"JosephAddison&RichardSteele-DaysWithSirRogerDeCoverley" - читать интересную книгу автора (Addison Joseph)

I am. He was the last man that won a prize in the tilt-yard
(which is now a common street before Whitehall). You see the
broken lance that lies there by his right foot; he shiver'd that
lance of his adversary all to pieces; and bearing himself, look
you, Sir, in this manner, at the same time he came within the
target of the gentleman who rode against him, and taking him with
incredible force before him on the pommel of his saddle, he in
that manner rid the turnament over, with an air that shewed he
did it rather to perform the rule of the lists, than expose his
enemy; however, it appeared he knew how to make use of a victory,
and with a gentle trot he marched up to a gallery where their
mistress sat (for they were rivals) and let him down with
laudable courtesy and pardonable insolence. I don't know but it
might be exactly where the coffee-house is now.

"You are to know this my ancestor was not only of a military
genius, but fit also for the arts of peace, for he played on the
bass-viol as well as any gentleman at court; you see where his
viol hangs by his basket-hilt sword. The action at the tilt-yard
you may be sure won the fair lady, who was a maid of honour, and
the greatest beauty of her time; here she stands the next
picture. You see, Sir, my great-great-great-grandmother has on
the new-fashion'd petticoat, except that the modern is gather'd
at the waist; my grandmother appears as if she stood in a large
drum, whereas the ladies now walk as if they were in a go-cart.
For all this lady was bred at court, she became an excellent
country-wife, she brought ten children, and when I shew you the
library, you shall see in her own hand (allowing for the
difference of the language) the best receipt now in England both
for an hasty-pudding and a white-pot.

"If you please to fall back a little, because 'tis necessary to
look at the three next pictures at one view; these are three
sisters. She on the right hand, who is so very beautiful, died a
maid; the next to her, still handsomer, had the same fate against
her will; this homely thing in the middle had both their portions
added to her own, and was stolen by a neighbouring gentleman, a
man of stratagem and resolution, for he poisoned three mastiffs
to come at her, and knocked down two deer-stealers in carrying
her off. Misfortunes happen in all families: the theft of this
romp and so much money, was no great matter to our estate. But
the next heir that possessed it was this soft gentleman, whom you
see there: observe the small buttons, the little boots, the
laces, the slashes about his clothes, and above all the posture
he is drawn in (which to be sure was his own choosing); you see
he sits with one hand on a desk writing and looking as it were
another way, like an easy writer, or a sonneteer. He was one of
those that had too much wit to know how to live in the world; he
was a man of no justice, but great good manners; he ruined every
body that had any thing to do with him, but never said a rude