Next, the Justice,
In fair round belly1 with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances —
And so he plays his part
As You Like It
When Mrs. Bertram of Ellangowan was able to hear the news of what had passed during her confinement2, her apartment rung with all manner of gossiping respecting the handsome young student from Oxford3 who had told such a fortune by the stars to the young Laird, ‘blessings on his dainty face.’ The form, accent, and manners of the stranger were expatiated4 upon. His horse, bridle5, saddle, and stirrups did not remain unnoticed. All this made a great impression upon the mind of Mrs. Bertram, for the good lady had no small store of superstition6.
Her first employment, when she became capable of a little work, was to make a small velvet7 bag for the scheme of nativity which she had obtained from her husband. Her fingers itched8 to break the seal, but credulity proved stronger than curiosity; and she had the firmness to inclose it, in all its integrity, within two slips of parchment, which she sewed round it to prevent its being chafed9. The whole was then put into the velvet bag aforesaid, and hung as a charm round the neck of the infant, where his mother resolved it should remain until the period for the legitimate10 satisfaction of her curiosity should arrive.
The father also resolved to do his part by the child in securing him a good education; and, with the view that it should commence with the first dawnings of reason, Dominie Sampson was easily induced to renounce11 his public profession of parish schoolmaster, make his constant residence at the Place, and, in consideration of a sum not quite equal to the wages of a footman even at that time, to undertake to communicate to the future Laird of Ellangowan all the erudition which he had, and all the graces and accomplishments12 which — he had not indeed, but which he had never discovered that he wanted. In this arrangement the Laird found also his private advantage, securing the constant benefit of a patient auditor13, to whom he told his stories when they were alone, and at whose expense he could break a sly jest when he had company.
About four years after this time a great commotion14 took place in the county where Ellangowan is situated15.
Those who watched the signs of the times had long been of opinion that a change of ministry16 was about to take place; and at length, after a due proportion of hopes, fears, and delays, rumours17 from good authority and bad authority, and no authority at all; after some clubs had drank Up with this statesman and others Down with him; after riding, and running, and posting, and addressing, and counter-addressing, and proffers18 of lives and fortunes, the blow was at length struck, the administration of the day was dissolved, and parliament, as a natural consequence, was dissolved also.
Sir Thomas Kittlecourt, like other members in the same situation, posted down to his county, and met but an indifferent reception. He was a partizan of the old administration; and the friends of the new had already set about an active canvass19 in behalf of John Featherhead, Esq., who kept the best hounds and hunters in the shire. Among others who joined the standard of revolt was Gilbert Glossin, writer in —, agent for the Laird of Ellangowan. This honest gentleman had either been refused some favour by the old member, or, what is as probable, he had got all that he had the most distant pretension20 to ask, and could only look to the other side for fresh advancement21. Mr. Glossin had a vote upon Ellangowan’s property; and he was now determined22 that his patron should have one also, there being no doubt which side Mr. Bertram would embrace in the contest. He easily persuaded Ellangowan that it would be creditable to him to take the field at the head of as strong a party as possible; and immediately went to work, making votes, as every Scotch23 lawyer knows how, by splitting and subdividing24 the superiorities upon this ancient and once powerful barony. These were so extensive that, by dint25 of clipping and paring here, adding and eking26 there, and creating over-lords upon all the estate which Bertram held of the crown, they advanced at the day of contest at the head of ten as good men of parchment as ever took the oath of trust and possession. This strong reinforcement turned the dubious27 day of battle. The principal and his agent divided the honour; the reward fell to the latter exclusively. Mr. Gilbert Glossin was made clerk of the peace, and Godfrey Bertram had his name inserted in a new commission of justices, issued immediately upon the sitting of the parliament.
