The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne

by William Makepeace Thackeray

  CHAPTER IV.

  BEATRIX'S NEW SUITOR.

  The gentleman whom Beatrix had selected was, to be sure, twenty yearsolder than the Colonel, with whom she quarrelled for being too old; butthis one was but a nameless adventurer, and the other the greatest dukein Scotland, with pretensions even to a still higher title. My Lord Dukeof Hamilton had, indeed, every merit belonging to a gentleman, and hehad had the time to mature his accomplishments fully, being upwards offifty years old when Madam Beatrix selected him for a bridegroom. DukeHamilton, then Earl of Arran, had been educated at the famous Scottishuniversity of Glasgow, and, coming to London, became a great favoriteof Charles the Second, who made him a lord of his bedchamber, andafterwards appointed him ambassador to the French king, under whom theEarl served two campaigns as his Majesty's aide-de-camp; and he wasabsent on this service when King Charles died.

  King James continued my lord's promotion--made him Master of theWardrobe and Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Horse; and his lordshipadhered firmly to King James, being of the small company that neverquitted that unfortunate monarch till his departure out of England; andthen it was, in 1688 namely, that he made the friendship with ColonelFrancis Esmond, that had always been, more or less, maintained in thetwo families.

  The Earl professed a great admiration for King William always, but nevercould give him his allegiance; and was engaged in more than one of theplots in the late great King's reign which always ended in the plotters'discomfiture, and generally in their pardon, by the magnanimity of theKing. Lord Arran was twice prisoner in the Tower during this reign,undauntedly saying, when offered his release, upon parole not to engageagainst King William, that he would not give his word, because "hewas sure he could not keep it;" but, nevertheless, he was both timesdischarged without any trial; and the King bore this noble enemy solittle malice, that when his mother, the Duchess of Hamilton, of herown right, resigned her claim on her husband's death, the Earl was,by patent signed at Loo, 1690, created Duke of Hamilton, Marquisof Clydesdale, and Earl of Arran, with precedency from the originalcreation. His Grace took the oaths and his seat in the Scottishparliament in 1700: was famous there for his patriotism and eloquence,especially in the debates about the Union Bill, which Duke Hamiltonopposed with all his strength, though he would not go the length of theScottish gentry, who were for resisting it by force of arms. 'Twassaid he withdrew his opposition all of a sudden, and in consequenceof letters from the King at St. Germains, who entreated him on hisallegiance not to thwart the Queen his sister in this measure; and theDuke, being always bent upon effecting the King's return to his kingdomthrough a reconciliation between his Majesty and Queen Anne, and quiteaverse to his landing with arms and French troops, held aloof, andkept out of Scotland during the time when the Chevalier de St. George'sdescent from Dunkirk was projected, passing his time in England in hisgreat estate in Staffordshire.

  When the Whigs went out of office in 1710, the Queen began to showhis Grace the very greatest marks of her favor. He was created Dukeof Brandon and Baron of Dutton in England; having the Thistle alreadyoriginally bestowed on him by King James the Second, his Grace wasnow promoted to the honor of the Garter--a distinction so great andillustrious, that no subject hath ever borne them hitherto together.When this objection was made to her Majesty, she was pleased to say,"Such a subject as the Duke of Hamilton has a pre-eminent claim to everymark of distinction which a crowned head can confer. I will henceforthwear both orders myself."

  At the Chapter held at Windsor in October, 1712, the Duke and otherknights, including Lord-Treasurer, the new-created Earl of Oxfordand Mortimer, were installed; and a few days afterwards his Grace wasappointed Ambassador-Extraordinary to France, and his equipages, plate,and liveries commanded, of the most sumptuous kind, not only for hisExcellency the Ambassador, but for her Excellency the Ambassadress,who was to accompany him. Her arms were already quartered on the coachpanels, and her brother was to hasten over on the appointed day to giveher away.

  His lordship was a widower, having married, in 1698, Elizabeth, daughterof Digby Lord Gerard, by which marriage great estates came into theHamilton family; and out of these estates came, in part, that tragicquarrel which ended the Duke's career.

