CHAPTER VII.
I AM LEFT AT CASTLEWOOD AN ORPHAN, AND FIND MOST KIND PROTECTORS THERE.
During the stay of the soldiers in Castlewood, honest Dick the Scholarwas the constant companion of the lonely little orphan lad Harry Esmond:and they read together, and they played bowls together, and when theother troopers or their officers, who were free-spoken over their cups,(as was the way of that day, when neither men nor women were over-nice,)talked unbecomingly of their amours and gallantries before the child,Dick, who very likely was setting the whole company laughing, would stoptheir jokes with a maxima debetur pueris reverentia, and once offeredto lug out against another trooper called Hulking Tom, who wanted to askHarry Esmond a ribald question.
Also, Dick seeing that the child had, as he said, a sensibility abovehis years, and a great and praiseworthy discretion, confided to Harryhis love for a vintner's daughter, near to the Tollyard, Westminster,whom Dick addressed as Saccharissa in many verses of his composition,and without whom he said it would be impossible that he could continueto live. He vowed this a thousand times in a day, though Harry smiled tosee the love-lorn swain had his health and appetite as well as the mostheart-whole trooper in the regiment: and he swore Harry to secrecy too,which vow the lad religiously kept, until he found that officers andprivates were all taken into Dick's confidence, and had the benefit ofhis verses. And it must be owned likewise that, while Dick was sighingafter Saccharissa in London, he had consolations in the country; forthere came a wench out of Castlewood village who had washed his linen,and who cried sadly when she heard he was gone: and without paying herbill too, which Harry Esmond took upon himself to discharge by givingthe girl a silver pocket-piece, which Scholar Dick had presented to him,when, with many embraces and prayers for his prosperity, Dick partedfrom him, the garrison of Castlewood being ordered away. Dick theScholar said he would never forget his young friend, nor indeed did he:and Harry was sorry when the kind soldiers vacated Castlewood, lookingforward with no small anxiety (for care and solitude had made himthoughtful beyond his years) to his fate when the new lord and lady ofthe house came to live there. He had lived to be past twelve years oldnow; and had never had a friend, save this wild trooper, perhaps, andFather Holt; and had a fond and affectionate heart, tender to weakness,that would fain attach itself to somebody, and did not seem at restuntil it had found a friend who would take charge of it.
The instinct which led Henry Esmond to admire and love the graciousperson, the fair apparition of whose beauty and kindness had so movedhim when he first beheld her, became soon a devoted affection andpassion of gratitude, which entirely filled his young heart, thatas yet, except in the case of dear Father Holt, had had very littlekindness for which to be thankful. O Dea certe, thought he, rememberingthe lines out of the AEneas which Mr. Holt had taught him. There seemed,as the boy thought, in every look or gesture of this fair creature,an angelical softness and bright pity--in motion or repose she seemedgracious alike; the tone of her voice, though she uttered words ever sotrivial, gave him a pleasure that amounted almost to anguish. It cannotbe called love, that a lad of twelve years of age, little more than amenial, felt for an exalted lady, his mistress: but it was worship.To catch her glance, to divine her errand and run on it before she hadspoken it; to watch, follow, adore her; became the business of his life.Meanwhile, as is the way often, his idol had idols of her own, and neverthought of or suspected the admiration of her little pigmy adorer.
