by Walter Scott
CHAPTER XXIX: RECRIMINATION
Thy time is not yet out--the devil thou servest Has not as yet deserted thee. He aids The friends who drudge for him, as the blind man Was aided by the guide, who lent his shoulder O'er rough and smooth, until he reached the brink Of the fell precipice--then hurl'd him downward.
OLD PLAY
When obeying the command, or rather the request of Louis--for he wasin circumstances in which, though a monarch, he could only request LeGlorieux to go in search of Martius Galeotti--the jester had no troublein executing his commission, betaking himself at once to the best tavernin Peronne, of which he himself was rather more than an occasionalfrequenter, being a great admirer of that species of liquor whichreduced all other men's brains to a level with his own.
He found, or rather observed, the Astrologer in the corner of the publicdrinking room--stove, as it is called in German and Flemish, fromits principal furniture--sitting in close colloquy with a female ina singular and something like a Moorish or Asiatic garb, who, as LeGlorieux approached Martius, rose as in the act to depart.
"These," said the stranger, "are news upon which you may rely withabsolute certainty," and with that disappeared among the crowd of guestswho sat grouped at different tables in the apartment.
"Cousin Philosopher," said the jester, presenting himself, "Heaven nosooner relieves one sentinel than it sends another to supply the place.One fool being gone, here I come another, to guide you to the apartmentsof Louis of France."
"And art thou the messenger?" said Martius, gazing on him with promptapprehension, and discovering at once the jester's quality, though lessintimated, as we have before noticed, than was usual, by his externalappearance.
"Ay, sir, and like your learning," answered Le Glorieux. "When Powersends Folly to entreat the approach of Wisdom, 't is a sure sign whatfoot the patient halts upon."
"How if I refuse to come, when summoned at so late an hour by such amessenger?" said Galeotti.
"In that case, we will consult your ease, and carry you," said LeGlorieux. "Here are half a score of stout Burgundian yeomen at the door,with whom He of Crevecoeur has furnished me to that effect. For knowthat my friend Charles of Burgundy and I have not taken away our kinsmanLouis's crown, which he was ass enough to put into our power, but haveonly filed and clipt it a little, and, though reduced to the size of aspangle, it is still pure gold. In plain terms, he is still paramountover his own people, yourself included, and Most Christian King of theold dining hall in the Castle of Peronne, to which you, as his liegesubject, are presently obliged to repair."
"I attend you, sir," said Martius Galeotti, and accompanied Le Glorieuxaccordingly--seeing, perhaps, that no evasion was possible.
"Ay, sir," said the Fool, as they went towards the Castle, "you do well;for we treat our kinsman as men use an old famished lion in his cage,and thrust him now and then a calf to mumble, to keep his old jaws inexercise."
"Do you mean," said Martius, "that the King intends me bodily injury?"
"Nay, that you can guess better than I," said the jester; "for thoughthe night be cloudy, I warrant you can see the stars through the mist.I know nothing of the matter, not I--only my mother always told me to gowarily near an old rat in a trap, for he was never so much disposed tobite."
The Astrologer asked no more questions, and Le Glorieux, according tothe custom of those of his class, continued to run on in a wild anddisordered strain of sarcasm and folly mingled together, until hedelivered the philosopher to the guard at the Castle gate of Peronne,where he was passed from warder to warder, and at length admitted withinHerbert's Tower.
The hints of the jester had not been lost on Martius Galeotti, and hesaw something which seemed to confirm them in the look and manner ofTristan, whose mode of addressing him, as he marshalled him to theKing's bedchamber, was lowering, sullen, and ominous. A close observerof what passed on earth, as well as among the heavenly bodies, thepulley and the rope also caught the Astrologer's eye; and as the latterwas in a state of vibration he concluded that some one who had been busyadjusting it had been interrupted in the work by his sudden arrival. Allthis he saw, and summoned together his subtilty to evade the impendingdanger, resolved, should he find that impossible, to defend himself tothe last against whomsoever should assail him.
Thus resolved, and with a step and look corresponding to thedetermination he had taken, Martius presented himself before Louis,alike unabashed at the miscarriage of his predictions, and undismayed atthe Monarch's anger, and its probable consequences.
"Every good planet be gracious to your Majesty!" said Galeotti, withan inclination almost Oriental in manner. "Every evil constellationwithhold its influence from my royal master!"
"Methinks," replied the King, "that when you look around this apartment,when you think where it is situated, and how guarded, your wisdom mightconsider that my propitious stars had proved faithless and that eachevil conjunction had already done its worst. Art thou not ashamed,Martius Galeotti, to see me here and a prisoner, when you recollect bywhat assurances I was lured hither?"
