The Loyalists, Vol. 1-3 by Mrs. West
CHAP. XXII.
Those that would serve God sincerely in affluence have infinitely greater advantages and opportunities for it in adverse fortune; therefore let us set vigorously to the task that lies before us, supplying in the abundance of inward beauty what is wanting to the outward lustre of the church; and we shall not fail to find that the grots and caves lie as open to the celestial influences as the fairest and most beautiful temples.
Dr. Henry Hammond's Letters.
A painter, who is solicitous to give just representations of nature,must blend his lights and shades, and contrast vivid colours with sombrehues. The correct imitator of human life must also alternately introducejoys and sorrows. Is it the langour of unwarrantable depression, theindulged caprice of fastidious sensibility, or a more intimateacquaintance with the dark colourings of disappointment than with thesunshine of prosperity, which induces the conclusion, that the likenessto reality will be more faithfully preserved if a sombre tingepredominates in the fictitious narrative that paints the trials ofhighly honourable and susceptible minds? The refinement which inspiresliberal desires and generous motives exposes its possessor to a morelively feeling of the injuries inflicted by envy, selfishness, andduplicity. The golden dreams of ingenuous candour and conscious abilityare rarely realized, and acute perception and high-minded integrity,though most propitious to the growth of every virtue, seem to be thechoice fruits of heaven which, in the austere climate of this lowerworld, require shelter and protection.
It is not murmuring against the wisdom or justice of Providence toadmit, that in a probationary state the most perfect characters are theywho have been purified by "much tribulation, and through faith andpatience inherit the promises." The instrument used in this ordeal isgenerally our brother-man. Yet, while with hope and confidence, we lookforward to a glorious issue of temporal affliction in eternal glory, letus beware of unfitting ourselves for the future recompence by extremeresentment against those who are the agents that Almighty Wisdom uses toimprove us. Let us not attribute to malice and cruelty what may bereferred to less criminal motives. Do we not often afflict othersundesignedly, and, from mere carelessness, neglect to relieve distress?Our own concerns, interests, and wishes engross our thoughts. Nothing isso important to us as forwarding our own aims; and our fellow-creaturesare too often but inconvenient lumber if they stand in our way, ormerely useful implements if they forward our designs. It is from a wantof attention to the feelings of others, from a neglect of the goldenrule of putting ourselves in their place, and not from innate malice ora diabolical delight in giving pain, that the sorrows caused by domestictyrants and puny oppressors chiefly proceed. Were self-love reducedwithin proper bounds, earth would resemble heaven. Let those, then, whodeeply feel those "wrongs which patient merit of the unworthy takes,"temper their aspirations after a state where universal good-will is thesource and cement of bliss, by cultivating that excellent preparativefor its fruition, a spirit of active, enlarged, and consideratebenevolence.
These reflections will not unaptly precede the return of Lady Bellinghamfrom her northern expedition. It never was the practice of Cromwell torender any one disrespect while his services could be useful, or till hewas prepared to prevent the effects of his enmity. While the success ofthe King remained doubtful, he wished not to make himself any moreenemies; and at the same time that he restrained and mulcted thePresbyterians, he endeavoured to persuade them to make common cause withthe fanatics. He received Lady Bellingham (who was the avowed patronessof the latter) with much apparent respect, and at the same time he wrotekindly to her Lord, promising that his party should be admitted to ashare in the government as soon as he could let the dove out of the arkto fetch the olive branch, which could not be the case as long as thefloods of ungodliness covered the earth. He styled himself the servantof the Commonwealth, and the assured friend of Lord Bellingham; butnothing was further from Cromwell's heart than an intention of realizingthese promises. His only aim was to pacify and amuse his opponents tillhe gained leisure to play his own game. He loaded Lady Bellingham withflattering expressions, selected her to stand by his side, when, as hecalled it, he rose in the congregation of the saints to give the word ofexhortation, and appealed to her as the judge and expounder of hisspiritual gifts. These, he observed, were all the refreshing attentionswhich the necessity of pursuing the host of Sisera allowed him to pay tothe Deborah of the English Israel, except permitting her to reside inBellingham-Castle, and to plead his friendship and protection.