My lady had on her side her three idols: first and foremost, Joveand supreme ruler, was her lord, Harry's patron, the good Viscount ofCastlewood. All wishes of his were laws with her. If he had a headache,she was ill. If he frowned, she trembled. If he joked, she smiled andwas charmed. If he went a-hunting, she was always at the window to seehim ride away, her little son crowing on her arm, or on the watch tillhis return. She made dishes for his dinner: spiced wine for him: madethe toast for his tankard at breakfast: hushed the house when he sleptin his chair, and watched for a look when he woke. If my lord was not alittle proud of his beauty, my lady adored it. She clung to his arm ashe paced the terrace, her two fair little hands clasped round his greatone; her eyes were never tired of looking in his face and wondering atits perfection. Her little son was his son, and had his father's lookand curly brown hair. Her daughter Beatrix was his daughter, and had hiseyes--were there ever such beautiful eyes in the world? All the housewas arranged so as to bring him ease and give him pleasure. She likedthe small gentry round about to come and pay him court, never caring foradmiration for herself; those who wanted to be well with the lady mustadmire him. Not regarding her dress, she would wear a gown to rags,because he had once liked it: and, if he brought her a brooch or aribbon, would prefer it to all the most costly articles of her wardrobe.
My lord went to London every year for six weeks, and the family beingtoo poor to appear at Court with any figure, he went alone. It was notuntil he was out of sight that her face showed any sorrow: and whata joy when he came back! What preparation before his return! The fondcreature had his arm-chair at the chimney-side--delighting to put thechildren in it, and look at them there. Nobody took his place at thetable; but his silver tankard stood there as when my lord was present.
A pretty sight it was to see, during my lord's absence, or on those manymornings when sleep or headache kept him a-bed, this fair young lady ofCastlewood, her little daughter at her knee, and her domestics gatheredround her, reading the Morning Prayer of the English Church. Esmondlong remembered how she looked and spoke, kneeling reverently before thesacred book, the sun shining upon her golden hair until it made a haloround about her. A dozen of the servants of the house kneeled in a lineopposite their mistress; for a while Harry Esmond kept apart from thesemysteries, but Doctor Tusher showing him that the prayers read werethose of the Church of all ages, and the boy's own inclination promptinghim to be always as near as he might to his mistress, and to think allthings she did right, from listening to the prayers in the ante-chamber,he came presently to kneel down with the rest of the household inthe parlor; and before a couple of years my lady had made a thoroughconvert. Indeed, the boy loved his catechiser so much that he would havesubscribed to anything she bade him, and was never tired of listening toher fond discourse and simple comments upon the book, which she read tohim in a voice of which it was difficult to resist the sweet persuasionand tender appealing kindness. This friendly controversy, and theintimacy which it occasioned, bound the lad more fondly than ever to hismistress. The happiest period of all his life was this; and theyoung mother, with her daughter and son, and the orphan lad whom sheprotected, read and worked and played, and were children together.If the lady looked forward--as what fond woman does not?--towards thefuture, she had no plans from which Harry Esmond was left out; and athousand and a thousand times, in his passionate and impetuous way,he vowed that no power should separate him from his mistress; and onlyasked for some chance to happen by which he might show his fidelityto her. Now, at the close of his life, as he sits and recalls intranquillity the happy and busy scenes of it, he can think, notungratefully, that he has been faithful to that early vow. Such a lifeis so simple that years may be chronicled in a few lines. But few men'slife-voyages are destined to be all prosperous; and this calm of whichwe are speaking was soon to come to an end.
As Esmond grew, and observed for himself, he found of necessity much toread and think of outside that fond circle of kinsfolk who had admittedhim to join hand with them. He read more books than they cared to studywith him; was alone in the midst of them many a time, and passed nightsover labors, futile perhaps, but in which they could not join him. Hisdear mistress divined his thoughts with her usual jealous watchfulnessof affection: began to forebode a time when he would escape from hishome-nest; and, at his eager protestations to the contrary, wouldonly sigh and shake her head. Before those fatal decrees in life areexecuted, there are always secret previsions and warning omens. Wheneverything yet seems calm, we are aware that the storm is coming. Erethe happy days w
ere over, two at least of that home-party felt that theywere drawing to a close; and were uneasy, and on the look-out for thecloud which was to obscure their calm.
