CHAPTER XXXII
_Benedict_. This looks not like a nuptial. _Much Ado About Nothing._
Master George Heriot had no sooner returned to the king's apartment,than James inquired of Maxwell if the Earl of Huntinglen was inattendance, and, receiving an answer in the affirmative, desired that heshould be admitted. The old Scottish Lord having made his reverencein the usual manner, the king extended his hand to be kissed, and thenbegan to address him in a tone of great sympathy.
"We told your lordship in our secret epistle of this morning, writtenwith our ain hand, in testimony we have neither pretermitted norforgotten your faithful service, that we had that to communicate to youthat would require both patience and fortitude to endure, and thereforeexhorted you to peruse some of the most pithy passages of Seneca, and ofBoethius _de Consolatione_, that the back may be, as we say, fitted forthe burden--This we commend to you from our ain experience.
'Non ignara mail, miseris succurrere disco,'
sayeth Dido, and I might say in my own person, _non ignarus_; butto change the gender would affect the prosody, whereof our southernsubjects are tenacious. So, my Lord of Huntinglen, I trust you haveacted by our advice, and studied patience before ye need it--_venientioccurrite morbo_--mix the medicament when the disease is coming on."
"May it please your Majesty," answered Lord Huntinglen, "I am more of anold soldier than a scholar--and if my own rough nature will not bearme out in any calamity, I hope I shall have grace to try a text ofScripture to boot."
"Ay, man, are you there with your bears?" said the king; "The Bible,man," (touching his cap,) "is indeed _principium et fons_--but it ispity your lordship cannot peruse it in the original. For although we didourselves promote that work of translation,--since ye may read, at thebeginning of every Bible, that when some palpable clouds of darknesswere thought like to have overshadowed the land, after the setting ofthat bright occidental star, Queen Elizabeth; yet our appearance, likethat of the sun in his strength, instantly dispelled these surmisedmists,--I say, that although, as therein mentioned, we countenancedthe preaching of the gospel, and especially the translation of theScriptures out of the original sacred tongues; yet nevertheless, weourselves confess to have found a comfort in consulting them in theoriginal Hebrew, whilk we do not perceive even in the Latin version ofthe Septuagint, much less in the English traduction."
"Please your Majesty," said Lord Huntinglen, "if your Majesty delayscommunicating the bad news with which your honoured letter threatens me,until I am capable to read Hebrew like your Majesty, I fear I shalldie in ignorance of the misfortune which hath befallen, or is about tobefall, my house."
"You will learn it but too soon, my lord," replied the king. "I grieveto say it, but your son Dalgarno, whom I thought a very saint, as he wasso much with Steenie and Baby Charles, hath turned out a very villain."
"Villain!" repeated Lord Huntinglen; and though he instantly checkedhimself, and added, "but it is your Majesty speaks the word," the effectof his first tone made the king step back as if he had received a blow.He also recovered himself again, and said in the pettish way whichusually indicated his displeasure--"Yes, my lord, it was we that saidit--_non surdo canis_--we are not deaf--we pray you not to raise yourvoice in speech with us--there is the bonny memorial--read, and judgefor yourself."
The king then thrust into the old nobleman's hand a paper, containingthe story of the Lady Hermione, with the evidence by which it wassupported, detailed so briefly and clearly, that the infamy of LordDalgarno, the lover by whom she had been so shamefully deceived, seemedundeniable. But a father yields not up so easily the cause of his son.
"May it please your Majesty," he said, "why was this tale not soonertold? This woman hath been here for years--wherefore was the claim on myson not made the instant she touched English ground?"
"Tell him how that came about, Geordie," said the king, dressing Heriot.
"I grieve to distress my Lord Huntinglen," said Heriot; "but I must speakthe truth. For a long time the Lady Hermione could not brook the ideaof making her situation public; and when her mind became changed inthat particular, it was necessary to recover the evidence of the falsemarriage, and letters and papers connected with it, which, when shecame to Paris, and just before I saw her, she had deposited with acorrespondent of her father in that city. He became afterwards bankrupt,and in consequence of that misfortune the lady's papers passed intoother hands, and it was only a few days since I traced and recoveredthem. Without these documents of evidence, it would have been imprudentfor her to have preferred her complaint, favoured as Lord Dalgarno is bypowerful friends."
