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Me list not of the chaf ne of the stre
Maken so long a tale as of the corn.
CHAUCER.—Man of Lawes Tale.
Originally published in 1864
With appreciation to Mrs. Morag Black for the master copies of VolumesII and III, to the Bodleian Library for the photo-copies of Volume I,and to Miss Tracy Samuel for type-copying Volumes I, II, and III forthis Edition.
To John Rutherfurd Russell M.D.
This book is affectionately dedicated by the author.
Contents of the First Volume
Christmas Eve.
It was the afternoon of Christmas Eve, sinking towards the night. Allday long the wintry light had been diluted with fog, and now thevanguard of the darkness coming to aid the mist, the dying day waswell nigh smothered between them. When I looked through the window, itwas into a vague and dim solidification of space, a mysterious regionin which awful things might be going on, and out of which anythingmight come; but out of which nothing came in the meantime, exceptsmall sparkles of snow, or rather ice, which as we swept rapidlyonwards, and the darkness deepened, struck faster and faster againstthe weather-windows. For we, that is, myself and a fellow-passenger,of whom I knew nothing yet but the waistcoat and neckcloth, havingcaught a glimpse of them as he searched for an obstinaterailway-ticket, were in a railway-carriage, darting along, at an allbut frightful rate, northwards from London.
Being, the sole occupants of the carriage, we had made the most of it,like Englishmen, by taking seats diagonally opposite to each other,laying our heads in the corners, and trying to go to sleep. But for meit was of no use to try any longer. Not that I had anything particularon my mind or spirits; but a man cannot always go to sleep at sparemoments. If anyone can, let him consider it a great gift, and makegood use of it accordingly; that is, by going to sleep on every suchopportunity.
As I, however, could not sleep, much as I should have enjoyed it, Iproceeded to occupy my very spare time with building, up what I maycall a conjectural mould, into which the face, dress, carriage, &c.,of my companion would fit. I had already discovered that he was aclergyman; but this added to my difficulties in constructing the saidmould. For, theoretically, I had a great dislike to clergymen; having,hitherto, always found that the clergy absorbed the man; and thatthe cloth, as they called it even themselves, would be no badepithet for the individual, as well as the class. For all clergymenwhom I had yet met, regarded mankind and their interests solely fromthe clerical point of view, seeming far more desirous that a manshould be a good church man, as they called it, than that he shouldlove God. Hence, there was always an indescribable and, to me,unpleasant odour of their profession