The Loyalists, Vol. 1-3 by Mrs. West
CHAP. XII.
The idea of one day withdrawing from the world to prepare for immortality is a very pernicious one; and, like all other worldly hopes and plans, may never he realized. Use the present hour if you would make your calling and election sure. If God has placed you among the pomps and vanities of the world, fear not; do your duty amongst them, nor suppose that you may defer seeking your Creator until you obtain a retired situation.
Fenelon.
The re-union of the family at Oxford furnished ample topics for piousand affectionate gratitude. Barton's praise was re-echoed by everyindividual except Mrs. Mellicent, who yet went so far as to say, it wasa pity he was a roundhead. A friend of Dr. Beaumont's accommodated hisfamily with apartments in one of the colleges; his academical sinecures,and the relics of his private fortune, afforded him a decent support; hewas surrounded by people of his own principles; and as all the strengthof the King's cause was concentrated about the seat of the court, everyapprehension of personal insecurity was at an end. He was now,therefore, in a state of comparative comfort; man is seldom placed in abetter; and in times like those I describe, a good subject could not behappy.
Eustace felt much chagrin that all his expectations were not realized.He was indeed at liberty, and with his uncle, but still forbidden "toflesh his maiden sword." His father had again eluded his search, and wasstill withheld from procuring an explanatory interview with thesovereign whom he faithfully served, which, he determined, shouldprecede his son's taking the field. His troop had been recalled from theroyal escort, and ordered to rejoin the Marquis of Newcastle, who, afterhaving long successfully opposed Sir Thomas Fairfax, was in imminentdanger of having his laurels blasted by the threatened invasion of theScots Covenanters, now gathering to assist their English friends, andcompel an universal adoption of Presbyterian government, and abjurationof constitutional monarchy. It was impossible, therefore, for Eustace toobtain the permission for which his soul panted; and academic repose illsuited the self-devoted soldier. His retirement was spent in a somewhatsimilar way to that of Toby Shandy. He read descriptions of battles andsieges; he planned ravelins and counterscarps; and he braced his frame,and exercised his muscles, by every athletic exertion which could inurehim to toil, or facilitate his success in arms.
Constantia felt quite happy. She was surrounded by all whom her heartbest loved; she had leisure and opportunity to improve her taste in thefine arts; and she was allowed that limited and distant view of theworld which informs the mind and polishes the manners withoutendangering principle. Her exquisite beauty could not fail to attractattention; but the scanty income of her father, and the prudence of Mrs.Mellicent, alike forbade that it should be ostentatiously exposed to thepublic eye. A few select friends were admitted as intimates, and onlythese knew that Dr. Beaumont had a superlatively lovely and enchantingdaughter. She seldom appeared in public except at church, where her facewas so shaded by her hood, that its attractions were rather guessed atthan discovered. Thus this fair rose-bud expanded in the soil bestsuited to perfect its attractions, the sheltered vale of domesticprivacy, where, unconscious of its super-eminence, and screened fromevery blast, it preserved the undying fragrance of modest worth, and thesoft elegance of unassuming beauty.
Isabel was almost as happy as usual; her adoration of her father wouldnot permit her to be quite so while he was in danger. Beside, she couldnot help thinking how shocking it would be, were the chance of war tooppose him to the noble young officer who had so admirably planned andfaithfully executed their deliverance. If he should fall by the hand ofher father!--the bare possibility of such a cruel return for hisgoodness often brought tears into her eyes; and she lamented that theincautious impetuosity of Eustace prevented Barton from entrusting themwith his name. She fancied the preservation of their deliverer was heronly motive for wishing to trace his identity, till she recollected howlittle could be gained towards that end by knowing who he was. In theseperilous times messengers oftener miscarried than arrived in safety; andthe sanctity of private correspondence was violated by either party asoften as opportunity served. All, but the exemplary Lord Falkland,thought the least doubt of the fidelity of an adherent a sufficientvindication of breaking open his letters; and therefore, since, if sheknew the stranger's name, she could not repeat it without endangeringhis safety, it was better she should remain in ignorance, and trust theevent to Providence. She sometimes thought Williams knew him, because heonce accounted for Barton's secrecy by observing that his pupil might besprung from parents whom he was ashamed to own. Isabel answered that thefaults of the basest could not contaminate so perfect a character."Would you say so," returned Williams, "if he were the son of LordBellingham?" "I know nothing of Lord Bellingham," said she, "except thatwhen my dear father was discomposed, he often called him by very harshepithets; but as at these moments he knew neither me nor Eustace, noreven my mother, till her sobbings attracted his notice, and told him shewas his faithful wife, I think I should not conclude Lord Bellingham tobe a very wicked man on such testimony."
