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reminded of the difference of rank by the habitual respect of the peasant.

In contrast to these, was the family of a wealthy citizen, who had amassed a vast fortune; and, having purchased the estate and mansion of a ruined nobleman in the neighbourhood, was endeavouring to assume all the style and dignity of an hereditary lord of the soil1o. The family always came to church en prince. They were rolled majestically along in a carriage emblazoned with arms. The crest glittered in silver radiance from every part of the harness where a crest could possibly be placed. A fat coachman in a three-cornered hat, richly laced, and a flaxen wig, curling close round his rosy face, was seated on the box, with a sleek Danish dog beside him. Two footmen, in gorgeous liveries, with huge bouquets, and gold-headed canes, lolled behind. The carriage rose and sank on its long springs with peculiar stateliness of motion. The very horses champed their bits, arched their necks, and glanced their eyes more proudly than common horses; either because they had caught a little of the family-feeling, or were reined up more tightly than ordinary.

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I could not but admire the style with which this splendid pageant was brought up to the gate of the churchyard. There was a vast effect produced at the turning of an angle of the wall; a great smacking of the wip; straining and scrambling of the horses; glistening of harness, and flashing of wheels through gravel. This was the moment of triumph and vain-glory to the coachman. The horses were urged and checked 11 until they were fretted 12 into a foam. They threw out their feet in a prancing trot, dashing about pebbles at every step. The crowd of villagers sauntering quietly to church opened precipitately to the right and left, gaping in vacant admiration. On reaching the gate, the horses were pulled up with a suddenness that produced an immediate stop, and almost threw them on their haunches.

There was an extraordinary hurry of the footmen to alight, open the door, pull down the steps, and prepare every thing for

10) héréditary lord of the soil

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11) to urge and check = (wechselweise) antreiben und anhalten. 12) to fret, altengl. freten, ags. fretan, goth. fra-itan, Zusammensetzung von itan eat essen; ndd. freten. nhd. fressen. Hierauf lassen sich die englischen Bedeutungen: fressen, beizen, aushöhlen, beunruhigen, ärgern zurückführen. Hier also: die Pferde wurden so beunruhigt, dass sie schäumten, wörtl. sie wurden in Schaum hineingeärgert.

the descent on earth of this august family. The old citizen 18 first emerged his round red face from out the door, looking about him with the pompous air of a man accustomed to rule on 'Change, and shake the Stock Market with a nod 11. His consort, a fine, fleshy, comfortable dame, followed him. There seemed, I must confess, but little pride in her composition. She was the picture of broad 15, honest, vulgar enjoyment. The world went well with her, and she liked the world. She had fine clothes, a fine house, a fine carriage, fine children, everything was fine about her: it was nothing but driving about, and visiting and feasting. Life was to her a perpetual revel; it was one long Lord Mayor's day 16.

Two daughters succeeded to this goodly couple. They certainly were handsome; but had a supercilious air, that chilled admiration, and disposed the spectator to be critical. They were ultra-fashionables in dress 17; and though no one could deny the richness of their decorations, yet their appropriateness might be questioned amidst the simplicity of a country church. They

18) citizen = Citybürger; City die Altstadt von London (the City of London proper), der Sitz des Handels.

14) 'Change in nachlässiger Aussprache = Exchange Börse; Stock Market Fond- und Geldmarkt. Stock zu stick stechen, stecken; vergl. Trench, On the Study of Words, They cohere in the idea of fixedness, which is common to every one. Thus, the stock of a gun is that in which the barrel is fixed; the village stocks are those in which the feet are fastened; the stock in trade is the fixed capital; and so too the stock on the farm, although the fixed capital has there taken the shape of horses and cattle; in the stocks or public funds, money sticks fast, inasmuch as those who place it there cannot withdraw or demand the capital, but receive only the interest; the stock of a tree is fast set in the ground; and from this use of the word it is transferred to a family; etc.

15) broad

= reichlich.

