登陆注册
5150400000008

第8章

"God knows; and God grant we may not hear of shame and sorrow fallen upon an ancient and honorable house of Devon.My brother Stukely is woe enough to North Devon for this generation.""Poor braggadocio!" said Mr.Leigh; "and yet not altogether that too, for he can fight at least.""So can every mastiff and boar, much more an Englishman.And now come hither to me, my adventurous godson, and don't look in such doleful dumps.I hear you have broken all the sailor-boys' heads already.""Nearly all," said young Amyas, with due modesty.."But am I not to go to sea?""All things in their time, my boy, and God forbid that either I or your worthy parents should keep you from that noble calling which is the safeguard of this England and her queen.But you do not wish to live and die the master of a trawler?""I should like to be a brave adventurer, like Mr.Oxenham.""God grant you become a braver man than he! for, as I think, to be bold against the enemy is common to the brutes; but the prerogative of a man is to be bold against himself.""How, sir?"

"To conquer our own fancies, Amyas, and our own lusts, and our ambition, in the sacred name of duty; this it is to be truly brave, and truly strong; for he who cannot rule himself, how can he rule his crew or his fortunes? Come, now, I will make you a promise.

If you will bide quietly at home, and learn from your father and mother all which befits a gentleman and a Christian, as well as a seaman, the day shall come when you shall sail with Richard Grenville himself, or with better men than he, on a nobler errand than gold-hunting on the Spanish Main.""O my boy, my boy!" said Mrs.Leigh, "hear what the good Sir Richard promises you.Many an earl's son would be glad to be in your place.""And many an earl's son will be glad to be in his place a score years hence, if he will but learn what I know you two can teach him.And now, Amyas, my lad, I will tell you for a warning the history of that Sir Thomas Stukely of whom I spoke just now, and who was, as all men know, a gallant and courtly knight, of an ancient and worshipful family in Ilfracombe, well practised in the wars, and well beloved at first by our incomparable queen, the friend of all true virtue, as I trust she will be of yours some day; who wanted but one step to greatness, and that was this, that in his hurry to rule all the world, he forgot to rule himself.At first, he wasted his estate in show and luxury, always intending to be famous, and destroying his own fame all the while by his vainglory and haste.Then, to retrieve his losses, he hit upon the peopling of Florida, which thou and I will see done some day, by God's blessing; for I and some good friends of mine have an errand there as well as he.But he did not go about it as a loyal man, to advance the honor of his queen, but his own honor only, dreaming that he too should be a king; and was not ashamed to tell her majesty that he had rather be sovereign of a molehill than the highest subject of an emperor.""They say," said Mr.Leigh, "that he told her plainly he should be a prince before he died, and that she gave him one of her pretty quips in return.""I don't know that her majesty had the best of it.A fool is many times too strong for a wise man, by virtue of his thick hide.For when she said that she hoped she should hear from him in his new principality, 'Yes, sooth,' says he, graciously enough.'And in what style?' asks she.'To our dear sister,' says Stukely: to which her clemency had nothing to reply, but turned away, as Mr.

Burleigh told me, laughing."

"Alas for him!" said gentle Mrs.Leigh."Such self-conceit--and Heaven knows we have the root of it in ourselves also--is the very daughter of self-will, and of that loud crying out about I, and me, and mine, which is the very bird-call for all devils, and the broad road which leads to death.""It will lead him to his," said Sir Richard; "God grant it be not upon Tower-hill! for since that Florida plot, and after that his hopes of Irish preferment came to naught, he who could not help himself by fair means has taken to foul ones, and gone over to Italy to the Pope, whose infallibility has not been proof against Stukely's wit; for he was soon his Holiness's closet counsellor, and, they say, his bosom friend; and made him give credit to his boasts that, with three thousand soldiers he would beat the English out of Ireland, and make the Pope's son king of it.""Ay, but," said Mr.Leigh, "I suppose the Italians have the same fetch now as they had when I was there, to explain such ugly cases;namely, that the Pope is infallible only in doctrine, and quoad Pope; while quoad hominem, he is even as others, or indeed, in general, a deal worse, so that the office, and not the man, may be glorified thereby.But where is Stukely now?""At Rome when last I heard of him, ruffling it up and down the Vatican as Baron Ross, Viscount Murrough, Earl Wexford, Marquis Leinster, and a title or two more, which have cost the Pope little, seeing that they never were his to give; and plotting, they say, some hare-brained expedition against Ireland by the help of the Spanish king, which must end in nothing but his shame and ruin.

And now, my sweet hosts, I must call for serving-boy and lantern, and home to my bed in Bideford."And so Amyas Leigh went back to school, and Mr.Oxenham went his way to Plymouth again, and sailed for the Spanish Main.

