I am always very well pleased with a country Sunday,
and think, if keeping holy the seventh day were only a
human institution, it would be the best method that could (10)
have been thought of for the polishing and civilizing of
mankind. It is certain the country people would soon
degenerate into a kind of savages and barbarians were
there not such frequent returns of a stated time, in which
the whole village meet together with their best faces, and (15)
in their cleanliest habits, to converse with one another
upon indifferent[60] subjects, hear their duties explained to
them, and join together in adoration of the Supreme
Being. Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week,
not only as it refreshes in their minds the notions
of religion, but as it puts both the sexes upon appearing
in their most agreeable forms, and exerting all such
qualities as are apt to give them a figure in the eye of
the village. A country fellow distinguishes himself as (101: 5)
much in the church-yard as a citizen does upon the
Change,[61] the whole parish politics being generally discussed
at that place, either after sermon or before the
bell rings.
[60] What is the meaning of the word here?
[61] Short for "Exchange."
My friend Sir Roger, being a good churchman, has (10)
beautified the inside of his church with several texts of
his own choosing; he has likewise given a handsome
pulpit cloth, and railed in the communion table at his
own expense. He has often told me that, at his coming
to his estate, he found his parishioners very irregular; (15)
and that in order to make them kneel and join in the
responses, he gave every one of them a hassock and a
Common Prayer Book, and at the same time employed
an itinerant singing-master, who goes about the country
for that purpose, to instruct them rightly in the tunes of (20)
the Psalms; upon which they now very much value themselves,
and indeed outdo most of the country churches
that I have ever heard.
As Sir Roger is landlord to the whole congregation, he
keeps them in very good order, and will suffer nobody to (25)
sleep in it besides himself; for, if by chance he has been
surprised into a short nap at sermon, upon recovering out
of it he stands up and looks about him, and, if he sees
anybody else nodding, either wakes them himself, or
sends his servant to them. Several other of the old
knight's particularities[62] break out upon these occasions:
sometimes he will be lengthening out a verse in the singing (102: 5)
Psalms half a minute after the rest of the congregation
have done with it; sometimes, when he is pleased
with the matter of his devotion, he pronounces "Amen"
three or four times to the same prayer; and sometimes
stands up when everybody else is upon their[63] knees, to
count the congregation, or see if any of his tenants are (10)
missing.
[62] Peculiarities.
[63] Correct the English.
I was yesterday very much surprised to hear my old
friend, in the midst of the service, calling out to one
John Matthews to mind what he was about, and not disturb
the congregation. This John Matthews, it seems, is (15)
remarkable for being an idle fellow, and at that time was
kicking his heels for his diversion. This authority of the
knight, though exerted in that odd manner which accompanies
him in all circumstances of life, has a very good
effect upon the parish, who are not polite enough to see (20)
anything ridiculous in his behaviour; besides that the general
good sense and worthiness of his character makes his
friends observe these little singularities as foils that rather
set off than blemish his good qualities.
As soon as the sermon is finished, nobody presumes to (25)
stir till Sir Roger is gone out of the church. The knight
walks down from his seat in the chancel between a double
row of his tenants, that stand bowing to him on each
side, and every now and then inquires how such an one's
wife, or mother, or son, or father do, whom he does not
see at church,--which is understood as a secret reprimand
to the person that is absent.
The chaplain has often told me that, upon a catechizing (103: 5)
day, when Sir Roger had been pleased with a boy that
answers well, he has ordered a Bible to be given him
next day for his encouragement, and sometimes accompanies
it with a flitch of bacon to his mother. Sir Roger
has likewise added five pounds a year to the clerk's (10)
place; and, that he may encourage the young fellows to
make themselves perfect in the church service, has promised,
upon the death of the present incumbent, who is
very old, to bestow it according to merit.
The fair understanding between Sir Roger and his (15)
chaplain and their mutual concurrence in doing good, is
the more remarkable because the very next village is
famous for the differences and contentions that rise between
the parson and the squire, who live in a perpetual
state of war. The parson is always preaching at the (20)
squire, and the squire, to be revenged on the parson,
never comes to church. The squire has made all his
tenants atheists and tithe stealers; while the parson instructs
them every Sunday in the dignity of his order,
and insinuates to them in almost every sermon that he is (25)
a better man than his patron. In short, matters are come
to such an extremity that the squire has not said his
prayers either in public or private this half year; and
that the parson threatens him, if he does not mend his
manners, to pray for him in the face of the whole
congregation.
Feuds of this nature, though too frequent in the country,
are very fatal to the ordinary people, who are so used
to be dazzled with riches that they pay as much deference (104: 5)
to the understanding of a man of an estate as of a man
of learning; and are very hardly brought to regard any
truth, how important soever it may be, that is preached
to them, when they know there are several men of five
hundred a year[64] who do not believe it. L. (10)
[64] _I.e_. who have an income of five hundred pounds a year.