by Robert Reed
the strife, which at length proceeded so far, that the three divisions,
armed, met in the Place Vendome, each resolved to subdue by force
the resistance of its adversaries . They assembled, their muskets were
loaded, and even pointed at the breasts of their so called enemies .
One word had been sufficient; and there the last of mankind would
have burthened their souls with the crime of murder, and dipt their
hands in each other’s blood . A sense of shame, a recollection that not
only their cause, but the existence of the whole human race was at
stake, entered the breast of the leader of the more numerous party .
He was aware, that if the ranks were thinned, no other recruits could
fill them up; that each man was as a priceless gem in a kingly crown,
which if destroyed, the earth’s deep entrails could yield no paragon .
He was a young man, and had been hurried on by presumption, and
the notion of his high rank and superiority to all other pretenders;
now he repented his work, he felt that all the blood about to be shed
would be on his head; with sudden impulse therefore he spurred his
horse between the bands, and, having fixed a white handkerchief on
the point of his uplifted sword, thus demanded parley; the opposite
leaders obeyed the signal . He spoke with warmth; he reminded them
of the oath all the chiefs had taken to submit to the Lord Protector; he
declared their present meeting to be an act of treason and mutiny; he
allowed that he had been hurried away by passion, but that a cooler
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1178
moment had arrived; and he proposed that each party should send
deputies to the Earl of Windsor, inviting his interference and offer-
ing submission to his decision . His offer was accepted so far, that
each leader consented to command a retreat, and moreover agreed,
that after the approbation of their several parties had been consulted,
they should meet that night on some neutral spot to ratify the truce .
At the meeting of the chiefs, this plan was finally concluded upon.
The leader of the fanatics indeed refused to admit the arbitration
of Adrian; he sent ambassadors, rather than deputies, to assert his
claim, not plead his cause .
The truce was to continue until the first of February, when the
bands were again to assemble on the Place Vendome; it was of the
utmost consequence therefore that Adrian should arrive in Paris by
that day, since an hair might turn the scale, and peace, scared away
by intestine broils, might only return to watch by the silent dead . It
was now the twenty-eighth of January; every vessel stationed near
Dover had been beaten to pieces and destroyed by the furious storms
I have commemorated . Our journey however would admit of no de-
lay . That very night, Adrian, and I, and twelve others, either friends
or attendants, put off from the English shore, in the boat that had
brought over the deputies . We all took our turn at the oar; and the
immediate occasion of our departure affording us abundant matter
for conjecture and discourse, prevented the feeling that we left our
native country, depopulate England, for the last time, to enter deeply
into the minds of the greater part of our number . It was a serene
starlight night, and the dark line of the English coast continued for
some time visible at intervals, as we rose on the broad back of the
waves . I exerted myself with my long oar to give swift impulse to
our skiff; and, while the waters splashed with melancholy sound
against its sides, I looked with sad affection on this last glimpse of
sea-girt England, and strained my eyes not too soon to lose sight of
the castellated cliff, which rose to protect the land of heroism and
beauty from the inroads of ocean, that, turbulent as I had lately seen
it, required such cyclopean walls for its repulsion . A solitary sea-
gull winged its flight over our heads, to seek its nest in a cleft of the
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1179
precipice . Yes, thou shalt revisit the land of thy birth, I thought, as
I looked invidiously on the airy voyager; but we shall, never more!
Tomb of Idris, farewell! Grave, in which my heart lies sepultured,
farewell for ever!
We were twelve hours at sea, and the heavy swell obliged us to
exert all our strength . At length, by mere dint of rowing, we reached
the French coast . The stars faded, and the grey morning cast a dim
veil over the silver horns of the waning moon—the sun rose broad
and red from the sea, as we walked over the sands to Calais . Our
first care was to procure horses, and although wearied by our night
of watching and toil, some of our party immediately went in quest of
these in the wide fields of the unenclosed and now barren plain round
Calais . We divided ourselves, like seamen, into watches, and some
reposed, while others prepared the morning’s repast . Our foragers
returned at noon with only six horses—on these, Adrian and I, and
four others, proceeded on our journey towards the great city, which
its inhabitants had fondly named the capital of the civilized world .
Our horses had become, through their long holiday, almost wild, and
we crossed the plain round Calais with impetuous speed . From the
height near Boulogne, I turned again to look on England; nature had
cast a misty pall over her, her cliff was hidden—there was spread
the watery barrier that divided us, never again to be crossed; she lay
on the ocean plain,
In the great pool a swan’s nest .