"Ye are saucy to say sae," said the king; "I ken what ye mean weeleneugh--ye think Steenie wad hae putten the weight of his foot intothe scales of justice, and garr'd them whomle the bucket--ye forget,Geordie, wha it is whose hand uphaulds them. And ye do poor Steenie themair wrang, for he confessed it ance before us and our privy council,that Dalgarno would have put the quean aff on him, the puir simplebairn, making him trow that she was a light-o'-love; in whilk mind heremained assured even when he parted from her, albeit Steenie might haeweel thought ane of thae cattle wadna hae resisted the like of him."
"The Lady Hermione," said George Heriot, "has always done the utmostjustice to the conduct of the duke, who, although strongly possessedwith prejudice against her character, yet scorned to avail himselfof her distress, and on the contrary supplied her with the means ofextricating herself from her difficulties."
"It was e'en like himsell--blessings on his bonny face!" said the king;"and I believed this lady's tale the mair readily, my Lord Huntinglen,that she spake nae ill of Steenie--and to make a lang tale short, mylord, it is the opinion of our council and ourself, as weel as of BabyCharles and Steenie, that your son maun amend his wrong by wedding thislady, or undergo such disgrace and discountenance as we can bestow."
The person to whom he spoke was incapable of answering him. He stoodbefore the king motionless, and glaring with eyes of which even the lidsseemed immovable, as if suddenly converted into an ancient statue of thetimes of chivalry, so instantly had his hard features and strong limbsbeen arrested into rigidity by the blow he had received--And in a secondafterwards, like the same statue when the lightning breaks upon it,he sunk at once to the ground with a heavy groan. The king was in theutmost alarm, called upon Heriot and Maxwell for help, and, presenceof mind not being his _forte_, ran to and fro in his cabinet,exclaiming--"My ancient and beloved servant--who saved our anointedself! _vae atque dolor!_ My Lord of Huntinglen, look up--look up, man,and your son may marry the Queen of Sheba if he will."
By this time Maxwell and Heriot had raised the old nobleman, and placedhim on a chair; while the king, observing that he began to recoverhimself, continued his consolations more methodically.
"Haud up your head--haud up your head, and listen to your ain kindnative Prince. If there is shame, man, it comesna empty-handed--thereis siller to gild it--a gude tocher, and no that bad a pedigree;--if shehas been a loon, it was your son made her sae, and he can make her anhonest woman again."
These suggestions, however reasonable in the common case, gave nocomfort to Lord Huntinglen, if indeed he fully comprehended them; butthe blubbering of his good-natured old master, which began to accompanyand interrupt his royal speech, produced more rapid effect. The largetear gushed reluctantly from his eye, as he kissed the withered hands,which the king, weeping with less dignity and restraint, abandoned tohim, first alternately and then both together, until the feelings of theman getting entirely the better of the Sovereign's sense of dignity, hegrasped and shook Lord Huntinglen's hands with the sympathy of an equaland a familiar friend.
"_Compone lachrymas_," said the Monarch; "be patient, man, be patient;the council, and Baby Charles, and Steenie, may a' gang to thedeevil--he shall not marry her since it moves you so deeply."
"He _shall_ marry her, by God!" answered the earl, drawing himselfup, dashing the tear from his eyes, and endeavouring to recover hiscomposure.
"I pray your Majesty's pardon, but he shall marry her, withher dishonour for her dowry, were she the veriest courtezan in allSpain--If he gave his word, he shall make his word good, were it tothe meanest creature that haunts the streets--he shall do it, or my owndagger shall take the life that I gave him. If he could stoop to use sobase a fraud, though to deceive infamy, let him wed infamy."
"No, no!" the Monarch continued to insinuate, "things are not so bad asthat--Steenie himself never thought of her being a streetwalker, evenwhen he thought the worst of her."
"If it can at all console my Lord of Huntinglen," said the citizen, "Ican assure him of this lady's good birth, and most fair and unspottedfame."
"I am sorry for it," said Lord Huntinglen--then interrupting himself, hesaid--"Heaven forgive me for being ungrateful for such comfort!--but Iam well-nigh sorry she should be as you represent her, so much betterthan the villain deserves. To be condemned to wed beauty and innocenceand honest birth--"
"Ay, and wealth, my lord--wealth," insinuated the king, "is a bettersentence than his perfidy has deserved."
