As we shall see, Sir Walter Scott took kindly2 notice of the foreigners quartered in his neighbourhood, but that he never lost sight of the fact that they were foreigners and warriors3 is evident from the following letter to Lady Abercorn, dated May 3, 1812:
‘I am very apprehensive4 of the consequences of a scarcity5 at this moment, especially from the multitude of French prisoners who are scattered6 through the small towns in this country; as I think, very improvidently7. As the peace of this county is intrusted to me, I thought it necessary to state to the Justice Clerk that the arms of the local militia8 were kept without any guard in a warehouse9 in Kelso; that there was nothing to prevent the prisoners there, at Selkirk, and at Jedburgh, from joining any one night, and making themselves masters of this dép?t: that the sheriffs of Roxburgh and Selkirk, in order to put down such a commotion10, could only command about three troops of yeomanry to be collected from a great distance, and these were to attack about 500 disciplined men, who, in the event supposed, would be fully12 provided with arms and ammunition13, and might, if any alarm should occasion the small number of troops now at Berwick to be withdrawn14, make themselves masters of that sea-port, the fortifications of which, although ruinous, would serve to defend them until cannon15 was brought against them.’
The Scottish towns where prisoners of war on parole were quartered, of which I have been able to get information, are 317Cupar, Kelso, Selkirk, Peebles, Sanquhar, Dumfries, Melrose, Jedburgh, Hawick, and Lauder.
By the kind permission of Mrs. Keddie (‘Sarah Tytler’) I am able to give very interesting extracts from her book, Three Generations: The Story of a Middle-Class Scottish Family, referring to the residence of the prisoners at Cupar, and the friendly intercourse16 between them and Mrs. Keddie’s grandfather, Mr. Henry Gibb, of Balass, Cupar.
‘Certainly the foreign officers were made curiously17 welcome in the country town, which their presence seemed to enliven rather than to offend. The strangers’ courageous18 endurance, their perennial19 cheerfulness, their ingenious devices to occupy their time and improve the situation, aroused much friendly interest and amusement. The position must have been rendered more bearable to the sufferers, and perhaps more respectable in the eyes of the spectators, from the fact, for which I am not able to account, that, undoubtedly20, the prisoners had among themselves, individually and collectively, considerable funds.
‘The residents treated the jetsam and flotsam of war with more than forbearance, with genuine liberality and kindness, receiving them into their houses on cordial terms. Soon there was not a festivity in the town at which the French prisoners were not permitted—nay, heartily21 pressed to attend. How the complacent22 guests viewed those rejoicings in which the natives, as they frequently did, commemorated23 British victories over the enemy is not on record.
‘But there was no thought of war and its fierce passions among the youth of the company in the simple dinners, suppers, and carpet-dances in private houses. There were congratulations on the abundance of pleasant partners, and the assurance that no girl need now sit out a dance or lack an escort if her home was within a certain limited distance beyond which the prisoners were not at liberty to stray.
‘I have heard my mother and a cousin of hers dwell on the courtesy and agreeableness of the outlanders—what good dancers, what excellent company, as the country girls’ escorts.... As was almost inevitable24, the natural result of such intimacy25 followed, whether or not it was acceptable to the open-hearted entertainers. Love and marriage ensued between the youngsters, the vanquished26 and the victors. A Colonel, who was one of the band, married a daughter of the Episcopal clergyman in the town, and I am aware of at least two more weddings which eventually took place between the strangers 318and the inhabitants. (These occurred at the end of the prisoners’ stay.)’
Balass, where the Gibbs lived, was within parole limits. One day Gibb asked the whole lot of the prisoners to breakfast, and forgot to tell Mrs. Gibb that he had done so.
‘Happily she was a woman endowed with tranquillity27 of temper, while the ample resources of an old bountiful farmhouse28 were speedily brought to bear on the situation, dispensed29 as they were by the fair and capable henchwomen who relieved the mistress of the house of the more arduous30 of her duties. There was no disappointment in store for the patient, ingenious gentlemen who were wont31 to edify32 and divert their nominal33 enemy by making small excursions into the fields to snare34 larks35 for their private breakfast-tables.
‘Another generous invitation of my grandfather’s ran a narrow risk of having a tragic36 end. Not all his sense of the obligation of a host nor his compassion37 for the misfortunes of a gallant38 foe39 could at times restrain race antagonism40, and his intense mortification41 at any occurrence which would savour of national discomfiture42. Once, in entertaining some of these foreign officers, among whom was a ma?tre d’armes, Harry43 Gibb was foolish enough to propose a bout11 of fencing with the expert. It goes without saying that within the first few minutes the yeoman’s sword was dexterously44 knocked out of his hand.... Every other consideration went down before the deadly insult. In less time than it takes to tell the story the play became grim earnest. My grandfather turned his fists on the other combatant, taken unawares and not prepared for the attack, sprang like a wild-cat at his throat, and, if the bystanders had not interposed and separated the pair, murder might have been committed under his own roof by the kindest-hearted man in the countryside.’
This increasing intimacy between the prisoners and the inhabitants displeased45 the Government, and the crisis came when, in return for the kindness shown them, the prisoners determined46 to erect47 a theatre:
‘The French prisoners were suffered to play only once in their theatre, and then the rout48 came for them. Amidst loud and sincere lamentation49 from all concerned, the officers were summarily removed in a body, and deposited in a town at some distance ... from their former guardians51. As a final gage52 d’amitié ... the owners of the theatre left it a a gift to the town.’
319Later—in the ‘thirties—this theatre was annexed53 to the Grammar School to make extra class-rooms, for it was an age when Scotland was opposed to theatres.
Kelso[14]
For some of the following notes, I am indebted to the late Mr. Macbeth Forbes, who helped me notably54 elsewhere, and who kindly gave me permission to use them.
