Steward

“ How now, master steward, how likest thou thy share of this fellow’s present?”
“May the fiends burn him in flames below!” muttered the steward, as he rubbed the bruises on his shoulders.
Now the king was so pleased with all these happenings that had made his Christmas feasting so merry that he turned again to Sir Cleges and asked him what his name was.
“My name, sire,” answered the poverty-stricken [Pg 257] knight, “is one not unknown to thee in the days of old. My name is Sir Cleges.” ”

“ Who art thou, that thou shouldst deny me to eat? By Saint Dunstan, thou hadst best tell me where my breakfast is, if thou wouldst save broken bones!"
"Thy breakfast, Master Fireblaze, is in the pantry," answered the Steward.
"Then fetch it hither!" cried Little John, who waxed angry by this time.
"Go thou and fetch it thine own self," quoth the Steward. "Am I thy slave, to fetch and carry for thee?" ”

“ I never so much as heard of the least unkindness whatsoever.
Lord High Steward—Well then, my lord, who do you call next?
Earl of Warwick—Now colonel Stanhope is here, I desire he may be asked the same question, whether he does not know the particular friendship that was between capt. Coote and me, and what instances he can give of it?
Lord High Steward—You are to consider, Sir, though you are not upon your oath you are in a great court, and under no less restriction to testify the truth, and nothing but the truth: You hear what my noble lord asks you. ”

“ But we find in every place a steward, and in each town the king's reeve or the lord's reeve. These acted for the overlord, whoever he was, and saw that the villeins and cottiers did their proper proportion of work at the right time; they saw that the lord's tolls at the markets, fairs, and ferries, were properly enforced. The steward was a most important officer in every town and village, and a great deal of power was in his hands. ”

“ If you look for any favour from me, therefore, you will give me this moment, and on this spot, a full and straightforward account of what you know of your own knowledge. And--but do you tell him the rest, my lord."
"Sir John," said the Lord Steward in a tone serious and compassionate, "His Majesty invites your confidence, and will for good reasons show you his favour. But you must deserve it. And it is his particular desire that you conclude nothing from the fact that you are admitted to see him." ”

“ The steward comes upon the scene, and is angry to find the child in such company. When the child gives his name as Poor Disaware, the steward denounces him as a thief who had robbed his own father; but the duke speaks kindly to the boy, and makes him his stable-groom. One day, when he is watering a gelding, the horse flings up his head and hits the child above the eye. The child breaks out, Woe worth thee, gelding! thou hast stricken the Lord of Lorn. I was born a lord and shall be an earl; my father sent me over the sea, and the false steward has beguiled me. ”

“ And his horse—I never saw a better."
"But what is all this to me?" asked the steward. "If he is trespassing in the forest, it is your duty to bring him before the duke."
"Ah! it is hard for you to understand," answered the forester. "Methinks that if our master had the boar, the sword, and the horn, he would let me keep the clothing, and you the horse, and would trouble us with but few questions."
"Thou art indeed wise," answered the steward. And he at once called six men, whom he knew he could trust to any evil deed, and told them to go with the forester. ”

“ What he saw no human being knows; but it must have been something awful, for, without a cry, the old steward fell dead in the hall. Perhaps the strangest part of the story is this: that the shadow of a burly man, holding a pistol in his hand, entered by the open door, stepped over the steward's body, and, gliding up the stairs, disappeared, no one could say where. Such is the legend. ”

“ At the rise of the curtain there is a moment of intense silence. Then The Steward enters and commences to clear the table of the few dishes which still remain on it after the Captain's dinner. He is an old, grizzled man dressed in dungaree pants, a sweater, and a woolen cap with ear flaps. His manner is sullen and angry. He stops stacking up the plates and casts a quick glance upward at the skylight; then tiptoes over to the closed door in rear and listens with his ear pressed to the crack. What he hears makes his face darken and he mutters a furious curse. ”

“ Scenting mischief in the steward’s challenge, and hoping to turn it to account, he was that day peculiarly eager to ingratiate himself with the multitude, and to add to his popularity; and he succeeded so well that he was ultimately escorted to Clerkenwell by a riotous mob, who loudly cheered him as he entered his suburban villa, and shouted vociferously, “God and the saints preserve thee, Constantine, King of the People!” ”

“ Then sing to thy gelding, and not to me, she says. The child repeats his story, and adds that the steward has been deceiving both her and him for a twelvemonth. The lady declares that she will marry no man but him that stands before her, sends in haste to her father to have her wedding put off, and writes an account of the steward’s treachery to the old lord in Scotland. The old lord collects five hundred friends of high degree, and goes over to France in search of his son. ”

“ Proclamation for silence having been made by the [Pg 418] Lord Steward's serjeant-at-arms, the commission was read, the lords standing up, uncovered. Then his Grace, making obeisance to the lords, reseated himself; and Garter, and the Black Rod, with their reverences, jointly presented the white staff, on their knees, to his Grace. Thus fully invested with his office, the Lord Steward took his staff in his hand and descended from the woolsack to a chair prepared for him on an ascent before the throne. ”

“ The steward read them, and both wept for joy and grief, he and the King, and when their transport was over they agreed that the steward should go in a King's ship with the youth wheresoever the youth should guide him, and should see the damsel that should be shown him whom the youth should affirm to be she who wrought the linen, and if she were the Princess he should give him in whose house she had been kept, all he should say he had spent upon her, and two thousand crusadoes to boot, and promise him that if he would come with her the King would show him great favour, and to the youth also. ”

“ Show me the niggard who hath won glory by avarice! Show me the liberal man his own munificence hath slain!
And he said, ‘Know, O steward, it is my desire that so long as there remains in thy hands enough for my morning meal, thou trouble me not with taking care for my evening meal.’ Therewith the steward went away and Noureddin continued his extravagant way of living ”

