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Mistress Margery By: Emily Sarah Holt (1836-1893) |
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This is a short book, but it was quite hard to transcribe on account of
so much of it being in mediaeval English, with its inconsistent and
uncouth spelling. Margery is a young woman of high birth, who goes one day to hear a
sermon preached by one of the new Lollards, who advise people to read
the Bible as recently translated by Wycliffe, and to believe only what
they find therein. This was directly contrary to the view of the
official church, which had made up all sorts of doctrines that could be
seen to be not at all supported by the words of the Gospel. Margery can
only get hold of a copy of the Gospel according to Saint John. Margery is very much struck with the words of the Gospel, despite the
hostility of all around her. Everyone was far too afraid of the extreme
punishment meted out by "Holy Church" to those who questioned its
teachings. And Margery ends up by being burnt at the stake for her
belief in the Gospel, as opposed to what was taught by the Church. But you will learn a lot about upper class life in the early years of
the fifteenth century, and if you can put up with the forms of speech,
you will gain thereby. Not recommended for audiobook, since a great
deal of editing, such as removal of footnotes, conversion of mediaeval
speech to modern, and so forth.
MISTRESS MARGERY, A TALE OF THE LOLLARDS, BY EMILY SARAH HOLT. CHAPTER ONE. A REGULAR OF OXENFORDE. "Give me the book, and let me read;
My soul is strangely stirred
They are such words of love and truth
As ne'er before I heard!" Mary Howitt. The sun was shining brightly on the battlements and casements of Lovell
Tower. The season was spring, and the year 1395. Within the house,
though it was barely seven o'clock in the morning, all was bustle and
confusion, for Dame Lovell was superintending her handmaidens in the
preparation of dinner. A buxom woman was Dame Lovell, neither tall nor
short, but decidedly stout, with a round, good natured face, which just
then glowed and burned under the influence of the fire roaring on the
large grateless hearth. She wore a black dress, heavily trimmed at the
bottom with fur, and she carried on her head one of those remarkable
elevations generally known as the Syrian or conical head dress, made of
black stiffened gauze, and spangled with golden stars. Her assistants,
mostly girls of from sixteen to twenty five years of age, were occupied
in various parts of the kitchen; while Mistress Katherine, a
staid looking woman of middle age, who filled a post somewhat similar to
the modern one of housekeeper, was employed at a side table in mixing
some particularly elaborate compound. Among this busy throng moved Dame
Lovell, now giving a stir to a pot, and now peeping into a pan, boxing
the ears of any maiden who appeared remiss in her duty, and generally
keeping up a strict and active supervision. "Nan, thy leeks be not hewn small enough. Cicely, look to the pottage,
that it boil not over. Al'ce, thou idle jade!" with a sound box on the
ear, "thou hast left out the onions in thy blanch porre! Margery!
Madge! Why, Madge, I say! Where is Mistress Margery, maidens? Joan,
lass, hie thee up, and see whether Mistress Margery be not in the
chamber." Joan, a diminutive girl of sixteen, quitted the parsley she was
chopping, and ran lithely out of the room, to which she soon returned,
and, dropping a courtesy, announced that "Mistress Margery was in her
chamber, and was coming presently," which latter word, in the year
1395, meant not "by and by," as it now does, but "at present." Mistress
Margery verified the assertion of Joan by following her into the kitchen
almost immediately. And since Mistress Margery is to play the important
part of heroine, it may be well to devote a few words to her person and
costume... Continue reading book >>
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Genres for this book |
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Fiction |
History |
Religion |
Teen/Young adult |
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