Two or three days ago we noted1 an unusual though subdued2 air of excitement at 22, Breadalbane Terrace, where for a week we had been the sole lodgers3. Mrs. Menzies, whom we call Mingess, has returned to Kilconquhar, which she calls Kinyukkar; Miss Cockburn-Sinclair has purchased her wedding outfit4 and gone back to Inverness, where she will be greeted as Coburn-Sinkler; the Hepburn-Sciennes will be leaving to-morrow, just as we have learned to pronounce their names; and the sound of the scrubbing-brush is heard in the land. In corners where all was clean and spotless before, Mrs. M'Collop is digging with the broom, and the maiden5 Boots is following her with a damp cloth. The stair carpets are hanging on lines in the back garden, and Susanna, with her cap rakishly on one side, is always to be seen polishing the stair rods. Whenever we traverse the halls we are obliged to leap over pails of suds, and Miss Diggity-Dalgety has given us two dinners which bore a curious resemblance to washing-day repasts in suburban6 America.
"Is it spring house-cleaning?" I ask Mistress M'Collop.
"Na, na," she replies hurriedly; "it's the meenisters."
On the 19th of May we are a maiden castle no longer. Black coats and hats ring at the bell, and pass in and out of the different apartments. The hall table is sprinkled with letters, visiting-cards, and programmes which seem to have had the alphabet shaken out upon them, for they bear the names of professors, doctors, reverends, and very reverends, and fairly bristle7 with A. M.'s, M. A.'s, A. B.'s, D. D.'s, and LL. D.'s. The voice of family prayer is lifted up from the dining-room floor, and Paraphrases8 and hymns9 float down the stairs from above. Their Graces the Lord High Commissioner10 and the Marchioness of Heatherdale will arrive to-day at Holyrood Palace, there to reside during the sittings of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and to-morrow the Royal Standard will be hoisted11 at Edinburgh Castle from reveille to retreat. His Grace will hold a levee at eleven. Directly His Grace leaves the palace after the levee, the guard of honor will proceed by the Canongate to receive him on his arrival at St. Giles' Church, and will then proceed to Assembly Hall to receive him on his arrival there. The Sixth Inniskilling Dragoons and the First Battalion12 Royal Scots will be in attendance, and there will be unicorns13, carricks, pursuivants, heralds14, mace-bearers, ushers15, and pages, together with the Purse-bearer, and the Lyon King-of-Arms, and the national anthem16, and the royal salute17; for the palace has awakened18 and is "mimicking19 its past."
"_Should the weather be wet the troops will be cloaked at the discretion20 of the commanding officers._" They print this instruction as a matter of form, and of course every man has his mackintosh ready. The only hope lies in the fact that this is a national function, and "Queen's weather" is a possibility. The one personage for whom the Scottish climate will occasionally relax is Her Majesty21 Queen Victoria, who for sixty years has exerted a benign22 influence on British skies and at least secured sunshine on great parade days. Such women are all too few!
In this wise enters His Grace the Lord High Commissioner to open the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; and on the same day there arrives by the railway (but traveling first class) the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, Free, to convene23 its separate Supreme24 Courts in Edinburgh. He will have no Union Jacks25, Royal Standards, Dragoons, bands, or pipers; he will bear his own purse and stay at a hotel; but when the final procession of all comes, he will probably march beside His Grace the Lord High Commissioner, and they will talk together, not of dead-and-gone kingdoms, but of the one at hand, where there are no more divisions in the ranks, and where all the soldiers are simply "king's men," marching to victory under the inspiration of a common watchword.
It is a matter of regret to us that the U. P.'s, the third branch of Scottish Presbyterianism, could not be holding an Assembly during this same week, so that we might the more easily decide in which flock we really belong. 22, Breadalbane Terrace now represents all shades of religious opinion within the bounds of Presbyterianism. We have an Elder, a Professor of Biblical Criticism, a Majesty's Chaplain, and even an ex-Moderator under our roof, and they are equally divided between the Free and the Established bodies.
