-
Главная
-
- Книги
-
- Авторы
-
- Вальтер Скотт
-
- Айвенго
-
- Стр. 2/364
Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
A
circumstance
which
greatly
tended
to
enhance
the
tyranny
of
the
nobility
,
and
the
sufferings
of
the
inferior
classes
,
arose
from
the
consequences
of
the
Conquest
by
Duke
William
of
Normandy
.
Four
generations
had
not
sufficed
to
blend
the
hostile
blood
of
the
Normans
and
Anglo-Saxons
,
or
to
unite
,
by
common
language
and
mutual
interests
,
two
hostile
races
,
one
of
which
still
felt
the
elation
of
triumph
,
while
the
other
groaned
under
all
the
consequences
of
defeat
.
The
power
had
been
completely
placed
in
the
hands
of
the
Norman
nobility
,
by
the
event
of
the
battle
of
Hastings
,
and
it
had
been
used
,
as
our
histories
assure
us
,
with
no
moderate
hand
.
The
whole
race
of
Saxon
princes
and
nobles
had
been
extirpated
or
disinherited
,
with
few
or
no
exceptions
;
nor
were
the
numbers
great
who
possessed
land
in
the
country
of
their
fathers
,
even
as
proprietors
of
the
second
,
or
of
yet
inferior
classes
.
The
royal
policy
had
long
been
to
weaken
,
by
every
means
,
legal
or
illegal
,
the
strength
of
a
part
of
the
population
which
was
justly
considered
as
nourishing
the
most
inveterate
antipathy
to
their
victor
.
All
the
monarchs
of
the
Norman
race
had
shown
the
most
marked
predilection
for
their
Norman
subjects
;
the
laws
of
the
chase
,
and
many
others
equally
unknown
to
the
milder
and
more
free
spirit
of
the
Saxon
constitution
,
had
been
fixed
upon
the
necks
of
the
subjugated
inhabitants
,
to
add
weight
,
as
it
were
,
to
the
feudal
chains
with
which
they
were
loaded
.
At
court
,
and
in
the
castles
of
the
great
nobles
,
where
the
pomp
and
state
of
a
court
was
emulated
,
Norman-French
was
the
only
language
employed
;
in
courts
of
law
,
the
pleadings
and
judgments
were
delivered
in
the
same
tongue
.
In
short
,
French
was
the
language
of
honour
,
of
chivalry
,
and
even
of
justice
,
while
the
far
more
manly
and
expressive
Anglo-Saxon
was
abandoned
to
the
use
of
rustics
and
hinds
,
who
knew
no
other
.
Still
,
however
,
the
necessary
intercourse
between
the
lords
of
the
soil
,
and
those
oppressed
inferior
beings
by
whom
that
soil
was
cultivated
,
occasioned
the
gradual
formation
of
a
dialect
,
compounded
betwixt
the
French
and
the
Anglo-Saxon
,
in
which
they
could
render
themselves
mutually
intelligible
to
each
other
;
and
from
this
necessity
arose
by
degrees
the
structure
of
our
present
English
language
,
in
which
the
speech
of
the
victors
and
the
vanquished
have
been
so
happily
blended
together
;
and
which
has
since
been
so
richly
improved
by
importations
from
the
classical
languages
,
and
from
those
spoken
by
the
southern
nations
of
Europe
.
This
state
of
things
I
have
thought
it
necessary
to
premise
for
the
information
of
the
general
reader
,
who
might
be
apt
to
forget
,
that
,
although
no
great
historical
events
,
such
as
war
or
insurrection
,
mark
the
existence
of
the
Anglo-Saxons
as
a
separate
people
subsequent
to
the
reign
of
William
the
Second
;
yet
the
great
national
distinctions
betwixt
them
and
their
conquerors
,
the
recollection
of
what
they
had
formerly
been
,
and
to
what
they
were
now
reduced
,
continued
down
to
the
reign
of
Edward
the
Third
,
to
keep
open
the
wounds
which
the
Conquest
had
inflicted
,
and
to
maintain
a
line
of
separation
betwixt
the
descendants
of
the
victor
Normans
and
the
vanquished
Saxons
.
The
sun
was
setting
upon
one
of
the
rich
grassy
glades
of
that
forest
,
which
we
have
mentioned
in
the
beginning
of
the
chapter
.