The victory at Worcester was of that decided nature, which enabledCromwell to throw off the mask, to dissolve that pantomime of aParliament in whose name he had hitherto governed, and to assume thetitle of "Protector of the liberties of England." He now exercised amore despotic tyranny than this nation suffered either from her Danishor Norman conquerors. He confined the elective franchise to himself,creating what he called Parliaments for the sole purpose of making themridiculous, and then turning out his mock-legislators with contempt. Healternately punished and provoked every party; even his own agents andcreatures could not escape his apprehensive suspicions, which, byindulgence, engendered an insatiable thirst of blood. Yet, combininggreat qualities with the meanest vices--the policy of an Augustus andthe enterprize of a Trajan with the dissimulation of Tiberius and thecruelty of Domitian, he at once awed and dazzled surrounding nations,and while he subjugated, exalted his own. Never was England morerespected than when unlimited power, undaunted courage, and perseveringactivity placed all her resources in the hands of a man who, scarcelyranked by birth in the patrician order, could make every Europeansovereign tremble on his throne. Yet still, like the mystical sun in theApocalypse, tormenting others while he was himself tormented, the era ofhis assuming power was the consummation of his extreme misery. He wadedthrough seas of blood; he broke every divine and human obligation; hemade the name of liberty a terror, and that of religion contemptible, tobecome himself a more pitiable object than the veriest wretches whom heinhumed in his prisons. They had some who sympathized in theirsufferings, some who wished them God speed; but though the civilizedworld trembled at the name of Cromwell, he knew he had spies, creatures,and parasites, but not one friend.
Yet amidst this secret wretchedness and universal odium, the distantreflex of his name and authority was respected by all. Lady Bellinghamfound her reception very different, as the Protector's friend, in herreturn through England, than when she fled to Scotland an alarmedfugitive. Conscious of former remissness, Morgan met her at Lancaster,and earnestly entreated she would repose some days at Saint's-Rest afterthe fatigue of her journey. The alarm and mortification she had enduredin that neighbourhood made her recollect the village with disgust; butthere were some mysteries which she wished him to explain. Nursery talesaffirm, that Puss, when converted into a fine lady, retained her oldpropensity of catching mice; and though Lady Bellingham was transformedfrom a fine lady into a devotee, the renovating spirit of true religionhad not altered her temper or inclinations; there was the samewaywardness in the former, the same cold selfishness in the latter.While she raved at formal and legal Christians, she was herself the trueformalist, presuming on superior merit from the length of her devotionalexercises, her rigid austerities, and the sums she expended in spreadingher peculiar notions. But she came out of her closet to make her inmatesand dependants wretched; her fasting-days were unsanctified throughmoroseness, and beside that, her gifts were too much confined toparty-purposes to be entitled to the praise of charity; ostentation blewthe trumpet before her alms, and she had the reward she sought, in thepraise of men.
To return from the description to the illustration of this not uncommoncharacter. It happened one evening, as the Countess was anticipatingthe joys of Heaven, by an analogy drawn from the delights whichBellingham-Castle afforded, and which she supposed would there beincreased in an infinite ratio, that her humble companion ventured torecall her imagination to this world, by producing what she
As the waiting-gentlewoman retired to perform the penance, LadyBellingham commanded her to leave the paper that she might destroy it.But though the word Love was dangerous to a tyro in Antinomianism, thesituation of the initiated is very different; to the former all thingsare sinful, but the latter being free from the law, and above ordinances,have a large licence. Valuing herself now only on her spiritual graces,Lady Bellingham opened the profane legend, which, she expected, describedpersonal attractions; and to her astonishment recognized the writing ofher son, of whom she had heard no certain tidings since the battle ofPreston, but who was supposed, both by Cromwell and herself, to be in thenorth of Ireland, where an officer of the same name had gained celebrity.The date proved that he had been a resident in Dr. Beaumont's family; noname was prefixed, but the lines breathed a permanent attachment, towhich, after some resistance, he had entirely surrendered his heart.
