第 21 节
作者:西门在线      更新:2021-02-20 18:43      字数:9321
  posts and pleased myself with observing the horses: how the
  creatures yielded to all the arts and managements of their masters;
  how they took their airings in sport; and played with the daily
  heats which they ran over the course before the grand day。  But
  how; as knowing the difference equally with their riders; would
  they exert their utmost strength at the time of the race itself!
  And that to such an extremity that one or two of them died in the
  stable when they came to be rubbed after the first heat。
  Here I fancied myself in the Circus Maximus at Rome seeing the
  ancient games and the racings of the chariots and horsemen; and in
  this warmth of my imagination I pleased and diverted myself more
  and in a more noble manner than I could possibly do in the crowds
  of gentlemen at the weighing and starting…posts and at their coming
  in; or at their meetings at the coffee…houses and gaming…tables
  after the races were over; where there was little or nothing to be
  seen but what was the subject of just reproach to them and reproof
  from every wise man that looked upon them。
  N。B。 … Pray take it with you; as you go; you see no ladies at
  Newmarket; except a few of the neighbouring gentlemen's families;
  who come in their coaches on any particular day to see a race; and
  so go home again directly。
  As I was pleasing myself with what was to be seen here; I went in
  the intervals of the sport to see the fine seats of the gentlemen
  in the neighbouring county; for this part of Suffolk; being an open
  champaign country and a healthy air; is formed for pleasure and all
  kinds of country diversion; Nature; as it were; inviting the
  gentlemen to visit her where she was fully prepared to receive
  them; in conformity to which kind summons they came; for the
  country is; as it were; covered with fine palaces of the nobility
  and pleasant seats of the gentlemen。
  The Earl of Orford's house I have mentioned already; the next is
  Euston Hall; the seat of the Duke of Grafton。  It lies in the open
  country towards the side of Norfolk; not far from Thetford; a place
  capable of all that is pleasant and delightful in Nature; and
  improved by art to every extreme that Nature is able to produce。
  From thence I went to Rushbrook; formerly the seat of the noble
  family of Jermyns; lately Lord Dover; and now of the house of
  Davers。  Here Nature; for the time I was there; drooped and veiled
  all the beauties of which she once boasted; the family being in
  tears and the house shut up; Sir Robert Davers; the head thereof;
  and knight of the shire for the county of Suffolk; and who had
  married the eldest daughter of the late Lord Dover; being just
  dead; and the corpse lying there in its funeral form of ceremony;
  not yet buried。  Yet all looked lovely in their sorrow; and a
  numerous issue promising and grown up intimated that the family of
  Davers would still flourish; and that the beauties of Rushbrook;
  the mansion of the family; were not formed with so much art in vain
  or to die with the present possessor。
  After this we saw Brently; the seat of the Earl of Dysert; and the
  ancient palace of my Lord Cornwallis; with several others of
  exquisite situation; and adorned with the beauties both of art and
  Nature; so that I think any traveller from abroad; who would desire
  to see how the English gentry live; and what pleasures they enjoy;
  should come into Suffolk and Cambridgeshire; and take but a light
  circuit among the country seats of the gentlemen on this side only;
  and they would be soon convinced that not France; no; not Italy
  itself; can outdo them in proportion to the climate they lived in。
  I had still the county of Cambridge to visit to complete this tour
  of the eastern part of England; and of that I come now to speak。
  We enter Cambridgeshire out of Suffolk; with all the advantage in
  the world; the county beginning upon those pleasant and agreeable
  plains called Newmarket Heath; where passing the Devil's Ditch;
  which has nothing worth notice but its name; and that but fabulous
  too; from the hills called Gogmagog; we see a rich and pleasant
  vale westward; covered with corn…fields; gentlemen's seats;
  villages; and at a distance; to crown all the rest; that ancient
  and truly famous town and university of Cambridge; capital of the
  county; and receiving its name from; if not; as some say; giving
  name to it; for if it be true that the town takes its name of