"And art thou not ashamed, my royal Sire?" replied the philosopher,"thou, whose step in science was so forward, thy apprehension so quick,thy perseverance so unceasing--art thou not ashamed to turn from thefirst frown of fortune, like a craven from the first clash of arms?Didst thou propose to become participant of those mysteries which raisemen above the passions, the mischances, the pains, the sorrows of life,a state only to be attained by rivalling the firmness of the ancientStoic, and dost thou shrink from the first pressure of adversity, andforfeit the glorious prize for which thou didst start as a competitor,frightened out of the course, like a scared racer, by shadowy and unrealevils?"
"Shadowy and unreal! frontless as thou art!" exclaimed the King. "Isthis dungeon unreal?--the weapons of the guards of my detested enemyBurgundy, which you may hear clash at the gate, are those shadows? What,traitor, are real evils, if imprisonment, dethronement, and danger oflife are not so?"
"Ignorance--ignorance, my brother, and prejudice," answered the sage,with great firmness, "are the only real evils. Believe me that Kings inthe plenitude of power, if immersed in ignorance and prejudice, are lessfree than sages in a dungeon, and loaded with material chains. Towardsthis true happiness it is mine to guide you--be it yours to attend to myinstructions."
"And it is to such philosophical freedom that your lessons would haveguided me?" said the King very bitterly. "I would you had told me atPlessis that the dominion promised me so liberally was an empire overmy own passions; that the success of which I was assured, related to myprogress in philosophy, and that I might become as wise and as learnedas a strolling mountebank of Italy! I might surely have attained thismental ascendency at a more moderate price than that of forfeitingthe fairest crown in Christendom, and becoming tenant of a dungeon inPeronne! Go, sir, and think not to escape condign punishment.--There isa Heaven above us!"
"I leave you not to your fate," replied Martius, "until I havevindicated, even in your eyes, darkened as they are, that reputation,a brighter gem than the brightest in thy crown, and at which the worldshall wonder, ages after all the race of Capet [the surname of the kingsof France, beginning with Hugh Capet, 987] are mouldered into oblivionin the charnels of Saint Denis."
"Speak on," said Louis. "Thine impudence cannot make me change mypurposes or my opinion.--Yet as I may never again pass judgment as aKing, I will not censure thee unheard. Speak, then--though the best thoucanst say will be to speak the truth. Confess that I am a dupe, thouan impostor, thy pretended science a dream, and the planets which shineabove us as little influential of our destiny as their shadows, whenreflected in the river, are capable of altering its course."
"And how know'st thou," answered the Astrologer boldly, "the secretinfluence of yonder blessed lights? Speak'st thou of their inability toinfluence waters, when yet thou know'st that ever the weakest, the moonherself--weakest because nearest to this wretched earth of ours--holdsunde
r her domination not such poor streams as the Somme, but the tidesof the mighty ocean itself, which ebb and increase as her disc waxes andwanes, and watch her influence as a slave waits the nod of a Sultana?And now, Louis of Valois, answer my parable in turn.--Confess, art thounot like the foolish passenger, who becomes wroth with his pilotbecause he cannot bring the vessel into harbour without experiencingoccasionally the adverse force of winds and currents? I could indeedpoint to thee the probable issue of thine enterprise as prosperous, butit was in the power of Heaven alone to conduct thee thither; and if thepath be rough and dangerous, was it in my power to smooth or render itmore safe? Where is thy wisdom of yesterday, which taught thee so trulyto discern that the ways of destiny are often ruled to our advantage,though in opposition to our wishes?"
"You remind me--you remind me," said the King hastily, "of one specificfalsehood. You foretold yonder Scot should accomplish his enterprisefortunately for my interest and honour; and thou knowest it has soterminated that no more mortal injury could I have received than fromthe impression which the issue of that affair is like to make onthe excited brain of the Mad Bull of Burgundy. This is a directfalsehood.--Thou canst plead no evasion here--canst refer to no remotefavourable turn of the tide, for which, like an idiot sitting onthe bank until the river shall pass away, thou wouldst have me waitcontentedly.--Here thy craft deceived thee.--Thou wert weak enough tomake a specific prediction, which has proved directly false."
"Which will prove most firm and true," answered the Astrologer boldly."I would desire no greater triumph of art over ignorance, than thatprediction and its accomplishment will afford.--I told thee he wouldbe faithful in any honourable commission.--Hath he not been so?--I toldthee he would be scrupulous in aiding any evil enterprise.--Hath he notproved so?--If you doubt it, go ask the Bohemian, Hayraddin Maugrabin."
The King here coloured deeply with shame and anger.
"I told thee," continued the Astrologer, "that the conjunction ofplanets under which he set forth augured danger to the person--andhath not his path been beset by danger?--I told thee that it augured anadvantage to the sender--and of that thou wilt soon have the benefit."
"Soon have the benefit!" exclaimed the King. "Have I not the resultalready, in disgrace and imprisonment?"