Some of the prisoners on parole at Kelso were sailors, but the majority were soldiers from Spain, Portugal, and the West Indies, and about twenty Sicilians. The inhabitants gave them a warm welcome, hospitably55 entertained them, and in return the prisoners, many of whom were men of means, gave balls at the inns—the only establishments in these pre-parish hall days where accommodation for large parties could be had—at which they appeared gaily56 attired58 with wondrous59 frills to their shirts, and white stockings.
‘The time of their stay’, says Mr. Forbes, ‘was the gayest that Kelso had ever seen since fatal Flodden.’
Here as elsewhere there were artists among them who painted miniatures and landscapes and gave lessons, plaiters of straw and manufacturers of curious beautiful articles in coloured straw, wood-carvers, botanists60, and fishermen. These last, it is said, first introduced the sport of catching61 fish through holes in the ice in mid-winter. Billiards62, also, are said to have been introduced into Scotland by the prisoners. They mostly did their own cooking, and it is noted63 that they spoiled some of the landladies’ tables by chopping up frogs for fricassees. They bought up the old Kelso ‘theatre’, the occasional scene of action for wandering Thespians64, which was in a close off the Horse-Market, rebuilt and decorated it, some of the latter work still being visible in the ceiling of the ironmongery store of to-day. One difficulty was the very scanty65 dressing66 accommodation, so the actors often dressed at home, and their passage therefrom to the theatre in all sorts of garbs67 was a grand opportunity for the gibes69 of the youth of Kelso. Kelso was 320nothing if not ‘proper’, so that when upon one occasion the postmistress, a married woman, was seen accompanying a fantastically arrayed prisoner-actor to the theatre from his lodging70, Mrs. Grundy had much to say for some time. On special occasions, such as when the French play was patronized by a local grandee71 like the Duchess of Roxburgh, the streets were carpeted with red cloth.
Brément, a privateer officer, advertised: ‘Mr. Brément, Professor of Belles-Lettres and French Prisoner of War, respectfully informs the ladies and gentlemen of Kelso that he teaches the French and Latin languages. Apply for terms at Mrs. Matheson’s, near the Market Place.’ He is said to have done well.
Many of the privateersmen spoke72 English, as might be expected from their constant intercourse with men and places in the Channel.
One prisoner here was suspected of being concerned with the manufacture of forged bank-notes, so rife73 at this time in Scotland, as he ordered of Archibald Rutherford, stationer, paper of a particular character of which he left a pattern.
Escapes were not very frequent. On July 25, 1811, Surgeon-Major Violland, of the Hebe corvette, escaped. So did Ensign Parnagan, of the Hautpol privateer, on August 5, and on 23rd of the same month Lieutenant74 Rossignol got away. On November 11 one Bouchart escaped, and in June 1812 Lieutenant Anglade was missing, and a year later several got off, assisted, it was said, by an American, who was arrested.
In November 1811 the removal of all ‘midshipmen’ to Valleyfield, which was ordered at all Scottish parole towns, took place from Kelso.
Lieutenant Journeil, of the 27th Regiment75, committed suicide in September 1812 by swallowing sulphuric acid. He is said to have become insane from home-sickness. He was buried at the Knowes, just outside the churchyard, it being unconsecrated ground.
A Captain Levasseur married an aunt of Sir George Harrison, M.P., a former Provost of Edinburgh, and the Levasseurs still keep up correspondence with Scotland.
On May 24, 1814, the prisoners began to leave, and by the 321middle of June all had gone. The Kelso Mail said that ‘their deportment had been uniformly conciliatory and respectable’.
‘From November 1810 to June 1814, Kelso was the abode77 of a body, never more than 230 in number, of foreign prisoners of war, who, to a very noticeable degree, inoculated78 the place with their fashionable follies79, and even, in some instances tainted80 it with their laxity of morals.’
Another account says:
‘Their stay here seems to have been quiet and happy, although one man committed suicide. They carried on the usual manufactures in wood and bone and basket work; gave performances in the local theatre, which was decorated by them; were variously employed by local people, one man devoting his time to the tracking and snaring81 of a rare bird which arrived during severe weather.’
Rutherford’s Southern Counties Register and Directory for 1866 says:
‘The older inhabitants of Kelso remember the French prisoners of war quartered here as possessed83 of many amiable84 qualities, of which “great mannerliness” and buoyancy of spirits, in many instances under the depressing effects of great poverty, were the most conspicuous85 of their peculiarities86; the most singular to the natives of Kelso was their habit of gathering87 for use different kinds of wild weeds by the road side, and hedge-roots, and killing88 small birds to eat—the latter a practise considered not much removed from cannibalism89. That they were frivolous90 we will admit, as many of them wore ear-rings, and one, a Pole, had a ring to his nose; while all were boyishly fond of amusement, and were merry, good-natured creatures.’
‘In consequence of certain riotous92 proceedings93 which took place in this town near the East end of the Horn Market on Christmas last, by which the peace of the neighbourhood was very much disturbed, an investigation95 of the circumstances took place before our respectable magistrate96, Bailie Smith. From this it appeared that several of the French prisoners of war here on parole had been dining together on Christmas Day, and that a part of them were engaged in the riotous proceedings.’
These ‘riotous proceedings’ are said to have amounted to 322little more than a more or less irregular arm-in-arm procession down the street to the accompaniment of lively choruses. However, the Agent reported it to the Transport Office, who ordered each prisoner to pay ￡1 1s. fine, to be deducted97 from their allowance. The account winds up:
‘It is only an act of justice, however, to add that in so far as we have heard, the conduct of the French prisoners here on parole has been regular and inoffensive.’
On the anniversary of St. Andrew in 1810, the Kelso Lodge98 of Freemasons was favoured with a visit from several French officers, prisoners of war, at present resident in the town. The Right Worshipful in addressing them, expressed the wishes of himself and the Brethren to do everything in their power to promote the comfort and happiness of the exiles. After which he proposed the health of the Brethren who were strangers in a foreign land, which was drunk with enthusiastic applause.