O place thy breast against a turbid stream, Beat with strong arm the flood, and tread the wave, Or toil incessant 'neath the burning beam, When, like a giant woke from wassail-dream, Sol rushes furious from the lion's cave:
Then mayst thou know how hard to stem the tide Of chaste desire, and love's o'erwhelming storm, When by entranc'd affection first descry'd, Beauty and truth, such as in Heaven reside, Appear on earth in woman's lovely form.
Is there a charm in wisdom? Is there power In blushing modesty's retiring air? Looks patience lovely in affliction's hour? Is not humility a priceless flower? And filial piety divinely fair?
And bloom such graces in this narrow dell, Bosom'd in hills, from civil discord far; Then, courts and camps, glory and wealth farewell! All-powerful love hath broke ambition's spell, And freed a captive from his iron car.
Ruminating on these lines, and recollecting the mild dutiful behaviourof Constantia, she could not help supposing that melancholy beauty to bethe object of her son's attachment. She had sufficiently interested herto inquire the reason of her mournful appearance, and learned that shehad lost her lover in the civil wars. Could that lover have been herson? Could the figures she had seen sitting among the ruins, and whichshe was persuaded were not human, be sent as supernatural omens toindicate Sedley's death. It was happy for her unsettling reason, that atthe moment when this terrific thought shot across her brain, sherecollected, whatever her early misdemeanors might have been, she wasnow in a safe state, and had wiped off all offences to her brother, evensupposing any had been committed. Yet she grew uneasy to hear of herson, and wished she had been more particular in her inquiries as to thecertainty of his being in Ireland. I have already stated that maternalaffection had no part in her character. The manner in which she treatedArthur prevented frequent intercourse. Hearing that a Colonel Sedley wasdistinguished by his cruelty to the Catholics at the taking of Fredaghand Drogheda, she had trusted that it was her son now become warm in thegood cause to which she had devoted him. The date of this poem shewedthat he was in Lancashire, indulging very different sentiments at thetime of those bloody victories, and it was her perplexity on this pointwhich made her give Morgan an affable reception.
She soon discovered, that though he had lately forborn persecuting theBeaumonts, he retained the most inveterate enmity to the whole family.She drew from him all the information it was in his power to giverespecting her son's residence at Ribblesdale; the assistance hereceived from the Beaumonts when at the point of death, and his suddendisappearance. Morgan was unacquainted with his change of sentiments andattachment to Isabel, who, having been long secreted with her father,was believed to be dead, and had been too insignificant and humble todraw the attention of so important a personage as Morgan. Hiscommunications confirmed Lady Bellingham in the belief that she had seenan apparition of her brother, indicative of her son's death, and thatConstantia, who mourned a widowed love, had been the object of hisill-placed affections.
Full of apprehension, destitute alike of delicacy, gratitude, andcandour, and disposed, from her political feelings, to ascribe every badpassion and action to the royalists, a thought struck her that povertymight have tempted the old delinquent to murder her son; and thesuspicion grew to certainty, when the most minute inquiries could giveno information of him subsequent to his receiving a large remittancefrom his tenants the week before he was last seen at Ribblesdale. Herhumble attendants, on hearing her opinion, protested that nothing wasever more probable. The chaplain expatiated on the vices of theepiscopal clergy, and cited the words of that-then-popular writer,Martin Mar-prelate, to prove them guilty of the greatest offences, notexcepting even theft and murder. The gentleman-usher found damningproofs of extreme poverty in all the arrangements of the Beaumonts, andthe waiting-gentlewoman could no otherwise account for the deepmelancholy of Constantia, than by supposing her lover had been murderedby her father, whose pale care-worn features bore, in her opinion, thecharacter of an assassin.