Williams asked her if she ever heard him mentioned while she was withthe rebel detachment.
"Our good Barton," returned she, "sometimes spoke of him as one who wasreputed too be a godly man, and who filled his house with devoutministers, yet was of a very pleasant companionable humour, steady inthe good cause, but willing to come to terms with the King, whom hewished not to be pushed to extremities. Barton seemed to think LadyBellingham was too much wedded to a vain world."
"And their son----"
"He never mentioned that they had a son." "Nor do I say they have," saidWilliams; "but I know enough of Lord Bellingham to say, that if he hasone, he never ought to own his father without a blush." Isabel coulddraw no more from Williams; and, on recollecting the conversation, shesaw that only a creative imagination could connect it with herdeliverer.
Winter now interrupted the operations of the King's armies in mostquarters. But the brave Lord Newcastle had to contend at once withEnglish and Scotch rebels. The hardy frames of the latter enabling themto defy the severest season, they passed the boundaries of their owncountry, and, fixing a label, importing their attachment to the "bloodycovenant," in their hats, began the work of desolation in the northerncounties, while the mountainous barrier which divides them from theplains of Yorkshire, then covered with snow, reflected the horriblebeams of hostile fires. And in Wales, a body of forces, sent to therelief of Ireland, had been recalled by the King, whose urgentnecessities compelled him to employ them to support the loyal Welsh,who, with this aid, surprised several Parliamentary holds, and for sometime operated as a diversion to the army of Fairfax, preventing him fromjoining the Scotch to crush the noble Newcastle. The King's cause atthis time wore a fair aspect; and no better proof could be given of hishaving a chance of ultimate success, and of the divisions among hisopponents, than that the Lords Bedford and Holland, and other noblemen,who had distinguished themselves as partizans of the Parliament, soughtshelter within the royal lines, and even presumed to attempt regainingthe confidence of their injured Sovereign.
Lord Holland, who had stood high in the Queen's favour, building uponthe prejudices she was known to entertain against many of the King'smost faithful adherents, imagined himself secure of regaining the officehe had once held through her influence, notwithstanding the unbleachedstains of his former treasons. Beauty is too apt to exert a peremptoryclaim to absolute dominion; and, not content with conjugal affection,requires obsequious dotage. The Queen's views being all limited to theroutine of a court, unhappily indisposed her from acting the part of afaithful wife in this critical emergency, and induced her to use all herpower to make the King depend more for advice upon herself and herfavourites, than on those sages who presided at the council board, orthose warriors who contended in the field; in other words, to prefershallow courtiers, known only for polished manners, habits ofdissipation, and an excessive regard to their own interest, to m
The strange circumstance of noblemen, who had even borne arms againstthe King, boasting that they possessed the Queen's confidence, suggesteda fear that further accommodations with individual traitors were on thetapis, and that Oxford would no longer remain a sacred asylum to apersecuted court, where unblemished loyalty was sure of safety andesteem; but a sanctuary to which terrified iniquity might retreat, and,grasping the horns of the altar, defy justice. The influence that LadyBellingham once possessed over the Queen's mind was recollected by Dr.Beaumont; and, as Her Majesty had given proof that her friendships wereindelible, he could not but apprehend that some project might be formedby that artful woman to secure her husband a retreat, in case hisreported moderation should really proceed from his secret alienationfrom the rebel cause, and from a wish of reconciliation with the King.The conviction that such an adept in treachery could never really servehis Prince, determined Dr. Beaumont to act as the representative of theabsent Evellin, request a private audience with his Sovereign, andreveal the secret history of the house of Neville, at the same timepresenting young Eustace as its true and lineal heir. The affability andjustice of the King prompted him to listen to all his subjects. Heheard, with horror, a narration of the arts by which he had been imposedon when he was unversed in the intricacies of government, and toosincere and noble to suspect deceit in others. That Allan Neville, whoseperson and merit he well remembered, whose rashness and reportedcriminality he had lamented, and whose supposed death he had deplored,was still alive, and no other than the renowned Colonel Evellin, whoseaddress in forwarding to him the supplies procured from Holland, andwhose brave exploits with the Northern army, had endeared his name tohim, even while he deemed him a stranger, excited wonder, grief,self-reproach, and admiration. He readily promised Dr. Beaumont that nosolicitations should ever induce him to bestow confidence on a man whosecrimes marked him out as an outcast from society; and, with the mostgracious expressions of sorrow for the past, he as firmly assured himthat, in the event of his being again able to exercise his royalauthority, one of his first acts should be to re-instate Neville in allhis hereditary rights. He offered to put into the Doctor's hands apatent for that purpose; but as that would only bestow title withoutrestoring the estates which De Vallance enjoyed under the protection ofthe Parliament, Dr. Beaumont declined a mark of favour which would notessentially benefit his friend, but rather point him out to theinveterate malice of his enemies if he should happen to fall into theirhands. He only requested a private recognition of Evellin's right; thisthe King gave in a letter, written by himself, addressing him by thename of Bellingham, expressing his satisfaction at hearing he was alive,and innocent of the crimes laid to his charge, acknowledging the deceitsthat had been practised upon himself, and avowing his great anxiety topossess the power of redressing his wrongs; then, warmly thanking himfor his services, the King concluded in these words, "Your assuredfriend, Charles R."
