With thee! thine every word, thy wildest thought
Is poetry; thy fields, thy groves2, thy streams
Are melody! Henceforward thou shalt bloom
In the bright summer of prosperity.
Thy sovereign shall behold3 thee face to face,
The eloquence4 of truth on thy fair brow
Beaming.—Oh, he never can forget its ray!
On thy green shores, the heart’s own welcome dwells!
There, an hundred thousand greetings wait him!
There, an hundred thousand blessings5 greet him!”
After the visit we have already mentioned to the Craigs, a season in Town, and a quiet month or two at dear Lodore, Fitz-Ullin prevailed on Julia to accompany him to that gem6 of the ocean, the Emerald Isle7, the land of his birth, for the purpose of visiting his extensive paternal8 estates in the beautiful county of ?.
Here, nature indeed had been bountiful; but her benign9 intentions had, hitherto, been defeated by an ill judged organization of the social system.
For six and twenty years, agents and middlemen had oppressed the hardy10 tenant11 of the soil; till, what had been courage, became fierceness; what had been humour, bitterness; and even native beauty of feature was veiled by the utterly12 hopeless expression, which hung on almost every countenance13; while not the muscles of the face only, but the very limbs of naturally athletic14 men appeared relaxed. For the rewards of labour being insufficient15 to inspire industry, bodily fatigue16 was unsustained by mental energy, and the mere17 animal instinct of hunger remained the sole stimulus18 to exertion19.
It had never entered the minds of this simple, almost wild people, to look to the government for justice or redress20. The executive[428] power, in all its branches, was, and long had been, concentrated and personified in their imaginations under the loathed21 figure of a hangman; and him whom they considered as their natural protector, their landlord, leader, and hereditary22 chief, was out of the reach of hearing their complaints. It is not surprising, therefore, that the arrival of the happy couple, surrounded by all the splendour to which their rank and fortune entitled them, lending a ready ear to every tale of woe23, and with the hand of benevolence24 open for the relief of every want, was viewed by all as the rising of the morning of hope, on a land long desolated25 by a dreary26 succession of stormy nights that knew no day between.
Fitz-Ullin was so forcibly struck by the marks which all around him bore, of private duties sacrificed to public ones, during the long and brilliant life of the late Earl, that his reflections and resolutions on the subject very[429] shortly became such as we may trace in a conversation which took place, a few evenings after his arrival at Ullin Castle. He was seated with his lovely Countess on the balcony of a high tower, from whence might be seen on every side, a large portion of the wide domains27 of his forefathers28.
He had been indulging in the fond hope, justified29 by the then situation of Julia, that the future possessor of all he now beheld30, would, ere long, enter life amid prospects31 delightful32 to the heart of a parent, and sheltered too, he trusted, under providence33, from the rough blasts, which he had in infancy34 encountered; for Julia had promised him that she herself would nurture35 her own child, and never commit it to the hands of a stranger, to run the risk of enduring what its father had endured.
While these gentle thoughts dwelt in his mind, his eye accidentally rested on the smoke[430] that stole from the lowly chimneys of some cottages, which, scattered36 at various intervals37, lay concealed38 among the distant trees.
As busy fancy painted the rustic39 group around each fire-side, a something like self-reproach smote40 upon the heart of Fitz-Ullin.
“How often,” he exclaimed, giving audible utterance41 to his thoughts, “how often have I felt enthusiasm, amounting almost to a wild species of joy, when engaged in the work of war, and, of course, of destruction; and behold around me here, the labours of peace, the power of diffusing42 happiness to multitudes, lying neglected and forgotten.”
“Do not say the work of destruction!” interrupted Julia, eagerly: “it never was in your nature, Edmund, to take pleasure in destroying the very worst of enemies! Say rather the work, the glorious, the indispensable work of protection; for of what avail would it be to[431] spread prosperity over the face of the land if we suffer the foe43 to come in and lay our labours waste?”
“True, Julia! most true!” replied Fitz-Ullin, delighted to have his favourite and habitual44 views of the subject thus revived. And as he spoke45, he arose unconsciously, and, assuming a loftiness of carriage of which his figure was peculiarly susceptible46, looked once more the hero—a character lately almost forgotten in that of the lover.
