The Romany Rye: A sequel to "Lavengro"Borrow, George
General
The Romany Rye: A sequel to "Lavengro"
Borrow, George
Adventure stories; England -- Fiction; Romanies -- Fiction
At last I gave over reading, took a slight refreshment, and was about to
emerge from the dingle, when I heard the voice of Mr. Petulengro calling
me. I went up again to the encampment, where I found Mr. Petulengro, his
wife, and Tawno Chikno, ready to proceed to church. Mr. and Mrs.
Petulengro were dressed in Roman fashion, though not in the full-blown
manner in which they had paid their visit to Isopel and myself. Tawno
had on a clean white slop, with a nearly new black beaver, with very
broad rims, and the nap exceedingly long. As for myself, I was dressed
in much the same manner as that in which I departed from London, having
on, in honour of the day, a shirt perfectly clean, having washed one on
purpose for the occasion, with my own hands, the day before, in the pond
of tepid water in which the newts and efts were in the habit of taking
their pleasure. We proceeded for upwards of a mile by footpaths through
meadows and cornfields; we crossed various stiles; at last passing over
one, we found ourselves in a road, wending along which for a considerable
distance, we at last came in sight of a church, the bells of which had
been tolling distinctly in our ears for some time; before, however, we
reached the churchyard the bells had ceased their melody. It was
surrounded by lofty beech-trees of brilliant green foliage. We entered
the gate, Mrs. Petulengro leading the way, and proceeded to a small door
near the east end of the church. As we advanced, the sound of singing
within the church rose upon our ears. Arrived at the small door, Mrs.
Petulengro opened it and entered, followed by Tawno Chikno. I myself
went last of all, following Mr. Petulengro, who, before I entered, turned
round, and with a significant nod, advised me to take care how I behaved.
The part of the church which we had entered was the chancel; on one side
stood a number of venerable old men—probably the neighbouring poor—and on
the other a number of poor girls belonging to the village school, dressed
in white gowns and straw bonnets, whom two elegant but simply dressed
young women were superintending. Every voice seemed to be united in
singing a certain anthem, which, notwithstanding it was written neither
by Tate nor Brady, contains some of the sublimest words which were ever
put together, not the worst of which are those which burst on our ears as
we entered:—
Every eye shall now behold Him,
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at nought and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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