The De Coverley Papers
J >>
Joseph Addison and Others >> The De Coverley Papers
Pages:
1 |
2 | 3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7
L.
FOOTNOTES:
[53] _Jack._ Pike.
[54] _Country._ Country-side.
[55] _Officious._ Obliging.
[56] _Correspondence._ Inter-communication.
[57] _Made._ Trained.
[58] _Discovered._ Showed.
[59] _Foiled._ Rendered helpless.
[60] _Quail-pipe._ Device for decoying quails.
[61] _Humour._ Prejudice.
[62] _Turned._ Fitted by nature.
NO. 109. THURSDAY, JULY 5
_Abnormis sapiens._
HOR. _Sat._ ii. l. 2. ver. 3.
Of plain good sense, untutor'd in the schools.
I was this morning walking in the gallery when Sir Roger entered at the
end opposite to me, and advancing towards me, said he was glad to meet me
among his relations the De Coverleys, and hoped I liked the
conversation[63] of so much good company, who were as silent as myself. I
knew he alluded to the pictures, and as he is a gentleman who does not a
little value himself upon his ancient descent, I expected he would give
me some account of them. We were now arrived at the upper end of the
gallery, when the Knight faced towards one of the pictures, and, as we
stood before it, he entered into the matter, after his blunt way of
saying things, as they occur to his imagination, without regular
introduction, or care to preserve the appearance of chain of thought.
"It is," said he, "worth while to consider the force of dress; and how
the persons of one age differ from those of another, merely by that only.
One may observe also, that the general fashion of one age has been
followed by one particular set of people in another, and by them
preserved from one generation to another. Thus the vast jetting[64] coat
and small bonnet, which was the habit in Harry the Seventh's time, is
kept on in the yeomen of the guard; not without a good and politic view,
because they look a foot taller, and a foot and an half broader: besides
that the cap leaves the face expanded, and consequently more terrible,
and fitter to stand at the entrances of palaces.
"This predecessor of ours, you see, is dressed after this manner, and his
cheeks would be no larger than mine, were he in a hat as I am. He was the
last man that won a prize in the tilt-yard (which is now a common street
before Whitehall). You see the broken lance that lies there by his right
foot; he shivered that lance of his adversary all to pieces; and bearing
himself, look you, sir, in this manner, at the same time he came within
the target[65] of the gentleman who rode against him, and taking him with
incredible force before him on the pommel of his saddle, he in that
manner rid the tournament[66] over, with an air that showed he did it
rather to perform the rule of the lists, than expose his enemy; however,
it appeared he knew how to make use of a victory, and with a gentle trot
he marched up to a gallery where their mistress sat (for they were
rivals) and let him down with laudable courtesy and pardonable
insolence[67]. I don't know but it might be exactly where the
coffee-house is now.
"You are to know this my ancestor was not only of a military genius, but
fit also for the arts of peace, for he played on the bass-viol[68] as well
as any gentleman at court; you see where his viol hangs by his basket-hilt
sword. The action at the tilt-yard you may be sure won the fair lady, who
was a maid of honour, and the greatest beauty of her time; here she stands
the next picture. You see, sir, my great-great-great-grandmother has on
the new-fashioned petticoat, except that the modern is gathered at the
waist: my grandmother appears as if she stood in a large drum, whereas
the ladies now walk as if they were in a go-cart. For all[69] this lady
was bred at court, she became an excellent country wife, she brought ten
children, and when I show you the library, you shall see in her own hand
(allowing for the difference of the language) the best receipt now in
England both for an hasty-pudding and a white-pot.
