is through +mine own hastiness and wilfulness, for I am smitten upon the old wound +that Sir Launcelot du Lake gave me, of the which I feel that I must +die; and if Sir Launcelot had been with you as he was, this unhappy war +had never begun, and of all this I myself am causer; for Sir Launcelot +and his blood, through their prowess, held all your cankered enemies in +subjection and danger. And now," said Sir Gawaine, "ye shall miss Sir +Launcelot. But alas! I would not accord with him; and therefore," +said Sir Gawaine, "I pray you, fair uncle, that I may have paper, pen, +and ink, that I may write unto Sir Launcelot a letter with mine own +hands." And when paper and ink was brought, Sir Gawaine was set up +weakly by King Arthur, for he had been shriven a little before; and he +wrote thus unto Sir Launcelot: "Flower of all noble knights that ever I +heard of or saw in my days, I, Sir Gawaine, King Lot's son of Orkney, +sister's son unto the noble King Arthur, send unto thee greeting, and +let thee have knowledge, that the tenth day of May I was smitten upon +the old wound which thou gavest me before the city of Benwick, and +through the same wound that thou gavest me I am come unto my death day, +and I will that all the world wit that I Sir Gawaine, Knight of the +Round Table, sought my death, and not through thy deserving, {3} but it +was mine own seeking; wherefore I beseech thee, Sir Launcelot, for to +return again unto this realm and see my tomb, or pray some prayer more +or less for my soul. And that same day that I wrote this letter, I was +hurt to the death in the same wound the which I had of thy hands, Sir +Launcelot, for of a more nobler man might I not be slain. Also, Sir +Launcelot, for all the love that ever was between us, make no tarrying, +but come over the sea in all the haste that thou mayst with thy noble +knights, and rescue that noble king that made thee knight, that is my +lord and uncle King Arthur, for he is full straitly bestood with a +false traitor, which is my half-brother Sir Mordred, and he hath let +crown himself king, and he would have wedded my lady Queen Guenevere, +and so had he done, if she had not put herself in the Tower of London. +And so the tenth day of May last past, my lord and uncle King Arthur +and we all landed upon them at Dover, and there we put that false +traitor Sir Mordred to flight. And there it misfortuned me for to be +stricken upon thy stroke. And the date of this letter was written but +two hours and a half before my death, written with mine own hand, and +so subscribed with part of my heart-blood. And I require thee, as thou +art the most famost knight of the world, that thou wilt see my tomb." +And then Sir Gawaine wept, and also King Arthur wept; and then they +swooned both. And when they awaked both, the king made Sir Gawaine to +receive his Saviour. And then Sir Gawaine prayed the king to send for +Sir Launcelot, and to cherish him above all other knights. And so at +the hour of noon Sir Gawaine betook his soul into the {4} hands of our +Lord God. And then the king let bury him in a chapel within the castle +of Dover; and there yet unto this day all men may see the skull of Sir +Gawaine, and the same wound is seen that Sir Launcelot gave him in +battle. Then it was told to King Arthur that Sir Mordred had pight a +new field upon Barendown. And on the morrow the king rode thither to +him, and there was a great battle between them, and much people were +slain on both parts. But at the last King Arthur's party stood best, +and Sir Mordred and his party fled into Canterbury. + +(_Morte Darthur_.) + + + + +ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF ENGLAND + +1533-1603 + +THE QUEEN'S SPEECH TO HER LAST PARLIAMENT, NOVEMBER 30, 1601 + +Mr Speaker,--We perceive your coming is to present thanks unto us. +Know I accept them with no less joy than your loves can desire to offer +such a present, and do more esteem it than any treasure or riches; for +those we know how to prize, but loyalty, love, and thanks, I account +them invaluable; and though God hath raised me high, yet this I account +the glory of my crown, that I have reigned with your loves. This makes +that I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a queen, as +to be a queen over so thankful a people, and to be the means under God +to conserve you in safety, and {5} preserve you from danger, yea to be +the instrument to deliver you from dishonour, from shame and from +infamy, to keep you from out of servitude, and from slavery under our +enemies, and cruel tyranny, and vile oppression intended against us; +for the better withstanding whereof, we take very acceptable your +intended helps, and chiefly in that it manifesteth your loves and +largeness of hearts to your sovereign. Of myself I must say this, I +never was any greedy scraping grasper, nor a strict fasting-holding +prince, nor yet a waster; my heart was never set upon any worldly +goods, but only for my subjects' good. What you do bestow on me I will +not hoard up, but receive it to bestow on you again; yea, mine own +properties I account yours to be expended for your good, and your eyes +shall see the bestowing of it for your welfare. + +Mr Speaker, I would wish you and the rest to stand up, for I fear I +shall yet trouble you with longer speech. + +Mr Speaker, you give me thanks, but I am more to thank you, and I +charge you thank them of the Lower House from me; for had I not +received knowledge from you, I might a' fallen into the lapse of an +error, only for want of true information. Since I was queen, yet did I +never put my pen to any grant but upon pretext and semblance made me +that it was for the good and avail of my subjects generally, though a +private profit to some of my ancient servants, who have deserved well; +but that my grants shall be made grievances to my people, and +oppressions to be privileged under colour of our patents, our princely +dignity shall not suffer it. + +When I heard it, I could give no rest unto my {6} thoughts until I had +reformed it, and those varlets, lewd persons, abusers of my bounty, +shall know I will not suffer it. And, Mr Speaker, tell the House from +me, I take it exceeding grateful that the knowledge of these things is +come unto me from them. And though amongst them the principal members +are such as are not touched in private, and therefore need not speak +from any feeling of the grief, yet we have heard that other gentlemen +also of the House, who stand as free, have spoken freely in it; which +gives us to know that no respects or interests have moved them, other +than the minds they bear to suffer no diminution of our honour and our +subjects' love unto us. The zeal of which affection tending to ease my +people and knit their hearts unto us, I embrace with a princely care +far above all earthly treasures. I esteem my people's love, more than +which I desire not to merit: and God, that gave me here to sit, and +placed me over you, knows that I never respected myself, but as your +good was conserved in me; yet what dangers, what practices, what perils +I have passed, some, if not all of you, know; but none of these things +do move me, or ever made me fear, but it's God that hath delivered me. + +And in my governing this land, I have ever set the last judgment day +before mine eyes, and so to rule as I shall be judged and answer before +a higher Judge, to whose judgment seat I do appeal; in that thought was +never cherished in my heart that tended not to my people's good. + +And if my princely bounty have been abused, and my grants turned to the +hurt of my people contrary to {7} my will and meaning, or if any in +authority under me have neglected, or have converted what I have +committed unto them, I hope God will not lay their culps to my charge. + +To be a king, and wear a crown, is a thing more glorious to them that +see it than it's pleasant to them that bear it: for myself, I never was +so much enticed with the glorious name of a king, or the royal +authority of a queen, as delighted that God hath made me his instrument +to maintain his truth and glory, and to defend this kingdom from +dishonour, damage, tyranny, and oppression. But should I ascribe any +of these things to myself or my sexly weakness, I were not worthy to +live, and of all most unworthy of the mercies I have received at God's +hands, but to God only and wholly all is given and ascribed. + +The cares and troubles of a crown I cannot more fitly resemble than to +the drugs of a learned physician, perfumed with some aromatical savour, +or to bitter pills gilded over, by which they are made more acceptable +or less offensive, which indeed are bitter and unpleasant to take; and +for my own part, were it not for conscience sake to discharge the duty +that God hath laid upon me, and to maintain his glory, and keep you in +safety, in mine own disposition I should be willing to resign the place +I hold to any other, and glad to be freed of the glory with the +labours, for it is not my desire to live nor to reign longer than my +life and reign shall be for your good. And though you have had and may +have many mightier and wiser princes sitting in this seat, yet you +never had or shall have any that will love you better. + + + + +{8} + +SIR THOMAS NORTH 1535-1601 + +DEATH OF CLEOPATRA + +Shortly after Caesar came himself in person to see her, and to comfort +her. Cleopatra being laid upon a little low bed in poor estate, when +she saw Caesar come in to her chamber, she suddenly rose up, naked in +her smock, and fell down at his feet marvellously disfigured: both for +that she had plucked her hair from her head, as also for that she had +martyred all her face with her nails, and besides, her voice was small +and trembling, her eyes sunk into her head with continual blubbering: +and moreover, they might see the most part of her stomach torn in +sunder. To be short, her body was not much better than her mind: yet +her good grace and comeliness and the force of her beauty was not +altogether defaced. But notwithstanding this ugly and pitiful state of +hers, yet she shewed herself within, by her outward looks and +countenance. When Caesar had made her lie down again, and sat by her +bedside, Cleopatra began to clear and excuse herself for that she had +done, laying all to the fear she had of Antonius. Caesar, in contrary +manner, reproved her in every point. Then she suddenly altered her +speech, and prayed him to pardon her, as though she were afraid to die, +and desirous to live. At length she gave him a brief and memorial of +all the ready money and treasure she had. But by chance there stood +Seleucus by, one of her treasurers, who, to seem a good servant, came +straight to Caesar to disprove {9} Cleopatra, that she had not set in +all, but kept many things back of purpose. Cleopatra was in such a +rage with him, that she flew upon him, and took him by the hair of the +head, and boxed him well-favouredly. Caesar fell a-laughing, and +parted the fray. "Alas," said she, "O Caesar, is not this a great +shame and reproach, that thou having vouchsafed to take the pains to +come unto me, and hast done me this honour, poor wretch, and caitiff +creature, brought into this pitiful and miserable estate: and that mine +own servants should come now to accuse me, though it may be I have +reserved some jewels and trifles meet for women, but not for me (poor +soul) to set out myself withal, but meaning to give some pretty +presents and gifts unto Octavia and Livia, that they making means and +intercession for me to thee, thou mightest yet extend thy favour and +mercy upon me?" Caesar was glad to hear her say so, persuading himself +thereby that she had yet a desire to save her life. So he made her +answer, that he did not only give her that to dispose of at her +pleasure, which she had kept back, but further promised to use her more +honourably and bountifully than she would think for: and so he took his +leave of her, supposing he had deceived her, but indeed he was deceived +himself. + +There was a young gentleman Cornelius Dolabella, that was one of +Caesar's very great familiars, and besides did bear no evil will unto +Cleopatra. He sent her word secretly as she had requested him, that +Caesar determined to take his journey through Syria, and that within +three days he would send her away before with her children. When this +was told Cleopatra, she requested Caesar that {10} it would please him +to suffer her to offer the last oblations of the dead, unto the soul of +Antonius. This being granted her, she was carried to the place where +his tomb was, and there falling down on her knees, embracing the tomb +with her women, the tears running down her cheeks, she began to speak +in this sort: "O my dear Lord Antonius, not long sithence I buried thee +here, being a free woman: and now I offer unto thee the funeral +sprinklings and oblations, being a captive and prisoner; and yet I am +forbidden and kept from tearing and murdering this captive body of mine +with blows, which they carefully guard and keep, only to triumph of +thee: look therefore henceforth for no other honours, offerings, nor +sacrifices from me, for these are the last which Cleopatra can give +thee, sith now they carry her away. Whilst we lived together, nothing +could sever our companies: but now at our death, I fear me they will +make us change our countries. For as thou, being a Roman, hast been +buried in Egypt: even so, wretched creature I, an Egyptian, shall be +buried in Italy, which shall be all the good that I have received by +thy country. If therefore the gods where thou art now have any power +and authority, sith our gods here have forsaken us, suffer not thy true +friend and lover to be carried away alive, that in me they triumph of +thee: but receive me with thee, and let me be buried in one self tomb +with thee. For though my griefs and miseries be infinite, yet none +hath grieved me more, nor that I could less bear withal, than this +small time which I have been driven to live without thee." Then, +having ended these doleful plaints, and crowned the tomb with garlands +and sundry {11} nosegays, and marvellous lovingly embraced the same, +she commanded they should prepare her bath, and when she had bathed and +washed herself, she fell to her meat and was sumptuously served. + +Now whilst she was at dinner there came a countryman, and brought her a +basket. The soldiers that warded at the gates, asked him straight what +he had in his basket. He opened the basket, and took out the leaves +that covered the figs, and shewed them that they were figs he brought. +They all of them marvelled to see so goodly figs. The countryman +laughed to hear them, and bade them take some if they would. They +believed he told them truly, and so bade him carry them in. + +After Cleopatra had dined, she sent a certain table written and sealed +unto Caesar, and commanded them all to go out of the tombs where she +was, but the two women; then she shut the doors to her. Caesar, when +he received this table, and began to read her lamentation and petition, +requesting him that he would let her be buried with Antonius, found +straight what she meant, and thought to have gone thither himself: +howbeit he sent one before in all haste that might be, to see what it +was. Her death was very sudden. For those whom Caesar sent unto her +ran thither in all haste possible, and found the soldiers standing at +the gate, mistrusting nothing, nor understanding of her death. But +when they had opened the doors, they found Cleopatra stark dead, laid +upon a bed of gold, attired and arrayed in her royal robes, and one of +her two women, which was called Iras, dead at her feet: and her other +woman, called Charmion, half dead, and trembling, trimming the diadem +which {12} Cleopatra ware upon her head. One of the soldiers, seeing +her, angrily said unto her: "Is that well done, Charmion?" "Very +well," said she again, "and meet for a princess descended from the race +of so many noble kings." She said no more, but fell down dead hard by +the bed. + +(_Plutarch's Lives_.) + + + + +SIR WALTER RALEGH 1552-1618 + +THE VANITY OF GREATNESS + +By this which we have already set down is seen the beginning and end of +the three first monarchies of the world; whereof the founders and +erecters thought, that they could never have ended. That of Rome, +which made the fourth, was also at this time almost at the highest. We +have left it flourishing in the middle of the field, having rooted up +or cut down all that kept it from the eyes and admiration of the world. +But after some continuance, it shall begin to lose the beauty it had; +the storms of ambition shall beat her great boughs and branches one +against another; her leaves shall fall off, her limbs wither, and a +rabble of barbarous nations enter the field and cut her down. + +Now these great kings and conquering nations have been the subject of +those ancient histories which have been preserved and yet remain among +us; and withal of so many tragical poets, as in the persons of powerful +princes and other mighty men have complained against {13} infidelity, +time, destiny, and most of all against the variable success of worldly +things and instability of fortune. To these undertakings these great +lords of the world have been stirred up, rather by the desire of fame, +which plougheth up the air and soweth in the wind, than by the +affection of bearing rule, which draweth after it so much vexation and +so many cares. And that this is true, the good advice of Cineas to +Pyrrhus proves. And certainly, as fame hath often been dangerous to +the living, so it is to the dead of no use at all, because separate +from knowledge. Which were it otherwise, and the extreme ill bargain +of buying this lasting discourse understood by them which are +dissolved, they themselves would then rather have wished to have stolen +out of the world without noise, than to be put in mind that they have +purchased the report of their actions in the world by rapine, +oppression, and cruelty, by giving in spoil the innocent and labouring +soul to the idle and insolent, and by having emptied the cities of the +world of their ancient inhabitants, and fitted them again with so many +and so variable sorts of sorrows. + +Since the fall of the Roman Empire (omitting that of the Germans, which +had neither greatness nor continuance) there hath been no state fearful +in the east but that of the Turk; nor in the west any prince that hath +spread his wings far over his nest but the Spaniard; who, since the +time that Ferdinand expelled the Moors out of Grenado, have made many +attempts to make themselves masters of all Europe. And it is true that +by the treasures of both Indies, and by the many kingdoms which they +possess in Europe, they are at this day the most {14} powerful. But as +the Turk is now counterpoised by the Persian, so instead of so many +millions as have been spent by the English, French, and Netherlands in +a defensive war and in diversions against them, it is easy to +demonstrate that with the charge of two hundred thousand pound +continued but for two years, or three at the most, they may not only be +persuaded to live in peace, but all their swelling and overflowing +streams may be brought back into their natural channels and old banks. +These two nations, I say, are at this day the most eminent and to be +regarded; the one seeking to root out the Christian religion +altogether, the other the truth and sincere profession thereof; the one +to join all Europe to Asia, the other the rest of all Europe to Spain. + +For the rest, if we seek a reason of the succession and continuance of +this boundless ambition in mortal men, we may add to that which hath +been already said, that the kings and princes of the world have always +laid before them the actions, but not the ends, of those great ones +which preceded them. They are always transported with the glory of the +one, but they never mind the misery of the other, till they find the +experience in themselves. They neglect the advice of God, while they +enjoy life or hope it; but they follow the counsel of Death upon his +first approach. It is he that puts into man all wisdom of the world, +without speaking a word; which God with all the words of His law, +promises or threats, doth not infuse. Death, which hateth and +destroyeth man, is believed; God, which hath him and loves him, is +always deferred. _I have considered_ (saith Solomon) _all the works +that are wider the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of {15} +spirit_: but who believes it, till Death tells it us? It was Death, +which, opening the conscience of Charles the fifth, made him enjoin his +son Philip to restore Navarre; and King Francis the first of France, to +command that justice should be done upon the murderers of the +Protestants in Merindol and Cabrieres, which till then he neglected. +It is therefore Death alone that can suddenly make man to know himself. +He tells the proud and insolent that they are but abjects, and humbles +them at the instant, makes them cry, complain, and repent, yea, even to +hate their forepassed happiness. He takes the account of the rich and +proves him a beggar, a naked beggar, which hath interest in nothing but +in the gravel that fills his mouth. He holds a glass before the eyes +of the most beautiful, and makes them see therein their deformity and +rottenness, and they acknowledge it. + +O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast +persuaded; what none hath dared thou hast done; and whom all the world +hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised. +Thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the +pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these +two narrow words, _Hic jacet_. + +(_History of the World_.) + + + + +{16} + +RICHARD HOOKER 1554-1600 + +THE LAW OF NATIONS + +Now besides that law which simply concerneth men as men, and that which +belongeth unto them as they are men linked with others in some form of +politic society, there is a third kind of law which toucheth all such +several bodies politic, so far forth as one of them hath public +commerce with another. And this third is the Law of Nations. Between +men and beasts there is no possibility of social communion, because the +well-spring of that communion is a natural delight which man hath to +transfuse from himself into others, and to receive from others into +himself especially those things wherein the excellency of his kind doth +most consist. The chiefest instrument of human communion therefore is +speech, because thereby we impart mutually one to another the conceits +of our reasonable understanding. And for that cause seeing beasts are +not hereof capable, forasmuch as with them we can use no such +conference, they being in degree, although above other creatures on +earth to whom nature hath denied sense, yet lower than to be sociable +companions of man to whom nature hath given reason; it is of Adam said +that amongst the beasts "he found not for himself any meet companion." +Civil society doth more content the nature of man than any private kind +of solitary living, because in society this good of mutual +participation is so much larger than otherwise. Herewith +notwithstanding we are not satisfied, but we covet {17} (if it might +be) to have a kind of society and fellowship even with all mankind. +Which thing Socrates intending to signify professed himself a citizen, +not of this or that commonwealth, but of the world. And an effect of +that very natural desire in us (a manifest token that we wish after a +sort an universal fellowship with all men) appeareth by the wonderful +delight men have, some to visit foreign countries, some to discover +nations not heard of in former ages, we all to know the affairs and +dealings of other people, yea to be in league of amity with them: and +this not only for traffic's sake, or to the end that when many are +confederated each may make other the more strong; but for such cause +also as moved the Queen of Saba to visit Solomon; and in a word, +because nature doth presume that how many men there are in the world, +so many gods as it were there are, or at leastwise such they should be +towards men. + +(_Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity_.) + + + + +FRANCIS BACON 1561-1626 + +OF STUDIES + +Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief +use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in +discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of +business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of +particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots, and +the marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To +spend too much time in {18} studies is sloth; to use them too much for +ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the +humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by +experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need +pruning by study: and studies themselves do give forth directions too +much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men +contemn studies; simple men admire them; and wise men use them: for +they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and +above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute, +nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, +but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be +swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books +are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and +some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some +books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others: +but that would be only in the less important arguments and the meaner +sort of books: else distilled books are like common distilled waters, +flashy things. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and +writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had +need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a +present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to +seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise, poets witty, +the mathematics subtle, natural philosophy deep, moral grave, logic and +rhetoric able to contend: _Abeunt studia in mores_. Nay, there is no +stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought {19} out by fit +studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. +Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and +breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the +like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; +for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he +must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find +differences, let him study the school-men; for they are _Cymini +sectores_. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one +thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' +cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt. + +(_Essays_.) + + + + +WILLIAM DRUMMOND 1585-1649 + +MEDITATION ON DEATH + +If on the great theatre of this earth among the numberless number of +men, _to die_ were only proper to thee and thine, then undoubtedly thou +had reason to repine at so severe and partial a law. But since it is a +necessity, from which never any age by-past hath been exempted, and +unto which they which be, and so many as are to come, are thralled (no +consequent of life being more common and familiar), why shouldst thou +with unprofitable and nought-availing stubbornness, oppose so +inevitable and necessary a condition? This is the high-way of +morality, and our general home: Behold what millions have trod it +before thee, what multitudes shall after thee, with them which at that +same instant {20} run. In so universal a calamity (if Death be one) +private complaints cannot be heard: with so many royal palaces, it is +no loss to see thy poor cabin burn. Shall the heavens stay their +ever-rolling wheels (for what is the motion of them but the motion of a +swift and ever-whirling wheel, which twineth forth and again uprolleth +our life), and hold still time to prolong thy miserable days, as if the +highest of their working were to do homage unto thee? Thy death is a +pace of the order of this _All_, a part of the life of this world; for +while the world is the world, some creatures must die, and others take +life. Eternal things are raised far above this sphere of generation +and corruption, where the first matter, like an ever flowing and ebbing +sea, with divers waves, but the same water, keepeth a restless and +never tiring current; what is below in the universality of the kind, +not in itself doth abide: _Man_ a long line of years hath continued, +_This man_ every hundred is swept away. This globe environed with air +is the sole region of Death, the grave where everything that taketh +life must rot, the stage of fortune and change, only glorious in the +inconstancy and varying alterations of it, which though many, seem yet +to abide one, and being a certain entire one, are ever many. The never +agreeing bodies of the elemental brethren turn one into another; the +earth changeth her countenance with the seasons, sometimes looking cold +and naked, other times hot and flowery: nay, I cannot tell how, but +even the lowest of those celestial bodies, that mother of months, and +empress of seas and moisture, as if she were a mirror of our constant +mutability, appeareth (by her too great nearness {21} unto us) to +participate of our changes, never seeing us twice with that same face: +now looking black, then pale and wan, sometimes again in the perfection +and fulness of her beauty shining over us. Death no less than life +doth here act a part, the taking away of what is old being the making +way for what is young. + +(_A Cypress Grove_.) + + + + +THOMAS HOBBES 1588-1679 + +PRIMITIVE LIFE + +Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is +enemy to every man, the same is consequent to the time, wherein men +live without other security, than what their own strength and their own +invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no +place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and +consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the +commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no +instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; +no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no +letters; no society; and, which is worst of all, continual fear, and +danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, +brutish, and short. + +It may seem strange to some man that has not well weighed these things, +that nature should thus dissociate, and render men apt to invade and +destroy one another: and he may therefore, not trusting to this +inference, {22} made from the passions, desire perhaps to have the same +confirmed by experience. Let him therefore consider with himself, when +taking a journey, he arms himself, and seeks to go well accompanied; +when going to sleep, he locks his doors; when even in his house he +locks his chests; and this when he knows there be laws and public +officers, armed, to revenge all injuries shall be done him; what +opinion he has of his fellow-subjects, when he rides armed; of his +fellow-citizens, when he locks his doors; and of his children and +servants, when he locks his chests. Does he not there as much accuse +mankind by his actions, as I do by my words? But neither of us accuse +man's nature in it. The desires and other passions of man are in +themselves no sin. No more are the actions that proceed from those +passions, till they know a law that forbids them; which, till laws be +made, they cannot know; nor can any law be made, till they have agreed +upon the person that shall make it. + +It may peradventure be thought, there was never such a time, nor +condition of war as this; and I believe it was never generally so over +all the world; but there are many places where they live so now. For +the savage people in many places of America, except the government of +small families, the concord whereof dependeth on natural lust, have no +government at all; and live at this day in that brutish manner, as I +said before. Howsoever, it may be perceived what manner of life there +would be, where there were no common power to fear, by the manner of +life which men that have formerly lived under a peaceful government +used to degenerate into in a civil war. + +{23} But though there had never been any time, wherein particular men +were in a condition of war one against another; yet in all times, kings +and persons of sovereign authority, because of their independency, are +in continual jealousies, and in the state and posture of gladiators: +having their weapons pointing, and their eyes fixed on one another; +that is, their forts, garrisons, and guns upon the frontiers of their +kingdoms; and continual spies upon their neighbours; which is a posture +of war. But, because they uphold thereby the industry of their +subjects, there does not follow from it that misery which accompanies +the liberty of particular men. + +To this war of every man against every man, this also is consequent, +that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice +and injustice, have there no place. Where there is no common power, +there is no law: where no law, no injustice. Force and fraud are in +war the two cardinal virtues. Justice and injustice are none of the +faculties, neither of the body nor mind. If they were, they might be +in a man that were alone in the world, as well as his senses and +passions. They are qualities that relate to men in society, not in +solitude. It is consequent also to the same condition, that there be +no propriety, no dominion, no _mine_ and _thine_ distinct; but only +that to be every man's, that he can get; and for so long as he can keep +it. And thus much for the ill condition, which man by mere nature is +actually placed in: though with a possibility to come out of it, +consisting partly in the passions, partly in his reason. + +(_Leviathan_.) + + + + +{24} + +JOHN EARLE 1601?-1665 + +CHARACTER OF A PLODDING STUDENT + +_A Plodding Student_ is a kind of alchemist or persecutor of Nature, +that would change the dull lead of his brain into finer metal, with +success many times as unprosperous, or at least not quitting the cost, +to wit, of his own oil and candles. He has a strange forced appetite +to learning, and to achieve it brings nothing but patience and a body. +His study is not great, but continual, and consists much in the sitting +up till after midnight in a rug gown and a nightcap, to the vanquishing +perhaps of some six lines: yet what he has, he has perfect, for he +reads it so long to understand it, till he gets it without book. He +may with much industry make a breach into logic, and arrive at some +ability in an argument; but for politer studies, he dare not skirmish +with them, and for poetry, accounts it impregnable. His invention is +no more than the finding out of his papers, and his few gleanings +there; and his disposition of them is as just as the book-binder's, a +setting or glueing of them together. He is a great discomforter of +young students, by telling them what travail it has cost him, and how +often his brain turned at philosophy, and makes others fear studying as +a cause of duncery. He is a man much given to apothegms, which serve +him for wit, and seldom breaks any jest but which belonged to some +Lacedaemonian or Roman in _Lycosthenes_. He is like {25} a dull +carrier's horse, that will go a whole week together, but never out of a +foot-pace: and he that sets forth on the Saturday shall overtake him. + +(_Microcosmography_.) + + + + +SIR THOMAS BROWNE 1605-1682 + +CHARITY + +Now for that other virtue of charity, without which faith is a mere +notion and of no existence, I have ever endeavoured to nourish the +merciful disposition and humane inclination I borrowed from my parents, +and regulate it to the written and prescribed laws of charity. And, if +I hold the true anatomy of myself, I am delineated and naturally framed +to such a piece of virtue; for I am of a constitution so general that +it consorts and sympathizeth with all things; I have no antipathy, or +rather idiosyncrasy, in diet, humour, air, anything. I wonder not at +the French for their dishes of frogs, snails, and toadstools, nor at +the Jews for locusts and grasshoppers; but, being amongst them, make +them my common viands; and I find they agree with my stomach as well as +theirs. I could digest a salad gathered in a churchyard as well as in +a garden. I cannot start at the presence of a serpent, scorpion, +lizard, or salamander; at the sight of a toad or viper, I find in me no +desire to take up a stone to destroy them. I feel not in myself those +common antipathies that I discover in others: those national +repugnances do not touch me, {26} nor do I behold with prejudice the +French, Italian, Spaniard, or Dutch; but, where I find their actions in +balance with my countrymen's, I honour, love, and embrace them, in the +same degree. I was born in the eighth climate, but seem to be framed +and constellated unto all. I am no plant that will not prosper out of +a garden. All places, all airs, make unto me one country; I am in +England everywhere, and under any meridian. I have been shipwrecked, +yet am not enemy with the sea or winds; I can study, play, or sleep in +a tempest. In brief, I am averse from nothing: my conscience would +give me the lie if I should say I absolutely detest or hate any +essence, but the devil, or so at least abhor anything, but that we +might come to composition. If there be any among those common objects +of hatred I do contemn and laugh at, it is that great enemy of reason, +virtue, and religion, the multitude; that numerous piece of +monstrosity, which, taken asunder, seem men, and the reasonable +creatures of God, but, confused together, make but one great beast, and +a monstrosity more prodigious than Hydra. It is no breach of charity +to call these _Fools_; it is the style all holy writers have afforded +them, set down by Solomon in canonical scripture, and a point of our +faith to believe so. Neither in the name of _multitude_ do I only +include the base and minor sort of people: there is a rabble even +amongst the gentry; a sort of plebeian heads, whose fancy moves with +the same wheel as these; men in the same level with mechanics, though +their fortunes do somewhat gild their infirmities, and their purses +compound for their follies. But, as in casting account three or four +men {27} together come short in account of one man placed by himself +below them, so neither are a troop of these ignorant _Doradoes_ of that +true esteem and value as many a forlorn person, whose condition doth +place him below their feet. Let us speak like politicians; there is a +nobility without heraldry, a natural dignity, whereby one man is ranked +with another, another filed before him, according to the quality of his +desert, and pre-eminence of his good parts. Though the corruption of +these times, and the bias of present practice, wheel another way, thus +it was in the first and primitive commonwealths, and is yet in the +integrity and cradle of well-ordered polities: till corruption getteth +ground; ruder desires labouring after that which wiser considerations +contemn; every one having a liberty to amass and heap up riches, and +they a licence or faculty to do or purchase anything. + +(_Religio Medici_.) + + + + +JOHN MILTON 1608-1674 + +THE DANGER OF INTERFERING WITH THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS + +First, when a city shall be as it were besieged and blocked about, her +navigable river infested, inroads and incursions round, defiance and +battle oft rumoured to be marching up, even to her walls and suburb +trenches; that then the people, or the greater part, more than at other +times, wholly taken up with the study of highest and {28} most +important matters to be reformed, should be disputing, reasoning, +reading, inventing, discoursing, even to a rarity and admiration, +things not before discoursed or written of, argues first a singular +good will, contentedness and confidence in your prudent foresight, and +safe government, lords and commons; and from thence derives itself to a +gallant bravery and well grounded contempt of their enemies, as if +there were no small number of as great spirits among us, as his was who +when Rome was nigh besieged by Hannibal, being in the city, bought that +piece of ground at no cheap rate, whereon Hannibal himself encamped his +own regiment. Next, it is a lively and cheerful presage of our happy +success and victory. For as in a body when the blood is fresh, the +spirits pure and vigorous, not only to vital, but to rational +faculties, and those in the acutest and the pertest operations of wit +and subtlety, it argues in what good plight and condition the body is; +so when the cheerfulness of the people is so sprightly up, as that it +has not only wherewith to guard well its own freedom and safety, but to +spare, and to bestow upon the solidest and sublimest points of +controversy and new invention, it betokens us not degenerated, nor +drooping to a fatal decay, by casting off the old and wrinkled skin of +corruption to outlive these pangs, and wax young again, entering the +glorious ways of truth and prosperous virtue, destined to become great +and honourable in these latter ages. Methinks I see in my mind a noble +and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and +shaking her invincible locks: methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her +mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at {29} the full midday +beam; purging and unsealing her long abused sight at the fountain +itself of heavenly radiance; while the whole noise of timorous and +flocking birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter about, +amazed at what she means, and in their envious gabble would +prognosticate a year of sects and schisms. + +What would ye do then, should ye suppress all this flowery crop of +knowledge and new light sprung up and yet springing daily in this city? +Should ye set an oligarchy of twenty engrossers over it, to bring a +famine upon our minds again, when we shall know nothing but what is +measured to us by their bushel? Believe it, lords and commons! they +who counsel ye to such a suppressing, do as good as bid ye suppress +yourselves; and I will soon show how. If it be desired to know the +immediate cause of all this free writing and free speaking, there +cannot be assigned a truer than your own mild and free and humane +government; it is the liberty, lords and commons, which your own +valorous and happy counsels have purchased us; liberty which is the +nurse of all great wits: this is that which hath rarified and +enlightened our spirits like the influence of Heaven; this is that +which hath enfranchised, enlarged, and lifted up our apprehensions +degrees above themselves. Ye cannot make us now less capable, less +knowing, less eagerly pursuing of the truth, unless ye first make +yourselves, that made us so, less the lovers, less the founders of our +true liberty. We can grow ignorant again, brutish, formal, and +slavish, as ye found us; but you then must first become that which ye +cannot be, oppressive, arbitrary and tyrannous, as they were from whom +ye have freed us. {30} That our hearts are now more capacious, our +thoughts more erected to the search and expectation of greatest and +exactest things, is the issue of your own virtue propagated in us; ye +cannot suppress that, unless ye reinforce an abrogated and merciless +law, that fathers may despatch at will their own children. And who +shall then stick closest to thee and excite others? Not he who takes +up arms for coat and conduct, and his four nobles of Danegelt. +Although I dispraise not the defence of just immunities, yet love my +peace better, if that were all. Give me the liberty to know, to utter, +and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. + +(_Areopagitica_.) + + + + +EARL OF CLARENDON 1609-1674 + +DEATH OF FALKLAND + +In this unhappy battle was slain the Lord Viscount Falkland, a person +of such prodigious parts of learning and knowledge, of that inimitable +sweetness and delight in conversation, of so flowing and obliging a +humanity and goodness to mankind, and of that primitive simplicity and +integrity of life, that if there were no other brand upon this odious +and accursed civil war than that single loss, it must be most infamous +and execrable to all posterity. + +Before this parliament his condition of life was so happy that it was +hardly capable of improvement. Before he came to be twenty years of +age, he was master of a noble fortune, which descended to him by the +gift of a {31} grandfather, without passing through his father or +mother, who were then both alive, and not well enough contented to find +themselves passed by in the descent. His education for some years had +been in Ireland, where his father was Lord Deputy; so that, when he +returned into England to the possession of his fortune, he was +unentangled with any acquaintance or friends, which usually grow up by +the custom of conversation; and therefore was to make a pure election +of his company, which he chose by other rules than were prescribed to +the young nobility of that time. And it cannot be denied, though he +admitted some few to his friendship for the agreeableness of their +natures, and their undoubted affection to him, that his familiarity and +friendship for the most part was with men of the most eminent and +sublime parts, and of untouched reputation in point of integrity; and +such had a title to his bosom. + +He was a great cherisher of wit and fancy and good parts in any man, +and, if he found them clouded with poverty or want, a most liberal and +bountiful patron towards them, even above his fortune; of which, in +those administrations, he was such a dispenser, as, if he had been +trusted with it to such uses, and if there had been the least of vice +in his expense, he might have been thought too prodigal. He was +constant and pertinacious in whatsoever he resolved to do, and not to +be wearied by any pains that were necessary to that end. And +therefore, having once resolved not to see London, which he loved above +all places, till he had perfectly learned the Greek tongue, he went to +his own house in the country, and pursued it with that indefatigable +{32} industry, that it will not be believed in how short a time he was +master of it, and accurately read all the Greek historians. + +In this time, his house being within little more than ten miles of +Oxford, he contracted familiarity and friendship with the most polite +and accurate men of that university; who found such an immenseness of +wit and such a solidity of judgment in him, so infinite a fancy, bound +in by a most logical ratiocination, such a vast knowledge, that he was +not ignorant in anything, yet such an excessive humility, as if he had +known nothing, that they frequently resorted, and dwelt with him, as in +a college situated in a purer air; so that his house was a university +in less volume; whither they came not so much for repose as study, and +to examine and refine those grosser propositions, which laziness and +consent made current in vulgar conversation. . . + +From the entrance into this unnatural war, his natural cheerfulness and +vivacity grew clouded, and a kind of sadness and dejection of spirit +stole upon him, which he had never been used to: yet being one of those +who believed that one battle would end all differences, and that there +would be so great a victory on one side, that the other would be +compelled to submit to any conditions from the victor (which +supposition and conclusion generally sunk into the minds of most men, +and prevented the looking after many advantages that might then have +been laid hold of) he resisted those indispositions. But after the +King's return from Brentford, and the furious resolution of the two +houses not to admit any treaty for peace, those indispositions, which +had before touched {33} him, grew into a perfect habit of +uncheerfulness, and he, who had been so exactly easy and affable to all +men that his face and countenance was always present and vacant to his +company, and held any cloudiness and less pleasantness of the visage a +kind of rudeness or incivility, became on a sudden less communicable, +and thence very sad, pale, and exceedingly affected with the spleen. +In his clothes and habit, which he had minded before always with more +neatness and industry and expense than is usual to so great a soul, he +was not now only incurious, but too negligent; and in his reception of +suitors, and the necessary or casual addresses to his place, so quick +and sharp and severe, that there wanted not some men (strangers to his +nature and disposition) who believed him proud and imperious, from +which no mortal man was ever more free. . . + +When there was any overture, or hope of peace, he would be more erect +and vigorous, and exceedingly solicitous to press anything which he +thought might promote it; and sitting among his friends, often, after a +deep silence and frequent sighs, would, with a shrill and sad accent, +ingeminate the word _Peace, peace_; and would passionately profess that +the very agony of the war, and the view of the calamities and +desolation the kingdom did and must endure, took his sleep from him, +and would shortly break his heart. This made some think, or pretend to +think, that he was so much enamoured on peace that he would have been +glad the King should have bought it at any price; which was a most +unreasonable calumny. As if a man that was himself the most punctual +and precise in every circumstance {34} that might reflect upon +conscience or honour, could have wished the King to have committed a +trespass against either. And yet this senseless scandal made some +impression upon him, or at least he used it for an excuse of the +daringness of his spirit; for at the leaguer before Gloucester, when +his friend passionately reprehended him for exposing his person +unnecessarily to danger (for he delighted to visit the trenches and +nearest approaches, and to discover what the enemy did) as being so +much beside the duty of his place that it might be understood rather to +be against it, he would say merrily, that his office could not take +away the privileges of his age, and that a Secretary in war might be +present at the greatest secret of danger; but withal alleged seriously, +that it concerned him to be more active in enterprises of hazard than +other men, that all might see that his impatiency for peace proceeded +not from pusillanimity or fear to adventure his own person. + +In the morning before the battle, as always upon action, he was very +cheerful, and put himself into the first rank of Lord Byron's regiment, +then advancing upon the enemy, who had lined the hedges on both sides +with musketeers; from whence he was shot with a musket in the lower +part of the belly, and in the instant falling from his horse, his body +was not found till the next morning; till when, there was some hope he +might have been a prisoner, though his nearest friends, who knew his +temper, received small comfort from that imagination. Thus fell that +incomparable young man, in the four and thirtieth year of his age, +having so much despatched the true business of life, {35} that the +eldest rarely attain to that immense knowledge, and the youngest enter +not into the world with more innocency. Whosoever leads such a life +needs be the less anxious upon how short warning it is taken from him. + +(_History of the Rebellion_.) + + + + +JOHN BUNYAN 1628-1688 + +THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE + +After this I beheld until they were come unto the land of Beulah, where +the sun shineth night and day. Here, because they were weary, they +betook themselves a while to rest. And because this country was common +for pilgrims, and because the orchards and vineyards that were here +belonged to the King of the Celestial Country, therefore they were +licensed to make bold with any of his things. + +But a little while soon refreshed them here, for the bells did so ring, +and the trumpets continually sound so melodiously, that they could not +sleep; and yet they received as much refreshing as if they had slept +their sleep never so soundly. Here also all the noise of them that +walked the streets was, More pilgrims are come to town. And another +would answer, saying, And so many went over the water, and were let in +at the golden gates to-day. They would cry again, There is now a +legion of shining ones just come to town, by which we know that there +are more pilgrims upon the road; for here {36} they come to wait for +them, and to comfort them after all their sorrow. Then the pilgrims +got up and walked to and fro; but how were their ears now filled with +heavenly noises, and their eyes delighted with celestial visions! In +this land they heard nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing, smelt nothing, +tasted nothing, that was offensive to their stomach or mind; only when +they tasted of the water of the river, over which they were to go, they +thought that tasted a little bitterish to the palate, but it proved +sweeter when 'twas down. + +In this place there was a record kept of the names of them that had +been pilgrims of old, and a history of all the famous acts that they +had done. It was here also much discoursed, how the river to some has +had its flowings, and what ebbings it has had while others have gone +over. It has been in a manner dry for some, while it has overflowed +its banks for others. + +In this place, the children of the town would go into the King's +gardens, and gather nosegays for the pilgrims, and bring them to them +with much affection. Here also grew camphor, with spikenard, and +saffron, calamus, and cinnamon, with all its trees of frankincense, +myrrh, and aloes, with all chief spices. With these the pilgrims' +chambers were perfumed while they stayed here; and with these were +their bodies anointed, to prepare them to go over the river when the +time appointed was come. + +Now while they lay here and waited for the good hour, there was a noise +in the town that there was a post come from the Celestial City with +matter of great importance to one Christiana, the wife of Christian the +{37} pilgrim. So inquiry was made for her, and the house was found out +where she was, so the post presented her with a letter; the contents +whereof was, Hail, good woman, I bring thee tidings that the Master +calleth for thee, and expecteth that thou should stand in His presence, +in clothes of immortality, within this ten days. + +When he had read this letter to her, he gave her therewith a sure token +that he was a true messenger, and was come to bid her make haste to be +gone. The token was an arrow with a point, sharpened with love, let +easily into her heart, which by degrees wrought so effectually with +her, that at the time appointed she must be gone. + +When Christiana saw that her time was come, and that she was the first +of this company that was to go over, she called for Mr Great-heart, her +guide, and told him how matters were. So he told her he was heartily +glad of the news, and could a' been glad had the post come for him. +Then she bid that he should give advice how all things should be +prepared for her journey. + +So he told her, saying, Thus and thus it must be, and we that survive +will accompany you to the riverside. + +Then she called for her children, and gave them her blessing; and told +them that she yet read with comfort the mark that was set in their +foreheads, and was glad to see them with her there, and that they had +kept their garments so white. Lastly, she bequeathed to the poor that +little she had, and commanded her sons and her daughters to be ready +against the messenger should come for them. . . . + +{38} Now the day drew on that Christiana must be gone. So the road was +full of people to see her take her journey. But behold, all the banks +beyond the river were full of horses and chariots, which were come down +from above to accompany her to the city-gate. So she came forth, and +entered the river with a beckon of farewell to those that followed her +to the river-side. The last word she was heard to say was, I come, +Lord, to be with thee, and bless thee. + +So her children and friends returned to their place, for that those +that waited for Christiana had carried her out of their sight. So she +went and called, and entered in at the gate with all the ceremonies of +joy that her husband Christian had done before her. + +At her departure her children wept, but Mr Great-heart and Mr Valiant +played upon the well-tuned cymbal and harp for joy. So all departed to +their respective places. . . . + +Then it came to pass, a while after, that there was a post in the town +that inquired for Mr Honest. So he came to his house where he was, and +delivered to his hand these lines: Thou art commanded to be ready +against this day seven-night, to present thyself before thy Lord at His +Father's house. And for a token that my message is true, "all the +daughters of music shall be brought low." Then Mr Honest called for +his friends, and said unto them, I die, but shall make no will. As for +my honesty, it shall go with me; let him that comes after be told of +this. When the day that he was to be gone was come, he addressed +himself to go over the river. Now the river at that time overflowed +the banks {39} in some places. But Mr Honest, in his life-time, had +spoken to one Good-conscience to meet him there, the which he also did, +and lent him his hand, and so helped him over. The last words of Mr +Honest were, Grace reigns. So he left the world. + +After this it was noised abroad that Mr Valiant-for-truth was taken +with a summons by the same post as the other; and had this for a token +that the summons was true, that his pitcher was broken at the fountain. +When he understood it, he called for his friends, and told them of it. +Then said he: I am going to my Father's, and though with great +difficulty I am got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the +trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him +that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him +that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness +for me that I have fought His battles who now will be my Rewarder. + +When the day that he must go hence was come, many accompanied him to +the river-side; into which as he went he said, Death, where is thy +sting? And as he went down deeper he said, Grave, where is thy +victory? So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on +the other side. . . . + +But glorious it was to see how the open region was filled with horses +and chariots, with trumpeters and pipers, with singers and players on +stringed instruments, to welcome the pilgrims as they went up, and +followed one another in at the beautiful gate of the city. + +(_Pilgrim's Progress_.) + + + + +{40} + +SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE 1628-1699 + +POETRY AND MUSIC + +But to spin off this thread, which is already grown too long; what +honour and request the ancient poetry has lived in, may not only be +observed from the universal reception and use in all nations from China +to Peru, from Scythia to Arabia, but from the esteem of the best and +the greatest men as well as the vulgar. Among the Hebrews, David and +Solomon, the wisest kings, Job and Jeremiah, the holiest men, were the +best poets of their nation and language. Among the Greeks, the two +most renowned sages and lawgivers were Lycurgus and Solon, whereof the +last is known to have excelled in poetry, and the first was so great a +lover of it, that to his care and industry we are said (by some +authors) to owe the collection and preservation of the loose and +scattered pieces, of Homer in the order wherein they have since +appeared. Alexander is reported neither to have travelled nor slept +without those admirable poems always in his company. Phalaris, that +was inexorable to all other enemies, relented at the charms of +Stesichorus his muse. Among the Romans, the last and great Scipio +passed the soft hours of his life in the conversation of Terence, and +was thought to have a part in the composition of his comedies. Caesar +was an excellent poet as well as orator, and composed a poem in his +voyage from Rome to Spain, relieving the tedious difficulties of his +march with the entertainments {41} of his muse. Augustus was not only +a patron, but a friend and companion of Virgil and Horace, and was +himself both an admirer of poetry and a pretender too, as far as his +genius would reach, or his busy scene allow. 