Dr. Beaumont now introduced his nephew, after previously stipulatingthat no hint should transpire of his being the rightful heir of anearldom; but that he should be welcomed only as the son of a gallantofficer now fighting in the Royal army. The fine figure and ingenuousmanners of Eustace so pleased the King, that he wished him to pay hisduty to the Queen also, an honour Dr. Beaumont could not decline. NoPrincess was a more consummate judge of beauty, grace, and nativepoliteness than Henrietta Maria; they were qualities which ever gainedher favour; and she piqued herself on having introduced into the Englishcourt the polished manners which had long distinguished that of France.Conversing with Eustace, she found nature had been as liberal to hismind as to his person. Pleased with his wit and gallantry, she askedhim, with that air of condescending dignity which seems to confer afavour while it requires a service, to become one of her pages ofhonour, and a volunteer in her troop of guards. Dazzled with theattention of his Royal mistress, still beautiful, and most fascinatingin her affability, Eustace never considered that the request wedded himto her fortunes. He saw in her who made it his sovereign Lady, theconsort of that excellent Prince whom he had been taught to reverence inprosperity, and adore in misfortune. Inflamed with the ardent spirit ofchivalry, he panted to defend the title of his King, and the beauty andvirtue of his Queen, against all impugners. To suffer for her wasglorious. Perish the base worldling who thought either of danger orremuneration! He immediately declared his rapturous acceptance of herinvitation; and, kneeling, sealed his vows on the fair hand of hisillustrious mistress.
Nothing could be more contrary to the wishes and principles of Dr.Beaumont, than this connexion. The Queen's retinue was composed of thatrefuse of the old court, who not having talents for an active situation,nor virtue enough to make them sensible of the baseness of impoverishingdependence, continued to hang like leeches on the exhausted frame ofRoyalty, and to drain its decayed resources for their own support. Whilethe King and his counsel were debating how to equip an army withoutmoney or credit; while the great and the good were disarraying theirnoble mansions, parting with every moveable, mortgaging their lands, andalienating even the treasured heir-looms which had for centuriesattested their high descent, to support their falling Sovereign; thecourtiers, who surrounded the Queen, were engaging their mistress toforward their intrigues for places and titles, and inticing her topervert the scanty resources of the public treasury to feed theirrapacity. Thus, when, after a painful summer spent in martial toils anddangerous conflicts, the King came to his winter-quarters, he found thefatigues of his public duties aggravated by those private cabals whichwere ever at work to counteract the decisions of his council, and tobalance the advantage of a few sycophants against a nation's weal. Thefaction of whom I speak were incapable of judicious conduct either inprosperity or in adversity, mistaking a few successful enterprises forthe former, and thereupon becoming insolent and sanguine, talking ofunconditional submission from the rebels, and an intire reinstatement ofthemselves in the luxurious ease of their former sinecures; yet aseasily discouraged by a few adverse events; without resources, withoutfirmness; actuated by the evil spirit of selfishness which forbids anygood or noble determination to enter the impure heart, that submits toits influence.
