The Works of William Harrison Ainsworth

by William Harrison Ainsworth

  Music and singing were heard at every corner, and bands of comely damsels, escorted by their sweethearts, went from house to house, bearing huge brown bowls dressed with ribands and rosemary, and filled with a drink called “lamb’s-wool,” composed of sturdy ale, sweetened with sugar, spiced with nutmeg, and having toasts and burnt crabs floating within it — a draught from which seldom brought its pretty bearers less than a groat, and occasionally a more valuable coin.

  Such was the vigil of the year sixteen hundred.

  On this night, and at the tenth hour, a man of striking and venerable appearance was seen to emerge upon a small wooden balcony, projecting from a bay-window near the top of a picturesque structure situated at the southern extremity of London Bridge.

  The old man’s beard and hair were as white as snow — the former descending almost to his girdle; so were the thick, overhanging brows that shaded his still piercing eyes. His forehead was high, bald, and ploughed by innumerable wrinkles. His countenance, despite its death-like paleness, had a noble and majestic cast; and his figure, though worn to the bone by a life of the severest study, and bent by the weight of years, must have been once lofty and commanding. His dress consisted of a doublet and hose of sad-coloured cloth, over which he wore a loose gown of black silk. His head was covered by a square black cap, from beneath which his silver locks strayed over his shoulders.

  Known by the name of Doctor Lamb, and addicted to alchemical and philosophical pursuits, this venerable personage was esteemed by the vulgar as little better than a wizard. Strange tales were reported and believed of him. Amongst others, it was said that he possessed a familiar, because he chanced to employ a deformed, crack-brained dwarf, who assisted him in his operations, and whom he appropriately enough denominated Flapdragon.

  Doctor Lamb’s gaze was fixed intently upon the heavens, and he seamed to be noting the position of the moon with reference to some particular star.

  After remaining in this posture for a few minutes, he was about to retire, when a loud crash arrested him, and he turned to see whence it proceeded.

  Immediately before him stood the Southwark Gateway — a square stone building, with a round, embattled turret at each corner, and a flat leaden roof, planted with a forest of poles, fifteen or sixteen feet high, garnished with human heads. To his surprise, the doctor perceived that two of these poles had just been overthrown by a tall man, who was in the act of stripping them of their grisly burdens.

  Having accomplished his object, the mysterious plunderer thrust his spoil into a leathern bag with which he was provided, tied its mouth, and was about to take his departure by means of a rope-ladder attached to the battlements, when his retreat was suddenly cut off by the gatekeeper, armed with a halberd, and bearing a lantern, who issued from a door opening upon the leads.

  The baffled marauder looked round, and remarking the open window at which Doctor Lamb was stationed, hurled the sack and its contents through it. He then tried to gain the ladder, but was intercepted by the gatekeeper, who dealt him a severe blow on the head with his halberd. The plunderer uttered a loud cry, and attempted to draw his sword; but before he could do so, he received a thrust in the side from his opponent. He then fell, and the gatekeeper would have repeated the blow, if the doctor had not called to him to desist.

  “Do not kill him, good Baldred,” he cried. “The attempt may not be so criminal as it appears. Doubtless, the mutilated remains which the poor wretch has attempted to carry off are those of his kindred, and horror at their exposure must have led him to commit the offence.”

  “It may be, doctor,” replied Baldred; “and if so I shall be sorry I have hurt him. But I am responsible for the safe custody of these traitorous relics, and it is as much as my own head is worth to permit their removal.”

  “I know it,” replied Doctor Lamb; “and you are fully justified in what you have done. It may throw some light upon the matter, to know whose miserable remains have been disturbed.”

  “They were the heads of two rank papists,” replied Baldred, “who were decapitated on Tower Hill, on Saint Nicholas’s Day, three weeks ago, for conspiring against the queen.”

  “But their names?” demanded the doctor. “How were they called?”

  “They were father and son,” replied Baldred— “Sir Simon Darcy and Master Reginald Darcy. Perchance they were known to your worship?”

