Part 24 (1/2)
”Our courage is not our own, Colonel,” said the divine, ”and not as ours should it be vaunted of. And again, when you speak of this strange vision as an impression on my fancy, and not a reality obvious to my senses, let me tell you once more, your worldly wisdom is but foolishness touching the things that are not worldly.”
”Did you not look again upon the mirror?” said the Colonel.
”I did, when I had copied out the comfortable text, 'Thou shalt tread down Satan under thy feet.'”
”And what did you then see?”
”The reflection of the same Joseph Albany,” said Holdenough, ”pa.s.sing slowly as from behind my chair-the same in member and lineament that I had known him in his youth, excepting that his cheek had the marks of the more advanced age at which he died, and was very pale.”
”What did you then?”
”I turned from the gla.s.s, and plainly saw the figure which had made the reflection in the mirror retreating towards the door, not fast, nor slow, but with a gliding steady pace. It turned again when near the door, and again showed me its pale, ghastly countenance, before it disappeared. But how it left the room, whether by the door, or otherwise, my spirits were too much hurried to remark exactly; nor have I been able, by any effort of recollection, distinctly to remember.”
”This is a strange, and, as coming from you, a most excellently well-attested apparition,” answered Everard. ”And yet, Master Holdenough, if the other world has been actually displayed, as you apprehend, and I will not dispute the possibility, a.s.sure yourself there are also wicked men concerned in these machinations. I myself have undergone some rencontres with visitants who possessed bodily strength, and wore, I am sure, earthly weapons.”
”Oh! doubtless, doubtless,” replied Master Holdenough; ”Beelzebub loves to charge with horse and foot mingled, as was the fas.h.i.+on of the old Scottish general, Davie Leslie. He has his devils in the body as well as his devils disembodied, and uses the one to support and back the other.”
”It may be as you say, reverend sir,” answered the Colonel.-”But what do you advise in this case?”
”For that I must consult with my brethren,” said the divine; ”and if there be but left in our borders five ministers of the true kirk, we will charge Satan in full body, and you shall see whether we have not power over him to resist till he shall flee from us. But failing that ghostly armament against these strange and unearthly enemies, truly I would recommend, that as a house of witchcraft and abomination, this polluted den of ancient tyranny and prost.i.tution should be totally consumed by fire, lest Satan, establis.h.i.+ng his head-quarters so much to his mind, should find a garrison and a fastness from which he might sally forth to infest the whole neighbourhood. Certain it is, that I would recommend to no Christian soul to inhabit the mansion; and, if deserted, it would become a place for wizards to play their pranks, and witches to establish their Sabbath, and those who, like Demas, go about after the wealth of this world, seeking for gold and silver to practise spells and charms to the prejudice of the souls of the covetous. Trust me, therefore, it were better that it were spoiled and broken down, not leaving one stone upon another.”
”I say nay to that, my good friend,” said the Colonel; ”for the Lord-General hath permitted, by his license, my mother's brother, Sir Henry Lee, and his family, to return into the house of his fathers, being indeed the only roof under which he hath any chance of obtaining shelter for his grey hairs.”
”And was this done by your advice, Markham Everard?” said the divine austerely.
”Certainly it was,” returned the Colonel.-”And wherefore should I not exert mine influence to obtain a place of refuge for the brother of my mother?”
”Now, as sure as thy soul liveth,” answered the presbyter, ”I had believed this from no tongue but thine own. Tell me, was it not this very Sir Henry Lee, who, by the force of his buffcoats and his greenjerkins, enforced the Papist Laie's order to remove the altar to the eastern end of the church at Woodstock?-and did not he swear by his beard, that he would hang in the very street of Woodstock whoever should deny to drink the King's health?-and is not his hand red with the blood of the saints?-and hath there been a ruffler in the field for prelacy and high prerogative more unmitigable or fiercer?”
”All this may have been as you say, good Master Holdenough,” answered the Colonel; ”but my uncle is now old and feeble, and hath scarce a single follower remaining, and his daughter is a being whom to look upon would make the sternest weep for pity; a being who”-
”Who is dearer to Everard,” said Holdenough, ”than his good name, his faith to his friends, his duty to his religion;-this is no time to speak with sugared lips. The paths in which you tread are dangerous. You are striving to raise the papistical candlestick which Heaven in its justice removed out of its place-to bring back to this hall of sorceries those very sinners who are bewitched with them. I will not permit the land to be abused by their witchcrafts.-They shall not come hither.”
He spoke this with vehemence, and striking his stick against the ground; and the Colonel, very much dissatisfied, began to express himself haughtily in return. ”You had better consider your power to accomplish your threats, Master Holdenough,” he said, ”before you urge them so peremptorily.”
”And have I not the power to bind and to loose?” said the clergyman.
”It is a power little available, save over those of your own Church,” said Everard, with a tone something contemptuous.
”Take heed-take heed,” said the divine, who, though an excellent, was, as we have elsewhere seen, an irritable man.-”Do not insult me; but think honourably of the messenger, for the sake of Him whose commission he carries.-Do not, I say, defy me-I am bound to discharge my duty, were it to the displeasing of my twin brother.”
”I can see nought your office has to do in the matter,” said Colonel Everard; ”and I, on my side, give you warning not to attempt to meddle beyond your commission.”
”Right-you hold me already to be as submissive as one of your grenadiers,” replied the clergyman, his acute features trembling with a sense of indignity, so as even to agitate his grey hair; ”but beware, sir, I am not so powerless as you suppose. I will invoke every true Christian in Woodstock to gird up his loins, and resist the restoration of prelacy, oppression, and malignancy within our borders. I will stir up the wrath of the righteous against the oppressor-the Ishmaelite-the Edomite-and against his race, and against those who support him and encourage him to rear up his horn. I will call aloud, and spare not, and arouse the many whose love hath waxed cold, and the mult.i.tude who care for none of these things. There shall be a remnant to listen to me; and I will take the stick of Joseph, which was in the hand of Ephraim, and go down to cleanse this place of witches and sorcerers, and of enchantments, and will cry and exhort, saying-Will you plead for Baal?-will you serve him? Nay, take the prophets of Baal-let not a man escape!”
”Master Holdenough, Master Holdenough,” said Colonel Everard, with much impatience, ”by the tale yourself told me, you have exhorted upon that text once too often already.”
The old man struck his palm forcibly against his forehead, and fell back into a chair as these words were uttered, as suddenly, and as much without power of resistance, as if the Colonel had fired a pistol through his head. Instantly regretting the reproach which he had suffered to escape him in his impatience, Everard hastened to apologise, and to offer every conciliatory excuse, however inconsistent, which occurred to him on the moment. But the old man was too deeply affected-he rejected his hand, lent no ear to what he said, and finally started up, saying sternly, ”You have abused my confidence, sir-abused it vilely, to turn it into my own reproach: had I been a man of the sword, you dared not-But enjoy your triumph, sir, over an old man, and your father's friend-strike at the wound his imprudent confidence showed you.”
”Nay, my worthy and excellent friend,” said the Colonel-