"It is long," said the embittered father, "since I saw he was selfishand hardhearted; but to be a perjured liar--I never dreaded that such ablot would have fallen on my race! I will never look on him again."
"Hoot ay, my lord, hoot ay," said the king; "ye maun tak him to taskroundly. I grant you should speak more in the vein of Demea than Mitio,_vi nempe et via pervulgata patrum_; but as for not seeing him again,and he your only son, that is altogether out of reason. I tell ye, man,(but I would not for a boddle that Baby Charles heard me,) that he mightgie the glaiks to half the lasses of Lonnun, ere I could find in myheart speak such harsh words as you have said of this deil of a Dalgarnoof yours."
"May it please your Majesty to permit me to retire," said LordHuntinglen, "and dispose of the case according to your own royal senseof justice, for I desire no favour for him."
"Aweel, my lord, so be it; and if your lordship can think," added theMonarch, "of any thing in our power which might comfort you--"
"Your Majesty's gracious sympathy," said Lord Huntinglen, "has alreadycomforted me as far as earth can; the rest must be from the King ofkings."
"To Him I commend you, my auld and faithful servant," said James withemotion, as the earl withdrew from his presence. The king remained fixedin thought for some time, and then said to Heriot, "Jingling Geordie,ye ken all the privy doings of our Court, and have dune so these thirtyyears, though, like a wise man, ye hear, and see, and say nothing.Now, there is a thing I fain wad ken, in the way of philosophicalinquiry--Did you ever hear of the umquhile Lady Huntinglen, the departedCountess of this noble earl, ganging a wee bit gleed in her walk throughthe world; I mean in the way of slipping a foot, casting a leglin-girth,or the like, ye understand me?"
[Footnote: A leglin-girth is the lowest hoop upon a _leglin_, ormilk-pail. Allan Ramsay applies the phrase in the same metaphoricalsense.
"Or bairns can read, they first maun spell, I learn'd this frae mymammy, And cast a leglin-girth mysell, Lang ere I married Tammy." _Christ's Kirk On The Green_.]
"On my word as an honest man," said George Heriot, somewhat surprisedat the question, "I never heard her wronged by the slightest breathof suspicion. She was a worthy lady, very circumspect in her walk, andlived in great concord with her husband, save that the good Countess wassomething of a puritan, and kept more company with ministers than wasaltogether agreeable to Lord Huntinglen, who is, as your Majesty wellknows, a man of the old rough world, that will drink and swear."
"O Geordie!" exclaimed the king, "these are auld-warld frailties, ofwhilk we dare not pronounce even ourselves absolutely free. But thewarld grows worse from day to day, Geordie. The juveniles of this agemay weel say with the poet--
'Aetas parentum, pejor avis, tulit Nos nequiores--'
This Dalgarno does not drink so much, or swear so much, as his father;but he wenches, Geordie, and he breaks his word and oath baith. Asto what you say of the leddy, and the ministers, we are a' falliblecreatures, Geordie, priests and kings, as weel as others; and wha kensbut what that may account for the difference between this Dalgarno andhis father? The earl is the vera soul of honour, and cares nae mair forwarld's gear than a noble hound for the quest of a foulmart; but asfor his son, he was like to brazen us a' out--ourselves, Steenie, BabyCharles, and our council--till he heard of the tocher, and then, by mykingly crown, he lap like a cock at a grossart! These are discrepanciesbetwixt parent and son not to be accounted for naturally, according toBaptista Porta, Michael Scott _de secretis_, and others.--Ah, JinglingGeordie, if your clouting the caldron, and jingling on pots, pans, andveshels of all manner of metal, hadna jingled a' your grammar out ofyour head, I could have touched on that matter to you at mair length."
Heriot was too plain-spoken to express much concern for the loss of hisgrammar learning on this occasion; but after modestly hinting that hehad seen many men who could not fill their father's bonnet, though noone had been suspected of wearing their father's nightcap, he inquired"whether Lord Dalgarno had consented to do the Lady Hermione justice."
"Troth, man, I have small doubt that he will," quoth the king; "I gavehim the schedule of her worldly substance, which you delivered to us inthe council, and we allowed him half-an-hour to chew the cud upon that.It is rare reading for bringing him to reason. I left Baby Charles andSteenie laying his duty before him; and if he can resist doing what_they_ desire him--why, I wish he would teach _me_ the gate of it. OGeordie, Jingling Geordie, it was grand to hear Baby Charles laying downthe guilt of dissimulation, and Steenie lecturing on the turpitude ofincontinence!"
"I am afraid," said George Heriot, more hastily than prudently, "I mighthave thought of the old proverb of Satan reproving sin."
"Deil hae our saul, neighbour," said the king, reddening, "but ye arenot blate! I gie ye license to speak freely, and, by our saul, ye do notlet the privilege become lost _non utendo_--it will suffer no negativeprescription in your hands. Is it fit, think ye, that Baby Charlesshould let his thoughts be publicly seen?--No--no--princes' thoughts are_arcana imperii_--_Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare_. Every liegesubject is bound to speak the whole truth to the king, but there isnae reciprocity of obligation--and for Steenie having been whiles adike-louper at a time, is it for you, who are his goldsmith, and towhom, I doubt, he awes an uncomatable sum, to cast that up to him?"
Heriot did not feel himself called on to play the part of Zeno andsacrifice himself for upholding the cause of moral truth; he did notdesert it, however, by disavowing his words, but simply expressedsorrow for having offended his Majesty, with which the placable king wassufficiently satisfied.
"And now, Geordie, man," quoth he, "we will to this culprit, and hearwhat he has to say for himself, for I will see the job cleared thisblessed day. Ye maun come wi' me, for your evidence may be wanted."
The king led the way, accordingly, into a larger apartment, where thePrince, the Duke of Buckingham, and one or two privy counsellors wereseated at a table, before which stood Lord Dalgarno, in an attitude ofas much elegant ease and indifference as could be expressed, consideringthe stiff dress and manners of the times.
All rose and bowed reverently, while the king, to use a north countryword, expressive of his mode of locomotion, _toddled_ to his chair orthrone, making a sign to Heriot to stand behind him.
"We hope," said his Majesty, "that Lord Dalgarno stands prepared to dojustice to this unfortunate lady, and to his own character and honour?"
"May I humbly inquire the penalty," said Lord Dalgarno, "in caseI should unhappily find compliance with your Majesty's demandsimpossible?"
"Banishment frae our Court, my lord," said the king; "frae our Court andour countenance."
"Unhappy exile that I may be!" said Lord Dalgarno, in a tone of subduedirony--"I will at least carry your Majesty's picture with me, for Ishall never see such another king."
"And banishment, my lord," said the Prince, sternly, "from t
hese ourdominions."
"That must be by form of law, please your Royal Highness," saidDalgarno, with an affectation of deep respect; "and I have not heardthat there is a statute, compelling us, under such penalty, to marryevery woman we may play the fool with. Perhaps his Grace of Buckinghamcan tell me?"
"You are a villain, Dalgarno," said the haughty and vehement favourite.
"Fie, my lord, fie!--to a prisoner, and in presence of your royal andpaternal gossip!" said Lord Dalgarno. "But I will cut this deliberationshort. I have looked over this schedule of the goods and effects ofErminia Pauletti, daughter of the late noble--yes, he is called thenoble, or I read wrong, Giovanni Pauletti, of the Houee of Sansovino,in Genoa, and of the no less noble Lady Maud Olifaunt, of the House ofGlenvarloch--Well, I declare that I was pre-contracted in Spain to thisnoble lady, and there has passed betwixt us some certain _proelibatiomatrimonii_; and now, what more does this grave assembly require of me?"
"That you should repair the gross and infamous wrong you have done thelady, by marrying her within this hour," said the Prince.
"O, may it please your Royal Highness," answered Dalgarno, "I have atrifling relationship with an old Earl, who calls himself my father, whomay claim some vote in the matter. Alas! every son is not blessed withan obedient parent!" He hazarded a slight glance towards the throne, togive meaning to his last words.
"We have spoken ourselves with Lord Huntinglen," said the king, "and areauthorised to consent in his name."
"I could never have expected this intervention of a _proxaneta_, whichthe vulgar translate blackfoot, of such eminent dignity," said Dalgarno,scarce concealing a sneer. "And my father hath consented? He was wontto say, ere we left Scotland, that the blood of Huntinglen and ofGlenvarloch would not mingle, were they poured into the same basin.Perhaps he has a mind to try the experiment?"
"My lord," said James, "we will not be longer trifled with--Will youinstantly, and _sine mora_, take this lady to your wife, in our chapel?"
"_Statim atque instanter_," answered Lord Dalgarno; "for I perceiveby doing so, I shall obtain power to render great services to thecommonwealth--I shall have acquired wealth to supply the wants ofyour Majesty, and a fair wife to be at the command of his Grace ofBuckingham."
The Duke rose, passed to the end of the table where Lord Dalgarno wasstanding, and whispered in his ear, "You have placed a fair sister at mycommand ere now."
This taunt cut deep through Lord Dalgarno's assumed composure. Hestarted as if an adder had stung him, but instantly composed himself,and, fixing on the Duke's still smiling countenance an eye which spokeunutterable hatred, he pointed the forefinger of his left hand to thehilt of his sword, but in a manner which could scarce be observed by anyone save Buckingham. The Duke gave him another smile of bitter scorn,and returned to his seat, in obedience to the commands of the king, whocontinued calling out, "Sit down, Steenie, sit down, I command ye--wewill hae nae harnsbreaking here."
"Your Majesty needs not fear my patience," said Lord Dalgarno; "andthat I may keep it the better, I will not utter another word in thispresence, save those enjoined to me in that happy portion of thePrayer-Book, which begins with _Dearly Beloved_, and ends with_amazement_."
"You are a hardened villain, Dalgarno," said the king; "and were I thelass, by my father's saul, I would rather brook the stain of having beenyour concubine, than run the risk of becoming your wife. But she shallbe under our special protection.--Come, my lords, we will ourselves seethis blithesome bridal." He gave the signal by rising, and moved towardsthe door, followed by the train. Lord Dalgarno attended, speaking tonone, and spoken to by no one, yet seeming as easy and unembarrassed inhis gait and manner as if in reality a happy bridegroom.
They reached the Chapel by a private entrance, which communicated fromthe royal apartment. The Bishop of Winchester, in his pontifical dress,stood beside the altar; on the other side, supported by Monna Paula, thecolourless, faded, half-lifeless form of the Lady Hermione, or ErminiaPauletti. Lord Dalgarno bowed profoundly to her, and the Prince,observing the horror with which she regarded him, walked up, and saidto her, with much dignity,--"Madam, ere you put yourself under theauthority of this man, let me inform you, he hath in the fullest degreevindicated your honour, so far as concerns your former intercourse. Itis for you to consider whether you will put your fortune and happinessinto the hands of one, who has shown himself unworthy of all trust."
The lady, with much difficulty, found words to make reply. "I owe tohis Majesty's goodness," she said, "the care of providing me somereservation out of my own fortune, for my decent sustenance. The restcannot be better disposed than in buying back the fair fame of which Iam deprived, and the liberty of ending my life in peace and seclusion."
"The contract has been drawn up," said the king, "under our own eye,specially discharging the _potestas maritalis_, and agreeing they shalllive separate. So buckle them, my Lord Bishop, as fast as you can, thatthey may sunder again the sooner."
The Bishop accordingly opened his book and commenced the marriageceremony, under circumstances so novel and so inauspicious. Theresponses of the bride were only expressed by inclinations of thehead and body; while those of the bridegroom were spoken boldly anddistinctly, with a tone resembling levity, if not scorn. When it wasconcluded, Lord Dalgarno advanced as if to salute the bride, but seeingthat she drew back in fear and abhorrence, he contented himself withmaking her a low bow. He then drew up his form to its height, andstretched himself as if examining the power of his limbs, but elegantly,and without any forcible change of attitude. "I could caper yet,"he said "though I am in fetters--but they are of gold, and lightlyworn.--Well, I see all eyes look cold on me, and it is time I shouldwithdraw. The sun shines elsewhere than in England! But first I must askhow this fair Lady Dalgarno is to be bestowed. Methinks it is but decentI should know. Is she to be sent to the harem of my Lord Duke? Or isthis worthy citizen, as before--"
"Hold thy base ribald tongue!" said his father, Lord Huntinglen, who hadkept in the background during the ceremony, and now stepping suddenlyforward, caught the lady by the arm, and confronted her unworthyhusband.--"The Lady Dalgarno," he continued, "shall remain as a widow inmy house. A widow I esteem her, as much as if the grave had closed overher dishonoured husband."
Lord Dalgarno exhibited momentary symptoms of extreme confusion, andsaid, in a submissive tone, "If you, my lord, can wish me dead, Icannot, though your heir, return the compliment. Few of the first-bornof Israel," he added, recovering himself from the single touch ofemotion he had displayed, "can say so much with truth. But I willconvince you ere I go, that I am a true descendant of a house famed forits memory of injuries."
"I marvel your Majesty will listen to him longer," said Prince Charles."Methinks we have heard enough of his daring insolence."
But James, who took the interest of a true gossip in such a scene as wasnow passing, could not bear to cut the controversy short, but imposedsilence on his son, with "Whisht, Baby Charles--there is a good bairn,whisht!--I want to hear what the frontless loon can say."
"Only, sir," said Dalgarno, "that but for one single line in thisschedule, all else that it contains could not have bribed me to takethat woman's hand into mine."
"That line maun have been the SUMMA TOTALIS," said the king.
"Not so, sire," replied Dalgarno. "The sum total might indeed have beenan object for consideration even to a Scottish king, at no very distantperiod; but it would have had little charms for me, save that I seehere an entry which gives me the power of vengeance over the family ofGlenvarloch; and learn from it that yonder pale bride, when she put thewedding-torch into my hand, gave me the power of burning her mother'shouse to ashes!"
"How is that?" said the king. "What is he speaking about, JinglingGeordie?"
"This friendly citizen, my liege," said Lord Dalgarno, "hath expended asum belonging to my lady, and now, I thank heaven, to me, in acquiringa certain mortgage, or wanset, over the estate of Glenvarloch, which, ifit be not redeemed before to
-morrow at noon, will put me in possessionof the fair demesnes of those who once called themselves our house'srivals."
"Can this be true?" said the king.
"It is even but too true, please your Majesty," answered the citizen."The Lady Hermione having advanced the money for the original creditor,I was obliged, in honour and honesty, to take the rights to her; anddoubtless, they pass to her husband."
"But the warrant, man," said the king--"the warrant on ourExchequer--Couldna that supply the lad wi' the means of redemption?"
"Unhappily, my liege, he has lost it, or disposed of it--It is not to befound. He is the most unlucky youth!"
"This is a proper spot of work!" said the king, beginning to ambleabout and play with the points of his doublet and hose, in expression ofdismay. "We cannot aid him without paying our debts twice over, and wehave, in the present state of our Exchequer, scarce the means of payingthem once."
"You have told me news," said Lord Dalgarno, "but I will take noadvantage."
"Do not," said his father, "be a bold villain, since thou must be one,and seek revenge with arms, and not with the usurer's weapons."
"Pardon me, my lord," said Lord Dalgarno. "Pen and ink are now mysurest means of vengeance; and more land is won by the lawyer with theram-skin, than by the Andrea Ferrara with his sheepshead handle. But,as I said before, I will take no advantages. I will await in townto-morrow, near Covent Garden; if any one will pay the redemption-moneyto my scrivener, with whom the deeds lie, the better for LordGlenvarloch; if not, I will go forward on the next day, and travel withall dispatch to the north, to take possession."
"Take a father's malison with you, unhappy wretch!" said LordHuntinglen.
"And a king's, who is _pater patriae_," said James.
"I trust to bear both lightly," said Lord Dalgarno; and bowing aroundhim, he withdrew; while all present, oppressed, and, as it were,overawed, by his determined effrontery, found they could draw breathmore freely, when he at length relieved them of his society. LordHuntinglen, applying himself to comfort his new daughter-in-law,withdrew with her also; and the king, with his privy-council, whom hehad not dismissed, again returned to his council-chamber, though thehour was unusually late. Heriot's attendance was still commanded, butfor what reason was not explained to him.