"If you please to fall back a little, because it is necessary to look at
the three next pictures at one view: these are three sisters. She on the
right hand, who is so beautiful, died a maid; the next to her, still
handsomer, had the same fate, against her will; this homely thing in the
middle had both their portions added to her own, and was stolen by a
neighbouring gentleman, a man of stratagem and resolution, for he
poisoned three mastiffs to come at her, and knocked down two
deer-stealers in carrying her off. Misfortunes happen in all families:
the theft of this romp and so much money, was no great matter to our
estate. But the next heir that possessed it was this soft gentleman, whom
you see there: observe the small buttons, the little boots, the laces,
the slashes[70] about his clothes, and above all the posture he is drawn
in, (which to be sure was his own choosing;) you see he sits with one
hand on a desk writing and looking as it were another way, like an easy
writer, or a sonneteer: he was one of those that had too much wit to know
how to live in the world; he was a man of no justice, but great good
manners; he ruined everybody that had anything to do with him, but never
said a rude thing in his life; the most indolent person in the world, he
would sign a deed that passed away half his estate with his gloves on,
but would not put on his hat before a lady if it were to save his
country. He is said to be the first that made love by squeezing the hand.
He left the estate with ten thousand pounds debt upon it, but however by
all hands I have been informed that he was every way the finest gentleman
in the world. That debt lay heavy on our house for one generation, but it
was retrieved by a gift from that honest man you see there, a citizen of
our name, but nothing at all akin to us. I know Sir Andrew Freeport has
said behind my back, that this man was descended from one of the ten
children of the maid of honour I showed you above; but it was never made
out. We winked at the thing indeed, because money was wanting at that
time."
Here I saw my friend a little embarrassed, and turned my face to the next
portraiture.
Sir Roger went on with his account of the gallery in the following
manner. "This man" (pointing to him I looked at) "I take to be the honour
of our house, Sir Humphrey de Coverley; he was in his dealings as
punctual as a tradesman, and as generous as a gentleman. He would have
thought himself as much undone by breaking his word, as if it were to be
followed by bankruptcy. He served his country as knight of this shire[71]
to his dying day. He found it no easy matter to maintain an integrity in
his words and actions, even in things that regarded the offices which
were incumbent upon him, in the care of his own affairs and relations of
life, and therefore dreaded (though he had great talents) to go into
employments of state, where he must be exposed to the snares of ambition.
Innocence of life and great ability were the distinguishing parts of his
character; the latter, he had often observed, had led to the destruction
of the former, and used frequently to lament that great and good had not
the same signification. He was an excellent husbandman, but had resolved
not to exceed such a degree[72] of wealth; all above it he bestowed in
secret bounties many years after the sum he aimed at for his own use was
attained. Yet he did not slacken his industry, but to a decent old age
spent the life and fortune which was superfluous to himself, in the
service of his friends and neighbours."
Here we were called to dinner, and Sir Roger ended the discourse of[73]
this gentleman, by telling me, as we followed the servant, that this his
ancestor was a brave man, and narrowly escaped being killed in the civil
wars; "For," said he, "he was sent out of the field upon a private
message, the day before the battle of Worcester." The whim[74] of
narrowly escaping by having been within a day of danger, with other
matters above mentioned, mixed with good sense, left me at a loss whether
I was more delighted with my friend's wisdom or simplicity.
R.
FOOTNOTES:
[63] _Conversation._ Intercourse with. Compare note on p. 28.
[64] _Jetting._ Bulging.
[65] _Target._ Targe or small shield.
[66] _Tournament._ Lists.
[67] _Insolence._ Triumph.
[68] _Bass-viol._ Violoncello.
[69] _For all._ In spite of the fact that.
[70] _Slashes._ Ornamental slits in a doublet, etc.
[71] _Knight of this shire._ M.P. for the county.
[72] _Such a degree._ A fixed amount.
[73] _Discourse of._ Discourse about.
[74] _Whim._ Absurd notion.
NO. 110. FRIDAY, JULY 6
_Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent._
VIRG. _AEn._ ii. ver. 755.
All things are full of horror and affright,
And dreadful ev'n the silence of the night.
DRYDEN.