There is frequent mention of their appearance at Masonic meetings, when the ‘harmony was greatly increased by the polite manners and the vocal99 power of our French Brethren’.
There are a great many of their signatures on the parchment to which all strangers had to subscribe100 their names by order of the Grand Lodge.[15]
I have to thank Sir George Douglas for the following interesting letters from French prisoners in Kelso.
The first is in odd Latin, the second in fair English, the third in French. The two latter I am glad to give as additional testimonies102 to the kindly treatment of the enforced exiles amongst us.
The first is as follows:
‘Kelso: die duodecima mensis Augusti anni 1811.
‘Honorifice Praefecte:
‘Monitum te facio, hoc mane, die duodecima mensis Augusti, hora decima et semi, per vicum transeuntem vestimenta mea omnino malefacta fuisse cum aqua tam foetida ac mulier quae jactavit illam.
‘Noxia mulier quae vestimenta mea, conceptis verbis, abluere 323noluit, culpam insulsitate cumulando, uxor est domino Wm. Stuart Lanio [Butcher?]
‘Ut persuasum mihi est hanc civitatem optimis legibus nimis constitutam esse ut ille eventus impunitus feratur, de illo certiorem te facio, magnifice Praefecte, ut similis casus iterum non renovetur erga captivos Gallos, quorum103 tu es curator, et, occurente occasione, defensor.
‘Quandoquidem aequitas tua non mihi soli sed cunctis plane nota est, spe magna nitor te jus dicturam expostulationi meae, cogendo praedictam mulierem et quamprimum laventur vestimenta mea. In ista expectatione gratam habeas salutationem illius qui mancipio et nexo, honoratissime praefecte, tuus est.
‘Matrien.
‘Honorato, Honoratissimo Domino Smith,
‘Captivorum Gallorum praefecto. Kelso.’
The gist82 of the above being that Mrs. Stuart threw dirty water over M. Matrien as he passed along the street in Kelso, and he demands her punishment and the cleansing104 of his clothes.
The second letter runs:
‘Paris, on the 6th day of May, 1817.
‘Dear Sir,
‘I have since I left Kelso wrote many letters to my Scots friends, but I have been unfortunate enough to receive no answer. The wandering life I have led during four years is, without doubt, the cause of that silence, for my friends have been so good to me that I cannot imagine they have entirely105 forgotten me. In all my letters my heart has endeavoured to prove how thankful I was, but my gratitude106 is of that kind that one may feel but cannot express. Pray, my good Sir, if you remember yet your prisonner, be so kind as to let him have a few lignes from you and all news about all his old good friends.
‘The difficulty which I have to express myself in your tongue, and the countryman of yours who is to take my letter, compel me to end sooner than I wish, but if expressions want to my mouth, be assure in revange that my heart shall always be full of all those feelings which you deserve so rightly.
‘Farewell, I wish you all kind of happiness.
‘Your friend for ever,
‘Le Chevalier Lebas de Ste. Croix.
‘My direction: à Monsieur le Chevalier Lebas de Ste. Croix, Capitaine à la légion de l’Isère, caserne de La Courtille à Paris. P.S.—All my thanks and good wishes first to your family, to 324the family Waldie, Davis, Doctor Douglas, Rutherford, and my good landlady107 Mistress Elliot.
‘To Mister John Smith Esq.,
‘bridge street,
‘Kelso, Scotland.’
(In Kelso, towards the end of 1912, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Mr. Provost Smith, grandson of the gentleman to whom the foregoing two letters were addressed, and Mr. Smith was kind enough to present me with a tiny ring of bone, on which is minutely worked the legend: ‘I love to see you’, done by a French officer on parole in Kelso in 1811.)
The third letter is as follows:
‘Je, soussigné officier de la Légion d’Honneur, Lieutenant Colonel au 8e Régiment de Dragons, sensible aux bons traitements que les prisonniers fran?ais sur parole en cette ville re?oivent journellement de la part de Mr. Smith, law agent, invite en mon nom et en celui de mes compagnons d’infortune ceux de nos compatriotes entre les mains desquels le hasard de la guerre pourroit faire tomber Mesdemoiselles St. Saure (?) d’avoir pour elles tous les égards et attentions qu’elles méritent, et de nous aider par1 tous les bons offices qu’ils pourront rendre à ces dames108 à acquitter une partie de la reconnaissance que nous devons à leur famille.
‘Kelso. 7 Avril, 1811.
‘Dudouit.’
Selkirk
In 1811, ninety-three French prisoners arrived at Selkirk, many of them army surgeons. Their mile limits from the central point were, on the Hawick road, to Knowes; over the bridge, as far as the Philiphaugh entries; and towards Bridgehead, the ‘Prisoners’ Bush’. An old man named Douglas, says Mr. Craig-Brown (from whose book on Selkirk, I take this information, and to whom I am indebted for much hospitality and his many pains in acting109 as my mentor110 in Selkirk), remembered them coming to his father’s tavern111 at Heathenlie for their morning rum, and astonishing the people with what they ate. ‘They made tea out of dried whun blooms and skinned the verra paddas. The doctor anes was verra clever, and some of them had plenty o’ siller.’
On October 13, 1811, the prisoners constructed a balloon, 325and sent it up amidst such excitement as Selkirk rarely felt. Indeed, the Yeomanry then out for their training could not be mustered112 until they had seen the balloon.
A serious question came up in 1814 concerning the public burden which the illegitimate children of these gentlemen were causing, and complaints were sent to the Transport Office, whose reply was that the fathers of the children were liable to the civil law, and that unless they should provide for their maintenance, they should go to prison.
Two of the prisoners quarrelled about a girl and fought a bloodless duel113 at Linglee for half an hour, when the authorities appeared upon the scene and arrested the principals, who were sent to jail for a month.
Mr. J. John Vernon wrote:
‘In an article upon the old Selkirk Subscription114 Library, reference is made to the use of the Library by the officers who were confined in Selkirk and district during the Napoleonic wars.
