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diff --git a/19458.txt b/19458.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c7c6d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/19458.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14859 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Loyalists, Vol. 1-3, by Jane West + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Loyalists, Vol. 1-3 + An Historical Novel + +Author: Jane West + +Release Date: October 4, 2006 [EBook #19458] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOYALISTS, VOL. 1-3 *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by the +Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions +(www.canadiana.org)) + + + + + + +THE LOYALISTS: + +_AN HISTORICAL NOVEL._ + + +IN THREE VOLUMES. + + +By Jane West + +The Author of "LETTERS TO A YOUNG MAN," "A TALE OF THE TIMES," &c. + + + + Preserve your Loyalty, maintain your Rights. + + _Inscription on a Column at Appleby._ + + +Strahan and Preston, +Printers-Street, London. + +LONDON: +PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, +PATERNOSTER-ROW. +1812. + + + Transcriber's Note: The variant and inconsistant spellings in this + text have been retained and Tables of Contents has been created. + + + + +VOLUME I + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. +CHAP. II. +CHAP. III. +CHAP. IV. +CHAP. V. +CHAP. VI. +CHAP. VII. +CHAP. VIII. +CHAP. IX. +CHAP. X. +CHAP. XI. + + + + + +THE LOYALISTS. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. + + Abate the edge of Traitors, gracious Lord, + That would reduce these bloody days again, + And make poor England weep in streams of blood! + + Shakspeare. + + +Those who have but an indifferent banquet to offer, are not usually +inclined to discourage their guests, by a repulsive bill of fare; yet +surely, when a public invitation is given, there is honesty, and +prudence too, in simply stating the kind of regale we are going to +spread, lest a palled and sickly appetite should expect stimulants, or a +perverted taste should pine for foreign luxuries and modern cookery, +when we have nothing to set before them but plain old English food. +Church and King now look as obsolete in a publication, as beef and +pudding would at a gala dinner; yet let us remember, that as the latter +have fed our heroes from the days of Cressy and Agincourt to the present +times, so the former have fashioned minds fit to animate these mighty +bodies. It is only to those who have a relish for stern virtue and grave +reflection, that I would recommend the following pages. + +I have dated this narrative in a peculiarly calamitous period, though +well aware that virtue, like happiness, is supposed to flourish most in +times of tranquility. Such times afford no subjects for the historian or +the bard; and even the moralist is often led to revert rather to those +stormy eras which roused the energies of the human soul, and compelled +it to assert qualities of which they who have observed only the repose +of domestic life can form no conception. Man, attempting with finite +powers to compass the most stupendous designs in spite of physical or +moral obstacles; submitting to every privation, braving danger and +death, often even defying omnipotence, and all for the sake of some +speculative tenet, some doubtful advantage, the post of honour burdened +by superlative responsibility, or the eminence of power attended with +perpetual care, is an object no less interesting to the philosopher, +than it is miraculous to the peasant, who places enjoyment in ease and +animal indulgence. It is on the motives and actions which characterise +this self-denial and enterprise, that the hero and the statesman fix +their attention; forming their models, and drawing their conclusions, +not from the passive inclinations, but from the capabilities of our +species, not from what man would or ought to prefer, but from what he +has achieved when stimulated by hope, goaded by ambition, or instigated +by desperation. + +Under the influence of these passions, how often has one restless spirit +disturbed the repose of a prosperous nation, and spread desolation and +misery over the fairest portions of the globe. Does God permit this--and +is he righteous? Yes, short-sighted questioner of Omniscience, the +Father of the universe is never more conspicuous in his paternal care, +than when, by means of temporal afflictions, he draws our regards toward +our heavenly country.--Then is death disarmed of the terrors which are +planted round the bed of prosperity; then is the soul freed from that +bondage of sensual delight, which impedes her spiritual exertion. The no +longer pampered body, subdued to spareness, braced by toil, elastic from +exertion, and patient from habit, is not a clog, but a meet companion +for its immortal associate. Prosperity, among many other evils, +engenders religious apathy, and luxurious selfishness. She presents a +gorgeous stage, on which the puppets of vanity and petty ambition act +their insignificant parts; adversity educates and exercises men. + +Nor is the moral harvest a mere gleaning of good deeds. Where misery and +wickedness seem most to abound; where desperadoes and plunderers go +forth to destroy and pillage; the passive virtues pray, and endure. +Self-devoting generosity then interposes her shield, and magnanimous +heroism her sword; benevolence seeks out and consoles distress; the +confessor intercedes with heaven; the patriot sacrifices his fortune and +his comforts; the martyr dies on the scaffold, and the hero in the +field. England hath often witnessed such piteous scenes, and many fear +she is now on the verge of similar calamities, which threaten to cloud +her glory from the envy and admiration of foreign nations, making her a +taunting proverb of reproach to her enemies, while she points a moral, +and adorns a tale, for posterity. May those who govern her wide extended +empire, so study the records of our former woes, and shape their +political course with such single-hearted observance of the unerring +laws of God, as to become, under his Providence, our preservers from +danger; and may the governed, remembering the tyranny which originated +from insubordination; the daring ambition of popular demagogues; the +hypocrisy of noisy reformers, and all the certain misery which arises +from the pursuit of speculative unattainable perfection, adhere to those +institutions, which have been consecrated with the best blood in +England, and proved by the experience of ages to be consistent with as +large a portion of national prosperity, as any people have ever enjoyed. +Yet as our offences may prevail over our prayers, let us prepare our +minds for times of trial. The public duties they require, are adapted to +the discussion of that sex, whose physical and mental powers fit it for +active life, and deliberate policy. But the exercise of the milder +virtues is imperiously called for in seasons of national alarm. Whether +we are to endure the loss of our accustomed wealth and luxury, or to +encounter the far heavier trial of domestic confusion, there are habits +of thinking and acting, which will conduce to individual comfort and +improvement. There are sorrows which neither "King nor laws can cause or +cure;" enjoyments, that no tyrant can withhold; and blessings, which +even the wildest theories of democracy cannot destroy. The asylum where +these sacred heritages of a good conscience are generally concealed, is +the domestic hearth, that circumscribed but important precinct where the +female Lares sit as guardians. Is it presumptuous in one, who has long +officiated at such an household altar, again to solicit the forbearance +and favour, which she has often experienced, by calling public attention +to a popular way of communicating opinions, not first invented by +herself, though she has often had recourse to it. The tale she now +chooses as a vehicle, aims at conveying instruction to the present +times, under the form of a chronicle of the past. The political and +religious motives, which convulsed England in the middle of the +seventeenth century, bear so striking a resemblance to those which are +now attempted to be promulgated, that surely it must be salutary to +remind the inconsiderate, that reformists introduced first anarchy and +then despotism, and that a multitude of new religions gave birth to +infidelity. + +Nor let the serious hue which a story must wear that is dated in those +times, when the church militant was called to the house of mourning, +deter the gay and young from a patient perusal. Whatever mere prudential +instructors may affirm, worldly prosperity should not be held out as the +criterion, or the reward of right conduct. Let us remember St. +Augustine's answer to those Pagans, who reproached him with the evils +that Christians, in common with themselves, suffered from the then +convulsed state of the world. They asked him, "Where is thy God?" But he +declined founding the believer's privileges on individual exemptions, or +personal providences. "My God," said he, "in all his attributes, +different from the false impotent Gods of the Heathen, is to be found +wherever his worshippers are;--if I am carried into captivity, his +consolations shall yet reach me;--if I lose the possessions of this +life, my precious faith shall still supply their want;--and if I die, +not as the suffering heathen dies, by his own impious and impatient +hand, but in obedience to the will of God, my great reward begins. I +shall enter upon a life that will never be taken from me; and henceforth +all tears shall be wiped from my eyes." + +Adversity purifies communities, as well as individuals. If +fastidiousness, selfishness, pride, and sensuality, conspire to cloud, +with imaginary woes, the enjoyments of those whom others deem happy and +prosperous; faction, discontent, a querulous appetite for freedom, and +an inordinate ambition to acquire sudden pre-eminence, disturb public +tranquillity, when a country has long enjoyed the blessings of plenty +and repose. Previous to the commencement of that great rebellion, which +tore the crown and mitre from the degraded shield of Britain, our +forefathers, as we are informed by the noble historian of his country's +woes and shames[1], experienced an unusual share of prosperity. During +the early part of the reign of King Charles the First, he tells us, +"this nation enjoyed the greatest calm, and the fullest measure of +felicity that any people of any age for so long a time together had been +blessed with, to the envy and wonder of all the other parts of +Christendom." The portrait he draws is so striking, that I must exhibit +it in its native colours. "A happiness invidiously set off by this +distinction, that every other kingdom, every other state, were entangled +and almost destroyed by the fury of arms. The court was in great plenty, +or rather (which is the discredit of plenty) excess and luxury, the +country rich, and what is more, fully enjoying the pleasure of its own +wealth, and so the more easily corrupted with the pride and wantonness +of it. The church flourishing with learned and extraordinary men; trade +increased to that degree, that we were the exchange of Christendom; +foreign merchants looking upon nothing so much their own, as what they +had laid up in the warehouses of this kingdom; the royal navy in number +and equipage, very formidable at sea; lastly, for a complement of all +these blessings, they were enjoyed under the protection of a King of the +most harmless disposition; the most exemplary piety; the greatest +sobriety, chastity, and mercy, that ever Prince had been endowed with: +But all these blessings could but enable, not compel, us to be happy. We +wanted that sense, acknowledgement, and value of our own happiness, +which all but we had; and we took pains to make, when we could not find +ourselves miserable. There was in truth a strange absence of +understanding in most, and a strange perverseness of understanding in +the rest. The court full of excess, idleness, and luxury; the country +full of pride, mutiny, and discontent. Every man more troubled and +perplexed at what they called the violation of one law, than delighted +or pleased with the observance of all the rest of the charter. Never +imputing the increase of their receipts, revenue, and plenty, to the +wisdom, virtue, and merit of the crown; but objecting every small +imposition to the exorbitancy and tyranny of the government. The growth +of knowledge and virtue were disrelished for the infirmities of some +learned men, and the increase of grace and favour to the church was more +repined and murmured at than the increase of piety and devotion in it +were regarded." + +Such was the lowering calm of ungrateful discontent, which ushered in a +fearful season of crime and punishment, described at large by one who +was an illustrious actor on that eventful stage, and composed his +history, "that posterity might not be deceived by the prosperity of +wickedness into a belief that nothing less than a general combination of +an whole nation, and a universal apostacy from their religion and +allegiance, could, in so short a time, have produced such a prodigious +and total alteration; and that the memory of those, who out of duty and +conscience have opposed that torrent which overwhelmed them, may not +lose the recompence due to their virtues, but having undergone the +injuries and reproaches of that, might find a vindication in a better +age." + +In describing the scenes which ensued, "when an infatuated people, ripe +and prepared for destruction, plunged by the just judgment of God into +all the perverse actions of folly and madness," he reads us such +important lessons as must strike an enlightened public, if recalled to +their attention. He tells us, by fatal experience, "that the weak +contributed to the designs of the wicked, while the latter, out of a +conscience of their guilt, grew by desperation worse than they intended +to be. That the wise were often imposed upon by men of small +understandings. That the innocent were possessed with laziness, and +slept in the most visible article of danger, and that the ill-disposed, +though of the most different opinions, opposite interests, and distant +affections, united in a firm and constant league of mischief, while +those whose opinions and interests were the same, divided into factions +and emulations more pernicious to the public than the treasons of +others. Meanwhile the community, under pretence of zeal for religion, +law, liberty, and parliament, (words of precious esteem in their just +signification,) were furiously hurried into actions introducing atheism, +and dissolving all the elements of the Christian religion." + +So great were the miseries incident to civil commotion, so soon did the +mask fall off from those pseudo-patriots, that all parties except the +creatures of the ambitious Cromwel, ardently looked for the restoration +of their imprisoned King, as a termination of their own sorrows, as well +as of his misfortunes. And when that hope was frustrated "by the most +consummate hypocrisy and atrocious breach of all law and justice," the +iron pressure of those times of pretended liberty and equality that +ensued, led every one, who had not by some unpardonable crime hazarded +his own safety, to welcome back the son of the royal victim to the +constitution and honour of England, with such rash exuberance of +confiding loyalty, that, by intrusting to his careless hand the full +possession of unrestrained power, they laid the foundation of future +contests and confusion. Such were the prospective evils with which the +Oliverian usurpation afflicted the state, while in the department of +morals, piety was brought into such contempt by the extravagance of +fanatics, and the detected cheats of hypocrites, that atheism and +profaneness grew popular, as being more open and candid in their avowed +profligacy. The oppressive, or as his admirers call it, the vigorous +government of Cromwell humbled the proud spirit of Englishmen, who had +often revolted at the excessive stretches of prerogative under their +legitimate kings; and this new habit of submission, added to a deep +repentance for their late crime, so struck the independent character of +the nation, that a cabal of atheists and libertines persuaded an +unprincipled Prince that he might as easily found his throne on what was +then deemed the firm basis of despotism, as many of the Continental +princes had done. If, as Englishmen, we blush at the disgrace of a King +sold to France, and a court and nation abandoned to such licentious +contempt of all Christian obligations, that even decency is compelled to +consign their polite literature to oblivion, we must seek for the seeds +of this twofold degradation in the times of which I propose to exhibit a +familiar portrait, illustrated by imaginary characters and events, but +carefully compared with warranted originals. + +It remains to say something of the conduct of this design. Public events +will be stated with fidelity. Historical characters shall be but +sparingly combined with feigned actions, but, where they, are, great +care shall be taken that they be neither flattered, calumniated, nor +overcharged; and, I believe, they may be found to have behaved in much +the same manner to others, as I shall represent them to do to the +imaginary persons whom I bring on the scene. The long space of years +which this narrative embraces, is, I know, a great abatement of its +interest. It is a fault which could not be avoided without falsifying +chronology at a period familiar to every well-read person, or losing +sight of the admonitory lesson which the tale was intended to convey. + +I know that there is no small share of hardihood in my attempt: Bigotry, +superstitious adherence to existing institutions, exclusive partiality +to a sect, and pertinacious resistance to the increase of liberal +information, are well-sounding epithets easily applied, and too grateful +to the million to want popularity. Those who write with no higher motive +than to please the prevailing taste, must beware of touching upon topics +which are likely to rouse the hostile feelings of self-importance, and +to disgust would-be statesmen and intuitive divines. Ridicule will never +disprove those opinions which were held by the wisest and most +illustrious persons that England ever produced. Should I be so +unfortunate as to provoke hostility where I look for co-operation; +erroneous or undeserved censure shall not induce me to enter into a +controversy with those whom I believe to be sincere champions of +religious truth, and to whose labours I am consequently bound to say, +"God speed," though they may consider me as a doubtful ally, if not an +enemy. To these I would address the dying words of the celebrated +non-juror Archbishop Sancroft to his subscribing chaplain, Needham--"You +and I have gone different ways in these late affairs, but I trust +Heaven's gates are wide enough to receive us both. I always took you for +an honest man. What I said concerning myself was only to let you know +that what I have done I have done in the integrity of my heart, +_indeed in the great integrity of my heart_." Thus, only anxious to +defend and support constitutional principles, I shall plead guilty to +many errors in taste, in the construction of the fable, as well as in +the style of the narrative, and throw myself on the mercy of the Public +with regard to those points. + + + [1] Lord Clarendon. + + + + +CHAP. II. + + I will not choose what many men desire, + Because I will not jump with common spirits, + And rank me with the barb'rous multitudes. + + Shakspeare. + + +About the commencement of the reign of King Charles the First, a +stranger came to reside in a populous village in Lancashire, under +circumstances of considerable interest and mystery. He was young, and +elegant in his person; his language not only evinced the cultivated +chasteness of education, but the nicer polish of refined society. When +drawn into conversation (to which he seemed averse), he discovered +classical learning enlivened by brilliant wit, and seasoned by deep +reflection. He was versed in the history of foreign courts; and if he +forbore to speak of our own, it seemed more from caution than from +ignorance. He excelled in fashionable exercises, rode the great horse +with a military air, and alarmed the rustics by his skill in fencing, +as much as he delighted them by the till then unheard tones which he +drew from the viola-de-gamba. It was impossible that, with these +accomplishments, a sad-coloured cloak and plain beaver could conceal the +gentleman. In vain did he report himself to be a Blackwell-hall factor, +whom an unfortunate venture had reduced to ruin.--Every one discovered +that his manners did not correspond with this description, and they +would have at once determined him to be some gay gallant, whose +wantonness of expense had outstripped his ability, had not his purse +contained good store of broad pieces, which his hand liberally bestowed, +as often as poverty appealed to his benevolence. + +A Lancashire gentleman in those times had less intercourse with the +metropolis of the British empire, than one of the present day, has with +Canton. No London correspondent, therefore, could whisper the sudden +disappearance of a sparkling blade, who, after blazing awhile at +Whitehall, had unaccountably vanished like a meteor from its horizon; +nor had the depredation of swindlers, or the frequent intrusion of +impertinent hangers-on compelled the owners of manorial houses to shut +their doors on uninvited guests. The jovial coarse hospitality of those +times delighted in a crowded board; the extensive household daily +required ample provision, and refinement was too little advanced from +its earliest stage to make nice arrangement or rare delicacies necessary +to an esquire's table. Such a guest therefore as Evellin, was eagerly +sought and warmly welcomed. He joined with the joyous hunters in the +morning, he relieved the sameness of their repasts with his diversified +information; and in the evening he was equally gratifying to the ladies, +who being then generally confined to the uniform routine of domestic +privacy, loved to hear of what was passing in the great world. He could +describe the jewels which bound the hair of the Queen of Bohemia, and he +had seen the hood in which Anne of Austria ensnared the aspiring heart +of the Duke of Buckingham; beside, he led off the dance with matchless +grace, and to their native hornpipe enabled them to add the travelled +accomplishments of the galliard and saraband. What a concentration of +agreeable qualities! It must be owing to the invincible pressure of +secret uneasiness, and not to a suspicion of the cordiality with which +his entertainers welcomed him, if Evellin ever passed a day in solitude. + +Yet he came into society with the air of one who sought it as a +temporary relief from anxiety, rather than as a source of real +enjoyment. A visible dissatisfaction, constraint, and unsubdued aversion +to the present, arising from regret at the past, sometimes interrupted +his graceful courtesy, and oftener made him indifferent to the passing +scene, or unconscious of it. This humour increased whenever he received +a dispatch from London, and at one time the mortification which his +letters excited, threw him into such a mental agony, that the cottagers +with whom he lodged, recurring to what was then deemed a specific for +troubled minds, called in the aid of Dr. Eusebius Beaumont to give him +ghostly consolation. I am not going to bring a mortified Franciscan +friar on the scene: his reverence was the village pastor, happy and +respectable as a husband and father, and largely endowed with those +which have signalized the Church of England, whenever she has been +called to any conspicuous trial. Learning and piety were in him two +neighbouring stars that reflected radiance on each other, and were +rather brightened than obscured by his humility. His manners and habits +of life retained the simplicity of the primitive ages, yet were they so +blended with courtesy, nobleness of mind, and superiority to every mean +selfish consideration, that the most travelled cavalier of the times +could not more winningly display the true gentleman. His example shewed +that the superiority which distinguishes that character consists not in +adopting the reigning mode (that poor ambition of a copyist), but in the +refined suavity which defies imitation, and is an inborn sentiment, +rather than an assumed costume. The most powerful peer in England had +not a more independent mind than Dr. Beaumont. His fortune was +sufficiently ample to supply his modest wants and large benevolence; +they who envied his popularity knew not how to weaken it except by +imitating the virtues in which it originated. Placed in that respectable +mediocrity which was the wish of Agar--too exalted to fear an oppressor +or to invite insult; too humble to make ambition look like virtue, or to +fall into that forgetfulness of his Maker, which is often the damning +sin of prosperity; accustomed to those habits of wise self-control that +fit the mind and body for their respective functions; and perfectly +possessed with a most conscientious resignation and confidence +respecting future events--he was free from those cares which corrode the +temper and contract the understanding. Next to his church, his study was +his earthly paradise; but the same calm principle of self-discipline +attended him there, and regulated his enjoyment of lettered ease. He +left his beloved authors without a sigh, as often as active duty called +him to attend the sick cottager, to heal contention between his +parishioners, to admonish the backsliding, or to defend the cause of the +oppressed. + +Such was the man who presented himself to the agonized Evellin; nor was +the latter surprized at the visit, or at the serious admonition which he +received. Parochial care was not then regarded as a novelty, when it +extended beyond the altar or the pulpit; and the graceful stranger felt +himself reproved by one who had a right to exercise the functions of +spiritual authority. He bowed to the pastor's instructions, with a +respect which characterized those times, when the power of the church +was supported by superior holiness, and acknowledged even by those who +in their lives disobeyed her precepts. His subsequent behaviour made Dr. +Beaumont not only pardon the infirmities of a wounded spirit, but also +apply the balm of friendship to them, by giving the stranger a most +cordial invitation to the glebe-house, where he promised him a friendly +welcome as often as he was disposed to relish the quiet habits of his +family. + +It so happened, that after Evellin had twice or thrice passed the little +wicket that separated the parson's garden from the village green, he +disliked taking any other road. Yet though Mrs. Beaumont's person was of +that description which subjects Lancashire ladies to the imputation of +witchcraft, (a charge too clearly proved against them to be denied,) it +was not the fascination of her eyes which drew the loitering step, fixed +the unconscious gaze, and almost charmed to repose the stranger's untold +sorrows. The wife of his friend excited only the respect and esteem of +this antique courtier; but a young unaffianced Arachne sat spinning by +her side, discreet and ingenious as Minerva, rosy and playful as Hebe. +This was Isabel, the younger sister of his reverence, who, not inwardly +displeased that the family party was enlarged by such an agreeable +guest, nor wholly unconscious of the power of her own charms, strove +with all the unsuspecting confidence of youth to amuse a visitor whom +her honoured brother pronounced worthy of esteem and pity, and willingly +exerted her arch vivacity to divert a melancholy of which no one knew +the cause. Evellin soon discovered that he interested the fair recluse, +and though she was not the first lady who viewed him with favour, he was +flattered by an attention which he could not impute to extrinsic +qualities. "She certainly pities me," observed he, on perceiving an +unnoticed tear steal down her cheek, when with unguarded confidence, +momentarily excited by the benign manners and calm happiness of his +host, he inveighed against the treachery of courts and the weakness of +Kings. "Can she love me?" was his next thought; "or why this lively +interest in my sorrows?" This doubt, or rather hope, was suggested by +hearing Isabel sob aloud while he told Dr. Beaumont not to look for any +earthly return for the kindness he shewed him. "Were my fortunes," said +he one day to his hospitable friends, "equal to my birth, you should +find me a prodigal in my gratitude, but my own folly in 'believing +integrity of manners and innocence of life are a guard strong enough to +secure any man in his voyage through the world in what company soever he +travelled, and through what ways soever he was to pass[1],' furnished my +enemies with weapons which have been used to my undoing. For this last +year I have suffered alternate hopes and fears. Whether my heart is sick +of suspence, or the clouds of mischance really thicken around me, I can +scarcely ascertain, but my meditations grow more gloomy, and I believe +myself doomed to an obscure life of little usefulness to others, and +less enjoyment to myself. Among my privations I must rank that of +spending my days in unconnected solitude. Who will willingly share the +scant portion of bare sufficiency, or interweave their destiny with the +tangled web of my intricate fortunes? Would you plant a flourishing +eglantine under the blasted oak? Remove it from such a neighbourhood, or +the blessed rain passing through the blighted branches, will affect its +verdure with pestilent mildew, instead of cherishing it with wholesome +shade." + +Some short time after this conversation, Mrs. Beaumont observed to her +husband that an extraordinary change had taken place in Isabel's manners +since Evellin had become a frequent visitor. "She very rarely laughs," +said she; "but that I do not wonder at, for the infection of his +melancholy has made us all grave; but she often, weeps. Then she is so +absent, that she cut out the frieze gowns for the alms-women too short, +and spoiled Mrs. Mellicent's eye-water. The tapestry chairs are thrown +aside, and she steals from us to the bower in the yew-tree that +overlooks the green, where she devotes her mornings to reading Sydney's +Arcadia. My dear Eusebius, I see her disease, for I recollect my own +behaviour when I was doubtful whether you preferred me; but surely, if a +connection with Evellin would involve our dear Isabel in distress, ought +I not to warn her of her danger in so disposing of her heart?" + +"I fear," replied the Doctor, "if your observations are correct, that +the caution would now come too late. Isabel is of an age to judge for +herself, and if she prefers a partner in whom high degrees of desert and +suffering seem united, ought her friends to interfere? If her own +feelings tell her that she considers personal merit as an equipoise to +adversity, shall we tell her that outward splendour constitutes +intrinsic greatness? I marvel not that Evellin interests my sister; he +engages most of my thoughts, and I have employed myself in collecting +instances of good men suffering wrongfully, and of the piety, humility, +and patience with which they endured chastening. These may be useful to +Evellin; if not, they will be so to ourselves whenever sorrow visits our +abode, as she is sure some time to do while she is travelling to and fro +on the earth." + +Mrs. Beaumont acquiesced in her husband's opinion, and determined that +love should take its course, but it met with an opponent in the person +of Mrs. Mellicent Beaumont, who perhaps was not free from those +objections which elder sisters often entertain to the engagements of the +younger branches of the family, while they themselves write spinster. +She had now, however, a more colourable plea; the beauty of Mrs. Isabel +had attracted the notice of Sir William Waverly, and to see her sister +the lady of Waverly Park, roused that desire of pre-eminence which, +though absolutely foreign to the principles of Dr. Beaumont, was not +overlooked by all his family. She thought it became her to lecture +Isabel on her preference, and unwittingly confirmed it by exhibiting, in +opposition, two men of most dissimilar characters and endowments; the +one, brave, generous, enlightened, accomplished, but unhappy; the other, +lord of a vast demesne, but selfish, ignorant, scant of courtesy, and +proud of wealth. "Tell me not of Waverly Park," said Mrs. Isabel, "I +would sooner gather cresses by his lakes as a beggar, than sail over +them under a silken awning with him by my side as my companion for life. +His language, his ideas, his manners, differ from those of our meanest +rustics in no other way than that theirs is the native simplicity which +had no means of improvement, and his the wilful grossness which rejected +it when offered, resting satisfied in what he received from his +ancestors, without adding to it attainments that would properly have +been his own. I know not what Evellin has been: clouds and storms hover +over his future prospects. I see him only as he is the chief among ten +thousand, and one who suffers no diminution even while conversing with +our honoured brother; and I should be prouder of allying him to our +house than of changing this silken braid for a golden coronet." Mrs. +Mellicent, after some remarks on the inconsiderate obstinacy of three +and twenty, and the sure repentance of head-strong people, withdrew her +opposition, to be renewed when the event should justify her predictions. + +The lovers did not long rest in that unavowed consciousness which left a +shadow of doubt as to their reciprocal attachment. To Evellin's +declaration of unalterable love, Isabella answered, that she knew too +little of his situation to say whether she ought to be his, but her +heart told her she never could be another's. The lover poured forth +protestations of gratitude. "No," answered she, "I deserve no thanks; +for, to tell you the truth, I have endeavoured to see you with +indifference, but find it is impossible. You have lived in courts, Mr. +Evellin, where women are hardly won and quickly lost; but do not +therefore despise a Lancashire girl who dares not play with Cupid's +arrows, but loves in sad sincerity, or rejects with steady courtesy; yet +if you suspect that you cannot meet my devoted constancy with equal +singleness of heart, leave me now, good Evellin, ere yet my life is so +bound up in your sincerity, that I shall want strength of mind to +dissolve the bond. At present I am so much more disposed to respect you +than myself, that I may think what you have said was only meant for +gallantry, which my ignorance of the world has misconstrued. If after +this warning you still persist in your suit, you must either be, till +death, my faithful lover, or virtually my murderer." + +"My own betrothed Isabel," answered Evellin, "to love, pourtrayed with +such chaste simplicity, I owe a confidence as unbounded as thy own. I +will put my life in thy keeping, by disclosing the bosom-secret I have +concealed even from thy saint-like brother. 'Tis the pledge of my +constancy. Mark me, dearest maiden, though a proscribed wanderer wooes +thy love, thy hand may be claimed by a peer of England, and those graces +which adorn thy native village may ornament the palace of our King." + +He paused to see if the glow of ambition supplanted the virgin blushes +of acknowledged love; but Isabel's cheek displayed the same meek roseate +hue. No hurried exclamation, no gaspings of concealed delight, no lively +flashings of an exulting eye, proclaimed that he was dearer to her now +than before he acknowledged his high descent. Her objections to a speedy +marriage were even confirmed by this discovery. "I must know," said she, +"that there is no one who possesses a natural or acquired right to +control your choice. People in eminent stations owe many duties to the +state, and must not soil their honours by unworthy alliances. Perhaps +under your tuition I might so deport myself as not to shame your choice, +but I must be well assured that I shall be no obstacle to your moving in +your proper sphere, or I will die Isabel Beaumont, praying that you may +be happier than my love could make you." + +Evellin rewarded this generous attachment by telling her his assumed +name was an anagram of his real one, Allan Neville, presumptive heir to +the earldom of Bellingham, the honours of which were now possessed by an +elder brother, whose declining state of health made it probable that +Allan would soon be called from the obscurity in which he lived, and +compelled to clear his slandered fame or sink under the malice of his +foes. As a younger brother, he was expected to be the founder of his own +fortune. His education, therefore, had been most carefully conducted; he +had had the best tutors in every branch of learning; and he had +travelled under the guidance of an enlightened friend. The pacific +character of King James furnishing no employment in arms, he had sought +the court as his sphere of action; but while he was displaying the +accomplishments he possessed, and acquiring the knowledge of mankind +which is necessary to a statesman, he at once attracted the notice of +Princes and the envy of their favourites. That fearless candour, and +that self-depending integrity which generally attends the finest +qualities and noblest dispositions, rendered him careless of the frowns +of those whom he discovered to be rather crafty rivals than generous +competitors, and determined him rather to despise opposition than to +conciliate esteem. + +The haughty Duke of Buckingham was then in the zenith of his power. By +bringing Prince Charles back from Spain he had relieved the national +anxiety; and the short-sighted multitude, forgetting who had endangered +the heir-apparent's safety, heaped on him undeserved popularity. Hence +his extraordinary good fortune in pleasing all parties so elated him as +to make him shew in his conduct that contempt for his benefactor, King +James, which he had long secretly entertained. By the impeachment of the +Earl of Middlesex, a confidential adviser and personal favourite of the +King's, from motives of private pique, and by hurrying the nation into a +war with Spain, for which the Parliament had not provided resources, he +laid the foundation of the pecuniary difficulties, and created those +evil precedents which ultimately contributed to overthrow the regal +authority. These fatal results of his pernicious measures formed an +awful lesson to Kings on the mischiefs incident to favouritism, and on +the folly of erecting a pile of ill-constructed greatness, which, in its +fall, often endangers the stability of the throne. + +To this vain, ambitious man, practised in all the smooth graces and +insidious arts of a court, the aspiring, but frank and honourable +Neville, more enlightened, equally engaging, and animated by purer +motives, was an object both of envy and of fear. He scrupled not to +lament the indignities which the declining King suffered from his former +cup-bearer, who had danced himself into the highest honours England +could bestow, and now basely turned from the setting orb from which he +derived his borrowed splendour, to worship the rising sun; nay worse, +who attempted to alienate the duty of an amiable Prince from his sick +and aged father. Neville was earnest in his expressions of disgust at +such baseness; and the minions of the Duke did not suffer these hasty +ebullitions of virtue to die unreported. The sarcasms soon reached his +ear with magnified severity; and the ruin, or at least the removal of +his growing rival became necessary to his own security. + +Chance favoured the Duke's designs. A gentleman in his suite was +assassinated in the streets of London when returning from a masquerade, +and the murderer was seen in the act of escaping, not so near the body +as that his person could be identified, but plain enough for the +beholders to ascertain that he wore the very dress in which Neville +appeared that evening. The implacable enemy he had indiscreetly provoked +possessed the royal ear; and though a jury could not have found in such +a coincidence sufficient grounds to indict Neville, the Duke easily +procured a royal warrant for his immediate arrest. "My own heart," here +observed Allan, "and my confidence in the justice and good sense of my +country, prompted me to brave my accusers; but I had now a convincing +proof that with all my acquirements I still wanted knowledge of the +world. I, however, possessed the invaluable blessing of a sincere, wise, +and prudent friend, one who reads man in his true characters, and deals +with him cautiously, instead of believing him to be the ingenuous +offspring of simplicity. In early youth this friend saved me from a +watery grave, and he is now the guardian of my fame and fortune. In +conformity to the advice of the kind Walter de Vallance (for that is his +name), I yielded to the storm; instead of resisting its fury, I chose +this retreat; and since my innocence as well as my guilt admitted not of +proof, I offered to submit the dubious question to the arbitration of +the sword, and called on Buckingham to meet me in single combat, or, if +he declined a personal engagement, to select any one of noble birth and +breeding for his proxy, who should accuse me as the author of Saville's +death. Walter de Vallance carried my proposal to the young King, who at +first yielded to my suit, but, on consulting his chaplains, judged this +to be an unlawful manner of deciding disputes in a Christian country. I +am now informed that by my flight I have erased those impressions which +my former behaviour had made in my favour. Many think I was the +murderer; and the vast power my adversary possesses at court is rendered +still more dangerous to my life and fame, by the pains that have been +taken to prepossess those who would have to decide upon my fate. But +should the death of my declining brother call me to act in the same +sphere with my proud oppressor, and put my life into safer guardianship, +I will burst from the retreat which I sometimes fear was unadvisedly +chosen, and either fall by an unjust sentence, or vindicate my +innocence. I will no longer, like the mountain-boar, owe a precarious +existence to the untrodden wilds in which I hide from my pursuers." + +Even now, when the universal passion for luxury and self-enjoyment +renders prosperity so alluring, subdues our native energies, and makes +us the puppets and slaves of fortune, there are some lovely young +martyrs who immolate prudence on the shrine of love. It may easily be +imagined, therefore, that this heroine of a simpler age, instead of +being discouraged by the difficulties her Allan had to encounter, loved +him with more intense affection. He an assassin!--the eye that flamed +defiance on an ungrateful vicegerent of the King, when every knee but +his bent in homage, could never pursue a court-butterfly, or guide a +murderous dagger to a page's breast, while indignant virtue pointed the +sword of justice to a public delinquent. Isabel agreed that it was wrong +in Evellin to fly; but when, on her lonely pillow, she cast her thoughts +on the alternative, and contemplated her beloved, in the hands of him +before whom a potent peer had recently fallen; in the power of a man +armed with the confidence of two successive monarchs, and now the idol +of the people; when she saw Evellin arraigned before a packed jury, no +evidence to prove him innocent, and scarce an advocate sufficiently +courageous to defend him; female softness shrunk at the image of such +perils. She blessed the prudent De Vallance who had snatched him from +sure destruction, and rejoiced at an event which afforded her the means +of seeing human nature in its most captivating form. + +When Evellin found that her constancy was proof to this trial, he +unfolded the brighter prospects which the letters he received from De +Vallance occasionally afforded. This invaluable friend had, to the great +joy of Evellin, allied himself to their house by marrying the Lady +Eleanor Neville, his only sister. Though Buckingham never stood firmer +in the King's favour, he had already experienced that popular esteem is +a quicksand, fair to the eye, but fallacious and destructive to all who +build their greatness on it. Two parliaments that were called, in +succession, to grant the supplies which the favourite's profusion, and +the war in which he had unwisely engaged, rendered necessary, had been +angrily dissolved for presenting petitions for redress of grievances +instead of passing money-bills. The King was still deservedly popular. +The odium of these acts, therefore, rested on the minister. He had, +besides, a potent enemy in the palace, no less a person than the +beautiful queen, who complained that the Duke, not content with +directing state affairs, intruded into the domestic privacies of +royalty, and left her without the power, which as a wife and Princess +she ought to exercise, that of choosing her servants and rewarding her +friends. Nor did this presumptuous servant rest here. The spotless +purity of the King shrunk from conjugal infidelity; but Buckingham found +means, during the hours of easy confidence, to insinuate such +reflections against the religion, the foreign manners, and the native +country of Henrietta Maria, that the affection which once bade fair to +cement the union of a virtuous and amiable Prince with the lady of his +choice, was weakened by reserve, doubt, distaste, and all the sentiments +hostile to conjugal peace. + +The Lady Eleanor De Vallance held a situation in the household of the +Queen, and possessed a secure place in her affection. She knew the +secret discontent of her royal mistress, and the pique she felt against +Buckingham, who, she also knew, sought the ruin of the house of Neville. +Evellin did not enlarge on the amiable features of his sister's +character. He spoke of her as one who panted for aggrandisement, and +possessed the means of attaining her object; adding also, that she was +pledged to the ruin of the favourite by those strong inducements, +interest and revenge. He dwelt with pleasure on the valuable and useful +qualities of her husband, who, he said, united to the talents which +generally achieve success, the circumspection and foresight that secure +it. While such able assistants advocated his cause, despair would have +been weakness. + +Months, nay years, rolled away. Evellin was liberally supplied with +remittances, and the hearts of the lovers became more firmly united. Dr. +Beaumont, assured that his sister knew the circumstances of her lover, +though neither chose to intrust them, to him, confided implicitly in her +discretion and his honour. As a man, there was little to blame and much +to revere in the character of Evellin. He was open, impetuous, brave, +generous, and placable, with a noble simplicity of soul, untainted by +the mean alloy of selfishness. He was a Christian too. In Dr. Beaumont's +eye, that was an indispensable requisite. Yet more, he steadily adhered +to the established church with enlightened affection; and in an age when +the Puritans grew more open and confident in their attempts to overthrow +it, love for the most venerable support of the protestant cause was a +sacred bond of union. Sometimes a deep feeling of his wrongs induced +Evellin to inveigh against courts and kings with great animosity; but +this was the ebullition of a warm temper, not the cold enmity of a +corroded heart. Immovable to harsh reproof, he was pliant as the bending +ozier to persuasive kindness. Looking at the qualities of the man, +rather than the accidents of his situation, Dr. Beaumont felt proud in +thinking that his Isabel deserved the conquest she had gained. + +Evellin deferred his marriage till some event should happen which must +hasten the crisis of his fate. The same dispatch which brought +intelligence of the death of his elder brother, announced the fall of +his adversary by the hand of Felton. Concealment could now no longer be +deemed wisdom; he determined to burst from obscurity, lay claim to his +honours, and require to be relieved from a long pending accusation +contrived by malice and believed by credulity. But could he quit the +banks of the Ribble, leaving his Isabel to suffer the pangs of suspense, +and to pine under those limes and alders that had sheltered him from +persecution? Her behaviour told him she would conduct herself with +propriety in every situation. Her society had been his chief consolation +in sorrow, and he saw that her fortitude would support him in the hour +of trial, her wisdom guide him in difficulty, and her participation give +the fairest colouring to success. Whether he sat in the senate as a +peer, or stood at the bar as a criminal, Isabel should be his wedded +associate. What pleasure would he feel in presenting to his vain and +beautiful sister, the lily he had gathered and placed in his bosom, +while he lay concealed in the woodlands! Or, when he embraced Walter as +his brother and friend, how would he rejoice to hear the fair +Lancastrian, with all the eloquent energy of unsophisticated nature, +bless the services which had preserved and restored her husband. + +Isabel entered into all these happy anticipations. He thought her worthy +to share his fortunes, and though she doubted, she now forbore to urge +the plea of insufficiency. Of one point she was certain, I mean her +willingness to suffer with him. She wanted little; she could endure +much; she had many resources in her own mind; she considered no evil as +insupportable but the unworthiness of those she loved; and when she +looked on Evellin, she did not fear that trial. She smiled and blushed +her full consent, and her lover informed Dr. Beaumont, that the time for +claiming his sister was arrived. "My affairs," continued he, "require my +immediate presence in London, and the woman of my heart must accompany +me as my wife. You have long placed implicit confidence in my honour. We +have now known each other till affection has lost the gloss of novelty; +and instead of depending on hope and imagination, it assumes the fixed +character of experience. If I perceived the germ of avarice, or lurking +yearnings after aggrandizement in your heart, I would point to stalls +and mitres; for such endowments have originated from fortunate +alliances. But I will only say to the Christian pastor who is content +with feeding his few sheep in a wilderness, that I came not as a +ravenous wolf to steal his favourite lamb. It is from well-weighed +preference that I select your sister as the partner of my fortunes. You +bestow on me a pure and inestimable pearl, but you give it to one who +knows its worth. And rest assured, worthy Beaumont, I will neither +burden your generosity nor disgrace your family." + +When Evellin signed the certificate of his marriage, he left a blank +after the name of Allan, "Observe me well," said he to the witnesses of +the ceremony; "note the time, place, and every circumstance; this is an +important contract." Mrs. Mellicent, to whom this remark was +particularly addressed, unbent her stiff features from that aspect of +disapprobation with which she had silently condemned her brother's +precipitation, and saluted the bride with great cordiality, telling her, +that dames of quality, like the wives of the Patriarchs, always called +their husbands lords. She added, that even those of the younger brothers +of peers took place of baronets' ladies. + + + [1] These, according to Clarendon, were the errors of Archbishop + Laud. + + + + +CHAP. III. + + Man may the sterner virtues know, + Determin'd Justice, Truth severe, + But female hearts with Pity glow, + And Woman holds affliction dear. + + Crabbe. + + +The bells of Ribblesdale had hardly finished the merry peal which +announced the joy of the villagers, that their sweet rose-bud, Isabel de +Beaumont, was married to the strange gentleman, whom they had long +thought a prince in disguise, come to make their good Doctor a Bishop, +when an unexpected dispatch from London cast the deepest gloom on the +bridegroom's joy. + +In this letter De Vallance conjured his friend to postpone his intended +return till his affairs took a brighter aspect.--The King at first bore +the sad tidings of his favourite's death with such apparent +tranquillity, that he proceeded unruffled to his devotions; yet +reflecting on the circumstances of the deed, and deeply affected by an +interview with the widowed Duchess, who with her orphan children had +thrown herself at his feet and implored justice, he now cherished such +an appetite for revenge that it was suspected many lives would scarce be +deemed a fit atonement. He discharged the Duke's debts out of his privy +purse, he promised to provide for his servants, and frowned on all who +had ever been his enemies. Thomas Felton had at first denied having any +accomplice, and enthusiastically called himself the champion of an +injured people; yet it was expected that the close interrogatories to +which he would be exposed would overawe his firmness, and perhaps +prevail on him to name some innocent persons as abettors of the crime. +At all events Evellin must remain in privacy during the storm of the +King's anger, which now agitated him so violently that he would attend +to no other business till the Duke's murder was thoroughly +investigated.--De Vallance concluded with describing the impatience +which both himself and Lady Eleanor felt to restore him to his honours; +and he trusted that the Queen's growing influence would be useful in +recalling to the recollection of the King a person he had once highly +favoured, while he saw in Buckingham an insolent minister rather than a +devoted friend. + +Weary of delay, eager to vindicate his honour, yet at the same time +conscious of his own impetuosity, and confiding in the management of his +friends, Evellin fretted at his situation, and yielding his mind to +irritability, became incapable of cool discrimination or vigorous +action. He had borne a long banishment with melancholy patience, +disdaining to complain, and affecting resignation, but he was then an +unconnected man, and his fate was of small importance. A gleam of hope, +improved by his sanguine temper into confident expectation, had +encouraged him to unite himself to a most amiable woman, in whose breast +he had excited an expectation of the most exalted fortunes. He had given +an implicit promise, that he would add to Dr. Beaumont's power of doing +good; and after this, must he still continue a nameless exile, poorly +content to barter reputation for life! + +Subsequent dispatches from De Vallance heightened his distress. In a +moment of extreme irritation, when, by long pondering on his own and the +nation's wrongs, passion gained the ascendancy of judgement, Evellin in +a confidential letter to Walter had anticipated with hope and exultation +the fate that afterwards befell the Duke of Buckingham. A sermon of Dr. +Beaumont's afterwards convinced him of the guiltiness of an expression, +which, though proceeding from a sudden unweighed suggestion rather than +a deliberate purpose, yet, certainly, as our church has well determined, +proves "the infection of our nature, and has in it the nature of sin." +Convinced that positive evil may not be committed to procure +problematical good, and that no uninspired person should presume to +think himself God's champion, unless placed in that station which +visibly arms him with his authority, Evellin had often lamented this +rash letter, as one of his secret faults. He now severely felt it also, +as an imprudence, in having given vent to his angry feelings, even in a +confidential communication. De Vallance informed him that, through a +fatal mistake of his secretary, this very letter had been laid with some +other papers, tending to prove him innocent of the death of Saville, and +was thus put along with them into the King's hands by the Queen, who had +graciously undertaken to plead for the brother of her favourite Lady +Eleanor. No expiatory apology could be urged to weaken the effect of +sentiments attested by his own writing, and they were obliged to yield +him to the storm, as the King now declared that mercy would be +compromising blood. Walter was in despair. Lady Eleanor still determined +to watch for a favourable moment; they both continued his firm friends, +and would punctually remit ample sums for his support, till some change +in the state of affairs should again admit of their active +interposition. + +How dreadful was Evellin's situation! Ruined by his own rashness, and +restrained from a step, to which impatience of present suffering had +long impelled him, namely to throw himself on the King's mercy, and +either regain his birthright or forfeit his life! He was now a husband; +he expected to be a father. Isabel must not be deserted in the hour of +distress, and her life was bound up in his. She endured the change in +her prospects with a cheerful serenity, that seemed as if she felt only +the sorrows of her beloved. Nor did Dr. Beaumont betray any feeling +which tended to shew that the expectation of stalls and mitres ever +withdrew his thoughts from the celestial contemplations in which he +loved to expatiate. + +"Why should I grieve for those who seem wrapped in measureless content?" +said Evellin. "Is this apathy the effect of ignorance of greater good, +or the result of a long indulged habit of contemning every exterior +advantage?--Isabel, while planning your baby-cloaths, or loitering among +your flowers, you seem to forget that life admits of more exalted +pleasures and ampler scenes of duty. Have you no desire beyond filling +your days with such a series of trivial occupations, which make our +years glide away with undistinguishable sameness? Have you no wish to +extend your views beyond Ribblesdale? Does the scene of life, exhibited +among your native villagers, satisfy your wish of being acquainted with +human nature? Do the mountains, which bound your horizon, limit your +desire of seeing the wonders of your Creator's hand? When you read the +history of the mighty and the good, your countenance expresses your +ardour to emulate their actions; yet here you seem to wish to set up +your rest, and slumber away your life, content with security, and +careless of renown." + +"When I am summoned to another station," replied Isabel, "it will be +time enough to cherish the feeling which will beseem it. At present, +suffer me to think of the advantages of my own. In the hour of danger, +and the decline of life, the most courageous spirits long for a quiet +harbour. Does not this shew that safety is desirable, and repose a +blessing? The difference which even my inexperienced mind discovers, +between the inward feeling and the exterior advantages of greatness, +abates my wish to wear the gorgeous pall of splendid fortune. Yet, +dearest Allan, I am aware, that our present state cannot be permanent. +Two alternatives await us, either a restoration to your rank in society, +or removal to a plate of greater security. The King will soon visit +Scotland, to receive his hereditary crown. He will pass through +Ribblesdale, and my brothers duty will call him to attend him; is there +a hope that he can plead your cause successfully, after the eloquence of +your friend, and the address of your sister have failed?" + +Evellin answered, there was no probability. + +"Consider then," returned Isabel, "this place lies in a frequented road. +Some busy courtier will be eager to beat the covert and start the noble +quarry, which the King desires to hunt down. If indeed His Highness's +mind is so obscured by anger, as to combine a rash expression and a +deliberate plan of murder in the same degree of guilt; to condemn you +unheard for one crime, and by implication make you accessary to another, +can there be safety or honour in being his servant? Surely, my Allan's +loyalty once arrayed his Prince with visionary excellence; or Walter +acted like one of those unskilful surgeons, who convert a slight wound +into a deep gangrene." + +The tone of displeasure, in which Evellin checked every suggestion +against the integrity or discretion of his friend, had no other effect +on Isabel's mind, than to convince her of her husband's unbounded +confidence. Walter's own letters furnished her with many reasons for +suspicion; there was in them a studied air of plausibility, a nice +arrangement of minutiae, and a wary shifting from important points, which +seemed to her strong but artless mind, more like the drapery of design, +than the frank simplicity of truth. They were seldom replies to +Evellin's statements or requests. The kindness they contained had the +flourish of sentiment; there was much ostentatious display of trivial +offices of goodwill, and of those every-day assistances, which affection +wants memory to record. If Evellin seemed determined to risk all, by a +bold appeal to the laws, better prospects were held out, which +precipitation would blast; and larger remittances were forwarded. If he +affected to be reconciled to obscurity, Walter, by gently censuring, +actually confirmed the wise moderation of his choice, describing +himself as tired of the court, and reluctantly chained to it by the +rooted attachment of Lady Eleanor, who sparkled in the Queen's train, +eclipsing all in splendor, and all but her royal mistress in beauty. He +subjoined to these complaints of the unsatisfactoriness of a life of +pleasure, lamentable statements of the misrule of the King, and the +oppression of his government, the arbitrary punishments of the +Star-chamber, the illegal fines, loans and projects, by which the royal +coffers were filled, and concluded with affirming, that they only were +safe and happy, whose contracted wants, and mortified desires, asked but +the primeval simplicity of nature. All this time, though the honours of +the house of Neville lay in abeyance, the rents were received by De +Vallance, and Isabel wondered that so mortified a spirit should encumber +itself with the dross which it affected to despise. + +Meantime Evellin, partially blinded by a fatal security, and in part +deprived of the use of his judgement by his acute feelings, at one time +scorned to impute treachery to the friend of his youth; at another fear +to trust even himself. One master stroke of policy still remained. +Walter wrote to him in great alarm; their correspondence was discovered +to the King, and reported to be of a factious tendency. He was in the +most imminent danger of being sacrificed to their mutual enemies. He +conjured Evellin to fly to some more remote retreat instantly, but first +to give up to the confidential agent, whom he named, all their +correspondence, that he might instantly destroy it, lest it should fall +into the hands of those who would construe it into a disclosure of the +King's counsels. The credulous Evellin fell into the snare. He returned +all Walter's letters, and retired with his family to a freehold of +Isabel's, situated among the mountainous parts of Lancashire, and in his +anxiety for Walter's safety, forgot for a time his own troubles. But +though their correspondence ceased, the voice of fame was not silent, +and its echoes reached even to the Fourness Fells, telling that Walter +De Vallance was created Earl of Bellingham, and that all the possessions +of the ancient house of Neville were bestowed on Lady Eleanor. + +The ocean beats at the bottom of a cliff for ages, and imperceptibly +wears its rugged projections to smoothness; but an earthquake overthrows +it in an instant. The mind of Evellin, which for a period of seven years +had contended with hope and fear, sometimes almost suspecting, and at +other times rejecting distrust, was by this proof of his friend's +treachery, bereft of all fortitude and patience. Wounded by the neglect +of the world, his confidence in Walter had been his preservative from +misanthropy; and when vexed at the recollection of his own imprudent +frankness and folly, in provoking the resentment of powerful foes, he +soothed his galled spirit by considering, that the guileless simplicity +of his nature, which had raised those foes, had also secured him a +faithful friend. That bright creation of his fancy disappeared, a chaos +of duplicity, dark contrivance, and injustice remained: Walter proved +false, his sister unnatural, his King a tyrant. So different were these +objects from what he once believed them, that he doubted whether life +afforded any realities. Did his Isabel really choose him for his own +merit, or was latent ambition the spur to her affection? Did the +village-pastor seek out and console a stranger from motives of Christian +benevolence, or had he discovered his rank and hopes, and on them formed +expectation of advancement? + +Whatever the most unalterable and entire affection, acting on a noble +mind and an active temper, could do, Isabel performed with cheerful +tenderness and never-wearied patience. To assist in supporting her +family, she took the farm into her own management, and endeavoured to +rouse the attention of her much-altered husband, by pointing out the +humble, but secure comforts, which husbandry afforded. She dwelt on +every example of unhappy greatness; she reminded him, that to be +deceived by specious characters, was the common error of superior +understandings, who, lightly valuing the goods of fortune, never suspect +that to others they will prove irresistible temptations. Her surprise, +she said, was not that the artful should impose upon the honourable, or +the mean ensnare the magnanimous; but that the former should have the +audacity to attempt to cozen those who were every way above them, +because, in so doing, they must depend upon the operation of qualities, +which their narrow hearts and warped principles could not allow them to +estimate. She once went so far as to say, that it was not superior +discernment, which enabled her to suspect the perfidiousness of Walter. +She did not view him with the partiality of youthful affections; she was +ignorant of the many ties which bound him to a brave and grateful heart. +Her anxiety for her Allan kept her attention fixed on one object, the +progress which his agent made; and when she saw that the cause did not +prosper in his hand, she searched for instances of mismanagement, and +combined circumstances to his prejudice, which were not likely to strike +an affectionate friend, who was too confident in the actor to scrutinize +the action. How could she, who loved a brother with the same +unquestioning fidelity as Allan did Walter, condemn the errors of +overflowing affection? Evellin listened in gloomy silence. Too deeply +wounded to endure even this mild censure of his own folly, in the shape +of an apology for his weakness, he sternly enjoined her to avoid that +theme. + +Undismayed by such rebuffs, Isabel attempted other topics. She often +assured him she was now more at her ease, than if seated at the head of +the Earl's table, in Castle Bellingham. "I should have been +embarrassed," said she, "and might, perhaps, have acted wrong through my +solicitude to be very right. Our little household is easily catered for; +hence we can devote the more time to our darling babes. Was not the +husbandman's life preferred by the wisest, the most favoured of mankind? +Does it not afford health and peace? Are not our cares innocent, our +enjoyments unenvied? We do not anticipate, with aching hearts, the fall +or the death of a rival; neither do we, after having distorted our faces +with the hilarity of forced merriment in public, meet, in our privacies, +with anger and fear; reproaching each other for some neglect, and +commenting on the frowns of royalty. We need not study to be expert in +ceremony, or adroit in flattery. When nature calls, we take our simple +food, we rest when she requires relaxation, and when rest is satiety, +innocent and useful labour improves our mental and corporeal functions. +How pitiable are they, whom necessity drags to the banquet of +ostentation, who secretly yawn through the lengthened vigil of unenjoyed +dissipation; who rise from feverish slumbers to tasteless delights; who +feel that their present course of life is a captivity; and yet look on +that which would bring them freedom as disgrace. Unmolested by +creditors, unvexed by the reproachful glances of those who would +attribute their undoing to our extravagance, with no open enemies to +insult us, no secret sorrows to afflict us, our desires subdued rather +than gratified, our domestic union perfect, our minds informed, and our +souls expatiating in a still happier world, O my Allan, let us forget +the past, and call our lot rare felicity. These mountains, which shut +from your view a deceitful treacherous world are now your towers of +defence. These clear lakes which reflect the blue skies, dispose us to +serene contemplation. When all my household toils are finished, and +suspended care sleeps till the morning, I lead my children to their +evening sports; I point to the sublime scenes around us, and remind them +that the Almighty mind, that formed these wonders, dictated the book +which is their daily study. He piled the grey cliffs on each other, some +awfully barren, others cloathed with verdure, to shew that fertility and +desolation, like joy and grief, are at his disposal. He, through fringed +rocks, hollowed a cavern, whence burst the majestic cataract, whose +course no mortal hand shall divert or restrain. So should man submit to +the dispensations of Omniscient wisdom. While thus meditating, I despise +the insignificance of worldly cares, I become almost spiritualized, and +am in danger of losing social affections, as well as earthly desires, +till my children, fancifully decked with wild flowers, call aloud to +point you out, descending from the cliff, loaded with game, and +accompanied by your spaniels and falcon. They rush into your embraces. +You return safe, uninjured by your exhilarating sports. If, at such a +moment, I can fancy that parental transport predominates over sorrow in +your aspect, I lift my hands in transport to Heaven, and ask if a mighty +Princess ever was so blessed." + +The dejected Evellin sometimes listened in silence to these fond +breathings of chaste affection, wrung her hand, and pronounced her +worthy of a happier lot, calling her a pledge of divine favour and +reconciliation to a much-offending man. He never spoke of his wrongs, +and she sometimes entertained a hope that they were fading from his +remembrance. At least she knew it was the wisest course to avoid +dwelling on sorrows, for which patience was the only cure, and being +thoroughly practised in the duty of resignation, she wished to impart +its comforts to him, whom she so strongly loved. + + + + +CHAP. IV. + + My wrongs, my wrongs, my constant thoughts engage, + These, my sole oracles, inspire my rage. + + Pope's Homer. + + +One evening, while the young Evellins were watching for their father, +and fancying they discerned him returning from the mountains, they +hastily ran back to their mother to inform her that a strange man lay at +the bottom of the glen seemingly much fatigued, who asked the way to Mr. +Neville's. Isabel knew that the real name of her husband was known only +to herself in that neighbourhood, and suspected a snare of De Vallance's +to get him into his power and rob him of all that remained, his life. +She anxiously inquired what further passed, little Eustace answered, "We +said nobody lived near but our father, whose name was not Neville but +Evellin. He asked us if he was tall, with dark hair, and carried himself +like a Prince. We had seen no Princes, but I put on my cap as he does, +and shewed how he walked, and the poor man caught me in his arms, almost +smothered me with kisses, and said he would never stir from that spot +till his master came." + +"Foolish children," said the mother; "perhaps you have betrayed your +father to those who hunt for his life." + +"No, indeed," replied Isabel, "he is too weak and ill to hurt any body. +He is very hungry still, though I gave him all the cloud-berries I had +gathered, and filled his can with water. He blessed us just as you do, +and I am sure he never would hurt my father." + +"Go round by the coppice, my darling; meet your father and tell him what +you have seen; I will go to the stranger."--"And take some cordials with +you," said both the children. "He shall want no cordials if he be what +he appears," returned Mrs. Evellin; "but, sweet lambs, there are more +wolves in the world than true shepherds." + +The suspicions of the fond wife were in this instance groundless. The +stranger was David Williams, formerly comptroller of the Earl of +Bellingham's household, who, discovering that his real master was not +dead, as Earl Walter now affirmed, set out with a determination of +discovering his retreat. He carried with him the honourable savings of a +life of industry; but having been attacked on the road and robbed of his +property, he arrived, exhausted and pennyless, among the Fells of +Fourness, in appearance a burden to the family he wished to serve. + +Yet this faithful old servant, though bare and withering like the +scathed oak, was inexpressibly welcome to one who so deeply suffered +from the crimes of duplicity. Williams soon recovered his strength under +the care of his dear old master; and though the mountain cottage bore no +resemblance to the embattled towers of Castle Bellingham, still he was +under the roof of a true Neville, and he would not change his service to +attend an Emperor. Evellin took a lively interest in the society of his +old domestic, who, happy that his recovered health enabled him to serve, +in adversity, the noble stock under whose protection he had formerly +flourished, followed his dear lord, as he called him, over the +mountains, thinking of the days that were past. Sometimes Williams would +lead Evellin to talk of former times, when Bellingham Castle blazed with +feudal splendor, and the numerous dependents of its mighty owner, +marshalled by the sound of the bugle, rode to their sports like the +clans of the earlier ages, a gallant troop, to rouse the stag from his +lair, or to loose the hawk at the crested pheasant. The heir of that +castle, habited as an humble yeoman, sullenly listened to the narrative +of his only follower. "Does not the chace," he would say, "now afford us +equal pleasure? are not my dogs as swift, and these mountains as replete +with game as those which engird my paternal residence." A deep groan +contradicted the conclusion to which this inquiry seemed to lead; yet +Williams, fancying he amused his master, continued to deepen those +agonizing recollections which are most dangerous to poignant +sensibility. Nor had Evellin the self-command to forbear making +inquiries which must, when answered, aggravate his anguish. He bade +Williams freely state what he knew of their old neighbours and +dependents. The tale was diffusely told. Evellin listened with deep +attention, execrated his own misconduct, enjoined silence, and then, by +fresh questions, encouraged repetition. A hope had long clung to his +heart, arising from that lofty tone of feeling which is more pained at +becoming the tool of falsehood than at being the victim of misfortune. +Long-continued moody musings had affected his judgment; and he sometimes +actually doubted whether De Vallance was really treacherous, or had been +defeated in his friendly efforts by the power of a host of enemies. + +"Answer me truly, Williams," said he, while his lip quivered with +emotion, and his hand trembled as he affected to stroke his falcon with +a careless air: "you see the present and the future are now indifferent +to me. You remember the time when Walter's father rescued me, a cradled +infant, from Tyrone's rebellious kerns in Ireland, and thus laid the +foundation of the friendship between our houses. You remember, Walter +himself saving me from the lake when I was nearly drowned. Surely he was +then a warm-hearted, generous boy. The tears he shed over my supposed +corse could not be dangerous and deceitful drops. At school, at college, +and when we crossed the Alps together, ever sharing my bed and table, I +saw him in every different situation. Was his life one act of deceit, +and mine a long dream of credulity? When, in the fullness of my soul, I +told him he was more than worthy my sister's love, he answered that +though the noble blood of Devereux ran in his veins, it did not become +his humble fortunes to aspire to the Lady Eleanor. After my father's +death, he would no longer reside with me, but entered into the service +of his cousin, the Lord Essex, saying he would not quarter an expensive +retainer on the scanty portion of a younger brother, which needed good +husbandry, but that his heart still remained with me, and would be a +cheap sojourner. Was not this the language of a noble spirit? You look, +Williams, as if you had a mystery to unfold. Come, tell all your tale as +you would repeat it to gossips on a wassail night. The world is now +forgotten by me, and I am forgotten by the world." + +"My noble Lord," Williams began--"Again," said Evellin, "after my strict +injunctions, do not insult me with empty titles. Have I not told you +that my patent of nobility is cancelled? I am Goodman Evellin of the +Fells, husband of the best of women, and father of two wanton prattlers, +who know not the misery of having fallen from an eminently glorious +station. Mark, Williams, the story of what I was shall die with me, or +only survive close shut in the treasured remembrance of my faithful +wife. I would not for the universe cloud the laughing features of these +happy babes, by awakening desires which I cannot gratify; therefore +forget my lapsed greatness." + +"Even in our privacies?" inquired Williams. + +"Certainly; and habit will make familiarity easy. Sit beside me on the +ground, and leave off putting your hand to your bonnet. Do we not look +like two smart woodmen, enjoying, over our evening repast, a tale of +other times?" + +"I must turn my face from your honour," said Williams, "before I can +attempt to forget that you was Sir Allan, my old master's favourite son; +but it is in vain for you to try to pass for a country yeoman. They who +have spent their lives in these mountains, and never seen a noble +personage, rudely explain their notions of majesty and dignity by +describing you; and, by the grace of Heaven, they shall find they +guessed right, when they said the stranger from the south-country was a +man of another sort of a world." + +"Let us have no more day-dreams, I asked you about Walter de Vallance." + +"He is now Earl of Bellingham." + +Evellin gnawed his lip, and angrily struck his fawning spaniel. "True," +replied he, "the King would have him so. He forced these honours on him; +and if is thus, by prejudice and injustice, that he tampers with the +loyalty of a brave nation. Canst thou blame De Vallance for catching my +coronet before it fell to the ground by a false attainder? Why should +the title lie in abeyance? Is it not better worn by one allied to our +house than by an alien? Who so fit to sit in the baronial chair of our +common ancestor as my sister's son, now I am exscinded as a diseased +branch." + +"He is a lad of the fairest promise," answered Williams, "but he will +never live to be Earl of Bellingham. Grant that no singular judgments +fall on the house of usurpation, yet the honourable blood which he +inherits from the Nevilles will so strive with the foul current of De +Vallance, that the ill-compounded body will not grow to manhood." + +Evellin smiled: "Thou thinkest then," said he, "that Walter has played +the thief's part, and stolen what he could not honestly acquire." + +"'Tis past thinking about," answered Williams; "the blame rests not on +the King's Majesty, whom Heaven prosper. He is too much raised above the +common intercourse of life to look into the hearts of those who take +care to approach him with a fair outside. His days are consumed by cares +and perplexities, and those who are apt and courteous in business must +needs have his ear. I well know that De Vallance gained the royal favour +by appearing to be your devoted friend, and by praising you for those +qualities in which it was Heaven's will to leave you somewhat defective. +Thus he praised your prudence, and produced your flight in proof of your +innocence; yet, in the same breath, gave some instance of your rashness, +and shewed that flight was ever the villain's resource. So contrariwise +were his pleadings and his praises, that His Grace said one day of him, +jestingly, 'Whatever my council may decide about Neville, I must keep De +Vallance in my service; for though he is an unapt advocate, he is a +right trusty friend.'" + +"We are now," returned Evellin, "acting as jurors, deciding upon the +better part of a man's possessions, his honour. Let us then be candid +and wary. Zeal, like anger, often overshoots the mark. The lively +promptitude of feeling hurries our judgment beyond its natural pace. Let +us admit that the stern character of that bloody conclave, before whom +De Vallance often pleaded my cause, might confuse a man, among whose +natural defects I have noted a constitutional timidity, apt to tremble +at the frown of a fellow-creature. Before a court constituted like the +Star-chamber, armed with unlimited powers to impose fines, imprisonment, +sequestration, banishment, nay even the punishment of personal +mutilation, no wonder the sole friend and unsupported advocate of a man, +whom they were bent to ruin, took improper methods of serving him." + +"It is too true," returned Williams, "that this court has of late +stretched its originally unconstitutional powers, and has further +provoked the unwarrantable licence of the times by trying to restrain +it. The King's best friends allow that it has in many instances 'held +that for honourable which pleased, and that for just which profited; and +being the same persons who composed the council, the same individuals +acted in two courts; in one, enjoining the people what was not law, and +prohibiting what was not prohibited; and, in the other, censuring +disobedience to their own decrees by heavy fines and severe +imprisonments. But the tendency of these proceedings has been rather to +supply the King's necessities with money, which, since his breach with +his parliament he cannot legally obtain, than wantonly to sport with the +rights of his people, from which no advantage can be derived to the +crown[1].' And truly, those noble persons who compose this assembly are +too well aware of the unpopularity and odium of their proceedings to +give any needless cause of complaint; nor would they have dared to +commit such a foul misdemeanor, as to condemn and sentence a peer of the +realm for a capital offence, without giving him a solemn and public +trial. Now, my dear master, has your clear understanding been so misled +as to make you suppose their misdoings ever reached such atrocity, or +that they would unwisely give contention such a handle." + +Evellin's judgment had ever contradicted Walter's statements, and the +conclusions which remaining affection, and his own unwillingness to own +himself a dupe, laboured to draw, he now inquired how his estates came +to be confiscated, and his person cast out of the protection of the law. + +"On account of your contumacy," answered Williams; "you did not +surrender when the royal proclamation called upon you to take your +trial, and then a writ of outlawry was required by your prosecutor." + +"Was it not Walter's duty to convey that proclamation to me?" said +Evellin. Williams replied, it was; he mentioned its date, and Evellin +knew it tallied with that of his marriage, at which time Walter more +earnestly conjured him to remain in the closest concealment. A heavy +groan burst from his heart, he rested his head on his folded hands, and +bade Williams proceed. + +"Yet though a long term of years had elapsed," continued he, "so +unwilling was the King to proceed to extremities, that from term to term +the cause stood over, and the hungry vulture who longed to gorge your +possessions grew weary of acting the dove's part. I had long seen his +base nature. In vain did he dress his face and his person in the solemn +hue of mourning, or your false-hearted sister shed Hyaena tears,"-- + +"Tears! For what did she weep?" + +"For your death." + +"My death," said Evellin, starting up; "De Vallance knew I was alive." + +"Aye, my noble master, and so did I too, or I should never have lived to +drag my bones to the banks of Windermere; grief would have killed me ere +I had gone half my journey. I caught the villain destroying your +letters; I saw the date of one; you were alive at Ribblesdale in +November, so could not have died the preceding month at Launceston." + +"Who durst affirm that I did?" + +"Walter De Vallance.--He claimed an audience of the King, and shewed an +attested certificate, stating that Allan Neville had there deceased. An +account was subjoined of his person, his way of living, and the time he +had resided in that borough, all made to correspond with your likeness +and history. I had followed him to the door of the privy-chamber, and +waited among the pages. Methinks I see him now screw up his hypocritical +face and wink his eyes, as if he wept." "Your Majesty," said he, "will +be no more persecuted with my suit for my ill-fated brother-in-law.--Lady +Eleanor commends her duty to the Queen.--Alas, I fear the same stroke +will leave me friendless and a widower.--Never was such love." He went +on, sobbing aloud--"A broken heart brought him to his grave.--One, only +error; else the very mirror of honourable faculties." Thus he stood as +one beside himself with anguish, holding out the certificate, which a +gentleman read to His Highness. And then, my noble master, you might +have seen how true pity looks by the side of its vile counterfeit. "I +knew Allan Neville well," said the King, "and I once truly loved him. +Ill rest the calumniators of those who can no longer justify themselves! +His faults die with him. The pardon I meant to have granted to his +offences, if he would have sought my mercy, shall turn into favours to +those who share his blood." Walter answered, he could scarce be +comforted even by such gracious words; but he acted his part ill, for +though the King's goodness was too noble to suspect him, the courtiers +nicknamed him the merry-mourner. + +"Why speaks not my noble master," said Williams, observing the fixed +posture and quenched eye of Evellin. At last he exclaimed--"I am not +dead;" and bursting into an hysterical laugh, he swore De Vallance +should find he was not dead. + +"That is the point," replied Williams, "to which I have long wished to +urge you. Only appear and prove your identity; nothing more is wanting. +But rest on my arm, your whole frame is convulsed. Ah, woe is me, that a +base upstart should thus destroy so true a sample of old English worth!" + +"I have survived the loss of my patrimony," said Evellin; "I have bowed +my aspiring mind to the lowliness of which I was born to be the +protector; I have a good King, a good cause, a faithful wife, dear +lovely children. De Vallance shall not long triumph. But say, Williams, +didst than ever hear of treachery so complicated, so deep, so totally +void of even a twinkling ray of common rectitude." + +"I know but one character more vile and unnatural," returned Williams, +"and that is the Lady Eleanor." + +"I pass her by," said Evellin. "Nature cast her mind in its most sordid +mould; and her heart is capable only of mean inclinations and low +desires; I have, from my youth, reproved her follies, and as she never +loved me, she would see no crime in plotting my destruction." + +"What--because you strove to render her worthy her lineage," answered +Williams. "If a bad nature is an excuse for crimes, may not Satan object +to the severity of his sentence. Beauty made her vain, and adulation +made her haughty. Yet other ladies on the same personal graces have +engrafted the lovelier stock of truly noble virtues. The husband whom +she deigned to marry, because she found him a ready slave to her +designs, will live to rue the day when he made marriage a ladder to +ambition. May Heaven guard our Queen from so dangerous a friend. Never +did a falser serpent with a beautiful outside dart its poisons into the +ear of Majesty." + +Williams went on repeating anecdotes, which proved the degeneracy of the +new Countess from the antient stock of noble ladies who were better +pleased to act as faithful and provident stewards of the bounty of +Heaven, than, like greedy whirlpools, to absorb every thing within their +reach. He contrasted their circumspect liberality with her thoughtless +waste; the matronly sobriety and tempered magnificence of their attire +with her new fangled fickleness and wanton costliness; their modest +dignified courtesy with her wayward perverseness; their gravity with her +lightness, in acting at court-revels and maskings, familiar with every +gallant, and accepting praise from the most polluted sources. He spoke +to the winds; the full proof of that perfidy which Evellin had so long +struggled to disbelieve, fell like a thundering cataract on his mind, +and swept away all power of attention. Long-indulged sorrow had preyed +on his mental and corporeal functions, and rendered him ill able to +support that severe blow. Williams sincerely repented the circumstantial +disclosure he had made. A feverish listlessness seized on the unhappy +Evellin, which yielded only to the visitation of a more dreadful +calamity. It was not decided insanity, but it dispelled the hopes which +had been formed of his being able to reclaim his usurped birth-right. +His bodily health was in time restored, and his mental infirmity became +a wild humoursome eccentricity, preserving traces of his noble +character, but querulously impatient of controul, subject to extravagant +transports, and incapable of steady exertion or connected thought. Still +magnanimous, independent and honourable, but moody, rash, and +intractable, he was the automaton of generous instinct, no longer +animated by reason. + +Such a situation required constant vigilance to prevent irritation and +supply soothing recreations and gratifying objects. Williams was a most +useful assistant to Mrs. Evellin. He was practically versed in +husbandry, he knew the world, and had a creditable share of literature; +he could thus amuse his master, direct the domestic management, and +instruct the children. Isabel in all these instances found him a +considerable relief to her cares. That excellent woman knew not what +immediately hastened her husband's malady. Williams had often stated the +possibility of his regaining his rights; but she, dreading every +proposal that might agitate his mind, solemnly urged that that topic +should be avoided. "In my prayers to Heaven," said she, "I never dared +to supplicate for more than that he might ever continue what he was when +I first revered and loved him. Reason and judgment are positive +advantages; fortune and title, accidents which the possessor may convert +into evils. I should have been most thankful, if, during our journey to +the vale of years, he had been always able to act as my counsellor and +guide. His conversation was 'the daily banquet of my nourished mind.' I +hoped ever to feed on the words of wisdom breathed from the lips of +kindness. I know not what important contingencies in my eternal +existence are connected with my present trial; but this I know, if I +sustain it patiently and cheerfully, it must promote much present good. +I did not consider marriage merely as a summer voyage. Before I left the +quiet harbour of singleness I thought of winter and its future storms. +Most happily I did not choose a vessel laden with perishable treasures. +While reason and judgment illuminated his mind, my Evellin was the +delight and ornament of society; yet still his holier hopes, pursued a +good, less transient than the applause of man. If while the faithful +servant labours in his vocation a premature night falls upon him and +suspends his toil, will the just Master who ordains the privation, be +extreme in noting the remissness of infirmity? I once was the happiest +of wives, nor can I now be wretched since I still minister comfort to my +beloved." + +Thus, with a mind naturally firm, and still further supported by +principle and undeviating affection through years of trial, Mrs. Evellin +persevered in active duty and enduring fortitude. The anxiety which her +suffering husband excited, and the attentions he required, slowly +undermined a constitution originally delicate, but she made no parade +either of her sorrows or her cares. She courted no compassion, and her +suppressed anguish would have been known only to her Creator, had she +not observed that Evellin, in his wildest aberrations of intellect, felt +her sorrows, and was not only tranquillized but restored to a transient +recollection by the sight of her distress. She bestowed infinite care on +her children, labouring to impart to them a portion of her own cheerful +fortitude and active vigilance. The superintendance of her farm added to +her employments; she had no leisure for unavailing regret; and till +sickness was added to sorrow, her busy days were frequently rewarded by +nights of peaceful slumber. The occupied mind, however acute its +sensibility, rarely sinks into despondence. The soothing consciousness +of usefulness overcomes its regrets, and the habit of exertion creates +confidence in its own powers. This sentiment, though criminal when it +annihilates religious dependence, is highly commendable when it acts as +its ally, inspiring a generous resolution of not adding to the burden of +our fellow-pilgrims, who like us toil heavy-laden through the wilderness +of life. On the other hand those, who, when visited by irremediable +affliction, give up their whole souls to the indulgence of grief, may +dignify their passive dejection with the name of finer feelings, and +more tender sensibility, but they will at last find, that they have +submitted to the bondage of a tyrant who will deprive them of all their +remaining comforts. Does gloomy despondence bespeak a higher degree of +social virtue? Is melancholy an instance of the soul's reliance on +Divine goodness? Do they not rather shew a rebellious disposition to Him +from whom affliction proceeds, and a selfish disregard of those whose +comforts are all blasted by the depressing influence of indulged despair? + + + [1] This is Clarendon's account of that famous court. + + + + +CHAP. V. + + Scripture was not writ to beget pride and disputation, and + opposition to government, but moderation, humility, and + obedience, and peace, and piety, in mankind, of which no good + man ever did or will repent himself on his death-bed. + + Hooker. + + +The subject of my story embraces a long period of eventful years; I must +therefore imitate the chroniclers of old, and, leaving the Evellins +among their mountain-fastnesses, return to Ribblesdale, and describe the +situation of Dr. Beaumont. + +This worthy divine continued to exercise his pastoral functions in +respectable tranquillity, adorning his station by a happy union of +literary accomplishments with Christian graces. In these duties he was +assisted by his amiable and beloved wife, who, though endowed with an +unusual share of personal beauty, and descended from a noble stock, +thought it no degradation to practise the duties which the inspired +Apostle requires from the wives of Christian pastors, whom he rightly +considers as called to be associates and partners in the ministry. She +was indeed "grave, no slanderer, sober, faithful in all things, adorned +with a meek and quiet spirit, abounding in good works, and a teacher of +good things." Preserving the decorous and just superiority of polished +manners and an enlightened mind, blended with the courtesy, humility, +and meekness which result from true religious feeling, this amiable +woman lived beloved and died lamented. A victim to the pestilence which +ravaged England about the year 1630, she fell in the prime of life; a +proof that length of days and exemption from sorrow are no sure marks of +Divine favour. Her assiduity in ministering to the afflicted, exposed +her to the infection which deprived Dr. Beaumont of all his numerous +family except one daughter; while the household of Sir William Waverly, +closely barricadoed by every contrivance which caution could suggest, +enjoyed uninterrupted health. The only share he had in the general +distress arose from his fears that some of the convalescent might pass +the barrier he had placed round his park, or that infection might be +communicated through the medium of the bailiff, who was allowed to sell +corn from his granaries to the starving populace, at an exorbitant rate. +The Baronet gave himself great credit for this act of generosity and +patriotism, often observing that it would be very hard if it should +expose him to the danger of falling a victim to his philanthropy, which +sentiment was re-echoed by those who had the honour of sitting at his +table, now more splendidly furnished by these extra profits, to the +great satisfaction of all his humble retainers. + +Dr. Beaumont resigned his wife and children to Him who had bestowed +them, as intrusted blessings, which he had dearly valued, and now as +tenderly regretted. Resolved to pass the rest of his days in widowhood, +he made Mrs. Mellicent superintendant of his household and director of +his daughter's feminine accomplishments. She also undertook to supply +the place of Mrs. Beaumont in the parish, but in the task of managing +the humours and improving the inclinations of the lower orders, +something beside zeal and activity is necessary, even granting (as was +the case in this instance) that they are guided by right principles. +There was an unfortunate degree of rigidity and austerity about Mrs. +Mellicent that was less connected with her heart than her manner, unless +we ascribe it to a latent conviction of her own wisdom and an +inclination to govern by its acknowledged superiority rather than by +acquired influence. The villagers allowed that the ladies were equally +good; but Madam Beaumont smiled them into a persuasion that she was an +angel, and they adored her because they thought she loved them; while +Madam Mellicent chided them for their faults, traced their misfortunes +to their imprudence, and instead of trying to persuade them out of their +prejudices, informed them that their capacities and education best +fitted them for the duty of obedience. She was a woman of natural +shrewdness, but not sufficiently conversant with the world to know the +advantage of prudently temporizing, or the usefulness of forbearance. +She had not allowed herself to study the temper of the times; she saw +not that the bands of subordination were relaxing, and that the +populace, leaving the practice of duties, were now busy in ascertaining +rights. A change so important and so similar to that to which of late +years public opinion has again leaned, will justify a few remarks on its +causes, before I describe its effects. + +The coercive system of government, which, during the arbitrary reigns of +the Tudor family, wore the dignified aspect of prescriptive authority, +was submitted to by a people grateful to that popular house, whose +accession healed the wounds of a long protracted civil war; but when +continued by what England esteemed a race of foreign Kings, it was +stigmatized by the name of tyranny. The favours and privileges which +Henry the Seventh bestowed on the commons, and the stratagems he +employed to reduce the power of those barons who had been the makers and +unmakers of Kings, had, during the course of five reigns, created a new +order of men, whose power and influence in the commonwealth were yet +unknown to the advisers of the crown. The long internal peace of a +century and a half, added to the stimulus which commerce had received +during the reign of Elizabeth, introduced a vast influx of wealth. The +religious disputes, which were the only contests that disturbed this +repose, engrafted a sour spirit of theological controversy on the warm +devotional feelings that distinguished the age immediately succeeding +the reformation. This temper was fomented by the clerical disputants +among their respective flocks; the pulpit became a stage for spiritual +attack and defence, and the most illiterate congregations were crazed +with discussions of metaphysical divinity, or inflamed with rancorous +hatred against the opponents of their peculiar preacher, who might be +truly said to preach his own doctrine and defend his own cause, and not +the doctrine or cause of his master. Thus the great mass of the +community had their attention diverted from that important part of the +Christian covenant which consists in practice, and were taught to rest +their hopes of salvation on speculative points, to the disbelief of +which were annexed those dreadful anathemas that entirely destroyed the +spirit of Christian charity, and made the professors of the same +religion enemies from principle, instead of brothers in love, united "by +one faith, one hope, one baptism." + +This religious intoxication was increased by those confused, undefined +discussions about civil privileges, which, considering the altered +circumstances of the community, it would have been wise for the Crown +not to have provoked. There would, on the contrary, have been more +policy in permitting some claims, not authorized by precedent, to have +stolen in by connivance, and a few obnoxious institutions to have +silently died away. The parsimonious frugality of Elizabeth was a +powerful support to her prerogative, while the prodigal grants of King +James to his favourites paved the way to his son's ruin. The disputes +between King Charles and his three first parliaments induced him to have +recourse to measures for raising supplies which were unconstitutional, +and though the sums thus procured did not amount to a moiety of what +would have been granted in the shape of taxes, the people murmured at +forced loans, ship-money, and other unhappy expedients, when they would +cheerfully have paid much larger sums if granted as subsidies. The house +of Commons during the reign of Henry the Eighth were frowned and menaced +into the most abject subjection; and Elizabeth, with no less authority, +but superior address, awed them into non-resistance; but ever since the +accession of the house of Stewart they felt their importance, as bearers +of the public purse. Their decrees as well as their debates breathed a +spirit at once alarming and displeasing to Princes educated in the +opinion of their own Divine right, and succeeding a Queen who, though +wisely intent on the public good, was as despotic a Sovereign as ever +filled the English throne. A want of attention to the change which had +rendered his situation different from that of his predecessors, and a +too sanguine confidence in the affections of his people, which his +virtues and abilities richly deserved, hurled the unhappy Charles from +his throne. He wanted those pre-monitory lessons which his own +subsequent misfortunes afforded. The eventful scenes which Europe has +exhibited these last twenty years have awefully multiplied such +warnings: May they act on the minds of Englishmen, and on those of their +rulers, till the last great day of general audit which shall terminate +the existence of this island with that of the earth! + +The same good intentions and mistaken methods that distinguished the +administration of the Sovereign, marked Mrs. Mellicent's superintendance +of Ribblesdale. She was a politician of the school of Elizabeth, very +willing to do good to her inferiors, but positively requiring that they +should obey her. Prescription and authority, docility and respect, old +principles and old manners, were her favourite topics; and in preaching +submission to all superiors from the King to the village constable, +precedence and decorum were her constant texts. Her notions were perhaps +urged too far, but this was an age of extremes; the minds of the people +were kept in a continual ferment, every object was distorted, and the +calamities which ensued, in many instances, proceeded more from +ill-directed zeal than positive malice; from fanaticism rather than +hypocrisy. At least a bewildered imagination seems at first to have +actuated the majority of the most eminent commonwealth's men to support +what they deemed a righteous cause, though in their subsequent actions +party-spirit urged them to do what they knew to be sinful, and to +attempt to gloss it with those false colourings which make us now justly +combine the names of hypocrite and fanatic, and hold them up as a +reproach to the age in which they passed for saint and patriot. + +The new lights, as they were termed, had begun to set England in a +blaze, and two of their burning torches were greeted in Ribblesdale in +the persons of Morgan and Davies, the latter the village-schoolmaster, +the former a low-minded money-scrivener, who had amassed a large fortune +in "the godly city of Gloucester"; and retired to spend it in his native +town, where he purchased an estate, acted as justice of the peace, and +styled himself gentleman. Both were illuminated apostles of the new +doctrines, but each had a peculiar department in the work of +reformation; one wishing to batter down the spiritual abominations of +the church, while the other confined his zeal to destroying the bands of +tyrannical rulers, and "calling Israel to their tents." Davies laboured +under the pressure of poverty. He had displeased Dr. Beaumont by his +seditious and impertinent behaviour, and the inhabitants withdrew their +children from his school; but as his means of living decreased, his +opinion of his own deserts enlarged; he mistook the cravings of want for +spiritual illumination, and so perplexed his mind by reading the +scurrilous libels of the day, as to be firmly persuaded that the King +was the Devil's bairn, and Archbishop Laud the personal antichrist. A +description of church ceremonies thrilled him with horror, and in every +prosecution of a contumacious minister his ardent fancy saw a revival of +the flames of Smithfield, while his confused notions of right and +justice convinced him, that if the arm of the spirit failed, that of the +flesh must be exerted, to throw down these strong holds. He had long +believed himself equal to Dr. Beaumont in learning, and fancied that the +unction of gifts and graces, with which he was favoured, gave him a +decided preference over man's ordination. He continued to attend the +church, but not in the capacity of an humble learner. By coming late, he +avoided the zeal-quenching liturgy, which, as it avowedly retained +ancient prayers, he considered as Babylonish and idolatrous, and he +exercised his Christian liberty of choosing his religion by listening to +the sermon, with a design of cavilling at the preacher, whom he soon +found to be a mere legal teacher, descanting on the doctrine of works +exploded by the new covenant. + +Morgan had less zeal than Davies, and more foresight. Though equally +anxious to pull down and destroy, he was not so certain that the +fragments would re-edify themselves into a habitable fabric; and as he +liked the comforts he enjoyed in the present state of things, he was not +inclined to lay the foundation of a republic, till he was certain of +getting a good apartment in it himself. He saw that the aspect of the +times forboded extraordinary changes; but as he could not divine which +of the numerous sects that opposed the church would acquire the +ascendancy, he left his religion to future contingences. He found Davies +an able assistant, and therefore determined to keep him hungry and +discontented, in order to make him the more active in recommending the +sovereign panacea, that was to cure all the national disorders. This +recipe was no other than the covenant promulgated in Scotland, and which +was called "a golden girdle to tie themselves to Heaven, a joining and +glueing themselves to the Lord, a binding themselves apprentice to +God[1]." These terms were applied to an agreement which made those that +entered into it, if in a public station, break their oath of allegiance, +(for the covenanters were bound to overturn the ecclesiastical branch of +the constitution,) and which though it affected loyalty by professing +deference for the person of the King, yet maintained the independence +and paramount power of the parliament, and denounced the King's friends +as malignant incendiaries and evil instruments, who prevented his +reconciliation with his people. The pretext of separating the royal +person from the free exercise of his functions, was too gross to deceive +the most short-sighted. Equally palpable was the falsehood of pretending +to promote peace and unity by an instrument, which, in the form of a +religious sacrament, forbade concession, and solemnly denounced eternal +enmity to all who held different opinions. Such mockery could be +equalled only by that of the popish inquisitors, who intreat the secular +power to be merciful, even in the warrant by which they virtually +consign their victims to the flames. + +These were the pestiferous principles of the intermeddlers, who +disturbed the tranquillity of Ribblesdale, and alienated the minds of +the people from their good pastor. The doctrine of Davies was most +popular, for Morgan cut only the fifth commandment and its dependant +duties out of the decalogue, while Davies, by always insisting on the +freedom of grace, led his hearers, who were unskilled in theological +subtilties, to think he meant to limit duty to the simple act of belief. +From the period of their opposition to Dr. Beaumont, a marked change was +visible in the manners of the villagers; their time was devoted to +contentious disputation, which is in truth the most dangerous sort of +idleness, and as they became in their own ideas more enlightened, they +became more miserable; a sullen morose gloom usurped the frank hilarity +of satisfied rusticity, which formerly animated their countenances. +Athletic exercises and cheerful sports were renounced as sinful, and the +green became the resort of conceited politicians, who, with +misapplications of Scripture in their mouths and newspapers and libels +in their hands, boasted their renunciation of the sensual vices, yet +cherished as graces the baneful passions of pride, malice, and +stubbornness, which the Scriptures assure us are most odious in the +sight of God. + +Dr. Beaumont was not an inactive spectator, while he beheld his +parishioners thus exchanging the infirmities of the flesh for spiritual +contumacy; but the evil had spread beyond the reach of lenient remedies. +It is possible to instruct the ignorant, and reform a conscious culprit, +but who shall teach those who are wise in their own eyes, or convince an +offender, who, while he condemns righteousness as filthy rags, boasts of +his freedom from the power of sin. The church was deserted, or +frequented only by the Doctor's most inveterate opponents, who came not +to reform their lives, but to impugn the doctrine of one, whom they had +previously denounced, as not preaching the gospel, and what with +omissions, transpositions, inuendoes, and insertions, they took care so +to disguise his discourses in their reports, as to make him appear to +maintain what he had uniformly controverted. + +As his ministerial credentials were thus discredited, even while he +stood by the mercy-seat, as priest of the Most High, so when he +performed the social part of his pastoral functions, his visits to his +flock exposed him to derision and insult. The smile of respectful +affection, and the salute of humility and gratitude, no longer greeted +His Reverence; his charity was received as a right, and the legal +maintenance which the law allowed him was grudgingly paid, or +vexatiously withheld from him, being deemed a pledge of servitude to a +preacher whom the people had not chosen, and who fed them with garbage +instead of wholesome food. Even his own tithe-holder, farmer Humphreys, +was led away by the delusion. He was a man of rough manners and gloomy +unsocial disposition, but he had hitherto never ventured to rebel, +farther than occasionally to absent himself from church, on the Sunday +after every admonition which Dr. Beaumont from time to time privately +gave him to abstain from too free indulgence at market. He would have +thought it sacrilegious as well as impudent to question the lawful +endowment of the church, and he reproved his wife for being piqued at +Mrs. Mellicent's blaming her passion for high-crowned hats, ruffs, and +farthingales, which the sage spinster thought indecorous for yeomen's +wives, though very suitable to Lady Waverly. He silenced the good dame's +remarks on Mrs. Mellicent's interfering disposition, by reminding her of +the value of that lady's green ointment, adding that though she was apt +to be domineering and outrageous, she was ever a true friend, and more +useful in sickness than the great Doctor at Lancaster. But Humphreys's +opinions were totally changed, since he had the honour of joining the +club at Squire Morgan's, and heard the evening lectures which Davies +gave in the schoolroom. He now found that man was born equal and free, +that he had a right to choose by whom and how he would be governed or +taught, that tithes were a Jewish ordinance, and therefore carnal; and +that as he was nearly as rich as his pastor, it was lording it over the +Lord's heritage for Dr. Beaumont to be called Your Reverence, while +himself was only Goodman Humphreys. As to the Doctor's superior share of +virtue and wisdom, he had reason to doubt whether he really possessed +them, because he never heard him say he did, but he knew Squire Morgan +was wiser, and Master Davies more godly than other people, for they told +him so every day. And they made such fine speeches, and uttered such +long prayers, that he knew they wished him well. Some things indeed, +that they said about free grace, and agrarian laws he did not quite +understand, but he believed these dark sayings meant, that when he came +to be one of the elect, he should get to Heaven without any trouble; and +that if church and King were overthrown, he should occupy the glebe +without paying any rent. Be this as it would, the right of choosing his +own pastor, which Davies peremptorily insisted on as the +foundation-stone of the reformation, secured him from the mortification +of continually hearing Dr. Beaumont insist on duties he had no +inclination to practice, and condemn faults he did not like to renounce. +It is no wonder, therefore, that Humphreys wrought himself into a most +patriotic resolution, no longer to submit to tyranny and priestcraft, +and to vow that the next time the Doctor admonished him, he would retort +with "Ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi." + +People who resolve to speak their minds, seldom wait long for an +opportunity. Farmer Humphreys's zeal for the holy covenant, which he was +assured confirmed these privileges, not only induced him to take it +himself, but to insist on his carter, Jobson's, subscribing to it also. +Not that he intended the blessed panacea should work a similar change in +the situation of Jobson, who, he discovered, was predestined to hard +work and hard fare; but, as the good cause might want an arm of flesh in +its defence, the muscular strength of the ploughman, like that of the +ox, would help to drag the new ark into the sanctuary. For this purpose, +he carefully concealed from Jobson the latent privileges and immunities +that were vested in these cabalistical words, nor did he think it any +infringement of his principles to inforce by his own behaviour the +abominable doctrine of passive obedience, and to insist that Jobson +should either become a covenanter, or quit his service, and forfeit his +wages. Jobson had once heard the _rigmarole_, as he called it, read +over, and by a strange perverseness of understanding, fancied these +indentures of faith and unity, to be no other than binding himself to +the Devil, to pull down the church and curse the King, and he preferred +persecution and poverty to such servitude. As he resisted all Davies's +attempts to enlighten him, and met his master's threats with a +stedfastness which these friends to liberty called contumacy, the +alternative was dismissal from his present service, without any +remuneration for his past. + +He applied to Justice Morgan for redress, who, anxious to disprove the +suspicions that were circulated of his disposition to favour +disorganizing principles, enjoined Jobson to obey his master, and +reproved him for thinking that his soul could be endangered by following +the example of so many great men, who had taken the covenant. It +inopportunely happened, that at this moment Jobson recollected a sermon +of Dr. Beaumont's, against the sin of following a multitude to do evil, +in which every man's responsibility for his own offences, and the +attention of Omniscience to individual transgressions, were illustrated +by proofs drawn from the minute watchfulness of Providence, which +superintends the heedless flight of the sparrow, and adorns the lilies +of the field with more than regal magnificence. In reply to Morgan's +enumeration of the Dukes, Marquisses, Lords and Squires, Godly Ministers +and staunch Common-wealth men, who had taken the covenant, Jobson shook +his head, and said, none of them would answer for his soul. "I heard," +said he, "last Sunday in church, that all the Princes of a great nation +worshipped a golden image, and three men would not, so every body went +against these men, and threw them into a burning furnace. But the men +were right after all in the end of the story; and so, please Your +Worship, I'll not sign the Devil's bond for any body." + +Davies, who was present at the examination, now remarked that Jobson had +not only forfeited his wages as an hireling, by his disobedience to a +believing master, but deserved to be committed for slandering the holy +covenant; and Morgan, though he knew this had not yet been made an +offence by statute, yet relying on the temper of the parish, the +ignorance of the culprit, and the protection he would be sure to meet +from a faction, whose violence had driven the King from his capital, and +usurped the government, made out a Mittimus. Some remaining sense of +justice, and a dislike of oppression when exercised against one of their +own rank, induced the peasants to shew their disapprobation. A crowd +collected around Morgan's door, determined to exercise their rights and +to rescue the prisoner. The tears and cries of his wife and children had +just roused them to the assumption of that summary mode of vengeance, so +gratifying to an English mob, when the appearance of Dr. Beaumont +suspended their fury. The long-formed associations of habitual reverence +were not so intirely abrogated as to allow them to continue their +riotous conduct under the influence of that mild eye, which had often +silently reproved their faults, or that benevolent countenance, which +had pitied their wants, and confirmed their virtues; they stood in +suspence, involuntarily waiting for his opinion. + +Dr. Beaumont severely condemned their misconduct in taking justice into +their own hands, and assured them he would use all proper means for the +liberation of Jobson. A confused murmur arose, as he entered the house. +Some wondered if he knew that Morgan was his enemy, supposing that, if +he did, he never would have objected to their breaking his windows; +others said that the Doctor and Davies would now have it out. Davies had +often said the Doctor was a Babylonish trafficker in works, an Alexander +the copper-smith; and they wondered what names the other would invent. +All were amazed how he dared venture among them, as they wanted +something on which to accuse him to the new government. + +Personal safety, and a regard to his own peculiar contests, were the +last things that suggested themselves to the mind of Doctor Beaumont. +Forgetful of the injuries and insults he had received, he addressed his +opponents with graceful manners, and in conciliatory language. He +requested to know what was Jobson's offence, expressing a hope that it +was of such a nature as to admit of his urging the extenuating plea of +his former good conduct. + +Many voices spoke at once. Humphreys exclaimed, that he had disobeyed +his orders, and was an eye-servant. Davies said, that he had dared to +speak slanderously of the holy covenant. Dr. Beaumont declared himself +an enemy to slander and disobedience, but in order to afford a pretext +for the commitment of Jobson, Humphreys must shew his commands were +strictly lawful, and Davies that the covenant was holy. + +Both answered at the same time. The powerful lungs of Humphreys enabled +him to thunder out, that the time was now past when he cared for the +Doctor, that he knew he was as good as he, would do as he liked, and ere +long meant to shew him he had the best right to the glebe, where he +would no longer moil and toil for a caterpillar, that fattened on his +labours. The shrill pipe of Davies issuing from his meagre form in a +still higher key, insisted that the covenant was our only defence +against malignant men, and evil counsellors, Arminians and Jesuits, and +that if this godly bond was trampled on, the nation would be overrun +with popery and formality. + +When his antagonists, in striving to drown each other's voices, had +mutually exhausted their powers of utterance, Dr. Beaumont answered, +that since temporal endowment was no essential mark of a true church, +but rather an adjunct springing out of a right feeling in the public for +their spiritual advisers, the depriving him of his emoluments by the +strong arm of power, would not degrade him from the office to which he +had been divinely appointed. "It will, therefore," said he, "friend +Humphreys, be always my duty to advise and assist you, and if you +violently deprive me of what the most ancient of our laws has made mine, +the necessity of my interference to convince you of your fault will +become more evident. As for the wonderful efficacy which our neighbour +Davies attributes to what I consider as a mere party-engagement, I must +observe that popery received a blow from the labours of our first +reformers, which would ere now have proved mortal, had not the divisions +and subdivisions, the schisms and sects, that have originated in the +importunate spirit of puritanical objectors, afforded leisure and +security for the Hydra to heal her deadly wounds. In the early part of +the reign of our late Queen of glorious memory, the Papists generally +attended their several parish-churches, listened to our Liturgy and +services with devotion, and seemed in a fair way to be won over by the +moderation and decency of our worship. But the intemperance of those +who, for the merest trifles, quarrelled with the establishment, who +rejected even apostolical usages, because they had been practised by the +catholics, who, instead of allowing Rome to be a church in error, denied +that its followers could be saved, and thus raised the dark cloud of +schism against the sun of the reformation; their rashness, +uncharitableness, and fastidious scruples, in purifying what they owned +to be non-essentials, have, I say, imped the dragon's wings, and placed +the scarlet abomination, as ye call it, in a tower of strength, which +the artillery of your covenant, lighted as it is by the flame of treason +and civil commotion, can never overthrow.