The Lighter Side of English LifeMoore, Frank Frankfort
General
The Lighter Side of English Life
Moore, Frank Frankfort
England -- Social life and customs; England -- Social life and customs -- Humor
He would feel that, could he have had any hand in smashing in the roofs
of monasteries and despoiling rich abbeys, it would be accounted to him
for righteousness. After such splendid acts of spoliation, knocking the
nose off a poorly carved saint could not but seem a paltry thing, quite
unworthy of any man with a reputation for a heavy hand to maintain.
But Mallingham, for all its literary and historical ignorance, has its
heart in the right place; and it is staunch to Church and State--staunch
to the core. Every Fifth of November it has its procession emblematic
of these principles, and it must be confessed that the symbolism of
the movement is not exclusive. To express adequately the loyalty of
Mallingham, it is found necessary to set forth in marching order Turks,
male and female, Negroes, Zulus, Toreadors, Pierrots, Harlequins,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, Pirates, Mary Queen of Scots, Firemen,
Dragoons, William Shakespeare, a Sailor, and many other characters, all
of whom, it must be taken for granted, typify the triumph of Loyalty.
Should any question a-rise--for captious inquirers may always be
reckoned on in these days of high educational achievement--as to the
identity of the leading typical figure in this pageant and the reason
of the obloquy that is heaped upon him, culminating in the stake, with
foul-mouthed explosives, the answer is that he is one Guy Fox, and
that he is paying the penalty of having failed to blow up the Houses
of Parliament. After that explanation no one can doubt that, whoever he
was, he richly deserves his fate--or should it be spelt _fête?_
Occasionally co-opted with him is an unpopular person of distinction in
the neighbourhood--a clergyman who lies under the stigma of preaching
toleration, a police superintendent with a constitutional distaste for
bonfires and low-flash explosives in the public streets, or perhaps a
District Visitor suspected of “leanings.” But usually by midnight the
worst is over, and good nature without intoxicants prevails throughout
the motley crowd; the Archbishop of Canterbury lights his cigarette--one
of the packet with the pictures--from that of the Pirate King; Mary
Queen of Scots hurries to the house where she discharges the duties of
parlour-maid, complaining to a sympathetic Shakespeare that she has to
be up at six in the morning to let in the sweep, and so home to bed.
The only literary fact which is impressed upon all the townspeople is
that by some way never made quite clear, the singeing effigy, whose
obsequies have been so imposing, was responsible for a _Book of
Martyrs._ The general idea is that he was responsible for the martyrs
themselves, and that Foxes _Book of Martyrs_ is a sort of catalogue with
descriptive text of his victims.
So, as has been stated, the two Cromwells have but a single identity in
the minds of Mallingham.
V.--THE SOCIAL “SETS”
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