‘Historical reference is furnished incidentally in the pages of the Day Book—the register of volumes borrowed and returned. There is no mention of such a privilege being conferred by the members or committee, but, as a matter of fact, all the French officers who were prisoners in Selkirk during the Napoleonic wars were allowed to take books from the Library as freely and as often as they chose. Beginning with April 5th, 1811, and up to May 4th, 1814, there were no less than 132 closely written foolscap pages devoted115 exclusively to their book-borrowing transactions. They were omnivorous116 readers, with a penchant117 for History and Biography, but devouring118 all sorts of literature from the poetical119 to the statistical120. Probably because the Librarian could not trust himself to spell them, the officers themselves entered their names, as well as the names of books. Sometimes, when they made an entry for a comrade they made blunders in spelling the other man’s name: that of Forsonney, for instance, being given in four or five different ways. As the total number of prisoners was 94, it can be concluded from the list appended that only two or three did not join the Library.
‘Besides the French prisoners, the students attending Professor Lawson’s lectures seem to have had the privilege of reading, but for them all about two pages suffice. It is said that, moved by a desire to bring these benighted121 foreigners to belief in the true faith, Doctor Lawson added French to the more ancient languages he was already proficient122 in, but the 326aliens were nearly all men of education who knew their Voltaire, with the result that the Professor made poor progress with his well meant efforts at proselytism, if he did not even receive a shock to his own convictions.’
There were several Masonic Brethren among the foreign prisoners at Selkirk, and it is noteworthy that on March 9, 1812, it was proposed by the Brethren of this Lodge that on account of the favour done by some of the French Brethren, they should be enrolled124 as honorary members of the Lodge, and this was unanimously agreed to.
It should be noted that the French Brethren were a numerous body, twenty-three of their names being added to the roll of St. John’s; and we find that, as at Melrose, they formed themselves into a separate Lodge and initiated125 their fellow countrymen in their own tongue.
In what was known as Lang’s Barn, now subdivided126 into cottages, the French prisoners extemporized127 a theatre, and no doubt some of their decorative128 work lies hidden beneath the whitewash129. The barn was the property of the grandfather of the late Andrew Lang.
The experiences of Sous-lieutenant Doisy de Villargennes, of the 26th French line regiment, I shall now relate with particular pleasure, not only on account of their unusual interest, but because they reflect the brightest side of captivity130 in Britain. Doisy was wounded after Fuentes d’O?oro in May 1811, and taken prisoner. He was moved to hospital at Celorico, where he formed a friendship with Captain Pattison, of the 73rd. Thence he was sent to Fort Belem at Lisbon, which happened to be garrisoned131 by the 26th British Regiment, a coincidence which at once procured133 for him the friendship of its officers, who caused him to be lodged134 in their quarters, and to be treated rather as an honoured guest than as a prisoner, but with one bad result—that the extraordinary good living aggravated135 his healing wound, and he was obliged to return to hospital. These were days of heavy drinking, and Lisbon lay in the land of good and abundant wine; hosts and guest had alike fared meagrely and hardly for a long time, so that it is not difficult to account for the effect of the abrupt136 change upon poor Doisy. However, he pulled round, and embarked137 for 327Portsmouth, not on the ordinary prisoner transport, but as guest of Pattison on a war-ship. Doisy, with sixty other officers, were landed at Gosport, and, contrary to the usual rule, allowed to be on parole in the town previous to their dispatch to their cautionnement.
At the Gosport prison—Forton—whither he went to look up comrades, Doisy was overjoyed to meet with his own foster-brother, whom he had persuaded to join his regiment, and whom he had given up as lost at Fuentes d’O?oro, and he received permission to spend some time with him in the prison. I give with very great pleasure Doisy’s remarks upon captivity in England in general, and in its proper place under the heading of Forton Prison (see pp. 217–18) will be found his description of that place, which is equally pleasant reading.
‘I feel it my duty here, in the interests of truth and justice, to combat an erroneous belief concerning the hard treatment of prisoners of war in England.... No doubt, upon the hulks they led a very painful existence; execrable feeding, little opportunity for exercise, and a discipline extremely severe, even perhaps cruel. Such was their fate. But we must remember that only refractory138 prisoners were sent to the hulks.’
(Here we must endorse139 a note of the editor of Doisy’s book, to the effect that this is inaccurate140, inasmuch as there were 19,000 prisoners upon the hulks, and they could not all have been ‘refractory’.)
‘These would upset the discipline of prisons like Gosport. Also we must remember that the inmates141 of the hulks were chiefly the crews of privateers, and that privateering was not considered fair warfare142 by England.’ (Strange to say, the editor passes over this statement without comment.) ‘At Forton there reigned143 the most perfect order, under a discipline severe but humane144. We heard no sobbings of despair, we saw no unhappiness in the eyes of the inmates, but, on the contrary, on all sides resounded145 shouts of laughter, and the chorus of patriotic146 songs.’
In after years, when Germain Lamy, the foster-brother, was living a free man in France, Doisy says that in conversation Lamy never alluded147 to the period of his captivity in England without praising warmly the integrity and the liberality of all the Englishmen with whom as a prisoner-trader he had business 328relations. ‘Such testimonies,’ says Doisy, ‘and others of like character, cannot but weaken the feelings of hatred148 and antagonism roused by war between the two nations.’
In a few days Doisy was marched off to Odiham, but, on account of the crowded state of the English parole towns, it was decided149 to send the newcomers to Scotland, and so, on October 1, 1811, they landed at Leith, 190 in number, and marched to Selkirk, via Edinburgh and the dép?t at Penicuik.
There was some difficulty at first in finding lodgings150 in the small Scottish town for so large a number of strangers, but when it was rumoured151 that they were largely gentlemen of means and likely to spend their money freely, accommodation was quickly forthcoming.
