Bourne

“ Wrench, hearing a noise in the front parlour, entered without any ceremony.
The detective was awe-struck at beholding Mrs. Bourne purple in the face, and her husband grasping her remorselessly by the throat.
“Mr. Bourne—​doctor!” ejaculated Wrench, dragging at the same time the man he was addressing from his wife, and thrusting him forcibly into one corner of the room.
When this had been done, he said, “How is this, sir? You are sadly forgetting yourself, it would seem.”
“Leave me alone. Don’t you interfere between man and wife,” exclaimed Bourne. “I know what I am about.” ”

“ Lamb first read Bourne as late as 1815. Writing to Wordsworth in April of that year he says of Bourne: "What a heart that man had, all laid out upon town scenes, a proper counterpoise to some people's rural extravagances." And again in the same letter: "What a sweet, unpretending, pretty-mannered, matter-ful creature, sucking from every flower, making a flower of every thing—his diction all Latin, and his thoughts all English." And in the Elia essay "On the Decay of Beggars" Bourne is called "most classical, and at the same time, most English, of the Latinists!" ”

“ I do not dare to say it; for I see Bourne, on the pinnacle of prosperity, but still looking sadly for his castle in Spain; I see Titbottom, an old deputy book-keeper, whom nobody knows, but with his chivalric heart, loyal to whatever is generous and humane, full of sweet hope, and faith, and devotion; I see the superb Aurelia, so lovely that the Indians would call her a smile of the Great Spirit, and as beneficent as a saint of the calendar—how shall I say what is lost, or what is won? I know that in every way, and by all his creatures, God is served and his purposes accomplished. ”

“ But, like many a wiser man, young Bourne found it was easier to conjure up a spirit than to lay one, and, having once accepted the aid of Raffles, he found it beyond his power to dispense with it, despite his brave word. ”

“ Recognizing in Bourne a kindred spirit, it occurred to me whether I could not hasten my work if he would employ part of his summer vacation in collecting material. I imparted the idea to Bourne, who received it favorably, and he spent a month of the summer of 1889 at work for me in the Boston Athenæum on my general specifications, laboring with industry and discrimination over the newspapers of the early ’50’s to which we had agreed to confine his work. ”

“ If any one had come to his bedside with the news of her death they would have been greeted as a messenger bearing glad tidings, but no one had come with such welcome intelligence, and Bourne slept peacefully, albeit his slumbers were now and then disturbed by strange, uncouth, and fantastic visions.
What greater misery can by possibility fall upon any one than being compelled to live with a person whose presence is repugnant and abhorrent, yet the man and woman—​the doctor and his wife—​had submitted to this torment for years. ”

“ They told him that at that place there were twenty or thirty white men, and plenty of "rum and tobacco." Bourne knew, from their cruel habits, that nothing but the hope of a ransom had prevented their murdering him. But it soon appeared that they hoped to use him as a decoy for other sailors who might approach the coast. One morning a man of the tribe who had been brought down to the shore reported that his vessel had returned. This welcome information started the Indians on his track, but upon gaining a view of the straits, Bourne perceived that the vessel was a strange sail. ”

“ Remember we are not playing before an audience, only to amuse ourselves.”
Mrs. Bourne thought he was a very nice old gentleman, quiet, unobtrusive, and well-behaved.
As we have before intimated, Charles Peace was a most plausible man, and could deceive the most wary person in the world.
Another duet was gone through with even greater success than the first, and the girl, Amy, who was waiting for Mrs. Bourne in the brougham, wondered what was detaining her mistress. ”

“ Bourne's little volume of Latin verses will keep his memory fragrant and his fame secure when many whose claims were more pretentious are forgotten. He was a man of peaceful temperament, content to pass his life in indolent repose. As a teacher he wanted energy, and he was a very lax disciplinarian. ”

“ Bourne, your language is intolerable. What were you at the time? What are you now? I will proclaim you to all the world as a brute and a ruffian, for such you are. If you had one spark of manhood in your coarse, callous nature you would blush at such observations.”
“Thank you, madam, for your good opinion. We know each other pretty well, I believe, and there’s no very great love lost between us. I shall find the means of proving your marriage with William Rawton, notwithstanding the assertion made by that wretch as to its being an illegal one. ”

