登陆注册
19471600000052

第52章

THE TRUE AND TRAGICAL HISTORY OF MR.JOHN OXENHAM OF PLYMOUTH"The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew;The furrow follow'd free;

We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea."The Ancient Mariner.

It was too late and too dark last night to see the old house at Stow.We will look round us, then, this bright October day, while Sir Richard and Amyas, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, are pacing up and down the terraced garden to the south.Amyas has slept till luncheon, i.e.till an hour ago: but Sir Richard, in spite of the bustle of last night, was up and in the valley by six o'clock, recreating the valiant souls of himself and two terrier dogs by the chase of sundry badgers.

Old Stow House stands, or rather stood, some four miles beyond the Cornish border, on the northern slope of the largest and loveliest of those combes of which I spoke in the last chapter.Eighty years after Sir Richard's time there arose there a huge Palladian pile, bedizened with every monstrosity of bad taste, which was built, so the story runs, by Charles the Second, for Sir Richard's great-grandson, the heir of that famous Sir Bevil who defeated the Parliamentary troops at Stratton, and died soon after, fighting valiantly at Lansdowne over Bath.But, like most other things which owed their existence to the Stuarts, it rose only to fall again.An old man who had seen, as a boy, the foundation of the new house laid, lived to see it pulled down again, and the very bricks and timber sold upon the spot; and since then the stables have become a farm-house, the tennis-court a sheep-cote, the great quadrangle a rick-yard; and civilization, spreading wave on wave so fast elsewhere, has surged back from that lonely corner of the land--let us hope, only for a while.

But I am not writing of that great new Stow House, of the past glories whereof quaint pictures still hang in the neighboring houses; nor of that famed Sir Bevil, most beautiful and gallant of his generation, on whom, with his grandfather Sir Richard, old Prince has his pompous epigram--"Where next shall famous Grenvil's ashes stand?

Thy grandsire fills the sea, and thou the land."I have to deal with a simpler age, and a sterner generation; and with the old house, which had stood there, in part at least, from gray and mythic ages, when the first Sir Richard, son of Hamon Dentatus, Lord of Carboyle, the grandson of Duke Robert, son of Rou, settled at Bideford, after slaying the Prince of South-Galis, and the Lord of Glamorgan, and gave to the Cistercian monks of Neath all his conquests in South Wales.It was a huge rambling building, half castle, half dwelling-house, such as may be seen still (almost an unique specimen) in Compton Castle near Torquay, the dwelling-place of Humphrey Gilbert, Walter Raleigh's half-brother, and Richard Grenville's bosom friend, of whom more hereafter.On three sides, to the north, west, and south, the lofty walls of the old ballium still stood, with their machicolated turrets, loopholes, and dark downward crannies for dropping stones and fire on the besiegers, the relics of a more unsettled age: but the southern court of the ballium had become a flower-garden, with quaint terraces, statues, knots of flowers, clipped yews and hollies, and all the pedantries of the topiarian art.And toward the east, where the vista of the valley opened, the old walls were gone, and the frowning Norman keep, ruined in the Wars of the Roses, had been replaced by the rich and stately architecture of the Tudors.Altogether, the, house, like the time, was in a transitionary state, and represented faithfully enough the passage of the old middle age into the new life which had just burst into blossom throughout Europe, never, let us pray, to see its autumn or its winter.

From the house on three sides, the hill sloped steeply down, and the garden where Sir Richard and Amyas were walking gave a truly English prospect.At one turn they could catch, over the western walls, a glimpse of the blue ocean flecked with passing sails; and at the next, spread far below them, range on range of fertile park, stately avenue, yellow autumn woodland, and purple heather moors, lapping over and over each other up the valley to the old British earthwork, which stood black and furze-grown on its conical peak;and standing out against the sky on the highest bank of hill which closed the valley to the east, the lofty tower of Kilkhampton church, rich with the monuments and offerings of five centuries of Grenvilles.A yellow eastern haze hung soft over park, and wood, and moor; the red cattle lowed to each other as they stood brushing away the flies in the rivulet far below; the colts in the horse-park close on their right whinnied as they played together, and their sires from the Queen's Park, on the opposite hill, answered them in fuller though fainter voices.A rutting stag made the still woodland rattle with his hoarse thunder, and a rival far up the valley gave back a trumpet note of defiance, and was himself defied from heathery brows which quivered far away above, half seen through the veil of eastern mist.And close at home, upon the terrace before the house, amid romping spaniels and golden-haired children, sat Lady Grenville herself, the beautiful St.Leger of Annery, the central jewel of all that glorious place, and looked down at her noble children, and then up at her more noble husband, and round at that broad paradise of the West, till life seemed too full of happiness, and heaven of light.

And all the while up and down paced Amyas and Sir Richard, talking long, earnestly, and slow; for they both knew that the turning point of the boy's life was come.

