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diff --git a/26667-h/26667-h.htm b/26667-h/26667-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..69c2afd --- /dev/null +++ b/26667-h/26667-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8960 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. I, by George Augustus Sala. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + .poem {margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .poem2 {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: left;} + .sig {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align:baseline; + position: relative; + bottom: 0.33em; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + .hang1 {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em; text-align: justify;} + .hang2 {margin-left: 3em; text-align: justify;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strange Adventures of Captain +Dangerous, Vol. 1 of 3, by George Augustus Sala + +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 Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 1 of 3 + Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave + among the moors... + +Author: George Augustus Sala + +Release Date: September 19, 2008 [EBook #26667] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN DANGEROUS, VOL. 1 OF 3 *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p> + + + + +<h2>THE STRANGE ADVENTURES</h2> + +<h3>OF</h3> + +<h1>CAPTAIN DANGEROUS:</h1> + +<h3> +WHO WAS A SOLDIER, A SAILOR, A MERCHANT, A SPY, A SLAVE<br /> +AMONG THE MOORS, A BASHAW IN THE SERVICE<br /> +OF THE GRAND TURK,<br /> +<br /> +AND<br /> +<br /> +<b>Died at last in his own House in Hanover Square.</b><br /></h3> +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /> +A NARRATIVE IN OLD-FASHIONED ENGLISH.<br /> +<br /> +ATTEMPTED BY<br /></div> +<h2>GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA.</h2> +<div class='center'><br /><br /> +<br /> +IN THREE VOLUMES.<br /> +<br /> +VOL. I.<br /> +<br /> +<br /><br /><br /> +LONDON:<br /> +TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND.<br /> +1863.<br /> +<br /> +[<small><i>The right of Translation is reserved.</i></small>]<br /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> +<div class='copyright'>LONDON:<br /> + +SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS,<br /> + +CHANDOS STREET.</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p> +<div class='center'>TO<br /> + +<big>ALEXANDER MUNRO,</big><br /> + +<b><big>Sculptor</big></b>,<br /> + +THIS BOOK,<br /> + +<small>IN TOKEN OF SINCERE AND ADMIRING FRIENDSHIP, IS<br /> +CORDIALLY INSCRIBED.</small></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">In</span> the last century—and many centuries +before the last; but it is about the eighteenth +that I am specially speaking—long before +steamers and railways, or even frigate-built +ships and flying coaches were dreamt of, +when an Englishman went abroad, he +stopped there. When he came back, if at all, +it was, as a rule, grizzled and sunburnt, his native +habits all unlearnt, and his native tongue +more than half forgotten. Even the Grand +Tour, with all that money could purchase in +the way of couriers and post-horses, to expedite +matters for my Lord, his chaplain, his +courier, and his dancing master, took as +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span>many years as it now does months to accomplish. +There were no young novelists in +those days to make a flying-trip to the +Gaboon country, to ascertain whether the +stories told by former tourists about shooting +gorillas were fibs or not. There were no +English engineers, fresh from Great George +Street, Westminster, writing home to the +<i>Athenæum</i> to say that they had just opened +a branch railway up to Ephesus, and that +(by the way) they had discovered a præ-Imperial +temple of Juno the day before +yesterday. Unprotected females didn't venture +in "unwhisperables" into the depths of +Norwegian forests; or, if they hazarded +such undertakings their unprotectedness led +them often to fall into cruel hands, and they +never returned. A great fuss used to be +made, before the days of steam, about the +"Fair Sophia," who undertook a journey +from Turkey to discover her lover, Lord +Bateman; but how long and wearisome was +her travail before she reached his lordship's +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span>castle in Northumberland, and was informed +by the "proud young porter" that he was +just then "taking of his young bride in"? +Madame Cottin's Elizabeth, when she walked +from Tobolsk to St. Petersburg to crave +pardon for the exiles of Siberia; Sir Walter +Scott's Jeanie Deans, when she tramped from +Edinburgh to London on her errand of +mercy, were justly regarded as heroines. +But what were the achievements of those +valorous young women when compared with +the Ladies who make tours round Monte +Rosa; nay, for the matter of that, "all round +the world"? <i>Il n'y a plus de Pyrénées.</i> Nay, +there are no more Andes, Himalayas, or +Rocky Mountains. When the late Mr. Albert +Smith wanted to change the attractions of +his show, he calmly took a trip from +Piccadilly to Hong Kong; it would have been +better for him, poor dear fellow, had he +remained at home. When her Majesty wanted +to show the late Sultan of Turkey a slight +act of civility, she sent Sir Charles Young +out to Constantinople to invest Abdul<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span> +Medjid with the Order of the Garter. Thirty +years ago, it is possible the estimable King +of Arms might have thought a mail-coach +journey to York a somewhat serious expedition, +yet he took the P. and O. Boat +for Stamboul as blithely as though he were +bound for a water-party at Greenwich. If an +Emperor is to be crowned in Russia, or +Prussia, or Crim Tartary, all the London +newspapers despatch special correspondents +to the scene of the pageant. Mr. Reuter +will soon have completed his Overland +Telegraph to China. At Liverpool they call +New York "over the way." The Prince of +Wales's travels in his nonage have made +Telemachus a tortoise, and the young +Anacharsis a stay-at-home. Married couples +spend their honeymoon hippopotamus +hunting in Abyssinia, or exploring the +sources of the Nile. And the Traveller's Club +are obliged to blackball nine-tenths of the +candidates put up for election, because now-a-days +almost every tolerably educated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span> +Englishman has travelled more than six +hundred miles in a straight direction from +the British Metropolis.</div> + +<p>Bearing these facts in mind, the travels of +Captain Dangerous, widely extended as they +were, may not appear to the present generation +as very uncommon or very surprising. +But such travellers as my hero, formed, in the +last century, a class apart, and were, in most +cases, very strange men. Diplomatic agents +belonging to the aristocracy rarely ventured +beyond the confines of Europe. The Ambassadors +sent to eastern climes were +usually, although accredited from the English +Court, maintained at the charge of great +commercial corporations, such as the Turkey +and Russia Companies, and were selected +less on the score of their having handles to +their names, or being born Russells, Greys, +and Elliots, than because they had led roving +and adventurous lives, and had fought +in or traded with the countries where they +were appointed to reside. Beyond these, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span> +travelling class was made up of merchants, +buccaneers, spies, and, notably, of political +adventurers, and English, Scotch, and Irish +Romanist Priests. The unhappy political +dissensions which raged in this country +from the time of the Great Rebellion to the +accession of George the Third, and the infamous +penal laws against the Roman Catholics, +periodically drove into banishment vast +numbers of loyal gentlemen and their families, +and ecclesiastics of the ancient faith, +who expatriated themselves for conscience' +sake, or through dread of the bloody enactments +levelled at those who worshipped +God as their fathers had done before them. +The Irish and Scotch soldiers who took service +under continental sovereigns sprinkled +the army lists of France, of Spain, and of +Austria with O's and Macs. There was +scarcely a European city without an Anglo-Saxon +or Anglo-Celtic monastery or nunnery, +and scarcely a seaport without a colony +of British exiles cast upon foreign shores<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span> +after the tempests of the Boyne, of Sheriffmuir, +of Preston, or of Culloden. When these +refugees went abroad it was to remain for +ten, for twenty, for thirty years, or for life. +The travelling of the present century is spasmodic, +that of the last century was chronic.</p> + +<p>I do not know whether the "Adventures" +I have ascribed to Captain Dangerous will +be readily recognised as "strange." To +some they may appear exaggerated and +distorted, to others merely strained and dull. +If truth, however, be stranger than fiction, +I may plead something in abatement; for +although I am responsible for the thread of +the story and the conduct of the narrative, +there is not one Fact set down as having +marked the career of the Captain that has +been drawn from imagination. For the +story of Arabella Greenville, for the sketch +of the Unknown Lady, for the exploits of the +"Blacks" in Charlwood Chase, for the history +of Mother Drum, for the voyage round +the world, for the details of the executions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span> +of Lord Lovat and Damiens, for the description +of the state of a Christian captive among +the Moors, I am indebted, not to a lively +fancy, but to books of travel, memoirs, Acts +of Parliament, and old newspapers and +magazines. I can scarcely, however, hope +that, although the incidents and the language +in this book are the result of years of weary +plodding and note-taking, through hundreds +of dusty tomes, they will succeed in interesting +or amusing the public now that +they have undergone the process of condensation. +The house need not be elegant because +the foundations have been laboriously +laid. A solid skeleton does not always +imply a beautiful skin.</p> + +<p>It is possible, nevertheless, that many +persons may cry out that what I have +written of Captain Dangerous could not +have occurred, with any reasonable amount +of probability, to any one man. Let me +mention the names of a score of men and +women recently or still living, and let me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span> +ask the reader whether anything in my +hero's career was stranger than the adventures +which marked theirs? Here is a penful +taken at random,—Lord Dundonald, +Lola Montes, Raousset-Boulbon, Richard +Burton, Garibaldi, Felice Orsini, Ida +Pfeiffer, Edgar Poe, Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson +(the Siberian travellers), Marshal St. +Arnaud, Paul du Chaillu, Joseph Wolff, Dr. +Livingstone, Gordon Cumming, William +Howard Russell, Robert Houdin, Constantine +Simonides, Barnum, and Louis Napoleon +Bonaparte. The life of any one of +these personages, truthfully written, would +be a thousand times stranger than anything +that is set down to Dangerous's account. +Let me quote one little example more in +point. Two years ago I wrote a story +called the "Seven Sons of Mammon," in +which there was an ideal character—that of +a fair-haired-little swindler, and presumable +murderess, called Mrs. Armytage. The Press +concurred in protesting that the character in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</a></span> +question was untrue to nature, and, indeed, +wholly impossible. Some details I had +given of her violent conduct in prison were +specially objected to as grossly improbable. +I said at the time that I had drawn the +woman from nature, and I was sneered at, +and not believed. I now again declare, +upon my honour, that this Mrs. Armytage, +was a compound of two real people; that as +regards her murdering propensities, I was, +for the matter and the manner thereof, beholden +to the French <i>Gazette des Tribunaux</i> +for the year 1839; and that as respects her +achievements in the way of lying, thieving, +swindling, forging, and fascinating, I had +before me, as a model, a woman whose misdeeds +were partially exposed some ten years +since in <i>Household Words</i>, who, her term of +punishment over, is, to the best of my +belief, alive at this moment, <i>and who was +re-married less than a year ago:</i>—the announcement +of that fact being duly inserted +in the <i>Times</i> newspaper. The prison details<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[xv]</a></span> +had been gathered by me years before, in +visits to gaols and in conversations with +the governors thereof; and months after the +publication of the "Seven Sons of Mammon," +I found them corroborated in their minutest +characteristics in a remarkable work called +"Female Life in Prison."</p> + +<p>It remains for me to say one word as to +the language in which the "Adventures of +Captain Dangerous" are narrated. I had +originally intended to call it a "Narrative in +plain English;" but I found, as I proceeded, +that the study of early eighteenth century +literature—I mean the ante-Johnsonian period—had +led me into the use of very many +now obsolete words and phrases, which +sounded like anything but plain English. +Let me, however, humbly represent that +the style, such as it is, was not adopted +without a purpose, and that the English I +have called "old-fashioned," was not in the +remotest degree intended to be modelled +upon the diction of Swift, or Pope, or Addison,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</a></span> +or Steele, or Dryden, or Defoe, or +even Nash or Howel. Such a feat of +elegant pedantry has already been accomplished +by Mr. Thackeray in his noble story +of <i>Esmond;</i> and I had no wish to follow +up a dignified imitation by a sorry caricature. +I simply endeavoured to make Captain +Dangerous express himself as a man +of ordinary intelligence and capacity would +do who was born in the reign of Queen +Anne,—who received a scrambling education +in that of George the First,—who had passed +the prime of his life abroad and had picked +up a good many bastard foreign words and +locutions,—whose reading had been confined +to the ordinary newspapers and chap-books +of his time (with perhaps an occasional dip +into the pages of "Ned Ward" and "Tom +Brown"),—and who in his old age had preserved +the pseudo-didactic of his youth. The +"Adventures of Captain Dangerous" have +been, in every sense, an experiment, and not +a very gratifying one. I have earned by them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</a></span> +a great many kicks, but a very few halfpence. +Should the toe of any friendly critic +be quivering in his boot just now, at the +bare announcement of "Captain Dangerous'" +re-appearance, I would respectfully submit +that there could not possibly occur a better +opportunity than the present for kicking me +<i>de novo</i>, as I have been for months very ill, +and am weary, and broken.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +<span class="smcap">George Augustus Sala</span>.<br /> +</div> + +<div> +<span class="smcap">Bernard Street, Russell Square</span>,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>April, 1863.</i></span><br /></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[xix]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS OF VOL. I.</h2> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>CHAPTER THE FIRST.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>MINE OWN HOUSE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER THE SECOND.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE HISTORY OF AN UNKNOWN LADY, WHO CAME FROM DOVER IN A COACH-AND-SIX</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER THE THIRD.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE HISTORY OF MY GRANDMOTHER, WHO WAS A LADY OF CONSEQUENCE IN THE WEST COUNTRY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER THE FOURTH.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>MY GRANDMOTHER DIES, AND I AM LEFT ALONE, WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A NAME</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_87"><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads '85'">87</ins></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER THE FIFTH.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>I AM BARBAROUSLY ABUSED BY THOSE WHO HAVE CHARGE OF ME, AND FLYING INTO CHARLWOOD CHASE, JOIN THE "BLACKS"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_126"><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads '126'">126</ins></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER THE SIXTH.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[xx]</a></span>THE HISTORY OF MY GRANDFATHER, WHO WAS SO LONG KEPT A PRISONER IN ONE OF THE KING'S CASTLES IN THE EAST COUNTRY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>I AM BRED UP IN VERY BAD COMPANY, AND (TO MY SHAME) HELP TO KILL THE KING'S DEER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE HISTORY OF MOTHER DRUM</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_220">220</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER THE NINTH.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE END OF MY ADVENTURES AMONG THE BLACKS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />CHAPTER THE TENTH.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>I AM VERY NEAR BEING HANGED</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h3>THE STRANGE ADVENTURES</h3> + +<h4>OF</h4> + +<h2>CAPTAIN DANGEROUS.</h2> + +<div class='center'><b>A Narrative in Old fashioned English.</b></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER THE FIRST.</h2> + +<h3>MINE OWN HOUSE.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'>I, <span class="smcap">John Dangerous</span>, a faithful subject of +his Majesty King George, whose bread, +God bless him! I have eaten, and whose +battles I have fought, in my poor way, am +now in my sixty-eighth year, and live in My +Own House in Hanover Square. By virtue +of several commissions, both English and +foreign, I have a right to call myself Captain; +and if any man say that I have no +such right, he Lies, and deserves the Stab.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +It may be that this narrative, now composed +only for my own Pleasure, will, long after +my Death, see the light in Print, and that +some copper Captain, or counterfeit critic, or +pitiful creature of that kidney, will question +my Rank, or otherwise despitefully use my +Memory. Let such treachours and clapper-dudgeons +(albeit I value not their leasing +a bagadine) venture it at their peril. I +have, alas, no heirs male; but to my +Daughter's husband, and to his descendants, +or, failing them, to their executors, +administrators, and assigns, I solemnly commit +the task of seeking out such envious +Rogues, and of kicking and firking them +on the basest part of their base bodies. The +stab I forego; I wish not to cheat the hangman +of his due, or the Rev. Mr. Villette of +a sermon. But let the knaves discover, +to the aching of their scald sides, that even +the Ghost of John Dangerous is not to be +libelled.</div> + +<p>There is a knot of these same cittern-headed +simpletons who meet at a coffee-house<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +in Great Swallow Street, which I am sometimes +minded to frequent, and who imagine +that they show their wit and parts by reviling +their Church and their King, and even by +maligning the Honourable East India Company,—a +corporation to which I am beholden +for many Favours. "Fellow," I said, only +last Saturday, to a whippersnapper from an +Inn of Court,—a Thing I would not trust +to defend my Tom-Cat were he in peril at +the Old Bailey for birdslaughter, and who +picks up a wretched livelihood, I am told, +by scribbling lampoons against his betters in +a weekly Review,—"Fellow," I said, "were I +twenty years younger, and you twenty years +older, John Dangerous would vouchsafe to +pink an eyelet-hole in your waistcoat. Did +I care to dabble in your polite conversation +or your <i>belles lettres</i> (of which I knew much +more than ever you will know years before +the Parish was at pains to fix your begetting +on some one), I would answer your scurrilities +in Print; but this I disdain, sirrah. Good +stout Ash and good strong Cordovan leather<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +are the things fittest to meet your impertinences +with;" and so I held out my Foot, +and shook my Staff at the titivilitium coxcomb; +and he was so civil to me during the +rest of the evening as to allow me to pay his +clog-shot for him.</p> + +<p>The chief delight I derive from ending +my days in Hanover Square is the knowledge +that the house is Mine Own. I bought it +with the fruit of mine own earnings, mine +own moneys—not gotten from grinding the +faces and squeezing the vitals of the Poor, +but acquired by painful and skilful Industry, +and increased by the lawful spoil of War. +For booty, as I have heard a great commander +say in Russia, is a Holy Thing. I +have not disdained to gather moderate riches +by the buying and selling of lawful Merchandize; +albeit I always looked on mere +Commerce and Barter as having something +of the peddling and huxtering savour in +them. My notion of a Merchant is that of +a Bold Spirit who embarks on his own venture +in his own ship, and is his own supercargo,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +and has good store of guns and Bold +Spirits like himself on board, and sails to +and fro on the High Seas whithersoever he +pleases. As to the colour of the flag he is +under, what matters it if it be of no colour at +all, as old Robin Roughhead used to say to +me,—even Black, which is the Negation of +all colour? So I have traded in my way, +and am the better by some thousands of +pounds for my trading, now. That much +of my wealth has its origin in lawful Plunder +I scorn to deny. If you slay a Spanish Don +in fair fight, and the Don wears jewelled rings +and carcanets on all his fingers, and carries a +great bag of moidores in his pocket, are you to +leave him on the field, prithee, or gently ease +him of his valuables? Can the crows eat his +finery as well as his carcase? If I find a +ship full of golden doubloons and silver +candlesticks destined for the chapel of St. +Jago de Compostella, am I to scuttle the +ship and let her go down with all these good +things on board; or am I to convey them +to mine own lockers, giving to each of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +Valiant Comrades his just and proper share? +The governor of Carthagena will never get +the doubloons, St. Jago of Compostella will +never see his candlesticks; why should not +I and my Brave Hearts enjoy them instead +of the fishes and the mermaids? They have +Coral enough down there, I trow, by the +deep, nini; what do they want with Candlesticks? +If they lack further ornament, +there are pearls enow to be had out of the +oysters—unless there be lawyers down +below—ay, and pearls, too, in dead men's +skulls, and emerald and diamond gimmels +on skeleton hands, among the sea-weed, +sand, and the many-coloured pebbles of the +great Ocean.</p> + +<p>There are those who call me an old +Pirate. Let them. I was never in trouble +with the Admiralty Court. I can pass +Execution Dock without turning pale. +And no one can gainsay me when I aver +that I have faithfully served his Majesty +King George, and was always a true friend +to the Protestant succession.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + +<p>There has been a mighty talk, too, about +my turning Turk. Why should not I, if +I could not Help it? Better to read the +Koran, than to sing the Black Sanctus. +Better to serve Mahound than Bungy's dog. +I never Turned my Tippet, as some fine +gentlemen who have never seen Constantinople +have done. I never changed my +Principles, although I was a Bashaw with +three tails. Better to have three tails than +to be a Rat with only one. And, let me +tell you, it is a mighty fine thing to be a +Bashaw, and to have as many purses full of +Sequins and Aspers as there are days in the +year.</p> + +<p>I should have been hanged long ago, +should I—hanged for a Pirate, a Spy, and +a Renegade? Well, I have escaped the +bow-string in a country where hundreds +die of Sore Throat every day, and I can +afford to laugh at any prospect of a wych +round my weasand in mine old age. Sword +of Damocles, forsooth! why my life has +been hanging on a cobweb any time these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +fifty years; and here I am at Sixty-Eight +safe and sound, with a whole Liver and a +stout Heart, and a bottle of wine to give +a Friend, and a house of mine own in +Hanover Square.</p> + +<p>I write this in the great Front Parlour, +which I have converted into a library, +study, and counting-room. The year of +our Lord is seventeen hundred and eighty. +His Majesty's subjects have lost eleven +days—through some Roguery in high places, +you may be sure—since I was a young man; +and were I a cocksloch, I might grudge +that snipping off of the best part of a fortnight +from an Old Man's life. It may be, +indeed, that Providence, which has always +been good to me, will add eleven days—yea, +and twice eleven—to the dwindling span of +poor old John Dangerous. I have many +Mercies to be thankful for; of sins likewise +without blin, and grievous ones, there may +be a long list that I shall have to account for; +but I can say that I never killed a man in +cold blood, that I never wilfully wronged a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +woman, <i>so long as she was not obstinate</i>, that +I never spake an unkind word to a child, +that I always gave freely from that which I +got freely, and never took from him who +had little, and that I was always civil to the +clergy. Yet Doctor Dubiety of St. George's +tells me that I have been a signal sinner, +and bids me, now, to repent of my evil +ways. Dr. Dubiety is in the right no +doubt;—how could a Doctor of Divinity +be ever in the Wrong?—but I can't see +that I am so much worse than other folks. +I should be in better case, perhaps, if these +eyes stood wider open. I confess that I +have killed many men with Powder and +Lead, and the sharp sword; but, then, had I +not shot or stabbed them, they would surely +have shot or stabbed me. And are not his +Majesty's fellow-subjects shooting and stabbing +one another at this instant moment<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> +in the American plantations? No; I +always fought fair, and never refused Quarter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +when mine enemy threw up his point; nor, +unless a foeman's death were required for +Lawful Reprisals, did I ever deny moderate +Ransom.</p> + +<p>There may be some things belonging to +my worldly store that trouble me a little +in the night season. Should I have given +St. Jago de Compostella's candlesticks to +Westminster Abbey? Why, surely, the +Dean and Chapter are rich enough. But +I declare that I had neither art not part +in fitting the thumbscrews to the Spanish +captain, and putting the boatswain and his +mate to the ordeal of flogging and pickling. +'Twas not I, but Matcham, who is +Dead, that caused the carpenter to be carbonadoed, +and the Scotch purser to walk +the Plank. Those were, I grant, deeds +worthy of Blackbeard; but I had naught +to do with them. John Dangerous <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'ha'">had</ins> +suffered too many tortures in the dungeons +of the Inquisition to think of afflicting his +fellow-creatures when there was no <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'nee'">need</ins> +for it. Then, as to what became of Doña<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +Estella. I declare that I did my best to +save that unhappy lady. I entreated, I +protested; but in vain. None of that guilt +lies at my door; and in the crime of him +who roasted the Bishop, and cut off the +Franciscan Monk's great-toes I have no +share. Let every man answer for his own +deeds. When I went the Middle Passage, +I tried to keep the slaves alive as long I +could. I was never a Mangoniser. When +they died, what was there to do but to fling +them overboard? Should I not have done +the same by white men? I was not one +of those cruel Guinea captains who kept +the living and the dead chained together. +I defy any one to prove it.</p> + +<p>And all this bald chat about sacking +towns and gutting convents? War is war +all the world over; and if you take a town +by Assault, why of course you must Sack it. +As to gutting convents, 'tis a mercy to <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'le'">let</ins> +some pure air into the close, stifling places; +and, of a surety, an act of Charity to let the +poor captive nuns out for a Holiday.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +Reverend Superiors, holy sisters, I never +did ye any harm. You cannot torment me +in the night. Your pale faces and shadowy +forms have no need to gather round the +bed of John Dangerous. Take, for Pity's +sake, those Eyes away! But no more! +These thoughts drive me Mad.</p> + +<p>I am not Alone in my house. My daughter, +my beloved Lilias, my only and most +cherished child, the child of my old age, +the legacy of the departed Saint her mother, +lives with me. Bless her! she believes not +a word of the Lies that are whispered of her +old Father. If she were to be told a tithe +of them, she would grieve sorely; but she +holds no converse with Slanderers and those +who wag their tongues and say so-and-so +of such-a-one. She knows that my life +has been wild, and stormy, and Dangerous +as my name; but she knows that it has +also been one of valour, and honesty, and +striving. St. Jago de Compostella's candlesticks +never went towards her schooling, +pretty creature! My share from the gold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +in the scuttled ship never helped to furnish +forth her dowry. Lilias is my joy, my +comfort; my stay, my merciful consolation +for the loss of that good and perfect Woman +her mother. Dear heart! she has never +been crossed in love, never known Love's +sorrows, angers, disappointments, and despair. +She was married to the Man of her +Choice; and I am delighted to know that I +never interfered, by word or by deed, with +the progress of her Wooing; that he to +whom she is wedded is one of the worthiest +of youths; and that Heaven has blessed me +with the means to enable him to maintain +the state and figure of a gentleman.</p> + +<p>Thus, although Comfort and Quiet are +the things I chiefly desire after the bustle +and turmoil of a tempest-tossed career, and +the pleasure I take in the gaieties of the +Town is but small, it cheers me to see my +Son and Daughter enjoying themselves, as +those who have youth and health and an +unclouded conscience are warranted in doing, +and, indeed, called upon to do. I like them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +on Sundays and Holidays to come to church +at St. George's, and sit under Doctor +Dubiety, where I, as a little lad, sat many +and many a time, more than fifty years ago; +but my house is no Conventicle, and on all +weekdays and Lawful Occasions my family +is privileged to partake to their heart's content +of innocent and permitted pastimes. +I never set my face against a visit to the +Playhouse or to the Concert-room; although +to me, who can remember the most +famous players and singers of Europe, the +King's Theatre and the Pantheon, and even +Drury-Lane, are very tame places, filled with +very foolish folk. But they please the young +people, and that is enough for me. Nor to +an occasional junketing at Vauxhall do I ever +turn queasy. 'Tis true I have seen Ranelagh +and Marylebone Belsize, and Spring Gardens, +and seen Folly on the Thames—to say +nothing of the chief Continental Tivolis, +Spas, Lustgartens, and other places of resort +of the Great; but fiddlers are fiddlers, and +coloured lamps are coloured lamps, all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +world over, I apprehend; and my children +have as much delight in gazing on these +spangled follies now as I had when I and +the eighteenth century were young. Only +against Masquerades and Faro-tables, as +likewise against the pernicious game of +E. O., post and pair, fayles, dust-point, do I +sternly set my face, deeming them as wholly +wicked, carnal, and unprofitable, and leading +directly to perdition.</p> + +<p>It rejoices me much that my son, or rather +son-in-law,—but I love to call him by the +more affectionate name,—is in no wise addicted +to dicing, or horse-racing, or cock-fighting, +or any of those sinful or riotous +courses to which so many of our genteel +youth—even to those of the first Quality—devote +themselves. He is no Puritan; (for I +did ever hate your sanctimonious Banbury-men); +but he has a Proper Sense of what +is due to the Honour and Figure of his +family, and refrains from soiling his hands +with bales of dice and worse implements +among the profligate crew to be met with,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +not alone at Newmarket, or at the "Dog and +Duck," or "Hockley Hole," but in Pall-Mall, +and in the very ante-chambers of St. James's, +no cater-cousin of the Groom-Porter he. He +rides his hackney, as a gentleman should, +nor have I prohibited him from occasionally +taking my Lilias an airing in a neat +curricle; but he is no Better on the Turf, +no comrade of jockeys and stablemen, no +patron of bruisers and those that handle the +backsword and are quick at finish with the +provant rapier, and agile in the use of the +imbrocatto. I would disinherit him were I +to suspect him of such practices, or of an +over-fondness for the bottle, or of a passion +for loose company. He hunts sometimes, and +fishes and goes a birding, and he has a +pretty fancy for the making of salmon-flies, +in the which pursuit, I conclude, there is +much ingenuity, and no manner of harm, +fish being given to us for food, and the devising +how best to snare the creatures entirely +Lawful.</p> + +<p>Lilias Dangerous has been wedded to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +Edward Marriner these two years. It was +at first my design to buy the youth a Pair of +Colours, and to let him see the world and +the usages of honourable warfare for a year +or two; but my Lilias could not bear the +thought of her young Ensign's coming home +without an arm or a leg, or perchance being +slain in some desperate conflict with savage +Indians, or scarcely less savage Americans; +and I did not press my plan of giving Edward +for a time to the service of the King. +He, I am bound to say, was eager to take +up a Commission; but the tears and entreaties +of my Daughter, who thinks War +the wickedest of crimes, and the shedding of +human blood a wholly Unpardonable Thing, +prevailed. So they were Married, and are +Happy; and I am sure, now, that were I to +lose either of them, it would break the old +man's heart.</p> + +<p>My Lilias is tall and slender, her skin is +very white, her hair a rich brown, her eyes +very large and clear and blue. But that I am +too old to be vain, I might be twitted with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +Conceit when I state that she holds these +advantages of person less from her Mother +than from myself, her loving Father. Not that +I was so comely in my young days; but my +Grandmother before me was of the same fair +Image that I so delight to look upon in +Lilias. She was tall, and white, and brown-haired, +and blue-eyed. She had Lilias's +small and daintily-fashioned hands and +feet, or rather Lilias has hers. To me these +features were only transmitted in a meaner +degree. I was a big-boned lusty lad, with +flowing brown locks, an unfreckled skin, and +an open eye; but my Grandmother's Face +and Form have renewed themselves in my +child. At twenty she is as beautiful as +her Great-grandmother must have been at +that same sunny time, as I am told and know +that Lady was: albeit when I remember her +she was nearly Ninety years of age.</p> + +<p>Yes; Lilias's eyes are very blue; but they +are always soft and tender and pitiful in +their regard. Her Great-grandmother's had,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +when she was moved, a Strange Wild look +that awed and terrified the beholders. Only +once in the life of my Lilias, when she was +very young, and on the question of some toy +or sweetmeat which my departed Saint had +denied her, did I notice that Terrible Look in +her blue eyes. My wife, who, albeit the most +merciful soul alive, ever maintained strict +discipline in her household, would have corrected +the child for what she set down as flat +mutiny and rebellion; but I stayed her +chastening hand, and bade the young girl +walk awhile in the garden until her heat +was abated; and as she went away, her little +breast heaving, her little hands clenched, +and the Terrible Look darting out on me +through the silken tangles of her dear hair, +I shuddered, and said, "Wife of mine, our +Lilias's look is one she cannot help. It +comes from Me, you may have seen it +fiercer and fiercer in mine own eyes; and +She, whom of all women I loved and venerated, +looked thus when anger overcame<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +her. And though I never knew my own +dear Mother, she, or I greatly mistake, must +have had that look in hers likewise."</p> + +<p>I thank Heaven that those pure blue +waters, limpid and bright, in my Lilias's +orbs were nevermore ruffled by that +storm. As she grew up, their expression +became even softer and kinder, and she +never ceased from being in the likeness of +an Angel. She looks like one now, and will +be one, I trust, some day, Above, where she +can pray for her danger-worn old sire.</p> + +<p>My own wife (whose name was Lilias too) +was a merry, plump, ruddy-skinned little +woman—a very baby in these strong arms +of mine. She had laughing black eyes, and +coal-black tresses, and lips which were always +at vintage-time. Although her only child +takes after me, not her, in face and carriage, +in all things else she resembles my Saint. +She is as merry, as light-hearted, as pure and +good, as she was. She has the same humble, +pious Faith; the same strong, inflexible will +of abiding by Right; the same hearty, outspoken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +hatred of Wrong, abhorrence of Wrong. +She has the same patience, cheerfulness, and +obedience in her behaviour to those who are +set in authority over her; and if I am by +times angered, or peevish, or moody, she +bears with my infirmities in the same meek, +loving, and forgiving spirit. She has her +Mother's grace, her Mother's voice, her +Mother's ringing voice. She has her Mother's +infinite care of and benevolence to the poor +and needy. She has her Mother's love for +merry sports and innocent romps. Like my +departed Saint, she has an exquisitely neat +and quick hand for making pastries and +marchpanes, possets and sugared tankards, +and confeeding of diapasms, pomanders, and +other sweet essences, and cures for the chilblains; +and like her she plays excellent well +on the harpsichords.</p> + +<p>Thus, in a quiet comfort and competence, +in the love of my children, and in the King's +peace, these my latter days are gliding away. +I am somewhat troubled with gout and +twitching pains, scotomies in the head, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +fulness of humours, with other old men's ailments; +and I do not sleep well o' nights +owing to vexatious Dreams and Visions, to +abate which I am sometimes let blood, and +sometimes blistered behind the ears; but +beyond these cares—and who hath not his +cares?—Captain John Dangerous, of number +One hundred Hanover Square, is a Happy +Man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER THE SECOND.</h2> + +<h3>THE HISTORY OF AN UNKNOWN LADY, WHO CAME FROM +DOVER IN A COACH-AND-SIX.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">In</span> the winter of the year 1720, died in her +house in Hanover Square,—the very one in +which I am now finishing my life,—an Unknown +Lady nearly ninety years of age. +The mansion was presumed to be her own, +and it was as much hers as it is mine now; +but the reputed landlord was one Doctor +Vigors, a physician of the College in Warwick +Lane, in whose name the Lease ran, +who was duly rated to the poor as tenant, +and whose patient the Unknown Lady was +given out to be. But when Dr. Vigors +came to Hanover Square it was not as a +Master, but as the humblest of Servants; and +no tradesman, constable, maid, or lacquey<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +about the house or neighbourhood would +have ventured for his or her life to question +that, from cellar to roof, every inch of the +mansion belonged to the Unknown Lady. +The vulgar held her in a kind of Awe, and +spoke of her as the Lady in Diamonds; for +she always wore a number of those precious +gems, in rings, bracelets, stomachers, and +the like. The gentlefolks, of whom many +waited upon her, from her first coming hither +unto her death, asked for "my Lady," and +nothing more. It was in the year 1714 that +she first arrived in London, coming late at +night from Dover, in a coach-and-six, and +bringing with her one Mr. Cadwallader, a +person of a spare habit and great gravity of +countenance, as her steward; one Mistress +Nancy Talmash, as her waiting-woman; and +a Foreign Person of a dark and forbidding +mien, who was said to be her chaplain. In +the following year, and during the unhappy +troubles in Scotland arising out of the +treasons of the Earl of Mar, and other Scots +Lords, one of his Majesty's messengers came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +for the Foreign Person, and conveyed him in +a coach to the Cockpit at Whitehall; while +another messenger took up his abode in the +house at Hanover Square, lying in the +second best bed-chamber, and having his +table apart, for a whole week. From these +circumstances, it was rumoured that the +Unknown Lady was a Papist and Jacobite; +that the seminary Priest, her confederate, +was bound for Newgate, and would doubtless +make an end of it at Tyburn; and that +the Lady herself would be before many days +clapt up in the Tower. But Signor Casagiotti, +the Venetian Envoy, as a subject of the +seignory, claimed the Foreign Person and +obtained his release; and it was said that +one of the great Lords of the Council +came himself to Hanover Square to take the +examination of the Unknown Lady, and was +so well satisfied with the speech he had with +her as to discharge her then and there from +Custody,—if, indeed, she had ever been under +any actual durance,—and promise her the +King and Minister's countenance for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +future. The Foreign Person was suffered to +return, and thenceforward was addressed as +Father Ruddlestone, as though he had some +licence bearing him harmless from the penalties +and præmunires which then weighed upon +recusant persons. And I am given to understand +that, on the evening of his enlargement, +the same great Lord, being addressed in a +jocular manner at the coffee-house by a +Person of Honour, and asked if he had not +caught the Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender +in petticoats and diamonds, somewhere in St. +George's parish, very gravely made answer, +that some degrees of Loyalty were like Gold, +which were all the better for being tried in +the furnace, and that, although there had +once been a King James, and there was now +a King George, the lady, of whom perhaps +that gentleman was minded to speak, had +done a notable Thing before he was born, +which entitled her to the eternal gratitude +of Kings.