Virgil - "Vergil's Bucolics in English"

Mary Johnston - "To Have and To Hold:"

Unknown - "The World English Bible (WEB): Matthew"

Thomas Bulfinch - "The Age of Fable"

Easeus Data Rescue - Format Recovery with Data Recovery Wizard
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Textecution App for Google Android G1 Kills Texting Functions While Driving
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- EASEUS Software, the innovative, dedicated data recovery software provider offers a one-stop solution for format recovery from hard disk drive or portable storage device under Windows OS environment. Data Recovery Wizard will recover files after format. It restores files from deleted, lost or missing partitions or formatted logical disks.

Ultimate Study Group for E-Learning: Respondus Releases Studymate Class Server
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Texting is the new communication wave that is causing countless accidents on the road. This week, Textecution announced a user-friendly application for parents to install on their children's phone to disable texting and Internet functions while driving.

The Romany Rye

G >> George Borrow >> The Romany Rye




With some difficulty I readjusted myself in bed. It was now early
morning, and the first rays of the sun were beginning to penetrate
the white curtains of a window on my left, which probably looked
into the garden, as I caught a glimpse or two of the leaves of
trees through a small uncovered part at the side. For some time I
felt uneasy and anxious, my spirits being in a strange fluttering
state. At last my eyes fell upon a small row of tea-cups seemingly
of china, which stood on a mantelpiece exactly fronting the bottom
of the bed. The sight of these objects, I know not why, soothed
and pacified me; I kept my eyes fixed upon them, as I lay on my
back on the bed, with my head upon the pillow, till at last I fell
into a calm and refreshing sleep.



CHAPTER XXXII



The Morning after a Fall--The Teapot--Unpretending Hospitality--The
Chinese Student.


It might be about eight o'clock in the morning when I was awakened
by the entrance of the old man. "How have you rested?" said he,
coming up to the bedside, and looking me in the face. "Well," said
I, "and I feel much better, but I am still very sore." I surveyed
him now for the first time with attention. He was dressed in a
sober-coloured suit, and was apparently between sixty and seventy.
In stature he was rather above the middle height, but with a slight
stoop; his features were placid, and expressive of much
benevolence, but, as it appeared to me, with rather a melancholy
cast--as I gazed upon them, I felt ashamed that I should ever have
conceived in my brain a vision like that of the preceding night, in
which he appeared in so disadvantageous a light. At length he
said, "It is now time for you to take some refreshment. I hear my
old servant coming up with your breakfast." In a moment the
elderly female entered with a tray, on which was some bread and
butter, a teapot and cup. The cup was of common blue earthenware,
but the pot was of china, curiously fashioned, and seemingly of
great antiquity. The old man poured me out a cupful of tea, and
then, with the assistance of the woman, raised me higher, and
propped me up with the pillows. I ate and drank; when the pot was
emptied of its liquid (it did not contain much), I raised it up
with my left hand to inspect it. The sides were covered with
curious characters, seemingly hieroglyphics. After surveying them
for some time, I replaced it upon the tray. "You seem fond of
china," said I, to the old man, after the servant had retired with
the breakfast things, and I had returned to my former posture; "you
have china on the mantelpiece, and that was a remarkable teapot out
of which I have just been drinking."

The old man fixed his eyes intently on me, and methought the
expression of his countenance became yet more melancholy. "Yes,"
said he, at last, "I am fond of china--I have reason to be fond of
china--but for china I should--" and here he sighed again.

"You value it for the quaintness and singularity of its form," said
I; "it appears to be less adapted for real use than our own
pottery."

"I care little about its form," said the old man; "I care for it
simply on account of--however, why talk to you on the subject which
can have no possible interest to you? I expect the surgeon here
presently."

"I do not like that surgeon at all," said I; "how strangely he
behaved last night, coming back, when I was just falling asleep, to
ask me if I would sell my horse."

The old man smiled. "He has but one failing," said he, "an itch
for horse-dealing; but for that he might be a much richer man than
he is; he is continually buying and exchanging horses, and
generally finds himself a loser by his bargains: but he is a
worthy creature, and skilful in his profession--it is well for you
that you are under his care."

