The Loyalists, Vol. 1-3

by Mrs. West

  CHAP. III.

  Man may the sterner virtues know, Determin'd Justice, Truth severe, But female hearts with Pity glow, And Woman holds affliction dear.

  Crabbe.

  The bells of Ribblesdale had hardly finished the merry peal whichannounced the joy of the villagers, that their sweet rose-bud, Isabel deBeaumont, was married to the strange gentleman, whom they had longthought a prince in disguise, come to make their good Doctor a Bishop,when an unexpected dispatch from London cast the deepest gloom on thebridegroom's joy.

  In this letter De Vallance conjured his friend to postpone his intendedreturn till his affairs took a brighter aspect.--The King at first borethe sad tidings of his favourite's death with such apparenttranquillity, that he proceeded unruffled to his devotions; yetreflecting on the circumstances of the deed, and deeply affected by aninterview with the widowed Duchess, who with her orphan children hadthrown herself at his feet and implored justice, he now cherished suchan appetite for revenge that it was suspected many lives would scarce bedeemed a fit atonement. He discharged the Duke's debts out of his privypurse, he promised to provide for his servants, and frowned on all whohad ever been his enemies. Thomas Felton had at first denied having anyaccomplice, and enthusiastically called himself the champion of aninjured people; yet it was expected that the close interrogatories towhich he would be exposed would overawe his firmness, and perhapsprevail on him to name some innocent persons as abettors of the crime.At all events Evellin must remain in privacy during the storm of theKing's anger, which now agitated him so violently that he would attendto no other business till the Duke's murder was thoroughlyinvestigated.--De Vallance concluded with describing the impatiencewhich both himself and Lady Eleanor felt to restore him to his honours;and he trusted that the Queen's growing influence would be useful inrecalling to the recollection of the King a person he had once highlyfavoured, while he saw in Buckingham an insolent minister rather than adevoted friend.

  Weary of delay, eager to vindicate his honour, yet at the same timeconscious of his own impetuosity, and confiding in the management of hisfriends, Evellin fretted at his situation, and yielding his mind toirritability, became incapable of cool discrimination or vigorousaction. He had borne a long banishment with melancholy patience,disdaining to complain, and affecting resignation, but he was then anunconnected man, and his fate was of small importance. A gleam of hope,improved by his sanguine temper into confident expectation, hadencouraged him to unite himself to a most amiable woman, in whose breasthe had excited an expectation of the most exalted fortunes. He had givenan implicit promise, that he would add to Dr. Beaumont's power of doinggood; and after this, must he still continue a nameless exile, poorlycontent to barter reputation for life!

  Subsequent dispatches from De Vallance heightened his distress. In amoment of extreme irritation, when, by long pondering on his own and thenation's wrongs, passion gained the ascendancy of judgement, Evellin ina confidential letter to Walter had anticipated with hope and exultationthe fate that afterwards befell the Duke of Buckingham. A sermon of Dr.Beaumont's afterwards convinced him of the guiltiness of an expression,which, though proceeding from a sudden unweighed suggestion rather thana deliberate purpose, yet, certainly, as our church has well determined,proves "the infection of our nature, and has in it the nature of sin."Convinced that positive evil may not be committed to procureproblematical good, and that no uninspired person should presume tothink himself God's champion, unless placed in that station whichvisibly arms him with his authority, Evellin had often lamented thisrash letter, as one of his secret faults. He now severely felt it also,as an imprudence, in having given vent to his angry feelings, even in aconfidential communication. De Vallance informed him that, through afatal mistake of his secretary, this very letter had been laid with someother papers, tending to prove him innocent of the death of Saville, andwas thus put along with them into the King's hands by the Queen, who hadgraciously undertaken to plead for the brother of her favourite LadyEleanor. No expiatory apology could be urged to weaken the effect ofsentiments attested by his own writing, and they were obliged to yieldhim to the storm, as the King now declared that mercy would becompromising blood. Walter was in despair. Lady Eleanor still determinedto watch for a favourable moment; they both continued his firm friends,and would punctually remit ample sums for his support, till some changein the state of affairs should again admit of their activeinterposition.