--The champions of these sects +in the reign of Elizabeth, countenanced by that most flagitious courtier +and tyrannical governor, the Earl of Leicester, accused Hooker, the +great bulwark of the Protestant cause, of leaning towards popery, +because he refused to consign the souls of our ancestors to perdition; +and a most uncharitable outcry was raised against a Bishop for the same +bias, because he trusted that the grandmother of our good King would +experience the mercies of our Saviour, on whose merits, in her last +moments, she declared she relied.--Thus did these ill-advised persons, +by a breach of that charity and unity, which Scripture every where +enjoins, prevent the Protestant church from exhibiting the surest marks +of Christian verity. Instead of alluring people to come out of the +mystical Babylon, these most lamentable divisions and controversies +about trifles have driven thousands into the perilous labyrinths of a +persuasion, which admits no difference of opinion, or into the yet more +dreary dungeons of Atheism, whose most formidable objection to our +faith, is the ill blood which it foments. Never have these enemies to +God and man made such progress, as since the time when spiritual pride, +turbulence and ambition, united under the name of perfect reformation, +to pluck down an edifice constructed in moderation, defended by the +doctrines, beautified by the labours, and cemented by the blood of its +founders." + +The fiery zeal of Davies would not permit Dr. Beaumont to finish his +harangue. "And ye planted in your edifice," said he, "a poisonous scion, +an abominable branch of the tree of evil; but our friend Humphreys +speaks not unadvisedly, or at peradventure. Your Anti-christian bishops +are all sent to prison; they are caged vultures, jackdaws stripped of +their Babylonish trappings, their robes and square caps, their lawn +formalities, their hoods and scarfs, and mitres, and crosiers, and +thrones, by which these Diotrepheses lorded it over the faithful, and +made the land stink with idolatries which Scripture forbids. But the +blood of that Popish inquistior, Laud, will soon flow on the scaffold, +and be a cleansing stream over a foul garment; and with him episcopacy +shall be coffined up and buried without expectation of a resurrection." + +"It is strange," observed Dr. Beaumont, "that the Papacy should rejoice +at his degradation, and consider his present sufferings as a judgment +upon him for composing a treatise which exposed their fopperies with a +strength of reasoning to which their most able divines know not how to +reply." + +Morgan here interposed, and, with a smile of condescension, advised Dr. +Beaumont to reflect on his own situation, and consider his temporal +advantages and personal security. He spoke in praise of his learning, +benevolence, and inoffensive conduct, and desired him, by a timely +conformity to the prevailing doctrines, to avoid being implicated in the +ruin of a falling church. + +"A true branch of the Catholic church," replied the Doctor, "may be +shaken, but cannot fall, because it has the promise of resisting the +attacks of the powers of darkness to the end of the world. But you +mistake me, Sir, if you suppose that policy was the schoolmaster who +taught me my creed, or that I will desert that Church in adversity who +fed me with her bread, and graced me with her ministerial appointments. +The pastoral office she intrusted to me may be wrested from my grasp by +force; my body may be imprisoned, my goods confiscated; you may drag me +to the flames, like Ridley, or to the scaffold, like Laud, but you +cannot change truth into falsehood, or make that right, which, though +successful, is intrinsically wrong. Whether the doctrines of the Church +of England be branded as those of a declining sect, or set by the throne +as a light to guide our hereditary Princes, they must be tried by other +criterions than popularity, I mean, by reason, Scripture, and +apostolical usage. I trust she will ever have sons equal to the task of +defending her, men uncorrupted by sensuality when she basks in sunshine, +undaunted by danger when tempests threaten her destruction. And with all +your boasts of making this land a Zoar and a Zion, I will tell you that +you will never make it the Jerusalem which is at unity with itself and +therefore meet for the residence of the Holy One, until it shall please +'God to bless the common people with sense to see that there is such a +sin as schism, and that they are not judges what schism is.' Peace is +not promoted by yielding to captious objections, but by subduing the +spirit, which is more prone to dispute than to obey. Those who dissent +from us say they only crave liberty, but when the church is overthrown +they will find that it is the spirit of domination which they mistook +for zeal in the cause of freedom. This will make every sect strive for +pre-eminence, and the hatred they now shew us will, if we are subdued, +be diverted from a superior whom they cease to fear, to equals whom they +wish to depress; the anarchy and discord they will then experience will +lead the moderate and well-informed to remember with regret the mild +government of the deposed church." + +"How, Sir?" said Morgan; "do you defend a church that has ever been a +determined enemy to liberty, an ally to tyrants; a church that has +vindicated forced loans and ship-money, and asserted those popish +doctrines, passive obedience in the subject, and infallibility in the +sovereign, dividing mankind into despots and slaves? All men are born +free and equal; and he, who taxes my fortune, restrains my conscience, +or confines my person without my leave, or, which is the same thing, +against those laws to which I or my representative have consented; is my +enemy and a tyrant, whom I may treat as Jael did Sisera. But you +Episcopalians say, 'Oh no, the persons of Kings are sacred, and they can +do no wrong;' so it follows that subjects are slaves whom they may +crush, and trample, and grind as they please." + +"Part of these doctrines," replied the Doctor, "are not held merely by +the Church, but form a branch of that ancient constitution of the +kingdom which no subsequent acts of the whole legislature can change, +without, at the same time, endangering the safety and property of every +individual. Much less can they be legally infringed by a packed junto of +men, calling themselves the House of Commons, but in which, according to +your own system, not a tenth of the nation is nominally represented. As +to the inference you draw from what I call the fundamental principles of +our government, prove that the Anglican church holds them, and I will +allow her to be an ally of despotism; but you shall bring your proofs +from her canons, articles, and liturgy, not from the servants of +court-chaplains, or the flatteries of those who forget the priest in the +sycophant. Wolves and worldlings creep into every church. The apostolic +age had its Demas, and ours has its Williams. Remember it has its +Andrews too. But since your principles of freedom will be best +exemplified by your practice, I trust you will recollect the case of +Jobson. He has neither by himself, nor by his representatives, consented +to the Covenant; and his equal and free rights allow him to reject it. +No ordinance has yet made it law; and the liberty of conscience you +require for yourself will not allow you to force it upon him as gospel, +seeing he cannot think it so." + +Davies, whose extravagance had been checked by the admonitory frown of +Morgan, took advantage of the dilemma to which Dr. Beaumont's +application of his own principles had reduced him, and renewed his +deafening declamations, to which (as neither argument nor fact were +regarded, and the length of the harangue depended on his bodily +strength,) the attention of his hearers might be dispensed with. +Humphreys endeavoured to impress his neighbours with an idea of the +advantages that would result from supporting the Covenant. "It was +better than the law," he said, "because if any one came upon them for +taxes they had only to go to a brother-covenanter, and be he a peer or +parliament-man, he was bound to support them." Davies, in the mean time, +turning up the whites of his eyes, raved against so carnalizing a +spiritual bond as to apply it to the protection of temporal goods. +"This," he said, "was making the gospel a post-horse to ride their own +errands; stopping the entrance of an oven with a King's robe royal; and +making a covenant with Heaven a chariot and stirrup to mount up to the +height of carnal and clay projects. By the Covenant," added he, "I am +enabled to preach the true gospel in spite of my persecutor in a +surplice, who would starve the lambs with formality, and forbid me to +feed them. He that opposeth me hath in his dwelling idols of wood and +stone, and painted symbols of men and women whom Antichrist made saints, +and Pagan books treating of false gods, and moral treatises without one +word of saving faith in them, and musical instruments, and Jewish +contrivances; and he goes into his study, not to wrestle with the +Spirit, but to consult the evil one; and then he goes into the +steeple-house, and, instead of the milk of the word, pours ladles-full +of leaden legality among ye, till ye all look like his own dumb idols, +instead of faithful souls overflowing with illumination." + +This specimen of Davies's oratory is sufficient. The tumult he excited +allowed Morgan to put in practice a safer plan than that of committing +Jobson to prison, namely, to remove him privately to Hull, where Sir +John Hotham was raising men for the service of Parliament, and he +thought the threat of sending him to the plantations would prevail on +him to enlist. Affecting, therefore, to be convinced that the liberty of +a brother-man should be respected, he tore the warrant for Jobson's +commitment, and ordered that he should be set at liberty. Jobson, +however, could not be found. It was suggested that he had probably run +away during the confusion; and Dr. Beaumont returned home, hoping his +interference had been of some use. + + + [1] Several passages in this and the next chapters are extracted + from fanatical sermons on public occasions. + + + + +CHAP. VI. + + He could not bear the slightest mention of the incorrigible guilt + of the nation without dissolving into tears; especially when he + happened to advert unto the impudence of that hypocrisy which + reconciled goodness and villainy, and made it possible for men to + be saints and devils both together; whereby religion became ruinous + to itself, and faith became instructed to confute and baffle duty. + + Bishop Fell's Life of Dr. Henry Hammond. + + +Morgan could not soon forgive the insult of being contradicted and +confuted when seated on the magisterial bench; nor could Davies pardon +the attack on the holy Covenant, and the principles on which it was +founded. They jointly determined, therefore, to take the first +opportunity of exciting the villagers to acts of violence, that might +either provoke Dr. Beaumont to some step on which an accusation to +Parliament might be founded, or drive him away through fear for his +personal safety. A public rejoicing was ordained on account of the +fleet's declaring against the King; and Morgan's liberality to the +populace spread a general intoxication through the town, which Davies +hoped, at such a good time, might be overlooked. + +Since the death of Mrs. Beaumont the Doctor had mixed little with the +world, seeking, in his library and clerical functions, that calm +tranquillity and self-sustained content which constitute all the earthly +enjoyment that remains to a heart that has once been happy. The late +ungrateful, rebellious behaviour of his flock tended still more to +circumscribe his pleasures; yet though the painful feelings of rejected +kindness and undeserved contumely made his village walks and sacerdotal +functions a penance instead of a gratification, he considered the +probability of disappointment as no apology for relaxing his endeavours +to do good. The morning and evening sacrifices were offered in the +temple; the ignorant were instructed, the bad reproved, and the decent +commended with his wonted zeal and meekness, though only his own family +and dependants joined in his orisons, though the foolish and the guilty +laughed at his exhortations, and the well-disposed could derive no +stimulus to perseverance from his praise. Satisfied with labouring +faithfully in his vocation, the good man committed his cause to God, and +found, in the refreshing recollections of self-satisfaction, and in the +calm repose that followed a harassing day, spent in the performance of +his manifold duties, a reward which might be termed a foretaste of +heaven. + +He had many true enjoyments of which the malice of his foes could not +deprive him; such were, the steady affection of his sister, the gradual +improvement of his daughter, and the philosophical and literary regale +which his library afforded. The contests to which he was exposed, when +he went out, rather grieved than irritated him; and he returned to his +books and experiments to raise his spirits, not to allay the ferment of +his passions. He cared little for exteriors; he knew his body could +subsist without the vanities and luxuries of the world; and he depended +on the promise, that the righteous should not be utterly forsaken. +During his seclusion from society, he had cultivated and improved the +powers of that never-dying mind which was destined to expatiate for ever +amid the unveiled glories of creation, and to enjoy, after its +probationary trials in this laborious world, a Sabbath of endless rest. + +Mrs. Mellicent often advised him to remove from this disaffected +neighbourhood, and seek the protection of the King's quarters; but Dr. +Beaumont always strenuously insisted, that the period of his usefulness +on his present station must not be determined by himself. The +conversation was renewed on the night appointed for rejoicing, when the +riotous exultation of the villagers disturbed the tranquillity which +used to reign at the Rector's fire-side. "Fear," said he to his sister, +"magnifies danger. At present, nothing has happened to prevent my +continuing where I am now fixed in the cure of souls; and when my Master +prescribes my dismissal, he will send some awakening providence that +shall indicate his will. Report magnifies every thing, especially the +foul language of our enemies, and often changes dissensions into feuds. +I know not how long my residing here may be useful to others, nor whom I +may yet be able to reclaim, by shewing that I can bear injury and +encounter opposition without renouncing my own principles, or +calumniating my opponents; but this I know, I am labouring at my post +like a faithful subject, and had all men done the same, our good King +would not now have been seen snatching his meal under a hedge like a +common mendicant, nor would the great seal of England have had to be +secretly carried to him like the booty of a cut-purse. + +"The King's quarters, my dear Mellicent, will be filled with those +court-flies who fed on the goodly vine till they had sucked all its +juices, and, now winter is come, care not for its nakedness, but seek +some covert where they may skulk till summer returns. You and I should +make a notable appearance among those who call splendor, life; and +subtlety, knowledge; we could neither speak their language nor enter +into their views.--While we pined with desire to see the beauty of +holiness restored, and the King's throne re-erected in judgment, they +would be moaning for their masques and revels; for the royal grants and +largesses; for their past enjoyments and present privations.--Or, +perhaps, they would be scheming how they might creep into the confidence +of the Parliament, while we wept the desolation of Zion. When the Church +reposes in safety, gladdened by the favours of her spiritual bridegroom, +let her officials then fear lest a worldly spirit should seize on them +unawares, and convert them into hirelings more intent on the wages than +on the service. Our enemies say such have been the effects of the long +prosperity we have enjoyed; if so, a purifying fire must go forth among +the sons of Levi. The dross will be consumed, but trust me, Mellicent, +our venerable mother will rise like a phoenix, not consumed, but +renewed and consecrated by the ordeal of adversity." + +Mrs. Mellicent here reminded him, that he had other ties beside that of +a Christian pastor, and she pointed to the young Constantia, who, +overcome with watching, had fallen asleep in the great wicker-chair. +"Look at that girl," said she; "consider her warm heart, and melting +sensibility, her unusual beauty, delicate frame and tender years. +Surely, brother, she wants a father, as much as the Church of England a +friend." + +Dr. Beaumont turned his head, recollected his lost Alicia at that age, +and thanked Heaven that she had "safely passed the waves of this +troublesome world." "Had Rogers or Taylor, my dear sister," said he, +"been drawn to the earth by such a magnet, we should have lost those +shining examples of true fortitude, and should have gone on, still +stumbling in the darkness of papacy.--The torch of truth was kindled at +the penal fires which consumed the martyrs, and its light illuminated +distant ages and nations. He who bears the sacred character of +ambassador of God should constantly remember that all other titles yield +to its glorious superiority. It was the boast of the church of Rome, +that her clergy acted not as individuals aiming at their own benefit, +but as a compacted body actuated by one impulse and towards one object, +the advantage and supremacy of the church. For this end they fed the +poor at the convent-gates, the monastery was an asylum to the afflicted, +and the middle orders were conciliated by that lenient treatment which +procured them respect as mild masters and most indulgent landlords. At a +time when tyranny and rapacity reigned in the castle, the clergy were a +chain binding the great to their inferiors. We know by what unnatural +restraints the Romish clergy were made thus superior to private +interest, but let us not give them cause to say, that celibacy is +necessary to prevent the man of God from becoming a man of the world. +The ties of nature which he owns in common with others, must not +supersede those duties which bind him to his congregation. He does not +profess, like the priest at mass, to be a mediator between God and man, +but he pleads to the rich in behalf of poverty; to the powerful for +those who require protection. He instructs the indigent to be grateful; +he stops the arm of oppression; he curbs avarice, by reminding it of the +state where riches avail not; he comforts affliction, by proving that +temporal distress, however great, may be supported. Our calling requires +us thus to preach, and shall not our lives be a living comment on our +doctrines? Shall our conversation prove that our unsanctified hearts are +devoted to sensuality and aggrandisement, that we hold the censers with +unhallowed hands, and in reality love the riches and pleasures which in +our pulpits we affect to renounce." + +"You have wandered from the subject, my good brother," said Mrs. +Mellicent; "I was not talking of riches and pleasures, but of preserving +a father for a poor girl, who, if any evil befall you, will have no +protector. It is a long time since we heard from the mountains, and +Isabel's last letter gave no hope that poor Evellin would ever be able +even to take care of himself. She says that their dwelling is +comfortable, their farm equal to their support, and that the disturbers +of the world have not got among them. She writes cheerfully, but her +writing is much altered. I was thinking we might take shelter there +whenever those awakening providences, which my forebodings tell me are +at hand, shall compel you to own that you are discharged from the care +of ungrateful Ribblesdale." + +The conversation was interrupted by Dame Humphreys, who rushed abruptly +into the house, lamenting that things should come to this pass, and +conjuring his reverence not to think any of her family were concerned in +it. It was with difficulty that her agitation permitted her to state, +that a mob bent on mischief were coming to the rectory; whether the +house or the life of the pastor was threatened she could not discover, +but the purport of her visit was to put them on their guard. A riotous +crowd, inflamed alike with liquor and fanaticism, is a formidable object +to the most determined courage; but escape was now impossible, and +remonstrance would be utterly unavailing; there was only time to put up +the slight fastenings to the doors and windows, which, as they +corresponded to the peaceful and unsuspecting character of the owner of +the mansion, could not long resist the infuriate attack of the besotted +populace. + +But their rage was pointed at another object, the Doctor's library, +which was placed in a detached building in the garden, and fell an +undefended sacrifice to their rage. The voice of Davies was heard, +encouraging the destruction of a treasure which he had long envied, and +the flames soon afforded him sufficient light to point out the objects +of his particular abhorrence to which his ignorance gave false or +exaggerated descriptions. A cast of Apollo destroying Python, he termed +Moses and the brazen serpent, and named himself the Hezekiah who would +break it in pieces and call it Nehushtan. "See, my Christian brethren," +said he, "how truly I spake when I called this slumbering watchman, this +dumb dog, a worshipper of idols of wood and stone. This is his oratory; +but instead of a godly laboratory which should turn carnal lead into +spiritual gold, what see we but provocatives to sinful thoughts. Here +are no sackcloth and ashes, camel's hair and leathern girdles; this +prophet's chamber has its silks and sattins, stuffed cushions and +curtains, screens and wrapping gowns. The walls are hung with paintings +of fair Jezebels, whom he calls Mary and Magdalen, though it is well +known, they were godly women, who never braided their hair or put on +gorgeous apparel. See you that bust? It represents Diana of the +Ephesians, the very Diana who endangered Paul's life; and did I not +rightly call this malignant priest Alexander the copper-smith? And here +are necromancing figures," (taking up the Doctor's mathematical +exercises,) "squares and triangles, and the sun, moon and stars, which +Job said he never worshipped.--And here is that unrighteous Babylonish +instrument, an organ, which proves he is either a Jew or a Papist, as +none but the favourers of abominable superstition make dumb devices +speak, when they might chaunt holy psalms and hymns with their own +voices. And here are similitudes of Nero and Domitian, bloody +persecutors, my brethren; which shews that he loved tyrants, and would +have made us fry a faggot, had not the light of my preaching broke in +upon his darkness, and made him like a rat with a bell, a scarecrow to +the unconverted. Touch not his books, dearly beloved, they will prove +the Devil's bird-lime, teaching you to despise my godly ministry; they +will teach you nothing but Pagan fables or Romish ceremonies. Can +Aristotle preach the Gospel? Do those church-histories tell us about +saving faith? I tell you nay; therefore burn them altogether, and break +the idols in pieces, and tear away the paintings, and demolish the +Jewish instruments that send forth sounds of levity when the player upon +them is disposed to provoke his hearers to wanton dances and vain mirth. +So let us purify the place with fire, that the slumbering watchman may +be awakened to a consideration of his offences and learn to repent," &c. +&c. + +An harangue so well adapted to inflame the minds of a drunken mob, +produced a destruction as complete as Davies could desire, in whose mind +zeal had produced a similar intoxication. At this instant Mr. Morgan +arrived with a band of constables to protect Dr. Beaumont and his +property. As the rescue came too late, the magistrate conceived it to be +his duty to reprove the rioters, and dismiss them with an assurance, +that if ever they again presumed to let their holy joy at the prosperity +of the good cause stimulate them to actions which the law did not +justify, he must resort to severer measures than censuring their +misconduct. He then advised them to go quietly to their own houses, and +as it was their first offence, he would endeavour to soften their +behaviour to the commissioners whom Parliament had appointed +conservators of the peace of the county. + +He now inquired after the health of the family, sent in his service to +the Doctor, and expressed his intention of coming in to comfort him in +his misfortunes. Every drop of Mrs. Mellicent's blood rushed into her +face at the effrontery of his proposal, and the familiar terms in which +it was couched; but her brother begged her to consider that since no +good could arise from appearing to feel an insult which they had not +power to punish, the best way would be to seem to regard it in another +light; Morgan therefore was admitted. + +He began with expressing his concern for Dr. Beaumont's pecuniary loss, +and inquired at what sum he valued his books and paintings. The Doctor +answered, he would endeavour to make out an estimate, which he would +present at the quarter-sessions, and pray for indemnification. He added, +the severest part of his loss consisted in manuscripts and other +valuables, inconceivably precious to himself, but of which (as money +would not replace them) he should say nothing. + +"My mother's picture and letters," said Constantia, lifting her head +from Mrs. Mellicent's bosom, where she had sunk, from the extreme +languor that succeeded the violent hysterics into which the terrors of +this alarming night had thrown her. A more lovely or interesting object +could scarcely be conceived than this charming girl, just ripening into +woman, her mind mature beyond her years, and her heart agitated by the +finest feelings of filial distress. Morgan gazed with involuntary +approbation, while she threw her glossy ringlets from her face with one +hand, and held out the other to welcome one whom she thought a pitying +friend and protector of her father. + +Mrs. Mellicent hastily snatched back the offered hand, and whispered, +"Hush! child, you will bring on a return of your fits." + +Morgan distended his broad face with a smile, which looked extremely +like a grin, and talked of Dr. Beaumont's happiness in possessing what +would always put him in mind of his wife. He then enlarged on the +crosses and losses people often met with, and on the duties of patience +and content. He made a swift transition to his own prosperous situation; +declared when he began business he but just knew how to read and write, +and had only a quire of paper and a case of pens; yet he was now worth +ten thousand pounds. He thought the world would be a very good one as +soon as a few lordlings were pulled down, such, for instance, as the +Earl of Derby, who turned up his nose at people of fortune, and +prevented even him from hunting on his manors, though exercise was good +for his health, and he was very fond of hare and partridge. He talked of +the influence he possessed at the quarter-sessions; assured Dr. Beaumont +he would use it in his favour; then shaking Constantia by the hand, bade +her not spoil her pretty face with crying, and thus concluded his +_friendly_ visit. + +"A vulgar knave," said Mrs. Mellicent, pushing-to the door. "Such +visitors are more provoking than loss of property. If you are of my +mind, brother, you will lose every shilling sooner than owe retribution +to the son of your father's shoemaker." + +Dr. Beaumont answered that since he was intrusted with a delegation of +the King's authority, he should, as long as he ostensibly preserved his +allegiance, look at the magistrate instead of the man; but as to +receiving any favour from him, he was perfectly easy on that score, +being sure he did not mean to shew him any. "I owe it to my own +character, and to my child's interest," continued he, "to apply for +redress, but I look upon this as the first of many misfortunes which, +these convulsed times will bring upon me. When the head suffers +grievously, the members must be indisposed. I should blush to be exempt +from the misfortunes which weigh down my King." + +A few days restored the Beaumont family to tranquillity; devotional +exercises, and the resources of an enlarged mind, preserved the Doctor +from sinking into depression. Constantia, ashamed of her want of +fortitude, strained every nerve to imitate her father, though in her +efforts to amuse him, the involuntary tears which her weakness could not +restrain, excited in his breast more painful feelings than the malice of +his enemies had power to occasion. Mrs. Mellicent was fully occupied by +the villagers, many of whom were hurt at the riot, but as they happened +to be (according to their own report) all belonging to the harmless +class of lookers-on, her cordial waters, lotions, and plaisters, were in +a constant state of requisition; this, added to the indispensable duty +of scolding them for not keeping in their own houses when such mischief +was afloat, kept her tongue and hands in continual action. + +One night, as the Doctor was dismissing his household after +family-prayers, with his usual exhortation, "to faint not, neither be +weary in well-doing;" the trampling of horses was heard at the gate, and +four strangers craved his hospitality. A gentleman muffled in a +riding-coat, whose voice and figure recalled indistinct recollections, +introduced a tall ingenuous-looking youth, a blooming girl, and a person +habited as a servant. "We are of the King's party," said the graceful +stranger; "and need no other recommendation to Dr. Beaumont for a +night's lodging. Besides myself, a broken gentleman, here are a poor boy +and girl, benumbed with fatigue, and an old-fashioned servant, who will +not leave a ruined master." At hearing these words, Mrs. Mellicent +rushed to the door, to assure them that the beds were well-aired. +Constantia flew to assist in serving up supper; the Doctor lifted the +young people from their horses, and all were in a few minutes assembled +in his parlor. + +"Allow me, Sir, to help off your coat," said Mrs. Mellicent; "and my +dear young lady, draw nearer the fire.--Your face reminds me of some +whom I well knew. When the King kept court at Oxford, I spent a winter +there; could I have known your mother?"--"You knew her well," said the +agonized stranger. "Dear Eusebius, have you forgot me?" "No, Evellin," +replied Dr. Beaumont, folding the man of sorrows to his bosom, "Where is +our Isabel?"--"In Heaven!" replied he, "and has left these treasures to +the keeping of a crazed wanderer, who has no other portion than his +sword, no relic of his former self but his honour." + +Tears and embraces followed; even Mrs. Mellicent wept as she alternately +clasped Eustace and Isabel to her heart. Her first care was to +distinguish who they were like; and in their blended resemblance to both +parents, she explained the confused ideas of recollection which her +niece had excited at her first appearance. She then went out to see that +due care was taken of Williams; nor were the horses forgotten, for they +belonged to a gentleman and a Loyalist, and had conveyed to her arms the +precious offspring of her beatified sister. + +Eustace, Isabel, and Constantia, scarce needed the bond of kindred to +ensure affection. Their ages, habits, manners, and principles, so well +accorded, that their liking was instantaneous. The only difference was, +that the young Evellins, "bred on the mountain's rough side," inured to +severer trials, and exercised in a daily course of rigid duty, displayed +an energy and self-dependence which agreeably contrasted the polished +sweetness and feminine sensibility of Constantia Beaumont. Isabel was an +admirable herbalist, and expert in supplying all the wants of a secluded +family; robust with health and exercise, yet neither coarse in her +person, vulgar in her manners, nor sordid in her mind. Constantia was +mistress of every elegant accomplishment; she painted, sung, touched the +lute with exquisite sweetness; melted at every tale of woe; loved all +the world except her father's enemies, and was willing, as far as her +slender frame permitted, to perform the lowest offices that would +promote the welfare of others. Eustace was a year older than the girls, +and just on the verge of fifteen, tall, and manly in mind and person, +panting for enterprize, full of hope that he was able to correct the +disorders of the times, and sure that his name would be recorded in the +annals of his country, as one who loved his church and his King, and +hated the Roundheads and Fanatics. He soon drew the attention of his +hearers by wishing he had been at Ribblesdale on the night of the riot, +vowing he would have beat the whole party, and tossed Davies into the +flames. + +Constantia smiled for a moment, and then shuddered at the idea of the +suggested torture. "I make no doubt he would," said Isabel, "and then +have rushed in himself to pull the villain out again." + +"But my dear Eustace," inquired Constantia, "what are you to be?" + +"A soldier to be sure," replied the boy. "Have you not heard that the +King has set up his standard at Nottingham. My father has parted with +our farm, and raised a levy of troops among the mountaineers, and he is +going to follow them to the King, with all the money he has left, except +a little which he leaves for Isabel." + +"I tell you, brother," returned the sister, "we will dispute that point +no longer. The King is to have every shilling; for I know how to support +myself by my own labour." + +"She shall never do that while we have a house--Shall she, aunt +Mellicent?" said Constantia. + +"No," returned the good lady; "honest people are now scarce, so we must +take care of each other. But, Eustace, does your father approve of your +turning soldier while you are such a child?" + +"No, dear aunt, and that is the only trouble I ever knew, except the +death of our blessed mother. I don't know his reasons, but he wants to +place me in safety; I hate safety, it sounds so womanish. As we came +along I met several fellows less than myself, who said they were +ensigns. I know I could make an ensign; I could wrap the colours round +my body, and die with the staff in my hand." + +Constantia burst into tears, and declared Eustace talked so shockingly +she could not bear it. + +"My pretty love," said he, "I did not mean to frighten you. No, I +intend, instead of being killed myself, to tear down the rebel +standards, and send them to you. What would you do with them?" + +Constantine paused a moment--"Would they," said she, "make a tent for my +dear father to sit and read in? It goes to my heart to see him out of +doors this stormy weather, wandering about and looking at his burnt +library." + +"Could I not put it a little in repair while I stay?" inquired Eustace. +"I am a very good mason, and a tolerable carpenter. I built a shed last +year for the old poney. Isabel, you can glaze the windows, and +white-wash. I think, between us, we might put it into comfortable +order." + +Mrs. Mellicent, a little shocked at her niece's avowing her expertness +in these handicraft employments, apprehended that her lamented sister +had neglected her daughter's education through her solicitous attention +to more important duties. She began therefore to question her about her +accomplishments--"Can you work tent-stitch neat, my love?" was her first +inquiry. "No!"--"Bless me, had you leather hangings to your best +apartments?" Isabel was ignorant what hangings meant. Mrs. Mellicent +proceeded to examine her skill in confectionery, and found with +astonishment it was a science of which she did not know the name. "Can +you paint chimney-boards, or cut paper, or work samplers?" "Dear aunt," +said Isabel, "I am a brown bird of the mountains, as my mother called +me. She taught me to sing, because she said it made work go on more +merrily, but the longest day was short enough for what I had to do; I +was laundress, and sempstress, and cook, and gardener; and if Cicely +went to look for the sheep, I had to milk and bake, and at night I +mended my father's fishing-nets, while I was learning Latin with +Eustace. Yet I got through all very well, till my mother fell sick, and +then I nursed and dressed her, as she lay helpless on the pallet. But if +I live with you, I will learn all your employments, for I am never happy +when I am idle, and my only wish is to be useful." + +"There is sterling worth in this rustic hoyden," thought Mrs. Mellicent, +who, in contriving some occupation for so active a mind, recollected +that Mrs. Beaumont's dressing-plate had not been cleaned lately, and +undertook to make Isabel expert in furbishing the delicate filigree. She +called on Constantia to give up the key, it being considered as her +property, who blushed, hesitated, begged not to be questioned on the +subject, and at last owned it was gone. + +"Gone! to whom?" "Dear aunt," returned Constantia, stealing a look at +the approving eye of Eustace, "I sent it to the King at York, as the +only contribution in my power. You must not be angry. My father and you +set the example, by parting with all the money and valuables you could +collect, and I thought it a bad excuse that, because I was under age, I +might not send my mite to assist him, so I packed it up with my mother's +jewels, and I am happy to say they got safe to His Majesty." + +Mrs. Mellicent tried to frown. "Foolish girl," said she, "you should +have kept the essence-box at least, as an heirloom. It was a present +from Henry the Seventh's Queen to your great grandmother's aunt, who was +her maid of honour. There was the union of the two roses wrought upon +it; the King, standing with a red rose in his hand, and the Queen with a +white, and a Bishop between them, and a large dove at the top, with an +olive-branch in his mouth, so beautiful that it fell in festoons all +down the side. Well, I am thankful that I took off the pattern in +chain-stitch. It will shew what good blood you spring from when people +come to be again valued for their families." Mrs. Mellicent retired to +her chamber, secretly pleased with the dispositions of her young charge, +and inclined to believe that a parcel of beggarly republicans could not +long domineer over such generous and aspiring minds. + + + + +CHAP. VII. + + O War, thou son of Hell, + Throw, in the frozen bosoms of our part, + Hot coals of vengeance, let no soldier fly; + He that is truly dedicate to war + Hath no self-love. + + Shakspeare. + + +The impatience of Evellin to join his royal master frustrated the +hospitable wish of Dr. Beaumont to detain his brother-in-law at +Ribblesdale. A few weeks were all he would grant, and even this time was +not unemployed, for Williams was sent forward to present the levy and +supply of money to the King, to inquire where he would command his +services, and to procure arms and accoutrements. + +During this interval, the Doctor found, with unspeakable pleasure, that +the intellectual disorder of Evellin, which had been caused by too keen +a sense of his wrongs, was composed rather than heightened by the severe +loss he had lately sustained. The death of that faithful partner, who +had sacrificed her life in labouring for his benefit, impressed on him +the conviction that he must either exert himself, or perish. The tender +age of his children peremptorily required his assistance, and to a mind +formed like his, a still more awakening consideration presented itself +in the dangers and difficulties of his King. Was it worthy of the true +Earl of Bellingham to wander among wilds and fastnesses, weeping for a +dead wife, or raving at a false friend, when England's throne tottered +under its legitimate Sovereign, and the lowest of the people, (like owls +and satyrs in the capital of Assyria) fixed their habitations in the +pleasant palaces where luxury late reigned! He felt that he had too long +behaved like a woman, pining in secret when he ought to have acted; +while his faithful consort, with masculine courage, opposed her tender +frame to the tempest, and, at length, sunk beneath the added terrors of +his imbecility. His weakness in lamenting an irremediable evil, was the +fault to which he owed the loss of his invaluable Isabel. He would now +shew how truly he deplored that loss, by changing moody reflection into +vigorous action, and by becoming a protector and support to the family +to which he had hitherto been a burden. To such a state of mind, the +situation of the King supplied a powerful impetus, and Dr. Beaumont saw, +with pleasure, that loyalty was likely to give full scope to those fine +qualities, which had hitherto, like smothered fire, consumed the fabric +in which they were engendered. + +He, however, entreated Evellin not to compromise his own safety by acts +of rashness, which could do his Prince no good, but to wait the return +of Williams before he took the field. In raising a band of mountaineers, +he had acted under the authority of the King's commission of array, +against which Davies had preached, and Morgan had inveighed, not only +with vehemence, but with falsehood. They had told the yeomen and +peasants, that "some lords about the court said, twenty pounds a year +was enough for any peasant to live upon, and, taking advantage of the +commission being in Latin, they translated it into what English they +pleased, persuading the freeholders, that at least two parts of their +estates would be taken from them; and the poorer sort, that one day's +labour in the week would be extorted as a tax to the King[1]." These +calumnies were not peculiar to Ribblesdale, but unhappily were diffused +over all the nation, in which a vast body of people were grown up, who, +like Morgan, had acquired wealth, and were ambitious of equal +consequence with the hereditary gentry and nobility, by whom they found +themselves despised for their ignorance and coarse manners, and +therefore endeavoured to supplant them. Such men were every-where fast +friends to the Parliament, and by their freer intercourse with the +common people, whose habits and ideas were originally their own, they +misrepresented the King's designs, and counteracted the measures of +those noble and brave patriots, who, notwithstanding their dislike of +some former measures, felt it was their duty now to rally round the +throne. "Nor can it be remembered without much horror, that this strange +wild-fire among the people was not so much and so furiously kindled by +the breath of the Parliament, as by that of their clergy, who both +administered fuel and blowed the coals. These men having crept into and +at last driven all learned and orthodox divines from the pulpits, had, +from the commencement of this 'memorable Parliament,' under the notion +of reformation and extirpation of popery, infused seditious inclinations +into the hearts of men against the present government of the church with +many libellous invectives against the state. But now they contained +themselves in no bounds, and as freely and without controul inveighed +against the person of the King, prophanely and blasphemously applying +whatever had been spoken by God himself or the Prophets, against the +most wicked and impious Kings, to incense and stir up the people against +their most gracious Sovereign. Besides licensed divines, preaching and +praying was at that time practiced by almost all men in the kingdom +except scholars." + +Thus as every parish had its Davies and its Morgan, the unhappy Charles, +faultless as a man, and at worst only ill-advised as a Monarch, found +himself, after much ineffectual submission, and many unconstitutional +abridgements of his lawful rights, required to surrender the scanty +remains of his prerogative, and consent to be a state-engine, in the +hands of his enemies. When, driven from his capital by riots, his fleet, +army, militia, garrisons, magazines, revenues, nay, his palaces and +personalities seized, by those who still called themselves his most +dutiful subjects, and prefaced their requisitions, that he would +virtually surrender as their prisoner with the title of an humble +petition; when, after all these humiliations and privations, the King +found it necessary to throw himself on the allegiance of his faithful +subjects, and to appeal to arms by raising the royal standard, only a +few hundred, out of the millions he governed, joined him. Discouraged by +this apparent defection, some of his friends advised him to treat with +the Parliament, or, in other words, to submit unconditionally. In +abandoning his own personal rights, His Majesty had gone as far as his +conscience would permit, and he chose rather to suffer banishment or +death, than yield to abolish the church he had sworn to defend, as +Parliament now required him to do, in the phrase of "casting out an +idle, unsound, unprofitable, and scandalous ministry, and providing a +sound, godly, profitable, and preaching ministry, in every congregation +through the land." Yet he so far conceded as to make an offer of +reconciliation, secretly convinced that the latent insolence with which +it would be rejected, though couched in smooth language, would awaken +the nation to a sense of duty. The event justified his expectation, and +the King was enabled to make a glorious, but unsuccessful resistance, +during which, though many excellent persons fell (himself among the +number), the principles of reciprocal duty between King and subject were +defined, and hypocrites, fanatics, and republicans, were completely +unmasked. + +It was during this lowering aspect of the political horizon, while the +clouds, congregating from all quarters, menaced a tremendous storm, that +Evellin sheltered his woe-worn head at Ribblesdale. The time was not +lost; for the well-informed piety of the Doctor succeeded in completely +tranquillizing Evellin's mind, who, admitting him to unbounded +confidence, told him all his early sorrows, the enmity of Buckingham, +the falsehood of De Vallance, and the loss of his estate, title, and +high connection. When in the sequel of his narrative, he stated that his +perfidious friend was at this time Earl of Bellingham, the blood +recoiled from Dr. Beaumont's heart, and he almost fainted with horror. +"Do I understand you," said he; "was De Vallance thus exalted by the +King? Was his wife the Queen's confidante, the dispenser of her favours +and the adviser of her conduct?" He then shewed Evellin the British +Mercury, which stated, that this same Bellingham had accepted a +commission under the Parliament; that the treacherous favourite of the +unfortunate Henrietta Maria had charged her mistress with the design of +introducing popery and arbitrary power, as well as of secretly fomenting +the Irish rebellion, and that she had involved in her slanders the +merciful and truly religious King. + +"This infinitely transcends all," exclaimed Evellin, "and drives from my +remembrance the recollection of my private wrongs. I consider the +infernal pair not merely as my enemies, but as the common foes of man; I +regard them as a tiger and hyaena, whom I ought to hunt down and destroy. +They are not depraved human beings, tempted by ambition to sin greatly; +but demons, who know no moral feelings either of honour, pity, +attachment, or gratitude." + +"Restrain your warmth," said Dr. Beaumont; "this is only the natural +progress of inordinate desires unchecked by principle, and gorged, not +satiated, by indulgence. She who would betray a brother would never +adhere to a fallen benefactress. He who would ruin a confiding friend, +would desert his King in adversity. A coronet, a large estate, a +magnificent castle, and splendid retinue, were the baubles for which +these offenders forfeited their immortal souls. The compact once made, +cannot (they think) be broken. Habit here becomes fixed as the Ethiop's +die or the leopard's spots; and greater crimes must secure what lesser +offences purchased." + +The friends now consulted on their future measures. Evellin was for +concealing his real self from the King, but Dr. Beaumont advised that +though he should retain his borrowed name, as a personal security in +case he should fall into the enemy's hands, the King should know him for +the injured Allan Neville. "It will add to his distress," said Evellin, +"to see a man whom he has wronged, and has now no power to redress." "It +will console him," returned Beaumont, "to find one generous and loyal +enough to forget injuries, when others renounce benefits. Affliction is +sent by Providence, to teach us to recollect our ways. My loyalty does +not make me forget that the King is equally subject to one great Master, +nor am I so desirous to secure his temporal repose as to wish him to +lose the advantages of adversity. Let him by seeing you be taught to +distinguish between flatterers and friends. It will be happy for England +if he regains his high station; it will do good to his own soul when he +comes to give an account of his stewardship, at that tribunal before +which the emperor and the slave must one day stand." + +"Beaumont," said Evellin, grasping the Doctor's hand, "you are still +that angel of truth who in my early life led my proud and rebellious +thoughts to seek the consolation of religious humility; but in one +circumstance you must give my weakness way. My gallant boy, ignorant of +his noble birth, pants for military fame with all that generous ardour +which during five centuries distinguished his ancestors. He is the last +hope of an illustrious house. Accuse me not of malice, or of folly, when +I own that, (next to the restoration of my King,) I beg of heaven that +he may be spared to tear the polluted ermine from the shoulders of this +branded rebel, and to purify the coronet of Bellingham from the foul +contamination it receives by binding a villain's brow. Toss this +storm-beaten carcase into any trench where it may in future serve as a +mound against traitors; but let my young nursling be planted where the +tempest that unroots the cedars shall pass over without injuring his +tender growth. You, Beaumont, are a man of peace, bound by your +functions to that bloodless warfare which attacks opinions, not men. +Take him with you, wherever you go; keep him in your sight; cultivate in +him every noble propensity, except his passion for military renown. In +all else he is the son of my desires; and were it not for my peculiar +circumstances, he would be so in this also. Consider him as a young +avenger destined by heaven to punish the guilty, and never let despair +of the royal cause induce you to yield him to his own impetuosity. While +a branch of the Stewart stock remains, fear not, though these cursed +malcontents cut down the royal tree; the scion, watered by a nation's +tears, shall still grow, and the soiled regalia of England again look +splendid among contemporary kingdoms. At that period the descendants of +your Isabel shall reclaim the honours to which my services, and perhaps +my death, will ensure them a renewed patent." + +The Doctor complied with Evellin's wishes, thinking the youth and +extreme impetuosity of Eustace rendered him unfit to take arms for a +cause which required coolness and experience, and which zeal, +unrestrained by such adjuncts, was likely to injure. He promised to use +every effort to direct the youth's studies and guide his judgment, to +consider him as his son, and Isabel as his daughter. "She is a worthy +singular girl," said Evellin, "but I have little fear for her; not that +I love her less; but she is one of those safe useful beings whose active +and benevolent character always secures friends, and whose self-controul +and indifference to their own ease make them comfortable in every +situation." + +It was determined by the gentlemen that the young people should be kept +in perfect ignorance of Evellin's rank, but since it seemed prudent to +increase the number of living witnesses of his identity, Mrs. Mellicent +was admitted into their counsels. Though a woman, and an old maid, she +belonged to that extraordinary class of people who can keep a secret; +and I must do her the justice to say, that she never directly or +indirectly betrayed her trust. And whenever she reproved the girls for +what she called rompish tricks, which, she insisted, were very +unbecoming in young ladies, she constantly endeavoured to look at +Constantia as expressively as she did at the 'brown bird of the +mountains.' + +All that now was wanting was the return of Williams, for which the +impatience of Evellin increased every hour.--During this period of +suspence, the family were surprised one morning by a visit from Sir +William Waverly, who came to inquire after the Doctor's health, and to +condole with him on the destruction of his library. He earnestly advised +him to apply for indemnification, and offered his services at the +ensuing assizes. Nothing could be more friendly than Sir Williams's +manner, or more liberal than his promises; but it unluckily happened +that Mrs. Melicent, than whom no judge was ever more attentive to facts +and dates, as well as to collateral circumstances, discovered that the +polite Baronet, ere he paid this visit, had just time to hear of the +King's victory at Edgehill, which event she was severe enough to +believe, brought to recollection the loss sustained by his worthy pastor +three months before. She also thought that the improved aspect of the +royal cause had occasioned a hamper of game and venison to arrive at the +rectory, which the keeper confessed had once been directed to Squire +Morgan. It must however be admitted, that Mrs. Mellicent had a decided +contempt for all the family of Waverly, which made her scarcely just to +their real deserts. + +Dr. Beaumont answered the Baronet's expressions of condolence with the +firmness of a man who shewed himself superior even to the loss of the +most rational and innocent delights. He soon changed the conversation to +public affairs, when Sir William, having first commended caution and +moderation, observed, that it began to be time for a wise man to choose +his party. + +"An honest man must have chosen his long ago," said Eustace, darting his +animated eyes from Caesar's Commentaries to the countenance of the +Baronet. "Was that remark in your book?" inquired Dr. Beaumont, with a +look of calm reproof. "No uncle," replied the spirited boy, "but I loved +my King as soon as I knew I had one, and thought every body did the +same." + +"That is a fine youth," said Sir William, smiling; "may I crave his +name." "My sister Isabel's son," replied the Doctor; "and Colonel +Evellin's, I presume," added Sir William, "for it is now known that His +Majesty has conferred on him that dangerous military title." + +Evellin coolly answered, that his life was his country's and his King's, +and that those who highly valued safety never ought to buckle on a +sword. + +Sir William Waverly warmly reprobated a cold, selfish, time-serving +character, declaring that, in the opinion of all his friends, his great +fault consisted in absolutely disregarding himself, while he was +sedulously attempting to benefit mankind. After a few flaming periods of +egotism and flattery to a personage whom he held most dear, namely +himself, he reverted to the possibility of duties being suspended in an +equipoize so nice that a reflecting man could not know how to act +between his King and his country. + +Evellin answered, that he thought it easy to distinguish between the +free voice of a well-informed people and the proceedings of an aspiring +party, who, by misrepresentation, terror, and an appeal to the worst +passions, had gained an undue influence; a party who, supported by men +detesting every species of restraint, and hoping every change will +benefit their condition, pass themselves upon the world as the British +nation. "As well," said he, "may we venture to call their language to +the King loyalty, or their actions law and justice, as to misname the +present House of Commons, the representatives of England; when every +friend to His Majesty or the constitution has been ejected, banished, or +imprisoned, by votes passed under the immediate influence of hired mobs +of apprentices, prostitutes, and the worst rabble London contains." + +"Quite my opinion," resumed Sir William; "yet, Sir, though I excessively +condemn and lament the unfortunate length to which Parliament has gone, +I must say, that at the beginning there were faults on both sides. His +Majesty was wrong, evidently wrong, and then Parliament went too far, +and then the King promised and retracted, and then they applied to more +coercive measures, till really it becomes doubtful who is most to +blame." + +"When," said Evellin, "you can find in the King's actions any violation +of the constitution as flagrant as either the legal assassination of +Lord Strafford, in which all forms and usages of Parliament were +violated; the accusation of Laud, that eminent defender of the +Protestant faith, for Popery; the imprisonment of the bishops for +claiming their ancient privileges; or, lastly, a dependent and elective +body voting itself supreme and permanent, and in that state levying war +upon the King, by whose writs they were first summoned and consolidated; +when you can find, I say, in the arbitrary proceedings of the Star +Chamber, or of the High Commission courts, actions as repugnant to our +fundamental laws as these, I will then agree with you, Sir William +Waverly, and admit that a wise and considerate man would doubt what +party to choose, as not knowing which was most to blame." + +Sir William protested that there was not a man in England who lamented, +more bitterly than himself, the excess which had brought the popular +cause into disrepute; yet he thought candour required us to make +allowances for the heat of debate, and the ebullition of passion +incident to deliberative assemblies, which made the members often push +matters further than they intended; and he extremely regretted that the +King, by some ill-advised steps, such as that of violating the freedom +of Parliament, by personally demanding five members to be given up to +his vengeance, had fomented a spirit of animosity which mild counsels +might have subdued. + +These qualifying remarks irritated Evellin. "After a series of not +merely passive, but submissive actions," said he, "after yielding one +member of the Council to the Tower, and another to the block, from which +even a King's prayer, for a friend and servant, could not procure +unhappy Wentworth a day's respite, His Majesty did, I must own, adopt +rash counsels. But it is not their illegality so much as his weakness in +threatening when he wanted strength to punish, that I condemn. If your +objection to the royal cause be founded on the distraction and +imbecility that have marked the measures by which it has been supported, +I must cease to rouse your dormant loyalty. It is not in the defenceless +tents of our Prince that we must seek for safety; we must leave him to +his fate, on the same principle that we abandon a naked child to the +attacks of a man clad in complete armour." + +Dr. Beaumont now took part in the debate. "If," said he, "we look back +to the original pretences of those who set out as reformers, I think we +shall be able to form a clear decision as to the part we ourselves +should act, where the confusion they labour to excite has actually +commenced. They first unsettle our obedience by discovering what they +call the iniquity of our governors; and indeed it is not difficult for +those who look with a malignant eye on their conduct to perceive such +errors, or, if you will, vices, as an artful and censorious temper may +dress up into glaring enormities, especially if it deals in those +exaggerations which people, who give up their understandings to the +views of a party, call true representations. The man of dullest +intellect can discover faults in extensive complicated systems, and the +more he confines his view, the more must he see matters in detail, and +not in their general tendency. Yet these illiberal censors are sure to +be regarded, because in all countries the majority of the people (I mean +such as are uninformed) wish for nothing so much as to be their own +masters, which they suppose will be the immediate consequence of +overthrowing the existing system. A reformer thus sets off with every +possible advantage, with an auditory predisposed to listen, and a fair +field for censure, in which malice and ingenuity have space to +expatiate; nor can his own pretensions to purity and wisdom at first be +questioned, for as he generally rises from an obscure station, his +former conduct is not known, and the glibness of his oratory, and the +popularity of his topics, gain him ample credence for all the excellent +qualities to which he lays claim. 'Tis true, when he has gained the +ascendancy he aims at, his behaviour generally shews him to be not only +frail and faulty, but a worse knave than any he has exposed; but before +he thus discovers himself, he has gained a hold either of the affections +or the fears of the multitude, which, added to their reluctance to +owning their own mistake, maintains his popularity till a rival +incendiary rises to dispossess him. In the mean time, candour, who was +pushed behind the scenes, when she came to plead for our lawful +governors, is brought into play, and made to utter fine declamations on +the impossibility of always acting right, and on the distinction between +public and private virtue, bespeaking that indulgence for usurpers or +factious demagogues which was denied to the lapses of lawful rulers, +whose inclinations at least must be on the side of an upright and wise +administration, because they have a permanent interest in the welfare of +the nation. The delusions of which I speak seldom last long; an +enlightened people perceives the cheat; but it is lamentable that the +tricks of these political puritans should never grow stale by practice, +and that as often as a pseudo-reformer starts up with pretensions to +great honesty and great wisdom, England should forget how often she has +been deceived, and allow him to excite a tumult which wiser heads and +better hearts cannot allay." + +Sir William found no difficulty in replying to the Doctor. He had only +to admit that his remarks were very just; but, at the same time, he must +say, that, if pushed to their full extent, they would tend to establish +abuses; since, who would dare to arrest the strong arm of tyranny, if +liable to the odium which was thus cast on all promoters of reformation? + +"I spake not of reformers truly so called," said Dr. Beaumont, "but of +those factious persons who, to promote their own ends, tamper with the +inflammable passions of the populace, and, instead of amending errors, +snarl at restraints. A true patriot points out defects with a view to +have them removed, and brings himself into as little notice as possible. +We may as well pretend that Wickliffe and Jack Cade were moved by the +same spirit, as say, that we cannot discern between those who seek to do +good, and those who would breed distractions. Yet, as the mass of +mankind are either too ignorant or too much occupied to discover the +sophistry by which, for a time, falsehood passes for truth, 'it is an +ill sign of the situation of a kingdom when controversy gets among the +ignorant, the illiberal, or the ill-designing, or even when it descends +to those who should practise, being too unskilful to debate, and too +violent to differ, without breach of charity.' I have fortified my +opinion by the words of an able, uncorrupt statesman, who, though he +shared the grace and favour of many mighty Kings, died in honest +poverty, knowing the weakness of mankind, but scorning to apply it to +his own emolument--I mean Sir Henry Wootton. And his sentiments are +confirmed by the son of Sirach, whose reflections have been thought +worthy of being annexed to the volume of inspiration. After observing +that 'the wisdom of the wise man cometh by opportunity of leisure,' and +that they whose time is occupied in husbandry or handicraft-work, are +devoted to those necessary but humble employments which render +themselves respectable, and benefit the public, he asserts, 'they shall +not be sought for in public councils, nor sit high in the congregation. +They cannot declare justice and judgment, and they shall not be found +where dark parables are spoken.' Yet, Sir, these are the men who, in our +disastrous times, have menaced and governed the popular branch of our +legislature, till they have drawn away all but their own partizans, and +denied their King the rights of conscience, while they claim for +themselves unbounded licence. These men are now virtually our rulers; +nor will they be content with dethroning the King and annihilating the +nobles, for they will not rest till they have levelled every gentleman +who pretends to hereditary distinctions of rank, fortune, or privilege, +and torn down every symbol of greatness which offends their ambitious +littleness. So then, every one who has any thing valuable to lose, +ought, in policy, as well as in conscience, to support the throne, with +whose rights his own are inseparably blended." + +Sir William answered, that though, from the great mildness of his +temper, he seldom expressed himself with warmth, he always acted with +decision. He had that morning issued orders to raise a regiment among +his own tenantry. + +"And you will march them to join the King?" said Eustace. + +"A very fine precipitate youth!" returned the Baronet, smiling; "no, +brave young man, your good uncle has taught me another lesson, and I +trust you will also allow him to restrain your ardour. He has himself +set us the example of staying at his post in the hour of danger. The +peace of our own county is of the first consequence. I shall therefore +train my force, and keep it ready to call out, in case any disturbance +should arise in our own neighbourhood." + +"Aye," replied Eustace, "protect Waverly Park; 'twere a pity it should +be despoiled and plundered." + +"No good could accrue to the King from the ruin of a loyal subject," +said Sir William. + +"But," observed Eustace, "you have a son who has just attained full +majority, do you not find it difficult to keep him out of action? Surely +his heart beats high to join the noble Stanley, to whom the King has +intrusted the whole County Palatine." + +"You know not," returned Sir William, "how you distress me by this +inquiry. Heaven forbid I should insinuate any thing against so brave a +gentleman and so loyal a subject as the Earl of Derby; but he has lived +so little with his equals that he knows not how to treat his inferiors; +and, unhappily, the stateliness of his manners has so indisposed this +county, that people of no name, and contemned interest, have snatched it +out of his hands, the disaffected being moved, not so much by dislike to +the King or favour to Parliament, as by impatience of the Earl's humour, +and a resolution not to be subject to his commands." + +Sir William then expatiated on the impolicy of oppressive haughty +demeanor in people in eminent stations, especially when the times were +so big with peril. His remarks had been wise and instructive, had he not +tried to illustrate them by the popularity and liberality of his own +conduct; yet, as it may be said he was the only evidence of his own +urbanity, which must have been lost to posterity had he not recorded it, +he now pleaded it in extenuation of the blameable sensibility of his +son, who, educated in these liberal notions, had felt so hurt by the +negligence of the Earl of Derby at Preston fair, that he had been +provoked by it to offer his services to Parliament, from whom he had +received a commission, and was now serving in the army of Lord Essex. + +Mrs. Mellicent, who saw in this ostensibly-lamented defection a scheme +to secure Waverly-hall and its dependencies, whichever party finally +predominated, remarked that it was a very prudent arrangement. + +"So my friends suggest," returned Sir William, "to console me; but my +regret, that any of the name of Waverly should be seen, in what severe +people will call actual rebellion, is too acute for such soothing +consolation. I have only to take care that the rectitude of my own +behaviour shall refute every suspicion that I am conniving at, or even +apologizing for Henry's errors. And though I know the poor fellow's +feelings were too keen for his peace, and though, in my own exquisite +susceptibility of kindness, I could find motives to mitigate his fault, +I will leave his conduct to the mercy of candid people. I will now end +my perhaps tedious visit, lamenting that my corps was not raised when +Dr. Beaumont's library was destroyed by that infuriate rabble. I +extremely regret the loss of the precious museum and valuable +manuscripts, which his taste, learning, science, and piety had +collected, and with a request that you will consider me as your friend +and protector, should any further disturbances arise, I sincerely bid +you farewell." + +"I trust," said Eustace, after he was gone, "my uncle will never apply +to that man for redress; he is no better than a rebel in his heart." + +"Not so," replied Mrs. Mellicent, "and for the best of reasons--he has +no heart at all." + +"You forget," observed the Doctor, "that when he was the admirer of our +beloved Isabel, he shewed by his warmth and assiduity, that he was +capable of loving something beside himself." + +"And never," said Mrs. Mellicent, "brother, had I so much cause to think +meanly of my own judgment, and own the superiority of dear Isabel's +penetration, as when she rejected my advice, and refused that +vacillating time-server; shewing that she needed not the light of +prosperity to discover the deserving." + +Her eye glanced on Evellin, who, overpowered by these allusions to his +beloved wife, left the room without listening to the compliment paid to +himself. His impetuous son stormed with fury, that such a man should +even pretend to have felt the power of his mother's charms. "Had he been +my father," said he, "I would have fled my country, and disowned my +name. But why did you not, dear uncle, convince him it is not loyalty +but self-preservation which makes him arm his tenants." + +"And why do you not convert that cricket-ball, which you are pressing +with so much vehemence, into a pure and solid gem? I never attempt +impossibilities. One reason why admonitions are so little attended to, +is, that mentors think too little of the dispositions of those they +reprove, and so seek to work a miracle, not to perform a cure. Talk to a +selfish person about being disinterested, and he will utter a few fine +sentences till you fancy his heart is enlarged, when, in fact, he is but +more wedded to the idol he worships, by recollecting that he has spoken +liberally: but shew him 'honesty is the best policy,' and that he is +most likely to succeed by keeping straight courses, and he will quit his +crooked paths through policy, which is something gained on the side of +integrity; and perhaps acting right, may, in time, induce him to change +his motives too. I have looked on all sorts of offenders, and there is +no violator of scriptural holiness of whom I have so little hope as the +self-idolator, for so I deem him who is not only wise in his own +conceit, but who sees no other object worthy the favour or attention of +God or man. Such a one considers misfortune not as a chastisement but as +a wrong; nor can he be grateful for mercies, because he esteems the +greatest to be merely his due. Yet of all men he is the most pitiable, +for his overflowing vanity makes him betray his self-conceit; so that +though he is surrounded by flatterers, he has no friend; no one dare +tell him of his faults, but all seek to profit by his follies. I am no +pretender to prophecy; I know my own house totters in this storm, and I +have more need to prop and secure it than to concern myself as to what +will befall my neighbours. Sir William Waverly and I have chosen two +different methods of steering our barks; probably both may end in +shipwreck, but my eyes are fixed on the pole-star in the heavens, while +he has attended to deceitful charts and treacherous pilots. We will now +close the subject of his faults with inferences for our own improvement. +Let us be careful not to think too much of ourselves, and too little of +others. It is an excellent way of subduing the acute sense of +affliction, to employ our minds in assuaging the miseries of our +fellow-creatures; and prosperity is never so well enjoyed as when we +call in the stranger and the destitute, as well as our friends and +kindred, to share in its blessings. Let us ever consider ourselves as +responsible servants in one large family, and we shall never grow vain +or self-devoted." + +"My dear uncle," said Eustace, "can you think it possible we should any +of us become the creature we so abhor?" + +"Remember Hazael's answer to Elisha," replied the Doctor; "nor think it +is needless vigilance to make a strict inquiry how you approximate to +the vices you seem most to detest. I have heard you say Eustace, that +for a thousand worlds you would not grieve your father. Yet you have +just said, were you young Waverly, you would renounce parental +authority, and abjure your name. This shews that there is an innate +principle in your composition at enmity with filial obedience; touch but +the chord that moves it, and duty is exposed to instant danger." + +"My father," answered Eustace, "will never suffer me to despise him. His +honour, his afflictions, are alike my security. If tempted to +disobedience I will recall to my mind his woe-worn majestic form, and +ere I dare to grave another furrow on his brow, or whiten one more hair, +the dying injunctions of my mother will rush to my mind, and I shall +remember that when she could no longer minister relief to his +afflictions, she consigned him to my care." + + + [1] This and many of the following extracts are from Lord Clarendon. + + + + +CHAP. VIII. + + Out of your proof you speak; we, poor, unfledg'd, + Have never wing'd from view o' the nest, nor know + What air's from home. Haply this life is best, + If quiet life be best; sweeter to you, + That have a sharper known: to us it is + A cell of ignorance. + + Shakspeare. + + +Dr. Beaumont's admonitions to Eustace were not uttered at random. +Evellin was determined immediately to put in force the commission he had +received, by joining the Marquis of Newcastle. His Majesty was very +desirous of securing the northern coast to facilitate the introduction +of the succours he expected from Holland with the Queen. Ever since the +arrival of arms and accoutrements, the passion of Eustace for military +fame had become more decided and uncontrolable; he poised his father's +sword, put on his helmet, and talked of the best method of killing all +the rebel generals. The plans he laid for terminating the contest +appeared so feasible to Constantia, that at length (though not without +tears) she consented that he should enter on the Herculean labour of +destroying the many-headed monster, Rebellion. Isabel thought that her +father and uncle were likely to know what was best to be done, but as +often as she ventured to hint that he might be too sanguine, Eustace +reminded her, that girls knew nothing about war and politics, and +directed his observations to Constantia, who had at least the feminine +merit of acquiescing in his opinions. + +The evening previous to Colonel Evellin's departure was destined to the +severe task of bending Eustace to obedience. The father began by putting +into his son's hands the miniature of his mother, commanding him +constantly to wear it, and part with it only with his life. Eustace +wept, pressed it to his lips, and asked if that was the only mark of +devoted affection which he could shew to her memory. The Colonel pointed +to Isabel. "She lives in your sister," said he; "duty calls me from her; +you must be her protector." "Oh, my father!" replied Eustace, throwing +himself at his feet; "how better can I protect my sister, than by +combating her enemies." + +The Colonel answered,--"My age, my experience, my expertness in military +studies and exercises, impose that task on me. The King, whom I served +in my youth, was a gracious master, and I feel confident that I can +render him assistance. My duty to him, and I will add to you too, +required the tender of my services. They have been accepted; I set out +for York to-morrow, to be employed as my immediate commander, the +Marquis of Newcastle, shall determine." + +"And when shall I follow you," inquired Eustace, who read in his +father's eye a prohibition which restrained him from urging his wish to +accompany him. + +"As soon," replied Evellin, "as your services can either benefit the +King or yourself." + +"I know," said Eustace, "you do not doubt my courage or fidelity; it +must therefore be from the opinion you have formed of my inability, that +you insist upon my spending more of my life in what must now be called +shameful inactivity. I look three years older than I am, and my strength +and ability are as premature as my appearance. Ever since the war broke +out I have been studying histories of battles and sieges, and I can +ride, fence, and fire at a target with dexterity. If at first I were to +commit some mistakes, actual service would improve me. Oh, best and +kindest of fathers, blast not the dearest hopes of your only boy. Fix no +stigma upon him, as if he were a tall puppet fit only to trifle, nor let +him be regarded as a coward, glad to use any excuse that shall purchase +safety. My dying mother bade me supply her place to you. How better can +I obey her than by shielding your head in the day of battle, smoothing +your pillow when you retire to your tent, participating in all your +dangers and sorrows, relieving your anxieties, and lightening your +labours. If I may not go with you, or speedily to follow you, the life +your kindness would preserve from the sword will be consumed by grief." + +The Colonel turned away his face to conceal the emotion which his son's +eagerness for action occasioned. "I have promised," said he, "that I +will send for you as soon as you can serve the King or yourself. You +have mentioned your mother--resemble her in this; she never attempted to +shake my settled purposes, but conformed to the opinion which she +doubted not was founded on full deliberation. As a boy, you are all I +wish; but there must be much improvement to realise a fond father's +hopes of you as a man. Employ the years of probation wisely. Submit to +your excellent uncle as to the representative of both your parents; form +yourself by his instructions, and when you are called into action I +shall glory in you." + +"But you have named years of probation; must I for years be confined to +Ribblesdale? Will no zeal, no diligence on my part shorten this period, +and enable me to rejoin you?" + +"In these disturbed times," said the Colonel, "we can form no guesses of +the future. When we shall meet, or whether ever more in this world, are +chances on which I cannot calculate. Bear in mind this parting +interview; and if you sometimes, in your heart, accuse me of harshness, +soften your opposition to my will by reflecting, that I may have motives +for my determination which cannot now be disclosed to you, and that a +dutiful obedience will render you worthy the entire confidence of one +who has seen too much of man to confide in mere professions of desert +and ability." + +The swelling heart of Eustace ill brooked these restrictions. He flew to +his confidante, Constantia, to complain of the cruelty of his father's +injunctions. In the warmth of his expostulations, he uttered something +expressive of distaste for the life he led, which moved the gentle girl +to lament, that what made them so happy should make him wretched. "If +you loved us," said she, "as we do you, it would reconcile your mind to +passing your whole life with us." Eustace smiled on the lovely +moderator, and answered, "I think it is impossible you can love me as +much as I do you, but you must agree, that a life of inactivity is now +disgraceful; and even my pretty Constance would despise me, if she saw +me loitering about, idling away my best days, when all the kingdom is in +arms." "I never can despise a dutiful son," answered she; and Eustace +found in that avowal such an unanswerable argument on the side of filial +obedience, that he was able, not only to see the Colonel depart without +impatience, but also to support his weeping sister. + +It was some weeks before his repugnance to a life of inactivity +returned; but as the fiery ardour of his character was only smothered, +not quenched, it burst out again at the time that Dr. Beaumont took his +daughter and sister with him to Lancaster assizes, whither he went to +obtain redress for his injuries. He had diligently employed the time +since Evellin's departure in confirming his authority over his young +charge. Isabel was all cheerful duty and smiling diligence. Eustace was +occasionally impetuous and refractory, but overflowing with sensibility, +and more apt to repent than to offend. The Doctor judged it would not be +inexpedient to try the temper of his pupils by leaving them a little +time to themselves. + +Eustace resolved to employ this period of liberty in executing a project +he had formed, and in which he meant Isabel should be his coadjutrix. He +began with observing, "he feared their dear Constance was not quite +happy. She so often regrets her father's library," said he, "that I know +she will never be easy till it is restored. I have examined the ruins, +and calculated what repairs it will want; there are stones and timber +lying about, and I can work it up myself if you will help me." As far as +her strength could go Isabel was perfectly willing, and Eustace promised +her the light jobs, reminding her that she fixed up the pewter-shelves +in their own cottage very well under his directions. + +"But," said Isabel, "of what use will the room be when the books are all +destroyed?"--"I have thought of that too," answered Eustace, "and have +contrived accordingly. You know we left three hampers of books in the +mountains; they are safe enough I dare say, because those we gave them +to, as keep-sakes, cannot read, and I dare say will let us have them +back if we say we want them. Now if we work very hard, we shall have two +nights and a day to spare, and I can trot the poney with the market cart +over the fells, and fetch them. To be sure they may not be just the +books my uncle lost, but books are books you know, and I am sure +Constance will look so happy when she sees the shelves filled again, and +all in order." + +Isabel was delighted with the project, and promised to assist, though at +the peril of incurring her aunt's displeasure, for not finishing, ere +she returned, a representation of the garden of Eden in satin-stitch, +according to her order. Eustace looked at the plan, and finding it would +save time, they agreed that plain grass would look as well on a +firescreen, as all the crocodiles and elephants which with literal +deference to natural history Mrs. Mellicent had drawn up rank and file, +on each side Adam and Eve. The young architects anticipated the +departure of their friends with eagerness, and set about their scheme +the moment the calash drove off. The business was got through with great +alacrity, and though there were a few mistakes, and certainly no nice +finish as a whole, it was creditable to their mechanical skill, as well +as to their kind intentions. + +Determining that the poney knew the road, and hoping to get a little +sleep in the cart, Eustace set off immediately on his mountain-expedition, +and Isabel busied herself in putting all things in order, and preparing +plumb-porridge, and sack-posset, as a festive regale to celebrate the +re-assembling of the family-party, who, she determined, should sup +merrily in the new library. + +Eustace arrived first, in high spirits, but with his cloaths torn, and +his face bloody. Isabel was alarmed. "Nothing but a few scratches," +answered he, "which I can cure with vinegar while you mend my coat. I +will tell you how I got them presently; but do you unpack the books, +while I take care of the poney. Stop a moment; there is something in the +cart you must not meddle with." Isabel inquired what it was. "Women are +so inquisitive," continued Eustace. "Well then, it is a lute; +Constance's own lute, which she lost the night of the fire." Isabel +inquired how he recovered it. "Fought for it," answered he; "I see you +will not be easy, so I must tell you all about it." + +"The people of Fourness were very glad to see me, calling me Mr. Random, +and a great many more kind names; so we packed up the books, and they +sent some cheese for my uncle, and apples for Constance." "And nothing +for me?" said Isabel. "Pshaw," returned Eustace, "how you interrupt me; +I believe the apples are for you. So I came driving back very merrily, +and within a few miles of this village, I met a fellow carrying a box, +which I could perceive held a lute. I had plenty of money, for the +mountaineers would not let me spend it; so I thought if I can get this +lute, Constance will like the new library as well as she did the old +one, and I very civilly told the man I would buy it, and give him all he +asked for it.--But in your life you never saw such a sharp bad visage as +the fellow's, and he put himself into the most ridiculous posture, +rolling his goggle eyes, and smiting his breast, and at last roared out, +'O vain youth, covet not musical devices, but tune thy heart to praise, +and thy lips to spiritual songs.'--'Tune thy own lips to civility,' said +I; 'and you shall too before you pass.' 'I can use the arm of flesh as +well as the sword of the spirit,' said he; so to it we fell, and he +scratched and pulled my hair, and tore my coat, just as you girls do, +but I gave him enough to teach him good manners, and at last made him +own he took the lute from my uncle's, the night of the fire, and that +Squire Morgan was to have it. So I threw him a shilling just to mend his +broken head, and have brought the lute to its own home again." + +Isabel could not but rejoice that the affray ended in a victory, but +expressed her fears that he might be accused of taking the spoil by +violence. "Who stole it first?" said Eustace; "we may take our own +wherever we find it. And to own the truth of my heart, I am glad of this +opportunity of mortifying Squire Morgan, for if there is a person I hate +in the world, it is he." + +"There," said Isabel, "you are both indiscreet and ungrateful, for you +know he and Sir William Waverly have promised to assist my uncle in his +cause." + +"I would not give a rush for the friendship of either," returned +Eustace. "A good victory on the King's side is the only way of fixing +Sir William, and as to Morgan, I know it is not love for my uncle brings +him to the rectory. I see that fellow's heart; and I could scarce keep +myself from pushing him out of the room, when he kissed Constance the +other day, and called her his little wife; but she looked so distressed +at the instant, that I thought I had better not seem to observe it." + +"I have heard you call her little wife a hundred times," said Isabel, +"and it never seems to affront her." + +"One may take liberties with one's relations," replied Eustace, "but I +tell you, young girls should never let men call them wife, especially +such an old, ugly, foolish, fat, vulgar, round-head, as Morgan; and I +had rather my uncle had no restitution, than owe any favour to him." + +Anxious to draw her brother from a topic, on which he always was +ungovernable, Isabel begged him to describe the present state of their +mountain-residence. "Is our garden quite destroyed?" said she, "Are the +primroses I planted on the south bank in blow?"