'Tis true, since his age +we have few such examples of great Princes favouring or affecting +poetry, and as few perhaps of great poets deserving it. Whether it be +that the fierceness of the Gothic humours, or noise of their perpetual +wars, frighted it away, or that the unequal mixture of the modern +languages would not bear it; certain it is, that the great heights and +excellency both of poetry and music fell with the Roman learning and +empire, and have never since recovered the admiration and applauses +that before attended them. Yet, such as they are amongst us, they must +be confessed to be the softest and sweetest, the most general and most +innocent amusements of common time and life. They still find room in +the courts of Princes and the cottages of shepherds. They serve to +revive and animate the dead calm of poor or idle lives, and to allay or +divert the violent passions and perturbations of the greatest and the +busiest men. And both these effects are of equal use to human life; +for the mind of man is like the sea, which is neither agreeable to the +beholder nor the voyager in a calm or in a storm, but is so to both +when a little agitated by gentle gales; and so the mind, when moved by +soft and easy passions and affections. I know very well that many, who +pretend to be wise by the forms of being grave, are apt to despise both +poetry and music as toys and trifles too light for the use or +entertainment of serious men. But, whoever find {42} themselves wholly +insensible to these charms, would, I think, do well to keep their own +counsel, for fear of reproaching their own temper, and bringing the +goodness of their natures, if not of their understandings, into +question; it may be thought at least an ill sign, if not an ill +constitution, since some of the fathers went so far as to esteem the +love of music a sign of predestination, as a thing divine, and reserved +for the felicities of heaven itself. While this world lasts, I doubt +not but the pleasure and requests of these two entertainments will do +so too: and happy those that content themselves with these, or any +other so easy and so innocent; and do not trouble the world, or other +men, because they cannot be quiet themselves, though nobody hurts them! + +When all is done, human life is, at the greatest and the best, but like +a froward child, that must be played with and humoured a little to keep +it quiet till it falls asleep, and then the care is over. + + + + +SAMUEL PEPYS 1633-1703 + +A DAY IN THE COUNTRY + +July 14th (Lord's Day), 1667. Up, and my wife, a little before four, +and to make us ready; and by and by Mrs Turner come to us, by +agreement, and she and I staid talking below, while my wife dressed +herself, which vexed me that she was so long about it, keeping us till +past five o'clock before she was ready. She ready; and taking some +bottles of wine, and beer, and some {43} cold fowl with us into the +coach, we took coach and four horses, which I had provided last night, +and so away. A very fine day, and so towards Epsom, talking all the +way pleasantly. The country very fine, only the way very dusty. We +got to Epsom by eight o'clock, to the well; where much company, and +there we 'light, and I drank the water. Here I met with divers of our +town, among others with several of the tradesmen of our office, but did +talk but little with them, it growing hot in the sun, and so we took +coach again and to the town, to the King's Head, where our coachman +carried us, and there had an ill room for us to go into, but the best +in the house that was not taken up. Here we called for drink, and +bespoke dinner. We all lay down after dinner (the day being wonderful +hot) to sleep, and each of us took a good nap, and then rose; and Tom +Wilson come to see me, and sat and talked an hour. By and by he +parted, and we took coach and to take the air, there being a fine +breeze abroad; and I went and carried them to the well, and there +filled some bottles of water to carry home with me. Here W. Hewer's +horse broke loose, and we had the sport to see him taken again. Then I +carried them to see my cousin Pepys's house, and 'light, and walked +round about it, and they like it, as indeed it deserves, very well, and +is a pretty place; and then I walked them to the wood hard by, and +there got them in the thickets till they had lost themselves, and I +could not find the way into any of the walks in the wood, which indeed +are very pleasant, if I could have found them. At last got out of the +wood again; and I, by leaping down the little bank, coming out of {44} +the wood, did sprain my right foot, which brought me great present +pain, but presently, with walking, it went away for the present, and so +the women and W. Hewer and I walked upon the Downs, where a flock of +sheep was; and the most pleasant and innocent sight that ever I saw in +my life--we find a shepherd and his little boy reading, far from any +houses or sight of people, the Bible to him; so I made the boy read to +me, which he did, with the forced tone that children do usually read, +that was mighty pretty, and then I did give him something, and went to +the father, and talked with him; and I find he had been a servant in my +cousin Pepys's house, and told me what was become of their old +servants. He did content himself mightily in my liking his boy's +reading, and did bless God for him, the most like one of the old +patriarchs that ever I saw in my life, and it brought those thoughts of +the old age of the world in my mind for two or three days after. We +took notice of his woollen knit stockings of two colours mixed, and of +his shoes shod with iron shoes, both at the toe and heels, and with +great nails in the soles of his feet, which was mighty pretty: and, +taking notice of them, "Why," says the poor man, "the downs, you see, +are full of stones, and we are fain to shoe ourselves thus; and these," +says he, "will make the stones fly till they sing before me." I did +give the poor man something, for which he was mighty thankful, and I +tried to cast stones with his horn crook. He values his dog mightily, +that would turn a sheep any way which he would have him, when he goes +to fold them: told me there was about eighteen score sheep in his +flock, and that he hath four shillings {45} a week the year round for +keeping them: so we posted thence with mighty pleasure in the discourse +we had with this poor man, and Mrs Turner, in the common fields here, +did gather one of the prettiest nosegays that ever I saw in my life. +So to our coach, and through Mr Minnes's wood, and looked upon Mr +Evelyn's house; and so over the common, and through Epsom town to our +inn, in the way stopping a poor woman with her milk-pail, and in one of +my gilt tumblers did drink our bellyfulls of milk, better than any +cream: and so to our inn, and there had a dish of cream, but it was +sour, and so had no pleasure in it; and so paid our reckoning, and took +coach, it being about seven at night, and passed and saw the people +walking with their wives and children to take the air, and we set out +for home, the sun by and by going down, and we in the cool of the +evening all the way with much pleasure home, talking and pleasing +ourselves with the pleasure of this day's work, Mrs Turner mightily +pleased with my resolution, which, I tell her, is never to keep a +country-house, but to keep a coach, and with my wife on the Saturday to +go sometimes for a day to this place, and then quit to another place; +and there is more variety and as little charge, and no trouble, as +there is in a country-house. Anon it grew dark, and as it grew dark we +had the pleasure to see several glow-worms, which was mighty pretty, +but my foot begins more and more to pain me, which Mrs Turner, by +keeping her warm hand upon it, did much ease; but so that when we come +home, which was just at eleven at night, I was not able to walk from +the lane's end to my house without being helped, which did trouble {46} +me, and therefore to bed presently, but, thanks be to God, found that I +had not been missed, nor any business happened in my absence. So to +bed, and there had a cere-cloth laid to my foot and leg alone, but in +great pain all night long. + +(_Diary_.) + + + + +DANIEL DEFOE 1660-1731 + +CAPTAIN SINGLETON IN CHINA + +In the meantime, we came to an anchor under a little island in the +latitude of 23 degrees 28 minutes, being just under the northern +tropic, and about twenty leagues from the island. Here we lay thirteen +days, and began to be very uneasy for my friend William, for they had +promised to be back again in four days, which they might very easily +have done. However, at the end of thirteen days, we saw three sail +coming directly to us, which a little surprised us all at first, not +knowing what might be the case; and we began to put ourselves in a +posture of defence: but as they came nearer us, we were soon satisfied, +for the first vessel was that which William went in, who carried a flag +of truce; and in a few hours they all came to an anchor, and William +came on board us with a little boat, with the Chinese merchant in his +company, and two other merchants, who seemed to be a kind of brokers +for the rest. + +{47} Here he gave us an account how civilly he had been used; how they +had treated him with all imaginable frankness and openness; that they +had not only given him the full value of his spices and other goods +which he carried, in gold, by good weight, but had loaded the vessel +again with such goods as he knew we were willing to trade for; and that +afterwards they had resolved to bring the great ship out of the +harbour, to lie where we were, that so we might make what bargain we +thought fit; only William said he had promised, in our name, that we +should use no violence with them, nor detain any of the vessels after +we had done trading with them. I told him we would strive to outdo +them in civility, and that we would make good every part of his +agreement; in token whereof, I caused a white flag likewise to be +spread at the poop of our great ship, which was the signal agreed on. + +As to the third vessel which came with them, it was a kind of bark of +the country, who, having intelligence of our design to traffic, came +off to deal with us, bringing a good deal of gold and some provisions, +which at that time we were very glad of. + +In short, we traded upon the high seas with these men, and indeed we +made a very good market, and yet sold thieves' pennyworths too. We +sold here about sixty ton of spice, chiefly cloves and nutmegs, and +above two hundred bales of European goods, such as linen and woollen +manufactures. We considered we should have occasion for some such +things ourselves, and so we kept a good quantity of English stuns, +cloth, baize, &c., for ourselves. I shall not take up any of the +little {48} room I have left here with the further particulars of our +trade; it is enough to mention, that, except a parcel of tea, and +twelve bales of fine China wrought silks, we took nothing in exchange +for our goods but gold; so that the sum we took here in that glittering +commodity amounted to above fifty thousand ounces good weight. + +When we had finished our barter, we restored the hostages, and gave the +three merchants about the quantity of twelve hundredweight of nutmegs, +and as many of cloves, with a handsome present of European linen and +stuff for themselves, as a recompense for what we had taken from them; +so we sent them away exceedingly well satisfied. + +Here it was that William gave me an account, that while he was on board +the Japanese vessel, he met with a kind of religious, or Japan priest, +who spoke some words of English to him; and, being very inquisitive to +know how he came to learn any of those words, he told him that there +was in his country thirteen Englishmen; he called them Englishmen very +articulately and distinctly, for he had conversed with them very +frequently and freely. He said that they were all that were left of +two-and-thirty men, who came on shore on the north side of Japan, being +driven upon a great rock in a stormy night, where they lost their ship, +and the rest of their men were drowned; that he had persuaded the king +of his country to send boats off to the rock or island where the ship +was lost, to save the rest of the men, and to bring them on shore, +which was done, and they were used very kindly, and had houses {49} +built for them, and land given them to plant for provision; and that +they lived by themselves. + +He said he went frequently among them, to persuade them to worship +their god (an idol, I suppose, of their own making), which, he said, +they ungratefully refused; and that therefore the king had once or +twice ordered them all to be put to death; but that, as he said, he had +prevailed upon the king to spare them, and let them live their own way, +as long as they were quiet and peaceable, and did not go about to +withdraw others from the worship of the country. + +I asked William why he did not inquire from whence they came. "I did," +said William; "for how could I but think it strange," said he, "to hear +him talk of Englishmen on the north side of Japan?" "Well," said I, +"what account did he give of it?" "An account," said William, "that +will surprise thee, and all the world after thee, that shall hear of +it, and which makes me wish thou wouldst go up to Japan and find them +out." "What do you mean?" said I. "Whence could they come?" "Why," +says William, "he pulled out a little book, and in it a piece of paper, +where it was written, in an Englishman's hand, and in plain English +words, thus; and," says William, "I read it myself:--'We come from +Greenland, and from the North Pole.'" This indeed, was amazing to us +all, and more so to those seamen among us who knew anything of the +infinite attempts which had been made from Europe, as well by the +English as the Dutch, to discover a passage that way into those parts +of the world; and as William pressed as earnestly to go on to the north +to rescue those poor men, so the ship's {50} company began to incline +to it; and, in a word, we all come to this, that we would stand in to +the shore of Formosa, to find this priest again, and have a further +account of it all from him. Accordingly the sloop went over; but when +they came there, the vessels were very unhappily sailed, and this put +an end to our inquiry after them, and perhaps may have disappointed +mankind of one of the most noble discoveries that ever was made, or +will again be made, in the world, for the good of mankind in general; +but so much for that. + +William was so uneasy at losing this opportunity, that he pressed us +earnestly to go up to Japan to find out these men. He told us that if +it was nothing but to recover thirteen honest poor men from a kind of +captivity, which they would otherwise never be redeemed from, and +where, perhaps, they might, some time or other, be murdered by the +barbarous people, in defence of their idolatry, it were very well worth +our while, and it would be, in some measure, making amends for the +mischiefs we had done in the world; but we, that had no concern upon us +for the mischiefs we had done, had much less about any satisfactions to +be made for it, so he found that kind of discourse would weigh very +little with us. Then he pressed us very earnestly to let him have the +sloop to go by himself, and I told him I would not oppose it; but when +he came to the sloop none of the men would go with him; for the case +was plain, they had all a share in the cargo of the great ship, as well +as in that of the sloop, and the richness of the cargo was such that +they would not leave it by any means; so poor William, much to {51} his +mortification, was obliged to give it over. What became of those +thirteen men, or whether they are not there still, I can give no +account of. + +(_Captain Singleton_.) + + + + +JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 + +THE ART OF CONVERSATION + +I have observed few obvious subjects to have been so seldom, or, at +least, so slightly handled as this; and, indeed, I know few so +difficult to be treated as it ought, nor yet upon which there seemeth +so much to be said. + +Most things, pursued by men for the happiness of public or private +life, our wit or folly have so refined; that they seldom subsist but in +idea; a true friend, a good marriage, a perfect form of government, +with some others, require so many ingredients, so good in their several +kinds, and so much niceness in mixing them, that for some thousands of +years men have despaired of reducing their schemes to perfection. But, +in conversation, it is, or might be otherwise; for here we are only to +avoid a multitude of errors, which, although a matter of some +difficulty, may be in every man's power, for want of which it remaineth +as mere an idea as the other. Therefore it seemeth to me, that the +truest way to understand conversation, is to know the faults and errors +to which it is subject, and from thence every man to form maxims to +himself whereby it may be regulated, because it requireth few talents +to which most men are {52} not born, or at least may not acquire +without any great genius or study. For nature hath left every man a +capacity of being agreeable, though not of shining in company; and +there are an hundred men sufficiently qualified for both, who, by a +very few faults, that they might correct in half an hour, are not so +much as tolerable. + +I was prompted to write my thoughts upon this subject by mere +indignation, to reflect that so useful and innocent a pleasure, so +fitted for every period and condition of life, and so much in all men's +power, should be so much neglected and abused. + +And in this discourse it will be necessary to note those errors that +are obvious, as well as others which are seldomer observed, since there +are few so obvious, or acknowledged, into which most men, some time or +other, are not apt to run. + +For instance: Nothing is more generally exploded than the folly of +talking too much; yet I rarely remember to have seen five people +together, where some one among them hath not been predominant in that +kind, to the great constraint and disgust of all the rest. But among +such as deal in multitudes of words, none are comparable to the sober +deliberate talker, who proceedeth with much thought and caution, maketh +his preface, brancheth out into several digressions, findeth a hint +that putteth him in mind of another story which he promiseth to tell +you when this is done; cometh back regularly to his subject, cannot +readily call to mind some person's name, holding his head, complaineth +of his memory; the whole company all this while in {53} suspense; at +length says, it is no matter, and so goes on. And, to crown the +business, it perhaps proveth at last a story the company hath heard +fifty times before; or, at best, some insipid adventure of the relater. + +Another general fault in conversation is, that of those who affect to +talk of themselves: Some, without any ceremony, will run over the +history of their lives; will relate the annals of their diseases, with +the several symptoms and circumstances of them; will enumerate the +hardships and injustice they have suffered in court, in parliament, in +love, or in law. Others are more dexterous, and with great art will +lie on the watch to hook in their own praise: They will call a witness +to remember, they always foretold what would happen in such a case, but +none would believe them; they advised such a man from the beginning, +and told him the consequences, just as they happened; but he would have +his own way. Others make a vanity of telling their faults; they are +the strangest men in the world; they cannot dissemble; they own it is a +folly; they have lost abundance of advantages by it; but, if you would +give them the world, they cannot help it; there is something in their +nature that abhors insincerity and constraint; with many other +insufferable topics of the same altitude. + +Of such mighty importance every man is to himself, and ready to think +he is so to others; without once making this easy and obvious +reflection, that his affairs can have no more weight with other men, +than theirs have with him; and how little that is, he is sensible +enough. + +Where company hath met, I often have observed {54} two persons +discover, by some accident, that they were bred together at the same +school or university, after which the rest are condemned to silence, +and to listen while these two are refreshing each other's memory with +the arch tricks and passages of themselves and their comrades. + +I know a great officer of the army, who will sit for some time with a +supercilious and impatient silence, full of anger and contempt for +those who are talking; at length of a sudden demand audience, decide +the matter in a short dogmatical way; then withdraw within himself +again, and vouchsafe to talk no more, until his spirits circulate again +to the same point. + +There are some faults in conversation, which none are so subject to as +the men of wit, nor ever so much as when they are with each other. If +they have opened their mouths, without endeavouring to say a witty +thing, they think it is so many words lost: It is a torment to the +hearers, as much as to themselves, to see them upon the rack for +invention, and in perpetual constraint, with so little success. They +must do something extraordinary, in order to acquit themselves, and +answer their character, else the standers-by may be disappointed and be +apt to think them only like the rest of mortals. I have known two men +of wit industriously brought together, in order to entertain the +company, where they have made a very ridiculous figure, and provided +all the mirth at their own expense. + +I know a man of wit, who is never easy but where he can be allowed to +dictate and preside: he neither expecteth to be informed or +entertained, but to display {55} his own talents. His business is to +be good company, and not good conversation; and, therefore, he chooseth +to frequent those who are content to listen, and profess themselves his +admirers. And, indeed, the worst conversation I ever remember to have +heard in my life was that at Will's coffeehouse, where the wits (as +they were called) used formerly to assemble; that is to say, five or +six men, who had writ plays, or at least prologues, or had share in a +miscellany, came thither, and entertained one another with their +trifling composures, in so important an air, as if they had been the +noblest efforts of human nature, or that the fate of kingdoms depended +on them; and they were usually attended with an humble audience of +young students from the inns of court, or the universities, who, at due +distance, listened to these oracles, and returned home with great +contempt for their law and philosophy, their heads filled with trash, +under the name of politeness, criticism and _belles lettres_. + +By these means the poets, for many years past, were all overrun with +pedantry. For, as I take it, the word is not properly used; because +pedantry is the too frequent or unreasonable obtruding our own +knowledge in common discourse, and placing too great a value upon it; +by which definition, men of the court or the army may be as guilty of +pedantry as a philosopher or a divine; and, it is the same vice in +women, when they are over copious upon the subject of their petticoats, +or their fans, or their china. For which reason, although it be a +piece of prudence, as well as good manners, to put men upon talking on +subjects they are best versed in, yet that is a liberty a wise man +could hardly take; {56} because, beside the imputation of pedantry, it +is what he would never improve by. + +(_Polite Conversation_.) + + + + +JOSEPH ADDISON 1672-1719 + +THE ROYAL EXCHANGE + +There is no place in the town which I so much love to frequent as the +Royal Exchange. It gives me a secret satisfaction, and in some measure +gratifies my vanity, as I am an Englishman, to see so rich an assembly +of countrymen and foreigners, consulting together upon the private +business of mankind, and making this metropolis a kind of _emporium_ +for the whole earth. I must confess I look upon high-change to be a +great council, in which all considerable nations have their +representatives. Factors in the trading world are what ambassadors are +in the politic world; they negotiate affairs, conclude treaties, and +maintain a good correspondence between those wealthy societies of men +that are divided from one another by seas and oceans, or live on the +different extremities of a continent. I have often been pleased to +hear disputes adjusted between an inhabitant of Japan, and an alderman +of London, or to see a subject of the Great Mogul entering into a +league with one of the Czar of Muscovy. I am infinitely delighted in +mixing with these several ministers of commerce, as they are +distinguished by their different walks and different languages. +Sometimes I am jostled {57} among a body of Armenians; sometimes I am +lost in a crowd of Jews; and sometimes make one in a group of Dutchmen. +I am a Dane, Swede, or Frenchman at different times; or rather fancy +myself like the old philosopher, who upon being asked what countryman +he was, replied that he was a citizen of the world. . . . + +Nature seems to have taken a particular care to disseminate her +blessings among the different regions of the world, with an eye to this +mutual intercourse and traffic among mankind, that the natives of the +several parts of the globe might have a kind of dependence upon one +another, and be united together by their common interest. Almost every +degree produces something peculiar to it. The food often grows in one +country, and the sauce in another. The fruits of Portugal are +corrected by the products of Barbadoes, and the infusion of a China +plant is sweetened with the pith of an Indian cane. The Philippic +islands give a flavour to our European bowls. The single dress of a +woman of quality is often the product of an hundred climates. The muff +and the fan come together from the different ends of the earth. The +scarf is sent from the torrid zone, and the tippet from beneath the +pole. The brocade petticoat rises out of the mines of Peru, and the +diamond necklace out of the bowels of Indostan. + +If we consider our own country in its natural prospect, without any of +the benefits and advantages of commerce, what a barren and +uncomfortable spot of earth falls to our share! Natural historians +tell us, that no fruit grows originally among us, besides hips and +haws, acorns and pig-nuts, with other delicacies of the {58} like +nature; that our climate of itself, and without the assistance of art, +can make no further advances towards a plum than to a sloe, and carries +an apple to no greater a perfection than a crab; that our melons, our +peaches, our figs, our apricots and cherries, are strangers among us, +imported in different ages, and naturalised in our English gardens; and +that they would all degenerate and fall away into the trash of our own +country, if they were wholly neglected by the planter, and left to the +mercy of our sun and soil. Nor has traffic more enriched our vegetable +world, than it has improved the whole face of nature among us. Our +ships are laden with the harvest of every climate. Our tables are +stored with spices and oils and wines. Our rooms are filled with +pyramids of China, and adorned with the workmanship of Japan. Our +morning's draught comes to us from the remotest corners of the earth. +We repair our bodies by the drugs of America, and repose ourselves +under Indian canopies. My friend Sir Andrew calls the vineyards of +France our gardens; the spice-islands, our hot-beds; the Persians our +silk-weavers, and the Chinese our potters. Nature indeed furnishes us +with the bare necessaries of life, but traffic gives us a great variety +of what is useful, and at the same time supplies us with everything +that is convenient and ornamental. Nor is it the least part of this +our happiness, that whilst we enjoy the remotest products of the north +and south, we are free from those extremities of weather which give +them birth; that our eyes are refreshed with the green fields of +Britain, at the same time that our palates are feasted with fruits that +rise between the tropics. + +{59} For these reasons there are not more useful members in a +commonwealth than merchants. They knit mankind together in a mutual +intercourse of good offices, distribute the gifts of nature, find work +for the poor, add wealth to the rich, and magnificence to the great. +Our English merchant converts the tin of his own country into gold, and +exchanges its wool for rubies. The Mahometans are clothed in our +British manufacture, and the inhabitants of the frozen zone warmed with +the fleeces of our sheep. + +When I have been upon the change, I have often fancied one of our old +kings standing in person, where he is represented in effigy, and +looking down upon the wealthy concourse of people with which that place +is every day filled. In this case, how would he be surprised to hear +all the languages of Europe spoken in this little spot of his former +dominions, and to see so many private men, who in his time would have +been the vassals of some powerful baron, negotiating like princes for +greater sums of money than were formerly to be met with in the royal +treasury! Trade, without enlarging the British territories, has given +us a kind of additional empire. It has multiplied the number of the +rich, made our landed estates infinitely more valuable than they were +formerly, and added to them an accession of other estates as valuable +as the lands themselves. + +(_The Spectator_, No. 69.) + + + + +{60} + +RICHARD STEELE 1672-1729 + +SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY'S ANCESTORS + +I was this morning walking in the gallery, when Sir Roger entered at +the end opposite to me, and advancing towards me, said he was glad to +meet me among his relations, the De Coverleys, and hoped I liked the +conversation of so much good company, who were as silent as myself. I +knew he alluded to the pictures, and as he is a gentleman who does not +a little value himself upon his ancient descent, I expected he would +give me some account of them. We were now arrived at the upper end of +the gallery, when the knight faced towards one of the pictures, and as +we stood before it he entered into the matter, after his blunt way of +saying things as they occur to his imagination, without regular +introduction, or care to preserve the appearance of chain of thought. + +"It is," said he, "worth while to consider the force of dress; and how +the persons of one age differ from those of another, merely by that +only. One may observe also that the general fashion of one age has +been followed by one particular set of people in another, and by them +preserved from one generation to another. Thus the vast jetting coat +and small bonnet, which was the habit in Harry the Seventh's time, is +kept on in the Yeomen of the Guard; not without a good and politic +view, because they look a foot taller, and a foot and a half {61} +broader: besides, that the cap leaves the face expanded, and +consequently more terrible, and fitter to stand at the entrance of +palaces. + +"This predecessor of ours, you see, is dressed after this manner, and +his cheeks would be no larger than mine were he in a hat as I am. He +was the last man that won a prize in the Tilt-Yard (which is now a +common street before Whitehall). You see the broken lance that lies +there by his right foot; he shivered that lance of his adversary all to +pieces; and bearing himself, look you, sir, in this manner, at the same +time he came within the target of the gentleman who rode against him, +and taking him with incredible force before him on the pommel of his +saddle, he in that manner rid the tournament over, with an air that +showed he did it rather to perform the rule of the lists, than expose +his enemy; however, it appeared he knew how to make use of a victory, +and with a gentle trot he marched up to a gallery where their mistress +sat (for they were rivals) and let him down with laudable courtesy and +pardonable insolence. I don't know but it might be exactly where the +coffee-house is now. + +"You are to know this my ancestor was not only of a military genius, +but fit also for the arts of peace, for he played on the base-viol as +well as any gentleman at court; you see where his viol hangs by his +basket-hilt sword. The action at the Tilt-Yard you may be sure won the +fair lady, who was a maid-of-honour, and the greatest beauty of her +time; here she stands, the next picture. You see, sir, my +great-great-great-grandmother has on the new-fashioned petticoat, +except that the {62} modern is gathered at the waist; my grandmother +appears as if she stood in a large drum, whereas the ladies now walk as +if they were in a go-cart. For all this lady was bred at court, she +became an excellent country-wife, she brought ten children, and when I +show you the library, you shall see in her own hand (allowing for the +difference of the language) the best receipt now in England both for an +hasty pudding and a whitepot. + +"If you please to fall back a little, because it is necessary to look +at the three next pictures at one view; these are three sisters. She +on the right hand, who is so very beautiful, died a maid; the next to +her, still handsomer, had the same fate, against her will; this homely +thing in the middle had both their portions added to her own, and was +stolen by a neighbouring gentleman, a man of stratagem and resolution, +for he poisoned three mastiffs to come at her, and knocked down two +deer-stealers in carrying her off. Misfortunes happen in all families. +The theft of this romp and so much money, was no great matter to our +estate. But the next heir that possessed it was this soft gentleman, +whom you see there. Observe the small buttons, the little boots, the +laces, the slashes about his clothes, and above all the posture he is +drawn in (which, to be sure, was his own choosing); you see he sits +with one hand on a desk writing, and looking as it were another way, +like an easy writer, or a sonneteer. He was one of those that had too +much wit to know how to live in the world; he was a man of no justice, +but great good manners; he ruined everybody that had anything to do +with him, but {63} never said a rude thing in his life; the most +indolent person in the world, he would sign a deed that passed away +half his estate with his gloves on, but would not put on his hat before +a lady if it were to save his country. He is said to be the first that +made love by squeezing the hand. He left the estate with ten thousand +pounds' debt upon it, but however by all hands I have been informed +that he was every way the finest gentleman in the world. That debt lay +heavy on our house for one generation, but it was retrieved by a gift +from that honest man you see there, a citizen of our name, but nothing +at all akin to us. I know Sir Andrew Freeport has said behind my back, +that this man was descended from one of the ten children of the +maid-of-honour I showed you above. But it was never made out; we +winked at the thing indeed, because money was wanting at that time." + +Here I saw my friend a little embarrassed, and turned my face to the +next portraiture. + +Sir Roger went on with his account of the gallery in the following +manner: "This man (pointing to him I looked at) I take to be the honour +of our house, Sir Humphrey de Coverley; he was in his dealings as +punctual as a tradesman, and as generous as a gentleman. He would have +thought himself as much undone by breaking his word, as if it were to +be followed by bankruptcy. He served his country as knight of this +shire to his dying day. He found it no easy matter to maintain an +integrity in his words and actions, even in things that regarded the +offices which were incumbent upon him, in the care of his own affairs +and relations of life, and therefore dreaded (though he had great +talents) {64} to go into employments of state, where he must be exposed +to the snares of ambition. Innocence of life and great ability were +the distinguishing parts of his character; the latter, he had often +observed, had led to the destruction of the former, and used frequently +to lament that great and good had not the same signification. He was +an excellent husbandman, but had resolved not to exceed such a degree +of wealth; all above it he bestowed in secret bounties many years after +the sum he aimed at for his own use was attained. Yet he did not +slacken his industry, but to a decent old age spent the life and +fortune which was superfluous to himself, in the service of his friends +and neighbours." + +Here we were called to dinner, and Sir Roger ended the discourse of +this gentleman, by telling me, as we followed the servant, that this +his ancestor was a brave man, and narrowly escaped being killed in the +Civil Wars. "For," said he, "he was sent out of the field upon a +private message the day before the Battle of Worcester." The whim of +narrowly escaping, by having been within a day of danger, with other +matters above mentioned, mixed with good sense, left me at a loss +whether I was more delighted with my friend's wisdom or simplicity. + +(_The Spectator_, No. 109.) + + + + +{65} + +HENRY FIELDING 1707-1754 + +PARTRIDGE AT THE PLAY + +In the first row, then, of the first gallery did Mr Jones, Mrs Miller, +her youngest daughter, and Partridge, take their places. Partridge +immediately declared it was the finest place he had ever been in. When +the first music was played, he said, "It was a wonder how so many +fiddlers could play at one time, without putting one another out." +While the fellow was lighting the upper candles, he cried out to Mrs +Miller, "Look, look, madam, the very picture of the man in the end of +the Common-Prayer Book before the gunpowder-treason service." Nor +could he help observing, with a sigh, when all the candles were +lighted, "That here were candles enough burnt in one night, to keep an +honest poor family for a whole twelve-month." + +As soon as the play, which was Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, began, +Partridge was all attention, nor did he break silence till the entrance +of the ghost; upon which he asked Jones, "What man was that in the +strange dress; something," said he, "like what I have seen in a +picture. Sure it is not armour, is it?" Jones answered, "That is the +ghost." To which Partridge replied with a smile, "Persuade me to that, +sir, if you can. Though I can't say I ever actually saw a ghost in my +life, yet I am certain I should know one, if I saw him, better than +that comes to. No, no, sir, ghosts don't appear in such dresses as +that, neither." In this mistake, which caused much {66} laughter in +the neighbourhood of Partridge, he was suffered to continue, till the +scene between the ghost and Hamlet, when Partridge gave that credit to +Mr Garrick, which he had denied to Jones, and fell into so violent a +trembling, that his knees knocked against each other. Jones asked him +what was the matter, and whether he was afraid of the warrior upon the +stage? "O la! sir," said he, "I perceive now it is what you told me. +I am not afraid of anything; for I know it is but a play. And if it +was really a ghost, it could do one no harm at such a distance, and in +so much company; and yet if I was frightened, I am not the only +person." "Why, who," cries Jones, "dost thou take to be such a coward +here besides thyself?" "Nay, you may call me coward if you will, but +if that little man there upon the stage is not frightened, I never saw +any man frightened in my life. Ay, ay: go along with you: Ay, to be +sure! Who's fool then? Will you? Lud have mercy upon such +fool-hardiness!--Whatever happens, it is good enough for you.----Follow +you? I'd follow the devil as soon. Nay, perhaps it is the +devil----for they say he can put on what likeness he pleases.--Oh! here +he is again.----No farther! No, you have gone far enough already; +farther than I'd have gone for all the king's dominions." Jones +offered to speak, but Partridge cried, "Hush, hush! dear sir, don't you +hear him?" And during the whole speech of the ghost, he sat with his +eyes fixed partly on the ghost and partly on Hamlet, and with his mouth +open; the same passions which succeeded each other in Hamlet, +succeeding likewise in him. + +When the scene was over Jones said, "Why, Partridge, {67} you exceed my +expectations. You enjoy the play more than I conceived possible." +"Nay, sir," answered Partridge, "if you are not afraid of the devil, I +can't help it, but to be sure, it is natural to be surprised at such +things, though I know there is nothing in them: not that it was the +ghost that surprised me, neither; for I should have known that to have +been only a man in a strange dress; but when I saw the little man so +frightened himself, it was that which took hold of me." "And dost thou +imagine, then, Partridge," cries Jones, "that he was really +frightened?" "Nay, sir," said Partridge, "did not you yourself observe +afterwards, when he found it was his own father's spirit, and how he +was murdered in the garden, how his fear forsook him by degrees, and he +was struck dumb with sorrow, as it were, just as I should have been, +had it been my own case?--But hush! O la! what noise is that? There +he is again.----Well to be certain, though I know there is nothing at +all in it, I am glad I am not down yonder, where those men are." Then +turning his eyes again upon Hamlet, "Ay, you may draw your sword; what +signifies a sword against the power of the devil?" + +During the second act, Partridge made very few remarks. He greatly +admired the fineness of the dresses; nor could he help observing upon +the king's countenance. "Well," said he, "how people may be deceived +by faces! _Nulla fides fronti_ is, I find, a true saying. Who would +think, by looking in the king's face, that he had ever committed a +murder?" He then inquired after the ghost; but Jones, who intended +that he should be surprised, gave him no other satisfaction, than, +"that {68} he might possibly see him again soon, and in a flash of +fire." + +Partridge sat in a fearful expectation of this; and now, when the ghost +made his appearance, Partridge cried out, "There, sir, now; what say +you now? is he frightened now or no? As much frightened as you think +me, and, to be sure, nobody can help some fears. I would not be in so +bad a condition as what's his name, squire Hamlet, is there, for all +the world. Bless me! what's become of the spirit? As I am a living +soul, I thought I saw him sink into the earth." "Indeed, you saw +right," answered Jones. "Well, well," cries Partridge, "I know it is +only a play: and besides, if there was anything in all this, Madam +Miller would not laugh so; for as to you, sir, you would not be afraid, +I believe, if the devil was here in person.--There, there--Ay, no +wonder you are in such a passion, shake the vile wicked wretch to +pieces. If she was my own mother, I would serve her so. To be sure +all duty to a mother is forfeited by such wicked doings.----Ay, go +about your business, I hate the sight of you." + +Our critic was now pretty silent till the play, which Hamlet introduces +before the king. This he did not at first understand, till Jones +explained it to him; but he no sooner entered into the spirit of it, +than he began to bless himself that he had never committed murder. +Then turning to Mrs Miller, he asked her, "If she did not imagine the +king looked as if he was touched; though he is," said he, "a good +actor, and doth all he can to hide it. Well, I would not have so much +to answer for, as that wicked man there hath, to sit upon a much higher +{69} chair that he sits upon. No wonder he runs away; for your sake +I'll never trust an innocent face again." + +The grave digging scene next engaged the attention of Partridge, who +expressed much surprise at the number of skulls thrown upon the stage. +To which Jones answered, "That it was one of the most famous +burial-places about town." "No wonder, then," cries Partridge, "that +the place is haunted. But I never saw in my life a worse grave-digger. +I had a sexton, when I was clerk, that should have dug three graves +while he is digging one. The fellow handles a spade as if it was the +first time he had ever had one in his hand. Ay, ay, you may sing. You +had rather sing than work, I believe."--Upon Hamlet's taking up the +skull he cried out, "Well! it is strange to see how fearless some men +are: I never could bring myself to touch anything belonging to a dead +man, on any account.--He seemed frightened enough, too, at the ghost, I +thought. _Nemo omnibus horis sapit_." + +Little more worth remembering occurred during the play, at the end of +which Jones asked him, "Which of the players he had liked best?" To +this he answered, with some appearance of indignation at the question, +"The king, without doubt." "Indeed, Mr Partridge," says Mrs Miller, +"you are not of the same opinion with the town; for they are all +agreed, that Hamlet is acted by the best player who ever was on the +stage." "He the best player!" cries Partridge, with a contemptuous +sneer, "why, I could act as well as he myself. I am sure, if I had +seen a ghost, I should have looked in the very same manner, and done +just as he did. And then, {70} to be sure, in that scene, as you +called it, between him and his mother, where you told me he acted so +fine, why, Lord help me, any man, that is, any good man, that had such +a mother, would have done exactly the same. I know you are only joking +with me; but indeed, madam, though I was never at a play in London, yet +I have seen acting before in the country; and the king for my money; he +speaks all his words distinctly, half as loud again as the +other.--Anybody may see he is an actor." + +While Mrs Miller was thus engaged in conversation with Partridge, a +lady came up to Mr Jones, whom he immediately knew to be Mrs +Fitzpatrick. She said, she had seen him from the other part of the +gallery, and had taken that opportunity of speaking to him, as she had +something to say, which might be of great service to himself. She then +acquainted him with her lodgings, and made him an appointment the next +day in the morning; which, upon recollection, she presently changed to +the afternoon; at which time Jones promised to attend her. + +Thus ended the adventure at the play-house; where Partridge had +afforded great mirth, not only to Jones and Mrs Miller, but to all who +sat within hearing, who were more attentive to what he said, than to +anything that passed on the stage. + +He durst not go to bed all that night, for fear of the ghost; and for +many nights after sweated two or three hours before he went to sleep, +with the same apprehensions, and waked several times in great horrors, +crying out, "Lord have mercy upon us! there it is." + +(_Tom Jones_.) + + + + +{71} + +SAMUEL JOHNSON 1709-1784 + +A JOURNEY IN A STAGE-COACH + +In a stage coach the passengers are for the most part wholly unknown to +one another, and without expectation of ever meeting again when their +journey is at an end; one should, therefore, imagine, that it was of +little importance to any of them, what conjectures the rest should form +concerning him. Yet so it is, that as all think themselves secure from +detection, all assume that character of which they are most desirous, +and on no occasion is the general ambition of superiority more +apparently indulged. + +On the day of our departure, in the twilight of the morning, I ascended +the vehicle with three men and two women, my fellow travellers. It was +easy to observe the affected elevation of mien with which every one +entered, and the supercilious civility with which they paid their +compliments to each other. When the first ceremony was dispatched, we +sat silent for a long time, all employed in collecting importance into +our faces, and endeavouring to strike reverence and submission into our +companions. + +It is always observable, that silence propagates itself, and that the +longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find any +thing to say. We began now to wish for conversation; but no one seemed +inclined to descend from his dignity, or first to propose a topic of +discourse. At last a corpulent gentleman, who had equipped himself for +this expedition with a scarlet surtout {72} and a large hat with a +broad lace, drew out his watch, looked on it in silence, and then held +it dangling at his finger. This was, I suppose, understood by all the +company as an invitation to ask the time of the day, but nobody +appeared to heed his overture; and his desire to be talking so far +overcame his resentment, that he let us know of his own accord that it +was past five, and that in two hours we should be at breakfast. + +His condescension was thrown away; we continued all obdurate; the +ladies held up their heads; I amused myself with watching their +behaviour; and of the other two, one seemed to employ himself in +counting the trees as we drove by them, the other drew his hat over his +eyes and counterfeited a slumber. The man of benevolence, to shew that +he was not depressed by our neglect, hummed a tune and beat time upon +his snuff-box. + +Thus universally displeased with one another, and not much delighted +with ourselves, we came at last to the little inn appointed for our +repast; and all began at once to recompense ourselves for the restraint +of silence, by innumerable questions and orders to the people that +attended us. At last, what every one had called for was got, or +declared impossible to be got at that time, and we were persuaded to +sit round the same table; when the gentleman in the red surtout looked +again upon his watch, told us that we had half an hour to spare, but he +was sorry to see so little merriment among us; that all +fellow-travellers were for the time upon the level, and that it was +always his way to make himself one of the company. "I remember," says +he, "it was on just such a morning as this, that I and my lord Mumble +and the {73} duke of Tenterden were out upon a ramble: we called at a +little house as it might be this; and my landlady, I warrant you, not +suspecting to whom she was talking, was so jocular and facetious, and +made so many merry answers to our questions, that we were all ready to +burst with laughter. At last the good woman happening to overhear me +whisper the duke and call him by his title, was so surprised and +confounded, that we could scarcely get a word from her; and the duke +never met me from that day to this, but he talks of the little house, +and quarrels with me for terrifying the landlady." + +He had scarcely time to congratulate himself on the veneration which +this narrative must have procured him from the company, when one of the +ladies having reached out for a plate on a distant part of the table, +began to remark "the inconveniences of travelling, and the difficulty +which they who never sat at home without a great number of attendants +found in performing for themselves such offices as the road required; +but that people of quality often travelled in disguise, and might be +generally known from the vulgar by their condescension to poor +inn-keepers, and the allowance which they made for any defect in their +entertainment; that for her part, while people were civil and meant +well, it was never her custom to find fault, for one was not to expect +upon a journey all that one enjoyed at one's own house." + +A general emulation seemed now to be excited. One of the men, who had +hitherto said nothing, called for the last news-paper; and having +perused it a while with deep pensiveness, "It is impossible," says he, +"for any man to guess how to act with regard to the stocks: last {74} +week it was the general opinion that they would fall; and I sold out +twenty thousand pounds in order to a purchase: they have now risen +unexpectedly; and I make no doubt but at my return to London, I shall +risk thirty thousand pounds amongst them again." + +A young man, who had hitherto distinguished himself only by the +vivacity of his looks, and a frequent diversion of his eyes from one +object to another, upon this closed his snuff-box, and told us, that +"he had a hundred times talked with the chancellor and the judges on +the subject of the stocks; that for his part he did not pretend to be +well acquainted with the principles on which they were established, but +had always heard them reckoned pernicious to trade, uncertain in their +produce, and unsolid in their foundation; and that he had been advised +by three judges, his most intimate friends, never to venture his money +in the funds, but to put it out upon land security, till he could light +upon an estate in his own country." + +It might be expected, that upon these glimpses of latent dignity, we +should all have begun to look round us with veneration; and have +behaved like the princes of romance, when the enchantment that +disguises them is dissolved and they discover the dignity of each +other: yet it happened, that none of these hints made much impression +on the company; everyone was apparently suspected of endeavouring to +impose false appearances upon the rest; all continued their +haughtiness, in hopes to enforce their claims; and all grew every hour +more sullen, because they found their representations of themselves +without effect. + +{75} Thus we travelled on four days with malevolence perpetually +increasing, and without any endeavour but to outvie each other in +superciliousness and neglect; and when any two of us could separate +ourselves for a moment, we vented our indignation at the sauciness of +the rest. + +At length the journey was at an end; and time and chance, that strip +off all disguises, have discovered, that the intimate of lords and +dukes is a nobleman's butler, who has furnished a shop with the money +he has saved; the man who deals so largely in the funds, is a clerk of +a broker in 'Change-alley; the lady who so carefully concealed her +quality, keeps a cook-shop behind the Exchange; and the young man, who +is so happy in the friendship of the judges, engrosses and transcribes +for bread in a garret of the Temple. Of one of the women only I could +make no disadvantageous detection, because she had assumed no +character, but accommodated herself to the scene before her, without +any struggle for distinction or superiority. + +I could not forbear to reflect on the folly of practising a fraud, +which, as the event shewed, had been already practised too often to +succeed, and by the success of which no advantage could have been +obtained; of assuming a character, which was to end with the day; and +of claiming upon false pretences honours which must perish with the +breath that paid them. + +But, Mr Adventurer, let not those who laugh at me and my companions, +think this folly confined to a stage coach. Every man in the journey +of life takes the same advantage of the ignorance of his fellow +travellers, disguises himself in counterfeited merit, and hears those +{76} praises with complacency which his conscience reproaches him for +accepting. Every man deceives himself, while he thinks he is deceiving +others; and forgets that the time is at hand when every illusion shall +cease, when fictitious excellence shall be torn away, and all must be +shown to all in their real estate. + +I am, Sir, + Your humble servant, + VIATOR. + +(_The Adventurer_.) + + + + +LAURENCE STERNE 1713-1768 + +HOW UNCLE TOBY AND CORPORAL TRIM FOLLOWED MARLBOROUGH'S CAMPAIGNS + +If the reader has not a clear conception of the rood and the half of +ground which lay at the bottom of my uncle Toby's kitchen-garden, and +which was the scene of so many of his delicious hours,--the fault is +not in me,--but in his imagination;--for I am sure I gave him so minute +a description, I was almost ashamed of it. + +When _Fate_ was looking forwards one afternoon, into the great +transactions of future times,--and recollected for what purposes this +little plot, by a decree fast bound down in iron, had been +destined,--she gave a nod to _Nature_:--'twas enough,--Nature threw +half a spadeful of her kindliest compost upon it, with just so _much_ +clay in {77} it as to retain the forms of angles and indenting,--and so +_little_ of it too, as not to cling to the spade, and render works of +so much glory, nasty in foul weather. + +My uncle Toby came down, as the reader has been informed, with plans +along with him, of almost every fortified town in Italy and Flanders; +so let the Duke of Marlborough, or the allies, have set down before +what town they pleased, my uncle Toby was prepared for them. + +His way, which was the simplest one in the world, was this: as soon as +ever a town was invested--(but sooner when the design was known) to +take the plan of it (let it be what town it would) and enlarge it upon +a scale to the exact size of his bowling green; upon the surface of +which, by means of a large roll of packthread, and a number of small +pickets driven into the ground, at the several angles and redans, he +transferred the lines from his paper; then taking the profile of the +place, with its works, to determine the depths and slopes of the +ditches,--the talus of the glacis, and the precise height of the +several _banquettes_, parapets, etc.--he set the Corporal to work; and +sweetly went it on.--The nature of the soil,--the nature of the work +itself,--and, above all, the good-nature of my uncle Toby, sitting by +from morning to night, and chatting kindly with the Corporal upon past +done deeds,--left _labour_ little else but the ceremony of the name. . . + +When the town, with its works, was finished, my uncle Toby and the +Corporal began to run their first parallel,--not at random, or +anyhow,--but from the same points and distances the allies had begun to +run {78} theirs; and regulating their approaches and attacks by the +accounts my uncle Toby received from the daily papers,--they went on, +during the whole siege, step by step, with the allies. + +When the Duke of Marlborough made a lodgment,--my uncle Toby made a +lodgment too;--and when the face of a bastion was battered down, or a +defence ruined,--the Corporal took his mattock and did as much,--and so +on;--gaining ground, and making themselves masters of the works, one +after another, till the town fell into their hands. + +To one who took pleasure in the happy state of others, there could not +have been a greater sight in the world than on a post-morning, in which +a practicable breach had been made by the Duke of Marlborough in the +main body of the place,--to have stood behind the horn-beam hedge, and +observed the spirit with which my uncle Toby, with Trim behind him, +sallied forth;--the one with the Gazette in his hand,--the other with a +spade on his shoulder, to execute the contents.--What an honest triumph +in my uncle Toby's looks as he marched up to the ramparts! what intense +pleasure swimming in his eye as he stood over the Corporal, reading the +paragraph ten times over to him, as he was at work, lest, peradventure, +he should make the breach an inch too wide,--or leave it an inch too +narrow!--but when the _chamade_ was beat, and the Corporal helped my +uncle up it, and followed with the colours in his hand, to fix them +upon the ramparts,--Heaven! Earth! Sea!--but what avail +apostrophes?--with all your elements, wet or dry, ye never compounded +so intoxicating a draught. + +{79} In this track of happiness for many years, without one +interruption to it, except now and then when the wind continued to blow +due west for a week or ten days together, which detained the Flanders +mail, and kept them so long in torture, but still it was the torture of +the happy:--in this track, I say, did my uncle Toby and Trim move for +many years, every year of which, and sometimes every month, from the +invention of either the one or the other of them, adding some new +conceit or quirk of improvement to their operations, which always +opened fresh springs of delight in carrying them on. + +(_Tristram Shandy_.) + + + + +HORACE WALPOLE 1717-1797 + +THE FUNERAL OF GEORGE II + +_Horace Walpole to George Montagu_ + +ARLINGTON STREET, + +_November_ 13, 1760. + +Even the honeymoon of a new reign don't produce events every day. +There is nothing but the common saying of addresses and kissing +hands. . . For the King himself, he seems all good nature, and wishing +to satisfy everybody; all his speeches are obliging. + +I saw him again yesterday, and was surprised to find the levee-room had +lost so entirely the air of the lion's den. This sovereign don't stand +in one spot, with his eyes fixed royally on the ground, and dropping +bits of {80} German news: he walks about, and speaks to everybody. I +saw him afterwards on the throne where he is graceful and genteel, sits +with dignity and reads his answers to addresses well; it was the +Cambridge address, carried by the Duke of Newcastle in his doctor's +gown, and looking like the _Médecin malgré lui_. He had been +vehemently solicitous for attendance for fear my Lord Westmoreland, who +vouchsafes himself to bring the address from Oxford, should outnumber +him. Lord Litchfield and several other Jacobites have kissed hands; +George Selwyn says, "They go to St James', because _now_ there are so +many Stuarts there." + +Do you know, I had the curiosity to go to the burying t'other night; I +had never seen a royal funeral; nay, I walked as a rag of quality, +which I found would be, and so it was, the easiest way of seeing it. +It is absolutely a noble sight. The Prince's chamber, hung with +purple, and a quantity of silver lamps, the coffin under a canopy of +purple velvet, and six vast chandeliers of silver on high stands, had a +very good effect. The ambassador from Tripoli and his son were carried +to see that chamber. + +The procession, through a line of foot-guards, every seventh man +bearing a torch, the horse-guards lining the outside, their officers +with drawn sabres and crape sashes on horse-back, the drums muffled, +the fifes, bells tolling, and minute guns,--all this was very solemn. +But the charm was the entrance of the abbey, where we were received by +the dean and chapter in rich robes, the choir and almsmen bearing +torches; the whole abbey so illuminated, that one saw it to greater +advantage than by {81} day; the tombs, long aisles, and fretted roof, +all appearing distinctly, and with the happiest _chiaroscuro_. There +wanted nothing but incense, and little chapels here and there, with +priests saying mass for the repose of the defunct; yet one could not +complain of its not being catholic enough. I had been in dread of +being coupled with some boy of ten years old; but the heralds were not +very accurate, and I walked with George Grenville, taller and older, to +keep me in countenance. When we came to the chapel of Henry the +Seventh, all solemnity and decorum ceased; no order was observed, +people sat or stood where they could or would; the Yeomen of the Guard +were crying out for help, oppressed by the immense weight of the +coffin; the bishop read sadly and blundered in the prayers; the fine +chapter, _Man that is born of woman_, was chanted, not read; and the +anthem, besides being immeasurably tedious, would have served as well +for a nuptial. The real serious part was the figure of the Duke of +Cumberland, heightened by a thousand melancholy circumstances. He had +a dark brown adonis, and a cloak of black cloth, with a train of five +yards. + +Attending the funeral of a father could not be pleasant; his leg +extremely bad, yet forced to stand upon it near two hours; his face +bloated and distorted with his late paralytic stroke, which has +affected, too, one of his eyes; and placed over the mouth of the vault +into which, in all probability, he must himself so soon descend; think +how unpleasant a situation! He bore it all with a firm and unaffected +countenance. This grave scene was fully contrasted by the burlesque +Duke {82} of Newcastle. He fell into a fit of crying the moment he +came into the chapel, and flung himself back in a stall, the archbishop +hovering over him with a smelling-bottle; but in two minutes his +curiosity got the better of his hypocrisy, and he ran about the chapel +with his glass to spy who was or was not there, spying with one hand, +and mopping his eyes with the other. Then returned the fear of +catching cold; and the Duke of Cumberland, who was sinking with heat, +felt himself weighed down, and turning round, found it was the Duke of +Newcastle standing upon his train, to avoid the chill of the marble. +It is very theatric to look down into the vault, where the coffin was, +attended by mourners with lights. Clavering, the groom of the +bed-chamber, refused to sit up with the body, and was dismissed by the +King's order. + +I have nothing more to tell you, but a trifle, a very trifle. The King +of Prussia has totally defeated Marshal Daun. This, which would have +been prodigious news a month ago, is nothing to-day; it only takes its +turn among the questions, "Who is to be the groom of the bedchamber? +What is Sir T. Robinson to have?" I have been to Leicester Fields +to-day; the crowd was immoderate; I don't believe it will continue so. +Good night. + +(_Letters_.) + + + + +{83} + +OLIVER GOLDSMITH 1728-1774 + +THE CREDULITY OF THE ENGLISH + +It is the most usual method in every report, first to examine its +probability, and then act as the conjuncture may require. The English, +however, exert a different spirit in such circumstances; they first +act, and when too late, begin to examine. From a knowledge of this +disposition, there are several here, who make it their business to +frame new reports at every convenient interval, all tending to denounce +ruin, both on their contemporaries and their posterity. This +denunciation is eagerly caught up by the public: away they fling to +propagate the distress; sell out at one place, buy in at another, +grumble at their governors, shout in mobs, and when they have thus for +some time behaved like fools, sit down coolly to argue and talk wisdom, +to puzzle each other with syllogism, and prepare for the next report +that prevails, which is always attended with the same success. + +Thus are they ever rising above one report, only to sink into another. +They resemble a dog in a well, pawing to get free. When he has raised +his upper parts above water, and every spectator imagines him +disengaged, his lower parts drag him down again and sink him to the +nose; he makes new efforts to emerge, and every effort increasing his +weakness, only tends to sink him the deeper. . . + +{84} This people would laugh at my simplicity, should I advise them to +be less sanguine in harbouring gloomy predictions, and examine coolly +before they attempted to complain. I have just heard a story, which, +though transacted in a private family, serves very well to describe the +behaviour of the whole nation, in cases of threatened calamity. As +there are public, so there are private incendiaries here. One of the +last, either for the amusement of his friends, or to divert a fit of +the spleen, lately sent a threatening letter to a worthy family in my +neighbourhood, to this effect: + +"Sir,--Knowing you to be very rich, and finding myself to be very poor, +I think proper to inform you, that I have learned the secret of +poisoning man, woman, and child, without danger of detection. Don't be +uneasy, Sir, you may take your choice of being poisoned in a fortnight, +or poisoned in a month, or poisoned in six weeks; you shall have full +time to settle all your affairs. Though I am poor, I love to do things +like a gentleman. But, Sir, you must die. Blood, Sir, blood is my +trade; so I could wish you would this day six weeks take leave of your +friends, wife, and family, for I cannot possibly allow you longer time. +To convince you more certainly of the power of my art, by which you may +know I speak truth, take this letter; when you have read it, tear off +the seal, fold it up, and give it to your favourite Dutch mastiff that +sits by the fire; he will swallow it, Sir, like a buttered toast: in +three hours four minutes after he has taken it, he will attempt to bite +off his own tongue, and half an hour after burst asunder in twenty +pieces. Blood! blood! blood! So no more at present from, {85} Sir, +your most obedient, most devoted humble servant to command, till death." + +You may easily imagine the consternation into which this letter threw +the whole good-natured family. The poor man to whom it was addressed +was the more surprised, as not knowing how he could merit such +inveterate malice. All the friends of the family were convened; it was +universally agreed that it was a most terrible affair, and that the +government should be solicited to offer a reward and a pardon: a fellow +of this kind would go on poisoning family after family; and it was +impossible to say where the destruction would end. In pursuance of +these determinations, the government was applied to; strict search was +made after the incendiary, but all in vain. At last, therefore, they +recollected that the experiment was not yet tried upon the dog; the +Dutch mastiff was brought up, and placed in the midst of the friends +and relations; the seal was torn off, the packet folded up with care, +and soon they found, to the great surprise of all--that the dog would +not eat the letter. Adieu. + +(_Citizen of the World_.) + + + + +EDMUND BURKE 1729-1797 + +DECAY OF THE PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY + +We may amuse ourselves with talking as much as we please of the virtue +of middle or humble life; that is, we may place our confidence in the +virtue of those who {86} have never been tried. But if the persons who +are continually emerging out of that sphere be no better than those +whom birth has placed above it, what hopes are there in the remainder +of the body, which is to furnish the perpetual succession of the state? +All who have ever written on government are unanimous that among a +people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist. And indeed how is +it possible? When those who are to make the laws, to guard, to +enforce, or to obey them, are by a tacit confederacy of manners +indisposed to the spirit of all generous and noble institutions. + +I am aware that the age is not what we all wish. But I am sure that +the only means of checking its precipitate degeneracy is heartily to +concur with whatever is the best in our time: and to have some more +correct standard of judging what that best is than the transient and +uncertain favour of a court. If once we are able to find and can +prevail on ourselves to strengthen an union of such men, whatever +accidentally becomes indisposed to ill-exercised power, even by the +ordinary operation of human passions, must join with that society, and +cannot long be joined without in some degree assimilating to it. +Virtue will catch as well as vice by contact, and the public stock of +honest, manly principle will daily accumulate. We are not too nicely +to scrutinise motives as long as action is irreproachable. It is +enough (and for a worthy man perhaps too much) to deal out its infamy +to convicted guilt and declared apostasy. + +This, gentlemen, has been from the beginning the rule of my conduct; +and I mean to continue it as long as such a body as I have described +can by any possibility {87} be kept together, for I should think it the +most dreadful of all offences, not only towards the present generation +but to all the future, if I were to do anything which could make the +minutest breach in this great conservatory of free principles. Those +who perhaps have the same intentions but are separated by some little +political animosities will I hope discern at last how little conducive +it is to any rational purpose to lower its reputation. For my part, +gentlemen, from much experience, from no little thinking, and from +comparing a great variety of things, I am thoroughly persuaded that the +last hope of preserving the spirit of the English constitution, or of +re-uniting the dissipated members of the English race upon a common +plan of tranquillity and liberty, does entirely depend on their firm +and lasting union, and above all on their keeping themselves from that +despair which is so very apt to fall on those whom a violence of +character and a mixture of ambitious views do not support through a +long, painful, and unsuccessful struggle. + +There never, gentlemen, was a period in which the stedfastness of some +men has been put to so sore a trial. It is not very difficult for +well-formed minds to abandon their interest, but the separation of fame +and virtue is a harsh divorce. Liberty is in danger of being made +unpopular to Englishmen. Contending for an imaginary power we begin to +acquire the spirit of domination and to lose the relish of an honest +equality. The principles of our forefathers become suspected to us, +because we see them animating the present opposition of our children. +The faults which grow out of the luxuriance of freedom appear much more +shocking to us than the {88} base vices which are generated from the +rankness of servitude. Accordingly, the least resistance to power +appears more inexcusable in our eyes than the greatest abuses of +authority. All dread of a standing military force is looked upon as a +superstitious panic. All shame of calling in foreigners and savages in +a civil contest is worn off. We grow indifferent to the consequences +inevitable to ourselves from the plan of ruling half the empire by a +mercenary sword. We are taught to believe that a desire of domineering +over our countrymen is love to our country, that those who hate civil +war abet rebellion, and that the amiable and conciliatory virtues of +lenity, moderation, and tenderness of the privileges of those who +depend on this kingdom are a sort of treason to the state. + +It is impossible that we should remain long in a situation which breeds +such notions and dispositions without some great alteration in the +national character. Those ingenuous and feeling minds who are so +fortified against all other things, and so unarmed to whatever +approaches in the shape of disgrace, finding these principles, which +they considered as sure means of honour, to be grown into disrepute, +will retire disheartened and disgusted. Those of a more robust make, +the bold, able, ambitious men who pay some of their court to power +through the people, and substitute the voice of transient opinion in +the place of true glory, will give in to the general mode; and those +superior understandings which ought to correct vulgar prejudice will +confirm and aggravate its errors. Many things have been long operating +towards a gradual change in our principles. {89} But this American war +has done more in a very few years than all the other causes could have +effected in a century. It is therefore not on its own separate +account, but because of its attendant circumstances that I consider its +continuance or its ending in any way but that of an honourable and +liberal accommodation as the greatest evils which can befall us. For +that reason I have troubled you with this long letter. For that reason +I entreat you again and again neither to be persuaded, shamed, or +frighted out of the principles that have hitherto led so many of you to +abhor the war, its cause, and its consequences. Let us not be among +the first who renounce the maxims of our forefathers. + +(_Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, on the affairs of America_.) + + + + +WILLIAM COWPER 1731-1800 + +THE CANDIDATE FOR PARLIAMENT + +_To the Rev. John Newton_. + +_March_ 29, 1784. + +MY DEAR FRIEND,--It being his majesty's pleasure that I should yet have +another opportunity to write before he dissolves the parliament, I +avail myself of it with all possible alacrity. I thank you for your +last, which was not the less welcome for coming, like an extraordinary +gazette, at a time when it was not expected. + +{90} As when the sea is uncommonly agitated, the water finds its way +into creeks and holes of rocks, which in its calmer state it never +reaches, in like manner the effect of these turbulent times is felt +even at Orchard side, where in general we live as undisturbed by the +political element, as shrimps or cockles that have been accidentally +deposited in some hollow beyond the water mark, by the usual dashing of +the waves. We were sitting yesterday after dinner, the two ladies and +myself, very composedly, and without the least apprehension of any such +intrusion in our snug parlour, one lady knitting, the other netting, +and the gentleman winding worsted, when to our unspeakable surprise a +mob appeared before the window; a smart rap was heard at the door, the +boys halloo'd, and the maid announced Mr Grenville. Puss was +unfortunately let out of her box, so that the candidate, with all his +good friends at his heels, was refused admittance at the grand entry, +and referred to the back door, as the only possible way of approach. + +Candidates are creatures not very susceptible of affronts, and would +rather, I suppose, climb in at a window, than be absolutely excluded. +In a minute, the yard, the kitchen, and the parlour, were filled. Mr +Grenville advancing toward me shook me by the hand with a degree of +cordiality that was extremely seducing. As soon as he and as many more +as could find chairs were seated, he began to open the intent of his +visit. I told him I had no vote, for which he readily gave me credit. +I assured him I had no influence, which he was not equally inclined to +believe, and the less, no doubt, because Mr Ashburner, the {91} +drapier, addressing himself to me at this moment, informed me that I +had a great deal. Supposing that I could not be possessed of such a +treasure without knowing it, I ventured to confirm my first assertion, +by saying, that if I had any I was utterly at a loss to imagine where +it could be, or wherein it consisted. Thus ended the conference. Mr +Grenville squeezed me by the hand again, kissed the ladies, and +withdrew. He kissed likewise the maid in the kitchen, and seemed upon +the whole a most loving, kissing, kind-hearted gentleman. He is very +young, genteel, and handsome. He has a pair of very good eyes in his +head, which not being sufficient as it should seem for the many nice +and difficult purposes of a senator, he has a third also, which he wore +suspended by a ribband from his buttonhole. The boys halloo'd, the +dogs barked, Puss scampered, the hero, with his long train of +obsequious followers, withdrew. We made ourselves very merry with the +adventure, and in a short time settled into our former tranquillity, +never probably to be thus interrupted more. I thought myself, however, +happy in being able to affirm truly that I had not that influence for +which he sued; and which, had I been possessed of it, with my present +views of the dispute between the Crown and the Commons, I must have +refused him, for he is on the side of the former. It is comfortable to +be of no consequence in a world where one cannot exercise any without +disobliging somebody. The town however seems to be much at his +service, and if he be equally successful throughout the county, he will +undoubtedly gain his election. Mr Ashburner perhaps {92} was a little +mortified, because it was evident that I owed the honour of this visit +to his misrepresentation of my importance. But had he thought proper +to assure Mr Grenville that I had three heads, I should not I suppose +have been bound to produce them. + +Mr Scott, who you say was so much admired in your pulpit, would be +equally admired in his own, at least by all capable judges, were he not +so apt to be angry with his congregation. This hurts him, and had he +the understanding and eloquence of Paul himself, would still hurt him. +He seldom, hardly ever indeed, preaches a gentle, well-tempered sermon, +but I hear it highly commended: but warmth of temper, indulged to a +degree that may be called scolding, defeats the end of preaching. It +is a misapplication of his powers, which it also cripples, and teases +away his hearers. But he is a good man, and may perhaps outgrow it. + +Many thanks for the worsted, which is excellent. We are as well as a +spring hardly less severe than the severest winter will give us leave +to be. With our united love, we conclude ourselves yours and Mrs +Newton's affectionate and faithful + + W. C. + M. U. + +(_Letters_.) + + + + +{93} + +EDWARD GIBBON 1737-1794 + +YOUTH + +At the conclusion of this first period of my life, I am tempted to +enter a protest against the trite and lavish praise of the happiness of +our boyish years, which is echoed with so much affectation in the +world. That happiness I have never known, that time I have never +regretted; and were my poor aunt still alive, she would bear testimony +to the early and constant uniformity of my sentiments. It will, +indeed, be replied that _I_ am not a competent judge; that pleasure is +incompatible with pain, that joy is excluded from sickness; and that +the felicity of a school-boy consists in the perpetual motion of +thoughtless and playful agility, in which I was never qualified to +excel. My name, it is most true, could never be enrolled among the +sprightly race, the idle progeny of Eton or Westminster, who delight to +cleave the water with pliant arm, to urge the flying ball, and to chase +the speed of the rolling circle. But I would ask the warmest and most +active hero of the play-field whether he can seriously compare his +childish with his manly enjoyments. . . . A state of happiness arising +only from the want of foresight and reflection shall never provoke my +envy; such degenerate taste would tend to sink us in the scale of +beings from a man to a child, a dog and an oyster, till we had reached +the confines of brute matter, which cannot suffer because it cannot +feel. The poet may gaily describe the short hours of {94} recreation; +but he forgets the daily, tedious labours of the school, which is +approached each morning with anxious and reluctant steps. Degrees of +misery are proportioned to the mind rather than to the object; _parva +leves capiunt animos_; and few men, in the trials of life, have +experienced a more painful sensation than the poor school-boy with an +imperfect task, who trembles on the eve of the black Monday. A school +is the cavern of fear and sorrow; the mobility of the captive youths is +chained to a book and a desk; an inflexible master commands their +attention, which every moment is impatient to escape; they labour like +the soldiers of Persia under the scourge, and their education is nearly +finished before they can apprehend the sense or utility of the harsh +lessons which they are forced to repeat. Such blind and absolute +dependence may be necessary, but can never be delightful: Freedom is +the first wish of our heart; freedom is the first blessing of our +nature; and, unless we bind ourselves with the voluntary chains of +interest or passion, we advance in freedom as we advance in years. + +(_Autobiography_.) + + + + +JAMES BOSWELL 1740-1795 + +FIRST SIGHT OF DR JOHNSON + +1763. This is to me a memorable year; for in it I had the happiness to +obtain the acquaintance of that extraordinary man whose memoirs I am +now writing; an acquaintance which I shall ever esteem as one of {95} +the most fortunate circumstances in my life. Though then but +two-and-twenty, I had for several years read his works with delight and +instruction, and had the highest reverence for their author, which had +grown up in my fancy into a kind of mysterious veneration, by figuring +to myself a state of solemn abstraction, in which I supposed him to +live in the immense metropolis of London. Mr Gentleman, a native of +Ireland, who passed some years in Scotland as a player, and as an +instructor in the English language, a man whose talents and worth were +depressed by misfortunes, had given me a representation of the figure +and manner of DICTIONARY JOHNSON! as he was then generally called; and +during my first visit to London, which was for three months in 1760, Mr +Derrick the poet, who was Gentleman's friend and countryman, flattered +me with hopes that he would introduce me to Johnson, an honour of which +I was very ambitious. But he never found an opportunity; which made me +doubt that he had promised to do what was not in his power; till +Johnson some years afterwards told me, "Derrick, Sir, might very well +have introduced you. I had a kindness for Derrick, and am sorry he is +dead." + +In the summer of 1761 Mr Thomas Sheridan was at Edinburgh, and +delivered lectures upon the English language and Public Speaking to +large and respectable audiences. I was often in his company, and heard +him frequently expatiate upon Johnson's extraordinary knowledge, +talents, and virtues, repeat his pointed sayings, describe his +particularities, and boast of his being his guest sometimes till two or +three in the morning. At {96} his house I hoped to have many +opportunities of seeing the sage, as Mr Sheridan obligingly assured me +I should not be disappointed. + +When I returned to London in the end of 1762, to my surprise and regret +I found an irreconcileable difference had taken place between Johnson +and Sheridan. A pension of two hundred pounds a year had been given to +Sheridan. Johnson, who, as has been already mentioned, thought +slightingly of Sheridan's art, upon hearing that he was also pensioned, +exclaimed, "What! have they given _him_ a pension? Then it is time for +me to give up mine." Whether this proceeded from a momentary +indignation, as if it were an affront to his exalted merit that a +player should be rewarded in the same manner with him, or was the +sudden effect of a fit of peevishness, it was unluckily said, and, +indeed, cannot be justified. Mr Sheridan's pension was granted to him +not as a player, but as a sufferer in the cause of government, when he +was manager of the Theatre Royal in Ireland, when parties ran high in +1753. And it must also be allowed that he was a man of literature, and +had considerably improved the arts of reading and speaking with +distinctness and propriety. . . . + +This rupture with Sheridan deprived Johnson of one of his most +agreeable resources for amusement in his lonely evenings; for +Sheridan's well-informed, animated, and bustling mind never suffered +conversation to stagnate; and Mrs Sheridan was a most agreeable +companion to an intellectual man. She was sensible, ingenious, +unassuming, yet communicative. I recollect, with satisfaction, many +pleasing hours which I passed with her {97} under the hospitable roof +of her husband, who was to me a very kind friend. Her novel, entitled +_Memoirs of Miss Sydney Biddulph_, contains an excellent moral while it +inculcates a future state of retribution; and what it teaches is +impressed upon the mind by a series of as deep distress as can affect +humanity, in the amiable and pious heroine who goes to her grave +unrelieved, but resigned, and full of hope of heaven's mercy. Johnson +paid her this high compliment upon it: "I know not, Madam, that you +have a right, upon moral principles, to make your readers suffer so +much." + +Mr Thomas Davies, the actor, who then kept a bookseller's shop in +Russell Street, Covent Garden, told me that Johnson was very much his +friend, and came frequently to his house, where he more than once +invited me to meet him; but by some unlucky accident or other he was +prevented from coming to us. + +Mr Thomas Davies was a man of good understanding and talents, with the +advantage of a liberal education. Though somewhat pompous, he was an +entertaining companion; and his literary performances have no +inconsiderable share of merit. He was a friendly and very hospitable +man. Both he and his wife (who has been celebrated for her beauty), +though upon the stage for many years, maintained an uniform decency of +character; and Johnson esteemed them, and lived in an as easy an +intimacy with them, as with any family which he used to visit. Mr +Davies recollected several of Johnson's remarkable sayings, and was one +of the best of the many imitators of his voice and manner, while +relating them. He increased my impatience more and more to see the +{98} extraordinary man whose works I highly valued, and whose +conversation was reported to be so peculiarly excellent. + +At last, on Monday the 16th of May, when I was sitting in Mr Davies's +back-parlour, after having drunk tea with him and Mrs Davies, Johnson +unexpectedly came into the shop; and Mr Davies having perceived him +through the glass door in the room in which we were sitting, advancing +towards us,--he announced his aweful approach to me, somewhat in the +manner of an actor in the part of Horatio, when he addresses Hamlet on +the appearance of his father's ghost, "Look, my lord, it comes." I +found that I had a very perfect idea of Johnson's figure, from the +portrait of him painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds soon after he had +published his _Dictionary_, in the attitude of sitting in his easy +chair in deep meditation, which was the first picture his friend did +for him, which Sir Joshua very kindly presented to me, and from which +an engraving has been made for this work. Mr Davies mentioned my name, +and respectfully introduced me to him. I was much agitated; and +recollecting his prejudice against the Scotch, of which I had heard +much, I said to Davies, "Don't tell where I come from."