CHAPTER V. MASTER ADAM WARNER AND KING HENRY THE SIXTH.
The next morning Hilyard revisited Warner with the letters for Henry.The conspirator made Adam reveal to him the interior mechanism of theEureka, to which Adam, who had toiled all night, had appended one ofthe most ingenious contrivances he had as yet been enabled (sans thediamond) to accomplish, for the better display of the agencies whichthe engine was designed to achieve. This contrivance was full of strangecells and recesses, in one of which the documents were placed. And therethey lay, so well concealed as to puzzle the minutest search, if notaided by the inventor, or one to whom he had communicated the secrets ofthe contrivance.
After repeated warnings and exhortations to discretion, Hilyard then,whose busy, active mind had made all the necessary arrangements,summoned a stout-looking fellow, whom he had left below, and with hisaid conveyed the heavy machine across the garden, to a back lane, wherea mule stood ready to receive the burden.
"Suffer this trusty fellow to guide thee, dear Adam; he will take theethrough ways where thy brutal neighbours are not likely to meet andmolest thee. Call all thy wits to the surface. Speed and prosper!"
"Fear not," said Adam, disdainfully. "In the neighbourhood of kings,science is ever safe. Bless thee, child," and he laid his hand uponSibyll's head, for she had accompanied them thus far in silence, "now goin."
"I go with thee, Father," said Sibyll, firmly. "Master Hilyard, itis best so," she whispered; "what if my father fall into one of hisreveries?"
"You are right: go with him, at least, to the Tower gate. Hard by is thehouse of a noble dame and a worthy, known to our friend Hugh, where thoumayest wait Master Warner's return. It will not suit thy modesty and sexto loiter amongst the pages and soldiery in the yard. Adam, thy daughtermust wend with thee."
Adam had not attended to this colloquy, and mechanically bowing hishead, he set off, and was greatly surprised, on gaining the river-side(where a boat was found large enough to accommodate not only the humanpassengers, but the mule and its burden), to see Sibyll by his side.
The imprisonment of the unfortunate Henry, though guarded withsufficient rigour against all chances of escape, was not, as the readerhas perceived, at this period embittered by unnecessary harshness.His attendants treated him with respect, his table was supplied moreabundantly and daintily than his habitual abstinence required, and themonks and learned men whom he had favoured, were, we need not repeat,permitted to enliven his solitude with their grave converse.
On the other hand, all attempts at correspondence between Margaret orthe exiled Lancastrians and himself had been jealously watched, and whendetected, the emissaries had been punished with relentless severity. Aman named Hawkins had been racked for attempting to borrow money for thequeen from the great London merchant, Sir Thomas Cook. A shoemakerhad been tortured to death with red-hot pincers for abetting hercorrespondence with her allies. Various persons had been racked forsimilar offences; but the energy of Margaret and the zeal of heradherents were still unexhausted and unconquered.
Either unconscious or contemptuous of the perils to which he wassubjected, the student, with his silent companions, performed thevoyage, and landed in sight of the Fortress-Palatine. And now Hughstopped before a house of good fashion, knocked at the door, which wasopened by an old servitor, disappeared for a few moments, and returning,informed Sibyll, in a meaning whisper, that the gentlewoman within wasa good Lancastrian, and prayed the donzell to rest in her company tillMaster Warner's return.
Sibyll, accordingly, after pressing her father's hand without fear--forshe had deemed the sole danger Adam risked was from the rabble by theway--followed Hugh into a fair chamber, strewed with rushes, where anaged dame, of noble air and aspect, was employed at her broidery frame.This gentlewoman, the widow of a nobleman who had fallen in the serviceof Henry, received her graciously, and Hugh then retired to completehis commission. The student, the mule, the model, and the porter pursuedtheir way to the entrance of that part of the gloomy palace inhabitedby Henry. Here they were stopped, and Adam, after rummaging long in vainfor the chamberlain's passport, at last happily discovered it, pinned tohis sleeve, by Sibyll's forethought. On this a gentleman was summonedto inspect the order, and in a few moments Adam was conducted to thepresence of the illustrious prisoner.
"And what," said a subaltern officer, lolling by the archway of the (nowstyled) "Bloody Tower," hard by the turret devoted to the prisoner, [TheWakefield Tower] and speaking to Adam's guide, who still mounted guardby the model,--"what may be the precious burden of which thou art theconvoy?"
"Marry, sir," said Hugh, who spoke in the strong Yorkshire dialect,which we are obliged to render into intelligible English--"marry, I weetnot,--it is some curious puppet-box, or quiet contrivance, that MasterWarner, whom they say is a very deft and ingenious personage, ispermitted to bring hither for the Lord Henry's diversion."
"A puppet-box!" said the officer, with much animated curiosity. "'Forethe Mass! that must be a pleasant sight. Lift the lid, fellow!"
"Please your honour, I do not dare," returned Hugh,--"I but obeyorders."
"Obey mine, then. Out of the way," and the officer lifted the lid of thepannier with the point of his dagger, and peered within. He drew back,much disappointed. "Holy Mother!" said he, "this seemeth more like aninstrument of torture than a juggler's merry device. It looks parlousugly!"
"Hush!" said one of the lazy bystanders, with whom the various gatewaysand courts of the Palace-Fortress were crowded, "hush--thy cap and thyknee, sir!"
The officer started; and, looking round, perceived a young man oflow stature, followed by three or four knights and nobles, slowlyapproaching towards the arch, and every cap in the vicinity was off, andevery knee bowed.
The eye of this young man was already bent, with a searching and keengaze, upon the motionless mule, standing patiently by the WakefieldTower; and turning from the mule to the porter, the latter shrunk, andgrew pale, at that dark, steady, penetrating eye, which seemed to pierceat once into the secrets and hearts of men.
"Who may this young lord be?" he whispered to the officer.
"Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, man," was the answer. "Uncover,varlet!"
"Surely," said the prince, pausing by the gate, "surely this is nosumpter-mule, bearing provisions to the Lord Henry of Windsor. It wouldbe but poor respect to that noble person, whom, alas the day! his gracethe king is unwillingly compelled to guard from the malicious designsof rebels and mischief-seekers, that one not bearing the king's liveryshould attend to any of the needful wants of so worshipful a lord andguest!"
"My lord," said the officer at the gate, "one Master Adam Warner hathjust, by permission, been conducted to the Lord Henry's presence, andthe beast beareth some strange and grim-looking device for my lord'sdiversion."
The singular softness and urbanity which generally characterized theDuke of Gloucester's tone and bearing at that time,--which in a court sofull of factions and intrigues made him the enemy of none and seeminglythe friend of all, and, conjoined with abilities already universallyacknowledged, had given to his very boyhood a pre-eminence of graverepute and good opinion, which, indeed, he retained till the terriblecircumstances connected with his accession to the throne, under thebloody name of Richard the Third, roused all men's hearts and reasonsinto the persuasion that what before had seemed virtue was butdissimulation,--this singular sweetness, we say, of manner and voice,had in it, nevertheless, something that imposed and thrilled and awed.And in truth, in our common and more vulgar intercourse with life,we must have observed, that where external gentleness of bearing isaccompanied by a repute for iron will, determined resolution, and aserious, profound, and all-inquiring intellect, it carries with it amajesty wholly distinct from that charm which is exercised by one whosemildness of nature corresponds with the outward humility; and, if itdoes not convey the notion of falseness, bears the appearance of thatperfect self-possession, that calm repose of power, which intimidatesthose it influences far more than t
he imperious port and the loud voice.And they who best knew the duke, knew also that, despite this generalsmoothness of mien, his temperament was naturally irritable, quick,and subject to stormy gusts of passion, the which defects his admirerspraised him for labouring hard and sedulously to keep in due control.Still, to a keen observer, the constitutional tendencies of that nervoustemperament were often visible, even in his blandest moments, even whenhis voice was most musical, his smile most gracious. If something stungor excited him, an uneasy gnawing of the nether lip, a fretful playingwith his dagger, drawing it up and down from its sheath, [Pol. Virg.565] a slight twitching of the muscles of the face, and a quiver of theeyelid, betokened the efforts he made at self-command; and now, as hisdark eyes rested upon Hugh's pale countenance, and then glanced upon theimpassive mule, dozing quietly under the weight of poor Adam's model,his hand mechanically sought his dagger-hilt, and his face took asinister and sombre expression.
"Thy name, friend?"
"Hugh Withers, please you, my lord duke."
"Um! North country, by thine accent. Dost thou serve this MasterWarner?"
"No, my lord, I was only hired with my mule to carry--"
"Ah, true! to carry what thy pannier contains; open it. Holy Paul! astrange jonglerie indeed! This Master Adam Warner,--methinks, Ihave heard his name--a learned man--um--let me see his safe conduct.Right,--it is Lord Hastings's signature." But still the prince held thepassport, and still suspiciously eyed the Eureka and its appliances,which, in their complicated and native ugliness of doors, wheels,pipes, and chimney, were exposed to his view. At this moment, one of theattendants of Henry descended the stairs of the Wakefield Tower, with arequest that the model might be carried up to divert the prisoner.
Richard paused a moment, as the officer hesitatingly watched hiscountenance before giving the desired permission. But the prince,turning to him, and smoothing his brow, said mildly, "Certes! allthat can divert the Lord Henry must be innocent pastime. And I am wellpleased that he hath this cheerful mood for recreation. It gainsayeththose who would accuse us of rigour in his durance. Yes, this warrantis complete and formal;" and the prince returned the passport tothe officer, and walked slowly on through that gloomy arch ever moreassociated with Richard of Gloucester's memory, and beneath the veryroom in which our belief yet holds that the infant sons of Edward IV.breathed their last; still, as Gloucester moved, he turned and turned,and kept his eye furtively fixed upon the porter.
"Lovell," he said to one of the gentlemen who attended him, and who wasamong the few admitted to his more peculiar intimacy, "that man is ofthe North."
"Well, my lord?"
"The North was always well affected to the Lancastrians. Master Warnerhath been accused of witchcraft. Marry, I should like to see hisdevice--um; Master Catesby, come hither,--approach, sir. Go back, andthe instant Adam Warner and his contrivance are dismissed, bring themboth to me in the king's chamber. Thou understandest? We too wouldsee his device,--and let neither man nor mechanical, when once theyreappear, out of thine eye's reach. For divers and subtle are thecontrivances of treasonable men!"
Catesby bowed, and Richard, without speaking further, took his way tothe royal apartments, which lay beyond the White Tower, towards theriver, and are long since demolished.
Meanwhile the porter, with the aid of one of the attendants, had carriedthe model into the chamber of the august captive. Henry, attired in aloose robe, was pacing the room with a slow step, and his head sunk onhis bosom,--while Adam with much animation was enlarging on the wondersof the contrivance he was about to show him. The chamber was commodious,and furnished with sufficient attention to the state and dignity of theprisoner; for Edward, though savage and relentless when his blood wasup, never descended into the cool and continuous cruelty of detail.
The chamber may yet be seen,--its shape a spacious octagon; but thewalls now rude and bare were then painted and blazoned with scenesfrom the Old Testament. The door opened beneath the pointed arch inthe central side (not where it now does), giving entrance from a smallanteroom, in which the visitor now beholds the receptacle for old rollsand papers. At the right, on entering, where now, if our memory mistakenot, is placed a press, stood the bed, quaintly carved, and withhangings of damascene. At the farther end the deep recess which facedthe ancient door was fitted up as a kind of oratory. And there were tobe seen, besides the crucifix and the Mass-book, a profusion of smallvessels of gold and crystal, containing the relics, supposed or real, ofsaint and martyr, treasures which the deposed king had collected inhis palmier days at a sum that, in the minds of his followers, had beenbetter bestowed on arms and war-steeds. A young man named Allerton--oneof the three gentlemen personally attached to Henry, to whom Edward hadpermitted general access, and who, in fact, lodged in other apartmentsof the Wakefield Tower, and might be said to share his captivity--wasseated before a table, and following the steps of his musing master,with earnest and watchful eyes.
One of the small spaniels employed in springing game--for Henry, despitehis mildness, had been fond of all the sports of the field--lay curledround on the floor, but started up, with a shrill bark, at the entranceof the bearer of the model, while a starling in a cage by the window,seemingly delighted at the disturbance, flapped his wings, and screamedout, "Bad men! Bad world! Poor Henry!"
The captive paused at that cry, and a sad and patient smile ofinexpressible melancholy and sweetness hovered over his lips. Henrystill retained much of the personal comeliness he possessed at the timewhen Margaret of Anjou, the theme of minstrel and minne singer, lefther native court of poets for the fatal throne of England. But beauty,usually so popular and precious a gift to kings, was not in him of thatorder which commanded the eye and moved the admiration of a turbulentpeople and a haughty chivalry. The features, if regular, were small;their expression meek and timid; the form, though tall, was notfirm-knit and muscular; the lower limbs were too thin, the body had toomuch flesh, the delicate hands betrayed the sickly paleness of feeblehealth; there was a dreamy vagueness in the clear soft blue eyes, anda listless absence of all energy in the habitual bend, the slow, heavy,sauntering tread,--all about that benevolent aspect, that soft voice,that resigned mien, and gentle manner, spoke the exquisite, unresistinggoodness, which provoked the lewd to taunt, the hardy to despise, theinsolent to rebel; for the foes of a king in stormy times are often lesshis vices than his virtues.
"And now, good my lord," said Adam, hastening, with eager hands, toassist the bearer in depositing the model on the table--"now will Iexplain to you the contrivance which it hath cost me long years ofpatient toil to shape from thought into this iron form."
"But first," said Allerton, "were it not well that these good peoplewithdrew? A contriver likes not others to learn his secret ere the timehath come to reap its profits."
"Surely, surely!" said Adam, and alarmed at the idea thus suggested, hethrew the folds of his gown over the model.
The attendant bowed and retired; Hugh followed him, but not till he hadexchanged a significant look with Allerton. As soon as the room wasleft clear to Adam, the captive, and Master Allerton, the last rose, andlooking hastily round the chamber, approached the mechanician. "Quick,sir!" said he, in a whisper, "we are not often left without witnesses."
"Verily," said Adam, who had now forgotten kings and stratagems, plotsand counterplots, and was all absorbed in his invention, "verily, youngman, hurry not in this fashion,--I am about to begin. Know, my lord,"and he turned to Henry, who, with an indolent, dreamy gaze, stoodcontemplating the Eureka,--"know that more than a hundred years beforethe Christian era, one Hero, an Alexandrian, discovered the forceproduced by the vapour begot by heat on water. That this power was notunknown to the ancient sages, witness the contrivance, not otherwise tobe accounted for, of the heathen oracles; but to our great countrymanand predecessor, Roger Bacon, who first suggested that vehicles might bedrawn without steeds or steers, and ships might--"
"Marry, sir," interrupted Allerton, with great impatience, "it is not
toprate to us of such trivial fables of Man, or such wanton sports of theFoul Fiend, that thou hast risked limb and life. Time is precious. Ihave been prevised that thou hast letters for King Henry; produce them,quick!"
A deep glow of indignation had overspread the enthusiast's face at thecommencement of this address; but the close reminded him, in truth, ofhis errand.
"Hot youth," said he, with dignity, "a future age may judge differentlyof what thou deemest trivial fables, and may rate high this poorinvention when the brawls of York and Lancaster are forgotten."
"Hear him," said Henry, with a soft smile, and laying his hand on theshoulder of the young man, who was about to utter a passionate andscornful retort,--"hear him, sir. Have I not often and ever said thissame thing to thee? We children of a day imagine our contests are thesole things that move the world. Alack! our fathers thought the same;and they and their turmoils sleep forgotten! Nay, Master Warner,"--forhere Adam, poor man, awed by Henry's mildness into shame at hisdiscourteous vaunting, began to apologize,--"nay, sir, nay--thou artright to contemn our bloody and futile struggles for a crown of thorns;for--"
'Kingdoms are but cares, State is devoid of stay Riches are ready snares, And hasten to decay.'
[Lines ascribed to Henry VI., with commendation "as a prettie verse," bySir John Harrington, in the "Nugae Antiquate." They are also given, withlittle alteration, to the unhappy king by Baldwin, in his tragedy of"King Henry VI."]
"And yet, sir, believe me, thou hast no cause for vain glory in thineown craft and labours; for to wit and to lere there are the same vanityand vexation of spirit as to war and empire. Only, O would-be wiseman, only when we muse on Heaven do our souls ascend from the fowler'ssnare!"
"My saint-like liege," said Allerton, bowing low, and with tears in hiseyes, "thinkest thou not that thy very disdain of thy rights makes theemore worthy of them? If not for thine, for thy son's sake, rememberthat the usurper sits on the throne of the conqueror of Agincourt!--SirClerk, the letters."
Adam, already anxious to retrieve the error of his first forgetfulness,here, after a moment's struggle for the necessary remembrance, drew thepapers from the labyrinthine receptacle which concealed them; andHenry uttered an exclamation of joy as, after cutting the silk, his eyeglanced over the writing--
"My Margaret! my wife!" Presently he grew pale, and his hands trembled."Saints defend her! Saints defend her! She is here, disguised, inLondon!"
"Margaret! our hero-queen! the manlike woman!" exclaimed Allerton,clasping his hands. "Then be sure that--" He stopped, and abruptlytaking Adam's arm, drew him aside, while Henry continued toread--"Master Warner, we may trust thee,--thou art one of us; thou artsent here, I know; by Robin of Redesdale,--we may trust thee?"
"Young sir," replied the philosopher, gravely, "the fears and hopesof power are not amidst the uneasier passions of the student's mind. Ipledged myself but to bear these papers hither, and to return with whatmay be sent back."
"But thou didst this for love of the cause, the truth, and the right?"
"I did it partly from Hilyard's tale of wrong, but partly, also, forthe gold," answered Adam, simply; and his noble air, his high brow, theserene calm of his features, so contrasted with the meanness implied inthe latter words of his confession, that Allerton stared at him amazed,and without reply.
Meanwhile Henry had concluded the letter, and with a heavy sigh glancedover the papers that accompanied it. "Alack! alack! more turbulence,more danger and disquiet, more of my people's blood!" He motioned tothe young man, and drawing him to the window, while Adam returned to hismodel, put the papers in his hand. "Allerton," he said, "thou lovest me,but thou art one of the few in this distraught land who love also God.Thou art not one of the warriors, the men of steel. Counsel me. See:Margaret demands my signature to these papers; the one, empowering andcraving the levy of men and arms in the northern counties; the other,promising free pardon to all who will desert Edward; thethird--it seemeth to me more strange and less kinglike than theothers--undertaking to abolish all the imposts and all the laws thatpress upon the commons, and (is this a holy and pious stipulation?) toinquire into the exactions and persecutions of the priesthood of ourHoly Church!"
"Sire!" said the young man, after he had hastily perused the papers, "mylady liege showeth good argument for your assent to two, at least, ofthese undertakings. See the names of fifty gentlemen ready to take armsin your cause if authorized by your royal warrant. The men of the Northare malcontent with the usurper, but they will not yet stir, unlessat your own command. Such documents will, of course, be used withdiscretion, and not to imperil your Grace's safety."
"My safety!" said Henry, with a flash of his father's hero soul in hiseyes--"of that I think not! If I have small courage to attack, I havesome fortitude to bear. But three months after these be signed, how manybrave hearts will be still! how many stout hands be dust! O Margaret!Margaret! why temptest thou? Wert thou so happy when a queen?" Theprisoner broke from Allerton's arm, and walked, in great disorder andirresolution, to and fro the chamber; and strange it was to see thecontrast between himself and Warner,--both in so much alike, bothso purely creatures out of the common world, so gentle, abstract, soutterly living in the life apart: and now the student so calm, theprince so disturbed! The contrast struck Henry himself! He pausedabruptly, and, folding his arms, contemplated the philosopher, as, withan affectionate complacency, Adam played and toyed, as it were, with hisbeloved model; now opening and shutting again its doors, now brushingaway with his sleeve some particles of dust that had settled on it, nowretiring a few paces to gaze the better on its stern symmetry.
"Oh, my Allerton!" cried Henry, "behold! the kingdom a man makes out ofhis own mind is the only one that it delighteth man to govern! Behold,he is lord over its springs and movements; its wheels revolve and stopat his bidding. Here, here, alone, God never asketh the ruler, 'Why wasthe blood of thousands poured forth like water, that a worm might wear acrown?'"
"Sire," said Allerton, solemnly, "when our Heavenly King appoints hisanointed representative on earth, He gives to that human delegate nopower to resign the ambassade and trust. What suicide is to a man,abdication is to a king! How canst thou dispose of thy son's rights? Andwhat becomes of those rights if thou wilt prefer for him the exile, forthyself the prison, when one effort may restore a throne!"
Henry seemed struck by a tone of argument that suited both his own mindand the reasoning of the age. He gazed a moment on the face of the youngman, muttered to himself, and suddenly moving to the table, signed thepapers, and restored them to Adam, who mechanically replaced them intheir iron hiding-place.
"Now begone, Sir!" whispered Allerton, afraid that Henry's mind mightagain change.
"Will not my lord examine the engine?" asked Warner, half-beseechingly.
"Not to-day! See, he has already retired to his oratory, he is inprayer!" and, going to the door, Allerton summoned the attendants inwaiting to carry down the model.
"Well, well, patience, patience! thou shalt have thine audience atlast," muttered Adam, as he retired from the room, his eyes fixed uponthe neglected infant of his brain.