--"I observed something +more interesting," answered, he; "my mother's grave is kept quite neat +by the villagers, and the roses we set there are twined all over it. +Nay, Isabel, if you weep so, I cannot repeat to you the verses I made +yesterday, just as I caught sight of our old cottage." Isabel promised +to be composed, and Eustace proceeded-- + + The sun has roll'd round Skiddaw's breast + Of floating clouds a golden veil, + The heath-cock has forsook his nest, + And mounted on the morning gale; + While bursting on my raptured eyes, + Lakes, hills, and woods, distinctly rise. + + And there in mountain-privacy + My father's rustic cot appears, + The haunts of happy infancy, + The fields my childish sport endears; + Where victor of each game I stood, + And climb'd the tree, or stemm'd the flood: + + And there, beside the village-spire, + My mother's honour'd ashes sleep, + Who bade my noble hopes aspire, + Who also taught me first to weep, + When, with a kiss so cold and mild, + She whisper'd, 'I must die, my child.' + + Oh! fitted for a world more pure, + Sweet spirit, who would wish thy stay, + To witness woes thou could'st not cure, + And dimm'd with clouds thy evening ray; + To see thy ardent boy denied + To combat by his father's side? + + Yet, what is death? As seen in thee, + 'Twas a mild summons to the grave; + 'Tis the sure zeal of loyalty + And honour's guerdon to the brave. + How are the soldier's requiems kept! + By glory sung, by beauty wept. + +"My dearest Eustace," said Isabel, "I wish I could send these lines to +my father, yet perhaps they would overcome him as they have done me." +She twined her arms around the neck of Eustace, sobbed for some moments, +and then observed, "I know what suggested the last stanza; it was +Constantia's weeping for the fate of brave Lord Lindsay." + +Eustace blushed. "You are a Lancashire witch in more senses than one, +Isabel; but, hush! the calash has just drove up. Say not a word of my +verses to my uncle." "Why?" "I do not wish he would know I am unhappy." +"Keep your own counsel," returned Isabel, "and I am sure your looks will +never betray you." + +The return of the party relieved Eustace from all fear of owing an +obligation to Morgan. An ordinance from Parliament had interrupted the +regular returns of public justice, and notwithstanding the King's +command, that there should be no suspension of judicial proceedings, +with respect either to criminal or civil causes, and his grant of +safe-conduct through his quarters to all persons attending the courts of +law, the Parliament had forbidden the judges to appoint their circuits. +In one instance a troop of horse tore a judge from the bench, who had +ventured to disobey their edicts. Except therefore in the few places +that were at the King's devotion, all legal proceedings of importance +were suspended, and the little business which was transacted was managed +by a cabal devoted to the predominant party. From such men Dr. Beaumont +could look for no favour. Ample indemnification was indeed promised, but +it was upon a condition that he could not brook, namely, subscription to +the covenant. As to his two friends, Sir William Waverly and Morgan, the +former was detained at home by an apprehension that he might take cold; +and the latter, though he argued on the justice and policy of +remuneration, by which the party would gain credit, yet on being +questioned about his pastor's principles, confessed he thought him a +malignant of the deepest die, and positively refused to be responsible +for his peaceable behaviour. + +Dr. Beaumont had formed no hopes of redress, therefore felt no +disappointment. He was now so accustomed to the temper of the times, +that he was only slightly hurt at being thought capable of compromising +his conscience, by subscribing an instrument he had ever denounced as +illegal, treasonable, and wicked. The dutiful attentions of his nephew +and niece soon changed vexation into pleasure. Mrs. Mellicent' +overlooked the omissions of her crocodiles and elephants, and Constance +touched the strings of her beloved instrument with a smile, sweet as the +strain she drew from its according wires, till Eustace forgot all his +labours and bruises in exulting transport. + + + + +CHAP. IX. + + These things, indeed, you have articulated, + Proclaim'd at market-tables, read at churches, + To face the garment of rebellion + With some fine colour that may please the eye + Of fickle changelings and poor discontents, + Which gape and rub the elbows at the news + Of hurly burly innovation; + And never yet did Insurrection want + Such water-colours to impaint his cause. + + Shakspeare. + + +The summer of 1643 opened with favourable omens to the royal cause. +Evellin sent intelligence to Ribblesdale of the successes of the Marquis +of Newcastle against Fairfax, the safe arrival of the Queen with +military stores, and his own expectation of being joined to her escort, +which would enable him to have an interview with the King at Oxford. +This intelligence, added to that of the advantages gained over Sir +William Waller in the west, revived the drooping hopes of the loyalists, +and terrified the enthusiastic Eustace with apprehensions lest the +contest should be decided before he could measure swords with one +round-head. + +Dr. Beaumont took a more comprehensive view; he saw how little had been +done, and how much loyal blood had been shed. The King's cause was +supported by the death or ruin of his best friends, but his victories, +instead of intimidating, hardened his opponents. They were bound +together by a dread of danger, and a belief that they had sinned beyond +all hopes of pardon, and therefore must depend for safety entirely on +the success of the rebellion they had fomented. + +To insure that success, the Parliament had long since employed the most +potent stimulant of human action, religion; and, by embodying their +favourite teachers under the title of the Assembly of Divines, contrived +to give that species of state-establishment to their own theological +scheme which they had objected to, as one of the crying sins of +episcopacy. This memorable body of auxiliaries was created at the time +of their beginning to levy war upon the King, by seizing his military +resources, and refusing him admission into his own garrison. A fact +which may serve to convince the reflecting mind of the close union which +subsists between monarchical and episcopal principles is, that their +next step to that of employing the forces and revenues of the crown +against the person of the Sovereign, was a declaration "that they +intended a necessary and due reformation of the Liturgy and government +of the church, and that they would consult godly and learned divines, +and use their utmost endeavours to establish learned and preaching +ministers, with a good and sufficient maintenance throughout the whole +kingdom, where many dark corners were miserably destitute of the means +of salvation, and many poor ministers wanted necessary provision." + +Though wise men saw the design of this carefully-worded declaration, yet +indolent, or quiet men, who were willing to hope, caught at its +designing moderation, believed that Parliament only meant to reform +abuses, and that its designs were not so very bad. This very +declaration, which a year before would have terrified the people, in +whom there was then a general submission to the church-government, and a +singular reverence of the Liturgy, now when there was a general +expectation of a total subversion of the one, and abolition of the +other, they thought only removing what was offensive, unnecessary, or +burthensome, an easy composition. Thus the well-meaning were, by +degrees, prevailed on, towards ends they extremely abhorred, and what, +at first, seemed prophane and impious to them, in a little time appeared +only inconvenient. + +But infinite is the danger of tampering with national feeling in its +most important point. The mildly-worded decree above cited, cherished +those principles of mutability, which overthrew the church of England, +while new forms of doctrine sprang from every portion of her ruins, all +contending for mastery, and each insisting on the individual right of +choosing, and the uncontrolable liberty of exercising what they pleased +to term religion. The first of these tenets is as inadmissible in +argument, as it is desperate in practice, for if every man has a right +to choose, it must follow that he has an equal right to abstain from +choosing, and thus universal atheism is sanctioned by the over-strained +indulgence of civil liberty, confounding what our perverse natures will +do with what they properly may. And if we found this opinion on the +ground of human free-will, it may be asserted that a man has a right to +choose whether he will be veracious, temperate, chaste, and +conscientious; whether he will be a good father, husband, citizen, or +the reverse; and thus every moral offence of which human laws do not +take cognizance, may be justified by the same plea, that in this land of +liberty people have a right to act as they think proper. By these means +that finer system of morals, which extends virtue and goodness to points +which the mere letter of the law cannot reach, is at once annihilated; +and the peculiar excellence, of the Gospel, as a religion of motives, is +superseded by the licence allowed to rebellious wills, and the darkness +of perverse understandings. + +The proposition of the Parliament to consult "godly and learned divines" +was exemplified, by their ordering the individuals of which the House of +Commons was now composed, to name such men as they thought fit for their +purpose. Every known friend to the King had been already banished, +either by the clamour of the London mobs, or their own votes. "Of one +hundred and twenty, who composed the assembly of Divines, though by the +recommendation of some members of the Commons, whom they were not +willing to displease, and by the authority of the Lords, some very +reverend and worthy names were inserted, there were not above twenty, +who were not declared and avowed enemies of the church, some of them +very infamous in their lives and conversations, most of them of very +mean parts in learning, if not of scandalous ignorance, and of no other +reputation than malice to the church of England." + +Of this ignorance and incapacity for every thing but the work of +destruction, their own party made the most angry complaints. Yet were +those men the fittest to act as Spiritual prompters to an aspiring +faction, bent on overturning existing institutions, and establishing +their own power. The general ground of quarrel of all the sects with the +establishment, was its retaining ceremonies, prayers, and a mode of +discipline, which, though bearing close affinity to the apostolical age, +were rejected by violent reformers, because our church received them +through that of Rome. The answer of Bishop Ridley to the Papists, "That +he would be willing to admit any trifling ceremony or thing indifferent +for the sake of peace," suited not the taste of those who saw +Anti-christ in a square cap or a surplice, and in a written creed or +doxology (though agreeing in substance with their own opinions) an +infringement of the liberty of a true Protestant. Such as these cared +not what confusion or infidelity prevailed, nor how Popery itself +triumphed, while they were busy in overthrowing the strongest bulwark +that human wisdom had erected against it. The people were inflamed +against the court and the church by the charge of jesuitical designs, +the palaces of the deposed bishops were converted into prisons, crowded +with the champions of the protestant cause; the truly "pious, godly, and +learned ministry" were driven from the flocks to which they had been +appointed by their spiritual superiors, and supplanted by these +champions of the rights of private judgment and unbounded liberty, who +made their respective congregations not only judges of theological +points, but teachers of every opinion, except those which derived +support from sound learning, constitutional authority, beneficial +experience, general acceptation among Christians, or a clear consistent +view of the word of God. Men sought celebrity by inventing modes of +faith; and sacred truths were not established by an appeal to antiquity, +but by the singular ordeal of novelty, as if, after a lapse of seventeen +ages, it was reserved for ignorance and fanaticism to make fresh +discoveries in the sacred writings. + +The ordinance of sequestration, which annihilated all +church-dignitaries, and exposed every parochial minister to the malice +of any informer who should report him for his loyalty, passed in the +year 1643, and was justified by complaints of the supposed scandalous +lives of the episcopal clergy. Doubtless, in a numerous body, some might +be found guilty of gross vices, secular in their pursuits, negligent of +their high duties, and looking more to the "scramble at the shearers' +feast," than to feeding and guiding the flock through the wilderness. No +true lover of the church will defend clerical debauchees or canonical +worldlings, especially when she appears beleaguered round with enemies, +and when her surest earthly supports are the zeal, the learning, and the +pious simplicity of her officials. Persuaded that our national +establishment grows from that root which can never decay, we may always, +when a very general corruption of the clergy is apparent, expect a +fearful tempest to arise, which will clear the tree of its unsound +branches, and enable it to put forth vigorous and healthy shoots. But +while that rottenness is not total but partial, while some green boughs +are still seen to extend a lovely and refreshing shade, what impious +hand shall dare to assail the venerable queen of the forest, whose +magnitude defends the saplings, which, ambitiously springing under its +protection, require the room it occupies? At the time of the great +rebellion, the Church of England boasted an unusual number of, not +merely learned, but apostolical men, especially among the bishops and +the royal chaplains, whose pious labours have excited the gratitude and +admiration of posterity, as much as their lives and sufferings did the +wonder and commiseration of their own times. Beside those who have been +thus immortalized, there were vast numbers who "took their silent way +along the humble vale of life," unknown to fame either for their virtues +or their hardships, yet still living in the memory of their descendants. +These submitted in silence to poverty, reproach, and injustice; and, +like Bishop Sanderson, "blessed God that he had not withdrawn food or +raiment from them and their poor families, nor suffered them, in time of +trial, to violate their conscience." The long-continued persecution of +the ruling powers proves that such men formed the majority of the +episcopal clergy. Their place was occupied by those who were willing to +receive wages from the hand of usurpation, and to see the lawful owner +in extremest need, while they enjoyed ill-acquired affluence. These men +soon won over the populace by the most false and dangerous views of +religion, stating, "that men might be religious first, and then just and +merciful; that they might sell their conscience, and yet have something +worth keeping; and that they might be sure they were elected, though +their lives were visibly scandalous; that to be cunning was to be wise; +that to be rich was to be happy; and that to speak evil of governments +was no sin[1]." Plain, instructive, practical discourses, sound and +temperate explanations of the great mysteries of Christianity, connected +views of the whole body of gospel doctrines and precepts, were cast +aside as legal formalities. Extemporary harangues, immethodical and +tautological at best, sometimes profane, often absurd and perplexing, +never instructive, became universal. One of the worst features of these +sermons was their tendency to torture scripture to the purposes of +faction, and represent the Almighty as personally concerned in the +success of rebels. "The Lord was invited to take a chair and sit among +the House of Peers," whenever that House opposed the furious proceedings +of the Commons; and if the King gained a victory, the preacher +expostulated in these irreverent terms: "Lord, thou hast said he is +worse than an infidel that provides not for his own family. Give us not +reason to say this of thee, for we are thine own family, and have lately +been scurvily provided for." + +In a work intended to familiarize the conduct and principles of +loyalists to the general reader, this vindication of the episcopal +clergy, and appeal to their literary remains, and to the doctrines +delivered by their opponents on public occasions, cannot be deemed +irrelative. I now proceed with my narrative. + +Dr. Beaumont was not long permitted to repose at Ribblesdale after his +enemies were armed with power for his expulsion. A visit from Morgan was +the signal of bad tidings. He required a private interview. The Doctor +silently besought Heaven to give him fortitude, and admitted him. + +He began with enumerating his own kind offices, and anxiety to preserve +him in his cure, believing him to be very well-meaning, though mistaken +in his politics. He reminded him that he had ever recommended temperate +counsels, and lamented that, in the present disturbed state of things, +he or his family should, by any indiscreet act, give occasion to his +enemies to precipitate his ruin. He then pulled out a long string of +charges against the Doctor, the first of which was his affording shelter +to, and corresponding with, one Allan Evellin, calling himself Colonel +Evellin, by virtue of a pretended commission from the King, a most +dangerous delinquent and malignant, now in arms against Parliament, and +seen, in the late attack on Sir Thomas Fairfax's army, to make a +desperate charge, and murder many valiant troopers who were asserting +the good old cause. Dr. Beaumont acknowledged that he had afforded his +brother-in-law the rights of hospitality; and he put Morgan upon proof +that the King's commission was not a sufficient justification of the +alleged murders, which, he presumed, were not committed basely, or in +cold blood, but in the heat and contention of battle, and might +therefore be justified by the rule of self-defence, as well as by the +King's authority. + +Morgan said the ordinance of Parliament made it treason to fight for the +King; but this assertion sounded so oddly, that he hurried to the next +count, which was, his dissuading Ralph Jobson from taking the Covenant. + +The Doctor acknowledged this fact, alledging also, that as he considered +the Covenant to be sinful, he was bound in duty, as the spiritual guide +of Jobson, to advise him not to bind his soul by any ill-understood, +ensnaring obligation, being already bound, by his baptismal and +eucharistical oaths, to all that was required of Christians in an humble +station. + +To Dr. Beaumont's vindication of himself from these and similar crimes, +Morgan could only answer that the ordinances of Parliament made them +offences. In these unhappy times those decrees were not supplemental to, +but abrogatory of, law and gospel. But there was another charge founded +on the violation of the grand outlines of morality, which could be +brought home to one of the Doctor's household. Morgan drew up +triumphantly, as he read the accusation, namely, "That Eustace Evellin, +son of the above malignant cavalier, did, on the 17th day of March last +past, assault and wound Hold-thy-Faith Priggins, and by force take from +his possession a box containing his property, and that he did carry off +the same, leaving the said Priggins bleeding on the high road." The +Doctor was startled; he knew this was the time of his nephew's +mountain-expedition, but was entirely ignorant of its being signalized +by any act of Quixotic chivalry. He disclaimed all knowledge of the +business, and begged to know who Hold-thy-Faith Priggins was. "I know," +said he, "a John Priggins, a fellow of most infamous and depraved +conduct, but this other is quite a new name in this neighbourhood." + +Morgan denied all personal acquaintance with the man, previous to the +day when he came to lodge his complaint against Eustace, and at the same +time announced his design of exercising the gift of preaching, to which +he just discovered he had a call. He however admitted that he believed +this same Priggins was the Doctor's old acquaintance, he having +acknowledged that previous to his conversion he had been guilty of every +sin except murder. + +Dr. Beaumont imagined such a confession would justify a magistrate in +refusing to permit even the meanest part of the sacerdotal functions to +be assumed by one who mistook glorying in his iniquities for +regeneration; but Morgan replied, that it would be contrary to those +principles of civil liberty which his conscience and office required him +to support, to make any investigation into the past, or to require any +pledge for the future conduct of the convert. + +Dr. Beaumont could not help observing that, in kindness to his friend +Davies, Morgan should have been careful of opening the mouth of one who +might perhaps introduce schism into the new-founded congregation. + +Morgan smiled. "I perceive, my good Doctor," said he, "you are quite in +the dark in these matters; you must know, the Parliament's ordinance has +been acted upon in many parishes, and the sequestrators have taken such +note of your life and conversation as to resolve to eject you from your +living, and institute Master Davies in your place; though my influence +has hitherto suspended the actual execution of this design. Now, as I +hate all monopolies, and think every person's talents should have fair +play, during your ministry I countenanced Davies against you, and if +Davies is put in your place I shall sit under Priggins rather than +Davies, for that is the best way of keeping him sharp to his duty, and +one gets at truth best by hearing from all preachers what they have to +say for themselves." + +Dr. Beaumont answered, that though assured the exercise of his +sacerdotal functions depended on his pleasure, he could not, while he +was permitted to perform it, so far desert his duty as to allow one of +his parishioners to utter wrong opinions without respectfully shewing +their fallacy. He was proceeding to the undoubtedly-fruitless labour of +trying to correct determined error, when Morgan stopped his argument by +shewing him the order he had received to eject him from his rectory. + +Dr. Beaumont answered, that being humbly persuaded his ministry had been +beneficial, he wished to be allowed to continue in the quiet exercise of +his spiritual functions. His office was not bestowed upon him either by +Parliament or by the assembly of Divines, neither could the votes of the +one, nor the opinion of the other, lawfully degrade him from it. + +Morgan replied, that whatever fancies he might entertain respecting the +durability of his right to the rectory, and the unalienable nature of +ordination, he must know, from numerous instances, that they had a way +now of cutting this sort of disputes very short, by expelling those who +would not walk out of doors quietly. Some indeed suffered their prudence +to get the better of their obstinacy, and were comfortably re-settled in +their benefices. One method of reconciliation which he would advise Dr. +Beaumont to attend to, was, to volunteer his subscription to the +engagement which had just been taken by Parliament and the City of +London, on the discovery of a most horrid plot formed by papists and +malignants, to put the King in possession of the Tower; to admit the +popish army into the city; to seize the godly Parliament, and put an end +to all those hopes of reformation which the nation now entertained. He +shewed the Doctor a copy of the oath, and remarked, that as nothing was +said in it about ecclesiastical changes, he could not object to swearing +to preserve the true Protestant religion against the influence of a +popish party, headed by the Queen, whom the House in its wisdom had +impeached of high-treason. + +Dr. Beaumont said, the crime laid to Her Majesty's charge, which had +induced the Parliament to take that extraordinary step, was the bringing +arms and ammunition into the kingdom to assist her Sovereign and +husband, and not her being a Catholic, nor any plot or contrivance to +murder and imprison true Protestants. In the vow tendered to him, he saw +himself required to attest various matters which he disbelieved. He knew +of no Popish army raised and countenanced by the King; he knew of no +treacherous and horrid design to surprise the Parliament and the city of +London. He could not give God thanks for the discovery of what he really +believed was one of those fabrications intended to strengthen the ruling +party, which always follow a detected conspiracy. He denied that the +armies raised by the two Houses were for their just defence, or for the +liberty of the subject; and he would never promise to oppose those who +assisted the King, nor bind himself in a league with his enemies. + +"My sacred function," continued the Doctor, "is that of a minister of +peace. I will never have recourse to arms except to guard my own family +from assassins; nor will I ever engage not to assist my King with my +purse or my counsels, or shut my gates on any loyal refugee who seeks +the shelter of my roof. I have few personal reasons for being attached +to Ribblesdale, but I hold myself bound to it by a spiritual contract, +and will abide here till I am forced from it, diligently, +conscientiously, and meekly doing my duty among ye, without partiality +or respect of persons. My counsel, my assistance, my purse, my prayers, +are at the service of all my parishioners; if, therefore, the residence +of a quiet man, who, though he will not sacrifice his own conscience, +imposes no restraints on others, be not inconsistent with the duty you +say you owe to these new authorities, suffer me to die in my parish. I +am ready to promise that I will never engage in plots or conspiracies +for your destruction; and since the scale of war is still suspended, and +we know not who will be the ascending party, I will also promise, that +in case the royal cause ultimately triumphs, I will use my influence +with the King in favour of my neighbours." + +"You speak like a man of sense and moderation," answered Morgan. "Why +should hatred and animosity prevail between us? Why should we not +imitate the liberality of Sir William Waverly? General Waverly has just +been to see him. The worthy Baronet at first rated him a little, telling +him he had made a most unhappy choice; but they were friends in a few +minutes, and he asked Master Davies and me to dine with them; wished the +King better advisers; drank prosperity to the Parliament; and paid his +weekly assessment cheerfully. I think it is the best plan for all +parties to hold neighbourly intercourse with each other, and even to +form alliances which may some time turn to account; and this leads me to +my other proposition. I believe I may persuade the honourable +sequestrators that you are not a dangerous delinquent, nor wholly +unprofitable in the ministry; but this must be on condition that you +suffer justice to take its course with your nephew, and ally yourself to +some person of staunch principles by marriage." + +Dr. Beaumont answered, he was very willing that the charge against +Eustace should be investigated, but as to intermarriage with any family, +he had long since devoted the remainder of his life to widowhood. + +"But you have ladies in your house," said Morgan, drawing his chair +closer to the Doctor, and pursing his features into an enamoured grin. +The idea of a quondam scrivener making love to Mrs. Mellicent (for on +this occasion he thought only of her), and the contrast between her +dignity and Morgan's square figure and vulgar coarseness, provoked a +smile, notwithstanding the seriousness of his own situation: Morgan +thought this a good omen, and went on. + +"You see me here, Master Doctor, a hale man, under fifty, pretty warm +and comfortable in circumstances; I once said I never would encumber +myself with a wife and family, but things are now going on so well, that +all will be settled before my children are grown up; and I do not see +why I should not try to make my old age comfortable, now I have done so +much for the public.--That's a very pretty, modest, well-behaved +daughter of yours, and I think would make me a good wife; a little too +young, perhaps, but she will mend of that fault every day." + +Dr. Beaumont was struck dumb with surprise. Morgan continued--"And if +the young maid is willing, I shall not mind shewing favour to that +hot-headed cousin of hers, for her sake. He wants to be a soldier I +find; I could get him a commission under Lord Essex, who is a fine +spirited commander, and will give him fighting enough. You know it will +be doing just as the Waverly family do. Come, I see you +hesitate--suppose we call in the young people, and hear what they say?" + +"Eustace shall immediately answer to the charge laid against him," said +the Doctor, rising to summon him. "And let Mrs. Constantia come too; I +wish that business decided first," continued Morgan. + +"That business is already determined," answered the Doctor. "Eustace, I +have called you to answer to a charge laid against you, of assaulting a +peaceable passenger whom you met in your return from the mountains, and +taking from him a box which was his property. Did you or did you not +commit this outrage?" + +"Aye!--answer without fear or evasion, young man," said Morgan. + +"I know neither fear nor evasion," replied Eustace, darting on the +Justice a look which could not have been more contemptuous had he heard +of his offer to Constantia;--"I certainly did beat a saucy knave who +insulted me." + +"And stole his goods!" said Morgan. + +"I took from him something;--let him name what." + +"A box or case, his property, are the words of his affidavit." + +"Again," said Eustace, "I require him to state what was in that box?" + +Morgan coloured--"The forms of law," said he, "must be adhered to. He +only swears to a box or case, as his property. Did you or did you not +take it from him?" + +"I did." + +Dr. Beaumont turned on his nephew a look of angry expostulation, which +stung him to the soul. He threw himself on the ground, and clasped his +knees in anguish. "My dearest uncle," said he, "I can bear any thing but +your displeasure. I took a box containing stolen goods from a thief, who +was carrying it to an accomplice." + +Morgan was thunder-struck; for, in describing the assault, Priggins had +omitted mentioning that he had been cuffed into a full discovery of his +theft, and had owned that Morgan had agreed to accept a part of Dr. +Beaumont's spoil as a reward for giving indemnity to the rioters. He +tried to recollect himself, and told Eustace, better language to a +magistrate would become his situation. + +"Who touches the hem of your magisterial robe?" said the fiery boy. +"Have I said that the villain who stole my cousin's lute, was carrying +it to you when I took it from him, and restored it to the right owner. +My dear and worthy protector, the only fault I have committed, was in +saying I found it, when you asked me how it was recovered. Let him who +accuses me of the theft be brought face to face, and I will soon make +him own who are the knaves in this business." + +Morgan's confusion at being drawn into an implied self-accusation +prevented him from pressing the business further. He endeavoured to be +civil, said that Priggins must have mistaken the person of Eustace, or +have given him a false account. He believed him to be a worthless liar, +and holding out his hand to Eustace, hoped it would cause no ill blood +between them. + +"No," said the latter, holding up his arm in a posture of defiance; +"there may be a concert between thieves and the receivers of stolen +goods; but we know too much of each other to shake hands, and so +remember Master Morgan I hate dissimulation, and now think of you just +as I used to do." + +When they were alone the Doctor reproved Eustace for his peremptory +behaviour, and required an impartial statement of the whole affair. The +interview ended with full pardon for his past precipitation, and an +earnest admonition, as he tendered the preservation of them all, to be +guarded in future. Eustace could not but perceive that he had increased +his uncle's difficulties, and promised great prudence, with a full +intention of keeping his word. + +Dr. Beaumont then proceeded to consult the faithful partner of all his +former trials on his present situation. It was to Mrs. Mellicent only +that he disclosed all that had passed in his interview with Morgan, who, +making the same misapplication of Morgan's amorous tender, drew up her +stiff figure into full stateliness. "Leave the knave to me, brother," +said she; "I desire no better jest than to hear him make me a proposal; +I that have had a serjeant at law in his coif, and the sheriff of the +county in his coach and six, come to make love to me, to be at last +thought of by the son of a shoe-maker!" + +Her brother here interposing, relieved her mind from the terrifying idea +of having the laurels of her early days blasted by this degrading +conquest, but he only changed indignation into distress. "What! our +lovely, dutiful, modest, ingenuous Constantia, to marry that lump of +sedition; that bag of cozening vulgarity; that rolling tumbril, laden +with all the off-scourings of his own detestable party!--Brother, take +my advice, and send the dear creature instantly to the King's quarters; +there is no safety for her within Morgan's reach.--These republicans +stop at nothing; I question whether my years and prudence will protect +me, but I will run all risks, and remain with you at Ribblesdale. But +let the young people be immediately removed, under the care of +Williams.--Morgan will never pardon the affront he received from +Eustace. The hint he gave about Essex, makes me apprehend that a project +will be laid to entrap the boy. I know he would sooner die than accept +any terms from traitors; let me therefore intreat you to send them all +to York, and place them under the Earl of Bellingham's protection." + +Dr. Beaumont approved the plan, but cautioned her how she spoke of the +Earl of Bellingham. Mrs. Mellicent assured him she was very wary. "But," +said she, "as we are forced to hear and say so much that is painful, let +us in our privacies indulge ourselves with anticipating brighter scenes. +I am fully persuaded that the children will outlive these sorrows. I had +a most consoling dream last night.--I saw Eustace in Castle-Bellingham, +just as I have heard Williams describe it in the old Earl's days, +attended by a train of gallant gentlemen, knights, esquires, chaplains, +pages, and all the proper retinue of nobility. I saw Constance too, our +own sweet Constance, dressed in black-velvet covered with jewels; and +she was smiling upon Eustace, and giving orders just as a countess ought +to do in the open gallery, as the servants were going about from the +hall to the buttery; I see it all now before my eyes, and I tell you, +brother, whatever you learned men may say about it, dreams often are +true prognostics, and warnings too. In one point, I believe we are both +agreed, Constance shall marry none but Eustace." + +"It is more necessary," replied Dr. Beaumont, "to preserve the children +from present violence, than to lay plans for their future +aggrandisement. Prepare then with all possible speed for their removal, +and I will advise them of its absolute necessity." + +This precaution was indeed truly prudent. The rancorous heart of Morgan +could not forgive the insinuated accusation of Eustace, nor the cold +hauteur with which the Doctor hurried over his offer of an alliance, +which, in the proposer's estimation, promised safety, wealth, and +honour. He immediately sent information to an officer, who was +recruiting for the Parliament, of a young desperate malignant, whom he +wished to have pressed into the service, as a mild punishment for +contumacy and outrage, and he did not doubt that the appearance of the +sequestrators, armed with full powers for immediate dispossession, would +terrify Constantia into acquiescence with his wishes, on condition that +he would protect her father. + +The young party left Ribblesdale at midnight, under the escort of +Williams. The separation was marked with many tears and many anxious +wishes, that they might soon be followed by their faithful guardians. +The young ladies felt all the alarm and anxiety of leaving their quiet +homes, which is incident to their sex and years; they were terrified at +the thought of sleeping at an inn, and seeing none but strangers; "if +they should discover who we are," said Constantia, "and deliver us into +the power of Morgan!"--Eustace begged her not to be frightened, for he +would die sooner than see her exposed to any insult. "You are always so +ready to die!" observed Isabel; "what good would it do us to have you +killed? But indeed I have no fear of being discovered, for we are so +muffled up in our camlet riding-hoods, that we shall pass for +country-girls going to market. Courage! dear Constance. Come, whip your +horse on with spirit, and talk to me about eggs and poultry." + +"Your brown face and red arms will pass well enough," said Eustace; "but +they must be blind idiots, who mistake our pretty Constance for a market +girl." "I will bind up my face as if I had the tooth-ache," said she; +"and talk broad Lancashire, till I come to the Marquis's quarters." +Williams observed that their danger would then begin. + +The girls started, saying, they hoped they should then be in safety. +"You know not, my dear mistresses," said Williams, "the habits of camps, +nor the licence of gay, dissipated cavaliers, conscious of conferring +obligations on their King, and claiming from their occasional hardships +a right to indulgence. It is a bad situation for handsome young women, +but I have it in charge, in case I cannot deliver you into the care of +my old master, to take you on to Oxford, and place you with an old +college-friend of Dr. Beaumont's." + +Eustace, whose heart had exulted at the idea of being fixed in the scene +of action, and of being permitted to endeavour to remove the prohibition +of his taking arms, strenuously opposed the plan of an Oxford residence, +as still more improper for young ladies, protesting that the flatteries +of a court and a university were more dangerous than the free licence of +military manners. He then began to caution Constantia, assuring her she +must not believe all that would be told her about the power of her eyes +to make men miserable, and about Venus and Hebe, and a great many more +nonsensical comparisons. "If I do," returned she, "it will do me no +harm. A woman is not more beloved for being handsome. There is our dear +aunt Mellicent; her face, you know, is the colour of a cowslip, and all +seamed and puckered, yet we could not love her better than we do, if she +were ever so beautiful." + +Eustace allowed that she was a very good woman, though he could well +spare her putting him to rights, as she called it, quite so often. He +fancied, too, he knew some people more agreeable.--Isabel thought when +women were young, they always liked to be called handsome, and +recollected she often heard her aunt say, that before she had the +small-pox, she was thought very comely, and had many lovers. Eustace +burst into a loud laugh, and said so many provoking things on the +misfortune of old maids being reduced to record their own victories, +that his companions protested they would be very angry, and not speak to +him till he sung them a song of his own composition, by way of penance. +He submitted cheerfully to the punishment, and caroled the following +canzonet, as they proceeded in safety to the borders of Yorkshire:-- + + Once Beauty bade the God of Wit + Appease her anger with his songs; + Love thought the sacrifice unfit, + And cried, "The task to me belongs." + + Light flow'd the strain of wayward smiles. + Of blushes and of tears he sung, + Of mournful swains arrang'd in files, + And hearts on eye-shot arrows hung. + + But Beauty frown'd; "This lay from thee! + Proud rebel, dost thou break thy chain? + Wit may devise a sportive glee, + But Love should languish and complain." + + To whom the God: "When you disguise + Your charms with spleen's fantastic shade, + Insulted Love to Wit applies, + And goes like you in masquerade." + + + [1] Life of Bishop Sanderson. + + + + +CHAP. X. + + The noble mind stands a siege against adversity, while the little + spirit capitulates at once. + + Murphy's Tacitus. + + +On the morning after he had wisely sent away his precious charge, Dr. +Beaumont was visited by Dame Humphreys, who was now grown sincerely +penitent for all the insolent demeanour of herself and family, and +desirous to make what reparation was in her power. A revolution had also +taken place in her husband's mind. He had espoused the parliamentary +cause, in the hope of being his own master, and of paying no more taxes; +but he now found that the power assumed by the commissioners, to whom +the Parliament had committed the execution of the ordinance, respecting +the array of the different counties, was far more insupportable (as +being the tyranny of many) than the feudal rights and aristocratic +superiority heretofore exercised by the noble family of Stanley. Those +new men, exercising the powers granted them by the conservators of +public freedom, had, on his refusing voluntary contribution, seized his +best cart-horse, three of his fat bullocks, and the silver-tankard he +won at a wrestling-match, for which (after entering them at half their +original value) they gave him a memorandum, certifying that he was a +public creditor, "to be repaid at such a time, and in such a manner as +Parliament should agree." Besides this, the tax-gatherers, a race of +beings whom he abominated, took their circular range to collect the +weekly assessment, which Humphreys found would amount to nearly five +times the original sum required by the King to defray the expences of +government, though the insupportable burden of his demands was urged as +the greatest public grievance. The obstinate temper of Humphreys would +not indeed permit him to make so frank a confession of his errors as his +wife did, but he charged her to say, that, when turned out of his own +house, Dr. Beaumont should be welcome to the use of his, as long as the +King and the taxing-men left him one to live in. + +Dame Humphreys had another motive for her visit. Like all the villagers, +she was passionately fond of Eustace: she had seen a recruiting party +enter the town, and heard them inquire for the young man whom the +Justice meant to impress. In her eagerness to defend him, she excited a +mob of women to scold and insult the party, while she flew to the +rectory to give him notice to escape. But for the precautions taken +during the night, her kindness would have been ineffectual; for the +soldiers speedily dispersed their feeble assailants, and drew themselves +up in order before the rectory. The lieutenant who commanded them, +required to speak with Dr. Beaumont; and, in a tone of authorised +insolence, bade him give up the son of the delinquent, whom he +harboured. + +The Doctor had spent the night in devotion, and came from his oratory +clad in that celestial panoply which is proof against the terrors of +military array. Calm as a Christian hero who felt himself called to +sustain the character of a soldier of truth, he answered, "The youth you +inquire for is my nephew, left in my care by his father, and I should +certainly protect him with my life if he were now in my house, but he +has left it." + +"On what errand? which road?" Dr. Beaumont was silent. It was proposed +by some of the party to break into the house. + +"That will be unnecessary," returned the lieutenant. "Their Honours, the +sequestrators, will speedily be here. Draw up round the house, and see +that none escape. Our duty further extends to taking away all the +horses, arms, and ammunition, of which I now require an account." + +Dr. Beaumont pointed to his old gelding. "He has served me well," said +he, "and if you take him from me, I trust you will use him kindly. Arms +and ammunition I have none. I lived in this parish as a parent among his +children, obeying the laws of my country, and fearing no violence." + +At this instant the sequestrators arrived, headed by Morgan. He lamented +that the painful duty had fallen upon him, but assured the Doctor that +he had delayed it as long as his own safety would permit, and that all +possible gentleness should be used. They then shewed their authority, +and required admission. The door was immediately opened, and they +proceeded from room to room, accompanied by Dr. Beaumont, who, with +unruffled fortitude, saw them take an inventory of his property, even to +the most minute article, his wearing apparel being exempted as a mark of +especial mercy[1]. Morgan, who at every turn expected to discover +Constantia fainting with terror, or shrieking for mercy, was +disappointed at only encountering the steady heroism of her father, and +the iron rigidity and proud contempt of her aunt, whose regret at seeing +the hoarded treasures of her industry, and the idols of her cleanly +notability, exposed to the hands and eyes of the profane vulgar, was +subdued by her detestation of the meanness and baseness of those from +whom her revered brother suffered this indignity and spoliation. + +"And where," said Morgan, "are the pretty maids? Hid in some corner, I +doubt not. Poor lambs! they are innocent, and have no cause to fear +anything. I am sure they shall be welcome to an asylum in my house; and +you too, Madam Mellicent, if you would condescend----" + +"They are gone, Morgan," said she, suddenly restored to the use of her +speech by the supreme pleasure of reproving a villain; "they are gone +with Eustace to the Marquis of Newcastle, out of thy power or that of +thy wicked masters, and their unjust ordinances." + +Morgan (as in his altercation with Eustace) perceived that the more he +personally interfered, the greater hazard he ran of exposure. He +therefore slightly lamented that such harmless children should apprehend +any danger from him, and withdrew, while the sequestrators proceeded to +sell the goods by public auction. Not a bidder stepped forward. The +parishioners were dissolved in tears, and every article exposed to sale +excited some associated recollections of the goodness of the owner or +his family; they saw the chairs on which they had sat while he mildly +pointed out their best interests; the tables at which they had been +liberally, though plainly, regaled; the beds which had afforded repose +to the traveller; the vessels which had fed the hungry and refreshed the +weary; the wheels which produced clothing for the naked; the chemical +apparatus which had provided medicine for the sick, and consolation for +the afflicted. No bidders appearing to purchase the articles in detail, +the whole was put up in one lot. Dame Humphreys presented herself as a +purchaser; no one opposed her; and she was declared to be the possessor +of the Doctor's property. + +The sequestrators then demanded an account of all rents and sums due to +the late Rector, and having noted them down for the observation of +parliament, they informed Dr. Beaumont that, as a new and godly ministry +was to be substituted for an old and unprofitable one, they now expelled +him from the cure of souls and all temporalities thereto belonging, and +instituted and inducted Joab Davies into his rectory. His conduct had, +they said, been so refractory as would justify arresting and sending him +prisoner to London, where multitudes of proud high-priests were now +confined, either on board hulks in the river, or in the palaces, as they +were disloyally named, of the deposed anti-christian bishops; but so +merciful were their tempers, that they would allow him to depart and +shift for himself, only remembering that he was a marked character, and +on his next offence must expect some severe punishment. + +Dr. Beaumont answered, that the testimony of a clear conscience had +enabled many to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods; and he +doubted not he should experience similar consolation. He then required a +pass for himself and his sister. The sequestrators granted one, and left +him. + +Their place was immediately supplied by Davies, to whom they had given +possession, and who said he was moved by bowels of mercy to comfort a +backsliding brother in his tribulation, and to exhort him to consider +his ways, and examine wherein he had offended the Lord, who, by a +visible and affecting providence, had thus mightily punished him. + +Dr. Beaumont, meantime, was endeavouring to collect his thoughts for a +parting address to his parishioners. He remembered that impertinent +comforters constituted one of the trials of Job; and he entreated Heaven +to enable him also to sustain meekly this further conflict. "Master +Davies," said he, "I learned from the book in which I studied my +ministerial duties, that afflictions are not only judgments and +corrections to offenders, but awakening conflicts and purifying trials +to those whom the Father of the universe loves, and considers as his +dear children. Far be it from me to justify myself in the sight of Him +who sees impurity in the heavens, and imperfection in the best deeds of +his most exalted creatures; but it is a manifest consolation to me, in +this day of my calamity, that my conscience does not reproach me with +any wilful violation of my holy function, and therefore, though my +pastoral staff is taken from me, and my flock given to one who has +leaped into the fold, I see in all this, rather the hand of Providence +smiting a guilty nation for its provocations, than a judgment pointed +peculiarly at me, further than as a sinner who adds to the general +burden of transgressions. The powers to whom you pay obedience I never +did acknowledge to be my lawful rulers. On the contrary, I have ever +strove against them in defence of those who, I think, were unjustly +deprived of their hereditary right. When a strong arm forces me out of +my heritage, resistance would only endanger my life. I yield, therefore, +possession to you, not willingly, nor from respect to your claim as a +just one, but by constraint and with a solemn protest against the hard +measure I have met with. By taking on yourself the office of which I am +unjustly deprived, you have, in my judgment, committed a great sin. Use +the power you are allowed to exercise with such temperance as may +mitigate the awful inquisition which will one day be made into the means +by which you acquired it. While you act as a pastor to this parish, +remember you are not a shepherd to your own party and a wolf to mine. +Deny not the blessed sacraments instituted by our common Saviour, to +those whose only crime it is to reject the ordinances and covenants +which a faction in one branch of the legislature attempt to impose, +notwithstanding the protests they have made against what they call human +institutions, though sanctioned by all the legal authorities in the +kingdom. Endeavour to allay the ferment of men's minds instead of making +the pulpit a seditious tribune, and the Bible a trumpet calling aloud to +battle. Remember, the latter is a rule of conduct to Christians in all +ages and all conditions of the world, and that its prophecies are not of +private interpretation, nor its texts designed to be bandied about as +the watch-words of party, to inflame disagreement into enmity, or to +smite down our opponents with the spiritual staff of misapplied +scripture. A docile mind alone is wanting to such an understanding of +the sacred volume as will make us wise unto salvation; but many are the +gifts which a Christian teacher requires, and diligent should be his +labour before he attempts to guide others, especially when controversy +pushes morality from the pulpit, and the auditory are made judges of +metaphysical theology, not hearers of the commandments." + +Davies, who was at first silenced by his astonishment at perceiving Dr. +Beaumont's native dignity and superiority in no wise abated by +misfortunes, soon recalled his natural allies, ignorance and insolence, +to interrupt these admonitions, plainly telling him, that since he did +not know his offences, he would inform him that he had too much +neglected the duty of preaching, giving but one sermon on the Sabbath, +and starving his flock by the formalities of written prayers and verbal +catechisms. He had also in his sermons confined himself to legal +preaching, not sufficiently attending to the inner man, and sometimes +not telling how we were to be saved. Moreover, he had spoken too +favourably of the Papists, contenting himself with calling them erring +brethren, whereas he ought, as a good Protestant, to have delivered all +the bloody race to Tophet, whose children they were. He further held +gross errors, such as that salvation was offered to all mankind, that it +was possible for the elect to sin, and that we were not mere machines +acted on by grace, but possessed the liberty of free-will, by which we +might resist or co-operate with the Spirit. + +"My Brethren and Friends," said Dr. Beaumont, turning to his +parishioners, who listened in ignorant astonishment to these charges, +"Dear charge, from whom violence now separates me, but to whom I will +hope to be again restored--as ye value your immortal souls, imprint on +your minds this solemn truth, 'Not the hearers but the doers of the law +shall be justified.' Ye will now probably have your attention fixed on +needless, difficult, and unedifying questions, which our limited +faculties cannot in this life clearly understand; but remember that in +discussing them ye are exposed to those great offences, spiritual pride, +and a desire of being wise above what is written. Ye will have many and +long sermons, but it is well said, 'prayer is the end of preaching,' An +excellent form was established in this kingdom, which made devotion +uniform; but now, alas! by using extemporary prayers, even in +worshipping God ye must be listeners to your minister, not petitioners +for spiritual graces. Avoid consigning those generations who are passed +away, to perdition, by supposing these new lights alone can shew you the +way to be saved. Ask not if they who differ from you must be accursed. +To scrutinize the spiritual estate of others will neither promote your +holiness nor your security. Think not the further you go from the church +of Rome, the nearer ye approach to God; nor confound the superstitious +observances, which she mis-named good works, with the deeds of +righteousness that Scripture requires you to perform, not as bestowing a +right to eternal life, but as your part of the covenant of grace to +which you have been admitted. Be not misled by the quoted opinions of +early reformers. They depreciated not acts of piety, integrity, and +social kindness, but 'masses, dirges, obsequies, rising at midnight, +going barefoot, jubilees, invocation of saints, praying to images, vows +of celibacy, pardons, indulgences, founding of abbeys'[2], and other +supererogatory performances, by which Popery in effect invalidated the +true atonement, and pretended that sinners might merit heaven. Against +these vain devices of men our glorious martyrs lifted up their voices; +these were the good works they decried; but when ye misapply their just +anathemas, to condemn the fruits of faith acting by love, ye belie their +memory, and tear asunder those strong pillars of belief and practice +which support the Christian doctrine. Lamentable are the effects which +schism produces. At the very beginning of our divisions the pious Jewell +doubted how to address those who preferred contending for trifles to +peace. He could not, he said, 'call them brethren, for then they would +agree as brethren; nor Christians, for then they would love as +Christians.' And now, when the miseries he saw at a distance have +overwhelmed us, how shall our woes be healed? Even by promoting, as far +as in us lies, that mild and candid spirit, which, when it becomes +universal, will terminate our sorrows. Let us conduct our disputes with +the temper of pious Hooker; and when we say to our adversaries, 'you err +in your opinions,' add also, 'but be of good comfort, you have to do +with a merciful God, who will make the best of that little which you +hold well, and not with a captious sophister, who gathers the worst out +of every thing in which you are mistaken.' It is this captious sophistry +which fans disagreement till it blazes into dissension, which changes +the simplicity of gospel-truth into wordy declamation; and, in zeal for +the phylacteries of religion, rends its substance, which is peace. Thus +is Christendom convulsed with tempests which obscure the Sun of +Righteousness, and prevent its beams from warming the cold regions of +heathen darkness. + +"My Friends, ye are called to times of trial, and your brother Man is +the agent whom Providence uses to correct you. Remember that he is only +the agent. In the abode of condemned spirits the Almighty permits an +uncontrolled mis-rule of diabolical passions, and total misery is the +result. In the celestial regions, the will of the Creator is understood +and obeyed; and there dwells eternal peace. In this mixed state the best +err, from frailty and ignorance; but the wrath of the wicked is +over-ruled by Divine mercy, and made to produce the good it labours to +prevent. Let us, in the words of the Church, pray that earth may more +resemble heaven; and let us also remember that our prayers are precepts, +teaching us to promote in our lives what we request in our +supplications." + +Dr. Beaumont here knelt down, and, with devout energy, repeated several +collects from the Liturgy, commending the oppressed church to the mercy +of its Divine Founder, and imploring peace and resignation for its +suffering members. The wind gently waved his silvered locks, the setting +sun cast a beam on his pale countenance, his eyes were occasionally +moistened with tears, and his faultering voice discovered how much the +man endured; but when he rose to give his parting blessing, the patient +and dignified confessor, suffering in a glorious cause, triumphed over +the weakness of human sensibility. Each individual seemed to feel that +the benediction applied to his own wants, and proved its efficacy by +imparting the composure of him who bestowed it. + +They now crowded round their departing pastor, earnestly entreating him +to shelter with them that night; but Dame Humphreys pleaded a prior +engagement. "Think not," said she, as she conducted the Doctor and Mrs. +Mellicent to her house, "that I have bought Your Reverence's goods, with +a view of turning them to my own profit. They shall all be carefully +stored, and not a trencher touched till you come back again. I only wish +you safe with the King; for I am sure if he had such honest men always +with him, things would never have been brought to this pass. I hope you +will tell His Majesty to choose only good men for his ministers, and to +hear nothing but truth, and not to suffer landlords to oppress poor +farmers, and to have no worldly-minded bishops and clergy, but to make +every body charitable and do their duty like you and Madam Mellicent." + +The good dame's harangue was interrupted by discovering that, during her +absence from home, her maid Susan had neglected her dairy to indulge in +a flirtation with the plough-boy, and had been detected in the fact of +conveying to him a stolen can of ale. The difficulty of conducting a +small household according to the unerring rule of right, diverted Dame +Humphreys from proceeding in her plan of reforming state-abuses; and her +complaints of the tricks and evasions of servants, furnished Dr. +Beaumont with a good opportunity of hinting how impossible it was for +Kings to find ability and integrity in all the agents they were +compelled to employ. + +Early the ensuing morning, Dr. Beaumont and his sister prepared to +depart. The former, with his staff in his hand and Bible under his arm, +looked like another Hooker setting out on his painful pilgrimage; but +the care of Dame Humphreys had secured for him his own calash, and +stored it with the most portable and valuable of his goods. The farmer +himself fastened to it the sure-footed old horse, which had been for +years the faithful companion of their journeys. "They gave him to me +yesterday," said Humphreys, "instead of my cart-horse, which they took +away. But Jowler was worth twice as much; yet that's neither here nor +there. Your Reverence has a right to old Dobbin, and nobody else shall +have him. And as to your rents, as you never was a bad landlord in the +main, I'll try if I can't now and then send you a trifle; for I don't +see that these new people have any right to what they take." + +"Hush, hush," said Dame Humphreys, "His Reverence yesterday bade us +behave well, and do our duty to every body." + +"So I will," returned Humphreys; "but I hate your new laws, and your +taxing men, and your arrays and assessments, which take your horses out +of your team, and your money out of your pocket, and nobody knows what +for. I believe Master Davies is no better than a worldling, for he +talked yesterday about raising my rent, and if that's his humour, I'll +be even with him; for I'll go and hear Priggins directly." + +"Priggins," said one of the by-standers, "is a fine man, with a good +voice, and tolerable action; but he is nothing to the serjeant-major of +Sir William Brureton's rangers, who preached at the drum-head at Bolton, +and made the whole town declare against Lord Derby." + +"Tell me of no serjeants-majors nor Prigginses," said Dame Humphreys, +"we shall never edify under any body as we did under the good old +Doctor." + +This conversation passed among the villagers, after the Beaumonts, with +dejected but submissive hearts, had taken their silent departure from +Ribblesdale. + + + [1] Many of these circumstances are copied from Bishop Hall's + "Hard Measure." He greatly leaned to the Puritans in doctrine; and, + in discipline was a noted opposer of Archbishop Laud. + + [2] This list is taken out of a much more numerous one cited by + Lord Cobham. + + + + +CHAP. XI. + + O piteous spectacle! O bloody times! + Whilst lions war, and battle for their dens, + Poor harmless lambs abide their enmity. + + Shakspeare. + + +We left Eustace wakening the echoes with his songs, which, while they +expressed the exultation of his heart at emerging from confinement and +obscurity, and launching into a busy scene of action, were also intended +to divert the alarm of his fair companions. Williams recommended caution +and silence to no purpose; Eustace was sure they were going on safe. +They were still at a great distance from the Parliament's garrison at +Halifax, when they were joined by a person in the dress of a countryman, +but in reality a scout belonging to the army of Fairfax. He drew the +incautious Eustace into conversation, and soon perceived that the +affected vulgarity of his language ill accorded with the polished +accents he had overheard. Guessing from this circumstance that they +belonged to the family of some Loyalist, and were attempting to escape +to their friends, he, under pretence of shewing them a nearer way, +delivered them into the custody of a foraging party belonging to the +garrison. + +Eustace discovered that they were betrayed at the moment when retreat +was impossible, and resistance of no avail. He now lamented that he had +despised the cautions of Williams; and, as he was furnished with arms, +determined to sell his life as dear as possible. The shrieks of the +ladies in a moment arrested his arm, and also drew the attention of the +cornet who commanded the party which had surprised them. He ordered his +troop to retire a few paces, and, riding up to Eustace, exclaimed, +"Madman, whose life are you going to sacrifice?" Eustace turning, beheld +Constantia fainting; and, throwing away his pistols, answered, "One +dearer than my own. If republicans can shew mercy, spare her." + +"You shall find," returned the officer, "that they have mercy and honour +too. Let me conjure the ladies to moderate their terrors. They are +indeed my prisoners; but they shall be treated with all the respect +which their sex, and, if I guess aright, their quality, deserve." + +Isabel, who supported her lifeless cousin, raised her eyes to bless the +benevolence which dictated such consolatory expressions, and saw they +were uttered by a graceful youth, a little older than her brother, in +whose countenance animation was blended with benignity and compassion. + +"For Heaven's sake," said she, "if you pity us, let the troopers sheath +their broad swords; we will make no resistance; alas! the alarm has +killed dear Constantia." + +The cornet leaped from his horse, and assisted to raise her. "Her pulses +beat," said he, "and she recovers fast. But why, Madam, are you not +equally alarmed?" + +"I have been used to sorrows and difficulties from my infancy," returned +Isabel; "but Constantia has never known any thing but care and +tenderness." + +"Are you her sister?" + +"No; I have only that brother. He is rash, but brave and good. Do not +hurt him, for his death would kill my father." + +"It shall be in his own power," returned the officer, "to fashion his +fortunes. I wish, Sir, not to be thought your enemy otherwise than as my +duty enjoins. You see I am in the service of the Parliament. Tell me, +frankly, who you are. It is possible I may befriend you; at least I know +I can the ladies who are under your care." + +Eustace, whose attention was now relieved by seeing Constantia recover, +could not resist an invitation to frankness. "I am not," said he, "what +my dress imports, but the son of a cavalier and a gentleman; we were +going to put ourselves under his protection. Allow us to proceed to +Colonel Evellin's quarters, and I will ever esteem you as my friend, +even if we should meet on opposite parts, in some bloody conflict." + +"I will befriend you," answered the cornet; "but the success of my +efforts must depend on their being conducted with secrecy. Colonel +Evellin is not now in the north. He was attached to the escort who +conducted the Queen to Oxford. Is it your wish to follow him?" + +They answered in the affirmative. "I must hold no further intercourse +with you," continued he; "be of good courage;" then kissing his hand, +with a smile to Isabel, he ordered Williams to follow with them, and +rejoined his troopers. + +"Surely," observed Isabel, "he cannot be a round-head. I thought they +were all like old Morgan; and this is a true gentleman." Constantia +acquiesced in this opinion, and supposed he might be a loyalist, taken +prisoner, and compelled to join the rebel army. Eustace, in an equal +degree unwilling to allow any good qualities to a person who was in arms +against the King, declared that he suspected the apparent urbanity of +the stranger to be only a prelude to some base design. He resolved, that +while they continued prisoners, nothing should separate him from his +fair charge; and Williams and he agreed that they would sit up +alternately every night, in order to be ready at the first alarm. + +"Surely," said Isabel, "you forget my uncle's precept, 'Be moderate.' +Just now you were all confidence that the false guide would shew us a +road to avoid Halifax; and now you are, without cause, suspecting that +this gentleman will use us cruelly." + +"Are they not both rebels and republicans?" rejoined Eustace. "The only +difference is, that one was an ugly vulgar knave, and this a handsome +courtly one." Isabel blushed and gave up the argument, thinking it +useless to contend with one who was never subdued by opposition. + +On their arrival at Halifax, they were provided with comfortable +apartments. A guard was placed at the door; but they were informed that +every indulgence should be allowed them, except that of being at +liberty. Williams was ordered to attend the council of officers, to be +examined as to their name and designs; and the captives waited his +return with the impatience natural to those whose fate is about to be +decided. + +The account which he gave of his examination seemed to confirm the +suspicions entertained by Eustace of the sinister designs of the cornet, +who had anticipated the deposition of Williams, by describing the party +as the children and niece of a cavalier, now an active officer in the +popish army, advising that they should be sent, with some other +prisoners, to London, there to be kept in safe durance till they could +be exchanged for some other party who had fallen into the hands of the +Royalists. Williams was not suffered to speak. The proposal was adopted; +and orders were given that the escort should set off next morning. + +The indignant ravings of Eustace, and the mortification of poor Isabel, +who had seen, in the "melting eye of her supposed protector, a soft +heart and too brave a soul to offer injuries, and too much a Christian +not to pardon them in others," in fine, a generous, open, honourable +character, very like her dear father, called forth the mediation of +Constance, who, recollecting her own father's precepts, recommended +candour and patience. "At least," said she, "whatever befals us, let us +not lose the consolation of fellowship in affliction. We have yet the +comfort of being together; and perhaps we may not find captivity so +dreadful, nor our enemies so merciless as we expect. If they do not take +you from us, dearest Eustace, we cannot be quite miserable." + +They were now joined by an elderly man in the dress of a clergyman, who, +though somewhat precise in his habit, and quaint in his address, was +venerable and benevolent in his aspect and expressions. "Fair maidens," +said he, "I come to inquire if you are content with your present +accommodations, and willing to begin your journey towards London +to-morrow morning. The governor of this garrison has joined me to your +escort; and it will be a duty I shall gladly undertake, to render your +travel lightsome, and your perils trivial." + +"May we," answered Isabel, "request to know to whom we shall be so +obliged?" + +"You may call me Mr. Barton," replied he, "a minister of the church by +the laying on the hands of the presbytery. My immediate call among these +men in arms, arises from my being tutor to the young officer, to whom +you are surrendered prisoners." + +"And did you," said the indignant Eustace, among other things, "teach +him craft and falsehood." + +"I have still to learn those Satanical arts," returned Barton, "and +therefore could not teach them." + +"Were they then," resumed Eustace, "innate properties in his mind? +Though little more than my own age, he is a master in the science of +dissimulation. He practised upon my fears; I mean, my fears for these +dear girls, and wormed from my confiding folly a disclosure of my +parentage, and my wishes. He promised to serve us. I trusted to his +word; and he performs it by rivetting our chains beyond hope of +liberation." + +"While life endures," returned Barton, "hope and fear successively +eclipse each other. Yet a wise man should remember both are casualties, +which may give colour to his future fortunes. We must allow the enraged +lion to chafe, but lest his roarings should terrify these tender lambs, +and drive them out among beasts of prey, an old watch-dog will crouch +beside them, and assuage their alarms. I fancy, pretty maids, you never +were in company with a real round-head before; come, tell me truly, is +he as terrible a creature as your fears pictured." + +"I am half inclined to think you do not mean to injure us," said Isabel. + +"Beware," cried Eustace, lifting up his finger; "remember your past +confidence." + +"But this is an old gentleman," resumed Isabel, and pressed Barton's +offered hand between both hers; "perhaps he is a father, and feels for +two terrified girls, who never were among strangers before. Or, +perhaps," returning the benevolent smile of Barton with one of playful +archness, "he may find us such a troublesome charge, that he will be +glad to get rid of us before we reach London." + +"My pretty Eve," returned Barton; "I am proof to temptation. What I have +undertaken to do I will perform." + +"Yet possibly," said she, "you would just allow me to speak once more to +that officer, your pupil. I only wish to remind him of his past +promises." + +"Rather," replied Barton, "to move him to make more, or perchance make +him your prisoner. No, fair lady, I see too much of your puissance, to +trust my noble pupil in your presence. Yet I would have you think as +well of him as the cloudy aspect of present appearances will admit, for +man oweth man candour; it is the current coin of social life, and they +who do not traffic with it, must not expect a supply for their own +wants." + +Eustace fretted at this _badinage_, and thought Barton a miserable +jester. He caught at the epithet "Noble," and asked if any one, lawfully +entitled to it, would be so degenerate as to rebel against his King. + +"I am one of those stern teachers," said Barton, "who see nobility only +in virtuous actions and high attainments, but even in your sense of the +word, my pupil has a right to the name, being lineally descended from +those mighty Barons, who in early times enforced Kings to yield, and +gave us the right we now enjoy of sitting under our own vine and eating +the fruit of our own fig-tree. And remember, young cavalier, that all +men's minds are not shaped in one mould, nor have corresponding habits +cherished in them the same associations. We have all two characters; our +friends look at the white side, and see our virtues; our foes at the +black, and discern nothing but our faults. The same action of the King's +may be so coloured by report, as to justify my pupil's enmity and your +passionate loyalty. You have been trained to deem passive obedience a +duty, while he has learned to think that an English nobleman ought to +resist arbitrary power. We thought many of the King's proceedings were +contrary to the laws of the realm; and, therefore, joined those who +sought to abridge his prerogative. And now that we have buckled on +armour, retreat is difficult; it is dangerous too; party is a +high-mettled steed, when we are mounted we must hold out the whole race +it pleases to run. But before we part for the night, I will propose one +toast; it is your brave and virtuous Lord Falkland's, and in fact the +prayer of every honest man among us--Peace, peace on any terms, rather +than see England blushing with blood and with crimes!" + +Isabel received a very favourable impression of the integrity and +benevolence of Barton from this conversation, and formed a sort of +undefined hope, respecting the result of their captivity, which induced +her strenuously to reject all the plans which Eustace repeatedly formed +for their emancipation. The most disheartening circumstance was, that +they saw no more of Williams. They sometimes flattered themselves that +he had regained his liberty, and would carry an account of their +situation to Colonel Evellin. They observed, that Barton took no notice +of his absence, and hoping that in the confusion which commonly occurs +in conveying a multitude of prisoners he had been overlooked, they +forbore to make any inquiries that might endanger his safety. + +The country through which they passed in their journey toward London, +afforded them a full view of the miseries and crimes incident to civil +war. The fields, in many places, were without any trace of culture; in +others, the harvest had been prematurely seized or purposely wasted, to +cut off the enemy's resources. They saw beautiful woods wantonly felled; +towns and villages partially burnt; the youthful part of the population +either enrolled in one or other of the hostile armies, or secreting +themselves to avoid being pressed into military service. The few +labourers to be seen in the fields consisted of the aged, the sick, or +those who were disabled; and these no longer exhibited the cheerful +aspect of happy industry, but shewed sorrow in their faces, and +wretchedness in their garb. In towns, the more respectable inhabitants +were dressed in mourning, thus announcing, that the death of some +relation gave them a deep private interest in the public sorrow. The +unemployed manufacturers crowded the streets, eagerly perusing libellous +pamphlets, or diurnal chronicles, disputing furiously on points which +none could clearly explain or indeed comprehend, asking for news as if +it were bread, and shewing by the lean ferocity of their faces, and the +squalid negligence of their attire, that from unpitied poverty sprung +all the virulent passions of rage, envy, revenge, and disobedience. By +such as these, the detachment that escorted the prisoners were received +with transport as friends and deliverers, who, when their glorious toils +were completed, would transform the present season of woe into a golden +age of luxurious enjoyment and unvaried ease; and as the rebel troops +were well furnished with money, and supplied with every necessary out of +the royal magazines, which were seized in the beginning of the contest, +they were enabled to pay for all the articles of subsistence, and thus +acquired a popularity which the strict discipline preserved by their +officers tended to increase. Hence at every town they passed through, +they were not only hailed with acclamations, but received an +augmentation of force by the recruits who joined them, under a certainty +of receiving pay and cloathing. + +Beside the mortification of thus viewing the strength of a party whom +they hoped to find weak, disjointed, and inefficient, our young captives +had the misery of hearing the royal cause every where vilified, and the +Sovereign's personal character traduced. Among the King's misfortunes +his inability to pay his army, or to supply it with necessaries, was +most injurious to his success. His forces were chiefly raised and kept +together by the private fortunes and influence of loyal noblemen and +gentry, many of whom, even members of the house of Peers, served as +privates, receiving neither honour nor reward, except the generous +satisfaction of conscious duty. The situation of those who ranged +themselves on this side without funds for their own support, was most +precarious, the King being compelled to tax the few places which +preserved their allegiance with their entire maintenance. The weekly +assessment laid upon the nation by the house of Commons being granted by +the constitutional purse-bearer, took the name of a lawful impost; but +every demand of His Majesty might be construed into an exaction. Fearful +to indispose the minds of subjects, pecuniary levies were cautiously +resorted to; hence the officers were compelled to connive at plunder, +and the destitute soldier often had no other means to supply his +imperious wants. For the same reasons discipline was relaxed; every man +who had largely contributed to the King's cause felt himself independent +of his authority. Obliged beyond all probable power of remuneration, the +Prince saw himself surrounded by men who had forfeited their estates, +renounced their comforts, and risked their lives to support a tottering +throne. Yet still they were subject to human passions, and liable to +have those passions heightened by the free manners of camps, while the +unhappy circumstances of the cause for which they fought exonerated them +from those strict restraints that are so peculiarly necessary in an +army, where right must always be less respected than power, and where +severe privations, and the frail tenure by which life is held, are ever +urged as motives to a licentious enjoyment of the present hour. While +from these causes such relaxed discipline prevailed in a royal garrison, +as generally to indispose the neighbourhood to its politics, the +parliamentary officers felt bound to each other by the common fears of +guilt, knowing that success alone could preserve them from the penalties +of treason. Their soldiers being well supplied with every thing, had no +excuse for plundering; and all acts of violence were punished with +severity by those who, though of small consideration in their original +situations compared with the King's officers, yet still held a natural +command over the lowest vulgar, of whom the parliamentary rank and file +were composed. + +To return to the woes which our young captives witnessed in their +melancholy tour through the seat of civil war.--The houses of the +nobility and gentry were either abandoned or converted into places of +strength, fortified for the defence of the inhabitants. Occasionally +they passed over what had recently been a field of battle. The +newly-formed hillocks pointed out the number of the slain; broken +weapons and torn habiliments still more indubitably identified the +mournful history; or flocks of ravens and other carrion birds hovering +over the slightly-covered relics of a noble war-horse, which had been +unearthed by foxes, presented a more savage picture of carnage. +Sometimes a pale wounded soldier, whose inability to serve prevented his +being secured as a prisoner, or removed by his friends, was seen +lingering upon the spot that had proved fatal to his hopes of glory, +sustained by the compassion of the neighbourhood or asking alms of the +traveller with whom he crept over the graves of his comrades, shewing +where the charge was first made, pointing to the spot where the leader +fell, and telling what decided the fortune of the day. + +Scenes very different, yet equally revolting to the feelings of Eustace +and his companions, were frequently exhibited by the fury of fanatic +mobs, employed in what they called reforming the churches and cleansing +them from idolatry. The exquisite remains of antient art, the paintings, +carvings, and other splendid decorations with which our ancestors +adorned the structures consecrated to the worship of God, were broken +and torn away with such unrelenting fury and blind rage of destruction, +as in many instances to threaten the safety of the edifice they +beautified. The Satanical spirit of fanaticism rioted uncontrolled; and +to use the words of a venerable Bishop[1], who saw his own cathedral +defaced, "it is no other than tragical to relate the carriage of that +furious sacrilege, whereof our eyes and ears were the sad witnesses, +under the authority and presence of the sheriff. Lord! what work was +here--what clattering of glasses--what beating down of walls--what +tearing up of monuments--what pulling up of seats--what wresting out of +iron and brass from the windows and graves--what defacing of arms--what +demolishing of curious stone-work, that had not any representation in +the world but only of the cast of the founder, and the skill of the +mason--what tooting and piping upon the destroyed organ-pipes, and what +a hideous triumph on the market-day before all the country, when, in a +kind of sacrilegious and profane procession, all the organ-pipes, +vestments, copes and surplices, together with the leaden cross which had +been newly sawn down from over the green-yard pulpit, and the +service-books and singing-books that could be had, were carried to the +fire in the public marketplace; a lewd wretch walking along in the train +in his cope, trailing in the dirt, with his service-book in his hand, +imitating in impious scorn the time, and usurping the words of the +Litany used formerly in the church. Near the public cross all these +monuments of idolatry must be sacrificed to the fire, not without much +ostentation of a zealous joy in discharging ordnance, to the cost of +some who professed how much they longed to see that day. Neither was it +any news upon this guild-day to have the cathedral, now open on all +sides, to be filled with musketeers, waiting for the mayor's return, +drinking and tobaccoing as freely as if it had turned ale-house." + +At these sad spectacles (of which almost every ornamented church they +passed supplied an instance), Isabel contemplated with pleasure the +character of Barton[2], who displayed that moderation and liberality +which justified her predilection for him, and her hopes for themselves. +He reproved the conduct of the mob with severity, and even hazarded his +own safety by opposing their outrages. He exhorted the police to prevent +what he termed an Anti-christian triumph over good taste, good manners, +and good sense. He represented how grossly indecent it was that +magistrates should seem, by their presence, to sanction the violation of +authority, and the reverence due to antiquity, and he sometimes +prevailed upon them to order the rabble to disperse, whom they had +previously invited to the task of spoliation. He spoke to the +better-informed, of the degradation which England would suffer in the +eyes of surrounding nations, by thus wantonly "sweeping the land with +the besom of destruction," and annihilating all those records of her own +pre-eminence, which other countries, had they possessed them, would have +been so solicitous to preserve. He distinguished between excitements to +devotion and objects of worship, and he read from his little +pocket-bible a description of the decorations bestowed on the first and +second temples, and remarked, that when the Saviour of the world +predicted the ruin of the latter, he threw no censure on the munificence +of those who had adorned it. He shewed, that the plainness and poverty +which of necessity attached to an afflicted church in its infancy, +destined to make its way, not by the usual assistances of worldly +wisdom, but in opposition to principalities and powers, were no rule for +her government in future ages, when she was to be brought to her +heavenly spouse "in glorious attire, with joy and gladness," and instead +of wandering among caves and deserts, was to "enter into Kings' +palaces." "If," said he, "you maintain that the overthrow of episcopacy +is to involve the ruin of every thing rich, venerable, and beautiful, +you furnish its defenders with the best of arguments. How are curious +craftsmen to flourish, if there are no purchasers of their handy-works; +and if we admit these into our houses, why not into the places where we +hold our religious assemblies? Are paintings and carvings less likely to +carnalize our hearts in our halls and banqueting-rooms than in our +chapels? Is a golden cup on the Lord's table the accursed spoil of +Achan; and doth it become purified by being removed to the buttery and +used in a private carousal?" + +On one occasion, by an ingenious device, Barton preserved a splendid +representation of the twelve apostles in a chancel window. He arrived +just at the moment that a drunken glazier had convinced the mob that +they were made saints by the Babylonish harlot, and that therefore their +similitudes, as popish rags, ought to be destroyed. After in vain +endeavouring to persuade the populace that the Pope had no hand in their +canonization, he at length prevailed upon them to have only the heads +taken off, remarking that since the decapitated bodies could not provoke +the gazer to commit the idolatry forbidden in the second commandment, +they might remain without wounding tender consciences. The proposal was +executed under his own superintendance; and at a period of less +irritation, Mr. Barton, having preserved the heads, had the pleasure of +restoring the mutilated figures to their original perfection. + +But Barton shewed his conciliatory character in many ways besides +protecting the inanimate appendages of the persecuted church. The +journey afforded him frequent opportunities of assisting its living +members, either by rescuing them from the requisitions of the troopers +who escorted the prisoners, or by shielding them from the virulence of +their infuriated neighbours. Often in the towns they passed through, was +a degraded pastor dragged from the lowly cottage in which he sought to +shelter his misfortunes, and compelled (with barbarous exaltation) to +behold the rebel colours flying over his captive friends. Wherever this +happened, Barton uniformly pressed forward, assured the dejected +confessor that every possible attention was paid to the comfort of the +prisoners; inquired into his own situation, not with impertinent +curiosity but with kindness, and promised his assistance to procure him +a regular payment of the pittance which Parliament allowed to ejected +incumbents out of their sequestered rents, if (as it too frequently +happened) he found it had been embezzled by the commissioners employed +in the work of re-modelling the ecclesiastical system. + +They had proceeded very far in their journey, when one evening Barton +rejoined his charge with much apparent agitation in his manner. "We are +forbidden," said he, "to let our left hand know the good deeds our right +doth, yet cannot I refrain from telling you, young maidens, that I am +this day satisfied with my labours. Among other providences, I have been +able to render brotherly kindness to an episcopal minister whom I found +in a lamentable state, for he had fallen among thieves, who robbed him +of his property and tore his pass for safe conduct. Our van-guard found +him by the way-side, and judging by his venerable aspect, and some +superfluous decorations in his attire, that he was a deposed bishop +flying to the King, they seized him without paying attention to his +narrative. When I heard that a person in distress was taken prisoner, I +spurred on my horse to see if I could be of use. The placid benignity of +the sufferer's aspect moved my commiseration; he stood calm and +collected among the musketeers, supporting a woman about his own age, +who I trow was his wife. To do her justice she shewed no signs of +terror, though she rolled her eyes on those around her with a look of +disdain, less suited, methought, to her situation than the dignified +patience of her companion. I asked him if he had been a bishop, and he +answered, No; but was still a minister of the Christian church. 'Then,' +said I, 'perhaps in your affliction you will not refuse the service, or +reject the hand of one who calls himself by the same title.' 'Sir,' said +he, 'this is no time to dispute the validity of your ordination; let +your actions shew that it has had a due efficacy on your heart. As men, +if not as clergymen, we are brothers by our common faith and nature. I +beg you to listen to the statement of facts, which I have vainly +endeavoured to persuade your soldiers to attend to.' He then told me he +was travelling from a living in Lancashire, from whence he had been +expelled, to Oxford, where he possessed some collegiate endowments; that +he had been assaulted by a band of depredators, beat, bound, and +plundered." + +Constantia here eagerly interupted Barton; "His name!" exclaimed +she;--"O, for mercy tell me, could it be my father, Eusebius Beaumont?" + +"The same," returned Barton, melting with pity at her filial anguish. +"Set thy kind heart at rest; he was not materially hurt; his property +has been restored. He is now at liberty, pursuing his journey, and the +robbers are secured. But why, dear maid, didst thou conceal thy name? +Had I known thou wast his daughter, thou shouldst even now have been in +his arms." + +"O better, far not; for then he would have been a prisoner. But his +companion, my excellent aunt?" + +"At liberty too; I handed her into their own calash, and saw them drive +off with a pass of safe conduct. But, pretty trembler, if she is so +excellent, I will make you her proxy, to give me the reward she refused +to my services. I did but ask for the kiss of peace at our parting, when +she drew back her head as if she were an empress, and stiffly answered, +'Sir, I am a Loyalist.'" + +This faithful description of aunt Mellicent's unswerving decorum +diverted the young Evellins, and helped to dissipate Constantia's +terrors. Her rapturous acknowledgements of the humane Barton largely +repaid him for his services to her father. She listened to a +circumstantial detail of the difficulties with which he had contended +against the obstinacy and prejudices of the magistrates, to whom he had +applied for a fresh passport; of the fortunate combination of +circumstances which, had led to the pursuit and detection of the +thieves, with the original instrument in their possession, and of their +confession, commitment, and discovery of the place where they had +deposited their booty. "I parted from your father," continued he, "with +many affecting testimonies of mutual good-will, and I think aunt +Mellicent, as you call her, would almost have smiled upon me, had not my +vain heart indulged in too much joyous self-gratulation at the success +of my endeavours, and thus brought on that just rebuke of my +presumption. I did not ask your father to shew like mercy, whenever he +should find one of us in like affliction, for his eyes told me that his +conscience would be a better remembrancer than my tongue. I said, +however, that I trusted we should meet in a world, where slight +discrepancies of opinion would be no preventatives of friendship, though +in this life they kindled the animosities which it was our misfortune to +witness and deplore." "Sir," said he, pressing my hand, "let our contest +be, who shall most truly serve God and our fellow-creatures, and then we +may hope for that pardon, which ensures endless blessedness. On mercy +the best of us must depend, though we too often withhold it from our +fellow-sinners, by whose side we must one day kneel, and like them place +all our confidence in boundless compassion." + +"O!" said Constantia, "had not my fears anticipated the fact, those +sentiments would have convinced me you had met my father." + +"And when you next meet him," said Barton, "tell him that while there is +a Carolus in my purse, he never shall feel penury." + +"Say," returned she; "shall I ever see him again?"--Barton checked a +reply, which a momentary reflection whispered was too prompt, and +answered, "I am not a wizard, or diviner of things to come; wait, and +see what the morrow will bring forth." + +"'Tis impossible," replied Isabel, "to reach London to-morrow; but we +might get to Oxford." + +"True," said Barton, with a grave air, "but since we now draw near the +King's quarters, I must redouble my precautions, and I now recollect +'tis my duty to attend the council of officers." + +"At Banbury," continued she, attempting to detain him, "there is a royal +garrison." + +"To which you would escape," resumed Barton.--"Have I not told you I am +proof to temptation, and will faithfully discharge the trust reposed in +me by my employer." + +The next day seemed to give the death-blow to Isabel's hopes. They now +turned out of the direct road, in order that they might avoid the King's +quarters, and directed their course, so that they might proceed through +the associated counties to London.--With her usual alacrity of +accommodation, Isabel endeavoured to reconcile her mind to the +privations of captivity. "I know," said she, "I can not only earn my own +living, but work also for Constantia. They will soon relax in the care +of us girls, and it will be very easy for us to walk from London to +Oxford. But, dear Eustace, I do indeed regret that I hindered you from +attempting to escape. It was so selfish in me to keep you with us, as I +fear they will require you to enlist in their army." + +"I will be hewn into a thousand pieces first," returned he. "Have we not +seen enough of those vile republicans, to determine an honest man never +to purchase his life, by wearing the colours of traitors?" + +"Yet, remember Barton's goodness to my father," said Constantia; "and +forgive his severity to us." + +"I honour Barton," replied Eustace; "I honour him even for that +severity. His word has been plighted to his employers, and he must +deliver us up prisoners. But what think you of Isabel's gallant officer, +that resemblance of the noble, ingenuous Evellin. I will never study +physiognomy under you, sister." + +Isabel was more pained at this reproach than usual. Eustace perceived +her droop. "Come, dear girl," said he, "we will talk of him no more. You +shall never want a faithful protector while I live, and ardently as I +pant to break these bonds and to be in action, I will make no attempt at +freedom, unless I can also liberate you." + +They stopped that night at Northampton. Barton was reserved and silent, +and at length remarked, that in two days their party would reach +London.--"I have never seen London," said Isabel. "Come, describe it to +us, and say where shall we be confined. I suppose we shall meet with +only warm, steady, common-wealth's men." + +"It is the seat of discord," answered Barton; "there are as many +factions as there are orators, all striving for mastery; yet all united +against the King, by a persuasion of his insincerity, and by +apprehensions that he would sacrifice them to his vengeance, in case he +were reconciled to the Parliament." + +"Can it be supposed," said Eustace, "that after the wrongs and +iniquities he has endured, he ever can forgive! Where is the oblivious +draught that can drown the recollection of a nation rising in arms +against its Sovereign?" + +Baron answered--"The nation and the King must both forgive, or war must +be eternal. You have seen its aspect; what think you? Is this great +quarrel like the mere abstract question which is cooly discussed in the +cabinet of Princes, when they talk of risking ten thousand lives for a +victory, and laying waste a province to cut off the resources of the +enemy? Let us not balance misery against forgiveness. It is childish +reasoning to keep ourselves in torment, because we will not forget the +injuries we have suffered. Peace only can heal our putrifying wounds, +and peace can never be bought too dear, unless the price is conscience +or safety." + +They now separated for the evening; anxious thoughts kept the captives +awake. But after all was silent in the inn, Isabel heard a gentle tap at +the chamber-door. In a state of agitation, every sound is alarming. She +listened, and heard Barton whisper, "Arise." Before she could open the +door, the watchful Eustace had flown to their protection. Barton was +closely muffled in his cloak, and inquired if they dared to trust +themselves with him. Constantia drew back, and looked alarmed, while +Isabel accepted his offered arm. "The night is dark," said Eustace, "and +would conceal evil designs."--"Peradventure," replied Barton, "it will +also prosper good ones; I speak but three words--speed, silence, +liberty." + +Encouraged by these animating sounds, Eustace cheered the trembling +Constance, and following their guide, they hurried along by the street +which led to the castle. As the avenues to the King's quarters were more +vigilantly watched, their danger was here most imminent; but Barton had +secured a friend, who suffered them to pass through his garden, and by +close unfrequented passages they gained the fields. The rising moon now +discovered some indefinite objects, concealed among brush-wood. Barton +whistled, and the countersign, "Banbury," was returned in a voice which +they knew to be that of Williams. He ran for their horses, which were +fastened at a little distance, while Barton alternately embraced his +young friends, and affectionately bade them God-speed.--"Excellent man," +said the ardent Eustace, whose over-flowing gratitude now seemed to +exceed his former suspicions, "why did you not tell us your design?" + +"Because," replied he, "I saw not in you that property of discretion, +which would allow me to trust you with your own safety." + +"Yet," resumed Eustace, "if I am rash, I am not base, nor will I accept +freedom if it endangers your safety or wounds your conscience." + +"I trust," replied Barton, "I shall be back to my quarters before I am +missed, and as to my conscience, that sleeps on a soft pillow. I have +discharged the trust reposed in me." + +"The Cornet then," said Isabel, "is not a villain." + +Barton smiled, and replied, "Artless maiden, think not too much of the +agent whom Providence employed to send you safely through a tract of +country you could not otherwise have passed." + +"O, tell me his name," said Eustace, "that I may join it to yours, when +I pray for my benefactors." + +"I must not compromise his safety," answered Barton; "his generosity, if +known, would endanger his life." + +"But how shall I know him, as to repay his kindness." + +"Think you see him in every unarmed enemy you meet, and deal by them as +he has dealt by you." + +"But if we should meet him in battle?" + +"Even in battle," answered Barton, "if there is time for reflection, +remember thy enemy is a man, and thy brother." With these words they +parted. Barton regained his quarters undiscovered, and the young people, +blessing his goodness, performed the rest of their journey in safety. + + + [1] Bishop Hall, who cannot be objected to as a favourer of Popery + or Arminianism. The inconsistency of the Fanatics was exemplified + by their destroying, as a popish relic, Paul's Cross, so celebrated + for sounding forth the doctrines of the Reformation. + + [2] This portrait of Barton is justified by the conduct of many + truly respectable men, whose principles led them, for a time, to + countenance the impracticable theories of republicanism. I could + name Dr. Owen, General Fairfax, Lord Manchester and others. + + +END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + + + + +VOLUME II + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +CHAP. XII. +CHAP. XIII. +CHAP. XIV. +CHAP. XV. +CHAP. XVI. +CHAP. XVII. +CHAP. XVIII. + + + + +CHAP. XII. + + The idea of one day withdrawing from the world to prepare for + immortality is a very pernicious one; and, like all other + worldly hopes and plans, may never he realized. Use the present + hour if you would make your calling and election sure. If God + has placed you among the pomps and vanities of the world, fear + not; do your duty amongst them, nor suppose that you may defer + seeking your Creator until you obtain a retired situation. + + Fenelon. + + +The re-union of the family at Oxford furnished ample topics for pious +and affectionate gratitude. Barton's praise was re-echoed by every +individual except Mrs. Mellicent, who yet went so far as to say, it was +a pity he was a roundhead. A friend of Dr. Beaumont's accommodated his +family with apartments in one of the colleges; his academical sinecures, +and the relics of his private fortune, afforded him a decent support; he +was surrounded by people of his own principles; and as all the strength +of the King's cause was concentrated about the seat of the court, every +apprehension of personal insecurity was at an end. He was now, +therefore, in a state of comparative comfort; man is seldom placed in a +better; and in times like those I describe, a good subject could not be +happy. + +Eustace felt much chagrin that all his expectations were not realized. +He was indeed at liberty, and with his uncle, but still forbidden "to +flesh his maiden sword." His father had again eluded his search, and was +still withheld from procuring an explanatory interview with the +sovereign whom he faithfully served, which, he determined, should +precede his son's taking the field. His troop had been recalled from the +royal escort, and ordered to rejoin the Marquis of Newcastle, who, after +having long successfully opposed Sir Thomas Fairfax, was in imminent +danger of having his laurels blasted by the threatened invasion of the +Scots Covenanters, now gathering to assist their English friends, and +compel an universal adoption of Presbyterian government, and abjuration +of constitutional monarchy. It was impossible, therefore, for Eustace to +obtain the permission for which his soul panted; and academic repose ill +suited the self-devoted soldier. His retirement was spent in a somewhat +similar way to that of Toby Shandy. He read descriptions of battles and +sieges; he planned ravelins and counterscarps; and he braced his frame, +and exercised his muscles, by every athletic exertion which could inure +him to toil, or facilitate his success in arms. + +Constantia felt quite happy. She was surrounded by all whom her heart +best loved; she had leisure and opportunity to improve her taste in the +fine arts; and she was allowed that limited and distant view of the +world which informs the mind and polishes the manners without +endangering principle. Her exquisite beauty could not fail to attract +attention; but the scanty income of her father, and the prudence of Mrs. +Mellicent, alike forbade that it should be ostentatiously exposed to the +public eye. A few select friends were admitted as intimates, and only +these knew that Dr. Beaumont had a superlatively lovely and enchanting +daughter. She seldom appeared in public except at church, where her face +was so shaded by her hood, that its attractions were rather guessed at +than discovered. Thus this fair rose-bud expanded in the soil best +suited to perfect its attractions, the sheltered vale of domestic +privacy, where, unconscious of its super-eminence, and screened from +every blast, it preserved the undying fragrance of modest worth, and the +soft elegance of unassuming beauty. + +Isabel was almost as happy as usual; her adoration of her father would +not permit her to be quite so while he was in danger. Beside, she could +not help thinking how shocking it would be, were the chance of war to +oppose him to the noble young officer who had so admirably planned and +faithfully executed their deliverance. If he should fall by the hand of +her father!