The Broken Font: A Story of the Civil War, Vol. 1 (of 2)

by Moyle Sherer

  CHAP. XVIII.

  With that the mighty thunder dropt away From God's unwary arm, now milder grown, And melted into tears. GILES FLETCHER.

  In such a spirit Noble endured the pelting of the storm, and listenedto the rolling of the thunder, and gazed upon the dread illuminationwhich flashed at intervals on the desolate and dreary rocks aroundhim. The fury of this summer tempest was soon exhausted:--theexceeding blackness of the clouds gave place to a lighter, though asunless, sky; the claps of thunder were few and distant, and thelightning became a faint and harmless coruscation. The rain was thinand transparent; and Noble continued his way on foot, followed by hisold mare, whose docility was that of an aged dog. They had notproceeded above two hundred yards when the mare gave a sudden start,and ran up a heap of loose stones on the right of the road. On theleft of it, at the foot of a tremendous precipice, Noble descried theobject which had alarmed her, and which, but for her fright, he shouldhave passed without notice. A man lay upon the ground bleeding. Nobleimmediately crossed to the spot, and stooping down, he recognised theperson of the stern fanatic, whose conduct at Wells has been relatedin the foregoing chapter. He was insensible, but did not, uponexamination, appear to have sustained any injury more serious than asevere and stunning bruise; as well as a cut on the forehead from asharp flint. From the prints of his horse's feet, it seemed evident,at first, that he had been thrown where he then lay, and had fainted;but on looking again, Noble observed that his pockets were turnedinside out, and that his sword and cartridge belt were gone; for heremembered in the morning to have remarked his arms very particularly,and to have been struck by the circumstance of a man of his rigidungraceful figure sitting so admirably on horseback, and managing theyoung animal which he rode with such a light and easy hand. Moreover,he now saw that the impressions of the horse's hoofs had been madebefore the rain had fallen. His first care was to endeavour to restorethe sufferer from his swoon. This he soon effected by chafing the bodyto restore circulation, and by applying to the nostrils a pungentpreparation, which he always carried about with him, as a preservativefrom infection, when his duties called him to visit the sick beds ofthose who were afflicted with any disease considered pestilential.When Noble had satisfied himself that the unfortunate man was a littlerecovered by the returning consciousness in his eyes, and theregularity of his breathing, he went after his mare. She had notstrayed far, and he soon brought her back, and after a while he hadthe satisfaction to observe that the wounded traveller was able tomove and sit up. He now persuaded and assisted him to get upon thepatient beast, and supporting him in the saddle with his hand, movedoff slowly towards Cheddar. Half a mile on they met plain Peter, whohad come out to look for his master, and was wondering anduncomfortable at the unusual lateness of his return.

  The sight explained itself; and the honest domestic expressing somesorrow for the sufferer, but more for his master, took his place onthe other side of the mare, and aided Noble in the task of supportingthe stranger, who was so weak and exhausted that he could hardly beheld upon the saddle by their joint exertions for the rest of theroad.

  Although not a syllable had been uttered by the object of their care,that was intelligible to either, and although Noble had not mentioneda word about having seen him at Wells, still Peter had an instinctivedislike to the man's features and his dress--from both of which hepronounced him a Puritan. He went so far as to provoke an angry rebukefrom his master for opposing the benevolent resolution of the latterto take him to his own house.

  "Surely," said Peter, "a pallet at the Jolly Woodman will serve histurn:--he'll be well enough taken care of by Dame Crowther: why bringhim home to trouble and frighten my good mistress, and to make a fuss,and a dirt, and a sick house of the parsonage?"

  "Peter," said Noble, "how would you like to be dealt by if you hadfallen among thieves, and lay bruised and bleeding, and without afriend or a penny?"

  "Why, I should think an inn good enough for me; and so it is writ inthe Bible."

  "Peter you are hard--and know not what spirit you are of--and speakfoolishly."

  "Ah! well I mind what you said once about that parable, and how youtold us that had the good Samaritan's house been over against the innhe would have taken him in at his own gate;--but somehow I don't likethis fancy of yours--it will be a bad job:--when his saintship iswarmed by your fire, mayhap he will turn out a serpent."

