| | 1 | Author: | Paulding
James Kirke
1778-1860 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | A Sketch of Old England  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | I am now comfortably and quietly settled in lodgings,
with an elderly lady, who has good blood in her veins; that is
to say, if blood be an hereditary commodity, which some
people doubt, but which I do not, for there are diseases bodily
and mental in most of the old families here that have descended
through half-a-score of wealthy generations. She claims descent
from Tudors and Plantagenets to boot, and combines the conflicting
claims of both York and Lancaster. Though too well
bred to boast, she sometimes used to mention these matters,
until one day I advised her, in jest, to procure a champion to
tilt against young parson Dymoke for the broom at the ensuing
coronation. The good old soul took the joke ill, and I was
sorry for it. What right had I to ridicule that which, to her,
was an innocent source of happiness? I despise the cant of
sentiment, but I promise never to do so again. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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