--"From +Scotland," cried Davies, roguishly. "Mr Johnson (said I) I do indeed +come from Scotland, but I cannot help it." I am willing to flatter +myself that I meant this as light pleasantry to soothe and conciliate +him, and not as an humiliating abasement at the expense of my country. +But however that might be, this speech was somewhat unlucky; for with +that quickness of wit for which he was so remarkable, he {99} seized +the expression "come from Scotland," which I used in the sense of being +of that country; and, as if I had said that I had come away from it, or +left it, retorted, "That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of +your countrymen cannot help." This stroke stunned me a good deal; and +when we had sat down, I felt myself not a little embarrassed, and +apprehensive of what might come next. He then addressed himself to +Davies: "What do you think of Garrick? He has refused me an order for +the play for Miss Williams, because he knows the house will be full, +and that an order would be worth three shillings." Eager to take any +opening to get into conversation with him, I ventured to say, "O, Sir, +I cannot think Mr Garrick would grudge such a trifle to you." "Sir, +(said he, with a stern look) I have known David Garrick longer than you +have done; and I know no right you have to talk to me on the subject." +Perhaps I deserved this check; for it was rather presumptuous in me, an +entire stranger, to express any doubt of the justice of his +animadversion upon his old acquaintance and pupil. I now felt myself +much mortified, and began to think that the hope which I had long +indulged of obtaining his acquaintance was blasted. And, in truth, had +not my ardour been uncommonly strong, and my resolution uncommonly +persevering, so rough a reception might have deterred me for ever from +making any further attempts. Fortunately, however, I remained upon the +field not wholly discomfited. . . . + +I was highly pleased with the extraordinary vigour of his conversation, +and regretted that I was drawn {100} away from it by an engagement at +another place. I had, for a part of the evening, been left alone with +him, and had ventured to make an observation now and then, which he +received very civilly; so that I was satisfied that though there was a +roughness in his manner, there was no ill-nature in his disposition. +Davies followed me to the door, and when I complained to him a little +of the hard blows which the great man had given me, he kindly took upon +him to console me by saying, "Don't be uneasy. I can see he likes you +very well." + +(_Life of Samuel Johnson_.) + + + + +SIR WALTER SCOTT 1771-1832 + +ARRIVAL AT OSBALDISTONE HALL + +"There are hopes of you yet," she said. "I was afraid you had been a +very degenerate Osbaldistone. But what on earth brings you to +Cub-Castle?--for so the neighbours have christened this hunting-hall of +ours. You might have staid away, I suppose, if you would?" + +I felt I was by this time on a very intimate footing with my beautiful +apparition, and therefore replied in a confidential undertone,--"Indeed, +my dear Miss Vernon, I might have considered it as a sacrifice to be a +temporary resident in Osbaldistone Hall, the inmates being such as you +describe them; but I am convinced there is one exception that will make +amends for all deficiencies." + +"O, you mean Rashleigh?" said Miss Vernon. + +{101} "Indeed I do not; I was thinking--forgive me--of some person much +nearer me." + +"I suppose it would be proper not to understand your civility?--But that +is not my way--I don't make a curtsey for it, because I am sitting on +horseback. But, seriously, I deserve your exception, for I am the only +conversible being about the Hall, except the old priest and Rashleigh." + +"And who is Rashleigh, for Heaven's sake?" + +"Rashleigh is one who would fain have every one like him for his own +sake.--He is Sir Hildebrand's youngest son--about your own age, but not +so--not well looking, in short. But nature has given him a mouthful of +common sense, and the priest has added a bushelful of learning--he is +what we call a very clever man in this country, where clever men are +scarce. Bred to the church, but in no hurry to take orders." + +"To the Catholic Church?" + +"The Catholic Church! what Church else?" said the young lady. "But I +forgot, they told me you are a heretic. Is that true, Mr Osbaldistone?" + +"I must not deny the charge." + +"And yet you have been abroad, and in Catholic countries?" + +"For nearly four years." + +"You have seen convents?" + +"Often; but I have not seen much in them which recommended the Catholic +religion." + +"Are not the inhabitants happy?" + +"Some are unquestionably so, whom either a profound sense of devotion, or +an experience of the {102} persecution and misfortunes of the world, or a +natural apathy of temper, has led into retirement. Those who have +adopted a life of seclusion from sudden and overstrained enthusiasm, or +in hasty resentment of some disappointment or mortification, are very +miserable. The quickness of sensation soon returns, and, like the wilder +animals in a menagerie, they are restless under confinement, while others +muse or fatten in cells of no larger dimensions than theirs." + +"And what," continued Miss Vernon, "becomes of those victims who are +condemned to a convent by the will of others? what do they resemble? +especially, what do they resemble, if they are born to enjoy life, and +feel its blessings?" + +"They are like imprisoned singing-birds," replied I, "condemned to wear +out their lives in confinement, which they try to beguile by the exercise +of accomplishments, which would have adorned society, had they been left +at large." + +"I shall be," returned Miss Vernon--"that is," said she, correcting +herself,--"I should be rather like the wild hawk, who, barred the free +exercise of his soar through heaven, will dash himself to pieces against +the bars of his cage. But to return to Rashleigh," said she, in a more +lively tone, "you will think him the pleasantest man you ever saw in your +life, Mr Osbaldistone, that is, for a week at least. If he could find +out a blind mistress, never man would be so secure of conquest; but the +eye breaks the spell that enchants the ear. But here we are in the court +of the old hall, which looks as wild and old-fashioned as any of its +inmates. There is {103} no great toilette kept at Osbaldistone Hall, you +must know; but I must take off these things, they are so unpleasantly +warm, and the hat hurts my forehead too," continued the lively girl, +taking it off, and shaking down a profusion of sable ringlets, which, +half laughing, half blushing, she separated with her white slender +fingers, in order to clear them away from her beautiful face and piercing +hazel eyes. If there was any coquetry in the action, it was well +disguised by the careless indifference of her manner. I could not help +saying, "that, judging of the family from what I saw, I should suppose +the toilette a very unnecessary care." + +"That's very politely said; though, perhaps, I ought not to understand in +what sense it was meant," replied Miss Vernon; "but you will see a better +apology for a little negligence, when you meet the Orsons you are to live +amongst, whose forms no toilette could improve. But, as I said before, +the old dinner-bell will clang, or rather clank, in a few minutes--it +cracked of its own accord on the day of the landing of King Willie, and +my uncle, respecting its prophetic talent, would never permit it to be +mended. So do you hold my palfrey, like a duteous knight, until I send +some more humble squire to relieve you of the charge." + +She threw me the rein as if we had been acquainted from our childhood, +jumped from her saddle, tripped across the court-yard, and entered at a +side-door, leaving me in admiration of her beauty, and astonished with +the overfrankness of her manners, which seemed the more extraordinary, at +a time when the dictates of politeness, flowing from the court of the +Grand Monarque Louis {104} XIV., prescribed to the fair sex an unusual +severity of decorum. I was left awkwardly enough stationed in the centre +of the court of the old hall, mounted on one horse, and holding another +in my hand. + +The building afforded little to interest a stranger, had I been disposed +to consider it attentively; the sides of the quadrangle were of various +architecture, and with their stone-shafted latticed windows, projecting +turrets, and massive architraves, resembled the inside of a convent, or +of one of the older and less splendid colleges of Oxford. I called for a +domestic, but was for some time totally unattended to; which was the more +provoking, as I could perceive I was the object of curiosity to several +servants, both male and female, from different parts of the building, who +popped out their heads and withdrew them, like rabbits in a warren, +before I could make a direct appeal to the attention of any individual. +The return of the huntsmen and hounds relieved me from my embarrassment, +and with some difficulty I got one clown to relieve me of the charge of +the horses, and another stupid boor to guide me to the presence of Sir +Hildebrand. This service he performed with much such grace and +good-will, as a peasant who is compelled to act as guide to a hostile +patrol; and in the same manner I was obliged to guard against his +deserting me in the labyrinth of low vaulted passages which conducted to +"Stun Hall," as he called it, where I was to be introduced to the +gracious presence of my uncle. + +We did, however, at length reach a long vaulted room, floored with stone, +where a range of oaken tables, of a weight and size too massive ever to +be moved {105} aside, were already covered for dinner. This venerable +apartment, which had witnessed the feasts of several generations of the +Osbaldistone family, bore also evidence of their success in field-sports. +Huge antlers of deer, which might have been trophies of the hunting of +Chevy Chace, were ranged around the walls, interspersed with the stuffed +skins of badgers, otters, martens, and other animals of the chase. +Amidst some remnants of old armour, which had, perhaps, served against +the Scotch, hung the more valued weapons of silvan war, cross-bows, guns +of various device and construction, nets, fishing-rods, otter-spears, +hunting-poles, with many other singular devices and engines for taking or +killing game. A few old pictures, dimmed with smoke, and stained with +March beer, hung on the walls, representing knights and ladies, honoured, +doubtless, and renowned in their day; those frowning fearfully from huge +bushes of wig and of beard; and these looking delightfully with all their +might at the roses which they brandished in their hands. + +I had just time to give a glance at these matters, when about twelve +blue-coated servants burst into the hall with much tumult and talk, each +rather employed in directing his comrades than in discharging his own +duty. Some brought blocks and billets to the fire, which roared, blazed, +and ascended, half in smoke, half in flame, up a huge tunnel, with an +opening wide enough to accommodate a stone-seat within its ample vault, +and which was fronted, by way of chimney-piece, with a huge piece of +heavy architecture, where the monsters of heraldry, embodied by the art +of some Northumbrian {106} chisel, grinned and ramped in red free-stone, +now japanned by the smoke of centuries. Others of these old-fashioned +serving-men bore huge smoking dishes, loaded with substantial fare; +others brought in cups, flagons, bottles, yea barrels of liquor. All +tramped, kicked, plunged, shouldered, and jostled, doing as little +service with as much tumult as could well be imagined. At length, while +the dinner was, after various efforts, in the act of being arranged upon +the board, "the clamour much of men and dogs," the cracking of whips, +calculated for the intimidation of the latter, voices loud and high, +steps which, impressed by the heavy-heeled boots of the period, clattered +like those of the statue in the _Festin de pierre_, announced the arrival +of those for whose benefit the preparations were made. The hubbub among +the servants rather increased than diminished as this crisis +approached,--some called to make haste,--others to take time,--some +exhorted to stand out of the way, and make room for Sir Hildebrand and +the young squires,--some to close round the table, and be _in_ the +way,--some bawled to open, some to shut a pair of folding-doors, which +divided the hall from a sort of gallery, as I afterwards learned, or +withdrawing-room, fitted up with black wainscot. Opened the doors were +at length, and in rushed curs and men,--eight dogs, the domestic +chaplain, the village doctor, my six cousins, and my uncle. + +(_Rob Roy_.) + + + + +{107} + +CHARLES LAMB 1775-1834 + +A VISIT TO COLERIDGE + +LONDON, _September_ 24, 1802. + +MY DEAR MANNING--Since the date of my last letter I have been a +Traveller. A strong desire seized me of visiting remote regions. My +first impulse was to go and see Paris. It was a trivial objection to +my aspiring mind, that I did not understand a word of the language, +since I certainly intend some time of my life to see Paris, and equally +certainly intend never to learn the language; therefore that could be +no objection. However, I am very glad I did not go, because you had +left Paris (I see) before I could have set out. . . . My final resolve +was, a tour to the Lakes. I set out with Mary to Keswick, without +giving Coleridge any notice, for my time, being precious, did not admit +of it. He received us with all the hospitality in the world, and gave +up his time to show us all the wonders of the country. He dwells upon +a small hill by the side of Keswick, in a comfortable house, quite +enveloped on all sides by a net of mountains: great floundering bears +and monsters they seemed, all couchant and asleep. We got in in the +evening, travelling in a post-chaise from Penrith, in the midst of a +gorgeous sunshine, which transmuted all the mountains into colours, +purple, etc., etc. We thought we had got into fairyland. But that +went off (as it never came {108} again; while we stayed we had no more +fine sunsets), and we entered Coleridge's comfortable study just in the +dusk, when the mountains were all dark with clouds upon their +heads. . . . Coleridge had got a blazing fire in his study; which is a +large antique, ill-shaped room, with an old-fashioned organ, never +played upon, big enough for a church, shelves of scattered folios, an +Aeolian harp, and an old sofa, half bed, etc. And all looking out upon +the last fading view of Skiddaw, and his broad-breasted brethren: what +a night! . . . We have clambered up to the top of Skiddaw, and I have +waded up the bed of Lodore. In fine, I have satisfied myself that +there is such a thing as that which tourists call _romantic_, which I +very much suspected before: they make such a spluttering about it, and +toss their splendid epithets around them, till they give as dim a light +as at four o'clock next morning the lamps do after an illumination. +Mary was excessively tired when she got about half-way up Skiddaw, but +we came to a cold rill (than which nothing can be imagined more cold, +running over cold stones), and with the reinforcement of a draught of +cold water she surmounted it most manfully. Oh, its fine black head, +and the bleak air atop of it, with a prospect of mountains all about +and about, making you giddy; and then Scotland afar off, and the border +countries so famous in song and ballad! It was a day that will stand +out, like a mountain, I am sure, in my life. But I am returned (I have +now been come home near three weeks; I was a month out), and you cannot +conceive the degradation I felt at first, from being accustomed to +wander free as air among mountains, and bathe in rivers {109} without +being controlled by any one, to come home and _work_. I felt very +_little_, I had been dreaming I was a very great man. But that is +going off, and I find I shall conform in time to that state of life to +which it has pleased God to call me. Besides, after all, Fleet Street +and the Strand are better places to live in for good and all than +amidst Skiddaw. Still, I turn back to those great places where I +wandered about, participating in their greatness. After all, I could +not _live_ in Skiddaw. I could spend a year, two, three years among +them, but I must have a prospect of seeing Fleet Street at the end of +that time, or I should mope and pine away, I know. Still, Skiddaw is a +fine creature. . . I fear my head is turned with wandering. I shall +never be the same acquiescent being. Farewell. Write again quickly, +for I shall not like to hazard a letter, not knowing where the fates +have carried you. Farewell, my dear fellow. + +C. LAMB. + +(_Letters_.) + + + + +WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR 1775-1864 + +DIOGENES AND PLATO + +_Diogenes_. The bird of wisdom flies low, and seeks her food under +hedges: the eagle himself would be starved if he always soared aloft +and against the sun. The sweetest fruit grows near the ground, and the +plants that bear it require ventilation and lopping. Were this not to +be done in thy garden, every walk and alley, every {110} plot and +border, would be covered with runners and roots, with boughs and +suckers. We want no poets or logicians or metaphysicians to govern us: +we want practical men, honest men, continent men, unambitious men, +fearful to solicit a trust, slow to accept, and resolute never to +betray one. Experimentalists may be the best philosophers; they are +always the worst politicians. Teach people their duties, and they will +know their interests. Change as little as possible, and correct as +much. + +Philosophers are absurd from many causes, but principally from laying +out unthriftily their distinctions. They set up four virtues: +fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice. Now a man may be a very +bad one, and yet possess three out of the four. Every cutthroat must, +if he has been a cutthroat on many occasions, have more fortitude and +more prudence than the greater part of those whom we consider as the +best men. And what cruel wretches, both executioners and judges, have +been strictly just! how little have they cared what gentleness, what +generosity, what genius, their sentence have removed from the earth! +Temperance and beneficence contain all other virtues. Take them home, +Plato; split them, expound them; do what thou wilt with them, if thou +but use them. + +Before I gave thee this lesson, which is a better than thou ever gavest +any one, and easier to remember, thou wert accusing me of invidiousness +and malice against those whom thou callest the great, meaning to say +the powerful. Thy imagination, I am well aware, had taken its flight +toward Sicily, where thou seekest thy great {111} man, as earnestly and +undoubtingly as Ceres sought her Persephone. Faith! honest Plato, I +have no reason to envy thy worthy friend Dionysius. Look at my nose! +A lad seven or eight years old threw an apple at me yesterday, while I +was gazing at the clouds, and gave me nose enough for two moderate men. +Instead of such a godsend, what should I have thought of my fortune if, +after living all my lifetime among golden vases, rougher than my hand +with their emeralds and rubies, their engravings and embossments; among +Parian caryatides and porphyry sphinxes; among philosophers with rings +upon their fingers and linen next their skin; and among singing-boys +and dancing-girls, to whom alone thou speakest intelligibly,--I ask +thee again, what should I in reason have thought of my fortune, if, +after these facilities and superfluities, I had at last been pelted out +of my house, not by one young rogue, but by thousands of all ages, and +not with an apple (I wish I could say a rotten one), but with pebbles +and broken pots; and, to crown my deserts, had been compelled to become +the teacher of so promising a generation? Great men, forsooth! thou +knowest at last who they are. + +_Plato_. There are great men of various kinds. + +_Diogenes_. No, by my beard, are there not! + +_Plato_. What! are there not great captains, great geometricians, +great dialecticians? + +_Diogenes_. Who denied it? A great man was the postulate. Try thy +hand now at the powerful one. + +_Plato_. On seeing the exercise of power, a child cannot doubt who is +powerful, more or less; for power is relative. All men are weak, not +only if compared to {112} the Demiurgos, but if compared to the sea or +the earth, or certain things upon each of them, such as elephants and +whales. So placid and tranquil is the scene around us, we can hardly +bring to mind the images of strength and force, the precipices, the +abysses-- + +_Diogenes_. Prythee hold thy loose tongue, twinkling and glittering +like a serpent's in the midst of luxuriance and rankness! Did never +this reflection of thine warn thee that, in human life, the precipices +and abysses would be much farther from our admiration, if we were less +inconsiderate, selfish, and vile? I will not however stop thee long, +for thou wert going on quite consistently. As thy great men are +fighters and wranglers, so thy mighty things upon the earth and sea are +troublesome and intractable incumbrances. Thou perceivedst not what +was greater in the former case, neither art thou aware what is greater +in this. Didst thou feel the gentle air that passed us? + +_Plato_. I did not, just then. + +_Diogenes_. That air, so gentle, so imperceptible to thee, is more +powerful not only than all the creatures that breathe and live by it; +not only than all the oaks of the forest, which it rears in an age and +shatters in a moment; not only than all the monsters of the sea, but +than the sea itself, which it tosses up into foam, and breaks against +every rock in its vast circumference; for it carries in its bosom, with +perfect calm and composure, the incontrollable ocean and the peopled +earth, like an atom of a feather. + +To the world's turmoils and pageantries is attracted, not only the +admiration of the populace, but the zeal of {113} the orator, the +enthusiasm of the poet, the investigation of the historian, and the +contemplation of the philosopher: yet how silent and invisible are they +in the depths of air! Do I say in those depths and deserts? No; I say +at the distance of a swallow's flight,--at the distance she rises above +us, ere a sentence brief as this could be uttered. + +What are its mines and mountains? Fragments welded up and dislocated +by the expansion of water from below; the most part reduced to mud, the +rest to splinters. Afterwards sprang up fire in many places, and again +tore and mangled the mutilated carcass, and still growls over it. + +What are its cities and ramparts, and moles and monuments? Segments of +a fragment, which one man puts together and another throws down. Here +we stumble upon thy great ones at their work. Show me now, if thou +canst, in history, three great warriors, or three great statesmen, who +have acted otherwise than spiteful children. + +(_Imaginary Conversations_.) + + + + +JANE AUSTEN 1775-1817 + +AN INVITATION + +It was now the middle of June and the weather fine, and Mrs Elton was +growing impatient to name the day, and settle with Mr Weston as to +pigeon-pies and cold lamb, when a lame carriage-horse threw everything +into {114} sad uncertainty. It might be weeks, it might be only a few +days, before the horse were useable, but no preparations could be +ventured on, and it was all melancholy stagnation. Mrs Elton's +resources were inadequate to such an attack. + +"Is not this most vexatious, Knightley?" she cried; "and such weather +for exploring! these delays and disappointments are quite odious. What +are we to do? The year will wear away at this rate, and nothing done. +Before this time last year, I assure you, we had had a delightful +exploring party from Maple Grove to Kings Weston." + +"You had better explore to Donwell," replied Mr Knightley. "That may +be done without horses. Come and eat my strawberries; they are +ripening fast." + +If Mr Knightley did not begin seriously, he was obliged to proceed so; +for his proposal was caught at with delight; and the "Oh! I should +like it of all things," was not plainer in words than manner. Donwell +was famous for its strawberry-beds, which seemed a plea for the +invitation; but no plea was necessary; cabbage-beds would have been +enough to tempt the lady, who only wanted to be going somewhere. She +promised him again and again to come--much oftener than he doubted--and +was extremely gratified by such a proof of intimacy, such a +distinguishing compliment as she chose to consider it. + +"You may depend upon me," said she; "I certainly will come.--Name your +day, and I will come.--You will allow me to bring Jane Fairfax?" + +"I cannot name a day," said he, "till I have {115} spoken to some +others, whom I would wish to meet you." + +"Oh, leave all that to me; only give me a carte-blanche.--I am Lady +Patroness, you know. It is my party. I will bring friends with me." + +"I hope you will bring Elton," said he; "but I will not trouble you to +give any other invitations." + +"Oh, now you are looking very sly; but consider,--you need not be +afraid of delegating power to _me_. I am no young lady on her +preferment. Married women, you know, may be safely authorized. It is +my party. Leave it all to me. I will invite your guests." + +"No," he calmly replied, "there is but one married woman in the world +whom I can ever allow to invite what guests she pleases to Donwell, and +that one is----" + +"Mrs Weston, I suppose," interrupted Mrs Elton, rather mortified. + +"No,--Mrs Knightley; and till she is in being, I will manage such +matters myself." + +"Ah, you are an odd creature!" she cried, satisfied to have no one +preferred to herself. "You are a humourist, and may say what you like. +Quite a humourist. Well, I shall bring Jane with me--Jane and her +aunt. The rest I leave to you. I have no objections at all to meeting +the Hartfield family. Don't scruple, I know you are attached to them." + +"You certainly will meet them, if I can prevail; and I shall call on +Miss Bates in my way home." + +"That's quite unnecessary; I see Jane every day;--but {116} as you +like. It is to be a morning scheme, you know, Knightley; quite a +simple thing. I shall wear a large bonnet, and bring one of my little +baskets hanging on my arm. Here,--probably this basket with pink +ribbon. Nothing can be more simple, you see. And Jane will have such +another. There is to be no form or parade--a sort of gipsy party. We +are to walk about your gardens, and gather the strawberries ourselves, +and sit under trees; and whatever else you may like to provide, it is +to be all out of doors; a table spread in the shade, you know. +Everything as natural and simple as possible. Is not that your idea?" + +"Not quite. My idea of the simple and the natural will be to have the +table spread in the dining-room. The nature and the simplicity of +gentlemen and ladies, with their servants and furniture, I think is +best observed by meals within doors. When you are tired of eating +strawberries in the garden, there shall be cold meat in the house." + +"Well, as you please; only don't have a great set-out. And, by the +bye, can I or my housekeeper be of any use to you with our opinion? +Pray be sincere, Knightley. If you wish me to talk to Mrs Hodges, or +to inspect anything----" + +"I have not the least wish for it, I thank you.'" + +"Well,--but if any difficulties should arise, my housekeeper is +extremely clever." + +"I will answer for it that mine thinks herself full as clever, and +would spurn anybody's assistance." + +"I wish we had a donkey. The thing would be for us all to come on +donkeys, Jane, Miss Bates, and me, {117} and my _caro sposo_ walking +by. I really must talk to him about purchasing a donkey. In a country +life I conceive it to be a sort of necessary; for, let a woman have +ever so many resources, it is not possible for her to be always shut up +at home; and very long walks, you know--in summer there is dust, and in +winter there is dirt." + +"You will not find either between Donwell and Highbury. Donwell Lane +is never dusty, and now it is perfectly dry. Come on a donkey, +however, if you prefer it. You can borrow Mrs Cole's. I would wish +everything to be as much to your taste as possible." + +"That I am sure you would. Indeed I do you justice, my good friend. +Under that peculiar sort of dry, blunt manner, I know you have the +warmest heart. As I tell Mr E., you are a thorough humourist. Yes, +believe me, Knightley, I am fully sensible of your attention to me in +the whole of this scheme. You have hit upon the very thing to please +me." + +Mr Knightley had another reason for avoiding a table in the shade. He +wished to persuade Mr Woodhouse, as well as Emma, to join the party; +and he knew that to have any of them sitting down out of doors to eat +would inevitably make him ill. Mr Woodhouse must not, under the +specious pretence of a morning drive, and an hour or two spent at +Donwell, be tempted away to his misery. + +He was invited on good faith. No lurking horrors were to upbraid him +for his easy credulity. He did consent. He had not been at Donwell +for two years. "Some very fine morning, he, and Emma, and Harriet +{118} could go very well; and he could sit still with Mrs Weston while +the dear girls walked about the gardens. He did not suppose they could +be damp now, in the middle of the day. He should like to see the old +house again exceedingly, and should be very happy to meet Mr and Mrs +Elton, and any other of his neighbours. He could not see any objection +at all to his, and Emma's, and Harriet's going there some very fine +morning. He thought it very well done of Mr Knightley to invite them; +very kind and sensible; much cleverer than dining out. He was not fond +of dining out." + +Mr Knightley was fortunate in everybody's most ready concurrence. The +invitation was everywhere so well received, that it seemed as if, like +Mrs Elton, they were all taking the scheme as a particular compliment +to themselves. + +(_Emma_.) + + + + +WILLIAM HAZLITT 1778-1830 + +COLERIDGE AS PREACHER + +It was in January of 1798 that I rose one morning before daylight, to +walk ten miles in the mud to hear this celebrated person preach. +Never, the longest day I have to live, shall I have such another walk +as this cold, raw, comfortless one, in the winter of the year 1798. +When I got there the organ was playing the 100th Psalm, and when it was +done Mr Coleridge rose and gave out {119} his text, "And he went up +into the mountain to pray, _himself, alone_." As he gave out this text +his voice "rose like a stream of rich distilled perfumes," and when he +came to the two last words, which he pronounced loud, deep, and +distinct, it seemed to me, who was then young, as if the sounds had +echoed from the bottom of the human heart, and as if that prayer might +have floated in solemn silence through the universe. The idea of St +John came into my mind, "of one crying in the wilderness, who had his +loins girt about, and whose food was locusts and wild honey." The +preacher then launched into his subject like an eagle dallying with the +wind. The sermon was upon peace and war; upon church and state--not +their alliance but their separation--on the spirit of the world and the +spirit of Christianity, not as the same, but as opposed to one another. +He talked of those who had "inscribed the cross of Christ on banners +dripping with human gore." He made a poetical and pastoral +excursion--and to show the fatal effects of war, drew a striking +contrast between the simple shepherd boy, driving his team afield, or +sitting under the hawthorn, piping to his flock, "as though he should +never be old," and the same poor country lad, crimped, kidnapped, +brought into town, made drunk at an alehouse, turned into a wretched +drummer-boy, with his hair sticking on end with powder and pomatum, a +long cue at his back, and tricked out in the loathsome finery of the +profession of blood: + + "Such were the notes our once-loved poet sung." + +And for myself, I could not have been more delighted if I had heard the +music of the spheres. Poetry and {120} Philosophy had met together. +Truth and Genius had embraced, under the eye and with the sanction of +Religion. This was even beyond my hopes. I returned home well +satisfied. The sun that was still labouring pale and wan through the +sky, obscured by thick mists, seemed an emblem of the good cause; and +the cold, dank drops of dew that hung half melted on the beard of the +thistle had something genial and refreshing in them; for there was a +spirit of hope and youth in all nature that turned everything into good. + +(_Winterslow_.) + + + + +THOMAS DE QUINCEY 1785-1859 + +A DREAM + +Sweet funeral bells from some incalculable distance, wailing over the +dead that die before the dawn, awakened me as I slept in a boat moored +to some familiar shore. The morning twilight even then was breaking; +and, by the dusky revelations which it spread, I saw a girl, adorned +with a garland of white roses about her head for some great festival, +running along the solitary strand in extremity of haste. Her running +was the running of panic; and often she looked back as to some dreadful +enemy in the rear. But when I leaped ashore, and followed on her steps +to warn her of a peril in front, alas! from me she fled as from another +peril, and vainly I shouted to her of quicksands that lay ahead. +Faster and faster she ran; round a promontory of rocks she {121} +wheeled out of sight; in an instant I also wheeled round it, but only +to see the treacherous sands gathering above her head. Already her +person was buried; only the fair young head and the diadem of white +roses around it were still visible to the pitying heavens; and, last of +all, was visible one white marble arm. I saw by early twilight this +fair young head, as it was sinking down to darkness--saw this marble +arm, as it rose above her head and her treacherous grave, tossing, +faltering, rising, clutching, as at some false deceiving hand stretched +out from the clouds--saw this marble arm uttering her dying hope, and +then uttering her dying despair. The head, the diadem, the arm--these +all had sunk; at last over these also the cruel quicksand had closed; +and no memorial of the fair young girl remained on earth, except my own +solitary tears, and the funeral bells from the desert seas, that, +rising again more softly, sang a requiem over the grave of the buried +child, and over her blighted dawn. + +I sat, and wept in secret the tears that men have ever given to the +memory of those that died before the dawn, and by the treachery of +earth, our mother. But suddenly the tears and funeral bells were +hushed by a shout as of many nations, and by a roar as from some great +king's artillery, advancing rapidly along the valleys, and heard afar +by echoes from the mountains. "Hush!" I said, as I bent my ear +earthwards to listen--"hush!--this either is the very anarchy of +strife, or else"--and then I listened more profoundly, and whispered as +I raised my head--"or else, oh heavens! it is _victory_ that is final, +victory that swallows up all strife." + +(_The English Mail-coach_.) + + + + +{122} + +JOHN KEATS 1795-1821 + +THE USE OF POETRY + +I had an idea that a Man might pass a very pleasant life in this +manner--Let him on a certain day read a certain page of full Poesy or +distilled Prose, and let him wander with it, and muse upon it, and +reflect from it, and bring home to it, and prophesy upon it, and dream +upon it: until it becomes stale--But when will it do so? Never--When +Man has arrived at a certain ripeness in intellect any one grand and +spiritual passage serves him as a starting-post towards all "the +two-and-thirty Palaces." How happy is such a voyage of conception, +what delicious diligent indolence! A doze upon a sofa does not hinder +it, and a nap upon Clover engenders ethereal finger-pointings--the +prattle of a child gives it wings, and the converse of middle-age a +strength to beat them--a strain of music conducts to "an odd angle of +the Isle," and when the leaves whisper it puts a girdle round the +earth.--Nor will this sparing touch of noble Books be any irreverence +to their Writers--for perhaps the honours paid by Man to Man are +trifles in comparison to the benefit done by great works to the "spirit +and pulse of good" by their mere passive existence. Memory should not +be called Knowledge--Many have original minds who do not think it--they +are led away by Custom. Now it appears to me that almost any Man may, +like the spider, spin from his own inwards his own airy Citadel--the +points of leaves and twigs on which {123} the spider begins her work +are few, and she fills the air with a beautiful circuiting. Man should +be content with as few points to tip with the fine Web of his Soul, and +weave a tapestry empyrean--full of symbols for his spiritual eye, of +softness for his spiritual touch, of space for his wandering, of +distinctness for his luxury. But the minds of mortals are so different +and bent on such diverse journeys that it may at first appear +impossible for any common taste and fellowship to exist between two or +three under these suppositions. It is however quite the contrary. +Minds would leave each other in contrary directions, traverse each +other in numberless points, and at last greet each other at the +journey's end. An old man and a child would talk together and the old +man be led on his path and the child left thinking. Man should not +dispute or assert, but whisper results to his Neighbour, and thus, by +every germ of spirit sucking the sap from mould ethereal, every human +might become great, and humanity instead of being a wide heath of furze +and briars, with here and there a remote Oak or Pine, would become a +grand democracy of forest trees. It has been an old comparison for +urging on--the bee-hive--however it seems to me that we should rather +be the flower than the Bee--for it is a false notion that more is +gained by receiving than giving--no, the receiver and the giver are +equal in their benefits. The flower, I doubt not, receives a fair +guerdon from the Bee--its leaves blush deeper in the next spring--and +who shall say between Man and Woman which is the most delighted? Now +it is more noble to sit like Jove than to fly like Mercury:--let us not +therefore go hurrying about and collecting honey, {124} bee-like, +buzzing here and there impatiently from a knowledge of what is to be +arrived at. But let us open our leaves like a flower, and be passive +and receptive; budding patiently under the eye of Apollo and taking +hints from every noble insect that favours us with a visit--Sap will be +given us for meat, and dew for drink. + +(_Letters_.) + + + + +THOMAS CARLYLE 1795-1881 + +THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES + +One finds that in the second week in June Colonel de Choiseul is +privately in Paris; having come "to see his children." Also that +Fersen has got a stupendous new Coach built, of the kind named +_Berline_; done by the first artists; according to a model: they bring +it home to him, in Choiseul's presence; the two friends take a +proof-drive in it, along the streets; in meditative mood; then send it +up to "Madame Sullivan's, in the Rue de Clichy," far north, to wait +there till wanted. Apparently a certain Russian Baroness de Korff, +with Waiting-woman, Valet, and two Children, will travel homewards with +some state: in whom these young military gentlemen take interest? A +Passport has been procured for her, and much assistance shewn, with +Coachbuilders and such-like;--so helpful-polite are young military +men. . . These are the Phenomena, or visual Appearances, of this +wide-working terrestrial world: which truly is all phenomenal, what +they call spectral; and never rests at any moment; one never at any +moment can know why. + +On Monday night, the Twentieth of June 1791, about eleven o'clock, +there is many a hackney-coach and {125} glass-coach still rumbling or +at rest on the streets of Paris. But of all glass-coaches we recommend +this to thee, O Reader, which stands drawn up in the Rue de l'Echelle, +hard by the Carrousel and outgate of the Tuileries; in the Rue de +l'Echelle that then was, "opposite Ronsin the saddler's door," as if +waiting for a fare there. Not long does it wait: a hooded Dame, with +two hooded Children has issued from Villequier's door, where no sentry +walks, into the Tuileries' Court-of-Princes; into the Carrousel; into +the Rue de l'Echelle; where the Glass-coachman readily admits them; and +again waits. Not long; another Dame, likewise hooded or shrouded, +leaning on a servant, issues in the same manner; bids the servant +good-night; and is, in the same manner, by the Glass-coachman, +cheerfully admitted. Whither go so many Dames? 'Tis his Majesty's +_Couchée_, Majesty just gone to bed, and all the Palace-world is +retiring home. But the Glass-coachman still waits; his fare seemingly +incomplete. + +By-and-by, we note a thickset Individual, in round hat and peruke, arm +in arm with some servant, seemingly of the Runner or Courier sort; he +also issues through Villequier's door; starts a shoebuckle as he passes +one of the sentries, stoops down to clasp it again; is however, by the +Glass-coachman, still more cheerfully admitted. And _now_, is his fare +complete? Not yet; the Glass-coachman still waits.--Alas! and the +false Chambermaid has warned Gouvion that she thinks the Royal Family +will fly this very night; and Gouvion, distrusting his own glazed eyes, +has sent express for Lafayette; and Lafayette's Carriage, flaring with +lights, rolls this moment through the inner arch of the +Carrousel,--where a Lady shaded in {126} broad gypsy-hat, and leaning +on the arm of a servant, also of the Runner or Courier sort, stands +aside to let it pass, and has even the whim to touch a spoke of it with +her _badine_,--light little magic rod which she calls _badine_, such as +the Beautiful then wore. The flare of Lafayette's carriage rolls past: +all is found quiet in the Court-of-Princes; sentries at their post; +Majesties' Apartments closed in smooth rest. Your false Chambermaid +must have been mistaken? Watch thou, Gouvion, with Argus' vigilance; +for of a truth treachery is within these walls. + +But where is the Lady that stood aside in gypsy-hat, and touched the +wheel-spoke with her _badine_? O Reader, that Lady that touched the +wheel-spoke was the Queen of France! She has issued safe through that +inner arch, into the Carrousel itself; but not into the Rue de +l'Echelle. Flurried by the rattle and rencounter, she took the right +hand, not the left; neither she nor her Courier knows Paris; he is +indeed no Courier, but a loyal stupid _ci-devant_ Body-guard disguised +as one. They are off, quite wrong, over the Pont Royal and River; +roaming disconsolate in the Rue du Bac; far from the Glass-coachman, +who still waits. Waits, with flutter of heart; with thoughts--which he +must button close up, under his jarvie-surtout! + +Midnight clangs from all the City-steeples; one precious hour has been +spent so; most mortals are asleep. The Glass-coachman waits; and in +what mood! A brother jarvie drives up, enters into conversation; is +answered cheerfully in jarvie-dialect: the brothers of the whip +exchange a pinch of snuff; decline drinking together; and part with +good-night. Be the Heavens blest! here at length is the Queen-lady, in +gypsy-hat; {127} safe after perils; who has had to enquire her way. +She too is admitted; her Courier jumps aloft, as the other, who is also +a disguised Bodyguard, has done; and now, O Glass-coachman of a +thousand,--Count Fersen, for the Reader sees it is thou,--drive! + +Dust shall not stick to the heels of Fersen: crack! crack! The +Glass-coach rattles, and every soul breathes lighter. But is Fersen on +the right road? North-eastward, to the Barrier of Saint-Martin and +Metz Highway, thither were we bound: and lo, he drives right Northward! +The royal Individual, in round hat and peruke, sits astonished; but +right or wrong, there is no remedy. Crack, crack, we go incessant, +through the slumbering City. Seldom, since Paris rose out of mud, or +the Longhaired Kings went in bullock-carts, was there such a drive. +Mortals on each hand of you, close by, stretched out horizontal, +dormant; and we alive and quaking! Crack, crack, through the Rue de +Grammont; across the Boulevard; up the Rue de la Chaussée +d'Antin,--these windows, all silent, of Number 42, were Mirabeau's. +Towards the Barrier, not of Saint-Martin, but of Clichy on the utmost +north! Patience, ye royal Individuals; Fersen understands what he is +about. Passing up the Rue de Clichy, he alights for one moment at +Madame Sullivan's: "Did Count Fersen's Coachman get the Baroness de +Korff's new Berline?"--"Gone with it an hour and a half ago," grumbles +responsive the drowsy Porter.--"_C'est bien_." Yes, it is +well;--though had not such hour-and-half been _lost_, it were still +better. Forth therefore, O Fersen, fast, by the Barrier de Clichy; +then eastward along the Outer Boulevard, what horses and whipcord can +do! + +{128} Thus Fersen drives, through the ambrosial night. Sleeping Paris +is now all on the right-hand of him; silent except for some snoring +hum: and now he is eastward as far as the Barrier of Saint-Martin; +looking earnestly for Baroness de Korff's Berline. This Heaven's +Berline he at length does descry, drawn up with its six horses, his own +German coachman waiting on the box. Right, thou good German: now +haste, whither thou knowest!--And as for us of the Glass-coach, haste +too, O haste; much time is already lost! The august Glass-coach fare, +six Insides, hastily packs itself into the new Berline; two Body-guard +Couriers behind. The Glass-coach itself is turned adrift, its head +towards the City, to wander where it lists,--and be found next morning +tumbled in a ditch. But Fersen is on the new box, with its brave new +hammer-cloths; flourishing his whip; he bolts forward towards Bondy. +There a third and final Bodyguard Courier of ours ought surely to be, +with post-horses ready ordered. There likewise ought that purchased +Chaise, with the two Waiting-maids and their bandboxes, to be; whom +also her Majesty could not travel without. Swift, thou deft Fersen, +and may the Heavens turn it well! + +Once more, by Heaven's blessing, it is all well. Here is the sleeping +hamlet of Bondy; Chaise with Waiting-women; horses all ready, and +postilions with their churn-boots, impatient in the dewy dawn. Brief +harnessing done, the postilions with their churn-boots vault into the +saddles; brandish circularly their little noisy whips. Fersen, under +his jarvie-surtout, bends in lowly silent reverence of adieu; royal +hands wave speechless inexpressible response; Baroness de Korff's +Berline, with {129} the Royalty of France, bounds off; for ever, as it +proved. Deft Fersen dashes obliquely northward, through the country, +towards Bougret; gains Bougret, finds his German coachman and chariot +waiting there; cracks off, and drives undiscovered into unknown space. +A deft active man, we say; what he undertook to do is nimbly and +successfully done. + + +And so the Royalty of France is actually fled? This precious night, +the shortest of the year, it flies, and drives! _Baroness de Korff_ +is, at bottom, Dame de Tourzel, Governess of the Royal Children: she +who came hooded with the two hooded little ones: little Dauphin; little +Madame Royale, known long afterwards as Duchesse d'Angoulźme. Baroness +de Korff's _Waiting-maid_ is the Queen in gypsy-hat. The royal +Individual in round hat and peruke, he is _Valet_ for the time being. +That other hooded Dame, styled _Travelling-companion_, is kind Sister +Elizabeth; she had sworn long since, when the Insurrection of Women +was, that only death should part her and them. And so they rush there, +not too impetuously, through the Wood of Bondy;--over a Rubicon in +their own and France's history. + +Great; though the future is all vague! If we reach Bouillé? If we do +not reach him? O Louis! and this all round thee is the great +slumbering Earth (and overhead, the great watchful Heaven); the +slumbering Wood of Bondy,--where Longhaired Childeric Do-nothing was +struck through with iron; not unreasonably, in a world like ours. +These peaked stone-towers are Raincy; towers of wicked d'Orleans. All +slumbers save the {130} multiplex rustle of our new Berline. +Loose-skirted scarecrow of an Herb-merchant, with his ass and early +greens, toilsomely plodding, seems the only creature we meet. But +right ahead the great North-east sends up evermore his grey brindled +dawn: from dewy branch, birds here and there, with short deep warble, +salute the coming sun. Stars fade out, and galaxies; street-lamps of +the City of God. The Universe, O my brothers, is flinging wide its +portals for the levee of the GREAT HIGH KING. Thou, poor King Louis, +farest nevertheless, as mortals do, towards Orient lands of Hope; and +the Tuileries with _its_ levées, and France and the Earth itself, is +but a larger kind of dog-hutch--occasionally going rabid. + +(_The French Revolution_.) + + + + +LORD MACAULAY 1800-1859 + +THE TRIAL OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS + +It was dark before the jury retired to consider of their verdict. The +night was a night of intense anxiety. Some letters are extant which +were despatched during that period of suspense, and which have +therefore an interest of a peculiar kind. "It is very late," wrote the +Papal Nuncio; "and the decision is not yet known. The Judges and the +culprits have gone to their own homes. The jury remain together. +To-morrow we shall learn the event of this great struggle." + +The solicitor for the Bishops sate up all night with a body of servants +on the stairs leading to the room {131} where the jury was consulting. +It was absolutely necessary to watch the officers who watched the +doors; for those officers were supposed to be in the interest of the +crown, and might, if not carefully observed, have furnished a courtly +juryman with food, which would have enabled him to starve out the other +eleven. Strict guard was therefore kept. Not even a candle to light a +pipe was permitted to enter. Some basins of water for washing were +suffered to pass at about four in the morning. The jurymen, raging +with thirst, soon lapped up the whole. Great numbers of people walked +the neighbouring streets till dawn. Every hour a messenger came from +Whitehall to know what was passing. Voices, high in altercation, were +repeatedly heard within the room: but nothing certain was known. + +At first nine were for acquitting and three for convicting. Two of the +minority soon gave way; but Arnold was obstinate. Thomas Austin, a +country gentleman of great estate, who had paid close attention to the +evidence and speeches, and had taken full notes, wished to argue the +question. Arnold declined. He was not used, he doggedly said, to +reasoning and debating. His conscience was not satisfied; and he +should not acquit the Bishops. "If you come to that," said Austin, +"look at me. I am the largest and strongest of the twelve; and before +I find such a petition as this a libel, here I will stay till I am no +bigger than a tobacco pipe." It was six in the morning before Arnold +yielded. It was soon known that the jury were agreed: but what the +verdict would be was still a secret. + +{132} At ten the Court again met. The crowd was greater than ever. +The jury appeared in their box; and there was a breathless stillness. + +Sir Samuel Astry spoke. "Do you find the defendants, or any of them, +guilty of the misdemeanour whereof they are impeached, or not guilty?" +Sir Roger Langley answered, "Not guilty." As the words passed his +lips, Halifax sprang up and waved his hat. At that signal, benches and +galleries raised a shout. In a moment ten thousand persons, who +crowded the great hall, replied with a still louder shout, which made +the old oaken roof crack; and in another moment the innumerable throng +without set up a third huzza, which was heard at Temple Bar. The boats +which covered the Thames gave an answering cheer. A peal of gunpowder +was heard on the water, and another, and another; and so, in a few +moments, the glad tidings went flying past the Savoy and the Friars to +London Bridge, and to the forest of masts below. As the news spread, +streets and squares, market places and coffee-houses, broke forth into +acclamations. Yet were the acclamations less strange than the weeping. +For the feelings of men had been wound up to such a point that at +length the stern English nature, so little used to outward signs of +emotion, gave way, and thousands sobbed aloud for very joy. Meanwhile, +from the outskirts of the multitude, horsemen were spurring off to bear +along all the great roads intelligence of the victory of our Church and +nation. Yet not even that astounding explosion could awe the bitter +and intrepid spirit of the Solicitor. Striving to make himself heard +above the {133} din, he called on the Judges to commit those who had +violated, by clamour, the dignity of a court of justice. One of the +rejoicing populace was seized. But the tribunal felt that it would be +absurd to punish a single individual for an offence common to hundreds +of thousands, and dismissed him with a gentle reprimand. + +It was vain to think of passing at that moment to any other business. +Indeed the roar of the multitude was such that, for half an hour, +scarcely a word could be heard in court. Williams got to his coach +amidst a tempest of hisses and curses. Cartwright, whose curiosity was +ungovernable, had been guilty of the folly and indecency of coming to +Westminster in order to hear the decision. He was recognised by his +sacerdotal garb and by his corpulent figure, and was hooted through the +hall. "Take care," said one, "of the wolf in sheep's clothing." "Make +room," cried another, "for the man with the Pope in his belly." + +The acquitted prelates took refuge from the crowd which implored their +blessing in the nearest chapel where divine service was performing. +Many churches were open on that morning throughout the capital; and +many pious persons repaired thither. The bells of all the parishes of +the City and liberties were ringing. The jury meanwhile could scarcely +make their way out of the hall. They were forced to shake hands with +hundreds. "God bless you," cried the people; "God prosper your +families; you have done like honest good-natured gentlemen; you have +saved us all to-day." As the noblemen who had appeared to support the +good cause drove off, they flung from their carriage windows {134} +handfuls of money, and bade the crowd drink to the health of the King, +the Bishops, and the jury. + +The attorney went with the tidings to Sunderland, who happened to be +conversing with the Nuncio. "Never," said Powis, "within man's memory, +have there been such shouts and such tears of joy as to-day." The King +had that morning visited the camp on Hounslow Heath. Sunderland +instantly sent a courier thither with the news. James was in Lord +Feversham's tent when the express arrived. He was greatly disturbed, +and exclaimed in French, "So much the worse for them." He soon set out +for London. While he was present respect prevented the soldiers from +giving a loose to their feelings; but he had scarcely quitted the camp +when he heard a great shouting behind him. He was surprised, and asked +what that uproar meant. "Nothing," was the answer. "The soldiers are +glad that the bishops are acquitted." "Do you call that nothing?" said +James. And then he repeated, "So much the worse for them." + +(_History of England_.) + + + + +{135} + +JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 1801-1890 + +THE UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS + +If we would know what a University is, considered in its elementary +idea, we must betake ourselves to the first and most celebrated home of +European literature and source of European civilization, to the bright +and beautiful Athens,--Athens, whose schools drew to her bosom, and +then sent back again to the business of life, the youth of the Western +World for a long thousand years. Seated on the verge of the continent, +the city seemed hardly suited for the duties of a central metropolis of +knowledge; yet, what it lost in convenience of approach it gained in +its neighbourhood to the traditions of the mysterious East, and in the +loveliness of the region in which it lay. Hither, then, as to a sort +of ideal land, where all archetypes of the great and the fair were +found in substantial being, and all departments of truth explored, and +all diversities of intellectual power exhibited, where taste and +philosophy were majestically enthroned as in a royal court, where there +was no sovereignty but that of mind, and no nobility but that of +genius, where professors were rulers, and princes did homage, hither +flocked continually from the very corners of the _orbis terrarum_, the +many-tongued generation, just rising, or just risen into manhood, in +order to gain wisdom. + +Pisistratus had in an early age discovered and nursed the infant genius +of his people, and Cimon, after the {136} Persian war, had given it a +home. That war had established the naval supremacy of Athens; she had +become an imperial state; and the Ionians, bound to her by the double +chain of kindred and of subjection, were importing into her both their +merchandize and their civilization. The arts and philosophy of the +Asiatic coast were easily carried across the sea, and there was Cimon, +as I have said, with his ample fortune, ready to receive them with due +honours. Not content with patronizing their professors, he built the +first of those noble porticos, of which we hear so much in Athens, and +he formed the groves, which in process of time became the celebrated +Academy. Planting is one of the most graceful, as in Athens it was one +of the most beneficent, of employments. Cimon took in hand the wild +wood, pruned and dressed it, and laid it out with handsome walks and +welcome fountains. Nor, while hospitable to the authors of the city's +civilization, was he ungrateful to the instruments of her prosperity. +His trees extended their cool, umbrageous branches over the merchants, +who assembled in the Agora, for many generations. + +Those merchants certainly had deserved that act of bounty; for all the +while their ships had been carrying forth the intellectual fame of +Athens to the western world. Then commenced what may be called her +University existence. Pericles, who succeeded Cimon both in the +government and in the patronage of art, is said by Plutarch to have +entertained the idea of making Athens the capital of federated Greece: +in this he failed, but his encouragement of such men as Phidias and +Anaxagoras led the way to her acquiring a far more lasting {137} +sovereignty over a far wider empire. Little understanding the sources +of her own greatness, Athens would go to war: peace is the interest of +a seat of commerce and the arts; but to war she went; yet to her, +whether peace or war, it mattered not. The political power of Athens +waned and disappeared; kingdoms rose and fell; centuries rolled +away,--they did but bring fresh triumphs to the city of the poet and +the sage. There at length the swarthy Moor and Spaniard were seen to +meet the blue-eyed Gaul; and the Cappadocian, late subject of +Mithridates, gazed without alarm at the haughty conquering Roman. +Revolution after revolution passed over the face of Europe, as well as +of Greece, but still she was there,--Athens, the city of mind,--as +radiant, as splendid, as delicate, as young, as ever she had been. + +Many a more fruitful coast or isle is washed by the blue Aegean, many a +spot is there more beautiful or sublime to see, many a territory more +ample; but there was one charm in Attica, which in the same perfection +was nowhere else. The deep pastures of Arcadia, the plain of Argos, +the Thessalian vale, these had not the gift; Boeotia, which lay to its +immediate north, was notorious for its very want of it. The heavy +atmosphere of that Boeotia might be good for vegetation, but it was +associated in popular belief with the dulness of the Boeotian +intellect: on the contrary, the special purity, elasticity, clearness, +and salubrity of the air of Attica, fit concomitant and emblem of its +genius, did that for it which earth did not;--it brought out every +bright hue and tender shade of the landscape over which it was {138} +spread, and would have illuminated the face even of a more bare and +rugged country. + +A confined triangle, perhaps fifty miles its greatest length, and +thirty its greatest breadth; two elevated rocky barriers, meeting at an +angle; three prominent mountains, commanding the plain,--Parnes, +Pentelicus, and Hymettus; an unsatisfactory soil; some streams, not +always full;--such is about the report which the agent of a London +company would have made of Attica. He would report that the climate +was mild; the hills were limestone; there was plenty of good marble; +more pasture land than at first survey might have been expected, +sufficient certainly for sheep and goats; fisheries productive; silver +mines once, but long since worked out; figs fair; oil first-rate; +olives in profusion. But what he would not think of noting down, was, +that that olive tree was so choice in nature and so noble in shape, +that it excited a religious veneration; and that it took so kindly to +the light soil, as to expand into woods upon the open plain, and to +climb up and fringe the hills. He would not think of writing word to +his employers, how that clear air, of which I have spoken, brought out, +yet blended and subdued, the colours on the marble, till they had a +softness and harmony, for all their richness, which in a picture looks +exaggerated, yet is after all within the truth. He would not tell, how +that same delicate and brilliant atmosphere freshened up the pale +olive, till the olive forgot its monotony, and its cheek glowed like +the arbutus or beech of the Umbrian hills. He would say nothing of the +thyme and thousand fragrant herbs which carpeted Hymettus; he would +hear nothing of the hum {139} of its bees; nor take much account of the +rare flavour of its honey, since Gozo and Minorca were sufficient for +the English demand. He would look over the Aegean from the height he +had ascended; he would follow with his eye the chain of islands, which, +starting from the Sunian headland, seemed to offer the fabled +divinities of Attica, when they would visit their Ionian cousins, a +sort of viaduct thereto across the sea: but that fancy would not occur +to him, nor any admiration of the dark violet billows with their white +edges down below; nor of those graceful, fan-like jets of silver upon +the rocks, which slowly rise aloft like water spirits from the deep, +then shiver, and break, and spread, and shroud themselves, and +disappear, in a soft mist of foam; nor of the gentle, incessant heaving +and panting of the whole liquid plain; nor of the long waves, keeping +steady time, like a line of soldiery, as they resound upon the hollow +shore,--he would not deign to notice that restless living element at +all, except to bless his stars that he was not upon it. Nor the +distinct detail, nor the refined colouring, nor the graceful outline +and roseate golden hue of the jutting crags, nor the bold shadows cast +from Otus or Laurium by the declining sun;--our agent of a mercantile +firm would not value these matters even at a low