  How dreadful was Evellin's situation! Ruined by his own rashness, andrestrained from a step, to which impatience of present suffering hadlong impelled him, namely to throw himself on the King's mercy, andeither regain his birthright or forfeit his life! He was now a husband;he expected to be a father. Isabel must not be deserted in the hour ofdistress, and her life was bound up in his. She endured the change inher prospects with a cheerful serenity, that seemed as if she felt onlythe sorrows of her beloved. Nor did Dr. Beaumont betray any feelingwhich tended to shew that the expectation of stalls and mitres everwithdrew his thoughts from the celestial contemplations in which heloved to expatiate.

  "Why should I grieve for those who seem wrapped in measureless content?"said Evellin. "Is this apathy the effect of ignorance of greater good,or the result of a long indulged habit of contemning every exterioradvantage?--Isabel, while planning your baby-cloaths, or loitering amongyour flowers, you seem to forget that life admits of more exaltedpleasures and ampler scenes of duty. Have you no desire beyond fillingyour days with such a series of trivial occupations, which make ouryears glide away with undistinguishable sameness? Have you no wish toextend your views beyond Ribblesdale? Does the scene of life, exhibitedamong your native villagers, satisfy your wish of being acquainted withhuman nature? Do the mountains, which bound your horizon, limit yourdesire of seeing the wonders of your Creator's hand? When you read thehistory of the mighty and the good, your countenance expresses yourardour to emulate their actions; yet here you seem to wish to set upyour rest, and slumber away your life, content with security, andcareless of renown."

  "When I am summoned to another station," replied Isabel, "it will betime enough to cherish the feeling which will beseem it. At present,suffer me to think of the advantages of my own. In the hour of danger,and the decline of life, the most courageous spirits long for a quietharbour. Does not this shew that safety is desirable, and repose ablessing? The difference which even my inexperienced mind discovers,between the inward feeling and the exterior advantages of greatness,abates my wish to wear the gorgeous pall of splendid fortune. Yet,dearest Allan, I am aware, that our present state cannot be permanent.Two alternatives await us, either a restoration to your rank in society,or removal to a plate of greater security. The King will soon visitScotland, to receive his hereditary crown. He will pass throughRibblesdale, and my brothers duty will call him to attend him; is therea hope that he can plead your cause successfully, after the eloquence ofyour friend, and the address of your sister have failed?"

  Evellin answered, there was no probability.

  "Consider then," returned Isabel, "this place lies in a frequented road.Some busy courtier will be eager to beat the covert and start the noblequarry, which the King desires to hunt down. If indeed His Highness'smind is so obscured by anger, as to combine a rash expression and adeliberate plan of murder in the same degree of guilt; to condemn youunheard for one crime, and by implication make you accessary to another,can there be safety or honour in being his servant? Surely, my Allan'sloyalty once arrayed his Prince with visionary excellence; or Walteracted like one of those unskilful surgeons, who convert a slight woundinto a deep gangrene."

  The tone of displeasure, in which Evellin checked every suggestionagainst the integrity or discretion of his friend, had no other effecton Isabel's mind, than to convince her of her husband's unboundedconfidence. Walter's own letters furnished her with many reasons forsuspicion; there was in them a studied air of plausibility, a nicearrangement of minutiae, and a wary shiftin
g from important points, whichseemed to her strong but artless mind, more like the drapery of design,than the frank simplicity of truth. They were seldom replies toEvellin's statements or requests. The kindness they contained had theflourish of sentiment; there was much ostentatious display of trivialoffices of goodwill, and of those every-day assistances, which affectionwants memory to record. If Evellin seemed determined to risk all, by abold appeal to the laws, better prospects were held out, whichprecipitation would blast; and larger remittances were forwarded. If heaffected to be reconciled to obscurity, Walter, by gently censuring,actually confirmed the wise moderation of his choice, describinghimself as tired of the court, and reluctantly chained to it by therooted attachment of Lady Eleanor, who sparkled in the Queen's train,eclipsing all in splendor, and all but her royal mistress in beauty. Hesubjoined to these complaints of the unsatisfactoriness of a life ofpleasure, lamentable statements of the misrule of the King, and theoppression of his government, the arbitrary punishments of theStar-chamber, the illegal fines, loans and projects, by which the royalcoffers were filled, and concluded with affirming, that they only weresafe and happy, whose contracted wants, and mortified desires, asked butthe primeval simplicity of nature. All this time, though the honours ofthe house of Neville lay in abeyance, the rents were received by DeVallance, and Isabel wondered that so mortified a spirit should encumberitself with the dross which it affected to despise.