Living in Scotland Doisy found to be very much cheaper than in England, and the weekly pay of half a guinea, regularly received through Coutts, he found sufficient, if not ample. His lodging cost but half a crown a week, and as the prisoners messed in groups, and, moreover, had no local hindrance152 to the excellent fishing in Ettrick and Tweed, board was probably proportionately moderate. As the French prisoners in Selkirk spent upon an average ￡150 a week in the little town, and were there for two years and a half, no less a sum than ￡19,500 was poured into the local pocket.
The exiles started a French café in which was a billiard table brought from Edinburgh, to which none but Frenchmen were admitted; gathered together an orchestra of twenty-two and gave Saturday concerts, which were extensively patronized by the inhabitants and the surrounding gentry153; and with their own hands built a theatre accommodating 200 people.
‘Les costumes,’ said Doisy, ‘surtout ceux des r?les féminins, nous nécessitaient de grands efforts d’habilité. Aucun de nous n’avait auparavant exercé le métier de charpentier, tapissier, de tailleur, ou . . . fait son apprentissage chez une couturière. L’intelligence, toutefois, stimulée par la volonté, peut engendrer de petits miracles.’
They soon had a répertoire of popular tragedies and comedies, and gave a performance every Wednesday.
On each of the four main roads leading out of the town there was at the distance of a mile a notice-board on which was 329inscribed: ‘Limite des Prisonniers de Guerre.’ As evidence of the goodwill154 generally borne towards the foreigners by the country folk, when a waggish155 prisoner moved one of these boards a mile further on, no information was lodged about it, and although a reward of one guinea was paid to anybody arresting a prisoner beyond limits, or out of his lodgings at forbidden hours, it was very rarely claimed. Some of the prisoners indeed were accustomed daily to go fishing some miles down the rivers.
The French prisoners did not visit the Selkirk townsfolk, for the ‘classy’ of the latter had come to the resolution not to associate with them at all; but the priggish exclusiveness or narrow prejudice, or whatever it might have been, was amply atoned156 for by the excellent friendships formed in the surrounding neighbourhoods. There was Mr. Anderson, a gentleman farmer, who invited the Frenchmen to fish and regaled them in typical old-time Scots fashion afterwards; there was a rich retired157 lawyer, whose chief sorrow was that he could not keep sober during his entertainment of them: there was Mr. Thorburn, another gentleman farmer, who introduced them to grilled158 sheep’s head, salmagundi, and a cheese of his own making, of which he was particularly proud.
But above all there was the ‘shirra’, then Mr. Walter Scott, who took a fancy to a bright and lively young Frenchman, Tarnier by name, and often invited him and two or three friends to Abbotsford—Doisy calls it ‘Melrose Abbey’. This was in February 1812. Mrs. Scott, whom, Doisy says, Scott had married in Berlin—was only seen some minutes before dinner, never at the repast itself. She spoke French perfectly159, says Doisy. Scott, he says, was a very different man as host in his own house from what they judged him to be from his appearance in the streets of Selkirk. ‘Un homme enjoué, à la physionomie ordinaire et peu significative, à l’attitude même un peu gauche160, à la démarche vulgaire et aux allures161 à l’avenant, causées probablement par sa boiterie.’ But at Abbotsford his guests found him, on the contrary, a gentleman full of cordiality and gaiety, receiving his friends with amiability162 and delicacy163. The rooms at Abbotsford, says Doisy, were spacious164 and well lighted, and the table not sumptuous165, but refined.
330Doisy tells us that what seemed to be the all-absorbing subject of conversation at the Abbotsford dinner-table was Bonaparte. No matter into what other channel the talk drifted, their host would hark back to Bonaparte, and never wearied of the anecdotes167 and details about him which the guests were able to give. Little did his informants think that, ten years later, much that they told him would appear, as Doisy says, in a distorted form rarely favourable168 to the great man, in Scott’s Life of Bonaparte. He quotes instances, and is at no pains to hide his resentment169 at what he considers a not very dignified170 or proper proceeding94 on the part of Sir Walter.
Only on one prominent occasion was the friendly feeling between the prisoners and the Selkirk people disturbed.
On August 15, 1813, the Frenchmen, in number ninety, united to celebrate the Emperor’s birthday at their café, the windows of which opened on to the public garden. They feasted, made speeches, drank numberless toasts, and sang numberless patriotic songs. As it was found that they had a superabundance of food, it was decided to distribute it among the crowd assembled in the public garden, but with the condition that every one who accepted it should doff171 his hat and cry ‘Vive l’Empereur Napoléon!’ But although a couple of Frenchmen stood outside, each with a viand in one hand and a glass of liquor in the other, not a Scotsman would comply with the condition, and all went away. One man, a sort of factotum172 of the Frenchmen, who made a considerable deal of money out of them in one way and another, and who was known as ‘Bang Bay’, from his habit, when perplexed173 with much questioning and ordering, of replying ‘by and by’, did accept the food and drink, and utter the required cry, and his example was followed by a few others, but the original refusers still held aloof174 and gathered together in the garden, evidently in no peaceable mood.
Presently, as the feast proceeded and the celebrants were listening to a song composed for the occasion, a stone was thrown through the window, and hit Captain Gruffaud of the Artillery175. He rushed out and demanded who had thrown it. Seeing a young man grinning, Gruffaud accused him, and as the 331youth admitted it, Gruffaud let him have the stone full in the face. A disturbance176 being at once imminent177, the French officers broke up chairs, &c., to arm themselves against an attack, and the crowd, seeing this, dispersed178. Soon after, the Agent, Robert Henderson, hurried up to say that the crowd had armed themselves and were re-assembling, and that as the Frenchmen were in the wrong, inasmuch as they had exceeded their time-limit, nine o’clock, by an hour, he counselled them to go home quietly. So the matter ended, and Doisy remarks that no evil resulted, and that Scots and French became better comrades than ever.