“Seen in this light,” he said, “our duty to our country is also one of the most sacred of those which we owe to our kindred and dependants47, taken too on its greatest, its noblest scale! The reflections, however, which the scene before us has awakened48, have had their use; they have reminded me that, in the pride of performing a selected task, gratifying to our ambition or our vanity, we must not neglect the manifold and unpretending duties[432] which surround our homes. You will allow,” he added, changing his manner from the grave to the sportive, “heroine as you are, Julia, that in the intervals of peace, at least, we ought to thatch49 the peasant’s hut, and see that he has grain to sow his fields—aye,” he continued, his voice and manner again becoming serious, “and a cheerful countenance when he reaps them, emanating50 from the consciousness that a liberal portion of all which the labour of his hands has caused the ground to bring forth51 shall be his own and his children’s. Nor is this more than just: large estates were small, indeed, in value to their luxurious52 possessor, did not the sweat of the brow of his fellow-creature render them productive.”
The impressions received by the mind of Fitz-Ullin on this evening were never effaced53. In the course of promotion54 he became, as his father had been, Admiral Lord Fitz-Ullin, and,[433] under that title, continued to reap, when called upon by the emergencies of the state, laurels55 as distinguished56 as any gained by his great predecessor57; but his people at home were never forgotten. His sons and his daughters were born amongst them, and all the many silent blessings which fall from the hand of the resident landlord introduced into their dwellings58. While as much of a long, blissful, and prosperous life as he could spare from his more active duties to his country, and his closer ties to his immediate59 family and dependants was devoted60 to the noble task of pleading the cause of the oppressed of his native land in the great assembly of his peers.
THE END.
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1 harp | |
n.竖琴;天琴座 | |
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2 groves | |
树丛,小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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3 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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4 eloquence | |
n.雄辩;口才,修辞 | |
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5 blessings | |
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福 | |
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6 gem | |
n.宝石,珠宝;受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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7 isle | |
n.小岛,岛 | |
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8 paternal | |
adj.父亲的,像父亲的,父系的,父方的 | |
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9 benign | |
adj.善良的,慈祥的;良性的,无危险的 | |
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10 hardy | |
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
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11 tenant | |
n.承租人;房客;佃户;v.租借,租用 | |
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12 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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13 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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14 athletic | |
adj.擅长运动的,强健的;活跃的,体格健壮的 | |
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15 insufficient | |
adj.(for,of)不足的,不够的 | |
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16 fatigue | |
n.疲劳,劳累 | |
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17 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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18 stimulus | |
n.刺激,刺激物,促进因素,引起兴奋的事物 | |
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19 exertion | |
n.尽力,努力 | |
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20 redress | |
n.赔偿,救济,矫正;v.纠正,匡正,革除 | |
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21 loathed | |
v.憎恨,厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 );极不喜欢 | |
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22 hereditary | |
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的 | |
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23 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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24 benevolence | |
n.慈悲,捐助 | |
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25 desolated | |
adj.荒凉的,荒废的 | |
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26 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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27 domains | |
n.范围( domain的名词复数 );领域;版图;地产 | |
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28 forefathers | |
n.祖先,先人;祖先,祖宗( forefather的名词复数 );列祖列宗;前人 | |
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29 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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30 beheld | |
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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31 prospects | |
n.希望,前途(恒为复数) | |
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32 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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33 providence | |
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝 | |
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34 infancy | |
n.婴儿期;幼年期;初期 | |
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35 nurture | |
n.养育,照顾,教育;滋养,营养品;vt.养育,给与营养物,教养,扶持 | |
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36 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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37 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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38 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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39 rustic | |
adj.乡村的,有乡村特色的;n.乡下人,乡巴佬 | |
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40 smote | |
v.猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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41 utterance | |
n.用言语表达,话语,言语 | |
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42 diffusing | |
(使光)模糊,漫射,漫散( diffuse的现在分词 ); (使)扩散; (使)弥漫; (使)传播 | |
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43 foe | |
n.敌人,仇敌 | |
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44 habitual | |
adj.习惯性的;通常的,惯常的 | |
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45 spoke | |
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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46 susceptible | |
adj.过敏的,敏感的;易动感情的,易受感动的 | |
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47 dependants | |
受赡养者,受扶养的家属( dependant的名词复数 ) | |
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48 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
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49 thatch | |
vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部;n.茅草(屋) | |
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50 emanating | |
v.从…处传出,传出( emanate的现在分词 );产生,表现,显示 | |
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51 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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52 luxurious | |
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的 | |
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53 effaced | |
v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 );抹去;超越;使黯然失色 | |
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54 promotion | |
n.提升,晋级;促销,宣传 | |
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55 laurels | |
n.桂冠,荣誉 | |
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56 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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57 predecessor | |
n.前辈,前任 | |
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58 dwellings | |
n.住处,处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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59 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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60 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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