  “Too well — too well!” replied Doctor Lamb, in a voice of emotion that startled his hearer. “They were near kinsmen of mine own. What is he like who has made this strange attempt?”

  “Of a verity, a fair youth,” replied Baldred, holding down the lantern. “Heaven grant I have not wounded him to the death! No, his heart still beats. Ha! here are his tablets,” he added, taking a small book from his doublet; “these may give the information you seek. You were right in your conjecture, doctor. The name herein inscribed is the same as that borne by the others — Auriol Darcy.”

  “I see it all,” cried Lamb. “It was a pious and praiseworthy deed. Bring the unfortunate youth to my dwelling, Baldred, and you shall be well rewarded. Use despatch, I pray you.”

  As the gatekeeper essayed to comply, the wounded man groaned deeply, as if in great pain.

  “Fling me the weapon with which you smote him,” cried Doctor Lamb, in accents of commiseration, “and I will anoint it with the powder of sympathy. His anguish will be speedily abated.”

  “I know your worship can accomplish wonders,” cried Baldred, throwing the halberd into the balcony. “I will do my part as gently as I can.”

  And as the alchemist took up the weapon, and disappeared through the window, the gatekeeper lifted the wounded man by the shoulders, and conveyed him down a narrow, winding staircase to a lower chamber. Though he proceeded carefully, the sufferer was put to excruciating pain; and when Baldred placed him on a wooden bench, and held a lamp towards him, he perceived that his features were darkened and distorted.

  “I fear it’s all over with him,” murmured the gatekeeper; “I shall have a dead body to take to Doctor Lamb. It would be a charity to knock him on the head, rather than let him suffer thus. The doctor passes for a cunning man, but if he can cure this poor youth without seeing him, by the help of his sympathetic ointment, I shall begin to believe, what some folks avouch, that he has relations with the devil.”

  While Baldred was ruminating in this manner, a sudden and extraordinary change took place in the sufferer. As if by magic, the contraction of the muscles subsided; the features assumed a wholesome hue, and the respiration was no longer laborious. Baldred stared as if a miracle had been wrought.

  Now that the countenance of the youth had regained its original expression, the gatekeeper could not help being struck by its extreme beauty. The face was a perfect oval, with regular and delicate features. A short silken moustache covered the upper lip, which was short and proud, and a pointed beard terminated the chin. The hair was black, glossy, and cut short, so as to disclose a highly intellectual expanse of brow.

  The youth’s figure was slight, but admirably proportioned. His attire consisted of a black satin doublet, slashed with white, hose of black silk, and a short velvet mantle. His eyes were still closed, and it was difficult to say what effect they might give to the face when they lighted it up; but notwithstanding its beauty, it was impossible not to admit that a strange, sinister, and almost demoniacal expression pervaded the countenance.

  All at once, and with as much suddenness as his cure had been effected, the young man started, uttering a piercing cry, and placed his hand to his side.

  “Caitiff!” he cried, fixing his blazing eyes on the gatekeeper, “why do you torture me thus? Finish me at once — Oh!”

  And overcome by anguish, he sank back again.

  “I have not touched you, sir,” replied Baldred. “I brought you here to succour you. You will be easier anon. Doctor Lamb must have wiped the halberd,” he added to himself.

  Another sudden change. The pain fled from the sufferer
’s countenance, and he became easy as before.

  “What have you done to me?” he asked, with a look of gratitude; “the torture of my wound has suddenly ceased, and I feel as if a balm had been dropped into it. Let me remain in this state if you have any pity — or despatch me, for my late agony was almost insupportable.”

  “You are cared for by one who has greater skill than any chirurgeon in London,” replied Baldred. “If I can manage to transport you to his lodgings, he will speedily heal your wounds.”

  “Do not delay, then,” replied Auriol faintly; “for though I am free from pain, I feel that my life is ebbing fast away.”

  “Press this handkerchief to your side, and lean on me,” said Baldred. “Doctor Lamb’s dwelling is but a step from the gateway — in fact, the first house on the bridge. By the way, the doctor declares he is your kinsman.”

