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around mighty they fell twas honour led the then in a by eve s dark grey two lonely did fly the rustling leaf doth their white hearts and with the trembled and did cry first robert his sore bosom stroke then fell upon the ground and thus robert ah if thus the hours do come along if thus we fly in chase of further woe our feet will fail we be strong nor will our pace swift as our danger go to our great wrongs we have d the war ah woe and well a day i my life i have but have escaped so that life itself my senses doth o come list and hear my gloomy tale come hear the doom of robin of the say to me i ken thy woe in mine oh i ve a tale that might tell sweet meadows forests fine groves far off d around the s cell went on r o glory o f smoking abruptly sad the devil fr o good neat thomas the sweet strung in the the joyous dancing in the court the high song and every joy farewell farewell the very shade of fair trouble on my head doth come no one kind saint to ward the aye increasing doom robert oh i i could wail my my spreading flocks of sheep all lily white my and embodied trees my s far spreading to the sight my tender my strong in fight my garden with the plant my flower saint mary with the light my store of all the blessings heaven can grant i am unto sorrow s blow unto the pain i let no salt tear flow here will i still abide till death appear here like a foul deadly tree which every one that near so will i grow to this place i to lament have greater cause than thee slain in the war my dear loved father lies oh i would his murderer and by his side for aye close up mine eyes cast out from every joy here will i fall n is the gate of my heart s castle stead robert our woes alike alike our doom shall be my son mine only son all death cold is here will i stay and end my life with thee a life like mine a burden is i sweet chatter ton accustomed i unto place get oh i would fr o dead r o the english poets even from the cot now is happiness alone can boast the holy saint now doth our england wear a bloody dress and with her her paint peace fled disorder shows her face dark brow d and through the air doth fly in garments stained with blood the third a man j a woman sir thou ken nature in her better part go search the and of the hind if they have any it is rough made art in them you see the naked form of kind your mind a liking of a mind would it ken everything as it might be would it hear phrase of vulgar from the hind without words and knowledge free if so read this which i d if beside its rhyme may it commend ma t but whither fair maid do ye go where do ye bend your way i will know whither you go will not be answered nay woman to robin and all down in the to help them at making of hay man sir the parson hath hired me there come come let us trip it away we ll work and we ll sing and we ll drink of strong beer as long as the merry summer s day ca r o peace disorder her dark rode rode k thomas woman how hard is my doom to work much is my woe dame who lies in the with of gold with golden borders strong what was she more than me to be so man i ken sir from afar over the i will ask why the lord s son is more than me sir the sun doth hie his from every beam a seed of life doth fall quickly heap up the hay upon the plain the are to grow tall this is alike our doom the great the small must and be by death s dart see the sweet hath no sweet at all it with the rank weed equal part the warrior and the wise be alike to away with those they did lament man au a boon sir priest all a boon by your now say unto me sir the knight who hard by why should he than me be more great in honour and estate sir cast round thine eyes upon this hay d attentively look o er the sun an answer to thy burden song here see this withered will a lesson tell the english poets it rose it blew it flourished and did well looking upon the neighbour green yet with the green its glory fell it shrank upon the day burnt plain did not its look the while it there did stand to crop it in the bud move some dread hand such is the way of life the lord s rich rent the robber him therefore to if thou hast ease the shadow of content believe the truth there s none more whole than thee thou well can that a trouble be more would thee than the day thou the secret part of spirits see thou see truth in what i say but let me hear thy way of life and then hear thou from me the lives of other men man i rise with the sun like him to drive | 45 |
the and ere my work is done i sing a song or twain i follow the plough tail with a long of ale on every saint s high day with the am i seen all a footing it away with maidens on the green but oh i wish to be more great in worship and estate sir hast thou not seen a tree upon a hill whose boundless branches reach afar to sight when furious do the heaven fill it dire ip and much the s lord s purse and thomas what while the humble lowly d by the storm such picture is of life the man of might is tempest his woe great as his form a of a small account harder feel the wind as higher thou mount marriage song from a first the at the light the are sprinkled with the yellow hue in is the mountain the slim young with the dew the trees into heaven when gentle winds do blow to whistling din are brought the evening comes and brings the dew along the ruddy to the around the ale stake sing the song young ivy round the doth i lay me on the grass yet to my will all is fair there something still second so adam thought what time in paradise all heaven and earth did homage to his mind in woman and none else man s lies as instruments of joy are kind with kind go take a wife unto thine arms and see winter and dusky hills will have a charm for thee tender as instruments of were made the n vol iii e e l the english poets third when autumn and doth appear with his gold hand the falling leaf bringing up winter to fulfil the year bearing upon his back the when all the hills with seed are white when fires and do meet from far the sight when the fair apples red as even sky do bend the tree unto the fruitful ground when and of black do dance in air and call the eyes around then be it evening foul or evening fair my joy of heart is with some care second angels are to be of neither kind angels alone from hot desire are free is a somewhat ever in the mind that without woman cannot be no saint in cell but having blood and cheer doth find the spirit joy in sight of woman fair women are made not for themselves but man bone of his bone and child of his desire they from an useless member first began y wrought with much of water little fire therefore they seek the fire of love to heat the of kind and make themselves complete without women men were to savage kind and would but live to yet woman oft the spirit of peace so cheers with joy true angels they go take thee straightway to thy bed a wife be or highly in proving marriage life health o angel bee thomas the of w s feast by william the the bell han the grave the the waste the taste ate the the of they the ha ne to yer thus bee i to or be ne s from e a o sing unto my o drop the tear with me dance no more at holy day like a running river be my love is dead gone to his death bed all under the willow tree the above piece is given in s original as a fair welcome becomes snuff up cheerful the names of s favourite poets and friends as developed in s system ee the english poets black his locks as the winter night white his skin as the summer snowy red his face as the morning light cold he lies in the grave below my love is dead gone to his death bed all under the willow tree sweet his tongue as the s note quick in dance as thought can be his stout o he lies by the willow tree my love is dead gone to his death bed all under the willow tree hark the his wing in the d below hark the death owl loud doth sing to the as they go my love is dead gone to his death bed all under the willow tree see the white moon shines on high is my true love s than the morning sky than the evening cloud my love is dead gone to his death bed all under the willow tree here upon my true love s grave shall the barren flowers be laid not one holy saint to save all the coldness of a maid my love is dead gone to his death bed all under the willow tree rode complexion thomas chatter ton with my hands the round his holy to grow light your fires here my body still shall bow my love is dead gone to his death bed all under the willow tree come with cup and thorn drain my hearth s blood away life and all its good i scorn dance by night or feast by day my love is dead gone to his death bed all under the willow tree fasten ore bee r the original with the following water crowned with bear me to your tide i i my true love waits i thus the and died in spite of the words water flags and deadly this is a false century note strangely out of harmony with the almost completely sustained tone of the rest of this noble it is moreover an awkward break down in i have ventured to transfer it from the text to this foot note a word may be i as to my text wherever s word has b en adopted instead of his text word | 45 |
this is done without now and then the rhyme or clearness of phrase compelled this has been in the notes in every case of the least importance william william was bom at the great his father the of the parish was a nephew of lord his mother was ann of the family of dr john the celebrated dean of st paul s was educated at a private school and afterwards at w where was a master and robert and were among the boys after leaving westminster he became a member of the middle temple and was to a a mr one of his fellow clerks being afterwards lord during his three years under mr he saw much of the family of his uncle with one of whose daughters he formed a deep attachment another daughter afterwards lady was in the later years of his life one of his warmest friends the engagement of marriage with was not by her father and this disappointment with other troubles seems to have greatly affected and to have prepared the way for bis first attack of insanity w hich took place in the immediate cause was the excitement occasioned by his appointment to two in the se of lords at the hands of his uncle major his malady was by the handling he received from his cousin martin a strong and it was only after a stay of fifteen months under the care of the amiable physician and verse writer dr cotton at st s that he recovered he did not resume work in london but went to live at there he fell in with the and there began their intimacy after mr s death removed with mrs to where they remained till the peace of s life at was shaken in by a second attack of which lasted for sixteen months before and after that time he freely with many friends he joined with john in charge at in the hymns published but it was not till december that he began seriously to write poetry having deserted the art since the days of his early love verses to his first volume containing table talk conversation retirement and the other poems was published in his second containing tke task and among others the ballad of john william which had been published in a newspaper and had become famous through the of the actor appeared in the subjects of both john and the were suggested to by lady a fascinating person who for some years was on intimate terms with him and mrs afterwards he began his translation of which was completed and published in the last years of his life from to were years of great misery mrs was from to her death in he himself was suffering from hopeless regarding himself as he had done since his first attack as an outcast from god he died at east in april the pathos of s life and his position in our poetical history will always lend a special interest to his work even though it is no longer possible to regard a poet limited as he was as a poet of the first order he was an essentially original writer owing much of course as every writer must owe to the subtle influences of his time but as little as ever poet derived from literary study i have not read more than one english poet for twenty years and but one for thirteen years he says in one of his letters of the year and though that would seem to be an exaggeration it is akin to a truth that in mature life at least he cared little for reading english poetry and owed little to it it is true that he formed his blank verse on the model of milton and that the great gave him a pattern in the use of the heroic which he soon surpassed but essentially he stands alone as remote from the stream of century verse as his life at was remote from the public life of his day the poet of retirement and the task is the beginning of a new order in poetry he is one of the first symptoms if not the of the revolution in style which is soon to become a revolution in ideas the clear crisp english of his verse is not the work of a man who belongs to a school or who follows some conventional pattern it is for his amusement he again and again in his letters that he is a poet just as it has been for his amusement that he has worked in the garden and made rabbit he writes because it pleases him without a thought of his fame or of what the world will admire the task his most characteristic poem is indeed a work of great labour but the labour is not directed as pope s labour was directed towards or arranging the material towards working up the argument towards forcing the ideas into the most striking situations the labour is in the and the the english poets language as for the thoughts they are allowed to show themselves just as they come in their natural order so that the poem reads like the speech of a man talking to himself to turn from a poem of s to a poem of pope s or even of s is to turn from one sphere of art to quite another from unconscious to conscious art formal gardens in comparison with scenery as said and how much that means it means that the day of critical and so called classical poetry is over that the day of spontaneous natural romantic poetry has begun burns and are not yet but they are close at hand the time at which then fifty years of age was writing and his first volume was not a time of mental in england nor a time when poetry was not in | 45 |
fashion on the contrary it was an epoch of great mental activity it was the epoch of adam smith and of and of and more than that it was the epoch at which two great rival of the british poets the first that had ever been made were being published with much success but it was an epoch at which nothing of any value was being produced in poetry gray were dead and they had left no has preserved for us with no small pride the letter in which one of the first philosophers one of the most eminent literary characters of the age dr the receipt of his volume sent by a common friend the relish for the reading of poetry had long since left me but there is something so new in the manner so easy and yet so correct in the language so clear in the expression yet and so just in the sentiments that i have read the whole with great pleasure and some of the pieces more than once if we wish to appreciate what dr meant by this something so new in the manner we have only to turn to any of the volumes which contain what passed current as poetry at the moment to the volumes of the magazine for example or to go back a few years to some of the or volumes of that the of the time were fond of issuing s is one instance another is s collection of poems by several hands printed in four volumes in much of the space is occupied by the work of well known writers that has survived and has always been celebrated the work of and johnson for example but the crowd the forgotten crowd that fill the bulk of the volumes they are the william writers who represent the average poetical level of the time the level out of which suddenly emerged to charm dr mr mr mr miss mrs and a hundred others are the channels into which the river of century verse diffused itself before it was finally lost in the sand it is harmless enough this verse it is not noise and nonsense like the productions of twenty years later but it is it wholly distinction when the excellent miss the of has to write an to melancholy and to melancholy to to ambition are the of the volumes she begins come melancholy silent r companion of my lonely hour to sober thought d thou sweetly sad ideal guest in all thy soothing charms indulge my pensive mind i when mr writes an to evenings he can choose no more individual than that in which had written his a few years before the of the collection speak of it with pride as representing an age in which literary merit so much but the candid modern reader finds the merit to be but the merit of a more than chinese poor robert s and s friend was nearer the mark when he said just at this time write what we will our works us tale or lofty we travel on the beaten road the proverb still sticks closely by non in what precisely does this something so new in the manner of s work consist there is much debate among modern critics as to the answer to this question which really is the question of s place in our literary history some claiming for him a with a spirit like that of and a spirit that he certainly would not have claimed for himself others and this is the common view agreeing with mr that he is the of words the english poets worth it would be truer to say that in his own curious and limited way contains both these elements the and the element and that in so doing he all the intellectual influences that were silently working around him towards the of modem england an interesting writer has the tendencies of poetry in the latter half of the century as love of natural description v and attempts at a more vivid and wider of human character and incident two tendencies which we may add are but different forms of one of the revolt against both in art and society the joy in natural objects of which we have found traces in many writers since begins to be linked with a sense of the brotherhood of mankind to the religious j mind and the wide reach of the religious revival must be j this sense of brotherhood and this sense of natural beauty being sharpened and strengthened by the belief in the near pre j of the creator and the father of all is the artist who has expressed in a new and permanent form this complex sentiment he is the poet of the return to nature and he is the poet of the simple human affections both nature and humanity being of interest to him because of their divine source and because of that alone we are placed in the world he seems to say by an and being on whose will our life and death our health and sickness our prosperity and at every moment depend and who at his pleasure the fate of and the issues of political events the world as he made it is good but the corruption of man has done much to spoil it god made the country and man made the town and though man cannot live without society his vices are such that his towns soon become of corruption hence true beauty is to be found only in nature true pleasures only in the fields and woods and in the simple offices of rural and domestic life to watch nature at her work to to cultivate sympathy with those creatures that are so to speak most fresh from nature s hand with animals and the poor and | 45 |
the friends of your home this is the only rational way to happiness and to advocate this life is the poet s work on the other hand he may his teaching by contrast by vice by satire genial or severe by drawing in outlines that all may recognise the harm of a departure from nature review july william the poet is a teacher and an advocate his business is to the world from to god at fifty years of age then and under the influence of his friend of fifteen years mrs began to his own powers as a poet and to carry into practice this theory of the poet s duty already in the gloom of his second period of insanity had begun to roll away he renewed his broken correspondence he took to himself about the garden and the house at his brightest and most active years are those that follow the fifteen years that begin with the renewal of his correspondence and end with the publication of his it was about that he began to find his and his and even his landscape drawing not enough to find it to raise the and green and to look for a more solid occupation than weaving for bird fruit or silken threads on ivory he asked for some employment more permanently exciting and he found it in on the set by mrs what pleasure he gained from his new occupation is told in part in the poems themselves and is in those volumes of narrative humour chat argument criticism which are the daily record of s mind and which so completely justify the title that claimed for him of the best letter writer in the english language in his poems indeed has revealed himself with a winning that is almost without example and when we add to the passages in retirement and the task the friendly confidences of the letters we find that there remains nothing for the critic to interpret explains himself with a simple frankness that makes half his charm for example the letters abound with passages which show on the one hand the pleasure that he derived from his newly found gift of writing and on the other the moral and religious aim that he believed himself to be in his poetry the necessity of amusement makes me sometimes write verses he says to william it made me a carpenter a bird cage maker a gardener and has lately taught me to draw again in a latter to april ai the english poets p at this season of the year and in this gloomy uncomfortable climate it is no easy matter for the owner of a mind like mine to it from sad subjects and to fix it upon such as may administer to its amusement poetry above all things is useful to me in this respect while i am held in suit of pretty images or a pretty way of expressing them i forget everything that is irksome and like a boy that plays determine to avail myself of the present opportunity to be amused and to put by the disagreeable recollection that i must after all go home and be again in a later letter to the same friend which still more painfully to his mental distress he says god knows that my mind having been occupied more than twelve years in the contemplation of the most distressing subjects the world and its opinion of what i write is become as unimportant to me as the whistling of a bird in a bush despair made amusement necessary and i found poetry the most agreeable amusement had i not endeavoured to perform my best it would not have amused me at all the mere of so much paper would have been but indifferent sport god give me grace also to wish that i might not write in vain and again as a reason for if i did not publish what i write i could not interest myself sufficiently in my own success to make an amusement of it of course however as the second of these shows he has a deeper reason for writing than this the preacher s and the s reason that appears so clearly in every page of his poems my sole drift is to be useful he writes to his cousin mrs a point however which i know i should in vain aim at unless i could be likewise entertaining to lady in his well known letter in verse he appears as i who rhyme to catch the of the time and tell them truths divine and clear which in prose they will not hear to he speaks of his first volume as a page that would a vicious age table talk the opening poem is it will be remembered an argument to prove that the true field of poetry is the beauty of religion till then an land and that the poet s true function is to william spread the rich and invite mankind to share in the divine delight and in the beautiful lines which close retirement he claims the position of a teacher of mankind me poetry or rather notes that aim feebly and faintly at poetic fame shut out from more important views fast by the banks of the slow winding content if thus i may raise a s though not a poet s praise and while i teach an art too little known to close life wisely may not waste my own from the letters too we can learn much of s method of composition enough at least to correct the first impression which we might derive from his poetry that it was the work of a rapid h and even careless writer if there lives a man who stands clear of the charge of careless writing i am that man he says to lady in | 45 |
answer to some of his made by general his facility is but it is a fact that he composed slowly he took dies for a motto and when once he had taken up the profession of a poet he in it himself when was unwilling with three lines of the task as a day s production and thinking three lines better than nothing when the translation of was in hand the work went on with the utmost regularity i have as you well know he tells a daily occupation forty lines to a task which i never excuse myself when it is possible to perform it equally am i in the matter of so that between both my morning and evening are for the most part completely engaged however he thought work and of all occupations that which i dislike the most and accordingly he was glad when friends relieved him by some of the he deferred to the criticism of those about him and was glad when his johnson suggested an alteration in a phrase when of whom to the last he seems to have stood somewhat in awe condemned a passage consented with the best grace to remove it i am glad you have condemned it and though i do not feel as if i could presently supply its place shall be willing to attempt the task whatever labour it may cost me in effect we say that the english poets during the five years which ended with the publication of task and to a certain extent during the years when was employed on this the writing and of his poetry filled all his mind the pleasure in poetic pains which only poets know was known to him among poets the critical spirit within him that independent and fastidious taste for which he is so remarkable found full exercise and in the excitement of doing his true work in the most perfect way he seems to have almost forgotten the cloud which had him and was soon to return the letters again tell us much of s opinions of other poets we have already quoted the passage in which he speaks of his scanty reading of them not more than one english poet for twenty years as remarks this probably means that he had not read more than one with minute care with such care as he afterwards spent on s when by way of preparing to review it he made an analysis of the first twelve books in his youth he had evidently been a reader of poetry and he had an excellent memory when johnson s collection was sent to him in found that the best poets were so fresh in his memory that the collection taught him nothing he is fond of mentioning the admiration of his early manhood with something more than respect here and there he has an acute remark about pope as when he says never i believe were such talents and such united he often falls foul of johnson a great bear in spite of all his learning and penetration he from his view of prior and with great skill for a proper recognition of prior s real poetical merits while he is so enraged by the doctor s attack on milton that he breaks into the cry o i could his old jacket till his in his pocket all this shows that had a clear taste of his own in poetry a et as calls it in his excellent criticism of him but it does not show that he was a student of english poetry any more than his from swift and show that he read much and often in their books or than the turn of his pieces shows that he was always reading the truth is as we have all along implied that is original if the word means anything my descriptions he writes of the task are all from nature not one j a william of them second handed my of the heart are from my own experience not one of them borrowed from books or in the least degree in my numbers which i varied as much as i could for blank verse without variety of numbers is no better than and string i have nobody though sometimes perhaps there may be an apparent resemblance because at the same time that i would not imitate i have not differed it is this originality this this exact correspondence of the phrase with the feeling and of both with the object that marks out we sometimes hear it said that he owed much especially in to if he owed anything it was so much in the that it is hard to discover the debt the very foundation of his poetry is his close observation of men and things the same close observation that fills his letters with happily touched incidents of village life with characters in a sentence the of the task and the the snow covered fields the toiling through the the distant plough slow moving the garden the fireside the the village thief the sir of all these he gives us not only finished pictures but pictures finished in the presence of the object and not in the the masters have met their match says as he with delight one of these descriptions of s might we not say with even greater truth the english landscape painters have found their pattern yet it is undoubtedly true that is little read by the very class which is most given to the reading of poetry and most competent to judge it he is a favourite with the middle classes he is not a favourite with the cultivated classes what are the of his genius which prevent his acceptance with them mr who long ago called that most interesting man and excellent poet perhaps sums them up when he | 45 |
speaks of s morbid religion and movement if we are to look to poetry for the successful application of ideas to life we shall look in vain to the task for the ideas are those of an that would and life in the name of religion were i to write as many poems as de or says not one of them would be without this this he began with the resolve to religion poetical and he succeeded in making the poets poetry religious but religious after a manner which his excellent editor mr himself a clergyman calls hard and and the same temper which led him to measure the unseen with the foot rule of led him to visit the science the politics even the characters which he did not understand with a censure like that of the it would be hard says mr to find a more foolish and mischievous piece of than that contained in the garden in the lines where the and the historian and we might extend the same sentence to his of london life of the amusements of ordinary people even of the game of when the of takes place he with in when he writes his review of schools it never occurs to him that boys may get good as well as harm from each other s society and that there may be desirable elements of character that cannot be acquired in some pious s humble cot when he turns as he often does to politics his amiable is sorely tried by current events by the lack of great men and by the of the american war he believes that the loss of america will be the ruin of england but himself with the thought that the surrender of was fore ordained and that the end of the world is approaching my feelings are all of the intense kind he says in one of his letters and the of intensity is again in curious contrast to the neatness and ease of his there is unquestionably a movement in s blank verse difficulty coming sometimes from the necessity that he was under of sometimes from a want of mastery over the language warmed while it lasts by labour all day long they brave the season and yet find at eve hi and fed but time to cool there are too many the reader cannot help crying sometimes again we find a worse than of phrase the violet the pink the i pricked them into paper with a pin sometimes an intolerable instance of the the stable a william or a positive as here in have ye ye sage of the whole a presence and control we find frequent into prose and rarely indeed a ascent into the higher music of the great poets how should we find such indeed in they demand some moving force of passion or some inspiring activity of ideas and for neither of these can we look to him the only passion that really moved him was the morbid passion of despair when the cloud that obscured his brain pressed heavy upon him and it was only when he wrote under this influence that he produced such as that noble and terrible poem ths and the lines of self description in the task his ideas too r have not the inspiring activity necessary to produce great poetry they are not vital ideas they are seen to be less and less in harmony with the facts of the world as the years go on we read indeed not for his passion or for his ideas but for his love of nature and his faithful rendering of her beauty for his truth of for his humour for his pathos for the ih refined honesty of his style for the melancholy interest of his life and for the simplicity and the loveliness of his character editor vol iii y i the english poets the past and future of poetry from in ere yet innocence of heart had faded poetry was not an art language above all teaching or if taught only by gratitude and glowing thought elegant as simplicity and warm as ecstasy by form not prompted as in our days by low ambition and the thirst of praise was natural as is the flowing stream and yet magnificent a god the theme that theme on earth exhausted though above tis found as everlasting as his love man all his thoughts on human things the of heroes and the wrath of kings but still while virtue kindled his delight the song was moral and so far was right twas thus till luxury the mind to joys less innocent as less refined then genius danced a he crowned the seized the bound his brows with ivy rushed into the field of wild imagination and there the victim of his own fires and dizzy with delight the sacred wires played in greece and rome this part and others nearer home when fought for power and while he reigned the proud protector of the power he gained religion harsh austere parent of manners like herself severe drew a rough copy of the christian face william without the smile the sweetness or the grace the dark and sullen humour of the time judged every effort of the muse a crime verse in the finest mould of fancy cast was lumber in an age so void of taste but when the second charles assumed the way and arts revived beneath a softer day then like a bow long forced into a curve the mind released from too constrained a nerve flew to its first position with a spring that made the roofs of pleasure ring his court the and hateful school of where vice was taught by rule with a herd as deep l th brutal lust as ever made from these a long succession in the rage of rank their | 45 |
age nor ceased till ever anxious to the of her sacred charge the press the muse instructed a well train of to the stain and claim the palm for purity of song that had and worn so long then decent and sterling sense that neither gave nor would endure offence whipped out of sight with satire just and keen the pack that had the scene in front of these came in him humour in holiday and trim and taste combined to polish furnish and delight the mind then pope as harmony itself exact in verse well complete compact gave virtue and morality a grace that quite pleasure s painted face a tax of wonder and applause even on the fools that trampled on their laws but he his musical was such so nice his ear so delicate his touch the english poets made poetry a mere art and every has his tune by heart nature her gift her serious mirth to and swift with droll they raised a smile at folly s cost themselves unmoved the while that set the world in vain must hope to look upon their like again a are we then left b not wholly in the dark wit now and then struck shows a spark sufficient to redeem the modem race from total night and absolute disgrace while trick and confine the million in the beaten track perhaps some who the road up the wind and himself abroad all surpassed see one short his career indeed but run himself unconscious of his powers in consumed his idle hours and like a scattered seed at random sown was left to spring by vigour of his own lifted aft length by dignity of thought and dint of genius to an lot he laid his head in luxury s soft lap and took too often there his easy nap if brighter beams than all he threw not forth twas in him not want of worth surly and and bold and coarse too proud for art and trusting in mere force alike of money and of wit always at speed and never drawing bit he struck the in such a careless mood and so the rules he understood the laurel seemed to wait on his command he snatched it rudely from the hand nature an power forms opens and give scent to every flower the fresh of the field and leads william the dancing through the she fills ten thousand little throats with music all their notes and charms the scenes and unknown with airs and of her own but seldom as if fearful of expense to man a poet s just pretence freedom of thought harmony strength words exquisitely sought fancy that from the bow that the sky brings colours in heaven that never die a soul exalted above earth a mind skilled in the characters tha form mankind and as the sun in rising beauty dressed looks to the westward from the east and marks whatever clouds may ere yet his race begins its glorious close an eye like his to catch the distant goal or ere the wheels of verse begin to roll like his to shed rays on every scene and subject it thus the man a poet s name and the world cheerfully admits the claim pity religion has so seldom found a skilful guide into poetic ground the flowers would spring where er she to stray and every muse attend her in her way virtue indeed meets many a friend and many a compliment politely but in that becoming religion for her and half stands in the desert shivering and forlorn a wintry figure like a withered thorn the shelves are full all other are sped and worn to the last thread satire has long since done his best and and has done his worst fancy has all her powers away in in trifles and in children s play the poets and his the sad complaint and almost true whatever we write we bring forth nothing new new indeed to see a bard all fire touched with a coal from heaven assume the and tell the world still as he sung with more mortal music on his tongue that he who died below and above the song and that his name is love and the world rom yet half mankind maintain a strife with him the of eternal life because the deed by which his love the he the terms compliance with his will your lot accept it only and the boon is yours and sure it is as kind to smile and give as with a frown to say do this and live love is not s bought and sold he ii give freely or he tn i withhold his soul a thought and him as deeply who it not he indeed but merely this that man will freely take an bliss will trust him for a faithful generous part nor set a price upon a willing heart of all the ways that seem to promise fair to place you where his saints his presence share this only can for this plain cause expressed in terms as plain himself has shut the rest but oh the strife the and debate the tidings of heaven create the fan the bridle and the toss all yet all language at a loss from walls smart arguments and in every thing profound william die of disdain or whistle off the sound such is the of and the explosion of the where abbey walls o the and oaks spread a mournful shade the screaming nations hovering in mid air loudly resent the stranger s freedom there and seem to warn him never to repeat his bold intrusion on their dark retreat adieu cries ere yet he the purple trembling at his lips adieu to all morality if grace make works a vain in the case the christian hope is waiter draw | 45 |
the cork if i mistake not with a fork without good works whatever some may boast mere folly and delusion sir your toast my firm persuasion is at least sometimes that heaven will weigh man s virtues and his crimes with nice attention in a righteous scale and save or damn as these or those prevail i plant my foot upon this ground of trust and silence every fear with god is just but if perchance on some dull day a thought intrude that says or seems to say if thus the important cause is to be tried suppose the beam should dip on the wrong side soon recover from these needless and god is merciful sets all to rights thus between justice as my prime support and mercy fled to as the last resort i glide and steal along with heaven in view and pardon me the bottle stands with you i never will believe the colonel cries the schemes that some devise who make the good creator on their plan a being of less than man if appetite or what call lust which men with even because they must the english poets be punished with who is pure then theirs no doubt as well as mine is sure if sentence of eternal pain belong to every sudden slip and transient wrong then heaven the and frail a hopeless task and them if they fail my creed whatever some creed makers mean by nonsense or my creed is he is safe that does his best and death s a doom sufficient for the rest right says an and for aught i see your faith and mine agree the best of every man s performance here is to discharge the duties of his sphere a lawyer s dealing should be just and r honesty shines with great advantage there and prayer sit well upon a priest a decent caution and reserve at least a soldier s best is courage in the field with nothing here that wants to be concealed manly gallant easy gay a hand as liberal as the light of day the soldier thus endowed who never nor up his thought er he thinks who to an injury by must go to heaven and i must drink his health sir he cries for lowest at the board just made fifth of his patron lord his shoulders witnessing by many a shrug how much his feelings suffered sat sir your office is to false from true come prophet drink and tell us what think you sighing and smiling as he takes his glass which they that rarely pass man the church bred youth replies is still found however wise and judgments serve but to declare that truth lies somewhere if we knew but where of all it ever was my lot to read william co of critics now alive or long since dead the book of all the world that charmed me most was well a day the title page was lost the writer well remarks a heart that knows to take with gratitude what heaven with prudence always ready at our call to guide our use of it is all in all doubtless it is to which of my own store i a few more but these excuse the liberty i take just now for conversation sake spoke like an they all exclaim and add right reverend to s honoured name characters and sketches from on ye powers who rule the tongue if such there are and make happiness your care preserve me from the thing i dread and hate a in the form of a debate the clash of arguments and jar of words worse than the mortal of rival swords decide no question with their tedious length for opposition gives opinion strength divert the prodigal of breath and put the disposed to death oh me not sir at every turn nor at every flaw you may discern though hang not on my tongue am not surely always in the wrong tis hard if all is false that i advance a fool must now and then be right by chance not that all freedom of i blame no there i grant the privilege i claim the english poets a point is no man s ground where you please tis common all around discourse may want an animated no to brush the surface and to make it flow but still remember if you mean to please to press your point with modesty and ease the mark at which my aim i take is contradiction for its own dear sake set your opinion at whatever pitch knots and make something adopt his own tis equally in vain your thread of argument is snapped again the rather than accord with you will judge himself deceived and prove it logic me quite a noisy man is always in the right i my fall back into my chair fix on the a stare and when i hope his are all out reply to be sure no doubt is such a scrupulous good man yes you may catch him if you can he would not with a tone assert the nose upon his face his own with hesitation admirably slow he humbly hopes it may be sa his evidence if he were called by law to swear to some he saw for want of and just relief would hang an honest man and save a through constant dread of giving truth offence he ties up ail his hearers in suspense knows what he knows as if he it not what he remembers seems to have forgot his sole opinion er befall at last in having none at all yet though he and your listening ear he makes one useful point exceeding clear er ingenious on his darling theme william a in philosophy may | 45 |
seem reduced to practice his beloved rule would only prove him a fool useless in him alike both brain and speech fate having placed all truth above his reach his his total sum he might as well be blind and deaf and dumb where men of judgment creep and feel their way the positive pronounce without dismay their want of light and intellect supplied by sparks absurdity strikes out of pride without the means of knowing right from wrong they always are decisive dear and strong where others toil with philosophic force their nonsense takes a shorter course at your head conviction in the lump and gains remote conclusions at a jump their m defect invisible to them seen in another they at once condemn and though self in every case hate their own likeness in a brother s face the cause is plain and not to be denied the proud are always most provoked by pride few but spite and those the most where neither has a right the point of honour has been deemed of use to teach good manners and to abuse admit it true the consequence is clear our polished manners are a mask we wear and at the bottom barbarous still and rude we are restrained indeed but not subdued the very remedy however sure springs from the mischief it to cure and savage in its principle appears tried as it should be by the fruit it bears hard indeed if nothing will defend mankind from quarrels but their fatal end that now and then a hero must that the world may live in peace forbid h english poets perhaps at last close scrutiny may show the practice and mean and low that men engage in it compelled by force and fear not courage is its proper source the fear of tyrant custom and the fear lest should censure us and fools should sneer at least to on our maker s laws and hazard life for any or no cause to rush into a fixed eternal state out of the very flames of rage and hate or send another shivering to the bar with all the guilt of such unnatural war whatever use may urge or honour plead on reason s verdict is a madman s deed am i to set my life upon a throw because a bear is rude and surly no a moral sensible and well bred man will not me and no other can were i to the lists they should encounter with well loaded fists a would be something new let dares beat black and blue then each might show to his admiring friends in honourable his rich amends and carry in of his skull a satisfactory receipt in fuu the emphatic speaker dearly loves to oppose in contact inconvenient nose to nose as if the on his neighbour s touched with the had attracted his his whispered theme dilated and at large proves after all a wind gun s airy charge an extract of his no more a journal of the day before he walk d abroad o in the rain called on a friend drank tea stepped home again resumed his purpose had a world of talk william with one he stumbled on and lost his walk i interrupt him with a sudden bow adieu dear sir lest you should lose it now i cannot talk with in the room a fine gentleman that s all perfume the sight s no need to smell a beau who his nose into a show his attempts to please perhaps might prosper with a swarm of bees but we that make no honey though we sting poets are sometimes apt to the thing tis wrong to bring into a mixed resort what makes some sick and others d la an argument of we may say why such a one should keep himself away a graver we may sometimes see quite as absurd though not so light as he a shallow brain behind a serious mask an within an empty the solemn significant and a fool with judges amongst fools a judge he says but little and that little said owes all its weight like loaded to lead his wit you by his looks to come but when you knock it never is at home tis like a parcel sent you by the stage some handsome present as your hopes tis heavy and bids fair to prove an absent friend s fidelity and love but when your disappointment groans to find it stuffed with earth and stones some men employ their health an ugly trick in making known how oft they have been sick and give us in of disease a doctor s trouble but without the relate how many weeks they kept their bed how an or sped nothing is slightly touched much less j forgot nose e and eyes seem present on the spot the english poets now the spite of draught or victorious seemed and now the doctor s skill and now alas for they put on a damp and they thought they must have died they were so bad their hearers almost wish they had some at every touch you always do too little or too much you speak with life in hopes to entertain your elevated voice goes through the brain you fall at once into a lower key that s worse the pipe of an humble bee the southern admits too strong a light you rise and drop the curtain now tis night he shakes with cold you stir the fire and strive to make a blaze that s him alive serve him with and he chooses fish with that s just the sort he would not wish he takes what he at first professed to and in due time heartily on both yet still o with a constant frown he does not swallow but he | 45 |
once i can approve the s voice and make the course he my choice we meet at last in one sincere desire his wish and mine both prompt me retire tis done he steps into the welcome chaise at his ease behind four handsome that whirl away from business and debate the of the state ask not the boy who when the breeze of mom first shakes the glittering drops from every thorn his flock then under bank or bush sits cherry stones or rush how fair is freedom he was always free to his rustic name upon a tree to the or with ill fashioned hook to draw the from the brook are life s prime pleasures in his simple view his flock the chief concern he ever knew she shines but little in his heedless eyes the good we never miss we rarely prize but ask the noble in state affairs william escaped from office and its constant cares what charms he sees in freedom s smile expressed in freedom lost so long now the tongue whose strains were as commands at home and felt in foreign lands shall own itself a in that cause or plead its silence as its best applause he knows indeed that whether dressed or rude wild without art or subdued nature in every form delight but never marked her with so just a sight her hedge row shrubs a store with and wild roses o er green and lands the stream that its o er the downs that almost escape the inquiring eye that melt and fade into the distant sky beauties he lately as he passed seem all created since he travelled last master of all the he designed no rough annoyance in his mind what early philosophic hours he keeps how regular his meals how sound he sleeps not he that on the head while morning with a windy red begins a long look out for distant land nor till evening watch his giddy stand then swift descending with a seaman s haste slips to his and forgets the blast he chooses company but not the squire s whose wit is whose good breeding nor yet the parson s who would gladly come when abroad though proud at home nor can he much affect the neighbouring peer whose toe of too near but wisely seeks a more convenient friend with whom forms he a man whom marks of grace teach while they flatter him his proper place a the english poets who comes when called and at a word speaks with reserve and with applause some plain who without pretence to birth or wit nor gives nor takes offence on whom he rests well pleased his weary powers and talks and laughs away his vacant hours the tide of life swift always in its course may run in cities with a force but nowhere with a current so serene or half so clear as in the rural scene yet how is all earthly bliss what obvious truths the wisest heads may miss some pleasures live a month and some a year but short the date of all we gather here no happiness is felt except the true that does not charm the more for being new this observation as it chanced not made or if the thought occurred not duly weighed he sighs for after all by slow degrees the spot he loved has lost the power to please to cross his pony day by day seems at the best but dreaming life away the prospect such as might despair he views it not or sees no beauty there with aching heart and discontented looks returns at noon to or to books but feels while grasping at his faded joys a secret thirst of his he the of every post to be told of battles won or lost his own though late tis criminal to leave a sinking state flies to the and received with grace kisses hands and shines again in place william what to read from the same a mind or to bear the weight of subjects of her care whatever hopes a change of scene must change her nature or in vain an is a watch that wants both hands as useless if it goes as when it stands books therefore not the scandal of the shelves in which print out themselves nor those in which the stage gives vice a blow with what success let modem manners show nor his who for the of thousands born built god a church and laughed his word to scorn skilful alike to seem devout and just and religion with a sly side thrust nor those of learned who chase a panting syllable through time and space start it at home and hunt it in the dark to to greece and into s ark but such as learning without false pretence the friend of truth the associate of sound sense and such as in the zeal of good design strong judgment in the scripture mine all such as manly and great souls produce worthy to live and of eternal use behold in these what leisure hours demand amusement and true knowledge hand in hand luxury gives the mind a childish cast and while she the taste habits of close attention thinking heads become more rare as till authors hear at length one general cry and entertain us or we die english poets the loud demand from year to year the same beggars invention and makes fancy lame till farce itself most mournfully i calls for the kind assistance of a tune and novels witness every month s review their name and offer nothing new the mind into needful sport should turn to writers of an sort whose wit well managed and whose classic style give truth a lustre and make wisdom smile a comparison addressed to a young lady sweet stream that winds through yonder | 45 |
apt emblem of a virtuous maid silent and she along far from the world s gay busy throng with gentle yet prevailing force intent upon her destined course graceful and useful all she does blessing and blessed where er she goes pure as that watery glass and heaven reflected in her face i the from the latin of there is a bird who by his coat and by the of his note might be supposed a crow a great of the church where bishop like he finds a perch and too miss william above the shines a plate that turns and turns to indicate from what point blows the weather look up your brains begin to swim tis in the clouds that pleases him he chooses it the rather fond of the height thither he wings his airy flight and thence securely sees the bustle and the show that occupy mankind below secure and at his ease you think no doubt he sits and on future broken bones and if he should chance to fall no not a single thought like that his philosophic or troubles it at all he sees that this at the world with all its church army law its customs and its are no concern at all of his and says what says he thrice happy bird i too have seen much of the of men and sick of having seen em would cheerfully these limbs resign for such a pair of wings as thine and such a head between em the english poets an when the british warrior queen bleeding from the roman rods sought with an indignant mien counsel of her country s gods sage beneath a spreading oak sat the chief every burning word he spoke full of rage and full of grief princess if our aged eyes weep upon thy tis because resentment ties all the terrors of our tongues rome shall perish write that word in the blood that she has perish hopeless and deep in ruin as in g rome fur empire far renowned on a thousand states soon her pride shall kiss the ground hark the is at her gates other shall arise heedless of a soldier s name sounds not arms shall win the prize harmony the path to fame then the that springs from the forests of our land armed with thunder clad with wings shall a wider world command regions caesar never knew thy posterity shall sway where his never flew none invincible as they william such the bard s prophetic words with celestial fire bending as he swept the of his sweet but awful she with all a monarch s pride felt them in her bosom glow rushed to battle fought and died dying hurled them at the foe pitiless as proud heaven the vengeance due empire is on us bestowed shame and ruin wait for you from ta book i t m sofa relish of fair prospect oh may i live while i live of appetite from pangs that the toe of excess the sofa suits the limb tis true but limb though on a sofa may i never feel for i have loved the rural walk through lanes of grassy close by sheep and skirted thick with firm of boughs have loved the rural walk o er hills through valleys and by rivers brink e er since a boy i passed my bounds to enjoy a on the banks of thames and still remember nor without regret of hours that sorrow since has much how oft my of pocket store consumed still and far from home i fed on scarlet and stony the english poets or blushing or that the black as jet or austere hard fare but such as boyish appetite not nor the by arts no sofa then awaited my return nor sofa then i needed youth his wasted spirits quickly by long toil short fatigue and though our years as life speed rapidly away and not a year but as he goes some youthful grace that age would gladly keep a tooth or lock and by degrees their length and colour from the locks they spare the elastic spring of an foot that the with ease or leaps the fence that play of lungs and again freely the fresh air that makes swift pace or steep ascent no toil to me mine have not yet nor yet my relish of fair prospect scenes that soothed or charmed me young no longer young i find still soothing and of power to charm me still and witness dear companion of my walks whose arm this twentieth winter i perceive fast locked in mine with pleasure such as love confirmed by long experience of thy worth and well tried virtues could alone inspire witness a joy that thou hast doubled long thou my praise of nature most sincere and that my are not up to serve occasions of poetic pomp but genuine and art partner of them all how oft upon yon eminence our pace has to a pause and we have borne the wind scarce conscious that it blew while admiration feeding at the eye and still dwelt upon the scene thence with what pleasure have we just discerned william the distant plough slow and beside his team that not from the track the sturdy diminished to a boy here slow winding through a level plain of spacious with cattle sprinkled o er the eye along his course delighted there fast rooted in their bank stand never overlooked our favourite elms that screen the s solitary hut while far beyond and the stream that as with glass the the sloping land into the clouds displaying on its varied side the grace of hedge row beauties square tower tall spire from which the sound of cheerful bells just upon the listening ear groves and smoking villages remote scenes must be beautiful which daily viewed | 45 |
