Part 14 (2/2)

Perceval, the sot, died also in his calling He had a wager with another gentleman (who, from his exploits in that line, had acquired the formidable epithet of Brandy Sell), which should drink the largest cup of strong liquor when King Jaents at Morpeth The exploit was soet the exact quantity of brandy which Percie sed, but it occasioned a fever, of which he expired at the end of three days, with the word, water, water, perpetually on his tongue

dickon broke his neck near Warrington Bridge, in an attempt to show off a foundered blood-mare which he wished to palents He pushed the aniate; she fell in the leap, and the unfortunate jockey lost his life

Wilfred the fool, as sometimes befalls, had the best fortune of the family He was slain at Proud Preston, in Lancashi+re, on the day that General Carpenter attacked the barricades, fighting with great bravery, though I have heard he was never able exactly to comprehend the cause of quarrel, and did not unifored John also behaved very boldly in the saement, and received several wounds, of which he was not happy enough to die on the spot

Old Sir Hildebrand, entirely brokenhearted by these successive losses, became, by the next day's surrender, one of the unhappy prisoners, and was lodged in Newgate with his wounded son John

I was now released fromto relieve the distresses of these new relations My father's interest with Governeneral compassion excited by a parent who had sustained the successive loss of so many sons within so short a tiht to trial for high treason But their dooreater tribunal John died of his wounds in Newgate, reco to me in his last breath, a cast of hahich he had at the Hall, and a black spaniel bitch called Lucy

My poor uncle seemed beaten down to the very earth by his family calamities, and the circumstances in which he unexpectedly found hirateful for such attentions as circumstances per with my father for the first time for so ing from my father's extreme depression of spirits, it ree Sir Hildebrand spoke with great bitterness against Rashleigh, now his only surviving child; laid upon him the ruin of his house, and the deaths of all his brethren, and declared, that neither he nor they would have plunged into political intrigue, but for that very member of his family, who had been the first to desert thereat affection; and once he said, while I sate by his bedside--”Nevoy, since Thorncliff and all of them are dead, I am sorry you cannot have her”

The expression affected me much at the time; for it was a usual custo forth upon the uish Thorncliff, as a favourite, while he suenerally; and the loud jolly tone in which he used to hollo, ”Call Thornie--call all of the note in which he uttered the disconsolate words which I have above quoted He mentioned the contents of his will, and supplied inal he had deposited with lewood, who, dreaded by no one, and confided in by all as a kind of neutral person, had becoht I know, the depositary of half the wills of the fighting men of both factions in the county of Northureater part of ious duties of his church, in which he was directed by the chaplain of the Sardinian ambassador, for whom, with some difficulty, we obtained permission to visit hih the medical attendants, that Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone died of any for a name in the science of medicine He seeue of body and distress of mind, and rather ceased to exist, than died of any positive struggle,--just as a vessel, buffeted and tossed by a succession of teales, her timbers overstrained, and her joints loosened, will so a leak and founder, when there are no apparent causes for her destruction

It was a remarkable circumstance that my father, after the last duties were perfor anxiety that I should act upon the will, and represent his father's house, which had hitherto see in the world which had least charms for him But for as beyond his reach; and, moreover, I doubt not that the excessive dislike which he entertained against Rashleigh (now Sir Rashleigh) Osbaldistone, who loudly threatened to attack his father Sir Hildebrand's will and settlement, corroborated my father's desire to maintain it

”He had been most unjustly disinherited,” he said, ”by his own father--his brother's will had repaired the disgrace, if not the injury, by leaving the wreck of his property to Frank, the natural heir, and he was determined the bequest should take effect”

In the e as an opponent The inforiven to Government was critically well-timed, and his extreence, and the artful manner in which he contrived to assume both merit and influence, had, to a certain extent, procured hi Ministers We were already in the full tide of litigation with hi the firress we made in that comparatively simple lawsuit, there was a chance that this second course of litigation ht be drawn out beyond the period of all our natural lives

To avert these delays as much as possible, my father, by the advice of his counsel learned in the law, paid off and vested inOsbaldistone Hall Perhaps, however, the opportunity to convert a great share of the large profits which accrued from the rapid rise of the funds upon the suppression of the rebellion, and the experience he had so lately had of the perils of coed him to realise, in this manner, a considerable part of his property At any rate, it so chanced, that, instead of co intiness to coht destine o down to Osbaldistone Hall, and take possession of it as the heir and representative of the falewood for the copy of my uncle's will deposited with him, and take all necessary es say makes nine points of the law

At another tie of destination But now Osbaldistone Hall was accompanied with ht, that in that neighbourhood only I was likely to acquire so the fate of Diana Vernon I had every reason to fear it must be far different from what I could have wished it But I could obtain no precise information on the subject

It was in vain that I endeavoured, by such acts of kindness as their situation admitted, to conciliate the confidence of soate A pride which I could not conde Frank Osbaldistone, cousin to the double-distilled traitor Rashleigh, closed every heart and tongue, and I only received thanks, cold and extorted, in exchange for such benefits as I had power to offer The ar the numbers of those whom I endeavoured to serve, and the hearts of the survivors becaradually more contracted towards all who Governradually, and by detachments, to execution, those who survived lost interest inwith the remember what one of them, Ned Shafton by name, replied to ence I could procure him? ”Mr Frank Osbaldistone, I must suppose you mean me kindly, and therefore I thank you But, by G--, hbours carried off day by day to the place of execution, and know that their own necks are to be twisted round in their turn”

Upon the whole, therefore, I was glad to escape froate, and from the scenes which both exhibited, to breathe the free air of Northumberland Andrew Fairservice had continued in my service more from my father's pleasure than my own At present there seemed a prospect that his local acquaintance with Osbaldistone Hall and its vicinity ht be useful; and, of course, he accoetting rid of hi him in his old quarters I cannot conceive how he could prevail upon my father to interest himself in him, unless it were by the art, which he possessed in no inconsiderable degree, of affecting an extreme attachment to his master; which theoretical attach all ainst hischeated by any one but himself

We performed our journey to the North without any reitated by rebellion, now peaceful and in good order The nearer we approached to Osbaldistone Hall, thethat deserted mansion; so that, in order to postpone the evil day, I resolved first to lewood's

That venerable person had been hts of what he had been, and what he noas; and natural recollections of the past had interfered considerably with the active duty which in his present situation ht have been expected froot rid of his clerk Jobson, who had finally left hial assistant to a certain Squire Standish, who had lately commenced operations in those parts as a justice, with a zeal for King George and the Protestant succession, which, very different fros of his old patron, Mr Jobson had more occasion to restrain within the bounds of the law, than to stilewood received reat courtesy, and readily exhibited my uncle's will, which seemed to be without a flaw He was for some time in obvious distress, how he should speak and act in h a supporter of the present Government upon principle, I was disposed to think with pity on those who had opposed it on aof loyalty and duty, his discourse beca medley of what he had done, and what he had left undone,--the pains he had taken to prevent so, and to wink at the escape of others, who had been so unlucky as to engage in the affair

We were tete-a'-tete, and several bumpers had been quaffed by the Justice's special desire, when, on a sudden, he requested me to fill a bona fide brimmer to the health of poor dear Die Vernon, the rose of the wilderness, the heath-bell of Cheviot, and the blossom that's transplanted to an infernal convent

”Is not Miss Vernon ht his Excellency”-- ”Pooh! pooh! his Excellency and his Lordshi+p's all a hu now, you know--mere St Germains titles--Earl of Beauchamp, and aent of Orleans scarce knew that he lived, I dare say But you must have seen old Sir Frederick Vernon at the Hall, when he played the part of Father Vaughan?”

”Good Heavens! then Vaughan was Miss Vernon's father?”

”To be sure he was,” said the Justice coolly;--”there's no use in keeping the secret now, for he must be out of the country by this time--otherwise, no doubt, it would be my duty to apprehend him--Come, off with your buo round, around, around, And let her health go round; For though your stocking be of silk, Your knees near kiss the ground, aground, aground”

This pithy verse occurs, it is believed, in Shadwell's play of Bury Fair

I was unable, as the reader may easily conceive, to join in the Justice's jollity My head sith the shock I had received ”I never heard,” I said, ”that Miss Vernon's father was living”

”It was not our Governlewood, ”for the devil a ht more money He was condeht to have had so William's time; and as he had married in Scotland a relation of the house of Breadalbane, he possessed great influence with all their chiefs There was a talk of his being deiven up at the peace of Ryswick, but he shaiven publicly out in the French papers But when he came back here on the old score, we old cavaliers knew hi a cavalier entle shortened by frequent attacks of the gout, I could not have sworn to him, you know”

”Was he, then, not known at Osbaldistone Hall?” I inquired

”To none but to his daughter, the old knight, and Rashleigh, who had got at that secret as he did at every one else, and held it like a twisted cord about poor Die's neck I have seen her one hundred times she would have spit at him, if it had not been fear for her father, whose life would not have been worth five minutes' purchase if he had been discovered to the Government--But don't ood, a gracious, and a just Governs, all will acknowledge they would not have been touched had they staid peaceably at ho the discussion of these political questions, I brought back Mr Inglewood to his subject, and I found that Diana, having positively refused to marry any of the Osbaldistone fah, he had froun to cool in zeal for the cause of the Pretender; to which, as the youngest of six brethren, and bold, artful, and able, he had hitherto looked forward as thehis fortune Probably the compulsion hich he had been forced to render up the spoils which he had abstracted fro-house by the united authority of Sir Frederick Vernon and the Scottish Chiefs, had deter his opinions and betraying his trust Perhaps also--for few es where his interest was concerned--he considered their reatly inadequate to the i an established Govern the Jacobites, his Excellency Viscount Beaucha the consequences of Rashleigh's inforlewood's information was at fault; but he did not doubt, since we had not heard of Sir Frederick being in the hands of the Governreeably to the cruel bond he had entered into with his brother-in-law, Diana, since she had declined to select a husband out of the Osbaldistone fainal cause of this singular agreelewood could not perfectly explain; but he understood it was a fa to Sir Frederick the rents of the ree estates, which had been vested in the Osbaldistone faal manoeuvre; in short, a family compact, in which, like s of the principal parties interested were no arded than if they had been a part of the live-stock upon the lands

I cannot tell,--such is the ardness of the huave e that Miss Vernon was eternally divided froe with another, but by seclusion in a convent, in order to fulfil an absurd bargain of this kind, ravated rather than diminished I became dull, low-spirited, absent, and unable to support the task of conversing with Justice Inglewood, who in his turn yawned, and proposed to retire early I took leave of hi the next day, before breakfast, to ride over to Osbaldistone Hall

Mr Inglewood acquiesced in my proposal ”It would be well,” he said, ”that I made my appearance there before I was known to be in the country, the h Osbaldistone was now, he understood, at Mr Jobson's house, hatching some mischief, doubtless They were fit co lost all right to le in the society of men of honour; but it was hardly possible two such d--d rascals should collogue together without mischief to honest people”

He concluded, by earnestly reco a toast and tankard, and an attack upon his venison pasty, before I set out in the , just to break the cold air on the words

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST

His one, and no one noells in the halls of Ivor; Men, dogs, and horses, all are dead, He is the sole survivor Wordsworth

There are few ard scenes of past pleasure when altered and deserted In my ride to Osbaldistone Hall, I passed the same objects which I had seen in company with Miss Vernon on the day of our lewood Place Her spirit seemed to keep me company on the way; and when I approached the spot where I had first seen her, I almost listened for the cry of the hounds and the notes of the horn, and strained my eye on the vacant space, as if to descry the fair huntress again descend like an apparition from the hill But all was silent, and all was solitary When I reached the Hall, the closed doors and s, the grass-grown pave contrast to the gay and bustling scene I had so often seen the forth to theirto the daily festival The joyous bark of the fox-hounds as they were uncoupled, the cries of the huntsh of the old knight at the head of his strong and numerous descendants, were all silenced now and for ever

While I gazed round the scene of solitude and e those whoard with affection But the thought that so oodly presence, ith life, health, and confidence, ithin so short a tirave, by various, yet all violent and unexpected modes of death, afforded a picture of mortality at which the mind trembled It was little consolation to me, that I returned a proprietor to the halls which I had left alard the scenes around as my property, and I felt er, and could hardly divest myself of the idea, that soigantic spectres of a roateway, and dispute hts, s were of a very different nature, exerted hi, calling, at the same time, for admittance, in a tone so loud as to intimate, that he, at least, was fully sensible of his newly acquired importance, as squire of the body to the new lord of the th, tied butler and major-domo, presented himself at a lo, well fenced with iron bars, and inquired our business

”We are coe aff your hand, ie up your keys as sune as ye like--ilka dog has his day I'll tak the plate and napery aff your hand Ye hae had your ain time o't, Mr Syddall; but ilka bean has its black, and ilka path has its puddle; and it will just set you henceforth to sit at the board-end, as weel as it did Andrew lang syne”

Checking with some difficulty the forwardness of ht, and the title I had to demand admittance into the Hall, as into itated and distressed, and testified h it was couched in a huitation of natural feelings, which really did the old man honour; but continued pere to hilewood's warrant, and a constable

”We are co,” said Andrew, to enforce the e, the constable, as I came up by;--the country's no to be lawless as it has been, Mr Syddall, letting rebels and papists gang on as they best listed”

The threat of the law sounded dreadful in the old man's ears, conscious as he was of the suspicion under which he hiion and his devotion to Sir Hildebrand and his sons He undid, with fear and tre, one of the postern entrances, which was secured with many a bolt and bar, and humbly hoped that I would excuse hie of his duty--I reassured him, and told him I had the better opinion of him for his caution

”Sae have not I,” said Andrew; ”Syddall is an auld sneck-drawer; he wadna be looking as white as a sheet, and his knees knocking thegither, unless it were for soive you, Mr Fairservice,” replied the butler, ”to say such things of an old friend and fellow-servant!--Where”--following e--”where would it be your honour's pleasure to have a fire lighted? I fear me you will find the house very dull and dreary--But perhaps you ht a fire in the library,” I replied

”In the library!” answered the old man;--”nobody has sat there this many a day, and the roo, and there were no young men about the Hall to pull them down”

”Our ain reekes better than other folk's fire,” said Andrew ”His honour likes the library;--he's nane o' your Papishers, that delight in blinded ignorance, Mr Syddall”

Very reluctantly as it appeared to me, the butler led the way to the library, and, contrary to what he had given me to expect, the interior of the aparted, and rate, which burned clearly, notwithstanding what Syddall had reported of the vent Taking up the tongs, as if to arrange the wood, but rather perhaps to conceal his own confusion, the butler observed, ”it was burning clear now, but had s”