Horner

“ At last, coming to a convenient place, Horner said, "Please pay me now, sir, for my advice."
"I thought the entertainment I provided for you just now at the inn was all the satisfaction you required," retorted the surprised farmer.
"No, sir," said Horner, "you promised a hundred pounds if any one would find you a remedy for your scolding wife; and a bargain is a bargain all the world over, in the market or on the road": so presenting his pistol at the farmer's head, "d—n me, sir," he continued, "presently deliver your bag, or you are a dead man!" ”

“ Horner petitioned me to allow him to take my son to Europe, promising to bring him back himself in a few years. This was a great trial to us, but I felt that his taste for science required a larger field than our island. ”

“ Horner got out of there very quickly. He took a cab home, which was unusual for him. If George and his nameless friend had been playing an elaborate practical joke, they had also been playing hob with Horner's digestion. For now a hot sensation flooded his middle—his damned ulcer acting up. Ulcers, he thought with a sudden wry smile, ulcers and what else? You're forty-seven, Horner. A mildly successful life, a good marriage, a middling business, no children, no outstanding debts—any regrets? ”

“ Satisfied on this point, he loosed all the bonds and jumped back to avoid the indomitable youngster’s retort of beak and claws. Unamazed by his sudden freedom, the young eagle flopped angrily away to the farther end of the ledge; and Horner, having resumed his useful shirt, started to climb down the mountain, whose ascent he had so heedlessly adventured nearly two weeks before. As he lowered himself over the dizzy brink, he glanced up, to see the male eagle circling slowly above him, gazing down at him with the old challenge in his unwinking, golden eyes. ”

“ The farmer delivered the bag, which, if it did not contain quite a hundred pounds, formed an excellent recompense for the time Horner had spent in exercising his fantastic imagination upon him.
Shortly after this exploit, Horner met a gentleman on Hounslow Heath, saluting him with the customary demand to hand over his dibs.
The traveller gave him six guineas, all he had, [Pg 153] saying: "Sir, you love money better than I do, to thus venture your neck for it"; to which Horner rejoined, "I follow the way of the world, sir, which now prefers money before friends, or honesty ”

“ Horner, all the tenants liked him far better. People, in general, take a kindlier interest in any one, the workings of whose mind and heart they can watch and understand, than in a man who only lets you know what he has{319} been thinking about and feeling, by what he does. But Harry Gregson was faithful to the memory of Mr. Horner. Miss Galindo has told me that she used to watch him hobble out of the way of Captain James, as if to accept his notice, however good-naturedly given, would have been a kind of treachery to his former benefactor. ”

“ Horner, the steward, and Gregson, the poacher and squatter, had come into disagreeable contact too often in former days for them to be perfectly cordial at any future time. Even now, when there was no immediate cause for anything but gratitude for his child’s sake on Gregson’s part, he would skulk out of Mr. Horner’s way, if he saw him coming; and it took all Mr. Horner’s natural reserve and acquired self-restraint to keep him from occasionally holding up his father’s life as a warning to Harry. Now Gregson had nothing of this desire for avoidance with regard to Mr. Gray. ”

“ The road down from Selworthy to Porlock passes the little river Horner and commands views on the left hand up to the purple hills of Exmoor, up to Cloutsham, where the wild red deer couch, and the great heights of Dunkery, Easter Hill, and Robinow. To the left lies the hamlet of Horner, so-called from the river, “Hwrnr,” = “the Snorer,” snoring, as the Anglo-Saxons are supposed to have fancifully likened the sound of its hoarse purring, over the boulders and amid the gravel-stones that strew its shallow woodland course. ”

“ Francis Horner was accustomed to note in his diary and letters the books by which he was most improved and influenced. Amongst these were Condorcet’s ‘Eloge of Haller,’ Sir Joshua Reynolds’ ‘Discourses,’ the writings of Bacon, and ‘Burnet’s Account of Sir Matthew Hale.’ The perusal of the last-mentioned book—the portrait of a prodigy of labour—Horner says, filled him with enthusiasm. Of Condorcet’s ‘Eloge of Haller,’ he said: “I never rise from the account of such men without a sort of thrilling palpitation about me, which I know not whether I should call admiration, ambition, or despair.” ”

