Part 6 (1/2)

My courage too was soon put to the proof, and my opponents found that I entered on action with very tolerable alacrity; so that not to un I was never the first to flinch, I had not been a year at school, before I had been declared the conqueror in three set battles The third ith a butcher's boy, in defence of Hector, who for once instead of giving had suffered insult, but who, though older and stronger than I was, had not the courage to attack his hardy antagonist My victory was dearly earned, for the boy was considerably th, and bred to the sport But this defence of hi me for a foe, induced Hector to court my favour, and often to invite me to Mowbray Hall

Nor did the whole of my fame end here; the first day I entered the school I was allowed to be the best English scholar, excepting one Turl, a youth noted for his talents, and hile he remained there continually kept his place in every class, as head boy But this was no triu at school, he had three or four years the advantage of e Neither did my thirst of inquiry abate, and I had now not only books but instructors; on the contrary, ress both in Latin and Greek was rapid The rector was astonished at it, and was often e i my other acquirements, I became a practical musician The rector could strum the bass tolerably, and his friend the lawyer could play the violin, in which however he was excelled by the clerk of the parish I retained soreat desire to learn; the rector encouraged it, and as the clerk is always the very humble servant and slave of the parson, he was inducted my music master I loved the art, so that in less than twelve ress to join in Corelli's and even Handel's trios, and thus to strengthen the parsonage-house band

People who hate each other do yet visit and keep up an intercourse, according to set for a hideous and degrading vice, of which all men are more or less either ashamed or afraid To preserve these appearances, or perhaps from the impulse of vanity, the rector admitted of my excursions to Mowbray Hall Forthan the society of Hector, that frequently occasioned er than myself, was usually one of our parlour play in the same family, accustomed to the same manners, it is difficult to account for the very opposite propensities of this brother and sister Every thing the reverse of what has been recited of Hector was visible in Olivia He was boisterous, selfish, and brutal; she was coish, obtuse, and confined; hers were acute, discriht to inflict torture; her extreme sensibility made her fly to administer relief The company of Olivia soon became very attractive, and the rambles that I have sometimes taken with her, hand in hand over Mowbray Park, afforded no coht She too was a musician, and already famous for her fine voice and execution on the harpsichord I acco duets with her so as to surprize and even charm the Squire, and throw the visitors at Mowbray Hall into raptures

This sweet intercourse however was ters, and srandfather, which at length burst into a flame The Squire had succeeded to his estate and manor by the death of a very distant relation, and by this relation the rector had been presented to his living: he therefore considered hiation to the Squire; while the latter on the contrary, the advowson being parcel and part of the manor, held the manor, and himself as owner of the manor, to be the actual donor

To all this was added another very serious cause of discontent, that of tythes; a cause that disturbs half the villages in the kingdom, and that frequently exhibits the man who is sent to preach peace, and afford an exaious, quarrelsome and odious tyrant; much better qualified to herd olves than to be the shepherd of his meek master It is sufficiently certain that neither Christ nor his apostles ever took tythes; and the esquires, fareneral be better satisfied, if their successors were to follow so disinterested and laudable an exarandfather had accepted his rectory at the same commutation that the former incumbent had enjoyed it; and, while the patron to who, he contented hiain as well as he could: but, soon after the accession of Squire Mowbray, considering that tie as no longer a clog to his conscience, he began to inquire very seriously into the real value of his first fruits and tythes, personal, predial, and reat tythes and his small The calculation inflamed his avarice, and he purchased and read all the books on the subject of tythes he could collect Being fond of power, and having discovered (as he supposed) that the reatest quantity of power over his sihbours, he was a tolerably laborious and successful student of these quirks I say, tolerably; for it seldom happens that the rector is the most industrious person in the parish

It was thus that, after having made the whole hundred tremble at his authority, in the exercise of his office of justice of the peace, he next hoped to conquer the Behe vanquished and the advice of his friends had indeed, for years, prevented hi to an open rupture with his parish, and the Squire at its head: but his irritability had been gradually increasing ever since the departure of ress of his avarice at first was slow; but it gained strength as it proceeded, and there was now no one whose opinion had sufficient weight with hier quiet His friend the lawyer, it is true, ht have had some such influence over him; but the lawyer had been duly articled to the ious, attorney in the country, and was himself his very famous successor; a practitioner of the first repute

