The Last of the Barons — Complete

by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton

  CHAPTER III. THE TRADER AND THE GENTLE; OR, THE CHANGING GENERATION.

  "No, my dear foster-brother," said the Nevile, "I do not yet comprehendthe choice you have made. You were reared and brought up with suchcareful book-lere, not only to read and to write--the which, save themark! I hold to be labour eno'--but chop Latin and logic and theologywith Saint Aristotle (is not that his hard name?) into the bargain, andall because you had an uncle of high note in Holy Church. I cannot sayI would be a shaveling myself; but surely a monk with the hope ofpreferment is a nobler calling to a lad of spirit and ambition thanto stand out at a door and cry, 'Buy, buy,' 'What d'ye lack?' to spendyouth as a Flat-cap, and drone out manhood in measuring cloth, hammeringmetals, or weighing out spices?"

  "Fair and softly, Master Marmaduke," said Alwyn, "you will understandme better anon. My uncle, the sub-prior, died,--some say of austerities,others of ale,--that matters not; he was a learned man and a cunning.'Nephew Nicholas,' said he on his death-bed, 'think twice before you tieyourself up to the cloister; it's ill leaping nowadays in a sackclothbag. If a pious man be moved to the cowl by holy devotion, there isnothing to be said on the subject; but if he take to the Church as acalling, and wish to march ahead like his fellows, these times show hima prettier path to distinction. The nobles begin to get the best thingsfor themselves; and a learned monk, if he is the son of a yeoman, cannothope, without a specialty of grace, to become abbot or bishop. The king,whoever he be, must be so drained by his wars, that he has little landor gold to bestow on his favourites; but his gentry turn an eye tothe temporalities of the Church, and the Church and the king wish tostrengthen themselves by the gentry. This is not all; there arefree opinions afloat. The House of Lancaster has lost ground, by itspersecutions and burnings. Men dare not openly resist, but theytreasure up recollections of a fried grandfather, or a roastedcousin,--recollections which have done much damage to the Henries, andwill shake Holy Church itself one of these days. The Lollards lie hid,but Lollardism will never die. There is a new class rising amain, wherea little learning goes a great way, if mixed with spirit and sense.Thou likest broad pieces and a creditable name,--go to London and bea trader. London begins to decide who shall wear the crown, and thetraders to decide what king London shall befriend. Wherefore, cut thytrace from the cloister, and take thy road to the shop.' The next daymy uncle gave up the ghost.--They had better clary than this at theconvent, I must own; but every stone has its flaw."

  "Yet," said Marmaduke, "if you took distaste to the cowl, from reasonsthat I pretend not to judge of, but which seem to my poor head very badones, seeing that the Church is as mighty as ever, and King Edward isno friend to the Lollards, and that your uncle himself was at least asub-prior--"

  "Had he been son to a baron, he had been a cardinal," interruptedNicholas, "for his head was the longest that ever came out of the northcountry. But go on; you would say my father was a sturdy yeoman, and Imight have followed his calling?"

  "You hit the mark, Master Nicholas."

  "Hout, man. I crave pardon of your rank, Master Nevile. But a yeoman isborn a yeoman, and he dies a yeoman--I think it better to die Lord Mayorof London; and so I craved my mother's blessing and leave, and a partof the old hyde has been sold to pay for the first step to the red gown,which I need not say must be that of the Flat-cap. I have already takenmy degrees, and no longer wear blue. I am headman to my master, and mymaster will be sheriff of London."

  "It is a pity," said the Nevile, shaking his head; "you were ever atall, brave lad, and would have made a very pretty soldier."

  "Thank you, Master Marmaduke, but I leave cut and thrust to the gentles.I have seen eno' of the life of a retainer. He goes out on foot with hisshield and his sword, or his bow and his quiver, while Sir Knight sitson horseback, armed from the crown to the toe, and the arrow slants offfrom rider and horse, as a stone from a tree. If the retainer is notsliced and carved into mincemeat, he comes home to a heap of ashes,and a handful of acres, harried and rivelled into a common; Sir Knightthanks him for his valour, but he does not build up his house; SirKnight gets a grant from the king, or an heiress for his son, and HobYeoman turns gisarme and bill into ploughshares. Tut, tut, there's noliberty, no safety, no getting on, for a man who has no right to thegold spurs, but in the guild of his fellows; and London is the place fora born Saxon like Nicholas Alwyn."