To these summer-flies which infest royalty, and often turn greatness tocorruption, were added the gay, volatile, voluptuous part of theofficers, who had obtained leave of absence from their respectivecantonments, and who thought the hardships of a soldier excused theexcesses of a libertine. These were chiefly young men of high birth,neglected education, and unsound principles; unacquainted with thenature of the church and government for which they professed to fight,and so ignorant of religion and morality, as to be perpetuallyconfounding them with fanaticism and hypocrisy, those constant topics oftheir abuse and ridicule. With them to be a republican or a sectary, wasto be a knave, a cut-throat, nay, a devil; and to fight for the Kingconferred the privilege of violating those laws, which his supremacy wasdesigned to guarantee. How dangerous was such society to the impetuousEustace Evellin, whose passions unfolded with an ardour, proportioned tohis quick vivacious temper. Dr. Beaumont would have preferred seeing hischarge in t
But the die was cast, and there was no retreating; Eustace had acceptedthe Queen's invitation, and now complained, with less deference than heusually shewed for his uncle's judgment, of the superfluous cautionwhich kept him wrapped up like a shivering marmoset, and even refused toexpose him to the slight hazard of an holiday soldier. Could he notmount guard, go through the manual exercise, or gallop at a reviewwithout endangering his precious life? Isabel, who had parted with somevaluable trinkets, to purchase materials for his regimentals, and wasnow busy in working his ruff, declared it would be hard to restrain him.Constance had embroidered a scarf, which she tied around him; and afterseeing him in his hat and plume, thought he looked so like a hero, thathe might be indulged in just such a circumscribed sphere of glory asAndromache would have allowed to Hector, namely, to brace on his arms,and defend the walls of the city. Even Mrs. Mellicent observed, that hernephew made a very comely soldier. Dr. Beaumont, therefore, finding thathe could not withhold Eustace from the temptations which surrounded him,had only to counsel him to resist them.
He did not commence his instructions with general invectives against acourt-life; but admitted that good and wise men were often called to itby duty. He observed, that injunctions against entering into that or anyother public station, savoured more of monastic or puritanic austeritythan true piety. The concerns of government must be performed by humanagents, and in representing eminent stations as incompatible withhonesty, what do we but leave public business in the hands ofunprincipled persons, and thus really encourage the depravity andknavery we affect to deplore. A nation must suffer, as well in apolitical as in a moral sense, when its rulers are weak or wicked; andhow dare we pray that the will of God may be done upon earth, when wediscourage those from directing worldly affairs, who feel a true zealfor his glory? This is, indeed, to accomplish the lying boast of Satan,who said that the kingdoms of the world were his, and he gave them towhom he chose.
The Doctor further observed, that every situation had its temptations.The Hermit in his cell is haunted by spiritual pride, and even when weperform those active duties of benevolence which our religion requires,we must beware lest we are guilty of ostentation. If, when we rise fromour knees, we have judged harshly of our brother, the volume ofinspiration assures us, that we have sinned in our prayers. The samevigilant examination and lowliness of heart which Christians in privatelife require, will prevent those who inhabit courts and camps fromdispleasing their Creator. Or admit that the latter have greatertemptations to offend, are they not amenable to a judge, who determinesactions by relative circumstances, who awards brighter crowns to thosewho have endured sharper conflicts, and pardons the offences ofover-tried frailty. From the private citizen, who is blessed withleisure and security to consider his ways, he requires those passivevirtues, that humble and grateful spirit, which in evil times are yetmore rarely seen, than integrity and ability in rulers, who, walkingamong briars and thorns, harassed by public and private enemies,calumniated and misrepresented, exposed to numerous temptations,dangers, and snares, will, doubtless, if guided by singleness of heart,receive from God that pardon for their errors, which is denied them bythose who reap the fruits of their labours.
"We may," continued he, "live in the world[1], without either shewing ahaughty contempt for its enjoyments, or being devoted to its delights;without being intoxicated with its flattery, or depressed by itsmisfortunes. A court-life must, at your age, seem pleasant, but shouldyou in future become weary of it, and regret that you have notsufficient time to devote to God, and to cherish the thought of him inyour heart, recollect that wherever he places you, you are as sure ofhis favour and acceptance, as if you passed every hour of your life inmeditation and prayer. God is served, not merely with the words of themouth or the bending of the knee; it is the pure and upright heart whichhe requires, and with which alone he will be satisfied; with thisupright frame of mind we may live in the world, without eithersingularity or affectation, and cheerfully conform to its customs andamusements, yet preserve the most strict subjection and duty to theAlmighty."
"Suffer not, dearest Eustace, pleasure or business to prevent the solemnduties of self-examination and prayer. These are spiritual antidotes,which preserve an endangered soul from the contamination of evil customsand loose society. When leisure permits, add religious reading, andabove all the study of the Holy Scriptures. Never allow this world to bebalanced against the next: eternity outweighs all that time can offer;be it pleasure, wealth, advancement, or glory. Keep these things inmind; serve thy Creator in thy youth; remember innocence is preferableto repentance, and I shall then see thee like assayed gold purified bytrial."
Eustace promised a strict observance, and Dr. Beaumont now esteemed ithis duty to send the faithful Williams to Colonel Evellin to acquainthim with what had passed, and to receive further directions for thedisposal of his son. He also privately informed the King of the solemnpromise he had made to Evellin, and obtained an assurance that theservice of Eustace should never be required so as to incur a breach ofthat obligation; and further, that if no other restrictions couldprevail, his own commands should confine the volunteer to the defence ofOxford, which was now threatened with a siege by the advancing armies ofthe Earl of Essex and Sir William Waller.
