Fellaheen

“ The little priest of Felton,
He kill’d a mouse within his house,
And ne’er a one to help him;
To help him, to help him,
He kill’d a mouse within his house,
And ne’er a one to help him.
[190]
THE FELTON GARLAND. How a Brick-maker at Felton stole a Woman away by her own Consent, from her Grandmother.
To the Tune of, Maggy Lauder.
There lives a lass in Felton town,
Her name is Jenny Gowen,
With the Brick-man she has play’d the lown,
So wanton she is grown:
The reason why some love the night,
Incognito to revel,
Is they love darkness more than light,
Because their deeds are evil. ”

“ She had with her a beautiful child; and one of the women of the place devised a thing. “This woman,” she said, “does not belong to the little city, and he can have nothing against her; she is a stranger. Let one of us take this beautiful lad to him, and he shall ask Felion to come and save his mother.”
Every one approved the woman’s wisdom, and in the early morning she herself, with another, took the child and went up the long hillside in the heavy heat; and when they came near Felion’s house the women stayed behind, and the child went forward, having been taught what to say to the old man. ”

“ Felion drew himself over to the huge oar, and with the strength of five men, while the people watched and prayed, he kept the raft straight for the great slide, else it had gone over the dam and been lost, and all that were thereon. A mile below, the raft was brought to shore, and again the people said that Felion had saved the little city from disaster.
And they blessed him for the moment; and the years went on.
Felion’s daughter grew towards womanhood, and her beauty was great, and she was welcome everywhere in the valley, the people speaking well of her for her own sake. ”

“ On the following day the Fellah went forth betimes to plough whilst the boy, delaying purposely at home, hid himself behind the door when behold, the lover entered to her, and she said, “’Tis my desire that we forge a story whereby to slay my husband and Master Scald-head the servant.” Quoth he, “How wilt thou slay them?” and quoth she, “I will buy for them poison and make it up in cooked food, so they may devour it together and perish together; after which we will abide, I and thou, making merry, nor shall the dead disturb us any more.” ”

“ And when Felion looked up towards Shaknon and Margath, a light came in his eyes, for they were wise and quiet, and watched the world, and something of their grandeur drew about him like a cloak. As age cut deep lines in his face and gave angles to his figure, a strange, settled dignity grew upon him, whether he swung his axe by the balsams or dressed the skins of the animals he had killed, piling up the pelts in a long shed in the stockade, a goodly heritage for his daughter, if she ever came back. ”

“ But again and again he returned; for no fire is like the old fire, and no trail like the old trail. And at last it seemed as if he had driven his tent-peg in the Long Valley for ever; for, from among the women who came, he chose one comely and wise and kind, and for five years the world grew older, and Felion did not know it. When he danced his little daughter on his knee, he felt that he had found a new world.
But? a day came when trouble fell upon the little city, for of a sudden the reef of gold was lost, and the great crushing-mills stood idle, and the sound of the hammers was stayed. ”

“ Fielden's most maddening charms. We have all found something in her that seems to belong to ourselves alone.
Lately I have discovered that she loves to wander up the hillside by herself, and listen to the plover's solitary cry, and sit in the sunshine with no companion near her. And one wonders why so frivolous a woman should care for this, and why when she comes back amongst us again her eyes should wear the wistful look which covers them like a veil sometimes.
When she left the Melfords' Palestrina asked her to come and stay with us; and rather to my surprise, Mrs. Fielden came. ”

“ Fielden and our other two guests are leaving on Monday, I believe.
Mrs. Fielden looks much prettier in the Highlands, I think, than anywhere else. Young Finlayson is in love with her, and I believe has offered her his heart and the ironmongery business with it; but I think of all her lovers Anthony Crawshay is the one she likes best. He is the only one for whom her moods never alter, and to whom she is always gracious and charming and sweet. ”

