Leaving St. Audries, one also leaves the Quantocks behind, coming downhill into Williton, a place now by way of being a little town, with a railway station, a cattle market, a union Workhouse, resembling the residence of some more than usually wealthy peer, a Petty Sessions Court, and a police station.
Yet, with all these adjuncts of an up-to-date civilisation1, Williton does not enjoy the distinction of being a real, original, independent parish. It stands in the parish of St. Decuman’s, a church yonder on the hillside, over a mile away, near Watchet: the peculiar2 humour of the thing being that St. Decuman’s, save for a few rustic3 cottages close by, stands lonely, while Watchet and Williton are populous4 places. Thus we observe here the engaging paradox5, outraging6 all the problems of Euclid, of the larger being contained in the smaller. At the same time, it must be allowed that the “chapel7-of-ease” at Williton, however inferior ecclesiastically and architecturally to St. Decuman’s, is at any rate 180of a respectable antiquity8. It originated in a chantry chapel founded by Robert FitzUrse, brother of that Reginald who bore his share in the murder of Thomas à Becket. In a district such as this, where churchyard and wayside crosses, more or less dilapidated, are common-places, it seems hardly worth while to note that the base of an ancient cross stands at the east end of Williton church, or that fragments of two others stand in front of that old white-faced coaching inn, the “Egremont Hotel,” one of them made to support a gaslamp which itself has been put out of action by effluxion of time.
St. Decuman’s, the parish church of Watchet, stands fully9 half a mile away from the little town, inland, within sight of Williton, on a conspicuous10 knoll11. St. Decuman, to whom the church is dedicated12, was one of those wonderful West Country saints for whom, as for Napoleon, the word “impossible” did not exist. He flourished at the close of the seventh century and the opening of the eighth, and came originally from South Wales, as a missionary13 to the heathen of Somerset. Crossing the sea on a hurdle14, or on his cloak, according to the conflicting accounts given, he established a hermit’s cell on this spot and subsisted15 chiefly on berries and the milk of a cow which came from nowhere in particular, especially for the purpose of sustaining the holy man. The heathen, however, resented the hermit’s presence, and seized and beheaded him here, fondly imagining they had thus given him his quietus. But 181they little knew the virile16 qualities of this hardy17 race of missioners who came from across Channel and wrought18 marvels19 all along these coasts of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. St. Decuman was beheaded, but that was by no means the end of him. He took up his head, washed it in a spring that gushed20 forth21 upon the spot (for he was a cleanly person for a hermit), and placed it again on his shoulders: probably remarking, in the manner of modern conjurors, “That’s how it’s done!” But of this we have no record. To convert the ungodly after this exhibition of his powers was easy. There would appear to have been no reason why so remarkable22 a man as this should ever have died, but he passed away at last, in A.D. 706. A grim little stone figure of him occupies a niche23 in the tower.
The existing church is a fine and stately building, chiefly of the Perpendicular24 period; the exterior25 remarkable for the extremely hideous26 carvings28 that decorate (if that be quite the word) the dripstones over the windows of the south aisle29. Most of them are grotesque30 faces, but one is of a somewhat mysterious character and appears to be the representation of a little shivering nude31 human figure, threatened by a huge bird of the pelican32 type.
The interior discloses fine cradle-roofs to nave33 and aisles34, with angel corbels and a deeply undercut frieze35 of conventionalised vine-leaves. The third pier36 from the west, in the north aisle, bears tabernacled niches37 filled with small statues of 182four bishops38, and on that behind the pulpit are figures of an abbot and of St. George and the Dragon. The Egremont and Wyndham chapels39 are rich in memorials of the Wyndham family, formerly40 of Orchard41 Wyndham, close by. An old funeral helmet, painted and gilt42, and surmounted43 with the crest44 of a lion’s head and fetterlock, hangs in the south chapel, and two others are suspended in the chancel and the north aisle.
