Cleanse3 the foul4 bosom5 of the perilous6 stuff
That weighs upon the heart.
Macbeth.
What betwixt cold and fright the afflicted7 Sacristan stood before his Superior, propped9 on the friendly arm of the convent miller10, drenched11 with water, and scarce able to utter a syllable12.
After various attempts to speak, the first words he uttered were,
“Swim we merrily — the moon shines bright.”
“Swim we merrily!” retorted the Abbot, indignantly; “a merry night have ye chosen for swimming, and a becoming salutation to your Superior!”
“Our brother is bewildered,” said Eustace — “speak, Father Philip, how is it with you?”
“Good luck to your fishing,”
continued the Sacristan, making a most dolorous13 attempt at the tune14 of his strange companion.
“Good luck to your fishing!” repeated the Abbot, still more surprised than displeased15; “by my halidome he is drunken with wine, and comes to our presence with his jolly catches in his throat! If bread and water can cure this folly16 —”
“With your pardon, venerable father,” said the Sub-Prior, “of water our brother has had enough; and methinks, the confusion of his eye, is rather that of terror, than of aught unbecoming his profession. Where did you find him, Hob Miller?”
“An it please your reverence17, I did but go to shut the sluice18 of the mill — and as I was going to shut the sluice, I heard something groan19 near to me; but judging it was one of Giles Fletcher’s hogs21 — for so please you he never shuts his gate — I caught up my lever, and was about — Saint Mary forgive me! — to strike where I heard the sound, when, as the saints would have it, I heard the second groan just like that of a living man. So I called up my knaves22, and found the Father Sacristan lying wet and senseless under the wall of our kiln23. So soon as we brought him to himself a bit, he prayed to be brought to your reverence, but I doubt me his wits have gone a bell-wavering by the road. It was but now that he spoke24 in somewhat better form.”
“Well!” said Brother Eustace, “thou hast done well, Hob Miller; only begone now, and remember a second time to pause, ere you strike in the dark.”
“Please your reverence, it shall be a lesson to me,” said the miller, “not to mistake a holy man for a hog20 again, so long as I live.” And, making a bow, with profound humility25, the miller withdrew.
“And now that this churl26 is gone, Father Philip,” said Eustace, “wilt thou tell our venerable Superior what ails27 thee? art thou vino gravatus, man? if so we will have thee to thy cell.”
“Water! water! not wine,” muttered the exhausted28 Sacristan.
“Nay,” said the monk29, “if that be thy complaint, wine may perhaps cure thee;” and he reached him a cup, which the patient drank off to his great benefit.
“And now,” said the Abbot, “let his garments be changed, or rather let him be carried to the infirmary; for it will prejudice our health, should we hear his narrative30 while he stands there, steaming like a rising hoar-frost.”
“I will hear his adventure,” said Eustace, “and report it to your reverence.” And, accordingly, he attended the Sacristan to his cell. In about half an hour he returned to the Abbot.
“How is it with Father Philip?” said the Abbot; “and through what came he into such a state?”
“He comes from Glendearg, reverend sir,” said Eustace; “and for the rest, he telleth such a legend, as has not been heard in this Monastery31 for many a long day.” He then gave the Abbot the outlines of the Sacristan’s adventures in the homeward journey, and added, that for some time he was inclined to think his brain was infirm, seeing he had sung, laughed, and wept all in the same breath.
“A wonderful thing it is to us,” said the Abbot, “that Satan has been permitted to put forth32 his hand thus far on one of our sacred brethren!”
“True,” said Father Eustace; “but for every text there is a paraphrase33; and I have my suspicions, that if the drenching34 of Father Philip cometh of the Evil one, yet it may not have been altogether without his own personal fault.”
“How!” said the Father Abbot; “I will not believe that thou makest doubt that Satan, in former days, hath been permitted to afflict8 saints and holy men, even as he afflicted the pious35 Job?”
“God forbid I should make question of it,” said the monk, crossing himself; “yet, where there is an exposition of the Sacristan’s tale, which is less than miraculous36, I hold it safe to consider it at least, if not to abide37 by it. Now, this Hob the Miller hath a buxom38 daughter. Suppose — I say only suppose — that our Sacristan met her at the ford39 on her return from her uncle’s on the other side, for there she hath this evening been — suppose, that, in courtesy, and to save her stripping hose and shoon, the Sacristan brought her across behind him-suppose he carried his familiarities farther than the maiden40 was willing to admit; and we may easily suppose, farther, that this wetting was the result of it.”
“And this legend invented to deceive us!” said the Superior, reddening with wrath41; “but most strictly42 shall it be sifted43 and inquired into; it is not upon us that Father Philip must hope to pass the result of his own evil practices for doings of Satan. To-morrow cite the wench to appear before us — we will examine, and we will punish.”