“ That Henry Fielding should have been born among buildings raised by Benedictine hands is not incongruous; for no man ever more heartily preached and practised the virtue of open-handed charity; none was more ready to scourge the vices of arrogance, cruelty and avarice; no English novelist has left us brighter pictures of innocence and goodness. And it was surely a happy stroke of that capricious Fortune to whom Fielding so often refers, to allot a Harlequin Chamber for the birth of the author of nineteen comedies ”

“ When any one tries by avoiding her to show displeasure, Mrs. Fielden is oblivious of the fact. And when the penitence and boredom which immediately ensue when one has deprived Mrs. Fielden of one's company have led to ending the one-sided quarrel with an apology, it is only to find that Mrs. Fielden has been blissfully unconscious of one's absence. Summer and the air of the Highlands seem to be in her veins. Her happiness, like the quality of mercy, is twice blessed, making her, through her talent for enjoyment, diffuse something beautiful and gay about her. ”

“ Fielden's life will be a blank if she does not possess a certain rare fern which may be found sometimes on the hillsides of Scotland, spends a whole day scrambling about looking for it, and returns triumphant in the evening. Mrs. Fielden has forgotten that she ever wanted it. When we sulk she does not notice it. ”

“ I know what Felicia's cooking is."
"Bishop, dear Bishop!" said Felicia, and she did not pretend to hide her happiness; "indeed, you shall be the most honored guest. Are you glad?"
"Yes, I am," he replied, interpreting Felicia's words as she wished. Then he paused a moment and said gently: "God bless you both!" and went his way with a tear in his eye and a prayer in his heart, and left them to their joy.
Yes. Shall not the same divine power of love that belongs to earth be lived and sung by the disciples of the Man of Sorrows and the Burden-bearer of sins? Yea, verily! ”

“ Fielden, looking round the room.
"Until the afternoon," I said; "and then Palestrina and I go for a little walk, and at tea-time I go to the hall sofa, and she asks people to come up and sit with me."
"I am glad you like books," said Mrs. Fielden.
"But really," I said, "the good folks in Stowel are all extraordinarily kind to me, and some of the Jamiesons are up nearly every day."
"I like the Jamiesons," said Mrs. Fielden; "they are so intelligent. Have you ever noticed that their watches all keep exact time, and that they tell you the hour to the very second? ”

“ Like his contemporary Smollett, Henry Fielding came of an ancient family, and might, in his Horatian moods, have traced his origin to Inachus. The lineage of the house of Denbigh, as given in Burke, fully justifies the splendid but sufficiently quoted eulogy of Gibbon. From that first Jeffrey of Hapsburgh, who came to England, temp. Henry III., and assumed the name of Fieldeng, or Filding, “from his father’s pretensions to the dominions of Lauffenbourg and Rinfilding,” the future novelist could boast a long line of illustrious ancestors. ”

“ The good woman seemed to take so much delight in giving them any pleasure, that Miss Jenny could not refuse accepting her offer; and, when they were all in her room, Polly Suckling said, ‘Well, this is a most charming house; I wish we could all live here for ever. How happy must the lord and lady of this fine place be!’
‘Indeed, my little Polly,’ said Miss Jenny, ‘you may be very much mistaken; for you know our good governess has taught us, that there is no happiness but in the content of our own minds ”

“ Fielden is always the centre of every party, although she has a childish habit, which in another woman might be ascribed to shyness, of taking the least conspicuous seat in the room. Consequently, when she dispersed the little group that was standing or sitting about her, applauding everything she said, and came across the room in pink satin and roses and diamonds, and sat down beside my sofa, the action had something regal about it, as though she had left a throne and come to speak to me. ”

“ A Fellah’s existence is not essentially more unhappy than that of our peasant hinds. His disposition is rather cheerful than melancholy; and every circumcision, every marriage, is the excuse for a holiday, shared by the whole village. ”