  As the young aspirant thus uttered the sentiments, which though othersmight not so plainly avow and shrewdly enforce them, tended towards thatslow revolution, which, under all the stormy events that the superficialrecord we call HISTORY alone deigns to enumerate, was working that greatchange in the thoughts and habits of the people,--that impulsion of theprovincial citywards, that gradual formation of a class between knightand vassal,--which became first constitutionally visible and distinctin the reign of Henry VII., Marmaduke Nevile, inly half-regretting andhalf-despising the reasonings of his foster-brother, was playing withhis dagger, and glancing at his silver arrow.

  "Yet you could still have eno' of the tall yeoman and the stout retainerabout you to try for this bauble, and to break half a dozen thick headswith your quarter-staff!"

  "True," said Nicholas; "you must recollect we are only, as yet, betweenthe skin and the selle,--half-trader, half-retainer. The old leaven willout,--'Eith to learn the cat to the kirn,' as they say in the North. Butthat's not all; a man, to get on, must win respect from those who areto jostle him hereafter, and it's good policy to show those roysteringyoungsters that Nick Alwyn, stiff and steady though he be, has the oldEnglish metal in him, if it comes to a pinch; it's a lesson to yon lordstoo, save your quality, if they ever wish to ride roughshod over ourguilds and companies. But eno' of me.--Drawer, another stoup of theclary--Now, gentle sir, may I make bold to ask news of yourself? I saw,though I spake not before of it, that my Lord Montagu showed a cold faceto his kinsman. I know something of these great men, though I be but asmall one,--a dog is no bad guide in the city he trots through."

  "My dear foster-brother," said the Nevile, "you had ever more brainsthan myself, as is meet that you should have, since you lay by the steelcasque,--which, I take it, is meant as a substitute for us gentlemenand soldiers who have not so many brains to spare; and I will willinglyprofit by your counsels. You must know," he said, drawing nearer to thetable, and his frank, hardy face assuming a more earnest expression,"that though my father, Sir Guy, at the instigation of his chief, theEarl of Westmoreland, and of the Lord Nevile, bore arms at the first forKing Henry--"

  "Hush! hush! for Henry of Windsor!"

  "Henry of Windsor!--so be it! yet being connected, like the nobles Ihave spoken of, with the blood of Warwick and Salisbury, it was everwith doubt and misgiving, and rather in the hope of ultimate compromisebetween both parties (which the Duke of York's moderation renderedprobable) than of the extermination of either. But when, at the battleof York, Margaret of Anjou and her generals stained their victory bycruelties which could not fail to close the door on all conciliation;when the infant son of the duke himself was murdered, though a prisoner,in cold blood; when my father's kinsman, the Earl of Salisbury, wasbeheaded without trial; when the head of the brave and good duke,who had fallen in the field, was, against all knightly and king-likegenerosity, mockingly exposed, like a dishonoured robber, on the gatesof York, my father, shocked and revolted, withdrew at once from thearmy, and slacked not bit or spur till he found himself in his hall atArsdale. His death, caused partly by his travail and vexation of spirit,together with his timely withdrawal from the enemy, preserved his namefrom the attainder passed on the Lords Westmoreland and Nevile; and myeldest brother, Sir John, accepted the king's proffer of pardon, tookthe oaths of allegiance to Edward, and lives safe, if obscure, in hisfather's halls. Thou knowest, my friend, that a younger brother has butsmall honour at home. Peradventure, in calmer times, I might have bowedmy pride to my calling, hunted my brother's dogs, flown his hawks,rented his keeper's lodge, and gone to my grave contented. But to ayoung man, who from his childhood had hear
d the stirring talk ofknights and captains, who had seen valour and fortune make the way todistinction, and whose ears of late had been filled by the tales ofwandering minstrels and dissours, with all the gay wonders of Edward'scourt, such a life soon grew distasteful. My father, on his death-bed(like thy uncle, the sub-prior), encouraged me little to follow his ownfootsteps. 'I see,' said he, 'that King Henry is too soft to rule hisbarons, and Margaret too fierce to conciliate the commons; the only hopeof peace is in the settlement of the House of York. Wherefore, let notthy father's errors stand in the way of thy advancement;' and therewithhe made his confessor--for he was no penman himself, the worthy oldknight!--indite a letter to his great kinsman, the Earl of Warwick,commending me to his protection. He signed his mark, and set his seal tothis missive, which I now have at mine hostelrie, and died the same day.My brother judged me too young then to quit his roof; and condemned meto bear his humours till, at the age of twenty-three, I could bear nomore! So having sold him my scant share in the heritage, and turned,like thee, bad land into good nobles, I joined a party of horse in theirjourney to London, and arrived yesterday at Master Sackbut's hostelriein Eastchepe. I went this morning to my Lord of Warwick; but he was goneto the king's, and hearing of the merry-makings here, I came hitherfor kill-time. A chance word of my Lord of Montagu--whom Saint Dunstanconfound!--made me conceit that a feat of skill with the cloth-yardmight not ill preface my letter to the great earl. But, pardie! itseems I reckoned without my host, and in seeking to make my fortunes toorashly, I have helped to mar them." Wherewith he related the particularsof his interview with Montagu.

