VIII. FRAMLINGHAM AND ITS CASTLE.

“I often wonder,” said a local tradesman to me the other day as I was contemplating¹ the majestic² ruins of Framlingham Castle and the seat of power in the Eastern Counties, “that the Great Eastern Railway does not run excursion trains here.”  I must own that I shared in that feeling.  I am sure thousands would rush from town to see the place if they had a day excursion there.  The railway in question has done a good deal for Framlingham.  When I knew it as a lad it was out of the world altogether.  It laid quite off the turnpike road.  To get to London a Framlingham resident had to make his way to Wickham Market.  Now it has a railway to itself, and that railway takes you to London, and thus makes Framlingham a living part of the British Empire of to-day.  In one respect this has been a great gain for the town, as it led to the establishment, in 1864, of the Albert Memorial College, a handsome pile of buildings adapted for the accommodation of 500 boys.  The object of the institution is to provide for the middle classes, at a moderate cost, a practical training, which shall prepare the pupils for the active duties of agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial life, and qualification for the Civil Service and other competitive examinations.  The religious instruction is in accordance with the doctrines³ and practice of the Church of England.  But I am glad to find that there is a conscience clause for the sons of Dissenters⁴ who are exempted⁵ from Church of England teaching p. 49and from Sunday attendance at the parish church or college chapel⁶.  It speaks well for the school that, though at one time it was in a declining state, for the last few years it has been in a very prosperous condition.  It is interesting, as you stand on the lawn in front of the college and look at the decaying ruins of Framlingham Castle, to note how we have swept into a younger day.  Ages have passed away since Hugh Bigod lived there; indeed, the origin of the castle is somewhat obscure.  Its last royal occupant was Queen Mary.  Thence she proceeded in state to take possession of her crown, amidst crowds of misguided men, who had rallied round her standard in the hope that she would respect the work of Reformation begun by her father, and continued by her brother.  When the castle was built, brute⁷ force ruled the land.  When the new college was erected⁸, it had come to be understood that knowledge was power.  The college flourishes; the old castle is a ruin.  The world moves, after all.

I find Framlingham itself but little changed.  There was a barber who, in my youth, had a picture of Absalom caught by his hair in the wood, while David cries—

    Oh, Absalom, my son, my son,
    Thou wouldst not have died,
    Hadst thou a periwig on!

—That barber is no more, and I know not what has become of his sign.  As an object lesson in history, undying interest attaches to Framlingham Castle and its adjacent church.  The castle must have been one of the largest in England.  As our Quaker poet, Bernard Barton, wrote—

    Still stand thy battlemented towers,
       Firm as in bygone years;
    As if within yet ruled the powers
       Of England’s haughtiest⁹ peers.

When I first knew the castle it was used as a poor-house.  The home of the Bigods and the Howards is p. 50utilised in this way no longer.  The castle hall is now devoted¹⁰ to the recovery of small debts and other equally local matters.  In the good old times the nobles settled debts, small or great, in a much easier way.