When we contemplate the miseries incident to civil war in a remote age,our views are fixed on the effects of discord, as visible in thecontentions of two great opposing parties; we do not consider either theminor factions into which each body is split, or the distracted counselsand inefficient measures which constantly occur, when it is known thatthe restraint of prescriptive authority is necessarily relaxed, and thathe who ought to govern and reward, is compelled to submit to controuland to sue for favour. When the head of a community is humbled, everymember thinks he has a right to pre-eminence; and thus a war, begununder the pretence of subduing a tyrant, eventually creates multitudesof petty despots, only contemptible, because their sphere of oppressionis small. In the King's council, the wisdom of Southampton, themoderation of Falkland, and the integrity of Hyde, had to contend withthe pride and petulance of those who would not lower their ownpretensions in deference to the public good, or forgive a private wrongfor the sake of that unity which alone could secure the whole. In thearmy discord was equally prevalent; the generals accusing each other onevery mischance, panting for superiority, and all offended at thehauteur of Prince Rupert, and jealous of the influence of Lord Digby.The Parliament was still more divided; in it that party was nowripening, which finally overturned every branch of the constitution, andfounded a most oppressive but vigorous tyranny on its ruins.
The old republican leaders, or commonwealth's men, as they were called,began to see that self-preservation required their re-union with theKing; but the aspiring Cromwell and his crafty adherents, relying ontheir numbers and influence in the army, resolved to clog every proposalof peace with terms which they knew the Sovereign must from consciencerefuse. Of the generals who commanded their armies, the Earl of Essexwas already known to have seen his error, in suffering pique at supposedslights and unintentional negligence to stimulate his pride into thatrebellion which his principles condemned; and it was believed, even byhis own party, that nothing but a dread of having sinned beyond sincereforgiveness, induced him to reject all overtures from the King. Thedisorderly bands commanded by Sir William Waller were like theirgeneral, distinguished only by greater insolence to their Prince, andeven by personal attempts on his life; but this army had been dispersedearly in the summer, and the leader had fallen into contempt. "The Earlof Manchester was of their whole cabal the most unfit for the company hekept, at first induced to join, what was then called, the patrioticparty by filial piety, and led step by step to
Such was the state of the kingdom, when the Queen, terrified at theapprehension of being besieged in Oxford, fled to the west of England,and soon after to France, her native country, leaving an infant daughterto increase the anxieties of her Royal husband, but relieving him fromthe perplexities originating in the contentious faction, by whom she wassurrounded. Through the injunctions of the King, Eustace had beenprevented from accompanying his Royal mistress, and by enrolling hisname among the bands who garrisoned Oxford, he in some degree dischargedhis sense of duty. Dr. Beaumont, besides, allowed him to take part inthe enterprizes by which those vigilant warriors shewed their zeal andfidelity, as soon as they were relieved from their apprehensions for thesafety of that important post, by the retreat of the rebel army.
As Williams did not return with an answer from Colonel Evellin, it wasconcluded that he had fallen into the hands of the enemy, a misfortunetoo common to the Royal expresses. One however arrived from the north,charged with most dolorous tidings of the fatal overthrow atMarston-Moor, the loss of York, and of its whole province, which had forso long a space resisted the incursions of the republican party, underthe auspices of the Marquis of Newcastle. These direful events, whichresulted from want of concord between the King's generals, were followedby Lord Newcastle's quitting the kingdom in a hasty sally of passionatedespair, and by the dispersion of the army which his influence hadraised, and his munificent loyalty had maintained. Only one small bandof Loyalists under the command of Sir Thomas Glenham remained, who,after the reduction of York, threw themselves into Carlisle, and bravelydefended it eleven months against a victorious enemy, without prospectof assistance. To this fragment of a powerful army Colonel Evellinattached himself. He sent a letter by the same person who brought thedispatch to the King, informing his friends that he was unwounded eitherin his person or his reputation, and ready to suffer every thing butdishonour for his injured Monarch. He gave a lively description of therespective armies, and of the misfortunes of the Royal cause, in beingintrusted to men who suffered passion to prevail over judgment, andchose to sacrifice their King sooner than quell their privateresentments. But he complained in the tone of a man who had made hischoice, and though hopeless of success resolved to persevere, andwelcomed self-denial and sorrow. He assured Dr. Beaumont that the rebelshad gained no victory over his principles; his enmity to theirundertakings remained the same; "and if," said he, "the little remnantof my days is cut off in the next engagement, I shall live in mychildren; and they will, I doubt not, see the destruction of these'covenanters', who cause the ruin of families and the decay of commonhonesty; changing the former piety and plain dealing of this nation intocruelty and cunning. When I see all they have done, I thank God that heprevented me from being one of the party which helped to bring in thesesad confusions[2], and I pray him to preserve my son to see their justpunishment."