Mrs. M'Collop herself is a pillar of the Free Kirk, but she has no prejudice in lodgers, and says so long as she "mak's her rent she doesna care aboot their releegious principles." Miss Diggity-Dalgety is the sole representative of United Presbyterianism in the household, and she is somewhat gloomy in Assembly time. To belong to a dissenting26 body, and yet to cook early and late for the purpose of fattening27 one's religious rivals, is doubtless trying to the temper; and then she asserts that "meenisters are aye tume [empty]."
* * * * *
"You must put away your Scottish ballads28 and histories now, Salemina, and keep your Concordance and your umbrella constantly at hand."
This I said as we stood on George IV. Bridge and saw the ministers glooming down from the Mound29 in a dense30 Assembly fog. As the presence of any considerable number of priests on an ocean steamer is supposed to bring rough weather, so the addition of a few hundred parsons to the population of Edinburgh is believed to induce rain,--or perhaps I should say, more rain.
Of course, when one is in perfect bodily health one can more readily resist the infection of disease. Similarly if Scottish skies were not ready and longing31 to pour out rain, were not ignobly32 weak in holding it back, they would not be so susceptible33 to the depressing influences of visiting ministers. This is Francesca's theory as stated to the Reverend Ronald, who was holding an umbrella over her ungrateful head at the time; and she went on to boast of a convention she once attended in San Francisco, where twenty-six thousand Christian34 Endeavorers were unable to dim the California sunshine, though they stayed ten days.
"Our first duty, both to ourselves and to the community," I continued to Salemina, "is to learn how there can be three distinct kinds of proper Presbyterianism. Perhaps it would be a graceful36 act on our part if we should each espouse37 a different kind; then there would be no feeling among our Edinburgh friends. And again, what is this 'union' of which we hear murmurs38? Is it religious or political? Is it an echo of the 1707 Union you explained to us last week, or is it a new one? What is Disestablishment? What is Disruption? Are they the same thing? What is the Sustentation Fund? What was the Non-Intrusion Party? What was the Dundas Despotism? What is the argument at present going on about taking the Shorter Catechism out of the schools? What is the Shorter Catechism, anyway,--or at least, what have they left out of the Longer Catechism to make it shorter,--and is the length of the Catechism one of the points of difference? Then when we have looked up Chalmers and Candlish, we can ask the ex-Moderator and the Professor of Biblical Criticism to tea; separately, of course, lest there should be ecclesiastical quarrels."
Salemina and Francesca both incline to the Established Church, I lean instinctively39 toward the Free; but that does not mean that we have any knowledge of the differences that separate them. Salemina is a conservative in all things; she loves law, order, historic associations, old customs; and so when there is a regularly established national church,--or, for that matter, a regularly established anything,--she gravitates to it by the law of her being. Francesca's religious convictions, when she is away from her own minister and native land, are inclined to be flexible. The church that enters Edinburgh with a marquis and a marchioness representing the Crown, the church that opens its Assembly with splendid processions and dignified40 pageants41, the church that dispenses42 generous hospitality from Holyrood Palace,--above all, the church that escorts its Lord High Commissioner from place to place with bands and pipers,--that is the church to which she pledges her constant presence and enthusiastic support.
As for me, I believe I am a born protestant, or "come-outer," as they used to call dissenters43 in the early days of New England. I have not yet had time to study the question, but as I lack all knowledge of the other two branches of Presbyterianism, I am enabled to say unhesitatingly that I belong to the Free Kirk. To begin with, the very word "free" has a fascination44 for the citizen of a republic; and then my theological training was begun this morning by a gifted young minister of Edinburgh whom we call the Friar, because the first time we saw him in his gown and bands (the little spot of sheer whiteness beneath the chin, that lends such added spirituality to a spiritual face) we fancied that he looked like some pale brother of the Church in the olden time. His pallor, in a land of rosy45 redness and milky46 whiteness; his smooth, fair hair, which in the light from the stained-glass window above the pulpit looked reddish gold; the Southern heat of passionate47 conviction that colored his slow Northern speech; the remoteness of his personality; the weariness of his deep-set eyes, that bespoke48 such fastings and vigils as he probably never practiced,--all this led to our choice of the name.
