by Moyle Sherer
CHAP. XVI.
The great vicissitude of things amongst men is the vicissitude of sects and religions; for those orbs rule in men's minds most. BACON.
On the third of November, 1640, the fatal Long Parliament began. Onthe 12th, the Earl of Strafford was impeached of treason, andcommitted to the Black Rod. The Lords denied him bail and council; andhe was, in a few days more, commanded into close imprisonment in theTower. One hundred thousand pounds were now voted to the Scots, andborrowed of the city of London. Ship money was soon questioned by theParliament, and voted an illegal tax; and, in fine, all grievances andabuses were loudly proclaimed, and resolutely brought forward, byintrepid and patriotic men; of whom the best and noblest did certainlynever contemplate, at that time, the sad and humiliating close of thelabours and the authority of that memorable and august assembly.August, of a truth, that assembly may be called, in which a Hampdenand a Falkland stood, at after moments, opposed in debate; and inwhich, in the following year, the grand remonstrance of the Commonswas the subject of grave deliberation for thirty hours, and was onlycarried, at last, by a majority of nine voices.
But to return to our story. It may be supposed that Cuthbert Noble wasno indifferent or unmoved spectator of the great public events whichevery day brought forth in the winter of 1640. With his serious andpeculiar notions, the questions that affected liberty of conscienceand church reform were those which most deeply interested him; andwhen, upon the morning of the 23d of November, Prynne and Burtonentered triumphantly into Westminster, followed by many thousands ofthe people, Cuthbert was foremost in the crowd; and not a zealot amongthem was more wildly excited than himself.
Laughter and tears succeeded to each other, as those around expressedtheir rude sympathy;--now in remarks quaint and comical--now in piouscommiseration, or in the stern tones of indignant and just anger.
"Which is old Prynne?" said one.--"That's he," said his neighbour,"with his black head clipped close, looking, for all the world, like askull-cap."--"See how the old boy grins."--"He's no beauty."--"Hurrah!hurrah!"--"Can you hear, old boy?"--"I wonder if a man can hearwithout his ears."--"To be sure a' can, all the better."--"Well, hecan't have the ear-ache no more."--"Don't talk so unfeeling."--"Look,poor dear good man, he is as white as a sheet."--"That is prison andhunger."--"This is your bishops' work--od rot 'em--their turn shallcome."
With such vulgarities were mixed the solemn tones and piousexpressions of many a sincere Christian, giving utterance to praiseand thanksgiving for the deliverance of these persecuted men; while,here and there, a strong voice would be heard, above the crowd,denouncing the tyranny of the church and the crown in coarse language,in which the Establishment was likened to the whore of Babylon,--andthe Archbishop of Canterbury was pointed out to the vengeance of therabble.
Such language would, in a moment of calm reflection, have been utterlyrevolting to the feelings of Cuthbert. He would have shut his ears tothe base and bloody cry, and hurried away from the wretches who gaveit utterance, as from the company of sinners, whose feet were alreadyplanted in the paths of wickedness, and were swift to shed blood. Butnow, though such fierce cries gave a jar to his better dispositionsand nobler nature, they were regarded as the natural ebullitions of anirritated mob; and he stood among them as a partaker of their guilt bythe sanction of his presence.
Nothing is so blind--nothing is so deaf--nothing can stoop so low--asparty spirit;--and at no period of English history was this more fullyexemplified than at that of which we are now speaking. The Cavaliers,on their side, were not without the support of a rabble of their own;and by these, the slang of the tavern, the bear garden, and thebrothel, was exhausted to furnish epithets of scorn, contempt, andridicule, by which they might insult their fanatical opponents.
To the mental eye of Cuthbert the two victims of a severe andintolerant hierarchy stood out in large and disproportionategrandeur,--filling all the foreground of the picture upon which he nowgazed to the exclusion of all other objects.
He saw them bearing the evident marks of torture and degradation ontheir mutilated forms. They had been thus treated, according to hisnotion, for a mere error in judgment--they were sufferers forconscience-sake:--his heart grew hot within him,--and he would havecalled down fire from heaven on the heads of their oppressors.
He accompanied the crowd all through Westminster; and, in theeagerness of his excited mood, pressed in once close to the horse ofPrynne, that he might utter a "God save you, master!" to the sternPuritan, face to face.
There was a keen twinkle of triumph in the little eyes of the sourprecisian, which showed that he felt his day of revenge would sooncome, and that it would be his turn to play inquisitor towards hislate haughty oppressor.