“ VON FELSEN GAINS HIS END
I entered the room just when matters had reached the crisis. Althea, very pale and troubled, was sitting near the window and von Felsen stood over her dictating his terms. He had wrought upon her fears until she was on the point of yielding.
He resented my interference, therefore, fearing lest I should cause her to change her mind, and he turned on me angrily. "There is no need for you to come here, Herr Bastable. You can do no good." ”

“ As I am a living man, I would bring you to this pass; and I have little doubt, when I wrote to Gerald's wife from my chosen place of exile, that she would listen to the tale of pity I should relate, and would reward me for restoring her husband to her arms, and for restoring the good name which you filched from her by the basest of tricks."
"Enough of this," said M. Felix, "I capitulate. Nothing can be done to-night. Come to me to-morrow, and we will make terms. I can say no more."
"Perhaps not," said Dr. Peterssen. "You will be here to-morrow?" ”

“ A few weeks before the production of Lillo's tragedy, and while Pasquin was still in the full tide of political success, an event occurred of closer import to Fielding's affectionate nature than all the applause of the Opposition and the town. This was the birth, in April, 1736, of his daughter Charlotte. No English writer has left more charming pictures of mother and child than those we owe to the tenderness and simplicity of Fielding's pen. ”

“ Vernon, the 'Cousin Felicia,' whom Maud now realised in flesh and blood for the first time, inspired her with a stronger, keener feeling of admiration than [30] any she had known before. She was beautiful, as Maud had often heard; but beauty alone would not account for the thrill of pleasure which something in Felicia's first greeting gave her. The charm lay in an unstudied, unconscious cordiality of manner that fascinated the new-comer with its sincerity and grace. Felicia coruscated with cheerfulness, courage, mirth. She was bright, and infected those about her with brightness. ”

“ They knew their business too well for that."
"Well, I'm sure I congratulate you, Herr Bastable," said von Felsen, with well affected sincerity. "As you say, we don't exactly hit it in many ways, but a thing of this sort might happen to any of us. It's monstrous that it could occur. Of course you'll set the police to work."
I threw up my hands as if it were useless. "I've just been with Feldermann and his manner told me what to expect. Without a clue of any sort, what can they do?"
Althea had been watching him very closely, and now turned to him. ”

“ Their eldest son was Henry, who was born on April 22, 1707, and had an uncertain number of brothers and sisters of the whole blood. After his first wife's death, General Fielding (for he attained that rank) married again. The most remarkable offspring of the first marriage, next to Henry, was his sister Sarah, also a novelist, who wrote David Simple; of the second, John, afterwards Sir John Fielding, who, though blind, succeeded his half-brother as a Bow Street magistrate, and in that office combined an equally honourable record with a longer tenure. ”

“ Although a prefect himself, he not only evinced no interest in the order of the house at a time when the prefects were specially on their mettle, but he had taken pains to undermine the discipline of the place and set his authority up in antagonism to that of his own colleagues.
Felgate laid his plans deeply and cleverly. Ainger, as he knew, was popular because he had won the mile, and was upright, and meant what he said, and said what he meant. No boy of whom the same can be said could help being popular. ”

“ Guy was eagerly waiting their arrival, curious to learn how Felicia had fared during the day. After supper, which the travellers had found in readiness for them, Felicia had a little chat with her uncle before going to bed.
"It seemed so natural to be in Bristol again," she informed him; "and I almost felt once as though, if I left Mrs. M'Cosh's kitchen and walked upstairs, I should bear the 'whirr-whirr' of mother's sewing machine, and find her sitting at the table at work, and it comforted me to remember she would never be tired or overworked again. ”

“ Had he wanted Ferlie to grow up? She had shown precocious signs of it during his last Leave. If he had lost his little companion of the Zoological Gardens England must now become as lonely as Burma. There was the influence of that strange woman who had had tea with them: the aunt. Her name had made him think of hair-oil. Cyprian laid down his pen. In the brightness of the firelight he had not noticed his omission to turn up the electric reading-lamp; and the East ages the eyes. He ought to feel younger than he did. One had to take malaria into account. How old was Ferlie now? ”