'Twas easy for Harry to see, however much his lady persisted inobedience and admiration for her husband, that my lord tired of hisquiet life, and grew weary, and then testy, at those gentle bonds withwhich his wife would have held him. As they say the Grand Lama of Thibetis very much fatigued by his character of divinity, and yawns onhis altar as his bonzes kneel and worship him, many a home-god growsheartily sick of the reverence with which his family-devotees pursuehim, and sighs for freedom and for his old life, and to be off thepedestal on which his dependants would have him sit for ever, whilstthey adore him, and ply him with flowers, and hymns, and incense,and flattery;--so, after a few years of his marriage my honest LordCastlewood began to tire; all the high-flown raptures and devotionalceremonies with which his wife, his chief priestess, treated him, firstsent him to sleep, and then drove him out of doors; for the truth mustbe told, that my lord was a jolly gentleman, with very little of theaugust or divine in his nature, though his fond wife persisted inrevering it--and, besides, he had to pay a penalty for this love, whichpersons of his disposition seldom like to defray: and, in a word, if hehad a loving wife, had a very jealous and exacting one. Then he weariedof this jealousy; then he broke away from it; then came, no doubt,complaints and recriminations; then, perhaps, promises of amendmentnot fulfilled; then upbraidings not the more pleasant because theywere silent, and only sad looks and tearful eyes conveyed them. Then,perhaps, the pair reached that other stage which is not uncommon inmarried life, when the woman perceives that the god of the honeymoon isa god no more; only a mortal like the rest of us--and so she looks intoher heart, and lo! vacuae sedes et inania arcana. And now, supposing ourlady to have a fine genius and a brilliant wit of her own, and the magicspell and infatuation removed from her which had led her to worship asa god a very ordinary mortal--and what follows? They live together, andthey dine together, and they say "my dear" and "my love" as heretofore;but the man is himself, and the woman herself: that dream of love isover as everything else is over in life; as flowers and fury, and griefsand pleasures, are over.
Very likely the Lady Castlewood had ceased to adore her husband herselflong before she got off her knees, or would allow her household todiscontinue worshipping him. To do him justice, my lord never exactedthis subservience: he laughed and joked and drank his bottle, andswore when he was angry, much too familiarly for any one pretending tosublimity; and did his best to destroy the ceremonial with which hiswife chose to surround him. And it required no great conceit on youngEsmond's part to see that his own brains were better than his patron's,who, indeed, never assumed any airs of superiority over the lad, orover any dependant of his, save when he was displeased, in which case hewould express his mind in oaths very freely; and who, on the contrary,perhaps, spoiled "Parson Harry," as he called young Esmond, byconstantly praising his parts and admiring his boyish stock of learning.
It may seem ungracious in one who has received a hundred favors from hispatron to speak in any but a reverential manner of his elders; but thepresent writer has had descendants of his own, whom he has broughtup with as little as possible of the servility at present exactedby parents from children (under which mask of duty there often lurksindifference, contempt, or rebellion): and as he would have hisgrandsons believe or represent him to be not an inch taller than Naturehas made him: so, with regard to his past acquaintances, he wouldspeak without anger, but with truth, as far as he knows it, neitherextenuating nor setting down aught in malice.
So long, then, as the world moved according to Lord Castlewood's wishes,he was good-humored enough; of a temper naturally sprightly and easy,liking to joke, especially with his inferiors, and charmed to receivethe tribute of their laughter. All exercises of the body he couldperform to perfection--shooting at a mark and flying, breaking horses,riding at the ring, pitching the quoit, playing at all games with greatskill. And not only did he do these things well, but he thought he didthem to perfection; hence he was often tricked about horses, which hepretended to know better than any jockey; was made to play at ball andbilliards by sharpers who took his money, and came back from Londonwofully poorer each time than he went, as the state of his affairstestified when the sudden accident came by which his career was broughtto an end.