figure. Rather we +must turn for the sympathy we seek to yon pilgrim student, come from a +semi-barbarous land to that small corner of the earth, as to a shrine, +where he might take his fill of gazing on those emblems and +coruscations of invisible unoriginate perfection. It was the stranger +from a remote province, from Britain or from Mauritania, who in a scene +so different from that of his chilly, woody swamps, or of {140} his +fiery choking sands, learned at once what a real University must be, by +coming to understand the sort of country which was its suitable home. + +(_Historical Sketches_.) + + + + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 1804-1864 + +THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES + +A descriptive paragraph or two, treating of the seven-gabled mansion in +its more recent aspect, will bring this preliminary chapter to a close. +The street in which it upreared its venerable peaks has long ceased to +be a fashionable quarter of the town; so that, though the old edifice +was surrounded by habitations of modern date, they were mostly small, +built entirely of wood, and typical of the most plodding uniformity of +common life. Doubtless, however, the whole story of human existence +may be latent in each of them, but with no picturesqueness, externally, +that can attract the imagination or sympathy to seek it there. But as +for the old structure of our story, its white-oak frame, and its +boards, shingles, and crumbling plaster, and even the huge clustered +chimney in the midst, seemed to constitute only the least and meanest +part of its reality. So much of mankind's varied experience had passed +there,--so much had been suffered, and something, too, enjoyed,--that +the very timbers were oozy, as with the moisture of a heart. It was +itself like a great human heart, with a life of its own, and full of +rich and sombre reminiscences. + +{141} The deep projection of the second story gave the house such a +meditative look, that you could not pass it without the idea that it +had secrets to keep, and an eventful history to moralize upon. In +front, just on the edge of the unpaved sidewalk, grew the Pyncheon-elm, +which, in reference to such trees as one usually meets with, might well +be termed gigantic. It had been planted by a great-grandson of the +first Pyncheon, and, though now fourscore years of age, or perhaps +nearer a hundred, was still in its strong and broad maturity, throwing +its shadow from side to side of the street, overtopping the seven +gables, and sweeping the whole black roof with its pendent foliage. It +gave beauty to the old edifice, and seemed to make it a part of nature. +The street having been widened about forty years ago, the front gable +was now precisely on a line with it. On either side extended a ruinous +wooden fence, of open lattice-work, through which could be seen a +grassy yard, and, especially in the angles of the building, an enormous +fertility of burdocks, with leaves, it is hardly an exaggeration to +say, two or three feet long. Behind the house there appeared to be a +garden, which undoubtedly had once been extensive, but was now +infringed upon by other enclosures, or shut in by habitations and +out-buildings that stood on another street. It would be an omission, +trifling indeed, but unpardonable, were we to forget the green moss +that had long since gathered over the projections of the windows, and +on the slopes of the roof; nor must we fail to direct the reader's eye +to a crop, not of weeds, but flower-shrubs, which were growing aloft in +the air, not a great way from the chimney, in the nook between two of +the gables. {142} They were called Alice's Posies. The tradition was, +that a certain Alice Pyncheon had flung up the seeds in sport, and that +the dust of the street and the decay of the roof gradually formed a +kind of soil for them, out of which they grew, when Alice had long been +in her grave. However the flowers might have come there, it was both +sad and sweet to observe how nature adopted to herself this desolate, +decaying, gusty, rusty old house of the Pyncheon family; and how the +ever-returning summer did her best to gladden it with tender beauty, +and grew melancholy in the effort. + +There is one other feature, very essential to be noticed, but which, we +greatly fear, may damage any picturesque and romantic impression which +we have been willing to throw over our sketch of this respectable +edifice. In the front gable, under the impending brow of the second +story, and contiguous to the street, was a shop-door, divided +horizontally in the midst, and with a window for its upper segment, +such as is often seen in dwellings of a somewhat ancient date. This +same shop-door had been a subject of no slight mortification to the +present occupant of the august Pyncheon-house, as well as to some of +her predecessors. The matter is disagreeably delicate to handle; but, +since the reader must needs be let into the secret, he will please to +understand, that about a century ago, the head of the Pyncheons found +himself involved in serious financial difficulties. The fellow +(gentleman, as he styled himself) can hardly have been other than a +spurious interloper; for, instead of seeking office from the king or +the royal governor, or urging his hereditary claim to eastern lands, he +bethought {143} himself of no better avenue to wealth than by cutting a +shop-door through the side of his ancestral residence. It was the +custom of the time, indeed, for merchants to store their goods and +transact business in their own dwellings. But there was something +pitifully small in this old Pyncheon's mode of setting about his +commercial operations; it was whispered, that, with his own hands, all +be-ruffled as they were, he used to give change for a shilling, and +would turn a half-penny twice over, to make sure that it was a good +one. Beyond all question, he had the blood of a petty huckster in his +veins, through whatever channel it may have found its way there. + +Immediately on his death, the shop-door had been locked, bolted, and +barred, and, down to the period of our story, had probably never once +been opened. The old counter, shelves, and other fixtures of the +little shop remained just as he had left them. It used to be affirmed, +that the dead shopkeeper, in a white wig, a faded velvet coat, an apron +at his waist, and his ruffles carefully turned back from his wrists, +might be seen through the chinks of the shutters, any night of the +year, ransacking his till, or poring over the dingy pages of his +day-book. From the look of unutterable woe upon his face, it appeared +to be his doom to spend eternity in a vain effort to make his accounts +balance. + +And now--in a very humble way, as will be seen--we proceed to open our +narrative. + +(_House of the Seven Gables_.) + + + + +{144} + +WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY 1811-1863 + +DENIS DUVAL'S FIRST JOURNEY TO LONDON + +At Michaelmas, in the year 1776 (I promise you I remember the year), my +dear and kind friend, Doctor Barnard, having to go to London with his +rents, proposed to take me to London to see my other patron, Sir Peter +Denis, between whom and the Doctor there was a great friendship; and it +is to those dear friends that I owe the great good fortune which has +since befallen me in life. Indeed, when I think of what I might have +been, of what I have escaped, my heart is full of thankfulness for the +great mercies which have fallen to my share. Well, at this happy and +eventful Michaelmas of 1776, Doctor Barnard says to me, "Denis, my +child, if thy mother will grant leave, I have a mind to take thee to +see thy god-father, Sir Peter Denis, in London. I am going up with my +rents, my neighbour Weston will share the horses with me, and thou +shall see the Tower and Mr Salmon's wax-work before thou art a week +older." + +You may suppose that this proposition made Master Denis Duval jump for +joy. Of course I had heard of London all my life, and talked with +people who had been there, but that I should go myself to Admiral Sir +Peter Denis's house, and see the play, St Paul's and Mr Salmon's, here +was a height of bliss I had never hoped to attain. I could not sleep +for thinking of my pleasure; I had {145} some money, and I promised to +buy as many toys for Agnes as the Chevalier used to bring her. My +mother said I should go like a gentleman, and turned me out in a red +waistcoat with plate buttons, a cock to my hat, and ruffles to my +shirts. How I counted the hours of the night before our departure! I +was up before the dawn, packing my little valise. I got my little +brass-barrelled pocket-pistol, and I loaded it with shot. I put it +away into my breast-pocket; and if we met with a highwayman I promised +myself he should have my charge of lead in his face. The Doctor's +postchaise was at his stables not very far from us. The stable +lanterns were alight, and Brown, the Doctor's man, cleaning the +carriage, when Mr Denis Duval comes up to the stable-door, lugging his +portmanteau after him through the twilight. Was ever daylight so long +a-coming? Ah! there comes the horses at last; the horses from the +"King's Head," and old Pascoe, the one-eyed postillion. How well I +remember the sound of their hoofs in that silent street! I can tell +everything that happened on that day; what we had for dinner--viz., +veal cutlets and French beans, at Maidstone; where we changed horses, +and the colour of the horses. "Here, Brown! here's my portmanteau! I +say, where shall I stow it?" My portmanteau was about as large as a +good-sized apple-pie. I jump into the carriage and we drive up to the +rectory: and I think the Doctor will never come out. There he is at +last: with his mouth full of buttered toast, and I bob my head to him a +hundred times out of the chaise window. Then I must jump out, +forsooth. "Brown, shall I give you a hand with the luggage?" says I, +and I dare say they all laugh. Well, {146} I am so happy that anybody +may laugh who likes. The Doctor comes out, his precious box under his +arm. I see dear Mrs Barnard's great cap nodding at us out of the +parlour window as we drive away from the Rectory door to stop a hundred +yards further on at the Priory. + +There at the parlour window stands my dear little Agnes, in a white +frock, in a great cap with a blue riband and bow, and curls clustering +over her face. I wish Sir Joshua Reynolds had painted thee in those +days, my dear: but thou wert the very image of one of his little +ladies, that one who became Duchess of Buccleuch afterwards. There is +my Agnes, and now presently comes out Mr Weston's man and luggage, and +it is fixed on the roof. Him, his master, Mr George Weston, follows. +This was the most good-natured of the two, and I shall never forget my +sensation of delight, when I saw him bring out two holster-pistols, +which he placed each in a pocket of the chaise. Is Tommy Chapman, the +apothecary's son of Westgate, alive yet, and does he remember my +wagging my head to him as our chaise whirled by? He was shaking a mat +at the door of his father's shop as my lordship accompanied by my noble +friends passed by. + +First stage, Ham Street, "The Bear." A grey horse and a bay to change, +_I_ remember them. Second stage, Ashford. Third stage--I think I am +asleep about the third stage; and no wonder, a poor little wretch who +had been awake half the night before, and no doubt many nights +previous, thinking of this wonderful journey. Fourth stage, Maidstone, +"The Bell." "And here we will stop to dinner, master Shrimp-catcher," +says the Doctor, and I jump down out of the carriage, nothing {147} +loth. The Doctor followed with his box, of which he never lost sight. + +The Doctor liked his ease in his inn, and took his sip of punch so +comfortably, that I, for my part, thought he never would be gone. I +was out in the stables and looking at the horses, and talking to the +ostler who was rubbing his nags down. I dare say I had a peep into the +kitchen, and at the pigeons in the inn-yard, and at all things which +were to be seen at "The Bell," while my two companions were still at +their interminable punch. It was an old-fashioned inn, with a gallery +round the court-yard. Heaven bless us! Falstaff and Bardolph may have +stopped there on the road to Gadshill. I was in the stable looking at +the nags, when Mr Weston comes out of the inn, looks round the court, +opens the door of the postchaise, takes out his pistols, looks at the +priming, and puts them back again. Then we are off again, and time +enough too. It seemed to me many hours since we had arrived at that +creaking old "Bell." And away we go through Addington, Eynesford, by +miles and miles of hop-gardens. I dare say I did not look at the +prospect much, beautiful though it might be, my young eyes being for +ever on the look-out for St Paul's and London. + +For a great part of the way Doctor Barnard and his companion had a fine +controversy about their respective religions, for which each was alike +zealous. Nay: it may be the Rector invited Mr Weston to take a place +in his postchaise in order to have this battle, for he never tired of +arguing the question between the two churches. Towards the close of +the day Master Denis Duval fell {148} asleep on Doctor Barnard's +shoulder, and the good-natured clergyman did not disturb him. + +I woke up with the sudden stoppage of the carriage. The evening was +falling. We were upon a lonely common, and a man on horseback was at +the window of the postchaise. + +"Give us out that there box! and your money!" I heard him say in a very +gruff voice. O heavens! we were actually stopped by a highwayman! It +was delightful. + +Mr Weston jumped at his pistols very quick. "Here's our money, you +scoundrel!" says he, and fired point-blank at the rogue's head. +Confusion! the pistol missed fire. He aimed the second, and again no +report followed! + +"Some scoundrel has been tampering with these," says Mr Weston, aghast. + +"Come," says Captain Macheath, "come, your--" + +But the next word the fellow spoke was a frightful oath; for I took out +my little pistol, which was full of shot, and fired it into his face. +The man reeled, and I thought would have fallen out of his saddle. The +postillion, frightened, no doubt, clapped spurs to his horse, and began +to gallop. "Shan't we stop and take that rascal, sir?" said I to the +Doctor. On which Mr Weston gave a peevish kind of push at me, and +said, "No, no. It is getting quite dark. Let us push on." And, +indeed, the highwayman's horse had taken fright, and we could see him +galloping away across the common. + +I was so elated to think that I, a little boy, had shot a live +highwayman, that I dare say I bragged outrageously of my action. We +set down Mr Weston at his {149} inn in the Borough, and crossed London +Bridge, and there I was in London at last. Yes, and that was the +Monument, and then we came to the Exchange, and yonder, yonder was St +Paul's. We went up Holborn, and so to Ormonde Street, where my patron +lived in a noble mansion; and where his wife, my lady Denis, received +me with a great deal of kindness. You may be sure the battle with the +highwayman was fought over again, and I got due credit from myself and +others for my gallantry. + +(_Denis Duval_.) + + + + +CHARLES DICKENS 1812-1870 + +STORM + +"Don't you think that," I asked the coachman, in the first stage out of +London, "a very remarkable sky? I don't remember to have seen one like +it." + +"Nor I,--not equal to it," he replied. "That's wind, sir. There'll be +mischief done at sea, I expect, before long." + +It was a murky confusion--here and there blotted with a colour like the +colour of the smoke from damp fuel--of flying clouds tossed up into +most remarkable heaps, suggesting greater heights in the clouds than +there were depths below them to the bottom of the deepest hollows in +the earth, through which the wild moon seemed to plunge headlong, as +if, in a dread disturbance of the laws of nature, she had lost her way +and were frightened. {150} There had been a wind all day; and it was +rising then, with an extraordinary great sound. In another hour it had +much increased, and the sky was more overcast, and it blew hard. + +But, as the night advanced, the clouds closing in and densely +overspreading the whole sky, then very dark, it came on to blow, harder +and harder. It still increased, until our horses could scarcely face +the wind. Many times, in the dark part of the night (it was then late +in September, when the nights were not short), the leaders turned +about, or came to a dead stop; and we were often in serious +apprehension that the coach would be blown over. Sweeping gusts of +rain came up before this storm, like showers of steel; and, at those +times, when there was any shelter of trees or lee walls to be got, we +were fain to stop, in a sheer impossibility of continuing the struggle. + +When the day broke, it blew harder and harder. I had been in Yarmouth +when the seamen said it blew great guns, but I had never known the like +of this, or anything approaching to it. We came to Ipswich--very late, +having had to fight every inch of ground since we were ten miles out of +London; and found a cluster of people in the market-place, who had +risen from their beds in the night, fearful of falling chimneys. Some +of these, congregating about the inn-yard while we changed horses, told +us of great sheets of lead having been ripped off a high church-tower, +and flung into a bye-street, which they then blocked up. Others had to +tell of country people, coming in from neighbouring villages, who had +seen great trees lying torn out of the earth, and whole {151} ricks +scattered about the roads and fields. Still, there was no abatement in +the storm, but it blew harder. + +As we struggled on, nearer and nearer to the sea, from which this +mighty wind was blowing dead on shore, its force became more and more +terrific. Long before we saw the sea, its spray was on our lips, and +showered salt rain upon us. The water was out, over miles and miles of +the flat country adjacent to Yarmouth; and every sheet and puddle +lashed its banks, and had its stress of little breakers setting heavily +towards us. When we came within sight of the sea, the waves on the +horizon, caught at intervals above the rolling abyss, were like +glimpses of another shore with towers and buildings. When at last we +got into the town, the people came out to their doors, all aslant, and +with streaming hair, making a wonder of the mail that had come through +such a night. + +I put up at the old inn, and went down to look at the sea; staggering +along the street, which was strewn with sand and seaweed, and with +flying blotches of sea-foam; afraid of falling slates and tiles; and +holding by people I met, at angry corners. Coming near the beach, I +saw, not only the boatmen, but half the people of the town, lurking +behind buildings; some, now and then braving the fury of the storm to +look away to sea, and blown sheer out of their course in trying to get +zigzag back. + +Joining these groups, I found bewailing women whose husbands were away +in herring or oyster boats, which there was too much reason to think +might have foundered before they could run in anywhere for safety. +Grizzled old sailors were among the people, shaking their heads, {152} +as they looked from water to sky, and muttering to one another; +ship-owners, excited and uneasy; children, huddling together, and +peering into older faces; even stout mariners, disturbed and anxious, +levelling their glasses at the sea from behind places of shelter, as if +they were surveying an enemy. + +The tremendous sea itself, when I could find sufficient pause to look +at it, in the agitation of the blinding wind, the flying stones and +sand, and the awful noise, confounded me. As the high watery walls +came rolling in, and, at their highest, tumbled into surf, they looked +as if the least would engulf the town. As the receding wave swept back +with a hoarse roar, it seemed to scoop out deep caves in the beach, as +if its purpose were to undermine the earth. When some white-headed +billows thundered on, and dashed themselves to pieces before they +reached the land, every fragment of the late whole seemed possessed by +the full might of its wrath, rushing to be gathered to the composition +of another monster. Undulating hills were changed to valleys, +undulating valleys (with a solitary storm-bird sometimes skimming +through them) were lifted up to hills; masses of water shivered and +shook the beach with a booming sound; every shape tumultuously rolled +on, as soon as made, to change its shape and place, and beat another +shape and place away; the ideal shore on the horizon, with its towers +and buildings, rose and fell; the clouds flew fast and thick; I seemed +to see a rending and upheaving of all nature. . . . + +I went back to the inn; and when I had washed and dressed, and tried to +sleep, but in vain, it was five o'clock in the afternoon. I had not +sat five minutes by the {153} coffee-room fire, when the waiter coming +to stir it, as an excuse for talking, told me that two colliers had +gone down, with all hands, a few miles away; and that some other ships +had been seen labouring hard in the Roads, and trying, in great +distress, to keep off shore. Mercy on them, and on all poor sailors, +said he, if we had another night like the last! + +(_David Copperfield_.) + + + + +CHARLOTTE BRONTĖ 1816-1855 + +JANE EYRE AND MR ROCHESTER + +"And now, what did you learn at Lowood? Can you play?" + +"A little." + +"Of course, that is the established answer. Go into the library--I +mean, if you please.--(Excuse my tone of command; I am used to say, 'Do +this,' and it is done. I cannot alter my customary habits for one new +inmate.)--Go, then, into the library; take a candle with you; leave the +door open; sit down to the piano, and play a tune." + +I departed, obeying his directions. + +"Enough!" he called out in a few minutes. "You play a _little_, I see, +like any other English school-girl; perhaps rather better than some, +but not well." + +I closed the piano, and returned. Mr Rochester continued-- + +{154} "Adčle showed me some sketches this morning, which, she said, +were yours. I don't know whether they were entirely of your doing: +probably a master aided you?" + +"No, indeed!" I interjected. + +"Ah! that pricks pride. Well, fetch me your portfolio, if you can +vouch for its contents being original; but don't pass your word unless +you are certain: I can recognise patchwork." + +"Then I will say nothing, and you shall judge for yourself, sir." + +I brought the portfolio from the library. + +"Approach the table," said he; and I wheeled it to his couch. Adčle +and Mrs Fairfax drew near to see the pictures. + +"No crowding," said Mr Rochester: "take the drawings from my hand as I +finish with them; but don't push your faces up to mine." + +He deliberately scrutinised each sketch and painting. Three he laid +aside; the others, when he had examined them, he swept from him. + +"Take them off to the other table, Mrs Fairfax," said he, "and look at +them with Adčle;--you" (glancing at me) "resume your seat, and answer +my questions. I perceive these pictures were done by one hand. Was +that hand yours?" + +"Yes." + +"And when did you find time to do them? They have taken much time, and +some thought." + +"I did them in the last two vacations I spent at Lowood, when I had no +other occupation." + +{155} "Where did you get your copies?" + +"Out of my head." + +"That head I see now on your shoulders?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Has it other furniture of the same kind within?" + +"I should think it may have. I should hope--better." + +He spread the pictures before him, and again surveyed them alternately. + +While he is so occupied, I will tell you, reader, what they are, and +first, I must premise that they are nothing wonderful. The subjects +had, indeed, risen vividly on my mind. As I saw them with the +spiritual eye, before I attempted to embody them, they were striking; +but my hand would not second my fancy, and, in each case, it had +wrought out but a pale portrait of the thing I had conceived. + +These pictures were in water-colours. The first represented clouds low +and livid, rolling over a swollen sea: all the distance was in eclipse; +so, too, was the foreground; or, rather, the nearest billows, for there +was no land. One gleam of light lifted into relief a half-submerged +mast, on which sat a cormorant, dark and large, with wings flecked with +foam; its beak held a gold bracelet, set with gems, which I had touched +with as brilliant tints as my pencil could impart. Sinking below the +bird and mast, a drowned corpse glanced through the green water; a fair +arm was the only limb clearly visible, whence the bracelet had been +washed or torn. + +The second picture contained for foreground only the dim peak of a +hill, with grass and some leaves slanting {156} as if by a breeze. +Beyond and above spread an expanse of sky, dark blue, as at twilight; +rising into the sky was a woman's shape to the bust, portrayed in tints +as dusk and soft as I could combine. The dim forehead was crowned with +a star; the lineaments below were seen as through the suffusion of +vapour; the eyes shone dark and wild; the hair streamed shadowy, like a +beamless cloud torn by storm or by electric travail. On the neck lay a +pale reflection like moonlight: the same faint lustre touched the train +of thin clouds from which rose and bowed this vision of the Evening +Star. + +The third showed the pinnacle of an iceberg piercing a polar winter +sky: a muster of northern lights reared their dim lances, close +serried, along the horizon. Throwing these into distance, rose, in the +foreground, a head,--a colossal head, inclined towards the iceberg, and +resting against it. Two thin hands, joined under the forehead, and +supporting it, drew up before the lower features a sable veil; a brow +quite bloodless, white as bone, and an eye hollow and fixed, blank of +meaning but for the glassiness of despair, alone were visible. Above +the temples, amidst wreathed turban folds of black drapery, vague in +its character and consistency as cloud, gleamed a ring of white flame, +gemmed with sparkles of a more lurid tinge. This pale crescent was +"the likeness of a Kingly Crown"; what it diademed was "the shape which +shape had none." + +(_Jane Eyre_.) + + + + +{157} + +HENRY DAVID THOREAU 1817-1862 + +A HUT IN THE WOODS + +I did not read books the first summer; I hoed beans. Nay, I often did +better than this. There were times when I could not afford to +sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of the +head or hands. I love a broad margin to my life. Sometimes, in a +summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny +doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a reverie, amidst the pines and +hickories and sumachs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the +birds sang around, or flitted noiseless through the house, until by the +sun falling in at my west window, or the noise of some traveller's +waggon on the distant highway, I was reminded of the lapse of time. I +grew in those seasons like corn in the night, and they were far better +than any work of the hands would have been. They were not time +subtracted from my life, but so much over and above my usual allowance. +I realised what the Orientals mean by contemplation and the forsaking +of works. For the most part, I minded not how the hours went. The day +advanced as if to light some work of mine; it was morning, and lo, now +it is evening, and nothing memorable is accomplished. Instead of +singing like the birds, I silently smiled at my incessant good fortune. +As the sparrow had its trill, sitting on the hickory before my door, so +I had my chuckle or suppressed warble which he might hear out of my +nest. My days were not days {158} of the week, bearing the stamp of +any heathen deity, nor were they minced into hours and fretted by the +ticking of a clock; for I lived like the Puri Indians, of whom it is +said that for yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow they have only one word, +and they express the variety of meaning by pointing backward for +yesterday, forward for to-morrow, and overhead for the passing day. +This was sheer idleness to my fellow-townsmen, no doubt; but if the +birds and flowers had tried me by their standard, I should not have +been found wanting. A man must find his occasions in himself, it is +true. The natural day is very calm, and will hardly reprove his +indolence. + +I had this advantage, at least, in my mode of life, over those who were +obliged to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theatre, that +my life itself was become my amusement and never ceased to be novel. +It was a drama of many scenes and without an end. If we were always +indeed getting our living, and regulating our lives according to the +last and best mode we had learned, we should never be troubled with +ennui. Follow your genius closely enough, and it will not fail to show +you a fresh prospect every hour. House-work was a pleasant pastime. +When my floor was dirty, I rose early, and, setting all my furniture +out of doors on the grass, bed and bedstead making but one budget, +dashed water on the floor, and sprinkled white sand from the pond on +it, and then with a broom scrubbed it clean and white; and by the time +the villagers had broken their fast the morning sun had dried my house +sufficiently to allow me to move in again, and my meditations were +almost uninterrupted. It was pleasant to see my whole {159} household +effects out on the grass, making a little pile like a gypsy's pack, and +my three-legged table, from which I did not remove the books and pen +and ink, standing amid the pines and hickories. They seemed glad to +get out themselves, and as if unwilling to be brought in. I was +sometimes tempted to stretch an awning over them and take my seat +there. It was worth the while to see the sun shine on these things, +and hear the free wind blow on them; so much more interesting most +familiar objects look out of doors than in the house. A bird sits on +the next bough; life everlasting grows under the table, and blackberry +vines run round its legs; pine cones, chestnut burs, and strawberry +leaves are strewn about. It looked as if this was the way these forms +came to be transferred to our furniture, to tables, chairs, and +bedsteads,--because they once stood in their midst. + +(_Walden_.) + + + + +GEORGE ELIOT (MARY ANN EVANS) 1819-1880 + +A MISER + +Gradually the guineas, the crowns, and the half-crowns grew to a heap, +and Marner drew less and less for his own wants, trying to solve the +problem of keeping himself strong enough to work sixteen hours a day on +as small an outlay as possible. . . . He handled them, he counted +them, till their form and colour were like the {160} satisfaction of a +thirst to him; but it was only in the night, when his work was done, +that he drew them out to enjoy their companionship. He had taken up +some bricks in his floor underneath his loom, and here he made a hole +in which he set the iron pot that contained his guineas and silver +coins, covering the bricks with sand whenever he replaced them. Not +that the idea of being robbed presented itself often or strongly to his +mind: hoarding was common in country districts in those days; there +were old labourers in the parish of Raveloe who were known to have +their savings by them, probably inside their flock-beds; but their +rustic neighbours, though not all of them as honest as their ancestors +in the days of King Alfred, had not imaginations bold enough to lay a +plan of burglary. How could they have spent the money in their own +village without betraying themselves? They would be obliged to "run +away"--a course as dark and dubious as a balloon journey. + +So, year after year, Silas Marner had lived in this solitude, his +guineas rising in the iron pot, and his life narrowing and hardening +itself more and more into a mere pulsation of desire and satisfaction +that had no relation to any other being. His life had reduced itself +to the functions of weaving and hoarding, without any contemplation of +an end towards which the functions tended. The same sort of process +has perhaps been undergone by wiser men, when they have been cut off +from faith and love--only, instead of a loom and a heap of guineas, +they have had some erudite research, some ingenious project, or some +well-knit theory. Strangely Marner's face and figure shrank and bent +themselves {161} into a constant mechanical relation to the objects of +his life, so that he produced the same sort of impression as a handle +or a crooked tube, which has no meaning standing apart. The prominent +eyes that used to look trusting and dreamy, now looked as if they had +been made to see only one kind of thing that was very small, like tiny +grain, for which they hunted everywhere; and he was so withered and +yellow, that, though he was not yet forty, the children always called +him "Old Master Marner." + +Yet even in this stage of withering a little incident happened, which +showed that the sap of affection was not all gone. It was one of his +daily tasks to fetch his water from a well a couple of fields off, and +for this purpose, ever since he came to Raveloe, he had a brown +earthenware pot, which he held as his most precious utensil among the +very few conveniences he had granted himself. It had been his +companion for twelve years, always standing on the same spot, always +lending its handle to him in the early morning, so that its form had an +expression for him of willing helpfulness, and the impress of its +handle on his palm gave a satisfaction mingled with that of having the +fresh clear water. One day as he was returning from the well, he +stumbled against the step of the stile, and his brown pot, falling with +force against the stones that over-arched the ditch below him, was +broken in three pieces. Silas picked up the pieces and carried them +home with grief in his heart. The brown pot could never be of use to +him any more, but he stuck the bits together and propped the ruin in +its old place for a memorial. + +{162} This is the history of Silas Marner, until the fifteenth year +after he came to Raveloe. The livelong day he sat in his loom, his ear +filled with its monotony, his eyes bent close down on the slow growth +of sameness in the brownish web, his muscles moving with such even +repetition that their pause seemed almost as much a constraint as the +holding of his breath. But at night came his revelry: at night he +closed his shutters, and made fast his doors, and drew forth his gold. +Long ago the heap of coins had become too large for the iron pot to +hold them, and he had made for them two thick leather bags, which +wasted no room in their resting-place, but lent themselves flexibly to +every corner. How the guineas shone as they came pouring out of the +dark leather mouths! The silver bore no large proportion in amount to +the gold, because the long pieces of linen which formed his chief work +were always partly paid for in gold, and out of the silver he supplied +his own bodily wants, choosing always the shillings and sixpences to +spend in this way. He loved the guineas best, but he would not change +the silver--the crowns and half-crowns that were his own earnings, +begotten by his labour; he loved them all. He spread them out in heaps +and bathed his hands in them; then he counted them and set them up in +regular piles, and felt their rounded outline between his thumb and +fingers, and thought fondly of the guineas that were only half earned +by the work in his loom, as if they had been unborn children--thought +of the guineas that were coming slowly through the coming years, +through all his life, which spread far away before him, the end quite +hidden by countless days of weaving. + +(_Silas Marner_.) + + + + +{163} + +JOHN RUSKIN 1819-1900 + +SHIPS + +Down to Elizabeth's time chivalry lasted; and grace of dress and mien, +and all else that was connected with chivalry. Then came the ages +which, when they have taken their due place in the depths of the past, +will be, by a wise and clear-sighted futurity, perhaps well +comprehended under a common name, as the ages of Starch; periods of +general stiffening and bluish-whitening, with a prevailing +washerwoman's taste in everything; involving a change of steel armour +into cambric; of natural hair into peruke; of natural walking into that +which will disarrange no wristbands; of plain language into quips and +embroideries; and of human life in general, from a green race-course, +where to be defeated was at worst only to fall behind and recover +breath, into a slippery pole, to be climbed with toil and contortion, +and in clinging to which, each man's foot is on his neighbour's head. + +But, meanwhile, the marine deities were incorruptible. It was not +possible to starch the sea; and precisely as the stiffness fastened +upon men, it vanished from ships. What had once been a mere raft, with +rows of formal benches, pushed along by laborious flap of oars, and +with infinite fluttering of flags and swelling of poops above, +gradually began to lean more heavily into the deep water, to sustain a +gloomy weight of guns, to draw back its spider-like feebleness of limb, +and open its bosom to the wind, and finally darkened down from all its +painted {164} vanities into the long low hull, familiar with the +over-flying foam; that has no other pride but in its daily duty and +victory; while, through all these changes, it gained continually in +grace, strength, audacity, and beauty, until at last it has reached +such a pitch of all these, that there is not, except the very loveliest +creatures of the living world, anything in nature so absolutely +notable, bewitching, and, according to its means and measure, +heart-occupying, as a well-handled ship under sail in a stormy day. +Any ship, from lowest to proudest, has due place in that architecture +of the sea; beautiful, not so much in this or that piece of it, as in +the unity of all, from cottage to cathedral, into their great buoyant +dynasty. Yet, among them, the fisher-boat, corresponding to the +cottage on the land (only far more sublime than a cottage ever can be), +is on the whole the thing most venerable. I doubt if ever academic +grove were half so fit for profitable meditation as the little strip of +shingle between two black, steep, overhanging sides of stranded +fishing-boats. The clear, heavy water-edge of ocean rising and falling +close to their bows, in that unaccountable way which the sea has always +in calm weather, turning the pebbles over and over as if with a rake, +to look for something, and then stopping a moment down at the bottom of +the bank, and coming up again with a little run and clash, throwing a +foot's depth of salt crystal in an instant between you and the round +stone you were going to take in your hand; sighing, all the while, as +if it would infinitely rather be doing something else. And the dark +flanks of the fishing-boats all aslope above, in their shining +quietness, hot in the morning sun, rusty and seamed with square patches +of {165} plank nailed over their rents; just rough enough to let the +little flat-footed fisher-children haul or twist themselves up to the +gunwales, and drop back again along some stray rope; just round enough +to remind us, in their broad and gradual curves, of the sweep of the +green surges they know so well, and of the hours when those old sides +of seared timber, all ashine with the sea, plunge and dip into the deep +green purity of the mounded waves more joyfully than a deer lies down +among the grass of spring, the soft white cloud of foam opening +momentarily at the bows, and fading or flying high into the breeze +where the sea-gulls toss and shriek,--the joy and beauty of it, all the +while, so mingled with the sense of unfathomable danger, and the human +effort and sorrow going on perpetually from age to age, waves rolling +for ever, and winds moaning for ever, and faithful hearts trusting and +sickening for ever, and brave lives dashed away about the rattling +beach like weeds for ever; and still at the helm of every lonely boat, +through starless night and hopeless dawn, His hand, who spread the +fisher's net over the dust of the Sidonian palaces, and gave into the +fisher's hand the keys of the kingdom of heaven. + +Next after the fishing-boat--which, as I said, in the architecture of +the sea represents the cottage, more especially the pastoral or +agricultural cottage, watchful over some pathless domain of moorland or +arable, as the fishing-boat swims humbly in the midst of the broad +green fields and hills of ocean, out of which it has to win such fruit +as they can give, and to compass with net or drag such flocks as it may +find,--next to this ocean-cottage ranks in interest, it seems to me, +the small, over-wrought, {166} under-crewed, ill-caulked merchant brig +or schooner; the kind of ship which first shows its couple of thin +masts over the low fields or marshes as we near any third-rate seaport; +and which is sure somewhere to stud the great space of glittering +water, seen from any sea-cliff, with its four or five square-set sails. +Of the larger and more polite tribes of merchant vessels, three-masted, +and passenger-carrying, I have nothing to say, feeling in general +little sympathy with people who want to go anywhere; nor caring much +about anything, which in the essence of it expresses a desire to get to +other sides of the world; but only for homely and stay-at-home ships, +that live their life and die their death about English rocks. Neither +have I any interest in the higher branches of commerce, such as traffic +with spice islands, and porterage of painted tea-chests or carved +ivory; for all this seems to me to fall under the head of commerce of +the drawing-room; costly, but not venerable. I respect in the merchant +service only those ships that carry coals, herrings, salt, timber, +iron, and such other commodities, and that have disagreeable odour, and +unwashed decks. But there are few things more impressive to me than +one of these ships lying up against some lonely quay in a black +sea-fog, with the furrow traced under its tawny keel far in the harbour +slime. The noble misery that there is in it, the might of its rent and +strained unseemliness, its wave-worn melancholy, resting there for a +little while in the comfortless ebb, unpitied, and claiming no pity; +still less honoured, least of all conscious of any claim to honour; +casting and craning by due balance whatever is in its hold up to the +pier, in quiet truth of time; spinning of wheel, and {167} slackening +of rope, and swinging of spade, in as accurate cadence as a waltz +music; one or two of its crew, perhaps, away forward, and a hungry boy +and yelping dog eagerly interested in something from which a blue dull +smoke rises out of pot or pan; but dark-browed and silent, their limbs +slack, like the ropes above them, entangled as they are in those +inextricable meshes about the patched knots and heaps of ill-reefed +sable sail. What a majestic sense of service in all that languor! the +rest of human limbs and hearts, at utter need, not in sweet meadows or +soft air, but in harbour slime and biting fog; so drawing their breath +once more, to go out again, without lament, from between the two +skeletons of pier-heads, vocal with wash of under wave, into the grey +troughs of tumbling brine; there, as they can, with slacked rope, and +patched sail, and leaky hull, again to roll and stagger far away amidst +the wind and salt sleet, from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn, winning +day by day their daily bread; and for last reward, when their old +hands, on some winter night, lose feeling along the frozen ropes, and +their old eyes miss mark of the lighthouse quenched in foam, the +so-long impossible Rest, that shall hunger no more, neither thirst any +more,--their eyes and mouths filled with the brown sea-sand. + +(_Harbours of England_.) + + + + +{168} + +WALTER PATER 1839-1894 + +THE CHILD IN THE HOUSE + +As Florian Deleal walked, one hot afternoon, he overtook by the wayside +a poor aged man, and, as he seemed weary with the road, helped him on +with the burden which he carried, a certain distance. And as the man +told his story, it chanced that he named the place, a little place in +the neighbourhood of a great city, where Florian had passed his +earliest years, but which he had never since seen, and, the story told, +went forward on his journey comforted. And that night, like a reward +for his pity, a dream of that place came to Florian, a dream which did +for him the office of the finer sort of memory, bringing its object to +mind with a great clearness, yet, as sometimes happens in dreams, +raised a little above itself, and above ordinary retrospect. The true +aspect of the place, especially of the house there in which he had +lived as a child, the fashion of its doors, its hearths, its windows, +the very scent upon the air of it, was with him in sleep for a season; +only, with tints more musically blent on wall and floor, and some finer +light and shadow running in and out along its curves and angles, and +with all its little carvings daintier. He awoke with a sigh at the +thought of almost thirty years which lay between him and that place, +yet with a flutter of pleasure still within him at the fair light, as +if it were a smile, upon it. And it happened that this accident of his +dream was just the thing needed for the beginning of a certain design +he {169} then had in view, the noting, namely, of some things in the +story of his spirit--in that process of brain-building by which we are, +each one of us, what we are. With the image of the place so clear and +favourable upon him, he fell to thinking of himself therein, and how +his thoughts had grown up to him. In that half-spiritualised house he +could watch the better, over again, the gradual expansion of the soul +which had come to be there--of which indeed, through the law which +makes the material objects about them so large an element in children's +lives, it had actually become a part; inward and outward being woven +through and through each other into one inextricable texture--half, +tint and trace and accident of homely colour and form, from the wood +and the bricks; half, mere soul-stuff, floated thither from who knows +how far. In the house and garden of his dream he saw a child moving, +and could divide the main streams at least of the winds that had played +on him, and study so the first stage in that mental journey. + +The _old house_, as when Florian talked of it afterwards he always +called it (as all children do, who can recollect a change of home, soon +enough but not too soon to mark a period in their lives) really was an +old house; and an element of French descent in its inmates--descent +from Watteau, the old court-painter, one of whose gallant pieces still +hung in one of the rooms--might explain, together with some other +things, a noticeable trimness and comely whiteness about everything +there--the curtains, the couches, the paint on the walls with which the +light and shadow played so delicately; might explain also the tolerance +of the great poplar in the garden, a tree {170} most often despised by +English people, but which French people love, having observed a certain +fresh way its leaves have of dealing with the wind, making it sound, in +never so slight a stirring of the air, like running water. + +The old-fashioned, low wainscoting went round the rooms, and up the +staircase with carved balusters and shadowy angles, landing half-way up +at a broad window, with a swallow's nest below the sill, and the +blossom of an old pear-tree showing across it in late April, against +the blue, below which the perfumed juice of the find of fallen fruit in +autumn was so fresh. At the next turning came the closet which held on +its deep shelves the best china. Little angel faces and reedy flutings +stood out round the fire-place of the children's room. And on the top +of the house, above the large attic, where the white mice ran in the +twilight--an infinite, unexplored wonderland of childish treasures, +glass beads, empty scent-bottles still sweet, thrum of coloured silks, +among its lumber--a flat space of roof, railed round, gave a view of +the neighbouring steeples; for the house, as I said, stood near a great +city, which sent up heavenwards, over the twisting weather-vanes, not +seldom, its beds of rolling cloud and smoke, touched with storm or +sunshine. But the child of whom I am writing did not hate the fog +because of the crimson lights which fell from it sometimes upon the +chimneys, and the whites which gleamed through its openings, on summer +mornings, on turret or pavement. For it is false to suppose that a +child's sense of beauty is dependent on any choiceness or special +fineness, in the objects which present themselves to it, though this +indeed comes to be the rule with most of us in later life; earlier, in +{171} some degree, we see inwardly, and the child finds for itself, and +with unstinted delight, a difference for the sense, in those whites and +reds through the smoke on very homely buildings, and in the gold of the +dandelions at the road-side, just beyond the houses, where not a +handful of earth is virgin and untouched, in the lack of better +ministries to its desire of beauty. + +(_Miscellaneous Studies_.) + + + + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 1850-1894 + +DIVING + +Into the bay of Wick stretched the dark length of the unfinished +breakwater, in its cage of open staging; the travellers (like frames of +churches) over-plumbing all; and away at the extreme end, the divers +toiling unseen on the foundation. On a platform of loose planks, the +assistants turned their air-mills; a stone might be swinging between wind +and water; underneath the swell ran gaily; and from time to time, a +mailed dragon with a window-glass snout came dripping up the +ladder. . . . To go down in the diving-dress, that was my absorbing +fancy; and with the countenance of a certain handsome scamp of a diver, +Bob Bain by name, I gratified the whim. + +It was grey harsh, easterly weather, the swell ran pretty high, and out +in the open there were "skipper's daughters," when I found myself at last +on the diver's platform, twenty pounds of lead upon each foot and my +{172} whole person swollen with ply and ply of woollen underclothing. +One moment, the salt wind was whistling round my night-capped head; the +next, I was crushed almost double under the weight of the helmet. As +that intolerable burthen was laid upon me, I could have found it in my +heart (only for shame's sake) to cry off from the whole enterprise. But +it was too late. The attendants began to turn the hurdy-gurdy, and the +air to whistle through the tube; some one screwed in the barred window of +the vizor; and I was cut off in a moment from my fellow-men; standing +there in their midst, but quite divorced from intercourse: a creature +deaf and dumb, pathetically looking forth upon them from a climate of his +own. Except that I could move and feel, I was like a man fallen in a +catalepsy. But time was scarce given me to realise my isolation; the +weights were hung upon my back and breast, the signal rope was thrust +into my unresisting hand; and setting a twenty-pound foot upon the +ladder, I began ponderously to descend. + +Some twenty rounds below the platform, twilight fell. Looking up, I saw +a low green heaven mottled with vanishing bells of white; looking around, +except for the weedy spokes and shafts of the ladder, nothing but a green +gloaming, somewhat opaque but very restful and delicious. Thirty rounds +lower, I stepped off on the _pierres perdues_ of the foundation; a dumb +helmeted figure took me by the hand, and made a gesture (as I read it) of +encouragement; and looking in at the creature's window, I beheld the face +of Bain. There we were, hand to hand and (when it pleased us) eye to +eye; and either might have burst himself with shouting, and not a {173} +whisper come to his companion's hearing. Each, in his own little world +of air, stood incommunicably separate. + +Bob had told me ere this a little tale, a five minutes' drama at the +bottom of the sea, which at that moment possibly shot across my mind. He +was down with another, settling a stone of the sea-wall. They had it +well adjusted, Bob gave the signal, the scissors were slipped, the stone +set home; and it was time to turn to something else. But still his +companion remained bowed over the block like a mourner on a tomb, or only +raised himself to make absurd contortions and mysterious signs unknown to +the vocabulary of the diver. There, then, these two stood for a while, +like the dead and the living; till there flashed a fortunate thought into +Bob's mind, and he stooped, peered through the window of that other +world, and beheld the face of its inhabitant wet with streaming tears. +Ah! the man was in pain! And Bob, glancing downward, saw what was the +trouble: the block had been lowered on the foot of that unfortunate--he +was caught alive at the bottom of the sea under fifteen tons of rock. + +That two men should handle a stone so heavy, even swinging in the +scissors, may appear strange to the inexpert. These must bear in mind +the great density of the water of the sea, and the surprising results of +transplantation to that medium. To understand a little what these are, +and how a man's weight, so far from being an encumbrance, is the very +ground of his agility, was the chief lesson of my submarine experience. +The knowledge came upon me by degrees. As I began to go forward with the +hand of my estranged companion, a world of tumbled stones {174} was +visible, pillared with the weedy uprights of the staging: overhead, a +flat roof of green: a little in front, the sea-wall, like an unfinished +rampart. And presently in our upward progress, Bob motioned me to leap +upon a stone; I looked to see if he were possibly in earnest, and he only +signed to me the more imperiously. Now the block stood six feet high; it +would have been quite a leap to me unencumbered; with the breast and back +weights, and the twenty pounds upon each foot, and the staggering load of +the helmet, the thing was out of reason. I laughed aloud in my tomb; and +to prove to Bob how far he was astray, I gave a little impulse from my +toes. Up I soared like a bird, my companion soaring at my side. As high +as the stone, and then higher, I pursued my impotent and empty flight. +Even when the strong arm of Bob had checked my shoulders, my heels +continued their ascent; so that I blew out sideways like an autumn leaf, +and must be hauled in, hand over hand, as sailors haul in the slack of a +sail, and propped upon my feet again like an intoxicated sparrow. Yet a +little higher on the foundation, and we began to be affected by the +bottom of the swell, running there like a strong breeze of wind. Or so I +must suppose; for, safe in my cushion of air, I was conscious of no +impact; only swayed idly like a weed, and was now borne helplessly +abroad, and now swiftly--and yet with dreamlike gentleness--impelled +against my guide. So does a child's balloon divagate upon the currents +of the air, and touch and slide off again from every obstacle. So must +have ineffectually swung, so resented their inefficiency, those light +crowds that followed the {175} Star of Hades, and uttered exiguous voices +in the land beyond Cocytus. + +There was something strangely exasperating, as well as strangely +wearying, in these uncommanded evolutions. It is bitter to return to +infancy, to be supported, and directed, and perpetually set upon your +feet, by the hand of some one else. The air besides, as it is supplied +to you by the busy millers on the platform, closes the eustachian tubes +and keeps the neophyte perpetually swallowing, till his throat is grown +so dry that he can swallow no longer. And for all these +reasons--although I had a fine, dizzy, muddle-headed joy in my +surroundings, and longed, and tried, and always failed, to lay hands on +the fish that darted here and there about me, swift as humming-birds--yet +I fancy I was rather relieved than otherwise when Bain brought me back to +the ladder and signed to me to mount. And there was one more experience +before me even then. Of a sudden, my ascending head passed into the +trough of a swell. Out of the green, I shot at once into a glory of +rosy, almost of sanguine light--the multitudinous seas incarnadined, the +heaven above a vault of crimson. And then the glory faded into the hard, +ugly daylight of a Caithness autumn, with a low sky, a grey sea, and a +whistling wind. + +(_Across the Plains_.) + + + + +{178} + +NOTES + + +Page + +1 Sir Mordred, left in charge of the kingdom during King Arthur's +absence oversea, treacherously raised a rebellion and made war on the +king when he returned. It was in this war that Arthur presently met +his end. + + +5 The grants to which the Queen refers are the trade-monopolies +granted by her, which she now proceeded to abolish. + + +8 This account of Cleopatra's death (from North's translation of +Plutarch's _Life of Antony_) is closely followed by Shakespeare in +_Antony and Cleopatra_. + + +11 The basket of figs contained the asp, from the bite of which +Cleopatra died (_Antony and Cleopatra_, act V. scene ii.). + + +12 _The three first monarchies of the world_: these, according to +Ralegh's account of the world's history, are those of Assyria, Egypt, +and Persia. + + +13 _The good advice of Cineas_: when Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was +contemplating the invasion of Italy (B.C. 280) his friend and adviser +Cineas asked him what he would do when he was master of the world. +'Pyrrhus, finding his drift, answered pleasantly, that they would live +merrily: a thing (as Cineas then told him) that they presently might do +without any trouble, if he could be contented with his own' (Ralegh). + +_discourse_ here means 'fame.' + + +16 The two kinds of law which Hooker (as he indicates at the beginning +of this extract) has already dealt with are: the law which binds a +man's private conscience, and the law which regulates his dealings with +the state (or 'politic society') of which he is a member. + +_conceits_=conceptions. + + +18 _But that is a wisdom_: i.e. the wisdom of wise men, who know how +to make a proper use of their studies. + +_distilled books_: i.e. books of selections and extracts. + +_Abeunt studia, etc_.: 'studies pass into the character.' + +_stond_= impediment. + + +19 _bowling_, i.e. playing bowls. + +_schoolmen_: the theological and metaphysical writers of the middle +ages. + +_Cymini sectores_: 'splitters of cumin-seed,' i.e. what we should call +'hair-splitters,' the seed of the cumin (a plant something like fennel) +being very minute. + + +20 _In the universality of the kind, etc_.: i.e. the race endures, the +individual perishes. + + +24 _Lycosthenes_, a German scholar of the sixteenth century, wrote a +commentary on a book of _Lives of eminent men_, a work attributed to +Pliny the younger (first century A.D.). + + +26 _The eighth climate_: i.e. England, which lies in the eighth of the +zones (or 'climates') into which the old geographers divided the globe. + +_constellated_: i.e. born under a particular 'constellation' or +conjunction of planets (an astrological expression). + +_Hydra_: the many-headed monster slain by Hercules. + +_in casting account_=in doing sums. + + +27 _Doradoes_=rich men; a Spanish word, as in the phrase 'El dorado' +('the rich country'). + +_First, when a city, etc_.: the skeleton of this highly involved +sentence is as follows: 'First, when a city shall be as it were +besieged. . ., that then the people . . . should be disputing. . ., +argues first a singular good will. . ., and from thence derives itself +[i.e. flows on, proceeds] to a gallant bravery. . . .' + + +28 _as his was who when Rome, etc_.: this story is told by Livy, as an +instance of the undaunted spirit of the Romans during the Punic war. + +_mewing_ properly means 'moulting.' Milton apparently uses it in the +sense of 'renewing by the process of moulting.' + + +29 _engrossers_: wholesale buyers; here used metaphorically of those +who, by curtailing the liberty of book-printing, would 'buy up' the +stock of knowledge and dole it out as they thought fit. + + +30 _he who takes up arms for coat and conduct_: this refers to Charles +I's exaction of a tax for the clothing and conducting (i.e. conveying) +of troops. + +_his four nobles of Danegelt_: a noble was a coin worth 6s. 8d. +Danegelt was originally the land-tax raised by Ethelred the Unready to +buy off the Danes; the word was afterwards used of any unpopular tax, +here of Charles I's imposition of ship-money, resisted by Hampden. + +_In this unhappy battle_: the battle of Newbury, Sept. 20, 1643, in +which the advantage was on the whole with the King against the +Roundheads. + + +33 _vacant_: i.e. open, unclouded. + +_addresses to his place_: i.e. to his office. Falkland was Secretary +of State to Charles I. + + +40 _Phalaris_: a Sicilian tyrant of the sixth century B.C., famous for +his cruelties. The Greek poet Stesichorus was a contemporary of his. + + +42 Samuel Pepys, from whose diary this extract (slightly abridged) is +taken, wrote solely for his own private amusement, troubling himself +very little about style or grammar. He held a post in the Navy Office, +and his work did not often allow him to take a day in the country, such +as he here describes. + + +46 Defoe's _Captain Singleton_ is an imaginary account of the +adventures of certain pirates in different parts of the world. In the +extract here given they are lying in Chinese waters. 'William,' one of +their crew, has gone ashore to trade with some Chinese merchants. + + +47 _thieves' pennyworths_: 'things sold at a robber's price,' i.e. +below their real value. + + +55 _composures_=compositions. + + +56 _the Great Mogul_: the Emperor of Hindostan. + +_Muscovy_=Russia, of which Moscow was formerly the capital. + + +57 _the old philosopher_: Socrates; see Hooker's reference to the +anecdote on page 17 of this book. + +_degree_: i.e. of latitude and longitude. + + +62 _whereas the ladies now walk, etc_.; this was written in 1711, when +ladies wore very large 'hoops,' or crinolines. + + +65 Tom Jones, the hero of Fielding's novel of that name, takes some +friends to see Hamlet, acted by Garrick. Partridge, is a timorous +ex-schoolmaster, without experience of the theatre. + + +77 _redans_: projecting fortifications. + +_the talus of the glacis_: the pitch of the outer slope of an earthwork. + +_banquettes_: the raised way running along the inside of a rampart. + + +78 _chamade_: a signal given by drum, announcing surrender. + + +79 _a new reign_: George II died on October 25, 1760. + + +80 _a rag of quality_: Horace Walpole was a younger son of Sir Robert +Walpole (Earl of Orford). + + +81 _the Duke of Cumberland_: second son of George II. + +_a dark brown adonis_: a kind of wig. + +_the Duke of Newcastle_: the Prime Minister. + + +83 Goldsmith's _Citizen of the World_ consists of a series of letters +on European manners and customs, purporting to be written by a Chinaman +who has never before visited England. + + +86 _whatever accidentally becomes indisposed, etc_.; i.e. whoever +falls out with the authorities. + + +87 _There never was a period, etc_.: this was written in 1777, during +the American War of Independence. + + +90 'Puss' was Cowper's tame hare. + + +92 The initials at the foot of the letter are those of William Cowper +and Mary Unwin, a friend of the poet's. + + +99 _David Garrick_: the celebrated actor (1717-1779). + + +100 Frank Osbaldistone, the hero of Scott's novel _Rob Roy_, goes to +Yorkshire on a visit to his uncle, Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, whom he +has never seen. As he approaches his destination he falls in with a +young lady on horseback, who turns out to be Diana Vernon, a niece of +Sir Hildebrand's. The period of the story is early in the eighteenth +century. + + +106 _The 'Festin de pierre'_: Moliere's play, in which the hero, Don +Juan, rashly invites the statue of a man he has murdered to dine with +him. The invitation is unexpectedly accepted. + + +107 Coleridge, the poet, was an old friend and school-fellow of +Charles Lamb's. + + +109 An imaginary dialogue between the two philosophers. Plato, born +427 B.C., was some years the older of the two. + + +111 Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, with whom Plato had lived for a +time, was overthrown and expelled by his subjects, and driven to +support himself as a schoolmaster at Corinth. + +_The Demiurgos_: the Creator. + + +113 Mrs Elton, in Jane Austen's novel _Emma_, is the somewhat +meddlesome wife of the village parson. Mr Knightley is a gentleman +living at Donwell, in the neighbourhood. The rest of the people named +are other neighbours and friends, one of them, Mr Woodhouse, being an +old gentleman of valetudinarian habits. + + +118 Coleridge, as a young man (he was born in 1772), was for a time in +the habit of preaching in Unitarian chapels. + + +122 This is an extract from a letter of Keats to a friend, written in +1818. + + +124 _The Flight to Varennes_: by the middle of 1791 the French +Revolution had gone so far that the king and queen were practically +prisoners in the palace of the Tuileries at Paris. They at last +determined to try to escape, and the arrangements for their flight were +carried out, in all possible secrecy, by Choiseul, an officer of the +French army, and Fersen, a young Swedish count. Carlyle's vivid +account tells how the start was made; but the royal party were stopped +at Varennes, not far from the frontier, and brought back to Paris. + +_the Carrousel_, or 'tilting-ground,' was an open space in front of the +Tuileries. + + +130 _Trial of the Seven Bishops_: James II, in 1687, issued a +'declaration of indulgence,' promising to suspend certain laws against +Roman Catholics. His command that this declaration should be read in +all parish churches was resisted by seven bishops, who were accordingly +brought to trial for sedition. The declaration was very unpopular in +the country, so that the result of the trial was anxiously awaited. + + +135 _Cimon_ was one of the Athenian commanders in the Persian war. He +died in 449 B.C. + + +140 The scene of Hawthorne's novel, _The House of the Seven Gables_, +is laid in a small town in New England. + + +148 Mr Weston was in the plot with the highwayman to rob Dr Barnard. +He had himself tampered with his own pistols (in the stable at +Maidstone) so that they should miss fire. Hence his peevishness with +Denis Duval, for so unexpectedly routing the thief. + + +153 Jane Eyre is governess to Mr Rochester's daughter, Adčle. She +describes how he cross-questioned her with regard to her +accomplishments. + + +157 Thoreau lived for two years in a small hut which he built for +himself in a wood near Concord, in New England. This extract is from +the account he wrote of his life there. + + +171 Stevenson came of a family of engineers, and he himself was +supposed to be preparing for the same profession. But he already +wished to be a writer, and his interest in the harbour-works at Wick, +in Caithness, which he had been sent to study, was romantic rather than +practical. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Book of English Prose, by Percy Lubbock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF ENGLISH PROSE *** + +***** This file should be named 19811-8.txt or 19811-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/8/1/19811/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/19811-8.zip b/19811-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..458f272 --- /dev/null +++ b/19811-8.zip diff --git a/19811.txt b/19811.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd4d3f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/19811.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5672 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of English Prose, by Percy Lubbock + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Book of English Prose + Part II, Arranged for Secondary and High Schools + +Author: Percy Lubbock + +Release Date: November 14, 2006 [EBook #19811] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF ENGLISH PROSE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +A Book of English Prose + +Part II + + +_Arranged for Secondary and High Schools_ + + +BY + +PERCY LUBBOCK, M.A. + + + + +KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE + +Cambridge: + +at the University Press + +1913 + + + + +Cambridge: + +PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. + +AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE + +The Editor desires to record his thanks to Messrs +Macmillan & Co., Ltd., Messrs Chatto & Windus +and Messrs Longmans, Green & Co., for their respective +permission to include in this volume passages from +Walter Pater's _Miscellaneous Studies_, from R. L. Stevenson's +_Random Memories_ and from Newman's _Historical +Sketches_. + +P. L. + +October 1913 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +Death of Sir Gawaine . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Sir Thomas Malory_ 1 + +The Queen's Speech to her last + Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . . _Elizabeth, Queen of England_ 4 + +Death of Cleopatra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Sir Thomas North_ 8 + +The Vanity of Greatness . . . . . . . . . . . _Sir Walter Ralegh_ 12 + +The Law of Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Richard Hooker_ 16 + +Of Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Francis Bacon_ 17 + +Meditation on Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . _William Drummond_ 19 + +Primitive Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Thomas Hobbes_ 21 + +Character of a Plodding Student . . . . . . . . . . _John Earle_ 24 + +Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Sir Thomas Browne_ 25 + +The Danger of interfering with the Liberty + of the Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _John Milton_ 27 + +Death of Falkland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Earl of Clarendon_ 30 + +The End of the Pilgrimage . . . . . . . . . . . . . _John Bunyan_ 35 + +Poetry and Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Sir William Temple_ 40 + +A Day in the Country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Samuel Pepys_ 42 + +Captain Singleton in China . . . . . . . . . . . . _Daniel Defoe_ 46 + +The Art of Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . _Jonathan Swift_ 51 + +The Royal Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Joseph Addison_ 56 + +Sir Roger de Coverley's Ancestors . . . . . . . _Richard Steele_ 60 + +Partridge at the Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Henry Fielding_ 65 + +A Journey in a Stage-coach . . . . . . . . . . . _Samuel Johnson_ 71 + +Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim . . . . . . . . . . _Laurence Sterne_ 76 + +The Funeral of George II . . . . . . . . . . . . _Horace Walpole_ 79 + +The Credulity of the English . . . . . . . . . . _Oliver Goldsmith_ 83 + +Decay of the Principles of Liberty . . . . . . . . . _Edmund Burke_ 85 + +The Candidate for Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . _William Cowper_ 89 + +Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Edward Gibbon_ 93 + +First Sight of Dr Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . _James Boswell_ 94 + +Arrival at Osbaldistone Hall . . . . . . . . . . _Sir Walter Scott_ 100 + +A Visit to Coleridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Charles Lamb_ 107 + +Diogenes and Plato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _W. S. Landor_ 109 + +An Invitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Jane Austen_ 113 + +Coleridge as Preacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . _William Hazlitt_ 118 + +A Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Thomas de Quincey_ 120 + +The Use of Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _John Keats_ 122 + +The Flight to Varennes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Thomas Carlyle_ 124 + +The Trial of the Seven Bishops . . . . . . . . . . _Lord Macaulay_ 130 + +The University of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _J. H. Newman_ 135 + +The House of the Seven Gables . . . . . . . _Nathaniel Hawthorne_ 140 + +Denis Duval's first journey to London . . . . . _W. M. Thackeray_ 144 + +Storm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Charles Dickens_ 149 + +Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester . . . . . . . . . . . _Charlotte Bronte_ 153 + +A Hut in the Woods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _H. D. Thoreau_ 157 + +A Miser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _George Eliot_ 159 + +Ships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _John Ruskin_ 163 + +The Child in the House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Walter Pater_ 168 + +Diving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _R. L. Stevenson_ 171 + + +Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 + + + + +{1} + +SIR THOMAS MALORY 15th century + +DEATH OF SIR GAWAINE + +And so, as Sir Mordred was at Dover with his host, there came King +Arthur with a great navy of ships, galleys, and carracks. And there +was Sir Mordred ready waiting upon his landing, to let his own father +to land upon the land that he was king of. Then was there launching of +great boats and small, and all were full of noble men of arms; and +there was much slaughter of gentle knights, and many a full bold baron +was laid full low on both parties. But King Arthur was so courageous, +that there might no manner of knight let him to land, and his knights +fiercely followed him, and so they landed maugre Sir Mordred and all +his power, and put Sir Mordred back, that he fled and all his people. +So when this battle was done, King Arthur let bury his people that were +dead. And then was the noble knight Sir Gawaine found in a great boat, +lying more than half dead. When King Arthur wist that Sir Gawaine was +laid so low, he went unto him; and there the king made sorrow out of +measure, and took Sir Gawaine in his arms, and thrice he swooned. And +when he came to himself again, he said, "Alas! my sister's son, here +now thou liest, the man in the world {2} that I loved most, and now is +my joy gone. For now, my nephew Sir Gawaine, I will discover me unto +your person. In Sir Launcelot and you I most had my joy and mine +affiance, and now have I lost my joy of you both, wherefore all mine +earthly joy is gone from me." "My uncle King Arthur," said Sir +Gawaine, "wit you well that my death's day is come, and all is through +mine own hastiness and wilfulness, for I am smitten upon the old wound +that Sir Launcelot du Lake gave me, of the which I feel that I must +die; and if Sir Launcelot had been with you as he was, this unhappy war +had never begun, and of all this I myself am causer; for Sir Launcelot +and his blood, through their prowess, held all your cankered enemies in +subjection and danger. And now," said Sir Gawaine, "ye shall miss Sir +Launcelot. But alas! I would not accord with him; and therefore," +said Sir Gawaine, "I pray you, fair uncle, that I may have paper, pen, +and ink, that I may write unto Sir Launcelot a letter with mine own +hands." And when paper and ink was brought, Sir Gawaine was set up +weakly by King Arthur, for he had been shriven a little before; and he +wrote thus unto Sir Launcelot: "Flower of all noble knights that ever I +heard of or saw in my days, I, Sir Gawaine, King Lot's son of Orkney, +sister's son unto the noble King Arthur, send unto thee greeting, and +let thee have knowledge, that the tenth day of May I was smitten upon +the old wound which thou gavest me before the city of Benwick, and +through the same wound that thou gavest me I am come unto my death day, +and I will that all the world wit that I Sir Gawaine, Knight of the +Round Table, sought my death, and not through thy deserving, {3} but it +was mine own seeking; wherefore I beseech thee, Sir Launcelot, for to +return again unto this realm and see my tomb, or pray some prayer more +or less for my soul. And that same day that I wrote this letter, I was +hurt to the death in the same wound the which I had of thy hands, Sir +Launcelot, for of a more nobler man might I not be slain. Also, Sir +Launcelot, for all the love that ever was between us, make no tarrying, +but come over the sea in all the haste that thou mayst with thy noble +knights, and rescue that noble king that made thee knight, that is my +lord and uncle King Arthur, for he is full straitly bestood with a +false traitor, which is my half-brother Sir Mordred, and he hath let +crown himself king, and he would have wedded my lady Queen Guenevere, +and so had he done, if she had not put herself in the Tower of London. +And so the tenth day of May last past, my lord and uncle King Arthur +and we all landed upon them at Dover, and there we put that false +traitor Sir Mordred to flight. And there it misfortuned me for to be +stricken upon thy stroke. And the date of this letter was written but +two hours and a half before my death, written with mine own hand, and +so subscribed with part of my heart-blood. And I require thee, as thou +art the most famost knight of the world, that thou wilt see my tomb." +And then Sir Gawaine wept, and also King Arthur wept; and then they +swooned both. And when they awaked both, the king made Sir Gawaine to +receive his Saviour. And then Sir Gawaine prayed the king to send for +Sir Launcelot, and to cherish him above all other knights. And so at +the hour of noon Sir Gawaine betook his soul into the {4} hands of our +Lord God. And then the king let bury him in a chapel within the castle +of Dover; and there yet unto this day all men may see the skull of Sir +Gawaine, and the same wound is seen that Sir Launcelot gave him in +battle. Then it was told to King Arthur that Sir Mordred had pight a +new field upon Barendown. And on the morrow the king rode thither to +him, and there was a great battle between them, and much people were +slain on both parts. But at the last King Arthur's party stood best, +and Sir Mordred and his party fled into Canterbury. + +(_Morte Darthur_.) + + + + +ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF ENGLAND + +1533-1603 + +THE QUEEN'S SPEECH TO HER LAST PARLIAMENT, NOVEMBER 30, 1601 + +Mr Speaker,--We perceive your coming is to present thanks unto us. +Know I accept them with no less joy than your loves can desire to offer +such a present, and do more esteem it than any treasure or riches; for +those we know how to prize, but loyalty, love, and thanks, I account +them invaluable; and though God hath raised me high, yet this I account +the glory of my crown, that I have reigned with your loves. This makes +that I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a queen, as +to be a queen over so thankful a people, and to be the means under God +to conserve you in safety, and {5} preserve you from danger, yea to be +the instrument to deliver you from dishonour, from shame and from +infamy, to keep you from out of servitude, and from slavery under our +enemies, and cruel tyranny, and vile oppression intended against us; +for the better withstanding whereof, we take very acceptable your +intended helps, and chiefly in that it manifesteth your loves and +largeness of hearts to your sovereign. Of myself I must say this, I +never was any greedy scraping grasper, nor a strict fasting-holding +prince, nor yet a waster; my heart was never set upon any worldly +goods, but only for my subjects' good. What you do bestow on me I will +not hoard up, but receive it to bestow on you again; yea, mine own +properties I account yours to be expended for your good, and your eyes +shall see the bestowing of it for your welfare. + +Mr Speaker, I would wish you and the rest to stand up, for I fear I +shall yet trouble you with longer speech. + +Mr Speaker, you give me thanks, but I am more to thank you, and I +charge you thank them of the Lower House from me; for had I not +received knowledge from you, I might a' fallen into the lapse of an +error, only for want of true information. Since I was queen, yet did I +never put my pen to any grant but upon pretext and semblance made me +that it was for the good and avail of my subjects generally, though a +private profit to some of my ancient servants, who have deserved well; +but that my grants shall be made grievances to my people, and +oppressions to be privileged under colour of our patents, our princely +dignity shall not suffer it. + +When I heard it, I could give no rest unto my {6} thoughts until I had +reformed it, and those varlets, lewd persons, abusers of my bounty, +shall know I will not suffer it. And, Mr Speaker, tell the House from +me, I take it exceeding grateful that the knowledge of these things is +come unto me from them. And though amongst them the principal members +are such as are not touched in private, and therefore need not speak +from any feeling of the grief, yet we have heard that other gentlemen +also of the House, who stand as free, have spoken freely in it; which +gives us to know that no respects or interests have moved them, other +than the minds they bear to suffer no diminution of our honour and our +subjects' love unto us. The zeal of which affection tending to ease my +people and knit their hearts unto us, I embrace with a princely care +far above all earthly treasures. I esteem my people's love, more than +which I desire not to merit: and God, that gave me here to sit, and +placed me over you, knows that I never respected myself, but as your +good was conserved in me; yet what dangers, what practices, what perils +I have passed, some, if not all of you, know; but none of these things +do move me, or ever made me fear, but it's God that hath delivered me. + +And in my governing this land, I have ever set the last judgment day +before mine eyes, and so to rule as I shall be judged and answer before +a higher Judge, to whose judgment seat I do appeal; in that thought was +never cherished in my heart that tended not to my people's good. + +And if my princely bounty have been abused, and my grants turned to the +hurt of my people contrary to {7} my will and meaning, or if any in +authority under me have neglected, or have converted what I have +committed unto them, I hope God will not lay their culps to my charge. + +To be a king, and wear a crown, is a thing more glorious to them that +see it than it's pleasant to them that bear it: for myself, I never was +so much enticed with the glorious name of a king, or the royal +authority of a queen, as delighted that God hath made me his instrument +to maintain his truth and glory, and to defend this kingdom from +dishonour, damage, tyranny, and oppression. But should I ascribe any +of these things to myself or my sexly weakness, I were not worthy to +live, and of all most unworthy of the mercies I have received at God's +hands, but to God only and wholly all is given and ascribed. + +The cares and troubles of a crown I cannot more fitly resemble than to +the drugs of a learned physician, perfumed with some aromatical savour, +or to bitter pills gilded over, by which they are made more acceptable +or less offensive, which indeed are bitter and unpleasant to take; and +for my own part, were it not for conscience sake to discharge the duty +that God hath laid upon me, and to maintain his glory, and keep you in +safety, in mine own disposition I should be willing to resign the place +I hold to any other, and glad to be freed of the glory with the +labours, for it is not my desire to live nor to reign longer than my +life and reign shall be for your good. And though you have had and may +have many mightier and wiser princes sitting in this seat, yet you +never had or shall have any that will love you better. + + + + +{8} + +SIR THOMAS NORTH 1535-1601 + +DEATH OF CLEOPATRA + +Shortly after Caesar came himself in person to see her, and to comfort +her. Cleopatra being laid upon a little low bed in poor estate, when +she saw Caesar come in to her chamber, she suddenly rose up, naked in +her smock, and fell down at his feet marvellously disfigured: both for +that she had plucked her hair from her head, as also for that she had +martyred all her face with her nails, and besides, her voice was small +and trembling, her eyes sunk into her head with continual blubbering: +and moreover, they might see the most part of her stomach torn in +sunder. To be short, her body was not much better than her mind: yet +her good grace and comeliness and the force of her beauty was not +altogether defaced. But notwithstanding this ugly and pitiful state of +hers, yet she shewed herself within, by her outward looks and +countenance. When Caesar had made her lie down again, and sat by her +bedside, Cleopatra began to clear and excuse herself for that she had +done, laying all to the fear she had of Antonius. Caesar, in contrary +manner, reproved her in every point. Then she suddenly altered her +speech, and prayed him to pardon her, as though she were afraid to die, +and desirous to live. At length she gave him a brief and memorial of +all the ready money and treasure she had. But by chance there stood +Seleucus by, one of her treasurers, who, to seem a good servant, came +straight to Caesar to disprove {9} Cleopatra, that she had not set in +all, but kept many things back of purpose. Cleopatra was in such a +rage with him, that she flew upon him, and took him by the hair of the +head, and boxed him well-favouredly. Caesar fell a-laughing, and +parted the fray. "Alas," said she, "O Caesar, is not this a great +shame and reproach, that thou having vouchsafed to take the pains to +come unto me, and hast done me this honour, poor wretch, and caitiff +creature, brought into this pitiful and miserable estate: and that mine +own servants should come now to accuse me, though it may be I have +reserved some jewels and trifles meet for women, but not for me (poor +soul) to set out myself withal, but meaning to give some pretty +presents and gifts unto Octavia and Livia, that they making means and +intercession for me to thee, thou mightest yet extend thy favour and +mercy upon me?" Caesar was glad to hear her say so, persuading himself +thereby that she had yet a desire to save her life. So he made her +answer, that he did not only give her that to dispose of at her +pleasure, which she had kept back, but further promised to use her more +honourably and bountifully than she would think for: and so he took his +leave of her, supposing he had deceived her, but indeed he was deceived +himself. + +There was a young gentleman Cornelius Dolabella, that was one of +Caesar's very great familiars, and besides did bear no evil will unto +Cleopatra. He sent her word secretly as she had requested him, that +Caesar determined to take his journey through Syria, and that within +three days he would send her away before with her children. When this +was told Cleopatra, she requested Caesar that {10} it would please him +to suffer her to offer the last oblations of the dead, unto the soul of +Antonius. This being granted her, she was carried to the place where +his tomb was, and there falling down on her knees, embracing the tomb +with her women, the tears running down her cheeks, she began to speak +in this sort: "O my dear Lord Antonius, not long sithence I buried thee +here, being a free woman: and now I offer unto thee the funeral +sprinklings and oblations, being a captive and prisoner; and yet I am +forbidden and kept from tearing and murdering this captive body of mine +with blows, which they carefully guard and keep, only to triumph of +thee: look therefore henceforth for no other honours, offerings, nor +sacrifices from me, for these are the last which Cleopatra can give +thee, sith now they carry her away. Whilst we lived together, nothing +could sever our companies: but now at our death, I fear me they will +make us change our countries. For as thou, being a Roman, hast been +buried in Egypt: even so, wretched creature I, an Egyptian, shall be +buried in Italy, which shall be all the good that I have received by +thy country. If therefore the gods where thou art now have any power +and authority, sith our gods here have forsaken us, suffer not thy true +friend and lover to be carried away alive, that in me they triumph of +thee: but receive me with thee, and let me be buried in one self tomb +with thee. For though my griefs and miseries be infinite, yet none +hath grieved me more, nor that I could less bear withal, than this +small time which I have been driven to live without thee." Then, +having ended these doleful plaints, and crowned the tomb with garlands +and sundry {11} nosegays, and marvellous lovingly embraced the same, +she commanded they should prepare her bath, and when she had bathed and +washed herself, she fell to her meat and was sumptuously served. + +Now whilst she was at dinner there came a countryman, and brought her a +basket. The soldiers that warded at the gates, asked him straight what +he had in his basket. He opened the basket, and took out the leaves +that covered the figs, and shewed them that they were figs he brought. +They all of them marvelled to see so goodly figs. The countryman +laughed to hear them, and bade them take some if they would. They +believed he told them truly, and so bade him carry them in. + +After Cleopatra had dined, she sent a certain table written and sealed +unto Caesar, and commanded them all to go out of the tombs where she +was, but the two women; then she shut the doors to her. Caesar, when +he received this table, and began to read her lamentation and petition, +requesting him that he would let her be buried with Antonius, found +straight what she meant, and thought to have gone thither himself: +howbeit he sent one before in all haste that might be, to see what it +was. Her death was very sudden. For those whom Caesar sent unto her +ran thither in all haste possible, and found the soldiers standing at +the gate, mistrusting nothing, nor understanding of her death. But +when they had opened the doors, they found Cleopatra stark dead, laid +upon a bed of gold, attired and arrayed in her royal robes, and one of +her two women, which was called Iras, dead at her feet: and her other +woman, called Charmion, half dead, and trembling, trimming the diadem +which {12} Cleopatra ware upon her head. One of the soldiers, seeing +her, angrily said unto her: "Is that well done, Charmion?" "Very +well," said she again, "and meet for a princess descended from the race +of so many noble kings." She said no more, but fell down dead hard by +the bed. + +(_Plutarch's Lives_.) + + + + +SIR WALTER RALEGH 1552-1618 + +THE VANITY OF GREATNESS + +By this which we have already set down is seen the beginning and end of +the three first monarchies of the world; whereof the founders and +erecters thought, that they could never have ended. That of Rome, +which made the fourth, was also at this time almost at the highest. We +have left it flourishing in the middle of the field, having rooted up +or cut down all that kept it from the eyes and admiration of the world. +But after some continuance, it shall begin to lose the beauty it had; +the storms of ambition shall beat her great boughs and branches one +against another; her leaves shall fall off, her limbs wither, and a +rabble of barbarous nations enter the field and cut her down. + +Now these great kings and conquering nations have been the subject of +those ancient histories which have been preserved and yet remain among +us; and withal of so many tragical poets, as in the persons of powerful +princes and other mighty men have complained against {13} infidelity, +time, destiny, and most of all against the variable success of worldly +things and instability of fortune. To these undertakings these great +lords of the world have been stirred up, rather by the desire of fame, +which plougheth up the air and soweth in the wind, than by the +affection of bearing rule, which draweth after it so much vexation and +so many cares. And that this is true, the good advice of Cineas to +Pyrrhus proves. And certainly, as fame hath often been dangerous to +the living, so it is to the dead of no use at all, because separate +from knowledge. Which were it otherwise, and the extreme ill bargain +of buying this lasting discourse understood by them which are +dissolved, they themselves would then rather have wished to have stolen +out of the world without noise, than to be put in mind that they have +purchased the report of their actions in the world by rapine, +oppression, and cruelty, by giving in spoil the innocent and labouring +soul to the idle and insolent, and by having emptied the cities of the +world of their ancient inhabitants, and fitted them again with so many +and so variable sorts of sorrows. + +Since the fall of the Roman Empire (omitting that of the Germans, which +had neither greatness nor continuance) there hath been no state fearful +in the east but that of the Turk; nor in the west any prince that hath +spread his wings far over his nest but the Spaniard; who, since the +time that Ferdinand expelled the Moors out of Grenado, have made many +attempts to make themselves masters of all Europe. And it is true that +by the treasures of both Indies, and by the many kingdoms which they +possess in Europe, they are at this day the most {14} powerful. But as +the Turk is now counterpoised by the Persian, so instead of so many +millions as have been spent by the English, French, and Netherlands in +a defensive war and in diversions against them, it is easy to +demonstrate that with the charge of two hundred thousand pound +continued but for two years, or three at the most, they may not only be +persuaded to live in peace, but all their swelling and overflowing +streams may be brought back into their natural channels and old banks. +These two nations, I say, are at this day the most eminent and to be +regarded; the one seeking to root out the Christian religion +altogether, the other the truth and sincere profession thereof; the one +to join all Europe to Asia, the other the rest of all Europe to Spain. + +For the rest, if we seek a reason of the succession and continuance of +this boundless ambition in mortal men, we may add to that which hath +been already said, that the kings and princes of the world have always +laid before them the actions, but not the ends, of those great ones +which preceded them. They are always transported with the glory of the +one, but they never mind the misery of the other, till they find the +experience in themselves. They neglect the advice of God, while they +enjoy life or hope it; but they follow the counsel of Death upon his +first approach. It is he that puts into man all wisdom of the world, +without speaking a word; which God with all the words of His law, +promises or threats, doth not infuse. Death, which hateth and +destroyeth man, is believed; God, which hath him and loves him, is +always deferred. _I have considered_ (saith Solomon) _all the works +that are wider the sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of {15} +spirit_: but who believes it, till Death tells it us? It was Death, +which, opening the conscience of Charles the fifth, made him enjoin his +son Philip to restore Navarre; and King Francis the first of France, to +command that justice should be done upon the murderers of the +Protestants in Merindol and Cabrieres, which till then he neglected. +It is therefore Death alone that can suddenly make man to know himself. +He tells the proud and insolent that they are but abjects, and humbles +them at the instant, makes them cry, complain, and repent, yea, even to +hate their forepassed happiness. He takes the account of the rich and +proves him a beggar, a naked beggar, which hath interest in nothing but +in the gravel that fills his mouth. He holds a glass before the eyes +of the most beautiful, and makes them see therein their deformity and +rottenness, and they acknowledge it. + +O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast +persuaded; what none hath dared thou hast done; and whom all the world +hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised. +Thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the +pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these +two narrow words, _Hic jacet_. + +(_History of the World_.) + + + + +{16} + +RICHARD HOOKER 1554-1600 + +THE LAW OF NATIONS + +Now besides that law which simply concerneth men as men, and that which +belongeth unto them as they are men linked with others in some form of +politic society, there is a third kind of law which toucheth all such +several bodies politic, so far forth as one of them hath public +commerce with another. And this third is the Law of Nations. Between +men and beasts there is no possibility of social communion, because the +well-spring of that communion is a natural delight which man hath to +transfuse from himself into others, and to receive from others into +himself especially those things wherein the excellency of his kind doth +most consist. The chiefest instrument of human communion therefore is +speech, because thereby we impart mutually one to another the conceits +of our reasonable understanding. And for that cause seeing beasts are +not hereof capable, forasmuch as with them we can use no such +conference, they being in degree, although above other creatures on +earth to whom nature hath denied sense, yet lower than to be sociable +companions of man to whom nature hath given reason; it is of Adam said +that amongst the beasts "he found not for himself any meet companion." +Civil society doth more content the nature of man than any private kind +of solitary living, because in society this good of mutual +participation is so much larger than otherwise. Herewith +notwithstanding we are not satisfied, but we covet {17} (if it might +be) to have a kind of society and fellowship even with all mankind. +Which thing Socrates intending to signify professed himself a citizen, +not of this or that commonwealth, but of the world. And an effect of +that very natural desire in us (a manifest token that we wish after a +sort an universal fellowship with all men) appeareth by the wonderful +delight men have, some to visit foreign countries, some to discover +nations not heard of in former ages, we all to know the affairs and +dealings of other people, yea to be in league of amity with them: and +this not only for traffic's sake, or to the end that when many are +confederated each may make other the more strong; but for such cause +also as moved the Queen of Saba to visit Solomon; and in a word, +because nature doth presume that how many men there are in the world, +so many gods as it were there are, or at leastwise such they should be +towards men. + +(_Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity_.) + + + + +FRANCIS BACON 1561-1626 + +OF STUDIES + +Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief +use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in +discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of +business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of +particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots, and +the marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To +spend too much time in {18} studies is sloth; to use them too much for +ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the +humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by +experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need +pruning by study: and studies themselves do give forth directions too +much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men +contemn studies; simple men admire them; and wise men use them: for +they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and +above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute, +nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, +but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be +swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books +are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and +some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some +books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others: +but that would be only in the less important arguments and the meaner +sort of books: else distilled books are like common distilled waters, +flashy things. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and +writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had +need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a +present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to +seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise, poets witty, +the mathematics subtle, natural philosophy deep, moral grave, logic and +rhetoric able to contend: _Abeunt studia in mores_. Nay, there is no +stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought {19} out by fit +studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. +Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and +breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the +like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; +for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he +must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find +differences, let him study the school-men; for they are _Cymini +sectores_. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one +thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' +cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt. + +(_Essays_.) + + + + +WILLIAM DRUMMOND 1585-1649 + +MEDITATION ON DEATH + +If on the great theatre of this earth among the numberless number of +men, _to die_ were only proper to thee and thine, then undoubtedly thou +had reason to repine at so severe and partial a law. But since it is a +necessity, from which never any age by-past hath been exempted, and +unto which they which be, and so many as are to come, are thralled (no +consequent of life being more common and familiar), why shouldst thou +with unprofitable and nought-availing stubbornness, oppose so +inevitable and necessary a condition? This is the high-way of +morality, and our general home: Behold what millions have trod it +before thee, what multitudes shall after thee, with them which at that +same instant {20} run. In so universal a calamity (if Death be one) +private complaints cannot be heard: with so many royal palaces, it is +no loss to see thy poor cabin burn. Shall the heavens stay their +ever-rolling wheels (for what is the motion of them but the motion of a +swift and ever-whirling wheel, which twineth forth and again uprolleth +our life), and hold still time to prolong thy miserable days, as if the +highest of their working were to do homage unto thee? Thy death is a +pace of the order of this _All_, a part of the life of this world; for +while the world is the world, some creatures must die, and others take +life. Eternal things are raised far above this sphere of generation +and corruption, where the first matter, like an ever flowing and ebbing +sea, with divers waves, but the same water, keepeth a restless and +never tiring current; what is below in the universality of the kind, +not in itself doth abide: _Man_ a long line of years hath continued, +_This man_ every hundred is swept away. This globe environed with air +is the sole region of Death, the grave where everything that taketh +life must rot, the stage of fortune and change, only glorious in the +inconstancy and varying alterations of it, which though many, seem yet +to abide one, and being a certain entire one, are ever many. The never +agreeing bodies of the elemental brethren turn one into another; the +earth changeth her countenance with the seasons, sometimes looking cold +and naked, other times hot and flowery: nay, I cannot tell how, but +even the lowest of those celestial bodies, that mother of months, and +empress of seas and moisture, as if she were a mirror of our constant +mutability, appeareth (by her too great nearness {21} unto us) to +participate of our changes, never seeing us twice with that same face: +now looking black, then pale and wan, sometimes again in the perfection +and fulness of her beauty shining over us. Death no less than life +doth here act a part, the taking away of what is old being the making +way for what is young. + +(_A Cypress Grove_.) + + + + +THOMAS HOBBES 1588-1679 + +PRIMITIVE LIFE + +Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is +enemy to every man, the same is consequent to the time, wherein men +live without other security, than what their own strength and their own +invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no +place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and +consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the +commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no +instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; +no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no +letters; no society; and, which is worst of all, continual fear, and +danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, +brutish, and short. + +It may seem strange to some man that has not well weighed these things, +that nature should thus dissociate, and render men apt to invade and +destroy one another: and he may therefore, not trusting to this +inference, {22} made from the passions, desire perhaps to have the same +confirmed by experience. Let him therefore consider with himself, when +taking a journey, he arms himself, and seeks to go well accompanied; +when going to sleep, he locks his doors; when even in his house he +locks his chests; and this when he knows there be laws and public +officers, armed, to revenge all injuries shall be done him; what +opinion he has of his fellow-subjects, when he rides armed; of his +fellow-citizens, when he locks his doors; and of his children and +servants, when he locks his chests. Does he not there as much accuse +mankind by his actions, as I do by my words? But neither of us accuse +man's nature in it. The desires and other passions of man are in +themselves no sin. No more are the actions that proceed from those +passions, till they know a law that forbids them; which, till laws be +made, they cannot know; nor can any law be made, till they have agreed +upon the person that shall make it. + +It may peradventure be thought, there was never such a time, nor +condition of war as this; and I believe it was never generally so over +all the world; but there are many places where they live so now. For +the savage people in many places of America, except the government of +small families, the concord whereof dependeth on natural lust, have no +government at all; and live at this day in that brutish manner, as I +said before. Howsoever, it may be perceived what manner of life there +would be, where there were no common power to fear, by the manner of +life which men that have formerly lived under a peaceful government +used to degenerate into in a civil war. + +{23} But though there had never been any time, wherein particular men +were in a condition of war one against another; yet in all times, kings +and persons of sovereign authority, because of their independency, are +in continual jealousies, and in the state and posture of gladiators: +having their weapons pointing, and their eyes fixed on one another; +that is, their forts, garrisons, and guns upon the frontiers of their +kingdoms; and continual spies upon their neighbours; which is a posture +of war. But, because they uphold thereby the industry of their +subjects, there does not follow from it that misery which accompanies +the liberty of particular men. + +To this war of every man against every man, this also is consequent, +that nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice +and injustice, have there no place. Where there is no common power, +there is no law: where no law, no injustice. Force and fraud are in +war the two cardinal virtues. Justice and injustice are none of the +faculties, neither of the body nor mind. If they were, they might be +in a man that were alone in the world, as well as his senses and +passions. They are qualities that relate to men in society, not in +solitude. It is consequent also to the same condition, that there be +no propriety, no dominion, no _mine_ and _thine_ distinct; but only +that to be every man's, that he can get; and for so long as he can keep +it. And thus much for the ill condition, which man by mere nature is +actually placed in: though with a possibility to come out of it, +consisting partly in the passions, partly in his reason. + +(_Leviathan_.) + + + + +{24} + +JOHN EARLE 1601?-1665 + +CHARACTER OF A PLODDING STUDENT + +_A Plodding Student_ is a kind of alchemist or persecutor of Nature, +that would change the dull lead of his brain into finer metal, with +success many times as unprosperous, or at least not quitting the cost, +to wit, of his own oil and candles. He has a strange forced appetite +to learning, and to achieve it brings nothing but patience and a body. +His study is not great, but continual, and consists much in the sitting +up till after midnight in a rug gown and a nightcap, to the vanquishing +perhaps of some six lines: yet what he has, he has perfect, for he +reads it so long to understand it, till he gets it without book. He +may with much industry make a breach into logic, and arrive at some +ability in an argument; but for politer studies, he dare not skirmish +with them, and for poetry, accounts it impregnable. His invention is +no more than the finding out of his papers, and his few gleanings +there; and his disposition of them is as just as the book-binder's, a +setting or glueing of them together. He is a great discomforter of +young students, by telling them what travail it has cost him, and how +often his brain turned at philosophy, and makes others fear studying as +a cause of duncery. He is a man much given to apothegms, which serve +him for wit, and seldom breaks any jest but which belonged to some +Lacedaemonian or Roman in _Lycosthenes_. He is like {25} a dull +carrier's horse, that will go a whole week together, but never out of a +foot-pace: and he that sets forth on the Saturday shall overtake him. + +(_Microcosmography_.) + + + + +SIR THOMAS BROWNE 1605-1682 + +CHARITY + +Now for that other virtue of charity, without which faith is a mere +notion and of no existence, I have ever endeavoured to nourish the +merciful disposition and humane inclination I borrowed from my parents, +and regulate it to the written and prescribed laws of charity. And, if +I hold the true anatomy of myself, I am delineated and naturally framed +to such a piece of virtue; for I am of a constitution so general that +it consorts and sympathizeth with all things; I have no antipathy, or +rather idiosyncrasy, in diet, humour, air, anything. I wonder not at +the French for their dishes of frogs, snails, and toadstools, nor at +the Jews for locusts and grasshoppers; but, being amongst them, make +them my common viands; and I find they agree with my stomach as well as +theirs. I could digest a salad gathered in a churchyard as well as in +a garden. I cannot start at the presence of a serpent, scorpion, +lizard, or salamander; at the sight of a toad or viper, I find in me no +desire to take up a stone to destroy them. I feel not in myself those +common antipathies that I discover in others: those national +repugnances do not touch me, {26} nor do I behold with prejudice the +French, Italian, Spaniard, or Dutch; but, where I find their actions in +balance with my countrymen's, I honour, love, and embrace them, in the +same degree. I was born in the eighth climate, but seem to be framed +and constellated unto all. I am no plant that will not prosper out of +a garden. All places, all airs, make unto me one country; I am in +England everywhere, and under any meridian. I have been shipwrecked, +yet am not enemy with the sea or winds; I can study, play, or sleep in +a tempest. In brief, I am averse from nothing: my conscience would +give me the lie if I should say I absolutely detest or hate any +essence, but the devil, or so at least abhor anything, but that we +might come to composition. If there be any among those common objects +of hatred I do contemn and laugh at, it is that great enemy of reason, +virtue, and religion, the multitude; that numerous piece of +monstrosity, which, taken asunder, seem men, and the reasonable +creatures of God, but, confused together, make but one great beast, and +a monstrosity more prodigious than Hydra. It is no breach of charity +to call these _Fools_; it is the style all holy writers have afforded +them, set down by Solomon in canonical scripture, and a point of our +faith to believe so. Neither in the name of _multitude_ do I only +include the base and minor sort of people: there is a rabble even +amongst the gentry; a sort of plebeian heads, whose fancy moves with +the same wheel as these; men in the same level with mechanics, though +their fortunes do somewhat gild their infirmities, and their purses +compound for their follies. But, as in casting account three or four +men {27} together come short in account of one man placed by himself +below them, so neither are a troop of these ignorant _Doradoes_ of that +true esteem and value as many a forlorn person, whose condition doth +place him below their feet. Let us speak like politicians; there is a +nobility without heraldry, a natural dignity, whereby one man is ranked +with another, another filed before him, according to the quality of his +desert, and pre-eminence of his good parts. Though the corruption of +these times, and the bias of present practice, wheel another way, thus +it was in the first and primitive commonwealths, and is yet in the +integrity and cradle of well-ordered polities: till corruption getteth +ground; ruder desires labouring after that which wiser considerations +contemn; every one having a liberty to amass and heap up riches, and +they a licence or faculty to do or purchase anything. + +(_Religio Medici_.) + + + + +JOHN MILTON 1608-1674 + +THE DANGER OF INTERFERING WITH THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS + +First, when a city shall be as it were besieged and blocked about, her +navigable river infested, inroads and incursions round, defiance and +battle oft rumoured to be marching up, even to her walls and suburb +trenches; that then the people, or the greater part, more than at other +times, wholly taken up with the study of highest and {28} most +important matters to be reformed, should be disputing, reasoning, +reading, inventing, discoursing, even to a rarity and admiration, +things not before discoursed or written of, argues first a singular +good will, contentedness and confidence in your prudent foresight, and +safe government, lords and commons; and from thence derives itself to a +gallant bravery and well grounded contempt of their enemies, as if +there were no small number of as great spirits among us, as his was who +when Rome was nigh besieged by Hannibal, being in the city, bought that +piece of ground at no cheap rate, whereon Hannibal himself encamped his +own regiment. Next, it is a lively and cheerful presage of our happy +success and victory. For as in a body when the blood is fresh, the +spirits pure and vigorous, not only to vital, but to rational +faculties, and those in the acutest and the pertest operations of wit +and subtlety, it argues in what good plight and condition the body is; +so when the cheerfulness of the people is so sprightly up, as that it +has not only wherewith to guard well its own freedom and safety, but to +spare, and to bestow upon the solidest and sublimest points of +controversy and new invention, it betokens us not degenerated, nor +drooping to a fatal decay, by casting off the old and wrinkled skin of +corruption to outlive these pangs, and wax young again, entering the +glorious ways of truth and prosperous virtue, destined to become great +and honourable in these latter ages. Methinks I see in my mind a noble +and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and +shaking her invincible locks: methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her +mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at {29} the full midday +beam; purging and unsealing her long abused sight at the fountain +itself of heavenly radiance; while the whole noise of timorous and +flocking birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter about, +amazed at what she means, and in their envious gabble would +prognosticate a year of sects and schisms. + +What would ye do then, should ye suppress all this flowery crop of +knowledge and new light sprung up and yet springing daily in this city? +Should ye set an oligarchy of twenty engrossers over it, to bring a +famine upon our minds again, when we shall know nothing but what is +measured to us by their bushel? Believe it, lords and commons! they +who counsel ye to such a suppressing, do as good as bid ye suppress +yourselves; and I will soon show how. If it be desired to know the +immediate cause of all this free writing and free speaking, there +cannot be assigned a truer than your own mild and free and humane +government; it is the liberty, lords and commons, which your own +valorous and happy counsels have purchased us; liberty which is the +nurse of all great wits: this is that which hath rarified and +enlightened our spirits like the influence of Heaven; this is that +which hath enfranchised, enlarged, and lifted up our apprehensions +degrees above themselves. Ye cannot make us now less capable, less +knowing, less eagerly pursuing of the truth, unless ye first make +yourselves, that made us so, less the lovers, less the founders of our +true liberty. We can grow ignorant again, brutish, formal, and +slavish, as ye found us; but you then must first become that which ye +cannot be, oppressive, arbitrary and tyrannous, as they were from whom +ye have freed us. {30} That our hearts are now more capacious, our +thoughts more erected to the search and expectation of greatest and +exactest things, is the issue of your own virtue propagated in us; ye +cannot suppress that, unless ye reinforce an abrogated and merciless +law, that fathers may despatch at will their own children. And who +shall then stick closest to thee and excite others? Not he who takes +up arms for coat and conduct, and his four nobles of Danegelt. +Although I dispraise not the defence of just immunities, yet love my +peace better, if that were all. Give me the liberty to know, to utter, +and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. + +(_Areopagitica_.) + + + + +EARL OF CLARENDON 1609-1674 + +DEATH OF FALKLAND + +In this unhappy battle was slain the Lord Viscount Falkland, a person +of such prodigious parts of learning and knowledge, of that inimitable +sweetness and delight in conversation, of so flowing and obliging a +humanity and goodness to mankind, and of that primitive simplicity and +integrity of life, that if there were no other brand upon this odious +and accursed civil war than that single loss, it must be most infamous +and execrable to all posterity. + +Before this parliament his condition of life was so happy that it was +hardly capable of improvement. Before he came to be twenty years of +age, he was master of a noble fortune, which descended to him by the +gift of a {31} grandfather, without passing through his father or +mother, who were then both alive, and not well enough contented to find +themselves passed by in the descent. His education for some years had +been in Ireland, where his father was Lord Deputy; so that, when he +returned into England to the possession of his fortune, he was +unentangled with any acquaintance or friends, which usually grow up by +the custom of conversation; and therefore was to make a pure election +of his company, which he chose by other rules than were prescribed to +the young nobility of that time. And it cannot be denied, though he +admitted some few to his friendship for the agreeableness of their +natures, and their undoubted affection to him, that his familiarity and +friendship for the most part was with men of the most eminent and +sublime parts, and of untouched reputation in point of integrity; and +such had a title to his bosom. + +He was a great cherisher of wit and fancy and good parts in any man, +and, if he found them clouded with poverty or want, a most liberal and +bountiful patron towards them, even above his fortune; of which, in +those administrations, he was such a dispenser, as, if he had been +trusted with it to such uses, and if there had been the least of vice +in his expense, he might have been thought too prodigal. He was +constant and pertinacious in whatsoever he resolved to do, and not to +be wearied by any pains that were necessary to that end. And +therefore, having once resolved not to see London, which he loved above +all places, till he had perfectly learned the Greek tongue, he went to +his own house in the country, and pursued it with that indefatigable +{32} industry, that it will not be believed in how short a time he was +master of it, and accurately read all the Greek historians. + +In this time, his house being within little more than ten miles of +Oxford, he contracted familiarity and friendship with the most polite +and accurate men of that university; who found such an immenseness of +wit and such a solidity of judgment in him, so infinite a fancy, bound +in by a most logical ratiocination, such a vast knowledge, that he was +not ignorant in anything, yet such an excessive humility, as if he had +known nothing, that they frequently resorted, and dwelt with him, as in +a college situated in a purer air; so that his house was a university +in less volume; whither they came not so much for repose as study, and +to examine and refine those grosser propositions, which laziness and +consent made current in vulgar conversation. . . + +From the entrance into this unnatural war, his natural cheerfulness and +vivacity grew clouded, and a kind of sadness and dejection of spirit +stole upon him, which he had never been used to: yet being one of those +who believed that one battle would end all differences, and that there +would be so great a victory on one side, that the other would be +compelled to submit to any conditions from the victor (which +supposition and conclusion generally sunk into the minds of most men, +and prevented the looking after many advantages that might then have +been laid hold of) he resisted those indispositions. But after the +King's return from Brentford, and the furious resolution of the two +houses not to admit any treaty for peace, those indispositions, which +had before touched {33} him, grew into a perfect habit of +uncheerfulness, and he, who had been so exactly easy and affable to all +men that his face and countenance was always present and vacant to his +company, and held any cloudiness and less pleasantness of the visage a +kind of rudeness or incivility, became on a sudden less communicable, +and thence very sad, pale, and exceedingly affected with the spleen. +In his clothes and habit, which he had minded before always with more +neatness and industry and expense than is usual to so great a soul, he +was not now only incurious, but too negligent; and in his reception of +suitors, and the necessary or casual addresses to his place, so quick +and sharp and severe, that there wanted not some men (strangers to his +nature and disposition) who believed him proud and imperious, from +which no mortal man was ever more free. . . + +When there was any overture, or hope of peace, he would be more erect +and vigorous, and exceedingly solicitous to press anything which he +thought might promote it; and sitting among his friends, often, after a +deep silence and frequent sighs, would, with a shrill and sad accent, +ingeminate the word _Peace, peace_; and would passionately profess that +the very agony of the war, and the view of the calamities and +desolation the kingdom did and must endure, took his sleep from him, +and would shortly break his heart. This made some think, or pretend to +think, that he was so much enamoured on peace that he would have been +glad the King should have bought it at any price; which was a most +unreasonable calumny. As if a man that was himself the most punctual +and precise in every circumstance {34} that might reflect upon +conscience or honour, could have wished the King to have committed a +trespass against either. And yet this senseless scandal made some +impression upon him, or at least he used it for an excuse of the +daringness of his spirit; for at the leaguer before Gloucester, when +his friend passionately reprehended him for exposing his person +unnecessarily to danger (for he delighted to visit the trenches and +nearest approaches, and to discover what the enemy did) as being so +much beside the duty of his place that it might be understood rather to +be against it, he would say merrily, that his office could not take +away the privileges of his age, and that a Secretary in war might be +present at the greatest secret of danger; but withal alleged seriously, +that it concerned him to be more active in enterprises of hazard than +other men, that all might see that his impatiency for peace proceeded +not from pusillanimity or fear to adventure his own person. + +In the morning before the battle, as always upon action, he was very +cheerful, and put himself into the first rank of Lord Byron's regiment, +then advancing upon the enemy, who had lined the hedges on both sides +with musketeers; from whence he was shot with a musket in the lower +part of the belly, and in the instant falling from his horse, his body +was not found till the next morning; till when, there was some hope he +might have been a prisoner, though his nearest friends, who knew his +temper, received small comfort from that imagination. Thus fell that +incomparable young man, in the four and thirtieth year of his age, +having so much despatched the true business of life, {35} that the +eldest rarely attain to that immense knowledge, and the youngest enter +not into the world with more innocency. Whosoever leads such a life +needs be the less anxious upon how short warning it is taken from him. + +(_History of the Rebellion_.) + + + + +JOHN BUNYAN 1628-1688 + +THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE + +After this I beheld until they were come unto the land of Beulah, where +the sun shineth night and day. Here, because they were weary, they +betook themselves a while to rest. And because this country was common +for pilgrims, and because the orchards and vineyards that were here +belonged to the King of the Celestial Country, therefore they were +licensed to make bold with any of his things. + +But a little while soon refreshed them here, for the bells did so ring, +and the trumpets continually sound so melodiously, that they could not +sleep; and yet they received as much refreshing as if they had slept +their sleep never so soundly. Here also all the noise of them that +walked the streets was, More pilgrims are come to town. And another +would answer, saying, And so many went over the water, and were let in +at the golden gates to-day. They would cry again, There is now a +legion of shining ones just come to town, by which we know that there +are more pilgrims upon the road; for here {36} they come to wait for +them, and to comfort them after all their sorrow. Then the pilgrims +got up and walked to and fro; but how were their ears now filled with +heavenly noises, and their eyes delighted with celestial visions! In +this land they heard nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing, smelt nothing, +tasted nothing, that was offensive to their stomach or mind; only when +they tasted of the water of the river, over which they were to go, they +thought that tasted a little bitterish to the palate, but it proved +sweeter when 'twas down. + +In this place there was a record kept of the names of them that had +been pilgrims of old, and a history of all the famous acts that they +had done. It was here also much discoursed, how the river to some has +had its flowings, and what ebbings it has had while others have gone +over. It has been in a manner dry for some, while it has overflowed +its banks for others. + +In this place, the children of the town would go into the King's +gardens, and gather nosegays for the pilgrims, and bring them to them +with much affection. Here also grew camphor, with spikenard, and +saffron, calamus, and cinnamon, with all its trees of frankincense, +myrrh, and aloes, with all chief spices. With these the pilgrims' +chambers were perfumed while they stayed here; and with these were +their bodies anointed, to prepare them to go over the river when the +time appointed was come. + +Now while they lay here and waited for the good hour, there was a noise +in the town that there was a post come from the Celestial City with +matter of great importance to one Christiana, the wife of Christian the +{37} pilgrim. So inquiry was made for her, and the house was found out +where she was, so the post presented her with a letter; the contents +whereof was, Hail, good woman, I bring thee tidings that the Master +calleth for thee, and expecteth that thou should stand in His presence, +in clothes of immortality, within this ten days. + +When he had read this letter to her, he gave her therewith a sure token +that he was a true messenger, and was come to bid her make haste to be +gone. The token was an arrow with a point, sharpened with love, let +easily into her heart, which by degrees wrought so effectually with +her, that at the time appointed she must be gone. + +When Christiana saw that her time was come, and that she was the first +of this company that was to go over, she called for Mr Great-heart, her +guide, and told him how matters were. So he told her he was heartily +glad of the news, and could a' been glad had the post come for him. +Then she bid that he should give advice how all things should be +prepared for her journey. + +So he told her, saying, Thus and thus it must be, and we that survive +will accompany you to the riverside. + +Then she called for her children, and gave them her blessing; and told +them that she yet read with comfort the mark that was set in their +foreheads, and was glad to see them with her there, and that they had +kept their garments so white. Lastly, she bequeathed to the poor that +little she had, and commanded her sons and her daughters to be ready +against the messenger should come for them. . . . + +{38} Now the day drew on that Christiana must be gone. So the road was +full of people to see her take her journey. But behold, all the banks +beyond the river were full of horses and chariots, which were come down +from above to accompany her to the city-gate. So she came forth, and +entered the river with a beckon of farewell to those that followed her +to the river-side. The last word she was heard to say was, I come, +Lord, to be with thee, and bless thee. + +So her children and friends returned to their place, for that those +that waited for Christiana had carried her out of their sight. So she +went and called, and entered in at the gate with all the ceremonies of +joy that her husband Christian had done before her. + +At her departure her children wept, but Mr Great-heart and Mr Valiant +played upon the well-tuned cymbal and harp for joy. So all departed to +their respective places. . . . + +Then it came to pass, a while after, that there was a post in the town +that inquired for Mr Honest. So he came to his house where he was, and +delivered to his hand these lines: Thou art commanded to be ready +against this day seven-night, to present thyself before thy Lord at His +Father's house. And for a token that my message is true, "all the +daughters of music shall be brought low." Then Mr Honest called for +his friends, and said unto them, I die, but shall make no will. As for +my honesty, it shall go with me; let him that comes after be told of +this. When the day that he was to be gone was come, he addressed +himself to go over the river. Now the river at that time overflowed +the banks {39} in some places. But Mr Honest, in his life-time, had +spoken to one Good-conscience to meet him there, the which he also did, +and lent him his hand, and so helped him over. The last words of Mr +Honest were, Grace reigns. So he left the world. + +After this it was noised abroad that Mr Valiant-for-truth was taken +with a summons by the same post as the other; and had this for a token +that the summons was true, that his pitcher was broken at the fountain. +When he understood it, he called for his friends, and told them of it. +Then said he: I am going to my Father's, and though with great +difficulty I am got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the +trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him +that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him +that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness +for me that I have fought His battles who now will be my Rewarder. + +When the day that he must go hence was come, many accompanied him to +the river-side; into which as he went he said, Death, where is thy +sting? And as he went down deeper he said, Grave, where is thy +victory? So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on +the other side. . . . + +But glorious it was to see how the open region was filled with horses +and chariots, with trumpeters and pipers, with singers and players on +stringed instruments, to welcome the pilgrims as they went up, and +followed one another in at the beautiful gate of the city. + +(_Pilgrim's Progress_.) + + + + +{40} + +SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE 1628-1699 + +POETRY AND MUSIC + +But to spin off this thread, which is already grown too long; what +honour and request the ancient poetry has lived in, may not only be +observed from the universal reception and use in all nations from China +to Peru, from Scythia to Arabia, but from the esteem of the best and +the greatest men as well as the vulgar. Among the Hebrews, David and +Solomon, the wisest kings, Job and Jeremiah, the holiest men, were the +best poets of their nation and language. Among the Greeks, the two +most renowned sages and lawgivers were Lycurgus and Solon, whereof the +last is known to have excelled in poetry, and the first was so great a +lover of it, that to his care and industry we are said (by some +authors) to owe the collection and preservation of the loose and +scattered pieces, of Homer in the order wherein they have since +appeared. Alexander is reported neither to have travelled nor slept +without those admirable poems always in his company. Phalaris, that +was inexorable to all other enemies, relented at the charms of +Stesichorus his muse. Among the Romans, the last and great Scipio +passed the soft hours of his life in the conversation of Terence, and +was thought to have a part in the composition of his comedies. Caesar +was an excellent poet as well as orator, and composed a poem in his +voyage from Rome to Spain, relieving the tedious difficulties of his +march with the entertainments {41} of his muse. Augustus was not only +a patron, but a friend and companion of Virgil and Horace, and was +himself both an admirer of poetry and a pretender too, as far as his +genius would reach, or his busy scene allow. 