please daily and whose novelty long knowledge and the scrutiny of years praise justly due to those that i describe crazy the there often one whom better days saw better clad in cloak of satin trimmed with lace and hat with splendid bound a serving maid was she and fell in love with one who left her went to sea and died her fancy followed him through foaming waves to distant shores and she would sit and weep at what a sailor suffers fancy too most where warmest wishes are would oft anticipate his glad return and dream of she was not to know she heard the tidings of his death and never smiled again and now she i o the english poets the dreary waste there the day and there unless when charity the night a tattered apron hides worn as a cloak and hardly hides a gown more tattered still and both but ill conceal a bosom heaved with never ceasing sighs she an idle pin of all she meets and them in her sleeve but needful food though pressed with hunger oft or clothes though pinched with cold asks never is i see a column of slow rising smoke o the lofty wood that skirts the wild a vagabond and useless tribe there eat their miserable meal a kettle between two poles upon a stick receives the morsel flesh of dog or or at best of cock from his accustomed perch hard race they pick their fuel out of every hedge which kindled with dry leaves just the spark of life the wind blows wide their fluttering rags and shows a skin the of the they claim great skill have they in and more to clean away the gold they touch conveying worthless into its place loud when they beg dumb only when they steal strange that a creature rational and cast in human mould should by choice his nature and though capable of arts by which the world might profit and himself self banished from society prefer such to honourable toil yet even these though sickness oft they the forehead drag the limb and vex their flesh with artificial can change their into a note when safe occasion offers and with dance and music of the and the bag william their woes and make the woods such health and gaiety of heart enjoy the of the world and breathing wholesome air and wandering much need other none to heal the effects of diet and cold from book ii england england with all thy faults i love thee still my country and while yet a nook is left where english minds and manners may be found shall be constrained to love thee though thy be and thy year most part with dripping rains or withered by a frost i would not yet exchange thy sullen skies and fields without a flower for warmer france with all her vines nor for s groves of golden and her to shake thy and from heights sublime of eloquence to flash down fire upon thy foes was never meant my task but i can feel thy fortunes and partake thy joys and sorrows with as true a heart as any there and i can feel thy follies too and with a just disdain frown at whose very looks reflect on the land i love how in the name of and sense should england prosper when such things as smooth and tender as a girl all o er with and as as sweet who sell their laurel for a wreath and love when they should fight when such as these presume to lay their hand upon the ark of her magnificent and awful cause time was when it was praise and boast enough a the english poets in every and travel where we might that we were bom her children praise enough to fill the ambition of a private man that s language was his mother tongue and s great name with his own farewell those honours and farewell with them the hope of such hereafter they have fallen each in his field of glory one in arms and one in council upon the lap of smiling victory that moment won and heart sick of his country s shame they made us many soldiers still consulting england s happiness at home secured it by an frown if any wronged her where er he fought put so much of his heart into his act that his example had a s force and all were swift to follow whom all loved those are set oh rise some other such or all that we have left is empty talk of old achievements and despair of new from book iii th garden i was a stricken deer that left the herd long since with many an arrow deep my panting side was charged when i withdrew to seek a tranquil death in distant shades there was i found by one who had himself been hurt by the in his side he bore and in his hands and feet the cruel with gentle force the he drew them forth and healed and bade me live since then with few associates in remote and silent woods i wander far from those my former partners of the peopled scene with few and not wishing more william here much i as much i may with other views of men and manners now than once and others of a life to come i see that all are gone astray each in his own they are lost in chase of fancied happiness still and never won dream after dream and still they dream that they shall still succeed and still are disappointed rings the world with the vain stir i sum up half mankind and add two thirds of the remaining half and find the total of their hopes and fears dreams empty dreams from book iv the | 45 |
winter evening the post the fireside in winter hark i tis the horn o er yonder bridge that with its wearisome but needful length the wintry flood in which the moon sees her face reflected bright he comes the herald of a noisy world with boots waist and frozen locks news from all nations at his back true to his charge the close packed behind yet careless what he brings his one concern is to conduct it to the destined inn and having dropped the expected bag pass on he as he goes light hearted wretch cold and yet cheerful messenger of grief perhaps to thousands and of joy to some to him indifferent whether grief or joy houses in ashes and the fall of stocks deaths and marriages wet with tears that down the writer s cheeks fast as the periods from his or charged with sighs of absent the english poets or equally his horse and him unconscious of them all but oh the important ushered in with such heart shaking music who can say what are its tidings have our troops or do they still as if with to the murmurs of the atlantic wave is india free and does she wear her and with a smile of peace or do we grind her still the grand debate the popular the reply the logic and the wisdom and the wit and the loud laugh i long to know them all i burn to set the imprisoned free and give them voice and utterance once again now stir the fire and dose the shutters fast let fall the curtains wheel the sofa round and while the and loud hissing urn throws up a column and the cups that cheer but not wait on each so let us welcome peaceful evening in o winter ruler of the year thy scattered air with like ashes filled thy breath upon thy lips thy cheeks fringed with a beard made white with other than those of age thy forehead in clouds a branch thy and thy throne a sliding car indebted to no wheels but urged by storms along its slippery way i love thee all as thou and dreaded as thou art thou the sun a prisoner in the yet east his journey between mom and noon and hurrying him impatient of his stay down to the rosy west but kindly still his loss with added hours of social converse and instructive ease william and gathering at short notice in one group the family dispersed and fixing thought not less dispersed by daylight and its cares i crown thee king of intimate delights fireside happiness and all the comforts that the lowly roof of undisturbed retirement and the hours of long evening know no rattling wheels stop short before these gates no powdered in the art of sounding an alarm these doors till the street rings no stationary cough their own while heedless of the sound the silent circle fan themselves and but here the needle its busy task the pattern grows the well depicted flower wrought patiently into the snowy lawn its and leaves and and curling gracefully disposed follow the finger of the fair a wreath that cannot fade of flowers that blow with most success when all besides decay the poet s or historian s page by one made for the amusement of the rest the whose treasure of sweet sounds the touch from many a trembling shakes out and the clear voice yet distinct and in the charming strife triumphant still the night and set a edge on female industry the steel flies swiftly and the task proceeds snow i saw the woods and fields at close of day a show the meadows green though faded and the lands where lately waved the golden harvest of a mellow brown so lately by the share vou iii h h the english poets i saw far oft the smile with not by flocks fast feeding and selecting each his favourite while all the groves that skirt the horizon wore a hue scarce noticed in the kindred dusk of eve to morrow brings a change a total change which even now though silently performed and slowly and by most the face of universal nature fast a shower the descending and with never ceasing lapse softly upon all below all objects receives gladly the mantle and the green and tender blade that feared the blast escapes beneath so warm a veil in such a world so and wh re none finds happiness or if found without some sorrow at its side it seems the part of wisdom and no sin against the law of love to measure lots with less distinguished than ourselves that thus we may with patience bear our moderate ills and with others suffering more ill the traveller now and he that in ponderous boots beside his team the goes heavily sore by loads close to the wheels and in its pace noiseless appears a moving hill of snow the toiling the wide while every breath by strong forced downward is soon upon their he formed to bear the of the night with half shut eyes and cheeks and teeth presented bare against the storm on one hand his hat save when with both j william he his length of whip oft and never heard in vain happy and in my account denied that sensibility of pain with which refinement is thrice happy thou thy frame robust and hardy feels indeed the piercing cold but feels it the learned finger never need explore thy vigorous pulse and the east that breathes the and every bone of the is wholesome air to thee thy days roll on from household care the is thy wife and the poor beasts that drag the dull companion to and fro thine helpless charge dependent on thy care ah treat them kindly rude as thou yet show that thou hast mercy | 45 |
in all the house dire foe alike of bird and mouse no cat had leave to dwell and bully s cage supported stood on of shaven wood large built and well well but the grate alas not rough with wire of steel or brass for bully s sake but smooth with from s side with which when neatly and dried the their baskets make night veiled the pole all seemed secure when led by instinct sharp and sure to provide a beast forth on the long backed long with and coloured hide he entering at the study door its ample area explore and something in the wind round and round better than all the books he found food chiefly for the mind william cow per just then by adverse fate impressed a dream disturbed poor bully s rest in sleep he seemed to view a rat fast clinging to the cage and screaming at the sad awoke and found it true for aided both by ear and scent right to his mark the monster went ah muse forbear to speak minute the horrors that ensued his teeth were strong the cage was wood he left poor bully s oh had he made that too his prey that whence issued many a lay of such tone might have repaid him well i for so sweet a throat fast stuck within his own maria the mourn so when by torn on side the tree fell his head alone remained to tell the cruel death he died the acquiescence of pure love from the french of madame love if thy destined sacrifice am i come thy victim and prepare thy fires plunged in the depths of mercy let me die the death which every soul that lives desires i watch my hours and see them fleet away the time is long that i have here yet all my thoughts thy purposes obey with no reluctance cheerful and sincere the english poets to me tis equal whether love my life or death me pain or ease my soul no real ill in pain in ease or no real good she sees one good she and that good alone to choose thy will from selfish bias free and to prefer a cottage to a throne and grief to comfort if it pleases thee that we should bear the cross is thy command die to the world and live to self no more suffer unmoved beneath the hand as pleased when as when safe on shore on the receipt of my mother s oh that those lips had language life has passed with me but roughly since i heard thee last those lips are thine thy own sweet smile i see the same that oft in childhood me voice only fails else how distinct they say grieve not my child chase all thy fears away the meek intelligence of those dear eyes blessed be the art that can the art that time s claim to it here shines on me still the same faithful of one so dear welcome guest though unexpected here i who me honour with an song affectionate a mother lost so long will obey not willingly alone but gladly as the were her own and while that face my filial grief fancy shall a charm for my relief shall steep me in reverie a momentary dream that thou art she my mother when i learnt that thou dead say thou conscious of the tears i shed william hovered thy spirit o er thy son wretch even then life s journey just begun perhaps thou me though a kiss perhaps a tear if souls can weep in bliss ah that maternal smile it answers yes i heard the bell on thy burial day i saw the that bore thee slow away and turning from my nursery window drew a long long sigh and wept a last adieu but was it such it was where thou art gone and are a sound unknown may i but meet thee on that peaceful shore the parting word shall pass my lips no more thy maidens grieved themselves at my concern oft gave me promise of thy quick return what i wished i long believed and disappointed still was still deceived by expectation every day of to morrow even from a child thus many a sad to morrow came and went till all my stock of infant sorrow spent i learned at last submission to my lot but though i less thee ne er forgot where once we dwelt our name is heard no more children not thine have trod my nursery floor and where the gardener robin day by day drew me to school along the public way delighted with my coach and wrapped in scarlet mantle warm and velvet tis now become a history little known that once we called the pastoral house our own short lived possession but the record fair that memory keeps of all thy kindness there still many a storm that has a thousand other less deeply traced thy nightly visits to my chamber made that thou know me safe and warmly laid thy morning re i left my home the or o the english the fragrant waters on my cheek bestowed by thy own hand till fresh they shone and glowed all this and more still than all thy constant flow of love that knew no fall ne er by those and that humour interposed too often makes all this still in memory s page and still to be so to my latest age adds joy to duty makes me glad to pay such honours to thee as my numbers may perhaps a frail memorial but sincere not scorned in heaven though little noticed here could time his flight reversed restore the hours when playing with thy s flowers the violet the pink and i pricked them into paper with | 45 |
a pin and thou happier than myself the while softly speak and stroke my head and smile could those few pleasant days again appear might one wish bring them would i wish them here i would not trust my heart the dear delight seems so to be desired perhaps i but no what here we call our life is such so little to be loved and thou so much that i should ill thee to thy spirit into again thou as a gallant bark from s coast the storms all and the ocean crossed shoots into port at some well isle where breathe and brighter seasons smile there sits on the floods that show her form reflected clear below while airs with incense play around her light her gay so thou with sails how swift i hast reached the shore where never beat nor roar and thy loved on the dangerous tide of life long since has by thy side but me scarce hoping to that rest always from port withheld always distressed william cow per me howling drive tempest sails opening wide and compass lost and day by day some current s force sets me more distant from a prosperous course yet oh the thought that thou art safe and he that thought is joy arrive what may to me my boast is not that i my birth from and rulers of the earth but higher far my proud pretensions rise the son of parents passed into the skies and now farewell time has run his course yet what i wished is done by contemplation s help not sought in vain i seem to have lived my childhood o er again to have renewed the joys that once were mine without the sin of thine and while the wings of fancy still are free and i can view this show of thee time has but half succeeded in his removed thy power to soothe me left the field the are farewell to the shade and the whispering sound of the cool the winds play no longer and sing in the leaves nor on his bosom their image receives twelve years have elapsed since i first took a view of my favourite field and the bank where they grew and now in the grass behold they are laid and the tree is my seat that once lent me a shade the has fled to another retreat where the afford him a screen from the heat and the scene where his melody charmed me before with his sweet flowing no more vol i i a the english poets my fugitive years are all away and i must ere long lie as lowly as they with a turf on my breast and a stone at my head ere another such grove shall arise in its stead tis a sight to engage me if anything can to muse on the pleasures of man though his life be a dream his i see have a being less even than he to mary the twentieth year is well nigh past since first our sky was ah would that this might be the last my mary thy spirits have a fainter flow i see thee daily weaker grow twas my distress that brought thee low my thy needles once a shining store for my sake restless heretofore now and shine no more my mary for though thou gladly fulfil the same kind office for me still thy sight now seconds not thy will my mary but well thou the s part and all thy threads with magic art have wound themselves about this heart my mary to ed of mr afterwards altered the last in the following the change both my heart and my fancy i reflect on the of man and his joys short lived as we are yet our pleasures we see have a still shorter date and die sooner than we william thy indistinct expressions seem like language uttered in a dream yet me they charm whatever the theme my mary thy silver locks once bright are still more lovely in my sight than golden beams of light my mary for could i view nor them nor thee what sight worth seeing could i see the sun would rise in vain for me my mary of thy sad decline thy hands their little force resign yet gently press gently mine my mary such of limbs thou that now at every step thou by two yet still thou my mary and still to love though with ill in wintry age to feel no chill with me is to be lovely still my mary but ah by constant heed i know how oft the sadness that i show thy smiles to looks of woe my mary and should my future lot be cast with much resemblance of the past thy heart will break at last my mary i t the poets the night involved the sky the atlantic roared when such a destined wretch as i washed headlong from on board of friends of hope of all his floating home for ever left no chief could boast than he with whom he went nor ever ship left s coast with warmer wishes sent he loved them both but both in vain nor him beheld nor her again not long beneath the expert to swim he lay nor soon he felt his strength decline or courage die away but with death a lasting strife supported by despair of life he shouted nor his friends had failed to check the vessel s course but so the furious blast prevailed that pitiless they left their outcast mate behind and still before the wind some yet they could afford and such as storms allow the the the floated cord delayed not to bestow but he they knew nor ship nor shore whatever they gave should visit more william nor cruel | 45 |
as it seemed could he their haste himself condemn aware that flight in such a sea alone could rescue them yet bitter felt it still to die deserted and his friends so nigh he long who lives an in ocean self and so long he with power his d and ever as the minutes flew entreated help or cried adieu at length his transient past his comrades who before had heard his voice in every blast could catch the sound no more for then by toil subdued he drank the stifling wave and then he sank no poet wept him but the page of narrative sincere tells his name his worth his age is wet with s tear and tears by or heroes shed alike the dead i therefore purpose not or dream on his fate to give the melancholy theme a more enduring date but misery still delights to trace its semblance in another s case no voice divine the storm no light shone when snatched from all effectual aid we perished each alone but i beneath a sea and in deeper than he scotch minor song writers in the century the passion for song writing which seized upon scotland in the century may be compared if small things may be compared with great with the passion for play writing which seized upon england in the latter days of queen elizabeth and throughout the reign of her successor in both periods we have a supreme the plays of shakespeare in the one case and the poetry of in the other but the excitement by which the powers of these central figures were stimulated was general when came into the world the competition was universal for the prize which fell to the lot of genius and throughout his lifetime all classes in scotland were eager to distinguish themselves as song writers ambition did not always light upon faculty but the ambition was everywhere if we look at the results of the movement in scotland during the century it is surprising to see how very various were the conditions in life of the authors and of the best songs the songs which took root and still survive members of the supreme court of law men of science farmers all were trying their hands at old songs and making new songs the writer robin gray was a daughter of the earl of the writer of the to the which stands first in miss s selection of the of scotland was an lucky who kept an and sold without a and it was not merely in the south of scotland that this passion for song writing made itself felt it was as active in the north of scotland as in the south the to s tea table form one of the earliest groups of song writers in the century they were not called into existence by s scotch minor song writers example in fact speaks of himself as the poetical of one of the most notable of them william han of a gay boisterous lieutenant who is supposed to have left a picture of himself in the song was a wanton wag there was another william in the set of whose songs were of a more serious cast the mournful ballad of the of is his composition another of s ingenious young gentlemen was robert of who found words for the air of which have become inseparable from that tender melody david who claimed to be the author of and made his beginning in letters as the author of the of a pastoral song which has kept its place among less artificial lady daughter of the earl of also contributed to the tea table the humour of the song were na my heart as well as the subject is one among many illustrations of the of the sympathy between the scotch aristocracy and the perhaps the example of the kings had something to do with establishing this tradition the first and the fifth of the line had a pronounced liking for putting the of the vulgar into verse very little of real worth however was produced by s group their sentiment is affected and their humour except when it takes the form of description and forced very few of the songs of the tea table took any lasting hold of the people a sure proof of their they are the result of studies in restoration and queen anne literature with from which the productions of the native poets competition in the and we seem to be aware in reading them of a certain consciousness of imitation and pride of the authors seem to have one eye on their subject and another on their models there is much less of this in the writings of a somewhat later northern group of singers whether from temperament or because they were farther from the modem and its the songs of george a author of and d alexander the author of the fortunate a minister and for fifty two years a contented and on his of twenty pounds a year john the author of a persecuted clergyman the poets in and alexander a roman catholic in the songs of these local poets were more spontaneous and proved themselves to have a greater vitality of s songs in particular few in number but all real in their impulse full of and manly strength of heart and intellect was an ardent admirer in one of those complimentary which it was the fashion of the day for poets to regretted that he had not been able to pay in person a younger brother s dutiful respect to the author of the best scotch song scotland ever saw s my delight p and hailed as the sole possessor of that certain something which to his mind distinguished old scotch songs not only from english songs but from the modern efforts of song in our native manner | 45 |
and language was also much struck with the pathos of the wi the horn he would have seen another quality in it if he had been in the secret preserved by tradition that the lamented was a still captured by the but the fact that to any one not in this secret the lament should have seemed so natural and touching is an evidence of the delicacy with which the humorous double meaning is sustained was perhaps prejudiced by the direct unaffected strength of s songs and the large hearted philosophy of life which inspired them into paying him a compliment that the excellence of his verse hardly among s there were certainly others besides who possessed the secret of the certain indescribable something which makes a song a permanent addition to popular literature himself speaks of one of the most enduring of scotch songs there s luck about the house which was first sung upon the streets and sold in a about or as one of the most beautiful songs in the or any other language it is still one of the and of homely sentiment in scotland its is uncertain but the weight of evidence it to a poor who closed an unfortunate career in an another song of equally enduring qualities robin gray which became popular about the same date was believed for some time by to be as old as the time of david but proved to be the work of a girl hardly out of her lady ann daughter of the earl of the same mistake of popular songs to remote antiquity scotch minor song writers was made in the case of ca the to the a pastoral song in a very different key of sentiment which was really written by or pagan an described as a woman of person temper and habits rendered formidable by her sarcastic wit and attractive by her powers of song two plaintive songs to the air of the flowers of the forest were from the first assigned to their true authors miss jane sister of the sir who afterwards became lord and miss afterwards mrs daughter of a mrs s version had reference to a contemporary commercial disaster of the same nature as the bank failure but both have become associated in the popular mind with the defeat of this may have contributed to their popularity but the strength of their appeal to the melancholy romantic side of the scotch character would probably have alone to preserve them to the same period belongs the marching song of the nd regiment the garb of old this stirring martial was first printed in the lark a published in in and was the composition of a young officer harry who afterwards entered political life and whose son was promoted to the as earl of i have drawn attention to the various social positions of the song writers of that period to whom we owe the best and most enduring scotch songs the songs which have taken most hold of the people and have their character in order to show how universal was the passion for song writing in the century if we turn to the productions of less happy faculty the works of ambition and ingenious endeavour we find abundant evidence of the same fact before burns the tendency is everywhere conspicuous and naturally after it increased for a time rather than we have seen that sir s sister was a successful song writer the and himself in his youth contributed a pastoral to s my sheep i neglected i lost my sheep hook in which he vowed to wander from love and no more this pastoral still holds its place in of scotch songs a younger brother of the earl of wrote many songs and one how sweet this lone which pronounced divine sir john clerk a baron of the did not consider it beneath his dignity to put to old songs and words in his native dialect the english poets to old tunes dr a fashionable physician in consoled himself for the loss of a lady who him in a song which has supported many in similar circumstances for of cold alexander who afterwards attained fame as an began life as a and strung together as he wandered on cheerfully from door to door with his pack on his back so called from his experiments original editor and principal of the showed in side and the that scientific pursuits had not his freshness of feeling blind dr who kept a boarding school mn the manner of about the harvest that waves in the breeze and the music that on the gale richard s the work of his master in the same vein the famous song hey cope which deserves to be among the best songs of the period was the composition of adam a wealthy farmer john a gardener s son wrote mary weep no more john a wrote a song writer of wider culture was the rev john minister of the writer of the most eloquent sermons which the scotch church has produced it is in reading s poetry to of sympathy with the story of his unhappy life but there seems to be more in his verse than mere general literary facility he was a writer of sacred as well as profane songs but his essays in the latter direction though they disturbed his relations with his brethren help to redeem the ministers of the scotch from the reproach of having contributed less than any other class in the community to the national movement of the century w scotch minor song writers john bom died come s a sang cried and lay your all aside what t for folk to for what s been done before them let and tory all agree and tory and tory let and tory all agree to drop their let and tory all agree to spend the night in mirth | 45 |
and glee and sing wi me the o o s my delight it us a in unite and that keeps up spite in conscience i him for and cheery we s be a and cheery and cheery and cheery we s be and a happy for and cheery we s be a as as we breath to draw and dance till we be like to fa the of there needs na be great a phrase wi dull italian lays i gi e our ain for half a hundred score o em they re and at the best and and they re and at the best wi a their person dull gloomy the english poets they re and at the best their and a the rest they please a taste d wi let minds themselves wi fears of want and double and sullen themselves distress wi keeping up shall we sour and sulky sit sour and sulky sour and sulky shall we sour and sulky sit like shall we so sour and sulky sit wi neither sense nor mirth nor wit nor ever rise to shake a fit to the of may blessings still attend each honest open hearted friend and calm and quiet be his end and a that s good watch o er him i may peace and plenty be his lot peace and plenty peace and plenty may peace and plenty be his lot and a great store o em may peace and plenty be his lot d by any vicious spot and may he never want a that s fond of but for the dirty yawning fool who wants to be oppression s tool may envy his rotten soul and discontent him may and sorrow be his chance and sorrow and sorrow may and sorrow be his chance and say s me for m scotch minor may and sorrow be his chance wi a the that come france er he be that dance the of o died o o the they ha e ta en that in the yard d on the pipe and the they ha e ta en the flow r o them a he said think na tho i gang he said think na tho i gang for is coming winter s and i come and see thee in spite of them a tho sandy has has gear and has a house and a and yet i d my ain lad wi his staff in his hand before i d ha e him wi the houses and land my looks sulky my looks sour they frown upon because he is poor tho i lo e them as as a daughter should do they re half sa dear to me as you sit on my i spin at my wheel and think on the that lo ed me he had but ae he it in and me the o t when he d then haste ye back and bide na then haste ye back and bide na the is coming winter s and ye come and see me in spite o them a oxen land holding low stool the english poets alexander bom died oh send and the lad i name although his back be at the wa here s to him that s far hey my my handsome charming could i my true love ken ten thousand oh to see his bonnet blue and heel d shoes his knee that s the lad that gang wi this lovely lad of whom i sing is fitted for to be a king and on his breast he wears a star you d take him for the god of war oh to see this one seated on his father s throne our would then a disappear we d the year there s luck about the died and are ye sure the news is true and are ye sure he s is this a time to think of ye fling by your wheel is this a time to think o when s at the door me my cloak to the and see him come ashore scotch minor song writers for there s luck about the house there s luck there s little pleasure in the house when our s rise up and a clean fireside put on the pot gi e her cotton gown and his sunday coat and their as black as their as white as it s a to please my ain for he s been long there s fat upon the been fed this month and haste and their necks about that may fare and the table neat and clean thing look it s a for love of my for he s been long o gi e me down my my bishop satin gown for i tell the s wife that s come to town my sunday s they on my o blue a to please my ain for he s l and true true his words smooth his speech his breath s like his very foot has music in t as he comes up the stair and will i see his face again and will i hear him speak i m downright dizzy with the thought in i m like to cross wing linen cap fresh w the english poets the o the winter that thrilled through my heart they re a by i ha e him safe till death we never part but what puts parting in my head it may be far the present moment is our ain the we never saw since s i m content i ha e more to could i but live to him i m above the lave and will i see his face again and will i hear him speak i m downright dizzy wi the thought in i m like to greet ca the bom died ca the to the ca them the grows ca | 45 |
which bestowed upon him by him almost as often and as much as he surpassed him specimens of hand are preserved in the larger of his works but they are few in number as well as of slender significance in regard to the possibilities of his genius it was the reading of s poems he himself tells us which moved him to resume his wildly sounding when in his early manhood he had for a time laid it aside the same influence which recalled him to the service of the dictated to a surprising extent the choice and the treatment of his throughout his poetical career and certainly during its most fertile period so many of his pieces like the holy fair the s saturday night his and bear obvious traces of having been suggested by his youthful s slender volume of song that it is as if solitary genius in other respects were solitary also in this respect that his were not written by his own hand but by a poetical still more pre the english poets than himself s achievements in verse are the starting points of triumphs he who opens s volume in the expectation of finding another is destined to be disappointed but he is likely to be consoled for this disappointment by the discovery that not a few of the marked qualities of the poetry of the later singer as if in form the verse of his there are present in the poems of each the same easy the same love of nature and of human nature the same humour the same philosophy of common sense applied to social life the same lively imagination only what is ripe genius in the one is no more than and surprising talent in the other in this light it is fair to as well as to and not injurious to the reputation of the younger poet to compare p with the to a young friend or the to the with the mouse or the mountain between and his too there is this link of connection the english poems of the one are of as little account as those of the other which is usually a disease accompanying other diseases and of them from the first marked for its own all through his school and university course he was sickly gentle and amiable quick and clever a destined to an early grave at twenty one he is the most famous scotch poet of his day and his poems apart from some which had served the purpose of poetical exercises are chiefly short pieces in which he the life which he knows best that of an clerk and the life which he loves best that of country it is with much of the grace and gaiety of growing old and mellow secure of fame and wine and friendship and mastery of his art that the starved young clerk sings of scenes of gaiety and mild in which his part was more fatal to his health than to his character and from these turns to the farmer s and the and innocent and healthy life of the of meadows and remote from towns as if he were old before his time he is little inspired by the passion from which the greek was happy to be delivered by age and from which had no wish ever to escape he is a city spark and a of the city and the city guard rather in the genial humorous mood of the decline of life than with robert the of youth his range of subjects is by the narrow space of a career which began at twenty one and was finished at twenty four he had a keen enjoyment of city life with its for a little and its and its black for a constant occasion of laughter still more keen on his part was that enjoyment of the country the pleasures of which he seldom tasted except in imagination but which supplies the inspiration of some of his most touching verses as well as of some of his admirable mock we alternate in his verse between these two sets of and in his treatment of both we meet with the same vein of pure pathos and its almost accompaniment of genuine humour john service the english poets the days corresponding in scotland to holidays in england now december s face the wi sour while his of space the e d sun wi light and stealing pace his race doth run from naked groves sings to shepherd s pipe rings the breeze od brings from cave and nature her wings wi grave mankind but scanty pleasure hill or barren plain winter midst his train wi frozen spear sends drift a his bleak domain and guides the thou rt the hole a for soul at thine warm and while round they the roll to their mouth when merry day comes i you find a hungry are our cares our fu o gear and strangers to our view sin year dark gloomy failing war cheerful shelter chilly social wooden full of wind last year robert ye wives now ye and fling your sorrows far then come and s the of ale precious than the well of our hearts to heal then tho at odds wi a the we never quarrel tho discord a d to spoil our glee as s there s into the barrel well drink and your pins in temper fix and your banish vile italian tricks from out your l ox wi mix s for can cheer the heart as can a it even the heel to and dance lifeless is he feel its influence let mirth abound let social cheer invest the dawning of the year let innocence appear to crown our joy nor envy wi sarcastic sneer our bliss destroy and thou great god of the empire of this | 45 |
aft a curse can to us far liberty then tent her smiles list ne er envy your s for fair freedom smiles care i for life shame fa the hair a field o wi the essence of a paltry cannot lads flattery haughty devil a fly gloomy bill lose heed box for meal robert burns robert was bom th the year but of the second s in a cottage built bj his two miles of and dose to that of to whidi his genius has lent almost as an interest as that which makes a place of pilgrimage to all nations eldest son of william of a family of small market gardener and of a small estate in the of and afterwards tenant of ix and small farms received an which ultimately a sound acquaintance with english grammar a little french and a of latin at work on his s farm from an early age till he was twenty three he tried then to establish himself in business as a in but returned in a short time to his father s house with empty pockets and with a character hitherto by some new after the death of his father a specimen of industry and integrity never rewarded in this life his brother and he took the farm of near which also turned oat to be a bad bargain to escape troubles in which his and characteristic follies involved him with the father of his future partner in life he accepted an appointment to a in but on the point of starting on the voyage he had his footsteps turned towards by the success of his volume of poems and by the patronage literary and aristocratic which it immediately secured for him the proceeds of a second edition of the volume to or he established himself on the farm of near unsuccessful once more in this he became an to out his income and finally in that capacity unfortunately both for his health and for his reputation removed to where he died in that admiration of poetry as the work of a which in his time had occasion to in which he could see no more sense than in admiring it as if it had been written with his toes has not survived s ridicule like joseph in egypt was destined to forget his toil and his father s house his right to a place among the greater poets of europe being no longer in dispute to of him still as the robert burns bard is almost as dull an affectation as to follow his own example and call him rob or robin a great poet not only in the sense that his are with the greatest of the great poets that were before him or have been since rather than with the multitude of inferior writers who have struggled into fame in verse but great also in the sense that he gave a new impulse and a new direction to poetry helped to in that splendid realm the of pope and to found that to which and and belong is only once a peasant and in the course of nearly a century during which his name has been illustrious it is not in in the circles of rank and fashion in in which he appears fresh from the plough here his and delights the of it is now when coming from he is introduced to us as from though nothing could be more natural than his first appearance in the character of rustic bard he has so long played a different part that his of it is felt to border upon the grotesque and to be akin to the task which criticism has to perform in regard to him is indicated in this of the natural man into something of a figure it is a task of difficulty under any conditions and not to be attempted with success in a very limited space it is to explain how the publication of a small volume of poems chiefly in the dialect the natural destiny of which would have seemed fulfilled in making the bard known in of at the most in scotland should have turned out to be an in literature and in history of significance this explanation be it ever so partial must include and perhaps ought to begin with the admission fatal to his character as a that the influences under which was into song were as eminently european in fact as they were singularly provincial in appearance the revolution at any rate in action had not returned from america to france when his poems were published but the intellectual activity and turmoil which led to the revolution was a phenomenon to which he was no more of a stranger in his humble and sphere of life than to summer s heat or winter s cold or the west wind or man s to man his father s cottage in which like the rest of the family they were all readers he sat at meals with a book in one hand and a spoon in the other was as far as intelligence of most kinds was concerned in open communication with europe vol iii l the english poets and america and the spirit in it was an old peasant whose sagacity and whose virtues would have adorned the rank to which or belonged whatever were imposed upon the growth of his intellect whatever obstacles were thrown in the way of his literary distinction by a life of toil such as he was condemned to live there was nothing in his case in such a life to there was to and to sympathy with an age which had grown sick of and in life and literature and which passionately after a return to nature and to truth this yearning might be less general and less eager among the | 45 |
of than among some other classes in other parts of europe but then he belonged by the discipline as well as by the force of his mind rather to europe than to his education at school though even for a scotch peasant s son irregular and scanty was to fit him for becoming a citizen of the world and a citizen of the world he did become by the study of the best english authors in prose and verse and by critical familiarity with the songs and of his country in virtue of this the spirit of revolution being abroad in europe he was as certain to encounter it as was o on his way home from and from the company of to see in a he sings as he himself says the sentiments and manners he felt and saw in himself and his rustic around him but it is after the manner of one who is accustomed to live and move in a larger world than that in which he and they had to toil while he has never yet set foot beyond his native county his mind has travelled he is familiar with the continental of persons of quality with hunters of who have to rhyme with with scenes events characters in eastern lands and in the literature and history of antiquity his ideas sentiments aspirations hopes fears range easily and naturally beyond and provincial limits into national affairs and the struggling life of mankind if he is ever more truly himself than in s address to his troops at a patriotic it is in that golden age of the poet and the when man to man the world o er shall brothers be for a that his countrymen are a pushing and adventurous race wherever robert burns they go they carry with them as a feature of the national mind an estimate of man as man of wealth and worth of rank and work which bears the stamp of one man s genius poems and songs are a programme of social and political reform and progress or at any rate as radical a programme as could well be framed no such programme it is certain ever had such in one nation as it has at home and abroad for almost a century it has been and sung by high and low by rank and fashion by and and aged inmates of the children it and it it is the privileged of public houses and privileged almost like the bible young ladies it at the request of their tory and to please in as well as where the shepherd tells his tale the echoes of it are never still as far as there is any need to his poetical and development this with the revolution it him with it as respects the style of his poetry and also as respects its substance machine of all kinds by use allowance should be made in cases that of poetry not for of value as the effect of wear and tear only the forces of nature are inexhaustible happily for him poetical life fell within a period in which it had come to be felt that the machinery of the classical school of poetry was worn out and that recourse must be had for poetical power to and inexhaustible nature he owed thus to the spirit of the time that passion for truth and nature in the style of his poems which them such welcome as the time could give to novelty and excellence combined he was a to the same source for the ideas and sentiments or many of the ideas and sentiments to which his poetry owes not a little of the vitality and the it has among men and nations to whom it is known only in an almost unknown tongue or in more or less inadequate his poetry is instinct with the life and movement of one age one which was an era of from the dead and of revolt against all that had lived too long any explanation of however which is thus to be found where we find an explanation of europe itself in the spirit of a particular age is of course partial its merit is that it points to what is more essential and more comprehensive than burns poetry shares with all poetry of the first order of excellence the life and movement not of one age but ll the english ts of all ages that which belongs to what calls essential passions of human nature it is the voice of nature which we hear in his poetry and it is of that nature one touch of which makes the whole world kin it is doubtful whether any poet ancient or modern has as much personal attachment of a and quality as burns has been able to draw to himself it is an attachment the amount and the quality of which are not to be explained by anything in the history of the man anything apart from the exercise of his genius as a poet his though they were great do not account for it these are by his faults from which his misfortunes are not easily separated what renders it at all intelligible is that human nature in its most ordinary shapes is more poetical than it looks and that exactly at those moments of its consciousness in which it is most truly because most vividly and powerfully and itself has a voice to give to it he is not the poet s poet which no doubt meant to be or the philosopher s poet which in spite of himself is he is the poet of homely human nature not half so homely or as it seems his genius in a manner all its own associates itself with the fortunes experiences memorable moments of human beings whose humanity is their sole to whom liberty and whatever like liberty has the | 45 |
power to raise a man the and him ken is their portion in life for whom the great and never to phases of existence are those which are occasioned by emotions inseparable from the consciousness of existence for the great majority of his readers and therefore for the mass of human beings the sympathy which exists between him and them is sympathy relative to their strongest and deepest feelings and this is sympathy out of which personal naturally springs and in the strength of which it cannot but grow strong in this light clubs and excursions and to the land of burns of personal affection without parallel for range or depth in the history of literature instead oil the critical judgment as to his poetry are an index to the truth respecting it namely that the passions which live in it and by which it lives are the essential passions of human nature robert burns of these plain good masters his intellectual gifts are the humble and faithful servants his imagination humour pathos the qualities in respect of which his genius is most powerful and are without reserve placed at their disposal and submitted to their his genius might possibly have elected to move sometimes in a different sphere but this is the sphere in which its force is habitually spent words and phrases which derive their significance from what belongs to it are those that in his best and in his worst lines and linger in our ears with the airs to which his songs are sung as part and parcel of its contents and as they are in its compass freedom and gang in his so do mirth and care despair and rapture pride of birth and pride of worth love and sorrow and death acquaintance not to be forgotten social not to be forgiven at its prayers and for the wretched which extends to the brute creation and cannot be withheld from the devil that the worst of it as well as the best of it has power over him is the most that can be said in the way of censure or in the way of excuse in regard to that capital fault of his a relish for and even in the choice and treatment of his which gives occasion to to talk of him as at once the glory and the shame of literature and which as some of his best pieces no one has more reason to regret than he who has to do justice to the genius of the poet by making a selection from his works genius can explain except itself in this of his genius to one sphere of activity we have however not only some explanation of the place which in european literature and european history but also a revelation of the inner structure and quality of his genius genius which in every case and definition is by this of its operations shown to be in his case more than most with force of mind that force which its way through the shows of things to the reality behind them and beyond them the heart ay s the part ay that makes as right or to say that this is his poetical creed is to say that poetical genius in his case is akin to or identical with majestic common sense an intellect of singular power to penetrate appearance and become with reality and that reality and truth which are i the english poets to be found if anywhere in sphere of the passions and emotions of which he is the he b to this reality than other poets because his mental force is greater than theirs and carries him farther and from the surface of things towards the centre his poetry makes a gift again to folly of that definition of poetry which was presented by folly to stupidity that is the best poetry which is the most it not at all when it is at its best and but little when it is at its worst so much reality is there in it to the experience of common mortals that it is commonly mistaken among them for useful information for the people where it is not understood as the of imagination humour pathos it is admired and valued as a of wisdom when it is denied the welcome to which it is entitled as song the gift of the gods it is sure of applause as the of sense of which every man as he believes has his own share genius in the case of is thus shown to be compact of sense sagacity intelligence of a powerful and piercing order general force of mind to which nature and life cannot but yield up their deepest secrets it is in the sphere of the essential passions of human nature that reality lies that burns in a manner all his own is rigid not always but instinctively in to this sphere is evidence that what takes in him the form and fashion of genius is common sense a melancholy or rather a mournful interest to several of his poems a bard s for example and the to a young showing that intellect and passion were as far from being perfectly adjusted in his life as they have been in the lives of many other sons of genius that they were not on better terms with each other than they actually were it may be is a matter which calls rather for regret than for amazement considering what nature made him and what his destiny was considering how rudely in his case the of a gifted soul with the of a sordid lot it is possibly not a matter for as much astonishment as has been sometimes expressed that the last chapter of his history should be one which cannot be read without a pang of sorrow for the degradation of genius had he been a | 45 |
struggling in paris instead of a struggling farmer in and a of ale at would no doubt have lived and died with a reputation for as as that of but for that insanity of headache t burns and melancholy from which he suffered all his life as the result of being made to do a man s work when he was a but for his being half fed half too literally and too long not to be rendered half mad as well it is open to a candid judgment to suppose that the thoughtless follies which laid him low would not have been committed at any rate would not have cut half as formidable a figure as they do in the count and reckoning of some of the and respectable of literature but however it may have been that the relations of intellect and passion were imperfectly or ill adjusted in his life their perfect harmony is the marvel and the glory of his song passages indeed from various pieces of his perhaps whole pieces could be which fall below the level of poetry in the sense of the word for which no higher character can be claimed than that of prose because sense and sagacity or wit and humour in them in too marked a degree over feeling and imagination it is as if the balance rarely right adjusted in his life swung heavily sometimes in his verse to the other side but it is only where it is with this excess of sense or where it is written in that english tongue of which he never attained any mastery in verse that his poetry falls short of as regards the union of intellect and passion the union of which is the first condition of poetical vitality his passions according to a well known account of them from the best authority raged like so many devils till they found vent in rhyme they could not have raged more or raged less any day without perhaps the perfection of a or a song which has almost the perfection of the work of shakespeare or of nature his one poetical failing besides being one which to virtue s side is exhibited for the most part only where it is harmless in his and especially his his songs on which after all his fame must mainly rest are free from it though even in them passion is governed and in such a manner that in the whole collection of them there is abundant evidence of sense and which it would have been fatal to in any one of them his claim to be considered the first of song writers is hardly disputed it is a claim which rests upon scores of each of which might be as an instance of passion at its best and highest passion in his case drew its strength from various and opposite sources from the experiences habits and emotions of a nature which needed nothing so much as the english poets and harmony but it is itself harmony as perfect as the song of the and the to a summer evening of peace on earth and glory in the western sky whatever the poet s eye has seen of beauty or his heart has felt of mirth or sadness or madness into it and becomes a tone a of music of which but for one singer the world should hardly have known the power to thrill the universal heart he could not begin to write a song till he had over and got into his head some old air to which words might be adapted only when his songs are sung are they said is the melody of them their with music by origin and by use is only of the harmony to which passion in them has set the facts and experiences of human life and destiny the best of them are serious and pathetic like my o of c the the wind can but serious and pathetic like these or arch and airy and humorous like and gray they draw upon sources of melody of which and and had almost as little knowledge as of the sources of the or of the banks of like shakespeare is almost as great in the matter of as in that of originality his measures are without exception those with which he was familiar in his and and or in the and songs which the stream of time might be said to have brought down to his poetical mill his s saturday night is upon s farmer s his holy fair upon the same poet s races his are s and s in form and spirit only instinct with a kind of genius to which neither nor had any pretensions one in which he wrote a great deal for which among poetical measures he had as much partiality as he had for winter among the seasons or the among birds or humanity among the virtues and which his readers even scotch readers find it sometimes hard to endure was no doubt made classical to him and informed with music by its having been made use of by of his of whose genius he had formed a most generous and estimate his best work is distributed over three periods into which his poetical life can be most easily divided the first marked by the publication of his poems at when he was at the age of twenty seven the second the extraordinary of his later residence in at and ter robert its in and the third being the melancholy last years at and in which his was to give to his country and the world a store of songs original and such as no other country possesses the beggars that opera in which critical genius of the highest order has discovered the highest flight of his poetical genius belongs to the first period though not published till after | 45 |
his death the s saturday night belongs to the same period my o is one of its as regards humour and imagination it could be represented either by death and doctor or the address to the or the holy fair with reference to the work which was done by him before the close of this period considering its quality and variety considering how much of it is destined to hold a permanent place in literature is perhaps to be regarded as the most remarkable instance on record of the of genius at any rate poetical genius it would be difficult to point to a single rival for poetical fame who before the age of twenty six or twenty seven had contributed as much to the stock of literature for ever from oblivion he was in this sense something of the which in respect of his being bom a peasant would not allow him to be considered in each of these three periods of his poetical life he was at his best in one or other of the of song in which his greatness is least open to question to and the last of the three besides and captain belongs the glory of that marvellous series of songs new and old original and improved which it was the unhappy s one pure delight to contribute to the in which they appeared whether his genius was exhausted by the activity of these ten or a dozen years or whether if his life had been prolonged he might not have undertaken and accomplished some even greater task than any he had attempted is a question to which no very certain answer can be given he might have done something to the interval between him and the poets of the first order those whose poetry character and action as well as passion he was ambitious of doing something of the kind at one time the scheme of an at another the plans for a tragedy were in his mind but if we may judge from a fragment of his intended drama from the quality of his english verses or from the leading features of his character it seems unlikely that he would under any circumstances have made a nearer approach the english poets than he has done or than that other passionate pilgrim of the realm of song has done to milton or shakespeare his nearest approach to shakespeare and milton must be held to be that he wrote for the same theatre as they not for an age but for all time if only because the essential passions of human nature are so peculiarly and exclusively the sphere in which his genius moves the question whether on the whole the influence of his poetry is wholesome is a question touching the of his fame it is the native sphere of morality and religion in which his genius itself and hence though it cannot be required of poetry that it should directly virtue and piety yet poetry like his has only the choice of at their proper value the highest instincts and feelings of human nature or its own to neglect and oblivion by with for as critics have at length discovered poetry is not meant for critics but for mankind if it is of use to mankind it has a chance of life if not it must die on these terms like other poets is a for immortality and on these terms though his claim has been judged it is now generally admitted to be strong it is true as has been already acknowledged that touches of and some of his best pieces and are the characteristics of some of his worst it is true also that religious people have had much fault to find with the holy fair and holy and other of his in which religious or rather things and personages have been held up to ridicule and scorn but the one fault he shares with many of his brother poets whose immortality is not doubtful the other to most persons is rendered by a doubt as to whether it is not rather a capital merit than an sin his morality is not always perfect sometimes it or what cannot be defended but he never religion except when the religion in question is in the nature of things ridiculous and only not so by an accident of time or place on the other hand it is a world from which virtue and piety are not absent into which he habitually escapes from scenes in the actual world in which with most of his generation he was tempted to linger too long and too agreeably sordid and even as some of these scenes are they are yet to the reader of all that he has written only grotesque into a world beyond and above them in which everything fair and good has its own place love and truth joy in all that is pure and high sorrow over all that is weak and low and t burns sad in the life of man superstition owe him a heavy grudge but in scotland at least and where the holy fair is remembered and holy is not unknown spiritual religion owes him little but thanks on this subject only a word more need be said lives above all and is destined to live in his songs in them at any rate he lives for ail infinitely larger public than knows much of him as the author of or the jolly beggars by his songs though they too furnish his more austere with complaint the service which he rendered to morality and religion is one the value of which can hardly be over estimated it is a remarkable fact that a country the history of which is so much as that of scotland is a history of religious or at any rate events especially battles a country too which has not been | 45 |