</div> + +<p>Although so old on her first coming to +Hanover Square, and dwelling in it until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +her waiting-woman avowed that she was +close on her Ninetieth year, the Unknown +Lady preserved her faculties in a surprising +manner, and till within a few days of her +passing away went about her house, took +the air from time to time in her coach, or in +a chair, and received company. The very +highest persons of Quality sought her, and +appeared to take pleasure in her conversation. +To Court, indeed, she never went; but she +was visited more than once by an illustrious +Prince; and many great nobles likewise +waited upon her in their Birthday +suits. On Birthnights there was Play in +the great drawing-room, where nothing but +gold was permitted to be staked.</p> + +<p>Credible persons have described her to +me as being, and supplemented mine own +memory—in the extremest sunset of her +life, when the very fray and pillings of her +garment were come to, and no more stuff +remained wherewith to piece it,—a person +of Signal Beauty. She was of commanding +stature, stooped very little, albeit she made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +use of a crutch-stick in walking, and had a +carriage full of graciousness, yet of somewhat +austere Dignity. No portion of her +hair was visible under the thick folds of +muslin and point of Alençon which covered +her head, and were themselves half hidden +by a hood of black Paduasoy; but in a +glass-case in her cabinet, among other relics +of which I may have presently to speak, she +kept a quantity of the most beauteous chestnut +tresses ever beheld. "These were my +Love-Locks, child," I remember her saying +to me once. I am ashamed to confess that, +during my brief commerce with her, the +dress she wore, which was commonly of +black velvet, and the diamonds which glittered +on her hands and arms and bosom +impressed themselves far more forcibly on +my memory than her face, which I have +since been told was Beautiful. My informant +bears witness that her eyes were +Blue, and of an exceeding brightness, sometimes +quite terrible to look upon, although +tempered at most times by a Sweet Mildness;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +yet there were seasons when this brightness, +as that of the Sun in a wholly cloudless +sky, became Fierce, and burnt up him who +beheld it. Time had been so long a husbandman +of her fair demesne, had reaped +so many crops of smiles and tears from that +comely visage, that it were a baseness to +infer that no traces of his husbandry appeared +on her once smooth and silken flesh, +for the adornment of which she had ever +disdained the use of essences and unguents. +Yet I am told that her wrinkles and creases, +although manifold, were not harsh nor rugged; +and that her face might be likened rather to +a billet of love written on fair white vellum, +that had been somewhat crumpled by the +hand of him who hates Youth and Love, +than to some musty old conveyance or +mortgage-deed scrabbled on yellow, damp-stained, +rat-gnawed parchment. Her hands +and neck were to the last of an amazing +Whiteness. The former, as were also her +feet, very small and delicate. Her speech +when moved was Quick, and she spoke as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +one accustomed to be obeyed; but at most +seasons her bearing towards her domestics +was infinitely kind and tender. Towards +the Foreign Person, her Director, she always +bore herself with edifying meekness. She +was cheerful in company, full of ready wit, +of great shrewdness, discretion, and observation; +could discourse to admiration of +foreign cities and persons of renown, even +to Kings and Princes, whom she had seen +and known; and was well qualified to speak +on public affairs, although she seldom deigned +to concern herself with the furious madness +of Party. Mere idle prattle of Operas, and +Play-books, and Auctions, and the like, was +extremely distasteful to her; and although +at that time a shameful looseness of manners +and conversation obtained even among the +Greatest persons in the land, she would +never suffer any evil or immodest talk to be +held in her presence; and those who wished +to learn aught of the wickedness of the town +and the scandals of High Life were fain to +go elsewhere for their gossip.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> + +<p>I have said that her dress was to me the +chief point of notice, and is that of which I +retain the keenest remembrance. Her diamonds, +indeed, had over me that strange +fascination which serpents are said to have +over birds; and I would sit with my little +mouth all agape, and my eyes fixed and +staring, until they grew dazed, and I was +frightened at the solemn twinkling of those +many gems. In my absurd child-way, it was +to my fancy as though the Lady were some +great Altar or Herse of State in a Church, +and her Jewels so many Lamps kindled +about her, and to be kept alive for ever. +She robed habitually, as I have said, in +Black Velvet; but on Birthnights, when +more company than usual came, and there +was play in the great drawing-room, she +would wear a sack of sad-coloured satin; +while, which was stranger still, on the +thirtieth day of January in every year, at +least so long as I can keep it in mind, she +wore her sable dress; not her ordinary one, +but a fuller garment, which had bows of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +Crimson Ribbon down the front and at the +sleeves, and a great Crimson Scarf over the +right shoulder, so as to come in saltire over +her Heart. And on the day she made this +change she wore no Diamonds, but Rubies +in great number, and of great size. On +that day, also, we kept an almost entire fast, +and from morning to night I had nothing +but a little cake and a glass of Red wine. +From sunrise to sunset the Lady sat in her +cabinet among her Relics; and I was bidden +to sit over against her on a little stool. +She would talk much, and, as it seemed to +me wildly, in a language which I could not +understand, going towards her relics and +touching them in a strange manner. Then +she would say to me, with a sternness that +chilled the marrow in my bones, "Child, +Remember the Day: Remember the Thirtieth +of January." And she would often repeat +that word, "Remember," rocking herself to +and fro. And more than once she would +say, "Blood for blood." Then Mistress +Talmash would enter and assay to Soothe her,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +telling her that what was past was past, and +could not be undone. Then she would take +out a great Prayer-Book bound in Red +leather, and which had this strange device +raised in an embosture of gold, on either +cover, and in a solemn voice read out long +passages, which I afterwards learned were +from that service holden on the anniversary +of the martyrdom of King Charles the First. +She would go on to read the Ritual for the +King's Touching for the Evil, now expunged +from our Liturgy; and then Mistress +Talmash would pray her to read the joyful +prayers for the twenty-ninth of May, the +date of the happy restoration of King Charles +the Second. But that she would seldom do,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +murmuring, "I dare not, I dare not. Tell +not Father Ruddlestone." All these things +were very strange to me; but I grew accustomed +to them in time. And there seems to +a solitary child, an immensity of time passing +between his first beginning to remember +and his coming to eight years of +age.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 296px;"> +<img src="images/illus-053.png" width="296" height="300" alt="Emblem" title="Emblem" /> +</div> + +<p>There is one thing that I must mention +before this Lady ceases to be Unknown to +the reader. She was afflicted with a continual +trembling of the entire Frame. She +was no paralytic, for to the very end she +could take her food and medicine without +assistance; but she shook always like a +very Aspen. It had to do with her nerves, +I suppose; and it was perhaps for that cause +she was attended for so many years by Doctor +Vigors; but he never did her any good +in that wise; and the whole College of Warwick +Lane would, I doubt not, have failed +signally had they attempted her cure. Often +I asked Mistress Talmash why the Lady—for +until her death I knew of no other name<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +whereby to call her—shook so; but the +waiting-woman would chide me, and say that +if I asked questions she would shake me. +So that I forebore.</p> + +<p>Ours was a strange and solemn household. +All was stately and well ordered, +and—when company came—splendid; but +the house always seemed to me much +gloomier than the great Parish-Church, +whither I was taken every Sunday morning +on the shoulder of a tall footman, and shut up +alone in a great Pew lined with scarlet baize, +and where I felt very much like a little child +that was lost in the midst of the Red Sea. +Far over my head hung a gallery full of the +children of Lady Viellcastel's charity-school; +and these, both boys and girls, would make +grimaces at me while the Psalms were being +sung, until I felt more frightened than when +I was on my little stool in the cabinet of +relics, on the thirtieth of January. Just +over the ledge of my pew I could see the +clergyman, in his large white wig, leaning +over the reading-desk, and talking at me, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +I thought, in a mighty angry manner; and +when he, or another divine, afterwards +ascended the pulpit above, I used to fancy +that it was only the same parson grown +taller, and with a bigger wig, and that he +seemed to lean forward, and be angrier with +me than ever. The time of kneeling was +always one of sore trouble to me, for I had +to feel with my foot for the hassock, which +seemed to lie as far beneath me as though +it were, indeed, sunk at the bottom of the +Red Sea. Getting up again was quite as +difficult; and I don't think we ever attained +the end of the Litany without my dropping +my great red Prayer-Book—not the thirtieth-of-January +one, but another affected to +my especial use—with a Clang. On such occasions +the pew-door would open, and the +Beadle enter. He always picked up the +book, and gave it me with a low bow; but +he never omitted to tell me, in a deadly +whisper, that if I had been one of Lady Viellcastel's +boys, he'd skin me alive, he would.</p> + +<p>The Unknown Lady did not attend the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +parish-church. She, and Mistress Talmash, +and the Foreign Person, held a service apart. +I was called "Little Master," and went +with the footman. The fellow's name, I +remember, was Jeremy. He used to talk to +me, going and coming, as I sat, in my fine +Laced Clothes, and my hat with a plume in +it, and my little rapier with the silver hilt, +perched on his broad shoulder. He used to +tell me that he had been a soldier, and +had fought under Colonel Kirk; and +that he had a wife, who washed bands +and ruffles for the gentlemen of the Life +Guard, and drank strong waters till she +found herself in the Roundhouse. Always +on a Sunday morning, as the church-bells +began to ring, the Unknown Lady would +give me a Guinea to put into the plate after +service. I remember that the year before +she died, when I was big enough to walk +with my hand in Jeremy's, instead of being +carried, that he told me on Easter-Sunday +morning that his wife was dead, and that +he had two children in a cellar who had no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +bread to eat. He cried a good deal; and +before we reached the church, took me into +a strange room in a back-street, where there +were a number of men and women shouting +and quarrelling, and another, without his +wig and with a great gash in his forehead, +sprawling on the ground, and crying out +"Lillibulero!" and two more playing cards +on a pair of bellows. And they were all +drinking from mugs and smoking tobacco. +Here Jeremy had something to drink, too, +from a mug. He put the vessel to my lips, +and I tasted something Hot, which made +me feel very faint and giddy. When we +were in the open air again, he cried worse +than ever. What could I do but give him +my guinea? On our return, to Hanover +Square, the Lady asked me, according to +her custom, what was the text, and whether +I had put my money into the plate. She +was not strict about the first; for I was +generally, from my tenderness of years, unable +to tell her more than that the gentleman +in the wig seemed very angry with me,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +and the Pope, and the Prince of Darkness; +but she alway taxed me smartly about the +Guinea. This was before the time that I +had learned to Lie; and so I told her how +I had given the piece of gold to Jeremy, for +that his wife was no more, and his children +were in a cellar with nothing to eat. She +stayed a while looking at me with those blue +eyes, which had first their bright fierceness +in them and then their kind and sweet tenderness. +It was the first time that I marked her +eyes more than her dress and her diamonds. +She took me in her lap, and printed her +lips—which were very soft, but cold—upon +my forehead.</p> + +<p>"Child," she said, "did I use thee as is +the custom, thou shouldst be Whipped, not +Kissed, for thy folly and disobedience. But +you knew not what you did. Here are two +guineas to put into the plate next Sunday; +and let no rogues cozen you out of it. As +for Jeremy," she continued, turning to +Mistress Talmash, "see that the knave be +stripped of his livery, and turned out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +the house this moment, for robbing my +Grandson, and taking him on a Sabbath +morning to taverns, among grooms, and +porters, and fraplers, and bullies."</p> + +<p>Yes; the Unknown Lady was my Grandmother. +I purpose now to relate to you +her History, revealed to me many years +after her death, in a manner to be mentioned +at the proper time.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER THE THIRD.</h2> + +<h3>THE HISTORY OF MY GRANDMOTHER, WHO WAS A LADY +OF CONSEQUENCE IN THE WEST COUNTRY.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">My</span> Grandmother was born at Bristol, about +the year 1630, and in the reign of King +Charles the First. She came of a family +noted for their long lives, and of whom +there was, in good sooth, a proverb in the +West setting forth that "Bar Gallows, +Glaive, and the Gout, every Greenville +would live to a hundred." Her maiden name +was Greenville: she was baptised Arabella; +and she was the only daughter of Richard +Greenville, an Esquire of a fair estate between +Bath and Bristol, where his ancestors +had held their land for three hundred +years, on a Jocular Tenure of presenting the +king, whenever he came that way, with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +goose-pie, the legs sticking through the +crust. It was Esquire Greenville's misfortune +to come to his patrimony just as those +unhappy troubles were fomenting which +a few years after embroiled these kingdoms +in one great and dismal Quarrel. It was +hard for a gentleman of consequence in his +own county, and one whose forefathers +had served the most considerable offices +therein,—having been of the Quorum ever +since the reign of King Edward the Third,—to +avoid mingling in some kind or +another in the dissensions with which our +beloved country was then torn. Mr. Greenville +was indeed a person of a tranquil and +placable humour, to whom party janglings +were thoroughly detestable; and although +he leant naturally, as beseemed his degree, +towards the upholding of his Majesty's +Crown and Dignity, and the maintenance +in proper Honour and Splendour of the +Church, he was too good a Christian and +citizen not to shrink from seeing his native +land laid waste by the blind savageness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +a Civil War. And although, he paid Cess +and Ship-money without murmuring, and, +on being chosen a Knight of the Shire, did +zealously speak up in the Commons House +of Parliament on the King's side (refusing +nevertheless to make one of the lip-serving +crowd of courtiers of Whitehall), and +although, when churchwarden in his parish, +he ever preserved the laudable custom of +Whitsun and Martinmas ales for the good +of the poor, and persisted in having the +Book of Sports read from the pulpit,—he +was averse from all high-handed measures +of musketooning, and calivering, and gambriling +those of the meaner sort, or those of +better degree (as Mr. Hampden, Mr. Pym, +and Another whom I shudder to mention), +who, for Conscience' sake, opposed themselves +to the King's Government. He was +in this wise at issue with some of his +hotter Cavalier neighbours, as, for instance, +Sir Basil Fauconberg, who, whenever public +matters were under question, began with +"Neighbour, you must first show me Pym,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +Hampden, Haslerigge, and the rest, swinging +as the Sign of the Rogue's Head, and +then I will begin to chop Logic with +you." For a long time Mr. Greenville, +my Great-grandfather (and my enemies +may see from this that I am of no Rascal +Stock), cherished hopes that affairs might +be brought to a shape without any shedding +of Blood; but his hope proved a +vain and deceiving one; ungovernable passions +on either side caused not alone the +drawing of the Sword, but the flinging away +of the Scabbard; and my Grandmother was +yet but a schoolmaid at Madam Ribotte's +academy for gentlewomen at Bristol when +that dreadful sinful war broke out which +ended in the barbarous Murther of the +Prince, and the Undoing of these kingdoms.</div> + +<p>Mr. Greenville had two children: a son, +whose name, like his own, was Richard, and +who was born some five years before his +sister Arabella. Even as a child this last +named person was exceedingly beautiful,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +very gracious, fair, grave, and dignified of +deportment, with abundant brown hair, and +large and lustrous blue eyes, which, when +the transient tempests of childhood passed +over her, were ever remarked as having the +wild, fierce look, shared in sometimes by the +males of her family. Her mother, to her +sorrow, died when she was quite a babe. The +Esquire was passionately fond of this his +only daughter; but although it was torture +for him to part with her, and he +retained her until she was thirteen years of +age in his mansion-house, where she was +instructed in reading and devotion, pickling +and preserving (and the distilling of strong +waters), sampler work, and such maidenly +parts of education, by the housekeeper, and +by a governante brought from London,—he +had wisdom enough to discern and to +admit that his daughter's genius was of a +nature that required and demanded much +higher culture than could be given to her +in an old Country Seat, and in the midst +of talk about dogs, and horses, and cattle,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +and gunning and ploughing, and the continual +disputes of hot-headed Cavaliers or +bitter Parliamentarians, who were trying +who should best persuade my Great-grandfather +to cast in his lot with one or the other +of the contending parties. His son Richard +had already made his election, and, it is +feared, by taking up supplies on post +obit from usurious money-scriveners in +Bristol and London, had raised a troop of +horse for the service of the King. Moreover, +Arabella Greenville was of a very +proud stomach and unbending humour. +She might be Led, but would not be Driven. +She adored her father, but laughed at the +commands of the governante, and the counsels +of the housekeeper, who knew not how +either to lead or to rule her. It was thus +determined to send her to Madam Ribotte's +academy at Bristol,—for even so early as +King Charles's time had outlandish and +new-fangled names been found for Schools; +and thither she was accordingly sent, with +instructions that she was to learn all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +polite arts and accomplishments proper to +her station, that she was to be kept under a +strict regimen, and corrected of her faults; +but that she was not to be thwarted in her +reasonable desires. She was to have her +pony, with John coachman on the skewball +sent to fetch her every Saturday and holiday; +was not to be overweighted with tedious +and dragging studies; and was by no +means to be subject to those shameful +chastisements of the Ferula and the Rod, +which, even within my own time, I blush +to say had not been banished from schools +for young gentlewomen. To sum up, Miss +Arabella Greenville went to school with a +pocketful of gold pieces, and a play-chest full +of sweet-cakes and preserved fruits, and with +a virtual charter for learning as little as she +chose, and doing pretty well as much as she +liked.</p> + +<p>Of course my Grandmother ran a fair +chance of being wholly spoiled, and growing +up to one of those termagant, mammythrept +romps we used to laugh at in Mr. Colley<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +Cibber's plays. The schoolmistress fawned +upon her, for, although untitled, Esquire +Greenville (from whom my descent is plain), +and he was so much respected in the West, +that the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'inkeepers'">innkeepers</ins> were used to beseech him +to set up <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'achievments'">achievements</ins> of his arms at the +hotels where he baited on his journeys, was +one of the most considerable of the County +Gentry; the teachers were glad when she +would treat them from her abundant store +of play-money; and she was a kind of +divinity among the schoolmaids her companions, +to whom she gave so many cakes and +sweetmeats that the apothecary had to be +called in about once a week to cure many of +surfeit. But this fair young flower-bed was +saved from blight and choking weeds, first, +by the innate rectitude and nobility of her +disposition, which (save only when that +dangerous look was in her eyes) taught her +to keep a rein over her caprices, and subdue +a too warm and vigorous imagination; next, +by the entire absence of Vanity and Self-Conceit +in her mind,—a happy state, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +made her equally alive to her own faults and +to the excellences of others; and, last, by +her truly prodigious aptitude for polite +learning. I have often been told that but +for adverse circumstances Mrs. Greenville +must have proved one of the most learned, +as she was one of the wittiest and best-bred, +women of her Age and Country. In the +languages, in all manner of fine needlework, +in singing and fingering instruments of +music, in medicinal botany and the knowledge +of diseases, in the making of the most +cunning electuaries and syllabubs, and even +in Arithmetic,—a science of which young +gentlewomen were then almost wholly +deficient,—she became, before she was sixteen +years of age, a truly wonderful proficient. +A Bristol bookseller spoke of +printing her book of recipes (containing +some excellent hints on cookery, physic, the +casting of nativities, and farriery); and some +excellent short hymns she wrote are, I +believe, sung to this day in one of the Bristol +free-schools. But the talent for which she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +was most shiningly remarkable was in that +difficult and laborious art of Painting in +Oils. Her early drawings, both in crayons +and Chinese ink, were very noble; and there +are in this House now some miniatures of +her father, brother, and school-companions, +limned by her in a most delicate and lovely +fashion; but 'twas in oils and in portraiture +of the size of life that she most +surpassed. She speedily out-went all that +the best masters of this craft in Bristol +could teach her; and her pictures—especially +one of her Father, in his buff coat +and breastplate, as a Colonel of the Militia—were +the wonder, not only of Bristol, but +of all Somerset and the counties adjacent.</p> + +<p>About this time those troubles in the +West, with which the name of Prince +Rupert is so sadly allied, grew to be of such +force and fury as to decide Mr. Greenville +on going to London, taking his daughter +Arabella with him, to make interest with +the Parliament, so that peril might be +averted from his estate. For although his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +son was in arms for King Charles, and he +himself was a gentleman of approved loyalty, +he had done nothing of an overt kind to +favour King or Parliament. He thus hoped, +having ever been a peaceable and law-worthy +gentleman, to preserve his lands from peril, +and himself and family from prosecution; +and it is a great error to suppose that many +honest gentlemen did not so succeed in the +very fiercest frenzy of the civil wars in +keeping their houses over their heads, and +their heads upon their shoulders. Witness +worthy Mr. John Evelyn of Wotton and +Sayes Court, and many other persons of +repute.</p> + +<p>While the Esquire was intent on his +business at Westminster, and settling the +terms of a Fine, without which it seemed +even his peaceable behaviour could not be +compounded, he lay at the house of a friend, +Sir Fortunatus Geddings, a Turkey merchant, +who had a fair house in the street leading +directly to St. Paul's Church, just without +Ludgate. The gate has been pulled down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +this many a day, and the place where he +dwelt is now called Ludgate Hill. As he +had much going to and fro, and was afraid +that his daughter might come to hurt, both +in the stoppage to her schooling, and in the +unquietness of the times, he placed her for +a while at a famous school at Hackney, under +that notable governante Mrs. Desaguiliers. +And here Mrs. Greenville had not been for +many weeks ere the strangest adventure in +the world—as strange as any one of my own—befel +her. The terrible battle of Naseby +had by this time been fought, and the King's +cause was wholly ruined. Among other Cavaliers +fortunate enough to escape from that +deadly fray, and who were in hiding from the +vengeance of the usurping government, was +the Lord Francis V——s, younger son to +that hapless Duke of B——m who was slain +at Portsmouth by Captain F——n. It +seems almost like a scene in a comedy to +tell; and, indeed, I am told that Tom +D'Urfey did turn the only merry portion of +it into a play; but it appears that, among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +other shifts to keep his disguise, the Lord +Francis, who was highly skilled in all the +accomplishments of the age, was fain to +enter Mrs. Desaguiliers' school at Hackney +in the habit of a dancing-master, and that as +such he taught corantoes and rounds and qyres +to the young gentlewomen. Whether the +governante, who was herself a stanch royalist, +winked at the deception, I know not; but her +having done so is not improbable. Stranger +to relate, the Lord Francis brought with him +a Companion who was, forsooth, to teach +French and the cittern, and who was no other +than Captain Richard, son to the Esquire +of the West country, and who was likewise +inveterately pursued by the Usurper. +The brother recognised his sister—to what +joy and contentment on both their parts I +need not say; but ere the false Dancing-Master +had played his part many days, he fell +madly in love with Arabella Greenville. To +her sorrow and wretchedness, my poor Grandmother +returned his Flame. Not that the +Lord Francis stands convicted of any Base<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +Designs upon her. I am afraid that he had +been as wild and as reckless as most of the +young nobles of his day; but for this young +woman at least his love was pure and +honourable. He made no secret of it to his +fast friend, Captain Richard (my Grand-uncle), +who would soon have crossed swords +with the Spark had any villany been afloat; +and he made no more ado, as was the duty +of a Brother jealous of his sister's fair fame, +but to write his father word of what had +chanced. The Esquire was half terrified and +half flattered by the honour done to his +family by the Lord Francis. The poor +young man was under the very sternest of +proscriptions, and it was openly known that +if the Parliament laid hold on him his death +was certain. But, on the other hand, the +Esquire loved his daughter above all things; +and one short half-hour, passed with her +alone at Hackney, persuaded him that he +must either let Arabella's love-passion have +its vent, or break her heart for ever. And, +take my word for it, you foolish parents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +who would thwart your children in this the +most sacred moment of their lives,—thwart +them for no reasonable cause, but +only to gratify your own pride of purse, +avarice, evil tempers, or love of meddling,—you +are but gathering up bunches of +nettles wherewith to scourge your own +shoulders, and strewing your own beds with +shards and pebbles. Take the advice of +old John Dangerous, who suffered his +daughter to marry the man of her choice, +and is happy in the thought that she enjoys +happiness; and I should much wish to know +if there be any Hatred in the world so +dreadful as that curdled love, as that +reverence decayed, as that obedience in +ruins, you see in a proud haughty daughter +married against her will to one she holds in +loathing, and who points her finger, and +says within herself, "My father and mother +made me marry that man, and I am +Miserable."</p> + +<p>It was agreed amongst those who had +most right to come to an agreement in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +matter, that as a first step the Lord Francis +V——s should betake himself to some other +place of hiding, as more in keeping with +Mrs. Greenville's honour; but that, with +the consent of her father and brother, he +should be solemnly betrothed to her; and +that, so soon as the troubles were over, or that +the price which was upon his head were +taken off, he should become her husband. +And there was even a saving clause added, +that if the national disturbances unhappily +continued, Mrs. Greenville should be privately +conveyed abroad, and that the Lord +Francis should marry her so soon after a +certain lapse of time as he could conveniently +get beyond sea. My Lord Duke of B——m +had nothing to say against the match, loving +his brother, as he did, very dearly; and so, +in the very roughest of times, this truest of +true loves seemed to bid fair to have a smooth +course.</p> + +<p>But alas the day! My Grandmother's +passion for the young Lord was a very madness. +On his part, he idolised her, calling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +her by names and writing her letters that +are nonsensical enough in common life, but +which are not held to be foolish pleas in +Love's Chancery. When the boy and girl—for +they were scarcely more—parted, she +gave him one of her rich brown tresses; he +gave her one of his own dainty love-locks. +They broke a broad piece in halves between +them; each hung the fragment by a ribbon +next the heart. They swore eternal fidelity, +devotion. Naught but Death should part +them, they said. Foolish things to say and +do, no doubt; but I look at my grizzled old +head in the glass, and remember that I have +said and done things quite as foolish forty—fifty +years ago.</p> + +<p>Nothing but Death was to part them; +and nothing but Death so parted them. +The Esquire Greenville, his business being +brought to a pleasant termination, having +paid his Fine and gotten his Safe-Conduct +and his Redemption from Sequestration, betook +himself once more to the West. His +daughter went with him, nourishing her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +love and fondling it, and dwelling, syllable +by syllable, on the letters which the Lord +Francis sent her from time to time. He +was in hopes, he said, to get away to Holland.</p> + +<p>Then came that wicked business of the +King's Murder. Mr. Greenville, as became +a loyal gentleman, was utterly dismayed at +that horrid crime; but to Arabella the news +was as of the intelligence of the death of +some loved and revered friend. She wept, +she sobbed, she called on Heaven to shower +down vengeance on the Murderers of her +gracious Prince. She had not heard from +her betrothed for many days, and those who +loved and watched her had marked a strange +wild way with her.</p> + +<p>It was on the fourth of February that the +dreadful news of the Whitehall tragedy +came to her father's house. She was walking +on the next day very moodily in the +garden, when the figure of one booted and +spurred, and with the stains of many days' +travel on his dress, stood across her path.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +He was but a clown, a mere boor; he had +been a ploughboy on her father's lands, and +had run away to join Captain Richard, who +had made him a trumpeter in his troop. +What he had to say was told in clumsy +speech, in hasty broken accents, with sighs +and stammerings and blubberings; but he +told his tale too well.</p> + +<p>The Lord Francis V——s and Captain +Richard Greenville—Arabella's lover, Arabella's +brother—were both Dead. On the +eve of the fatal thirtieth of January they +had been taken captives in a tilt-boat on the +Thames, in which they were endeavouring +to escape down the river. They had at once +been tried by a court-martial of rebel officers; +and on the thirtieth day of that black +month, by express order sent from the Lord +General Cromwell in London, these two +gallant and unfortunate gentlemen had been +shot to death by a file of musketeers in the +courtyard of Hampton Court Palace. The +trumpeter had by a marvel escaped, and +lurked about Hampton till the dreadful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +deed was over. He had sought out the +sergeant of the firing party, and questioned +him as to the last moments of the condemned. +The sergeant said that they died +as Malignants, and without showing any +sign of Penitence; but he could not +gainsay that their bearing was soldier-like.</p> + +<p>Arabella heard this tale without moving.</p> + +<p>"Did the Captain—did my brother—say +aught before they slew him?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Nowt but this, my lady: 'God forgive +us all!'"</p> + +<p>"And the Lord Francis, said he aught?"</p> + +<p>"Ay; but I dunno loike to tell."</p> + +<p>"Say on."</p> + +<p>"'Twas t' Sergeant tould un. A' blessed +the King, and woud hev' t' souldiers drink +'s health, but they wouldno'. And a' wouldno' +let un bandage uns eyes; an' jest befwoar +t' red cwoats foired, a' touk a long lock o' +leddy's hair from 's pocket and kissed un, +and cried out 'Bloud for Bloud!' and then +a' died all straight along."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Arabella Greenville drew from her +bosom a long wavy lock of silken hair,—his +hair, poor boy!—and kissed it, and crying +out "Blood for Blood!" she fell down in the +garden-path in a dead faint.</p> + +<p>She did not Die, however, being spared +for many Purposes, some of them Terrible, +until she was nearly ninety years of age. +But her first state was worse than death; +she lying for many days in a kind of trance +or lethargy, and then waking up to raving +madness. For the best part of that year, +she was a perfect maniac, from whom nothing +could be got but gibberings and +plungings, and ceaseless cries of "Blood +for Blood!" The heir-at-law to the estate, +now that the Esquire's son was dead, watched +her madness with a cautelous avaricious +desire. He was a sour Parliament man, +who had pinned his faith to the Commonwealth, +and done many Awakening things +against the Cavaliers, and he thought +now that he should have his reward, and +Inherit.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was so destined, however, that my +Grandmother should recover from that Malady. +On her beauty it left surprisingly +few traces. You could only tell the change +that had taken place in her by the deathly +paleness of her visage, by her never smiling, +and by that Fierce Expression in her eyes +being now an abiding instead of a passing +one. Beyond these, she was herself again; +and after a little while went to her domestic +concerns, and chiefly to the cultivation of +that pleasing art of Painting in Oils in which +she had of old time given such fair promise +of excellence. Her father would have had +several most ingenious examples of History +and Scripture pieces by the Italian and +Flemish masters bought for her to study +by,—such copies being then very plentiful, +by reason of the dispersing of the collections +of many noblemen and gentlemen on the +King's side; but this she would not suffer, +saying that it were waste of time and money, +and, with astonishing zeal, applied herself +to the branch of portraiture. From a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +miniature portrait of her dead Lord, drawn +by Mr. Cooper, she painted in large many +fair and noble presentments, varying them +according to her humour,—now showing +the Lord Francis in his panoply as a man +of war, now in a court habit, now in an +embroidered night-gown and Turkish cap, +now leaning on the shoulder of her brother, +the Captain, deceased. And anon she would +make a ghastly image of him lying all along +in the courtyard at Hampton Court, with +the purple bullet-marks on his white forehead, +and a great crimson stain on his +bosom, just below his bands. This was the +one she most loved to look upon, although +her father sorely pressed her to put it by, +and not dwell on so uncivil a theme, the +more so as, in Crimson Characters, on the +background she had painted the words +"Blood for Blood," But whatever she +did was now taken little account of, for all +thought her to be distraught.</p> + +<p>By and by she fell to quite a new order +in her painting. She seemed to take infinite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +pleasure in making portraitures of <span class="smcap">Oliver +Cromwell</span>, who had by this time become +Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. She +had never seen that Bold Bad Man (the +splendour of whose mighty achievements +must for ever remain tarnished by his blood-guiltiness +in the matter of the King's +Murther); but from descriptions of his +person, for which she eagerly sought, and +from bustos, pictures, and prints cut in brass, +which she obtained from Bristol and elsewhere, +she produced some surprising resemblances +of him who was now the Greatest +Man in England. She painted him at full +and at half length—in full-face, profile, and +three-quarter; but although she would show +her work to her intimates, and ask eagerly +"Is it like—is it like him?" she would +never part with one copy (and there were +good store of time-servers ready to buy the +Protector's picture at that time), nor could +any tell how she disposed of them.</p> + +<p>This went on until the summer of the +year 1657, when her father gently put it to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +her that she had worn the willow long +enough, and would have had her ally herself +with some gentleman of worth and parts +in that part of the country. For the poor +Esquire desired that she should be his heiress, +and that a man-child should be born to the +Greenville estate, and thus the heir-at-law, +who was a wretched attorney at Bristol, and +more bitter against kings than ever, should +not inherit. She was not to be moved, +however, towards marriage; saying softly +that she was already wedded to her Frank +in heaven,—for so she spoke of the Lord +Francis V——s,—and that her union had +been blessed by her brother Dick, who was +in Heaven too, with King Charles and all +the Blessed Army of Martyrs. And I have +heard, indeed, that the unhappy business of +the King's death was the means of so crazing, +or casting into a Sad Celibacy and Devouring +Melancholy, multitudes of comely young +women who were born for love and delights, +and to be the smiling mothers of +many children.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> + +<p>So, seeing that he could do nothing with +her, and loth to use any unhandsome pressure +towards one whom he loved as the +Apple of his Eye, the Esquire began to +think it might divert her mind to more +cheerful thoughts if she quitted for a season +that part of the country (for it was at +Home that she had received the dreadful +news of her misfortune); and, Sir Fortunatus +Geddings and his family being extremely +willing to receive her, and do her +honour, he despatched Arabella to London, +under protection of Mr. Landrail, his steward, +a neighbour of his, Sir Hardress Eustis, +lending his Coach for the journey.</p> + +<p>Being now come to London, every means +which art could devise, or kindness could +imagine, were made use of by Sir Fortunatus, +his wife, and daughter, to make Arabella's +life happier. But I should tell you a strange +thing that came about at her father's house +the day after she left it for the Town. Mr. +Greenville chanced to go in a certain long +building (by the side of his pleasure-pond)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +that was used as a boat-house, when, to his +amazement, he sees, piled up against the +wall, a number of pictures, some completed, +some but half finished, but all representing +the Lord Protector Cromwell. But the +strangest thing about them was, that in +every picture the canvas about the head +was pricked through and through in scores +of places with very fine clean holes, and, +looking around in his marvel, he found an +arbalist or cross-bow, with some very sharp +bolts, and was so led to conjecture that +some one had been setting these heads of +the Protector up as a target, and shooting +bolts at them. He was at first minded to +send an express after his daughter to London +to question her if she knew aught of the +matter; but on second thoughts he desisted, +remembering that in the Message, almost, +(as the times stood) there was Treason, and +concluding that, after all, it might be but +some idle fancy of Arabella, and part of the +Demi-Craze under which she laboured. For +there could be no manner of doubt that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +Pictures, if not the Holes in them, were of +her handiwork.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Arabella was being entertained +in the stateliest manner by Sir Fortunatus +Geddings, who stood in great favour with +the government, and had, during the troubles, +assisted the Houses with large sums +of money. There were then not many +sports or amusements wherewith a sorrowing +maiden could be diverted; for the +temper of England's Rulers was against +vain pastimes and junketings. The Maypoles +had been pulled down; the players +whipped and banished; the bear and bull +baitings, and even the mere harmless minstrelsy +and ballad-singing of the streets, all +rigorously pulled down. But whatever the +worthy Turkey merchant and his household +could do in the way of carrying Arabella +about to suppers, christenings, country +gatherings, and so forth, was cheerfully +and courteously done. Sir Fortunatus +maintained a coach (for he was one of the +richest merchants in the City of London),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +and in this conveyance Arabella was ofttimes +taken to drive in Hyde Park, or +towards the Uxbridge Road. 