He was fond of the parade of dress, and passed as many hours daily athis toilette as an elderly coquette. A tenth part of his day was spentin the brushing of his teeth and the oiling of his hair, which wascurling and brown, and which he did not like to conceal under a periwig,such as almost everybody of that time wore. (We have the liberty of ourhair back now, but powder and pomatum along with it. When, I wonder,will these monstrous poll-taxes of our age be withdrawn, and men allowedto carry their colors, black, red, or gray, as Nature made them?) And ashe liked her to be well dressed, his lady spared no pains in that matterto please him; indeed, she would dress her head or cut it off if he hadbidden her.
It was a wonder to young Esmond, serving as page to my lord and lady,to hear, day after day, to such company as came, the same boisterousstories told by my lord, at which his lady never failed to smile or holddown her head, and Doctor Tusher to burst out laughing at the properpoint, or cry, "Fie, my lord, remember my cloth!" but with such afaint show of resistance, that it only provoked my lord further. LordCastlewood's stories rose by degrees, and became stronger after the aleat dinner and the bottle afterwards; my lady always taking flight afterthe very first glass to Church and King, and leaving the gentlemen todrink the rest of the toasts by themselves.
And, as Harry Esmond was her page, he also was called from duty at thistime. "My lord has lived in the army and with soldiers," she wouldsay to the lad, "amongst whom great license is allowed. You have hada different nurture, and I trust these things will change as you growolder; not that any fault attaches to my lord, who is one of the bestand most religious men in this kingdom." And very likely she believedso. 'Tis strange what a man may do, and a woman yet think him an angel.
And as Esmond has taken truth for his motto, it must be owned, evenwith regard to that other angel, his mistress, that she had a fault ofcharacter which flawed her perfections. With the other sex perfectlytolerant and kindly, of her own she was invariably jealous; and a proofthat she had this vice is, that though she would acknowledge a thousandfaults that she had not, to this which she had she could never be gotto own. But if there came a woman with even a semblance of beauty toCastlewood, she was so sure to find out some wrong in her, that my lord,laughing in his jolly way, would often joke with her concerning herfoible. Comely servant-maids might come for hire, but none were takenat Castlewood. The housekeeper was old; my lady's own waiting-womansquinted, and was marked with the small-pox; the housemaids and scullionwere ordinary country wenches, to whom Lady Castlewood was kind, as hernature made her to everybody almost; but as soon as ever she had to dowith a pretty woman, she was cold, retiring, and haughty. The countryladies found this fault in her; and though the men all admired her,their wives and daughters complained of her coldness and aims, and saidthat Castlewood was pleasanter in Lady Jezebel's time (as the dowagerwas called) than at present. Some few were of my mistress's side.Old Lady Blenkinsop Jointure, who had been at court in King James theFirst's time, always took her side; and so did old Mistress Crookshank,Bishop Crookshank's daughter, of Hexton, who, with some more of theirlike, pronounced my lady an angel: but the pretty women were not of thismind; and the opinion of the country was that my lord was tied to hiswife's apron-strings, and that she ruled over him.
The second fight which Harry Esmond had, was at fourteen years of age,with Bryan Hawkshaw, Sir John Hawkshaw's son, of Bramblebrook, who,advancing this opinion, that my lady was jealous and henpecked my lord,put Harry in such a fury, that Harry fell on him and with such rage,that the other boy, who was two years older and by far bigger than he,had by far the worst of the assault, until it was interrupted b
y DoctorTusher walking out of the dinner-room.
Bryan Hawkshaw got up bleeding at the nose, having, indeed, beensurprised, as many a stronger man might have been, by the fury of theassault upon him.
"You little bastard beggar!" he said, "I'll murder you for this!"
And indeed he was big enough.
"Bastard or not," said the other, grinding his teeth, "I have acouple of swords, and if you like to meet me, as a man, on the terraceto-night--"
And here the Doctor coming up, the colloquy of the young championsended. Very likely, big as he was, Hawkshaw did not care to continue afight with such a ferocious opponent as this had been.
The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne Page 10