This had been the summit of Mr. Bertram’s ambition; not that he liked either the trouble or the responsibility of the office, but he thought it was a dignity to which he was well entitled, and that it had been withheld28 from him by malice29 prepense. But there is an old and true Scotch proverb, ‘Fools should not have chapping sticks’; that is, weapons of offence. Mr. Bertram was no sooner possessed30 of the judicial31 authority which he had so much longed for than he began to exercise it with more severity than mercy, and totally belied32 all the opinions which had hitherto been formed of his inert33 good-nature. We have read somewhere of a justice of peace who, on being nominated in the commission, wrote a letter to a bookseller for the statutes34 respecting his official duty in the following orthography35 — ‘Please send the ax relating to a gustus pease.’ No doubt, when this learned gentleman had possessed himself of the axe36, he hewed37 the laws with it to some purpose. Mr. Bertram was not quite so ignorant of English grammar as his worshipful predecessor38; but Augustus Pease himself could not have used more indiscriminately the weapon unwarily put into his hand.
In good earnest, he considered the commission with which he had been entrusted39 as a personal mark of favour from his sovereign; forgetting that he had formerly41 thought his being deprived of a privilege, or honour, common to those of his rank was the result of mere42 party cabal43. He commanded his trusty aid-de-camp, Dominie Sampson, to read aloud the commission; and at the first words, ‘The King has been pleased to appoint’ — ‘Pleased!’ he exclaimed in a transport of gratitude44; ‘honest gentleman! I’m sure he cannot be better pleased than I am.’
Accordingly, unwilling45 to confine his gratitude to mere feelings or verbal expressions, he gave full current to the new-born zeal46 of office, and endeavoured to express his sense of the honour conferred upon him by an unmitigated activity in the discharge of his duty. New brooms, it is said, sweep clean; and I myself can bear witness that, on the arrival of a new housemaid, the ancient, hereditary47, and domestic spiders who have spun48 their webs over the lower division of my bookshelves (consisting chiefly of law and divinity) during the peaceful reign40 of her predecessor, fly at full speed before the probationary49 inroads of the new mercenary. Even so the Laird of Ellangowan ruthlessly commenced his magisterial50 reform, at the expense of various established and superannuated51 pickers and stealers who had been his neighbours for half a century. He wrought52 his miracles like a second Duke Humphrey; and by the influence of the beadle’s rod caused the lame53 to walk, the blind to see, and the palsied to labour. He detected poachers, black-fishers, orchard-breakers, and pigeon-shooters; had the applause of the bench for his reward, and the public credit of an active magistrate54.
All this good had its rateable proportion of evil. Even an admitted nuisance of ancient standing55 should not be abated56 without some caution. The zeal of our worthy57 friend now involved in great distress58 sundry59 personages whose idle and mendicant60 habits his own lachesse had contributed to foster, until these habits had become irreclaimable, or whose real incapacity for exertion61 rendered them fit objects, in their own phrase, for the charity of all well — disposed Christians62. The ‘long-remembered beggar,’ who for twenty years had made his regular rounds within the neighbourhood, received rather as an humble63 friend than as an object of charity, was sent to the neighbouring workhouse. The decrepit64 dame65, who travelled round the parish upon a hand-barrow, circulating from house to house like a bad shilling, which every one is in haste to pass to his neighbour, — she, who used to call for her bearers as loud, or louder, than a traveller demands post-horses, — even she shared the same disastrous66 fate. The ‘daft Jock,’ who, half knave67, half idiot, had been the sport of each succeeding race of village children for a good part of a century, was remitted68 to the county bridewell, where, secluded69 from free air and sunshine, the only advantages he was capable of enjoying, he pined and died in the course of six months. The old sailor, who had so long rejoiced the smoky rafters of every kitchen in the country by singing ‘Captain Ward’ and ‘Bold Admiral Benbow,’ was banished70 from the county for no better reason than that he was supposed to speak with a strong Irish accent. Even the annual rounds of the pedlar were abolished by the Justice, in his hasty zeal for the administration of rural police.