As this letter proved that the Colonel had not met with Williams, itoperated as a renewed inhibition on Dr. Beaumont to prevent Eustace fromrushing into the field, for which he had now a fresh incentive in thefriendship he had formed with Major Monthault, a young man of birth andfortune, who had been attached, like himself, to the Queen's suite. Thisyouth had seen actual service, and spoke with enthusiasm of thecharacter of Lord Goring, then just appointed general of the horse inthe west. He described him as the soldier's darling; a Mars in thefield; an Apollo at mess; a Jove in council, and a Paris among the fair.It was evident that Monthault piqued himself on being the counter-partof the excellence he commended, especially in the last particular. Hisintimacy with Eustace allowed him to visit Dr. Beaumont's family, andhis attentions to the fair Helen of the group were certainly more markedthan delicate, and would have excited the fears of Eustace, had he nottaken care to inform the Major that he was betrothed to his lovelycousin with the entire approbation of herself and their mutual friends,though their union was deferred until a riper age and happier period. Toadmire and praise, or even to gaze passionately on the promised wife ofa friend, as Monthault did on Constantia, seemed to Eustace an impliedcommendation similar to that bestowed on a house, gardens, or any otherbeautiful and valuable possession, innocent in itself and flattering tothe taste of the owner. He knew not that there existed such a characteras a seducer, who could teach an unsuspecting mind to despise solemnengagements; he felt no tendency to treachery in his own heart. No onewas more susceptible than he of the power of beauty, but he thoughthonour was the only means by which its favour could be won, and even hisardent passion for heroic fame derived an additional stimulus from hislove to the amiable and innocent Constantia.
The circumstances of my narrative oblige me again to recur to the stateof public affairs. The treaty of Uxbridge was now pending; thenecessities of the King compelled him to enquire on what terms hissubjects would sheath the sword, and the rapid ascendancy of the fanaticparty in Parliament, added to the mutual accusations and recriminationsof their generals, induced the moderate Presbyterians to try if, byreconciliation with their Sovereign, they could gain strength to opposethe power which openly threatened their destruction and his. Theartifices of Cromwell and his adherents need not be minutely detailed ina work intended only to give an admonitory picture of those times. Inone point those men differed from the majority of modern Reformers, orrather the manners of that age were different from ours. Religion wasthen the mode; men and women were in general expounders and preachers;ordinary conversation was interlarded with Scripture phrases; commonevents were providences; political misconstructions of the sacred storywere prophecies; and a fluency of cant was inspiration. No man (toborrow one of their favourite terms) was more _gifted_ this way thanCromwell; he had discerned the current of the public humour, and couldadopt the disguise which suited his ambition. Every step which led himto the summit of power was prefaced by what he called seeking the Lord;that is, attending sermons and prayers, by which the suborned performersof those profane and solemn farces prepared their congregations todesire what their employers had previously determined to do; thus givingan air of divine inspiration to the projects of fraud, murder, andambition. By such a perversion of public worship, joined with anaffectation of disinterested purity, that celebrated preparative formilitary despotism, the self-denying ordinance was introduced into theCommons. After numerous prayers and sermons, intreating Providence tostrengthen the hands of the faithful, by choosing new instruments tocarry on the godly work, an agent of Cromwell's inferred, that the Lordhad indeed prompted their counsels, and proposed that henceforth no peeror member of Parliament should hold any public office. By these means,every man of rank and eminence who had been distinguished by aconstitutional struggle against arbitrary acts of power, and afterwardsreluctantly led into open rebellion, was cashiered and dismissed fromthe army and from all official situations, which were thus left open tothe fanatical party.