Another event might have resulted in a disturbance. At the news of a victory by Wellington in Spain, the Selkirk people set their bells ringing, and probably rejoiced with some ostentation179. A short time after, says Doisy, came the news of a great French victory in Russia (?). The next day, Sunday, some French officers attended a Quakers’ meeting in their house, and managed to hide themselves. At midnight a dozen of their comrades were admitted through the window, bringing with them a coil of rope which they made fast to that of the meeting-house bell, and rang vigorously, awakening180 the town and bringing an amazed crowd to the place, and in the confusion the actors of the comedy escaped. Then came the Peace of 1814, and the Frenchmen were informed that on April 20 a vessel181 would be at Berwick to take them to France. The well-to-do among them proposed to travel by carriage to Berwick, but it was later decided that all funds should be united and that they should go on foot, and to defray expenses ￡60 was collected. Before leaving, it was suggested that a considerable increase might be made to their exchequer182 if they put up to auction183 the structure of the theatre, as well as the properties and dresses, which had cost ￡120. Tarnier was chosen auctioneer, and the bidding was started at ￡50, but in spite of his eloquence184 the highest bid was ￡40. So they decided to have some fun at the last. All the articles were carried to the field which the prisoners had hired for playing football, and a last effort was made to sell them. But the highest bid was only ￡2 more than before. Rather than sell at such a ridiculous price, the Frenchmen, armed with sticks and 332stones, formed a circle round the objects for sale, and set fire to them, a glorious bonfire being the result.
The day of departure came. Most of the Frenchmen had passed the previous night in the Public Garden, singing, and drinking toasts, so that all were up betimes, and prepared for their tramp. Their delight and astonishment185 may be imagined when they beheld186 a defile187 of all sorts of vehicles, and even of saddle-horses, into the square, and learned that these had been provided by the people of Selkirk to convey them to Kelso, half way to Berwick.
Says Doisy: ‘Nous nous séparames donc de nos amis de Selkirk sans garder d’une part et d’autre aucun des sentiments de rancune pouvant exister auparavant’.
‘Many years after the war, in the Southern States of America, two young Selkirk lads were astonished to see themselves looked at with evident earnestness by two foreigners within earshot of them. At last one of the latter, a distinguished-looking elderly gentleman, came up and said: “Pardon, I think from your speech you come from Scotland?”
‘“We do.”
‘“Perhaps from the South of Scotland?”
‘“Yes, from Selkirk.”
‘“From Selkirk! Ah! I was certain: General! It is true. They are from Selkirk.” Upon which his companion came up, who, looking at one of the lads for a while, exclaimed:
‘“I am sure you are the son of ze, ze, leetle fat man who kills ze sheep!”
‘“Faith! Ye’re recht!” said the astonished Scot. “My father was Tudhope, the flesher!”
‘Upon which the more effusive188 of the officers fairly took him round the neck, and gave him a hearty189 embrace. Making themselves known as two of the old French prisoners, they insisted on the lads remaining in their company, loaded them with kindness, and never tired of asking them questions about their place of exile, and all its people, particularly the sweethearts they and their comrades had left behind them.’
Peebles
Although Peebles was not established as a parole town until 1803, a great many French prisoners, not on parole, were here in 1798–9, most of them belonging to the thirty-six-gun frigates190 Coquille and Résolue, belonging to the Brest squadron of the 333expedition to Ireland, which was beaten by Sir John Warren. They were probably confined in the town jail.
The first parole prisoners were Dutch, Belgians, and Danes, ‘all of whom took to learning cotton hand-loom weaving, and spent their leisure time in fishing’, says Mr. W. Chambers191. In 1810 about one hundred French, Poles, and Italians came: ‘Gentlemanly in manner, they made for themselves friends in the town and neighbourhood, those among them who were surgeons occasionally assisting at a medical consultation192. They set up a theatre in what is now the public reading-room, and acted Molière and Corneille. In 1811 all the “midshipmen” (gardes-marines) among them were suddenly called to the Cross, and marched away to Valleyfield, possibly an act of reprisal193 for Bonaparte’s action against English midshipmen.’[16]
Shortly after their removal, all the other prisoners were sent away from Peebles, chiefly to Sanquhar. This removal is said to have been brought about by the terror of a lady of rank in the neighbourhood at so many enemies being near Neidpath Castle, where were deposited the arms of the Peeblesshire Militia.
Mr. Sanderson, of the Chambers Institute at Peebles, my indefatigable194 conductor about and around the pleasant old Border town, told me that there is still in Peebles a family named Bonong, said to be descended195 from a French prisoner; that a Miss Wallink who went to Canada some years ago as Mrs. Cranston, was descended from a Polish prisoner; that there was recently a Mr. Lenoir at the Tontine Hotel (traditionally the ‘hotle’ which was Meg Dodd’s bugbear in St. Ronan’s Well), and that a drawing master named Chastelaine came of French prisoner parentage.
334In the Museum of the Chambers Institute are four excellent specimens196 of French prisoner-made ship models, and on the plaster walls of a house are a couple of poorly executed oil frescoes197 said to have been painted by prisoners.
I have the kind permission of Messrs. Chambers to quote the following very complete descriptions of French prisoner life at Peebles from the Memoirs198 of William and Robert Chambers by Mr. William Chambers.
‘1803. Not more than 20 or 30 of these foreign exiles arrived at this early period. They were mostly Dutch and Walloons, with afterwards a few Danes. These men did not repine. They nearly all betook themselves to learn some handicraft to eke199 out their scanty allowance. At leisure hours they might be seen fishing in long leather boots as if glad to procure132 a few trout200 and eels201. Two or three years later came a détenu of a different class. He was seemingly the captain of a ship from the French West Indies, who brought with him his wife and a negro servant-boy named Jack202. Black Jack, as we called him, was sent to the school, where he played with the other boys on the town green, and at length spoke and read like a native. He was a good-natured creature, and became a general favourite. Jack was the first pure negro whom the boys at that time had ever seen.
