Repartee

“ Duke. I trust thee. If thou wilt swear thy truth to me, then come. With me all is feasting and revelry.
Hans [looking out to sea again] . Thank thee, my lord. I care not to do murder, and I can play the robber by myself.
Duke. Seize him.
Sköll [beseechingly] . Master, our dearest companion, who never yet has played us false.
[Duke draws his sword and makes as if to attack Hans.]
Hans [gripping his sword and flourishing it high in the air.] Thou art the master and wonted to victory; but come too near, and thou hast only been the master! ”

“ How different a figure did the same prince make in a reign of dissimilar complexion! The philosophic warrior, who could relax himself into the ornament of a refined court, was thought a savage mechanic, when courtiers were only voluptuous wits. Let me transcribe a picture of Prince Rupert, drawn by a man who was far from having the least portion of wit in that age, who was superior to its indelicacy, and who yet was so overborne by its prejudices, that he had the complaisance to ridicule virtue, merit, talents. ”

“ While the master is hunting, or gathering together his retainers for the feast, the women are spinning or sewing, gossiping, confessing, or doing penance; while the priest studies in his apartment, shares in the mirth, or soothes the troubles of the household, and rules the mind of the noble by securing the confidence of his wife. Out of doors, there are the retainers, by whatever name they may be called. Their poor dwellings are crowded round the castle of the lord ”

“ Peace to your memories, dignified rector, and yet more dignified clerk!—by this time ye are probably gone to your long homes, and your voices are no longer heard sounding down the aisles of the venerable church—nay, doubtless, this has already long since been the fate of him of the sonorous "Amen!"—the one of the two who, with all due respect to the rector, principally engrossed my boyish admiration—he, at least, is scarcely now among the living! Living! ”

“ The historical romancer might paint for us their interviews and report their conversation. By some happy instinct he might hit upon their several motives and policies, and show us the grave, acute, strong-minded, and feeble-bodied priest, advising and restraining the impatient prince, who at this time would have been little more than half his age, and whose headstrong vehemence must now and again have filled the more prudent Reformer (himself no mincer of speech) with uneasy qualms. ”

“ I say, Witte, that we are coming. Ought not the burghers of a town like ours to erect a triumphal arch for their fellow-burghers and officers of state, who have suffered for the Fatherland, just as much as for a Duke?--But who is to do it? The old Amtshauptmann? The Burmeister? They won't be thinking of such a thing. Or do you think the old Rector, because he once made a thing of a 'transparency?' That was a fine thing!--Or old Metz? There's as much sense in his talk, baker Witte, as in a squirrel's tail.--Or old Zoch? He can blow his horn on the watch tower, nothing else.--Ah! ”

“ Baldrian's school when I was a boy, and I say that he's right, we must have a republic. You may choose Plato's if you like, for my part, or any other; but what the rector says of the journeymen is a sin and a shame; I mean the journeymen, for my part, and not the rector. Gentlemen, I, for my part, have travelled to other lands in my calling as a journeyman dyer."--"You sat quietly at home with your mother," cried a voice.--"What's that you say? ”

“ It is notorious that a rector in the Church of England, in the possession of a living of, let us say, a thousand a year, shall employ a curate at seventy pounds a year, that the curate shall do three-fourths or more of the work of the parish, that he shall remain in that position for twenty years, taking one-fourteenth of the wages while he does three-fourths of the work, and that nobody shall think that the rector is wrong or the curate ill-used! ”

“ And Rupert, Prince of Cavaliers, what became of him? He too returned with the Restoration—another of its curses—fresh from a long career of piracy in the West Indian seas, to be made Lord High Admiral of England, with no end of other honours and emoluments heaped upon him! To live for years after a life of luxurious ease, die “in the purple,” and be buried with all pomp and ceremony. ”

“ Properly he is the rector of a church, that hath a parsonage where a vicarage is endowed, to which he presents, as in this parish; and yet it is supposed, in some places, that person is the patron, or he in whom the right of patronage is ”

“ Perhaps this should discourage me from attempting to collect my rambling recollections under a title which is stolen from Petrarch; but I am encouraged by thinking that Petrarch will not care for this transparent appropriation of his forgotten title, and I am sure that I shall not care if Posterity never receives my letter. I shall not be here to watch for an answer.
And yet I shall be glad if a record of the changeful times in which I have lived gives pleasure to any one who reads my book now, or to those who come after me. It has been a remarkable era. ”

“ There remains the very large number of unappropriated parish churches, in which the rector or parson was directly responsible for the cure of souls. The duties of the rector were regarded in the middle ages with considerable latitude. Nothing was more usual than for a man of good family, or one whose clerkly talents made him a constant attendant on the king or the great officers of state, to obtain a number of benefices which provided him with a necessary income. ”

“ Likewise, in Strasburg, eleven doctors have appeared to my honour, because I brought up my dear brother Simon, who is preceptor of the second class there. At Sitten, when they sent me the wine of the city, the curate said, 'This wine the city of Sitten sends to our dear countryman, Thomas Platter, as to a father of the children of the province of St. Gall.' What shall I then say of thee also, Felix, of thy honour and prosperity, that God has granted thee the honour, that thou hast already lived long and happily with thy wife, and hast been known to princes and lords, noblemen and commons. ”

“ Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Sir Rupert. I wish I could have got here earlier, I'm sure.
Sir Rupert. Wish we'd asked you a month ago, if you're fond of shooting. Thought you might look down on sport, perhaps.
Spurrell (to himself) . Sport? Why, he's talking of birds—not the horse! (Aloud.) Me, Sir Rupert? Not much! I'm as keen on a day's gunning as any man, though I don't often get the chance now.
Sir Rupert (to himself, pleased) . Come, he don't seem strong against the Game Laws! ”