同类推荐
  • 启信杂说

    启信杂说

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说舍卫国王十梦经

    佛说舍卫国王十梦经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 铁围山丛谈

    铁围山丛谈

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 台阳笔记

    台阳笔记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 赋得春风扇微和

    赋得春风扇微和

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 金田贵媳

    金田贵媳

    别人穿越,大富大贵! 咋,咱就穿成了没吃又没穿,房子漏水还快倒了? 不公平! 老天爷,你怎么能这样!都不关心关心咱呢? 什么,给个小正太就算关心了? 喂,不是应该他养我,怎么变成了我养他? 活也要自己干! 我穿来这就是为了劳动的了? 虽说劳动最光荣,但是,这不能这样的啊! 天啊!你杀了我比较快吧! 咦?咱的身份不一般? 啊?不是种田的?还得宫斗? 本小姐不想啊! ------------------------------------------ 谢谢洋山芋小王子做的封面!
  • 嫩草降老牛

    嫩草降老牛

    “学姐……你不是说我笨吗?”“可我没想到你已经笨得人神共愤了。”“……”“脑残没药医,学弟节哀。”“……”
  • 大明玄教立成斋醮仪范

    大明玄教立成斋醮仪范

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 紫贝壳

    紫贝壳

    不善于在社交场应酬的佩青,在一次宴会上邂逅了善解人意的夏梦轩,两人一见如故,陷入情网。佩青遭到丈夫范伯南百般凌辱折磨,九死一生后与夏梦轩另筑小巢。但夏梦轩的法定夫人在其姐姐姐夫和范伯南的挟持下,千方百计向这对毫无道德观念的情侣敲诈勒索。夏梦轩在爱情和责任的夹缝中进退维谷,善良脆弱却无廉耻心的佩青经受不住命运的一再拨弄,一对婚外情人终于劳燕分飞……
  • 盛宠医妃

    盛宠医妃

    上一世,爹不亲,姨娘不爱,姐妹轮番奚落。好不容易嫁个相公,还被他亲手推入悬崖。她前世惨死,涅槃重生,六亲不认,美男相伴,谁能奈她几何?妹妹会害人,她会变本加厉;姐姐会下毒,她会养毒蛊;姐姐有人帮忙,她也有美男相伴;王爷态度冷漠,她就让他宠她入骨。有世仇又如何?爱能化解一切干戈;有情敌又如何?她是他心头唯一的牵挂!他为她挡尽一切的风霜!
  • 快穿之逆光行者

    快穿之逆光行者

    背对着光明,一步一步的踏入黑暗……本文纯属虚构!请勿深信!
  • 文心雕龙张立斋考异

    文心雕龙张立斋考异

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 最强校园女王

    最强校园女王

    【空间商女:重生九零小娇妻】新书已发,欢迎来看!她是至尊无上的修真女王,却重生成遭人虐杀的豪门千金。当重新睁开双眼的那一刻,她发誓,定要将那些旧账一一清算!学渣草包,智商堪忧?那不过是世人的误解!只有想不到的,没有做不到的。从今往后,天才,就是她最好的写照。这一路逆袭而上,风华依旧,却多了一个宠她如命的男人始终相护。
  • 半笺风流半笺痴:情暖三生的古典最美情诗

    半笺风流半笺痴:情暖三生的古典最美情诗

    当诗人遇到爱情,世界上就有了最美的语言,那就是情诗! 《半笺风流半笺痴——情暖三生的古典最美情诗》精选中国古代的爱情诗篇,用诗一般的语言,从相遇、相思、相守、离别、离弃、祭奠六个方面对这些情诗进行了解读。作者在品读、解析的过程中挖掘出了诗词背后诗人们的爱情故事,呈现出了诗词的写作背景。《半笺风流半笺痴——情暖三生的古典最美情诗》具有很强的可读性。 《半笺风流半笺痴——情暖三生的古典最美情诗》适合广大文学爱好者、历史爱好者以及对诗词感兴趣的读者阅读。
  • 吞噬世界之龙

    吞噬世界之龙

    在北欧神话当中,北欧维京人崇敬的称呼我为缠绕世界之蛇——耶梦加德;在基督神话当中,基督徒们厌恶的称呼我为古龙、古蛇——撒旦;在希腊神话当中,诸神敬畏的称呼我为百首巨龙——提丰;在昆仑神话当中,巫祝们狂热的称呼我为烛龙——烛九阴……玛雅神话、佛教神话、斯拉夫神话、凯尔特神话、纳瓦特尔神话、日本神话、亚述神话、埃及神话、芬兰神话……在众多的神话传说当中,我以怪物之名穿梭往来,却只想找寻真相。……一个邪神的故事。Q群:111081248(已满),561019873