书城英文图书英国语文(英文原版)(第6册)
31245600000127

第127章 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY(2)

room, one after another, and by that means dissipated the fears which had so long reigned in the family……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 hisparishioners 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 to instruct them rightly in the tunes of the psalms, upon which they now very much value themselves.

As Sir Roger is landlord to the whole congregation, he keeps them in very good order, and will suffer nobody in it to sleep 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, he either wakes them himself, or sends his servant to them.

Several other of the old knight"s particularities 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 he stands up when everybody else is kneeling, 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. The 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 make his friends observe these little singularities as foils that④rather set offthan blemish his good qualities.

As soon as the sermon is finished, nobody presumes to stirtill Sir Roger is gone out of the church. The knight walks downfrom his seat in the chancel⑤ between a double row of his tenants, that stand bowing to him on each side; and he every now and then inquires how such an one"s wife, or mother, or son, or father does, 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 ?5 a year⑥to the clerk"splace; and, that he may encourage the youngfellows to make themselves perfect in the Church service, has promised, upon the death of the present incumbent, who is very old, to bestow it according to merit.

- JOSEPH ADDISON

WORDS

ancient, old-fashioned. beautified, ornamented. chambers, apartments. compass, dimensions. countenances, faces. devotion, prayer. discouraged, disappointed. dissipated, dispelled. diversion, amusement. domestics, servants. ensuing, following. habitation, dwelling. hassock, kneeling-stool. humanity, kindness. incumbent, holder. infirmity, weakness.

inquires, asks. invitation, request. itinerant, travelling. obliging, courteous. observe, remark. particularities, oddities. polite, polished. pronounces, repeats. reprimand, reproof. reputation, character. responses, answers. ridiculous, absurd.

speculations, meditations. surprised, thrown unexpectedly. tempered, mingled.

venerable, reverend.

NOTES

① Valet-de-chambre (valley-de-shong-br ), a chamber-servant; a footman.

② Is pleasant upon, makes fun of.

③ Exorcised, freed of evil spirits.

④ Foils that rather set off.-Jewellers are accustomed to set gold or silver leaf behind transparent jewels, in order to give them colour or lustre; this leaf is called a foil . (Fr. feuille . Lat folium , a leaf; Eng. tin-foil .) Hence anything used to show another thing to greater advantage is called a. foil .

⑤ Chancel, the principal part of a church, where the altar or communion table is placed.

⑥ Clerk, the lay officer who leads the responses of the congregation in the Episcopal service.