Sherborne

“ And one man, grumbling, said that that was not Ealhstan's way in his own place at Sherborne, for there the doors were open ever.
But I knew that my business might not wait, and so, after a little of this talk, went up to the gate and thundered thereon in such sort that the wicket opened, and the porter's face looked through it angrily enough, and he would have bidden us begone, for war and travel had stained us both, so that doubtless we were in no better case, as to looks, than the crowd that pressed after us -- very quietly, indeed -- to hear the parley. ”

“ When the Earl of Somerset’s lands were given away, after his forfeiture, the estate of Sherborne was offered to Villiers; he might, perhaps, have accepted it without odium, for upon Prince Charles had been bestowed all Somerset’s estates in the north. But he refused the offer of Sherborne, according to a passage in Birch’s MSS., “in a most noble fashion; praying the King that the building of his fortunes might not be founded on the ruin of another.” ”

“ Sherborne Bells.
On this day it is a custom to exercise the largest bell of one of our country churches, in the manner described in the following communication.
Tolling Day. For the Every-Day Book.
The 23d of September has obtained in Sherborne, Dorset, the name of “tolling-day,” in commemoration of the death of John Lord Digby, baron Digby of Sherborne, and earl of Bristol, in the year MDCXCVIII. and in conformity with the following wish expressed in a codicil annexed to his lordship’s will. ”

“ The whole group of buildings, with its surroundings, classrooms, museum, laboratory, drawing school, music house, Morris tube range, bath and fives courts, deserves more attention than it usually gets from visitors to Sherborne. These sojourners often forget that the north side of the exterior of the church is likely to be as interesting as the south side; if once they take the trouble to get to this north side, they will be surprised to find how much fine work, ancient and modern, is to be seen there.
Sherborne Old Castle is situated on an elevated piece of ground to the east of the town ”

“ From hence I came to Sherborne, a large and populous town, with one collegiate or conventual church, and may properly claim to have more inhabitants in it than any town in Dorsetshire, though it is neither the county-town, nor does it send members to Parliament. The church is still a reverend pile, and shows the face of great antiquity. Here begins the Wiltshire medley clothing (though this town be in Dorsetshire) , of which I shall speak at large in its place, and therefore I omit any discourse of it here. ”

“ As soon as he came to Sherborne, he went to his usual quarters, the sign of the Boot, where he inquired for his wife and daughter; but how was he thunder-struck, when he was told they were in hold, at Webb’s the bailiff! He inquired for what reason, and was informed, that four officers had been walking all through the town to take up all strangers, such as chimney-sweepers, tinkers, pedlars, and the like. What could our hero do? ”

“ So he spoke: but my mind was wandering away to my own trouble; and when I spoke of Sherborne just now, the thought of Bishop Ealhstan and his words had come to me, and I wondered if I would tell my troubles to this old man as he bade me. But, though to think of it showed that I was again more myself, something of yesterday's bitterness rose up again as the scene at the Moot came back, and I would not.
The priest was silent for a while, and must have watched my face as these thoughts hardened it again.
"Be not wroth with an old man, my son," he said, very gently ”

“ Sherborne, who was a rascal; but it will have no effect upon his partner, who is an honest man."
"Then what, in heaven's name, do you want?" demanded Sir Arthur Adelon.
"To see you act up to your professions, Sir Arthur," replied Norries. "At the election which began poor Mr. Dudley's ruin, and which I had some share in conducting on your part, you professed, and I really believe entertained--for I think that, in that at least, you were sincere--principles of firm and devoted attachment to the cause of the people. ”

“ He identified the name with Ealhstan or Ealchstan, the warlike bishop of Sherborne. It may seem strange that the bishop of Sherborne’s ring should be found in Carnarvonshire; but the Saxon Chronicle suggests a simple and natural explanation. In the year 853 Æthelwulf, king of Wessex, was petitioned by the king and Witan of Mercia to aid them in the subjugation of the Welsh, who were in rebellion. Consequently, Æthelwulf148 marched with an army into Wales, and restored the imperial authority of Mercia. ”

