Hurd

“ Nevertheless, it was just such men as Hurd who tended to keep the Church of the eighteenth century in its apathetic state. Hurd was a religious-minded man; but his religion was characterised by a cold, prim propriety which was not calculated to commend it to men at large. Like his friend Warburton, he could see nothing but folly and fanatical madness in the great evangelical revival which was going on around him, and which he seems to have thought would soon be stamped out. ”

“ D'Israeli, in the ‘Quarrels of Authors,’ and Mathias, in the ‘Pursuits of Literature,’ refer to a story, partly countenanced by a passage in Parr's own dedication, that Hurd had spoken contemptuously of Parr's ‘long vernacular sermon.’ It is also said (Works, i. 396) that Hurd had shown coldness to Parr personally (see Field, i. 377; De Quincey; Parriana, i. 417–18, and ii. 310 seq., where there is a long discussion of the case) . Such excuses only make matters worse. ”

“ The keeper was shot dead, and the lad, who fled for his life into the open, down towards a spreading beech in the hollow below, was followed and beaten to death with the butt-end of a gun. No wonder that Mrs. Ward took the tale and made it the dominating theme of her story, weaving into it new threads that the sordid tragedy itself did not possess—of the poacher Hurd, the dying child, the piteous little wife. ”

“ Why, he always sleeps with the door o' his room open. I hain't got nothin' ag'in' Sarah Betsy, Mis' Harding. I'd much ruther John an' her would marry th'n fer him to go off."
Her shrunken lips trembled piteously; some large tears rolled down her face. The frigidness of Mrs. Harding's attitude relaxed. She moved nearer the bars.
"I hain't nothin' ag'in' John, either, but Mister Hurd—"
"Is terribly sot in his ways, I know; but he don't mean to do wrong. He jest thinks he knows what is best for ever'body," said Mrs. Hurd, loyally. ”

“ She had been through a trying interview with her mother, listening to scolding and reproaches in silence, and promising only one thing; to wait awhile before seeing John Hurd again.
"I can't promise never to see him ag'in," she said, half in tears.
"I don't, fer the life o' me, understan' how you could 'a' tuk such a fancy to him, when there's plenty o' better-lookin', pearter boys for you to 'a' liked," exclaimed Mrs. Harding, despairingly.
"I've never seen the man he couldn't equal," Sarah Betsy murmured; and with a shake of her head Mrs. Harding went away. ”

“ Now 'Mandy or Sary Ann Wood, or Betsey—"
"Ugly as crows, all of 'em."
"Well, they may n't be as purty as pictur's, but they are a sight better than Armindy Hudgins," she retorted, indignantly.
"They certainly ain't smarter, mother."
"No; I s'pose they ain't, for work," said Mrs. Hurd, reluctantly; "but principles count for somethin', Eph'um—you'll 'low that."
"Yes; yes," he cried, and hastily left the table. Who could show less principle than he had? ”

“ I refer the reader to a postscript of his “Dedication to the Freethinkers,” for a curious specimen of supercilious causticity in his description of Lord Kaimes as a critic, and Akenside as “The Poet!” Of this pair he tells us, in bitter derision, “they are both men of taste.” Hurd imitated his master successfully, by using some qualifying epithet, or giving an adversary some odd nickname, or discreetly dispensing a little mortifying praise. The antagonists he encounters were men sometimes his superiors, and these he calls “sizeable men.” ”

“ For that reason he found no competent opponent, though his pugnacity and personal force made many enemies and conquered a few humble followers. Hurd tries to prove that he had distinguished friends among men of learning. His instances are John Towne [q. v.] and Thomas Balguy [q. v.] , neither of them a very shining light. Hurd was himself the chief disciple, and he also had friendly relations with John Brown (1715–1766) [q. v.] of the ‘Estimate,’ who in that book calls Warburton the Colossus who bestrides the world, and who afterwards defended him against Lowth ”

“ Then he took the telegram out of his pocket which had been put into his hands as he reached the hotel, his mouth quivering again with the exultation which he had felt when he had received it. It recalled to his ranging memory all the details of his hurried interview with the little Widrington solicitor, who had already scented a job in the matter of Hurd's defence. This man—needy, shrewd, and well equipped with local knowledge—had done work for Wharton and the party, and asked nothing better than to stand well with the future member for the division. ”