16) Lord Mayor's day. Der Lord Mayor wird jährlich am 29. September von den Aldermen gewählt und wird am 9. November feierlich eingeführt (Lord Mayor's Show). Dann begibt er sich vom Mansion House in der alten goldenen Staatscarosse, angethan mit dem Purpurmantel und begleitet von seinem Kaplan, dem Schwertträger und zwei Scepterträgern, nach Blackfriars, und von da in der Staatsbarke nach Westminster, wo er von einem der Barons of the Exchequer (Mitglieder des Finanzministeriums) vereidigt wird. Der Rückzug geschieht in derselben Weise, aber nach dem Guildhall (wörtl. Gildenhaus, Rathhaus), wo von dem Lord Mayor ein überaus prächtiges Festessen gegeben wird, dem stets die Minister und die Grosswürdenträger der Krone beiwohnen.

17) fashionable hier Substantiva fashionable person, hier Modedame. They were ultra-fashionables in dress deutsch etwa: Sie waren übermodisch gekleidet.

descended loftily from the carriage, and moved up the line of peasantry with a step that seemed dainty 18 of the soil it trod on. They cast an excursive glance around, that passed coldly over the burly faces of the peasantry, until they met the eyes of the nobleman's family, when 19 their countenances immediately brightened into smiles, and they made the most profound and elegant courtesies; which were returned in a manner that showed they were but slight acquaintances.

I must not forget the two sons of this aspiring citizen, who came to church in a dashing 20 curricle, with outriders. They were arrayed in the extremity of the mode 21, with all that pedantry of dress which marks the man of questionable pretensions to style 22. They kept entirely by themselves 23, eyeing every one askance that came near them, as if measuring his claims to respectability; yet they were without conversation, except the exchange of an occasional cant phrase. They even moved artificially; for their bodies, in compliance with the caprice of the day, had been disciplined into the absence of all ease 24 and freedom. Art had done everything to accomplish them as men of fashion, but nature had denied them the nameless grace. They were vulgarly shaped, like men formed for the common purposes of life, and had that air of supercilious assumption which is never seen in the true gentleman.

I have been rather minute in drawing the pictures of these

18) dainty lecker, köstlich (zu lat. dignus), sodann requiring dainties; hence over-nice; hard to please; fastidious; daher to be dainty of = verachten: with a step that seemed dainty of the soil it trod on dtsch. etwa mit Schritten, denen der Boden, auf den sie traten, nicht gut genug zu sein schien.

19) In der Erzählung wird oft durch einen dem Hauptsatz nachfolgenden Nebensatz mit when nicht sowol die Zeitsphäre der Handlung überhaupt angegeben, als vielmehr ein überraschendes Ereigniss eingeführt; vergl. dazu das latein. cum mit dem indicat. perf. oder dem praesens bist. im nachgestellten Nebensatze, wenn in demselben ein entweder zugleich mit oder unmittelbar nach der Handlung des Hauptsatzes eintretendes Ereigniss von besonderer, meist überraschender Wichtigkeit angegeben wird. Im Deutschen häufig durch einen Hauptsatz mit da zu übersetzen.

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20) dashing = Aufsehen erregend, durch Ausgesuchtheit der Toilette und der Manieren; im Deutsch. etwa: forsch, flott, patent.

21) in the extrémity of the mode, dtsch. etwa: nach der allerneusten Mode.

22) a man of questionable preténsions (scharf. s) to style: Jemand, dessen Anspruch auf Geschmack fraglich ist.

28) by themselves

= allein.

24) ease = Ungezwungenheit.

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two families, because I considered them specimens of what is often to be met with in this country the unpretending great, and the arrogant little. I have no respect for titled rank 25, unless it be accompanied with true nobility of soul; but I have remarked in all countries where artificial distinctions exist, the very highest classes are always the most courteous and unassuming 26. Those who are well assured of their own standing are least apt to trespass on that of others; whereas nothing is so offensive as the aspirings of vulgarity, which thinks to elevate itself by humiliating its neighbour.