"No," answered the Astrologer, "the End is not as yet--thine own tongueshall ere long confess the benefit which thou hast received, fromthe manner in which the messenger bore himself in discharging thycommission."
"This is too--too insolent," said the King, "at once to deceive and toinsult.--But hence!--think not my wrongs shall be unavenged.--There is aHeaven above us!"
Galeotti turned to depart.
"Yet stop," said Louis; "thou bearest thine imposture bravely out.--Letme hear your answer to one question and think ere you speak.--Can thypretended skill ascertain the hour of thine own death?"
"Only by referring to the fate of another," said Galeotti.
"I understand not thine answer," said Louis.
"Know then, O King," said Martius, "that this only I can tell withcertainty concerning mine own death, that it shall take place exactlytwenty-four hours before that of your Majesty."
[This story appropriated by Scott was told of Tiberius, whose soothsayermade the prediction that his own death would take place three daysbefore that of the Emperor. Louis received a similar reply from asoothsayer, who had foretold the death of one of his favourites. Greatlyincensed, he arranged for the death of the soothsayer when he shouldleave the royal presence after an interview. When Louis questioned himas to the day of his death, the astrologer answere that "it would beexactly three days before that of his Majesty. There was, of course,care taken that he should escape his destined fate, and he was everafter much protected by the King, as a man of real science, andintimately connected with the royal destinies." S.... Louis wasthe slave of his physicians also. Cottier, one of these, was paid aretaining fee of ten thousand crowns, besides great sums in lands andmoney. "He maintained over Louis unbounded influence, by using to himthe most disrespectful harshness and insolence. 'I know,' he said to thesuffering King, 'that one morning you will turn me adrift like so manyothers. But, by Heaven, you had better beware, for you will not liveeight days after you have done so!' S.]
"Ha! sayest thou?" said Louis, his countenance again altering."Hold--hold--go not--wait one moment.--Saidst thou, my death shouldfollow thine so closely?"
"Within the space of twenty-four hours," repeated Galeotti firmly, "ifthere be one sparkle of true divination in those bright and mysteriousintelligences, which speak, each on their courses, though without atongue. I wish your Majesty good rest."
"Hold--hold--go not," said the King, taking him by the arm, and leadinghim from the door. "Martius Galeotti, I have been a kind master tothee--enriched thee--made thee my friend--my companion--the instructorof my studies.--Be open with me, I entreat you.--Is there aught inthis art of yours in very deed?--Shall this Scot's mission be, in fact,propitious to me?--And is the measure of our lives so very--very nearlymatched? Confess, my good Martius, you speak after the trick of yourtrade.--Confess, I pray you, and you shall have no displeasure at myhand. I am in years--a prisoner--likely to be deprived of a kingdom--toone in my condition truth is worth kingdoms, and it is from thee,dearest Martius, that I must look for this inestimable jewel."
"And I have laid it before your Majesty," said Galeotti, "at the riskthat, in brutal passion, you might turn upon me and rend me."
"Who, I, Galeotti?" replied Louis mildly. "Alas! thou mistakest me!--AmI not captive--and should not I be patient, especially since my angercan only show my impotence?--Tell me then in sincerity.--Have you fooledme?--Or is your science true, and do you truly report it?"
"Your Majesty will forgive me if I reply to you," said Martius Galeotti,"that time only--time and the event, will convince incredulity. It suitsill the place of confidence which I have held at the council tableof the renowned conqueror, Matthias Corvinus of Hungary--nay, in thecabinet of the Emperor himself--to reiterate assurances of that whichI have advanced as true. If you will not believe me, I can but refer tothe course of events. A day or two days' patience will prove or disprovewhat I have averred concerning the young Scot, and I will be contentedto die on the wheel, and have my limbs broken joint by joint, if yourMajesty have not advantage, and that in a most important degree, fromthe dauntless conduct of that Quentin Durward. But if I were to dieunder such tortures, it would be well your Majesty should seek a ghostlyfather, for, from the moment my last groan is drawn, only twenty-fourhours will remain to you for confession and penitence."
Louis continued to keep hold of Galeotti's robe as he led him towardsthe door, and pronounced, as he opened it, in a loud voice, "Tomorrow we'll talk more of this. Go in peace, my learned father.--Go in peace.--Goin peace!"
He repeated these words three times; and, still afraid that the ProvostMarshal might mistake his purpose, he led the Astrologer into the hall,holding fast his robe, as if afraid that he should be torn from him, andput to death before his eyes. He did not unloose his grasp until he hadnot only repeated again and again the gracious phrase, "Go in peace,"but even made a private signal to the Provost Marshal to enjoin asuspension of all proceedings against the person of the Astrologer.