'Twas on one +of these occasions that she first saw the +Protector, who likewise was in his coach, +drawn by eight Holstein mares, and attended +by a troop of Horse, very gallantly +appointed, with scarlet livery coats, bright +gorgets and back-pieces, and red plumes in +their hats.</p> + +<p>"He is very like, very like," she murmured, +looking long and earnestly at the +grand cavalcade.</p> + +<p>"Like unto Whom, my dear?" asked Mrs. +Nancy Geddings, the youngest daughter of +Sir Fortunatus, who was her companion in +the coach that day.</p> + +<p>"Very like unto him who is at Home in +the West yonder," she made answer. "Now +take me back to Ludgate, Nancy sweet, for +I am Sick."</p> + +<p>She was to be humoured in everything, +and she was taken back as she desired. It +chanced, a few days after this, that word<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +came that his Highness the Lord Protector +of the Commonwealth of England (for to +such State had Oliver grown) designed to +visit the City, to dine with the citizens at +Guildhall. There was to be a great Pageant. +He was to be met at Temple Bar by the +Mayor and Aldermen, and to be escorted +towards Cheapside by those city Trainbands +which had done such execution on the Parliament +side during the wars, and by the +Companies with their Livery banners. Foreign +Ambassadors were to bear him company; +for Oliver was then at the height of +his power, and had made the name of +England dreaded, and even his own prowess +respected, by all nations that were beyond +sea. He was to hear a sermon at Bow +Church at noon, and at two o'clock—for the +preacher was to be Mr. Hugh Peters, who +always gave his congregation a double turn +of the hour-glass—he was to dine at the +Guildhall, where I know not how many +geese, bustards, capons, pheasants, ruffs and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +reeves, sirloins, shoulders of veal, pasties, +sweet puddings, jellies, and custards, with +good store of Rhenish and Buckrack and Canary, +and Bordelais and Gascoin wines, were +provided to furnish a banquet worthy of the +day. For although the Protectorate was a +stern sad period, and Oliver was (or had +schooled himself to be) a temperate man, +the citizens had not quite forgotten their +love of good cheer; and the Protector +himself was not averse from the keeping +up some state and splendour, Whitehall +being now well-nigh as splendid as in the +late King's time, and his Highness sitting +with his Make-Believe Lords around him +(Lisle, Whitelocke, and the rest), and eating +his meat to tuckets upon Trumpets, and +being otherwise puffed up with Vanity.</p> + +<p>The good folks with whom Arabella was +sojourning thought it might help to cure +her of her sad moping ways if she saw the +grand pageant go by, and mingled in the +merriment and feasting which the ladies of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +Sir Fortunatus's family—the Knight himself +being bidden to the Guildhall—proposed +to give their neighbours on the day +when Oliver came into the City. To this +intent, the windows of their house without +Ludgate were all taken out of their frames, +and the casements themselves hung with +rich cloths and tapestries, and decked with +banners. And an open house was kept, +literally; meats and wines and sweets being +set out in every room, even to the bed-chambers, +and all of the Turkey merchant's +acquaintance being bidden to come in and +help themselves, and take a squeeze at the +windows to see his Highness go by. Only +one window on the first floor was set apart, +and here sat the Ladies of the family, with +Mistress Deborah Clay, the Remembrancer's +lady, and one that was sister to a Judge of +Commonwealth's Bench, and Arabella Greenville, +who was, for a wonder, quite cheerful +and sprightly that morning, and who had +for her neighbour one Lady Lisle, the wife +of John Lisle, one of Cromwell's Chief<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +Councillors and Commissioners of the Great +Seal.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></p> + +<p>The time that passed between their taking +seats and the coming of the pageant +was passed pleasantly enough; not in +drinking of healths, which practice was +then considered as closely akin to an unlawful +thing, but in laughing and quaffing, +and whispering of merry jests. For I have +usually found that, be the Rule of Church +and State ever so sour and stern, folks <i>will</i> +laugh and quaff and jest on the sly, and be +merry in the green tree, if they are forced +to be sad in the dry.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> +<p>There was a gentleman standing behind +Arabella, a Counsellor of Lincoln's Inn I +think, who was telling a droll story of +Lord President Bradshaw to his friend from +the Temple. Not greatly a person of whom +to relate merry tales, I should think, that +terrible Bencher, who sat at the head of the +High Commission, clothed in his scarlet +robe, and passed judgment upon his lord +the King. But still these gentlemen +laughed loud and long, as one told the +other how the President lay very sick, sick +almost to death, at his country house; and +how, he being one that was in the Commission +of the Chancellorship, had taken them +away with him, and would by no means +surrender them, keeping them under his +pillow, night and day; wherefore one of his +brother commissioners was fain to seek +him out, and press him hard to give up the +seals, saying that the business of the nation +was at a Standstill, for they could neither +seal patents nor pardons. But all in vain, +Bradshaw crying out in a voice that, though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +weak, was still terrible, that he would never +give them up, but would carry them with +him into the next world; whereat quoth +the other commissioner, "<i>By ——, My Lord +President, they will certainly melt if you do.</i>" +And at this tale the gentleman from Lincoln's +Inn and he from the Temple both +laughed so, that Arabella, who had been +listening without eavesdropping, burst into +a fit of laughter too; only my Lady Lisle +(who had likewise heard the Story) regarded +her with a very grim and dissatisfied countenance, +and murmured that she thought a +little trailing up before the Council, and +committing to the Gate-house, would do +some popinjays some good, and cure them +of telling tales as treasonable as they were +scurrilous.</p> + +<p>But now came a great noise of trumpets +and hautboys and drums, and the great +pageant came streaming up towards Ludgate, +a troop of Oliver's own Body-guard on +iron-grey chargers clearing the way, which +they did with scant respect for the lives and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +limbs of the crowd, and with very little +scruple either in bruising the Trainbands +with their horses' hoofs and the flat of their +broadswords. As Arabella leant forward to +see the show approach, something hard, and +it would seem of metal, that she carried beneath +her mantle, struck against the arm of +my Lady Lisle, who, being a woman of +somewhat quick temper, cried out,</p> + +<p>"Methinks that you carry a pocket-flask +with you, Mistress Greenville, instead of a +vial of essences. That which you have +must hold a pint at least."</p> + +<p>"I do carry such a flask," answered Arabella, +"and please God, there are those +here to-day who shall drink of it even to the +Dregs."</p> + +<p>This speech was afterwards remembered +against her as a proof of her Intent.</p> + +<p>All, however, were speedily too busy +with watching the Show go by to take much +heed of any word passage between the two +women. Now it was Mistress Deborah +Clay pointing out the Remembrancer to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +her gossip; now the flaunting banners +of the Companies, now the velvet robes of +the Lords of the Council were looked upon; +now a Great Cry arose that his Highness +was coming.</p> + +<p>He came in his coach drawn by the eight +Holstein mares, one of his lords by his side, +and his two chaplains, with a gentleman of +the bed-chamber sitting over against. He +wore a rich suit of brown velvet purfled with +white satin, a bright gorget of silver,—men +said that he wore mail beneath his clothes,—startups +and gauntlets of yellow Spanish, a +great baldric of cloth-of-gold, and in his hat +a buckle of diamonds and a red feather. +Yet, bravely as he was attired, those who +knew him declared that they had never seen +Oliver look so careworn and so miserable as +he did that day.</p> + +<p>By a kind of Fate, he turned his glance +upwards as he passed the house of the Turkey +merchant, and those Cruel Eyes met the +fierce gaze of Arabella Greenville.</p> + +<p>"Blood for Blood!" she cried out in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +loud clear voice; and she drew a Pistol +from the folds of her mantle, and fired +downwards, and with good aim, at the +Protector's head.</p> + +<p>My Lady Lisle saw the deed done. +"Jezebel!" she shrieked, striking the +weapon from Arabella's hand.</p> + +<p>Oliver escaped unharmed, but by an +almost miracle. The bullet had struck +him as it was aimed, directly in the centre +of his forehead, he wearing his hat much +slouched over his brow; but it had struck—not +his skull, but the diamond buckle, and +glancing off from that hard mass, sped out +of the coach-window again, on what errand +none could tell, for it was heard of no more. +I have often wondered what became of all +the bullets I have let fly.</p> + +<p>The stoppage of the coach; the Protector +half stunned; the chaplain paralysed with +fear; the Trainbands in a frenzy—half of +terror, half of strong drink—firing off their +pieces hap-hazard at the windows, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +shouting out that this was a plot of the +Papists or the Malignants; the crowd surging, +the Body-Guard galloping to and fro; +the poor standard-bearers tripping themselves +up with their own poles,—all this +made a mad turmoil in the street without +Ludgate. But the Protector had speedily +found all his senses, and had whispered a +word or two to a certain Sergeant in whom +he placed great trust, and pointed his finger +to a certain window. Then the Sergeant +being gone away, orders were given for the +pageant to move on; and through Ludgate, +and by Paul's, and up Chepe, and +to Bow Church, it moved accordingly. Mr. +Hugh Peters preached for two hours as +though nothing had happened. Being +doubtless under instructions, he made not +the slightest allusion to the late tragic +Attempt; and at the banquet afterwards at +the Guildhall, there were only a few trifling +rumours that his Highness had been shot +at by a mad woman from a window in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +Fleet Street; denial, however, being speedily +given to this by persons in Authority, who +declared that the disturbance without Ludgate +had arisen simply from a drunken +soldier of the Trainbands firing his musketoon +into the air for Joy.</p> + +<p>But the Sergeant, with some soldiers of +the Protector's own, walked tranquilly into +the house of Sir Fortunatus Geddings, and +into the upper chamber, where the would-be +Avenger of Blood was surrounded by a +throng of men and women gazing upon her, +half in horror, and half in admiration. The +Sergeant beckoned to her, and she arose +without a murmur, and went with him and +the soldiers, two only being left as sentinels, +to see that no one stirred from the house +till orders came. By this time, from Ludgate +to Blackfriars all was soldiers, the +crowd being thrust away east and west; +and, between a lane of pikemen, Arabella +was brought into the street, hurried through +the narrow lanes behind Apothecaries' Hall,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +and so through the alleys to Blackfriars +Stairs, where a barge was in waiting, which +bore her swiftly away to Whitehall.</p> + +<p>"You have flown at High Game, mistress," +was the only remark made to her by +the Sergeant.</p> + +<p>She was locked up for many hours in +an inner chamber, the windows being +closed, and a lamp set on the table. They +bound her, but, mindful of her sex and +youth, not in fetters, or even with ropes, +contenting themselves with fastening her +arms tightly behind her with the Sergeant's +silken sash. For the Sergeant was of +Cromwell's own guard, and was of great +authority.</p> + +<p>At about nine at night the Sergeant and +two soldiers came for her, and so brought +her, through many lobbies, to Cromwell's +own closet, where she found him still +with his hat and baldric on, sitting at a +table covered with green velvet.</p> + +<p>"What prompted thee to seek my Life?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +he asked, without anger, but in a slow, cold, +searching voice.</p> + +<p>"Blood for Blood!" she answered, with +undaunted mien.</p> + +<p>"What evil have I done thee, that thou +shouldst seek my blood?"</p> + +<p>"What evil—what evil, Beelzebub?—all! +Thou hast slain the King my Lord and +master. Thou hast slain the Dear Brother +who was my playmate, and my father's +hope and pride. Thou hast slain the Sweet +and Gallant Youth who was to have been +my husband."</p> + +<p>"Thou are that Arabella Greenville, then, +the daughter of the wavering half-hearted +Esquire of the West."</p> + +<p>"I am the daughter of a Gentleman of +Long Descent. I am Arabella Greenville, +an English Maid of Somerset; and I cry for +vengeance for the blood of Charles Stuart, +for the blood of Richard Greenville, for the +blood of <span class="smcap">Francis Villiers</span>. Blood for +Blood!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + +<p>That terrible gleam of Madness leapt out +of her blue eyes, and, all bound as she was, +she rushed towards the Protector, as though +in her fury she would have spurned him +with her foot, or torn him with her teeth. +The Sergeant for his part made as though +he would have drawn his sword upon her; +but Oliver laid his hand on the arm of his +officer, and bade him forbear.</p> + +<p>"Leave the maiden alone with me," he +said calmly; "wait within call. She can do +no harm." Then, when the soldiers had +withdrawn, he walked to and fro in the room +for many minutes, ever and anon turning +his head and gazing fixedly on the prisoner, +who stood erect, her head high, her +hands, for all their bonds, clenched in +defiance.</p> + +<p>"Thou knowest," he said, "that thy Life +is forfeit."</p> + +<p>"I care not. The sooner the better. I +ask but one Mercy: that you send me not +to Tyburn, but to Hampton Court; there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +to be shot to death in the courtyard by a +file of musketeers."</p> + +<p>"Wherefore to Hampton?"</p> + +<p>"Because it was there you murdered my +Lover and my Brother."</p> + +<p>"I remember," the Protector said, bowing +his head. "They were rare Malignants, +both. I remember; it was on the same thirtieth +of January that Charles Stuart died the +death. But shouldst thou not, too, bear in +mind that Vengeance is not thine, but the +Lord's?"</p> + +<p>"Blood for Blood!"</p> + +<p>"Thou art a maiden of a stern Resolve +and a strong Will," said the Protector, +musingly. "If thou art pardoned, wilt +thou promise repentance and amendment?"</p> + +<p>"Blood for Blood!"</p> + +<p>"Poor distraught creature," this Once +cruel man made answer, "I will have no +blood of thine. I have had enough," he +continued, with a dark look and a deep sigh; +"I am weary; and Blood will have Blood. +But that my life was in Mercy saved for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +weal of these kingdoms, thou mightst have +done with me, Arabella Greenville, according +to thy desires."</p> + +<p>He paused, as though for some expression +of sorrow; but she was silent.</p> + +<p>"Thou art hardened," he resumed; "it +may be that there are things that <i>cannot</i> be +forgiven."</p> + +<p>"There are," she said, firmly.</p> + +<p>"I spare thy life," the Lord Protector +continued; "but, Arabella Greenville, thou +must go into Captivity. Until I am Dead, +we two cannot be at large together. But I +will not doom thee to a solitary prison. +Thou shalt have a companion in durance. +Yes," he ended, speaking between his teeth, +and more to himself than to her, "she shall +join Him yonder in his lifelong prison. +Blood for Blood; the Slayer and the Avenger +shall be together."</p> + +<p>She was taken back to her place of confinement, +where meat and drink were placed +before her, and a tiring-woman attended her +with a change of garments. And at day-break<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +the next morning she was taken +away in a litter towards Colchester in +Essex.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER THE FOURTH.</h2> + +<h3>MY GRANDMOTHER DIES, AND I AM LEFT ALONE, +WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A NAME.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">I have</span> sat over against Death unnumbered +times in the course of a long and perilous +life, and he has appeared to me in almost +every shape; but I shall never forget that +Thirtieth of January in the year '20, when +my Grandmother died. I have seen men +all gashed and cloven about—a very mire +of blood and wounds,—and heads lying +about on the floor like ninepins, among the +Turks, where a man's life is as cheap as the +Halfpenny Hatch. I was with that famous +Commander Baron Trenck<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a> when his Pandours—of +whom I was one—broke into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +Mutiny. He drew a pistol from his belt, +and said, "I shall decimate you." And he +began to count Ten, "one, two, three, four," +and so on, till he came to the tenth man, +whom he shot Dead. And then he took to +counting again, until he was arrived at the +second Tenth. That man's brains he also +blew out. I was the tenth of the third +batch, but I never blenched. Trenck happily +held his hand before he came to Me. +The Pandours cried out that they would +submit, although I never spoke a word; he +forgave us; and I had a flask of Tokay with +him in his tent that very after-dinner. I +have seen a man keel-hauled at sea, and +brought up on the other side, his face all +larded with barnacles like a Shrove-tide +capon. Thrice I have stood beneath the +yardarm with the rope round my neck +(owing to a king's ship mistaking the +character of my vessel).<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a> I have seen men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +scourged till the muscles of their backs +were laid bare as in a Theatre of Anatomy; +I have watched women's limbs crackle and +frizzle in the flames at an Act of Faith, +with the King and Court—ay, and the +court-ladies too—looking on. I stood by +when that poor mad wretch Damiens was +pulled to pieces by horses in the Grève. +I have seen what the plague could do in the +galleys at Marseilles. Death and I have +been boon companions and bedfellows. He +has danced a jig with me on a plank, and +ridden bodkin, and gone snacks with me +for a lump of horse-flesh in a beleaguered +town; but no man can say that John +Dangerous had aught but a bold face to +show that Phantom who frights nursemaids +and rich idle people so.</div> + +<p>And yet, now, I can recall the cold +shudder that passed through my young +veins when my Grandmother died. Of all +days, too, that the Thirtieth of January +should have been ordered for her passing +away! It was mid-winter, and the streets<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +were white with Innocent Snow when she +was taken ill. She had not been one of +those trifling and trivanting gentlewomen +that pull diseases on to their pates with +drums and routs, and late hours, and hot +rooms, and carding, and distilled waters. +She had ever been of a most sober conversation +and temperate habit; so that the +prodigious age she reached became less of a +wonder, and the tranquillity with which her +spirit left this darksome house of clay +seemed mercifully natural. They had +noticed, so early as the autumn of '19, that +she was decaying; yet had the roots of life +stricken so strongly into earth as to defy +that Woodman who pins his faith to shaking +blasts at first, but when he finds that windfalls +will not serve his turn, and that +although leaves decay, and branches are +swept away, and the very bark is stripped +off, the tree dies not, takes heart of grace, +and lays about him with his Axe. Then +one blow with the sharp suffices. So for +many months Death seemed to let her be,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +as though he sat down quietly by her side, +nursing his bony chin, and saying, "She is +very old and weak; yet a little, and she +must surely be mine." Mistress Talmash +appeared to me, in the fantastic imagination +of a solitary childhood, to take such a part, +and play it to the Very Death; and there +were sidelong glances from her eyes, and +pressures of her lips, and a thrusting forth +of her hands when the cordial or the potion +was to be given, that seemed to murmur, +"Still does she Tarry, and still do I Wait." +This gentlewoman was never hard or impatient +with my Grandmother; but towards +the closing scene, for all the outward +deference she observed towards her, 'twas +she who commanded, and the Unknown +Lady who obeyed. Nor did I fail to mark +that her bearing was towards me fuller of a +kind of stern authority than she had of aforetime +presumed to show, and that she seemed +to be waiting for me too, that she might +work her will upon me.</p> + +<p>The ecclesiastic Father Ruddlestone was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +daily, and for many hours, closeted with my +kinswoman and benefactress; and I often, +when admitted to her presence after one of +these parleys, found her much dejected, and +in Tears. He had always maintained a +ghostly sway over her, and was in these +latter days stern with her almost to harshness. +And although I have ever disdained +eavesdropping and couching in covert places +to hear the foregatherings of my betters +(which some honourable persons in the +world's reckoning scorn not to do), it was +by Chance, and not by Design, that, playing +one wintry day in the Withdrawing-room +adjoining the closet where my Grandmother +still sat among her relics, I heard high +words—high, at least, as they affected one +person, for the lady's rose not above a mild +complaint; and Father Ruddlestone coming +out, said in an angry tone:</p> + +<p>"My uncle saved the King's life when +he was in the Oak, and his soul when he +was at Whitehall; and I will do his bidding +by you now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The Lord's will be done, not mine," my +Grandmother said meekly.</p> + +<p>Then Father Ruddlestone passed into the +Withdrawing-room, and seeing me on a +footstool, playing it is true at the Battle of +Hochstedt with some leaden soldiers, and +two wooden puppets for the Duke and +Prince Eugene, but still all agape at the +strange words that had hit my sense, he +catches me a buffet on the ear, bidding me +mind my play, and not listen, else I should +hear no good of myself, or of what an osier +wand might haply do to me. And that a +change was coming was manifest even in +this rude speech; for my Grandmother, +albeit of the wise King's mind on the proper +ordering of children, and showing that she +did not hate me when I needed chastening, +would never suffer her Domestics, even to +the highest, to lay a finger upon me.</p> + +<p>It was after these things, and while I was +crying out, more in anger than with the +smart of the blow, that she called me into +her closet and soothed me, giving me to eat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +of that much-prized sweetmeat she said was +once such a favourite solace with Queen Mary +of Modena, consort of the late King James, +and which she only produced on rare occasions. +And then she bewailed my hurt, +but bade me not vex her Director, who was +a man of much holiness, full, when we +were contrite, of healing and quieting +words; but then, of a sudden, nipping me +pretty sharply by the arm, she said:</p> + +<p>"Child, I charge thee that thou abandon +that fair false race, and trust no man whose +name is Stuart, and abide not by their fatal +creed." In remembrance of which, although +I am by descent a Cavalier, and bound by +many bonds to the old Noble House,—and +surely there was never a Prince that carried +about him more of the far-bearing blaze of +Majesty than the Chevalier de St. G——, +and bears it still, all broken as he is, in his +Italian retreat,—I have ever upheld the +illustrious House of Brunswick and the +Protestant Succession as by Law Established. +And as the barking of a dog do I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +contemn those scurril flouts and obloquies +which have of old times tossed me upon +tongues, and said of me that I should play +fast and loose with Jacobites and Hanoverians, +drinking the King over the Water on +my knees at night, and going down to the +Cock-pit to pour news of Jacobites and +recusants and other suspected persons into +the ears of Mr. Secretary in the morning. +Treason is Death by the Law, and legal +testimony is not to be gainsaid; but I +abhor those Iscariot-minded wretches, with +faces like those who Torture the Saints in +old Hangings, who cry, aha! against +the sanctuaries, and trot about to bear +false witness.<a name="FNanchor_F_6" id="FNanchor_F_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_F_6" class="fnanchor">[F]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> +<p>There were no more quarrels between my +Grandmother and her Director. Thenceforth +Father Ruddlestone ruled over her; and +one proof of his supremacy was, that she +forewent the use of that Common Prayer-Book +of our Anglican Church which had +been her constant companion. From which +I conjecture that, after long wavering and +temporizing, even to the length of having +the Father in her household, she had at +length returned to or adopted the ancient +faith. But although the Substance of our +Ritual was now denied her, she was permitted +to retain its Shadow; and for hours +would sit gazing upon the torn-off cover of +the book, with its device of the crown and +crossed axes, in sad memory of K. C. 1<sup>st</sup>.</p> + +<p>A most mournful Christmas found her +still growing whiter and weaker, and nearer +her End. At this ordinarily joyful season of +the year, it was her commendable custom to +give great alms away to the poor,—among +whom at all times she was a very Dorcas,—bestowing +not only gifts of money to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +clergy for division among the needy, but +sending also a dole of a hundred shillings to +the poor prisoners in the Marshalsea, as +many to Ludgate, and the Gatehouse, and +the Fleet,—surely prisons for debt were as +plentiful as blackberries when I was young!—and +giving away besides large store of +bread, meat, and blankets at her own door +in Hanover Square: a custom then pleasantly +common among people of quality, but now—when +your parish Overseer, forsooth, eats +up the very marrow of the poor—fallen +sadly into disuse. They are for ever striking +Poor's Rates against householders, and +will not take clipped money; whereas in my +day Private Charity, and a King's Letter in +aid from the pulpit now and then, were +enough; and, for my part, I would sooner +see a poor rogue soundly firked at the post, +and then comforted with a bellyful of bread +and cheese and beer by the constable, and so +passed on to his belongings, than that he +should be clapped up in a workhouse, to +pick oakum and suck his paws like a bear,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +while Master Overseer gets tun-stomached +over shoulder of veal and burnt brandy at +vestry-dinners. For it is well-known, to the +shame of Authority, that these things all +come out of the Poor Rate.</p> + +<p>Ere my Grandmother was brought so low, +she would sit in state on almsgiving morning, +which was the day after Christmas; and +the more decent of her bedesmen and bedeswomen +would be admitted to her presence to +pay their duty, and drink her health in a +cup of warm ale on the staircase. Also the +little children from Lady Viellcastel's charity-school +would be brought to her by their +governante to have cakes and new groats +given to them, and to sing one of those +sweet tender Christmas hymns which surely +fall upon a man's heart like sweet-scented +balsam on a wound. And the beadle of St. +George's would bring a great bowpot of such +hues as Christmas would lend itself to, and +have a bottle of wine and a bright broad +guinea for his fee; while his Reverence the +rector would attend with a suitable present,—such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +as a satin work-bag or a Good Book, +the cover broidered by his daughters,—and, +when he sat at meat, find a bank-bill under +his platter, which was always of silver. And +I warrant you his Reverence's eyes twinkled +as much at the bill as at the plum-porridge, +and that he feigned not to see Father Ruddlestone, +if perchance he met that foreign +person on the staircase, or in the store-office +where Mistress Nancy Talmash kept many +a toothsome cordial and heart-warming +strong water.</p> + +<p>This dismal Christmas none of these pleasant +things were done. My Lady gave one +Sum to her steward, Mr. Cadwallader, and +bade him dispose of it according to his best +judgment among the afflicted, bearing not +their creed or politics or parish in mind, but +their necessities. And I was bereft of a +joyful day; for in ordinary she would be +pleased that I should be her little almoner, +and hand the purses with the groats in +them to the poor almsfolk. What has become, +I wonder, of those good old customs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +of giving away things at Christmas-tides? +Where is the Lord Mayor's dole of beef-pies +to the vagrant people that lurk in St. +Martin's-le-Grand, that new Alsatia? Where +is the Queen's gift of an hundred pounds to +the distressed people who took up quarters +in Somerset House? Where are the thousand +guineas which the Majesty of England +was used to send every New-Year's morning +to the High Bailiff of Westminster to be +parted among the poor of the Liberty? +Nothing seems to be given nowadays. 'Tis +more caning than cakes that is gotten by +the charity children; and Master Collector, +the Jackanapes, is for ever knocking at my +door for Poor's Rates.</p> + +<p>In the middle of January my Grandmother +was yet weaker. Straw was laid +before her door, and daily prayers—for of +course the Rector knew nothing about +Father Ruddlestone—were put up for her +at St. George's. And I think also she was +not forgotten in the orisons of those who +attended the chapel of the Venetian Envoy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +and in that permitted to the use of the +French Ambassador. Doctor Vigors was +now daily in attendance, with many other +learned physicians, who almost fought in +the antechambers on the treatment to be +observed towards this sick person. One +was for cataplasms of bran and Venice +turpentine, another for putting live pigeons +to her feet, another for a portion of hot +wine strained through gold-leaf and mingled +with hellebore and chips of mandrake. +Warwick Lane suggested mint-tea, and Pall +Mall was all for bleeding. This Pall Mall +physician was about the most passionate +little man, with the biggest ruffles and the +tallest gold-headed cane I ever saw. His +name was Toobey.</p> + +<p>"Blood, sir! there's nothing like blood!" +he would cry to Doctor Vigors; and he +cried out for "blood, sir," till you might +fancy that he was a butcher or a herald-at-arms, +or a housewife making black +puddings.</p> + +<p>Says Doctor Vigors in a Rage, "You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +are nothing but a barber-surgeon, brother, +and learnt shaving on a sheep's head, and +phlebotomy on a cow that had the falling +fever."</p> + +<p>"Mountebank and quacksalver!" answers +my passionate gentleman, "you bought +your diploma from one that forges seamen's +certificates in Sopar Lane. Go to, +metamorphosed and two-legged ass! Where +is your worship's stage in the Stocks Market, +with pills to purge the vapours, and +powders to make my lady in love with her +footman, and a lying proclamation on every +post, and a black boy behind you to beat on +the cymbals when you draw out teeth with +the kitchen pliers."</p> + +<p>"Rogue!" screams Dr. Toobey, "but for +the worshipful house we are in, I would +batoon you to a mummy."</p> + +<p>"Mummy forsooth!" the other retorts; +"Mummy with a murrain! Why, you dug +up your grandmother, and pounded her up +with conserve of myrrh, and called the stuff<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +King Pharaoh, that was sovereign to cure +the strangury."</p> + +<p>"Better to do that," quoth Toobey, calming +down into mere give and take—for he +had, in truth, done some droll things in +mummy medicaments,—"than to have been +a Fleet parson, that was forced to sell ale +and couple beggars for a living, and turned +doctor when he had cured a bad leg for one +that had lain too long in the bilboes."</p> + +<p>This was too much for Doctor Vigors, +who had once been in orders, and was still +a Nonjuror, winked at, for his skill's sake, +by Authority. He was for rushing on the +Pall-Mall mummy-doctor and tousling of +his wig, when Mistress Talmash came out +of her lady's closet, and told them that she +was fainting. This was the way that doctors +disagreed when I was young, and I +fancy that they don't agree much better +now.</p> + +<p>She lingered on, however, still resolutely +refusing to take to her bed, and seeing me,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +if only for a moment, every day, for yet +another fortnight. On the Twentieth of +January, it was her humour to receive the +visit of a certain great nobleman. Very +many of the quality had daily waited upon +her, or had sent their gentlemen to inquire +after her; but for many weeks she had seen +none but her own household. The nobleman +I speak of had lately come down from +the Bath, where he had been taking the +waters; for he was full of years, and of +Glory, and of infirmities. A message went +to his grand house in Pall Mall, and he +presently waited on my Grandmother. He +was closeted with her for an hour, when the +tap of my Grandmother's cane against the +wainscot summoned Mistress Talmash, and +she, doing her errand, brought me into the +presence.</p> + +<p>"My Lord," whispered my Grandmother, +as she drew me towards her, and gave me a +kiss that was almost of a whisper too, so +feebly gentle was it,—"My Lord Duke, will +you be pleased to lay your hand on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +boy's head and give him your blessing, and +it will make him Brave."</p> + +<p>He smiled sadly at her fancy, but did as +she entreated. He laid a hand that was all +covered with jewelled rings, and that shook +almost as much as my Grandmother's, on +my locks, and prattled out to me something +about being a good boy and not playing +cards. He, too, was almost gone. He had +a mighty wig, and velvet clothes all covered +with gold-lace, a diamond star, and broad +blue ribbon; but his poor swollen legs were +swathed in flannel, and he was so feeble that +he had to be helped down-stairs by two +lacqueys. I too ran down-stairs unchecked, +and saw him helped, tottering, into his +chair, a company of the Foot-guards surrounding +it; for he was much misliked by +the mobile at that time, and few cried, God +bless him! Indeed, as the company moved +away, I heard a ragged fellow (who should +have been laid by the heels for it) cry, +"There goes Starvation Jack, that fed his +soldiers on boiled bricks and baked mortar."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He is a Whig now," said my Grandmother +to me, when I rejoined her; "but +he was of the bravest among men, and in +the old days loved the true King dearly."</p> + +<p>When this man was young and poor, +the mobile used to call him "Handsome +Jack." When he was rich and old and +famous, he was "Starvation Jack" to them. +And of such are the caprices of a vain, +precipitate age. But I am glad I saw him, +Whig and pinchpenny as he was. I am +proud of having seen this Great Captain +and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. +The King of Prussia, the Duke of Cumberland, +my Lord George Sackville, Marshal +Biron, Duke Richelieu, and many of the +chiefest among the Turkish bashaws, have +I known and conversed with; but I still +feel that Man's trembling hand on my head; +my blood is still fired, as at the sound of a +trumpet, by the remembrance of his voice; +I still rejoice at my fortune in having set +eyes, if only for a moment, on John +Churchill, Duke of Marlborough.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was on the Twenty-ninth of January +(o.s.) that our servants, who had declared to +having heard the death-watch ticking for +days, asserted that those ominous sounds +grew faster and faster, resolving themselves +at length into those five distinct taps, with a +break between, which are foolishly held by +the vulgar to spell out the word <span class="smcap">death</span>. And +although the noise came probably from some +harmless insect, or from a rat nibbling at +the wainscot, that sound never meets my +ear—and I have heard it on board ship +many a time, and in gaol, and in my tent +in the desert—without a lump of ice sliding +down my back. As for Ghosts, John +Dangerous has seen too many of them to be +frightened.<a name="FNanchor_G_7" id="FNanchor_G_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_G_7" class="fnanchor">[G]</a></p> + +<p>That night I slept none. It was always +my lot in that huge house to be put, little +fellow as I was, in the hugest of places. +My bed was as spacious as a Turkish divan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +Its yellow silken quilt, lined with eiderdown, +and embroidered with crimson flowers, +was like a great waving field of ripe corn +with poppies in it. When I lay down, +great weltering waves of Bed came and +rolled over me; and my bolster alone was +as big as the cook's hammock at sea, who +has always double bedding, being swollen +with other men's rations. This bed had +posts tall and thick enough to have been +Gerard the Giant's lancing-pole, that used +to stand in the midst of the bakehouse in +Basing Lane; and its curtains of yellow +taffety hung in folds so thick that I always +used to think birds nestled among them. +That night I dreamt that the bed was +changed into our great red pew at St. +George's, only that it was hung with dark +velvet instead of scarlet baize, and that the +clergyman in the pulpit overhead, with a +voice angrier than ever, was reading that +service for the martyrdom of K. C. 1<sup>st</sup>, which +I had heard so often. And then methought +my dream changed, and two Great Giants<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +with heading-axes came striding over the +bed, so that I could feel their heavy feet on +my breast; but their heads were lost in the +black sky of the bed's canopy. Horror! +they stooped down, and lo, they were headless, +and from their sheared shoulders and +their great hatchets dripped, dripped, for +ever dripped, great gouts of something hot +that came into my mouth and tasted salt! +And I woke up with my hair all in a dabble +with the nightdews, with my Grandmother's +voice ringing in my ears, "Remember the +Thirtieth of January!" Mercy on me! I +had that dream again last night; and the +Giants with their axes came striding over +these old bones—then they changed to a +headless Spaniard and a bleeding Nun; but +the voice that cried, "Remember!" spake +not in the English tongue, and was not my +Grandmother's. And the hair of my flesh +stood up, as Job's did.</p> + +<p>In the morning, when the clouds of night +broke up from the pale winter's sky, and +went trooping away like so many funeral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +coach-horses to their stable, they told me +that my Grandmother was Dead; that she +had passed away when the first cock crew, +softly sighing "Remember." It was a +dreadful thing for me that I could +not, for many hours, weep; and that for +this lack of tears I was reproached for a +hardened ingrate by those who were now +to be my most cruel governors. But I could +not cry. The grief within me baked my +tears, and I could only stare all round at the +great desert of woe and solitude that seemed +to have suddenly grown up around me. +That morning, for the first time, I was left +to dress myself; and when I crept down to +the parlour, I found no breakfast laid out +for me—no silver tankard of new milk with +a clove in it, no manchet of sweet diet +bread, no egg on a trencher in a little heap +of salt. I asked for my breakfast, and was +told, for a young cub, that I might get it +in the kitchen. It would have gone hard +with me if, in my Grandmother's time, I had +entered that place to her knowledge; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +all things were changed to me now, and +when I entered the kitchen, the cook, nay, +the very scullion-wench, never moved for +me. John Footman sat on the dresser +drinking a mug of purl that one of the +maids had made for him. The cook leered +at me, while another saucy slut handed me +a great lump of dry bread, and a black-jack +with some dregs of the smallest beer at +the bottom. What had I done to merit +such uncivil treatment?</p> + +<p>By and by comes Mr. Cadwallader with +a sour face, and orders me to my chamber, +and get a chapter out of Deuteronomy by +heart by dinner-time, "Or you keep double +fast for Martyrdom-day, my young +master," he says, looking most evilly +at me.</p> + +<p>"Young master, indeed," Mrs. Nancy +repeated; "young master and be saved to +us. A parish brat rather. No man's child +but his that to hit you must throw a stone +over Bridewell Wall. Up to your chamber, +little varlet, and learn thy chapter. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +are to be no more counting of beads or +mumblings over hallowed beans in this +house. Up with you; times are changed."</p> + +<p>Why should this woman have been my +foe? She had been a cockering, fawning +nurse to me not so many months ago. +Months!—yesterday. Why should the +steward, who was used to flatter and caress +me, now frown and threaten like some harsh +taskmaster of a Clink, where wantons are +sent to be whipped and beat hemp. I slunk +away scared and cowed, and tried to learn a +chapter out of Deuteronomy; but the letters +all danced up and down before my eyes, and +the one word "Remember," in great scarlet +characters, seemed stamped on every page.