A Laodicean - A Story of To-day - Thomas Hardy

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Theodora

A Laodicean is a Thomas Hardy narrative set in the Wessex world, framed with a reflective preface and opening scenes that foreground atmosphere, memory, and human temperament. The story begins with George Somerset measuring and copying an old church doorway, where sunset light, architecture, and melancholy contemplation shape his perception. Hardy’s prose links artistic observation to meditative awareness of decline and mortality. The introduction also situates the tale as offering comfort to readers in settled domestic life and to those still before full emotional maturity.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages289

Reading Time7 h 25 min

AccessFree to download

Preface

Book the First

George Somerset

A Laodicean A Story ofTo-day *** Thomas Hardy [epubBooks.com](epubBooks.com) [Provided for free by epubBooks.com. Not](Provided for free by epubBooks.com. Not) for commercial use. This EPUB eBook is released under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND/3 .0) Licence.([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/)) Source text and images taken from the Public Domain. [www.epubbooks.com](www.epubbooks.com) Support epubBooks [and make a PayPal donation by visiting](and make a PayPal donation by visiting epubBooks.com/donations)[ ](and make a PayPal donation by visiting epubBooks.com/donations)[epubBooks.com/donations](and make a PayPal donation by visiting epubBooks.com/donations). PREFACE. The changing of the old order in country manors and mansions may be slow or sudden, may have many issues romantic or otherwise, its romantic issues being not necessarily restricted to a change back to the original order; though this admissible instance appears to have been the only romance formerly recognized by novelists as possible in the case. Whether the following production be a picture of other possibilities or not, its incidents may be taken to be fairly well supported by evidence every day forthcoming in most counties. The writing of the tale was rendered memorable to two persons, at least, by a tedious illness of five months that laid hold of the author soon after the story was begun in a well–known magazine; during which period the narrative had to be strenuously continued by dictation to a predetermined cheerful ending. As some of these novels of Wessex life address themselves more especially to readers into whose souls the iron has entered, and whose years have less pleasure in them now than heretofore, so "A Laodicean" may perhaps help to while away an idle afternoon of the comfortable ones whose lines have fallen to them in pleasant places; above all, of that large and happy section of the reading public which has not yet reached ripeness of years; those to whom marriage is the pilgrim’s Eternal City, and not a milestone on the way. T.H. January 1896. BOOK THE FIRST. GEORGE SOMERSET. I. The sun blazed down and down, till it was within half–an–hour of its setting; but the sketcher still lingered at his occupation of measuring and copying the chevroned doorway—a bold and quaint example of a transitional style of architecture, which formed the tower entrance to an English village church. The graveyard being quite open on its western side, the tweed–clad figure of the young draughtsman, and the tall mass of antique masonry which rose above him to a battlemented parapet, were fired to a great brightness by the solar rays, that crossed the neighbouring mead like a warp of gold threads, in whose mazes groups of equally lustrous gnats danced and wailed incessantly. He was so absorbed in his pursuit that he did not mark the brilliant chromatic effect of which he composed the central feature, till it was brought home to his intelligence by the warmth of the moulded stonework under his touch when measuring; which led him at length to turn his head and gaze on its cause. There are few in whom the sight of a sunset does not beget as much meditative melancholy as contemplative pleasure, the human decline and death that it illustrates being too obvious to escape the notice of the simplest observer. The sketcher, as if he had been brought to this reflection many hundreds of times before by the same spectacle, showed that he did not wish to pursue it just now, by turning away his face after a few moments, to resume his architectural studies. He took his measurements carefully, and as if he reverenced the old workers whose trick he was endeavouring to acquire six hundred years after the original performance had ceased and the performers passed into the unseen. By means ofa strip of lead called a leaden tape, which he pressed around and into the fillets and holl

FAQs

What is the purpose of the preface to A Laodicean?

It explains Hardy’s motivation for writing the tale, including how readers might use it to pass an idle afternoon, and it references the author’s illness that influenced the narration’s composition.

How does the story begin in the first book?

It opens with George Somerset measuring and copying the architectural details of a church doorway while sunset light creates a vivid, reflective mood.

What mood or theme is emphasized in the opening chapter?

The description ties observation of sunset to meditative melancholy and contemplation of human decline and death.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Theodora