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MY GREAT ATJNT POLLY'S ELOPEMENT. 105
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Babl Dear Y Be Reader Declared .—The By ...
Hanover , who swung in his chains , making harsh nrusic to the melancholy wind , for all the world like a malefactor . And the
population had changed with the times ;—no more gay knights and burghers "with gold chains ; no more Cavaliers and
Roundheads;nay , even the Jacobites no longer dared to look across the water to the gallant laddie who was exiled for ever . My great-grandfather
, Mr . Dever , was not in the least romantic ; he wore a nicely powdered wig , and a sober brown coat of the longest and widest cut ; he was
by no means reputed to drink hard , or be in any way a fast liver , but he took daily , with innocent regularitypotations which in
, number and strength would have frightened Father Mathew into a fit , and , if anything disagreed with himalways threw the blame
, on " that treacle posset . " Mr . Dever , as I said before , was a substantial tradesman . Getting up to London was no easy matter then
and not only the townsfolk , but the nobility and gentry for twenty , miles round , bought their cloth , their silks , and their ribbons at his
fine old shop in the market-place , with great stone facings to the two windows , and a projection over the door with fat cherubs' heads
puffing as if they were very much blown indeed , and similar stone facings to the windows on every story , so that the -whole house had
a solemn stony kind of look , like a brick house in a bad temper . Here dwelt Mr . Zephaniah Dever , his wife , three sons , two aj >
prentices , and two stout serving-lasses , daughters to neighbouring country folk ; and here came my lord and my lady for various
articles of clothing , and sometimes , sooth to say , for a little gossip of country town sort , to enliven the dulness of the ancestral castle
, at an epoch when no ' Times' came daily with a double supplement , and all the births , deaths , and marriages of that class of
people who alone appear to have a right to be born , married , and buried at all .
Into this quiet household was a bombshell thrown one fine morning , in the form of a large official-looking letterfolded very
, square , and directed in an upright , methodical , Italian hand , to Zephaniah Dever , Market Place , Burchester , and sealed with an
enormous black seal . The post was then not particular to an hour or so , and the letter arrived at midday , when my great-grandfather
sat at his well-covered dinner-table , surrounded by his wife , his three sons , Samuel , Jonas , and Darias , and the two _ajDprentices
Elijah Hill and Frederick _Ctirtis . My great-grandfather , being , slow and solid in all he did , turned the large letter round and round ,
very deliberately opened it , smoothed out the creases with his thumb , cast a glance upon the contents , and then ejaculated , solemnly
, " _Clorinda is dead ! " "Oh , goodness gracious ! Mr . Dever , " said my great-grandmother , bursting into tears there and then , though ,
if family chronicles be true , she cared no more for Clorinda than was—neighbourly . " Yes , " quoth my great-grandfatherwholly
, undisturbed by his wife ' s tears , which he probably took for natairal
vol . i , ' i
My Great Atjnt Polly's Elopement. 105
MY GREAT ATJNT POLLY ' S ELOPEMENT . 105
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1858, page 105, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041858/page/33/
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