Tedious brief tales of Granta and GramaryeGray, Arthur
General
Tedious brief tales of Granta and Gramarye
Gray, Arthur
Ghost stories, English; Jesus College (University of Cambridge) -- Fiction; Short stories, English
Then in 1766 comes a new handwriting and an altered minute: “Jan. 27,
on this day Francis Witherington, Secretary, became an Incorporeal
Member. The same day this Book was delivered to me, James Harvey.”
Harvey lived only a month, and a similar entry on March 7 states that
the book has descended, with the same mysterious celerity, to William
Catherston. Then, on May 18, Charles Bellasis writes that on that day,
being the date of Catherston’s decease, the Minute Book has come to
him as the last surviving Corporeal of the Club.
As it is my purpose to record fact only I shall not attempt to describe
the feelings of the unhappy Secretary when he penned that fatal
record. When Witherington died it must have come home to the three
survivors that after twenty-three years’ intermission the ghastly
entertainment must be annually renewed, with the addition of fresh
incorporeal guests, or that they must undergo the pitiless censure of
the President. I think it likely that the terror of the alternative,
coupled with the mysterious delivery of the Minute Book, was
answerable for the speedy decease of the two first successors to the
Secretaryship. Now that the alternative was offered to Bellasis alone,
he was firmly resolved to bear the consequences, whatever they might
be, of an infringement of the Club rules.
The graceless days of George II. had passed away from the University.
They were succeeded by times of outward respectability, when religion
and morals were no longer publicly challenged. With Bellasis, too, the
petulance of youth had passed: he was discreet, perhaps exemplary. The
scandal of his early conduct was unknown to most of the new generation,
condoned by the few survivors who had witnessed it.
On the night of November 2nd, 1766, a terrible event revived in the
older inhabitants of the College the memory of those evil days. From
ten o’clock to midnight a hideous uproar went on in the chamber of
Bellasis. Who were his companions none knew. Blasphemous outcries and
ribald songs, such as had not been heard for twenty years past, aroused
from sleep or study the occupants of the court; but among the voices
was not that of Bellasis. At twelve a sudden silence fell upon the
cloisters. But the Master lay awake all night, troubled at the relapse
of a respected colleague and the horrible example of libertinism set to
his pupils.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account