  Nicholas Alwyn listened to him with friendly and thoughtful interest,and, when he had done, spoke thus,--

  "The Earl of Warwick is a generous man, and though hot, bears littlemalice, except against those whom he deems misthink or insult him; he isproud of being looked up to as a protector, especially by those of hisown kith and name. Your father's letter will touch the right string,and you cannot do better than deliver it with a plain story. A youngpartisan like thee is not to be despised. Thou must trust to LordWarwick to set matters right with his brother; and now, before I sayfurther, let me ask thee, plainly, and without offence, Dost thou solove the House of York that no chance could ever make thee turn swordagainst it? Answer as I ask,--under thy breath; those drawers areparlous spies!"

  And here, in justice to Marmaduke Nevile and to his betters, it isnecessary to preface his reply by some brief remarks, to which we mustcrave the earnest attention of the reader. What we call PATRIOTISM,in the high and catholic acceptation of the word, was little if at allunderstood in days when passion, pride, and interest were motives littlesoftened by reflection and education, and softened still less by thefusion of classes that characterized the small States of old, and marksthe civilization of a modern age. Though the right by descent of theHouse of York, if genealogy alone were consulted, was indisputablyprior to that of Lancaster, yet the long exercise of power in the latterHouse, the genius of the Fourth Henry, and the victories of the Fifth,would no doubt have completely superseded the obsolete claims of theYorkists, had Henry VI. possessed any of the qualities necessary forthe time. As it was, men had got puzzled by genealogies and cavils; thesanctity attached to the king's name was weakened by his doubtful rightto his throne, and the Wars of the rival Roses were at last (with twoexceptions, presently to be noted) the mere contests of exasperatedfactions, in which public considerations were scarcely even made theblind to individual interest, prejudice, or passion.

  Thus, instances of desertion, from the one to the other party, even bythe highest nobles, and on the very eve of battle, had grown so commonthat little if any disgrace was attached to them; and any knight orcaptain held an affront to himself an amply sufficient cause for thetransfer of his allegiance. It would be obviously absurd to expect inany of the actors of that age the more elevated doctrines of party faithand public honour, which clearer notions of national morality, and thesalutary exercise of a large general opinion, free from the passions ofsingle individuals, have brought into practice in our more enlighteneddays. The individual feelings of the individual MAN, strong inhimself, became his guide, and he was free in much from the regular andthoughtful virtues, as well as from the mean and plausible vices, ofthose who act only in bodies and corporations. The two exceptions tothis idiosyncrasy of motive and conduct were, first, in the generaldisposition of the rising middle class, especially in London, to connectgreat political interests with the more popular House of York. Thecommons in parliament had acted in opposition to Henry the Sixth, asthe laws they wrung from him tended to show, and it was a popular andtrading party that came, as it were, into power under King Edward. Itis true that Edward was sufficiently arbitrary in himself; but apopular party will stretch as much as its antagonists in favour ofdespotism,--exercised, on its enemies. And Edward did his best toconsult the interests of commerce, though the prejudices of themerchants interpreted those interests in a way opposite to that in whichpolitical economy now understands them. The second exception to the merehostilities of individual chiefs and feudal factions has, not less thanthe former, been too much overlooked by historians. But this was a stillmore powerful element in the success of the House of York. The hostilityagainst the Roman Church and the tenets of the Lollards were shared byan immense part of the population. In the previous century an ancientwriter computes that one half the population were Lollards; and thoughthe sect were diminished and silenced by fear, they still ceased not toexist, and their doctrines not only shook the Church under Henry VIII.,but destroyed the throne by the strong arm of their children, thePuritans, under Charles I. It was impossible that these men should nothave felt the deepest resentment at the fierce and steadfast persecutionthey endured under the House of Lancaster; and without pausing toconsider how far they would benefit under the dynasty of York, theyhad all those motives of revenge which are mistaken so often for thecounsels of policy, to rally round any standard raised against theiroppressors. These two great exceptions to merely selfish policy, whichit remains for the historian clearly and at length to enforce, these:and these alone will always, to a sagacious observer, elevate the Warsof the Roses above those bloody contests for badges which we are atfirst sight tempted to regard them. But these deeper motives animatedvery little the nobles and the knightly gentry; [Amongst many instancesof the self-seeking of the time, not the least striking is thesubservience of John Mowbray, the great Duke of Norfolk, to his oldpolitical enemy, the Earl of Oxford, the moment the last comes intopower, during the brief restoration of Henry VI. John Paston, whosefamily had been sufficiently harassed by this great duke, says, withsome glee, "The Duke and Duchess (of Norfolk) sue to him (Lord Oxford)as humbly as ever I did to them."--Paston Letters, cccii.] and with themthe governing principles were, as we have just said, interest, ambition,and the zeal for the honour and advancement of Houses and chiefs.