“ Sherborne continued to be the capital of Wessex till about the year 878. During a considerable part of that time we may well believe that King Alfred spent his boyhood here, almost certainly during King Æthelberht’s reign; and here, in this centre of education which Ealdhelm had founded, he may well have received such education as he got during his boyhood. There is no other centre of education which has so good a claim to him; here were buried his two brothers, Æthelbald and Æthelberht, who successively reigned before Æthelred and himself. Æthelberht was his guardian after his father’s death. ”

“ It is pleasant to find that the wealthy men of the Cotswold wool industry seem to have devoted their surplus riches to such public works as schools, almshouses, and churches.
At Northleach the Roman Foss Way is crossed coming from Cirencester in a north-easterly direction.
A few miles beyond Northleach, Sherborne Park, the residence of Lord Sherborne, is passed on the left. It is a dignified house, situated in open country, many portions of which are well wooded. ”

“ Call to mind, I beg of you, all the particulars of the transaction. Remember what was done to lead him on from expense to expense in that business. Remember all which that man Sherborne suggested, and which we executed. The matter of the petition, too, against his return, and what was arranged between our people and his own agents, and the business of the flaw in the title. You must have forgotten, I think."
"Oh! no," replied the priest; "I have not forgotten, Sir Arthur, and I say it would be unpleasant, very unpleasant. What does this person Norries ask for the papers?" ”

“ From Sir Edward Sherborne, Knight.
The Gloucester frigate cast away at the Lemanore, and most of the men in it; the Duke of York escaping in a cock boat, anno 1682, May the 5th, on a Friday.
When King James II. was crowned, (according to the ancient custom, the Peers go to the throne, and kiss the king) the Crown was almost kissed off his head. An Earl did set it right; and as he came from the Abbey to Westminster Hall, the Crown tottered extremely. ”

“ Awe-filled and amazed, she listened to Sherwell, who gave away bottles of rare old port, who was a great man in the city of London, who had a warehouse of his own in Bread Street, and a traveller to do his will. In her small world he was the most marvellous creature that had ever entered it. She was like the savage woman in Klinger's etching, and Sherwell was her first sight of the sea. And like the sea he paid no heed to any mortal, not even to Uncle John ”

“ The good old man was hearty and kind, and kissed her good-night and good-morning, and gave her heaps of pocket-money, and spoilt her; but Sherwell was Olympian, a god who came out of a warehouse, who owned a traveller, an office-boy, and typist, who dwelt in London, and to whom all things befel precisely as he desired, commanded, or ordained. ”

“ So near they were to each other, the men and she, and yet as though a thousand miles apart! She had often thought about it; and now, behind the lights, she always imagined men and women and children, swarthy, quick, attentive, addressing each other in words whose meaning she would never know. Often she thought about them, and wondered how they looked.
“Have you ever been to France?” she asked.
“I've never been out of England,” said Sherwell: “not that I couldn't go; but this”—and he waved his pipe at the landscape—“this is good enough for me.” ”

“ It is a simple piece: the break in the forest, V-shaped and wide, the spread of sea beyond, and a single figure mutely worshipful. Imagine a clearing before the V-shaped break, say a couple of large meadows, in the farther one a red-brick cottage, and you have the house and place of Sherwell's holiday.
Sherwell came here every August—he chose August so as not to waste the Bank Holiday. For three weeks every year Sherwell left his warehouse in Bread Street and came to the red-brick cottage that faced the two meadows, the V-shaped break in Croy Wood, and the spread of the English Channel. ”

“ When, as usual, Uncle John announced that supper was waiting for them in the parlour, Sherwell produced his bottle of rare old port.
It was an impressive moment, and no one felt its passing with more gravity and awe than Jessie Tolputt. She was a slim little soul, with large black eyes, a pointed chin, and lots of dark, dark hair. It was so dark because her face was almost pale—olive-pale rather than white-pale. She was slender and round in one, strong and yet fragile; she might have been a nymph escaped from Croy Wood or from Sandling Wood inland. ”