in poetical talent should have given birth to almost no religious poetry worth the name yet hardly is religious poetry a more crop in the country of and and scott than or or it may be after all that other passions than those spiritual ones which find expression for themselves in and hymns and spiritual songs have been chiefly concerned in those religious movements of which history is a tedious record but be that as it may burns inherited from his poetical a wealth not of hymns but of songs and chiefly of course they inspired him with compared with which they are themselves harsh and out of tune the airs to which they were sung were from his mind in words in which there is the very soul of melody in this process of what he received from the past to the future to which he looked forward as a better day for all mankind he changed as regards morality silver into gold dirt into the fragrance of lilies and foul dirt into the breath of meadows and of shady paths through woods and by the banks of murmuring streams as a of one branch of literature when centuries that are centuries still have into years he may perhaps be named along with john and walter scott in the history of the anyhow judged by his songs burns fame has little to fear from any question being raised as to whether the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the instance of his poetry is really what it seems a tree that is good for food and pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise john service the english poets mary bide ye yet mary at thy window be it is the wished the hour those smiles and glances let me see that make the s treasure poor how i bide the a weary slave sun to sun could i the rich reward secure the lovely mary when to the trembling string the dance the lighted ha to thee my fancy took its wing i sat but neither heard nor saw tho this was fair and that was and yon the toast of a the town sigh d and said them a ye are na mary o mary thou wreck his peace for thy sake gladly die or thou break that heart of his only is loving thee if love for love thou wilt na at least be pity to me shown a thought be the thought o mary my o behind yon hills where flows an many o the wintry sun the day has closed and to o worry trouble robert burns the wind loud an the night s and rainy o but i get my an out i u steal an the hill to o my s charming sweet an young to win ye o may ill the flattering tongue that my o her face is fair her heart is true as as she s o the op wi dew purer is than o a country lad is my degree an few there be that ken me o but what care i how few they be i m welcome ay to o my riches a s my penny fee an i guide it o but s gear ne er troubles me my thoughts are a my o our delights to view his sheep an o but i m as that his an has care but o come come woe i care na by i ll what heaven will sen me o care in life have i but live an love my o green grow the a fragment chorus green grow the o green grow the o the sweetest hours that e er i spend are spent among the o i i the english poets there s but care on ev ry ban in ev ry hour that passes o what the life o man an na for the o the race may riches chase an riches still may fly them o an tho at last they catch them fast their hearts can ne er enjoy them o but me a hour at e en my arms about my o an cares an men may a for you ye sneer at this ye re but senseless o the wisest man the e er saw he dearly d the o nature the lovely her noblest work she classes o her han she tried on man an then she made the o the death and dying words of poor the author s only pet an as an her were ae day on the upon her she a an she d in the ditch there groaning dying she did lie when he by wi een an lifted ban s poor like a statue s he saw her days were near hand ended but my heart i he could na mend it worldly sober serious cast tumbled a herd about three as as other folk robert burns he wide but at length poor silence o thou lamentable face appears to mourn my case my dying words attentive hear an bear them to my master tell him if e er again he keep as gear as buy a sheep o bid him never tie them wi wicked strings o or hair but ca them out to park or hill an let them wander at their will so may his flock increase an grow to scores o an o tell him he was a master kin an ay was to me an mine an now my dying charge i him my helpless i trust them wi him bid him save their harmless lives dogs an an knives but them cow milk their fill till they be fit to an tent them duly e en an mom wi o hay an o com an may they never learn the of | 45 |
vile to an an steal at o or stocks o so may they like their great for a year come the so wives will them bits o bread an greet for them when they re dead my poor lamb my son an heir o bid him breed him up wi care an if he live to be a beast to pit some in his breast wool make shift tend small quantities ways restless in fences rob forefathers weep good manners the english poets an warn him what i name to stay content wi at an no to an wear his like other brutes an my silly thing keep thee a string o may thou ne er up wi but ay keep mind to an wi sheep o credit like and now my wi my last breath i e my wi you an when you think your mind to be kind to now honest fail to tell my master a my tale an bid him bum this cursed an for thy pains thou se get my v this said poor turned her head an closed her een the dead from an to john an old bard i am poet in a sense but just a like by chance an to learning pretence yet what the matter er my muse does on me glance i at her your critic folk may cock their nose and say how can you e er propose you ken hardly verse prose to a sang but by your leaves my learned foes ye re maybe i robert burns what s a your o your schools your latin names for horns an if honest nature made you fools what your ye d better up and or a set o dull conceited their brains in college classes they gang in and come out plain truth to speak an they think to climb by dint o greek j me ae spark o nature s fire that s a the learning i desire then tho i an mire at or cart my muse though in attire may touch the heart for a o s glee or s the and or bright s my friend to be if i can hit it that would be for me if i could get it to a mouse on turning her up in her nest with the plough november tim o what a panic s in thy thou need na start hasty wi i be to an chase thee wi ring serves stone breaking year old cow or then pond spark learning hurry hand stick for clearing the plough vol ui m m the english poets i m truly sorry man s dominion has broken nature s union an that ill opinion which makes thee at me thy poor earth bom companion an fellow mortal i doubt na but thou may what then poor thou live a in a s a request i d get a blessing wi the lave and never miss t thy bit too in ruin its silly wa s the win s are an now to big a new one o green an bleak december s winds an keen i thou saw the fields laid bare an waste an weary winter fast an here beneath the blast thou thought to dwell till crash i the cruel past out thy cell that bit heap o leaves an has cost thee a weary now thou s d out for a thy trouble but house or to the winter s an an ear of com now and then a is twenty rest build bitter without holding endure frost robert burns but thou art no thy in proving foresight may be vain the best laid schemes o an men gang aft an e us but grief and pain for promised joy still thou art compared wi me i the present only thee but i backward cast my e e on prospects an forward tho i see i guess an the s saturday night inscribed to r esq let not ambition mock their useful toil their homely joys and destiny obscure nor grandeur hear with a smile the short and simple annals of the poor gray my loved my honoured much respected friend i no bard his homage pays with honest pride i scorn each selfish end my dearest a friend s esteem and praise to you i sing in simple lays the lowly train in life s scene the native feelings strong the ways what in a cottage would have been ah though his worth unknown far happier there i november chill loud wi angry the short winter day is near a close the beasts retreating the the black trains o to their repose alone whistling sound m m the english poets the toil worn his labour goes this night his weekly is at an end his his and his hoping the mom in ease and rest to spend and weary o er the his course does bend at length his lonely cot appears in view beneath the shelter of an aged tree th expectant things to meet their wi noise an glee his bit his clean hearth his s smile the infant on his knee does a his weary cares an makes him quite forget his labour an his toil the elder come in at service out the farmers some ca the some herd some a errand to a town their eldest hope their woman in bloom love sparkling in her e e comes perhaps to show a new gown or her won penny fee to help her parents dear if they in hardship be wi joy brothers and sisters meet an each for other s welfare kindly the social hours swift winged unnoticed fleet each tells the that he sees or hears the parents partial eye their hopeful years fluttering | 45 |
by and by although the in the saturday night is an exact copy of my father in his manners his family and yet the other parts of the d do not apply to our family none of us ever were at service out the instead of our our won penny fee with our parents my father hard and lived with the most rigid economy that he might be able to keep bis children at home burns to dr attentively news robert burns anticipation forward points the view the mother wi her needle an her look as s the new the father a wi due their master s an their mistress s command the a are warned to obey and mind their labours wi an hand and ne er tho out o sight to or play and oh be sure to fear the lord and mind your duty duly mom and lest in temptation s path ye gang astray his counsel and assisting might they never sought in vain that sought the lord aright but hark a rap comes gently to the door the meaning o the same tells how lad came o er the to do some errands and her the mother sees the conscious flame sparkle in s e e and flush her cheek wi heart struck anxious care his name while is afraid to speak pleased the mother hears it s wild worthless wi kindly welcome brings him ben a youth he takes the mother s eye sees the visit s no ill ta en the father cracks of horses and the s heart o wi joy but and scarce can behave the mother wi a woman s can spy what makes the youth an grave pleased to think her s respected like the lave o happy love where love like this is found i o heart felt bliss beyond compare i ve paced much this weary mortal round and sage experience bids me this declare makes half into the room talks the rest english poets if heaven a draught of heavenly pleasure spare one cordial in this melancholy tis when a youthful loving modest pair in other s arms breathe out the tender tale beneath the milk white thorn that the evening gale is there in human that bears a heart a wretch a villain lost to love and truth i that can with studied sly art betray sweet s youth curse on his arts smooth i are honour virtue conscience all is there no pity no points to the parents o er their child then the ruined maid and their distraction wild but now the supper crowns their simple board the chief o s food the their only does afford that the her the dame brings forth in mood to grace the lad her fell an aft he s an aft he ca s it the will tell how twas a sin was i the the supper done wi serious face they round the form a circle wide the turns o er wi grace the big ha bible ance his father s pride his bonnet reverently is laid aside his wearing thin an bare those strains that once did sweet in glide he wales a portion with judicious care and let us worship god i he says with solemn air cow wall well saved cheese a since the was in flower hall bible grey side locks chooses robert burns they chant their notes in simple guise they tune their hearts by far the noblest aim perhaps s wild measures rise or plaintive worthy of the name or noble the flame the sweetest far of s holy lays compared with these italian are tame the ears no heart felt raise they with our creator s praise the priest like father reads the sacred page how was the friend of god on high or moses bade eternal warfare with s or how the royal bard did groaning lie beneath the stroke of heaven s ire or job s pathetic and wailing cry or s wild fire or other holy that tune the sacred perhaps the christian volume is the theme how blood for guilty man was shed how he who bore in heaven the second name had not on earth whereon to lay his head how his first followers and servants sped the sage they wrote to many a land how he who lone in banished saw in the sun a mighty angel stand and heard great s doom pronounced by heaven s command then kneeling down to heaven s eternal king the saint the father and the husband hope springs on triumphant wing that thus they all shall meet in future days there ever in rays no more to sigh or shed the bitter tear together their creator s praise in such society yet still more dear while time moves round in an eternal sphere pope s forest r r the english poets compared with this how poor religion s pride in all the pomp of method and of art when men display to wide devotion s every grace except the heart the power the will desert the strain the stole but in some cottage far apart may hear well pleased the language of the soul and in his book of life the inmates poor then homeward all take off their several way the retire to rest the parent pair their secret homage pay and up to heaven the warm request that he who the s nest and decks the lily fair in pride would in the way his wisdom sees the best for them and for their little ones provide but chiefly in their hearts with grace divine from scenes like these old s grandeur springs that makes her loved at home abroad princes and lords are but the breath of kings an honest man s the | 45 |
to the when they were a how drink round in an the and benches an cheese an bread women s was dealt about in an that day stir nook blows minister of s hamlet r b flaming ale wooden vessels robert burns in comes a an sits down by the fire draws her an her knife the they are the about the grace side to side they bother till some by his bonnet lays an gi es them t like a fu that day for him that gets or that need has he to say a grace or his i wives be ance how lads ye wanted an for a heel let be on a day now wi rattling tow begins to an some the best they dow some wait the afternoon at the halt a till strip their wi faith an hope an love an drink they re a in famous tune for crack that day to a young friend may thought my friend a something to have sent you tho it should serve end than just a kind jolly cheese me i soil the bell to peal or roar they can in fences lads m the english poets but how the subject theme may gang let time and chance determine perhaps it may turn out a sang perhaps turn out a sermon yell try the world soon my lad and dear believe me yell find mankind an and they may grieve ye for care and trouble set your thought ev n when your end s attained and a your views may come to where nerve is strained no say men are a the real hardened wicked check but human law are to a few but i mankind are weak an little to be trusted if self the wavering balance shake it s rarely right adjusted yet they fa in fortune s strife their fate we censure for still the important end of life they equally may answer a man may an honest heart the stare him j a man may a s part yet cash to spare him aye free han your story tell when wi a bosom but still keep something to ye scarcely tell to conceal as s ye can critical but ev ry other man wi sharpened sly inspection poverty peep robert burns the sacred o placed love indulge it but never tempt th tho should it i the o the sin the hazard o concealing but it a within and the feeling to catch dame fortune s golden smile wait upon her and gather gear by ev ry that s justified by honour not for to hide it in a hedge nor for a train attendant but for the glorious privilege of being independent the fear o hell s a s whip to the wretch in order but where ye feel your honour grip let that aye be your border its slightest touches instant pause a side and resolutely keep its laws consequences the great creator to must sure become the creature but still the preaching cant forbear and ev n the rigid feature yet ne er with wits profane to range be extended an laugh s a poor exchange for deity offended when round in pleasure s ring religion may be blinded or if she a random sting it may be little minded flame vol ui n n the english poets but when on life we re tempest n a conscience but a a correspondence fix d wi n is sure a noble anchor adieu dear amiable youth your heart can ne er be wanting may prudence fortitude and truth erect your brow in phrase god send you speed still daily to grow wiser and may you better the than ever did th adviser a bard s is there a whim inspired fool fast for thought hot for rule to seek proud to let him draw near and this grassy heap sing and a tear is there a bard of rustic song who the crowds among that weekly this area throng o pass not by but with a feeling strong here heave a sigh is there a man whose judgment clear can others teach the course to steer yet runs himself life s mad career wild as the wave here pause and the starting tear survey this grave without heed the counsel submit robert burns the poor below was quick to and wise to know and keenly felt the friendly glow and softer flame but thoughtless follies laid him low and stained his name reader attend whether thy soul fancy s flights beyond the pole or this earthly hole in low pursuit know prudent cautious self control is s root from the to mrs scott of i mind it in early date when i was young and an first could the bam or a at the an tho yet proud to learn when first the yellow com a man i reckon d was and wi the lave merry mom could rank my and still and clearing the raw wi an wearing the day ev n then a wish i mind its power a wish that to my latest hour shall strongly heave my breast that i for poor scotland s sake some plan or book could make or sing a sang at least tired uncommonly rest the other row of gossip nonsense the english poets the rough spreading wide the bearded bear i turned the hook aside an spared the symbol dear no nation no station my envy e er could raise a still but blot still i knew higher praise but still the elements o sang in right an wild floated in my brain till on that st i said before my partner in the merry core she roused the forming strain i see her yet the that lighted up my her smile her een | 45 |
where sits our sulky sullen dame gathering her brows like gathering storm nursing her wrath to keep it warm this truth honest o as he ae night did whom ne er a town for honest men and fellows road ale in fences t burns o thou but been wise as ta en thy ain wife s advice she thee thou a a drunken that november till october ae market day thou was sober that wi the miller thou sat as as thou had that ev ry was ca d a shoe on the smith and thee roaring on that at the lord s house ev n on sunday thou drank wi till monday she that late or soon thou be found deep drowned in or catch d wi in the by s haunted ah gentle it me g to think how counsels sweet how lengthened sage the husband the wife but to our tale ae market night had got planted right fast by an finely wi that drank and at his elbow his ancient lo ed him like a very they had been for weeks the night on wi and clatter and ay the ale was growing better the landlady and grew gracious wi secret sweet and previous the his stories the landlord s laugh was ready chorus the storm without might and rustle did na mind the storm a whistle idle every time he went to get grain ground is the name of a village in which the parish stands dark makes me weep ale the english poets care mad to see a man happy e en drowned himself the i as bees flee wi o treasure the minutes winged their way wi pleasure kings may be but was glorious o er a the o life victorious but pleasures are like spread you seize the flow r its bloom is shed or like the snow falls in the river a moment white then for ever or like the race that ere you can point their place or like the rainbow s lovely form amid the storm man can time or tide the hour approaches ride that hour o night s black arch the key that dreary hour he his beast in and a night he the road in as ne er poor sinner was abroad in the wind blew as its last the rattling show rs rose on the blast the speedy the darkness swallow d loud deep and the thunder d that night a child might understand the had business on his hand mounted on his grey mare a better never lifted leg on and mire wind and rain and fire holding fast his blue bonnet o er some glow ring round wi prudent cares lest catch him unawares was drawing nigh and nightly cry by this time he was cross the ford where in the the hurried was smothered robert burns and past the and where drunken s neck and the and by the where hunters the murdered and near the thorn the well s hanged before him all his floods the storm the woods the flash from pole to pole near and more near the roll when glimmering the groaning trees seemed in a bore the beams were glancing and loud mirth and dancing inspiring bold john what dangers thou make us wi we fear evil wi we face the devil the d in s fair play he car d na a but stood right astonished till by the heel and hand she ventured forward on the light and saw an sight and in a dance new france but and put life and in their heels at in the east there sat old nick in shape o beast a black grim and large to them music was his charge he screw d the pipes and them till roof and a did stood round like open presses that d the dead in their last dresses big hole in the wall window seat shaggy t dog forced scream the english poets and by some devilish slight each in its hand held a light by which heroic was able to note upon the table a murderer s in aims span d a thief new a wi his last gasp his did five wi red five wi murder a which a babe had a knife a father s throat had whom his ain son o life the grey hairs yet to the wi of horrible and which ev n to name be as d amazed and curious the mirth and fun grew fast and furious the loud and louder blew the dancers quick and quicker flew they they set they crossed they till and and her to the and at it in her now o had been a plump and in their their instead o been white seventeen o mine my only pair that ance were o blue hair i gi en them off my for ae o the but withered and droll a and flinging on a i wonder turn thy stomach magic irons clothes linked greasy the term for a fine linen woven in a reed of divisions these short robert burns but what was what fu there was ae and that night in the core after on shore for a beast to dead she shot and perished a boat and shook com and bear and kept the country side in fear her o ham that while a she had worn in tho sorely scanty it was her best and she was ah little thy reverend that she for her wi twas a her riches ever a dance of but here my muse her wing flights are far beyond her power to sing how lap and a she was and and how stood like and thought his very een enriched even satan d and d | 45 |
fu fain and d and blew wi might and main till first ae tint his reason a and out done and in an instant all was dark and scarcely had he rallied when out the as bees out wi angry when herds their as open s mortal foes when pop she starts before their nose as eager runs the market crowd when catch the thief aloud so runs the follow wi an and hollow short ver coarse linen ought then lost bustle hive o the english poets ah ah thou get thy i in hell they ll roast thee like a in vain thy thy soon will be a woman i now do thy speedy utmost and win the key of the there at them thou thy tail may toss a running stream they cross but ere the key she could make the a tail she had to shake for far before the rest hard upon noble and flew at wi furious but little she s ae spring brought off her master hale but left behind her ain gray tail the her by the and left poor scarce a stump now this tale o truth shall read man and mother s son heed er to drink you are inclined or run in your mind think ye may buy the joys o er dear remember o s mare the banks o the hunt s delight ye banks and o how can ye bloom fresh and fair i how can ye chant ye little birds and i weary fu o care it is a well known fact that or any evil spirits have no power to follow a poor any farther than the middle of the next running stream it may be proper likewise to mention to the traveller that when he falls in with whatever danger may be in his going forward there is much more hazard in turning back r b deuce aim robert burns thou it break my heart thou bird that the thorn thou minds me o departed joys departed never to return aft i d by to see the rose and and bird sang o its and fondly did i o mine wi heart i d a rose fu sweet upon its tree and my my rose but ah i he left the thorn wi me farewell to ae fond kiss and then we ae farewell alas for ever deep in heart wrung tears pledge thee sighs and groans thee who shall say that fortune him while the star of hope she leaves him me cheerful twinkle lights me dark despair around me i ll ne er blame my partial fancy could resist my but to see her was to love her love but her and love for ever had we never loved kindly had we never loved blindly never or never parted we had ne er been broken hearted i fare thee thou first and fairest i fare thee thou best and dearest thine be joy and treasure peace enjoyment love and pleasure stole vol iii o o a the english poets ae fond kiss and then we ae alas for ever deep in heart wrung tears pledge thee sighs and groans thee mary v ye banks and and streams around the castle o green be your woods and fair your flowers your waters never there first her robes and there the for there i took the last o my sweet mary how sweetly the gay green how rich the s blossom as underneath their fragrant shade i clasped her to my bosom the golden hours on angel wings flew o er me and my for dear to me as light and life was my sweet mary wi a vow and locked embrace our parting was fu tender and aft to meet again we tore asunder but oh fell death s frost that my flower early now green s the sod and s the day that my mary muddy robert burns o pale pale now those rosy lips i aft kissed fondly and for ay the sparkling glance that dwelt on me kindly and now in silent dust that heart that lo ed me dearly i but still within my bosom s core shall live my mary gray gray came here to ha ha the o t on night when we were ha ha the o t her head fu high looked and poor stand ha ha the o t and prayed ha ha c was deaf as ha ha c sighed out and in his een t and o o er a ha ha c time and chance are but a ha ha c love is to bide ha ha c shall i like a fool he for a haughty she may to france for me i ha ha c tossed proud at a shy distance wept and blind leaping precipice the english poets how it comes let doctors tell ha ha grew sick as he grew hale ha ha c something in her bosom for relief a sigh she brings and o her een they things t ha ha c was a lad o grace ha ha c s was a piteous case ha ha c be her death swelling pity d his wrath now they ve and ha ha the o t whistle and i ll come to ye my lad o whistle and come to ye my lad o whistle and come to ye my lad tho father and and a should mad o whistle and i come to ye my lad but tent when ye come to court me and unless the back be a up the back and let see and come as ye to me and come as ye to me o whistle c at or at market er ye meet me gang by me as tho that ye a flee but steal me | 45 |
a o your black e e yet look as ye at me yet look as ye at me o whistle c smothered cheerful and merry gate robert burns aye vow and protest that ye for me and ye may lightly my beauty a but tho ye be for fear that she your fancy me for fear that she your fancy me o whistle c robert s address to his army hey wi has led welcome to your bed or to now s the day and now s the hour see the front o battle lower see approach proud edward s power chains and will be a traitor can fill a coward s grave base as be a slave let him turn and flee for scotland s king and law freedom s sword will strongly draw free man stand or free man fa let him on wi me by oppression s woes and pains by your sons in chains we will drain our dearest veins but they shall be free i lay the proud low i fall in every foe liberty s in every blow let us do or diet the poets a red red rose s favourite my is like a red red rose that s newly sprung in june my is like the that s sweetly played in as fair thou art my so deep in am i and i will thee still my dear till a the seas gang dry till a the seas gang dry my dear and the rocks melt wi the sun i will thee still my dear while the sands o life shall run and fare thee my only and fare thee awhile and i will come again my tho it were ten thousand mile my s tune there never be peace till comes now in her green mantle nature and the that o er the while birds welcome in green but to me it s my s the and our adorn and in the o the mom they pain my sad bosom sweetly they they mind me o and s robert burns thou that springs the o the lawn the shepherd to warn o the grey breaking dawn and thou mellow that the night fa i give over for pity my n come autumn pensive in yellow and gray and soothe me wi tidings o nature s decay the dark dreary winter and wild driving can delight me now s a man s a man for a that is there for honest poverty that his head and a that the coward slave we pass him by we dare be poor for a that i for a that and a that our toils obscure and a that the rank is but the guinea stamp the man s the for a that what tho on fare we dine wear grey and a that fools their and their wine a man s a man for a that for a that and a that their show and a that the honest man tho e er poor is king o men for a that ye see yon ca d a lord and and a that tho hundreds worship at his word he s but a for a that for a that an a that his star and a that the man of independent mind he looks and laughs at a that coarse cloth conceited fellow the english poets a prince can a knight a duke and a that an honest man s his might faith he fa that for a that and a that their and a that the o sense and pride o worth are higher rank than a that then let us pray that come it may as come it will for a that that sense and worth o er a the earth may bear the and a that for a that and a that it s coming yet for a that that man to man the world o er shall brothers be for a that address to the o stay sweet wood lark stay nor quit for me the trembling spray a lover courts thy lay thy soothing fond complaining again again that tender part that i may catch thy melting art for surely that touch her heart me wi say was thy little mate unkind and heard thee as the careless wind oh but love and sorrow joined notes o could manage pre robert burns thou tells o never ending care o speechless grief and dark despair for pity s sake sweet bird or my poor heart is broken this is no my ain this is no my ain house this is no my ain fair tho the be ken i my ain kind love is in her e e i see a form i see a face ye may wi the fairest place it wants to me the grace the kind love that s in her e e this is no c she s blooming straight and tall and has had my heart in and aye it charms my very the kind love that s in her e e this is no c a thief is my to steal a by a unseen but as light are lovers een when kind love is in the e e this is no c it may escape the sparks it may escape the learned clerks but the watching lover marks the kind love that s in her e e this is no c win cunning quick the english poets last may a the last may a down the and wi his love he did me i said there was i hated like men the deuce wi m to believe me believe me the deuce wi m to believe me he o the in my black een and vowed for my love he was i said he might die when he for the lord me for | 45 |
that s aye to last in the land o the dear that joy was bought john free the battle fought john that man e er brought to the land o the oh dry your glistening e e john my soul to be free john and angels me to the land o the oh hand ye and true john your day it s through john and welcome you to the land o the now fare ye my ain john this s cares are vain john we ll meet and well be fain in the land o the mrs l was bom at in published poems pieces in prose by j and a l married rev published to mr hymns in prose for little children died at march the poems of mrs are chiefly written in the elegant classic style of the close of the last century she expresses herself clearly and with grace a certain of manner with her choice of subject her poetry is without deep thought or passion but it is free from of an kind the spirit of self criticism which prompted her to destroy all her verses never permitted her to include with her published works any ill considered thought or unsuccessful effort i had rather she declared in answer to remonstrance that it should be asked of twenty pieces why they are not here than of one why it is the bulk of mrs s poetry is inspired by the trivial occasions of domestic life and when she the personal vein it is of and of and that she sings pretty and whose delicate pretence of loving claims no relation to the passions of reality such fancies move her to an airy a charming feminine kind of humour she is gay but her mood is without frequent allusions to the classic poets quoted lines of remind us that the is also a learned lady a and an authority on education the fame of mrs s hymns has the rest of her work yet with the exception of her charming hymns in prose for little children they seem to a modem reader deficient in and in religious emotion they are pure in tone and lofty but often singularly cold there can be no doubt however of their sincerity mrs mrs her strength in one or two serious poems and on political subjects in the treatment of such she was not happy it is only in her lighter moods that she is free from a certain complacent of sentiment which the value of her work this fault is less noticeable in her later poems when age and sad experience had overcome her yet even here in only one of her in the close of the to life do we meet with much real beauty of feeling towards the end of her days she composed the longest of her poems eighteen hundred and eleven her subject is the decline of british power the transfer of european to america and it is not surprising that it was received with much nor were the public to be soothed by hearing that the youth from the blue mountains or s lake of lord s new should making pilgrimage to london s faded glories where all accomplished jones his race began mrs could not forgive the public its ingratitude she took a mild revenge in no more poems and the step it may be was a wise one in the of the revival her little verses must have missed their accustomed praise her had already faded i fear they will bear no more their golden flowers in any possible future a mary f robinson vol iii p p the english poets to sweet daughter of a rough and stormy winter s blooming child delightful spring t whose locks with leaves and swelling are crowned from the green islands of eternal youth crowned with fresh and ever springing shade turn hither turn thy step o thou whose powerful voice more sweet than touch of reed or can soothe the winds and through the stormy deep breathe thine own tender calm thee best beloved the virgin train await with songs and rites and joy to thy blooming among and and with feet and thy earliest sweet to fresh for the glowing brow of him the favoured youth that their whispered sigh thy copious stores those tender showers that drop their sweetness on the infant and silent that swell the ear s green stem and feed the s early shoots and call those winds which through the whispering boughs with warm and pleasant breath salute the blowing flowers now let me sit beneath the thorn and mark thy spreading tints steal o er the and watch with patient eye thy fair charms mrs o approach while yet the temperate sun with forehead through the cool moist air throws his young maiden beams and with kisses the earth s fair bosom while the streaming veil of clouds with wind and frequent shade thy modest from his blaze sweet is thy reign but short the red dog star shall thy and the s thy thy all shall destroy reluctant shall i bid thee then farewell for o not all that autumn s lap contains nor summer s fruits can aught for thee fair spring whose simplest promise more delights than all their largest wealth and through the heart each joy and new bom hope with influence breathes life life i i know not what thou art but know that thou and i must part and when or how or where we met i own to me s a secret yet but this i know when thou art fled where er they lay these limbs this head no so shall be as all that then remains of me o whither whither dost thou fly where bend unseen thy course and in this strange divorce ah tell where i must seek this compound i o the english | 45 |
poets to the vast ocean of flame from whence thy essence came dost thou thy flight pursue when freed from matter s base weed or dost thou hid from sight wait like some spell bound knight through blank years the appointed hour to break thy trance and thy power yet thou without thought or feeling be o say what art thou when no more thou rt thee life we ve been long together through pleasant and through cloudy weather tis hard to part when friends are dear perhaps cost a sigh a tear then steal away give little warning choose thine own time say not good night but in some brighter bid me good morning george george was born at in of poor parents on the th of december he was in his fourteen year to a surgeon at brook near bury st and after his term actually practised at he was not however successful in his profession and being reduced to great he determined to go to ix and to devote himself to literature for which he had at an early age a strong bent for a long time he sought in vain for patronage but was at length fortunate enough to attract the attention of through whose kindly influence the library was received by the public in the same year he took orders and two years later published the village after first it to the of johnson this work at once established his reputation but instead of following up his success for the period of twenty four years he published but one poem the newspaper and devoted himself almost entirely to parish work in appeared the parish register which was succeeded in by the in i i by tales in verse and in by tales of the hall this was his last poetical work though his death did not take place till february thirteen years later s poems form a very distinct in the course of english literature nothing is more noticeable in the latter part of the century than the apparent exhaustion of poetical material poetry in an agitated atmosphere it in a state of settled repose for more than a century before the appearance of the prevailing tone of english poetry had been political the interest of the people had been absorbed in the establishment of their constitutional liberties which they had secured at the price of civil war and a disputed succession and what was felt in society was reflected in verse the political passions of the period show themselves in different forms in the of in the personal of pope in the dramatic of and at last in the more composed of johnson and but by degrees under a settled the air is cleared of serious a the poets political storms and as the times become more quiet we observe a rapid ebb in the inspiration of the poets who carried on the traditions peculiar to the century is but a poor third in satire to and pope the traveller and the vanity of wishes are ill replaced in the class of poetry by s loves of the plants or knight s progress of society in another direction the strong tendency of poetry afterwards so developed by the lake school first itself in the solitary and meditative muse of and in the of another feature equally in late century poetry is the decline of the romantic of the classical from the down to the of pope this literary fashion of thought had continued to afford materials to the english poet it was derived from the fiction of a golden age of virtue and innocence traces of which were supposed still to linger in the simplicity of country life a belief so artificial could only in an artificial atmosphere it was congenial to courts for a long period every writ romance and in all that portion of society which pretended to good breeding each lover thought of himself as a shepherd and sighed for his mistress as a slight indications of the fashion are to be found even in poets so plain and unaffected as and but as wealth accumulated and the influence of cities extended it was gradually felt that for a rich and refined society to be always the manners of herds was somewhat absurd this feeling found a vigorous in johnson whose lives of the poets abound in expressions of contempt for the and of pastoral poetry of these conditions of taste availed himself he saw that the questions which were becoming of interest in men s minds were no longer political but social himself bom and bred among the poor he knew that there was a vast range of human interest in the actions passions and manners of common life of which the general reader though they lay immediately under his eyes was completely ignorant at the same time his knowledge of english literature enabled him to perceive v how effective a contrast might be drawn between rural life as it y was described by poets and as it existed in reality v on this principle he designed and executed the village beginning with a brief but telling allusion to the fiction of the golden george age he proceeded to draw with a stem fidelity the picture of the actual village with its soil its half starved inhabitants and its surroundings he described the sufferings of the peasant concealed by pride or suppressed by necessity the of his prospect in the which awaited his old age and where he could look for no relief for his material and spiritual wants except such as might be afforded by the doctor or the fox hunting parson his apology for such a representation of reality was he said the necessity of showing how small was the difference between the different ranks of men when measured by the standard of their common nature the plea was felt to be just many whose had before been | 45 |
satisfied with the of conventional fancy were induced to extend their sympathies to the drama of actual life the village speedily became popular yet though had thus established for himself a permanent place among the english poets he seemed in no haste to work further the vein of poetry which he had discovered after the publication of the newspaper a somewhat uninteresting composition he seemed almost to lay aside literary ambition and years elapsed before the appearance of the parish register this poem is an extension of the subject treated in the village he takes up again the old text and can be found no more but experience of the world had u his views and his descriptions of life and character in the register are not so dark as in the earlier poem to his view of country manners morals customs arts he now joined some highly finished of individual life one of which the story of is specially memorable as having given pleasure to fox in his last illness in his next poem the together with many admirable pictures of that coast life and scenery which always exercised a strong spell on his he inserted several connected tales of the peculiar temptations and passions to which the poor are exposed and having now discovered his extraordinary power of tracing the working of the human mind he soon afterwards published tales of various kinds tragic pathetic and humorous these were entirely wanting in connection and it was probably a fear that the appearance of a new set of separate stories might expose him to the charge of repeating himself which caused him to attempt a kind of unity in his last work tales of the hall the english poets in this the stories though in every other respect resembling the first series were connected with each other by the persons of the two brothers who having been parted since their youth meet when middle aged in the house of the elder and amuse each other with their different experiences though so marked a place in the history of english poetry he has not met in our own generation with all the attention which he deserves something of this comparative neglect is to be attributed to changes in society the altered position of the poor has fortunately deprived his poems of much of the reality they once possessed something too must be ascribed to the of taste we have been long accustomed to look at nature and peasant life through the philosophic medium created for us by and his followers from the poetical of this school is as far removed as he is from the conventional of his his intention is simply to paint things as they are and modem therefore finds in his poetry an atmosphere but beyond this it must be allowed that of all standard english writers makes the largest demands on the patience of his readers his great defect is an want of taste like to whose work his poetical has a striking he seems while the imagination with powerful effects of light and shade to delight at the same time in the exhibition of the most vulgar details these he into his poetry with out the slightest attempt at or selection in the midst of a passage of sustained tragic pathos he us by the appearance of some mean thought or word his shrewd humour runs without restraint into and he frequently the line that the horrible from the terrible yet after making full for these defects we have still left a body of powerful and original poetry and indeed the defects themselves arise from that strong bent of genius which makes s verse such an admirable foil to the of the fashionable pastoral the extraordinary of his descriptions of actual nature becomes when we take into consideration the deep moral truth which he seeks to convey in them as an observer and painter of the individual truths of nature no poet has ever approached him he had a scientific interest and curiosity about all living objects and this though it his sense of beauty gave him an power george in placing the scenes and persons he described before the mind of the reader whether he a storm on the east coast or the succession of images passing through the imagination of the condemned or shows the mental stages by which the of virtue proceeds to crime everything is represented with an appearance of scientific precision which in an ordinary poet would be offensive but which from s point of view is just and necessary at the same time with all this dutch he possessed as we see in the lover s and delay has danger exceptional skill in describing nature in the aspect which she presents to minds under strong emotions his powers of pathos are extraordinary and his faculty of pain is often put to an use when his humour is under his control it is admirable and of all the poets who have used the heroic pope himself not ex he is the best writer of easy dialogue as a painter of character he evidently himself on pope but the style of the two poets is as different as their genius pope an observer within a limited compass is most careful to choose rare types and to their prominent features in the most select and words on the other hand to the of his experience and to the general human interest of his descriptions and though preserving the form of pope s verse makes comparatively little attempt at expression it is noticeable that as his subjects become more numerous and extended his care in composition seems to there is far more literary finish in the village than in tales of the h w j the english poets the village as it is from the village book i fled are those times when in harmonious ns the rustic poet praised his | 45 |
native plains no now in smooth alternate verse their country s beauty or their s yet still for these we frame the tender strain still in our lays fond complain and boys their pains reveal the only pains alas they never feel on s banks in caesar s reign if found the golden age again must sleepy the flattering dream echoes of the song from truth and nature shall we widely stray where not where fancy leads the way no cast by fortune on a frowning coast which neither groves nor happy valleys boast where other cares than those the muse relates and other dwell with other mates by such examples taught i paint the cot as truth will paint it and as will not nor you ye poor of scorn complain to you the song is smooth in vain overcome by labour and bowed down by time feel you the barren flattery of a rhyme can poets soothe you when you pine for bread by winding round your ruin d shed can their light tales your o or glad with airy mirth the hour lo where the heath with withering grown o er the light turf that the neighbouring from thence a length of burning sand appears where the thin harvest waves its withered ears george be rank weeds that every art and care defy reign o er the land rob the there stretch their arms afar and to the ragged infant threaten war there nodding mock the hope of toil there the blue the soil hardy and high above the slender the waves her leaf o er the young shoot the throws a shade and clasping cling round the sickly blade with mingled tints the rocky abound and a sad splendour vainly shines around the s dream from c letter yes e en in sleep the impressions all remain he hears the sentence and he feels the chain he sees the judge and jury when he shakes and loudly cries not guilty and then o er his body creep till worn out nature is compelled to sleep now comes the dream again it shows e ch scene with each small circumstance that comes between the call to suffering and the very deed there crowds go with him follow and some heartless shout some pity all condemn while he in fancied envy looks at them he seems the place for that sad act to see and dreams the very thirst which then will be a priest it seems the one he knew in his best days beneath whose care he grew at this his terrors take a sudden flight he sees his native village with delight the home the chamber where he once arrayed his youthful person where he knelt and prayed the english poets then too the comfort he enjoyed at home the days of joy the joys themselves are come y the hours of innocence the timid look of his loved maid when first her hand he took and told his hope her trembling joy appears her forced reserve and his retreating fears all now is present tis a moment s gleam of former sunshine stay delightful dream i let them within his pleasant garden walk give him her arm of blessings let them talk yes i all are with him now and all the while life s early prospects and his s smile then come his sister and his village friend and he will now the sweetest moments spend life has to yield no never will he find again on earth such pleasure in his mind he goes through walks these friends among love in their looks and honour on the tongue nay there s a charm beyond what nature shows the bloom is softer and more sweetly pierced by no crime and urged by no desire for more than true and honest hearts require they feel the calm delight and thus proceed through the green lane then linger in the stray o er the heath in all its purple bloom and pluck the blossoms where the wild bees hum then through the bound with ease they pass and press the sandy sheep walk s slender grass where among the are spread and the lamb by the s bed then cross the bounding brook they make their way o er its rough bridge and there behold the bay i the ocean smiling to the sun the waves that faintly fall and slowly the ships at distance and the boats at hand and now they walk upon the sand counting the number and what kind they be ships softly sinking in the sleepy sea now arm in arm now parted they behold george the glittering waters on the rolled the timid girls half their design dip the small foot in the and search for crimson weeds which spreading flow or lie like pictures on the sand below with all those bright red pebbles that the sun through the small waves so softly shines upon and those live which the eye delights to trace as they swim glittering by pearl shells and star fish they admire and will arrange above the parlour fire tokens of bliss oh horrible a wave as it rises save me edward i save she cries alas the on his way calls and lets in truth terror and the day strolling players from the letter xii sad happy race soon raised and soon depressed your days all passed in and jest poor without prudence with vain not warned by misery not enriched by gain whom justice pitying from place to place a wandering careless wretched merry race who cheerful looks assume and play the parts of happy with hearts then cast off care and in the pain of tragic woe feel spirits light and vain distress and hope the mind s the body s wear the man s affliction and | 45 |
the actor s tear alternate times of and excess are yours ye smiling children of distress slaves though ye be your wandering freedom seems and with your varying views and restless schemes your are transient as your joys are dreams the english poets the founder of the from the letter leave now our streets and in yon plain behold those pleasant seats for the reduced and old a merchant s gift whose wife and children died when he to saving all his powers applied he wore his coat till bare was every thread and with the meanest fare his body fed he had a female cousin who with care walked in his steps and learned of him to spare with and success they strove improving still still seeking to improve as if that useful knowledge they would gain how little food would human life sustain no came their table s to they lived but not a scrap they gave when beggars saw the merchant pass it moved their pity and they said alas hard is thy fate my brother and they felt a beggar s pride as they that pity dealt the dogs who learn of man to scorn the poor him away from every decent door while they who saw him bare but thought him rich to show respect or scorn they knew not which but while our merchant seemed so base and mean he had his wanderings sometimes not unseen to scenes of various woe he nightly went and serious sums in healing misery spent oft has he cheered the wretched at a rate for which he daily might have dined on plate he has been seen his hair all silver white shaking and shivering as he stole by night to feed on his still delight a taste he had to give and spare both were his duties and had equal care george be it was his joy to sit at home and fast then send a widow and her boys tears in his eyes would spite of him appear but he from other eyes has kept the tear all in a wintry night from far he came to soothe the sorrows of a suffering dame whose husband d him and to whom he meant a lingering but punishment home then he walked and found his anger rise when fire and met his troubled eyes but these extinguished and his prayer addressed to heaven in hope he calmly sank to rest a storm on the east coast from letter i view now the winter storm above one cloud black and unbroken all the skies o the through the day before had rolled in view of men on shore and sometimes hid and sometimes showed his form dark as the cloud and furious as the storm all where the eye delights yet to the breaking cast the flying foam upon the rising all the deep is restless change the waves so swelled and steep breaking and sinking and the sunken nor one one moment in its station dwells but nearer land you may the trace as if in their watery chase may watch the till the they reach then break and hurry to their utmost stretch curled as they come they strike with furious force and then take their grating course the rounded which ages past rolled by their rage and shall to ages last far off the in the troubled way with her brood or in the spray the english poets she rises often often drops again and sports at ease on the main high o er the restless deep above the reach of hope vast flocks of wild duck stretch far as the eye can glance on either side in a broad space and level line they glide all in their like figures from the north day after day flight after flight go forth in shore their passage tribes of sea urge and drop for prey within the sweeping oft in the rough opposing blast they fly far back then turn and all their force apply while to the storm they give their weak complaining cry or clap the sleek white on the breast and in the restless ocean dip for rest darkness begins to reign the louder wind the weak and the firmer mind but not him whom evening and the spray in part conceal yon on his way lo he has something seen he runs as if he fear d companion in the chase he sees his prize and now he turns again slowly and was your search in vain he answers tis a sorry sight i a seaman s body there ll be more to night an from tales of the hall the following is an extract from one of the tales of the hall entitled delay has danger a young man who is happily engaged to be married finds himself during a visit in a friend s house partly through his weakness and folly partly through the cunning designs of others in his relations with a girl of inferior station and insignificant attractions the dialogue that is between the unwilling lover and the girl s adopted parents who are upper servants in his host s house and who having brought about the now affect to encourage the lover in his timid advances an orphan maid your patience you shall have your time to speak i now attention george dear girl has in my and me friends of a kind we wish our friends to be none of the poorest nay sir no reply you shall not need and we are bom to die and one yet on earth of whom i say that what he has he cannot take away her mother s father one who has a store of this world s goods and always looks for more but next his money loves the girl at heart and she will have it | 45 |