  "Truly," said Marmaduke, after a short and rather embarrassed pause,"I am little beholden as yet to the House of York. There where I see anoble benefactor, or a brave and wise leader, shall I think my sword andheart may best proffer allegiance."

  "Wisely said," returned Alwyn, with a slight but half sarcastic smile;"I asked thee the question because--draw closer--there are wise men inour city who think the ties between Warwick and the king less strongthan a ship's cable; and if thou attachest thyself to Warwick, he willbe better pleased, it may be, with talk of devotion to himself thanprofessions of exclusive loyalty to King Edward. He who has littlesilver in his pouch must have the more silk on his tongue. A word to aWestmoreland or a Yorkshire man is as good as a sermon to men not bornso far north. One word more, and I have done. Thou art kind and affableand gentle, my dear foster-brother, but it will not do for thee to beseen again with the goldsmith's headman. If thou wantest me, send forme at nightfall; I shall be found at Master Heyford's, in the Chepe. Andif," added Nicholas, with a prudent reminiscence, "thou succeedest atcourt, and canst recommend my master,--there is no better goldsmith,--
itmay serve me when I set up for myself, which I look to do shortly."

  "But to send for thee, my own foster-brother, at nightfall, as if I wereashamed!"

  "Hout, Master Marmaduke, if thou wert not ashamed of me, I should beashamed to be seen with a gay springal like thee. Why, they would say inthe Chepe that Nick Alwyn was going to ruin. No, no. Birds of a feathermust keep shy of those that moult other colours; and so, my dear youngmaster, this is my last shake of the hand. But hold: dost thou know thyway back?"

  "Oh, yes,--never fear!" answered Marmaduke; "though I see not why sofar, at least, we may not be companions."

  "No, better as it is; after this day's work they will gossip about bothof us, and we shall meet many who know my long visage on the way back.God keep thee; avise me how thou prosperest."

  So saying, Nicholas Alwyn walked off, too delicate to propose to pay hisshare of the reckoning with a superior; but when he had gone a few paceshe turned back, and accosting the Nevile, as the latter was rebucklinghis mantle, said,--

  "I have been thinking, Master Nevile, that these gold nobles, which ithas been my luck to bear off, would be more useful in thy gipsirethan mine. I have sure gains and small expenses; but a gentleman gainsnothing, and his hand must be ever in his pouch, so--"

  "Foster-brother," said Marmaduke, haughtily, "a gentleman neverborrows,--except of the Jews, and with due interest. Moreover, I toohave my calling; and as thy stall to thee, so to me my good sword.Saints keep thee! Be sure I will serve thee when I can."

  "The devil's in these young strips of the herald's tree," mutteredAlwyn, as he strode off; "as if it were dishonest to borrow a broadpiece without cutting a throat for it! Howbeit, money is a prolificmother: and here is eno' to buy me a gold chain against I am aldermanof London. Hout, thus goes the world,--the knight's baubles become thealderman's badges--so much the better!"