Hundreds
of
broad-headed
,
short-stemmed
,
wide-branched
oaks
,
which
had
witnessed
perhaps
the
stately
march
of
the
Roman
soldiery
,
flung
their
gnarled
arms
over
a
thick
carpet
of
the
most
delicious
green
sward
;
in
some
places
they
were
intermingled
with
beeches
,
hollies
,
and
copsewood
of
various
descriptions
,
so
closely
as
totally
to
intercept
the
level
beams
of
the
sinking
sun
;
in
others
they
receded
from
each
other
,
forming
those
long
sweeping
vistas
,
in
the
intricacy
of
which
the
eye
delights
to
lose
itself
,
while
imagination
considers
them
as
the
paths
to
yet
wilder
scenes
of
silvan
solitude
.
Here
the
red
rays
of
the
sun
shot
a
broken
and
discoloured
light
,
that
partially
hung
upon
the
shattered
boughs
and
mossy
trunks
of
the
trees
,
and
there
they
illuminated
in
brilliant
patches
the
portions
of
turf
to
which
they
made
their
way
.
A
considerable
open
space
,
in
the
midst
of
this
glade
,
seemed
formerly
to
have
been
dedicated
to
the
rites
of
Druidical
superstition
;
for
,
on
the
summit
of
a
hillock
,
so
regular
as
to
seem
artificial
,
there
still
remained
part
of
a
circle
of
rough
unhewn
stones
,
of
large
dimensions
.
Seven
stood
upright
;
the
rest
had
been
dislodged
from
their
places
,
probably
by
the
zeal
of
some
convert
to
Christianity
,
and
lay
,
some
prostrate
near
their
former
site
,
and
others
on
the
side
of
the
hill
.
One
large
stone
only
had
found
its
way
to
the
bottom
,
and
in
stopping
the
course
of
a
small
brook
,
which
glided
smoothly
round
the
foot
of
the
eminence
,
gave
,
by
its
opposition
,
a
feeble
voice
of
murmur
to
the
placid
and
elsewhere
silent
streamlet
.
The
human
figures
which
completed
this
landscape
,
were
in
number
two
,
partaking
,
in
their
dress
and
appearance
,
of
that
wild
and
rustic
character
,
which
belonged
to
the
woodlands
of
the
West-Riding
of
Yorkshire
at
that
early
period
.
The
eldest
of
these
men
had
a
stern
,
savage
,
and
wild
aspect
.
His
garment
was
of
the
simplest
form
imaginable
,
being
a
close
jacket
with
sleeves
,
composed
of
the
tanned
skin
of
some
animal
,
on
which
the
hair
had
been
originally
left
,
but
which
had
been
worn
off
in
so
many
places
,
that
it
would
have
been
difficult
to
distinguish
from
the
patches
that
remained
,
to
what
creature
the
fur
had
belonged
.
This
primeval
vestment
reached
from
the
throat
to
the
knees
,
and
served
at
once
all
the
usual
purposes
of
body-clothing
;
there
was
no
wider
opening
at
the
collar
,
than
was
necessary
to
admit
the
passage
of
the
head
,
from
which
it
may
be
inferred
,
that
it
was
put
on
by
slipping
it
over
the
head
and
shoulders
,
in
the
manner
of
a
modern
shirt
,
or
ancient
hauberk
.
Sandals
,
bound
with
thongs
made
of
boars
'
hide
,
protected
the
feet
,
and
a
roll
of
thin
leather
was
twined
artificially
round
the
legs
,
and
,
ascending
above
the
calf
,
left
the
knees
bare
,
like
those
of
a
Scottish
Highlander
.
To
make
the
jacket
sit
yet
more
close
to
the
body
,
it
was
gathered
at
the
middle
by
a
broad
leathern
belt
,
secured
by
a
brass
buckle
;
to
one
side
of
which
was
attached
a
sort
of
scrip
,
and
to
the
other
a
ram
's
horn
,
accoutred
with
a
mouthpiece
,
for
the
purpose
of
blowing
.
In
the
same
belt
was
stuck
one
of
those
long
,
broad
,
sharp-pointed
,
and
two-edged
knives
,
with
a
buck
's
-
horn
handle
,
which
were
fabricated
in
the
neighbourhood
,
and
bore
even
at
this
early
period
the
name
of
a
Sheffield
whittle
.