The church was erected by one of the Mowbrays, and the tower, which is a handsome one, and from the top of which, on a clear day, you get a view as far as Aldeburgh, contains a clock presented by Sir Henry Thompson, our great surgeon, in memory of his father, a highly-respected inhabitant of Framlingham, who did much for the Congregational cause in that town.  “Sir Henry Thompson was my Sunday School teacher,” said an intelligent tradesman to me, “and I have the book in which he signed his name as having taken the Temperance Pledge.”  Framlingham—let me state by way of parenthesis—early gave in her adhesion to the Temperance movement.  In the cemetery¹¹ there is a monument to a worthy¹² inhabitant of the name of Larner.  He was the great Apostle of Temperance in the Eastern Counties.  “He was for years,” Mr. Thomas Whittaker writes, in his Life’s Battles in Temperance Armour¹³, “the man of Suffolk, the moving power, the undaunted spirit, the unwearied defender¹⁴; and when it is remembered how special were the difficulties and how numerous the foes¹⁵, the way in which he brought the whole district under his influence, and even to treat him with loving respect, it is the more remarkable¹⁶.  When he died the heart pulsation¹⁷ seemed to stop.”  Out of the world as Framlingham is, and old-fashioned as is the town even to this day, there is a good deal of life in it, and especially so in religious matters.  Including the college chapel, there are nine places of worship in it, for a population not much over two thousand.  As far as I can make out, the Salvation¹⁸ Army here, as elsewhere, has helped to thin the attendance at most of the existing places of worship.  If they can show a more excellent way it is rather a reflection upon the existing pulpits of the place.  In spite of the Salvation Army, I met a man in the street who complained to me that Framlingham was dull.  “You p. 51see, sir,” said he, “we are in an agriculturists’ district, and the farmers ha’n’t got any money.”  It seems to me that they ought to have—at any rate, the public has to pay quite enough for its beef and mutton, and such farming produce as butter, and milk, and eggs.  One odd thing in Framlingham is a tomb in a garden, which you pass on your way from the station, which preserves the memory of one Thomas Mills, a native, who seems to have made money, which he bequeathed to charitable purposes.  Normans and Saxons seem to have had between them a good deal to do with Framlingham Castle and Church.  At one time or other one of the parsons connected with the place was Catholic and Protestant, and thus went with the times.  At a later period one had a more sensitive conscience, and was one of the ejected.  Framlingham, like most English towns, seems to have been inhabited by all sorts and conditions of men.  But its castle ought to be a rare place for excursionists to visit, and the country round is rich in rural charms.  In the world, Framlingham, now that its castle is a ruin, and the power of the feudal¹⁹ lords gone, does not seem to have done much.  It has had its day, and that day with its lords and ladies, and fighting men, must have been a grand one.  Perhaps it’s as well that they

    Sleep the sleep that knows no breaking,
    Morn of toil²⁰, nor night of waiting.

1 contemplating   

深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想

参考例句：

• You're too young to be contemplating retirement. 你考虑退休还太年轻。
• She stood contemplating the painting. 她站在那儿凝视那幅图画。

2 majestic   

adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的

参考例句：

• In the distance rose the majestic Alps.远处耸立着雄伟的阿尔卑斯山。
• He looks majestic in uniform.他穿上军装显得很威风。

3 doctrines   

n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明

参考例句：

• To modern eyes, such doctrines appear harsh, even cruel. 从现代的角度看，这样的教义显得苛刻，甚至残酷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His doctrines have seduced many into error. 他的学说把许多人诱入歧途。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 dissenters   

n.持异议者，持不同意见者( dissenter的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He attacked the indulgence shown to religious dissenters. 他抨击对宗教上持不同政见者表现出的宽容。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• (The dissenters would have allowed even more leeway to the Secretary.) （持异议者还会给行政长官留有更多的余地。） 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

5 exempted   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His bad eyesight exempted him from military service. 他因视力不好而免服兵役。
• Her illness exempted her from the examination. 她因病而免试。

6 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

7 brute   

n.野兽，兽性

参考例句：

• The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
• That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲，它咬人。

8 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

9 haughtiest   

haughty（傲慢的，骄傲的）的最高级形式

参考例句：

10 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

11 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

12 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

13 armour   

（=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队

参考例句：

• His body was encased in shining armour.他全身披着明晃晃的甲胄。
• Bulletproof cars sheathed in armour.防弹车护有装甲。

14 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

15 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

16 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

17 pulsation   

n.脉搏，悸动，脉动；搏动性

参考例句：

• At low frequencies, such as 10 per sec., pulsation is sensed rather than vibration. 在低频率（譬如每秒十次）时，所感觉到的是脉冲而非振动。 来自辞典例句
• If the roller pulsation, the pressure on paper as cause misregister. 如果滚子径向跳不静，则差纸的不张辛有不小有小，致使套印禁绝。 来自互联网

18 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

19 feudal   

adj.封建的，封地的，领地的

参考例句：

• Feudal rulers ruled over the country several thousand years.封建统治者统治这个国家几千年。
• The feudal system lasted for two thousand years in China.封建制度在中国延续了两千年之久。

20 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。