At a little distance from Sir Roger's house, among the ruins of an old
abbey, there is a long walk of aged elms; which are shot up so very high,
that when one passes under them, the rooks and crows that rest upon the
tops of them seem to be cawing in another region. I am very much
delighted with this sort of noise, which I consider as a kind of natural
prayer to that Being who supplies the wants of his whole creation, and
who, in the beautiful language of the Psalms, feedeth the young ravens
that call upon him. I like this retirement the better, because of an ill
report it lies under of being _haunted_; for which reason (as I have been
told in the family) no living creature ever walks in it besides the
chaplain. My good friend the butler desired me with a very grave face not
to venture myself in it after sunset, for that one of the footmen had
been almost frighted out of his wits by a spirit that appeared to him in
the shape of a black horse without an head; to which he added, that about
a month ago one of the maids coming home late that way with a pail of
milk upon her head, heard such a rustling among the bushes that she let
it fall.
I was taking a walk in this place last night between the hours of nine
and ten, and could not but fancy it one of the most proper scenes in the
world for a ghost to appear in. The ruins of the abbey are scattered up
and down on every side, and half covered with ivy and elder bushes, the
harbours of several solitary birds which seldom make their appearance
till the dusk of the evening. The place was formerly a churchyard, and
has still several marks in it of graves and burying-places. There is such
an echo among the old ruins and vaults, that if you stamp but a little
louder than ordinary, you hear the sound repeated. At the same time the
walk of elms, with the croaking of the ravens which from time to time are
heard from the tops of them, looks exceeding solemn and venerable. These
objects naturally raise seriousness and attention; and when night
heightens the awfulness of the place, and pours out her supernumerary[75]
horrors upon everything in it, I do not at all wonder that weak minds
fill it with spectres and apparitions.
Mr. Locke, in his chapter of the Association of Ideas, has very
curious[76] remarks to show how, by the prejudice of education[77], one
idea often introduces into the mind a whole set that bear no resemblance
to one another in the nature of things. Among several examples of this
kind, he produces the following instance. "The ideas of goblins and
sprites have really no more to do with darkness than light: yet let but a
foolish maid inculcate these often on the mind of a child, and raise them
there together, possibly he shall never be able to separate them again so
long as he lives; but darkness shall ever afterwards bring with it those
frightful ideas, and they shall be so joined, that he can no more bear
the one than the other."
As I was walking in this solitude, where the dusk of the evening
conspired with so many other occasions of terror, I observed a cow
grazing not far from me, which an imagination that was apt to startle
might easily have construed into a black horse without an head: and I
dare say the poor footman lost his wits upon some such trivial occasion.
My friend Sir Roger has often told me with a good deal of mirth, that at
his first coming to his estate he found three parts of his house
altogether useless; that the best room in it had the reputation of being
haunted, and by that means[78] was locked up; that noises had been heard
in his long gallery, so that he could not get a servant to enter it after
eight o'clock at night; that the door of one of the chambers was nailed
up, because there went a story in the family that a butler had formerly
hanged himself in it; and that his mother, who lived to a great age, had
shut up half the rooms in the house, in which either her husband, a son,
or daughter had died. The Knight seeing his habitation reduced to so
small a compass, and himself in a manner shut out of his own house, upon
the death of his mother ordered all the apartments to be flung open, and
exorcised[79] by his chaplain, who lay in every room one after another,
and by that means dissipated the fears which had so long reigned in the
family.
I should not have been thus particular upon these ridiculous horrors, did
not I find them so very much prevail in all parts of the country. At the
same time I think a person who is thus terrified with the imagination of
ghosts and spectres, much more reasonable than one who, contrary to the
reports of all historians sacred and profane, ancient and modern, and to
the traditions of all nations, thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous
and groundless: could not I give myself up to this general testimony of
mankind, I should to the relations of particular persons who are now
living, and whom I cannot distrust in other matters of fact. I might here
add, that not only the historians, to whom we may join the poets, but
likewise the philosophers of antiquity have favoured this opinion.
