Brantwood, April 19, 1873.
On the thirteenth shelf of the south bookcase of my home-library,
stand, first, Kenelm Digby's 'Broad Stone of Honour,' then in five
volumes, bound in red, the 'History of the Ingenious Gentleman,
Don Quixote of La Mancha;' and then, in one volume, bound in green,
a story no less pathetic, called the 'Mirror of Peasants.'
Its author does not mean the word 'mirror' to be understood in the
sense in which one would call Don Quixote the 'Mirror of Chivalry;' but
in that of a glass in which a man--beholding his natural heart--may
know also the hearts of other men, as, in a glass, face answers
to face.
The author of this story was a clergyman; but employed the greater
part of his day in writing novels, having a gift for that species of
composition as well as for sermons, and observing, though he gave both
excellent in their kind, that his congregation liked their sermons
to be short, and his readers, their novels to be long.
Among them, however, were also many tiny novelettes, of which, young
ladies, I to-day begin translating for you one of the shortest;
hoping that you will not think the worse of it for being written by
a clergyman. Of this author I will only say, that, though I am not
prejudiced in favour of persons of his profession, I think him the
wisest man, take him all in all, with whose writings I am acquainted;
chiefly because he showed his wisdom in pleasant and unappalling ways;
as, for instance, by keeping, for the chief ornament of his study
(not being able to afford expensive books), one book beautifully
bound, and shining with magnificence of golden embossing; this book
of books being his register, out of which he read, from the height
of his pulpit, the promises of marriage. "Dans lequel il lisait,
du haut de la chaire, les promesses de mariage."
He rose always early; breakfasted himself at six o'clock; and then
got ready with his own hands the family breakfast, liking his servants
better to be at work out of doors: wrote till eleven, dined at twelve,
and spent the afternoon in his parish work, or in his fields, being a
farmer of shrewdest and most practical skill; and through the Sundays
of fifteen years, never once was absent from his pulpit.
And now, before I begin my little story, which is a translation of a
translation, for the original is German, and I can only read French,
I must say a few serious words as to the sense in which I wish you
to receive what religious instruction this romantic clergyman may
sometimes mingle with his romance. He is an Evangelical divine of the
purest type. It is therefore primarily for my Evangelical readers that
I translate this or others of his tales; and if they have read either
former letters of 'Fors,' or any of my later books, they must know
that I do not myself believe in Evangelical theology. But I shall,
with my best care, represent and enforce this clergyman's teaching
to my said Evangelical readers, exactly as I should feel it my duty,
if I were talking to a faithful Turk, to represent and enforce to
him any passage of the Koran which was beyond all question true,
in its reference to practical light; and with the bearings of which
I was more familiar than he. For I think that our common prayer
that God "would take away all ignorance, hardness of heart, and
contempt of His word, from all Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics,"
is an entirely absurd one. I do not think all Jews have hard hearts;
nor that all infidels would despise God's word, if only they could
hear it; nor do I in the least know whether it is my neighbour or
myself who is really the heretic. But I pray that prayer for myself
as well as others; and in this form, that God would make all Jews
honest Jews, all Turks honest Turks, all infidels honest infidels,
and all Evangelicals and heretics honest Evangelicals and heretics;
that so these Israelites in whom there is no guile, Turks in whom
there is no guile, and so on, may in due time see the face, and know
the power, of the King alike of Israel and Esau. Now, therefore, young
ladies, I beg you to understand that I entirely sympathize with this
Evangelical clergyman's feelings because I know him to be honest: also,
that I give you of his teaching what is universally true: and that you
may get the more good from his story, I will ask you first to consider
with yourselves what St. James means by saying in the eighth verse of
his general Epistle, "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that
he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made low;" and if you find,
as you generally will, if you think seriously over any verse of your
Bibles whatsoever, that you never have had, and are never likely to
have, the slightest idea what it means, perhaps you will permit me
to propose the following explanation to you. That while both rich and
poor are to be content to remain in their several states, gaining only
by the due and natural bettering of an honest man's settled life; if,
nevertheless, any chance should occur to cause sudden difference in
either of their positions, the poor man might wisely desire that it
should be some relief from the immediate pressure of poverty, while
the rich should esteem it the surest sign of God's favour, if, without
fault of his own, he were forced to know the pain of a lower condition.
I have noticed, in 'Sesame and Lilies,' § 2, the frantic fear of the
ordinary British public, lest they should fall below their proper
"station in life." It appears that almost the only real sense of
duty remaining now in the British conscience is a passionate belief
in the propriety of keeping up an appearance; no matter if on other
people's money, so only that there be no signs of their coming down
in the world.
I should be very glad therefore if any of my young lady readers, who
consider themselves religious persons, would inform me whether they
are satisfied with my interpretation of the text; and if so, then how
far they would consent, without complaining, to let God humble them,
if He wished to? If, for instance, they would, without pouting, allow
Him to have His way, even to the point of forcing them to gain their
bread by some menial service,--as, suppose, a housemaid's; and whether
they would feel aggrieved at being made lower housemaid instead of
upper. If they have read their Bible to so good purpose as not to care
which, I hope the following story may not be thought wholly beneath
their attention; concerning, as it does, the housemaid's principal
implement; or what (supposing her a member of St. George's Company)
we may properly call her spear, or weapon of noble war.