Ruined the nest, alas! the swans of Albion had passed away for
ever—an uninhabited rock in the wide Pacific, which had remained
since the creation uninhabited, unnamed, unmarked, would be of as
much account in the world’s future history, as desert England .
Our journey was impeded by a thousand obstacles . As our horses
grew tired, we had to seek for others; and hours were wasted, while
we exhausted our artifices to allure some of these enfranchised
slaves of man to resume the yoke; or as we went from stable to
stable through the towns, hoping to find some who had not forgotten
the shelter of their native stalls . Our ill success in procuring them,
obliged us continually to leave some one of our companions behind;
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1180
and on the first of February, Adrian and I entered Paris, wholly un-
accompanied . The serene morning had dawned when we arrived at
Saint Denis, and the sun was high, when the clamour of voices, and
the clash, as we feared, of weapons, guided us to where our country-
men had assembled on the Place Vendome . We passed a knot of
Frenchmen, who were talking earnestly of the madness of the insu-
lar invaders, and then coming by a sudden turn upon the Place, we
saw the sun glitter on drawn swords and fixed bayonets, while yells
and clamours rent the air . It was a scene of unaccustomed confu-
sion in these days of depopulation . Roused by fancied wrongs, and
insulting scoffs, the opposite parties had rushed to attack each other;
while the elect
, drawn up apart, seemed to wait an opportunity to fall
with better advantage on their foes, when they should have mutually
weakened each other . A merciful power interposed, and no blood
was shed; for, while the insane mob were in the very act of attack,
the females, wives, mothers and daughters, rushed between; they
seized the bridles; they embraced the knees of the horsemen, and
hung on the necks, or enweaponed arms of their enraged relatives;
the shrill female scream was mingled with the manly shout, and
formed the wild clamour that welcomed us on our arrival .
Our voices could not be heard in the tumult; Adrian however was
eminent for the white charger he rode; spurring him, he dashed into
the midst of the throng: he was recognized, and a loud cry raised for
England and the Protector . The late adversaries, warmed to affection
at the sight of him, joined in heedless confusion, and surrounded
him; the women kissed his hands, and the edges of his garments;
nay, his horse received tribute of their embraces; some wept their
welcome; he appeared an angel of peace descended among them; and
the only danger was, that his mortal nature would be demonstrated,
by his suffocation from the kindness of his friends . His voice was at
length heard, and obeyed; the crowd fell back; the chiefs alone ral-
lied round him . I had seen Lord Raymond ride through his lines; his
look of victory, and majestic mien obtained the respect and obedi-
ence of all: such was not the appearance or influence of Adrian. His
slight figure, his fervent look, his gesture, more of deprecation than
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1181
rule, were proofs that love, unmingled with fear, gave him domin-
ion over the hearts of a multitude, who knew that he never flinched
from danger, nor was actuated by other motives than care for the
general welfare . No distinction was now visible between the two
parties, late ready to shed each other’s blood, for, though neither
would submit to the other, they both yielded ready obedience to the
Earl of Windsor .
One party however remained, cut off from the rest, which did
not sympathize in the joy exhibited on Adrian’s arrival, or imbibe
the spirit of peace, which fell like dew upon the softened hearts of
their countrymen . At the head of this assembly was a ponderous,
dark-looking man, whose malign eye surveyed with gloating delight
the stern looks of his followers . They had hitherto been inactive, but
now, perceiving themselves to be forgotten in the universal jubilee,
they advanced with threatening gestures: our friends had, as it were
in wanton contention, attacked each other; they wanted but to be told
that their cause was one, for it to become so: their mutual anger had
been a fire of straw, compared to the slow-burning hatred they both
entertained for these seceders, who seized a portion of the world to
come, there to entrench and incastellate themselves, and to issue
with fearful sally, and appalling denunciations, on the mere com-
mon children of the earth. The first advance of the little army of the
elect reawakened their rage; they grasped their arms, and waited but
their leader’s signal to commence the attack, when the clear tones
of Adrian’s voice were heard, commanding them to fall back; with
confused murmur and hurried retreat, as the wave ebbs clamorously
from the sands it lately covered, our friends obeyed . Adrian rode
singly into the space between the opposing bands; he approached
the hostile leader, as requesting him to imitate his example, but
his look was not obeyed, and the chief advanced, followed by his
whole troop . There were many women among them, who seemed
more eager and resolute than their male companions . They pressed
round their leader, as if to shield him, while they loudly bestowed on
him every sacred denomination and epithet of worship . Adrian met
them half way; they halted: “What,” he said, “do you seek? Do you
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1182
require any thing of us that we refuse to give, and that you are forced
to acquire by arms and warfare?”
His questions were answered by a general cry, in which the words
election, sin, and red right arm of God, could alone be heard .
Adrian looked expressly at their leader, saying, “Can you not
silence your followers? Mine, you perceive, obey me .”
The fellow answered by a scowl; and then, perhaps fearful that
his people should become auditors of the debate he expected to en-
sue, he commanded them to fall back, and advanced by himself .
“What, I again ask,” said Adrian, “do you require of us?”
“Repentance,” replied the man, whose sinister brow gathered
clouds as he spoke . “Obedience to the will of the Most High, made
manifest to these his Elected People . Do we not all die through your
sins, O generation of unbelief, and have we not a right to demand of
you repentance and obedience?”
“And if we refuse them, what then?” his opponent inquired
mildly .
“Beware,” cried the man, “God hears you, and will smite your
stony heart in his wrath; his poisoned arrows fly, his dogs of death
are unleashed! We will not perish unrevenged—and mighty will our
avenger be, when he descends in visible majesty, and scatters de-
struction among you .”
“My good fellow,” said Adrian, with quiet scorn, “I wish that
you were ignorant only, and I think it would be no difficult task to
prove to you, that you speak of what you do not understand . On the
present occasion however, it is enough for me to know that you seek
nothing of us; and, heaven is our witness, we seek nothing of you .
I should be sorry to embitter by strife the few days that we any of
us may have here to live; when there,” he pointed downwards, “we
shall not be able to contend, while here we need not . Go home, or
stay; pray to your God in your own mode; your friends may do the
like . My orisons consist in peace and good will, in resignation and
hope . Farewell!”
He bowed slightly to the angry disputant who was about to reply;
and, turning his horse down Rue Saint Honore, called on his friends
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1183
to follow him . He rode slowly, to give time to all to join him at the
Barrier, and then issued his orders that those who yielded obedi-
ence to him, should rendezvous at Versailles . In the meantime he
remained within the walls of Paris, until he had secured the safe
retreat of all . In about a fortnight the remainder of the emigrants
arrived from England, and they all repaired to Versailles; apartments
were prepared for the family of the Protector in the Grand Trianon,
and there, after the excitement of these events, we reposed amidst
the luxuries of the departed Bourbons .
CHAPTER V.
After the repose of a few days, we held a council, to decide on
our future movements. Our first plan had been to quit our wintry
native latitude, and seek for our diminished numbers the luxuries
&nb
sp; and delights of a southern climate. We had not fixed on any precise
spot as the termination of our wanderings; but a vague picture of
perpetual spring, fragrant groves, and sparkling streams, floated in
our imagination to entice us on . A variety of causes had detained us
in England, and we had now arrived at the middle of February; if we
pursued our original project, we should find ourselves in a worse sit-
uation than before, having exchanged our temperate climate for the
intolerable heats of a summer in Egypt or Persia . We were therefore
obliged to modify our plan, as the season continued to be inclement;
and it was determined that we should await the arrival of spring in
our present abode, and so order our future movements as to pass the
hot months in the icy vallies of Switzerland, deferring our southern
progress until the ensuing autumn, if such a season was ever again
to be beheld by us .
The castle and town of Versailles afforded our numbers ample
accommodation, and foraging parties took it by turns to supply our
wants . There was a strange and appalling motley in the situation
of these the last of the race. At first I likened it to a colony, which
borne over the far seas, struck root for the first time in a new coun-
try . But where was the bustle and industry characteristic of such an
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1184
assemblage; the rudely constructed dwelling, which was to suffice
till a more commodious mansion could be built; the marking out
of fields; the attempt at cultivation; the eager curiosity to discover
unknown animals and herbs; the excursions for the sake of explor-
ing the country? Our habitations were palaces our food was ready
stored in granaries—there was no need of labour, no inquisitiveness,
no restless desire to get on . If we had been assured that we should
secure the lives of our present numbers, there would have been more
vivacity and hope in our councils . We should have discussed as to
the period when the existing produce for man’s sustenance would no
longer suffice for us, and what mode of life we should then adopt. We
should have considered more carefully our future plans, and debated
concerning the spot where we should in future dwell . But summer
and the plague were near, and we dared not look forward . Every
