Prev | Current Page 182 | Next

Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863

"Catherine: a Story"

Hayes's.

CHAPTER VIII. ENUMERATES THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF MASTER THOMAS
BILLINGS--INTRODUCES BROCK AS DOCTOR WOOD--AND ANNOUNCES THE
EXECUTION OF ENSIGN MACSHANE.

We are obliged, in recording this history, to follow accurately that
great authority, the "Calendarium Newgaticum Roagorumque
Registerium," of which every lover of literature, in the present day
knows the value; and as that remarkable work totally discards all
the unities in its narratives, and reckons the life of its heroes
only by their actions, and not by periods of time, we must follow in
the wake of this mighty ark--a humble cock-boat. When it pauses, we
pause; when it runs ten knots an hour, we run with the same
celerity; and as, in order to carry the reader from the penultimate
chapter of this work unto the last chapter, we were compelled to
make him leap over a gap of seven blank years, ten years more must
likewise be granted to us before we are at liberty to resume our
history.
During that period, Master Thomas Billings had been under the
especial care of his mother; and, as may be imagined, he rather
increased than diminished the accomplishments for which he had been
remarkable while under the roof of his foster-father.


Pages:
170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194