  From the loss of a tooth to that of a mistress there's no pang that isnot bearable. The apprehension is much more cruel than the certainty;and we make up our mind to the misfortune when 'tis irremediable, partwith the tormentor, and mumble our crust on t'other side of the jaws.I think Colonel Esmond was relieved when a ducal coach and six came andwhisked his charmer away out of his reach, and placed her in a highersphere. As you have seen the nymph in the opera-machine go up to theclouds at the end of the piece where Mars, Bacchus, Apollo, and all thedivine company of Olympians are seated, and quaver out her last songas a goddess: so when this portentous elevation was accomplished inthe Esmond family, I am not sure that every one of us did not treat thedivine Beatrix with special honors; at least the saucy little beautycarried her head with a toss of supreme authority, and assumed atouch-me-not air, which all her friends very good-humoredly bowed to.

  An old army acquaintance of Colonel Esmond's, honest Tom Trett, who hadsold his company, married a wife, and turned merchant in the city, wasdreadfully gloomy for a long time, though living in a fine house on theriver, and carrying on a great trade to all appearance. At length Esmondsaw his friend's name in the Gazette as a bankrupt; and a week afterthis circumstance my bankrupt walks into Mr. Esmond's lodging with aface perfectly radiant with good-humor, and as jolly and careless aswhen they had sailed from Southampton ten years before for Vigo. "Thisbankruptcy," says Tom, "has been hanging over my head these threeyears; the thought hath prevented my sleeping, and I have looked at poorPolly's head on t'other pillow, and then towards my razor on the table,and thought to put an end to myself, and so give my woes the slip. Butnow we are bankrupts: Tom Trett pays as many shillings in the pound ashe can; his wife has a little cottage at Fulham, and her fortune securedto herself. I am afraid neither of bailiff nor of creditor: and for thelast six nights have slept easy." So it was that when Fortune shook herwings and left him, honest Tom cuddled himself up in his ragged virtue,and fell asleep.

  Esmond did not tell his friend how much his story applied to Esmond too;but he laughed at it, and used it; and having fairly struck his docketin this love transaction, determined to put a cheerful face on hisbankruptcy. Perhaps Beatrix was a little offended at his gayety."Is this the way, sir, that you receive the announcement of yourmisfortune," says she, "and do you come smiling before me as if you wereglad to be rid of me?"

  Esmond would not be put off from his good-humor, but told her the storyof Tom Trett and his bankruptcy. "I have been hankering after the grapeson the wall," says he, "and lost my temper because they were beyond myreach; was there any wonder? They're gone now, and another has them--ataller man than your humble servant has won them." And the Colonel madehis cousin a low bow.

  "A taller man, Cousin Esmond!" says she. "A man of spirit would havesealed the wall, sir, and seized them! A man of courage would havefought for 'em, not gaped for 'em."

  "A Duke has but to gape and they drop into his mouth," says Esmond, withanother low bow.

  "Yes, sir," says she, "a Duke IS a taller man than you. And why should Inot be grateful to one such as his Grace, who gives me his heart and hisgreat name? It is a great gift he honors me with; I know 'tis a bargainbetween us; and I accept it, and will do my utmost to perform my part ofit. 'Tis no question of sighing and philandering between a noble manof his Grace's age and a girl who hath little of that softness in hernature. Why should I not own that I am ambitious, Harry Esmond; and ifit be no sin in a man to covet honor, why should a woman too not desireit? Shall I be frank with you, Harry, and say that if you had not beendown on your knees, and so humble, you might have fared better withme? A woman of my spirit, cousin, is to be won by gallantry, and notby sighs and rueful faces. All the time you are worshipping and singinghymns to me, I know very well I am no goddess,
and grow weary of theincense. So would you have been weary of the goddess too--when she wascalled Mrs. Esmond, and got out of humor because she had not pin-moneyenough, and was forced to go about in an old gown. Eh! cousin, agoddess in a mob-cap, that has to make her husband's gruel, ceases tobe divine--I am sure of it. I should have been sulky and scolded; and ofall the proud wretches in the world Mr. Esmond is the proudest, let metell him that. You never fall into a passion; but you never forgive, Ithink. Had you been a great man, you might have been good-humored; butbeing nobody, sir, you are too great a man for me; and I'm afraid ofyou, cousin--there! and I won't worship you, and you'll never be happyexcept with a woman who will. Why, after I belonged to you, and afterone of my tantrums, you would have put the pillow over my head somenight, and smothered me, as the black man does the woman in the playthat you're so fond of. What's the creature's name?--Desdemona. Youwould, you little black-dyed Othello!"