"Yes," said Sir Richard, after Amyas, in his blunt simple way, had told him the whole story about Rose Salterne and his brother,--"yes, sweet lad, thou hast chosen the better part, thou and thy brother also, and it shall not be taken from you.Only be strong, lad, and trust in God that He will make a man of you.""I do trust," said Amyas.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 英雄联盟之王者争霸

    英雄联盟之王者争霸

    大学生王麟在帮胡凯在LOL上教育了小号美眉金颜之后从此自己的生活轨迹出现了分叉。高校联赛!百城争霸!职业联赛!世界电子竞技大赛!竞技从梦想出发!此书承诺绝不TJ保证完本!请大家放心看。欢迎多提意见与建议,莫悔虚心接受。在此先谢过!!(想看王麟如何从一个菜鸟如何变成顶尖的职业玩家,就从这里开始)意见Q群:176835975亲。求关注哦!!!!
  • 霸道总裁齐卖萌

    霸道总裁齐卖萌

    一听到‘总裁’,总是忍不住想想到:多金、豪门、霸道...但其实,总裁不止:多金、腹黑、冷漠、霸道!还可以装疯卖傻、装聋作哑,耍帅、耍赖!不禁HOLD住冷酷、暗黑系!现在的总裁,不只帅气、多金,承包的了鱼塘!还入得了厨房,做的了鱼汤!而且,冷酷的冰山总裁还可以瞬间变身温暖系大叔,卖得了萌!HOLD住小清新!哎呦呦,怎么可以这样呢!总裁这么萌,真实吓死人鸟!钟总裁你这么萌?小苏苏知道吗?!【且看且看腹黑总裁如何装疯卖傻、耍帅、耍赖、卖萌,诱拐小迷糊,只为诱拐小迷糊虫回家】!
  • 太上日月混元经

    太上日月混元经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 焦虑的中产:青春被透支,房子是座山

    焦虑的中产:青春被透支,房子是座山

    本书讲述北京两个普通中产家庭命运变迁的故事,一个是公司高管,一个是创业者;一个从中产变成穷人,一个从中产变成富人;一个逃离北京,一个提前退休。其中的酸甜苦辣令人唏嘘不已,精彩故事不容错过……
  • 养妻为患:妖孽魅君别纠缠

    养妻为患:妖孽魅君别纠缠

    只听说是养虎为患,有没有听说过养妻为患的?这小娘子平日胆小,榻上乖巧,每日将她安置怀间,逗弄一番。一个不注意,小娘子被他养刁了,反扑之,还很大爷的说,一日不喂她,馋的慌。等等,她不是胆小如鼠么?“夫君,我确实胆小如鼠,可是,我还是没能忍住,被你的美色吸引了,来,乖……。”靠之,他是男人,君临天下的帝王,怎能被一个女子压,怒,钳制她的下颚……“夫君,听话,有糖吃,不听,今晚睡帝宫外面去。”小娘子一脸乖巧,毫无怯意的再他耳畔呢喃。某妖孽哑然,看吧,这就是他养出来的,他傲视天下,可从未想过自己也会干出如此勾当。唉,养妻为患不过如此。简介太短,各位看官,欲知后事,请进……
  • 莫言,天下

    莫言,天下

    她因为一场意外,穿越到了乱世三国。而她又该如何面对这个陌生的时空?冥冥之中,定有此劫?……她的生活,彻底被打乱。母亲的离去,父亲的不相认,以及他的无情。命运作弄,何去何从?……本已心死如灰的她,在这乱世,竟又有了那么点希望。这穿越千年,轰轰烈烈的爱情,是否美满?秋水伊人,在水一方。……首次尝试穿越文、文笔不好、还请大家多多原谅哦~此文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。有些地方,会与历史有出入,请见谅,谢谢。
  • 元曲集(下)

    元曲集(下)

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 国茶恩仇记

    国茶恩仇记

    本书讲述的主要是磨黑镇上,周、罗、白三姓之间的恩恩怨怨,引出了思普地区的一段千秋佳华。
  • 蝙蝠山庄

    蝙蝠山庄

    世界上有些事真的很奇妙,要不是亲眼看见我很难相信仅仅凭几只彩色粉笔就能在大街上画出如此微妙逼真的图画来,就在我看得入谜的时候,电话响了,是短信,蓝色的屏幕上跳跃着一行荧光小字。三月三十日夜,欢迎光临蝙蝠山庄。蝙蝠山庄?我心里默念着,深遂的眸子里泅满疑惑,什么地方?
  • 女巫友

    女巫友

    叶勐,河北省作协会员。作品见于《人民文学》《芙蓉》等期刊。小说《老正是条狗》入选《2005年短篇小说年选》。《亡命之徒》电影改编。《塞车》被译成英文。《为什么要把小说写得这么好》获2008年度河北十佳优秀作品奖。现为河北省文学院签约作家。