</p> + +<p>It should have been told that between my +seventh and my eighth year I had been +sent, not only to church, but to school; but +my grandmother deeming me too tender for +the besom discipline of a schoolmaster,—from +which even the Quality were not at +that time spared,—I was put under the +government of a discreet matron, who taught<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +not only reading and writing, but also +brocaded waistcoats for gentlemen, and was +great caudle-maker at christenings. It was +the merriest and gentlest school in the town. +We were some twenty little boys and girls +together, and all we did was to eat sweetmeats, +and listen to our dame while she told +us stories about Cock Robin, Jack the Giant-Killer, +and the Golden Gardener. Now and +then, to be sure, some roguish boy would +put pepper in her snuff-box, or some saucy +girl hide her spectacles; but she never laid +hands on us, and called us her lambs, her +sweethearts, and the like endearing expressions. +She was the widow of an Irish +colonel who suffered in the year '96, for his +share in Sir John Fenwick's conspiracy; and +I think she had been at one time a tiring-woman +to my Grandmother, whom she held +in the utmost awe and reverence. I often +pass Mrs. Triplet's old school-house in what +is now called Major Foubert's Passage, and +recall the merry old days when I went to a +schoolmistress who could teach her scholars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +nothing but to love her dearly. It was to +my Grandmother, a kind but strict woman, +to whom I owed what scant reading +and writing ken I had at eight years of age.</p> + +<p>Rudely and disdainfully treated as I now +was, my governors thought it fit, for the +world's sake, that I should be put into +decent mourning; for my grandmother's +death could not be kept from the Quality, +and there was to be a grand funeral. She +lay in State in her great bedchamber; +tapers in silver sconces all around her, an +Achievement of arms in a lozenge at her +head, the walls all hung with fine black +cloth edged with orris, and pieced with her +escocheon, properly blazoned; and she herself, +white and sharp as waxwork in her face +and hands, arrayed in her black dress, with +crimson ribbons and crimson scarf, and a +locket of gold on her breast. They would +not bury her with her rubies, but these, too, +were laid upon her bier, which was of black +velvet, and with a fair Holland sheet +over all.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<p>Not alone the chamber itself, but the +anterooms and staircase were hung from +cornice to skirting with black. The undertaker's +men were ever in the house: they +ate and drank whole mountains of beef and +bread, whole seas of ale and punch (thus to +qualify their voracity) in the servants' hall. +They say my Grandmother's funeral cost a +thousand pounds, which Cadwallader and +Mrs. Talmash would really have grudged, +but that it was the will of the executors, +who were persons of condition, and more +powerful than a steward and a waiting-woman. +In her own testament my Grandmother +said nothing about the ordering of +her obsequies; but her executors took upon +them to provide her with such rites as +beseemed her degree. In those days the +Quality were very rich in their deaths; and, +for my part, I dissent from the starveling +and nipcheese performances of modern +funerals. It is most true that a hole in +the sand, or a coral-reef, full fathom five, +has been at many times my likeliest Grave;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +but I have left it nevertheless in my Will—which +let those who come after me dispute +if they dare—that I may be buried as a +Gentleman of long descent, with all due +Blacks, and Plumes, and Lights, and a supper +for my friends, and mourning cloaks for +six poor men.</p> + +<p>Why the doctors should have remained +in the house jangling and glozing in the +very lobby of Death, and eating of cold meats +and drinking of sweet wine in the parlour, +after the breath was out of the body of their +patient and patroness, it passes me to say; +as well should a player tarry upon the Stage +long after the epilogue has been spoken, the +curtain lowered, and the lights all put out. +Yet were Pall Mall and Warwick Lane +faithful, not only unto the death, but beyond +it, to Hanover Square. A coachful of these +grave gentlemen were bidden to the burial, +although it was probable that words would +run so high among them as for wigs to be +tossed out of the windows. And although +it is but ill fighting and base fence to draw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +upon a foe in a coach, I think (so bitter are +our Physicians against one another) that +they would make but little ado in breaking +their blades in halves and stabbing at one +another crosswise as they sat, with their +handkerchiefs for hilts.</p> + +<p>It was on the eighth night after her +demise, and at half-past nine of the clock, +that my Grandmother was Buried. I was +dressed early in the afternoon in a suit of +black, full trimmed, falling bands of white +cambric, edged, and a little mourning sword +with a crape knot, and slings of black velvet. +Then Mrs. Talmash knotted round my neck +a mourning-cloak that was about eight-times +too large for me, and with no gentle +hand flattened on my head a hat bordered +by heavy sable plumes. On the left shoulder +of my cloak there was embroidered in gold +and coloured silks a little escocheon of +arms; and with this, in my child-like way, +my fingers hankered to play; but with +threats that to me were dreadful, and not +without sundry nips and pinches, and sly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +clouts, I was bidden to be still, and stir +not from a certain stool apportioned to me +in the great Withdrawing-room. Not on +this side of the tomb shall I forget the +weary, dreary sense of desolation that came +over me when, thus equipped, or rather +swaddled and hampered in garments strange +to me, and of which I scarcely knew the +meaning, I was left alone for many hours +in a dismal room, whose ancient splendour +was now all under the eclipse wrought by +the undertakers. And I pray that few +children may so cruelly and suddenly have +their happiness taken away from them, and +from pampered darlings become all at once +despised and friendless outcasts.</p> + +<p>By and by the house began to fill with +company; and one that was acting as +Groom of the Chambers, and marshalling +the guests to their places, I heard whisper +to the Harbinger, who first called out the +names at the Stair-head, that Clarencieux +king-at-arms (who was then wont to attend +the funerals of the Quality, and to be gratified<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +with heavy fees for his office; although +in our days 'tis only public noblemen, generals, +ambassadors, and the like, who are +so honoured at their interment, only undertaker's +pageantry being permitted to the +private sort)—that Clarencieux himself +might have attended to marshal the following, +and proclaim the Style of the Departed; +but that it was ordered by authority that, +as in her life her name and honours had +been kept secret, so likewise in her death +she was to remain an Unknown Lady. +How such a reticence was found to jump +with the dictates of the law, which required +a registry of all dead persons in the parish-books, +I know not; but in that time there +were many things suffered to the Great +which to the meaner kind would have been +sternly denied; and, indeed, I have since +heard tell that sufferance even went beyond +the concealment of her Name, and that she +was not even buried in woollen,—a thing +then very strictly insisted upon, in order to +encourage the staple manufactures of Lancashire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +and the North,—and that, either by +a Faculty from the Arches Court, or a +winking and conniving of Authority, she +was placed in her coffin in the same garb +in which she had lain in state. Of such +sorry mocks and sneers as to the velvet of +her funeral coffer being nearer Purple than +Crimson in its hue, and of my mourning +cloak being edged with a narrow strip of a +Violet tinge,—as though to hint in some +wise that my Grandmother was foregathered, +either by descent or by marital alliance, with +Royalty,—I take little account. 'Tis not +every one who is sprung from the loins of a +King who cares to publish the particulars of +his lineage, and John Dangerous may perchance +be one of such discreet men.</p> + +<p>The doctors had been so long in the house +that their names and their faces were familiar +to me, not indeed as friends, but as that +kind of acquaintance one may see every day +for twenty years, and be not very grieved +some morning if news comes that they are +dead. Such an eye-acquaintance passes my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +windows every morning. I know his face, +his form, his hat and coat, the very tie of +his wig and the fashion of his shoe-buckle; +but he is no more to me than I am haply +to him, and there would be scant weeping, +I opine, between us if either of us were to +die. So I knew these doctors and regarded +them little, wondering only why they ate +and drank so much, and could so ill conceal +their hatred as to be calling foul names, +and well-nigh threatening fisticuffs, while +the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'corse'">corpse</ins> of my Grandmother was in the +house. But of the body of those who +were bidden to this sad ceremony, I had +no knowledge whatsoever. For aught I +knew, they might have been players or +bullies and Piccadilly captains, or mere +undertaker's men dressed up in fine clothes; +yet, believe me, it is no foolish pride, or a +dead vanity, that prompts me to surmise +that there were those who came to my +Grandmother's funeral who had a Claim to +be reckoned amongst the very noblest and +proudest in the land. Beneath the great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +mourning cloaks and scarves, I could see +diamond stars glistening, and the brave +sheen of green and crimson ribbons. I +desire in this particularity to confine myself +strictly to the Truth, and therefore +make no vain boast of a Blue Ribbon being +seen there, thus denoting the presence of a +Knight of the most noble Order of the +Garter. I leave it to mine enemies to lie, +and to cowardly Jacks to boast of their own +exploits. This brave gathering was not +void of women; but they were closely veiled +and impenetrably shrouded in their mourning +weeds, so that of their faces and their +figures I am not qualified to speak; and if +you would ask me that which I remember +chiefly of the noble gentlemen who were +present, I can say with conscience, that +beyond their stars and ribbons, I was only +stricken by their monstrous and portentous +Periwigs, which towered in the candle-light +like so many great tufts of plumage atop of +the Pope's Baldaquin, which I have seen so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +many times staggering through the great +aisles of St. Peter's at Rome.</p> + +<p>Your humble servant, and truly humble +and forlorn he was that night, was placed at +the coffin's head; it being part of that black +night's sport to hold me as chief mourner; +and, indeed, poor wretch, I had much to +mourn for. The great plumed hat they had +put upon me flapped and swaled over my +eyes so as almost to blind me. My foot +was for ever catching in my great mourning +cloak, and I on the verge of tripping +myself up; and there was a hot smoke +sweltering from the tapers, and a dreadful +smell of new black cloth and sawdust and +beeswax, that was like to have suffocated +me. Infinite was the relief when two of +the ladies attired in black, who had sat on +either side of me, as though to guard me +from running away, lifted me gently each +under an armpit, and held me up so that I +could see the writing on the coffin-plate, +which was of embossed silver and very +brave to view.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Can you read it out, my little man?" a +deep rich voice as of a lady sounded in mine +ears.</p> + +<p>I said, with much trembling, "that I +thought I could spell out the words, if time +and patience were accorded me."</p> + +<p>"There is little need, child," the voice +resumed. "I will read it to thee;" and a +black-gloved hand came from beneath her +robe, and she took my hand, and holding +my forefinger not ungently made me trace +the writing on the silver. But I declare +that I can remember little of that Legend +now, although I am impressed with the +belief that my kinswoman's married name +was not mentioned. That it was merely +set forth that she was the Lady D——, +whose maiden name was A. G., and that +she died in London in the 90th year of +her age, King George I. being king of +England. And then the smoke of the +tapers, the smell of the cloth and the wax, +and the remembrance of my Desolation, +were too much for me, and I broke out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +into a loud wail, and was so carried fainting +from the room; being speedily, however, +sufficiently recovered to take my place in +the coach that was to bear us Eastward.</p> + +<p>We rode in sorrowful solemnity till nigh +three o'clock that morning; but where my +Grandmother was buried I never knew. +From some odd hints that I afterwards +treasured up, it seems to me that the +coaches parted company with the Hearse +somewhere on the road to Harwich; but +of this, as I have averred, I have no certain +knowledge. In sheer fatigue I fell asleep, +and woke in broad daylight in the great +state-bed at Hanover Square.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER THE FIFTH.</h2> + +<h3>I AM BARBAROUSLY ABUSED BY THOSE WHO HAVE +CHARGE OF ME, AND FLYING INTO CHARLWOOD +CHASE, JOIN THE "BLACKS."</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">In</span> the morning, the wicked people into +whose power I was now delivered, came +and dragged me from my bed with fierce +thumps, and giving me coarse and rude +apparel, forced me to dress myself like a +beggar boy. I had a wretched little frock +and breeches of grey frieze, ribbed woollen +hose and clouted shoes, and a cap that was +fitter for a chimney-sweep than a young +gentleman of quality. I was to go away +in the Wagon, they told me, forthwith to +School; for my Grandmother—if I was +indeed any body's Grandson—had left me +nothing, not even a name. Henceforth, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +was to be little Scrub, little Ragamuffin, +little boy Jack. All the unknown Lady's +property, they said, was left to Charities +and to deserving Servants. There was not +a penny for me, not even to pay for my +schooling; but, in Christian mercy, Mrs. +Talmash was about to have me taught some +things suitable for my new degree, and in +due time have me apprenticed to some rough +Trade, in which I might haply—if I were +not hanged, as she hinted pretty plainly, +and more than once—earn an honest livelihood. +Meanwhile I was to be taken away +in the Wagon, as though I were a Malefactor +going in a Cart to Tyburn.</div> + +<p>I was taken down-stairs, arrayed in my +new garments of poverty and disgrace, and +drank in a last long look at my dear and +old and splendid Home. How little did I +think that I should ever come to look upon +it again, and that it would be my own +House—mine, a prosperous and honoured +old man! The undertaker's men were +busied in taking down the rich hangings,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +and guzzling and gorging, as was their +wont, on what fragments remained of the +banquetings and carousals of Death, which +had lasted for eight whole days. All +wretched as I was, I should—so easily are +the griefs of childhood assuaged by cates and +dainties—have been grateful for the wing of +a chicken or a glass of Canary: but this was +not to be. John a'Nokes or John a'Styles +were now more considered than I was, and +I was pushed and bandied about by fustian +knaves and base mechanics, and made to +wait for full half an hour in the hall, as +though I had been the by-blow of a Running +Footman promoted into carrying of a +link.</p> + +<p>'Twas Dick the Groom that took me to +the Wagon. Many a time he had walked +by the side of my little pony, trotting up +the Oxford Road. He was a gross unlettered +churl, but not unkind; and I think +remembered with something like compunction +the many pieces of silver he had had +from his Little Master.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's mortal hard," he said, as he took +my hand, and began lugging me along, +"that your grandam should have died +and left you nothing. 'Tis all clear as +Bexley ale in a yard-glass. Lawyers ha' +been reading the will to the gentlefolks, +and there's nothing for thee, poor +castaway."</p> + +<p>I began to cry, not because my Grandmother +had disinherited me, but because +this common horse-lout called me a "castaway," +and because I knew myself to +be one.</p> + +<p>"Don't fret," the groom continued; +"there'll be greet enough for thee when +thou'rt older; for thou'lt have a hard +time on't, or my name's not Dick +Snaffle."</p> + +<p>We had a long way to reach the Wagon, +which started from a Tavern called the +"Pillars of Hercules," right on the other +side of Hyde Park. I was desperately +tired when we came thither, and craved +leave to sit on a bench before the door, between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +the Sign-post and the Horse-trough. +So low was I fallen. A beggar came alongside +of me, and as I dozed tried to pick my +pocket. There was nothing in it—not even +a crust; and he hit me a savage blow over +the mouth because I had nothing to be +robbed of. Anon comes Dick Snaffle, who, +telling me that the Saddler of Bawtry was +hanged for leaving his liquor, and that he +had no mind for a halter while good ale was +to be drunk, had been comforting himself +within the tavern; and he finding me all +blubbered with grief at the blow I had +gotten from the beggar, fetches him a sound +kick; and so the two fell to fighting, till +out comes the tapster, raving at Tom +Ostler to duck the cutpurse cadger in +the Horse-trough. There was much more +sport out of doors in my young days +than now.</p> + +<p>At last the Wagon, for which we had +another good hour to wait, came lumbering +up to the Pillars of Hercules; and after the +Wagoner had fought with a Grenadier, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +wanted to go to Brentford for fourpence, +and would have stabbed the man with his +bayonet had not his hand been stayed, +the Groom took me up, and put me on +the straw inside. He paid the Wagoner +some money for me, and also gave into his +keeping a little bundle, containing, I suppose, +some change of raiment for me, saying +that more would be sent after me when +needed; and so, handing him too a letter, he +bade me Godd'en, and went on his way with +the Grenadier, a Sweep, and a Gipsy woman, +who was importunate that he should cross +her hand with silver, in order that he might +know all about the great Fortune that +he was to wed, as Tom Philbrick did in +the ballad. And this was the way in which +the Servants of the Quality spent their +forenoons when I was young.</p> + +<p>As the great rumbling chariot creaked +away westward, there came across my child-heart +a kind of consciousness that I had +been Wronged, and Cheated out of my inheritance. +Why was I all clad in laces and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +velvet but yesterday, and to-day apparelled +like a tramping pedlar's foster-brat? Why +was I, who was used to ride in coaches, and +on ponyback, and on the shoulder of my own +body-servant, and was called "Little Master," +and made much of, to be carted away +in a vile dray like this? But what is a child +of eight years old to do? and how is he to +make head against those who are older and +wickeder than he? I knew nothing about +lawyers, or wills, or the Rogueries of domestics. +I only knew that I had been foully +and shamefully Abused since my dear +Grandparent's death; and in that wagon, I +think, as I lay tumbling and sobbing on +that straw, were first planted in me those +seeds of a Wild, and sometimes Savage, disposition +that have not made my name to be +called "Dangerous" in vain.</p> + +<p>We were a small and not a very merry +company under the wagon tilt. There was +a Tinker, with all his accoutrements of pots +and kettles about him, who was lazy, as +most Tinkers are when not at hard work,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +and lay on his back chewing straw, and +cursing me fiercely whenever I moved. +There was a Welsh gentleman, very ragged +and dirty, with a wife raggeder and dirtier +than he. He was addressed as Captain, and +was bound, he said, for Bristol, to raise +soldiers for the King's Service. He beat +his wife now and then, before we came to +Hounslow. There was the tinker's dog, a +great terror to me; for although he feigned +to sleep, and to snore as much as a Dog can +snore, he always kept one little red eye fixed +upon me, and gave a growl and made a Snap +whenever I turned on the straw. There +was the Wagoner's child that was sickly, +and continually cried for its mammy; and +lastly there was a buxom servant-maid, with +a little straw hat and cherry ribbons over a +Luton lace mob, and a pretty flowered gown +pulled through the placket-holes, and a +quilted petticoat, and silver buckles in her +shoes, and black mits, who was going home +to see her Grandmother at Stoke Pogis,—so +she told me, and made me bitterly remember<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +that I had now no Grandmother,—and +was as clean and bright and smiling as a +new pin, or the milkmaids on May morning +dancing round the brave Garlands that they +have gotten from the silversmiths in Cranbourn +Alley. She sat prettily crouched up +on her box in a corner; and so, with the +Tinker among his pots and kettles, the +Welsh Captain and his lady on sundry +bundles of rags, the sickly child in a basket, +the Tinker's dog curled up in his Master's hat, +I tossing on the straw, and a great rout of +crates of crockery, rolls of cloth, tea and +sugar, and other London merchandize, which +the wagoner was taking down West, as a +return cargo for the eggs, poultry, butcher's +meat, and green stuff that he had brought up, +made altogether such a higgledypiggledy that +you do not often see in these days, when Servant-maids +come up by Coach—my service to +them!—and disdain the Wagon, and his +Worship the Captain wears a fine laced coat +and a cockade in his hat,—who but he!—and +travels post.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> + +<p>The maid who was bound on a visit to +her Grandmother was, I rejoice to admit, +most tenderly kind to me. She combed my +hair, and wiped away the tears that besmirched +my face. When the Wagon halted at the +King's Arms, Kensington, she tripped down +and brought me a flagon of new milk with +some peppermint in it; and she told me +stories all the way to Hounslow, and bade +me mind my book, and be a good child, and +that Angels would love me. Likewise that +she was being courted by a Pewterer in +Panyer Alley, who had parted a bright sixpence +with her—she showed me her token, +drawn from her modest bodice, and who had +passed his word to Wed, if he had to take to +the Road for the price of the Ring—but that +was only his funning, she said,—or if she +were forced even to run away from her Mistress, +and make a Fleet Match of it. It +was little, in good sooth, that I knew about +courtships or Love-tokens or Fleet Matches; +but I believe that a woman, for want of a +better gossip, would open her Love-budget<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +to a Baby or a Blind Puppy, and I listened +so well that she kissed me ere we parted, +and gave me a pocketful of cheese-cakes.</p> + +<p>It was quite night, and far beyond +Hounslow, when I was dozing off into happy +sleep again, that the Wagon came to a dead +stop, and I awoke in great fright at the +sound of a harsh voice asking if the Boy +Jack was there. I was the "Boy Jack:" +and the Wagoner, coming to the after-part +of the tilt with his lantern, pulled me from +among the straw with far less ado than if +I had been the Tinker's dog.</p> + +<p>I was set down on the ground before a +tall man with a long face and an ugly little +scratch wig, who had large boots with straps +over his thighs like a Farmer, and swayed +about him with a long whip.</p> + +<p>"Oh, this is the boy, is it?" said the long +man. "A rare lump to lick into shape, +upon my word."</p> + +<p>I was too frightened to say aught; but +the Wagoner muttered something in the +long man's ear, and gave him my bundle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +and money and the letter; and then I was +clapped up on a pillion behind the long +man, who had clomb up to the saddle of a +vicious horse that went sideways; and he, +bidding me hold on tight to his belt, for a +mangy young whelp as I was, began jolting +me to the dreadful place of Torture and Infernal +cruelty which for six intolerable +months was to be my home.</p> + +<p>This man's name was Gnawbit, and he +was my Schoolmaster. I was delivered over +to him, bound hand and foot, as it were, by +those hard-hearted folk (who should have +been most tender to me, a desolate orphan) +in Hanover Square. His name was Gnawbit, +and he lived hard by West Drayton.</p> + +<p>We are told in Good Books about the +Devil and his Angels; but sure I think that +the Devil must come to earth sometimes, +and marry and have children: whence the +Gnawbit race. I don't believe that the man +had one Spark of Human Feeling in him. +I don't believe that any tale of Man or +Woman's Woe would ever have wrung one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +tear from that cold eye, or drawn a pang +from that hard heart. I believe that he +was a perfectly senseless, pitiless Brute and +Beast, suffered, for some unknown purpose, +to dwell here above, instead of being everlastingly +kept down below, for the purpose +of Tormenting. I was always a Dangerous, +but I was never a Revengeful man. I have +given mine enemy to eat when he was a-hungered, +and to drink when he was athirst. +I have returned Good for Evil very many +times in this Troubled Life of mine, exposed +as it has been always to the very +sorest of temptations; but I honestly aver, +that were I to meet this Tyrant of mine, +now, on a solitary island, I would mash his +Hands with a Club or with my Feet, if he +strove to grub up roots; that were I Alone +with him, wrecked, in a shallop, and there +were one Keg of Fresh Water between us, +I would stave it, and let the Stream of Life +waste itself in the gunwales while I held +his head down into the Sea, and forced him +to swallow the brine that should drive him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +Raving Mad. But this is unchristian, and +I must go consult Doctor Dubiety.</p> + +<p>Flesh and Blood! Have you never +thought upon the Wrongs your Pedagogue +has wrought upon you, and longed to meet +that Wretch, and wheal his flesh with the +same instrument with which he whealed +you, and make the Ruffian howl for mercy? +Mercy, quotha! did he ever show you any? +A pretty equal match it was, surely! You +a poor, weak starveling of a child shivering +in your shoes, and ill-nurtured by the coarse +food he gave you, and he a great, hulking, +muscular villain, tall and long-limbed, and +all-powerful in his wretched Empire; while +you were so ignorant as not to know that +the Law, were he discovered (but who was +to denounce him?), might trounce him for +his barbarity. Ah! brother Gnawbit, if I +had ever caught you on board a good ship +of mine! Aha! knave, if John Dangerous +would not have dubbed himself the sheerest +of asses, had he not made your back +acquainted with nine good tails of three-strand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +cord, with triple knots in each, and +the brine-tub afterwards. I will find out +this Gnawbit yet, and cudgel him to the +death. But, alas, I rave. He must have +been full five-and-forty-years old when I +first knew him, and that is nigh sixty years +agone. And at a hundred and five the +cruellest Tyrant is past cudgelling.</p> + +<p>This man had one of the prettiest houses +that was to be seen in the prettiest part of +England. The place was all draped in ivy, +and roses, and eglantine, with a blooming +flower-garden in front, and a luscious orchard +behind. He had a wife too who was Fair +to see,—a mild little woman, with blue +eyes, who used to sit in a corner of her +parlour, and shudder as she heard the boys +shrieking in the schoolroom. There was an +old infirm Gentleman that lodged with +them, that had been a Captain under the +renowned Sir Cloudesley Shovel and Admiral +Russell, and could even, so it was said, +remember, as a sea-boy, the Dutch being in +the Medway, in King Charles's time. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +Old Gentleman seemed the only person that +Gnawbit was afraid of. He never interfered +to dissuade him from his brutalities, nay, +seemed rather to encourage him therein, +crying out as the sounds of torture reached +him, "Bear it! bear it! Good again! +Make 'em holloa! Make 'em dance! Cross +the cuts! Dig it in! Rub in the brine! +Oho! Bear it, brave boys; there's nothing +like it!" Yet was there something jeering +and sarcastic in his voice that made Gnawbit +prefer to torture his unhappy scholars when +the Old Gentleman was asleep,—and even +then he would sometimes wake up and cry +out, "Bear it!" from the attic, or when he +was being wheeled about the neighbourhood +in a sick man's chair.</p> + +<p>The first morning I saw the Old Gentleman +he shook his crutch at me, and cried, +"Aha! another of 'em! Another morsel +for Gnawbit. More meat for his market. +Is he plump? is he tender? Will he bear +it? Will he dance? Oho! King Solomon +for ever." And then he burst into such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +fit of wheezing laughter that Mrs. Gnawbit +had to come and pat him on the back and +bring him cordials; and my Master, looking +very discomposed, sternly bade me betake +myself to the schoolroom.</p> + +<p>After that, the Old Gentleman never saw +me without shaking his crutch and asking +me if I liked it, if I could bear it, and if +Gnawbit made my flesh quiver. Of a truth +he did.</p> + +<p>Why should I record the sickening experience +of six months' daily suffering. That +I was beaten every day was to be expected +in an Age when blows and stripes were the +only means thought of for instilling knowledge +into the minds of youth. But I was +alone, I was friendless, I was poor. My +master received, I have reason to believe, +but a slender Stipend with me, and he +balanced accounts by using me with greater +barbarity than he employed towards his +better paying scholars. I had no Surname, +I was only "Boy Jack;" and my schoolfellows +put me down, I fancy, as some base-born<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +child, and accordingly despised me. I +had no pocket-money. I was not allowed +to share in the school-games. I was bidden +to stand aside when a cake was to be cut up. +God help me! I was the most forlorn of +little children. Mrs. Gnawbit was as kind +to me as she dared be, but she never showed +me the slightest favour without its bringing +me (if her husband came to hear of it) an +additionally cruel Punishment.</p> + +<p>There was a Pond behind the orchard +called Tibb's hole, because, as our schoolboy +legend ran, a boy called Tibb had once cast +himself thereinto, and was drowned, through +dread of being tortured by this Monster. +I grew to be very fond of standing alone by +the bank of this Pond, and of looking at +my pale face in its cool blue-black depth. +It seemed to me that the Pond was my +friend, and that within its bosom I should +find rest.</p> + +<p>I was musing in this manner by the bank +one day when I felt myself touched on the +shoulder. It was the crutch of the Old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +Gentleman, who had been wheeled hither, +as was his custom, by one of the boys.</p> + +<p>"You go into the orchard and steal a +juicy pear," said the Old Gentleman to his +attendant. "Gnawbit's out, and I <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'wont'">won't</ins> +tell him. Leave me with Boy Jack for five +minutes, and then come back.—Boy Jack," +he continued, when we were alone, "how do +you like it?"</p> + +<p>"Like what, sir?" I asked humbly.</p> + +<p>"All of it, to be sure:—the birch, the +cane, the thong, the ferula, the rope's-end,—all +Gnawbit's little toys?"</p> + +<p>I told him, weeping, that I was very, +very unhappy, and that I would like to +drown myself.</p> + +<p>"That's wrong, that's wicked," observed +the Old Gentleman with a chuckle; "you +mustn't drown yourself, because then +you'd lose your chance of being hanged. +Gregory has as much right to live as other +folks."<a name="FNanchor_H_8" id="FNanchor_H_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_H_8" class="fnanchor">[H]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> +<p>I did not in the least understand what +he meant, but went on sobbing.</p> + +<p>"I tell you what it is," pursued the Old +Gentleman; "you mustn't stop here, because +Gnawbit will skin you alive if you +do. He's bound to do it; he's sworn to +do it. He half-skinned Tibb; and was +going to take off the other half, when +Tibb drowned himself like a fool in this +hole here. He was a fool, and should have +followed my advice and run away. 'Tibb,' +I said, 'you'll be skinned. Bear it, but +run away. Here's a guinea. Run!' He +was afraid that Gnawbit would catch him; +and where is he now? Skinned, and +drowned into the bargain. Don't you be +a Fool. You Run while there's some skin +left. Gnawbit's sworn to have it all, if +you don't. Here's a guinea, and run away +as fast as ever your legs can carry you."</p> + +<p>He gave me a bright piece of gold and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +waved me off, as though I were to run +away that very moment. I submissively +said that I would run away after school +was over, but asked him where I should +run to.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't know," the Old Gentleman +said somewhat peevishly. "That's +not my business. A boy that has got legs +with skin on 'em, and doesn't know where +to run to, is a jackass.—Stop!" he continued, +as if a bright idea had just struck +him; "did you ever hear of the Blacks?"</p> + +<p>"No sir," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Stupid oaf! Do you know where +Charlwood Chase is?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; my schoolfellows have been +nutting there, and I have heard them +speak of it."</p> + +<p>"Then you make the best of your way +to Charlwood Chase, and go a-nutting there +till you find the Blacks; you can't miss +them; they're everywhere. Run, you +little Imp. See! the time's up, and here +comes the boy who stole the juicy pear."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +And the boy coming up, munching the +remains of one of Gnawbit's juiciest pears, +my patron was wheeled away, and I have +never seen him from that day to this.</p> + +<p>That very night I ran away from Gnawbit's, +and made my way towards Charlwood +Chase to join the "Blacks," although who +those "Blacks" were, and whereabouts in +the Chase they lived, and what they did +when they were there, I had no more definite +idea than who the Emperor Prester +John or the Man in the Moon might be.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER THE SIXTH.</h2> + +<h3>THE HISTORY OF MY GRANDFATHER, WHO WAS SO LONG +KEPT A PRISONER IN ONE OF THE KING'S +CASTLES IN THE EAST COUNTRY.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">At</span> the time when his Majesty Charles II. +was so happily restored to the throne of +these kingdoms, there was, and had been, +confined for upwards of ten years, in one +of his Majesty's Castles in the eastern part +of this kingdom, a certain Prisoner. His +Name was known to none, not even to +the guards who kept watch over him, so to +speak, night and day,—not even to the +gaoler, who had been told that he must +answer with his Head for his safe custody, +who had him always in a spying, fretful +overlooking, and who slept every night +with the keys of the Captive's cell under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +his pillow. The Castle where he lay in +hold has been long since levelled to the +earth, if, indeed, it ever had any earth to +rest upon, and was not rather stayed upon +some jutting fragment of Rock washed +away at last by the ever-encroaching sea. +Nay, of its exact situation I am not +qualified to tell. I never saw the place, +and my knowledge of it is confined to a +bald hearsay, albeit of the Deeds that were +done within its walls I can affirm the certitude +with Truth. From such shadowy +accounts as I have collected, the edifice +would seem to have consisted but of a +single tower or donjon-keep very strong +and thick, and defying the lashings of the +waves, almost as though it were some +Pharos or other guide to mariners. It was +surrounded by a low stone wall of prodigious +weight of masonry, and was approached +from the mainland by a drawbridge +and barbican. But for many months +of the year there was no mainland within +half a mile of it, and the King's Castle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +could only be reached by boats. Men said +that the Sun never shone there but for ten +minutes before and ten minutes after a +storm, and there were almost always storms +lowering over or departing from that dismal +place. The Castle was at least two miles +from any human habitation; for the few +fishermen's cabins, made of rotten boats, +hogsheads nailed together, and the like, +which had pitifully nestled under the lee +of the Castle in old time, had been +rigorously demolished to their last crazy +timber when the Prisoner was brought +there. At a respectful distance only, far +in, and yet but a damp little islet in the +midst of the fens, was permitted to linger +on, in despised obscurity, a poor swamp of +some twenty houses that might, half in +derision and half in civility, be called a +Village. It had a church without a steeple, +but with a poor Stump like the blunted +wreck of some tall ship's mainmast. The +priest's wages were less than those of a +London coal-porter. The poor man could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +get no tithes, for there were no tithes to +give him. Three parts of his glebe were +always under water, and he was forced to +keep a little school for his maintenance, +of which the scholars could pay him but +scant fees, seeing that it was always a +chance whether their parents were dead of +the Ague, or Drowned. Yet there was a +tavern in the village, where these poor, +shrinking, feverish creatures met and drank +and smoked, and sang their songs, contriving +now and again to smuggle a few +kegs of spirits from Holland, and baffle the +riding-officers in a scamper through the +fens. They were a simple folk, fond of +telling Ghost-Stories, and with a firm belief +in charms to cure them from the Ague. +And, with an awe whose intensity was renewed +each time the tale was told, they +whispered among themselves as to that +Prisoner of Fate up at the Castle yonder. +What this man's Crime had been, none +could tell. His misdeed was not, it was +whispered, stated in the King's Warrant.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +The Governor was simply told to receive a +certain Prisoner, who would be delivered to +him by a certain Officer, and that, at the +peril of his life, he was to answer for his +safe custody. The Governor, whose name +was Ferdinando Glover, had been a Captain +of Horse in the late Protector Oliver's time; +but, to the surprise of all men, he was not +dismissed at his Majesty's Restoration, but +was continued in his command, and indeed, +received preferment, having the grade of a +Colonel on the Irish establishment. But +they did not fail to tell him, and with fresh +instances of severity, that he would answer +with his head for the safe keeping of his +Prisoner.</div> + +<p>Of this strange Person it behoves me now +to speak. In the year 1660, he appeared to +be about seven-and-thirty years of age, tall, +shapely, well-knit in his limbs, which captivity +had rather tended to make full of +flesh than to waste away; for there were no +yards, nor spacious outlying walls to this +Castle; and but for a narrow ledge that ran<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +along the surrounding border, and where he +was but rarely suffered to walk, there was no +means for him to take any exercise whatever. +He wore his own hair in full dark +locks, which Time and Sorrow had alike +agreed to grizzle. Strong lines marked his +face, but age had not brought them there. +His eye was dim, but more with watching +and study than with the natural failing of +vital forces.</p> + +<p>So he had been in this grim place going +on for twelve years, without a day's respite, +without an hour's enlargement. True, he +wore no fetters, and was treated with a +grave and stately Consideration; but his +bonds were not less galling, and the iron +had not the less entered into his soul. The +Order was, that he was to be held as a +Gentleman, and to be subjected to no grovelling +indignities or base usage. But the +Order was (for a long time, and until another +Prisoner, hereafter to be named, +received a meed of Enlargement) likewise +as strict that, save his keepers, he should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +see no living soul. "And it is useless," +wrote a Great Lord to the Governor once, +when it was humbly submitted to him +that the Prisoner might need spiritual +consolation, and have solace to his soul +by conferring with poor Parson Webfoot +yonder,—"it is useless," said that nobleman, +"for your charge to see any black +gown, under pretext that he would Repent; +for, albeit though I know not his crime +more than the babe unborn, I have it from +his Majesty's own gracious word of mouth, +that what he has done cannot be repented +of; therefore you are again commanded to +keep him close, and to let him have speech +neither of parson nor of peasant." Which +was duly done. But Colonel Glover, not +untouched by that curiosity inherent to +mankind, as well as womankind, took pains +to cast about whether this was not one who +had a hand in compassing the death of +King Charles I.; and this coming, in some +strange manner (through inquiries he had +made in London), to the ears of Authority,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +he was distinctly told that his prisoner was +not one of those bold bad men who, misled +by Oliver Cromwell, had signed that fatal +Warrant:—the names and doom of the +Regicides being now all well known, as +having suffered or fled from Justice, or +being in hold, as Mr. Martyn was. So +Colonel Glover, being well assured that +what was done was for the King's honour, +and for the well-being of his Estates, and +that any other further searching or prying +might cost him his place, if they did not +draw him within the meshes of the law +against Misprision of Treason, forbore to +vex himself or Authority further on matters +that concerned him not, and was so content +to guard his Prisoner with greater care than +ever. The Castle was garrisoned by but +twelve men, and of these six were invalids +and matrosses; but the other six were tall +and sturdy veterans, who had been indeed +of Oliver's Life-guard, and were now confirmed +in their places, and with the pay, +not of common soldiers, but of private<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +gentlemen, by the King's own order. Their +life was dreary enough, for they could hold +but little comradeship with the invalids, +whom they dubbed "greybeards, drivellers, +and kill-joys." But they had a guard-room +to themselves, where they diced and drank, +and told their ruffian stories, and sang their +knavish catches, as is the manner, I suppose, +for all soldiers to do in all countries, +whether in camps or in cities. But their +duty was withal of the severest. The +invalids went snugly to bed at nine of the +clock, or thereabouts, but the veritable men-of-war +kept watch and ward all night, turn +and turn about, and even when they slept +took their repose on a bench, which was +placed right across the Prisoner's door.