when they come to part sir said the youth his terrors all awake hear me i pray i beg for mercy s sake i sir were the secrets of my soul confessed would you admit the truths that i protest are such your pardon pardon good my friend i not alone will pardon i commend think you that i have no remembrance left of youthful love and s cunning how will listen when their persuade how hearts are gained and how exchange is made come sir your hand in mercy hear me now i cannot hear you time will not allow you know my station what on me depends for ever needed but we part as friends and here comes one who will the whole explain my better and we shall meet again sir i then be entreaty made to her a woman one you may persuade a little but she will and loves her niece too fondly to deny he is mad and miserable exclaimed the youth but let me now collect my scatter d thoughts i something must effect hurrying she now wliat has he confessed ere i could come to set your heart at rest what he has grieved you i yet he too vol q q he english poets the thing but man will you if he loves but now for business tell me did you think that we should always at your meetings wink think you you walked unseen there are who bring to me all secrets o you wicked thing i poor i now i think i see her blush all red and rosy when i beat the bush and hide your secret said i if you dare so out it came like an af hare miss said i gravely and the trembling maid pleased me at heart to see her so afraid and then she wept now do remember this never to her when she does amiss for she is tender as the bird and cannot bear to have her temper stirred i said then whispered her the name and caused such looks yes yours are just the same but hear my story when your love was known for this our child she is in fact our own then first we agreed at last to seek my lord and tell him what had passed to tell the earl yes truly and why not and then together we contrived our plot eternal nay be not so surprised in all the matter we were well advised we saw my lord and lady jane was there and said to johnson johnson take a chair true we are servants in a certain way but in the higher places so are they we are obeyed in ours and they in theirs obey so johnson bowed for that was right and fit and had no scruple with the earl to sit why look you so impatient while i tell what they you must like it well that evening all in fond discourse was spent when the sad lover to his chamber went george to think on what had passed to grieve and to repent early he rose and looked with many a sigh on the red light that filled the eastern sky oft had he stood before alert and gay to hail the glories of the new bom day but now dejected languid low he saw the wind upon the water blow and the cold stream curled onward as the gale from the pine hill blew harshly down the on the right side the youth a wood surveyed with all its dark intensity of shade where the rough wind alone was heard to move in this the pause of nature and of love when now the young are reared and when the old lost to the tie grow and cold far to the left he saw the huts of men half hid in mist that hung upon the before him gathering for the sea took their short flights and on the and near the stood the harvest done and slowly blackened in the sickly sun all these were sad in nature or they took sadness from time the likeness of his look and of his mind he pondered for a while then met his with a borrowed william william was bom in london at no broad street golden square on the th november he died in fountain court strand on the th of august his poetical sketches were published in and the songs of innocence in in was also published book of and this was followed in by the marriage of heaven and hell in by the french revolution and in by the of paradise the visions of the daughters of and the america the songs of experience designed as a companion series to the earlier songs innocence were issued in of the later productions of the poet nearly all belonged to the class of prophetic books to the year belong the europe and the book of in appeared the song of los and the book of and in the and the milton the poetry of holds a unique position in the history ot english literature its extraordinary independence of contemporary fashion in verse and its sympathy with the taste of a later generation would alone suffice to give a peculiar interest to the study of the poet s career nor is this interest in any way diminished by a knowledge of s singular and strongly marked individuality indeed it is scarcely possible to do justice to the great qualities of his imagination or to make due allowance for its startling defects unless the exercise of the poetic gift is considered in relation to the other faculties of his mind he appealed to the world in the double capacity of poet and painter and such was | 45 |
the peculiar nature of his and the particular method of his work that it is difficult to measure the value of his literary genius without some reference to his achievements in design for it is not merely that he practised the two arts simultaneously but that he chose to combine them after a fashion of his own an by profession and training he began at a very early age to employ his knowledge in the invention of a wholly original system of literary publication with the exception of the poetical sketches issued in the ordinary form through the kindly help of friends nearly au of s poems william were given to the world in a fantastic dress of his own he became in a special sense his own and his own the of his poems and the illustration by which they were accompanied were blended in a single scheme of ornamental design and from the engraved plate upon which this design was executed by the own hand copies were struck off in numbers more than sufficient to satisfy the modest demands of his admirers this peculiar process of publication cannot of course be held to affect s claims as a poet it bears a more obvious relation to those powers of a purely artistic kind which are not here in question but its employment by him is nevertheless well deserving of remark in this place because it a certain quality of mind that deeply affected his poetic individuality that happy mingling land confusion of text and ornament which give such a charm to songs of innocence was the symbol of a strongly marked intellectual tendency that afterwards received a morbid development has been called mad and within certain well defined limits the charge must we think be admitted he possessed only in the most imperfect and form the faculty which the functions of art and literature and when his imagination was exercised upon any but the simplest material his logical powers became altogether unequal to the labour of logical and consequent expression that this failure arose rather from morbid excess and excitement of visionary power than from any defect of intellectual energy is sufficiently indicated by the facts of his career for while his hold over the abstract of language grew gradually his powers of became vigorous and intense the artistic faculty in strengthened and developed with advancing life and he produced no or more satisfying example of his powers than the series of illustrations to the book of job executed when he was already an old man indeed if had never committed himself to literature we should scarcely be aware of the morbid tendency of his mind it is only in turning from his design to his verse that we are forced to recognise the imperfect balance of his faculties nor could we rightly understand the strange of his poetical powers without constant reference to this activity of the artistic sense for there is a large portion of s verse which is not at all with the suspicion of insanity and it seems at first the english poets sight almost inexplicable that a writer who has produced some of the simplest and sweetest in the language should also have left behind him a confused mass of writings such as no man can hope to all that can be done for these so called prophetic books has been accomplished by mr in his sympathetic study of the poet s but although mr rightly the power that is displayed in them his eloquent does not change the ordinary judgment of their confused and character the defects of such work are too grave for any kind of serious to be really possible and if had produced nothing more or nothing better his claims to rank among english poets could not be successfully maintained but these defects although they are in their nature are not altogether incapable of explanation for it cannot be questioned by any one who has seriously attempted to these prophetic writings that to himself the ordinary modes of intellectual expression had become charged with something of mysterious and special meaning words were no longer mere abstract they had assumed to his imagination the force of individual images as they passed into his work they lost the stamp of ordinary and became impressed with a device of his own vivid and eloquent to him but strange to all the world beside to s mind in short these prophetic writings doubtless formed a series of distinct and pictures but without the key that he alone possessed they must ever remain a chaos through which not even the most wary guide can hope to find a path putting aside the prophetic books the quantity of verse which has left behind him is by no means large his poems have been collected in a small volume by mr w m and the contents of this volume are found to be mainly derived from the poetical sketches and the songs of innocence experience it is to these essays of his youth and early manhood that we must look for the true sources of his fame the poetical sketches begun when the author was only twelve years of age and finished when he was no more than twenty must assuredly be reckoned among the most extraordinary examples of youthful production and it is profoundly characteristic of the man and his particular cast of mind that many of these boyish poems are among the best that at any time produced for his was a nature that owed little to development or experience the perfect william innocence of his spirit as it kept him safe from the taint of the world also rendered him incapable of receiving that of sympathy and deepening of emotion which others differently constituted may gain from contact with actual life his imagination was not of the kind that could deal with the complex problems of human passion he retained to the end | 45 |
of his days the happy ignorance as well as the freshness of childhood and it is therefore perhaps less wonderful in his case than it would be in the case of a poet of richer and more varied humanity that he should be able to display at once and in early youth the full measure of his powers but this acknowledgment of the inherent of s poetic gift leads us by a natural process to a clearer recognition of its great qualities his from the ordinary currents of practical thought left to his mind an and delightful simplicity which has perhaps never been matched in english poetry the beauty of his poems is entirely free from the awkward of wisdom that it is always unconscious and always and even the simplicity of a poet like must often seem by comparison to be tinged with a spirit s verse has indeed both as regards intellectual invention and skill a kind of charm that forces comparison with the things of life where he is successful his work has the fresh perfume and perfect grace of a flower and at all times there is the air of careless growth that belongs to the shapes of outward nature and yet this quality of simplicity is constantly associated with an unusual power of rendering the most subtle effects of beauty in the actual processes of his art could command the utmost refinement and delicacy of style he possessed in a rare degree the secret by which the loveliness of a scene can be arrested and in a line of verse and he often a choice of language and the finest sense of poetic melody we have said already that he worked in absolute independence of the accepted models of his time this is strictly true but it would be absurd therefore to assume that he without any models at all s if we look to the character of the man is indeed less extraordinary than it would otherwise appear he did not mingle in the concerns of life in such a way as to expose him to the dangers of being swayed by the of fashion his was a world of his own creating and to his vivid oo the english poets imagination the poets of an earlier generation would seem as near as the of his own day that he should have chosen from the past those models whose example was most needed in order to a new life into english poetry proves of course the justice of his poetic instinct in fixing upon the great writers of the age he anticipated as we have already observed the taste of a succeeding generation and it is only to be regretted that he did not absolutely confine himself to these nobler models of style unfortunately however his own intellectual tendency towards found only too ready encouragement in the prophetic of the verse and we may fairly trace a part at least of s manner to this source j william oi from to the evening star thou fair haired angel of the evening now whilst the sun rests on the mountains light thy bright torch of love thy radiant crown put on and smile upon our evening bed smile on our loves and while thou the blue curtains of the sky scatter thy silver dew on every flower that its sweet eyes in sleep let thy west wind sleep on the lake speak silence with thy glimmering eyes and wash the dusk with silver soon full soon dost thou withdraw then the wolf wide and the lion through the forest the of our flocks are covered with thy sacred dew protect them with thine influence i song how sweet i from field to field and tasted all the summer s pride till i the prince of love beheld who in the sunny beams did glide he showed me lilies for my hair and blushing roses for my brow and led me through his gardens fair where all his golden pleasures grow with sweet may my wings were wet and fired my rage he caught me in his silken net and shut me in his golden cage he loves to sit and hear me sing then laughing sports and plays with me then stretches out my golden wing and my loss of liberty the english poets song my and fine array my smiles and air by love are driven away and mournful lean despair brings me to deck my grave such end true lovers have his face is fair as heaven when springing oh why to him was t given whose heart is wintry cold his breast is love s all worshipped tomb where all love s come bring me an axe and bring me a winding sheet when i my grave have made let winds and tempest beat then down lie as cold as clay true love doth pass song memory hither come and tune your merry notes and while upon the wind your music i ll pore upon the stream where sighing lovers dream and fish for fancies as they pass within the watery glass william i drink of the clear stream and hear the s song and there i lie and dream the day along and when night comes i go to places fit for woe walking along the darkened with silent melancholy mad song the wild winds weep and the night is a cold come hither sleep and my but lo the morning over the eastern and the rustling beds of dawn the earth do scorn lo to the vault of d heaven with sorrow my notes are driven they strike the ear of night make weak the eyes of day they make mad the roaring winds and with play like a in a cloud with howling woe after night i do crowd and with night will go i turn my back to the east from whence comforts have increased for | 45 |
so soon a changed man he ll never many several girls have been mentioned in connection with his name i am sorry for oh but you needn t be they are matched she s only one more she s one more and more still she has regularly caught him she is a bom player of the game of hearts and she knew how to beat him in his own if there is one woman in the town who has any chance of holding her own and marrying him she is that woman this was true as it turned out by natural had from the first entered heart and soul into military romance as exhibited in the plots and characters of those living of it who came under her notice from her earliest young womanhood however promising had no chance of winning her interest if the meanest warrior were within the horizon it may be that the position of her uncle s house which was her home at the comer of west street nearest the the daily passing of the troops the constant blowing of trumpet calls a from the windows coupled with the fact that she knew nothing of the inner realities of military life and hence it had also helped her mind s original bias for thinking men at arms the only ones worthy of a woman s heart captain was a typical prize one whom all maidens had ached for for wept for had by her judicious management become subdued to her purpose and in addition to the of marrying the man she loved had the joy of feeling herself hated by the mothers of au the girls of the neighbourhood the man in the went to the wedding not as a guest for at this time he was but slightly acquainted with the parties but mainly because the church was a changed man dose to his house partly too for a reason which moved many others to be spectators of the ceremony a that though the couple might be happy in their experiences there was sufficient possibility of their being otherwise to colour the of an with a pleasing pathos of conjecture he could on occasion do a pretty stroke of in those days and he the tune of waiting by on a blank page of his prayer book a few lines which though kept private then may be given here at a hasty wedding u hours be the twain are for now they solace swift desire by ties that zest if hours be years the twain are do eastern slope never west nor pallid ashes follow fire if hours be years the twain are for now they solace swift desire as if however to all the couple seemed to find in marriage the secret of the of a courtship which on s side at least had opened without serious intent during the winter following they were the most popular pair in and about nay in south itself no smart dinner in the country houses of the younger and families within driving distance of the was complete without their lively presence mrs was the of the whirling figures at the county ball and when followed that inevitable incident of garrison town life an amateur dramatic entertainment it was just the same the acting was for the benefit of such and such an excellent charity nobody cared what provided the play were played and both captain and his wife were in the piece having been in fact by mutual consent the of the performance and so with a changed man laughter and and movement all merrily there was a little in the bill paying of the couple but in justice to them it must be added that sooner or later all were paid ill at the chapel of ease attended by the troops there arose above the edge of the pulpit one sunday an face this was the face of a new he placed upon the desk not the familiar sermon book but merely a bible the person who tells these things was not present at that service but he soon learnt that the young was nothing less than a great surprise to his congregation a mixed one always for though occupied the body of the building its and comers were crammed with whom up to the present even the least would have described as being attracted thither less by the services than by the now there arose a second reason for into an already church the and gentle eloquence of mr like a charm upon those accustomed only to the higher and of preaching and for a time the other churches of the town were of their at this point in the nineteenth century the sermon was the sole reason for amongst a vast body of religious people the was a formal preliminary which like the royal in a court of had to be got through before the real interest began and on home the question was simply who preached and how did he handle his subject even had an in the service proper nobody would have cared much about what was said or sung people who had formerly attended in the morning only began to go in the evening and even to the special addresses in the afternoon a changed man one day when captain entered his wife s drawing room filled with hired furniture she thought he was somebody else for he had not come upstairs humming the most catching air afloat in musical circles or in his usual careless way what s the matter jack she said without looking up from a note she was writing well not much that i know but there is she as she wrote why this new in a sheet i mean the new parson he wants us to stop the on sunday looked up aghast why it is the one thing | 45 |
cruel of him this is a summary of what was said when captain now the reverend john was enabled by circumstances to indulge his heart s desire of returning to the scene of his former exploits in the capacity of a minister of the gospel a low lying district of the town which at that date was crowded with was crying for a and mr generously offered himself as one willing to a changed man undertake labours that were certain to produce little result and no thanks credit or let the truth be told about him as a clergyman he proved to be anything but a brilliant success single minded deeply in earnest as all could see his delivery was his sermons were dull to listen to and alas too too long even the judges who sat by the hour in the bar parlour of the white an standing at the dividing line between the poor quarter and the fashionable quarter of s former triumphs and hence affording a position of strict agreed in substance with the young ladies to the westward though their views were somewhat more expressed surely god a mighty a good to make a bad pa son when he shifted cap n ma into a v the latter knew that such things were said but he pursued his daily labours in and out of the with serene it was about this time that the invalid in the became more than a mere bowing acquaintance of mrs s she had return to the town with her husband and was living with him in a little house in the centre of his circle of when by some means she became one of the d s visitors after a general conversation while sitting in his room with a friend of both an incident led up to the matter that still deeply in her soul her face was now paler and thinner than it had been even more attractive her disappointments having inscribed themselves as meek on a look that was once a little frivolous the two ladies had called to be allowed to use the windows for observing the departure of the who were leaving for much nearer to london the turned the comer of road into the top of high street headed by their band playing the girl i left behind me which was formerly al a changed man ways the tune for such times though it is now nearly they came and passed the where an or two looking up and discovering mrs saluted her whose eyes filled with tears as the notes of the band away before the little group had recovered from that sense of the romantic such spectacles impart mr came along the pavement he probably had his brethren in arms a farewell at the top of the for he walked from that direction in his rather clothes and with a basket on his arm which seemed to hold some s he had been making for his poorer unlike the soldiers he went along quite unconscious of his appearance or of the scene around the contrast was too much for with lips that now quivered she asked the invalid what he thought of the change that had come to her it was difficult to answer and with a that was too strong in her she repeated the question do you think she added that a woman s husband has a right to do such a thing even if he does feel a certain call to it her listener too largely with both of them to be anything but unsatisfactory in his reply gazed out of the window towards the thin dusty line of now towards the ridge i she said who should have been in their van on the way to london am doomed to in a hole on lane many events had passed and many had been current concerning her before the invalid saw her again after her leave taking that day v had known many military and civil many happy times and times less happy a changed man and now came the time of her the of had been laid on the suffering country and the low l ring of this ancient had more than their share of the lane in the quarter and in s parish was where the blow most heavily yet there was a certain mercy in its choice of a date for was the man for such an hour the spread of the was so rapid that the town and took lodgings in the villages and farms mr s house was close to the most street and he himself was mom noon and night in to stamp out the plague and in the sufferings of the victims so as a matter of ordinary precaution he decided to his wife somewhere away from him for a while she suggested a village by the sea near and lodgings were obtained for her at a spot divided from the valley by a high ridge that gave it quite another atmosphere though it lay no more than six miles off thither she went while she was in this place of safety and her husband was in the she struck up an acquaintance with a lieutenant in the st foot a mr who was stationed with his regiment at the as frequently sat on the beach watching each thin wave slide up to her and hearing without its at the pebbles in its retreat he often took a walk that way the acquaintance grew and her situation her history her beauty her age a year or two above his own all tended to make an impression on the young man s heart and a reckless was soon in progress upon that lonely shore it was said by her afterwards that she had chosen her lodgings to be near this gentleman but there is reason to believe that she | 45 |
here the linen was boiled and by the light of the discovered that her husband was standing by the copper and that it was he who the and its contents the night was so calm and that the conversation by the copper reached her ears are there many more loads to night there s the clothes o they that died this afternoon sir but that might bide till to morrow for you must be tired out we ll do it at once for i can t ask anybody else to undertake it that load on the grass and fetch the rest the man did so and went off with the paused for a moment to wipe his face and resumed his homely amid this and scene pressing down and stirring the contents of the copper with what looked like an old rolling pin the steam laden with death travelled in a low trail across the meadow spoke suddenly i won t go to night after all he is so tired and i must help him i didn t know things were so bad as this s arm dropped from her waist where it had been resting as they walked will you leave she asked i will if you say i must but i d rather help too there was no in his tone had gone forward jack she said i am come to help a changed man the weary and held up the lantern o what is it you he asked in surprise why did you come into this you had better go back the risk is great but i want to help you jack please let me help i didn t come by myself mr kept me company he will himself useful too if he s not gone on mr the young lieutenant came forward reluctantly mr spoke formally to him adding as he resumed his labour i thought the st foot had gone to we have but i have run down again for a few things the two began to assist placing on the ground the small bag containing s toilet articles that he had been carrying the man soon returned with another load and all continued work for nearly a half when a coachman came out from the shadows to the north beg pardon sir he whispered to but i ve waited so long on hill that at last i drove down to the and seeing the light here i ran on to find out what had happened lieutenant told him to wait a few minutes and the last load was got through mr stretched himself and breathed heavily saying there we can do no more as if from the of effort he seemed to be seized with violent pain he pressed his hands to his sides and bent forward ah i think it has got hold of me at last he said with difficulty i must try to get home let mr take you back he walked a few steps they helping him but was obliged to sink down on the grass i am afraid you ll have to send for a or or something he went on feebly or try to get me into the a changed man but had called to the driver of the fly and they waited until it was brought on from the hard by mr was placed therein entered with him and they drove to his humble residence near the cross where he was got upstairs stood outside by the empty fly awhile but did not he thereupon entered the fly and told the driver to take him back to vii mr had over exerted himself in the relief of the suffering poor and fell a victim one of the last to the which had carried off so many two days later he lay in his coffin was in the room below a servant brought in some letters and she glanced them over one was the note from herself to informing him that she was unable to endure life with him any longer and was about to with having read the letter she took it upstairs to where the dead man was and slipped it into his the next day she buried him she was now free she shut up his at cross and returned to her lodgings at soon she had a letter from and six weeks after her husband s death her lover came to see her i forgot to give you back this that night he said presently handing her the little bag she had taken as her whole luggage when leaving received it and shook it out there fell upon the carpet her brush comb slippers and other simple necessaries for a journey they had an ghastly look now and she tried to cover them i can now he said ask you to belong to me a changed man when a proper interval has gone instead of as we meant there was languor in his utterance at a possibility that it was made picked up her articles answering that he certainly could so ask her she was free yet not her expression either be called an ardent response then she more and more quickly and put her handkerchief to her face she was weeping violently he did not move or try to comfort her in any way what had come between them no living person they had been lovers there was now no material obstacle whatever to their union but there was the shadow of that one the thin figure of him moving to and fro in front of the ghastly furnace in the gloom of yet called upon when he was in the neighbourhood which was not often but in two years as if on purpose to further the marriage which everybody was expecting the st foot returned to thereupon the two | 45 |
not help each other at times but whether because the obstacle had been the source of the love or from a sense of error and because mrs bore a less attractive look as a widow than before their feelings seemed to decline from their former to a mere civility what domestic issues in s further story the man in the never knew but mrs lived and died a widow the waiting supper the waiting supper whoever had perceived the standing on squire s lawn in the dusk of that october evening fifty years ago might have said at first sight that he was there from idle curiosity for a large five light window of the house in front of him was and so that the illuminated room within could be almost to its four comers obviously nobody was ever expected to be in this part of the grounds after nightfall the apartment thus swept by an eye from without was occupied by two persons they were sitting over the having been removed in the way the fruits were local consisting of apples nuts and such other of the summer as might be presumed to grow on the estate there was strong ale and rum on the table and but little wine moreover the of the were simple and homely even for the date a household of the smaller gentry without much wealth or ambition formerly a numerous class but now in great part by the one of the two was a yoimg lady in white muslin who listened somewhat impatiently to the remarks of her companion an elderly personage whom the merest stranger could have pronounced to be her father the evinced no the waiting supper signs of moving and it became evident that affairs were not so simple as they first had seemed the tall farmer was in fact no accidental spectator and he stood by close to the trunk of a tree so that had any traveller passed along the road without the park gate or even the lawn to the door that person would scarce have noticed the other notwithstanding that the gate was quite near at hand and the park little larger than a there was still light enough in the western heaven to faintly one side of the man s face and to show against the trunk of the tree behind the admirable cut of his also to reveal that the front of the house small though it seemed was built of stone in that never to be surpassed style for the english country residence the and the lawn although neglected was still as level as a green which indeed it might once have served for and the blades of grass before the window were by the candle shine which stretched over them so far as to touch the s face in front within the dining room there were also with one of the twain the same signs of a hidden purpose that marked the farmer the yoimg lady s mind was as clearly into the shadows as that of the was fixed upon the room nay it could be said that she was quite conscious of his presence outside impatience caused her foot to beat silently on the carpet and she more than once rose to leave the table this proceeding was checked by her father who would put his hand upon her and press her down into her chair till he should have concluded his observations her replies were brief enough and there was in her smiles of assent to his views a small iron between two of the was open and some occasional words of the dialogue were audible without as for how can i put in the pipes don t cost much that s true but the labour in the waiting supper sinking the is and then the gates they should be hung to stone posts otherwise there s no keeping them up through harvest the squire s voice was strongly toned with the local accent so that he said and like the on his estate the landscape without grew darker and the young man s figure seemed to be absorbed into the trunk of the tree the small stars filled in between the larger the between the small stars the trees quite lost their voice and if there was still a sound it was from the of a stream which stretched along under the trees that bounded the lawn on its northern side at last the girl did get to her feet and secure her retreat i have something to do papa she said i shall not be in the drawing room just yet very well replied he then i won t hurry and closing the door behind her he drew his together and settled down in his chair three after that a woman s shape emerged from the drawing room window and passing through a wall door to the entrance front came across the grass she kept well clear of the dining room window but enough of its light fell on her to show escaping from the dark cloak that she wore stray of the same light dress which had but recently at the dinner table the hood was contracted tight about her face with a drawing string making her countenance small and baby like and even than before without hesitation she brushed across the grass to the tree which the man stood concealed the moment she had reached him he enclosed her form with his arm the meeting and embrace though by no means formal were yet not passionate the whole proceeding was that of persons who had repeated the act so often as to be unconscious of its performance she turned within his arm and faced in the waiting supper the same direction with himself which was towards the window and thus they stood without speaking the back of her head | 45 |
leaning against his for a while each seemed to be thinking his and her you have kept me waiting a long time dear he said at last i wanted to speak to you particularly or i should not have stayed how came you to be dining at this time o night father has been out all day and dinner was put back till six i know i have kept you but how can i help it sometimes if i am not to run any risk my poor father upon my listening to all he has to say since my brother left he has had nobody else to listen to him and to night he was tedious on his usual and and the village people i must take to london he gets so narrow always here and what did you say to it au well i took the part of the tenant farmers of course as the i of one should in duty do there followed a little break or gasp a sigh you are sorry you have encouraged that one o no what is it you want to see me for particularly i know you are sorry as time goes on and everything is at a dead lock with no prospect of change and your rural loses his freshness only this secret understanding between us has lasted near three year ever since you was a little over sixteen yes it has been a long time and i an man who has never seen london and knows nothing about society at all not dear if you will she said smiling well i did sigh but not because i regret being your the waiting supper promised one what i do sometimes regret is that the scheme which my meetings with you are but a part of has not been carried out completely you said that if i consented to swear to keep faith with you you would go away and travel and see nations and and cities and take a professor with you and study books and art simultaneously with your study of men and manners and then come back at the end of two years when i should find that my father would by no means be to accept you as a son in law you said your reason for wishing to get my promise before starting was that your mind would then be more at rest when you were far away and so could give itself more completely to knowledge than if you went as my lover only with anxiety as to how i should be when you came back i saw how reasonable that was and solemnly swore myself to you in consequence but instead of going to see the world you stay on and on here to see me and you don t want me to see you yes no it is not that it is that i have felt frightened at what i am doing when not in your actual presence it seems so wicked not to teu my father that i have a lover dose at hand within and view of both of us whereas if you were absent my conduct would not seem quite so treacherous the realities would not stare at one so you would be a pleasant dream to me which i should be free to indulge in without reproach of my conscience i should live in hopeful expectation of returning fully to boldly claim me of my father there i have been terribly frank i know he in his turn had into gloomy now i did plan it as you state he answered i did mean to go away the moment i had promise but dear i did not foresee two or three things i did not know what a lot of pain it would cost to tear myself from you and i d not the waiting supper know that my heaven forgive me calling him so would so refuse to advance me money for my purpose the scheme of travelling with a a formidable sum o money you have no idea what it would cost but i have said that i ll find the money ah there he returned you have hit a sore place to speak truly dear i would rather stay a hundred years than take your money but why men continually use the money of the women they marry yes but not till afterwards no man would like to touch your money at present and i should feel very mean if i were to do so in present circumstances that brings me to what i was going to propose but no upon the whole i will not propose it now ah i would expenses and you won t let me the money is my personal possession it comes to me from my late grandfather and not from my father at all he laughed and pressed her hand there are more reasons why i cannot tear myself away he added what would become of my uncle s farming six hundred acres in this parish and five hundred in the next a constant from one farm to the other he can t be in two places at once still that might be got over if it were not for the other matters besides dear i still should be a little uneasy even though i have your promise lest somebody should snap you up away from me ah you should have thought of that before otherwise i have committed myself for nothing i should have thought of it he answered gravely but i did not there lies my fault i admit it freely ah if you would only commit yourself a little more i might at least get over that but i won t ask you you have no idea how much you are to me still you could not argue so coolly if | 45 |
you had what property belongs to you i hate the very the waiting supper sound of it is you i care for i wish you t a in the world but what i could earn for you i don t altogether wish that she murmured i wish it because it would have made what i was going to propose much easier to do than it is now ind d i will not propose it although i came on purpose after what you have said in your frankness nonsense come tell me how can you be so look at this then dear he drew from his breast pocket a sheet of paper and unfolded it when it was that a seal from the bottom what is it she held the paper sideways so that what there was of window light fell on its surface i can only read the old english letters why our names surely it is not a marriage it is she trembled o how could you do this and without telling me why should i have thought i must tell you you had not spoken frankly then as you have now we have been all to each other more than these two years and i thought i would propose that we marry privately and that i then leave you on the instant i would have taken my travelling bag to church and you would have gone home alone i should not have started on my adventures in the brilliant manner of our original plan but should have it a little at first my great gain would have been that the absolute possession of you have enabled me to work with spirit and such as nothing else could do but i dare not ask you now so frank as you have been she did not answer the document he had produced gave such unexpected to the venture with which she had so long as a vague dream merely that she was in truth frightened a little i don t know about it she said the waiting supper perhaps not ah my little lady you are of me no responded she creeping closer i am not upon my word and truth and honour i am not a mere of the soil as i should be called he continued without her and you well a daughter of one of the i won t say oldest families because that s absurd all families are the same age one of the longest families about here whose name is actually the name of the place that s not much i am sorry to say my poor brother but i won t speak of that she murmured after a pause you certainly would not need to be if i were to do this that you want me to do you would have me safe enough in your trap then i couldn t get away that s just it he said vehemently it w a trap you feel it so and that though you wouldn t be able to get away from me you might particularly wish to ah if i had asked you two years ago you would have agreed instantly but i thought i was bound to wait for the proposal to come from you as the superior now you are angry and take seriously what i meant purely in fun you don t know me even yet to show you that you have not been mistaken in me i do propose to carry out this i ll marry you dear to morrow morning ah i am afraid i have you on to this so that i no no no she hastily rejoined and there was something in her tone which suggested that she had been put upon her and not take me whilst i am in the humour what church is the for that i ve not looked to see why our parish church here of course ah then we cannot use it we dare not be married here the waiting supper we do dare said she and we will too if you ll be there m be there r they speedily came to an agreement that he should be in the church porch at ten minutes to eight on the following morning awaiting her and that immediately after the conclusion of the service which would make them one should set out on his tour towards the cost of which she was to bring a substantial with her to church then slipping from him she went indoors by the way she had come and bent his steps ii instead of leaving the spot by the gate he flung himself over the fence and pursued a direction towards the river under the trees and it was now in his lonely progress that he showed for the first time outwardly that he was not altogether of her he wore long water boots reaching above his knees and instead of making a circuit to find a bridge by which he might cross the the river he made straight for the point whence proceeded the low roar that was at this hour the only evidence of the stream s existence he speedily stood on the verge of the which caused the noise and stepping into the water at the top of the fall through with the tread of one who knows every inch of his footing even though the of trees rendered the darkness almost absolute and a false step would have him into the pool beneath soon reaching the of the he continued in the same direct line to the valley of and to the main stream in former times quite and in winter now some the waiting supper times he would cross a deep on a plank not wider than the hand at another time he his way through beds of | 45 |
spear grass where at a few feet to the right or left he might have been sucked down into a at last he reached firm land on the other side of this watery tract and came to his house on the rise behind an ordinary from the back of which rose indistinct and the rattle of and other familiar features of an s home while long was packing his bag in an upper room of this dwelling miss sat at a desk in her own chamber at looking with pale fixed countenance at the candles i ought i now she whispered to herself i should not have begun it if i had not meant to carry it it in the blood of us i suppose she alluded to a fact unknown to her lover the marriage of an aunt under circumstances somewhat similar to the present in a few minutes she had the following note october dear mr can you make it convenient to yourself to meet me at the church to morrow morning at eight i name the early hour because it would suit me better than later on in the day you wiu find me in the if you can come an answer yes or no by the bearer of this will be sufficient she sent the note to the immediately waiting at a small side door of the house till she heard the servant s footsteps returning along the lane when she went round and met him in the passage the had taken the trouble to write a line and answered that he would meet her with pleasure a dripping fog which ushered in the next morning was highly favorable to the scheme of the pair at the waiting supper that time of the century house had not been altered and enlarged the public lane passed dose its walls and was a door opening directly from one of the old the south parlour as it was called into the lane which led to the village came out this way and after following the lane for a short distance entered upon a path within a belt of plantation by which the could be reached privately she even avoided the churchyard gate walking along to a place where the turf without the low wall rose into a mound her to ui on the and spring down inside she crossed the wet graves and so glided to the door he was there with his bag in his hand he kissed her with a sort of surprise as if he had expected that at the last moment her heart would fail her though it had not failed her there was nevertheless no great in s bearing merely the of an impulse they went up the aisle together the bottle green glass of the old lead admitting but little light at that hour and under such an atmosphere they stood by the in silence s skirt visibly quivering at each beat of her heart presently a quick step ground upon the gravel and mr came round by the front he was a quiet bachelor courteous towards and not at first in a neighbouring for he lived in the next parish advanced to her without revealing any surprise at her unusual request but in truth he was surprised the keen interest taken by many women at the present day in church and being then unknown good morning he said and repeated the same words to more mechanically good morning she replied gravely mr i have a serious reason for asking you to meet me us i may say we wish you to marry us the waiting supper the s gaze hardened to rather between than upon either of them and he neither moved nor replied for some time ah r he said at last and we are quite ready i had no idea it has been kept rather private she said calmly where are your witnesses they are outside in the meadow sir i can call them in a moment said oh i see it is mr long said mr and turning again to does father know of this is it necessary that i should answer that question mr i am afraid it is highly necessary began to look concerned where is the the asked since there have been no produced it mr read it an operation which occupied him several minutes or at least he made it appear so till said impatiently we are quite ready mr will you proceed mr long has to take a journey of a great many miles to day and you no i remain mr assumed firmness there is something wrong in this he said i cannot marry you without your father s presence but have you a right to refuse us interposed i believe we are in a position to demand your fulfilment of our request no you are not is miss of age i think not i think she is months from being so eh miss am i bound to tell that certainly at any rate you are to write it meanwhile i refuse to the service and let the waiting supper me entreat you two young people to do nothing so rash as this even if by going to some strange church you may do so without discovery the tragedy of marriage tragedy certainly it is full of and and ends with the death of one of the actors the tragedy of marriage as i was saying is one i shall not be a party to your beginning with such light hearts and i shall feel bound to put your father on his guard miss think better of it i entreat you remember the proverb marry in haste and repent at leisure by opposition almost at him implored but nothing would turn that obstinate she sat down and reflected by she confronted | 45 |
mr our marriage is not to be this morning i see she said now grant me one favour and in return i ll promise you to do nothing do not tell my father a word of what has happened here i agree if you undertake not to she looked at and he looked at her do you wish me to she asked no he said so the compact was and they left the church singly remaining till the last and closing the door on his way home carrying the well packed bag which was just now to go no further the two men who were mending water in the meadows approached the hedge as if they had been on the alert all the time you said you mid want us for sir a right never mind he answered through the hedge i did not require you after all ill at a not far away there lived a queer and primitive couple who had lately been blessed with a son the waiting supper and heir the took place during the week under notice and this had been followed by a feast to the s father one of the same generation and kind had been asked to drive over and assist in the entertainment and as a matter of course accompanied him when they reached as the house was called they foimd the usually quiet nook a lively spectacle tables had been spread in the apartment which lent its name to the whole building the hall proper covered with a fine open roof whose and made a brown thicket of oak overhead here of all ages sat with their wives and families and the servants were assisted in their by the sons and daughters of the owner s friends and neighbours lent a hand among the rest she was holding a plate in each hand towards a huge brown of baked rice from which a footman was a large when a voice reached her ear over her shoulder allow me to hold them for you turned and recognized in the speaker the nephew of the a yoimg man from london whom she had already met on two or three occasions she accepted the proffered help and from that moment whenever he passed her in their to and fro during the remainder of the serving he smiled acquaintance when their work was done he improved the few words into a conversation he plainly had been attracted by her was a self assured young man not particularly good looking with more colour in his skin than even had he had flushed a little in her notice though the flush had nothing of in it the air with which it was accompanied making it curiously suggestive of a flush of anger and even when he laughed it was difficult to banish that fancy the waiting supper the late autumn sunlight streamed in through the window panes upon the heads and shoulders of the venerable of the hamlet and upon the middle aged and upon the young upon men and women who had played out or were to play or in that nook of civilization not less great essentially than those which on more central fix the attention of the world one of the party was a cousin of long s who sat with her husband and children to make himself as harmonious as possible mr remarked to his companion on the scene it does one s heart good he said to see these simple enjoying themselves mr don t be too sure about that word simple you little think what they see and their and emotions are as complicated as ours she spoke with a vehemence which would have been hardly present in her words but for her own relation to the sense of that produced in her a nameless depression the man however still followed her up i am glad to hear you say it he returned warmly i was myself to your mood as i thought the real truth is that i know more of the and and in almost of any people indeed than of the english and are my profession not the study of the british travel there was between his declaration and the course she had urged upon her lover to lend s account of himself a certain interest in s ears he might perhaps be able to her something that be useful to if their dream were carried out a door opened from the hall into the garden and she outside with mr the waiting supper on this topic till she thought that upon the whole she liked the man the garden being his uncle s he took her it with an air of and they went on among the and and through a door to the fruit garden a was open and he went in and cut her a of grapes how daring of you they are your uncle s he don t mind i do anything here a rough old isn t he she was thinking of her and that by comparison with her present acquaintance the farmer more than held his own as a fine and intelligent fellow but the harmony with her own existence in little things which she found here imparted an alien tinge to just now the latter by moonlight or a thousand miles of distance was altogether a more romantic object for a woman s dream than this smart new man but in the of afternoon and amid a surrounding company mr was a very tolerable companion when he re entered the hall entreated her to come with him up a stair in the thickness of the wall leading to a passage and gallery whence they could look down upon the scene below the people had finished their feast the newly baby had been exhibited and a few words having been spoken to them | 45 |
have you thought it over what whether we shall try again you remember saying you would at the dance oh i had forgotten that you are sorry we tried at all he said i am not so sorry for the fact as for the she said ah they say we are already married who i cannot tell exactly i heard some whispering to that effect somebody in the village told one of the servants i believe man said that he was crossing the churchyard early on that unfortunate morning and heard voices in the and peeped through the window as well as the dim panes would let him and there he saw you and me and mr and so on but thinking his would be dangerous knowledge he hastened on and so the story got afloat then your aunt too good lord what has she done the story was told her and she said proudly o yes it is true enough i have seen the but it is not to be known yet seen the how the accidentally i believe when your coat was hanging somewhere the information coupled with the word proudly caused to flush with mortification the waiting supper he knew that it was in his aunt s nature to make a of that sort but worse than the was the fact that this was the first occasion on which had to show her consciousness that such a marriage would be a source of pride to his relatives the only two he had in the world you are sorry then even to be thought my wife much less to be it he dropped her hand which fell it is not sorry exactly dear but i feel uncomfortable and vexed that after up my courage my fidelity to the point of going to church you have so managed the matter that it has ended in neither one thing nor the other how can i meet acquaintances when i don t know what they are thinking of me then dear let us mend the i ll go away for a few days and get another and you can come to me she shrank from this i cannot myself up to it a second time she said i am sure i cannot besides i promised mr and yet how can i continue to see you after such a rumour we shall be watched now for certain then don t see me i fear i must not for the present altogether what i am very depressed these views were not very inspiring to as he them it may indeed have been possible that he them and should have insisted upon her making the rumour true unfortunately too he had come to her in a hurry through and water and weed and the shaggy which hung about his appearance at this fine and correct time of day lent an to the look of him you blame me you repent your courses you repent that you ever ever owned anything to me so the waiting supper no i do not repent that she returned gently though with firmness but i think that you ought not to have got that without asking me first and i also think that you ought to have known how it would be if you lived on here in your present position and made no effort to better it i can bear whatever comes for social ruin is not personal ruin or even personal disgrace but as a sensible poet says whom i have been reading this morning the world and its wa have a certain worth and to press a point while these oppose were simple better wait as soon as you had got my promise you should have gone away yes and made a name and come back to claim me that was my silly girlish dream about my hero perhaps i can do as much yet and would you have indeed liked better to live away from me for family reasons than to run a risk in seeing me for affection s sake o what a cold heart it has grown if i had been a prince and you a i d have stood by you in the face of the world she shook her head ah you don t know what society is you don t know perhaps not who was that strange gentleman of about seven and twenty i saw at mr s feast oh that was his nephew james now he is a man who has seen an unusual extent of the world for his age he is a great traveller you know indeed in fact an he is very no doubt received no shock of jealousy from her announcement he knew her so well that he could see she was not in the least in love with but he asked if were going to continue his the waiting supper not if he settles in life otherwise he will i suppose perhaps i could be a great too if i tried you could i am sure they sat apart and not together each looking afar at vague objects and not in each other s eyes thus the sad autumn afternoon while the of the of the very this from the time when they had first met there the nook was most picturesque but it looked common and stupid now their sentiment had set a colour hardly less visible than a material one on surrounding objects as sentiment must where life is but thought was as devoted as ever to the fair but unhappily he too had moods and and the division between them was not closed she had no sooner got indoors and sat down to her work table than her father entered the drawing room she handed him his newspaper he took it without a word went and stood on the and | 45 |
as he could arriving thus in a great hurry on account of the of the hour he still retained the wild appearance which had marked him when he came up from the meadows to her side an exceptional condition of things which had scarcely ever before occurred when she crossed the pavement from the shop door the bowing and her to the carriage chanced to be standing at the road office talking to the master of the there were a good many people about and those near paused and looked at the waiting supper her in the full stroke of the level october sun which went under the of their hats and pierced through their button holes from the group she heard murmured the words mrs long the unexpected remark not without distinct satire in its tone took her so greatly by surprise that she was confounded was by this time nearer though coming against the sim he had not yet her influenced by her father s lecture she felt angry with him for being there and causing this her notice of him was therefore slight perhaps over and her vexation at his presence showed distinctly in her face as she sat down in her seat instead of catching his waiting eye she positively turned her head away a moment after she was sorry she had treated him so but he was gone reaching home she found on her dressing table a note from her father the statement was brief i have considered and am of the same opinion you must marry him he can leave home at once and travel as proposed i have written to him to this effect i don t want any so don t wait dinner for me was the wrong kind of to be blind to his s mortification though he did not know its entire cause he had lately foreseen something of this sort as possible it serves me right he thought as he trotted homeward it was absurd wicked of me to lead her on so the sacrifice have been too great too cruel and yet though he thus took her part he flushed with indignation every time he said to himself she is ashamed of me on the ridge which overlooked he met a neighbour of his a stock dealer in his and they drew rein and exchanged a few words a part of the dealer s conversation had much meaning for s the waiting supper ive had occasion to call on the former said but he t see me on account of being quite knocked up at some bad news he has heard rode on past to farm pondering he had new and startling matter for thought as soon as he got there the squire s note had arrived at first he could not credit its import then he saw took in the tone of the letter saw the writer s contempt behind the words and understood that the letter was written as by a man hemmed into a comer was hurled at his head he was accepted because he was so despised and yet with what respect he had treated her and hers now he was reminded of what an agricultural friend had said years ago seeing the eyes of fixed on as on an angel when she passed better a little fire to warm ee than a great one to bum ee no good can come of throwing your heart there he went into the sat down and asked himself four questions how could she live near her acquaintance as his wife even in his absence without suffering from the of their contempt would not this total between and her family also and her own consequent misery must not such her affection for him supposing that her father them out as and sent them off to america was not the effect of such exile upon one of her gentle likely to be as the last in short whatever they should in together would be cruelty to her and his death would be a relief it indeed in one aspect be a relief to her now if she were so ashamed of him as she had appeared to be that day were he dead this little episode with him would fade away like a dream the waiting supper mr was a good hearted man at bottom but to take his em aged offer seriously was impossible obviously it was hotly made in his first bitterness at what he had heard the least thing that he could do would be to go away and never trouble her more to travel and learn and come back in two years as out in their first sanguine scheme required a heart on her side if the necessary expenditure of time and money were to be afterwards justified and it were folly to calculate on that when he had seen to day that her heart was failing her already to travel and disappear and not be heard of for many years would be a far more independent stroke and it would leave her entirely perhaps he might rival in this kind the accomplished mr of whose he had heard so much he sat and sat and the fog rose out of the river him like a first his feet and knees then his arms and body and finally his head when he had come to a decision he went up again into the he would be independent if he died for it and he would free exile was the only e the first step was to inform his of his determination two days later was on the same spot in the at almost the same hour of eve but there was no fog now a wind had the still golden days and misty nights and he was going full of purpose in the opposite direction when he | 45 |
