Tracks Of A Rolling Stone by Henry J. Coke (free e reader txt) 📖
- Author: Henry J. Coke
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Or Two Later.
When We Got Back To Argamasilla The Medico Was Already
Awaiting Us. He Conducted Us To The House Of The Quijanas,
Where An Old Woman-Servant, Lamp In Hand, Showed The Way Down
A Flight Of Steps Into The Dungeon. It Was A Low Vaulted
Chamber, Eight Feet High, Ten Broad, And Twenty-Four Long,
Chapter 34 Pg 184Dimly Lighted By A Lancet Window Six Feet From The Ground.
She Confidently Informed Us That Cervantes Was In The Habit
Of Writing At The Farthest End, And That He Was Allowed A
Lamp For The Purpose. We Accepted The Information With
Implicit Faith; Silently Picturing On Our Mental Retinas The
Image Of Him Whose Genius Had Brightened The Dark Hours Of
Millions For Over Three Hundred Years. One Could See The
Spare Form Of The Man Of Action Pacing Up And Down His Cell,
Unconscious Of Prison Walls, Roaming In Spirit Through The
Boundless Realms Of Fancy, His Piercing Eyes Intent Upon The
Conjured Visions Of His Brain. One Noted His Vast Expanse Of
Brow, His Short, Crisp, Curly Hair, His High Cheek-Bones And
Singularly High-Bridged Nose, His Refined Mouth, Small
Projecting Chin And Pointed Beard. One Noticed, Too, As He
Turned, The Stump Of The Left Wrist Clasped By The Remaining
Hand. Who Could Stand In Such A Presence And Fail To Bow
With Veneration Before This Insulted Greatness! Potentates
Pass Like Ozymandias, But Not The Men Who, Through The Ages,
Help To Save Us From This Tread-Mill World, And From
Ourselves.
We Visited Cuenca, Segovia, And Many An Out-Of-The-Way Spot.
If It Be True, As Don Quixote Declares, That 'No Hay Libro
Tan Malo Que No Tenga Alguna Cosa Buena' ('There Is No Book
So Worthless That Has Not Some Good In It'), Still More True
Is This Of A Country Like Spain. And The Pleasantest Places
Are Just Those Which Only By-Roads Lead To. In And Near The
Towns Every Other Man, If Not By Profession Still By
Practice, Is A Beggar. From The Seedy-Looking Rascal In The
Street, Of Whom You Incautiously Ask The Way, And Who
Piteously Whines 'Para Zapatos' - For The Wear And Tear Of
Shoe Leather, To The Highest Official, One And All Hold Out
Their Hands For The Copper Cuarto Or The Eleemosynary
Sinecure. As It Was Then, So Is It Now; The Government Wants
Support, And It Is Always To Be Had, At A Price; Deputies
Always Want 'Places.' For Every Duty The Functionary
Performs, Or Ought To Perform, He Receives His Bribe. The
Government Is Too Poor To Keep Him Honest, But His Pour-
Boires Are Not Measured By His Scruples. All Is Winked At,
If The Ministry Secures A Vote.
Away In The Pretty Rural Districts, In The Little Villages
Amid The Woods And The Mountains, With Their Score Or So Of
Houses And Their Little Chapel With Its Tinkling Old Bell And
Its Poverty-Stricken Curate, The Hard-Working, Simple-Minded
Men Are Too Proud And Too Honest To Ask For More Than A Pinch
Of Tobacco For The Cigarillo. The Maidens Are Comely, And As
Chaste As - Can Reasonably Be Expected.
Madrid Is Worth Visiting - Not For Its Bull-Fights, Which Are
Disgusting Proofs Of Man's Natural Brutality, But For Its
Picture Gallery. No One Knows What Velasquez Could Do, Or
Has Done, Till He Has Seen Madrid; And Charles V. Was
Practically Master Of Europe When The Collection Was In His
Chapter 34 Pg 185Hands. The Escurial's Chief Interests Are In Its
Associations With Charles V. And Philip Ii. In The Dark And
Gloomy Little Bedroom Of The Latter Is A Small Window Opening
Into The Church, So That The King Could Attend The Services
In Bed If Necessary.
It Cannot Be Said Of Philip That He Was Nothing If Not
Religious, For Nero Even Was Not A More Indefatigable
Murderer, Nor A More Diabolical Specimen Of Cruelty And
Superstition. The Very Thought Of The Wretch Tempts One To
Revolt At Human Piety, At Any Rate Where Priestcraft And Its
Fabrications Are At The Bottom Of It.
When At Madrid We Met Mr. Arthur Birch. He Had Been With
Cayley At Eton, As Captain Of The School. While We Were
Together, He Received And Accepted The Offer Of An Eton
Mastership. We Were Going By Diligence To Toledo, And Birch
Agreed To Go With Us. I Mention The Fact Because The Place
Reminds Me Of A Clever Play Upon Its Name By The Eton
Scholar. Cayley Bought A Toledo Sword-Blade, And Asked Birch
For A Motto To Engrave Upon It. In A Minute Or Two He Hit
Off This: Timetoletum, Which Reads Time Toletum=Honour
Toledo, Or Timeto Letum=Fear Death. Cayley's Attempts,
Though Not So Neat, Were Not Bad. Here Are A Couple Of
Them:-
Though Slight I Am, No Slight I Stand,
Saying My Master's Sleight Of Hand.
