Usher

“ The pale Usher—threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see him now. He was ever dusting his old lexicons and grammars, with a queer handkerchief, mockingly embellished with all the gay flags of all the known nations of the world. He loved to dust his old grammars; it somehow mildly reminded him of his mortality. ”

“ He himself was on the verge of ruin. He might spit upon Usher's gaberdine, but Usher's demands must be met. How to meet them and preserve an inheritance for Sylvester? And Roderick? He felt crushed by this evening's revelations. He had struggled as few men have struggled to make atonement. It had been in vain. He had no longer the strength to make fresh effort. A word to Sylvester, and peace would possess his soul.
Sylvester glanced round and saw his father's eyes fixed upon him with a strange yearning. He rose, went up to his chair, and laid a hand upon his shoulder. ”

“ The large sums bequeathed to Usher and Roderick had astonished them. Sylvester explained vaguely that they were in payment of a great debt of gratitude which his father had incurred when Mr. Usher and himself were young men together in Australia. Miss Lanyon, who never questioned such statements, took refuge in her grief from further thoughts on the matter, like the gentle, simple lady she was. But Ella, with Sylvester's words in the churchyard fresh in her mind, scented a mystery. After the reading of the will, the subject was not openly mentioned by her or by Sylvester. ”

“ Usher came up from Hertfordshire the very next Saturday. They looked strangely at each other when the idea of the lodger was put before them, and Mr. Usher took Ranny out into the garden.
"I wouldn't do it," Mr. Usher said. "Let her work, let her work with her 'ands. A big, strapping girl like her, it won't hurt her. Why, my Missis there could turn out your little doll-'ouse in a hour. Don't you take no gentlemen lodgers. Don't you let her do it, Randall, my boy, or there'll be trouble."
The advice came too late. That very evening Violet informed her husband that she had let the rooms. ”

“ Despite a suspicion of prolixity and topheaviness, the narrative reaches its terrific climax with relentless power. "Usher," whose superiority in detail and proportion is very marked, hints shudderingly of obscure life in inorganic things, and displays an abnormally linked trinity of entities at the end of a long and isolated family history—a brother, his twin sister, and their incredibly ancient house all sharing a single soul and meeting one common dissolution at the same moment. ”

“ Usher was appointed Preacher to the Society of Lincoln's Inn in 1647, and for nearly eight years preached [Pg 79] regularly during term-time in the chapel. He had a suite of furnished apartments provided for him in the Inn, 'with divers rooms for his library.' He retired in 1656 to Lady Peterborough's house at Reigate in Surrey, and died there on the 21st of March in that year. On the 21st of the following month he was buried in Westminster Abbey ”

“ USSHER, JAMES (1581–1656) , archbishop of Armagh, second but elder surviving son of Arland (Arnoldus) Ussher (d. 12 Aug. 1598) , clerk of the Irish court of chancery, by his wife Margaret (d. November 1626) , daughter of James Stanyhurst [see under Stanyhurst, Richard] , was born in Nicholas Street, parish of St. Nicholas Within, Dublin, on 4 Jan. 1580–1. Ambrose Ussher [q. v.] was his younger brother. Both parents were originally protestants. His mother became a Roman catholic before her death. Two blind aunts (probably Alice and Katherine Ussher, his father's sisters) taught him to read. ”

“ In the same way the bespelled damsel of the Urschelberg, near Pfullingen, in Swabia, is called by the very name of the mountain—the Old Urschel. This can only be the survival of a belief in the enchanted lady as the indwelling spirit, the soul, the real life of the spot she haunted: a belief which goes back to a deeper depth of savagery than one that regards her as a local goddess, and out of which the latter would be easily developed. ”

“ Ussher’s official triumph in running the “potheen men” to earth leads directly up to the catastrophe. It secures the policeman’s promotion, but inflames to madness his detestation by Thady, who, little better than a peasant himself, sympathises with the peasantry that Ussher is hunting down. Feemy, on the other hand, idolising her lover’s intrepidity, ignores the local misery that is wrought by his daring devotion to duty. ”

“ The dawn-light found an echo on Uther's face. He came that morning the ransomer, the champion, a King indeed; Spring bursting the thongs of Winter; Day thrusting back the Night. His manhood smote in him like the deep-throated cry of a great bell, voluminous and solemn. The towers on the cliff were haloed with magic hues. Life, glory, joy, lay locked in the grey stone walls. ”

“ I was Ushu, the Archer, and Igar was my woman and mate. We laughed under the sun in the morning, when our man-child and woman-child, yellowed like honeybees, sprawled and rolled in the mustard, and at night she lay close in my arms and loved me and urged me, because of my skill at the seasoning of woods and the flaking of arrowheads, that I should stay close by the camp and let the other men bring to me the meat from the perils of hunting. ”

“ Bodies of horse were spurring uphill, driving in Uther's men, cutting down stragglers, harrowing the slopes for the solid march of the black columns of foot that were creeping up between the thickets, winding like giant dragons amid furze and scrub. ”

“ And Uzziah died; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham, his son, became ruler in his place.
Isaiah said it was in the year that Uzziah, the ruler of Judah, died that I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Guardian angels stood above him. Each had six wings, one pair to cover the face, another pair to cover the feet, and another pair with which to fly. And they cried to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts,
The whole earth is full of his glory." ”

“ At the time I allude to, about ten years ago, a great deal of whiskey was distilled in the mountains running between the counties of Leitrim and Cavan, and in different parts of the County Leitrim. Father Mathew's pledge was then unknown; the district is a wild country, not much favoured by gentlemen's residences, and very poor; and, though it may seem to be an anomaly, it will always be found to be the case that the poorer the people are the more they drink; and, consequently, Captain Ussher, as he was usually called in the neighbourhood, found sufficient occupation for himself and his men. ”

