Volume II Part 21 (1/2)
”But of the secrets which, by virtue of mine office and G.o.dly vocation, men do entrust to my safe keeping, I may not use, even to the hurt of our enemies and the welfare of the Church, yet buffeted by Satan in the wilderness. Nevertheless, I was sore troubled that thou, even thou, shouldest harbour and abet these wicked men, who have broken the covenant and plucked up the seed of the kingdom. Truly, I wot not where the afflicted Church shall find succour when her foes be they of her own household.”
”I knew not that they were enemies when first they sought our habitation. They had eaten and drunken at our board, and the”----
”These sons of Belial found favour in thy sight, even the chief captain of the king's host. I would not accuse or blame thee rashly; but verily thou hast not judged wisely in this matter, for now must they depart, inasmuch as I cannot use, even to the advantage of our just cause, the knowledge I have gained; nor wilt thou render them up, I trow; but mark me, the avenger of blood is behind them, and though the city of refuge be nigh, they shall not escape!----Yet there be other marvels this wicked one did set forth,” said the minister, with a searching eye directed to the maiden. ”One of these uncirc.u.mcised Philistines did woo thee for his bride. What answer gavest thou?”
”Such answer as becometh one who seeketh not fellows.h.i.+p with the works of darkness.”
”'Tis well. Now lead me to this Joab the son of Zeruiah, this captain of the king's host; for I have a message unto him also.”
Following the astonished and trembling maiden, the divine, fraught with some weighty commission, was admitted into the temporary concealment of the fugitives. It was a narrow and inconvenient loft above one of the outbuildings--the roof so low that it was only in some places the upright figure of the minister might be sustained. The light penetrated through an aperture in the roof, showing the guests within seated, and enjoying a frugal, but sufficient repast.
”I am one of few words,” said the divine, ”and so much the rather as that I now stand in the presence of mine enemies. What sayest thou, Prince Rupert, the persecutor of G.o.d's heritage, who didst not stay thine hand from the slaughter even of them that were taken captive?
What sayest thou that the word should not go forth to kill and slay, even as thou didst smite and not spare, but didst destroy utterly them who, when beleaguered by thine armies in Bolton, were delivered into thine hand?”
”Ha!” said the Prince; ”thou--a c.o.c.katrice to betray me!”
”She hath not betrayed thee. Yonder poor and afflicted sinner, when in bondage unto Satan, led captive by him at his will, did reveal it by the spirit of prophecy that was in him. But we take not advantage of this to thine hurt; we may not use the devil's works for the building up and welfare of the Church, even though she were mightily holpen thereby. But listen: thou hast wooed this maiden to be the wife of thy bosom. In the dark roll of destiny it is written--so spake the unclean spirit--that if thou shouldest wed, a son springing from thy loins shall sit upon the throne of this unhappy realm. He shall govern the people righteously, every one under his own vine and his own fig-tree, none daring to make them afraid. Surely it would not be a vain and an evil thing should the maiden be----Yet--this is my temptation. Get thee behind me, Satan. May the thought and the folly of my heart be forgiven me! No! proud and cruel persecutor, this maiden is a pearl of rare price which thou shalt not win--a chosen one who hath had grace given unto her above measure, even above that vouchsafed unto me. I do loathe and abhor myself for the iniquity of my heart, and the unsubdued carnality of my spirit.”
”Your Highness had need of great meekness and patience to endure this grievous outpouring,” said Chisenhall to the silent and bewildered Prince. ”Shall I thrust him through, and make sure of his fidelity?”
”Hurt him not,” said his Highness to this effectual admonisher unto secrecy. ”And what if I should not wed?” continued he, addressing the divine, and at the same time looking tenderly on the damsel.
”To this point too was the prophecy accordant. The sceptre shall nevertheless be given to one of thy race; thy sister's son shall carry down the line of kings to this people; and the Lord's work shall still prosper. Now, daughter of many prayers--for I have yearned over thee with more than a father's love--choose thee without constraint this day. Thou hearest the words of this prophecy: wilt thou be the mother of kings, or the lowly and despised follower of G.o.d's heritage?”
”I will not grasp the bubble of ambition. It bursts--a hollow vapour when possessed. Let me choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of G.o.d than obtain all the treasures of Egypt. But tempt me not again, for my soul cleaveth to the dust--flesh and blood shrink from the trial!”
She sobbed aloud, and threw herself on the old man's neck, who scarcely refrained from joining in her tears.
”Thou hast come forth as gold from the furnace--thou hast kept the faith, and holden fast thy profession,” said the divine, with a glance of triumph. Marian held out her hand to the Prince, who grasped it with fervour. She seemed more like to some holy and heavenward thing than a denizen of this polluted earth--more like a type of the confessors and martyrs of the primitive church than a disciple of our own, nurtured in the lap of carnal security, with little show of either zeal or devotion.
”Your Highness must depart--but whither?” said she, with an anxious and inquiring glance directed to the minister.
”Take no thought for their safety; thy constancy hath earned their deliverance. My safe-conduct will carry them unharmed beyond the reach of their enemies; but let them not return. It is at their own peril if they be found again harboured in this vicinage, and their blood be on their own heads!”
They departed, and the subsequent history of the gallant Rupert is well known. He joined the king at Oxford, and helped him to retrieve his defeat at Newbury, bringing off his artillery left at Dunnington Castle in the very face of the enemy. At the decisive Battle of Naseby we find him performing feats of extraordinary valour; but, as before, his headlong and precipitate fury led him into the usual error; and though the loss of the battle was not to be attributed entirely to his imprudence, yet a little more caution would have altered materially the results of that memorable conflict. Hara.s.sed and dispirited, he threw himself with the remainder of his troops into Bristol, intending to defend it to the last extremity; but even here his const.i.tutional fort.i.tude and valour seemed to forsake him: a poorer defence was not made by any town during the whole war, and the general expectations were extremely disappointed. No sooner had the Parliamentary forces entered the lines by storm, than the Prince capitulated, and surrendered the place to General Fairfax. A few days before, he had written a letter to the King, in which he undertook to defend it for four months, if no mutiny obliged him to surrender it. Charles, who was forming schemes and collecting forces for the relief of the city, was astonished at so unexpected an event, which was little less fatal to his cause than the defeat at Naseby. Full of indignation, he instantly recalled all Prince Rupert's commissions, and sent him a pa.s.s to go beyond sea.
Several years afterwards we find him in command of a squadron of s.h.i.+ps, entrusted to him by Charles II, when an exile in Normandy.
Admiral Blake received orders from the Parliament to pursue him.
Rupert, being much inferior in force, took shelter in Kinsale, and escaping thence, fled toward the coast of Portugal. Blake pursued and chased him into the Tagus, where he intended to attack him; but the King of Portugal, moved by the favour which throughout Europe attended the royal cause, refused Blake admission, and aided the Prince in making his escape. Having lost the greater part of his fleet off the coast of Spain, he made sail towards the West Indies; but his brother, Prince Maurice, was there s.h.i.+pwrecked in a hurricane. Everywhere his squadron subsisted by privateering, sometimes on English, sometimes on Spanish, vessels. Rupert at last returned to France, where he disposed of the remnants of his fleet, together with his prizes.
He was never married; peradventure the remembrance of the n.o.ble and heroic maiden marred his wiving; he cared not for the presence of those courtly dames by whom he was surrounded, though a soldier, and a brave one. By one of his race the crown of these realms was inherited; and the same line is yet perpetuated in the person of our gracious monarch, whom G.o.d preserve! The sister of Rupert, Princess Sophia, by marriage with the Elector of Hanover, became the mother of George I.; and thus was that singular prediction of the supposed demoniac strangely and happily verified. Of Marian little remains to be told; the lives of the virtuous and well-doing furnish little matter for the historian; their deeds are not of this world; the bright page of their history is unfolded only in the next.
[8] Hume.
[9] Clarendon.