“ Bourne; the picture was drawn about a hundred years ago; but, though even then partially applicable, may be considered as a faithful general representation of the two preceding centuries.
"Nothing is commoner in Country Places," says this historian of credulity, "than for a whole family in a Winter's Evening, to sit round the fire, and tell stories of apparitions and ghosts. Some of them have seen spirits in the shapes of cows, and dogs and horses; and some have seen even the devil himself, with a cloven foot. ”

“ Bourne had published that radiant book of essays on the Adventure of Life, the Two Generations, the Excitement of Friendship, with its happy and confident suggestion of the present as a sort of transparent veil hung up against the window of some dazzling future, he had had his wanderyear abroad, and had come home with that indescribable air of the scholar-gypsy, his sensibility fresh, clairvoyant, matutinal, a philosopher of the gaya scienza, his hammer poised over the rock of American philistinism, with never a doubt in his heart of the waters of youth imprisoned there. ”

“ Bourne's argument against the quaker was answered by George Fox in 'The Great Mystery of the Great Whore unfolded,' 1659. 'Defence and Justification of Ministers' Maintenance by Tithes, and of Infant Baptism, Humane Learning, and the Sword of the Magistrate, in a reply to a paper by some Anabaptists sent to Im. Bourne,' to which was added 'Animadversions upon Anth. Perisons [Parsons] great case of tithes,' London, 1659. 'A Gold Chain of Directions with 20 Gold Links of Love to preserve Love firm between Husband and Wife,' London, 1669. ”

“ They went back and were landed at Deeping town, and making their way along the King Street, or old Roman road, to Bourne. Thereon a man met them, running. They had best stay where they were. The Frenchmen were out, and there was fighting up in Bourne.
Alftruda’s knights wanted to push on, to see after the Bourne folk; Judith’s knights wanted to push on to help the French; and the two parties were ready to fight each other. ”

“ Bourne. "I'm so flurried, I don't know what I'm saying."
"What you want, in circs like this," said Robert Henry importantly, "is a cool head. That's where I come in."
"We must make the most of our good fortune," suggested the tobacconist deferentially.
"First thing for you to do," said the managing director, "is to clear out of this 'ole, and break off your engagement with that Vennick gel." It was significant of Robert Henry's new position that he should refer thus lightly to Mr. Bourne's fiancée. "What you want is to be unfettered, un'ampered, and free." ”

“ Mr. Bourne, the millionaire, was an old lover of Prue’s. There is something very odd about these Spanish castles. When I think of them, I somehow see the fair-haired girl whom I knew when I was not out of short jackets. When Bourne meditates them, he sees Prue and me quietly at home in their best chambers. It is a very singular thing that my wife should live in another man’s castle in Spain.
At length I resolved to ask Titbottom if he had ever heard of the best route to our estates. He said that he owned castles, and sometimes there was an expression in his face, as if he saw them. ”

“ Bourne, as he called himself, was at once conducted up some steps, then through corridor after corridor, till cell 43 was reached.
As he came in sight of it he observed a clerical-looking gentleman emerge from its entrance.
This personage was Mr. Leverall, who glanced at the gipsy.
“Uncle to the prisoner No. 43,” observed the warder, in answer to the glance of inquiry given by the chaplain.
“Ah!” said the latter, “you are the young person’s uncle—​are you?” said the chaplain.
“Yes, sir,” returned the gipsy. ”

“ They simply quote from each other. They are quite as free to enjoy their belief as I to enjoy mine, but attacks, open or covert, on account of beliefs are not in order. And if Professor Bourne chooses to do me the honor to commend my industry in searching for evidence, he may do so without subjecting me to reproach. ”