Lucretius[80] himself, though by the course of his philosophy he was
obliged to maintain that the soul did not exist separate from the body,
makes no doubt of the reality of apparitions, and that men have often
appeared after their death. This I think very remarkable. He was so
pressed[81] with the matter of fact which he could not have the
confidence to deny, that he was forced to account for it by one of the
most absurd unphilosophical notions that was ever started. He tells us,
that the surfaces of all bodies are perpetually flying off from their
respective bodies, one after another; and that these surfaces or thin
cases, that included each other whilst they were joined in the body like
the coats of an onion, are sometimes seen entire when they are separated
from it; by which means we often behold the shapes and shadows of persons
who are either dead or absent.
I shall dismiss this paper with a story out of Josephus, not so much for
the sake of the story itself as for the moral reflections with which the
author concludes it, and which I shall here set down in his own words.
"Glaphyra the daughter of King Archelaus, after the death of her two
first husbands (being married to a third, who was brother to her first
husband, and so passionately in love with her that he turned off his
former wife to make room for this marriage) had a very odd kind of dream.
She fancied that she saw her first husband coming towards her, and that
she embraced him with great tenderness; when in the midst of the pleasure
which she expressed at the sight of him, he reproached her after the
following manner: 'Glaphyra,' says he, 'thou hast made good the old
saying, That women are not to be trusted. Was not I the husband of thy
virginity? Have I not children by thee? How couldst thou forget our loves
so far as to enter into a second marriage, and after that into a third,
nay to take for thy husband a man who has so shamefully crept into the
bed of his brother? However, for the sake of our passed loves, I shall
free thee from thy present reproach, and make thee mine for ever.'
Glaphyra told this dream to several women of her acquaintance, and died
soon after. I thought this story might not be impertinent in this place,
wherein I speak of those kings: besides that the example deserves to be
taken notice of, as it contains a most certain proof of the immortality
of the soul, and of Divine Providence. If any man thinks these facts
incredible, let him enjoy his own opinion to himself, but let him not
endeavour to disturb the belief of others, who by instances of this
nature are excited to the study of virtue."
L.
FOOTNOTES:
[75] _Supernumerary._ Additional.
[76] _Curious._ Interesting.
[77] _Prejudice of education._ Bent given to the mind by education.
[78] _By that means._ Because of that.
[79] _Exorcised._ Delivered from supernatural influence.
[80] _Lucretius._ Roman philosopher-poet: 95-52 B.C.
[81] _Pressed._ Compelled.
NO. 112. MONDAY, JULY 9
[Greek: Athanatous men prota theous, nomo hos diakeitai,
Tima.]
PYTHAG.
First, in obedience to thy country's rites,
Worship the immortal Gods.
I am always very well pleased with a country Sunday; and think, if
keeping holy the seventh day were only[82] a human institution, it would
be the best method that could have been thought of for the polishing and
civilising of mankind. It is certain the country people would soon
degenerate into a kind of savages and barbarians, were there not such
frequent returns of a stated time, in which the whole village meet
together with their best faces, and in their cleanliest habits, to
converse with one another upon indifferent subjects, hear their duties
explained to them, and join together in adoration of the Supreme Being.
Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week, not only as it refreshes
in their minds the notions of religion, but as it puts both the sexes
upon appearing[83] in their most agreeable forms, and exerting all such
qualities as are apt to give them a figure in the eye of the village. A
country fellow distinguishes himself as much in the churchyard, as a
citizen does upon the 'Change, the whole parish politics being generally
discussed in that place, either after sermon or before the bell rings.