</p> + +<p>This much-enduring man—for surely no +lot could be harder than his—to be thus, +and in the very prime and vigour of manhood, +cooped up in a worse than gaol, +wherein for a long time he was even denied +the company of captives as wretched as he,—this +slave to some Mightier Will and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +Sterner Fate than, it would seem, mortal +knowledge could wot of, bore his great +Distress with an unvarying meekness and +calm dignity. With him, indeed, they did +as they listed, using him as one that was +as Clay in the hands of the Potter; but, +not to the extent of one tetchy word or +froward movement, did he ever show that +he thought his imprisonment unjust, or the +bearing of those who were set over him +cruel. And this was not an abject stupor +or dull indifference, such as I have marked +in rogues confined for life in the Bagnios of +the Levant, who knew that they must needs +pull so many strokes and get so many stripes +every day, and so gave up battling with the +World, and grinned contumely at their +gaolers or the visitors who came sometimes +to point at them and fling them copper +money. In the King's Prisoner there was +a philosophic reserve and quietness that +almost approached content; and his resignation +under suffering was of that kind +that a Just Man may feel who knows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +that he is upon the ground, and that, howsoever +his enemies push at him, he cannot +fall far. He never sought to evade the +conditions of his captivity or to plead for +its being lightened. The courtesies that +were offered to him, in so far as the Governor +was warranted in offering such civilities, +he took as his due; but he never +craved a greater indulgence or went one +step in word or in deed to obtain a surcease +from his harsh and cruel lot.</p> + +<p>He would rise at six of the clock both in +winter and summer, and apply himself with +great ardour to his private devotions and +to good studies until eight, when his breakfast, +a tankard of furmety and a small +measure of wine, was brought him. And +from nine until noon he would again be at +his studies, and then have dinner of such +meats as were in season. From one to three +he was privileged to walk either on the narrow +strip of masonry that encompassed his +prison-house, and with a soldier with his +firelock on hip following his every step, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +else to wander up and down in the various +chambers of the Castle, still followed by a +guard. Now he would tarry awhile in the +guard-room, and stand over against the +soldier's table, his head resting very sadly +against the chimney, and listen to their wild +talk, which was, however, somewhat hushed +and shaped to decency so long as he abided +there. And anon he would come into the +Governor's apartment, and hold Colonel +Glover for some moments in grave discourse +on matters of history, and the lives of +Worthy Captains, and sometimes upon +points and passages of Scripture, but never +upon anything that concerned the present +day. For, beyond the bounds of the place in +which he was immured, what should he know +of things of instant moment, or of the way +the world was wagging? By permission, the +Colonel had told him that Oliver was no +more, and that Richard, his son, was made +Protector in his stead. Then, at the close +of that weak and vain shadow of a Reign, +and after the politic act of my Lord Duke of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +Albemarle (Gen. Monk), who made his own +and the country's fortune, and Nan Clarges'<a name="FNanchor_I_9" id="FNanchor_I_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_I_9" class="fnanchor">[I]</a> +to boot, at one stroke, the Prisoner was +given to know that schism was at an end, +and that the King had come to his own +again. Colonel Glover must needs tell him; +for he was bidden to fire a salvo from the +five pieces of artillery he had mounted, three +on his outer wall, and two at the top of his +donjon-keep, to say nothing of hoisting the +Royal Standard, which now streamed from +the pole where erst had floated the rag +that bore the arms of the Commonwealth of +England.<a name="FNanchor_J_10" id="FNanchor_J_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_J_10" class="fnanchor">[J]</a></p> + +<p>"I am glad," the Prisoner said, when +they told him. "I hope this young man +will make England happier than did his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +father before him." But this was after he +was in hopes of getting some company in +his solitude, and when he was cheerfuller.</p> + +<p>It was about midway in his imprisonment +when another Captive was brought to the +King's Castle; but it was not until close +upon the Restoration of King Charles II. +that the two prisoners were permitted to +come together. The second guest in this +most dolorous place was a Woman, and that +Woman was my Grandmother, Arabella +Greenville.</p> + +<p>There is no use in disguising the fact +that, for many months after the failure of +her attack on the Protector, the poor Lady +had been as entirely distraught as was her +fate after the death of the Lord Francis, and +that to write her Life during this period +would be merely penning the chronicle of a +continued Frenzy. It were merciful to +draw a veil over so sad and mortifying a +scene—so well brought up as she had been, +and respected by all the Quality,—but in +pursuit of the determination with which I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +set out, to tell the Truth, and all the Truth, +I am forced to confess that my Grandmother's +Ravings were of the most violent, and +that of her thoroughly demented state there +could be no doubt. So far, indeed, did the +unhappy creature's Abandonment extend, +that those who were about her could with +difficulty persuade her to keep any Garments +upon her body, and were forced with Stripes +and Revilings to force to a decorous carriage +the gentle Lady who had once been the very +soul and mirror of Modesty. But in process +of time these dreadful furies and rages +left her, and she became calm. She was +still beautiful, albeit her comeliness was +now of a chastened and saddened order, and, +save her eye, there was no light or sparkle +in her face.</p> + +<p>When her health and mind were healed, +so far as earthly skill could heal them,—it +being given out, I am told, to her kindred +that she had died mad in the Spinning +House at Cambridge: but she had never +been further than the house of one Dr Empson<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +at Colchester, who had tended her during +her distraction,—my Grandmother was +brought to the King's Castle in the East, +and for a long time lay incarcerate in a +lower chamber of the Keep, being not allowed +even that scant exercise which was permitted +to the Prisoner above, and being waited +upon and watched night and day by the +Governor's Daughter, Mistress Ruth Glover, +who at nights slept in a little closet adjoining +my Grandmother's chamber. The girl +had a tongue, I suppose, like the rest of her +sex,—and of our sex too, brother,—and she +would not have been eighteen, of a lively +Disposition, and continually in the society +of a Lady of Birth and accomplishments, +not more than ten years her senior, without +gossiping to her concerning all that +she knew of the sorry little world round +about her. It was not, however, much, or +of any great moment, that Ruth had to tell +my Grandmother. She could but hold her +in discourse of how the Invalid Matrosses +had the rheumatism and the ague; how the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +Life-guard men in their room diced and +drank and quarrelled, both over their dice +and their drink; how the rumour ran that +the poverty-stricken habitants of the adjoining +village had, from long dwelling among +the fens, become as web-footed as the wild-fowl +they hunted; and how her Father, who +had been for many years a widower, was +harsh and stern with her, and would not +suffer her to read the romances and play-books, +some half-dozen of which the Sergeant +of the Guard had with him. She +may have had a little also to say about the +Prisoner in the upper story of the Keep—how +his chamber was all filled with folios +and papers; how he studied and wrote and +prayed; and during his two hours' daily +liberty wandered sadly and in a silent manner +about the Castle. For this was all +Mistress Ruth had to tell, and of the Prisoner's +name, or of his Crime, she was, +perforce, mum.</p> + +<p>These two Women nevertheless shaped +all kinds of feverish Romances and wild conjectures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +respecting this unknown man above +stairs. Arabella had told her own sad story +to the girl who—though little better than a +waiting-woman—she had made, for want of +a better bower-maiden, her Confidante. I +need not say that oceans of Sympathy, or +the accepted Tokens thereof, I mean Tears, +ran out from the eyes of the Governor's +Daughter when she heard the History of +the Lord Francis, of the words he spoke +just before the musketeers fired their pieces +at him, and of another noble speech he +made two hours before he Suffered, when +the Officer in command, compassionating +his youth and parts, told him that if he +had any suit, short of life, to prefer to +the Lord General, he would take upon +himself to say that it should be granted +without question; whereon quoth my Lord +Francis, "I will not die with any suit in +my mouth, save to the King of kings." +On this, and on the story of the Locket, +and of his first becoming acquainted with +Arabella, of his sprightly disguise as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +Teacher, with the young squire at Madam +Desaguilier's school at Hackney, of his +Beauty and Virtues and fine manners and +extraordinary proficiency in Arts and Letters +and the Exercises of Chivalry,—of these and +a thousand kindred things the two women +were never tired of talking. And, indeed, +if one calls to mind what vast Eloquence +and wealth of words two loving hearts can +distil from a Bit of Ribbon or a Torn Letter, +it is not to be wondered at that Arabella +and Ruth should find their Theme inexhaustible—so +good and brave as had been +its Object, now dead and cold in the bloody +trench at Hampton yonder, and convert it +into a perpetually welling spring of Mournful +Remembrances.</p> + +<p>Arabella had taken to her old trick of +Painting again, and in the first and second +year of her removal to the Castle executed +some very creditable performances. But +she never attempted either the effigies of +her Lover or of the Protector, and confined +herself to portraitures of the late martyred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +King, and of the Princes now unjustly kept +from their inheritance.</p> + +<p>It was during the Protectorate of Richard +Cromwell (that mere puppet-play of Power) +that the watch kept on the prisoners in the +King's Castle grew for a time much less +severe and even lax. Arabella was suffered +to go out of her chamber, even at the very +hours that the Prisoner above was wandering +to and fro. The guards did not hinder +their meeting; and, says Colonel Ferdinando +Glover, one day to his daughter, "I should +not wonder if, some of these days, Orders +were to come down for me to set both my +birds free from their cage. That which Mrs. +Greenville has done, you and I know full +well, and I am almost sorry that she did +not succeed."</p> + +<p>"Oh, father!" cries Mistress Ruth, who +was of a very soft and tender nature, and +abhorred the very idea of bloodshed; so +that, loving Arabella as she did with all +her heart, she could not help regarding +her with a kind of Terror when she remembered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +the deed for which she was +confined.</p> + +<p>"Tush, girl," the Colonel makes answer, +"'tis no Treason now to name such a +thing. Oliver's dead, and will eat no more +bread; and I misliked him much at the end, +for it is certain that he betrayed the Good +Old Cause, and hankered after an earthly +crown. As for this young Popinjay, he +will have more need to protect himself than +these Kingdoms. And I think that if your +father is to live on the King's wages, it had +better be on the real King's than the false +one."</p> + +<p>"And do you think, father, that King +Charles will come to his own again?" asks +Ruth, in a flutter of delight; for Arabella +had made her a very Royalist at heart.</p> + +<p>"I think what I think," replies the Colonel, +with his stern look; "but whatever happens, +it is not likely, it seems me, that we shall +have our prisoners here much longer. That +is to say:—Mrs. Greenville, for what she +hath done can scarcely be distasteful to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +those who loved not Oliver. But for my +other bird,—who can tell? He may +have raised the very Devil for aught I +know."</p> + +<p>"Do you think that he also tried to kill +the Protector?" Ruth asks timidly, and just +hazarding a Surmise that had oft been +mooted betwixt Arabella and herself.</p> + +<p>"Get thee to thy chamber, and about thy +business, wench," the Colonel says, quite +storming. "Away, or I will lay my willow +wand about thy shoulders. Is there nothing +but killing of Protectors, forsooth, for thy +silly head to be filled with?" And yet I +incline to think that Mr. Governor was not +of a very different mind to his daughter; +for away he hies to his chamber, and falls +to reading Colonel Titus' famous book, +<i>Killing no Murder</i>, and, looking anon on his +Prisoner coming wandering down a winding +staircase, says softly to himself, "He looks +like one, for all his studious guise, who +could do a Bold Deed at a pinch."</p> + +<p>This Person, I should have said, wore,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +winter and summer, a plain black shag gown +untrimmed, with camlet netherstocks, and a +smooth band. And his Right Hand was +always covered with a glove of Black +Velvet.</p> + +<p>By and by came, as I have related, the +news of his Majesty's Restoration and fresh +Strict Orders for the keeping of the Prisoner. +But though he was not to see a clergyman,—and +for all that prohibition he saw more +than one before he came out of Captivity,—a +certain Indulgence was now granted him. +He was permitted to have free access to +Mrs. Arabella Greenville, and to converse +freely with her at all proper times and +seasons.</p> + +<p>But that I know the very noble nature of +my Grandmother, and am prepared, old as +I am, to defend her fame even to taking +the heart's blood of the villain that maligned +her, I might blush at having to +record a fact which must needs be set down +here. Ere six months had passed, there +grew up between Mrs. Greenville and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +Prisoner a very warm and close friendship, +which in time ripened into the tenderest of +attachments. That her love for her dear +Frank ever wavered, or that she ever swerved +for one moment in her reverence for his +memory, I cannot and I will not believe; +but she nevertheless looked with an exceeding +favour upon the imprisoned man, and +made no scruple of avowing her Flame to +Ruth. This young person did in time +confide the same to her father, who was +much concerned thereat, he not knowing +how far the allowance of any love-passages +between two such strangely assorted suitors +might tally with his duty towards the King +and Government. Nor could he shut his +eyes to the fact that the Prisoner regarded +Mrs. Greenville first with a tender compassion +(such as a father might have towards his +child), next with an ardent sympathy, and +finally—and that very speedily too—with a +Feeling that had all the Signs and Portents +of Love. These two unfortunate People +were so shut out from the world, and so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +spiritually wedded by a common Misery and +discomfort, that their mere earthly coming +together could not be looked upon but as +natural and reasonable; for Mrs. Greenville +was the only woman upon whom the Prisoner +could be expected to look,—he being, +beyond doubt, one of Gentle Degree, if not +of Great and Noble Station, and therefore +beyond aught but the caresses of a Patron +with such a simple maid as Ruth Glover, +whose father, although of some military +rank, was, like most of the Captains who +had served under the Commonwealth (witness +Ireton, Harrison, Hacker, and many +more) of exceeding mean extraction.</p> + +<p>That love-vows were interchanged between +this Bride and Bridegroom of Sorrow and a +Dark Dungeon almost, I know not; but +their liking for each other's society—he +imparting to her some of his studies, and +she playing music, with implements of which +she was well provided, to him of an afternoon—had +become so apparent both to the +soldiers on guard and servants, even to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +poor Invalid Matrosses wheezing and shivering +in their buff-coats, that Colonel Glover, +in a very flurry of uncertainty, sent post +haste to Whitehall to know what he was to +do—whether to chamber up Mrs. Greenville +in her chamber, as of aforetime, or confine +the Prisoner in one of the lower vaults in +the body of the rock, with so many pounds +weight of iron on his legs. For Colonel +Glover was a man accustomed to use strong +measures, whether with his family or with +those he had custody over.</p> + +<p>No answer came for many days; and the +Governor had almost begun to think his +message to be forgotten, when one summer +evening (<span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1661) a troop of horse were +seen galloping from the Village towards the +Castle. The Drawbridge, which was on the +ordinary kept slung, was now lowered; and +the captain of the troop passing up to the +barbican, gave Colonel Glover a sealed +packet, and told him that he and his men +would bivack at the bridge-foot (for the fens +were passable at this season) until one who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +was expected at nightfall should come. +Meat and drink were sent for, and the +soldiers, dismounting, began to take tobacco +and rail against the Castle in their brutal +fashion—shame on them!—as an old mangy +rat-trap.</p> + +<p>Colonel Glover went up into his chamber +in extreme disturbance. He had opened +the packet and conned its contents; and +having his daughter to him presently, and +charging her, by her filial duty, to use +discretion in all things that he should +confide to her, tells her that his Majesty +the King of England, France, and Ireland +was coming to the Castle in a strictly Disguised +habit that very evening.</p> + +<p>There was barely time to make the +slightest of preparations for this Glorious +Guest; but what there was, and of the best +of Meat, and Wine, and Plate, and hangings, +and candles in sconces, was set out in +the Governor's chamber, and ordered as +handsomely as might be for his Majesty's +coming. About eight o'clock—the villagers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +being given to understand that only some +noble commander is coming to pass the +soldiers in the Castle in review—arrived two +lackeys, with panniers and saddle-bags, and +a French varlet, who said he was, forsooth, +a cook, and carried about with him a whole +elaboratory of stove-furnaces, pots and pans, +and jars of sauces and condiments. Monsieur +was quickly at work in the kitchen, turning +all things topsy-turvy, and nearly frightening +Margery, the old cook, who had been a +baggage-wagon sutler at Naseby in the +Great Wars, into fits. About half-past ten +a trumpet was heard to wind at the bridge-foot, +and a couple of horses came tramping +over the planks, making the chains rattle +even to the barbican, where their riders +dismounted.</p> + +<p>The King, for it is useless to make any +further disguise about him—although the +Governor deferred falling on his knees and +kissing his hand until he had conducted him +to his own chamber—was habited in strict +incognito, with an uncurled wig, a flap-hat,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +and a horseman's coat over all. He had +not so much as a hanger by his side, carrying +only a stout oak walking-staff. With +him came a great lord, of an impudent +countenance, and with a rich dress beneath +his cloak, who, when his Master was out of +the room, sometimes joked with, and sometimes +swore at, poor little Ruth, as, I grieve +to say, was the uncivil custom among the +Quality in those wild days. The King +supped very copiously, drinking many +beakers of wine, and singing French songs, +to which the impudent Lord beat time, and +sometimes presumed to join in chorus. But +this Prince was ever of an easy manner and +affable complexion, which so well explains +the Love his people bore him. All this +while the Governor and Ruth waited at +table, serving the dishes and wine on their +knees; for they would suffer no mean +hirelings to wait upon their guests.</p> + +<p>As the King drank—and he was a great +taker of wine—he asked a multitude of +questions concerning the Prisoner and Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +Greenville, to all of which Colonel Glover +made answer in as plain a manner as was +consistent with his deep loyalty and reverence. +Soon, however, Colonel Glover found +that his Majesty was paying far more +attention to the bottle than to his conversation, +and, about one in the morning, +was conducted, with much reverence, to the +Governor's own sleeping-chamber, which +had been hastily prepared. His Majesty +was quite Affable, but Haggard visibly. +The impudent Lord was bestowed in the +chamber which had been Ruth's, before +she came to sleep so near Mrs. Greenville; +and it is well he knew not what a pretty +tenant the room had had, else would he +have doubtless passed some villanous pleasantries +thereupon.</p> + +<p>The King, who was always an early riser, +was up betimes in the morning; and on +Colonel Glover representing to him his sorrow +for the mean manner in which he had +of necessity been lodged, answered airily +that he was better off there than in the Oak,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +or in Holland, without a styver in his pocket; +"Although, oddsfish!" quoth his Majesty, +"this Castle of mine seems fitter to harbour +wild-ducks than Christians." And then +nothing would suit his Majesty but to be +introduced to Mrs. Greenville, with whom +he was closeted two whole hours.</p> + +<p>He came forth from her chamber with his +dark, saturnine face all flushed. "A brave +woman!—a bold woman!" he kept saying. +"An awful service she was like to have +done me; and all to think that it was for +love of poor Frank." For this Prince had +known the Lord Francis well, and had +shown him many favours.</p> + +<p>"And now, good Master Governor," the +King continued, but with quite another expression +on his countenance, "we will see +your Man Captive, if it shall so please you." +And the two went upstairs.</p> + +<p>This is all I am permitted to tell in this +place of what passed between King Charles +the Second and the Prisoner in the upper +chamber:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"You know me!" the King said, sitting +over against him at the table, and scanning +his face with dark earnestness.</p> + +<p>"You are Charles Stuart, second of the +name on the throne of England."</p> + +<p>"You know I am in the possession of +your secret—of the King's Secret; for of +those dead it was known but to Oliver, as +of those living it is now only known to +yourself and to me."</p> + +<p>"And the young Man, Richard?"</p> + +<p>"He never knew it. His father never +trusted him so far. He had doubts and +suspicions, that was all."</p> + +<p>"Thank God!" said the prisoner.</p> + +<p>"What was Oliver's enmity towards +you, that he should immure you here all +these years?"</p> + +<p>"I had served him too well. He feared +lest the Shedder of Blood should become +the Avenger of Blood."</p> + +<p>"Are you sorry?"</p> + +<p>"Sorry!" cried the Prisoner, with a kind +of scream. "Had he a thousand lives, had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +I a thousand hands, I would do the same +deed to-morrow." And he struck the right +hand that was covered with the velvet +glove with cruel violence on to the oaken +table.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.</h2> + +<h3>I AM BRED UP IN VERY BAD COMPANY, AND (TO MY +SHAME) HELP TO KILL THE KING'S DEER.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">I lay</span> all that night in a little Hole by the +side of a Bank, just as though I had been +a Fox-cub. I was not in much better case +than that Vermin, and I only marvel that my +Schoolmaster did not come out next day to +Hunt me with horses and hounds. Hounds!—the +Black Fever to him!—he had used me +like a Hound any time for Six Months +past; and often had I given tongue under his +Double Thonging. Happily the weather +was warm, and I got no hurt by sleeping in +the Hole. 'Tis strange, too, what Hardships +and Hazards of Climate and Excess we can +bear in our Youth, whereas in middle life an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +extra Slice gives us a Surfeit, and another +cup turns our Liver to Touchwood; whilst +in age (as I know to my sorrow) we dare +scarcely venture our shoe in a Puddle for +fear of the Chills and Sciatica. In the +morning I laved my face in a Brook that +hurtled hard by; but waited very fearfully +until Noon ere I dared venture forth from +my covert. I had filled my pockets with +Fruit and Bread (which I am afraid I did +not come very honestly by, and indeed +admit that Gnawbit's Larder and Orchard +found me in Provender), and was so able to +break my fast. And my Guinea, I remembered, +was still unchanged. I had a dim +kind of impression that I was bound to +Charlwood Chase, to join the Blacks of +whom the Old Gentleman had spoken, but +I was not in any Hurry to get to my Goal. +I was Free, albeit a Runaway, and felt all +the delights of Independence. You whose +pleasures lie in Bowers, and Beds, and Cards, +and Wine, can little judge of the Ease felt +by him who is indeed a Beggar and pursued,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +but is at Liberty. I remember being in +hiding once with a Gentleman Robber, who +had, by the aid of a File and a Friend, contrived +to give the Galleys leg-bail, and who +for days afterwards was never tired of patting +and smoothing his ankles, and saying, +"'Twas there the shackles galled me so." +Poor rogue! he was soon afterwards laid by +the heels and swung; for there is no Neck +Verse in France to save a Gentleman from +the Gallows.</div> + +<p>Towards evening my gall began to grate +somewhat with the sense of mine own utter +loneliness; and for a moment I Wavered +between the resolve to go Forward, and a +slavish prompting to return to my Tyrant, +and suffer all the torments his cruelty could +visit me with. Then, as a middle course, I +thought I would creep back to my kennel +and die there; but I was happily dissuaded +from such a mean surrender to Fortune's +Spites through the all-unknowing agency of +a Bull, that, spying me from afar off where +he was feeding, came thundering across two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +fields and through a shallow stream, routed +me up from my refuge, and chased me into +the open. I have often since been thankful +to this ungovernable Beast (that would have +Tossed, and perchance Gored me sorely, had +he got at me), and seldom, in later life, +when I have felt weak and wavering in the +pursuit of a profitable purpose, have I failed +to remember the Bull, and how he chased +me out of Distempered Idleness into +Activity.</p> + +<p>The Sun had begun to welk in the west +by the time I had mustered up enough +courage to come into the High Road, which +I had an uncertain idea stretched away from +Gnawbit's house, and towards Reading. But +suddenly recalling the Danger of travelling +by the Highway, where I might be met by +Horsemen or Labouring persons sent in +quest of me,—for it did not enter my mind +that I was too worthless a scholar to be +Pursued, and that Gnawbit was, 'tis likely +enough, more Pleased than sorry to be Rid +of me,—I branched off from the main to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +left; so walking, as it seemed to me, many +miles, I grew grievously hungry. No more +Bread or Apples remained in my pouch; +but I still had my Guinea, so I deemed, and +resolved that if I came upon any House of +Entertainment, I would sup. For indeed, +while all Nature round me seemed to be +taking some kind of Sustenance, it was hard +that I, a Christian, should go to bed (or into +another Fox-hole, for bed I had none, and +yet had slept in my time in a grand chamber +in Hanover Square) with an empty belly. +The Earth was beginning to drink up the +dews, like an insatiate toper as she is. I +passed a flock of sheep biting their hasty +supper from the grass; and each one with a +little cloud of gnats buzzing around it, that +with feeble stings, poor insects, were trying +for their supper too. And 'tis effect we have +upon another. The birds had taken home +their worm-cheer to the little ones in the +nests, and were singing their after-supper +songs, very sweetly but drowsily. 'Twas +too late in the year for the Nightingale,—that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +I knew,—but the jolly Blackbird was +in full feather and voice; and presently there +swept by me a great Owl, going home to +feast, I will be bound, in his hollow tree, +and with nothing less than a Field Mouse for +his supper, the rascal. 'Twas a wicked +imagining, but I could not help thinking, as +I heard the birds carolling so merrily,—and +how they keep so plump upon so little to eat +is always to me a marvel, until I remember +with what loving care Heaven daily spreads +their table from Nature's infinite ordinary,—how +choice a Refection a dish of birds' +eggs, so often idly stolen and blown hollow +by us boys, would make. The feathered +creatures are a forgiving folk; and 'tis not +unlikely that the Children in the Wood had +often gone birds'-nesting: but when they +were dead, the kindly Red Jerkins forgave all +their little maraudings, and covered them +with leaves, as though the children had +strewn them crumbs or brought them worms +from January to December. Gnawbit was a +wretch who used to kill the Robins, and for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +that, if for naught else, he will surely +howl.</p> + +<p>By and by, when darkness was coming +down like a playhouse curtain, and the +Northern wagoner up yonder—how often +have I watched him at sea!—was yoking +his seven cart-mares to the steadfast star, I +came upon a Man—the first I had seen since +the Old Gentleman bade me begone with +my Guinea, and join the Blacks. This +Man was not walking or running, nay nor +sitting nor lying as Lazars do in hedges. +But he tumbled out of the quicket as it +were, and came to me with short leaps, +making as though he would Devour me. +We schoolboys had talked often enough +about Claude Duval and the Golden Farmer, +and I set this Dreadful Being down at once +as a Highwayman; so down I went Plump +on my knees and Roared for mercy, as I +was wont to do to Gnawbit, till I learnt +that no Roaring would make him desist +from his brutish purpose. It was darkish +now, and I well-nigh fancied the Man was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +indeed my wicked Master, for he had an +uplifted weapon in his hand; but when he +came nearer to me, I found that it was not +a cane nor a thong, but a Great Flail, which +he whirled over his head, and then brought +down on the ground with a Thwack, making +the Night Flies dance.</p> + +<p>"You Imp of mischief," said the man +as he seized me by the collar and shook me +roughly, "what are you doing here, spying +on honest folks? Speak, or I'll brain you +with this Flail."</p> + +<p>I thought it best to tell this terrible man +the Truth.</p> + +<p>"If you please, sir," I answered, trembling, +"I've run away."</p> + +<p>"Run away from where, you egg?"</p> + +<p>"From Gnawbit's, sir."</p> + +<p>"And who the pest is Gnawbit, you +hempen babe?"</p> + +<p>"My schoolmaster, sir."</p> + +<p>"Ha! that's good," the Man replied, +loosening his hold somewhat on my collar. +"And what did you run away for?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p> + +<p>I told him in broken sentences my short +Story—of my Sufferings at School, at least, +but never saying a word about my being a +little Gentleman, and the son of a Lady of +Quality in Hanover Square.</p> + +<p>"And where are you going?" the Man +asked, when I had finished.</p> + +<p>I told him that I was on my way to +Charlwood Chase to join the Blacks. And +then he asked me whether I had any Money, +whereto I answered that I had a Guinea; +and little doubting in my Quaking Heart +but that he would presently Wrench it from +me, if haply he were not minded to have +Meal as well as Malt, and brain me as he +had threatened. But he forbore to offer +me violence, and, quite releasing his hold, +said—</p> + +<p>"I suppose you'd like some supper."</p> + +<p>I said that I had not broken my fast for +many hours, and was dead a-hungered.</p> + +<p>"And wouldn't mind supping with the +Blacks in Charlwood Chase, eh?" he continued.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + +<p>I rather gave him to understand that +such was not only my Wish but my Ambition.</p> + +<p>"Come along to the Blacks, then," said +the Man. "<i>I'm one of 'em.</i>"</p> + +<p>He drew a Lantern from under his garments +as he spoke, and letting out the +Light from the slide, passed it over, and up +and down, his Face and Figure. Then did +I see with Horror and Amazement that +both his Countenance and his Raiment were +all smirched and bewrayed with dabs and +patches of what seemed soot or blackened +grease. It was a once white Smock or +Gaberdine that made the chief part of his +apparel; and this, with the black patches +on it, gave him a Pied appearance fearful to +behold. There was on his head what looked +like a great bundle of black rags; and tufts +of hair that might have been pulled out of +the mane of a wild horse grew out from +either side of his face, and wreathed its +lower half.</p> + +<p>"Come along," repeated the Man; "we'll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +blacken you bravely in time my Chicken-skin."</p> + +<p>And so he grasped my hand in his,—and +when I came to look at it afterwards, I +found it smeared with sable, and with great +black finger-marks upon it,—and led me +away. We journeyed on in the Dark—for +he had put up his Lantern—for another +good half-hour, he singing to himself from +time to time some hoarse catches of song +having reference to some "Billy Boys" +that I conjectured were his companions. +And so we struck from by-lane into by-lane, +and presently into a Plantation, and +then through a gap in a Hedge, and through +a Ditch full of Brambles, which galled my +legs sorely. I was half asleep by this time, +and was only brought to full wakefulness +by the deep baying as of a Dog some few +yards, as it seemed, from us.</p> + +<p>The Lantern's light gleamed forth again; +and in the circle of Clear it made I could +see we were surrounded by tall Trees that +with their long crooked Arms looked as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +though they would entwine me in deadly +embraces.</p> + +<p>"Hist!" the man said very low. "That's +surely Black Towzer's tongue." And to +my huge dismay he set up a sad responsive +Howl, very like unto that of a Dog, but not +at all akin to the voice of a Man.</p> + +<p>The answer to this was a whistle, and +human speech, saying—</p> + +<p>"Black Jowler!"</p> + +<p>"Black Towzer, for a spade Guinea!" my +companion made answer; and in another +moment there came bounding towards us +another fellow in the same blackened masquerade +as he, and with another Lantern. +He had with him, besides, a shaggy hound +that smelt me suspiciously and prowled round +me, growling low, I shivering the whiles.</p> + +<p>"What have we here?" asked the Second +Black; for I made no doubt now but that +my Company were of that Confederacy.</p> + +<p>"Kid loose," replied he who was to take +me to supper. "Given the keepers the +slip, and run down by Billy Boys' park.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +Aha!" and he whispered <ins title="Transcriber's Note: this word not present in original text">to</ins> his comrade +ruffian.</p> + +<p>Out went the Lanterns again, and he who +answered to the name of Jowler tightened +his grasp, and bade me for a young Tyburn +Token quicken my pace. So we walked +and walked again, poor I as sore as a pilgrim +tramping up the Hill to Louth—which +I have many times seen in those parts—with +Shards in his shoes. Then it must +come, forsooth, to more whistling; and the +same Play being over, we had one more +Lantern to our Band, and one more Scurvy +Companion as Black as a Flag,<a name="FNanchor_K_11" id="FNanchor_K_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_K_11" class="fnanchor">[K]</a> who in their +kennel Tongue was Mungo. And by and +by we were joined by Surly, and Black +Tom, and Grumps; and so with these five +Men, who were pleased to be called as the +Beasts are, I stumbled along, tired, and +drowsy, and famishing, and thinking my +journey would never come to an end.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> +<p>Surely it must have been long past midnight +when we made a halt; and all the five +lanterns being lit, and making so many +dancing wheels of yellow, I found that we +were still encircled by those tall trees with +the twining arms. And Jowler—for it is +useless to speak of my conductor according +to Human Rule—gave me a rough pat +on the shoulder, and bade me cheer up, for +that I should have my supper very soon +now. All five then joined in a whistle so +sharp, so clear, and so well sustained, that +it sounded well-nigh melodious; and to +this there came, after the lapse of a few +seconds, the noise as of a little peevish Terrier +barking.</p> + +<p>"True as Touchwood," cried Black Jowler. +"In, Billy Boys, and hey for fat and +flagons."</p> + +<p>With this he takes me by the shoulders, +telling me to fear naught, and spend my +money like a gentleman, and bundles me +before him till we came to something hard +as board. This I presently found was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +door; and in an instant I was in the midst +of a kind of Tavern parlour, all lighted up +with great candles stuck into lumps of clay, +and face to face with the Fattest Woman I +ever saw in my life.</p> + +<p>"Mother Moll Drum," quoth my conductor, +"save you, and give me a quart of three +threads, or I faint. Body o' me, was ever +green plover so pulled as I was?"</p> + +<p>The Fat Woman he called Mother Moll +Drum was to all seeming in no very blessed +temper; for she bade Jowler go hang for a +lean polecat, and be cursed meanwhile, and +that she would draw him naught.</p> + +<p>"Come, come, Mother," Jowler said, +making as though to appease her, "what be +these tantrums? Come, draw; for I'm +as thirsty as an hour-glass, poor wretch, +that has felt sand run through his gullet +any time these twenty years."</p> + +<p>"Draw for yourself, rogue," says Mother +Drum; "there's naught I'll serve you with, +unless, indeed, I were bar-woman at St. +Giles's Pound, and had to froth you your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +last quart, as you went up the Heavy Hill +to Tyburn."</p> + +<p>"We shall all go there in time—good +time," breaks in a deep solemn voice, drawn +somehow through the nose, and coming +from the Man-Dog they called Grumps; +"meanwhile, O greasy woman, let the beverage +our brother asked for be drawn, and I, +even Grumps, will partake thereof, and ask +a blessing."</p> + +<p>"Woman yourself!" cries Moll Drum, in +a rage. "Woman yourself, and T—— in +your teeth, and woman to the mother that +bore you, and sat in the stocks for Lightness! +Who are you, quotha, old reverend +smock with the splay foot? Come up, +now, prithee, Bridewell Bird! You will +drink, will you? I saw no dust or cobwebs +come out of your mouth. Go hang, you +moon-calf, false faucet, you roaring horse-courser, +you ranger of Turnbull, you dull +malt-house with a mouth of a peck and the +sign of the swallow above."</p> + +<p>By this time Mother Drum was well-nigh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +out of breath, and panted, and looked so +hot, that they might have put her up by +Temple Bar on Queen Bess's birthnight for +a Bonfire, and so saved Tar Barrels. And +as she spoke she brandished a large Frying +Pan, from which great drops of hot grease—smelling +very savoury by the way—dropped +on to the sanded floor. The other Blacks +seemed in nowise disturbed by this Dispute, +but were rather amused thereby, and +gathered in a ring round Jowler and +Grumps and the Fat Woman, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Mother Drum," quoth +one; "she was a pig-woman once in Bartlemy +Fair, and lost her temper through the +heat of a coal-fire roasting porkers. Was't +not hot, Mother Drum? was not Tophet a +kind of cool cellar to it?"</p> + +<p>It was Surly who spoke, and Mother +Drum turns on him in a rage.</p> + +<p>"You lie, you pannierman's by-blow!" +she cried; "you bony muckfowl, with the +bony back sticking out like the ace of +spades on the point of a small-sword! you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +lie, Bobchin, Changeling, Horseleech! 'Slid, +you Shrovetide Cutpurse, I'll scald your hide +with gravy, I will!"</p> + +<p>"Ware the pan, ware the pan!" all the +Blacks cried out; for the Good Woman +made a flourish as though she would have +carried out her threat; whereupon my Man-Dog, +Jowler, thought it was time to interpose, +and spoke.</p> + +<p>"There's no harm in Mother Drum, but +that her temper's as hot as her pan, and we +are late to supper. Come, Mother, Draw +for us, and save you still. I'll treat you to +burnt brandy afterwards."</p> + +<p>"What did he call me Pig-Woman for?" +she grumbled, but still half mollified. +"What if I did waste my youth and prime +in cooking of porkers in a booth; I am +no cutpurse. I, I never shoved the tumbler +for tail-drawing or poll-snatching on a +levee-day.<a name="FNanchor_L_12" id="FNanchor_L_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_L_12" class="fnanchor">[L]</a> But I will draw for you, and +welcome my guests of the game."</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> +<p>"And Supper, good Moll, Supper," added +Jowler.</p> + +<p>"An you had not hindered me, it would +have been ready upstairs. There are more +upstairs besides you that hunger after the +fat and the lean. But can you sup without +a cook? Will venison run off the spit +ready roasted, think you, like the pigs in +Lubberland, that jump down your throat, +and cry <i>wee wee?