Or:-
Come To The Point; Unless You Do,
The Point Will Shortly Come To You.
Birch Got The Latin Poem Medal At Cambridge The Same Year
That Cayley Got The English One.
Before We Set Forth Again Upon Our Gipsy Tramp, I Received A
L
Chapter 34 Pg 186Letter From Mr. Ellice Bidding Me Hasten Home To Contest The
Borough Of Cricklade In The General Election Of 1852. Under
These Circumstances We Loitered But Little On The Northern
Roads. At The End Of May We Reached Yrun. Here We Sold Our
Ponies - Now Quite Worn Out - For Twenty-Three Dollars -
About Five Guineas. So That A Thousand Miles Of Locomotion
Had Cost Us A Little Over Five Guineas Apiece. Not Counting
Hotels At Madrid And Such Smart Places, Our Daily Cost For
Selves And Ponies Rarely Exceeded Six Pesetas, Or Three
Shillings Each All Told. The Best Of It Was, The Trip
Restored The Health Of My Friend.
Chapter 35 Pg 187
In February Of This Year, 1852, Lord Palmerston, Aided By An
Incongruous Force Of Peelites And Protectionists, Turned Lord
John Russell Out Of Office On His Militia Bill. Lord Derby,
With Disraeli As Chancellor Of The Exchequer And Leader Of
The House Of Commons, Came Into Power On A Cry For
Protection.
Not Long After My Return To England, I Was Packed Off To
Canvas The Borough Of Cricklade. It Was Then A Very
Extensive Borough, Including A Large Agricultural District,
As Well As Swindon, The Headquarters Of The Great Western
Railway. For Many Years It Had Returned Two Conservative
Members, Messrs. Nield And Goddard. It Was Looked Upon As An
Impregnable Tory Stronghold, And The Fight Was Little Better
Than A Forlorn Hope.
My Headquarters Were At Coleshill, Lord Radnor's. The Old
Lord Had, In His Parliamentary Days, Been A Radical; Hence,
My Advanced Opinions Found Great Favour In His Eyes. My
Programme Was - Free Trade, Vote By Ballot, And
Disestablishment. Two Of These Have Become Common-Places
(One Perhaps Effete), And The Third Is Nearer To
Accomplishment Than It Was Then.
My First Acquaintance With A Constituency, Amongst Whom I
Worked Enthusiastically For Six Weeks, Was Comic Enough. My
Instructions Were To Go To Swindon; There An Agent, Whom I
Had Never Seen, Would Join Me. A Meeting Of My Supporters
Had Been Arranged By Him, And I Was To Make My Maiden Speech
In The Market-Place.
Chapter 35 Pg 188
My Address, It Should Be Stated - Ultra-Radical, Of Course -
Was Mainly Concocted For Me By Mr. Cayley, An Almost Rabid
Tory, And Then Member For The North Riding Of Yorkshire, But
An Old Parliamentary Hand; And, In Consequence Of My
Attachment To His Son, At That Time And Until His Death, Like
A Father To Me.
When The Train Stopped At Swindon, There Was A Crowd Of
Passengers, But Not A Face That I Knew; And It Was Not Till
All But One Or Two Had Left, That A Business-Looking Man Came
Up And Asked If I Were The Candidate For Cricklade. He Told
Me That A Carriage Was In Attendance To Take Us Up To The
Town; And That A Procession, Headed By A Band, Was Ready To
Accompany Us Thither. The Procession Was Formed Mainly Of
The Great Western Boiler-Makers And Artisans. Their
Enthusiasm Seemed Slightly Disproportioned To The Occasion;
And The Vigour Of The Brass, And Especially Of The Big Drum,
So Filled My Head With Visions Of Mr. Pickwick And His Friend
The Honourable Samuel Slumkey, That By The Time I Reached The
Market-Place, I Had Forgotten Every Syllable Of The Speech
Which I Had Carefully Learnt By Heart. Nor Was It The Band
Alone That Upset Me; Going Up The Hill The Carriage Was All
But Capsized By The Frightened Horses And The Breaking Of The
Pole. The Gallant Boiler-Makers, However, At Once Removed
The Horses, And Dragged The Carriage With Cheers Of Defiance
Into The Crowd Awaiting Us.
My Agent Had Settled That I Was To Speak From A Window Of The
Hotel. The Only Available One Was An Upper Window, The Lower
Sash Of Which Could Not Be Persuaded To Keep Up Without Being
Held. The Consequence Was, Just As I Was Getting Over The
Embarrassment Of Extemporary Oration, Down Came The Sash And
Guillotined Me. This
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