Alarmed at the high hand with which this ordinance was carried, the oldcommonwealth's men strained every nerve to renew a pacificatoryintercourse with the King, which they effected; but their power extendedno further; the preliminaries were clogged with terms
No true Englishman could have expected, or indeed wished, that the Kingshould purchase permission to become a state-puppet, shackled in all hismovements, obliged to sanction the cruel and illegal acts of his enemiesby a breach of his coronation-oath, and compelled to abandon theestablished church and the lives of his faithful friends to theirinveterate animosity. In vain was it privately suggested by the mostmoderate of the Parliamentary commissioners, that it was expedient toclose on any terms, and unite with than to humble a party whosedesperate purposes, supported by the popularity of their pretensions,threatened destruction to all their opponents. The King determined neverto seem to barter his conscience for personal safety. He at that timeforesaw what he afterwards so affectingly expressed in a letter to hisnephew Prince Rupert, "that he could not flatter himself with anexpectation of success more than to end his days with honour and a goodconscience, which obliged him to continue his endeavours, not despairingthat God would, in due time, avenge his own cause. Yet he owned, thatthose who staid with him must expect and resolve either to die for agood cause, or, which is worse, to live as miserable in the maintainingit as the violence of insulting rebels could make them." The treatyterminated without hope of being again renewed. Cromwell carried hisordinance; the army and the state were governed by his own creatures;while, by a master-piece of cunning, he contrived to be exempted fromthe restrictions of his own decree, and continued to act as general andlegislator without a rival. Afterwards, when his packed representativeshad effected all the purposes for which he kept them together, he puthimself at the head of a file of soldiers, destroyed the engine by whichhe had overthrown the constitution, and turned the pantomimic Parliamentout of doors, laden with the odium of his crimes as well as of theirown.
The melancholy presentiments of the King, when he found all hopes ofhonourable reconciliation futile, confirmed his determination to sendthe Prince of Wales into the west of England, where his arms stilltriumphed, that in case either of them fell into the hands of therebels, the freedom of the other might tend to secure their mutualsafety. To preserve the principles of the royal stripling, the Kingparted with several of his most faithful advisers. He constituted LordHopton commander in chief of the western district, but by fixing himmore peculiarly about the person of his son, he unhappily gave too muchpower to the subaltern generals, among whom the apple of discord seemedto have been thrown, for they agreed in nothing but hatred of eachother, and mismanagement of their trust.
Major Monthault belonged to the western army, and was ordered to leaveOxford in the Prince's suite. He had employed the leisure season ofwinter in cultivating an intimacy with the Beaumonts, and not being oneof those who can look at beauty with disinterested admiration, heemployed every art to ensnare Constantia. Simple, innocent, and mildlygay, she saw no danger in conversing with the friend of Eustace. He hadspent much time in foreign courts; she led him to talk of celebratedbeauties whom he had there seen; he found in all of them some glaringdefect which forfeited their claims to supremacy. She laughed at hisfastidiousness, and bade him describe what he would admit to be anirresistible charmer; he drew her own portrait, but she so rarelyconsulted her glass, that she knew not the likeness. He once advised herto arrange her tresses in what he deemed a more becoming braid; she didso, and then immediately asked Eustace if he approved the alteration;when, finding he disliked it, she resumed her former costume, andfrankly avowed her reason for so doing. Monthault was piqued, and madeseveral sharp remarks on the versatility of women.
"I fancy," said Constantia, "your's is a most invulnerable heart; wepoor women are in your eyes either destitute of attractions to gain, orof merit to retain your affections. But don't be too sure of alwayskeeping your boasted liberty. Aunt Mellicent says, men begin to doat atfifty, and then they do not love but idolize."
"The age of dotage and adoration begins earlier," answered Monthault,with a look which crimsoned the cheeks of Constantia; "but while youfalsely accuse me of being invulnerable, have I not cause to deploreyour impenetrability? I find it is impossible to agitate that tranquilbosom with so impetuous a guest as love."
Constantia was offended at the suggestion. "You know," replied she, "Iam engaged to Eustace; and do you think I would marry him if I viewedhim with indifference?"
Monthault observed, that a contract made at a premature age mustoriginate in indifference, and never could be considered asindissoluble.
"I consider it so," answered Constantia; "nothing can dissolve it butdeath, or some palpable proof of gross unworthiness."
"Suppose," said Monthault, "a more enlarged view of mankind shoulddiscover to you a worthier lover; one whose passion for you is foundedon discriminating preference, not the cold impulse of satiated habit;one who could give distinction to beauty, and lead it from obscurityinto the splendour it deserves; should such a one sue for the favour ofthe divine Constantia:"----
"I would answer, if I aim perfidious to Eustace, I cannot be divine."
"But love is a potent and untameable passion, disdaining the narrowlimitations of preceptive constancy. The acknowledged privilege ofsovereign beauty is to inspire and encourage universal love."
Constance looked offended, and expressed a hope that she might neverpossess an empire which could only gratify vanity and pain sincerity.
Monthault found he had gone too far, and tried by badinage to divert herresentment. "If," said he, "praise is only timeable to your ear whenuttered by one voice, I must not tell you, even if I heard our youngPrince, who is an acknowledged worshipper of beauty, speak in rapturesof the unparalleled loveliness of Dr. Beaumont's daughter."
"No," said she, sternly, "indeed you must not. My humble stationprevents him from saying any thing of my person but, what would beoffensive for me to hear; and I wish not to have the loyal attachment Ifeel for my Sovereign's son diminished, by knowing that he indulges inany improper licence of conversation."
