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Alfred John Church. With the King at Oxford: A Tale of the Great Rebellion
With the King at Oxford: A Tale of the Great Rebellion
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I. OF MY BIRTH AND BRINGING-UP
CHAPTER II. OF MY SOJOURN IN LONDON
CHAPTER III. OF THE PLAGUE AND OTHER MATTERS
CHAPTER IV. OF THINGS AT HOME
CHAPTER V. OF THINGS AT OXFORD
CHAPTER VI. OF THE KING'S GOING TO WORCESTER
CHAPTER VII. OF THE FIGHT AT COPREDY BRIDGE
CHAPTER VIII. OF THE PLAGUE AT OXFORD AND OTHER MATTERS
CHAPTER IX. BEFORE NASEBY
CHAPTER X. OF NASEBY FIGHT
CHAPTER XI. AFTER NASEBY
CHAPTER XII. OF MY FATHER'S END AND OTHER MATTERS
CHAPTER XIII. OF MY COMING BACK TO OXFORD
CHAPTER XIV. OF BODLEY'S LIBRARY
CHAPTER XV. OF THE VISITORS AT OXFORD
CHAPTER XVI. OF MY KINSFOLK AT ENSTONE
CHAPTER XVII. OF MY GOING TO LONDON
CHAPTER XVIII. OF THE TRIAL OF THE KING
CHAPTER XIX. OF THE KING'S DEATH
CHAPTER XX. OF MATTERS AT ENSTONE
CHAPTER XXI. OF MY ADVENTURES AT SEA
EPILOGUE
Footnotes
Отрывок из книги
Alfred John Church
Published by Good Press, 2021
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Also as we went along William Beasley would cast a bait—a moth, may be, or a slug, or sometimes, to my no small wonder, a morsel of cheese—under the boughs that hung over the water, and draw out thence mighty big chevenders, or, as some call them, chubs. This he did with a most dexterous hand; ay, and having caught them, he would cook them no less skilfully, so that this fish, which I have since found to be tasteless, made as dainty meat as could be desired; or was it that the flavour was not in the dish but in its surroundings? And when we had accomplished our journey for the day, he would prepare an angle for me, and teach me to catch roaches and perches. And once, I remember, when I was pulling to me a roach that was on the hook, a pike of some six or seven pounds laid hold upon him, and would not let go, so bold and ravenous was he. And William Beasley, in the deftest manner that ever I beheld (and I have seen the same thing oft attempted since, but never accomplished), put a hand-net under the beast, and brought him in. And he would have it, being one of the kindest hearts that ever lived, that I had caught the pike. And we had a great feast off him; 'twas excellent meat, white and firm, though somewhat weedy, said William; but I noted nothing amiss. Near to Oxford my father met me, and carried me home, where I lived with much content until the time when, as I have said, the Merchant Taylors' School was opened again, a space of fifteen months and more. 'Twas not lost time so far as learning was concerned, for our good parson took me in hand again and taught me. And, indeed, he had been teaching my sister Dorothy, so that she was a match, ay, and more than a match, for me, being both older and of a nimbler wit. But being the tenderest soul alive, and fearing that I should be grieved if she outstripped me too far, she would hold back; and I, thinking that I could vanquish her, and being sometimes by her suffered so to do, did my utmost. Verily I believe that I had not learned more at the school itself, though my preceptors there were diligent both with the voice and the rod, in which latter instrument of learning they had such faith as Solomon himself, who, methinks, has much affliction of youth to answer for, could not have excelled. Nor did I gain in learning only, but also in strength of body and health, in which, haply, I had fared ill had I been cooped within the City walls.
In the year 1643—for that I be not tedious to them that shall read this history I shall say no more of my schooldays—I, being then eighteen years of age and not unfit, if I may say so much of myself, to compare with the best scholars of the said school, did hope for my election to a vacancy in the College of St. John the Baptist at Oxford. But of this hope I was disappointed, not altogether, methinks, of my own fault. It came about in this manner. About the beginning of May comes a letter from the President and Fellows of the College, wherein they write that they dare not, by reason of the troubles of the times, venture so far as to come to London that they might take part, as their custom was, in the election of scholars to their College. So it turned out, to cut the matter short, that the Company held the said election privately by themselves. Now my uncle, Master Harland aforesaid, died about this time; and as during his life he had been somewhat masterful, ruling most things according to his pleasure, so now, being dead, there was, so to speak, a turn of the tide against him and his, by which turn I suffered. They also to whom I looked for help, to wit the President and Fellows of St. John's College, were absent for the cause that I have already set forth. And so it happened that when it came to the election I had but two voices. And this I say not by way of complaint against them that ordered the election, nor of murmuring against God, but because I desire to set forth what befell me, and, as far as I can, the causes of the same. As for murmuring, indeed, I doubt much whether I lost any great profit in this matter, though I will confess that it was at the time no small disappointment and bitterness. For the same cause that hindered the Fellows of the College from coming to London, hindered also the scholars that were then elected from going to Oxford; so that it was a long time before they were admitted to their preferment. And, in truth, when they were admitted, it was but an unprofitable matter, for the College was almost at the point of dissolution for lack of means, many of its tenants not being able to pay their rents, and some that had the ability making pretence of the troubles of the times to cover their dishonesty. And thus my schooldays came to an end.
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