The old man then left me, and in about an hour returned with the
surgeon, who examined me and reported favourably as to my case. He
spoke to me with kindness and feeling, and did not introduce the
subject of the horse. I asked him whether he thought I should be
in time for the fair. "I saw some people making their way thither
to-day," said he; "the fair lasts three weeks, and it has just
commenced. Yes, I think I may promise you that you will be in time
for the very heat of it. In a few days you will be able to mount
your saddle with your arm in a sling, but you must by no means
appear with your arm in a sling at Horncastle, as people would
think that your horse had flung you, and that you wanted to dispose
of him because he was a vicious brute. You must, by all means,
drop the sling before you get to Horncastle."

For three days I kept my apartment by the advice of the surgeon. I
passed my time as I best could. Stretched on my bed, I either
abandoned myself to reflection, or listened to the voices of the
birds in the neighbouring garden. Sometimes, as I lay awake at
night, I would endeavour to catch the tick of a clock, which
methought sounded from some distant part of the house.

The old man visited me twice or thrice every day to inquire into my
state. His words were few on these occasions, and he did not stay
long. Yet his voice and his words were kind. What surprised me
most in connection with this individual was, the delicacy of
conduct which he exhibited in not letting a word proceed from his
lips which could testify curiosity respecting who I was, or whence
I came. All he knew of me was, that I had been flung from my horse
on my way to a fair for the purpose of disposing of the animal; and
that I was now his guest. I might be a common horse-dealer for
what he knew, yet I was treated by him with all the attention which
I could have expected, had I been an alderman of Boston's heir, and
known to him as such. The county in which I am now, thought I at
last, must be either extraordinarily devoted to hospitality, or
this old host of mine must be an extraordinary individual. On the
evening of the fourth day, feeling tired of my confinement, I put
my clothes on in the best manner I could, and left the chamber.
Descending a flight of stairs, I reached a kind of quadrangle, from
which branched two or three passages; one of these I entered, which
had a door at the farther end, and one on each side; the one to the
left standing partly open, I entered it, and found myself in a
middle-sized room with a large window, or rather glass-door, which
looked into a garden, and which stood open. There was nothing
remarkable in this room, except a large quantity of china. There
was china on the mantelpiece--china on two tables, and a small
beaufet, which stood opposite the glass-door, was covered with
china--there were cups, teapots, and vases of various forms, and on
all of them I observed characters--not a teapot, not a tea-cup, not
a vase of whatever form or size, but appeared to possess
hieroglyphics on some part or other. After surveying these
articles for some time with no little interest, I passed into the
garden, in which there were small parterres of flowers, and two or
three trees, and which, where the house did not abut, was bounded
by a wall; turning to the right by a walk by the side of a house, I
passed by a door--probably the one I had seen at the end of the
passage--and arrived at another window similar to that through
which I had come, and which also stood open; I was about to pass
through it, when I heard the voice of my entertainer exclaiming,
"Is that you? pray come in."

I entered the room, which seemed to be a counterpart of the one
which I had just left. It was of the same size, had the same kind
of furniture, and appeared to be equally well stocked with china;
one prominent article it possessed, however, which the other room
did not exhibit--namely, a clock, which, with its pendulum moving
tick-a-tick, hung against the wall opposite to the door, the sight
of which made me conclude that the sound which methought I had
heard in the stillness of the night was not an imaginary one.
There it hung on the wall, with its pendulum moving tick-a-tick.
The old gentleman was seated in an easy chair a little way into the
room, having the glass-door on his right hand. On a table before
him lay a large open volume, in which I observed Roman letters as
well as characters. A few inches beyond the book on the table,
covered all over with hieroglyphics, stood a china vase. The eyes
of the old man were fixed upon it.

"Sit down," said he, motioning me with his hand to a stool close
by, but without taking his eyes from the vase.

"I can't make it out," said he, at last, removing his eyes from the
vase, and leaning back on the chair, "I can't make it out."

"I wish I could assist you," said I.

"Assist me," said the old man, looking at me with a half smile.

"Yes," said I, "but I don't understand Chinese."

"I suppose not," said the old man, with another slight smile; "but-
-but--"

"Pray proceed," said I.

"I wished to ask you," said the old man, "how you knew that the
characters on yon piece of crockery were Chinese; or, indeed, that
there was such a language?"

"I knew the crockery was china," said I, "and naturally enough
supposed what was written upon it to be Chinese; as for there being
such a language--the English have a language, the French have a
language, and why not the Chinese?"

"May I ask you a question?"

"As many as you like."

"Do you know any language besides English?"

"Yes," said I, "I know a little of two or three."

"May I ask their names?"