However, he would have been more than human had he been superior tosuch an infirmity, after sustaining injuries so great.
It happened on the day of this public entry of Prynne and Burton thatCuthbert was alone in the quarter of Westminster; and having remaineda long time gazing on the show, he went into a tavern in a narrowstreet behind the Abbey to refresh.
After satisfying his hunger over a fine joint of roast beef in companywith a grave looking lawyer, who sat opposite him at the same table,with a roll of parchments and papers by his side, the man of lawproposed a cup of canary to the health of Masters Prynne and Burton,in which he was readily seconded by Cuthbert.
"Ah," said the stranger bitterly, "this is a different kind ofprocession to the fool's mummery which they made us play seven yearsago, before the wanton queen and her dancing French gentlemen."
"What! you mean the mask of the inns of court, on Candlemas-day, sevenyears ago?" asked Cuthbert.
"Just so: that was got up to tickle the court party, and trample downPrynne and his book; but tables are turning."
"Well, though I think they were very tyrannical about Prynne, I didnot like his book; and never saw any harm in a mask or an interlude."
"Why, to judge by your looks, you could only have been a boy when thatmask was given, and perhaps you did not see it."
"That is true; but I read the account of it that was printed, andsurely it was a brave and glorious show; and, methinks, there weresome witty hints given his Majesty in the anti-masks, which he mightbe the wiser for."
"The man Charles Stuart," said the stranger, "will never be the betterfor hints."
It was the first time that Cuthbert had ever heard from any lips soirreverent a mention of the King, and he coloured and was silent.
"I say he will never be the better for hints,--though it is true thatsome of them were broad enough, and too humorous for offence; but youhave forgotten that there was one anti-mask got up by the serviles toinsult the poor. If it may not have a sneer of ridicule for povertyand misfortune, the pleasure of the proud wanteth its best relish."
"I do not understand you," said Cuthbert; "of what speak you, master?"
"Of that which has been played in joke, and shall come to pass inearnest. Little they thought, with their gibes and their mockery, thatthey were but foreshowing events, which the turn of the wheel is evennow bringing to pass. I do remember all their gilded chariots and richapparel, and gay liveries; and in the midst of that costly show, thererode an anti-mask of cripples and beggars, clothed in rags, andmounted on sorry lean jades, gotten out of dust carts, with dirtyurchins snapping tongs and shovels before them for music,--and thuswas the noble music, and thus were the gallant horses, and the velvetsand silks and spangled habits, made more pleasing to the painted courtJezebels by the pitiful contrast. Shall not the Lord visit for thesethings?" he added, raising his voice, and changing the tone of it to asolemn sternness: "Yea, verily, he shall visit:--in his hand there isa cup,--and the dregs thereof shall be drunk out by theoppressors,--and the sword shall go through the land, and it shall bedrunk with blood."
The severe inference thus forced by the speaker from a triflingcircumstance, of which the joyous projectors of the interlude
thoughtperhaps very differently, and which might have been so turned by aplayful mind, as a caricature against the foreign musicians, then somuch about court; or, again, by a thoughtful mind, as a memento ofthose dark realities of human misery which invite and demandcompassion. This inference was at once received by Cuthbert as just.It touched a chord in his heart that immediately responded, and he wasplayed upon as a lute by his companion; till, at last, the latteropening a roll of parchment requested him to put down his name as asubscriber to the necessities of a few godly and persecuted men nowsuffering imprisonment for the great cause of liberty of conscience,and whose families were quite destitute.
From his slender purse Cuthbert instantly took the few crowns itcontained, and only reserving sufficient money to pay for his dinner,shook his new acquaintance heartily by the hand, and set forth on hisway to the city, where he lodged, with a heart glowing with the loveof God, of his country, and of mankind. His evil angel had only toappear clothed like an angel of light, and Cuthbert would follow,nothing doubting, whithersoever he was led. The false fire, whichglimmered over the dangerous quagmire of gloomy fanaticism, wasmistaken by Cuthbert for light from Heaven; and by the frequentperusal of controversies on religion, and a constant attendance on theprivate ministries of those fierce zealots, who were urging forwardthe overthrow of the Established Church, he became at length totallybewildered. It was in vain that Francis Heywood exposed to him thehypocrisy and inconsistency of some of those wolves in sheep'sclothing by whom he was now continually surrounded, to the neglect ofHeywood's own society and that of the higher and better order of theParliamentarian supporters. He listened with pity to remonstranceswhich he considered as proceeding from a man of the world, and adeceived soul wandering in darkness; nevertheless his affectionatedisposition survived the strength of his reason. He looked up to andloved Francis Heywood as a model of what the natural man might attainto; and as in their political views they were altogether agreed, theyvery often met. The ardent Francis might indeed have well doubted ofthe soundness of a political creed which numbered among its supporterssuch diversified and crazy characters as those whom he saw dailyembrace it: but although he was not able to endure their sanctimoniousprofessions, and morose manners, he viewed them as instrumentsnecessary to the present warfare of principles; and, having returnedfrom America on purpose to stand up for the popular rights, heremained steadfastly at his post, watching with intense interest theproceedings of parliament, and eager for the moment when thoseservices, which he came to offer, might be required in the field.
