For nothing delighted them more than to hear of great wonders going on
in other places--of battles, plague, pestilence, famine, and fire; of
people whose wives ran away with other people, or highwaymen stopping
the coach of a bishop. Being full of good-nature, they enjoyed these
things, because of the fine sympathies called out to their own credit,
and the sense of pious gratitude aroused towards Heaven, that they
never permitted such things among them. Perceiving this genial desire of
theirs, the stout Captain of the Foxhill battery was kind enough to meet
it with worthy subjects. Receiving officially a London newspaper almost
every other day, as soon as it had trodden the round of his friends,
his regular practice was to cut out all the pieces of lofty public
interest--the first-rate murders, the exploits of highwaymen, the
episodes of high life, the gallant executions, the embezzlements of
demagogues, in a word, whatever quiet people find a fond delight
in ruminating--and these he pasted (sometimes upside down) upon his
shutter. Springhaven had a good deal of education, and enjoyed most of
all what was hardest to read.
But this great piece of news, that should smother all the rest, seemed
now to take a terrible time in coming. All the gaffers were waiting
who had waited to see the result of Mr. Cheeseman's suicide, and their
patience was less on this occasion. At length the great Captain unfolded
his broad sheet, but even then held it upside down for a minute.
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