had last entered the he was an of the valley in forty eight hours he had severed himself from that spot as completely as if he had never belonged to it all that to him in the valley now was by the in his hand in making his preparations for departure he had unconsciously held a faint foolish hope that she would communicate with him and make up their the waiting supper ment in some soft womanly way but she had given no signal and it was too evident to him that her latest mood had grown to be her fixed one proving how well founded had been his impulse to set her free he entered the found his way in the dark to the garden door of the house slipped it a note to tell her of his departure and explaining its true reason to be a consciousness of her growing feeling that he was an and a humiliation of the direction of his journey and of the date of his return he said nothing his course now took him into the high road which he pursued for some miles in a north direction still spinning the thread of sad and asking himself why he should ever return at daybreak he stood on the hill above and awaited a coach which passed about this time along that highway towards and london vi some fifteen years after the date of the foregoing incidents a man who had dwelt in far countries and viewed many cities arrived at town a roadside hamlet on the old western road not five miles from and put up at the buck s head an isolated inn at that spot he was still barely of middle age but it could be seen that a haze of grey was settling upon the locks of his hair and that his face had lost colour and curve as if by exposure to and strange or from he seemed to observe little him by reason of the intrusion of his upon the scene in truth long was just now the creature of old hopes and fears consequent upon his arrival this man who once had not cared if his name were blotted out from that district the evening light showed wistful lines which he could the waiting supper not smooth away by the s of that he had learnt to fling over his face the buck s head was a somewhat unusual place for a man of this sort to choose as a house of in preference to some inn four further on before he left home it had been a lively old tavern at which high and and had changed horses on their stages up and down the but now the house was rather and chilly the stable roofs were hollow backed the landlord was and the gone he arrived in the afternoon and when he had sent back the fly and was having a meal he put a question to the waiting maid with a mien of squire of has been dead some years i believe she replied in the affirmative and are any of the family left there still o no bless you sir they sold the place years ago squire s son did and went away i ve never heard where they went to they came quite to nothing never heard anything of the young lady the squire s daughter no you see twas before i came to these parts when the left the room pushed aside his plate and gazed out of the window he was not going over into the valley altogether on s account but she had greatly animated his motive in coming that way anyhow he would push on there now that he was so near and not ask questions here where he was liable to be informed the he had not ventured to make whether had married before the family went away he had because of an absurd dread of hopeful that the had left their old home was bad enough intelligence for one day the waiting supper rising from the table he put on his hat and went out ascending towards the which divided this district from his native the first familiar feature that met his eye was a little spot on the distant sky a of trees standing on a which surmounted a yet more remote a point where in his childhood he had believed people could stand and see america he reached the future verge of the on which he had entered ah there was the valley a grey stretch of colour still looking placid and serene as though it had not much missed him if was no longer there why should he pause over it this evening his uncle and aunt were dead and to morrow would be soon enough to inquire for relatives thus to go further he turned to his way to the inn in the backward path he now perceived the figure of a woman who had been walking at a distance behind him and as she drew nearer he began to be startled surely despite the variations introduced into that figure by changing years its ground lines were those of had been sentimental enough to write to immediately on landing at a day or two before this addressing his letter at a venture to the old house and merely telling her that he planned to reach the town inn on the present afternoon the news of the scattering of the had dissipated his hope of hearing of her but here she was so they met there alone on the open down by a pond just as if the meeting had been carefully arranged she threw up her veil she was still beautiful though the years had touched her a little more much more homely or was it only that he was much | 45 |
with him the the waiting supper position in which she was placed would he call upon her on sunday afternoon when she was sure to be alone she wrote on what a you are i expected to find my old still but i was quite awed in the presence of such a citizen of the world did i seem rusty and ah you seemed so once to me tender words the old was in them she said sunday afternoon and it was now only saturday morning he wished she had said to day that short revival of her image had to sudden heat feelings that had almost been whatever she might have to explain as to her position and it was awkwardly no doubt he could not give her up miss or mrs what mattered it she was the same he did not go outside the inn all saturday he had no wish to see or do anything but to wait the coming interview so he smoked and read the local newspaper of the previous week and himself in the chimney comer in the evening he felt that he could remain indoors no longer and the moon being near the full he started from the inn on foot in the same direction as that of yesterday with the view of contemplating the old village and its and hovering round her house under the of night with a stout stick in his hand he climbed over the five miles of in a comparatively short space of time had seen many strange lands and trodden many strange ways since he last walked that path but as he he seemed wonderfully like his old self and had not the slightest difficulty in finding the way in descending to the the streams perplexed him a little some of the old having been removed but he ultimately got across the larger water courses and pushed on to the village avoiding her residence for the moment lest s the waiting supper she should him and think he had not respected the time of her appointment he found his way to the churchyard and first ascertained where lay the two relations he had left alive at his departure then he observed the of other inhabitants with whom he had been well acquainted till by degrees he seemed to be in the society of all the elder population as he had known the place side by side as they had lived in his day here were they now they had moved house in mass but no tomb of mr was visible though as he had lived at the house it would have been natural to find it here in truth was more anxious to discover that than anything being curious to know how long he had been dead seeing from the glimmer of a light in the church that somebody was there cleaning for sunday he entered and looked upon the walls as well as he could but there was no monument to her husband though one had been erected to the squire addressed the young man who was sweeping i don t see any or tomb to the late mr o no sir you won t see that said the young man why pray because he s not buried here he s not anywhere as far as we know in short perhaps he s not buried at all and between ourselves perhaps he s alive sank an inch shorter ah he answered then you don t know the peculiar sir i am a stranger here as to late years mr was a traveller an it was his calling you may have heard his name as such i remember recalled the fact that this the waiting supper very bent of mr s was the to his own well when he married he came and lived here with his wife and his wife s father and said he would travel no more but after a time he got weary of quiet here and weary of her he was not a good husband to the young lady by any means and he himself again to his old trick of with her money away he went quite out of the realm of human foot into the of asia and never was heard of more he was murdered it is said but nobody knows though as that was nine years ago he s dead enough in principle if not in his widow lives quite for between her husband and her brother she s left in very lean age went back to the buck s head without hovering round her dwelling this then was the explanation which she had wanted to make not dead but missing how could he have expected that the first fair promise of happiness held out to him would remain she had said that she was free and she was free no doubt moreover from her tone and manner he felt himself justified in concluding that she would be willing to run the risk of a with him in the of her husband s existence even if that husband lived his return was not a event to judge from his character a man who could spend her money on his own personal adventures would not be anxious to b her poverty after such a lapse of time well the prospect was not so as it had seemed but could he even now give up vii two months more brought the year nearly to a close and found long tenant of a spacious house in the market town nearest to a man the waiting supper of means genial character and a bachelor he was an object of great interest to his neighbours and to his neighbours wives and daughters but he took uttle note of this and had made it his business to go twice a week no matter | 45 |
what the weather to the now at a wing of which had been retained as the refuge of he always walked to give no trouble in putting up a horse to a housekeeper whose staff was limited the two had put their heads together on the situation had gone to a had balanced possibilities and had resolved to make the plunge of matrimony nothing venture nothing have had said with some of her old audacity with almost honesty they had let their intentions be widely known it is true had rather shrunk from at first but argued that their boldness in this respect have good results with his friends he held tiiat there was not the slightest probability of her being other than a widow and a challenge to the missing man now followed by no response would any unpleasant remarks which might be thrown at her after their union to this end a paragraph was inserted in the papers announcing that their marriage was proposed to be celebrated on such and such a day in december his walks along the south side of the valley to visit her were among the happiest experiences of life the yellow leaves falling around him in the the well watered on the left hand and the woman he loved awaiting him at the back of the scene promised a future of much serenity as far as human judgment could foresee on arriving he would sit with her in the parlour of the wing she retained her general sitting room where the only relics of her early were an old clock from the other end of the house and her own piano before it was quite dark they would stand hand in hand looking out of the window across the flat turf to the dark the waiting supper of trees which hid further view from their eyes do you wish you were still mistress here dear he once said not at all said she cheerfully i have a good enough room and a good enough fire and a good enough friend besides my latter days as mistress of the house were not happy ones and they spoilt the place for me it was a for my you do forgive me really you do the twenty third of december the eve of the wedding day had arrived at last in the train of such ones as these had arranged to visit her that day a little later than usual and see that was ready with her for the morrow s event and her removal to his house for he had begun to look after her domestic affairs and to as much as possible the duties of her housekeeping he was to come to an early supper which she had arranged to take the place of a wedding breakfast next day the latter not being in her present situation an hour or so after dark the wife of the farmer who lived in the other part of the house entered s parlour to lay the cloth what with getting the ham and the i up she said it will take me all my time before he s here if i begin this minute i ll lay the table myself said jumping up do you attend to the cooking thank you ma am and perhaps tis no matter seeing that it is the last night you ll have to do such work i knew this sort of life wouldn t last long for ee being bom to better things it has lasted rather long mrs wake and if he had not found me out it would have lasted all my days but he did find you out he did and i ll lay the cloth immediately mrs wake went back to the kitchen and b an to bustle about she greatly enjoyed preparing the waiting supper this table for and herself with her own hands she took artistic pleasure in each article to its position as if half an inch error were a point of high importance finally she placed the two candles where they were to stand and sat down by the fire mrs re entered and regarded the why not another candle or two ma am she said make it say four very well said and four candles were lighted really she added surveying them i have been now so long accustomed to little that they look quite extravagant ah you ll soon think nothing of forty in his grand new house shall i bring in supper directly he comes ma am no not for half an and mrs wake you and are busy in the kitchen i know so when he don t disturb yourselves i can let him in she was again left alone and as it still wanted some time to s appointment she stood by the fire looking at herself in the glass over the mantel raising a lock of her hair just above her temple she uncovered a small that had a history the terrible temper of her late husband those sudden moods of which had made even his friendly look like anger had once caused him to set that mark upon her with the of a ring he wore he declared that the whole thing was an accident she was a woman and kept her own opinion then turned her back to the glass and the table and the candles shining one at each comer like types of the four and thought they looked too assuming too confident she glanced up at the dock which stood also in this room there not being space enough for it in the passage it was nearly seven and she expected at half past she liked the company of this venerable article in her lonely life its and the waiting supper were a sort of conversation it now began to strike the hour at the end something slightly then | 45 |
without any warning the clock slow q ly inclined forward and fell at full length upon the floor the crash brought the farmer s wife into the room had well nigh sprung out of her shoes mrs wake s what had happened was answered by the evidence of her own eyes how did it she said i cannot say it was not firmly fixed i suppose dear me how sorry i am my dear father s and now i suppose it is ruined assisted by mrs wake she lifted the clock every inch of glass was of shattered but very little harm besides appeared to be done they propped it up temporarily though it would not go again had soon recovered her but she saw that mrs wake was gloomy what does it mean mrs wake she said is it ominous it is a sign of a violent death in the family don t talk of rt don t believe such things and don t mention it to mr long when he comes he s not in the family yet you o no it cannot refer to him said mrs wake some remote cousin perhaps observed no less willing to humour her than to get rid of a dread which the incident had caused in her own mind and supper is almost ready mrs wake in three quarters of an hour mrs wake left the room and sat on though it still wanted fifteen minutes to the at which had promised to be there she began to grow impatient after the accustomed the dead silence was oppressive but she had not to wait so long as she had expected steps were heard approaching the door and there was a knock the waiting supper was already there to open to it the entrance had no lamp but it was not dark out of doors she could see the outline of a man and cried cheerfully you are early it is very good of you i beg pardon it is not mr himself only a messenger with his bag and but he well be here soon the voice was not the voice of and the intelligence was strange i i don t mr she faintly replied yes ma am a gentleman a stranger to me gave me these things at station to bring on here and told me to say that mr had arrived there and is detained for half an hour but will be here in the e of the evening she sank into a chair the porter put a small battered on the floor the coat on a chair and looking into the room at the spread table said if you are disappointed ma am that your husband as i s pose he is is not come i can assure you he ll soon be here he s stopped to get a to my thinking seeing he wanted it what he said was that i co d tell you he had heard the news in ireland and would have come sooner his hand being forced but was crossing by the weather having took passage in a sailing vessel what news he meant he didn t say ah yes she faltered it was plain that the man knew nothing of her intended re mechanically rising and giving him a shilling she answered to his good night and he withdrew the beat of his footsteps in the distance she was alone but in what a solitude stood in the middle of the hall just as the man had left her in the gloomy silence of the stopped clock within the adjoining room till she aroused herself and turning to the and brought them to the light of the candles the waiting supper and examined them the bore painted upon it the j b in white letters the well of her husband she examined the in the was an empty spirit which she she recognized as the one e had filled many times for him when he was living at home with her she turned hither and thither until she heard another tread without and there came a second knocking at the door she did not respond to it and for it was he thinking that he was not heard by reason of a on to morrow s proceedings opened the door softly and came on to the door of her room which stood just as it had been left by the porter uttered a greeting cast his eye round the parlour which with its tall candles blazing fire snow white doth and prettily spread table formed a cheerful spectacle enough for a man who had been walking in the dark for an hour my bride almost at last he cried her with his arms instead of her figure became limp heavy her head fell back and he found that she had fainted it was al he thought she had had many little matters to attend to and but slight assistance he ought to have seen more to her affairs the of the event had her kissed her unconscious face more than once little thinking what news it was that had changed its aspect loth to call mrs wake he carried to a couch and laid her down this had the effect of her bent and whispered in her ear lie quiet dearest no hurry and dream dream dream of happy days it is only i you will soon be better he her by the hand no no no she said with a stare o how can this be the waiting supper was alarmed and perplexed but the disclosure was not long delayed when she had sat up and by degrees made the event known to him he stood as if ah is it so said he then becoming quite meek and why was he so cruel as to delay his | 45 |
return till now she the explanation her husband had given her through the messenger but her mechanical manner of telling it showed how much she doubted its truth it was too unlikely that his arrival at such a dramatic moment should not be a contrived surprise quite of a piece with his previous dealings towards her but perhaps it may be true and he may have become kind now not as he used to be she faltered yes perhaps he is an altered man we ll hope he is i suppose i ought not to have listened to my legal and assumed his death so anyhow i am roughly received back into the right way burst out bitterly o what too too honest fools we were to so court daylight upon our intention by putting that announcement in the papers why could we not have married privately and gone away so that he would never have known what had become of you even if he had returned he has done it to but i ll say no more of course we might fly now no no we might not said she hastily very well but this is hard to bear when i looked for good then evil came me and when i waited for light there came darkness so once said a sorely tried man in the land of and so say i now i wonder if he is almost here at this moment she told him she supposed was approaching by the path across the fields having sent on his which ke would not want walking the waiting supper and is this meal laid for him or for me it was laid for you and it will be eaten by him yes are you sure that he is come or have you been sleeping over the fire and dreaming it she pointed anew to the with the j b and to the coat beside it well good bye good bye curse that parson for not marrying us fifteen years ago t it is unnecessary to dwell further upon that parting there are scenes wherein the words spoken do not even to the level of the mental communion between the actors suffice it to say that part they did and quickly and more dead than alive went out of the house why had he ever come back during his absence he had not cared for as he cared now if he had been he might have felt to descend into e instead of keeping along their edge the was down there and he knew of quiet pools in that stream to which death would come easily but he was too old to put an end to himself for such a reason as love and another thought too kept him from seriously contemplating any desperate act his affection for her was strongly and in the event of her requiring a s support in future troubles there was none but left in the world to afford it so he walked on meanwhile had resigned herself to circumstances a resolve to continue worthy of her history and of her family lent her heroism and dignity she called mrs wake and explained to that worthy as much of what had occurred as she deemed necessary mrs wake was too amazed to reply she retreated slowly her parted till at the door she said with a dry mouth and the beautiful supper ma am serve it when he comes s the waiting supper when mr yes ma am i will she still stood gazing as if she could hardly take in the order that will do mrs wake i am much obliged to you for all your kindness and was left alone again and then she wept she sat down and waited that awful silence of the stopped dock began anew but she did not mind it now she was listening for a in a state of mental which almost took away from her the power of motion it seemed to her that the natural interval for her husband s journey thither must have expired but she was not and waited on mrs wake again came in you have not rung for supper he is not yet come mrs wake if you want to go to bed bring in the supper and set it on the table it will be nearly as good cold leave the door mrs wake did as was suggested made up the fire and went away shortly afterwards heard her retire to her chamber but still sat on and still her husband postponed his entry she aroused herself once or twice to the fire but was ignorant how the night was going her watch was upstairs and she did not make the effort to go up to consult it in her seat she continued and still the supper waited and still he did not come at length she was so nearly persuaded that the arrival of his things must have been a dream after all that she again went over to them felt them and examined them his they unquestionably were and their by the porter had been quite natural she sighed and sat down again presently she fell into a and when she again became conscious she found that the four candles had burnt into their and gone out the fire still a feeble shine did not take the trouble to get more candles but stirred the fire and sat on the waiting supper after a long period she a creaking of the chamber floor and stairs at the other end of the house and knew that the farmer s family were getting up by and by mrs wake entered the room candle in hand open the door in her morning manner obviously without any expectation of finding a person there lord a mercy what sitting here again ma am | 45 |
yes i am sitting here still you ve been there ever since last night yes then he s not come well he won t come at this time o morning said the farmer s wife do ee get on to bed ma am you must be to death it occurred to now that possibly her husband had thought better of himself upon her company within an hour of revealing his existence to her and had decided to pay a more formal visit next day she therefore adopted mrs wake s suggestion and retired viii had gone straight home neither speaking to nor seeing a soul from that hour a change seemed to come over him he had ever possessed a full share of self consciousness he had been readily had shown an unusual dread of being personally but now his sense of self as an individual provoking opinion appeared to leave him when therefore after a day or two of seclusion he came forth again and the few acquaintances he had formed in the town with him on what had happened and pitied his haggard looks he did not shrink from their regard as he would have done formerly but took their as it would have been accepted by a child the waiting supper it reached his ears that had not appeared on the evening of his arrival at any hotel in the town or or entered his wife s house at all that s a part of his cruelty thought and when two or three days had passed and still no came to him of having joined her he ventured to set out for was so shaken that she was obliged to receive him as she lay on a sofa beside the square table which was to have borne their evening feast she fixed her eyes wistfully upon him and smiled a sad smile he has not come said his breath he has not then sat beside her and they talked on general topics merely like old friends but they could not keep away the subject of their voices dropping as it forced its way in no less than knowing her husband s character inferred that having stopped her game as he would have it he was taking things leisurely and finding nothing very attractive in her limited mode of living was meaning to return to her only when he had nothing better to do the bolt which laid low their hopes had struck so recently that they could hardly look each other in the face when speaking that day but when a week or two had passed and all the horizon still remained as vacant of as before and she could talk of the event with calm why had he come to go again like this and then there set in a period of resigned during which so like so very like was day to day that to tell of one of them is to tell of all would arrive between three and four in the afternoon a faint his walk as he the waiting supper her door he knock she always reply in person having watched for him from the window then he would whisper he has not come he has not she say would enter then and she being ready they would walk into the together as far as to the spot which they had frequently made their place of appointment in their youthful days a plank bridge which had caused to be thrown over the stream during his residence with her in the house was now again removed and all was just the same as in s time when he had been accustomed to across on the edge of the and come up to her like a from the deep here on the which still lay in its old place they would now sit gazing at the descending of water with its never ending sarcastic hiss at their baffled attempts to make themselves one flesh returning to the house they would sit down together to tea after which and the chat that accompanied it he walked home by the declining this proceeding became as as an twice a week he came all through that winter all through the spring following through the summer through the autumn the next winter the next year and the next till an span of human life had passed by still years and years walked that way at this interval of three days from his house in the neighbouring town and in every instance the order of things was customary and still on his arrival the form of words went on he has not come he has not so they grew older the dim shape of that third one stood continually between them they could not it neither on the other hand could it ef the waiting supper part them they were in dose communion yet not lovers yet never growing cured of love by the time that the fifth year of s visiting had arrived on about the five occasion of his presence at her tea table he noticed that the process which had begun upon his own locks was also spreading to hers he told her so and they laughed yet she was in good health a condition of suspense which would have half killed a man had been by her without complaint and even with composure one day when these years of had seven they had strolled as usual as far as the whose faint roar formed a sort of calling voice sufficient in the circumstances to direct their pausing there he looked up at her face and said why should we not try again we are at liberty to do so now nothing venture nothing have but she not perhaps a little of idea was by this time the native daring of what he has done once he can do twice she said he is not | 45 |
dead and if we were to marry he would say we had forced his hand as he said before and duly some years after when was about fifty and fifty three a new trouble of a minor kind arrived he found an inconvenience in the distance between their two houses particularly in damp weather the years he had spent in trying abroad having sown the seeds of which made a journey on days even in a carriage he told her of this new difficulty as he did of if you could live nearer suggested she there was no house near but though not a was a man of means he obtained a small piece of ground on lease at the nearest spot to her home that it could be so obtained the waiting supper which was on the opposite brink of the this river forming the of the and here he built a cottage large enough for his wants this took time and when he got into it he found its situation a great comfort to him he was not more than five yards from her now and gained a new pleasure in feeling that all which greeted his ears in the day or in the night also fell upon hers the of a particular the voice of a neighbouring the whistle of a local breeze or the of the fall in the meadows whose rush was a material rendering of time s ceaseless over themselves wearing them away without them s missing husband was taking shape as a among the but he was still in as by herself and also in a degree by for a curious of the long lapse of time since his revelation of himself seemed to affect the pair there had been no passing events to serve as and the evening on which she had kept supper waiting for him still loomed out with startling in their in the pensive year of this their parallel march towards the common a came in a one day to s house and brought strange tidings the present owner of a non resident had been improving his property in sundry ways and one of these was by the stream which in the course of years had become choked with mud and weeds in its passage through the the process a of the when the river had been dry for this purpose the skeleton of a man had been among the piles supporting the edge of the fall every of his flesh and clothing had been eaten by fishes or to nothing by the water but the relics of a gold watch remained and on i the waiting supper the inside of the case was engraved the name of the maker of her s watch which she well remembered deeply agitated hastened down to the place and examined the remains attentively afterwards going across to and breaking the discovery to her she would not come to view the skeleton which lay extended on the grass not a finger or toe bone missing so neatly had the done their work conjecture was directed to the question how had got there and conjecture done could give an explanation it was supposed that on his way to call upon her he had taken a short cut through the with which he was naturally very familiar and coming to the fall under the trees had expected to find there the plank which during his of the premises with and her father he had placed there for crossing into the on the other side instead of across as had done before discovering its removal he had probably himself and was thus into the the piles beneath the descending current him between them like the of a and preventing the rising of his body over which the weeds grew such was the reasonable supposition concerning the discovery but proof was never to think said when the remains had been decently and he was again sitting with though not beside the to think how we visited him how we sat over him hours and hours gazing at him our fate when all the time he was hissing at us from the spot in an unknown tongue that we could marry if we chose she echoed the sentiment with a sigh i have strange fancies she said i suppose it must have been my husband who came back and not some other man the waiting supper felt that there was little doubt besides the skeleton he said yes if it could not have been another person s but no of course it was he you might have married me on the day we had fixed and there would have been no you would now have been seventeen years my wife and we might have had tall sons and daughters it might have been so she murmured well is it still better late than never the question was one which had become complicated by the increasing years of each their wills were somewhat now their hearts of tender enterprise by hope too long deferred having postponed the consideration of their course till a year after of each seemed less than formerly to take it up again is it worth while after so many years she said to him we are fairly happy as we are perhaps happier than we should be in any other relation seeing what old people we have grown the weight is gone from our lives the shadow no longer us then let us be td together as we are dearest in the days of our vanity and with mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come he fell in with these views of hers to some extent but occasionally he ventured to urge her to the case though he spoke not with the of his earlier years s s i she her sister i | 45 |
wander about the house in a mood of unutterable sadness for my dear sister has left home to day with my mother and i shall not see them again for several weeks they have accepted a long standing invitation to visit some old friends of ours the who live at for my mother thinking that it will be for the good of to see a little of france and paris but i don t quite like her going i fear she may lose some of that simplicity and gentleness which so her and have been nourished by the seclusion of our life here her solicitude about her pony before starting was quite touching and she made me promise to visit it and see that it came to no harm gone abroad and i left here it is the reverse of an ordinary situation for good or ill luck has mostly ordained that i should be the absent one mother will be quite tired out by the young enthusiasm of she will demand to be taken everywhere to paris continually of course to all the stock of history s to palaces and to kings and queens to and picture galleries and royal hunting forests my poor mother having gone over most of this ground many times before will perhaps not find the so as will her s self i wish i have gone with them i would not have minded having my legs walked oflf to please but this regret is i could not of course leave my father with not a soul in the house to attend to the calls of the or to pour out his tea july a letter from to day it is very strange that she tells me nothing which i expected her to tell only trivial details she seems dazzled by the brilliancy of paris which no doubt appears still more brilliant to her from the fact of her only being able to obtain occasional glimpses of it she would see that paris too has a side if you live there i was not aware that the knew so many people if as has said they went to reside at for reasons of economy they will not much in that direction while they make a practice of entertaining all the acquaintances who happen to be in their they do not confine their to english people either i wonder who this m de la is in whom says my mother is so much interested july another letter from i have learnt from this that m charles de la is only one of the many friends of the that though a frenchman by birth and now again temporarily at he has lived in england many many years that he is a landscape and marine painter and has exhibited at the and i think in london his style and subjects are considered somewhat peculiar in paris rather english than continental i have not as yet learnt his age or his condition married or single from the tone and nature of her remarks about him he sometimes seems to be a middle aged family man sometimes quite the reverse from his habits i should say the latter is the most likely he has travelled and seen a great deal she tells me and knows more about literature than she knows herself s letter from is a friend of ours and the of whom she now and mysteriously speaks the same personage as the m de la of her former letters he must be the same i think from his pursuits if so whence this sudden change of tone i have been lost in thought for at least a quarter of an hour since writing the preceding sentence suppose my dear sister is falling in love with this young man there is no longer any doubt about his age what a very awkward thing for her i do hope that my mother has an eye on these proceedings but then poor mother never sees the drift of anything she is in truth less of a mother to than i am if i were there how i would watch him and ascertain his designs i am of a stronger nature than how i have supported her in the past through her little troubles and great is she agitated at the presence of this to her new and strange feeling but i am assuming her to be desperately in love when i have no proof of anything of the kind he may be merely a casual friend of whom i shall hear no more july then he is a bachelor as i suspected if m de la ever he will etc so she writes they are getting into close quarters obviously also something to keep my hair smooth which m de la told me he had found useful for the tips of his moustache very related this and with how much of the intimacy between them that the remark but my mother what can she be doing does she know of this and if so why does she not allude to it in her letters to my father i have been to look at s pony in obedience to her request that i would not miss a day in seeing that she was well cared for anxious as was about this pony of hers before starting she now never s the poor animal once in her letters the image of her pet suffers from august j s forgetfulness of her pony has enough extended to me her sister it is ten days since she last wrote and but for a note from my mother i should not know if she were dead or alive ii news interesting and serious august a cloud of letters a letter from another from mother also one from each to my father the | 45 |
probability to which all the intelligence from my sister has pointed of late out to be a fact there is an engagement or almost an engagement between my dear and m de la to s sublime happiness and my mother s entire satisfaction as well as to that of the they and my mother seem to know all about the yoimg man which is more than i do though a little extended information about him considering that i am s elder sister would not have been amiss i half feel with my father who is much surprised and i am sure not altogether satisfied that he should not have been consulted at all before matters reached such a definite stage though he is too amiable to say so openly i don t quite say that a good thing should have been for the sake of our opinion if it is a good thing but the announcement comes very suddenly it must have been foreseen by my mother for some time that this was probable and might have told me more distinctly that m de la was her lover instead of alluding so mysteriously to him as only a friend of the and lately dropping his name altogether my father without exactly to him as a frenchman wishes he were of english or some other reasonable for one s son in s law but i tell him that the of races and are wearing down every day that patriotism is a sort of vice and that the character of the individual is all we need think about in this case i wonder if in the event of their marriage he will continue to live at or if he will come to england august a letter from answering by anticipation some of the she tells me that charles though he makes his present home is by no means bound by his profession to continue there that he will live just where she wishes provided it be not too far from some centre of thought art and civilization my mother and herself both think that the marriage should not take place till next year he and canal scenery every year she says so i suppose he is popular and that his income is sufficient to keep them in comfort if not i do not see why my father could not settle something more on them than he had intended and by a little what he had proposed for me whilst it was imagined that i should be the first to stand in need of such of engaging manner attractive appearance and virtuous character is the reply i receive from her in answer to my request for a personal description that is vague enough and i rather have had one definite fact of complexion voice deed or opinion but of e she has no eye now for material qualities she cannot see him as he is she sees him with glories such as never and never will to any man foreign english or to think that two years my junior and so as to be five years my junior in nature should be engaged to be married before me but that is what happens in families more often than we are apt to remember august interesting news to day charles she says has pleaded that their marriage may just as well s be this year as next and he seems to have nearly converted my mother to the same way of thinking i do not myself see any reason for delay beyond the standing one of my father having as yet had no opportunity of forming an opinion upon the man the time or anything however he takes his lot very quietly and they are coming home to talk the question over with us having decided not to make any positive arrangements for this change of state till she has seen me subject to my own and my father s approval she says they are inclined to settle the date of the wedding for november three months from the present time that it shall take place here in the village that i of e shall be and many other particulars she draws an picture of the probable effect upon the minds of the villagers of this romantic performance in the of our old church in which she is to be chief actor the foreign gentleman dropping down like a god from the skies picking her up and triumphantly carrying her off her only grief will be separation from me but this is to be by my going and staying with her for long months at a time simple is very sweet to me my dear sister but i cannot help feeling sad at the occasion of it in the nature of things it is obvious that i shall never be to you again what i hitherto have been your guide and most familiar friend m de la does certainly seem to be all that one could desire as protector to a sensitive fragile child like and for that i am thankful still i must remember that i see him as yet only through her eyes for her sake i am intensely anxious to meet him and him through and through and learn what the man is really made of who is to have such a treasure in his keeping the engagement has certainly been formed a little i quite agree with my father in that still good and happy marriages have been made in a hurry before now and mother seems well satisfied s august a terrible announcement came this morning and we are in deep trouble i have been quite unable to steady my thoughts on anything today till now half past eleven at night and i only attempt writing these notes because i am too restless to remain idle and there is nothing but | 45 |
waiting and waiting left for me to do mother has been taken ill at they were within a day or two of starting but all thought of leaving must now be postponed for she cannot possibly be moved in her present state i don t like the sound of at all in a woman of her full habit and and the have not exaggerated their accounts i am certain on the receipt of the letter my father instantly decided to go to her and i have been occupied all day in getting him off for as he on being absent several days there have been many matters for him to arrange before setting out the chief being to find some one who will do duty for him next a quest of no small at such short notice but at last poor old feeble mr has agreed to attempt it with mr the scripture reader to assist him in the lessons i fain would have gone with my father to escape the irksome anxiety of awaiting her but somebody had to stay and i could best be spared george has driven him to the station to meet the last train by which he will catch the midnight boat and reach some time in the morning he hates the sea and a night passage in particular i hope he will get there mi ap of any kind but i feel anxious for him stay at home as he is a nd unable to cope with any difficulty such an errand too the journey will be sad enough at best i almost think i ought to have been the one to go to her august i nearly fell asleep of of spirit last night over my writing my father must have reached paris by this time and now here comes a letter s later the letter was to express an earnest hope that my father had set out my poor mother is sinking they fear what will become of o how i wish i could see mother why could not both have gone later i get up from my chair and walk from window to window and then come and write a line i cannot even divine how poor s marriage is to be carried out if mother dies i pray that father may have got there in time to talk to her and receive some directions from her about and m de la a man whom neither my father nor i have seen i who might be useful in this emergency am doomed to stay here waiting in suspense august j a letter from my father containing the sad news that my mother s spirit has flown poor little is she was always more my mother s pet than i was it is some comfort to know that my father arrived in time to hear from her own her strongly expressed wish that s marriage should be as soon as possible m de la seems to have been a great favourite of my dear mother s and i suppose it now becomes almost a sacred duty of my father to accept him as a son in law without criticism iii her gloom a little september lo i have inserted nothing in my for more than a fortnight events have been altogether too sad for me to have the spirit to put them on paper and yet there comes a time when the act of one s trouble is recognized as a welcome method of dwelling upon it my dear mother has been brought home and buried here in the parish it was not so much her own wish that this should be done as my father s who particularly desired that she should lie in the family vault s beside his first wife i saw them side by side before the vault was closed two women beloved by one man as i stood and by my side i fell into a sort of dream and had an odd fancy that and i might be also beloved of one and lie like these together an impossibility of being sisters when i awoke from my reverie took my hand and said it was time to leave september the wedding is postponed is like a girl awakening in the middle of a experience and does not realize where she is or how she stands she walks about silently and i cannot tell her thoughts as i used to do it was her own doing to write to m de la and tell him that the wedding could not possibly take place this as originally planned there is something in this long if she is to marry him at all and yet i do not see how it could be avoided october i have had so much to occupy me in that i have been continually overlooking my her life was much nearer to my mother s than mine was she has never as i lived away from home long enough to become self dependent and hence in her first loss and all that it involved she drooped like a rain beaten lily but she is of a nature whose soon heal even though they may be deep and the supreme of her sorrow has already passed my father is of opinion that the wedding should not be delayed too long while at he made the acquaintance of m de la and though they had but a short and hurried communion with each other he was much impressed by m de la s disposition and conduct and is strongly in of his suit it is odd that s should influence in his favour all who come near him his portrait which dear has shown me him to be of a that partly for this s but there must be something more | 45 |
than mere appearance and it is probably some sort of or fascinating power the quality which prevented from describing him to me with any accuracy of detail at the same time i see from the photograph that his face and head are remarkably well formed and though the of his mouth are hidden by his moustache his arched brows show well the romantic disposition of a true lover and painter of nature i think that the owner of such a face as this must be tender and sympathetic and true october jo as my sister s grief for her mother becomes more and more her love for m de la begins to its former absorbing command of her she thinks of him incessantly and writes whole to him by way of letters her blank disappointment at his announcement of his inability to pay us a visit quite so soon as he had promised was quite tragic i too am disappointed for i wanted to see and estimate him but having arranged to go to holland to seize some effects for his pictures which are only to be obtained at this time of the autumn he is obliged to his journey this way which is now to be made early in the new year i think myself that he ought to have come at all sacrifices considering s recent loss the sad of what she was looking forward to and her single minded affection for him still who knows his professional success is important moreover she is cheerful and hopeful and the delay will soon be iv she the attractive stranger february i we have had such a dull life here all the winter that i have found nothing important enough to set down and broke oflf my journal accordingly i resume it now to make an entry on s the subject of dear s future it seems that she was too grieved immediately after the loss of our mother to answer definitely the question of m de la how long the was to be then afterwards it was agreed that the matter should be discussed on his autumn visit but as he did not come it has remained in till this week when with the greatest simplicity and confidence has written to him without any further pressure on his part and told him that she is quite ready to fix the time and will do so as soon as he arrives to see her she is a little frightened now lest it should seem forward in her to have revived the subject of her own accord but she may assume that his question has been waiting on for an answer ever since and that she has therefore acted only within her promise in truth the secret at the bottom of it all is that she is somewhat because he has not reminded her of the pause in their that in short his original impatience to possess her is not now found to him so obviously i suppose that he loves her as much as ever indeed i am he must do so seeing how she is it is mostly thus with all men when women are out of their sight they grow must have patience and remember that a man of his genius has many and important calls upon his time in justice to her i must add that she does remember it fairly well and has as much patience as any girl ever had in the he hopes to come at the beginning of april at latest well when he comes we shall see him april i think that what m de la writes is reasonable enough though looks about it it is hardly worth while for him to cross all the way to england and back just now while the sea is so turbulent seeing that he will be obliged in any event to come in may when he has to be in london for professional purposes at which time he s can take us easily on his way both coming and going when becomes his wife she will be more practical no doubt but she is such a child as yet that there is no her with reasons however the time will pass quickly there being so much to do in preparing a for her which must now be put in hand in order that we may have plenty of leisure to get it ready on no account must be married in half mourning i am sure that mother she know would not wish it and it is odd that should be so persistent on this point when she is so yielding april this month has flown on swallow s wings we are in a great state of excitement i as much as she i cannot quite tell why he is really coming in ten days he says may q four p m i am so agitated i can scarcely write and yet am particularly to do so before leaving my room it is the shape of an expected event which has caused my absurd excitement which proves me almost as much a as m de la was not as we to have come till to morrow but he is here just arrived all household directions have upon me for my father not thinking m de la would appear before us for another four and twenty left home before post time to attend a distant and hence and i were in no small excitement when charles s letter was opened and we read that he had been unexpectedly favoured in the of his work and would follow his letter in a few hours we sent the covered carriage to meet the train indicated and waited like two newly strung for the first sound of the returning wheels at last we heard them on the gravel and | 45 |
the question arose who was to receive him it was strictly speaking my duty but i felt timid i could not help it and insisted that should s go down she did not however go near the door as she usually does when anybody is expected but waited in the drawing room he little thought when he saw the silent hall and the apparently deserted house how that house was at the very same moment alive and throbbing with interest under the surface i stood at the back of the er landing where nobody could see me from downstairs and heard him walk across the s lighter step than my father s and heard him then go into the drawing room and the servant shut the door behind him and go away what a pretty lovers meeting they must have had in there all to themselves s sweet face looking up from her black gown how it must have touched him i know she wept very much for i heard her and her eyes will be red afterwards and no wonder poor dear though she is no doubt happy i can imagine what she is telling him while i write this her fears lest anything should have happened to prevent his coming after all gentle reproaches for his long delay and things of that sort his two are at this moment crossing the landing on the way to his room i wonder if i ought to go down a little later i have seen him it was not at all in the way that i intended to him and i am vexed just after his were brought up i went out from my room to descend when at the moment of stepping towards the first stair my eyes were caught by an object in the hall below and i paused for an instant till i saw that it was a bundle of canvas and sticks a tent and at the same nick of time the drawing room door opened and the pair came out they were saying they would go into the garden and he waited a moment while she put on her hat my idea was to let them pass on without seeing me since they seemed not to want my company but i had got too s far on the landing to retreat he looked up and stood staring at me engrossed to a dream like thereupon i too instead of advancing as i ought to have done stood and awkward and before i could gather my weak senses sufficiently to descend she had called him and they went out by the garden door together i then thought of following them but have changed my mind and come here to down these few lines it is all i am fit for he is even more handsome than i expected i was right in feeling he must have an attraction beyond that of form it appeared even in that momentary glance how happy ought to be but i must of course go down to be ready with tea in the by the time they come indoors ii p m i have made the acquaintance of m de la and i seem to be another woman from the effect of it i cannot describe why this should be so but conversation with him seems to the view and open the heart and raise one as upon to wider prospects he has a good intellectual forehead perfect eyebrows dark hair and eyes an animated manner and a voice his voice is soft in quality too soft for a man perhaps and yet on second thoughts i would not have it less so we have been talking of his art i had no notion that art demanded such sacrifices or such tender devotion or that there were two roads for choice within its the road of vulgar money making and the road of high aims and consequent for many long years by the public that he has adopted the latter need not be said to those who understand him it is a blessing for that she has been chosen by such a man and she ought not to lament at and since they have arisen whether he finds hers a sufficiently rich nature and for his own i know not but he seems occasionally to be disappointed at her simple views of things does loo s he really feel such love for her at this moment as he no doubt believes himself to be feeling and as he no doubt hopes to feel for the remainder of his life towards her it was a curious thing he told me when we were left for a few minutes alone that had alluded so slightly to me in her conversation and letters that he had not realized my presence in the house here at all but of course it was only natural that she should write and talk most about herself i suppose it was on account of the fact of his being taken in some measure that i caught him on two or three occasions regarding me in a way that me somewhat having been lately in so uttle society till my glance him from his reverie and he looked elsewhere in some confusion it was fortunate that he did so and thus failed to notice my own it shows that he too is not particularly a society person may have had another interesting conversation with m de la on schools of landscape painting in the drawing room after dinner this evening my father having fallen asleep and left nobody but and myself for charles to talk to i did not mean to say so much to him and had taken a of modern painters from the to occupy myself with while leaving the two lovers to themselves but he include me | 45 |