Thus did the possession of some secret information, joined to audaciouscourage and readiness of wit, save Galeotti from the most imminentdanger; and thus was Louis, the most sagacious, as well as the mostvindictive, amongst the monarchs of the period, cheated of his revengeby the influence of superstition upon a selfish temper and a mind towhich, from the consciousness of many crimes, the fear of death waspeculiarly terrible.
He felt, however, considerable mortification at being obliged torelinquish his purposed vengeance, and the disappointment seemed tobe shared by his satellites, to whom the execution was to have beencommitted. Le Balafre alone, perfectly indifferent on the subject, sosoon as the countermanding signal was given, left the door at which hehad posted himself, and in a few minu
tes was fast asleep. The ProvostMarshal, as the group reclined themselves to repose in the hall afterthe King retired to his bedchamber, continued to eye the goodly form ofthe Astrologer with the look of a mastiff watching a joint of meat whichthe cook had retrieved from his jaws, while his attendants communicatedto each other in brief sentences, their characteristic sentiments.
"The poor blinded necromancer," whispered Trois Eschelles, with an airof spiritual unction and commiseration, to his comrade, Petit Andre,"hath lost the fairest chance of expiating some of his vile sorceries,by dying through means of the cord of the blessed Saint Francis, and Ihad purpose, indeed, to leave the comfortable noose around his neck, toscare the foul fiend from his unhappy carcass."
"And I," said Petit Andre, "have missed the rarest opportunity ofknowing how far a weight of seventeen stone will stretch a three pliedcord!--It would have been a glorious experiment in our line--and thejolly old boy would have died so easily!"
While this whispered dialogue was going forward, Martius, who had takenthe opposite side of the huge stone fireplace, round which thewhole group was assembled, regarded them askance, and with a look ofsuspicion. He first put his hand into his vest, and satisfied himselfthat the handle of a very sharp double edged poniard, which he alwayscarried about him, was disposed conveniently for his grasp; for, as wehave already noticed, he was, though now somewhat unwieldy, a powerful,athletic man, and prompt and active at the use of his weapon. Satisfiedthat this trusty instrument was in readiness, he next took from hisbosom a scroll of parchment, inscribed with Greek characters, and markedwith cabalistic signs, drew together the wood in the fireplace, and madea blaze by which he could distinguish the features and attitude ofall who sat or lay around--the heavy and deep slumbers of the Scottishsoldier, who lay motionless, with rough countenance as immovable as ifit were cast in bronze--the pale and anxious face of Oliver, who at onetime assumed the appearance of slumber, and again opened his eyes andraised his head hastily, as if stung by some internal throe, or awakenedby some distant sound--the discontented, savage, bulldog aspect of theProvost, who looked--
"frustrate of his will, not half sufficed, and greedy yet to kill"
--while the background was filled up by the ghastly, hypocriticalcountenance of Trois Eschelles--whose eyes were cast up towards Heaven,as if he was internally saying his devotions--and the grim drolleryof Petit Andre, who amused himself with mimicking the gestures and wryfaces of his comrade before he betook himself to sleep.
Amidst these vulgar and ignoble countenances nothing could show togreater advantage than the stately form, handsome mien, and commandingfeatures of the Astrologer, who might have passed for one of the ancientmagi, imprisoned in a den of robbers, and about to invoke a spirit toaccomplish his liberation. And, indeed, had he been distinguished bynothing else than the beauty of the graceful and flowing beard whichdescended over the mysterious roll which he held in his hand, one mighthave been pardoned for regretting that so noble an appendage had beenbestowed on one who put both talents, learning, and the advantages ofeloquence, and a majestic person, to the mean purposes of a cheat and animposter.
Thus passed the night in Count Herbert's Tower, in the Castle ofPeronne. When the first light of dawn penetrated the ancient Gothicchamber, the King summoned Oliver to his presence, who found the Monarchsitting in his nightgown, and was astonished at the alteration which onenight of mortal anxiety had made in his looks. He would have expressedsome anxiety on the subject, but the King silenced him by entering intoa statement of the various modes by which he had previously endeavouredto form friends at the Court of Burgundy, and which Oliver was chargedto prosecute so soon as he should be permitted to stir abroad.
And never was that wily minister more struck with the clearness of theKing's intellect, and his intimate knowledge of all the springs whichinfluence human actions, than he was during that memorable consultation.
About two hours afterwards, Oliver accordingly obtained permission fromthe Count of Crevecoeur to go out and execute the commissions which hismaster had intrusted him with, and Louis, sending for the Astrologer, inwhom he seemed to have renewed his faith, held with him, in like manner,a long consultation, the issue of which appeared to give him morespirits and confidence than he had at first exhibited; so that hedressed himself, and received the morning compliments of Crevecoeur witha calmness at which the Burgundian Lord could not help Wondering, therather that he had already heard that the Duke had passed severalhours in a state of mind which seemed to render the King's safety veryprecarious.