These things did not pass without notice and censure71. We are not made of wood or stone, and the things which connect themselves with our hearts and habits cannot, like bark or lichen72, be rent away without our missing them. The farmer’s dame lacked her usual share of intelligence, perhaps also the self-applause which she had felt while distributing the awmous (alms), in shape of a gowpen (handful) of oatmeal, to the mendicant who brought the news. The cottage felt inconvenience from interruption of the petty trade carried on by the itinerant73 dealers74. The children lacked their supply of sugarplums and toys; the young women wanted pins, ribbons, combs, and ballads75; and the old could no longer barter76 their eggs for salt, snuff, and tobacco. All these circumstances brought the busy Laird of Ellangowan into discredit77, which was the more general on account of his former popularity. Even his lineage was brought up in judgment78 against him. They thought ‘naething of what the like of Greenside, or Burnville, or Viewforth might do, that were strangers in the country; but Ellangowan! that had been a name amang them since the Mirk Monanday, and lang before — him to be grinding the puir at that rate! They ca’d his grandfather the Wicked Laird; but, though he was whiles fractious aneuch, when he got into roving company and had ta’en the drap drink, he would have scorned to gang on at this gate. Na, na, the muckle chumlay in the Auld79 Place reeked80 like a killogie in his time, and there were as mony puir folk riving at the banes in the court, and about the door, as there were gentles in the ha’. And the leddy, on ilka Christmas night as it came round, gae twelve siller pennies to ilka puir body about, in honour of the twelve apostles like. They were fond to ca’ it papistrie; but I think our great folk might take a lesson frae the papists whiles. They gie another sort o’ help to puir folk than just dinging down a saxpence in the brod on the Sabbath, and kilting, and scourging81, and drumming them a’ the sax days o’ the week besides.’
Such was the gossip over the good twopenny in every ale-house within three or four miles of Ellangowan, that being about the diameter of the orbit in which our friend Godfrey Bertram, Esq., J. P., must be considered as the principal luminary82. Still greater scope was given to evil tongues by the removal of a colony of gipsies, with one of whom our reader is somewhat acquainted, and who had for a great many years enjoyed their chief settlement upon the estate of Ellangowan.
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1
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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expatiated
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| v.详述，细说( expatiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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itched
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| v.发痒( itch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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13
auditor
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| n.审计员，旁听着 | |
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14
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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15
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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16
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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proffers
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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canvass
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| v.招徕顾客，兜售；游说；详细检查，讨论 | |
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pretension
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| n.要求；自命，自称；自负 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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22
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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24
subdividing
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| 再分，细分( subdivide的现在分词 ) | |
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25
dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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26
eking
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| v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的现在分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日 | |
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27
dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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28
withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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29
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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30
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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31
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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32
belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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33
inert
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| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
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34
statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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orthography
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| n.拼字法，拼字式 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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hewed
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| v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的过去式和过去分词 )；砍成；劈出；开辟 | |
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predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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39
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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41
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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42
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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43
cabal
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| n.政治阴谋小集团 | |
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44
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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45
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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48
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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49
probationary
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| 试用的，缓刑的 | |
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50
magisterial
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| adj.威风的，有权威的；adv.威严地 | |
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51
superannuated
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| adj.老朽的，退休的；v.因落后于时代而废除，勒令退学 | |
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52
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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53
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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54
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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55
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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56
abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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57
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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58
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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59
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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60
mendicant
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| n.乞丐；adj.行乞的 | |
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61
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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63
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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decrepit
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| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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68
remitted
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| v.免除（债务），宽恕( remit的过去式和过去分词 )；使某事缓和；寄回，传送 | |
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secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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70
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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72
lichen
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| n.地衣, 青苔 | |
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itinerant
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| adj.巡回的；流动的 | |
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dealers
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| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
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ballads
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| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
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barter
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| n.物物交换，以货易货，实物交易 | |
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discredit
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| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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auld
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| adj.老的，旧的 | |
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80
reeked
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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81
scourging
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| 鞭打( scourge的现在分词 )； 惩罚，压迫 | |
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luminary
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| n.名人，天体 | |
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