'Tis true, since his age +we have few such examples of great Princes favouring or affecting +poetry, and as few perhaps of great poets deserving it. Whether it be +that the fierceness of the Gothic humours, or noise of their perpetual +wars, frighted it away, or that the unequal mixture of the modern +languages would not bear it; certain it is, that the great heights and +excellency both of poetry and music fell with the Roman learning and +empire, and have never since recovered the admiration and applauses +that before attended them. Yet, such as they are amongst us, they must +be confessed to be the softest and sweetest, the most general and most +innocent amusements of common time and life. They still find room in +the courts of Princes and the cottages of shepherds. They serve to +revive and animate the dead calm of poor or idle lives, and to allay or +divert the violent passions and perturbations of the greatest and the +busiest men. And both these effects are of equal use to human life; +for the mind of man is like the sea, which is neither agreeable to the +beholder nor the voyager in a calm or in a storm, but is so to both +when a little agitated by gentle gales; and so the mind, when moved by +soft and easy passions and affections. I know very well that many, who +pretend to be wise by the forms of being grave, are apt to despise both +poetry and music as toys and trifles too light for the use or +entertainment of serious men. But, whoever find {42} themselves wholly +insensible to these charms, would, I think, do well to keep their own +counsel, for fear of reproaching their own temper, and bringing the +goodness of their natures, if not of their understandings, into +question; it may be thought at least an ill sign, if not an ill +constitution, since some of the fathers went so far as to esteem the +love of music a sign of predestination, as a thing divine, and reserved +for the felicities of heaven itself. While this world lasts, I doubt +not but the pleasure and requests of these two entertainments will do +so too: and happy those that content themselves with these, or any +other so easy and so innocent; and do not trouble the world, or other +men, because they cannot be quiet themselves, though nobody hurts them! + +When all is done, human life is, at the greatest and the best, but like +a froward child, that must be played with and humoured a little to keep +it quiet till it falls asleep, and then the care is over. + + + + +SAMUEL PEPYS 1633-1703 + +A DAY IN THE COUNTRY + +July 14th (Lord's Day), 1667. Up, and my wife, a little before four, +and to make us ready; and by and by Mrs Turner come to us, by +agreement, and she and I staid talking below, while my wife dressed +herself, which vexed me that she was so long about it, keeping us till +past five o'clock before she was ready. She ready; and taking some +bottles of wine, and beer, and some {43} cold fowl with us into the +coach, we took coach and four horses, which I had provided last night, +and so away. A very fine day, and so towards Epsom, talking all the +way pleasantly. The country very fine, only the way very dusty. We +got to Epsom by eight o'clock, to the well; where much company, and +there we 'light, and I drank the water. Here I met with divers of our +town, among others with several of the tradesmen of our office, but did +talk but little with them, it growing hot in the sun, and so we took +coach again and to the town, to the King's Head, where our coachman +carried us, and there had an ill room for us to go into, but the best +in the house that was not taken up. Here we called for drink, and +bespoke dinner. We all lay down after dinner (the day being wonderful +hot) to sleep, and each of us took a good nap, and then rose; and Tom +Wilson come to see me, and sat and talked an hour. By and by he +parted, and we took coach and to take the air, there being a fine +breeze abroad; and I went and carried them to the well, and there +filled some bottles of water to carry home with me. Here W. Hewer's +horse broke loose, and we had the sport to see him taken again. Then I +carried them to see my cousin Pepys's house, and 'light, and walked +round about it, and they like it, as indeed it deserves, very well, and +is a pretty place; and then I walked them to the wood hard by, and +there got them in the thickets till they had lost themselves, and I +could not find the way into any of the walks in the wood, which indeed +are very pleasant, if I could have found them. At last got out of the +wood again; and I, by leaping down the little bank, coming out of {44} +the wood, did sprain my right foot, which brought me great present +pain, but presently, with walking, it went away for the present, and so +the women and W. Hewer and I walked upon the Downs, where a flock of +sheep was; and the most pleasant and innocent sight that ever I saw in +my life--we find a shepherd and his little boy reading, far from any +houses or sight of people, the Bible to him; so I made the boy read to +me, which he did, with the forced tone that children do usually read, +that was mighty pretty, and then I did give him something, and went to +the father, and talked with him; and I find he had been a servant in my +cousin Pepys's house, and told me what was become of their old +servants. He did content himself mightily in my liking his boy's +reading, and did bless God for him, the most like one of the old +patriarchs that ever I saw in my life, and it brought those thoughts of +the old age of the world in my mind for two or three days after. We +took notice of his woollen knit stockings of two colours mixed, and of +his shoes shod with iron shoes, both at the toe and heels, and with +great nails in the soles of his feet, which was mighty pretty: and, +taking notice of them, "Why," says the poor man, "the downs, you see, +are full of stones, and we are fain to shoe ourselves thus; and these," +says he, "will make the stones fly till they sing before me." I did +give the poor man something, for which he was mighty thankful, and I +tried to cast stones with his horn crook. He values his dog mightily, +that would turn a sheep any way which he would have him, when he goes +to fold them: told me there was about eighteen score sheep in his +flock, and that he hath four shillings {45} a week the year round for +keeping them: so we posted thence with mighty pleasure in the discourse +we had with this poor man, and Mrs Turner, in the common fields here, +did gather one of the prettiest nosegays that ever I saw in my life. +So to our coach, and through Mr Minnes's wood, and looked upon Mr +Evelyn's house; and so over the common, and through Epsom town to our +inn, in the way stopping a poor woman with her milk-pail, and in one of +my gilt tumblers did drink our bellyfulls of milk, better than any +cream: and so to our inn, and there had a dish of cream, but it was +sour, and so had no pleasure in it; and so paid our reckoning, and took +coach, it being about seven at night, and passed and saw the people +walking with their wives and children to take the air, and we set out +for home, the sun by and by going down, and we in the cool of the +evening all the way with much pleasure home, talking and pleasing +ourselves with the pleasure of this day's work, Mrs Turner mightily +pleased with my resolution, which, I tell her, is never to keep a +country-house, but to keep a coach, and with my wife on the Saturday to +go sometimes for a day to this place, and then quit to another place; +and there is more variety and as little charge, and no trouble, as +there is in a country-house. Anon it grew dark, and as it grew dark we +had the pleasure to see several glow-worms, which was mighty pretty, +but my foot begins more and more to pain me, which Mrs Turner, by +keeping her warm hand upon it, did much ease; but so that when we come +home, which was just at eleven at night, I was not able to walk from +the lane's end to my house without being helped, which did trouble {46} +me, and therefore to bed presently, but, thanks be to God, found that I +had not been missed, nor any business happened in my absence. So to +bed, and there had a cere-cloth laid to my foot and leg alone, but in +great pain all night long. + +(_Diary_.) + + + + +DANIEL DEFOE 1660-1731 + +CAPTAIN SINGLETON IN CHINA + +In the meantime, we came to an anchor under a little island in the +latitude of 23 degrees 28 minutes, being just under the northern +tropic, and about twenty leagues from the island. Here we lay thirteen +days, and began to be very uneasy for my friend William, for they had +promised to be back again in four days, which they might very easily +have done. However, at the end of thirteen days, we saw three sail +coming directly to us, which a little surprised us all at first, not +knowing what might be the case; and we began to put ourselves in a +posture of defence: but as they came nearer us, we were soon satisfied, +for the first vessel was that which William went in, who carried a flag +of truce; and in a few hours they all came to an anchor, and William +came on board us with a little boat, with the Chinese merchant in his +company, and two other merchants, who seemed to be a kind of brokers +for the rest. + +{47} Here he gave us an account how civilly he had been used; how they +had treated him with all imaginable frankness and openness; that they +had not only given him the full value of his spices and other goods +which he carried, in gold, by good weight, but had loaded the vessel +again with such goods as he knew we were willing to trade for; and that +afterwards they had resolved to bring the great ship out of the +harbour, to lie where we were, that so we might make what bargain we +thought fit; only William said he had promised, in our name, that we +should use no violence with them, nor detain any of the vessels after +we had done trading with them. I told him we would strive to outdo +them in civility, and that we would make good every part of his +agreement; in token whereof, I caused a white flag likewise to be +spread at the poop of our great ship, which was the signal agreed on. + +As to the third vessel which came with them, it was a kind of bark of +the country, who, having intelligence of our design to traffic, came +off to deal with us, bringing a good deal of gold and some provisions, +which at that time we were very glad of. + +In short, we traded upon the high seas with these men, and indeed we +made a very good market, and yet sold thieves' pennyworths too. We +sold here about sixty ton of spice, chiefly cloves and nutmegs, and +above two hundred bales of European goods, such as linen and woollen +manufactures. We considered we should have occasion for some such +things ourselves, and so we kept a good quantity of English stuns, +cloth, baize, &c., for ourselves. I shall not take up any of the +little {48} room I have left here with the further particulars of our +trade; it is enough to mention, that, except a parcel of tea, and +twelve bales of fine China wrought silks, we took nothing in exchange +for our goods but gold; so that the sum we took here in that glittering +commodity amounted to above fifty thousand ounces good weight. + +When we had finished our barter, we restored the hostages, and gave the +three merchants about the quantity of twelve hundredweight of nutmegs, +and as many of cloves, with a handsome present of European linen and +stuff for themselves, as a recompense for what we had taken from them; +so we sent them away exceedingly well satisfied. + +Here it was that William gave me an account, that while he was on board +the Japanese vessel, he met with a kind of religious, or Japan priest, +who spoke some words of English to him; and, being very inquisitive to +know how he came to learn any of those words, he told him that there +was in his country thirteen Englishmen; he called them Englishmen very +articulately and distinctly, for he had conversed with them very +frequently and freely. He said that they were all that were left of +two-and-thirty men, who came on shore on the north side of Japan, being +driven upon a great rock in a stormy night, where they lost their ship, +and the rest of their men were drowned; that he had persuaded the king +of his country to send boats off to the rock or island where the ship +was lost, to save the rest of the men, and to bring them on shore, +which was done, and they were used very kindly, and had houses {49} +built for them, and land given them to plant for provision; and that +they lived by themselves. + +He said he went frequently among them, to persuade them to worship +their god (an idol, I suppose, of their own making), which, he said, +they ungratefully refused; and that therefore the king had once or +twice ordered them all to be put to death; but that, as he said, he had +prevailed upon the king to spare them, and let them live their own way, +as long as they were quiet and peaceable, and did not go about to +withdraw others from the worship of the country. + +I asked William why he did not inquire from whence they came. "I did," +said William; "for how could I but think it strange," said he, "to hear +him talk of Englishmen on the north side of Japan?" "Well," said I, +"what account did he give of it?" "An account," said William, "that +will surprise thee, and all the world after thee, that shall hear of +it, and which makes me wish thou wouldst go up to Japan and find them +out." "What do you mean?" said I. "Whence could they come?" "Why," +says William, "he pulled out a little book, and in it a piece of paper, +where it was written, in an Englishman's hand, and in plain English +words, thus; and," says William, "I read it myself:--'We come from +Greenland, and from the North Pole.'" This indeed, was amazing to us +all, and more so to those seamen among us who knew anything of the +infinite attempts which had been made from Europe, as well by the +English as the Dutch, to discover a passage that way into those parts +of the world; and as William pressed as earnestly to go on to the north +to rescue those poor men, so the ship's {50} company began to incline +to it; and, in a word, we all come to this, that we would stand in to +the shore of Formosa, to find this priest again, and have a further +account of it all from him. Accordingly the sloop went over; but when +they came there, the vessels were very unhappily sailed, and this put +an end to our inquiry after them, and perhaps may have disappointed +mankind of one of the most noble discoveries that ever was made, or +will again be made, in the world, for the good of mankind in general; +but so much for that. + +William was so uneasy at losing this opportunity, that he pressed us +earnestly to go up to Japan to find out these men. He told us that if +it was nothing but to recover thirteen honest poor men from a kind of +captivity, which they would otherwise never be redeemed from, and +where, perhaps, they might, some time or other, be murdered by the +barbarous people, in defence of their idolatry, it were very well worth +our while, and it would be, in some measure, making amends for the +mischiefs we had done in the world; but we, that had no concern upon us +for the mischiefs we had done, had much less about any satisfactions to +be made for it, so he found that kind of discourse would weigh very +little with us. Then he pressed us very earnestly to let him have the +sloop to go by himself, and I told him I would not oppose it; but when +he came to the sloop none of the men would go with him; for the case +was plain, they had all a share in the cargo of the great ship, as well +as in that of the sloop, and the richness of the cargo was such that +they would not leave it by any means; so poor William, much to {51} his +mortification, was obliged to give it over. What became of those +thirteen men, or whether they are not there still, I can give no +account of. + +(_Captain Singleton_.) + + + + +JONATHAN SWIFT 1667-1745 + +THE ART OF CONVERSATION + +I have observed few obvious subjects to have been so seldom, or, at +least, so slightly handled as this; and, indeed, I know few so +difficult to be treated as it ought, nor yet upon which there seemeth +so much to be said. + +Most things, pursued by men for the happiness of public or private +life, our wit or folly have so refined; that they seldom subsist but in +idea; a true friend, a good marriage, a perfect form of government, +with some others, require so many ingredients, so good in their several +kinds, and so much niceness in mixing them, that for some thousands of +years men have despaired of reducing their schemes to perfection. But, +in conversation, it is, or might be otherwise; for here we are only to +avoid a multitude of errors, which, although a matter of some +difficulty, may be in every man's power, for want of which it remaineth +as mere an idea as the other. Therefore it seemeth to me, that the +truest way to understand conversation, is to know the faults and errors +to which it is subject, and from thence every man to form maxims to +himself whereby it may be regulated, because it requireth few talents +to which most men are {52} not born, or at least may not acquire +without any great genius or study. For nature hath left every man a +capacity of being agreeable, though not of shining in company; and +there are an hundred men sufficiently qualified for both, who, by a +very few faults, that they might correct in half an hour, are not so +much as tolerable. + +I was prompted to write my thoughts upon this subject by mere +indignation, to reflect that so useful and innocent a pleasure, so +fitted for every period and condition of life, and so much in all men's +power, should be so much neglected and abused. + +And in this discourse it will be necessary to note those errors that +are obvious, as well as others which are seldomer observed, since there +are few so obvious, or acknowledged, into which most men, some time or +other, are not apt to run. + +For instance: Nothing is more generally exploded than the folly of +talking too much; yet I rarely remember to have seen five people +together, where some one among them hath not been predominant in that +kind, to the great constraint and disgust of all the rest. But among +such as deal in multitudes of words, none are comparable to the sober +deliberate talker, who proceedeth with much thought and caution, maketh +his preface, brancheth out into several digressions, findeth a hint +that putteth him in mind of another story which he promiseth to tell +you when this is done; cometh back regularly to his subject, cannot +readily call to mind some person's name, holding his head, complaineth +of his memory; the whole company all this while in {53} suspense; at +length says, it is no matter, and so goes on. And, to crown the +business, it perhaps proveth at last a story the company hath heard +fifty times before; or, at best, some insipid adventure of the relater. + +Another general fault in conversation is, that of those who affect to +talk of themselves: Some, without any ceremony, will run over the +history of their lives; will relate the annals of their diseases, with +the several symptoms and circumstances of them; will enumerate the +hardships and injustice they have suffered in court, in parliament, in +love, or in law. Others are more dexterous, and with great art will +lie on the watch to hook in their own praise: They will call a witness +to remember, they always foretold what would happen in such a case, but +none would believe them; they advised such a man from the beginning, +and told him the consequences, just as they happened; but he would have +his own way. Others make a vanity of telling their faults; they are +the strangest men in the world; they cannot dissemble; they own it is a +folly; they have lost abundance of advantages by it; but, if you would +give them the world, they cannot help it; there is something in their +nature that abhors insincerity and constraint; with many other +insufferable topics of the same altitude. + +Of such mighty importance every man is to himself, and ready to think +he is so to others; without once making this easy and obvious +reflection, that his affairs can have no more weight with other men, +than theirs have with him; and how little that is, he is sensible +enough. + +Where company hath met, I often have observed {54} two persons +discover, by some accident, that they were bred together at the same +school or university, after which the rest are condemned to silence, +and to listen while these two are refreshing each other's memory with +the arch tricks and passages of themselves and their comrades. + +I know a great officer of the army, who will sit for some time with a +supercilious and impatient silence, full of anger and contempt for +those who are talking; at length of a sudden demand audience, decide +the matter in a short dogmatical way; then withdraw within himself +again, and vouchsafe to talk no more, until his spirits circulate again +to the same point. + +There are some faults in conversation, which none are so subject to as +the men of wit, nor ever so much as when they are with each other. If +they have opened their mouths, without endeavouring to say a witty +thing, they think it is so many words lost: It is a torment to the +hearers, as much as to themselves, to see them upon the rack for +invention, and in perpetual constraint, with so little success. They +must do something extraordinary, in order to acquit themselves, and +answer their character, else the standers-by may be disappointed and be +apt to think them only like the rest of mortals. I have known two men +of wit industriously brought together, in order to entertain the +company, where they have made a very ridiculous figure, and provided +all the mirth at their own expense. + +I know a man of wit, who is never easy but where he can be allowed to +dictate and preside: he neither expecteth to be informed or +entertained, but to display {55} his own talents. His business is to +be good company, and not good conversation; and, therefore, he chooseth +to frequent those who are content to listen, and profess themselves his +admirers. And, indeed, the worst conversation I ever remember to have +heard in my life was that at Will's coffeehouse, where the wits (as +they were called) used formerly to assemble; that is to say, five or +six men, who had writ plays, or at least prologues, or had share in a +miscellany, came thither, and entertained one another with their +trifling composures, in so important an air, as if they had been the +noblest efforts of human nature, or that the fate of kingdoms depended +on them; and they were usually attended with an humble audience of +young students from the inns of court, or the universities, who, at due +distance, listened to these oracles, and returned home with great +contempt for their law and philosophy, their heads filled with trash, +under the name of politeness, criticism and _belles lettres_. + +By these means the poets, for many years past, were all overrun with +pedantry. For, as I take it, the word is not properly used; because +pedantry is the too frequent or unreasonable obtruding our own +knowledge in common discourse, and placing too great a value upon it; +by which definition, men of the court or the army may be as guilty of +pedantry as a philosopher or a divine; and, it is the same vice in +women, when they are over copious upon the subject of their petticoats, +or their fans, or their china. For which reason, although it be a +piece of prudence, as well as good manners, to put men upon talking on +subjects they are best versed in, yet that is a liberty a wise man +could hardly take; {56} because, beside the imputation of pedantry, it +is what he would never improve by. + +(_Polite Conversation_.) + + + + +JOSEPH ADDISON 1672-1719 + +THE ROYAL EXCHANGE + +There is no place in the town which I so much love to frequent as the +Royal Exchange. It gives me a secret satisfaction, and in some measure +gratifies my vanity, as I am an Englishman, to see so rich an assembly +of countrymen and foreigners, consulting together upon the private +business of mankind, and making this metropolis a kind of _emporium_ +for the whole earth. I must confess I look upon high-change to be a +great council, in which all considerable nations have their +representatives. Factors in the trading world are what ambassadors are +in the politic world; they negotiate affairs, conclude treaties, and +maintain a good correspondence between those wealthy societies of men +that are divided from one another by seas and oceans, or live on the +different extremities of a continent. I have often been pleased to +hear disputes adjusted between an inhabitant of Japan, and an alderman +of London, or to see a subject of the Great Mogul entering into a +league with one of the Czar of Muscovy. I am infinitely delighted in +mixing with these several ministers of commerce, as they are +distinguished by their different walks and different languages. +Sometimes I am jostled {57} among a body of Armenians; sometimes I am +lost in a crowd of Jews; and sometimes make one in a group of Dutchmen. +I am a Dane, Swede, or Frenchman at different times; or rather fancy +myself like the old philosopher, who upon being asked what countryman +he was, replied that he was a citizen of the world. . . . + +Nature seems to have taken a particular care to disseminate her +blessings among the different regions of the world, with an eye to this +mutual intercourse and traffic among mankind, that the natives of the +several parts of the globe might have a kind of dependence upon one +another, and be united together by their common interest. Almost every +degree produces something peculiar to it. The food often grows in one +country, and the sauce in another. The fruits of Portugal are +corrected by the products of Barbadoes, and the infusion of a China +plant is sweetened with the pith of an Indian cane. The Philippic +islands give a flavour to our European bowls. The single dress of a +woman of quality is often the product of an hundred climates. The muff +and the fan come together from the different ends of the earth. The +scarf is sent from the torrid zone, and the tippet from beneath the +pole. The brocade petticoat rises out of the mines of Peru, and the +diamond necklace out of the bowels of Indostan. + +If we consider our own country in its natural prospect, without any of +the benefits and advantages of commerce, what a barren and +uncomfortable spot of earth falls to our share! Natural historians +tell us, that no fruit grows originally among us, besides hips and +haws, acorns and pig-nuts, with other delicacies of the {58} like +nature; that our climate of itself, and without the assistance of art, +can make no further advances towards a plum than to a sloe, and carries +an apple to no greater a perfection than a crab; that our melons, our +peaches, our figs, our apricots and cherries, are strangers among us, +imported in different ages, and naturalised in our English gardens; and +that they would all degenerate and fall away into the trash of our own +country, if they were wholly neglected by the planter, and left to the +mercy of our sun and soil. Nor has traffic more enriched our vegetable +world, than it has improved the whole face of nature among us. Our +ships are laden with the harvest of every climate. Our tables are +stored with spices and oils and wines. Our rooms are filled with +pyramids of China, and adorned with the workmanship of Japan. Our +morning's draught comes to us from the remotest corners of the earth. +We repair our bodies by the drugs of America, and repose ourselves +under Indian canopies. My friend Sir Andrew calls the vineyards of +France our gardens; the spice-islands, our hot-beds; the Persians our +silk-weavers, and the Chinese our potters. Nature indeed furnishes us +with the bare necessaries of life, but traffic gives us a great variety +of what is useful, and at the same time supplies us with everything +that is convenient and ornamental. Nor is it the least part of this +our happiness, that whilst we enjoy the remotest products of the north +and south, we are free from those extremities of weather which give +them birth; that our eyes are refreshed with the green fields of +Britain, at the same time that our palates are feasted with fruits that +rise between the tropics. + +{59} For these reasons there are not more useful members in a +commonwealth than merchants. They knit mankind together in a mutual +intercourse of good offices, distribute the gifts of nature, find work +for the poor, add wealth to the rich, and magnificence to the great. +Our English merchant converts the tin of his own country into gold, and +exchanges its wool for rubies. The Mahometans are clothed in our +British manufacture, and the inhabitants of the frozen zone warmed with +the fleeces of our sheep. + +When I have been upon the change, I have often fancied one of our old +kings standing in person, where he is represented in effigy, and +looking down upon the wealthy concourse of people with which that place +is every day filled. In this case, how would he be surprised to hear +all the languages of Europe spoken in this little spot of his former +dominions, and to see so many private men, who in his time would have +been the vassals of some powerful baron, negotiating like princes for +greater sums of money than were formerly to be met with in the royal +treasury! Trade, without enlarging the British territories, has given +us a kind of additional empire. It has multiplied the number of the +rich, made our landed estates infinitely more valuable than they were +formerly, and added to them an accession of other estates as valuable +as the lands themselves. + +(_The Spectator_, No. 69.) + + + + +{60} + +RICHARD STEELE 1672-1729 + +SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY'S ANCESTORS + +I was this morning walking in the gallery, when Sir Roger entered at +the end opposite to me, and advancing towards me, said he was glad to +meet me among his relations, the De Coverleys, and hoped I liked the +conversation of so much good company, who were as silent as myself. I +knew he alluded to the pictures, and as he is a gentleman who does not +a little value himself upon his ancient descent, I expected he would +give me some account of them. We were now arrived at the upper end of +the gallery, when the knight faced towards one of the pictures, and as +we stood before it he entered into the matter, after his blunt way of +saying things as they occur to his imagination, without regular +introduction, or care to preserve the appearance of chain of thought. + +"It is," said he, "worth while to consider the force of dress; and how +the persons of one age differ from those of another, merely by that +only. One may observe also that the general fashion of one age has +been followed by one particular set of people in another, and by them +preserved from one generation to another. Thus the vast jetting coat +and small bonnet, which was the habit in Harry the Seventh's time, is +kept on in the Yeomen of the Guard; not without a good and politic +view, because they look a foot taller, and a foot and a half {61} +broader: besides, that the cap leaves the face expanded, and +consequently more terrible, and fitter to stand at the entrance of +palaces. + +"This predecessor of ours, you see, is dressed after this manner, and +his cheeks would be no larger than mine were he in a hat as I am. He +was the last man that won a prize in the Tilt-Yard (which is now a +common street before Whitehall). You see the broken lance that lies +there by his right foot; he shivered that lance of his adversary all to +pieces; and bearing himself, look you, sir, in this manner, at the same +time he came within the target of the gentleman who rode against him, +and taking him with incredible force before him on the pommel of his +saddle, he in that manner rid the tournament over, with an air that +showed he did it rather to perform the rule of the lists, than expose +his enemy; however, it appeared he knew how to make use of a victory, +and with a gentle trot he marched up to a gallery where their mistress +sat (for they were rivals) and let him down with laudable courtesy and +pardonable insolence. I don't know but it might be exactly where the +coffee-house is now. + +"You are to know this my ancestor was not only of a military genius, +but fit also for the arts of peace, for he played on the base-viol as +well as any gentleman at court; you see where his viol hangs by his +basket-hilt sword. The action at the Tilt-Yard you may be sure won the +fair lady, who was a maid-of-honour, and the greatest beauty of her +time; here she stands, the next picture. You see, sir, my +great-great-great-grandmother has on the new-fashioned petticoat, +except that the {62} modern is gathered at the waist; my grandmother +appears as if she stood in a large drum, whereas the ladies now walk as +if they were in a go-cart. For all this lady was bred at court, she +became an excellent country-wife, she brought ten children, and when I +show you the library, you shall see in her own hand (allowing for the +difference of the language) the best receipt now in England both for an +hasty pudding and a whitepot. + +"If you please to fall back a little, because it is necessary to look +at the three next pictures at one view; these are three sisters. She +on the right hand, who is so very beautiful, died a maid; the next to +her, still handsomer, had the same fate, against her will; this homely +thing in the middle had both their portions added to her own, and was +stolen by a neighbouring gentleman, a man of stratagem and resolution, +for he poisoned three mastiffs to come at her, and knocked down two +deer-stealers in carrying her off. Misfortunes happen in all families. +The theft of this romp and so much money, was no great matter to our +estate. But the next heir that possessed it was this soft gentleman, +whom you see there. Observe the small buttons, the little boots, the +laces, the slashes about his clothes, and above all the posture he is +drawn in (which, to be sure, was his own choosing); you see he sits +with one hand on a desk writing, and looking as it were another way, +like an easy writer, or a sonneteer. He was one of those that had too +much wit to know how to live in the world; he was a man of no justice, +but great good manners; he ruined everybody that had anything to do +with him, but {63} never said a rude thing in his life; the most +indolent person in the world, he would sign a deed that passed away +half his estate with his gloves on, but would not put on his hat before +a lady if it were to save his country. He is said to be the first that +made love by squeezing the hand. He left the estate with ten thousand +pounds' debt upon it, but however by all hands I have been informed +that he was every way the finest gentleman in the world. That debt lay +heavy on our house for one generation, but it was retrieved by a gift +from that honest man you see there, a citizen of our name, but nothing +at all akin to us. I know Sir Andrew Freeport has said behind my back, +that this man was descended from one of the ten children of the +maid-of-honour I showed you above. But it was never made out; we +winked at the thing indeed, because money was wanting at that time." + +Here I saw my friend a little embarrassed, and turned my face to the +next portraiture. + +Sir Roger went on with his account of the gallery in the following +manner: "This man (pointing to him I looked at) I take to be the honour +of our house, Sir Humphrey de Coverley; he was in his dealings as +punctual as a tradesman, and as generous as a gentleman. He would have +thought himself as much undone by breaking his word, as if it were to +be followed by bankruptcy. He served his country as knight of this +shire to his dying day. He found it no easy matter to maintain an +integrity in his words and actions, even in things that regarded the +offices which were incumbent upon him, in the care of his own affairs +and relations of life, and therefore dreaded (though he had great +talents) {64} to go into employments of state, where he must be exposed +to the snares of ambition. Innocence of life and great ability were +the distinguishing parts of his character; the latter, he had often +observed, had led to the destruction of the former, and used frequently +to lament that great and good had not the same signification. He was +an excellent husbandman, but had resolved not to exceed such a degree +of wealth; all above it he bestowed in secret bounties many years after +the sum he aimed at for his own use was attained. Yet he did not +slacken his industry, but to a decent old age spent the life and +fortune which was superfluous to himself, in the service of his friends +and neighbours." + +Here we were called to dinner, and Sir Roger ended the discourse of +this gentleman, by telling me, as we followed the servant, that this +his ancestor was a brave man, and narrowly escaped being killed in the +Civil Wars. "For," said he, "he was sent out of the field upon a +private message the day before the Battle of Worcester." The whim of +narrowly escaping, by having been within a day of danger, with other +matters above mentioned, mixed with good sense, left me at a loss +whether I was more delighted with my friend's wisdom or simplicity. + +(_The Spectator_, No. 109.) + + + + +{65} + +HENRY FIELDING 1707-1754 + +PARTRIDGE AT THE PLAY + +In the first row, then, of the first gallery did Mr Jones, Mrs Miller, +her youngest daughter, and Partridge, take their places. Partridge +immediately declared it was the finest place he had ever been in. When +the first music was played, he said, "It was a wonder how so many +fiddlers could play at one time, without putting one another out." +While the fellow was lighting the upper candles, he cried out to Mrs +Miller, "Look, look, madam, the very picture of the man in the end of +the Common-Prayer Book before the gunpowder-treason service." Nor +could he help observing, with a sigh, when all the candles were +lighted, "That here were candles enough burnt in one night, to keep an +honest poor family for a whole twelve-month." + +As soon as the play, which was Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, began, +Partridge was all attention, nor did he break silence till the entrance +of the ghost; upon which he asked Jones, "What man was that in the +strange dress; something," said he, "like what I have seen in a +picture. Sure it is not armour, is it?" Jones answered, "That is the +ghost." To which Partridge replied with a smile, "Persuade me to that, +sir, if you can. Though I can't say I ever actually saw a ghost in my +life, yet I am certain I should know one, if I saw him, better than +that comes to. No, no, sir, ghosts don't appear in such dresses as +that, neither." In this mistake, which caused much {66} laughter in +the neighbourhood of Partridge, he was suffered to continue, till the +scene between the ghost and Hamlet, when Partridge gave that credit to +Mr Garrick, which he had denied to Jones, and fell into so violent a +trembling, that his knees knocked against each other. Jones asked him +what was the matter, and whether he was afraid of the warrior upon the +stage? "O la! sir," said he, "I perceive now it is what you told me. +I am not afraid of anything; for I know it is but a play. And if it +was really a ghost, it could do one no harm at such a distance, and in +so much company; and yet if I was frightened, I am not the only +person." "Why, who," cries Jones, "dost thou take to be such a coward +here besides thyself?" "Nay, you may call me coward if you will, but +if that little man there upon the stage is not frightened, I never saw +any man frightened in my life. Ay, ay: go along with you: Ay, to be +sure! Who's fool then? Will you? Lud have mercy upon such +fool-hardiness!--Whatever happens, it is good enough for you.----Follow +you? I'd follow the devil as soon. Nay, perhaps it is the +devil----for they say he can put on what likeness he pleases.--Oh! here +he is again.----No farther! No, you have gone far enough already; +farther than I'd have gone for all the king's dominions." Jones +offered to speak, but Partridge cried, "Hush, hush! dear sir, don't you +hear him?" And during the whole speech of the ghost, he sat with his +eyes fixed partly on the ghost and partly on Hamlet, and with his mouth +open; the same passions which succeeded each other in Hamlet, +succeeding likewise in him. + +When the scene was over Jones said, "Why, Partridge, {67} you exceed my +expectations. You enjoy the play more than I conceived possible." +"Nay, sir," answered Partridge, "if you are not afraid of the devil, I +can't help it, but to be sure, it is natural to be surprised at such +things, though I know there is nothing in them: not that it was the +ghost that surprised me, neither; for I should have known that to have +been only a man in a strange dress; but when I saw the little man so +frightened himself, it was that which took hold of me." "And dost thou +imagine, then, Partridge," cries Jones, "that he was really +frightened?" "Nay, sir," said Partridge, "did not you yourself observe +afterwards, when he found it was his own father's spirit, and how he +was murdered in the garden, how his fear forsook him by degrees, and he +was struck dumb with sorrow, as it were, just as I should have been, +had it been my own case?--But hush! O la! what noise is that? There +he is again.----Well to be certain, though I know there is nothing at +all in it, I am glad I am not down yonder, where those men are." Then +turning his eyes again upon Hamlet, "Ay, you may draw your sword; what +signifies a sword against the power of the devil?" + +During the second act, Partridge made very few remarks. He greatly +admired the fineness of the dresses; nor could he help observing upon +the king's countenance. "Well," said he, "how people may be deceived +by faces! _Nulla fides fronti_ is, I find, a true saying. Who would +think, by looking in the king's face, that he had ever committed a +murder?" He then inquired after the ghost; but Jones, who intended +that he should be surprised, gave him no other satisfaction, than, +"that {68} he might possibly see him again soon, and in a flash of +fire." + +Partridge sat in a fearful expectation of this; and now, when the ghost +made his appearance, Partridge cried out, "There, sir, now; what say +you now? is he frightened now or no? As much frightened as you think +me, and, to be sure, nobody can help some fears. I would not be in so +bad a condition as what's his name, squire Hamlet, is there, for all +the world. Bless me! what's become of the spirit? As I am a living +soul, I thought I saw him sink into the earth." "Indeed, you saw +right," answered Jones. "Well, well," cries Partridge, "I know it is +only a play: and besides, if there was anything in all this, Madam +Miller would not laugh so; for as to you, sir, you would not be afraid, +I believe, if the devil was here in person.--There, there--Ay, no +wonder you are in such a passion, shake the vile wicked wretch to +pieces. If she was my own mother, I would serve her so. To be sure +all duty to a mother is forfeited by such wicked doings.----Ay, go +about your business, I hate the sight of you." + +Our critic was now pretty silent till the play, which Hamlet introduces +before the king. This he did not at first understand, till Jones +explained it to him; but he no sooner entered into the spirit of it, +than he began to bless himself that he had never committed murder. +Then turning to Mrs Miller, he asked her, "If she did not imagine the +king looked as if he was touched; though he is," said he, "a good +actor, and doth all he can to hide it. Well, I would not have so much +to answer for, as that wicked man there hath, to sit upon a much higher +{69} chair that he sits upon. No wonder he runs away; for your sake +I'll never trust an innocent face again." + +The grave digging scene next engaged the attention of Partridge, who +expressed much surprise at the number of skulls thrown upon the stage. +To which Jones answered, "That it was one of the most famous +burial-places about town." "No wonder, then," cries Partridge, "that +the place is haunted. But I never saw in my life a worse grave-digger. +I had a sexton, when I was clerk, that should have dug three graves +while he is digging one. The fellow handles a spade as if it was the +first time he had ever had one in his hand. Ay, ay, you may sing. You +had rather sing than work, I believe."--Upon Hamlet's taking up the +skull he cried out, "Well! it is strange to see how fearless some men +are: I never could bring myself to touch anything belonging to a dead +man, on any account.--He seemed frightened enough, too, at the ghost, I +thought. _Nemo omnibus horis sapit_." + +Little more worth remembering occurred during the play, at the end of +which Jones asked him, "Which of the players he had liked best?" To +this he answered, with some appearance of indignation at the question, +"The king, without doubt." "Indeed, Mr Partridge," says Mrs Miller, +"you are not of the same opinion with the town; for they are all +agreed, that Hamlet is acted by the best player who ever was on the +stage." "He the best player!" cries Partridge, with a contemptuous +sneer, "why, I could act as well as he myself. I am sure, if I had +seen a ghost, I should have looked in the very same manner, and done +just as he did. And then, {70} to be sure, in that scene, as you +called it, between him and his mother, where you told me he acted so +fine, why, Lord help me, any man, that is, any good man, that had such +a mother, would have done exactly the same. I know you are only joking +with me; but indeed, madam, though I was never at a play in London, yet +I have seen acting before in the country; and the king for my money; he +speaks all his words distinctly, half as loud again as the +other.--Anybody may see he is an actor." + +While Mrs Miller was thus engaged in conversation with Partridge, a +lady came up to Mr Jones, whom he immediately knew to be Mrs +Fitzpatrick. She said, she had seen him from the other part of the +gallery, and had taken that opportunity of speaking to him, as she had +something to say, which might be of great service to himself. She then +acquainted him with her lodgings, and made him an appointment the next +day in the morning; which, upon recollection, she presently changed to +the afternoon; at which time Jones promised to attend her. + +Thus ended the adventure at the play-house; where Partridge had +afforded great mirth, not only to Jones and Mrs Miller, but to all who +sat within hearing, who were more attentive to what he said, than to +anything that passed on the stage. + +He durst not go to bed all that night, for fear of the ghost; and for +many nights after sweated two or three hours before he went to sleep, +with the same apprehensions, and waked several times in great horrors, +crying out, "Lord have mercy upon us! there it is." + +(_Tom Jones_.) + + + + +{71} + +SAMUEL JOHNSON 1709-1784 + +A JOURNEY IN A STAGE-COACH + +In a stage coach the passengers are for the most part wholly unknown to +one another, and without expectation of ever meeting again when their +journey is at an end; one should, therefore, imagine, that it was of +little importance to any of them, what conjectures the rest should form +concerning him. Yet so it is, that as all think themselves secure from +detection, all assume that character of which they are most desirous, +and on no occasion is the general ambition of superiority more +apparently indulged. + +On the day of our departure, in the twilight of the morning, I ascended +the vehicle with three men and two women, my fellow travellers. It was +easy to observe the affected elevation of mien with which every one +entered, and the supercilious civility with which they paid their +compliments to each other. When the first ceremony was dispatched, we +sat silent for a long time, all employed in collecting importance into +our faces, and endeavouring to strike reverence and submission into our +companions. + +It is always observable, that silence propagates itself, and that the +longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find any +thing to say. We began now to wish for conversation; but no one seemed +inclined to descend from his dignity, or first to propose a topic of +discourse. At last a corpulent gentleman, who had equipped himself for +this expedition with a scarlet surtout {72} and a large hat with a +broad lace, drew out his watch, looked on it in silence, and then held +it dangling at his finger. This was, I suppose, understood by all the +company as an invitation to ask the time of the day, but nobody +appeared to heed his overture; and his desire to be talking so far +overcame his resentment, that he let us know of his own accord that it +was past five, and that in two hours we should be at breakfast. + +His condescension was thrown away; we continued all obdurate; the +ladies held up their heads; I amused myself with watching their +behaviour; and of the other two, one seemed to employ himself in +counting the trees as we drove by them, the other drew his hat over his +eyes and counterfeited a slumber. The man of benevolence, to shew that +he was not depressed by our neglect, hummed a tune and beat time upon +his snuff-box. + +Thus universally displeased with one another, and not much delighted +with ourselves, we came at last to the little inn appointed for our +repast; and all began at once to recompense ourselves for the restraint +of silence, by innumerable questions and orders to the people that +attended us. At last, what every one had called for was got, or +declared impossible to be got at that time, and we were persuaded to +sit round the same table; when the gentleman in the red surtout looked +again upon his watch, told us that we had half an hour to spare, but he +was sorry to see so little merriment among us; that all +fellow-travellers were for the time upon the level, and that it was +always his way to make himself one of the company. "I remember," says +he, "it was on just such a morning as this, that I and my lord Mumble +and the {73} duke of Tenterden were out upon a ramble: we called at a +little house as it might be this; and my landlady, I warrant you, not +suspecting to whom she was talking, was so jocular and facetious, and +made so many merry answers to our questions, that we were all ready to +burst with laughter. At last the good woman happening to overhear me +whisper the duke and call him by his title, was so surprised and +confounded, that we could scarcely get a word from her; and the duke +never met me from that day to this, but he talks of the little house, +and quarrels with me for terrifying the landlady." + +He had scarcely time to congratulate himself on the veneration which +this narrative must have procured him from the company, when one of the +ladies having reached out for a plate on a distant part of the table, +began to remark "the inconveniences of travelling, and the difficulty +which they who never sat at home without a great number of attendants +found in performing for themselves such offices as the road required; +but that people of quality often travelled in disguise, and might be +generally known from the vulgar by their condescension to poor +inn-keepers, and the allowance which they made for any defect in their +entertainment; that for her part, while people were civil and meant +well, it was never her custom to find fault, for one was not to expect +upon a journey all that one enjoyed at one's own house." + +A general emulation seemed now to be excited. One of the men, who had +hitherto said nothing, called for the last news-paper; and having +perused it a while with deep pensiveness, "It is impossible," says he, +"for any man to guess how to act with regard to the stocks: last {74} +week it was the general opinion that they would fall; and I sold out +twenty thousand pounds in order to a purchase: they have now risen +unexpectedly; and I make no doubt but at my return to London, I shall +risk thirty thousand pounds amongst them again." + +A young man, who had hitherto distinguished himself only by the +vivacity of his looks, and a frequent diversion of his eyes from one +object to another, upon this closed his snuff-box, and told us, that +"he had a hundred times talked with the chancellor and the judges on +the subject of the stocks; that for his part he did not pretend to be +well acquainted with the principles on which they were established, but +had always heard them reckoned pernicious to trade, uncertain in their +produce, and unsolid in their foundation; and that he had been advised +by three judges, his most intimate friends, never to venture his money +in the funds, but to put it out upon land security, till he could light +upon an estate in his own country." + +It might be expected, that upon these glimpses of latent dignity, we +should all have begun to look round us with veneration; and have +behaved like the princes of romance, when the enchantment that +disguises them is dissolved and they discover the dignity of each +other: yet it happened, that none of these hints made much impression +on the company; everyone was apparently suspected of endeavouring to +impose false appearances upon the rest; all continued their +haughtiness, in hopes to enforce their claims; and all grew every hour +more sullen, because they found their representations of themselves +without effect. + +{75} Thus we travelled on four days with malevolence perpetually +increasing, and without any endeavour but to outvie each other in +superciliousness and neglect; and when any two of us could separate +ourselves for a moment, we vented our indignation at the sauciness of +the rest. + +At length the journey was at an end; and time and chance, that strip +off all disguises, have discovered, that the intimate of lords and +dukes is a nobleman's butler, who has furnished a shop with the money +he has saved; the man who deals so largely in the funds, is a clerk of +a broker in 'Change-alley; the lady who so carefully concealed her +quality, keeps a cook-shop behind the Exchange; and the young man, who +is so happy in the friendship of the judges, engrosses and transcribes +for bread in a garret of the Temple. Of one of the women only I could +make no disadvantageous detection, because she had assumed no +character, but accommodated herself to the scene before her, without +any struggle for distinction or superiority. + +I could not forbear to reflect on the folly of practising a fraud, +which, as the event shewed, had been already practised too often to +succeed, and by the success of which no advantage could have been +obtained; of assuming a character, which was to end with the day; and +of claiming upon false pretences honours which must perish with the +breath that paid them. + +But, Mr Adventurer, let not those who laugh at me and my companions, +think this folly confined to a stage coach. Every man in the journey +of life takes the same advantage of the ignorance of his fellow +travellers, disguises himself in counterfeited merit, and hears those +{76} praises with complacency which his conscience reproaches him for +accepting. Every man deceives himself, while he thinks he is deceiving +others; and forgets that the time is at hand when every illusion shall +cease, when fictitious excellence shall be torn away, and all must be +shown to all in their real estate. + +I am, Sir, + Your humble servant, + VIATOR. + +(_The Adventurer_.) + + + + +LAURENCE STERNE 1713-1768 + +HOW UNCLE TOBY AND CORPORAL TRIM FOLLOWED MARLBOROUGH'S CAMPAIGNS + +If the reader has not a clear conception of the rood and the half of +ground which lay at the bottom of my uncle Toby's kitchen-garden, and +which was the scene of so many of his delicious hours,--the fault is +not in me,--but in his imagination;--for I am sure I gave him so minute +a description, I was almost ashamed of it. + +When _Fate_ was looking forwards one afternoon, into the great +transactions of future times,--and recollected for what purposes this +little plot, by a decree fast bound down in iron, had been +destined,--she gave a nod to _Nature_:--'twas enough,--Nature threw +half a spadeful of her kindliest compost upon it, with just so _much_ +clay in {77} it as to retain the forms of angles and indenting,--and so +_little_ of it too, as not to cling to the spade, and render works of +so much glory, nasty in foul weather. + +My uncle Toby came down, as the reader has been informed, with plans +along with him, of almost every fortified town in Italy and Flanders; +so let the Duke of Marlborough, or the allies, have set down before +what town they pleased, my uncle Toby was prepared for them. + +His way, which was the simplest one in the world, was this: as soon as +ever a town was invested--(but sooner when the design was known) to +take the plan of it (let it be what town it would) and enlarge it upon +a scale to the exact size of his bowling green; upon the surface of +which, by means of a large roll of packthread, and a number of small +pickets driven into the ground, at the several angles and redans, he +transferred the lines from his paper; then taking the profile of the +place, with its works, to determine the depths and slopes of the +ditches,--the talus of the glacis, and the precise height of the +several _banquettes_, parapets, etc.--he set the Corporal to work; and +sweetly went it on.--The nature of the soil,--the nature of the work +itself,--and, above all, the good-nature of my uncle Toby, sitting by +from morning to night, and chatting kindly with the Corporal upon past +done deeds,--left _labour_ little else but the ceremony of the name. . . + +When the town, with its works, was finished, my uncle Toby and the +Corporal began to run their first parallel,--not at random, or +anyhow,--but from the same points and distances the allies had begun to +run {78} theirs; and regulating their approaches and attacks by the +accounts my uncle Toby received from the daily papers,--they went on, +during the whole siege, step by step, with the allies. + +When the Duke of Marlborough made a lodgment,--my uncle Toby made a +lodgment too;--and when the face of a bastion was battered down, or a +defence ruined,--the Corporal took his mattock and did as much,--and so +on;--gaining ground, and making themselves masters of the works, one +after another, till the town fell into their hands. + +To one who took pleasure in the happy state of others, there could not +have been a greater sight in the world than on a post-morning, in which +a practicable breach had been made by the Duke of Marlborough in the +main body of the place,--to have stood behind the horn-beam hedge, and +observed the spirit with which my uncle Toby, with Trim behind him, +sallied forth;--the one with the Gazette in his hand,--the other with a +spade on his shoulder, to execute the contents.--What an honest triumph +in my uncle Toby's looks as he marched up to the ramparts! what intense +pleasure swimming in his eye as he stood over the Corporal, reading the +paragraph ten times over to him, as he was at work, lest, peradventure, +he should make the breach an inch too wide,--or leave it an inch too +narrow!--but when the _chamade_ was beat, and the Corporal helped my +uncle up it, and followed with the colours in his hand, to fix them +upon the ramparts,--Heaven! Earth! Sea!--but what avail +apostrophes?--with all your elements, wet or dry, ye never compounded +so intoxicating a draught. + +{79} In this track of happiness for many years, without one +interruption to it, except now and then when the wind continued to blow +due west for a week or ten days together, which detained the Flanders +mail, and kept them so long in torture, but still it was the torture of +the happy:--in this track, I say, did my uncle Toby and Trim move for +many years, every year of which, and sometimes every month, from the +invention of either the one or the other of them, adding some new +conceit or quirk of improvement to their operations, which always +opened fresh springs of delight in carrying them on. + +(_Tristram Shandy_.) + + + + +HORACE WALPOLE 1717-1797 + +THE FUNERAL OF GEORGE II + +_Horace Walpole to George Montagu_ + +ARLINGTON STREET, + +_November_ 13, 1760. + +Even the honeymoon of a new reign don't produce events every day. +There is nothing but the common saying of addresses and kissing +hands. . . For the King himself, he seems all good nature, and wishing +to satisfy everybody; all his speeches are obliging. + +I saw him again yesterday, and was surprised to find the levee-room had +lost so entirely the air of the lion's den. This sovereign don't stand +in one spot, with his eyes fixed royally on the ground, and dropping +bits of {80} German news: he walks about, and speaks to everybody. I +saw him afterwards on the throne where he is graceful and genteel, sits +with dignity and reads his answers to addresses well; it was the +Cambridge address, carried by the Duke of Newcastle in his doctor's +gown, and looking like the _Medecin malgre lui_. He had been +vehemently solicitous for attendance for fear my Lord Westmoreland, who +vouchsafes himself to bring the address from Oxford, should outnumber +him. Lord Litchfield and several other Jacobites have kissed hands; +George Selwyn says, "They go to St James', because _now_ there are so +many Stuarts there." + +Do you know, I had the curiosity to go to the burying t'other night; I +had never seen a royal funeral; nay, I walked as a rag of quality, +which I found would be, and so it was, the easiest way of seeing it. +It is absolutely a noble sight. The Prince's chamber, hung with +purple, and a quantity of silver lamps, the coffin under a canopy of +purple velvet, and six vast chandeliers of silver on high stands, had a +very good effect. The ambassador from Tripoli and his son were carried +to see that chamber. + +The procession, through a line of foot-guards, every seventh man +bearing a torch, the horse-guards lining the outside, their officers +with drawn sabres and crape sashes on horse-back, the drums muffled, +the fifes, bells tolling, and minute guns,--all this was very solemn. +But the charm was the entrance of the abbey, where we were received by +the dean and chapter in rich robes, the choir and almsmen bearing +torches; the whole abbey so illuminated, that one saw it to greater +advantage than by {81} day; the tombs, long aisles, and fretted roof, +all appearing distinctly, and with the happiest _chiaroscuro_. There +wanted nothing but incense, and little chapels here and there, with +priests saying mass for the repose of the defunct; yet one could not +complain of its not being catholic enough. I had been in dread of +being coupled with some boy of ten years old; but the heralds were not +very accurate, and I walked with George Grenville, taller and older, to +keep me in countenance. When we came to the chapel of Henry the +Seventh, all solemnity and decorum ceased; no order was observed, +people sat or stood where they could or would; the Yeomen of the Guard +were crying out for help, oppressed by the immense weight of the +coffin; the bishop read sadly and blundered in the prayers; the fine +chapter, _Man that is born of woman_, was chanted, not read; and the +anthem, besides being immeasurably tedious, would have served as well +for a nuptial. The real serious part was the figure of the Duke of +Cumberland, heightened by a thousand melancholy circumstances. He had +a dark brown adonis, and a cloak of black cloth, with a train of five +yards. + +Attending the funeral of a father could not be pleasant; his leg +extremely bad, yet forced to stand upon it near two hours; his face +bloated and distorted with his late paralytic stroke, which has +affected, too, one of his eyes; and placed over the mouth of the vault +into which, in all probability, he must himself so soon descend; think +how unpleasant a situation! He bore it all with a firm and unaffected +countenance. This grave scene was fully contrasted by the burlesque +Duke {82} of Newcastle. He fell into a fit of crying the moment he +came into the chapel, and flung himself back in a stall, the archbishop +hovering over him with a smelling-bottle; but in two minutes his +curiosity got the better of his hypocrisy, and he ran about the chapel +with his glass to spy who was or was not there, spying with one hand, +and mopping his eyes with the other. Then returned the fear of +catching cold; and the Duke of Cumberland, who was sinking with heat, +felt himself weighed down, and turning round, found it was the Duke of +Newcastle standing upon his train, to avoid the chill of the marble. +It is very theatric to look down into the vault, where the coffin was, +attended by mourners with lights. Clavering, the groom of the +bed-chamber, refused to sit up with the body, and was dismissed by the +King's order. + +I have nothing more to tell you, but a trifle, a very trifle. The King +of Prussia has totally defeated Marshal Daun. This, which would have +been prodigious news a month ago, is nothing to-day; it only takes its +turn among the questions, "Who is to be the groom of the bedchamber? +What is Sir T. Robinson to have?" I have been to Leicester Fields +to-day; the crowd was immoderate; I don't believe it will continue so. +Good night. + +(_Letters_.) + + + + +{83} + +OLIVER GOLDSMITH 1728-1774 + +THE CREDULITY OF THE ENGLISH + +It is the most usual method in every report, first to examine its +probability, and then act as the conjuncture may require. The English, +however, exert a different spirit in such circumstances; they first +act, and when too late, begin to examine. From a knowledge of this +disposition, there are several here, who make it their business to +frame new reports at every convenient interval, all tending to denounce +ruin, both on their contemporaries and their posterity. This +denunciation is eagerly caught up by the public: away they fling to +propagate the distress; sell out at one place, buy in at another, +grumble at their governors, shout in mobs, and when they have thus for +some time behaved like fools, sit down coolly to argue and talk wisdom, +to puzzle each other with syllogism, and prepare for the next report +that prevails, which is always attended with the same success. + +Thus are they ever rising above one report, only to sink into another. +They resemble a dog in a well, pawing to get free. When he has raised +his upper parts above water, and every spectator imagines him +disengaged, his lower parts drag him down again and sink him to the +nose; he makes new efforts to emerge, and every effort increasing his +weakness, only tends to sink him the deeper. . . + +{84} This people would laugh at my simplicity, should I advise them to +be less sanguine in harbouring gloomy predictions, and examine coolly +before they attempted to complain. I have just heard a story, which, +though transacted in a private family, serves very well to describe the +behaviour of the whole nation, in cases of threatened calamity. As +there are public, so there are private incendiaries here. One of the +last, either for the amusement of his friends, or to divert a fit of +the spleen, lately sent a threatening letter to a worthy family in my +neighbourhood, to this effect: + +"Sir,--Knowing you to be very rich, and finding myself to be very poor, +I think proper to inform you, that I have learned the secret of +poisoning man, woman, and child, without danger of detection. Don't be +uneasy, Sir, you may take your choice of being poisoned in a fortnight, +or poisoned in a month, or poisoned in six weeks; you shall have full +time to settle all your affairs. Though I am poor, I love to do things +like a gentleman. But, Sir, you must die. Blood, Sir, blood is my +trade; so I could wish you would this day six weeks take leave of your +friends, wife, and family, for I cannot possibly allow you longer time. +To convince you more certainly of the power of my art, by which you may +know I speak truth, take this letter; when you have read it, tear off +the seal, fold it up, and give it to your favourite Dutch mastiff that +sits by the fire; he will swallow it, Sir, like a buttered toast: in +three hours four minutes after he has taken it, he will attempt to bite +off his own tongue, and half an hour after burst asunder in twenty +pieces. Blood! blood! blood! So no more at present from, {85} Sir, +your most obedient, most devoted humble servant to command, till death." + +You may easily imagine the consternation into which this letter threw +the whole good-natured family. The poor man to whom it was addressed +was the more surprised, as not knowing how he could merit such +inveterate malice. All the friends of the family were convened; it was +universally agreed that it was a most terrible affair, and that the +government should be solicited to offer a reward and a pardon: a fellow +of this kind would go on poisoning family after family; and it was +impossible to say where the destruction would end. In pursuance of +these determinations, the government was applied to; strict search was +made after the incendiary, but all in vain. At last, therefore, they +recollected that the experiment was not yet tried upon the dog; the +Dutch mastiff was brought up, and placed in the midst of the friends +and relations; the seal was torn off, the packet folded up with care, +and soon they found, to the great surprise of all--that the dog would +not eat the letter. Adieu. + +(_Citizen of the World_.) + + + + +EDMUND BURKE 1729-1797 + +DECAY OF THE PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY + +We may amuse ourselves with talking as much as we please of the virtue +of middle or humble life; that is, we may place our confidence in the +virtue of those who {86} have never been tried. But if the persons who +are continually emerging out of that sphere be no better than those +whom birth has placed above it, what hopes are there in the remainder +of the body, which is to furnish the perpetual succession of the state? +All who have ever written on government are unanimous that among a +people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist. And indeed how is +it possible? When those who are to make the laws, to guard, to +enforce, or to obey them, are by a tacit confederacy of manners +indisposed to the spirit of all generous and noble institutions. + +I am aware that the age is not what we all wish. But I am sure that +the only means of checking its precipitate degeneracy is heartily to +concur with whatever is the best in our time: and to have some more +correct standard of judging what that best is than the transient and +uncertain favour of a court. If once we are able to find and can +prevail on ourselves to strengthen an union of such men, whatever +accidentally becomes indisposed to ill-exercised power, even by the +ordinary operation of human passions, must join with that society, and +cannot long be joined without in some degree assimilating to it. +Virtue will catch as well as vice by contact, and the public stock of +honest, manly principle will daily accumulate. We are not too nicely +to scrutinise motives as long as action is irreproachable. It is +enough (and for a worthy man perhaps too much) to deal out its infamy +to convicted guilt and declared apostasy. + +This, gentlemen, has been from the beginning the rule of my conduct; +and I mean to continue it as long as such a body as I have described +can by any possibility {87} be kept together, for I should think it the +most dreadful of all offences, not only towards the present generation +but to all the future, if I were to do anything which could make the +minutest breach in this great conservatory of free principles. Those +who perhaps have the same intentions but are separated by some little +political animosities will I hope discern at last how little conducive +it is to any rational purpose to lower its reputation. For my part, +gentlemen, from much experience, from no little thinking, and from +comparing a great variety of things, I am thoroughly persuaded that the +last hope of preserving the spirit of the English constitution, or of +re-uniting the dissipated members of the English race upon a common +plan of tranquillity and liberty, does entirely depend on their firm +and lasting union, and above all on their keeping themselves from that +despair which is so very apt to fall on those whom a violence of +character and a mixture of ambitious views do not support through a +long, painful, and unsuccessful struggle. + +There never, gentlemen, was a period in which the stedfastness of some +men has been put to so sore a trial. It is not very difficult for +well-formed minds to abandon their interest, but the separation of fame +and virtue is a harsh divorce. Liberty is in danger of being made +unpopular to Englishmen. Contending for an imaginary power we begin to +acquire the spirit of domination and to lose the relish of an honest +equality. The principles of our forefathers become suspected to us, +because we see them animating the present opposition of our children. +The faults which grow out of the luxuriance of freedom appear much more +shocking to us than the {88} base vices which are generated from the +rankness of servitude. Accordingly, the least resistance to power +appears more inexcusable in our eyes than the greatest abuses of +authority. All dread of a standing military force is looked upon as a +superstitious panic. All shame of calling in foreigners and savages in +a civil contest is worn off. We grow indifferent to the consequences +inevitable to ourselves from the plan of ruling half the empire by a +mercenary sword. We are taught to believe that a desire of domineering +over our countrymen is love to our country, that those who hate civil +war abet rebellion, and that the amiable and conciliatory virtues of +lenity, moderation, and tenderness of the privileges of those who +depend on this kingdom are a sort of treason to the state. + +It is impossible that we should remain long in a situation which breeds +such notions and dispositions without some great alteration in the +national character. Those ingenuous and feeling minds who are so +fortified against all other things, and so unarmed to whatever +approaches in the shape of disgrace, finding these principles, which +they considered as sure means of honour, to be grown into disrepute, +will retire disheartened and disgusted. Those of a more robust make, +the bold, able, ambitious men who pay some of their court to power +through the people, and substitute the voice of transient opinion in +the place of true glory, will give in to the general mode; and those +superior understandings which ought to correct vulgar prejudice will +confirm and aggravate its errors. Many things have been long operating +towards a gradual change in our principles. {89} But this American war +has done more in a very few years than all the other causes could have +effected in a century. It is therefore not on its own separate +account, but because of its attendant circumstances that I consider its +continuance or its ending in any way but that of an honourable and +liberal accommodation as the greatest evils which can befall us. For +that reason I have troubled you with this long letter. For that reason +I entreat you again and again neither to be persuaded, shamed, or +frighted out of the principles that have hitherto led so many of you to +abhor the war, its cause, and its consequences. Let us not be among +the first who renounce the maxims of our forefathers. + +(_Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, on the affairs of America_.) + + + + +WILLIAM COWPER 1731-1800 + +THE CANDIDATE FOR PARLIAMENT + +_To the Rev. John Newton_. + +_March_ 29, 1784. + +MY DEAR FRIEND,--It being his majesty's pleasure that I should yet have +another opportunity to write before he dissolves the parliament, I +avail myself of it with all possible alacrity. I thank you for your +last, which was not the less welcome for coming, like an extraordinary +gazette, at a time when it was not expected. + +{90} As when the sea is uncommonly agitated, the water finds its way +into creeks and holes of rocks, which in its calmer state it never +reaches, in like manner the effect of these turbulent times is felt +even at Orchard side, where in general we live as undisturbed by the +political element, as shrimps or cockles that have been accidentally +deposited in some hollow beyond the water mark, by the usual dashing of +the waves. We were sitting yesterday after dinner, the two ladies and +myself, very composedly, and without the least apprehension of any such +intrusion in our snug parlour, one lady knitting, the other netting, +and the gentleman winding worsted, when to our unspeakable surprise a +mob appeared before the window; a smart rap was heard at the door, the +boys halloo'd, and the maid announced Mr Grenville. Puss was +unfortunately let out of her box, so that the candidate, with all his +good friends at his heels, was refused admittance at the grand entry, +and referred to the back door, as the only possible way of approach. + +Candidates are creatures not very susceptible of affronts, and would +rather, I suppose, climb in at a window, than be absolutely excluded. +In a minute, the yard, the kitchen, and the parlour, were filled. Mr +Grenville advancing toward me shook me by the hand with a degree of +cordiality that was extremely seducing. As soon as he and as many more +as could find chairs were seated, he began to open the intent of his +visit. I told him I had no vote, for which he readily gave me credit. +I assured him I had no influence, which he was not equally inclined to +believe, and the less, no doubt, because Mr Ashburner, the {91} +drapier, addressing himself to me at this moment, informed me that I +had a great deal. Supposing that I could not be possessed of such a +treasure without knowing it, I ventured to confirm my first assertion, +by saying, that if I had any I was utterly at a loss to imagine where +it could be, or wherein it consisted. Thus ended the conference. Mr +Grenville squeezed me by the hand again, kissed the ladies, and +withdrew. He kissed likewise the maid in the kitchen, and seemed upon +the whole a most loving, kissing, kind-hearted gentleman. He is very +young, genteel, and handsome. He has a pair of very good eyes in his +head, which not being sufficient as it should