Butler, Samuel, 1835-1902 -- Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
For they do not call them by their names but by certain numbers, each man
of them having a number allotted to him in accordance with his place in
the boat, and the first man they call stroke, but the last man bow; and
when they have done this for about 50 miles they come home again, and the
rate they travel at is about 25 miles an hour; and let no one think that
this is too great a rate for I could say many other wonderful things in
addition concerning the rowing of the Johnians, but if a man wishes to
know these things he must go and examine them himself. But when they
have done they contrive some such a device as this, for they make them
run many miles along the side of the river in order that they may
accustom them to great fatigue, and many of them, being distressed in
this way, fall down and die, but those who survive become very strong and
receive gifts of cups from the others; and after the revolution of a year
they have great races with their boats against those of the surrounding
islanders, but the Johnians, both owing to the carefulness of the
training and a natural disposition for rowing, are always victorious. In
this way, then, the Johnians, I say, practise their tub.
ii—The Shield of Achilles—With Variations
And in it he placed the Fitzwilliam and King’s College Chapel and the
lofty towered church of the Great Saint Mary, which looketh towards the
Senate House, and King’s Parade and Trumpington Road and the Pitt Press
and the divine opening of the Market Square and the beautiful flowing
fountain which formerly Hobson laboured to make with skilful art; him did
his father beget in the many-public-housed Trumpington from a slavey
mother and taught him blameless works; and he, on the other hand, sprang
up like a young shoot and many beautifully matched horses did he nourish
in his stable, which used to convey his rich possessions to London and
the various cities of the world; but oftentimes did he let them out to
others and whensoever any one was desirous of hiring one of the
long-tailed horses he took them in order, so that the labour was equal to
all, wherefore do men now speak of the choice of the renowned Hobson.
And in it he placed the close of the divine Parker, and many beautiful
undergraduates were delighting their tender minds upon it playing cricket
with one another; and a match was being played and two umpires were
quarrelling with one another; the one saying that the batsman who was
playing was out and the other declaring with all his might that he was
not; and while they two were contending, reviling one another with
abusive language, a ball came and hit one of them on the nose and the
blood flowed out in a stream and darkness was covering his eyes, but the
rest were crying out on all sides:
“Shy it up.”
And he could not; him, then, was his companion addressing with scornful
words:
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account