Having wrought her mind to this conclusion, Lady Bellingham sent againfor her confidant Morgan, who, beside his aversion to one whom he hadlong felt to be a troublesome neighbour, had now particular reasons forappearing zealously inclined to serve the Protector and his friends. Headvised Lady Bellingham to state the loss of her son to His Highness,and procure his order for the Doctor's arrest, adding, that even ifinnocent of this accusation, the imprisonment of one, who as anirreclaimable royalist, deserved punishment, was no breach of justice.He assured Her Ladyship, that her son's long residence in a disaffectedfamily, had not occasioned the smallest change in his opinions, but thathe showed his zeal for the good old cause, by informing him of all theproceedings and councils of the delinquents that came to his knowledge;and he feared, as he was missing a little time before Charles Stewart'sattempt on Scotland, his having penetrated into that design precipitatedtheir bloody purposes. His communications shaped the fluctuatingpurposes of Lady Bellingham into a most determinate and diabolicalresolve, and she returned to London with the heart of an "Ate hot fromhell," and the aspect of a Niobe.
She now presented herself before the Protector and his council, as adistracted mother, ignorant of the fate of her only son, and praying fora minute investigation of the mysterious business. A request from thepatroness of the fanatics imperatively demanded attention. Several oftheir leaders were her devoted friends, and the fine qualities of youngSedley had really attracted Cromwell's notice, who, though he wasincapable of loving virtue and honour, ever wished to engage them in hisservice. It is but justice to the Usurper's administration to say, that,except when his government or personal security were concerned, he wasan impartial and vigorous administrator of the criminal laws, neversparing rank, or shielding greatness. But though justice thus beamed onthose who had not made themselves conspicuous by their principles, aknown royalist could not expect her smiles, a warrant was thereforedispatched to apprehend Dr. Beaumont, and Morgan was charged with itsexecution.
About this time that unhappy family were reduced to the last stage ofpecuniary distress. Their good friend Barton was still in confinement,persecuted with the most inveterate hatred by Lady Bellingham's party,and as his revenue was sequestered, no remittances could come from thatquarter. At the death of Farmer Humphreys, the church-land he hadoccupied was taken from his widow, who was now fallen into decay, andunable to assist the necessitous pastor she so truly revered. Theprovision which the revolutionary government pretended to make to theejected ministers, was at best irregularly supplied, and often totallywithheld. The infirmities of Colonel Evellin engrossing the whole timeof Isabel, no fund could be raised from her industry, and with promptthough perhaps imprudent loyalty Dr. Beaumont had sent the sum left byDe Vallance to the King's assistance when he made the last
It was impossible to conceal their difficulties from Evellin, who nowearnestly prayed that death would relieve his generous friend from theburden of his support. The firm and patient Isabel could no longerdivert him from these sad exclamations. She could not modulate her voiceto a song, nor attempt to engage his attention by reciting a tale ofother times. She threw her eyes upon the ground in silence, as ifwishing to measure out his grave, and one where she might sleep in peacebeside him.
They were roused from the passive depression of poverty by the awakeningcall of imminent danger to the person of him who, in all their formertrials, had acted as their guardian angel to avert or mitigate calamity.Morgan delivered, without any ceremony, to Dr. Beaumont an order toattend the council of state in London, as a prisoner. The Doctordeclared himself ready to pay a quick obedience to the existinggovernment in all lawful cases, but stated his extreme penury and theutter destitution of his family. The rigid frugality of their habits wasknown; and Morgan, now assuming an inquisitorial air, demanded whatbecame of the moiety of the fifth allowed to the expelled ministers,which he had last received. Dr. Beaumont was taken by surprize, andbefore he could parry the impertinence of the question, was charged byMorgan with sending pecuniary aid to Charles Stewart. This was now acrime against the state, for which many suffered. Dr. Beaumont asked ifthis was the business on which he was summoned to London, and Morgan,knowing that it was determined to take him by surprize respecting thecharge of assassinating De Vallance, answered sternly, that for this andvarious other misdemeanors he must be examined before the council.
No heart that had not been steeled by malevolence against all the betterfeelings of humanity, could have resisted the cries and supplications ofConstantia, intreating that she might accompany her father; but Morgan,recollecting that she in the pride of beauty had disdainfully rejectedhis offer of marriage, took a savage pleasure in witnessing heraffliction. To see the sorrows of his darling child excite derisioninstead of pity and respect, consummated Dr. Beaumont's anguish. TakingConstantia aside, he gave her his parting blessing, with a fervour thatrecalled his own firmness, and imparted consolation to her. He remindedher how much her aunt, Evellin, and Isabel, must now depend upon herexertions. He doubted not but commiseration for his misfortunes wouldincrease the benevolence of the villagers, and he intreated her torecollect, that as her lamentations were unavailing, fortitude andpatient endurance were the only means to subdue the malice of theirenemies. He recurred to his favourite argument, that an oppressor ismerely an instrument of chastisement in the hand of Almighty goodness,whose ultimate purposes are all mercy and wisdom. A tyrant's wrathcannot pass its prescribed bounds; no earthly power can take us out ofthe omnipotent hands of our Creator; nor will He ever fail those whofirmly trust in His care, and sincerely obey His precepts. "Courage, mychild," said he, as he kissed her pale cold cheek, "I have committed nocrimes either against the state or any individual: I shall soon beallowed to return. This affliction is the trial of your faith, not thepunishment of my guilt."
Dr. Beaumont did not venture to visit his concealed friend, but thelamentations of the villagers, who surrounded their departing pastorwith tears and blessings, added to the distress of Isabel, soon informedColonel Evellin that his revered protector was seized by the stronggripe of power. He insisted on accompanying him to London as afellow-prisoner, protesting he was ready to defy Cromwell, accuseBellingham, and die. Isabel had sufficient strength to prevent theimmediate execution of this rash purpose. "O think," said she, "that byso doing, you will not only sacrifice yourself, but also my uncle. Thevery act of having concealed you is punishable with death. For the sakeof our best and kindest friend, a little longer exercise that fortitudeand patience which have been my support through years of apprehensionand calamity. Let not my long services within this narrow recess lose atlast the desired reward of saving a parent, more dear and precious fromhis undeserved calamities."
"Shall I perish for want, immured in this gloomy tenement?" saidEvellin, wildly. "When my friend is gone, who will provide a coveringfor this wretched body, or food to sustain it?--Have I not told thee,girl, that De Vallance basks in luxurious state at Bellingham-Castle;and I would sooner perish in a lazar-house than beg my bread of him?Dost thou not know his blood-hounds yet surround these ruins, and thatit is Beaumont only who has kept them from my war-worn trunk."
"Dearest father," resumed Isabel, "I can keep off the blood-hounds, andwill daily lead you forth to enjoy the warm sun-beams. Fear not; buttrust in that Providence who feeds the young ravens. How wonderful wasits preservation of our King when hunted from forest to forest by hismerciless foes! The wants of nature are few and small. See how yourdespair makes me weep. Oh, for the sake of my mother's memory, dry thetears of your orphan girl."
In this manner did Isabel try to console the man of many sorrows, but hehad taken his resolution, and even when most composed, would not bediverted from his purpose of following Dr. Beaumont to London, that hemight be ready to confront his enemies, or to share his fate. Mrs.Mellicent was consulted on the subject, and she thought thisdetermination should not be opposed. It had been already agreed upon,that Constantia should follow her father, and attend him in confinement;and it was now settled, that Isabel and Evellin should privatelyaccompany her. Disguised as beggars, they were removed out of thevillage, and being joined by Williams and Constantia, proceeded towardsLondon as fast as their destitute condition admitted.
They had left Waverly-Hall some weeks, when Dr. Lloyd and Jobson arrivedto communicate tidings which they thought would change the house ofmourning to the abode of happiness. But no sound or sight indicated thatthese lonely ruins now afforded shelter to man. No trace of inhabitantswas visible.--No monarch of the feathered brood was heard aloud to crow;no smoke rising from the chimney announced the preparation of thehomely, but social meal. Jobson entered at the unresisting door; thefurniture, like the family, had disappeared. He ventured into the secretchamber, that too was vacant; nothing remained but the couch on whichthe noble veteran had stretched his palsied frame, and, magnanimouslyenduring his own anguish, descanted on the arduous duties of a soldier.