My friend Sir Roger, being a good churchman, has beautified the inside
of his church with several texts of his own choosing: he has likewise
given a handsome pulpit cloth, and railed in the communion-table at his
own expense. He has often told me, that at his coming to his estate he
found his parishioners very irregular; and that, in order to make them
kneel and join in the responses, he gave every one of them a hassock and
a common-prayer-book; and at the same time employed an itinerant
singing-master, who goes about the country for that purpose, to instruct
them rightly in the tunes of the psalms; upon which they now very much
value themselves, and indeed outdo most of the country churches that I
have ever heard.
As Sir Roger is landlord to the whole congregation, he keeps them in very
good order, and will suffer nobody to sleep in it besides himself; for,
if by chance he has been surprised into a short nap at sermon, upon
recovering out of it he stands up and looks about him, and if he sees
anybody else nodding, either wakes them himself, or sends his servants to
them. Several other of the old Knight's particularities[84] break out
upon these occasions: sometimes he will be lengthening out a verse in the
singing psalms, half a minute after the rest of the congregation have
done with it; sometimes, when he is pleased with the matter of his
devotion, he pronounces "Amen" three or four times to the same prayer;
and sometimes stands up when everybody else is upon their knees, to count
the congregation, or see if any of his tenants are missing.
I was yesterday very much surprised to hear my old friend, in the midst
of the service, calling out to one John Matthews to mind what he was
about, and not disturb the congregation. This John Matthews it seems is
remarkable for being an idle fellow, and at that time was kicking his
heels for his diversion. This authority of the Knight, though exerted in
that odd manner which accompanies him in all circumstances of life, has a
very good effect upon the parish, who are not polite enough to see
anything ridiculous in his behaviour; besides that, the general good
sense and worthiness of his character makes his friends observe these
little singularities as foils, that rather set off than blemish his good
qualities.
As soon as the sermon is finished, nobody presumes to stir till Sir Roger
is gone out of the church. The Knight walks down from his seat in the
chancel between a double row of his tenants, that stand bowing to him on
each side; and every now and then inquires how such an one's wife, or
mother, or son, or father do, whom he does not see at church; which is
understood as a secret reprimand to the person that is absent.
The chaplain has often told me, that upon a catechising day, when Sir
Roger has been pleased with a boy that answers well, he has ordered a
bible to be given him next day for his encouragement; and sometimes
accompanies it with a flitch of bacon to his mother. Sir Roger, has
likewise added five pounds a year to the clerk's place: and that he may
encourage the young fellows to make themselves perfect in the church
service, has promised upon the death of the present incumbent[85], who is
very old, to bestow it according to merit.
The fair understanding between Sir Roger and his chaplain, and their
mutual concurrence in doing good, is the more remarkable, because the
very next village is famous for the differences and contentions that
arise between the parson and the squire, who live in a perpetual state of
war. The parson is always preaching at the squire, and the squire to be
revenged on the parson never comes to church. The squire has made all his
tenants atheists and tithe-stealers; while the parson instructs them
every Sunday in the dignity of his order, and insinuates to them in
almost every sermon, that he is a better man than his patron. In short,
matters are come to such an extremity, that the squire has not said his
prayers either in public or private this half-year; and that the parson
threatens him, if he does not mend his manners, to pray for him in the
face of the whole congregation.
Feuds of this nature, though too frequent in the country, are very fatal
to the ordinary people; who are so used to be dazzled with riches, that
they pay as much deference to the understanding of a man of an estate, as
of a man of learning; and are very hardly brought to regard any truth,
how important soever it may be, that is preached to them, when they know
there are several men of five hundred a year, who do not believe it.
L.
FOOTNOTES:
[82] _Only._ Merely.
[83] _Puts both the sexes upon appearing._ Impels them to appear.
[84] _Particularities._ Peculiarities.
[85] _Incumbent._ Holder of the post.
NO. 113. TUESDAY, JULY 10
_Haerent infixi pectore vultus._
VIRG. _AEn._ iv. ver. 4.
Her looks were deep imprinted in his heart.