--the bare possibility of such a cruel return for his +goodness often brought tears into her eyes; and she lamented that the +incautious impetuosity of Eustace prevented Barton from entrusting them +with his name. She fancied the preservation of their deliverer was her +only motive for wishing to trace his identity, till she recollected how +little could be gained towards that end by knowing who he was. In these +perilous times messengers oftener miscarried than arrived in safety; and +the sanctity of private correspondence was violated by either party as +often as opportunity served. All, but the exemplary Lord Falkland, +thought the least doubt of the fidelity of an adherent a sufficient +vindication of breaking open his letters; and therefore, since, if she +knew the stranger's name, she could not repeat it without endangering +his safety, it was better she should remain in ignorance, and trust the +event to Providence. She sometimes thought Williams knew him, because he +once accounted for Barton's secrecy by observing that his pupil might be +sprung from parents whom he was ashamed to own. Isabel answered that the +faults of the basest could not contaminate so perfect a character. +"Would you say so," returned Williams, "if he were the son of Lord +Bellingham?" "I know nothing of Lord Bellingham," said she, "except that +when my dear father was discomposed, he often called him by very harsh +epithets; but as at these moments he knew neither me nor Eustace, nor +even my mother, till her sobbings attracted his notice, and told him she +was his faithful wife, I think I should not conclude Lord Bellingham to +be a very wicked man on such testimony." + +Williams asked her if she ever heard him mentioned while she was with +the rebel detachment. + +"Our good Barton," returned she, "sometimes spoke of him as one who was +reputed too be a godly man, and who filled his house with devout +ministers, yet was of a very pleasant companionable humour, steady in +the good cause, but willing to come to terms with the King, whom he +wished not to be pushed to extremities. Barton seemed to think Lady +Bellingham was too much wedded to a vain world." + +"And their son----" + +"He never mentioned that they had a son." "Nor do I say they have," said +Williams; "but I know enough of Lord Bellingham to say, that if he has +one, he never ought to own his father without a blush." Isabel could +draw no more from Williams; and, on recollecting the conversation, she +saw that only a creative imagination could connect it with her +deliverer. + +Winter now interrupted the operations of the King's armies in most +quarters. But the brave Lord Newcastle had to contend at once with +English and Scotch rebels. The hardy frames of the latter enabling them +to defy the severest season, they passed the boundaries of their own +country, and, fixing a label, importing their attachment to the "bloody +covenant," in their hats, began the work of desolation in the northern +counties, while the mountainous barrier which divides them from the +plains of Yorkshire, then covered with snow, reflected the horrible +beams of hostile fires. And in Wales, a body of forces, sent to the +relief of Ireland, had been recalled by the King, whose urgent +necessities compelled him to employ them to support the loyal Welsh, +who, with this aid, surprised several Parliamentary holds, and for some +time operated as a diversion to the army of Fairfax, preventing him from +joining the Scotch to crush the noble Newcastle. The King's cause at +this time wore a fair aspect; and no better proof could be given of his +having a chance of ultimate success, and of the divisions among his +opponents, than that the Lords Bedford and Holland, and other noblemen, +who had distinguished themselves as partizans of the Parliament, sought +shelter within the royal lines, and even presumed to attempt regaining +the confidence of their injured Sovereign. + +Lord Holland, who had stood high in the Queen's favour, building upon +the prejudices she was known to entertain against many of the King's +most faithful adherents, imagined himself secure of regaining the office +he had once held through her influence, notwithstanding the unbleached +stains of his former treasons. Beauty is too apt to exert a peremptory +claim to absolute dominion; and, not content with conjugal affection, +requires obsequious dotage. The Queen's views being all limited to the +routine of a court, unhappily indisposed her from acting the part of a +faithful wife in this critical emergency, and induced her to use all her +power to make the King depend more for advice upon herself and her +favourites, than on those sages who presided at the council board, or +those warriors who contended in the field; in other words, to prefer +shallow courtiers, known only for polished manners, habits of +dissipation, and an excessive regard to their own interest, to men who +knew the strength and disposition of the enemy, who, by deep researches +into past times, could judge of the present, and were too noble-minded +to build plans of self-aggrandizement on the future. Misled by smooth +flatterers, the Queen manifested a fatal dislike to all those whose +minds were too much occupied to pay her particular court. Opposition to +her opinion, was, in her estimation, high treason. The uxuriousness of +the amiable King towards his fascinating Princess (who to all her sex's +charms united all their foibles), exceeded justifiable attachment to an +engaging and faithful partner. He gave her credit for qualities she did +not possess; and the malice of the Parliamentary leaders against her, on +account of her religion, increased his eagerness to support and defend +her; nor could his most attached friends counteract her fatal influence. +Her fidelity and wishes to serve him were indeed unquestioned; but in +some characters, a forbearance from interfering in our affairs is the +truest test of friendship. + +The strange circumstance of noblemen, who had even borne arms against +the King, boasting that they possessed the Queen's confidence, suggested +a fear that further accommodations with individual traitors were on the +tapis, and that Oxford would no longer remain a sacred asylum to a +persecuted court, where unblemished loyalty was sure of safety and +esteem; but a sanctuary to which terrified iniquity might retreat, and, +grasping the horns of the altar, defy justice. The influence that Lady +Bellingham once possessed over the Queen's mind was recollected by Dr. +Beaumont; and, as Her Majesty had given proof that her friendships were +indelible, he could not but apprehend that some project might be formed +by that artful woman to secure her husband a retreat, in case his +reported moderation should really proceed from his secret alienation +from the rebel cause, and from a wish of reconciliation with the King. +The conviction that such an adept in treachery could never really serve +his Prince, determined Dr. Beaumont to act as the representative of the +absent Evellin, request a private audience with his Sovereign, and +reveal the secret history of the house of Neville, at the same time +presenting young Eustace as its true and lineal heir. The affability and +justice of the King prompted him to listen to all his subjects. He +heard, with horror, a narration of the arts by which he had been imposed +on when he was unversed in the intricacies of government, and too +sincere and noble to suspect deceit in others. That Allan Neville, whose +person and merit he well remembered, whose rashness and reported +criminality he had lamented, and whose supposed death he had deplored, +was still alive, and no other than the renowned Colonel Evellin, whose +address in forwarding to him the supplies procured from Holland, and +whose brave exploits with the Northern army, had endeared his name to +him, even while he deemed him a stranger, excited wonder, grief, +self-reproach, and admiration. He readily promised Dr. Beaumont that no +solicitations should ever induce him to bestow confidence on a man whose +crimes marked him out as an outcast from society; and, with the most +gracious expressions of sorrow for the past, he as firmly assured him +that, in the event of his being again able to exercise his royal +authority, one of his first acts should be to re-instate Neville in all +his hereditary rights. He offered to put into the Doctor's hands a +patent for that purpose; but as that would only bestow title without +restoring the estates which De Vallance enjoyed under the protection of +the Parliament, Dr. Beaumont declined a mark of favour which would not +essentially benefit his friend, but rather point him out to the +inveterate malice of his enemies if he should happen to fall into their +hands. He only requested a private recognition of Evellin's right; this +the King gave in a letter, written by himself, addressing him by the +name of Bellingham, expressing his satisfaction at hearing he was alive, +and innocent of the crimes laid to his charge, acknowledging the deceits +that had been practised upon himself, and avowing his great anxiety to +possess the power of redressing his wrongs; then, warmly thanking him +for his services, the King concluded in these words, "Your assured +friend, Charles R." + +Dr. Beaumont now introduced his nephew, after previously stipulating +that no hint should transpire of his being the rightful heir of an +earldom; but that he should be welcomed only as the son of a gallant +officer now fighting in the Royal army. The fine figure and ingenuous +manners of Eustace so pleased the King, that he wished him to pay his +duty to the Queen also, an honour Dr. Beaumont could not decline. No +Princess was a more consummate judge of beauty, grace, and native +politeness than Henrietta Maria; they were qualities which ever gained +her favour; and she piqued herself on having introduced into the English +court the polished manners which had long distinguished that of France. +Conversing with Eustace, she found nature had been as liberal to his +mind as to his person. Pleased with his wit and gallantry, she asked +him, with that air of condescending dignity which seems to confer a +favour while it requires a service, to become one of her pages of +honour, and a volunteer in her troop of guards. Dazzled with the +attention of his Royal mistress, still beautiful, and most fascinating +in her affability, Eustace never considered that the request wedded him +to her fortunes. He saw in her who made it his sovereign Lady, the +consort of that excellent Prince whom he had been taught to reverence in +prosperity, and adore in misfortune. Inflamed with the ardent spirit of +chivalry, he panted to defend the title of his King, and the beauty and +virtue of his Queen, against all impugners. To suffer for her was +glorious. Perish the base worldling who thought either of danger or +remuneration! He immediately declared his rapturous acceptance of her +invitation; and, kneeling, sealed his vows on the fair hand of his +illustrious mistress. + +Nothing could be more contrary to the wishes and principles of Dr. +Beaumont, than this connexion. The Queen's retinue was composed of that +refuse of the old court, who not having talents for an active situation, +nor virtue enough to make them sensible of the baseness of impoverishing +dependence, continued to hang like leeches on the exhausted frame of +Royalty, and to drain its decayed resources for their own support. While +the King and his counsel were debating how to equip an army without +money or credit; while the great and the good were disarraying their +noble mansions, parting with every moveable, mortgaging their lands, and +alienating even the treasured heir-looms which had for centuries +attested their high descent, to support their falling Sovereign; the +courtiers, who surrounded the Queen, were engaging their mistress to +forward their intrigues for places and titles, and inticing her to +pervert the scanty resources of the public treasury to feed their +rapacity. Thus, when, after a painful summer spent in martial toils and +dangerous conflicts, the King came to his winter-quarters, he found the +fatigues of his public duties aggravated by those private cabals which +were ever at work to counteract the decisions of his council, and to +balance the advantage of a few sycophants against a nation's weal. The +faction of whom I speak were incapable of judicious conduct either in +prosperity or in adversity, mistaking a few successful enterprises for +the former, and thereupon becoming insolent and sanguine, talking of +unconditional submission from the rebels, and an intire reinstatement of +themselves in the luxurious ease of their former sinecures; yet as +easily discouraged by a few adverse events; without resources, without +firmness; actuated by the evil spirit of selfishness which forbids any +good or noble determination to enter the impure heart, that submits to +its influence. + +To these summer-flies which infest royalty, and often turn greatness to +corruption, were added the gay, volatile, voluptuous part of the +officers, who had obtained leave of absence from their respective +cantonments, and who thought the hardships of a soldier excused the +excesses of a libertine. These were chiefly young men of high birth, +neglected education, and unsound principles; unacquainted with the +nature of the church and government for which they professed to fight, +and so ignorant of religion and morality, as to be perpetually +confounding them with fanaticism and hypocrisy, those constant topics of +their abuse and ridicule. With them to be a republican or a sectary, was +to be a knave, a cut-throat, nay, a devil; and to fight for the King +conferred the privilege of violating those laws, which his supremacy was +designed to guarantee. How dangerous was such society to the impetuous +Eustace Evellin, whose passions unfolded with an ardour, proportioned to +his quick vivacious temper. Dr. Beaumont would have preferred seeing his +charge in the field of battle, to beholding him in this scene of moral +peril, particularly if he could have placed him under the command of the +noble Lord Hopton, who was alike skilled to subdue the enemies of his +King, and to suppress his own resentment at the injuries which he +suffered from those who should have been his coadjutors. + +But the die was cast, and there was no retreating; Eustace had accepted +the Queen's invitation, and now complained, with less deference than he +usually shewed for his uncle's judgment, of the superfluous caution +which kept him wrapped up like a shivering marmoset, and even refused to +expose him to the slight hazard of an holiday soldier. Could he not +mount guard, go through the manual exercise, or gallop at a review +without endangering his precious life? Isabel, who had parted with some +valuable trinkets, to purchase materials for his regimentals, and was +now busy in working his ruff, declared it would be hard to restrain him. +Constance had embroidered a scarf, which she tied around him; and after +seeing him in his hat and plume, thought he looked so like a hero, that +he might be indulged in just such a circumscribed sphere of glory as +Andromache would have allowed to Hector, namely, to brace on his arms, +and defend the walls of the city. Even Mrs. Mellicent observed, that her +nephew made a very comely soldier. Dr. Beaumont, therefore, finding that +he could not withhold Eustace from the temptations which surrounded him, +had only to counsel him to resist them. + +He did not commence his instructions with general invectives against a +court-life; but admitted that good and wise men were often called to it +by duty. He observed, that injunctions against entering into that or any +other public station, savoured more of monastic or puritanic austerity +than true piety. The concerns of government must be performed by human +agents, and in representing eminent stations as incompatible with +honesty, what do we but leave public business in the hands of +unprincipled persons, and thus really encourage the depravity and +knavery we affect to deplore. A nation must suffer, as well in a +political as in a moral sense, when its rulers are weak or wicked; and +how dare we pray that the will of God may be done upon earth, when we +discourage those from directing worldly affairs, who feel a true zeal +for his glory? This is, indeed, to accomplish the lying boast of Satan, +who said that the kingdoms of the world were his, and he gave them to +whom he chose. + +The Doctor further observed, that every situation had its temptations. +The Hermit in his cell is haunted by spiritual pride, and even when we +perform those active duties of benevolence which our religion requires, +we must beware lest we are guilty of ostentation. If, when we rise from +our knees, we have judged harshly of our brother, the volume of +inspiration assures us, that we have sinned in our prayers. The same +vigilant examination and lowliness of heart which Christians in private +life require, will prevent those who inhabit courts and camps from +displeasing their Creator. Or admit that the latter have greater +temptations to offend, are they not amenable to a judge, who determines +actions by relative circumstances, who awards brighter crowns to those +who have endured sharper conflicts, and pardons the offences of +over-tried frailty. From the private citizen, who is blessed with +leisure and security to consider his ways, he requires those passive +virtues, that humble and grateful spirit, which in evil times are yet +more rarely seen, than integrity and ability in rulers, who, walking +among briars and thorns, harassed by public and private enemies, +calumniated and misrepresented, exposed to numerous temptations, +dangers, and snares, will, doubtless, if guided by singleness of heart, +receive from God that pardon for their errors, which is denied them by +those who reap the fruits of their labours. + +"We may," continued he, "live in the world[1], without either shewing a +haughty contempt for its enjoyments, or being devoted to its delights; +without being intoxicated with its flattery, or depressed by its +misfortunes. A court-life must, at your age, seem pleasant, but should +you in future become weary of it, and regret that you have not +sufficient time to devote to God, and to cherish the thought of him in +your heart, recollect that wherever he places you, you are as sure of +his favour and acceptance, as if you passed every hour of your life in +meditation and prayer. God is served, not merely with the words of the +mouth or the bending of the knee; it is the pure and upright heart which +he requires, and with which alone he will be satisfied; with this +upright frame of mind we may live in the world, without either +singularity or affectation, and cheerfully conform to its customs and +amusements, yet preserve the most strict subjection and duty to the +Almighty." + +"Suffer not, dearest Eustace, pleasure or business to prevent the solemn +duties of self-examination and prayer. These are spiritual antidotes, +which preserve an endangered soul from the contamination of evil customs +and loose society. When leisure permits, add religious reading, and +above all the study of the Holy Scriptures. Never allow this world to be +balanced against the next: eternity outweighs all that time can offer; +be it pleasure, wealth, advancement, or glory. Keep these things in +mind; serve thy Creator in thy youth; remember innocence is preferable +to repentance, and I shall then see thee like assayed gold purified by +trial." + +Eustace promised a strict observance, and Dr. Beaumont now esteemed it +his duty to send the faithful Williams to Colonel Evellin to acquaint +him with what had passed, and to receive further directions for the +disposal of his son. He also privately informed the King of the solemn +promise he had made to Evellin, and obtained an assurance that the +service of Eustace should never be required so as to incur a breach of +that obligation; and further, that if no other restrictions could +prevail, his own commands should confine the volunteer to the defence of +Oxford, which was now threatened with a siege by the advancing armies of +the Earl of Essex and Sir William Waller. + +When we contemplate the miseries incident to civil war in a remote age, +our views are fixed on the effects of discord, as visible in the +contentions of two great opposing parties; we do not consider either the +minor factions into which each body is split, or the distracted counsels +and inefficient measures which constantly occur, when it is known that +the restraint of prescriptive authority is necessarily relaxed, and that +he who ought to govern and reward, is compelled to submit to controul +and to sue for favour. When the head of a community is humbled, every +member thinks he has a right to pre-eminence; and thus a war, begun +under the pretence of subduing a tyrant, eventually creates multitudes +of petty despots, only contemptible, because their sphere of oppression +is small. In the King's council, the wisdom of Southampton, the +moderation of Falkland, and the integrity of Hyde, had to contend with +the pride and petulance of those who would not lower their own +pretensions in deference to the public good, or forgive a private wrong +for the sake of that unity which alone could secure the whole. In the +army discord was equally prevalent; the generals accusing each other on +every mischance, panting for superiority, and all offended at the +hauteur of Prince Rupert, and jealous of the influence of Lord Digby. +The Parliament was still more divided; in it that party was now +ripening, which finally overturned every branch of the constitution, and +founded a most oppressive but vigorous tyranny on its ruins. + +The old republican leaders, or commonwealth's men, as they were called, +began to see that self-preservation required their re-union with the +King; but the aspiring Cromwell and his crafty adherents, relying on +their numbers and influence in the army, resolved to clog every proposal +of peace with terms which they knew the Sovereign must from conscience +refuse. Of the generals who commanded their armies, the Earl of Essex +was already known to have seen his error, in suffering pique at supposed +slights and unintentional negligence to stimulate his pride into that +rebellion which his principles condemned; and it was believed, even by +his own party, that nothing but a dread of having sinned beyond sincere +forgiveness, induced him to reject all overtures from the King. The +disorderly bands commanded by Sir William Waller were like their +general, distinguished only by greater insolence to their Prince, and +even by personal attempts on his life; but this army had been dispersed +early in the summer, and the leader had fallen into contempt. "The Earl +of Manchester was of their whole cabal the most unfit for the company he +kept, at first induced to join, what was then called, the patriotic +party by filial piety, and led step by step to countenance those +disorganizing counsels, which ravaged the country he loved with too +unskilful a tenderness:" yet, unwilling to oppress any, he used the +power his ill-acquired authority gave him, to preserve individuals from +the distress which his fatal victories occasioned. This moderation +ruined him in the eyes of his employers; and about this time there +appeared in his army that dark malignant spirit, whose subtile +machinations soon deprived him of all power of restraining the torrent, +which, when he helped to raise the flood-gates of contention, he hoped +he should always be able to direct and control. Sir Thomas Fairfax, the +Parliamentary general in the north, was, by nature, a lover of +moderation, and by education enlightened and liberal. He also strove, as +far as his influence extended, to lessen the miseries of civil war; but +that influence soon sunk under the daring preponderance of Cromwell, +whose ultimate designs he wanted penetration to discover, and whose dark +machinations he was always too late in his efforts to counteract. + +Such was the state of the kingdom, when the Queen, terrified at the +apprehension of being besieged in Oxford, fled to the west of England, +and soon after to France, her native country, leaving an infant daughter +to increase the anxieties of her Royal husband, but relieving him from +the perplexities originating in the contentious faction, by whom she was +surrounded. Through the injunctions of the King, Eustace had been +prevented from accompanying his Royal mistress, and by enrolling his +name among the bands who garrisoned Oxford, he in some degree discharged +his sense of duty. Dr. Beaumont, besides, allowed him to take part in +the enterprizes by which those vigilant warriors shewed their zeal and +fidelity, as soon as they were relieved from their apprehensions for the +safety of that important post, by the retreat of the rebel army. + +As Williams did not return with an answer from Colonel Evellin, it was +concluded that he had fallen into the hands of the enemy, a misfortune +too common to the Royal expresses. One however arrived from the north, +charged with most dolorous tidings of the fatal overthrow at +Marston-Moor, the loss of York, and of its whole province, which had for +so long a space resisted the incursions of the republican party, under +the auspices of the Marquis of Newcastle. These direful events, which +resulted from want of concord between the King's generals, were followed +by Lord Newcastle's quitting the kingdom in a hasty sally of passionate +despair, and by the dispersion of the army which his influence had +raised, and his munificent loyalty had maintained. Only one small band +of Loyalists under the command of Sir Thomas Glenham remained, who, +after the reduction of York, threw themselves into Carlisle, and bravely +defended it eleven months against a victorious enemy, without prospect +of assistance. To this fragment of a powerful army Colonel Evellin +attached himself. He sent a letter by the same person who brought the +dispatch to the King, informing his friends that he was unwounded either +in his person or his reputation, and ready to suffer every thing but +dishonour for his injured Monarch. He gave a lively description of the +respective armies, and of the misfortunes of the Royal cause, in being +intrusted to men who suffered passion to prevail over judgment, and +chose to sacrifice their King sooner than quell their private +resentments. But he complained in the tone of a man who had made his +choice, and though hopeless of success resolved to persevere, and +welcomed self-denial and sorrow. He assured Dr. Beaumont that the rebels +had gained no victory over his principles; his enmity to their +undertakings remained the same; "and if," said he, "the little remnant +of my days is cut off in the next engagement, I shall live in my +children; and they will, I doubt not, see the destruction of these +'covenanters', who cause the ruin of families and the decay of common +honesty; changing the former piety and plain dealing of this nation into +cruelty and cunning. When I see all they have done, I thank God that he +prevented me from being one of the party which helped to bring in these +sad confusions[2], and I pray him to preserve my son to see their just +punishment." + +As this letter proved that the Colonel had not met with Williams, it +operated as a renewed inhibition on Dr. Beaumont to prevent Eustace from +rushing into the field, for which he had now a fresh incentive in the +friendship he had formed with Major Monthault, a young man of birth and +fortune, who had been attached, like himself, to the Queen's suite. This +youth had seen actual service, and spoke with enthusiasm of the +character of Lord Goring, then just appointed general of the horse in +the west. He described him as the soldier's darling; a Mars in the +field; an Apollo at mess; a Jove in council, and a Paris among the fair. +It was evident that Monthault piqued himself on being the counter-part +of the excellence he commended, especially in the last particular. His +intimacy with Eustace allowed him to visit Dr. Beaumont's family, and +his attentions to the fair Helen of the group were certainly more marked +than delicate, and would have excited the fears of Eustace, had he not +taken care to inform the Major that he was betrothed to his lovely +cousin with the entire approbation of herself and their mutual friends, +though their union was deferred until a riper age and happier period. To +admire and praise, or even to gaze passionately on the promised wife of +a friend, as Monthault did on Constantia, seemed to Eustace an implied +commendation similar to that bestowed on a house, gardens, or any other +beautiful and valuable possession, innocent in itself and flattering to +the taste of the owner. He knew not that there existed such a character +as a seducer, who could teach an unsuspecting mind to despise solemn +engagements; he felt no tendency to treachery in his own heart. No one +was more susceptible than he of the power of beauty, but he thought +honour was the only means by which its favour could be won, and even his +ardent passion for heroic fame derived an additional stimulus from his +love to the amiable and innocent Constantia. + +The circumstances of my narrative oblige me again to recur to the state +of public affairs. The treaty of Uxbridge was now pending; the +necessities of the King compelled him to enquire on what terms his +subjects would sheath the sword, and the rapid ascendancy of the fanatic +party in Parliament, added to the mutual accusations and recriminations +of their generals, induced the moderate Presbyterians to try if, by +reconciliation with their Sovereign, they could gain strength to oppose +the power which openly threatened their destruction and his. The +artifices of Cromwell and his adherents need not be minutely detailed in +a work intended only to give an admonitory picture of those times. In +one point those men differed from the majority of modern Reformers, or +rather the manners of that age were different from ours. Religion was +then the mode; men and women were in general expounders and preachers; +ordinary conversation was interlarded with Scripture phrases; common +events were providences; political misconstructions of the sacred story +were prophecies; and a fluency of cant was inspiration. No man (to +borrow one of their favourite terms) was more _gifted_ this way than +Cromwell; he had discerned the current of the public humour, and could +adopt the disguise which suited his ambition. Every step which led him +to the summit of power was prefaced by what he called seeking the Lord; +that is, attending sermons and prayers, by which the suborned performers +of those profane and solemn farces prepared their congregations to +desire what their employers had previously determined to do; thus giving +an air of divine inspiration to the projects of fraud, murder, and +ambition. By such a perversion of public worship, joined with an +affectation of disinterested purity, that celebrated preparative for +military despotism, the self-denying ordinance was introduced into the +Commons. After numerous prayers and sermons, intreating Providence to +strengthen the hands of the faithful, by choosing new instruments to +carry on the godly work, an agent of Cromwell's inferred, that the Lord +had indeed prompted their counsels, and proposed that henceforth no peer +or member of Parliament should hold any public office. By these means, +every man of rank and eminence who had been distinguished by a +constitutional struggle against arbitrary acts of power, and afterwards +reluctantly led into open rebellion, was cashiered and dismissed from +the army and from all official situations, which were thus left open to +the fanatical party. + +Alarmed at the high hand with which this ordinance was carried, the old +commonwealth's men strained every nerve to renew a pacificatory +intercourse with the King, which they effected; but their power extended +no further; the preliminaries were clogged with terms wholly destructive +of the church, and virtually tending to abolish regal power. The ruin or +death of all the King's adherents was resolved on; and in proof that the +fanatics could not only threaten but act, the venerable Archbishop Laud, +after suffering a long imprisonment, was dragged to the scaffold. Thus +the Parliamentary commissioners set out for Uxbridge with their banners +dipped in the blood of the highest subject in the realm, the head of the +Anglican church, and His Majesty's personal friend. + +No true Englishman could have expected, or indeed wished, that the King +should purchase permission to become a state-puppet, shackled in all his +movements, obliged to sanction the cruel and illegal acts of his enemies +by a breach of his coronation-oath, and compelled to abandon the +established church and the lives of his faithful friends to their +inveterate animosity. In vain was it privately suggested by the most +moderate of the Parliamentary commissioners, that it was expedient to +close on any terms, and unite with than to humble a party whose +desperate purposes, supported by the popularity of their pretensions, +threatened destruction to all their opponents. The King determined never +to seem to barter his conscience for personal safety. He at that time +foresaw what he afterwards so affectingly expressed in a letter to his +nephew Prince Rupert, "that he could not flatter himself with an +expectation of success more than to end his days with honour and a good +conscience, which obliged him to continue his endeavours, not despairing +that God would, in due time, avenge his own cause. Yet he owned, that +those who staid with him must expect and resolve either to die for a +good cause, or, which is worse, to live as miserable in the maintaining +it as the violence of insulting rebels could make them." The treaty +terminated without hope of being again renewed. Cromwell carried his +ordinance; the army and the state were governed by his own creatures; +while, by a master-piece of cunning, he contrived to be exempted from +the restrictions of his own decree, and continued to act as general and +legislator without a rival. Afterwards, when his packed representatives +had effected all the purposes for which he kept them together, he put +himself at the head of a file of soldiers, destroyed the engine by which +he had overthrown the constitution, and turned the pantomimic Parliament +out of doors, laden with the odium of his crimes as well as of their +own. + +The melancholy presentiments of the King, when he found all hopes of +honourable reconciliation futile, confirmed his determination to send +the Prince of Wales into the west of England, where his arms still +triumphed, that in case either of them fell into the hands of the +rebels, the freedom of the other might tend to secure their mutual +safety. To preserve the principles of the royal stripling, the King +parted with several of his most faithful advisers. He constituted Lord +Hopton commander in chief of the western district, but by fixing him +more peculiarly about the person of his son, he unhappily gave too much +power to the subaltern generals, among whom the apple of discord seemed +to have been thrown, for they agreed in nothing but hatred of each +other, and mismanagement of their trust. + +Major Monthault belonged to the western army, and was ordered to leave +Oxford in the Prince's suite. He had employed the leisure season of +winter in cultivating an intimacy with the Beaumonts, and not being one +of those who can look at beauty with disinterested admiration, he +employed every art to ensnare Constantia. Simple, innocent, and mildly +gay, she saw no danger in conversing with the friend of Eustace. He had +spent much time in foreign courts; she led him to talk of celebrated +beauties whom he had there seen; he found in all of them some glaring +defect which forfeited their claims to supremacy. She laughed at his +fastidiousness, and bade him describe what he would admit to be an +irresistible charmer; he drew her own portrait, but she so rarely +consulted her glass, that she knew not the likeness. He once advised her +to arrange her tresses in what he deemed a more becoming braid; she did +so, and then immediately asked Eustace if he approved the alteration; +when, finding he disliked it, she resumed her former costume, and +frankly avowed her reason for so doing. Monthault was piqued, and made +several sharp remarks on the versatility of women. + +"I fancy," said Constantia, "your's is a most invulnerable heart; we +poor women are in your eyes either destitute of attractions to gain, or +of merit to retain your affections. But don't be too sure of always +keeping your boasted liberty. Aunt Mellicent says, men begin to doat at +fifty, and then they do not love but idolize." + +"The age of dotage and adoration begins earlier," answered Monthault, +with a look which crimsoned the cheeks of Constantia; "but while you +falsely accuse me of being invulnerable, have I not cause to deplore +your impenetrability? I find it is impossible to agitate that tranquil +bosom with so impetuous a guest as love." + +Constantia was offended at the suggestion. "You know," replied she, "I +am engaged to Eustace; and do you think I would marry him if I viewed +him with indifference?" + +Monthault observed, that a contract made at a premature age must +originate in indifference, and never could be considered as +indissoluble. + +"I consider it so," answered Constantia; "nothing can dissolve it but +death, or some palpable proof of gross unworthiness." + +"Suppose," said Monthault, "a more enlarged view of mankind should +discover to you a worthier lover; one whose passion for you is founded +on discriminating preference, not the cold impulse of satiated habit; +one who could give distinction to beauty, and lead it from obscurity +into the splendour it deserves; should such a one sue for the favour of +the divine Constantia:"---- + +"I would answer, if I aim perfidious to Eustace, I cannot be divine." + +"But love is a potent and untameable passion, disdaining the narrow +limitations of preceptive constancy. The acknowledged privilege of +sovereign beauty is to inspire and encourage universal love." + +Constance looked offended, and expressed a hope that she might never +possess an empire which could only gratify vanity and pain sincerity. + +Monthault found he had gone too far, and tried by badinage to divert her +resentment. "If," said he, "praise is only timeable to your ear when +uttered by one voice, I must not tell you, even if I heard our young +Prince, who is an acknowledged worshipper of beauty, speak in raptures +of the unparalleled loveliness of Dr. Beaumont's daughter." + +"No," said she, sternly, "indeed you must not. My humble station +prevents him from saying any thing of my person but, what would be +offensive for me to hear; and I wish not to have the loyal attachment I +feel for my Sovereign's son diminished, by knowing that he indulges in +any improper licence of conversation." + +"Nay," replied Monthault, "what he observed was only in reply to one who +is your most devoted slave, predicting that the chains you formed never +could be broken." + +"I perceive," answered she, rising to leave the room, "that if I give +you more time for the fabrication you will contrive a very amusing +fiction. I must therefore silence you by saying, that, little as I know +of court-gallantry, he who talks to me in this style, cannot be the +friend of Eustace." + +Monthault flew into heroics, and struggled to detain her. "Cruel +Constantia," said he, "know you not that love is an involuntary passion +which reason vainly tries to subdue? Cannot you, who see the conflict in +my soul, pity me without doubting my friendship or my honour?" + +"I confess I do doubt both," was her reply; "but provided you no more +offend me with such language, I will not mention my suspicions to +Eustace. I am, 'tis true, a simple girl, yet not so weak as to value +myself on an extrinsic appendage which, if I possess, I share with the +butterfly. If beauty renders me more amiable in the eyes of those I +love, it is a welcome endowment; but I never will patiently hear it +commended at the expence of any better quality." + +It is probable that, after this repulse, Monthault would never more have +thought of Constance if some other pursuit had intervened. But, in the +leisure of suspended warfare, a vacant understanding and depraved +appetite sees no resource from _ennui_ but gallantry. He had tried +flattery; but it failed to excite vanity, or to lead his intended prey +into the toils of ambition. He resolved to pursue another scheme, by +which he hoped that beauty might be separated from its plighted love. + +While Oxford resounded with preparations for the removal of the Prince +and the commencement of the campaign, Monthault affected regret at +leaving Eustace. "I wish," said he, "you could accompany me to see +actual service; you would then feel a just contempt for military +martinets and parade exercise. Goring would, I know, delight in bringing +forward a spirit like yours. But it is impossible. The barriers which +detain you are insuperable. I myself know too well the power of beauty; +yet, if you knew all that was said, even for Constantia's sake you might +resolve, for a few months, to tear yourself from her arms." + +"I cannot understand you," answered Eustace. "True, I am contracted to +Constantia; but it is not she who detains me at Oxford. We are not to be +married till we are both at full age; nor even then unless the times +wear a happier aspect." + +"Her character!" retorted Eustace; "can that need any other vindicator +than my honour? or rather, does any man impugn it? We have loved from +our childhood; but it has been with that innocence which enables us to +look forward to years of happiness, unembittered by reproach." + +Monthault smiled, said he rejoiced at this expurgation, but added, "Can +you wonder Oxford is now the metropolis of slander, since it is full of +court-ladies who have now no revels or maskings to amuse them, and never +leave reputations in quiet when they are out of humour. But, to put a +stop to defamation, let me advise a military excursion." + +Eustace explained, that it was the will of an absent father, and not +amorous dalliance, which kept him from the field. It was doubtful +whether that father lived; for he was engaged in most severe service. +"Meantime," added he, "my uncle is bound by a promise to keep me from +dangerous enterprises; but as I now begin to think it is disloyal for +any one on the verge of manhood to refuse rallying round the King at his +greatest need, I trust the prohibition will soon be removed. The last +time that I urged Dr. Beaumont on the subject, he answered, that it was +not courage, but bravado, to buckle on the sword, while the discussion +of a pending treaty afforded a prospect of its being speedily ungirded. +But as the Parliamentary commissioners are returned to London, I am +determined again to ask leave to join the army." + +"And if refused," said Monthault, "would you stay at Oxford, like a tame +lion in a chain, caressed by old women, and wondered at by spectacled +fellows of colleges." Eustace paused. "I see, my brave fellow," resumed +the tempter, "you are determined to be one of us. I know your heart, and +can predict that the consciousness of positive disobedience will make +you miserable. Go, then, in the hope that your uncle would not have +restrained you. Are you not old enough to judge for yourself? They have +permitted you to chuse a wife; why not also choose your profession?" + +"You have determined me," said Eustace, "I will only bid adieu to +Constantia." + +"A most lover-like determination!" was Monthault's reply, "and made with +a right prudent command of the impulses of valour. I anticipate the +result. In another hour you will return; press me to your heart; look a +little ashamed; wish me good success; and then sigh out, 'I cannot bear +to leave her.'" + +"No," said Eustace; "to prove that I am not a woman's slave, I will only +look the adieu, which may be our last, without telling her my purpose. +Had you a treasure, Monthault, which you valued more than life, would +you not bathe it with a parting tear as you placed it in a casket, while +about to enter on a dangerous undertaking, where your first step may be +to meet death?" + +Monthault answered, that soldiers never thought of dying. They +separated; Eustace, to bid a mental farewel to his kindred, home, and +love; and Monthault, to prepare the Prince and Lord Goring to welcome a +pleasant addition to their party in a spirited youth, who had resolved +to escape from the restrictions of austere friends, and to try the +agreeable freedom of a military life. In this view these defenders of +the Crown and the Church of England looked on the last resources which a +falling King committed to their care. + + + [1] This paragraph is copied from Fenelon. + + [2] Walton's Lives. + + + + +CHAP. XIII. + + O! holy men! + Ye are the sons of piety and peace; + Ye never felt the sharp vindictive spur + That goads the injured warrior; the hot tide + That flushes crimson on the conscious cheek + Of him who burns for glory; else indeed + Ye much would pity me. + + Mason. + + +Eustace kept his promise, and rejoined Monthault, at the time and place +appointed, equipped for service. His friend commended his heroism. "And +did you," said he, "obtain Constantia's permission?" "No," answered +Eustace; "I felt unequal to such a trial. I only pressed her hand with +greater tenderness, and more earnestly implored Heaven to take her into +his especial care." + +"You will both thank me for projecting this separation," replied the +Major. "Seeing the world with your own eyes will improve you, brush off +that home-bred air which makes you bashful, and enlarge your ideas and +powers of conversation. I promise ourselves a spirited, agreeable +campaign. Hopton's office in the council will confine him about the +person of the Prince, who must be kept at some distance from the scene +of action; and Goring is no rigid disciplinarian. The enemy is not in +force in the west; Cromwell and Fairfax are both to play at +King-hunting; so we shall have time to divert ourselves and do our duty +too." + +From Bristol, Eustace wrote to his uncle and Constantia, excusing his +absence by the uncontrollable avidity he felt to engage in the cause of +his injured Prince, to whose commands he promised a strict obedience, +and vowed to be sedulously attentive to all his new duties. To +Constantia he added that he hoped to return worthier of her, and to feel +in future the glorious consciousness of having contributed to restore +his virtuous persecuted Sovereign, and give peace to his afflicted +country. There was so much loyalty, honour, love, and gratitude in these +letters, that they must have softened the Doctor's displeasure at his +elopement, had they come to hand; but they were confided to the care of +Monthault, and, either through forgetfulness or treachery, were never +forwarded. It was therefore only from the vague testimony of an +accidental passenger that the family knew Eustace had taken the road to +Bristol; and, from his being in company with Major Monthault, they +guessed his destination. + +Constantia had now the twofold anguish of fearing for the safety and +apologizing for the faults of her beloved. The latter task was by far +the most painful. She could only urge that he had a bad adviser, and +that it was his first offence. Every day she flattered herself that she +should receive a letter, deprecating her father's anger, and assuaging +her own fears. The summer passed away, and they heard nothing from +Eustace. Had he forgot her, as well as the ties of duty and gratitude? +It was impossible! letters might be lost, but her plighted Eustace must +be good and faithful. + +I have before remarked that Lord Hopton was the officer under whom Dr. +Beaumont would have wished his nephew to learn "the noble game of war;" +but there were circumstances in his present appointment which made it +differ widely from that of the preceding year, when, with his +compatriot, Sir Bevil Greenvil, he drew a cordon across the western +peninsula, and preserved, in that happy spot, the laws, the virtues, and +the honour of England. He was now, indeed, to be the ruling head; but +his former associates in arms lay cold in earth, and the persons to whom +the execution of his plans was to be intrusted, were the avowed votaries +of Bacchus and Comus. It was with gay voluptuaries, freethinkers, and +revellers, that Eustace must converse; at a distance from those whose +wisdom might govern his impetuosity, and whose steady principles would +correct his backslidings. Contemplating the dangerous situation of a +generous, but indiscreet stripling, Dr. Beaumont now wished him in the +army which the King was leading northward, to collect the remains of +Lord Newcastle's forces, as that route might have afforded him a chance +of joining his father in Carlisle, which held out with unexampled +firmness, enduring the most incredible privations, and repelling the +most vigorous assaults. The event of the fatal battle of Naseby, which +palsied all the King's efforts to preserve the constitution, and ended +all the hopes of his friends, would have made Dr. Beaumont rejoice that +Eustace did not swell the list of noble and illustrious persons left on +that bloody field, had not his sorrow for a "King and kingdom lost" been +too acute and overwhelming to receive any diminution from private +considerations. The infantry, cannon, ammunition, baggage, and all the +resources of the King, were there wrested from his grasp by victorious +rebels; and England virtually exchanged the government of the religious, +conscientious descendant of her ancient Princes, for that of a low-born, +cruel hypocrite, who ruled her with a rod of iron. The King indeed +escaped from the battle with a small body of horse; but it was only to +fly from place to place before his unwearied enemies, pursued into every +corner of his kingdom, without knowing where to rest his head, allowed +no pause, even to ruminate on his misfortunes, till at last, trusting +that his own countrymen would not betray the Prince who flew, like a +bird hunted by the hawk, to their bosoms, he appealed to the pretended +loyalty of the Scotch Covenanters; and they sold him to those who +thirsted for his blood. + +Yet neither the desperate state of the kingdom, nor the ruin of their +own fortunes, long since embarked in the same vessel with his rights, +could compose the feuds of the western generals, or induce them to +attend to the directions of the Prince's council, or to the discipline +and behaviour of their troops. The latter, from their intolerable +insolence and rapine, became formidable only to their friends; and the +approach of Fairfax was hailed, even in the best-disposed districts, as +a signal of deliverance from the galling yoke of military extortion. +Goring, the soldier's darling, who combined all the alluring qualities +of a demi-god, was found to want the distinguishing marks of a Christian +hero. Possessed neither of self-command, obedience, nor fortitude, he +was ever ready to dash at splendid actions, but was without resources in +the day of peril. He was too vain of his wit and companionable talents +to submit to the command of others, and too supine, dissipated, and +rash, either to improve opportunities of action, or to defeat the views +of the enemy. Such was the leader under whom Eustace hoped to serve his +king, and learn the art of war. His friend, Monthault, was a transcript +of all Lord Goring's faults, to which he added the most cool and +determined treachery, under the garb of blunt simplicity and unguarded +frankness. + +It had been previously settled by the two friends, that their common +wants should be supplied from the purse of Major Monthault, in case the +Royal exchequer was inadequate to the supply of the army. That purse was +either soon exhausted, or closed by the sinister designs of the owner. +"It is his own fault if a soldier wants," was his answer to the urgent +requests of Eustace for a small supply. "We are now," returned the +other, "quartered among friends, to whom we ought to be not only +punctual but liberal, lest we indispose them to the service. You see the +Royal funds are scarcely adequate to the maintenance of the Prince. You +are aware that I must depend on you, as the circumstances under which I +left Oxford prevent my asking my uncle to assist me." "Certainly you +must not," answered Monthault; "and I say again, a word will always +carve a dinner. This, I own, is called a well-affected district; but +there are many corrupted parts in it. Your host, for instance--a vile +republican, a Presbyterian round-head--I saw him pelt the bishops when +they appeared at the bar of the Lords, and join in a clamorous petition +to behead Lord Strafford. Give him a hint of this, and make him bleed. +Tell him we will inform Sir Richard Greenvil of his behaviour; and talk +of Launceston gaol." + +Eustace had long thought that every man concerned in either of those +proceedings deserved the gallows, and fancied he could perform the +office of executioner. He therefore made less scruple to require a +pecuniary commutation for those offences, but thought the proceeds +should be carried to a public account. Monthault laughed at this +suggestion, said that self-preservation was the soldier's motto, and +begged he would only bring the sum total to him, and his receipt should +be a full discharge. + +Eustace met Monthault next morning with a blank aspect. The accused had +not only protested his innocence, but offered to bring testimony that he +was in Devonshire at the time. Alarmed, however, at the impending +charge, and knowing that riches were in these cases construed into a +proof of guilt, he offered half the sum demanded as a present, provided +Monthault would be his friend and protect him from further contribution. + +Monthault held out his hand carelessly, and only said, "Disburse." +Eustace protested that his principles would not permit him to take a +commutation for offences from a person whom he believed innocent. +Monthault flew into a rage, asked Eustace if, in a battle, or when +storming a town, he would stop to ask those he met, "Pray, Sir, are you +in heart a rebel? Good Master, were you pressed into the service?" +before he hewed them down with his broad-sword? The very proposal of a +bribe implied guilt. Eustace acknowledged there was weight in that +remark; the offered sum was taken; Eustace carried it to his superior, +and received the jackall's share. + +Indignant at the wrong, the plundered Loyalist, for such indeed he was, +appealed to the Prince's courts. The Lords Hopton, Capel, and the +incorruptible Hyde, formed part of that body; and it will be +anticipated, that only a want of ability to redress the wrong, prevented +immediate reparation. The power of Lord Goring protected his favourite, +Monthault; but it was thought proper to reprove the youth, who had acted +as his agent. Eustace was summoned before the council. Shame and +self-reproach bowed his erect head, and cast a gloom over his ingenuous +features. The President explained how greatly such actions endangered +the fugitive King, whose life now depended on the fidelity of his +subjects, as he flew from post to post, seeking to hide his proscribed +head. Eustace burst into tears. "I need proceed no further," continued +Lord Hopton, "tell me what urged you to this base action."--"Necessity," +replied Eustace, with a look of deep contrition. "That is a bad plea," +returned the nobleman, "and urged with a bad grace, by those who refuse +to admit it as an excuse for the crimes of rebels. In this instance too, +I fear it is a false one. I know you are one of the party, who +distinguish themselves by their midnight carousals in Major Monthault's +quarters. The necessity which arises from dissipation, can never be +urged to excuse peculation." + +"Place me in the forlorn hope," said Eustace, "the first time you have +any desperate service, and let me expiate my crime." + +"So keen a sense of it," resumed Lord Hopton, "is its own punishment. +Your name is Eustace Evellin. I have heard of a youth so called.--At +Oxford he was said to be one of uncommon hope, the son of a noble +Loyalist, distinguished alike for honour and valour; the nephew of a +learned divine, a confessor in the cause of monarchy and episcopacy. Are +you that person?"--Eustace answered by a burst of agonized grief.--Lord +Hopton took him aside, and slided a purse into his hands; "Use this +frugally," said he; "'tis the mite of one, whom duty has stripped of +superfluities, yet apply again to the same source, rather than give your +own heart the pangs which I see it now endures." + +"But I am disgraced," said Eustace, with a look which at once bespoke +intolerable anxiety and ardent gratitude. Lord Hopton answered, "I blush +while I tell you that your fault is too general, to stigmatize those who +commit it; but I mistake your character, if you find in its frequency an +apology for repeating the crime." + +Eustace retired; his dejected heart was warm with approbation of his +excellent reprover; yet burning with impatience to obliterate all +remembrance of his error, by some brave action which should prove that +he was not unworthy the clemency and confidence which his appearance had +excited. He told Monthault what had passed. "The old Prig worded it +bravely," said he, "but in one respect he is better than most of your +precise moralists. Come turn out the pieces--share and share alike you +know; and just now they are quite convenient, as there is not a single +doit in my purse." Eustace hesitated, knowing that its contents had been +left at the billiard-table, but at length complied, with a secret +determination that the partnership should immediately terminate. + +While his mind still ruminated on the blight which his budding laurels +had received, it occurred to him that it would be possible to surprise +an advanced post of Sir Thomas Fairfax's army, which lay at a small +distance from the town of which Monthault was intrusted with the +command. When Eustace suggested the plan to his friend, the latter +encouraged the attempt. It had many recommendations to his treacherous +heart. The design was so full of danger, that it was most likely to end +in the destruction of the whole party, and next to the disgrace, the +death of Eustace was what he secretly desired. Nor did he forget that +incursions into the energy's quarters could not be made, without +hazarding the safety of the town where he was posted, and which Lord +Goring told him was of the utmost importance to preserve the line of +defence that covered the Royal army. With the true spirit which actuated +the western commanders in this disastrous campaign, Monthault cared +little what detriment the King received, so he might ruin a rival. He +however, took care to shift the responsibility from himself. "If you ask +me whether it is feasible," said he to Eustace, "I confess, I think that +nothing but great valour, joined to great good fortune, can accomplish +the design. But if you pant for glory, you know the adage, 'success +attends the brave.' The glory shall be all your own, for as the letter +of my orders forbids all hazards, I must officially be ignorant of your +undertaking; though, as a friend, I will allow the night-guard to +consist of picked men, whom you may dispose of as you think proper." + +To succeed in a desperate enterprise, required more experience and +better intelligence than Eustace possessed.--Brave in vain, he only led +his followers to death or captivity. He was rescued from sharing their +fate by a trooper, who, seeing him fainting from loss of blood, lifted +him on his own horse, and galloped with him to the head-quarters. The +post where Major Monthault was stationed, being weakened by the loss of +this detachment, fell into the enemy's hands. + +Miscarriages were too frequent to excite long clamour; but the +disobedience of a positive command was, in this instance, too marked to +be passed over in silence. Monthault, on being examined, denied having +commanded the enterprize. Had he advised, or permitted it, was a +question put by one of the council; it was over-ruled as inadmissible by +Lord Goring; and Monthault made a specious appearance, by talking loudly +of the gallantry and excellent intentions of his friend. Pale, wounded, +and dejected, Eustace was unable to raise his eyes, fearing nothing so +much as the calm severity of Lord Hopton's aspect. The hopes he had +formed were blasted; his promised course of glory and success was turned +to shame and misfortune; nay, worse, he had materially injured the +Prince, whom he would have died to serve.--He stood almost senseless +while he heard himself ordered under an arrest, and to be kept from duty +for a fortnight. That time was indeed scarce sufficient to heal his +wounds; but Eustace could not separate in his mind the restrictions +imposed by kindness from the punishment of disobedience. + +His extreme agitation moved the compassion of the centinel who was +placed over him, and who was indeed the same brave trooper who had saved +his life. "Courage, noble Captain," said he; "Their Honours, the Lords +of Council, only lock you up to give you time to get well. When they +asked me about the business, I told them you was as true a heart as ever +lifted broad-sword, only a little too hot--that's all; and one of them, +the old Lord, with white hair, that looked at you so, wished that true +hearts were more common. Your wounds will be well by the time you are +let out; and then we'll cut and slash the round-heads again. Shall we +not do them a good one, as we say in Lancashire?" + +The name of his native county threw the thoughts of Eustace into a +train, no less painful than the wounded feelings of a soldier.--Its dear +emigrants, what would they now think of him! Even Constantia would +abjure him:--surely she would never hear of his being reproved as a +peculator, and ordered under an arrest for insubordination. + +"You are too brave a gentleman to mind a few slashes and thumps," +continued the talkative centinel; "the surgeon says they will heal up, +and you'll have a whole skin again presently; so it must be some other +sorrow which casts you down so. And nothing cuts a man up like sorrow, +as I have heard good Dr. Beaumont say." + +The name roused Eustace to enquire how he knew the opinions of Dr. +Beaumont, and the eclaircissement proved the centinel to be Ralph +Jobson, the same person who refused to take the covenant at Ribblesdale +in the beginning of the civil war, and had ever since felt such a +reverence for the Doctor, as to connect with his name every sentiment to +which he affixed peculiar importance.--To have rescued his nephew from +death or captivity, was a most gratifying event to Jobson's honest +heart; and he readily offered to do Eustace any service, even so far as +to pass through the enemy's quarters, and inform the Doctor of his +misfortunes. "Not for the universe," replied Eustace, "in the present +situation of affairs."--"True," answered Jobson, "we must not rob the +King of one brave heart just now; and though I was only a poor carter, +and am now a trooper and quarter-master's man, mine is as true a heart +as that old Lord's with white hair, that I liked the look of. So by way +of passing the time, shall I tell you how I got away from the +constables, sent by Squire Morgan to take me to Hull, and went to +Nottingham and listed under the King; aye, and fought for him too, when +Lord Lindsey was killed at Edgehill; and helped to bury Lord Falkland, +and the young Earl of Sunderland at Newbury; and saw Lord Newcastle's +lambs dye their fleeces in their own blood; aye, and was taken prisoner +with the learned Mr. Chillingworth, who wrote against Popery at +Arundel-castle, and tended him when he lay sick, and was catechised by +Waller's chaplains for being a Papist. He could have talked them all +dumb, only he was speechless; and so at last they killed him with their +barbarous usage. Why, Captain, I have seen the King of England dining on +a hard crust, under a hedge, like a gipsey-stroller. How could you have +stood such sights? Why your heart would have broke, instead of being +alive and merry to drub the round-heads, as I am." + +Jobson's narrative was interrupted by a visit from Lord Hopton. "Once +more, Captain Evellin," said he, "I come to reprove you. That I do so, +is a proof of your repeated errors, and of my conviction that they +proceed rather from inexperience, than a bad disposition." Eustace +expressed his sincere gratitude and deep contrition. "On the former +subject," replied His Lordship, "since it relates to myself, I may +command silence, and you must feel that your contrition cannot restore +to us the brave fellows we lost last night, or regain the post with +which Major Monthault was entrusted. But I wish to ask if you knew that +positive orders were given, to act only on the defensive?" + +Eustace was silent. The manner in which Monthault spoke of his orders, +intimated that their letter and spirit were at variance, and how could +he throw the shadow of blame on one who had so eloquently defended his +behaviour before the council. "I see," resumed Lord Hopton, "there is a +mystery in this business; and as the desperate state of our affairs +leaves me no power to punish breach of orders, we must endeavour to +correct the past. Lord Goring has fled to France; despairing, I presume, +of his master's cause. We have now to try to extricate ourselves from +the difficulties into which discord and insubordination have plunged us. +The Prince has this day required me to take the entire command of the +army. 'I have not told His Highness, as hath of late been the fashion, +that my honour would not permit me to accept it; but I have said that I +knew I could not take it at this time, without resolving to lose my +honour; yet since His Highness thinks fit, I am ready to obey him.' I +can now therefore do you a real service, by taking you out of ill hands. +I will make you my military secretary, and keep you about my person. The +past is forgot. As soon as you are able, come to my quarters; but +remember, I require a positive estrangement from your past connexions." + +The transport of Eustace, at such a proof of confidence, may be readily +conceived, and he now felt assured that he should expunge all the stains +on his reputation. But ill-fortune and misconduct still attended him, as +indeed they did the army to which he was attached. The bands of +discipline had been too long relaxed. The general of the infantry +refused to obey Lord Hopton, and was committed to prison, to intimidate +other mutineers; and though his rapine and extortion had excited +universal odium, so low was the general feeling of justice, that his +punishment caused yet greater discontent than his rapacity had done. The +troops were as corrupted as their leaders; only a small body of horse +and a few companies of volunteers, chiefly composed of gentlemen, could +be depended upon, in an army drawn up in the extremity of the kingdom, +to defend the last holds of Royalty, and protect the heir of the crown +from sharing the fate of his father, who was at this time a prisoner in +the Scotch army at Newcastle, and scarce treated with the decency of +external respect. + +Whatever intrepidity, activity, and foresight could perform, was done by +Lord Hopton and his faithful coadjutors; but from the hour when he +undertook the charge to that of the army's dispersion, "scarce a party +of guard appeared with half their appointed numbers, or within two hours +of the time they ought." On such enemies Fairfax rushed with the +concentrated forces of triumphant rebellion; yet if treachery had not +aided his progress, the veteran's bands were again so strongly posted, +that the victors would not have reaped bloodless laurels. But Goring's +brigade (to which Monthault still belonged), being stationed to guard a +down in front of the army, drew off without staying for orders, or +intrenched Loyalists, before they had the least previous notice. Defeat +and dispersion were the consequence. All efforts to rally the flying +troops were vain, the officers cried out that their men could not be +brought to face the enemy, and Lord Hopton in vain endeavoured to avail +himself of the chances that might result from delay, by proposing to +send to the Prince for directions how he should act. "Treat, treat," was +the universal cry of the soldiers. Scorning to yield to such base +clamour, he indignantly bade them treat for themselves, and retiring +with the faithful few who adhered to his fortunes, to Pendennis Castle, +falsified his own prediction by losing every thing but his honour, and +the last ebbing sands of a long life, wasted by toils and sorrows, that +left him merely strength enough to attend the Prince, who had been +committed to his trust, to a foreign country, where, exiled from his +large possessions, the country and the friends he loved, he found a +refuge from triumphant guilt and undeserved misfortune in the grave. + +To return to Eustace. The desertion of the post at Bodmin bore such +evident marks of treachery, that it could not be attributed to the +general trepidation and disorder which possessed the army, and +circumstances proved that a correspondence subsisted between Monthault +and the Parliamentary general, which the farce of taking him prisoner +and committing him to close custody, when the King's forces were +generally permitted to disband and return to their houses, strongly +confirmed. Lord Hopton recollected that his designs had been +counteracted by Fairfax, in a manner which implied previous acquaintance +with his purposes. A moment of extreme irritation and anguish, such as a +general must feel when he finds all his resources cut off, is not +favourable to candour or calm investigation. The connexion between +Eustace and Monthault was not dissolved. Notwithstanding the injunctions +of the General to hold no intercourse with his late associate, Eustace +had been seen in his company, and even detected in the act of writing +him a letter. Monthault corresponded with Fairfax; his (Lord Hopton's) +own secretary held a private correspondence with Monthault; thus the +course of treachery seemed developed. Lord Hopton felt that he had been +deceived by the ingenuous countenance of a handsome youth. He rejected +his offer of accompanying him to Pendennis, and even demanded from him +his sword. "Go," said he, "and when one is again given you, serve your +employer with fidelity." + +Eustace was thunder-struck, and rushed after his commander to enquire +the cause of such severe treatment. "I forgave your extortion and +licentiousness," said the General, with a stern austere look which +pierced him to the soul; "I pardon the rashness which broke our line of +defence, and weakened us by the loss of a brave detachment. After this I +took you into a confidential situation, and you betrayed your General +and your Prince. + +"Never, never," was the exclamation of the tortured Eustace. "I own my +other offences, but with my latest breath I deny being a traitor." + +"Have you not held a secret and prohibited correspondence?--Guilt chains +your tongue. I hoped better things from Eustace Evellin. Farewell, +repent and reform." These words were spoken as Lord Hopton mounted his +horse. Eustace threw himself on the ground, and in a frantic moment +thought self-destruction allowable. Before principle had time to allay +this agony of acute feeling, a sob, that seemed to issue from a breaking +heart, made him raise his head to see if there were any as wretched as +himself. A pale war-worn figure stood beside him, leaning on a carbine; +his hat drawn over his eyes, and his body wrapped in a tattered +roquelaure. Eustace would have felt ashamed at yielding to such +expressions of poignant distress before any observer, had not the more +painful consideration that this person had been a witness of his +disgrace suppressed every other thought. + +"Did you hear the General speak to me?" enquired Eustace in a perturbed +accent. After a long pause the stranger answered, "I did."--Those words +were uttered in a well-known voice; and at a moment of indelible shame +and public ruin, Eustace saw the long-desired features of his father: +that father, by whose side he hoped to have fought manfully, in defence +of his King and in pursuit of glorious renown, was the witness of an +accusation which even mercy could not pardon, and beheld him sinking +under the consciousness of acknowledged offences. Dignified in misery, +Colonel Evellin stood gazing at the youth on whose virtues his fondest +hopes had reposed, now sunk far below even his own desperate fortunes. +Eustace held his hands before his face, not daring even to ask a +blessing, nor presuming to enquire how they happened to meet at this +awful crisis. + +Colonel Evellin first broke silence. "You are Eustace Evellin, my only +son, for whom I cherished the remnant of my unfortunate life.--Boy, I +was plundered of wealth, title, and reputation, by a perfidious friend. +I submitted to obscurity and poverty, for I was blessed with a faithful +wife in your angel-mother. Thanks be to Heaven, she lives not to see +this day!--I have fought and bled for my King. I have endured hardships +which would paralyze your pampered niceness to hear described. For +eleven months I fed on carrion, reposed on filth, deafened with the +sound of battering cannon, the shouts of besieging rebels, and the +groans of dying comrades. I have swam across rivers, warding the broken +ice from my wounded body. I have, like a hunted wolf, dressed those +wounds in mountain-fastnesses, shunning the abode of man, and eluding +pursuers whose mercy I disdained to ask. I have seen my King a prisoner, +without power to redress his wrongs; my country a prey to tyrants; all +her hallowed institutions overturned; but never till now, Eustace, was I +completely wretched; for never did anguish, in its most desperate +forebodings, whisper that I could be the parent of a traitor." + +"Oh, my father!" replied Eustace; "kill me with your weapon rather than +your words. By the unimpeached honour of my blessed mother, I am no +traitor." + +"Who spoke the accusation," returned the Colonel, "which I returned to +hear, and to curse the hour of thy birth?--'Twas not the light reproach +of petulant folly, anxious to shift the shame of defeat from its own +misconduct.' The speaker was the wise, magnanimous Hopton." + +"But even wisdom and magnanimity may mistake." + +"Was there any intercourse which he interdicted, and you clandestinely +continued?" + +"There was one who wound himself round my heart by ties which I wanted +firmness to dissolve, and I greatly fear he has been a traitor to his +country and me." + +"No expletives; no qualifying terms; no diminutive appellations, for +crimes that involve a kingdom's fate. Under the influence of this man, +you have been rapacious, licentious, rash, regardless of subordination." + +"I have." + +"And not a traitor!--Gracious Author of my existence, do I live to hear +such perversion of language from my Eustace? When all depended on the +honour and discipline of those who maintained the King's cause, my son +commits crimes which disgrace his religion, his profession, and his +principles, yet tells me he is no traitor." + +"I never betrayed the confidence of Lord Hopton," said Eustace, +attempting to clasp his father's knees. "The correspondence I carried on +was to relieve the necessities of one who I thought had served me: not +to disclose the secret plans of my General." + +"Off! thy touch is contamination;" said the stern soldier. Yet Eustace +perceived he melted as he spoke. "By our common wretchedness," continued +he, "permit me to follow you. Let us throw ourselves into some garrison, +where we may dearly sell our lives. I ask for nothing but to die +defending you. Let me but combat by your side, and you shall find, +though I have greatly sinned, I can also greatly repent." + +"Oh, last of a noble stock!" said Evellin, while tears streamed fast +down his furrowed cheeks, "if thou dost repent, save thy life for better +times."--"Keep me but with you," returned Eustace, "and I shall become +all you wish." "I mean to make for Oxford," said the Colonel; "darest +thou go with me thither?" "No, no," replied the unhappy youth; "I dare +not see Constance till I have erased my shames."--"The soul of thy +parents spoke in that sentiment," said the Colonel, unable longer to +restrain his arms from clasping his son; but the embrace was accompanied +with that groan of woe, which spoke unsubdued repugnance and careless +anguish, yet it seemed to restore the half-expiring Eustace to life, at +the same time that it confirmed his resolution never to give occasion +for such another groan. + +Filial piety, which, in despite of all his errors, was a predominant +sentiment in the mind of Eustace, soon pointed out to him, that though +the sight of his injured but beloved Constance, and her offended father, +would, in his present circumstances, be insupportable, it was highly +desirable that his father should shelter his infirm frame under the roof +of domestic friendship; and perceiving with joy that such was his +design, he forbore to persevere in his request of never more separating +from him. He knew that a few garrisons in the west still held out for +the King, and his sanguine temper taught him to hope, that some happy +occurrence might enable him to purify his blemished fame. Colonel +Evellin encouraged this hope. Dearly as he prized his son's life, +anxious as he was to preserve the true branch of the house of Neville +from extermination, a dead son, fallen in the cause of honour, was +infinitely better than a living one stamped with the stigmas of traitor +and villain. + +The advancing divisions of the enemy terminated the interview. Neither +could bear to witness the King's troops laying down their arms, or the +triumphant rejoicings of the Parliamentary forces. Colonel Evellin took +the route to Oxford, which he hoped to gain by the most unfrequented +ways; and Eustace intreating his father, if possible, to conceal his +disgrace from his dear kindred, turned westward, determining to make +every effort to rejoin Lord Hopton. + + + + +CHAP. XIV. + + Where you are liberal of your loves, and counsels, + Be sure you be not loose; for those you make friends, + And give your hearts to, when they once perceive + The least rub in your fortunes, fall away + Like water from ye, never found again, + But where they mean to sink ye. + + Shakspeare. + + +The evil genius of Colonel Evellin still pursued him. He had not +travelled far before he fell into the power of the rebels, who carried +him prisoner to London. He was recognized as one who had done wonders +for the King; and, in an enemy every where triumphant, to spare his life +was an act of mercy. He was, however, kept in rigorous confinement, and +his name excepted out of every act of amnesty. Whether the Presbyterians +or Independents gained a temporary ascendancy; whether the Rump or the +army struggled to get the King's person into their hands, to give a +colourable pretext to their most unrighteous proceedings, a high-minded +Loyalist was alike dangerous and opposite to the vacillating humours of +men, who, under the pretence of worshipping the God of truth and mercy, +served the abominations of perverted understandings and corrupted +hearts. + +Eustace, accompanied by the faithful Jobson, reached Pendennis Castle, +and joined its brave defenders; but Lord Hopton left it before their +arrival, to follow his royal charge, who, in compliance with his +father's commands, quitted England, which now had only chains to bestow +on its Princes. In this strong fortress, celebrated for being the last +that held out for the King, Eustace distinguished himself for patient +bravery and active courage. But he no longer fought in a conspicuous +scene of action, under the eye of a renowned commander, whose praise was +glory, and whose reproof was disgrace. He gained indeed the esteem of +the venerable Arundel, who, at the age of fourscore, bound his +silver-locks with an helmet, and kept the Royal standard flying, till +the enemy, astonished at his fortitude and resources, acceded to the +most honourable capitulation. But as soon as terms were granted, and the +garrison dispersed, Eustace lost all hope of again signalizing himself, +nor could the renown gained within the walls of a fortress expunge the +disgrace which had been promulgated at the head of an army. + +While undetermined how to act, or which way to employ the unvalued life +he was bound to preserve in proof of his repentance, Eustace heard of +his father's captivity. Another report at the same time reached him, +which, as any one who has fondly loved in early youth, when every idea +is most likely to be engrossed by the ardent susceptibility of one +predominant passion, will readily believe, excited still keener anguish. +He was assured that Monthault was at that time an inmate in Dr. +Beaumont's family, high in the estimation of all, and even believed to +be an accepted lover of Constantia. + +To refute a rumour so injurious to loyal faith and female truth, I must +remind the reader, that immediately after Lord Hopton's defeat, Major +Monthault was ostentatiously pointed out as an object of Parliamentary +vengeance, and thrown into confinement. This was done to give him credit +with the Loyalists, preparatory to his being sent to Oxford, where it +was proposed he should act as a spy, and convey intelligence to the +beleaguering army, specifying also such of the inhabitants as were too +zealous and determined to make safe citizens in the projected +commonwealth. He was soon permitted to break from durance, and arriving +at Oxford under the character of a confessor in the Royal cause, he was +kindly welcomed by Dr. Beaumont. He brought Constantia the first certain +intelligence that Eustace was alive, and had passed through the dangers +of a disastrous campaign with little injury. + +The voice of fame, alike busy in circulating good and evil tidings, soon +informed the family of the public censure which Lord Hopton cast on that +unfortunate fugitive, and Monthault would have gained great credit with +the Beaumonts for not having been the first to disclose it, had not his +own conduct been implicated in the same accusation. Isabel eagerly clung +to the visible proofs of his loyalty as an implicit evidence that her +brother had been most basely aspersed. "The misery of these times," said +she, "is surely sufficient; we need not aggravate the misfortunes of our +fellow-sufferers, or the cruelty of our enemies, by crediting the +calumnies of malice, or the unfounded fabrications of busy tatlers. Our +dear Eustace is accused of treason, and his friend and constant +associate is involved in the same charge. Yet if imprisonment and +forfeiture of his estates are not testimonials of loyalty, where shall +we seek more certain attestations? After having fought and bled for his +King, he breaks from captivity and seeks an asylum among us at Oxford. +Equally inconsistent is the charge aimed at my gallant brother. Dearest +Constantia, surely you cannot believe Eustace to be a traitor; yet your +cold looks and marked indifference to poor Monthault, and the care with +which you avoid your lover's name, lest his friend should attempt his +exculpation, indicate, that either you suffer this futile charge to +dwell too much upon your mind, or that you mistook the mere attachment +of kindred for devoted affection." + +"Isabel," returned Constantia, with a look of mild expostulation, "I +know not how far to trust rumour, but this I know, that the tongue of +Monthault will corrode the fame of Eustace, either in censuring or +commending him. Do not imagine there is any change in me, or that I +mistook the nature of my own feelings. Whether Eustace deserves reproach +or renown, my heart will never own another possessor. It is either +wedded to his deserts, or so estranged by his faults, that love may as +well light his fire on a monumental tablet as make me again admire in +man, that fair semblance of generous integrity, by which Eustace won me +to select him as the partner of my future life. Him I shall ever love, +or ever mourn. But were he proved guilty of every base crime laid to his +charge, this extortioner, this debauchee, this refractory soldier, nay, +even this traitor, must not be placed by the side of Monthault, unless +it be right to compare the guilt of frail man with the impious +desperation of Satan. My greatest grief and torment proceed from a fact +which I cannot dispute: true, as you say, Eustace selected Monthault for +his constant associate and particular friend." + +These remarks of Constance will disprove the rumour which had reached +the ears of her fugitive lover, and prove that Monthault did not succeed +in one of the designs which brought him to Oxford; with regard to the +other, his intended services to the Parliament during the siege were +frustrated by an order extorted from the captive King, requiring that +his garrisons should be immediately surrendered to the ruling party. +Oxford therefore admitted a detachment of the rebel army, but for some +time a spirit of moderation was visible in the treatment bestowed on +this honourable asylum of loyalty and learning. The covenant and other +oaths were indeed sent down, but as they were not enforced, the +conscientious possessors of ecclesiastical and collegiate situations +were not ejected for contumacy. The captivity of the King imposed the +most scrupulous moderation and quiet submission on all his adherents, +and many persons hoped, from this apparent calm, that the national +wounds would speedily be healed. + +But the suspended fury of two powerful contending parties, concentrating +their terrors, and perfecting their deep designs to crush each other +before they entirely annihilate a fallen foe, bears no more resemblance +to the wise lenity of a regular government towards the refractory +subjects it has subdued, than the fearful stillness which is the +precursor of a thunder-storm does to the serene tranquillity of a +summer's day. No sooner were the Presbyterian republicans subdued by the +fanatics, who had gained the entire command of the army, than the murder +of the King, and the vindictive persecution of loyalty and episcopacy, +plainly shewed that, in the nomenclature of these men, forbearance and +liberty meant self-aggrandizement and most merciless oppression of all +who dissented from their opinions. + +Major Monthault had sufficient political versatility and natural +baseness to be a busy actor in these scenes of perfidy and depravity; +but his talents were too limited to acquire distinction among men of +deep penetration, profoundly skilled in the art of fomenting and +managing the malignant passions; besides, the open scandal of his +profligate manners ill suited the decorous exterior of seeming saints. +His treachery to the Royal cause, therefore, only purchased him the +liberty of compounding for his estate at a less fine than was extorted +from persons of untarnished fidelity; and he was laid by as an +instrument equally mean and vile, incapable of further use. A bad heart +can never taste the pleasures which belong to tranquillity; and inaction +is torture to those who must shun reflection. Monthault had no resource +but in the indulgence of his brutal appetites. The beauty of Constantia +excited desire, while the avowed contempt with which she treated him +convinced him that the blandishments of flattery and persevering +assiduity would never remove the impressions which she had conceived to +his disadvantage. The licence of these disorderly times was favourable +to deeds of violence. Monthault formed the project of carrying off his +mistress by force, and securing her in his parental castle; and +disbanded soldiers were easily found, alike daring and lawless, to +execute such an atrocious design. + +The only difficulty attendant on this undertaking seemed to consist in +wresting her from the protection of her friends; for though courts of +law no longer afforded relief to injured loyalists, a police was still +preserved, and the precincts of a college could not be violated with +impunity, or indeed with a prospect of success. He resorted, therefore, +to stratagem, invented a tale of distress, and disguised a female +accomplice to pass as the widow of a soldier who had fallen at Naseby. A +story of sick children perishing for want was likely to operate on the +feelings of humane young women. Constantia and Isabel were soon drawn +beyond the walls of Oxford, and conducted along the banks of the +Charwell, in search of this scene of misery. When they were at such a +distance from the city as to preclude the chance of assistance, several +men, masked and disguised, rushed out of an inclosure, seized their +fainting prey, and bore her from her shrieking companion to a carriage +which waited to receive her. The horses set off at full speed, and +Isabel, in an agony of despair, ran after it till it was out of sight, +invoking the interposition of Heaven, and casting many a vain look +around to see if any human succour was at hand. Tired and exhausted, she +at last recollected, that to return to the city and relate the event, +describing to the municipal officers the road the fugitives had taken, +would afford the most probable means of rescue; and, though it would be +unspeakable agony to meet her bereaved uncle and aunt, she yet +considered that her being with them would afford them some consolation, +beside the advantage of her testimony for the recovery of her dear +companion. + +When Constantia revived from the state of insensibility into which the +suddenness of the assault had hurried her weak spirits, she found +herself in a chaise with Monthault, who watched the return of her senses +to pour out some passionate encomiums on her beauty, and protestations +of his insurmountable, though hopeless love. "I will speak this once," +said she, "and then for ever be silent. Hear, abandoned man and +perfidious friend! I would sooner die than yield to your wishes; and I +know my father would weep less over my corpse, than if he saw me +contaminated by your embraces. Restore me to him; nay, only give me +liberty to fly back to his dear arms, and I will never disclose that you +were the ravisher; but if you persist in your cruelty, it will be of no +other avail than to plunge your soul in additional guilt." + +Alarmed by the determined firmness of her manner, Monthault changed his +tone. He protested she misunderstood his expressions; for that, though +he never should cease to adore her, he had merely engaged in this +enterprize as the agent of Eustace, to whom he was going to carry her. +Hopeless of obtaining her father's consent (since he knew his disgrace +had reached Oxford), and incapable of living without her, they had +projected this scheme; and he besought her to be calm, as a few hours +would bring her to her plighted love. "Surely, beautiful Constantia," +said he, "you would not wish to escape from your faithful, though +dishonoured Eustace." "The Eustace I knew and loved," returned she, "was +faithful and honourable. Base seducer, and slanderer of unsuspecting +innocence, this subterfuge cannot deceive me a moment; and I once more +warn you to let me go, or dread my desperation." + +A disposition like Monthault's is rarely threatened out of its +deliberate purpose; but, happily for Constantia, the skill of the driver +was not proportioned to the expedition he was commanded to use, and he +overturned the carriage at the entrance of a small village. Constantia's +cries soon drew several people to her assistance, who, supposing her +distress proceeded from her alarm at the accident, assured her that the +gentleman who lay senseless on the ground was only stunned by the fall, +and that the blood which streamed from her own face was caused by a very +slight wound. "It is from him," said she, "that I entreat to be +preserved; only hide me from him. Let him suppose I escaped in the +moment of confusion, and every kind office I can do you in the course of +my life will be too little to shew my gratitude. Beside my own prayers, +I will promise you those of my dear father, the worthiest and best of +men; these he will daily offer to Heaven for the preservers of his only +child." + +The rustic witnesses of this scene listened with stupid surprise to this +address. The women busied themselves in binding up the deep gash in +Constantia's forehead; the men, in raising Monthault, and lifting up the +carriage. By this time the out-riders were come up, who, faithful to +their commission, prepared to place Constantia on one of the horses, +when her loud shrieks, the bustle, and crowd, attracted the attention of +two gentlemen who were travelling on the road, to whose inquiries of +what was the matter, one of Monthault's gang brutally answered, a +carriage had been overturned and a gentleman much hurt. "But he is quiet +enough," said he; "whereas his wife, who is only a little scratched, +screams as if she would raise the dead." + +"Her distress at least requires tender treatment," said one of the +gentlemen. "Why are they lifting her on that horse?" "To take her to a +surgeon, your honour." "What! from her lifeless husband, while she +herself is but slightly injured? Something must be wrong here." At the +moment Constantia thought herself lost, a strenuous hand grasped the +bridle of the horse on which she was placed; and a commanding voice +called to the man who held her in his arms to stop at his peril. The +villain drew his sword, and attempted to hew down his opposer; but at +that instant Constantia had sufficient strength to loosen his clasp and +throw herself upon the ground, from which she was raised by the other +gentleman, who assured her she should be protected, in a voice which, +with rapture, she recognized to be that of the worthy Barton. + +"Oh my guardian angel," said she, "are you come to save me again? My +second father, hold me in your sheltering arms till you can restore me +to my kindred. I have been forced away by brutal ravishers. There lies +the master ruffian senseless; and," continued she, waving her hand, +"there are his cruel accomplices." + +By this time the other stranger had disarmed his antagonist, pulled him +from his horse, and committed him to custody. "My Lord," said Barton to +him, "this is a most providential adventure. We have again rendered a +signal good service to one of those pretty maidens whom you assisted at +Halifax." "To which of them?" eagerly inquired the young nobleman. +"Mistress Constantia Beaumont," returned Barton. "But where is Isabel?" +"Safe at Oxford, and consoling my friends, I trust," replied Constantia. +"Oh, Sir! I know not by what name to address you; but if you are the +pupil of the excellent Barton, you will, like him, defend the friendless +who has been forced away from her natural protectors." + +"Most willingly," answered the unknown; "but if that man is your +husband, how can I take you out of his power?" Constantia then briefly +told her story; her morning walk with Isabel; her seizure; Monthault's +protestations; the overthrow of the chaise, and the attempt of the +myrmidons to force her away. The rest of these wretches had now made +their escape, leaving the one who was in custody and their employer, who +began to shew signs of life, to answer for their crimes. + +Barton then took upon himself the office of restoring Constantia to her +friends, and begged his companion to remain with Monthault to see that +he had proper treatment, and was secured from escaping. They drove back +to Oxford with such rapidity as to precede the return of Isabel, who had +the happiness of seeing the beloved friend, whose loss she came to +announce, restored to the embraces of her affectionate family. + +While Mr. Barton and Dr. Beaumont were exchanging those sentiments of +cordial esteem which mutual worth is sure to inspire, Isabel's eyes +inquired if the gallant officer, who had so much interested her, had +given no signs of reciprocal recollection. She was dissatisfied that he +was not her cousin's escort; and though, in wishing to see him again, +she thought she had no other motive than to thank him for past services, +she never before felt so much pain from unacknowledged gratitude. +Constance was too much overpowered by the remembrance of her own +preservation to attend to the silent perplexity of Isabel, whom a secret +consciousness of what she could scarce believe to be a fault restrained +from a thousand inquiries which she would not have scrupled to make +after one to whom she was wholly indifferent. + +The transport which Dr. Beaumont felt at the restoration of his daughter +was checked by a discovery of the most agonizing kind. Monthault still +continued in a languishing condition; but his accomplice underwent an +examination as to the purpose of his attempt, and the name of his +employer. On promise of pardon the miscreant offered to make a full +discovery. His conditions were accepted; and he then named Eustace +Evellin as the person who was to receive the advantage of the nefarious +action. He asserted, that being overcome with despair at the thought of +having forfeited his uncle's favour by his bad conduct, Eustace +determined to possess his cousin at any hazard, and that Major Monthault +had been wrought upon, by his earnest entreaties, to become his agent. +The woman who had personated a trooper's widow, and drawn the two ladies +to the retired spot where Eustace was seized, gave such a description of +the stranger who bribed her to fabricate a tale of distress as exactly +tallied with the person of Eustace, but bore no resemblance to +Monthault. Another was brought to swear that he had seen Dr. Beaumont's +nephew in Oxford since its surrender to the Parliament. His long silence +to his family was an inexplicable mystery; but to visit Oxford without +throwing himself at his uncle's feet, and imploring pardon, was such a +tacit acknowledgement of conscious unworthiness, as even the candour of +Dr. Beaumont could not controvert. In an agony of mind, far exceeding +all that he had endured for his despoiled fortunes, and only equalled by +what he felt for his persecuted King; he requested Mr. Barton to +discharge the accomplices, and hush up the business. He then returned +home, clasped the trembling Constantia in his arms, and conjured her +never to name her unworthy cousin. "I would bid you not think of him," +said he; "but the viper will be remembered by its sting, after we have +discovered it to be a poisonous reptile with a beautiful outside. And +much gratitude is due to Heaven, that the base infection of his nature +has been fully disclosed, before you were bound to him by indissoluble +ties." Constantia asked if Monthault was the accuser of Eustace. +"Monthault," replied the Doctor, "is silent. A chain of evidence +confirms, that he was merely an agent in this iniquitous design of +tearing you from me."--"Impossible," replied Constance, "never did agent +embark with such eager passion in the views of another. It was for +himself, the monster pleaded; and it was only a mean attempt to quiet my +cries for assistance, when he talked of carrying me to Eustace.--Fortunate +dissembler, how well he contrives to throw the guilt of his own treasons +on that ill-fated youth." + +"Dear, credulous girl," returned the Doctor, "I have often bid you love +young Evellin, and do not wonder that you find it hard to unlearn that +lesson. Yet, rest assured, it is not on dubious testimony, that I found +my conviction of his being corrupted by the lax morality of these evil +times, in which one party deems an attachment to the antient +constitution an excuse for debauchery, and the other uses the verbiage +of religion as a commutation for obedience to its precepts. It is most +true, Eustace was publicly disgraced by Lord Hopton, accused of crimes +to which he pleaded guilty, suspected of others which he faintly denied. +With horror I must tell you that his unfortunate honourable father had +the anguish of witnessing his shame." + +Constance raised her streaming eyes and clasped hands to Heaven, +exclaiming, "If his crimes have been any thing worse than the +precipitation of thoughtless youth, there is no truth in man. Till his +fame is cleared I will not name him. But I shall never cease to think of +him till this heart ceases to beat, or rather till my intellects are too +clouded to discern the difference between error and depravity. You have +often said that one of the sorest calamities of this turbulent period is +the celebrity acquired by successful wickedness, which encourages +offenders to traffic largely in iniquity; but the fate of poor Eustace +continues to exhibit the severity of retributive justice. Discarded by +both his fathers, and divorced from his love, where has the pennyless +outcast funds to feed the craving avarice of criminal associates, to +suborn accomplices, and to bribe witnesses? A destitute exile has at +least presumptive evidence that he is innocent of stratagems which +wealth alone could attempt; and surely wealth is always too selfish to +forego the indulgencies which it pawns its soul to purchase." + +The sensibility of Constantia Beaumont was as permanent as it was acute; +her sense of honour was refined and delicate; but her high-seated love +was fixed on those unalterable properties which not only rejected every +light surmise to her lover's disadvantage, but also clung to the +conviction of his integrity with a confidence which, in the present +state of things, looked like obstinate credulity. No chain of +circumstances, no concurring testimony could induce her to think Eustace +treacherous or depraved. By his own mouth alone could he be condemned. +She must see his misdeeds and hear his confession before she would +determine to recall her vows. With all the vivid hope of youthful +inexperience, she continued to believe that he would return and confute +his accusers. Months, nay, years, rolled away; the hope grew fainter. No +certain tidings of his proceedings reached them after the fatal battle +of Dartmoor, when Lord Hopton precipitately doomed him to ignominy. She +had heard that his father commanded him to live and redeem his lost +fame; and she often fancied he was busily employed in obeying that +command. Indulging this idea, she hoped that his glory would burst upon +them with such unquestionable splendour, that every tongue would +applaud, while she took her hero by the hand, and asked her father to +rescind the injunction which forbade her to avow her unchangeable +affection. + + + + +CHAP. XV. + + The zeal of the true Christian for Christ and his Gospel is + never accompanied with those flaming contentions and + oppositions, which, though engaged in the best of causes, + certainly testify a corrupt mind. They had rather obey than + dispute, follow than have the pre-eminence. + + Southgate's Sermons. + + +The year 1648 produced events, that were alike the glory and the shame +of England. It was first signalized by the illustrious stand which the +university of Oxford made against successful usurpation, by appointing +delegates to examine the oaths they were now required to take, and to +state why, in reason and conscience, they could not submit to the +imposition. These delegates, to their eternal renown, and to the honour +of those for whom they acted, "though then under the power of a strict +and strong garrison put over them by Parliament, the King in prison, and +their hopes desperate, passed a public act and declaration against the +covenant, with such invincible arguments of the illegality, wickedness, +and perjury contained in it, that no man of the contrary opinion, nor +even the assembly of divines, which then sat at Westminster, ever +ventured to make any answer to it." And the publication of their +reasons, "must remain to the worlds end, as a monument of the learning, +courage, and loyalty of that excellent place, against the highest malice +and tyranny that ever was exercised in or over any nation." + +Resistance of such a pure and steady character, conducted with meek +fortitude, and supported by unimpeachable wisdom, was too dangerous an +offence to be forgiven. Ejection of the members from the scanty +subsistence which they derived from their collegiate endowments, was the +first punishment. To this, banishment from Oxford was immediately added, +and, in many cases, imprisonment. The obnoxious oaths were tendered to +all the members of the university, and those who refused to compromise +their consciences for bread, were commanded to quit the happy asylum of +their age, or to renounce all their youthful studies and hopes in +twenty-four hours, by beat of drum, on pain of being treated as spies. +Few were found so selfish as to submit to the alternative of perjury; +and thus the venerable sages and generous youth of England went forth +like the confessors of antient times, "of whom the world was not worthy; +afflicted, destitute, tormented, they wandered in deserts, in mountains, +in caves, and dens of the earth." At one time they were forbidden to +earn a subsistence as private tutors in families; at others, restricted +from performing any ministerial functions, even so much as administering +the sacrament to dying persons, who yet, by the arbitrary regulations of +many of the new parochial ministers, might not receive it from them, +unless they also first took the covenant. + +Dignified clergymen were at this time travelling on foot, nearly +destitute of common necessaries, and relying on the charity of casual +passengers for support[1]. Cathedrals had long been converted into +barracks for horse-soldiers, and bishop's palaces into prisons for the +ejected clergy, whose families, now deprived of the last pittance, and +actually in want of bread[2], became earnest supplicants that the moiety +of the benefices, of which their fathers were deprived, (and which the +Parliament had agreed should be appropriated to their support,) should +be regularly paid. "But these applications oftener produced vexatious +and expensive suits than effectual relief." + +As the clerical associates of the party who now reigned triumphant, +rushed in crowds to fill the vacant seats, the aspect of Alma Mater was +completely changed. As much sanctity as possible was thrown into the +face, and mirth and pleasantry were avoided as marks of a carnal mind. +The young competitors for academical learning were led to examination, +through rooms hung with black, and illuminated by so faint a taper, that +it only served to make darkness visible. This obscurity was a prelude to +a fearful questioning by a Saint, "with half a dozen night-caps on his +head, and religious horror in his countenance"[3], who asked him whether +he abounded in grace,--the state of his soul,--if he was of the number +of the elect--the occasion of his conversion, and the exact period when +it happened. Such was the general aspect of manners, and such the state +of learning; many respectable exemptions were, however, found in men who +placed religion in something more essential than lecturing out of +Calvin's institutes, pointing Scripture-texts at political opponents, or +assuming the vinegar aspect of puritanical monachism. Some also have +been recorded, who shewed that they were dissenters from purely +conscientious motives, who refused to enrich themselves with the plunder +of episcopacy, and, considering the clergy of the desolated church as +men and brethren, stretched out the hand of humanity to alleviate their +afflictions. + +Such was the good Barton. By one of the sports of Fortune, he was +nominated to the stall which Dr. Beaumont was expected to vacate, by +refusing the prescribed oaths. Among the foibles of this worthy man, +must be ranked a high opinion of his own spiritual attainments; but this +being qualified by the technical phrases of his sect, did not alarm his +really tender conscience, for though he would have considered the same +inordinate degree of self-esteem as sinful, in one who did not hold the +same religious tenets; yet, by changing the term disposition into gift, +he thought himself permitted to talk of his present piety, knowledge, +perseverance, diligence, and success in the ministry, as of a vessel +filled with grace, and ordained to honour. Still, when he spoke of +himself as man, he used the strongest terms of self-abasement. He had no +doubt he should be able to foil Dr. Beaumont in argument, and convince +him that the Anglican church was really anti-christian. His benevolence +and liberality urged him to undertake this office at this time, in hopes +that, since the Doctor's subsistence depended upon his acquiescence, +expediency would facilitate conviction. The noble disinterestedness of +this intention must attract admiration; and though there were abler +advocates in the cause of Presbytery, it would have been difficult to +select one whose motives were so commendable. + +When Barton visited his friend, with a view to effect his conversion, he +took care to conceal the interest he himself had in the business. With +many encomiums on the Doctor's learning and moral conduct, he urged him +to that conformity which would preserve him in a state of usefulness. He +spoke of the differences between moderate members of the Lutheran and +Reformed churches as including no essential doctrines; and mentioned the +friendly intercourse which Calvinistical congregations on the continent +had ever maintained with the church of England, assisting her in her +troubles, and receiving her persecuted members with open arms. He +observed, that what was not evidently of divine origin should never be +made binding to the souls of men, that it was never too late to retract +errors, and if, in the first hurry of separation, some remains of popish +impurity adhered to a new-born church, it behoved its members to remove +the defilement, as soon as a more simple and scriptural view of the +subject allowed them to complete the work of reformation. + +So far Dr. Beaumont, in general, agreed with Mr. Barton; but, adverting +to the learning and talents of the fathers of the Anglican church, he +conceived it attributable to their moderation and wisdom, and not to +their want of sincerity or of clear spiritual views, that they +endeavoured, not to build a new church, but to purify and reform their +old one. Hence, in reply to the taunt of the Romanists, "Where was your +religion before Luther?" they could say, "Our religion preceded your +corruptions, and ever was in the Bible;" thus claiming for their +founder, neither Luther, nor Calvin, nor Melancthon, nor Zuinglius; but +the Saviour of the world. As to the remark, that what was not of divine +institution should not be made a condition of communion, it applied with +full force against the new-fangled covenant, and he clearly proved the +injustice of an imposition, which could never be called law, while it +wanted the essentials which the constitution required; namely, the +assent of the three legislative powers. It threw a grievous burden upon +the conscience of those who took it, because, not content with binding +them to the new form of worship, it also required them to endeavour to +extirpate Prelacy, classing it with Popery, superstition, heresy, +schism, and profaneness. These may all be proved contrary to the word of +God; whereas, allowing that episcopacy is not actually prescribed by +Scripture, its greatest maligners have never been able to shew that it +is contrary to any rule or precept expressed or implied. No +conscientious man, therefore, could take this covenant, unless he +thought that Prelacy ought to be interdicted, and its maintainers +persecuted to extirpation. + +On other branches of the oath, such as its pretext of defending the +King's person, while it justified raising armies to deprive him of his +lawful rights, and accusing the faithful adherents of the King as being +malignant incendiaries, and the cause of the nation's misfortunes, Dr. +Beaumont forbore to expatiate; as a clergyman, he was required chiefly +to look at the ecclesiastical tendency of this obligation, and on that +account he preferred poverty, bonds, or even death, to subscription. + +Barton acknowledged that his party had gone too far, and hoped time +would soften their asperity, and reclaim those who had so loudly +complained of persecution, from continuing to be persecutors. He +enlarged on the beautiful simplicity of primitive worship, as described +in Scripture; talked of the mistakes which had proceeded from a +misapplication of the word Bishop in our translations, and complained +that the church was profuse in her ceremonies; that her forms were too +copious, redundant, and evidently copied from the Romish missal; and +that her terms of subscription were too minute and galling to tender +consciences. + +Dr. Beaumont acknowledged that, like all human institutions, the church +of England, its Liturgy, and its authorised translation of Scripture, +were imperfect; but unless we admit fallibility as a justifiable motive +for rejecting whatever is of human origin, and withholding our obedience +to all governments, because there is something defective in them, this +objection must fall to the ground. The very nature of man, which +prevents him from devising what is perfect, enables him to discover +those defects in the labours of others, which his self-love will not let +him perceive in his own; and thus it has ever been easy to detect and +censure abuses, but difficult to correct them. He proved, that no +congregation of Christians could be maintained, without observing +various forms and arrangements not mentioned in Scripture, in which +there is no fuller description of public service, than that they met +together, with _one accord_, for the purpose of prayer, praise, singing +hymns, reading and expounding the word of God. The rule, "Let all things +be done in order," coupled with the injunction, "to obey those who have +rule over you," justified every national church in framing articles of +concord, and a formulary for public worship; and he thought private +Christians could not be vindicated for disobeying their spiritual +superiors, unless the required terms included something contrary to +divine laws. He inferred from Acts, chap. iv. v. 24, and the following +verses, that a form of prayer was early used in the Christian church, as +it had been in the Jewish; and he stated that the divine compendium +prescribed by our Lord was, indeed, a selection of passages from Jewish +prayers. He observed, that without a service, previously known to all +the congregation, only the minister could be said to pray, the rest were +auditors, not a congregation; listeners to their orator, and judges of +his eloquence; not petitioners in their own name, begging mercy of +God.