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A First Year in Canterbury Settlement With Other Early Essays

II

II

Scene.The Court of St. John’s College, Cambridge. Enter the two Deans on their way to morning chapel.

 Junior Dean. Brother, I am much pleased with
  Samuel Butler,
I have observed him mightily of late;
Methinks that in his melancholy walk
And air subdued whene’er he meeteth me
Lurks something more than in most other men.
 Senior Dean. It is a good young man. I do be-
  think me
That once I walked behind him in the cloister;
He saw me not, but whispered to his fellow:
“Of all men who do dwell beneath the moon
I love and reverence most the senior Dean.”
 Junior Dean. One thing is passing strange, and
  yet I know not
How to condemn it, but in one plain brief word
He never comes to Sunday morning chapel.
page 260 Methinks he teacheth in some Sunday-school,
Feeding the poor and starveling intellect
With wholesome knowledge, or on the Sabbath morn
He loves the country and the neighbouring spire
Of Madingley or Coton, or perchance
Amid some humble poor he spends the day,
Conversing with them, learning all their cares,
Comforting them and easing them in sickness.
 Senior Dean. I will advance him to some public
  post,
He shall be chapel clerk, some day a Fellow,
Some day perhaps a Dean, but as thou say’st
He is indeed an excellent young man—

Enter Butler suddenly, without a coat or anything on his head, rushing through the cloisters, bearing a cup, a bottle of cider, four lemons, two nutmegs, half a pound of sugar and a nutmeg grater.

Curtain falls on the confusion of Butler and the horror-stricken dismay of the two Deans.