The Wyndhams, who are represented here so numerously in sepulchral45 brasses47 and marble monuments, derived48 from the Wyndhams of Felbrigg, Norfolk, but originally of Wymondham in that county; John, second son of Sir Thomas Wyndham, having in the reign49 of Henry VIII. married Elizabeth Sydenham, of Orchard Sydenham, afterwards known as Orchard Wyndham. The Norfolk branch of the family in course of time replaced the “y” in their name by an “i,” but the West of England Wyndhams have generally (by no means always) adhered to the more picturesque50 fashion of subscribing51 themselves. The last Wyndham here was George, Lord Egremont, who died in 1845, when the title became extinct and the family property here and at Sampford Brett was sold.
The brasses include those of John Wyndham, of Kentsford, and his wife Florence, sister and co-heir of Nicholas Wadham of Merrifield, Somerset. He died in 1572, and she in 1596, many years after the gruesome adventure she experienced in being nearly buried alive.
183The brasses of this worthy52 pair, half the size of life and most carefully, if at the same time coarsely, engraved53, with a meticulous54 care for details of armour55 and costume, face one another on a huge stone slab56, set against the wall. A smaller brass46 represents them and a third figure, intended for Fate, discussing their respective ends, with the following dialogue:—
Maritus. When changeless Fate to death did change my life I prayd it to bee gentle to my wife.
Vxor. But shee who hart and hand to thee did wedd Desired nothing more then this thie bedd.
Fatvm. I brought ye soules that linckt were each in either To rest above ye Bodies here togeither.
It was in 1563, the year following her marriage with John Wyndham, that Florence Wyndham, in the words of Collinson, the historian of Somerset, “having in a sickness lost all appearance of life, was placed in her coffin58 and mourned as one dead.” Fortunately, as the sexton was about to close the family vault59, he imagined he heard a noise proceeding60 from the coffin. Another man might have fled in terror, but there are few superstitious61 fears left to sextons who have been long at their work, and this one approached and listened more carefully. The noise proceeded from the coffin and was that made by the supposedly dead woman, who had awakened62 from what had been merely a trance, and was trying to get out. Another, and a more scandalous, version tells us that it was the act of the sexton, repairing secretly to the vault for the purpose of stealing 184her rings, and cutting her finger, that restored her to consciousness. The story is a familiar one in many localities, but as told here, of Florence Wyndham, is more circumstantial than others. Happily rescued from this dreadful situation, she soon afterwards became the mother of Sir John Wyndham, and lived happily for another thirty-three years. The old manor-house of Kentsford, now a farmhouse63, still stands, three fields away from the church of St. Decuman. Some versions of the story declare that Florence Wyndham was the 185mother of twins shortly after the narrow escape narrated64 above, and the countryfolk point to one of the Wyndham monuments on which, amid flaming urns65, are two conventional marble cupids in tears, as proof of the story, but the monument in question is at least a hundred years later in date than that lady. Three miles away in the little church of Sampford Brett, formerly on the Wyndham lands, among the sixteenth-century carved bench-ends, is an exceptionally notable example, both for its large size and unusual design, which represents a woman surrounded by conventionalised Renaissance66 fruit and flowers: two little cupid-like figures blowing trumpets67 below. This is generally thought to be an allusion68 to this singular incident in the family history, and the merely decorative69 cupids are pointed70 out as the twins. It should be remarked that the lady’s brain development, as shown on the carving27, appears to be singularly poor.
The Wyndhams were ever loyal folk, as their monuments in St. Decuman’s church clearly show, and that they did not always gain by their allegiance is shown by the querulous epitaph upon one of them, Sir Hugh, of whom it is written:
One more his prince’s than his own,
And in his martyred father’s wars
And for his sufferings as reward
Had neither countinance or regard;
And earth affording no releif
Has gone to Heaven to ease his grief.
186
WATCHET; OLD TOWN HALL AND LOCK-UP.
He was son of the governor of Bridgwater, and one of the six hostages demanded by Fairfax on the surrender of the town. He died 1671. Let us sorrow for the unrecompensed services of a Royalist, fighting for Charles I.; but perhaps we may also spare a little consideration for Charles II., who, on his restoration, was so beset73 by claimants for honours and rewards on account of Cavalier sufferings and losses in “his martyred father’s wars” that not even the most generous ideas of compensation would have sufficed to satisfy the hungry crowds.