  “It is the first I ever heard of him,” replied Auriol faintly; “but take me to him quickly, or it will be too late.”

  In another moment they were at the doctor’s door. Baldred tapped against it, and the summons was instantly answered by a diminutive personage, clad in a jerkin of coarse grey serge, and having a leathern apron tied round his waist. This was Flapdragon.

  Blear-eyed, smoke-begrimed, lantern-jawed, the poor dwarf seemed as if his whole life had been spent over the furnace. And so, in fact, it had been. He had become little better than a pair of human bellows. In his hand he held the halberd with which Auriol had been wounded.

  “So you have been playing the leech, Flapdragon, eh?” cried Baldred.

  “Ay, marry have I,” replied the dwarf, with a wild grin, and displaying a wolfish set of teeth. “My master ordered me to smear the halberd with the sympathetic ointment. I obeyed him: rubbed the steel point, first on one side, then on the other; next wiped it; and then smeared it again.”

  “Whereby you put the patient to exquisite pain,” replied Baldred; “but help me to transport him to the laboratory.”

  “I know not if the doctor will care to be disturbed,” said Flapdragon. “He is busily engaged on a grand operation.”

  “I will take the risk on myself,” said Baldred. “The youth will die if he remains here. See, he has fainted already!”

  Thus urged, the dwarf laid down the halberd, and between the two, Auriol was speedily conveyed up a wide oaken staircase to the laboratory. Doctor Lamb was plying the bellows at the furnace, on which a large alembic was placed, and he was so engrossed by his task that he scarcely noticed the entrance of the others.

  “Place the youth on the ground, and rear his head against the chair,” he cried, hastily, to the dwarf. “Bathe his brows with the decoction in that crucible. I will attend to him anon. Come to me on the morrow, Baldred, and I will repay thee for thy trouble. I am busy now.”

  “These relics, doctor,” cried the gatekeeper, glancing at the bag, which was lying on the ground, and from which a bald head protruded— “I ought to take them back with me.”

  “Heed them not — they will be safe in my keeping,” cried Doctor Lamb impatiently; “to-morrow — to-morrow.”

  Casting a furtive glance round the laboratory, and shrugging his shoulders, Baldred departed; and Flapdragon having bathed the sufferer’s temples with the decoction, in obedience to his master’s injunctions, turned to inquire what he should do next.

  “Begone!” cried the doctor, so fiercely that the dwarf darted out of the room, clapping the door after him.

  Doctor Lamb then applied himself to his task with renewed ardour, and in a few seconds became wholly insensible of the presence of a stranger.

  Revived by the stimulant, Auriol presently opened his eyes, and gazing round the room, thought he must be dreaming, so strange and fantastical did all appear. The floor was covered with the implements used by the adept — bolt-heads, crucibles, cucurbites, and retorts, scattered about without any attempt at arrangement. In one corner was a large terrestrial sphere: near it was an astrolabe, and near that a heap of disused glass vessels. On the other side lay a black, mysterious-looking book, fastened with brazen clasps. Around it were a ram’s horn, a pair of forceps, a roll of parchment, a pestle and mortar, and a large plate of copper, graven with the mysterious symbols of the Isaical table. Near this was the leathern bag containing the two decapitated heads, one of which had burst forth. On a table at the farther end of the room, stood a large open volume, with parchment leaves, covered with cabalistical characters, referring to the names of spirits. Near it were two parchment scrolls, written in letters, respectively denominated by the Chaldaic sages, “the Malachim,” and “the Passing of the River.” One of these scrolls was kept in its place by a skull. An ancient and grotesque-looking brass lamp, with two snake-headed burners, lighted the room. From the ceiling depended a huge scaly sea-monster, with outspread fins, open jaws garnished with tremendous teeth, and great goggling eyes. Near it hung a celestial sphere. The chimney-piece, which was curiously carved, and projected far into the room, was laden with various implements of hermetic science. Above it were hung dried bats and flitter-mice, interspersed with the skulls of birds and apes. Attached to the chimney-piece was a horary, sculptured in stone, near which hung a large starfish. The fireplace was occupied by the furnace, on which, as has been stated, was placed an alembic, communicating by means of a long serpentine pipe with a receiver. Within the room were two skeletons, one of which, placed behind a curtain in the deep embrasure of the window, where its polished bones glistened in the white moonlight, had a horrible effect. The other enjoyed more comfortable quarters near the chimney, its fleshless feet dangling down in the smoke arising from the furnace.

