CHAPTER VII
_Early Setting of a young Morning Star_
"And _Jacob_ served _Laban_ for _Rachel_ seven Years; and they seemedunto him but so many Days, for the Love he had unto her." Albeit I wasnot serving my Master for my Master's Daughter, yet her being in theHouse helped, I wot, to make the seven Years speed like seven Days.Sure, never was so gracious a Creature! Her Nature was so excellent, andher Countenance, which was the Index of her Mind, was so full ofSweetness and Goodness, that one could scarce look upon her withoutblessing Him who had created her so lovely.
Meantime my Master's Fortune and Credit from small Beginnings had risenmightily, as is often the Case in this commercial and prosperous City.He had gone through the three Degrees of Wardenship of his Company, hadbeen elected of the Common Council, and was now Alderman of the BridgeWard Without. And if he still lived and went plain, he laid by and laidout in Commerce the more: there was no Shew, nor no Stinting.
Yes: those were happy Days! All the fairer they seem now, for the darkones that were coming. The only Sorrow among us that I remember was whenthe Pestilence brake out, in the fifth Year of our young King, which atfirst only prevailed in the North, but at length reached _London_, whereit raged with prodigious Fury, carrying off eight Hundred Souls thefirst Week, and mostly after a Sickness of only twelve or twenty-fourHours. We had it not on the Bridge, which was attributed to the freeAccess of fresh Air to our Dwellings; howbeit, Mistress _Anne_ (like aministering Angel as she was,—such a Child, too! only in her twelfthYear!) must needs go about, relieving poor Wretches in their Dwellings;whereby she caught a low Fever that brought her to Death's Door, andfilled the House with Tears. If my Master, a Man in Years, forbare notto weep, Reason was, a Lad such as I should weep too. Howbeit, throughthe Grace of God, she recovered: but for a long Time she was tooenfeebled to walk, wherefore Master _Hewet_ took her much on the Waterduring the long Summer Evenings, after we had been nigh stifled by theDay's sultry Heat. For the eastern Side of the House was close; and thewestern, though open, yet was much exposed to the Glare of the Sun onthe River. We shut it out with Blinds and Lattices all we could; butstill, the Crown of the Day was after Sundown on the Water. Master_Hewet_ liked his 'Prentices to pull; and sometimes we fell into theWake of some Court Barge with Horns and Sackbuts, and lay on our Oars;Mistress _Anne_ full silent, resting her Head, for Weakness, against myMaster's Shoulder, and with the Tears sometimes stealing down from herlarge, bright Eyes. My Master carried her down to the Boat, but 'twas myPortion, for I will not say Burthen, to carry her up. How light she was!She did not much like it, and managed presently to ascend slowly, withthe help of my Master's Arm; but I remember the Goodness and Sweetnesswith which, with a sweet Blush on her Face, she sayth, "Do you rememberthe first Time? But for thee, I had not been here now."
As she strengthened, we kept out longer, and went up to _Chelsea_ and_Fulham_, and rambled about the pleasant Fields; eating Curds and Creamat Milkhouses, and returning by Moonlight; _Miles_ and I singing, "Rowthe Boat, _Norman_."
JJ "Eating Curds & Cream"]
Then Master _Hewet_ carried her down into the Country, to the Hall ofhis Brother the Squire; and there she abode till she was quite well.When she returned, the Leaves were falling, and Master _Hewet_ wouldwalk with her of an Evening to _Finsbury Fields_, and stand with her ata Distance to see us young Men shoot the long Bow, leap, wrestle, castthe Stone, and practise our Shields; in all which, _Miles_ came in forhis full Share of Praise; and I was always well content to be thoughtequal to him. Sometimes I overshot him, sometimes he overshot me;sometimes I outleaped him, sometimes he outleaped me; but we loved theGame beyond the Competition; there was never any ill Blood between us.
'Twas on _All Saints'_ Day, this Year, that the new Service Book, calledof Common Prayer, was first used in _Paul's_ Church, and the likethroughout the whole City. Dr. _Ridley_, Bishop of _London_, performedthe same in _Paul's_, in his Rochet only; and in the Afternoon preachedat _Paul's_ Cross before the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Livery Companies,which Sermon, being on the Subject of the new Service, lasted till fiveo' the Clock, so that, the Days being short, we returned by Torch-light.
Then had the Church great Rest. The Enemy, knowing his Time was at Hand,lay mighty quiet: and, for the Multitude of notable Foreigners thatresorted to us for Safeguard, _England_ might have been called _ChristiAsylum_. Howbeit, the Canker was already i' the Bud!
The King, earlier in the Year, had ta'en the Measles; and during theSummer, had ridden a Progress with greater Magnificence than ever he haddone before. In the _January_ following, whether procured by sinisterPractice or natural Infirmity, he fell into an Indisposition of Bodywhich soon grew to a Cough of the Lungs. Perhaps it had been happy ifLord _Robert Dudley_ (now my Lord of _Leicester_,) had not recently beensworn one of the six Gentlemen of the King's Chamber ... we must notspeak ill, _Hew_, of them that are set high in Authority, save upongreat Conviction and Certitude: howbeit, you and I know what the privateReport of that Gentleman is—When I'm sick, don't give me a _LeicesterCordial_, that's all!
The common Talk was, that a poisoned Nosegay had been given the prettyBoy at New-year's-tide, which brought him into this slow but deadlyLanguishment. To think, what Poison may lie 'neath Flowers! At allEvents, the Duke of _Northumberland_, now the powerfullest Man in theRealm since he had swallowed up his unhappy Rival _Somerset_, beginnethto aim at nothing short of Crown matrimonial for his young Son Lord_Guilford Dudley_, lately espoused to the Lady _Jane Grey_; thereforeinculcateth on the kingly Boy now a-dying, how much it concerned him tohave a Care for Religion, not only during Life, but after his Death;which could not be preserved in its Purity to the Realm should the Lady_Mary_ succeed; and, if he set aside one Sister, he might as well putaway the other also, and devise his Crown to her who after them was hisnext Kinswoman, the good and godly Lady _Jane_.
So soon as this was obtained of him, he might die as soon as hewould—the sooner the better—and, to help Matters, the Leeches weredismissed, and a Gentlewoman (thought to have received her Instructionsbefore hand,) set over him; under whose Applications his Pulse presentlyfailed, his Skin changed Colour, and other Symptoms speedily appeared ofMortal Dissolution. Turning his Face then to the Wall like good_Hezekiah_, he was heard by one that sate behind the Curtain to say, "OLORD GOD, deliver me out of this miserable and wretched Life! O LORD,thou knowest how happy it were for me to be with thee; yet, for thyChosen's Sake, if it be thy Will, send me Life and Health that I maytruly serve thee!" After a little Space, again he sigheth, "O save thyPeople _England_!" Then, turning about, and noting some one behind theCurtain, "I had thought," saith he, "I was alone." "Sir," sayth theAttendant, "I heard you speak, but heard not what you were saying.""Nay," sayth he, "I was but praying to GOD. Oh! I am faint! faint untoDeath! LORD, receive my Spirit!" And forthwith breathed out his white,innocent Soul. Early ripe, early gathered!
Thus we sometimes see the Nation's prime Hope, the Desire of all Eyes,cut off as a sweet Rose snaps its Stalk; and we mourn, thinking the LORDhath forgotten to be gracious and will no more be entreated, and hisMercy is clean gone from us for ever; not knowing that, after he hathtried and purified his own, yea, like Silver over the Fire, till thethick Scum separates and he seeth his own Image reflected in the brightMetal, he will return unto us and be gracious, like as a Father pitiethhis Children, and make our latter Day better than our Beginning. Had wenot known the early Setting of this young _Hesperus_, we had not nowsunned ourselves in the Light of our bright Occidental Star.
And now, the bright Boy being dead, the Duke of _Northumberland_ tookupon him to sit at the Stern, and order all Things according unto hisPleasure. The Demise of the Crown was kept close that Day and the next,he hoping to obtain Possession of the Lady _Mary_, who, however, learnedthe Secret, and rode off to the Coast. Meantime, he took heed to occupyand fortify the _Tower_; and, on the second Day, sent for the LordMayor, six Aldermen, not including Master _Hewet_, six Merchants of theStaple, and as many Mercha
nt Adventurers, to attend the Council at_Greenwich_, where they were advised of the King's Death and how he hadordained for the Succession by Letters Patent, to the which they weresworn, and charged to keep the Matter secret.
When my Master presently heard of this from one of his brother Aldermen,(for such Secrets are not long kept,) he said, in his own Family, thathowever he might desire a Protestant Succession, he was persuaded thatthis would not, nor could not, come to Good. "To say Nothing," quod he,"of the Lady _Jane's_ questionable Birth; for the Duke, though few knowit, had, when he married her Mother, a Wife living already."
Howbeit, at Three o' the Clock on the Monday Afternoon, the Lady _Jane_was conveyed, in Sight of us all, by Water from _Syon_ to the _Tower_,and there received as Queen. At Five o' Clock, the King's Death and herAccession were proclaimed; but few cried "GOD save Queen _Jane_!" ADrawer at a Tavern within _Ludgate_ said in the Hearing of some, that hethought the Lady _Mary_ had the better Title; whereon he was incontinentarrested and set in the Pillory in _Chepe_, whereto both his Ears werenailed, and then clean cut off.
Meantime the Duke of _Northumberland_ heareth that the Lady _Mary's_Party makes head, whereon he resolves to send Lady _Jane's_ Father, theDuke of _Suffolk_, to put it down and seize her Person. Whereon the Lady_Jane_, who hath all along had no Mind to the Crown, weepeth sore, andbegs her Father may be let off that Enterprize and that herFather-in-law will take it on himself; which he, after short Demur andmuch Flattery of his Bravery and Skill, consenteth to do. But his Heartmisgiveth him, both as to what he goes to and what he leaves behind;and, sayth he to the Council, "Should ye in mine Absence waver in yourResolution, it may be ye will contrive your own Safety with myDestruction." Quod they, "Your Grace makes a Doubt of that which cannotbe, for which of us all can wash his Hands clean of this Business?" Sothe Duke set forth with eight Thousand Foot and two Thousand Horse; and,as he rode along _Shoreditch_, quod he to Lord _Grey_, "See how thePeople press forward to see us! but not one of them sayth, 'GOD speedyou!'"
In Truth, Gentle and Simple fell off to the Lady _Mary_, though Bishop_Ridley_ preached at _Paul's_, to invite us to stand firm to Lady_Jane_. The Duke's Party melted away; and the Duke of _Suffolk_,learning how his Daughter's Partizans had defalked to the Lady _Mary_ orbeen defeated and captivated, entereth the young Queen's Chamber andtelleth her in brief, she must now put off her royal Robes and becontent with a private Life. To which the meek young Lady made Answer,that she should put them off with more Contentation than she had putthem on; and would never have done so but to please him and her Mother.And so ended her ten Days' Reign.