“ There was a little thrill of expectation as Miss Billy and Theodore appeared, bearing a tub partly full of water, with a number of rosy cheeked apples floating on the surface. "Dive for your fate," commanded Ted. "The red apples are for the girls, the yellow ones for the boys. Your intended's name you'll find within." There was a dashing and splashing after the little buoys of fate, and even Beatrice and Marie Jean lost their dignity as the apples slipped time after time from the inviting crunch of their teeth. ”

“ There is Beatrice,—she treats him horridly. To-day when we were getting things ready, if she had to hand him a nail, she'd draw up her lips and give it to him as if he were a cat. It's horrid of Bea,—and I've had to take her to task about it more than once. And do you know, in spite of it all, I believe Francis likes her immensely."
"He seems to like other girls immensely, too," said John Thomas, from the depths of the basket.
"Oh, but not like that!" said Miss Billy with conviction. ”

“ Miss Billy, in spite of herself, was crying now.
"Do you remember," said Theodore, "we were reading the other day that a man is as great—not as his father's money, or his grandfather's name, but as the force within himself? Miss Billy, I have force enough to drive Mr. Hennesy's team, and stick to it! Inasmuch as that, I am a man." ”

“ Hurdlestone endeavored to soothe her fears, and win her to the belief that his brother's letters must have miscarried, through the negligence of private hands, to whom they might have been entrusted. But when these suggestions failed in arousing her from the stupor of grief into which she had fallen, he offered the most tender consolations which could be administered to a wounded mind—an appearance of heartfelt sympathy in its sufferings. ”

“ This suicide of Phædra, which, on our stricter moral plan, is repugnant to the plain rules of duty, was, in the circumstances supposed, fully justified on the pagan system. Phædra had confessed the secret of her criminal passion. By the forward zeal of her confident, her disgrace is made known to Hippolytus; and thereby, as she conceives, rendered notorious to the public. In this distress she had only one way to vindicate her honour, and that was at the expence of her life. Rather than bear the insupportable load of public infamy, she kills herself. ”

“ They never retaliate injuries, and seldom resent them. They either feel not the stroke of them; or, if they do, the wound is instantly healed by the balsamic virtue of their own minds. But, indeed, a man, well disciplined in the school of humility, receives but few injuries, for he suspects none ”

“ IF it was anybody else but Miss Billy," sighed Mrs. Canary.
Mrs. Hennesy pulled her shawl down over her swollen eyes, and made no reply.
"I've just been in there, an' her fever's higher. She just raved an' tossed all night," went on Mrs. Canary.
"I was on me way there, now," said Mrs. Hennesy,—"but I guess I'll not go in, afther hearing how she is. Folks around a sick house is only a clutter." ”

“ He often sports with his fancies; he breaks out into the most familiar levity; and maintains, too broadly, subtile and refined principles, which evince more of the political than the primitive Christian. It is certain his infidelity was greatly suspected; and Hurd, to pass over the stigma of Warburton’s sudden conversion to the Church, insinuates that “an early seriousness of mind determined him to the ecclesiastical profession.”—“It may be so,” says the critic in the “Quarterly Review,” no languid admirer of this great man ”

“ Just as she was debating with herself as to the advisability of rousing the invalid, the old man moved painfully. "Are you coming, Johanna? Hurry up," he called from beneath the bed clothes. Miss Billy made haste to obey. She brought the tray from the kitchen, and quietly approached the bedside. Mr. Schultzsky lifted the blanket from his face. He looked greyer and older than ever, his hair was matted and towsled, and in the dim light he was a ghostly and forbidding object. Even bold Miss Billy's hands shook as she helped to raise him, and prop him a few inches higher with a pillow. ”

“ Miss Blanche smiled encouragingly. "Do you know," she confided, "father thinks it was a great mistake, your moving here. He says he thinks your father's position as rector of St. John's demanded an entirely different course. Father says there are at least a dozen men in the church that would have tided your affairs over. But ministers are seldom good business men, and I suppose your father is no exception-79- to the rule. How does your dear mother bear up under it?"
"Under what?" asked Miss Billy. "You mean moving to Cherry Street? Oh, mother is brave. ”