“ And through the wide forest of merry Sherwood,
we’ll wind the bugle horn.
The Sheriff attempts to take bold Robin Hood,
bold Robin disdains to fly,
Let them come when they will to merry Sherwood,
we’ll conquer boys or die.
Our hearts are stout, and our bows are good,
and as well their masters know,
They’re cut in the forest of merry Sherwood,
and never spares a foe.
Oar arrows shall drink of the fallow deer’s blood,
we’ll hunt them all over the plain,
And through the wide forest of merry Sherwood,
no shaft shall e’er fly in vain. ”

“ It was a perfect evening, with mysterious lights disappearing behind them and appearing in front. The trailing moonlight turned from gold to silver, the pale stars showed faint upon a silken sky, spacious, phosphorescent, a mantle of lucent green shouldering shore and shore. Again Sherwell raised his voice and told of the warehouse in Bread Street, of his traveller, typist, and office-boy, and how he had resolved that certain things should happen and how those that were due had happened. He told her how he had put by money every year, investing it in four-per-cent. ”

“ Sherwood laughed one of his cold, devilish laughs.
Then he clapped his hands and cried:
“Vengeance! vengeance! my sweet Cecil, and a long life at the Golden Horn!”
And strange though it was, Madge clapped her hands and laughed too.
In a moment Sherwood continued:
“Yes, sweet Annette, my mission—my secret mission in the west will now be ended, and then for the Golden Horn! [48] But, I must have one man’s life before I go, the life of Old Tumult, the hunter. I could never rest easy—not even in the grave—without revenge upon that giant. ”

“ Sherburne had divined aright. It was the mighty mass of the Massanuttons that weighed upon Banks. As he looked up at the dark ridges and misty crests his mind was torn by doubts. His own forces, great in number though they were, were scattered. Fremont to his right on the slopes of the Alleghanies had 25,000 men; there were other strong detachments under Milroy and Schenck, and he had 17,000 men under his own eye. ”

“ General Grant's tour around the world made him so replete with delightful reminiscence that he talked more when he came home. I remember dining with him at Governor Cornell's in New York, and it was a very distinguished dinner. I told him that an English officer who had been present at the dinner given him by the Duke of Wellington in the Waterloo Chamber told me in London that he thought him a very learned soldier. "Well, I am not," said Grant. "I had neither the genius of Sherman nor the learning of Lee or Macpherson. ”

“ A patter, patter, distant but clear in the morning, came from a point down the stream.
"You're right!" exclaimed Sherburne in alarm. "It's on our side of the river and it's increasing fast! As sure as we live, the enemy has crossed and attacked!"
They were not left in doubt. The pickets, running in, told them that a heavy force of Northern cavalry was across the Rappahannock and was charging with vigor. In fact, two of the divisions had passed the fords unseen in the fog and were now rushing Stuart's camp. ”

“ To Sherburne, who had learned Harry's family history, the great Henry Ware was alive, and in the flesh before him. He felt with all the certainty of truth that the Union skirmishers in the thicket could not escape the keen eyes that sought them out.
"I can see at least twenty men creeping about among the bushes, and seeking chances for shots," whispered Harry. ”

“ In a curious letter of December, 1863, addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, in which he gave a somewhat sarcastic account of what he considered an insidious attempt by Grant to deprive him of his due part in the battle of Missionary Ridge, to the advantage of Sherman, he said of that general: “Sherman is an energetic and active officer, but in my judgment is as infirm as Burnside. He will never be successful. Please remember what I tell you.” The feeling called forth by such things among the high officers of the army can well be imagined. ”

“ Sherman, tall, with high, commanding forehead, is almost as loosely built as Lincoln; has sandy whiskers, closely cropped, and sharp, twinkling eyes, long arms and legs, shabby coat, slouch hat, his pants tucked into his boots. He is talking hurriedly, gesticulating now to Lincoln, now to Grant, his eyes wandering everywhere. Meade, also tall, with thin, sharp features, a gray beard, and (p. 489) spectacles, is a little stooping in his gait. Sheridan, the shortest of all, quick and energetic in all his movements, with a face bronzed by sun and wind; courteous, affable, a thorough soldier. ”