“Under your reverence’s favour,” said Eustace, “that were but poor policy. As things now stand with us, the heretics catch hold of each flying report which tends to the scandal of our clergy44. We must abate45 the evil, not only by strengthening discipline, but also by suppressing and stifling46 the voice of scandal. If my conjectures47 are true, the miller’s daughter will be silent for her own sake; and your reverence’s authority may also impose silence on her father, and on the Sacristan. If he is again found to afford room for throwing dishonour48 on his order, he can be punished with severity, but at the same time with secrecy49. For what say the Decretals! Facinora ostendi dum punientur, flagitia autem abscondi debent.”
A sentence of Latin, as Eustace had before observed, had often much influence on the Abbot, because he understood it not fluently, and was ashamed to acknowledge his ignorance. On these terms they parted for the night.
The next day, Abbot Boniface strictly interrogated50 Philip on the real cause of his disaster of the previous night. But the Sacristan stood firm to his story; nor was he found to vary from any point of it, although the answers he returned were in some degree incoherent, owing to his intermingling with them ever and anon snatches of the strange damsel’s song, which had made such deep impression on his imagination, that he could not prevent himself from imitating it repeatedly in the course of his examination. The Abbot had compassion51 with the Sacristan’s involuntary frailty52, to which something supernatural seemed annexed53, and finally became of opinion, that Father Eustace’s more natural explanation was rather plausible54 than just. And, indeed, although we have recorded the adventure as we find it written down, we cannot forbear to add that there was a schism55 on the subject in the convent, and that several of the brethren pretended to have good reason for thinking that the miller’s black-eyed daughter was at the bottom of the affair after all. Whichever way it might be interpreted, all agreed that it had too ludicrous a sound to be permitted to get abroad, and therefore the Sacristan was charged, on his vow56 of obedience57, to say no more of his ducking; an injunction which, having once eased his mind by telling his story, it may be well conjectured58 that he joyfully59 obeyed.
The attention of Father Eustace was much less forcibly arrested by the marvellous tale of the Sacristan’s danger, and his escape, than by the mention of the volume which he had brought with him from the Tower of Glendearg. A copy of the Scriptures60, translated into the vulgar tongue, had found its way even into the proper territory of the church, and had been discovered in one of the most hidden and sequestered61 recesses62 of the Halidome of Saint Mary’s.
He anxiously requested to see the volume. In this the Sacristan was unable to gratify him, for he had lost it, as far as he recollected63, when the supernatural being, as he conceived her to be, took her departure from him. Father Eustace went down to the spot in person, and searched all around it, in hopes of recovering the volume in question; but his labour was in vain. He returned to the Abbot, and reported that it must have fallen into the river or the mill-stream; “for I will hardly believe,” he said, “that Father Philip’s musical friend would fly off with a copy of the Holy Scriptures.”
“Being,” said the Abbot, “as it is, an heretical translation, it may be thought that Satan may have power over it.”
“Ay!” said Father Eustace, “it is indeed his chiefest magazine of artillery64, when he inspireth presumptuous65 and daring men to set forth their own opinions and expositions of Holy Writ2. But though thus abused, the Scriptures are the source of our salvation66, and are no more to be reckoned unholy, because of these rash men’s proceedings67, than a powerful medicine is to be contemned68, or held poisonous, because bold and evil leeches69 have employed it to the prejudice of their patients. With the permission of your reverence, I would that this matter were looked into more closely. I will myself visit the Tower of Glendearg ere I am many hours older, and we shall see if any spectre or white woman of the wild will venture to interrupt my journey or return. Have I your reverend permission and your blessing70?” he added, but in a tone that appeared to set no great store by either.
“Thou hast both, my brother,” said the Abbot; but no sooner had Eustace left the apartment, than Boniface could not help breaking on the willing ear of the Sacristan his sincere wish, that any spirit, black, white, or gray, would read the adviser71 such a lesson, as to cure him of his presumption72 in esteeming73 himself wiser than the whole community.
“I wish him no worse lesson,” said the Sacristan, “than to go swimming merrily down the river with a ghost behind, and Kelpies, night-crows, and mud-eels, all waiting to have a snatch at him.
Merrily swim we, the moon shines bright!
Good luck to your fishing, whom watch you to-night?”
“Brother Philip,” said the Abbot, “we exhort74 thee to say thy prayers, compose thyself, and banish75 that foolish chant from thy mind — it is but a deception76 of the devil’s.”
“I will essay, reverend Father,” said the Sacristan, “but the tune hangs by my memory like a bur in a beggar’s rags; it mingles77 with the psalter — the very bells of the convent seem to repeat the words, and jingle78 to the tune; and were you to put me to death at this very moment, it is my belief I should die singing it —‘Now swim we merrily’— it is as it were a spell upon me.”
He then again began to warble
“Good luck to your fishing.”
And checking himself in the strain with difficulty, he exclaimed, “It is too certain — I am but a lost priest! Swim we merrily — I shall sing it at the very mass — Wo is me! I shall sing all the remainder of my life, and yet never be able to change the tune!”