  Doctor Lamb, meanwhile, steadily pursued his task, though he ever and anon paused, to fling certain roots and drugs upon the charcoal. As he did this, various-coloured flames broke forth — now blue, now green, now blood-red.

  Tinged by these fires, the different objects in the chamber seemed to take other forms, and to become instinct with animation. The gourd-shaped cucurbites were transformed into great bloated toads bursting with venom; the long-necked bolt-heads became monstrous serpents; the worm-like pipes turned into adders; the alembics looked like plumed helmets; the characters on the Isaical table, and those on the parchments, seemed traced in fire, and to be ever changing; the sea-monster bellowed and roared, and, flapping his fins, tried to burst from his hook; the skeletons wagged their jaws, and raised their fleshless fingers in mockery, while blue lights burnt in their eyeless sockets; the bellows became a prodigious bat fanning the fire with its wings; and the old alchemist assumed the appearance of the archfiend presiding over a witches’ sabbath.

  Auriol’s brain reeled, and he pressed his hand to his eyes, to exclude these phantasms from his sight. But even thus they pursued him; and he imagined he could hear the infernal riot going on around him.

  Suddenly, he was roused by a loud joyful cry, and, uncovering his eyes, he beheld Doctor Lamb pouring the contents of the matrass — a bright, transparent liquid — into a small phial. Having carefully secured the bottle with a glass stopper, the old man held it towards the light, and gazed at it with rapture.

  “At length,” he exclaimed aloud— “at length, the great work is achieved. With the birth of the century now expiring I first saw light, and the draught I hold in my hand shall enable me to see the opening of centuries and centuries to come. Composed of the lunar stones, the solar stones, and the mercurial stones — prepared according to the instructions of the Rabbi Ben Lucca — namely, by the separation of the pure from the impure, the volatilisation of the fixed, and the fixing of the volatile — this elixir shall renew my youth, like that of the eagle, and give me length of days greater than any patriarch ever enjoyed.”

  While thus speaking, he held up the sparkling liquid, and gazed at it like a Persian worshipping the sun.

  “To live for ever!” he cried, after a pause— “to escape the jaws of death just when they are opening to devour me! — to be free from all accidents!— ’tis a g
lorious thought! Ha! I bethink me, the rabbi said there was one peril against which the elixir could not guard me — one vulnerable point, by which, like the heel of Achilles, death might reach me! What is it! — where can it lie?”

  And he relapsed into deep thought.

  “This uncertainty will poison all my happiness,” he continued; “I shall live in constant dread, as of an invisible enemy. But no matter! Perpetual life! — perpetual youth! — what more need be desired?”

  “What more, indeed!” cried Auriol.

  “Ha!” exclaimed the doctor, suddenly recollecting the wounded man, and concealing the phial beneath his gown.

  “Your caution is vain, doctor,” said Auriol. “I have heard what you have uttered. You fancy you have discovered the elixir vitæ.”

  “Fancy I have discovered it!” cried Doctor Lamb. “The matter is past all doubt. I am the possessor of the wondrous secret, which the greatest philosophers of all ages have sought to discover — the miraculous preservative of the body against decay.”

  “The man who brought me hither told me you were my kinsman,” said Auriol. “Is it so?”

  “It is,” replied the doctor, “and you shall now learn the connection that subsists between us. Look at that ghastly relic,” he added, pointing to the head protruding from the bag: “that was once my son Simon. His son’s head is within the sack — your father’s head — so that four generations are brought together.”

  “Gracious Heaven!” exclaimed the young man, raising himself on his elbow. “You, then, are my great-grandsire. My father supposed you had died in his infancy. An old tale runs in the family that you were charged with sorcery, and fled to avoid the stake.”