  Meantime Evellin, partially blinded by a fatal security, and in partdeprived of the use of his judgement by his acute feelings, at one timescorned to impute treachery to the friend of his youth; at another fearto trust even himself. One master stroke of policy still remained.Walter wrote to him in great alarm; their correspondence was discoveredto the King, and reported to be of a factious tendency. He was in themost imminent danger of being sacrificed to their mutual enemies. Heconjured Evellin to fly to some more remote retreat instantly, but firstto give up to the confidential agent, whom he named, all theircorrespondence, that he might instantly destroy it, lest it should fallinto the hands of those who would construe it into a disclosure of theKing's counsels. The credulous Evellin fell into the snare. He returnedall Walter's letters, and retired with his family to a freehold ofIsabel's, situated among the mountainous parts of Lancashire, and in hisanxiety for Walter's safety, forgot for a time his own troubles. Butthough their correspondence ceased, the voice of fame was not silent,and its echoes reached even to the Fourness Fells, telling that WalterDe Vallance was created Earl of Bellingham, and that all the possessionsof the ancient house of Neville were bestowed on Lady Eleanor.

  The ocean beats at the bottom of a cliff for ages, and imperceptiblywears its rugged projections to smoothness; but an earthquake overthrowsit in an instant. The mind of Evellin, which for a period of seven yearshad contended with hope and fear, sometimes almost suspecting, and atother times rejecting distrust, was by this proof of his friend'streachery, bereft of all fortitude and patience. Wounded by the neglectof the world, his confidence in Walter had been his preservative frommisanthropy; and when vexed at the recollection of his own imprudentfrankness and folly, in provoking the resentment of powerful foes, hesoothed his galled spirit by considering, that the guileless simplicityof his nature, which had raised those foes, had also secured him afaithful friend. That bright creation of his fancy disappeared, a chaosof duplicity, dark contrivance, and injustice remained: Walter provedfalse, his sister unnatural, his King a tyrant. So different were theseobjects from what he once believed them, that he doubted whether lifeafforded any realities. Did his Isabel really choose him for his ownmerit, or was latent ambition the spur to her affection? Did thevillage-pastor seek out and console a stranger from motives of Christianbenevolence, or had he discovered his rank and hopes, and on them formedexpectation of advancement?

  Whatever the most unalterable and entire affection, acting on a noblemind and an active temper, could do, Isabel performed with cheerfultenderness and never-wearied patience. To assist in supporting herfamily, she took the farm into her own management, and endeavoured torouse the attention of her much-altered husband, by pointing out thehumble, but secure comforts, which husbandry afforded. She dwelt onevery example of unhappy greatness; she reminded him, that to bedeceived by specious characters, was the common error of superiorunderstandings, who, lightly valuing the goods of fortune, never suspectthat to others they will prove irresistible temptations. Her surprise,she said, was not that the artful should impose upon the honourable, orthe mean ensnare the magnanimous; but that the former should have theaudacity to attempt to cozen those who were every way above them,because, in so doing, they must depend upon the operation of qualities,which their narrow hearts and warped principles could not allow them toestimate. She once went so far as to say, that it was not superiordiscernment, which enabled her to suspect the perfidiousness of Walter.She did not view him with the partiality of youthful affections; she wasignorant of the many ties which bound him to a brave and grateful heart.Her anxiety for her Allan kept her attention fixed on one object, theprogress which his agent made; and when she saw that the cause did notprosper in his hand, she searched for instances of mismanagement, andcombined circumstances to his prejudice, which were not likely to strikean affectionate friend, who was too confident in the actor to scrutinizethe action. How could she, who loved a brother with the sameunquestioning fidelity as Allan did Walter, condemn the errors ofoverflowing affection? Evellin listened in gloomy silence. Too deeplywounded to endure even this mild censure of his own folly, in the shapeof an apology for his weakness, he sternly enjoined her to avoid thattheme.