</i>"</p> + +<p>She began to bustle about, and summoned, +by the name of Cicely Grip—adding +thereto the epithet of "faggot"—a stout +serving-lass, who might have been comely +enough, but whose face and hands were +very nearly as black as those of the Man-Dog's. +This wench brought a number of +brown jugs full of beer, and the Blacks took<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +to drinking with much zest. Then Jowler, +who seemed a kind of lieutenant, in some +authority over them, gave the word of command +to "Peel;" and they hastened to +leave the room, which was but a mean sort +of barn-like chamber, with bare walls, a +wattled roof, and a number of rough wooden +tables and settles, all littered with jugs +and Tobacco pipes. So I and the Fat +Woman and Jowler, Cicely Grip having +betaken herself to the kitchen, were left +together.</p> + +<p>"Cicely will dish up, Mother Drum," +he says; "you have fried collops enow for +us, I trow; and if more are wanted for the +Billy Boys, you can to your pan again. You +began your brandy pottage too early tonight, +Mother. Let us have no more of +your vapours 'twixt this and day-break, +prithee. What would Captain Night +say?"</p> + +<p>"Captain Night be hanged!"</p> + +<p>"He will be hanged, as our brother +Surly has it, in good time, I doubt it not.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +Meanwhile, order must be kept at the Stag +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'o'Tyne'">o' Tyne</ins>. Get you and draw the dram I +promised you; and, Mother, wash me this +little lad's face and hands, that he may +sit down to meat with us in a seemly +manner."</p> + +<p>"Who the Clink is he?" asked Mother +Drum, eyeing me with no very Great +Favour.</p> + +<p>"He says he is little Boy Jack," answered +Mr. Jowler, gravely. "We will give him +another name before we have done with +him. Meantime he has a guinea in his +pocket to pay his shot, and that's enough +for the fat old Alewife of the Stag +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'o'Tyne'">o' Tyne</ins>."</p> + +<p>"Fat again!" muttered Mother Drum. +"Is it a 'Sizes matter to be full of flesh? I +be fat indeed," she answered, with a sigh, +"and must have a chair let out o' the sides +for me, that these poor old hips may have +play. And I, that was of so buxom a +figure."</p> + +<p>"Never mind your Figure, Mother," remarked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +my Conductor, "but do my bidding. +I'll e'en go and peel too;" and without +more ado he leaves us.</p> + +<p>Madam Drum went into her kitchen and +fetched forth a Tin Bowl full of hot suds, +and with these she washed me as she had +been directed. I bore it all unresistingly—likewise +a scrubbing with a rough towel. +Then, when my hair was kempt with an +old Felting comb, almost toothless, I felt +refreshed and hungrier than ever. But +Mother Drum never ceased to complain of +having been called fat.</p> + +<p>"Time was, my smooth-faced Coney," +she said, "that I was as lithe and limber as +you are, and was called Jaunty Peg. And +now poor old Moll cooks collops for those +that are born to dance jigs in chains for +the north-east wind to play the fiddle to. +Time was when a whole army followed me, +when I beat the drum before the great +Duke."</p> + +<p>"What Duke?" I asked, looking up at +her great red face.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What Duke, milksop! Why, who +should I mean but the Duke that won +Hochstedt and Ramilies:—the Ace of +Trumps, my dear, that saved the Queen of +Hearts, the good Queen Anne, so bravely. +What Duke should I mean but John o' +Marlborough."</p> + +<p>"I have seen <i>him</i>," I said, with childish +gravity.</p> + +<p>"Seen him! when and where, loblolly-boy? +You're too young to have been a +drummer."</p> + +<p>"I saw him," I answered, blushing and +stammering; "I saw him when—when I +was a little Gentleman."</p> + +<p>"Lord save us!" cries Mother Drum, +bursting into a jolly laugh. "A Gentleman! +since when, your Lordship, I pray? +But we're all Gentlefolks here, I trow; and +Captain Night's the Marquis of Aylesbury +Jail. A Gentleman! oho!"</p> + +<p>Hereupon, and which, to my great relief, +quitted me of the perturbation brought on +by a Rash Admission, there came three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +knocks from above, and Mother Drum said +hurriedly, "Supper, supper;" and opening +a side-door, pushes me on to a staircase, and +tells me to mount, and pull a reverence to +the company I found at table.</p> + +<p>Twenty steps brought me to another door +I found on the jar, and I passed into a great +room with a roof of wooden joists, and a +vast table in the middle set out with supper. +There was no table-cloth; but there were +plenty of meats smoking hot in great +pewter dishes. I never saw, either, so +many bottles and glasses on one board in +my life; and besides these, there was good +store of great shining Flagons, carved and +chased, which I afterwards knew to be of +Solid Silver.</p> + +<p>Round this table were gathered at least +Twenty Men; and but for their voices I +should never have known that five among +them were my companions of just now. +For all were attired in a very brave +Manner, wore wigs and powder and embroidered +waistcoats; although, what I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +thought strange, each man dined in boots, +with a gold-laced hat on his head, and his +Hanger by his side, and a brace of Pistols +on the table beside him. Yet I must make +two exceptions to this rule. He whom +they called Surly, had on a full frizzed wig +and a cassock and bands, that, but for his +rascal face, would have put me in mind of +the Parson at St. George's, Hanover Square, +who always seemed to be so angry with +me. Surly was Chaplain, and said Grace, +and ate and drank more than any one +there. Lastly, at the table's head, sat a +thin, pale, proper kind of a man, wearing +his own hair long, in a silken club, dressed +in the pink of Fashion, as though he were +bidden to a birthday, with a dandy rapier +at his side, and instead of Pistols, a Black +Velvet Visor laid by the side of his plate. +He had very large blue eyes and very fair +hair. He might have been some thirty-five +years old, and the guests, who treated him +with much deference, addressed him as +Captain Night.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Jowler, whose hat had as brave a +cock as any there, made me sit by him; +and, with three more knocks and the Parson's +Grace, we all fell to supper. They +helped me plentifully, and I ate my fill. +Then my friend gave me a silver porringer +full of wine-and-water. It was all very +good; but I knew not what viands I was +eating, and made bold to ask Jowler.</p> + +<p>"'Tis venison, boy, that was never shot +by the King's keeper," he answered. "But, +if you would be free of Charlwood Chase, +and wish to get out yet with a whole skin, +I should advise you to eat your meat and +ask no questions."</p> + +<p>I was very much frightened at this, and +said no more until the end of Supper. When +they had finished, they fell to drinking of +Healths, great bowls of Punch being +brought to them for that purpose. The +first toast was the King, and that fell to +Jowler.</p> + +<p>"The King!" says he, rising.</p> + +<p>"Over the water?" they ask.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No," answers Jowler. "The King +everywhere. King James, and God bless +him."</p> + +<p>"I won't drink <i>that</i>," objects the Chaplain. +"You know I am a King George +man."</p> + +<p>"Drink the Foul Fiend, an' you will," +retorts the Proposer. "You'd be stanch +and true either way. Now, Billy Boys, the +King!"</p> + +<p>And they fell to tumbling down on their +knees, and drinking His Majesty in brimming +bumpers. I joined in the ceremony +perforce, although I knew nothing about +King James, save that Monarch my Grandmother +used to Speak about, who Withdrew +himself from these kingdoms in the year +1688; and at Church 'twas King George +they were wont to pray for, and not King +James. And little did I ween that, in +drinking this Great Person on my knees, I +was disobeying the Precept of my dear dead +Kinswoman.</p> + +<p>"I have a bad foot," quoth Captain Night,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +"and cannot stir from my chair; but I +drink all healths that come from loyal +hearts."</p> + +<p>Many more Healths followed. The Chaplain +gave the Church, "and confusion to +Old Rapine, that goes about robbing chancels +of their chalices, and parsons of their +dues, and the very poor-box of alms." And +then they drank, "Vert and Venison," and +then, "A black face, a white smock, and a +red hand." And then they betook themselves +to Roaring choruses, and Smoking +and Drinking galore, until I fell fast asleep +in my chair.</p> + +<p>I woke up not much before Noon the +next day, in a neat little chamber very +cleanly appointed; but found to my surprise +that, in addition to my own clothes, +there was laid by my bedside a little Smock +or Gaberdine of coarse linen, and a bowl full +of some sooty stuff that made me shudder to +look at. And my Surprise was heightened +into amazed astonishment when, having +donned my own garments, and while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +curiously turning over the Gaberdine, there +came a knock, and anon stepped into the +room the same comely Servant-maid that +had ridden with us in the Wagon six +months since, on that sad journey to school, +and that had been so kind to me in the way +of new milk and cheesecakes.</p> + +<p>She was very smartly dressed, with a gay +flowered apron, and a flycap all over glass-beads, +like so many Blue-bottles. And she +had a gold brooch in her stomacher, and +fine thread hose, and red Heels to her +shoes.</p> + +<p>She was as kind to me as ever, and told +me that I was among those who would treat +me well, and stand my friends, if I obeyed +their commands. And I, who, I confess, +had by this time begun to look on the +Blacks and their Ways with a kind of +Schoolboy glee, rose, nothing loth, and +donned the Strange Accoutrements my +entertainers provided for me. The girl +helped me to dress, smiling and giggling +mightily the while; but, as I dressed, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +could not help calling her by the name +she had given me in the Wagon, and +asking how she had come into that strange +Place.</p> + +<p>"Hush, hush!" says she. "I'm Marian +now, Maid Marian, that lives with Mother +Drum, and serves the Gentlemen Blacks, +and brings Captain Night his morning +Draught. None of us are called by our +real names at the Stag o' Tyne, my dear. +We all are in No-man's-land."</p> + +<p>"But where is No-man's-land, and what +is the Stag <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'o'Tyne'">o' Tyne</ins>?" I asked, as she slipped +the Gaberdine over my head.</p> + +<p>"No-man's-land is just in the left-hand +top Corner of Charlwood Chase, after you +have turned to the left, and gone as +far forward as you can by taking two +steps backward for every one straight +on," answers the saucy hussy. "And +the Stag <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'o'Tyne'">o' Tyne</ins>o' Tyne's even a Christian House +of Entertainment that Mother Drum +keeps."</p> + +<p>"And who is Mother Drum?" I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +resumed, my eyes opening wider than +ever.</p> + +<p>"A decent Alewife, much given to +grease, and that cooks the King's Venison +for Captain Night and his Gentlemen +Blacks."</p> + +<p>"And Captain Night,—who is he?"</p> + +<p>"Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you +no lies," she makes reply. "Captain +Night is a Gentleman every inch of +him, and as sure as Tom o' Ten Thousand."</p> + +<p>"And the Gentlemen Blacks?"</p> + +<p>"Your mighty particular," quoth she, +regarding me with a comical look. "Well, +my dear, since you are to be a Black yourself, +and a Gentleman to boot, I don't mind +telling you. The Gentlemen Blacks are all +Bold Hearts, that like to kill the King's +Venison without a Ranger's Warrant, and +to eat of it without paying Fee nor Royalty, +and that drink of the very best—"</p> + +<p>"And that have Dog-whips to lay about +the shoulders of tattling minxes and curious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +urchins," cries, to my dismay, a voice behind +us, and so to us—by his voice at least—Captain +Night, but in his body no longer +the same gay spark that I had seen the +night before, or rather that morning early. +He was as Black, and Hairy, and Savage-looking +as any—as Jowler, or any one of +that Dark Gang; and in no way differed +from them, save that on the middle finger of +his Right Hand there glittered from out all +his Grease and Soot, a Great Diamond Ring.</p> + +<p>"Come," he cries, "Mistress Nimble +Tongue, will you be giving your Red Rag +a gallop yet, and Billy Boys waiting to +break their Fast? Despatch, and set out +the boy, as I bade you."</p> + +<p>"I am no kitchen-wench, I," answers the +Maid of the Wagon, tossing her head. +"Cicely o' the Cinders yonder will bring +you to your umble-pie, and a Jack of small-beer +to cool you, I trow. Was it live Charcoal +or Seacoal embers that you swallowed +last night, Captain, makes you so dry this +morning?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Never mind, Goody Slack Jaw," says +Captain Night. "I shall be thirstier anon +from listening to your prate. Will you +hurry now, Gadfly, or is the sun to sink before +we get hounds in leash?"</p> + +<p>Thus admonished, the girl takes me by the +arm, and, without more ado, dips a rag in +the pot of black pigment, and begins to +smear all my hands, and face, and throat, +with dabs of disguising shade. And, as she +bade me do the same to my Garment, and +never spare Soot, I fell to work too, making +myself into the likeness of a Chimney-boy, +till they might have taken me into a nursery +to Frighten naughty children.</p> + +<p>Captain Night sat by himself on the side +of the bed, idly clicking a pistol-lock till +such time as he proceeded to load it, the +which threw me into a cold tremor, not +knowing but that it might be the Custom +among the Gentlemen Blacks to blow out +the brains in the morning of those they had +feasted over-night. Yet, as there never +was Schoolboy, I suppose, but delighted in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +Soiling of his raiment, and making himself +as Black as any sweep in Whetstone Park, +so did I begin to feel something like a +Pleasure in being masqueraded up to this +Disguise, and began to wish for a Pistol +such as Captain Night had in his Hand, +and such a Diamond Ring as he wore on +his finger.</p> + +<p>"There!" cries the Maid of the Wagon, +when I was well Blacked, surveying me +approvingly. "You're a real imp of Charlwood +Chase now. Ugh! thou young Rig! +I'll kiss you when the Captain brings you +home, and good soap and water takes off +those mourning weeds before supper-time."</p> + +<p>She had clapped a great Deerskin cap +on my head, and giving me a friendly pat, +was going off, when I could not help asking +her in a sly whisper what had become +of the Pewterer of Pannier Alley.</p> + +<p>"What! you remember him, do you?" +she returned, with a half-smile and a half-sigh. +"Well, the Pewterer's here, and as +black as you are."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I thought you were to wed," I +remarked.</p> + +<p>"Well!" she went on, almost fiercely, +"cannot one wed at the Stag o' Tyne? +We have a brave Chaplain down-stairs,—as +good as a Fleet Parson any day, I wuss."</p> + +<p>"But the Pewterer?" I persisted.</p> + +<p>"I'll hang the Pewterer round thy neck!" +she exclaimed in a pet. "The Pewterer +was unfortunate in his business, and so +took to the Road; and thus we have all +come together in Charlwood Chase. But +ask me no more questions, or Captain +Night will be deadly angry. Look, he fumes +already."</p> + +<p>She tripped away saying this, and in +Time, I think; for indeed the Captain was +beginning to show signs of impatience. +She being gone, he took me on his knee, +all Black as I was, and in a voice kind +enough, but full of authority, bade me tell +him all my History and the bare truth, else +would he have me tied neck and heels and +thrown to the fishes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> + +<p>So I told this strange Man all:—of Hanover +Square, and my earliest childhood. +Of the Unknown Lady, and her Behaviour +and conversation, even to her Death. Of +her Funeral, and the harsh bearing of Mistress +Talmash and the Steward Cadwallader +unto me in my Helplessness and Loneliness. +Of my being smuggled away in a Wagon +and sent to school to Gnawbit, and of the +Barbarous cruelty with which I had been +treated by that Monster. And finally, of +the old Gentleman that used to cry, "Bear +it! Bear it!" and of his giving me a +Guinea, and bidding me run away.</p> + +<p>He listened to all I had to say, and then +putting me down,</p> + +<p>"A strange story," he thoughtfully remarks, +"and not learnt out of the storybooks +either, or I sorely err. You have not +a Lying Face, my man. Wait a while, and +you'll wear a Mask thicker than all that +screen of soot you have upon you now." +But in this he was mistaken; for John +Dangerous ever scorned deception, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +through life has always acted fair and +above-board.</p> + +<p>"And that Guinea," he continued. +"Hast it still?"</p> + +<p>I answered that I had, producing it as I +spoke, and that I was ready to pay my +Reckoning, and to treat him and the others, +in which, meseems, there spoke less of the +little Runaway Schoolboy that had turned +Sweep, than of the Little Gentleman that +was wont to be a Patron to his Grandmother's +lacqueys in Hanover Square.</p> + +<p>"Keep thy piece of Gold," he answers, +with a smile. "Thou shalt pay thy footing +soon enough. Or wilt thou go forth with +thy Guinea and spend it, and be taken by thy +Schoolmaster to be whipped, perchance to +death?"</p> + +<p>I replied that I had the much rather stay +with him, and the Gentlemen.</p> + +<p>"The less said of the 'Gentlemen' the +better. However, 'tis all one: we are all +Gentlemen at the Stag <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'o'Tyne'">o' Tyne</ins>. Even thou +art a Gentleman, little Ragamuff."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am a Gentleman of long descent; and +my fathers have fought and bled for the +True King; and Norman blood's better than +German puddle-mud," I replied, repeating +well-nigh Mechanically that which my dear +Kinswoman had said to me, and Instilled +into me many and many a time. In my +degraded Slavery, I had <i>well</i>-nigh forgotten +the proud old words; but only once it +chanced that they had risen up unbidden, +when I was flouted and jeered at as Little +Boy Jack by my schoolmates. Heaven help +us, how villanously cruel are children to +those who are of their own age and Poor and +Friendless! What is it that makes young +hearts so Hard? The boys Derided and +mocked me more than ever for that I said I +was a Gentleman; and by and by comes +Gnawbit, and beats me black and blue—ay, +and gory too—with a furze-stub, for telling +of Lies, as he falsely said, the Ruffian.</p> + +<p>"Well," resumed Captain Night, "thou +shalt stay with us, young Gentleman. But +weigh it soberly, boy," he continued. "Thou<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +art old enough to know black from white, +and brass from gold. Be advised; know +what we Blacks are. We are only Thieves +that go about stealing the King's Deer in +Charlwood Chase."</p> + +<p>I told him that I would abide by him and +his Company; and with a grim smile he +clapped me on the shoulder, and told me that +now indeed I was a Gentleman Black, and +Forest Free.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.</h2> + +<h3>THE HISTORY OF MOTHER DRUM.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">During</span> the long nights I remained at the +Stag o' Tyne ere I was thought Worthy to +join the Blacks in their nocturnal adventures, +or was, by my Hardihood and powers +of Endurance—poor little mite that I was—adjudged +to be Forest Free, I remained +under the charge of Ciceley of the Cindery, +and of the corpulent Tapstress whom the +Blacks called Mother Drum. These two +women were very fond of gossiping with +me; and especially did Mother Drum love +to converse with me upon her own Career, +which had been of the most Chequered, not +to say Amazing nature. I have already +hinted that at one time this Remarkable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +Woman had professed the Military Profession, +in which she had shone with almost +a Manly Brilliance; and from her various +confidences—all delivered to me as they +were in shreds and patches, and imparted +at the oddest times and seasons—I was +enabled to shape her (to me) diverting +history into something like the following +shape.</div> + +<p>"I was born, I think," quoth Mother +Drum, "in the year 1660, being that of +his happy Restoration to the throne of +these Realms of his late Sacred Majesty +King Charles the Second. My father was +a small farmer, who fed his pigs and tended +his potato gardens at the foot of the Wicklow +Mountains, about twelve miles from the +famous city of Dublin. His name was +O' something, which it concerns you not to +know, youngster, and he had the misfortune +to be a Papist. I say the misfortune; for +in those days, O well-a-day, as in these too, +and more's the shame, to be a Papist meant +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'bring'">being</ins> a poor, unfortunate creature continually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +Hunted up and down, Harassed +and Harried far worse than any leathern-skinned +Beast of Venery that the Gentlemen +Blacks pursue in Charlwood Chase. He had +suffered much under the iron rule" (these +were not exactly Mother Drum's words, for +her language was anything, as a rule, but +well chosen; but I have polished up her +style a little,) "of the cruel Usurper, Oliver +Cromwell; that is to say the Redcoated +Ironsides of that Bad Man had on three +several occasions burnt his Shelling to the +ground, stolen his Pigs, and grubbed up his +potato ground. Once had they ran away +with his wife, (my dear Mother), twice had +they half-hanged him to a tree-branch, and +at divers intervals had they tortured him +by tying lighted matches between his +fingers. When, however, His Sacred +Majesty was happily restored there were +hopes that the poor Romanists would enjoy +a little Comfort and Tranquillity; but these +Fond aspirations were speedily and cruelly +dashed to the ground; for the Anglican<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +Bishops and Clergy being put into possession +of the Sees and Benefices of which +they had been so long deprived, occupied +themselves much more with Hounding +Down those who did not live by the Thirty-nine +Articles and the Liturgy, than in +preaching Peace and Goodwill among all +men. So the Papists had a worse time of +it than ever. My Father, honest man, tried +to temporise between the two parties, but +was ever in danger of being shot by his +own friends as a Traitor, even if he escaped +half-hanging at the hands of the Protestants +as a Recusant. Well, after all, Jack high or +Jack low, the days must come to an end, +and Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter +must follow upon one another, and boys and +girls were born to my father, and the pigs +littered, and were sold at market, and the +potatoes grew and were eaten whether +Oliver Cromwell, or his son Dickon, or +Charles Stuart—I beg pardon, His Sacred +Majesty—was uppermost. Thus it was I +came into the world in the Restoration year.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I was a bold, strapping, fearless kind of +a girl, much fonder of Romping and Horse-play +of the Tomboy order than of the Pursuits +and Pastimes of my own sex. The +difference was more remarkable, as you know +the Irish girls are distinguished above all +other Maidens in creation by an extreme +Delicacy and Coyness, not to say Prudishness +of Demeanour. But Betty—I was +christened Elizabeth—was always gammocking +and tousling with the Lads instead +of holding by her Mother's apron, or +demurely sitting by her spinning-wheel, or +singing plaintive ballads to herself to the +music of the Irish Harp, which, in my time, +almost every Farmer's Daughter could Play. +Before I was seven years old I could feed +the pigs and dig up the potato ground. +Before I was ten, I could catch a colt and +ride him, barebacked and without bridle, +holding on by his mane, round the green in +front of my Father's Homestead. Before I +was twelve, I was a match for any Boy of +my own age at a bout of fisticuffs, ay, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +at swinging a blackthorn so as to bring it +down with a thwack on the softest part of a +gossoon's crown. I knew little of spinning, +or playing, or harping; but I could land a +trout, and make good play with a pike. I +could brew a jug of Punch, and at a jig could +dance down the lithest gambriler of those +parts, Dan Meagher, the Blind Piper of +Swords. Those who knew me used to call +me 'Brimstone Betty;' and in my own +family I went by the name of the 'Bold +Dragoon,' much to the miscontentment of +my father, who tried hard to bring me to +a more feminine habit of Body and frame of +mind, both by affectionate expostulation, and +by assiduous larruping with a stirrup +leather. But 'twas all of no use. At sixteen +I was the greatest Tearcoat of the +Country side; and Father Macanasser, the +village priest, gave it as his opinion that I +must either be married, or sent to Dublin +into decent service, or go to Ruination.</p> + +<p>"It chanced that one fine summer day, I +was gammocking in a hayfield with another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +lass, a friend of mine, whom I had made +almost as bold as myself. We had a cudgel +apiece, and were playing at single-stick, +in our mad-cap fashion, laughing and +screaming like Bedlamites, meanwhile. +Only a hedge separated us from the high-road +to Dublin, which ran up hill, and by +and by came toiling up the hill, sticking +every other minute in a rut, or jolting into +a hole—for the roads were in infamous +condition about here, as, indeed, all over the +kingdom of Ireland—a grand coach, all over +painting and gilding, drawn by six grey +horses, with flowing manes and tails. The two +leading pair had postilions in liveries of blue +and silver, and great badges of coats-of-arms, +and the equipage was further attended by a +couple of outriders or yeomen-prickers in +the same rich livery, but with cutlasses at +their sides, petronels in their holsters, and +blunderbusses on their hips, to guard against +Tories and Rapparees, who then infested +the land, and cared little whether it was +Daylight or Moonlight—whether it was in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +the Green tree or the Dry that they went +about their thievish business. The personage +to whom this grand coach belonged +was a stout, Majestic old Gentleman with a +monstrous black periwig, a bright star on +his breast, and a broad blue ribbon crossing +his plum-coloured velvet doublet. He had +dismounted from his heavy coach, while the +horses were fagging up hill, and by the +help of a great crutch-staff of ebony, ornamented +with silver, was toiling after them. +Hearing our prattling and laughing, he +looked over the hedge and saw us in the +very thick of our mimic Combat. This +seemed to divert him exceedingly; and +although we, seeing so grand a gentleman +looking at us, were for suspending our Tomfoolery, +and stood, to say the truth, rather +shamefaced than otherwise among the haycocks, +he bade us with cheery and encouraging +words to proceed, and laughed to see +us so sparring at one another, till his sides +shook again. But all the fire was taken +out of our combat, by the presence of so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +unwonted a Spectator, and after a brief lapse +we dropped cudgels, and stood staring and +blushing, quite dashed and confused. Then +he beckoned us towards him in a most +affable manner, and we came awkwardly +and timorously, yet still with great curiosity +to know what was to follow, through a gap +in the hedge, and so stood before him in the +road. And then cries out one of the +Yeomen-Prickers—'Wenches! drop your +best curtsey to his Grace the Duke of +O——.' It was, indeed, that famous nobleman, +lately Lord Lieutenant, and still one +of the highest, mightiest, and most puissant +Princes in the Kingdom of Ireland. To +be brief, he put a variety of questions +to us, respecting our belongings, and at +my answers seemed most condescendingly +pleased, and at those of my playmate (whose +name was Molly O'Flaherty, and who had +red hair, and a cast in her eye), but moderately +pleased. On her, therefore, he bestowed +a gold piece, and so dismissed her; +telling her to take care of what her Tom Boy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +pranks might lead her to. But to me, while +conferring the like present, he was good +enough to say that I was a spirited lass fit +for better things, and that if my Father and +Mother would bring me shortly to his +House in Dublin, he would see what could +be done, to the end of bettering my condition +in life. Whereupon he was assisted +to his seat by one of four running footmen +that tramped by his side, and away he went in +his coach and six, leaving me in great joy +and contentment. In only a few minutes +came after him, not toiling, but bursting +up the hill, a whole plump of gallant cavaliers +in buff coats, bright corslets, and embroidered +bandoliers over them, wearing +green plumes in their hats, and flourishing +their broadswords in the sunshine. These +were the gentlemen of his bodyguard. They +questioned me as to my converse with his +Grace, and when I told them, laughed and +said that I was in luck.</p> + +<p>"The Duke of O—— meant me no harm, +and I am sure did me none; and yet, my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +dear, I must date all my misfortunes from +the time I was introduced to his Grace. +You see that these gentlefolks have so +much to think of, and are not in the habit +of troubling their heads much as to what +becomes of a poor peasant girl, after the +whim which may have led them to +patronize her has once passed over. My +mother made me a new linsey woolsey +petticoat, and a snood of scarlet frieze, and +I was as fine as ninepence, with the first +pair of stockings on that ever I had worn +in my life, when I was taken to Dublin to +a grand house by the Quay side, to be presented +to his Grace. He had almost forgotten +who I was, when his Groom of the +Chamber procured us an audience. Then +he remembered how he had laughed at my +gambols with Molly O'Flaherty in the hayfield, +and how they amused him, and +how he thought my Romping ways might +divert My Lady Duchess his Consort, who +was a pining, puling, melancholic Temperament, +and much afflicted with the Vapours,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +for want of something to do. So he was +pleased to smile upon me again, and to give +my mother five pounds, and to promise that +I should be well bestowed in his household +as a waiting-woman, or Bower-maiden, or +some such like capacity; and then he made +me a present, as though I were a puppy-dog, +to Her Grace the Duchess, and having +affairs of state to attend to, thought no +more about 'Brimstone Betty.' My +sprightly ways and random talk amused +her Grace for awhile; but she had too many +gewgaws and playthings, and I found, after +not many days, that my popularity was on +the wane, and that I could not hope to maintain +it against the attractions of a French waiting-maid, +a monkey, a parrot, a poodle, and a +little Dwarfish boy-attendant that was half +fiddler and half buffoon. So my consequence +faded and faded, and I was sneered +at and flouted as a young Savage and a young +Irish by the English lacqueys about the +House, and I sank from my Lady's keeping-room +to the antechamber, and thence to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +the servant's hall, and thence, after a very +brief lapse, to the kitchen, where I was very +little better than a Scullish and Plate-washer, +and not half so well entreated as Cicely of +the Cinders is here. I pined and fretted; but +time went on, and to my misfortune I was +growing taller and shapelier. I had a very +clear skin, and very black hair and eyes, +and, though I say it that shouldn't, as neat +a leg and foot as you would wish to see in +a summer's day, and the men folk told me +that I was comely. They only told me so, +the false perfidious hounds, for my destruction.</p> + +<p>"Well, child, you are too young to understand +these things; and I hope that when +you grow up, you will not do to poor forlorn +girls as I was done by. A dicing soldier +fellow that was a hanger-on at my Lord +Duke's house, and was called Captain, ran +away with me. Of course I was at once +discarded from the Great House as a good-for-nothing +Light o' love, and was told +that if ever I presumed to show my face on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +the Quay-side again I should be sent to the +Spinning House, and whipped. They had +better have taken care of me while I was +with them. The Captain dressed me up in +fine clothes for a month or so, and gave me +paint and patches, and took me to the Playhouse +with a mask on, and then he got +stabbed in a broil after some gambling bout +at a China House in Smock Alley, and I +was left in the wide world with two satin +sacques, a box of cosmetiques, a broken fan, +two spade guineas, and little else besides +what I stood upright in. Return to my +Father and Mother I dared not; for I knew +that the tidings of my misconduct had +already been conveyed to them, and had +half broken their hearts, and my offence was +one that is unpardonable in the children of +the poorest and humblest of the Irishry. +There was Bitter Bread before me, if I chose +to follow, as thousands of poor, cozened, +betrayed creatures before me had done, a +Naughty Life; but this, with unutterable +Loathing and Scorn, I cast away from me;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +and having, from my Dare-devil Temper, a +kind of Pride and High Stomach made me +determine to earn my livelihood in a bold +and original manner. They had taught me +to read at the Great House (though I knew +not great A from a bowl's foot when I came +into it) and so one of the first things I had +spelt out was a chap-book ballad of Mary +Ambree, the female soldier, that was at the +siege of Ghent, and went through all the +wars in Flanders in Queen Bess's time. +'What woman has done, woman can do,' +cries I to myself, surveying my bold and +masculine lineaments, my flashing black +eyes, and ruddy tint, my straight, stout +limbs, and frank, dashing gait. Ah! I was +very different to the fat, pursy, old ale-wife +who discourses with you now—in the glass. +Without more ado I cut off my long black +hair close to my head, stained my hands +with walnut juice, (for they had grown +white and soft and plump from idling about +in the Great House), and went off to a +Crimp in the Liberty that was enlisting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +men (against the law, but here many things +are done against both Law and Prophets), +for the King of France's service.</p> + +<p>"This was in the year '80, and I was +twenty years of age. King Louis had then +no especial Brigade of Irish Troops—that +famous corps not being formed until after +the Revolution—and his Scotch Guards, a +pinchbeck, purse-proud set of beggarly +cavaliers, would not have any Irishry among +them. I scorned to deny my lineage, and +indeed my tongue would have soon betrayed +me, had I done so; and the name I listed +under was that of James Moriarty. One +name is as good as another when you are +going to the wars; and no name is, perchance, +the best of any. As James Moriarty, +after perfecting myself in musket-drill, and +the pike-exercise, in our winter quarters at +Dunkirk, I was entered in the Gardes Français, +a portion of the renowned Maison +du Roy, or Household Troops, and as such +went through the second Rhenish campaign, +taking my share, and a liberal one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +too, in killing my fellow-Christians, burning +villages, and stealing poultry. Nay, +through excessive precaution, lest my sex +should be discovered, I made more pretensions +than the rest of my Comrades to +be considered a lady-killer, and the Captain +of my Company, Monsieur de la Ribaldiere, +did me the honour to say that no Farmer's +Daughter was safe from 'Le Bel Irlandais,' +or Handsome Irishman, as they called me. +Heaven help us! From whom are the Farmer's +daughters, or the Farmers themselves +safe in war time?</p> + +<p>"When peace was declared, I found that +I had risen to the dignity of Sergeant, and +carried my Halberd with an assured strut +and swagger, nobody dreaming that I was +a wild Irish girl from the Wicklow Mountains. +I might have risen, in time, to a +commission and the Cross of St. Louis; but +the piping times of peace turned all such +brave grapes sour. I was glad enough, +when the alternative was given me, of +accompanying my Captain, Monsieur de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +la Ribaldiere, to Paris, as his Valet de +Chambre, or of mouldering away, without +hope of Promotion, in some country barrack, +to choose the former, and led, for a year or +two, a gay, easy life enough in the French +Capital. But, alas! that which I had +hidden from a whole army in the field, I +could not keep a secret from one rubbishing, +penniless, popinjay of a Captain in the +Gardes Françaises. I told this miscreant, +de la Ribaldiere, that I was a woman; for I +was mad and vain enough to Love him. +These are matters again, child, that you +cannot understand; but I have said enough +when I declare that if ever there was power +in the Curse of Cromwell to blight a Wicked +Man, that curse ought to light upon Henri +de la Ribaldiere.</p> + +<p>"I took a disgust to the male attire after +this; but being yet in the prime of my +womanhood, and as fond as ever of athletic +diversions, I engaged myself to a French +mountebank posture-master to dance Corantoes +on the Tight and Slack Rope,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +accompanying myself meanwhile by reveilles +on the Drum, an instrument in which I had +become a proficient. The Posture Master, +finding out afterwards that I was agile and +Valiant, not only at Dancing but at Fighting, +must needs have me wield the broadsword +and the quarterstaff against all comers +on a public platform; and, as the Irish +Amazon, I achieved great success, and had +my Employer not been a thief, should have +gained much money. He was in the habit, +not only of robbing his woman-performers, +but of beating them; but I promise you +the first time the villain offered to slash at +me with his dog-whip, I had him under the +jaw with my fist in the handsomest manner, +and then tripping up his heels, and hurling +him down on his own stage, and (having a +right piece of ashplant in my grip) I did so +curry his hide in sight of a full audience, +that he howled for mercy, and the groundlings, +who thought it part of the show, +clapped their hands till they were sore and +shouted till they were hoarse. Our engagement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +came to an end after this, and in a +somewhat disagreeable manner for me; for +the Posture-Master happened to be the by-blow +of a Doctor of the Sorbonne, who was +brother to an Abbé, who was brother to an +opera-dancer, who had interest with a cardinal, +who was uncle to a gentleman of the +Chamber, who was one of Père la Chaise's +pet penitents; and this Reverend Father, +having the King's ear, denounced me to his +Majesty as a Spy, a Heretic, a Jansenist, a +<i>Coureuse</i>, and all sorts of things; and by a +<i>lettre de Cachet</i>, as they call their warrants, +I was sent off to the prison of the Madelonettes, +there to diet on bread and water, to +be herded with the vilest of my sex, to card +wool, and to receive, morning and evening, +the Discipline (as they call it) of Leathern +thongs, ten to a handful, and three blood-knots +in each. I grew sick of being tawed +for offences I had never committed, and so +made bold one morning to try and strangle +the Mother of the Workroom, who sat over +us with a rattan, while we carded wool. Upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +which I was bound to a post, and received more +stripes, my lad, in an hour than ever your +Schoolmaster gave you in a week. That +same night I tried to burn the prison down; +and then they put me in the dark dungeon +called La Grande Force, with six inches of +water in it and any number of rats. I was +threatened with prosecution at their old +Bailey, or Chatelet, with the Question (that +is, the torture) ordinary and extraordinary, +with the galleys for life as a wind-up, even +if I escaped the gibbet in the place de Grève. +Luckily for me, at this time the Gentleman +of the Chamber fell into disgrace with Father +la Chaise for eating a Chicken Sausage in +Lent; and to spite him and the Minister, +and the Cardinal and the Opera Dancer, and +the Abbé and the Doctor of the Sorbonne, +and the Posture Master all together, His +Reverence, having his Majesty's ear, moves +the Most Christian King to Clemency, and +a Royal warrant comes down to the Madelonettes, +and I was sent about my business +with strict injunctions not to show myself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +again in Paris, under penalty of the Pillory, +branding on the cheek with a red-hot iron, +and the galleys in perpetuity.</p> + +<p>"I had been nearly ten years abroad, +and having, by the charity of some Ladies +of the Irish Convent in Paris, found means +to quit France, landed one morning in the +year '90 at Wapping, below London. I +had never been in England before, and +mighty little I thought of it when I became +acquainted with that proud, belly-god country. +I found that there was little enough +to be done to make a poor Irishwoman able +to earn her own living; and that there +was besides a prejudice against natives of +Ireland, both on account of their Extraction +and their Religion, which made the high +and mighty English unwilling to employ +them, either as day-labourers or as domestic +servants. For awhile, getting into loose +company, I went about the country to +wakes and Fairs, picking up a livelihood +by Rope-dancing, back and broadsword +fighting, and now and then sword swallowing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +and fire eating; but since my misadventure +with the Posture Master I had +taken a dislike to the Mountebank life, and +could not settle down to it again. My old +love for soldiering revived again, and being +at Plymouth where a Recruiting Party was +beating up for King William's service in +his Irish wars, took a convenient opportunity +of quitting my female apparel, resuming +that of a man, and listing in Lord +Millwood's Regiment of Foot as a private +Fusilier. As I knew my drill, and made +no secret of my having served in the Maison +du Roy, I was looked upon rather as a good +prize, for in war time 'tis Soldiers and +Soldiers only that are of real value, and +they may have served the very Devil himself +so that they can trail a pike and cast +a grenade: 'tis all one to the Recruiting +Captain. He wants men—not loblolly +boys—and so long as he gets them he cares +not a doit where they come from.