"Why not?" said I, "I know a little French."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, a little Welsh, and a little Haik."

"What is Haik?"

"Armenian."

"I am glad to see you in my house," said the old man, shaking me by
the hand; "how singular that one coming as you did should know
Armenian!"

"Not more singular," said I, "than that one living in such a place
as this should know Chinese. How came you to acquire it?"

The old man looked at me, and sighed. "I beg pardon," said I, "for
asking what is, perhaps, an impertinent question; I have not
imitated your own delicacy; you have never asked me a question
without first desiring permission, and here I have been days and
nights in your house an intruder on your hospitality, and you have
never so much as asked me who I am."

"In forbearing to do that," said the old man, "I merely obeyed the
Chinese precept, 'Ask no questions of a guest;' it is written on
both sides of the teapot out of which you have had your tea."

"I wish I knew Chinese," said I. "Is it a difficult language to
acquire?"

"I have reason to think so," said the old man. "I have been
occupied upon it five-and-thirty years, and I am still very
imperfectly acquainted with it; at least, I frequently find upon my
crockery sentences the meaning of which to me is very dark, though
it is true these sentences are mostly verses, which are, of course,
more difficult to understand than mere prose."

"Are your Chinese studies," said I, "confined to crockery
literature?"

"Entirely," said the old man; "I read nothing else."

"I have heard," said I, "that the Chinese have no letters, but that
for every word they have a separate character--is it so?"

"For every word they have a particular character," said the old
man; "though, to prevent confusion, they have arranged their words
under two hundred and fourteen what we should call radicals, but
which they call keys. As we arrange all our words in a dictionary
under twenty-four letters, so do they arrange all their words, or
characters, under two hundred and fourteen radical signs; the
simplest radicals being the first, and the more complex the last."

"Does the Chinese resemble any of the European languages in words?"
said I.

"I am scarcely competent to inform you," said the old man; "but I
believe not."

"What does that character represent?" said I, pointing to one on
the vase.

"A knife," said the old man, "that character is one of the simplest
radicals or keys."

"And what is the sound of it?" said I.

"Tau," said the old man.

"Tau!" said I; "tau!"

"A strange word for a knife is it not?" said the old man.

"Tawse!" said I; "tawse!"

"What is tawse?" said the old man.

"You were never at school at Edinburgh, I suppose?"

"Never," said the old man.

"That accounts for your not knowing the meaning of tawse," said I;
"had you received the rudiments of a classical education at the
High School, you would have known the meaning of tawse full well.
It is a leathern thong, with which refractory urchins are recalled
to a sense of their duty by the dominie. Tau--tawse--how
singular!"

"I cannot see what the two words have in common, except a slight
agreement in sound."

"You will see the connection," said I, "when I inform you that the
thong, from the middle to the bottom, is cut or slit into two or
three parts, from which slits or cuts, unless I am very much
mistaken, it derives its name--tawse, a thong with slits or cuts,
used for chastising disorderly urchins at the High School, from the
French tailler, to cut; evidently connected with the Chinese tau, a
knife--how very extraordinary!"



CHAPTER XXXIII



Convalescence--The Surgeon's Bill--Letter of Recommendation--
Commencement of the Old Man's History.