‘None of these classes of prisoner broke his parole, nor ever gave any trouble to the authorities. They had not, indeed, any appearance of being prisoners, for they were practically free to live and ramble203 about within reasonable bounds where they liked.
‘In 1810 there was a large accession to this original body of prisoners on parole. As many as one hundred and eleven were already on their way to the town, and might be expected shortly. There was speedily a vast sensation in the place. The local Militia had been disbanded. Lodgings of all sorts were vacant. The new arrivals would on all hands be heartily welcomed. On Tuesday, the expected French prisoners in an unceremonious way began to drop in. As one of several boys, I went out to meet them coming from Edinburgh. They came walking in twos and threes, a few of them lame50. Their appearance was startling, for they were in military garb68 in which they had been captured in Spain. Some were in light blue hussar dress, braided, with marks of sabre wounds. Others were in dark blue uniform. Several wore large cocked hats, but the greater number had undress caps. All had a gentlemanly air, notwithstanding their generally dishevelled attire57, their soiled boots, and their visible marks of fatigue204.
335‘Before night they had all arrived, and, through the activity of the Agent appointed by the Transport Board, they had been provided with lodgings suitable to their slender allowance. This large batch205 of prisoners on parole were, of course, all in the rank of naval206 or military officers. Some had been pretty high in the service and seen a good deal of fighting. Several were doctors, or, as they called themselves, officiers de santé. Among the whole there were, I think, about half a dozen midshipmen. A strange thing was their varied207 nationality. Though spoken of as French, there was in the party a mixture of Italians, Swiss, and Poles; but this we found out only after some intercourse. Whatever their origin, they were warm adherents208 of Napoleon, whose glory at this time was at its height. Lively in manner, their minds were full of the recent struggle in the Peninsula.
‘Through the consideration of an enterprising grocer, the prisoners were provided with a billiard table at which they spent much of their time. So far well. But how did these unfortunate exiles contrive209 to live? How did they manage to feed and clothe themselves, and pay for lodgings? The allowance from Government was on a moderate scale. I doubt if it was more than one shilling per head per diem. In various instances two persons lived in a single room, but even that cost half-a-crown per week. The truth is they must have been half starved, but for the fortunate circumstance of a number of them having brought money—foreign gold-pieces, concealed210 about their persons, which stores were supplemented by remittances211 from France; and in a friendly way, at least as regards the daily mess, or table d’h?te, the richer helped the poorer, which was a good trait in their character. The messing together was the great resource, and took place in a house hired for the purpose, in which the cookery was conducted under the auspices212 of M. Lavoche, one of the prisoners who was skilled in cuisine213. My brother and I had some dealings with Lavoche. We cultivated rabbits in a hutch built by ourselves in the backyard, and sold them for the Frenchmen’s mess; the money we got for them, usually eighteenpence a pair, being employed in the purchase of books.
‘Billiards were indispensable, but something more was wanted. Without a theatre, life was felt to be unendurable. But how was a theatre to be secured? There was nothing of the kind in the place. The more eager of the visitors managed to get out of the difficulty. There was an old and disused ball-room. It was rather of confined dimensions, and low in the roof, with a gallery at one end, over the entrance, for the musicians.... Walter Scott’s mother, when a girl, (I was 336told,) had crossed Minchmoor, a dangerously high hill, in a chaise, from the adjacent country, to dance for a night in that little old ball-room. Now set aside as unfashionable, the room was at anybody’s service, and came quite handily for the Frenchmen. They fitted it up with a stage at the inner end, and cross benches to accommodate 120 persons, independently of perhaps 20 more in the musicians’ gallery. The thing was neatly214 got up with scenery painted by M. Walther and M. Ragulski, the latter a young Pole. No licence was required for the theatre, for it was altogether a private undertaking215. Money was not taken at the door, and no tickets were sold. Admission was gained by complimentary216 billets distributed chiefly among persons with whom the actors had established an intimacy.
‘Among these favoured individuals was my father, who, carrying on a mercantile concern, occupied a prominent position. He felt a degree of compassion for these foreigners, constrained217 to live in exile, and, besides welcoming them to his house, gave them credit in articles of drapery of which they stood in need; and through which circumstance they soon assumed an improved appearance in costume. Introduced to the family circle, their society was agreeable, and in a sense instructive. Though with imperfect speech, a sort of half-English, half-French, they related interesting circumstances in their careers.
‘How performances in French should have had any general attraction may seem to require explanation. There had grown up in the town among young persons especially, a knowledge of familiar French phrases; so that what was said, accompanied by appropriate gestures, was pretty well guessed at. But, as greatly contributing to remove difficulties, a worthy123 man, of an obliging turn and genial218 humour, volunteered to act as interpreter. Moving in humble219 circumstances as hand-loom weaver220, he had let lodgings to a French captain and his wife, and from being for years in domestic intercourse with them, he became well acquainted with their language. William Hunter, for such was his name, besides being of ready wit, partook of a lively musical genius. I have heard him sing Malbrook s’en va t’en guerre with amazing correctness and vivacity221. His services at the theatre were therefore of value to the natives in attendance. Seated conspicuously222 at the centre of what we may call the pit, eyes were turned on him inquiringly when anything particularly funny was said requiring explanation, and for general use he whisperingly communicated the required interpretation223. So, put up to the joke, the natives heartily joined in the laugh, though rather tardily224.... As for the French plays, which were performed with perfect propriety225, 337they were to us not only amusing but educational. The remembrance of these dramatic efforts of the French prisoners of war has been through life a continual treat. It is curious for me to look back on the performances of the pieces of Molière in circumstances so remarkable226.
‘My mother, even while lending her dresses and caps to enable performers to represent female characters, never liked the extraordinary intimacy which had been formed between the French officers and my father. Against his giving them credit she constantly remonstrated227 in vain. It was a tempting228 but perilous229 trade. For a time, by the resources just mentioned, they paid wonderfully well. With such solid inducements, my father confidingly230 gave extensive credit to these strangers—men who, by their positions, were not amenable231 to the civil law, and whose obligations, accordingly, were altogether debts of honour. The consequence was that which might have been anticipated. An order suddenly arrived from the Government commanding the whole of the prisoners to quit Peebles, and march chiefly to Sanquhar in Dumfriesshire: the cause of the movement being the prospective232 arrival of a Militia Regiment.