  "I think I should, Beatrix," says the Colonel.

  "And I want no such ending. I intend to live to be a hundred, and togo to ten thousand routs and balls, and to play cards every night of mylife till the year eighteen hundred. And I like to be the first of mycompany, sir; and I like flattery and compliments, and you give me none;and I like to be made to laugh, sir, and who's to laugh at YOURdismal face, I should like to know? and I like a coach-and six or acoach-and-eight; and I like diamonds, and a new gown every week; andpeople to say--'That's the Duchess--How well her Grace looks--Makeway for Madame l'Ambassadrice d'Angleterre--Call her Excellency'speople'--that's what I like. And as for you, you want a woman to bringyour slippers and cap, and to sit at your feet, and cry, 'O caro! Obravo!' whilst you read your Shakespeares and Miltons and stuff. Mammawould have been the wife for you, had you been a little older, thoughyou look ten years older than she does--you do, you glum-faced,blue-bearded little old man! You might have sat, like Darby and Joan,and flattered each other; and billed and cooed like a pair of oldpigeons on a perch. I want my wings and to use them, sir." And shespread out her beautiful arms, as if indeed she could fly off like thepretty "Gawrie," whom the man in the story was enamored of.

  "And what will your Peter Wilkins say to your flight?" says Esmond, whonever admired this fair creature more than when she rebelled and laughedat him.

  "A duchess knows her place," says she, with a laugh. "Why, I have ason already made for me, and thirty years old (my Lord Arran), and fourdaughters. How they will scold, and what a rage they will be in, when Icome to take the head of the table! But I give them only a month tobe angry; at the end of that time they shall love me every one, andso shall Lord Arran, and so shall all his Grace's Scots vassals andfollowers in the Highlands. I'm bent on it; and when I take a thing inmy head, 'tis done. His Grace is the greatest gentleman in Europe, andI'll try and make him happy; and, when the King comes back, you maycount on my protection, Cousin Esmond--for come back the King will andshall; and I'll bring him back from Versailles, if he comes under myhoop."

  "I hope the world will make you happy, Beatrix," says Esmond, with asigh. "You'll be Beatrix till you are my Lady Duchess--will you not? Ishall then make your Grace my very lowest bow."

  "None of these sighs and this satire, cousin," she says. "I take hisGrace's great bounty thankfully--yes, thankfully; and will wear hishonors becomingly. I do not say he hath touched my heart; but he has mygratitude, obedience, admiration--I have told him that, and no more;and with that his noble heart is content. I have told him all--even thestory of that poor creature that I was engaged to--and that I could notlove; and I gladly gave his word back to him, and jumped for joy to getback my own. I am twenty-five years old."

  "Twenty-six, my dear," says Esmond.

  "Twenty-five, sir--I choose to be twenty-five; and in eight years no manhath ever touched my heart. Yes--you did once, for a little, Harry, whenyou came back after Lille, and engaging with that murderer Mohun, andsaving Frank's life. I thought I could like you; and mamma begged mehard, on her knees, and I did--for a day. But the old chill came overme, Henry, and the old fear of you and your melancholy; and I was gladwhen you went away, and engaged with my Lord Ashburnham, that I mighthear no more of you, that's the truth. You are too good for me, somehow.I could not make you happy, and should break my heart in trying, andnot being able to love you. But if you had asked me when we gave youthe sword, you might have had me, sir, and we both should have beenmiserable by this time. I talked with that silly lord all night just tovex you and mamma, and I succeeded, didn't I? How frankly we can talkof these things! It seems a thousand years ago: and, though we are heresitting in the same room, there is a great wall between us. My dear,kind, faithful, gloomy old cousin! I can like now, and admire you too,sir, and say that you are brave, and very kind, and very true, and afine gentleman for all--for all your little mishap at your birth," saysshe, wagging her arch head.