seem for the many nice +and difficult purposes of a senator, he has a third also, which he wore +suspended by a ribband from his buttonhole. The boys halloo'd, the +dogs barked, Puss scampered, the hero, with his long train of +obsequious followers, withdrew. We made ourselves very merry with the +adventure, and in a short time settled into our former tranquillity, +never probably to be thus interrupted more. I thought myself, however, +happy in being able to affirm truly that I had not that influence for +which he sued; and which, had I been possessed of it, with my present +views of the dispute between the Crown and the Commons, I must have +refused him, for he is on the side of the former. It is comfortable to +be of no consequence in a world where one cannot exercise any without +disobliging somebody. The town however seems to be much at his +service, and if he be equally successful throughout the county, he will +undoubtedly gain his election. Mr Ashburner perhaps {92} was a little +mortified, because it was evident that I owed the honour of this visit +to his misrepresentation of my importance. But had he thought proper +to assure Mr Grenville that I had three heads, I should not I suppose +have been bound to produce them. + +Mr Scott, who you say was so much admired in your pulpit, would be +equally admired in his own, at least by all capable judges, were he not +so apt to be angry with his congregation. This hurts him, and had he +the understanding and eloquence of Paul himself, would still hurt him. +He seldom, hardly ever indeed, preaches a gentle, well-tempered sermon, +but I hear it highly commended: but warmth of temper, indulged to a +degree that may be called scolding, defeats the end of preaching. It +is a misapplication of his powers, which it also cripples, and teases +away his hearers. But he is a good man, and may perhaps outgrow it. + +Many thanks for the worsted, which is excellent. We are as well as a +spring hardly less severe than the severest winter will give us leave +to be. With our united love, we conclude ourselves yours and Mrs +Newton's affectionate and faithful + + W. C. + M. U. + +(_Letters_.) + + + + +{93} + +EDWARD GIBBON 1737-1794 + +YOUTH + +At the conclusion of this first period of my life, I am tempted to +enter a protest against the trite and lavish praise of the happiness of +our boyish years, which is echoed with so much affectation in the +world. That happiness I have never known, that time I have never +regretted; and were my poor aunt still alive, she would bear testimony +to the early and constant uniformity of my sentiments. It will, +indeed, be replied that _I_ am not a competent judge; that pleasure is +incompatible with pain, that joy is excluded from sickness; and that +the felicity of a school-boy consists in the perpetual motion of +thoughtless and playful agility, in which I was never qualified to +excel. My name, it is most true, could never be enrolled among the +sprightly race, the idle progeny of Eton or Westminster, who delight to +cleave the water with pliant arm, to urge the flying ball, and to chase +the speed of the rolling circle. But I would ask the warmest and most +active hero of the play-field whether he can seriously compare his +childish with his manly enjoyments. . . . A state of happiness arising +only from the want of foresight and reflection shall never provoke my +envy; such degenerate taste would tend to sink us in the scale of +beings from a man to a child, a dog and an oyster, till we had reached +the confines of brute matter, which cannot suffer because it cannot +feel. The poet may gaily describe the short hours of {94} recreation; +but he forgets the daily, tedious labours of the school, which is +approached each morning with anxious and reluctant steps. Degrees of +misery are proportioned to the mind rather than to the object; _parva +leves capiunt animos_; and few men, in the trials of life, have +experienced a more painful sensation than the poor school-boy with an +imperfect task, who trembles on the eve of the black Monday. A school +is the cavern of fear and sorrow; the mobility of the captive youths is +chained to a book and a desk; an inflexible master commands their +attention, which every moment is impatient to escape; they labour like +the soldiers of Persia under the scourge, and their education is nearly +finished before they can apprehend the sense or utility of the harsh +lessons which they are forced to repeat. Such blind and absolute +dependence may be necessary, but can never be delightful: Freedom is +the first wish of our heart; freedom is the first blessing of our +nature; and, unless we bind ourselves with the voluntary chains of +interest or passion, we advance in freedom as we advance in years. + +(_Autobiography_.) + + + + +JAMES BOSWELL 1740-1795 + +FIRST SIGHT OF DR JOHNSON + +1763. This is to me a memorable year; for in it I had the happiness to +obtain the acquaintance of that extraordinary man whose memoirs I am +now writing; an acquaintance which I shall ever esteem as one of {95} +the most fortunate circumstances in my life. Though then but +two-and-twenty, I had for several years read his works with delight and +instruction, and had the highest reverence for their author, which had +grown up in my fancy into a kind of mysterious veneration, by figuring +to myself a state of solemn abstraction, in which I supposed him to +live in the immense metropolis of London. Mr Gentleman, a native of +Ireland, who passed some years in Scotland as a player, and as an +instructor in the English language, a man whose talents and worth were +depressed by misfortunes, had given me a representation of the figure +and manner of DICTIONARY JOHNSON! as he was then generally called; and +during my first visit to London, which was for three months in 1760, Mr +Derrick the poet, who was Gentleman's friend and countryman, flattered +me with hopes that he would introduce me to Johnson, an honour of which +I was very ambitious. But he never found an opportunity; which made me +doubt that he had promised to do what was not in his power; till +Johnson some years afterwards told me, "Derrick, Sir, might very well +have introduced you. I had a kindness for Derrick, and am sorry he is +dead." + +In the summer of 1761 Mr Thomas Sheridan was at Edinburgh, and +delivered lectures upon the English language and Public Speaking to +large and respectable audiences. I was often in his company, and heard +him frequently expatiate upon Johnson's extraordinary knowledge, +talents, and virtues, repeat his pointed sayings, describe his +particularities, and boast of his being his guest sometimes till two or +three in the morning. At {96} his house I hoped to have many +opportunities of seeing the sage, as Mr Sheridan obligingly assured me +I should not be disappointed. + +When I returned to London in the end of 1762, to my surprise and regret +I found an irreconcileable difference had taken place between Johnson +and Sheridan. A pension of two hundred pounds a year had been given to +Sheridan. Johnson, who, as has been already mentioned, thought +slightingly of Sheridan's art, upon hearing that he was also pensioned, +exclaimed, "What! have they given _him_ a pension? Then it is time for +me to give up mine." Whether this proceeded from a momentary +indignation, as if it were an affront to his exalted merit that a +player should be rewarded in the same manner with him, or was the +sudden effect of a fit of peevishness, it was unluckily said, and, +indeed, cannot be justified. Mr Sheridan's pension was granted to him +not as a player, but as a sufferer in the cause of government, when he +was manager of the Theatre Royal in Ireland, when parties ran high in +1753. And it must also be allowed that he was a man of literature, and +had considerably improved the arts of reading and speaking with +distinctness and propriety. . . . + +This rupture with Sheridan deprived Johnson of one of his most +agreeable resources for amusement in his lonely evenings; for +Sheridan's well-informed, animated, and bustling mind never suffered +conversation to stagnate; and Mrs Sheridan was a most agreeable +companion to an intellectual man. She was sensible, ingenious, +unassuming, yet communicative. I recollect, with satisfaction, many +pleasing hours which I passed with her {97} under the hospitable roof +of her husband, who was to me a very kind friend. Her novel, entitled +_Memoirs of Miss Sydney Biddulph_, contains an excellent moral while it +inculcates a future state of retribution; and what it teaches is +impressed upon the mind by a series of as deep distress as can affect +humanity, in the amiable and pious heroine who goes to her grave +unrelieved, but resigned, and full of hope of heaven's mercy. Johnson +paid her this high compliment upon it: "I know not, Madam, that you +have a right, upon moral principles, to make your readers suffer so +much." + +Mr Thomas Davies, the actor, who then kept a bookseller's shop in +Russell Street, Covent Garden, told me that Johnson was very much his +friend, and came frequently to his house, where he more than once +invited me to meet him; but by some unlucky accident or other he was +prevented from coming to us. + +Mr Thomas Davies was a man of good understanding and talents, with the +advantage of a liberal education. Though somewhat pompous, he was an +entertaining companion; and his literary performances have no +inconsiderable share of merit. He was a friendly and very hospitable +man. Both he and his wife (who has been celebrated for her beauty), +though upon the stage for many years, maintained an uniform decency of +character; and Johnson esteemed them, and lived in an as easy an +intimacy with them, as with any family which he used to visit. Mr +Davies recollected several of Johnson's remarkable sayings, and was one +of the best of the many imitators of his voice and manner, while +relating them. He increased my impatience more and more to see the +{98} extraordinary man whose works I highly valued, and whose +conversation was reported to be so peculiarly excellent. + +At last, on Monday the 16th of May, when I was sitting in Mr Davies's +back-parlour, after having drunk tea with him and Mrs Davies, Johnson +unexpectedly came into the shop; and Mr Davies having perceived him +through the glass door in the room in which we were sitting, advancing +towards us,--he announced his aweful approach to me, somewhat in the +manner of an actor in the part of Horatio, when he addresses Hamlet on +the appearance of his father's ghost, "Look, my lord, it comes." I +found that I had a very perfect idea of Johnson's figure, from the +portrait of him painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds soon after he had +published his _Dictionary_, in the attitude of sitting in his easy +chair in deep meditation, which was the first picture his friend did +for him, which Sir Joshua very kindly presented to me, and from which +an engraving has been made for this work. Mr Davies mentioned my name, +and respectfully introduced me to him. I was much agitated; and +recollecting his prejudice against the Scotch, of which I had heard +much, I said to Davies, "Don't tell where I come from."--"From +Scotland," cried Davies, roguishly. "Mr Johnson (said I) I do indeed +come from Scotland, but I cannot help it." I am willing to flatter +myself that I meant this as light pleasantry to soothe and conciliate +him, and not as an humiliating abasement at the expense of my country. +But however that might be, this speech was somewhat unlucky; for with +that quickness of wit for which he was so remarkable, he {99} seized +the expression "come from Scotland," which I used in the sense of being +of that country; and, as if I had said that I had come away from it, or +left it, retorted, "That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of +your countrymen cannot help." This stroke stunned me a good deal; and +when we had sat down, I felt myself not a little embarrassed, and +apprehensive of what might come next. He then addressed himself to +Davies: "What do you think of Garrick? He has refused me an order for +the play for Miss Williams, because he knows the house will be full, +and that an order would be worth three shillings." Eager to take any +opening to get into conversation with him, I ventured to say, "O, Sir, +I cannot think Mr Garrick would grudge such a trifle to you." "Sir, +(said he, with a stern look) I have known David Garrick longer than you +have done; and I know no right you have to talk to me on the subject." +Perhaps I deserved this check; for it was rather presumptuous in me, an +entire stranger, to express any doubt of the justice of his +animadversion upon his old acquaintance and pupil. I now felt myself +much mortified, and began to think that the hope which I had long +indulged of obtaining his acquaintance was blasted. And, in truth, had +not my ardour been uncommonly strong, and my resolution uncommonly +persevering, so rough a reception might have deterred me for ever from +making any further attempts. Fortunately, however, I remained upon the +field not wholly discomfited. . . . + +I was highly pleased with the extraordinary vigour of his conversation, +and regretted that I was drawn {100} away from it by an engagement at +another place. I had, for a part of the evening, been left alone with +him, and had ventured to make an observation now and then, which he +received very civilly; so that I was satisfied that though there was a +roughness in his manner, there was no ill-nature in his disposition. +Davies followed me to the door, and when I complained to him a little +of the hard blows which the great man had given me, he kindly took upon +him to console me by saying, "Don't be uneasy. I can see he likes you +very well." + +(_Life of Samuel Johnson_.) + + + + +SIR WALTER SCOTT 1771-1832 + +ARRIVAL AT OSBALDISTONE HALL + +"There are hopes of you yet," she said. "I was afraid you had been a +very degenerate Osbaldistone. But what on earth brings you to +Cub-Castle?--for so the neighbours have christened this hunting-hall of +ours. You might have staid away, I suppose, if you would?" + +I felt I was by this time on a very intimate footing with my beautiful +apparition, and therefore replied in a confidential undertone,--"Indeed, +my dear Miss Vernon, I might have considered it as a sacrifice to be a +temporary resident in Osbaldistone Hall, the inmates being such as you +describe them; but I am convinced there is one exception that will make +amends for all deficiencies." + +"O, you mean Rashleigh?" said Miss Vernon. + +{101} "Indeed I do not; I was thinking--forgive me--of some person much +nearer me." + +"I suppose it would be proper not to understand your civility?--But that +is not my way--I don't make a curtsey for it, because I am sitting on +horseback. But, seriously, I deserve your exception, for I am the only +conversible being about the Hall, except the old priest and Rashleigh." + +"And who is Rashleigh, for Heaven's sake?" + +"Rashleigh is one who would fain have every one like him for his own +sake.--He is Sir Hildebrand's youngest son--about your own age, but not +so--not well looking, in short. But nature has given him a mouthful of +common sense, and the priest has added a bushelful of learning--he is +what we call a very clever man in this country, where clever men are +scarce. Bred to the church, but in no hurry to take orders." + +"To the Catholic Church?" + +"The Catholic Church! what Church else?" said the young lady. "But I +forgot, they told me you are a heretic. Is that true, Mr Osbaldistone?" + +"I must not deny the charge." + +"And yet you have been abroad, and in Catholic countries?" + +"For nearly four years." + +"You have seen convents?" + +"Often; but I have not seen much in them which recommended the Catholic +religion." + +"Are not the inhabitants happy?" + +"Some are unquestionably so, whom either a profound sense of devotion, or +an experience of the {102} persecution and misfortunes of the world, or a +natural apathy of temper, has led into retirement. Those who have +adopted a life of seclusion from sudden and overstrained enthusiasm, or +in hasty resentment of some disappointment or mortification, are very +miserable. The quickness of sensation soon returns, and, like the wilder +animals in a menagerie, they are restless under confinement, while others +muse or fatten in cells of no larger dimensions than theirs." + +"And what," continued Miss Vernon, "becomes of those victims who are +condemned to a convent by the will of others? what do they resemble? +especially, what do they resemble, if they are born to enjoy life, and +feel its blessings?" + +"They are like imprisoned singing-birds," replied I, "condemned to wear +out their lives in confinement, which they try to beguile by the exercise +of accomplishments, which would have adorned society, had they been left +at large." + +"I shall be," returned Miss Vernon--"that is," said she, correcting +herself,--"I should be rather like the wild hawk, who, barred the free +exercise of his soar through heaven, will dash himself to pieces against +the bars of his cage. But to return to Rashleigh," said she, in a more +lively tone, "you will think him the pleasantest man you ever saw in your +life, Mr Osbaldistone, that is, for a week at least. If he could find +out a blind mistress, never man would be so secure of conquest; but the +eye breaks the spell that enchants the ear. But here we are in the court +of the old hall, which looks as wild and old-fashioned as any of its +inmates. There is {103} no great toilette kept at Osbaldistone Hall, you +must know; but I must take off these things, they are so unpleasantly +warm, and the hat hurts my forehead too," continued the lively girl, +taking it off, and shaking down a profusion of sable ringlets, which, +half laughing, half blushing, she separated with her white slender +fingers, in order to clear them away from her beautiful face and piercing +hazel eyes. If there was any coquetry in the action, it was well +disguised by the careless indifference of her manner. I could not help +saying, "that, judging of the family from what I saw, I should suppose +the toilette a very unnecessary care." + +"That's very politely said; though, perhaps, I ought not to understand in +what sense it was meant," replied Miss Vernon; "but you will see a better +apology for a little negligence, when you meet the Orsons you are to live +amongst, whose forms no toilette could improve. But, as I said before, +the old dinner-bell will clang, or rather clank, in a few minutes--it +cracked of its own accord on the day of the landing of King Willie, and +my uncle, respecting its prophetic talent, would never permit it to be +mended. So do you hold my palfrey, like a duteous knight, until I send +some more humble squire to relieve you of the charge." + +She threw me the rein as if we had been acquainted from our childhood, +jumped from her saddle, tripped across the court-yard, and entered at a +side-door, leaving me in admiration of her beauty, and astonished with +the overfrankness of her manners, which seemed the more extraordinary, at +a time when the dictates of politeness, flowing from the court of the +Grand Monarque Louis {104} XIV., prescribed to the fair sex an unusual +severity of decorum. I was left awkwardly enough stationed in the centre +of the court of the old hall, mounted on one horse, and holding another +in my hand. + +The building afforded little to interest a stranger, had I been disposed +to consider it attentively; the sides of the quadrangle were of various +architecture, and with their stone-shafted latticed windows, projecting +turrets, and massive architraves, resembled the inside of a convent, or +of one of the older and less splendid colleges of Oxford. I called for a +domestic, but was for some time totally unattended to; which was the more +provoking, as I could perceive I was the object of curiosity to several +servants, both male and female, from different parts of the building, who +popped out their heads and withdrew them, like rabbits in a warren, +before I could make a direct appeal to the attention of any individual. +The return of the huntsmen and hounds relieved me from my embarrassment, +and with some difficulty I got one clown to relieve me of the charge of +the horses, and another stupid boor to guide me to the presence of Sir +Hildebrand. This service he performed with much such grace and +good-will, as a peasant who is compelled to act as guide to a hostile +patrol; and in the same manner I was obliged to guard against his +deserting me in the labyrinth of low vaulted passages which conducted to +"Stun Hall," as he called it, where I was to be introduced to the +gracious presence of my uncle. + +We did, however, at length reach a long vaulted room, floored with stone, +where a range of oaken tables, of a weight and size too massive ever to +be moved {105} aside, were already covered for dinner. This venerable +apartment, which had witnessed the feasts of several generations of the +Osbaldistone family, bore also evidence of their success in field-sports. +Huge antlers of deer, which might have been trophies of the hunting of +Chevy Chace, were ranged around the walls, interspersed with the stuffed +skins of badgers, otters, martens, and other animals of the chase. +Amidst some remnants of old armour, which had, perhaps, served against +the Scotch, hung the more valued weapons of silvan war, cross-bows, guns +of various device and construction, nets, fishing-rods, otter-spears, +hunting-poles, with many other singular devices and engines for taking or +killing game. A few old pictures, dimmed with smoke, and stained with +March beer, hung on the walls, representing knights and ladies, honoured, +doubtless, and renowned in their day; those frowning fearfully from huge +bushes of wig and of beard; and these looking delightfully with all their +might at the roses which they brandished in their hands. + +I had just time to give a glance at these matters, when about twelve +blue-coated servants burst into the hall with much tumult and talk, each +rather employed in directing his comrades than in discharging his own +duty. Some brought blocks and billets to the fire, which roared, blazed, +and ascended, half in smoke, half in flame, up a huge tunnel, with an +opening wide enough to accommodate a stone-seat within its ample vault, +and which was fronted, by way of chimney-piece, with a huge piece of +heavy architecture, where the monsters of heraldry, embodied by the art +of some Northumbrian {106} chisel, grinned and ramped in red free-stone, +now japanned by the smoke of centuries. Others of these old-fashioned +serving-men bore huge smoking dishes, loaded with substantial fare; +others brought in cups, flagons, bottles, yea barrels of liquor. All +tramped, kicked, plunged, shouldered, and jostled, doing as little +service with as much tumult as could well be imagined. At length, while +the dinner was, after various efforts, in the act of being arranged upon +the board, "the clamour much of men and dogs," the cracking of whips, +calculated for the intimidation of the latter, voices loud and high, +steps which, impressed by the heavy-heeled boots of the period, clattered +like those of the statue in the _Festin de pierre_, announced the arrival +of those for whose benefit the preparations were made. The hubbub among +the servants rather increased than diminished as this crisis +approached,--some called to make haste,--others to take time,--some +exhorted to stand out of the way, and make room for Sir Hildebrand and +the young squires,--some to close round the table, and be _in_ the +way,--some bawled to open, some to shut a pair of folding-doors, which +divided the hall from a sort of gallery, as I afterwards learned, or +withdrawing-room, fitted up with black wainscot. Opened the doors were +at length, and in rushed curs and men,--eight dogs, the domestic +chaplain, the village doctor, my six cousins, and my uncle. + +(_Rob Roy_.) + + + + +{107} + +CHARLES LAMB 1775-1834 + +A VISIT TO COLERIDGE + +LONDON, _September_ 24, 1802. + +MY DEAR MANNING--Since the date of my last letter I have been a +Traveller. A strong desire seized me of visiting remote regions. My +first impulse was to go and see Paris. It was a trivial objection to +my aspiring mind, that I did not understand a word of the language, +since I certainly intend some time of my life to see Paris, and equally +certainly intend never to learn the language; therefore that could be +no objection. However, I am very glad I did not go, because you had +left Paris (I see) before I could have set out. . . . My final resolve +was, a tour to the Lakes. I set out with Mary to Keswick, without +giving Coleridge any notice, for my time, being precious, did not admit +of it. He received us with all the hospitality in the world, and gave +up his time to show us all the wonders of the country. He dwells upon +a small hill by the side of Keswick, in a comfortable house, quite +enveloped on all sides by a net of mountains: great floundering bears +and monsters they seemed, all couchant and asleep. We got in in the +evening, travelling in a post-chaise from Penrith, in the midst of a +gorgeous sunshine, which transmuted all the mountains into colours, +purple, etc., etc. We thought we had got into fairyland. But that +went off (as it never came {108} again; while we stayed we had no more +fine sunsets), and we entered Coleridge's comfortable study just in the +dusk, when the mountains were all dark with clouds upon their +heads. . . . Coleridge had got a blazing fire in his study; which is a +large antique, ill-shaped room, with an old-fashioned organ, never +played upon, big enough for a church, shelves of scattered folios, an +Aeolian harp, and an old sofa, half bed, etc. And all looking out upon +the last fading view of Skiddaw, and his broad-breasted brethren: what +a night! . . . We have clambered up to the top of Skiddaw, and I have +waded up the bed of Lodore. In fine, I have satisfied myself that +there is such a thing as that which tourists call _romantic_, which I +very much suspected before: they make such a spluttering about it, and +toss their splendid epithets around them, till they give as dim a light +as at four o'clock next morning the lamps do after an illumination. +Mary was excessively tired when she got about half-way up Skiddaw, but +we came to a cold rill (than which nothing can be imagined more cold, +running over cold stones), and with the reinforcement of a draught of +cold water she surmounted it most manfully. Oh, its fine black head, +and the bleak air atop of it, with a prospect of mountains all about +and about, making you giddy; and then Scotland afar off, and the border +countries so famous in song and ballad! It was a day that will stand +out, like a mountain, I am sure, in my life. But I am returned (I have +now been come home near three weeks; I was a month out), and you cannot +conceive the degradation I felt at first, from being accustomed to +wander free as air among mountains, and bathe in rivers {109} without +being controlled by any one, to come home and _work_. I felt very +_little_, I had been dreaming I was a very great man. But that is +going off, and I find I shall conform in time to that state of life to +which it has pleased God to call me. Besides, after all, Fleet Street +and the Strand are better places to live in for good and all than +amidst Skiddaw. Still, I turn back to those great places where I +wandered about, participating in their greatness. After all, I could +not _live_ in Skiddaw. I could spend a year, two, three years among +them, but I must have a prospect of seeing Fleet Street at the end of +that time, or I should mope and pine away, I know. Still, Skiddaw is a +fine creature. . . I fear my head is turned with wandering. I shall +never be the same acquiescent being. Farewell. Write again quickly, +for I shall not like to hazard a letter, not knowing where the fates +have carried you. Farewell, my dear fellow. + +C. LAMB. + +(_Letters_.) + + + + +WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR 1775-1864 + +DIOGENES AND PLATO + +_Diogenes_. The bird of wisdom flies low, and seeks her food under +hedges: the eagle himself would be starved if he always soared aloft +and against the sun. The sweetest fruit grows near the ground, and the +plants that bear it require ventilation and lopping. Were this not to +be done in thy garden, every walk and alley, every {110} plot and +border, would be covered with runners and roots, with boughs and +suckers. We want no poets or logicians or metaphysicians to govern us: +we want practical men, honest men, continent men, unambitious men, +fearful to solicit a trust, slow to accept, and resolute never to +betray one. Experimentalists may be the best philosophers; they are +always the worst politicians. Teach people their duties, and they will +know their interests. Change as little as possible, and correct as +much. + +Philosophers are absurd from many causes, but principally from laying +out unthriftily their distinctions. They set up four virtues: +fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice. Now a man may be a very +bad one, and yet possess three out of the four. Every cutthroat must, +if he has been a cutthroat on many occasions, have more fortitude and +more prudence than the greater part of those whom we consider as the +best men. And what cruel wretches, both executioners and judges, have +been strictly just! how little have they cared what gentleness, what +generosity, what genius, their sentence have removed from the earth! +Temperance and beneficence contain all other virtues. Take them home, +Plato; split them, expound them; do what thou wilt with them, if thou +but use them. + +Before I gave thee this lesson, which is a better than thou ever gavest +any one, and easier to remember, thou wert accusing me of invidiousness +and malice against those whom thou callest the great, meaning to say +the powerful. Thy imagination, I am well aware, had taken its flight +toward Sicily, where thou seekest thy great {111} man, as earnestly and +undoubtingly as Ceres sought her Persephone. Faith! honest Plato, I +have no reason to envy thy worthy friend Dionysius. Look at my nose! +A lad seven or eight years old threw an apple at me yesterday, while I +was gazing at the clouds, and gave me nose enough for two moderate men. +Instead of such a godsend, what should I have thought of my fortune if, +after living all my lifetime among golden vases, rougher than my hand +with their emeralds and rubies, their engravings and embossments; among +Parian caryatides and porphyry sphinxes; among philosophers with rings +upon their fingers and linen next their skin; and among singing-boys +and dancing-girls, to whom alone thou speakest intelligibly,--I ask +thee again, what should I in reason have thought of my fortune, if, +after these facilities and superfluities, I had at last been pelted out +of my house, not by one young rogue, but by thousands of all ages, and +not with an apple (I wish I could say a rotten one), but with pebbles +and broken pots; and, to crown my deserts, had been compelled to become +the teacher of so promising a generation? Great men, forsooth! thou +knowest at last who they are. + +_Plato_. There are great men of various kinds. + +_Diogenes_. No, by my beard, are there not! + +_Plato_. What! are there not great captains, great geometricians, +great dialecticians? + +_Diogenes_. Who denied it? A great man was the postulate. Try thy +hand now at the powerful one. + +_Plato_. On seeing the exercise of power, a child cannot doubt who is +powerful, more or less; for power is relative. All men are weak, not +only if compared to {112} the Demiurgos, but if compared to the sea or +the earth, or certain things upon each of them, such as elephants and +whales. So placid and tranquil is the scene around us, we can hardly +bring to mind the images of strength and force, the precipices, the +abysses-- + +_Diogenes_. Prythee hold thy loose tongue, twinkling and glittering +like a serpent's in the midst of luxuriance and rankness! Did never +this reflection of thine warn thee that, in human life, the precipices +and abysses would be much farther from our admiration, if we were less +inconsiderate, selfish, and vile? I will not however stop thee long, +for thou wert going on quite consistently. As thy great men are +fighters and wranglers, so thy mighty things upon the earth and sea are +troublesome and intractable incumbrances. Thou perceivedst not what +was greater in the former case, neither art thou aware what is greater +in this. Didst thou feel the gentle air that passed us? + +_Plato_. I did not, just then. + +_Diogenes_. That air, so gentle, so imperceptible to thee, is more +powerful not only than all the creatures that breathe and live by it; +not only than all the oaks of the forest, which it rears in an age and +shatters in a moment; not only than all the monsters of the sea, but +than the sea itself, which it tosses up into foam, and breaks against +every rock in its vast circumference; for it carries in its bosom, with +perfect calm and composure, the incontrollable ocean and the peopled +earth, like an atom of a feather. + +To the world's turmoils and pageantries is attracted, not only the +admiration of the populace, but the zeal of {113} the orator, the +enthusiasm of the poet, the investigation of the historian, and the +contemplation of the philosopher: yet how silent and invisible are they +in the depths of air! Do I say in those depths and deserts? No; I say +at the distance of a swallow's flight,--at the distance she rises above +us, ere a sentence brief as this could be uttered. + +What are its mines and mountains? Fragments welded up and dislocated +by the expansion of water from below; the most part reduced to mud, the +rest to splinters. Afterwards sprang up fire in many places, and again +tore and mangled the mutilated carcass, and still growls over it. + +What are its cities and ramparts, and moles and monuments? Segments of +a fragment, which one man puts together and another throws down. Here +we stumble upon thy great ones at their work. Show me now, if thou +canst, in history, three great warriors, or three great statesmen, who +have acted otherwise than spiteful children. + +(_Imaginary Conversations_.) + + + + +JANE AUSTEN 1775-1817 + +AN INVITATION + +It was now the middle of June and the weather fine, and Mrs Elton was +growing impatient to name the day, and settle with Mr Weston as to +pigeon-pies and cold lamb, when a lame carriage-horse threw everything +into {114} sad uncertainty. It might be weeks, it might be only a few +days, before the horse were useable, but no preparations could be +ventured on, and it was all melancholy stagnation. Mrs Elton's +resources were inadequate to such an attack. + +"Is not this most vexatious, Knightley?" she cried; "and such weather +for exploring! these delays and disappointments are quite odious. What +are we to do? The year will wear away at this rate, and nothing done. +Before this time last year, I assure you, we had had a delightful +exploring party from Maple Grove to Kings Weston." + +"You had better explore to Donwell," replied Mr Knightley. "That may +be done without horses. Come and eat my strawberries; they are +ripening fast." + +If Mr Knightley did not begin seriously, he was obliged to proceed so; +for his proposal was caught at with delight; and the "Oh! I should +like it of all things," was not plainer in words than manner. Donwell +was famous for its strawberry-beds, which seemed a plea for the +invitation; but no plea was necessary; cabbage-beds would have been +enough to tempt the lady, who only wanted to be going somewhere. She +promised him again and again to come--much oftener than he doubted--and +was extremely gratified by such a proof of intimacy, such a +distinguishing compliment as she chose to consider it. + +"You may depend upon me," said she; "I certainly will come.--Name your +day, and I will come.--You will allow me to bring Jane Fairfax?" + +"I cannot name a day," said he, "till I have {115} spoken to some +others, whom I would wish to meet you." + +"Oh, leave all that to me; only give me a carte-blanche.--I am Lady +Patroness, you know. It is my party. I will bring friends with me." + +"I hope you will bring Elton," said he; "but I will not trouble you to +give any other invitations." + +"Oh, now you are looking very sly; but consider,--you need not be +afraid of delegating power to _me_. I am no young lady on her +preferment. Married women, you know, may be safely authorized. It is +my party. Leave it all to me. I will invite your guests." + +"No," he calmly replied, "there is but one married woman in the world +whom I can ever allow to invite what guests she pleases to Donwell, and +that one is----" + +"Mrs Weston, I suppose," interrupted Mrs Elton, rather mortified. + +"No,--Mrs Knightley; and till she is in being, I will manage such +matters myself." + +"Ah, you are an odd creature!" she cried, satisfied to have no one +preferred to herself. "You are a humourist, and may say what you like. +Quite a humourist. Well, I shall bring Jane with me--Jane and her +aunt. The rest I leave to you. I have no objections at all to meeting +the Hartfield family. Don't scruple, I know you are attached to them." + +"You certainly will meet them, if I can prevail; and I shall call on +Miss Bates in my way home." + +"That's quite unnecessary; I see Jane every day;--but {116} as you +like. It is to be a morning scheme, you know, Knightley; quite a +simple thing. I shall wear a large bonnet, and bring one of my little +baskets hanging on my arm. Here,--probably this basket with pink +ribbon. Nothing can be more simple, you see. And Jane will have such +another. There is to be no form or parade--a sort of gipsy party. We +are to walk about your gardens, and gather the strawberries ourselves, +and sit under trees; and whatever else you may like to provide, it is +to be all out of doors; a table spread in the shade, you know. +Everything as natural and simple as possible. Is not that your idea?" + +"Not quite. My idea of the simple and the natural will be to have the +table spread in the dining-room. The nature and the simplicity of +gentlemen and ladies, with their servants and furniture, I think is +best observed by meals within doors. When you are tired of eating +strawberries in the garden, there shall be cold meat in the house." + +"Well, as you please; only don't have a great set-out. And, by the +bye, can I or my housekeeper be of any use to you with our opinion? +Pray be sincere, Knightley. If you wish me to talk to Mrs Hodges, or +to inspect anything----" + +"I have not the least wish for it, I thank you.'" + +"Well,--but if any difficulties should arise, my housekeeper is +extremely clever." + +"I will answer for it that mine thinks herself full as clever, and +would spurn anybody's assistance." + +"I wish we had a donkey. The thing would be for us all to come on +donkeys, Jane, Miss Bates, and me, {117} and my _caro sposo_ walking +by. I really must talk to him about purchasing a donkey. In a country +life I conceive it to be a sort of necessary; for, let a woman have +ever so many resources, it is not possible for her to be always shut up +at home; and very long walks, you know--in summer there is dust, and in +winter there is dirt." + +"You will not find either between Donwell and Highbury. Donwell Lane +is never dusty, and now it is perfectly dry. Come on a donkey, +however, if you prefer it. You can borrow Mrs Cole's. I would wish +everything to be as much to your taste as possible." + +"That I am sure you would. Indeed I do you justice, my good friend. +Under that peculiar sort of dry, blunt manner, I know you have the +warmest heart. As I tell Mr E., you are a thorough humourist. Yes, +believe me, Knightley, I am fully sensible of your attention to me in +the whole of this scheme. You have hit upon the very thing to please +me." + +Mr Knightley had another reason for avoiding a table in the shade. He +wished to persuade Mr Woodhouse, as well as Emma, to join the party; +and he knew that to have any of them sitting down out of doors to eat +would inevitably make him ill. Mr Woodhouse must not, under the +specious pretence of a morning drive, and an hour or two spent at +Donwell, be tempted away to his misery. + +He was invited on good faith. No lurking horrors were to upbraid him +for his easy credulity. He did consent. He had not been at Donwell +for two years. "Some very fine morning, he, and Emma, and Harriet +{118} could go very well; and he could sit still with Mrs Weston while +the dear girls walked about the gardens. He did not suppose they could +be damp now, in the middle of the day. He should like to see the old +house again exceedingly, and should be very happy to meet Mr and Mrs +Elton, and any other of his neighbours. He could not see any objection +at all to his, and Emma's, and Harriet's going there some very fine +morning. He thought it very well done of Mr Knightley to invite them; +very kind and sensible; much cleverer than dining out. He was not fond +of dining out." + +Mr Knightley was fortunate in everybody's most ready concurrence. The +invitation was everywhere so well received, that it seemed as if, like +Mrs Elton, they were all taking the scheme as a particular compliment +to themselves. + +(_Emma_.) + + + + +WILLIAM HAZLITT 1778-1830 + +COLERIDGE AS PREACHER + +It was in January of 1798 that I rose one morning before daylight, to +walk ten miles in the mud to hear this celebrated person preach. +Never, the longest day I have to live, shall I have such another walk +as this cold, raw, comfortless one, in the winter of the year 1798. +When I got there the organ was playing the 100th Psalm, and when it was +done Mr Coleridge rose and gave out {119} his text, "And he went up +into the mountain to pray, _himself, alone_." As he gave out this text +his voice "rose like a stream of rich distilled perfumes," and when he +came to the two last words, which he pronounced loud, deep, and +distinct, it seemed to me, who was then young, as if the sounds had +echoed from the bottom of the human heart, and as if that prayer might +have floated in solemn silence through the universe. The idea of St +John came into my mind, "of one crying in the wilderness, who had his +loins girt about, and whose food was locusts and wild honey." The +preacher then launched into his subject like an eagle dallying with the +wind. The sermon was upon peace and war; upon church and state--not +their alliance but their separation--on the spirit of the world and the +spirit of Christianity, not as the same, but as opposed to one another. +He talked of those who had "inscribed the cross of Christ on banners +dripping with human gore." He made a poetical and pastoral +excursion--and to show the fatal effects of war, drew a striking +contrast between the simple shepherd boy, driving his team afield, or +sitting under the hawthorn, piping to his flock, "as though he should +never be old," and the same poor country lad, crimped, kidnapped, +brought into town, made drunk at an alehouse, turned into a wretched +drummer-boy, with his hair sticking on end with powder and pomatum, a +long cue at his back, and tricked out in the loathsome finery of the +profession of blood: + + "Such were the notes our once-loved poet sung." + +And for myself, I could not have been more delighted if I had heard the +music of the spheres. Poetry and {120} Philosophy had met together. +Truth and Genius had embraced, under the eye and with the sanction of +Religion. This was even beyond my hopes. I returned home well +satisfied. The sun that was still labouring pale and wan through the +sky, obscured by thick mists, seemed an emblem of the good cause; and +the cold, dank drops of dew that hung half melted on the beard of the +thistle had something genial and refreshing in them; for there was a +spirit of hope and youth in all nature that turned everything into good. + +(_Winterslow_.) + + + + +THOMAS DE QUINCEY 1785-1859 + +A DREAM + +Sweet funeral bells from some incalculable distance, wailing over the +dead that die before the dawn, awakened me as I slept in a boat moored +to some familiar shore. The morning twilight even then was breaking; +and, by the dusky revelations which it spread, I saw a girl, adorned +with a garland of white roses about her head for some great festival, +running along the solitary strand in extremity of haste. Her running +was the running of panic; and often she looked back as to some dreadful +enemy in the rear. But when I leaped ashore, and followed on her steps +to warn her of a peril in front, alas! from me she fled as from another +peril, and vainly I shouted to her of quicksands that lay ahead. +Faster and faster she ran; round a promontory of rocks she {121} +wheeled out of sight; in an instant I also wheeled round it, but only +to see the treacherous sands gathering above her head. Already her +person was buried; only the fair young head and the diadem of white +roses around it were still visible to the pitying heavens; and, last of +all, was visible one white marble arm. I saw by early twilight this +fair young head, as it was sinking down to darkness--saw this marble +arm, as it rose above her head and her treacherous grave, tossing, +faltering, rising, clutching, as at some false deceiving hand stretched +out from the clouds--saw this marble arm uttering her dying hope, and +then uttering her dying despair. The head, the diadem, the arm--these +all had sunk; at last over these also the cruel quicksand had closed; +and no memorial of the fair young girl remained on earth, except my own +solitary tears, and the funeral bells from the desert seas, that, +rising again more softly, sang a requiem over the grave of the buried +child, and over her blighted dawn. + +I sat, and wept in secret the tears that men have ever given to the +memory of those that died before the dawn, and by the treachery of +earth, our mother. But suddenly the tears and funeral bells were +hushed by a shout as of many nations, and by a roar as from some great +king's artillery, advancing rapidly along the valleys, and heard afar +by echoes from the mountains. "Hush!" I said, as I bent my ear +earthwards to listen--"hush!--this either is the very anarchy of +strife, or else"--and then I listened more profoundly, and whispered as +I raised my head--"or else, oh heavens! it is _victory_ that is final, +victory that swallows up all strife." + +(_The English Mail-coach_.) + + + + +{122} + +JOHN KEATS 1795-1821 + +THE USE OF POETRY + +I had an idea that a Man might pass a very pleasant life in this +manner--Let him on a certain day read a certain page of full Poesy or +distilled Prose, and let him wander with it, and muse upon it, and +reflect from it, and bring home to it, and prophesy upon it, and dream +upon it: until it becomes stale--But when will it do so? Never--When +Man has arrived at a certain ripeness in intellect any one grand and +spiritual passage serves him as a starting-post towards all "the +two-and-thirty Palaces." How happy is such a voyage of conception, +what delicious diligent indolence! A doze upon a sofa does not hinder +it, and a nap upon Clover engenders ethereal finger-pointings--the +prattle of a child gives it wings, and the converse of middle-age a +strength to beat them--a strain of music conducts to "an odd angle of +the Isle," and when the leaves whisper it puts a girdle round the +earth.--Nor will this sparing touch of noble Books be any irreverence +to their Writers--for perhaps the honours paid by Man to Man are +trifles in comparison to the benefit done by great works to the "spirit +and pulse of good" by their mere passive existence. Memory should not +be called Knowledge--Many have original minds who do not think it--they +are led away by Custom. Now it appears to me that almost any Man may, +like the spider, spin from his own inwards his own airy Citadel--the +points of leaves and twigs on which {123} the spider begins her work +are few, and she fills the air with a beautiful circuiting. Man should +be content with as few points to tip with the fine Web of his Soul, and +weave a tapestry empyrean--full of symbols for his spiritual eye, of +softness for his spiritual touch, of space for his wandering, of +distinctness for his luxury. But the minds of mortals are so different +and bent on such diverse journeys that it may at first appear +impossible for any common taste and fellowship to exist between two or +three under these suppositions. It is however quite the contrary. +Minds would leave each other in contrary directions, traverse each +other in numberless points, and at last greet each other at the +journey's end. An old man and a child would talk together and the old +man be led on his path and the child left thinking. Man should not +dispute or assert, but whisper results to his Neighbour, and thus, by +every germ of spirit sucking the sap from mould ethereal, every human +might become great, and humanity instead of being a wide heath of furze +and briars, with here and there a remote Oak or Pine, would become a +grand democracy of forest trees. It has been an old comparison for +urging on--the bee-hive--however it seems to me that we should rather +be the flower than the Bee--for it is a false notion that more is +gained by receiving than giving--no, the receiver and the giver are +equal in their benefits. The flower, I doubt not, receives a fair +guerdon from the Bee--its leaves blush deeper in the next spring--and +who shall say between Man and Woman which is the most delighted? Now +it is more noble to sit like Jove than to fly like Mercury:--let us not +therefore go hurrying about and collecting honey, {124} bee-like, +buzzing here and there impatiently from a knowledge of what is to be +arrived at. But let us open our leaves like a flower, and be passive +and receptive; budding patiently under the eye of Apollo and taking +hints from every noble insect that favours us with a visit--Sap will be +given us for meat, and dew for drink. + +(_Letters_.) + + + + +THOMAS CARLYLE 1795-1881 + +THE FLIGHT TO VARENNES + +One finds that in the second week in June Colonel de Choiseul is +privately in Paris; having come "to see his children." Also that +Fersen has got a stupendous new Coach built, of the kind named +_Berline_; done by the first artists; according to a model: they bring +it home to him, in Choiseul's presence; the two friends take a +proof-drive in it, along the streets; in meditative mood; then send it +up to "Madame Sullivan's, in the Rue de Clichy," far north, to wait +there till wanted. Apparently a certain Russian Baroness de Korff, +with Waiting-woman, Valet, and two Children, will travel homewards with +some state: in whom these young military gentlemen take interest? A +Passport has been procured for her, and much assistance shewn, with +Coachbuilders and such-like;--so helpful-polite are young military +men. . . These are the Phenomena, or visual Appearances, of this +wide-working terrestrial world: which truly is all phenomenal, what +they call spectral; and never rests at any moment; one never at any +moment can know why. + +On Monday night, the Twentieth of June 1791, about eleven o'clock, +there is many a hackney-coach and {125} glass-coach still rumbling or +at rest on the streets of Paris. But of all glass-coaches we recommend +this to thee, O Reader, which stands drawn up in the Rue de l'Echelle, +hard by the Carrousel and outgate of the Tuileries; in the Rue de +l'Echelle that then was, "opposite Ronsin the saddler's door," as if +waiting for a fare there. Not long does it wait: a hooded Dame, with +two hooded Children has issued from Villequier's door, where no sentry +walks, into the Tuileries' Court-of-Princes; into the Carrousel; into +the Rue de l'Echelle; where the Glass-coachman readily admits them; and +again waits. Not long; another Dame, likewise hooded or shrouded, +leaning on a servant, issues in the same manner; bids the servant +good-night; and is, in the same manner, by the Glass-coachman, +cheerfully admitted. Whither go so many Dames? 'Tis his Majesty's +_Couchee_, Majesty just gone to bed, and all the Palace-world is +retiring home. But the Glass-coachman still waits; his fare seemingly +incomplete. + +By-and-by, we note a thickset Individual, in round hat and peruke, arm +in arm with some servant, seemingly of the Runner or Courier sort; he +also issues through Villequier's door; starts a shoebuckle as he passes +one of the sentries, stoops down to clasp it again; is however, by the +Glass-coachman, still more cheerfully admitted. And _now_, is his fare +complete? Not yet; the Glass-coachman still waits.--Alas! and the +false Chambermaid has warned Gouvion that she thinks the Royal Family +will fly this very night; and Gouvion, distrusting his own glazed eyes, +has sent express for Lafayette; and Lafayette's Carriage, flaring with +lights, rolls this moment through the inner arch of the +Carrousel,--where a Lady shaded in {126} broad gypsy-hat, and leaning +on the arm of a servant, also of the Runner or Courier sort, stands +aside to let it pass, and has even the whim to touch a spoke of it with +her _badine_,--light little magic rod which she calls _badine_, such as +the Beautiful then wore. The flare of Lafayette's carriage rolls past: +all is found quiet in the Court-of-Princes; sentries at their post; +Majesties' Apartments closed in smooth rest. Your false Chambermaid +must have been mistaken? Watch thou, Gouvion, with Argus' vigilance; +for of a truth treachery is within these walls. + +But where is the Lady that stood aside in gypsy-hat, and touched the +wheel-spoke with her _badine_? O Reader, that Lady that touched the +wheel-spoke was the Queen of France! She has issued safe through that +inner arch, into the Carrousel itself; but not into the Rue de +l'Echelle. Flurried by the rattle and rencounter, she took the right +hand, not the left; neither she nor her Courier knows Paris; he is +indeed no Courier, but a loyal stupid _ci-devant_ Body-guard disguised +as one. They are off, quite wrong, over the Pont Royal and River; +roaming disconsolate in the Rue du Bac; far from the Glass-coachman, +who still waits. Waits, with flutter of heart; with thoughts--which he +must button close up, under his jarvie-surtout! + +Midnight clangs from all the City-steeples; one precious hour has been +spent so; most mortals are asleep. The Glass-coachman waits; and in +what mood! A brother jarvie drives up, enters into conversation; is +answered cheerfully in jarvie-dialect: the brothers of the whip +exchange a pinch of snuff; decline drinking together; and part with +good-night. Be the Heavens blest! here at length is the Queen-lady, in +gypsy-hat; {127} safe after perils; who has had to enquire her way. +She too is admitted; her Courier jumps aloft, as the other, who is also +a disguised Bodyguard, has done; and now, O Glass-coachman of a +thousand,--Count Fersen, for the Reader sees it is thou,--drive! + +Dust shall not stick to the heels of Fersen: crack! crack! The +Glass-coach rattles, and every soul breathes lighter. But is Fersen on +the right road? North-eastward, to the Barrier of Saint-Martin and +Metz Highway, thither were we bound: and lo, he drives right Northward! +The royal Individual, in round hat and peruke, sits astonished; but +right or wrong, there is no remedy. Crack, crack, we go incessant, +through the slumbering City. Seldom, since Paris rose out of mud, or +the Longhaired Kings went in bullock-carts, was there such a drive. +Mortals on each hand of you, close by, stretched out horizontal, +dormant; and we alive and quaking! Crack, crack, through the Rue de +Grammont; across the Boulevard; up the Rue de la Chaussee +d'Antin,--these windows, all silent, of Number 42, were Mirabeau's. +Towards the Barrier, not of Saint-Martin, but of Clichy on the utmost +north! Patience, ye royal Individuals; Fersen understands what he is +about. Passing up the Rue de Clichy, he alights for one moment at +Madame Sullivan's: "Did Count Fersen's Coachman get the Baroness de +Korff's new Berline?"--"Gone with it an hour and a half ago," grumbles +responsive the drowsy Porter.--"_C'est bien_." Yes, it is +well;--though had not such hour-and-half been _lost_, it were still +better. Forth therefore, O Fersen, fast, by the Barrier de Clichy; +then eastward along the Outer Boulevard, what horses and whipcord can +do! + +{128} Thus Fersen drives, through the ambrosial night. Sleeping Paris +is now all on the right-hand of him; silent except for some snoring +hum: and now he is eastward as far as the Barrier of Saint-Martin; +looking earnestly for Baroness de Korff's Berline. This Heaven's +Berline he at length does descry, drawn up with its six horses, his own +German coachman waiting on the box. Right, thou good German: now +haste, whither thou knowest!--And as for us of the Glass-coach, haste +too, O haste; much time is already lost! The august Glass-coach fare, +six Insides, hastily packs itself into the new Berline; two Body-guard +Couriers behind. The Glass-coach itself is turned adrift, its head +towards the City, to wander where it lists,--and be found next morning +tumbled in a ditch. But Fersen is on the new box, with its brave new +hammer-cloths; flourishing his whip; he bolts forward towards Bondy. +There a third and final Bodyguard Courier of ours ought surely to be, +with post-horses ready ordered. There likewise ought that purchased +Chaise, with the two Waiting-maids and their bandboxes, to be; whom +also her Majesty could not travel without. Swift, thou deft Fersen, +and may the Heavens turn it well! + +Once more, by Heaven's blessing, it is all well. Here is the sleeping +hamlet of Bondy; Chaise with Waiting-women; horses all ready, and +postilions with their churn-boots, impatient in the dewy dawn. Brief +harnessing done, the postilions with their churn-boots vault into the +saddles; brandish circularly their little noisy whips. Fersen, under +his jarvie-surtout, bends in lowly silent reverence of adieu; royal +hands wave speechless inexpressible response; Baroness de Korff's +Berline, with {129} the Royalty of France, bounds off; for ever, as it +proved. Deft Fersen dashes obliquely northward, through the country, +towards Bougret; gains Bougret, finds his German coachman and chariot +waiting there; cracks off, and drives undiscovered into unknown space. +A deft active man, we say; what he undertook to do is nimbly and +successfully done. + + +And so the Royalty of France is actually fled? This precious night, +the shortest of the year, it flies, and drives! _Baroness de Korff_ +is, at bottom, Dame de Tourzel, Governess of the Royal Children: she +who came hooded with the two hooded little ones: little Dauphin; little +Madame Royale, known long afterwards as Duchesse d'Angouleme. Baroness +de Korff's _Waiting-maid_ is the Queen in gypsy-hat. The royal +Individual in round hat and peruke, he is _Valet_ for the time being. +That other hooded Dame, styled _Travelling-companion_, is kind Sister +Elizabeth; she had sworn long since, when the Insurrection of Women +was, that only death should part her and them. And so they rush there, +not too impetuously, through the Wood of Bondy;--over a Rubicon in +their own and France's history. + +Great; though the future is all vague! If we reach Bouille? If we do +not reach him? O Louis! and this all round thee is the great +slumbering Earth (and overhead, the great watchful Heaven); the +slumbering Wood of Bondy,--where Longhaired Childeric Do-nothing was +struck through with iron; not unreasonably, in a world like ours. +These peaked stone-towers are Raincy; towers of wicked d'Orleans. All +slumbers save the {130} multiplex rustle of our new Berline. +Loose-skirted scarecrow of an Herb-merchant, with his ass and early +greens, toilsomely plodding, seems the only creature we meet. But +right ahead the great North-east sends up evermore his grey brindled +dawn: from dewy branch, birds here and there, with short deep warble, +salute the coming sun. Stars fade out, and galaxies; street-lamps of +the City of God. The Universe, O my brothers, is flinging wide its +portals for the levee of the GREAT HIGH KING. Thou, poor King Louis, +farest nevertheless, as mortals do, towards Orient lands of Hope; and +the Tuileries with _its_ levees, and France and the Earth itself, is +but a larger kind of dog-hutch--occasionally going rabid. + +(_The French Revolution_.) + + + + +LORD MACAULAY 1800-1859 + +THE TRIAL OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS + +It was dark before the jury retired to consider of their verdict. The +night was a night of intense anxiety. Some letters are extant which +were despatched during that period of suspense, and which have +therefore an interest of a peculiar kind. "It is very late," wrote the +Papal Nuncio; "and the decision is not yet known. The Judges and the +culprits have gone to their own homes. The jury remain together. +To-morrow we shall learn the event of this great struggle." + +The solicitor for the Bishops sate up all night with a body of servants +on the stairs leading to the room {131} where the jury was consulting. +It was absolutely necessary to watch the officers who watched the +doors; for those officers were supposed to be in the interest of the +crown, and might, if not carefully observed, have furnished a courtly +juryman with food, which would have enabled him to starve out the other +eleven. Strict guard was therefore kept. Not even a candle to light a +pipe was permitted to enter. Some basins of water for washing were +suffered to pass at about four in the morning. The jurymen, raging +with thirst, soon lapped up the whole. Great numbers of people walked +the neighbouring streets till dawn. Every hour a messenger came from +Whitehall to know what was passing. Voices, high in altercation, were +repeatedly heard within the room: but nothing certain was known. + +At first nine were for acquitting and three for convicting. Two of the +minority soon gave way; but Arnold was obstinate. Thomas Austin, a +country gentleman of great estate, who had paid close attention to the +evidence and speeches, and had taken full notes, wished to argue the +question. Arnold declined. He was not used, he doggedly said, to +reasoning and debating. His conscience was not satisfied; and he +should not acquit the Bishops. "If you come to that," said Austin, +"look at me. I am the largest and strongest of the twelve; and before +I find such a petition as this a libel, here I will stay till I am no +bigger than a tobacco pipe." It was six in the morning before Arnold +yielded. It was soon known that the jury were agreed: but what the +verdict would be was still a secret. + +{132} At ten the Court again met. The crowd was greater than ever. +The jury appeared in their box; and there was a breathless stillness. + +Sir Samuel Astry spoke. "Do you find the defendants, or any of them, +guilty of the misdemeanour whereof they are impeached, or not guilty?" +Sir Roger Langley answered, "Not guilty." As the words passed his +lips, Halifax sprang up and waved his hat. At that signal, benches and +galleries raised a shout. In a moment ten thousand persons, who +crowded the great hall, replied with a still louder shout, which made +the old oaken roof crack; and in another moment the innumerable throng +without set up a third huzza, which was heard at Temple Bar. The boats +which covered the Thames gave an answering cheer. A peal of gunpowder +was heard on the water, and another, and another; and so, in a few +moments, the glad tidings went flying past the Savoy and the Friars to +London Bridge, and to the forest of masts below. As the news spread, +streets and squares, market places and coffee-houses, broke forth into +acclamations. Yet were the acclamations less strange than the weeping. +For the feelings of men had been wound up to such a point that at +length the stern English nature, so little used to outward signs of +emotion, gave way, and thousands sobbed aloud for very joy. Meanwhile, +from the outskirts of the multitude, horsemen were spurring off to bear +along all the great roads intelligence of the victory of our Church and +nation. Yet not even that astounding explosion could awe the bitter +and intrepid spirit of the Solicitor. Striving to make himself heard +above the {133} din, he called on the Judges to commit those who had +violated, by clamour, the dignity of a court of justice. One of the +rejoicing populace was seized. But the tribunal felt that it would be +absurd to punish a single individual for an offence common to hundreds +of thousands, and dismissed him with a gentle reprimand. + +It was vain to think of passing at that moment to any other business. +Indeed the roar of the multitude was such that, for half an hour, +scarcely a word could be heard in court. Williams got to his coach +amidst a tempest of hisses and curses. Cartwright, whose curiosity was +ungovernable, had been guilty of the folly and indecency of coming to +Westminster in order to hear the decision. He was recognised by his +sacerdotal garb and by his corpulent figure, and was hooted through the +hall. "Take care," said one, "of the wolf in sheep's clothing." "Make +room," cried another, "for the man with the Pope in his belly." + +The acquitted prelates took refuge from the crowd which implored their +blessing in the nearest chapel where divine service was performing. +Many churches were open on that morning throughout the capital; and +many pious persons repaired thither. The bells of all the parishes of +the City and liberties were ringing. The jury meanwhile could scarcely +make their way out of the hall. They were forced to shake hands with +hundreds. "God bless you," cried the people; "God prosper your +families; you have done like honest good-natured gentlemen; you have +saved us all to-day." As the noblemen who had appeared to support the +good cause drove off, they flung from their carriage windows {134} +handfuls of money, and bade the crowd drink to the health of the King, +the Bishops, and the jury. + +The attorney went with the tidings to Sunderland, who happened to be +conversing with the Nuncio. "Never," said Powis, "within man's memory, +have there been such shouts and such tears of joy as to-day." The King +had that morning visited the camp on Hounslow Heath. Sunderland +instantly sent a courier thither with the news. James was in Lord +Feversham's tent when the express arrived. He was greatly disturbed, +and exclaimed in French, "So much the worse for them." He soon set out +for London. While he was present respect prevented the soldiers from +giving a loose to their feelings; but he had scarcely quitted the camp +when he heard a great shouting behind him. He was surprised, and asked +what that uproar meant. "Nothing," was the answer. "The soldiers are +glad that the bishops are acquitted." "Do you call that nothing?" said +James. And then he repeated, "So much the worse for them." + +(_History of England_.) + + + + +{135} + +JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 1801-1890 + +THE UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS + +If we would know what a University is, considered in its elementary +idea, we must betake ourselves to the first and most celebrated home of +European literature and source of European civilization, to the bright +and beautiful Athens,--Athens, whose schools drew to her bosom, and +then sent back again to the business of life, the youth of the Western +World for a long thousand years. Seated on the verge of the continent, +the city seemed hardly suited for the duties of a central metropolis of +knowledge; yet, what it lost in convenience of approach it gained in +its neighbourhood to the traditions of the mysterious East, and in the +loveliness of the region in which it lay. Hither, then, as to a sort +of ideal land, where all archetypes of the great and the fair were +found in substantial being, and all departments of truth explored, and +all diversities of intellectual power exhibited, where taste and +philosophy were majestically enthroned as in a royal court, where there +was no sovereignty but that of mind, and no nobility but that of +genius, where professors were rulers, and princes did homage, hither +flocked continually from the very corners of the _orbis terrarum_, the +many-tongued generation, just rising, or just risen into manhood, in +order to gain wisdom. + +Pisistratus had in an early age discovered and nursed the infant genius +of his people, and Cimon, after the {136} Persian war, had given it a +home. That war had established the naval supremacy of Athens; she had +become an imperial state; and the Ionians, bound to her by the double +chain of kindred and of subjection, were importing into her both their +merchandize and their civilization. The arts and philosophy of the +Asiatic coast were easily carried across the sea, and there was Cimon, +as I have said, with his ample fortune, ready to receive them with due +honours. Not content with patronizing their professors, he built the +first of those noble porticos, of which we hear so much in Athens, and +he formed the groves, which in process of time became the celebrated +Academy. Planting is one of the most graceful, as in Athens it was one +of the most beneficent, of employments. Cimon took in hand the wild +wood, pruned and dressed it, and laid it out with handsome walks and +welcome fountains. Nor, while hospitable to the authors of the city's +civilization, was he ungrateful to the instruments of her prosperity. +His trees extended their cool, umbrageous branches over the merchants, +who assembled in the Agora, for many generations. + +Those merchants certainly had deserved that act of bounty; for all the +while their ships had been carrying forth the intellectual fame of +Athens to the western world. Then commenced what may be called her +University existence. Pericles, who succeeded Cimon both in the +government and in the patronage of art, is said by Plutarch to have +entertained the idea of making Athens the capital of federated Greece: +in this he failed, but his encouragement of such men as Phidias and +Anaxagoras led the way to her acquiring a far more lasting {137} +sovereignty over a far wider empire. Little understanding the sources +of her own greatness, Athens would go to war: peace is the interest of +a seat of commerce and the arts; but to war she went; yet to her, +whether peace or war, it mattered not. The political power of Athens +waned and disappeared; kingdoms rose and fell; centuries rolled +away,--they did but bring fresh triumphs to the city of the poet and +the sage. There at length the swarthy Moor and Spaniard were seen to +meet the blue-eyed Gaul; and the Cappadocian, late subject of +Mithridates, gazed without alarm at the haughty conquering Roman. +Revolution after revolution passed over the face of Europe, as well as +of Greece, but still she was there,--Athens, the city of mind,--as +radiant, as splendid, as delicate, as young, as ever she had been. + +Many a more fruitful coast or isle is washed by the blue Aegean, many a +spot is there more beautiful or sublime to see, many a territory more +ample; but there was one charm in Attica, which in the same perfection +was nowhere else. The deep pastures of Arcadia, the plain of Argos, +the Thessalian vale, these had not the gift; Boeotia, which lay to its +immediate north, was notorious for its very want of it. The heavy +atmosphere of that Boeotia might be good for vegetation, but it was +associated in popular belief with the dulness of the Boeotian +intellect: on the contrary, the special purity, elasticity, clearness, +and salubrity of the air of Attica, fit concomitant and emblem of its +genius, did that for it which earth did not;--it brought out every +bright hue and tender shade of the landscape over which it was {138} +spread, and would have illuminated the face even of a more bare and +rugged country. + +A confined triangle, perhaps fifty miles its greatest length, and +thirty its greatest breadth; two elevated rocky barriers, meeting at an +angle; three prominent mountains, commanding the plain,--Parnes, +Pentelicus, and Hymettus; an unsatisfactory soil; some streams, not +always full;--such is about the report which the agent of a London +company would have made of Attica. He would report that the climate +was mild; the hills were limestone; there was plenty of good marble; +more pasture land than at first survey might have been expected, +sufficient certainly for sheep and goats; fisheries productive; silver +mines once, but long since worked out; figs fair; oil first-rate; +olives in profusion. But what he would not think of noting down, was, +that that olive tree was so choice in nature and so noble in shape, +that it excited a religious veneration; and that it took so kindly to +the light soil, as to expand into woods upon the open plain, and to +climb up and fringe the hills. He would not think of writing word to +his employers, how that clear air, of which I have spoken, brought out, +yet blended and subdued, the colours on the marble, till they had a +softness and harmony, for all their richness, which in a picture looks +exaggerated, yet is after all within the truth. He would not tell, how +that same delicate and brilliant atmosphere freshened up the pale +olive, till the olive forgot its monotony, and its cheek glowed like +the arbutus or beech of the Umbrian hills. He would say nothing of the +thyme and thousand fragrant herbs which carpeted Hymettus; he would +hear nothing of the hum {139} of its bees; nor take much account of the +rare flavour of its honey, since Gozo and Minorca were sufficient for +the English demand. He would look over the Aegean from the height he +had ascended; he would follow with his eye the chain of islands, which, +starting from the Sunian headland, seemed to offer the fabled +divinities of Attica, when they would visit their Ionian cousins, a +sort of viaduct thereto across the sea: but that fancy would not occur +to him, nor any admiration of the dark violet billows with their white +edges down below; nor of those graceful, fan-like jets of silver upon +the rocks, which slowly rise aloft like water spirits from the deep, +then shiver, and break, and spread, and shroud themselves, and +disappear, in a soft mist of foam; nor of the gentle, incessant heaving +and panting of the whole liquid plain; nor of the long waves, keeping +steady time, like a line of soldiery, as they resound upon the hollow +shore,--he would not deign to notice that restless living element at +all, except to bless his stars that he was not upon it. Nor the +distinct detail, nor the refined colouring, nor the graceful outline +and roseate golden hue of the jutting crags, nor the bold shadows cast +from Otus or Laurium by the declining sun;--our agent of a mercantile +firm would not value these matters even at a low figure. Rather we +must turn for the sympathy we seek to yon pilgrim student, come from a +semi-barbarous land to that small corner of the earth, as to a shrine, +where he might take his fill of gazing on those emblems and +coruscations of invisible unoriginate perfection. It was the stranger +from a remote province, from Britain or from Mauritania, who in a scene +so different from that of his chilly, woody swamps, or of {140} his +fiery choking sands, learned at once what a real University must be, by +coming to understand the sort of country which was its suitable home. + +(_Historical Sketches_.) + + + + +NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 1804-1864 + +THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES + +A descriptive paragraph or two, treating of the seven-gabled mansion in +its more recent aspect, will bring this preliminary chapter to a close. +The street in which it upreared its venerable peaks has long ceased to +be a fashionable quarter of the town; so that, though the old edifice +was surrounded by habitations of modern date, they were mostly small, +built entirely of wood, and typical of the most plodding uniformity of +common life. Doubtless, however, the whole story of human existence +may be latent in each of them, but with no picturesqueness, externally, +that can attract the imagination or sympathy to seek it there. But as +for the old structure of our story, its white-oak frame, and its +boards, shingles, and crumbling plaster, and even the huge clustered +chimney in the midst, seemed to constitute only the least and meanest +part of its reality. So much of mankind's varied experience had passed +there,--so much had been suffered, and something, too, enjoyed,--that +the very timbers were oozy, as with the moisture of a heart. It was +itself like a great human heart, with a life of its own, and full of +rich and sombre reminiscences. + +{141} The deep projection of the second story gave the house such a +meditative look, that you could not pass it without the idea that it +had secrets to keep, and an eventful history to moralize upon. In +front, just on the edge of the unpaved sidewalk, grew the Pyncheon-elm, +which, in reference to such trees as one usually meets with, might well +be termed gigantic. It had been planted by a great-grandson of the +first Pyncheon, and, though now fourscore years of age, or perhaps +nearer a hundred, was still in its strong and broad maturity, throwing +its shadow from side to side of the street, overtopping the seven +gables, and sweeping the whole black roof with its pendent foliage. It +gave beauty to the old edifice, and seemed to make it a part of nature. +The street having been widened about forty years ago, the front gable +was now precisely on a line with it. On either side extended a ruinous +wooden fence, of open lattice-work, through which could be seen a +grassy yard, and, especially in the angles of the building, an enormous +fertility of burdocks, with leaves, it is hardly an exaggeration to +say, two or three feet long. Behind the house there appeared to be a +garden, which undoubtedly had once been extensive, but was now +infringed upon by other enclosures, or shut in by habitations and +out-buildings that stood on another street. It would be an omission, +trifling indeed, but unpardonable, were we to forget the green moss +that had long since gathered over the projections of the windows, and +on the slopes of the roof; nor must we fail to direct the reader's eye +to a crop, not of weeds, but flower-shrubs, which were growing aloft in +the air, not a great way from the chimney, in the nook between two of +the gables. {142} They were called Alice's Posies. The tradition was, +that a certain Alice Pyncheon had flung up the seeds in sport, and that +the dust of the street and the decay of the roof gradually formed a +kind of soil for them, out of which they grew, when Alice had long been +in her grave. However the flowers might have come there, it was both +sad and sweet to observe how nature adopted to herself this desolate, +decaying, gusty, rusty old house of the Pyncheon family; and how the +ever-returning summer did her best to gladden it with tender beauty, +and grew melancholy in the effort. + +There is one other feature, very essential to be noticed, but which, we +greatly fear, may damage any picturesque and romantic impression which +we have been willing to throw over our sketch of this respectable +edifice. In the front gable, under the impending brow of the second +story, and contiguous to the street, was a shop-door, divided +horizontally in the midst, and with a window for its upper segment, +such as is often seen in dwellings of a somewhat ancient date. This +same shop-door had been a subject of no slight mortification to the +present occupant of the august Pyncheon-house, as well as to some of +her predecessors. The matter is disagreeably delicate to handle; but, +since the reader must needs be let into the secret, he will please to +understand, that about a century ago, the head of the Pyncheons found +himself involved in serious financial difficulties. The fellow +(gentleman, as he styled himself) can hardly have been other than a +spurious interloper; for, instead of seeking office from the king or +the royal governor, or urging his hereditary claim to eastern lands, he +bethought {143} himself of no better avenue to wealth than by cutting a +shop-door through the side of his ancestral residence. It was the +custom of the time, indeed, for merchants to store their goods and +transact business in their own dwellings. But there was something +pitifully small in this old Pyncheon's mode of setting about his +commercial operations; it was whispered, that, with his own hands, all +be-ruffled as they were, he used to give change for a shilling, and +would turn a half-penny twice over, to make sure that it was a good +one. Beyond all question, he had the blood of a petty huckster in his +veins, through whatever channel it may have found its way there. + +Immediately on his death, the shop-door had been locked, bolted, and +barred, and, down to the period of our story, had probably never once +been opened. The old counter, shelves, and other fixtures of the +little shop remained just as he had left them. It used to be affirmed, +that the dead shopkeeper, in a white wig, a faded velvet coat, an apron +at his waist, and his ruffles carefully turned back from his wrists, +might be seen through the chinks of the shutters, any night of the +year, ransacking his till, or poring over the dingy pages of his +day-book. From the look of unutterable woe upon his face, it appeared +to be his doom to spend eternity in a vain effort to make his accounts +balance. + +And now--in a very humble way, as will be seen--we proceed to open our +narrative. + +(_House of the Seven Gables_.) + + + + +{144} + +WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY 1811-1863 + +DENIS DUVAL'S FIRST JOURNEY TO LONDON + +At Michaelmas, in the year 1776 (I promise you I remember the year), my +dear and kind friend, Doctor Barnard, having to go to London with his +rents, proposed to take me to London to see my other patron, Sir Peter +Denis, between whom and the Doctor there was a great friendship; and it +is to those dear friends that I owe the great good fortune which has +since befallen me in life. Indeed, when I think of what I might have +been, of what I have escaped, my heart is full of thankfulness for the +great mercies which have fallen to my share. Well, at this happy and +eventful Michaelmas of 1776, Doctor Barnard says to me, "Denis, my +child, if thy mother will grant leave, I have a mind to take thee to +see thy god-father, Sir Peter Denis, in London. I am going up with my +rents, my neighbour Weston will share the horses with me, and thou +shall see the Tower and Mr Salmon's wax-work before thou art a week +older." + +You may suppose that this proposition made Master Denis Duval jump for +joy. Of course I had heard of London all my life, and talked with +people who had been there, but that I should go myself to Admiral Sir +Peter Denis's house, and see the play, St Paul's and Mr Salmon's, here +was a height of bliss I had never hoped to attain. I could not sleep +for thinking of my pleasure; I had {145} some money, and I promised to +buy as many toys for Agnes as the Chevalier used to bring her. My +mother said I should go like a gentleman, and turned me out in a red +waistcoat with plate buttons, a cock to my hat, and ruffles to my +shirts. How I counted the hours of the night before our departure! I +was up before the dawn, packing my little valise. I got my little +brass-barrelled pocket-pistol, and I loaded it with shot. I put it +away into my breast-pocket; and if we met with a highwayman I promised +myself he should have my charge of lead in his face. The Doctor's +postchaise was at his stables not very far from us. The stable +lanterns were alight, and Brown, the Doctor's man, cleaning the +carriage, when Mr Denis Duval comes up to the stable-door, lugging his +portmanteau after him through the twilight. Was ever daylight so long +a-coming? Ah! there comes the horses at last; the horses from the +"King's Head," and old Pascoe, the one-eyed postillion. How well I +remember the sound of their hoofs in that silent street! I can tell +everything that happened on that day; what we had for dinner--viz., +veal cutlets and French beans, at Maidstone; where we changed horses, +and the colour of the horses. "Here, Brown! here's my portmanteau! I +say, where shall I stow it?" My portmanteau was about as large as a +good-sized apple-pie. I jump into the carriage and we drive up to the +rectory: and I think the Doctor will never come out. There he is at +last: with his mouth full of buttered toast, and I bob my head to him a +hundred times out of the chaise window. Then I must jump out, +forsooth. "Brown, shall I give you a hand with the luggage?" says I, +and I dare say they all laugh. Well, {146} I am so happy that anybody +may laugh who likes. The Doctor comes out, his precious box under his +arm. I see dear Mrs Barnard's great cap nodding at us out of the +parlour window as we drive away from the Rectory door to stop a hundred +yards further on at the Priory. + +There at the parlour window stands my dear little Agnes, in a white +frock, in a great cap with a blue riband and bow, and curls clustering +over her face. I wish Sir Joshua Reynolds had painted thee in those +days, my dear: but thou wert the very image of one of his little +ladies, that one who became Duchess of Buccleuch afterwards. There is +my Agnes, and now presently comes out Mr Weston's man and luggage, and +it is fixed on the roof. Him, his master, Mr George Weston, follows. +This was the most good-natured of the two, and I shall never forget my +sensation of delight, when I saw him bring out two holster-pistols, +which he placed each in a pocket of the chaise. Is Tommy Chapman, the +apothecary's son of Westgate, alive yet, and does he remember my +wagging my head to him as our chaise whirled by? He was shaking a mat +at the door of his father's shop as my lordship accompanied by my noble +friends passed by. + +First stage, Ham Street, "The Bear." A grey horse and a bay to change, +_I_ remember them. Second stage, Ashford. Third stage--I think I am +asleep about the third stage; and no wonder, a poor little wretch who +had been awake half the night before, and no doubt many nights +previous, thinking of this wonderful journey. Fourth stage, Maidstone, +"The Bell." "And here we will stop to dinner, master Shrimp-catcher," +says the Doctor, and I jump down out of the carriage, nothing {147} +loth. The Doctor followed with his box, of which he never lost sight. + +The Doctor liked his ease in his inn, and took his sip of punch so +comfortably, that I, for my part, thought he never would be gone. I +was out in the stables and looking at the horses, and talking to the +ostler who was rubbing his nags down. I dare say I had a peep into the +kitchen, and at the pigeons in the inn-yard, and at all things which +were to be seen at "The Bell," while my two companions were still at +their interminable punch. It was an old-fashioned inn, with a gallery +round the court-yard. Heaven bless us! Falstaff and Bardolph may have +stopped there on the road to Gadshill. I was in the stable looking at +the nags, when Mr Weston comes out of the inn, looks round the court, +opens the door of the postchaise, takes out his pistols, looks at the +priming, and puts them back again. Then we are off again, and time +enough too. It seemed to me many hours since we had arrived at that +creaking old "Bell." And away we go through Addington, Eynesford, by +miles and miles of hop-gardens. I dare say I did not look at the +prospect much, beautiful though it might be, my young eyes being for +ever on the look-out for St Paul's and London. + +For a great part of the way Doctor Barnard and his companion had a fine +controversy about their respective religions, for which each was alike +zealous. Nay: it may be the Rector invited Mr Weston to take a place +in his postchaise in order to have this battle, for he never tired of +arguing the question between the two churches. Towards the close of +the day Master Denis Duval fell {148} asleep on Doctor Barnard's +shoulder, and the good-natured clergyman did not disturb him. + +I woke up with the sudden stoppage of the carriage. The evening was +falling. We were upon a lonely common, and a man on horseback was at +the window of the postchaise. + +"Give us out that there box! and your money!" I heard him say in a very +gruff voice. O heavens! we were actually stopped by a highwayman! It +was delightful. + +Mr Weston jumped at his pistols very quick. "Here's our money, you +scoundrel!" says he, and fired point-blank at the rogue's head. +Confusion! the pistol missed fire. He aimed the second, and again no +report followed! + +"Some scoundrel has been tampering with these," says Mr Weston, aghast. + +"Come," says Captain Macheath, "come, your--" + +But the next word the fellow spoke was a frightful oath; for I took out +my little pistol, which was full of shot, and fired it into his face. +The man reeled, and I thought would have fallen out of his saddle. The +postillion, frightened, no doubt, clapped spurs to his horse, and began +to gallop. "Shan't we stop and take that rascal, sir?" said I to the +Doctor. On which Mr Weston gave a peevish kind of push at me, and +said, "No, no. It is getting quite dark. Let us push on." And, +indeed, the highwayman's horse had taken fright, and we could see him +galloping away across the common. + +I was so elated to think that I, a little boy, had shot a live +highwayman, that I dare say I bragged outrageously of my action. We +set down Mr Weston at his {149} inn in the Borough, and crossed London +Bridge, and there I was in London at last. Yes, and that was the +Monument, and then we came to the Exchange, and yonder, yonder was St +Paul's. We went up Holborn, and so to Ormonde Street, where my patron +lived in a noble mansion; and where his wife, my lady Denis, received +me with a great deal of kindness. You may be sure the battle with the +highwayman was fought over again, and I got due credit from myself and +others for my gallantry. + +(_Denis Duval_.) + + + + +CHARLES DICKENS 1812-1870 + +STORM + +"Don't you think that," I asked the coachman, in the first stage out of +London, "a very remarkable sky? I don't remember to have seen one like +it." + +"Nor I,--not equal to it," he replied. "That's wind, sir. There'll be +mischief done at sea, I expect, before long." + +It was a murky confusion--here and there blotted with a colour like the +colour of the smoke from damp fuel--of flying clouds tossed up into +most remarkable heaps, suggesting greater heights in the clouds than +there were depths below them to the bottom of the deepest hollows in +the earth, through which the wild moon seemed to plunge headlong, as +if, in a dread disturbance of the laws of nature, she had lost her way +and were frightened. {150} There had been a wind all day; and it was +rising then, with an extraordinary great sound. In another hour it had +much increased, and the sky was more overcast, and it blew hard. + +But, as the night advanced, the clouds closing in and densely +overspreading the whole sky, then very dark, it came on to blow, harder +and harder. It still increased, until our horses could scarcely face +the wind. Many times, in the dark part of the night (it was then late +in September, when the nights were not short), the leaders turned +about, or came to a dead stop; and we were often in serious +apprehension that the coach would be blown over. Sweeping gusts of +rain came up before this storm, like showers of steel; and, at those +times, when there was any shelter of trees or lee walls to be got, we +were fain to stop, in a sheer impossibility of continuing the struggle. + +When the day broke, it blew harder and harder. I had been in Yarmouth +when the seamen said it blew great guns, but I had never known the like +of this, or anything approaching to it. We came to Ipswich--very late, +having had to fight every inch of ground since we were ten miles out of +London; and found a cluster of people in the market-place, who had +risen from their beds in the night, fearful of falling chimneys. Some +of these, congregating about the inn-yard while we changed horses, told +us of great sheets of lead having been ripped off a high church-tower, +and flung into a bye-street, which they then blocked up. Others had to +tell of country people, coming in from neighbouring villages, who had +seen great trees lying torn out of the earth, and whole {151} ricks +scattered about the roads and fields. Still, there was no abatement in +the storm, but it blew harder. + +As we struggled on, nearer and nearer to the sea, from which this +mighty wind was blowing dead on shore, its force became more and more +terrific. Long before we saw the sea, its spray was on our lips, and +showered salt rain upon us. The water was out, over miles and miles of +the flat country adjacent to Yarmouth; and every sheet and puddle +lashed its banks, and had its stress of little breakers setting heavily +towards us. When we came within sight of the sea, the waves on the +horizon, caught at intervals above the rolling abyss, were like +glimpses of another shore with towers and buildings. When at last we +got into the town, the people came out to their doors, all aslant, and +with streaming hair, making a wonder of the mail that had come through +such a night. + +I put up at the old inn, and went down to look at the sea; staggering +along the street, which was strewn with sand and seaweed, and with +flying blotches of sea-foam; afraid of falling slates and tiles; and +holding by people I met, at angry corners. Coming near the beach, I +saw, not only the boatmen, but half the people of the town, lurking +behind buildings; some, now and then braving the fury of the storm to +look away to sea, and blown sheer out of their course in trying to get +zigzag back. + +Joining these groups, I found bewailing women whose husbands were away +in herring or oyster boats, which there was too much reason to think +might have foundered before they could run in anywhere for safety. +Grizzled old sailors were among the people, shaking their heads, {152} +as they looked from water to sky, and muttering to one another; +ship-owners, excited and uneasy; children, huddling together, and +peering into older faces; even stout mariners, disturbed and anxious, +levelling their glasses at the sea from behind places of shelter, as if +they were surveying an enemy. + +The tremendous sea itself, when I could find sufficient pause to look +at it, in the agitation of the blinding wind, the flying stones and +sand, and the awful noise, confounded me. As the high watery walls +came rolling in, and, at their highest, tumbled into surf, they looked +as if the least would engulf the town. As the receding wave swept back +with a hoarse roar, it seemed to scoop out deep caves in the beach, as +if its purpose were to undermine the earth. When some white-headed +billows thundered on, and dashed themselves to pieces before they +reached the land, every fragment of the late whole seemed possessed by +the full might of its wrath, rushing to be gathered to the composition +of another monster. Undulating hills were changed to valleys, +undulating valleys (with a solitary storm-bird sometimes skimming +through them) were lifted up to hills; masses of water shivered and +shook the beach with a booming sound; every shape tumultuously rolled +on, as soon as made, to change its shape and place, and beat another +shape and place away; the ideal shore on the horizon, with its towers +and buildings, rose and fell; the clouds flew fast and thick; I seemed +to see a rending and upheaving of all nature. . . . + +I went back to the inn; and when I had washed and dressed, and tried to +sleep, but in vain, it was five o'clock in the afternoon. I had not +sat five minutes by the {153} coffee-room fire, when the waiter coming +to stir it, as an excuse for talking, told me that two colliers had +gone down, with all hands, a few miles away; and that some other ships +had been seen labouring hard in the Roads, and trying, in great +distress, to keep off shore. Mercy on them, and on all poor sailors, +said he, if we had another night like the last! + +(_David Copperfield_.) + + + + +CHARLOTTE BRONTE 1816-1855 + +JANE EYRE AND MR ROCHESTER + +"And now, what did you learn at Lowood? Can you play?" + +"A little." + +"Of course, that is the established answer. Go into the library--I +mean, if you please.--(Excuse my tone of command; I am used to say, 'Do +this,' and it is done. I cannot alter my customary habits for one new +inmate.)--Go, then, into the library; take a candle with you; leave the +door open; sit down to the piano, and play a tune." + +I departed, obeying his directions. + +"Enough!" he called out in a few minutes. "You play a _little_, I see, +like any other English school-girl; perhaps rather better than some, +but not well." + +I closed the piano, and returned. Mr Rochester continued-- + +{154} "Adele showed me some sketches this morning, which, she said, +were yours. I don't know whether they were entirely of your doing: +probably a master aided you?" + +"No, indeed!" I interjected. + +"Ah! that pricks pride. Well, fetch me your portfolio, if you can +vouch for its contents being original; but don't pass your word unless +you are certain: I can recognise patchwork." + +"Then I will say nothing, and you shall judge for yourself, sir." + +I brought the portfolio from the library. + +"Approach the table," said he; and I wheeled it to his couch. Adele +and Mrs Fairfax drew near to see the pictures. + +"No crowding," said Mr Rochester: "take the drawings from my hand as I +finish with them; but don't push your faces up to mine." + +He deliberately scrutinised each sketch and painting. Three he laid +aside; the others, when he had examined them, he swept from him. + +"Take them off to the other table, Mrs Fairfax," said he, "and look at +them with Adele;--you" (glancing at me) "resume your seat, and answer +my questions. I perceive these pictures were done by one hand. Was +that hand yours?" + +"Yes." + +"And when did you find time to do them? They have taken much time, and +some thought." + +"I did them in the last two vacations I spent at Lowood, when I had no +other occupation." + +{155} "Where did you get your copies?" + +"Out of my head." + +"That head I see now on your shoulders?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Has it other furniture of the same kind within?" + +"I should think it may have. I should hope--better." + +He spread the pictures before him, and again surveyed them alternately. + +While he is so occupied, I will tell you, reader, what they are, and +first, I must premise that they are nothing wonderful. The subjects +had, indeed, risen vividly on my mind. As I saw them with the +spiritual eye, before I attempted to embody them, they were striking; +but my hand would not second my fancy, and, in each case, it had +wrought out but a pale portrait of the thing I had conceived. + +These pictures were in water-colours. The first represented clouds low +and livid, rolling over a swollen sea: all the distance was in eclipse; +so, too, was the foreground; or, rather, the nearest billows, for there +was no land. One gleam of light lifted into relief a half-submerged +mast, on which sat a cormorant, dark and large, with wings flecked with +foam; its beak held a gold bracelet, set with gems, which I had touched +with as brilliant tints as my pencil could impart. Sinking below the +bird and mast, a drowned corpse glanced through the green water; a fair +arm was the only limb clearly visible, whence the bracelet had been +washed or torn. + +The second picture contained for foreground only the dim peak of a +hill, with grass and some leaves slanting {156} as if by a breeze. +Beyond and above spread an expanse of sky, dark blue, as at twilight; +rising into the sky was a woman's shape to the bust, portrayed in tints +as dusk and soft as I could combine. The dim forehead was crowned with +a star; the lineaments below were seen as through the suffusion of +vapour; the eyes shone dark and wild; the hair streamed shadowy, like a +beamless cloud torn by storm or by electric travail. On the neck lay a +pale reflection like moonlight: the same faint lustre touched the train +of thin clouds from which rose and bowed this vision of the Evening +Star. + +The third showed the pinnacle of an iceberg piercing a polar winter +sky: a muster of northern lights reared their dim lances, close +serried, along the horizon. Throwing these into distance, rose, in the +foreground, a head,--a colossal head, inclined towards the iceberg, and +resting against it. Two thin hands, joined under the forehead, and +supporting it, drew up before the lower features a sable veil; a brow +quite bloodless, white as bone, and an eye hollow and fixed, blank of +meaning but for the glassiness of despair, alone were visible. Above +the temples, amidst wreathed turban folds of black drapery, vague in +its character and consistency as cloud, gleamed a ring of white flame, +gemmed with sparkles of a more lurid tinge. This pale crescent was +"the likeness of a Kingly Crown"; what it diademed was "the shape which +shape had none." + +(_Jane Eyre_.) + + + + +{157} + +HENRY DAVID THOREAU 1817-1862 + +A HUT IN THE WOODS + +I did not read books the first summer; I hoed beans. Nay, I often did +better than this. There were times when I could not afford to +sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of the +head or hands. I love a broad margin to my life. Sometimes, in a +summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny +doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a reverie, amidst the pines and +hickories and sumachs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the +birds sang around, or flitted noiseless through the house, until by the +sun falling in at my west window, or the noise of some traveller's +waggon on the distant highway, I was reminded of the lapse of time. I +grew in those seasons like corn in the night, and they were far better +than any work of the hands would have been. They were not time +subtracted from my life, but so much over and above my usual allowance. +I realised what the Orientals mean by contemplation and the forsaking +of works. For the most part, I minded not how the hours went. The day +advanced as if to light some work of mine; it was morning, and lo, now +it is evening, and nothing memorable is accomplished. Instead of +singing like the birds, I silently smiled at my incessant good fortune. +As the sparrow had its trill, sitting on the hickory before my door, so +I had my chuckle or suppressed warble which he might hear out of my +nest. My days were not days {158} of the week, bearing the stamp of +any heathen deity, nor were they minced into hours and fretted by the +ticking of a clock; for I lived like the Puri Indians, of whom it is +said that for yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow they have only one word, +and they express the variety of meaning by pointing backward for +yesterday, forward for to-morrow, and overhead for the passing day. +This was sheer idleness to my fellow-townsmen, no doubt; but if the +birds and flowers had tried me by their standard, I should not have +been found wanting. A man must find his occasions in himself, it is +true. The natural day is very calm, and will hardly reprove his +indolence. + +I had this advantage, at least, in my mode of life, over those who were +obliged to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theatre, that +my life itself was become my amusement and never ceased to be novel. +It was a drama of many scenes and without an end. If we were always +indeed getting our living, and regulating our lives according to the +last and best mode we had learned, we should never be troubled with +ennui. Follow your genius closely enough, and it will not fail to show +you a fresh prospect every hour. House-work was a pleasant pastime. +When my floor was dirty, I rose early, and, setting all my furniture +out of doors on the grass, bed and bedstead making but one budget, +dashed water on the floor, and sprinkled white sand from the pond on +it, and then with a broom scrubbed it clean and white; and by the time +the villagers had broken their fast the morning sun had dried my house +sufficiently to allow me to move in again, and my meditations were +almost uninterrupted. It was pleasant to see my whole {159} household +effects out on the grass, making a little pile like a gypsy's pack, and +my three-legged table, from which I did not remove the books and pen +and ink, standing amid the pines and hickories. They seemed glad to +get out themselves, and as if unwilling to be brought in. I was +sometimes tempted to stretch an awning over them and take my seat +there. It was worth the while to see the sun shine on these things, +and hear the free wind blow on them; so much more interesting most +familiar objects look out of doors than in the house. A bird sits on +the next bough; life everlasting grows under the table, and blackberry +vines run round its legs; pine cones, chestnut burs, and strawberry +leaves are strewn about. It looked as if this was the way these forms +came to be transferred to our furniture, to tables, chairs, and +bedsteads,--because they once stood in their midst. + +(_Walden_.) + + + + +GEORGE ELIOT (MARY ANN EVANS) 1819-1880 + +A MISER + +Gradually the guineas, the crowns, and the half-crowns grew to a heap, +and Marner drew less and less for his own wants, trying to solve the +problem of keeping himself strong enough to work sixteen hours a day on +as small an outlay as possible. . . . He handled them, he counted +them, till their form and colour were like the {160} satisfaction of a +thirst to him; but it was only in the night, when his work was done, +that he drew them out to enjoy their companionship. He had taken up +some bricks in his floor underneath his loom, and here he made a hole +in which he set the iron pot that contained his guineas and silver +coins, covering the bricks with sand whenever he replaced them. Not +that the idea of being robbed presented itself often or strongly to his +mind: hoarding was common in country districts in those days; there +were old labourers in the parish of Raveloe who were known to have +their savings by them, probably inside their flock-beds; but their +rustic neighbours, though not all of them as honest as their ancestors +in the days of King Alfred, had not imaginations bold enough to lay a +plan of burglary. How could they have spent the money in their own +village without betraying themselves? They would be obliged to "run +away"--a course as dark and dubious as a balloon journey. + +So, year after year, Silas Marner had lived in this solitude, his +guineas rising in the iron pot, and his life narrowing and hardening +itself more and more into a mere pulsation of desire and satisfaction +that had no relation to any other being. His life had reduced itself +to the functions of weaving and hoarding, without any contemplation of +an end towards which the functions tended. The same sort of process +has perhaps been undergone by wiser men, when they have been cut off +from faith and love--only, instead of a loom and a heap of guineas, +they have had some erudite research, some ingenious project, or some +well-knit theory. Strangely Marner's face and figure shrank and bent +themselves {161} into a constant mechanical relation to the objects of +his life, so that he produced the same sort of impression as a handle +or a crooked tube, which has no meaning standing apart. The prominent +eyes that used to look trusting and dreamy, now looked as if they had +been made to see only one kind of thing that was very small, like tiny +grain, for which they hunted everywhere; and he was so withered and +yellow, that, though he was not yet forty, the children always called +him "Old Master Marner." + +Yet even in this stage of withering a little incident happened, which +showed that the sap of affection was not all gone. It was one of his +daily tasks to fetch his water from a well a couple of fields off, and +for this purpose, ever since he came to Raveloe, he had a brown +earthenware pot, which he held as his most precious utensil among the +very few conveniences he had granted himself. It had been his +companion for twelve years, always standing on the same spot, always +lending its handle to him in the early morning, so that its form had an +expression for him of willing helpfulness, and the impress of its +handle on his palm gave a satisfaction mingled with that of having the +fresh clear water. One day as he was returning from the well, he +stumbled against the step of the stile, and his brown pot, falling with +force against the stones that over-arched the ditch below him, was +broken in three pieces. Silas picked up the pieces and carried them +home with grief in his heart. The brown pot could never be of use to +him any more, but he stuck the bits together and propped the ruin in +its old place for a memorial. + +{162} This is the history of Silas Marner, until the fifteenth year +after he came to Raveloe. The livelong day he sat in his loom, his ear +filled with its monotony, his eyes bent close down on the slow growth +of sameness in the brownish web, his muscles moving with such even +repetition that their pause seemed almost as much a constraint as the +holding of his breath. But at night came his revelry: at night he +closed his shutters, and made fast his doors, and drew forth his gold. +Long ago the heap of coins had become too large for the iron pot to +hold them, and he had made for them two thick leather bags, which +wasted no room in their resting-place, but lent themselves flexibly to +every corner. How the guineas shone as they came pouring out of the +dark leather mouths! The silver bore no large proportion in amount to +the gold, because the long pieces of linen which formed his chief work +were always partly paid for in gold, and out of the silver he supplied +his own bodily wants, choosing always the shillings and sixpences to +spend in this way. He loved the guineas best, but he would not change +the silver--the crowns and half-crowns that were his own earnings, +begotten by his labour; he loved them all. He spread them out in heaps +and bathed his hands in them; then he counted them and set them up in +regular piles, and felt their rounded outline between his thumb and +fingers, and thought fondly of the guineas that were only half earned +by the work in his loom, as if they had been unborn children--thought +of the guineas that were coming slowly through the coming years, +through all his life, which spread far away before him, the end quite +hidden by countless days of weaving. + +(_Silas Marner_.) + + + + +{163} + +JOHN RUSKIN 1819-1900 + +SHIPS + +Down to Elizabeth's time chivalry lasted; and grace of dress and mien, +and all else that was connected with chivalry. Then came the ages +which, when they have taken their due place in the depths of the past, +will be, by a wise and clear-sighted futurity, perhaps well +comprehended under a common name, as the ages of Starch; periods of +general stiffening and bluish-whitening, with a prevailing +washerwoman's taste in everything; involving a change of steel armour +into cambric; of natural hair into peruke; of natural walking into that +which will disarrange no wristbands; of plain language into quips and +embroideries; and of human life in general, from a green race-course, +where to be defeated was at worst only to fall behind and recover +breath, into a slippery pole, to be climbed with toil and contortion, +and in clinging to which, each man's foot is on his neighbour's head. + +But, meanwhile, the marine deities were incorruptible. It was not +possible to starch the sea; and precisely as the stiffness fastened +upon men, it vanished from ships. What had once been a mere raft, with +rows of formal benches, pushed along by laborious flap of oars, and +with infinite fluttering of flags and swelling of poops above, +gradually began to lean more heavily into the deep water, to sustain a +gloomy weight of guns, to draw back its spider-like feebleness of limb, +and open its bosom to the wind, and finally darkened down from all its +painted {164} vanities into the long low hull, familiar with the +over-flying foam; that has no other pride but in its daily duty and +victory; while, through all these changes, it gained continually in +grace, strength, audacity, and beauty, until at last it has reached +such a pitch of all these, that there is not, except the very loveliest +creatures of the living world, anything in nature so absolutely +notable, bewitching, and, according to its means and measure, +heart-occupying, as a well-handled ship under sail in a stormy day. +Any ship, from lowest to proudest, has due place in that architecture +of the sea; beautiful, not so much in this or that piece of it, as in +the unity of all, from cottage to cathedral, into their great buoyant +dynasty. Yet, among them, the fisher-boat, corresponding to the +cottage on the land (only far more sublime than a cottage ever can be), +is on the whole the thing most venerable. I doubt if ever academic +grove were half so fit for profitable meditation as the little strip of +shingle between two black, steep, overhanging sides of stranded +fishing-boats. The clear, heavy water-edge of ocean rising and falling +close to their bows, in that unaccountable way which the sea has always +in calm weather, turning the pebbles over and over as if with a rake, +to look for something, and then stopping a moment down at the bottom of +the bank, and coming up again with a little run and clash, throwing a +foot's depth of salt crystal in an instant between you and the round +stone you were going to take in your hand; sighing, all the while, as +if it would infinitely rather be doing something else. And the dark +flanks of the fishing-boats all aslope above, in their shining +quietness, hot in the morning sun, rusty and seamed with square patches +of {165} plank nailed over their rents; just rough enough to let the +little flat-footed fisher-children haul or twist themselves up to the +gunwales, and drop back again along some stray rope; just round enough +to remind us, in their broad and gradual curves, of the sweep of the +green surges they know so well, and of the hours when those old sides +of seared timber, all ashine with the sea, plunge and dip into the deep +green purity of the mounded waves more joyfully than a deer lies down +among the grass of spring, the soft white cloud of foam opening +momentarily at the bows, and fading or flying high into the breeze +where the sea-gulls toss and shriek,--the joy and beauty of it, all the +while, so mingled with the sense of unfathomable danger, and the human +effort and sorrow going on perpetually from age to age, waves rolling +for ever, and winds moaning for ever, and faithful hearts trusting and +sickening for ever, and brave lives dashed away about the rattling +beach like weeds for ever; and still at the helm of every lonely boat, +through starless night and hopeless dawn, His hand, who spread the +fisher's net over the dust of the Sidonian palaces, and gave into the +fisher's hand the keys of the kingdom of heaven. + +Next after the fishing-boat--which, as I said, in the architecture of +the sea represents the cottage, more especially the pastoral or +agricultural cottage, watchful over some pathless domain of moorland or +arable, as the fishing-boat swims humbly in the midst of the broad +green fields and hills of ocean, out of which it has to win such fruit +as they can give, and to compass with net or drag such flocks as it may +find,--next to this ocean-cottage ranks in interest, it seems to me, +the small, over-wrought, {166} under-crewed, ill-caulked merchant brig +or schooner; the kind of ship which first shows its couple of thin +masts over the low fields or marshes as we near any third-rate seaport; +and which is sure somewhere to stud the great space of glittering +water, seen from any sea-cliff, with its four or five square-set sails. +Of the larger and more polite tribes of merchant vessels, three-masted, +and passenger-carrying, I have nothing to say, feeling in general +little sympathy with people who want to go anywhere; nor caring much +about anything, which in the essence of it expresses a desire to get to +other sides of the world; but only for homely and stay-at-home ships, +that live their life and die their death about English rocks. Neither +have I any interest in the higher branches of commerce, such as traffic +with spice islands, and porterage of painted tea-chests or carved +ivory; for all this seems to me to fall under the head of commerce of +the drawing-room; costly, but not venerable. I respect in the merchant +service only those ships that carry coals, herrings, salt, timber, +iron, and such other commodities, and that have disagreeable odour, and +unwashed decks. But there are few things more impressive to me than +one of these ships lying up against some lonely quay in a black +sea-fog, with the furrow traced under its tawny keel far in the harbour +slime. The noble misery that there is in it, the might of its rent and +strained unseemliness, its wave-worn melancholy, resting there for a +little while in the comfortless ebb, unpitied, and claiming no pity; +still less honoured, least of all conscious of any claim to honour; +casting and craning by due balance whatever is in its hold up to the +pier, in quiet truth of time; spinning of wheel, and {167} slackening +of rope, and swinging of spade, in as accurate cadence as a waltz +music; one or two of its crew, perhaps, away forward, and a hungry boy +and yelping dog eagerly interested in something from which a blue dull +smoke rises out of pot or pan; but dark-browed and silent, their limbs +slack, like the ropes above them, entangled as they are in those +inextricable meshes about the patched knots and heaps of ill-reefed +sable sail. What a majestic sense of service in all that languor! the +rest of human limbs and hearts, at utter need, not in sweet meadows or +soft air, but in harbour slime and biting fog; so drawing their breath +once more, to go out again, without lament, from between the two +skeletons of pier-heads, vocal with wash of under wave, into the grey +troughs of tumbling brine; there, as they can, with slacked rope, and +patched sail, and leaky hull, again to roll and stagger far away amidst +the wind and salt sleet, from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn, winning +day by day their daily bread; and for last reward, when their old +hands, on some winter night, lose feeling along the frozen ropes, and +their old eyes miss mark of the lighthouse quenched in foam, the +so-long impossible Rest, that shall hunger no more, neither thirst any +more,--their eyes and mouths filled with the brown sea-sand. + +(_Harbours of England_.) + + + + +{168} + +WALTER PATER 1839-1894 + +THE CHILD IN THE HOUSE + +As Florian Deleal walked, one hot afternoon, he overtook by the wayside +a poor aged man, and, as he seemed weary with the road, helped him on +with the burden which he carried, a certain distance. And as the man +told his story, it chanced that he named the place, a little place in +the neighbourhood of a great city, where Florian had passed his +earliest years, but which he had never since seen, and, the story told, +went forward on his journey comforted. And that night, like a reward +for his pity, a dream of that place came to Florian, a dream which did +for him the office of the finer sort of memory, bringing its object to +mind with a great clearness, yet, as sometimes happens in dreams, +raised a little above itself, and above ordinary retrospect. The true +aspect of the place, especially of the house there in which he had +lived as a child, the fashion of its doors, its hearths, its windows, +the very scent upon the air of it, was with him in sleep for a season; +only, with tints more musically blent on wall and floor, and some finer +light and shadow running in and out along its curves and angles, and +with all its little carvings daintier. He awoke with a sigh at the +thought of almost thirty years which lay between him and that place, +yet with a flutter of pleasure still within him at the fair light, as +if it were a smile, upon it. And it happened that this accident of his +dream was just the thing needed for the beginning of a certain design +he {169} then had in view, the noting, namely, of some things in the +story of his spirit--in that process of brain-building by which we are, +each one of us, what we are. With the image of the place so clear and +favourable upon him, he fell to thinking of himself therein, and how +his thoughts had grown up to him. In that half-spiritualised house he +could watch the better, over again, the gradual expansion of the soul +which had come to be there--of which indeed, through the law which +makes the material objects about them so large an element in children's +lives, it had actually become a part; inward and outward being woven +through and through each other into one inextricable texture--half, +tint and trace and accident of homely colour and form, from the wood +and the bricks; half, mere soul-stuff, floated thither from who knows +how far. In the house and garden of his dream he saw a child moving, +and could divide the main streams at least of the winds that had played +on him, and study so the first stage in that mental journey. + +The _old house_, as when Florian talked of it afterwards he always +called it (as all children do, who can recollect a change of home, soon +enough but not too soon to mark a period in their lives) really was an +old house; and an element of French descent in its inmates--descent +from Watteau, the old court-painter, one of whose gallant pieces still +hung in one of the rooms--might explain, together with some other +things, a noticeable trimness and comely whiteness about everything +there--the curtains, the couches, the paint on the walls with which the +light and shadow played so delicately; might explain also the tolerance +of the great poplar in the garden, a tree {170} most often despised by +English people, but which French people love, having observed a certain +fresh way its leaves have of dealing with the wind, making it sound, in +never so slight a stirring of the air, like running water. + +The old-fashioned, low wainscoting went round the rooms, and up the +staircase with carved balusters and shadowy angles, landing half-way up +at a broad window, with a swallow's nest below the sill, and the +blossom of an old pear-tree showing across it in late April, against +the blue, below which the perfumed juice of the find of fallen fruit in +autumn was so fresh. At the next turning came the closet which held on +its deep shelves the best china. Little angel faces and reedy flutings +stood out round the fire-place of the children's room. And on the top +of the house, above the large attic, where the white mice ran in the +twilight--an infinite, unexplored wonderland of childish treasures, +glass beads, empty scent-bottles still sweet, thrum of coloured silks, +among its lumber--a flat space of roof, railed round, gave a view of +the neighbouring steeples; for the house, as I said, stood near a great +city, which sent up heavenwards, over the twisting weather-vanes, not +seldom, its beds of rolling cloud and smoke, touched with storm or +sunshine. But the child of whom I am writing did not hate the fog +because of the crimson lights which fell from it sometimes upon the +chimneys, and the whites which gleamed through its openings, on summer +mornings, on turret or pavement. For it is false to suppose that a +child's sense of beauty is dependent on any choiceness or special +fineness, in the objects which present themselves to it, though this +indeed comes to be the rule with most of us in later life; earlier, in +{171} some degree, we see inwardly, and the child finds for itself, and +with unstinted delight, a difference for the sense, in those whites and +reds through the smoke on very homely buildings, and in the gold of the +dandelions at the road-side, just beyond the houses, where not a +handful of earth is virgin and untouched, in the lack of better +ministries to its desire of beauty. + +(_Miscellaneous Studies_.) + + + + +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 1850-1894 + +DIVING + +Into the bay of Wick stretched the dark length of the unfinished +breakwater, in its cage of open staging; the travellers (like frames of +churches) over-plumbing all; and away at the extreme end, the divers +toiling unseen on the foundation. On a platform of loose planks, the +assistants turned their air-mills; a stone might be swinging between wind +and water; underneath the swell ran gaily; and from time to time, a +mailed dragon with a window-glass snout came dripping up the +ladder. . . . To go down in the diving-dress, that was my absorbing +fancy; and with the countenance of a certain handsome scamp of a diver, +Bob Bain by name, I gratified the whim. + +It was grey harsh, easterly weather, the swell ran pretty high, and out +in the open there were "skipper's daughters," when I found myself at last +on the diver's platform, twenty pounds of lead upon each foot and my +{172} whole person swollen with ply and ply of woollen underclothing. +One moment, the salt wind was whistling round my night-capped head; the +next, I was crushed almost double under the weight of the helmet. As +that intolerable burthen was laid upon me, I could have found it in my +heart (only for shame's sake) to cry off from the whole enterprise. But +it was too late. The attendants began to turn the hurdy-gurdy, and the +air to whistle through the tube; some one screwed in the barred window of +the vizor; and I was cut off in a moment from my fellow-men; standing +there in their midst, but quite divorced from intercourse: a creature +deaf and dumb, pathetically looking forth upon them from a climate of his +own. Except that I could move and feel, I was like a man fallen in a +catalepsy. But time was scarce given me to realise my isolation; the +weights were hung upon my back and breast, the signal rope was thrust +into my unresisting hand; and setting a twenty-pound foot upon the +ladder, I began ponderously to descend. + +Some twenty rounds below the platform, twilight fell. Looking up, I saw +a low green heaven mottled with vanishing bells of white; looking around, +except for the weedy spokes and shafts of the ladder, nothing but a green +gloaming, somewhat opaque but very restful and delicious. Thirty rounds +lower, I stepped off on the _pierres perdues_ of the foundation; a dumb +helmeted figure took me by the hand, and made a gesture (as I read it) of +encouragement; and looking in at the creature's window, I beheld the face +of Bain. There we were, hand to hand and (when it pleased us) eye to +eye; and either might have burst himself with shouting, and not a {173} +whisper come to his companion's hearing. Each, in his own little world +of air, stood incommunicably separate. + +Bob had told me ere this a little tale, a five minutes' drama at the +bottom of the sea, which at that moment possibly shot across my mind. He +was down with another, settling a stone of the sea-wall. They had it +well adjusted, Bob gave the signal, the scissors were slipped, the stone +set home; and it was time to turn to something else. But still his +companion remained bowed over the block like a mourner on a tomb, or only +raised himself to make absurd contortions and mysterious signs unknown to +the vocabulary of the diver. There, then, these two stood for a while, +like the dead and the living; till there flashed a fortunate thought into +Bob's mind, and he stooped, peered through the window of that other +world, and beheld the face of its inhabitant wet with streaming tears. +Ah! the man was in pain! And Bob, glancing downward, saw what was the +trouble: the block had been lowered on the foot of that unfortunate--he +was caught alive at the bottom of the sea under fifteen tons of rock. + +That two men should handle a stone so heavy, even swinging in the +scissors, may appear strange to the inexpert. These must bear in mind +the great density of the water of the sea, and the surprising results of +transplantation to that medium. To understand a little what these are, +and how a man's weight, so far from being an encumbrance, is the very +ground of his agility, was the chief lesson of my submarine experience. +The knowledge came upon me by degrees. As I began to go forward with the +hand of my estranged companion, a world of tumbled stones {174} was +visible, pillared with the weedy uprights of the staging: overhead, a +flat roof of green: a little in front, the sea-wall, like an unfinished +rampart. And presently in our upward progress, Bob motioned me to leap +upon a stone; I looked to see if he were possibly in earnest, and he only +signed to me the more imperiously. Now the block stood six feet high; it +would have been quite a leap to me unencumbered; with the breast and back +weights, and the twenty pounds upon each foot, and the staggering load of +the helmet, the thing was out of reason. I laughed aloud in my tomb; and +to prove to Bob how far he was astray, I gave a little impulse from my +toes. Up I soared like a bird, my companion soaring at my side. As high +as the stone, and then higher, I pursued my impotent and empty flight. +Even when the strong arm of Bob had checked my shoulders, my heels +continued their ascent; so that I blew out sideways like an autumn leaf, +and must be hauled in, hand over hand, as sailors haul in the slack of a +sail, and propped upon my feet again like an intoxicated sparrow. Yet a +little higher on the foundation, and we began to be affected by the +bottom of the swell, running there like a strong breeze of wind. Or so I +must suppose; for, safe in my cushion of air, I was conscious of no +impact; only swayed idly like a weed, and was now borne helplessly +abroad, and now swiftly--and yet with dreamlike gentleness--impelled +against my guide. So does a child's balloon divagate upon the currents +of the air, and touch and slide off again from every obstacle. So must +have ineffectually swung, so resented their inefficiency, those light +crowds that followed the {175} Star of Hades, and uttered exiguous voices +in the land beyond Cocytus. + +There was something strangely exasperating, as well as strangely +wearying, in these uncommanded evolutions. It is bitter to return to +infancy, to be supported, and directed, and perpetually set upon your +feet, by the hand of some one else. The air besides, as it is supplied +to you by the busy millers on the platform, closes the eustachian tubes +and keeps the neophyte perpetually swallowing, till his throat is grown +so dry that he can swallow no longer. And for all these +reasons--although I had a fine, dizzy, muddle-headed joy in my +surroundings, and longed, and tried, and always failed, to lay hands on +the fish that darted here and there about me, swift as humming-birds--yet +I fancy I was rather relieved than otherwise when Bain brought me back to +the ladder and signed to me to mount. And there was one more experience +before me even then. Of a sudden, my ascending head passed into the +trough of a swell. Out of the green, I shot at once into a glory of +rosy, almost of sanguine light--the multitudinous seas incarnadined, the +heaven above a vault of crimson. And then the glory faded into the hard, +ugly daylight of a Caithness autumn, with a low sky, a grey sea, and a +whistling wind. + +(_Across the Plains_.) + + + + +{178} + +NOTES + + +Page + +1 Sir Mordred, left in charge of the kingdom during King Arthur's +absence oversea, treacherously raised a rebellion and made war on the +king when he returned. It was in this war that Arthur presently met +his end. + + +5 The grants to which the Queen refers are the trade-monopolies +granted by her, which she now proceeded to abolish. + + +8 This account of Cleopatra's death (from North's translation of +Plutarch's _Life of Antony_) is closely followed by Shakespeare in +_Antony and Cleopatra_. + + +11 The basket of figs contained the asp, from the bite of which +Cleopatra died (_Antony and Cleopatra_, act V. scene ii.). + + +12 _The three first monarchies of the world_: these, according to +Ralegh's account of the world's history, are those of Assyria, Egypt, +and Persia. + + +13 _The good advice of Cineas_: when Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was +contemplating the invasion of Italy (B.C. 280) his friend and adviser +Cineas asked him what he would do when he was master of the world. +'Pyrrhus, finding his drift, answered pleasantly, that they would live +merrily: a thing (as Cineas then told him) that they presently might do +without any trouble, if he could be contented with his own' (Ralegh). + +_discourse_ here means 'fame.' + + +16 The two kinds of law which Hooker (as he indicates at the beginning +of this extract) has already dealt with are: the law which binds a +man's private conscience, and the law which regulates his dealings with +the state (or 'politic society') of which he is a member. + +_conceits_=conceptions. + + +18 _But that is a wisdom_: i.e. the wisdom of wise men, who know how +to make a proper use of their studies. + +_distilled books_: i.e. books of selections and extracts. + +_Abeunt studia, etc_.: 'studies pass into the character.' + +_stond_= impediment. + + +19 _bowling_, i.e. playing bowls. + +_schoolmen_: the theological and metaphysical writers of the middle +ages. + +_Cymini sectores_: 'splitters of cumin-seed,' i.e. what we should call +'hair-splitters,' the seed of the cumin (a plant something like fennel) +being very minute. + + +20 _In the universality of the kind, etc_.: i.e. the race endures, the +individual perishes. + + +24 _Lycosthenes_, a German scholar of the sixteenth century, wrote a +commentary on a book of _Lives of eminent men_, a work attributed to +Pliny the younger (first century A.D.). + + +26 _The eighth climate_: i.e. England, which lies in the eighth of the +zones (or 'climates') into which the old geographers divided the globe. + +_constellated_: i.e. born under a particular 'constellation' or +conjunction of planets (an astrological expression). + +_Hydra_: the many-headed monster slain by Hercules. + +_in casting account_=in doing sums. + + +27 _Doradoes_=rich men; a Spanish word, as in the phrase 'El dorado' +('the rich country'). + +_First, when a city, etc_.: the skeleton of this highly involved +sentence is as follows: 'First, when a city shall be as it were +besieged. . ., that then the people . . . should be disputing. . ., +argues first a singular good will. . ., and from thence derives itself +[i.e. flows on, proceeds] to a gallant bravery. . . .' + + +28 _as his was who when Rome, etc_.: this story is told by Livy, as an +instance of the undaunted spirit of the Romans during the Punic war. + +_mewing_ properly means 'moulting.' Milton apparently uses it in the +sense of 'renewing by the process of moulting.' + + +29 _engrossers_: wholesale buyers; here used metaphorically of those +who, by curtailing the liberty of book-printing, would 'buy up' the +stock of knowledge and dole it out as they thought fit. + + +30 _he who takes up arms for coat and conduct_: this refers to Charles +I's exaction of a tax for the clothing and conducting (i.e. conveying) +of troops. + +_his four nobles of Danegelt_: a noble was a coin worth 6s. 8d. +Danegelt was originally the land-tax raised by Ethelred the Unready to +buy off the Danes; the word was afterwards used of any unpopular tax, +here of Charles I's imposition of ship-money, resisted by Hampden. + +_In this unhappy battle_: the battle of Newbury, Sept. 20, 1643, in +which the advantage was on the whole with the King against the +Roundheads. + + +33 _vacant_: i.e. open, unclouded. + +_addresses to his place_: i.e. to his office. Falkland was Secretary +of State to Charles I. + + +40 _Phalaris_: a Sicilian tyrant of the sixth century B.C., famous for +his cruelties. The Greek poet Stesichorus was a contemporary of his. + + +42 Samuel Pepys, from whose diary this extract (slightly abridged) is +taken, wrote solely for his own private amusement, troubling himself +very little about style or grammar. He held a post in the Navy Office, +and his work did not often allow him to take a day in the country, such +as he here describes. + + +46 Defoe's _Captain Singleton_ is an imaginary account of the +adventures of certain pirates in different parts of the world. In the +extract here given they are lying in Chinese waters. 'William,' one of +their crew, has gone ashore to trade with some Chinese merchants. + + +47 _thieves' pennyworths_: 'things sold at a robber's price,' i.e. +below their real value. + + +55 _composures_=compositions. + + +56 _the Great Mogul_: the Emperor of Hindostan. + +_Muscovy_=Russia, of which Moscow was formerly the capital. + + +57 _the old philosopher_: Socrates; see Hooker's reference to the +anecdote on page 17 of this book. + +_degree_: i.e. of latitude and longitude. + + +62 _whereas the ladies now walk, etc_.; this was written in 1711, when +ladies wore very large 'hoops,' or crinolines. + + +65 Tom Jones, the hero of Fielding's novel of that name, takes some +friends to see Hamlet, acted by Garrick. Partridge, is a timorous +ex-schoolmaster, without experience of the theatre. + + +77 _redans_: projecting fortifications. + +_the talus of the glacis_: the pitch of the outer slope of an earthwork. + +_banquettes_: the raised way running along the inside of a rampart. + + +78 _chamade_: a signal given by drum, announcing surrender. + + +79 _a new reign_: George II died on October 25, 1760. + + +80 _a rag of quality_: Horace Walpole was a younger son of Sir Robert +Walpole (Earl of Orford). + + +81 _the Duke of Cumberland_: second son of George II. + +_a dark brown adonis_: a kind of wig. + +_the Duke of Newcastle_: the Prime Minister. + + +83 Goldsmith's _Citizen of the World_ consists of a series of letters +on European manners and customs, purporting to be written by a Chinaman +who has never before visited England. + + +86 _whatever accidentally becomes indisposed, etc_.; i.e. whoever +falls out with the authorities. + + +87 _There never was a period, etc_.: this was written in 1777, during +the American War of Independence. + + +90 'Puss' was Cowper's tame hare. + + +92 The initials at the foot of the letter are those of William Cowper +and Mary Unwin, a friend of the poet's. + + +99 _David Garrick_: the celebrated actor (1717-1779). + + +100 Frank Osbaldistone, the hero of Scott's novel _Rob Roy_, goes to +Yorkshire on a visit to his uncle, Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, whom he +has never seen. As he approaches his destination he falls in with a +young lady on horseback, who turns out to be Diana Vernon, a niece of +Sir Hildebrand's. The period of the story is early in the eighteenth +century. + + +106 _The 'Festin de pierre'_: Moliere's play, in which the hero, Don +Juan, rashly invites the statue of a man he has murdered to dine with +him. The invitation is unexpectedly accepted. + + +107 Coleridge, the poet, was an old friend and school-fellow of +Charles Lamb's. + + +109 An imaginary dialogue between the two philosophers. Plato, born +427 B.C., was some years the older of the two. + + +111 Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, with whom Plato had lived for a +time, was overthrown and expelled by his subjects, and driven to +support himself as a schoolmaster at Corinth. + +_The Demiurgos_: the Creator. + + +113 Mrs Elton, in Jane Austen's novel _Emma_, is the somewhat +meddlesome wife of the village parson. Mr Knightley is a gentleman +living at Donwell, in the neighbourhood. The rest of the people named +are other neighbours and friends, one of them, Mr Woodhouse, being an +old gentleman of valetudinarian habits. + + +118 Coleridge, as a young man (he was born in 1772), was for a time in +the habit of preaching in Unitarian chapels. + + +122 This is an extract from a letter of Keats to a friend, written in +1818. + + +124 _The Flight to Varennes_: by the middle of 1791 the French +Revolution had gone so far that the king and queen were practically +prisoners in the palace of the Tuileries at Paris. They at last +determined to try to escape, and the arrangements for their flight were +carried out, in all possible secrecy, by Choiseul, an officer of the +French army, and Fersen, a young Swedish count. Carlyle's vivid +account tells how the start was made; but the royal party were stopped +at Varennes, not far from the frontier, and brought back to Paris. + +_the Carrousel_, or 'tilting-ground,' was an open space in front of the +Tuileries. + + +130 _Trial of the Seven Bishops_: James II, in 1687, issued a +'declaration of indulgence,' promising to suspend certain laws against +Roman Catholics. His command that this declaration should be read in +all parish churches was resisted by seven bishops, who were accordingly +brought to trial for sedition. The declaration was very unpopular in +the country, so that the result of the trial was anxiously awaited. + + +135 _Cimon_ was one of the Athenian commanders in the Persian war. He +died in 449 B.C. + + +140 The scene of Hawthorne's novel, _The House of the Seven Gables_, +is laid in a small town in New England. + + +148 Mr Weston was in the plot with the highwayman to rob Dr Barnard. +He had himself tampered with his own pistols (in the stable at +Maidstone) so that they should miss fire. Hence his peevishness with +Denis Duval, for so unexpectedly routing the thief. + + +153 Jane Eyre is governess to Mr Rochester's daughter, Adele. She +describes how he cross-questioned her with regard to her +accomplishments. + + +157 Thoreau lived for two years in a small hut which he built for +himself in a wood near Concord, in New England. This extract is from +the account he wrote of his life there. + + +171 Stevenson came of a family of engineers, and he himself was +supposed to be preparing for the same profession. But he already +wished to be a writer, and his interest in the harbour-works at Wick, +in Caithness, which he had been sent to study, was romantic rather than +practical. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Book of English Prose, by Percy Lubbock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF ENGLISH PROSE *** + +***** This file should be named 19811.txt or 19811.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/8/1/19811/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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