In an old, time-worn, and mysterious looking mansion1 like Newstead Abbey, and one so haunted by monkish2, and feudal3, and poetical4 associations, it is a prize to meet with some ancient crone, who has passed a long life about the place, so as to have become a living chronicle of its fortunes and vicissitudes5. Such a one is Nanny Smith, a worthy6 dame7, near seventy years of age, who for a long time served as housekeeper8 to the Byrons, The Abbey and its domains9 comprise her world, beyond which she knows nothing, but within which she has ever conducted herself with native shrewdness and old-fashioned honesty. When Lord Byron sold the Abbey her vocation10 was at an end, still she lingered about the place, having for it the local attachment11 of a cat. Abandoning her comfortable housekeeper's apartment, she took shelter in one of the "rockhouses," which are nothing more than a little neighborhood of cabins, excavated12 in the perpendicular13 walls of a stone quarry14, at no great distance from the Abbey. Three cells cut in the living rock, formed her dwelling15; these she fitted up humbly16 but comfortably; her son William labored17 in the neighborhood, and aided to support her, and Nanny Smith maintained a cheerful aspect and an independent spirit. One of her gossips suggested to her that William should marry, and bring home a young wife to help her and take care of her. "Nay18, nay," replied Nanny, tartly19, "I want no young mistress in my house." So much for the love of rule—poor Nanny's house was a hole in a rock!
Colonel Wildman, on taking possession of the Abbey, found Nanny Smith thus humbly nestled. With that active benevolence20 which characterizes him, he immediately set William up in a small farm on the estate, where Nanny Smith has a comfortable mansion in her old days. Her pride is roused by her son's advancement21. She remarks with exultation22 that people treat William with much more respect now that he is a farmer, than they did when he was a laborer23. A farmer of the neighborhood has even endeavored to make a match between him and his sister, but Nanny Smith has grown fastidious, and interfered24. The girl, she said, was too old for her son, besides, she did not see that he was in any need of a wife.
"No," said William, "I ha' no great mind to marry the wench: but if the Colonel and his lady wish it, I am willing. They have been so kind to me that I should think it my duty to please them." The Colonel and his lady, however, have not thought proper to put honest William's gratitude25 to so severe a test.
Another worthy whom Colonel Wildman found vegetating26 upon the place, and who had lived there for at least sixty years, was old Joe Murray. He had come there when a mere27 boy in the train of the "old lord," about the middle of the last century, and had continued with him until his death. Having been a cabin boy when very young, Joe always fancied himself a bit of a sailor; and had charge of all the pleasure-boats on the lake though he afterward28 rose to the dignity of butler. In the latter days of the old Lord Byron, when he shut himself up from all the world, Joe Murray was the only servant retained by him, excepting his housekeeper, Betty Hardstaff, who was reputed to have an undue29 sway over him, and was derisively30 called Lady Betty among the country folk.
When the Abbey came into the possession of the late Lord Byron, Joe Murray accompanied it as a fixture31. He was reinstated as butler in the Abbey, and high admiral on the lake, and his sturdy honest mastiff qualities won so upon Lord Byron as even to rival his Newfoundland dog in his affections. Often when dining, he would pour out a bumper32 of choice Madeira, and hand it to Joe as he stood behind his chair. In fact, when he built the monumental tomb which stands in the Abbey garden, he intended it for himself, Joe Murray, and the dog. The two latter were to lie on each side of him. Boatswain died not long afterward, and was regularly interred33, and the well-known epitaph inscribed34 on one side of the monument. Lord Byron departed for Greece; during his absence, a gentleman to whom Joe Murray was showing the tomb, observed, "Well, old boy, you will take your place here some twenty years hence."
"I don't know that, sir," growled35 Joe, in reply, "if I was sure his Lordship would come here, I should like it well enough, but I should not like to lie alone with the dog."