"Ah, worthy Doctor," said the dismayed Jobson, "those confoundedRoundheads have caught him at last. Here are some of the tatters of hispoor old roque-laure, and the woollen cap Mrs. Isabel used to draw overhis head so carefully. Here she used to kneel by his side, say herprayers, and sometimes sing in such a sweet low voice; and then theColonel would kiss her, and tell her she would kill herself withwatching him. But when she crept through that little arch to go away, hewould look at her as if his soul was parting from his body. And then shewould come back again, and say she had not shaken hands with the honesttrooper, (meaning me,) and would whisper me, to keep up his spirits; andso they would trifle away half the night."--"'Serjeant,' the Colonel usedto say to me, bless his good heart! though I never was more than acorporal, 'that girl has the courage of a lion.' 'Aye, and as cunning asa fox too,' I used to answer. 'She is beautiful as an angel,' he wenton; 'Did you ever see such eyes?'--'Never but my first sweetheart's,Sally Malkins,' said I. But then he turned gruff, and would say,'Pshaw!' for he never could be pleased with any body praising Mrs.Isabel, but himself and that make-believe good young Lord with a wickedfather."
While Dr. Lloyd deliberated how to proceed, an aged woman appeared insight, with a basket on her arm, seemingly employed in gathering herbs."St. George be my speed!" exclaimed Jobson; "Can that be MadamMellicent? Ah, sure enough it is her sharp wrinkled face: I neverthought she would bend her stiff joints, or walk in the dirt without herriding-hood." Dr. Lloyd offered to go and accost her. "Not for yourlife," replied Jobson; "she never would forgive me for letting you catchher thus out of sorts. Stop behind that buttress, and I'll go and tellher there is some company coming, and when she has pu
Mrs. Mellicent's appearance was too indicative of profound dejection forDr. Lloyd to believe she would require any introductory ceremonials. Heventured to salute her with an abrupt assurance, that he was a warmfriend of her family, intrusted with a welcome and importantcommunication. Mrs. Mellicent fixed her eyes upon him with that look ofinquisitorial diffidence which those who have long been familiarizedwith distress and injustice, bestow on the dawn of better days. "I canhardly suspect," said she, "that you are one of those who find amusementin sporting with the feelings of the unhappy. You see in me the forlornrelic of a respectable family, now supported by those who were fed atits gates in the days of my prosperity. Yet as far as I can, I try to beindependent; and my knowledge in medicine allows me to alleviate thepains of those who shelter my grey hairs.--My brother, his daughter, andthe sole surviving child of a beloved sister, now in Heaven, are at thismoment exposed to the dreadful trial of Republican persecution. Povertychains me to this spot, where I drew my first breath, and where, ifthose I love are sacrificed, I hope soon to close my eyes on sorrow.""You have," said Dr. Lloyd, "omitted to name another strong tie whichshould bind you to life. You have a brave and gallant nephew, who lovesand honours the maternal aunt, who checked his extravagancies andfostered his virtues."
"Eustace Evellin!" returned the good Lady, while her eyes filled withtears, "Did you know him, Sir?--The murderous insurgents cut him off atPembroke in cold blood. That is their usual method; they only spareuseless logs like myself--a withered blasted tree, stripped of all itsbranches, fit only to sustain the trophies of their accursed triumph.How long, Lord, how long!" continued she, wringing her hands and lookingup to Heaven.