‘The intelligence came one Sunday night. What a gloom prevailed at several firesides that evening!
‘On their departure the French prisoners made many fervid233 promises that, should they ever return to their own country, they would have pleasure in discharging their debt. They all got home in the Peace of 1814, but not one of them ever paid a farthing, and William Chambers was one of the many whose affairs were brought to a crisis therefrom.’
It will be seen later that this was not the uniform experience of British creditors234 with French debtors235.
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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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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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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improvidently
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| adv.improvident（目光短浅的）的变形 | |
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militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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perennial
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| adj.终年的；长久的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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commemorated
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| v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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edify
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| v.陶冶；教化；启发 | |
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nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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snare
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| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
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larks
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| n.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的名词复数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的第三人称单数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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dexterously
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| adv.巧妙地，敏捷地 | |
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displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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gage
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| n.标准尺寸，规格；量规，量表 [=gauge] | |
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annexed
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| [法] 附加的，附属的 | |
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notably
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| adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地 | |
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hospitably
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| 亲切地，招待周到地，善于款待地 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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attired
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| 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 ) | |
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wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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botanists
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| n.植物学家，研究植物的人( botanist的名词复数 ) | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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billiards
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| n.台球 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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thespians
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| n.演员( thespian的名词复数 )；悲剧演员 | |
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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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garbs
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| vt.装扮（garb的第三人称单数形式） | |
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68
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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69
gibes
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| vi.嘲笑，嘲弄（gibe的第三人称单数形式） | |
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70
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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71
grandee
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| n.贵族；大公 | |
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72
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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73
rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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74
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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75
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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76
gazetteer
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| n.地名索引 | |
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77
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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78
inoculated
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| v.给…做预防注射( inoculate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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80
tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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81
snaring
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| v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的现在分词 ) | |
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82
gist
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| n.要旨；梗概 | |
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83
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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84
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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85
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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86
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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87
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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88
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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89
cannibalism
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| n.同类相食；吃人肉 | |
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90
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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91
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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92
riotous
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| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
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93
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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94
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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95
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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96
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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97
deducted
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| v.扣除，减去( deduct的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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98
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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99
vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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100
subscribe
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| vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助 | |
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101
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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102
testimonies
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| （法庭上证人的）证词( testimony的名词复数 )； 证明，证据 | |
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103
quorum
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| n.法定人数 | |
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104
cleansing
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| n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词 | |
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105
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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106
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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107
landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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108
dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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109
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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110
mentor
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| n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导 | |
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111
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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112
mustered
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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113
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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114
subscription
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| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
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115
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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116
omnivorous
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| adj.杂食的 | |
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117
penchant
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| n.爱好，嗜好；（强烈的）倾向 | |
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118
devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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119
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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120
statistical
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| adj.统计的，统计学的 | |
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121
benighted
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| adj.蒙昧的 | |
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122
proficient
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| adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家 | |
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123
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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124
enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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125
initiated
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|
| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
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126
subdivided
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| 再分，细分( subdivide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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127
extemporized
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| v.即兴创作，即席演奏( extemporize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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128
decorative
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| adj.装饰的，可作装饰的 | |
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129
whitewash
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| v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰 | |
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130
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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131
garrisoned
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| 卫戍部队守备( garrison的过去式和过去分词 )； 派部队驻防 | |
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132
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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133
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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134
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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135
aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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136
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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137
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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138
refractory
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| adj.倔强的，难驾驭的 | |
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139
endorse
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| vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意 | |
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140
inaccurate
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| adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的 | |
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141
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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142
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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143
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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144
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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145
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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146
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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147
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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148
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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149
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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150
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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151
rumoured
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| adj.谣传的；传说的；风 | |
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152
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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153
gentry
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| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
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154
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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155
waggish
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| adj.诙谐的，滑稽的 | |
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156
atoned
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的过去式和过去分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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157
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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158
grilled
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| adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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159
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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160
gauche
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| adj.笨拙的，粗鲁的 | |
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161
allures
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| 诱引，吸引( allure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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162
amiability
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| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
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163
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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164
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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165
sumptuous
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| adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的 | |
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166
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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167
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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168
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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169
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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170
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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171
doff
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| v.脱，丢弃，废除 | |
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172
factotum
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| n.杂役；听差 | |
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173
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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174
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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175
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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176
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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177
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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178
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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179
ostentation
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| n.夸耀，卖弄 | |
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180
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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181
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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182
exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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183
auction
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| n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖 | |
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184
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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185
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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186
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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187
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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188
effusive
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| adj.热情洋溢的；感情(过多)流露的 | |
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189
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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190
frigates
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| n.快速军舰( frigate的名词复数 ) | |
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191
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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192
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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193
reprisal
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| n.报复，报仇，报复性劫掠 | |
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194
indefatigable
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| adj.不知疲倦的，不屈不挠的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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frescoes
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| n.壁画( fresco的名词复数 )；温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
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memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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eke
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| v.勉强度日，节约使用 | |
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trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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eels
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| abbr. 电子发射器定位系统（=electronic emitter location system） | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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ramble
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| v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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remittances
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| n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额 | |
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auspices
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| n.资助，赞助 | |
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cuisine
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| n.烹调，烹饪法 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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complimentary
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| adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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weaver
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| n.织布工；编织者 | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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tardily
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| adv.缓慢 | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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confidingly
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| adv.信任地 | |
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amenable
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| adj.经得起检验的；顺从的；对负有义务的 | |
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prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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fervid
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| adj.热情的；炽热的 | |
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creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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debtors
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| n.债务人，借方( debtor的名词复数 ) | |
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