Opis: Tylney Hall (Classic Reprint) - Hood Thomas

Excerpt from Tylney Hall

I was silting snugly in my sanctorum, with the remains of a bottle of port wine before me, wherewith, according to custom, I had dismissed a new work from the stocks, when, after a preliminary tap at the door, two strangers presented themselves, and with much bowing and many invitations were induced to take chairs on either side of the table. I saw them individually glance at the shallow pool of purple that occupied the bottom of the decanter; and, with my usual sense of the duties of hospitality, before they had done hemming and clearing their throats preparatory to declaring the purport of their visit, a fresh magnum was glowing through the crystal. Whilst they were enjoying and commending the raciness of a celebrated vintage, I look the opportunity of scrutinizing my guests; and certainly no two human beings could present more essential differences both in face and figure. One was tall and thin, with a preposterously long body and a lugubrious pale face; whereas the other was short and punchy, with a round, shining, chubby, ruddy countenance, that did not seem to have kept pace with his age, but had remained a boy's head on a man's shoulders. He spoke smartly, with a brisk, merry voice, occasionally breaking into a joyous chuckle, without any apparent cause but the mere exuberance of animal spirits. His companion, on the contrary, had a slow, deep, melancholy drawl, with a touch of the conventicle twang in it, and he indulged in periodical suspirations as regularly recurring as the pattern of an area-railing, ten breathings and then a sigh, ten more and another sigh, and so on. I could hardly help comparing myself, with all due modesty as to talents, to Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy, in the celebrated picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds. One peculiarity forcibly struck my notice; at every sip of his wine the little fellow's eyes brightened and twinkled with greater glee, till every instant I expected he would break out into some lusty carol; whilst the other look great gulps, and at every draught became more dull and dismal; as if he had been swallowing so much ditch-water. Every inch of his face seemed to take an ell, and his voice became proportionately doleful, till at last it fairly tolled like a passing-bell. Both seemed to feel some awkwardness at broaching the subject of their visit; and, after sundry significant nods and winks had been bandied to and fro between them, I made bold to inquire their names, and to what circumstance I was indebted for the honour of their company.

"My friend, Mr. Maurice," said the little man, "is the reader at Messrs. Stukely's printing-office."

"And my friend, Mr. Collis," said the tall man, "is the reader at Messrs, Burnett's."

"As such, sir," said the Grig, with a grin, "it was my pleasant duty to read, revise, and correct the proof sheets of the first two volumes of your mirth-provoking novel, - O lord!" - and throwing himself back in his chair, he laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks, as if at the remembrance of some very funny passage.

"And in a similar capacity," said the Grave Maurice, "I had the pleasure (a sigh) of reading the third volume, and, without flattery, I enjoyed it as much as ever I did any thing in my life."

The doleful look that accompanied this assurance, rendered the compliment rather equivocal; however I bowed right and left, preserving my gravity as well as I could, which was a little disconcerted by the extreme contrast of the two personages that alternately saluted me. The only point they had in common was a relish for the wine: they evidently thought it good, and kept pulling proofs of it with the perseverance of pressmen; but the long face only grew still gloomier, whilst the short one, in quirks and cranks and waggish workings, began to emulate that of Tim Bobbin. He was pleased to inform me, with a physiognomy which could only have been appropriately framed in a horse-collar, "t

Szczegóły: Tylney Hall (Classic Reprint) - Hood Thomas

Nazwa: Tylney Hall (Classic Reprint)
Autor: Hood Thomas
Wydawnictwo: FB &c Ltd
Kod paskowy: 9781331045953
Języki: angielski
Ilość stron: 160
Format: 15.2x22.9cm
Oprawa: Miękka

Recenzje: Tylney Hall (Classic Reprint) - Hood Thomas