in his audience and i was obliged to lay the book aside however i insisted on keeping in the conversation though her views on art were only too crude and primitive to morrow if fine we are all three going to wood where charles will give us practical illustrations of the principles of colouring that he has to night i am determined not to occupy his attention to the of and my plan is that when we are in the dense part of the wood i will behind and slip away and leave them to return by themselves i suppose the reason of his loi s to me lies in his simply wishing to win the good opinion of one who is so closely to and so likely to influence her good opinion of him may ii late i cannot sleep and in desperation have lit my candle and taken up my pen my restlessness is occasioned by what has to day which at first i did not mean to write down or trust to any heart but my own we went to wood charles and i as we had intended and walked all three along the green track through the midst charles in the middle between and myself presently i foimd that as usual he and i were the only amusing herself by observing birds and as she alongside her having noticed this i dropped behind at the first and slipped among the trees in a direction in which i knew i should find another path that would take me home upon this track i by and by emerged and walked along it in silent thought till at a bend i suddenly encountered m de la standing stock still and smiling thoughtfully at me where is said only a little way off says he when we missed you from behind us we thought you might have mistaken the direction we had followed so she has gone one way to find you and i have come this way we then went back to find but could not discover her anywhere and the was that he and i were wandering about the woods alone for more than an hour on reaching home we found she had given us up after searching a little while and arrived there some time before i not be so disturbed by the incident if i had not perceived that during her absence from us he did not make any earnest effort to her and in answer to my repeated expressions of wonder as to whither she could have wandered he only said oh she s i s quite safe she told me she knew the way home from any part of this wood let us go on with our talk i assure you i value this privilege of being with one i so much admire more than you imagine and other things of that kind i was so as to show a little i tell why i did not control myself and i think he noticed that i was not cool has with her simple good faith thought nothing of the occurrence yet altogether i am not satisfied v her situation is a trying one may the more i think of it day after day the more convinced i am that my suspicions are true he is too interested in me well in plain words loves me or not to that phrase has a wild passion for me and his affection for is that towards a sister only that is tl e distressing truth how it has come about i cannot tell and it wears upon me a uttle circumstances have revealed this to me and the longer i dwell upon it the more does the consideration become heaven only can help me out of the terrible difficulty in which this places me i have done nothing to encourage him to be to her i have kept out of his way have persistently refused to be a third in their yet all to no purpose some has seemed to rule ever since he came to the house that this disastrous of things should arise if i had only foreseen the possibility of it before he arrived how gladly would i have departed on some visit or other to the meanest friend to hinder such an apparent treachery but i blindly welcomed him indeed made myself particularly agreeable to him for her sake there is no possibility of my suspicions being wrong not until they have reached absolute s have i dared even to admit the truth to myself his conduct to day would have proved them true had i entertained no previous apprehensions some photographs of myself came for me by post and they were handed at the breakfast table and i put them temporarily on a and did not remember them until an hour afterwards when i was in my own room on going to fetch them i discovered hun standing at the table with his back towards the door bending over the photographs one of which he raised to his lips the witnessing this act so frightened me that i crept away to escape observation it was the climax to a series of and significant actions all tending to the same conclusion the question for me now is what am i to do to go away is what first occurs to me but what reason can i give and my father for such a step besides it might some sort of catastrophe by driving charles to desperation for the present therefore i have decided that i can only wait though his is strangely disturbing to me now and i hardly retain strength of mind to him how will the distressing end may ig and so it has come my mere of him has the worst issue z declaration i had occasion to go | 45 |
into the to gather some of the double ragged which grew in a comer there almost as soon as i had entered i heard footsteps without the door opened and shut and i turned to behold him just inside it as the garden is closed by four walls and the gardener was absent the spot absolute privacy he came along the path by the and overtook me you know why i come said he in a tremulous voice i said nothing and hung my head for by his tone i did know s yes he went on it is you i love my sentiment towards your sister is one of affection too but affection no more say what you will i cannot help it i my feeling for her and i know how much i am to blame for my want of self knowledge i have fought against this discovery night and day but it cannot be concealed why did i ever see you since i could not see you till i had committed myself at the moment my eyes beheld you on that day of my arrival i said is the woman for whom my manhood has waited ever since an fascination has my heart to you answer one word m de la i burst out what i said more i cannot remember but i suppose that the misery i was in showed pretty plainly for he said something must be done to let her know perhaps i have mistaken her affection too but all depends upon what you feel i cannot tell what i feel said i except that this seems terrible treachery and every moment that i stay with you here makes it worse try to keep faith with her her young heart is tender me there is no mistake in the quality of her love for you would there were this would kill her if she knew it he sighed heavily she ought never to be my wife he said leaving my own happiness out of the question it would be a cruelty to her to unite her to me i said i could not hear such words from him and begged him in tears to go away he obeyed and i heard the garden door shut behind him what is to be the end of the announcement and the fate of may i put a good deal on paper yesterday and yet not all i was in truth hoping against hope against conviction against too conscious i scarcely dare own the truth now yet s it my aching heart to set it down yes i love him that is the fact and i can no longer or deny it to myself though to the rest of the world it can never be owned i love s and he loves me it is no yesterday s passion cultivated by our converse it came at first sight of my will and my talk with him yesterday made rather against it than for it but alas did not it god forgive us both for this terrible treachery may all is vague our courses he comes and goes being occupied at least with in his tent in the wood whether he and she see each other privately i cannot tell but i rather think they do not that she sadly him and he does not appear not a sign from him that my has done him any good or that he will endeavour to keep faith with her o if i only had the of a god and the self sacrifice of a martyr may it has all ended or rather this act of the sad drama has ended in nothing he has left us no day for the fulfilment of the engagement with is named my father not being the man to press any one on such a matter or indeed to interfere in any way we two girls are in fact quite in a case of this kind lovers may come when they choose and desert when they choose poor father is too to utter a word of remonstrance or inquiry moreover as the approved of my dead mother m de la had a sort of power with my father who holds it unkind to her memory to have an opinion about him i feeling it my duty asked m de la at the last moment about the engagement in a voice i could not keep firm since the death of your mother all has been indefinite all he said gloomily that was the whole possibly may see him no more s june m de la has written one letter to her one to me hers could not have been very warm for she did not on reading it mine was an ordinary note of friendship filling an ordinary sheet of paper which i handed over to when i had finished looking it through but there was a scrap of paper in the bottom of the envelope which i dared not show any one this scrap is his real letter i it alone in my room trembling hot and cold by turns he tells me he is very wretched that he what has happened but was helpless why did i let him see me if only to make him alas alas june my dear has lost appetite spirits health hope deferred the heart side his letters to her grow colder if indeed he has written more than one he has refrained from writing again to me he knows it is no use altogether the situation that he and she and i are in is melancholy in the extreme why are human hearts so perverse vi her ingenuity her september three months of anxious care till at length i have taken the extreme step of writing to him our chief distress | 45 |
has been caused by the state of poor who after sinking by degrees into such extreme weakness as to make it doubtful if she can ever recover full vigour has to day been taken much worse her position is very critical the doctor says plainly that she is dying of a broken heart and that even the removal of tiie cause may not now restore her ought i to have written to charles sooner but how could i when she forbade me it was her pride only which her and i not have obeyed charles has arrived and has seen her he is shocked conscience stricken i have told him that he can do no good beyond cheering her s by his presence i do not know what he thinks of proposing to her if she gets better but he says uttle to her at present indeed he dares not his words her af ter a struggle between duty and selfishness such as i pray to heaven i may never have to undergo again i have asked him for pity s sake to make her his wife here and now as she lies i said to him that the poor child not trouble him long and such a soothe her last hours as nothing else could do he said that he willingly do so and had thought of it himself but for one forbidding reason in the event of her death as his wife he can never marry me her sister according to our laws i started at his words he went on on the other hand if i were sure that immediate marriage with me save her life i would not refuse for possibly i might after a while and out of sight of you make myself fairly content with one of so sweet a disposition as hers but if as is probable neither my marrying her nor any other act can avail to save her life by so doing i lose both her and you i could not answer him q he continued firm in his reasons for refusal till this morning and then i became possessed with an idea which i at once to him it was that he should at least consent to a form of marriage with in consideration of her love a form which need not be a legal union but one which would satisfy her sick and such things have been done and the sentiment of feeling herself his would comfort her mind i am then if she is taken from us i should not have lost the power of becoming his lawful wife at some day if it indeed should be deemed expedient if on the other hand she lives he can on her recovery inform her of the of their marriage contract the ceremony can be repeated and i can and i am willingly would avoid troubling them with my s ence till grey hairs and wrinkles make his unfortunate passion for me a thing of the past i put all this before him but he jo i have urged him again he says he will consider it is no time to matters and as a further i have offered to enter into a solemn engagement to marry him myself a year after her death later an interview he says he will agree to whatever i propose the three possibilities and our acts being recorded as follows first in the event of dear being taken from us i marry him on the of a year second in the forlorn chance of her recovery i take upon myself the responsibility of explaining to the true nature of the ceremony he has gone through with her that it was done at my suggestion to make her happy at once before a special could be obtained and that a public ceremony at church is awaiting her third in the unlikely event of her and refusing to repeat the ceremony with him i leave england join him abroad and there wed him agreeing not to live in england again till has either married another or regards her attachment to charles as a matter i have thought over these conditions and have agreed to them all as they stand ii p m i do not much like this scheme after all for one thing i have just my father on it before parting with him for the night my impression having been that he would see no objection but he says he could on no any such proceeding however good our intentions and even though the poor girl were dying it would not be right so i sadly seek my pillow october i i am sure my father is wrong in his view why is it not right if it be to s wounded and if a real ceremony is absolutely refused by charles moreover is hardly practicable in s the difficulty of getting a special if he agreed my father does not know or will not believe that s attachment has been the cause of her hopeless condition but that it is so and that the form of words give her happiness i know well for i whispered in her ear on such marriages and the effect was great henceforth my father cannot be taken into confidence on the subject of he does not understand her o clock noon i have taken advantage of my father s absence to day to confide my secret notion to a thoughtful young man who called here this morning to speak to my father he is the mr of whom i have already had occasion to speak a scripture reader in the next town and is soon going to be ordained i told him the pitiable case and my remedy he says that he will assist me would do anything for me he is in truth an | 45 |
admirer of mine he sees no wrong in such an act of charity he is coming again to the house this afternoon before my father returns to carry out the idea i have spoken to charles who promises to be ready i must now break the news to o clock p m i have been in too much excitement till now to set down the result we have accomplished our plan and though i feel like a guilty sinner i am glad my father of course is not to be informed as yet has had a expression upon her wasted transparent face ever since i hardly be surprised if it really saved her life even now and rendered a legitimate union necessary between them in that case my father can be informed of the whole proceeding and in the face of such wonderful success cannot meanwhile poor charles has not lost the possibility of taking unworthy me to fill her place should she but i cannot contemplate that alternative unmoved and will not write it charles ef t for the south of europe immediately after the ceremony he was in a high strung throbbing no s almost wild state of mind at first but grew calmer my i had to pay the penalty of receiving a farewell kiss from him which i much regret considering its meaning but he took me so unexpectedly and in a moment was gone d she certainly is better and even when she found that charles had been suddenly obliged to leave she received the news quite cheerfully the doctor says that her apparent improvement may be but i think our upon her the necessity of keeping what has occurred a secret from papa and everybody helps to give her a zest for life she is still mending i am glad to have saved her my only sister if i have done so though i shall now never become charles s wife vii a surprise her writing has been absolutely impossible for a long while but i now reach a stage at which it seems possible to down a line s recovery extend over four months has been very at first slow rapid but a fearful of affairs it o what a tangled web we when first we practise to deceive charles has written to me from where he is he says how can he fulfil in the real what he has in the while he still loves me yet how on the other hand can he leave it all this time i have not told her and up to this minute she that he has indeed taken her for better for worse till death them do part it is a position for me and all three in the awful approach of death one s judgment loses its balance and we do anything to meet the of the moment with a single eye to the one who iii s our sympathies and from whom we seem on the brink of being separated for ever had he really married her at that time all would be settled now but he took too much thought she might have died and then he had his reason if indeed it had turned out so i should now be perhaps a sad woman but not a tempest tossed one the possibility of his claiming me after all is what lies at the root of my agitation hangs by a thread suppose i tell her the marriage was a mockery suppose she is indignant with me and with him for the deception and then otherwise suppose she is not indignant but all he is bound to marry her and honour me to urge him in spite of what he and to smooth the way to this issue by my method of informing her i have meant to tell her the last month ever since she has been strong enough to bear such tidings but i have been without the power the moral force i must write and get him to come and assist me march she continually wonders why he does not come the five months of his enforced absence having and still more she wonders why he does not write oftener his last letter was cold she says and she fears he regrets his marriage whidi he may only have celebrated with her for pity s sake thinking she was sure to die it makes one s heart to hear her hovering thus so near the truth and yet never its actual shape a minor trouble me too in the person of the scripture reader whose conscience him for the part he played surely i am punished if ever woman were for a too ingenious of her better judgment april she is practically well the faint pink in her cheek though it is not quite so full as heretofore but she still wonders what she can have done to offend her dear husband and i have been s obliged to tell the smallest part of the truth an unimportant fragment of the whole in fact i said that i feared for the moment he might regret the of the act which her illness his affairs not having been advanced for marriage just then though he will doubtless come to her as soon as he has a home ready meanwhile i have written to him to come and relieve me in this awful he will find no note of love in that april to my alarm the letter i lately addressed to him at where he is staying as well as the last one she sent him have received no reply she thinks he is ill i do not think that but i wish we could hear from him perhaps the of my words had offended him it me to think it possible offend him but too much | 45 |
of this i must tell her the truth or she may in her ignorance commit herself to some course or other that may be she said just now that if he could see her and know how occupied with him and him alone is her every waking hour she is sure he would forgive her the wicked of becoming his wife very sweet all that and touching i not conceal my tears april the house is in confusion my father is angry and distressed and i am distracted has disappeared gone away secretly i cannot help thinking that i where she is gone to how guilty i seem and how innocent she o that i had told her before now i o clock no trace of her as yet we find also that the little waiting maid we have here in training has disappeared with and there is not much doubt that fearing to travel alone has induced this girl to go with her as companion i am almost sure she has started in desperation to find him and that is her goal why should she run away if not to join her husband as she thinks him s now that i consider there have been indications of this wish in her for days as in birds of passage there signs of their intention and yet i did not she would have taken such an extreme step and without consulting me i can only down the bare facts i have no time for reflections but fancy travelling across the continent of europe with a of a girl who will be more of a charge than an assistance they will be a mark for every who them evening o clock yes it is as i she has gone to join him a note posted by her in at daybreak has reached me this afternoon to the fortunate chance of one of the servants calling for letters in town to day or i should not have got it to morrow she merely her determination of going to him and has started privately that nothing may hinder her stating nothing about her route that such a gentle thing suddenly become so calmly resolute quite surprises me alas he may have left she may not find him for weeks may not at all my father on learning the facts bade me at once have everything ready by nine this evening in time to drive to the train that meets the night steam boat this i have done and there being an hour to spare before we start i relieve the suspense of waiting by taking up my pen he says overtake her we must and calls charles the hardest of names he believes of course that she is merely an girl rushing off to meet her lover and how can the wretched i tell him that she is more and in a sense better than that yet not sufficiently more and better to make this flight to charles anything but a still greater danger to her than a mere lover s impulse we shall go by way of paris and we think we may overtake her there i hear my father walking up and down the hall and can write no more s viii she travels in pursuit april evening paris j there is no her at this place but she has been here as i thought no other hotel in paris being known to her we go on to morrow morning april a morning of adventures and emotions which leave me sick and weary and yet unable to sleep though i have lain down on the sofa of my room for more than an hour in the attempt i therefore make up my to date in a hurried fashion for the sake of the it affords to ideas which otherwise remain suspended hotly in the brain we arrived here this morning in broad sunlight which lit up the sea buildings as we approached so that they seemed like a city of cork floating like on the smooth blue deep but i only glanced from the carriage window at the lovely scene and we were soon across the intervening water and inside the railway station when we got to the front steps the row of black and the shouts of the so bewildered my father that he was understood to require two instead of one with two oars and so i found him in one and myself in another we got this after a while and were rowed at once to the hotel on the where m de la had been staying when we last heard from him the way being down the grand canal for some distance under the and then by narrow which eventually brought us under the bridge of sighs harmonious to our moods and out again into open water the scene was purity itself as to colour but it was cruel that i should behold it for the first time under such circumstances as soon as we entered the hotel which is an place like most places here where people are taken en as well as the ordinary way i rushed to the framed list of visitors hanging in the s hall and in a moment i saw charles s name upon it among the rest but she was our chief thought i turned to the hall porter and knowing that she would have travelled as madame de la i asked for her under that name without my father hearing he poor soul was making outside the door about an english lady as if there were not a score of english ladies at hand she has just come said the porter madame came by the very early train this morning when was asleep and she requested us not to disturb him she is now in | 45 |
you who had nursed her so tenderly o but i think she was i answered it was there i told her what had been done she did not know till then she was very dignified very striking he murmured you were more but how do you know what passed between us said i he then told me that he had seen and heard all the dining room was divided by folding doors from an inner portion and he had been sitting in the latter part when we entered the outer so that our words were distinctly audible but dear he went on i was more impressed by the affection of your apology to her than by anything else and do you that now the conditions have arisen which give me liberty to consider you my i had been expecting this but yet was not prepared i stammered out that we would not discuss it then why not said he do you know that we may marry here and now she has cast off both you and me it cannot be said i firmly she has not been fairly asked to be your wife in fact to repeat the service and until that has been done it would be grievous sin in me to accept you s i had not noticed where the were us i suppose he had given them some direction by me for as i resigned myself in despairing to the motion of the i perceived that it was taking us up the canal and turning into a side opening near the drew up at some steps near the end of a large church where are we said i it is the church of the he replied we might be married there at any rate let us go inside and grow calm and decide what to do when we had entered i found that whether a place to marry in or not it was one to the word which speaks most constantly decay was in a sense here the whole large fabric itself seemed sinking into an earth which was not solid enough to bear it cracks the walls and similar clouded the window panes a sickly sweet smell pervaded the after walking about with him a little while in embarrassing divided only by his explanations of the monuments and other objects and a fearing he might produce a marriage i went to a door in the south which opened into the i glanced through it towards the small altar at the upper end the place was empty save of one figure and she was kneeling here in front of the beautiful altar piece by beautiful though it was she seemed not to see it she was weeping and praying as though her heart was broken she was my sister i beckoned to charles and he came to my side and looked through the door with me speak to her said i she will forgive you i gently pushed him through the doorway and went back into the down the and onward to the west door there i saw my father to whom i spoke he answered severely that having first obtained comfortable quarters in a on i s the grand canal he had gone back to the hotel on the to find me but that i was not there he was now waiting for to accompany her back to the at which she had requested to be left to herself as much as possible till she could regain some composure i told him that it was useless to dwell on what was past that i no doubt had that the remedy lay in the future and their marriage in this he quite agreed with me and on my informing him that m de la was at that moment with in the he assented to my proposal that we should leave them to themselves and return together to await them at the where he had also engaged a room for me this we did and going up to the chamber he had chosen for me which overlooked the canal i from the window to watch for the that should contain charles and my sister they were not long in coming i recognized them by the colour of her as soon as they turned the bend on my right hand they were side by side of necessity but there was no conversation between them and i thought that she looked flushed and he pale when they were rowed in to the steps of our he handed her up i fancied she might have refused his assistance but she did not soon i heard her pass my door and wishing to know the result of their interview i went downstairs seeing that the had not put off with him he was turning from the door but not towards the water intending apparently to walk home by way of the which led into the has she forgiven you said i i have not asked her he said but you are bound to do so i told him he paused and then said let us understand each other do you mean to tell me once for all that if your sister is willing to become my wife you absolutely make way for her and will not enter s tain any thought of what i suggested to you any more i do tell you so said i with dry lips you belong to her how can i do otherwise yes it is so it is purely a question of honour he returned very well then honour shall be my word and not my love i will put the question to her frankly if she says yes the marriage shall be but it shall be at your when said i i will accompany her there he replied and it shall be within a week of her return i have | 45 |
nothing to gain by delay but i will not answer for the consequences what do you mean said i he made no went away and i came back to my room ix she witnesses the end april p m we are thus far on our way homeward i being decidedly de trap travel apart from the rest as much as i can having dined at the hotel here i went out by myself regardless of the for i could not stay in i walked at a leisurely pace along the till my eye was caught by the grand and i entered under the high glass till i reached the central where i sat down on one of a group of chairs placed there becoming accustomed to the stream of i soon observed seated on the chairs opposite and charles this was the first occasion on which i had seen them en a since my conversation with him she soon caught sight of me averted her eyes then apparently herself to an impulse she jumped up from her seat and came across to me we had not spoken to each other since the meeting in s she said sitting down by my side charles asks me to forgive you and i do forgive you i pressed her hand with tears in my eyes and said and do you forgive him yes said she and what s the result said i we are to be married directly we reach home this was almost the whole of our conversation she walked home with me charles following a little way behind though she kept turning her head as if anxious that he ould overtake us honour and not love seemed to ring in my ears so matters stand is again happy april we have reached home charles with us events are now moving in silent speed almost with indeed and i sometimes feel oppressed by the strange and ease whidi seems to accompany their flow charles is staying at the neighbouring town he is only waiting for the marriage when obtained he is to come here be quietly married to her and carry her off it is rather resignation than content which sits on his face but he has not spoken a word more to me on the burning subject or one hair s breadth from the course he laid down they may be happy in time to come i hope so but i cannot shake off depression may eve of the wedding is serenely happy though not but there is nothing to excite anxiety about her i wish i could say the same of him he comes and goes like a ghost and yet nobody seems to observe this strangeness in his mien i could not help being here for the ceremony but my absence would have resulted in less on his part i believe however i may be wrong in causes my father simply says that charles and have as good a chance of being happy as other people well to morrow settles all may they are married we have just returned charles looked so pale this morning s that my father asked him if he was ill he said no only a slight headache and we started for the church there was no or and the thing is done p m they ought to have set out on their journey by this time but there is an delay charles went out half an hour ago and has not yet returned is waiting in the hall but i am dreadfully afraid they will miss the train i suppose the trifling is of no and yet i am of four months have passed only four months it seems like years can it be that only seventeen weeks ago i set on this paper the fact of their marriage i am now an aged woman by comparison on that never to be forgotten day we waited and waited and charles did not return at six o clock when poor little had gone back to her room in a state of suspense impossible to describe a man who worked in the water meadows came to the house and asked for my father he had an interview with him in the study my father then rang his bell and sent for me i went down and i then learnt the fatal news charles was no more the had been going to shut down the of a in the when he saw a hat on the edge of the pool below floating round and round in the and looking into the pool saw something strange at the bottom he knew what it meant and lowering the so that the water was still could distinctly see the body it is needless to write particulars that were in the newspapers at the time charles was brought to the house but he was dead we all feared for and she suffered much but strange to say her suffering was of the nature of deep grief which found relief in sobbing and tears it came out at the that charles had been accustomed to cross the to give an s occasional half crown to an old man who lived on the opposite hill who had once been a landscape painter in an humble way till he lost his and it was assumed that he had gone thither for the same purpose to day and to bid him farewell on this information the s jury found that his death had been caused by and everybody believes to this that he was drowned crossing the to relieve the old man except one she believes in no accident after the effect of the first news i thought it strange that he should have chosen to go on such an errand at the last moment and to go personally when there was so little time to spare since | 45 |
any gift could have been so easily sent by another hand further reflection has convinced me that this step out of life was as much a part of the day s plan as was the wedding in the church hard by they were the two of his complete intention when he gave me on the grand canal that assurance which i shall never forget very well then honour shall be my word not love if she says yes the marriage shall be i do not know why i should have made this entry at this particular time but it has occurred to me to do it to complete in a measure that part of my chronicle which relates to the love story of my sister and charles she lives on meekly in her grief and will probably it while i but never mind me x she adds a note long after five years later i have lighted upon this old which it has interested me to look over containing as it does records of the time when life shone more warmly in my eye than it does now i am impelled to add one sentence to off its record of the past about a year ago my sister after i s s a persistent accepted the hand and heart of once the young scripture reader who assisted at the substitute for a marriage i planned and now the fully ordained of the next parish his for the part he played ended in love we have all now made for our sins against her may she be deceived no more the grave by the the grave by the i never pass through chalk without turning to regard the neighbouring at a point where a lane crosses the lone straight highway dividing this from the next parish a sight which does not fail to recall the event that once happened there and though it may seem superfluous at this date to more memories of village history the whispers of that spot may claim to be preserved it was on a dark yet mild and dry evening at christmas time according to the testimony of william of michael mail and others that the choir of chalk a large parish about half way between the towns of and and now a railway station left their homes just before midnight to repeat their annual under the windows of the local population the band of and singers was one of the largest in the county and unlike the smaller and finer string band which all but the it included brass and reed at full sunday services and reached all across the west gallery on this night there were two or three two a tenor double bass serpent and seven singers it was however not the choir s labours but what its members chanced to witness that particularly marked the occasion they had pursued their rounds for many years without meeting with any incident of an the grave by the kind but to night ax to the of several there prevailed to begin with an solemn and mood among two or three of the oldest in the band as if they were thinking they might be joined by the of dead friends who had been of their number in earlier years and now were mute in the friends who had shown greater zest for melody in their time than was shown in this or that some past voice of a semi transparent figure might from some bedroom window its acknowledgment of their greeting instead of a familiar living neighbour whether this were fact or fancy the younger members of the choir met together with their customary and when they had gathered by the stone stump of the cross in the middle of the village near the white horse inn which they made their starting point some one observed that they were full early that it was not yet twelve o clock the local waits of those days mostly refrained from sounding a note before christmas morning had arrived and not caring to return to their beer they decided to begin with some cottages in lane where the people had no and would not know whether it were night or morning in that direction they accordingly went and as they ascended to higher ground their attention was attracted by a light beyond the houses quite at the top of the lane the road from chalk to broad is about two miles long and in the middle of its course where it passes over the ridge dividing the two villages it crosses at right angles as has been stated the lonely monotonous old highway known as long ash lane which runs straight as a s line many miles north and south of this spot on the foundation of a roman road and has often been mentioned in these though now quite deserted and grass grown at the beginning of the century it was the grave by the well kept and frequented by traffic the glimmering light appeared to come from the precise point where the roads i think i know what that mid mean one of the group remarked they stood a few moments discussing the probability of the light having in an event of which had reached them and resolved to go up the hill approaching the high land their conjectures were strengthened long ash lane cut them right and left and they saw that at the of the four ways under the a grave was dug into which as the choir drew nigh a corpse had just been thrown by the four men employed for the purpose the cart and horse which had brought the body thither stood silently by the singers and from chalk halted and looked on while the in and trod down the earth till the hole being filled the latter threw their into the cart and | 45 |
prepared to depart who mid ye be a burying there asked lot in a raised voice not the the men had been so deeply engrossed in their task that they had not noticed of the chalk choir till now what be you the singers returned the representatives of ay sure can it be that it is old you ve a buried there tis so you ve heard about it then the choir knew no particulars only that he had shot himself in his apple closet on the previous sunday nobody seem th to know what a did it for a b we don t know at chalk continued lot o yes it all came out at the the singers drew close and the men the grave by the pausing to rest after their labours told the story it was all owing to that son of his poor old man it broke his heart but the son is a soldier surely now with his regiment in the east indies ay and it have been rough with the army over there lately twas a pity his father persuaded him to go but shouldn t have the o t since a did it for the best the in brief were these the who had come to this lamentable end father of the young soldier who had gone with his regiment to the east had been singularly comfortable in his military experiences these having ended long before the outbreak of the great war with on his discharge after duly serving his time he had returned to his native village and married and taken kindly to domestic life but the war in which england next involved herself had cost him many that age and infirmity prevented him from being ever again an active of the army when his only son grew to young manhood and the question arose of his going out in life the lad expressed his wish to be a but his father advised for the army trade is coming to nothing in these days he said and if the war with the french lasts as it will trade will be still worse the army that s the thing for ee twas the making of me and be the of you i hadn t half such a chance as you ll have in these splendid times for he was a home keeping youth but putting respectful trust in his father s judgment he at length gave way and in the d foot in the course of a few weeks he was sent out to india to his regiment which had distinguished itself in the east under general but was unlucky news came home indirectly that he lay sick out there and then on one the grave by the recent day when his father was out walking the old man had received tidings that a letter awaited him at the sent a special messenger the whole nine miles and the letter was paid for and brought home but though as he had guessed it came from its contents were of an unexpected tenor the letter had been written a time of deep depression said that his life was a and a slavery and bitterly reproached his father for him to on a career for which he felt he himself suffering and without gaining glory and engaged in a cause which he did not understand or appreciate if it had not been for his father s bad advice he would now have been working comfortably at a trade in the village that he had never wished to leave after reading the letter the advanced a few steps till he was quite out of sight of everybody and then sat down on the bank by the when he arose half an later he looked withered and broken and from that day his natural spirits left him wounded to the by his son s sarcastic he indulged in liquor more and more frequently his wife had died some years before this date and the lived alone in the house which had been hers one morning in the december under notice the report of a had been heard on his premises and on entering the neighbours found him in a state he had shot himself with an old that he for birds and from what he had said the day before and the arrangements he had made for his there was no doubt that his end had been deliberately planned as a consequence of the despondency into which he had been thrown by his son s letter the s jury returned a verdict of de se here s his son s letter said one of the men twas found in his father s pocket you can the grave by the see by the state o t how many times he read it over the lord s will be done since it must whether or no the grave was filled up and no mound being shaped over it the men then bade the chalk choir good night and departed with the cart in which they had brought the s body to the hill when their tread had died away from the ear and the wind swept over the isolated grave with its customary of indifference lot turned and spoke to old richard the player tis hard upon a man and he a to serve en so richard not that the was ever in a battle bigger than would go into a half acre that s true still his soul ought to h as good a as another man s all the same hey richard replied that he was quite of the same opinion what d ye say to lifting up a over his grave as tis christmas and no hurry to b gin down in parish and t take up ten minutes and not a soul up here to say us nay or know anything | 45 |
about it lot nodded assent the man ought to bis chances he repeated ye as well upon his grave for all the good we shall do en by what we lift up now he s got so far said tiie man and professed of the choir but i m agreed if the rest be they thereupon placed themselves in a by the newly stirred earth and roused the dull air with the well known sixteen of their collection which lot gave out as being the one he thought best suited to the occasion and the mood he comes the to re lease in sa tan s bon held it we ve never played to a dead man afore said when having concluded the last the grave by the verse they stood reflecting for a breath or two but it do seem more merciful than to go away and leave en as they t other have done now to and by the time we get the pa son s be half after twelve said the leader they had not however done more than gather up their instruments when the wind brought to their notice the noise of a vehicle rapidly driven up the same lane from which the had lately to avoid being run over when moving on they waited till the traveller whoever he might be should pass them where they stood in the wider area of the cross in half a minute the light of the fell upon a hired fly drawn by a steaming and horse it reached the when a voice from the inside cried stop here the driver pulled rein the carriage door was opened from within and there out a private soldier in the uniform of some line regiment he looked around and was apparently surprised to see the standing there have you buried a man here he asked no we t folk thank gk d we be choir though a man is just buried here that s true and we ve raised a over the poor mortal s what do my eyes see before me young that went wi his regiment to the east indies or do i see his spirit straight from the be you the son that wrote the letter don t don t ask me the funeral is over then there no funeral in a manner of speaking but s buried sure enough you must have met the men going back in the empty cart like a dog in a ditch and all through me he remained silent looking at the grave and they could not help pitying him my friends he said i better now you have i suppose in the grave by the charity sung peace to his soul i thank you from my heart for your kind pity yes i am s miserable son i m the son who has brought about his father s death as truly as if i had done it with my own hand no no don t ye take on so young man he d been naturally low for a good while oflf and on so we hear we were out in the east when i wrote to him everything had seemed to go wrong with me just after my letter had gone we were ordered home that s how it is you see me here as soon as we got into at i heard o this damn me i ll dare to follow my father and make away with myself too it is the only thing left to do don t ye be rash i say again but try to make amends by your e life and maybe your father will smile a smile down from heaven upon ee for t he shook his head i don t know about that he answered bitterly try and be worthy of father at his best tis not too late d ye think not i fancy it is well i ll turn it over thank you for your good counsel i ll live for one thing at any rate i ll move father s body to a decent christian churchyard if i do it with my own hands i can t save his life but i can give him an honourable grave he shan t lie in this accursed place ay as our pa son says tis a barbarous custom they keep up at and ought to be done away wi the man a old soldier too you see our pa son is not like yours at he says it is barbarous does he so it is cried the soldier now my friends then he proceeded to inquire if they would increase his to them by undertaking the removal the grave by the privately of the body of the to the not of a parish he now hated but of chalk he would give them all he possessed to do it lot asked what he thought of it the player who was also the and advised the young soldier to sound the about it first mid be he object and yet a t the pa son o is a hard man i own ye and a said if folk will kill in hot blood they must take the consequences but ours don t think like that at all and might allow it what s his name the honourable and mr brother to lord but you needn t be o en on that account he ll talk to ee like a common man if so be you haven t had enough drink to ee bad breath o the same as formerly i ll ask him thank you and that duty done what then there s war in spain i hear our next move is there i ll try to show myself to be what my father wished me i don t suppose i shall but i ll | 45 |
try in my feeble way that much i swear here over his body so help me god his palm against the white with such force that it shook yes there s war in spain and another chance for me to be worthy of father so the matter ended that night that the private acted in one thing as he had vowed to do soon became apparent for during the christmas week the came into the when was there and asked him to find a spot that be suitable for the purpose of such an adding that he had slightly known the late and was not aware of any law which forbade him to assent to the removal the letter of the rule having been ob the grave by the served but as he did not wish to seem moved by opposition to his neighbour at he had that the act of charity should be carried out at night and as privately as possible and that the grave should be in an e part of the you had better see the young man about it at once added the but before had done anything came down to his house his had been cut short owing to new of the war in the and being obliged to go back to his regiment immediately he was compelled to leave the and to his friends everything was paid for and he implored them all to see it carried out forthwith with this the soldier left the next day on thinking the matter over again went across to the struck with sudden he had remembered that the had been buried without a n and he was not sure that a stake had not been driven through him the business would be more troublesome they had at first supposed yes indeed the i am afraid it is not after all the next event was the arrival of a by from the nearest town to be left at mr s all expenses paid the and the deposited the stone in the former s and left alone put on his spectacles and read the brief and simple inscription here the body or late m ms majesty s v of foot who departed this life december the th erected by l h l all not worthy to be called thy son again called at the the stone is come sir but i m we can t do it i should like to oblige him said the gentlemanly the grave by the old incumbent and i would forego all willingly still if you and the others don t think you can it out i am in doubt what to say well sir i ve made o the men that buried en and what i thought is true they buried en wi a new six foot s body from the sheep pen up in north and the question is is the moving worth while considering the awkwardness have you heard anything more of the young man had only heard that he had embarked that week for spain with the rest of the regiment and if he s as desperate as a seemed we all never see him here in england again it is an awkward case said the talked it over with the choir one of whom suggested that the stone might be erected at the cross roads this was regarded as another said that it might be set up in the churchyard without removing the body but this was seen to be so nothing was done the remained in s till growing tired of seeing it there he put it away among the bu es at the bottom of his garden the subject was sometimes revived among them but it always ended with considering how a was buried we can hardly make a job o t there was always the consciousness that would never come back an impression strengthened by the which were to have befallen the army in spain this tended to make permanent the grew green as it lay on its back under s bushes then a tree by the river was blown down and falling across the stone cracked it in three pieces ultimately the pieces became buried in the leaves and mould had not been bom a chalk man and he had no relations left in so no tidings the grave by the of him reached either village throughout the war but after and the fall of napoleon there arrived at one day an english major covered with and as it out rich in glory foreign service had so totally changed that it was not until he told his name that the inhabitants recognized him as the s only son he had served with through the under had fought at d and and had now returned to enjoy a more than earned and repose in his native district he hardly stayed in longer than to take a meal on his arrival the same evening he started on foot over the hill to chalk passing the and saying as he glanced at the spot thank god he s not there nightfall was approaching when he reached the latter village but he made straight for the churchyard on his entering it there remained light enough to discern the by and these he narrowly but though he searched the front part by the road and the back part by the river what he sought he not find the grave of and a memorial bearing the inscription i am not worthy to be called thy son he left the and made inquiries the honourable and reverend old was dead and so were many of the choir but by degrees the major learnt that his father still lay at the cross roads in long ash lane pursued his way to do which in the natural course he would be compelled to the spot there being no other road | 45 |
she was determined to stick to him at that time and for what happened she was not much to blame so near as they were to matrimony when the war broke out and spoiled all even the very pig had been killed for the wedding said a woman and the barrel o beer ordered in o the man meant enough but to be oflf in two days to fight in a foreign twas natural of her father to say they wait till he got back and he never came murmured one in the shade the war ended but her man never turned up again she was not e he was killed but was too proud or too timid to go and hunt for him one reason why her father forgave her when he found out how matters stood was as he said plain at the time that he liked the man and could see that he meant to act straight so the old folks made the best of what they couldn t mend and kept her there with em when some wouldn t time has proved seemingly that he did mean to act straight now that he has writ to her that he s coming she d have stuck to him all through the time tis my belief if t other hadn t come along at the time of the courtship resumed the the regiment was in and he and she got acquainted by his calling to buy a of off that tree yonder in her father s orchard though twas said he seed her over hedge as well as the apples he declared twas a kind of apple he much fancied and enter a he called for a every day till the tree was cleared it ended in his calling for her twas a thousand they didn t up at once and ha done wi it well better late than never if so be he ll have her now but lord she d that faith in en that she d no more belief that he was alive when a didn t come than that the man in churchyard was alive she d never have thought of another but for that o no tis awkward altogether for her now still she hadn t married wi the new man though to be sure she would have it even the being got they say for she d have no this time the first being so perhaps the major will think he s released and go as he came o not as i reckon soldiers t particular and she s a tidy piece o furniture still what will happen is that she ll have her soldier and break oflf with the master or no me if she won t in the progress of these conjectures the form of another neighbour arose in the gloom she nodded to the people at the well who replied g mrs stone as she passed through mr s gate towards his door she was an intimate friend of the latter s household and the group followed her with their eyes up the path and past the windows which were now lighted up by candles inside ii mrs stone paused at the door knocked and was admitted by s mother who took her visitor at once into the parlour on the left hand where a table was partly spread for supper on the against the wall stood probably the only object which enter a have attracted the eye of a local stranger in an otherwise ordinarily furnished room a great guarded as if it were a curiosity by a glass shade of the kind seen in square with a wooden back like those specimens of rare feather or fur this was the of the cake intended in earlier days for the wedding feast of and the soldier which had been and lovingly preserved by the former as a testimony to her respectability in spite of an subsequent which will be mentioned this was now as dry as a brick and seemed to belong to a pre civilization till quite recently had been in the habit of pausing before it daily and recalling the accident whose consequences had thrown a shadow over her life ever since that of which the water drawers had spoken the sudden news one morning that the route had come for the th two days only being the interval before departure the hurried as to what should be done the second time of asking being past but not the third and the decision that it would be unwise to matrimony in such circumstances even if it were possible which was doubtful before the fire the young woman in question was now seated on a low stool in the stillness of reverie and a boy played about the floor her ah mrs stone said rising slowly how kind of you to come in you ll bide to supper mother has told you the strange news of course no but i heard it outside that is that you d had a letter from mr major as they say he is now and that he s coming to make it up with ee yes coming to night all the way from the north of england where he s i don t know whether i m happy or frightened at it of course i always believed that if he was alive he d come and enter a keep his solemn vow to me but when it is printed that a man is killed what can you think it was printed why yes after the battle of the the book of the names of the killed and wounded was nailed up against town hall door twas on a saturday and i walked there o purpose to read and see for myself for i d heard that his name | 45 |
was down there was a crowd of people the book looking for the names of relations and i can mind that when they saw me they made way for me knowing that we d been just going to be married and that as you may say i belonged to him well i reached up my arm and turned over the of the book and under the killed i read his but instead of john they d printed james and i thought twas a mistake and that it must be he who could have guessed there were two nearly of one name in one regiment weu he s coming to finish the wedding of ee as may be said so never mind my dear all s well that ends well that s what he seems to say but then he has not heard yet about mr miller and that s what rather me luckily my marriage with him next week was to have been by and not as in john s case and it was not so well known on that account still i don t know what to think everything seems to come just cup and lip with ee don t it now miss two broke off tis odd how came you to accept mr miller my dear he s been so good and faithful not about the child at all for he knew the rights of the story he s dearly fond o you know just as if his own isn t he my duck do mr miller love you or don t he an i love mr miller said the well you see mrs stone he said he d make me enter a a comfortable home and thinking be a good thing for mr miller being so much better than me i agreed at last just as a widow might which is what i have always felt myself ever since i saw what i was john s name printed there i hope john will forgive me so he wiu forgive ee since twas no manner of wrong to him he ought to have sent ee a saying twas another man s mother entered we ve not known of this an hour mrs stone she said the letter was brought up from lower post office by one of the school children only this afternoon mr miller was coming here this very night to settle about the wedding doings hark is that your father or is it mr miller already come the footsteps entered the there was a brushing on the mat and the door of the room sprung back to disclose a man about thirty years of age of master appearance and obviously comfortable temper on seeing the child and before taking any notice whatever of the elders the comer made a noise like the of a cock and his arms as if they were wings a method of entry which had the admiration of yes it is he said advancing what were you all talking about me my dear said the genial young man when he had finished his and resumed human manners why what s the matter he went on you look struck all of a heap mr miller spread an aspect of concern over his own face and drew a chair up to the fire o mother would you tell mr miller if he don t know miller and going to be married in six days he interposed ah he don t know it yet murmured mrs enter a know what well john now major wasn t shot at after all twas another of almost the same name now that s interesting there were several cases like that and he s home again and he s coming here tonight to see her whatever shall i say that he may not be offended with what i ve done interposed but why should it matter if he be o i must agree to be his wife if he me of course i must must but why not say nay even if he do forgive ee o no how can i without being wicked you were very very kind mr miller to ask me to have you no other man would have done it after what had happened and i agreed even though i did not feel half so warm as i ought yet it was entirely owing to my believing him in the grave as i knew that if he were not he would carry out his promise and this shows that i was right in trusting him yes he must be a sort of fellow said mr miller for a moment so impressed with the faithful conduct of the major of that he disregarded its effect upon his own position he sighed slowly and added well tis for you to say i love you and i love the boy and there s my chimney comer and sticks o ready for ee both yes i know but i mustn t hear it any more now quickly john will be here soon i hope he ll see how it all was when i tell him if so be i could have written it to him it would have been better you think he doesn t know a single word about our having been on the brink o t but perhaps it s enter a the other way he s heard of it and that may have brought him perhaps he has she said brightening and me if not speak out straight and fair and tell him exactly how it fell out if he s a man he ll see it o he s a man true enough but i really do think i sha n t have to tell him at all since you ve put it to me that way as it | 45 |