  Cambridge from its bridge over the river Cam; then certainly the
  shire or county; upon the division of England into counties; had
  its name from the town; and Cambridgeshire signifies no more or
  less than the county of which Cambridge is the capital town。
  As my business is not to lay out the geographical situation of
  places; I say nothing of the buttings and boundings of this county。
  It lies on the edge of the great level; called by the people here
  the Fen Country; and great part; if not all; the Isle of Ely lies
  in this county and Norfolk。  The rest of Cambridgeshire is almost
  wholly a corn country; and of that corn five parts in six of all
  they sow is barley; which is generally sold to Ware and Royston;
  and other great malting towns in Hertfordshire; and is the fund
  from whence that vast quantity of malt; called Hertfordshire malt;
  is made; which is esteemed the best in England。  As Essex; Suffolk;
  and Norfolk are taken up in manufactures; and famed for industry;
  this county has no manufacture at all; nor are the poor; except the
  husbandmen; famed for anything so much as idleness and sloth; to
  their scandal be it spoken。  What the reason of it is I know not。
  It is scarce possible to talk of anything in Cambridgeshire but
  Cambridge itself; whether it be that the county has so little worth
  speaking of in it; or; that the town has so much; that I leave to
  others; however; as I am making modern observations; not writing
  history; I shall look into the county; as well as into the
  colleges; for what I have to say。
  As I said; I first had a view of Cambridge from Gogmagog hills; I
  am to add that there appears on the mountain that goes by this
  name; an ancient camp or fortification; that lies on the top of the
  hill; with a double; or rather treble; rampart and ditch; which
  most of our writers say was neither Roman nor Saxon; but British。
  I am to add that King James II。 caused a spacious stable to be
  built in the area of this camp for his running homes; and made old
  Mr。 Frampton; whom I mentioned above; master or inspector of them。
  The stables remain still there; though they are not often made use
  of。  As we descended westward we saw the Fen country on our right;
  almost all covered with water like a sea; the Michaelmas rains
  having been very great that year; they had sent down great floods
  of water from the upland countries; and those fens being; as may be
  very properly said; the sink of no less than thirteen counties …
  that is to say; that all the water; or most part of the water; of
  thirteen counties falls into them; they are often thus overflowed。
  The rivers which thus empty themselves into these fens; and which
  thus carry off the water; are the Cam or Grant; the Great Ouse and
  Little Ouse; the Nene; the Welland; and the river which runs from
  Bury to Milden Hall。  The counties which these rivers drain; as
  above; are as follows:…
  Lincoln; Warwick; Norfolk;
  * Cambridge; Oxford; Suffolk;
  * Huntingdon; Leicester; Essex;
  * Bedford; * Northampton
  Buckingham; * Rutland。
  Those marked with (*) empty all their waters this way; the rest but
  in part。
  In a word; all the water of the middle part of England which does
  not run into the Thames or the Trent; comes down into these fens。
  In these fens are abundance of those admirable pieces of art called
  decoys that is to say; places so adapted for the harbour and
  shelter of wild fowl; and then furnished with a breed of those they
  call decoy ducks; who are taught to allure and entice their kind to
  the places they belong to; that it is incredible what quantities of
  wild fowl of all sorts; duck; mallard; teal; widgeon; &c。; they
  take in those decoys every week during the season; it may; indeed;
  be guessed at a little by this; that there is a decoy not far from
  Ely which pays to the landlord; Sir Thomas Hare; 500 pounds a year
  rent; besides the charge of maintaining a great number of servants
  for the management; and from which decoy alone; they assured me at
  St。 Ives (a town on the Ouse; where the fowl they took was always
  brought to be sent to London) that they generally sent up three
  thousand couple a week。
  There are more of these about Peterborough; who send the fowl up
  twice a week in waggon…loads at a time; whose waggons before the
  late Act of Parliament to regulate carriers I have seen drawn by
  ten and twelve horses a…piece; they were laden so heavy。
  As these fens appear covered with water; so I observed; too; that
  they generally at