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Tracks of a Rolling Stone-Part9_Henry J.Coke(1827-1916)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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spots, longing for some friend, some confidant to take

counsel with. I knew no such friend. I did not dare to



speak of my misgivings to others. In spite of my earnest

desire for guidance, for more light, the strong grip of



childhood's influences was impossible to shake off. I could

not rid my conscience of the sin of doubt.



It is this difficulty, this primarydependence on others,

which develops into the child's first religion, that



perpetuates the infantile character of human creeds; and,

what is worse, generates the hideous bigotry which justifies



that sad reflection of Lucretius: 'Tantum Religio potuit

suadere malorum!'



CHAPTER IX

TO turn again to narrative, and to far less serious thoughts.



The last eighteen months before I went to Cambridge, I was

placed, or rather placed myself, under the tuition of Mr.



Robert Collyer, rector of Warham, a living close to Holkham

in the gift of my brother Leicester. Between my Ely tutor



and myself there was but little sympathy. He was a man of

much refinement, but with not much indulgence for such



aberrant proclivities as mine. Without my knowledge, he

wrote to Mr. Ellice lamenting my secret recusancy, and its



moral dangers. Mr. Ellice came expressly from London, and

stayed a night at Ely. He dined with us in the cloisters,



and had a long private conversation with my tutor, and,

before he left, with me. I indignantly resented the



clandestine representations of Mr. S., and, without a word to

Mr. Ellice or to anyone else, wrote next day to Mr. Collyer



to beg him to take me in at Warham, and make what he could of

me, before I went to Cambridge. It may here be said that Mr.



Collyer had been my father's chaplain, and had lived at

Holkham for several years as family tutor to my brothers and



myself, as we in turn left the nursery. Mr. Collyer, upon

receipt of my letter, referred the matter to Mr. Ellice; with



his approval I was duly installed at Warham. Before

describing my time there, I must tell of an incident which



came near to affecting me in a rather important way.

My mother lived at Longford in Derbyshire, an old place, now



my home, which had come into the Coke family in James I.'s

reign, through the marriage of a son of Chief Justice Coke's



with the heiress of the De Langfords, an ancient family from

that time extinct. While staying there during my summer



holidays, my mother confided to me that she had had an offer

of marriage from Mr. Motteux, the owner of considerable



estates in Norfolk, including two houses - Beachamwell and

Sandringham. Mr. Motteux - 'Johnny Motteux,' as he was



called - was, like Tristram Shandy's father, the son of a

wealthy 'Turkey merchant,' which, until better informed, I



always took to mean a dealer in poultry. 'Johnny,' like

another man of some notoriety, whom I well remember in my



younger days - Mr. Creevey - had access to many large houses

such as Holkham; not, like Creevey, for the sake of his



scandalous tongue, but for the sake of his wealth. He had no

(known) relatives; and big people, who had younger sons to



provide for, were quite willing that one of them should be

his heir. Johnny Motteux was an epicure with the best of



CHEFS. His capons came from Paris, his salmon from

Christchurch, and his Strasburg pies were made to order. One



of these he always brought with him as a present to my

mother, who used to say, 'Mr. Motteux evidently thinks the



nearest way to my heart is down my throat.'

A couple of years after my father's death, Motteux wrote to



my mother proposing marriage, and, to enhance his personal

attractions, (in figure and dress he was a duplicate of the



immortal Pickwick,) stated that he had made his will and had

bequeathed Sandringham to me, adding that, should he die



without issue, I was to inherit the remainder of his estates.

Rather to my surprise, my mother handed the letter to me with






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