第74章 THE SKETCH BOOK(2)

I could not but admire the style with which this splendid pageantwas brought up to the gate of the church-yard. There was a vast effectproduced at the turning of an angle of the wall;- a great smackingof the whip, straining and scrambling of horses, glistening ofharness, and flashing of wheels through gravel. This was the moment oftriumph and vainglory to the coachman. The horses were urged andchecked until they were fretted into a foam. They threw out their feetin a prancing trot, dashing about pebbles at every step. The crowdof villagers sauntering quietly to church, opened precipitately to theright and left, gaping in vacant admiration. On reaching the gate, thehorses were pulled up with a suddenness that produced an immediatestop, and almost threw them on their haunches.

There was an extraordinary hurry of the footman to alight, pull downthe steps, and prepare every thing for the descent on earth of thisaugust family. The old citizen first emerged his round red face fromout the door, looking about him with the pompous air of a manaccustomed to rule on 'Change, and shake the Stock Market with anod. His consort, a fine, fleshy, comfortable dame, followed him.

There seemed, I must confess, but little pride in her composition. Shewas the picture of broad, honest, vulgar enjoyment. The world wentwell with her; and she liked the world. She had fine clothes, a finehouse, a fine carriage, fine children, every thing was fine about her:

it was nothing but driving about, and visiting and feasting. Lifewas to her a perpetual revel; it was one long Lord Mayor's day.

Two daughters succeeded to this goodly couple. They certainly werehandsome; but had a supercilious air, that chilled admiration, anddisposed the spectator to be critical. They were ultra-fashionablein dress; and, though no one could deny the richness of theirdecorations, yet their appropriateness might be questioned amidstthe simplicity of a country church. They descended loftily from thecarriage, and moved up the line of peasantry with a step that seemeddainty of the soil it trod on. They cast an excursive glance around,that passed coldly over the burly faces of the peasantry, until theymet the eyes of the nobleman's family, when their countenancesimmediately brightened into smiles, and they made the most profoundand elegant courtesies, which were returned in a manner that showedthey were but slight acquaintances.

I must not forget the two sons of this aspiring citizen, who came tochurch in a dashing curricle, with outriders. They were arrayed in theextremity of the mode, with all that pedantry of dress which marks theman of questionable pretensions to style. They kept entirely bythemselves, eyeing every one askance that came near them, as ifmeasuring his claims to respectability; yet they were withoutconversation, except the exchange of an occasional cant phrase. Theyeven moved artificially; for their bodies, in compliance with thecaprice of the day, had been disciplined into the absence of allease and freedom. Art had done every thing to accomplish them as menof fashion, but nature had denied them the nameless grace. They werevulgarly shaped, like men formed for the common purposes of life,and had that air of supercilious assumption which is never seen in thetrue gentleman.

I have been rather minute in drawing the pictures of these twofamilies, because I considered them specimens of what is often to bemet with in this country- the unpretending great, and the arrogantlittle. I have no respect for titled rank, unless it be accompaniedwith true nobility of soul; but I have remarked in all countries whereartificial distinctions exist, that the very highest classes arealways the most courteous and unassuming. Those who are well assuredof their own standing are least apt to trespass on that of others;whereas nothing is so offensive as the aspirings of vulgarity, whichthinks to elevate itself by humiliating its neighbor.

As I have brought these families into contrast, I must noticetheir behavior in church. That of the nobleman's family was quiet,serious, and attentive. Not that they appeared to have any fervor ofdevotion, but rather a respect for sacred things, and sacred places,inseparable from good breeding. The others, on the contrary, were in aperpetual flutter and whisper; they betrayed a continual consciousnessof finery, and a sorry ambition of being the wonders of a ruralcongregation.

The old gentleman was the only one really attentive to theservice. He took the whole burden of family devotion upon himself,standing bolt upright, and uttering the responses with a loud voicethat might be heard all over the church. It was evident that he wasone of those thorough church and king men, who connect the idea ofdevotion and loyalty; who consider the Deity, somehow or other, of thegovernment party, and religion "a very excellent sort of thing, thatought to be countenanced and kept up."When he joined so loudly in the service, it seemed more by way ofexample to the lower orders, to show them that, though so great andwealthy, he was not above being religious; as I have seen a turtle-fedalderman swallow publicly a basin of charity soup, smacking his lipsat every mouthful, and pronouncing it "excellent food for the poor."When the service was at an end, I was curious to witness the severalexits of my groups. The young noblemen and their sisters, as the daywas fine, preferred strolling home across the fields, chatting withthe 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, andthe glittering of harness. The horses started off almost at a bound;the villagers again hurried to right and left; the wheels threw up acloud of dust; and the aspiring family was rapt out of sight in awhirlwind.

THE END

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1819-20