  "And now, sir," says she, with a curtsy, "we must have no more talkexcept when mamma is by, as his Grace is with us; for he does not halflike you, cousin, and is jealous as the black man in your favoriteplay."

  Though the very kindness of the words stabbed Mr. Esmond with thekeenest pang, he did not show his sense of the wound by any look of his(as Beatrix, indeed, afterwards owned to him), but said, with a perfectcommand of himself and an easy smile, "The interview must not end yet,my dear, until I have had my last word. Stay, here comes your mother"(indeed she came in here with her sweet anxious face, and Esmond goingup kissed her hand respectfully). "My dear lady may hear, too, thelast words, which are no secrets, and are only a parting benedictionaccompanying a present for your marriage from an old gentleman yourguardian; for I feel as if I was the guardian of all the family, and anold old fellow that is fit to be the grandfather of you all; and in thischaracter let me make my Lady Duchess her wedding present. They are thediamonds my father's widow left me. I had thought Beatrix might havehad them a year ago; but they are good enough for a duchess, though notbright enough for the handsomest woman in the world." And he took thecase out of his pocket in which the jewels were, and presented them tohis cousin.

  She gave a cry of delight, for the stones were indeed very handsome,and of great value; and the next minute the necklace was where Belinda'scross is in Mr. Pope's admirable poem, and glittering on the whitest andmost perfectly-shaped neck in all England.

  The girl's delight at receiving these trinkets was so great, that afterrushing to the looking-glass and examining the effect they produced uponthat fair neck which they surrounded, Beatrix was running back with herarms extended, and was perhaps for paying her cousin with a price, thathe would have liked no doubt to receive from those beautiful rosylips of hers, but at this moment the door opened, and his Grace thebridegroom elect was announced.

  He looked very black upon Mr. Esmond, to whom he made a very low bowindeed, and kissed the hand of each lady in his most ceremonious manner.He had come in his chair from the palace hard by, and wore his two starsof the Garter and the Thistle.

  "Look, my Lord Duke," says Mistress Beatrix, advancing to him, andshowing the diamonds on her breast.

  "Diamonds," says his Grace. "Hm! they seem pretty."

  "They are a present on my marriage," says Beatrix.

  "From her Majesty?" asks the Duke. "The Queen is very good."

  "From my cousin Henry--from our cousin Henry"--cry both the ladies in abreath.

  "I have not the honor of knowing the gentleman. I thought that my LordCastlewood had no brother: and that on your ladyship's side there wereno nephews."

  "From our cousin, Colonel Henry Esmond, my lord," says Beatrix, takingthe Colonel's hand very bravely,--"who was left guardian to us by ourfather, and who has a hundred times shown his love and friendship forour family."

  "The Duchess of Hamilton receives no diamonds but from her husband,madam," says the Duke--"may I pray you to restore these to Mr. Esmond?"

  "Beatrix Esmond may receive a present from our kinsman and benefactor,my Lord Duke," says Lady Castlewood, with an air of great dignity. "Sheis my daugh
ter yet: and if her mother sanctions the gift--no one elsehath the right to question it."

  "Kinsman and benefactor!" says the Duke. "I know of no kinsman: and I donot choose that my wife should have for benefactor a--"

  "My lord!" says Colonel Esmond.

  "I am not here to bandy words," says his Grace: "frankly I tell youthat your visits to this house are too frequent, and that I choose nopresents for the Duchess of Hamilton from gentlemen that bear a namethey have no right to."

  "My lord!" breaks out Lady Castlewood, "Mr. Esmond hath the best rightto that name of any man in the world: and 'tis as old and as honorableas your Grace's."

  My Lord Duke smiled, and looked as if Lady Castlewood was mad, that wasso talking to him.