In one particular the lives of Francis Heywood and of Cuthbert Nobleduring the two following years corresponded well. Never were thosehard duties which self-denial enjoins, practised with a more resoluteand cheerful virtue. The means of both were slender; and theysupported themselves by the exercise of their respective talents withcredit and success.
Cuthbert attended daily in the families of two or three merchants ofthe Puritan party as classical tutor to their boys; while FrancisHeywood, reserving with great care the sum necessary to purchase agood charger, and military equipments, whenever he might need them,maintained his current expenses by the drawing of maps, plans, andviews illustrative of the late campaigns of Gustavus Adolphus, and ofthe actual warfare in Germany which was then carrying on. Thesedrawings found a sufficient sale, among the curious in such matters,to remunerate the light labour of producing them; and though theprintseller, who purchased them from Francis, told him that gentlemen,very capable of advancing his interests, had made inquiries after him,yet he was forbidden by Francis to disclose his residence, or toanswer any questions about him. His leisure from this easy occupationwas employed in useful studies or in manly exercises. He dailyfrequented a school of arms, not for instruction, indeed, for he was amaster of all weapons, but for health and diversion; and for the sameend he went often to the grand manege in the quarter of the court;where he was so great a favourite with the chevalier, who taught thegraces of horsemanship, that he was asked as a kindness to exercisethe most spirited and beautiful animals of his stud in the opencountry:--an offer which, from the delight he took in the amusement ofschooling a young and high bred horse, he very often accepted.
Francis Heywood was not unknown to many families with whom his fatherhad been intimate; and by some of them, notwithstanding his fortunesand his politics, and by others on account of them, he was invited toseveral houses, where he might have enjoyed all the pleasures and therefinements of social life; but he very rarely accepted theirinvitations, not merely from mistaken pride, but from a disrelish ofscenes which would always so strongly and painfully suggest to him thehappy intercourse he had once enjoyed in that domestic circle, ofwhich his adored Katharine was at once the charm and the idol.
Upon this sweet memory, in lonely hours of leisure, his mind wouldfeed, and he would discourse of it, not indeed in words, but in thesoft breathings of his lute; till, suddenly, by the strong effort of amanly will, he would tear himself from the dangerous indulgence, andsit closely down to his writing desk, that he might complete theminute journal of public events which he kept for his father, anddespatched, as opportunities offered, to New England.
To the review of these grave subjects he brought a generous spirit;and it was not without an occasional pang that he related the progressand triumph of the cause to which he was sincerely attached.
He could not but exult to see the principles of government openlyexamined, and the just rights and liberties of the people clearlydefined.
He looked with veneration upon the labours of the Commons; and hewatched with jealousy the advisers of the crown, and the sycophantsabout the court. He saw many abuses rectified, many grievancesredressed. He saw the iniquitous Star Chamber and the High CommissionCourt abolished,--and a noble security against a return ofmisgovernment and tyranny in the famous bill for a triennialparliament.
This last measure, the main pillar of the new constitution, wasreceived by the whole nation with rejoicings; and when it passedsolemn thanks were presented to his Majesty by both houses ofparliament. But the sincerity of the court party and the moderation ofthe reformers were alike suspicious. The passions, the prejudices,and the interests of conflicting parties had been too rudely arousedby discussion to subside without an explosive collision; and it wasevident to Francis that the struggle between the prerogatives of thecrown and the privileges of parliament would never terminate withoutan appeal to arms.
He shuddered to see the scaffold stained with the blood of Strafford;and though he was among those who clamoured against the minister, heprofoundly commiserated the man, as the abandoned victim of hisparty,--and in his heart he despised Charles for signing thedeath-warrant of his favourite.