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I fought as bravely as my +neighbours throughout that last Irish Campaign,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +in which the unhappy King James +made so desperate an effort to regain his +crown. When King William and the +Marshal Duke of Schomberg had made an +end of him, and the poor dethroned +Monarch had gotten away to St. Germains-en-Laye, +there to eke out the remains of +his days as a kind of Monk, Millwood's +Foot was sent back to England, and put +upon the Peace Establishment. That is to +say the officers got half pay, and the private +men were told that for the next +eighteen months they should have sixpence +a day, and that after that, unless another +war came, they must shift for themselves. +I preferred shifting for myself at once to +having any of their measly doles after +valiant and faithful service; and so, having +gathered a very pretty penny out of Plunder +while with King William's army, I became +a woman again, and opened a Coffee House +and Spirit Shop at Chelsea. My curious +adventures had by this time come to be +pretty well known; and setting up at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +sign of the Amazon's Head, with a picture +of myself, in full fighting dress splitting +an Irish Rapparee with my bayonet, I grew +into some renown. The Quality much frequented +my house, and some of the book-making +gentlemen about Grub Street were +good enough to dish up my exploits in a +shilling pamphlet, called 'The Life of Elizabeth +O——, <i>alias</i> James Moriarty, the new +Mary Ambree, or the Grenadier.' At +Chelsea I remained until the year 1704, +but lost much by trusting the Quality, and +bad debts among the Gentlemen of the +Army. Besides this, I was foolish enough +to get married to a worthless, drunken +fellow, my own countryman, who had been +Fence Master in the Life-Guards, and he +very speedily ate me out of House and +Home, giving me continual Black Eyes, +besides.</p> + +<p>"Thus, when the Great War of the Succession +broke out, and the English army, +commanded by the Great Duke of Marlborough, +being allied with the Imperialists<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +under Prince Eugene, and the forces of their +High Mightinesses the Dutchmen, went at +it Hammer and Tongs about the Spanish +succession with King Lewis of France, I, +who had always been fond of the army, +resolved to give up pot-walloping and take +another turn under canvas. It was, however, +too late in the day for me to think of +again taking the part of a bold Grenadier. +I had become somewhat of a Character, and +(my old proficiency with the Sticks remaining +by me) had earned among the Gentlemen +of the Army the cant name of Mother +Drum—that by which, to my sorrow, I am +now known. And as Mother Drum, suttler +and baggage-wagon woman in the train of +the great John Churchill, I drank and swore, +and sold aquavitæ, and plundered when I +could, and was flogged when I was taken +in the fact (for the Provost-Marshal is no +respecter of sex), at Blenheim and Ramilies, +and Malplaquet and Oudenarde, and throughout +those glorious Campaigns of which I +could talk to you till doomsday. I came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +back to England at the Peace of Utrecht, +and set up another Tavern, and married +another husband, more worthless and more +drunken than the first one, and then +went bankrupt and turned washerwoman, +and then got into trouble about a +gentleman's silver-hilted Rapier, for which +I lay long in hold, and was sent for five +years to the Plantations; and at last here I +am, old and fat and good for nothing, but to +throw to the crows as carrion—Mother +Drum, God save us all! as bold as brass, and +as tough as leather, and 'the miserablest old +'oman that ever stepped.'"</p> + +<p>This last part of her adventures I have +not polished up, and they are Mother +Drum's own.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER THE NINTH.</h2> + +<h3>THE END OF MY ADVENTURES AMONG THE BLACKS.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Were</span> I to give vent to that Garrulity which +grows upon us Veterans with Gout and the +Gravel, and the kindred Ailments of Age, +this Account of my Life would never reach +beyond the record of Boyhood. For from +the first Flower of my freshest childhood +to the time that I became toward the more +serious Business of the World, I think I +could set down Day by Day, and well-nigh +Hour by Hour, all the things that have occurred +to me. How is it that I preserve +so keen a Remembrance of a little lad's +joys and sorrows, when I can scarcely <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'recal'">recall</ins> +how many times I have suffered Shipwreck +in later age, or tell how many Sansfoy Miscreants,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +caring neither for Heaven or man +a Point, I have slain? Nay, from what +cause does it proceed that I, upon whom +the broken reliques of my Schoolmaster's +former Cruelty are yet Green, and who can +conjure up all the events that bore upon +my Running away into Charlwood Chase, +even to the doggish names of the Blacks, +their ribald talk, and the fleering of the +Women they had about them, find it sore +travail to remember what I had for dinner +yesterday, what friends I conversed with, +what Tavern I supped at, what news I read +in the Gazette? But 'tis the knowledge of +that overweening Craving to count up the +trivial Things of my Youth that warns me +to use despatch, even if the chronicle of my +after doings be but a short summary or +sketch of so many Perils by Land and Sea. +And for this manner of the remotest things +being the more distinct and dilated upon, let +me put it to a Man of keen vision, if whirling +along a High Road in a rapid carriage, +he has not marked, first, that the Palings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +and Milestones close by have passed beneath +him in a confused and jarring swiftness; next, +that the Trees, Hedges, &c., of the middle-plan +(as the limners call it) have moved +slower and with more Deliberation, yet somewhat +Fitfully, and encroaching on each +other's outlines; whereas the extreme distance +in Clouds, Mountains, far-off Hillsides, +and the like, have seemed remote, +indeed, but stationary, clear, and unchangeable; +so that you could count the fissures in +the hoar rocks, and the very sheep still feeding +on the smooth slopes, even as they fed +fifty years ago? And who (let his later life +have been ever so fortunate) does not preferably +dwell on that sharp prospect so clearly +yet so light looming through the Long +Avenue of years?</div> + +<p>It was not, I will frankly admit, a very +righteous beginning to a young life to be +hail-fellow well-met with a Gang of Deerstealers, +and to go careering about the King's +Forest in quest of Venison which belonged +to the Crown. Often have I felt remorseful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +for so having wronged his Majesty +(whom Heaven preserve for the safety of +these distraught kingdoms); but what was I, +an' it please you, to do? Little Boy Jack +was just Little Boy Beggar; and for want +of proper Training he became Little Boy +Thief. Not that I ever pilfered aught. I +was no Candle-snuffer filcher, and, save in +the matter of Fat Bucks, the rest of our +gang were, indeed, passing honest. Part of +the Venison we killed (mostly with a larger +kind of Bird-Bolt, or Arbalist Crossbow, for +through fear of the keepers we used as little +powder and ball as possible) we ate for our +Sustenance; for rogues must eat and drink +as well as other folks. The greater portion, +however, was discreetly conveyed, in carts +covered over with garden-stuff, to the +market-towns of Uxbridge, Windsor, and +Reading, and sold, under the coat-tail as we +called it, to Higglers who were in our secret. +Sometimes our Merchandise was taken right +into London, where we found a good Market +with the Fishmongers dwelling about Lincoln's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +Inn, and who, as they did considerable +traffic with the Nobility and Gentry, of +whom they took Park Venison, giving them +Fish in exchange, were not likely to be suspected +of unlawful dealings, or at least were +able to make a colourable pretext of Honest +Trade to such Constables and Market Conners +who had a right to question them about +their barterings. From the Fishmongers we +took sometimes money and sometimes rich +apparel—the cast-off clothes, indeed, of the +Nobility, birthday suits or the like, which +were not good enough for the Players of +Drury Lane and Lincoln's Inn, forsooth, to +strut about in on their tragedy-boards, and +which they had therefore bestowed upon +their domestics to sell. For our Blacks loved +to quit their bewrayed apparel at supper-time, +and to dress themselves as bravely as +when I first tasted their ill-gotten meat at +the Stag o' Tyne. From the Higglers too, +we would as willingly take Wine, Strong +Waters, and Tobacco, in exchange for our +fat and lean, as money; for the Currency of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +the Realm was then most wofully clipped +and defaced, and our Brethren had a wholesome +avoidance of meddling with Bank Bills. +When, from time to time, one of us ventured +to a Market-town, well made-up as a decent +Yeoman or Merchant's Rider, 'twas always +payment on the Nail and in sounding money +for the reckoning. We ran no scores, and +paid in no paper.</p> + +<p>It was long ere I found out that the +Wagon in which I had travelled from the +Hercules' Pillars, to be delivered over to +Gnawbit, was conducted by one of the most +trusted Confederates of our Company; that +he took Venison to town for them, and +brought them back the Account in specie or +needments as they required. And although +I am loth to think that the pretty Servant +Maid was altogether deceiving me when she +told me she was going to see her Grandmother, +I fancy that she knew Charlwood +Chase, and the gentry that inhabited it, as +well as she knew the Pewterer in Panyer +Alley. He went a-pewtering no more, if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +ever he had been 'prentice or done journeywork +for that trade, but was neither more +nor less than one of the Blacks, and Mistress +Slyboots, his Flame, kept him company. +Although I hope, I am sure, that +they were Married by the Chaplain; for, +rough as I am, I had ever a Hatred of Unlawful +Passions, and when I am summoned +on a Jury, always listen to the King's Proclamation +against Vice and Immorality with +much gusto and savour.</p> + +<p>I stayed with the Blacks in Charlwood +Chase until I grew to be a sturdy lad of +twelve years of age. I went out with them +and followed their naughty courses, and +have stricken down many a fat Buck in +my time. Ours was the most jovial but the +most perilous of lives. The Keepers were +always on our track; and sometimes the +Sheriff would call out the Posse Comitatis, +and he and half the beef-fed tenant-farmers +of the country-side would come horsing and +hoofing it about the glades to catch us. For +weeks together in each year we dared not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +keep our rendezvous at the Stag, but were +fain to hide in Brakes and Hollow Trees, +listening to the pursuit as it grew hot and +heavy around us; and often with no better +Victuals than Pig's-meat and Ditch-water. +But then the search would begin to lag; +and two or three of the great Squires round +about being well terrified by letters written +in a liquid designed to counterfeit Blood, +with a great Skull and Cross-bones scrawled +at the bottom, the whole signed "Captain +Night," and telling them that if they dared +to meddle with the Blacks their Lives should +pay for it, we were left quiet for a season, +and could return to our Haunt, there to +feast and carouse according to custom. Nor +am I slow to believe that some of the tolerance +we met with was due to our being +known to the County Gentry as stanch +Tories, and as stanch detesters of the House +of Hanover (I speak, of course, of my companions, +for I was of years too tender to +have any politics). We never killed a Deer +but on the nearest tree some one of us out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +with his Jack-knife and carved on the bark +of it, "Slain by King James's order;" or, if +there were no time for so long a legend, or +the Beast was stricken in the Open, a simple +K. J. (which the Hanover Rats understood +well enough, whether cut in the trunk or +the turf) sufficed. The Country Gentlemen +were then of a very furious way of thinking +concerning the rights of the present Illustrious +House to the Throne; but Times do +alter, and so likewise do Men's Thoughts +and Opinions, and I dare swear there is no +Brunswicker or Church of England man +more leal at this present writing than John +Dangerous.</p> + +<p>Captain Night, to whom I was a kind of +Page or Henchman, used me with much +tenderness. Whenever at supper the tongues +grew too loosened, and wild talk, and of the +wickedese, began to jingle among the bottles +and glasses, he would bid me Withdraw, +and go keep company for a time with Mistress +Slyboots. Captain Night was a man +of parts and even of letters; and I often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +wondered why he, who seemed so well fitted +to Shine even among the Great, should pass +his time among Rogues, and take the thing +that was not his. He was often absent from +us for many days, sometimes for nigh a +month; and would return sunburnt and +travel-stained, as though he had been journeying +in Foreign Parts. He was always +very thoughtful and reserved after these +Gaddings about; and Mistress Slyboots, the +Maid, used to say that he was in Love, and +had been playing the gallant to some fine +Madam. But I thought otherwise: for at +this season it was his custom to bring back +a Valise full to the very brim of letters and +papers, the which he would take Days to +read and re-read, noting and seemingly +copying some, but burning the greater portion. +At this season he would refrain from +joining the Gang, and honourably forswore +his share of their plunder, always giving +Mother Drum a broad piece for each night's +Supper, Bottle, and Bed. But when his +pressing business was over, no man was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +keener in the chase, or brought down the +quarry so skilfully as Captain Night. He +loved to have me with him, to talk to and +Question me; and it was one day, after I +had told him that the Initial letter D was +the only clue to my Grandmother's name, +which I had seen graven on her Coffin-plate, +he must needs tell me that if she were Madam +(or rather Lady) D——, I must needs, +as a Kinsman, be D—— too, and that he +would piece out the name, and call me Dangerous. +So that I was Little Boy Jack no +more, and John Dangerous I have been +from that day to this. Not but what my +Ancestry and Belongings might warrant me +in assuming another title, than which—so +far as lineage counts—Bourbon or Nassau +could not rank much higher. But the name +of Dangerous has pleased me alway; it has +stood me in stead in many a hard pass, and +I am content to abide by it now that my +locks are gray, and the walls of this my +battered old tenement are crumbling into +decay.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Twas I alone that was privileged to stay +with Captain Night when he was doing +Secretary's work among his papers; for, +save when Mistress Slyboots came up to +him—discreetly tapping at the door first, +you may be sure—with a cup of ale and a +toast, he would abide no other company. +And on such days I wore not my Black +Disguisement, but the better clothes he had +provided for me,—a little Riding Suit of red +drugget, silver-laced, and a cock to my hat +like a Military Officer,—and felt myself as +grand as you please. I never dared speak +to him until he spoke to me; but used to +sit quietly enough sharpening bolts or twisting +bowstrings, or cleaning his Pistols, or +furbishing up his Hanger and Belt, or suchlike +boyish pastime-labour. He was careful +to burn every paper that he Discarded after +taking it from the Valise; but once, and +once only, a scrap remained unconsumed on +the hearth, the which, with my ape-like +curiosity of half-a-score summers, I must +needs spell over, although I got small good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +therefrom. 'Twas but the top of a letter, +and all the writing I could make out ran,</p> + +<div class='right'> +"St. Germains, August the twelfth.<br /> +</div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear</span>" ...</p> + +<div class='unindent'>and here it broke off, and baffled me.</div> + +<p>Whenever Captain Night went a hunting, +I attended upon him; but when he was +away, I was confided to the care of Jowler, +who, albeit much given to babble in his +liquor, was about the most discreet (the +Chaplain always excepted) among the Gang. +In the dead season, when Venison was not +to be had, or was nothing worth for the +Market if it had been killed, we lived +mostly on dried meats and cured salmon; +the first prepared by Mother Drum and her +maid, the last furnished us by our good +friends and Chapmen the Fishmongers +about Lincoln's Inn. And during this same +Dead Season, I am glad to say that my +Master did not suffer me to remain idle; +but, besides taking some pains in tutoring +me himself, moved our Chaplain, all of +whose humane letters had not been washed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +out by burnt Brandy or fumed out by +Tobacco (to the use of which he was immoderately +given), to put me through a +course of daily instruction. I had had some +Latin beaten into me by Gnawbit, when he +had nothing of more moment to bestir himself +about, and had attained a decent proficiency +in reading and writing. Under +the Chaplain of the Blacks, who swore at +me grievously, but never, under the direst +forbidding, laid finger on me, I became a +current scholar enough of my own tongue, +with just such a little smattering of the +Latin as helped me at a pinch in some of +the Secret Dealings of my later career. But +Salt Water has done its work upon my +Lily's Grammar; and although I yield to +no man in the Faculty of saying what I +mean, ay, and of writing it down in good +plain English ('tis true that of your nominatives +and genitives and stuff, I know +nothing), I question if I could tell +you the Latin for a pair of riding-boots.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a paltry parcel of books at +the Stag o' Tyne, and these I read over and +over again at my leisure. There was a +History of the Persecutions undergone by +the Quakers, and Bishop Sprat's Narrative +of the Conspiracy of Blackhead and the +others against him. There was Foxe's +Martyrs, and God's Revenge against Murder +(a very grim tome), and Mr. Daniel +Defoe's Life of Moll Flanders, and Colonel +Jack. These, with two or three Play-books, +and a Novel of Mrs. Aphra Behn (very +scurrilous), a few Ballads, and some ridiculous +Chap-books about Knights and +Fairies and Dragons, made up the tattered +and torn library of our house in Charlwood +Chase. 'Twas good enough, you may say, for +a nest of Deerstealers. Well, there might +have been a worse one; but these, I can +aver, with English and Foreign newspapers +and letters, and my Bible in later life, have +been all the reading that John Dangerous +can boast of. Which makes me so mad +against your fine Scholars and Scribblers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +who, because they can turn verse and make +Te-to-tum into Greek, must needs sneer at +me at the Coffee House, and make a butt +of an honest man who has been from one +end of the world to the other, and has +fought his way through it to Fortune and +Honour.</p> + +<p>I was in the twelfth year of my age, +when a great change overtook me in my +career. Moved, as it would seem, to exceeding +Anger and implacable Disgust by +the carryings-on of Captain Night and his +merry men in Charlwood Chase, the King's +Ministers put forth a Proclamation against +us, promising heavy Blood Money to any +who would deliver us, or any one member +of the Gang, into the hands of Authority. +This Proclamation came at first to little. +There was no sending a troop of horse +into the Chase, and the husbandmen of the +country-side were too good Friends of ours +to play the Judas. We were not Highway +Robbers. Not one of our band had ever +taken to or been taken from the Road.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +Rascals of the Cartouche and Macheath +kidney we Disdained. We were neither +Foot-pads nor Cut-purses, nay, nor Smugglers +nor Rick-burners. We were only +Unfortunate Gentlemen, who much did +need, and who had suffered much for our +politics and our religion, and had no other +means of earning a livelihood than by killing +the King's Deer. Those peasants whom +we came across Feared us, indeed, as they +would the very Fiend, but bore us no malice; +for we always treated them with civility, +and not rarely gave them the Umbles +and other inferior parts of the Deer, against +their poor Christenings and Lyings-in. +And through these means, and some small +money presents our Captain would make +to their wives and callow brats, it came to +pass that Mother Drum had seldom cause +to brew aught but the smallest beer, for +morning Drinking; for though we had to +pay for our Wine and Ardent Drinks, the +cellar of the Stag o' Tyne was always handsomely +furnished with barrels of strong ale,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +which Lobbin Clout or Colin Mayfly, the +Hind or the Plough-churl, would bring us +secretly by night in their Wains for gratitude. +I know not where they got the malt +from, but there was narrow a fault to find +with the Brew. I recollect its savour now +with a sweet tooth, condemned as I am to +the inky Hog's-wash which the Londoners +call Porter; and indeed it is fit for Porters +to drink, but not for Gentlemen. These +Peasants used to tremble all over with +terror when they came to the Stag o' Tyne; +but they were always hospitably made welcome, +and sent away with full gizzards, ay, +and with full heads too, and by potions to +which the louts were but little used.</p> + +<p>We had no fear of treachery from these +Chawbacons, but we had Enemies in the +Chase nevertheless. Here dwelt a vagabond +tribe of Bastard Verderers and Charcoal-burners, +savage, ignorant, brutish Wretches, +as superstitious as the Manilla Creoles. +They were one-half gipsies, and one half, or +perhaps a quarter, trade-fallen whippers-in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +and keepers that had been stripped of their +livery. They picked up their sorry crust +by burning of charcoal, and carting of dead +wood to farmers for to consume in their +ingles. Now and again, when any of the +Quality came to hunt in the Chase, the +Head Keeper would make use of a score or +so of them as beaters and rabble-prickers of +the game; but nine months out of the +twelve they rather starved than lived. These +Charcoal-burners hated us Blacks, first, because +in our sable disguise we rather imitated +their own Beastly appearance—for the varlets +never washed from Candlemas to Shrovetide; +next, because we were Gentlemen; +and lastly, because we would not suffer them +to catch Deer for themselves in pitfalls and +springes. Nay, a True Gentleman Black +meeting a "Coaley," as we called the charcoal +fellows, with so much as a hare, a +rabbit, or a pheasant with him, let alone +venison, would ofttimes give him a sackful +of sore bones to carry as well as a game-bag. +No "Coaley" was ever let to slake<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +his thirst at the Stag o' Tyne. The poor +wretches had a miserable hovel of an inn +to their own part on the western outskirts +of the Chase, a place by the sign of the +Hand and Hatchet, where they ate their rye-bread +and drank their sour Clink, when they +could muster coppers enough for a twopenny +carouse.</p> + +<p>This Proclamation, of which at first we +made light, was speedily followed by a real +live Act of Parliament, which is yet, I have +been told, Law, and is known as the "Black +Act."<a name="FNanchor_M_13" id="FNanchor_M_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_M_13" class="fnanchor">[M]</a> The most dreadful punishments were +denounced against us by the Houses of Lords +and Commons, and the Blood Money was +doubled. One of the most noted Thief-takers +of that day—almost as great a one as +Jonathan Wild—comes down post, and sets<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +up his Standard at Reading, as though he +had been King William on the banks of the +Boyne. With him he brings a mangy Rout +of Constables and Bailiff's Followers, and +other kennel-ranging vagabonds; and now +nothing must serve him but to beg of the +Commanding Officer at Windsor (my Lord +Treherne) for a loan of two companies of the +Foot Guards, who, nothing loth for field-sport +and extra pay, were placed, with their +captain and all—more shame for a Gentleman +to mix in such Hangman's work!—under +Mr. Thief-taker's orders. He and his Bandogs, +ay, and his Grenadiers, might have +hunted us through Charlwood Chase until +Doomsday but for the treachery of the +"Coaleys." 'Twas one of their number,—named, +or rather nicknamed, "the Beau," +because he washed his face on Sunday, and +was therefore held to be of the first fashion,—who +earned eighty pounds by revealing +the hour when the whole Gang of Blacks +might be pounced upon at the Stag o' Tyne. +The infamous wretch goes to Aylesbury,—for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +our part of the Chase was in the county +of Bucks,—and my Thief-taking gentleman +from Reading meets him—a pretty couple; +and he makes oath before Mr. Justice Cribfee +(who should have set him in the Stocks, +or delivered him over to the Beadle for a +vagrant); and after a fine to-do of Sheriff's +business and swearing in of special constables, +the end of it was, that a whole +Rout of them, Sheriff, Javelin-men, and +Headboroughs and all, with the Grenadiers +at their back, came upon us unawares one +moonlight night as we were merrily supping +at the Stag.</p> + +<p>'Twas no use showing Fight perhaps, for +we were undermanned, some of us being +away on the scent, for we suspected some +foul play. The constables and other clod-hopping +Alguazils were all armed to the +teeth with Bills and Blunderbusses, Pistols +and Hangers; but had they worn all the +weapons in the Horse Armoury in the +Tower, it would not have saved them from +shivering in their shoes when "Hard and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +sharp" was the word, and an encounter with +the terrible Blacks had to be endured. We +should have made mince-meat of them all, +and perhaps hanged up one or two of them +outside the inn as an extra signpost. But +we were not only unarmed, we were overmatched, +my hearties. There were the Redcoats, +burn them! How many times in my +life have I been foiled and baffled by those +miscreated men-machines in scarlet blanketing! +No use in a stout Heart, no use in a +strong Hand, no use in a sharp Sword, or a +pair of barkers with teeth that never fail, +when you have to do with a Soldier. Do! +What are you to do with him? There he is, +with his shaven face and his hair powdered, +as if he were going to a fourpenny fandango +at Bagnigge Wells. There he is, as obstinate +as a Pig, and as firm as a Rock, with his +confounded bright firelock, bayonet, and +crossbelts. There he is, immoveable and +unconquerable, defying the boldest of +Smugglers, the bravest of Gentlemen Rovers, +and, by the Lord Harry, <i>he eats you up</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +Always give the Redcoats a wide berth, my +dear, and the Grenadiers more than all.</p> + +<p>Unequal as were the odds, with all these +Roaring Dragons in scarlet baize on our +trail, we had still a most desperate fight for +it. While the mob of Constables kept +cowering in the bar-room down-stairs, crying +out to us to surrender in the King's name,—I +believe that one poor creature, the +Justice of Peace, after getting himself well +walled up in a corner with chairs and tables, +began to quaver out the King's Proclamation +against the Blacks,—the plaguy Soldiers +came blundering up both pair of stairs, and +fell upon us Billy Boys tooth and nail. +'Slid! my blood simmers when I think of +it. Over went the tables and settles! Smash +went trenchers and cups and glasses! Clink-a-clink +went sword-blades and bayonets! +"And don't fire, my lads!" cries out the +Soldier-officer to his Grannies. "We want +all these rogues to hang up at Aylesbury +Gaol."</p> + +<p>"Rogue yourself, and back to your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +Mother!" cries Captain Night, very pale; +but I never saw him look Bolder or Handsomer. +"Rogue in your Tripes, you Hanover +Rat!" and he shortens his sword and +rushes on the Soldier-officer.</p> + +<p>The Grenadier Captain was brave enough, +but he was but a smockfaced lad fresh from +the Mall and St. James's Guard-room, and +he had no chance against a steady practised +Swordsman and Forest Blood, as Captain +Night was. We all thought he would make +short work of the Soldier-officer. He had +him in a corner, and the Chaplain, a-top of +whom was a Grenadier trying to throttle or +capture him, or both, exclaims, "Give him +the grace-blow, my dear; give it him under +the fifth rib!" when Captain Night cries, +"Go home to your mother, Milksop!" and +he catches his own sword by the hilt, hits +his Enemy a blow on the right wrist enough +to numb it for a month, twists his fingers in +his cravat, flings him on one side, and right +into the middle of a punch-bowl, and then, +upon my word, he himself jumps out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +Window, shouting out, "Follow me, little +Jack Dangerous!"</p> + +<p>I wished for nothing better, and had +already my leg on the sill, when two great +hulking Grenadiers seized hold of me. 'Twas +then, for the first time, that I earned a just +claim and title to the name of Dangerous; +for a little dirk I was armed with being +wrested from me by Soldier number one, +who eggs on his comrade to collar the young +Fox-cub, as he calls me, I seize a heavy +Stone Demijohn fall of brandy, and smash +it goes on the head of Soldier number two. +He falls with a dismal groan, the blood and +brandy running in equal measure from his +head, and the first Soldier runs his bayonet +through me.</p> + +<p>Luckily, 'twas but a flesh-wound in the +flank, and no vital part was touched. It +was enough for me, however, poor Urchin,—enough +to make me tumble down in a +dead faint; and when I came to myself, I +found that I had been removed to the bar-room +down-stairs, where I made one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +nineteen Blacks, all prisoners to the King +for stealing his Deer, and all bound hand +and foot with Ropes.</p> + +<p>"Never mind their hurting your wrists, +young Hempseed," chuckled one of the +scaldpated constable rogues who was guarding +us. "You'll have enough to tighten +your gullet after 'Sizes, as sure as eggs is +eggs."</p> + +<p>"Nay, brother Grimstock, the elf's too +young to be hanged," puts in another +constable, with somewhat of a charitable +visage.</p> + +<p>"Too young!" echoes he addressed as +Grimstock. "'Twas bred in the bone in +him, the varmint, and the Gallows Fever +will come out in the flesh. Too young! he +was weaned on rue, and rode between his +Father's legs (that swung) i' the cart to Tyburn, +and never sailed a cockboat but in +Execution Dock. My tobacco-box to a +tester an' he dance not on nothing if +he comes to holding up his hand before +Judge Blackcap, that never spared but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +one in the Calendar, and then 'twas by Mistake."</p> + +<p>These were not very comfortable news +for me, poor manacled wretch; and with a +great bayonet-wound in my side to boot, +that had been but clumsily dressed by a +village Leech, who was, I suspect, a Farrier +and Cow Doctor as well. But I have +always found, in this life's whirligig, that +when your Case is at the worst (unless a +Man indeed Dies, when there is nothing +more to be done), it is pretty sure to mend, +if you lie quiet and let things take their +chance. I could not be much worse off +than I was, wounded and friendless, and a +captive; and so I held my tongue, and let +them use me as they would. Some scant +comfort was it, however, to find, when the +battle-field was gone over, that, besides the +Grenadier whose crown I had cracked, +another had been pistolled by Jowler, and +and lay mortally wounded, and Groaning +Dismally. Poor Jowler himself would +never pistol Foe more. He was dead; for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +the Men of War, furious at our desperate +Resistance, at the worsting of their fine-feathered +officer (who was mumbling of his +bruised hand as a down-trodden Hound +would its paw, and cursing meanwhile, +which Dogs use not to do), and driven to +Mad Rage by the escape of Captain Night, +had fired pell-mell into a Group of which +Jowler made one, and so killed him. A bullet +through his brain set him clean quit of all +indictments under the Black Act, before our +Sovereign Lord the King. Likewise was it +a matter of rejoicing for our party that, +after long seeking the Traitor Coaley, the +wretched "Beau" was found duly strangled, +and completely a corpse on the staircase. +There was something curious about the +manner of justice coming to this villain. +The Deed had been done with no weapon +more Lethal than an old Stocking; yet so +tightly was it tied round his false neck, that +it had to be cut off piecemeal, and even then +the ribs of the worsted were found to be +Imbedded, and to have made Furrows in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +his flesh. Now it is certain that we Blacks +had not laid about us with old Wives' hose, +any more than we had lunged at our enemies +with knitting-needles. There, however, +was Monsieur Judas, as dead as a +Dolphin two hours on deck. Lord, what +an ugly countenance had the losel when +they came to wash the charcoal off him! +As to who had forestalled the Hangman in +his office, no certain testimony could be +given. I have always found at Sea, when +any doubts arise as to the why and the +wherefore of a gentleman's death, that the +best way to settle accounts is to fling him +overboard; but on dry land your plaguy +Dead Body is a sore Stumbling Block, and +Impediment, always turning up when it is +not Wanted, and bringing other Gentlemen +into all kinds of trouble. Crowner's Quest +was held on the "Beau;" and I only wonder +that they did not bring it in murder +against Me. The jury sat a long time without +making up their minds, till the Parish +constable ordered them in a bowl of Flip,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +upon which they proceeded to bring in a +verdict of Wilful Murder against some person +or persons unknown. I can scarcely, to +this day, bring myself to suspect my pretty +maid, that should have married the Pewterer, +of such a bold Act, and the rather +believe that it was the girl Grip and her +Mistress that worked off the Spy and +Traitor between them. Not that Mother +Drum would have needed any assistance in +the mere doing of the thing. She was a +Mutton-fisted woman, and as strong in the +forearm as a Bridewell correctioner.</p> + +<p>Oh, the dreary journey we made that +morning to Aylesbury! The Men Blacks +were tied back to back, and thrown into +such carts as could be pressed into the service +from the farmsteads on the skirts of the +Chase. One of the constables must needs +offer, the Scoundrel, to take horse and go +borrow a cartload of fetters from the gaoler +at Reading; but he was overruled, and +Ropes were thought strong enough to confine +us. There was no chance, alas! of any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +rescue; for those of our comrades who had +been fortunate enough through absence to +avoid capture, had doubtless by this time +scent of the Soldiers, and there was no +kicking against those bright Firelocks and +Bayonets. Yet had there been another +escape. Cicely Grip and Mother Drum +were taken, but the pretty maid I loved so +for her kindness to me when I was Forlorn +had shown a clean pair of heels, and was +nowhere to be found. Good luck to her, +I thought. Perchance she has met with +Captain Night, and they are Safe and Sound +by this time, and off to Foreign Parts. For +in all this I declare I saw nothing Wrong, +and held, in my baby logic, that we Blacks +had all been very harshly entreated by the +Constables and Redcoats, and that it was a +shame to use us so. Mother Drum, the +Wench, and my poor wounded Self, were +put into one cart together, and through +Humanity, a Sergeant (for the Constables +would not have done it) bade his men litter +down some straw for us to lie upon. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +was a ragged Tilt too over the cart; and +thinks I, in a Gruesome manner, "The first +time you rode on straw under a Tilt, Jack, +you were going to school, and now, 'ifegs, +you are going to be Hanged." For it was +settled on all sides, and even he with the +Charitable Countenance came to be of that +mind at last, that my fate was to die by the +Cord.</p> + +<p>"Why," says one, "you've half-brained +Corporal Foss with the Demijohn; never +did liquor get into a pretty man's head so +soon and so deep. They'll stretch your +neck for this, my poult,—they will."</p> + +<p>The Sergeant interposing, said that perhaps, +if interest were made for me, I might +be spared an Indictment, and let to go +and serve the King as a Drummer till I +was old enough to carry a firelock. But +at this the soldiers shook their heads; for +Captain Poppingjay, their officer, was, it +seems, still in a towering rage at having +had his fine-lady's hand so wofully mauled +by Captain Night, and vowed vengeance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +against the whole crew of poachers and +their whelp, as he must needs be Polite +enough to call me.</p> + +<p>This Fine Gentleman had been provided +with a Horse by the Sheriff, and, as he +rode by the cart where I and Drum and +the Girl were jogging on, he spies me +under the Tilt, and in his cruel manner +makes a cut at me with his riding wand, +calling me a young spawn of Thievery and +Rebellion.</p> + +<p>"You coward," I cried in a passion; +"you daren't a' done that if my hands were +loose, and I hadn't this baggonet-wound +in me."</p> + +<p>"Shame to hit the boy," growled the +charitable Constable, who was on horseback +too.</p> + +<p>The Soldier-officer turned round quickly +to see who had spoken; but the Sergeant, +who watched him, pointed with his halbert +to the Constable, and he returned the +Captain's glance with a sturdy mien. So +my Fine Gentleman reins in his beast and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +lets us pass, eyeing his hand, which was +all wrapped up in Bandages, and muttering +that it was well none of his own fellows +had given him this sauciness.</p> + +<p>The day was a dreadful one. How +many times our train halted to bait I +know not; but this I know, that I fainted +often from Agony of my wound and the +uneasy motion of my carriage. It is a +wonder that I ever came to my journey's +end alive, and in all likelihood never +should, but for the unceasing care and +solicitude of the two poor women who +were with me, Prisoners like myself, but +full of merciful kindness for one who was +in a sorer strait than they. By earnest +pleading did Mother Drum persuade the +Head Constable—who, the nearer we got +to gaol the more authority he took, and +the less he seemed to think of our soldier +escort—to allow her hands to be unbound +that she might minister unto me; and also +did she obtain so much grace as for some +of the Money belonging unto her, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +which had been seized at the Stag o' Tyne, +to be spent in buying of a bottle of brandy +at one of our halting-places, with which +she not only comforted herself and her +afflicted Maid, but, mingling it with water, +cooled my parched tongue and bathed my +forehead.</p> + +<p>Brandy was the only medicament this +good soul knew; and more lives she averred, +had been saved by Right Nantz than lost +by bad B. W.; but still brandy was not +precisely the kind of physic to give a +Patient who before Sundown was in a +Raging Fever. But 'twas all one to the +Law; and coming at last to my journey's +end, we were all, the wounded and the +whole, flung into Gaol to answer for it +at the 'Sizes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER THE TENTH.</h2> + +<h3>I AM VERY NEAR BEING HANGED.</h3> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Our</span> prison was surely the most loathsome +hole that Human beings were ever immured +in. It was a Horrible and Shameful +Place, conspicuous for such even in those +days, when every prison was a place of +Horror and Shame. 'Twas one of the +King's Prisons,—one of His Majesty's +Gaols,—the county had nothing to do with +it; and the Keeper thereof was a Woman. +Say a Tigress rather; but Mrs. Macphilader +wore a hoop and lappets and gold ear-rings, +and was dubbed "Madam" by her Underlings. +Here you might at any time have +seen poor Wretches chained to the floor of +reeking dungeons, their arms, legs, necks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +even, laden with irons, themselves abused, +beaten, jeered at, drenched with pailfuls of +foul water, and more than three-quarter +starved, merely for not being able to pay +Garnish to the Gaoleress, or comply with +other her exorbitant demands. Fetters, +indeed, were common and Fashionable +Wear in the Gaol. 'Twas pleaded that +the walls of the prison were so rotten +through age, and the means of guarding +the prisoners—for they could not be always +calling in the Grenadiers—so limited, that +they must needs put the poor creatures in +the bilboes, or run the chance of their +escaping every day in the week. Thus it +came to pass, even, that they were tried +in Fetters, and sometimes could not hold +up their hands (weakened besides by the +Gaol Distemper), at the bidding of the +Clerk of the Arraigns, for the weight of +the Manacles that were upon them. And +it is to the famous and admirable Mr. John +Howard that we owe the putting down of +this last Abomination.