“ The steward answers, as in A 8, that the queen has taken a new love, and conducts the king to his chamber. Hugo cuts off the black man's head. Every drop of his blood turns to a burning candle, which makes the king think that he has killed a holy man. But the steward says, Not so; rather she is a witch, that can make stones float and feathers sink, and urges the king, now that his sword is out, to take off the queen's head, too. The king refuses. Olif wakes, and is astounded at what her eyes behold. What means this black man in her bed! God wot, says Milon, he has long been your leman. ”

“ He was only partly dressed; and all people agreed that he had been sitting up reading in his own room, where there were many traces of blood, and was suddenly fallen upon and killed, before his master.’
Now, be it observed, it is not the author himself who asserts that the steward’s body was found; he has put the words in the mouth of one of his characters. ”

“ I got on board. I hailed a steward, whose red nose and redder whiskers were equally familiar to me.
"One hundred and five, lower berth," said I, in the businesslike [Pg 12] tone peculiar to men who think no more of crossing the Atlantic than taking a whisky cocktail at downtown Delmonico's.
The steward took my portmanteau, great coat, and rug. I shall never forget the expression of his face. Not that he turned pale. It is maintained by the most eminent divines that even miracles cannot change the course of nature. ”

“ But the answer—by word of mouth of the steward or stewardess always—was unfailingly to the same effect:—the lady in number 7 refused to hold any communication with the sick gentleman.
"She's a hard one!" the steward remarked to the stewardess, when they talked the matter over in a comfortable manner during the progress of a snug little supper in the steward's cabin, "she must be an out-and-out hard-hearted one to stand out against him like that, if he is her husband, and I suppose he is. ”

“ The steward and his wife, with the other servants, came to me immediately; all clinging together, with a number of lights in their hands. It seems they had all been waiting to see the issue of the interview betwixt me and the apparition. They asked me what was the matter. I told them the foregoing circumstances, and showed them the box. The steward durst not meddle with it, but his wife had more courage, and, with the help of the other servants, tugged it out, and found the key. ”

“ Steward (greater stamp of the foot than ever,) how dare you not keep your eyes on me? Let everything, everywhere, always be in the first style, so that people may respect us. Begone, fool!”
“And pray now ma’m,” suggested the don, “who pays?”
“And pray now sir, who should know better than you?”
“Oh, heaven! Pray am I master, or am I not?”
“You are not—master, where I am! Zounds!” She flings over a chair.
“Sister, sister,” said the doctor, but the sister did not even look at him. She flew at the don as well as she could, seeing she was a wingless angel ”

“ Her reply to the Steward, when, by way of scorching the Clown, he "marvels that her ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal," gives the true texture of her mind and moral frame: "O, you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and taste with a distempered appetite. To be generous, guiltless, and of free disposition, is to take those things for bird-bolts that you deem cannon-bullets. There is no slander in an allowed Fool, though he do nothing but rail; nor no railing in a known discreet man, though he do nothing but reprove." ”

“ And so did this dishonest steward seek to make friends for himself after he would be discharged from his stewardship. Even his lord and master, when he subsequently found out about this, was compelled to admit that his unfaithful steward had at least shown sagacity in the manner in which he had sought to provide for future days of want and adversity.
"And it is in this way that the sons of this world sometimes show more wisdom in their preparation for the future than do the children of light. ”

“ His grace, my lord high steward of England, does strictly charge and command all manner of persons here present to keep silence, upon pain of imprisonment.
Lord High Steward—My lord of Warwick, the king's counsel have made an end of giving evidence for the king; now is the proper time for you to enter upon your defence. ”

“ They are a sly set, those stewards. He knew that a man would simply laugh at him, or perhaps utter some maledictions if he were not feeling in very good humor. In all my ocean voyages, I have never had the good fortune to see a steward fall. He knew also, the racsal, that a lady would sympathize with him, and that he wouldn't lose anything by it, except the cup, which is not his loss."
"Oh, yes, it is," replied the young lady, "he tells me they charge all breakages against him." ”

“ Steward (7 Nov. 1699) , described him as ‘a poet who writes good verses without knowing how or why; I mean, he writes naturally well, without art or learning or good sense.’ Giles Jacob (Poetical Register) says that he might have made a fortune in any scene of life, but that he was always more ready to serve others than to look after his own interests. ”

“ You think, if you move, he’ll bite you somewhere—and if he does bite you, you’ll go mad, and dance ad libitum—so you twist your mouth in the opposite direction, and ejaculate—‘Steward!’ But the steward does not come ”

“ The Steward, who, along with the Earl of March, had commanded the left wing, made good his retreat to Scotland, when the Steward was again elected regent, under the title of lieutenant of David II. The suspicion that he had deserted the king when the battle turned against him does not appear to be well founded. ”

“ A clergyman who was holding a children's service at a Continental winter resort had occasion to catechize his hearers on the parable, of the unjust steward. "What is a steward?" he asked.
A little boy who had arrived from England a few days before held up his hand. "He is a man, sir," he replied, with a reminiscent look on his face, "who brings you a basin." ”

“ She's grown ancient, says the Gentleman, but she has a Daughter that is a very fine Woman: Is she married says the Steward? No, says the Gentleman, but she deserves a good Husband, for she's very Handsome; and not only so, but she has a good Portion. After this Discourse, the Gentleman takes a Glass, Come Mr. Brightwell said he, to the Steward, here's a good Health to Mrs. Pierpoint and her Daughter Mrs. Betty; withal my heart replied Mr. Brightwel, (for that was the Steward's Name) and then he drank to the Gentleman, remembring all their Friends in Bedfordshire, especially at Hargrave. ”