The honest Abbot replied, “he knew many a good fellow in the same condition;” and concluded the remark with “ho! ho! ho!” for his reverence, as the reader may partly have observed, was one of those dull folks who love a quiet joke.
The Sacristan, well acquainted with his Superior’s humour, endeavoured to join in the laugh, but his unfortunate canticle came again across his imagination, and interrupted the hilarity79 of his customary echo.
“By the rood, Brother Philip,” said the Abbot, much moved, “you become altogether intolerable! and I am convinced that such a spell could not subsist80 over a person of religion, and in a religious house, unless he were under mortal sin. Wherefore, say the seven penitentiary81 psalms82 — make diligent83 use of thy scourge84 and hair-cloth — refrain for three days from all food, save bread and water — I myself will shrive thee, and we will see if this singing devil may be driven out of thee; at least I think Father Eustace himself could devise no better exorcism.”
The Sacristan sighed deeply, but knew remonstrance85 was vain. He retired86 therefore to his cell, to try how far psalmody might be able to drive off the sounds of the syren tune which haunted his memory.
Meanwhile, Father Eustace proceeded to the drawbridge, in his way to the lonely valley of Glendearg. In a brief conversation with the churlish warder, he had the address to render him more tractable87 in the controversy88 betwixt him and the convent. He reminded him that his father had been a vassal89 under the community; that his brother was childless; and that their possession would revert90 to the church on his death, and might be either granted to himself the warder, or to some greater favourite of the Abbot, as matters chanced to stand betwixt them at the time. The Sub-Prior suggested to him also, the necessary connexion of interests betwixt the Monastery and the office which this man enjoyed. He listened with temper to his rude and churlish answers; and by keeping his own interest firm pitched in his view, he had the satisfaction to find that Peter gradually softened91 his tone, and consented to let every pilgrim who travelled upon foot pass free of exaction92 until Pentocost next; they who travelled on horseback or otherwise, contenting to pay the ordinary custom. Having thus accommodated a matter in which the weal of the convent was so deeply interested, Father Eustace proceeded on his journey.
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1
raze
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| vt.铲平，把(城市、房屋等)夷为平地，拆毁 | |
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2
writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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3
cleanse
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| vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗 | |
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4
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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5
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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6
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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7
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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afflict
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| vt.使身体或精神受痛苦，折磨 | |
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propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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11
drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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12
syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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13
dolorous
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| adj.悲伤的；忧愁的 | |
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14
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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15
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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16
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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17
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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18
sluice
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| n.水闸 | |
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19
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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20
hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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21
hogs
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| n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人 | |
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22
knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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kiln
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| n.（砖、石灰等）窑，炉；v.烧窑 | |
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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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25
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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26
churl
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| n.吝啬之人；粗鄙之人 | |
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27
ails
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| v.生病( ail的第三人称单数 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳 | |
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28
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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32
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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paraphrase
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| vt.将…释义，改写；n.释义，意义 | |
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34
drenching
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| n.湿透v.使湿透( drench的现在分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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35
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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37
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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38
buxom
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| adj.（妇女）丰满的，有健康美的 | |
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39
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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40
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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41
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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42
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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43
sifted
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| v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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44
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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45
abate
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| vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退 | |
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46
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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47
conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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48
dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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49
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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50
interrogated
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| v.询问( interrogate的过去式和过去分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询 | |
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51
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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52
frailty
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| n.脆弱；意志薄弱 | |
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53
annexed
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| [法] 附加的，附属的 | |
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54
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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55
schism
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| n.分派，派系，分裂 | |
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56
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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57
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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58
conjectured
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| 推测，猜测，猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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60
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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61
sequestered
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| adj.扣押的；隐退的；幽静的；偏僻的v.使隔绝，使隔离( sequester的过去式和过去分词 )；扣押 | |
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62
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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63
recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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65
presumptuous
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| adj.胆大妄为的，放肆的，冒昧的，冒失的 | |
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66
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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67
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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68
contemned
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| v.侮辱，蔑视( contemn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
leeches
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| n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生 | |
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70
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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72
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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73
esteeming
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| v.尊敬( esteem的现在分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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74
exhort
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| v.规劝，告诫 | |
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75
banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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76
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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77
mingles
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| 混合，混入( mingle的第三人称单数 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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78
jingle
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| n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵 | |
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79
hilarity
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| n.欢乐；热闹 | |
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80
subsist
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| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
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81
penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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82
psalms
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| n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的) | |
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83
diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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84
scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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85
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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86
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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tractable
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| adj.易驾驭的；温顺的 | |
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88
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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89
vassal
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| n.附庸的；属下；adj.奴仆的 | |
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90
revert
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| v.恢复，复归，回到 | |
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91
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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exaction
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| n.强求，强征；杂税 | |
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