As we walked toward St. Andrew's Church and Tanfield Hall, where he insisted on taking me to get the "proper historical background," he told me about the great Disruption movement. He was extremely eloquent49,--so eloquent that the image of Willie Beresford tottered50 continually on its throne, and I found not the slightest difficulty in giving an unswerving allegiance to the principles presented by such an orator51.
We went first to St. Andrew's, where the General Assembly met in 1843, and where the famous exodus52 of the Free Protesting Church took place,--one of the most important events in the modern history of the United Kingdom.
The movement was promoted by the great Dr. Chalmers and his party, mainly to abolish the patronage53 of livings, then in the hands of certain heritors or patrons, who might appoint any minister they wished, without consulting the congregation. Needless to say, as a free-born American citizen, and never having had a heritor in the family, my blood easily boiled at the recital54 of such tyranny. In 1834 the Church had passed a law of its own, it seems, ordaining55 that no presentee to a parish should be admitted, if opposed by the majority of the male communicants. That would have been well enough could the State have been made to agree, though I should have gone further, personally, and allowed the female communicants to have some voice in the matter.
The Friar took me into a particularly chilly56 historic corner, and, leaning against a damp stone pillar, painted the scene in St. Andrew's when the Assembly met in the presence of a great body of spectators, while a vast throng57 gathered without, breathlessly awaiting the result. No one believed that any large number of ministers would relinquish58 livings and stipends59 and cast their bread upon the waters for what many thought a "fantastic principle." Yet when the Moderator left his place, after reading a formal protest signed by one hundred and twenty ministers and seventy-two elders, he was followed first by Dr. Chalmers, and then by four hundred and seventy men, who marched in a body to Tanfield Hall, where they formed themselves into the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland. When Lord Jeffrey was told of it an hour later, he exclaimed, "Thank God for Scotland! There is not another country on earth where such a deed could be done!" And the Friar reminded me proudly of Macaulay's saying that the Scots had made sacrifices for the sake of religious opinion for which there was no parallel in the annals of England. On the next Sunday after these remarkable60 scenes in Edinburgh there were heart-breaking farewells, so the Friar said, in many village parishes, when the minister, in dismissing his congregation, told them that he had ceased to belong to the Established Church and would neither preach nor pray in that pulpit again; that he had joined the Free Protesting Church of Scotland, and, God willing, would speak the next Sabbath morning at the manse door to as many as cared to follow him. "What affecting leave-takings there must have been!" the Friar exclaimed. "When my grandfather left his church that May morning, only fifteen members remained behind, and he could hear the more courageous61 say to the timid ones, 'Tak' your Bible an' come awa' mon!' Was not all this a splendid testimony62 to the power of principle and the sacred demands of conscience?" I said "Yea" most heartily63, for the spirit of Jenny Geddes stirred within me that morning, and under the spell of the Friar's kindling64 eye and eloquent voice I positively65 gloried in the valiant66 achievements of the Free Church. It would always be easier for a woman to say "Yea" than "Nay67" to the Friar. When he left me in Breadalbane Terrace I was at heart a member of his congregation in good (and irregular) standing68, ready to teach in his Sunday-school, sing in his choir69, visit his aged70 and sick poor, and especially to stand between him and a too admiring feminine constituency.
When I entered the drawing-room, I found that Salemina had just enjoyed an hour's conversation with the ex-Moderator of the opposite church wing.
"Oh, my dear," she sighed, "you have missed such a treat! You have no conception of these Scottish ministers of the Establishment,--such culture, such courtliness of manner, such scholarship, such spirituality, such wise benignity71 of opinion! I asked the doctor to explain the Disruption movement to me, and he was most interesting and lucid72, and most affecting, too, when he described the misunderstandings and misconceptions that the Church suffered in those terrible days of 1843, when its very life-blood, as well as its integrity and unity35, was threatened by the foes73 in its own household; when breaches74 of faith and trust occurred on all sides, and dissents75 and disloyalties shook it to its very foundation! You see, Penelope, I have never fully76 understood the disagreements about heritors and livings and state control before, but here is the whole matter in a nut-sh--"
"My dear Salemina," I interposed, with dignity, "you will pardon me, I am sure, when I tell you that any discussion on this point would be intensely painful to me, as I now belong to the Free Kirk."