"Nay," replied Monthault, "what he observed was only in reply to one whois your most devoted slave, predicting that the chains you formed nevercould be broken."
"I perceive," answered she, rising to leave the room, "that if I giveyou more time for the fabrication you will contrive a very amusingfiction. I must therefore silence you by saying, that, little as I knowof court-gallantry, he who talks to me in this style, cannot be thefriend of Eustace."
Monthault flew into heroics, and struggled to detain her. "CruelConstantia," said he, "know you not that love is an involuntary passionwhich reason vainly tries to subdue? Cannot you, who see the conflict inmy soul, pity me without doubting my friendship or my honour?"
"I confess I do doubt both," was her reply; "but provided you no moreoffend me with such language, I will not mention my suspicions toEustace. I am, 'tis true, a simple girl, yet not so weak as to valuemyself on an extrinsic appendage which, if I possess, I share with thebutterfly. If beauty renders me more amiable in the eyes of those Ilove, it is a welcome endowment; but I never will patiently hear itcommended at the expence of any better quality."
It is probable that, after this repulse, Monthault would never more havethought of Constance if some other pursuit had intervened. But, in theleisure of suspended warfare, a vacant understanding and depravedappetite sees no resource from _ennui_ but gallantry. He had triedflattery; but it failed to excite vanity, or to lead his intended preyinto the toils of ambition. He resolved to pursue another scheme, bywhich he hoped that beauty might be separated from its plighted love.
While Oxford resounded with preparations for the removal of the Princeand the commencement of the
"I cannot understand you," answered Eustace. "True, I am contracted toConstantia; but it is not she who detains me at Oxford. We are not to bemarried till we are both at full age; nor even then unless the timeswear a happier aspect."
"Her character!" retorted Eustace; "can that need any other vindicatorthan my honour? or rather, does any man impugn it? We have loved fromour childhood; but it has been with that innocence which enables us tolook forward to years of happiness, unembittered by reproach."
Monthault smiled, said he rejoiced at this expurgation, but added, "Canyou wonder Oxford is now the metropolis of slander, since it is full ofcourt-ladies who have now no revels or maskings to amuse them, and neverleave reputations in quiet when they are out of humour. But, to put astop to defamation, let me advise a military excursion."
Eustace explained, that it was the will of an absent father, and notamorous dalliance, which kept him from the field. It was doubtfulwhether that father lived; for he was engaged in most severe service."Meantime," added he, "my uncle is bound by a promise to keep me fromdangerous enterprises; but as I now begin to think it is disloyal forany one on the verge of manhood to refuse rallying round the King at hisgreatest need, I trust the prohibition will soon be removed. The lasttime that I urged Dr. Beaumont on the subject, he answered, that it wasnot courage, but bravado, to buckle on the sword, while the discussionof a pending treaty afforded a prospect of its being speedily ungirded.But as the Parliamentary commissioners are returned to London, I amdetermined again to ask leave to join the army."
"And if refused," said Monthault, "would you stay at Oxford, like a tamelion in a chain, caressed by old women, and wondered at by spectacledfellows of colleges." Eustace paused. "I see, my brave fellow," resumedthe tempter, "you are determined to be one of us. I know your heart, andcan predict that the consciousness of positive disobedience will makeyou miserable. Go, then, in the hope that your uncle would not haverestrained you. Are you not old enough to judge for yourself? They havepermitted you to chuse a wife; why not also choose your profession?"
"You have determined me," said Eustace, "I will only bid adieu toConstantia."
"A most lover-like determination!" was Monthault's reply, "and made witha right prudent command of the impulses of valour. I anticipate theresult. In another hour you will return; press me to your heart; look alittle ashamed; wish me good success; and then sigh out, 'I cannot bearto leave her.'"
"No," said Eustace; "to prove that I am not a woman's slave, I will onlylook the adieu, which may be our last, without telling her my purpose.Had you a treasure, Monthault, which you valued more than life, wouldyou not bathe it with a parting tear as you placed it in a casket, whileabout to enter on a dangerous undertaking, where your first step may beto meet death?"
Monthault answered, that soldiers never thought of dying. Theyseparated; Eustace, to bid a mental farewel to his kindred, home, andlove; and Monthault, to prepare the Prince and Lord Goring to welcome apleasant addition to their party in a spirited youth, who had resolvedto escape from the restrictions of austere friends, and to try theagreeable freedom of a military life. In this view these defenders ofthe Crown and the Church of England looked on the last resources which afalling King committed to their care.
[1] This paragraph is copied from Fenelon.
[2] Walton's Lives.