“ Bourne looked down upon the floor in all but hopeless despair.
He remained silent for a brief period; then, as if suddenly something had occurred to him, he raised his head, and glancing at his companion, said in a conciliatory tone—
“Let us arrange this matter, Mr. Shearman. Give me a little time, and I shall then be in a position to prove my innocence. As far as recompense is concerned, you had better name your own terms.”
“I never accepted a bribe from any man,” said Shearman, indignantly, “and it is not likely I should do so now. You are my prisoner!” ”

“ Bourne refused his request, and bade him inform his comrades of his order to return immediately to the boat. In this suspense he remained some time, when, weary of waiting, he asked an Indian for the use of one of the miserable horses which they brought with them, and rode with all speed after the fugitives; but the men had become reckless and disobedient, and the Indians, having completely allayed their suspicions by a show of friendship and specious promises, the sailors persisted in going with them in spite of his peremptory orders. ”

“ He had written his own epitaph, which may be thus rendered: Vincent Bourne, of unfeigned piety and utter humility, who in no place forgot his God or forgot himself, descends into the silence which he loved. It is a touching estimate, and shows, in its anxiety to deal only with essentials, how incidental his work was to his character; he forms no pompous appreciation of the value of his writings, but leaves them, like Sibylline leaves, for the wind to whirl away, the only testimony to his quiet and observant eye, his love of simple things, his intense interest in nature and humanity. ”

“ The usual procedure is for the secondary personality to retain some of the characteristics of the original self—as the ability to read, write, etc.—and give itself a name. In this way Ansel Bourne, the Rhode Island itinerant preacher, became metamorphosed into A. J. Brown, and, without any recollection of his former career or relationships, drifted to Pennsylvania and began an entirely new existence as a shopkeeper in a small country town. ”

“ You say true, you say true, you are in the right. This Mr Bourne fell sick at his House at Durley, in the year 1654, and Dr Raymond of Oak was sent for to him, who after some time, gave the said Mr Bourne over. And he had not now spoken in twenty-four Hours, when the said Dr Raymond, and Mrs Carlisle (Mr Bourne's Nephew's Wife, whose Husband he had made one of his Heirs) sitting by his bedside, the Doctor opened the Bed-curtains at the Bed's-feet, to give him air ”

“ Ansel Bourne and A. J. Brown were separate and distinct personalities, having entirely distinct, and apparently unrelated, chains of memory, distinct characteristics, opinions, and peculiarities, [Pg 183] acting at different times through the same body.
Ansel Bourne was the usual or primary personality; A. J. Brown was a second personality, a separate focus of intelligence and mental activity, a subliminal self. What the exact relationship existing between these two personalities may be we do not attempt at present to explain; but that they exist and act independent of each other we know. ”

“ Bourne tells us that it was the custom in his time, in the North of England, chiefly in country villages, for old and young people to meet together and be merry over a large fire, which was made for that purpose in the open street. ”

“ Charles Bourne, who was more deserving than any. However I told her (because my irresolution should not anticipate her advancement,) that I should respect her as one of the dearest of friends; and receiving a little dog from her as a companion on the road, I had the honour to be accompanied as far as Bramham Moor by my rival.”
He was received by his parents like the Prodigal son, and had engaged himself as journeyman in Dublin, when his old master Powell employed officers to seize him for leaving his apprenticeship. ”

“ Bill pondered over the words which had fallen from the lips of Doctor Bourne, and as he did so he felt they had a significant meaning. What this was he could not at present determine.
“He thinks me a bad lot, of course,” muttered the gipsy. “And I suppose he’s not far out in his reckoning. I look about as great a wretch as it is well possible to conceive—​so people tell me. They seldom flatter a bloke who is so low down as I am at present. The fact is, I’m ashamed to present myself at a respectable house. ”

“ Trade is principally agricultural. Bourne is famous through its connexion with the ardent opponent of William the Conqueror, Hereward the Wake. Of his castle very slight traces remain. Bourne was also the birthplace of the Elizabethan statesman Cecil, Lord Burghley. The Red Hall, which now forms part of the railway station buildings, belonged to the family of Digby, of whom Sir Everard Digby was executed in 1606 for his connexion with the Gunpowder Plot. ”