“ Horner's grip on Overman's arm was like iron. He was much stronger than the little middle-aged man, and both of them knew it. But Overman was desperate, and they both knew that too.
They got into the car. "You drive," Horner told his wife. Overman sat between them and Horner told Jane to head out to Long Island. It would be a long drive and Horner knew he would have to watch Overman every mile of the way. ”

“ Horner in his Journal analyses his friend's character very acutely: 'He possesses several of the most essential constituents to the character of a true philosopher—an ardent passion for knowledge and improvement, with apparently as few preconceived prejudices as most people can have. A habit of study intense almost to plodding—a mild, timid, reserved disposition.... He can subject himself to general rules, which perhaps he carries too far in matters of diet, etc. ”

“ Gild, not Guild. Such Societies, Unions, or Combinations for common interests, whether of Trade, Religion, or social needs, were called Gilds, the word being derived from the Anglo-Saxon Gildan or Gildare, to pay, an allusion to the contribution demanded from every member towards the common fund.
Antiquity of the Horner’s Craft. It may be justly claimed that amongst the earliest trades or crafts of this country was that of the Horner, who was indispensable to the community, inasmuch as he was the purveyor of many articles absolutely necessary for domestic purposes. ”

“ Jane told him. "And you," she said to Horner, "when you let go of me I knew I was going to hit you with the pitcher and I couldn't stop it, even when I wanted to when you said that about Jones Beach. We—we were alone, my husband and me. But how could you be my husband? You don't look like him. You—you're young enough to be my—my son."
"Ask him," Horner said, pointing at the bound Overman, "ask him about Jones Beach." Horner smiled grimly, waiting. His own memory of Overman's life was only fair, and spotty, and certainly not very good on particular details. Overman's of his would be the same. ”

“ Before they could settle the question their paddlers brought them to a small Indian settlement where the people gave them welcome. And since all were tired of so much boat travel, they agreed to stay at that place for a few days while they rested and determined what should be done next.
Two days of this were enough for Horner. In spite of much argument, his mates could not yet agree, and he grew too restless to stay idle any longer. So, quietly taking a small canoe, a tent, a little food, his guns and his bugle, he slipped away by himself on an exploring trip to the eastward. ”

“ His death probably deprived us of a most exemplary statesman and first-rate Chancellor of the Exchequer, but it can hardly have been a great loss to literature. Passages from Horner's journals, given in his 'Memoirs,' are quaint illustrations of the frame of mind generally inculcated in manuals for the use of virtuous young men. At the age of twenty-eight, he resolves one day to meditate upon various topics, distributed under nine heads, including the society to be frequented in the metropolis; the characters to be studied; the scale of intimacies; the style of conversation ”

“ Horners never an adulterine Gild. If further illustration were required, to demonstrate how great is the right of the Horners’ Company to rank amongst the earliest of the acknowledged Trade Gilds, that proof is to be found in the study of what are known as “Adulterine” Gilds. ”

“ Horner never bade Harry go with him; never thanked him for going, or being at his heels ready to run on any errands, straight as the crow flies to his point, and back to heel in as short a time as possible. Yet, if Harry were away, Mr. Horner never inquired the reason from any of the men who might be supposed to know whether he was detained by his father, or otherwise engaged; he never asked Harry himself where he had been. But Miss Galindo said that those labourers who knew Mr. ”

“ F. Horner, 1816.—Referring to Dugald Stewart’s Preliminary Dissertations, Sydney says:—“I was amazingly pleased with his comparison of the Universities to enormous hulks confined with mooring-chains, everything flowing and progressing around them. Nothing can be more happy.”
Lady Holland, 31st July 1817.—“It is very p. 190curious to consider in what manner Horner gained, in so extraordinary a degree, the affections of such a number of persons of both sexes—all ages, parties, and ranks in society ”

