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From This World to the Next-Part10_HENRY FIELDING(1707-1754)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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were to be escaped even against positive evidence. We imagined

the late example was rather a warning to the accuser than the



criminal, and accordingly proceeded in the most impudent and

flagitious manner.



"Among other robberies, one night, being admitted by the servants

into the house of an opulent priest, my mother took an



opportunity, whilst the servants were dancing to my tunes, to

convey away a silver vessel; this she did without the least



sacrilegious intention; but it seems the cup, which was a pretty

large one, was dedicated to holy uses, and only borrowed by the



priest on an entertainment which he made for some of his

brethren. We were immediately pursued upon this robbery (the cup



being taken in our possession), and carried before the same

magistrate, who had before behaved to us with so much gentleness:



but his countenance was now changed, for the moment the priest

appeared against us, his severity was as remarkable as his candor



had been before, and we were both ordered to be stripped and

whipped through the streets.



"This sentence was executed with great severity, the priest

himself attending and encouraging the executioner, which he said



he did for the good of our souls; but, though our backs were both

flayed, neither my mother's torments nor my own afflicted me so



much as the indignity offered to my poor fiddle, which was

carried in triumph before me, and treated with a contempt by the



multitude, intimating a great scorn for the science I had the

honor to profess; which, as it is one of the noblest inventions



of men, and as I had been always in the highest degree proud of

my excellence in it, I suffered so much from the ill-treatment my



fiddle received, that I would have given all my remainder of skin

to have preserved it from this affront.



"My mother survived the whipping a very short time; and I was now

reduced to great distress and misery, till a young Roman of



considerable rank took a fancy to me, received me into his

family, and conversed with me in the utmostfamiliarity. He had



a violentattachment to music, and would learn to play on the

fiddle; but, through want of genius for the science, he never



made any considerable progress. However, I flattered his

performance, and he grew extravagantly fond of me for so doing.



Had I continued this behavior I might possibly have reaped the

greatest advantages from his kindness; but I had raised his own



opinion of his musical abilities so high, that he now began to

prefer his skill to mine, a presumption I could not bear. One



day as we were playing in concert he was horribly out; nor was it

possible, as he destroyed the harmony, to avoid telling him of



it. Instead of receiving my correction, he answered it was my

blunder and not his, and that I had mistaken the key. Such an



affront from my own scholar was beyond human patience; I flew

into a violentpassion, I flung down my instrument in a rage, and



swore I was not to be taught music at my age. He answered, with

as much warmth, nor was he to be instructed by a strolling



fiddler. The dispute ended in a challenge to play a prize before

judges. This wager was determined in my favor; but the purchase



was a dear one, for I lost my friend by it, who now, twitting me

with all his kindness, with my former ignominious punishment, and



the destitute condition from which I had been by his bounty

relieved, discarded me for ever.



"While I lived with this gentleman I became known, among others,

to Sabina, a lady of distinction, and who valued herself much on



her taste for music. She no sooner heard of my being discarded




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