  Undismayed by such rebuffs, Isabel attempted other topics. She oftenassured him she was now more at her ease, than if seated at the head ofthe Earl's table, in Castle Bellingham. "I should have beenembarrassed," said she, "and might, perhaps, have acted wrong through mysolicitude to be very right. Our little household is easily catered for;hence we can devote the more time to our darling babes. Was not thehusbandman's life preferred by the wisest, the most favoured of mankind?Does it not afford health and peace? Are not our cares innocent, ourenjoyments unenvied? We do not anticipate, with aching hearts, the fallor the death of a rival; neither do we, after having distorted our faceswith the hilarity of forced merriment in public, meet, in our privacies,with anger and fear; reproaching each other for some neglect, andcommenting on the frowns of royalty. We need not study to be expert inceremony, or adroit in flattery. When nature calls, we take our simplefood, we rest when she requires relaxation, and when rest is satiety,innocent and useful labour improves our mental and corporeal functions.How pitiable are they, whom necessity drags to the banquet ofostentation, who secretly yawn through the lengthened vigil of unenjoyeddissipation; who rise from feverish slumbers to tasteless delights; whofeel that their present course of life is a captivity; and yet look onthat which would bring them freedom as disgrace. Unmolested bycreditors, unvexed by the reproachful glances of those who wouldattribute their undoing to our extravagance, with no open enemies toinsult us, no secret sorrows to afflict us, our desires subdued ratherthan gratified, our domestic union perfect, our minds informed, and oursouls expatiating in a still happier world, O my Allan, let us forgetthe past, and call our lot rare felicity. These mountains, which shutfrom your view a deceitful treacherous world are now your towers ofdefence. These clear lakes which reflect the blue skies, dispose us toserene contemplation. When all my household toils are finished, andsuspended care sleeps till the morning, I lead my children to theirevening sports; I point to the sublime scenes around us, and remind themthat the Almighty mind, that formed these wonders, dictated the bookwhich is their daily study. He piled the grey cliffs on each other, someawfully barren, others cloathed with verdure, to shew that fertility anddesolation, like joy and grief, are at his disposal. He, through fringedrocks, hollowed a cavern, whence burst the majestic cataract, whosecourse no mortal hand shall divert or restrain. So should man submit tothe dispensations of Omniscient wisdom. While thus meditating,
I despisethe insignificance of worldly cares, I become almost spiritualized, andam in danger of losing social affections, as well as earthly desires,till my children, fancifully decked with wild flowers, call aloud topoint you out, descending from the cliff, loaded with game, andaccompanied by your spaniels and falcon. They rush into your embraces.You return safe, uninjured by your exhilarating sports. If, at such amoment, I can fancy that parental transport predominates over sorrow inyour aspect, I lift my hands in transport to Heaven, and ask if a mightyPrincess ever was so blessed."

  The dejected Evellin sometimes listened in silence to these fondbreathings of chaste affection, wrung her hand, and pronounced herworthy of a happier lot, calling her a pledge of divine favour andreconciliation to a much-offending man. He never spoke of his wrongs,and she sometimes entertained a hope that they were fading from hisremembrance. At least she knew it was the wisest course to avoiddwelling on sorrows, for which patience was the only cure, and beingthoroughly practised in the duty of resignation, she wished to impartits comforts to him, whom she so strongly loved.