The Squire, by a trick he thought proper to play, contributed not a little to kindle the s announced his intention of de paid his tythes in kind--first his tythes _de jure_, and next his tythes by custo them all and each; corn, hay, hops and hemp; fruits, roots, seeds and weeds; wool, s and pond drawings; not forgetting agistment and _subbois_, or _sylva caedua_; with many many more of the sweets of our prolific mother earth, which I would enumerate if I did but recollect them, and for which men so often have been and still are i recapitulated and set forth in terrible array, by the rector, excited in the whole parish sowith such a swoop upon thean to tremble

The Squire was the only er The rector's deviation froe, and he panted for an opportunity of shewing the conterandfather and his threats

Malicious chance favoured his wishes It happened, while his passions were in full force, that a rat-catcher arrived at Mowbray Hall; which at that tie Norway rats The ly e to perforentle Olivia, very innocently and without any foresight of consequences, chanced to say--'I do not think, papa, that our good rector, who considers all things as tytheable, would be much pleased to have his tythe of rats'--The Squire no sooner heard this sentence uttered than he began to dance and halloo, like amost vociferously--'By G----, wench, he shall ha' um! He shall ha' um! He shall ha' uht, which was indeed far beyond the discovery of his own brain, could not be appeased; nor could Olivia, sorry for what she had done, prevent hi to put it in practice The ratcatcher was immediately ordered to entrap as many of his best friends as he possibly could; and a carpenter was set to work to make a covered box, for the rector's tythe-rats, with a lifting door Hector Mowbray was consulted on the whole progress; and the fancies of father and son were tickled to excess, by the happy prank they were about to play

The rats were caught, the box was made, and the ratcatcher coest of thehten and secure their enjoyment, the Squire and Hector chose four of the stoutest servants, gave the cage into their custody, and ordered the ratcatcher to attend Away they then went in turbulent procession They even wanted Olivia to go with the Hector, probably withforce; but she was a favourite with the Squire, and being very determined was suffered to ree-house, they entered the hall The Squire loudly called for the rector The noise and vociferation of their approach had rouzed his attention, and he was not long in co

The servants too were collected, some without the door and others of more authority within it, to hear and see what all this could mean

I likeas one of the company--'Here! here! Mr Rector,' bawled the Squire, 'we ha' brought you your due I'll warrant, for once, you sha'n't grurandfather, hearing this address, seeing the covered cage, and rerins of the Squire and his whole posse, knew not what to think, and began to suspect there was mischief in the wind--'By the waunds! mister tythe taker,' continued the Squire, 'but you shall ha' your own! Here, lads, lift up the cage: put it on the table; let his reverence see e ha' brought'n! Corin upon his countenance, did as they were bidden: they lifted up the box, raised the door, and out burst above twenty of the largest wildest rats the well stocked barns of Mowbray Hall could afford Their nu, their ferocity, their atteave froe house community with a panic The women screamed; the rector foamed; the squire hallooed; and the s, and every other weapon or missile that was at hand The uproar was universal, and the Squire never before or after felt hireat a hero! The death of the fox itself was unequal to it!

This was but the first act of the farce, the catastrophe of which had soical cast Servants partake of the prejudices of theirand old, male and female, felt itself insulted No sooner therefore were the rats discoisterial and orthodox dignity, co theMowbray continued his exultations and coarse sarcasot the peaceful precepts of his divine eneral assault Nay he himself, so unruly are the hands and feet even of a parson in a passion, was one of the e itself could not bind his ared, fierce and dreadful, for sometime in the hall: but heroism soon found it wanted elbow-room, and the two armies by mutual consent sallied forth Numbers were in our favour, for the verypins, acted like Aled out e exaht, had even dared to begin the attack; and I was no less alert in opposition But though he was Hector, I as it happened was Achilles, and bestowed ly In fine, valour, victory, and right, were for once united, and we very fairly put the Squire, his heir, his ratcatcher, and his beef-eaters to flight

The rector, dreading a second attack froan to fortify his castle, provide ae his troops I acted as his aide-de-ca to be myself commander in chief But the caution was superfluous: the Squire, like his son, was rather revengeful than valorous, and returned no more to the field

In the parish however the fortune of the day ht be said to wear a very different face, for there was not a farmer who did not triumph at the tythe in kind, which had been paid to the rector; and it becaeneral threat to sweep the parish of moles, weazles, stoats, polecats and vermin of every species, and tenant the rectory with the more was heard on the subject of tythes Neither did detraction forget to ree, and how sharave to quarrel with and rob the poor faruide, console, and love The poor farot that, in the eye of the law, the robbery was theirs; and the rector forgot that in the eye of justice and coh The fraot that to hire akind of a mode But such mistakes are daily made

CHAPTER XI