Dr. Lloyd now cautiously informed her of the almost miraculous escape ofEustace, and the lively interest he took in his preservation. He addedan account of the dangers of De Vallance, and assured her, that he hadleft them both in his cottage, as safe and happy as English Loyalistscould be, while their country groaned under the yoke of Cromwell. Thefortitude, nay even the corporeal strength of Mrs. Mellicent, revived atthe recital; her own necessities were forgotten, and she scarcelylamented that she had not now a house to welcome, or even the widow'sbarley-cake to bestow on, the kind protector of the generous youths whomshe so fondly loved. Every regret was lost in the prospect of bettertimes, in the future happiness of Constantia and Isabel, in therestoration of the Neville line, and the adoption of the amiable DeVallance into its unpolluted branch. Only one life appeared to stand inthe way of their felicity:--Remove the stern Usurper, a penitent nation,weary of oppression, would joyfully welcome back its exiled Sovereign.What might not the Beaumonts and the Nevilles hope from the justice of aPrince for whom they had bled and suffered! Such agreeable reveries asthese supported Mrs. Mellicent's spirits during that long period ofsuspense, in which (for fiction must not anticipate the slow progress ofhistory) she expected their realization. And if hope invested theenlivening phantom of royal gratitude in too gorgeous colours, may wenot bless, rather than censure, the fortunate delusion? We are toconsider, that the venerable spinster having passed her days in privacy,was ignorant of the chicanery of courts, and disposed to believe, thathonour, gratitude, and sincerity, are the inseparable concomitants ofillustrious birth. She herself never forgot either her benefactors orher enemies; and she knew not how early Princes are taught to considerthe sacrifice of life and fortune as positive debts due to them fromtheir subjects. She was not aware how often expediency compels them tosmile on a potent enemy, and to overlook an inefficient friend; hownecessary it is for them to employ, as instruments, the able andenterprising, rather than the amiable; and in fine, how much more aptthe great are to shower their favours on those whom they oblige byunexpected munificence, than to discharge the claims of justice; to seekpraise for liberality, instead of being contented with the meritresulting from a mere performance of duty.
To return; the account which Mrs. Mellicent gave of the persecutionraised by the Oliverian government, determined Dr. Lloyd to preventeither of his young friends from becoming its victim. They bothrecollected the anxiety of the late King to remove his heir beyond thepower of his rebel subjects, as soon as he found it was impossible forhimself to escape; and that he even considered the preservation of thePrince as a security for his own life. The event refuted thatconclusion; but it was owing to this forecast that the prayers and hopesof Englishmen could still follow the princely fugitive. Whether he wasshrouded in the oak at Boscobel-wood, or coldly frowned on by the courtsof France and Spain, England saw, in the lineal heir of her monarchy, apledge of the future restoration of her civil and ecclesiasticalconstitution, and a guarantee to individuals against sequestrators andinformers. The same judicious measures which had preserved the Royalsapling when the parent-tree was felled, should be resorted to for thesafety of an illustrious private family; and Dr. Lloyd agreed to hurryback to North Wales, and remove his precious charge to some moreauspicious clime, before they heard of the imprisonment of Dr. Beaumont.Virginia was objected to on account of its distance from the scene ofaction. The power of Cromwell, so resistless in the centre of hisgovernment, was somewhat relaxed in its more remote dependencies; andthe island of Jersey was pointed out as a spot where Eustace and DeVallance ran less hazard of being recognized by Cromwell's officers.
Loyalty was at this time a bond of endearment which united apparentstrangers; Mrs. Mellicent had an intimacy, in her early days, with alady who was now wife to one of the most respectable merchants at St.Helier. He was one who, though faithful to the King, had preserved suchan ostensible moderation in his conduct as to avoid offending hisenemies; consequently, he had it in his power to assist those braverspirits that had withstood the storm, and now required shelter. Afriendly intimation of remembrance, and an offer of aid had beentransmitted by this Lady to Mrs. Mellicent, and she advised Dr. Lloyd tofix his abode in that island, under the character of a medicalgentleman, travelling with two pupils, who were to study physic atLeyden, but were required, by their infirm constitutions, to establishtheir health in a salubrious climate, before they encountered themorasses and fogs of Holland.
Dr. Lloyd was not a friend by halves; he was willing to devote theremainder of his life and fortune to the service of these interestingand deserving young men. He wrote a brief account of the preservation ofEustace and the safety of De Vallance, and Jobson was sent with thewelcome communication to London, to lighten the woes of theiraffectionate and unhappy friends. Dr. Lloyd returned to Wales with theutmost celerity. He avoided explaining the distressed state of thefamily, contenting himself with assuring Eustace and De Vallance thatColonel Evellin was alive, and that Isabel and Constance were faithfulto their vows. The plan of emigration to America must, he said, beabandoned, as it was impossible for the family to remove; but as thepreservation of their lives, in some degree depended on the concealmentof Eustace, it became necessary they should avoid the rigid scrutinywhich Cromwell was now making after obnoxious Loyalists, by removing toa retreat where, though the royal banner was not permitted to fly, theinhabitants were allowed to remain in a sort of peaceable neutrality.