07 - Days With Sir Roger de Coverley by Joseph Addison, Richard Steele

Journey into the world of acclaimed writer Sir Richard Steele, as he recounts his intimate experiences living in the household of the intriguing Sir Roger de Coverley for an entire month. This podcast is narrated by Elijah Fisher.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter seven of Days with Sir Roger Decoverlely. This LibriVox
recording is in the public domain Days with Sir Roger
DeCoverley by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, Chapter seven, The
country Asses. A man's first care should be to avoid
the reproaches of his own heart. His next to escape

(00:22):
the censures of the world. If the last interferes with
the former, it ought to be entirely neglected. But otherwise
there cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind
than to see those approbations which it gives itself. Second
by the plausibles of the public. A man is more
sure of his conduct when the verdict which he passes

(00:45):
upon his own behavior is thus warranted and confirmed by
the opinion of all that we know him. My worthy friend,
Sir Roger, is one of those who is not only
at peace with himself, but beloved and esteemed by all
about him. He receives a suitable tribute for his universal
belvolence to mankind in the returns of affection and good will,

(01:09):
which are paid him by every one that lives within
his neighborhood. I lately met with two or three old
instances of that general respect which is shown to the
good old Knight, he woulds need to carry mister will
Wimble and myself to him to the country asses. As
we were upon the road, will Wimble joined a couple

(01:31):
of plain men who ridded before us, and conversed with
them for some time, during which my friend Sir Roger
acquainted me with their characters. The first of them says,
he that has a spaniel by his side is a
u woman of about a hundred pounds a year, an
honest man. He is just within the game act and

(01:53):
qualified to kill an heir or a pheasant. He knocks
down a dinner with his gun twice or thrice a week,
and by that means lives much cheaper than those who
have not so good an estate as himself. He would
be a good neighbor if he did not destroy so
many partridges. In short, he is a very sensible man,

(02:16):
shoots flying, and has been several times foreman of the
pretty jury. The other that rides along with him is
Tom Touchy, a fellow famous for taking the law of everybody.
There is not one in the town where he lives
that he has not sued at a quarter sessions. The

(02:36):
rogue had once the impudence to go to law with
the widow. His head is full of costs, damages, and ejectments.
He plagued a couple of honest gentlemen so long for
a trespass in breaking one of his hedges, till he
was forced to sell the ground it enclosed to defray
the charges of the prosecution. His father left him first

(03:00):
pounds a year, but he has cast and been cast
so often that he is now worth thirty. I suppose
he is going upon the old business of the willow tree.
Sir Roger was giving me this account of Tom Touchy.
Will Wimble and his two minions stopped short till we
came up to them. After having paid their respects to

(03:22):
Sir Roger, Will told him that mister Touchy and he
must appeal to him upon a dispute that arose between them. Will,
it seems, had been giving his fellow traveler an account
of his angling one day in such a hole, when
Tom Touchy, instead of hearing out his story, told him
that mister such a one, if he pleased, might take

(03:45):
a law of him for fishing in that part of
the river. My friend, Sir Roger heard them both upon
a round trot, and after having paused some time, told them,
with an error of a man who would not give
his judgment rashly, that much might be said on both sides.
They were neither of them dissatisfied with the Knight's determination,

(04:10):
because neither of them found himself in the wrong by it,
upon which we made the best of our way to
the ausies. The court was sat before Sir Roger came
not But notwithstanding all the justices had taken their places
upon the bench, they made room for the old Knight
at the head of them, who, for his reputation in

(04:32):
the country, took occasion to whisper in the judge's ear
that he was glad his lordship had met with so
good a weather in his circuit. I was listening to
the proceeding of the court with much attention, and infinitely
pleased with that great appearance and solemnity which so properly
accompanies such a public administration of our laws. When, after

(04:57):
about an hour sitting I observed, to my great surprise,
in the midst of a trial, that my friend Sir
Roger was getting up to speak. I was in some
pain for him till I found he had acquitted himself
of two or three sentences, with a look of much
business and great intrepidity. Upon his rising. First rising, the

(05:20):
court was hushed, and a general whisper ran among the
country people that Sir Roger was up. The speech he
made was so little to the purpose that I shall
not trouble my readers with an account of it, And
I believe was not so much designed by the Knight
himself to inform the court as to give him a
figure in my eye and keep up his credit in

(05:43):
the country. I was highly delighted when the court rose
to see the gentleman of the country gathering about my
old friend, and striving who should compliment him most, at
the same time that the ordinary people gazed upon him
at a distance, not itll admiring his courage that was
not afraid to speak to the judge. In our return

(06:06):
home we met with a very odd accident, which I
cannot forbear relating, because it shows how desires all who
know Sir Roger are of giving him marks of their esteem.
When we were arrived upon the verge of his estate,
we stopped at the little inn to rest ourselves and
our horses. The man of the house, had, it seems,

(06:27):
been formerly a servant in the Knight's family, and due
honor to his old master, had some time since, unknown
to Sir Roger, put him up in a sign post
before the door, so that the Knight's head had hung
out upon the road, about a week before he himself
knew anything of the matter. As soon as Sir Roger

(06:49):
was acquainted with it, finding that his servants in discretion
proceeded wholly up from affection and good will, he only
took him that he had made him too hotgh a compliment,
and when the fellow seemed to think that could hardly
be added with a more decisive look, that it was
too great an honor for any man under a duke,

(07:11):
but told him at the same time that it might
be altered with a very few touches, and that he
himself would be at the charge of it. Accordingly, they
got a painter, by the Knight's directions, to add a
pair of whiskers to the face, and by a little
aggravation of the features, to change it into the sarcerean's head.

(07:37):
I should not have known this story, had not the innkeeper,
upon Sir Roger's lighting told him at my hearing that
his honor's head was brought back last night, with the
alterations that he had ordered to be mismade in it.
Upon this, my friend, with his usual cheerfulness, related the

(07:57):
particulars above mentioned in order to the head to be
brought into the room. I could not forbear discovering greater
expressions of mirth than ordinary. Upon the appearance of this
monstrous face, under which, notwithstanding it was made to frown
and stare in a most extraordinary manner, I could still

(08:18):
discover a distant resemblance of my old friend. Sir Roger,
upon seeing me laugh, desired me to tell him truly
if I thought it possible for people to know him
in that disguise. I at first kept my usual silence,
But upon the Knight's conjuring me to tell him whether

(08:38):
it was not still more like himself than a sorceren,
I composed my countenance in the best manner I could,
and replied that much might be said on both sides.
These several adventures, with the Knight's behavior in them, gave
me a pleasant day as ever I met with any

(09:01):
of my travels. End of chapter seven read Bylajea fisher,