“ Look at me,—going to school every day, taking two music lessons a week, 'way back in my Latin, and those geraniums are not set out yet and it's going to rain this morning. It's enough to make any one wish to die."
"We've no time for a funeral this morning," said Mrs. Lee, bustling cheerily into the room. "Beatrice, I shall have to ask you to wash the breakfast dishes. Maggie's toothache is worse, and she is getting ready to go to the dentist. ”

“ So it came about that at six o'clock of a May morning she was skipping downstairs before any other member of the family had stirred, with a quick springing step that was peculiarly her own. Miss Billy's sprightly locomotion was a constant source of amusement to her family, and of mortification-9- to Miss Billy herself. "It is my misfortune, not my fault," she was wont to say when her brother Theodore described her gait as "galumphing," and her sister Beatrice pleaded with her to study physical culture; "and it's like struggling against Fate to attempt to walk with discretion. ”

“ Beatrice and Theodore sat silently in the study. At nine o'clock the nurse came down the stairs again.
"Mrs. Lee says for you both to go to bed. She will call you if there's the slightest change. If you can get any sleep, so much the better. And Mr. Theodore, there's a boy out in the yard."
Beatrice obediently followed the nurse upstairs, and Ted went quietly out of the door. A dark figure could be dimly seen striding up and down in the faint light cast from Miss Billy's room. Theodore rounded the porch, and stopped the shadowy form in its march. It was John Thomas. ”

“ I never knew the signs to fail before."
"Signs can't hurt Miss Billy," said Holly Belle with conviction, as she hastened the little Canarys into their holiday attire. "She don't believe in 'em—nor dream books, nor nothin'. An' I ain't a-goin' to after this, neither."
"Holly Belle," said Mrs. Canary impressively, "the night yer grandfather died I was a sittin' there by the window——"
"I don't care," broke in Holly Belle stoutly: ("Fridoline, hold up yer chin! How can I fasten yer necktie when yer leanin' it down like that!) —I don't care fer all the old signs in the world. ”

“ Didn't you get promoted from primary to secondary less'n a month ago?"
"Yes," growled the boy, "en the only difference is that ye put a nickel in the collection instead of a cent. I'm goin' to be changed back agin."
"No, ye ain't," said his mother decidedly. "You get that church down on ye, and ye'll miss the Sunday School picnic. But I'll tell ye what ye can do, Friddie. After the picnic ye can all make a change and go to Mr. Lee's-159- church. The Weatherbys have always been Baptists, but out of compliment to Mr. Lee I'm willin' to let you change. ”

“ The one shews a perfect distraction of mind, which cannot even bear the consciousness of its crimes: the other, a firm and steddy spirit, sensible indeed to its misery, but not oppressed or astonished by it.
2. But this measure of grief, so delicately marked, and, with such truth of character, ascribed to Electra, ought not, it is further insisted, to have shewn itself, immediately, on the murder of Clytæmnestra. But why not? There is nothing in the character of Electra, the maxims of those times, or in the disposition 127 of the drama itself, to render this change improper or incredible. ”

“ Lee with a poor little imitation of a smile that did not deceive at least one member of the party. "Mother and I had decided to keep it from you as long as possible, but later developments have made it necessary to—to——"
"It is right that we should know the unpleasant things as well as the pleasant," put in Miss Billy stoutly. "We are not children. Beatrice is eighteen, and Theodore and I shall be sixteen next June."
"There are disasters much worse than losing money," went on Mr. Lee. ”

“ Miss Billy, if you offer to make me a rarebit in your chafing dish to-night, I shall courteously accept; and mother, a bottle of stuffed olives, three bunches of radishes and a fruit cake would be delicate attentions on your part."
"Whom are you going to invite?" asked Beatrice.
"Oh, Margaret, of course, and Lindsay, and our friend John Thomas, and I suppose Mary Jane."
"But that won't make enough men to go around."
"Oh, you and Mary Jane can divide Mr. Lindsay," said Ted carelessly. "He's big enough to make two." ”