Two days--three days passed away--and I still remained at the house
of my hospitable entertainer; my bruised limb rapidly recovering
the power of performing its functions. I passed my time agreeably
enough, sometimes in my chamber, communing with my own thoughts;
sometimes in the stable, attending to, and not unfrequently
conversing with, my horse; and at meal-time--for I seldom saw him
at any other--discoursing with the old gentleman, sometimes on the
Chinese vocabulary, sometimes on Chinese syntax, and once or twice
on English horseflesh; though on this latter subject,
notwithstanding his descent from a race of horse-traders, he did
not enter into with much alacrity. As a small requital for his
kindness, I gave him one day, after dinner, unasked, a brief
account of my history and pursuits. He listened with attention;
and when it was concluded, thanked me for the confidence which I
had reposed in him. "Such conduct," said he, "deserves a return.
I will tell you my own history; it is brief, but may perhaps not
prove uninteresting to you--though the relation of it will give me
some pain." "Pray, then, do not recite it," said I. "Yes," said
the old man, "I will tell you, for I wish you to know it." He was
about to begin, when he was interrupted by the arrival of the
surgeon. The surgeon examined into the state of my bruised limb,
and told me, what indeed I already well knew, that it was rapidly
improving. "You will not even require a sling," said he, "to ride
to Horncastle. When do you propose going?" he demanded. "When do
you think I may venture?" I replied. "I think, if you are a
tolerably good horseman, you may mount the day after to-morrow,"
answered the medical man. "By-the-bye, are you acquainted with
anybody at Horncastle?" "With no living soul," I answered. "Then
you would scarcely find stable-room for your horse. But I am happy
to be able to assist you. I have a friend there who keeps a small
inn, and who, during the time of the fair, keeps a stall vacant for
any quadruped I may bring, until he knows whether I am coming or
not. I will give you a letter to him, and he will see after the
accommodation of your horse. To-morrow I will pay you a farewell
visit, and bring you the letter." "Thank you," said I; "and do not
forget to bring your bill." The surgeon looked at the old man, who
gave him a peculiar nod. "Oh!" said he, in reply to me, "for the
little service I have rendered you, I require no remuneration. You
are in my friend's house, and he and I understand each other." "I
never receive such favours," said I, "as you have rendered me,
without remunerating them; therefore I shall expect your bill."
"Oh! just as you please," said the surgeon; and shaking me by the
hand more warmly than he had hitherto done, he took his leave.

On the evening of the next day, the last which I spent with my kind
entertainer, I sat at tea with him in a little summer-house in his
garden, partially shaded by the boughs of a large fig-tree. The
surgeon had shortly before paid me his farewell visit, and had
brought me the letter of introduction to his friend at Horncastle,
and also his bill, which I found anything but extravagant. After
we had each respectively drank the contents of two cups--and it may
not be amiss here to inform the reader that though I took cream
with my tea, as I always do when I can procure that addition, the
old man, like most people bred up in the country, drank his without
it--he thus addressed me:- "I am, as I told you on the night of
your accident, the son of a breeder of horses, a respectable and
honest man. When I was about twenty he died, leaving me, his only
child, a comfortable property, consisting of about two hundred
acres of land and some fifteen hundred pounds in money. My mother
had died about three years previously. I felt the death of my
mother keenly, but that of my father less than was my duty; indeed,
truth compels me to acknowledge that I scarcely regretted his
death. The cause of this want of proper filial feeling was the
opposition which I had experienced from him in an affair which
deeply concerned me. I had formed an attachment for a young female
in the neighbourhood, who, though poor, was of highly respectable
birth, her father having been a curate of the Established Church.
She was, at the time of which I am speaking, an orphan, having lost
both her parents, and supported herself by keeping a small school.
My attachment was returned, and we had pledged our vows, but my
father, who could not reconcile himself to her lack of fortune,
forbade our marriage in the most positive terms. He was wrong, for
she was a fortune in herself--amiable and accomplished. Oh! I
cannot tell you all she was--" and here the old man drew his hand
across his eyes. "By the death of my father, the only obstacle to
our happiness appeared to be removed. We agreed, therefore, that
our marriage should take place within the course of a year; and I
forthwith commenced enlarging my house and getting my affairs in
order. Having been left in the easy circumstances which I have
described, I determined to follow no business, but to pass my life
in a strictly domestic manner, and to be very, very happy. Amongst
other property derived from my father were several horses, which I
disposed of in this neighbourhood, with the exception of two
remarkably fine ones, which I determined to take to the next fair
at Horncastle, the only place where I expected to be able to obtain
what I considered to be their full value. At length the time
arrived for the commencement of the fair, which was within three
months of the period which my beloved and myself had fixed upon for
the celebration of our nuptials. To the fair I went, a couple of
trusty men following me with the horses. I soon found a purchaser
for the animals, a portly, plausible person, of about forty,
dressed in a blue riding coat, brown top boots, and leather
breeches. There was a strange-looking urchin with him, attired in
nearly similar fashion, with a beam in one of his eyes, who called
him father. The man paid me for the purchase in bank-notes--three
fifty-pound notes for the two horses. As we were about to take
leave of each other, he suddenly produced another fifty-pound note,
inquiring whether I could change it, complaining, at the same time,
of the difficulty of procuring change in the fair. As I happened
to have plenty of small money in my possession, and as I felt
obliged to him for having purchased my horses at what I considered
to be a good price, I informed him that I should be very happy to
accommodate him; so I changed him the note, and he, having taken
possession of the horses, went his way, and I myself returned home.