“ Prince Rupert and I will pass the lines together. Do you know that I have Prince Rupert, Dan?”
“Keep him, dear, don't let him get into the army.”
“He lives in the woods night and day, and when he comes to pasture I go after him while Uncle Shadrach watches the turnpike. When the soldiers come by, blue or gray, we hide him behind the willows in the brook. They may take the chickens—and they do—but I should kill the man who touched Prince Rupert's bridle.”
“You should have been a soldier, Betty.” ”

“ The rectory is just over the way"—pointing to it—"and I know the rector's at home." I explained that I had not come to see [Pg 32] the church but had merely driven into the village accidentally. "But you really ought to see it now you are here," he continued; "the rector takes a great interest in it, and is always so pleased to show it to any stranger." Fate had brought me to Fletching, and Fate appeared determined I should see the church. Fate was kinder than I knew. The man stood there watching me, and after his civility I felt it would seem ungracious to disappoint him. ”

“ Prendergast, the rector, read prayers—a high intellectual treat, as Miss Townley assured them. It seemed only natural that a rector, who was honourable, should read better than old Mr. Crewe, who was only a curate, and not honourable; and when little Clara Robins wondered why some clergymen were rectors and others not, Ellen Marriott assured her with great confidence that it was only the clever men who were made rectors. ”

“ You see, Sir, what an Estate I might have gotten, without ever having medled with the Surveys, much lesse with the more fatal distribution of the Lands after they were surveyed, and without medling with the Clerkship of the Councel, or being Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant. All which, if I had been so happy as to have declined, then had I preserved an universal favor and interest with all men, instead of the odium and persecution I now endure. ”

“ For fear of being tedious I shall only tell you in one word that the Cardinal, contrary to his own interest, hurried the Count into a civil war, by such arts of chicanery as those who are fortune’s favourites never fail to play upon the unfortunate.
The minds of people began now to be more embittered than ever. I was sent for by the Count to Sedan to tell him the state of Paris. ”

“ It might be said to be my first entrance into the world; and, excepting two or three of my fellow-countrywomen, there were no young unmarried women at these parties, as it was not the custom in France. We supped once with the treasurer of the province. His house was not large, but well furnished, and the supper, I remember, was thought to be remarkably fine, with respect both to the eye and the palate. The place of treasurer gave nobility, and of course the treasurers were rich, expensive, and not in the list of “good company,” though visited by everybody at these seasons. ”

“ Our rector was a nice old gentleman, nearly eighty years of age, and he would often ask me into his study, under pretense of examining me, to see how my education was going on. The old man really seemed to feel his feet a little during these visits, and generally gave me sixpence for a nice kiss before he would let me go. Of course I was always glad to go to the rectory, especially as Mrs. Wilson, the housekeeper, often gave me sweets and cakes in addition to the parson's sixpences. ”

“ So if the Lady Prioress will say a word for such a sort of sorners, I’ll e’en let you go on your way.’
‘They have had a warning, the poor rogues, and that will suffice for this time! Nay, now, fellows, let my wimple alone! You’ll not find another lord to let you off so easy, nor another Prioress to stand your friend. Get off, I say.’
An archer enforced her words with a blow, and by some means, rough or otherwise, a certain amount of order was restored, the ruffians slinking off among the gorse bushes, their flight hastened by the pointing of pikes and levelling of arrows at them. ”

“ The prosperity of the Empire while this was the state of France has been already outlined; what it became, as a result of the civil war, while France was becoming the best organised and most civilised country in Europe, may be guessed from Reresby's description of the district which in 1600 had been the most comfortable in Christendom, that between Augsburg and Frankfurt; villages and [351] towns uninhabited, much ground untilled, no meat to be had, no sheets, sometimes no beds; for drink, milk and water, little wine and that sour and very dear; people so boorish as to resemble beasts. ”

“ The multitude of little folks gathered about the strangers and shook their hands. At last they believed the story of the other world. [74] Many wished to go to America with the returning travelers.
Then Uncle Rupert led the whole crowd to the palace of the king, hoping to rescue poor Pietas. When they got there, the king was throned on a high platform, while Pietas, in chains, stood before him, the king's soldiers standing at rest and looking on.
Uncle Rupert made his way through the crowd of people and reached the platform. ”

“ The new rector moved into a smart brick house on the other side of the church, and gave receptions and dinner parties, and was punctilious about making his calls. The people therefore liked him very much—so much that they raised the debt on the church and bought a chime of bells, in their enthusiasm. Every one was lighter of heart than under the ministration of the previous rector. ”

“ To the hamlet that clustered close round the church it was a matter of comparative indifference. They never believed by anticipation in the service till the bell was actually sounding; and his henchman (clerk, sexton, choirmaster and gravedigger in one) had strict orders to withhold this summons till the Rector himself was actually in view. But to our party, who lived two miles away, the question of service or no service was a serious one. ”

“ In another hour I was before Black Michael's castle at Bock. These are lightning changes, I know—and the sovereignty of Trulyruralania was somewhat itinerant—but when a kingdom and a beautiful Princess are at stake, what are you to do? Fritz had begged me to take him along, but I arranged that he should come later, and go up unostentatiously in the lift. I was going by way of the moat. I was to succor the King, but I fear my real object was to get at Rupert of Glasgow. ”

“ The boatswain, who was still busy making the exchanges, heard his speech, and understood it, although the words were English. "Now you talker," said he threateningly, "have a care, or you'll earn something more besides those double irons I've given you already."
"Why, Señor," said Rupert, "I was but anticipating your kindness and your gratitude. There are slaves and slaves. Surely if we show ourselves to be your best and most valuable slaves, you will give us some small concessions and rewards in return when it comes to the dieting?" ”