--Seceders generally pleaded that they put confidence in their +minister; but he would tell them, this was being more Popish than the +church of England could be, in retaining some of the dresses, Liturgies, +and hierarchical orders used by the Romanists; for it was an error of +that church, against which our reformers most vehemently protested, to +give undue importance to the officiating minister, on whose intention +and purpose the value of the sacred ordinance depended. If we change the +word Intention to Gift, is the absurdity less glaring? The Papists +believe, that their priest in the mass can, if he so wills it, change a +wafer into flesh; and that his coinciding purpose is necessary to make +any means of grace effectual. The Anti-formalists call it serving God, +to stand while their minister utters extemporary prayers, the propriety +and suitableness of which must depend on his wisdom and elocution. The +resemblance between the lower classes of secular preachers, and the +mendicant Friars, whose conduct was the disgrace and ruin of Popery, is +most evident; especially in their abuse of the parochial clergy, from +whom they completely estranged the minds of the people, and then led +them into all the absurdities of fanaticism. He shewed that it was +preserving the worst parts of Popery to make a merit of attending +religious assemblies, instead of considering and hearing the word, as a +help to right action; and that in uncharitable judgment of others, with +respect to their spiritual state, and a pertinacious persuasion that +salvation is confined to their own church, the strict Calvinist and the +strict Papist were as one. And he bade Mr. Barton to join with him in +praying God, that there might not be a still closer resemblance; for the +crime of King-killing was of Popish origin, and was defended under the +plea, that to promote the cause of God by cutting off his enemies was +our duty, thus investing themselves with the right of judging who were +God's enemies, and what was truly his cause. + +In saying that the discipline and Liturgy of the English church was +copied from that of the church of Rome, the case was unfairly stated. +Her reformers endeavoured, in all things, to go back to the earliest and +purest models. With singular modesty of judgment, they thought invention +and discovery ill-sounding names in religion. The usages she kept in +common with Rome were those she copied from the primitive churches, and +were therefore uncontaminated with her errors. + +In respect to the word _bishop_, admitting there was a misapplication of +the term, in its present sense, to the ministers of the Ephesian and +Cretan churches, whom Timothy and Titus were commissioned by St. Paul to +select and appoint, yet it was to Timothy and Titus themselves, and to +the authority they were commanded to exercise over these bishops or +presbyters, that we were to look for the scriptural precedent of +Episcopacy. The word Bishop did not come into the use to which we now +apply it during the lives of the apostles, who possessed the same +species of superintendence. But after the death of St. John, the +apostolical fathers, who succeeded as governors of the church of Christ, +modestly declined assuming the name of Apostle, as sanctified by the +peculiar appointment of their heavenly Lord. As Christianity spread, +each tract of country, or large city, had its bishop or overseer, who +ordained the subordinate presbyters and deacons, and administered the +rite of confirmation. Such, without exception, was the government of the +church for nearly sixteen hundred years; and during that period scarce +any objections were started against its utility. What St. Paul appointed +Timothy to be at Ephesus, and Titus in Crete, that was Clement at Rome, +Ignatius at Antioch, and Polycarp at Smyrna; each the ecclesiastical +superintendent of his respective congregation, and a bond of union among +dispersed societies of Christians. + +As to the hardship of the terms of communion required by the Church, and +the unscriptural tendency of some of her forms, Dr. Beaumont wished that +the objectors would agree in stating what they wanted to have altered, +in such a manner that unity might indeed be promoted. "But while," said +he, "every one conceives himself at liberty to find fault, and no two +agree in what you would have changed; while some of your most learned +and pious bring forth new liturgies[4], framed according to their own +peculiar fancy, without the least reference to ancient forms, or any +even plausible pretence why their inventions should supplant what has +been long in use; while others run into metaphysical subtleties and nice +definitions of abstract doctrines[5]; and others inveigh against all +forms as subversive of Christian liberty, are we not justifiable in +retaining what we have till you agree in producing something better? And +as to the multiplicity of our institutions, even with our fearful +example to teach you brevity and simplicity, you have not found the +drawing up of the constitution of a church so simple a thing. The +Directory which was fashioned by your divines took almost a day to read +over; and it is with a bad grace that you object to our using words not +found in holy writ, which we say are rendered necessary by the present +state of theological controversy, when your divines adopted many +new-coined, indefinite words, for which neither Scripture, precedent, +nor significance, could be pleaded." + +Mr. Barton forbore replying to many points in dispute; he acknowledged +that the assembly of divines "had disappointed the hopes of their +employers;" but, recurring to episcopacy, he said, that admitting the +existence of a superintending order among the primitive clergy, how +could we reconcile the poverty and lowliness of the antient bishops with +the splendour, wealth, and temporal power of their successors? and he +added, that the ruin of the church was greatly owing to the secular +lives of the clergy. + +To this Dr. Beaumont replied, that in different states of the church +different duties were required of her ministers. And if (as experience +proved) in a state of persecution, the head of the flock was first +called to suffer, it followed that in prosperous times those who +occupied that station should also be admitted to an upper seat at "the +shearer's feast." Wealth, power, and splendour, are not of necessity +sinful. They did indeed often afford temptations to offend, and so did +poverty; a low servile condition, a life of austerity and mortification, +nay, even religious observances, for the Pharisee sinned in an act of +worship, by boasting himself to be righteous, and despising others. "It +must ever be," said he, "while the Christian priesthood is filled by men +subject to infirmity, that in prosperous times the ministry will, in +numerous instances, be formed of worldly-minded persons, who follow +their Lord for the bread he distributes, and care little for the bread +of life. Such persons being active, ambitious, practised in those habits +which bring their possessors into notice, endowed with much worldly +wisdom, and perhaps supported by powerful interest, must, according to +the ordinary course of things, climb to eminent stations, and by the +publicity of their conduct give occasion to scandal. But no sooner does +the church appear in danger, than these mock supporters desert her; +either changing their party for that which, they think, will eventually +predominate, or seeking personal security in concealment. But then the +true servants of God appear in view; they who, meek and humble, pious +and learned, claim only the distinction of defending or suffering for a +calling which they embraced with a view of fulfilling its duties, not of +engrossing its rewards. All this results, not from the discipline of our +church, but from human nature; and which-ever of your sects finally +gains the ascendancy, the worldly-minded man will find in it the same +expedients to help him to obtain the secular objects at which he +aspires." + +"As to your charge, Mr. Barton, that the lives of our clergy gave +occasion to the downfall of our church, you cannot prove it, unless, +invested with the attribute of omniscience, you can look into the hearts +of men, and estimate the comparative worth of two numerous communities. +The claims of our church to apostolical purity rest on her doctrines, +constitution, and services. These are capable of proof and +investigation, and are not affected by the unworthiness of her +ministers. The pretensions of those sects who reject all creeds, forms, +and canons, rest solely on the qualities of their members; and those who +deny that human institutions can be binding, seem to adopt the common +language of reformers, intimating, that they who pull down the old +temple must be a wiser and worthier race of beings than those who +supported it. Now as each man takes a personal interest in the triumph +of his party, he thinks it his duty, not only to give his neighbour +credit for whatever portion of graces and abilities he lays claim to, +but also makes the same claim for himself; and he must be a bad caterer +who cannot make a savoury compound of spiritual delicacies, when he thus +traffics in them by barter. Yet I often wonder how they, who positively +insist on the absolute depravity of mankind, can reconcile it to +consistency, to make so many of their own brethren absolutely saints. +They call themselves in the aggregate, the vilest of sinners; yet, when +they come to describe particulars, they employ language which even the +most eminent of all the Apostles had too humble a sense of his defects +to adopt. But on the contrary, we who do not found our claims on the +superiority of the earthen vessels in which the heavenly treasure is +lodged, are not solicitous to describe the church militant in terms +appropriate only to the church triumphant. We see and deplore the vices +and errors of each other; and after that acknowledgment, do not, worthy +Barton, call us uncandid if I add, we also discover yours. I will go +further, and own, that we record that as a blemish which you produce as +a beauty; I mean your zeal to promote separation, so plainly +contradictory, not merely to a dubious text, a difficult chapter, or +even an epistle hard to be understood, but to the whole tenor of the New +Testament, which, from St. Matthew to the Revelations, preaches concord, +brotherly love, candour, humility, lenity in judgment, meekness, +submission, unity in belief, in worship, in our conduct on earth, and in +final hope of an eternal reward in heaven." + +Mr. Barton admitted the use and necessity of an establishment, +notwithstanding the errors which must at first mix with it, and the +inert supineness it must afterwards introduce; but he saw little danger +in schism, and doubted if it could indeed be counted a sin. He enlarged +on those texts which permitted Christian liberty, and laid it down as a +fundamental rule for the only difference allowable in a state, that one +church should be approved and all the rest tolerated. The approved +church should be that which had most members, and it should afford +public maintenance and greater encouragement to its pastors; but all +opinions might be promulgated with equal freedom, and every person left +at liberty to interpret Scripture as he pleased, and to serve God in his +own way. + +Dr. Beaumont conceived the adoption of this plan would give occasion to +much talk about religion, but would ripen none of its fruits. The +attention of most men would be too much engrossed by temporal pursuits +to exercise this privilege of choice, till sickness or calamity urged +them to think of a future world. Weak minds, he said, would be "ever +learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth," and the best +disposed would be most apt to fall into error from extreme solicitude to +be right. The differences between Christians chiefly consist in +mysterious or speculative points; hence the perpetual controversies of +those who were struggling to enlarge their communities, would divert the +attention of mankind from moral duties. Every preacher would become, as +it were, a religious prize-fighter, drawing round him an auditory as a +means of subsistence, instead of instructing a congregation in their +duty to God. So there would be endless dispute, nice sifting of abstract +ideas, and censorious inquisitiveness into the spiritual state of our +neighbours, but little humility, charity, or true piety; which consist +in grateful adoration of, and sincere obedience to our Creator, +Redeemer, and Sanctifier, and not in speculations on the +incomprehensible nature and unfathomable purposes of God. From such +unedifying pursuits our church, in her articles, dissuades even her +riper members; how much more then must she, in her elementary +instructions, avoid exciting a taste for them in the tender minds of her +catechumens. + +"Respecting the texts which require us to exercise Christian liberty, we +ought" observed Dr. Beaumont, "to remember two considerations, which will +assist us so to understand, as not to misapply Scripture. We should first +consider the occasion which called forth the precept, and I believe you +will find many of those you quoted, were meant to dissuade Gentile +converts from observing the abrogated institutions of the Jewish law; at +least, I am sure you will not find one which permitted a convert to say +he chose to belong to the congregation of Paul or Apollos, or Cephas. +Such licence of choice St. Paul strictly prohibits, ever labouring, as +his Master had done before him, to build up a church in perfect unity +of faith and worship. The other hint which I would suggest to you is, +that the example of the Devil shews us that texts of Scripture may be +wrested so as to recommend presumption and other enormous offences. +Most assuredly, human governments have no power to inhibit man from +interpreting the Word of God as his conscience dictates, but it is +much to be wished, for the repose of Christendom, for the comfort of +individuals, and the general increase of Christian graces, that "the +unlearned and unstable" would exercise that lowliness and sacred awe +which, operating as a moral restraint, would prevent them from giving +their crude conceptions as faithful interpretations of the secret things +of the Most High. This evil began to work in the Apostles' days, and +every heresy and error that has since arisen in the Catholic church, +claims for its foundation some misapplied text, which the perverse +subtlety, or presumptuous ignorance of its founder wrested from its +true significance. The usurpations of Popery, the daring impieties +of Socinus, the mystical reveries of pietism, and the turbulent +licentiousness of the fifth-monarchy-men, all assail the champions of +orthodoxy with weapons stolen from the divine armoury. Nay, I have +heard that the doctrine of metempsychosis has been supported by +Scripture-proof, and many texts brought to prove the re-appearance +of one human soul in a variety of bodies[6]. Though therefore I +sincerely deprecate all legal restraints on the free use of the Word +of God, I must commend those divines who enforce the moral restraints +I have mentioned, instead of encouraging a boundless latitude of +interpretation. + +"Shall I weary you if I point out whence arise these discrepancies of +opinion? We look into Scripture to confirm our preconceived notions, not +with a reverent desire of learning the truth. Each sect prefers some +portion of Christian doctrine to the whole, and urges its favourite +tenet to an undue extreme. Unskilful interpreters separate texts from +their contexts, or they found doctrines on obscure passages, explaining +away those plain ones by which the more difficult should be expounded, +and overlooking those cautions by which the Holy Spirit guards against +exaggeration. By such men a rhetorical illustration, a poetical figure, +a local or temporary instruction, are made to form points of faith or +positive rules of practice. It is evident many, even of the moral +precepts, given by our Saviour, cannot be literally obeyed[7]; and were +intended rather to cultivate a general feeling, than to be referred to +as a precise injunction; and if we allow for the strong imagery of +eastern idiom on these occasions, let us do the same for those texts +from whence arose the unhappy disputes among Protestants, on what are +called the Five Points; which gave great occasion to Popery to exult in +the disorder produced by our separation from her. And would to God that +could have been avoided without partaking in her sins! + +"To illustrate my idea of the manner in which even moral texts should be +construed, I should consider your favourite precept of "Stand fast in +the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free," as rather intended to +limit the frequent injunctions "to obey those who have rule over us," +and to shew Christianity did not enjoin servility, than as designed to +prove that we are allowed to choose our own temporal and spiritual +masters. And that this is the true interpretation, the universal opinion +of mankind must prove, who, in preferring government to anarchy, and +supporting the state by coercive laws, shew that they consider the +multitude as naturally subject to the institutions of the country which +gave them birth, and whose protection and privileges they enjoy. And +believe me, Mr. Barton, those who now insist so much on the rights of +equal liberty, when they come to govern, will inforce the duty of +subordination, and will exact all the claims to which age, station, +authority, prescription, or superior attainments are entitled. I shall +not blame them; the peace of society depends on the inviolability of +these claims. I only censure them for exciting popular resentment +against us, by holding forth ideas of perfection which experience tells +us cannot be realized in this life." + +"I perceive," returned Barton, "you object to the fundamental doctrines +on which we found our separation; but, if you refuse to be my convert, +let me hope that you will at least affect a passive acquiescence. If the +King assents to the terms which Parliament now requires, and abolishes +episcopacy, surely you will not resist what you must then, on your own +principles, admit to be law." + +Dr. Beaumont steadily answered, that even then he would not take the +covenant; for though the King and Parliament conjointly possessed very +ample legislative powers, they could not alter the constitution, of +which they were conservators, not fabricators. "But," said he, "this +question is scarcely a speculation. I am well aware that our high-minded +King too little values the title and parade, which he is aware is all +the present Parliament will ever grant him, to wound his own conscience, +or lay snares for that of others. I have therefore rather to consider +how I shall suffer with my King, than whether I can temporize with him. +I know, worthy Barton, you have a message to deliver. It does not come +upon me as an assassin upon a sleeping man; I have long foreseen that +this strong-hold of loyal and episcopal principles could not be spared; +and I have earnestly implored the grace of Christian fortitude, that I +may resign my last temporal possession without a murmur. The power +possessed by the predominant party to afflict us, is given them by God. +It is designed to purify a sinful people, and to revive the flame of +piety in a lukewarm church, whose best restorative will be exemplary +holiness. Tried in the furnace of adversity, I doubt not that she will +come out pure gold, and that our present sorrows will serve as a warning +to the latest times in which England shall be remembered as a nation, to +beware of the leaven of hypocrisy, to avoid divisions, and to cultivate +universal charity and forbearance, instead of vain unprofitable +disputations on metaphysical rights and abstruse doctrines." + +Mr. Barton asserted that public morals had been much benefited by the +new ministry, who, however unpromising their attainments and manners +might be to secular eyes, shewed by their success that they were chosen +implements in the hand of Providence to convert the nation. He observed +the cause of unity would be considerably benefited by England's +conforming to the discipline of the reformed churches abroad. He would +not affirm that episcopacy was the cause of her present miseries; but he +insisted it would be a hindrance to her healing her wounds. + +Dr. Beaumont answered, that there was no doubt Divine Power could +accomplish its ends by any instrument; but as it was presumptuous in man +to require Omnipotence to work miracles, so it was the duty of rulers to +select the most capable and promising agents for every work of +importance. The will of God was as often fulfilled by stubborn folly as +by obedient wisdom; yet those who wished that "will to be done upon +earth," would fill responsible stations with those that seemed most like +the inhabitants of heaven. + +"You must allow us, who have played a losing game, to talk," said Dr. +Beaumont, "and believe me, that so far from meaning any thing personal +in my remarks, I honour the patience with which you listen to my +prosings, and the benevolence which induces you to wish me to see my own +interest. As far as I have observed, men of sound heads, and sober +lives, are oftener endued with the especial graces of the Holy Spirit, +than persons of weak judgment, or those whose previous conversation +placed them in the power of sin, that grand hardener of the heart. A +great change has indeed taken place in the manners of the nation; but +when I see the dreadful scenes that daily occur; the first persons in +the kingdom dragged to prison, or to the scaffold, for no other crime +than allegiance; estates confiscated; the temples of God despoiled; the +mysteries of religion ridiculed and disputed; the bonds of +family-affection broken; servants turned into house-hold spies; domestic +privacies violated by informers, in the shape of friends; every one +disputing about religion, yet few knowing in what it consists; spiritual +pride calling itself piety, and censoriousness affecting the name of +zeal for our neighbour's salvation; insubordination pervading every +order of society; all clamouring for their own way, and 'meaning +licence, when they cry liberty;' the most disingenuous shifts and +dishonest contrivances resorted to, not merely without punishment, but +without fear of censure; when I see all this, can I say that morals are +improved, because theatres are turned into conventicles, and banquets +and revels give place to polemical lectures? The faces of men do indeed +assume the appearance of sanctity, but that it is only the appearance is +evident, because true piety gives chearful serenity to the countenance, +and easy simplicity to the whole carriage. It occasionally blazes in +ordinary conversation, but it is in the fervent and edifying language of +glory to God, and good-will to man. It never talks, for the sake of some +secular, or treacherous purpose, of seeking the Lord.--It judges not its +neighbour's heart.--It boasts not of its early provocations and present +acceptance, nor does it debase the doctrine of Providence, by low and +familiar applications of Almighty interposition to its own trivial +concerns; applications which argue, not religious thankfulness, but +self-importance. It is careful never to anathematize its opponents, by a +misapplication of Scripture-texts or events, knowing 'that the sword of +the Spirit,' must not be wielded by personal, or party animosity. Nor +does it suffer the fervors of devout love and gratitude, to overpower +the humility of conscious dust and ashes. Its approaches to the Holy One +of Israel are made with reverence. The sanctity of a penitent heart +revolts from every allusion to carnal passion, with more than virgin +horror; and in its most elevated raptures it still sees the Creator, and +the creature, the Saviour, and the sinner, the Sanctifier, and thing +sanctified. Such is true piety, the habit of the soul; not the +disfigurer of the countenance, nor the fashioner of the apparel, in +which points it shews no difference from good sense, and modest +propriety." + +"The observations you have made on the advantages which would result +from the King's giving up episcopacy, require but a brief reply. If, as +has been shewn, Calvin introduced a form of discipline, perfectly +anomalous, the error of the reformed churches, in departing from antient +usage, is not to be copied, but shunned; and conformity would make +England do wrong, not prove Geneva to be right. On this false view of +unity, might the primitive Christians and Protestant martyrs be censured +for non-conformity. It could be said, that they disturbed the repose of +the world, by opposing the old doctrine of the unity of the Godhead to +idol worship, or, that by preaching the primitive faith, they annulled +the lucrative Christianity in which the Papacy traded. Nor do I admit +that expedience is a lawful rule of conduct, in cases where moral +principle is concerned. We must act as our conscience, enlightened by +the best helps we can procure, tells us is right, and leave the event to +God." + +"And now," continued Dr. Beaumont, "my good friend, for such I know you +are, even in this attempt to change my principles, though my coat has +been worn too long, and is of too stubborn stuff to cut into the new +shape, tell me the name of my successor, that I may remember him in my +prayers. For trust me, he, and all those who supplant the episcopal +clergy, will have an arduous duty to fulfil. The eyes of Europe will be +turned upon them. They have made a vast vacuity, and it will require no +common portion of ability, no ordinary supply of graces, to fill the +mighty void. Popery has long looked to our church for the most potent +soldiers. See that ye be able to maintain the Protestant cause as +effectually, and serve God as well with your labours and your lives." + +Mr. Barton too well recollected Dr. Beaumont's remarks, on the covert +avidity of praise, which was too marked a feature of the separatists, to +use any of those phrases of humble sound, but arrogant purport, which he +had just heard so properly rebuked. He thanked Dr. Beaumont for his +promised intercession, in behalf of himself and his evangelical +brethren; frankly acknowledging their situation would be arduous. "As to +your immediate successor," said he, "I trust you will not find him, a +'barren fig-tree,' but one in 'whom faith worketh by love;' though, +peradventure, his face is not shaped in exact conformity to your notions +of a religious aspect, and his mode of study may have led him to doubt, +where you are certain, and to deem that perspicuous, in which you see +difficulties." The controversialists parted with mutual good-will. + +Dr. Beaumont had already taken every precaution to fortify and prepare +his family for the trial which awaited them. He had forcibly pointed out +the defective patience of those, who, though submissive and composed +under corrections, which proceeded immediately from the hand of God; +such as sickness, loss of friends by death, or any misfortunes arising +from unpropitious seasons, or other accidents; are querulous and +rebellious, when the same Sovereign Disposer of events corrects them +through the intervention of their enemies. Pride, envy, hatred, +ingratitude, selfishness, and treachery, are evils permitted against +others; as well as plagues and offences in those who cherish them. Like +pain, or decrepitude, hurricanes or drought, poverty or death, they +prove, and purify the servants of God. The wrath of man has an allowed +limit, which it can no more pass, than the raging ocean can the rocks by +which it is bounded. And, if under the trial of moral evil, we behave +wisely, charitably, and devoutly, we shall often find that even fraud +and envy will produce some temporal advantages. Strangers have +frequently stretched out their hands to help those whom friends and +kindred have oppressed and abandoned. The world is ever disposed to look +kindly on persons suffering wrong, provided they are not vehement in +their resentments, and disposed to assist themselves by honest industry +and wise measures. The cruelty of a tyrant has sometimes introduced +superior desert to conspicuous notice; and at the worst, there is an +inward peace, "which passeth understanding," that the oppressor never +can enjoy, nor can he deprive the victim of his hatred from partaking of +it. This is that peace of God which we forfeit, only by displeasing Him. + +Nor did he deem adversity and poverty useless situations to others. The +wish of the powerless is recorded, the intercessive prayer of the +indigent is offered to God by the Mediator, who observed and blessed the +scanty donation of the poor widow. Those angels, who wait around His +throne, serve the Most High, as acceptably as they who fly on his +messages. It was owing to too inordinate a love of the praise of men, +that people generally feared to spend their lives in a condition, where +no one thought their actions worth attending to.--We like the text, "Let +your light shine before men;" but we recoil from that which bids us be +content with the approbation "of Him who seeth in secret." These +commands were intended for different stations, one suited the affluent, +the other the needy, and they were, beside, limitations and comments on +each other, teaching us neither to contemn praise, nor to pursue it too +ardently. He spoke much of the passive virtues, patience, returning good +for evil (which the most indigent might do by remembering their enemies +in their prayers), self-denial, self-examination, and aspirations after +a better world. Few, he said, were in a state so destitute, as not to be +able to render some service to their fellow-creatures; but all might +serve God. While we possessed the inestimable gift of reason, we had +ample cause to bless Him, even if we were poor, old, lame, blind, or +helpless; and from such a disfigured censor, how grateful would the +incense of praise ascend to our Creator's courts? + +He desired Mrs. Mellicent to moderate the asperity with which she spoke +and acted towards the triumphant party. He told her he had fixed his +determination to return to Ribblesdale, the scene of his pastoral +charge, from which he thought himself not lawfully exonerated, and where +his presence might be of some service, at least as an example. But as he +could only gain permission to continue there, by preserving the most +quiet demeanour, she must now, from regard to his safety, (if from no +better motive) avoid execrating the round-heads. He gently hinted too, +that, since they must now appear in a very different capacity to what +they had formerly done, a more condescending carriage, and less sharp +austerity, would better conceal them from the exultation of their +enemies. + +He intreated Constantia, (whose silent anxiety for Eustace had paled the +roses on her cheek) to think of the various miseries which had +overwhelmed the nation, and to bear her portion with fortitude. Many +great families had seen all their promising branches cut off. Many had +to lament worse than the death of their offspring, namely, their +treachery, and hopeless wickedness. To have preserved all his family +around him, and only to have lost his fortune, would have been, in these +times, a too rare felicity. Many profligates were neglected in their +education, and of such, small hope of reformation could be formed. But +if Eustace were alive, the good seed had been sown in his heart, and he +could not but hope, that he would at last, if not even till the eleventh +hour, be found labouring in the vineyard. + +Isabel needed little admonition. She had joined with the family in the +devout services in which Dr. Beaumount had exercised them, to strengthen +their fortitude and arm them with Christian graces. She rose from her +knees, patient, cheerful, full of resources, and ready to engage in the +task of active duty. She anticipated a return to harder toils and +privations, than those to which she had submitted in early life; but she +felt equal to her expected trial. She rejoiced in the capability of her +vigorous constitution, firm health, and unbroken spirits. She could read +to the Doctor--clear-starch Mrs. Mellicent's pinners--nurse +Constantia--cook for the family--take in plain-work--teach school--in +short do every thing to make them comfortable, and find her own comfort +in so doing. + +Barton parted with the Beaumonts with deep regret. He had stretched his +interest to the utmost to procure permission for the Doctor to reside at +Ribblesdale, and to recover a fifth of the sequestered living for his +support. He did not, however, like many friends, rest satisfied with +exerting his interest. His purse was also open to their wants, and his +first instance of kindness was furnishing them with a supply for their +long journey. His next was giving to Dr. Beaumont a sealed bond, with an +injunction not to open it till the next quarter-day. In it he covenanted +to pay him regularly half the profits of his canonry as long as he +enjoyed it, and to diminish a sense of obligation, he required the +Doctor to return him another bond, subjecting himself to a similar +division, in case a change of times should cause another revolution of +incumbents. The delicacy of this proceeding, at a time so peculiarly +unfavourable to the hopes of Loyalists, tended much to assist the +Doctor's endeavours of making his family charitably disposed, and even +Mrs. Mellicent went so far as to lament that Barton was not a churchman. + + + [1] Such was the case of Dr. Morley, Bishop of Winchester, who + was accidentally met and relieved by Sir Christopher Yelverton, + and for many years sheltered in his mansion. + + [2] This was true of the family of Wren, Bishop of Hereford, + besides many others. He was imprisoned eighteen years, refusing + to accept any favour from the Usurper. He lived to the Restoration. + + [3] This description is taken from the Spectator, No. 424. Mr. + Pennant says it is believed to delineate Dr. Goodwin, President + of Magdalen college, during the great rebellion. + + [4] This was done by Mr. Baxter at the Savoy Conference. + + [5] See the Assembly's Shorter Catechism on God's decrees, the + redemption of the elect, &c. + + [6] This notion was held, and a curious book written on it by + the successor of Dr. Jeremy Taylor in the see of Dromore. + + [7] In particular, see Luke, chap. vi. ver. 29, 30. + + + + +CHAP. XVI. + + The Commonwealth is sick of its own choice. + + Shakspeare. + + +The aspect of Ribblesdale and the adjoining country, was completely +changed, during the five years absence of the Beaumont family. The +fields and villages, notwithstanding the two last years of comparative +repose, bore mournful marks of the ravages of civil war; trade was still +stopped and agriculture suspended. The people, disappointed in their +hopes of freedom and prosperity by their new masters, longed for the +restoration of their King, whose saint-like demeanour, during his long +captivity, contradicted the calumnies which his enemies had propagated, +and shewed him in his true light, alike conspicuous for his ability, his +fortitude, and his misfortunes. The reign of freedom had ended in +military despotism; equality had created a tyrant; zeal had introduced +fanaticism and hypocrisy, and discontent was every where so ripe, that +the presence of a victorious army, and the vigilance of almost as +numerous a host of spies and informers, could not prevent attempts being +made (in almost every part of the kingdom) to liberate the King, and +restore the old order of things. But where to find funds and leaders, +was the chief difficulty. The heads of most noble families, +distinguished for loyalty, were either slain, or exiled; their estates +confiscated or wasted by the pressure of enormous fines, their +residences burnt or pillaged, and their farms laid waste. The few who +remained in England, watched and betrayed by their own servants, knew +not how to act, or whom to trust, for every tie of obligation, as well +as all sense of subordination and respect for superiors, were entirely +annihilated. + +In passing Lathom-house, Dr. Beaumont pondered on that celebrated scene +of determined female heroism. Though the noble pile bore many marks of +the arduous conflict it had sustained, its walls (like the family to +which it belonged) still displayed the unyielding superiority of +aristocratic loyalty. But Waverly Hall was a complete ruin. A few of the +meaner offices, and a part of the walls, marked where the residence +stood, which once sheltered crafty selfishness. The park afforded a +temporary asylum to a gang of gipseys, whose cattle grazed unmolested on +the unclaimed demesne, once guarded even from the intrusion of admiring +curiosity, by the secluding jealousy of a cold-hearted worldling, whose +pride counteracted his ostentation, and whose timidity was even greater +than his self-love. + +Dr. Beaumont was himself the herald of his own return. His humble +equipage attracted no attention. His first care being to lodge his +family, he sought the house of Dame Humphreys. The streets of the +village were silent and deserted. Neither the loom, the flail, nor the +anvil were heard; not a child was to be seen at play; every thing looked +as if this was a portion of that city where progressive action is +suspended, and the sun hangs level over the ocean without power of +sinking. Dr. Beaumont, however, found Dame Humphreys actively employed; +and a superabundance of good cheer shewed that she was intent on +purposes of hospitality. She welcomed the exiled Rector and his family +with cordial transport; and assured him, though she had heard as many +fine men since he left them as there were stars in the sky, she had +never sat under any one by whom she had been so much edified. + +The Beaumonts had many questions to ask, and no one was better endowed +with the quality of free communication than this kind-hearted dame. She +accounted for the silence of the village and her own extraordinary +bustle, by stating that it was exercise-day; a meeting of ministers had +been at the godly work for eight hours; and she doubted not, after so +long buffeting Satan, they would come away main hungry. "My poor +Gaffer," said she, "always brings all he can to our house. They tell him +a blessing comes upon all those who furnish a chamber for wayfaring +prophets, and set on pottage for them; but for my part I see it not, and +begin to wonder whether these are prophets or no. As for our Gaffer, he +has left off drinking and quarrelling, to be sure, which Your Reverence +had used to rate him for at times; but then he did look after the farm +and the cattle, and saw things went right. But now he says, let the +morrow take care for itself; so we have nothing but preaching, and +praying, and pecking at other people, and telling of experiences and +stumbling-blocks, and abusing those who don't hold all that we do; and +all this while the ricks grow less and less every year. And then when +any thing goes wrong in the house, they pop it into a sermon, not as +Your Reverence did when you preached about the ten commandments, but a +preachment of an hour about such frivolous things as set husbands +a-scolding their wives for spoiling their dinner, or not mending their +clothes; and our poor Gaffer is grown so cast down ever since Priggins +told him he thought he was a reprobate, that he says it is a crying sin +to look happy; so he keeps praying on till we have no time to practise." + +Isabel inquired how the children were able to command attention to such +long services; and Dame Humphreys owned the change in this respect was +wonderful. "To be sure," said she, "they do sometimes fall sick; but +there is a vast number of thriving little saints growing up among us, +who can find out a legal preacher in a moment, and tell you if he is a +fine man before he is out of breath the first time. There's my +grand-daughter (Nancy we used to call her, but they have since given her +some hard name I never can recollect), she is only nine years old, and +is such a gifted creature that she has chosen her religion, and says she +will be a Brownist, for there is no other way to be saved. But her +sister Hephzebah has not had her call yet, and says till she has she is +to give no account for what she does, and afterwards sin will not lie at +her door. Your Reverence shakes your head; but you will now find a vast +deal of learning in the parish, and hard words, and every body able to +talk with you; but I say again, that what with spending their time in +idleness, and slandering each other, and sighing and groaning they don't +know for what, and making feasts for ministers, and night meetings, and +praying against the King, and cursing the bishops, and pulling down the +church--give me the old times again, and the old way of going to +Heaven." + +Dr. Beaumont sighed at this strongly coloured, but artless picture of +fanatical licence, and changed the subject by inquiring the fate of the +Waverly family. Their history was indeed tragical. "Poor Sir William," +Dame Humphreys said, "had turned, and trimmed, and cut in, and cut out, +till nobody knew whether he was of any side at all, till, just as Prince +Rupert raised the siege of Lathom House, when, thinking the King was +sure to conquer, mid wanting to be made a Lord, he joined the Prince +with a small troop of horse, intending (his neighbours thought) to +gallop away before the battle began, for Sir William hated the sight of +blood. But so it was; his time was come, and then there is no escaping, +for Sir William was shot in his own quarters in a night-skirmish--and +who did they think by?" Here she turned pale with horror, and the +natural simplicity of her language seemed elevated by the emotions +arising from the dreadful tale she had to relate.--"By his own son. O! +Your Honour, it is too true. A kinsman of mine saw the deed done, and +the ground has looked blasted ever since. But young Sir Harry, as now +ought to be, little thought it was his father when he called him a +drunken old cavalier; for the poor old gentleman trembled so, he could +not cry for quarter till his son had given him his death's wound; and he +saw by the flash of the pistol who it was, and called to mind how he had +made him serve in the Parliament army against his will. So he just +groaned out, "God is just, Harry," and died. It was the most piteous +sight; for the poor youth fell on the dead body, and groaned, and tore +his hair, and beat himself in such a manner, till his soldiers bore him +away; and what has become of him since that day no soul knows, for he +has never come to claim the estate, nor to look after any thing; so +Parliament seized it all, because Sir William died at last a Loyalist. +But nobody will buy it, for they cannot make a title, as Sir Harry has +not forfeited, and may be alive. Beside, people said the house was +haunted, so it has never been tenanted; and whoever wants to build, +fetches it away piece-meal; and the gypsies camp in the Park when they +come from the neighbouring fairs, and all goes to ruin like the +time-serving family who lived there." + +The awful reflections on retributive justice which the fate of this +unprincipled man excited, were interrupted by the return of Humphreys, +who ushered in some of his divines. The change which his wife described +was visible in his horror-stricken countenance. He had been formerly a +man of a sordid worldly disposition and hard unyielding temper, on whom +the mild Christian persuasions of Dr. Beaumont had occasionally made +good impressions, though these were as often blunted by the power of +long indulged habits. But when such a man was roused from his stupor by +the cauteries of Calvinism, despair was more likely to take possession +of his mind than the pious energy and humble hopes which follow true +repentance. Priggins indeed boasted of Humphreys as a convert, on the +ground of his being restrained from the public commission of some faults +in which he had formerly indulged; but if one evil spirit had been +dispossessed, seven more wicked had taken up their abode in his heart. +He was terrified, not awakened; plunged in an abyss of desperation and +misanthropy, not excited to a life acceptable to God or useful to man. +The sight of Dr. Beaumont recalled to his mind many acts of fraud and +injustice which he had formerly committed against him; but the long +exercises, as they were called, to which he had been listening, had not +illustrated the universal promise of mercy to penitent sinners; they +held out no encouragement to co-operate with the divine call to newness +of life which the gospel gives to all mankind; they gave no explanation +of reformation and restitution as necessary parts of repentance. Much to +their own ease, and with daring disregard of all the plain and practical +parts of Scripture, the preachers successively employed themselves in +expounding what they called dark texts, on which they built their +favourite system; impious in theory and destructive in practice. They +spoke of election and reprobation as positive, irreversible decrees of +God, no ways resulting from the conduct of man, whom they stated to be a +mere inefficient vessel filled with grace and destined to glory, or +heaped full of pollution and devoted to eternal destruction, according +to the arbitrary will of the Framer, without any liberty of choice in +himself, or any power of expediting his own faith or final +justification. They spoke of the saving call as discernibly +supernatural, preceded by bodily as well as mental torture, and +instantaneously followed by a perceptible assurance that they could +never more sin, that the righteousness of their Redeemer was imputed to +them, and that, as his merits were all-sufficient, nothing was required +of them but the supineness of passive faith. This routine of doctrines, +varied according to the different tempers and phraseology of the +preachers, and rendered yet more obscure by bold metaphors and strained +allusions, was what poor Humphreys incessantly listened to, fancying he +was thus taking care of his soul, and vainly hoping he would gather some +instructions which would assuage his secret horrors. He was miserable +when not employed in this manner; yet, as no start of enthusiasm ever +told him that the saving call had taken place even in the congregations +which he mistook for the courts of the Lord, he rather hoped for, than +found relief from his tortures. Pale and haggard in his looks, morose +and sullen in his manners, restless and dissatisfied, he revived the +disputations of the conventicle at the table, calling on Dr. Beaumont to +tell what he thought of some points of doctrine on which his ministers +could not agree. The Doctor attempted to speak, but his voice was soon +drowned by the Stentorian lungs and tautological verbiage of his +opponent. Only one sentence that he uttered was distinctly heard, which +was a quotation from the pious Hammond, that "exemplary virtue must +restore the church." A general cry was raised against this sentiment. +One repeated a text from St. Paul, supposed to assert the inefficacy of +works; another observed, it was presumptuous to dictate to Providence. +Some called him a formalist; others a Pharisee; while a third party, yet +more metaphysical, denied that men, strictly speaking, had any power to +act at all. Priggins at last rose, and, with many plausible pretences of +charity, proposed that they should all pray for their offending brother, +which was done in the anathematizing style which, in those days, was +called intercession: "Lord, open the eyes of this reprobate sinner. +Pluck him as a burning brand out of the furnace of thy wrath. Make him +see that he is a vessel filled with spiritual pride, hypocrisy, and +barren legality. Punish him for the saving of his soul till he repents +of his ungodly enmity to us thy chosen favourites, whom thou hast raised +to the work of conversion, and penned in thy fold to eternal life," &c. + +Dr. Beaumont and his family withdrew, in compassionate silence, from +this profane perversion of devotion, which discovered the same spirit of +intolerance and persecution that characterized the darkest periods of +Popery. A project had been formed by Isabel, to which the rest of the +family readily assented. This was to take up their abode for the present +in the untenanted ruins of Waverly-hall, and endeavour to prevent its +further dilapidation. With the assistance of Williams, she re-inclosed +the garden, and put a few of the outer tenements into that state of +comfort which cleanliness supplies. Dame Humphreys conscientiously +restored all the moveables she held in trust to furnish their +apartments; and, as Dr. Beaumont brought with him a protection from the +government, neither Morgan nor Priggins could prevent him from residing +in the parish as long as he conducted himself in an inoffensive manner. +As to Davis, since his induction into the Rectory, he had gradually +carnalized (to use one of his own favourite expressions); and, being +grown sleek and contented, he preferred reposing in his arm-chair to +storming in the pulpit, congratulating himself with having reformed the +church, which he effected by removing every ornament as superstitious, +stripping public worship of every decency, publicly burning the Common +Prayer books, and denying the sacraments to all who were not +Covenanters. Having done all this, he thought it time to rest from his +labours, and devoted his days to those gross indulgences of appetite +which are not unfrequently the solaces of men who consider the +enjoyments of mental taste as criminal, permitting his neglected flock +to be collected by Priggins, or any other hungry itinerant who was +training himself as a theological tyro, previous to his being settled in +an incumbency. + +Among these tents of Kedar, Dr. Beaumont fixed his habitation with a +soul thirsting for peace, and a mind disposed to subdue his opponents by +those invincible weapons, a meek and quiet spirit, and a holy, +inoffensive, and useful life. His narrow finances, derived chiefly from +a precarious fund, allowed not the practice of that liberality which is +the surest means of attracting a crowd of panegyrists; and his scanty +means were still further taxed by what he esteemed the duty of sending +assistance to many gallant royalists at this time in arms for the +imprisoned King; in particular to those, who, with the brave, repentant +Morrice, surprised Pontefract Castle, and made from thence those +courageous sallies and predatory incursions which gave employment to the +Parliamentary troops in that quarter, and prevented them from uniting to +overwhelm the succours which Sir Marmaduke Langdale was conducting to +join Duke Hamilton and the Scotch Loyalists. But, however limited its +means, a good heart will ever discover some way of shewing its +benevolence. Charity was now a scanty rill, not an ample stream; but its +source was fed by a regular supply, and where it ran it fertilized. +Constantia roused her mind from the apathy of grief to obey and support +her father. She found she could instruct the ignorant; and though no +longer able to furnish materials for clothing the naked, she could cut +out garments and sew them for those who were too ill-informed to be +expert in female housewifery. Isabel and she gathered herbs; Mrs. +Mellicent superintended their distillation, and again consulted "The +Family Physician," in forming ointments and compounding cordials; Dr. +Beaumont went from house to house, trying to conciliate his +parishioners, and to recall their wanderings, in nothing changed but the +paleness of his countenance and the homeliness of his attire, still +reproving with mild authority, and instructing with affectionate +solicitude; while his appearance spoke a heart yearning over the sorrows +and sins of the kingdom, and habits necessarily restricted to that bare +sufficiency which just supports life. The manners of the young ladies +were equally mild, uncomplaining, and respectable; the only difference +was, that Constantia was pensive and dejected, Isabel active and +cheerful in adversity. The former seemed to move in a joyless routine of +duty; but Isabel was so animated that only the most minute observer +could tell that she was not perfectly happy, and hence she gained the +character of having an unfeeling heart. + +The affectionate respect which the villagers had long felt for their old +pastor soon began to revive. Man naturally looks on the unfortunate with +pity. The Beaumonts no longer excited envy, which (such is our proneness +to offend) is often the substitute for gratitude. Dr. Beaumont was now +their superior only in goodness and wisdom; a superiority more easily +endured than that created by affluence or a larger share of temporal +indulgencies. Many too began to be weary of the tautology and confusion +of their arbitrary services, which, depending upon the humour, or (as +they proudly called it) the inspiration of their minister, often wearied +instead of gratifying the curiosity of the hearers. They recollected the +Liturgy of the Church of England with somewhat of the feeling we +entertain for a dead friend, remembering all his excellences, forgetting +his imperfections, and lamenting that in his lifetime we were often +inclined captiously to condemn his whole conduct. By returning to that +church from which they had been led, by what they now saw was the spirit +of delusion, they exercised the freedom of choice which was so dear to +their proud feelings; and it soon became the request of many of the +parishioners, that Dr. Beaumont would read to them the church service, +and expound the Scripture in the manner prescribed by her articles. To +read the Liturgy was now become a statutable offence; but Dr. Beaumont +adopted, as an expedient, what was then resorted to by many divines[1] +well versed in difficult cases of conscience--changing the expressions, +but preserving a meaning as closely allied to the old worship as the +times would admit. Yet even this transposed and disguised form was too +opposite to the doctrines, and, (may it not be said?) too superior to +the productions of the new teachers to be permitted with impunity. Hence +Dr. Beaumont found it necessary, for his own safety, to collect his +little flock on a Sunday evening, in an unfrequented valley surrounded +by hills, on one of which a centinel was placed to prevent their being +surprised in this interdicted worship; and thus this church, literally +exiled and driven into the wilderness, performed the Christian sacrifice +of prayer and praise. + +The storm of war, however, soon interrupted their devotion; and, rolling +fearfully from the North, came close to the dwelling where the pious +pastor endeavoured to drink the waters of affliction in privacy. The +Duke of Hamilton had now collected an army, from whose efforts to wipe +off the shame of their countrymen the Covenanters, in delivering up the +King to his merciless enemies, a glorious result was expected. With this +hope they entered England by way of Carlisle; and, preceded by the +English forces, led by Sir Marmaduke Langdale, they marched into +Lancashire full of zeal and confidence, but negligent of that +discipline, and inattentive to those military expedients by which alone +(considering the enemy with whom they had to contend) the least shadow +of success could be acquired. In vigilance, activity, and prompt +decision, Cromwell was the very prototype of that man who has changed +the aspect of the present times. Various armies were collected with +almost magical celerity, and provided with every necessary for their own +comfort and the annoyance of the foe; and scarcely had the Loyalists in +the west, north, and east brought their raw recruits into the field, +before a well-appointed body of veterans was arrayed against them, ready +to cut off their resources, and give them battle. Cromwell himself took +the command of the northern division; and without delaying his grand +design, by stopping to subdue Pontefract Castle, as his more timid +counsellors advised, he marched immediately to attack the Scotch army, +though with inferior numbers, and put them to the rout, after having +first defeated their English allies. Both the generals were taken +prisoners. Sir Marmaduke afterwards escaped; but the Duke suffered on +the scaffold shortly after the Royal Martyr whom, with late repentance, +he vainly attempted to save. + +The scene of this contest was so near Ribblesdale that the engagement +was plainly seen from the hills I have just spoken of, where Dr. +Beaumont and his family, with the fervent piety, though not with the +success of Moses, held up their hands in prayer to the God of battle. +The result disappointed their ardent hopes; and the more grateful duty +of thanksgiving was thus changed to humble resignation. The fugitive +Loyalists and their vindictive pursuers scoured along the valleys. The +present situation of the Beaumonts was highly unsafe; and they eagerly +hurried along to regain the melancholy shelter of their ruinous abode. + +The shades of evening fell as they entered Waverly Park, agonized with +sorrow and commiseration of the calamities they had beheld. A squadron +of cavalry rode rapidly by them, which they guessed were part of the +King's northern horse, so celebrated in the early periods of the civil +war. Isabel's anxiety to see if they were closely pursued conquered her +female terrors. She ran from her friends and climbed a little eminence, +by which means she discovered a sight which roused the liveliest +feelings of compassion. She saw an officer falling from his horse, dead, +as she believed. Perceiving that he bled profusely, she called to her +uncle to go back with her and try if they could render him any +assistance. On such an occasion even Constance was courageous, and they +all hastened to the spot where he lay. Mrs. Mellicent remarked, that +though he had lost the distinguishing insignia, she feared, by his being +so well accoutered, he was a rebel. His helmet was fallen off, his +countenance entirely disfigured with blood, and the hand which grasped +his broad-sword seemed stiffened instead of being relaxed by death. "It +matters not what he is," replied Dr. Beaumont, "his present state +requires immediate assistance." Constantia seized one of his hands to +see if life still fluttered in the pulse, but dropped it in an agony, +exclaiming, "Merciful Heaven, it is Eustace! I know him by the ring he +always wore." Dr. Beaumont immediately recognized the well-known crest +of the Earls of Bellingham. "Dear unfortunate youth," said he; "yet, my +child, be comforted; he has died in a most righteous cause." By this +time Isabel, who had ran to fetch some water, returned, and began to +wash his face, and staunch the blood, while the distracted Constance +clung, screaming, to the bosom of her aunt, wildly lamenting the fate of +her beloved. With more self-command, but equal anxiety, Isabel removed +the clotted gore, and pulled the matted hair from off his brow. "These," +said she, "are not my brother's features, but indeed I know them well. +Our noble protector, the good Barton's pupil--" She paused a moment, and +gasped for her own breath, while eagerly watching if he respired. A deep +sob gave indication of life. "He is alive," continued she, in a low +whisper, as if fearing to precipitate a spirit that was fluttering +between time and eternity; "let us gently raise, and try to restore +him." + +There was not one of the party who did not anxiously join in expressing, +by their active services, the sense they entertained of former kindness. +Williams hastened to bring a wain and mattress; Mrs. Mellicent ran for +bandages and styptics; and the wounded gentleman was safely conveyed to +the house, still in a state of insensibility. Mrs. Mellicent's skill had +stopped the hemorrhage; and a more scientific surgeon, who was called +in, pronounced that, with proper care, his wounds would not prove +mortal. Isabel claimed the office of chief nurse; the patient's senses +gradually returned; and his eyes, when again capable of distinguishing +objects, recognized one which had long been impressed on his heart. He +rewarded her benevolent ministration with a grateful smile and feeble +pressure of her hand; and Isabel felt happier at that moment than she +had ever done since her dear mother was interred among Fourness Fells, +when, with a voice convulsed with grief, she joined in the requiem, +filled her coffin with funeral herbs, and scattered the emblems of +sorrow on her grave. + +"You must not speak," said Isabel; "the Doctor has prescribed the utmost +quietness; you must only listen while I tell you, that for a thousand +worlds I would not have lost the pleasure of saving your life. Had I not +turned back you would have bled to death in a few minutes. Alas!" +continued she, recollecting herself, "the hope of your recovery +transports me too far. I forget that your exertions probably contributed +to make the battle of Preston end so fatally to our cause? Why are you +the enemy of my King and of my father?" + +"I will never be the enemy of those you love," replied he, with a look +of languishing pain and grateful anxiety. Isabel burst into tears. "Say +that again," said she; "just those words and no more, lest your wounds +should bled afresh; and if you die--" + +"Sweet Isabel, finish that sentence." + +"I shall surely die of grief," said she, rushing out of the room to call +her aunt to take her office, ashamed that her joy at her patient's +recovery of his senses had overpowered her habitual self-command. + +The news of Dr. Beaumont's having preserved the life of a wounded +officer, soon reached the ears of Morgan, who concluding it must be one +of his own party, imagined he should now have ample opportunity to wreak +his vengeance on a man whom he had marked for destruction, in revenge +for the insult he had received from Eustace, and the disappointment of +his hopes of obtaining Constantia. It was, however, necessary to +ascertain the fact of his harbouring a Royalist taken in arms, before he +proceeded to frame the information. Not satisfied with the Doctor's +solemn assurance that the person whose life he had preserved was in +reality a Parliamentary officer, he insisted on examining him himself; +and also that he might interrogate him without the intrusion of any +witness. The danger which the sufferer's health might undergo, was +beneath his notice; he entered the room with an air of domineering +cruelty, ready to pounce on a victim unable to escape; but, after a +short interview, he returned with the softened accents of obsequious +respect to the stranger, and affable condescension to the Beaumonts. He +desired that they would spare no trouble and expence in attending the +gentleman, and assured them they would be well rewarded for their pains. +He lamented that their poor abode did not afford suitable convenience, +and hinted that as soon as the stranger was able to be removed he would +have him conveyed to Saints' Rest, his own mansion. He then announced +that their guest was the Lord Sedley, only son of the Earl of +Bellingham, who at that time commanded the forces sent to subdue the +Welsh insurgents, and was himself a personal favourite of Cromwell, and +attached to his staff. "He gives," continued Morgan, "a very favourable +account of your principles and conduct, and I shall not fail to announce +your proper behaviour to their honours the Committee-men, and I hope +Government will be disposed to overlook your past offences. The Earl is +a staunch supporter of the good cause, and the young gentleman a youth +of very fair promise." + +If Morgan expected his intelligence would be received with the transport +of minds subdued by adversity, and suddenly elated by a prospect of +better times, he mistook the characters of those he addressed. The +circumstance of Sedley wearing a seal-ring impressed with the crest of +Bellingham, had led Dr. Beaumont to suspect who he was; but since in his +former intercourse with the family he had studiously avoided all +discovery, the worthy Rector thought it would be indecorous to take any +advantage of his misfortunes, and therefore evaded the inquiries of +Constantia, how he came to wear the same crest as Eustace, by remarking +that many families adopted armorial bearings nearly similar. Totally +free from all the malignant passions, he felt no animosity to the son of +that traitor who had wrested a coronet and princely demesne from the +injured Neville, but rejoiced at the consideration that it had been in +his power to render the most important services gratuitously to one who +had so essentially assisted his family, and was beside the darling pupil +of his respected friend Barton. Mrs. Mellicent's feelings were of a more +vindictive cast, but her asperity had been so softened by the fine +person and pleasing manners of young Sedley, that she could not +determine on the expediency of immediately turning him out of doors, as +she possibly might have done had he been uncouth and vulgar; she even +kept her resolution till sight of his necessity and helplessness had +assisted her benevolence to vanquish the warmth of temper, and taught +her to respect the claims of a fellow creature in distress. Isabel had +by this time discovered the state of her own heart; and the superior +rank of the object of her affections was not the only reason for +changing love into despair. Her dear father had often in his former +ravings mentioned Lord Bellingham as the ally of Lucifer, and likely to +succeed him on the infernal throne. At those times it must indeed be +remembered, that he mistook his own children for dancing fiends, but his +aversion to Bellingham was rooted, and at every eclipse of reason he +renewed his execrations on a person, whose name, in his tranquil +moments, never passed his lips. She loved the son of this man; this +villain; for so she must think him, as her father, even in his most +eccentric moments, never so confounded the distinctions of honour and +guilt as to misrepresent characters. Nor could his rooted aversion +proceed from the difference in their political principles, for it was in +her early years, before the troubles commenced, that he mentioned +Bellingham as the infernal spirit who had driven him to the mountains; +and in every allusion he confirmed the idea of a private rather than a +public quarrel. Time and absence had increased rather than weakened the +affection and reverence which Isabel bore to her father. His eminent +services to the King, his bravery and activity, unimpaired by wounds, +imprisonment, or declining years, made her prouder of such a parent than +she would have been of one seated on the right hand of power. And had +she cherished and avowed an affection for the son of a cruel enemy to +her honoured father!--What a want of filial piety, what a shameful +inattention to his wrongs would it be, knowingly to confirm such an +unnatural inclination! Whatever pain it cost her, she determined to +release her heart from the fetters which gratitude and pity had combined +to form. + +The resolution was extremely noble, but to execute it was superlatively +difficult. Lord Sedley was daily before her eyes in the interesting +characters of suffering magnanimity or ardent attachment. When his +unclosed wounds throbbed with extreme anguish, could she refuse to +minister to his relief? When returning ease allowed him to direct the +grateful acknowledgments of a devoted heart, to the protecting angel who +had rescued him from death, could she deny the confessed affection +surprise had drawn from her, and resolve to hate or even forget him on +account of a supposed hereditary feud? The struggle of her soul was +apparent to Sedley, who, ignorant of his father's crimes, attributed her +affected reserve to the alarm she felt lest the claims of his exalted +station should prove incompatible with love. To alleviate this fear he +was more explicit in his declarations, and energetic in his vows of +devoting to her the life she had preserved. She attempted to look cold +and determined, while she answered that she feared insuperable +objections would prevent their union. In the weak state to which Lord +Sedley was reduced, the least agitation of mind was dangerous; after one +of these conversations he fainted, and was thought expiring, but the +first object he saw on his recovery was Isabel, in such an agony of +grief as convinced him that indifference had no share in the alteration +of her behaviour. + +The first opportunity which she again afforded him of speaking to her, +he resolved to use to bring on a complete eclaircissement, and as he +should require perfect frankness, he resolved to set her a similar +example. But to execute his design was now very difficult; for Isabel, +with virgin modesty, blended with the restrictions imposed by filial +duty, now avoided being alone with the object of her tenderest regard. +Her uncle had deemed it right to inform her, that it was a lively sense +of irreparable injuries, which pointed her father's incoherent ravings +at Lord Bellingham. His wrongs, the Doctor observed, were of a nature +which only Christian charity could forgive, or Christian fortitude +endure; and he warned her against cherishing any sentiment more ardent +than pity for Sedley's sufferings, and gratitude for his former +services. She promised to endeavour to comply, in a manner which evinced +that this advice came too late. She tried to recollect the pains he had +formerly taken to avoid her, and the marked precaution of Barton in +concealing his name. She wished to think him a scion of a cankered tree, +which would transfuse infection wherever it was engrafted. The surgeon +had just pronounced him at liberty to remove, and Isabel endeavoured to +hope he would avail himself of that permission. "His declarations of +love and gratitude may," thought she, "be bribes to induce us to be more +careful of his preservation, or he may think himself bound in honour to +offer me a partnership in his fortunes, as the preserver of his life. I +will owe nothing to his pity or his gratitude. I will recollect, that I +am the daughter of a noble Loyalist, irreparably injured by his rebel +father, restrain the ebullitions of youthful sensibility and unweighed +preference, and if he leaves us, part without a tear." + +Nothing could be more foreign to the purposes of Lord Sedley than to +quit his adored preserver. He made no use of his release from restraint, +but to follow Isabel in her domestic occupations, nor of his returning +strength, but to try to lighten her labours. "Am I troublesome to you," +he would say, "that you look on me less kindly; if so, I shall regret +the restoration of health and ease, and the power of again enjoying the +refreshing air and blessed light of heaven. The tenderness which made +the chamber of infirmity paradise, is withheld from me, now I have a +prospect of living to reward it." + +Isabel attempted to reply, but only stammered out, "Lord Sedley!"--"I +will be known to you," said he, "by no other name than that by which I +will plight my troth, Arthur de Vallance.--What has my Isabel to say to +me in that character? I will not allow her to retract the sweet +encouragement she gave me when I was the helpless object of her tender +care. Her compassion and assiduity looked so much like love, as to cheat +me into a belief, that she who said she would die with me would consent +to make the life she preserved a blessing." + +Surely, thought Isabel, this is not the language of hereditary baseness. +She cast a look on her lover which confirmed that opinion. Yet, how +could she tell him that his father's crimes formed an insuperable +barrier to their union. After much hesitation, she resolved to be as +explicit as her own respect for the feelings of filial piety would +permit. "I will own," said she, "that what fell from me in a transport +of joyful surprise, was not an unmeaning exclamation, but the confession +of a strong preference. But now that I have had time for reflection, I +must remember that you long struggled against your partiality for me, +and even now you seem rather vanquished by a combination of +circumstances and a sense of obligation, than led to make me your free +unquestioned choice. This indicates that you know of some secret reason, +some family animosity, perhaps, which ought to prevent my ever being +your wife. I am the daughter of a Loyalist, unfortunate indeed, but +brave and noble; I will not reproach you with your father's faults. His +prosperity, the trust he exercises under the Usurper, are in my eyes +reasons, if not of hating you, at least of resolving not to unite myself +to principles so opposite to those I have ever cherished." + +Sedley thanked her for allowing him an opportunity of explaining the +past. It was most true, that at their first interview he felt the power +of her fortitude and generous regard to others, nor did he overlook the +complacency with which she received his services. Though at that time +hearty in the Parliamentary cause, it was owing to the advice (or he +should rather say, the commands) of Barton, under whose guidance he was +placed by his father, that he deputed him to execute the plan he had +formed for the safe conduct of the Beaumonts through the seat of war, +instead of being himself their escort, as he at first intended. The same +interference had again prevented him from renewing an acquaintance with +them, on the rescue of Constantia. The principles he had imbibed from +Barton forbade every deviation from the path of honour; and an alliance +with a conspicuous royalist, would either have estranged him from his +family or exposed them to ruin. Isabel inquired if the same impediments +did not still exist. "A great change has taken place," replied Lord +Sedley; "I am now like you, a child of misfortune; but were it not so, +'Love is become the lord of all,' and when he reigns, he reigns +unrivalled." + +He proceeded to inform her, that the violent feuds of the predominant +factions had infected the privacies of domestic life. His mother was +warmly attached to Cromwell's party, while his father adhered to that of +the Presbyterian republicans; the differences between whom were now +grown irreconcileable. He knew that the command intrusted to Lord +Bellingham was given him as a snare, and that he was so surrounded by +spies, as to be virtually in the power of any common serjeant, who, in +the two-fold capacity of Agitator and Preacher, could denounce his +general at the drum-head, and under the pretence of his having +sacrificed the Lord's cause, and the rights of the army, to an ungodly +Parliament, could send him prisoner to London. Lord Sedley confessed, +with shame, that his mother, by giving information that his father was +in secret not well disposed to Cromwell, had caused him to be placed in +a situation where the greatest circumspection could not ensure his +safety. The sentiments he had imbibed from Barton led him to prefer the +more moderate counsels, and in the conduct of the contending factions he +had seen so much to condemn, that he wished to abstain from all +interference in public affairs. But his mother misinterpreting his +seclusion into a preference of his father's party, invited Cromwell to +Castle Bellingham, on his march against the Duke of Hamilton, and +requested that he would take her son with him as one of his suite. More +like a captive than a volunteer, Lord Sedley was compelled to acquiesce +in her proposal; but the intimate view which his situation gave him of +Cromwell's character, inspired him with the most revolting disgust. The +domestic situation of his parents dispirited him on the one side, while +something more than indifference to the cause for which he fought +operated on the other, till, hopeless of better times, careless of +safety, and desirous rather of losing life than of gaining glory, he +rushed into the battle; yet, when the conflict began, he felt roused by +a mechanical impulse, and, engaging in a hot pursuit of some of the +northern horse, he received those wounds from one of the troopers, which +nearly terminated his existence. + +"Such, Isabel," continued he, "is the present condition of him, who must +again owe his life to your pity. I have no home, but one occupied by a +mother, engaged in plots for the destruction of her husband, and +determined to render her son the creature of an ambitious hypocrite, +rather than serve whom, he would die. I cannot join my father, for that +would be to add a second victim to the one, whom Cromwell has resolved +to expose to the sharpest ordeal. My hereditary claim to rank and title +is now merely the vision of a shadow, for I know it is the secret +intention of the fanatics to abolish the Peers as a political body, and +estates are now held by permission rather than right, nor are the +possessors secure of their inheritance for a single day. Greatness is +thus reduced to the bare simplicity of individual desert. In you, +Isabel, I see the genuine loveliness of unsophisticated virtue, the +qualities of fortitude, discretion, and sincerity, which these arduous +times peculiarly require. At present I have had little opportunity to +shew you my character, but let me intreat permission to be sheltered +under your uncle's roof, till I can arrange some plan for my future +conduct, and shew you more of the heart which is irrevocably yours." + +The plea of anxious distress revived all the tenderness of Isabel; and +he whom, she believed, she could reject as the heir of a coronet, and +the favourite of an Usurper, became the object of inviolable attachment +when viewed as an outcast, seeking an asylum from the misfortunes +brought on him by the crimes of his parents. Considering it to be her +duty, she explained his situation to her uncle and aunt, and they agreed +that it would be inhuman to deny him the refuge he craved. But still, as +he was at present rather a probationary than an assured penitent, and in +some points of view an object of suspicion, Dr. Beaumont felt it would +be endangering his own security to converse with him freely on political +topics. Still more hazardous would it be to admit him to a participation +of their family-secrets, and at this time there was one which engrossed +their minds, and threw an unusual air of mystery and anxious solicitude +into Isabel's behaviour. + + + [1] Especially Bishop Sanderson. + + + + +CHAP. XVII. + + To her direct thy looks; there fix thy praise, + And gaze with wonder there. The life I gave her + Oh! she has used it for the noblest ends! + To fill each duty; make her father feel + The purest joy, the heart dissolving bliss, + To have a grateful child. + + Murphy. + + +The manners of Isabel were peculiarly frank and playful; the +consciousness that her life was spent in the discharge of active duty, +gave the same energy to her mind, which bodily exertion did to her +nervous system. She never acted under the influence of motives which +required disguise; the simplicity of her habits, her ignorance of the +world, and innocence of intention, gave such an undesigning engaging +character to her conversation, that whoever spoke to her, might think +themselves addressing one of those pure intelligences, who are incapable +of falsehood or disguise. To a mind so modelled, a secret was a dreadful +burden, especially when compelled to hide it from one, whom love induced +her to treat with peculiar confidence, and who often complained of her +reserve, and asked the meaning of those embarrassed looks, that +impatience to break from him, and those thousand mysterious contrivances +upon petty occasions, which were so new to her character, and might have +awakened jealousy in the most unsuspicious heart. + +On his being first domesticated in the Beaumont family, Lord Sedley was +charmed with that elegance of arrangement, which contrived to make a +bare sufficiency of the simplest fare, look like plenty. He had wondered +how the little means he knew they possessed, could be so multiplied, +even by the most provident frugality, as, like the widow's oil and meal, +to supply their own wants, and yet afford a portion to the hungry +traveller. Formerly, when he reconsidered at night the behaviour of the +family, he used to be able to account for all their actions, and could +testify that their time was virtuously and wisely employed, without the +least alloy from caprice, indolence, or inconsiderateness. Dr. Beaumont +and Constantia went at their appointed hour to visit the villagers; Mrs. +Mellicent sorted her simples, compounded her medicines, and examined her +patients; Isabel superintended the domestic management.--Williams was +caterer, gardener and serving-man; the relics of yesterday's meal were +neatly reserved, garnished with "roots, cut in characters," and the +sauce spiced, as if it were for Jove. After dinner, literature, wit, or +piety, gave a zest to their conversation, and made the lone ruins of +Waverly Hall the scene of a regale, often unknown in palaces. But now +every proceeding was deranged and perplexed, no one seemed to enquire +into the engagements of the others. Isabel was often absent, and often +neglected the duties to which she once used to affix importance.--Williams +was employed in some business, which all but himself seemed tacitly to +admit was of infinite concern. The provisions clandestinely disappeared, +and the family seemed to think it necessary to repair the waste, by +eating more sparingly. Instead of wishing to sit up to sing, when every +body else was sleepy, Isabel was the first to hint the benefit of early +hours, yet in the morning her faded cheeks and sunk eyes indicated that +the night had been spent in watching. Nay, what more excited his +apprehensions, he discovered that besides the evening devotions, to +which he had been long admitted, there was a secret service, which left +on all their faces the mark of tears. + +Love, terror, pity, anxiety, and doubt, alike prompted Lord Sedley to +discover the cause of this marked alteration. He determined to watch +Isabel, and the next night saw her leave the house, soon after midnight, +and enter an avenue of sycamores at some distance. He immediately +followed her; a loud barking of dogs changed every other emotion to +lively apprehensions for her safety, but he soon saw her run back, and, +on observing him coming to meet her, assume an untroubled countenance. +"Has this serene night," said she, "made you too a truant with your +pillow? I have, of late, been little disposed to sleep, and enjoy a +moon-light walk amazingly."--"Do not those dogs annoy you," inquired +Sedley, with more of moody displeasure than tenderness; "I should think +they would form but a harsh response to your soliloquies." She answered, +they did not always discover her, and she ran back when they were +troublesome. Sedley asked her if it would not be better to secure +herself from danger by the protection of a companion. "If you mean to +offer yourself," replied she, "I must say, no. My uncle is constantly +dissuading the villagers from attending night-meetings, which, he says, +though they may be innocent, yet give occasion for reproach; and we must +be careful not to countenance impropriety, by setting an ill example." + +"Yet, surely," replied Sedley, "the prudence of these midnight +wanderings is not so unquestionable. Were I of a jealous temper, I might +imagine some presumptuous rival haunted your avenue, and that I even now +detain you from an assignation." + +"You will think otherwise," answered she, "when I tell you that I say a +prayer when I quit my uncle's house, and a thanksgiving when I return; +and you know, if my excursion were indecorous, I durst not so tempt +Providence. I ascribe my meeting you to-night to accident, but I will +tell you, dearly as I love you, Arthur, if I thought you watched me from +suspicion of my conduct, I would never speak to you more." + +Sedley was awed by the ingenuous resentment which appeared in her +manner. Was it the effrontery of practised perfidy? Impossible! With an +air of pious enthusiasm, she raised her eyes to the clear expanse, +splendidly illuminated by the full-orbed moon and attendant stars, and +clasping her hands in fervour of devotion, besought that Divine +Omniscience, who neither slumbered nor slept, that aweful witness of all +her actions, so to prosper the most ardent desires of her soul, as she +endeavoured to frame them in conformity to his will. "I shall now," said +she, "pursue my walk down the avenue. If you suspect me, follow me, +witness the innocence of my conduct, and forfeit my love. If you confide +in my integrity, return to the house, and never again subject my +reputation to the reproach of being seen with you at night in so lonely +a scene; but, if you wake at this hour put up a prayer for my +preservation." + +"The forfeiture of your love, dearest Isabel," said Sedley, "is a +penalty I dare not incur; yet remember I have trusted you with all my +own secrets." + +"I have made an equally frank return," answered she, "I have told you +all mine, even that I love you most tenderly, and wish every obstacle +could be removed, which threatens to prevent our journeying hand in hand +through life; but these walks I must take alone. Here every night I must +remain two hours. Ask not if I am a sorceress, consulting an evil +spirit, or a papist doing penance for a crime. You distress me, Arthur, +by thus lingering and turning back to watch me; I thought your mind +superior to jealousy." + +"Does not concern for your safety," said he, in an impassioned tone, +"justify my unwillingness to leave you; your family are known to be +zealous Loyalists. A troop of horse are now stationed at Preston, and +always sending out foraging parties." + +Isabel paused for a moment, extremely agitated; then turning round, +answered, "The holy angels hover round me; I will trust to their +protection, and defy Morgan and the republican myrmidons." + +If Sedley for a moment suspected any thing improper in Isabel's +mysterious behaviour, his doubts now gave place to that perfect +confidence which candour and virtuous simplicity ever impart to +congenial minds. But in proportion as he revered the holy fortitude, +which evidently supported her in these nocturnal adventures, so were his +fears roused by a sense of the danger, with which, as she admitted, they +were attended. She had pointed out Morgan as an enemy whom she dreaded. +Sedley recollected the civilities he had received from him, and blamed +himself for having been remiss in endeavouring to conciliate a man, who +had power over the fortunes of his best beloved. He considered +therefore, that it was a duty he owed to Isabel to call on Morgan, and +try to discover if he had laid any hostile schemes against the +Beaumonts. + +Though Morgan affected to be made of the most stern republican +materials, a visit from a nobleman, and an ostensible favourite of +Cromwell's, was a high gratification. He received his guest with +boisterous hospitality, and without any regard to his diminished +strength, dragged him over his demesne, and shewed him all its beauties. +It was, he said, a mere dog-hole, when he bought it for a song; his +ponds, now well stocked with carp, were originally tan-pits; his garden +was a slate-quarry; the phillireas now clipped into well-proportioned +dragons, grew just as nature shaped them; and the hall he had neatly +plaistered and white-washed was then disfigured with painted saints, and +carved tracery. He hinted with a smile, that he had turned the times to +a pretty good account, and was grown warm. Royalists were soon alarmed, +and bled freely. Besides the per centage, when compounding for their +estates, there was generally a little private oiling the hands of +committee men. He talked of his stock of wines, liberal table, rich +hangings, and the universal plenty of good things which he enjoyed; and +strongly urged Lord Sedley, now he was able, to remove from the +penurious dwelling which could just serve his turn, while his wounds +were healing, and reestablish his health, by residing with his humble +servant, Zedekiah Morgan, at Saint's-Rest, till he thought fit to return +to his own princely mansion, Castle-Bellingham. + +Sedley made a civil reply, intimating that his duty required him to +remain where he was, and that as a soldier, he must despise luxuries. +"True," answered Morgan; "trained in the school of our noble general, +you choose to see with your own eyes, what plots the malignants are +hatching. There is not a more suspected family than Beaumont's in this +neighbourhood." Sedley encouraged this communicativeness, and Morgan +proceeded to say, "that since the last defeat, the chief crime the +disaffected could commit, was concealing those who had distinguished +themselves in the insurrections." + +Six bloody-minded cavaliers had been lately turned loose upon the +peaceable inhabitants. Major General Lambert refused them quarters, when +he granted terms to Pontefract garrison[1]; but the horrid creatures had +fought their way out and escaped, though he gloried in saying, the +county was so well disposed, that three of the knaves, (and among them +their scoundrel leader, Morrice) had been retaken--"And terrible dogs, I +promise you," said Morgan, "they were, as ever you looked upon; hacked +and gashed, and so reduced by famine, from hiding in holes and caves, +that they could hardly stand. So we hanged them, without judge or jury, +and made them safe. But three are still at large, and I can hardly sleep +in my bed for fear of them. I will read you a description of their +persons, and the names they pretend to go by. Humphrey Higgins, aged +seventy, lean, and would be a tall man, only bent double, has but one +eye, and lost the use of his right arm: Memorandum, thought to be the +man who shot Colonel Rainsborough at Doncaster.--William Dickson, aged +twenty-four, has been seen begging on crutches, with one leg contracted; +and Timothy Jones, who pretends to be mad and paralytic, a most +ferocious terrible malignant; curses the godly covenant, and wishes the +Round-heads had but one neck, and he stood over them with a hatchet. +Now, my Lord, if these Beaumonts should, out of hatred and malice to our +upright rulers, hide any of these murderous miscreants in the vaults, +recesses, or secret-chambers of the old ruins, which they may pretend to +live in for the very purpose, I trust your Lordship's penetration will +unearth the foxes, so that they may be brought to condign punishment, +and I heartily wish our noble General had as faithful a spy in every +delinquent's family in the three nations." + +Sedley suppressed his indignation, and assured Morgan he would not fail +to report to government whatever he thought culpable in the conduct of +the Beaumonts, who were apparently benevolent and humane; but on +Morgan's suggesting that was a mask often assumed by the blackest +malignity, he allowed the truth as a general remark, and took his leave, +aware that the best means of preventing the persecution of his friends +was to conceal his own sentiments. + +In the way back he called on Dame Humphreys, whose attention to him, +during his illness, corresponded with her usual artless kindness and +true benevolence. He found her in the most dreadful distress; her +husband's malady was increased to violent frenzy; she assigned as the +cause, his incessantly listening to what she called "long preachments +about the Devil;" but he gave a different account. He was sure he had +seen Sir William Waverly sitting at the outside of a mausoleum he had +built in the park, without his head, and an angel standing by him. He +knew it was an angel, for it looked white and shining; and the other +must be Sir William, because he had in part pulled down the old church, +which his fore-fathers had built, to make a grand burying-place for +himself and his family, and though his body was thrown into a hole where +he was killed, that was no reason why his spirit might not walk in his +own park. The Dame was prevented from making further comments on this +narrative by concern for her husband's situation. He lay, she said, +roaring and foaming at the mouth, thinking what he had seen was a +warning of his own death. The chamber was full of godly ministers, who +would not let her send for a doctor, saying the case was in their way, +and that they would dispossess him. But in spite of all they did, he +grew worse, and was in such terrible convulsions, that she feared if he +did not make away with himself, still he must die. + +Sedley sincerely pitied her distress, and, in compliance with her +wishes, promised to send the good old Doctor to her to try if he could +do any good. A lover sees his mistress in every object. Combining the +suspicions of Morgan, the appearance at the mausoleum, and the +night-wanderings of Isabel, a sudden apprehension came across Sedley's +mind, and determined him to see to what part of the park the sycamore +avenue pointed, and he soon found it ended in a coppice, which shaded a +ruined church, and a stately sepulchre, inclosed with iron pallisades, +that had escaped the general pillage, which, in those times of rapacious +sacrilege, spared not the altar of religion nor the silent repositories +of the dead. + +Sedley examined the modern structure. The gate was closed, and the bolts +rusted in the wards. The long withered grass bore no marks of having +been recently trodden; every thing appeared in the state in which it +might be supposed to have been left, when the vain-glorious unfortunate +projector of this monumental trophy of his own greatness augmented the +heaps of dead who were interred without religious rite or distinction of +rank, after the fatal battle of Marston-Moor ended the efforts of the +Royalists in the north of England. The unoccupied tomb stood as a solemn +warning against the fond precautions of low cunning and versatile +policy. Sedley now proceeded to the church, which was a complete ruin. +The roof was broken, and the entrances were blocked up with large stones +that had fallen from the walls; yet not so totally, but that a slender +person might find admittance into the building from the south-porch. As +he looked in, he thought fancy might select this as the scene where the +Anglican church, prostrate on her own ruins, mourned her departed glory +and her present desolation in undisturbed silence, far from the sympathy +of her friends, and the insults of her enemies. He called aloud, but the +echo of his own voice reverberating through the aisles was his only +answer. Though the wintry sun shone with meridian splendor, and cast his +slanting rays through the apertures in the roof, so as to allow him to +see the falling monuments and mutilated statues which were intended to +commemorate the mighty of past ages, there was such an aweful solitude +and petrifying horror in the whole scene, that he thought it impossible +for Isabel to make nocturnal visits to such a place, believing his own +courage would be scarcely equal to the undertaking, when darkness or the +pale splendor of the moon added to its profound melancholy. There was, +indeed, a slight appearance of a path to the most practicable entrance, +but he could not help thinking it was made by some wild animal, which +had chosen one of the vaults for its hiding-place. + +Still ruminating on Isabel's concealed adventures as he returned, Sedley +perceived a handful of sweet bay lying in the grass, which he +recollected seeing her gather the preceding evening, with peculiar +attention to the reviving fragrance of the evergreen. Every doubt was +now removed. This was the spot which a young and beautiful female +visited alone at midnight. No base inclination, no unworthy passion +which shunned the light, could stimulate such an enterprize. Piety must +bestow the inspiration; and that fortitude which results from conscious +rectitude must confirm the trembling knees, and guide the cautious steps +of the heroical adventurer. + +A more honourable and praise-worthy principle than doubt or curiosity +now led Sedley to discover what the treasure was which Isabel thus +clandestinely visited. On his return, he mentioned to the family the +dreadful situation of Humphreys, and described the spectral appearance +to which it was imputed, "Absurd and impossible!" exclaimed Isabel, +while a deep crimson flushed her face. Mrs. Mellicent turned very pale, +and remarked that she did not entirely disbelieve all accounts of +visionary notices of the future world. They might act as warnings to +sinners, or as a call to an unbeliever. "True," replied Isabel, "but the +contradiction of this is evident. Why should a good angel be connected +with the apparition of Sir William Waverly? And, far from tending to +reform Humphreys, the impression on his mind has produced distraction." +Dr. Beaumont, who had remained silent and meditative during this +conversation, now required Isabel to attend him before he went to offer +his services to the afflicted farmer. + +Sedley embraced the opportunity of their absence to examine more +minutely the ruins of Waverly Hall. The thickness of one of the +remaining walls struck him as singular; it was an abutment behind the +chimney of what had been the banqueting-room, the wainscot of which was +left in this place entire. Sedley inspected every pannel, and at last +found one which slided, and afforded him an entrance into a small but +perfect apartment, lighted from the ceiling, and which had probably +served as a secret chamber to conceal the plate and valuables of the +family, being so completely concealed by the contrivance of the +architecture as not to be discernible on the outside. Was it not +strange, that, with so secure and convenient a lodging close at hand, +Isabel should chuse to deposit her treasure at such a distance? Had she +overlooked this asylum, or avoided the use of it as a lure to deceive +the vigilance of Morgan? Sedley proceeded in his search, explored every +subterraneous vault and recess; but no signs of recent inhabitation +could be found. He returned again to Morgan, commended his zeal for the +good cause, but assured him, that though he had discovered many places +proper for concealment, not a ghost of a royalist could any where be +found. + +"You say well, excellently well, my young Lord," replied Morgan, +chuckling at the idea of his own superior sagacity; "yet for all that +there is a ghost, aye, and he chuses a proper scene for his pranks, but +we will lay him to-morrow morning." He then informed Sedley that +Priggins had just been with him to say their neighbour Humphreys was +troubled in the spirit, and, in a late wrestling with Satan, had been +favoured with a vision, in which he had seen the ghost of Sir William +Waverly in torment, complaining that there was a royalist in his grave +who would not let him rest. "I believe not a word of the business," said +he, "and defy the whole tribe of apparitions; but, as Your Lordship must +see, it is my duty to search the burying-place, and the old church +immediately." + +Sedley suppressed his apprehensions, and coolly answered, he had +reconnoitred the outside, and believed he had never seen a more desolate +and unfrequented spot. "All the better for such a purpose," answered +Morgan; "these bloody fugitives would not chuse highways and +market-places for their cabals. But I don't like to venture among these +terrible fellows without being protected; so I have sent for the Preston +horse, and ordered them to bring the blood-hounds; and as Your Lordship +has been there, I will thank you to be our guide. But, hark! not a word +to the Beaumonts, or the birds will be flown." + +Sedley preserved the serenity of his features, promised punctual +attendance, and remarked that, to prevent any alarm from suspicion of an +intercourse with Morgan, it would be expedient for him to hurry back. +His anxiety to rescue the threatened victim was nearly as lively as the +assiduity of Isabel; yet not daring again to request the confidence she +had so peremptorily refused, he thought his best plan would be to watch +the cemetery; and, pretending to retire indisposed to his chamber, as +soon as it was evening he hurried, unobserved, down the avenue, entered +the church, and concealed himself behind a pillar, from whence he had a +full view of a door partially obstructed with rubbish which, he +supposed, opened into the mausoleum. + +A little before midnight, he heard the sound of feet; the shade was +withdrawn from a dark lanthorn; and he discovered Isabel by its feeble +light, as she held it up, and with cautious anxiety seemed to explore +the ruins, to be assured that all was safe before she ventured on her +nocturnal employment. She then approached the door, and whispered to the +invisible inhabitant of the sepulchre. Sedley heard a bar fall, and saw +her remove a portion of the rubbish, enter the dreary abode, and +re-close the door. Listening, he heard voices conversing in low murmurs. +Could a lover resist making a further discovery? He determined to open +the door sufficiently to steal a view of the object concealed, and +afterwards to join Isabel on her return, and apprize her of the +necessity of selecting another asylum. + +The stolen view was aweful and impressive. The inside of the cemetery +was lighted by a lamp that shewed it was furnished with those articles +of comfort which rendered it an habitable abode. On a neat pallet lay an +aged gentleman, corresponding, in his appearance and infirmities, with +one of the fugitives from Pontefract described by Morgan. Isabel had +already spread a table, on which were placed the refreshments she had +just brought, and a prayer-book. She was at that moment employed in +chafing his benumbed limbs, and at the same time looking up at her +patient with the tenderest affection, smiling through the tears of +anxiety and compassion; while, as he bent over her, shrinking with acute +pain from her light and tender touch, a glow of sublime affection +illuminated his pale and furrowed features. + +It was at this moment that the wind, rushing down the aisles of the +church, forced the door out of Sedley's hand, and revealed him to the +father and daughter as a witness of their affecting interview. The +reader must have anticipated that no motive less potent than filial +piety could have stimulated the heroism of Isabel. Surprise extorted +from her a loud shriek; and the disabled Evellin snatched a carbine, +which stood charged within his reach, and pointed it at the invader of +their retreat. Isabel hung upon his arm. "'Tis my preserver! 'Tis my +father!" exclaimed she, addressing them alternately. "Oh! Sedley, how +durst you disobey me!" + +"Young man," said the stern veteran, in a voice which denoted that an +unconquered soul still tenanted his decaying body, "instantly tell your +motive for this intrusion. My daughter addresses you as a friend, but +your name announces a double traitor." + +"Then it belies my heart," answered Sedley, "for I come devoted to your +service, impatient to assist in the preservation of persecuted worth. +The generous bravery of the renowned Colonel Evellin must endear him to +every soldier, even if he were not the father of that matchless +excellence who kneels beside you, and stays your arm from taking the +life of one whose purpose is to preserve yours." + +"I have seen too much of the world," answered Evellin, "to trust smooth +talkers. Sentiments are easily uttered; they are all the fashion; and +the butcher now uses them to the lamb he slaughters. I am a disabled +soldier of that King whom regicides are now subjecting to the mockery of +a public trial; and I am as ready to follow my Prince to the scaffold as +I have been to fly to his banner when thousands were false. Hear me yet +further. I am one of the proscribed victims who escaped from Pontefract. +The hardships I have endured have deprived me of the use of my limbs; +yet I am still dangerous to usurpers. A price is set upon my head; I am +hunted from the abodes of man, denied the light of heaven, and, at this +rigorous season, compelled to seek the shelter of a tomb, even while +alive to anguish and sorrow. Approach, young man; you see my child has +disarmed me. I have no other weapon; infirmity chains me to this pallet. +I was born to the possession of a princely inheritance, but it was +wrested from me by traitors foul as those who have overthrown the glory +of England. I have nothing left but an honest heart, and enmity to +traitors. Yes!" continued he, folding Isabel in his arms; "I have this +weeping girl, who ought to have been a bright gem sparkling in a royal +court, instead of a sickly lamp beaming in a monument." + +Sedley wept. "You know," said he, "what side I have espoused; yet a mind +so magnanimous must be candid; nor will you confound the errors and +prejudices of early education with the turpitude of guilt. I was tutored +by one who passionately worshipped civil and religious liberty; a man +whose heart was generous and sincere as your own, and only mistook the +means by which the desired objects were attainable. He now deeply mourns +the enormous oppression which has originated from what he deemed perfect +theories. Filial duty, joined to the instructions of my preceptor, made +me join the Parliamentary army. You are a father. Think what agonies you +would feel had your son refused to obey you, and falsified the hopes you +had formed of his acting as your associate in what you deemed the career +of glory." + +"Cease, dearest Sedley," cried Isabel, "his weak frame cannot bear these +strong emotions." "I have a son," said the agonized Evellin, "and he +refused to obey me. He has falsified the hopes I entertained, that he +would be the restorer of my house. Sedley, I would exchange sons with +thy father. Come nearer, and I will tell thee what will make thee +renounce the traitor who gave thee birth. Hast thou ever heard of thy +uncle Allan Neville, the man from whom thy father stole his coronet and +lands?" + +"I have heard," said Sedley, "that he was unfortunate, very criminal, +and long since dead." + +"Unfortunate indeed," returned the Colonel, "but neither dead nor +criminal. I am Allan Neville, a living witness of thy father's crimes, +the least of which is usurpation. I accuse him as the foul slanderer of +my fame, as the inhuman villain who betrayed my confidence. He knew my +woes, my wants, my dependence on his friendship; nay, that I trusted to +him only. He smiled, promised, cajoled, and destroyed me. My daughter +has told me that thou art warm, ingenuous, sincere, and affectionate. +Such, at thy age, was he that now lies before thee, the victim of thy +mother's ambition and thy father's hypocrisy." + +Sedley tried to conceal the burning blushes of shame with his hands, +while his recollection of past circumstances confirmed his uncle's +accusation. Ambition was the crime of both his parents; hypocrisy the +means used by the cautious Lord Bellingham in seeking to compass those +ends which his bolder consort pursued with the effrontery of determined +versatility. Sedley remembered his mother a court-beauty, the favourite +of the Queen, and the glass which reflected the smiles and frowns of +royalty. He afterwards saw her the idol of the party which opposed +government, sung by Waller, flattered by Holland, presiding with all the +frivolity and pride of a pretty trifler at the dark divan, while Pym and +St. John disclosed their hopes of extending their aggressions to seizing +the remaining prerogatives of the alarmed and conceding King. Weak, +vain, passionate, and unprincipled, with no determined object but her +own aggrandizement--no claim to attention but an attractive person and +soft courtliness of manner (which polished insincerity often assumes to +disguise a stubborn, wayward, ungoverned temper),--Lady Bellingham +supplied by a shew of benevolence her total want of the reality. He had +seen her, without even the affectation of compassion, listen to a detail +of the measures which were intended to drag Lord Strafford to the block; +and though she boasted of that nobleman as her earliest lover, she made +no attempt to procure him the respite for which his afflicted master +ineffectually solicited. No storm of public calamity, no sympathizing +pity for murdered friends, no sentiment of gratitude for her royal +benefactors, ever disturbed the suavity of Lady Bellingham's deportment. +Nothing could interrupt the dead calm of her unfeeling heart but +opposition to her will, or the apprehension of danger to her effects or +person. In the former case the gentle beauty was loud and pertinacious; +in the latter, terrified to the extreme, and clamorous in her +complaints; in both, perfectly regardless of the means she employed to +promote her purposes, or insure her safety. + +Sedley had long discovered a guarded circumspection in his father's +conduct, which, as it exceeded prudence, must be called timidity. His +perplexed look and restless manner spoke a soul ill at ease with itself, +and more suspicious of persons, and the motives of their actions, than +was consistent with fortitude and integrity. From the period of his +assuming the title of Bellingham, Sedley could date a gradual increase +of domestic misery. Even in his childhood he had been obliged to +interfere in the disputes of his parents, each complaining to him of the +faults of the other, and of their own injuries. The Earl ever spake of +the sacrifices he had made to oblige his wife; the Countess, of the +title, fortune, and importance she had bestowed on her husband. Many +circumstances led him to fear that mutual guilt was the only bond which +kept them from separation, as they often hinted in their quarrels that +they were equally in each other's power for some punishable offences; +and once, in an ungovernable transport of rage, Lady Bellingham bade her +trembling Lord "remember her brother." These recollections made it +impossible for Sedley to doubt the criminality of his parents, +especially as their accuser was Colonel Evellin, whose gallantry and +unquestioned honour had extorted alike the terror and admiration of his +enemies. And was the admirable Isabel the victim of their crimes, who +now, in all the unaffected loveliness of tender duty, wiped the cold dew +from the face of her agonized father, beseeching him to consider his +weakness, and forbear convulsing his tortured limbs by these mental +throes, still assuring him, that if she could preserve his life, her own +would be worth valuing? + +Impelled by that homage which virtuous emulation ever pays to +acknowledged worth, Sedley knelt by the side of Isabel. "Here," said he, +"I devote myself to your service, and abjure your enemies, though my +heart recoils when I consider who they are. In this sacred, this aweful +abode, I drop all titles but that of your kinsman: now for your dear +daughter's sake, listen to the intelligence I come to disclose; you are +in the most imminent danger, and prompt measures for your security must +be devised. I will never more participate in the guilt of those who +wronged you, or partake of those luxuries which proved irresistible +temptations to those who caused your ruin. Suffer me to supply the place +of your lost Eustace, and to relieve the pious duties of your daughter. +You shall then know that my immediate progenitors have not corrupted +that pure blood which I, with you, derive from one common stock of +eminent ancestors, distinguished alike by fidelity to their friends, +their country, and their King." + +Isabel scarcely waited for the reconciling embrace, which proved that +her generous father knew not his own heart when he thought it capable of +eternal enmity to the blood of De Vallance. Her transport at seeing the +two dearest objects in the world known and esteemed by each other, was +allayed by her eager anxiety to know what Sedley meant by imminent +danger. He now disclosed what had passed between him and Morgan, and the +discovery himself had made of another and nearer asylum for the brave +fugitive. No time was lost in expediting his removal. Incapable of +rising from his pallet, the whole family were employed in conveying him +to the secret chamber, and in removing from the mausoleum every vestige +of its having been inhabited. Rubbish was piled against the door; and, +to prevent the path from being traced, the small stock of cattle the +Beaumonts possessed were driven into the burying-ground. The rising sun +saw their labours completed an hour before Morgan and his soldiers +arrived to execute their inhuman inquisition. The care of Williams had +frustrated the sagacity of the blood-hounds by a chemical preparation; +and a night of inexpressible alarm and emotion was succeeded by a happy +day, in which Isabel had the transport of having her dear father lodged +close to her own dwelling, in a more comfortable place of concealment, +where she could pay a more minute attention to his wants, and have an +assistant in the task of ministering to his infirmities; that assistant +too the lord of her affections, to whom she was ha longer compelled to +wear the air of cold reserve so uncongenial to her ingenuous temper. + +The Beaumont family would now have felt happy, and Arthur might have +talked of love, assured of a favourable audience, had not every future +plan and private feeling been engrossed by the situation of the King, +whose mournful tragedy now drew near its final close. Like many others, +Arthur de Vallance had been drawn, by the grossest misrepresentations, +to oppose a Prince whose real character, bursting through the mists of +adversity, now dazzled the eyes of those who had affected to speak of +him as a meteorous exhalation, owing its lustre to chance, and destitute +of the inherent qualities which constitute true greatness. To a general +revolt and disaffection, arising from some actual and many imaginary +grievances, succeeded an universal conviction of delusion, +disappointment, disgust, and contrition. All parties but that which had +the King in their keeping were ready to unite in efforts to save him +from those who meant to make his corse a step to his hereditary dignity; +and this, no less from a sense of his deserts and injuries, than from +feeling experimentally, that destroying the balance of the Constitution +annihilated their own liberty, and that the whips used by lawful rulers +are, by usurpers, exchanged for scorpions. The rule of a limited monarch +was now supplied by the tyranny of many despots--I say many; for though +Cromwell had seized the whole administration into his own hands, +managing what was called the House of Commons and the army by his +creatures, annihilating the aristocratic branch of the legislature, and +cajoling his brother-general, while he prepared the scaffold and +sharpened the axe for the Monarch whom it was the settled purpose of +Fairfax to preserve; yet his government had the feature which constantly +characterizes newly-assumed power. He durst not disoblige the supporters +of his greatness; and the services of his myrmidons were purchased by a +sort of tacit agreement, that they might enrich themselves with the +plunder of an oppressed people. Rapacity, therefore, walked triumphant +through the land. Loyalty and Episcopacy had already been stripped. The +bare carcase of truth and honour afforded no food for the carrion birds +who floated round the unfledged antitype of the royal eagle. The +adherents to the Rump parliament (as the House of Commons was then +called, before Cromwell excluded from it the members who were offensive +to his views), the Presbyterians and Republicans, had lately fattened on +the miseries of their countrymen. Some of these, repenting their former +errors, made efforts to save the King's life; and, for the crime of +petitioning to that effect, were exposed to the rigorous punishments of +imprisonment and sequestration. The royalists, conscious of their +weakness, had suspended all military efforts, and fearing lest, by +irritating their enemies, they should precipitate their Master's fate, +they confined themselves to supplicatory addresses to him who alone had +power to chain the fury of these human tigers. But, in the present +instance, it was the will of the Almighty to give a fearful lesson to +those who engage in fomenting rebellion and confusion, with an +expectation of being able to muzzle the many-headed monster they let +loose, and to govern that ignorance and depravity whose irregular +appetites and malignant passions they have inflamed. The blow was struck +which disgraced the nation, released the royal martyr from his crown of +thorns, but had no power to prevent his receiving one of glory. "A +dismal, universal groan burst from the thousands who witnessed the +horrid scene[2], such as was never before heard! May England never utter +such another! The troopers rode among the populace, driving them in all +directions, and shewing the multitude, that though nine-tenths of the +kingdom abhorred the action, committed in the name of all," the right of +the majority was so little respected by these false assertors of liberty +of opinion, "that it was now a state offence to express the natural +feelings of compunction and pity." Driven to their own houses by the +satellites of usurpation, tyranny, and murder, the people then gave vent +to their tears and execrations. The contrite prayers of a sinful nation +arose from every dwelling; and, like the blood of the Paschal Lamb on +the doors of the Israelites, implored Divine Mercy to avert the sword of +the destroying angel from them and their families, when he should be +sent in wrathful visitation to take vengeance for that detestable +regicide. + + + [1] For a very interesting account of what passed at Pontefract + Castle, and of the adventures of Colonel Morrice; see Clarendon, + vol. iii. + + [2] Henry, a pious and eminent Nonconformist divine, gives this + account of the awful sensation generally produced by the King's + murder. + + + + +CHAP. XVIII. + + Vast confusion waits; + As doth the raven on a sick-fall'n beast, + The imminent decay of wrested pomp. + Now happy he whose cloak and cincture can + Hold out this tempest. + + Shakspeare. + + +I avoid dwelling on the bitter anguish of the Beaumont family at the +dreadful catastrophe of the long-imprisoned King. Its pious head added +largely to his intercessory prayers, imploring heaven to avert its +vengeance from all who had inadvertently been accessary to the fact, to +forgive those who repented of the heinous sin, and to soften the hearts +of those who still gloried in having murdered their Sovereign. For the +English nation, his petitions were most fervent and impressive. The +character of the young King had in it some traits which excited his +apprehension; he prayed earnestly that they might be found (as many +people said they were) merely the exuberance of youth; and that the +acknowledged grace and affability of his manners, and the placableness +of his temper, might ornament, but not supplant, those christian virtues +and noble principles which had so eminently distinguished his father. +Considering the provocations the people had committed, the great +dissoluteness of one sort, and the wild fanaticism or palpable hypocrisy +of the others, added to the furious passions and implacable resentments +which were excited, especially by this last desperate deed, he saw +little hope that true religion and regular liberty could be speedily +restored; he feared, therefore, the sun of England's glory would suffer +a long eclipse: yet England was his country, nor could affluence or +distinction have tempted him to quit it while he thought his example, +his labours, or his prayers could afford assistance to its inhabitants. + +The existing Government allowed Dr. Beaumont and his family personal +security: in return, he resolved to abstain from plotting its overthrow. +The young King wished his friends not to hazard their own safety by rash +undertakings; and Dr. Beaumont considered that to labour at the gradual +introduction of right principles, the removal of mistakes, and the +regulation of false doctrines; and, above all, to lead a life of +holiness, universal charity, and meek simplicity, were the most likely +means to heal the wounds made by violence, to soften the Divine anger, +and to prepare the people for the restoration of legitimate rule. The +reformation of individuals must, he knew, precede that of the nation; +and he considered that the man, who employed himself diligently at his +post, and strove to revive the sentiments of loyalty and piety in a +country village, more truly served his God and his King than he who +engaged in weak and unweighed efforts against a power which now wielded +the energies of the kingdom. He lamented to see such enterprizes +successively come to no better issue than that of giving fresh instances +of the often-recorded fact, that loyalty and truth can die on the +scaffold, or in the field of battle, without bending to their +persecutors, or relinquishing the principles interwoven with life. + +The situation of Colonel Evellin was very different. He was proscribed, +exempted out of every amnesty, and though incapacitated by his +infirmities from serving his King, yet forbidden to rest his weary head +in secure privacy, till called by nature to hide it in the grave. Arthur +De Vallance too, the noble-minded revolter, renouncing the distinctions +purchased by the guilt of his parents, was resolved henceforth to devote +his life to atone for their crimes, by being the constant attendant, +comforter, and protector of his uncle. Yet was he not wholly +disinterested in that resolution; the love of Isabel stimulated him to +persevere in it, and he looked to her as the companion and reward of his +services. + +It was now determined to wait the probable effect of the summer heats in +relieving the Colonel from the imbecility of extreme decrepitude. Dr. +Beaumont was then to join the hands of Arthur and Isabel, and they and +their father were to remove to Holland, where every friend of the Royal +Martyr was affectionately welcomed by the Princess of Orange, whose only +consolation in her deep affliction for him, was to cherish those who +suffered in his cause. Arthur possessed a small private fortune +independent of his parents, which, when converted into cash, would be +adequate to their frugal support; and it was agreed, that while they +waited the chance of the Colonel's recovery, no disclosure should be +made of the change in his principles. He, therefore, retained the title +of Sedley; continued to visit Morgan; talked of the friendship of +Cromwell; and pretended that he resided with the Beaumonts, because he +still required the assistance of his surgeon, and that he wished to be +fully convinced of their inoffensive conduct before he recommended them +to the General's favour. + +During this time the Sunday assembling of the church in the wilderness +was repeated as often as the safety of the congregation would permit. +These were Dr. Beaumont's halcyon moments; the refreshing balms which +enabled him to support his public and private affliction. The terrible +death of Humphreys had made a great impression in the village, the +outrageous blasphemies of the self-condemned reprobate in his last +moments, and the utter inability of the various teachers of different +opinions who gathered around him, to tranquillize his disordered +imagination or quiet his alarmed conscience, led the beholders of that +heart-rending scene to recollect, that no such occurrence had taken +place during the quiet ministry of him who had preached the comfortable +doctrine of God's universal acceptance of penitent sinners, and who had +ever aimed rather to reform their lives than bewilder their +understandings or influence their imaginations. Many of the neighbours +who wanted courage to attend his more public services, visited the +Doctor by night, and besought his instruction as a preceptor, or his +judgment as a casuist. One wished him to talk with his wife, who was so +much engrossed with spiritual things, that she thought it sinful to +attend to temporal concerns. He said she left him alone in a severe fit +of sickness, while in extreme danger, to listen to a favourite preacher; +and, when reproved for her inhumanity, she burst into a transporting +extacy, and declared herself now sure of salvation, as "she suffered for +righteousness-sake," and would bear her cross with patience. He +protested he knew not how to act, since, if he treated her with +kindness, she was in despair, calling herself a lost soul, applying to +her own case the woe denounced on those with whom the world is at peace, +and complaining that she had no longer "a thorn in the flesh to buffet +her." A disconsolate mother implored Dr. Beaumont to interfere and +support her authority with her daughter, who, misunderstanding their +preacher's encomiums on the sufficiency of faith, abandoned herself to +antinomian licentiousness, asserting, that "it was the law which had +created sin," but that the elect were free from the curse of the law. +One father was ruined by children, who refused to "labour for the meat +that perisheth." Another came in the deepest distress, lamenting that +his son was committed to prison for having joined a band of fanatical +desperadoes, who publicly plundered their neighbours, declaring that +they were now superior to the commandments, and were prophets appointed +to set up the empire of King Jesus, and restore those times "when +believers had all things in common." In some of these instances Dr. +Beaumont was enabled to enlighten the bewildered judgment; but when the +errors of the imagination were fortified by licentious passions, or a +perverse disposition, he could only give comfort to the afflicted +relations by confirming them in a clearer view of divine truth. + +But the Doctor's greatest trouble proceeded from those frequent visitors +who came to complain to him of the state of their neighbours' souls, and +to vaunt their own spiritual gifts and happy security. To these he could +be of no use, nor is it any reflection on his learning and abilities, to +say he was often posed by a class of disputants, who, wanting a previous +acquaintance with those general topics of information which are +necessary to a clear and true view of the question, presume to handle +the most abstruse and profound topics of theology, while unable to see +the force of their opponent's reasonings, or to attend to the +development of the false hypothesis on which their notions are founded. +These people, being wise in their own conceits, gloried in their errors, +mistaking spiritual pride for piety, and censorious curiosity for +concern for their neighbours' souls. The spirit of "Stand apart, I am +holier and wiser than thou," had such firm possession of their minds, +that the mild instructions and persuasive example of Dr. Beaumont had no +effect; his refusal to anathematize the darkness of their adversaries, +or to admire the splendour of their illumination, sealed their ears +against all his counsels. In vain did he admonish them that the test of +Christian principles, as given by our Divine Lawgiver, was unity. The +promulgation of the Gospel to distant countries was to result from +universal good-will. "By this shall all men know that ye are my +disciples, if ye have love one to another," was the Saviour's definition +of his true servants. "I thank God that I am not like this Publican," +was the self-gratulation of a much greater sinner. The Apostles enjoined +the most guarded temperance of judgment respecting others, and the +closest inquisition about ourselves; and the wisest and best men, from +well-grounded fears of their own perseverance in well-doing, have +declined[1] all superior affectation of sanctity or invidious comparison +of the behaviour of others with their own, lest they should afterwards +fall into some grievous sin, and thus bring disgrace on religion and +virtue. The Catholic church, he said, was a term implying affectionate +communion as well as universality; and how could they be said to wish +for Christ's reign upon earth, who made knowledge to consist in +frivolous cavils, and piety in rancorous misinterpretation of a +brother's motives? Were discord, enmity, and censoriousness, fit +harbingers of the Prince of peace? His great forerunner preached +repentance and reformation. The sins of individuals, not the +institutions of civil society, were the mountains which were to be +levelled before the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. We might be +saved, without knowing if our neighbour was in the road to heaven; we +must at the last day be judged for the good we have done, not for the +evil others have thought; nor would the mere frequent calling upon the +Lord save those who in their deeds rejected the Divine government. In +fine, Dr. Beaumont, weary of the obstinacy and determined ignorance of +these self-righteous, told them that their pretensions to a larger share +of heavenly gifts was presumptuous, since they indulged in offences that +spoke a more infernal origin than merely carnal sins; for, so far as +human eye can penetrate into concealed mysteries, pride was the crime of +the fallen angels. Nor would he admit that Christian humility had any +thing to do with general acknowledgments, which rested in the corruption +of our common nature. "It is in confession of actual sin that the +contrite offender humbles himself before his God. The sentiment arising +from an imputation of guilt which we could not avoid, or from the +expectation of a punishment of which we are born the inheritors, is not +self-abasement, but despair. The penitent, observed Dr. Beaumont, feels +like one abashed by the recollection of his misdeeds, and fearful of +forfeiting the pardon afforded him by mercy: hence arise kindness and +compassion to his fellow-sinners, and newness of life in his own +conduct; but he was yet to learn how the feelings of the predestinated +elect, who boasted of being brands snatched out of the fire, and +privileged favourites of Heaven, improved the morals of mankind." + +Had Dr. Beaumont merely consulted his own ease, he could not have taken +more effectual methods for clearing his door of those who came to +display their own graces; yet his converts were numerous, respectable, +and, what is better, shewed in their behaviour the improvement they +derived from his labours. A quiet tractable deportment, a due sense of +subordination, of duty to superiors, and of contented labour in their +own callings, those noble and peculiar distinctions of true disciples of +the church of England, which render her so proper an ally to the state, +were again visible in the language and manners of those who attended the +stolen congregational services I have mentioned, for to this assembling +themselves together, the Divine blessing is especially promised. After +the solemn and primary duties of confession, prayer, and praise, Dr. +Beaumont resumed his old method of instruction, alternately expounding +Christian mysteries, and inforcing Christian morals. On some occasions +he pursued a course of catechetical lectures; on others, quitting +elementary instructions, he proceeded to inforce good works as the test +of faith; now recommending the means of grace, by which the heart of man +was prepared to co-operate with the Divine Spirit, and then expatiating +on the hopes of glory, the goal and reward of diligence and perseverance +in well-doing. The service was lengthened by occasional prayers, adapted +to the state of the kingdom, and closed with an hymn, except at those +times when the centinel or watch indicated there was danger of +interruption. + +One fine evening of the summer of 1649 they were thus employed, and +roused to uncommon fervour by a most pathetic discourse, to which the +following hymn, sung by the congregation, was in its purport analogous: + + Oh Thou, to whose paternal ear + Affliction never vainly cried! + Whom in prosperity we fear, + On whom in sorrow we confide; + We mourning exiles humbly crave + Thy light to guide--thy power to save. + + Proscribed from consecrated ground, + Forbid thy sacred courts to tread, + We know, where contrite hearts are found, + Thy cleansing grace is largely shed. + The church may wander in the wild, + But God still feeds his pilgrim child. + + Our canopy the vaulted skies, + Our unction the refreshing dew; + The circling rocks that round us rise, + Conceal us from th' oppressor's view; + Still shall their solemn echoes bear + To thy high courts our praise and prayer. + + Not for ourselves (though sore dismay'd + Like hunted doves) we pray alone; + A bleeding people asks thy aid, + A ruin'd church, a prostrate throne, + A land become by woes and crimes, + A beacon to surrounding climes. + + Oh, by the sacred ransom paid + For rebel man, rebellion hide; + Where evil spirits now have made + Their den, let thine own Spirit 'bide. + And change our contests and our wrongs + To holy lauds and peaceful songs. + +The echoing rocks prolonged the solemn melody, and every heart was +filled with sympathetic submission, devout patience, and humble hope, +when their attention was recalled to the present scene by a loud Amen, +which discovered a till-then-unobserved participator in their devotions. +A lame bare-headed beggar stood leaning on his crutch, while the wind +blew his hair and tattered garments in every direction. "Heaven bless +you, worthy Christians!" said he; "you have prayed for the King, help a +wounded soldier who has fought for his Royal Father. 'Tis many a day +since I have heard the old church service, and it has done my heart +good; I have drunk to her prosperity thousands of times." + +Arthur offered him an alms.--"Oh, young gentleman," said he, "this is +like throwing diamonds to a dunghill-cock. I cannot buy a loaf in the +mountains, and I dare not venture into any town till I can get some +other clothes to disguise myself. I was in the last insurrection, as the +rebels call it, and so may be hanged without judge or jury, wherever +they catch me; and they may hang me if they will, for they can never +make any thing of me but a King's trooper, or else a Tom o' Bedlam." + +Dr. Beaumont now advanced to see what measures could be adopted to +relieve the stranger's necessities, when, to his great surprize, the man +limped forward, and, grasping his hand with ecstasy, gave it a hearty +shake. "Ah, my good Doctor, is it you?--'Twas so dusky I could not see +your face; and your voice is quite broke and hollow to what it used to +be. I hoped Your Reverence was safe and well at Oxford, and not +preaching here among the goats and sheep in the mountains, while tinkers +and tailors are palavering in churches. Don't Your Reverence remember +Jobson, whom you tried to get out of that Squire Morgan's clutches, when +the cursed covenant came first in fashion. I could not swallow it, you +know, nor will I now, though they were to change my torn coat for a +major's uniform. Is the Squire still alive? I should like to knock him +down with my crutch, and tell him I bought shoes of his father." + +It was with unfeigned pleasure that honest Jobson was recognised by his +neighbours. Plans were proposed for his immediate relief, and Arthur +hoped he could procure him a protection through the interest of Morgan. +"Say nothing about it, Sir," answered Jobson; "I tell you I'll owe him +nothing but a sound drubbing, and I hope to pay that before I die, in +spite of the wound in my knee; he should have it now if I could catch +him; and let me tell you, I am sorry to hear such a pretty-spoken +gentleman as you, say you have any acquaintance with such a scoundrel. +He has made me hate the neighbourhood he lives in; and I only came into +it to see if all was true that was said of my wife; and I find she is +gone a tramping with one of the new preachers, and her girls are gone +after her with some of the rebel troopers. Let them go, I say, if they +have no better fancies than that; I'll hop back to Wales, where an old +soldier of the King's is sure to find a nook in a cottage-chimney, and a +piggin of warm leek porridge; aye, and a warm heart too, that never will +betray him." + +"It is not in Wales only," answered Dr. Beaumont, "that there are found +warm hearts who revere the memory of their martyred Sovereign, and love +the brave soldier who has bled in his cause. My situation compels me to +be careful of offending the ruling powers, but we can contrive to make +some cavern in the mountains a comfortable place of shelter, till you +are better able to undertake a long journey; and believe me, it rejoices +my soul to see you display the same firmness in adversity as you did in +the hour of danger. In the wreck of your little fortune, you have +preserved that noblest treasure, an upright heart. Many who now bask in +affluence, would give their ill-acquired eminence to call that jewel +without price their own." + +"True, worthy Doctor," answered Jobson; "yet the knaves often get +uppermost in this world, and so won't own themselves to be scoundrels, +which is what provokes me. But the times will come when we shall tell +them a bit of our minds again; and then I suppose my wife will leave the +preacher, and want me to take her in again; but no, no, Madam, says I, +there's two words to that bargain. Does Your Reverence know, that though +I never rose higher yet than to be an officer's servant, I am to be a +yeoman of the guard. His Highness the King, as now ought to be, +promised, when he was only Prince of Wales, that when he came to live in +Whitehall, he'd make me one of the Beaf-eaters: bless his generous +heart! he'd have made me any thing I asked, but I never was ambitious. +So, please Your Majesty's Highness sweet Prince, says I, let me be a +Beef-eater as long as I live. This was when I was in the boat with him, +as he went to Sicily from Pendennis-Castle. 'Twas the last time he set +his foot on English ground, said he must think of his word when he comes +back with the crown on his head." + +By this time Isabel and Constantia had concerted a retreat for Jobson in +the mausoleum, which, having been recently searched, was not likely soon +to excite the suspicions of the parliamentary committee-men. They +therefore lingered by the side of Jobson, and gave him a private +intimation of their design, directing him to come to the park-wall at +midnight, where they would provide, not only for his support, but +attempt to cure his wound, as habit had now made them expert surgeons. +Jobson could scarcely be confined to whispering his acknowledgements. +"Give me the use of my leg again," said he, "and let the King's colours +fly in what part of England they will, Ralph Jobson shall stand by the +side of them." + +Each party was true to the appointment, and the tender chirurgeons +perceived with pleasure, that Jobson's lameness proceeded rather from +neglect and unskilful treatment, than from such an injury of the muscles +as excluded all hope that their action could be restored. His adventures +were told to Colonel Evellin, who insisted that his fellow-sufferer +should become an inmate of his apartment. "Soldiers," said he, "can talk +over wars and sieges together, and pray for better times. The tedious +hours will pass pleasantly, enlivened by that gallant fellow's +simplicity; and, if Morgan thinks that it is worth while to let loose +his blood-hounds in search of a lame beggar, he may, at the same time, +unearth another who has nothing but his life to lose. Calamities like +ours level all distinctions; and why is the breath which animates the +ruined representative of fallen greatness more valuable than that which +inspires the heroism and cheerful patience of an honest trooper. Yet +courage, my girl; the blood of Neville is not wholly contaminated; and +when I cease to give thee anguish, thou and Arthur shall restore its +purity." + +The family considered on Colonel Evellin's request, and as none but +themselves knew of Jobson's first retreat, they thought the safety of +their noble charge would not be hazarded by indulging him with a +companion. It was, however, still deemed expedient to conceal his name +and connexion with the Beaumonts, and to describe him to Jobson only as +a loyal officer, disabled by hard service, who sought concealment till +he was sufficiently recovered to leave England. Jobson rejoiced in the +change of apartments. The tincture of superstition, which was universal +in those times, gave him a great reluctance to being hid in a monument, +though he disguised his general apprehension of supernatural beings +under the pretence of dislike to Sir William Waverly. "If it had been a +loyal gentleman's tomb," said he, "I dare say I could have slept in it +all night very well, but I know the Baronet was no better than a rebel +in his heart, and the malice of those scoundrels is not cured by +knocking their brains out. To say the truth, my teeth chattered in my +head, and my legs twitched so about, that I am sure I never should have +got well while I staid there." + +Jobson's light heart now foreboded that his wound would quickly heal, +and that the brave gentleman, who was his companion in affliction, would +take him to be his servant, when he should be able to leave England; he, +therefore, settled in his own mind, that he would stay in Colonel +Evellin's service till the King sent for him to make him a Beef-eater. +The concealed Loyalists soon fell into that intimacy which suffering in +the same cause naturally inspires. Adversity is a great leveller, not +only of artificial distinctions, but also of personal qualities. The +dispossessed nobleman, and the village-ploughman, conversed familiarly +together of many a hard-fought day. The scene of their warfare lay in +different parts of the kingdom; but each listened with painful interest +to the details of the other: Evellin ruminating on the errors which had +ruined the King's cause, Jobson cursing the knaves who betrayed, and the +traitors who beheaded, him. + +"I cannot help making free with Your Honour," said Jobson, "though I see +by all your ways you are a right true gentleman, and not like the +Rump-tinkers and Old Noll's make-believes. You would hardly think, merry +as I seem with you, that I am very sad at heart: not about Madge Jobson, +my wife as was; no, let her go where she will, for she always was a bad +one; but 'tis about that noble family that are so good to us both. And +that pretty Mistress Constance, as sighs so when she bandages up my +knee; sweet creature! she thinks she hurts me, but I would not cry out +if she did; for I have a story I could tell her would make her sigh +more, and look paler than she does, though she is now as white as a +coward marching up to a charged battery." + +Colonel Evellin inquired what story. The remembrance of his son was ever +present to his mind; but the indelible shame of his public disgrace had +prevented him from alluding to him, or asking Jobson if he had ever met +him during the campaign of 1645: and the deep feeling of affectionate +grief prevented Jobson from naming the gallant youth to the good +gentleman, who seemed, he thought, to want to have his spirits raised, +and was too cast down to be diverted with melancholy stories. + +Jobson now begged the Colonel to satisfy his doubts whether it was right +to make his benefactors unhappy. "As a friend of the family," said he, +"and a wise man, I wish to consult you. They don't seem to know what is +become of Mr. Eustace Evellin, had I better tell them or not?" + +Though long and intimately versed in the discipline of severest misery, +Colonel Evellin was forced to turn away his face to conceal his paternal +perturbation. "If," said he, "since the public rebuke of Lord Hopton, he +has again disgraced his lineage, bury his shame in that oblivion which I +hope now covers his body; but, if he lived long enough to redeem his +honour, tell me his history." + +Jobson gazed with indignant surprise on his agitated companion. "If," +answered he, "you had not fought as nobly as you have for the King, I +would not bear to hear you talk about Mr. Eustace Evellin's redeeming +his honour before he lost it. Why, it was all a mistake of the old +Lord's when the cowards and traitors drove him distracted; and so he +thought Mr. Eustace one of them, because now and then they tippled +together. Aye, he has been sorry enough for it since: but Generals +should be careful what they say, for Lord Hopton ruined one of the +fairest young gentlemen that ever was born." + +The Colonel motioned with his hand that Jobson should proceed with his +narrative. "Does Your Honour groan through pain?" inquired the latter; +"let me lay you in an easier posture. Did you never hear how Mr. Eustace +fought at Pendennis-Castle; when old John Arundel of Terrice thanked him +before all the garrison?" + +"Thank heaven!" exclaimed Evellin, "that was a public honour!" + +"Tush! that was nothing," continued Jobson; "every soldier knew already +what stuff Mr. Eustace was made of. Old John called him the hero of +Lancashire. After the castle had surrendered, I went with him into +Wales; and wherever there was a little fighting we were at it: and when +there was none, we lived just as we could; for I did not care about +Madge Jobson, and Mr. Eustace said he could not go home because his +father had cursed him." + +"No, no, no," said Evellin; "he never cursed him." + +"I wish," cried Jobson, "the poor gentleman had known that; it might +have saved his life." + +"Is he dead?" exclaimed the father, in an agony that lifted his +debilitated frame from its recumbent posture. + +"Shot in cold blood after the taking of Pembroke-Castle." + +"By whose order?" + +"A devil's-born traitor, as bad as those who cut off the King's head; +Lord Bellingham they call him." + +Evellin clenched his fist; his teeth were set; his eyes rolled in +terrific wildness; Jobson thought him in a fit, and advanced to support +him. But with the reckless strength of frenzy, the distracted father +grasped the tottering veteran. No object but Bellingham presented itself +to his perverted imagination; and in the fury of rage, blended with +anguish, he redoubled his blows on Jobson, exclaiming, "Accursed +Bellingham, give me back my son!" + +The vehemence of the Colonel's execrations brought Arthur de Vallance to +the assistance of Jobson, who, in terrified accents, declared the good +gentleman was suddenly gone mad, and he could not hold him. It might be +expected, that the entrance, at that instant, of the son of Eustace's +murderer would have increased the paroxysm, but nature was exhausted; he +fixed his eyes upon him, till anguish changed to glaring inanity, and he +sunk lifeless on the pallet. + +Arthur's first care was to call Isabel, in hopes her tender +ministrations would restore her father. Her efforts were attended with +success. Evellin opened his eyes, saw his daughter and her lover +supporting him; he looked alternately at each; no language can describe +the expression of those looks, while he vainly struggled for utterance. +Withdrawing his hand from the pressure of Arthur's, he threw it round +the neck of Isabel, and with the feebleness of an apparently dying +accent, inquired if she loved that man. Astonishment kept her mute; +Evellin sobbed aloud. "By _his_ father, girl, your brother has been +murdered in cold blood." + +If a painter wished to portray a scene of superlative misery, which the +pen cannot describe, the present might employ his strongest powers of +pathos.--The pleading eye of Arthur fixed on the face of Isabel, while +she gazed on her father with the blank features of astonishment and +despair. Jobson now understood the development he had caused, and shared +the anguish which it excited. He brushed the tears from his eyes; they +filled again. He sobbed aloud, and thought such sorrow worse than the +severest warfare he had ever sustained. + +The first return of recollection suggested to young De Vallance the +necessity of withdrawing from the presence of his uncle. He sought Dr. +Beaumont, but that universal comforter could not relieve such despair. +He had, himself, the dreadful task of disclosing the death of Eustace to +Constantia, and of sustaining the keen anguish of her first sorrow, +before he could intrust her to the care of Mrs. Mellicent, and assist +Isabel in the secret chamber, where the loud cries and groans of Evellin +exposed them all to the most imminent danger of discovery. + +Before Dr. Beaumont could visit his frantic friend, rage had again +exhausted his strength; he lay apparently lifeless, and Isabel was +weeping over him.--In cases of extreme distress, to talk of comfort and +prescribe composure, is impertinence. Nature will claim her rights, and +a true friend respects them in silence. He directed his attention to the +narrative of Jobson, from whose report he gathered those particulars of +the fate of Eustace, which, with other circumstances that afterwards +transpired, shall be narrated in the subsequent chapter. + + + [1] This disposition was a prominent feature in the character + of Sir Matthew Hale. + + +END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. + + + + +VOLUME III + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +CHAP. XIX. +CHAP. XX. +CHAP. XXI. +CHAP. XXII. +CHAP. XXIII. +CHAP. XXIV. +CHAP. XXV. +CHAP. XXVI. +CHAP. XXVII. +CHAP. XXVIII. + + + + +CHAP. XIX. + + Teach all men how dangerous it is to step aside out of the path + of innocence and virtue upon any presumption to get into it again; + since such men usually satisfy themselves in doing any thing to + mend the present exigent they are in, rather than think of returning + to that condition of innocence from whence they departed. + + Clarendon. + + +The public rebuke of Lord Hopton (in its most opprobrious charge wholly +undeserved) and the subsequent interview with his father, produced a +marked change in the character of Eustace. He saw that his misfortunes +had proceeded from rash impetuosity, extreme confidence in his own +talents, and a precipitate estimation of the merit of those he admitted +to his friendship. From that period he became wary and circumspect; a +pensive gloom clouded his once fervent animation; he looked and felt +like one bound to life by an irresistible spell, for in that light he +considered his father's command, to live and redeem his honour. + +He was not without hope, that the cordial testimony of Governor Arundel +in his favour at Pendennis-Castle might prove the means of restoring him +to the presence of his friends; but a report at that time reaching him +of the high estimation in which Monthault was held by the Beaumont +family, added to an assurance that he was the accepted lover of +Constantia, determined him against returning to Oxford, to witness the +arts by which that now-detected traitor had confirmed his ruin. He had +often heard the love of women was not of that ardent nature, which +outlives disgrace and misfortune. Perhaps he secretly commended the +noble principles which could prevail on a young woman to reject a +dishonoured lover, and deem infamy a sufficient plea to rescind the bond +of a plighted attachment. He only lamented, that in this instance +Constantia had mistaken the dupe for the villain. Disdaining to dispute +the point of character with Monthault, and bent on clearing his fidelity +to his King, by some indisputable proofs before he claimed his love, he +felt as exiles frequently feel, who, liking nothing but that home from +which they are proscribed, suffer chance to decide their course. Jobson +had attached himself to his fortunes, he had some relations in Wales, +and he spoke much of the loyalty of the mountaineers.--Eustace crossed +the British channel and took up his abode in the principality, +continuing to distinguish himself as long as any resistance was made to +the parliament. + +During the cessation of hostilities, which resembled rather an armed +truce than peace, his yearning heart returned to his beloved family, and +his dearest Constantia, who, he now learned, had rejected Monthault. But +they had left Oxford in the general dispersion of its sages and divines, +and he knew not whither they had shaped their course, neither did he yet +think he had fulfilled the injunction of redeeming his shames. Continual +talk of risings for the King, made him hope he should again have an +opportunity of using his sword, and while this suspence lasted, he +accepted the hospitality of a worthy surgeon of the name of Lloyd, who +resided in the town of Pembroke, and admired the virtues of this brave +out-cast, as sincerely as he pitied his misfortunes. + +Eustace left the arms of this foster-parent, at the breaking out of the +second civil war, which took place during the King's confinement in +Carisbroke-Castle. He was one of the first who appeared in arms, and +after many bold, but unsuccessful efforts, he and Jobson were among the +number who sustained that memorable siege in Pembroke-Castle, where, +after holding out to the last extremity, a selected number of the brave +defenders were sacrificed to republican revenge[1]. + +I have already stated that the command of the army, destined to subdue +the Welsh Loyalists, had been given to Lord Bellingham as a test of his +fidelity, or rather a snare to expedite his ruin, and that his Countess +was privy to this design, being actually the person who had informed +Cromwell of his secret disaffection. The Usurper had recently suffered a +severe disappointment; his favourite General Mytton had thrown up his +command in disgust, and refused again to subdue his countrymen, since he +perceived his hopes of founding a republic, that was to combine every +Utopian idea of purity, had issued in the establishment of military +despotism. Cromwell resolved henceforth to employ a more subtle policy, +and to place a spy on every one whom he entrusted with an important +command, whose interest it should be to watch and report all their +actions. He had formed a determination not only to annihilate the +ancient nobility, but also to create a new house of peers, consisting of +men raised by what he called personal merit, in reality a selection from +his own creatures, which is often the true explanation of the word +merit, when used for party-purposes. No expedient could better serve +such a purpose, than that of exhibiting birth and rank, self-degraded in +the person of one, who he knew would prove himself unworthy of the trust +reposed in him. + +When a system of _espionage_ and secret influence becomes the ruling +principle of government, it follows that the governed must counteract +its designs by a similar process, and thus venality and treachery become +legalized by the acknowledged laws of self-defence. Lord Bellingham had +his agents in the army, as well as Cromwell, and soon discovered that +the sword of Damocles was suspended over his head. Though disaffected to +the cause he served, he had not courage to avow his sentiments, or even +prudence enough to throw up the command, and embrace the only chance of +safety, by choosing a life of retirement. Wedded to the possessions and +rank he had so dearly purchased, and full of ill-founded confidence that +he could play as successful a game with a close-penetrating tyrant, as +he had done with a generous inexperienced King, he thought an air of +inexorable cruelty to the royalists must remove, or at least lull the +suspicions of the serpent, who lay wrapped round in observant coil, +ready to spring upon him. As to the feelings of those whom he +persecuted, for the sake of prolonging his own worthless life and +preserving his ill-acquired fortunes, he either entirely forgot that +they had any, or considered that self-preservation rendered every +expedient lawful. + +After enduring a siege equalled in horror only by that of Colchester, +Pembroke-Castle surrendered on the same terms; namely, that the common +soldiers might depart unmolested, and the inhabitants be safe in person +and property, while the officers and gentlemen who had borne arms should +surrender prisoners at mercy. The generous sentiments of these +self-devoted patriots sustained them in the agonizing trial of parting +with the bands they had led always to honour, sometimes to victory, by +the consideration that, by placing themselves in jeopardy, they had +purchased the safety of those whom they could no otherwise protect, and +whose services were now useless as the cause was desperate. But far +different were the feelings of the soldiers, who were compelled to leave +their beloved commanders in this state of peril. The regret of Jobson +was peculiarly lively, he wrung the hand of Eustace, implored him to +assist him in passing for a subaltern, that he might share his perils, +and insisted he was as good a gentleman as many of Bellingham's +officers. Eustace attempted to laugh at his apprehensions, assured him +that the rumour of the General's intention to decimate the prisoners was +suggested by some malicious person, who sported with the feelings of +unfortunate people. "The only difference in our fate," said he to +Jobson, "is that you are at large with your unhealed wounds to beg or +starve, whichever (being your own master) you shall think most eligible, +while I shall be well taken care of as a prisoner, probably sent to +London, and perhaps, by some fortunate occurrence, may be indulged with +a sight of my honoured father. With what transport shall I throw myself +into his arms, crave his blessing, tell him I have redeemed my shames, +and proved by my sufferings and my blood that I am no traitor." + +Jobson took a lingering leave; the commands of Bellingham were +peremptory. Every soldier of the King's found in the castle, the evening +after its surrender, was ordered to be thrown over the rock into the +sea. Cowardice was his motive for this command. He dreaded the fury of +even a disarmed and unofficered army, and he resolved to disperse them, +previous to his bringing on the premeditated catastrophe of his bloody +tragedy. + +On the succeeding morning a ghastly-looking figure, whose face spoke +some abhorred errand, ordered the captives to attend the council of +officers. Bellingham, surrounded with those, who secretly panted for his +destruction, acted as their organ, and assuming the consequence of a +general, informed his prisoners[2], "That after so long and obstinate a +defence, till they found it necessary to deliver up themselves to mercy, +it was necessary that the peace of the kingdom might be no more disturbed +in that manner, that some military justice should be executed, and +therefore the council had determined that three should be presently +shot." The tallies were immediately produced, the victims blindfolded, +and Eustace drew one of those marked with the fatal sentence of death. +His partners in affliction had nothing remarkable in their appearance to +engage peculiar sympathy; but the beautiful countenance of Eustace, faded +indeed by severe suffering, yet lighted by the splendor of eyes radiant +with intelligence, while all his features spoke sense and feeling, had +already drawn the attention of the butchers who sat to see him exposed to +the chance of slaughter. With collected intrepidity he stretched his +hand, and steadily drew the lot from the fatal urn. When the contents +were announced, he tore the bandage from his eyes, and, rolling them in +stern defiance of the rebel group, embraced his fellow-victims. A silent +appeal to Heaven succeeded; and then, without one supplicatory address +for mercy, in a manly tone, he inquired what time would be allowed them +to prepare for death. His manner had so far softened their hearts, that a +respite of three hours was granted; and Lord Bellingham offered them the +assistance of one of his own chaplains to direct their devotions. + +It would have been an inestimable consolation to Eustace had the worthy +Barton officiated in that capacity; but he was now among the number of +respectable characters who were thrown into prison for presuming to +intercede in the King's behalf. The person who attended Eustace was an +ignorant desperate fanatic, in reality a spy of Cromwell's, whom the +arbitrary will of Lady Bellingham compelled her lord to retain about his +person. Such an assistant could afford no comfort to a condemned man; in +reality he only served to disturb the composure which a long series of +sorrows and sufferings had enabled Eustace externally to assume--I say +externally, for his soul secretly melted at the unusual misfortunes that +had clouded his short existence. He recollected at this trying moment +the precious delights and glorious visions of his boyhood. His mind +dwelt on the delusive opinion of his own powers, which had endangered +his high expectations of renown, the fatal intimacy, and the numerous +errors that changed glory into disgrace; and now, when misfortune had +taught him wisdom, by the cruel sentence of coward rebels he was doomed, +in cold blood, not only to an early, but also to an ignominious grave. +He should never more re-join his father! never behold his plighted +Constantia! Death he would welcome almost with transport, could he but +hear the former pronounce his forgiveness, or the latter vow that she +would cherish his memory. To die unknown, distant from all he loved, be +ignorant of their present state, and they of his miserable doom--such a +combination of excruciating misfortunes required no common fortitude to +support the trial, or to divest a soul (which clung to the future with +greater eagerness in proportion to the fallacy of past expectations) of +those strong attachments to this life which impeded his journey to +another. The glow of heroism which animated his face, and warmed his +bosom before the council, was succeeded by the chill of despair. The +precious moments of preparation for eternity were consumed in a whirl of +distracting thought. He stood caressing a favourite spaniel whom he had +preserved alive during the severe privations of the siege, watching the +swift movements of the clock which numbered the remaining pulses of his +heart, wondering if it would thus throb at the moment when he plunged +into an unknown existence, endeavouring to recollect a recommendatory +prayer, but too amazed and petrified by the cruelty of man to meditate +on the mercy of God. + +Meanwhile, Henley the chaplain, with the stern austerity of unpitying +fanaticism, asked Eustace if he was in a state of grace, or had +witnessed the experience of a saving call. Receiving no answer to these +inquiries, he began the usual routine of vituperative prayer, and +affected to supplicate for mercy on what he styled a child of wrath +doomed to perdition, and, by his own consent, in the bondage of Satan. +Eustace was roused by this mockery from his apparent stupor. "Call you +this," said he, "spiritual comfort for the afflicted, or a requiem for a +departing soul? I was educated in the principles of true piety. I know +myself to be a frail, responsible being, and that my spirit is composed +of those imperishable materials which will enable me to exist in a state +of retribution. I trust in the merits of Him who died to save me. I am +severed from my dearest connections. My days are terminated in the +morning of my life. I am denied the fruition of those glorious hopes +which prompted me to distinguish myself by deeds deserving virtuous +renown. So wills the Ruler of the universe. Blind and cruel instruments +often accomplish the inscrutable designs of Providence; but I have been +taught to consider all its purposes as issuing in mercy. I fought for a +virtuous King; I die for his exiled son. My name shall live in honour +when Bellingham and all the vile associates of Cromwell are consigned to +infamy. I am the son of Colonel Evellin, the nephew of Dr. Eusebius +Beaumont, both renowned Loyalists. You, Sir, cannot instruct me; for the +principles I imbibed from them will support me in my last moments." + +The Chaplain listened with surprise to the account which Eustace gave of +himself, and thought it expedient to return to his lord before his +execution. Bellingham had been much struck with the aspect of the brave +youth. The unacknowledged yearnings of nature, excited by his +resemblance to his father, made him wish to save his life, while the +compunctious visitings of mercy were again repressed by terror for his +own. While he thus hesitated, Henley returned, and advised the Earl by +no means to preserve such a determined profligate, who had rejected his +prayers with disdain, refused to give any account of the state of his +soul, persisted in a false exposition of the gospel, and gloried in his +relationship to notorious malignants. "He is the son of that desperado +Colonel Evellin," said Henley--Bellingham trembled as he uttered that +name--"and the nephew of Dr. Eusebius Beaumont," continued the Chaplain. +The horrors and fears of Bellingham were wrought to a climax by this +information. Those apprehensions which the likeness of Eustace to his +injured father, and the similitude of their names excited, were now +confirmed beyond all doubt, by his claiming kindred with Dr. Beaumont. +Allan Neville was therefore still alive, and no other than the famous +Colonel Evellin, at whose name he and many other rebels had often turned +pale. Bellingham had frequently revolved in his mind the possibility +that the brave Loyalist might be his injured brother. He had lost sight +of him before the commencement of the civil wars, and hoped he had +fallen a victim to insanity in his mountainous retreat. He now knew he +was still alive, perhaps preserved to reclaim his inheritance, at least +he was the father of a brave interesting youth whom he had just doomed +to slaughter, and dared not pardon. Practised as he was in guilt, his +heart revolted at the idea of shedding his blood. Hurried out of his +accustomed caution, he faintly acknowledged the prisoner was his nephew; +but suddenly re-assuming his wonted duplicity, he desired Henley to +hurry back, and inquire if he had any more brothers, observing it was a +desperate family, and perhaps sparing the life of one might be the means +of getting the rest into the power of Parliament. + +Henley had caught the inadvertent acknowledgment of kindred, and was +prepared to use it to forward the views of Cromwell. Before he returned +to Eustace, he took care to inform the agitators that their General's +nephew was one among the captive officers assigned by lot to expiate for +the loss of their comrades who had perished in the siege, and that +Bellingham was now devising measures to save his life. An universal +clamour was immediately raised; the soldiers assembled on the parade, +and called for impartial justice. The agitators proceeded in a body to +the General's quarters, demanding that the prisoners should be instantly +executed, and, that no subterfuge or exchange might take place, they +would themselves examine their features, and ascertain that they were +those who drew the lots of death. + +Meanwhile Henley was holding forth hopes of mercy to Eustace, and drew +from him a description of the state of his family. He also inquired if +he had any friends in Pembroke. A prudent recollection of the danger to +which he might expose Dr. Lloyd, prevented Eustace from requesting the +comfort of his attendance. The conference was interrupted by the loud +clamours of the soldiers. Eustace knew their meaning, endeavoured to +compose his thoughts, and submitted to his fate. It was reported that, +as he went to execution, he had the melancholy comfort of seeing his +friend among those who came to witness his last moments. If so, his +perturbed spirit was soothed with the consciousness that there was one +who would record his magnanimity, and rescue his cold remains from +barbarous indignity or oblivious neglect. + +"I know little more, please Your Reverence," said Jobson to Dr. +Beaumont, "than that they were all cruelly shot to death. I have heard +that poor Fido sat howling on my young master's corpse, and would not +let any body touch it till Dr. Lloyd fetched it away to bury it; and +that the Doctor keeps the poor dog still, and will never part with it. +Ah! the bloody-minded knaves so hated poor Eustace, that they never +would have suffered him to have had Christian burial, had not the +officers and soldiers mutinied just at that moment. They said that the +General had betrayed them, and that the trouble they had to conquer us +was all owing to his favouring his friends in the Castle. There is +nothing but lies among the Round-heads; for I'll take my life not a soul +of us would have had any thing to do with them, and if starving us to +death was a way of shewing us favour, I hope never to meet with such +friends any more. So, and please Your Reverence, as soon as poor Mr. +Eustace fell, the Devil (whom they talk so much about) got among them, +and they began quarrelling and fighting; and a pity it is he did not +come a little sooner and carry off that cowardly Lord who let his +prisoners be shot in cold blood, because he could not beat them when +they had arms in their hands. Had it not been for him, the finest young +man Lancashire ever bred would have been alive and merry with his noble +father at this moment. I don't wonder Your Reverence weeps and wrings +your hands. I would have died a thousand times to save him; and if ever +I may shew my face in the open day-light again, I'll go to Pembroke and +beg Dr. Lloyd to let me take Fido to Mistress Constantia. Poor Fido! Mr. +Eustace hid him all through the siege, or the garrison would have eat +him. We gave him a morsel out of our own mess, and that was short +commons enough. I fancy I see him walking after Mr. Eustace when he went +to be shot, and then sitting on his body. I warrant they found the lock +of Mrs. Constantia's hair lying on his heart; for he looked at it every +day, and swore he never would part with it. O! that I had died instead +of him; there is nobody to grieve for Ralph Jobson!" + +Thus imitating the artifice, while unable to catch the spirit of the +Grecian painter, I describe sorrow as personified in a faithful +attendant, and leave the reader's imagination to picture the frantic +father and the fainting mistress of Eustace--affliction wearing the form +of a ministering angel in Isabel, and that of a mourning patriarch in +Dr. Beaumont--all tracing the ruin of their dearest hopes to the same +iniquitous source; yet all agreeing that it was better to die with +virtue than to live with guilt; to be immolated on the shrine of alarmed +ambition, rather than to be the bloody hierarch who dragged the +sacrifice to the altar. + + + [1] In the account of what passed at Pembroke-Castle, the author + has not adhered to history or chronology; but the similar barbarity + and breach of contract, which took place at Colchester, justifies + the narration. + + [2] This is copied from what passed at Colchester. + + + + +CHAP. XX. + + I charge thee, fling away ambition; + By that sin fell the angels; how can man then + (The image of his Maker) hope to win by it? + Corruption gains not more than honesty. + + Shakspeare. + + +Among the victims whom the crimes and fears of Lord Bellingham made +supremely wretched, we must rank his amiable and repentant son, who, +languishing to cleanse his house from the foul stain of usurpation, had +long resolved to do justice to his injured uncle, and to relinquish his +surreptitious honours to Eustace, anticipating the friendship of that +noble youth, and the hand of Isabel as the best rewards he could +receive. No bridal transport, no yearnings of grateful friendship, no +cordial thrill of conscious integrity now cheered the gloom of his +future prospects. The father had sinned beyond all possibility of the +son's atoning for his crimes. Was it possible for Colonel Evellin or +Constantia to bear his sight? Could Isabel ever plight her faith to the +son of her brother's murderer? These agonizing forebodings were soon +confirmed by the receipt of the following letter:-- + + "Dear Arthur, + + "It is impossible for me to leave the secret chamber to bid you + farewel. I can sometimes tranquillize my father. I trust in heaven + his life will be preserved, and his reason restored. I know you + are innocent, and I know too that I shall always love you; but my + heart forebodes we must meet no more in this world. I do not bid + you forget me--No; I will implore your daily prayers, for I have + great need of patience and fortitude. Solicit for me earnestly at + the throne of grace, and thus shew your affection to + + Isabel Evellin." + +"Our sweet Constantia looks like a virgin-martyr, beautiful and +resigned. She bids me say she shall always love her kind friend Arthur. +Surely you might write to her, and mention what course you mean to +pursue." + + -------------------- + +It would be difficult to say, whether this letter gave De Vallance more +pain or pleasure. Hope seldom deserts the lover who knows he is beloved. +But why did he feel delight at hearing Isabel acknowledge her heart +would ever be devoted to him? Could affection burst the cinctures of the +grave, and re-animate the corpse which his father had prematurely sent +to that dark mansion? Should he not rather have wished her to determine +to tear his image from her heart, and be happy in a second choice? I aim +to recommend practical and praise-worthy self-denial, not that romantic +strain of extravagant sentiment which enjoins impossibilities and +commends absurdities. Arthur's reflections told him that in treasuring +the remembrance of Isabel, even in his heart-of-heart, he invaded no +one's right, and broke no divine precept. He measured the feelings of +his mistress by his own. "Whatever," said he, "may betide me in life, of +good or ill fortune, the idea of this virtuous, this heroical maid, +shall restrain the arrogance of prosperity, or prevent my sinking under +the weight of calamity. I will bring her to my mind's eye, restraining +her tears for her murdered brother; supporting her wretched father, +imbecile alike in mind and body; consoling the friend of her youth, +widowed in her virgin love; and let me add, following her plighted +Arthur with pious prayers and devoted affection. If I have now no motive +to action in the hope of possessing virtue personified in my Isabel, I +still have the incentive of proving myself worthy of her constant +attachment." + +Determined never more to return to his parents, the sight of whom would +have been almost as terrible to him as to the unhappy family with whom +he had so long sojourned, if the remorseless Countess and usurping Earl +had dared to invade the privacy of their sorrows, De Vallance resolved +to leave England, and engage in the service of his exiled King. Should +prudential motives cause the King to decline making use of his sword, +the war which had for twenty years subsisted between France and Spain +would furnish him with employment, and he resolved rather to end his +days as a mercenary soldier than to remain in England a rebel to his +Prince, and the acknowledged heir of usurped greatness. + +Avoiding all expostulation, or indeed all chance of further intercourse +with his parents, he removed from Ribblesdale with the utmost privacy. +Changing his clothes and assuming a disguise which altered his +appearance, he shaped his course toward Liverpool, from whence he hoped +to procure a passage to France. He had not proceeded far before he +overtook Jobson, who, unable to support the sight of Colonel Evellin's +distress, had determined to go back to Pembroke, and gain from Dr. Lloyd +a more minute account of the death of Eustace. De Vallance agreed to +accompany him and take ship at Milford Haven. Jobson was proud of again +serving a loyal gentleman, and Arthur was resolved, for his late +master's sake, to assist and protect the brave trooper. "I'll do any +thing to serve your honour," said Jobson; "but I hope you will not be +offended. My tongue is a little unruly, and apt to slip out now and +then. So if, when I don't intend it, I should say harsh things of the +cursed rogue who murdered Mr. Eustace, forgetting that he passes for +your honour's father, I hope you will not think me less dutifully +disposed to you. For Mrs. Isabel long ago told me you was come over to +the right side, and would rather fight for a King without a coat to his +back, than such upstarts as Old Noll and the Parliament, though all over +gold fringe and black velvet. I tell you what, Master Sedley, My Lord +Sedley I believe I ought to say----" + +"My name is Arthur de Vallance," replied he; "I have no right to any +title." + +"Bless your honourable nature," said Jobson. "Poor Mr. Eustace, I find, +ought to have been My Lord, but as that traitor shot him to get him out +of the way, I don't see why you should not be Lord Sedley rather than +one of Old Noll's tinkers should, who are sure to catch up all the good +things they can lay hold of." + +Arthur smote his breast, and with agony reflected, that however his soul +abhorred the foul crime, he must (as his father was created a peer by +the late King) reap the advantage of it. The horror of this +consideration was alleviated by considering that on the death of +Bellingham he should have power to rescue Evellin from the protracted +misery of a life of concealment, and Isabel from terror, poverty, and a +renunciation of even common comforts. While he was engrossed by +meditating plans for their immediate relief, Jobson went on, unobserved, +raving against the degradation of serving upstarts, and resolving to +stand by true gentlemen while he had a drop of blood in his veins. + +The remittances which De Vallance had received from his tenants, enabled +him to purchase horses and other necessaries for himself and Jobson. +Assuming the name of Herbert, he gave himself out to be a gentleman +travelling with his servant on a tour of pleasure. They reached Pembroke +in safety, but the pious intentions of Jobson were frustrated; he could +neither pluck a tuft of grass from his master's grave, nor recover Fido +to console Constantia. Dr. Lloyd had left the town, and no one knew +where the remains of Eustace were deposited. The graves of his +fellow-victims were pointed out by the attentive piety of the young +maidens, who adorned them with garlands of flowers, which (according to +the custom of the country) were renewed every Sabbath. On that day they +duly knelt beside the spot, and with awful veneration kept alive their +own attachment to the cause for which these officers suffered, by +repeating the Lord's prayer. + +It was a matter of the deepest concern to Jobson that the grave of +Eustace was not pointed out and adorned with similar honours. He began +to conceive an implacable aversion to Dr. Lloyd for not having given him +a public interment. "Is it not enough," said he to De Vallance, "to make +poor Mr. Eustace walk? One of these gentlemen, to be sure, was a fine +corny-faced cavalier, who paid for many a jug of Welsh ale that I drank +to His Majesty's health, and the other was a stout desperate lieutenant, +that would fight and swear with any body; but not one of them was half +so handsome, sweet-speaking, well-born a gentleman as Mr. Eustace." + +De Vallance did not apprehend that posthumous honours soothed the +separated spirit; and had he not been standing on the awful spot which +consummated his father's crimes, he would have smiled at the retention +of these old pagan ideas respecting the state of the departed. He +questioned the by-standers whether any thing was known respecting the +interment of young Evellin. Some said there was a private funeral +huddled up in a strange way; but an old woman whispered that it was +suspected the Doctor had made him into a skeleton, and being troubled in +conscience afterwards for the wicked act had fled the country. Absurd as +this suggestion was, it suited the pre-conceived prejudices of Jobson, +and in future afforded De Vallance some relief, by diverting part of his +companion's curses to another object than Lord Bellingham; for in +Jobson's estimation there was little difference between the General who +condemned, and the surgeon who dissected his master. Nor was he +satisfied about Fido's safety, when he found Dr. Lloyd had been +particularly careful to take the spaniel with him. "Ah, the bloody +knave," said he, "I know he will cut the poor dog up in his experiments, +as he calls them, and then sell his skin. That Doctor is a Jew to the +back-bone. If I had gone to him with my lame knee, he would have had my +leg off directly to put in pickle, and have made me wear a wooden one +instead of it. But sweet Isabel fomented it till it was well, and now I +can ride on horseback as well as ever. Bless her kind heart! I do hope +she and Your Honour will come together at last. Aye, and I know she +wishes so too. 'Jobson,' said she, as she bade me farewel, 'if ever you +can serve the worthy son of a wicked father, do it for my sake.'" + +The reflections of De Vallance on the mysterious circumstances of +Eustace's interment took a different train from those of Jobson; but as +his thoughts never could pursue any other subject when the magic name of +Isabel spell-bound them to the secret chamber, where filial piety tended +its uncomplaining captive, we will follow their course, and return to +the Beaumont family. + +The pious Isabel with unwearied magnanimity persevered in the duties +which her painful situation required. Her nights were uniformly spent in +the chamber where her father was concealed, and her days were divided +between him and the sad Constantia, who, ever pining for her Eustace, +seemed to have no wish but to share his grave. Isabel tried to divert +her thoughts to the consoling reflection that his honour was restored, +his reputation cleared from the foul charge of treason and the +accusations of Monthault; his name inscribed on the roll of England's +loyal worthies, and the consecrating seal of death fixed on his memory. +Dr. Beaumont endeavoured to make her wishes aspire to that happier world +where she would rejoin him. He talked of the "order, nature, number, and +obedience of angels[1];" and of her dear Eustace as now joined to their +blessed society. He told her, that her lover and herself were still +members of the same family, she suffering, he glorified. He pointed out +to her those texts of Scripture which imply recognition in Heaven, and +in particular mentioned the hope expressed by St. Paul, of presenting +his Colossian converts to his Lord, and the Apostles sitting on thrones +to judge the tribes of Israel, who therefore must be respectively known +as disciples and countrymen. Sometimes he would try to excite emulation, +by pointing out the conduct of Isabel, who endured a similar affliction +in the destruction of her fondest hopes, but whose spirits were +supported by constant bodily exertion, while her mental faculties were +no less exercised by fresh contrivances, at once to amuse her father, +and to add to the security of his retreat. These efforts, he said, gave +such an energy to her mind, that she was able to give instead of +requiring consolation. Dr. Beaumont attempted to revive his daughter's +taste for the beauties of nature; shewed her the rich variety of +mountains, dales, woods, lakes, and rivers, which embellished the +vicinity of her native village, and especially that most exhilarating of +terrestrial objects, the sun rising to enlighten a world which bursts at +his approach into splendid beauty. + +Constantia listened, reproved her own weakness, and wept. Yet the pious +admonitions of her father, and the example of her cousin, assisted by +the meliorating influence of time, had a gradual though slow effect, in +changing grief into meek resignation. Her lute, long endeared by the +remembrance of Eustace, was now attuned to deplore the death of him who +had restored her the treasure. When sorrow can flow in poesy, it becomes +more plaintive than agonizing; and possibly the reader will be pleased +to see that the long-protracted years of Constantia's anguish were +soothed by those alleviations, which, in mercy to man, are permitted +imperceptibly to soften the ravages of death. + +It is thus that afflicted survivors, in talking and meditating on those +who are gone before them to the unseen world, derive an enjoyment from +musing on the past, and from anticipating in the future what the present +is not able to afford. + +CONSTANTIA TO ISABEL. + + And dost thou mourn the sad estate + Of widow'd love? then silent be; + And hark! while for my murder'd mate + I wake the lute's soft melody. + + How dear to me the midnight moon, + As through the clouds she sails along, + For then with spirits I commune, + And Eustace listens to my song. + + Oh, not to her who wildly mourns + Her noble lover basely slain-- + Oh, not to her the morn returns + With pleasure laughing in her train. + + So look'd it once, when Eustace sung + Of plighted love's perennial joys, + Now silent is that tuneful tongue, + That graceful form the worm destroys. + + In vain the feather'd warblers soar, + Mid floods of many colour'd light; + I hear them not, but still deplore + The eye of Beauty quench'd in night. + + How in the battle flam'd his crest, + Refulgent as the morning star: + But ruthless murder pierc'd that breast, + Which met unhurt the storm of war. + + My Love, "how beautiful, how brave;" + Still, still, her oaths thy Constance keeps; + The laurel decks the victor's grave, + O'er thine the faithful willow weeps. + +The disturbed state of England at this time permitted no long indulgence +of domestic sorrow. "Griefs of an hour's age did hiss the speaker," and +pity and sympathy often claimed the falling tear, which had been wrung +forth by "own distress." Ribblesdale was again disturbed by the march of +hostile troops. The young King had yielded to the solicitations of his +Scottish subjects, and transported himself to that country. Less +scrupulous than his father, he swore to observe the conditions of their +covenant; and in return, they promised to give him their crown, and +assist him to recover the English diadem. No sooner was the Royal +standard displayed on the hills of Caledonia, than the welcome signal +revived the hopes and unsheathed the swords of the southern Loyalists. +The brave Earl of Derby left his retreat in the isle of Man, to spend +the remains of his noble fortune in his Master's cause; and, as the +event proved, to sacrifice his life. He returned eagerly to Lancashire, +and collecting what forces the fallen interests of his family could +supply, waited the commands of his Sovereign. + +In the mean time the indefatigable Cromwell hastened from Ireland; and +assuming the command which Fairfax had refused to accept, marched the +English forces into Scotland, and defeated the covenanters, who, under +pretence of restoring the young King, actually held him prisoner, +compelling him to act in such subservience to their designs as to +sacrifice those, who, without any sinister views, risked their lives in +his support. The humiliation of these pretended friends by the victory +of Cromwell enabled the King to burst the fetters of Argyle, and throw +himself into the arms of the true Loyalists, with whom he concerted +measures and recruited his army, while Cromwell refreshed his fatigued +and harassed troops at Edinburgh. Determined to appeal to the loyalty of +a nation, now known to be weary of an unsettled government, the King +suddenly executed the brave design of passing by Cromwell's army, and +marched into England. He was joined in Lancashire by the Earl of Deby: +rash counsels were hastily adopted; and, instead of concentrating the +force they possessed, and pointing it at one great object, the Earl was +required to secure the north-western provinces with a power unequal to +the duty; while the King, weakened by his division, marched rapidly +towards London, hoping to reach it before he could be overtaken by +Cromwell. + +The report of an enterprising able young Prince, (for so at this time +the second Charles was reputed to be) coming to reclaim by the sword his +right to the crown, which had been torn from the lifeless trunk of his +father, on whose grave a hecatomb of regicides was expected to be +offered, alarmed all those who had participated in the crimes of treason +and murder. The forces of the King were, as usual, exaggerated by +report, the hopes of the Loyalist turned possibilities into certainties, +a general rising was expected, and it was confidently said had already +taken place. Rumours were circulated that in subduing Scotland Cromwell +had so weakened himself, that it was impossible for him to pursue the +King; and while the less criminal entertained hopes of being able to +make terms with their Sovereign, the immediate partizans of the Usurper +saw no safety, but in supporting the power of one who they knew must +(like themselves) be excepted out of every amnesty. + +Among those whom guilt had made desperate, we must include Lord and Lady +Bellingham. We have seen that the former sacrificed his nephew to avoid +being accused as a secret favourer of the royal cause, a charge he knew +Cromwell had determined to urge against him, as a safe way of removing a +staunch republican, who would oppose the ultimate views of his now ripe +ambition. Eustace however drew the lot of death to no other purpose than +to increase the remorse which occasionally tortured the bosom of +Bellingham. A mutiny broke out the moment after the volley was fired, +that sent the brave cavaliers to join in the grave the royal martyr whom +they had served and deplored; for the rebel General, had awakened too +many suspicions, and had too much offended his soldiers by his +temporizing conduct, for this sacrifice to expiate his faults. It was +remarked, that he never dealt in invective against his opponents, from +whence it was inferred, that he wished to treat with them. He neglected +the praying agitators, and therefore they called him Agag, the +Amalekite, commanding the host of Israel. He abridged the liberty of the +soldiers, and of course straitened the arm of the Lord. He disapproved +of plunder and military contribution, consequently endeavoured to make +the presbyterians popular at the expence of the godly. At this time +these opponents hated each other still more than they did episcopacy; +and a presbyterian general, commanding an army who claimed unbounded +licence in judgment and conduct, must be condemned for a traitor by that +unerring rule, the voice of the majority. Lord Bellingham was therefore +arrested by the agitators, and sent prisoner to London at the instant +when Eustace fell. + +Imprisonment and the scaffold were frequently in those times synonymous. +The fallen criminal saw his danger in its full horrors; and, while +maintaining an inordinate attachment to this world, he dreaded the +future consequence of his unrepented crimes. He had not numbed the early +feelings of religion by the cold torpor of Atheism; nor could he +persuade himself to indulge in those reveries of election and +impeccability, which had now saturated his Lady's mind. He felt himself +to be an accountable being, not a collection of animated atoms +associated by chance, which, when the vital spark was extinguished, +would crumble into dust without record or responsibility. He knew he was +a sinner by choice, who had abused his free-will; not a passive vessel +of wrath, pre-destined to destruction. No inflating ebullition of +enthusiasm told him he was become one of those favourites of Heaven who +cannot forfeit salvation. He therefore clung to this wretched life, as +to the edge of a precipice that beetled over the gulph of perdition. +Despair was with him the substitute of repentance. He looked back on his +offences to his King and his friend, convinced that they had exceeded +the bounds of mercy. Often did he deplore the utter impossibility of his +regaining that state of contented innocence, when he and Allan Neville +shared each other's hearts, before the superior qualities and nobler +expectations of his friend excited his envy and ambition. He adverted to +that time when his love for the beautiful Lady Eleanor was pure and +generous, before she had wrought upon him to become the instrument and +participator of her criminal ambition and insatiable rapacity. He had +not the audacity to think a life stained by perfidy and injustice, made +him fitter for the reception of extraordinary grace. The external +propriety of his manners, and the patronage he liberally afforded to the +divines of the Rump-party, had gained him the reputation of a man of +extraordinary piety; but the austerities he practised, and the devotions +in which he joined, afforded no balsam to his woes. He had been early +taught that restitution to the wronged was one of the evidences of real +penitence. His title and fortune were the right-hand; he could not cut +off the pride of life to which he was wedded. Had he never known +greatness, he would now have been happy as Walter de Vallance, living in +a state of respectable competence. He fell into the common fault of +incorrigible offenders; lamenting that he had not subdued the first +cravings of desire, and wishing to recall the irremediable past, while +to reform the present was too vast a labour. + +Sometimes he had persuaded himself, that if he knew Allan Neville were +alive, he would purchase peace of conscience by relinquishing his +usurped possessions; but no sooner was he certified of that fact, and +beheld in Eustace the noble heir he had so basely injured, than his base +spirit shrunk into its narrow cell, and at that moment he would have +given worlds to have had the father and son cut off by any hand but his +own. Equally affected by the fear of death and of adversity, he yielded +Eustace to a fate which some faint remains of humanity made him deplore, +while a consciousness that this slaughter tended to confirm his own +title, reminded him that, by reaping the advantage of a cruel unjust +sentence which he had power to remit, he was virtually his murderer. +Such he knew the world would esteem him, if ever the story transpired; +and could it be long concealed? His influence with the ruling powers was +evidently on the wane; the star, which was now Lord of the ascendant, +shed on him a malign influence. Abjured by those whom he had served, +hated by the royalists, and despised by all parties; could a more +pitiable object be found, than a timorous, susceptible, falling villain; +conscious of guilt, aware of danger, convinced of the necessity of +repentance; but too much attached to temporal enjoyments to set about +it. + +Lord Bellingham's distresses were not alleviated by domestic comfort. I +have before observed, that his Lady had embraced the party of Cromwell, +and had taken her religious creed from the fanatics, as best calculated +to compose her fears, and leave her conduct under the mis-rule of her +irregular passions. She had long hated and despised her husband, on whom +she threw the whole blame of the crimes she had excited him to commit, +at the same time that she took pains to stifle in him all the better +feelings of remorse, by telling him that it was his want of faith, which +excluded him from reaping the benefit of the promise, that the saints +should inherit the earth. When she spoke of worldly riches, of honour, +or of pleasure, she called them, "dust in the balance," carnal delights, +and Satan's bird-lime, which kept the soul from flying to heaven; yet no +miser ever clung to his gold with more tenacity than she to every +earthly good, that could in any wise contribute to her own advantage. +From a vain dissipated coquette, proud of making conquests, and wedded +to a life of frivolity, she was changed to a rapturous enthusiast, +certain of divine favour upon grounds equally inconsistent with reason +and Scripture. With a still carnalized fancy, she adorned the heaven +which she felt sure of eternally inhabiting, with the splendor and +luxury she had enjoyed on earth, and thus tricked out a Mahommedan +paradise rather than the pure and spiritual enjoyments of glorified +beings. With all the zeal and animosity of a new convert, she tried to +make her son and husband adopt these notions; and failing of success, +she thought herself at liberty to renounce them both; and could she have +secured a perpetual residence in this world, or transported her beloved +wealth and greatness to the other, the death of Lord Sedley would have +given her no more concern than that of the Earl of Bellingham; but +looking upon the former as the medium through which her name must be +conveyed to posterity, she felt an interest in his preservation, totally +distinct from maternal affection; and to this his fine qualities served +rather as an alloy, than an incentive. A youth weak enough to be really +a convert, or sufficiently base to have affected being one to her +opinions, a flatterer of her faults, and the tool of her designs, would +have been invested by her erroneous judgment with those high deservings +which actually adorned her noble offspring, though she wanted +penetration to discern them. + +When the agitators arrested Lord Bellingham, he knew that his son had +been sent with Cromwell's detachment against the Duke of Hamilton, and +that the victorious General returned to London in triumph, while no sure +tidings of the illustrious youth's safety cheered the prison-hours of +the wretched father. Important events succeeded each other with such +rapidity, that there was no time to bring forward the charge against an +imprisoned General, whose rank only made him an object of curiosity, +while his conduct exposed him to contempt. New modelling the House of +Commons; expediting the vote of non-addresses; the trial and execution +of the King; the annihilation of the House of Peers; the sacrifice of +many illustrious and noble Loyalists, and the complete establishment of +military tyranny under the name of a republic, engaged the attention of +Cromwell, till a little time previous to his undertaking the reduction +of Ireland to the same yoke that England bore with silent but sullen +indignation, when he judged it expedient to endeavour to prevent his +enemies from taking advantage of his being at a distance from the chief +seat of political intrigue. He knew that Lord Bellingham was intrusted +with the secrets of the Commonwealth's-men, and determined to pay him a +conciliatory visit in prison. He met the captive Earl with mock +humility, and sycophantic friendship; talked largely of his talents and +deserts; lamented that he should fall into the displeasure of the +nation, and spoke of the lenity he was accused of showing to the +Loyalists, as a frailty he could pity, having himself fallen into a +similar temptation, when he was moved in the spirit to spare Charles +Stewart, till the Lord, whom he sought in prayer, showed him it was not +to be. + +A measured smile smoothed the features of the stern conspirator while he +spoke, and his eye seemed with meek simplicity to tell all the secrets +of his own soul, while in reality it read that of his observer. Lord +Bellingham thought this change from hatred to esteem wonderful; yet the +love of life made him a ready dupe, and he fell into the snare which he +suspected. He could easily justify himself from the charge of secret +attachment to royalty, and Cromwell seemed to require no other test to +admit him to his confidence. He told the Earl that he would open to him +his whole heart; he deplored the licence of evil tongues, and the +endeavours of the malignants to disunite the godly. His own views, he +said, had been grossly misrepresented. It was reported, that he wished +to make himself King; but he abhorred the name, as anti-christian, and +prayed that whenever the heathenish sound was uttered, a Samuel might +arise among the prophets, and call down lightning and rain even in +wheat-harvest. The Parliament, whose humble instrument he was, had +forced honours upon him, and had commanded him to go to Ireland, and +extirpate the bloody Papists, as Joshua had done the idolatrous +Canaanites. On his return, he trusted he should lay the sword on the +mercy-seat, that is, beside the mace of the Speaker, to whom he would on +his knees give up all his employments, and apply himself to the care of +his own soul, which was a burthen great enough for any man. And he +trusted the Lord would give peace to Israel, and build up the desolate +places of Zion, to which purpose he would put up a prayer, wherein he +required Lord Bellingham to join. + +After their devotions, Bellingham assured Cromwell that the wishes of +his party went but little further than what he proposed to do. +Considering the established forms of Geneva and Scotland as the most +scriptural, it was their intention to adopt the same discipline in +spiritual affairs. As to temporal rule, they thought a body of wise men, +elected by a free people, the likeliest way of rendering England +respectable among foreign nations, and happy in itself. He quoted the +examples of Greece and Rome in ancient times, and of the Italian +republic in modern, to illustrate his sentiments. Cromwell listened with +apparent conviction, professed that he had not studied these things, +being only in himself an ignorant sinful man, though chosen by +Providence to be a mighty instrument to level thrones and pull down the +ungodly. He then lamented that so able a counsellor as Bellingham should +hang like a bucket upon a peg, instead of being employed to draw water +from a cistern; and, promising to endeavour to set him again high among +the people, he took his leave. This interview having sufficiently +apprized him of the designs of the Rump-party, he resolved to keep Lord +Bellingham in safe custody, to remove their adherents from every office +of trust, and to prevent all attempts to appeal to the people by calling +a free Parliament. And as he intended that his campaign in Ireland +should not be protracted by any compunctious visitings of mercy, but +that it should more resemble the sweeping hurricane that devastates a +province, than the purifying wind that renovates a corrupted atmosphere, +he trusted that his habitual celerity, and the vigilance and fidelity of +the host of spies he so liberally paid, would enable him to return to +England before any measures could be taken to sap the dominion whose +foundations were laid in treachery and treason. + +The progress of his bloody standard in Ireland was interrupted by the +young King's appearance in Scotland. Cromwell transported himself to +that kingdom with incredible dispatch, and assumed the command of that +division of the army which had been nominally retained by Fairfax, who, +tired of his guilty employment, had, since the murder of the King, been +evidently indisposed to the service, and now peremptorily refused to +continue to act as general. With these forces Cromwell met the army of +Scotch enthusiasts at Dunbar. There was indeed equal fanaticism in both +armies; but the difference was, the English were soldiers as well as +preachers, and their General used fanaticism as an engine to move +others, not as the rule of his own actions. He wore piety as a mask; he +used it to sharpen his sword, but he never converted it into a pilot. +Supreme power was the port at which he aimed, and profound worldly +wisdom, and the most acute penetration into the character and designs of +others, assisted him to steer his vessel with astonishing security +through the rocks and quicksands that opposed his course. + +From the retrospective view which the narrative required, I now turn to +speak of the alarm caused by the young King's march into England. Though +Cromwell was personally in Scotland, he continued to govern in London +through his agents, and they urged the approach of the Royalists as a +pretence for resorting to severer measures with all who were hostile to +their employer. They suggested, that since the King was now openly +supported by the Presbyterians, it would be expedient that party should +defray the expences of the war. Lord Bellingham, they said, had long +been suspected of loyal propensities; and at this moment the +sequestration of his effects might answer a twofold purpose--to confirm +the fidelity of the army by discharging their arrears--and to punish the +Presbyterians through one of their leaders. Advice, sanctioned by the +approbation of the General, took the form of a command. The Parliament +readily complied with a suggestion that wore in its aspect the pretence +of relieving the well-disposed. The estates were immediately voted to +belong to the Commonwealth; the Earl was ordered into closer +confinement; and sequestrators were sent down to take possession of +Bellingham-Castle. + +It was by this event that the feelings of the Countess were roused from +the long apathy of self-enjoyment. Forgetting that she had herself +furnished Cromwell with the information which first excited her +suspicions against her Lord, she loudly complained that, not content +with keeping him in prison on a charge which could not be proved, they +were now injuring his innocent family by seizing their inheritance. The +sequestrators were not sent to listen to remonstrances, but to act with +speed and decision; and Lady Bellingham now found banishment from her +home, and confiscation of all her property, were serious evils, though, +when inflicted on others, she had always viewed them with great +philosophy, considering them either as judgments on the ungodly, or +correctives of carnal appetites, to complain of which showed a want of +grace. + +Her natural inconsiderateness and self-conceit did not permit her to +penetrate into the motives, or to discover the character of, Cromwell. +He had plied her with the species of flattery most agreeable to her +present turn of thought, pretending to ask her opinion on dark texts, +and to be influenced by her judgment of gifted preachers. She never +suspected that he had converted her into one of the steps which formed +his ascent to greatness; but, believing him her fast friend, ascribed +the order of sequestration to their common enemies. He was still in +Scotland; but she determined to fly to him, state her wrongs, and +implore redress. The danger of the journey less alarmed her than the +risk of poverty and disgrace in remaining inactive. A rumour of the +King's having arrived in London expedited her resolves. Ever impressed +with the idea of her own importance, she even fancied that avowing her +fidelity to Cromwell at such a period would give her a claim on his +gratitude, and thus insure success to her suit. + +She had proceeded in her journey as far as Ribblesdale, when her coach +was stopt by an infuriated populace, who, hearing she was a partizan of +Cromwell, avowedly, seeking his protection, surrounded her carriage with +every mark of derision and insult, and even took off her horses to +prevent her proceeding. The cruel depredations which the republicans had +committed in their march to Scotland the preceding year, gave a private +stimulus to the hatred they felt for the murderer of a King, now justly +dear to their recovered reason. Mortified that the dignity of her aspect +and the splendour of her suite had not overawed these rustics; alarmed +for the safety of her person, and exposed to the certain inconvenience +of passing the night, unhoused, in a mountainous country, even if she +were permitted to proceed next day, Lady Bellingham sat trembling in her +carriage, in which were her waiting-gentlewoman, chaplain, and +gentleman-usher, all highly useful to her in their separate departments +and joint occupations of submissive flatterers, but all incompetent to +advise what was to be done, and incapable of assisting her in this +extremity. + +Nothing affecting the welfare or the moral character of Ribblesdale was +uninteresting to Dr. Beaumont, who, though restrained from receiving the +emoluments, was punctual in fulfilling the duties of his pastoral care. +At the first intelligence of a riot in the parish, he hastened to +Morgan, and endeavoured to make him sensible that it was his duty to +protect a helpless woman. Morgan was extremely doubtful how to act; for, +not being endowed with the power of looking into futurity, he knew not +which party would finally prevail. The magnified reports which he had +heard of the King's successes would have made him turn Loyalist, had he +not known that Cromwell, with a victorious army, was hastening from the +North, and that therefore it would be impolitic to offend him. He +thought the best way would be not to interfere; and, secretly cursing +the lady for exposing him to this dilemma, he observed the mountain-air +for once would brace her nerves, and furnish her with an adventure to +talk of as long as she lived. Davies was unwilling to open his doors to +a stranger till he knew if she would pay for her accommodations. Dr. +Beaumont therefore was left to perform the service of knight-errant all +alone. + +He arrived on the common where the carriage was stopped in the dusk of +the evening, just at the time when Lady Bellingham's fears had so far +subdued her haughtiness as to change her threats into tears and +intreaties. The Doctor's admonitions soon prevailed on the villagers to +repent their conduct. They were ready to restore the horses, and refrain +from further molestation; but it was now too dark for her to proceed in +safety, and not a creature seemed willing to afford a lodging to one +whom they supposed to be no better than a mistress to Old Noll, the good +King's murderer. + +Dr. Beaumont's finances were now in such a state as compelled him to +huswife his hospitality. The money which young De Vallance had insisted +on advancing to supply his probable necessities, had been appropriated +to the actual wants of the King's army, as it marched through +Lancashire; yet the good man's native courtesy still inclined him to +assist the perplexities of the affluent, while his benevolence prompted +him to relieve the distresses of the poor. He accosted Lady Bellingham +with an air of dignified modesty. His means, he said, were scanty, and +his humble dwelling was now the abode of care and affliction, yet he +thought it would afford her comforts superior to passing the night in +her carriage; and he requested, if she condescended to allow him to be +her host, she would overlook the homeliness of her fare in his sincere +wish to obviate the inconveniences which the rude treatment of his +parishioners had brought upon her. + +It was not Lady Bellingham's method to look further than to her own +comforts. A man whose air and language bespoke a gentleman, but whose +coarse thread-bare garb indicated poverty, could not have gained her +attention if he spoke with the tongue of an angel, except so far as he +ministered to her accommodation. Turning her eyes to the ruins, which he +pointed out as his residence, she uttered an exclamation of contempt and +surprise, to convince him that she had been accustomed to such +magnificence, that it would be an infinite condescension in one of her +refinement to stoop to his society. Meantime her retinue, finding the +contents of the travelling chest would furnish a sufcient repast, urged +her to accept the shelter of a roof however humble; and Lady Bellingham, +with a slight inclination of her head, significant of her condescension, +ordered the horses to be put to, to draw her to the door. Dr. Beaumont +observed that the road would not be practicable for her carriage, on +which Her Ladyship required her gentleman-usher to hand her out. "How +dreadfully inconvenient," said she, "to walk so far! I wonder, Friend, +you did not take care to have a carriage-road." Dr. Beaumont smiled, and +replied that public events had pared off all his superfluities; but Lady +Bellingham asserted that a drive to your own door was one of the +necessaries of life, and her three attendants immediately and +unanimously confirmed her opinion. + +Mrs. Mellicent had been informed that her brother was bringing a lady of +great quality, who was running away from the King to join Oliver +Cromwell, to spend the night under his roof; and though nothing could +exceed the superlative contempt she entertained for disloyal nobility, +the honour of the Beaumont blood, and respect for her brother, +determined her to give his guest the best reception in her power. Her +banquets, like Eve's, consisted of little beside fruits and herbs, and +the only ornaments she could arrange in the apartments were flowers; but +she had preserved the damask table-suit of her own spinning; and the +gold brocade gown, received as an heir-loom from her mother, was in high +preservation. She thought an exhibition of these would convince the +rebel lady, that though the King's friends now wore sad-coloured camlet, +they had once been people of consequence. She received Lady Bellingham +with one of her stiffest courtesies at the door of their best apartment, +and motioned with her hand for her to sit down with an air that spoke +conscious equality, and a determination not to be disconcerted by one +who required her hospitality. Constantia stood behind her aunt, pale, +dejected, clad in the deepest weeds of woe. Isabel did not appear. Her +beloved father had long required her constant attendance. With infinite +gratitude to Heaven, she acknowledged its goodness in again restoring to +him the use of that reason which enabled him to appreciate her filial +excellence. He had so far recovered the use of his limbs as to be able +to walk, supported by her arm; and it was her custom, at the first dawn +of morning, to lead him from his narrow cell to enjoy the refreshing +breeze, and the exhilarating glory of the rising sun, while old Williams +climbed the crumbling battlements of Waverly-hall to give notice if any +stranger approached. + +Mrs. Mellicent's dress and manner, preserving the memorial of the past +generation, drew a supercilious smile from Lady Bellingham, who, in the +obscurity and penury to which she perceived a loyal Episcopalian was +reduced, plainly discerned a visible judgment. Her satellites easily +interpreted her sentiments, and considered the spinster as a fair mark +of contempt and ridicule; but as their patroness had not deigned to +intimate her opinion of Dr. Beaumont and his daughter, they knew not in +what light she would please to have them considered. Her Ladyship threw +a cold repulsive glance over Mrs. Mellicent's culinary arrangements, +declared, in a tone which belied her expressions, that every thing was +very excellent, but that her unfortunate health would not allow her to +indulge except in a particular species of food. She then ordered her +travelling chest to be opened, and the liqueurs, conserves, and pastry, +to be displayed by the side of Mrs. Mellicent's sallads, oat-cake, and +metheglin, inviting her, in a most gracious manner, to partake of the +pilgrim's wallet. But Mrs. Mellicent had the same antipathy to court +delicacies which Lady Bellingham had to country fare; and, with the +independent spirit of a Cincinnatus, gravely preferring "a radish and an +egg," continued to eat them leisurely with a satisfaction derived from a +consideration that they were not purchased by any sacrifice of +integrity. She secretly pondered on the base propensities which the +rebel cause engendered, when even a woman of rank, who had known better +manners, was so vitiated by the company she had lately kept, as to +esteem respectable, uncomplaining poverty a fair object of contempt. + +It would have been difficult even for modern volubility to have supplied +conversation in a group thus circumstanced; but two hundred years ago +long intervals of silence in a country-party were not extraordinary. +During these pauses Mrs. Mellicent's eyes were fixed on a large blue +Campanula that she had trimmed to cover the open chimney; and Lady +Bellingham, disdaining to admire any thing extrinsic, directed her's to +the diamond solitaire suspended on her bosom. She had given strict +orders to conceal her name; and if she had ever heard that her injured +brother sought shelter in Ribblesdale, and married the sister of a Dr. +Beaumont, the events that consoled his afflictions were much too +insignificant to be treasured in her memory. The party therefore met as +strangers in opposite interests. The hour of retiring was anticipated. +Constantia attended Lady Bellingham to the apartment formerly occupied +by her worthy son; and after the common inquiries of courtesy withdrew, +much to the discomfort of the waiting gentlewoman, on whom the double +fatigue of chambermaid and mistress of the robes now devolved. Lady +Bellingham being inclined to silence, the dignified Abigail was +restrained from speaking; and having no invitation to share her Lady's +bed, with secret indignation at these strange people, not having the +forethought to provide her with another, she was compelled to rest +herself in the window-seat, and convert the night into a vigil. + +A belief in apparitions was at that time universal, and by no means +confined to the humble ranks of life. Imagination could not conceive a +more suitable scene for the gambols of supernatural beings than the +ruins adjoining the humble tenement which the Beaumonts inhabited. The +unfortunate, waiting-gentlewoman was kept all night in continual tremor +by horrible visions and dreadful sounds: yet to wake her Lady, who went +to bed extremely out of humour, was a still more daring exercise of +courage than to be a sole witness of the alarming noises produced by the +wind rushing through vaults and crevices, or the fearful reflection of a +thistle by moonlight, waving on the top of a crumbling arch. After a +night spent in the exercise of such comparative heroism, Mrs. Abigail +hailed with pleasure the return of dawn; and as ghosts and goblins +always post off to Erebus when Aurora's flag gilds the mountains, +imagined she might now go to sleep in safety. But she was soon roused by +the sound of voices, and beheld an indisputable apparition. An aged +grey-headed man, bent double, clad in a loose gown, and leaning on a +staff, crept out of the very pile which she had been so fearfully +contemplating all night. He was attended by a female figure, who +carefully seated him on a bank opposite her window. The occupation of +these spectres was no less extraordinary than the time of their +appearance, for they seemed engaged in what, she thought, ghosts always +omitted--devotion. Yet ghosts they must be, since nothing human could +have dared to pass the night in such a scene of desolation. She +continued to gaze, in petrified horror, till the female apparition +rising from its knees, after adjusting the hair, and wiping the face of +its companion, sung the following stanzas, with a voice resembling that +of human beings, except that its harmonious notes exceeded in sweetness +any thing Mrs. Abigail had ever heard: + + Oh, sooth me with the words of love, + Heal me with pity's balsams dear; + For I have heard the proud reprove, + And felt the wrongs of men austere. + + I gaz'd on grandeur's gay career, + Alone distracted and aggriev'd; + None stopp'd to wipe my bitter tear, + My bursting heart unnotic'd heav'd. + + The happy hate to see distress, + It tells a tale they dread to know, + And guilt, tho' thron'd in mightiness, + In every victim sees a foe. + + Where does the pamper'd worldling go? + To those who spread their banners brave-- + Lonely and sad, the house of woe + Is like the robber's mountain cave. + + On life's sad annals if we dwell, + Do they not speak of trust betray'd; + Of merit rising to excel, + On which the canker envy prey'd; + + Of youth by enterprise upstaid, + Till sad experience broke the spell; + And slighted age a ruin laid, + Fit only for the narrow cell? + + Yet of the tortures that betide + A feeling heart, the worst are they + Which bid it never more confide + On those who were its earthly stay. + + Once guided by religion's ray, + True as the sun they seem'd to move; + Now led by meteor-lights astray, + Estrang'd in honour and in love. + +The waiting-gentlewoman's astonishment at this vision soon burst out +into an exclamation, which unfortunately broke Lady Bellingham's +slumber, and drew her also to the window. Her lamentations at the misery +of having her rest disturbed, were soon interrupted by consternation at +the objects she beheld, which were no other than her brother and his +daughter enjoying their morning liberation from the dungeon. The rising +sun shone on the countenance of the former, and maugre the ravages of +time, grief, and distraction, she recognised his features with a degree +of agony which only the guilty can feel. The resemblance of Isabel to +her father increased those emotions; the words of her song, uttered with +distinct emphasis, were in unison with the suggestions of an awakened +conscience. Lady Bellingham gave a loud shriek, and fell into the arms +of her attendant, according to whose account the two spirits, at the +same moment, sunk into the earth enveloped in flames. + +The screams of Lady Bellingham, re-echoed by Mrs. Abigail's, presently +drew the Beaumont-ladies into their apartment. They had neglected to +apprize Isabel of the arrival of strangers, and were glad to find her +morning services to her father had been thus misconstrued. Mrs. +Mellicent gravely allowed the possibility of ghosts inhabiting ruins; +but observed, that as they had never injured the Waverly family, they +had always found them peaceable neighbours; and wondered at the Lady's +alarm, since from the little she had said the preceding day, it was +plain she considered herself as a favourite of Heaven, and under its +especial protection. Mrs. Abigail protested that her Lady was one of the +devoutest, sweetest and handsomest creatures in the world; but observed, +since she had been obliged to leave Castle-Bellingham, she was grown +very nervous. Mrs. Mellicent eagerly inquired if it was Lady Bellingham +whom they sheltered; Mrs. Abigail answered in the affirmative, but +conjured her not to own that she had made the discovery, or she should +be torn in pieces. Mrs. Mellicent indignantly threw down the burnt +feathers and sal volatile, which she till then humanely applied, and +emphatically observing it was no wonder she feared apparitions, hastened +to consult Dr. Beaumont on this emergency. + +It was not now a proper time to confront the injured Allan Neville and +his unnatural sister; the reported success of the King's enterprise must +first be ascertained, and Mrs. Mellicent trusted the time was not far +distant when this domestic and public traitress would be made not only +to tremble, but to suffer. Recollections of past disappointments made +Dr. Beaumont less sanguine, but he agreed, that, confirming Lady +Bellingham's alarm, and removing her instantly from their house, was the +wisest course; and as soon as she recovered from her fit, she was +herself all impatience to quit a mansion replete with horrors, and +destitute of comforts. She coldly thanked Dr. Beaumont, who attended her +to her carriage, for attempting to be hospitable, but declared her +astonishment that his brain was not turned in such a dwelling; and he as +coldly answered, that a clear conscience reconciled the body to +privations, and endued the soul with fortitude. But neither the +eloquence of Dr. Beaumont, nor her own anxiety for the Evellins, could +induce Mrs. Mellicent to submit to the civility of an adieu. She even +shook her fist at the wicked wretch, as she called her, from the window. +"Brother," said she, to Dr. Beaumont, who reproved her for the violence +of her indignation, "I only wish her to incur the enmity of the Baal she +now worships, and to suffer with him as many years of misery as she has +inflicted on the noble veteran whose lonely couch our dear Isabel +smooths; and while her youthful beauty withers in a dungeon, pillows a +father's destitute head on her uncomplaining bosom." + + + [1] This subject, we are told by Isaac Walton, employed the dying + Hooker. + + + + +CHAP. XXI. + + Art thou not risen by miracle from death? + Thy shroud is fall'n from off thee, and the grave + Was bid to give thee up, that thou might'st come + The messenger of grace and goodness to me. + + Rowe. + + +The welcome which the young King received from his English subjects did +not answer the sanguine expectations of his friends. Contrary to the +rumours that were industriously circulated, the system of terror which +Cromwell had established prevented any regular levies being made for his +assistance. The means of the old royalists were exhausted; they had now +little but their lives to offer, and the junction of unconnected +individuals afforded but a scanty and ineffectual muster. It was soon +found that Cromwell repassed the Grampian hills with inconceivable +swiftness, and, pouring along with collected forces, dispersed the +scattered troops which the King's friends were endeavouring to collect, +even before they could be trained to arms. The King's army, fatigued by +a long march, destitute of necessaries, but slowly recruiting in +numbers, and virtually diminishing in strength, soon found the design of +seizing London beyond its ability. "The loyal city of Worcester," as it +has the honour of being pre-eminently styled, opened its gates to +refresh its Sovereign, and offered itself as a temporary retreat, where +he might muster his forces, and re-consider his measures. Here the King +was proclaimed, but the events which attended that solemnity augured ill +to the actual duration of his reign. The Earl of Derby, accompanied by a +few faithful friends, posted into the town to bring the intelligence of +his own defeat, and the consequent relapse of the north-western counties +under the yoke of Cromwell. This bad news was rapidly followed by +intelligence, that the enemy was in full pursuit. Alarm and suspicion +were visible in every countenance; divided opinions distracted the royal +councils. Some measures were pursued with rashness; others, more +eligible, neglected from timidity. Many were ready to fight and to +suffer, but a wise, calm superintendence was wanting to prevent valour +and generous loyalty from shedding its precious blood in vain. + +The result of the battle of Worcester, the miraculous escape of the +King, the death of many faithful adherents, the execution of others, +especially of the noble Earl of Derby, in the very centre of his feudal +greatness, with every mark of barbarous ignominy, and the reduction of +his heroic Countess and her children to the most extreme state of +poverty and distress are well known. Arthur De Vallance was an actor in +some of these scenes. His plan of quitting England was renounced, when +he knew, that, by remaining, he could be of service to his Prince. He +repaired to the young King at Stirling as soon as Cromwell's victory at +Dunbar had taken him out of the hands of Argyle; accompanied him in his +march to the South, and bravely used his sword in his service at that +fatal overthrow, which seemed to exterminate the monarchy of England +beyond all hope of revival. It is well known that Cromwell, without +giving time to his own army to rest, after their long march from +Scotland, pounced upon the King's troops at Worcester during their first +consternation; and, leaving a part of his forces to contend with that +portion of the King's who fought valiantly, entered the city along with +those flying fugitives whom the terror of his name had dispersed at the +first onset, almost at the same instant that the King, disguised as a +peasant, rushed out at the opposite gate, dismissed all his friends and +attendants, and concealed himself in an adjoining wood. All command +having ceased, and no rallying point being established, it became the +duty of all to consult their individual safety. Jobson continued +inseparably attached to Sedley's service; he again advised a retreat +into Wales, and being well acquainted with the country, they had the +good fortune to reach the principality before the enemy had secured the +passes, though that was one of their first measures, to prevent the +retreat of the King into a part of his dominions where he might be most +easily concealed, as well from the nature of the country as from the +loyal disposition of the inhabitants. + +It was the design of De Vallance to repair to the isle of Man, and offer +his services to the Countess of Derby, who, it was reported, was able +and determined to retain that insulated spot, and establish it as the +asylum of persecuted loyalty. He journeyed through the most unfrequented +roads, trusting for his support to the hospitality of a brave, +unsophisticated race, who could hardly endure the nominal yoke of +regicides, and preserved the sanctuary of their domestic retreats +unpolluted by the presence of spies and informers. From these, his +occasional hosts, De Vallance learned many woeful particulars of the +miseries of the prisoners taken at Worcester, "who were driven like +cattle to London, many of them suffered to perish for want of food, or +from pestilential diseases arising from crowded prisons, and the +survivors sold for slaves to the plantations." Such was the freedom +these pseudo-friends of liberty afforded to those who dissented from +their opinions; and thus was loyalty (for no other crime was laid to +their charge) punished with a severity, which regular governments +scruple to use against the most atrocious offenders. Nor should these +tyrannous acts be ascribed so much to the rancorous nature of the +victors as to the natural tendency of power obtained by illegal violent +means. They who rise to greatness by insurrection, find themselves +compelled to renounce the principles and violate the promises to which +they owed their exaltation. The greatest tyrants have ever been those +who experimentally know that rigorous coercion is the only way of +restraining popular fury. Fear is the incentive and justifier of +cruelty. Man is rarely disposed gratuitously to torment his +fellow-creatures. The world has indeed produced Roman, Mahommedan, and +Indian, despots, who seemed to receive pleasure from the sufferings of +their victims, abstracted from every other consideration; but these +instances have been too rare to permit us to consider such an infernal +propensity as a just characteristic of human nature. Mercy is more +grateful to the feelings of even bad men than rigorous punishment; but +as it cannot with safety be exercised in unsettled governments, which +must awe the subdued into passive submission, before they can reward the +obedient, some of the most powerful dissuasives against exciting popular +commotions arise from the despotism in which they are sure to terminate, +the malignant passions which they excite, and the horrible atrocities +that often spring from no worse motive than the necessity of securing +ill-acquired pre-eminence. + +The melancholy state of the kingdom, added to the general anxiety for +the King's welfare, of whose escape to France no certain tidings had +been received, overpowered the hitherto-heroic patience of De Vallance, +and made him on a public, as well as on a private, account, feel weary +of a world, which seemed left to the misrule of successful guilt and +prosperous hypocrisy. He had now travelled into the county of Flint, +from whence he hoped to gain a passage to the isle of Man, when he +received intelligence that, during his confinement, the Earl of Derby +had signed an order for its surrender, together with all his castles, +with which his intrepid Countess immediately complied; vainly hoping a +sacrifice of the hereditary possessions of the family might be received +as a commutation for her husband's life. Mold and Hope were already +garrisoned by the Parliament; and thus after a long and difficult +journey, during which he had encountered many hair-breadth 'scapes, De +Vallance found himself still surrounded with enemies, destitute not only +of shelter, but nearly of resources, and with no other alternative, than +to be an indigent fugitive, a prisoner, or to try if, by being a +participator in the crimes of his parents, he could, by the influence +which either of them possessed with the government, procure a pardon for +what he deemed the best action of his life, taking arms for his +Sovereign. + +It was in a little village near Mold-Castle, that these reflections, +combining with the effects of fatigue and hardship, produced an +indisposition which confined him to the inn, and compelled him to +ruminate deeply on his future prospects. It was now plainly seen that +the European courts were more disposed to form alliances with a potent +Usurper, than to forward the restoration of an unfortunate Prince, to +whose connexions a cold protection and scanty support were reluctantly +afforded, and even the ties of blood sacrificed to intimidation or +ambition. The situation of English Loyalists abroad was in every respect +deplorable. They were studiously slighted by the governments under whose +wing they sheltered, and exposed to the insults of the triumphant +republicans, who, on the contrary, were courted and flattered. + +How greatly soever Cromwell subdued and oppressed England by his +domestic management, like all other able tyrants, he made the nation he +enslaved great and formidable by his foreign policy, using the energies +with which despotism had furnished him, to extend her commerce, and +support her naval superiority.