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></div> + +<p>We lay so long in this dreadful place +before a Gaol Delivery was made, that my +wound, bad as it was, had ample time to +heal, leaving only a great indented cicatrix, +as though some Giant had forced his finger +into my flesh, and of which I shall never be +rid. Two more of our gang died of the Gaol +Fever before Assize time; one was so fortunate +as to break prison, file the irons off +his legs, and get clear away; and another +(who was always of a Melancholy turn) +hanged himself one morning, in a halter +made from strips of his blanket knotted +together. The rest of us were knocked about +by the Turnkeys, or abused by the Gaoleress, +Mrs. Macphilader, pretty much as they liked. +We were, however, not so badly off as some +of the poor prisoners—sheep-stealers, footpads, +vagrom men and women, and the like, +or even as some of the poor Debtors—many +of whom lay here incarcerate years after they +had discharged the Demands of their +Creditors against them, and only because +they could not pay their Fees. We Blacks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +were always well supplied with money; and +money could purchase almost any thing in a +prison in those days. Roast meats, and wine +and beer and punch, pipes and tobacco, and +playing cards and song-books,—all these +were to be had by Gentlemen Prisoners; the +Gaoleress taking a heavy toll, and making a +mighty profit from all these luxurious things. +But there was one thing that money could not +buy, namely, cleanly lodging; for the State +Room, a hole of a place, very meanly furnished, +where your great Smugglers or +ruffling Highwaymen were sometimes lodged, +at a guinea a day for their accommodation, was +only so much better from the common room +in so far as the prisoner had bed and board +to himself; but for nastiness and creeping +things—which I wonder, so numerous were +they, did not crawl away with the whole +prison bodily: but 'tis hard to find those +that are unanimous, even vermin.—For all +that made the Gaol most thoroughly hateful +and dreadful, there was not a pin to choose +between the State Room, the Common Side,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +and the Rat's Larder, Clink, or Dark Dungeon, +where the Poor were confined in wantonness, +and the Stubborn were kept sometimes +for punishment; for Madam Gaoleress +had a will of her own, and would brook no +incivilities from her Lodgers; so sure is it, +that falling out one day on the disputed +Question of a bottle of Aquavitæ on which +toll had not been paid, she calls one of the +Turnkeys and bids him clap Mother Drum +into the Stocks (that stood in the Prison +Yard) for an hour or two, for the cooling of +her temper. But this had just the contrary +effect; for the whilom Hostess of the Stag o' +Tyne, enraged at the Indignity offered to +her, did so bemaul and bewray Madam Macphilader +with her tongue, shaking her fist +at her meanwhile, that the Gaoleress in a +fury clawed at least two handfuls of M. +Drum's hair from her head, not without +getting some smart clapperclawing in the +face; whereupon she cries out "Murther" +and "Mutiny" and "Prisonrupt," and sends +post-haste for Justice Palmworm, her gossip<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +indeed, and one of those trading magistrates +that so disgraced our bench before Mr. +Henry Fielding the writer stirred up +Authority to put some order therein. The +Justice comes; and he and the Gaoleress, +after cracking a bottle of mulled port between +them, poor Mother Drum was brought up +before his Worship for mutinous conduct. +The Justice would willingly have compounded +the case, for Lucre was his only +love; but 'twas vengeance the Gaoleress +hankered after; and the end of it was that +poor Mother Drum was triced up at the post +that was by the Stocks, and had a dozen and +a half from a cat with indeed but three tails, +but that, I warrant, hurt pretty nigh as +sharply as nine would have done in weaker +hands; for 'twas the Gaoleress that played +the Beadle and laid on the Scourge.</p> + +<p>At length, when I was quite tired out, +and, knowing nothing of the course of Law, +began to think that we were doomed to perpetual +Imprisonment, His Majesty's Judges +of Assize came upon their circuit, and those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +whom the Fever and Want and the Duresse +of their Keeper had spared were put upon +their trial. By this time I was thought well +enough, though as gaunt as a Hound, to be +put in the same Gaol-bird's trim as my companions; +so a pair of Woman's fetters—ay, +my friends, the women wore fetters in those +days—were put upon me; and the whole +of us, all shackled as we were, found ourselves, +one fine Monday morning, in the +Dock, having been driven thereinto very +much after the fashion of a flock of sheep. +The Court was crowded, for the case against +the Blacks had made a prodigious stir; and +the King's Attorney, the most furious Person +for talking a Fellow-creature's Life away that +ever I remember to have seen or heard, came +down especially from London to prosecute +us. Neither he nor His Lordship the Judge, +in his charge to the Grand Jury, had any +but the worst of words to give us; and folks +began to say that this would be another +Bloody Assize; that the Shire Hall had need +to be hung with scarlet, as when Jeffreys was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +on the bench; and that as short work would +be made of us as of the Rebels in the West. +And I did not much care, for I was sick of +lying in hold, amidst Evil Odours, and with +a green wound. It came even to whispering +that one of us at least would be made a Gibbeting-in-chains +example for killing the +Grenadier, if that Act could be fixed on any +particular Black. And half in jest, half in +earnest, the Woman-Keeper told me on the +morning of the Assizes that, young as I was +(not yet twelve years of age), my bones +might rattle in a birdcage in the midst of +Charlwood Chase; for if I could brain one +Grenadier, I could kill another. But yet, +being so weary of the Life, I did not much +Care.</p> + +<p>It was still somewhat of a Relief to me to +come into the Dock, and look upon State +and Rich Clothes (in which I have always +taken a Gentleman-like pleasure), in the +stead of all the dirt and squalor which for so +long had been my surrounding. There were +the Judges all ranged, a Terrible show, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +their brave Scarlet Robes and Fur Tippets, +with great monstrous Wigs, and the +King's Arms behind them under a +Canopy, done in Carver's work, gilt. They +frowned on us dreadfully when we came +trooping into the Dock, bringing all manner +of Deadly pestilential Fumes with us from +the Gaol yonder, and which not all the rue, +rosemary, and marjoram strewn on the Dock-ledge, +nor the hot vinegar sprinkled about +the Court, could mitigate. The middle +Judge, who was old, and had a split lip and +a fang protruding from it, shook his head at +me, and put on such an Awful face, that +for a moment my scared thoughts went back +to the Clergyman at St. George's, Hanover +Square, that was wont to be so angry with +me in his Sermons. Ah, how different was +the lamentable Hole in the which I now +found myself cheek by jowl with Felons and +Caravats, to the great red-baize Pew in which +I had sat so often a Little Gentleman! He +to the right of the middle Judge was a very +sleepy gentleman, and scarcely ever woke<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +up during the proceedings, save once towards +one of the clock, when he turned to his +Lordship (whom I had at once set down as +Mr. Justice Blackcap, and was in truth that +Dread Functionary), saying, "Brother, is it +dinner-time?" But his Lordship to the +left, who had an old white face like a sheep, +and his wig all awry, was of a more placable +demeanour, and looked at me, poor luckless +Outcast, with some interest. I saw him +turn his head and whisper to the gentleman +they told me was the High Sheriff, and who +sat on the Bench alongside the Judges, very +fine, in a robe and gold chain, and with a +great sheathed sword behind him, resting +on a silver goblet. Then the High Sheriff +took to reading over the Calendar, and +shrugged his shoulders, whereupon I indulged +in some Hope. Then he leans over +to Mr. Clerk of the Arraigns, pointing me +out, and seemingly asking him some question +about me; but that gentleman hands +him up a couple of parchments, and my +quick Ear (for the Court was but small)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +caught the words, "There are two Indictments +against him, Sir John." Whereupon +they looked at me no more, save with a +Stern and Sorrowful Gravity; and the Hope +I had nourished for a moment departed from +me. Yet then, as afterwards, and as now, I +found (although then too babyish to reason +about it), that, bad as we say the World is, it is +difficult to come upon Three Men together in +it but that one is Good and Merciful.</p> + +<p>I feel that my disclaimer notwithstanding +the Bark of my Narrative is running down +the stream of a Garrulous talkativeness; +but I shall be more brief anon. And what +would you have? If there be any circumstances +which should entitle a man to give +chapter and verse, they must surely be +those under which he was Tried for his +Life.</p> + +<p>The first day we only held up our hands, +and heard the Indictment against us read. +Some of us who were Moneyed had retained +Counsellors from London to cross-question +the witnesses; for to speak to the Jury in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +aid of Prisoners, who could not often speak +for themselves, the Gentlemen of the Law +were not then permitted. And this I have +ever held to be a crying Injustice. There +was no one, however, not so much as +a Pettifogger, to lift tongue, or pen, or +finger, to save little Jack Dangerous from +the Rope. My Protector, Captain Night, +was at large; Jowler, my first friend among +the Blacks, was dead; and, as Misery is +apt to make men Selfish, the rest of my +companions had entirely forgotten how +friendless and deserted I was. But, just as +we were going back to Gaol, up comes to +the spikes of the Dock a gentleman with a +red face, and a vast bushy powdered wig, +like a cauliflower in curls. He wore a silk +cassock and sash, and was the Ordinary; +but he had forgotten, I think, to come into +the Prison and read prayers to us. He +kept those ministrations against such time +as the Cart was ready, and the Tree decked +with its hempen garland. This gentlemen +beckons me, and asks if I have any Counsellor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +I told him, No; and that I had +no Friends ayont Mother Drum, and she +was laid up, sick of a pair of sore shoulders. +He goes back to the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Beneh'">Bench</ins> and confers with +the Gentlemen, and by and by the Clerk of +the Arraigns calls out that, through the +Humanity of the Sheriff, the prisoner John +Dangerous was to have Counsel Assigned to +him. But it would have been more +Humane, I think, to have let the Court and +the World know that I was a poor neglected +Castaway, knowing scarcely my right Hand +from my left, and that all I had done +had been in that Blindfoldedness of Ignorance +which can scarcely, I trust, be called +Sin.</p> + +<p>Back, however, we went to Gaol, and a +great Rout there was made that night by +Mrs. Macphilader for the payment of all +arrears of Fees and Garnish to her; for, you +see, being a prudent Woman, she feared lest +some of the prisoners should be Acquitted, +or Discharged on proclamation. And our +Gang of Blacks, for whose aid their friends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +in ambush—and they had friends in all +kinds of holes and corners, as I afterwards +discovered to my surprise—had mostly +bountifully come forward, did not trouble +themselves much about the peril they were +in, but bestowed themselves of making a +Roaring Night. And hindered by none in +Authority,—for the Gaolers and Turnkeys +in those days were not above drinking, and +smoking, and singing, and dicing with their +charges,—they did keep it up so merrily +and so roaringly, that the best part of the +night was spent before drowsiness came over +Aylesbury Gaol.</p> + +<p>Then the next day to Court, and there +the Judges as before, and Sir John the High +Sheriff, and the Counsel for the Crown and +for us, and twelve honest gentlemen in a +box by themselves, that were of the Petty +Jury, to try us; and, I am ashamed to say, +a great store of Ladies, all in ribbons and +patches and laces and fine clothes, that sate +some on the Bench beside the Judges, and +others in the body of the Court among the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +Counsel, and stared at us miserable objects +in the Dock as though we had been a +Galantee Show. It is some years now since +I have entered a Court of Criminal Justice, +and I do hope that this Indecent and Uncivil +Behaviour of well-bred Women coming +to gaze on Criminals for their diversion +has utterly given way before the Benevolence +and good taste of a polite +Age.</p> + +<p>When, at the last, I was told to plead, +and at the bidding of an Officer of the +Court, who stood underneath me, had +pleaded Not Guilty, and had been asked +how I would be tried, and had answered, +likewise at his bidding, "By God and my +Country," and when after that the Clerk +of the Arraigns had prayed Heaven—and +I am sure I needed it, and thanked him +heartily at the time, kind Gentleman, thinking +that he meant it, and not knowing that +it was a mere Legal Form—to send me a +good Deliverance,—the Judge bids me, to +my great surprise, to Stand By. I thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +at first that they were going to have Mercy +on me, and would have down on my knees +in gratitude to them. But it was not so; +and the sleepy old Judge, suddenly waking +up, told me that there were two Indictments +against me, and that I should have the +honour of being tried separately. Goodness +save us! I was looked upon as one of +the most desperate of the Gang, and was to +be tried, not only under the Black Act, but +that, not having the fear of God before +my eyes, but being moved by the instigation +of the Devil, I had, against the peace of our +Sovereign Lord the King, attempted feloniously +to kill, slay, and murder one John +Foss, a Corporal in his Majesty's Regiment +of Grenadier Footguards, by striking him, +the said John Foss, over the back, breast, +hips, loins, shoulders, thighs, legs, feet, +arms, and fingers, with a certain deadly +and lethal weapon, to wit, with a demijohn +of Brandy.</p> + +<p>I was put back and kept all day in the +prison. At evening came in my comrades,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> +and from them I learnt that the case had +gone dead against them from the beginning, +that the Jury had found them guilty under +the Statute without leaving the box; and +that, as the felony was one without the +benefit of Clergy, Judge Blackcap had put +on a wig as black as his name, and sentenced +every man Jack of them to be hanged on +the Monday week next following.</p> + +<p>So then it came to my turn to be tried. +The ordeal on the first Indictment was +very short; for, at the Judge's bidding, the +Jury acquitted me of trying to murder Corporal +Foss before I had been ten minutes in +the dock. I did not understand the proceedings +in the least at that time; but I was told +afterwards that the clever legal gentleman +who had drawn up the Indictment against me, +while very particularly setting down the parts +of the body on which I might have struck +Corporal Foss, omitted to specify the one +place, namely, his head, on which I did hit +him. Counsel for the Crown endeavoured, +indeed, to prove that a splinter from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> +broken demijohn had grazed the corporal's +finger, but the evidence for this fell dead. +And, again, it coming out that I was +arraigned as John Danger, whereas I had +given the name of John Dangerous, to which +I had perhaps no more right than to that +of the Pope of Rome, the Judge roundly +tells the Jury that the Indictment is bad +in law, and I was forthwith acquitted as +aforesaid.</p> + +<p>But I was not scot-free. There was that +other Indictment under the Black Act; and +in that, alas, there was no flaw. The Solemn +Court freed itself, to be sure, of the Mockery +of finding a child under twelve years Guilty +of the attempted murder of a Grenadier six +feet high; but no less did the witnesses +swear, and the Judge sum up, and Counsel +for the Crown insist, and my Counsel feebly +deny, and the Jury at last fatally find against +me, that I had gone about armed and Disguised +by night, and wandered up and +down in the King's Forests, and stolen his +Deer, and Goodness can tell what besides;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +and so, being found guilty, the middle +Judge puts on his black cap again, and tells +me that I am to be hanged on Monday week +by the neck.</p> + +<p>He did not say any thing about my youth, +or about my utter loneliness, or about the +evil examples which had brought me to this +Pass. Perhaps it was not his Duty, but +that of the Ordinary, to tell me so. The +Hanging was his department, the praying +belonged to his Reverence. They led me +back to prison, feeling rather hot and sick +after the words I had listened to about being +"hanged by the neck until I was dead," +but still not caring much; for I could not +rightly understand why all these fine gentlemen +should be at the pains of Butchering +me merely because I had run away from +school (being so cruelly entreated by Gnawbit), +and, to save myself from starvation, +had joined the Blacks.</p> + +<p>Being to Die, it seemed for the first time +to occur to them that I was not as the rest +of the poor souls that were doomed to death,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +and that it behoved them to treat me rather +as a lamb that is doomed for the slaughter +than as a great overgrown Bullock to be +knocked down by the Butcher's Pole-axe. +So they put me away from the rest of my +companions, and bestowed me in a sorry +little chamber, where I had a truckle-bed to +myself. Dear old Mother Drum, being still +under disgrace, was not suffered to come +near me. Her trial, with that of Cicely +Grip, for harbouring armed and disguised +men, under the Black Act, which was likewise +a felony, was not to come on till the +next session. I believe that the Great Gentlemen +at Whitehall were, for a long time +after my conviction, in a mind for Hanging +me. 'Twas thought a small matter then to +stretch the neck of a Boy of Twelve, and +children even smaller than I had worn the +white Nightcap, and smelt the Nosegay in +the Cart. Indeed, I think the Ordinary +wanted me to be Finished according to Law, +that he might preach a Sermon on it, and +liken me to one of the Children that mocked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +the Prophet, and was so eaten up by the She-Bears +that came out of a Wood. When I +think on the Reverend and Pious Persons +who now attend our Criminals in their last +unhappy Moments, and strive to bring +them to a Sense of their Sins, it gives me +the Goose-flesh to remember the Profane and +Riotous Parsons who, for a Mean Stipend, +did the contemned work of Gaol Chaplains +in the days I speak of. Even while the +Hangman was getting into proper Trim, and +fashioning his tools for the slaughter, these +callous Clergymen would be smoking and +drinking with the keepers in the Lodge, +talking now of a Main at Cocks and now of +him who was to suffer on the Morrow, +fleering and jesting, with the Church Service +in one sleeve of their cassock and a Bottle +Screw or a Pack of Cards in the other. And +the Condemned persons, too, did not take +the matter in a much more serious light. +They had their Brandy and Tobacco even in +their Dismal Hold, and thought much less +of Mercy and Forgiveness than of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> +ease they would have from their Irons +being stricken off, or the comfort they +would gain from a last bellyful of +Meat. I have not come to be sixty-eight +years of age without observing somewhat +of the Things that have passed +around me; and one of the best signs of the +Times in which I live (and due in great part +to the Humane and Benignant complexion of +his Majesty) is the falling off in bloodthirsty +and cruel Punishments. If a Dozen +or so are hanged after each Gaol Delivery +at the Old Baily, and a score or more +whipped or burnt in the Hand, what are +such workings of justice compared with the +Waste of Life that was used to be practised +under the two last monarchs? At home +'twas all pressing to death those who would +not plead, hanging, drawing, and quartering +(how often have I sickened to see the pitch-seethed +members of my Fellow-creatures +on the spikes of Temple Bar and London +Bridge!), taking out the entrails of those +convict of Treason (as witness Colonel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +Towneley, Mr. Dawson, and many more +unfortunate gentlemen on Kennington Common), +to say nothing of the burning alive +of women for petty treason,—and to kill +a husband or coin a groat were alike Treasonable,—the +Scourging of the same wretched +creatures in Public till the blood ran from +their shoulders and soaked the knots of the +Beadle's lash; the cartings, brandings, and +dolorous Imprisonments which were then +inflicted for the slightest of offences. Why, +I have seen a man stand in the Pillory in +the Seven Dials (to be certain, he was a +secure scoundrel), and the Mob, not satisfied, +must take him out, strip him to the +buff, stone him, cast him down, root up +the pillory, and trample him under foot, +till, being Rescued by the constables, he +has been taken back to Newgate, and +has died in the Hackney Coach conveying +him thither. Oh, 'tis woe to think +of the Horrors that were then done in the +name of the Law and Justice, not only in +this country but in Foreign Parts,—with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> +their Breakings on the Wheel, Questions +Ordinary and Extraordinary, Bastinadoes, +Carcans, Wooden horses, Burning alive too +(for vending of Irreligious Books), and the +like Barbarities. Let me tell you likewise, +that, for all the evil name gotten by the +Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions,—for +which I entertain, as a Protestant, due Detestation +and Abhorrence,—the darkest +deeds ever done by the so called Holy Office +in their Torture Chambers were not half so +cruel as those performed with the full cognisance +and approbation of authority, in open +places, and in pursuance of the sentence of +the Civil Judges. But a term has come to +these wickednesses. The admirable Mr. +Howard before named (whom I have often +met in my travels, as he, good man, with +nothing but a Biscuit and a few Raisins in +his pocket, went up and down Europe Doing +Good, smiling at Fever and tapping Pestilence +on the cheek),—this Blessed Worthy +has lightened the captive's fetters, and +cleansed his dungeon, and given him Light<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +and Air. Then I hear at the Coffee House +that the great Judge, Sir William Blackstone, +has given his caveat against the Frequency +of Capital Punishment for small offences; +and as His Majesty is notoriously averse +from signing more than six Death Warrants +at once (the old King used to say at council, +in his German English, "Vere is de Dyin' +speech man dat hang de Rogue for me?" +meaning the Recorder with his Report, and +seeming, in a sort, eager to despatch that +awful Business, of which the present Prince +is so Tender), I think that we have every +cause to Bless the Times and Reign we live +in. For surely 'tis but affected Softness +of Heart, and Mock, Sickly Sentiment, to +maintain that Highwaymen, Horse-stealers, +and other hardened villains, do not deserve +the Tree, and do not righteously Suffer for +their misdeeds; or that wanton women do +not deserve bodily correction, so long as it +be done within Bridewell Walls, and not +in front of the Sessions House, for the +ribald Populace to stare at. Truly our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +present code is a merciful one, although I +do not hold that the Extreme Penalty of +the law should be exacted for such offences +as cutting down growing trees, forging hat-stamps, +or stealing above the value of a +Shilling, or even of forty; nevertheless crime +must be kept under, that is certain.<a name="FNanchor_N_14" id="FNanchor_N_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_N_14" class="fnanchor">[N]</a></p> + +<p>At all events, they didn't hang John +Dangerous. For a time, as I have said, +the Great Gentlemen at Whitehall hesitated. +I have heard that Justice Blackcap, +being asked to intercede for me, did, with +a scurril jest, tell Mr. Secretary that I was +a young Imp of the Evil One, and that a +little Hanging would do me no harm. +Five, indeed, of my miserable companions +were put to death, at different points on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +the borders of Charlwood Chase, and one, +the unlucky Chaplain, met his fate before +the door of the Stag o' Tyne. The rest of +the Blacks, of whom, to my joy, I shall +have no further occasion to speak, were +sent to be Slaves in the American Plantations.</p> + +<p>I had lain in Gaol more than a month +after my Sentence, when Mr. Shapcott, +a good Quaker Gentleman of the place +(who had suffered much for Conscience' +sake, and was very Pitifully inclined to +all those who were in Affliction), began +to take some interest in my unhappy Self; +calling me a strayed Lamb, a brand to be +snatched from the burning, and the like. +And he, by the humane connivance of the +Mayor and other Justices, was now permitted +to have access unto me, and to conciliate +the Keeper, Mrs. Macphilader, by +money-presents, to treat me with some kindness. +Also he brought me many Good +Books, in thin paper covers; the which, +although I could understand but very little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +of their Saving Truths, yet caused me to +shed many Tears, more Sweet than Bitter, +and to acknowledge, when taxed with it in +a Soothing way, that my former Manner of +Life had been most Wicked. But I should +do this good man foul injustice, were I to +let it stand that his benevolence to me was +confined to books. He and (ever remembered) +Mistress Shapcott, his Meek and Pious +Partner, and his daughter, Wingrace Shapcott +(a tall and straight young woman, as +Beautiful as an Angel), were continually +bringing me Comforts and Needments, both +in Raiment and Food. It churns my Old +Heart now to think of that Beautiful Girl, sitting +beside me in my dank Prison Room, the +tears streaming from her mild eyes, calling +me by Endearing names, and ever and anon +taking my hand in hers, and sinking on her +knees to the sodden floor (with no thought +of soiling her kirtle), while with profound +Fervour she prayed for the conversion of +errant Me. Sure there are Hearts of Gold +among those Broadbrims and their fair<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +strait-laced Daughters. Many a Merchant's +Money-bags I have spared for the +sake of Mr. Barzillai Shapcott (late of +Aylesbury). Many a Fair Woman have I +intermitted from my Furious Will in remembrance +of the good that was shown +me, in the old time, by that pale, strait-gowned +Wingrace yonder, with her meek +Face and welling Eyes. Of my deep and +grievous Sins they told me enow, but they +forbore to Terrify me with Frightful +Images of Unforgiving Wrath; speaking to +me of Forgiveness alway, rather than of +Torment. And once, when I had gotten, +through favour of the Keeper, Mr. Dredlincourt +his book on Death (and had half +frightened myself into fits by reading the +Apparition of Mrs. Veal), these good people +must needs take it from me, telling me that +such strong meat was not fit for Babes, and +gave me in its place a pretty little chap-book, +called "Joy for Friendly Friends." +But that I am old and battered, and black +as a Guinea Negro with sins, I would go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +join the Quakers now. Never mind their +broad-brims, and theeing and thouing. I +tell you, man, that they have hearts as soft +as toast-and-butter, and that they do more +good in a day than my Lord Bishop (with +his coach-horses, forsooth!) does in a year. +And oh, the pleasure of devalising one of +these Proud Prelates, as I—that is some of +my Friends—have done scores of times!</p> + +<p>Nothing would suit the good Shapcotts +but that I should write in mine own hand +a Petition to the King's Majesty. The +Magistrates, who now began to take some +interest in me, were for having it drawn up +by their Town Clerk, and me only to put +my Mark to it; for they would not give a +poor little Hangdog of a Black any credit +of Clergy. But being told that I could +both read and write, after a Fashion, it was +agreed that I was to have myself the +scrivening of the Document; they giving +me some Forms and Hints for beginning +and ending, and bidding me con my Bible, +and choose such texts as I thought bore on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +my Unhappy Condition. And after Great +Endeavours and many painful days, and +calling all my little Scholarship under my +Grandmother, the kind old schoolmistress of +Foubert's Passage, Gnawbit (burn him!), +and Captain Night, I succeeded in producing +the following. I give it word for +word as I wrote it, having kept a copy; but +I need not say that, as a Gentleman of +Fortune, my Style and Spelling are not now +so Barbarous and Uncouth.</p> + +<p>This was my Petition to His Majesty:</p> + +<div class="hang1">"The Humble Pettyshon of Jon Dangerous now a +prisinner under centense off Deth in His Maggesty's +Gayle at Alesbury to his Maggesty Gorge +by the grease of God King of Grate Briton Frans +and Eyearland Deffender off the Fathe Showeth +That yore Petetioner which I am Unfortunate +enuff to be mixed up in this business Me and the +others wich have suffered was Cast by the Jewry +and Justis Blackcapp he ses that as a Warming +and Eggsample i am to be Hanged by the Nek +till you are Ded and the Lord have Mercy upon +his Soul Great Sur your Maggesty the Book ses +that wen the wicked man turneth away from his +Wickedness wich he have committed and doeth +that wich is Lawful and Rite he shall save his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +Sole alive Therefore deer Great Sur wich a +repreive would fall like Thunder upon a Contrite +Hart and am most sorrowful under the Black +Act wich it is true I took the deere but was led +to it Deere Sur wich Mungo and others was +repreeved at the Tree and sent to the Plantations +but am not twelve yeeres old And have always +been a Prottestant Great Sur i shall be happy to +serve his Maggesty by see or land and if the +Grannydeere he had not Vexed me but had no +other way being in a Korner and all Fiting and +so i up with the demmyjon which i hoap he is +better And your Petishioner will ever pray +your Maggesty's loving Subject and Servant</div> + +<div class='sig'> +<span class="smcap">Jon Dangerous.</span><br /><br /> +</div> + +<div class='hang2'>My Granmother was a Lady of Quality and lived +in her own House in Hannover Squair and was +used after her Deth very cruelly by one Mistress +Tallmash and Kadwallader which was the Stoard +and was sent in a Waggin like a Beggar Deere +Sur Mr. Gnawbit he used me shameful wich I +was Blak and Blue and the Old Gentleman he +ses you Run away ses he into Charwood chaise +and join the Blaks Deere Sur this is All which +Captain Nite would sware but as eloped I am +now lying here many weekes Deere Sur I shood +like to be hanged in Wite for I am Innocent +leastways of meaning to kill the Grannydeere."</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span></p> + +<div class='unindent'>This was a Curious kind of Schoolboy letter. +Different I take it from those one gets from +a Brother, asking for a Crown, a Pony, or a +Plumcake. But my Schools had been of +the hardest, and this was <i>my</i> Holiday letter.</div> + +<p>When the Mayor read it, he burst out a-laughing, +and says that no such Thieves' +Flash must be sent to the Foot of the +Throne. But Mr. Shapcott told him that +he would not have one word altered; that +he would not even strike out the paragraph +where I had been irreverent enough to +quote a Text (and spell it badly); and that +what I had written, and naught else, should +go to the King. He took it to London +himself, and his Majesty being much elated +by some successes in Germany, and the +Discovery of a Jacobite Plot, and moved +moreover by the intercession of a Foreign +Lady, that was his favourite, and who vowed +that the little Deer-Stealer's Petition was +Monstrous Droll, and almost as good as a +Play,—His Majesty was graciously pleased +to remit my Sentence, on condition of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +transporting myself for life to His Majesty's +Plantations in North America.</p> + +<p>As to my transporting "myself," that was +a Fiction. I was henceforth as much a Slave +to my own Countrymen as I was in after +days to the Moors. The Shapcotts would +willingly have provided me with the means +of going to the uttermost ends of the World, +but that was not the way the thing was to +be done. Flesh and Blood were bought and +sold in those days, and it did not much +matter about the colour. By that strange +Laxity which then tempered the severity of +the Laws, I was permitted, for many days +after my Fate was settled, to remain in a +kind of semi-Enlargement. I suppose that +Mr. Shapcott gave bail for me; but I was +taken into his Family, and treated with the +most Loving Kindness, till the fearful intelligence +came that I, with two hundred +other Convicts, had been "Taken up" for +Transportation by Sir Basil Hopwood, a +rich Merchant and Alderman of London, +who paid a certain Sum a head for us to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> +King's Government for taking us to America, +where he might make what profit he pleased, +by selling our wretched Carcasses to be +Slaves to the Planters.</p> + +<p>Oh, the terrible Parting! but there was +no other Way, and it had to be Endured. +My kind friends made me up a packet of +Necessaries for the Voyage, and with a +Heavy Heart I bade them farewell. These +good people are all Dead; but their woman-servant, +Ruth, a pure soul, of great Serenity +of Countenance, still lives; and every +Christmas does the Carrier convey for me +to Aylesbury a Hamper full of the Good +Things of this Life, and Ten Golden +Guineas. And I know that this Good and +Faithful Servant (who has been well provided +for) just touches the Kissing-crust of +one of the Pies my Lilias has made for her, +and that she goes straight with the rest, +Money and Cates, to the Gaol, and therewith +relieves the Debtors (whom Heaven +deliver out of their Captivity!). And it is +more seemly that she rather than I should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> +do this thing, seeing that there are those +who will not believe that after a Hard Life +a man can keep a fleshy heart, and who +would be apt to dub me Hypocrite if these +Doles came from me directly.</p> + + +<h3>END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[xxi]</a></span></p> + +<h2>MESSRS. TINSLEY BROTHERS'</h2> +<h3>PUBLICATIONS.</h3> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>WORKS IN THE PRESS.<br /> + +In the Press, in 2 vols., 8vo,</div> + +<h2> +ABEKOUTA: AND AN EXPLORATION OF<br /> +THE CAMEROON MOUNTAINS.<br /></h2> +<div class='center'> +By CAPTAIN RICHARD F. BURTON,<br /> +Author of "A Pilgrimage to Elmedinah and Meccah," &c.<br /> +</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>In the Press, in 2 vols.</div> + +<h2>M A R T I N P O L E.</h2> + +<div class='center'> +By JOHN SAUNDERS,<br /> +Author of "Abel Drake's Wife," &c.<br /> +</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>Now ready, a New and Cheaper Edition, in 1 vol., price 6s.</div> + +<h2>LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET.</h2> + +<div class='center'>By the Author of "Aurora Floyd."</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>In the Press, in 3 vols., post 8vo,</div> + +<h2> +MY WANDERINGS IN WEST AFRICA:<br /> +FROM LIVERPOOL TO FERNANDO PO.<br /> +</h2> + +<div class='center'>By F. R. G. S. [<i>Ready in April.</i></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>In the Press, in 3 vols., post 8vo,</div> + +<h2>ALTOGETHER WRONG.</h2> + +<div class='center'>By the Author of "The World's Furniture."</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'> +In the Press, a New Edition, price 6s., uniform with<br /> +"Guy Livingstone."<br /> +</div> + +<h2>BARREN HONOUR.</h2> + +<div class='center'>By the Author of "Guy Livingstone," "Sword and Gown," &c.</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[xxii]</a></span></p> +<h3>WORKS JUST PUBLISHED, AND IN CIRCULATION AT ALL THE<br /> +LIBRARIES.</h3> + + +<div class="hang1">NOTICE.—<i>"Aurora Floyd," by the Author of "Lady Audley's Secret," +the Fifth Edition, is now READY at all the Libraries, in 3 vols.</i></div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>This day, at every library, in 3 vols.</div> + +<h2>THE HOUSE BY THE CHURCHYARD.</h2> + +<div class='center'>By J. SHERIDAN LE FANU.</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>Now ready, at every Library, in 3 vols.</div> + +<h2>A T A N G L E D S K E I N.</h2> + +<div class='center'>By ALBANY FONBLANQUE.</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>Now ready, the Five-Shilling Edition of</div> + +<h2>G U Y L I V I N G S T O N E.</h2> + +<div class='center'>By the Author of "Barren Honour," "Sword and Gown."</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>Now ready, in 2 vols.</div> + +<h2>THE LITERATURE OF SOCIETY.</h2> + +<div class='center'> +By GRACE WHARTON,<br /> +One of the Authors of "The Queens of Society," &c.<br /> +</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<div class='center'>Now ready, at all the Libraries, in 1 vol. 8vo,</div> + +<h2>THE PUBLIC LIFE OF LORD MACAULAY.</h2> + +<div class='center'> +By FREDERICK ARNOLD, B.A.,<br /> +Of Christ Church, Oxford.<br /> +</div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class='center'><b>TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND.</b></div> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> 1780.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> This Lady Lisle was a very virulent partisan +woman, and, according to my Grandmother's showing, +was so bitter against the Crown that, being taken, +when a young woman, to witness the execution of King +Charles, and seeing one who pressed to the scaffold +after the blow to dip her kerchief in the Martyr's +blood, she cried out "that she needed no such relic; +but that she would willingly drink the Tyrant's +blood." This is the same Alice Lisle who afterwards, +in King James's time, suffered at Winchester for harbouring +two of the Western Rebels.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> Those desirous of learning fuller particulars of my +Grandmother's History, or anxious to satisfy themselves +that I have not Lied, should consult a book +called <i>The Travels of Edward Brown, Esquire</i>, that is +now in the Great Library at Montague House. Mr. +Brown is in most things curiously exact; but he errs +in stating that Mrs. Greenville's name was Letitia,—it +was Arabella.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> The Austrian, not the Prussian Trenck.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> This does not precisely tally with the Captain's +disclaimer of feeling any apprehension when passing +Execution Dock.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_F_6" id="Footnote_F_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_F_6"><span class="label">[F]</span></a> I do not find it in the memoirs of his adventures, +but in an old volume of the <i>Annual Register</i> I find that, +in the year 1778, one Captain Dangerous gave important +evidence for the crown against poor Mr. Tremenheere, +who suffered at Tyburn, for fetching and carrying +between the French King and some malcontents +in this country, notably for giving information as to the +condition of our dockyards.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_G_7" id="Footnote_G_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_G_7"><span class="label">[G]</span></a> Captain Dangerous was, unconsciously, of the +same mind with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_H_8" id="Footnote_H_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_H_8"><span class="label">[H]</span></a> In my youth ancient persons as frequently spoke +of the hangman as "Gregory"—and he was so named +at the trial of the Regicides in 1660-61—as by his +later title of "Jack Ketch."—J. D.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_I_9" id="Footnote_I_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_I_9"><span class="label">[I]</span></a> A woman of very mean belongings, whose parents +lived, I have heard, somewhere about the Maypole in +the Strand, and who was promoted to high station, +being Monk's Duchess, but to her death of a coarse and +brutish carriage, and shamefully given to the drinking +of strong waters.—J. D.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_J_10" id="Footnote_J_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_J_10"><span class="label">[J]</span></a> A very glorious rag nevertheless.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_K_11" id="Footnote_K_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_K_11"><span class="label">[K]</span></a> "<i>My</i> Flag" in the original MS.; but I put it +down as a slip of the pen, and altered it—G. A. S.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_L_12" id="Footnote_L_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_L_12"><span class="label">[L]</span></a> Madam Drum, so far as I can make out the <i>argot</i> +of the day, here insinuated that her opponent had +been corrected at the cart's tail for stealing swords out +of the scabbards, and conveying wigs from the heads +of their owners, two crimes which have become obsolete +since the Quality have ceased to wear swords and +periwigs.—G. A. S.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_M_13" id="Footnote_M_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_M_13"><span class="label">[M]</span></a> See the Statutes at Large. The Black Act was +repealed mainly through the exertions of Sir James +Macintosh, early in the present century. Under its +clauses the going about "disguised or blackened in +pursuit of game" was made felony without benefit of +clergy; the punishment thereof death.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_N_14" id="Footnote_N_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_N_14"><span class="label">[N]</span></a> Captain Dangerous, it will be seen, was, in regard +to our criminal code, somewhat in advance of the +ideas of his age, but he was scarcely on a level with +those of our own, and, I think, would have perused +with some surprise the speeches of Mr. Ewart and the +<i>Vacation Thoughts on Capital Punishments</i> of the late +Mr. Commissioner Phillips.—<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div> +</div> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> + +<p>As spelling in Captain Dangerous' life was more fluid, only the most obvious +typographical errors have been repaired. These are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p> + +<p>Varied hyphenation was retained: antechambers, ante-chambers; atop, a-top; +cheesecakes, cheese-cakes; Cockpit, Cock-pit; Footguards, Foot-guards; Gatehouse, +Gate-house; nowadays, now-a-days; Shrovetide, Shrove-tide.</p> + +<p>The text also uses servants' hall and servant's hall.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strange Adventures of Captain +Dangerous, Vol. 1 of 3, by George Augustus Sala + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAIN DANGEROUS, VOL. 1 OF 3 *** + +***** This file should be named 26667-h.htm or 26667-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/6/6/26667/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +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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