Watchet, the little town to which this church of St. Decuman belongs, is a seaport74 of a stirring history, early and late. Its earliest disaster was the destruction and plunder75 wrought by the Danes in A.D. 988; the latest the violent succession 187of storms that from September 1903 demolished76 the harbour, and again demolished it, after expensive repair. There is much likeability in this little unfortunate port of Watchet, if only for the fact that it retains, even at this belated time o’ day, almost every feature of its natural self, and has added few alien ones. It is a small place, with paper mills and iron-foundries, railway-sidings that come down to the waterside, and a mineral line descending77 from the Brendon Hills. For the convenience of those whose religion is not of that after all not very robust78 kind, which will lead them a mile’s walk, chiefly uphill, to their parish church, a chapel-of-ease has been provided on the quay79, over the old market-house, which has a kind of glory-hole in the basement, formerly the local lock-up.
WATCHET.
Watchet shares with the Italian town of Magenta80 the honour of giving a name to a colour; only, while the colour “magenta” is a modern 188and a horribly inartistic kind of reddish purple, introduced soon after 1859, when Louis Napoleon’s victory over the Austrians at Magenta was popular in France, “watchet” is certainly as old as Chaucer who, in 1383, in his “Canterbury Pilgrims,” says:
In hoses red he went ful fetishly,
Y-clad he was ful smal and properly
Al in a kirtel of lyght wachet;
the colour “watchet” being a light, or celestial81 blue, as shown in “Hakluyt’s Voyages,” in which we read of “mariners attired82 in watchet, or skie-coloured clothe.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
civilisation
|
|
| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
rustic
|
|
| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
populous
|
|
| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
paradox
|
|
| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
outraging
|
|
| 引起…的义愤，激怒( outrage的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
7
chapel
|
|
| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
antiquity
|
|
| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
knoll
|
|
| n.小山，小丘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
dedicated
|
|
| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
missionary
|
|
| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
hurdle
|
|
| n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
subsisted
|
|
| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
virile
|
|
| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
hardy
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
wrought
|
|
| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
marvels
|
|
| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
gushed
|
|
| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
niche
|
|
| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
perpendicular
|
|
| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
exterior
|
|
| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
carving
|
|
| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
carvings
|
|
| n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
aisle
|
|
| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
grotesque
|
|
| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
nude
|
|
| adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
pelican
|
|
| n.鹈鹕，伽蓝鸟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
nave
|
|
| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
aisles
|
|
| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
frieze
|
|
| n.(墙上的)横饰带，雕带 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
pier
|
|
| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
niches
|
|
| 壁龛( niche的名词复数 )； 合适的位置[工作等]； （产品的）商机； 生态位（一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
bishops
|
|
| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
chapels
|
|
| n.小教堂， （医院、监狱等的）附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 )；（在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的）礼拜仪式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
formerly
|
|
| adv.从前，以前 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
orchard
|
|
| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
gilt
|
|
| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
surmounted
|
|
| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
crest
|
|
| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
sepulchral
|
|
| adj.坟墓的，阴深的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
brasses
|
|
| n.黄铜( brass的名词复数 )；铜管乐器；钱；黄铜饰品（尤指马挽具上的黄铜圆片） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
derived
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
reign
|
|
| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
subscribing
|
|
| v.捐助( subscribe的现在分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
engraved
|
|
| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
meticulous
|
|
| adj.极其仔细的，一丝不苟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
armour
|
|
| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
slab
|
|
| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
allude
|
|
| v.提及，暗指 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
coffin
|
|
| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
vault
|
|
| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
proceeding
|
|
| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
superstitious
|
|
| adj.迷信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
awakened
|
|
| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
farmhouse
|
|
| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
narrated
|
|
| v.故事( narrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
urns
|
|
| n.壶( urn的名词复数 )；瓮；缸；骨灰瓮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
renaissance
|
|
| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
trumpets
|
|
| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
allusion
|
|
| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
decorative
|
|
| adj.装饰的，可作装饰的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
rugged
|
|
| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
nought
|
|
| n.／adj.无，零 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
beset
|
|
| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
seaport
|
|
| n.海港，港口，港市 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
plunder
|
|
| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
demolished
|
|
| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
descending
|
|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
robust
|
|
| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
quay
|
|
| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
magenta
|
|
| n..紫红色（的染料）；adj.紫红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
celestial
|
|
| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
attired
|
|
| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |