CHAPTER VI.
I HAVE lingered thus long on the extreme bank, the wasting shoal thatstretched into the stream of life, dallying with the shadow of death. Thuslong, I have cradled my heart in retrospection of past happiness, when hopewas. Why not for ever thus? I am not immortal; and the thread of my historymight be spun out to the limits of my existence. But the same sentimentthat first led me to pourtray scenes replete with tender recollections, nowbids me hurry on. The same yearning of this warm, panting heart, that hasmade me in written words record my vagabond youth, my serene manhood, andthe passions of my soul, makes me now recoil from further delay. I mustcomplete my work.
Here then I stand, as I said, beside the fleet waters of the flowing years,and now away! Spread the sail, and strain with oar, hurrying by darkimpending crags, adown steep rapids, even to the sea of desolation I havereached. Yet one moment, one brief interval before I put from shore--once, once again let me fancy myself as I was in 2094 in my abode atWindsor, let me close my eyes, and imagine that the immeasurable boughs ofits oaks still shadow me, its castle walls anear. Let fancy pourtray thejoyous scene of the twentieth of June, such as even now my aching heartrecalls it.
Circumstances had called me to London; here I heard talk that symptomsof the plague had occurred in hospitals of that city. I returned toWindsor; my brow was clouded, my heart heavy; I entered the LittlePark, as was my custom, at the Frogmore gate, on my way to theCastle. A great part of these grounds had been given to cultivation,and strips of potatoe-land and corn were scattered here and there.The rooks cawed loudly in the trees above; mixed with their hoarsecries I heard a lively strain of music. It was Alfred's birthday.The young people, the Etonians, and children of the neighbouring gentry,held a mock fair, to which all the country people were invited. Thepark was speckled by tents, whose flaunting colours and gaudy flags, wavingin the sunshine, added to the gaiety of the scene. On a platform erectedbeneath the terrace, a number of the younger part of the assembly weredancing. I leaned against a tree to observe them. The band played the wildeastern air of Weber introduced in Abon Hassan; its volatile notes gavewings to the feet of the dancers, while the lookers-on unconsciously beattime. At first the tripping measure lifted my spirit with it, and for amoment my eyes gladly followed the mazes of the dance. The revulsion ofthought passed like keen steel to my heart. Ye are all going to die, Ithought; already your tomb is built up around you. Awhile, because you aregifted with agility and strength, you fancy that you live: but frail is the"bower of flesh" that encaskets life; dissoluble the silver cord than bindsyou to it. The joyous soul, charioted from pleasure to pleasure by thegraceful mechanism of well-formed limbs, will suddenly feel the axle-treegive way, and spring and wheel dissolve in dust. Not one of you, O! fatedcrowd, can escape--not one! not my own ones! not my Idris and her babes!Horror and misery! Already the gay dance vanished, the green sward wasstrewn with corpses, the blue air above became fetid with deathlyexhalations. Shriek, ye clarions! ye loud trumpets, howl! Pile dirge ondirge; rouse the funereal chords; let the air ring with dire wailing; letwild discord rush on the wings of the wind! Already I hear it, whileguardian angels, attendant on humanity, their task achieved, hasten away,and their departure is announced by melancholy strains; faces all unseemlywith weeping, forced open my lids; faster and faster many groups of thesewoe-begone countenances thronged around, exhibiting every variety ofwretchedness--well known faces mingled with the distorted creations offancy. Ashy pale, Raymond and Perdita sat apart, looking on with sadsmiles. Adrian's countenance flitted across, tainted by death--Idris,with eyes languidly closed and livid lips, was about to slide into the widegrave. The confusion grew--their looks of sorrow changed to mockery; theynodded their heads in time to the music, whose clang became maddening.
I felt that this was insanity--I sprang forward to throw it off; I rushedinto the midst of the crowd. Idris saw me: with light step she advanced; asI folded her in my arms, feeling, as I did, that I thus enclosed what wasto me a world, yet frail as the waterdrop which the noon-day sun will drinkfrom the water lily's cup; tears filled my eyes, unwont to be thusmoistened. The joyful welcome of my boys, the soft gratulation of Clara,the pressure of Adrian's hand, contributed to unman me. I felt that theywere near, that they were safe, yet methought this was all deceit;--theearth reeled, the firm-enrooted trees moved--dizziness came over me--Isank to the ground.
My beloved friends were alarmed--nay, they expressed their alarm soanxiously, that I dared not pronounce the word plague, that hovered on mylips, lest they should construe my perturbed looks into a symptom, and seeinfection in my languor. I had scarcely recovered, and with feignedhilarity had brought back smiles into my little circle, when we saw Rylandapproach.
Ryland had something the appearance of a farmer; of a man whose muscles andfull grown stature had been developed under the influence of vigorousexercise and exposure to the elements. This was to a great degree the case:for, though a large landed proprietor, yet, being a projector, and of anardent and industrious disposition, he had on his own estate given himselfup to agricultural labours. When he went as ambassador to the NorthernStates of America, he, for some time, planned his entire migration; andwent so far as to make several journies far westward on that immensecontinent, for the purpose of choosing the site of his new abode. Ambitionturned his thoughts from these designs--ambition, which labouring throughvarious lets and hindrances, had now led him to the summit of his hopes, inmaking him Lord Protector of England.
His countenance was rough but intelligent--his ample brow and quick greyeyes seemed to look out, over his own plans, and the opposition of hisenemies. His voice was stentorian: his hand stretched out in debate, seemedby its gigantic and muscular form, to warn his hearers that words were nothis only weapons. Few people had discovered some cowardice and muchinfirmity of purpose under this imposing exterior. No man could crush a"butterfly on the wheel" with better effect; no man better cover a speedyretreat from a powerful adversary. This had been the secret of hissecession at the time of Lord Raymond's election. In the unsteady glance ofhis eye, in his extreme desire to learn the opinions of all, in thefeebleness of his hand-writing, these qualities might be obscurely traced,but they were not generally known. He was now our Lord Protector. He hadcanvassed eagerly for this post. His protectorate was to be distinguishedby every kind of innovation on the aristocracy. This his selected task wasexchanged for the far different one of encountering the ruin caused by theconvulsions of physical nature. He was incapable of meeting these evils byany comprehensive system; he had resorted to expedient after expedient, andcould never be induced to put a remedy in force, till it came too late tobe of use.
Certainly the Ryland that advanced towards us now, bore small resemblanceto the powerful, ironical, seemingly fearless canvasser for the first rankamong Englishmen. Our native oak, as his partisans called him, was visitedtruly by a nipping winter. He scarcely appeared half his usual height; hisjoints were unknit, his limbs would not support him; his face wascontracted, his eye wandering; debility of purpose and dastard fear wereexpressed in every gesture.
In answer to our eager questions, one word alone fell, as it wereinvoluntarily, from his convulsed lips: The Plague.--"Where?"--"Everywhere--we must fly--all fly--but whither? No man can tell--there isno refuge on earth, it comes on us like a thousand packs of wolves--wemust all fly--where shall you go? Where can any of us go?"
These words were syllabled trembling by the iron man. Adrian replied,"Whither indeed would you fly? We must all remain; and do our best to helpour suffering fellow-creatures."
"Help!" said Ryland, "there is no help!--great God, who talks of help!All the world has the plague!"
"Then to avoid it, we must quit the world," observed Adrian, with agentle smile.
Ryland groaned; cold drops stood on his brow. It was useless to oppose hisparoxysm of terror: but we soothed and encouraged him, so that after aninterval he was better able to explain to us the ground of his alarm. Ithad come sufficiently home to him.
One of his servants, while waiting onhim, had suddenly fallen down dead. The physician declared that he died ofthe plague. We endeavoured to calm him--but our own hearts were not calm.I saw the eye of Idris wander from me to her children, with an anxiousappeal to my judgment. Adrian was absorbed in meditation. For myself, I ownthat Ryland's words rang in my ears; all the world was infected;--in whatuncontaminated seclusion could I save my beloved treasures, until theshadow of death had passed from over the earth? We sunk into silence: asilence that drank in the doleful accounts and prognostications of ourguest. We had receded from the crowd; and ascending the steps of theterrace, sought the Castle. Our change of cheer struck those nearest to us;and, by means of Ryland's servants, the report soon spread that he had fledfrom the plague in London. The sprightly parties broke up--they assembledin whispering groups. The spirit of gaiety was eclipsed; the music ceased;the young people left their occupations and gathered together. Thelightness of heart which had dressed them in masquerade habits, haddecorated their tents, and assembled them in fantastic groups, appeared asin against, and a provocative to, the awful destiny that had laid itspalsying hand upon hope and life. The merriment of the hour was an unholymockery of the sorrows of man. The foreigners whom we had among us, who hadfled from the plague in their own country, now saw their last asyluminvaded; and, fear making them garrulous, they described to eager listenersthe miseries they had beheld in cities visited by the calamity, and gavefearful accounts of the insidious and irremediable nature of the disease.
We had entered the Castle. Idris stood at a window that over-looked thepark; her maternal eyes sought her own children among the young crowd. AnItalian lad had got an audience about him, and with animated gestures wasdescribing some scene of horror. Alfred stood immoveable before him, hiswhole attention absorbed. Little Evelyn had endeavoured to draw Clara awayto play with him; but the Italian's tale arrested her, she crept near, herlustrous eyes fixed on the speaker. Either watching the crowd in the park,or occupied by painful reflection, we were all silent; Ryland stood byhimself in an embrasure of the window; Adrian paced the hall, revolvingsome new and overpowering idea--suddenly he stopped and said: "I havelong expected this; could we in reason expect that this island should beexempt from the universal visitation? The evil is come home to us, and wemust not shrink from our fate. What are your plans, my Lord Protector, forthe benefit of our country?"
"For heaven's love! Windsor," cried Ryland, "do not mock me with thattitle. Death and disease level all men. I neither pretend to protect norgovern an hospital--such will England quickly become."
"Do you then intend, now in time of peril, to recede from your duties?"
"Duties! speak rationally, my Lord!--when I am a plague-spotted corpse,where will my duties be? Every man for himself! the devil take theprotectorship, say I, if it expose me to danger!"
"Faint-hearted man!" cried Adrian indignantly--"Your countrymen put theirtrust in you, and you betray them!"
"I betray them!" said Ryland, "the plague betrays me. Faint-hearted! It iswell, shut up in your castle, out of danger, to boast yourself out of fear.Take the Protectorship who will; before God I renounce it!"
"And before God," replied his opponent, fervently, "do I receive it! No onewill canvass for this honour now--none envy my danger or labours. Deposityour powers in my hands. Long have I fought with death, and much" (hestretched out his thin hand) "much have I suffered in the struggle. It isnot by flying, but by facing the enemy, that we can conquer. If my lastcombat is now about to be fought, and I am to be worsted--so let it be!"
"But come, Ryland, recollect yourself! Men have hitherto thought youmagnanimous and wise, will you cast aside these titles? Consider the panicyour departure will occasion. Return to London. I will go with you.Encourage the people by your presence. I will incur all the danger. Shame!shame! if the first magistrate of England be foremost to renounce hisduties."
Meanwhile among our guests in the park, all thoughts of festivity hadfaded. As summer-flies are scattered by rain, so did this congregation,late noisy and happy, in sadness and melancholy murmurs break up, dwindlingaway apace. With the set sun and the deepening twilight the park becamenearly empty. Adrian and Ryland were still in earnest discussion. We hadprepared a banquet for our guests in the lower hall of the castle; andthither Idris and I repaired to receive and entertain the few thatremained. There is nothing more melancholy than a merry-meeting thus turnedto sorrow: the gala dresses--the decorations, gay as they might otherwisebe, receive a solemn and funereal appearance. If such change be painfulfrom lighter causes, it weighed with intolerable heaviness from theknowledge that the earth's desolator had at last, even as an arch-fiend,lightly over-leaped the boundaries our precautions raised, and at onceenthroned himself in the full and beating heart of our country. Idris satat the top of the half-empty hall. Pale and tearful, she almost forgot herduties as hostess; her eyes were fixed on her children. Alfred's seriousair shewed that he still revolved the tragic story related by the Italianboy. Evelyn was the only mirthful creature present: he sat on Clara's lap;and, making matter of glee from his own fancies, laughed aloud. The vaultedroof echoed again his infant tone. The poor mother who had brooded longover, and suppressed the expression of her anguish, now burst into tears,and folding her babe in her arms, hurried from the hall. Clara and Alfredfollowed. While the rest of the company, in confused murmur, which grewlouder and louder, gave voice to their many fears.
The younger part gathered round me to ask my advice; and those who hadfriends in London were anxious beyond the rest, to ascertain the presentextent of disease in the metropolis. I encouraged them with such thoughtsof cheer as presented themselves. I told them exceedingly few deaths hadyet been occasioned by pestilence, and gave them hopes, as we were the lastvisited, so the calamity might have lost its most venomous power before ithad reached us. The cleanliness, habits of order, and the manner in whichour cities were built, were all in our favour. As it was an epidemic, itschief force was derived from pernicious qualities in the air, and it wouldprobably do little harm where this was naturally salubrious. At first, Ihad spoken only to those nearest me; but the whole assembly gathered aboutme, and I found that I was listened to by all. "My friends," I said, "ourrisk is common; our precautions and exertions shall be common also. Ifmanly courage and resistance can save us, we will be saved. We will fightthe enemy to the last. Plague shall not find us a ready prey; we willdispute every inch of ground; and, by methodical and inflexible laws, pileinvincible barriers to the progress of our foe. Perhaps in no part of theworld has she met with so systematic and determined an opposition. Perhapsno country is naturally so well protected against our invader; nor hasnature anywhere been so well assisted by the hand of man. We will notdespair. We are neither cowards nor fatalists; but, believing that God hasplaced the means for our preservation in our own hands, we will use thosemeans to our utmost. Remember that cleanliness, sobriety, and evengood-humour and benevolence, are our best medicines."
There was little I could add to this general exhortation; for the plague,though in London, was not among us. I dismissed the guests therefore; andthey went thoughtful, more than sad, to await the events in store forthem.
I now sought Adrian, anxious to hear the result of his discussion withRyland. He had in part prevailed; the Lord Protector consented to return toLondon for a few weeks; during which time things should be so arranged, asto occasion less consternation at his departure. Adrian and Idris weretogether. The sadness with which the former had first heard that the plaguewas in London had vanished; the energy of his purpose informed his bodywith strength, the solemn joy of enthusiasm and self-devotion illuminatedhis countenance; and the weakness of his physical nature seemed to passfrom him, as the cloud of humanity did, in the ancient fable, from thedivine lover of Semele. He was endeavouring to encourage his sister, and tobring her to look on his intent in a less tragic light than she wasprepared to do; and with passionate eloquence he unfolded his designs toher.
"Let me, at the first
word," he said, "relieve your mind from all fear onmy account. I will not task myself beyond my powers, nor will I needlesslyseek danger. I feel that I know what ought to be done, and as my presenceis necessary for the accomplishment of my plans, I will take especial careto preserve my life.
"I am now going to undertake an office fitted for me. I cannot intrigue, orwork a tortuous path through the labyrinth of men's vices and passions; butI can bring patience, and sympathy, and such aid as art affords, to the bedof disease; I can raise from earth the miserable orphan, and awaken to newhopes the shut heart of the mourner. I can enchain the plague in limits,and set a term to the misery it would occasion; courage, forbearance, andwatchfulness, are the forces I bring towards this great work.
"O, I shall be something now! From my birth I have aspired like the eagle--but, unlike the eagle, my wings have failed, and my vision has beenblinded. Disappointment and sickness have hitherto held dominion over me;twin born with me, my would, was for ever enchained by the shall not, ofthese my tyrants. A shepherd-boy that tends a silly flock on the mountains,was more in the scale of society than I. Congratulate me then that I havefound fitting scope for my powers. I have often thought of offering myservices to the pestilence-stricken towns of France and Italy; but fear ofpaining you, and expectation of this catastrophe, withheld me. To Englandand to Englishmen I dedicate myself. If I can save one of her mightyspirits from the deadly shaft; if I can ward disease from one of hersmiling cottages, I shall not have lived in vain."
Strange ambition this! Yet such was Adrian. He appeared given up tocontemplation, averse to excitement, a lowly student, a man of visions--but afford him worthy theme, and--
Like to the lark at break of day arising, From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate.[1]
so did he spring up from listlessness and unproductive thought, to thehighest pitch of virtuous action.
With him went enthusiasm, the high-wrought resolve, the eye that withoutblenching could look at death. With us remained sorrow, anxiety, andunendurable expectation of evil. The man, says Lord Bacon, who hath wifeand children, has given hostages to fortune. Vain was all philosophicalreasoning--vain all fortitude--vain, vain, a reliance on probable good.I might heap high the scale with logic, courage, and resignation--but letone fear for Idris and our children enter the opposite one, and,over-weighed, it kicked the beam.
The plague was in London! Fools that we were not long ago to have foreseenthis. We wept over the ruin of the boundless continents of the east, andthe desolation of the western world; while we fancied that the littlechannel between our island and the rest of the earth was to preserve usalive among the dead. It were no mighty leap methinks from Calais to Dover.The eye easily discerns the sister land; they were united once; and thelittle path that runs between looks in a map but as a trodden footwaythrough high grass. Yet this small interval was to save us: the sea was torise a wall of adamant--without, disease and misery--within, a shelterfrom evil, a nook of the garden of paradise--a particle of celestialsoil, which no evil could invade--truly we were wise in our generation,to imagine all these things!
But we are awake now. The plague is in London; the air of England istainted, and her sons and daughters strew the unwholesome earth. And now,the sea, late our defence, seems our prison bound; hemmed in by its gulphs,we shall die like the famished inhabitants of a besieged town. Othernations have a fellowship in death; but we, shut out from allneighbourhood, must bury our own dead, and little England become a wide,wide tomb.
This feeling of universal misery assumed concentration and shape, when Ilooked on my wife and children; and the thought of danger to them possessedmy whole being with fear. How could I save them? I revolved a thousand anda thousand plans. They should not die--first I would be gathered tonothingness, ere infection should come anear these idols of my soul. Iwould walk barefoot through the world, to find an uninfected spot; I wouldbuild my home on some wave-tossed plank, drifted about on the barren,shoreless ocean. I would betake me with them to some wild beast's den,where a tyger's cubs, which I would slay, had been reared in health. Iwould seek the mountain eagle's eirie, and live years suspended in someinaccessible recess of a sea-bounding cliff--no labour too great, noscheme too wild, if it promised life to them. O! ye heart-strings of mine,could ye be torn asunder, and my soul not spend itself in tears of bloodfor sorrow!
Idris, after the first shock, regained a portion of fortitude. Shestudiously shut out all prospect of the future, and cradled her heart inpresent blessings. She never for a moment lost sight of her children. Butwhile they in health sported about her, she could cherish contentment andhope. A strange and wild restlessness came over me--the more intolerable,because I was forced to conceal it. My fears for Adrian were ceaseless;August had come; and the symptoms of plague encreased rapidly in London. Itwas deserted by all who possessed the power of removing; and he, thebrother of my soul, was exposed to the perils from which all but slavesenchained by circumstance fled. He remained to combat the fiend--his sideunguarded, his toils unshared--infection might even reach him, and he dieunattended and alone. By day and night these thoughts pursued me. Iresolved to visit London, to see him; to quiet these agonizing throes bythe sweet medicine of hope, or the opiate of despair.
It was not until I arrived at Brentford, that I perceived much change inthe face of the country. The better sort of houses were shut up; the busytrade of the town palsied; there was an air of anxiety among the fewpassengers I met, and they looked wonderingly at my carriage--the firstthey had seen pass towards London, since pestilence sat on its high places,and possessed its busy streets. I met several funerals; they were slenderlyattended by mourners, and were regarded by the spectators as omens ofdirest import. Some gazed on these processions with wild eagerness--others fled timidly--some wept aloud.
Adrian's chief endeavour, after the immediate succour of the sick, had beento disguise the symptoms and progress of the plague from the inhabitants ofLondon. He knew that fear and melancholy forebodings were powerfulassistants to disease; that desponding and brooding care rendered thephysical nature of man peculiarly susceptible of infection. No unseemlysights were therefore discernible: the shops were in general open, theconcourse of passengers in some degree kept up. But although the appearanceof an infected town was avoided, to me, who had not beheld it since thecommencement of the visitation, London appeared sufficiently changed. Therewere no carriages, and grass had sprung high in the streets; the houses hada desolate look; most of the shutters were closed; and there was a ghastand frightened stare in the persons I met, very different from the usualbusiness-like demeanour of the Londoners. My solitary carriage attractednotice, as it rattled along towards the Protectoral Palace--and thefashionable streets leading to it wore a still more dreary and desertedappearance. I found Adrian's anti-chamber crowded--it was his hour forgiving audience. I was unwilling to disturb his labours, and waited,watching the ingress and egress of the petitioners. They consisted ofpeople of the middling and lower classes of society, whose means ofsubsistence failed with the cessation of trade, and of the busy spirit ofmoney-making in all its branches, peculiar to our country. There was an airof anxiety, sometimes of terror in the new-comers, strongly contrasted withthe resigned and even satisfied mien of those who had had audience. I couldread the influence of my friend in their quickened motions and cheerfulfaces. Two o'clock struck, after which none were admitted; those who hadbeen disappointed went sullenly or sorrowfully away, while I entered theaudience-chamber.
I was struck by the improvement that appeared in the health of Adrian. Hewas no longer bent to the ground, like an over-nursed flower of spring,that, shooting up beyond its strength, is weighed down even by its owncoronal of blossoms. His eyes were bright, his countenance composed, an airof concentrated energy was diffused over his whole person, much unlike itsformer languor. He sat at a table with several secretaries, who werearranging petitions, or registering the notes made during that day'saudience. Two or three petitioners were still in attendance. I ad
mired hisjustice and patience. Those who possessed a power of living out of London,he advised immediately to quit it, affording them the means of so doing.Others, whose trade was beneficial to the city, or who possessed no otherrefuge, he provided with advice for better avoiding the epidemic; relievingoverloaded families, supplying the gaps made in others by death. Order,comfort, and even health, rose under his influence, as from the touch of amagician's wand.
"I am glad you are come," he said to me, when we were at last alone; "I canonly spare a few minutes, and must tell you much in that time. The plagueis now in progress--it is useless closing one's eyes to the fact--thedeaths encrease each week. What will come I cannot guess. As yet, thankGod, I am equal to the government of the town; and I look only to thepresent. Ryland, whom I have so long detained, has stipulated that I shallsuffer him to depart before the end of this month. The deputy appointed byparliament is dead; another therefore must be named; I have advanced myclaim, and I believe that I shall have no competitor. To-night the questionis to be decided, as there is a call of the house for the purpose. You mustnominate me, Lionel; Ryland, for shame, cannot shew himself; but you, myfriend, will do me this service?
How lovely is devotion! Here was a youth, royally sprung, bred inluxury, by nature averse to the usual struggles of a public life,and now, in time of danger, at a period when to live was theutmost scope of the ambitious, he, the beloved and heroic Adrian, made, insweet simplicity, an offer to sacrifice himself for the public good. Thevery idea was generous and noble,--but, beyond this, his unpretendingmanner, his entire want of the assumption of a virtue, rendered his act tentimes more touching. I would have withstood his request; but I had seen thegood he diffused; I felt that his resolves were not to be shaken, so, withan heavy heart, I consented to do as he asked. He grasped my handaffectionately:--"Thank you," he said, "you have relieved me from apainful dilemma, and are, as you ever were, the best of my friends.Farewell--I must now leave you for a few hours. Go you and converse withRyland. Although he deserts his post in London, he may be of the greatestservice in the north of England, by receiving and assisting travellers, andcontributing to supply the metropolis with food. Awaken him, I entreat you,to some sense of duty."
Adrian left me, as I afterwards learnt, upon his daily task of visiting thehospitals, and inspecting the crowded parts of London. I found Ryland muchaltered, even from what he had been when he visited Windsor. Perpetual fearhad jaundiced his complexion, and shrivelled his whole person. I told himof the business of the evening, and a smile relaxed the contracted muscles.He desired to go; each day he expected to be infected by pestilence, eachday he was unable to resist the gentle violence of Adrian's detention. Themoment Adrian should be legally elected his deputy, he would escape tosafety. Under this impression he listened to all I said; and, elevatedalmost to joy by the near prospect of his departure, he entered into adiscussion concerning the plans he should adopt in his own county,forgetting, for the moment, his cherished resolution of shutting himself upfrom all communication in the mansion and grounds of his estate.
In the evening, Adrian and I proceeded to Westminster. As we went hereminded me of what I was to say and do, yet, strange to say, I entered thechamber without having once reflected on my purpose. Adrian remained in thecoffee-room, while I, in compliance with his desire, took my seat in St.Stephen's. There reigned unusual silence in the chamber. I had not visitedit since Raymond's protectorate; a period conspicuous for a numerousattendance of members, for the eloquence of the speakers, and the warmth ofthe debate. The benches were very empty, those by custom occupied by thehereditary members were vacant; the city members were there--the membersfor the commercial towns, few landed proprietors, and not many of those whoentered parliament for the sake of a career. The first subject thatoccupied the attention of the house was an address from the Lord Protector,praying them to appoint a deputy during a necessary absence on his part.
A silence prevailed, till one of the members coming to me, whispered thatthe Earl of Windsor had sent him word that I was to move his election, inthe absence of the person who had been first chosen for this office. Nowfor the first time I saw the full extent of my task, and I was overwhelmedby what I had brought on myself. Ryland had deserted his post through fearof the plague: from the same fear Adrian had no competitor. And I, thenearest kinsman of the Earl of Windsor, was to propose his election. I wasto thrust this selected and matchless friend into the post of danger--impossible! the die was cast--I would offer myself as candidate.
The few members who were present, had come more for the sake of terminatingthe business by securing a legal attendance, than under the idea of adebate. I had risen mechanically--my knees trembled; irresolution hung onmy voice, as I uttered a few words on the necessity of choosing a personadequate to the dangerous task in hand. But, when the idea of presentingmyself in the room of my friend intruded, the load of doubt and pain wastaken from off me. My words flowed spontaneously--my utterance was firmand quick. I adverted to what Adrian had already done--I promised thesame vigilance in furthering all his views. I drew a touching picture ofhis vacillating health; I boasted of my own strength. I prayed them to saveeven from himself this scion of the noblest family in England. My alliancewith him was the pledge of my sincerity, my union with his sister, mychildren, his presumptive heirs, were the hostages of my truth.
This unexpected turn in the debate was quickly communicated to Adrian. Hehurried in, and witnessed the termination of my impassioned harangue. I didnot see him: my soul was in my words,--my eyes could not perceive thatwhich was; while a vision of Adrian's form, tainted by pestilence, andsinking in death, floated before them. He seized my hand, as I concluded--"Unkind!" he cried, "you have betrayed me!" then, springing forwards, withthe air of one who had a right to command, he claimed the place of deputyas his own. He had bought it, he said, with danger, and paid for it withtoil. His ambition rested there; and, after an interval devoted to theinterests of his country, was I to step in, and reap the profit? Let themremember what London had been when he arrived: the panic that prevailedbrought famine, while every moral and legal tie was loosened. He hadrestored order--this had been a work which required perseverance,patience, and energy; and he had neither slept nor waked but for the goodof his country.--Would they dare wrong him thus? Would they wrest hishard-earned reward from him, to bestow it on one, who, never having mingledin public life, would come a tyro to the craft, in which he was an adept.He demanded the place of deputy as his right. Ryland had shewn that hepreferred him. Never before had he, who was born even to the inheritance ofthe throne of England, never had he asked favour or honour from those nowhis equals, but who might have been his subjects. Would they refuse him?Could they thrust back from the path of distinction and laudable ambition,the heir of their ancient kings, and heap another disappointment on afallen house.
No one had ever before heard Adrian allude to the rights of his ancestors.None had ever before suspected, that power, or the suffrage of the many,could in any manner become dear to him. He had begun his speech withvehemence; he ended with unassuming gentleness, making his appeal with thesame humility, as if he had asked to be the first in wealth, honour, andpower among Englishmen, and not, as was the truth, to be the foremost inthe ranks of loathsome toils and inevitable death. A murmur of approbationrose after his speech. "Oh, do not listen to him," I cried, "he speaksfalse--false to himself,"--I was interrupted: and, silence being restored,we were ordered, as was the custom, to retire during the decision of thehouse. I fancied that they hesitated, and that there was some hope forme--I was mistaken--hardly had we quitted the chamber, before Adrian wasrecalled, and installed in his office of Lord Deputy to the Protector.
We returned together to the palace. "Why, Lionel," said Adrian, "what didyou intend? you could not hope to conquer, and yet you gave me the pain ofa triumph over my dearest friend."
"This is mockery," I replied, "you devote yourself,--you, the adoredbrother of Idris, the being, of all the world contains, dearest to ou
rhearts--you devote yourself to an early death. I would have preventedthis; my death would be a small evil--or rather I should not die; whileyou cannot hope to escape."
"As to the likelihood of escaping," said Adrian, "ten years hence thecold stars may shine on the graves of all of us; but as to my peculiarliability to infection, I could easily prove, both logically andphysically, that in the midst of contagion I have a better chanceof life than you.
"This is my post: I was born for this--to rule England in anarchy, tosave her in danger--to devote myself for her. The blood of my forefatherscries aloud in my veins, and bids me be first among my countrymen. Or, ifthis mode of speech offend you, let me say, that my mother, the proudqueen, instilled early into me a love of distinction, and all that, if theweakness of my physical nature and my peculiar opinions had not preventedsuch a design, might have made me long since struggle for the lostinheritance of my race. But now my mother, or, if you will, my mother'slessons, awaken within me. I cannot lead on to battle; I cannot, throughintrigue and faithlessness rear again the throne upon the wreck of Englishpublic spirit. But I can be the first to support and guard my country, nowthat terrific disasters and ruin have laid strong hands upon her.
"That country and my beloved sister are all I have. I will protect thefirst--the latter I commit to your charge. If I survive, and she be lost,I were far better dead. Preserve her--for her own sake I know that youwill--if you require any other spur, think that, in preserving her, youpreserve me. Her faultless nature, one sum of perfections, is wrapt up inher affections--if they were hurt, she would droop like an unwateredfloweret, and the slightest injury they receive is a nipping frost to her.Already she fears for us. She fears for the children she adores, and foryou, the father of these, her lover, husband, protector; and you must benear her to support and encourage her. Return to Windsor then, my brother;for such you are by every tie--fill the double place my absence imposeson you, and let me, in all my sufferings here, turn my eyes towards thatdear seclusion, and say--There is peace."
[1] Shakespeare's Sonnets.