  "Never use that word lightly, Peter. I have often forbade you totrifle with it--duties are ours, events are God's. I shall certainlytake this man in." Having thus decided, they went forward to theparsonage in silence. Mistress Noble came out eagerly as soon as theyappeared. Her mind was soon quieted on the surprise which the sight ofthe wounded stranger caused her, and her kind and hospitable heartacquiesced instantly to the proposal of her good husband.

  The sufferer was at once carefully put to bed; and Noble, as by hisown bright fire he put on the warm dry vestments which he found readyfor him in his study, revolved the singular incidents of the eventfulday with wonder, gratitude, and a calm confiding faith.

  He could not but reflect thankfully on his own escape from themisfortune which had befallen the temporary inmate of his dwelling.For want of a better booty, doubtless he would have been assaultedhimself by the robbers who had fallen upon the Puritan; and, had henot been preceded by this traveller on the road, or had he left Wellsat an earlier hour, he might have suffered in his room, or shared hisfate.

  Again, how strange that a daring enthusiast, who had that very morningviolated the sanctity of the cathedral, and had insulted theministers of the church in their decent performance of public andsolemn worship, should, before the setting of the sun which hadwitnessed his impiety, be laid in the dust, and left dependent uponone who had been revolted by his fierce conduct for the mercies ofhelp and protection.

  "To-morrow," said Noble to his wife, as he related to her all thecircumstances which had taken place at Wells, "when our guest is in areasonable and repenting mood, I may, perhaps, speak a word in seasonthat shall serve to deliver him from the chains of that cruel andbigoted spirit of persecution by which he is held. God preserve ourCuthbert from the hateful errors of men like these! It has been wellobserved, that though the fanatic cannot be seduced by the love of anysinful pleasures, yet that he can be readily persuaded to walk inblood by the lust of a power which he deceives himself in thinking heshould assuredly use to the glory of the King of heaven, and thebenefit of the faithful people of God. When will Christians learnthat the kingdom of the Messiah is not of this world?"

  They had not retired for the night, when their worthy neighbourBlount, the franklin, who had but just returned from Glastonbury, camein to learn the particulars of what had occurred at Wells, and to tellthe bad news which he had heard at Glastonbury that morning.

  "The devil is busy enough, Master Noble," said the old man as heentered: "there is a little party of vinegar-faced rogues coming tothe Bald Raven at Axbridge to-morrow, who call themselves 'aCorresponding Committee for informing and aiding the Grand Committeeof Religion and that for scandalous Ministers;' and they tell me thatthat sour hypocrite Daws is as busy as a bee among them already. Butwhat is this I hear about one of these godly rogues having been halfmurdered under the cliff and lying in your house?"

  Noble told him all the circumstances; and Peter, who had lingered alittle at the parlour door, said, "Ay, I can see by Master Blount'seyebrows he don't think it were a wise job to take this round-headedmadman in here. Why he's talking a pack of wild stuff enough tofrighten the maidens out of their wits."

  On hearing this, Noble, accompanied by Blount, went up stairs to thechamber of their inmate, and found him sitting upright in his bed, andparleying with some visionary appearance, after a wild but mostearnest manner.

  As soon as they entered the room, he turned towards them and sniffedrepeatedly, then gravely said, "Two good spirits and one bad--verily Iam not forsaken--two to one against thee, Beelzebub--look gentlespirits--look
upon the wall--there goes a coach drawn by lions andtigers--there goes Everard the conjurer in boots and spurs--here isthe great fiery dragon--who hath taken away my trusty sword?--where ismy horse?--a horse is a vain thing to save a man--see how itgrows--the dragon--the great red dragon--taller--taller--it fills theroom--save Lord, or I perish."

  To these wild, incoherent expressions, produced by the strange imageswhich flitted before his troubled fancy, succeeded a profuseperspiration, and they persuaded him to lie down under the blankets,that he might obtain the full benefit of such a relief.

  He did so, and they could now only hear whispered murmurs, and humbletones, as of a person praying with tears. Noble himself was notunaffected by this scene; and even Blount admitted, that, if it werenot for the mischief they did, some of these enthusiasts were ratherto be pitied than punished. "Now here," said he, "is a case, wherethey should shave the head and lock up the poor creature in anhospital; but the worst matter is, they go about like mad dogs, bitingall the folk they meet--and so they must e'en be dealt with in likemanner."