"Where have you been this morning?" she asked, with a piercing glance.
"To St. Andrew's and Tanfield Hall."
"With whom?"
"With the Friar."
"I see! Happy the missionary77 to whom you incline your ear, _first_!"--which I thought rather inconsistent of Salemina, as she had been converted by precisely78 the same methods and in precisely the same length of time as had I, the only difference being in the ages of our respective missionaries79, one being about five and thirty, the other five and sixty. Even this is to my credit after all, for if one can be persuaded so quickly and fully by a young and comparatively inexperienced man, it shows that one must be extremely susceptible to spiritual influences or--something.
收听单词发音 |
1
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
subdued
|
|
| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
lodgers
|
|
| n.房客，租住者( lodger的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
outfit
|
|
| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
suburban
|
|
| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
bristle
|
|
| v.（毛发）直立，气势汹汹，发怒；n.硬毛发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
paraphrases
|
|
| n.释义，意译( paraphrase的名词复数 )v.释义，意译( paraphrase的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
9
hymns
|
|
| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
commissioner
|
|
| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
hoisted
|
|
| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
battalion
|
|
| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
unicorns
|
|
| n.（传说中身体似马的）独角兽( unicorn的名词复数 )；一角鲸；独角兽标记 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
heralds
|
|
| n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
ushers
|
|
| n.引座员( usher的名词复数 )；招待员；门房；助理教员v.引，领，陪同( usher的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
anthem
|
|
| n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
salute
|
|
| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
awakened
|
|
| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
mimicking
|
|
| v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的现在分词 )；酷似 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
discretion
|
|
| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
majesty
|
|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
benign
|
|
| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
convene
|
|
| v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
jacks
|
|
| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
dissenting
|
|
| adj.不同意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
fattening
|
|
| adj.（食物）要使人发胖的v.喂肥( fatten的现在分词 )；养肥（牲畜）；使（钱）增多；使（公司）升值 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
ballads
|
|
| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
mound
|
|
| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
dense
|
|
| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
longing
|
|
| n.（for）渴望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
ignobly
|
|
| 卑贱地，下流地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
33
susceptible
|
|
| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
unity
|
|
| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
espouse
|
|
| v.支持，赞成，嫁娶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
murmurs
|
|
| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
instinctively
|
|
| adv.本能地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
dignified
|
|
| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
pageants
|
|
| n.盛装的游行( pageant的名词复数 )；穿古代服装的游行；再现历史场景的娱乐活动；盛会 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
dispenses
|
|
| v.分配，分与；分配( dispense的第三人称单数 )；施与；配（药） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
dissenters
|
|
| n.持异议者，持不同意见者( dissenter的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
fascination
|
|
| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
rosy
|
|
| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
milky
|
|
| adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
passionate
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
bespoke
|
|
| adj.（产品）订做的；专做订货的v.预定( bespeak的过去式 )；订（货）；证明；预先请求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
eloquent
|
|
| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
tottered
|
|
| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
orator
|
|
| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
exodus
|
|
| v.大批离去，成群外出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
patronage
|
|
| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
recital
|
|
| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
ordaining
|
|
| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的现在分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
56
chilly
|
|
| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
throng
|
|
| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
relinquish
|
|
| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
stipends
|
|
| n.（尤指牧师的）薪俸( stipend的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
60
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
courageous
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
testimony
|
|
| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
heartily
|
|
| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
kindling
|
|
| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
valiant
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
nay
|
|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
choir
|
|
| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
aged
|
|
| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
benignity
|
|
| n.仁慈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
lucid
|
|
| adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
foes
|
|
| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
breaches
|
|
| 破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
dissents
|
|
| 意见的分歧( dissent的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
missionary
|
|
| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
missionaries
|
|
| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |