Volume I Part 15 (2/2)
King James was quite enraptured at the brilliant display, and addressing the Duke of Tyrconnel, said:--”Albeit I have sojourned for a length of time at my court of St. Germains, and have, in sooth, resided in the country of pomp, spectacle, and pageantry, yet a.s.suredly never have I there witnessed such a scene of splendour as I have beheld this day, either at Versailles or at Paris!--It has given me great satisfaction truly, and I must observe that I consider that the taste, pomp, and splendour of the pageant of to-day has rarely, if ever, been surpa.s.sed.”
At night-fall the waits were in attendance at the upper castle-gate to serenade the royal James. As the usage has become obsolete, it is necessary to acquaint the reader that WAITS were a band of itinerant nocturnal musicians, who perambulated the streets, singing, and playing on different instruments, at different houses, where they addressed the master or mistress of the mansion; and at Christmas-tide they were usually most alert in their avocation, when they were tolerably sure of an _honorarium_. The Irish waits resembled the _musique ambulante_ of France. In England waits are very ancient. It is now about thirty-eight or forty years since this custom has wholly ceased in the city of Dublin. The Irish waits were always attended by a man who bore a long pole, from which was suspended a spherical illuminated lantern, which they called their moon; with Falstaff they might indeed say, ”Let us be gentlemen of the shade--minions of the moon!” They sung and accompanied the following verses to the air of ”G.o.d save the King!”
O welcome be our n.o.ble king!
Resound the harp, each dulcet string, While every loyal chord shall ring, And every loyal tongue shall sing, With filial burst, G.o.d save the king!
Oh, ever on his natal day Our grateful homage we shall pay; And bless the fav'ring breeze whose wing Wafted our great and generous king!
After this long digression we shall resume our story in the following chapter.
CHAPTER XIII.
----Hark! from camp to camp The hum of either army stilly sounds, That the fix'd sentinels almost receive The secret whispers of each other's watch; Steed threatens steed in high and boastful neighings, Piercing the night's dull ear.
KING HENRY V.
King James, almost immediately after his arrival in his capital of Dublin, a.s.sembled and met the Irish parliament. His Majesty proceeded in great state to the House of Peers to open the session, where, arrayed in his royal robes, and adorned with his crown,[48] he met the a.s.sembled lords and commons of Ireland. He made a most truly dignified and impressive speech[49] from the throne, with all that native grace and dignity with which indeed King James was peculiarly gifted; and he adopted his royal residence, while he sojourned in his Irish capital, at the Castle of Dublin, from whence His Majesty issued various proclamations.
[48] Life of King James.
[49] This speech will be found in the third volume of Rapin's History of England, page 85.
The morning which succeeded the said meeting of parliament, at an early hour, the Duke of Tyrconnel received an express, which stated, that[50]
”the Prince of Orange had landed at Carrickfergus, from the Mary yacht, attended by Prince George of Denmark, the Duke of Ormond, the Earls of Devons.h.i.+re, Oxford, Scarborough, and Manchester, the Honourable Mr.
Boyle, and many other persons of distinction. He tarried,” it was added to the report, ”only about half an hour after his landing, and then set off in Duke Schomberg's carriage for Belfast.”
[50] History and Antiquities of the County and Town of Carrickfergus.
When this was told to King James, his only reply was, in allusion to Prince George: ”What! has little '_est-il possible_' deserted me at last!”[51]
[51] Memoirs of Grammont.
The plain, but extraordinary fact now came forth, that the Prince of Orange had been actually six days in Ireland before any intimation or express to that effect had arrived thereby to acquaint King James of the event.
The Prince of Orange having driven King James from England, Ireland was now fated to become the scene of civil war, which, as will appear, was conducted with considerable talent on both sides. And very soon a battle was to be fought between two contending sovereigns, and the glorious prize depending upon the eventful issue of the mighty contest was no less than the triple crown of three powerful kingdoms!
At this period England was most critically circ.u.mstanced: defeat at home was succeeded by victory of the enemy abroad. The defeat of the fleet of Torrington off the sh.o.r.es of England, was the harbinger of the defeat of the Dutch in the great battle of Fleurus. The reins of government were guided by a woman, whose councils were distracted by two implacable factions. Invasion was impending; rebellion existed in one of the three kingdoms, and was expected in the other two; the king was absent; the army abroad in other countries; and an exiled master returning home, armed with power and vengeance. These combined causes shook the British empire to its centre.
Numerous indeed were the difficulties and obstructions with which the Prince of Orange had to contend; and various the plots, intrigues, and conspiracies, that he had to overcome, which rendered the commencement of his reign (when styled William III.) so very tempestuous, that more than once he had resolved[52] ”to abandon his throne, and retire into Holland, and for ever to relinquish the sovereignty of England; distracted, as he found it, with political and religious contentions, and convulsed by party and faction.”
[52] Rapin's History of England.
However, he hesitated before he carried this measure into execution. He issued a proclamation previous to his departure from England, promising to the Irish who should lay down their arms and return to their homes, that they should not be molested in their persons or injured in their properties; and this he promulgated to some Irish lords, who were at that time in London, at the very moment that Duke Schomberg was departing for Ireland. The discourse which King William gave at a council held was to this effect:[53] ”He declared to them, that he had resolved, with the a.s.sistance of G.o.d, to reduce Ireland to the obedience of England, and not to stop at any measure that was necessary for its accomplishment; but that he loved not the effusion of blood--no, not even of his most implacable enemy; and that he had resolved, so far as human prudence permitted, to extend his pardon and his clemency to all those who were in arms against him, except the Duke of Tyrconnel, the Lord Chancellor Fitton,” and about twelve peers more, who were enumerated in this proclamation, and were thereby excluded from the royal mercy; and in this exception some generals and field officers were included.
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