Sir Roger de Coverley at Home

Joseph Addison

Hinc tibi copia Manabit ad plenum benigno Ruris honorum opulenta cornu.

Having often received an invitation from my friend Sir Roger de Coverley to pass away a month with him in the country, I last week accompanied him thither, and am settled with him for some time at his country-house, where I intend to form several of my ensuing speculations. Sir Roger, who is very well acquainted with my humour, lets me rise and go to bed when I please, dine at his own table or in my chamber as I think fit, sit still and say nothing without bidding me be merry. When the gentlemen of the country come to see him, he only shows me at a distance. As I have been walking in his fields, I have observed them stealing a sight of me over a hedge,and have heard the knight desiring them not to let me see them, for that I hated to be stared at.

I am the more at ease in Sir Roger’s family because it consists of sober and staid persons; for as the knight is the best master in the world, he seldom changes his servants; and as he is beloved by all about him, his servants never care for leaving him. By this means his domestics are all in years, and grown old with their master. You would take his valet de chambre for his brother, his butler is gray headed, his groom is one of the gravest men that I have ever seen,and his coachman has the looks of a privy-counsellor. You see the goodness of the master even in the old house-dog, and in a gray pad that is kept in the stable with great care and tenderness out of regard to his past services, though he has been useless for several years.

I could not but observe with a great deal of pleasure the joy that appeared in the countenances of these ancient domestics upon my friend’s arrival at his country-seat. Some of them could not refrain from tears at the sight of their old master; every one of them pressed forward to do something for him, and seemed discouraged if they were not employed. At the same time the good old knight, with a mixture of the father and the master of the family, tempered the inquiries after his own afairs with several kind questions relating to themselves. This humanity and good nature engages everybody to him, so that when he is pleasant upon any of them, all his family are in good humour, and none so much as the person whom he diverts himself with. On the contrary, if he coughs, or betrays any infirmity of old age, it is easy for a stander-by to observe a secret concern in the looks of all his servants.

My worthy friend has put me under the particular care of his butler, who is a very prudent man, and, as well as the rest of his fellow-servants, wonderfully desirous of pleasing me, because they have often heard their master talk of me as of his particular friend.

My chief companion, when Sir Roger is diverting himself in the woods or the fields, is a very venerable man who is ever with Sir Roger, and has lived at his house in the nature of a chaplain above thirty years. This gentleman is a person of good sense and some learning, of a very regular life and obliging conversation. He heartily loves Sir Roger, and knows that he is very much in the old knight’s esteem, so that he lives in the family rather as a relation than a dependant.

I have observed in several of my papers that my friend Sir Roger, amidst all his good qualities, is something of a humourist,and that his virtues, as well as imperfections, are as it were tinged by a certain extravagance, which makes them particularly his and distinguishes them from those of other men. This cast of mind, as it is generally very innocent in itself, so it renders his conversation highly agreeable, and more delightful than the same degree of sense and virtue would appear in their common and ordinary colours. As I was walking with him last night, he asked me how I liked the good man whom I have just now mentioned, and without staying for my answer, told me that he was afraid of being insulted with Latin and Greek at his own table; for which reason, he desired a particular friend of his at the university to find him out a clergyman rather of plain sense than much learning, of a good aspect, a clear voice,a sociable temper, and if possible, a man that understood a little of backgammon. ‘My friend,’ says Sir Roger, ‘found me out this gentleman, who, besides the endowments required of him, is, they tell me, a good scholar, though he does not show it. I have given him the parsonage of the parish; and, because I know his value, have settled upon him a good annuity for life. If he outlives me, he shall find that he was higher in my esteem than perhaps he thinks he is.He has now been with me thirty years; and, though he does not know I have taken notice of it, has never in all that time asked anything of me for himself, though he is every day soliciting me for something in behalf of one or other of my tenants his parishioners. There has not been a lawsuit in the parish since he has lived among them. If any dispute arises, they apply themselves to him for the decision; if they do not acquiesce in his judgment, which I think never happened above once, or twice at most, they appeal to me. At his first settling with me, I made him a present of all the good sermons which have been printed in English, and only begged of him that every Sunday he would pronounce one of them in the pulpit. Accordingly, he has digested them into such a series that they follow one another naturally, and make a continued system of practical divinity.’

