England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
My lesser object may be dismissed in two words. Having already decided
on going to London, I propose to call on the wealthy nobleman who owns
all the land hereabouts, and represent to him the discreditable, and
indeed dangerous, condition of the parish kirk for want of means to
institute the necessary repairs. If I find myself well received, I
shall put in a word for the manse, which is almost in as deplorable a
condition as the church. My lord is a wealthy man--may his heart and his
purse be opened unto me!
Sister Judith is packing my portmanteau. According to custom, she
forbodes the worst. "Never forget," she says, "that I warned you against
Marmaduke, on the first night when he entered the house."
VI.
September 10th.--After more delays than one, on land and sea, I was at
last set ashore near the Tower, on the afternoon of yesterday. God help
us, my worst anticipations have been realized! My beloved Felicia has
urgent and serious need of me.
It is not to be denied that I made my entry into my son-in-law's house
in a disturbed and irritated frame of mind. First, my temper was tried
by the almost interminable journey, in the noisy and comfortless vehicle
which they call a cab, from the river-wharf to the west-end of London,
where Marmaduke lives. In the second place, I was scandalized and
alarmed by an incident which took place--still on the endless journey
from east to west--in a street hard by the market of Covent Garden.
We had just approached a large building, most profusely illuminated with
gas, and exhibiting prodigious colored placards having inscribed on
them nothing but the name of Barrymore. The cab came suddenly to
a standstill; and looking out to see what the obstacle might be, I
discovered a huge concourse of men and women, drawn across the pavement
and road alike, so that it seemed impossible to pass by them. I inquired
of my driver what this assembling of the people meant. "Oh," says
he, "Barrymore has made another hit." This answer being perfectly
unintelligible to me, I requested some further explanation, and
discovered that "Barrymore" was the name of a stage-player favored
by the populace; that the building was a theater, and that all these
creatures with immortal souls were waiting, before the doors opened, to
get places at the show!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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