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- Appendix 213
" Next in order comes the good-natured but peppery Welsh par-
son, Sir Hugh. . . . The country parish priests in those days were
a different class of men from the present members of the Establish-
ment :nevertheless, some scattered remnants of the old brother-
hood may still be met with in those secluded villages where the
high post and railroads swerve in the distance : men of almost
indiscriminate sociality, taking an inoffensive part in the pastimes
and homely mirth of the parishioners. I knew a gentleman who
well remembered Dr. Young, the eminent author of the Night
Thoughts, in his rectory at Welvi^n, in Hertfordshire. He had
dined at his table on the Sunday, when he and any of his school-
fellows had acquitted themselves creditably during the week at the
grammar school. Among other personal anecdotes, he told me
that he had constantly seen him playing at bowls on the Sunday,
after he had preached the words of peace and goodwill and eter-
nal salvation to his flock. He not only tolerated, but even pro-
moted, that harmless recreation ; at the same time he had a keen
eye and a reproof for all who were truants at the hour of prayer.
" Sir Hugh Evans stands not aloof from the plot to get Anne a
good husband ; and he is master of the band of fairies to pinch
and worry the fat knight in the revelry under Heme's oak. . . .
And he was an actor, too, as well as manager of the revels ; for
Falstaff says while they are tormenting him : * Heavens defend me
from that Welsh fairy ! lest he transform me into a piece of cheese ! '
Even in the noted scene of the duel with Doctor Caius, although
the honest preacher is forced into a ludicrous predicament by the
hoax of mine host of the Garter, yet our kindly feeling for Sir
Hugh remains unimpaired. It is true, he waxeth into a tremendous
Welsh passion : he is full of * melancholies ' and * tremplings of
mind ; ' moreover, not being a professed duellist, his self-possession
is not conspicuous : he sings a scrap of a madrigal and a line of a
psalm, and mixes both. But when the belligerents do meet, and
he finds that they have been fooled by the whole party, he is the
one to preserve their mutual self-respect : * Pray you, let us not be
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