As Sir Roger was going on in his story, the gentleman we were talking of came up to us; and upon the knight’s asking him who preached to-morrow (for it was Saturday night) told us the Bishop of St. Asaph in the morning and Dr. South in the afternoon. He then showed us his list of preachers for the whole year, where I saw with a great deal of pleasure Archbishop Tillotson, Bishop Saunderson, Dr.Barrow, Dr. Calamy, with several living authors who have published discourses of practical divinity. I no sooner saw this venerable man in the pulpit but I very much approved of my friend’s insisting upon the qualifications of a good aspect and a clear voice; for I was so charmed with the gracefulness of his figure and delivery, as well as with the discourses he pronounced, that I think I never passed any time more to my satisfaction. A sermon repeated after this manner is like the composition of a poet in the mouth of a graceful actor.

I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example, and, instead of wasting their spirits in laborious compositions of their own, would endeavour after a handsome elocution and all those other talents that are proper to enforce what has been penned by greater masters. This would not only be more easy to themselves, but more edifying to the people.

Notes

From the Spectator, No. 106 (July 2, 1711).

Motto from Horace, Odes, I, xvii, 14:

‘Here Plenty’s liberal horn shall pour

Of fruits for thee a copious show’r,

Rich honours of the quiet plain.’

humour, in the old sense of the word, temperament.

valet de chambre (French), a personal attendant.

pleasant, in a humourous or joking mood.

in the nature of a chaplain. Bishop Hurd remarks:‘The word “nature”is used here a little licentiously. He should have said “in the office” of a chaplain.’ In modern usage we should rather say, ‘in the character or capacity of a chaplain.’

backgammon, a favourite card game of the 18th century.

Bishop of St. Asaph, etc. The Bishop of St. Asaph may mean Beveridge,whose sermons were published in 1708; or Dr. William Fleetwood (1656—1723), Beveridge’s successor. Dr. Bobert South (1634—1716) was a high Churchman and a Tory, famous for wit and eloquence. Dr. John Tillotson(1630—1694) was the ‘great and good’ Archbishop of Canterbury. His sermons, which have been heavy reading, were greatly admired. Dr.Robert Saunderson (1587—1663) was Bishop of Lincoln at the Restoration.Dr. Isaac Barrow (1630—1677) attained his eminence at Cambridge both as a mathematician and theologian. For five years before his death he was Proctor of Trinity College. Dr. Edmund Calamy was one of the leading Presbyterian ministers under the Commonwealth.

handsome, suitable.

talents, acquired abilities.

【作品简介】

本文选自《旁观者》第106期（1711年7月2日）。

篇首格言出自贺拉斯的《歌集》第一卷：“这里有充裕的自由号角/为你带来了丰硕的果实/为这宁静的朴实无华，带来了丰富的荣耀。”

【作品解析】

humour：气质、禀性（古义）。

valet de chambre（法语）：家庭雇佣。

pleasant：愉快、幽默或者开玩笑的状态。

in the nature of a chaplain：赫德主教评论说：“‘本性’（nature）一词用在这里有点放肆。他应该说‘在职的’牧师。现代用法通常说‘以牧师的身份’。”

backgammon：西洋双陆棋，18世纪最受欢迎的纸牌游戏。

Bishop of St. Asaph, etc.：此段中，圣·阿萨夫主教或许是指贝弗里奇，他的布道文发表于1708年；或许是指威廉·弗利特伍德博士（1656—1723），贝弗里奇的继任者。罗伯特·索斯博士（1634—1716）是一位权高位重的教会牧师和托利党人，以机智和雄辩的口才著称。约翰·蒂洛森博士（1630—1694）是坎特伯雷“伟大而善良”的大主教。他的布道广受好评，深受人们的赞赏。罗伯特·桑德森博士（1587—1663）是复辟时期林肯郡的主教。伊萨克·巴罗博士（1630—1677）在剑桥大学获得了他杰出数学家和神学家的声望。他去世前的五年里，曾任三一学院的院长。埃德蒙·卡拉米博士是英联邦领导下的长老会主要牧师之一。

handsome：恰到好处。

talents：后天能力。