In my first description of the company in which I pass most of my time,
it may be remembered that I mentioned a great affliction which my friend
Sir Roger had met with in his youth; which was no less than a
disappointment in love. It happened this evening that we fell into a very
pleasing walk at a distance from his house: as soon as we came into it,
"It is," quoth the good old man, looking round him with a smile, "very
hard, that any part of my land should be settled[86] upon one who has
used me so ill as the perverse widow did; and yet I am sure I could not
see a sprig of any bough of this whole walk of trees, but I should
reflect upon her and her severity. She has certainly the finest hand of
any woman in the world. You are to know this was the place wherein I used
to muse upon her; and by that custom I can never come into it, but the
same tender sentiments revive in my mind, as if I had actually walked
with that beautiful creature under these shades. I have been fool enough
to carve her name on the bark of several of these trees; so unhappy is
the condition of men in love, to attempt the removing of their passions
by the methods which serve only to imprint it deeper. She has certainly
the finest hand of any woman in the world."
Here followed a profound silence; and I was not displeased to observe my
friend falling so naturally into a discourse, which I had ever before
taken notice he industriously avoided. After a very long pause he entered
upon an account of this great circumstance in his life, with an air which
I thought raised my idea of him above what I had ever had before; and
gave me the picture of that cheerful mind of his, before it received that
stroke which has ever since affected his words and actions. But he went
on as follows.
"I came to my estate in my twenty-second year, and resolved to follow the
steps of the most worthy of my ancestors who have inhabited this spot of
earth before me, in all the methods of hospitality and good
neighbourhood, for the sake of my fame; and in country sports and
recreations, for the sake of my health. In my twenty-third year I was
obliged to serve as sheriff of the county; and, in my servants, officers,
and whole equipage, indulged the pleasure of a young man (who did not
think ill of his own person) in taking that public occasion of showing my
figure and behaviour to advantage. You may easily imagine to yourself
what appearance I made, who am pretty tall, rid[87] well, and was very
well dressed, at the head of a whole county, with music before me, a
feather in my hat, and my horse well bitted. I can assure you I was not a
little pleased with the kind looks and glances I had from all the
balconies and windows as I rode to the hall where the assizes were held.
But when I came there, a beautiful creature in a widow's habit sat in
court, to hear the event of a cause concerning her dower[88]. This
commanding creature (who was born for the destruction of all who behold
her) put on such a resignation in her countenance, and bore the whispers
of all around the court, with such a pretty uneasiness, I warrant you,
and then recovered herself from one eye to another, till she was
perfectly confused by meeting something so wistful in all she
encountered, that at last, with a murrain to her, she cast her bewitching
eye upon me. I no sooner met it, but I bowed like a great surprised
booby; and knowing her cause to be the first which came on, I cried, like
a captivated calf as I was, 'Make way for the defendant's witnesses.'
This sudden partiality made all the county immediately see the sheriff
was also become a slave to the fine widow. During the time her cause was
upon trial, she behaved herself, I warrant you, with such a deep
attention to her business, took opportunities to have little billets
handed to her counsel, then would be in such a pretty confusion,
occasioned, you must know, by acting before so much company, that not
only I, but the whole court was prejudiced in her favour; and all that
the next heir to her husband had to urge, was thought so groundless and
frivolous, that when it came to her counsel to reply, there was not half
so much said as every one besides in the court thought he could have
urged to her advantage. You must understand, sir, this perverse woman is
one of those unaccountable creatures, that secretly rejoice in the
admiration of men, but indulge themselves in no further consequences.
Hence it is that she has ever had a train of admirers, and she removes
from her slaves in town to those in the country, according to the seasons
of the year. She is a reading lady, and far gone in the pleasures of
friendship: she is always accompanied by a confidant, who is witness to
her daily protestations against our sex, and consequently a bar to her
first steps towards love, upon the strength of her own maxims and
declarations.
Pages:
1 |
2 | 3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7