Part 14 (1/2)
”Why, worthy sir, every one might see with half an eye that they had been engaged in a fight wherein they had not been honoured with perfect victory; seeing that General Harrison was stalking up and down the parlour, with his drawn sword in his hand, talking to himself, his doublet unb.u.t.toned, his points untrussed, his garters loose, and like to throw him down as he now and then trode on them, and gaping and grinning like a mad player. And yonder sate Desborough with a dry pottle of sack before him, which he had just emptied, and which, though the element in which he trusted, had not restored him sense enough to speak, or courage enough to look over his shoulder. He had a Bible in his hand, forsooth, as if it would of itself make battle against the Evil One; but I peered over his shoulder, and, alas! the good gentleman held the bottom of the page uppermost. It was as if one of your musketeers, n.o.ble and valued sir, were to present the b.u.t.t of his piece at the enemy instead of the muzzle-ha, ha, ha! it was a sight to judge of schismatics by; both in point of head, and in point of heart, in point of skill, and in point of courage. Oh! Colonel, then was the time to see the true character of an authorised pastor of souls over those unhappy men, who leap into the fold without due and legal authority, and will, forsooth, preach, teach, and exhort, and blasphemously term the doctrine of the Church saltless porridge and dry chips!”
”I have no doubt you were ready to meet the danger, reverend sir; but I would fain know of what nature it was, and from whence it was to be apprehended?”
”Was it for me to make such inquiry?” said the clergyman, triumphantly. ”Is it for a brave soldier to number his enemies, or inquire from what quarter they are to come? No, sir, I was there with match lighted, bullet in my mouth, and my harquebuss shouldered, to encounter as many devils as h.e.l.l could pour in, were they countless as motes in the sunbeam, and although they came from all points of the compa.s.s. The Papists talk of the temptation of St. Anthony-pshaw! let them double all the myriads which the brain of a crazy Dutch painter hath invented, and you will find a poor Presbyterian divine-I will answer for one at least,-who, not in his own strength, but his Master's, will receive the a.s.sault in such sort, that far from returning against him as against yonder poor hound, day after day, and night after night, he will at once pack them off as with a vengeance to the uttermost parts of a.s.syria!”
”Still,” said the Colonel, ”I pray to know whether you saw anything upon which to exercise your pious learning?”
”Saw?” answered the divine; ”no, truly, I saw nothing, nor did I look for anything. Thieves will not attack well-armed travellers, nor will devils or evil spirits come against one who bears in his bosom the word of truth, in the very language in which it was first dictated. No, sir, they shun a divine who can understand the holy text, as a crow is said to keep wide of a gun loaded with hailshot.”
They had walked a little way back upon their road, to give time for this conversation; and the Colonel, perceiving it was about to lead to no satisfactory explanation of the real cause of alarm on the preceding night, turned round, and observing it was time they should go to the Lodge, began to move in that direction with his three companions.
It had now become dark, and the towers of Woodstock arose high above the umbrageous shroud which the forest spread around the ancient and venerable mansion. From one of the highest turrets, which could still be distinguished as it rose against the clear blue sky, there gleamed a light like that of a candle within the building. The Mayor stopt short, and catching fast hold of the divine, and then of Colonel Everard, exclaimed, in a trembling and hasty, but suppressed tone,
”Do you see yonder light?”
”Ay, marry do I,” said Colonel Everard; ”and what does that matter?-a light in a garret-room of such an old mansion as Woodstock is no subject of wonder, I trow.”
”But a light from Rosamond's Tower is surely so,” said the Mayor.
”True,” said the Colonel, something surprised, when, after a careful examination, he satisfied himself that the worthy magistrate's conjecture was right. ”That is indeed Rosamond's Tower; and as the drawbridge, by which it was accessible has been destroyed for centuries, it is hard to say what chance could have lighted a lamp in such an inaccessible place.”
”That light burns with no earthly fuel,” said the Mayor; ”neither from whale nor olive oil, nor bees-wax, nor mutton-suet either. I dealt in these commodities, Colonel, before I went into my present line; and I can a.s.sure you I could distinguish the sort of light they give, one from another, at a greater distance than yonder turret-Look you, that is no earthly flame.-See you not something blue and reddish upon the edges?- that bodes full well where it comes from.-Colonel, in my opinion we had better go back to sup at the town, and leave the Devil and the red-coats to settle their matters together for to-night; and then when we come back the next morning, we will have a pull with the party that chances to keep a-field.”
”You will do as you please, Master Mayor,” said Everard, ”but my duty requires me that I should see the Commissioners to-night.”
”And mine requires me to see the foul Fiend,” said Master Holdenough, ”if he dare make himself visible to me. I wonder not that, knowing who is approaching, he betakes himself to the very citadel, the inner and the last defences of this ancient and haunted mansion. He is dainty, I warrant you, and must dwell where is a relish of luxury and murder about the walls of his chamber. In yonder turret sinned Rosamond, and in yonder turret she suffered; and there she sits, or more likely, the Enemy in her shape, as I have heard true men of Woodstock tell. I wait on you, good Colonel-Master Mayor will do as he pleases. The strong man hath fortified himself in his dwelling-house, but lo, there cometh another stronger than he.”
”For me,” said the Mayor, ”who am as unlearned as I am unwarlike, I will not engage either-with the Powers of the Earth, or the Prince of the Powers of the Air, and I would we were again at Woodstock;-and hark ye, good fellow,” slapping Wildrake on the shoulder, ”I will bestow on thee a s.h.i.+lling wet and a s.h.i.+lling dry if thou wilt go back with me.”
”Gadzookers, Master Mayor,” said, Wildrake, neither flattered by the magistrate's familiarity of address, nor captivated by his munificence- ”I wonder who the devil made you and me fellows? and, besides, do you think I would go back to Woodstock with your wors.h.i.+pful cods-head, when, by good management, I may get a peep of fair Rosamond, and see whether she was that choice and incomparable piece of ware, which the world has been told of by rhymers and ballad-makers?”
”Speak less lightly and wantonly, friend,” said the divine; ”we are to resist the devil that he may flee from us, and not to tamper with him, or enter into his counsels, or traffic with the merchandise of his great Vanity Fair.”
”Mind what the good man says, Wildrake,” said the Colonel; ”and take heed another time how thou dost suffer thy wit to outrun discretion.”
”I am beholden to the reverend gentleman for his advice,” answered Wildrake, upon whose tongue it was difficult to impose any curb whatever, even when his own safety rendered it most desirable. ”But, gadzookers, let him have had what experience he will in fighting with the Devil, he never saw one so black as I had a tussle with-not a hundred years ago.”
”How, friend,” said the clergyman, who understood every thing literally when apparitions were mentioned, ”have you had so late a visitation of Satan? Believe me, then, that I wonder why thou darest to entertain his name so often and so lightly, as I see thou dost use it in thy ordinary discourse. But when and where didst thou see the Evil One?”
Everard hastily interposed, lest by something yet more strongly alluding to Cromwell, his imprudent squire should, in mere wantonness, betray his interview with the General. ”The young man raves,” he said, ”of a dream which he had the other night, when he and I slept together in Victor Lee's chamber, belonging to the Ranger's apartments at the Lodge.”
”Thanks for help at a pinch, good patron,” said Wildrake, whispering into Everard's ear, who in vain endeavoured to shake him off,-”a fib never failed a fanatic.”
”You, also, spoke something too lightly of these matters, considering the work which we have in hand, worthy Colonel,” said the Presbyterian divine. ”Believe me, the young man, thy servant, was more likely to see visions than to dream merely idle dreams in that apartment; for I have always heard, that, next to Rosamond's Tower, in which, as I said, she played the wanton, and was afterwards poisoned by Queen Eleanor, Victor Lee's chamber was the place in the Lodge of Woodstock more peculiarly the haunt of evil spirits.-I pray you, young man, tell me this dream or vision of yours.”
”With all my heart, sir,” said Wildrake-then addressing his patron, who began to interfere, he said, ”Tush, sir, you have had the discourse for an hour, and why should not I hold forth in my turn? By this darkness, if you keep me silent any longer, I will turn Independent preacher, and stand up in your despite for the freedom of private judgment.-And so, reverend sir, I was dreaming of a carnal divertis.e.m.e.nt called a bull-baiting; and methought they were venturing dogs at head, as merrily as e'er I saw them at Tutbury bull-running; and methought I heard some one say, there was the Devil come to have a sight of the bull-ring. Well, I thought that, gadswoons, I would have a peep at his Infernal Majesty. So I looked, and there was a butcher in greasy woollen, with his steel by his side; but he was none of the Devil. And there was a drunken cavalier, with his mouth full of oaths, and his stomach full of emptiness, and a gold-laced waistcoat in a very dilapidated condition, and a ragged hat,-with a piece of a feather in it; and he was none of the Devil neither. And here was a miller, his hands dusty with meal, and every atom of it stolen; and there was a vintner, his green ap.r.o.n stained with wine, and every drop of it sophisticated; but neither was the old gentleman I looked for to be detected among these artisans of iniquity. At length, sir, I saw a grave person with cropped hair, a pair of longish and projecting ears, a band as broad as a s...o...b..ring bib under his chin, a brown coat surmounted by a Geneva cloak, and I had old Nicholas at once in his genuine paraphernalia, by-.”
”Shame, shame!” said Colonel Everard. ”What! behave thus to an old gentleman and a divine!”
”Nay, let him proceed,” said the minister, with perfect equanimity: ”if thy friend, or secretary, is gibing, I must have less patience than becomes my profession, if I could not bear an idle jest, and forgive him who makes it. Or if, on the other hand, the Enemy has really presented himself to the young man in such a guise as he intimates, wherefore should we be surprised that he, who can take upon him the form of an angel of light, should be able to a.s.sume that of a frail and peaceable mortal, whose spiritual calling and profession ought, indeed, to induce him to make his life an example to others; but whose conduct, nevertheless, such is the imperfection of our una.s.sisted nature, sometimes rather presents us with a warning of what we should shun?”