was now s he was carried upstairs and when came down again her mother observed with some anxiety i fancy mr must be here soon if he s coming and that being so perhaps mr miller wouldn t mind wishing us since you are so determined to stick to your major a little bitterness amid the closing words it would be less awkward mr miller not being here tf he will allow me to say it to be sure to be sure the master exclaimed with instant conviction rising from his chair lord bless my soul he said taking up his hat and stick and we to have been married in six days but you re right you do belong to the child s father since he s alive i ll try to make the best of it before the generous miller had got further there came a knock to the door accompanied by the noise of wheels i thought i heard something driving up said mrs they heard mr who had been smoking in the room opposite rise and go to the door and in a moment a voice familiar enough to was audibly at last i am here again not without many how is it with ee mr and how is she thought never to see me again i suppose a step with a of spurs in it struck upon the entry floor if i t murmured mr miller is enter a forgetting company speech never mind i may as well meet him here as elsewhere and i should like to see the chap and make friends with en as he seems one o the right sort he returned to the fireplace just as the major was ushered in ill he was a good specimen of the long service soldier of those days a not man with a certain dignity which some might have said to be partly owing to the of his uniform about his neck the high stock being still worn he was much than when had parted from him although she had not meant to be she ran across to him directly she saw him and he held her in his arms and kissed her then in much agitation she whispered something to him at which he seemed to be much he s just put to bed she continued you can go up and see him i you d come if you were alive but i had quite gi d you up for dead you ve been home in england ever since the war ended yes dear why didn t you come sooner that s just what i ask myself why was i such a as not to hurry here the first day i set foot on i ore well who d have thought it you are as pretty as ever he her to peep upstairs a little way where by looking through the he could see s cot just within an open door on his stepping down again mr miller was preparing to depart what s this i am sorry to see anybody going the moment i ve come the major i thought we might make an evening of it there s a nine o beer out enter a side in the trap and a ham and half a cheese for i thought you might be short o in a lonely place like this and it struck me we might like o ask in a neighbour or two but perhaps it would be taking a liberty o no not at all said mr who was now in the room in a measured manner very of ee only twas not necessary for we had just laid in an stock of and in preparation for the coming event twas very kind upon my heart said the soldier to think me worth such a preparation since you could only have got my letter this morning gazed at her father to stop him and exchanged embarrassed glances with miller contrary to her hopes major plainly did not know that the preparations referred to were for something quite other than his own visit the movement of the horse outside and the impatient tapping of a whip handle upon the vehicle reminded them that s driver was still in waiting the provisions were brought into the house and the cart dismissed miller with very little pressure indeed accepted an invitation to supper and a few neighbours were induced to come in to make up a cheerful party during the laying of the meal and throughout its continuance who sat beside her first intended husband tried frequently to break the news to him of her engagement to the other now terminated so suddenly and so happily for her heart and her sense of womanly virtue but the talk ran entirely upon the late war and though fortified by half a horn of the strong ale brought by the major she decided that she might have a better opportunity when supper was over of revealing the situation to him in private having leaned back at ease in his chair and looked we used sometimes to enter a have a dance in that other room after supper dear i recollect we used to clear out all the furniture into this room before beginning have you kept up such on no not at all said his sweetheart sadly we were not unlikely to revive it in a few da rs said mr but there s seemingly many a slip as the saying is yes i ll tell john all about that by and by interposed at which perceiving that the secret which he did not like keeping was to be kept even yet her father held his tongue with some show of the subject of a dance having been to put the thought in practice was the feeling of all soon after the tables and chairs were | 45 |
borne from the opposite room to this by zealous hands and two of the villagers sent home for a fiddle and when the majority began to tread a measure well known in that secluded naturally danced with the major not altogether to her father s satisfaction and to the real uneasiness of her mother both of whom would have preferred a of till the anticipated relationship between their daughter and in the past had been made fact by the church s they did not however express a positive objection mr remembering with self reproach that it was owing to his original strongly expressed of s being a soldier s wife that the wedding had been delay i and finally with worse consequences than were expected and ever since the brought about by his government he had allowed events to steer their own courses my tails will surely catch in your spurs john murmured the daughter of the house as she whirled around upon his arm with the soul and look of a i didn t know we should dance or i would have put on my other frock is enter a i ll take care my love danced here before do you think your father objects to me now i ve risen in rank i fancy he s still a little against me he has repented times enough and so have i if i had married you then have saved many a misfortune i have sometimes thought it might have been possible to rush the ceremony through somehow before i left though we were only in the second asking were we and even if i had come back straight here when we from the and married you then how much happier i should have been dear john to say that why didn t you o and want of thought and a fear of facing your father after so long i was in hospital a great while you know but how familiar the place seems again what s that i saw on the in the other room it never used to be there a sort of withered corpse of a cake not an old bride cake surely yes john ours tis the very one that was made for our wedding three years ago alive why time up together and all between then and now seems not to have been what became of that wedding gown that they were making in this room i remember a thing i have that too really why yes why not put it on now wouldn t it seem and yet o how i should like to it would remind them all if we told them what it was how we meant to be married on that day her eyes were again laden with wet yes the pity that we didn t the pity moody seemed to hold silent awhile one not naturally well will you he said enter a i will the next dance if mother don t mind accordingly just before the next figure was formed disappeared and speedily came downstairs in a and box but still airy and pretty muslin gown which was indeed the very one that had been meant to grace her as a bride three years before it is dreadfully old fashioned she not at all what a grand thought of mine now let s to t again she explained to some of them as he led her to the second dance what the frock had been meant for and that she had put it on at his request and again and around the room they went you seem the bride he said but i couldn t wear this gown to be married in now she or i shouldn t have put it on and made it dusty it is nearly too and so folded and fretted out you can t think that was with my taking it out so many times to look at i have never put it on never till now i am thinking of giving up the army will you with me to new i ve an uncle out there doing well and he d soon help me to making a larger income the english army is but it ain t altogether of course anywhere that you decide upon is it healthy there for a lovely climate and i shall never be happy in england he concluded again with a bitterness of unexpected strength would to heaven i had come straight back here as the dance brought round one after another the re pair were thrown into with bob among the rest who had been called in one whose expression was that he carried inside him a joke on the point of bursting with its own he took occasion now to let out a enter a little of its quality shaking his head at as he addressed her in an this is a bit of a to the bridegroom ho ho teach en the you ll expect when you ve married en what does he mean by a the asked who not being of local despised the venerable local language and also seemed to suppose bridegroom to be an name for himself i only hope i shall never be worse treated than you ve treated me to night look frightened he didn t mean you dear she said as they moved on we thought perhaps you knew what had happened owing to coming just at this time had you heard about what i intended not a breath how should i away up in it was by the merest accident that i came at this date to make peace with you for my delay i was engaged to be married to mr miller that s what it is i would have let ee know by letter but there was no time only hearing from ee | 45 |
this afternoon you won t desert me for it will you john because as you know i quite supposed you dead and and her eyes were full of tears of and he might have felt a sob heaving within her iv the soldier was silent during two or three double bars of the tune when were you to have been married to the said mr miller he inquired quite soon how soon next week o yes just the same as it was with you and me there s a strange fate of interruption hanging over me i sometimes think he had bought enter a the which i preferred so that it t be like but it made no difference to the fate of it had bought the the devil don t be angry dear john i didn t know no no i m not angry it was so kind of him considering yes i see of course how natural your action was never thinking of seeing me any more is it the mr miller who is in this dance yes glanced round upon and was silent again for some little while and she stole a look at him to find that he seemed john you look ill she almost sobbed t me is it o dear no though i hadn t somehow expected it i can t find fault with you for a moment and i don t this is a deuce of a long dance don t you think we ve been at it twenty minutes if a second and the figure doesn t allow one much rest i m quite out of breath they like them so dreadfully long here we drop out or i ll stop the o no no i think i can finish but although i look healthy enough i have never been so strong as i formerly was since that long illness i had in the hospital at and i knew nothing about it you couldn t dear as i didn t write what a fool i have been altogether he gave a as of one in pain i won t dance again when this one is over the fact is i have travelled a long way to day and it seems to have knocked me up a bit there could be no doubt that the major was and made herself miserable by still believing that her story was the cause of his suddenly he said in a changed voice and she perceived that he was paler than ever i must sit down i o enter a letting go her waist he went quickly to the other room she followed and found him in the nearest chair his face bent down upon his hands and arms which were resting on the table what s the matter said her father who sat there by the fire john isn t well we are going to new when we are married father a lovely john would you like something to a drop o that of old s that s under stairs perhaps suggested her father not that nowadays tis much better than liquor john she said putting her face dose to his and pressing his arm will you have a drop of spirits or something he did not reply and observed that his ear and the side of his face were quite white convinced that his illness was serious a growing dismay seized hold of her the dance ended her mother came in and learning what had happened looked narrowly at the major we must not let him lie like that lift him up she said let him rest in the window bench on some cushions they unfolded his arms and hands as they lay clasped upon the table and on lifting his head found his features to bear the very impress of death itself miller who had now come in assisted mr to make a comfortable in the window seat where they stretched out upon his back still he seemed unconscious we must get a doctor said o my dear john how is it you be taken like this my impression is that he s dead murmured mr he don t breathe enough to move a s feather there were plenty to to go for a doctor but as it would be at least an before he could get i i enter a there the case seemed somewhat hopeless the dancing party ended as as it had but the guests lingered the premises till the doctor should arrive when he did come the major s were already cold and there was no doubt that death had overtaken him almost at the moment that he had sat down the medical quite refused to accept the unhappy s theory that her revelation had in any way induced s sudden both he and the afterwards who found the immediate cause to be heart failure held that such a supposition was by facts they asserted that a long day s journey a drive and then an dance were sufficient for a result upon a heart by after the of a winter and other experiences the coincidence of the sad event any e of hers being a pure accident conclusion however did not s opinion that the shock of her statement had been the immediate stroke which had a constitution so at this date the were cavalry quarters their to having been effected some years later it had been owing to the fact that the th in which john had served happened to be lying there that made his acquaintance at the time of his death the were occupied by the but when the pathetic circumstances of the s end became known in the town the officers of the offered the services of their fine reed and brass band that he might have a marked by | 45 |
due military honours his body was accordingly removed to the and carried thence to enter a churchyard in the quarter on the following afternoon one of the most ancient and being up to represent s horse on the occasion everybody pitied whose story was well known she followed the corpse as the only having been without relations in this part of the country and a communication with his regiment having brought none from a distance she sat in a little shabby brown black mourning carriage herself up in a comer to be as much as possible out of sight during the slow and dramatic march through the town to the from said when the had taken place the been fired and the return journey it was with something like a shock that she the military escort to be moving at a quick march to the lively strains of off she goes as if all care for the major was expected to be ended with the late discharge of the it was by chance the very tune to which they had been footing when he died and unable to bear its notes she hastily told her driver to drop behind the band and military party diminished up the high street and turned over swan bridge and homeward to then for her a life whose incidents were precisely of a suit with those which had preceded the soldier s return but how different in her appreciation of them her narrow miss of the recovered respectability they had hoped for from that event upon her parents as an and after the first week or two of her mourning her life with them grew almost she had taken to herself the weeds of a widow for such she seemed to herself to be and clothed little in likewise this assumption of a moral relationship to the deceased which e asserted to be only not a legal one by two most unexpected accidents led the old people to indulge in sarcasm enter a at her expense whenever they beheld her attire though the while it cost them more pain to utter than it gave her to hear it having become accustomed by her residence at home to the business carried on by her father she surprised them one day by going off with the child to chalk in the direction of the town of and opening a miniature fruit and vegetable shop attending market with her produce her business grew somewhat larger and it was soon sufficient to enable her to support herself and the boy in comfort she called herself mrs john from the day of leaving home and painted the name on her no man forbidding her by degrees the pain of her state was forgotten in her new circumstances and getting to be generally accepted as the widow of a major of an which her modest and ul seemed to her life became a placid one her mind being nourished by the melancholy of dreaming what might have been her future in new with john if he had only lived to take her there her only travels now were a journey to on market da rs and once a fortnight to the churchyard in which lay there to tend with s assistance as are wont to do the flowers she had planted upon his grave on a day about eighteen months after his unexpected was surprised in her lodging over her little by a visit from miller he had called on her once or twice before on which occasions he had used without a word of comment the name by which she was known ive come this time he said less because i was in this direction than to ask you mrs what you mid well guess i ve come o purpose in short she smiled tis to ask me again to marry you yes of course you see his coming back for ee enter a proved what i always believed of ee though others didn t there s nobody but would be glad to welcome you to our parish again now you ve showed your independence and acted up to your trust in his promise well my dear will you come i d rather bide as mrs i think she answered i am not ashamed of my position at all for i am john s widow in the eyes of heaven i quite agree that s why i ve come still you won t like to be always straining at this op keeping and market standing and be better for if you had nothing to do but tend him he here touched the only weak spot in s resistance to his proposal the good of the boy to promote that there were other men she might have married without loving them if they had asked her to but though she h known the worthy speaker from her youth she could not for the moment fancy herself happy as mrs miller he paused awhile i ought to tell ee mrs he said by and by that marrying is getting to be a pressing question with me not on my own account at all the truth is that mother is growing old and i am away from home a good deal so that it is almost necessary there should be another person in the house with her besides me that s the practical consideration which forces me to of taking a wife apart from my wish to take you and you know there s nobody in the world i care for so much she said something about there being far better women than she and other natural but assured him she was most grateful to him for feeling what he felt as indeed she sincerely was however not consent to be the useful third person in his comfortable home at any rate just then he went away | 45 |
after taking tea with her without much hope for in her i s enter a vi after that evening she saw and heard nothing of him for a great while her journeys to the major s grave were continued whenever weather did not hinder them and mr miller must have known she thought of this custom of hers but though the churchyard was not nearly so far from his as was her shop at chalk he never appeared in the accidental way that lovers use an explanation was in the shape of a letter from her mother who mentioned that mr miller had gone away to the other side of to be married to a s daughter that he knew there his motive it was reported had been less one of love than a wish to provide companion for his aged mother was practical enough to know that she had lost a good and possibly the only of settling in life after what had happened and for a moment she regretted her independence but she became calm on reflection and to herself in her course started that afternoon to tend the s grave in which she took the same sober pleasure as at first on reaching the churchyard and turning the comer towards the spot as usual she was surprised to perceive another woman also apparently a respectable widow and with a tiny boy by her side bending over s and up with the point of her umbrella some ivy roots that had reverently planted there to form an mantle over the mound what are you digging up my ivy for cried rushing forward so excitedly that tumbled over a grave with the force of the she gave his hand in her sudden start your ivy said the respectable woman i enter a why yes i planted it there on my husband s grave your husband s yes the late ma anyhow as good as my husband for he was just going to be indeed but who may be my husband li not he i am the only mrs john widow of the late major of and this is his only son and heir how can that be faltered her throat seeming to stick together as she just began to perceive its possibility he had been going to marry me twice and we were going to new ah i remember about you returned the legitimate widow calmly and not you must be he spoke of you now and then and said that his relations with you would always be a weight on his conscience well the history of my life with him is soon told when he came back from the he became acquainted with me at my home in the north and we were married within a month of first knowing each other after living together a few months we not agree and after a particularly sharp quarrel in which perhaps i was most in the wrong as i don t mind here by his he went away from me declaring he would buy his discharge and to new and never come back to me any more the next thing i heard was that he had died suddenly at at some low and as he had left me in such anger to live no more with me i wouldn t come down to his funeral or do anything in relation to him twas temper i know but that was the fact even if we had parted friends it would have been a serious expense to travel three miles to get there for one who wasn t left so very well off i am sorry i pulled up your ivy roots but that common sort of ivy is considered a weed in my part of the country december t a at an ancient a at an ancient at one s every step forward it rises higher against the south sky with an personality that the senses to r ard it and consider the eyes may bend in another direction but never without the consciousness of its heavy high shouldered presence at its point of across the intervening the gale races in a straight line from the fort as if breathed out of it with the shifting of the clouds the faces of the vary in and in shade broad lights appearing where mist and had prevailed in their turn into melancholy grey which over and the luminous in this so thought spectacle all is change out of the invisible marine region on the other side birds suddenly into the air and hang over the of the heights with the indifference of long familiarity their forms are white against the of cloud and the curves they exhibit in their floating signify that they are sea which have inland from expected stress of weather as the birds rise behind the fort so do the clouds rise behind the birds almost as it seems with their the uppermost the of the whole ruin as seen at a distance of a mile eastward is cut as that of a marble it is varied with a at an ancient which from have the animal aspect of and it may indeed be to an enormous many of an time of the in shape lying lifeless and covered with a thin i cloth which hides its substance while revealing its this dull green mantle of stretches down towards the where the have for centuries to creep up near and yet nearer to the base of the castle but have always stopped short before reaching it the of these attempts show themselves distinctly bending to the incline as they upon it in curves till the them and their threads show like the of waves pausing on the curl the place of which these are some of the features is mai the castle of the great hill said to be the | 45 |
of the capital of the which eventually came into roman occupation and was finally deserted on their from the island the evening is followed by a night on which an invisible moon a subdued yet light without radiance as without blackness the spot whereon i am in a cottage a mile away the fort has now ceased to be visible yet as by day to anybody whose thoughts have been engaged with it and its barbarous of past time the form its existence behind the night as persistently as if it had a voice moreover the wind continues to feed the intervening with brought directly from its sides the midnight hour for which there has been occasion to wait at length arrives and i journey towards the in obedience to a request urged earlier in the day it concerns an appointment which i rather regret my decision to keep now that night is come die route thither is and i a at an ancient need not add deserted the moonlight is sufficient to disclose the pale like surface of the way as it along between the of darker though the road passes near the fortress it does not conduct directly to its fronts as the place is without an so it is without a so presently leaving the road to pursue its course i step off upon the and across it the castle out of the shade by degrees like a thing waking up and asking what i want there it is now so enlarged by that its whole shape cannot be taken in at one view the ends as the rise the sloping of grass and i upward to mai impressive by day as this largest ancient british work in the kingdom undoubtedly is its is increased now after standing still and spending a few minutes in adding its age to its size and its size to its solitude it becomes mournful in its growing a wind blows in the face with an which that the of the air sail low to night the slope that i so laboriously up the wind down its track can be discerned even in this light by the of the withered grass the only produce of this summit except moss four minutes of ascent and a ground of some sort is gained it is only the crest of the outer immediately within this a chasm its bottom is but the not too to admit of a sliding descent if cautiously performed the shady bottom and chilly is thus gained and itself as a kind of winding lane wide enough for a to pass along with rank and away right and left into obscurity between the walls of earth the towering of these on each hand their and their are felt as a at an ancient a physical pressure the way is now up the second of them which stands and higher than the first to turn aside as did christian s companion from such a hill difficulty is the more natural tendency but the way to the interior is upward there is of course an entrance to the fortress but that lies far off on the other side it might possibly have been the wiser course to seek for easier there however being here i ascend the second the grass stems the grey beard of the hill sway in a mass close to my stooping face the dead heads of these various fox tails and bob and as if pulled by a string from a few a whistling proceeds and even the moss speaks in its humble way the stress of the blast that the summit of the second line of defence has been gained is suddenly made known by a wind from a new quarter coming over with the curve of a these novel raise a sound from the whole camp or castle playing upon it bodily as upon a harp it is with some difficulty that a can be preserved under their sweep looking aloft for a moment i perceive that the sky is much more than it has been hitherto and in a few a dead lull in what is now a gale with almost i take advantage of this to down the second but by the time the ditch is reached the lull itself to be but the of a storm it begins with a heave of the whole atmosphere like the sigh of a weary strong man on turning to re commence unusual exertion just as i stand here in the second that which now from the sky upon the scene is not so much light as the wind the natural direction it has pursued on the open and takes the course of the s length rushing along therein and carrying thick rain upon its back a at an ancient the rain is followed by which fly through the in rolling snapping down the banks in an haze of confusion the sides of the seem to quiver under the though it is practically no more to them than the blows of upon the giant of land it is impossible to proceed further till the storm somewhat and i draw up behind a spur of the where possibly a stood two thousand years ago and thus await events the roar of the storm can be heard travelling the complete circuit of the castle a measured mile round at intervals like a column of doubtless such a column has passed this way in its time but the only columns which enter in these latter days are the columns of sheep and oxen that are sometimes seen here now while the only semblance of the heroic voices heard are the of such and of the many winds which make their passage through the the expected lightning round and a as from its if there are any fills the castle | 45 |
the lightning itself and coming after the thoughts of martial men it bears a fanciful resemblance to swords moving in combat it has the very hue of the ancient weapons that here were used the so sudden entry upon the scene of this flame is as the entry of a who the maps the the and effects a by merely exposing the materials of his science till then the abrupt of the and is now for the first time clearly revealed whereon doubtless and have frequently lain while their owners loosened their and yawned aad stretched their arms in the for the first a at an ancient time too a glimpse is of the true entrance used by its occupants of old some way ahead there where all passage has seemed to be barred by an almost f the are f to each other like loosely clasped fingers between which a path may be followed a cunning construction that the eye but its cunning even where not by is now wasted on the solitary forms of a few wild and men must have often gone out by those gates in the morning to battle with the roman under some to return no more others to come back at evening bringing with them the noise of their heroic deeds but not a page not a stone has preserved their fame to night we can almost hear the stream of years that have borne those deeds away from us strange seem to float on the air from that point the where the animation in past times must frequently have concentrated itself at hours of coming and going and general excitement there arises an fancy that they are human voices if so they must be the lingering air borne of conversations uttered at least fifteen years ago the attention is attracted from mere about yonder spot by a real moving of something close at hand i recognize by the now moderate flashes of lightning which are sheet like and nearly continuous it is the gradual elevation of a small of earth at first no larger than a man s fist it reaches the dimensions of a hat then sinks a little and is still it is but the heaving of a who chooses such weather as this to work in from some instinct that there will be nobody abroad to him as the fine earth lifts and lifts and falls loosely aside fragments of burnt day roll out of it clay that once formed part of cups a at an ancient or other vessels used by the inhabitants of the fortress the violence of the storm has been by its being in solid of cloud and hail shot with lightning i find myself uncovered of the and left bare to the mild gaze of the moon whidi now on every wet grass blade and of moss but i am not yet inside the fort and the delayed ascent of the third and last is now made it is than either the first was a surface to walk up the second to up the third can only be ascended on the hands and toes on the summit the first evidence which has been met with in these that the time is really the nineteenth it is in the form of a white on a post and the can just be discerned by the rays of the setting moon caution any person found removing relics stones or other material from this or cutting up the ground will be as the law here one a difference from what has gone before scraps of roman tile and stone through the grass in meagre but sufficient to suggest that stood on the spot before the eye stretches the moonlight the interior of the fort so open and so large is it as to be practically an and yet its area lies wholly within the walls of what may be as one building it is a long retreat all its comer stones and were carried away to build neighbouring villages even before or modem history began many a block which may have helped to form a here rests now in broken and diminished shape as part of the chimney comer of some shepherd s cottage within the distant horizon and the comer stones a at an ancient of this heathen altar may form the base course of some adjoining village church yet the very of these inner courts and wards their condition of mere what remains of them as no do nothing is left visible that the hands can seize on or the weather and a of general outline at least results which no other condition could the position of the castle on this isolated hill and choice exercised by some remote mind capable of reasoning to a far extent the of the surrounding country and its bearing upon such a were obviously long considered and viewed mentally before its extensive design was carried into execution who was the man that said let it be built here not on that hill yonder or on that ridge behind but on this best spot of all whether he were some great one of the or of the or the travelling engineer of britain s united tribes must for ever remain time s secret his form cannot be realized nor his countenance nor the tongue that he spoke when he set down his foot with a and said let it be here within the though it is so wide that at a superficial glance the has only a sense of standing on a down the solitude is rendered yet more solitary by the knowledge that between the and all kindred humanity are those three walls of earth which no being think of on such a night as this even were he to hear the most pathetic cries issuing hence that could be uttered by a soul i | 45 |
in the same primitive way by rubbing it with the wet grass and it proves to be a semi transparent bottle of beauty the sight of which draws groans of luxurious sensibility from the further and further search brings out a piece of a weapon it is x z a at an ancient strange indeed that by merely oflf a of we have lowered ourselves into an ancient world finally a skeleton is uncovered fairly perfect he lays it out on the grass bone to its bone my friend says the man must have fallen fighting here as this is no place of burial he turns again to the feels till from a comer he draws out a heavy lump a image four or five inches high we clean it as before it is a apparently of gold or more probably of bronze gilt a figure of obviously its head being with the or winged hat the usual of that deity further inspection the to be of good finish and detail and preserved by the earth to be as fresh in every line as on the day it left the hands of its we seem to be standing in the roman and not on a hill in intent upon this truly valuable of the old empire of which even this remote spot was a part we do not notice what is going on in the present world till reminded of it by the sudden renewal of the storm looking up i perceive that the wide of cloud has again settled down upon the fortress town as if resting upon the edge of the inner and shutting out the moon i turn my back to the tempest still directing the light across the hole my companion on he is living two thousand years ago and things of the moment as dreams but at last he is fairly beaten and standing up beside me looks round on what he has done the rays of the lantern pass over the to the tall skeleton stretched upon the grass on the other side the beating rain has washed the bones clean and smooth and tiie forehead cheek bones and thirty teeth of the skull in the as they lie this storm like the first is of the nature of a a at an ancient and it ends as abruptly as the other we dig no further my friend says that it is enough he has proved his point he turns to replace the bones in the and covers them but they fall to pieces under his touch the air has them and he can only sweep in the fragments the next act of his plan is more than difficult but is carried out the treasures are again in their respective holes they are not ours each seems to cost him a and at one moment i fancied i saw him slip his hand into his coat pocket we must re bury them all say i o yes he answers with integrity i was wiping my hand the beauties of the floor of the governor s house are once again consigned to darkness the is filled up the sod laid smoothly down he the perspiration from his forehead with the same he had used to the skeleton and clean and we make for the eastern gate of the fortress dawn bursts upon us suddenly as we reach the opening it comes by the lifting and of the clouds that way till we are bathed in a pink light the direction of his homeward is not the same as mine and we part under the outer slope walking along quickly to restore warmth i muse upon my eccentric friend and cannot help asking myself this question did he really replace the gilded image of the god with the rest of the treasures he seemed to do so and yet i not testify to the fact probably however he was as good as his word it was thus i spoke to myself and so the adventure ended but one thing remains to be told and that is concerned with seven years after among the effects of my friend at that time just deceased was a at an ancient found preserved a gilt representing roman no record was attached to explain how it came into his possession the figure was to the what the shepherd saw a tale op four moonlight nights what the shepherd saw first night the genial justice of the peace now alas no more who made himself responsible for the facts of this story used to begin in the good old fashioned way with a bright moonlight night and a mysterious figure an excellent stroke for an opening even to this day if well followed up the christmas moon he would say was showing her cold face to the the reflecting the radiance in frost so n as only to be by an eye near at hand this eye he said was the eye of a shepherd lad young for his occupation who stood within a wheeled hut of the kind commonly in use among sheep during the early season and was looking through the at the scene without the spot was called comer and it was a sheltered portion of that wide expanse of rough land known as the downs which you directly when following the road across mid from london through in the direction of bath and here where the hut stood the land was high and dry open except to the north and commanding an view for miles on the north side grew a tall belt of coarse with enormous a of the same standing detached in front of the general mass the was hollow and the interior had been taken advantage of as a position for the what the shepherd saw before mentioned hut which was thus completely from winds and almost invisible except through | 45 |
the narrow approach but the twigs had been cut away from the two little windows of the hut that the might keep his eye on his sheep in the rear the shelter afford by tiie belt of bushes was improved by an of upright with boughs of the same vegetation and within the lay a renown down breeding flock of eight hundred to the south in the direction of the young shepherd s idle gaze there rose one conspicuous object above the uniform and only one it was a consisting of three stones in the form of a doorway two on end and one across as a each stone had been worn scratched washed split and otherwise attacked by ten thousand different but now the blocks looked and little the worse for wear so beautifully were they over by the light of the moon the ruin was called the devil s door an old shepherd presently entered the hut from the direction of the and looked around in the gloom be ye sleepy he asked in cross accents of the boy the lad replied rather timidly in the negative then said the shepherd i ll get me home along and rest for a few hours there s nothing to be done here now as i can see the can want no more tending till daybreak tis beyond the of reason that they can but as the order is that one of us must bide i ll leave ee d ye hear you can sleep by day and i can t and you can be down to my house in ten minutes if anything should happen i can t afford ee candle but as tis week and the time that folks have you can enjoy by falling asleep a bit in the chair instead of awake all the time but mind not longer at once than i what the shepherd saw while the shade of the devil s door moves a couple of for you must keep an eye upon the the boy made no definite reply and the old man stirring fire in the stove with his stem closed the door upon his companion and vanished as this had been more or less the course of events every night since the season s had set in the boy was not at all surprised at the e and amused himself for some time by lighting at the stove he then went out to the and new bom re entered sat down and finally fell asleep this was his customary manner of performing his watch for though special permission for had this week been accorded he had as a matter of fact done the same thing on every preceding night sleeping often till awakened by a on the at three or f our in the morning from the stem of the old man it might have been about eleven o clock when he awoke he was so surprised at without apparently being called or struck that on second thoughts he that somebody must have called him in spite of appearances and looked out of the hut window towards the sheep they all lay as quiet as when he had visited them very little being audible and no human soul disturbing the scene he next looked from the opposite window and here the case was different the frost the moon as before an occasional bush showed as a dark spot on the same and in the stood the ghostly form of the but in front of the stood a man that he was not the shepherd or any one of the farm was apparent in a moment s observation his dress being a dark suit and his figure of slender build and carriage he walked backwards and forwards in front of the the shepherd lad had hardly done on the strangeness of the unknown s presence here at such an hour when he saw a second figure crossing the open what the shepherd saw towards the locality of the and that the hut this second personage was a woman and immediately on sight of her the male stranger hastened forward meeting her just in front of the hut window before she seemed to be aware of his intention he clasped her in his arms the lady released herself and drew back with some dignity you have come bless you for it he exclaimed fervently but not for this she answered in offended accents and then more good i have come because you entreated me so what can have been the object of your writing such a letter i feared i might be doing you grievous ill by staying away how did you come here i walked all the way from my father s well what is it how have you lived since we last met but roughly you might have known that without asking i have seen many lands and many faces since i last walked these downs but i have only thought of you is it only to tell me this that you have summoned me so strangely a passing breeze blew away the murmur of the reply and several succeeding sentences till the man s voice again became audible in the words truth between us two i have heard that the does not treat you too well he is warm tempered but he is a good husband he speaks roughly to you and sometimes even to lock you out of doors only once on my honour only once the duke is a fairly good husband i repeat but you deserve punishment for this night s trick of drawing me out what does it mean dearest is this fair or honest is it not notorious that your life with him is a sad one that in what the shepherd saw spite of the sweetness of temper the of his your days i have come to know if i | 45 |
can help you you are a and i am but it is not impossible that i may be able to help you by god the sweetness of that tongue ought to keep him civil especially when there is added to it the sweetness of that face captain she exclaimed with an emphasis of ul fear how can such a comrade of my youth behave to me as you do don t speak so and stare at me so is this really all you have to say i see i ought not to have come twas done another breeze broke the thread of discourse for a time very well i perceive you are dead and lost to me he could next be heard to say captain proves that as i once loved you i love you now without one of but you are not the woman you were you once were honest towards me and now you conceal your heart in made up speeches let it be i can never see you again you need not say that in such a tragedy tone you silly you may see me in an ordinary way why should you not but of course not in such a way as this i should not have come now if it had not happened that the duke is away from home so that there is nobody to check my impulses when does he return the day after to morrow or the day after that then meet me again to morrow night no i cannot if you cannot to morrow night you can the night after one of the two before he comes please bestow on me now your hand upon it to morrow or next night you will see me to bid me farewell he seized the s hand no but let go my hand what do you what the shepherd saw mean by holding me so if it be love to forget all respect to a woman s present position in thinking of her past then yours may be so it is not kind and gentle of you to induce me to come to this place for pity of you and then to hold me tight here but see me once more i have come two thousand miles to ask it o i not there will be heaven knows what i cannot meet you for the sake of old times don t ask it then own two things to me that you did love me once and that your husband is unkind to you often enough now to make you think of the time when you cared for me yes i own them both she answered faintly but as that tells against me and i swear the is not true don t say that for you have come let me think the reason of your coming what i like to think it it can do you no harm come once more he still held her hand and waist very well then she said far you shall persuade me i will meet you to morrow night or the night after now let me go he released her and they parted the ran rapidly down the hill towards the mansion of towers and when he had watched her out of sight he turned and strode oflf in the opposite direction all then was silent and empty as before yet it was only for a moment when they had quite departed another shape appeared upon the scene he came from behind the he was a man of build than the first and wore the boots and spurs of a two things were at once obvious from this phenomenon that he had watched the interview between the captain and the and that though he probably had seen every movement of the couple including the embrace what the shepherd saw he had been too remote to hear the reluctant words of the lady s conversation or indeed any words at all so that the meeting must have exhibited itself to his eye as the of a pair of well agreed lovers but it was necessary that several years should before the shepherd boy was old enough to reason out this the third individual stood still for a moment as if deep in meditation he crossed over to where the lady and gentleman had stood and looked at the ground then he too turned and went away in a third direction as widely as possible from those taken by the two his course was towards the highway and a few minutes afterwards the trot of a horse might have been heard upon its frosty surface till it died away upon the ear the boy remained in the hut the as if he expected yet more actors on the scene but nobody else appeared how long he stood with his little face against the he hardly knew but he was rudely awakened from his reverie by a in his back and in the feel of it he familiarly recognized the stem of the old shepherd s blame thy young eyes and limbs bill mills now you have let the fire out and you know i want it kept in i thought something would go wrong with ee up here and i couldn t bide in bed no more than on the wind that i could not well what s happened upon ee nothing all as i left em yes any want bringing in no the shepherd the fire and went out among the sheep with a lantern for the moon was getting low soon he came in again blame it all thou st say that nothing have happened when one have and is like to go what the shepherd saw oflf and another is dying for want of half an eye of looking to i told ee bill mills if anything went wrong | 45 |
to come down and call me and this is how you have done it you said i could go to sleep for a and i did don t you speak to your like that young man or you ll come to the gallows tree you didn t sleep all the time or you wouldn t have been peeping out of that there hole now you can go home and be up here again by breakfast time i be an old man and there s old men that deserve well of the world but no i must rest how i can the elder shepherd then lay down inside the hut and the boy went down the hill to the hamlet where he dwelt second night when the next night drew on the actions of the boy were almost enough to show that he was thinking of the meeting he had witnessed and of the promise wrung from the lady that she would come there again as far as the sheep tending arrangements were concerned to night was but a repetition of the foregoing one between ten and eleven o clock the old shepherd withdrew as usual for what sleep at home he might chance to get without interruption making up the other necessary hours of rest at some time during the day the boy was left alone the frost was the same as on the night before except perhaps that it was a little more severe the moon shone as usual except that it was three quarters of an hour later in its course and the boy s condition was much the same except that he felt no whatever he felt too rather afraid but upon the whole he preferred witnessing an of strangers to the risk of being discovered absent by the old shepherd what the shepherd saw it was before the distant dock of towers had struck eleven that he observed the opening of the second act of this midnight drama it consisted in the appearance of neither lover nor but of the third figure the stout man and who came up from the direction in which he had retreated the night before he walked once round the and next advanced towards the concealing the hut the moonlight shining full upon his face and revealing him to be the duke fear seized upon the the duke was jove himself to the rural population whom to offend was starvation and death and whom to look at was to be mentally and he the stove so that not a spark of light appeared and hastily buried himself in the straw that lay in a comer the duke came dose to the of and stood by the spot where his wife and the captain had held their dialogue he examined the as if for a hiding place and in doing so discovered the hut the latter he walked round and then looked inside finding it to all seeming empty he entered closing the door behind him and taking his place at the little circular window against which the boy s face had been pressed just before the duke had not adopted his measures too rapidly if his object were concealment almost as soon as he had stationed himself there eleven o clock struck and the slender young man who had previously the scene promptly reappeared from the north quarter of the down the spot of having by the of his forward on the foregoing night removed itself from the devil s door to the of he instinctively came thither and wait for the where he had met her before but a fearful surprise was in store for him to night as well as for the trembling at his appear what the shepherd saw ance the duke breathed more and more quickly his being distinctly audible to the crouching boy the young man had hardly paused when the alert nobleman softly opened the door of the hut and stepping came full upon captain you have her and you shall die the death you deserve came to the shepherd s ears in a harsh hollow whisper through the boarding of the hut the and boy was excited enough to run the risk of rising and from the window but he could see nothing for the intervening boughs both the men having gone round to the side what took place in the few following moments he never exactly knew he discerned portion of a shadow in quick muscular movement then there was the fall of something on the grass then there was stillness two or three minutes later the duke became visible the comer of the hut dragging by the collar the now body of the second man the duke dragged him across the open space towards the behind this ruin was a hollow irregular spot overgrown with and thorns and by the old holes of its former inhabitants who had now died out or departed the duke vanished into this depression his burden after the lapse of a few seconds when he came forth he dragged nothing behind him he returned to side of the hut something on the grass and again put himself on the watch though not as before inside the hut but without on the shady side now for the second he said it was plain even to the boy that he now awaited the other person of the appointment his e the for what purpose it was terrible to think he seemed to be a man of such de what the shepherd saw temper that he would scarcely hesitate in carrying out a course of revenge to the bitter end moreover though it was what the shepherd did not perceive this was all the more probable in that the moody duke was under the exaggerated impression which the sight of the meeting in dumb show had conveyed the jealous waited long but he | 45 |
fearful now than at first familiarity with the situation having gradually overpowered his thoughts of the buried man but he was not to be left alone long when an interval had elapsed of about length for walking to and from towers there appeared from that direction the heavy form of the duke he now came alone the nobleman on his part seemed to have eyes no less sharp than the boy s for he instantly recognized the latter among the and came straight towards him are you the shepherd lad i spoke to a short time ago i be my lord duke now to me her grace asked you what you had seen this last night or two up here and you made no reply i now ask the same thing and you need not be afraid to answer have you seen anything strange these nights you have been watching here my lord duke i be a poor heedless boy and what i see i don t bear in mind i ask you again said the duke coming nearer have you seen anything strange these nights you have been watching here o my lord duke i be but the under shepherd boy and my father he was but your humble grace s and my mother only the woman in the back yard i fall asleep when left alone and i see nothing at all the duke grasped the boy by the shoulder and directly impending over him stared down into his face did you see anything strange done here last night i say what the shepherd saw o my lord duke have mercy and don t me cried the shepherd falling on his knees i have never seen you walking here or riding here or wait for a man or dragging a heavy load h m said his grimly his hold it is well to know that you have never seen those things now which you rather see me do those things now or keep a secret all life keep a secret my lord duke sure you are able o your grace try me very well and now how do you like not at all tis lonely work for them that think of spirits and i m badly used i believe you you are too yoimg for it i must do something to make you more comfortable you shall change this frock for a real cloth jacket and your thick boots for polished shoes and you shall be taught what you have never yet heard of and be put to school and have and balls for the holidays and be made a man of but you must never say you have been a shepherd boy and watched on the at night for shepherd boys are not liked in good company trust me my lord duke the very moment you forget yourself and speak of your shepherd days this year next year in school out of school or riding in your carriage twenty years hence at that moment my help will be withdrawn and down you come to forthwith you have parents i think you say a mother only my lord duke i ll provide for her and make a comfortable woman of her until you speak of what of my shepherd days and what i saw here good if you do speak of it down she comes to forthwith that s very well but it s not enough what the shepherd saw come here he took the boy across to the and made him kneel down now this was once a holy place resumed the duke an altar stood here erected to a venerable family of gods who were known and talked of long before the god we know now so that an oath here is doubly an oath say this after me may all the host above angels and and and powers me may i be tormented wherever i am in the house or in the garden in the fields or in the roads in church or in chapel at home or abroad on land or at sea may i be afflicted in eating and in drinking in growing up and in growing old in living and dying inwardly and outwardly and for always if i ever speak of my life as a or of what i have seen done on this down so be it and so let it be amen and amen now kiss the stone the trembling boy repeated the words and kissed the stone as desired the led him off by the hand that night the junior shepherd slept in towers and the next day he was sent away for to a remote village thence he went to a preparatory establishment and in due course to a public school fourth night on a winter evening many years subsequent to the above mentioned the ci shepherd sat in a well office in the north wing of towers in the guise of an ordinary educated man of business he appeared at this time as a person of thirty eight or forty though actually he was several years a worn and restless glance of the eye now and then when he lifted his head to search for some letter or paper which had been seemed to that his was not a mind so s what the shepherd saw thoroughly at ease as his surroundings might have led an observer to expect his too was remarkable for a he was engaged in writing but he shaped not a word he had sat there only a few minutes when laying down his pen and pushing back his chair he rested a hand on each of the chair arms and looked on the floor soon he arose and left the room his course was along a passage which ended in a central hall crossing this he knocked at a door a faint | 45 |
though deep voice told him to come in the room he entered was the library and it was by a single person only his patron the duke during this long interval of years the duke had lost all his of build he was indeed almost a skeleton his white hair was thin and his hands were nearly transparent oh mills he murmured sit down what is it nothing new your grace nobody to speak of has written and nobody has called ah what then you look concerned old times have come to life owing to something waking them old times be cursed which old times are they that christmas week twenty two years ago when the late s cousin implored her to meet him on downs i saw the meeting it was just such a night as this and i as you know saw more she met him once but not the second time mills shall i recall some words to you the words of an oath taken on that hill by a shepherd boy it is unnecessary he has kept that oath and promise since that night no of his shepherd life has crossed his lips even to but do you wish to hear more or do you not your grace i wish to hear no more said the duke sullenly very well let it be so but a time coming iso what the shepherd saw may be near at hand when in spite of my lips that episode will allow itself to go no longer i wish to hear no more repeated the duke you need be imder no fear of treachery from me said the steward somewhat bitterly i am a man to whom you have been kind no patron could have been kinder you have clothed and educated me have me here and i am not ul but what of it has your grace gained much by my i think not there was great excitement about captain s disappearance but i spoke not a word and his body has never been found for twenty two years i have wondered what you did with him now i know a circumstance that occurred this afternoon recalled the time to me most forcibly to make it certain to myself that all was not a dream i went up there with a i searched and saw enough to that something there in a closed s hole mills do you think the guessed she never did i am sure to the day of her death did you leave all as you foimd it on the hill i did what made you think of going up there this particular afternoon what your grace says you don t wish to be told the duke was silent and the stillness of the evening was so marked that there reached their ears from the outer air the sound of a bell what is that bell for asked the nobleman for what i came to teu you of your grace you torment me it is your way said the duke who s dead in the village the oldest man the old shepherd dead at last how old is he ninety four and i am only seventy i have and twenty years to the good what the shepherd saw i served under that old man when i kept sheep on downs and he was on the hill that second night when i first exchanged words with your grace he was on the hill au the time but i did not know he was there nor did you ah said the duke starting up go on i yield the point you may teu i heard this afternoon that he was at the point of death it was that which set me thinking of that past time and induced me to search on the hill for what i have told you coming back i heard that he wished to see the to confess to him a secret he had kept for more than twenty years out of respect to my lord the duke something that he had seen committed on downs when returning to the flock on a december night twenty two years ago i have thought it over he had left me in charge that evening but he was in the habit of coming back suddenly lest i should have fallen asleep that night i saw nothing of him though he had promised to return he must have returned and foimd reason to keep in hiding it is all plain the next thing is that the went to him two hours ago further than that i have not heard it is quite enough i will see the at daybreak to morrow what to do stop his tongue for four and twenty years till i am dead at ninety four like the shepherd grace while you impose silence on me i will not speak even though my neck should pay the penalty i promised to be yours and i am yours but is this of any avail i ll stop his tongue i say cried the duke with some of his old rugged force now you go home to bed mills and leave me to manage him the interview ended and the steward withdrew the night as he had said was just such an one as the night of twenty two years before and the events oa what the shepherd saw of the evening destroyed in him all regard for the season as one of cheerfulness and good he went off to his own house on the further verge of the park where he led a lonely life scarcely any man friend at eleven he prepared to retire to bed but did not retire he sat down and reflected twelve o clock struck | 45 |