--Had no peculiar family-circumstances +compelled De Vallance to renounce his home, doubtless he would have +imitated the vise conduct of Agricola, who is justly celebrated "for not +being in that class of patriots, who conceive they gain immortal glory, +when by rashness they provoke their fate; but showed that, even in the +worst of times, and under the most despotic ruler, it is possible for +the man of heroic fortitude to be great and good with moderation." But +De Vallance felt he could not compound for an estate to which he had no +just title, nor reconcile himself to parents, who were stained with +every crime. Could he forget the wrongs and woes of Allan Neville; the +death of Eustace; the mournful seclusion and daily anguish of +Isabel!--Submission to Cromwell must be combined with a sacrifice of +every honest principle, every cherished affection of his heart. England +therefore afforded no rest to the sole of his foot, and if he sought the +continent, it should be as a military hireling, not as a dependent +mendicant; as one who could earn his bread, not as a supplicant, who had +no other claim to support than loyalty and indigence. + +There were many gentlemen who had emigrated to Virginia, when +hostilities terminated in 1646, who were now comfortably established as +planters; and he felt he might trust his desire of obtaining a similar +situation to his mental resources, and the energy and perseverance of +his natural character. The new world was unstained by the contaminating +vices of the old. In a society, chiefly composed of Loyalists, he would +not be aggrieved by the sight of low-born insolence, trampling on +hereditary greatness, nor offended by the perversions of sophists, the +cant of hypocrites, and the exaltation of villains. He could there only +endure bodily inflictions. What prevented him from thus exonerating +himself from the severest visitations of adversity, and immediately +transporting himself across the Atlantic? The consideration of that vast +world of waters separating him from Isabel Evellin; for though he might +no more hope to bind her to him by the tie of marriage, or even to share +her dear society, the bond of love was indissoluble. He could not remove +to such a distance from her, as would make it impossible to render her +any assistance. He might not be able to defend or console her; but, by +remaining in England, he could suffer or die for her sake. + +Irresolution increased the depression of De Vallance; his bodily +complaints gained ground, and Jobson too, though still an affectionate, +was no longer a cheerful, companion. His spirits sunk while he was with +the King in Worcester; he predicted the loss of that battle, and the +evening before his master acknowledged himself unable to proceed, he +gave him to understand that he had seen a warning of his approaching +death. Instead of rejoicing over their casual comforts, and anticipating +better days as he used to do, he was ever prognosticating evils, and +lessening their humble comforts, by prophesying their impending loss. +Even the full-frothed can and savoury luncheon lost their usual relish; +it was always the last good Welsh-ale, or dried salmon, he should have +in this world; and if he repeated his farewel libation, till he grew +intoxicated, every draught added to his sadness. Instead of roaring out +a joyous song, he fell to crying, and talked of the slaughter incident +to storming a city, instead of the brave sallies of a garrison. + +De Vallance repeatedly asked the reason of this change, and as the +increase of his indisposition confirmed Jobson in his opinion of the +truth of his conclusions, the latter thought (since his master must die +soon) he might as well own how he knew that his recovery was impossible. +He then reminded him of his predictions, that the King would lose the +battle, and confessed he had received a supernatural intimation that +England was ruined, and the poor Loyalists quite undone.--"I would not +tell Your Honour," said he, "at the time, because I know you don't +credit such things; but I met Fido in the streets of Worcester the night +before it was taken by Old Noll--Mr. Eustace's own poor Fido, and I then +said the King would be beat." + +"I never knew," replied De Vallance, "that the appearance of a dog was +oracular." + +"Well, laugh on," said Jobson, "and I wish it may do you good. But I +say, I saw him again, the night before you was taken ill, and I know by +that it is all over with you." + +The affectionate Jobson burst into tears as he spoke, while De Vallance +was extremely struck at the re-appearance of the animal. He reminded +Jobson that dogs were often extremely alike, and inquired how he knew +that this actually belonged to Eustace. + +"How do I know," replied he, "that I am Ralph Jobson? Why it knew me, +and seemed to wag its tail; nay, made as though it would lick my hand." + +"And did you not permit him?" said De Vallance. + +The terrified trooper turned pale, and his teeth chattered with horror. +"I did not say that it was Fido's living self," exclaimed he; "and what +would have become of me, had I been touched by a ghost? why my arm would +have withered directly. I knew a man in village that had his nose beat +flat to his face, only for peeping into the belfry, while a ghost was +dancing among the bell-ropes.--No, to be sure, I flung a stone at it, +and it ran away setting up a howl." + +De Vallance now laboured to convince Jobson, that admitting the reality +of spectral appearances in the human form, animals were not endowed with +a vital principle, capable of existing distinct from their bodies. +Jobson was shocked at his master's presumptuous neglect of warnings, and +he vehemently urged the impossibility of a living dog being at Worcester +in September, and in Wales at Christmas. He stated the privilege of +spirits to take any shape; and not nicely attending to the question of +identity, shewed from oral testimony, that they sometimes appeared as a +glazed pipkin, and sometimes as the skeleton of a horse's head. The +exertion of endeavouring to enlighten wilful absurdity increased the +debility of De Vallance. Jobson's forebodings were turned into +certainties, and he walked into the church-yard to see in what spot he +should bury his master, and hoping to hear the death-watch, as a sign +that he should rest beside him. + +The landlady at the little inn, where the forlorn Arthur languished, +pitying the sufferings of her interesting guest, and the inactive grief +of his attendant, requested she might be permitted to send for an +excellent gentleman, who was come to live in the neighbourhood, and had +done many extraordinary cures.--"You need not," said she, "fear +troubling him, he takes no pay but the blessings of those he heals; and +he is said to be as useful to a wounded spirit, as he is to a diseased +body." De Vallance was weary of life; but the soldier must not quit his +post, till his discharge be duly signed by his Commander; he yielded +therefore to the proposal. Jobson had a rooted dislike to all doctors; +but reluctance to his master's employing one was changed into +consternation, when he saw in the benevolent volunteer-Esculapius, the +Doctor Lloyd against whom he had conceived an inveterate antipathy, +verily believing him capable of poisoning a patient for the sake of +converting him into an anatomy. He rushed into his master's chamber to +announce his identity, and when he found the intelligence only increased +his eagerness to see him, he resolved however to prevent his taking any +of his medicines. + +The diseases brought on by fatigue and distress are seldom obstinate, +when resisted by youth, a good constitution, a clear conscience, and a +calm judgment. Dr. Lloyd dealt in potent cordials. He possessed the +essential qualities of a true friend; and the behaviour of De Vallance +soon induced him to exert his talents in that capacity. He had hardly +felt his pulse, before he pronounced that little was necessary besides +tranquillity and generous support. Arthur's heart panted with impatience +to commence a confidential intimacy; but he recollected he must inspire +confidence, before he could venture to require it. A sick stranger, +languishing at a village-inn, was as likely to be the enemy as the +friend of a cause it was now dangerous to espouse. Strongly +pre-possessed in favour of a man, who courageously ventured among a +multitude of hostile and infuriated soldiers, avowed his attachment to +the victim they had just slaughtered, and bestowed on his corpse the +decent sepulture they meant to deny, De Vallance felt no apprehension at +trusting his own life ta such tried fidelity. He spoke of himself as +friendless, distressed, and in the utmost need of advice and protection. +He declared himself to be a Loyalist, who, having engaged in the King's +last attempt, would be excepted from the expected amnesty. By this means +he drew Dr. Lloyd into a guarded communication of his former residence +at Pembroke, and his acquaintance with Eustace Evellin. De Vallance +owned himself to be a friend to that family. He even used the word +brother. Dr. Lloyd turned on him a significant glance, when, to justify +the claim, De Vallance drew from his bosom the letter of Isabel, and +explained the hopes that had been defeated by the death of Eustace. "You +will not wonder," added he, "that I have a painful eagerness to know +every circumstance of that lamentable event." + +Dr. Lloyd regarded his patient with scrutinizing attention. "You know," +said he, "that the resolute defence of Pembroke-Castle provoked the +parliamentary General to adopt measures that were intended to strike +terror into the King's party; and from the particular manner in which +you apply to me, you possibly also know that, influenced by compassion, +I removed the body of Eustace, and performed those offices which +friendship required." + +The undefined, unacknowledged hopes which had floated in the mind of +Arthur vanished at this reply, and as they disappeared, convinced him, +that he had cherished a vain romantic illusion. A long pause ensued; De +Vallance heaved a deep sigh, and asked if the noble youth was resigned +to his fate. + +"Life was very dear to him," answered Dr. Lloyd, "and no +wonder.--Talent, personal beauty, lively and generous feelings, the +purest sense of honour, and the noblest aspirings after fame, were +combined in his character. He loved too, and he knew himself beloved. +You seem, Sir, about his age; my sensibility has been blunted by time; +but I will appeal to your own susceptibility, to conceive the sensations +of his impassioned heart, when he found himself suddenly arrested in the +bloom of manhood, by a summons to an ignominious death. This, too, at a +distance from all his kindred, and after having sustained for many +months the most severe warfare, and the cruellest privations. But if you +ask me if he discovered any unmanly weakness at this awful moment--I +answer none. He looked and moved like a hero going to mount the car of +triumph. The lustre of his dauntless eye appalled the musketeers, who +were drawn up in the court. 'Take sure aim,' said he; 'Your commander +spares not youth and loyalty; therefore be like him, pitiless.'" + +"Detestable act, infernal massacre!" exclaimed De Vallance.--"Retributive +Heaven, I own thy justice! That murderous volley, Bellingham, slew thy +son!" Dr. Lloyd clasped the clenched hands with which he seemed prepared +to beat his own bosom, and requested an explanation. + +"Do not, do not," said the tortured Arthur, "believe me capable of +repaying your kind commiseration with ingratitude, if I own myself +descended from the most cruel and treacherous of men. The murdered +Eustace was rightful heir to the title and fortunes which, as the son of +Bellingham, I might claim. Shall I own, though my heart recoils at the +confession, that I strongly fear a base private motive urged my father +to select this victim, as a sacrifice to what he called public +expedience.--Oh! Dr. Lloyd, had I never been born, had my ambitious +parents laid no base projects for my aggrandizement, the noble Eustace +had still lived." + +"My good Sir," returned the kind physician, "we must debate this point a +little. In the first place, let me assure you the lots were fairly cast. +I do not justify, indeed I severely reprobate the cruel policy which +required the sacrifice of three victims; but it was resolved on in full +council, the blame therefore is divided among all the officers. I also +know that Lord Bellingham committed his own safety by endeavouring to +preserve the life of Eustace." + +An overwhelming load of infamy seemed, at this assurance, removed from +the oppressed De Vallance. "Speak it again, dear worthy man, again +repeat that my father would have saved him. You know he would? You can +swear to the fact? But soft--was not he supreme commander? What, then, +prevented him from signing his pardon?" + +Dr. Lloyd replied--"The limited power which a general possesses over +troops, who, in obeying him, have cancelled the previous obligations of +duty and conscience. He who accepts the command of a revolutionary army +is ever fearful of being sacrificed by his own soldiers. His office +makes him the ostensible champion of liberty; but his army claim a +greater licence than consists with the requisite exercise of discipline +and authority. His subordinate officers envy his supremacy; for the +chain of prescriptive gradation is dissolved by the pretext of +preferring merit; and what soldier of fortune is there who does not +think himself equal to the highest posts which his machinations and +enterprize can procure. We Loyalists (for such, Sir, I now in confidence +own myself to be) have often said that Lord Bellingham was only half +wicked. He retained too much of the gentleman to practise extortion, or +to connive at the rapacity by which his subalterns tried to make the +most of their brief authority. He enforced discipline without +condescending to that familiarity and occasional indulgence which make +severity palatable. He was an agent of the new system, trying to +introduce the manners of the old. He saw his own danger when it was too +late. He discovered that he served villains who, despising honest +praise, renounced every honourable bond of amity, to whom treachery and +cruelty were become habitual; and that he commanded desperadoes, who, +setting no value on their own lives, kept his in their power. Such, Sir, +was the state of your father's army, and such the secret hostility of +those for whom he fought. You may condemn his embarking in their cause, +his timidity, his irresolution, his fluctuating variableness, but not +his deliberate cruelty or private malice. After Eustace had drawn the +lot of death, the power of the general could not save him from an army +lost to every generous feeling, and thirsting for revenge." + +To know that his father had rather been guilty of the transgressions of +frail man than of the horrible enormities of a demon, was an invaluable +consolation to De Vallance. But still Eustace had fallen under the +sentence of Bellingham, and himself consequently been banished from +Isabel. Dr. Lloyd interrupted his mournful reverie by inquiring what +were his future views. + +"When you described Eustace going to execution," returned he, "you +appealed to the sympathy of a heart eternally separated from the object +of a pure, cherished affection. Read that letter. Conceive it written by +a woman whose beauty is her smallest praise, and then advise me how to +bestow the unvalued remnant of a life which must be spent in exile from +her." + +Dr. Lloyd perused Isabel's farewel, and inquired if her brother's death +was the only obstacle to their union. + +"Yes," replied De Vallance. "I had renounced the principles in which I +was educated, abjured the aggrandizement and affluence which my parents' +crimes had purchased; I had her promise, sanctioned by her father's full +consent, as a reward for services I was so fortunate as to render them. +We were to have fled to Holland, rich in the possession of domestic +happiness and decent competence, when that fatal intelligence----" + +"Come, young gentleman," interrupted Dr. Lloyd, "you meditate too +deeply. I see you want society. The hardships you have undergone have +overwhelmed you. I must remove you to my own cottage. I keep a cordial +there which I never trust out of my own custody. I see your disease, and +know my remedy will complete your cure." + +"Sir," returned De Vallance, "we are talking of something infinitely +more important than life. I know my disease is at present trifling, the +effect of anxiety acting too forcibly on a fatigued body. I could say it +consoles me, as a proof that my constitution will not be always +invincible to the attacks of these mental agonies; and you answer the +communications which your sympathy has extorted from me on the +soul-piercing subjects of my honour and my love, by telling me you have +a nostrum that will relieve my head-aches, and ease my frame of this +debilitating languor." + +Dr. Lloyd rose, and examined the apartment to see that there were no +witnesses; he then drew his chair close to De Vallance, and gazed on his +emotion with the delight of a healing angel commissioned to alleviate +the woes of virtue, and, grasping his hand, told him "he should see +Eustace--the living Eustace," continued he. Seeing Arthur look +incredulous, "Eustace Evellin is alive, and resides with me. Hush! +suppress that burst of ecstacy; all our lives are at stake. Not even +honest Jobson must know he lives, lest his intemperate rapture should +betray him." + +De Vallance was rapt in pious exultation. Exonerated from such a load of +paternal guilt, he seemed to pray with more assured confidence of Divine +protection. His gratitude to the worthy physician exceeded the powers of +language. Enfeebled by indisposition, he sunk upon his bosom, called him +a second father, and thanked him for a renewed and valuable existence. + +Dr. Lloyd then briefly related the circumstances of Eustace's +preservation. Either his magnanimity intimidated the executioners, or +his gallantry and beauty inspired compassion. He refused to have his +face covered, saying he feared not to look on death. The power of the +human eye, in such circumstances, has been owned to be invincible. The +volley was fired with unsteady aim. His fellow-sufferers fell dead. He +stood unwounded; but a momentary impulse induced him to drop beside +them, and to lie apparently lifeless, bathed in their blood. At the same +instant his faithful spaniel rushed forward, licked his extended hand, +and, with dreadful howlings, seemed to guard his remains; and the +mutiny, excited by the agitators, broke out among the soldiers, who were +drawn up to witness the horrid spectacle. While they clamorously accused +the General of depriving them of their lawful right, the plunder of the +town of Pembroke, and attempting to save the cavaliers, Lloyd heroically +and adroitly took advantage of the tumult; and, though he had no other +design than giving his corse decent internment, he had the transport to +be instrumental in preserving the life of his friend. He took every wise +precaution that his miraculous escape should be a profound secret. +Endeared to each other by these extraordinary circumstances, they agreed +never to separate; and Dr. Lloyd removed to a spot where he was unknown, +supported by the income of a small inheritance, and declining the +practice of medicine, except gratuitously among the indigent. Eustace +cut off his redundant hair, stained his complexion, and otherwise +disguised his appearance; and he passed as the son of a gentleman, who, +being afflicted with mental derangement, was obliged to be kept in close +retirement. Dr. Lloyd rented a neat secluded cottage; and the friends +lived in decent privacy, waiting for happier times. + +De Vallance now required an explanation of Fido's being seen at +Worcester; and Dr. Lloyd owned that, finding it impossible to restrain +the loyal impetuosity of Eustace, he went to that city to learn the +situation of the King, since, if there were any hopes of a prosperous +issue, he had consented that they should both join the royal standard. +The Doctor further added, that he feared their present comforts could +not long continue. The surrender of the Earl of Derby's Castles had +introduced the rebel troops into the neighbourhood; and he dreaded lest +Eustace should be discovered and recognized. They therefore meditated a +voyage to Virginia; and the plan was now suspended by the anxiety of +Eustace to hear some tidings from his kindred, and to acquaint them with +his situation. The impossibility of sending intelligence of such +importance by a public conveyance, in times when the letters and actions +of royalists were subjected to the most vigilant scrutiny; and the +hazard and difficulty of forwarding it by a private hand had long +prevented him from having any correspondence with his family; nor did he +know the anguish his supposed murder had cost them. In those times of +civil contention the dearest relatives were often long ignorant of each +other's fate. So numerous were the instances of cruelty, so multiplied +the tales of wo, that they wearied and confused the reciter. Many +parents believed their sons safe in a foreign country, who, at last they +found, had long since perished in some obscure skirmish, where valour +bled unshaded by its deserved laurels. Others, who had lamented the +death of their dearest relations, received them back at the King's +restoration, as if they had risen from their tombs. The necessity of +extreme caution, the frequency of assumed names and personal disguises, +and the insecurity and infrequency of written communications, +obliterated the traces of identity. Among the less evils of civil war, +dividing the ties and preventing the connecting intercourse of social +life must be enumerated; and what opinion must those who rejoice in the +conversation of a present friend, or open, with trembling delight, a +letter from an absent one, form of a nation convulsed by furious +discord, when the privation of these blessings is ranked only among its +smaller calamities! + +De Vallance had, that evening, the infinite transport of folding Eustace +to his heart, in the comfortable asylum where the worthy Doctor Lloyd +concealed the hope of an illustrious house, the noble victim of adverse +fortune. The generous youths pledged the vows of mutual and perpetual +friendship. Conversing with all the confidence of brothers, Arthur +acquainted Eustace with the early history of their family, and his own +determination never to reap the fruits of his parents' misdeeds. He told +him how Isabel had preserved his life; related the gradual change of his +political principles--their mutual attachment--her heroical devotedness +to her proscribed father--the meek magnanimity and active piety of Dr. +Beaumont--the arrival of Jobson--the agony of Colonel Evellin--and the +deep anguish of Constantia; concluding with his own banishment from +Ribblesdale, and the apparent extinction of his dearest hopes. To know +that his youthful errors were not only pardoned, but that he was so dear +and constant an object of regret to those he fondly adored, gave the +heart of Eustace those alternations of exquisite delight and painful +anxiety which distinguish generous and exalted minds from the cold +equanimity of selfish apathy. Misery had often made him wish to be +forgotten by all he loved; but no sooner did his misfortunes wear a less +sombre hue, than his expanding heart cherished the hope that others +beside himself rejoiced in the suspension of his misfortunes. He could +not endure the thought of suffering these beloved objects to languish in +despair on his account; and he determined to trust to his disguise, and +immediately pay a visit to Lancashire. But Dr. Lloyd was too chary of +the treasure he had so faithfully preserved, to intrust him to his own +keeping. De Vallance and Eustace were both obnoxious to the ruling +powers by having borne arms for the King; and he insisted on their +continuing concealed in his Welsh cottage, while himself went to consult +Dr. Beaumont upon their future measures. Emigration to America was a +favourite project with all. It was hoped means might be found to remove +Colonel Evellin; and the lovers allowed their imagination to form a +transatlantic paradise, where, with their Constantia and Isabel, they +might enjoy the halcyon blessings of domestic happiness, after having +been so cruelly harassed by the storms of war. De Vallance did not now +think it impossible to be reconciled to his father, or unlawful to use +his mother's interest with Cromwell to procure a pardon for Colonel +Evellin, whose incurable infirmities prevented his being an object of +terror. Sometimes, with the sanguine confidence of a mind raised from +absolute despair, he fancied a family-reconciliation might be effected; +but he submitted to the prudence of Dr. Lloyd's advice, that every step +must be taken with extreme caution, and dispositions sounded before +discoveries should be hazarded. + +The affectionate heart of Eustace would not allow that any one should +suffer the misery of suspense on his account; and he pleaded so +earnestly that Jobson might be allowed to see him, that Dr. Lloyd +yielded, on the condition that the honest trooper should go with him to +Lancashire, knowing that his exuberant transport might not be trusted in +the neighbourhood where Eustace was concealed. The terror of Jobson at +De Vallance's removing to the house of the supposed indefatigable +anatomist was hardly relieved by seeing him return, next morning, +looking well and happy. But an invitation from the Doctor to visit his +cottage and see his curiosities absolutely petrified him; and he vowed +he had rather see Old Noll charge at the head of Hazlerig's lobsters +than dead men rattling their own bones, or poor innocent children +swimming in pickle like witches in a pond. Winking on De Vallance with a +look of significance, he said, "You do not know so much of this Doctor +as I do; for though the whole country talks of his cures, they own he +shuts himself up as if he dealt with the devil, and walks about with a +melancholy gentleman who is haunted with a familiar spirit." Arthur +engaged him in conversation till they imperceptibly approached the +Doctor's cottage, when he first assured him of the actual existence of +Fido, whom he was to be permitted to take to Constantia; and then +changed incredulous astonishment to frantic joy, by pointing out the +living Eustace advancing to embrace him. Jobson screamed, capered, +tossed his cap into the air, clung round his former master's neck, then +dropped on his knees, prayed, sobbed, and laughed, almost in the same +instant. His gratitude and affection for Dr. Lloyd was somewhat allayed +by his envying him the happiness of preserving Eustace, whom, he +acknowledged, he loved the best of all his masters, begging De Vallance +to pardon him for saying so. Yet his regard for the amiable physician +was mingled with some degree of terror; and it was not till he was +assured that he did not travel with any stuffed monsters, or relics from +a gibbet, that he could heartily rejoice at the prospect of telling Mrs. +Isabel that her lover and brother were sworn friends, of drying the +tears of pretty Mrs. Constance, and of seeing the old Colonel without +being hated as the bearer of ill news. But on carefully examining the +wallet which Dr. Lloyd prepared for the journey, and ascertaining that, +instead of astrological calculations and scalping knives, it contained +only comforts and necessaries, Jobson, with renewed courage and joyous +expectations, set out to accompany him on a delightful errand to +Ribblesdale. + + + + +CHAP. XXII. + + Those that would serve God sincerely in affluence have infinitely + greater advantages and opportunities for it in adverse fortune; + therefore let us set vigorously to the task that lies before us, + supplying in the abundance of inward beauty what is wanting to the + outward lustre of the church; and we shall not fail to find that + the grots and caves lie as open to the celestial influences as the + fairest and most beautiful temples. + + Dr. Henry Hammond's Letters. + + +A painter, who is solicitous to give just representations of nature, +must blend his lights and shades, and contrast vivid colours with sombre +hues. The correct imitator of human life must also alternately introduce +joys and sorrows. Is it the langour of unwarrantable depression, the +indulged caprice of fastidious sensibility, or a more intimate +acquaintance with the dark colourings of disappointment than with the +sunshine of prosperity, which induces the conclusion, that the likeness +to reality will be more faithfully preserved if a sombre tinge +predominates in the fictitious narrative that paints the trials of +highly honourable and susceptible minds? The refinement which inspires +liberal desires and generous motives exposes its possessor to a more +lively feeling of the injuries inflicted by envy, selfishness, and +duplicity. The golden dreams of ingenuous candour and conscious ability +are rarely realized, and acute perception and high-minded integrity, +though most propitious to the growth of every virtue, seem to be the +choice fruits of heaven which, in the austere climate of this lower +world, require shelter and protection. + +It is not murmuring against the wisdom or justice of Providence to +admit, that in a probationary state the most perfect characters are they +who have been purified by "much tribulation, and through faith and +patience inherit the promises." The instrument used in this ordeal is +generally our brother-man. Yet, while with hope and confidence, we look +forward to a glorious issue of temporal affliction in eternal glory, let +us beware of unfitting ourselves for the future recompence by extreme +resentment against those who are the agents that Almighty Wisdom uses to +improve us. Let us not attribute to malice and cruelty what may be +referred to less criminal motives. Do we not often afflict others +undesignedly, and, from mere carelessness, neglect to relieve distress? +Our own concerns, interests, and wishes engross our thoughts. Nothing is +so important to us as forwarding our own aims; and our fellow-creatures +are too often but inconvenient lumber if they stand in our way, or +merely useful implements if they forward our designs. It is from a want +of attention to the feelings of others, from a neglect of the golden +rule of putting ourselves in their place, and not from innate malice or +a diabolical delight in giving pain, that the sorrows caused by domestic +tyrants and puny oppressors chiefly proceed. Were self-love reduced +within proper bounds, earth would resemble heaven. Let those, then, who +deeply feel those "wrongs which patient merit of the unworthy takes," +temper their aspirations after a state where universal good-will is the +source and cement of bliss, by cultivating that excellent preparative +for its fruition, a spirit of active, enlarged, and considerate +benevolence. + +These reflections will not unaptly precede the return of Lady Bellingham +from her northern expedition. It never was the practice of Cromwell to +render any one disrespect while his services could be useful, or till he +was prepared to prevent the effects of his enmity. While the success of +the King remained doubtful, he wished not to make himself any more +enemies; and at the same time that he restrained and mulcted the +Presbyterians, he endeavoured to persuade them to make common cause with +the fanatics. He received Lady Bellingham (who was the avowed patroness +of the latter) with much apparent respect, and at the same time he wrote +kindly to her Lord, promising that his party should be admitted to a +share in the government as soon as he could let the dove out of the ark +to fetch the olive branch, which could not be the case as long as the +floods of ungodliness covered the earth. He styled himself the servant +of the Commonwealth, and the assured friend of Lord Bellingham; but +nothing was further from Cromwell's heart than an intention of realizing +these promises. His only aim was to pacify and amuse his opponents till +he gained leisure to play his own game. He loaded Lady Bellingham with +flattering expressions, selected her to stand by his side, when, as he +called it, he rose in the congregation of the saints to give the word of +exhortation, and appealed to her as the judge and expounder of his +spiritual gifts. These, he observed, were all the refreshing attentions +which the necessity of pursuing the host of Sisera allowed him to pay to +the Deborah of the English Israel, except permitting her to reside in +Bellingham-Castle, and to plead his friendship and protection. + +The victory at Worcester was of that decided nature, which enabled +Cromwell to throw off the mask, to dissolve that pantomime of a +Parliament in whose name he had hitherto governed, and to assume the +title of "Protector of the liberties of England." He now exercised a +more despotic tyranny than this nation suffered either from her Danish +or Norman conquerors. He confined the elective franchise to himself, +creating what he called Parliaments for the sole purpose of making them +ridiculous, and then turning out his mock-legislators with contempt. He +alternately punished and provoked every party; even his own agents and +creatures could not escape his apprehensive suspicions, which, by +indulgence, engendered an insatiable thirst of blood. Yet, combining +great qualities with the meanest vices--the policy of an Augustus and +the enterprize of a Trajan with the dissimulation of Tiberius and the +cruelty of Domitian, he at once awed and dazzled surrounding nations, +and while he subjugated, exalted his own. Never was England more +respected than when unlimited power, undaunted courage, and persevering +activity placed all her resources in the hands of a man who, scarcely +ranked by birth in the patrician order, could make every European +sovereign tremble on his throne. Yet still, like the mystical sun in the +Apocalypse, tormenting others while he was himself tormented, the era of +his assuming power was the consummation of his extreme misery. He waded +through seas of blood; he broke every divine and human obligation; he +made the name of liberty a terror, and that of religion contemptible, to +become himself a more pitiable object than the veriest wretches whom he +inhumed in his prisons. They had some who sympathized in their +sufferings, some who wished them God speed; but though the civilized +world trembled at the name of Cromwell, he knew he had spies, creatures, +and parasites, but not one friend. + +Yet amidst this secret wretchedness and universal odium, the distant +reflex of his name and authority was respected by all. Lady Bellingham +found her reception very different, as the Protector's friend, in her +return through England, than when she fled to Scotland an alarmed +fugitive. Conscious of former remissness, Morgan met her at Lancaster, +and earnestly entreated she would repose some days at Saint's-Rest after +the fatigue of her journey. The alarm and mortification she had endured +in that neighbourhood made her recollect the village with disgust; but +there were some mysteries which she wished him to explain. Nursery tales +affirm, that Puss, when converted into a fine lady, retained her old +propensity of catching mice; and though Lady Bellingham was transformed +from a fine lady into a devotee, the renovating spirit of true religion +had not altered her temper or inclinations; there was the same +waywardness in the former, the same cold selfishness in the latter. +While she raved at formal and legal Christians, she was herself the true +formalist, presuming on superior merit from the length of her devotional +exercises, her rigid austerities, and the sums she expended in spreading +her peculiar notions. But she came out of her closet to make her inmates +and dependants wretched; her fasting-days were unsanctified through +moroseness, and beside that, her gifts were too much confined to +party-purposes to be entitled to the praise of charity; ostentation blew +the trumpet before her alms, and she had the reward she sought, in the +praise of men. + +To return from the description to the illustration of this not uncommon +character. It happened one evening, as the Countess was anticipating +the joys of Heaven, by an analogy drawn from the delights which +Bellingham-Castle afforded, and which she supposed would there be +increased in an infinite ratio, that her humble companion ventured to +recall her imagination to this world, by producing what she thought a +very pretty poem on the subject of love, which she found in their chamber +at the miserable old delinquent's at Ribblesdale. Lady Bellingham shook +her head at the name of love, commanded Mrs. Abigail to avoid the sinful +subject, and to expiate the offence by reading fifty pages of "a popular +fanatical treatise." + +As the waiting-gentlewoman retired to perform the penance, Lady +Bellingham commanded her to leave the paper that she might destroy it. +But though the word Love was dangerous to a tyro in Antinomianism, the +situation of the initiated is very different; to the former all things +are sinful, but the latter being free from the law, and above ordinances, +have a large licence. Valuing herself now only on her spiritual graces, +Lady Bellingham opened the profane legend, which, she expected, described +personal attractions; and to her astonishment recognized the writing of +her son, of whom she had heard no certain tidings since the battle of +Preston, but who was supposed, both by Cromwell and herself, to be in the +north of Ireland, where an officer of the same name had gained celebrity. +The date proved that he had been a resident in Dr. Beaumont's family; no +name was prefixed, but the lines breathed a permanent attachment, to +which, after some resistance, he had entirely surrendered his heart. + + O place thy breast against a turbid stream, + Beat with strong arm the flood, and tread the wave, + Or toil incessant 'neath the burning beam, + When, like a giant woke from wassail-dream, + Sol rushes furious from the lion's cave: + + Then mayst thou know how hard to stem the tide + Of chaste desire, and love's o'erwhelming storm, + When by entranc'd affection first descry'd, + Beauty and truth, such as in Heaven reside, + Appear on earth in woman's lovely form. + + Is there a charm in wisdom? Is there power + In blushing modesty's retiring air? + Looks patience lovely in affliction's hour? + Is not humility a priceless flower? + And filial piety divinely fair? + + And bloom such graces in this narrow dell, + Bosom'd in hills, from civil discord far; + Then, courts and camps, glory and wealth farewell! + All-powerful love hath broke ambition's spell, + And freed a captive from his iron car. + +Ruminating on these lines, and recollecting the mild dutiful behaviour +of Constantia, she could not help supposing that melancholy beauty to be +the object of her son's attachment. She had sufficiently interested her +to inquire the reason of her mournful appearance, and learned that she +had lost her lover in the civil wars. Could that lover have been her +son? Could the figures she had seen sitting among the ruins, and which +she was persuaded were not human, be sent as supernatural omens to +indicate Sedley's death. It was happy for her unsettling reason, that at +the moment when this terrific thought shot across her brain, she +recollected, whatever her early misdemeanors might have been, she was +now in a safe state, and had wiped off all offences to her brother, even +supposing any had been committed. Yet she grew uneasy to hear of her +son, and wished she had been more particular in her inquiries as to the +certainty of his being in Ireland. I have already stated that maternal +affection had no part in her character. The manner in which she treated +Arthur prevented frequent intercourse. Hearing that a Colonel Sedley was +distinguished by his cruelty to the Catholics at the taking of Fredagh +and Drogheda, she had trusted that it was her son now become warm in the +good cause to which she had devoted him. The date of this poem shewed +that he was in Lancashire, indulging very different sentiments at the +time of those bloody victories, and it was her perplexity on this point +which made her give Morgan an affable reception. + +She soon discovered, that though he had lately forborn persecuting the +Beaumonts, he retained the most inveterate enmity to the whole family. +She drew from him all the information it was in his power to give +respecting her son's residence at Ribblesdale; the assistance he +received from the Beaumonts when at the point of death, and his sudden +disappearance. Morgan was unacquainted with his change of sentiments and +attachment to Isabel, who, having been long secreted with her father, +was believed to be dead, and had been too insignificant and humble to +draw the attention of so important a personage as Morgan. His +communications confirmed Lady Bellingham in the belief that she had seen +an apparition of her brother, indicative of her son's death, and that +Constantia, who mourned a widowed love, had been the object of his +ill-placed affections. + +Full of apprehension, destitute alike of delicacy, gratitude, and +candour, and disposed, from her political feelings, to ascribe every bad +passion and action to the royalists, a thought struck her that poverty +might have tempted the old delinquent to murder her son; and the +suspicion grew to certainty, when the most minute inquiries could give +no information of him subsequent to his receiving a large remittance +from his tenants the week before he was last seen at Ribblesdale. Her +humble attendants, on hearing her opinion, protested that nothing was +ever more probable. The chaplain expatiated on the vices of the +episcopal clergy, and cited the words of that-then-popular writer, +Martin Mar-prelate, to prove them guilty of the greatest offences, not +excepting even theft and murder. The gentleman-usher found damning +proofs of extreme poverty in all the arrangements of the Beaumonts, and +the waiting-gentlewoman could no otherwise account for the deep +melancholy of Constantia, than by supposing her lover had been murdered +by her father, whose pale care-worn features bore, in her opinion, the +character of an assassin. + +Having wrought her mind to this conclusion, Lady Bellingham sent again +for her confidant Morgan, who, beside his aversion to one whom he had +long felt to be a troublesome neighbour, had now particular reasons for +appearing zealously inclined to serve the Protector and his friends. He +advised Lady Bellingham to state the loss of her son to His Highness, +and procure his order for the Doctor's arrest, adding, that even if +innocent of this accusation, the imprisonment of one, who as an +irreclaimable royalist, deserved punishment, was no breach of justice. +He assured Her Ladyship, that her son's long residence in a disaffected +family, had not occasioned the smallest change in his opinions, but that +he showed his zeal for the good old cause, by informing him of all the +proceedings and councils of the delinquents that came to his knowledge; +and he feared, as he was missing a little time before Charles Stewart's +attempt on Scotland, his having penetrated into that design precipitated +their bloody purposes. His communications shaped the fluctuating +purposes of Lady Bellingham into a most determinate and diabolical +resolve, and she returned to London with the heart of an "Ate hot from +hell," and the aspect of a Niobe. + +She now presented herself before the Protector and his council, as a +distracted mother, ignorant of the fate of her only son, and praying for +a minute investigation of the mysterious business. A request from the +patroness of the fanatics imperatively demanded attention. Several of +their leaders were her devoted friends, and the fine qualities of young +Sedley had really attracted Cromwell's notice, who, though he was +incapable of loving virtue and honour, ever wished to engage them in his +service. It is but justice to the Usurper's administration to say, that, +except when his government or personal security were concerned, he was +an impartial and vigorous administrator of the criminal laws, never +sparing rank, or shielding greatness. But though justice thus beamed on +those who had not made themselves conspicuous by their principles, a +known royalist could not expect her smiles, a warrant was therefore +dispatched to apprehend Dr. Beaumont, and Morgan was charged with its +execution. + +About this time that unhappy family were reduced to the last stage of +pecuniary distress. Their good friend Barton was still in confinement, +persecuted with the most inveterate hatred by Lady Bellingham's party, +and as his revenue was sequestered, no remittances could come from that +quarter. At the death of Farmer Humphreys, the church-land he had +occupied was taken from his widow, who was now fallen into decay, and +unable to assist the necessitous pastor she so truly revered. The +provision which the revolutionary government pretended to make to the +ejected ministers, was at best irregularly supplied, and often totally +withheld. The infirmities of Colonel Evellin engrossing the whole time +of Isabel, no fund could be raised from her industry, and with prompt +though perhaps imprudent loyalty Dr. Beaumont had sent the sum left by +De Vallance to the King's assistance when he made the last unsuccessful +effort to obtain his crown. Want, therefore, appeared before their eyes +in all its horrors; the produce of their cow and their garden, added to +the kind attentions of the villagers, were their sole support. + +It was impossible to conceal their difficulties from Evellin, who now +earnestly prayed that death would relieve his generous friend from the +burden of his support. The firm and patient Isabel could no longer +divert him from these sad exclamations. She could not modulate her voice +to a song, nor attempt to engage his attention by reciting a tale of +other times. She threw her eyes upon the ground in silence, as if +wishing to measure out his grave, and one where she might sleep in peace +beside him. + +They were roused from the passive depression of poverty by the awakening +call of imminent danger to the person of him who, in all their former +trials, had acted as their guardian angel to avert or mitigate calamity. +Morgan delivered, without any ceremony, to Dr. Beaumont an order to +attend the council of state in London, as a prisoner. The Doctor +declared himself ready to pay a quick obedience to the existing +government in all lawful cases, but stated his extreme penury and the +utter destitution of his family. The rigid frugality of their habits was +known; and Morgan, now assuming an inquisitorial air, demanded what +became of the moiety of the fifth allowed to the expelled ministers, +which he had last received. Dr. Beaumont was taken by surprize, and +before he could parry the impertinence of the question, was charged by +Morgan with sending pecuniary aid to Charles Stewart. This was now a +crime against the state, for which many suffered. Dr. Beaumont asked if +this was the business on which he was summoned to London, and Morgan, +knowing that it was determined to take him by surprize respecting the +charge of assassinating De Vallance, answered sternly, that for this and +various other misdemeanors he must be examined before the council. + +No heart that had not been steeled by malevolence against all the better +feelings of humanity, could have resisted the cries and supplications of +Constantia, intreating that she might accompany her father; but Morgan, +recollecting that she in the pride of beauty had disdainfully rejected +his offer of marriage, took a savage pleasure in witnessing her +affliction. To see the sorrows of his darling child excite derision +instead of pity and respect, consummated Dr. Beaumont's anguish. Taking +Constantia aside, he gave her his parting blessing, with a fervour that +recalled his own firmness, and imparted consolation to her. He reminded +her how much her aunt, Evellin, and Isabel, must now depend upon her +exertions. He doubted not but commiseration for his misfortunes would +increase the benevolence of the villagers, and he intreated her to +recollect, that as her lamentations were unavailing, fortitude and +patient endurance were the only means to subdue the malice of their +enemies. He recurred to his favourite argument, that an oppressor is +merely an instrument of chastisement in the hand of Almighty goodness, +whose ultimate purposes are all mercy and wisdom. A tyrant's wrath +cannot pass its prescribed bounds; no earthly power can take us out of +the omnipotent hands of our Creator; nor will He ever fail those who +firmly trust in His care, and sincerely obey His precepts. "Courage, my +child," said he, as he kissed her pale cold cheek, "I have committed no +crimes either against the state or any individual: I shall soon be +allowed to return. This affliction is the trial of your faith, not the +punishment of my guilt." + +Dr. Beaumont did not venture to visit his concealed friend, but the +lamentations of the villagers, who surrounded their departing pastor +with tears and blessings, added to the distress of Isabel, soon informed +Colonel Evellin that his revered protector was seized by the strong +gripe of power. He insisted on accompanying him to London as a +fellow-prisoner, protesting he was ready to defy Cromwell, accuse +Bellingham, and die. Isabel had sufficient strength to prevent the +immediate execution of this rash purpose. "O think," said she, "that by +so doing, you will not only sacrifice yourself, but also my uncle. The +very act of having concealed you is punishable with death. For the sake +of our best and kindest friend, a little longer exercise that fortitude +and patience which have been my support through years of apprehension +and calamity. Let not my long services within this narrow recess lose at +last the desired reward of saving a parent, more dear and precious from +his undeserved calamities." + +"Shall I perish for want, immured in this gloomy tenement?" said +Evellin, wildly. "When my friend is gone, who will provide a covering +for this wretched body, or food to sustain it?--Have I not told thee, +girl, that De Vallance basks in luxurious state at Bellingham-Castle; +and I would sooner perish in a lazar-house than beg my bread of him? +Dost thou not know his blood-hounds yet surround these ruins, and that +it is Beaumont only who has kept them from my war-worn trunk." + +"Dearest father," resumed Isabel, "I can keep off the blood-hounds, and +will daily lead you forth to enjoy the warm sun-beams. Fear not; but +trust in that Providence who feeds the young ravens. How wonderful was +its preservation of our King when hunted from forest to forest by his +merciless foes! The wants of nature are few and small. See how your +despair makes me weep. Oh, for the sake of my mother's memory, dry the +tears of your orphan girl." + +In this manner did Isabel try to console the man of many sorrows, but he +had taken his resolution, and even when most composed, would not be +diverted from his purpose of following Dr. Beaumont to London, that he +might be ready to confront his enemies, or to share his fate. Mrs. +Mellicent was consulted on the subject, and she thought this +determination should not be opposed. It had been already agreed upon, +that Constantia should follow her father, and attend him in confinement; +and it was now settled, that Isabel and Evellin should privately +accompany her. Disguised as beggars, they were removed out of the +village, and being joined by Williams and Constantia, proceeded towards +London as fast as their destitute condition admitted. + +They had left Waverly-Hall some weeks, when Dr. Lloyd and Jobson arrived +to communicate tidings which they thought would change the house of +mourning to the abode of happiness. But no sound or sight indicated that +these lonely ruins now afforded shelter to man. No trace of inhabitants +was visible.--No monarch of the feathered brood was heard aloud to crow; +no smoke rising from the chimney announced the preparation of the +homely, but social meal. Jobson entered at the unresisting door; the +furniture, like the family, had disappeared. He ventured into the secret +chamber, that too was vacant; nothing remained but the couch on which +the noble veteran had stretched his palsied frame, and, magnanimously +enduring his own anguish, descanted on the arduous duties of a soldier. + +"Ah, worthy Doctor," said the dismayed Jobson, "those confounded +Roundheads have caught him at last. Here are some of the tatters of his +poor old roque-laure, and the woollen cap Mrs. Isabel used to draw over +his head so carefully. Here she used to kneel by his side, say her +prayers, and sometimes sing in such a sweet low voice; and then the +Colonel would kiss her, and tell her she would kill herself with +watching him. But when she crept through that little arch to go away, he +would look at her as if his soul was parting from his body. And then she +would come back again, and say she had not shaken hands with the honest +trooper, (meaning me,) and would whisper me, to keep up his spirits; and +so they would trifle away half the night."--"'Serjeant,' the Colonel used +to say to me, bless his good heart! though I never was more than a +corporal, 'that girl has the courage of a lion.' 'Aye, and as cunning as +a fox too,' I used to answer. 'She is beautiful as an angel,' he went +on; 'Did you ever see such eyes?'--'Never but my first sweetheart's, +Sally Malkins,' said I. But then he turned gruff, and would say, +'Pshaw!' for he never could be pleased with any body praising Mrs. +Isabel, but himself and that make-believe good young Lord with a wicked +father." + +While Dr. Lloyd deliberated how to proceed, an aged woman appeared in +sight, with a basket on her arm, seemingly employed in gathering herbs. +"St. George be my speed!" exclaimed Jobson; "Can that be Madam +Mellicent? Ah, sure enough it is her sharp wrinkled face: I never +thought she would bend her stiff joints, or walk in the dirt without her +riding-hood." Dr. Lloyd offered to go and accost her. "Not for your +life," replied Jobson; "she never would forgive me for letting you catch +her thus out of sorts. Stop behind that buttress, and I'll go and tell +her there is some company coming, and when she has put on her pinners +and facings, she will be very glad to see you." + +Mrs. Mellicent's appearance was too indicative of profound dejection for +Dr. Lloyd to believe she would require any introductory ceremonials. He +ventured to salute her with an abrupt assurance, that he was a warm +friend of her family, intrusted with a welcome and important +communication. Mrs. Mellicent fixed her eyes upon him with that look of +inquisitorial diffidence which those who have long been familiarized +with distress and injustice, bestow on the dawn of better days. "I can +hardly suspect," said she, "that you are one of those who find amusement +in sporting with the feelings of the unhappy. You see in me the forlorn +relic of a respectable family, now supported by those who were fed at +its gates in the days of my prosperity. Yet as far as I can, I try to be +independent; and my knowledge in medicine allows me to alleviate the +pains of those who shelter my grey hairs.--My brother, his daughter, and +the sole surviving child of a beloved sister, now in Heaven, are at this +moment exposed to the dreadful trial of Republican persecution. Poverty +chains me to this spot, where I drew my first breath, and where, if +those I love are sacrificed, I hope soon to close my eyes on sorrow." +"You have," said Dr. Lloyd, "omitted to name another strong tie which +should bind you to life. You have a brave and gallant nephew, who loves +and honours the maternal aunt, who checked his extravagancies and +fostered his virtues." + +"Eustace Evellin!" returned the good Lady, while her eyes filled with +tears, "Did you know him, Sir?--The murderous insurgents cut him off at +Pembroke in cold blood. That is their usual method; they only spare +useless logs like myself--a withered blasted tree, stripped of all its +branches, fit only to sustain the trophies of their accursed triumph. +How long, Lord, how long!" continued she, wringing her hands and looking +up to Heaven. + +Dr. Lloyd now cautiously informed her of the almost miraculous escape of +Eustace, and the lively interest he took in his preservation. He added +an account of the dangers of De Vallance, and assured her, that he had +left them both in his cottage, as safe and happy as English Loyalists +could be, while their country groaned under the yoke of Cromwell. The +fortitude, nay even the corporeal strength of Mrs. Mellicent, revived at +the recital; her own necessities were forgotten, and she scarcely +lamented that she had not now a house to welcome, or even the widow's +barley-cake to bestow on, the kind protector of the generous youths whom +she so fondly loved. Every regret was lost in the prospect of better +times, in the future happiness of Constantia and Isabel, in the +restoration of the Neville line, and the adoption of the amiable De +Vallance into its unpolluted branch. Only one life appeared to stand in +the way of their felicity:--Remove the stern Usurper, a penitent nation, +weary of oppression, would joyfully welcome back its exiled Sovereign. +What might not the Beaumonts and the Nevilles hope from the justice of a +Prince for whom they had bled and suffered! Such agreeable reveries as +these supported Mrs. Mellicent's spirits during that long period of +suspense, in which (for fiction must not anticipate the slow progress of +history) she expected their realization. And if hope invested the +enlivening phantom of royal gratitude in too gorgeous colours, may we +not bless, rather than censure, the fortunate delusion? We are to +consider, that the venerable spinster having passed her days in privacy, +was ignorant of the chicanery of courts, and disposed to believe, that +honour, gratitude, and sincerity, are the inseparable concomitants of +illustrious birth. She herself never forgot either her benefactors or +her enemies; and she knew not how early Princes are taught to consider +the sacrifice of life and fortune as positive debts due to them from +their subjects. She was not aware how often expediency compels them to +smile on a potent enemy, and to overlook an inefficient friend; how +necessary it is for them to employ, as instruments, the able and +enterprising, rather than the amiable; and in fine, how much more apt +the great are to shower their favours on those whom they oblige by +unexpected munificence, than to discharge the claims of justice; to seek +praise for liberality, instead of being contented with the merit +resulting from a mere performance of duty. + +To return; the account which Mrs. Mellicent gave of the persecution +raised by the Oliverian government, determined Dr. Lloyd to prevent +either of his young friends from becoming its victim. They both +recollected the anxiety of the late King to remove his heir beyond the +power of his rebel subjects, as soon as he found it was impossible for +himself to escape; and that he even considered the preservation of the +Prince as a security for his own life. The event refuted that +conclusion; but it was owing to this forecast that the prayers and hopes +of Englishmen could still follow the princely fugitive. Whether he was +shrouded in the oak at Boscobel-wood, or coldly frowned on by the courts +of France and Spain, England saw, in the lineal heir of her monarchy, a +pledge of the future restoration of her civil and ecclesiastical +constitution, and a guarantee to individuals against sequestrators and +informers. The same judicious measures which had preserved the Royal +sapling when the parent-tree was felled, should be resorted to for the +safety of an illustrious private family; and Dr. Lloyd agreed to hurry +back to North Wales, and remove his precious charge to some more +auspicious clime, before they heard of the imprisonment of Dr. Beaumont. +Virginia was objected to on account of its distance from the scene of +action. The power of Cromwell, so resistless in the centre of his +government, was somewhat relaxed in its more remote dependencies; and +the island of Jersey was pointed out as a spot where Eustace and De +Vallance ran less hazard of being recognized by Cromwell's officers. + +Loyalty was at this time a bond of endearment which united apparent +strangers; Mrs. Mellicent had an intimacy, in her early days, with a +lady who was now wife to one of the most respectable merchants at St. +Helier. He was one who, though faithful to the King, had preserved such +an ostensible moderation in his conduct as to avoid offending his +enemies; consequently, he had it in his power to assist those braver +spirits that had withstood the storm, and now required shelter. A +friendly intimation of remembrance, and an offer of aid had been +transmitted by this Lady to Mrs. Mellicent, and she advised Dr. Lloyd to +fix his abode in that island, under the character of a medical +gentleman, travelling with two pupils, who were to study physic at +Leyden, but were required, by their infirm constitutions, to establish +their health in a salubrious climate, before they encountered the +morasses and fogs of Holland. + +Dr. Lloyd was not a friend by halves; he was willing to devote the +remainder of his life and fortune to the service of these interesting +and deserving young men. He wrote a brief account of the preservation of +Eustace and the safety of De Vallance, and Jobson was sent with the +welcome communication to London, to lighten the woes of their +affectionate and unhappy friends. Dr. Lloyd returned to Wales with the +utmost celerity. He avoided explaining the distressed state of the +family, contenting himself with assuring Eustace and De Vallance that +Colonel Evellin was alive, and that Isabel and Constance were faithful +to their vows. The plan of emigration to America must, he said, be +abandoned, as it was impossible for the family to remove; but as the +preservation of their lives, in some degree depended on the concealment +of Eustace, it became necessary they should avoid the rigid scrutiny +which Cromwell was now making after obnoxious Loyalists, by removing to +a retreat where, though the royal banner was not permitted to fly, the +inhabitants were allowed to remain in a sort of peaceable neutrality. + + + + +CHAP. XXIII. + + When the sword is drawn, and the power of the strongest is to + decide, you talk in vain of equity and moderation; those virtues + always belong to the conquerors. Thus it has happened to the + Cheruscans: they were formerly called just and upright; at present + they are called fools and knaves. Victory has transferred every + virtue to their masters; and oppression takes the name of wisdom. + + Murphy's Tacitus. + + +It was not the practice of Cromwell to bring to a speedy trial those +state-prisoners against whom he could produce no positive proof of the +offence with which they were charged. Though the palaces of the degraded +bishops and exiled nobility were, during this reign of terror in +England, converted into places of confinement, the prisons continued +crowded with victims. Judges and juries were too slow and uncertain in +their proceedings to be permitted to decide on the fate of those whom +the Protector of the liberties of England had pre-ordained to death or +captivity. High courts of justice were occasionally erected, and summary +modes of trial resorted to, which the ancient laws of the realm +reprobated or disavowed. By these the Tyrant freed himself from those +more obnoxious enemies who had taken arms against his authority; but the +objects of his suspicious fear, whose enmity he knew, and whose ability +he dreaded, still remained in close confinement. The crime of some was +having concealed Loyalists; many were shut up for sending remittances to +the King abroad, or for having shown him some mark of respect and +allegiance while he was in England. The presbyterians suffered for +lamenting the fall of the Long-parliament, and inveighing against the +present tyranny; the Fifth-Monarchy-men, for expecting the reign of King +Jesus; the Levellers, for requiring Agrarian laws and the equalization +of property. The conduct of Cromwell had disgusted the whole body of +sectaries as well as the stanch Republicans. "Anabaptists, Independents, +and Quakers conceived an implacable hatred against him; and, whilst they +contrived how to raise a power to contend with him, they likewise +entered into plots for his assassination." These plots, and the +libellous writings by which they excited insurrection, continually +agitated the mind of Cromwell; for as his new enemies were not +restrained by those principles which prevented most of his old ones from +resorting to indirect modes of warfare, cutting off one daring villain +added nothing to his security, but rather stimulated that faction to +vengeance. He had now humbled and disappointed all parties, and could no +longer play one against another. No one was attached to him; even those +who had gone equal lengths in guilt only clung to him as a pledge for +their own security. Mercy and lenity had no effect on those with whom he +now contended. Lilburn, who may be considered as an epitome of the +fanatical opponents of Cromwell, "had wrought himself to a marvellous +inclination and appetite to suffer in the defence, or for the +vindication of any oppressed truth." To men who courted persecution, who +gloried in personal suffering, and to whom, connecting their cause with +that of the Almighty, all measures seemed allowable which their humours +suggested--the axe and the gallows displayed no terrors; and it was as +impossible to oblige as it was to intimidate them. They despised +temporal possessions, and braced their iron-nerves with misapplications +of the texts and examples of Scripture, believing that, in performing +the actions of banditti, they were proving themselves to be chosen +captains of the host of the Lord. + +As the labours of the itinerant preachers already described had +converted thousands of the lower orders into ignorant and desperate, +and, it might be added, insane, enthusiasts, a mind less indefatigable +than Cromwell's would have been wholly engrossed in securing his person +and government from their violence and hostile machinations; but his +fear of his new enemies did not make him forget his hatred of his old +ones. The fanatical conspirators and insurgents being more inimical to +the general good sense of the nation, he often submitted them to the +ordinary courts of justice, contenting himself (as in the case of +Lilburn) with making acquittal issue in more rigorous imprisonment, when +a jury had the presumption to decide in favour of a prisoner whom the +Protector had resolved to punish. Desirous of conciliating the good +opinion of well-informed people, he preserved the fountain of justice +uncontaminated. The judges who presided in the several courts were in +general an honour to their country; and many of them (especially the +immortal Hale) accepted the office, in order to be better able to +restrain oppression, "knowing that in every form of government justice +must be administered between man and man, and offenders against the +universal laws of society punished." By such judges, a Gerrard, a Hewet, +a Hyde, and other illustrious Loyalists, would not have been condemned. +Against such persons, therefore, Cromwell was compelled to rearrange his +pantomimic High Court of Justice, that contemptible but bloody engine, +by which he had destroyed the King and the nobles, and to whose +authority, as anomalous to the constitution, his victims generally +refused to submit, and were thus condemned without any public +discussion. + +Had Cromwell determined to try Dr. Beaumont for sending pecuniary +assistance to the King (an offence which he had the means of proving), +he would have immediately collected his creatures and erected one of +these executive courts; but if the suspicion of assassinating an +officer, who bore a parliamentary commission, could be supported by +stronger proofs than the accusation of Lady Bellingham, and the +probabilities suggested by Morgan, he need not fear permitting justice +to mount her regular seat, and hold her balance in the public eye. No +charge of cruelty or persecution could then be brought against him; and +the public odium would be transferred to the episcopalians and +Loyalists. He attended the first examination of the Doctor before the +Council of State, on the ostensible accusation of assisting the King, +and saw, in his behaviour, an enlightened opposer of tyranny, and a +conscientious adherent to the old government. Such a man, he resolved, +should either be cut off, or prevented from doing him any injury. The +best policy, therefore, was to defer his trial, and to send down some +active emissaries to Ribblesdale to examine minutely into his past +conversation, and discover whether any ground of accusation existed +against him. At least to ascertain that Sedley had really been cut off, +and that Dr. Beaumont had no evidence to disprove his being concerned in +the transaction. + +Dr. Beaumont was therefore remanded into close confinement. His family +had gathered round him, and were supported by the generous contributions +of those Loyalists who had hitherto escaped persecution, but made a +common cause with their suffering brethren, and liberally ministered to +their distresses. Colonel Evellin was concealed in an obscure lodging +near the Marshalsea, where Dr. Beaumont was imprisoned. Constantia and +Isabel, with patient fortitude, ministered to their respective fathers, +while Williams carried on a confidential intercourse with the noble and +worthy friends by whom they were supported. Some of these were in the +confidence of Lord Falconberg, the accepted lover of one of Cromwell's +daughters, and who was thought by many to have sought that alliance with +the view of mediating for the persecuted victims to a cause which +himself and his family had ever decidedly espoused. + +Affairs were in this situation when Jobson arrived in London, and +produced Dr. Lloyd's letter, which, confirmed by his own testimony, +fully verified the existence of Eustace, the safety of De Vallance, and +their welfare and comparative happiness. What a weight of anguish was +removed from these amiable victims of tyranny by the intelligence! +Imprisonment, poverty, dependence, personal infirmity, were all +supportable evils. But for a complete exemplification of the extreme +limit of human misery, we must look to the oppressor, not to the +oppressed; to Cromwell, galled by the armour worn under his robes of +state to defend his person from the expected dagger of a murderer, and +not to Dr. Beaumont, languishing for want of the common blessings which +freedom bestows, or to Evellin, an aged cripple in the lonely confined +chamber of poverty. Cromwell had no daughter who revered his virtues, +and cheered his pensive contemplations with the assurance that the +righteous sufferer was under the peculiar protection of Heaven. Most of +_his_ daughters were strongly attached to the royal cause. The wife of +Fleetwood (his eldest) was a furious Republican; Desborough, his +brother-in-law, was a Leveller; and his eldest son was incompetent to +receive that weight of usurped greatness which he wished to bequeath +him. Such was the domestic situation of the man at whose frown Europe +trembled. Ever in dread of assassins and conspirators, vexed by +family-broils, his nearest connexions hostile to his views, without +solace from public care, or sympathy in private distress. + +The preservation of his son seemed to bestow on Colonel Evellin a new +existence. He was never weary of listening to the particulars of his +escape. Again and again he required Jobson to repeat the assurance, that +he had actually held in his arms the living Eustace; the determined +martyr to loyalty and truth; the brave, conspicuous, honourable soldier; +his own dear son, not a traitor to his King or his love, but all that he +could wish a true Neville to be, except in his misfortunes. It seemed a +double resurrection to life, and to unclouded fame. And was it possible +he might again see him at his feet craving his blessing? Should his hand +rest upon his head, while, with a prophetic ardour, he predicted a race +of worthies that should spring from him--future heroes, patriots, and +faithful subjects, alike tenacious of their Sovereign's rights and of +the claims of their countrymen. What were privations, infirmities, and +restraints to a mind animated with these glorious hopes? He limped on +his staff round his narrow room, lest his limbs should grow too +contracted to visit every apartment in Bellingham-Castle. He partook of +his frugal meal, and talked of the joyous regales he would provide for +his tenantry. He was no longer the existing root of a tree that had been +hewn down; one fatal shot had not smitten his Eustace, and doomed his +Isabel to remain a vestal mourner over her brother's grave. De Vallance +and Eustace were now cementing that bond of virtuous friendship which +would distinguish them in happier times; and those times would soon +return. The generous feelings of English nobles would not long endure +the national degradation. They had taught the Norman Conqueror to +venerate their ancient rights. They had resisted every attempt of the +princely house of Plantagenet to sink subjects into vassals. The First +Edward, great in council and in arms, found his people alike invincible +in the field, whether they followed his banner under an Asian or a +Northern sky, or opposed his violation of their chartered rights! Could +a nation, which would only pay a constitutional obedience to a Beauclerk +or a Coeur de Lion, which served, not submitted to, the heroes of Cressy +and of Agincourt, long writhe under the scorpion-lash of despotism +wielded by a low Usurper, whose manners and sentiments were inimical to +the general tone of the English character--a man pre-eminent in fraud +and hypocrisy, and ignorant of the lively yearnings of humanity. + +"My girl," Evellin would often say to Isabel, "the King must be +re-instated on his throne, or England will fall from her rank among the +nations. The standard of public morals must be reduced, the mode of +thinking be changed, the very aspect of Englishmen undergo a revolution +before the race of this upstart Despot can take root in this island. We +have been accustomed to look up to our governors as great and good; at +least they were surrounded by a blaze of ancestry and dignity of manners +congenial to our feelings of the prescriptive claims of hereditary +rights. We must be all mercenary soldiers, wild fanatics, pensioned +informers, or feudal serfs toiling for daily bread, ere we can patiently +endure this revolting system of jealousy and suspicion--this cold, +selfish scheme of trick and expedient. Astonishment and terror may +awhile paralyze the national spirit; the remembered miseries of civil +war may render the phantom of peace so alluring as to induce many to +call a deleterious intoxication felicity. But unless Cromwell can +obliterate every record of what Englishmen were in past ages--unless he +can make us forget the education, opinions, and hopes of our youth--the +labours, sorrows, and wrongs of our riper years--his meanness and his +crimes;--never--never can the British lion crouch at an Usurper's form, +or the red-cross banner wave graceful over a traitor's head." + +Colonel Evellin was roused from these agreeable reveries by a painful +communication from Williams. The means of access which the royalists now +had to Cromwell's councils enabled them to discover that the vigilance +of Morgan had brought together so many charges against Dr. Beaumont, +that there seeming no chance of his escaping condemnation, it was +resolved to bring him to trial. Williams could not distinctly make out +the crimes with which he was charged, except that he assisted the late +and present King with money; that he used the Liturgy and Church +ceremonies with such slight alterations as did not prevent their +continuing to be that "form of words" and "will-worship" which were +forbidden to saints; added to this, he prayed for Charles Stewart; and +further, there were secret counsels and mysterious contrivances in the +family. A private chamber had also been found, which, it was evident, +had been used for the purpose of concealing malignants. The safety of +the state required that these practices should be searched into, and +that Dr. Beaumont should be tried for contumacy to the government. + +This was all Williams could discover; but beside this open attack, there +was a mine ready to be sprung for the Doctor's destruction. Lord +Bellingham had now lain several years in confinement. His party was +believed to be subdued, and his own reputation was so tarnished that he +was become quite innoxious. Overtures were now made to him, that he +should be restored to liberty, and to a part of his possessions; but it +was hinted at the same time that it would show his acquiescence with the +existing government if he would take an active part against an atrocious +royalist. The sudden and mysterious disappearance of his son (of whom he +had heard no tidings since the battle of Preston) was mentioned; and it +was soon understood that it was expected he should bring the charge of +assassination against Dr. Beaumont, and thus remove all odium from +Cromwell. Solitude and confinement had wrought no salutary change on +this wretched man's disposition. His prison-hours were occupied by +regrets for the past, distaste at the present, and fears for the future. +His affections clung fondly to the wealth and title he had lost; nor +could his guilty soul disrobe itself "of those lendings" which vitiated +its spiritual essence. If he were again placed in Bellingham-Castle he +would repent. He would then devote a large proportion of his +dearly-purchased estate to charitable purposes; he would seek for Allan +Neville and his daughter; were they alive, he would make them happy, or +at least place them in affluence; he would erect a monument to the +gallant Eustace; he would employ his future life in pious duties; in +fine, if restored to the enjoyment of the unrighteous Mammon, he would +use it in securing an everlasting inheritance. No angel whispered, +"Begin the mighty labour now;" no renovating change took place in his +desires. The hour of contrition and repentance was deferred with +procrastinating insincerity. Can we then wonder that the man who, in his +youth, sacrificed honour and friendship to purchase worldly grandeur, +should, in his age, again impawn his conscience for liberty and ease? or +that, though he had indeed often deplored the supposed necessity of +murdering Eustace Evellin, he should basely yield to become a Tyrant's +instrument to cut off that Eustace's uncle on a charge, which, from what +he knew of the Doctor's conduct, bore improbability and ingratitude in +its aspect. Let those who condemn Lord Bellingham beware how they yield +to the first temptations of guilt. The emulation of an aspiring mind, +unchecked by principle, degenerated into envy, hatred, malice, +injustice, falsehood, and cruelty. Love for a beautiful woman was +polluted by an insatiable craving to rise to the same sphere of life in +which she moved; and as it was her exterior loveliness, not her inward +graces, that inflamed his desires, he scrupled not to become the +instrument of her bad passion; that "love might revel on the couch of +state," he performed actions which stamped ignominy on his name, and +destroyed his peace for ever; and now, in the decline of life, though +satiety had taught him the little value of all temporal enjoyments, his +imagination clung to the dispersing shadows which even experience would +not convince him were only phantoms of happiness. Even while he wept the +offences he had committed, he yielded to the first temptation to repeat +his crimes. + +On the morning fixed for his trial, Dr. Beaumont exhibited an +illustration of the scriptural precept, by combining the wisdom of the +serpent with the innocence of the dove. Serene, mild, thoughtful, acute, +and penetrating, he was capable of using every fair occasion to elude +his enemies, and was able also to submit to the will of Heaven, provided +their malice should be permitted to triumph. He prepared Constantia for +the worst, by assuring her that so many had unjustly suffered in these +perturbed times that condemnation was no longer considered as an +evidence of guilt. All the disgrace of a public death was removed by the +justice of the cause to which he was ready to fall a martyr; and the +mere circumstance of his dying as a malefactor ought not to distress +her, since, in the article of pain, he should endure much less; and the +awakening trial of imprisonment had afforded him leisure to re-consider +his ways, and make his peace with God. This singular blessing had +supplied the best uses of sickness, without its frequent attendant, +bodily incapacity. He reminded her of his declining years. "My enemies," +said he, "can only rob me of the dregs of life. Death hath sent many of +his forerunners by the hand of time to inform me that my days are +drawing to a close. It was my wish to be useful as long as I lived. The +new government have done me the honour to think me dangerous. When they +immured me in a prison, I considered the loss of liberty as a quietus +from my heavenly King, dismissing me from active employments; and I have +since endeavoured to improve myself in the practice of those passive +virtues which are never enough prized by the world, and which are often +painful rather than pleasant. I have endeavoured after the perfection of +patience, humility, and submission; but, my Constantia, I have only +endeavoured, and have discovered so many unsubdued weaknesses, such a +lingering fondness for what I must renounce, that I fear nothing but the +cold chill of death will benumb those ardent affections which have often +led me to lament (but, I trust, not to repine) that I was born in these +unhappy times. To the last I must bemoan the degradation, and crimes of +my country, that beloved England, whom, in the humble sphere of a +village-rector, I laboured to serve, by making all whom my counsels and +example could influence, faithful servants of their God and their King. +I feel too the destitution of my family (here he faultered and turned +aside his face)--principally thee, poor mourner, tenderly fostered in +thine infancy, and, since then, the child of sorrow. Encourage me by thy +firmness, now I am on the eve of the most awful occurence of my life. +Imitate the cheerful magnanimity of Isabel. Let me not shudder at the +thought of leaving thee a weak, heart-broken burden on those who can +only pity thy distress; but let me have the comfort of hoping that thou +wilt behave like a resigned Christian, who, art not so depressed by a +sense of thy own grief, as to be incapable of ministering to the woes of +others. Allow me to think of thee as one whose views are not bounded by +the grave, and then I shall have no overwhelming terrors to distract my +attention, or unfit me for improving every fair opportunity for my +deliverance. But, should the worst happen, remember, Constantia, I shall +continue to exist. Putting on the garment of immortality does not +destroy identity. We shall still continue members of that large family +of whom God is the head, the angels being his more exalted servants, and +the infernal spirits potent rebels, who in vain labour to defeat his +purposes. No event can remove us from the superintendance of Providence; +no distance of time or country, no difference of station or fortune, can +hinder the glorified spirits of the faithful from meeting in the same +paradise, and hearing the same joyful sentence of eternal beatitude. +Whether the disembodied souls left their bodies in the north or in the +south, they will all rejoice in the society of each other. The spirits +of the patriarchs of old, as well as of those who die to-day in the +Lord, will meet in one large community. Console thyself, therefore, with +the thought of a future, joyful, and eternal re-union; and let that +consolation be also an active precept, teaching thee so to order thy +daily conversation as to complete thy fitness for that re-union." + +He then entreated her to remember the inestimable consolation she +possessed, in knowing that Eustace lived and was worthy of her +affections, faithful to his vows, to his King, and his God. He advised +her, if possible, to remove with her aunt, Isabel, and Colonel Evellin, +and to place themselves under his protection. If his situation +permitted, he advised her to marry him as the best way of being safe and +respectable, to endeavour to procure an honest livelihood by following +some humble occupation, and to forget the station to which their birth +entitled them to aspire. He was almost hopeless of a speedy change of +times. He feared the spirit of the nation was so broken that it would +submit to the establishment of the usurping family. Policy would teach +Cromwell to soften the terrors of his administration as soon as he could +found his government on the safer principles of expedience and +prescription. He had already adopted many popular measures; and, in +making the power of England formidable abroad, he had gratified the +public-feeling. Though the persecution of individuals, and actions of +glaring oppression and injustice, soon excited discord in peaceable +times, and under the government of a legitimate King, they were so +congenial to the nature of tyranny, that people were more apt to rejoice +in their own escape than to animadvert on the sufferings of their +neighbours. Nor would an accumulation of such deeds rouse to arms a +nation, that had recently bled so copiously from the multiplied wounds +of civil war. Dreadful calamities had stupified the finer feelings, +while self-interest and a mean anxiety for personal safety absorbed +their sensibility for the distressed. Above all, he regretted to say +that an unfavourable impression of the young monarch's personal +qualities had gone abroad; and though the disadvantageous reports might +be aggravated by ill-will, it would be inferred that the person on whom +they fastened was by no means blameless. For all these reasons, Dr. +Beaumont feared that the present ostensible form of a republican +government would imperceptibly slide into the restoration of what the +laws, institutions, habits, and character of England required, a limited +monarchy in the person of one of Cromwell's family, should such a one +arise, who, without being stained by the atrocious guilt of his +progenitor, should display qualities that would eclipse the legitimate +prince. Much, he said, depended on the personal character of a King of +England, who was not, like an Eastern sovereign, shown from a distant +eminence to be worshipped with prostrations, or, like a Grand Monarque, +to be flattered and implicitly obeyed. He ruled over a nation of +freemen; he lived in the observation of his subjects, not as a despot +coercing slaves and parasites, but as the administrator of public +justice, and the conservator of the national rights. He could not put up +a more salutary prayer for his country, than that each future Prince +(especially in times of great political turbulence) would remember that +he is set like a city upon a hill, and that his whole conduct is +canvassed by a free, inquisitive, and, generally speaking, an +intelligent and high-minded nation, attached to hereditary rule, but +indignant at the contamination of the blood-royal. It was impossible for +persons eminent for birth to sin in secret; and one bad action of +theirs, divulged to the public, did more injury than the machinations of +the most subtile traitor. Woe would it be to England, if her liberties +were thus made to depend on the mercy and prudence of those who grasped +her sceptre in despite of law, while its rightful owner discovered such +base propensities as made it safer even in an Usurper's hands than in +his, who less prized the inheritance of three kingdoms than the praise +of debauchees and the indulgence of depraved appetites. + +Thus fortifying his daughter's mind with the best principles, and then +gradually withdrawing it from the agonizing present to circumstances +connected with her future fortunes, Dr. Beaumont consoled and instructed +Constantia. "I am firm and patient, my dearest father," said she. "Your +voice, like that of the angel to Hagar, has pointed out springs of +comfort in a frightful desert. One request I must make. Let me stand by +your side at your trial. Perhaps my appearance may influence your +judges. Men who seem to have renounced every feeling of humanity have +been induced to pity orphan wretchedness. Some circumstances may escape +your observation that my quick-sighted fears will seize on; at least I +may serve as your notary. These times of woe have often witnessed female +heroism claiming its affinity to the proscribed victims of injustice, +and glorying in partaking their dangers. Thus let me triumph, and, to +the last, exult in having such a father." Dr. Beaumont gazed on her with +affection, and acceded to her desires. Like his royal Master, he had at +first resolved to object to the legality of these high courts of +justice; but further consideration made him doubt if the plea was +admissible by a Christian, who was required to submit to the powers that +are; and its inexpediency was apparent, by the immediate condemnation of +all who urged it, since, whatever degree of proof their offences +admitted, they were infallibly condemned for contumacy. Being asked, +therefore, if he acknowledged the authority of the court, he lifted up +the cap which covered his thin silvered locks, and declared that he +submitted to be tried by the laws of God and his country, though, as he +had not been furnished with a copy of the charges brought against him, +he came with no other means of defence than a general consciousness of +inoffensive behaviour. + +As Dr. Beaumont spoke he withdrew his arm from the feeble support of his +trembling daughter. A sun-beam fell upon his pale countenance, and +irradiated its expression of piety and resignation, while his clasped +hands, and eyes elevated to heaven, bespoke him engrossed by the fervour +of mental devotion. Constantia, silent, trembling, and almost fearing to +breathe, contrasted, by her apprehensiveness, beauty, and elegance, the +awful solemnity of her father's aspect. He was invested with the +insignia of his academical honours, and attired in his sacerdotal habit, +which, in its decay, seemed emblematical of the ruined Church for whom +he was a confessor. Meek but dignified, patient but courageous, he +looked like one of the pillars of episcopacy, who, though the beauty of +holiness was defaced, and the visible cherubim removed from the +sanctuary, continued to support the tottering edifice, deeming the ruins +of Zion a better station than the gorgeous temple of Baal. Nor did the +celebrated classical example of Antigone more forcibly illustrate the +persevering fortitude of passive heroism and enduring love in woman's +gentle bosom, than did the interesting, lovely Constantia. Like the +renowned daughter of Sir Thomas More, "she seemed to have forgotten +herself, being ravished with the entire love of her dear father," and +fearful of danger only as it pointed at him. She turned her eyes upon +the court with a boldness unusual to their general expression, to see if +in any of their faces she could trace the lineaments of justice or +compassion; but they were soon arrested by recognising, in the +president, the well-remembered face of Major Monthault. The brims of his +hat were of more than ordinary dimensions; his hair was notched into the +exact shape prescribed by the highest standard of puritanical orthodoxy; +his band was crimped, and his robes folded with prim decorum; while his +hands demurely rested on the cushion before him, holding a small edition +of the sacred volume, on which he seemed to be meditating in the +intervals between the exercise of his professional duties. But neither +the starched sobriety of his aspect, nor his newly assumed name of +Mephibosheth could obliterate her recollection of the daring libertine +who had seduced her Eustace, and attempted her honour. She pointed him +out to her father, inquiring if he might not be challenged as a personal +enemy; but Dr. Beaumont wisely thought it more prudent to avoid a +recognition, which would only confirm his enmity by exposing his former +conduct; and, reminding Constantia that as no exceptions of theirs would +be attended to, they must know Monthault only in his present character, +he entreated, as her alarm was so visible, that she would retire, and +leave him to the care of Williams. + +Dissembling his knowledge of the prisoner, the President showed, by his +address to the Court, that he had adopted the language as well as the +habit of a fanatic. He observed that the malignants could hardly be +bound by any specific terms, being full of evasions and subtleties of +expression, by which they ensnared the simplicity of the faithful. He +then called on Eusebius Beaumont to say, unequivocally, whether he did +so truly and _bona fide_ submit to the authority of this Court, as to +acknowledge it was legally assembled by the supreme power in the +Commonwealth, namely, His Highness Oliver Cromwell, Protector of the +liberties, and General of the armies of England, Scotland, and Ireland. + +Dr. Beaumont answered, that he did acknowledge the supreme power was now +lodged in the Protector; and that, according to the ordinances made by +him, the present High Court of Justice possessed a right to try him. He +was then asked if he meant to deny his sending assistance to Charles +Stewart, and praying for a restoration of the ancient system; to which +he answered, he admitted the truth of these accusations; and being in +his heart convinced that the former government of church and state was +not only most consonant to the constitution, but also to the prosperity +of the kingdom, he must ever wish and pray that it might be restored. +But yet, abhorring all conspiracies and plots, the only acts of +contumacy of which he had been guilty to the existing powers, were the +supplications he offered at the Throne of Grace, and the scanty +contributions, which the purse of penury could ill spare, given to the +necessities of those who espoused the same cause, and whose wants +exceeded his own. + +The indictment was then read, in which the charges already noticed were +dressed out in vituperative language; but the crimes principally +insisted on were, that he had secreted several desperate and proscribed +delinquents in a ruinous mansion which he inhabited for the purpose; and +that by their assistance he had clandestinely conveyed away, destroyed, +and murdered, divers good and faithful citizens. Among these was a godly +officer of the commonwealth, Arthur De Vallance, commonly called Lord +Sedley, son and heir to the Earl of Bellingham, whom he was known to +have kept in custody, and who had never been heard of since. To give a +tragical effect to this accusation, the Earl and his Countess, attired +in deep mourning, presented themselves in a conspicuous gallery, and, as +if overpowered by the sudden emotions of parental anguish, wrung their +hands and with loud lamentations besought the court to grant them +justice. + +Dr. Beaumont's astonishment for some moments precluded the possibility +of reply, but as his native integrity never deserted him, he soon +recovered sufficient presence of mind to determine rather to fall a +victim to the malice of his foes, than to make any discovery which +should endanger the life of Arthur De Vallance, who having borne arms +against Cromwell was become amenable to the penal ordinances, and would +be marked by the Usurper's personal hatred as a confidential friend +changed into a renegado. He soon answered in a firm tone, that, being +unable to divine that such a charge could be brought against him, he +must crave a few days grace to form his reply, and produce evidence +which should disprove it. He would, however, observe, that at the time +of the supposed murder, and his concealment of desperadoes, he was a +suspected persecuted man in distressed circumstances, and all his +actions were watched with insidious vigilance. To impute to him a power +of restraining a man of Lord Sedley's rank was a futile charge, +disproved by its impossibility. There was a person in court (looking at +Morgan) who knew the hospitality and kindness he had shown to that +nobleman; but he was certain the being did not exist, who could fasten +on him the slightest suspicion of his having subsequently practised +against his life. + +The counsel for the prosecution answered, that his long confinement had +given him sufficient opportunity of recollecting his misdeeds, and +therefore no accusation could take him by surprise. There could be no +occasion to adjourn the court, or longer suspend justice, which thirsted +to seize the sanguinary old hypocrite. The feelings of the bereaved +parent should be regarded (here a loud sobbing was heard from Lady +Bellingham), and as the culprit had declared that there was a person in +court who could prove his innocence, they would yield him the advantage +of inverting the general order of the trial, and permit him to call and +examine his evidence, before they discovered the dark machination, by +which an illustrious pair lost the son of their hopes, the only heir to +their magnificent fortune. + +Dr. Beaumont's strong confidence in his own innocence prevented him from +discovering that the proposal was a snare, intended to give indubitable +authority to the evidence of Morgan, who now pressed forward, stretched +out his hand with an air of friendship to the prisoner, and seemed to +rejoice in the opportunity of befriending him. He took the oath, and +answered the questions put to him, by giving a minute and (as far as his +coarse mind would permit) a pathetic description of the care and +attention which the Beaumont family showed to the young nobleman, and of +his voluntary continuance with them after his wounds were healed. + +When Morgan's examination was over, the counsel for the prosecution +addressed the court. "My Lord President Monthault, and you other My +Lords Judges of this honourable tribunal; we all know that the butcher +fatteneth the lamb before he leadeth it to the slaughter-house, and +therefore the care and hospitality pretended to have been shown to the +noble person, whose loss we deplore, establishes nothing positively in +the prisoner's favour. I shall prove to you, that Lord Sedley liberally +rewarded him for his entertainment, and that notwithstanding all the +peaceable professions he has this day made, he took great pains to +change that Lord's principles, to make him false to the Commonwealth, +and also to engage him in an alliance with his family; failing of which, +and also suspecting that he gave information to His Highness of the +plots then carrying on for restoring tyranny and superstition; he the +prisoner was consenting unto, if not aiding and abetting, the murdering +and secreting the aforesaid godly Lord. The time chosen for this +business was immediately after his receiving a large remittance. To +these facts, together with that of the prisoner's concealing a band of +desperate malignants, armed with instruments of destruction, I shall, +with leave of the court, proceed to call my evidence." + +The payment of several sums of money to Lord Sedley, during his +residence at Ribblesdale, and the cessation of all demand for +remittances from the period of his quitting it, were proved by his +tenants; one of whom particularly specified his having sent him a very +considerable sum, raised by mortgage of his principal farm, a few days +previous to that fixed on for his disappearance. Morgan was now +re-examined, who acted the part of a reluctant witness, with too marked +partiality for Dr. Beaumont to deceive any who had not been accustomed +to the grossest deceptions of fulsome hypocrisy. Much as he said of his +hopes that his good old friend and neighbour would meet with favour, he +took care to confirm every circumstance to his prejudice. He dwelt on +the steadiness of Lord Sedley's principles; the regular communication he +had with him, respecting the views of the royalists; the beauty and +allurements of Constantia Beaumont, and the evident consternation of the +family, together with her extreme grief at the time of Sedley's +disappearing. He now hesitated and begged he might be dismissed; but a +few threats of imprisonment restored his volubility, and he anticipated +the questions of the counsel by stating, that at the command of His +Highness he had minutely searched the late residence of the Beaumonts, +and at length found a sliding pannel concealing an arched passage, +through an extraordinarily thick wall, which, being excavated in one +part, formed a small secret chamber or closet, concealed among the +buttresses, so as not to be visible on the out-side, and lighted by a +small window in the roof; he found, he said, certain proof of its having +been recently inhabited, and on removing the floor he discovered, with +several arms and implements, the dress of a parliamentary officer; the +same which he had seen Lord Sedley wear. Nor was this the only +corroborative proof of his having been assassinated in that dark recess, +for, on digging lower, they found several bones, which he feared were +part of the remains of that unfortunate gentleman. + +The incongruity of finding the dress sufficiently perfect to discover +its identity, while the body of Sedley was so dismembered by time, that +only a few disjointed bones could be discovered, might have convinced +the court, that they could not, without incurring great odium, find Dr. +Beaumont guilty of murder. But, indeed, they had not time to reflect on +the inadmissibility of such vague circumstances in a criminal charge. +Lady Bellingham renewed her screams, to give effect, it was presumed, to +the workings of compassion for a fond mother, wounded to agony by such a +horrid narration. But her screams continued too long, and were too +piercing, to proceed from feigned distress, and the intermingled cries +of "He is coming again! Save me!" directed the eyes of all to a figure, +who was now perceived slowly making his way through the crowd below the +bar. It was the aged Evellin advancing with feeble steps; his majestic +form clad in a loose, black, serge gown, and his iron-grey hair and +beard waving neglected over his breast and shoulders; his arched brows +were still more elevated by disdain, while, glancing his eyes from his +screaming sister and her trembling husband, he fixed their +unextinguished lustre on the President. "I am an evidence for Eusebius +Beaumont," said he; "tender me the oath. My name is Allan Neville, and I +require to be confronted with Walter De Vallance, calling himself Earl +of Bellingham. Let him not escape," continued he, lifting his staff as +it were an ensign of authority. "I accuse him of perfidy, calumny, +fraud, usurpation, and murder." + +Bellingham had more self-command than his guilty consort. His long +acquaintance with the terrors of guilt made him ever on his guard. He +knew of the preservation of Allan Neville during the civil wars, but he +hoped the death of his son might have terminated his days, or +irrecoverably clouded his reason; yet he was ever in apprehension of +having his title to greatness disproved by a living claimant, though he +knew all written documents to confirm his treachery had been destroyed. +He had resolved, if ever this man of many woes should burst upon him, to +abide by the criminal's last resource, denial of his identity, and +solemn protestations of his own innocence: and though the abode of +Neville had been so carefully concealed, that no trace of his residence +in London had been discovered, even by the vigilance of Oliverian spies, +the terrors to which the wretched Bellingham was a constant prey gave +him a degree of adroitness in a moment of surprise. Though a coward, +when only in the presence of God and his own conscience, the adhesive +habits of a practised courtier, gave him effrontery and address when +endeavouring to propitiate mankind in his favour. + +"My Lord President," said he, "I must request that this unhappy maniac +may be taken into custody. The sight is too dreadful to the weakened +spirits of Lady Bellingham. Being a distant kinsman, we long supported +him by our bounty; but his disordered imagination has persuaded him that +he is the brother of my countess--that unfortunate and guilty man has +been long since numbered with the dead." + +Neville answered with stern composure, "Stand forth, David Williams; +identify thy true Lord, the son of thy old master, to whom thou hast +adhered in all his calamities." Williams instantly complied with the +requisition, and Neville, then turning his indignant eyes on the +horror-struct Bellingham, exclaimed--"I trusted thee with my life, my +fortune, and my honour--I supplicated thy aid--I depended on thy +integrity, on our alliance in blood, on a friendship formed in our +boy-hood, on a thousand instances of kindness which I have shown +thee.--Thou stolest from me a pearl, rich as an empire, threwest at me +the worthless shell, and then badest thy plundered brother be grateful +for thy mercy. Mine, Walter, is not the voice of a raving mendicant, it +sounds not in thine ears as the ingratitude of an eleemosynary +pensioner, but as the groan of a perturbed spirit, risen from the grave +to demand vengeance." + +"Hear me," continued he, as Bellingham hid his face with his cloak. "Am +not I the friend of thy youth, the brother of thy wife, the owner of thy +lands, castles, of all that thou hast, except that wretched body.