The
man
had
no
covering
upon
his
head
,
which
was
only
defended
by
his
own
thick
hair
,
matted
and
twisted
together
,
and
scorched
by
the
influence
of
the
sun
into
a
rusty
dark-red
colour
,
forming
a
contrast
with
the
overgrown
beard
upon
his
cheeks
,
which
was
rather
of
a
yellow
or
amber
hue
.
One
part
of
his
dress
only
remains
,
but
it
is
too
remarkable
to
be
suppressed
;
it
was
a
brass
ring
,
resembling
a
dog
's
collar
,
but
without
any
opening
,
and
soldered
fast
round
his
neck
,
so
loose
as
to
form
no
impediment
to
his
breathing
,
yet
so
tight
as
to
be
incapable
of
being
removed
,
excepting
by
the
use
of
the
file
.
On
this
singular
gorget
was
engraved
,
in
Saxon
characters
,
an
inscription
of
the
following
purport
:
--
"
Gurth
,
the
son
of
Beowulph
,
is
the
born
thrall
of
Cedric
of
Rotherwood
.
"
Beside
the
swine-herd
,
for
such
was
Gurth
's
occupation
,
was
seated
,
upon
one
of
the
fallen
Druidical
monuments
,
a
person
about
ten
years
younger
in
appearance
,
and
whose
dress
,
though
resembling
his
companion
's
in
form
,
was
of
better
materials
,
and
of
a
more
fantastic
appearance
.
His
jacket
had
been
stained
of
a
bright
purple
hue
,
upon
which
there
had
been
some
attempt
to
paint
grotesque
ornaments
in
different
colours
.
To
the
jacket
he
added
a
short
cloak
,
which
scarcely
reached
half
way
down
his
thigh
;
it
was
of
crimson
cloth
,
though
a
good
deal
soiled
,
lined
with
bright
yellow
;
and
as
he
could
transfer
it
from
one
shoulder
to
the
other
,
or
at
his
pleasure
draw
it
all
around
him
,
its
width
,
contrasted
with
its
want
of
longitude
,
formed
a
fantastic
piece
of
drapery
.
He
had
thin
silver
bracelets
upon
his
arms
,
and
on
his
neck
a
collar
of
the
same
metal
bearing
the
inscription
,
"
Wamba
,
the
son
of
Witless
,
is
the
thrall
of
Cedric
of
Rotherwood
.
"
This
personage
had
the
same
sort
of
sandals
with
his
companion
,
but
instead
of
the
roll
of
leather
thong
,
his
legs
were
cased
in
a
sort
of
gaiters
,
of
which
one
was
red
and
the
other
yellow
.
He
was
provided
also
with
a
cap
,
having
around
it
more
than
one
bell
,
about
the
size
of
those
attached
to
hawks
,
which
jingled
as
he
turned
his
head
to
one
side
or
other
;
and
as
he
seldom
remained
a
minute
in
the
same
posture
,
the
sound
might
be
considered
as
incessant
.
Around
the
edge
of
this
cap
was
a
stiff
bandeau
of
leather
,
cut
at
the
top
into
open
work
,
resembling
a
coronet
,
while
a
prolonged
bag
arose
from
within
it
,
and
fell
down
on
one
shoulder
like
an
old-fashioned
nightcap
,
or
a
jelly-bag
,
or
the
head-gear
of
a
modern
hussar
.
It
was
to
this
part
of
the
cap
that
the
bells
were
attached
;
which
circumstance
,
as
well
as
the
shape
of
his
head-dress
,
and
his
own
half-crazed
,
half-cunning
expression
of
countenance
,
sufficiently
pointed
him
out
as
belonging
to
the
race
of
domestic
clowns
or
jesters
,
maintained
in
the
houses
of
the
wealthy
,
to
help
away
the
tedium
of
those
lingering
hours
which
they
were
obliged
to
spend
within
doors
.
He
bore
,
like
his
companion
,
a
scrip
,
attached
to
his
belt
,
but
had
neither
horn
nor
knife
,
being
probably
considered
as
belonging
to
a
class
whom
it
is
esteemed
dangerous
to
intrust
with
edge-tools
.