he looked out at the moon and prompted by he knew not what put on his hat and emerged into the air here mills strolled on and on till he reached the top of downs a spot he had not visited at this hour of the night during the whole score and odd years he placed himself as nearly as he could guess on the spot where the shepherd s hut had stood no was in progress there now and the old who had used him so roughly had ceased from his labours that very day but the stood up white as ever and crossing the intervening the steward placed his mouth against the stone restless and self as he was he could not resist a smile as he thought of the oath of compact sealed by a kiss upon the stones of a pagan temple but he had kept his word rather as a promise than as a formal vow with much worldly advantage to himself though not much happiness till increase of years had bred feelings which led him to receive the news of to night with emotions akin to relief while leaning against the devil s door and thinking on these things he became conscious that he was not the only of the down a figure in white was moving across his front with long noiseless strides stood motionless and when the form drew quite near he perceived it to be that of the duke himself in his apparently walking in his sleep not to alarm the old man mills dose to the shadow of the stone the duke went straight on into the hollow there he knelt down and began scratching the earth with his hands like a o what the shepherd saw after a few minutes he arose sighed heavily and his steps as he had come fearing that he might harm himself yet unwilling to arouse him the steward followed noiselessly the duke kept on his path entered the park and made for the house where he let himself in by a window that stood open the one probably by which he had come out mills softly tiie window behind his patron and then retired homeward to await the revelations of the morning it to alarm the house however he felt during the remainder of the night no less on account of tiie duke s personal condition than because of that which was imminent next day early in the morning he called at towers the blinds were down and there was something singular upon the porter s face when he opened tiie door the steward inquired for the duke the man s voice was subdued as he replied sir i am sorry to say that his grace is dead he left his room some time in the night and wandered about nobody knows where on returning to the upper floor he lost his balance and fell downstairs the steward told the tale of the down before the had spoken mills had always intended to do so after the death of the duke the consequences to himself he cheerfully but his life was not prolonged he died a farmer at the cape when still somewhat under forty nine years of age the splendid breeding flock is as renowned as ever and to the eye seems the same in every particular that it was in earlier times but the animals which composed it on the occasion of the events gathered from the justice are divided by many generations from its members now comer has long since ceased to be used for purposes though the name still on as the io what the shepherd saw of the spot this of site may be partly owing to the removal of the high which lent such convenient shelter at that date partly too it may be due to another for it is said by present in that district that during the nights of christmas week flitting shapes are seen in the open space around the together with the gleam of a weapon and the shadow of a man dragging a burden into the hollow but of these things there is no certain testimony christmas i i a committee man of the terror a committee man of the terror a committee man of the terror we had been talking of the glories of our old fashioned watering place which now with its substantial red and brick buildings in the style of the year eighteen hundred looks like one side of a or street transported to the shore and draws a smile from the modem who has no eye for of build the writer quite a youth was present merely as a listener the conversation proceeded from general subjects to particular old mrs h whose memory was as perfect at eighty as it had ever been in her life interested us all by the obvious fidelity with which she repeated a story many times related to her by her mother when our aged friend was a girl a domestic drama much affecting the life of an acquaintance of her said parent one v a teacher of the incidents occurred in the town during the of its at the time of our brief peace with france in i wrote it down in the shape of a story some years ago just after my mother s death said mrs h it is locked in my desk there now read it said we no said she the light is bad and i can remember it well enough word for word and au we could not be in tiie circumstances and she b an is a committee man op the terror there are two in it of course the man and the woman and it was on an evening in september that she first got to know him there had not been such a grand gathering on the all the | 45 |
season his majesty king george the third was present with all the and royal while upwards of three of the general nobility and other persons of distinction were also in the town at the time carriages and other were arriving every minute from london and elsewhere and when among the rest a shabby stage coach came in by a by route along the coast from and drew up at a second rate tavern it attracted comparatively little notice from this dusty vehicle a man alighted left his small quantity of luggage temporarily at the office and walked along the street as if to look for lodgings he was about forty five possibly fifty and wore a long coat of faded cloth with a heavy collar and a up he seemed to desire obscurity but the display appeared presently to strike him and he asked of a rustic he met in the street what was going on his accent being that of one to whom english was difficult the looked at him with a slight surprise and said is here and his royal the stranger inquired if they were going to stay long don t know sir same as they always do i suppose how long is that till some time in october they ve come here every since eighty nine stranger moved onward down st thomas street and approached the bridge over the harbour that then as now connected the old town with the more modem portion the spot was swept a committee man op the terror with the rays of a low sun which lit up the harbour and shone under the brim of the man s hat and into his eyes as he looked westward against the radiance figures were crossing in the opposite direction to his own among them this lady of my mother s later acquaintance v she was the daughter of a good old french family and at that date a pale woman twenty eight or thirty years of age tall and elegant io figure but plainly dressed and wearing that evening she said a small muslin shawl crossed over the bosom in the fashion of the time and tied behind at sight of his face which as she used to tell us was distinct in the peering sunlight she could not help giving a little shriek of horror for a terrible reason connected with her history and after walking a few steps further she sank down against the of the bridge in a fainting fit in his the foreign gentleman had hardly noticed her but her strange immediately attracted his attention he quickly crossed the picked her up and carried her into the first op adjoining the bridge explaining that she was a lady who had been taken ill outside she soon revived but clearly much puzzled her perceived that she still had a dread of him which was to hinder her complete recovery of self command she spoke in a quick and nervous way to the asking him to call a coach this the did v and the stranger remaining in constrained silence while he was gone the coach came up and giving the man the address she entered it and drove away who is that lady said the newly arrived gentleman she s of your nation as i should make bold to suppose said the and he told the other that she was v at general s in the same town a committee man op the terror i you have many foreigners here the stranger inquired yes though mostly but since the peace they are learning french a good deal in genteel society and french are rather in demand yes i teach it said the visitor i am looking for a in an academy the information given by the to the frenchman seemed to explain to the latter nothing of his s conduct which indeed was the case and he left the shop taking his course again over the bridge and along the south to the old rooms inn where he engaged a thoughts of the woman who had betrayed such agitation at sight of him lingered naturally enough with the though as i stated not less than thirty years of age v one of his own nation and of highly refined and delicate appearance had kindled a singular interest in the middle aged gentleman s breast and her large dark eyes as they had opened and shrunk from wm exhibited a pathetic beauty to which hardly any man could have been insensible the next day having written some letters he went out and made known at the office of the town guide and of the newspaper that a teacher of french and had arrived leaving a card at the s to the same effect he then walked on but at length inquired the way to general s at the door without giving his name he asked to see v and was shown into a little back parlour where she came to him with a gaze of my god why do you intrude here she gasped in french as soon as she saw his face you were taken ill yesterday i helped you you might have been run over if i had not picked you up it was an act of simple humanity certainly but i thought i might come to ask if you had recovered hi i n a committee man op the terror she had aside and had scarcely heard a word of his speech i hate you infamous man i she said i cannot bear your helping me go away but you are a stranger to me i know you too well you have the advantage then i am a here i never have seen you before to my knowledge and i certainly do not could not hate you are you not b he i am in paris he said but here i am | 45 |
g that is trivial you are the man i say you are how did you know my real name i saw you in years gone by when you did not see me you were formerly member of the of public safety under the you my father my brother my uncle au my family nearly and broke my mother s heart they had done nothing but keep silence their sentiments were only guessed their were thrown into the ditch of and destroyed with lime he nodded you left me without a friend and here i am now alone in a foreign land i sorry for you said he sorry for the consequence not for the intent what i did was a matter of conscience and from a point of view by you i did right i not a but i shall not argue this you have the satisfaction of seeing me here an exile also in poverty betrayed by comrades as as it is no satisfaction to me well things done cannot be altered now to the question are you quite recovered not from dislike and dread of you otherwise yes a committee man op the terror good good they did not meet again till one evening at the theatre which my mother s friend was with great difficulty induced to frequent to perfect herself in english the idea she entertained at that time being to become a teacher of english in her own country later on she found him sitting next to her and it made her pale and restless you are still afraid of me i am o cannot you he signified the affirmative i follow the play with difficulty he said presently so do i now said she he regarded her long and she was conscious of his look and while she kept her eyes on the stage they filled with tears still she would not move and the tears ran visibly down her cheek though the play was a merry one being no other than mr s comedy of the rivals with mr s as captain absolute he saw her distress and that her mind was elsewhere and abruptly rising from his seat at candle time he left the theatre though he lived in the old town and she in the new they frequently saw each other at a distance one of these occasions was when she was on the north side of the harbour by the waiting for the boat to take her across he was standing by row on the opposite instead of entering the boat when it arrived she stepped back from the but looking to see if he remained she beheld him pointing with his finger to the boat enter he said in a voice loud enough to reach her v stood still enter he said and as she did not move he repeated the word a third time she had really been going to cross and now a committee man op the terror approached and stepped down into the boat though she did not raise her eyes she knew that he was watching her over at the landing steps she saw from under the brim of her hat a hand stretched down the steps were steep and slippery no she said unless indeed you believe in god and repent of your evil past i am sorry you were made to but i only believe in the god called reason and i do not repent i was the instrument of a national principle your friends were not sacrificed for any ends of mine she thereupon withheld her hand and up he went on ascending the look out hill and disappearing over the brow her way was in the same direction her errand being to bring home the two young girls her charge who had gone to the cliff for an when she joined them at the top she saw his solitary figure at the further edge standing motionless against the sea all the while that she remained with her pupils he stood without turning as if looking at the in the but more probably in meditation unconscious where he was in leaving the spot one of the children threw away half a that she had been eating passing near it he stooped picked it up carefully and put it in his pocket v came homeward asking herself can he be starving that day he was invisible for so long a time that she thought he had gone away altogether but one evening a note came to her and she opened it trembling i am here ill it said and as you know alone there are one or two little things i want done in case my death should occur and i should prefer not to ask the people here if it could be avoided have you enough of the gift of charity to come and carry out my wishes before it is too late now so it was that since seeing him possess himself of the broken cake she had begun to a committee man of the terror feel something that was more than though perhaps less than anxiety about this fellow of hers and it was not in her nervous sensitive heart to resist his appeal he found his lodging to which he had removed from the old rooms inn for economy to be a room over a shop half way up the steep and narrow street of the old town to which the fashionable visitors seldom j with some she entered the house and was to the ch ber he lay you are too good too good he and you need not shut the door you will feel safer and they will not understand what we say are you in want can i give you no no i merely want you to do a trifling thing or two that i have not strength enough to do nobody | 45 |
in the town but you knows who i really am unless you have told i have not told i thought you might have acted from principle in those sad days even you are kind to that much however to the present i was able to destroy my few papers before i became so weak but in the drawer there you will find some pieces of linen clothing only two or three marked with that may be recognized will you them out with a she searched as the garments cut out the of the and replaced the linen as before a promise to post in the event of his death a letter he put in her hand completed all that he required of her he thanked her i think you seem sorry for me he murmured and i am surprised you are sorry she the question do you repent and believe she asked no contrary to her expectations and his own he recovered though very slowly and her manner grew a committee man of the terror more distant though his influence upon her was deeper than she knew weeks passed away and the month of may arrived one day at this time she met him walking slowly along the beach to the northward you know the news he said you mean of the e between and england again yes and the feeling of is stronger than it was in the last war owing to s arrest of the innocent english who were travelling in country for e i feel that the war will be long and bitter and that my wish to live unknown in england will be see here he took from his pocket a piece of the single newspaper which in the country in those days and she read the acting under the alien act have been requested to direct a very eye to the in our towns and other places in which french are employed and to all of that who profess to be teachers in this many of them are known to be enemies and to the nation among whose people they have foimd a and a home he continued i have observed since the declaration of war a marked difference in the conduct of the class of people here towards me if a great battle were to as it soon will no doubt feeling grow to a pitch that would make it impossible for me a disguised man of no known occupation to stay here with you whose duties and are known it may be less difficult but still unpleasant now i propose this you have probably seen how my deep sympathy with you has quickened to a warm feeling and what i say is will you agree to give me a title to protect you by me with your hand i am older than you it is true but as husband and wife we can leave england together and make the whole world our country though i would propose a committee man of the terror in canada as the place which offers the best promise of a home my god you surprise me said she but you accept my proposal no no and yet i think you will some day i think not i won t distress you further now much thanks i am glad to see you looking better i mean you are looking better ah yes i am improving i walk in the every day and almost every day she saw him sometimes nodding stiffly only sometimes exchanging formal you are not gone yet she said on one of these occasions no at present i don t think of going without you but you find it uncomfortable here somewhat so when will you have pity on me she shook her head and went on her way yet she was a little moved he did it on principle she would he had no towards them and nothing she wondered how he lived it was evident that he could not be so poor as she had thought his pretended poverty might be to escape notice she could not tell but she knew that she was interested in him and he still mended till his thin pale face became more full and firm as he mended she had to meet that request of his advanced with even stronger the arrival of the king and court for the season as usual brought matters to a climax for these two lonely and fellow country people the king s awkward preference for a part of the coast in such dangerous to france made it necessary a committee man op the terror that a strict military vigilance be exercised to guard the royal half a dozen were every night posted in a line across the bay and two lines of one at the water s edge and another behind the occupied the whole sea front after eight every night the watering place was growing an inconvenient residence even for v herself her friendship for this strange french and writing master who never had any pupils having been observed by many who slightly knew her the general s wife whose dependent she was repeatedly warned her against the acquaintance while the and other soldiers of the foreign who had discovered the of her friend were more than the english military who made it their business to notice her in this tense state of affairs her answers became more agitated o heaven how can i marry you she would say you will surely you will he answered again i don t leave without you and i shall soon be before the if i stay here probably imprisoned you will come she felt her breaking down contrary to all reason and sense of family honour she was by some craving to a tenderness for him that was on its opposite sometimes her warm sentiments burnt | 45 |
lower than at others and then the of her conduct showed itself in more staring hues shortly ter this he came with a resigned look on his face it is as i expected he said i have received a hint to go in good i am no i am no enemy to england but the presence of the king made it impossible for a foreigner with no visible occupation and who may be a spy to remain at large in the town the authorities are civil but firm they are no more than reasonable good i must go you come also a committee man op the terror she did not speak but she nodded assent her eyes drooping on her way back to the house on the she said to herself i am glad i am glad i could not do otherwise it is rendering good for evil but she knew how she herself in this and that the moral principle had not one in her acceptance of him in she had not realized till now the full presence of the emotion which had unconsciously grown up in her for this lonely and severe man who in her tradition was vengeance and he seemed to her whole nature and absorbing to control it a day or two before the one fixed for the wedding there chanced to come to her a letter from the only acquaintance of her own sex and country she possessed in england one to whom she had sent intelligence of her approaching marriage without mentioning with whom this friend s misfortune had somewhat similar to her own which fact had been one cause of their intimacy her friend s sister a mm of the abbey of having perished on the at the hands of the same de public which had v s among its members the writer had her position much again of late since the renewal of the war she said and the letter up with a fresh of the authors of their mutual and subsequent troubles coming just then its contents produced upon v the effect of a of water upon a what had she been doing in herself to this man was she not making herself a after the event at crisis in her feelings her lover called he beheld and in reply to his question she told him of her scruples with impulsive she had not intended to do this but his attitude of tender command her into frankness there a committee man of the terror upon he exhibited an agitation never before apparent in him he said but all that is past you are the symbol of charity and we are pledged to let her his words soothed her for the but she was sadly silent and he went away that night she as she firmly believed to the end of her life a sent vision a procession of her lost relative father brother cousin seemed to cross chamber between her bed and the window and when she endeavoured to trace their features she perceived them to be and that she had recognized them by their familiar clothes only in the morning she could not shake off the effects of this at on her nerves all that day she saw nothing of her he being occupied in making arrangements for their departure it towards the but in spite of his visit her of family duty stronger now that she was left alone yet she asked herself how could she alone and go at this hour and to an husband that she not and would not him while at the same time that she loved him the situation dismayed her she had her post as was ring temporarily in k room near the coach ofl ce where she expected him to call in the morning to carry out the business of their union and departure wisely or f v r came to a i that her only safety lay in flight his influenced her too sensibly she could not reason so packing up her few possessions and placing on the table the small sum she owed she went out privately ed a last seat in the london coach and almost before she had fully weighed her action she was rolling out of the town in the of the september evening having taken this startling step she began to re a committee man of the terror fleet upon her reasons he had been one of that tragic committee the sound of whose name was a horror to the civilized world yet he had been only one of several members and it seemed not the most active he had marked down names on principle had felt no personal enmity against his victims and had enriched himself not a sou out of the ofl ce he had held nothing could change the past meanwhile he loved her and her heart inclined to as much of him as she from that past why not as he had suggested memories and a new era by this union in other words why not indulge her tenderness since its could do no good thus she held self communion in her seat in the coach passing through and and on to the white at at which place the whole fabric of her recent intentions down better be having got so far let things take their course and marry boldly the man who had so impressed her how great he was how small was she and she had to judge him her place in the coach with the that had her taking it she waited till the vehicle had driven off some ing in the departing shapes of the outside passengers against the sky giving her a start as she afterwards remembered presently the down coach the morning herald entered the city and she hastily obtained a place on the top i ll be firm i | 45 |
it locked and then observed that tiie windows were up inquiring of a he learnt for the first time of the death of his brother though that event had taken place nearly eighteen mon is before and my sister asked she s married again as they do say and hath been so these twelve months i don t for the truth o t though if she isn t she ought to be s face grew dark he was a man with a considerable reserve of strong passion and he asked his what he meant by speaking thus the man explained that shortly after the young woman s a stranger had come to the port he had seen her on the had been attracted by her youth and loneliness and in an brief had completely fascinated her had carried her off and as was reported had married her though he come by water he was supposed to live no very great distance off by land they were last heard of at in upper at the house of one wall a timber merchant where he believed she still had a lodging though her d master john knight husband if he were that much was but an occasional visitor to the place the stranger asked did you see him what manner of man was he i liked him not said the other he seemed of that kind that hath something to conceal and as he walked with her he ever and anon turned his head and gazed behind him as if he much feared an unwelcome but faith continued he it may have been the man s anxiety only yet did i not like him was he older than my sister asked ay much older from a dozen to a score of years older a man of some position maybe an game for the pleasure of ttie hour who but that he have a wife already many have done the thing of late having paid a visit to the graves of his relatives the sailor next day went along the straight road which then a lane now a highway conducted to the curious little inland town named by the man it is unnecessary to describe on the south it has a railway at the present day but thirty years of steam traffic past its have hardly modified its original features surrounded by a sort of fresh water dividing it from meadows and its ancient and timber houses have barely made way even in the front street for the modem brick and slate it neither nor in size it is difficult to say what the inhabitants find to do for though trades in are still carried on there cannot be enough of this class of work nowadays to maintain all the the forests around having been so greatly and at the time of this tradition the forests were dense in wood and the timber trade was brisk every house in the town without exception was of oak filled in with plaster and covered with the chimney being the only brick portion of the structure inquiry master john knight soon brought the sailor to the door of wall the timber dealer referred to but it was some time before he was able to gain admission to the lodging of his sister the people having plainly received directions not to welcome strangers she was sitting in an upper room on one of the willow shepherd s chairs made on the spot then as to this day and as they were probably made there in the of the in her lap was an infant which she had been though now it had fallen asleep so had the young mother herself for a few minutes under the effects of solitude hearing footsteps on the stairs she awoke started up a glad cry and ran to the door opening which she met her brother on the threshold o this is merry i didn t expect ee she said ah i thought it was john her tones to disappointment the sailor kissed her looked at her sternly for a few moments and pointing to the infant said you mean the father of this yes my husband said i hope so he answered why i m married of a truth am i she cried shame upon ee if true if not true worse master was an honest man and ye should have respected his memory longer where is thy he comes often i thought it was he now marriage has to be kept secret for a while it was done for certain reasons but we was married at like honest folk afore god we were six months after poor s death twas too soon said i was in a house alone i had nowhere to go to you were far over sea in the new pound land and john took me and brought me here how often doth he come says again once or twice weekly says she master john knight i wish th waited till i dear he said it mid be you are a wife i hope so but if so why this mystery why this mean and cramped lodging in this lonely town of what standing is your husband and of where he is of gentle breeding his name is john i am not free to tell his family name he is said to be of london for safety sake but he really lives in the county next adjoining this where in the next county i do not know he has preferred not to tell me that i may not have the secret forced from me to his and my hurt by bringing the marriage to the ears of his and friends her brother s face flushed our people have been honest well for long why should you readily take such from a of whom th st know nothing | 45 |
they remained in constrained converse till her quick ear caught a for which she might have been waiting a horse s it is john said she this is his night saturday don t be frightened lest he should find me here said i am on the point of leaving i wish not to be a third party say nothing at all about my visit if it will you so to do i will see thee before i go afloat again speaking thus he left the room and descending the staircase let himself out by the front door thinking he might obtain a glimpse of the approaching but that traveller had in the meantime gone stealthily round to the back of the and peering along the end of the house discerned him and his horse with his own hands in the shed there retired to the neighbouring inn called the black lamb and meditated this mysterious method of approach determined him after all not to leave the place till he had ascertained more definite facts master john knight of his sister s position whether she were the victim of the stranger or the wife she believed herself to be having eaten some supper he left the inn it being now about eleven o he first looked into the shed and finding the horse still standing there waited near the door of his sister s lodging half an hour elapsed and while thinking he would into a hard by for a night s rest there seemed to be a movement within the shutters of the sitting room that his sister occupied hid himself behind a near the back door rightly that his sister s visitor would by the way he had entered the door opened and the candle she held in her hand lighted for a moment the stranger s form showing it to be that of a tall and handsome personage about forty years of age and apparently of a superior position in life was assisting to cloak himself which being done he took leave of her with a kiss and left the house from the door she watched him bridle and saddle his horse and having mounted and waved an adieu to her as she stood candle in hand he turned out of the yard and rode away the horse which bore him was or seemed to be a little lame and fancied from this that the rider s journey was not likely to be a long one being light of foot he followed having no great on such a still night in keeping within some few miles the pausing more than once in this pursuit discovered the rider to choose bridle tracks and open in preference to any high road the distance soon began to prove a more one than he had for and when out of breath and in some despair of being able to ascertain the man s identity he perceived an ass standing in the under a from which the animal was helping itself to the story goes that caught the ass mounted and again resumed the trail of the unconscious horse master john knight man which feat may have been possible to a young fellow though one can hardly understand how a sailor would ride such an animal without bridle or saddle and strange to his hands unless the e were y this question however is suffice to say that at dawn the following morning beheld his sister s lover or husband entering the gates of a large and well park on the south western verge of the white forest as it was then called now known to everybody as the of thereupon the sailor discarded his and finding for himself an entrance to the same park a little further on he crossed the grass to he presently perceived amid the trees before him a mansion which new to himself was one of the best known in the county at that time of this fine residence hardly a trace now remains but a manuscript dated some years later than the events we are regarding describes it in terms from which the imagination may a singularly clear and vivid picture this record presents it as consisting of l yellow building partly two and partly three a and parlour both a and withdrawing and many good lodgings a kitchen to one end of the dwelling house with a passage from it into the parlour and and in the front of the house a square court and a curious with lodgings in it standing with the front of the house to the south in a large outer court three stables a coach house a large and a stable for oxen and and all houses necessary without the in a large square in which a of the south east side of the court towards the river a large garden of the south west side of the court is a large master john knight with mounted walks about it all walled about with a wall and with all sorts of fruit and out of it into the there are large walks under many orderly planted then follows a description of the and gardens the servants offices pigeon houses and corn mill the river and its abundance of fish the the the walks ending thus and all the country north of the house open sandy very dry and pleasant for all of and and profitable for the house hath a large prospect east south and west over a very large and pleasant is seated from the good towns of three miles and a mile that yield all manner of provision and within twelve miles of the south sea it was on the grass before this and picturesque structure that the sailor stood at gaze under the elms in the dim dawn of sunday morning and saw to his surprise his sister s lover and horse vanish within | 45 |
the court of the building perplexed and weary slowly retreated more than ever convinced that something was wrong in his sister s position he crossed the green to the avenue of elms and bent on further was about to climb into one of these when looking below he saw a heap of hay apparently for horses or deer into this he crept and having eaten a crust of bread which he had hastily thrust into his pocket at the inn he curled up and asleep the hay forming a comfortable bed and quite covering him over he slept soundly and long and was awakened by the sound of a bell on peering from the hay he found the time had advanced to full day the sim was shining brightly the bell was that of the f on the green outside the and it was calling to presently the priest crossed the green to a master john knight little side door in the and then from the of the mansion emerged the household the man whom had seen with his sister on the previous night on his arm being a dame and running beside the pair two little girls and a boy these all entered the chapel and the bell having ceased and the become dear the sailor crept out from his hiding he sauntered towards the chapel the opening words of the service being audible within while standing by the porch he saw a approaching from the kitchen to attend the service also carelessly him and asked as an idle wanderer the name of the family he had just seen cross over from the mansion od if ye be a stranger here in very truth that sir john and his dame and his children elizabeth mary and john i be from foreign parts sir john what d ye call n master john knight who had a most as much by inheritance of his mother as a had by his father and likewise some by his wife why t his arms horses heads and his lady the daughter of master richard of in known to us all it mid be so and yet it mid not however th it thy prayers for such an honest knight s welfare and i have to many miles he went onward and as he walked continued saying to himself now to that poor wronged fool the fond thing i thought it twas too die was ever what s to become of her god how be i going to face her with the news and how be i to hold it from her to bring this disgrace on my father s honoured name a double he turned and shook his fist at the chapel and all in it and resumed his way perhaps it was owing to the perplexity of his mind that instead of returning by the direct road towards master john knight his sister s obscure in the next he followed the highway to some fifteen miles off where he remained drinking hard all that afternoon and evening and where he lay that and two or three succeeding nights wandering thence along the road to some village that way and lying the friday night after at his native place of the sight of the familiar objects there seems to have stirred him anew to action and the next morning he was observed pursuing the way to that he had followed on the saturday previous reckoning no doubt that saturday night would as before be a time for finding sir john with his sister again he delayed to the place till just before sunset his sister was walking in the meadows at the foot of the garden with a who carried the baby and she looked up when he approached anxiety as to her position had already told upon her once rosy cheeks and eyes but concern for herself and child was for the moment by her regard of s worn and haggard face why you are sick you are tired where have you been these many days why not keep me company a bit my husband is much away and we have hardly spoke at all of dear father and of your voyage to the new land why did you go away so suddenly there is a spare chamber at my lodging come indoors he said we ll talk now a good deal as for him nodding to the child better heave him into the river better for him and you she forced a laugh as if she tried to see a good joke in the remark and they went silently indoors a miserable hole said looking round the room nay but tis very pretty not after what i ve seen did he marry ee at church in orderly fashion he did sure at our church at but in a way master john knight ay of his friends it was at ye fond one for all that he s not thy husband th rt not his wife and the child is a he hath a wife and children of his own rank and bearing his name and that s sir john of and not plain jack as you think and your lawful husband the of marriage is no nowadays the king s new made of the church hath led men to practise these tricks lightly she had turned white that s not true she said you are in liquor my brother and you know not what you say your years have taught ee bad things i ve seen them wife and family all how they were sitting in the gathered darkness and at that moment steps were heard without go out this way she said it is my husband he must not see thee in this mood get away till to morrow as you care for me she pushed her brother through a | 45 |
door leading to the back stairs and almost as soon as it was closed her visitor entered however did not retreat down the stairs he stood and looked through the hole if the visitor turned out to be sir john he had determined to him it was the knight she had struck a light on his entry and he kissed the child and took tenderly by the shoulders looking into her face something s gone wi my dear he said what is it what s the matter o jack she cried i have heard such a rumour what doth it mean he who told me is my best friend he must be deceived but who deceived him and why jack i was just told that you had a wife living when you married me and have her still master john knight a wife h m yes and children say no say no by god i have no lawful wife but you and as for children many or few they are au save this one alone and that you be sir john of i mid be i have never said so to ee but sir john is known to have a lady and issue of her the knight looked down how did thy mind get filled with such as this he asked one of my kindred came a traitor why should he mar our life ah you said you had a brother at sea where is he now came from dose behind him and flinging open the door faced the intruder he said to call her husband sir john fired up and made a rush at the sailor who seized him by the collar and in the they both fell under but in a few seconds he contrived to his right arm and drawing from his belt a knife which he wore attached to a cord round his neck he opened it with his teeth and struck it into the breast of sir john stretched above him had during these moments run into the next room to place the child in safety and when she came back the knight was his hold on s throat he rolled over upon his back and groaned the only witness of the scene save the three concerned was the who had brought in the child on its father s arrival she stated afterwards that nobody suspected sir john had received his death wound yet it was so though he did not die for a long while meaning thereby an or two that mistress continually endeavoured to the blood calling her brother a wretch and ordering him to get himself gone on which order he acted after a gloomy pause by opening the master john knight window and letting himself down by the sill to the ground it was then that sir john in difficult accents made his dying declaration to the nurse and and later the which was to this purport that the dame who passed as his wife at and who had borne him three children was in truth and deed though unconsciously the wife of another man sir john had married her years before in the face of the whole county as the widow of one strong who had disappeared shortly after her union with him having to the north to join the revolt of the and on that revolt being retreated across the sea two years ago having discovered this man to be still living in france and not wishing to disturb the mind and happiness of her who believed herself his wife yet for legitimate issue sir john had informed the king of the facts who had encouraged him to wed honestly though secretly the young merchant s widow at she being therefore his wife and she only that to avoid all scandal and he had to let things remain as they were till fair opportunity should arise of making the true case known with least pain to all parties concerned but that having been thus suspected and attacked by his own brother in law his zest for such schemes and for all things had died out in him and he only wished to commend his soul to god that night while the were from the forest that encircled the sleeping and the south was through the wooden piles of the bridge sir john died there in the arms of his wife she concealed nothing of the cause of her husband s death save the subject of the quarrel which she felt it would be premature to announce just then and until proof of her should be but before a month had passed it happened to her master john knight sorrow that the child of this union fell sick and died from that hour all interest in the name and fame of the the younger of the twain who called themselves wives of sir john and being careless about her own fame she took no steps to assert her claims her l al position having indeed grown hateful to her in her horror at the tragedy and sir william the who had married her to her husband being an old man and feeble was not to leave the embers of such a fiery matter as this and to assist her in letting established things stand therefore retired with the nurse her only companion and friend to her native town where she lived in absolute obscurity till her death in middle age her brother was never seen again in england a strangely to the story remains to be told shortly after the death of sir john a soldier of fortune returned from the continent called on dame the living in state at and after a singularly brief courtship married her the tradition at and elsewhere has ever been that this man was already her husband strong who her for appearance sake only the son of this lady by sir | 45 |
john succeeded to the estates and honours and his son after him there being nobody on the alert to investigate their pretensions little difference would it have made to the present generation however had there been such a one for the family in all its branches lawful and has been extinct these many score years the last representative but one being killed at the siege of castle while attacking in the service of the parliament and the other being later in the same century for a debt of ten pounds and dying in the jail the mansion house and its were as i have previously stated destroyed excepting one small wing which master john knight now forms part of a and is visible as you pass along the railway from to the outline of the old green is also distinctly to be seen this then is the reason why the only lawful marriage of sir john as recorded in the obscure register at does not appear in the of the house of spring the duke s a family tradition the duke s a family tradition according to the who told me the story s house on the outskirts of king s village was in those days larger and better kept than when many years later it was sold to the lord of the adjoining after having been in the family as one may say since the conquest some people would have it to be that the thing happen at the house opposite belonging to one with whose family the afterwards but that it was at the original home stead of the can be shown in various ways chiefly by the unbroken traditions of the family and indirectly by the evidence of the walls themselves which are the only ones with windows in the manner and plainly of a date to the event while those of the other house might well have been erected fifty or eighty years later and probably were since the choice of s house by the fugitive was doubtless dictated by no other circumstance than its then suitable loneliness it was a cloudy july morning just before dawn the hour of two having been struck by s dock on the stairs that is still preserved in the family heard the strokes from his chamber immediately at the top of the staircase and overlooking the front of the house he did not won the duke s der that he was sleepless the and which had stirred the neighbourhood to the that the of england had landed from holland at a port only eighteen miles to the south west of s house were enough to make and anxious even a contented like him some of the villagers by the news had thrown down their and rushed to the ranks of the had weighed both sides of the question and had remained at home now as he lay thinking of these and other things he fancied that he could hear the of a man on the road leading up to his house a which led scarce anywhere else and therefore a tread was at any time more apt to the inmates of the than if it had stood in a the came opposite the gate and stopped there one minute two minutes passed and the did not proceed got out of bed and opened the who s there cries he a friend came from the darkness and what mid ye want at this time o t says shelter i ve lost my way what s thy name there came no answer be ye one of king s men he that asks no questions will hear no lies from me i am a stranger and i am spent and can you let me lie with you to night was generous to people in trouble and his house was wait a bit he said and i ll come down and have a look at thee anyhow he struck a light put on his clothes and descended taking his from a nail in the passage and lighting it before opening the door the rays fell on the form of a tall dark man in cavalry a the duke s and wearing a sword he was pale with fatigue and covered with mud though the weather was dry take no heed of my appearance said the stranger but let me in that his visitor was in sore distress admitted of no doubt and the s natural assisted the s sad and gentle voice took him in not without a suspicion that this man represented in some way s cause to which he was not in his secret heart at his earnest request the was given a suit of the s old clothes in exchange for his own whidi with his sword were hidden in a closet in s chamber food was then put before him and a lodging provided for him in a room at the back here he slept till quite late in the morning which was sunday the sixth of and when he came down in the garments that he had borrowed he met the household with a melancholy smile besides himself there were only his two daughters grace and the latter was oddly enough a woman s name here and both had been to secrecy they asked no questions and received no information though the stranger regarded their fair countenances with an interest almost too deep having of their usual breakfast of ham and he professed weariness and retired to the chamber whence he had come in a couple of or he came down again the two young women having now gone off to morning service seeing bustling about the house without assistance he asked if he could do anything to aid his host as he seemed anxious to hide all differences and appear as one of themselves set him to get vegetables from the garden and fetch water from | 45 |
s spring in the dip near the house though the duke s the spring was not called by that name till years after by the way and what can i do next says the stranger when these services had been performed his and struck much and won upon him since you be minded to says the latter you can take down the dishes and spread the table for dinner take a plate for but the will do for we but the other would not and took likewise in doing which he spoke of th two girls and remarked how comely they were this was put an end to by a stir out which was sufficient to draw s attention to it and he went out farm hands who had gone and joined the duke on his arrival had begun to come in with news that a midnight battle had been fought on the to the north the duke s men who had attacked being entirely the duke himself with one or two lords and friends had fled no one knew whither there has been a battle says on coming indoors after these tidings and looking earnestly at the stranger may the victory be to the in the end whatever the issue now says the other with a sigh dost really know nothing about it said i could have sworn you was one from that very battle i was here before three o the clock this morning and these men have only arrived now true said the but still i think do not press your question the stranger urged i am in a strait and can refuse a nothing such inquiry is therefore unfair true again said and held his tongue the daughters of the house from church where the service had been hurried by reason of the a the duke s excitement to their father s questioning if they had spoken of him who there they replied that they had said never a word which indeed was true as events proved he bade them serve the dinner and as the visitor had withdrawn since the news of the battle prepared to take a to him upstairs but he preferred to come down and dine with the family during the afternoon more passed through the village but his visitor and his family kept indoors in the evening however came out from his gate and in silence to these tidings and more wondered what might be in store for him for his last night s work he returned homeward by a path across the that skirted his own orchard passing here he heard the voice of daughter inside the hedge her words being don t ye sir don t i let me go why sweetheart because i ve a promised another peeping through as he could not help doing he saw the girl struggling in the arms of the stranger who was attempting to kiss her but finding her resistance to be genuine and her distress he reluctantly let her go s face grew dark for his girls were more to him than himself he hastened on meditating all the way he entered the gate and made straight for the orchard when he reached it his daughter had disappeared but the stranger was still standing there sir said the his anger having in no wise i ve seen what has happened i have taken ee into my house at some to myself and whoever you be the least i expected of ee was to treat the maidens with a respect you have not done it and i no longer trust you i am the more the duke s watchful over them in that they are and i must ask ee to go after dark this night the stranger seemed dazed at discovering what his impulse had brought down upon his head and his pale face grew paler he did not reply for a time when he did speak his soft voice was thick with feeling sir he i own that i am in the wrong if you take the matter gravely we do not what we would but what we must though i have not injured your daughter as a woman i have been treacherous to her as a hostess and friend in need i ll go as you say i can do no less i shall doubtless find a ge elsewhere they walked towards the house in silence where insisted that his guest should have supper before departing by the time this was eaten it was dusk and the stranger that he was ready they went upstairs to where the garments and sword lay hidden till the departing one said that on further thought he would ask another favour that he should be allowed to retain the clothes he wore and that his host would keep the others and the sword till he the speaker should come or send for them as you will said the gain is on my side for those were but kept to dress a next fall they suit my case said the stranger sadly however much they may me they do not my sorry fortune now nay then said i was too hasty sh but the other would not saying that it was better that things should take their course notwithstanding that him he only added if i never come again do with my as you list in the pocket you will find a gold snuff box and in the snuff box fifty gold pieces but keep em for use man said the the duke s no says the parting guest they are foreign pieces and would harm me if i were taken do as i bid thee put away these things again and take especial charge of the sword it belonged to my father s father and i value it much but something more common becomes me now saying which he took as he went | 45 |
downstairs one of the ash sticks used by himself for walking with the lighted him out to the garden where he disappeared through gate by the road that crosses king s park to returned to the upstairs chamber and sat down on his bed reflecting then he examined the things left behind and surely enough in one of the pockets the gold snuff box was revealed containing the fifty gold pieces as stated by the fugitive the next looked at the sword which its owner had stated to have belonged to his grandfather it was two edged so that he almost feared to handle it on the blade was inscribed the words and among the many fine were a rose and crown the of the prince of wales and two portraits portraits of a man and a woman the man s having the face of the first charles and the woman s apparently that of his queen much awed and surprised returned the articles to the closet and went downstairs pondering of his he said nothing to his daughters merely declaring to them that the gentleman was gone and never revealing that he had been an of the scene in the orchard that was the immediate cause of the departure nothing occurred in during the week that followed beyond the fitful arrival of more decided tidings concerning the utter defeat of the duke s army and his own disappearance at an early stage of the battle then it was told that was taken not in his own clothes but in the disguise of a the duke s he had been sent to london and was confined in the tower the possibility that his guest had been no other than the duke made sorry now his heart smote him at the thought that acting so harshly for such a small breach of good faith he might have been the means of the unhappy fugitive s capture on the girls coming up to him he said get away with ye i fear you have been the ruin of an unfortunate man on the tuesday night following when the was sleeping as usual in his chamber he was he said conscious of the entry of some one opening his eyes he beheld by the light of the moon which one upon the front of his house the figure of a man who seemed to be the stranger moving from the door towards the closet he was dressed somewhat now but the face was quite that of his late guest in its as was also the of his figure he the closet and feeling his visitor to be within his rights refrained from stirring the personage turned his large haggard eyes upon the bed where lay and then withdrew from their hiding the articles that belonged to him again giving a hard gaze at as he went noiselessly out of the chamber with his properties on his arm his retreat down the stairs was just audible and also his departure by the side door through which entrance or exit was easy to those who the place nothing further happened and towards morning slept to avoid all risk he said not a word to the girls of the visit of the night and certainly not to any one outside the house for it was dangerous at that time to among the killed in opposing the recent rising had been a younger brother of the lord of the who lived at king s court hard by seeing the the duke s latter ride past in mourning clothes next day ventured to with him he d no business there answered the other his words and manner showed the bitterness that was mingled with his regret but say no more of him you know what has happened since i suppose i know that they say is taken sir thomas but i can t think it true answered o tis true enough cried the knight and that s not all the duke was executed on tower hill two days ago d ye say it verily says and a very hard death he had worse luck for n said sir thomas well tis over for him and over for my brother but not for the rest there ll be and down here anon and happy is the man who has had nothing to do with this matter now had hardly heard the latter words so much was he confounded by the strangeness of the tidings that the duke had come to his death on the previous tuesday for it had been only the night before this present day of friday that he had seen his former guest whom he had ceased to doubt be other than the duke come into his chamber and fetch away his as he had promised it couldn t have been a vision said to himself when the knight had ridden on but i ll go straight and see if the things be in the closet still and thus i shall surely learn if a vision or no to the closet he went which he had not looked into since the stranger s departure and searching behind the articles placed to conceal the things hidden he found that as he had never doubted they were gone when the rumour spread abroad in the west that the man in the tower was not indeed the duke but one of his officers taken after the battle s the duke s and that the duke had been assisted to escape out of the found in it an explanation of what so deeply him that visitor might have been sl friend of the duke s whom the duke had asked to fetch the things in a last request would never admit his belief in the rumour that lived like that of thousands of others continued to the end of his days such briefly concluded my is the tradition which has | 45 |
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