  "You are not far wrong, neighbour, in judging many of them crazy; butthere are cunning men behind to urge them on: and there certainly aremany excellent and pious persons, who, as they stand on the same sidein this sad quarrel, give a credit to the cause of these levellers inchurch and state which they otherwise would want; and, notwithstandingthe actions and utterances of the unknown individual before us, Icannot look upon him without interest and pity."

  An umph from old Peter, with a request that his master would go to bedhimself, and leave him to take care of the stranger, ended theconversation: Blount went away,--and Noble to his own chamber.

  At an early hour on the following morning two odd-looking servants, insad-coloured suits, mounted and armed, presented themselves at thegate of the vicarage, and inquired "if their master was not there, asfrom what they had heard at the blacksmith's shed they thought thatthe gentleman, who had been robbed and wounded beneath the rocks, andwas now lying sick in that house, could be no other."

  "I don't think you are far wrong," said Peter, as he cocked his eyeaskew at their long lean faces and their plain liveries of a colourlike the cinders in the ash heap. "Like master like man, they say;though it's little I thought that the poor crazy body up stairs had aserving-man to truss up his points for him.--What do ye call yourmaster?"

  "The right worshipful and godly Sir Roger Zouch, an approved voice, afaithful witness, a preacher of the truth, a trier of spirits, a manof war--bold as a lion for his God."

  "Why, then, by my troth," said Peter, "thy master is here for acertainty, and lieth with a cracked skull in our blue room; and is nowtelling my good master how he fought last night with beasts fromEphesus, who is listening to him, poor simple kind soul as he is, withas much patience as if it was all sense and gospel."

  "Out upon thee, thou vile churl! talkest thou so of one of Zion'schampions? None of thy gibes and jeers, or it may be thine own crownwill feel the weight of my cudgel." So saying, the elder of the twodomestics alighted, and not waiting to be conducted, strode past Peterwith a rude thrust, and entered the house.

  "A plague o' thee!" grumbled Peter: "two can play at quarter staff, asI'll show thee;" and following him into the passage, he slammed thedoor behind him, and left the other servant alone with the two horsesbefore the wicket. This last, however, tarrying for no invitation,proceeded deliberately to the stable, and finding it open, introducedhis tired beasts to the astonished old mare; took off bridles andsaddles; and, plentifully supplying the rack and manger with hay andoats, entered the parson's kitchen, and taking a seat by the dresserdemanded of the frightened maids the creature comforts of breakfast.

  Old Peter, who had just been witnessing the meeting of master and manabove stairs, and whose cross temper had given way to a humour thathad been tickled by the quaint scene and the ludicrous speeches, cameshaking with laughter into the kitchen; but the tired and hungry groomwas in no laughing mood, and soon upset this grinning philosophy by asmart stroke of his whip across his shoulders.

  In a moment the old man caught up a broomstick to return the blow;and, though very unequal, either in strength or youth, was standing upmanfully against the assault, when the cook, whose spirit was rousedby Peter's danger, dipped her mop in a pail of foul water, andthrusting it into the groom's face, drove him into the yard with dirtycheeks and blinded eyes. The cry of "murder" having been in the meantime screamed forth at the top of her voice by the other maiden, thekitchen was instantly filled with every person in the house; for evenSir Roger Zouch himself, albeit in no seemly garb for appearing inpublic, descended close after Noble, and stood up in the midst of themrather like a ghost newly risen from the grave than true flesh andblood,--though the stain of the last was indeed sufficiently visiblebeneath the folds of the bandage about his head.

  "How now!" said Sir Roger, in a voice rather more stentorian thanmight have been expected from the plight in which he had been put tobed the night before, and in a tone of authority as if he had been inhis own mansion and with only his own household--"How now! brawlingsand fightings: who is the striker, Gabriel Goldworthy?" but beforethis slow elder had screwed his mouth up to reply, Peter answered inhis own blunt fashion, and the cook, in a shrill voice, chanted anecho to his complaint. Meantime the culprit groom, with a foul face,stood at the yard door as white as a stone with passion, while SirRoger thus rejoined:--

  "Verily, thou art a trouble to me, Abel, and makest me a reproachamong the people wheresoever I go: it was only last week, at thehostel of the Pied Bull in Tewksbury, thou didst raise a brawl aboutthy victuals at the buttery hatch: thou makest a god of thy belly.Remember that man liveth not by bread alone:--a good soldier mustendure hardness, and never strike but in battle, and then home. I fearthat thou art sensual, and it were not for thy godly grand-mother, andthis, thy God-fearing uncle Gabriel, the man of my right hand, I wouldsend thee back to thy ditching and delving."

