The De Coverley Papers, From 'The Spectator'Steele, Richard, Sir
General
The De Coverley Papers, From 'The Spectator'
Steele, Richard, Sir
English essays
His discourse was broken off by his man's telling him he had called a
coach. Upon our going to it, after having cast his eye upon the wheels,
he asked the coachman if his axle-tree was good; upon the fellow's
telling him he would warrant it, the Knight turned to me, told me he
looked like an honest man, and went in without further ceremony.
We had not gone far, when Sir Roger, popping out his head, called the
coachman down from his box, and, upon presenting himself at the window,
asked him if he smoked; as I was considering what this would end in, he
bid him stop by the way at any good tobacconist's and take in a roll of
their best Virginia. Nothing material happened in the remaining part of
our journey, till we were set down at the west end of the Abbey.
As we went up the body of the church, the Knight pointed at the trophies
upon one of the new monuments, and cried out, "A brave man, I warrant
him!" Passing afterwards by Sir Cloudesley Shovel[167], he flung his
hand that way, and cried, "Sir Cloudesley Shovel! a very gallant man!" As
he stood before Busby's tomb, the Knight uttered himself again after the
same manner, "Dr. Busby[168], a great man! he whipped my grandfather; a
very great man! I should have gone to him myself, if I had not been a
blockhead; a very great man!"
We were immediately conducted to the little chapel on the right hand. Sir
Roger, planting himself at our historian's elbow, was very attentive to
everything he said, particularly to the account he gave us of the lord
who had cut off the King of Morocco's head. Among several other figures,
he was very well pleased to see the statesman Cecil[169] upon his knees;
and concluding them all to be great men, was conducted to the figure
which represents that martyr to good housewifery, who died by the prick
of a needle. Upon our interpreter's telling us that she was a maid of
honour to Queen Elizabeth, the Knight was very inquisitive into her name
and family; and after having regarded her finger for some time, "I
wonder," says he, "that Sir Richard Baker has said nothing of her in his
_Chronicle_."
We were then conveyed to the two coronation chairs, where my old friend
after having heard that the stone underneath the most ancient of them,
which was brought from Scotland, was called "Jacob's pillar," sat himself
down in the chair; and looking like the figure of an old Gothic king,
asked our interpreter, what authority they had to say that Jacob had ever
been in Scotland? The fellow, instead of returning him an answer, told
him, that he hoped his honour would pay his forfeit[170]. I could observe
Sir Roger a little ruffled upon being thus trepanned; but our guide not
insisting upon his demand, the Knight soon recovered his good humour, and
whispered in my ear, that if Will Wimble were with us, and saw those two
chairs, it would go hard but he would get a tobacco-stopper out of one or
the other of them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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