Joe Murray was always extremely neat in his dress, and attentive36 to his person, and made a most respectable appearance. A portrait of him still hangs in the Abbey, representing him a hale fresh-looking fellow, in a flaxen wig37, a blue coat and buff waistcoat, with a pipe in his hand. He discharged all the duties of his station with great fidelity38, unquestionable honesty, and much outward decorum, but, if we may believe his contemporary, Nanny Smith, who, as housekeeper, shared the sway of the household with him, he was very lax in his minor39 morals, and used to sing loose and profane40 songs as he presided at the table in the servants' hall, or sat taking his ale and smoking his pipe by the evening fire. Joe had evidently derived41 his convivial42 notions from the race of English country squires43 who flourished in the days of his juvenility44. Nanny Smith was scandalized at his ribald songs, but being above harm herself, endured them in silence. At length, on his singing them before a young girl of sixteen, she could contain herself no longer, but read him a lecture that made his ears ring, and then flounced off to bed. The lecture seems, by her account, to have staggered Joe, for he told her the next morning that he had had a terrible dream in the night. An Evangelist stood at the foot of his bed with a great Dutch Bible, which he held with the printed part toward him, and after a while pushed it in his face. Nanny Smith undertook to interpret the vision, and read from it such a homily, and deduced such awful warnings, that Joe became quite serious, left off singing, and took to reading good books for a month; but after that, continued Nanny, he relapsed and became as bad as ever, and continued to sing loose and profane songs to his dying day.
When Colonel Wildman became proprietor45 of the Abbey he found Joe Murray flourishing in a green old age, though upward of fourscore, and continued him in his station as butler. The old man was rejoiced at the extensive repairs that were immediately commenced, and anticipated with pride the day when the Abbey should rise out of its ruins with renovated46 splendor47, its gates be thronged48 with trains and equipages, and its halls once more echo to the sound of joyous49 hospitality.
What chiefly, however, concerned Joe's pride and ambition, was a plan of the Colonel's to have the ancient refectory of the convent, a great vaulted51 room, supported by Gothic columns, converted into a servants' hall. Here Joe looked forward to rule the roast at the head of the servants' table, and to make the Gothic arches ring with those hunting and hard-drinking ditties which were the horror of the discreet52 Nanny Smith. Time, however, was fast wearing away with him, and his great fear was that the hall would not be completed in his day. In his eagerness to hasten the repairs, he used to get up early in the morning, and ring up the workmen. Notwithstanding his great age, also, he would turn out half-dressed in cold weather to cut sticks for the fire. Colonel Wildman kindly53 remonstrated54 with him for thus risking his health, as others would do the work for him.
"Lord, sir," exclaimed the hale old fellow, "it's my air-bath, I'm all the better for it."
Unluckily, as he was thus employed one morning a splinter flew up and wounded one of his eyes. An inflammation took place; he lost the sight of that eye, and subsequently of the other. Poor Joe gradually pined away, and grew melancholy55. Colonel Wildman kindly tried to cheer him up—"Come, come, old boy," cried he, "be of good heart, you will yet take your place in the servants' hall."
"Nay, nay, sir," replied he, "I did hope once that I should live to see it—I looked forward to it with pride, I confess, but it is all over with me now—I shall soon go home!" He died shortly afterward, at the advanced age of eighty-six, seventy of which had been passed as an honest and faithful servant at the Abbey. Colonel Wildman had him decently interred in the church of Hucknall Torkard, near the vault50 of Lord Byron.
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1
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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monkish
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| adj.僧侣的，修道士的，禁欲的 | |
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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excavated
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| v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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tartly
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| adv.辛辣地，刻薄地 | |
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benevolence
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| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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laborer
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| n.劳动者，劳工 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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vegetating
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| v.过单调呆板的生活( vegetate的现在分词 )；植物似地生长；（瘤、疣等）长大 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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derisively
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| adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地 | |
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fixture
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| n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款 | |
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bumper
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| n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的 | |
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interred
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| v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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wig
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| n.假发 | |
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38
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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41
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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42
convivial
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| adj.狂欢的，欢乐的 | |
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43
squires
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| n.地主，乡绅( squire的名词复数 ) | |
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44
juvenility
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| n.年轻，不成熟 | |
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45
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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46
renovated
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| 翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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48
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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50
vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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51
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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52
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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53
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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54
remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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