Let us be fair.
The Devil has enough to bear, and for any harm which we bring to
ourselves we should not lay the blame on him or fate.
The whole Raveloe scene is full of typical errors. It is too pretty, too
decent, too neat, too humourous. There is very little fun to be got out
of public-house humours, because the vanity of the various talkers is
offensive, and their stupidity has not the charm of simplicity. If such
a man as, say, Mr. Matthew Arnold wanted to test the accuracy of the
"Silas Marner" chapter for critical purposes, he would scarcely recover
the ordeal of a night spent in a haunt of the hardened toper. If the
company happened to be unembarrassed, their ribaldry would sicken the
philosopher; their coarse manners would revolt him; their political
talk--well, that would probably stupefy him and cause him to flee.
Here are my notes of one specimen conversation, given without any
dramatic nonsense or idealisation. My memory can be trusted absolutely,
and I have often reported a long interview in such a way that the person
interviewed saw nothing to alter.
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