  "If I called him benefactor," said my mistress, "it is because he hasbeen so to us--yes, the noblest, the truest, the bravest, the dearest ofbenefactors. He would have saved my husband's life from Mohun's sword.He did save my boy's, and defended him from that villain. Are those nobenefits?"

  "I ask Colonel Esmond's pardon," says his Grace, if possible morehaughty than before. "I would say not a word that should give himoffence, and thank him for his kindness to your ladyship's family. MyLord Mohun and I are connected, you know, by marriage--though neitherby blood nor friendship; but I must repeat what I said, that my wife canreceive no presents from Colonel Esmond."

  "My daughter may receive presents from the Head of our House: mydaughter may thankfully take kindness from her father's, her mother's,her brother's dearest friend; and be grateful for one more benefitbesides the thousand we owe him," cries Lady Esmond. "What is a stringof diamond stones compared to that affection he hath given us--ourdearest preserver and benefactor? We owe him not only Frank's life, butour all--yes, our all," says my mistress, with a heightened color and atrembling voice. "The title we bear is his, if he would claim it. 'Tiswe who have no right to our name: not he that's too great for it. Hesacrificed his name at my dying lord's bedside--sacrificed it to myorphan children; gave up rank and honor because he loved us so nobly.His father was Viscount of Castlewood and Marquis of Esmond beforehim; and he is his father's lawful son and true heir, and we are therecipients of his bounty, and he the chief of a house that's as old asyour own. And if he is content to forego his name that my child maybear it, we love him and honor him and bless him under whatever name hebears"--and here the fond and affectionate creature would have knelt toEsmond again, but that he prevented her; and Beatrix, running up to herwith a pale face and a cry of alarm, embraced her and said, "Mother,what is this?"

  "'Tis a family secret, my Lord Duke," says Colonel Esmond: "poor Beatrixknew nothing of it; nor did my lady till a year ago. And I have as gooda right to resign my title as your Grace's mother to abdicate hers toyou."

  "I should have told everything to the Duke of Hamilton," said mymistress, "had his Grace applied to me for my daughter's hand, and notto Beatrix. I should have spoken with you this very day in private, mylord, had not your words brought about this sudden explanation--and now'tis fit Beatrix should hear it; and know, as I would have all the worldknow, what we owe to our kinsman and patron."

  And then in her touching way, and having hold of her daughter's hand,and speaking to her rather than my Lord Duke, Lady Castlewood told thestory which you know already--lauding up to the skies her kinsman'sbehavior. On his side Mr. Esmond explained the reasons that seemed quitesufficiently cogent with him, why the succession in the family, as atpresent it stood, should not be disturbed; and he should remain as hewas, Colonel Esmond.

  "And Marquis of Esmond, my lord," says his Grace, with a low bow."Permit me to ask your lordship's pardon for words that were uttered inignorance; and to beg for the favor of your friendship. To be allied toyou, sir, must be an honor under whatever name you are known" (so hisGrace was pleased to say); "and in return for the splendid present youmake my wife, your kinswoman, I hope you will please to command anyservice that James Douglas can perform. I shall never be easy until Irepay you a part of my obligations at least; and ere very long, and withthe mission her Majesty hath given me," says the Duke, "that may perhapsbe in my power. I shall esteem it as a favor, my lord, if Colonel Esmondwill give away the bride."

  "And if he will take the usual payment in advance, he is welcome," saysBeatrix, stepping up to him; and, as Esmond kissed her, she whispered,"Oh, why didn't I know you before?"

  My Lord Duke was as hot as a flame at this salute, but said never aword: Beatrix made him a proud curtsy, and the two ladies quitted theroom together.

  "When does your Excellency go for Paris?" asks Colonel Esmond.

  "As soon after the ceremony as may be," his Grace answered. "'Tis fixedfor the first of December: it cannot be sooner. The equipage will not beready till then. The Queen intends the embassy should be very grand--andI have law business to settle. That ill-omened Mohun has come, or iscoming, to London again: we are in a lawsuit about my late Lord Gerard'sproperty; and he hath sent to me to meet him."