"A month passed; during this time I paid away two of the notes
which I had received at Horncastle from the dealer--one of them in
my immediate neighbourhood, and the other at a town about fifteen
miles distant, to which I had repaired for the purpose of
purchasing some furniture. All things seemed to be going on most
prosperously, and I felt quite happy, when one morning, as I was
overlooking some workmen who were employed about my house, I was
accosted by a constable, who informed me that he was sent to
request my immediate appearance before a neighbouring bench of
magistrates. Concluding that I was merely summoned on some
unimportant business connected with the neighbourhood, I felt no
surprise, and forthwith departed in company with the officer. The
demeanour of the man upon the way struck me as somewhat singular.
I had frequently spoken to him before, and had always found him
civil and respectful, but he was now reserved and sullen, and
replied to two or three questions which I put to him in anything
but a courteous manner. On arriving at the place where the
magistrates were sitting--an inn at a small town about two miles
distant--I found a more than usual number of people assembled, who
appeared to be conversing with considerable eagerness. At sight of
me they became silent, but crowded after me as I followed the man
into the magistrates' room. There I found the tradesman to whom I
had paid the note for the furniture at the town fifteen miles off
in attendance, accompanied by an agent of the Bank of England; the
former, it seems, had paid the note into a provincial bank, the
proprietors of which, discovering it to be a forgery, had forthwith
written up to the Bank of England, who had sent down their agent to
investigate the matter. A third individual stood beside them--the
person in my own immediate neighbourhood to whom I had paid the
second note; this, by some means or other, before the coming down
of the agent, had found its way to the same provincial bank, and
also being pronounced a forgery, it had speedily been traced to the
person to whom I had paid it. It was owing to the apparition of
this second note that the agent had determined, without further
inquiry, to cause me to be summoned before the rural tribunal.

"In a few words the magistrates' clerk gave me to understand the
state of the case. I was filled with surprise and consternation.
I knew myself to be perfectly innocent of any fraudulent intention,
but at the time of which I am speaking it was a matter fraught with
the greatest danger to be mixed up, however innocently, with the
passing of false money. The law with respect to forgery was
terribly severe, and the innocent as well as the guilty
occasionally suffered. Of this I was not altogether ignorant;
unfortunately, however, in my transactions with the stranger, the
idea of false notes being offered to me, and my being brought into
trouble by means of them, never entered my mind. Recovering myself
a little, I stated that the notes in question were two of three
notes which I had received at Horncastle, for a pair of horses,
which it was well known I had carried thither.

"Thereupon, I produced from my pocket-book the third note, which
was forthwith pronounced a forgery. I had scarcely produced the
third note, when I remembered the one which I had changed for the
Horncastle dealer, and with the remembrance came the almost certain
conviction that it was also a forgery; I was tempted for a moment
to produce it, and to explain the circumstance--would to God I had
done so!--but shame at the idea of having been so wretchedly duped
prevented me, and the opportunity was lost. I must confess that
the agent of the bank behaved, upon the whole, in a very handsome
manner; he said that as it was quite evident that I had disposed of
certain horses at the fair, it was very probable that I might have
received the notes in question in exchange for them, and that he
was willing, as he had received a very excellent account of my
general conduct, to press the matter no farther, that is, provided-
-" And here he stopped. Thereupon, one of the three magistrates,
who were present, asked me whether I chanced to have any more of
these spurious notes in my possession. He certainly had a right to
ask the question; but there was something peculiar in his tone-
insinuating suspicion. It is certainly difficult to judge of the
motives which rule a person's conduct, but I cannot help imagining
that he was somewhat influenced in his behaviour on that occasion,
which was anything but friendly, by my having refused to sell him
the horses at a price less than that which I expected to get at the
fair; be this as it may, the question filled me with embarrassment,
and I bitterly repented not having at first been more explicit.
Thereupon the magistrate in the same kind of tone, demanded to see
my pocket-book. I knew that to demur would be useless, and
produced it, and therewith, amongst two or three small country
notes, appeared the fourth which I had received from the Horncastle
dealer. The agent took it up and examined it with attention.
'Well, is it a genuine note?' asked the magistrate. 'I am sorry to
say that it is not,' said the agent; 'it is a forgery, like the
other three.' The magistrate shrugged his shoulders, as indeed did
several people in the room. 'A regular dealer in forged notes,'
said a person close behind me; 'who would have thought it?'

Copyright (c) 2007. topbookz.net. All rights reserved.