“ We can imagine Ursula hustling about at Coan Hall, her clothes a blur of brightness, as she supervised the servants, disciplined the children, twirled the roast of venison on the spit in passing, or lowered her candle or betty-lamp into the cooking pot to see if the stew was ready. ”

“ They never move out of their place. As you see them the first time, so are they always. It seems they always were as they are, and will ever remain the same. When I was a child, I could not tear myself away from Isshur. I was always puzzling out the one question—What was Isshur like before he was Isshur? That is to say, before he got those terrifying eyebrows, and the big hooked nose that was always filled with snuff, and the big brass beard that started by being thick and heavy, and ended up in a few, long straggling, terrifying hairs. ”

“ The Uzir then sent a messenger to inquire of Mulai Ahmed concerning the matter, and by him the Prince sent reply that he knew nothing about the horse. The Uzir was consequently about to order the Arab to be bastinadoed, when the latter begged Ben Dris to send him, accompanied by some of his—the Uzir’s—attendants, to the stables of Mulai Ahmed, where he felt sure he would find the horse; begging that his whole tribe might, if necessary, be called upon to give evidence respecting the identity of the horse. ”

“ When Usk entered the appartement at the Hôtel des Rois, which had been taken in the names of Lord and Lady Cyril Mortimer, he was met by the secretary Paschics, who said that his uncle wished to see him as soon as he came in. Usk was not at all anxious to see his uncle, and his misgivings returned sharply upon him as he sought him on the balcony of their sitting-room. ”

“ Chapter 18 1 The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land was subdued before them. 2 Seven tribes remained among the children of Israel, which had not yet divided their inheritance. 3 Joshua said to the children of Israel, "How long will you neglect to go in to possess the land, which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you? 4 Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe. I will send them, and they shall arise, walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance ”

“ Rabbi Eliezer said, “a heifer for a sin-offering is allowed even in pregnancy.” But the Sages disallow her. R. Eliezer said, “she is not to be taken from foreigners.” But the Sages allow her. And not only she, but all the offerings of the congregation, and of the individual, may come from the Land (of Israel) , or from outside the land, from the fresh harvest and [pg 269] from the old harvest, except the omer,723 and the two loaves,724 which may only come from the fresh harvest, and from the Land.
2. A heifer whose horns and hoofs are black should have them cut away. ”

“ While he remained in this suspense, there came up to him a young shepherd, clad in the finer sort of apparel, such as kings' sons wore in those days when princes did not disdain to tend sheep, who, accosting him, was saluted again by Ulysses, who asked him what country that was on which he had been just landed, and whether it were part of a continent, or an island. The young shepherd made show of wonder, to hear any one ask the name of that land ”

“ The hair of Ulysses stood up on end with affright at these omens; but his companions, like men whom the gods had infatuated to their destruction, persisted in their horrible banquet.
The Sun from his burning chariot saw how Ulysses's men had slain his oxen, and he cried to his father Jove, "Revenge me upon these impious men who have slain my oxen, which it did me good to look upon when I walked my heavenly round. In all my daily course I never saw such bright and beautiful creatures as those my oxen were." ”

“ Chapter 26 1All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. 2He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. 3Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Jechiliah, of Jerusalem. 4He did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. ”

“ I was giving directions to dig around that I might ascertain whether it was in situ; when they, fancying I desired to move it, despatched a messenger for a couple of camels. While I was at work, a sulam fell over me, and on clearing myself and looking up, I saw a stranger on horseback, and found myself bound to refuse no favour he should ask. Elisha and Elijah immediately came before me. Elisha, when the mantle is thrown on him, asks no questions, but leaves his twelve pair of oxen. The stranger said, “Cure me.” I answered, “God alone can cure.” ”

“ Ashdod, and among the Philistines. 7And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-baal, and the Meunim. 8And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah; and his name spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt; for he waxed exceeding strong. 9Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the Turning, and fortified them. 10And be built towers in the wilderness, and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much cattle; in the Lowland also, and in the table-land ”

“ Those household fowl, which thou lamentest so without reason, are the suitors who devour thy substance, even as thou sawest the fowl eat from thy hand; and the hawk is thy husband, who is coming to give death to the suitors.' And I awoke, and went to see to my fowls if they were alive, whom I found eating wheat from their troughs, all well and safe as before my dream."
Then said Ulysses, "This dream can endure no other interpretation than that which the hawk gave to it, who is your lord, and who is coming quickly to effect all that his words told you." ”

“ In 1630 he was summoned by ‘a profligate parishioner’ before the high commission at Edinburgh for nonconformity to the Perth articles, but the proceedings were stopped as the primate was unavoidably absent, and one of the judges befriended him. In 1636 he published ‘Exercitationes Apologeticæ pro Divina Gratia,’ a treatise against Arminianism, which attracted much attention. There is a tradition (which has a certain probability in its favour) that Archbishop Ussher paid him a visit in disguise at Anwoth, but was discovered and officiated for him on the following Sunday. ”

“ Hereupon Ursula steps forth to speak the address; but sooner may a man hear a cricket in a thunderstorm than a maid’s voice amid that pealing of bells and shouting and cries of welcome. Meseems verily as though the fluttering handkerchiefs, the flying pennons, and the caps waved in the air had found voice; and Ursula turns her head to this side and that as though seeking help. ”

“ And the Angel of the Lord appeared to her in a dream, saying, "Ursula, your prayer is heard. At the sun-rising you shall go boldly before the ambassadors of the King of Over-sea, for the God of Heaven shall give you wisdom, and teach your tongue what it should speak." ”