  Abel muttered out that the children of Belial were making a mock ofhis master, and that he struck Peter in pure zeal for Sir Roger'shonour; this Gabriel affirmed of his own knowledge to be true, and SirRoger was pacified: but an opportunity of preaching, so favourable asit seemed to his weak judgment, was not to be neglected; he thereforeproceeded to deliver a long rambling discourse on prophecy; anddirected his looks and words with all the persuasive expression thathe could possibly command towards the distressed parson and his goodwife. He flattered himself that he had brought salvation to thathouse, and that all which had befallen him was in the order ofProvidence to that end. He had taken for his text, "Come out of her,my people;" and these words were repeated at the close of everypassage, with all the varieties of intonation that his voice admitted.All efforts to induce him to stop or return up stairs till he hadfinished this wearisome preachment were vain. He stood half an hourwith naked feet upon the kitchen stones, and was listened to even byPeter with a wonder so great, and with so painful a sense of hiscraziness, as forbade even a smile. He closed by so earnestly invokingpeace on that house, and enjoining the exhibition of a quiet and anorderly spirit so forcibly upon the offending Abel, that during therest of the day nothing disturbed the household.

  The hardy old Puritan nothing the worse for this exercise of hislungs, and very little so for the bruise and cut in his encounter withthe robbers the evening before, took his seat at Noble's dinner tableat noon, and seemed very sensible of the truly Christian hospitalityof his host.

  As arguments or any appeals to reason would so evidently be thrownaway upon a man under the prejudices and delusions of Sir Roger Zouch,Noble dexterously avoided inflaming the mind of his guest with adiscussion on grave matters, and led him to speak on other topics. Hefound that he had travelled a great deal, and had in his youth servedin the Low Countries. Upon these subjects he conversed rationally andpleasantly enough; and, as they walked after their meal into thegarden, he showed an acquaintance with plants and flowers, and aknowledge of the various methods of laying out a garden, wh
ich in sostern a fanatic would seem strange; but what is there so variable, soinconstant, as man?--he is "some twenty several men in every hour;"not that either the dinner or the walk in the garden passed overwithout sundry efforts to spiritualise and improve the subjects whichthose occasions offered. In the garden especially, after talking awhile like any other rational and well informed gentleman, he suddenlybroke out in a rhapsody about the approaching millennium, and thepersonal reign of the Messiah upon this earth. His politics wereviolent; but in this they differed not from many able and patrioticmen of the time. Against the church, however, his wrath evidentlyburned, and he affected to disbelieve the possibility of so pious aminister, as Noble plainly was, being sincerely resolved to remain inher communion. Upon this point, however, Noble was too bold and toohonest to conceal his resolutions.

  It so happened that the next morning, before Sir Roger Zouch left theparsonage of Cheddar, there came to Noble a summons to attend theCommittee of Inquiry into Church Matters, of which old Blount hadwarned the worthy parson on the evening of his return from Wells. Ofthis Noble informed his guest, and asked him if, as he saw the name ofZouch among the commissioners, it was any relation of his? The knightreplied in the affirmative, and told Noble not to trouble himself toattend; for that as he was himself going to Axbridge he would makeknown to the committee his wish that no molestation might be givenhim. To this Noble would by no means consent, till he had received asolemn promise from Sir Roger that he would not represent him as lessopposed to their proceedings against the church than he truly was, orless attached to that sacred institution which they sought to destroy.

  Thus was the trial of Noble for another brief season deferred, and themalicious designs and interested hopes of the meddling andhypocritical Daws were for the present disappointed. However, the goldwas yet to be put into the fire at the appointed time.

  All these circumstances were related by Noble in a letter to his sonCuthbert, exactly as they occurred, with very little comment, andthus, as he rightly judged, they would make a forcible impression onhis mind. They did so: a due consideration of them delivered him fromsome of his own delusions, and opened his eyes to those of a few ofhis companions; and though he was not at all more separated from theNon-conformists, yet he attached himself to the most sober amongthem.