“ We are, however, on sure ground when we point to an interesting proof of the great antiquity of the Horners’ Company, which comes to us from the official letter books of the City of London. In Letter Book A, fol. 40, 12th Edward I (September 8th, 1284) , we find that the ancient Gilds are drawing up Rules for revision by the authorities, an event which, no doubt, took place every few years in early times. The entry includes the following:—“The same day the said John (Pesemers) received the Statutes of the Horners for correction.” ”

“ It demonstrates the fact that at least as early as the fourteenth century, both Horners and Bottlemakers were taking their full share of civic and commercial life.
The Gild in Saxon days. Probably, during the Saxon period, the workers in horn, in common with other craftsmen, were enrolled amongst the members of the Frith Gild and not differentiated until the Anglo-Norman period. It 14might even be admitted that the Horners’ Gild was a subdivision of one of the many “Gilds Merchant” so prominent as mercantile forces in the eleventh and twelfth centuries ”

“ Gild Officials and their importance. 18Such an application took place in 1391, during the reign of Richard II, on the part of the Horners’ Company. The petition was mainly concerned with the recognition of their right to elect two Wardens to preside over the Horners in accordance with the ancient practice common amongst other Gilds. ”

“ And that no Englishman nor other personne sell anye Englyshe hornes unwrought to any straunger or cause them to be sente over the sea, so that the sayd horners will buy the sayd hornes at lyke pryc as they be at the tyme of the making of this acte, uppon payne of forfayture of all suche hornes so bought, sold, or sent. ”

“ Jack seemed to know it, too; at all events he was not sorry to turn his back upon the Lower Farm.
"A rum lot, the Hunts!" he said at lunch. "They're about the only folks here that I haven't cottoned to on the spot. I shall get on fine with all the others. But I can't suffer those Hunts!"
"There's no reason why you should suffer them," observed the agent, in his well-bred drawl; for he had a more aristocratic manner than Claude himself. "They have the best farm on the property, and they pay the smallest rent. You should think over my suggestion of this morning."
"No, no," said the Duke. ”

“ Jack was in his trousers and shirt; the sleeves were rolled up over his brawny arms; the open front revealed an estuary of hairy chest; and it was plain at a glance that the Duke was perspiring at every pore.
"It's all right," he said. "It's for the cats."
"The cats!" said Claude. They were lying round about the fire.
"Yes, poor devils! They had a fire every day in the hut, summer and winter. They never had a single one at sea. They like to sleep by it—they always did—all but Livingstone. He sleeps with me when he isn't on the loose." ”

“ Is there something about poetic talent that renders its possessor unhappy? Is the gift fatal to the fullest enjoyment of life? Does its fervid warmth destroy the shrine whereon its fires burn, or its smallest spark scar the breast which holds it? ”

“ May not the bright blaze of his campfire reveal a face beaming with pleasure and fall upon a breast swelling with pride as he reflects that he has marked a way over the sunniest slope and greenest meadows, and left hints where the multitude when weary may rest and refresh themselves in the most enchanting vales beside rippling streams? ”

“ Let me be a free man—free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself—and i will obey every law, or submit to the penalty. ”

“ The fewest number of men are pre-eminently successful in more than a single ensemble of conditions. Any radical change is likely first to disconcert and ultimately destroy adjustments of individual power to working situations. The qualities which match one condition are not always or often adjustable in relation to others, it was an especial merit of Mr. Scott's genius that it fitted alike into the old Oregon of small things and into the new Oregon of large things. ”

“ The world's on fire. The forests are ablaze. Flames leaping skyward from the tallest trees, burst and vanish. Sparks soar and fall upon the bosom of a blood red sea. They dampen and die. Gigantic pines, fir, spruce and hemlocks fall in the flaming path. ”

“ But even as he gave me my dismissal Raffles turned and caught the sill above him, first with one hand and then with the other. His legs swung like a pendulum as he drew himself up with one arm, then shifted the position of the other hand, and very gradually worked himself waist-high with the sill. But the sill was too narrow for him; that was as far as he could get unaided; and it was as much as I could bear to see of a feat which in itself might have hardened my conscience and softened my heart. ”