As I have brought these families into contrast, I must notice their behaviour in church. That of the nobleman's family was quiet, serious, and attentive. Not that they appeared to have any fervour of devotion, but rather a respect for sacred things, and sacred places, inseparable from good-breeding. The others, on the contrary, were in a perpetual flutter and whisper: they betrayed a continual consciousness of finery, and a sorry ambition of being the wonders of a rural congregation.

The old gentleman was the only one really attentive to the service. He took the whole burden of family devotion upon himself, standing bolt upright27, and uttering the responses with a loud voice, that might be heard all over the church. It was evident that he was one of those thorough church-and-king men, who connect the idea of devotion and loyalty; who consider the Deity, somehow or other, of the government party and religion,,a very excellent sort of thing, that ought to be countenanced and kept up.“

28

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When he joined so loudly in the service, it seemed more by way of example to the lower orders, to show them that, though so great and wealthy, he was not above being religious; as I have seen a turtle-fed alderman swallow publicly a basin of

25) titled rank, deutsch coordiniert: Rang und Titel.

26) Von I have remarked ist der unbezeichnete Gegenstandssatz the very highest classes are always etc. in der Form eines Hauptsatzes abhängig gewöhnlich wird ein solcher Gegenstandssatz durch that eingeleitet.

27) bōlt (Bolzen, Pfeil) úpright, dtsch. mit einem andern Bilde: kerzen

gerade.

28) who consider the Deity etc. of the government party Genetiv zur Bezeichnung der Angehörigkeit: welche die Gottheit gewissermassen als zur Regierungspartei gehörig ansehen.

=

29) charity-soup Armensuppe: charity = christliche Liebe, Mildthätigkeit, mildthätige Anstalt.

charity soup 29, smacking his lips at every mouthful, and pronouncing it,,excellent food for the poor".

When the service was at an end, I was curious to witness the several exits of my groups. The young noblemen and their sisters, as the day was fine, preferred strolling home across the fields, chatting with the country people as they went. The others departed as they came, in grand parade. Again were the equipages wheeled up to the gate. There was again the smacking of whips, the clattering of hoofs, and the glittering of harness. The horses started off almost at a bound; the villagers again hurried to right and left; the wheels threw up a cloud of dust; and the aspiring family was rapt 30 out of sight in a whirlwind.

THE WIDOW AND HER SON.

Pittie old age, within whose silver haires
Honour and reverence evermore have raign'd1.
MARLOWE'S Tamburlaine 2.

DURING my residence in the country, I used frequently to attend at the old village church. Its shadowy aisles, its mouldering monuments, its dark oaken panelling, all reverend with the gloom of departed years, seemed to fit it for the haunt of solemn meditation. A Sunday, too, in the country, is so holy in its repose1; such a pensive quiet reigns over the face of nature, that every restless passion is charmed down, and we feel all the natural religion of the soul gently springing up within us.

,,Sweet day, so pure, so calm, so bright,
The bridal of the earth and sky 5."

80) Ueber die Form rapt vergl. S. 64, Anm. 25.

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1) pitty pity; raign'd:

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reigned.

2) Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), der bedeutendste dramatische Vorgänger Shaksperes, schrieb in frühster Jugend seine Tragödie Tamburlaine the Great, die sehr beifällig aufgenommen wurde. Sein zweites bedeutenderes Drama war The Life and Death of Dr. Faustus; ferner schrieb er: The Jew of Malta; The Massacre at Paris; Edward II; und in Gemeinschaft mit Nash Dido, Queen of Carthage.

3) Ueber haunt vergl. S. 16, Anm. 6.

4) Zu repose und quiet vergl. S. 77, Anm. 46.

5) Aus dem Gedichte,,Virtue" von George Herbert (1593-1633), Pfarrer in Bemerton, in Wiltshire, Verfasser von,,The Temple, or Sacred

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