--Where +is my son? My Eustace; condemned by thee in cold blood at Pembroke, for +being faithful to the King who ennobled thee, and was then betrayed by +thy treasons! Mark, traitor; at the time that thou unpitying sawest the +heir of the greatness thou hast long usurped walk to execution, this +innocent man, whom thou art now persecuting, preserved the life of thy +only child. And dost thou reproach me with the calamities thou hast +brought upon me? Remember what I was, before thy avarice and ambition +cancelled the ties of blood and gratitude, crushed me to the earth, and +plumed thy borrowed pomp with the wings of my lineal greatness. I am now +a lame, old, destitute Loyalist; yet, for ten thousand worlds, I would +not cease to be the thing I am, if the alternative must be to become +what thou art; a meteor, born in the concussion of the elements; a +timorous slave of power, scared into the commission of any action which +may prolong a life, miserable in its continuance, tremendous in its +close." + +He now turned to the judges, who were gazing on him in silent +consternation. "Are you," said he, "administrators of the new code of +criminal justice, or sworn extirpators of inconvenient rectitude. You +see in me the bloody malignant, whom Beaumont cherished for years in the +secret chamber. Have I physical strength to assassinate a vigorous +youth? This arm was rendered useless at the battle of Marston-Moor; +these knees were enfeebled by infirmity, resulting from the hardships I +endured at the siege of Pontefract-Castle. Thus maimed and disabled, I +was removed from a cave where I was hid by my kind comrades on a wain, +concealed under rubbish and fed by my daughter, and by that firm friend, +first in a sepulchre, and then among the ruins that sheltered his +oppressed family. To justify his innocence, I commit my long +painfully-preserved life to your clemency. Condemn me for what I have +done for the King, to whom my heart is still faithful; bow my hoary +locks to the scaffold; cut off the useless trunk which now only serves +to bear the unblemished insignia of the true Earls of Bellingham. I +suffer worse than death by looking on the traitor you cherish in your +bosom. But before you condemn me, mark my words--Young De Vallance +lives--he is beyond your power; he is a firm royalist, and ready, like +myself, to die for his King. Hear me yet again. If you determine to +bring on your cause the odium of deeming an aged cripple dangerous, let +my execution be private; for no pomp of death can quail my courage. On +the scaffold I shall proclaim my attachment to the Sovereign, who +bestowed my birth-right on that viper--the betrayer of us both. But +spare Eusebius Beaumont, the minister of good to friend and foe. Keep +him alive to be your beadsman, till you cease to provoke heaven by +injustice and rebellion." + +The cry of "Let us seek the Lord," was immediately vociferated by the +members of the mock tribunal. The President ordered Neville to be taken +into custody. "There needs no rush of marshals-men," said he, "to effect +your purpose; a child may guard me to my dungeon, and a twine confine me +in it. But since I have proved the innocence of Beaumont, give him the +liberty I willingly resign." + +In these times of pretended freedom, a court of justice assembled to try +state-criminals was nothing better than a clumsy engine of destruction, +moved at the pleasure of the Protector. Condemnation and acquittal +depended not on the facts which were disclosed at the trial, but on the +pre-disposition of Cromwell, to whom (as was the usual interpretation of +the phrase of seeking the Lord) the President immediately reported the +appearance of Neville, his singular accusation of Lord Bellingham, his +assertion of the existence of young De Vallance, and also of his change +of principles. He suggested the impossibility of convicting Dr. Beaumont +of murder; and though his concealing a royalist was now proved, the age, +debility, and affinity of Neville, would make a strict execution of the +penal ordinances, cruelty instead of justice; and throw an odium on His +Highness's administration. Dr. Beaumont appeared to be an inoffensive, +quiet character; as to Neville, though a furious, desperate delinquent, +his infirmities made him insignificant, and death would probably soon +relieve the state from his machinations. + +At this time Cromwell courted popularity; he wished to engage honourable +and eminent persons to support his government, and he thought an +indisputable reputation for liberality and impartiality would expedite +his ultimate projects. He had engaged some respectable characters in his +service; and the description his emissaries gave him of Neville and +Beaumont, showed him the impolicy of publickly sacrificing such victims +for state-offences. He affected to think it was possible he might attach +them to his interests, and declared he never could fear a disabled +soldier and sequestered parson, but that he was even ready to vindicate +the rights of a Loyalist, who had been injured by the partiality of the +late tyrant, and thus prove his own impartial justice, while he +transferred deserved odium on the memory of him who was called the Royal +martyr. Monthault pleaded warmly for the Beaumonts, but not with +disinterested earnestness. The appearance of Constantia in court revived +the recollection of his former designs on her person, and as the +acknowledged death of Eustace had removed what he supposed the chief +barrier to his wishes, he deemed his suit might not be unsuccessfully +urged, especially if he assumed the character of a mediator between her +father and the government. He willingly obeyed Cromwell's order to +adjourn the court to an indefinite time, till it could be ascertained if +the prisoners would purchase prosperity by a change of principle, and he +resolved to employ the interim in prosecuting his own designs. + + + + +CHAP. XXIV. + + None but the guilty are long and completely miserable. + + Goldsmith. + + +The convulsions which seized Lady Bellingham, at again beholding what +she still supposed was the apparition of her brother, had a speedy and +fatal termination. The apparent reconciliation between herself and her +lord had been effected for the purpose of revenge. Their enmity was the +interminable feud of co-partners in iniquity, the hatred which ever +exists between the contriver and the executor of horrible enormities. +Their mutual recriminations and accusations were suspended; their +aversion was made to look like grief, and they walked together into the +court, as affectionate parents to prosecute the supposed murderer of +their only child. But the sympathy which softens affliction, and even +soothes despair, was here unknown. Lady Bellingham's false views of +religion had, indeed, so far skinned over the wounds of her ulcerated +conscience, as to produce a stupefaction, which might last as long as +health and prosperity continued. But when, what she conceived to be a +supernatural visitation, had terrified her into a dangerous +indisposition; the anchor of absolute election trembled in her grasp, +and her bodily weakness was rapidly increased by the wild agonies a soul +roused to a sense of its danger, when the bridegroom called and the lamp +of faith, unsupplied with good works, was extinguished. Her troubled +spirit saw nothing but darkness in its future prospects, while, with a +dying voice, she continued imploring her physicians to save her life, +and wondering why this judgment was fallen upon her. + +The most illiterate and presumptuous of the fanatical preachers crowded +round her bed, and by the canting verbiage of delusion strove to revive +the raptures of enthusiasm. Not one had the honesty to tell her that the +figure which so appalled her, was her living brother. They feared the +assurance of his existence acting upon her present terrors might induce +her to do an act of justice, and to make an effectual effort to restore +him to his ancient rights. They were equally silent as to the safety of +her son, and careful to keep her husband out of her apartment. It was +their aim to prevail upon her to bequeathe her large possessions to +promote the interests of their party. With the spirit of the false +prophets of old, they sounded in her ears, "The temple of the Lord." +They reminded her of her prayers, alms, mortifications, and zeal for the +good cause. They required her to recollect the time and circumstances of +her conversion; the pangs she then suffered; her subsequent experiences +and convictions of having received saving grace. They proceeded, as they +termed it, to buffet Satan with prayers, while with impassioned hymns +they endeavoured to awaken in the trembling sinner, the raptures of +divine love. All sense of contrition for past offences, all disposition +to be reconciled to her lord was prevented by their assurances of her +safety, and their prayers for his conversion, which ran in the style of +craving that he might no longer halt between two opinions, but +renouncing the fears of the carnal man be perfected in faith and love. +Every Scripture narrative, which, by falsifying some circumstances, +could be made to answer their purpose, was presented to her remembrance. +The murder, adultery, and acceptance of David; the liberality of Solomon +to the church; the preservation of Rahab the harlot from the general +massacre of her people, on account of her saving faith; the supposed +profligacy of Magdalen's early life, atoned for by her sitting passive +at the feet of her Lord.--All these instances were produced to prove the +false and scandalous tenet, that a course of sin was a better +preparative to conversion than a life of comparative innocence. +Arguments were bandied from tongue to tongue; each one cavilled at the +assertions of the other, yet all united in the purpose of pacifying an +alarmed conscience, and changing despair into ill-founded confidence. +The groans of Lady Bellingham, the consternation of her attendants, the +fierce disputes of her ghostly assistants, occasionally suspended by +ejaculations and hymns, exhibited a scene of distracting confusion, in +which it would have been impossible for the firmest mind to have +preserved its recollection. Lady Bellingham was soon induced to say that +she knew she had once been in a state of grace, and this acknowledgement +was welcomed as her pass-port to heaven[1]. She was informed that her +salvation was unalienable; that grace could neither be resisted nor +forfeited, and that though the saints might appear to sin, yet their +offences were not imputable to them. + +This pious conflict (for in an age when fanaticism and hypocrisy were +misnamed religion, these solemn mockeries passed for charitable +assistance to the dying,) was interrupted by the presence of Monthault, +now become the favourite and confidant of a chief leader of the +fanatical party. This renegade-Loyalist had served Cromwell with +conspicuous bravery in the Irish wars, and once, when a division of the +army was thrown into great danger, by the retreat of the forlorn hope, +before it had accomplished its purpose, he rushed forward, killed the +commanding officer with his own hand, and seizing the colours, led them +back, undismayed, by a grove of pikes and a shower of missile weapons. +With desperate but successful valour he carried the redoubt and escaped +with life. All this passed under the immediate observation of Cromwell, +whose retentive memory never forgot any signal action, and whose +discriminating policy generally placed the man who performed it in a +situation suited to his character. He soon found Monthault to be as +perfidious and unprincipled as he was daring and ready to undertake any +office which would gratify his passions, which (being now past the +heyday of youth) were diverted from licentious indulgence by the more +substantial enjoyments of avarice and ambition. + +At this time Cromwell was secretly panting to add the name and +paraphernalia of a King to the authority which he actually exercised. +The fanatics, whom he had so long courted, were the most active +opponents of this project. The other sectaries had been long convinced, +by experience, that their views of republican felicity and perfection +were illusory. The respectable dissenters always professed themselves +friends of a limited monarchy; many staunch royalists thought the +renewal of kingly power would gradually turn the public eye on their +exiled Prince; and some selfish ones would have been content with such +an approach to the old order of things as would give them back their +sequestered estates. Some parties would be brought over by seeming to +fall in with their views, others cajoled by bribing their leaders, but +the levellers and fanatics were invincible. They had been Cromwell's +agents in subduing his enemies, and a consciousness of their power made +them unmanageable; they were determined on owning no King but Jesus, and +on thinking the regal title, when assumed by man, the mark of the beast +and the seal of reprobation to its supporters. "The Protector's +son-in-law, Fleetwood, kneeled and prayed publickly, that the Lord might +spit in his face if the unrighteous mammon tempted him into this sin; +and his brother Desborough anathematized him, and vowed to devote his +own sword to Charles Stewart sooner than to him, if he persevered in +longing for the forbidden spoil." Lambert, who was in the entire +confidence of these two, had seduced the affections of the army; +Cromwell, therefore, had a difficult game to play. His passionate desire +of royalty combated those secret fears that arose from a mysterious +warning which he received when he first meditated on the designs +afterwards realized by his lucky and unprincipled ambition. A vision, or +day-dream, impressed his enthusiastic imagination, detailing the steps +by which he was to rise, and assuring him, "that he should be the +greatest man in England, and near being King." Yet, though this seemed +to warn him of an impassable bound to his greatness, the pageant of +royalty which he had so often vilified and derided, on a close view +appeared so irresistible, that he became enchanted with its +fascinations, till, in aiming at the decorations of power, he nearly +sacrificed the substance. + +At this juncture the daring character and versatility of Monthault +marked him out to the Protector as a proper instrument to negotiate with +Lambert, whose talents were far more dangerous than the fanaticism of +Fleetwood or Desborough's virulence. It was plain that though Monthault +wore the enlarged phylacteries and sanctified demeanour of the sect he +had lately adopted, he was more a hypocrite than an enthusiast. It is +well known, that Cromwell found means to discover every private incident +in the lives of his agents, and thus penetrated into all their views. +While pleading for the imprisoned Beaumonts, the Protector read the soul +of the former lover of Constantia, now known to be nearly allied to the +true stock of the house of Bellingham. Cromwell therefore took occasion +to commend the filial piety and courage which he heard that this young +lady had exemplified; and declared himself resolved, not only to show +Dr. Beaumont favour, but also to consider the case of Neville; +intimating, that he looked on an hereditary and uncontaminated nobility +as the strongest link between the people and the government; and from +this acknowledgment he took occasion to glance at the benefit of a +partial restoration of old usages, as most likely to unite all parties, +and heal the wounds of the three kingdoms. The stress laid on the last +word, (the use of which had been for some time interdicted,) shewed +Monthault what was expected from him, and he left the presence, +persuaded that if he would assist to gird the austere brows of the +Usurper with the kingly diadem, the hand of his mistress, and a large +portion of the Bellingham property, if not its reversionary honours, +would be his reward. + +It was with a further view of securing this prize that Monthault visited +the dying Lady Bellingham, to whom their party-connexions gave him free +access. Pretending he had received a special revelation, which he must +impart to her alone, he dismissed the ministers, and assured her of the +actual existence of her brother, whose pardon her again-alarmed +conscience seemed most anxious to secure, even at the price of +relinquishing to him those possessions which her increasing weakness +told her she could not long retain. Monthault assured her it would be +greatly for the benefit of her soul, if she would sign a deed +bequeathing to Allan Neville the inheritance of their ancestors; and +produced a prepared instrument, which Lady Bellingham was not in a state +to read, or indeed to listen to its recital. Relying on the veracity of +one whom she considered as a saint upon earth, and catching eagerly at +every thing which would allay those inward terrors that had been rather +benumbed than pacified, Lady Bellingham was induced to consent, and the +ministers were re-introduced to certify her being in a sound mind and to +witness the execution of a deed, which they trusted was to promote the +good cause, but which in reality bequeathed the Bellingham estate, after +the demise of Allan Neville, to Constantia Beaumont, provided she +consented to marry Monthault. Thus cheated and bewildered in her last +moments by those whom she believed to be endowed with super-human +perfections, this wretched woman terminated her miserable and guilty +life. + +Monthault's next care was, to discover if his apparent reformation of +manners could so far impose on the simplicity and candour of the +Beaumonts as to make them strain the principle of Christian forgiveness, +and receive him as a friend. They were still in prison, but the +Protector had given orders, that they should be provided with handsome +apartments, and every comfort compatible with confinement at the public +expence. But though Monthault took on himself the merit of this lenient +treatment, the prejudices of the whole family against him formed an +insuperable bar to his designs. His change of conduct was too pointedly +obtrusive; his piety and penance too ostentatious to pass on a man who +was thoroughly conversant with the marks of genuine repentance. Dr. +Beaumont did not approve of an elaborate and unnecessary disclosure of +the secret enormities of his early life, which seemed to him more like +the wantonness of a depraved imagination wallowing in its former +abominations, than penitence shrinking, with horror, from its +recollected transgressions. But when Monthault proceeded to talk of his +present sinless rectitude, certainty of acceptance, rapturous exercises, +and experiences of future beatification, (the common cant of those +times,) the sound divine saw the once audacious sinner covering his +adhesive wickedness with the Pharisee's cloak, exchanging libertinism +for spiritual pride, and the excesses of debauchery for ambition and +malevolence. Though no one was more adverse than Dr. Beaumont from +colouring gross sins with the name of amiable frailties, he thought +Monthault more horrible with his Scripture-appellative and precise +habits, than when as a drunken cavalier he toasted the King and the +Church, while he disgraced the one by his rapine, and the other by his +profaneness. + +Monthault was equally unsuccessful with Constantia. In vain did he +assure her that the awakening change in his soul had been expedited by +his yearnings after her. She coldly told him, she hoped for his sake the +reformation was real. He assured her he had disposed the Protector to +befriend her relations. She thanked the Protector's justice, and +relapsed into silence. He spoke of the identity of her uncle as being +indisputable, and that he was likely soon to be removed from a prison to +an earldom. She answered, that would be miraculous, but no irradiation +of her countenance implied her belief that such an event was probable. +He inquired if her cousin Isabel was still devoted to Sedley. Constantia +could here speak with energy, and replied, "She is." Monthault reminded +her, that whatever became of his father, he was necessarily proscribed; +having violated the bond of private friendship, as well as of public +trust, with the Protector. Constantia answered, that Isabel saw nothing +infamous in banishment or poverty, but much in breaking her early vows +to a man whose misfortunes were his praise. "But," replied Monthault, +"your early vows have been dissolved by death; and celibacy is one of +the popish snares of Satan. Marriage was divinely appointed, and it is +sinful to neglect the godly ordinance." "To marry with an unconsenting +heart is more so," replied Constantia; "I was betrothed to Eustace +Evellin, and living or dead, to him will I ever be faithful. His genuine +integrity, his frank affectionate disposition won all my heart; and +since I have lost him, I live only to the claims of filial duty and +sisterly affection. I have been long familiarized with fear and sorrow, +but hope and joy can only visit me in his form." + +Monthault told her, that this persevering regret was a mark of her being +in an unsanctified rebellious state. He quoted many texts to prove that +the saints would eventually inherit the earth; declaring that the +wonderful success which attended Cromwell, first pointed him out as an +instrument of Providence, designed for an especial purpose. Constantia +expressed her belief that he was; but silenced Monthault's intended +allusions to a millennial state of felicity under his government, by +declaring her conviction that he was the sword of vengeance, rather than +the renovating sun of mercy. + +Monthault withdrew sullen and offended, planning schemes of vengeance, +all pointed at Arthur de Vallance, whose retreat he determined to +discover. He questioned the keeper of the prison, who had access to the +Beaumonts, and was by him directed to Jobson. His talkative simplicity, +and the danger that would result from his being sifted by Cromwell's +spies, had obliged them to dispense with the services of the faithful +trooper, who now earned his bread by manual labour, and only came +occasionally to inquire after their health. Though care was taken to +represent him as a porter occasionally employed, the jailor suspected he +had been an old servant. Monthault immediately recollected him as +attached to Eustace a little before their separation at Dartmoor, and +recommended himself to the affectionate creature, by recognising him as +one who leaped with him into the moat, and climbed the wall at his side, +when Prince Rupert stormed Bristol. Taking him apart, he avowed himself +to be a stanch royalist, watching every opportunity to serve a cause he +still wore at his heart. He declared that he accepted the office of a +judge at Dr. Beaumont's trial, with a resolution of saving him; he +praised his firm demeanour, the beauty of Constantia, the goodness of +Isabel, and the noble self-devotedness of Neville; assuring Jobson, that +he was most sedulous in employing the interest he possessed with the +Protector to the advantage of this family. But he lamented that there +existed one obstacle to Neville's becoming Earl of Bellingham: the +Protector's betrayed confidence required a victim, and Arthur de +Vallance must be given up to his vengeance. + +The honest countenance of Jobson fell at this information. "Ah, worthy +sir," said he, "there is no washing the black-a-moor white; Old Noll +will continue Old Noll, dress him up how you will. There's no putting a +King's heart into a scoundrel's body; and a tailor never yet made more +than the clothes of a gentleman. I say, the man that can't forgive a +brave young gentleman, never ought to wear the crown of England. You had +half persuaded me to forget the true King beyond sea, and to think, as +this ruler would do justice, we might go on as we are, but when you talk +about harping on old grievances, and taking vengeance for private +fallings-out, I say, though Old Noll may do for a Lord-Protector, Kings +must never have any enemies but the enemies of their country." + +Monthault, seeming to enter into his feelings, uttered many encomiums on +young De Vallance, whom he said he really thought one of the finest +gentlemen in England. "Aye, in England _now_, I grant you," returned +Jobson; "but there is another before him, Mr. Eustace Evellin; we used +to call him the true Lord Sedley, for the other is but a make-believe. +Very good-humoured and generous, and fair-spoken I allow; but the right +lord, O! he has an eye like a hawk, and so open and daring, and +spirited--I wish, noble Sir, you had seen him." + +Monthault affected to brush a tear from his eye, lamenting that an +interview was now impossible. Jobson had an inveterate antipathy to +giving any one pain, except in the field of battle. He caught Monthault +by his cloak, pressed him to be secret, and whispered he might have that +pleasure before he died. "Mum," said he, "for your life; Mr. Eustace is +alive and merry, and only waits for the King's coming over to be among +us." + +Monthault vowed secresy, and readily drew from Jobson all he knew +respecting the preservation and subsequent history of the heir of +Neville. Fortunately, he had never been intrusted with the place of +their retreat, and could only say, that he and De Vallance were +somewhere very safe, and ready to drub Old Noll into better manners than +authorizing the shooting of men in cold blood. + +Monthault then informed Jobson, that he possessed a large fortune, and +secretly devoted ample remittances to the service of the King, and the +most eminent Loyalists. As the state now liberally supported the +prisoners, the exiles had the first claim on his purse. Unintentionally +he feared, he had been of great disservice to Eustace, and therefore +justice, as well as humanity and admiration, pointed him out as the +first person whom he ought to assist. He would most willingly send +Jobson with a sum of money to these illustrious friends, and he +entreated him to discover where they had taken shelter, and say he was +commissioned to supply their wants. But as he was ever attentive to the +rule of doing good in secret, his own name was, on no account, to be +divulged, nor would he press Jobson to inform him where the fugitives +resided. The language of loyalty, unostentatious generosity, and warm +attachment to Eustace, was, to Jobson, a sure pledge of the honour and +sincerity of Monthault. He readily promised to get the whole secret out +of Mrs. Isabel, and discover none of his intentions. "I see, noble sir," +continued he, "you are a true gentleman, and know, that a gentleman like +yourself hates to be thought poor, and had rather starve than have money +given him; whereas we poor men never care how much we get from our +betters. But trust me for managing the business cleverly." + +Happily for the exiles, Jobson was equally deficient in finesse and +secrecy. The first question he put to Isabel respecting the place of +their retreat, discovered that he had a mysterious reason for wishing to +be informed, and she soon drew from him that the benevolent unknown was +a tall, solemn gentleman, who turned up the whites of his eyes, and was +dressed like a round-head, though a stanch Loyalist in his heart. This +description, so applicable to Monthault, excited her liveliest terrors. +It was impossible to convince Jobson, that a man who talked so kindly +could have any insidious design; and thinking it best not to combat this +delusion, she thought it expedient to misdirect the wily traitor, and +observed, that the inhabitants of the mountainous parts of Cumberland, +where she and her father had so long lived, were well affected to the +King, and disposed to shelter and protect her brother. From the manner +in which Jobson communicated this intelligence, Monthault was convinced +that Isabel had penetrated into his designs; and he resolved to suspend +his machinations till he could extort, by terror, what intrigue had +failed to procure. + +When Isabel communicated this intelligence to her friends, their +apprehensions of some fatal snare which might blast all their hopes, +determined them to send the faithful and discreet Williams to the +exiles, advising them of Cromwell's designs to get them into his power, +and entreating them immediately to quit their present abode. But whither +to point for a safe retreat was the difficulty, since at that time this +extraordinary man seemed to extend the scorpion fangs of his tyranny +over the continent, as well as the British dominions. He had, at every +court, not only an accredited minister, but a subordinate host of spies +liberally paid, who gave him an account of every stranger of distinction +that sought a refuge from his cruelty, and contrived also, by false +accusations or threats to the affrighted sovereigns, to have the victims +he had marked for destruction delivered into his power. Cromwell had +formerly made a close league with the Queen of Sweden, between whose +successor and his neighbour the King of Denmark, a furious contest had +commenced. As all hope of serving his native Prince was for the present +suspended, Neville advised his son to draw his sword for the royal Dane, +and Williams was charged with many affectionate remembrances. "Tell my +son," said he, "never to disgrace the name, to which, at hazard of my +life, I have proved his title." Constance whispered a tender assurance +that the tidings of his preservation had reconciled her to life. "Yet +tell my Eustace," said she, "that though time and sorrow have so changed +the face he used to admire, that he would now hardly know his Constance, +they have improved the heart, which neither calumny, nor suspence, nor +despair, could alienate from its only love." Isabel, too, had a brief +encouraging remembrance for her lover: "Tell my De Vallance," said she, +"I live for him and for happier times. Bid him remember me in the hour +of peril and the moment of temptation; assure him I count the years of +our separation, and endure my present sorrows in the confidence that +they will serve for sweet discourses in the time to come." The message +of Dr. Beaumont was pious and prudential.--He rejoiced that an +opportunity was afforded them of serving a Protestant King, and he +advised them, if their successful services allowed them an honourable +establishment in Denmark, to withdraw their views, though not their love +or their prayers, from England. + +Charged with these endearing recollections Williams departed, but on his +arrival at Jersey found the fugitives had long left the island. Their +protectress was dead, and her husband had removed to the South of +France. Dr. Lloyd was well remembered for his medical skill, and his +pupils for their correct manners and exemplary friendship. A lady, +daughter of one of the first people in St. Helier, had formed a strong +attachment to one of the gentlemen, and as she left the island about the +time they did, it was supposed a marriage had been solemnized. Williams +durst not be very minute in his inquiries; he gathered however that the +place of their retreat could not be discovered, though the friends of +the lady had taken every measure to regain her. + +This intelligence greatly increased the dejection of Constantia, and +almost clouded the sanguine mind of Isabel. "Has mutability," she would +often say, "entirely usurped the earth? No. Inanimate nature is not +changed; the sun-beams steal through these grated windows at the same +hour this year as they did last. Summer and winter, day and night, +return at stated periods; the animal organs present the same objects, +and excite the usual sensations; nor are my moral feelings altered; +truth and honour continue to delight me; vice and falsehood are as +odious to my soul as if good men still triumphed, and guilt held its +alliance with infamy. Yet are not subjects transformed into traitors and +rebels; lovers forsworn; do not Christians renounce their baptism and +abjure their faith; and is not friendship become a cloak to conceal the +informer and assassin? Whom shall we acquit of inconstancy, if either +Eustace or De Vallance are false? How shall we depicture fidelity and +honour if they dwell not in the open front of heroic candour, or the +mild suavity of undeviating rectitude? Away!--the report of Williams is +a gossip's tale, forged to explain a mystery of their own forming. +Constance, I shall live to arrange your jewels and fold your robe, when +you walk at the coronation as Countess of Bellingham, and you shall be +sponsor to my little Arthur. At least I will cherish these day-dreams, +till I know Cromwell has done a disinterested generous action; I will +then resign you to Monthault, and employ myself in clear-starching and +crimping bands for the conventicle." + +Thus rallying her own spirits, and endeavouring to animate the hopes of +others, Isabel contrived to lighten the burden of voluntary captivity, +as she had used to alleviate the hardships of poverty. Her mind, equally +firm and innocent, feared nothing but the reproaches of her conscience +and the despair of her father. Happy in the resources of an active +disposition, she soon convinced Constantia that even confinement does +not proscribe utility. While Dr. Beaumont administered to the spiritual +wants of his fellow-prisoners, Isabel contrived to promote their +comforts, often with the labours of her hand, always by the un-failing +cordial of her hilarity, and sometimes with her slender purse, +cheerfully abridging her own wants to supply the need of others. Nor was +she wholly disinterested in this conduct; she found it the best method +of diverting anxiety and suppressing doubt; of resisting that +misanthropy which a long continuance of adversity is apt to engender in +the tenderest hearts; and of preserving those social feelings of general +good-will, which, to austere dispositions, render even prosperity +distasteful. + + + [1] Many of these circumstances are copied from the death of + Cromwell. + + + + +CHAP. XXV. + + "See Cromwell damn'd to everlasting fame." + + Pope. + + +It was at this period that Cromwell underwent that memorable struggle +between his ambition and his fears, which ultimately preserved the +monarchy of England in the line of legitimate descent. He tampered with +all parties, and found none hearty in his cause: the best-disposed to +his interests were only passive; but his enemies were implacable. The +popularity of a pamphlet recommending his assassination upon principle, +and declaring that the perpetrator of the deed would deserve the favour +of God and man, destroyed every vestige of his comfort. "He read it, and +was never seen to smile more." With late repentance for his vanity, +which prompted him to excite such furious opposition, he pushed from him +the crown he had courted, when offered by his creatures; but he did it +with an affectation of disdain and self-command, that ill accorded with +his former intrigues to obtain it. All his anxiety was now directed to +the preservation of his joyless life. He had long worn light armour +under his clothes, and carried pistols in his pockets. He seldom lay +twice in the same chamber, or informed any one which apartment he meant +to select. He travelled with extreme rapidity, attended by numerous +guards, and never returned by the way he went. Yet no sooner was one +conspiracy detected, than another was formed; the fanatics were +irreconcileable, and the most worthy and eminent among the dissenters +determined on his overthrow. His old military comrades, Fairfax and +Waller, were bent to destroy him. His treasury was drained by the +rapacity of his numerous spies; and as fines and exactions had been +strained to the utmost, he had no means of replenishing it but by a +recourse to measures similar to those which had overthrown the monarchy; +for his fanatical puppet-shows had brought the name of Parliament into +contempt, and he durst not appeal to the free voice of the nation. I +have already mentioned the disunion of his family, and the desertion of +his kindred and near alliances. Such were the accumulated miseries, such +the soul-harrowing and unremitting sufferings, of this man, whom Europe +considered as the favourite of fortune, and whose extraordinary success +has been urged as a plea against the divine government, and a proof that +the kingdoms of this world are left to the disposal of Satan. Penetrate +the recesses of the tyrant's palace, and it will be seen that enormous +offences, after they have outstripped the power of human punishment, +visit, on the oppressor, their own atrocity, and revenge the wrongs of a +bleeding world by torments more insupportable than any which cruelty can +inflict on others. + +Distrusting even his most faithful informers, and jealous of his own +creatures, Cromwell always endeavoured to see every thing with his own +eyes. A little before his unlamented death, two strangers visited the +prison where Neville and Dr. Beaumont were confined. One of them avowed +himself to be the Lord Whitlock, the other passed as his secretary. They +were both masked, and wore long cloaks to conceal their persons. The +secretary was furnished with writing materials; he placed himself at a +table, and affected only to take minutes of the conversation. + +Whitlock began with upbraiding the national ingratitude, and +acknowledging its general indisposition to the Protector's vigorous and +successful administration. He insisted that His Highness wished to +conciliate all parties by a mild and impartial government, though the +ample means with which he was furnished, the tried fidelity of the army, +and the respect he was held in by foreign Potentates, prevented him from +needing the friendship of any. But being now past the meridian of life, +he was desirous of leaving the nation whom he had rendered great and +prosperous, in the possession of internal tranquillity. Though +irreconcileable from principle, he regarded the royalists as the most +respectable of his opponents, and "he had ever resisted the advice of +the fanatics, to cut them off by a general massacre." Whitlock then +expressed his hope, that the prisoners condemned the newly-broached +opinion that assassination was allowable, and were disposed to be quiet, +if not contented, under the present government, which would reward such +submission by relaxing the penal statutes now in force against them. Dr. +Beaumont spoke first, and declared that assassination was forbidden by +the general tenor of Scripture. The particular instances now so much +dwelt on, of Jael's killing Sisera, or Judith's Holofernes, could not be +urged in vindication of similar attempts. Both acts were committed +previous to the Christian dispensation, which prescribes submissive +patience under injuries, and overcoming evil with good. Those deeds were +performed under a Divine impetus, and though, by their performance, the +will of God was fulfilled, it is not clear that the perpetrators were +justified in His sight, any more than was Hazael, when (as had been +divinely predicted) he acted as the chastiser of offending Israel. + +Neville then took up the argument. He retorted on Whitlock the +expressions used by St. John to procure the condemnation of Lord +Strafford, and asked how they had the effrontery to object to that rule +when employed against themselves. "You have cut off our nobles, our +prelates, and our King," said he, "by that formal and public +assassination, an illegal trial; but we alike abjure your principles and +practice. If I hunt a usurper and tyrant to death, it shall be by +honourable means. If his character deserves no respect, I know what is +due to my own. I hold no tenets in common with regicides. Man cannot +commit a crime that can so far deface the image of his Maker impressed +upon him as to reduce him to the level of a beast of prey. Would that +this unnerved arm had strength, and that this sinking frame were again +erect with youthful vigour, then, if the awakened feelings of the nation +allowed me opportunity to meet, in the field of battle, the brave, +great, wicked man you serve, I would single him out from every opponent; +but were he unarmed, and in my power, I would give him a sword before I +assailed him." + +Whitlock walked to the table; but it was evident that he received, +rather than gave, directions. The soul-searching eye of Cromwell peered +through his visor, and turned alternately on Neville and Beaumont. +Though a stranger to the feelings of magnanimity, he honoured its +expressions. He walked towards the captives, removed the shade from his +sickly, care-worn features, and asked how he could make them his +friends. + +Neville shrunk aghast, petrified at the aspect of his Sovereign's +murderer. The feelings of a father repressed his maledictions, while he +gazed on him with stern silence as he would on a portentous meteor. Dr. +Beaumont sooner recollected himself. Bowing to Cromwell as to one of +those powers that are ordained by God, he answered that forgiveness and +obedience were duties; but that the feelings of friendship were a +voluntary engagement, and arose from very different motives. + +"Your frankness," replied Cromwell, "proves that you well understand my +plain nature and abhorrence of flattery, and my condescension in +visiting you shows I take you to be open, fair enemies, not likely to +engage in conspiracies, or desirous of renewing the times of confusion. +But I would ask, What hope have you left, or what portion, even in its +best days, did your thriftless loyalty acquire you? Eusebius Beaumont it +found an obscure rector, and so it left you; for you could only boast +simplicity of life and doctrine; but court-chaplains, drivellers in +learning, and lewd knaves in manners, were rewarded with stalls and +mitres. You, Allan Neville, were stripped of your patrimony, and +slandered in your reputation, by the injustice of the King for whom you +bled." + +Neville started from his indignant reverie. "Were you," said he, +"invested with tenfold terrors, I would not hear this aspersion cast +upon my Sovereign's memory. Injustice consists in knowing what is wrong, +and persisting in doing it. My King was misled, deceived, like myself, +by the viper we both cherished; even by one of those recreants to whom +you owe your exaltation. With double perfidy, you overthrew the King by +attributing to him the crimes of his favourites, and then converted them +into state-engines, first to elevate you to greatness, and afterwards to +convey away the offscourings of the dignity you had soiled. My King was +open to conviction. He knew the fidelity of his soldier, and purposed to +make him ample reparation." + +"I have the power," returned Cromwell, "to accomplish those purposes." +"Impossible!" was Neville's reply; "my lands were alienated by a King of +England, and by his lawful successor only can they be restored." + +"Are you," returned the Usurper, "aware that you are the only man in +Europe who dares question my power. I visited you with friendly +dispositions, and you receive me with insults." + +"When, veiling your dignity with disguises," answered Neville; "you +borrow the occupation of your myrmidons, and steal on the privacies of +those you oppress, can you wonder to hear their imprecations sound in +unison with the clanking of their fetters?" + +"I have a will," replied Cromwell, "as stubborn as yours. We will try +for the mastery. What hinders me from laying that head of yours on the +block?" + +"--The insufferable goadings of your afflicted conscience, perpetually +whispering that you have shed too much blood already.--Every wrinkle +which care has imprinted on your brow, every tremulous infirmity which +constant watchfulness has introduced into your frame, acting as mementos +that the day of account cannot be far distant.--The iron you wear on +your bosom, that by its stern pressure tells you what you deserve.--The +public clamour, which will not now permit you to immolate the confined +victims whom your own lips have pronounced innocent of recent +provocations, and against whom you dare not revive the charge of +acknowledged resistance, which, by long impunity, you seem to have +pardoned. All these reasons are pledges for our safety. You cannot +further tempt the sufferance of Englishmen. Your declining health makes +you fear to add to the long indictment which your crimes have prepared +against you. + + The garlands wither on your brow, + Then boast no more your mighty deeds, + Upon Death's purple altar now, + See where the victor-victim bleeds: + All heads must come to the cold tomb; + Only the actions of the just + Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust."[1] + +As Neville uttered this bold appeal to the feelings of an alarmed and +conscious villain, a cold shivering ran through the Protector's frame, +and his eye expressed a vain supplication, that it were possible to +exchange his garlands and his glories for those ever-fragrant actions +which blossom on the grave of the just. He strove to rally his air of +moody dignity, to recover the austere deliberate tone of his +expressions; but his manner was embarrassed, and his voice inarticulate. +A groan, such as only tortured guilt can utter, partially relieved his +swollen bosom. "Neville," said he, "I will not expect you to be my +friend; but will you cease to be my enemy?" + +"Miserable victim of ambition," said Neville to himself; "how much +happier is my lot than thine!" Cromwell persisted in asking if there was +any favour he would receive at his hand. Neville paused, and answered, +"Yes; liberty." + +"And what pledge," said Cromwell, "can you give me that you will not use +freedom to my prejudice?" + +"My own honour," returned Neville, "which will never allow me to use the +instrument you put in my hand to destroy you." + +"No equivocation!" said Whitlock; "in receiving freedom from His +Highness you acknowledge his authority." + +"No," returned Neville, "I simply own he has a power to confine me. The +question of right is undetermined. If a Usurper restores me to the free +use of light and air, I need not examine his title before I resume the +enjoyment of those common blessings." + +Cromwell addressed Dr. Beaumont: "You belong to a church whose doctrine +is passive obedience. You are not bewildered by this madman's chimeras, +but can prudently estimate the value of our free grace and promised +favour." + +"My religion," replied the Doctor, "teaches me to submit to the +dispensations of Providence; but it will not allow me to divide the +spoil with those who have grown mighty on the ruins of my friends." + +"Are there no points," again inquired Cromwell, "in which we may agree +to join our common wishes? What if I beseech the Lord to give you the +spirit of wisdom?" + +"May he afford you that of consolation," was the emphatical wish of Dr. +Beaumont. Neville waved his hand in silence. "Oh! my friend," said he, +as soon as the Protector and Whitlock had retired, "I have suffered more +than the rack. I have seen the fiend-like face which looked, without +compunction, on the sufferings of the Royal Martyr, and I felt too weak +to revenge his wrongs. Have I not gone too far in saying I would accept +of freedom from his hands?" + +"Vengeance for such a crime," replied Dr. Beaumont, "is too vast and +comprehensive to be entrusted to mortal agency. Let us leave it to Him +who claims it as his own prerogative. Murder, perfidy, and treason, will +be remembered when the avenging angel shall visit the sins of man." + +Cromwell returned from his insidious visit, disappointed and dejected. +He had failed of the end which he proposed to himself by his +condescension. A reconciliation with two such distinguished Loyalists, +founded on the mutual benefits of submission and restitution, would have +strengthened his government; but he found abstinence from treacherous +hostility was all that his blandishments could obtain, and this he would +owe rather to their own principles of honour and religion than to his +threats or his promises. Though stung to the heart by the bold taunts of +Neville, he could not punish him. The very aspect and figure of the two +venerable sufferers were so fitted to excite sympathy and indignation, +that he durst not expose them on a scaffold, nor could he privately cut +them off. The fate of Syndercome, a daring Anabaptist, who had several +times attempted his life, and, on his trial, persevered in expressing +his determination, if possible, to kill him, alike deterred Cromwell +from bringing his private enemies to the bar of a court of justice, or +resorting to private measures of revenge. He had with difficulty +procured this man's condemnation; but the night previous to his intended +execution he escaped, by suicide, the Protector's power; and so +prejudiced were the populace against their Ruler, that they accused him +of having poisoned the victim he feared to bring to a public death. If +the prosecution of a notorious and avowed ruffian brought him into this +dilemma, what odium would the death of two respectable and aged +Loyalists excite, especially as their story was become public, and the +wrongs of Neville, and the generous friendship of Beaumont, had awakened +a powerful sympathy. Yet his narrow soul could not accede to the +generous alternative of giving them freedom. Pretending that the state +had a claim to the Bellingham-property, he prevented Monthault from +taking any measures to establish the will of the guilty Countess, and +contented himself with keeping the lawful claimant in prison, hoping +that confinement would accelerate the decays of nature, and thus give a +safe quietus to his own fears. + +But ere that event happened the Usurper was called to the dreadful +tribunal for which few among the descendants of Adam were apparently +less prepared. His restless, intriguing ambition; the dissimulation and +hypocrisy by which he rose to supreme power; the ability with which he +wielded it; his splendid wretchedness; the terror he excited and felt; +his cruelty and fanaticism, his determined spirit, and occasionally +timid vacillation, read a most impressive lesson to aspiring minds +infatuated by success, and regardless of moral or religious restraints. +O that, in this age of insubordination, selfishness, and enterprise, a +poet would arise, animated with Shakespeare's "Muse of fire," embody the +events of those seventeen years of wo, and invest the detestable +Regicide with the same terrible immortality which marks the murderous +Thane in his progress from obedience and honour to supreme power and +consummate misery! + +Nor does the death-bed of Cromwell afford a less useful warning to the +pen of instruction, when she aims at distinguishing true piety from +hypocrisy or fanaticism. It is still doubtful under which of those +counterfeits of religion we must rank this great but wicked man. Yet, +whether he deceived his own soul, or attempted to deceive others; +whether he really believed himself an elected instrument of Providence; +or, having long worn devotion as the mask of ambition, retained it to +the last,--his almost unexampled crimes (so plainly forbidden by that +scripture he had ever on his lips), and the security and confidence of +his last moments, furnish stronger arguments than a thousand volumes of +controversy, to prove the fallacy and danger of those speculative +notions which he patronized, propagated, and exemplified. + + + [1] The Usurper's terrors at hearing this fine song of Shirley's + is an historical fact. Some of the speeches attributed to him in + this interview, he really used to persons he had confined, and + wished to win over. In the close of his life he grew timid; and, + conscious of being hated, bore insults calmly. Bishop Wren + rejected his offered favours in as strong language as that + attributed to Neville. + + + + +CHAP. XXVI. + + A good man should not be very willing, when his Lord comes, to be + found beating his fellow-servants; and all controversy, as it is + usually managed, is little better. A good man would be loth to be + taken out of the world reeking hot from a sharp contention with a + perverse adversary; and not a little out of countenance to find + himself, in this temper, translated into the calm and peaceable + regions of the blessed, where nothing but perfect charity and + good-will reign for ever. + + Tillotson. + + +During the turbulent era that immediately followed the death of +Cromwell, obscurity was the only asylum for integrity and innocence. The +respective demagogues contended for mastery; and the nation gazed on +their contests as on so many prize-fighters, whose uninteresting warfare +regarded only themselves. Weary of confusion and discord; aware that +faction had broken every promise and frustrated every hope; that the +visions of freedom had been the harbingers of despotism; and that +pretensions to moderation, disinterestedness, and purity, were but the +disguise of rapacity, pride, and selfishness, the nation longed for the +restoration of a lineal Sovereign, a regular government, and determinate +laws. Even those who first signalized themselves by opposition to the +late King, acknowledged that his government was preferable to the +oligarchy and military tyranny that followed; and the Presbyterians felt +their horror of Episcopacy abate while contrasting the temperance of +established supremacy with the violence of the numerous sects who strove +for superiority as soon as the hierarchy was overthrown. The easy good +humour and affable manners of the exiled King were enlarged upon, and +perhaps honoured with too much celebrity. Offenders in general +anticipated forgiveness; and those who were adroit and dexterous +anticipated rewards. To assist in restoring the regal power was deemed +not merely a rasure of past crimes, but a qualification for trust and +employment; and those who now sought the shelter of royalty as a +protection from their late co-partners in rebellion, seemed, by the high +value which they put on their present services, to overlook, with equal +contempt and injustice, the claims and the wrongs of the Loyalists, who +having never changed their principles, had much to be repaid, and +nothing to be forgiven. + +In the struggles which immediately preceded the Restoration, while +Monk's designs were wrapped in mystery, the cruelty of the regicides +increased with their ambition, and the jails were successively crowded +with every party, as the unsettled government alternately vibrated from +the rump to the fanatical faction. Within the walls of the same prison, +suffering the same restraint, and, like himself, the victim of a +conscience which would not temporize, Dr. Beaumont met his worthy friend +Barton. They congratulated each other on having thus far weathered the +political tempest without deserting their principles, or impugning their +honour. The Doctor learned from Barton the particulars of Lady +Bellingham's death, and the claims of Monthault on her fortune, which, +by the turbulence of the times, were still kept in abeyance. Lord +Bellingham was yet alive, poor and wretched, courting every faction, +trusted by none, and so universally despised as to endure the odium of +more crimes than he had even dared to commit. He was allowed a small +stipend out of his vast possessions, the income of the remainder being +still paid into the public treasury; while Morgan, now become a man of +consequence, and a commissioner for compounding forfeited property, was +enabled amply to glut his rapacity, and resided at Bellingham-Castle in +a style of the grossest sensual indulgence. Monthault had joined the +army of Lambert, against whom General Monk was now marching from +Scotland; and as the King had given reiterated commands to all his +friends to remain passive, and wait the event, it seemed as if he had +some private intelligence with Monk's party, to whom, therefore, each +honest Englishman wished success. + +Barton believed this effervescence would terminate in a happy calm--a +mild but energetic government; and he looked forward to prosperous +times, when the remembrance of past misfortunes should correct national +manners, and produce a general improvement in the minds and feelings of +men. Neville was always sanguine; and Dr. Beaumont confessed that all +things seemed to tend to the restoration of monarchy; yet, with the +prescience of a man long accustomed to calamity, he doubted whether even +that desired event would speedily repair the deep wound which England +had sustained. + +"We shall," said he, "receive with our Prince the inestimable blessings +of our old laws and form of government; but as our troubles have served +rather to show us the necessity, than to prevent the abuse, of the +prerogative, its limits continue undefined, and we shall still too much +depend on the personal character of the King. It were well if the +situation in which we now stand would allow us to propose such +conditions as would make the duties of King and subject plain and easy, +before we invite our Prince to resume the sceptre of his ancestors, as +it would prevent the mistakes into which his father fell, from a +misconception of the bounds of sovereign power, derived from the +arbitrary precedent set by the House of Tudor. But our divisions prevent +us from claiming those advantages which would result from wisdom, +moderation, and unanimity. We fly to the King as to a healer of our +dissensions. A keen feeling of our sorrows and offences has raised the +sensibility of the nation to such a pitch, that it will sooner make +concessions than propose restraints, and rather throw its liberties +before the throne than suggest an abridgement of its splendour. We shall +therefore depend, I fear, upon his mercy for the existence of the sacred +inheritance whose very shadow was so pertinaciously defended from the +approaches of his father. I trust his personal virtues are what his +friends report. He has been educated in adversity, a good school; but +are not his advisers men who have endured too much to be dispassionate +and liberal? They have suffered in a good cause: if, when restored to +power, they abstain from indulging any vindictive propensity, they will +be saints as well as confessors; but, considering their long and +grievous provocations, is not this requiring too much of human frailty? + +"Consider too, my dear friends, (and let the reflection allay your +sanguine expectations of another golden age,) that the King to whom we +look forward has been bred a foreigner. From his own country he has +hitherto met with nothing but severe injuries. The impression he has +received of the character of his future subjects is repulsive and +disgusting; and the heart of a King of England, as well as his manners, +should be completely English. He will return loaded with debts of +gratitude, which he never can discharge, to those who supported his +father, as well as those who restore him; to the surviving friends of +all that have bled in unsuccessful conflicts, and to those who will ride +by his side in triumph; to those who spent their fortunes in his +quarrel, and to those who hope to gain or preserve fortunes by voting +for his return. What course are men apt to pursue when they find +themselves in a state of inextricable insolvency? Do they not endeavour +to forget their creditors in general, and think only of taking care of +themselves and their personal friends. Royalty does not extinguish human +feelings. Let us consider its difficulties, and palliate while we +anticipate its errors. + +"Are these all the remaining evils which the crimes of the last twenty +years have entailed upon us and our posterity? Call me not a prophet of +evil if I foresee general laxity of principle arising out of these sad +vicissitudes and deplorable contests. You, my good Barton, will not +deny, that the extravagance, absurdity, and hypocrisy of many low +fanatics, who sheltered themselves under that unbounded liberty of +conscience which you Dissenters (I think unwisely, as well, as +erroneously) claim, have made every extraordinary pretension to piety +suspicious. The nation has been whirled in the vortex of enthusiasm, +perplexed with the discordant pretensions and controversial clamour of +various sects, till it has begun to consider indifference to religion as +a philosophical repose; and its contempt for hypocrites is increased +till it has generated a toleration, if not a partiality of +licentiousness and immorality. Infidelity (a sin unknown to our +forefathers) has lately appeared among us, not like a solitary, restless +sceptic, affecting a wish for conviction, nor in the bashful form of an +untried novelty, cautiously stealing upon public favour--but under the +licence long allowed to opinions however blasphemous or immoral, a party +has arisen, calling themselves free-thinkers, who not only deride every +ecclesiastical institution, and publicly insult religion in its +ministers, but even make the word of God an object of profane travesty +and licentious allusion. This never could have happened, the manly +feeling and good sense of Englishmen would never have permitted such +audacity, had not trifling, malicious, ignorant, and ridiculous +misapplications of the sacred writings, sunk, in too many minds, the +veneration in which they were formerly held; and thus benumbed what +ought to have been the natural sentiments of indignation at the +blasphemies of deism. + +"We must admit that the return of the King is likely to introduce an +influx of foreign manners, and that the long-suspended festivities of a +court will foster an exultation bordering on extravagance. How will +those who seek advancement, approach a Prince who has been long groaning +under the injustice of mean and cruel hypocrites? Is it not likely that +ridicule will aim at the gross, distorted features of preaching +mechanics, and praying cut-throats, till the ministers, who are +consecrated to serve at the altar, will find some of the missile shafts +fall on their vestments? The perversions of Scripture I have just +mentioned will be so scrupulously avoided, that an apposite and pious +quotation will be termed puritanical; and we shall seldom hear the +sacred volume referred to but to point a jest. Elegant literature, the +fine arts, and dramatic amusements, have been long reprobated as Pagan +devices. But so natural is our desire for innocent enjoyments, that, +remove the interdict, and the public inclination will rush to these +delights with the avidity resulting from constrained abstinence, which +will give to pleasure an undue preponderance: Wit has been too much +discountenanced. I simply argue on the tendency of the human mind to +extremes, when I suspect that it will be indulged till it degenerates +into indecorous levity. May the evils I foresee exist only in my fears; +but if they are realized, much of the guilt, much of the blame must be +laid on those who deluged us with spiritual pride, cant, austerity, and +oppression; who bent the necks of Englishmen to the yoke of slavery, did +their utmost to exterminate the Christian sentiments of moderation and +charity, wrought the nation into a ferment, and then expected good to +result from the chaos of virulent passions." + +Mr. Barton admitted all the evils which had resulted from overstrained +rigidity, but expressed the hopes his party entertained that Episcopacy +would not be considered as a necessary adjunct to monarchy; or, in case +of its revival, that it might be re-instated in its primitive form, and +that the objectionable parts of the Liturgy, the articles, and the +canons, might be so modified as to satisfy all parties. He spoke of the +obligations which the King would owe to the Dissenters; who he trusted +would be rewarded by being placed on an equality with the Church. + +Dr. Beaumont argued, that if these late services cancelled their former +transgressions, the Dissenters would have no just cause of complaint at +being replaced in the situation which they held previously to the +rebellion. He much feared that the vindictive feelings of those who had +been despoiled, ridiculed, plundered, imprisoned, and deprived of every +earthly blessing, would produce some measures, which, though they might +be supported by the pretence of preventing further mischief, he should +lament and blame, but never justify. As to jointly establishing +Episcopacy and Presbytery, or simply tolerating both, he could never +consent to either plan politically, because he conceived one established +religion was necessary to preserve national piety; and the Church had +too many claims on the King's gratitude, and was too intimately +connected with the laws and manners of the people to be laid aside, or +reduced to the level of her opponents; and, considered as a point of +conscience, he was so firmly convinced of her conformity, in doctrine +and discipline, to apostolical institutions, ancient customs, and, above +all, to Scripture, that, though he would be the last man in the kingdom +to consent to persecute those who, through conscience, refused to +conform, he would be the first to defend her pre-eminence. As to giving +the Church a more primitive dress, by which he supposed was meant, +depriving her of her endowments, it must be remembered, that when the +ministers of the Gospel lost miraculous gifts, they became dependant on +temporal support. Though the apostles appeared as mendicants, yet while +they could heal diseases with a touch, they inspired reverence. But in +the present times men showed more observance to those who could bestow +alms than to those who required support. It should likewise be +remembered that an injunction was given to the bishops of the first +century "to use hospitality," a proof that the primitive church was not +in all respects clad in sackcloth. + +Dr. Beaumont farther declared his doubts of the good effects of a +conference between the Episcopalian and Presbyterian clergy. He was +willing to sacrifice non-essentials to peace; but personal disputations +were more apt to confirm than to remove prejudices. One party would be +too querulous, the other too tenacious. Personal considerations would +mix in the dispute; difficulties would be started; objections raised, +when none, in fact, existed; and, in the heat of debate, real +improvements would be rejected, which, in the calm seclusion of the +closet, would be allowed to be important. Declaimers, conscious of their +own powers, would seek distinction rather by acuteness and +fastidiousness than by candour and placability. The enemies of the +Church would argue rather with a view to her destruction than to her +purification; and, on the other hand, her friends would gloss over her +imperfections through fear that her opponents had some latent hostility, +which the least concession on their part would bring to maturity. + +He reminded Barton that as a body the Dissenters could not complain at +their being expelled from the situations in which they were placed by an +unlawful and usurped authority. He trusted that wise and moderate men +would, by conformity, avoid this evil, and prefer the true praise of +sacrificing their scruples at the shrine of peace and unity, to the +false glory of courting reputation, by first exciting and then enduring +persecution. He spoke of schism as an evil the most afflictive; the most +opposite to the spirit of the Gospel, and to the commands of its Divine +Founder, and as the greatest impediment to its universal promulgation. +He exhorted Barton to use his influence with his friends, persuading +them to acquire the only triumph over the church in their power, by +renouncing their own prejudices, when they could not make their +opponents subdue theirs, and thus prove themselves to be the truest +disciples of the Prince of Peace. "Let the contest," said he, "be only +which shall serve our common master best, by leading a life of +unpretending holiness. Schism does infinitely more harm by the enmity it +engenders, than it does good by the zeal it kindles. Controversial +ardour is rather the death than the life of piety." + +Mr. Barton replied, that he was become much more sensible of the evils +attendant on a separating humour, on the gathering of parties and +forming sects from the church; their effects had proved them to be +mischiefs. He confessed that until he had imbibed prejudices against the +Liturgy, he had joined in it with as hearty fervency, as he afterwards +did in other prayers, and felt, from its imperfections, no hinderance in +his devotions. He said, that he had lost his relish for controversy, and +now took most delight in what was fundamental, the Creed, the Lord's +Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, furnishing him with matter for +meditation equally acceptable and abundant. That he less admired gifts +of utterance, and bare professions of religion, than he once did, and no +longer thought that all those who could pray movingly and fluently, and +talk well of religion, were of course saints. That he was convinced most +controversies had more need of right stating than of debating, and that +many contenders actually differed less than they supposed[1]. But still +if the conditions of conformity should require him to acknowledge the +invalidity of his present ordination, he could not consent to admit that +he had hitherto been an Uzzah, touching the ark with unhallowed hands. +In that case he would submit to the rod of chastisement, instead of +receiving the staff of pastoral cure, and if he were forbidden to +instruct others, he would discipline himself. For the sake of peace he +would attend the services of the church, in which, though he saw much +that might be improved, he discerned nothing absolutely sinful. To +preserve a Christian spirit in himself and others, he would avoid +dwelling on the restraints he suffered; but instead of repining, be +thankful for the liberty he enjoyed. And he thought such behaviour would +be the best way of enlarging that liberty, or, if that could not be +done, of healing, in the next generation, those breaches which furious +animosity had made in the present[2]. + +He concluded by saying, that whoever had seen the ill-will engendered by +controversy, and the miseries incident to civil war, must think peace +cheaply purchased by any sacrifice short of conscience; and that, for +his own part, no private injuries, disappointments, or harsh treatment, +should make him obtrude his wrongs upon the public, so as to excite +clamour against the government. He had seen how soon clamour brings on +insurrection, and how partial commotion leads to universal confusion. +During such scenes, inconsiderate, daring, and worthless men, acquire an +ascendancy, and bring, by their extravagance, disgrace upon their party. +Yet, proudly ascribing their influence to a superiority of desert, they +reject the counsels of prudence, while their inordinate passions lead +them to subdue the restraints of conscience. To preserve the nation from +such misrule, he protested that he ardently wished to see the reins of +government again in the hands of prescriptive authority. + + + [1] See Baxter's reflections on his early religious opinions. + + [2] The behaviour of Barton is copied from the conduct of Philip + Henry, a non-conformist divine. + + + + +CHAP. XXVII. + + Tho' with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick, + Yet with my nobler reason 'gainst my fury + Do I take part; the rarer action is + In virtue than in vengeance. + + Shakspeare. + + +While the levellers and republicans alternately gained the ascendancy, +and Monk, either from irresolution or profound policy, appeared to +favour every party but that which he eventually espoused, long suspence +quenched the hopes of the Loyalists, and their prospect of golden days +seemed enveloped by the gloom of despair, when all at once the General +rapidly measured back his steps. That mighty Parliament which, as +different parties prevailed in it, countenanced the most rigorous +coercion or permitted the wildest anarchy; which opposed, menaced, +conquered, deceived, and murdered the King by whom it was summoned; +which feebly attempted to resist the power of its own creature, +Cromwell; and, after passively dispersing at his frown, re-assembled to +insult his memory, threaten the fanatics, and denounce monarchy; that +strange combination of talent and extravagance, of praying demagogues +and aspiring religionists; deemed by Europe the soul of English +rebellion, and the voice of the nation by whom it was at once feared, +hated, and ridiculed; that representative body which voted its own +perpetuity, and overthrew the constitution it was called to +maintain--died at last by its own vote, amid universal execrations, and +joyous anticipations of better times. A Parliament was called, which, +being really chosen by the nation, hastened to give utterance to the +national feeling. The prison-doors were thrown open to the Loyalists, +their persecutors fled dismayed. Many who had sinned less deeply, +hurried to the King with supererogatory offers of service. The ambitious +and the vain busied themselves in devices to give splendor to the +restoration which, from the awful circumstance of a penitent people +welcoming back their exiled Monarch, could borrow no lustre from +ostentatious pageants. Love, confidence, liberty, and security, seemed +to revive; malice, suspicion, and guile, vanished with the dark tyranny +they had so long supported. The aspect, manners, and dress of Englishmen +resumed their former appearance. The lengthened visage; the rayless, yet +penetrating eye; the measured smile, which expressed neither affection +nor candour, disappeared. The countenance was again permitted to be an +index to the soul, and the tongue uttered the undisguised feelings of +artless sincerity; joy, magnified to ecstasy; freedom bursting the +trammels of oppression; sorrow changed to festivity; want expatiating on +the near prospect of affluence; justice restored to the full exercise of +her balance and sword; religion separated from fanaticism, and +reinstated in decent splendor; a hereditary King, a regular government, +ancient institutions, definite laws, certain privileges, personal +safety, and the restitution of property--such were the glorious themes +which employed the thoughts of the contemplative, elevated the devotion +of the pious, and made the unreflecting multitude frantic with wild +delight. No period of English history records so great a change. The +spring of 1660 was devoted to universal jubilee; with the vulgar it was +disaffection to be sober, and among the higher classes gravity was +treason. + +Though the prisons were thrown open, the Beaumont family still lingered +near the abode wherein they had been so long inhumed. A free +communication was renewed with foreign countries; private intercourse +was safe; exiles were every hour returning; but they heard nothing of +their beloved fugitives. Dr. Beaumont waited with the patience of a man, +who had endured years of sorrow. The debilitated Neville feared his last +sands would run out before he could embrace his son. Isabel and +Constantia had fears which they durst not disclose, even to each other. +Were both their lovers enamoured of the merchant's daughter, or had some +continental Circe also spread her fascinations, and made the recreants +forget their fathers and their country, as well as their mistresses? +Surely, in that case Dr. Lloyd would have sent some qualified account of +their temptation and fall. Had they all perished in some tremendous +undertaking; had a pestilence swept them away; had they fallen into the +hands of banditti, or perished silently, ensnared by the still more +merciless machinations of regicide-informers? There was no form in which +danger and death could appear, that did not present itself to the +alarmed mind of these long-suffering maidens, during the few weeks that +intervened between the time that a Loyalist could appear in England +without imminent hazard, and their receiving the intelligence which +dispelled every doubt. A day seemed an age to exhausted patience, and +the transports of others added to their sadness. + +Isabel was at length informed, that a stranger inquired for her. Her +bosom throbbed violently--"Is he young or old?" was all she could utter. +"Middle aged," was the reply. "Alas!" said she, "I forget how rapidly +time has stolen on since I parted with De Vallance. I have not looked at +my face for years; 'tis changed, I am sure; I have lost every +attraction, but my heart is still the same."--"Ever the same good +heart!" repeated Eustace, as he rushed in, and caught her in his +affectionate arms. "O! tell me, Isabel, where is my Constantia?" "Speak, +low," said Isabel, attempting to smother a hysterical laugh. "Dear +Eustace, how you are altered! Do not enter that room, the shock will be +too great!" + +The terrors of Eustace prompted a thousand inquiries.--"Was Constantia +well? Was she faithful?" "Yes, yes!" replied Isabel, struggling in vain +for composure; "but----" a thousand fears lurked in that word, and Eustace +gazed in mute horror, while Isabel recovered self-command enough to say, +"We are very much altered." Eustace shed tears of joy.--"Virtue and +fidelity are always young and lovely," said he.--"You should not have +taken me by surprise," resumed the much-agitated Isabel; "let me +recollect myself a moment, and then you shall see our long-suffering +father, and your ever-beloved Constance." + +Her eyes were turned to the door at which Eustace entered, with an +unacknowledged expectation of another visitant, and she stood incapable +of the promised introduction. But the well-remembered, long-desired +voice of Eustace had penetrated the inner-chamber, and Constantia, pale +and silent, advanced to meet her betrothed love; held out her hand with +timid joy, and sunk speechless into his arms. "My boy! my boy! let me +fold thee to my heart, and expire in thy embraces!" exclaimed the +agonized Neville, as with ineffectual efforts he strove to rise from the +couch of infirmity. Eustace cast himself at his feet. "Your blessing," +said he, "on one who is no disgrace to your blood. Dearest father, your +commands have been obeyed; I have redeemed my honour, and my life is +preserved to this hour of transport." + +"The choicest blessings of all-gracious Providence rest on thy head, and +on that of thy faithful partner;" said Neville, for Constance had +involuntarily knelt by the side of her lover; "and may your future days +be crowned with prosperity and peace! True heir of the Neville virtues, +and now of their honours!" He closed his eyes, and continued to press +his hands on their heads with a patriarch's fervour--then, as if +recalling his thoughts to this lower world, inquired of Eustace if he +had seen the King. + +"I have seen and served him," answered Eustace. "He is well, amiable, +royally-disposed, and, at this moment, embarking on board his own fleet +to receive the crown of his ancestors; determined to forget his enemies, +and reward his friends." + +"Thou wilt kill me with joy," said the transported veteran; "but I am +now content to die. Eustace, thou shalt never leave me more; I can never +be satiated with hearing the sound of thy voice, or gazing on thee thus +rising from disgrace and death. Come, tell me all thou hast endured +since we parted." Eustace seated himself beside him on the couch, one +arm clasped his Constantia, the other reclined on his father's knees. +Neville rested his arms and head on his crutch, devouring with his eyes +his son's features, and jealous of the glances he frequently cast on his +beloved. Dr. Beaumont stood at a little distance, gazing on the +affectionate group with calm delight, and frequently diverting his +thoughts in pious thankfulness to that gracious Providence, who thus +richly repaid their sorrows. Isabel threw herself at the feet of +Eustace, half angry that she could engage no more of his attention, and +listening to the narrative of his adventures with emotions which it is +impossible to define. + +Eustace was brief in his story, reserving the minutiae for a calmer +moment. The increased vigilance of the republican government soon made +Jersey an unsafe residence. They removed to the continent; travelled +through France, Italy, and the Low-Countries, without finding any +eligible place wherein to fix. At length their funds failing, they +agreed to prefer an humble employment to yet more degrading dependence. +Dr. Lloyd served as assistant surgeon in the Dutch military hospital; +and Eustace entered as a volunteer in the body-guard of the young Prince +of Orange, consoled by the idea of devoting his life to the grandson of +his murdered sovereign. Here he frequently saw and conversed with the +present King, whose affable and attractive manners he warmly praised. +"He recognised me," said he, "as the son of one to whom he owed +indelible obligations, and his condescension commanded my confidence. He +knows, dearest father, your early wrongs; and so sure as the crown of +England is placed on his head, he will restore to you your titles and +estates free from every base condition, and subject to no tribute, but +what every English peer owes to a gracious and generous Monarch." + +"There," thought Isabel, "my predictions are true--Constance will wear +her ermined robes of state--but where is the cheerful residence of +elegant sufficiency, in which I was to sing to my De Vallance? Eustace +only speaks of his own adventures. Oh, this merchant's daughter of St. +Helier; I wish she had been locked up in a nunnery. Doubtless, she is +young and beautiful; but prosperity is a becoming ornament. I will take +courage, and ask if they are very happy." + +Isabel, after hemming several times, attempted to speak, and at last was +able to say, "My dear brother!" Eustace turned his eyes upon her. His +excessive transports had sufficiently subsided to allow him to enter +into her feelings, and he affectionately answered, "What would my dear +sister?" + +"You had another companion," said she, "besides Dr. Lloyd." + +"I will punish this prudery," thought Eustace. "True, my love; poor +Fido.--It is kind in you to remember that faithful animal. He died on +his travels, and I assure you I dropped a tear on his grave." + +"Pshaw," cried Isabel, turning away her head. + +"He lies in a celebrated spot," continued Eustace, "close to the walls +of the convent of St. Bernard on the Alps; and thereby hangs a dreadful +tale." + +"We will listen to no dreadful tales now," said Constance, who felt by +sympathy the untold sentiments of Isabel. "Tell us what is become of De +Vallance, provoking Eustace; I see by your smile all is well. Will +nothing cure you of your love of teazing us?" + +"When ladies forget the names of their lovers," replied Eustace, +"delicacy forbids us to interpret their inquiries. De Vallance is well; +he came with me to England; but, Isabel, you must yield him to stronger +claims." + +"I guessed so," answered she; "and will resign him with fortitude; nay, +with indifference." Tears, it is presumed, are a sign of these +sensations, for her's flowed rapidly as she spoke. "Consider, my beloved +sister," returned Eustace; "the glorious event which reinstates you in +the rank and fortune of an Earl's daughter renders De Vallance the son +of a disgraced usurper, despoiled of his ill-acquired splendor, and heir +to nothing save the infamy of his parents." + +"I had prepared my mind," said Isabel, "for every thing, but his being +faithless to his vows. Had he been constant, I would have shared his lot +however humble, and told the world his superior virtues cancelled the +treasons and the treachery of his parents. But if beauty and affluence +have proved irresistible, let me remember that my fortunes seemed +desperate, allow the force of the temptation, and forgive him." + +"There spoke my own magnanimous sister," exclaimed Eustace, folding her +to his heart. "Thou worthy choice of my best and dearest friend! a +wretched father is the stronger claim which detains him from thee. He is +gone to carry comfort to the most pitiable object in the world, an +alarmed, deserted sinner." + +"I never will forgive you, Eustace, for thus torturing me," said Isabel, +and while she spoke, encircled his neck with her arms. "Was there no +truth in the tale of an enamoured lady of St. Helier?" Eustace blushed, +called it a gossip's story, and threw his eyes on Constance, dearer and +more attractive in her faded loveliness, than when in the happy prime of +youthful beauty she first enslaved his affectionate heart. + +Neville sat thoughtful and silent, gazing on his children with the +painful exhaustion of overstrained sensibility. Isabel and Eustace +seemed emulous to out-talk each other. Constantia looked unutterable +content. Dr. Beaumont was mild, devout, admonitory; more inclined to +bless the sure mercies of Providence, than to condemn the perverse +conduct of man. He now recollected the anxieties of his good sister +Mellicent, and proposed that Williams should be dispatched with the +joyful tidings. "She must be told," said Eustace, "that the air-built +castles she was so skilful in erecting have now a firm foundation. 'Tis +time she should exercise her abilities in making bride-cake and comfits; +two happy pairs will soon claim her services." "Nay," said Isabel, "as +you are in a marrying humour, there shall be three, for who but she can +reward good Dr. Lloyd, without whose vigilance and generosity we should +all have been the most pitiable of mourners, wretched at the time of +universal joy?" + +Eustace answered that the worthy Esculapius was returning in the King's +suite, being appointed one of his physicians, and he hinted the +probability of his aunt's medical pre-eminence destroying the effect of +her personal attractions. "At least," said he, "the Doctor has never +intimated a wish for the alliance, though he speaks with admiration of +her fortitude and maternal affection for us children of her love and +care. And severely as you accuse me for want of gallantry to your sex, I +will not even allow a spinster of seventy to volunteer her hand, when +the honour is not passionately desired." + +Dr. Beaumont now inquired what dreadful tale was connected with the +convent of St. Bernard, and he soon found his own predictions were +realized respecting the fate of those who seek security by the paths of +crooked policy and selfish cunning. Those dreary walls inclosed the +wretched heir of the Waverly family. Overwhelmed with horror at having +deprived his father of life, the unhappy man abjured a country whose +civil wars had given birth to such tremendous crimes. Long the victim of +despair, he at last sought a quietus to his ever-gnawing remorse, by +flying to the bosom of that church which barters salvation for pecuniary +mulcts, and represents penance and subserviency to its schemes of +worldly aggrandisement to be the wings which will waft the soul over the +gulph of purgatory, and securely lodge it in Abraham's bosom. Not +content with becoming a convert to the Romish church, the young Baronet +determined upon expiating his unintentional parricide, by taking the +cowl, and entering into its strictest order of monachism. Eustace and +his friends, when they travelled over the Alps, were lodged one night at +this convent, and in the midnight service De Vallance recognized the +well-remembered tones of his powerful voice. They afterwards saw him in +the garden labouring at his future grave, according to the prescribed +rules of his order. His hood was fallen off, and gave to view his face, +in which the deepest lines of sorrow were combined with the gloom of +sullen superstition. All intercourse was forbidden by that law which +chained his tongue to eternal silence, except when employed as the organ +of devotion. Eustace wept with true commiseration; the unhappy monk +threw on him a look, which showed he too well remembered England, drew +his cowl over his face, and with a groan of the deepest melancholy +solemnly returned to his cell. + +Dr. Beaumont's remarks on this narrative were pious and affecting; but +there was a heavy gloom in the eye of Neville, which indicated a mind +too much absorbed by its own feelings to enjoy the badinage of happy +lovers, or to listen to the suggestions of wisdom and devotion. "Is our +dear father ill?" was the alarmed inquiry of Isabel. "Has the surprise +of my return overpowered him?" said Eustace. "Will not affliction allow +her victim a few years respite, before the effects of her early +visitations conduct him to the grave?" + +It was the privilege of that true minister of Heaven who tranquillized +his youthful impatience, to penetrate into the secret feelings of the +man of sorrows. Inattentive to every other subject, Dr. Beaumont +perceived that he was roused by the name of Walter De Vallance, and +therefore led Eustace to describe his present situation. The tortures of +a guilty conscience, added to his constitutional timidity, had totally +extinguished those faint beams of hope and ambition which led him, in +every previous change of affairs, to project his own security or +advancement. To usurpers and mal-contents of every description he +thought he might either be useful or formidable; but from the returning +King, welcomed with rapture by a repentant nation, a versatile traitor, +who had betrayed the counsels of the royal martyr, could not expect even +mercy. Too well known both for his rank and his provocations, to hope to +shelter in obscurity, he had no resource but to fly to some distant +land; and he proposed retreating to those colonies in America which were +peopled under the influence of republican principles. But he had not +proceeded many stages from London before he fell sick. His perturbed +mind so far betrayed him to his host as to show he was one of those whom +the happy change in public affairs compelled to fly from England, and he +was immediately suspected to be one of the late King's judges, who, +having imbrued their hands in royal blood, were, by the consent of all +parties, reserved as an atonement to public justice. He was therefore +seized, hurried back to London, and thrown into close confinement. His +son and Eustace learned these particulars by stopping at the inn which +had been the scene of his arrest; and the former, from some +circumstances discovering the prisoner to be his father, deputed Eustace +to plead his unchanged love and ardent hopes to his dearest Isabel, +while he himself hastened to protect and solace his wretched parent with +a hope, that by interposing his own unquestioned loyalty as a surety, he +might preserve his life, if not obtain his liberty. + +Not all the courtly blandishments of gallantry, nor even the +heart-breathed vows of true love could have been half so acceptable to +Isabel as this sacrifice of self-indulgence to filial duty. Even Neville +could not refrain from commending his nephew's conduct, while brushing a +tear from his eye he attempted to revive the expiring flame of +vindictive indignation. "The villain, then," said he, "knows now what it +is to want the service of a worthy child. Tell me, Eustace, does he +suffer deeply? Is his soul ground down with compunction by recollecting +the inhumed Neville, doomed by him and his rebel partizans to shelter +with the dead. Shut for years from the light of the sun, excluded from +human converse, and daily fed by that dear girl with the bread of +affliction, though born to stand before Kings, and sit as judge among +Princes! Walter De Vallance now suffers what I never endured. The +gnawing worm of remorse must inflict on him the agonies of despair, but +conscious innocence illumined my dungeon with hope. Yes, the spirits of +my ancestors, offended at the foul pollution of their pure ermine, point +at my son as the restorer of their tarnished honours, and bid me exult +in the agonies which await the death-bed of a villain!" + +A look of grave rebuke from Dr. Beaumont recalled the much-agitated +Neville from this delirium of indulged malevolence. "My brother and my +friend," he exclaimed; "supporter of my frail existence, and guide of my +soul! I have sinned, pray for me." "May Almighty mercy," replied the +pious minister of Heaven, "grant you that peace which only those can +feel who are in charity with all mankind!--If years of affliction have +not so taught you the comparative worthlessness of temporal possessions +as to prevent your making them a pretext for eternal enmity; if calamity +has steeled your heart to pity instead of melting it to contrition, I +must bid you fear, lest some more terrible trials should visit you, or +what is worse, lest the sinner who will not pardon an offending brother +should be suddenly called to account for his own unrepented +transgressions against the God, not then of infinite compassion, but of +most righteous vengeance." + +Neville trembled violently. His affectionate children intreated Dr. +Beaumont to spare his infirmities, but he answered, that regard for the +mortal body must not, in this instance, make him overlook the more +important concerns of the never-dying soul, endangered by his thus +cherishing implacable resentment. The termination of the struggle proved +Neville a true hero. He not only confessed but abjured his errors. "I +have," said he, "brooded too deeply over my injuries, and thus have +added to my plagues by inflicting on myself more torments than even my +enemies designed I should feel. Born with too exquisite sensibility of +ill-treatment, proceeding possibly from inordinate self-esteem, disposed +to ardent attachment and unbounded confidence, I measured the hearts of +others by my own, and supposed that they equally revered the claims of +generosity and friendship; for never did I expect a service, which in a +change of situations, I would not have rendered unasked; never have I +condemned a fault but those so abhorrent to my nature that, I would have +died rather than have committed them. Condemned by the triumphant +treachery of a man, in all things my inferior, to indigence and +obscurity; all the liberal feelings I so dearly cherished palsied by my +inability to expand the social charities beyond the narrow limits of my +own family, I ruminated on the glorious indulgences resulting from, the +possession of that power and affluence I was born to inherit. But, +instead of enjoying the means of patronising merit, raising the +oppressed, or succouring calamity, I beheld myself doomed to the anxious +routine of a life consumed in the care of procuring a sufficiency for +its own support, pondering how the claims of a creditor could be +discharged, and the disgrace of injustice averted by the sacrifice of +every generous gratification--I passed my days in a silent sacrifice of +my wishes and comforts, in concealing my own wants, and steeling my +heart to those of others, and it was during this mental torture of +restrained liberality that I nourished in my soul a deadly thirst for +revenge, an extreme desire of seeing the arm that smote me to the earth +withered and powerless as my own. Oh, my children! there is guilt and +danger in an excessive indulgence of even the most laudable feelings, +and my crime brought on its punishment.--The loss of reason; the death +of your adored mother, deserving infinitely more than the highest +earthly honours, and therefore early translated to an angelical throne; +these were my chastisements. In respect to what I have since suffered +for my King, the testimonies of a good conscience were my support and my +reward. And may the favours of a grateful monarch enable my Eustace to +enjoy those noblest privileges of greatness for which I pined with +ineffectual desire! I am now old and helpless, tottering on the brink of +eternity, a blank, as far as respects this world. May I then divest my +soul of those passions which will unfit it for the abodes of peace! The +injuries of Walter De Vallance are not irremediable. Still do I clasp my +son to my heart. Affliction has tried the virtues of my children, and +brought me to a sense of my own errors. Let not short-sighted man, who +cannot see the remote consequences of events, cherish revenge. Let not +dust and ashes value its imperfect shows of goodness. Our greatest +conquest is a victory over ourselves. Our noblest title is to be called +obedient servants of the Most High." + +Dr. Beaumont wept with pious delight, while Neville, leaning on his +children in a posture of penitent adoration, besought Heaven to pardon +his own sins, and the sins of his brother De Vallance. So entire was his +abstraction, that he was not interrupted by the entrance of Barton, +whose countenance expressed a degree of depression ill suited to the +joyous character of the times. Dr. Beaumont accosted him by the title of +his worthy friend, and the associate of his future fortunes. He +introduced him to Eustace, of whose preservation from the massacre at +Pembroke he was till then ignorant. Barton blessed the protecting hand +of Providence, and explained his apparent dejection, by stating that he +had just witnessed a most awful and impressive scene--a grievous sinner +wounded alike in body and in soul, with no hope of escaping punishment +either in this world or in that which is to come. He soon discovered +that he meant the miserable De Vallance, whom, as he had served in +prosperity, he would not desert in his utmost need, though he alike +detested his private and despised his public character. He described him +as alone, pennyless, comfortless, without resources in himself, or help +from others. His worthy son had not yet discovered the place of his +confinement; he knew not what was become of his son, and among all the +crimes which tortured his conscience, the supposed death of Eustace was +most insupportable. Hopeless of pity, yet desperate from remorse, he had +commissioned Barton to intreat the greatly-injured Neville to forgive +him. Christian principles had already obtained a victory over the +agonizing resentments of wounded honour, and the eloquence of Barton +only served to hasten its effect. Neville was calmly resolved, not moved +by pathetic description, to act as he ought. "Go, my child," said he to +Eustace, "bear my forgiveness to our unhappy kinsman, and by convincing +him of your own existence, foil the tempter's efforts to overwhelm him +with despair. I would see him, but we are both, weak in body, and frail +in purpose. An interview might revive violent animosities. Envy and +resentment are irritable passions; 'tis best we meet no more till our +mortal failings are deposited in our graves. Then may our purified +spirits enter upon a state where avarice and ambition cannot tempt, nor +impatience and anger dispose us to offend! There may we meet as pardoned +sinners, alike rejoicing in redemption!--Mine shall not be a mere verbal +reconciliation. My King can refuse nothing to Allan Neville, the +faithful Loyalist. Title and fortune will be restored to me as my right; +but the only reward I will ask for my services shall be the pardon of my +enemies. The punishment of a state-criminal must not disgrace my +Isabel's nuptials. She has been to me the angel of consolation, and she +shall carry forgiveness and honour as a dower to her husband. And now, +Beaumont, while the relentings of my soul can refuse nothing to thy +admonitions, tell me, is there aught more that I ought to perform?" + +From one of less acute sensibility, Dr. Beaumont would possibly have +required that he should have been the interpreter of his own purposes to +De Vallance, but he rightly considered, that very susceptible and ardent +characters, after they have forgiven, find it impossible to forget. When +such persons are brought to that proper state of mind, to return good +for evil, without either boasting of their lenity, or enumerating their +wrongs, the best way of inducing an oblivion of the past, is to avoid +such intercourse as may revive painful retrospection. It is impossible +for those who have minds capable of appreciating the delicacies of +friendship, to re-unite the bonds of esteem and confidence, when they +have been violently rent asunder by cunning or treachery. Beside, Barton +admitted that he saw in the behaviour of De Vallance more of the +apprehensions of timorous guilt than the renovated spirit of self-abased +contrition. + +Eustace inherited the deep sensibilities of his father, but a train of +happy years rose in perspective before him. Unbroken health, unclouded +fame, successful love, wealth, and greatness--at the hour of his +restoration to all these blessings, he must have been a monster who +could have withheld cordial forgiveness from a humiliated miserable +enemy. Eustace visited the man who had doomed him to a premature grave, +with a sincere desire to prolong his life, and restore his peace. To the +relief afforded by a conviction that the guilt of his nephew's murder +did not lie upon his soul, De Vallance received the additional +consolation of knowing that his own son was alive, and acknowledged by +Eustace as a most beloved friend and future brother. The forgiveness of +Neville, and the assurance of his powerful intercession with the King in +his favour, changed the horrors of the wretched man into transports of +joy. Lost to all nobler feelings, and penitent only from terror, +apprehensions of the future had increased the sickness which fatigue and +anxiety had occasioned, and his recovery was expedited by the confidence +he now felt, that he should be permitted to spend the remnant of his +days in security, protected by the virtues of the son whom he had +neglected, and the clemency of the victims he had wronged. + + + + +CHAP. XXVIII. + + All friends shall taste + The wages of their virtues, and all foes + The cup of their deservings. + + Shakspeare. + + +The restoration of the King was speedily followed by the re-instatement +of Neville in his family-honours, and the marriage of his son and +daughter. Mrs. Mellicent had the unspeakable satisfaction of arranging +the ceremony, selecting the dress of the brides, and ordering the +nuptial banquet. History does not warrant me in adding, that she +afterwards consummated the happiness of Dr. Lloyd, by completing the +liberal tokens of regard which his grateful friends showered upon him. +But whether this was owing to her own obduracy, or to somewhat of that +enmity which often subsists between professors of the same liberal art, +I have no means of discovering. It is certain that they continued to be +sincere friends, which possibly might not have been the case if Mrs. +Mellicent's confidence in the superiority of her own cordials and +ointments to the recipes prescribed by the regularly educated +practitioner, had not induced her to pass on, "in maiden meditation +fancy free," preferring the privileges of "blessed singleness" to the +mortification of subscribing to the efficacy of those medical nostrums +which were not found in the British herbal. + +Morgan fled from Bellingham-Castle with the precipitation of an owl at +the sun-rising. When the aged Earl proceeded to take possession, he +strained his dim eyes to point out to his son the seat of his ancestors +from the most distant eminence which afforded a glimpse of the stately +turrets. He fancied he should never be weary in showing Eustace the +particular places which were signalized by conspicuous actions; the hall +where Walter the Inflexible sat in judgment; the tower from whence +Rodolph the Bold overlooked the tournament; the postern where Allan the +Magnificent welcomed his princely guests with the courtly subservience +of an humble host; or the chamber in which Orlando the Good paid the +debt of nature, while the monks told their beads in the anti-room, and +the inner court of the castle was crowded by the pensioners whom he +supported, and the way-faring pilgrims he relieved. But Neville soon +discovered that prosperity has its disappointments as well as adversity +its comforts. The woods which Earl Henry planted were cut down, the +shield and trophies which Sir Edmund won at Agincourt were defaced, the +family heirlooms were carried away, the precious manuscripts burnt, the +state-furniture sold. Bellingham-Castle was merely the despoiled shell +of greatness, requiring, for its re-edifying, that energy and anxiety +which a worn-out invalid could not exercise. The duties of an exalted +station overwhelmed him; its business distracted, its state fatigued +him. He soon felt convinced, that to those who have long languished in +the gloom of sorrow, the brilliant glare of greatness is insupportable. +To them ease is happiness, and tranquillity delight. + +Determined to spend the residue of his days with his daughter, the Earl +resigned Castle-Bellingham to Eustace and Constantia. Happiness and +benevolence diffused over the face of the latter charms superior to any +it had boasted even in the prime of youthful beauty. This excellent pair +continued to deserve each other's affection, being an ornament to their +high station, a blessing and an example to their neighbours, faithful to +their King, true to their country, and grateful to their God. + +Not content with barely doing justice to those who had deserved and +suffered so much, the King granted to Lady Isabel Neville the manor of +Waverly, which had escheated to the crown by the extinction of that +ill-fated family. The title of Lord Sedley had now devolved on Eustace. +It was agreed to disuse the dishonoured name of De Vallance, and adopt +the endeared appellative of Evellin, to which was annexed the title of +Baronet. Waverly-Park was now changed into Evellin-hall. An elegant +mansion was erected on the scite of the ruins, exhibiting as marked a +contrast in the cheerful munificence of its aspect, as the firm +integrity, unostentatious goodness, and amiable manners of Sir Arthur +and his Lady did to the contemptible character of its late inhabitants. + +Large church-emoluments were offered to Dr. Beaumont; but he, with a +lowliness and moderation corresponding to his other great qualities, +declined accepting any. He said he had endured too much to become a +prominent actor in public affairs at a time which required the most +dispassionate prudence to heal discord, and the firmest wisdom to repair +breaches. He suspected his understanding was clouded, and his temper +soured, by the heavy pressure of affliction. He knew that his health was +broken, and his long seclusion from the world had unfitted him for +undertaking its direction. It was his prayer to devote the remnant of +his days to peace and privacy. He returned to Ribblesdale (now endeared +to him by the attachments of its inhabitants, and the change which his +truly pastoral labours had produced,) in the same state of respectable +mediocrity, with regard to worldly wealth, as he enjoyed before the +commencement of the troubles; his worthy heart glowing with the honest +pride, that though he had shared in the sorrows, he had not partaken of +the spoils, of his country. His return was welcomed with rapture. He +found no pseudo-shepherd to dispute his right of reclaiming the church +he had wedded with primitive simplicity of affection. Davies had died +of an apoplexy; and Priggins, after giving indubitable proofs that +conversion was in him merely the turned coat of knavery, while, to weak +understandings and bad hearts, he made religion itself contemptible by +dressing it in the cap and bells of folly, had gradually lost all his +auditors. The return of the King made his spiritual wares wholly +unsaleable. He studied the humour of the times; and, conforming to +what would gain him a maintenance, he turned his pulpit into a +stage-itinerant, and commenced Jack Priggins, a redoubtable Merry +Andrew. + +Though the royalists, while in expectation of the restoration, had +promised to abstain from all suits of law on account of the injustice +they had suffered, the extortions of Morgan had so much out-heroded +Herod, that justice claimed a right of stripping the daw who had long +stalked in stolen trappings. Reduced, by repeated fines for +misdemeanors, to his primitive meanness, the little man lost all the +self-importance which had been the appendage of his greatness; and, from +being a happy, joyous person, who thought the world a very good world, +and all things going on as well as could be wished, he became a +discontented reviler, complaining that industry was unrewarded, and +talents left to perish on a dunghill. He gained a scanty support by +practising the basest chicane of his profession; and, after being +stripped of the affluence he had extorted from the rich, he contrived to +pick up the means of a bare existence, by inflaming the animosities, and +adding to the necessities of penury. Whether his death was hastened by a +want of the luxuries which indulgence had made indispensable, or by a +more summary process, is uncertain. + +The prejudices which Barton had imbibed against the Liturgy and +discipline of the Church seemed to increase from a conscientious +apprehension that worldly motives might influence him to conformity. In +vain did Dr. Beaumont advise him to follow the example of the +apostolical Bernard Gilpin, who, "though he doubted as to some of the +articles to which he was required to subscribe, considered that, without +subscription, he could not serve in a Church which was likely to give +great glory to God, and that what he disliked was of smaller +consequence." His extraordinary integrity prevented his compliance; and +he told Dr. Beaumont that, finding himself incapable of refuting the +learning and weight of his arguments, he suspected that a secret desire +of worldly advancement had blunted his faculties; but of this he was +certain, that since he had refused assisting the Church, considered as a +civil institution, in the night of her calamity, he had no right to bask +in her sunshine. After this declaration, Dr. Beaumont's respect for the +rights of conscience made him for ever renounce the character of a +disputant; but during all the hardships to which Non-conformists were +exposed he steadily supported that of a friend. Barton found, in the +parsonage at Ribblesdale, a safe, honourable, and happy asylum from +the tempest which fell upon his party. His peaceable and friendly +disposition restrained him from every mark of enmity to the Church from +which he dissented; nor did he ever confound the mistakes of her +governors, or the faults of her officials, with the essentials of her +institution. Dr. Beaumont avoided every topic that might give him pain, +with a delicacy which proved that the gratitude of an obliged pensioner +mingled with the feelings of a generous host. Even Mrs. Mellicent never +abused Round-heads in his presence; and, as to fanatics, Barton thought +them as disgraceful to his sect as they were dangerous to the hierarchy. +He had the singular honour of escorting the venerable spinster, in her +purple camlet riding-hood, whenever she visited her niece Lady Evellin, +at the Hall, or her nephew Lord Sedley, at Bellingham-Castle; and the +cordial welcome he ever received from both families, proved their just +sensibility of his former kindness. + +The wretched Walter De Vallance, when released from prison, went into +voluntary exile, supported by a pension from the Earl, who imposed that +duty on himself as a memento of his own errors. His sole care was to +prolong his contemptible life; but his solicitude was unavailing. He +lived to hear that his son had renounced his name, and that an heir was +born to the House of Neville. As contrition had no share in his previous +humiliation, envy at the flourishing state of his rival's family +hastened his death. + +This history, however, has still to record a true penitent. Nothing +could exceed the indignation of Jobson at finding himself deceived by +Monthault. He was one of the first to ask forgiveness of the right Earl +of Bellingham, and of His Reverence the Doctor, who, he was sure, +deserved to be made a Lord also. "I don't come to your honours," said +he, "because you are become great men, or to ask you to speak to the +King about me; for I know I have no right now to be a Beef-eater, or any +thing else; but I must just tell you how it was. Sure as you are alive I +thought all the while I was fighting for His Majesty; for those +generals, as they called themselves, turned, and twirled, and swore +backwards and forwards till nobody knew what side they were of. And that +smooth-faced knave, Monthault (as pretty Mrs. Isabel said he was), told +me all was going on as it should be; and that Lambert would bring the +King back presently. So I fought furiously, thinking I was on the right +side, till that deceiver had his deserts from the honest general who did +fetch the King home. Bless his sweet face! though I don't deserve to +look at it again." + +Neville admitted that the perplexing changes which had lately happened +might confuse a clearer head than Jobson's, and promised to retain him +in the family, offering him the choice of being his personal attendant, +or porter at Castle-Bellingham. Jobson's joy and gratitude were +unbounded. He preferred the former office. "Because," said he, "such a +blundering fellow as I, who cannot tell rebels from honest men, may let +pickpockets and gamblers into a true Lord's house, if they happen to +have smooth tongues, and shut plain honesty out of it, which I hope will +never be the case in Old England. But if I live always under Your +Honour's eye, you will keep me from doing wrong; and a simple man, like +me, is always best off when directed by those who know better than +himself." + +Lord Bellingham is reported to have commended this opinion so warmly as +to say, he hoped the race of the Jobsons would never be extinct among +the British peasantry. But as this wish implies his persuasion, that +principle rather than information is the great desideratum in the lower +classes, I dare not affirm that my hero was so very illiberal, though, +as a Loyalist and a Churchman, I admit that he must have been adverse to +the generalizing philanthropy of that admired sentiment, "Education +untainted by the bigotry of proselytism," which, if it be any thing more +than a brilliant scintillation of wit, intended, by its happy +antithesis, to revive the dying embers of festive hilarity, must mean +that the ends of education are destroyed if they produce any effect; or, +in other words, that though the lower classes are to be taught every +thing, great care should be taken that they do not improve by any thing +they learn--a discovery equally profound with that of Dogberry, who +thought "writing and reading came by nature, but that to be +well-favoured was the gift of fortune." + +I have only to add, that Lady Isabel Evellin long continued "to rock the +cradle of reposing age;" and, to the last hour of her life, enjoyed the +serene satisfaction which is the portion of those who, with true and +disinterested magnanimity, devote their abilities to the calls of duty +instead of wasting their lives in self-indulgence. + + +THE END. + +Strahan and Preston, +Printers-Street, London. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Loyalists, Vol. 1-3, by Jane West + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOYALISTS, VOL. 1-3 *** + +***** This file should be named 19458.txt or 19458.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/4/5/19458/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by the +Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions +(www.canadiana.org)) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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